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The stock market today (Wednesday) opened higher for the first time in three days, on the heels of better-than-expected numbers from the Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) earnings report.   Shortly before noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 77 points, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 6 and the Nasdaq was better by 17. Aluminum producer Alcoa posted Q4 earnings after the close Tuesday of six cents a share, in line with expectations. But sales came in ahead of forecasts at $5.6 billion. Shares rose 2% after hours and added another 1% in early trading Wednesday. Alcoa's results are viewed as the start of earnings season.  Alcoa's positive Q4 results encouraged anxious investors that Q4 might not be as sluggish as originally thought. The company said prices have stabilized for raw aluminum and sales have increased in the higher-profit aerospace business. Economic growth in China appears to be coming back, and Europe is doing better than most people anticipated. CEO Klaus Kleinfeld also noted that the automobile and aerospace markets in the United States remain strong. Q4 earnings for S&P 500 companies are projected to rise 3.3%, according to data from S&P Capital IQ. Other Headliners in the Stock Market Today Shares of aerospace giant The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) rebounded from losses stemming from a series of setbacks involving its new 787 Dreamliner jet.  The stock was up nearly 3% in morning trading.   Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) barely budged after the investment powerhouse said it is slashing some 1,600 jobs. Shares were last changing hands at $19.60 Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ), the leading wine and spirits distributor, gained 16 cents after reporting adjusted earnings of 63 cents per share, a 21% increase from the same quarter a year ago and better than estimates of 55 cents. Wireless broadband provider Clearwire Corp. (Nasdaq: CLWR) shares soared almost 8% following news that Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) offered to buy the company for $5.15 billion. The bid sets stage for a takeover battle with Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S), which offered to buy the remaining 49% of Clearwire it doesn't already own for $2.2 billion in December. Sprint, the third largest U.S. cellphone company, depends on Cleawire to provide high-speed Sprint 4G services on some of its phones. While Clearwire shareholders applaud the higher offer, Sprint, which owns 51% of Clearwire, is expected to put up a fight and not quickly sign off of the DISH deal. Shares of ailing Apollo Group (Nasdaq: APOL) slumped more than 10% after the company reported a steep drop in enrollment at its University of Phoenix. This once high-flying stock hit a new low of $18.36 Wednesday. A year ago, shares peaked at $58.29. The next big earnings news comes Friday when Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), the first of the big banks, reports. Big News To Watch Next Week Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) shares jumped nearly 3% following word the social networking giant sent invitations to the media for a special event next week at its Menlo Park headquarters. The company provided no details. The only hint of what to expect came from the invitation's words, "Come and see what we're building." About a year-and-a-half ago, at a similar event, Facebook unveiled a partnership with Skype. Investors hope the news will boost Facebook in 2013 after the stock ended 2012 at $26.62, 30% below its $38 IPO price.  

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Stocks on the Move Today Shares of Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE ADR: TM) ran up by 1.26% after the auto giant said it has reached a settlement worth more than $1 billion in a highly publicized case that involved unintended acceleration problems in its vehicles. Shares were last trading at $91.64, just shy of its 52-week high of $92.69Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) and J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) were both active due to survey results for both companies.In good news, an online shopping satisfaction survey crowned Amazon the best online retailer for the eighth consecutive year. Meanwhile, the survey also showed that JCP had the biggest drop among pollsters. AMZN gave back $1.82 to $246.84, falling with the broader market. JCP shares fell more than 3% to $20. 