Editor’s Note: Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT), General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA), NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE), Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ)
Bill Gates Owns $650 Million Of This Well-Known Stock — And He’s Buying More (StreetAuthority)
Six hundred fifty million dollars is a lot of money — even for Bill Gates. That’s how much his investment firm has invested in what might be considered the best way to play China. It’s not a software firm or even a computer hardware firm. It’s mining giant Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT). Gates started building a position in Caterpillar before the financial crisis, but he became a very aggressive buyer once the crisis hit and shares had fallen by half. Yet remarkably, Gates has kept on buying, even as shares steadily rebounded to previous peaks.
GE breaks silence on megaloads controversary (KLEW)
Representatives from General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) met with L-C Valley community members for the first time Tuesday. General Electric has been pretty quiet since the protests broke out in August. Tuesday, that silence was broken. According to Valley Vision Executive Director, Doug Mattoon, the message they’re delivering is one of genuine concern. The corporation expresses their desire to leave a positive impact when it comes to commerce. “The opportunity that upriver commerce represents to our community for a change instead of just shipping commodities out of the community,” said Mattoon. “This represents a bigger picture of being able to ship and getting the world to know that we can ship commodities into this area.”
Alcoa hits at LME warehouse plan (Financial Times)
One of the world’s largest aluminium producers has harshly criticised the London Metal Exchange’s plans to reduce queues at metal warehouses, which it says are “counter-productive” and address a “red herring”. In a letter to the LME, Tim Reyes, president for materials management at Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA), the miner and refiner, writes that “the proposed changes constitute a major market intervention that will aggravate the lack of transparency that has had a damaging impact on the aluminum industry”. The letter is a response to the LME’s consultation on proposed reforms of warehousing rules.
Axe falls on more Caterpillar jobs (ABC Online)
Job cuts at a mining equipment maker at Burnie in Tasmania’s north-west coast has added to a growing unemployment crisis. The jobs of 60 casual workers at Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) Underground Mining were axed yesterday. It comes after the company shed about 100 contractors earlier this year. The firm’s human resources manager Brett Smith says the cuts reflects the global downturn in mining. “We definitely have had a decline in orders and our workforce matches the orders so…if the number of machines we build reduces, then we need to reduce our workforce,” he said.
General Electric Rating Reiterated by Argus (GE) (WKRB News)
General Electric Company (NYSE:GE)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Argus in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, American Banking and Market News reports. They currently have a $28.00 price target on the stock. Argus’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 17.30% from the stock’s previous close. General Electric opened at 23.87 on Wednesday. General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) has a one year low of $19.87 and a one year high of $24.95. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $23.95 and its 200-day moving average is $23.41. The company has a market cap of $243.1 billion and a P/E ratio of 17.67.
Alcoa Stock Among Three Kicked From Dow Jones (The Inquisitr)
Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA) stock was one of three companies dropped from the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The drop will happen next week and is considered the biggest shake-up of the 30-stock index in the past 10 years. Alcoa has been part of the Dow Jones for 54 years, but it will be replaced next week by NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE). Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) and Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) will also lose their spots. Visa Inc. will replace HP and securities firm Goldman Sachs Group will take over Bank of America’s spot, reports The Wall Street Journal.
