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Monthly Archives: August 2017

$SNAP Shat The Shower After Hours – Hits All Time Low On Slow Growth

Thu Aug 10, 2017 5:17pm EST 7

Poor Snap, Inc. ($SNAP)

  • Revenue: $181.7 million vs. $189 million expected.
  • Earnings per share (adjusted): Net loss of $0.16 vs. $0.15 expected
  • Daily active users: 173 million, down from 175 million expected.

Looks like competition from Facebook is cramping their style, as the company dove to new lows after announcing a huge miss on growth vs. estimates. The Los Angeles photo and video sharing company has fallen a cliff in recent weeks after the expiration of the employee IPO lockup period, as well as a disappointing rejection from the S&P 500 index due to new rules which exclude companies with multiple share classes.

Shares hit as low as $11.31 after hours, a 33% decline from their March 1 IPO, and are currently trading at $11.50 / sh.

On the bright side, revenue per user jumped to $1.05 vs. $0.50 year over year, an increase of 109%.

Per Bloomberg:

Since its public debut in March, the maker of the Snapchat mobile application for sending disappearing photo and video has said its app would become more popular as the company innovates and adds features. In the second quarter, Snap added a maps function for users to see where friends are, as well as a search section. Yet rival Facebook has been successfully copying some of Snap’s key features on its larger social-media properties, drawing users that may otherwise have downloaded Snapchat — but now see less use for the standalone app.

Facebook is also exerting pressure in the mobile advertising market. Snap said quarterly revenue was $181.7 million, missing the $185.8 average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. While Snap has been updating its offerings to give advertisers more sophisticated options, the company has been struggling to prove it can secure its position in a market dominated by Facebook and Alphabet’s Google Inc.

What’s next?

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Sebastian Gorka Says Trump ‘Taking All Necessary Measures To Protect United States’ [AUDIO]

Thu Aug 10, 2017 3:36pm EST 4

Dr. Sebastian Gorka, Deputy Assistant to President Trump, sat down on the “Seth and Chris Show” to discuss the latest on tensions between the U.S. and North Korea; including what caused it, sanctions, and the international consensus needed before military action is taken. (audio below)

Where are we now in regards to North Korea? 

Gorka: “I think it’s very clear that we did something quite historic over the weekend. You have not only the 10 temporary rotating members of the UN Security Council, but also the five permanent members, which includes Russia and China, agree in a 15-to-0 vote to impose the most stringent sanctions package ever on North Korea, with the expectation that North Korea would now finally realize that they had painted themselves into a corner, and that they have to deescalate.

It seems as if that is not the case. You saw the recent statement made by the regime and, as such, the president, and I’m not going to go into any operational details, the president and his team are taking all necessary measures to protect the United States and her interests regionally.”

How did we get here? 

Chris Buskirk: How did we get here? I know the history. There’s been a, I guess, we would say that the U.S. policy towards North Korea, if we didn’t have a feckless policy towards them, we wouldn’t have had any policy at all over the past sort of 20 years, and now, the Trump administration is left to clean up the mess.

Gorka: This didn’t happen overnight. This isn’t something that we arrived on January the 20th, then suddenly, there’s problems – these decades and decades of mismanagement and the wrong strategies being chosen. First, it was the Clinton White House expecting some kind of concessions from the North Korean regime and got into various arrangements so basically facilitated their program, the point of which, the Obama White House did exactly the same. The way to think about this is blackmail. It is North Korea, which is a dictatorial regime. It is more Stalinistic than Stalin Soviet Union, constantly using saber rattling, constantly using escalatory measures such as ballistic missiles testing and nuclear testing, to try and squeeze constant, more increasing levels of concessions out of the Western community, and that has just stopped. 

Iran

Buskirk asked Dr. Gorka about Iran and their relationship with North Korea.

Gorka: [It’s] dictatorial regimes, even if their ideologies differ, that tends to stick together. That’s why we see the various geopolitical linkages that we see in the world today. The club of dictatorships is shrinking, but even if they don’t share the same ideology, they do scratch each other’s back for obvious reasons and, therefore, you will find operational linkages between even the strangest of bedfellows.

