Credit Suisse Touts Ag Stocks

“Analysts at Credit Suisse today have initiated coverage on what they call the North American Agricultural Sciences sector with a look a seven fertilizer makers. Some of the companies have performed well over the past couple of years and some haven’t.

The differentiating factor between the good performers and the not-so-good has been the type of fertilizer each company produces. Demand for nitrogen-based fertilizers is expected to grow throughout this year, positioning the two largest nitrogen produces at the top of Credit Suisse’s heap. Phosphate demand is also expected to be higher, but potash prices have been soft and there is little evidence of a positive change….”

Full report

Comments »

“Whenever the BLS posts their monthly CPI there’s always the same response from critics that the index is flawed.  That’s fine.  I think a healthy dose of skepticism regarding government data is perfectly good.  So let’s take a look at some independent gauges to see where prices are.

According to MIT’s Billion Prices Project inflation is running about 1.7% almost perfectly in-line with the BLS…”

Full article

Comments »

“Community banks are not only a major source of credit, but also a stable one for businesses. During the recent financial crisis and its aftermath, these smaller, traditional lenders provided credit to many firms, especially small businesses, when they needed it most.

Financial stability is key to economic performance—a proposition made starkly clear when banks became a source of trouble during the recession. Before the downturn’s start in December 2007, U.S. banks stoked an epic real estate boom with lax lending, setting the stage for a severe financial crisis. Once the worst was over, these institutions inhibited a recovery by tightening credit standards and limiting loans. Like a broken thermostat, banks and the financial system helped overheat the economy and then helped overcool it.

Some types of banks destabilized the credit cycle and economy more than others. The biggest banks, their focus diverted from traditional balance-sheet activities and toward capital markets and short-term gains, incurred spikes in loan defaults and exhibited significant cyclical declines in business loan volume.

Chart 1 Community Banks Focus on Small Business Loans

Enlarge

Chart 2 Community Banks Hold Less Than One-Fifth of Industrywide Banking Assets but More than Half of Industrywide Small Business Loans

Enlarge

Chart 3 Business Loan Volume

Enlarge

Chart 4 Small Business Loan Volume

Enlarge

Meanwhile, community banks concentrated on traditional banking, taking deposits and extending loans, relying on long-term relationships and time-tested judgment. These smaller banks not only demonstrated relative strength in business loan quality, but also maintained business loan volume to a much greater degree, providing credit to many small businesses when they needed it most. Such lending is vital to the economy.

Community banks are organizations with assets of $10 billion or less. The smallest community banks are those with assets below $1 billion.

Their activities are compared with the actions of two classes of larger financial institutions—those in the over $10 billion to $250 billion range and others with assets over $250 billion.

Business Lending Focus…”

Full report

Comments »

A larger draw then expected…..

Comments »

“LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lenders took possession of fewer homes in 2012 than a year earlier, but half of states remain hot spots.

The pace of new homes entering the path to foreclosure slowed and banks increasingly opted to allow troubled borrowers to sell their homes for less than what they owed on their mortgage.

All told, banks repossessed 671,251 homes last year, down nearly 17% from 804,423 the year before, according to foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac.

The trend, along with an annual decline in overall foreclosure activity, suggests that the country’s foreclosure woes are easing, at least on a national level.

But half the states experienced higher levels of foreclosure activity last year and many are expected to continue seeing increases this year, RealtyTrac said….”

Full article

Comments »

“NEW ORLEANS — Inspectors taking the first-ever inventory of flood control systems overseen by the federal government have found hundreds of structures at risk of failing and endangering people and property in 37 states.

Levees deemed in unacceptable condition span the breadth of America. They are in every region, in cities and towns big and small: Washington, D.C., and Sacramento Calif., Cleveland and Dallas, Augusta, Ga., and Brookport, Ill.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has yet to issue ratings for a little more than 40 percent of the 2,487 structures, which protect about 10 million people. Of those it has rated, however, 326 levees covering more than 2,000 miles were found in urgent need of repair.

The problems are myriad: earthen walls weakened by trees, shrubs and burrowing animal holes; houses built dangerously close to or even on top of levees; decayed pipes and pumping stations.

