Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Bear Radar

Style Underperformer:
  • Small-Cap Value -.75%
Sector Underperformers:
  • 1) Oil Tankers -1.82% 2) Coal -1.37% 3) Education -1.30%
Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:
  • S, PTR, SNCR, GTN,  TTEK, GOOD, MW, LZB, POOL, GOF, CTB, NOAH, TROX, ENV, SXC, BRO, VIPS, PRSC, GCI, TSRO, DXCM, ADUS, BBRY, SODA, UFPI, CME, BEN and WLT
Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:
  • 1) MW 2) ADBE 3) AKS 4) FDX 5) MU
Stocks With Most Negative News Mentions:
  • 1) DRI 2) KLAC 3) AKS 4) TGT 5) BAC
Charts:

Bull Radar

Style Outperformer:
  • Large-Cap Growth -.11%
Sector Outperformers:
  • Networking +.48% 2) Internet +.23% 3) Energy +.12%
Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:
  • ADBE, LINE, NKTR and NVDA
Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity:
  • 1) VNDA 2) RPRX 3) FNSR 4) KERX 5) ADBE
Stocks With Most Positive News Mentions:
  • 1) BLL 2) TOL 3) UNFI 4) BA 5) WMT
Charts:

Wednesday Watch

Evening Headlines 
Bloomberg:  
  • China Swaps Climb for Record 13th Day as Cash Shortage Deepens. China’s one-year interest-rate swap climbed for a record 13th day as the central bank refrained from adding funds to the financial system to compensate for slowing capital inflows. A sale of 10-year government debt attracted the fewest orders since August 2012. The People’s Bank of China asked lenders to submit orders for 14-day reverse-repurchase contracts, which are used to add funds, and 28-day repurchase contracts this morning, according to a trader at a primary dealer required to bid at the auctions. The PBOC has refrained from using reverse repos since Feb. 7. Regulators are forcing trust funds and wealth managers to shift assets into publicly traded securities as part of its crackdown on so-called shadow banking. “The market is disappointed by the lack of reverse repos from the PBOC,” said Frances Cheung, a strategist at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong. “The liquidity squeeze stems from less inflows and policy makers’ own policy to crack down on shadow banking, so the PBOC may be reluctant to use short-term tools to help.” The one-year swap, the fixed cost needed to receive the floating seven-day repo rate, jumped 20 basis points to 4.18 percent as of 10:47 a.m. in Shanghai, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That was the highest level since September 2011 and the longest run of gains in data compiled by Bloomberg going back to 2006.
  • GM(GM) Says China Luxury Vehicle Demand Slower Than Expected. General Motors Co. (GM), which broke ground on a new Cadillac assembly plant in China today, forecast demand for luxury autos will grow at a slower pace than the total vehicle market this year. Sales of premium cars in China will probably increase about 4 percent this year, or about half the pace that the automaker had expected at the start of the year, Bob Socia, GM’s China head, said in a briefing in Shanghai today. The automaker has said it expects total industry sales to increase about 7 percent to 8 percent this year. “Even taking into consideration the crackdown on corruption, calls for frugality and slower economic growth, luxury car demand should hold at around 10 percent growth,” said Han Weiqi, an auto analyst with CSC International Holdings Ltd. in Shanghai. “GM’s estimate for 4 percent growth means they expect the segment will be pretty sluggish.”
  • China’s Military Buildup Worrisome, Japan’s U.S. Ambassador Says. China’s “spectacularly active” naval posture and “massive” military buildup in Asia are part of a pattern of belligerent behavior toward Japan and other neighbors over maritime disputes, according to Japan’s ambassador to the U.S. Speaking at a Bloomberg Government breakfast in Washington yesterday, Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. Kenichiro Sasae described China’s increasingly frequent forays to lodge territorial claims in the resource-rich East and South China Seas as “harassing” and “provocative.” Japan is urging the Chinese government to “restrain yourself,” said Sasae, who served as deputy foreign minister until last year. 
