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Monthly Archives: June 2011

Early Winners and Losers

No. Ticker Average Volume % Change
1 GGR 187,329 18.87
2 YRCW 1,593,330 16.67
3 MMR 1,972,570 12.30
4 BTX 210,529 11.96
5 OXGN 1,027,820 11.95
6 SPRD 4,086,360 11.61
7 AUDC 116,543 9.60
8 SPAR 234,233 9.50
9 REVU 712,543 9.38
10 CRIC 224,929 8.71
11 EGI 117,557 7.85
12 PAL 1,567,500 7.75
13 LNN 132,029 7.60
14 MBI 2,254,150 7.53
15 DANG 2,812,600 7.35
16 BAA 153,286 7.10
17 EXXI 913,100 7.05
18 AXK 347,257 7.04
19 QIHU 954,150 6.84
20 CBD 901,471 6.81
21 RENN 11,312,263 6.45
22 SM 909,686 6.45
23 NAK 619,783 6.36
24 P 2,654,400 6.17
25 SATC 3,286,930 6.14

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No. Ticker Average Volume % Change
1 KAD 542,786 -15.78
2 EXFO 106,657 -14.53
3 RBY 945,317 -14.50
4 SHAW 1,310,270 -9.63
5 TVIX 628,950 -9.47
6 KBH 4,710,500 -8.89
7 ICGN 823,571 -8.57
8 NTWK 834,343 -8.00
9 ANO 112,286 -7.97
10 OMN 219,000 -7.52
11 CAGC.PK 470,643 -7.50
12 AERG 1,787,070 -7.36
13 CADC 116,971 -7.26
14 BIOF 163,483 -7.05
15 APRI 197,433 -6.71
16 GBX 499,900 -6.54
17 OCNF 330,300 -6.33
18 ASTI 237,414 -5.83
19 TRGL 703,756 -5.74
20 ARWR 160,257 -5.56
21 VIXY 154,420 -4.93
22 VALV 361,514 -4.93
23 VXX 6,518,628 -4.87
24 ACHN 617,986 -4.81
25 SIGA 503,767 -4.72

Data provided by The PPT

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Steel Being Touted by Top Tier Frims

GS and DB are calling a bottom in steel. Specifically upgrading X & AKS.

DB feels steel has reached cost support and will unwind excess inventory, while GS sites upward price movement in scrap and ore….

Full article

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Fed’s Fisher Believes We May Hit 4% Growth in Second Half of the Year

“It wouldn’t be unimaginable to see 4 percent growth in the second half” of 2011, Fisher said Tuesday in a speech in Round Rock, Texas. “The price of energy and price of food has frightened the consumer,” he said. “As these prices come down a little, as we forecast they would, that relieves a little bit of the anxiety.”

Full article

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Central banks extend U.S. dollar liquidity swaps for extra year

The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, and the Swiss National Bank today announced an extension of the existing temporary U.S. dollar liquidity swap arrangements through August 1, 2012. The Bank of Japan will consider the extension at its next Monetary Policy Meeting. The swap arrangements, established in May 2010, had been authorized through August 1, 2011.

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Moody’s: B3< credit rating signal future defaults

New York, June 23, 2011 — Moody’s Investors Service says the number of companies on its B3 Negative and Lower Corporate Ratings List has changed little in a year. While all is calm, a modest increase in movement of companies on and off the list in the second quarter may be an early signal of future defaults, rating withdrawals and rating upgrades for this population of low-rated, U.S. non-financial companies, Moody’s said in a new report.

The list of U.S. non-financial companies rated B3 negative and lower includes a core group of companies with weak business fundamentals, high leverage and elevated risk of default, Moody’s said. There were 174 companies on the list as of June 1, compared with 209 a year ago and nearly 300 in the wake of the credit crisis in 2009.

While the overall list size has remained steady for a year, there is movement of companies on and off the list each quarter. The number of companies added and the number removed together typically equal about one fourth of the total number of companies rated B3 negative and lower. In the second quarter, that percentage reached 27.6%, its highest level since 2009. This may foreshadow a trend of more churn in this low-rated population.

“It’s too early to say whether such a trend, if it occurs, would be driven by a broad improvement in speculative-grade credit quality that produced more rating upgrades, or by a pickup in defaults and rating withdrawals reflecting negative credit developments,” said David Keisman, senior vice president at Moody’s and author of the report.

For now, key indicators continue to suggest a stable credit backdrop. Moody’s speculative-grade default rate forecast calls for a decline to 1.8% by next May. The ratio of rating upgrades to downgrades for U.S. non-financial companies is positive, ratings under review for downgrade are modest, and Moody’s Liquidity-Stress Index is near all-time lows. However, catalysts that could drive more activity in the B3 Negative and Lower population include the end of the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing, European sovereign debt concerns and volatility in commodity prices, the report says.

Companies are removed from the B3 Negative and Lower List if they default, have their ratings withdrawn, or receive a rating upgrade to B3 stable or higher. Companies join the list upon a rating downgrade to B3 negative or lower. According to the report, there has been an increase in the number of removals through rating withdrawals and upgrades, and a decline of removals resulting from defaults.

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Moody’s: U.S. overseas tech could double cash reserves

New York, June 27, 2011 — Overseas cash balances of major technology firms such as Apple, Microsoft (rated Aaa), Cisco (rated A1) and Google (rated Aa2) could double to $238 billion over the next three years, according to a new report from Moody’s Investors Service.

