Hussman will not give up….

Really….it’s not up, up , and away with the bears ?

This guy makes me laugh…

Source

Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AMLN) and Alkermes Inc. (ALKS) : The drugmakers succeeded in their third attempt to gain U.S. clearance for Bydureon, a once-weekly version of Amylin’s diabetes shot. The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug for adults with Type 2 diabetes.

Amylin surged 12 percent to $13.62, and Alkermes rose 15 percent to $22.

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (CLF) retreated 1.1 percent to $72.25. The iron-ore miner may rise to as high as $115 per share within the next year as it increases production overseas to meet growing demand for infrastructure, Barron’s reported.

Coach Inc. (COH) : The retailer may rise to as high as $80 per share in the next year as demand for luxury handbags and accessories increases, Barron’s reported, citing Omar Saad, analyst at International Strategy & Investment Group.

Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) : The carrier is weighing whether to make an offer for US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) , the smallest full-service domestic carrier. US Airways confirmed earlier this month it’s evaluating a possible merger with American Airlines parent AMR Corp. (AAMRQ US) in bankruptcy. TPG Capital and Delta also are evaluating possible bids for American, people with knowledge of the matter have said.

US Airways advanced 5.3 percent to $8.61.

El Paso Corp. (EP) : The company is in advanced talks to sell its oil-exploration unit to a group led by private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC (APO) (APO US) for about $7 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified people.

Jarden Corp. (JAH) : The maker of Mr. Coffee brewers may stall after a 22 percent rally since last summer and the suspension of its dividend to focus on share buybacks, Barron’s reported, without citing anyone.

Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. (MNTA) rose 3.4 percent to $15.70. The owner of patents on the blood-thinner Lovenox will replace HealthSpring Inc. (HS) in the Standard & Poor’s SmallCap 600 Index after the close of trading on Jan. 31. The change is being made because Cigna Corp. (CI) is acquiring HealthSpring in a deal expected to be completed today.

Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC) slipped 2.9 percent to $45.15. The owner of advertising agencies was lowered to “market perform” from “outperform” by Daniel Salmon, an equity analyst at BMO Capital Markets, with a 12-month price estimate of $49.

PharMerica Corp. (PMC) fell 13 percent to $12.50. U.S. regulators sued Omnicare Inc. (OCR) to block its $440.8 million takeover of the drug-supply company, a deal they said would increase prices for elderly nursing-home residents covered by Medicare.

Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) : The BlackBerry maker has held talks with competitors about licensing its new software, Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins said. Handset and PC makers approached RIMM about the licensing, the CEO said, without identifying them.

Thomas & Betts Corp. (TNB US) surged 22 percent to $70.90. ABB Ltd. agreed to buy the designer and maker of electrical components for $3.9 billion to expand its North American distribution network and boost sales of low-voltage gear. ABB offered $72 for each share of Thomas & Betts, 24 percent more than the close on Jan. 27.

U.S. Steel Corp. (X) declined 2.6 percent to $29.11. The steel company plans to sell U.S. SteelSerbia d.o.o. to Serbia for a nominal purchase price and to take a non-cash charge of $400 million to $450 million in the first quarter.

Wendy’s Co. (WEN) (WEN US) fell 2.1 percent to $5.10. The restaurant chain said earnings before income, taxes, depreciation and amortization in 2012 will be no more than $345 million, excluding some items, compared with the average analyst estimate of $353.1 million.

Yum! Brands Inc. (YUM) (YUM US): The owner of Pizza Hut and Taco Bell is focusing on faster-growing markets including China and India for revenue expansion while selling U.S. stores to franchises, Barron’s reported, citing an interview with Chief Executive Officer David Novak.

Source

Advanced Auto Parts Inc. (NYSE: AAP) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE: AZO) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Citigroup , Inc. (NYSE: C) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
HollyFrontier Corporation (NYSE: HFC) Cut to Neutral with $27 target at Citigroup.
ImmunoGen Inc. (NASDAQ: IMGN) Reiterated Buy with $17 target at Canaccord Genuity.
JAKKS Pacific (NASDAQ: JAKK) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Maintained Buy but removed from Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Key Energy Services (NYSE: KEG) Maintained Buy but raised estimates ($19 target) at Canaccord Genuity.
Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ: MEOH) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.
Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ: MNST) Cut to Neutral at SunTrust.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS)  Raised to Conviction Buy list at Goldman Sachs.
Mylan, Inc. (NASDAQ: MYL) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) Cut to Equal-Weight at Barclays.
Whole Foods Market. Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) Maintained Buy but removed from Conviction BUy List at Goldman Sachs.