  • Aussie Risk Premium Increases to Most in Year: Australia Credit. The cost to insure corporate debt in Australia exceeds the global average by the most in almost a year on concern the economy is losing the advantages that allowed it to survive two decades without recession. The Markit iTraxx Australia gauge climbed to 124 basis points on June 13, or 22 basis points higher than the average of four other credit-default swaps indexes from around the world, the widest gap since July, CMA prices show. Swaps on Rio Tinto Group, whose borrowing costs increased in a bond sale last week, jumped 40 basis points to 125, the steepest climb this year among the Australian index's 25 members, the data show
  • China Stocks Fall to a Six-Month Low Amid IPO, Property Concern. China’s stocks fell to a six-month low amid speculation the government may introduce more property curbs to contain rising prices and regulators are considering resuming approvals of initial public offerings. China Vanke Co. slid to the lowest level in six months as the China Securities Journal reported the country may expand property tax trials to more cities “soon.” Jiangxi Copper Co. and Yanzhou Coal Mining Co. led declines for metal and energy companies before a manufacturing report tomorrow. China will allow IPOs only after new rules aimed at boosting protection for investors go into effect, a China Securities Regulatory Commission official with knowledge of the matter said. The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) fell 1 percent to 2,137.48 at 9:51 a.m. local time, poised for the lowest close since Dec. 13, while the CSI 300 Index lost 1.3 percent to 2,388.07 and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI) dropped 1.3 percent.
  • Asian Stocks Gain as Japanese Exporters Rise on Weak Yen. Asian stocks rose as Japanese exporters rallied after the nation’s shipments increased and the yen weakened ahead of the conclusion of a Federal Reserve policy meeting. Honda Motor Co. (7267), a Japanese carmaker that gets about 83 percent of sales from overseas, added 1.3 percent. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., the largest operator of merchant shipping fleets, rose 1.3 percent in Tokyo after a gauge that tracks the cost of shipping commodities increased for a ninth day. Rio Tinto (RIO) Group gained 1.7 percent after a report the world’s No. 2 mining company will cut jobs at its Australian iron-ore operations. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.4 percent to 132.24 as of noon in Tokyo, paring gains of as much as 1 percent.
  • Brazilian Protests Resume as 50,000 Mass in Sao Paulo. Brazilian protesters angry about a range of political and economic issues took to the streets for the sixth night in less than two weeks with some attempting to storm city hall in Sao Paulo, South America’s largest city. About 50,000 people massed throughout Sao Paulo and thousands marched on city hall, according to Datafolha, the Grupo Folha research institute. A smaller group backed police in full riot gear against a wall and attempted to break into the building before they were stymied by other demonstrators forming a human chain to stop them. Protestors then marched down all eight lanes of Avenida Paulista, the city’s main boulevard. 
  • Copper Near Six-Week Low Ahead of FOMC Meeting Outcome. Copper traded near the lowest level in six weeks as investors waited for the outcome of Federal Reserve’s meeting tonight. Metal for delivery in three months was little changed at $7,011 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange as of 9:39 a.m. Shanghai time after falling to $6,965 yesterday, the lowest since May 3.
  • Copper Slump Longest Since 2001 on Supply Gain: Chart of the Day. Copper traded in London is heading for a third straight quarterly decline, the longest slump in more than a decade, reflecting concern that slowing economic growth will curb demand for already ample supply. Prices are down 7.1% since the end of March, following a 4.9% slide in the first quarter and a 3.3% drop in the 2012 fourth quarter. The last stretch of losses that long ended in September 2001. Copper for delivery in three months on the LME is down 12% this year.
  • Sudden Stock Crashes Usually Caused by Human Error, SEC Says. Concern that American stock markets have become more susceptible to split-second crashes due to computerization isn’t supported by the data, a Securities and Exchange Commission official said. Most “mini-flash crashes,” a term sometimes applied when an individual U.S. stock briefly surges or plunges for no obvious reason, are the result of human errors, not broken software, said Gregg Berman, head of the SEC’s Office of Analytics and Research.
  • BofA(BAC) Should Face Foreclosure Probe by TARP Watchdog, Waters Says. Bank of America Corp. (BAC), the second-biggest U.S. lender, should be investigated for its treatment of distressed homeowners, said Representative Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. Employees say the lender told them to delay applications to the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, to increase fees and send customers into foreclosure, Waters wrote today in a letter to the watchdog for the U.S. government’s bailout program. She cited a June 14 Bloomberg article based on court documents in making the request.
