Gapping up 

TBET +129.2%, PCS +8.7%, RIG +3.1%, LOW +3.1%, BP +2.4%, BPAX +27.2% , CHTP +8.0%,  CQP +7.2%,  DNDN +2%,  BP +2.4%

Gapping down

HBC -3.9%, RBS -3.2%, IBN -3.2%, LYG -2.7%, ING -2.0%, CS -2.0%, DB -1.8%, UBS -1.5%,  NVS -4.4%, AZN -1.4%, SNY -0.9%,  CBRX -17.8%,  CRM -0.4%,

FBC -9.3%, NOK -5.2%, AIXG -3.4%, ERIC -1.9%, BRCM -1.8%, NFLX -2.7%

In Play

On the Wires 

“The latest Greek bailout totaling 130 billion euros would merely buy time, outgoing World Bank President Robert Zoellick said in an interview in Singapore with Reuters.

JHSB | ChinaFotoPress | Getty Images

“It’s too early to know, partly it depends on the actions the Greeks have to take,” he said. “I think that the European Union has dealt with Greece as one element but the core elements are really going to be the success of some of the bigger countries, such as Italy and Spain.”

But he said bailouts weren’t necessary for these two countries or Portugal.

“Each country’s situation is different and you really have three interconnected problems. For some it’s the size of the sovereign debt, for some it’s the effect on the banking industry, and for some it’s their competitiveness,” he said adding that “Spain and Italy need time to make the reforms.”

“But I do think that all this is harder to accomplish when there is a recession in Europe.”

Support from other European nations was also crucial.

“What I’ve tried to suggest, given the politics of reform in some of the Mediterranean countries, (is that) it will be important for Germany and other leaders in the process to show some prospects if the reforms are taken and how they will be supported by the other European countries.”

Zoellick heads next to China for the release on Monday of a major economic report by the bank and a Chinese government think tank, looking at economic opportunities and challenges to the year 2030.

Global Economy, China and Oil….”

Read more

2011 Letter to Shareholders

Given the rise in gasoline and oil my short is looking pretty ugly. At any rate, some commentary on what we might expect, or are told to expect…

Gold stars for Cook as he heads off Apple…

“One of the main points that Glenn took from his weekend in Europe was the overriding sense that we are currently in the middle of World War III. This time, however, the war is being fought with financial weapons of mass destruction and the goal is to attain power, money and influence. Below is a clip from Monday’s GBTV program in which Glenn explains the role that Middle East and oil will play in the conflict ahead. Hear why Glenn is frightened by this international battle:”

Watch and read more here:

It’s hard to beat a sitting president…..

Source 

G20 finance ministers need to stand in the way of European manipulation of the International Monetary Fund when they meet in Mexico City this weekend, PIMCO chief executive Mohamed El-Erian writes in a column published today in the Financial Times.

A staunch critic of Europe’s attempts to get around its internal problems by relying on IMF funding, he argues that non-European economies need to stand up for the IMF’s professed “uniformity of treatment,” particularly given the harsh rules the organizations have imposed on emerging market countries in Asia and Latin America in the past.

A few choice snippets:

It should come as no surprise that over the last couple of years Europe has pressed the IMF very hard to make exception after exception – and it has succeeded. This has resulted in a number of firsts by an organisation that prided itself on the “uniformity of treatment” for member countries.

And later…

This is an internal issue that the IMF cannot, and should not be expected to, solve. It is up to the eurozone to decide whether to go forward in its current configuration towards a fiscal union or whether to first slim down to a more coherent and stable configuration. This would provide a better basis for a larger European-financed firewall.

As tempting as it is, Europe should not seek to obfuscate this critical decision by using IMF financing to give the appearance of sustaining the unsustainable. It must start making the necessary, albeit very difficult, decisions. Until this happens, the G20 has a global responsibility to protect the IMF from further damage to its credibility and legitimacy.

Read El-Erian’s full editorial in the Financial Times >

28 tips to help you save coin….

UP 

CHTP +86.7%, OVTI +12.6%, CRM +9.3%, JOBS +8.4%, AIG +7.2%, TI +6.6%, NOK +4.7%, MGA +4.5%, DB +3.1%, SAP +1.9%, MRVL +1.3%, WTI +1.3%,  CRUS +2.8%,

KDN +9.9% , IPG +5.1%,  GPS +2.7%, MRVL +2.2%, WTI +1.3%, SD +1.1%, MNST +1.1%,  KCP +16.7% , BCS +3%, ING +1.1%, JPM +1.1%, WFC +1.1%, BAC +0.9%,

CLNE +2% and WPRT +1.3% ,

DOWN

TELK -20%, RBCN -15%, CROX -11.9%, DECK -10.8%, TORM -8.4%, KND -7.7%, CLDX -6%, MELI -5.7%, CENX -4%, CIE -3.7%, YMI -2.4%, ATPG -2.1%, XCO -1.2%,

DECK -11.3%,  WMGI -4%, ANR -3.8%, XCO -3%, SPN -1.2% , MCP -1%, ADSK -0.5% ,   BPAX -5% ,  VTR -3%,

Source

Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (ANR) fell 4.6 percent $18.91. The coal producer that bought Massey Energy Co. for $7.1 billion in June posted an unexpected fourth-quarter loss and cut its 2012 output forecast as U.S. electricity generators switched to cheaper natural gas.

