People need liquidity and safety huh….wonder why
Comments »BofA to Keep Bankruptcy Options Open For Country Wide Unit
So the forced acquisition of Contry Wide probably held off bankruptcy for the past few years….smart Bearded Clam intervention….
Comments »UBS Put On Review by Moody’s After Rogue Trader Losses Change Outlook
Research in motion, $RIMM; AKA Rim Job Crushes Investors Again With Lousy 3rd Q Results
SHOCK: Shares of Modern Day Rotary Phone Maker, RIMM, Crushed After Posting Bad Results
Research In Motion on conf. call said early results are strong for the BlackBerry 7 launch. Co said in North America, Blackberry 7 smart phones have an excellent reputation and, in the last few weeks, have driven a meaningful increase in sell-through in the last few weeks of the quarter and so far in Sept. Outside of North America, BlackBerry 7 sell-through rose almost 50% in the first two weeks of its Q3, largely due to its Bold 9000. The co’s BlackBerry 7 devices just began to rollout in Latin America with one MAC carrier. Co expects BlackBerry unit growth to help contribute to improved Q3 and Q4 earnings. Co has a number of upcoming programs in place to drive sell-through in PlayBook. Overall, BlackBerry 7 launches are going very well.
Comments »Distressed credit card balances on the rise
Comments »NEW YORK (AP) — It was a bumpy summer for credit card issuers, but most of the top banks reported that their customers continued to make their payments on time.
Default rates were down at four of the five companies that reported their August results by midday Thursday. Only Capital One Financial Corp. had an uptick in the rate of its write-offs of uncollectible balances.
Capital One also posted a slight increase in its rate of payments late by 30 days or more, which is considered an indicator of future default.
Discover Financial Services, American Express, Chase and Bank of America reported continued declines in both rates.
Citibank is expected to report August results to the Securities and Exchange Commission later Thursday.
The results were similar in July, with a few banks reporting slight increases but most reporting improvements in defaults, or charge-offs, and delinquencies.
Overall, both defaults and delinquencies have dropped sharply since hitting their peaks. Late payments, in particularly, are now at historically low points.
Charge-off rates for cards peaked in the second quarter of 2010 at 10.96 percent, according to Fed data, and were down to 5.6 percent in the latest second quarter. Monthly data from most card issuers has shown continued declines, which will be reflected in third-quarter figures. Industrywide delinquency rates were down to 3.62 percent in the second quarter, after peaking in the second quarter of 2009 at 6.76 percent.
One reason consumers are able to keep up with their payments is that balances have dropped sharply since the height of the recession. Lower balances translates to lower minimum payments.
FLASH: YHOO Spikes on Takeover Rumors
Shares of YHOO spiked due to rumors that private equity firms were sniffing around the shitty internet giant.
Comments »Netflix Doesn’t Mind the Fallout from Going Gangsta on its Customers
UBS Lost $2 Billion From a Rogue Trader; Stock Down 9.7% Pre-market & in Europe
PepsiCo Promotes Internal Power House To Revive the Beverage Business Unit
Carey from Frito Lay a strong division will head up the beverage unit to better compete with KO.
Comments »Shareholders To Yahoo: Clean House
Some shareholders are recommending a clean house approach to reshape the company.
Comments »FLASH: U.S. & European Markets Pare Gains and Go Negative
The Case For an Equity Rebound
Upgrades and Downgrades This Morning
Upgrades
MSFT – Microsoft initiated with a Long-term Buy at Hilliard Lyons
DELL – Dell initiated with a Buy at Merlin
SUSS – Susser target raised to $21 from $19 at RBC Capital Mkts
HIG – Hartford Financial upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse
BSYBY – British Sky Broadcasting upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Exane BNP Paribas
ORCL – Oracle upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna
MWV – MeadWestvaco upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital
AMP – Ameriprise Financial upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse
PCL – Plum Creek upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital
LUKOY – Lukoil upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan
TTM – Tata Motors initiated with a Buy at Jefferies
VMED – Virgin Media initiated with an Overweight at Barclays
Downgrades
BAESY – BAE Systems downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Exane BNP Paribas
EOG – EOG Resources downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Sterne Agee
BCS – Barclays PLC downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Exane BNP Paribas
HBC – HSBC Holdings upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Exane BNP Paribas
JASO – JA Solar downgraded to Underperform from Hold at Jefferies
DNR – Denbury Resources downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Sterne Agee
GNET – Global Traffic Network downgraded to Neutral at Collins Stewart
PFE – Pfizer downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays
JPM – JPMorgan Chase target lowered to $50 from $54 at RBC Capital Mkts
RBS – Royal Bank of Scotland downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Exane BNP Paribas
Comments »Gapping Up and Down This Morning
Gapping up
AA +1.3%, HIG +3.2%, BP +4.3%, STD +2.5%, SVM +1.6%, YHOO +2.5%, JAKK +25%, BAC +1.7%, WFC +1.7%, COOL +2.6%, MJN +0.7%, DELL +2.3%, HTS +2%, CSR +2.3% , BCS +1.7%, CS +1.3%, F +1%, NVDA +1.7%,
Gapping down
CQP -6.1%, MVIS -4.8%, RAH -8.4%, EBAY -1.4%, DB -1.4%, TOT -1.3%,
Comments »In Play and On the Wires
FLASH: Dell Initiates Share Buyback
Adds another $5billion to the existing $2 billion plan
Comments »FLASH: Conagra Threatens to Pull its Ralcorp Bid by September 19th
Ralcorp Holdings: ConAgra Foods (CAG) today reiterated its $94 per share, all-cash proposal to acquire co (83.76 -1.23)
ConAgra Foods reiterated its $94 per share, all-cash proposal to acquire Ralcorp Holdings. Co previously rejected this proposal, without dialogue with ConAgra Foods, on August 12, 2011. ConAgra Foods continues to believe its proposal of $94 per share in cash provides present value in excess of what Ralcorp can achieve on its own, including through its announced spin-off plans. If ConAgra Foods and Ralcorp are not engaged in a constructive dialogue satisfactory to ConAgra Foods by 5:00pm Eastern time on September 19, 2011, ConAgra Foods will withdraw its proposal
Price Correlation Soars to 97.2%; Highest Point Since Lehman Debacle
Interesting correlation as most banks and institutions tout diversification. Gold and silver have been the best diversification lately.
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