Friday, May 03, 2013

Bull Radar

Style Outperformer:
  • Small-Cap Growth +1.73%
Sector Outperformers:
  • 1) Steel +2.66% 2) Construction +2.38% 3) Papers +2.33%
Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:
  • HK, YRCW, BCOR, PKT, INVN, WWWW, WTW, AHS, WFT, FBHS, MBI, INVN, AXL, MTZ, SWFT, TRLA, MHK, URI, REGN, GILD, KRFT, AIG, OPEN, WTW, AMTD, FLT, SCHW, RHI and BBG
Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity:
  • 1) CPRT 2) TIBX 3) VIAB 4) TPX 5) INVN
Stocks With Most Positive News Mentions:
  • 1) ORCL 2) EL 3) ADP 4) VZ 5) WFC
Charts:

Friday Watch

Evening Headlines 
Bloomberg: 
  • ECB Faces Roadblock to 2015 Start for EU Bank Bail-In Plans. The European Central Bank and Germany met resistance from national governments in their bid to bring forward the start date of EU rules that would force losses on failing banks’ creditors. France and Spain were among a large group of EU nations to weigh in against the proposal, which would have seen the start date of the so-called bail-in rules shunted forward to as early as 2015 from 2018, at a meeting of national ambassadors today in Brussels, according to an EU official. Nations were concerned that a faster timetable wouldn’t leave banks with enough time to prepare, said the official, who couldn’t be named in line with EU policy. The legislation, proposed last year by Michel Barnier, the EU’s financial services chief, would require banks to issue minimum amounts of unsecured debt and other liabilities that regulators could write down in a crisis.
  • China Service Industries Expand at Slower Pace, Survey Shows. China’s service industries expanded at a slower pace last month, adding to the drag on growth in the world’s second-biggest economy after manufacturing lost momentum. The non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 54.5 from 55.6 in March, the National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said in a statement today in Beijing. Risks that include surging credit, overcapacity and an overheating property market may limit the government’s room to stimulate growth. “The PMI adds to downside risks for China and the region,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist and strategist at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong. “The reading suggests that growth momentum will remain relatively soft” in the second quarter, and that the economy “has shifted to a weaker growth trajectory,” he said.
  • India Says Inflation, Trade Gap Constrain Policy Scope: Economy. The Reserve Bank of India said the space for monetary policy to support economic growth remains constrained by elevated consumer-price inflation and a record current-account deficit. “Monetary policy would need to be calibrated recognizing the very limited policy space available to ease further,” the Reserve Bank said yesterday in an economic review before today’s rate decision in Mumbai. It cited “significant” risks including a “high” current-account gap and “inflation above the threshold over which it becomes inimical to growth sustainability.”  
  • Australia April Services Industry Gauge Drops by Most in a Year. A gauge of Australia’s services industry dropped in April by the most in a year as sales, new orders and employment declined amid weakening domestic demand. The performance of services index fell to 44.1 from 49.6 in March, the Australian Industry Group and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) said in Sydney today. The 5.5 point drop was the biggest since April 2012 and the gauge hasn’t been above 50, the dividing line between expansion and contraction, since January last year
  • Hong Kong Overheating Risk Seen by HKMA’s Chan on Surging Debt. Hong Kong’s economy is at risk of overheating after household debt rose to a record 61 percent of gross domestic product, said Norman Chan, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. “Hong Kong’s consumption and personal-debt growth have consistently outpaced overall economic growth,” Chan told lawmakers today, citing risks to “macroeconomic stability.”
  • U.S. Demands North Korea Free American Given Hard Labor. The U.S. called for the immediate release of an American citizen after North Korea sentenced the man, Pae Jun Ho, to 15 years’ hard labor for unidentified “hostile acts” against the communist country. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said yesterday that the U.S. is urging North Korea “to grant him amnesty and to allow for his immediate release.” 
  • Asian Stocks Rise With Metals; Dollar Weakens Before Jobs Data. Asian stocks rose for the first time in three days as Macquarie Group (MQG) Ltd. reported higher earnings and investors awaited the release of U.S. jobs data. Metals gained, while the dollar weakened. The MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index gained 0.3 percent at 10:27 a.m. in Hong Kong. 
  • Teradata's(TDC) Q1 profit down 35 percent. Data management company Teradata Corp. reported Thursday its first-quarter profit dropped 35 percent as the company got off to what its CEO acknowledged was a slow start to the year.
Wall Street Journal: 
  • U.S. Bulks Up to Combat Iran. The Pentagon has redesigned its biggest "bunker buster" bomb with more advanced features intended to enable it to destroy Iran's most heavily fortified and defended nuclear site.
  • French Leader François Hollande's Woes Fan European Fears. A new hurdle has popped up in Europe's race to save itself from economic calamity: French President François Hollande, who built his career on an ability to forge consensus, now finds himself in the unaccustomed position of pleasing no one. Mr. Hollande's ruling Socialist Party is in revolt. Party heavyweights are urging him to turn up the heat on Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and defy her prescription of austerity for resolving the euro-zone crisis. The French press last week splashed a Socialist Party draft paper that described Ms. Merkel as "selfish." Mr. Hollande's success or failure to reach consensus with Ms. Merkel—without alienating his leftist majority in Parliament—is likely to have profound repercussions on the euro zone's future. There are widening concerns that France, Europe's second-largest economy behind Germany, risks becoming the next problem child.
  • SEC Zeroing In on 'Prime' Funds. Money Funds Viewed as Most Vulnerable to Flight by Anxious Investors Would Face Tighter Rules. U.S. securities regulators, under pressure to address risks posed by the $2.6 trillion money-market-mutual fund industry, are considering a scaled-back approach that would tighten rules for about half of the sector that is seen as most vulnerable to investor runs, according to people familiar with staff discussions.
Fox News:
  • State Department's Benghazi review panel under investigation, Fox News confirms. The State Department's Office of Inspector General is investigating the special internal panel that probed the Benghazi terror attack for the State Department, Fox News has confirmed. The IG's office is said by well-placed sources to be seeking to determine whether the Accountability Review Board, or ARB -- led by former U.N. Ambassador Thomas Pickering and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen -- failed to interview key witnesses who had asked to provide their accounts of the Benghazi attacks to the panel. The IG's office notified the department of the "special review" on March 28, according to Doug Welty, the congressional and public affairs officer of the IG's office.
MarketWatch.com:
CNBC: 