Wall Street Journal:
  • U.S. to Propose New Phase In Nuclear-Arms Cuts. President Barack Obama, in a major foreign-policy speech in Berlin on Wednesday, is set to make the case for a new phase in nuclear-weapons reductions, said senior U.S. officials briefed on the plans. Despite mounting tensions with Cold War adversary Russia over the Syrian civil war and missile defense, Mr. Obama is expected in the speech to say the U.S. and Russia can reduce their arsenals of deployed nuclear weapons by as much as another one-third, beyond the cuts mandated under the 2010 New START, or Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, without undercutting deterrence or capabilities, the officials said. 
  • Traders Try to Game Platts Oil-Price Benchmarks. The European Union says it is searching for evidence that oil traders manipulate prices. If oil trader Halis Bektas is correct, it shouldn't be hard to find. Mr. Bektas describes one strategy he has used himself: Offer to sell a small amount at a loss to drive down published oil prices, then snap up shiploads at the lower price.
  • Middle-Class Brazil Finds Its Voice in Protests. Demonstrations Showcase Electorate's Rising Demands; Leader Shows Empathy. A day after the biggest demonstrations in decades gripped Brazil, this South American nation awoke to a shifting political landscape, with protest leaders seeking to turn Monday's venting of national frustration into a long-term movement, and a wary political class searching for footing in a country that has voiced a powerful call for change.
Fox News:
  • Did senior State Department security officials commit perjury? Two top officials at the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service (DS) -- the federal law enforcement agency that protects American diplomats and investigates allegations of criminal misconduct by State Department employees -- gave sworn testimony earlier this year that appears to be evasive at best, and untrue at worst, according to evidence obtained by Fox News.
CNBC:
  • Emerging Market Allocations Lowest Since 2008. Investor confidence in emerging markets is continuing to plummet, with a recent fund managers' survey showing that equity investment in the group of countries has fallen to its lowest level since December 2008. The BofA Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey for June showed that about 9 percent of asset allocators were underweight emerging market equities - the first underweight reading since 2009 and down from a 3 percent overweight position in May.
Zero Hedge:
Business Insider:
New York Times:
  • Islamists Press Blasphemy Cases in a New Egypt. Egypt’s prosecutors have been flooded with blasphemy complaints since 2011 as Islamists exercising their new societal clout have pushed for prosecutions and courts have handed down steep fines and prison terms for insulting religion. This month alone, a Christian teacher in Luxor was fined $14,000 for insulting the Prophet Muhammad in class, a writer was given five years in prison for promoting atheism and a Christian lawyer was sentenced to one year for insulting Islam — in a private conversation. Blasphemy cases were once rare in Egypt, and their frequency has increased sharply since the revolution. More than two dozen cases have gone to trial, and nearly all defendants have been found guilty. At least 13 have received prison sentences.  
FXStreet.com:
  • Flash: Taper is a smoke-screen it's all about China now - RBS. According to Gibbs, "the big risk factor for global markets now is China and how it deals with its financial bubble, with all the evidence is that the new government is now working on this problem." For the Strategist, the real question now is "can they let the air out without too much damage?" Gibbs wonders, responding that "it's really a matter of how much damage." That realisation, in view og Gibbs, is probably the main reason for the sustained weakness in commodity and Asian emerging currencies this year: "It is a reason for their significant further decline than risk assets in the US and Europe" Gibbs said. As a final note, Gibbs notes that we are entering a phase in which the market no longer ignores the Chinese shadow banking system, saying that "while the Taper and Abenomics smokescreens have distracted the market from developments in China somewhat, China has certainly entered the main-stream market analysis." We are seeing warning signals about the 'shadow banking' in China on a much more regular basis now.
Breitbart.com:
  • ObamaCare Rule: HHS, IRS Can Share Private Health Information. Though millions of Americans sign forms in their doctors’ offices which claim their personal health information is protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a new ObamaCare rule requires federal and local agencies and health insurers to trade the personal health data of any person interested in signing up for the new state exchanges.
Reuters:
  • Adobe(ADBE) profit beats as Creative Cloud subscriptions soar. Adobe Systems Inc, which makes the Photoshop and Acrobat software, reported a higher-than-expected adjusted quarterly profit as demand rose for Creative Cloud, the subscription-based version of its flagship software package. Shares of the company rose 4.4 percent in after-market trading.
