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Monthly Archives: November 2012

$CSCO to Buy Cloupia For Data Center Processing

“$CSCO is at it again, with yet one more acquisition. The company is acquiring Cloupia, a software company that automates converged data center infrastructure. Cisco will pay approximately $125 million in cash and retention-based incentives in exchange for all shares of Cloupia.”

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October Foreclosures Up 3% in October, Down 19% YoY

“A total of 186,455 foreclosures filings were made in the United States during the month of October, according to real estate tracking firm RealtyTrac. That number represents a rise of 3% month-over-month, and a decline of 19% year-over-year. In January of this year, 210,941 foreclosures were filed. That equates to one in every 706 housing units in the United States.”

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Speculation Mounts That U.S. Credit Rating Could Take a Hit in 2013

“In 2011, the United States emerged from a damaging budget battle with a downgrade of its pristine triple-A rating for the first time in history. In 2013, it could be dealt even a bigger blow.

The battle over avoiding the so-called “fiscal cliff” is the first of a likely series of partisan confrontations in Washington in the coming year that, if not resolved, could cause more downgrades of the U.S. credit rating.

“The rating is in the hands of policymakers,” said John Chambers, chairman of Standard & Poor’s sovereign rating committee, the agency that downgraded the United States in August 2011.”

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Business Confidence Continues Its Stunning Collapse

“$MS just published its November read on its proprietary Business Conditions Index, and it dropped 6 points to 35%. This follows last month’s stunning 14 point plunge.

“Rising fiscal policy uncertainty is having an increasingly negative impact on business activity as the fiscal cliff looms, write the economists led by Vincent Reinhart. “After the status quo election results, the ideological divide that blew up the “Grand Bargain” in 2011 still exists. Risks are significant that a fiscal cliff deal won’t be reached by January 1, potentially a major blow to an economy that appears to be moving into year end with little momentum.”

This only reinforces the idea the U.S. consumers and the U.S. businesses are experiencing the economy very differently.  Specifically, the consumer has been feeling more confident thanks to emerging bullish trends like the rebound in home prices.  Meanwhile, businesses are becoming increasingly cautious as the fiscal cliff looms.

Here’s a long term look at the measure:”

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$VIA Posts and Increase in Profits Despite a 17% Drop in Revenues

 

“NEW YORK (AP) — Viacom says net income grew 13 percent in the most recent quarter even as revenue fell more than Wall Street expected with the lack of a strong theatrical release.

Net income for the July-September quarter was $650 million, or $1.26 a share, compared with $576 million, or $1 a share, a year earlier.

After adjusting for one-time items, earnings came to $1.21. Analysts were expecting $1.17.”

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$WMT Misses Estimates, Company Discusses Ongoing Probe by DOJ on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

 

“(Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc reported quarterly sales below analysts’ expectations on Thursday, with sales at established U.S. discount stores up, but not as much as Wall Street expected.

Wal-Mart shares fell 2.7 percent to $69.40 in premarket trading.

Still the world’s largest retailer also said sales so far this month were better than expected in the United States as its focus on low prices has resonated in an economy where unemployment continues to be high.”

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$LTD Beats on Lower YoY Results, Company Guides Lower

 

“COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Limited Brands Inc. reported a drop in its fiscal third-quarter profit as sales slipped, but it still managed to beat market expectations.

The Columbus, Ohio-based company that owns Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works and other retailers earned $73.4 million, or 25 cents per share, for the quarter that ended Oct. 27. That is compared with $94.3 million, or 31 cents per share, earned in the third quarter last year.

It earned 26 cents per share versus 25 cents per share on an adjusted basis.

Limited’s total revenue fell 5.7 percent to $2.05 billion from $2.17 billion. The year-earlier quarter included $258.7 million attributable to the company’s third-party apparel sourcing business, which was sold in November 2011.

Revenue from its stores open at least a year, considered a key indicator of financial performance as it strips away recently opened and closed stores, increased 5 percent.

Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting the company to earn 24 cents per share on revenue of $2.05 billion.”

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$TGT Beats the Street, Company Guides Lower

“WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Target Corp.TGT -1.14% reported net profit of $637 million, or 96 cents a share, for the third quarter ended Oct. 27, up from $555 million, or 82 cents, earned in the same period a year ago. Quarterly revenue reached $16.93 billion, including sales of $16.6 billion, from the prior year’s $16.4 billion.”

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Asia Seen Nearing End of Slowdown on China Recovery

“East Asian countries are poised to report gross domestic product data that may mark the bottom of the region’s slowdown, as signs of a recovery in China and the U.S. herald a revival in demand for exports.

Hong Kong’s GDP probably rose last quarter after declining the previous three months, according to a Bloomberg survey before a report tomorrow. Expansion in Malaysia and Thailand may have eased while Singapore’s contraction was probably worse than initially estimated, separate surveys showed. Regional growth will probably recover this quarter, Moody’s Analytics, Citigroup Inc., and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group predict.

