Hit bids kidz….
Comments »Monthly Archives: June 2011
Jim Grant on Everything the Bearded Clam Did Not Say
Moody’s Makes Further Comments on U.S. Credit Rating
Basically a hike in the debt ceiling only delays downgrade and that the inability to reach an agreement may spell that an actual agreement might not be meaningful.
Comments »Asian Markets Fall on Bearded Clam Comments
Markets do not like uncertainty. The Fed not only lowered growth estimates, but left the markets with an unsettling feeling that return to normal growth is well sketchy…..
Comments »Bed Bath & Beyond beats by $0.10, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS
Reports Q1 (May) earnings of $0.72 per share, $0.10 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.62; revenues rose 9.7% year/year to $2.11 bln vs the $2.07 bln consensus. Co issues guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.77-0.82 vs. $0.82 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Comparable store sales in the fiscal first quarter of 2011 increased by ~7.0%, compared with an increase of ~8.4% in last year’s fiscal first quarter. During the fiscal first quarter of 2011, the Company repurchased ~$245 million of its common stock representing ~4.8 million shares. This included the completion of the $1 billion share repurchase program authorized in 2007. As of May 28, 2011, the balance remaining of the share repurchase program authorized in December 2010 was ~$1.892 billion dollars.
Comments »WTI-Brent Spread Widens
Brent is trading almost at a $19 premium to WIT right now.
Comments »Flash: Bernanke Says Nothing
Markets in snoozefest as a result.
Comments »Google Executives Expected to Receive Subpoenas
Tight lipped executives are not talking to a senate committee; so they are expected to be ordered to testify about Google’s dominance and advertising issues. Google offered their lawyer for testimony, but declined to comment any further.
Comments »A.J. Cohen: S&P to Hit 1450
Despite cutting GDP estimates markets and economy are expected to resume back to trend growth in the second half….
Comments »Fed: Economic Recovery Slowing But Only Temporarily
Pimco’s El-Erian Predicts Greece, Other European Economies Will Default
Irish 2 Year Yield Hits a Record High
RICHARD KOO: Get Ready For Two More Years Of Housing Market Nightmare
Price decline till well into 2013; continuing to hurt private balance sheets. Koo expects an additional $2 trillion in losses.
Comments »Upgrades and Downgrades This Morning
Upgrades
WNR – Western Refining upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank
DO – Diamond Offshore upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo
TSL – Trina Solar initiated with a Buy at Brigantine
HS – Healthspring upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna
ICE – IntercontinentalExchange resumed with Outperform at JP Morgan
TZOO – Travelzoo ests and target raised to $124 at The Benchmark Company
RL – Polo Ralph Lauren initiated with an Outperform at Wells Fargo
VMI – Valmont target lowered to $125 at The Benchmark Company
SREV – ServiceSource Intl initiated with an Outperform at Credit Agricole
FST – Forest Oil upgraded to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus
RS – Reliance Steel initiated with an Outperform at Credit Agricole
NWL – Newell Rubbermaid upgraded to Strong Buy from Market Perform at Raymond James
PSE – Pioneer Southwest Energy upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS
FRX – Forest Labs upgraded to Buy at Argus
LMNX – Luminex upgraded to Outperform at Leerink Swann
FFN – FriendFinder Networks initiated with a Buy at Ladenburg Thalmann
BIIB – Biogen Idec upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse
ZAGG – ZAGG target raised to $20 from $18 at Northland Securities
BSX – Boston Scientific initiated with a Buy at Stifel Nicolaus- target $9
AVAV – AeroVironment tgt raised to $32 at FBR Capital following earnings
RLJ – RLJ Lodging Trust initiated with an Outperform at Raymond James
Downgrades
LZB – La-Z-Boy downgraded to Hold at Wall Street Strategies
RBS – Royal Bank of Scotland downgraded to Neutral at HSBC
LYG – Lloyds TSB plc downgraded to Neutral at HSBC
PCBK – Pacific Continental downgraded to Hold at Wunderlich
YGE – Yingli Green Energy initiated with a Hold at Brigantine
Comments »Gapping Up and Down This Morning
Gapping up
CBLI +19.3%, AERL +12.3%, BSX +2.6%, JBL +1.2%, NOK +0.7%, KMX +7.8%, AVAV +12.8%, FDX +2.9%, UPS +1.2%, CBLI +6.1%, AERL +12.3%, ACHN +3.2%, LZB +1.9%, IRDM +1.5%, YHOO+1.6%, WSCI +9.4%, FFN +15.4%, EXPE +0.4%, APWR +5.6%, AMSWA +3.3%,
Gaping down
PHG -13.2%, STD -1%, RDS.A-1%, HBC -1.6%, RIO -1.5%, BP -1.2%,NUVA -4.4%, ADBE -3.5%, DB -3.3%, CS -2.1%,
Comments »In Play and On The Wires
Afghan withdrawal with result in only modest savings
Comments »NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — When snow starts falling in Afghanistan later this year, fewer U.S. soldiers will be on the ground, and fewer taxpayer dollars will be required to continue to finance the war.
President Obama is expected to announce Wednesday evening that a portion of the 30,000 surge troops he ordered to Afghanistan will be brought home later this year.
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But the savings in the first year — probably less than $10 billion — won’t be much to write home about, especially considering the U.S. has already run up a $443 billion tab in Afghanistan.It’s not yet clear exactly how many troops will leave the country, or when. But according to an analysis conducted by the Center for a New American Security, if 15,000 troops were removed in fiscal year 2012, taxpayers would save $7 billion over the previous year’s spending levels.
That level of savings is hard to get excited about.
“Seven billion is really quite modest,” said Travis Sharp, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security. “If people think taking out surge troops is the answer to the Pentagon’s budget problems, they have another thing coming.”
In recent years, spending in Afghanistan has skyrocketed, right along with troop levels.
The United States spent $43 billion on the war in 2008, seven years after hostilities began, according to a Congressional Research Service report. This year, spending will hit $118 billion. There were 33,000 troops on the ground in 2009. Now there are 102,000.
Generally speaking, more troops mean higher costs for the military.
Eric Cantor says debt talks close to agreement
Comments »The debt reduction talks led by Vice President Joe Biden are in what insiders call “a make or break week,” as negotiators try to find $2 trillion or more in spending cuts as part of a deal to increase the debt ceiling.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner says the negotiators are getting closer.
“We need to make some progress this week to give everybody more confidence that there’s a framework that has the votes,” Geithner said. “You know, ultimately what matters is how do we get the votes to pass something in the House and the Senate.”
One of the negotiators, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., indicated the talks are at a critical moment. “It’s crunch time now in those meetings,” he said. “We are at some really tough stuff.”
Meanwhile, other Republicans have made clear what they see as essential elements in any agreement.
“Entitlements are the biggest drivers of our debt,” noted Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “By definition, they have to be a part of any plan to lower the debt. This is hardly a controversial view.”
To avoid attacks on that as a Republican assault on entitlements, McConnell notes he has plenty of Democratic company, including the Vice President and even President Obama himself.
“To preserve our long-term fiscal health, we must also address the growing costs in Medicare and Social Security,” Obama said to a joint session of Congress soon after he was inaugurated.
Transocean Concludes Through Internal Investigations That the Gulf Oil spill is BP’s Fault
RIG says that production costs were cut by BP in order to save some money, but more importantly; to speed up production due to time constraints. This ultimately led to the failure of the well head.
Comments »FedEx Reports a 33% Increase in Profits; Full Year Earnings of $4.57 PS
Higher surcharges offset fuel increases; and the companies outlook said the media is worse than what they are seeing in the economy…
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