  • AIG(AIG) Earnings Top Expectations but Revenue Misses. AIG on Thursday reported first-quarter earnings that beat market expectations, driven primarily by higher operating income in its property and casualty business.After the earnings announcement, the company's shares climbed in extended-hours trading. 
Zero Hedge: 
Business Insider: 
Washington Post:
  • India, China remain at odds over alleged border incursion. Two weeks ago, Indian military officials announced that they had discovered that a platoon of Chinese soldiers had crossed the de facto border between the two countries and set up camp an unprecedented six miles inside Indian-claimed territory, sparking a still-unresolved standoff. China’s Foreign Ministry said last week that its troops were patrolling on the Chinese side of the border and “never trespassed the line.” Such disputes have a long history. But the latest incident, in a previously uncontested area, involves the most serious accusations by India in 25 years and is posing a challenge for the countries’ diplomats ahead of a visit to New Delhi by China’s new premier, Li Keqiang, this month.
New York Times: 
  • Vast Oil Reserve May Now Be Within Reach, and Battle Heats Up. Secure in this state’s history and mythology, the venerable Midway-Sunset oil field near here keeps producing crude more than a century after Southern California’s oil boom. Many of its bobbing pump jacks are relatively short, a telltale sign of the shallowness of the wells and the ease of extracting their prize. But away from this forest of pump jacks on a flat, brown landscape, a road snakes up into nearby hills that are largely untouched — save for a handful of exploratory wells pumping oil from depths many times those of Midway-Sunset’s. These wells are tapping crude directly from what is called the Monterey Shale, which could represent the future of California’s oil industry — and a potential arena for conflict between drillers and the state’s powerful environmental interests. Comprising two-thirds of the United States’s total estimated shale oil reserves and covering 1,750 square miles from Southern to Central California, the Monterey Shale could turn California into the nation’s top oil-producing state and yield the kind of riches that far smaller shale oil deposits have showered on North Dakota and Texas
  • A Rate Cut in Europe, and a Hint of Limits. The European Central Bank cut its benchmark interest rate to a record low on Thursday. But its president, Mario Draghi, indicated that his promise last year to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro had limits
  • JPMorgan(JPM) Caught in Swirl of Regulatory Woes. Government investigators have found that JPMorgan Chase devised “manipulative schemes” that transformed “money-losing power plants into powerful profit centers,” and that one of its most senior executives gave “false and misleading statements” under oath.
Reuters: 
  • U.S. sues owner of nation's biggest for-profit hospice chain. The U.S. Justice Department is suing Chemed Corp(CHE) and its hospice subsidiaries, including the biggest U.S. for-profit hospice chain, alleging false billings for Medicare hospice services. The government said on Thursday that its complaint accuses Chemed and its leading hospice subsidiary, Vitas Hospice Services, of being involved in the submission of false claims for crisis care services that proved to be unnecessary, were never actually provided or failed to meet Medicare requirements. The companies used aggressive marketing tactics and pressured staff to increase the numbers of crisis care claims submitted to Medicare, whether valid or not, according to the Justice Department.
  • U.S. Treasury chief to meet with Wall Street executives. The dinner meeting in New York includes JPMorgan Chase & Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, hedge fund manager John Paulson, Blackstone Group LP CEO Stephen Schwartzman and others, according to a person attending. Lew, 57, has spent his first few weeks as Treasury chief on international travel, in congressional hearings and on other priorities. Thursday's dinner comes ahead of Friday's release of unemployment data for April. Topics for discussion might also touch on the global economy, including Europe and China, and cyber security.
  • Weak North American sales drag on Tempur-Pedic(TPX). Mattress maker Tempur-Pedic International Inc's first-quarter revenue fell 11 percent, excluding its recent Sealy's acquisition, hurt by a decline in sales at its core North America business. Shares of Lexington, Kentucky-based Tempur-Pedic fell 2 percent in after-hours trading, after the company reported lower earnings for the first quarter.
  • Man dead after Houston airport shooting sparks panic. A man sparked a panic at a busy Houston airport terminal on Thursday when he pulled out a gun and shot at the ceiling, then either shot himself or was killed by a security officer who confronted him. Houston police spokesman Kese Smith said the man who died was 30 years old, but did not identify him. No other people were injured or killed in the incident, he said. Smith said the man fired at least one shot at the ceiling. He was then confronted by a Homeland Security officer nearby, who fired his weapon. "The Homeland Security Officer and the suspect fired shots simultaneously. The suspect was struck and (was) treated by responding paramedics who pronounced him dead in an ambulance," Houston police said in a statement. It was not clear if the man died from a self-inflicted gunshot or from one or more shots fired by the security officer.
AFP:
  • 'No alternative to austerity' says IMF chief. IMF chief Christine Lagarde insisted Thursday there was no alternative to the agenda of austerity being pushed across Europe, after massive demonstrations in several countries demanded an end to the policies. "There is no alternative to austerity," Lagarde told Swiss public broadcaster RTS. "The situation is difficult," she acknowledged, adding that countries needed to simultaneously observe "budgetary discipline", "prefer elements of growth" and promote "investment in employment".
Xinhua:
  • China Must Control LGFV Loans. China Banking Regulatory Commission asks banks not to increase scale of loans to local government financing vehicles, according to a front-page commentary, citing an official at the regulator. The country will continue pushing forward risk control for LGFV bonds this year, he said.
Oriental Daily:
  • Chinese Banks Face Growing Capital Shortfall. Capital shortfall would reach 383.6b yuan next year should their earnings fall 30% from current level, citing People's Bank of China Deputy Governor Liu Shiyu. Chinese banks face growing pressure to replenish capital as a result of balance sheet expansion. Chinese banks' business model build on balance sheet expansion not sustainable, he said. Five largest commercial banks may for the first time face 40.5b yuan of capital shortfall next year should they maintain current level of expansion. Big five's cumulative capital shortage may reach 1.7t yuan by 2017. Big five to have 2.8t yuan of shortfall by 2017 should next year's profits fall 30% from current level. Banks must build new internal capital replenishment system, improve profitability and risk management to control capital pressure, he said.
Evening Recommendations 
  • None of note
Night Trading
  • Asian equity indices are -.50% to +.50% on average.
  • Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 105.0 -2.0 basis points.
  • Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 85.25 -1.75 basis points.
  • FTSE-100 futures -.16%.
  • S&P 500 futures -.06%.
  • NASDAQ 100 futures +.06%.
Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note

