It’s Monday May 22, 2006, and it looks like the NYSE Group (NYSE: NYX) has taken the first steps to becoming a truly global market place as they have submitted a $10 billion offer to merge with Euronext. Such a merger would create the first trans-Atlantic stock market, valued at $21 billion. While the Nasdaq (NASDAQ: NDAQ) has increased their stake in the London Stock Exchange to over 25% which may put them in a position to force a merger with the LSE. The world is getting smaller and the financial markets are right in the middle of it.The NAMC Newswire’s “Wall Street to Main Street” segment in its entirety is only available to subscribers. Don’t miss out and Keep in mind that all subscriptions are free and will remain that way. All that you need to do is go to http://www.namcnewswire.com and add your email address to receive the full segments. We value your privacy and all email addresses are only used for NAMC related items and not shared with any third parties.We want to give our listeners/readers a voice, so we are going to try something new on “Wall Street to Main Street”. We want to hear from you but not only to ask questions but also to make comments about various companies. We are going to give our listeners/readers a voice on “Wall Street to Main Street” by including their brief outlook on the companies that they may own or follow. This is only extended to those that are subscribers to “Wall Street to Main Street”, so you need to register in order to participate, it’s FREE. All that you need to do is either shoot us out an email using our contact form on our website at http://www.namcnewswire.com or give us a call toll free at 888-463-9237 between the hours of 6:30pm and 12am EST weekdays. Your question or comment could be a part of the Wall Street to Main Street radio show that is syndicated daily.Remember that you can always listen to the NAMC Radio on Streetiq.com, the leader in financial podcast. http://www.streetiq.com and is also available on iTunes.Political FrontVietnam is making headway as they are seeking to become part of the World Trade Organization. Their first step is the preparation to sign a trade agreement with the United States in June, this would be a first step in them reaching their goal of joining the World Trade Organization.Even though Germany and China both agree that a diplomatic resolution must be attained in the Iran uranium enrichment situation, Iran is not open to suggestions. They have adamantly stated that they are not only going to continue the enrichment but they intend to increase it on an industrial level. This just makes a tense situation worse.The U.S. Attorney General Gonzales has commented that he believes that any journalist that publishes classified information could be prosecuted. What ever happened the First Amendment, if the government begins to dictate what can or cannot be reported on then how can journalist actually be credible?, that’s a question that the people should bring to capital hill.President Bush is pushing for congress to pass the immigration bill, but many think that the plan may do little or nothing to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing the Mexican border. I guess if there is a will there is a way but it should reduce the attempts.Movers and ShakersSome major movers in Fridays trading session included Titanium Metals (NYSE: TIE) which traded up $4.06 to close at $35.05, Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) which traded up $2.43 to close at $21.70, Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) a stock that we have featured on “Wall Street to Main Street” as a stock on the move, it traded up $3.60 to close at $34.95 after a Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) deal was struck, Foot Locker (NYSE: FL) traded up $2.44 to close at $24.58, British Airways (NYSE: BAB) flew upward as it traded up $5.61 to close at $66.16, First Avenue Networks (NASDAQ: FRNS) traded up $2.93 to close at $15.44, Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL) another stock that we featured on “Wall Street to Main Street” traded up $6.51 to close at $56.22, Focus Media (NASDAQ: FMCN) which we mentioned may be looking to have a presence in the Untied States and one suitor may be Impart Media Group (OTCBB: IMMG) the stock traded up $7.46 to close at $69.18, Supertex (NASDAQ: SUPX) traded up $3.30 to close at $39.91 and Darwin (AMEX: DR) traded up $2.76 to close at $18.76.Analyst Upgrades/DowngradesRecent Analyst upgrades include Microchip Technology (NASDAQ: MCHP) which was upgraded to a Buy from a Neutral by UBS, Mattel (NYSE: MAT) was upgraded to an Outperform from a Market Perform by Ryan Beck & Co, United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) was upgraded to a Buy from a Hold by Stifel Nicolaus, Cypress Semiconductor (NYSE: CY) was upgraded to a Buy from a Neutral by UBS and Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) was upgraded to an Outperform by Piper Jaffray.Recent Analyst downgrades include Ann Taylor (NYSE: ANN) which was downgraded to an Equal Weight from an Overweight