$DD Reports To Reach High End of Earnings Expectations, Company Announces $1B Buy Back

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“NEW YORK (AP) — Chemicals giant DuPont Co. says it should reach the high end of its net income guidance in 2012 and its profit will grow in the low- to mid-single digits in 2013.

With its shares trading around annual lows, DuPont also says it plans to buy back up to $1 billion in company stock.

DuPont had forecast net income of $3.25 to $3.30 per share from continuing operations in 2012. The Wilmington, Del., company says its sales will grow in the low single digits in 2013.

Analysts expect DuPont to post adjusted net income of $3.37 per share in 2012 and $3.67 per share in 2013, according to FactSet. That implies growth of 9 percent. Analysts expect sales to rise about 2 percent.

DuPont shares gained 2 percent in afterhours trading.”

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“High-frequency trading (HFT) is the extremely rapid trading of securities through the use of sophisticated hardware and software, enhanced by positioning this hardware in very close physical proximity to exchange servers for minimum latency.  HFT participants are the investment banks and market participants.  Trading generally occurs at millisecond (thousandth of second) and microsecond (millionth of a second) intervals.  Perhaps 60%-70% of all equity volume in the United States is HFT.

If you want to play the HFT game, you’d better find a way to get close to the action, and I mean very close – housing your equipment in the same facility as the exchanges, with direct, raw feeds, hopefully closer to exchange servers than anyone else.  This is meant to reduce latency to its lowest possible level.  To illustrate the importance of minimizing latency, and underscore the size of this business, Hibernia Atlantic, which provides transatlantic connectivity to a variety of customers, is laying a cable that will beat existing routes, offering 60 millisecond latency.  By comparison, it takes the human eye 350 milliseconds to blink.  This cable will be part of Hibernia’s Global Financial Network, essentially dedicated to HFT. ”

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“While the U.S. Postal Service struggles to drum up business, one of its biggest competitors stands accused of regularly taking advantage of customers.

A FedEx executive said in an email that the company “systematically” overcharged businesses and government offices for years, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday.

“I have brought this to attention of many people over the past five or six years, including more than one managing director, and no action has been taken to address it,” said Alan Elam, a FedEx sales executive, in a 2011 email revealed in a lawsuit, according to Bloomberg.

FedEx fought back against the charges on Tuesday. “We highly value our relationships with our customers and these relationships are at the core of all we do,” FedEx spokesperson Sally Davenport wrote in an email to The Huffington Post. “These 11 documents do not tell the entire story of this case. We will continue to defend these allegations in a court of law and not the media.”

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“Add another name to the list of critics concerned with attempts to rewrite the International Telecommunication Union to give governments control of the Internet: Silicon Valley’s Mozilla now officially opposes the ITU.

Mozilla, the makers of the highly successful Firefox Web browser for Macs, PCs and smart phones, have come out to condemn a top-secret meeting in Dubai this week that could lead to changes with how the world is wired to the Internet.

The details of the closed-door discussions being held between members of the United Nation’s World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) this week in the United Arab Emirates remains a secret, and that’s exactly why Mozilla is speaking up. In a plea posted on Mozilla.org, the developers write, “The issue isn’t whether our governments, the UN or even the ITU should play a role in shaping the Web. The problem is that they are trying to do it behind closed doors, in secret, without us.”

“The Web lets us speak out, share and connect around the things that matter. It creates new opportunities, holds governments to account, breaks through barriers and makes cats famous. This isn’t a coincidence. It’s because the Web belongs to all of us,” insists Mozilla. “We all get a say in how it’s built.”

Now in order to raise awareness of what the WCIT can do by rewriting the ITU, Mozilla has released an “Engagement Kit” in order to get people around the globe talking about what could happen to the Web without their input ever being considered.

“Mozilla has made it our mission to keep the power of the web in people’s hands,” the developers say. ”

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“Thousands of protesters took to the streets Tuesday as Michigan legislators quickly debated whether or not to pass right-to-work legislation and voted for the measure despite the opposition from angry crowds outside the Capitol.

More than 12,000 workers gathered around the state Capitol in Lansing, marching in freezing temperatures to show their opposition to the legislation that passed despite their efforts. In a 58-41 vote by the Republican-dominated House to approve a Senate version of the law, Michigan became the 24thstate to take a strike against organized labor with the right-to-work law.

“This is being done politically, rushed through with very little debate – I don’t think many legislators have seen the law,” Ronald Zullo, a research scientist at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Labor and Industrial relations, told the Los Angeles Times hours before the GOP-dominated legislature voted for the right-to-work legislation.

The Michigan House and Senate within hours on Thursday introduced and approved bills prohibiting “closed shops”, which require workers to join a union or pay fees equivalent to union dues as a condition of employment. Legislators debated and passed the law quickly on Tuesday.”

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“In its monthly Short-term Energy Outlook (STEO) published today, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said it expects the net import share of U.S. oil consumption to drop to 40% in 2012, down from 45% a year ago and over 60% in 2005. The EIA forecasts a further drop in imports to 37% of total U.S. consumption in 2013, the first time since 1991 that imports will supply less than 40% of total U.S. consumption.”