Company/Estimate
  • (AXL)/.16
  • (ADP)/.98
  • (CBOE)/.46
  • (DUK)/1.04
  • (MCO)/.85
  • (NWL)/.32
  • (ZEUS)/.28
  • (RUTH)/.19
  • (SUP)/.18
  • (TDS)/.06     
Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
  • The Change in Non-farm Payrolls for April is estimated at 140K versus 88K in March.     
  • The Unemployment Rate for April is estimated at 7.6% versus 7.6% in March.
  • Average Hourly Earnings for April are estimated to rise +.2% versus unch. in March.
10:00 am EST
  • Factory Orders for March are estimated to fall -2.9% versus a +3.0% gain in February.
  • The ISM Non-Manufacturing Composite for April is estimated to fall to 54.0 versus 54.4 in March.
Upcoming Splits
  • None of note
Other Potential Market Movers
  • The Fed's Lacker speaking, Fed's Tarullo speaking, Fed's Rosengren speaking, Eurozone PPI data, (PBI) investor meeting, (BX) investor day and (COV) guidance could also impact trading today.
BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by real estate and financial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly lower and rally into the afternoon, finishing mixed. The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the day.

Thursday, May 02, 2013

Stocks Surging into Final Hour on Less Eurozone Debt Angst, Jobless Claims, Short-Covering, Homebuilding/Tech Sector Strength

Broad Market Tone:
  • Advance/Decline Line: Substantially Higher
  • Sector Performance: Almost Every Sector Rising
  • Volume: Below Average
  • Market Leading Stocks: Outperforming
Equity Investor Angst:
  • VIX 13.62 -6.0%
  • ISE Sentiment Index 100.0 +21.95%
  • Total Put/Call .89 -12.75%
  • NYSE Arms 1.02 -45.04%
Credit Investor Angst:
  • North American Investment Grade CDS Index 74.22 -4.79%
  • European Financial Sector CDS Index 139.09 -5.48%
  • Western Europe Sovereign Debt CDS Index 93.57 -.81%
  • Emerging Market CDS Index 228.85 -2.45%
  • 2-Year Swap Spread 14.0 -.5 bp
  • TED Spread 22.25 unch.
  • 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -17.25 +.75 bp
Economic Gauges:
  • 3-Month T-Bill Yield .05% unch.
  • Yield Curve 143.0 unch.
  • China Import Iron Ore Spot $129.40/Metric Tonne -3.5%
  • Citi US Economic Surprise Index 4.20 +8.0 points
  • 10-Year TIPS Spread 2.28 -2 basis points
Overseas Futures:
  • Nikkei Futures: Indicating +216 open in Japan
  • DAX Futures: Indicating +17 open in Germany
Portfolio: 
  • Higher: On gains in my retail/tech/medical/biotech sector longs
  • Disclosed Trades: Covered some of my (IWM)/(QQQ) hedges
  • Market Exposure: Moved to 50% Net Long