07, a good way from its 52-week high of $43.18.Shares of Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (Nasdaq: MRVL) plunged close to 3% after a U.S. jury ordered the once high-flying chip maker to pay $1.17 billion in a patent infringement case. The Pittsburg federal jury found MRVL infringed on patents for chip technology held by the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University. At $7.18, shares of MRVL are near a low for the year.In commodities, oil dipped 16 cents to $90.82 a barrel.Gold, still on track for a 12th consecutive yearly gain despite a very weak showing in December, gained $2.90 to $1663.30, and silver tacked on 34 cents to $30.48 Biggest Economic News in Market Today The U.S. Labor Department reported before the bell that initial jobless claims for the week ending Dec. 22 dipped 12,000 from the previous week to 350,000. Economists were looking for an increase to 365,000.The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index revealed that America's consumer confidence is hovering at a near four-year high. Propping the comfort level up are higher property values, historic low borrowing costs and falling gasoline prices."Households are increasingly confident about their own personal finances, which is likely to sustain the improvement in consumer sentiment in 2013, albeit low levels. This is part and parcel of the historically slow expansion the U.S. is currently experiencing," said Bloomberg's senior economist Joseph Brusuelas.New home sales in November rose, logging its most robust pace in more than two years, another sign the improving housing market is showing some real signs of life.Related Articles and News:

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The bankruptcy of Hostess Brands is just the latest example of once-famous U.S. companies that have gone out of business. History's dustbin is full of familiar brands that are now extinct, including Studebaker, Woolworth's and Braniff. Analysts blame changing consumer tastes for the plunging sales of Wonder Bread and Twinkies that led to Hostess Brands' demise. Most companies fail because management keeps trying to sell the same products, using the same marketing and business model, long after the products have hit the skids. So which famous brands might not be around much longer? The Next Hostess: Four U.S. Brands That Could Disappear Here are four U.S. brands that have fallen so far behind the competition they are in danger of disappearing in the near future. 1. Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD)Sears has a proud history of pioneering markets and once dominated retail with its catalogs. But in 2005, a buyout of Sears and discount retailer Kmart by fund manager Eddie Lampert spawned a spate of management missteps. Sears and Kmart, with more than 3,000 stores in the United States, have been unable to compete against other low-cost retail chains like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT). Sears sales have been on a downward spiral for years. In fact, Sears has posted 23 straight quarters of declining same-store sales. Meanwhile, Lampert has shown himself to be remarkably tone-deaf. He recently bought a $40 million home north of Miami about the same time Sears decided to sell 1,200 stores and close another 173. In 2011, Sears' American Customer Satisfaction Index score was 76 out of 100. Only Wal-Mart received a lower score. Stockholders have shown their dissatisfaction with Sears. Shares have declined from about $180 to the low $40's. 2. RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH)At a time when more Americans are doing more of their shopping online, RSH clings to its traditional, brick-and-mortar retail store model. The remaining content is exclusively for Jim decicco Morning subscribers. To gain access, enter your email address: Tags: hostess, hostess bankruptcy, hostess bankruptcy no more twinkies, Hostess brands, hostess brands bankruptcy, hostess brands inc, hostess brands layoffs, hostess brands news, hostess brands shutdown, hostess brands stock, hostess layoffs, hostess news, hostess stock, hostess twinkies, Nasdaq: HPQ, NASDAQ: SHLD, no more twinkies, NYSE: NYT, NYSE: RSH, twinkies

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Oliver Pursche fills in for Gary Goldberg today. James Rogers of The Street discusses happenings with the tech sector, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and more of its movers. Also, "America's Money-Answers Man," Jordan Goodman, examines market activity pre-fiscal cliff and offers ways to curb holiday overspending. Twitter: @MoneyMattersFN No positions in stocks mentioned.

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Why Kraft Spinoff Mondelez Looks Appetizing Created as the chocolate and confectionary arm of Kraft, Mondelez will be the new parent company of such recognized and successful brands like Cadbury, Oreos, Chips Ahoy, Trident Gum, and Milka.Mondelez has positioned itself to feed off the notable snacking trends sweeping the world - especially in emerging markets."Forty-four percent of our revenue will come from emerging markets, benefiting from the growth there," Tim Cofer, Europe president at Mondelez International told CNBC. "Snacking is a behavior that is growing, and we have a strong leadership position in the area. Snacking categories are growing much faster than non-snacking businesses, and it's a great position to be in."The company is especially excited about expansion in Brazil, Russia, India and China, also known as the BRICs."In China we have an over $800 million business dominated by biscuits, (cookies) and Oreo is the number one biscuit in China [right now]," Cofer added.Roughly 37% of revenue will come from Europe, while 20% will come from North America.In a note to clients, Goldman Sach's English said he expects the company to deliver double-digit earnings growth based on two key driving forces: emerging-markets expansion and a growing snack-food market.English said he believes shares could be worth a juicy $32 over the next 12 months - a 14% premium to Tuesday's close.JPMorgan's Ken Goldman penned in a client note that he expects Mondelez