Just temporary as per the clam….
Comments »Monthly Archives: March 2012
Santorum Renews His Vigor With a Deep South Win
The Eurozone Gets a Dose of Energy Inflation
Apple Subpoenaed in Google Anti Trust Case
“The US Federal Trade Commission has subpoenaed Apple in its antitrust probe on Google, reports Bloomberg.
The FTC is seeking information on how and why Apple makes Google the default search engine for its iOS devices when there’s no shortage of other search engines to choose from.
Google rivals such as Microsoft Bing obviously consider it an anti-competitive move.
Check out this video from Bloomberg for more:”
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Reynolds American to Pink Slip 10% of Workforce
“(Reuters) – Cigarette maker Reynolds American Inc said it will reduce its U.S. workforce by 10 percent by the end of 2014, as it looks to cut costs to sustain profit growth.
Reynolds American, which makes Camel and Pall Mall branded cigarettes, expects to incur a pretax restructuring charge of about $110 million related to the job cuts in the first quarter.
By the end of this year, the company expects savings of $25 million from the move, an amount that will increase to about $70 million annually from 2015….”
Comments »Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL): Dialing Up the Bull Case to $960 share
Comments »Morgan Stanley, the uber Bull of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is raising their Bull case PT to $960 this morning:
They see further upside to AAPL shares on meaningful EPS revisions as their new CY13 base / bull case EPS estimates of $60 / $80 are 24% / 65% above consensus. Firm new official $720 PT (prior $515) conservatively assumes no multiple expansion. AAPL has been added to Morgan Stanley’s Best Ideas list.
Gapping Up and Down This Morning
Gapping up
SCLN +12.6%, FRAN +12%, RVSN +10.3%, GWRE +9.7%, CLF +3.4%, BNHN +3.4%, BAMM +3.2%, CS +3%, RF +2.8%, DB +2.1%, BCS +1.2%, CCL +1.1%,
UBS +1%, HMNY +11.4% , FXCM +7.2%, ECYT +3.5% , BAMM +3.2%, LSI +3%, APC +1%, ALTR +0.9%, FSLR +1.9%, ALU +1.7%, AAPL +1.2%,
CLNE +1% and CFR +0.7%, TSEM +3.4%, CXPO +3.9%, CLWR +3.7% ,
Gapping down
MED -7.5%, HOGS -6.8%, LNG -5.4%, NOR -4.2%, STI -3.7%, C -2.6%, MTGE -2.5%, VLCCF -1%, PSUN -16.3%, MED -7.5%, HOGS -6.8%, MET -4.4% ,
FITB -1.1%, LNG -4.2%, ZNGA -1.6% , MTGE -2.4% , CHK -0.4%, CCI -1.8%, JNPR -1%, VOD -1.2%
Comments »U.S. Equity Preview: GWRE, FRAN, CLF, LNG, C, MET, STI, AAPL, & APC
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) increased 2.2 percent to $85.45. The largest U.S. independent oil and natural-gas producer by market value was raised to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus & Co.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) gained 1.1 percent to $574.50. The world’s largest technology company had its share price estimate raised to $720 from $515 at Morgan Stanley.
Citigroup Inc. (C) fell 3.2 percent to $35.29 and MetLife Inc. (MET) dropped 3.1 percent to $38.25. SunTrust Banks Inc. (STI) fell 5.2 percent to $21.40. The Federal Reserve said the financial institutions failed to meet minimum capital requirements in a stress test.
Cheniere Energy Inc. (LNG) decreased 4.3 percent to $15.32. The liquefied natural-gas importer said it will sell 17 million shares to repay debt and for other purposes.
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (CLF) rose 4.8 percent to $68. The iron-ore miner said it will more than double its quarterly dividend as part of a new capital-allocation plan.
Francesca’s Holdings Corp. (FRAN) : The women’s apparel retailer forecast first-quarter adjusted earnings of 14 cents to 15 cents a share, more than the average analyst estimate of 13 cents in a Bloomberg survey.
Guidewire Software Inc. (GWRE) (GWRE US) surged 10 percent to $28.22. The developer of software for insurance companies reported second-quarter revenue of $55.1 million, exceeding the average analyst estimate of $45.9 million.
Comments »Upgrades and Downgrades This Morning
AGL Resources, Inc. (NYSE: GAS) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Alcatel-Lucent SA (NYSE: ALU) Raised to Outperform at BMO.
America Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: APC) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NASDAQ: ADP) Maintained Buy with $60 target at Argus.
Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) Maintained Outperform but lowered estimates at Credit Suisse.
Crown Castle International (NYSE: CCI) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) Maintained Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Genuine Parts Co. (NYSE: GPC) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Health Management Associates Inc. (NYSE: HMA) Maintained Hold but cut estimates at Argus.
Juniper Networks Inc, (NYSE: JNPR) Cut to Market Perform at BMO.
Vodafone Group PLC (NYSE: VOD) Cut to Underperform at BNP Paribas.
ZAGG Inc. (NASDAQ: ZAGG) named value stock of the day at Zacks.
Comments »In Play and On the Wires
SocGen Puts Out a Piece on Bernanke, Inflation, and Gold
SocGen’s Dylan Grice is out wth a fresh dose of catnip for goldbugs, tinfoil hat wearers, and anti-Feders.
His latest note is titled: When To Sell Gold.
But before he gets to the answer draws a royal flush of anti-Fed memes.
For example, he makes this famous comparison.