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:  
  • Draghi Leaves Door Open to Further Monetary Easing. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi opened a new front in the battle against the debt crisis after cutting the benchmark interest rate to a record low today. Speaking in Bratislava, Draghi signalled that officials may take the unprecedented step of charging banks to park excess cash with the ECB overnight and that another reduction in the main rate is possible. “We will look at all the incoming data and stand ready to act if needed,” Draghi said at a press conference in the Slovakian capital after the ECB cut its key rate by a quarter point to 0.5 percent. Asked if further action could include taking the deposit rate negative from its current level of zero, he said: “We will look at this with an open mind.”
  • Euro-Area Manufacturing Contracted for 21st Month in April. Euro-area manufacturing output contracted for a 21st straight month in April, adding to pressure on the European Central Bank to cut interest rates to spur lending and growth. A gauge of manufacturing in the 17-nation euro area declined to 46.7 last month from 46.8 in March, London-based Markit Economics said today. That’s above an initial estimate of 46.5 on April 23. A reading below 50 indicates contraction. “There is nothing here to suggest that manufacturing will turn the corner and stabilize any time soon, putting greater onus on policy makers to act quickly to reinvigorate growth,” Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said in today’s report. 
  • Euro Drops as Draghi Open to Negative Rates; Dollar Strengthens. The euro fell for the first time in five days against the dollar after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said policy makers may take the unprecedented step of charging banks to hold excess reserves. The single currency dropped against all except one of its 16 most-traded peers as the ECB cut its main refinancing rate and Draghi said policy makers had an open mind on a negative deposit rate.
  • European Power Prices Slide to Record Low as Coal Slumps on Surplus. European power prices dropped to records as thermal coal slumped to the cheapest level in almost three years amid a glut of the fuel. Germany's gross power use last year dropped 1.3% to the lowest level since 2003. "The oversupply in the coal market is driving prices down and power is following suit," said Thomas Randel, a power trader at EnBW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG. "The market is in such a bearish mood, it's awful.
  • Natural Gas Tumbles Most in Nine Months After Stockpile Increase. Natural gas futures dropped the most in almost nine months after a government report showed that U.S. stockpiles expanded by more than forecast. Gas in New York slid as much as 6.4 percent after the Energy Information Administration said inventories rose 43 billion cubic feet in the week ended April 26 to 1.777 trillion cubic feet. Analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg showed a gain of 29 billion. 
  • Crude Gains First Time in 3 Days. WTI for June delivery rose $2.23, or 2.5 percent, to $93.26 a barrel at 12:38 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The volume of all futures traded was 25 percent above the 100-day average for the time of day. Prices fell the most since April 15 yesterday. Brent for June settlement gained $2.03, or 2 percent, to $101.98 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
  • Lumber Futures Fall, Head for Longest Slump Since at Least 1986. The contract for July delivery fell .7% to $340.2 per 1,000 board feet on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, after touching $339, the lowest for a most-active contract since Dec. 6. The price is headed for the 12th straight decline, the longest slump since at least April 1986, when Bloomberg data begins.
  • VIX Clings to Stocks Like It’s 2007 as S&P 500 Peaks. Historical relationships between U.S. equity and options prices have come under increasing strain in the past week, with the record rally in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index awakening demand among both speculators and hedgers. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (VIX) moved in the same direction as the S&P 500 (SPX) for four straight days through April 29, including three advances and one drop. That’s the longest stretch of lockstep moves since February 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The indexes swing in the opposite direction about 80 percent of the time.
  • Suicide Rate Rises as Economy Stresses Middle-Age America. More middle-aged Americans are killing themselves, and the economy may be the reason, according to a government report. The annual suicide rate of people 35 to 64 years old rose 28 percent from 1999 to 2010, more than any other age group, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in the report today. The working-age group probably is more affected by the economic downturn in the past half-decade than the young or old, and that may be driving suicide rates higher.
Wall Street Journal: 
  • U.S. Denounces North Korea Arrest. The Obama administration lashed out Thursday at North Korea's leaders after an American citizen was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for unspecified "hostile acts" against the country. The sentencing of Kenneth Bae, a 44-year-old tour operator from Washington state, came after he was tried Tuesday by North Korea's highest court, state news agency Korean Central News Agency reported in a brief dispatch Thursday.
  • China's Slowing Growth, Rising Credit. China's growth is slowing even as lending soars. Where's the money going? The latest signs on China's growth are depressing. The HSBC purchasing managers' index for April came in at 50.4, down from 51.6 in March and only fractionally above the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction. Steel futures prices in Shanghai fell 7.6% over the month, edging close to levels seen at the nadir of the financial crisis.
