Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Intel Corp.(INTC), the world’s biggest chipmaker, predicted higher first-quarter revenue than analysts estimated as demand for notebook computers rebounded. The shares climbed in extended trading. Intel forecast sales of about $9.7 billion for the current quarter, compared with the $9.34 billion average estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Fourth-quarter net income increased more than ninefold to $2.28 billion, or 40 cents a share, the company said today in a statement. Intel posted a record profit margin and its biggest quarterly revenue in more than in a year, bolstered by surging sales of laptop personal computers. The company expects consumers to continue snapping up portable computers and businesses to increase technology-hardware budgets this year. “It’s definitely positive across the board,” said Doug Freedman, an analyst at Broadpoint Amtech Inc. in San Francisco. “We were expecting the financial crisis to have a greater impact on demand for consumer electronics and PCs. That just didn’t really materialize. PC sales have held up surprisingly well.” Intel rose 17 cents to $21.65 in late trading after the announcement. “My expectation for 2010 is that we’re going to see robust unit growth,” Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith said in an interview. “The consumer segments of the market will stay pretty strong, and I do believe we are going to see a resurgence in PC client sales.” Intel’s revenue rose 28 percent to $10.6 billion last quarter -- the first period of growth in more than a year. In October, Santa Clara, California-based Intel forecast sales of $9.7 billion to $10.5 billion. Net income was $234 million, or 4 cents a share, a year earlier, when investment writedowns ate into profit. Gross margin, the percentage of sales remaining after deducting the cost of production, was a record 65 percent, Intel said. The company had predicted about 62 percent. This quarter, the margin will narrow to 61 percent, give or take 2 percentage points, Intel said. Intel plans to spend about $6.2 billion on research and development and $4.8 billion on new plants and equipment this year. Intel doesn’t give an annual sales prediction. PC shipments increased 15 percent last quarter, Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC said yesterday. That beat the research firm’s earlier prediction for an 11 percent gain. “We’re going to see very strong results -- not just from Intel, but from most of the tech sector,” Bill Whyman, head of technology research at the International Strategy and Investment Group, said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “PC, handsets, server, storage -- all of these markets are growing. The first half of the year is going to be very strong.”
- The U.S. government may take formal measures against China over an alleged cyber-attack on Google Inc.(GOOG) and other companies, a State Department official said. David Shear, the deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, met with the Chinese Embassy’s deputy chief of mission in Washington yesterday to express concern and ask questions. Shear didn’t receive answers to any of the questions during the meeting, the State Department official told reporters in Washington on condition of anonymity. The allegations of breaches raise questions such as whether China will investigate the intrusions, the official said. If the attack represented part of a deliberate strategy on China’s part, that raises other concerns, the official said, without being specific. Google said the attack, which occurred last month, included theft of its intellectual property and hacking into the e-mail accounts of human rights activists, and that it targeted at least 20 other “large” companies in technology, finance and chemicals. While the State Department called for the meeting with the Chinese envoy, it wasn’t a formal summons. That may yet occur, the official said.
- Haverty Says Google(GOOG) Shares 'Extraordinarily' Undervalued. (video)
- Hynix Semiconductor and Elpidia Memory were raised to "buy" from "neutral" at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which said shares of dynamic random access memory chipmakers are "primed for a second wind of strong performance."
- Agrium Inc.’s(AGU) pursuit of rival fertilizer producer CF Industries Holdings Inc.(CF) may benefit from CF’s decision to abandon a hostile offer for a third competitor. CF had spurned Agrium offers containing progressively larger cash components since February, saying its own bid for Terra Industries Inc.(TRA) would provide a better return to shareholders. Agrium’s current offer for CF of $45 plus one of its own shares for each of the target’s shares was valued at $5.36 billion at the close of regular trading today.