Listen to the entire interview below:

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Bill Ackman Called ‘Spoiled Brat’ By CEO of ADP In Epic Verbal Beatdown [VIDEO]

Thu Aug 10, 2017 2:50pm EST 4

Carlos Rodriguez, CEO of payroll processor ADP, likened activist investor Bill Ackman to a “spoiled brat” who wants a schoolteacher to give him an extension, adding “I’m directly saying he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

Sitting down with CNBC’s David Faber, Rodriguez started off discussing multiple extensions Ackman has requested for board nominations, after Pershing Square took an 8 percent stake in ADP. “It kind of reminds me a little bit of a spoiled brat in school asking the teacher for an extension for homework,” Rodriguez told Faber.

The CEO went on to describe Ackman’s two-faced lies; initially telling Rodriguez he had to be replaced, before changing his tune and telling him he had done a good job saving the company, while privately emailing people to say Rodriguez had to go.

Faber: Did Ackman make it clear to you that he thought you should be replaced?

Rodriguez: He did. The first time I spoke with him, he was actually quite cordial and mentioned to me that he thought I needed to be replaced. He gave me a series of reasons why.

Frankly it was a bit of a surreal experience.

I think now he’s changed his story multiple times.

“What it feels like, is I’m negotiating with someone about buying a used car. And this is not a used car, this is a company that has 58,000 employees, $50 billion market cap, and a lot of shareholders that we have a responsibility toward” said Rodriguez.

Last week, Omega Advisors CEO and Chairman Leon Cooperman – who served on the board of ADP for nearly two decades until 2012, told Ackman not to interfere with operations.

Via CNBC:

“This is a quality management that has done a great job over many years for the shareholders,” wrote Cooperman in an email to Ackman. The email was obtained by CNBC’s Scott Wapner. “The idea that you can tell these guys how to run their business doesn’t strike me as intelligent or appropriate.”

Watch the exchange below: 

Bonus: Ackman negotiates with terrorists:

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Blue Apron SMOKED, Plummets Nearly 20% Following Bleak Outlook $APRN

Thu Aug 10, 2017 1:32pm EST 6

Less than two months after their IPO, Blue Apron Holding Inc.’s ($APRN) shares have been cut in half to just above $5, following a tepid earnings report and horrendous guidance. The stock fell to $5.03 in early trade, right around -20%, before regaining some ground.

For those who are unfamiliar, Blue Apron sells ingredients to make meals which you simply throw together and cook using recipe cards. Basically it takes the measuring, chopping, and planning out of cooking.

Unfortunately, they didn’t raise as much during their IPO as hoped for – cutting deeply into their marketing budget. As a result, the company lost customers during the quarter.

It gets worse

While sales beat at $238.1 million vs. analyst estimates of $235.8 million, that’s where the good news ends.

Amid a decrease in marketing expenditures of 43 percent over the first quarter, Blue Apron lost around 9 percent of their customers. On top of that, executives warned in today’s conference call that the second half will be even worse, as the company will be spending heavily on automating its fulfillment centers.

“These complexities have arisen within the last month,” said CFO Brad Dickerson, adding that they’re having trouble attracting new customers. “Because of these factors, we’ll be reducing our marketing spend in the back half of the year, an obvious additional impact to the business’s top-line growth.”

Sales in the second half are expected to come in at $380 – $400 million, falling far short of the $1 billion milestone many had expected.

That reminds me, I have to throw together an Amazon Fresh order for more organic groceries I don’t have to leave the house for, and an Amazon restaurants order for dinner that I don’t have to prepare and throw in a fucking oven myself.

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Fox’s Eric Bolling Sues HuffPo Reporter For $50M After Dick-Pic Article

Thu Aug 10, 2017 12:54pm EST 3

Fox News host Eric Bolling is suing Huffington Post contributor Yashar Ali following the publication of a bombshell sexual harassment claim which led to his suspension on Saturday night. The report claims that Bolling sent unsolicited dick pics to at least three colleagues at Fox several years ago – according to a dozen sources – including some of the recipients.

Ali writes in Huffpo that “Recipients of the photo confirmed its contents to HuffPost, which is not revealing their identities,” adding that the women who are current and former Fox employees, “concluded the message was from him because they recognized his number from previous work-related and informal interactions.”