Fox News: 
  • Special ops called for military backup during Libya attack, sources say. On the night of the Benghazi terror attack, special operations put out multiple calls for all available military and other assets to be moved into position to help -- but the State Department and White House never gave the military permission to cross into Libya, sources told Fox News. The disconnect was one example of what sources described as a communication breakdown that left those on the ground without outside help. "When you are on the ground, you depend on each other -- we're gonna get through this situation. But when you look up and then nothing outside of the stratosphere is coming to help you or rescue you, that's a bad feeling," one source said. Multiple sources spoke to Fox News about what they described as a lack of action in Benghazi on Sept. 11 last year, when four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed. "They had no plan. They had no contingency plan for if this happens, and that's the problem this is going to face in the future," one source said. "They're dealing with more hostile regions, hostile countries. This attack's going to happen again." 
MarketWatch:
CNBC: 
  • Investment Banking Bonanza: Best Year Since '02. Despite regulatory pressure and the general negative public stigma, big banks are getting still bigger, and big American banks are doing even better against their global competitors. The latest evidence of reasons not to feel sorry for large financial institutions comes from what they're doing on the investment banking side.
  • Mario Draghi Calls for Continued Austerity, Lower Taxes. European stock markets have rallied in the last few months as it has become clear that bureaucrats in Brussels will be more lenient on countries, giving them more time to reduce their deficits and debt levels. It has led many market participants to herald "the end of austerity" in Europe, thrilling holders of equities. But during a news conference Thursday, ECB President Mario Draghi made clear more than once that "governments should not unravel efforts" to contain spending. So is Draghi still pro-austerity? When a reporter asked Draghi if he is "the last man standing" when it comes to a commitment to austerity, he responded: "Fiscal consolidation is, and I've said this since the very beginning of my tenure, is contractionary in the short term and in the medium term as well. So you want to mitigate this. You want to take action to mitigate the contractionary effects.
Zero Hedge: 
Business Insider: 
NYPost:
  • Lawsky Poised to Act on Ailing MBIA(MBI). Time has just about run out for MBIA Insurance Corp. — once one of the country’s most respected specialty insurers. New York state regulators are poised — within “weeks or perhaps days” — to seize the company’s money-losing mortgage insurance arm because it is running out of cash, a source close to the situation said. The company ran into trouble when it guaranteed billions in mortgage-backed securities that Wall Street peddled to investors — bonds that blew up when the housing bubble burst.
Reuters:
  • Italy April Manufacturing PMI 45.5, MNI Says
  • France April Manufacturing PMI 44.4, MNI Says.
  • Germany April Manufacturing PMI 48.1, MNI Says.
  • Euro-Area Manufacturing PMI 46.7, MNI Says.
  • French car sales decline slowed in April. France's car sales decline slowed down in April to a 5.2 percent drop, data published on Thursday showed, raising hopes that demand may be about to stabilise. April registrations fell to 157,859 cars last month, the Paris-based CCFA industry association said, with sales for the first four months down 12.3 percent. The slump in demand slowed from a 16.4 percent drop in March.
  • Italy new car sales fall 10.83 percent in April - ministry. New car sales in Italy, Europe's fourth-largest car market, fell 10.83 percent in April from the same month a year ago to 116,209 vehicles, Italy's Transport Ministry said on Thursday. In March, car sales in recession-hit Italy plunged 4.9 percent, adding to a decline for all of 2012 of 19.8 percent.
Telegraph: 
Handelsblatt:
  • An interest-rate cut by the ECB would have a limited effect, Marcel Fratzscher, head of the Berlin-based DIW economic institute, says in an interview. An ECB rate cut could have negative as well as positive consequences, he said.
Expansion:
  • Spain to Collect EU3 Bln More in Corporate Tax. Spain aims to collect EU3b in tax from companies with revenue of more than EU20m. Spain won't raise rates of tax but will limit deductions for financial expenses, depreciation, compensation for losses, citing people in the budget ministry.
Qiushi: 
  • China should "appropriately" raise resource taxes and start levying environment taxes, Vice Premier Ma Kai writes.
Xinhua:
  • CBRC to Push for Risk Control of LGFV Loans. China Banking Regulatory Commission to focus on controlling total amount of loans to local government financing vehicles, citing a CBRC official familiar with the situation. CBRC will strive to prevent large defaults. CBRC to ensure wealth mgmt products invested in areas in line with nation's macro, industrial policies. CBRC to closely monitor bank ops using money from wealth mgmt product sales, orders banks to fully disclose info on products.
  • China Cracking Down on Online-Rumor Makers, Spreaders. State Internet Information Office says "extreme minority" of people have spread rumors, fabricated pictures, citing the govt agency. At least 11 peo0ple detained for up to 10 days for "fabricating" posts about H7N9 flu virus. Office to punish Internet cos. that fail to stop spread of rumors.