to hit $31 by the end of next year and initiated shares with an "Overweight" rating."We view snacking as one of the most attractive categories in food manufacturing today," he wrote.As Mondelez focuses on the snack segment, Kraft aims to grow in the broader food market. Kraft Spinoff Narrows Focus Wall Street isn't ignoring Mondelez parent company Kraft Foods Group Inc.The company has been quick to capitalize on fresh acquisitions, divestures and strategic shifts. In a moving mode of late, Kraft ditched the New York Stock Exchange for the Nasdaq earlier this year citing financial and better visibility reasons.The Northfield, IL-based company behind such iconic brands as Kraft Mac N' Cheese, Oscar Mayer and Tang has many analysts sniffing around.On Tuesday, UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) issued a "Buy" rating and $50 price target on shares. Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) also rated shares a "Buy," and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) placed an equal weight on the stock with a $47 price target.Shares of KRFT closed Wednesday at $44.87, down 1.21%. Kraft Trading Gaffe On Wednesday, just a day after trading independent of Mondelez, shares of Kraft were extremely active and volatile.KFG's shares soared 25% within the first minute of trading, leading the Nasdaq OMX Group to cancel dozens of trades. The stock hit $58.54 by 9:31 a.m., up from its opening price of $45.55.Nasdaq later said it would cancel all KFG trades above $47.82 that were executed between 9:30 a.m. and 9:31 a.m. EDT, calling the trading "clearly erroneous."Ironically the trading snafu followed a public meeting Tuesday of exchange officials and Securities and Exchange experts on how to prevent such technology gaffes."This is another example of a market-structure flaw," Matt Simon, a senior analyst at market research firm Tabb Group, told The Wall Street Journal. "While the SEC approved in May circuit-breaker changes, there appears to be an urgent need to act sooner."Shares of Kraft spinoff Mondelez fell to $27.83, down 0.64% in its second trading day Wednesday. MDLZ on Tuesday rose 19 cents, or 0.7%, to close at $28.01.Related Articles and News:

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We’ve spent hours talking to and corresponding with analysts and VCs about the Facebook IPO over the past few days, and we couldn’t resist asking each of them a rather personal question: Expert commentary aside, would they, themselves, be buying Facebook stock today? Each one gave us different answers, and for slightly different reasons, but most of the folks we talked to were extremely bullish on Facebook stock as an investment vehicle, either for the short-term or the long haul. But most of our sources expressed at least some measure of ambivalence, too. On the fence “I’m really on the fence on this one,” said Lee Simmons, an industry expert at Dunn & Bradstreet. “Facebook has an opportunity to learn from Google’s own IPO — which, by the way, had a rocky start — and subsequent business success. If it can leverage its user base to create value for advertisers while continuing to develop products that diversify its income stream, then I’d be a more willing investor.” Simmon still hesitates to invest personally, however, saying, On the other hand, Facebook has slowing growth compared to Google in its IPO run-up. That alone gives me pause.” Quite a few of our sources adopted a wait-and-see stance. “Facebook feels to me ‘fundamentally strong, valuation wrong,’” said serial entrepreneur Scott Sellers. The Azul Systems co-founder continued, “Their stock will rise after the offering, and if they execute on their growth opportunities, then the valuation and the stock price will be justified. But there’s very real risk that with ‘just reasonable’ business performance that their valuation will decline to more typical levels.” Bullish to the end Others, however, have been more than enthusiastic. One such cheerleader comes in an entirely surprising form, that of former MySpace CEO Mike Jones. “I’m super bullish on Facebook,” said Jones in a recent phone call. “I think it’s a long-term play… I literally couldn’t be more excited about it.” Jones continued to note that Facebook’s being a household name certainly wouldn’t hurt it on IPO day. “People will just want to own the stock,” he said. “People will log into E-Trade and buy Facebook stock because they love it and use it everyday.” Serial entrepreneur Flip Filipowski, who currently runs cloud startup SilkRoad, was similarly positive. “I would absolutely take all the Facebook stock I could get at the IPO price,” Filipowski said. “Facebook has a large user base hungry to participate in the phenomenon. These share prices are what the market is willing to pay at this time; my guess is that it will close way above where it is priced.” “I’m buying,” said entrepreneur Dave Scott, co-founder at Marketfish. “Facebook is sitting on top of the one of the largest gold mines in the world in terms of data.” Mark Siegel, managing partner at Silicon Valley firm Menlo Ventures, sees not only the potential for short-term gains, but also the likelihood of long-term profits. “I am personally going to buy some as a long term investor, for the same reason that I hold Apple and Amazon and Google and Oracle and Microsoft,” he told us. “I think the long-term