U.S. car makers have to step it up…
Comments »Yearly Archives: 2011
This Morning’s Most Active Put/Call Options Trades
-CALLS- OPTION EXP.DATE STRIKE PRC. VOLUME LAST S/PRC. NET CHANGE BAC 1/21/12 7.5000 1824 0.0900 up 0.0100 BAC 12/17/11 6.0000 776 0.1000 dn 0.0200 AAPL 12/2/11 385.0000 670 1.7800 up 0.5200 BAC 12/17/11 7.0000 533 0.0300 up 0.0000 BAC 12/2/11 6.0000 501 0.0100 dn 0.0100 YHOO 12/9/11 17.0000 471 0.2700 dn 0.0700 BIDU 12/2/11 135.0000 423 0.6400 up 0.2000 AAPL 12/2/11 380.0000 369 5.1000 up 1.3500 AAPL 12/2/11 390.0000 339 0.4100 up 0.0700 AMZN 12/2/11 200.0000 251 0.7300 up 0.3600 -PUTS- OPTION EXP.DATE STRIKE PRC. VOLUME LAST S/PRC. NET CHANGE SBUX 1/21/12 39.0000 465 0.7800 dn 0.1000 FAS 12/2/11 50.0000 400 0.0500 dn 0.1100 AAPL 12/2/11 380.0000 338 0.9000 dn 1.1400 BAC 12/17/11 5.0000 285 0.1500 dn 0.0200 AAPL 12/2/11 385.0000 227 2.5900 dn 2.0100 BAC 12/2/11 5.0000 212 0.0100 dn 0.0400 FCX 12/2/11 39.0000 210 0.3700 dn 0.0400 BAC 1/21/12 5.0000 193 0.4100 up 0.0100 BAC 12/17/11 6.0000 155 0.6700 dn 0.0300 AAPL 12/2/11 375.0000 152 0.3000 dn 0.5300 -VOLUME- CALLS PUTS TOTAL 37577 38602 76179Comments »
Kyle Bass: We Think Hard Defaults are Imminent
Is the world wrapped up in too much debt? Kyle Bass thinks so and has some chart porn to boot.
Comments »AT&T May Join Forces With T-Mobile Now That Their Bid for The Company is Withdrawn
Clearwire, $CLWR, Pops 24% on Interest Payments and a Sprint Deal
CLWR has some money troubles, but today’s payment of interest put the company in a better light. Also stiking a deal with Sprint helps a lot .
Comments »GM November Sales Up 7%
Detroit wins “worst heart disease” award
Detroit, MI just took home the trophy for worst heart disease diagnoses in the nation. Let’s hear it for Detroit.
I actually don’t care about heart disease at all; I just like to see Detroit properly represented. In all candidness, most the people I see aren’t fat; just in terrible health.
Comments »1. Detroit, MI Detroit residents report more heart disease diagnoses than any other big city in the nation, according to CDC data, and 33% of them are obese. One thing the city’s hearts do have in their favor: A vibrant urban agriculture movement is transforming empty lots into veggie-filled community gardens, increasing access to fresh produce in neighborhoods where it was previously scarce.
Factories stall worldwide, so crude oil bid higher
Don’t fight them. Go with them until the opportune moment.
Comments »LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Manufacturing activity is contracting across Europe and most of Asia, data showed on Thursday, and a Chinese official declared that the world economy faces a worse situation than in 2008 when Lehman Brothers collapsed.
Factory activity shrank even further in the euro zone, reinforcing the view that the debt-strapped region is in recession, while British manufacturing contracted at the fastest pace in two years, raising the risk that the UK economy may suffer the same fate.
This has been the case for much of the developed world for several months, with the exception of pockets of better news from the United States. But the slowdown now appears to be spreading to economic powerhouses of the developing world.
Adding to the gloom, new U.S. claims for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly last week, popping above 400,000 for the first time in over a month and reinforcing the view that the battered labor market was healing only slowly.
China’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) showed factory activity shrank in November for the first time in nearly three years, while a similar PMI showed Indian factory growth slowed close to stall speed.
Both China and Brazil eased monetary policy on Wednesday. It came alongside coordinated action from the world’s biggest central banks to try to prevent another credit crunch by lowering the cost of dollar swaplines.
“The big picture here is this is an unwinding of a 20-year debt bubble,” said Peter Dixon, global financial economist at Commerzbank. “It’s going to be painful, and it’s going to be nasty. What policymakers are aiming for is a smoothing of the path.”
