ATLANTA (TheStreet) -- No doubt

Delta is laughing at its competitors, as more signs emerged this week that the carrier is leading the U.S. airline industry in financial performance, labor relations and attitude.

Last month, Delta announced first-quarter results which showed strong metrics at a time when United digested merger disruptions and AMR operated under bankruptcy court protection. ...

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- JPMorgan Chase's $2 billion- trading fiasco has renewed the calls for tighter regulation of banks.

But some argue that the answer lies not in tighter regulation, but in breaking up the big banks.

JPMorgan said last Thursday that its chief investment office had racked up over $2 billion in losses since the end of the first quarter, weeks after CEO Jamie Dimon had dismissed reports about the division's market-disrupting trading activities as a "tempest in a teapot." ...

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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Sliding bank stock prices over the past two months have set up some remarkably low forward price-to-earnings multiples for long-term investors to consider.

Using data supplied by Thomson Reuters Bank Insight -- formerly HighlineFI -- TheStreet has identified a list of five actively traded bank stocks trading for less than 8.3 times consensus 2013 earnings estimates, with the largest price declines since March 19, through Tuesday's close.

We used March 19 as a starting date, because that is the day we pulled data for our previous look at bank stocks trading at low forward price-to-earnings multiple. ...

Click to research the Banking industry.

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- Investors got their first look at thousands of cancer drug research abstracts released Wednesday night by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in advance of its closely watched annual meeting.

Among the most significant cancer drug data unveiled for the first time Wednesday night came from phase III studies conducted by Aveo Pharmaceuticals and Exelixis, and randomized phase II studies of drugs discovered by Array BioPharma.

New disclosures of cancer drug data were also made available from Arqule, Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Pharmacyclics, Onyx Pharmaceuticals and Seattle Genetics, among many others. ...

Click to research the Drugs industry.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The following stocks go ex-dividend Friday, meaning an investor must purchase the shares Thursday to qualify for the next dividend payment: Aegon and Solera Holdings.

Aegon

The life insurance company reported on May 10 first-quarter net income of €521 million, up from year-earlier net income of €327 million. ...

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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stock futures were signaling a higher open for Wall Street Thursday but European stocks were faltering on further signs Greece could exit the euro currency.

Asian shares ended trading Thursday slightly higher. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.9% to close at 8,876.59.

The U.S. economic calendar Thursday includes weekly initial and jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Economists are calling for claims to fall to 365,000, according to Briefing.com. ...

Click to research the Retail industry.

NEW YORK -- Wal-Mart Stores, the world's biggest retailer, is expected to report first-quarter results before the opening bell Thursday, and analysts are looking for a profit of $1.04 a share in the April-ended period on sales of $110.54 billion.

When Wal-Mart reported its fourth-quarter and full-year results back in February, it forecast earnings of $1.01 to $1.06 a share for the first quarter and provided full-year guidance of profit from continuing operations of $4.72 to $4.92 a share.

Analysts expect first-quarter same-store sales to rise 2%. ...

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By David Russell, reporter at OptionMonster

NEW YORK -- Staples plunged on a weak earnings report Wednesday, but one big option trade is betting that the market overreacted.

OptionMonster's tracking systems detected the purchase of more than 19,000 January 2014 17 calls against previous open interest of just 213 contracts. The options initially priced for $1.10, but the buying pushed up premiums and the large blocks traded for $1.15. ...

Click to research the Specialty Retail industry.

Search Jim Cramer's "Mad Money" trading recommendations using our exclusive "Mad Money" Stock Screener.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- With Europe back in the driver's seat, Jim Cramer pondered which U.S. stocks are the most vulnerable. He told his "Mad Money" TV show viewers Wednesday that while a 10% pullback a la 2010 doesn't seem likely, some sectors are more vulnerable than others. ...

Click to research the Internet industry.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Where you think the U.S. stock market ends up this year likely depends on your view of the current action.

Or more precisely, the determining factor could be viewed as which of these 'R' words you think is most accurate in describing the near-constant selloff in equities since the calendar flipped over to May: Retrace or retreat.

John Stoltzfus, Oppenheimer's new chief market strategist, is in the retrace camp. ...

Click to research the Retail industry.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner both gabbed this week about budget showdowns, but the only words that mattered Wednesday were uttered by the Federal Reserve.

The Fed warned of fiscal tightening in 2013 if Congress doesn't reach agreement on a plan for the federal budget.

House Speaker John Boehner ...

Clarification: An earlier version inaccurately described David Einhorn's questions on Herbalife's conference call as "criticism" of the company.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here's a rundown of stocks making news after Wednesday's closing bell: Limited Brands

Shares of Limited Brands fell in late trades after the Columbus, Ohio-based specialty retailer, whose brands include Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works, forecast second-quarter earnings of 40 to 45 cents a share. ...

Click to research the Retail industry.

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- New drugs from Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline that precisely target genetic weaknesses in cancer were given spotlight treatment Wednesday night by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in a preview of its upcoming and closely followed annual meeting.