- Republicans may lose next week’s U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts and still win election- year political points. The race to fill the late Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat, once considered a foregone conclusion in a heavily Democratic state, is taking on national significance as some polls show Republican state Senator Scott Brown trailing Democratic state Attorney General Martha Coakley by as few as 2 percentage points, and after Brown raised $1.3 million in 24 hours over the Internet. The surge in opinion polls by a state legislator who trailed by more than 30 points in November set off a last-minute Democratic push to turn out voters for Coakley on Jan. 19. “He’s going to worry her from here until then,” said Richard Parker, a former consultant to Democrats, including Kennedy. Parker said “neither campaign is running like a Swiss railroad, and there could be problems in actually getting people out.” If Brown wins, Democrats would lose the 60-vote Senate majority needed to overcome Republican filibusters on priorities such as health-care legislation. In Massachusetts, even coming close would help Republicans make the case that Democrats are in danger of losing congressional majorities in the November elections. “Anything in the single digits and Republicans get to crow a little bit,” said Jeffrey Berry, a political science professor at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. The Rothenberg Political Report and Cook Political Report, Washington-based publications that handicap elections, today labeled the Massachusetts contest as a toss-up. Since the latest polls were released, Coakley has made a last-minute television commercial with Kennedy’s widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee bought $567,000 worth of advertising, the first independent expenditure in the race by either national party, and President Barack Obama fired off an e-mail and Web video to his political organizing arm.
- Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, Says Apple's(AAPL) Tablet May Create New Market. (video)
Wall Street Journal:
- Congressional Democrats finalizing a health overhaul have asked drug companies to contribute an additional $10 billion and possibly more over a decade to help cover the cost, according to people familiar with the discussions. Pharmaceutical companies have already agreed to contribute $80 billion to the federal overhaul, in part by discounting the cost of drugs sold to Medicare beneficiaries caught in a gap in the government health plan's prescription-drug coverage. But lawmakers trying to eliminate that so-called doughnut hole, which forces Medicare beneficiaries to pay a significant portion of their prescription drug costs, have pushed the pharmaceutical industry to up their contribution. Lawmakers and industry lobbyists have been negotiating over not just whether drug makers should pay more but also how, an industry lobbyist said. Among the options, the lobbyist said, are increasing the fee that companies agreed to pay to fund the overhaul or providing deeper drug rebates to people eligible for the Medicare and Medicaid government health plans. Another possibility is companies would increase the discount for prescription drugs in the doughnut hole to 75% from the agreed 50%. A deal hasn't been finalized, say people familiar with the discussions. Even if agreement is reached, the drug makers' increased contribution probably wouldn't be enough to close the doughnut hole entirely without other industries chipping in. "They're shaking the can on the street for everybody," said a person familiar with the talks.
- The cyberattack that has prompted Google Inc. (GOOG) to threaten to pull out of China exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) Internet Explorer browser, a security research firm said Thursday. The attackers took aim at Google and numerous other corporations by targeting one or a few key individuals in each company, tricking them into clicking on a link or a file that appeared to have been sent from a trusted source, said McAfee Inc. (MFE) Chief Technology Officer George Kurtz in a blog post.
- Life insurers are readying for an estimated $5 billion-plus capital benefit from a new approach to sizing up risk in home-mortgage bonds. Much of the gain won't come from a rosier view of those bonds, but from a rule change that has received scant attention, according to a new analysis. The new rules, imposed by state regulators, will allow life insurers to change the way they calculate the capital needed to be held against each bond—using the carrying value of the bond, rather than the par value. That will allow insurers to hold less capital against a bond if they have already written down its value.
- Juniper Networks Inc.(JNPR) said Thursday that it was a target of the same cyber attacks believed to have affected Google Inc.(GOOG) and other companies. The announcement makes the Sunnyvale, Calif., maker of networking equipment the third company to say publicly that it was targeted since Google announced Tuesday that attackers based in China broke into its computer network and stole some of its intellectual property. Adobe Systems Inc.(ADBE) also said Tuesday that it had been attacked.
Forbes:
- A spokeswoman for Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., says he "strongly" supports the idea of a tax, but that remains to be seen should push come to shove. Although Dodd plans to retire at the end of the year, his biggest donors include firms like Citigroup (C), AIG(AIG) and Goldman Sachs(GS), which would be subject to the tax. Democrats, who need to worry about future elections, might have a tougher time sticking it to Wall Street. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Goldman Sachs is among the top donors for Banking Committee members Evan Bayh and Sherrod Brown. And JPMorgan Chase is a major contributor to the committee's second-most senior Democrat, Tim Johnson, as well as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. If they want to retain their near-super majority in the Senate, Democrats can't afford to lose a single seat. Lawmakers may nip the hands that feed them, but don't expect them to bite.
Fox News:
- Saudi Prince Alwaleed Sees Strong Future for Citigroup(C); Says 'Worst' is Over.
