Thursday, January 27, 2011

Today's Headlines

Posted by Gary .....at 3:03 PM

Bloomberg:
  • Business Investment Climbs, Housing Stabilizes. Companies ordered more equipment in December for a second month, showing business investment will continue to bolster the U.S. economic recovery into 2011. Bookings for capital goods like machinery and communications gear excluding aircraft climbed 1.4 percent after a 3.1 percent gain in November, the Commerce Department reported today in Washington. The index of pending home resales climbed 2 percent, more than forecast, after a 3.1 percent gain the prior month, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey called for a 1 percent increase. Excluding transportation, bookings increased 0.5 percent after a 4.5 percent jump in November, which was stronger than previously estimated and the biggest gain in eight months. Demand for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, considered a proxy for future business investment, rose at a 9 percent annual rate in the three months ended in December compared with a 10 percent September three-month gain, indicating businesses continue to plan on updating equipment. The gain last month was led by an 11 percent advance in demand for machinery and a 3.6 percent increase in bookings for communications gear.
  • Initial Jobless Claims Rose Last Week to 454,000. More Americans than forecast filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance payments last week, indicating it will take time for the labor market to mend. Applications for jobless benefits increased by 51,000 to 454,000 in the week ended Jan. 22, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists forecast 405,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The Labor Department official said winter weather in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina in previous weeks kept people from filing claims. Those unemployed Americans ended up filing last week, boosting the claims number. “In addition to seasonal volatility, we have this extra effect in the numbers,” the Labor Department official said as the figures were released. The four-week moving average, a less-volatile measure, rose to 428,750 from 413,000. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits, which tends to track the jobless rate, rose to 3.2 percent in the week ended Jan. 15, today’s report showed. Fifty states and territories reported a decrease in claims, while three had an increase.
  • Hogs Surge to 24-Year High on Bets U.S. Pork Exports to Soar. Hog futures surged to the highest price in at least 24 years on signs that Asian demand for U.S. pork exports will surge as foot-and-mouth disease slashes South Korea’s livestock. The worst outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Asia for at least 50 years may get more severe as Lunar New Year holidays starting Feb. 2 spark a surge in travel, threatening to spread the virus, said Juan Lubroth, the chief veterinary officer at the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization in Rome. Before today, hog prices gained 31 percent in the past year.
  • China Investment Head Gao Says Quantitative Easing Devaluing Paper Money. China Investment Corp. Vice Chairman Gao Xiqing said that central banks’ quantitative easing policies are hurting the value of money just one day after the Federal Reserve maintained plans to buy $600 billion of Treasuries. “You know money is gradually becoming not worth the paper it’s printed on,” Gao said at an event sponsored by HSBC Holdings Plc at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland today. Recent gains in commodity and food prices reflect the “long-term view” of investors that prices will accelerate, he said.
  • Oil Falls to Eight-Week Low in N.Y. After Jobless Claims Rise. Crude oil fell to an eight-week low in New York, and slid to a record discount versus London’s Brent, as a bigger-than-forecast gain in U.S. jobless claims bolstered concern that the economy will be slow to recover. Crude oil for March delivery tumbled $1.34, or 1.5 percent, to $85.99 a barrel at 12:33 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
  • New York City Record for Snowiest Month May Fall by Week's End. New York City’s record for the snowiest month in history, set less than a year ago, may topple this weekend as more snow falls atop the 19 inches received overnight, forecasters said. A total of 36 inches (82 centimeters) has fallen in Central Park so far this month, beating the old January record of 27.4 inches in 1925, the National Weather Service said. The record for snowiest month in New York City history is 36.9 inches, set in February 2010, according to agency data.
  • Cotton Futures Rise By Daily Maximum Allowed on Import Demand. Cotton futures in New York advanced the 6-cent limit imposed by ICE Futures U.S., climbing to a record, on speculation import demand from China, the world’s biggest user of the fiber, will be sustained, tightening global supply. The March-delivery contract, the most active, climbed as much as 3.6 percent to the all-time high of $1.7283 a pound and was at $1.7282 a pound by 11:26 a.m. in London. Cotton prices have climbed 22 percent this year.
  • Under Armour(UA) Advances Most Since May After Raising 2011 Sales Forecast. Under Armour Inc., the sportswear maker, rose as much as 9 percent after increasing its sales forecast for the year. The company also announced its first cotton apparel line. Sales will be as much as $1.35 billion this year, surpassing guidance of $1.29 billion in October, the Baltimore- based company said today in a statement.
  • Industrial Companies Point to More Gains for S&P 500: Technical Analysis. Industrial companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index appear poised for additional gains that would sustain the rally that sent the index to its highest close in more than two years yesterday, WJB Capital Group Inc. said. Of the index’s 10 groups, industrial companies and those that depend on consumer spending are the best indicators of its direction, John Roque, head of technical analysis at WJB Capital in New York, wrote in a report yesterday.