The women did not solicit the messages, which they told colleagues were deeply upsetting and offensive. One of the recipients said that when she replied to Bolling via text, telling him never to send her such photos again, he did not respond. Four people, outside of the recipients, confirmed to HuffPost they’d seen the photo, and eight others said the recipients had spoken to them about it. -HuffPo

Accuser steps up in DIFFERENT case

Hours after Bolling was suspended over the claims made in HuffPo, frequent Fox News guest from 2008 – 2011, Caroline Heldman, came forward, claiming the Fox News host sexually harassed her with an unspecified number of advances.

“[Bolling] said he wanted to fly me out to New York for in-studio hits and to have ‘fun.’ He asked me to have meals with him on several occasions, but I found excuses not to go,” Heldman wrote in a lengthy Facebook post. “Once, he took me up to his office in New York, showed me his baseball jerseys, and in the brief time I was there, let me know that his office was his favorite place to have sex.” –Philly.com

Twitter announcements

Following his suspension, Bolling filed a defamation suit against Ali for $50 million in damages, announced by Ali over Twitter yesterday afternoon.

The summons, filed in a New York state court on Wednesday, details both damages and injunctive relief, claiming Ali tried to injure his reputation through “intentional and/or highly reckless publication of actionable false and misleading statements.”

HuffPo Backs Ali

In response to the summons, HuffPo stood by Ali, saying in a statemtn that “Yashar Ali is a careful and meticulous reporter. We stand by his reporting.” Editor-in-chief Lydia Polgreen also wrote on Twitter “Yashar Ali is a paid freelancer under contract with HuffPost. We have no hesitation about standing by him financially in this case.”

According to the Hollywood Reporter, “Because Bolling is a public figure, to succeed on a defamation claim he will have to prove Ali either knew the information was false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. He has retained Michael Bowe and Ronald Rossi from Kasowitz Benson Torres — the firm whose name partner Marc Kasowitz reps President Donald Trump.”

Damage control

Meanwhile, Bolling took to Twitter Wednesday night to thank people for their support and reaffirm his dedication to “fight against these false smear attacks!”

Reactions from around the web

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Cuban Diplomats Expelled After U.S. Diplomats Attacked With ‘Advanced Sonic Weapon’ In Havana

Thu Aug 10, 2017 10:05am EST 3

U.S. officials told AP that in the fall of 2016, at least five State Department employees at the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba suffered a variety of ‘physical symptoms’ after they hit with what is thought to be an ‘acoustic attack’ by an advanced sonic weapon – leaving at least two people with health problems so serious they needed to be brought back into the United States for medical attention.

Several of the diplomats were new arrivals to the embassy following it’s 2015 reopening after former President Obama reestablished diplomatic relations in 2015.

Some of the diplomats’ symptoms were so severe that they were forced to cancel their tours early and return to the United States, officials said. After months of investigation, U.S. officials concluded that the diplomats had been exposed to an advanced device that operated outside the range of audible sound and had been deployed either inside or outside their residences. It was not immediately clear if the device was a weapon used in a deliberate attack, or had some other purpose.

The U.S. officials weren’t authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. –AP

U.S. response

Following the ‘sonic weapon’ incident, two Cuban diplomats were expelled from their embassy in Washington on May 23, according to State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, who would not confirm how many U.S. diplomats were affected or what their symptoms were – only stating that they had “a variety of physical symptoms.”

The State Department issued the following statement:

“Some U.S. government personnel in Havana on official duty have reported incidents which have caused a variety of physical symptoms. We do not have definitive answers on the source or cause of the incidents.”

“The Department has reminded the Cuban government of its obligations under the Vienna Convention to protect our diplomats. The Department is taking these incidents very seriously and is working to determine the cause and impact of the incidents. The Cuban government has assured us that it is also investigating and taking appropriate measures.”

Cuban Response

The Cuban Foreign Ministry stated it had been notified of the incidents on Feb. 17, and had launched an “exhaustive, high-priority, urgent investigation at the behest of the highest level of Cuban government,” adding that the expulsion of the two Cuban diplomats from Washington was “unjustified and baseless.”

