Monthly Archives: October 2011
BLAST FROM THE PAST: HERMAN CAIN SPARS WITH BILL CINTON IN 1994 TOWN HALL
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdLGKRBJ_0E 550 412]
Comments »Report: No Decision on Next Tranche of Aid to Greece
Jean-Claude Juncker, leader of the finance ministers of the euro zone, said Monday that the group will not make a decision on a scheduled bailout payment to Greece just yet, Bloomberg reports. Last month, in putting off the decision until October, Juncker had said that Greece must meet all conditions before receiving the next tranche of financial aid.
Comments »FLASH: 55 INDICTED IN ALLEGED $250-MILLION TAX FRAUD SCHEME
A federal grand jury has indicted 55 people in San Bernardino County in connection with an alleged tax fraud scheme involving the filing of false income tax returns seeking more than $250 million in bogus refunds, authorities said Monday.
Many of the defendants are charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted.
Others are accused of making false claims against the United States, with a maximum sentence of five years.
The IRS investigation centered on two companies: Old Quest Foundation in Fontana and De la Fuente and Ramirez and Associates in Rancho Cucamonga.
The indictment alleged a scheme by Old Quest in which more than 400 false tax returns were filed, resulting in millions of dollars in payouts, including one refund check for $1.2 million.Old Quest, accusing of preparing and filing false returns, allegedly told customers they could get hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax refunds from a “secret government account.”
Comments »
Company representatives allegedly gave presentations with people posing as attorneys, accountants, certified public accountants and former IRS employees, telling audiences that the United States was bankrupt and owned by England.
Customers were required to make “donations” of as much as $10,000 to the company and pay a percentage of the refunds they received.
The company received about $1 million from customers in the scheme, according to the indictment.
The indictments charge the owners of the company — Arturo S. Ruiz, Francisco J. Mendoza and his wife, Maria de Jesus Mendoza — along with attorneys and tax preparers who worked for them, as well as customers who received the allegedly fraudulent refunds.
Francisco Mendoza was arrested Friday, while authorities were still seeking the other two owners.
De la Fuente and Ramirez and Associates allegedly carried out a similar scheme, recruiting people at seminars and consultations and charging them $2,500 to become customers.
Owners Genaro de la Fuente, Osman Norales and Francisco Ramirez were charged, along with tax preparers, customers and a promoter.
De la Fuente has been arrested, Ramirez was to receive a summons to appear, and Norales was listed as a fugitive.
Preview of Apple’s Tuesday iPhone Event
Get ready: Tuesday is iPhone day.
Tim Cook will take the stage for the first time as Apple’s new permanent CEO Tuesday morning, replacing the recently-retired Steve Jobs to reveal the company’s newest gadgets. Cook may not be the star that Jobs has become, but sources at Apple assure me that the holiday product lineup will be the real star of the event.
The most anticipated product is the new iPhone. Rumor has it that the phone will be called the iPhone 4S, not iPhone 5. We have seen Apple do this before when its flagship phone has not been fully refreshed but rather updated incrementally. The 3G and 3GS are good examples.