But those policymakers appear to be getting more worried.
China entering meltdown and scrambling to avoid it
The EU notwithstanding, this will be the biggest issue in 2012. I cannot see how commodities don’t go into a total meltdown if the Chinese armor cracks.
Comments »SHANGHAI (AP) — China’s leaders are reversing their two-year effort to cool the economy, seeking to counter slowdowns in manufacturing and property that are dragging growth lower and threatening to spur unrest.
In the latest sign the world’s No. 2 economy is weakening faster than thought, business surveys released Thursday showed manufacturing contracted in November for the first time in nearly three years.
That news came a day after Beijing moved to invigorate business activity by easing credit curbs, ending a long campaign to take some fizz out of rapidy expanding economy. China’s leaders had resisted easing lending curbs out of fear that opening the spigots might revive an outright investment boom and re-ignite inflation.
High living costs are risky for China’s communist leaders because they erode the economic gains that underpin the ruling party’s claim to power. But slowing growth is another peril: already news of labor unrest at factories in the south suggests that workers are being squeezed as exporters juggle tight credit and slowing demand.
The decision by the People’s Bank of China to reduce the amount of money that China’s commercial lenders must hold in reserve by 0.5 percent of their deposits “is a clear signal that Beijing now sees the balance of risks as lying with growth rather than inflation,” said Stephen Green, an economist with Standard Chartered in Shanghai.
The European debt crisis and feeble U.S. recovery have weakened demand in China’s biggest export market, while at home efforts to curb inflation by cooling the property market are hurting a wide range of industries heavily dependent on housing and other construction.
The worsening conditions are no surprise to Chen Xiaoyan, a saleswoman at the Cangnan Qianku Qingfeng Pet Supplies Craft Factory in Wenzhou, a manufacturing base that has been hit especially hard by tight credit policies, leaving many factories short of operating cash.
“It was hard enough to do business last year. This year is the hardest,” said Chen. “Our profit was 30 percent lower last year and it will be down another 10 percent this year,” she said. Materials costs have come down in recent months, but labor costs have not, said Chen.
Worries over erring on the side of too fast growth are being overshadowed by greater alarm over a deeper slump as conditions worsen overseas.
“They’re stuck,” Patrick Chovanec, an associate professor at Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management in Beijing said of China’s policymakers.
That explains a comment by Vice Premier Wang Qishan to U.S. trade negotiators last week that “an unbalanced recovery is better than a balanced recession,” he said.
The Chinese economy is one of the few still growing at a respectable pace, and Beijing’s leaders intend to keep it that way.
China’s economic growth eased to a still-robust 9.1 percent in the quarter ending in September from 9.5 the previous quarter. But indicators showing export industries and some other areas of the economy were cooling more sharply raised fears of job losses and possible unrest.
In the manufacturing sector, the activity gauge of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing fell an greater-than-expected 1.4 percentage points to 49 in November, well below the 50-level that signifies expansion. That was the first contraction in manufacturing activity since early 2009.
Another manufacturing survey by HSBC showed an even steeper decline, with its PMI dropping to 47.7 in November from 51.0 in October.
The property market also appears to have reached a turning point, at least in the biggest cities. New home sales fell 17 percent by transaction volume in China’s top 20 cities in July-September compared with a year earlier.
Sharp discounts by some property developers have angered home buyers who bought when the market was at its peak, with some staging protests or storming real estate company offices.
“They promised us the price of our apartment would never go down, that it would only increase,” complained Zhu Hongxia, a property owner in Shanghai who was standing with others outside the office of China Vanke, the country’s biggest developer.
“You can’t decrease the price suddenly by such a big amount,” Zhu said.
While many homeowners have been angered by the drop, the government is seeking to prevent prices from surging further out of reach of most families. Leaders say property curbs will stay in place despite signs the effort to deflate the bubble is reverberating throughout an economy that already was slowing.
The construction slowdown has prompted builders to cut jobs — losses that have fallen heavily on unskilled migrant laborers.
Beijing Xuanyu Construction Co. in Shunyi on the outskirts of Beijing, a subcontractor on apartment projects, has cut its workforce of construction site laborers from 100 a year ago to about 70, according to Liu Jun, a manager.
