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Monthly Archives: November 2011

Aeropostale 3Q Profit, Sales Drop Sharply, Outlook Grim

Aeropostale (ARO: 15.51, +0.77, +5.22%) revealed late Wednesday much weaker profit and sales over last year and a grim fourth-quarter outlook, sending its shares nearly 2% lower afterhours.

The teen-apparel company reported net income of $24.11 million, or 30 cents a share, compared with $58.5 million, or 64 cents, a year ago. The results were ahead of average analyst estimates polled by Thomson Reuters of 28 cents.

Revenue for the three months ended Oct. 29 was $596.5 million, down from $602.7 million a year ago, beating the Street’s view of $581 million. Same store sales declined 9%

Total net sales in the company’s e-commerce business increased 19% to $45.7 million from $38.3 million in the year-earlier period.

However, looking toward the fourth quarter, the company predicted earnings in the range of 35 cents to 38 cents a share, which is far below Wall Street’s view of 44 cents, and a sharp drop from 95 cents in the year-earlier period.

“We are not satisfied with our overall performance, and we remain cautious in our outlook,” Aeropostale CEO Thomas Johnson said.

The company is making incremental progress on its strategic initiatives by brining “more color and fashion” to its merchandise assortment, while managing inventories and controlling expenses, he said.

Despite persistent unemployment and shaky global markets, the retailer said its near-term focus will be to focus on executing holiday initiatives.
Read more: http://trade.cc/mciixzz1fFAQuwyR

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SIGN OF THE TIMES: Miami Locals Pose as Guests for Free Hotel Breakfast

​Times are tough, so many people are searching for hotels with free continental breakfasts.

Problem is, some of those eating aren’t guests, says Hampton Inn manager front desk clerk Alfonso Tobenas. That’s right. Folks walk into tourist hotels and pose as guests to gain access to morning chow. Who would do such a thing? Lots of people, according to local hotel insiders.

“It is what it is, bro, times are tough and they’re hungry,” Tobenas says. “They’re just trying to beat the system and save a buck. The first time you’re going to get away with it, the second and third time I’m going to ask you to leave.”

So how does Tobenas, who has worked five years at the hotel tucked away behind Dadeland Mall, spot the freeloaders? By the way they talk — they can’t hide that Miami accent — and by the way they dress. Tobenas can spot a real tourist from across the room.

Tobenas says some people even regularly rotate hotels for their free breakfasts, but he recognizes their faces after a while. When he spots them, he lets them eat free-of-charge so they let their guard down. Then he confronts them and asks for their room number. At that moment, they realize they’ve been found out and generally leave without incident.

If they keep coming back, he either charges $7.50 — the estimated cost of the breakfast per person for the hotel — or calls the cops and have them charged with trespassing, though not usually with theft.

STORY HERE 

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FLASH: ASIAN MARKETS LOVE LONGS LONG TIME

Asian shares joined in a global rally Thursday, soaring early as investors welcomed central banks’ coordinated moves to ease dollar credit costs in Europe, as well as monetary easing in China.

Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average JP:NIK +2.21%  climbed 2.4%, while South Korea’s KospiKR:0100 +3.77%  climbed 3.4% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index AU:XJO +2.48%  jumped 2.4%.

U.S. and European stocks ended Wednesday with strong gains, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +4.24%  rising by the largest margin since 2009. Read more on U.S. stock market action.

The Dow notched its largest gain since March 2009, as central banks announced a plan to make dollar funding cheaper for European banks.

The U.S. Federal Reserve and the central banks of the euro area, Canada, the U.K., Japan and Switzerland announced Wednesday that they had agreed to reduce the cost of offering dollar financing through swap arrangements.

“As Europe dithered, monetary policy makers acted, even if their ‘actions’ have more symbolism than significance,” said strategists at RBC.

“Markets breathed a huge sigh of relief,” they said.

As the risks to global funding markets diminished, banks moved higher, with Westpac Banking Corp. AU:WBC +2.67%   WEBNF +7.65%  up 2.4%, and National Australia Bank Ltd.AU:NAB +2.61%   NAUBF +4.59%  up 2.1%.

In Japan, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. JP:8306 +3.35%   MTU +3.60%  jumped 4%, and Nomura Holdings Inc. JP:8604 +3.23%   NMR -0.89%  climbed 4.8%.

Meanwhile, commodity futures surged in New York after the People’s Bank of China cut its reserve requirement ratio for large banks by 50 basis points, to 21%, effective Dec. 5.