future is very bright.” The ethical Michael Pachter, managing director for equity research at Wedbush Securities, said, “Fortunately, I am not permitted to invest in stocks that I cover.” Still, he admitted, “I would personally invest in all of my OUTPERFORM rated stocks, including Facebook, if I were permitted.” Not gonna happen Not everyone’s such a believer, though. “IPO often stands for ‘it’s probably overpriced,’” quips Quorum Labs CEO Larry Lang. Noting that the company is already a household name and has enjoyed robust trading on secondary markets, Lang continued, “This unintended consequence impedes technological innovation from benefiting the economy. I’ll be interested in the longer-term market response to Facebook’s cloud approach.” Similarly bearish were these words from the older (and probably wiser) super-investor Warren Buffet during his annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting: “We never buy into an offering…The idea that something coming out…that’s being offered with significant commissions, all kinds of publicity, the seller electing the time to sell, is going to be the best single investment that I can make in the world among thousands of choices is mathematically impossible.” Other Berkshire Hathaway executives in the octogenarian age range expressed concerns about Facebook’s entire raison d’etre, especially the phenomenon of oversharing youngsters. And it’s not only the get-off-my-lawn crowd naysaying Facebook stock. The young and digitally savvy Reddit co-founder Alex Ohanian will not be buying Facebook shares, either. His objections are, in a way, not so dissimilar to those of his older counterparts. “We’ve never seen a company like this before, ever. It knows things about our private lives that no one else does, and one of the big issues a lot of us in the tech community has had with Facebook of late, has been their support of bills like CISPA,” Ohanian said. “So, that’s why I’m going to be holding off.” Facebook stock will start trading at 8 am Pacific/11 am Eastern. Stay tuned for more Facebook IPO news throughout the day. Facebook’s IPO in pictures The public offering everyone’s been waiting for. Screenshot from NASDAQ video feed Screenshot from NASDAQ video feed Sarah Mitroff/VentureBeat Sarah Mitroff/VentureBeat Sarah Mitroff/VentureBeat David Sze of Greylock emerges from Facebook’s HQ even richer than he was before Screenshot from NASDAQ video feed Facebook appears on the NASDAQ’s big New York billboard. Screenshot from NASDAQ video feed Facebook executive applaud as Mark Zuckerberg rings the NASDAQ opening bell Mark Zuckerberg rings the opening bell on the company’s first day of trading Zuckerberg rings the opening bell on the first day of Facebook trading on the NASDAQ Top image courtesy of Luis Louro, Shutterstock

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It is a trend in the consumer electronics business — manufacturers rise to become industry leaders only to be outshone by the competition as high-priced gadgets quickly become commodities. Based on recent earning reports of the biggest electronics makers, 24/7 Wall St. set out to identity the once high-flying brands that are now losing money. A review of the biggest losers demonstrates how little consumers care a bout prior successes. Although these companies were the industry darlings once, today consumers may not even remember their names. Companies such as Nintendo, Research In Motion, Sony and Nokia dominated their markets for a number of years and, in many cases, had few to no serious competitors. These companies often rose to the top because of major breakthrough products, such as the Nintendo Wii, RIM’s BlackBerry and Sony’s Walkman. But the companies on this list have not managed to adequately follow up these successes with new products and now are losing ground to competitors. Sharp has lost money due to competition from companies like Samsung that have stronger brands and can undercut its prices on TV. Nokia, which continues to do well in the low-end cell phone market, is losing money because it has been unable to make a significant break into the growing smartphone market. 24/7 Wall St. has identified eight of the most popular tech brands that are losing money. To demonstrate these companies’ waning popularity, 24/7 reviewed financial data from their financial statements, as well as data from a number of major research firms. These are the eight great tech brands losing money. 1. RIM Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) was, for a time, a leader in the smartphone market. Its BlackBerry phones helped pioneer the industry. The company’s popularity has since waned and it has begun to lose money. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, RIM had a net loss of $125 million, the result of goodwill charges and “an inventory provision taken primarily on certain BlackBerry7 products.” Revenue was down 24% compared to the year prior. According to Comscore, RIM’s share of the U.S. market for smartphone subscribers dropped from 16% last December to 12.3% in March. Meanwhile, the share of smartphones using Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android rose from 47.3% to 51% over the same period. The company’s BlackBerry 10 handsets, which are being released later this year, may be RIM’s last chance for relevance. 