The ministry also said it had created an “expert committee” to investigate the incidents, as well as beefing up security around the U.S. embassy and U.S. diplomatic residences.

Russia?

Cuba employs a state security apparatus that keeps many people under surveillance and U.S. diplomats are among the most closely monitored people on the island. Like virtually all foreign diplomats in Cuba, the victims of the incidents lived in housing owned and maintained by the Cuban government.

However, officials familiar with the probe said investigators were looking into the possibilities that the incidents were carried out by a third country such as Russia, possibly operating without the knowledge of Cuba’s formal chain of command. -AP

The kneejerk ‘Muh Russia’ reaction is sadly comical at this point…

 

 

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On Deck For Thursday: Earnings, PPI, Fed Speak

Thu Aug 10, 2017 2:28am EST 1

  • Stocks still near all time highs despite two-day selloff on N. Korea jitters
  • Gold and bonds have done well during the risk-off trading
  • In addition to earnings and N. Korea tensions, investors will be paying attention to Fed Chairman Dudley comments tomorrow.
  • In coming weeks, Jackson Hole Symposium expected to provide further insight into Fed/ECB stance on tightening and trimming the Fed balance sheet.

Earnings:

Before the bell: Macy’s ($M, est $.44), Kohl’s ($KSS, est. $1.18), Blue Apron ($APRN, est. -.26)

After market close: Nordstrom ($JWN), Snap ($SNAP, est. $-.29), News Corp ($NWSA, est $.09), NVIDIA ($NVDA, est. $.69)

Several other retail names also report on Thursday, which should provide some valuable insight into the general health of consumer spending.

(Full list here)

PPI and Jobless Claims: 8:30 a.m. EST: meh

“Even if you get a hotter-than-expected PPI, it’s not going to move the needle,” said Lindsey Group market strategist Peter Boockvar. He said the market is hanging on consumer inflation data, expected Friday morning. Inflation has always been important when the Fed weighs policy, but the lack of inflation has added to doubts that the Fed will be able to raise rates again this year, as it has forecast. –CNBC

Fed President Dudley speaks: 10 a.m. 

Dudley will be speaking at a press briefing on wage inequality in the New York region, and will take questions afterwards. This may provide insight on tightening and rate hikes.

Federal Budget: 2 p.m. 

Upcoming Catalysts / Events

Aug. 24-26 – Jackson Hole Symposium. Fed officials may issue hawkish comments, ECB president Mario Draghi may shed light on expected reduction in easing policies.

While euro-area inflation is still short of the goal of just under 2 percent, Draghi used a speech at the ECB Forum last month in Sintra, Portugal, to say that “the threat of deflation is gone and reflationary forces are at play.” That sent the euro and bond yields surging on speculation that the central bank is almost ready to pare back stimulus. –Bloomberg

Sept. 19, 20 – Fed meets, expected to begin unwinding its $4.5 trillion balance sheet in September amidst another forecast rate hike.

Sept. 29 – debt ceiling reached, if no action taken U.S. could be in default by October.

Sept. 30 – Deadline for Congress to pass a budget or face shutdown as it did in 2013

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Taiwan Deploys PPT To Prop Up Spooked Markets With Nearly $65 Million In Stock Purchases

Wed Aug 9, 2017 7:57pm EST 1

The Taiwanese government deployed it’s version of the ‘Plunge Protection Team’ yesterday amid a second day of declines over North Korea – U.S. tensions, according to Taipei’s Economic Daily News.

A total of NT$1.96 billion (US$65 million) shares were purchased on the open market on Wednesday by eight Taiwanese government-run banks.

ZeroHedge

Despite their efforts to buy the dip, the Taiwanese exchange dropped precipitously into the close. As ZeroHedge reports, Ironically, this reported intervention comes just hours after The US Federal Reserve’s Jim Bullard seemed to hint that The Fed itself had “reluctantly” manipulated equity prices.