by Lehman Brothers, St Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ) was downgraded to a Hold from a Buy by Deutsche Bank Securities, American tower (NYSE: AIV) was downgraded to an Outperform from a Buy to a Neutral by Merrill Lynch and Midwest Express (AMEX: MEH) was downgraded to a Market Perform from an Outperform by Raymond James.Analyst Coverage Initiations include Allegheny Energy (NYSE:AYE) which was initiated with a Hold rating by AG Edwards, Alexandria Real Estate (NYSE: ARE) was initiated with an Under Perform rating by RBC Capital, Embarq (NYSE: EQ) was initiated with a Hold rating by AG Edwards and an Equal Weight rating by Merrill Lynch and Formfactor (NASDAQ: FORM) was initiated with a Buy rating and a $47 price target by Citigroup Investment Research.Tid BitsWal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) is exiting stage left from the competitive South Korean market as they have agreed to sell its 16 stores to South Korea’s largest discount store chain Shinsegae Co. for 825 billion won, or $882 million. Wal-Mart said the decision to withdraw was part of its global growth strategy.Barron’s ran a feature on Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) over the weekend and stated that Yahoo has a massive audience online at a time when advertisers are shifting to online marketing or increasing their online marketing efforts. They also made mention of the fact that Yahoo has been overshadowed by Googles (NASDAQ: GOOG) success and this has led Yahoo to its 52 week low. There is no doubt that Yahoo is cheap at this point, it is definitely a $45 stock disguised as a $29 or $30 stock, but that may not be realized until they show their current efforts adding to their bottom line.Last Week Home Depot (NYSE: HD) announced that they were looking to acquire a small bank called EnerBank USA from CMS Energy Corp. (NYSE: CMS). This acquisition would allow Home Depot to issue uncollateralized loans to contractors to keep the revenues flowing. This is something similar to what Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) is trying to do but on a different scale, you can expect Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) to follow suit in the near future.And the beat goes on…., more companies are being investigated in the ever growing stock options probe that we continue to hear about. The latest to join the party is KLA-Tencor Corp (NASDAQ: KLAC), they are citing that back in 2001, that’s right they are going back in time on all of these companies, but back in 2001 the cite that KLA-Tencor issued stock options to their top executives twice during the year both at the stocks low point for the first and second half of the year. They also add that the Chairman of KLA, Ken Levy received 10 stock optin grants from 1994-2001 and all preceded recent rises in the stock price. So I think that Levy has a slight problem now. Another added to the list was Boston Communications Group (NASDAQ: BCGI), as they join the likes of Comverse Tech (NASDAQ: CMVT), UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH) and others.Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is tying in with Lenovo Group to offer pay as you go computer service to those people living in developing countries. They are beta testing “FlexGo”, which is a pay per hour computer use service. They plan on launching this service in Brazil shortly and in the coming months expanding into Mexico, China, Russia and India. This is an effort on Microsoft’s part to get a strong footing in the up and coming nations that would eventually be users of their products. They are nurturing a market that they will try to dominate in the years to come.Since satellite radio was introduced, with Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) and XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: XMSR) leading the pack, you needed to be plugged in to your home or car stereo system to use it. But XM has changed all that recently as they introduced the world’s first portable XM Radio/MP3 Player portable device, it’s called “XM2go”, no computer is required You will now be able to take your XM radio with you to the gym, on your jog or on the bus or train ride to work. Pioneer is the technology company behind the unit, and the unit is set to work with Napster (NASDAQ: NAPS) and not the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPod. So companies that should be looked at are flash memory makers, as this is what drives the unit and not a hard drive. I wonder if Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) will be supplying the chips.FURIOUS FIVEThis is the Firstof our “Furious Five” companies that we see excelling in their industry in 2006. The company to kick off this weeks “Furious Five” is Gymboree Corp (NASDAQ: GYMB) it trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol GYMB.For our outlook, and other vital information on the companies that we feature as the “FURIOUS FIVE” on Wall Street to Main Street just subscribe for FREE at http://www.namcnewswire.comWe cannot stress enough that investors