It appears the financing is drying up for even the largest credit worthy companies.
Comments »Yearly Archives: 2011
Today’s Egregious Short Squeezes
Let’s not forget the number hated stock by bears in the entire world: GRPN +6.5%.
No. Ticker % Change Short as % of Float
1 TLB 64.10 32.10
2 AMR 50.00 14.67
3 MNI 46.61 64.80
4 CMED 21.79 26.51
5 SPMD 14.36 17.60
6 FRAN 13.81 18.30
7 ENER 12.12 24.51
8 KTOS 11.29 16.80
9 MITK 10.35 14.20
10 DEXO 9.86 13.90
11 AFFY 8.92 10.70
12 RATE 8.65 18.10
13 MOTR 7.26 24.50
14 GIII 7.11 12.00
15 TEA 6.25 62.64
16 CSUN 6.25 17.13
17 Z 6.14 10.62
18 RJET 6.07 17.60
19 KSWS 6.04 24.00
20 DYN 5.90 12.37
21 PRMW 5.80 18.20
22 STP 5.77 15.69
23 ENTR 5.64 20.50
24 FSLR 5.53 45.30
25 GMXR 5.41 16.60
26 JBLU 5.20 16.70
27 LNET 4.90 26.50
28 CSIQ 4.74 18.10
29 GCI 4.61 10.90
30 JKS 4.59 49.88
31 LCC 4.57 14.77
32 NFLX 4.49 17.90
33 MBI 4.42 26.00
34 KV-A 4.29 22.34
35 VVUS 4.07 21.70
36 GOL 4.07 10.23
37 RDN 3.97 17.20
38 FSL 3.92 10.15
39 OXGN 3.92 20.40
40 OWW 3.76 11.80
41 STRI 3.68 25.40
42 ETM 3.67 13.90
43 WWE 3.66 13.20
44 MTG 3.55 17.70
45 PNSN 3.45 18.30
46 LEE 3.39 12.90
47 MELA 3.17 26.70
48 SIGA 3.09 26.10
49 BTH 3.06 11.50
50 PSUN 3.05 18.70
Truly Disgusting: Sandusky Arrested for Two New Charges of Child Molestation
A Berkshire Holding Company Buys Into a Solar Project for $2 Billion
“Warren Buffett’s MidAmerican Energy Holdings utility agreed to buy the $2 billion Topaz project in southern California, branching into solar power after the industry was battered by stock markets around the world.
The Topaz Solar Farm will be one of the world’s largest photovoltaic power plants and is being developed by the seller, First Solar Inc. (FSLR) of Tempe, Arizona, according to a joint statement today. Terms weren’t disclosed. The project’s 550- megawatt capacity is equal to about half a new nuclear reactor.”
Comments »The Robin Hood Tax is Just Plain WRONG
Correcting a problem starts with education, morality and ethics. Screw this Robin Hood tax.
Comments »Merkel to Remake Europe Into a United Germany
Ally Financial Soon to Face Investigation and Senate Hearing Over Mortgage Fraud Abuse
BP Gets 5 More Citations On Top of 7 “incidents of non compliance”
Blagojevich gets 14 years
Comments »CHICAGO (AP) — Rod Blagojevich, the ousted Illinois governor whose three-year battle against criminal charges became a spectacle, was sentenced to 14 years in prison Wednesday, a stiff penalty for the man convicted of trying to sell President Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat to raise campaign cash or land a high-paying job.
Judge James Zagel gave Blagojevich some credit for taking responsibility for his actions — which the former governor did in an address to the court earlier in the day — but said that didn’t mitigate his crimes. Zagel also said Blagojevich did some good things for people as governor, but was more concerned about using his powers for himself.
“When it is the governor who goes bad, the fabric of Illinois is torn and disfigured and not easily repaired,” Zagel said.
Euro falls verse dollar as hope for Europe deal fades (humor)
Just for the record, I know this post from an hour ago is outdated. I’m putting it up here purposefully, as a joke/warning to journalists about what happens when you infer causality.
If they don’t rush to cover the story, it can be read here:
The euro is falling against the dollar after Germany dashed hopes that European leaders would agree on a new plan to stem Europe’s debt crisis by the end of this week.
A German official said it could take until Christmas for the new plan to be agreed upon. Traders had expected some sort of solution by Friday when European leaders meet.
The euro fell to $1.3391 in midday trading Wednesday from $1.3414 late Tuesday.
The British pound rose to $1.5682 from $1.5605. The dollar fell to 77.68 Japanese yen from 77.70 Japanese yen and to 0.9251 Swiss franc from 0.9257.
As of the time of this writing, the euro is trading up for the day against the dollar at 1.314.
