“The NFIB is out with its latest survey of small business optimism, and the numbers are very bad. In fact, the firm’s chief economy specifically said “Something bad happened in November” and that it wasn’t just hurricane Sandy.

Here’s the number.

The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index dropped 5.6 points in November, bottoming out at 87.5. The two major events in November were the national elections and Hurricane Sandy, which devastated parts of the East Coast. To disentangle these, the results for the states impacted by Sandy were excluded from the computation for comparison. When separating the hurricane-impacted states from the remainder, the data makes clear that the election was the primary cause of the decline in owner optimism.

“Something bad happened in November….”

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“Hostess Brands acknowledged for the first time in a news report Monday that the company diverted workers’ pension money for other company uses….In November, a judge approved Hostess’ plan to pay $1.8 million in bonuses to 19 executives, according to CNBC….”

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“This may be the world’s largest wrist slap.

British banking giant HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, is set to pay $1.9 billion to settle accusations that it didn’t do enough to stop money laundering in its branches, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. According to the WSJ, the U.S. government could announce the deal as soon as Tuesday.

HSBC’s fine would shatter records for criminal and civil penalties paid by a bank, according to the WSJ. But it would not be more than investors had already expected. The bank on November 5 said it was setting aside $1.5 billion to cover potential penalties and warned it might have to pay a “significantly higher” amount. Reuters reported last week that the bank would likely soon settle for $1.8 billion.

Investors may well cheer the actual number. HSBC stock, which fell slightly on Monday in London trading, has gained 4 percent since the bank’s November 5 warning.”

Full article

“U.S. new car sales in November rose 15% year-over-year to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 15.54 million. Compared with October, sales rose 4.7% to 1.14 million units sold according to data released today by Truecar.com.”

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Home building stocks have had a good run lately. While sales are down profits are up in part to wide spreads in lending. Uncertainty looms with upcoming Dodd Frank regulations and home building  companies say risk on profits are present based on many factors beyond the sectors control.

Full article

“Overall, Wall Street’s strategists are bullish on stocks for 2013 for various reasons.

One reason worth taking a second look at is expanding corporate profit margins, which are already at historic highs.

A slew of experts like GMO’s Jeremy Grantham, SocGen’s Albert Edwards, LPL Financial’s Jeff Kleintop, and John Hussman think these margins are unsustainable.

But the equity analysts and the companies they cover disagree.

Here’s a chart from Goldman’s David Kostin showing the analysts’ forecast for S&P 500 margins next year:”

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NYSE

The company also plans a special dividend….

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Analysts expected a meager 0.14% increase; many were surprised when $MCD reported a 2.4% jump.

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“Facebook’s management has recently adopted a new mantra: that Facebook’s audience is the equivalent of three Super Bowls every day. COO Sheryl Sandberg said it on the Q3 2012 earnings call. And vp/global marketing solutions Carolyn Everson said it at our Ignition 2012 conference in New York recently.

It turns out that this mantra is a clue to how Facebook intends to start stealing the advertising dollars that currently go to television. Facebook has made three recent moves that all point to an attack on the ad dollars that previously went to TV:

• Facebook is now the second biggest server of online video, behind YouTube. Although Facebook is a distant second to YouTube, that’s still huge progress. Facebook now shows more video than Yahoo!, Vevo, Microsoft, AOL and everyone else.
• Facebook has a partnership with Nielsen, “

Full article

“Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc. (GOOG) have joined forces to offer more than $500 million to buy Eastman Kodak Co. (EKDKQ)’s patents out of bankruptcy, said people familiar with the situation.

The two companies, competing for dominance of the smartphone market, have partnered after leading two separate groups this summer to buy some of Kodak’s 1,100 imaging patents, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the process is private.”

Full article

“Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) will pay $1.5 million to settle U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission claims the firm failed to supervise a trader who hid an $8.3 billion position. One CFTC commissioner dissented, saying the penalty is far too small.

Goldman Sachs inadequately policed trades made by Matthew Marshall Taylor on seven days in late 2007, ultimately suffering more than $118 million in losses as his bets were unwound, according to the CFTC. Later, Goldman Sachs didn’t send the regulator “important information” on the incident that was provided to another industry watchdog, the CFTC said…”

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“Is the post-election rally in gun stocks over? Smith & Wesson (SWHC) reported pretty solid earnings after the closing bell Thursday. It also announced a share buyback program and raised its guidance.

But shares of Smith & Wesson fell 6% Friday morning on heavy volume. Rival Sturm, Ruger(RGR) dropped about 3% as well…”

Full article

“The world’s third largest wireless operator, China Unicom, has today announced an alliance with Microsoft’s Windows Phone to help boost sales and provide more innovative Windows Phone devices in the Chinese market, reports the China Daily.

According to Analysys International, a Beijing-based research firm, Windows Phone holds less than 3 percent of the market in China, whereas Android came away with a 72 percent share in the third quarter of this year.

