Rhapsody Buys Napster Subscribers from Best Buy

Tomahawk, WI 10/4/2011 (PennyPayDay) – Electronics retailer Best Buy Inc. is tuning out of Napster, a digital music service that has struggled to evolve from its renegade origins as a free file-sharing network that riled the recording industry.

Napster's subscribers and other assets will be sold to another digital music service, Rhapsody, as part of a deal announced Monday.

Best Buy will get an undisclosed stake in Rhapsody after the swap is completed. The exchange is expected to be completed by end of November.

The deal ends Best Buy's efforts to groom Napster into a brand that would have broad appeal to shoppers buying mobile phones and computers at its nearly 1,400 stores. Best Buy, which is based in Richfield, Minn., bought Napster for $122 million in cash in October 2008.

Since then, other music services, such as Internet radio station Pandora Media Inc. and Spotify, have emerged as more popular channels.

After starting out as a dorm-room project in the late 1990s, Napster morphed into a notorious outlet for people looking to get free music. Recording artists and studios launched a legal crusade that eventually crippled Napster. Gadget maker Roxio Inc. bought Napster's name and other intellectual property in a 2002 bankruptcy auction. Roxio revived Napster as a subscription service and eventually adopted the Napster name as its corporate identity.

Rhapsody, which is based in Seattle, has gone through its ups and downs, too, since it started in 1999 as Listen.com. The service was spun off as a separate entity last year by its previous owners, RealNetworks Inc. and Viacom Inc.'s MTV Networks. Rhapsody's monthly subscriptions start at $10 per month for access to a library of more than 12 million songs.

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Update on Greece Not Good

Nokomis, WI 10/3/2011 (PennyPayDay) – Stocks were little changed on Monday as positive U.S. economic data helped to offset fears Greece may require increased euro zone financial assistance after news it will exceed its deficit targets.

Wall Street began the new quarter with choppy trading after falling on Friday to end its the weakest quarter since 2008. The decline was sparked in part by worries over the financial crisis in Europe and the threat of recession that could drag down economies around the world.

Greece's draft budget sent to parliament on Monday showed Athens would miss its deficit targets for both this year and next despite harsh new austerity measures.

The revelations brought the specter of a Greece default closer as euro zone finance ministers met to discuss the next steps toward resolving the currency area's sovereign debt crisis.

"This news isn't surprising, but if Greece continues to have problems that could really drag Europe into recession, and possibly the U.S. as well," said Randall Warren, chief investment officer of Warren Financial Service in Exton, Pennsylvania.

Stocks briefly rebounded after the Institute for Supply Management's September manufacturing index topped consensus forecasts and the government said August construction spending unexpectedly rose.

"The data supports the minority view that things are going to get better," Warren said. "You can't discount that view even as the market finds it hard to believe, and that's why things are so choppy today."

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 24.00 points, or 0.22 percent, at 10,937.38. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 0.46 points, or 0.04 percent, at 1,131.88. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 2.72 points, or 0.11 percent, at 2,412.68.

The S&P 500 index lost more than 14 percent in the third quarter and fell more than 7 percent in September alone.

Yahoo Inc rose 4.2 percent to $13.74 after the founder and chief executive of Chinese e-commerce company, Alibaba, expressed interest in buying the company and said he has talked with other potential buyers.

Eastman Kodak Co surged 93 percent to $1.50 after losing half its value on Friday. The photography company has hired a law firm specializing in bankruptcy but said it had no intention of filing for bankruptcy.

Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc climbed 26 percent to $32.41 after it agreed to be acquired by Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman for $3.9 billion in cash.

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Oil Drops to Lowest Price Since 2010

Oxford, MS 10/3/2011 (PennyPayDay) – Oil is starting the last quarter of 2011 at the lowest level in more than a year as Greece's debt crisis and the possibility of another recession spooks investors.

Benchmark crude lost $1.47 to $77.73 per barrel in New York. Oil hasn't been that low since September 2010. In London, Brent crude dropped $1.38 to $101.38 a barrel.

Prices tumbled after Greece said it will miss spending targets despite severe cost-cutting. Greece has been relying on international aid to pay its bills, but further loan installments appear in jeopardy because of its inability to manage its budget.

Without more help, Greece will start to run out of money in two weeks.