Quit trying to outlogic the markets, you pen monkeys.
Comments »FLASH: Crack Spreads Are Getting Hammered Again
-9% to $13.73.
Comments »Crude oil higher…um…because
Comments »NEW YORK (AP) — Oil is back above $101 per barrel after earlier losing ground when a government report showed an unexpected increase in supplies. Weakening demand for gasoline and other petroleum products was the cause.
Benchmark West Texas Intermediate on Wednesday fell 3 cents to $101.24 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price foreign oil that’s imported by U.S. refineries, gave up 63 cents to $109.88 in London.
Prices dropped after the Energy Information Administration reported that oil supplies increased unexpectedly last week by 1.3 million barrels. Gasoline supplies jumped more than expected, adding 5.1 million barrels for the week ended Dec. 2. Supplies are growing because of weak demand for oil-based fuels in the U.S.
Government figures show that gasoline demand in the U.S. is on track this year to be at the lowest level since 2003.
Oil has been hovering around $100 per barrel for more than a week. Investors are watching Europe’s struggles to contain a banking crisis that threatens to pull the region into recession. Widespread spending cuts are expected to reduce energy demand within Europe and among major manufacturing countries like China that export goods to the eurozone.
European leaders are working on ways to boost fiscal discipline and reduce debts. But credit ratings agencies have questioned if they’re doing enough.
At the pump, gasoline prices rose more than a penny to $3.286 per gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. A gallon of regular unleaded is 12.1 cents cheaper than it was a month ago, but it’s still 32.8 cents higher than the same time last year.
In other energy trading, heating oil gave up 1.8 cents to $3.004 per gallon and gasoline futures lost 4.12 cents to $2.6042 per gallon. Natural gas dropped by 6.1 cents $3.427 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Some more undeserved hope for OWS
Give it up, this pony has two legs and was born with its head in its ass.
Read here, if you even care to bother:
Comments »On paper and in terms of demographics, Lee Munson doesn’t fit the stereotype of an Occupy Wall Street enthusiast. Not only is the opposite true but the author of Rigged Money: Beating Wall Street at its Own Game sees genius where others see chaos.
“Occupy Wall Street never had central leadership which is what was so brilliant about it,” says Munson. Or at least what was brilliant about the movement’s ability to grow so quickly and gain such widespread attention. If the group is able to evolve, it’s impact could be long-lasting.
“By 2013 they might turn into the greatest watchdog group that my generation has ever seen,” he states.
Since its first Manhattan protest on September 17th, OWS has established the fact that they are undeniably angry. And while many see the group as unfocused, Munson has a specific cause they should rail on. It’s not capitalism itself but rather a structural change over the last 30 years that has placed finance above all other aspects of the capitalist system.
“Finance rules capitalism and it needs to be the other way around,” says Munson. “If Occupy Wall Street can force that point I think we’ll have a better world.”
Now that he puts it that way, yes, we would have a better world. Finance is supposed to be the grease for the wheels of capitalism. Believe it or not, IPOs were once a mechanism for otherwise thriving companies to fund additional growth. The vast majority of modern IPOs seem to be driven by the desire to allow early stage investors to cash-out with brokers taking a cut by distributing the shares to institutional investors who promptly “flip” to the public for instant, riskless profit.
Germany pessimistic over success of summit
Comments »BERLIN (AP) — Germany suggested Wednesday that European leaders could fail to agree on a plan to tighten the continent’s economic ties by the end of the week, dampening investors’ optimism about a broad resolution of Europe’s debt crisis.
Instead, a senior German official said it could take until Christmas for changes to the European Union treaty to be agreed upon, a critical first step in saving the euro.
It is unclear whether the leaders have that long, as ratings agencies have warned of a possible credit downgrade of 15 European countries unless they quickly build a firm plan to solve the continent’s two-year-old debt crisis.
Markets turned lower after the German official’s comments, dampening the optimism that had seen stocks and bonds rally over the past week. Investors had been hoping that a promise of more enforceable rules on budgets would permit the European Central Bank to take bolder action to reducing borrowing costs for Italy and other struggling countries.
Germany’s main stock index fell 1.1 percent, while the Dow futures were down 0.4 percent and the euro shed 0.3 percent to $1.3358.
Merkozy conclude talks to plan talks to talk about what they’ve already talked about
Comments »PARIS (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have sent a letter outlining their proposals to save the euro, including punishing countries that spend too much money.
The letter sent to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy on Wednesday sums up what the leaders outlined on Monday.
It says governments that allow their deficits to exceed 3 percent of their GDP should be automatically sanctioned and asked to lay out a plan for reducing spending. It also says that countries that continue to flout spending rules will face a series of increasingly strict sanctions.