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North Korea Scoffs At ‘Fire and Fury’ Threat, Will Launch 4 Missiles *NEAR* Guam Within Weeks

Wed Aug 9, 2017 6:16pm EST 9

A defiant North Korea hit back at President Trump’s “fire and fury” threats in a condescending statement from state-run KCNA news agency, ridiculing the U.S. president for a “load of nonsense,” adding “sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him”

To that end, North Korea said it is “seriously examining the plan for an enveloping strike at Guam” by simultaneously launching four Hwasong-12 ICBMs at Guam, adding “they will fly 3356.7 km for 1065 seconds and hit the waters 30 to 40 km away from Guam.” (18-25 miles)

I’m not crazy, you’re crazy!

Taking further stabs at President Trump, the statement reads “sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him.”

Ok Kim Jong Un.

FULL STATEMENT: 

Pyongyang, August 10 (KCNA) General Kim Rak Gyom, commander of the Strategic Force of the Korean People’s Army, released the following statement on August 9:

As already clarified, the Strategic Force of the KPA is seriously examining the plan for an enveloping strike at Guam through simultaneous fire of four Hwasong-12 intermediate-range strategic ballistic rockets in order to interdict the enemy forces on major military bases on Guam and to signal a crucial warning to the U.S.

On Tuesday, the KPA Strategic Force through a statement of its spokesman fully warned the U.S. against its all-round sanctions on the DPRK and moves of maximizing military threats to it. But the U.S. president at a gold links again let out a load of nonsense about “fire and fury,” failing to grasp the on-going grave situation. This is extremely getting on the nerves of the infuriated Hwasong artillerymen of the KPA.

It seems that he has not yet understood the statement.

Sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him. This is the judgment made by the service personnel of the KPA Strategic Force.

The military action the KPA is about to take will be an effective remedy for restraining the frantic moves of the U.S. in the southern part of the Korean peninsula and its vicinity.

The Hwasong artillerymen of the KPA Strategic Force are replete with a strong determination to fully demonstrate once again the invincible might of the force, which has developed into a reliable nuclear force of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the world, strongest strike service, through the planned enveloping strike targeting the U.S. imperialist bases of aggression.

The Strategic Force is also considering the plan for opening to public the historic enveloping fire at Guam, a practical action targeting the U.S. bases of aggression.

This unprecedented step is to give stronger confidence in certain victory and courage to the Korean people and help them witness the wretched plight of the U.S. imperialists.

The Hwasong-12 rockets to be launched by the KPA will cross the sky above Shimane, Hiroshima and Koichi Prefectures of Japan. They will fly 3356.7 km for 1065 seconds and hit the waters 30 to 40 km away from Guam.

The KPA Strategic Force will finally complete the plan until mid August and report it to the commander-in-chief of the DPRK nuclear force and wait for his order.

We keep closely watching the speech and behavior of the U.S.

 

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Potato Headed Rick Wilson Owned By CNN’s Ben Ferguson Over Definition Of ‘Fire and Fury’

Wed Aug 9, 2017 5:23pm EST 4

GOP #NeverTrumper Rick Wilson, whose head resembles a potato, got into a heated exchange with CNN’s conservative pundit Ben Ferguson over President Trump’s “Fire and Fury” threat to North Korea.

Wilson, a huge fan of general McMaster – whose burning desire to see the President fail is rivaled only by the likes of Maxine Waters, Chuck Schumer, and Adam Schiff – appeared to have a potato-related mental block regarding Trump’s comments – insisting that “fire and fury”could only mean nuclear weapons.

“Ben’s answer to you betrays a level of naïveté about nuclear weapons and about the Korean peninsula in specific that is utterly staggering,” Wilson told CNN host Brooke Baldwin. “That is some weapons grade stupidity right there.”

The two pundits argued back and forth over the semantics of Trump’s comments for nearly ten minutes. ‘Potato Rick!’ employed a broken-record approach, droning on about ‘muh binary definition’ while an astounded Ferguson couldn’t seem to penetrate Wilson’s mushy potato-skull.

“You’re turning this into second grade here,” Ferguson said, adding “Listen carefully because you’re having a hard time understanding this. There are other options militarily besides only nuclear options. ‘Fire and Fury’ does not necessarily mean only push the red button for a nuclear war. It is incredibly incompetent and ignorant to imply that the only option our military has is to actually do nuclear war.”

See below: 

Check out some of Rick’s retarded tweets and responses below: 

To which Wilson replied in a now-deleted tweet:

Stay classy Rick.

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