STOCKS NEWS US-Goldman Sachs upgrades Broadcom to 'buy'

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0803 ET 18March2010
Goldman Sachs upgrades Broadcom to 'buy'

Goldman Sachs raised Broadcom Corp to 'buy' from 'neutral' as it expects the chipmaker to gain share in handsets, and benefit from an increase in mobile data and the rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets.

'We think 2010 will be the year when Broadcom achieves meaningful share in the baseband market, and we expect this market penetration to drive the majority of earnings growth for the company going forward,' the firm wrote in a note dated March 18.

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Shares of Broadcom rose 2.1 percent to $34.30 in premarket trading.

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0757 ET 18March2010
Futures dip ahead of inflation, jobs data

U.S. stock index futures ticked lower on Thursday ahead of data on consumer inflation and the labor market.

Adding to the caution, Greece's prime minister warned his country would not be able to make planned deficit cuts unless it can borrow money cheaply and might have to call in the International Monetary Fund for help. A Greece finance ministry official later denied such a plan was in place.

S&P 500 futures dipped 0.9 point and were slightly below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures were unchanged and Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 3 points.

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0747 ET 18March2010
Teva to buy Ratiopharm: sources

Israel's Teva has won the battle for German generic drugmaker Ratiopharm, three sources said, fixing the industry leader's weakness in the world's second-largest generics market.

Teva, already the world's biggest maker of generic drugs, beat U.S. drugs powerhouse Pfizer and Iceland's Actavis in the race for Ratiopharm, agreeing to pay more than 3.5 billion euros including debt, two of the sources close to the situation said.

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U.S.-listed shares of Teva rose 2.3 percent to $61.29 in premarket trading.

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0742 ET 18March2010-Wal
Mart may sell renminbi bonds in HK: BBG

Wal-Mart Stores Inc is mulling selling renminbi bonds in Hong Kong, the world's largest retailer's Asia Chief Executive Scott Price told Bloomberg.

The retailer is looking at options and such a move would underscore the company's commitment to support local communities and China's financial system, Price told the agency in an interview.

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Shares of Wal-Mart, a Dow component, closed Wednesday at $55.92.

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0738 ET 18March2010-Crude oil dips after two
day rally

April crude futures fell on Thursday after a two-day rally, reacting to the dollar strengthening against the euro and a lack of strong steps from OPEC to tighten supplies above its official output cap.

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The contract was down 0.9 percent to $82.15 per barrel.

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0726 ET 18March2010
Options traders in bullish bets before GameStop results

Options activity on GameStop Corp suggests an upward move in the stock after earnings are reported ahead of the bell. Wall Street expects the world's largest video game retailer to post earnings of $1.28 a share for its fourth quarter and $3.45 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The stock rose 2.3 percent to end at $19.86 on Wednesday. On the options front, put volume was greater than call volume, but more of the calls were being bought on the offer, implying aggressiveness among buyers, while puts were being sold on the bid, which means sellers were more aggressive in unloading those positions. For full story, click

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