Financial Times:
Telegraph:
The Australian: 
  • Unions' polling confirms 'disaster' for Labor. (video) CONFIDENTIAL political polling conducted for the ACTU has confirmed Labor is facing huge swings in a raft of ALP seats, results described by leading union officials as "diabolical" and "disastrous" for Julia Gillard. But the ACTU leadership is standing behind the Prime Minister and opposing any moves to replace her with Kevin Rudd despite the polling.
Ming Pao:
  • Hong Kong Cargo Throughput Little Change January-May. Cargo throughput grew just .2% in the first five months of the year, citing Li Jianhong, China Merchants Holdings International vice chairman.
China Securities Journal:
  • China May Expand Property Tax Trials 'Soon'. China may expand property tax trials to more cities "soon," citing people. The Chinese cities of Beijing, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Hangzhou and Qingdao have drafted property tax trial plans.
Evening Recommendations 
  • None of note
Night Trading
  • Asian equity indices are -1.0% to +.50% on average.
  • Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 136.0 +5.0 basis points.
  • Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 106.25 +1.0 basis point.
  • FTSE-100 futures -.03%.
  • S&P 500 futures -.14%.
  • NASDAQ 100 futures unch.
Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note

Company/Estimate
  • (ATU)/.58
  • (FDX)/1.95
  • (FNSR)/.17
  • (MU)/.03
  • (RHT)/.31
  • (SCS)/.13
  • (JBL)/.54
Economic Releases
10:30 am EST
  • Bloomberg consensus estimates call for a weekly crude oil inventory decline of -500,000 barrels versus a +2,523,000 barrel gain the prior week. Gasoline inventories are estimated to rise by +750,000 barrels versus a +2,748,000 barrel gain the prior week. Distillate inventories are estimated to rise by +925,000 barrels versus a -1,163,000 barrel decline the prior week. Finally, Refinery Utilization is estimated to rise by +.5% versus a -.9% decline the prior week.
2:00 pm EST
  •  The FOMC is expected to leave the benchmark fed funds rate at .25%.
Upcoming Splits
  • (FLO) 3-for-2
Other Potential Market Movers
  • The Fed's Bernanke speaking, German 10Y Bond auction, HSBC China Manufacturing PMI, weekly MBA mortgage applications report and the (GE) analyst meeting could also impact trading today.
BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly lower, weighed down by financial and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly higher and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing modestly lower. The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the day.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Stocks Higher into Final Hour on Central Bank Hopes, Yen Weakness, Short-Covering, Tech/Healthcare Sector Strength

Broad Equity Market Tone:
  • Advance/Decline Line: Higher
  • Sector Performance: Most Sectors Rising
  • Volume: Below Average
  • Market Leading Stocks: Underperforming
Equity Investor Angst:
  • Volatility(VIX) 16.51 -1.73%
  • Euro/Yen Carry Return Index 133.05 +1.34
  • Emerging Markets Currency Volatility(VXY) 10.11 +2.12%
  • S&P 500 Implied Correlation 55.57 -.58%
  • ISE Sentiment Index 99.0 +20.73%
  • Total Put/Call .80 -15.79%
  • NYSE Arms .56 -21.36% 
Credit Investor Angst:
  • North American Investment Grade CDS Index 81.98 +.10%
  • European Financial Sector CDS Index 155.95 +1.30%
  • Western Europe Sovereign Debt CDS Index 87.0 -2.79%
  • Emerging Market CDS Index 323.10 +1.64%
  • 2-Year Swap Spread 16.0 -.25 bp
  • TED Spread 22.5 -.75 bp
  • 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -11.5 +.25 bp
Economic Gauges:
  • 3-Month T-Bill Yield .04% unch.
