Today’s highlights are: ORCL, KR, CMC, JBL, & SONC
Other stocks in play
Joined Feb 3, 2009
1,759 Blog Posts
INTC Expands Further Into Cell Phone Markets
Comments »Intel(INTC Quote) will sell processors to Nokia(NOK Quote) for mobile devices, Bloomberg reports.
The deal will be announced on a conference call Tuesday, Bloomberg reports, citing a person familiar with the matter. Anand Chandrasekher, senior vice president of Intel’s ultra-mobility group, will deliver the news, according to Bloomberg.
Intel, the world’s biggest chipmaker, has struggled for about a decade to get a foothold in the market for mobile-phone chips, Bloomberg notes. Chandrasekher leads a group that sells a scaled-down version of Intel’s personal-computer processor. The chip, called Atom, is designed for mobile devices that access the Web and handle basic computing functions.
An Intel spokesman decline to comment for Bloomberg, while a Nokia spokeswoman didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment.
In 2006, Intel CEO Paul Otellini scrapped his predecessor’s $5 billion investment in chips for mobile devices, after the company was late to the market and failed to win enough customers, Bloomberg reports.
Comic Relief
Or Ill Reality ?
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrCR8TndvYk 450 300] Comments »Postal Service Volume Indicator
Could be a new indicator developing…
Comments »As we have seen in recent rail data and in the FedEx data the “green shoots” appear questionable and recovery meager. I received this excellent email from an employee in a very economically sensitive industry. It’s a must read:
TPC,
I work at the Post Office throwing parcels and have never seen mail volume so low. The situation is getting worse, not better.Parcel volumes are down at least 30% and even the bulk mail is declining. I used to struggle to complete my job in 8 hours; now I easily finish my job and then go on to help my colleagues. Employees who leave are not replaced. No one is assigned to jobs in the event of illness or vacation. People just pick up the slack. Some large distribution centers are being closed and people transferred as far away as 100 miles.
There will be serious problems for all of the delivery companies if the low volumes persist and gas prices continue to escalate.
There seems to be no recovery in sight; mail volumes and work hours are plummeting. Bulk mailers seem to have figured out a way to target their desired audience. For us at the Post Office, that means that the circulars that used to go each address now only go to those with the greatest potential to buy. Even a few months ago, one of our weekly bulk circulars would arrive on three, very-highly stacked pallets. Now they arrive on two, wimpy pallets. Circulars that continue to be delivered to every house are now very thin, with not many advertising inserts. Upscale department stores have significantly cut back on their advertising.
We have totally eliminated our Sunday work force. As a result, for awhile, there was a huge backlog on Monday from Sunday’s mail that sat in the distribution center. Each truck came in 100% full, and some first class parcels were left behind for the last truck. Now, even after eliminating one of the trucks, the mail easily fits in the trucks; it is rare to have a truck loaded 100%.Previously unaffected areas of our work have also been affected. Several months ago, the window service and the box section were relatively unaffected by the dwindling mail volumes. Individual customers still came into the Post Office to mail their parcels, and businesses and individuals still rented P.O. boxes. Now, the long lines at the customer windows have shriveled, and there are many, many closed P.O. boxes, especially long-standing business boxes.
The postal management is taking drastic steps to reduce costs and increase revenue. Unlike UPS or Fed Ex, they don’t seem to be forecasting any upturn. Perhaps they are parroting the feel-good “green sprouts” words at the Postmaster General level, but our state level management is not mouthing such clichés. Our district policy seems to be “prepare for the worst” and “wait-and-see”. At least, that’s what I am hearing through the unofficial grapevine. Upper management appears very nervous.A special thanks to reader Karen for this superb note.
Asian Markets Open Lower On Wall St Correction
No really the green shoots are growing
Comments »By Shani Raja
June 23 (Bloomberg) — Asian stocks fell, sending the MSCI Asia Pacific Index down by the most in almost six weeks, as concern an economic recovery will be delayed dragged commodity prices lower and spurred demand for the yen as a haven.
BHP Billiton Ltd., the biggest mining company globally, sank 4 percent in Sydney after the World Bank’s forecast of a deeper recession sparked a slump in oil and copper. Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp., a trading company that gets almost half its sales from resources, lost 5.5 percent. Honda Motor Co., which gets 45 percent of its sales from North America, fell 2.5 percent in Tokyo as the yen strengthened against the dollar, diminishing the value of U.S. revenue.
“The World Bank has ostensibly poured a big jug of ice- cold water over those looking for a bounce in economic growth globally,” said Tim Schroeders, who helps manage $1 billion at Pengana Capital Ltd. in Melbourne. “Given the muted growth outlook, the focus will now switch onto the appropriateness of valuations.”
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index sank 2.5 percent to 99.36 as of 11:17 a.m. in Tokyo, the biggest drop since May 14. The gauge has climbed 41 percent from a more than five-year low on March 9, on optimism government stimulus efforts and interest-rate cuts had stemmed the global recession. Valuations of companies in the measure last week were at their highest levels since September.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 2.7 percent to 9,564.38. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index retreated 2.9 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index lost 2.4 percent.
Faltering Growth
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed. The gauge slid 3.1 percent, while Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index lost 2.8 percent after the World Bank forecast the global economy to contract 2.9 percent this year, compared with a previous forecast of a 1.7 percent decline. The report came during trading hours in Asia yesterday.
A gauge of six metals in London slumped 5.4 percent, the steepest drop since Jan. 27, following the World Bank’s prediction. Crude oil for August delivery in New York tumbled 3.6 percent to settle at $67.50 a barrel. Oil slipped 0.6 percent in after-hours trading, while copper dropped 0.2 percent.
BHP lost 4 percent to A$33.84. Mitsubishi Corp. sank 5.5 percent to 1,710 yen. Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-largest oil company, retreated 2.6 percent to A$40.23.
The global economy may suffer another slump due to the potential “double whammy” of rising oil prices and widening budget deficits, Nouriel Roubini, the New York University economics professor who predicted the financial crisis, told a conference in Paris yesterday.
‘Correction Phase’
“During this correction phase, bad news will likely get more attention than good,” said Yoshinori Nagano, who helps oversee the equivalent of $90 billion at Daiwa Asset Management Co. “Chances are the market will drift into a continuous downward trend.”
Japanese exporters declined as the yen gained against the dollar ahead of a U.S. report tomorrow that may show durable- goods orders declined in May. The yen earlier climbed to 95.29 per dollar, the highest since June 1.
Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest automaker, fell 2.7 percent to 3,580 yen. Honda, Japan’s second-largest carmaker, sank 2.5 percent to 2,520 yen as it said it will cut the number of models sold only domestically to trim development costs.
“Worries that the ‘green shoots‘ of the global recovery are unlikely to be sustainable may make investors risk averse,” said Hideki Amikura, deputy general manager of foreign exchange in Tokyo at Nomura Trust and Banking Co., a unit of Japan’s largest brokerage. “This will probably lead to yen appreciation.”
Elpida Memory Inc. sank 3.5 percent to 997 yen. The company may this month receive 30 billion yen ($315 million) in taxpayer money, public broadcaster NHK reported, without saying where it obtained the information. The Japanese chipmaker yesterday applied for public funding to bolster its capital, NHK said.
Blood Phone
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7VRJaj-Dhw 450 300]
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