TIE News: Harold Simmons Buys Another 325,800 Shares

Harold Simmons Stock Filing - Reported On Edgar Yesterday

Filing states....The 6-3/4% series A convertible preferred stock, par value $0.01 per share ("Series A Preferred Stock"), of the issuer is convertible into shares of the issuer's common stock at any time at the rate of thirteen and one-third shares of the issuer's common stock for each share of the Series A Preferred Stock. Accordingly, on December 20, 2006, the reporting person converted 24,435 shares of Series A Preferred Stock into 325,800 shares of the issuer's common stock.

Alcoa Still A Huge Takeover Candidate

We would continue to keep accumulating Alcoa shares. One day we will wake up and the stock will trade between $43 - $45. A recent Barron's article points AA shares between $45 - $50! Regardless of any takeover the stock is being upgraded by Wall Street to the $42 level. The option trading today was literally insane...trading 6,000 MAR 32.50 calls, 11,000 MAR 35 calls, and almost 3,000 MAR 37.50 calls. Someone must know more than we do??? Time will tell!
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China's demand for copper remains strong
Robust appetite for metals points to unshaken industrial base, analysts say
Last Update: 6:23 PM ET Feb 28, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- So much for the Shanghai shudders. China is still likely to expand its consumption of copper and aluminum by at least 9% this year, said Citigroup Wednesday, a day after worries about a possible slowdown in the world's largest consumer of the metals triggered a global market rout -- with mining stocks hit particularly hard.
Analyst John Hill forecast Chinese copper demand will increase 9.2% this year, reversing a drop last year when Chinese copper users worked down domestic stockpiles.

Growth will likely speed up again in 2008, increasing 15%, as the country's demand for the conductive metal used in building pipes and wiring continues to expand, Hill predicted.

Likewise, China's aluminum consumption should expand by 15.5% this year, lighter than last year's growth rate, but still putting it firmly ahead of all other global users.
"We remain ardent adherents of the commodity supercycle," Hill wrote in a research report, referring to far-reaching, multi-year trends in the commodities market.
He added: "[we] do not believe that metals are artificially-inflated, supply-threatened, or cyclically 'cooked.'"

Still, he qualified that optimistic outlook by saying commodities are entering "a more mature phase" that places a premium on metals companies that show internal growth.

The Markets Will Soon Be Back On Track

Looks like Greenspan's comments over the weekend have spooked the market following a drop in the Chineese market. Testifying the day after the market's 416-point plunge, Bernanke told the House Budget Committee that the Fed was monitoring market developments but had seen nothing that would cause it to change its positive outlook for the economy.

Discussing market operations, he said, "They seem to be working well, normally."

In what might have been a reference to Greenspan, Bernanke said there did not appear to be just one cause for Tuesday's sell-off.

The possible causes suggested by analysts ranged from a record drop in China's Shanghai index, a surprisingly weak U.S. manufacturing report and weekend comments by Greenspan that raised the possibility of a U.S. recession by year's end.

Alcoa Upgraded Today - BUY

Credit Suisse said it also raised its price targets on aluminum companies Alcoa Inc.

The brokerage, in a research note, raised its price target on Alcoa to $42 from $35.

Block Trade of 462,900 Shares Of Alcoa (NYSE - AA) At The Close

This 462,900 shares of Alcoa - AA was a $16,368,144 trade! Something is definitely in the works!

Another Great Day On Our Picks Today!!!

More Huge Buying On AA At The Close

Something is in the works. Someone bought 87,300 shares of Alcoa - AA at $34.87 at the close = $3,044151 trade.
We hope to see $40 - $45 soon!

IGT's Reversal Is In Full Motion

Chart shows that the downward manipulation is about over.
IGT Chart
Next Target $47 - $48 Level and will be helped by an influx of business brought on by March Maddness, which makes this a good time to be in gaming stocks now.

From Barron's Online

BARRON'S
 By Tom Sullivan

If Australia's BHP Billiton or Britain's Rio Tinto hopes to buy Alcoa, the
American aluminum giant, as was rumored last week, they might have to pay a lot
more than $40 billion -- the price tag attached to the rumors. Sure, that tab
would represent a 33% premium to Alcoa's current $30 billion market value, but
it doesn't begin to reflect the turnaround afoot at the Dow industrials
component.

Barron's has been a fan of Pittsburgh-based Alcoa for some time (see "Alcoa's
Shiny Prospects," Aug. 8, 2005, and "Pricing Outlook Bright for Alcoa," Jan.
22, 2007). Yet the stock, for all its gyrations, did little from the date of
our first story, when it traded at 28, until this January. Indeed, Alcoa (AA)
has returned just 4%, dividends included, in the past five years, compared with
North American rival Alcan's (AL) total return of 65%.

Tuesday, Alcoa jumped as much as 10%, to 36.05, on takeover speculation, but
ended the week around 34.50, suggesting Wall Street sees no deal in the offing.
That would suit John Buckingham, manager of the Al Frank Fund (ticker: VALUX),
fine. "The ship is sailing the right course," he says, "but this is not the
time to be selling the company."

