Asian Shares End Lower; Earnings Season Jitters

Asian shares erased early gains and finished Friday's session mostly in the red, with Japanese shipping stocks foundering on concerns about lower freight rates, but several companies made strong trading debuts in China.

Japan's Nikkei 225 ended nearly flat, down 3.78 points, to close at 9287.28, marking its eighth consecutive losing session.

"Stock prices are a leading indicator of Japan's economic conditions, so it is very disappointing that (the benchmark Nikkei 225 Average), which was around 10000 a while ago, is now near 9000," Japanese Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said earlier Friday.

Wal-Mart Approves $15 Billion Buyback

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executives unveiled plans to spend $15 billion on share repurchases and vowed the company will keep the customers it has gained in the recession.

The giant retailer has been on a roll during the recession, outperforming peers such as Target Corp. as cash-strapped consumers trade down to discount stores. But Wal-Mart's stock has dropped roughly 9% in 2009 because some investors and analysts doubt that it can maintain its momentum once the economy bounces back.

"Our customers will stay with us when this economy turns around and they have more discretionary spending, I promise," Wal-Mart Chief Executive Mike Duke said Friday at the company's annual shareholder meeting.

New customers made up 17% of Wal-Mart's increased shopper visits in the first quarter of the year, and their purchases were 40% higher on average than its customary shoppers.

Chief Financial Officer Tom Schoewe said Wal-Mart approved a new $15 billion share repurchase plan to replace a $15 billion plan from 2007. That plan still had $3.4 billion left to spend; Wal-Mart postponed buybacks last year as the recession took hold, but resumed buying shares earlier this year.

Wal-Mart shares rose 20 cents to $51.07 at 4 p.m. on the New York Stock Exchange.

Friday's meeting was the first in the tenure of Mr. Duke, who took the helm earlier this year, becoming only the fifth CEO in company history. Mr. Duke succeeded H. Lee Scott Jr., who continues as an advisor.

Mr. Duke vowed to continue Wal-Mart's growth, but to do so in a more socially conscious way. After the meeting, he told reporters he wants to improve the company's promotion of women executives, particularly overseas.

As is traditional for Wal-Mart, the meeting was a Roman spectacle of sorts, where the company eschewed its skinflint practices to celebrate its financial performance and growing list of international conquests.

The Vegas-style festivities included an appearance by basketball legend Michael Jordan and musical performances by American Idol winner Kris Allen and teen phenomenon Miley Cyrus. Actor Ben Stiller hosted the lavish production.

‘Substantial’ losses lead to Riviera stock delisting

The stock of Las Vegas-based Riviera Holdings Corp. took another hit today after the company announced plans to voluntarily delist its common stock from the NYSE Amex LLC exchange because of its financial troubles.

Riviera, owner of a hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip and a casino in Colorado, said it received a deficiency letter from the exchange indicating that the company is not in compliance with the exchange's listing standards.

Riviera said the exchange told it Monday "that it has sustained losses which are so substantial in relation to its overall operations or its existing financial resources, or its financial condition has become so impaired that it appears questionable, in the opinion of the exchange, as to whether the company will be able to continue operations and/or meet its obligations as they mature.''

Rather than appeal or submit a plan to bloster its finances, Riviera is leaving that stock exchange.

Riviera will seek to have its stock quoted on the penny stock exchange, called the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board. This exchange offers less visibility and liquidity than does the NYSE Amex, the combined New York and American stock exchanges.

Riviera stock has been hit hard by the recession. Trading as high as $39.12 in 2007, it closed Friday at 88 cents, down 41 cents or 32 percent.

Riviera said it expects that the last day of trading for its common stock on the NYSE Amex Exchange will be around June 25.

In March, because the recession had cut visitation to its properties, Riviera said it chose not to make an interest payment on its debt and warned it may need to file for bankruptcy protection.

The company, which at year-end employed the equivalent of 1,137 people at its property on the Las Vegas Strip, said net revenue fell 28 percent year-over-year in the first quarter to $34.7 million. In the first quarter of 2009, it lost $1 million, or 8 cents per share vs. a loss in the 2008 quarter of $5.8 million, or 47 cents.

TSX ends well in first bad week in two months

The S&P/TSX composite index jumped 172.13 points, or 1.85 per-cent, to 9,496. 96 Friday as gainers outpaced losers by over three-to-one, and nine of 10 industry groups ended in the black.

The Toronto Stock Exchange headed into the weekend on a positive note, thanks to rising oil and metals prices, but Friday's gains weren't to keep Canada's main exchange from recording its first weekly loss in two months.

Friday's gains helped pare losses suffered during the week that stemmed from the global outbreak of swine flu.

But the benchmark still completed down 0.55 percent from the previous Friday's close of 9,549.48.

The TSX venture exchange was also higher Friday, jumping 1.19 points, or 0. 12 per-cent, to 1,010.17, and the Canadian dollar closed at 84.32 cents US, up 50 basis points.

In the United States, all three major indexes overcame early losses and closed the week over four percent higher. On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average added 44.29 points, or 0.54 per-cent, to 8,212.41. The S&P 500 advanced 4.71 points, or 0.54 per-cent, to 877.52, and the Nasdaq composite index jumped 1.9 points, or 0.11 per-cent, to 1,719.20.

``It is truly impressive how investors managed to shake off the initial jitters over swine flu at the start of the week, pushing most major markets higher yet again on the week on growing signs that the worst is over for the global downturn and the fact that Mexico is reporting fewer new cases of the flu,'' said Doug Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.

