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Monthly Archives: October 2012

On the Matter of Misrepresenting Earnings

“Here’s an interesting note via Lance Roberts at StreetTalk.  He notes a recent study from Emory and Duke regarding the tendency for many firms to manipulate their earnings reports:

“There is also another factor that goes into how companies are beating bottom line estimates – legalized manipulation.  Two business professors, Ilia Dichev and Shiva Rajgopal at Emory and Duke, conducted a survey of 169 chief financial officers at publicly-traded companies in the U.S. revealed at least 20 percent of the publicly-traded companies that, as required by law, report earnings results on a quarterly basis are probably fudging the numbers.  Furthermore, almost every single CFO surveyed agreed that this is the case.”

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Warren Buffets’s Favorite Indicator Continues to Weaken

“Rail traffic trends continue to weaken as this week’s intermodal traffic report came in at 3.8% year over year growth.  This is up slightly from last week’s reading of 2.5%, but brings the 3 month moving average down to 3.8% from 4%.  I continue to see this as being consistent with an economy that is growing, but only marginally.”

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$HD CEO: Housing is Far From a Real Recovery

” Here’s an interesting housing update from the CEO of Home Depot who was interviewed by Reuters.  He says the housing market is far from a real recovery and that this could be a headfake.  Here are some highlights (via Reuters):

“It’s starting to recover, but we’re a long way away from true recovery,” Blake, 63, told Reuters in a wide-ranging interview that touched on his views of the so-called Fiscal Cliff to why he sees the internet as Home Depot’s next frontier.”

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Canada Gets the Jitters Over the U.S. Fiscal Cliff

“The U.S. is facing international pressure to avoid running off its fiscal cliff amid warnings that failure to avert course would trigger another global recession.

“It’s a very serious situation for all of North America and for the entire world,” Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told Bloomberg Television Thursday at the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund. “It means we’ll all go into recession. So it’s important this gets dealt with.”

The U.S. will incur $100 billion in automatic spending cuts and more than $500 billion in expiring tax cuts in January, unless lawmakers strike a deal. The IMF this week said that such a consolidation would tighten fiscal policy by 4 percent of gross domestic product, the most since the 1940s.”

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Christine Lagarde: Austerity Impedes Growth

 

“TOKYO — Countries should not sacrifice growth for the sake of austerity, the head of the International Monetary Fund told global financial leaders Friday, urging that the pace of government debt reduction be tempered by spending to help get the unemployed back to work.

Balancing those sometimes competing priorities is the central puzzle facing policymakers as the world economy slows further, even in dynamic Asia, IMF chief Christine Lagarde told finance leaders at the IMF and World Bank annual meeting in Tokyo.

Lagarde said she was “desperately optimistic” on prospects for a global recovery, while warning against backsliding on reforms needed to prevent future financial crises.

“The first priority, clearly, is to get beyond the crisis, and restore growth, especially to end the scourge of unemployment,” Lagarde said.”

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$JPM Makes an MF Global Move

” The last time a Primary Dealer decided to go all in on the Italian “recovery”, MF Global went bankrupt. This time around the bank that apparently can’t get enough of Italy (and to a smaller extent Spain) and its glorious taxpayer funded, bailed out future is none other than JPM, which according to its earnings presentation has seen its net exposure to Europe double from $6,3 billion to $11.7 billion, following a surge in Italian trading exposure. Surely this will end very well for the bank that only 5 months ago had to reshuffle every executive in its internal $300 billion hedge fund for massive IG9 CDX losses.”

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Authorities Build a Criminal Case Against $JPM Over London Whale Loss

“Federal authorities are using taped phone conversations to build criminal cases related to the multibillion-dollar trading loss at JPMorgan Chase, focusing on calls in which employees openly discussed how to value the troubled bets in a favorable way.

Investigators are looking into the actions of four people who previously worked for the team based in London responsible for the $6 billion loss, according to officials briefed on the case.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation could make some arrests in the next several months, said one person who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the inquiry was ongoing.”

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OECD’s Gurria: Spain’s Reluctance to Seek Bailout Justified

“Spain’s reluctance to ask for a bailout was justified, said Angel Gurria, the secretary general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as there were signals that any calls for help by Madrid may be rejected.

Spain’s government has been expected to seek help from the euro zone bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), to help ease pressure on its finances and economy, which is in recession. However, Madrid has so far resisted because such assistance comes in return for fiscal reforms.

“If you are the leader of a country that has done everything that had to be done, and then the ECB (European Central Bank), works on the secondary markets for you and lowers those yields and (yet) you are told that you have to go and ask for a (bailout) and you say, ‘OK,’ but then you’re given very strong signals that if you go, you will be told, ‘No.’ How can you reconcile those two things?” Gurria told CNBC on the sidelines of theInternational Monetary Fund’s semi-annual meetings in Tokyo.”

