Let me get my basket….
Comments »BMW Recalls 30k X5s for Steering Problems
“10:45AM EST December 6. 2012 – DETROIT — BMW is recalling about 29,800 X5 SUVs in the U.S. and about 5,000 in Canada because of a badly made bolt that can fail and cause loss of power assist for the steering.
The recall covers 2009-12 X5 xDrive 35d — a model with a diesel engine and all-wheel drive.
According to BMW documents posted on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration web site, “a bolt for the engine drive belt pulley was manufactured incorrectly and may become loose. If the bolt backs out completely or breaks, the customer will experience a loss of power steering assist.” BMW says the alternator warning light also will go on.:
Comments »This Morning’s Shakers and Movers
Gapping Up and Down This Morning
$BA Wins a $1.2 Billion Contract With Icelandair
“STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Boeing said it had reached an agreement to supply Icelandair with 12 737 MAX aircraft which have a $1.2 billion list price.
Icelandair said on Thursday it had purchase rights for another 12 aircraft. It planned to fund the acquisition from internal resources as well as loans from banks.
“The company is in discussions with Export-Import Bank of the United States about possible financing support,” it said. It noted that the $1.2 billion price was the list price and that the actual purchase price was confidential.
Boeing said it was finalizing the details, after which time it would post the deal as a firm order.”
Comments »$AAPL to Invest $100 Million in Manufacturing Macs in U.S
“Apple Inc. (AAPL) plans to spend more than $100 million next year on building Mac computers in the U.S., shifting a small portion of manufacturing away from China, the country that has handled assembly of its products for years.
“Next year we’re going to bring some production to the U.S.,” Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek. “This doesn’t mean that Apple will do it ourselves, but we’ll be working with people and we’ll be investing our money.”
Apple, which until the late 1990s made and assembled many products in the U.S., moved manufacturing to Asia to take advantage of the region’s lower labor costs. The planned investment makes up a sliver of Apple’s $121.3 billion in cash, and probably won’t meaningfully affect profit margins. Still, it reflects pressure on companies to create even a modest number of domestic jobs as the unemployment rate hoversnear 8 percent and the economy rebounds from the recession that ended in 2009.
“I don’t think we have a responsibility to create a certain kind of job,” Cook said. “But I think we do have a responsibility to create jobs.”
Comments »HSBC Might Pay $1.8 Billion Money Laundering Fine
“HSBC Holdings might pay a fine of $1.8 billion as part of a settlement with U.S. law-enforcement agencies over money-laundering lapses, according to several people familiar with the matter.
The settlement with Europe’s biggest bank – which could be announced as soon as next week – will likely involve HSBC entering into a deferred prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The potential settlement, which has been in the works for months, is emerging as a test case for just how big a signal U.S. prosecutors want to send to try to halt illicit flows of money moving through U.S. banks.
An HSBC spokesman said: “We are cooperating with authorities in ongoing investigations. The nature of discussions is confidential.”
Comments »DigiTimes Cites Margin Requirements are to Blame for $AAPL’s Debacle
$AAPL has been down all day …
“Yield rates for the production of iPhone 5 in the supply chain appear to have improved recently, as Apple has shortened the standby period for pre-sale orders in the US and Europe to within one week, from the previous four weeks, and will begin to sell the smartphone in Taiwan and China on December 14, according to industry sources.
Some international wireless chipset suppliers have also claimed that pull-in orders from Apple are increasing and that sales of the iPhone 5 are expected to top 45 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012, higher the previous conservative estimate of 40 million units.
Since some chipset suppliers have revealed that their sales are likely to reach the ceilings of their fourth-quarter guidance, there should be no problem for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to also reach its sales target of NT$131 billion (US$4.5 billion) set for the quarter, the sources noted.
Taiwan-based IC backend service providers including Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE), Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL), Adentec and STATS ChipPAC are also expected to perform better than expected in the fourth quarter, buoyed by orders from chipset vendors, said the sources.
However, with demand in the end market expected to teeter into a slow season in the first quarter of 2013, Apple’s demand for parts and components may plunge over 20% sequentially in the quarter, the sources warned.”
Some other ideas why $AAPL is down
Comments »$WAG Same Store Sales Tank
This Morning’s Shakers and Movers
$C Announces 11k Pink Slips
Big Lots Chief Probed by SEC
“The Securities and Exchange Commission launched an inquiry into a $10 million sale of stock by Big Lots Inc. BIG +10.33% Chief Executive Steven Fishman before the company announced news that sank its stock, a person familiar with the inquiry said.
Big Lots said Tuesday that Mr. Fishman, 61 years old, intends to retire in order to spend time with his family. The discount retailer said it hadn’t been contacted by the SEC and that the timing of Mr. Fishman’s departure was coincidental to any regulatory interest.
The company said his trades were “properly made” at a time when they were allowed by the company. Mr. Fishman didn’t return calls seeking comment.”
Comments »$SBUX to Open Another 1500 Cafes in the U.S.
“NEW YORK (AP) — Another Starbucks may soon pop up around the corner, with the world’s biggestcoffee company planning to add at least 1,500 cafes in the U.S. over the next five years.
The plan, which would boost the number of Starbucks cafes in the country by about 13 percent, is set to be announced at the company’s investor day in New York Wednesday.
