| Reduced Volume Eases Sting Of Mostly Down Day and Abbott's Strength Comes On Two Major Products |
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--(www.FinancialNewsUSA.com)-- 12/14/2009 - Financial News industry news provided by Financial News USA. Abbott Laboratories (ABT) is in a great spot, according to Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Derrick Sung. Much of Abbott's success is tied to this one drug, Sung says. It's nearly 20% of top-line profit. Sung estimates its 2009 sales at $5.5 billion. One reason Humira is starting to see growth now - despite being on the market for a while - is because dermatologists tend to be a bit conservative, Sung says. Humira's main competitor is older and won doctors over first. Now, however, they're starting to slowly switch to Abbott's multi-use treatment. Abbott's stent is seen as the leader in the field but has yet to expand globally. It will soon make its way to the Japanese market. One pressure to watch out for is mounting concern about Abbott's weight-loss pill Meridia. A consumer advocacy group, Public Citizen, is trying to get it pulled. The group latched onto preliminary results from a study released last month. [Read the full article] The Orlando, Fla.-based company's Tupperware parties were once a familiar part of the American landscape. Postwar housewives got together and learned about plastic bowls and utensils from another woman, who was a Tupperware rep. The mass movement of women into the workplace seemingly put an end to that. But Tupperware didn't go away. It's become a steady grower with tentacles across the globe. The company has expanded into beauty and nutrition products, starting with the acquisition of BeautiControl in 2000 and continuing with seven direct-selling businesses bought from Sara Lee (SLE) in 2005. [Read the full article] Bonds appeared more secure in the plus column when Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told the Economic Club in Washington that there was some way to go before policymakers could be sure the economic recovery could be self-sustaining. Bernanke forecast modest growth in 2010, enough to lower the jobless rate slowly, but said the economy still faces considerable head winds. On Friday, bond prices fell because news of shrinking job losses in November argued the case for economic recovery and raised the prospect of less monetary accommodation next year. Analysts said Bernanke's comments reassured bond investors that the low job-loss count reported for November did not mean the Fed would hurry to raise interest rates. Bernanke was "appropriately cautious about the outlook," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. [Read the full article] About Financial News USA Financial News USA is a Next Generation Financial Communications firm focused on the distribution of market moving news. Financial News USA has developed leading edge e-publishing tools including programming proprietary RSS feeds and enabling open source press release publishing across its network. Financial News USA has been aggressively expanding its news distribution network by targeting direct feeds to financial news and data providers such as FinancialContent, Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO), among others. Financial News USA offers a free news feed available online (www.financialnewsusa.com) to websites and financial services looking for content and for individual investors looking to stay informed on the financial markets. Financial News USA and its affiliates charge each client cash for news distribution and may take an equity position in the companies mentioned herein, please visit the disclaimer at www.financialnewsusa.com. 
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