Business Insider:
Business Week:
- Since their record losses in 2008, hedge funds have staged a comeback, posting a 20% gain last year. So why are many investors still wary? Partly it's because they could have made more in the S&P 500-stock index, which returned almost 27% in 2009, and avoided those pesky, high fees. Some simply aren't happy with the way they were treated when hedge funds barred redemptions during the market's darkest days. Pension funds, foundations, and wealthy individuals yanked $118 billion from hedge funds in the first 11 months of 2009, and many continue to hoard cash. "Before, managers could rely on their returns to sell themselves," says Andrea Gentilini, head of strategic consulting at Barclays Capital's Prime Services unit in New York. "Now investors want more transparency and communication."
Politico:
Rasmussen Reports:
- Little has changed in Ohio’s 2010 race for governor, with incumbent Democrat Ted Strickland still trailing his Republican challenger, John Kasich. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state shows Kasich with a seven-point lead, 47% to 40%. Four percent (4%) like some other candidate, and eight percent (8%) are undecided.
Chicago Tribune:
- On Banks, Obama talks tough, does little. Goldman Sachs(GS), JPMorgan Chase(JPM) and other big Wall Street banks are awarding multimillion-dollar bonuses to the same financiers who pushed the nation to the brink of financial ruin. President Barack Obama voices outrage, but he fails to take the actions available to him to stem the abuse. Wall Street has kept its mischief legal by salting the pockets of politicians running for Congress and the White House and by making certain that key policymakers at the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve are faithful Goldman Sachs alumni. Those bonuses were made possible by billions in taxpayer-financed TARP funds and nearly $2 trillion in loans from the Federal Reserve and through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Those funds helped Wall Street financial institutions, deemed too big to fail, survive their own misdeeds. Bankers used this cash -- much of it obtained at near-zero interest rates -- not to make loans for homes and businesses but to trade derivatives, currency futures and other exotic contracts. The fallout is a drastic drop in the interest paid by banks for private capital. Retirees suddenly found CDs that once paid 4 percent or 5 percent interest now pay 2 percent or 1 percent. Essentially, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke are taxing grandma to subsidize Goldman Sachs and finance huge paydays for bankers who hatched the greatest financial calamity in 80 years. Wall Street has contributed mightily to the campaigns of Senate and House committee members who make the rules and to Obama's election campaign. Goldman Sachs and others paid Obama's senior economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, millions in speaking and consulting fees the year after he resigned as president of Harvard University and before he joined the Obama administration. Americans should expect better, but they won't get it as long as Barack Obama has the audacity to hope voters will look the other way. Peter Morici is a professor at the University of Maryland Smith School of Business and former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission.
Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel:
- Sen. Russ Feingold deserves credit for showing up Monday before a room in Pewaukee packed with hundreds of . . . well, Obamacare skeptics (and, by actual count, maybe a dozen fans). The senator took it like a man as sweet, grandmotherly ladies in decorated sweatshirts booed lustily. With gestures. Feingold anticipated such heat and, admirably, showed up anyhow. "I expect there to be some opposition," he said beforehand, "given the fact that Waukesha County might be a place where there is more people that would oppose it than be for it." Yes, though it's not the result of geography. Feingold, who favors Obamacare, got pushback at listening sessions in Ozaukee and Washington counties, too, but with polls showing the country about 60% to 40% against, this isn't just the cake-eaters. Rather, Obamacare is "hanging on by a thread," as another Senate Democrat, Chris Dodd, said, because it has become increasingly clear that the plan will cost vast sums - and the patsies are starting to grasp that they're the ones who will pay. Middle-class-and-slightly-above places, like suburban Milwaukee, have long figured they'll be on the hook, either by taxes or worsened health care. That's why they've been frightening lawmakers at listening sessions since August. But now, the bedrock of the Democratic Party, labor unions, are in rebellion over senators' plans to tax so-called Cadillac coverage - the kind unions finagle out of public-sector employers. President Barack Obama tried soothing union bosses in a White House chat, but as AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumka said, "people could stay home. It could suppress votes." The problem is Obamacare's costs. To fund more coverage of the not-quite-poor (the poor and near-poor already are covered), the Senate and House must scrape up hundreds of billions of dollars from somewhere. It'll be worth it, they say, since care will get cheaper. But last week, Medicare's chief actuary said the plans would bend the nation's cost curve upward by $222 billion over their first decade. The figure's a lowball because of Congress' accounting trick of excluding four years of costs. And, said actuary Richard Foster, the presumed cuts in Medicare (if ever made) mean lots of doctors will have to drop such patients. All this to raise the nation's coverage rate from 83% to 93%.