Overspending and ballooning government debt is at the heart of Europe’s crisis. Sarkozy and Merkel want their proposals to form the basis of a meeting Friday to tackle the crisis.
Howard Lindzon’s “Shitty Business” Commentary, Live, On CNBC
ROFL
Steal from the rich, give to bureaucra…i mean poor
Comments »They call it the Robin Hood tax — a tiny levy on trades in the financial markets that would take money from the banks and give it to the world’s poor.
And like the mythical hero of Sherwood Forest, it is beginning to capture the public’s imagination.
Driven by populist anger at bankers as well as government needs for more revenue, the idea of a tax on trades of stocks, bonds and other financial instruments has attracted an array of influential champions, including the leaders of France and Germany, the billionaire philanthropists Bill Gates and George Soros, former Vice President Al Gore, the consumer activist Ralph Nader, Pope Benedict XVI and the archbishop of Canterbury.
“We all agree that a financial transaction tax would be the right signal to show that we have understood that financial markets have to contribute their share to the recovery of economies,” the chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, told her Parliament recently.
On Sunday, Mario Monti, the new prime minister of Italy, announced plans to impose a tax on certain financial transactions as part of a far-reaching plan to fix his country’s budgetary problems, and he endorsed the idea of a Europewide transactions tax.
So far, the broader debt crisis engulfing the euro zone nations has pushed discussion of the tax into the background. But if European leaders can agree on a plan that calms the financial markets, they would be in a stronger position to enact a levy, analysts said.
“There is some momentum behind this,” said Simon Tilford, chief economist of the Center for European Reform in London. “If they keep the show on the road, they probably will attempt to run with this.”
The Robin Hood tax has also become a rallying point for labor unions, nongovernmental organizations and the Occupy Wall Street movement, which view it as a way to claw back money from the top 1 percent to help the other 99 percent. Last month, thousands of demonstrators, including hundreds in Robin Hood outfits with bright green caps and bows and arrows, flooded into southern France to urge the leaders of the Group of 20 nations to do more to help the poor, including passing a financial transactions tax.
Enacting such a tax still faces many hurdles, however — most notably, skepticism from leaders in the United States and Britain, home to some of the world’s most important financial exchanges.
Today’s Winners
No. Ticker % Change
1 AMR 65.71
2 TLB 60.26
3 MNI 38.14
4 VRS 31.53
5 MSO 30.77
6 CYDE 22.22
7 MIND 20.62
8 CMED 18.68
9 WH 18.18
10 MW 17.07
11 CAGC.PK 16.47
12 AHC 16.08
13 GBG 15.84
14 POWL 15.44
15 CFW 15.38
16 MSHL 14.85
17 DEXO 14.08
18 FRAN 13.39
19 RCON 13.33
20 ENER 12.67
21 HSWI 12.60
22 RITT 11.86
23 BIOD 11.67
24 KIPS 11.38
25 NCS 11.29
26 KTOS 11.11
27 XUE 9.91
28 SPMD 9.57
29 LEE 8.96
30 AFFY 8.92
31 FLML 8.88
32 RATE 8.54
33 HOFT 8.47
34 MAGS 8.39
35 GRPN 8.26
36 RJET 8.18
37 ACUR 7.91
38 INUV 7.82
39 LF 7.59
40 LOJN 7.58
41 MITK 7.53
42 LTXC 7.53
43 SYPR 7.50
44 CIS 7.49
45 HXM 7.38
46 FSLR 7.35
47 SAN 7.31
48 ANGI 7.28
49 CPRX 7.27
50 SAI 7.00
This Morning’s Most Active Options Trades
