Monthly Archives: December 2011
Congress Says Go Ahead and Freeze Your Ass Off
Congress plays the role of scrooge right before their tax payer payed holiday by cutting heating aid to the poor.
Also cut was housing aid for the poor
Comments »Doug Kass is Out With 15 Surprises for 2012
Kass thinks the markets will reach all time highs and has many more surprising predictions.
Comments »BP May be Facing the Long Arm of the Law; U.S. Regulators Preparing Criminal Charges
The suit is being processed on grounds of falsified information given to regulators during an investigation…
Comments »Jim Rogers is High on Agricultural Commodities
“Going forward we’re going to have huge shortages of everything – including farmers – I think ag will be a great place for the next 10-20 years,” he says.
But don’t take that to mean that ag stocks are a buy – that’s not what he means.
“Yale did a study recently showing that investors made 300% more by putting money in commodities themselves rather than commodity stocks – that is unless you’re a great stock picker.”
Comments »The Greenback Revival in 2012
How will equities and commodities fair if the dollar pops on safe haven buying ? With the printing press running full bore how long will the dollar be a safe haven ?
Comments »Sears on Credit Watch for Possible Downgrade by S&P
Following the closing of many stores and trouble in the middle market place the S&P is putting Sears on watch.
Comments »Alibaba Potentially Considering a Bid for Yahoo
Alibaba has hired a lobbying firm, Duberstein Group, to mediate talks. It is being speculated that if talks fail they may make a play for Yahoo.
Comments »Upgrades and Downgrades This Morning
Company | Date | Analyst | Action | From | To |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CH ENERGY GRP (CHG) |
12/28/2011 | Brean Murray | Resumed | Buy | |
ARCTIC CAT INC (ACAT) |
12/28/2011 | Feltl & Co. | Reiterated | Buy | |
CAVIUM INC (CAVM) |
12/28/2011 | MKM Partners | Reiterated | Neutral | |
VALSPAR CORP (VAL) |
12/28/2011 | Longbow | Reiterated | Buy | |
ENDEAVOR INTL (END) |
12/28/2011 | Rodman & Renshaw | Upgraded | Mkt Perform | Mkt Outperform |
CAVIUM INC (CAVM) |
12/28/2011 | Stifel Nicolaus | Reiterated | Buy | |
MANNING&NAPIER (MN) |
12/28/2011 | Stifel Nicolaus | Initiated | Buy | |
KODIAK OIL&GAS (KOG) |
12/28/2011 | Northland Securities | Downgraded | Outperform | Market Perform |
MATTRESS FIRM (MFRM) |
12/28/2011 | KeyBanc Capital Mkts | Initiated | Buy | |
CASCADE CORP (CASC) |
12/28/2011 | Global Hunter Securities | Initiated | Buy | |
PHH CORP (PHH) |
12/28/2011 | FBR Capital | Reiterated | Outperform | |
CAVIUM INC (CAVM) |
12/28/2011 | Mizuho | Reiterated | Neutral |
Gapping up and Down This Morning
Gapping up
YHOO +1.7% , FSIN +9.7%, BHP +1.1%, BP +0.6%, VALE +2.1%, BBL +1.4%,
Gapping down
CSKI -18.6%, EXAR -3.7%, OPXT -2.8%, ING -2.7%, BCS -0.7%, HBC -0.6%MOS -1.9%, QGEN -1.6%,
ING -2.7%, BCS -0.7%, HBC -0.6%, GLD -1.3%, ALXN -1.3%, SLV -1.8%, GG -1.5%, GLD -1.4%, EGO -1.4%,
SLW -1.3%, IAG -1.3%, HL -1.2%, GDX -0.9%, ABX -0.9%, SVM -0.8%.
Comments »In Play and On the Wires
Oil Trades Near Recent Lows on Euro Crisis and Stockpiling
Italian Debt Auction Falls Short of Goal; Yields Spike Over 7%
Russian Manufacturing Contracts From a Eight Month High
Initial Claims: Prior 366k, Market Expects 368k, Actual 381k
A Stronger Dollar is Killing Gold
The Euro Continues its Slide While Italian and Spanish Bond Yields Spike
Global Markets Trade Mixed While U.S. Futures Try to Stay Green
S&P 500 Falling Below 600?
By Tomi Kilgore
United-ICAP senior technical analyst Walter Zimmerman says the S&P 500 could rally a little further into January before beginning a “traumatic decline” for the rest of 2012, dragged down by weakness in Europe.
How traumatic? You might want to sit down for this one.
He thinks the index will reach its 2012 peak in the 1293-1311 zone, then start a “sharp and sustained drop” until December. His downside target is around 579.57.
579.57! The index would have to wipe out the March 2009 lows and fall by more than 50% current levels to reach that target. And the last time the S&P 500 traded below 600 was in the mid 1990s, when the Backstreet Boys burst on the scene and bell-bottom jeans were making a comeback.
Zimmerman’s reasoning is Europe is in an even worse shape now than it was at the beginning of the year.
“If the history of debt tells us anything it is that one cannot solve a debt crisis by lending more money to the bankrupt and the insolvent,” Zimmerman says.
Read the rest here.
Comments »FLASH: RICK SANTORUM’S POLL NUMBERS ARE IN BEASTIALITY MODE
Moments after a new CNN/Time/ORC International poll showed Rick Santorum surging in Iowa, the Republican hopeful attributed his late-in-the-game success to campaign grit.
“It’s like any small business person,” Santorum said on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.”
“If the money’s not coming in, you’ve just got to work harder and that’s what we’re doing. We’re going up in the morning doing radio shows at six in the morning and going until nine, ten at night and town meeting after town meeting. 357 in Iowa. Hard work pays off,” Santorum said.
Santorum, who has long said Iowa voters would come around to him eventually, said his message of social conservatism combined with strong national security was making a dent a week ahead of the first-in-the-nation caucus.
“We’ve always felt we could trust the people of Iowa, that when they got down to the time they were going to look at all the candidates and measure up to people they’ve had the opportunity to see, that they would do well,” Santorum said.
Mitt Romney, who led the Iowa poll at 25%, is too inconsistent in his message, Santorum said.
“His position on Romneycare, on marriage, on cap and trade, there’s a whole laundry list of issues where Mitt’s been all over the map,” Santorum said.
The former Pennsylvania senator said Romney’s record on gay marriage was particularly egregious, saying he should have done more to oppose Massachusetts’ state law.
“It’s clear he had a choice and he made the wrong choice,” Santorum said. “If you’re looking at someone who is a conviction politician, who’s not going to move around on the issues and present a clear contrast. Mitt Romney’s never proven to win in an election where he had to get independents as a conservative.”
Ron Paul’s history of opposing foreign military action by the United States presented another concern for Santorum.
“My concern is that Ron Paul would walk in there, day one, pull our troops back and leave an enormous void around the world,” Santorum said. “He can do that day one without congressional approval. He can, as commander in chief, move our troops anywhere in the world, disengage from every place from Europe to the Middle East, China, abandon the Strait of Hormuz, pull the 5th Fleet back. That’s one of the reasons I think you see folks who are having second thoughts.”