Though developed market governments are insolvent by any reasonable definition, it’s far from inevitable that this insolvency will precipitate an extreme inflationary event … it’s just that it might … And although I’ve wondered aloud if Ben Bernanke is in fact the reincarnation of Rudolf von Havenstein – the tragic president of the German Reichsbank who presided over the Weimar Hyperinflation (speculative evidence presented below) – I don’t think he actually is … it’s just that he, and other central bankers, might be closer than they think …
We’re really not sure whether Grice purposely mislabled the pictures of the two central bankers or not.
 SocGen |
The MBA Mortgage Index Rose 4.4%
“Demand for home purchases picked up for the third week in a row last week, though applications for refinancing sagged, an industry group said on Wednesday.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of overall mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, fell 2.4 percent in the week ended March 9.
The MBA’S gauge of loan requests for home purchases gained 4.4 percent.
The rise in demand coincided with data released last week that showed employers hired more than 200,000 workers for the third month in a row in February .
Even so, the level of applications was essentially unchanged compared with the same time last year, Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s vice president of research and economics, said in a statement.
“Purchase activity remains subdued and within the narrow range we have seen since the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit in 2010,” said Fratantoni.
Purchase application volume for February jumped 18.0 percent from the previous month, but was still down 2.0 percent from a year ago.
The seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications slumped 4.1 percent, while the refinance share of total mortgage activity eased to 75.1 percent of applications from 77.0 percent the week before.
Fixed 30-year mortgage rates held steady at an average 4.06 percent.
The survey covers over 75 percent of U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, according to MBA.”
Current Account Balance & Import Prices
Current Accout Balance- Prior: $110.3b, Market expects $113.8b, Actual $124.11b
Import prices – Prior: Unch, Market expects 0.6%, Actual + 0.4% and YoY +5.4% …. Exports came in @ 0.4%
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Goldman Executive Quits and Writes a Tell All Piece of Client Abuse
“Well this seems sure to be the buzzy Wall Street story of the day.
It’s also sure to be another PR nightmare for Goldman Sachs.
Greg Smith, a Goldman Sachs executive director and head of the firm’s United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, has announced he’s quitting the firm in a most public manner: He did so by writing a long NYT op-ed denouncing what the firm has become.
After nearly 12 years, he says, the place is as “toxic and destructive” as he’s ever seen it.
He slams the culture under Lloyd Blankfein, saying that the firm puts making money over clients, and that he can no longer in good conscience stay there and recruit people.
To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s largest and most important investment banks and it is too integral to global finance to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for.
He says he was once proud of working for Goldman, but not now…
I knew it was time to leave when I realized I could no longer look students in the eye and tell them what a great place this was to work.
What really galls him is the extent to which the sole focus is making money off clients, rather than servicing them:
These days, the most common question I get from junior analysts about derivatives is, “How much money did we make off the client?” It bothers me every time I hear it, because it is a clear reflection of what they are observing from their leaders about the way they should behave. Now project 10 years into the future: You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the junior analyst sitting quietly in the corner of the room hearing about “muppets,” “ripping eyeballs out” and “getting paid” doesn’t exactly turn into a model citizen.
He concludes:
I hope this can be a wake-up call to the board of directors. Make the client the focal point of your business again. Without clients you will not make money. In fact, you will not exist. Weed out the morally bankrupt people, no matter how much money they make for the firm. And get the culture right again, so people want to work here for the right reasons. People who care only about making money will not sustain this firm — or the trust of its clients — for very much longer.
Meanwhile, as evidence that this is going to be yet another major public relations headache for the firm, the term “Goldman Sachs” is already trending on Twitter.”
Comments »The EU Formally Approves Greek Bailout
“BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone countries formally approved on Wednesday a second, 130 billion euro financing package for Greece that will keep Athens funded until 2014, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers Jean-Claude Juncker said in a statement.
“The euro area member states have today formally approved the second adjustment program for Greece. All required national and parliamentary procedures have been finalized,” Juncker said.
He said euro zone governments have also authorized their temporary bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility(EFSF), to release the first installment of 39.4 billion euros to Greece under the scheme, to be disbursed in several tranches.
The formal completion of the procedure follows political agreement to lend more money to Greece at a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday.”
Comments »BMW Warns Over Incentive Wars Going too Far
Gold Continues to Get Smashed Along With Other Metals
Oil Takes its Cue From China and Trades Down Slightly as Hopes are Dashed
China Stocks Fall The Most in Three Months as Wen States Housing Curbs Need to Bring Prices Down Further
“China’s stocks fell, dragging the benchmark index down the most in more than three months, after Premier Wen Jiabao said home prices are still far from reasonable levels.
The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) slumped 2.6 percent at the close, reversing an earlier 0.8 percent gain. A relaxation of curbs on the property market would lead to “chaos,” Wen said at a press conference in Beijing today. A gauge tracking property stocks sank 3.7 percent, led by Poly Real Estate Group Co., while Anhui Conch Cement Co. paced losses by building- material companies.
“Wen’s speech has raised concern that property curbs may be kept in place for longer than previously expected,” said Zhang Ling, general manager at Shanghai River Fund Management Co. “Property accounts for a significant part of the economy.”
The Shanghai Composite had rallied 12 percent in 2012 through yesterday following two years of losses on speculation the central bank would add to a Feb. 18 cut in lenders’ reserve requirements to bolster economic growth. The government’s two- year effort to control the property market helped spur a 26 percent drop in home sales in the first two months of the year.
The Shanghai stock gauge closed 64.57 points lower at 2,391.23, the biggest loss since Nov. 30. The CSI 300 Index (SHSZ300) retreated 2.8 percent to 2,605.11. The Bloomberg China-US 55 Index, the measure of the most-traded U.S.-listed Chinese companies, added 2.1 percent in New York yesterday…”
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