Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse for Japan, an earthquake of biblical proportions, 8.9 magnitude, has hit its northern coast and has resulted in a 7 meter long tsunami. This is the biggest earthquake to hit Japan in more than 300 years.
Unrelated, futures are in the tank and the Heng Seng is down more than 450 points.
Update: multiple countries (over50) in Asia, even South America, are issuing tsunami warnings.
Although unchanged from February, Chinese inflation exceeded analysts expectations—coming in at 4.9%. The tea lovers were expecting something less dramatic, like 4.7%. If you didn’t know, China has a real inflation issue, which may lead to the unwashed rioting in the streets, tossing around petrol bombs and eating the livers of their local magistrates.
Twelve Spanish lenders fall short of Spain’s minimum capital requirement, including giant Bankia, with a reported shortfall of 5.8 billion euros. As always, the olive squeezers will find a way to resolve this issue, amicably, in order to preserve the natural order of things.
God bless bailouts and skirting personal responsibility. The debt burden on U.S. consumers is now at its lowest point in 6 years, shrinking to an astonishingly high $13.4 Trillion or 116% of disposable income. Average household net worth increased to $505,000 in 2010, up 5.1% from 2009.
The absurd reality is that consumers, despite what men in burlap overcoats say, are flush with cash and/or credit— and may start to spend like wild Indians, drunk at Foxwoods, lending to the ongoing recovery.
SHFL: Shuffle Master beats by $0.01, misses on revs
CLNE: Clean Energy Fuels beats by $0.01, beats on revs
AIRM: Air Methods beats by $0.23, beats on revs
ARO: Aeropostale beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS below consensus; guides FY12 EPS below consensus
NSM: National Semi reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides Q4 revs in-line
ULTA: Ulta Salon beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS above consensus, revs below consensus
ZQK: Quiksilver reports EPS in-line, beats on revs
ZUMZ: Zumiez beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS below consensus
JSDA: Jones Soda reports reports Q4 EPS of ($0.06) vs ($0.17) last year
STLD: Steel Dynamics sees Q1 EPS of $0.37-0.42 vs $0.40 Thomson Reuters consensus; increases Q1 dividend 33% QoQ to $0.10
LIME: Lime Energy beats by $0.05, beats on revs; guides Q1 and FY11 revs to the upside
ALOG: Analogic misses by $0.03, beats on revs
POWR: PowerSecure misses by $0.03, misses on revs
LOV: Spark Networks reports Q4EPS of $0.03 vs. ($0.47) in 4Q09
THO: Thor Industries misses by $0.11, reports revs in-line
Commodity related stocks are leading to the downside here, as investors trample over each other for the exits. The dollar (UUP) and treasuries (TLT) are both up 0.9% and 1.4%, respectively. People are interested in deflationary trades, yet again. Hence, the old “Hugh Hendry trade” is back on.
The biggest laggards amongst large cap stocks are ARMH (-9%), CLF (-6.5%), NTAP (-6.5%), NVDA (-6%), SLW (-6%), NOV (-6%), ASML (-5.7%) and BTU (-5.5%)
Elevator down.
Data provided by The PPT:
(stock, % of float sold short, daily % change)
1 NFLX 36.3 5.18
2 CLWR 30.2 4.83
3 YOKU 36.39 4.38
4 UAL 28.5 2.79
5 AMRN 25.86 2.54
6 SYNA 38.9 2.13
7 SODA 34.3 1.63
8 CBEH 31.4 1.62
9 OPEN 39.4 0.95
10 CADX 81 0.92
11 CSTR 41.1 0.91
12 CHBT 26.2 0.74
13 ARNA 35.7 0.67
14 RJET 26.4 0.65
15 PATH 286.2 0.52
16 AHD 48.6 0.34
17 RBCN 88.7 0.32
18 MNKD 28.3 0.26
19 BKS 40.3 0.08
20 DSW 27.4 0.05
21 PPD 56.3 0.03
Despite all of the talk of the U.S. dollar dying, it was up last year and barely down this year, off by just 2.3%. The weakest currency, at least in the developed world, is the New Zealand dollar, off by almost 5%. On the other hand, commodity and vodka rich Russia has seen its retarded Ruble appreciate by more than 8% this year. And, the Swedish Krona and the Euro have gained 5% and 4.5%, respectively.
Now, if we’re talking about a 3 year time frame or longer, the dollar is one of the dumbest places to keep money ever, save The First Bank of Tulip.
Stocks that are bucking the trend, going higher in an awful tape, are:
GMCR +27%
HGSI +9.5%
FCEL +8%
SBUX +7.5%
IRM +6%
BIOD +5%
HRB +5%
DAL +5%
It’s worth noting, airlines are doing exceptionally well today, as oil declines, with gain in UAL, AMR, DAL and LCC
The commodity itself is undergoing a rather tepid pullback, with gold off a little more than 1% and silver 3%. However, the hot money is running for the exits in the equities. A great man once said “stocks take the stairs up and a lunatic elevator down.”