Comments »Today’s Winner/Losers
No. Ticker % Change Market Cap
1 PPDI 26.07 2,920,000,000
2 MDCO 12.57 795,200,000
3 EBS 11.86 553,170,000
4 MDR 7.90 2,530,000,000
5 AAV 7.75 619,340,000
6 WWW 7.55 1,640,000,000
7 XG 6.10 541,650,000
8 HTWR 5.54 910,440,000
9 GORO 5.47 882,420,000
10 SCS 5.39 825,970,000
11 ACH 5.08 5,650,000,000
12 HMIN 4.99 1,060,000,000
13 GOLD 4.41 8,820,000,000
14 CF 3.76 8,850,000,000
15 DCM 3.72 75,720,000,000
16 TSU 3.69 10,440,000,000
17 HMY 3.58 5,040,000,000
18 AZK 3.55 823,550,000
19 YHOO 3.49 16,630,000,000
20 CTCM 3.37 1,400,000,000
21 FMCN 3.33 2,280,000,000
22 FIZZ 3.23 701,450,000
23 LII 3.14 1,370,000,000
24 MMYT 3.08 787,990,000
25 EXK 2.90 763,450,000
26 RIMM 2.86 10,570,000,000
———————————————
No. Ticker % Change Market Cap
1 FST -32.92 1,610,000,000
2 VHC -22.35 754,250,000
3 AMR -18.07 992,210,000
4 SIFY -14.54 711,810,000
5 NBG -12.81 3,720,000,000
6 BPOP -12.67 1,540,000,000
7 ALU -11.13 6,410,000,000
8 IOC -11.11 2,340,000,000
9 P -10.65 2,360,000,000
10 CX -9.49 3,290,000,000
11 WLL -9.32 4,120,000,000
12 YZC -8.72 10,380,000,000
13 ACIW -8.53 921,710,000
14 NOR -8.26 561,300,000
15 LCC -8.18 891,450,000
16 ASIA -8.13 530,860,000
17 DMND -8.03 1,760,000,000
18 LEAP -7.96 543,790,000
19 CEDC -7.85 508,130,000
20 JLL -7.84 2,250,000,000
21 PCX -7.80 772,260,000
22 SD -7.73 2,220,000,000
23 UAL -7.64 6,410,000,000
24 SYKE -7.56 691,740,000
25 CREE -7.53 2,830,000,000
26 MELI -7.53 2,370,000,000
27 MU -7.44 5,060,000,000
28 ACI -7.27 3,110,000,000
29 DRYS -7.26 934,010,000
30 VRTX -7.26 9,250,000,000
31 WPRT -7.19 1,370,000,000
32 AMAP -7.12 646,560,000
33 NOAH -7.07 512,870,000
34 DYN -7.04 504,430,000
35 NUVA -7.03 680,350,000
36 SXC -7.00 770,000,000
37 CENX -6.94 833,330,000
38 TNH -6.92 2,700,000,000
39 SPP -6.91 1,580,000,000
40 EDMC -6.87 1,900,000,000
41 THC -6.81 1,950,000,000
42 GPOR -6.78 1,230,000,000
43 KWK -6.73 1,300,000,000
44 NKTR -6.60 554,930,000
45 SFUN -6.58 776,980,000
46 MTL -6.58 4,240,000,000
47 LPR -6.52 561,130,000
48 STX -6.52 4,310,000,000
49 ALKS -6.43 1,480,000,000
50 RPXC -6.42 1,000,000,000
min mkt cap: 500mill
Comments »SCOTUS: Non-Profits CAN Discriminate in Hiring Based on Religious Affiliations
Midday Stock Market Update
Stocks were little changed on Monday as positive U.S. economic data helped to offset fearsGreece may require increased euro zone financial assistance after news it will exceed its deficit targets.
Wall Street began the new quarter with choppy trading after falling on Friday to end its the weakest quarter since 2008. The decline was sparked in part by worries over the financial crisis in Europe and the threat of recession that could drag down economies around the world.
Greece’s draft budget sent to parliament on Monday showed Athens would miss its deficit targets for both this year and next despite harsh new austerity measures.
The revelations brought the specter of a Greece default closer as euro zone finance ministers met to discuss the next steps toward resolving thecurrency area’s sovereign debt crisis.
“This news isn’t surprising, but if Greece continues to have problems that could really drag Europe into recession, and possibly the U.S. as well,” said Randall Warren, chief investment officer of Warren Financial Service in Exton, Pennsylvania.
Stocks briefly rebounded after the Institute for Supply Management’s September manufacturing index topped consensus forecasts and the government said August construction spending unexpectedly rose.
“The data supports the minority view that things are going to get better,” Warren said. “You can’t discount that view even as the market finds it hard to believe, and that’s why things are so choppy today.”
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 24.00 points, or 0.22 percent, at 10,937.38. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 0.46 points, or 0.04 percent, at 1,131.88. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 2.72 points, or 0.11 percent, at 2,412.68.
The S&P 500 index lost more than 14 percent in the third quarter and fell more than 7 percent in September alone.