  • Yield Curve 193.0 +2 bps
  • China Import Iron Ore Spot $117.70/Metric Tonne +2.35%
  • Citi US Economic Surprise Index -14.80 -.8 point
  • Citi Emerging Markets Economic Surprise Index -46.2 +.3 point 
  • 10-Year TIPS Spread 2.08 +3 bps
Overseas Futures:
  • Nikkei Futures: Indicating +328 open in Japan
  • DAX Futures: Indicating +4 open in Germany
Portfolio: 
  • Higher: On gains in my tech/biotech/retail sector longs 
  • Disclosed Trades: Covered some of my (IWM)/(QQQ) hedges, then added them back
  • Market Exposure: 50% Net Long

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg
  • European Car Sales Fall to 20-Year Low Amid Unemployment. European car sales fell to a 20-year low in May as record joblessness caused by a recession in the euro area reduced demand at PSA Peugeot Citroen (UG), Renault SA (RNO), Fiat SpA (F) and General Motors Co. (GM) Registrations dropped 5.9 percent to 1.08 million vehicles from 1.15 million a year earlier, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, or ACEA, said today. The figure was the lowest for the month since 1993, said Quynh-Nhu Huynh, the group’s economics director. The ACEA compiles data for the 27-nation EU plus Switzerland, Norway and Iceland. Peugeot, Renault, Fiat and GM’s deliveries fell at least 10 percent in the region last month as price cuts failed to attract buyers. European political leaders are seeking ways to revive a shrinking economy weighed down by the sovereign-debt crisis, with unemployment in the 17 countries using the euro reaching 12.2 percent in April. “We have to wait at least five years until the car market will basically recover,” Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, director of the Center for Automotive Research at University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. “That means that the debt crisis in southern Europe will deepen and last”for awhile
  • Danske Bank Told to Boost Risk-Weighted Assets by $18 Bln. Danske Bank A/S (DANSKE), Denmark’s biggest lender, was told by the country’s financial watchdog it had underestimated risky assets as global regulators increase scrutiny of banks’ internal models. Danske fell as much as 8 percent in Copenhagen trading after the Financial Supervisory Authority ordered the bank to adjust its models in a step that will force it to add about 100 billion kroner ($18 billion), or 13 percent, to risk-weighted assets “over time,” according to a statement late yesterday. 
  • Abe Risk Jump Trails Only Portugal as Arrow Misses: Japan Credit. Japan's bond risk climbed the most among developed nations after Portugal in the past month as confidence waned in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policy. Premiums on credit-default swaps protecting Japanese government bonds for five years surged 26 basis points to 80 basis points in the month through June 14, according to CMA. Contracts for Portugal's debt jumped 31 points, while those for US Treasuries declined 4 points.  
  • China Insiders Sell Most Shares in May in 4 Years, UBS Says. Major shareholders, senior management and individuals with stakes of more than 5 percent sold a net 24.7 billion yuan ($4 billion) of Chinese A shares in May, the most for a month since June 2009, UBS AG said. The biggest sales were in computer-related shares, media and “special equipment” sectors, UBS strategists including Qin Xia wrote in a report dated today. Net stakes rose only in chemical raw materials and telecom operations, while the sell-off in smaller companies as a percentage of the free-float reached new post-2008 highs, they wrote. The Shanghai Composite added 0.3 percent at 2,155.90 at 2:30 p.m. local time, after touching its lowest level in almost six months last week. The index has lost 25 percent in the past four years, the most among the world’s 10 biggest stock markets, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The MSCI All-Country World Index has rallied 34 percent in that time
  • PBOC Sacrifices Growth as Bank Curbs Invert Swaps: China Credit. China's interest-rate traders are the most pessimistic on economic growth in 21 months, as Fitch Ratings says policy markers are focused on fixing the nation's banks to avert an industry crisis. The five-year interest-rate swap, which exchanges fixed payments for the floating seven-day repurchase rate, was 21 basis points below the one-year rate yesterday, the biggest discount since September 2011, Bloomberg data show. "The PBOC is doing the opposite of what the banks were hoping it would do," said Ju Wang, a senior strategist at HSBC Holdings Plc in Hong Kong. "It is focusing on cleaning up the banks' balance sheets and the financial system in spite of the liquidity squeeze."   
