EMC is up 3% as they report $0.49 per share vs consensus of $0.46

MCD posted $1.33 per share vs consensus of $1.30 

Harley posted $0.46 per share…

Holiday handbag sales boosted profits to $1.18 per share

DuPont reported $0.40 per share vs $0.50  yoy and reaffirmed lower guidance

New subscribers are up 1.2 million vs 1 million in expectations…

The road to power and wealth upon the backs of unsuspecting plebs is a masterful game of chess, hot potato, or musical chairs…

Despite great numbers the stock is down on forward guidance…

(via Reuters) 

Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) plans to begin selling beer, wine and more upscale food in a small number of cafes in Atlanta and Southern California by the end of this year as it explores an expansion beyond morning coffee and afternoon pick-me-ups.

Starbucks is planning to add beer, wine and food such as savory snacks and hot flatbreads to the menus in four to six outlets in both Atlanta and Southern California.

The world’s biggest coffee chain started selling those items at a Seattle cafe in October 2010. Five stores in the Seattle area and one in Portland, Oregon, now offer the extended menu.

Late last year, Starbucks announced similar plans for five to seven Chicago-area cafes by the end of 2012.

(via NY POST)

JCPenney’s new CEO has come out swinging in 2012 — the ax, that is.

Former Apple exec Ron Johnson — who on Wednesday is slated to unveil a top-secret strategy for a dramatic overhaul of the aging department store — has begun the new year by slashing thousands of jobs nationwide, The Post has learned.

As 52-year-old Johnson replaces Penney’s decades-old use of traditional sales and clearance events with a new “everyday pricing” strategy, sources said he’s firing workers who had long been responsible for re-tagging merchandise and plastering stores with temporary signs and displays.

GETTY IMAGES

Ron Johnson, JCPenney’s new CEO, formerly worked as an executive for Apple.

The fresh bloodbath, announced internally this month and effective today, will affect employees at nearly all of Penney’s 1,200 stores nationwide — in many instances, hitting dozens of workers at a single location, according to insiders.

“As planned, we held over some seasonal holiday hires to help us with the re-ticketing of merchandise,” a JCPenney spokeswoman said.

“As this project comes to a close over the next several weeks, the temporary employment of these seasonal hires will come to an end.”

The firm declined to comment further, but sources said cutbacks are affecting entire teams of permanent staff.

“Many employees were given an option . . . to either leave the company or be moved to a different shift,” according to a source briefed on Penney’s plans. However, some were forced to quit because they couldn’t work the oddball shifts they were offered, the source added.

Insiders said fears of further firings are rippling through the ranks — from store associates to execs at the retailer’s headquarters in Plano, Texas — as Johnson beats the drum about transforming Penney’s sleepy corporate culture.

“They’ve got a lot of industry veterans there, and they’re all worried they’re going to lose their job because they’re over 40,” according to an executive at one Penney supplier.

As previously reported by The Post, Johnson last month announced a 10-year deal with Martha Stewart without bothering to tell Chris Madden, Penney’s own celebrity home-furnishings designer for the past eight years.

Sources said Johnson is being prodded to trim the fat by Penney’s two biggest shareholders — hedge-fund tycoon Bill Ackman and property magnate Steve Roth, who heads real-estate giant Vornado.

Since the duo disclosed big Penney positions more than a year ago, the retailer has shuttered laggard warehouses, outlets and call centers, as well as its catalog business.

Ackman and Roth “are licking their chops to cut costs, and this is an example of what they see as ‘low-hanging fruit,’” a source said of the layoffs slated for today.

Indeed, some investors speculate that Penney will announce across-the-board cuts this week, paring advertising spending and slimming company divisions that design private-label clothing. Last week, the retail chain eliminated weekly circulars for the first time in a year, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Charles Grom, who notes that two years ago Penney spent more than twice the competition on marketing. Penney has cut orders for new inventory by as much as 10 percent, according to several manufacturers.
Read more: http://trade.cc/abpy

+7.5% to $52.5

Gapping up

MFN +23.3%, NBG +6.1%,  CS +2.5%,  RIMM +5.3%, ING +1.7%, RBS +1.7%, DB +3.5%, AXL +2.2%, UBS +2.2%, BAC +1.8%, BP +1.5%, UXG +3.6%, CHK +3.1%,

SVM +1.9%, KGC +1.9%, SLW +1.6%, RIO +1.2%, AG +1.1%, SLV +0.9%, GLD +0.4%, BBL +0.4%, GDX +0.3%, PVA +2.9%, SWN +2.5%, BP +1.7%, FST +1.7%,

COG +1.6%,

Gapping down

CBRX -58.2%, IGOI -27.1%, CCL -3%, HAL -1%, GAME -19.5%, COP -0.9% , PG -0.5%,  FSC -4.2%

Source

Amgen Corporation (NASDAQ: AMGN) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) Cut to Neutral at Susquehanna.
ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Reiterated Buy with $730 price target at Argus.
Jive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: JIVE) Started as Buy at Citigroup; Started as Neutral at UBS; Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo; Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Johnson Controls Inc. (NYSE: JCI) Cut to Equal Weight at Barclays.
NuVasive, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUVA) Raised to Buy at Canaccord Genuity.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
PulteGroup (NYSE: PHM) Cut to Equalweight at Barclays.
Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Raised to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank; Reiterated as Hold at Canaccord Genuity.
Sanchez Energy Corporation (NYSE: SN) Started as Buy at Canaccord Genuity; Started as Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
ViroPharma Incorporated (NASDAQ: VPHM) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

In Play

On the Wires

Apache will gain more exposure in Colorado

Full report

Will $RIMM run on the news ? I think so….

STORY HERE

(via CNN)

PETA wants O.J. Simpson’s house.

Why?

To set up a “Meat Is Murder” museum, of course.

In a letter addressed to Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase’s CEO, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals asked if the bank would either donate or sell the house to the animal rights group for a “nominal sum” once the bank completes the foreclosure it’s pursuing on Simpson’s home.

Ingrid Newkirk, PETA’s president, assured Dimon in the letter that if the organization is able to acquire the five-bedroom Kendall, Fla. home, it would put it to good use by turning it into a “Meat Is Murder” museum that would teach visitors that “nonviolence begins on our plates.”

A Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) spoksesman said the bank would not comment on the matter.

PETA said it chose Simpson’s home because the former football star actively endorsed the consumption of meat. Simpson, they said, was a spokesman for a chicken restaurant chain, owned two restaurants himself and held an ownership stake in several HoneyBaked Ham stores.

The organization said it was serious about its request.

O.J. Simpson faces foreclosure in Florida

“Hope springs eternal.” said Newkirk. “We said we wanted a building in Los Angeles a couple years ago and Bob Barker came up with $4 million to buy it.”

In addition to educating visitors about the treatment of animals used for meat, the museum would offer free samples of foods made from healthy, plant-based proteins, including veggie burgers and faux chicken.

“If they say yes, we’ll be working on the menu,” said Newkirk.

Simpson is currently serving a prison sentence of up to 33 years for a 2007 armed robbery and kidnapping in Nevada. According to a source familiar with the matter, he stopped making payments on his Florida home in 2010.

In November, his attorney filed a motion to dismiss the foreclosure proceedings. But the bank is moving forward with the action, the source said.  

Unreal squeeze ever since CIT cut funding.