The Associated Press requested, under the Freedom of Information Act, details on why certain levees were judged unacceptable and how many people would be affected in a flood. The Corps declined on grounds that such information could heighten risks of terrorism and sabotage…”

Full article

Comments »

“Elpida Memory Inc won court approval for technology deals over the objections of U.S. bondholders, who argued the agreements were an attempt to bind the bankrupt chipmaker to a proposed $2.5 billion sale to Micron Technology Inc. A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Delaware found no evidence of collusion or improper motives Thursday in Elpida’s technology licensing deals with Micron and a $15 million patent sale to Rambus Inc.U.S. bondholders opposed the deals because they said they would effectively tie Elpida to its proposed sale and were unfairly beneficial to Micron.”The bondholders do not cite any facts to contest the proof that these agreements confer substantial benefits on Elpida’s estate,” Judge Christopher Sontchi said in his 43-page opinion.Elpida said it would be able to immediately begin improving its operations thanks to the licensing agreements with Micron. Elpida’s lawyers have described the objections to the technology agreements as attacks on the Micron deal itself….”

Full article

Comments »

Comments »

El-Erian and his crystal ball 

Comments »

“Herbalife Ltd. HLF -3.68% said preliminary results for its fourth quarter and for 2012 were above its prior expectations.

However, shares were under pressure in premarket trading, perhaps reflecting investor disappointment that the company didn’t accelerate its stock buyback, as Fox News earlier this week reported was expected. On Thursday, Herbalife said it expects to begin repurchasing shares under its existing share-repurchase authorization.

For the year, the nutritional-supplement maker expects per-share earnings between $4.02 to $4.05 on revenue growth between 18% to 20%. In October, Herbalife had said it expected per-share earnings for the year between $3.99 to $4.03 on revenue growth of 16% to 18%.

For the fourth quarter, Herbalife said per-share earnings would be between $1.02 and $1.05, with revenue growth the same as the year’s level.

The company had previously estimated per-share earnings between 97 cents to $1.01 on revenue growth between 17% to 19%…”

Full article

Comments »

“Warnings that the world is headed for “peak oil” – when oil supplies decline after reaching the highest rates of extraction – appear “increasingly groundless,” BP’s chief executive said on Wednesday.

Bob Dudley’s remarks came as the company published a study predicting oil production will increase substantially, and that unconventional and high-carbon oil will make up all of the increase in global oil supply to the end of this decade, with the explosive growth of shale oil in the US behind much of the growth.

As a result, the oil and gas company forecasts that carbon dioxide emissions will rise by more than a quarter by 2030 – a disaster, according to scientists, because if the world is to avoid dangerous climate change then studies suggest emissions must peak in the next three years or so.

So-called unconventional oil – shale oil, tar sands and biofuels – are the most controversial forms of the fuel, because they are much more carbon-intensive than conventional oilfields. They require large amounts of energy and water, and have been associated with serious environmental damages.

While some new conventional oilfields are likely to come on stream before 2020, they will be balanced out by those being depleted.

BP predicts that by 2030, the US will be self-sufficient in energy, with only 1% coming from imports, the company’s analysts predict. That would be a remarkable turnaround for a country that as recently as 2005, before the shale gas boom, was one of the biggest global oil importers. ”

Read more

Comments »

“Jim Cramer has picked a winner in the Herbalife cage match.

 

As you will recall, two hedge fund giants–Bill Ackman and Dan Loeb–have taken the opposite sides of this trade.

Bill Ackman argues that Herbalife is an illegal pyramid scheme and has a price target of $0.

Dan Loeb dismisses Ackman’s claim as “preposterous” and has bought up 8% of the company.

Assuming one of these two doesn’t chicken out, someone is going to win big…and the other is going to lose big.

And Jim Cramer, it appears, thinks the winner is going to be Dan Loeb:

”

Full article

Comments »

NYSE

NASDAQ

AMEX

Comments »

ADTN, ALKS, CBS, CSCO, GLW, DCI, ERJ, INCY, JNPR, MJN, MDT, REGN, SAP, LUV, VVUS, YUM, ZLTQ,

Full report

Comments »

In Play ,

On the Wires 

Comments »

WTI hits four month highs….

S&P 500 Futures	1474.65	+9.15	+0.62%
	NQ 100 Futures	2742.10	+16.10	+0.59%
	US 30	13511.23	-23.66	-0.17%

 

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

Comments »

“(Reuters) – UnitedHealth Group Inc , the largest U.S. health insurer, said on Thursday it kept fourth-quarter costs under control and increased revenue by more than 11 percent, helping earnings per share to rise.