Wall Street Journal:
  • Here Comes Another Web IPO: LinkedIn S-1 Filing Imminent.
  • NYSE Hides Names of Stock Buyers, Sellers. Information about stock-market trades that used to flow through the floor of the New York Stock Exchange will now be kept secret from traders, thanks to a procedural change quietly implemented last week. In a move rankling the floor's denizens, names of buyers and sellers on the storied exchange's "book" of orders will no longer be visible to traders. Originally recorded in a physical book, the exchange's orders are now transmitted electronically.
  • Thousands Rally Against Yemen Regime. Thousands of Yemenis, inspired by the wave of activism spreading across the Middle East, marched through the capital demanding the removal of their longtime president, in one of the largest protests seen in this autocratic nation in years. The demonstrations, organized by a committee of opposition parties, wound through four central districts of the city, with protesters shouting for the removal of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a key U.S. counterterrorism ally whose government has long been criticized by Yemenis for repression and corruption.
CNBC:
  • Low Rates Boost Commercial Real Estate: Starwood(HOT) CEO. Short interest rates in the United States and around the world have created a flow of funds into commercial real estate that's not necessarily natural, Barry Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, told CNBC on Thursday.
Business Insider:
Zero Hedge:
New York Post:
  • Soarin' Netflix(NFLX) is No.2. The cable and satellite guys had better watch their backs. Netflix is now the second-largest video-subscription service in the US behind cable giant Comcast after it surged past the 20 million mark in total subscribers. The popular movie-rental company added 3.1 million customers in the fourth quarter, up 63 percent from a year ago and 18 percent from the prior period. The 20.01 million total also beat its 2010 forecast of between 19 million and 19.7 million. "The subscriber growth was off the charts and they see a healthy start to 2011," said Barton Crockett, senior entertainment analyst with Lazard Capital Markets. "These are the go-to guys for online video, and everyone wants it because they're buying iPads."
LA Times:
Huffington Post:
Boston Globe:
  • Auditor to Look at Evergreen Solar(ESLRD) Incentives as Part of Broader Review. State Auditor Suzanne Bump intends to review public subsidies for Evergreen Solar, the energy company that recently announced plans to shutter its Devens plant and move more 800 jobs elsewhere despite receiving millions of dollars in public funds, as part of a broader review of the state's entire system of tax incentives. With the Patrick administration saying it could recoup $13 million of the $31 million the state invested in Evergreen Solar, the News Service asked Bump if she was considering an examination of the public subsidies in the company. Bump's press secretary Christopher Thompson responded with a statement noting that before she took office, Bump had described reviewing the state's broad system of tax incentives as a priority.
Detroit Free Press:
  • White House Wants $7,500 Rebate for Plug-In, Electric Cars. The Obama administration announced several proposals Wednesday designed to boost sales of plug-in electric vehicles in the U.S. The White House wants to adopt a $7,500 rebate for plug-in or electric cars instead of a tax credit and a $200-million grant program for communities for electric vehicle infrastructure, such as charging stations. The proposals will be included in Obama's budget and must be approved by Congress.
Banking Technology:
  • Bloomberg Launches New Hedge Fund Tool Box. Bloomberg has launched Bloomberg Hedge Fund Tool Box (HBOX), a new platform to meet the growing number and needs of hedge funds. According to the Bloomberg, the HBOX solution built for fund managers, traders, operations and compliance professionals, integrates essential front-to-back office tools into one package for management of equity, fixed income and FX strategies across 65 countries globally. Through HBOX, fund managers can have an oversight of strategy management, risk and compliance, STP trade settlement, portfolio analysis, order management and electronic trading.
PC World:
  • Apple(AAPL) Introducing iPad in India. Apple will start offering the iPad in India on Friday, but its focus will be on sales through retailers, rather than bundling the device with service plans from mobile operators. The company has partnered with Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL), a state-owned mobile services provider to offer 3G services for the iPad, according to a source who declined to be named. But the arrangement is not exclusive.
Dealbreaker:
  • STG Capital "Abruptly Closes." The tech-focused hedge fund apparently just started notifying people this morning, though investors have not been formally told yet. Performance has been “solid” and no explanation has been offered for the shuttering though some people are supposedly wondering if the fact that a former Galleon analyst had ties to the firm (albeit leaving several years back) had anything to do with the news.
Reuters:
  • DAVOS - Rich Corporations "Must Share Wealth" to Avoid Unrest. Poverty and unemployment reared their heads at the World Economic Forum on Thursday, with speakers urging the elite audience to bridge a growing gap between booming multinationals and the jobless poor. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, who also chairs the Socialist International group of centre-left parties, said the global crisis had led to an "unsustainable" race to the bottom in labour standards and social protection in developed nations. "Politically, I believe we are at a turning point where... there are signs in Europe of more nationalism, more racism, anti-Muslim, anti-semitism, fundamentalisms of all types", he said. "We need to look to a different model".
  • FACTBOX - Deepwater Rigs Moved Out of the Gulf of Mexico.n"> Some deepwater drilling rigs have moved out of the Gulf of Mexico to other markets, first due to a U.S. moratorium imposed last May after BP Plc's (BP.L) well blowout, and then because of the lack of permits that followed it.n"> Below are rigs contracted to work in the Gulf of Mexico that have been or will be moved to other regions.
  • FACTBOX - Biggest Changes in NYSE Short Interest.
  • News Corp(NWSA) to Launch iPad Newspaper on Feb. 2.
  • ProLogis-AMB Merger Talks Boost Industrial REIT Shares. Shares in ProLogis (PLD) and AMB Property Corp (AMB) and peers rose on Thursday after the two largest publicly traded U.S. owners of warehouses and distribution centers said they were in merger talks.

China News:
  • China's central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said the nation's deposit rates should exceed inflation in the mid-term to protect individuals' savings.
  • China's Chongqing city will announce the launch of a property tax at 8 p.m. today.

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