The core staff of about 200 engineers, project managers and administrators so far is unaffected, Liu said. He said bricklayers are paid about 200 yuan ($32) a day and lower-skilled workers at least 140 yuan ($23).
“The volume of business has declined,” Liu said. “Our workforce costs are too high.”
China is striving to shift its economy toward greater dependence on consumer demand, rather than construction investment and exports. But they remain key drivers in this developing economy, and the job-scarce U.S. recovery and Europe’s recent upheavals do not bode well: export growth has fallen steadily since hitting a peak of nearly 36 percent in March.
China’s monthly trade surplus with the 27-nation European Union fell 10.3 percent from a year earlier to $13 billion in October as countries that use the euro common currency struggle to contain a sovereign debt crisis.
Today’s 52 Week Highs and Lows
NYSE
New Highs 58 COMPANY SYMBOL HIGH VOLUME ------- ------ ---- ------ Alaska Air Grp ALK 71.35 74,163 AllianceBrnstn NtlMun AFB 14.47 11,837 Altria Group Inc MO 28.97 1,657,229 Ameren Corp AEE 33.96 175,793 BlkRk MuniHldgs CA Qlty MUC 14.63 19,648 BlRkMunyldQltyIII MYI 13.59 17,240 Brown Forman A BF/A 77.80 1,875 Carters CRI 40.29 59,723 DTE Energy DTE 52.83 84,701 DWS Strategic Muni Inco KSM 13.34 12,152 Dollar General DG 41.05 171,512 FMC Tech FTI 53.16 140,223 Fair Isaac FICO 36.72 14,673 GATX GMT 43.12 66,737 WW Grainger GWW 188.94 61,012 Group 1 Auto GPI 49.89 23,269 Invesco InsCa ICS 13.74 21,028 Invesco Insured Mun Tr IMT 15.33 7,525 Invesco NY Qty IQN 14.68 29,592 La-Z-Boy LZB 13.85 440,559 Macy's Inc M 33.00 1,135,456 Mastercard MA 377.93 136,832 McDonald's MCD 95.55 490,142 Mistras Group MG 24.12 19,383 Movado Group MOV 18.49 103,597 Nuveen CA Muni Value NCA 9.29 16,529 Nuveen Ins Muni Opport NIO 14.53 58,784 Nuveen Insured Premium NNF 15.34 11,235 Nuveen Invest Qual Muni NQM 15.17 16,042 Nuveen MI Quality Income NUM 14.32 5,493 Nuveen Muni Advantage Fd NMA 14.69 11,370 Nuveen NJ Premium Income NNJ 15.00 8,745 Nuveen NY Investment Qual NQN 15.15 8,461 Nuveen NY Select Quality NVN 15.17 9,602 Nuveen Performance Plus NPP 14.93 28,133 Nuveen Premium Inco Muni NPI 14.18 19,375 Nuveen Prem Inco Muni 2 NPM 14.61 41,268 Oneok Inc OKE 83.90 106,710 Oceaneering Intl OII 48.00 95,419 Oiltanking Partners LP OILT 29.33 2,705 Philip Morris Intl PM 76.95 721,929 Pinnacle West Capital PNW 47.46 63,673 Principl Finl Gp 6.518% B PFGpB 26.39 2,392 ProAssurance PRA 79.72 9,794 Provident Energy PVX 9.64 394,314 Reynolds American RAI 42.09 267,475 Scana Corp SCG 43.74 48,743 Southwest Gas SWX 40.72 13,019 TJX Cos TJX 62.90 454,361 Treehouse Foods THS 66.40 18,040 Triumph Group TGI 59.63 52,195 Tyson Foods TSN 20.35 313,508 UIL Hldgs UIL 35.07 37,516 Universal Corp UVV 47.60 18,393 Vector Group VGR 18.20 31,462 VISA (Cl A) V 97.34 788,947 World Fuel Svcs INT 43.15 50,304 Xcel Energy XEL 26.40 369,330 New Lows 8 COMPANY SYMBOL LOW VOLUME ------- ------ ---- ------ Cash Store Financial Svc CSFS 6.25 7,600 China Zenix Auto Intl ADS ZX 3.75 800 Exelis Inc. XLS 8.90 142,475 Feihe International ADY 3.62 10,342 Gildan Activewear GIL 16.66 2,213,836 Grubb & Ellis GBE 0.20 303,937 MarriottVacations VAC 15.76 68,345 Reddy Ice Holdings FRZ 0.46 69,873
