Not CL related, but market related slightly. I like OptionsXpress and have an account there. Not very good for day trading but good people. When I was with CyberTrader, Schwab bought them too. March 21, 2011, 8:39 a.m. EDT Schwab to acquire optionsXpress for $1 billion BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE:SCHW) Monday said it has reached an agreement to acquire optionsXpress Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:OXPS) , an online brokerage focused on equity options and futures, in a stock-for-stock deal valued at roughly $1 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, according to a press release
I always shake my head that the markets would rally so much on a deal like the AT&T/T-Mobile deal. Big f*ing deal. Who cares?
March 21, 2011, 6:35 a.m. EDT Oil futures gain on Libyan uncertainty Allied forces launch air strikes against Gadhafi regime By Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch LONDON (MarketWatch) â Crude futures gained in electronic trading Monday as the conflict in Libya escalated, with international coalition forces conducting air strikes against the country while its embattled leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi vowed to wage a âlong war.â The air strikes came after the United Nations Security Council authorized all necessary measures, including a no-fly zone over Libya, to protect civilians under threat of attack. Light, sweet crude for April delivery (NEW:CLJ11) rose $2.16 to $103.23 a barrel on Globex. âOil prices are likely to remain elevated while the situation in the Middle East and North Africa remains volatile. The key remains Saudi Arabia, where the news has at least not been any worse over the past week,â analysts at the National Australian Bank said in a note Monday. There were reports that pro-democracy protests spread to Syria on the weekend, where clashes with government forces led to several deaths. Read more about the Libyan & surrounding conflicts. While the focus was firmly on developments in North Africa and the Middle East on Monday, efforts to contain the nuclear disaster in Japan continued. There were some signs of stabilization at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Monday, with news that temperatures at the six spent fuel storage pools had been reduced to below boiling point, according to reports. The post-quake reconstruction in Japan may have an impact on crude prices, as the rebuilding efforts are expected to increase oil demand given the extent of infrastructure damage, according to analysts at Nomura.
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-march-21-0 The Guardian newspaper's Chris McGreal was on the road today near Ajdabiya, around 160km south of Benghazi, where Gaddafi troops are still fighting with rebels. That appears to be the current front line. The rebels, he says, view the coalition airstrikes "as part of their campaign." That's not what the West wants to hear; they're trying to keep themselves from becoming embroiled in a full-scale regime change effort. - 2:28pm Swiss journalist Gaetan Vannay has been in the western city of Zintan for the past nine days and says the eastern outskirts of the city are currently under fire and have been since yesterday. Twitter user @FMCNL, who has been monitoring some military flight flights and electronic communications in and around Libya, has posted this recording_of what is said to be a broadcast coming from an orbiting EC-130J modified Hercules turboprop airplane that is probably being used by the US Air Force for "psychological operations" in Libya. The broadcast warns a Libyan ship not to leave port (which port, we don't know) or risk being destroyed.
Yemeni army commanders defect to protesters Longtime confidant of Saleh warns that bloody crackdown is 'pushing the country toward civil war' http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42189503/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/