The Street Beat

Two dates stand out for me in the Pixelworks timeline, the first was September 2000 when I had them (Short) in my Market Neutral Portfolio at Husic Capital at $138 1/2,  the second was March 7th 2009 when the stock bottomed at 37 cents.  I need to be clear that these two events were unrelated... I covered the short during the massive selloff in October 2000, and in 2009 I marveled at how viciously undervalued the stock was as I reviewed the carnage of post 2008 liquidation.

Beginning at 2 p.m. today Eastern Standard Time, there will be a first ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System. For 30 seconds, citizens will hear and see "this is a test," during a dry run of the EAS conducted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Communications Commission. Initiated in January 1997 to replace the old Emergency Broadcast System, the EAS is a national alert and warning system that allows the president to address the nation during emergencies or disasters.

Analysts expect Google to deliver solid financial results in the recently ended quarter, with revenue up more than 30 percent year-on-year at $7.21 billion. But the darkening economic picture is raising concerns that advertisers could pull back on spending in the months ahead, cutting into revenue and profit margins at Google, which derived 96 percent of its revenue last year from advertising.

Oil prices fell to near $84 a barrel Thursday due to retreating equity markets, slower export growth in China and lowered forecasts for global demand for crude. By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for November delivery was down $1.23 to $84.34 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 24 cents to settle at $85.57 in New York on Wednesday.

Investorideas.com, a leader in renewable energy stock research, releases a trading alert for battery stock, A123 Systems, Inc. (NasdaqGS: AONE ). The stock has jumped as high as $3.97, now trading at $3.90, up 0.59 (17.82%) 12:32pm.

Asian stocks erased early declines to finish mostly higher on Wednesday as Beijing's gesture to support the market and optimism over corporate earnings helped more than offset Alcoa's disappointing third-quarter earnings and worries over Europe's debt crisis.

The European markets shrugged off early weakness and are moderate to notably higher in afternoon trading Wednesday, after investors in the region digested news of the Slovak Parliament blocking the expansion of the European Financial Stability Facility, amid hopes of a plan for recapitalizing European financial institutions to be unveiled today. On the economic front, industrial production in the Eurozone increased unexpectedly in August. Asian markets mostly rose and the U.S. index futures are higher.

Canadian stocks rallied on Tuesday, led by banks and resource producers amid hopes that Germany and France will lead a rescue of the Euro area. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 287.19 points or 2.48 percent to 11,875.55, after inspectors in Europe recommended that Greece get its next installment of bailout funds.