Yahoo Inc rose 4.2 percent to $13.74 after the founder and chief executive of Chinese e-commerce company, Alibaba, expressed interest in buying the company and said he has talked with other potential buyers.
Eastman Kodak Co surged 93 percent to $1.50 after losing half its value on Friday. The photography company has hired a law firm specializing in bankruptcy but said it had no intention of filing for bankruptcy.
Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc climbed 26 percent to $32.41 after it agreed to be acquired by Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman for $3.9 billion in cash.
Comments »Pickups & SUV’s Help U.S. Auto Sales Rise in September
Pickups and SUVs helped accelerate U.S. auto sales in September, although carmakers remain concerned that worries about the economy could dampen demand later this fall.
General Motor Co.’s sales rose 20 percent compared with last September, led by a 34-percent rise in full-size pickups and SUV sales. Chrysler Group LLC’s overall sales rose 27 percent.
The growth built on a healthy performance in August, when new models, cheaper financing and pent-up demand lifted the industry after several disappointing months.
September truck sales benefited from falling gas prices, a need to replace aging fleets, and promotions to clear out older models from showrooms.
Sales promotions were especially helpful, according to Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting for J.D. Power and Associates. GM, for example, was offering zero-percent financing and $1,000 cash on the 2011 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 pickup. Sales of the Silverado, one of America’s best-selling vehicles, rose 36 percent. Ram pickup sales were especially strong at Chrysler.
Comments »SURPRISE! Major Labor Unions Back Wall Street Protestors
Lunch Break: Crimes Unpunished
Tighter Credit Conditions Vaporize Macau Gaming Stocks
Goldman Out with a Report on 14 Cheap Sectors to Consider
Q4 Preparation: Analysis on the Economy and Equity Markets
Economists Suggest a “Great Haircut” To Accelerate the Economy
Economists would like for bond holders and banks to take further write downs so as to relieve cash strapped consumers and help the refinancing process.
Comments »Kodak Pops After Denying Bankruptcy Rumors; $EK up 94%
S&P Warns of a Ratings Cut in the U.K.
Chrysler Sees a 27% Uptick in September Sales
Many U.S. bond skeptics have jumped back in
Comments »Eight months ago Bill Gross, manager of the world’s biggest bond fund, said Treasuries “may need to be exorcised” and cleaned them out of his $245 billion Total Return Fund. The company then used derivatives to bet against the debt in March.
Now the Pacific Investment Management Co. fund has 16 percent of its assets in U.S. government securities as the debt posted the highest quarterly returns in almost three years.
“We’ve rebalanced,” Mohamed A. El-Erian, chief executive officer and co-chief investment officer at Newport Beach, California-based Pimco said in a Sept. 27 radio interview on Bloomberg Surveillance with Tom Keene in New York. “The U.S. benefits the most from a flight to quality.”
With the economy growing slower than forecast, the biggest bond rally in three years has repudiated Standard & Poor’s Aug. 5 downgrade of the U.S. AAA credit rating and driven yields to record lows, prompting bears to play catch up in a bid to match indexes portfolio managers use to measure performance. Economists have cut their estimates for the 10-year yield in March 2012 to 2.56 percent, from a projection of 3.75 percent in July, the biggest cut since January 2009.
A Deutsche Bank AG measure of asset allocation among the 20 largest non-indexed funds indicates that since early August they have pulled close to even with the benchmark Barclays U.S. Aggregated index weighting of 34 percent in Treasuries.
Yahoo, ABC to form news partnership
Comments »NEW YORK (AP) — ABC News is joining forces with Yahoo to deliver more digital news content to their audiences. With the deal, the companies say ABC News content will be prominently featured on the Yahoo News and Yahoo front page.
ABC made the announcement Monday on its “Good Morning America” program.
The two news organizations have a combined online audience of more than 100 million people in the U.S. Yahoo News is the most visited news website in the world.
The companies will also work together on selling advertising.
The companies say ABC News will maintain editorial control of its sites and Yahoo will keep control of its sites.
