Superb week for local companies

Wall Street’s bullishness took a breather this week, as the major

equity gauges paused after bumping up against high points that

haven’t been reached in about a year.

Stocks, which have been in full-tilt rally mode since March,

slowed Wednesday after hitting high-water marks on Tuesday.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index reached a one-year high on

Tuesday, closing Tuesday at 1,011.66 before closing the week at

995.69. The Dow Jones industrial average hit an 11-month high Tuesday

at 9,323.02. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index closed at

its highest level since May 2002 at 1,677.14 Wednesday and held most

of its gains for the week.

Analysts attributed the recent gains to a general optimism that

the U.S. economy should recover during the second half of the year.

With the excess of bullish sentiment, some analysts took a more

skeptical view. Morgan Stanley strategist Steve Galbraith advised his

clients to “take some money off the table.”

Newport company added

to Russell 3000 index

A promotion came for Newport Beach’s United PanAm Financial Corp.,

which lists on Nasdaq as UPFC.

On Tuesday, the Frank Russell Co. announced it had tentatively

added the company to its Russell 3000 Index. The widely-watched

Russell indexes are used by mutual fund managers as benchmarks for

investment strategies.

United PanAm is set to be added June 30, when the index is

reconstituted. The new index will then be set for one year.

“UPFC’s inclusion in the preliminary list of companies named to

the Russell 3000 Index is, in part, a reflection of our growth and

overall strong financial performance,” said Chairman Guillermo Bron.

United PanAm Financial is a specialty finance company that invests

in retail automobile sales contracts and insurance premium finance

contracts. On Wednesday, shares of UPFC soared 11.74% to close at

$14.75.

Conexant division speeds

toward public offering

On Monday, Mindspeed Technologies said its outlook was improving

as it moves toward becoming a public company on Friday.

The division of Conexant Systems Inc. now anticipates that

“revenues will be at the high end of prior expectations” and that it

is “continuing to see strengthening customer order patterns.”

In April, Mindspeed stated that it expected its third quarter

revenues to be up 5% to 10% over the second quarter’s $18.3 million

in revenues. Newport Beach chipmaker Conexant Systems Inc. offered

shares of Mindspeed to existing Conexant shareholders at the close of

business Friday. The shares will be trade on the American Stock

Exchange under the symbol MND.