Bear Radar

Style Underperformer:
  • Large-Cap Value +.79%
Sector Underperformers:
  • 1) Steel -1.74% 2) Education -1.56% 3) Papers -.94%
Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:
  • ANR, CTCM, BBEP, NRP, ROCK, TS, STO, HK, EROC, LNC, COT, EBIX, SAM, SHPG, NVDQ, KRA, DXPE, PBF, TGI, CYOU, SMA, HSH, CXO, CTRX, EVEP, PHH, IP and TS
Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:
  • 1) EBIX 2) ABBV 3) DCTH 4) ANR 5) JDSU
Stocks With Most Negative News Mentions:
  • 1) WPZ 2) DXPE 3) EXC 4) SSI 5) ANSS
Charts:

Bull Radar

Style Outperformer:
  • Small-Cap Growth +1.18%
Sector Outperformers:
  • 1) Homebuilders +2.28% 2) Hospitals +2.16% 3) Airlines +2.02%
Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:
  • IPHI, PRU, DLLR, MFC, TSO, SNI, PGTI, REGI, YELP, BZH, GNRC, APD, HOS, OIS, MGM, BKD, ABMD, V, STX, CNQR, HAR, DXCM, CNQR, NUS, PXD, AOL, ANGI, NCT, GM, SFY, BEAM and CI
Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity:
  • 1) SE 2) LBTYA 3) YELP 4) BZH 5) V
Stocks With Most Positive News Mentions:
  • 1) TSCO 2) FLR 3) CNX 4) GILD 5) EMN
Charts: