Platinum is topping $1700 per ounce and is considered to be a real runner for the coming year….
Comments »Yearly Archives: 2013
$COP To Sell Some Properties to $DNR for $1.05 Billion
“ConocoPhillips (COP) agreed to sell its properties in the Cedar Creek Anticline to Denbury Resources Inc. (DNR) for $1.05 billion as the Houston company aims to focus on its unconventional Bakken position.
“This disposition represents further optimization of our portfolio,” said Don Wallette, Conoco’s executive vice president of commercial, business development and corporate planning. “The transaction will allow us to focus our investments in North Dakota and Montana on our significant Bakken unconventional position.”
The properties consist of about 86,000 net acres in southwestern North Dakota and eastern Montana. ConocoPhillips said its 2012 net production from these properties averaged 13,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day through November. The sale doesn’t include any of ConocoPhillips’ assets in the Bakken Formation, where it owns 626,000 net acres.
Conoco expects the sale to add $120 million to its fourth quarter earnings….”
Comments »The Detroit Auto Show reveals Consumer are All About Luxury and Power….Poo Poo on Green
“(Reuters) – The message from automotive CEOs at the opening of this year’s Detroit auto show is deceptively simple: Sportscars are hot, electrics are not.
As General Motors Corp CEO Dan Akerson unveiled a new 450-horsepower Chevrolet Corvette and Fiat SpA CEO Sergio Marchionne extolled the Italian automaker’s $130,000 Maserati Quattroporte luxury sedan, their counterpart, Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Japan’s Nissan Motor Co, announced a stunning $6,000-plus price cut on the slow-selling Nissan Leaf electric vehicle.
Despite that hiccup, executives generally seemed upbeat about the mood of the U.S. auto industry as it enters a fourth year of recovery from the 2009 meltdown and bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler.
“Without trying to read tarot cards and tea leaves, 2013 is structurally going in the right direction. It will be the best year on record since I’ve been here,” said Fiat’s Marchionne, whose company was handed control of Chrysler four years ago.
If U.S. consumers’ views of green cars remains skeptical, their unabated appetite for performance and luxury models is widely evident on the show floor at Detroit’s Cobo Center, even to industry officials from overseas.
“The U.S. auto market has revitalized itself with amazing speed and dynamism,” said Matthias Wissmann, head of Germany’s carmaker association (VDA). “The fascination of the car is again alive and well in the U.S.”
Part of that fascination is being driven by foreign brands such as Maserati, like Chrysler part of the Fiat group. But not every out-of-town executive is sanguine about prospects in the U.S. market….”
Comments »2013 May Turn Up a Banner Year for Drug Makers
“(Reuters) – Drugmakers are betting that a new wave of medicines for cancer, diabetes, heart disease, multiple sclerosis and hepatitis will shape up as tomorrow’s blockbusters in the coming 12 months.
With the industry regaining some of its swagger after winning 39 new drug approvals last year – a record only beaten in 1996 – there are signs the improving trend could continue through 2013.
Roche, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly, Biogen Idec, Gilead Sciences and Novo Nordisk are among those with important new products reaching a critical point in development this year.
The industry needs a winning streak after delivering poor returns for years due to a wave of patent expiries. Now companies are emerging from that patent “cliff” and the balance of losses to new opportunities is improving.
European drugmakers, for example, have the potential to deliver new drugs from 2013 to 2015 with peak annual sales of $64 billion (or $27 billion after adjusting for the risk of failure), while fresh patent losses in the period will be only $12 billion, according to Deutsche Bank estimates.
Simon Friend, global pharmaceutical leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, agrees the picture is improving. But he warns it is still too early to say that drug companies are out of the woods, especially with governments and insurers taking an increasingly tough line on paying for new medicines.
“Productivity is starting to turn the corner – but the other big issue is whether the industry can get the prices it needs for new products,” he said….”
Comments »Sand Aid Bill May Still Face Budget Deficit Hurdles
“Northeastern lawmakers hoping to push a $50.7 billion Superstorm Sandy aid package through the House face roadblocks by fiscal conservatives seeking offsetting spending cuts to pay for recovery efforts as well as funding cuts for projects they say are unrelated to the Oct. 29 storm.
The amendments by budget hawks set up a faceoff Tuesday, with Northeast lawmakers in both parties eager to provide recovery aid for one of the worst storms ever to strike the region as the House moves toward expected votes on the emergency spending package.
The base $17 billion bill by the House Appropriations Committee is aimed at immediate Sandy recovery needs, including $5.4 billion for New York and New Jersey transit systems and $5.4 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief aid fund….”
Comments »Business Inventories Rose Modestly in November
“U.S. business inventories rose modestly in November as sales rose solidly, backing views restocking will not support economic growth in the fourth quarter.
The Commerce Department said on Tuesday inventories increased 0.3 percent to a record $1.62 trillion after rising by the same margin in October.
(Click here to see how the U.S. stock market reacted to the business inventories report.)
The gain in November was in line with economists’ expectations. Automobile inventories rose 0.5 percent after increasing 0.8 percent in October….”
Comments »Pro Money Managers are Unanimously Bullish
“BofA analyst Michael Hartnett is out with his latest survey of global fund managers.
The biggest take away? Pro investors are BULLISH.
As this chart shows, risk appetite (as measured by the share of fund managers who are bullish) is surging to multi-year highs.
 BofA/ML |
And the flipside. The amount that pro fund managers are holding in cash is dropping to historic lows.
 BofA/ML |
Meanwhile, it’s interesting to note that we’re hitting these levels at the same time as retail investors are finally flooding back into stock funds.”
Comments »Are We in For a Confusing Sideways Bear Market ? Author on Markets Thinks We Have Decade of Yawn Ahead
“Stock prices have more than doubled since their lows of March 2009.
But when you look at the stock market since 2000, prices have effectively gone nowhere.
And Vitaliy Katsenelson, author of The Little Book of Sideways Markets, believes stocks could go sideways for another decade.
Click Here To See Katsenelson’s Presentation >
“12 years into this sideways market, valuations are still 30% above the historical average, while in 1982 they were about 30% percent below average!” he writes. “Also, historically, stocks spent a good amount of time at below-average valuations before sideways market turned into a secular bull market.”
In a presentation he recently gave to the CFA Society of Atlanta, Katsenelson closely reviews the history of secular bull and secular sideways markets….”
Comments »Minneapolis Fed Chief Reveals Current Thoughts of the Committee and How the Fed Could Provide More Stimulus
“Minneapolis Fed Chief Narayana Kocherlakota used to be among the more hawkish Fed chiefs.
Now he’s among the more dovish.
And in a speech today he provides an answer of how the Fed could provide even more stimulus.
Basically, the Fed could say that it won’t stop easing until unemployment hits 5.5%, rather than the current 6.5% target.
Here’s what he said in a speech today. Understanding this is crucial to understanding the Fed’s current thinking:
Based on my outlook for the next two years, I’ve concluded that the FOMC would better fulfill both of its congressional mandates by adding more monetary policy accommodation. But how best to do so? In its current forward guidance, the FOMC has stated that it expects the fed funds rate to remain extraordinarily low at least until the unemployment rate falls below 6.5 percent. In my view, it would be appropriate for the FOMC to provide more needed stimulus by lowering the threshold unemployment rate from 6.5 percent to 5.5 percent….”
Comments »$AAPL Kills the NASDAQ Again
Gapping Up and Down This Morning
Upgrades and Downgrades This Morning
AFL, AXP, AINV, ARMH, BIIB, CELG, CS, DELL, GMCR, INFY, LOGI, LYG, MLNX, NKTR, PDLI, PCYC, REGN, RBS, UAL, LCC, VRTX, VPHM, WFT,
Comments »In Play and On the Wires
Younger Generations Carry More Debt Than Previous, “Many Will Die With Debt”
“American credit card holders in their late 20s and early 30s have more debt than older consumers, repay it more slowly and risk dying in debt if they don’t curb their spending habits, a new study showed on Monday.
Researchers that people born between 1980 and 1984 have on average $5,689 more debt than their parents had at the same stage of their lives, and $8,156 more than their grandparents.
“If what we found continues to hold true, we may have more elderly people with substantial financial problems in the future,” said Lucia Dunn, a co-author of the study and a professor of economics at Ohio State University.
“Our projections are that the typical credit card holder among younger Americans who keep a balance will die still owning money on their cards,” she added in a statement….”
Comments »Fitch Warns of US Downgrade Over Debt Fight
“Failure to raise the debt ceiling within a “timely” manner would see the United States’ sovereign ratings put under formal review with “highly uncertain” consequences, rating agency Fitch warned U.S. policymakers Tuesday.
In a statement Fitch said the debt ceiling was “an ineffective and potentially dangerous mechanism for enforcing fiscal discipline. It does not prevent tax and spending decisions that will incur debt issuance in excess of the ceiling while the sanction of not raising the ceiling risks a sovereign default and renders such a threat incredible.”
Read more:( US Default Should Be ‘Unthinkable’: Larry Summers)
Fitch warned that while the current Negative Outlook on the triple-A rating would likely be resolved, the absence of a credible medium term deficit reduction plan meant a downgrade later this year is likely “even if another debt ceiling crisis is averted.”
It added that the U.S.’s triple-A rating was “underpinned by the country’s relative economic dynamism and potential, diminishing financial sector risks, respect for the rule of law and property rights, as well as the exceptional financing flexibility that accrues from the global benchmark status of U.S. Treasury securities and the dollar” – all of which was now threatened by the looming debt ceiling…”
Comments »$WMT Pledges to Hire 100k Veterans
“NEW YORK (AP) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer and the nation’s largest private employer, is making a pledge to hire every veteran who wants a job.
The plan is set to be announced as part of an address delivered in New York on Tuesday at the annual retail industry convention by Bill Simon, president and CEO of Wal-Mart’s namesake U.S. business.
Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark., says it projects it will hire more than 100,000 veterans in the next five years. Honorably discharged veterans will have a “place to go”, says Wal-Mart’s Simon, according to prepared text supplied by the discounter. The hiring pledge, which will begin on Memorial Day, covers veterans within 12 months of leaving active duty. Most of the jobs will be in Wal-Mart’s stores or its Sam’s club locations. Some will be in the company’s distribution centers.
“Let’s be clear; hiring a veteran can be one of the best decisions any of us can make,” Simon plans to say in his address to retailers gathered on the third day of the four-day National Retail Federation convention. “Veterans have a record of performance under pressure. They’re quick learners, and they’re team players. These are leaders with discipline, training, and a passion for service. There is a seriousness and sense of purpose that the military instills, and we need it today more than ever…..”
Comments »Number of Working Poor Families Grows as Wealth Gap Widens
“WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of U.S. families struggling with poverty despite parents being employed continued to grow in 2011 as more people returned to work but mostly at lower-paying service jobs, an analysis released on Tuesday shows.
More working parents have taken jobs as cashiers, maids, waiters and other low-wage jobs in fast growing sectors that offer fewer hours and benefits, according to The Working Poor Project, a privately funded effort aimed at improving economic security for low-income families.
The result is 200,000 more such working families – the so-called “working poor” – emerged in 2011 than in 2010, according to the report, based on analysis of the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data.
About 10.4 million such families – or 47.5 million Americans – now live near poverty, defined as earning less than 200 percent of the official poverty rate, which is $22,811 for a family of four.
Overall, nearly one-third of working families now struggle, up from 31 percent in 2010 and 28 percent in 2007, when the recession began, according to the analysis.
“Although many people are returning to work, they are often taking jobs with lower wages and less job security, compared with the middle-class jobs they held before the economic downturn,” the report said.
“This means that nearly a third of all working families … may not have enough money to meet basic needs.”
The findings come three years after the nation’s recession officially ended in the second half of 2009.
Brandon Roberts, co-author of the report, said the results were somewhat of a surprise after Census officials last year said the U.S. poverty rate had stabilized….”
Comments »The Clam Mulls Over the Costs of QE as Balance Sheet Balloons
“Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke indicated that the central bank is weighing the potential costs from its $85 billion in monthly purchases of bonds while saying the unorthodox easing bolsters the economy.
“So far, we think we are getting some effect, it is kind of early,” Bernanke said yesterday at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy in Ann Arbor. “We are going to continue to assess how effective” the program is “because it is possible that as you move through time and the situation changes that the impact of these tools could vary.”
The Federal Open Market Committee last month decided to add $45 billion in monthly purchases of U.S. Treasury notes to its program buying $40 billion of mortgage-backed securities each month. The committee set no limit on the size or duration of the bond purchases.
Minutes from the Dec. 11-12 meeting showed that even as they were preparing to launch new Treasury purchases, “several” FOMC members said it would “probably be appropriate to slow or stop buying well before the end of 2013.” A “few” others were willing to let the program run to the end of the year, while “a few others” didn’t give a time frame.
“What I think the market was hoping for was that he would come down on one side or the other,” said Drew Matus, senior U.S. economist at UBS Securities LLC in Stamford,Connecticut, referring to Bernanke. “He decided to say we are not sure, and that just ratifies the minutes.”
Combat Unemployment….”
Comments »U.S. Gas Exports Surge as Iran Sanctions Crimp Supplies
“At a time when sanctions are causing a slump in Iranian cargoes of liquefied petroleum gas, the U.S. is exporting more fuel than ever, driving up tanker rates for BW Group Ltd. and other ship owners.
U.S. sales (EPD) jumped 27 percent last year as those from Iran fell 18 percent, according to the Energy Department and Joachim Grieg & Co., an Oslo-based shipbroker. Tanker rates will rise 6.7 percent to a record $32,000 a day in 2013, RS Platou Markets AS estimates. The U.S. surge is boosting demand for export terminals and shares of Enterprise Products Partners LP, which operates one in Houston, will gain 10 percent in a year, analyst forecasts compiled by Bloomberg show.
Iranian sales are being curbed by European Union sanctions that prohibit any vessel insured in the 27-nation bloc from carrying the country’s energy products. That applies to about 90 percent of the world’s merchant fleet. LPG, which is used for cooking and in petrochemicals, is a byproduct of natural-gas output and the U.S. is producing more than ever as it taps deposits from previously inaccessible shale rocks.
“In Iran you clearly see the declining trend, but don’t forget the U.S. is expanding, so there’s some substitution,” said Steve Engelen, the Oslo-based head of research at Joachim Grieg. “More buying and selling and shifting trade tends to be positive for shipping.”
Minute Steaks..”
Comments »$SAP Misses Profit Expectations
“SAP AG (SAP), the biggest maker of business-management software, reported earnings trailing analysts’ estimates as the company increased spending and growth in the Americas slowed. The shares fell.
Fourth-quarter operating profit excluding some items rose about 10 percent to 1.96 billion euros ($2.61 billion), the Walldorf, Germany-based company said today in a statement. Analysts projected 2 billion euros, the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales of new software licenses, an indicator of future revenue, climbed 9 percent to 1.94 billion euros, compared with analysts’ 1.95 billion-euro projection….”
Comments »