Buckingham, whose firm owns 162,000 Alcoa shares, understands why BHP and Rio
Tinto might be interested in a deal, especially at a bargain price. After all,
he says, "the ugly duckling is now a swan." But he views a bid of $55 a share,
or about $48 billion, as a much fairer price for Alcoa holders. Alcoa has
dismissed the takeover talk, while BHP and Rio Tinto didn't comment.

An acquisition of Alcoa would help both BHP (BHP), which calls itself the
world's largest diversified-resources company, and Rio Tinto, an international
mining concern, consolidate their positions in the aluminum industry. Aluminum
has underperformed other metals, in part because China produces 30% of the
world's supply. But the market has found support from commercial construction
and the transportation/aerospace sectors, CreditSights said in a recent report.

Investors in Alcoa, which makes Reynolds Wrap, Dura-Bright car wheels and
Spout Pouch beverage containers, as well as aluminum for industrial uses, can
expect to benefit. The company is likely to earn $3.03 a share this year,
compared with last year's $2.96. Alcoa trades for 11.4 times '07 estimates and
yields 2%.

In January, Alcoa announced plans to buy back up to 10% of its shares, in
part via debt. That prompted credit-rating agency Standard & Poor's to lower
its rating on Alcoa to triple-B-plus -- two notches below the rating the
company's debt received from rival Moody's Investors Service.

Yet the yield margins, or spreads, on Alcoa's bonds narrowed a bit in active
trading after the takeover reports surfaced; the company's 5.95% bonds due 2037
narrowed by three basis points (a basis point is 100th of a percentage point)
to 106 basis points over Treasuries with comparable maturities. That's despite
talk that the deal might be done as a leveraged buyout.

"It's a doable deal," says Eric Tutterow, managing director at Fitch Ratings,
implying Alcoa is not too large to be swallowed. "With a name like that . . .
there would be a lot of support in the high-yield and leveraged-loan markets."

A $40 billion acquisition would trump last year's record $39 billion buyout
of Arcelor by the Netherlands' Mittal Steel (MT). But Alcoa shareholders could
be counting even more millions before any deal is done. 

Time To Load Up On IGT

Chart shows that the downward manipulation is about over.
IGT Chart

Prudential Ups Alcoa Price Target To $41

Charts on A Few Recent Buyouts

Placer Sierra Bank Chart

Molecular Devices Chart

Broadwing Chart

Buyout May Still Be In The Works On Alcoa - AA

The tape (time and sales) shows someone Buying A lot of stock in here today!
We are hoping that the buyout of Alcoa - AA (if it happens like we think it will between $43 - $45) could look like the recent buyout of Molecular Devices.
See Chart on MDCC

A 92,600 Block BUY Trade On AA At $35.00 At The Close!

The potential for a bidding war for Alcoa may heat up the shares as we follow a report from the Times of London that diversified miners BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RTP) are interested in Alcoa and each are said to be considering offering to acquire the aluminum producer for $40 billion or around $45 per share takeover bid!

Tape Action:
Another 50,000 block trade at $35.00
Another 125,000 block trade at $35.09

Buyout Rumors Surface On Alcoa - AA

Alcoa stock is rumored to be valued at between $40 - $43 per share.
The shorts will feel a lot of pain when AA stock hits $37 - $38!
The continuous huge buy orders tells us that the rumored buyout may be real.
A serious Short Squeeze looks imminent.

One 18,000 Block Buy Order On AAPL Seen On The Tape

A Huge 18,000 block order on Apple stock at $85.00 sets off more short covering on AAPL. We hope the stock will continue to climb throughout the week.
Citigroup upgraded the stock earlier today with a BUY rating and target of $105.

A Lot Of Rumors Running Now On Apple - AAPL

MarketWatch 3:42 p.m. 02/07/2007 By Frank Barnako Something's happening here. Apple Inc.'s computer-meister is plotting something big. Really big. Like ... maybe ... new Beatles tracks we haven't heard ... which will be sold through iTunes and will not be protected by digital rights technology.

There was much speculation Apple (AAPL) would use last month's MacWorld to announce the addition of Beatles music to iTunes. Instead, Steve Jobs held up an iPhone, loaded with Beatles tunes, while Beatles graphics and music play onstage. Presumably the tracks came from his CD collection. (Yeah, right!)

Apple Recon has also reported there will be some sort of Apple "event" on Feb. 20. This has not been confirmed by the company. (In an earlier version of this post, I said the company had formally scheduled an announcement for the end of the month. I was wrong.) There is lots more speculation about Apple and that date here.

AAPL Is Poised To Run - Possible Start Of Short Squeeze!

We are pounding the table to BUY Apple now at $84 - $85!

Shorts Are Starting To Feel Some Pain On TIE

TIE Chart

Don't Get Left Out!

Read This Hot News About What Is Going On With Titanium