2. Sharp Sharp reported a record annual loss of $4.67 billion this past April. The company also announced that it expects to continue to lose money in the current fiscal year. Sharp’s losses are primarily due to falling prices and declining sales of its LCD televisions. The Japanese company has been struggling to compete with South Korean manufacturers. In addition, the company spent $1.5 billion in restructuring costs. In March, Sharp sold a 46% stake in its largest plant to Taiwanese rival Hon Hai to soften losses at its television business. 3. EA Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) reported a net loss of $205 million for the fiscal third quarter ending December 31, 2011, despite generating $1.06 billion in net revenue over the same period. Two of the company’s major titles — FIFA 12 and Battlefield 3 — have each sold more than 10 million copies, a particularly large quantity for games. Madden 12 has sold nearly 5 million. Many experts believe that the company’s launch of The Sims Social — meant as a competitor to Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA) products — has not done well. This was viewed as a gamble on EA’s part, as the company has spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to break into the social games space. It is not the first time for EA to be in the red. The company had a net loss of $322 million in the same quarter the year before. 4. Sony Sony (NYSE: SNE) was a world leader in a variety of electronic products only a few years ago. As recently as November 2011, the company cut its sales forecast for TVs, cameras and DVD players. The company’s financial situation has only worsened since then. In April 2012, Sony decreased its earnings outlook for the fourth time in less than a year, warning of a potential $6.4 billion net loss in the last fiscal year. The Wall Street Journal said the loss would be “the biggest-ever in the electronics conglomerate’s 65-year history.” Sony has been dealing with ongoing losses in its television segment. In its consumer electronics arm, the company has been struggling to deal with competition from companies like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Samsung. Sony also has lost its standing in the game console market, which it once owned with the PS2, and in the portable music device market, which it owned with the Walkman. 5. Nintendo Nintendo was the number one video game console manufacturer in the world thanks to its Wii. In order to better compete, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Sony slashed prices on their Xbox 360 and PS3 products. Nintendo, as a result, was forced to drop the prices of both its Wii and portable player DS. In April 2012, the company posted a total loss of $461.2 million for the 2011 fiscal year. All three companies also face the growing competition posed by smartphone-based gaming. 6. Nokia Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has long been the world’s largest handset manufacturer, but it lost that position to Samsung in the first quarter of the year. Its past success was due, in large part, to the company’s low-end cell phone models, which are particularly popular in developing countries. When it came to smartphones, however, Nokia has not kept up. The market continues to be dominated by Samsung and Apple. Nokia’s inability to break into the more profitable smartphone arena has been apparent in the company’s profit and loss statements. In April 2012, the company announced a quarterly net loss of $1.2 billion, blaming “greater than expected competitive challenges.” In an attempt to turn itself around, Nokia has set a joint venture with Microsoft to distribute Windows mobile on its smartphones in exchange for financial and marketing support. 7. Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) has invested increasing amounts in its Nook e-book reader. But intense competition from other tablet and e-reader companies, including Apple and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), has kept the company in the red. For the 39 weeks that ended January 28, 2012, Barnes & Noble lost more than $11 million. The company blamed the increasing losses on continued investments “in its rapidly growing Nook business, including advertising costs and personnel.” To help it with the Nook development costs, Barnes & Noble has also formed an alliance with Microsoft. The software company has made an investment in the book company’s e-book and e-reader businesses in exchange for the creation of Nook models that run the Windows OS. 8. Acer Acer’s business plan used to rely on the netbook, the cheap, portable and underpowered laptop. In the past two years, however, netbook sales have been disrupted by the surging tablet market, as well as the growing popularity of smartphones. Dropping the price did little to encourage demand. The company reported a massive annual loss of $212 million in 2011. Now the company is focusing on the Utlrabook, Intel’s (NASDAQ: INTC) laptop and effectively the next generation of netbook. It appears the company has not learned its lesson. According to The Verge, Acer Global President Jianren Weng predicts that PC Ultrabooks will drop to $499 in 2013 to compete with Apple’s iPad. Unfortunately, that is several hundred dollars less than the company needs to make money. Charles B. Stockdale

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