Salesforce.com sees FY12 $1.30-1.32 vs $1.27 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees revs $2.15-2.17 bln vs $2.11 bln Thomson Reuters consensus

Not good

Intuit beats by $0.05, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs below consensus (55.90 +1.62)
Reports Q3 (Apr) earnings of $2.33 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $2.28; revenues rose 15.0% year/year to $1.85 bln vs the $1.82 bln consensus. Co issues guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $(0.02)-0.02, excluding non-recurring items, vs. ($0.01) Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q4 revs of $567-587 mln vs. $587.20 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.

He rejected Obama’s idea that the Palestinians should have a country with pre-1967 borders, calling such borders “indefensible.”

Netanyahu will be visiting the White House next week.

The sale terms call for privately-held Cargill to swap about 179 million of its 286 million Mosaic shares with Cargill’s private stockholders — including, most notably, the charitable trust of the late Margaret Cargill, who died in 2006 — for some of all of their Cargill stock. Cargill’s remaining 107 million Mosaic shares would be doled out in exchange for Cargill debt owned by third parties.

Full article

No. Ticker % Change
* LNKD 137.90
1 QPSA 25.80
2 PURE 23.30
3 QBC 13.96
4 OESX 13.64
5 WEBM 12.33
6 FFHL 12.20
7 TINY 12.18
8 ADAT 10.74
9 CXM 10.34
10 CABL 10.00
11 GENE 9.68
12 DATE 9.27
13 GLUU 9.04
14 GTN 8.99
15 PETD 8.13
16 TST 7.64
17 RAVN 7.64
18 STVI 7.63
19 FTEK 7.59
20 CIIC 7.42
21 MERC 7.27
22 KFS 7.14
23 PETM 7.06
24 TWMC 7.02
25 AVL 6.82
—————————-
No. Ticker % Change
1 TDSC -51.27
2 CCSC -24.07
3 NEI -23.42
4 YRCW -19.47
5 YONG -17.32
6 CHBT -12.60
7 NQ -12.55
8 BKE -12.53
9 BIG -11.39
10 HEV -10.81
11 AAP -10.02
12 COIN -9.41
13 GFRE -9.36
14 LEXG.OB -9.15
15 HOTT -9.01
16 OINK -7.99
17 SHZ -7.80
18 WWIN -7.51
19 AACC -7.22
20 CMRG -6.87
21 DEXO -6.80
22 GMR -6.63
23 TDW -6.48
24 ONXX -6.44
25 CNTF -6.23

The stock is now up 160% to $120.

To put this into perspective, here are some companies with market caps on the same level as the $15 million per year earner, LinkedIn.

No. Ticker Market Cap
49 LLL 8,970,000,000
50 RF 8,960,000,000
51 TIF 8,940,000,000
52 RYAAY 8,890,000,000
53 ALXN 8,880,000,000
54 SJM 8,850,000,000
55 MCO 8,830,000,000
56 RHT 8,800,000,000
57 RCL 8,800,000,000
58 CNC 8,800,000,000
59 FFIV 8,800,000,000
60 AUY 8,790,000,000
61 HOG 8,790,000,000
62 DTE 8,750,000,000
63 FTR 8,750,000,000
64 GPC 8,710,000,000
65 SNI 8,700,000,000
66 CMG 8,670,000,000
67 JCP 8,660,000,000
68 TAP 8,650,000,000
69 LZ 8,640,000,000
70 CX 8,620,000,000
71 SIRI 8,600,000,000
72 SLM 8,600,000,000
73 UAL 8,570,000,000
74 WDC 8,560,000,000
75 CBG 8,550,000,000
76 SIAL 8,520,000,000
77 AVGO 8,490,000,000
78 CIT 8,460,000,000
79 CRESY 8,460,000,000
80 BAP 8,310,000,000
81 OKS 8,310,000,000
82 ORLY 8,300,000,000
83 DNR 8,300,000,000
84 EGO 8,290,000,000
85 DVA 8,280,000,000
86 SHLD 8,250,000,000
87 RRC 8,250,000,000
88 CNA 8,200,000,000
89 MXIM 8,190,000,000
90 KEY 8,140,000,000
91 UNM 8,110,000,000
92 CNP 8,070,000,000
93 VAR 8,050,000,000
94 ESV 8,050,000,000
95 HRL 8,040,000,000
96 BX 8,030,000,000
97 WPI 7,990,000,000
98 PRGO 7,980,000,000
99 ROP 7,960,000,000
100 SRCL 7,950,000,000