  • Protests Show Brazil Dream Fades as Rousseff Popularity Ebbs. Francisco Soares, a 32-year-old Brasilia electrician, felt good about life two years ago when he started commuting in his first car, blasting the music and passing packed buses. Since then, bills started piling up, the cost of living jumped and last week he had to sell his wheels. After a decade that saw 40 million people rise from poverty, Brazil’s middle class finds itself squeezed by faster inflation, rising debt and a weaker currency. Consumers are spending less at supermarkets and hairdressers as the classic weekend event, a prime cut barbecue, becomes a stretch for some. Continuing a wave of demonstrations sparked by increasing bus fares, protesters yesterday held the biggest march in two decades, halting traffic in Sao Paulo, attacking the state legislature in Rio de Janeiro and climbing on the roof of Congress in Brasilia. The emerging middle class was the engine of economic growth and made the developing nation one of the world’s top five markets for cars and mobile phones.
  • Surprising Slowdown in Nonresidential Building: EcoPulse. (video) Private nonresidential construction is losing steam in the U.S., a sign that commercial real estate may be a drag on the economy as business leaders are reluctant to make large property investments. Spending on lodging, office, commercial and manufacturing buildings grew 5.6 percent in April to about $11 billion from a year ago on a nonseasonally-adjusted basis, the slowest pace in almost two years, data from the Census Bureau show. Four years into the economic expansion, “we’d expect to see more lasting signs of strength,” said Kermit Baker, chief economist for the American Institute of Architects. “That hasn’t happened yet.”
  • Copper Declines to Six-Week Low in New York Before Fed Meeting. Copper fell to the lowest in six weeks in New York before Federal Reserve policy makers begin a meeting that may indicate when the central bank will start curbing debt purchases intended to stoke the U.S. economy. A two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee begins today. The Fed is buying $85 billion of debt a month. Copper futures for delivery in September slid 1.7 percent to $3.1555 a pound at 10:18 a.m. on the Comex in New York. The metal touched $3.151, the lowest for a most-active contract since May 3
  • Americans Exporting More Oil First Time Since ’70s. Advances such as hydraulic fracturing are leading to record production that may outstrip refinery capacity within 18 months to three years, said Benjamin Salisbury, a senior energy policy analyst at FBR Capital Markets Corp. in Arlington, Virginia. Net petroleum imports now account for about 40 percent of demand, down from 60 percent in 2005, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department research unit.
  • Keystone Seen Failing to Sop Up Canada Oil Glut. Canadian oil prices are forecast to fall compared with world benchmarks because production from oil sands, fields of sand coated with heavy oil beneath about 90,000 square kilometers (34,749 square miles) of boreal forest in northern Alberta, is estimated to more than double to 3.8 million barrels a day by 2022. Keystone, the 1,179-mile link from Alberta to Nebraska first proposed in 2008 and delayed in part by environmental activists, would only briefly relieve the glut.
  • Deutsche Bank Sees ‘Subdued’ Commodity Prices as Supercycle Ends. Deutsche Bank AG (DB) said commodity prices are poised to remain in “subdued territory for years to come” after a bull run that drove prices up almost fourfold in the last 12 years. Banks from Citigroup Inc. to Goldman Sachs Inc. have called an end to the commodities supercycle as the economy in China, top user of raw materials, grows at a slower pace and the country shifts to consumer-driven growth. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Index of 24 raw materials fell 2.5 percent this year after almost quadrupling since 2001.
Fox News: 
  • Video shows workers offering 'Obamaphones' to those vowing to sell them -- for drugs. A Republican senator renewed his criticism of a government-backed program that hands out cell phones after an undercover video showed vendors helping people obtain the phones even after saying they wanted to sell them for drugs and other items. The video was released by conservative activist James O'Keefe and his group Project Veritas. It claimed to show undercover investigators visiting Philadelphia locations for phone vendor Stand Up Wireless and locations for one other company. In one exchange, the investigator -- posing as someone who wants a free phone -- asks if the phone will belong to him after he gets it. "Whatever you want to do with it," the worker says. The investigator floats the possibility of getting "money for heroin." The employee responds: "Hey, I don't judge." 