Commodity prices got a boost Friday from a new survey that showed U.S. consumers in April felt more confident about the U.S. economy, and from new data showing a slowing contraction in the U.S. manufacturing sector.

In Toronto, energy stocks were 3.74 percent higher as oil rose $2.08 to $53. 20 US a barrel, and Suncor Energy Inc. was upgraded to Goldman Sach Group Inc. 's ``conviction buy'' list. Suncor was up three percent to $32.37.

The materials group was also higher as base metals such as copper rose on the renewed economic sentiment. Gold, meanwhile, fell $3 to $888.20 US an ounce.

Cott climbed over 70 percent after the generic soft-drink maker beat estimates, reporting first-quarter profit of 28 cents US a share compared with its year-earlier loss of 30 cents.

Other TSX stocks making noise Friday included Research in Motion Ltd. and Cott Corp. RIM, maker of BlackBerrys, climbed over three percent after UBS analyst Jeffrey Fan upgraded his rating on the company from ``neutral'' to ``buy'' and increased his price target from $85 US to $90 US.

Berkshire’s Buffett Calls Wells Fargo ‘Fabulous’ Bank

“All banks aren’t alike by a long shot, & in our view Wells Fargo, among the large banks, has some advantages the others do not,” Buffett said today at Berkshire’s annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.

Billionaire Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is the largest shareholder in Wells Fargo & Co., said the lender is a “fabulous” company.

Wells Fargo declined 33 percent this year on the texas Stock Exchange on concern the bank will take losses on loans acquired with the purchase of Wachovia Corp. Berkshire held about 290 million shares of San Francisco-based Wells Fargo as of Dec. 31. Based on yesterday’s stock price, the stake is valued at about $5.7 billion. The bank slashed its dividend 85 percent in March, reducing investment income for Berkshire.

The lender, the biggest on the U.S. West Coast, will pay back $25 billion to the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program & restore the quarterly payment to shareholders as soon as possible, Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf said this week at the lender’s annual meeting.

The stock closed at $19.61 yesterday after falling below $9 in March. Buffett said they was speaking to a class the day the shares dropped that low & told students that, at that price, “If I had to put all of my net worth in to stock, that would be the stock.”

Buffett, who has said they values lenders partly on their ability to acquire funds from depositors, told shareholders today that he’d “love” to buy the entire bank & is unable to do so because Berkshire wouldn’t get permission from regulators.

The Milan Stock Exchange closed the week with a strong positive progress

The Milan Stock Exchange closed the week with a strong positive progress: the Easter break hasn't broken the thread of the party rally, which started last March. The Mibtel rose by 1, 73%, doing better than the others European terminating with lower increases. Even better performance of the list of blue chip, the S & P / Mib: +1.96 percent. Piazza Affari touched a record for the number of contracts traded in shares, amounting to 373,608, while value traded for this is the second session of the year. In Europe, the CAC40 (Paris) closed in upward of 1, 77%, the Dax (Frankfurt), 1, 46% & Ftse100 (London) of 0.98 percent.

Boston Stock Exchange Listing

Irvine Sensors Corporation (Nasdaq: IRSN) announced today its purpose to formalize its voluntary withdrawal of its Common Stock from listing on the Boston Stock Exchange (the "BSE"), which no longer functions as an equities exchange following the BSE's acquisition by the Nasdaq Stock Market. The withdrawal from the BSE is expected to be effective ten days following the filing of a Form 25 with the Securities & Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Irvine Sensors expects to file the Form 25 the week of April 6, 2009 & expects that the withdrawal from the BSE will become effective the week of April 13, 2009. The withdrawal relates solely to Irvine Sensors' listing on the BSE & will not affect its listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Irvine Sensors' Common Stock will remain registered with the SEC under Section 12(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, & Irvine Sensors will continue to file periodic & other reports required under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 with the SEC.

Irvine Sensors Corporation (www.irvine-sensors.com), headquartered in Costa Mesa, los angeles, is a vision systems company engaged in the development & sale of miniaturized infrared & electro-optical cameras, picture processors & stacked chip assemblies & research & development related to high density electronics, miniaturized sensors, optical interconnection technology, high speed network security, picture processing & low-power analog & mixed-signal integrated circuits for diverse systems applications.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This message may contain forward-looking statements based on our current expectations, estimates & projections about our industry, management's beliefs, & certain assumptions made by us. Words such as ''anticipates,'' ''expects,'' ''intends,'' ''plans,'' ''believes,'' ''seeks,'' ''estimates,'' "think", ''may,'' ''will'' & variations of these words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements include, but are not limited to, the timing of the Form 25 filing & effectiveness of withdrawal from the BSE, & the Company's ability to remain listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market & registered with the SEC. Such statements speak only as of the date hereof & are subject to change. they undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason. These statements are not guarantees of future performance & are subject to certain risks, uncertainties & assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, our actual results could differ materially & adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.

Important factors that may cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, the Company's ability to remain listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market & registered with the SEC; the Company's ability to successfully specify, create or acquire, complete, introduce, market & transition to volume production new products & technologies in a cost-effective & timely manner; the impact of competing technologies & products; the rate at which current or future customers adopt our technologies; the Company's money resources & the effectiveness of our expense & cost control & reduction efforts; the effects of international conflicts, natural disasters & other events beyond our control; & the general economic, political & market conditions & specific conditions that may impact our operations. Further information on Irvine Sensors Corporation, including additional risk factors that may affect our forward-looking statements, is contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, our Current Reports on Form 8-K & our other SEC filings that are available through the SEC's web-site