USAToday:
- Cisco(CSCO) powers through recession.
Reuters:
- Desperate Haitians set up roadblocks with corpses in Port-au-Prince on Thursday to demand quicker relief efforts after a massive earthquake killed tens of thousands and left countless others homeless. Angry survivors staged the protest as international aid began arriving in the Haitian capital to help a nation traumatized by Tuesday's catastrophic earthquake that flattened homes and government buildings. More than 48 hours after the disaster, tens of thousands of people clamored for food and water and help digging out relatives still missing under the rubble. Shaul Schwarz, a photographer for TIME magazine, said he saw at least two downtown roadblocks formed with bodies of earthquake victims and rocks. "They are starting to block the roads with bodies. It's getting ugly out there. People are fed up with getting no help," he told Reuters.
Financial Times:
- Debt-burdened regional governments around the world face the threat of downgrades this year because of deteriorating public finances and ballooning budget deficits. The problems for local authorities come as many central governments are failing to rein back mounting debt levels, which continue to undermine the finances of municipalities, rating agency Moody’s warned on Thursday. Many downgrades are also likely because of the knock-on effect of actions taken by sovereigns, such as Greece, Moody’s said in a report that covers the world, except the US. In addition, local authorities may suffer from a crowding-out effect – which will force up their interest rate costs – in the capital markets as sovereigns, corporates and banks all try to borrow money at the same time. A rise in interest rates will serve to damage finances even more. The authorities most exposed range from those in developed world countries, such as Canada, Greece and Spain, to emerging market economies, such as Mexico and Brazil. Although Moody’s has downgraded more than 70 local authorities already in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, it anticipates many more to come in 2010. Many authorities, in countries such as Spain and Portugal, face running out of money for hospitals and schools, while those in economies such as Russia and Ukraine could see funding from the still-beleaguered banks dry up. One of the challenges for many local authorities will be finding money in an extremely uncertain environment, with national governments changing policies quickly and unpredictably, Moody’s said.
The Economic Times:
- NEW DELHI: Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Entertainment is likely to put in a bid for the iconic film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, or MGM, as it seeks to increase its presence in Hollywood beyond its existing tie-up with Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studio, a person privy to the development told ET. MGM, the owner of a library with more than 4,000 titles, including classics such as the Pink Panther and James Bond movies and more recent ones such as Legally Blonde, a series of comedy films, has been put on the block by its lenders, a consortium of over 100 financiers led by JPMorgan.
21st Century Business Herald:
- Some Chinese banks have scaled back loans to developers, citing commercial bank officials. The banks are only interested in making loans for residential developments. The banks aren't extending loans for luxury homes and commercial developments.
Evening Recommendations
CSFB:
- Reiterated Outperform on (AAPL), raised estimates, target $250.
BMO Capital:
- Raised (FCX) to Outperform, target $110.
Night Trading
Asian indices are -.25% to +.50% on avg.
S&P 500 futures -.28%.
NASDAQ 100 futures -.34%.
Morning Preview
BNO Breaking Global News of Note
Yahoo Most Popular Biz Stories
MarketWatch Pre-market Commentary
US AM Market Call
NASDAQ 100 Pre-Market Indicator/Heat Map
Pre-market Stock Quote/Chart
WSJ Intl Markets Performance
Commodity Futures
IBD New America
Economic Preview/Calendar
Earnings Calendar
Who’s Speaking?
Upgrades/Downgrades
Politico Headlines
Rasmussen Reports Polling
Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
- (CRI)/.67
- (JPM)/.60
Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
- The Consumer Price Index for December is estimated to rise +.2% versus a +.4% gain in November.
- The CPI Ex Food & Energy for December is estimated to rise +.1% versus unch. in November.
- Empire Manufacturing for January is estimated to rise to 12.0 versus a reading of 2.55 in December.
9:15 am EST
- Industrial Production for December is estimated to rise +.6% versus a +.8% gain in November.
- Capacity Utilization for December is expected to rise to 71.8% versus 71.3% in November.
9:55 am EST
- Preliminary Univ. of Mich. Consumer Confidence for January is estimated to rise to 74.0 versus 72.5 in December.
Upcoming Splits
- None of note
Other Potential Market Movers
- The Fed's Lacker speaking and Needham Growth Conference could also impact trading today.