ASCO officials also highlighted a mid-stage study of Johnson & Johnson's Zytiga in early-stage (pre-surgical) prostate cancer patients. Later during the ASCO meeting, which starts in two weeks, J&J will present new Zytiga results from a phase III study in more advanced prostate cancer patients.

In all, ASCO released more than 4,500 research abstracts, or clinical summaries, of new cancer drug data Wednesday night in advance of its annual meeting. ...

Click to research the Drugs industry.

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- Investors got their first look at thousands of cancer drug research abstracts released Wednesday night by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in advance of its closely watched annual meeting.

Among the most significant cancer drug data unveiled for the first time Wednesday night came from phase III studies conducted by Aveo Pharmaceuticals and Exelixis, and randomized phase II studies of drugs discovered by Array BioPharma.

New disclosures of cancer drug data were also made available from Arqule, Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Pharmacyclics, Onyx Pharmaceuticals and Seattle Genetics, among many others. ...

Click to research the Drugs industry.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Retailers J.C. Penney and Staples were among the worst-performing stocks in the S&P 500 on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 lost 5.86 points, or 0.44%, to close at 1,324.80.

Shares of J.C. Penney fell 19.72% to $26.75. After Tuesday's closing bell, the department store retailer reported a first-quarter adjusted loss of $55 million, or 25 cents a share, which was wider than analysts anticipated. ...

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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stocks fell for the fourth straight session Wednesday as nagging worries about the political disarray in Greece and its future within the eurozone continued to weigh on sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 33 points, or 0.3%, to finish at 12,598. The blue-chip index ran as high as 12,722 early in the session and closed just above its low for the day of 12,597.

Sharper-than-expected increases in housing and industrial production data had inspired buyers earlier in the session but the market lost steam in the afternoon, similar to the pattern on Tuesday when stocks saw a steady decline in the final hour of trading. The Dow has now closed in the negative for 10 of the past 11 sessions. ...

Click to research the Industrial industry.

NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- A new report out from the Consumer Federation of America(CFA) leaves a big impression about the U.S. consumer, and it's not a pleasant one.

Americans, it seems, just don't know much about their credit scores -- specifically, how they're calculated and what impacts them the most.

That's not good news for the tens of millions of Americans mired in debt. Bad credit can lead to more debt, as banks and lenders tack on extra fees and higher interest rates to extend credit to riskier consumers -- in other words, those with lower credit ratings. ...

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Morgan Stanley was the loser among the largest U.S. financial names on Wednesday, with shares sliding over 4% to close at $13.54.

Investors continued to worry about a possible Greek exit from the euro, as the country was still unable to form a new government after elections on May 5, setting up another probable round of elections for June, along with a possible sovereign default. The Financial Times reported that over 1.2 billion euro in deposits were withdrawn from Greek banks on Monday and Tuesday.

Back home, according to the minutes of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee's meetings in late April several committee members indicated "that additional monetary policy accommodation could be necessary if the economic recovery lost momentum or the downside risks to the forecast became great enough," in the face of a "sharp fiscal tightening" in 2013." ...

Click to research the Financial Services industry.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stocks finished with mild losses Wednesday as concerns about Greece's future in the eurozone wiped out early gains following better-than-expected data on housing and industrial production.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 33.45 points, or 0.26%, to close at 12,598.55. The S&P 500 lost 5.86 points to finish at 1,324.80 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 19.72 points to settle at 2,874.04.

Breadth within the Dow was negative with 17 of the index's 30 components posting losses. ...

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Unless you're doing something truly unique and compelling on terrestrial radio, Pandora just served you the proverbial papers.

Here I explain why investors should pay attention to ratings-related news Pandora released this morning. While the impact might not be immediate, we will look back on May 16, 2012, as the day Pandora -- and Internet radio in general -- rendered terrestrial radio, on a grand scale, obsolete.

I add "by and large" because a place will always exist for traditional radio. What I envision, however, is a product that delivers, almost solely, spoken-word formats -- sports, talk, all-news, etc. -- on the FM band. Examples include top all-sports stations such as WFAN in New York and "The Ticket" in Dallas, which ultimately belong on FM and online, where key demos reside. ...

Click to research the Media industry.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Network equipment maker Brocade will be reporting first-quarter earnings on Thursday and I will be paying close attention to see if it presents sufficient justification to remain on my watch list. For as much as I have been an unabashed cheerleader of Cisco and the rest of the networking sector, Brocade has always been a name I have kept at arm's length.

Mainly, the stock has always been too expensive for me. I have never been able to justify paying for an equity that trades almost three times the price-to-earnings ratio of the market leader, Cisco, while also lagging in both operating and gross margins. That never really sat well with me.

However I am more than willing to give the company its share of credit for not only having managed a poor market perception, but also for navigating through a very difficult financial period -- somewhat evident in its latest earnings report. ...

Click to research the Computer Hardware industry.