Gapping up

AMLN +15.9%,  ALKS +4.7% , HNP +1.9%,  TNB +22.4% , MNTA +3.6%,  LCC +7.3%, GTXI +14.2%,  REGN +1.7% ,

Gapping down

BNVI -38.5%, CTIC -16.5%, PMC -9.1%, DB -4.1%, BCS -2.8%, BAC -2.5%, SLV -2.3%, HBC -1.7%, CLNE -1.5%, GOLD -1.4%, GLD -1.1%, C -1%, SPLS -1.2% ,

MT -4.4%, GFI -2.5%, AG -2.1%, ABX -1.8%, SLV -1.5%, HMY -1.4%, GOLD -1.4%, GLD -1.1%, DB -4.8%, ING -3.9%, BCS -3.2%, UBS -2.1%, HBC -2.1%, JPM -1.2%,

SIFY -3.2%, PHG -2.5%,

In Play 

On the Wires 

Henry Blodget and Ben Walsh

I spoke with Yale professor Robert Shiller in Davos earlier this week.

Shiller has correctly identified (in advance) two major price bubbles in recent decades–the stock market bubble of the late 1990s and the housing bubble of the late 2000s.

One of the key attributes of most bubbles is that, when they finally burst, prices tend to “overshoot” on the downside, crashing well below fair value until all the exuberance is wrung out of the system.

So is that what’s going to happen to house prices this time? Or, as many people think, are house prices finally “bottoming” and getting reader to blast higher again?

By STEPHEN MOORE

One Sunday afternoon last spring, as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was working in his front yard, a car rolled slowly by and blared its horn. He and his two teenage sons looked up to see two middle fingers directed their way as the car screeched down the street. A few minutes later another car rolled by and a voice shouted “Hey governor!” Mr. Walker reluctantly looked up—to find two thumbs up coming through the open window.

No American politician had a more polarizing effect on voters last year than Scott Walker. This time last year, thousands of irate protesters were occupying Wisconsin’s state Capitol, comparing Mr. Walker to Hitler for trying to reform the pension and collective-bargaining systems of public-employee unions. He needed an entourage of 25 security officers to escort him through the building at the height of the pandemonium.

Now he faces what he predicts will be his most bruising fight of all: a union-funded recall election intended to toss him out of office. His opponents last week submitted one million signatures to trigger a recall election as early as spring or summer. Mr. Walker expects this to be a $70 million brawl—a record for Wisconsin and twice the total spent in the 2010 governor’s race. Smiling, Mr. Walker says he hopes to be the “first governor re-elected twice during his first term.”

The stakes here “go well beyond who will be governor of Wisconsin,” Mr. Walker explains. The recall’s ultimate objective is to intimidate any official across the country who’s thinking of crossing swords with the empire of teachers and other public-employee unions. “This is about killing reform initiatives in every state in the country,” says Mr. Walker.

In Wisconsin, the evidence is mounting that Mr. Walker hasn’t brought economic Armageddon but financial stability. Last year’s $3 billion deficit is now a $300 million surplus—and it was accomplished without the new taxes that unions favored. “If a business is failing, you don’t raise the prices on your customers,” Mr. Walker scoffs.

In addition to union reform, Mr. Walker and his allies in the legislature passed a statewide school voucher program, eased business regulation, and enacted tort reform. When Illinois raised its income taxes by 67%, he launched a PR campaign urging Illinois businesses to “escape to Wisconsin.”

When Mr. Walker took office, a survey of major business owners by the state’s Chamber of Commerce found that only 10% thought Wisconsin was heading “in the right direction.” Now 94% say it is. Chief Executive magazine found that Wisconsin’s business climate in 2011 showed the greatest one-year improvement of any state in the history of the magazine’s ratings. After bleeding 150,000 jobs in the previous three years, Wisconsin added 10,000 jobs in 2011.

All this matters little to public-employee unions looking to regain their perks. Yet granting local governments the legal authority to hire and fire teachers and other workers based on merit—as well as requiring teachers to contribute 5.8% into their pensions (up from 0%) and all public employees to pay 12.6% of their health-care premiums (about half what most private workers pay)—has already saved local governments $475 million.

