“LONDON (Reuters) – BP Plc cemented its status as problem child among the world’s top oil companies on Tuesday with unexpectedly weak quarterly results, slashing $5 billion off the value of its U.S. assets and undershooting forecasts at operating level.

The British oil company, struggling under the weight of litigation over the 2010 U.S. Gulf oil spill and a row with its Russian partners, said both oil production and refining margins fell in the second quarter and would fall again in the third.”

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Boeing (BA: 74.86, -0.65, -0.86%) and U.S. safety officials are investigating the cause of an engine spark that led to a grass fire when engines in the jet maker’s new 787 Dreamliner spewed out debris this weekend during a test flight in Charleston, S.C.

The National Transportation and Safety Board along with the jet maker and General Electric (GE: 20.80, -0.12, -0.57%) are probing the source of debris that fell from the GEnx engines in a newly-built 787 that had ultimately been destined for Air India’s fleet.

An NTSB spokesperson said the safety board is gathering information on the incident that shut Charleston’s main runway for more than an hour on Saturday but has not at this point opened a formal investigation.

Boeing, which confirmed that it is “working closely” with the NTSB on the July 28 incident, said it is “unaware of any operational issue that would present concerns about the continued safe operation of in-service 787s powered by GE engines.”

“Should the investigation determine a need to act, Boeing has the processes in place to take action and will do so appropriately,” Boeing said in an emailed statement.

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“$BBY founder Richard Schulze is recruiting an executive team as he seriously considers buying out the company, according to Bloomberg’s Chris Burritt and Jeffrey McCracken.

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“A milestone reached as the world of old media continues its push in a digital direction: the storied, pink-sheeted daily newspaper the Financial Times, read by 2.1 million readers daily, today said digital subscribers now outnumber those in print, and that digital revenues now account for half of all sales in the FT Group. And what’s more, sales actually grew rather than declined.”

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Gapping up 

BCOR +21.6%, MERU +18.3%, DECK +14.4%, SIMO +11.2%, EXPE +10.9%,

PWER +10.7%, TORM +10.3%, QLIK +7.6%, N +6.8%, INFA +4.4%,

AMGN +3.7%, BCS +3.2%, GILD +3.1%, ASGN +3%, ESV +2.7%, S +2%

STEM +29.2%, UTSI +12.1%,  OVRL +28.1%,

Gapping down 

NTGR -17.1%, CSTR -14.9%, GDOT -14.2%, APKT -13.5%, HZNP -12.3%,

SBUX -11.1%, WOOF -10.3%, CERN -9.7%, FB -9.5%, QLGC -8.7%, VPRT -6.3%,

CBOU -4.8%, KLAC -3.3%, GMCR -3%, VECO -2.9%, SPF -2.1%, ABAX -1.7%,

UL -1.1%,  JOY -1.7%

Currently $SBUX is down 9.9%. earlier it had been down as much as 14% which was this years gains. Net income was up 19%, but the company missed by 2 cents and guided lower than wall street’s estimates.

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$MRK beat estimates, but faced tough competition as net income fell 11%.

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Fuckbook reported earnings yesterday, which failed to dazzle investors. While revenues grew 32% it is the slowest pace for the company thus far. Margins also fell 10% to 43%.

The company issued no growth forecast leaving the street to wonder what will happen going forward.

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Should you follow the buys and sells of the insiders?

…Zynga insiders took $516 million off the table just before the stock crashed…

In this case, definitely.

Read the article here.

“Calls to split up big banks are growing, even from big-bank architect Sandy Weill, a former Citi chairman, but in reality, any such downsizing will take a long time and there’s no need for “draconian” measures to speed up the process, says star Wall Street analyst Meredith Whitney.

Earlier Wednesday, Weill said big banks need to be broken up due to the systemic risk their potential collapses would pose on taxpayers and depositors.

Splitting up big banks may happen, but over time, as the banks must find a way to keep the more profitable areas of their businesses, which in reality, aren’t all that big.”

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“Oil-and-gas giant Exxon Mobil reported earnings per share of $3.41, substantially above estimates for $1.95.

However, that figure includes a net gain of $7.5 billion on tax gains and divestments.

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Earnings would have been $1.81 per share when stripping out the one time gains, based on the number shares outstanding.

Revenue topped analyst expectations, improving 1.5 percent to $127.4 billion.”

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“Whole Foods Market Inc.’s (WFM) healthy performance in the second quarter of 2012 was followed by better-than-expected third quarter results. The company seems to be sustaining its growth momentum in fiscal 2012 on the back of strong sales as shoppers are flocking to the grocery chain.

The company has been gaining better market share against other supermarket chains, defying economic fears.

These boosted management’s expectations about the company’s performance in 2012, which was quite evident from an upbeat outlook. The shares of the company rose $9.82 or 11.6% to $94.35 in after-market trading hours on Wednesday.”

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Customers paid higher prices which helped to boost sales by 6.4%, but the company saw its losses widen.

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“PulteGroup Inc. (PHM), the largest U.S. homebuilder by revenue, reported a second-quarter profit that exceeded analyst estimates as it reduced costs and sold more houses at higher prices.

Net income was $42.4 million, or 11 cents a share, compared with a loss of $55.4 million, or 15 cents, a year earlier, the Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based company said today in a statement. The average estimate of 10 analysts in a Bloomberg survey was for earnings of 6 cents a share.”

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“Zynga Inc. (ZNGA), the biggest developer of games played on Facebook Inc. (FC)’s socialnetwork, fell as much as 40 percent in early trading after missing analysts’ second- quarter revenue and profit estimates.”

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“France’s biggest banks are rushing to cut the more than 140 billion euros ($171 billion) they provide their operations in Europe’s troubled economies, seeking to protect themselves against a possible breakup of the euro.

In a retreat, French banks, especially BNP Paribas SA (BNP) and Credit Agricole SA — the largest by assets — are trying to make their businesses in Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal and Ireland less reliant on funds from the parent company.”

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“Alcatel-Lucent SA (ALU) will cut 5,000 jobs after slumping to a loss, signaling Chief Executive Officer Ben Verwaayen’s effort to revive the company is losing steam and sending the stock to its lowest level since at least 1989.”

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