Commodity-linked stocks climbed sharply, with Rio Tinto Ltd. AU:RIO +4.53%   RIO +0.58% up 4.7%, BHP Billiton Ltd. AU:BHP +4.12%   BHP -1.56%  climbing 4.2% and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. AU:FMG +5.51%   FSUMY +3.80%  jumping 4.1% in Australia.

Steel makers surged in Japan, with JFE Holdings Inc. JP:5411 +6.05%  [ JFEEF +4.41% , up 6.1%, and Nippon Steel Corp. JP:5401 +4.92%   NISTF +6.12% adding 4.9%.

China’s move marked the first time the central bank had cut the reserve ratio for such lenders since December 2008, and followed a modest easing for small rural lenders last month.

“The move will ease constraints on bank lending — the level of excess reserves had dropped very low. Specifically, the cut has the same impact on banks’ ability to lend as the injection of $63 billion of base money,” said Mark Williams, chief Asia economist, at Capital Economics.

Hong Kong-based economists at Nomura said that the fact the central bank eased policy wasn’t surprising, but added that the timing was unexpected, with Nomura having expected such a cut in January.

“The need for coordinated policy action with other central banks may have triggered the reserve requirement ratio cut. We believe the fact that the [required reserve ratio] cut occurred [Wednesday], together with actions from other major central banks, did not happen by chance,” they said.

Adding to the positive tone for Asian markets, data out from the U.S. continued its recent strong run, with a private-sector employment report showing a rise of 206,000 jobs in November, the biggest jump since last December last year.  See report on private-sector employment data.

SOURCE 

 

 

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Fairholme Capital Had a Huge Day

No. Ticker Inst. Holdr. (% outstanding) Institutional Holder % Change
1 MBI 25.09 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 18.73
2 RF 4.81 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 14.21
3 MS 2.52 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 11.04
4 RRR 11.42 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 10.36
5 AIG 5.34 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 10.27
6 C 0.83 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 8.72
7 GS 1.19 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 7.80
8 FUR 2.87 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 7.74
9 LUK 7.56 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 7.69
10 CIT 9.65 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 7.19
11 JEF 1.73 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 7.07
12 JOE 28.69 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 7.00
13 TAL 4.78 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 5.79
14 GGP 9.06 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 5.17
15 SHLD 15.22 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 5.06
16 STD 0.06 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 4.61
17 SPR 9.31 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 4.33
18 HUM 2.06 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 3.70
19 WCG 8.39 FAIRHOLME CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 3.05

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Over 300 Stocks Were Up Over 10% Today

Here were some of the big winners.
No. Ticker % Change
1 ZOLT 43.11
2 AATI 32.26
3 LAVA 30.09
4 CYDE 28.95
5 AMR 24.85
6 GLCH 24.51
7 AVL 24.35
8 JRCC 22.11
9 PGNX 20.86
10 TPCG 20.22
11 PZN 20.19
12 HSOL 20.17
13 GENE 20.00
14 PCX 19.93
15 SRI 19.28
16 ZOOM 18.99
17 EVC 18.94
18 MBI 18.73
19 MBLX 18.55
20 OMER 18.54
21 JASO 18.18
22 SURW 18.09
23 TECUA 18.04
24 FENG 18.04
25 MOC 17.99
26 STVI 17.97
27 SGMO 17.97
28 AEN 17.94
29 FOLD 17.92
30 XFN 17.86
31 JKS 17.83
32 SEH 17.68
33 EEE 17.24
34 ENZ 17.22
35 BID 17.04
36 CPHI 16.88
37 ERII 16.67
38 CSIQ 16.60
39 PNX 16.45
40 LEAP 16.39
41 PDC 16.10
42 ZEP 16.05
43 STRL 15.86
44 INFI 15.82
45 IVAC 15.79
46 TSL 15.77
47 FBNC 15.71
48 SNBC 15.70
49 ANR 15.64
50 AAWW 15.50

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A Leviathan Short Covering Rally Neuters the Bears

The markets blasted off today on the announcement that central banks will cut overnight lending rates by 50 basis points. We also had some decent data today.

What is unique is the fed will offer liquidity swaps in multiple currencies. The measures are only temporary. Very interesting commentary can be found here from JPM.

Anyone notice momo stocks hardly gained today?

We also did less than a billion share on the NYSE….i know call me a bear.

Any way i thank the clam for giving me all my money back.

Sometimes it is good to be 100% cash. Perhaps we rally up to 1265 -1270 S&P, (200 ma,) and then we will TZA this clam inspired hokus pokus.

DOW UP 473

NASDAQ UP 104

S&P UP 51

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPz6iPkLz2I 450 300]

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