need to do their due diligence, call the companies, get the information, consult with your investment advisor and if you do not have one consider getting one. Put the same time into investigating these companies as you do when you go to purchase a new television, it’s only for your protection. When it comes to thinly traded securities stagger your orders or put a limit order in to avoid a run up.NAMC Newswire NoteGo to the NAMC Newswire for updates at http://www.namcnewswire.com and you can listen to the NAMC Radio for the audio version of “Wall Street to Main Street” at http://www.namcnewswire.com/namcradioTo register to receive the Wall Street to Main Street Free Daily Newsletter Click Here or go to our site and click on the Newsletter section. http://www.namcnewswire.com/newsletter
CEO’s that want to contact us can do so by going to http://www.namcnewswire.com or call us at 888-463-9237.Louis VictorNAMC Newswire888-463-9237Disclaimer:
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FreeStockCharts.com (formerly BestFreeCharts.com) is, in my opinion, the best free stock charting software. Actually, I believe FreeStockCharts.com is head and shoulders above most stock charts by online brokers on their websites and other expensive stock charting software. If you’re still using Yahoo! Finance for charts and checking the price of a stock, you’re living in a cave (no offense to the Geico Caveman).FreeStockCharts.com’s parent company, Worden, took their flagship charting software package TeleChart 2007 (a.k.a. TCnet) and opened it to the public free to use. For many professional investors and traders, TeleChart 2007 is the top choice for charting software. FreeStockCharts.com has a database of over 7000 stocks.*Note: Latest 15-minutes of real-time data is provided by the BATS exchange that currently accounts for 12% of market volume.The top 3 features that set FreeStockCharts.com apart:1. Real-Time charts and data for over 7000 U.S. stocks, some foreign markets, all major forex pairs, and market internals data (such as the NYSE advance/decline statistics Mark Haines announces every morning on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street). Make big watchlists of stocks you’re interested in and see all of the price changes in real-time.2. Browser-based desktop-quality stock chart software right in your browser. No more worries about downloading, installing, and updating software. We are entering the age of cloud computing where all the expensive equipment and software are stored on some far away server. All you need is to turn on your browser, on any computer from anywhere, and access all your data online. Google is doing it to email with Gmail, tradeMONSTER has done it with the first browser-based broker & platform, and Worden is doing it to stock charting software with FreeStockCharts.com.3. Access your personal watchlist and chart configurations all online. You have to register for the free account so they know who is customizing the settings, but once you do, all your latest updates will be saved. If you add certain indicators or draw trendlines on a specific chart, Apple (AAPL) for example, those lines and indicator settings will stay. You can access that chart from any computer from anywhere, not just on your computer anymore. Same with your watchlists. Make a list for the top stocks you want to trade, make another for market data. All of these settings will be accessible whether you’re traveling or at a friend’s house just borrowing their computer.ChartsThe charts are clean and easy to see. Several options are available to customize the look of the chart by editing the “price history” properties. Choose from the standard plot styles: Line Chart, OHLC (Open High Low Close) Bar Chart, HLC (High Low Close) Bar Chart, CandleStick Charts, Bar Charts, and Area Charts.To cover users of all preferences, FreeStockCharts went overboard and provides a ton of ways you can view the stock’s chart and data. I haven’t seen many charting software that allows you to see these some of these lesser-used timeframes like the 3-day chart or 7-day chart. The time frame simply refers to the amount of time each bar or candle covers. For example, a bar on a 3-day chart shows the price range of that stock for 3 days.Intraday Time Frames: 1-minute chart (yes! for hyperactive day traders/scalpers!), 2-minute, 5-minute, 10-minute, 15-minute, 30-minute, and 1-hour. Daily Time Frames: Daily, 2-day, 3-day, 4-day, Weekly, 6-day, 7-day, 8-day, 9-day, Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly charts (for those investors who live forever). When you move beyond looking at just 1 stock on 1 timeframe, FreeStockCharts allow a lot of freedom to customize your workspace.Tools & IndicatorsFreeStockCharts.com comes equipped with a full collection of 25 charting tools and 68 of the most common indicators. The main thing that FreeStockCharts.com lacks compared to top charting softwares is the ability to code your own indicators or install proprietary indicators such as John Person’s PPS indicator. If you want to code your own