This comes at a big time for China Unicom, who seems to be racking up orders for the iPhone 5. This also allows Windows Phone a competitive foothold alongside such a strong Chinese carrier, which boasts over 70 million subscribers.

Here’s what Microsoft’s Chief Operating Officer Steven Turner had to say about it at a news briefing in Beijing:

China is the No 1 market worldwide in terms of PC, tablet, mobile and Internet users. It is a very exciting place. We believe there is a great opportunity across the country to provide new business models to partners, new technologies to developers and best services to customers….”

Full article

“American International Group Inc. AIG +2.59% is in talks to sell a controlling stake in its plane-leasing unit to a Chinese-led consortium for more than $5 billion, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

The move would mark the second time that the U.S. financial-services group has tried to sell all or part of its International Lease Finance Corp. unit, and it filed last year for an initial public offering of a business deemed as non-core.

The proposed sale of a controlling stake in ILFC, the world’s second-largest jet leasing company by assets after the Gecas unit of General Electric Co. GE -0.35%— would also be the latest in a string of Chinese investments in the U.S.—and among the largest.

The bidding group, led by New China Trust Co., also includes the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., 601398.SH +0.26% or ICBC, and the China Aviation Industry Fund, the person with knowledge of the situation said. New China Trust is 20% owned by Barclays PLC. BARC.LN +0.16%

ICBC is an established player in aircraft finance, and Bank of China also has a fast-growing Singapore-based aircraft leasing business.

The AIG talks were previously reported by Bloomberg News, which said ILFC’s management would participate in the transaction as well. A deal isn’t imminent, the person with knowledge of the situation said.”

Gainers

AAPL (551.03 +12.24), EQIX (187.27 +6.30), EPHC (27.70 +5.79), GOOG (693.37 +5.55), ATHN (70.74 +5.03), NFLX (88.08 +4.71), AZO (364.88 +4.61), HITK (35.14 +4.09), AKAM (38.81 +3.31), PPG (122.23 +2.77), CP (99.99 +2.49), BSFT (34.06 +2.37), OPEN (45.22 +2.35), SPG (154.59 +2.32), GTLS (62.08 +2.32), LULU (70.91 +2.32), SBUX (53.10 +2.31), FOSL (88.81 +2.09), WLT (33.73 +2.07), NBL (97.88 +1.84)

Losers

VRA (23.15 -3.06), IOC (51.63 -2.72), GMCR (39.01 -2.16), CLR (73.44 -1.60), APA (76.19 -1.54), CMI (99.77 -1.54), EPAY (23.60 -1.52), TD (81.75 -1.47), PXD (103.49 -1.36), WHR (97.26 -1.36), ALGN (24.84 -1.30), SHLD (39.96 -1.25), UTIW (12.80 -1.23), SNI (56.50 -1.20), FCX (30.99 -1.17), CHRW (60.75 -1.16), MW (30.19 -1.16), EOG (117.56 -1.16), SM (49.80 -1.13)

Gapping up 

BIOD +17.6%, BAGL +7.6%, GEO +6.5%, SWHC +2.9%, ENB +2.9%, ESL +1.4%, DEO +1.2%,

RHHBY +0.3%, MPEL +2.7%, AET +1.1%, MCD +1%, TSM +0.3%, AFG +0.3%, RGR +1%,

RGR +1%, CZR +1.9%, DEO +1.2%, SQNM+3.7%,  BAGL+7.6%, BIOD +17.6%, FIZZ +1.3%,

Gapping down 

AMRN -17.7%, CMTL -12.8%, VTSS -8.1%, UVE -7.3%, RIMM -5.4%, QRE -4.5%, PANW -4.2%,

FOLD -2.1%, WBS -1.9%, MT -1.8%, AVGO -1.8%, DB -1.3%, NFLX -1.2%, MEMP -0.9%,  RGC -6.6%,

AVB -0.9%, NVS -0.7%

“Jefferies Group, Inc. (JEF) announced today that on December 6, 2012, its Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.075 per share of common stock, payable on December 31, 2012 to stockholders of record on December 21, 2012.”

Full article

“Netflix Inc. (NFLX) and Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings said they may face a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil claim over a July Facebook post that coincided with the stock’s biggest gain in almost six weeks.

SEC staff alleges Netflix and its CEO violated rules governing selective disclosure, according to a company filing yesterday. The July 3 post by Hastings said Netflix viewing “exceeded 1 billion hours” of videos in June. The shares rose 6.2 percent that day….”

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“Gold-producing companies in Ivory Coast may have to shut down operations in the West African nation if parliament approves a proposed tax on profit, according to Nouho Kone, head of a miners’ group.

A tax of 9 percent to 19 percent on profit “is not reassuring,” Kone, head of the Professional Group of Miners in Ivory Coast, said in a phone interview today from Abidjan, the commercial capital. “The worst-case scenario would be to see companies shut down their mines in the short term.”

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