CNBC: 
  • Markets More Doubtful of Fed Easing Benefits: CNBC Survey. The effects of the Federal Reserve's bond-buying program are looking more lackluster and more disruptive to market functioning, according to the latest CNBC Fed survey. The net percent of respondents who believe quantitative easing, or "QE," can help lower mortgage rates and bond yields has fallen, as has the net percent who say it will raise stock prices
Zero Hedge: 
Business Insider: 
Moody's: 
  • Moody's: US subprime auto ABS risk factors are rising. Risk factors such as weakening loan credit, stiff competition among originators, and readily available funding for asset-backed securities (ABS) all portend higher credit losses for subprime auto lending, according to a new report from Moody's Investors Service. "Risk Factors Still on Rise for US Subprime Auto ABS" follows a June 2012 Moody's report on increasing risks in the subprime auto lending market, "US Subprime Auto Lending Market Harkens Back to 1990s." The new report cites a number of factors affecting the rise in subprime auto credit risk, including more private equity money entering the market that will further intensify increasing competition from banks and credit unions. "The increased competition among subprime lenders is resulting in more loans to borrowers of weaker credit quality," said Peter McNally, a Moody's Vice President and co-author of the report.
Reuters:
  • China Will Probably Resume Approving IPOs From End-July. "It is almost certain" that mainland China IPO approvals will resume at end of July, citing sources present at a meeting of China Securities Regulatory Commission Vice Chairman Yao Gang and brokerages.
  • Hedge funds brace for renewed debt crisis. The euro zone's debt crisis may be far from over, while Japan's money-printing gamble to revive its economy could destabilise global markets if it doesn't work, some hedge fund managers say. They are taking the view that the rally in financial markets over much of the past year, fuelled by central bank money printing, could mask a failure to tackle some European countries' and banks' debt problems, and the sell-off of recent weeks may be the start of a longer downward move.
ValueWalk:
  • 10% Down, 90% Mortgage Financing Option Is Back Again. After its virtual disappearance for several years, the 10 percent down payment mortgage financing are back in action. Brendon DeSimone writes in Zillo Blog that some lenders have started offering 90 percent mortgage financing again on almost all types of loans.
Telegraph:
Expansion:
Restructuring: Flowers slams Europe over inaction


While we want you to share, we ask you use the functions on-site rather than copy/paste. See T's & C's for details. http://www.euromoney.com/Article/3211790/CurrentIssue/88924/Restructuring-Flowers-slams-Europe-over-inaction.html?copyrightInfo=true
  • Bank of Spain wants to carry out a confidential stress test of lenders in the fall. Regulator wants to review assets of banks ahead of EBA, ECB stress test exercise. Asset review may help govt decide whether more European bailout funds are needed for banking system.
Echoing fears that European policymakers remain in a state of cognitive dissonance – recognizing the need for root-and-branch overhaul of peripheral banks, but backtracking on joint liability plans – Christopher Flowers, the legendary FIG investor who now runs the £2.3 billion ($3.5 billion) private equity group JC Flowers, sounded the alarm over the negative sovereign-bank feedback loop. In a shot across the bows of market bulls, who cite the return of capital flows to weaker eurozone states, Flowers issued a stark warning: "There is a scenario where we have a Lehman-type event: we wake up some Thursday and a big country is in trouble. "And the ECB will have to decide to support banks x, y, z. And then the ECB will, in fact, decide to own bank x, y, z.


While we want you to share, we ask you use the functions on-site rather than copy/paste. See T's & C's for details. http://www.euromoney.com/Article/3211790/CurrentIssue/88924/Restructuring-Flowers-slams-Europe-over-inaction.html?copyrightInfo=true
Xinhua:
  • China 2012 Health-Care Costs Gain 18.8% on Year. Est. total cost of health care services in nation last yr was 2.89t yuan, citing statistics bulletin from Natl Health & Family Planning Commission.

Bear Radar

Style Underperformer:
  • Mid-Cap Value +.54%
Sector Underperformers:
  • 1) Gold & Silver -2.40% 2) Education -.45% 3) Homebuilders -.21%
Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:
  • PBR, SA, AUY, BSBR, ABV, DEO, NMFC, SFL, RH, FDS, PNW, ARDC, LNCO, HRL, AU, ECPG, KFY, SAFM, FRAN, MDT, BLKB, RNF, AMWD, CRL and JW/A
Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:
  • 1) ABC 2) WY 3) ADBE 4) MU 5) RCL
Stocks With Most Negative News Mentions:
  • 1) CRL 2) WMB 3) YHOO 4) CAT 5) NWSA
Charts: