iBankCoin
Home / 2013 / May (page 11)

Monthly Archives: May 2013

Gapping Up and Down This Morning

SOURCE
NYSE

GAINERS

Symb Last Change Chg %
MRIN.N 10.62 +1.25 +13.34
ERA.N 26.48 +1.69 +6.82
PF.N 25.24 +1.20 +4.99
NCT_w.N 5.75 +0.27 +4.93
TAM.N 17.46 +0.76 +4.55

LOSERS

Symb Last Change Chg %
RIOM.N 3.15 -0.37 -10.51
SBGL.N 3.36 -0.17 -4.82
NRZ_w.N 0.00 -0.28 -4.10
CLV.N 20.38 -0.72 -3.41
TMHC.N 25.86 -0.79 -2.96

NASDAQ

GAINERS

Symb Last Change Chg %
MFLR.OQ 17.73 +7.11 +66.95
PACQ.OQ 10.99 +2.18 +24.74
GENE.OQ 3.00 +0.54 +21.95
YRCW.OQ 19.22 +3.40 +21.49
ROSG.OQ 3.75 +0.51 +15.74

LOSERS

Symb Last Change Chg %
XONE.OQ 41.15 -7.45 -15.33
RDHL.OQ 10.33 -1.60 -13.41
CALI.OQ 3.13 -0.43 -12.08
CHLN.OQ 2.34 -0.30 -11.36
QCOR.OQ 38.39 -4.01 -9.46

AMEX

GAINERS

Symb Last Change Chg %
MHR_pe.A 23.35 +0.45 +1.97
FU.A 4.20 +0.03 +0.72
NML.A 20.18 +0.03 +0.15

LOSERS

Symb Last Change Chg %
SAND.A 6.88 -0.54 -7.28
EOX.A 6.49 -0.31 -4.56
AKG.A 2.33 -0.10 -4.12
NSPR.A 2.70 -0.07 -2.53
OGEN.A 2.95 -0.05 -1.67

Comments »

The S&P Downgrades Old Man Buffett

“S&P has just downgraded the credit rating of Berkshire Hathaway to AA+ from AA.

“The lower credit rating on BRK better reflects our view of BRK’s dependence on its core insurance operations for most of its dividend income,” said S&P credit analyst John Iten.

S&P is maintaining a negative outlook on the company.

Here’s the press release from S&P…”

Full article

Comments »

$CSCO Beats Estimates for a 9th Consecutive Quarter on Revs and a 6th on Profits

“Cisco Systems (CSCO) reported third-quarter 2013 earnings of 48 cents a share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 45 cents on higher revenues and lower-than-expected operating expenses. The adjusted earnings per share exclude one-time items but include stock-based compensation expense.

Revenues

Revenues increased 5.2% year over year and 0.8% sequentially to $12.2 billion. Products (78.2% of total revenue) were up 5.5% year over year to $9.6 billion. Services (21.8% of total revenue) jumped 8.0% year over year to $2.7 billion.

Revenues decreased year over year across most of the geographies except Americas. The Americas region increased 10.2% year over year, while Asia-Pacific, Japan and China collectively known as APJC decreased 0.2% from the year-ago quarter. Europe, the Middle East and Africa (:EMEA) also declined 0.9% on a year-over-year basis due to continued macroeconomic challenges in Europe.

Product Revenues by Category

Switching (29.5% of total revenue), Collaboration (8.3% of total revenue), Security (2.7% of total revenue), and Other Products revenues declined 2.0%,1.0%, 4.0% and 41.0% year over year, respectively. NGN Routing, which accounted for 17.5% of total revenue, was flat year over year.

However, this decline was fully offset by strong performances from Service Provider Video (10.6% of total revenue), Data Center (4.2% of total revenue), Wireless (4.3% to total revenue) and Service (21.8% of total revenue) segments, which increased 30.0%, 77.0%, 27.0%, 7.0%, respectively.

Orders

Cisco’s total product orders in the quarter were up 4% year over year. The Americas region saw the strongest growth at 7%, APJC orders increased 1% while EMEA and Russia declined 6% from the year-ago quarter (consistent with broad market trends).

In the APJC region, Japan again witnessed strong growth, while China continues to see challenges related to the business environment.