Meanwhile at the pump, gas prices fell less than a penny to a national average of $3.417 per gallon.

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Tim Cook's Time to Shine with New Apple iPhone

Oxford, MS 10/3/2011 (PennyPayDay) – Tim Cook finally gets his chance to stride out from under Steve Jobs' shadow, and he could not have picked a better time or device to mark his unofficial debut as Apple Inc's CEO.

The latest generation of the iPhone -- still the smartphone industry's gold standard after four years -- is expected to see the light of day this Tuesday, just in time for the holidays.

Even in a dismal economy, consumers should again line up in droves for a souped-up device that also marks Cook's first major product launch since taking over from Jobs in August.

The so-called iPhone 5 is widely expected to have a bigger touchscreen and faster processor than the current iPhone 4, which helped the company stay a step ahead of rivals in an increasingly competitive smartphone market.

Its challenge will be to "wow" consumers with yet more game-changing innovations and top itself. The aging iPhone 4 is still an unqualified blockbuster: with more than 20 million sold in the third quarter that ended June 25 alone, it is likely to become the world's top-selling smartphone.

"Consumers view Apple products as a must-have," said Channing Smith, co-manager of the Capital Advisors Growth Fund, which owns Apple shares. "Apple phones and products have become almost a necessity. We don't expect them to falter."

But the latest version of the gadget that helped define the smartphone category is coming at a time when the world economy is slowing and competition is at its peak. More than 550,000 Google Inc Android-based devices -- including tablets -- are activated each day globally.

Apple's ability to generate enthusiasm among consumers and its command of the higher-end market, however, may make it less susceptible to a broader slowdown, investors and analysts say.

Cook is likely to take the stage at Apple central at Cupertino's 1 Infinite Loop, where Wall Street will get a chance to see first-hand how the acknowledged operations maven fares at a major product launch. Although a highly regarded executive, he is not known for pitching products.

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Vimicro (VIMC) Technical Stock Chart Video

Trying to hold a base and a higher low at $1.30, the VIMC chart is hitting the watchlist this week for some momentum to enter the scene as volume picked-up greatly on Friday. Secondary resistance is at $1.40, but doesn't stiffen until $1.60.

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Monday's Promo Stocks: (OTC:ELAY); (PINK:POTG); (OTC:MMED); (OTC:CVAT)

Tomahawk, WI 10/3/2011 (PennyPayDay) – Monday’s smallcap stocks under e-mail promotion campaigns are as follows: Portage Resources (PINK:POTG); eLayaway, Inc. (OTC:ELAY); Midas Medici Group Holdings, Inc. (OTC:MMED); and Cavitation Technologies, Inc. (OTC:CVAT). There is usually significant volume in these promo stocks, but be careful if you choose to trade them and always do your due diligence.

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LargeCap Stocks to Keep an Eye on Today

Tomahawk, WI 10/3/2011 (PennyPayDay) – Digital company Eastman Kodak issued a statement denying reports that it was weighing filing for bankruptcy protection.

Shares were surging 41% to $1.10 in premarket trading Monday.

Arch Coal cut its 2011 earnings outlook to an adjusted profit of $1 to $1.40 a share late Friday, lower than the earnings of $2.02 a share that analysts had been projecting. The company blamed lost metallurgical coal production at its Mountain Laurel facility.

Shares were plunging 9.1% to $13.25.

Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma expressed strong interest in acquiring troubled Internet company Yahoo!, according to published media reports.

Shares of Yahoo! were adding 6.3% to $14.

Yahoo! owns 40% of Alibaba Group, which owns multiple Internet businesses in China.

Electronic payments firm ACI Worldwide is acquiring payments products company S1 for $9.55 a share, an increase of 42 cents a share in cash from ACI's previous offer.

The acquisition consists of about $360 million in cash and 5.8 million in ACI shares.

Shares of S1 were gaining 5% to $9.63. ACI shares were unchanged at $27.54.

Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 5 on Tuesday.

Apple shares were up 0.6% to $383.71.

U.S. automakers Ford and General Motors are expected to report September car sales numbers Monday.

Ford shares were down 0.3% to $9.64.

Health insurer WellPoint increased its stock buyback program by $5 billion.

Heavy vehicles supplier Oshkosh said union workers have overwhelmingly rejected a new, five-year contract, even though it would have given them a raise and signing bonus.

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