Data provided by The PPT

Spreads are up nearly 5% to $24.50, near historic levels.

Thestreet.com’s ipo comes to mind. The stock is up $39 to $85.

Ticker LNKD

Rapist.

IMF statement – Strauss Kahn says “I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me”

THE Australian dollar has overtaken the Canadian dollar as the major currency most closely linked to broadly buoyant investor sentiment, leaving it overvalued and susceptible to a “vicious” decline, HSBC has warned.

In a research note, the British bank said the currency had been supported by a generally upbeat view among investors on the prospects for global economic recovery, drawing on the country’s large commodities exports.

Last week’s abrupt sell-off in commodity markets had a limited impact on the currency, but the high correlation between risk sentiment and the Australian dollar gave cause for concern, according to HSBC.

“We believe the valuation of the Australian dollar is extreme and any move to a risk-off scenario could see a vicious unwind in the (currency),” the bank said in a note to clients.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

Bank of Canada hints at stronger Canadian dollar

Earlier this week, Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney gave a remarkable speech entitled “Canada in a Multi-Polar World”.

In a relatively short address, Mr. Carney covered a myriad of topics, centered on the theme of Canada’s place in a changing world. The global economy is in the midst of a powerful transformation, with the pace of change accelerated by the recent financial crisis.

—-

One of the key challenges for Canada lies in the outlook for the value of the Canadian dollar. I believe the new paradigm outlined by Mark Carney implies that the Canadian dollar will not only remain above par, but will strengthen further. Mr. Carney outlines four factors that will support Canadian dollar strength.

Firstly, we are in the midst of a commodity price super cycle — there will be fluctuations in prices but the cycle could proceed for some time reflecting fundamental Asian demand. Capital flows are also critical. Foreign central banks have already begun the process of diversifying their massive reserves away from the U.S. dollar and in to free floating currencies like the Canadian dollar.

—-

FULL ARTICLE

A Munich Re unit hosted about 20 prostitutes at a party thrown in Budapest to reward the insurer’s high-performing agents, a spokesman said.

The incident in the summer of 2007 was a “clear violation” of company policy, said Alexander Becker, a spokesman for the Ergo Versicherungsgruppe subsidiary, in a telephone interview today. Senior management involved in organizing the event are no longer employed at Ergo, he said.

Ergo hosted the party for about 100 guests at the historic Gellert spa, Handelsblatt reported in a preview of an article to be published tomorrow. Women wore color-coded armbands, the newspaper said, citing unidentified guests, with red for hostesses, yellow for those available for sexual favors and white for women reserved for executives and top agents. After each trip to beds set up near the thermal baths, a woman would receive a stamp on her forearm, the paper reported.

Full story at Bloomberg

Cougars Inc.: The Lady Predator Lifestyle

The phenomenon of older women dating younger men has expanded beyond the Web to a transcontinental economy around conventions, travel agencies, love coaches, marketing firms, and other profit-seekers

arryn Russo goes by “Jerzee” and refuses to divulge her age. She also has a very dark, unhealthy-looking tan. On Apr. 29, Jerzee—who appears to be in her mid-40s and, not surprisingly, hails from New Jersey—was at the Manhattan nightclub Greenhouse in an extremely short tie-dyed skirt adorned with peace symbols. When younger men stopped to talk, Jerzee started to dance. “She’s a cougar,” crooned the rapper on stage, “I think I love her, I put no one above her.”