Gross Margin…”

Full article

Comments »

Gold Bumps Along a Three Year Bottom, Will the Floor Fall Out ?

“Just a month after gold suffered its biggest one-day drop in three decades, the precious metal has once again fallen victim to heavy selling pressure. But a tug of war between physical buyers and institutional sellers will put a floor under the precious metal, said analysts.

“The physical gold buyers and ETF [exchange traded fund] buyers have different mentalities. The physical buyers love the fact that whenever gold drops it is a buying opportunity,” Kelly Teoh, market strategist at trading firm IG Markets told CNBC.

Spot gold extended its fall below $1,400 an ounce on Thursday, declining to as low as $1,386.89 in early Asian trade. The yellow metal has lost over 5 percent in the past week.

The stellar performance of equities, softer inflation expectations, and strength in the U.S. dollar – which makes gold purchases more expensive – is pushing institutional investors out of gold in search of higher returns. This has lead to selling by exchange traded funds that are backed by physical gold.

Gold ETFs saw their largest ever monthly withdrawals in April as investors reduced their holdings by 176 tonnes, according to the Financial Times which cited Barclays Capital.

However, Teoh said, buyers of physical gold think differently. “They don’t have confidence in central banks, which are just pumping liquidity in the market [eroding the value of money]. There is no conviction in currencies. So it’s a very different mindset.”

“As a friend of mine says, gold is like a religion, you either believe in it or not,” added Teoh.

Premiums for gold bars rallied to all-time highs in major cities in Asia including Hong Kong and Singapore on Thursday after the drop in prices fueled another round of buying, limiting supply, Reuters reported….”

Full article

Comments »

The China Slowdown Accelerates, Reforms May Follow

“BEIJING (AP) — Global economic malaise has knocked the stuffing out of Luo Yan’s business making toy animals.

Sales of Hello Kitty dolls and plush rabbits have fallen 30 percent over the past six months, according to Luo, owner of Tongle Toy Enterprise, which employs 100 people in the southern city of Foshan, near Hong Kong. Orders from the United States and debt-crippled Europe are down 80 percent.

“We don’t talk about profits anymore,” said Luo.

China’s shaky recovery is losing steam, adding to pressure on its new leaders to shore up growth after a surprise first-quarter decline and launch new reforms to support entrepreneurs like Luo who create its new jobs and wealth.

“The current leadership is not taking this issue very easily,” said Li Daokui, a Tsinghua University economist and former central bank adviser, at a financial conference organized by investment bank CLSA. “This is their first item: Make sure the economy doesn’t slow down too much,” Li said. “Second, regenerate the enthusiasm for reform.”

President Xi Jinping and other leaders have pledged to make the economy more productive but have yet to make clear how far they will go in curbing the dominance of state industry and making other changes reform advocates say are required. It is a politically thorny challenge but reform might be driven by slowing growth and concern about tensions due to a lack of new jobs.

April factory output and investment fell short of forecasts, adding to pessimism after forecasts of an upturn in growth were dashed by the decline in the first three months of the year, though to a still-healthy 7.7 percent from the previous quarter’s 7.9 percent.

“Slow growth may trigger reform,” said Citigroup economist Minggao Shen in a report.

Potential areas for change range from allowing private competitors into state-run industries such as telecoms to making it easier for entrepreneurs to get credit from banks that now channel most lending to government companies.

Market-style reforms were a low priority over the past decade. Beijing focused on building state-owned corporate giants in banking, energy and other fields and then responding to the 2008 global crisis by pumping up government spending. But the World Bank and other advisers warn that if it fails to allow more free-market competition, annual growth could fall as low as 5 percent by 2015 — dangerously low for a Communist Party that needs rising living standards to underpin its claim to power…..”

Full article

Comments »

SocGen’s CEO Face 7 Years for Bribery

“MOSCOW (Reuters) – The head of Societe Generale’s Russian unit Rosbank faced up to seven years in jail for bribery on Thursday after Russian investigators released a film of him with cash piled on his desk in what several bankers said may have been a set up.

The case could increase alarm among international investors and sheds a damaging light on business practices in Russia, where SocGen is one of the few Western banks left in a market dominated by homegrown state players.

Investigators said on Thursday they had opened an official criminal investigation against Vladimir Golubkov, who was detained on Wednesday, and his senior vice president, Tamara Polyanitsyna – a final step before formally charging them.