indicators, alerts, and autotrade, you will have to trade up to the likes of TradeStation, E-Signal, TD Ameritrade’s thinkorswim, NinjaTrader, or RealTick.The basic tools allow you to navigate the chart and mark the chart for your own reference: cross (see the price and indicator statistics), plain, pan, erase, text, ellipse, rectangles, and arrows. Technical analysis tools include: trend, fibonacci arc, fibonacci fan, fibonacci retracement, fibonacci time, Andrew’s pitchfork, error channels, Gann fans, horizontal lines, Quadrant lines, Raff regression channels, regression channels, regression lines, speed line, tirone levels, and vertical lines.You can customize the indicator according to each indicator’s specifics, but also the color, period, and positioning of the indicators. Particularly cool is the ability to apply certain indicators ON TOP of other indicators. For example, you can apply moving averages to just about any indicator. Advanced traders may find that useful if they use moving averages to filter and manipulate the original indicator one level further to find the patterns they find useful. It is amazing FreeStockCharts lets you export any and all data displayed on the chart.Watchlists and NewsFor veteran users of TeleChart 2007, you’ll know Worden’s extensive data isn’t limited to stock prices but also company financial data. FreeStockCharts, like TeleChart 2007, can build customizable watchlists based the the stock’s price, the price change, but also countless corporate financial data such as earnings, return on assets (ROA), sales growth, etc. Before you make your own watchlist, check out the countless standard watchlists that come with FreeStockCharts – they organize stocks in just about every way you can think of. The news panel shows you constant updates of headlines related to the stock you’re currently focused on in the chart. Like a lite version of SkyGrid, this panel brings the news to you instead of you having to go to several news sites.

Over the last ten years, an entire industry has developed covering, researching, and analyzing the stock market. Once considered a niche market, represented only by The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News, the financial media has experiences explosive growth. From cable news networks, like CNBC and financial aggregate sites like MSN Money, Google Finance, and Yahoo Finance, to popular broker and investment blogs, financial news is no longer niche. It is mainstream, accessible, and important for every investor.Today, many investors are utilizing online platforms and discount investment firms in order to keep more of their money in their pockets. Brokers charge hefty commissions and fees, which can drain an investor’s account. With some basic information and research, the average investor can make a profit without the help and assistance of a broker.Basically, your stock represents your share in the ownership of the company and it is your claim on any future earnings and dividends. Buying stock in a company shows that you are interested in its long-term success. Profits are eventually paid out in dividends, and the more stock you own, the more dividends you receive. Choosing a successful stock means that an investor should have a basic understanding of basic business principles and models.The most efficient way to research stocks is to use their stock symbol. The stock or trading symbol is an abbreviation traders and investors use to identify a company. These symbols incorporate letters, numbers, or both. While most symbols are three letters, some are four, and occasionally, company’s use only one letter as their stock symbol. These symbols were originally used on the ticker tape when stocks were traded on paper.Some of the more popular symbols include AAPL (Apple), GOOG (Google), (KO) Co ca-Co la, and TGT (Target). Some companies inject some humor or some homage into their symbols. Southwest Airline pays homage to its home field, Dallas Love Field (LUV) with their stock symbol. Legendary piano manufacturer Steinway remembers the great Ludwig Von Beethoven with its symbol, LVB. Harley Davidson uses HOG and the auction house Sotheby’s uses BID.These symbols can change to reflect mergers and acquisitions as well. When Hewlett-Packard merged with Compaq the new company assumed the stock symbol HPQ. Wireless and internet giant ATT is represented simply by the letter T, reflective of the company’s original business model.Sometimes, the symbol is followed by a “period”. This “behind the dot” notation and special codes are represented of the type of stock being offered. Class “A” stock is represented by the letter A, X indicates a mutual fund, and K notes common, or nonvoting stock. Pink sheet stocks and over the counter stocks (.PK), NASDQ small cap stocks (SC) and NASDQ National Market (NM) all have behind the dot notations.Investors can find the stock symbols by executing a simple internet search, and use the stock symbols to keep track of the stock’s activity and movement. Stock quotes are important when looking for real time stock quotes.