American International Group Inc. (AIG) rose 6.5 percent to $29.82. The bailed-out insurer posted a fourth-quarter profit fueled by a tax benefit and an increase in the value of a stake in Asian insurer AIA Group Ltd. Operating profit beat analysts’ estimates.

Clearwire Corp. (CLWR) dropped 2.9 percent to $2.20. The wireless broadband provider’s third-largest investor, Google Inc. (GOOG US), plans to sell its 29.4 million shares.

Crocs Inc. (CROX) fell 10 percent to $18.30. The plastic-clogs maker forecast first-quarter earnings of no more than 26 cents a share, below the 30-cent profit estimated by analysts on average.

Deckers Outdoor Corp. (DECK) : The maker of Ugg boots and Teva sandals said earnings in 2012 will be unchanged from last year at $5.07 a share, missing the average analyst estimate of $5.80.

El Paso Corp. (EP) rose 4.6 percent to $28. Apollo Global Management LLC (APO US) is leading a group that is near a deal to acquire the Houston-based company’s oil-exploration business for about $7 billion, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

Interpublic Group of Cos. (IPG US) rose 4.9 percent to $11.44. The New York-based advertising company announced a $300 million share buyback program.

Monster Beverage Corp. (MNST) (MNST US): The distributor of energy drinks and fruit juices reported fourth-quarter sales of $410 million, falling short of the average analyst estimate of $411.8 million.

OmniVision Technologies Inc. (OVTI) : The primary supplier of camera sensors for Apple Inc.’s (AAPL US) iPhone 4S projected fourth-quarter earnings of at least 15 cents a share, exceeding the 12-cent profit predicted by analysts on average.

Salesforce.com Inc. (CRM) rallied 9.8 percent to $144.67. The largest seller of online customer-management software reported profit and sales that topped analysts’ estimates after the company added features and pushed into social media.

In Play

On the Wires 

An interesting turn of events from Google Trends…  

A reiteration of Fisher’s call yesterday. The divide on monetary policy grows since the last fed meeting.

Joe Weisenthal

Well this is going to be the hot read of the day.

SocGen’s Albert Edwards blasts the recent stock-market rally, and says there’s still way too much “hope.” Only when the hope is totally gone will we know the great ice age is over.

One key lesson from Japan is that an essential ingredient to the end of a long valuation bear market is revulsion. It is when buyers-on-dips become sellers-on-rallies. It is when volume dries up to almost nothing. It is the loss of hope.

In Japan we saw huge rallies in the Nikkei on the back of short-lived cyclical recoveries. Each cyclical failure and further new lows in the equity market saw hope being progressively crushed. Previous US valuation bear markets typically take 4 or 5 recessions to fully play out. We have only had two.

The market is once again in a hope phase hoping that the US is now in a self-sustaining recovery; hoping that China might be soft-landing; hoping that the Greece bailout and the ECB liquidity polices have settled things down in the eurozone. These bursts of hope are essential in long bear markets. Essential in the sense that hope must be crushed. It will be crushed. Hope still beats in the breasts of equity investors. The market will rip out that hope and consume it in front of investors’ eyes. Only then can the bull market begin.

As evidence that the current hope will be quashed again like last year, he posts this chart…

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWe5ZHSSSP0 450 300]

When you want to catch a criminal you should think like one is what they say. So perhaps we should listen to J. Abramoff about his views on D.C.

Source

The resilience of the markets continues to be pretty impressive. Despite the uber-fast runup over the last couple of months, there’s been almost no appetite to sell… at least when you look from a headline perspective.

That being said, there are signs that underneath the surface risk-aversion is starting to steep in.

Yesterday we brought you a Chart Of The Day from Doug Kass, who pointed to the divergence between the S&P 500 (which is holding up) and the Dow Jones Transports Index, which is breaking down. But arguably transport weakness can be blamed on oil prices.

The problem is that the weakness isn’t just in transports.

Today’s chart gets at a similar idea from Waverly Advisors, but this time it focuses on the ratio between the Russell 2000 and the S&P 500.

And once again, we see a breakdown, whereby the small-cap, riskier, Russell 2000 index is starting to dive vs. the broader market.

In this chart, the dotted, black line is the ratio, and the orange line is the 20-day moving average.In itself it doesn’t confirm anything, but taken as part of a broader trend whereby the riskiest of the risk assets are starting to sell off (and that includes other exotic areas, like Italian banks, and Greek equities) you’re starting to see the base erode.

Read more: http://trade.cc/aovj#ixzz1nDegIJNY