Golubkov, 47, worked through the ranks at Rosbank to take the helm in 2008 with the task of steering the bank into profit.

“I know him to be a good man,” Garegin Tosunyan, president of the Association of Russian Banks, told Reuters. “The accusations simply don’t fit – although the law enforcement authorities are entitled to their version and to investigate….”

Full article

Comments »

$WMT Q2 Forecast Trails Estimates

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), the world’s largest retailer, forecast second-quarter profit that was less than analysts estimated as its shoppers struggle amid the slow U.S. economy and higher taxes.

Earnings per share will be $1.22 to $1.27, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said today in a statement. Analysts projected $1.29, the average of 24 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales in the fiscal first quarter ended April 30 trailed analysts’ estimates while profit matched projections.

Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke has cut prices on groceries and other necessities as the chain’s lower-income shoppers deal with elevated unemployment and higher Social Security taxes. First-quarter sales at U.S. Wal-Mart stores open at least 12 months fell 1.4 percent, the first drop after six straight gains. Analysts estimated a 0.1 percent decline.

“They’re pressured by the economy, unemployment, the increase in payroll taxes, the delay in tax returns,” Bernard Sosnick, an analyst at Gilford Securities based in New York, said today in an interview. “All these negatives coalesced in the first quarter.”

Sosnick recommends buying the shares and said improvement in the economy and lower gas prices should help Wal-Mart later in the year.

The shares fell 2.9 percent to $77.53 at 7:54 a.m. in New York. Wal-Mart had gained 17 percent this year through yesterday, compared with a 16 percent gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

Profit Gains…”

Full report

Comments »

Initial Claims, CPI, & Housing Starts

Initial CLaims: Prior 323k, Market Expects 330k, Actual 360k ,

CPI: Prior -0.2%, Market Expects -0.2%, Actual  -0.4%, Core +1.7%

Housing Starts: Prior 1036k, Market Expects 97ok,  Actual 853k ……down 16.5%,  Building permits are up 14.3%

Comments »

The Dollar Rises Into a Release of Economic Data

“The dollar strengthened before reports economists said will show manufacturing in the Philadelphia region expanded, while first-time jobless claims were near the lowest since January 2008.

The U.S. currency rose against all its 16 major counterparts after Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said he favors phasing out the central bank’s asset purchases. The euro weakened for a sixth day against the greenback, the longest losing streak in 12 months, after a report confirmed consumer-price inflation in the region slowed to the least in three years in April. Australia’s dollar slid to an 11-month low as commodity prices declined.

“There’s been a change in expectations with respect to the dollar,” said Jane Foley, a senior currency strategist at Rabobank International in London. “May has brought news which is more constructive. If the U.S. continues notching better growth data, it brings in the likelihood that the Fed will start paring its asset purchases.”

The dollar rose 0.4 percent to 102.68 yen at 7 a.m. in New Yorkafter climbing to 102.76 yesterday, the strongest since October 2008. The U.S. currency appreciated 0.2 percent to $1.2867 per euro after reaching $1.2843 yesterday, the strongest since April 4. The six-day gain is the longest since May 2012. The single currency advanced 0.3 percent to 132.11 yen.

Manufacturing Expands

The Fed Bank of Philadelphia’s general economic index rose to 2 in May from 1.3 the prior month, according to the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg survey. Initial jobless claims were at 330,000 in the week through May 11, U.S. Labor Department data will say today, a separate Bloomberg survey showed. That compares with a reading of 323,000 a week earlier, the least since January 2008….”

Full article

Comments »

Japan’s Economy Expands the Most Since the Tsunami

 

“Japan’s economy expanded the most in a year last quarter as consumer spending and export gains outweighed the weakest business investment since the wake of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Gross domestic product rose an annualized 3.5 percent, a Cabinet Office release showed inTokyo. Private consumption, making up 60 percent of GDP, contributed 2.3 percentage points to the jump. The BOJ may upgrade its assessment of the economy after a May 22 policy meeting, according to people familiar with the central bank’s discussions.

Today’s report shows while consumers — aided by a stock-market surge — are responding to the reflation campaign mounted by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Bank of Japan chief Haruhiko Kuroda, companies remain cautious. That may change as the yen’s 21 percent slide against the dollar in the past six months spurs profits and Abe embarks on reducing regulations hampering the world’s third-biggest economy.