Jerzee was one of more than 30 contestants vying for the title of Miss Cougar America, the marquee event of the third annual National Cougar Convention. And she appeared to be the odds-on favorite until the pageant’s emcee, Rich Gosse—donning a black shirt, a yellow and orange paisley tie, and a thick, unmanicured mustache—announced the shocking news: The crown had gone to Aalsa Lee of Palm Springs, Calif. “We was robbed!” yelled a crestfallen Jerzee supporter who paid the $20 admission fee. Lee, who does not make a secret of her age, is 73.

In the decade since Valerie Gibson published Cougar: A Guide for Older Women Dating Younger Men, the very notion of older women dating younger men has gained acceptance in popular culture, in part, due to the emergence of high-profile women—such as Demi Moore, Katie Couric, and the fictional character Samantha Jones on Sex and the City—who have no qualms about dating younger partners. “There is a new archetype that’s emerging,” says Amy Luna Manderino, the reigning Miss Cougar International. “There have always been free-thinking, vital women over the age of 40. The difference today is our numbers have reached a critical mass.” Christine Lehtonen, a principal at Asterix Group, a marketing and advertising agency in San Francisco, says there are more women in the U.S. aged 51 than any other single age. “Can you imagine what could happen,” she says, “if all these women were marketed to?”

Read the full article at Business Week

(Reuters) – Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has acknowledged that he fathered a child more than ten years ago with a member of his household staff, the Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday.

In a statement made in response to questions from the newspaper, Schwarzenegger said: “After leaving the governor’s office I told my wife about this event, which occurred over a decade ago.”

“I understand and deserve the feelings of anger and disappointment among my friends and family. There are no excuses and I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused. I have apologized to Maria, my children and my family. I am truly sorry.”

FULL STORY HERE

Pacific Investment Management Co., which runs the world’s largest bond fund, said “deteriorating debt dynamics” will stoke faster inflation and financial repression in the U.S. as well as at least one sovereign-debt restructuring in Europe.

In a report aimed at establishing a worldview for investors in the next three to five years, Pimco Chief Executive Officer Mohamed El-Erian raised the prospect of U.S. policy makers trying to force savers to accept returns below the rate of inflation as the government grapples with a budget deficit the White House reckons will reach $1.6 trillion this year.

“It is a world where several governments in advanced economies, and the U.S. in particular, opt for financial repression and mild inflation as the major way to accommodate their deteriorating debt dynamics,” Newport Beach, California- based El-Erian wrote in a report published today on the firm’s website. “It is a world that heals slowly and unevenly and remains structurally impaired.”

Full news story here

Pimco report (pdf)

The problem facing euro zone policy makers as we head into what could be another eventful summer for the global markets is surprisingly simple, yet very unpalatable.

Angela Merkel, Jean-Claude Trichet and to a lesser extent Nicolas Sarkozy have to answer the following question: do we bailout the banks or do we throw more money at highly-indebted nations like Ireland, Portugal and more urgently, Greece?

Since January the euro zone debt crisis has been overshadowed by events in the Middle East, Japan and fears over the health of US finances but over the coming months the problems facing the euro zone will have to be addressed, or – if history teaches us anything – at least fudged.

Full article

(Reuters) – Annual inflation hit a 2-1/2 year high last month and core prices rose at a record pace, deepening the policy dilemma for the Bank of England as it keeps interest rates low to support a sluggish economy.

Consumer prices rose a bigger-than-expected 4.5 percent year-on-year, the fastest pace on increase since October 2008, propelled by soaring travel costs around Easter and higher duty on alcohol and tobacco.

Full article

Speculators cut bets on copper

Seems financial investors have become far less optimistic on copper in recent weeks:

Full article at FT Tilt here