-CALLS- OPTION EXP.DATE STRIKE PRC. VOLUME LAST S/PRC. NET CHANGE ITUB 12/17/11 20.0000 3958 0.2000 up 0.0000 GE 1/21/12 16.0000 2942 1.0600 dn 0.0100 AMR 12/17/11 0.5000 2567 0.3700 up 0.1000 ITUB 12/17/11 19.0000 2060 0.4000 dn 0.1000 AAPL 12/9/11 390.0000 1670 2.3300 dn 1.6000 AMR 12/17/11 1.0000 1506 0.1000 up 0.0600 AMR 1/19/13 1.0000 1264 0.2300 up 0.0700 BAC 12/17/11 6.0000 877 0.1900 up 0.0200 GE 1/21/12 19.0000 773 0.0600 up 0.0000 GLD 12/9/11 169.0000 729 1.3400 up 0.0700 -PUTS- OPTION EXP.DATE STRIKE PRC. VOLUME LAST S/PRC. NET CHANGE HPQ 5/19/12 27.0000 2285 2.7900 up 0.1900 F 12/17/11 10.0000 1414 0.0400 dn 0.0100 AMR 12/17/11 1.0000 1021 0.3100 dn 0.0800 BHI 12/17/11 52.5000 1000 2.5400 up 0.8700 INTC 1/21/12 21.0000 910 0.1500 up 0.0200 JPM 1/21/12 28.0000 902 0.7100 up 0.0600 FSLR 1/19/13 30.0000 836 4.1000 dn 0.9500 HPQ 1/21/12 35.0000 761 7.5000 up 0.5000 BAC 12/17/11 6.0000 758 0.3600 dn 0.0300 AMGN 12/17/11 55.0000 738 0.3900 up 0.0700 -VOLUME- CALLS PUTS TOTAL 232761 174416 407177Comments »
This Morning’s 52 Week Highs and Lows
NYSE
New Highs 32 COMPANY SYMBOL HIGH VOLUME ------- ------ ---- ------ Alliant Energy LNT 43.00 367,641 BlackRock Long-Term Muni BTA 11.62 11,752 BlkRk MuniAssets Fd MUA 12.24 20,739 BlkRk MuniHldgs II MUH 15.23 2,864 BlkRk MuniYld CA Quality MCA 14.25 13,886 BlkRd MuniYld Michigan II MYM 14.04 3,190 BlkRk MuniYld MI Qlty MIY 15.00 6,215 Blackrock Strategic Muni BSD 13.79 3,449 Generac Holdings GNRC 26.74 83,081 Inv CA Ins Tr IIC 14.71 6,678 Invesco CA Qty Tr IQC 13.32 1,385 Invesco Insured Mun Secs IMS 14.36 1,266 Invesco MIO II OIB 7.25 7,217 Invesco Mun Prem Inc PIA 8.56 4,175 Invesco NY Qty IQN 15.00 822 Invesco VnKmCAInc VCV 12.88 1,890 Eli Lilly LLY 40.13 3,960,006 Nuveen Build Am Bd Fd NBB 20.40 13,498 Nuveen Ins Muni Opport NIO 14.62 12,917 Nuveen NY Div Fnd NAN 13.99 2,743 Nuveen NY Select Quality NVN 15.32 6,864 Nuveen Premier Muni Inc NPF 14.42 8,035 Nuveen Prem Inco Muni 2 NPM 14.71 11,001 Nuveen Quality Income NQU 14.39 16,119 Nuveen Select Quality NQS 14.95 2,853 PIMCO Muni Inc III PMX 11.13 16,714 Public Str Dep. pfd. D PSApD 25.44 358 Public Str Dep. pfd. C PSApC 26.24 350 Public Str Dep. pfd. F PSApF 25.66 1,287 Sunoco Logistics Partners SXL 37.98 39,716 Tesoro Logistics LP TLLP 30.25 5,196 U.S. Cellular Sr Nts UZA 26.24 7,280 New Lows 5 COMPANY SYMBOL LOW VOLUME ------- ------ ---- ------ Cellcom Israel CEL 16.16 54,506 Doral Fincl DRL 0.70 52,030 Getty Realty GTY 12.51 218,651 Solera Hldgs SLH 45.31 38,282 Taomee Holdings ADS TAOM 4.62 1,635
NASDAQ
New Highs 7 COMPANY SYMBOL HIGH VOLUME ------- ------ ---- ------ Associated Banc-Corp. Wt ASBCW 1.37 200 Genomic Health GHDX 29.34 42,592 German American Bancorp GABC 19.49 5,425 Liquidity Services LQDT 39.09 189,911 Mitcham Industries MIND 20.57 627,569 SPS Commerce SPSC 24.63 10,383 Synergy Pharmaceuticals SGYPD 5.24 4,512 New Lows 16 COMPANY SYMBOL LOW VOLUME ------- ------ ---- ------ Citi Trends CTRN 8.45 19,443 Digital River DRIV 14.76 36,989 eGain Communications EGAN 4.21 12,421 FreeSeas FREE 0.50 2,605 Friendfinder Networks FFN 0.79 11,513 Meru Networks MERU 3.93 3,337 Network Equip Tech NWK 1.43 5,877 Poniard Pharmaceuticals PARDD 3.55 5,713 Seanergy Maritime SHIP 2.55 1,350 Sigma Designs SIGM 6.39 20,501 TigerLogic Corp TIGR 1.96 8,700 USA Techs wt USATW 0.01 3,265 U S Concrete USCR 2.65 1,000 Wireless Ronin Techs RNIN 0.98 25,113 ZELTIQ Aesthetics ZLTQ 13.01 3,900 Zipcar ZIP 13.87 126,838Comments »