“Japan is clearly back from stagnation last year,” said Naoki Iizuka, an economist at Citigroup Inc. in Tokyo. “The key from here is whether Abe can unveil a strong growth strategy. If he succeeds, that will boost business investment to support growth.”

Abe plans next month to unveil his so-called third arrow of structural reform, following the first two arrows of monetary and fiscal stimulus.

Exceeding Estimates…”

Full article

Comments »

How the Fed Undermines the Econcomy – Stable Prices, Unstable Markets

“According to European Central Bank Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sees no risk of inflation in the United States. According to Nowotny, Bernanke had given a “very optimistic” portrayal of the US outlook.

“They see absolutely no danger of an expansion in inflation,” Nowotny said. Bernanke had said US inflation should be 1.3 percent this year.

Fed forecasts put inflation by the end of this year in a range of 1.3 to 1.7 percent. The yearly rate of growth of the consumer price index (CPI) stood at 1.5 percent in March against 2 percent in February and 2.7 percent in March last year.

Also the growth momentum of the core CPI (the CPI less food and energy) has eased in March from the month before. Year-on-year the rate of growth has softened to 1.9 percent from 2 percent in February and 2.3 percent in March last year.


For Bernanke and most experts, the key factor that sets the foundation for healthy economic fundamentals is a stable price level as depicted by the consumer price index.

According to this way of thinking, a stable price level doesn’t obscure the visibility of the relative changes in the prices of goods and services, but enables businesses to see clearly market signals that are conveyed by the relative changes in the prices of goods and services. Consequently, it is held, this leads to the efficient use of the economy’s scarce resources and hence results in better economic fundamentals.

For instance, let us say that a relative strengthening in people’s demand for potatoes versus tomatoes took place. This relative strengthening, it is held, is going to be depicted by the relative increase in the prices of potatoes versus tomatoes.

Now in a free market, businesses pay attention to consumer wishes as manifested by changes in the relative prices of goods and services. Failing to abide by consumer wishes will lead to the wrong production mix of goods and services and will lead to losses.

Hence in our case businesses, by paying attention to relative changes in prices, are likely to increase the production of potatoes versus tomatoes.

According to this way of thinking, if the price level is not stable, then the visibility of the relative price changes becomes blurred and consequently, businesses cannot ascertain the relative changes in the demand for goods and services and make correct production decisions.

This leads to a misallocation of resources and to the weakening of economic fundamentals. In short, unstable changes in the price level obscure changes in the relative prices of goods and services. Consequently, businesses will find it difficult to recognize a change in relative prices when the price level is unstable.

Based on this way of thinking it is not surprising that the mandate of the central bank is to pursue policies that will bring price stability, i.e., a stable price level…..”

Comments »

IMF Questions Regulators On Big Banks

“Top officials at the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday challenged financial regulators imposing far-reaching reforms on the biggest banks, arguing that the global benefits of reform efforts must outweigh their costs.

Officials including José Viñals, financial counsellor and director of the IMF’s monetary and capital markets department,said in a paper that initiatives such as the Volcker rule in the U.S. and similar proposals in Europe could impose significant costs on the global economy, such as reduced liquidity in financial markets. They could also increase the risk that financial activity will migrate to institutions, sectors or jurisdictions subject to less supervision, the paper said.

The warning comes as U.S. regulators attempt to finalize various proposals, including the one named after Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman, which bans banks from trading for their own profit and significantly restricts their investments in risky ventures such as hedge funds and private-equity firms. Another pending rule threatens to raise costs for foreign banks by ratcheting up their capital requirements.

The IMF staff paper may buttress arguments made by foreign regulators and officials who have complained about proposals they say could harm foreign banks or drive up sovereign borrowing costs because leading U.S. banks may limit their activities.

But the IMF paper stops short of fully endorsing claims made by these authorities, including those from Germany and Japan. Instead, the IMF officials said that national proposals to restructure large banks, limit their activities or heighten requirements on foreign banks may be justified if regulators are unable to effectively supervise complex financial institutions or if foreign officials refuse to rein in banks considered to be “too important to fail”….”