NASDAQ
New Highs 27 COMPANY SYMBOL HIGH VOLUME ------- ------ ---- ------ Ansys ANSS 62.19 59,041 Akorn AKRX 10.90 89,012 Arch Capital Grp ACGL 37.85 98,653 Atrion ATRI 243.21 112 Casey's General Stores CASY 54.01 29,644 Core Mark Hldg Co CORE 38.94 4,432 Costco Wholesale COST 87.35 770,032 Fastenal Co FAST 42.34 155,280 Fifth St Finance FSC 9.85 97,607 Halozyme Therapeutics HALO 9.51 53,493 Hibbett Sports HIBB 46.38 32,643 Inhibitex INHX 15.10 461,998 LKQ LKQX 31.25 88,477 Lancaster Colony LANC 70.79 13,294 Lincoln Electric Hldgs LECO 39.71 26,076 Magal Security Systems MAGS 4.95 159,951 Medivation MDVN 46.42 24,796 Natural Alternatives Intl NAII 8.99 4,879 OSI Systems OSIS 48.00 10,461 Panera Bread Co PNRA 144.50 35,549 Pool POOL 31.57 19,335 Ross Stores ROST 91.66 229,821 Spectrum Pharmaceuticals SPPI 14.00 130,941 Synageva BioPharma GEVA 17.63 100 Verisk Analytics Inc VRSK 39.37 127,048 ViaSat VSAT 47.99 22,900 ViroPharma VPHM 24.42 140,273 New Lows 25 COMPANY SYMBOL LOW VOLUME ------- ------ ---- ------ Array BioPharma ARRY 1.58 265,610 Autobytel ABTL 0.67 39,436 BOS Better Online Solns BOSC 0.81 300 BSD Medical BSDM 2.24 27,910 China Auto Sys CAAS 3.62 4,285 China Nuokang Bio-Pharma NKBP 2.32 19,934 China Sunergy Co CSUN 0.71 19,806 eOn Comm EONC 1.00 2,511 First Security Group FSGI 1.27 1,258 Forward Indus NY FORD 1.61 1,478 Francesca's Holdings FRAN 16.22 29,686 G Willi Food Intl Ltd WILC 4.27 573,238 iShs S&P/Citigrp Treas Bd ISHG 99.11 1,804 LookSmart LOOK 1.17 26,100 Lumos Networks LMOS 10.01 5,368 Macatawa Bank MCBC 2.20 2,860 Old Point Fincl OPOF 9.22 3,791 Pinnacle Airlines PNCL 1.91 6,716 Pure Bioscience PURE 0.37 64,236 SatCon Tech SATC 0.70 44,905 School Specialty SCHS 3.94 19,612 Shutterfly SFLY 26.59 337,828 Thermogenesis KOOL 0.85 2,625 Westinghouse Solar WEST 0.55 29,937 Zipcar ZIP 15.78 164,876Comments »
Today’s Money Flows, Heat Map, and A/D Line
Money Flows
ISSUE GAINERS SYMBOL EXCH LAST PRICE MONEY FLOW RATIO
(in millions)
SPDR S&P 500 SPY ARCA 125.31 +270.6 2.07
Google GOOG NASD 609.44 +47.0 1.39
iShrs Russell 2000 IWM ARCA 73.93 +41.7 1.65
IBM IBM NYSE 187.69 +30.0 2.54
Intel INTC NASD 24.70 +20.3 2.30
Chevron CVX NYSE 102.46 +19.9 1.93
Microsoft MSFT NASD 25.34 +19.6 2.60
iShrs DJ Energy Sector IYE ARCA 40.60 +18.0 11.42
Johnson & Johnson JNJ NYSE 64.63 +15.5 2.18
Weight Watchers WTW NYSE 59.99 +15.1 13.34
Target Corp TGT NYSE 52.77 +12.2 1.58
Philip Morris Intl PM NYSE 76.73 +12.1 2.20
JPMorgan Chase JPM NYSE 30.61 +12.1 1.89
Oracle ORCL NASD 31.52 +11.5 2.62
ConocoPhillips COP NYSE 71.58 +11.0 2.19
Cisco Systems CSCO NASD 18.61 +10.9 2.33