“Across Asia, the business cycle likely reached its trough, with many economies reporting the worst growth in the third quarter,” said Glenn Levine, an economist at Moody’s Analytics in Sydney. “Stimulus measures are starting to boost Chinese demand and the recovery slowly coming into fruition in the U.S. means 2013 will be a better year for most of the region.” ”

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Italian Economy Shrinks 0.2% as Recession Enters Second Year

“Italy’s economy shrank less than economists forecast in the quarter through September as the country’s fourth recession since 2001 entered its second year.

Gross domestic product declined 0.2 percent from the second quarter, when it decreased a revised 0.7 percent, the National Statistics Institute Istat said in a preliminary report today. The decline was less than the 0.5 percent median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 21 economists. It was the fifth quarter of contraction. From a year earlier, output shrank 2.4 percent.

With export gains failing to offset the effect of weak domestic demand, the euro region’s third-biggest economy will contract 2.3 percent this year and won’t start recovering until the second half of 2013, Istat said Nov. 5. Industrial output will keep declining in the final three months of this year, employers lobby Confindustria forecast Oct. 30.

The Italian contraction contrasted with signs of recovery in Germany and France, the euro-region’s two biggest economies. German GDP climbed 0.2 percent in the third quarter, more than the 0.1 percent forecast, and France’s economy unexpectedly expanded by 0.2 percent, separate reports showed today.”

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$MRK Posts Better Than Expected Results

Merck KGaA (MRK), the German maker of the cancer drug Erbitux, reported third-quarter profit that exceeded analyst estimates and increased the full-year sales forecast on higher demand for its medicines.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization excluding one-time items climbed 16 percent to 754.2 million euros ($960.8 million) from 652.5 million euros a year earlier, said in a statement. Analysts had predicted 739.9 million euros, the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Merck, which isn’t related to U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co., is eliminating jobs, closing facilities and reviewing its pipeline amid setbacks for some key medicines and declining sales of Erbitux. The German company has a target to save 300 million euros by 2014 as it expands outsideEurope, particularly in the U.S., Japan and China.”

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German Growth Slows Less Then Expected, France’s Growth Edges Higher

“German growth slowed less than forecast in the third quarter and the French economy unexpectedly expanded.

German gross domestic product climbed 0.2 percent from the second quarter, when it gained 0.3 percent, the Federal Statistics Office said in Wiesbaden today. Economists predicted a 0.1 percent increase, according to the median of 46 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. InFrance, GDP rose 0.2 percent in the quarter, beating economists’ median forecast of zero growth.

The better-than-expected reports from Europe’s two largest economies weren’t enough to prevent the euro area from slipping into recession. The 17-nation economy contracted 0.1 percent in the third quarter after shrinking 0.2 percent in the second, the European Union’s statistics office said today.

“This was probably the last reasonably solid quarterly figure from Germany for a while,” said Joerg Kraemer, chief economist at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. “The steep fall in the leading indicators suggests that GDP will contract in the fourth quarter.”

The euro rose after Germany’s GDP release and traded at $1.2757 at 11:12 a.m. in Frankfurt, up 0.2 percent.”

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Spain to Make a Decree on Foreclosures as Talks Break Down

“Socialist party officials, who had argued for an overhaul of the mortgage law, and the government failed to agree on measures that Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy pledged to implement last week after a woman facing eviction committed suicide. After three nights of negotiations, talks fell apart just as police and protesters clashed during a general strike that the Socialists had supported.”

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Speculators Find Loopholes in French Transaction Tax

“As France begins collecting its financial-transactions tax this month, it is becoming evident that President Francois Hollande’s levy is hitting all but the people it was aimed at: speculators.

Hollande, who called finance his “main adversary” during his election campaign, pushed through in August a 0.2 percent transaction tax on share purchases, making France the first and only country so far in Europe to have such a levy. Many investors have been escaping the tax using so-called contracts for difference, or CFDs, offered by prime brokers that let them bet on a stock’s gain or loss without owning the shares.”

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$BP is in Advanced Talks With U.S. Government to Settle All Criminal Claims Over the Gulf Oil Spill

BP Plc (BP/), the owner of the Macondo well that in 2010 caused the worst U.S. oil spill, said it’s in talks with the government on resolutions to all criminal claims against the company.

BP is in “advanced discussions” with the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.K. oil producer said in a statement today. The proposed resolutions won’t cover civil claims under the Clean Water Act, natural resource damages or private claims not included in a previous settlement with victims, it said.”

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Bad Loans Pile Up For a Fourth Quarter in China

“Chinese banks’ bad loans increased for a fourth straight quarter, the longest streak of deterioration since the data became available in 2004, highlighting pressures on profit growth as the economy weakens.

Non-performing loans rose by 22.4 billion yuan ($3.6 billion) in the three months ended Sept. 30, to 478.8 billion yuan, the China Banking Regulatory Commission said in a statement on its website today. Bad loans increased at all types of institutions, including the largest state-owned lenders, rural banks and foreign banks, the regulator said.

China’s banking system is grappling with rising defaults and weaker loan demand after economic growth decelerated for a seventh quarter. Combined net income growth at the nation’s 3,800 lenders slowed to 14 percent in the third quarter from 23 percent in the second, the regulator said today.”

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