Full article

Comments »

Credit Ratings Agency Get Back to Declining Standards

“NEW YORK — Huxley Sommerville, group managing director at Fitch Ratings, increasingly fears another massive financial crisis. Ask him why and he tells the story of a recent deal his credit rating agency failed to secure.

Last month, a group of Citigroup bankers contacted Fitch’s New York headquarters, hoping to convince its analysts to deliver their seal of approval for a bond issue. In essence, Citi needed Fitch to conclude that the landlord of an iconic Manhattan office tower should be considered as trustworthy as the government of the United States.

Citigroup had recently partnered with Deutsche Bank to lend $783 million to the owner of the Seagram Building, an architectural gem on Park Avenue in midtown Manhattan. Now, its bankers were in the process of turning that huge loan into multiple bonds, hoping to resell the debt to investors in pieces. They would turn one loan into commercial mortgage-backed securities.

But doing the deal required the rating agency’s blessing: Fitch had to assign a slice of those bonds its coveted “AAA” rating, an action that would officially make the debt about as sound as a savings bond from Uncle Sam….”

Full article

Comments »

Bogle: America’s Retirement System Facing a ‘Train Wreck’

“Without corrective action the U.S. retirement system is headed for a “train wreck,” according to John C. “Jack” Bogle, senior chairman and founder of The Vanguard Group.

He identified three pillars of the retirement system: Social Security; the defined-benefit plan and the defined-contribution plan.

“They are all in terrible shape,” Bogle told philly.com. “Social Security, I could fix it in five minutes. I’d change the cost-of-living adjustment, not to cheat the retired people, but to get a formula that was right. It would result in savings. That, in itself, would probably cure it.”


He also suggested other changes, including raising the maximum taxable earnings for Social Security “to, maybe, $140,000, $150,000.” This year the maximum is $113,000.

“Raising it would pour money into the Social Security system,” he said. “Just those couple of little adjustments are easy to conceptualize, easy to prove the economics of, and impossible to get through our Social Security system. We have a fundamental conflict in the way Social Security is done. It’s essentially younger people paying for the retirement of older people,” he said.

“The younger people are going to be unhappy with this because they have to pay more. The older people are going to be unhappy because they calculated benefits under the old, and I think, incorrect, system, and they will be getting less.”

As of June 30, 2011, 54.8 million people, or 17.6 percent of the U.S. population, were receiving monthly Social Security benefits, according to justfacts.com….”

Full article

Comments »

Gapping Up and Down This Morning

SOURCE
NYSE

GAINERS

Symb Last Change Chg %
CYNI.N 13.53 +1.15 +9.29
CST.N 32.71 +2.35 +7.74
TAM.N 16.70 +1.15 +7.40
I.N 23.29 +1.45 +6.64
RALY.N 18.99 +0.90 +4.98

LOSERS

Symb Last Change Chg %
MODN.N 18.29 -0.85 -4.44
CLV.N 21.10 -0.52 -2.41
AGI.N 14.16 -0.31 -2.14
NID.N 13.47 -0.26 -1.89
DDC.N 15.56 -0.27 -1.71

NASDAQ

GAINERS

Symb Last Change Chg %
EMMSP.OQ 11.98 +2.48 +26.11
NYNY.OQ 2.56 +0.51 +24.88
PDII.OQ 5.00 +0.94 +23.15
ALIM.OQ 4.84 +0.88 +22.22
MTEX.OQ 10.75 +1.74 +19.31

LOSERS

Symb Last Change Chg %
HIIQ.OQ 13.13 -2.29 -14.85
TSRE.OQ 9.55 -1.45 -13.18
SCTY.OQ 31.44 -4.44 -12.37
UNIS.OQ 3.33 -0.43 -11.44
MOSY.OQ 4.20 -0.49 -10.45

AMEX

GAINERS

Symb Last Change Chg %
EOX.A 6.80 +0.27 +4.13
TXMD.A 2.83 +0.07 +2.54
AKG.A 2.43 +0.02 +0.83
FU.A 4.17 +0.01 +0.24

LOSERS

Symb Last Change Chg %
BXE.A 5.80 -0.32 -5.23
OGEN.A 3.00 -0.10 -3.23
REED.A 5.00 -0.10 -1.96
SAND.A 7.42 -0.14 -1.85
NSPR.A 2.77 -0.05 -1.77

Comments »