“Stronger overseas growth prospects along with heavier domestic cash uses for capital expenditures, dividends and share repurchases, as well as acquisitions will drive overseas cash balances higher for many U.S.-based technology firms,” Moody’s Senior Analyst Richard Lane said. “The high tax bite on permanently repatriated funds also encourages money to stay on an extended overseas vacation,” Lane said.

A sampling of large technology companies shows that 70% of total cash and short-term investments is held overseas, up from 57% four years ago. Based on the structural elements of cash sources and uses, Moody’s projects this collective balance could rise to 79% by 2013 years unless some form of permanent tax reform is implemented.

While investment-grade technology firms have by and large demonstrated good financial discipline through recent cycles, the high tax bite effectively “serves as an additional governor” to limit excessive shareholder-friendly activities, such as engaging in large share repurchases of dividend payments, Lane said.

Although share buyback activity or common dividend increases could be more aggressive, to the extent that permanent tax reforms are implemented, “we do not believe large technology firms would go on a shareholder-friendly bender” to the detriment of their credit ratings, Lane said. “Instead we expect a balance of cash deployment, including potentially more active M&A activity to fill in product or technology gaps to strengthen their competitive positions.”

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Moody’s: U.S. gaming vulnerable to faltering recovery

Why don’t they just say they might cut MGM’s credit rating?

New York, June 28, 2011 — Any reduction in consumer spending on gambling could undermine recent, if modest improvement in the U.S. gaming industry and ultimately lead to some rating downgrades, says Moody’s Investors Service in a new report. Moody’s is concerned that a growing sense that the economic recovery is slowing could prompt such a pullback.

“We are concerned that consumers’ propensity to spend on gaming activities will not withstand another hit to their wallets, even a small one,” says Keith Foley, a Moody’s Senior Vice President. “Unfortunately, an extended period of consumer weariness—or any economic event that hurts consumer demand for gaming—could have a material negative effect on company earnings and lead to some downgrades.”

The Federal Reserve’s announcement last Wednesday that the U.S. economy was expanding less quickly than expected and unemployment will remain high gave consumers additional reasons to worry, says Moody’s.

Most vulnerable to a pullback in consumer spending on gambling in the U.S. would be highly levered gaming companies with low ratings. Unfortunately roughly 30% of Moody’s 50 rated U.S. gaming companies have corporate family ratings of Caa1 or below, and more than a majority—about 54%–have corporate family ratings of B3 or below. Many of these companies have been counting on the economic recovery to grow them out of capital structure issues such as high leverage and large debt maturities.

“Any blip on the road to recovery could force many to go back to lenders for covenant relief or possibly a renegotiation of their existing debt obligations,” says Foley.

Companies Moody’s perceives as reliant on continued economic improvement include Caesars Entertainment Corp. (Caa2) and MGM Resorts International (B3). While these and other companies including Boyd Gaming Corp. (B2), Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. (B2) and Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. (B2) have lowered their expenses and created breathing room in their covenants and debt maturity schedules, they are still considered highly leveraged and have company-specific, near-term issues that could be exacerbated if consumers curb their gambling budgets.

Best positioned to weather any retreat in gaming spending in the U.S. would be companies that have either expanded operations into high-growth overseas markets such as Las Vegas Sands Corp. (Ba3) and Wynn Resorts, Limited (Ba3), or are highly and effectively diversified across the U.S. such as Penn National Gaming, Inc.

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Upgrades and Downgrades This Morning

Upgrades

H – Hyatt Hotels upgraded to Add from Neutral at Citadel

MPC – Marathon Petroleum initiated with a Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts

DOX – Amdocs upgraded to Outperform at Wedbush

SUSQ – Susquehanna Bank upgraded to Buy at Jefferies

NKE – Nike upgraded to Buy from Hold at Capstone

AKS – AK Steel upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank

SNDA – Shanda Interactive upgraded to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank

GIB – CGI Group upgraded to Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts

VOC – VOC Energy Trust initiated with a Sector Perform at RBC Capital Mkts

X – U.S. Steel upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank

ANN – AnnTaylor initiated with a Buy at Sterne Agee

ARG – Airgas upgraded to Buy at KeyBanc Capital Mkts

LM – Legg Mason upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank

CMG – Chipotle Mexican Grill target raised to $350 at Argus on price increases

Downgrades

PVA – Penn Virginia target lowered to $18 from $22 at Stifel Nicolaus

SNX – Synnex target lowered to $40 at Brean Murray

SHAW – Shaw Group downgraded to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus

BJ – BJ’s Wholesale downgraded to Hold from Buy at Wall Street Strategies

RDC – Rowan Cos target lowered to $44 from $48 at RBC Capital Mkts

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Gapping Up and Down This Morning

Gapping Up

ENMD +30.8%, C +2%, AKS +2.7%, NBG +7.1%, BAC +4.3%, JCI +1.6%, BP +0.9%, JCI +1.6%, X +3%,ING +2.8%, PMI +4.4%, MTG +4.1%, MBI +4.0%, DELL +0.4%,NKE +0.4%, ZZ +9.2%, SGOC +27.5%, CS +1.2%, WFC +2.2%, BJ +5%, DB +1.9%,  HBC +0.6%, TOT+1.8%, CAAS +9%, LOGI +5%, BCS +3.7%, STD +2.8%, BAC +2.6%, BBVA +2.2%, NOK +2.1%, DB +1.9%, TOT +1.8%, 

Gapping Down

PRGS -5.5%, AHT -3.5%,  EXFO -12.8%, OMN -7.5%,SHAW -12.9%, SNX -1.5%, MDT -1.2%,

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