Data provided via The PPT:
AG Silver -11.46
GPL Silver -10
EXK Silver -7.7
SVM Silver -7.53
SSRI Silver -6.31
SIL Silver -5.75
SLW Silver -5.69KBX Gold -10.56
VGZ Gold -7.99
CGR Gold -7.59
NAK Gold -7.51
UXG Gold -7.34
NG Gold -7.19
NSU Gold -5.98
Just in case you were pondering where to put your money the next time the market craters, take a look at today’s melt up in some of America’s finest weapons of financial destruction.
TVIX +9.7%
ERY +8.07%
SOXS +7.4%
EDZ +7.29%
ZSL +6.71%
TZA +6.16%
DUG +5.49%
EEV +4.89%
SMN +4.85%
VXX +4.59%
SPXU+4.58%
BGZ +4.5%
FAZ +4.38%
TWM+4.11%
The rumor has finally been confirmed: Starbucks will sell its coffee and tea products via Green Mountain’s Keurig single server machine of wonder and amazement. As a result, shares of Green Mountain Coffee (GMCR) are surging this morning, now up more than 25%. It’s also worth mentioning, shares of Starbucks (SBUX) are plowing ahead to the tune of 8% too in early pre-market trading.
Lo and behold, the tea bags over at Moody’s now cite a negative outlook, due to Spain’s lack of money. Just 3 months ago they said “outlook stable.” Moody’s believes the cost to restructure Spain’s abysmal banking system will cost much more than projected. Hence, they’re all bearish and shit now.
As battles rage in Libya, oil futures firmed up by .30, on fears of additional supply disruption. At the same time, inflation is running hot in Asia, as evidenced by Korea’s February PPI data, rolling in at a smoking hot 6.6%. As a result, they raised rates to 3% tonight. At the moment, Australia is down 1.5%, Japan -1.4%, Korea -1.1%, and Hong Kong 0.6%.
Moreover, Chinese exports unexpectedly cooled in February, growing by just 2.4%, while imports surged ahead by more than 19%. And, to make matters worse, Japanese GDP shrank by 1.3% last quarter, as that nation is embedded in the most fucktarded deflationary vortex since the Romans let the Barbarian hordes permeate their city walls.
U.S. futures are trading more than 10 points below fair value on the S&P.
The largest private sector hospital in the country, HCA, priced to ipo at the high end its range at $30. They are expected to begin trading on Thursday.
Back in 2006, private equity vampires took HCA private for $21 billion and shortly thereafter began to bleed the company out, taking more than $4 billion in divvies. Fast forward 5 short years, Bain Capital, KKR and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, alongside the southern gentlemen corralled in the Frist family, are cashing the fuck in, netting a tad more than $468 millski. Not bad for a deal built entirely on debt.
It’s also worth noting, HCA will come public with more than $25 billion in debt and do not stand to benefit from said offering.
On the news that Bill Gross, head weirdo at PIMCO, sold all of his treasuries, the market responded by bidding them up.
Long dated treasuries, best represented by TLT, was up more than 0.95% today, closing at $90.55. The million dollar question is: where will Bill put his money next? Corporates? Munis? Fucking idiotic and childish stamp collection?
TLT
Miss earnings and get your head chopped off. Following fanatical run ups in small to large cap tech stocks last year, share holders bases are riddled with abject idiots, only interested in the fast trade. The result of such a fickle investor class: carnage.
The following are leadership tech names, with market caps above $5 billion, that have fallen victim to the idiot shareholder base–thanks to sentiment change.
CREE -27%
DLB -23%
AKAM -22%
FFIV -18%
NOK -17%
TKC -16%
FTR -15%
NIHD -14%
MRVL -13%
AUO -12%
ROVI -12%
As an aside, copper giant FCX is down 18% year to date.
Ten billion dollar hedge fund, Maverick Capital (based out of Dallas), founded by suspected “sham system operator” Lee Ainslie and the Wyly brothers (Evan, Sam, Charles) are having their collective heads handed to them this week, long a plethora of stocks that have fallen victim to the market guillotine.
Here are the 1 week returns for some of their biggest holdings:
FNSR -35%
URBN -16%
MRVL -10%
VIT -10%
SWKS -6%
Additionally, according to recent filings, they own more than 3% of SVN, down more than 12% today.
On the flip side, again according to recent filings, they own more than 9% of retailer PLCE, up 12% during today’s trading session so far.
Other sizable holdings include: SWI, CSII, IRWD, HMIN, LFT, PWRD, APOL and PACB
Cotton (BAL) +46%
Coffee (JO) +22%
Cocoa (NIB) +18%
Silver (SLV) +17%
Gasoline (UGA) +16% (obviously, not a RAW commodity-fuck off)
Tin (JJT) +13%
Corn (CORN) +10%
WTI Crude (USO) +9%
#No Inflation
We have a see-saw effect taking place here. As oil weakens, stocks strengthen, and vice-versa. As a side note, both silver and gold have reversed here, effectively signaling a “risk on trade.”