General Electric GE NYSE 15.86 +10.3 1.64
Merck MRK NYSE 35.84 +10.3 3.08
ML Retail HOLDRS Tr 12/41 RTH ARCA 112.63 +10.3 3.49
American Express AXP NYSE 47.70 +10.2 3.30
ISSUE DECLINERS SYMBOL EXCH LAST PRICE MONEY FLOW RATIO
(in millions)
Apple AAPL NASD 384.80 -44.7 0.84
ExxonMobil XOM NYSE 79.97 -21.4 0.58
Pfizer PFE NYSE 20.15 -20.2 0.36
Dow Chemical DOW NYSE 27.64 -18.2 0.16
AT&T T NYSE 28.80 -15.6 0.33
Costco Wholesale COST NASD 87.00 -15.6 0.42
Citigroup C NYSE 27.02 -15.0 0.64
Coca-Cola KO NYSE 67.43 -13.8 0.34
Abbott Labs ABT NYSE 54.42 -13.7 0.41
Procter & Gamble PG NYSE 64.60 -13.6 0.43
Wal-Mart Stores WMT NYSE 58.94 -11.8 0.50
Verizon Communications VZ NYSE 37.55 -11.7 0.38
Goldman Sachs GS NYSE 94.89 -11.1 0.63
Hewlett-Packard HPQ NYSE 28.18 -11.0 0.42
Union Pacific UNP NYSE 102.78 -10.9 0.46
Wells Fargo WFC NYSE 25.71 -10.7 0.49
SPDR Brclys Cap 13 Mo TBl BIL ARCA 45.83 -10.7 0.05
SPDR Gold Tr GLD ARCA 169.66 -10.4 0.73
McDonald's MCD NYSE 95.46 -10.4 0.44
Disney DIS NYSE 35.80 -9.9 0.44
Comments »
ISM Index: Prior 50.8, Market Expects 51, Actual 52.7
Repeat Foreclosures @ 45%, Foreclosure Inventories Hit All time Highs, and Delinquencies are down 30%
Congress Can’t Find Unity Over Finances, But Can Join Together To Imprison You Indefinitely
Former Secretary of Treasury Paulson Gave Out Advanced Information of FNM & FRE Debacle
Top Ten Insider Buys and Sells for the Last Thirty Days
TOP 10 LARGEST SALES IN LAST 30 DAYS
| SYMBOL | COMPANY | AMOUNT |
|---|---|---|
| DNKN | DUNKIN BRANDS GROUP INC | $1,179.86 Mil |
| WFM | WHOLE FOODS MARKET INC | $542.07 Mil |
| ATVI | ACTIVISION BLIZZARD INC | $429.36 Mil |
| LNKD | LINKEDIN CORP | $320.13 Mil |
| NDRO | ENDURO ROYALTY TRUST | $290.40 Mil |
| CNK | CINEMARK HOLDINGS INC | $204.18 Mil |
| VGR | VECTOR GROUP LTD | $191.85 Mil |
| TGI | TRIUMPH GROUP INC DE | $188.47 Mil |
| AN | AUTONATION INC DE | $162.79 Mil |
| MGI | MONEYGRAM INTERNATIONAL INC | $139.86 Mil |
TOP 10 LARGEST PURCHASES IN LAST 30 DAYS
| SYMBOL | COMPANY | AMOUNT |
|---|---|---|
| CLVS | CLOVIS ONCOLOGY INC | $292.04 Mil |
| VGR | VECTOR GROUP LTD | $109.74 Mil |
| JEF | JEFFERIES GROUP INC NEW | $52.55 Mil |
| FUN | CEDAR FAIR L P | $33.80 Mil |
| IMPV | IMPERVA INC | $22.10 Mil |
| GHDX | GENOMIC HEALTH INC | $19.93 Mil |
| CCMO | CC MEDIA HOLDINGS INC | $17.04 Mil |
| NLNK | NEWLINK GENETICS CORP | $15.11 Mil |
| TPCA | TROPICANA ENTERTAINMENT INC | $12.84 Mil |
| APEI | AMERICAN PUBLIC EDUCATION INC | $12.65 Mil |
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MORE INVESTING INFORMATION
Most Active Pre-Market Trades
Central Banks Increase Gold Holdings by 1.8% in November
ECB Deposit Facilty Usage Exceeds 303 Billion Euros
BREAKING: “DEFCON 3 CRAMER” Looking For Big Jobs Number Tomorrow
Aside from hearing about European bank failures, Cramer suggested, while on CNBC, that tomorrow’s jobs report will match ADP’s report of 206,000.
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