Tag - Hal

Small-cap stocks are set to start out the week on a positive note, looking to build on last week’s advance, which marked the first weekly gain since mid-September. The cost of inter-bank lending fell sharply overnight, suggesting that frozen credit lines are thawing and mistrust among banks is starting to evaporate, which provided a lift to stocks. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up about 1.9% in pre-market trading, which suggests an opening near 536.

The economic calendar is very light this week and the leading indicators report slated for release at 10:00 a.m. ET is basically a compilation of dated data and probably won’t have a lasting impact on the market. However, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is slated to testify on the economy before the House Budget Committee at 10:00 a.m. ET, which could spark some fireworks into the mix this morning.

Looking at market action around the world overnight, Singapore stocks were up 3.2%, Indonesia was up 2% and shares in Thailand were up 0.9%. Malaysia stocks were up 0.5%, but the Philippine index was off 1.7% and Vietnam was down 3.1%. Japan stocks were up 3.5%, Hong Kong shares were up 5.3%, while the China market rallied 2.5%, shaking off a GDP report of 9% that missed the 9.7% forecast. Growth in China slipped to the lowest rate in five years and year-over-year growth was . . .

Small-cap stocks opened lower, pressured by a jump in crude oil prices overnight, which keeps concerns about consumer discretionary spending at the forefront. At 10:05 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 7.33, or 1%, at 725.68.

The headline figure for existing home sales came in above expectations at 4.89 million versus the projection of 4.85 million. Although that figure was slightly better than expected, stock index futures were little changed immediately after the release. The inventory of homes for sale was up 10.5% to a record high, which may have offset any upbeat reaction to the headline figure.

Crude oil prices bounced overnight, lifted by strikes in France that could block tanker traffic and by residual support from a surprising drop in crude oil stocks in this week’s inventory data. In addition, the dollar was soft against the euro heading into today’s U.S. open, which underpinned crude oil prices.

Stock markets around the world were in a selling mood overnight, which also weighed on U.S. equities on the opening. Although Japan was up 0.2% last night, most of the other major countries were down, with Hong Kong off 1.3%, China down 0.9%, Australia down 1.0%, Singapore down 1.2% and Bombay off 1.5%. The biggest overnight loss was seen in Karachi, which tumbled 4.7% in response to a rate hike by the State Bank of Pakistan.

Large caps in the news this morning included Haliburton Co. (NYSE:HAL), which announced a bid of $3.4 billion for U.K. firm Expro International. This marks two consecutive days of M&A deals in the energy sector, and provides some . . .

Small caps are expected to open lower, pulled down by an overnight bounce in crude oil prices and by a weak tone in overseas stock market trading. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was off about 0.5% in after-hours trading, which would translate to an opening near 729.50.

The existing home sales report is slated for release at 10:00 a.m. ET, and could stir some volatility in equities as it offers up the last piece of economic data to trade ahead of an extended weekend holiday in the United States, where markets are closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday.

In overseas action, most of the major stock market index products around the world were lower, although Japan eked out a gain of 0.2%. Hong Kong was down 1.3%, China off 0.9%, Taiwan down 1.9%, Australia down 1%, Singapore down 1.2% and Bombay lost 1.5%. The biggest decline was in Karachi, which shed 4.7% in . . .

In a slow burn for the past few years, Boots and Coots International Well Control Inc. (AMEX:WEL) is ready for rapid oxidation. Give it air: the oilfield services company is set for a big 2008, looking to fire up profits in a volatile industry.

Boots and Coots traces its history to Red Adair, legendary oil well firefighter who tamed flames in Kuwait in 1991 at age 75. Before that, he was the inspiration for John Wayne in the 1968 movie “Hellfighters.” From the Red Adair Company came his posse leaders Boots Hansen and Coots Matthews, who formed Boots and Coots in 1978. 

With a reputation as a premier critical emergency responder, the company answered its loudest alarm in early 2003, when speculators bet Iraq would ignite its oil wells in response to the U.S. invasion. Boots and Coots handled some blowouts in the southern Iraqi oilfields, and shares spiked to $8 from less than $2 — ever so briefly — and fell back to flounce around near $2 ever since.

As the Iraq bell clanked, Boots and Coots listened. The company no longer handles only 911 calls, but is now the global number to dial for full-service help. It has built a well-intervention business to smooth the jagged revenues from its critical response operations. It provides pressure control and other services to onshore and offshore oil and gas companies in North America, South America, North Africa, West Africa and the Middle East.

By the end of 2007, the Houston, Texas-based company’s well-intervention revenues were $92 million, and emergency response revenues $13.3 million, bringing the total to $105.3 million. What a reversal from 2005, when revenues for response were $15.7 million and intervention $13.9 million, for a total of $29.5 million. Revenues were $97 million in 2006. 

“We were anticipating a dramatic rise in both the top line and bottom line for 2007 driven by higher activity/utilization and improved pricing, but WEL far surpassed . . .

Every website you visit and e-mail you send or receive, every phone call, voicemail or text message you exchange, every purchase you make with a debit or credit card, and virtually every piece of information on your personal and financial life compiled by commercial interests and government sources leaves a lifetime electronic footprint and paper trail.

It seems that privacy, once taken for granted, is a thing of the past. It could be argued that the very technological advances that make our lives more convenient have also made the all-intrusive Orwellian surveillance state more of a reality.

And that suits Guidance Software, Inc. (Nasdaq: GUID), a leader in computer forensic investigation technology, just fine. Guidance's software enables law enforcement organizations, corporations and government agencies to manage, search, collect, preserve and analyze digital information across computer networks. Guidance counts Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), the U.S. Department of State and a host of Fortune 500 companies among its clients.

Guidance's flagship product is EnCase, software that allows security personnel to monitor information traffic going in and out of their networks, and to sniff out and log suspicious activities by users (including specific patterns or keywords). A variation of the product is used in law enforcement labs by computer forensics investigators to collect digital evidence. EnCase can do everything from restoring "deleted" files from computer hard drives to helping catch rogue employees who are emailing company secrets to competitors, to tracking down sources of classified information leaks. Most experts prefer EnCase to competing products like Deepdive Technologies' DD500 and Paraben Corporation's P2.