The company, which provides health care benefits through both employer and government-paid insurance plans and serves individuals and military members, also backed its forecast for 2013revenue growth of at least 11 percent and said earnings would be in a range of slightly down to up 4 percent.

UnitedHealth’s business has benefited in recent years as consumers cut back on medical services because of the weak economy, but the company also has had to adapt to new rules for insurers associated with the 2010 Patient Prevention and Affordable Care Act.

“There wasn’t a whole lot of surprises in there. They came in line with consensus on earnings,” said Jason Gurda, an analyst at Leerink Swann. Operating costs were higher, he said.

UnitedHealth said that while fourth-quarter commercial medical costs rose, they were a bit lower than it expected. Its medical loss ratio, or the percentage of premiums paid for medical expenses, was 80.5 percent.

The Affordable Care Act in 2011 began requiring companies to spend at least 80 percent or 85 percent of premiums on medical care or provide a rebate to customers.

UnitedHealth, which bought 65 percent of Brazil’s Amil Participacoes for $3.5 billion during the quarter, plans to increase its stake by 25 percent through buying shares from the public during the first half of 2013. The affiliate helped push international revenues to $1 billion in the fourth quarter, the company said.

Optum, its growing health technology division, had revenue of $7.5 billion during the quarter and added $459 million to operating earnings.

FINISHES 2012 WITH 83.7 MLN CUSTOMERS…”

Full report

Comments »

“Federal Reserve officials are voicing increased concern that record-low interest rates are overheating markets for assets from farmland to junk bonds, which could heighten risks when they reverse their unprecedented bond purchases.

Investors have been snapping up riskier assets since the Fed boosted its bond buying to reduce long-term borrowing costs after cutting its overnight rate target close to zero in December 2008. Enthusiasm for speculative-grade bonds is at unprecedented levels, driving a Credit Suisseindex that tracks the yield on more than 1,500 issues to a record-low 5.9 percent last week….”

Full article

Comments »

“Bank of America Corp. reported profit dropped 63 percent as costs mounted from faulty foreclosures and flawed home loans made as long as a decade ago.

Net income dropped in the fourth quarter to $732 million, or 3 cents a diluted share, from $1.99 billion, or 15 cents, a year earlier, according to a statement today from the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company. Adjusted for one-time items, profit was 29 cents a share, beating the 20-cent estimate of 18 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Revenue dropped 25 percent.

Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan has spent his first three years cleaning up after his predecessor’s takeover of Countrywide Financial Corp. and Merrill Lynch & Co., selling more than $60 billion of assets in the process. The bank announced an $11.7 billion deal to end disputes with Fannie Mae on bad home loans this month and joined an $8.5 billion industry accord to compensate for abusive foreclosures.

Last year “was about resolving as many issues as they could,” said Marty Mosby, an analyst at Guggenheim Securities LLC, which manages more than $100 billion, including Bank of America stock. “While they’ve had to absorb some losses, they were less than the worst case, and that signifies progress….”

Full report

Comments »

“PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (PNC), the second-largest U.S. regional bank, said fourth-quarter profit rose 46 percent, beating analysts’ estimates, as revenue from fees increased.

Net income climbed to $719 million, or $1.24 a share, from $493 million, or 85 cents, a year earlier, the Pittsburgh-based bank said today in a statement. Excluding the cost of increased mortgage putback reserves and other one-time items, earnings per share were $1.71, compared with the $1.48 average estimate of 22 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Full-year profit declined 2.3 percent to $3 billion, or $5.30 a share.

Lenders including PNC and U.S. Bancorp, the nation’s largest regional bank, are boosting provisions for mortgage repurchases as government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae andFreddie Mac expand scrutiny of loans. U.S. regulators struck a deal with 10 mortgage servicers last week in which lenders must provide $5.2 billion in mortgage assistance and $3.3 billion in direct payments to wronged borrowers.

“Core earnings are moving in a direction to support higher valuations as growth continues into 2013, especially as this foreclosure settlement should begin to streamline future foreclosure activities and enable resources to be reduced in the servicing department,” Marty Mosby, an analyst at Guggenheim Securities LLC, said in a Jan. 9 note….”

Full report

Comments »