Rather than assaulting government workers, these reforms avoided mass layoffs and allowed school districts to maintain and in some cases even reduce class sizes. You’d think unions would celebrate this, but no such luck.

Mr. Walker believes the union brass are most furious about his policy to stop automatically withholding union dues from the paychecks of approximately 300,000 municipal workers. He calculates that this “paycheck protection” measure saves as much as $1,400 annually for those workers who freely choose not to pay dues. That welcome pay raise for the workers has been catastrophic for the union bosses. Without the mandatory dues payments, the teachers union had to lay off 40% of its staff last year.

So now Mr. Walker, his lieutenant governor and four state senators will face the voters as early as this spring or summer. Last year a similar effort targeted four other GOP state senators and a Republican on the state supreme court. After unions spent millions on the campaign, two of the state senators were recalled but that failed to flip control of the legislature, and the supreme court justice kept his seat.

A problem for Democrats this year is finding an A-list candidate willing to run against Mr. Walker if he is recalled. A strong opponent could be Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, but the unions are furious with him too for implementing many of the Walker union reforms—saving his city $25 million and balancing its budget in the process. The likeliest candidates to challenge Mr. Walker are two liberals, former Congressman David Obey and Madison County Executive Kathleen Falk.

A new nonpartisan poll by Marquette University shows the governor at 50% job approval (with 45% disapproving), which is up from as low as 37% last summer. Even some of his most loyal followers say that he has never fully explained to Wisconsinites why ending collective bargaining for union benefits was a fiscal necessity. And local Democrats are smelling blood over a recent mini-scandal involving alleged embezzlement of public funds by two of Mr. Walker’s top aides when he was Milwaukee County Commissioner.

Still, the national unions have yet to decide whether spending another $30 million or $50 million on a recall roll of the dice is worth it given the higher priority of getting President Obama re-elected. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which has been severely critical of Mr. Walker’s power play, recently acknowledged that he has fulfilled his pledge of balancing the budget without new taxes and that “the sky isn’t falling.”

If unions succeed in getting voters to evict reformers, it could “set back the conservative reform agenda across the states for a generation,” Mr. Walker warns. This might be the most important nonpresidential election in a decade.

Source

Here is a look at Fly’s social Media index inside The PPT:

Calling all bears

So to speak….

Major reform is needed according to Rogoff, but there is always fun in kicking the can.

Doesn’t Lacker get the doctored inflation reports ?

Full look

Source

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) Started as Outperform at William Blair.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) Reinstated as Neutral with $30 price target at Credit Suisse.
Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) Started as Outperform with $32 target at Credit Suisse.
Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) Cut to Hold on Valuation at Argus.
Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Equity One Inc. (NYSE: EQY) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE: HIG) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray; Maintained as Buy but raised price target to $49 at Argus.
Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) Cut to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.
Kimco Realty Corporation (NYSE: KIM) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
The Progressive Corporation (NYSE: PGR) Started as Underperform at William Blair.
Sandridge Energy Inc. (NYSE: SD) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA) Raised to Buy at Needham; Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA) Reiterated as Buy with $102 price target at Canaccord Genuity.
Vistaprint NV (NASDAQ: VPRT) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
ZOLL Medical Corporation (NASDAQ: ZOLL) maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Gapping up

SOA +38.4%, CPHD +18.5%, RIG +7%, INFA +6.6%, ELX +6.3%, STX +3.8%, KLAC +3.7%, QLGC +3.2%, AMGN +1%, AU +2.1%, HMY +1.8%, GOLD +1.4%,

BHP +0.7%, ABX +0.7%, EMN +6.6%, NEE +2.0%, NWL +1.8%, MO +1%,

Gapping down 

RVBD -9.8%, DV -8.7%, TNAV -8.4%, JNPR -7.9%, DK -6.8%, BVSN -6.4%, RMBS -4.4%, DX -3.5%, MXIM -3.2%, CYS -2.8%, CRUS -2.1%, SBUX -2.1%,

CHTP -1.7%, SYNA -1.3%, TSLA -3.2%, GM -2.5%, TM -0.6%, KIM -1.5%, IDIX -3%,  MCD -0.4%, BP -1.3%,

In Play

On the Wires 

Random folly

With the help of the Fed