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“Developing: A group claiming to be aligned with Islamic terrorism that launched a massive attack against U.S. bank websites in the fall has threatened another round, set to start this week.

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters posted on a popular message board late Monday, saying it will target the websites of J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, U.S. Bancorp, PNC Financial Services and SunTrust Banks…”

FOXBusiness gauges the banks’ reaction.

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“There’s little doubt that Hank Paulson, Tim Geithner and Ben Bernanke all played substantial roles in the build-up of the 2008 financial crisis.  After all, Paulson was in charge of Goldman Sachs, the lead horse during one of Wall Street’s greatest speculative run-ups ever.  Geithner played a key role at the NY Fed, an agency designated as one of the primary regulators of the very banks who nearly imploded the economy.  And then there was Ben Bernanke who was utterly asleep at the wheel as he drove the economy off a cliff in 2008.

So I am befuddled when smart people keep claiming that these men deserve some debt of gratitude.  My friend Mark Dow (someone I almost never disagree with) says we should all thank them: ”

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U.S. equities fly high. No real reason for the rally, but there is optimism building that the fiscal cliff will be resolved shortly.

Some decent news and good vibes came from Europe to help boost equities. Oil is flat while gold is down slightly.

Market update

3 D heat map

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5AUm_xaE9A 450 300]

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“Euro Pacific Capital CEO Peter Schiff is more worried about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke than the fiscal cliff.

The Fed’s massive easing program of the last five years represents a disaster, he tells CNBC. Bernanke constitutes “a much bigger threat to the U.S. economy than the fiscal cliff.”

The Fed has expanded its balance sheet to $2.86 trillion through quantitative easing (QE).

“If it wasn’t for all his accommodation, all the QEs, we wouldn’t have to go over the fiscal cliff,” Schiff says. “In fact, ultimately because of what the Fed has done, we’re going to have to go over a much bigger cliff.”

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“Investors need to look beyond the noise and alarm bells heralding the arrival of the fiscal cliff and buy and hold stocks for the long term, as the United States represents a good investment, said John C. “Jack” Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group.

The White House and Congressional Republicans continue to negotiate ways to avoid the fiscal cliff, a combination of tax hikes and deep government spending cuts due to kick in simultaneously at the end of this year.

Failure to avoid the fiscal cliff could tip the U.S. economy into a recession next year, and market participants are worried stocks could roil in the meantime over uncertainty.”

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A bloated payroll for sure….

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“Digital business holding company Liberty Interactive has purchased a bulk of stock in TripAdvisor, giving it voting control over the web travel operator, both companies announced on Tuesday.

In a statement, the companies stated that Liberty had purchased about 4.7 million common shares from Barry Diller — the chairman of IAC/Interactive and the foundation bearing his name. As part of the deal, Diller’s ownership stake in TripAdvisor has been terminated, granting Liberty a controlling stake.

As a result, Liberty now owns more than 18 million common shares and an additional 12.8 million Class B stock, which adds up to 22 percent of the equity and 57 percent of the total votes of TripAdvisor’s common stock.”

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“U.S. authorities, in response to a recently published Wall Street Journal article, are investigating certain stock sales made by several corporate executives, the newspaper reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Authorities are probing whether several executives benefited from share sales that occurred before bad news about their companies hit the market, sparing them declines in the value of their holdings, the Journal said.”

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Over supply has $GM putting out major discounts. If your in the market, get it while it’s hot….

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“Job openings in the U.S. climbed in October to a four-month high, indicating the labor market is on the mend.

The number of positions waiting to be filled rose by 128,000 to 3.68 million from a revised 3.55 million the prior month, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Hiring also increased.

The pickup in openings lays the ground for the job growth needed to sustain consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy. At the same time, the lack of stronger employment prospects and a jobless rate that remains elevated help explain why Federal Reserve policy makers, meeting today and tomorrow, are weighing additional easing to spur growth.”

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“Lawmakers returned to Washington today amid a potential thaw in the U.S. fiscal policy dispute, as President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner attempt to make a deal to prevent spending cuts and tax increases from taking effect.

Obama sounded conciliatory notes at a Daimler AG plant in Michigan yesterday. In his first comments since meeting with Boehner Dec. 9 at the White House, the president didn’t repeat frequent complaints about Republicans holding tax cuts for most Americans “hostage” because they oppose higher rates for wealthiest, and said he was ready to come to an agreement. Since Boehner complained Dec. 7 that Obama had wasted a week, statements from the speaker’s office have been milder, too.

“There is a change in tone, obviously,” Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University in New Jersey, said in an interview. After building public support for higher tax rates for the highest earners, he said, Obama is negotiating and “preparing his own party for a possible deal” by sending signals about his willingness to cut entitlement programs including Medicare and Medicaid.”

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There have been some accounts of tickets as high as $10-$15k. Vile scum….

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