In addition, the Seattle-based company says it will eventually serve a new brand of tea in its cafes. Rather than its Tazo tea, Starbucks is turning its attention to Teavana, which it announced it would acquire last month.”
Comments »$FB to Replace $INFO in NASDAQ 100
“Facebook Inc. (FB) will join the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) next week after the exchange operator shortened its waiting period for inclusion in the gauge, potentially making the stock more attractive to fund managers.
The operator of the social network with more than 1 billion users will replace Infosys Ltd. (INFO)before the start of trading on Dec. 12, Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. said, about seven months after the company’s $16 billion IPO. The waiting period for entry into the index was a negotiating point with Facebook as it considered listing on Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange, a person with knowledge of the matter said in April.”
Comments »$ALU Expected to Raise $1.3 Billion, Sell Assets, and Pink Slip Many in Turnaround Maneuvers
“Alcatel-Lucent SA (ALU) is closer to obtaining financing of at least 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) from banks led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) amid a wide-ranging overhaul that will probably require deeper job cuts and major asset sales, people familiar with the talks said.
With discussions still under way, Alcatel-Lucent will need to come up with restructuring plans sufficient to end a six-year streak of mounting losses to reach a deal, the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private. Faced with more than 2 billion euros of debt repayments over three years, the company is weighing how to use as collateral its patent portfolio, in part inherited from the Nobel Prize-winning researchers of Bell Labs, the people said.”
Comments »After Review Tesco to Leave U.S. Markets
Americans do not like fresh and easy. Americans love frozen and complicatedly processed.
Comments »$NFLX Melts Up 15% on a $DIS Deal
“Netflix’s stock jumped almost 10% after it announced a new deal with Disney.
Starting in 2016, Netflix will be streaming Disney movies in the “pay TV window.” That is industry-speak for the time after a movie is available for rent or sale. Typically, this is when HBO gets movies.
For a long time, movie companies had been stopping Netflix from getting movies so quickly. The idea is to create tiers of pricing. So, pay $15 to see the movie in the theatre. Then pay $5 to rent it months later. Then months after that, if you’re paying a subscription fee to HBO, you get to see it for “free.” ”
Comments »Fracking Companies Clash with Grain Shippers and Army Corps of Engineers over Use of Missouri River Water
“The continuing drought of 2012—which has created abnormally dry conditions over 80% of the contiguous U.S.—may soon prevent barge traffic from navigating the critical 180-mile stretch of the Mississippi River between the confluences of the Missouri River near St. Louis and the Ohio River at Cairo, Ill., along which river depth is 15 to 20 feet less than normal. At the same time, oil companies conducting fracking operations in North Dakota are demanding immense quantities of Missouri River water be diverted to them, further threatening levels on the Mississippi.
Experts predict the river could close to barges in mid-December and remain that way for two months, just as the harvest heads to market via river barges, and fertilizer shipments head north. According to the trade group American Waterways Operators, closing the Middle Mississippi for the next two months would impede the transport of $7 billion worth of products including 7 million tons of agricultural products worth $2.3 billion; 1.7 million tons of chemical products worth $1.8 billion; 1.3 million tons of petroleum products worth $1.3 billion; 700,000 tons of crude oil worth $534 million; and 3.8 million tons of coal worth $192 million. Finding alternative transportation will be costly, with consumers eventually footing the bill.”
Comments »$FB Introduces New Plans to Ramp Up Revenues
“Facebook has a new plan to grow its user base—and mobile revenue—by expanding the reach of its mobile messenger app. Starting Tuesday, anyone with a mobile phone can sign up for Facebook Messenger, using just a name and phone number.
With Facebook’s growth in developed markets slowing as it nears market saturation, this streamlined sign-up process aims to draw users in countries where email or computer access is harder to come by.
“People will message more on Facebook as a result of this feature,” said Facebook’s director of product Peter Deng. “Over time we are building a large ecosystem, and there are ways for us to bring value to a lot of different parties in this ecosystem.”
Facebook clearly hopes to use messenger to draw more people to sign up for the social network, where new user activity translates into higher profits. (Read More:Facebook Revenue Jumps 32% Amid Gains in Mobile.)
The service is first launching in five key emerging markets on Tuesday: India, Venezuela, South Africa, Indonesia, and Australia. The company then plans to quickly roll it out to the rest of the world.
Facebook doesn’t currently make money from its messenger app, which includes free texting, group chat, and photo-sharing. Facebook has always offered it ad-free as an extra service to keep people connected with their Facebook friends, and within the social network’s eco-system...”
Gapping Up and Down This Morning
Gapping up
ESIO +11.8%, PETS +6.5%, MT +2%, RIO +1.8%, KCG +1.2%, FRAN +2.8%, RENN +2.5%,
GLW +1.2%, AMD +3%, ZNGA +3.1%, ALU +5.5%, AN +3.5%, GALE +22.5%,
KBH +2.1%, PHM +1.8%, RYL +1.3%, BIG +7.3%, TOL +3.4%, KCG +1.2%,
Gapping down
GERN -18.9%, PBY -5.6%, PKY -5.3%, CWST -4.9%, PCS -4.4%, NMFC -3.7%, PDLI -2.8%,
SIR -2.7%, APL -2.6%, FSC -1.9%, SLV -1%, CAJ -1.3%, ORCL -0.7%, PDLI -2.8%,
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