Weekend Market Notes 7/27

It's finally happened for Sirius (SIRI) and XM (XMSR)! The FCC has approved their merger to create a single unified Satellite Radio company. The two firms have to pay a $20Million fine for breaking their FCC promise of never merging, but that's small potatoes when you consider how much these two were paying for exclusive rights to various programming.

Those bidding wars can now end, cost cutting and synergy can begin. For Sirius, there will be share dilution but long term holders should stay positive on the company as this big hurdle has been finally climbed. For XM, holders should be looking at some short term gains as the price of Sirius determines the finaly buyout offer for its counterpart.

Amgen (AMGN) made headlines late friday after test results of an osteoporosis drug met its trial goals. The stock shot up 14% on the news after-hours. It'll be interesting to see if the company can extend its climb or will experience a profit-taking pullback as its earnings are also on tap.

In the Entertainment world, The Dark Knight keeps breaking records and playing to sold out showings in traditional cinemas and IMAX (IMAX) screens. After an estimated $75Million grossing weekend, Batman's haul stands at over $314Million domestically, putting it on tap to be a very profittable film for Time Warner (TWX). With a 10 day trek to reach $300Million some analysts are already eyeing the next $300Million, putting the film on pace to near Titanic's record domestic gross.

Disclosure: Author holds no position in the above mentioned companies