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Spain Hints at Possible Bailout Acceptance

“TOKYO (Reuters) – Spain on Friday said a European bond-buying plan was fully ready for use and that there was absolutely no political resistance from within the euro zone to a Spanish bailout request.

The situation in Spain, which is considering seeking an aid program to ease financing pressure, dominated talks between finance ministers at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank semi-annual meetings in Tokyo.

The country is the latest epicenter of the euro zone debt crisis, which started nearly three years ago, and investors believe it won’t be able to deflate a big budget gap, control soaring debts and reform its economy without outside help.

“The instrument is real, not virtual. Because it is real, it is ready to be used at any moment,” Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said, referring to the European Central Bank’s promise of unlimited bond-buying to help debt-stricken states.”

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$AMD Hits a 52 Week Low in Pre-Market Trade on Lowered Guidance

 

“Advanced Micro Devices has lowered its outlook for the third quarter and expects revenue to drop by 10 percent due to a slowdown in the PC market due to weak demand.

According to a release, AMD said the outlook was “primarily due to weaker than expected demand across all product lines caused by the challenging macroeconomic environment.””

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G-7 Nations Discuss More Stimulus Measures if Global Growth Continues to Falter

 

“Some Group of Seven nations raised the possibility of extra fiscal measures if the global recovery weakens, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said after a G-7 meeting in Tokyoyesterday.

“There has been some discussion by some of the participants along those lines, generally relating to the European situation,” Flaherty said on a conference call with reporters today. “The continent is in recession and there’s rising unemployment.” ”

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Euro Zone Industrial Production Surprises to the Upside for a Second Month

“Euro-region industrial production unexpectedly increased for a second month in August, led by rising output in countries including Italy and France.

Output in the 17-member euro area rose 0.6 percent from July, when it also increased by that amount, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Economists had projected a drop of 0.4 percent, the median of 36 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed. From a year ago, output slipped 2.9 percent after a 2.8 percent decline in July.”

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The Aussie Dollar Gains on Higher Commodity Prices

Australia’s dollar rose, trading 0.2 percent from its highest level in more than a week as gains in commodity prices boosted demand for the currency.

The so-called Aussie strengthened versus most of its 16 major counterparts this week after prices for iron ore, Australia’s top export, climbed to the most in more than two months. A report yesterday showed claims for jobless benefits in the U.S. fell to the least since February 2008, buoying risk appetite. Data today may show confidence in the world’s biggest economy stayed near the strongest level since May. New Zealand’s dollar, nicknamed the kiwi, rose as Asian stocks advanced.

“Iron ore prices have improved,” said Hans Kunnen, chief economist at St. George Bank Ltd. in Sydney. “The labor market may be picking up a touch in the U.S. It’s positive for the Aussie and it’s positive for risk.”

The Australian dollar added 0.1 percent to $1.0277 as of 4:49 p.m. in Sydney from $1.0264 yesterday, when it reached $1.0294, the highest since Oct. 2. It has climbed 0.9 percent this week. New Zealand’s currency strengthened 0.2 percent to 81.91 U.S. cents and is poised for a 0.2 percent weekly advance.”

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The Euro Gains on Spanish Bailout Optimism

 

“The euro climbed for a second day against the dollar and yen amid speculation Spain is moving closer to requesting a sovereign bailout and unlocking European Central Bank bond purchases.

The 17-nation currency advanced with Spanish bonds, rebounding from yesterday’s one-week low versus the dollar, which was reached after Standard & Poor’s downgraded Spain two days ago. Japan’s currency slid before data that economists said will show U.S. consumer confidence was near the strongest since May. Singapore’s dollar appreciated after its monetary authority kept policy unchanged. A report showed euro-area industrial output climbed for a second month in August.”

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JP Morgan Posts a 34% Gain in Profits

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the biggest U.S. bank by assets, posted a record third-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates as mortgage revenue soared 72 percent.

Net income rose 34 percent to $5.71 billion, or $1.40 a share, from $4.26 billion, or $1.02, a year earlier, the New York-based company said today in a statement. Earnings, which included a loss on accounting adjustments, beat the average estimate of $1.20 among 30 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.”

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Wells Fargo Posts a 22% Increase in Profits

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), the most valuable U.S. bank and largest mortgage lender, said third-quarter profit increased 22 percent as the cheapest interest rates in history spurred refinancing.

Net income advanced to a record $4.94 billion, or 88 cents a share, from $4.06 billion, or 72 cents, a year earlier, the San Francisco-based bank said today in a statement. That beat the 87-cent average estimate of 33 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, with some forecasts excluding selected one-time items. The net interest margin narrowed, and Wells Fargo shares fell 2.7 percent in early New York trading.”

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