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Comments »Municipal Fiscal Problems Continue to Grow With a Falling Housing Market
A fair and equitable tax law is killing CA in particular with real estate taxes. Other states obviously are facing less revenues too. Better get out those bulldozers.
Comments »Apple Frets Over FB Competition
seems like apple should not be worrying about FB, but apparently they are according to sources. Apple allegedly is a novice in FB’s space and is worried about FB adopting the iOS platform as they gather strength in numbers.
Comments »Dunkin Brands Soars 40+% in First Day of Trade
Urban Blight Brings Bulldozers to BAC’s Properties
Fun times for sure. In keeping with tradition of being a wasteful country, BAC and many others have plans or are already bulldozing properties down. The hope is to reduce supply, stabilize prices, and bring buyers to the table.
Comments »Brazilian Markets Face Technical Bear Market
Inflation is killing the Brazilian market and has pushed it to new lows. Currently the Bovespa is resting on the 20% mark that would technically open it up for a bear market.
Comments »A Recent Civil Engineering Report Suggests We Need Immediate Repair or Face Loss of Productivity to the Tune of $2.7 Trillion
Infrastructure is failing badly and we need to spend upwards of $220 Bn + a year to maintain roads, tunnels, and bridges.
If we fail to keep up with basic maintenance, then we face a huge loss to productivity.
Comments »Energy Companies Post Good Earnings, But Give a Mixed Outlook on Future growth
Good earnings expected ahead for electric and nuclear power companies, but the recovery and usage of energy is slow to recover.
Comments »CLP enters property sales option
Comments »BIRMINGHAM, Ala.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Colonial Properties Trust (NYSE:CLP – News) announces that it has entered into an agreement providing for an option to sell certain multifamily assets.
The agreement provides for the potential sale of up to 5,659 apartment homes for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $338 million. The portfolio of properties includes 18 apartment communities located in Georgia, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia and has an average age of 25 years, and would represent a sales cap rate of approximately 6.0%. The company’s 90/10 multifamily/commercial portfolio mix target remains unchanged. Our on-going strategy is to recycle older multifamily assets to improve the multifamily portfolio’s average age, margin and capital expenditure requirements. Under the terms of the agreement, the transaction will only be completed if the company is able to identify reinvestment opportunities for the sales proceeds. In addition, the agreement provides the company with the option to cancel the contract at any point in time upon a termination payment of $250,000 to reimburse the buyer for due diligence costs. The sale of units is also subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions. No assurance can be given that the company will complete the sale of any units under this agreement.
Crude oil supplies rise 2.3 million barrels
Oops, looks like expectations don’t matter as much as outcomes. Enjoy the sell off, suckers…
Comments »NEW YORK (AP) — The nation’s crude oil and gasoline supplies grew last week, according to government data released Wednesday.
Crude supplies increased by 2.3 million barrels, or 0.7 percent, to 354 million barrels, which is 1.9 percent below year-ago levels, the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.
Analysts expected a drop of 2.3 million barrels for the week ended July 22, according to Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
Gasoline supplies rose by 1 million barrels, or 0.5 percent, to 213.5 million barrels. That was more than analysts expected and 3.9 percent below year-ago levels.
Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended July 22 was 3.3 percent lower than a year ago, averaging nearly 9.1 million barrels a day.
U.S. refineries ran at 88.3 percent of total capacity on average, a drop of 2 percentage point from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity to rise to 90.5 percent.
Supplies of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 3.4 million barrels to 151.8 million barrels. Analysts expected distillate stocks to increase by 1.8 million barrels.
Crude prices fell $2.10, or 2.1 percent, to $97.49 per barrel in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Upgrades and Downgrades This Morning
Upgrades
LNKD – LinkedIn initiated with a Market Perform at William Blair
SBUX – Starbucks upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Janney Montgomery Scott
OCR – Omnicare target raised to $38 from $36 at Stifel Nicolaus
NSC – Norfolk Southern upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo
BWLD – Buffalo Wild Wings upgraded to Outperform from Market Perofrm at Raymond James
PETM – PETsMART upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray
CEVA – Ceva tgt raised to $33 from $30 at Chardan Capital Markets
KEYN – Keynote Systems target raised to $29 from $26 at Northland Securities
AKS – AK Steel upgraded to Buy from Fair Value at CRT Capital
LVS – Las Vegas Sands target raised to $58 from $55 at Stifel Nicolaus
Downgrades
SCHW – Charles Schwab downgraded to Neutral at Ticonderoga
RRC – Range Resources downgraded to Hold at KeyBanc Capital Mkts
STM – STMicroelectronics downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank
IR – Ingersoll-Rand downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus
JNPR – Juniper Networks removed from Conviction Buy List at Goldman
JEC – Jacobs target lowered to $55 from $60 at Stifel Nicolaus
JNPR – Juniper Networks target lowered to $37 from $39 at Stifel Nicolaus
RATE – Bankrate initiated with a Neutral at JP Morgan
RFMD – RF Micro Device upgraded to Buy from Hold at Craig Hallum
Comments »Gapping Up and Down This Morning
Gapping Up
QCOR +10.4%, MCO +1.8%, IRBT +4.8%, LVS +4.8%, LAD +5.8%, KEM +5.7%, CAP +5.6%, HTCH +4.9%, IGT +4.6%, DWA +4.4%,BA +2.6%, GNK +4.2%, WYNN +1.3%, WMS +0.8%, MPEL +1.3%,WYN +3.3%, AET +3.2%, MT +2.6%,ERTS +2.5%, DOW +2.2%, EXC +2.1%, TMO +1.1%, NSC +0.9%, KEYN +10%, ESIO +7.7%, TPX +7.3%, RFMD +6.7%, AMZN +5.8%, GNK +5.5%, HTCH +4.9%, IRBT +4.8%, LVS +4.8%, IGT +4.6%, DWA +4.4%, MT +2.6%, ERTS +2.5%, MGM +1.8%, VRX +1.6%,
Gapping Down
ARW -5.3%, PNRA -4.9%, STD -4.5%, CSCO -1.2%, STM -1.3%, GFA -2.1%, CIEN -5.6%, JNPR -18.2%, TRN -8.6%, BBVA -2.1%, RBS -1.5%, DB -1.1%, UBS -1%, JDAS -9.2%,ILMN -8.5%, ALR -7.2%, AVL -5.9%, ARUN -2.6%, ING -3.7%, BCS -3.1%, LYG -2.8%, IPHI -10.9%, LVLT -3.6%, WLP -3.5%, BWLD -1.6%, ILMN -10.1%, JDAS -9.2%, TRN -7.9%, AVL -5.9%, PNRA -4.9%, STD -4.5%, GLW -4%, HA -4%, LLTC -3.8%, HES -3.7%, HA -4%, LLTC -3.8%, AFFX -3.1%, LIFE -2.4%, BWLD -1.9%,
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In Play and On the Wires
Conoco Philips, COP, Beats the Street; $2.41 in EPS vs Estimates of $2.20
Dunkin Brands Prices IPO at $19 Per share Raising $422 Mn
Durable Goods: Prior 2.1%, Mkt Expects 0.5%, Actual -2.1%
story developing
Comments »DOW Chemical, DOW, Profits Up 74%
Debt Ceiling Stalemate Continues as Boehner Cancels a Crucial Vote Today
European Markets Fall on Earnings and Debt Concerns
Merck and Clariant missed earnings estimates and helped to weigh down European mkts; along with what else…debt woes.
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