Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg: 
  • China Provinces Set Lower Growth Goals for 2014. At least seven Chinese provinces are setting lower growth targets for this year than in 2013, adding to signs that expansion will slow as the government focuses on policies to sustain the economy in the long term. Hebei, which borders Beijing in the north, set an 8 percent growth goal amid “unprecedented pressure” from air-pollution controls, according to an annual work report published yesterday in the official Hebei Daily. Last year’s target was 9 percent. Fujian in the southeast and Gansu and Ningxia in the northwest are also targeting slower expansion, state-run websites show. President Xi Jinping is trying to shift local officials’ focus to environmental protection and containing debt rather than just short-term economic growth. The latest regional targets suggest leaders will set a national goal this year of 7 percent, down from 7.5 percent in 2013, said Dariusz Kowalczyk, a senior economist and strategist at Credit Agricole CIB. “We are facing increasingly severe difficulties and contradictions,” Hebei Governor Zhang Qingwei said in the work report delivered Jan. 8, according to Hebei Daily. 
  • Great Wall’s H8 Dents Confidence in Asia’s Richest Car Executive. Great Wall Motor Co. (2333)’s billionaire Chairman Wei Jianjun pushed back deliveries of the company’s most expensive SUV after the automotive press panned the Haval H8 in test drives. It turned out to be a $2.4 billion decision. That’s how much his company lost in market value yesterday after the delay prompted Great Wall shares to plunge 12 percent, the most in five years, in Hong Kong trading the following day.
  • European Stocks Erase Drop as RWE Rises on Court Ruling. European stocks erased their decline in the final half an hour of trading as RWE AG rallied, leading utility shares higher. RWE jumped 5 percent after a German federal court ruled in its favor. Celesio AG slid 4.4 percent after McKesson Corp. said it failed to gain support from enough of the drug wholesaler’s shareholders to complete an acquisition. Jeronimo Martins SGPS SA declined 2.8 percent after the Portuguese retailer said sales growth slowed in Poland, its largest market. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.2 percent to 331.23 at the close of trading in London.
  • WTI Crude Rises. WTI for February delivery rose 85 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $92.65 a barrel at 12:55 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The volume of all futures traded was 24 percent above the 100-day average. Prices have fallen in eight of the 11 days since they topped $100 on Dec. 27.
  • Fed Weighs Further Restrictions on Banks’ Commodities Operations. The Federal Reserve today said it is considering whether to impose new restrictions on banks’ trading and warehousing of physical commodities. The Fed is seeking comment on ways to curb ownership and trading of commodities such as oil, gas and aluminum by deposit-taking banks. The regulator asked the industry 24 questions, including ones on the risk the activities could pose, potential conflicts of interests, and risks and benefits of imposing additional capital standards.
  • U.S. Regulators Said Ready to Ease Volcker CDO Limits for Banks. U.S. regulators are set to give banks an exemption from Volcker Rule limits for collateralized debt obligations composed mostly of small-bank securities, according to two people briefed on the agencies’ plans. The adjustment to the rule, which could come as soon as today, would allow banks to keep CDOs backed by trust-preferred securities while limiting the level of insurance and big-bank content, said the people, who requested anonymity because the regulators haven’t acted.
  • GameStop(GME) Tumbles After Cutting Forecast as Game Sales Drop. GameStop Corp. (GME) tumbled the most in 11 years after the video-game retailer cut its earnings forecast because of lower-than-expected sales of games and reduced profit margin from consoles in the holiday period. GameStop shares fell 18 percent to $37.34 at 12:03 p.m. in New York, after dropping to $36.20, the biggest intraday decline since December 2002.
  • State Fiscal Strains Lingering in Recovery, Report Says. U.S. state revenue isn’t rising fast enough to keep up with the cost of funding pensions, health care and public works projects, underscoring financial strains that persist during the economic recovery, according to a report.
  • Regeneron’s(REGN) Eylea Tops Analysts’ Fourth-Quarter Sales Estimates. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) reported fourth-quarter revenue of the eye drug Eylea, the company’s top-selling product, that beat analysts’ estimates. Sales were $400 million last quarter, Chief Executive Officer Len Schleifer said today at the annual JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) health-care conference in San Francisco. The demand beat the $377.5 million average of eight analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
  • Tesla(TSLA) Rises After Model S Sales in 2013 Exceed Forecast. Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA), the maker of high-end electric cars, gained the most in six weeks after the carmaker said it delivered 6,900 Model S sedans in the fourth quarter, pushing full-year sales beyond a company target. Tesla rose 12 percent, the biggest intraday increase since Dec. 3, to $156.40 at 1:41 p.m. New York time, after earlier rising to as much as$156.44.

Wall Street Journal: 
  • Regulators at Odds on Reining In China's Shadow Lending. PBOC Sees the Banking Commission as Unwilling to Get Tough. China's effort to rein in runaway credit is being hampered by infighting between the central bank and the nation's banking regulator, say officials at both institutions, with the two agencies sparring especially over how hard to press so-called shadow bankers. The officials say that the People's Bank of China, concerned about banks finding ways to move loans off their books, has been frustrated at what it sees as the unwillingness of the China Banking Regulatory Commission to toughen regulation of banks' dealings with shadow lenders, an array of formal and informal institutions creating credit outside the formal bank channels. The differences highlight the competing interests of the PBOC, which looks at overall financial stability, and the CBRC, which oversees the formal banking sector. Neither has clearly defined authority over shadow lending, the fastest-growing part of China's financial sector that often lends to borrowers considered too risky for traditional banks, including local governments, property developers and big companies burdened by overcapacity.
Fox News:
  • Leaked private comments reveal Israeli defense minister’s scorn for Kerry. Israel's hawkish defense minister trashed Secretary of State John Kerry and the peace deal he is trying to broker between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in off-the-record comments nonetheless published by the nation's leading daily newspaper. “In reality, there have been no negotiations between us and the Palestinians for all these months – but rather between us and the Americans,” Moshe Ya’alon said in comments published in the pages of Yediot Aharonot. “The only thing that can 'save us' is for John Kerry to win a Nobel Prize and leave us in peace.” 
  • Rouhani: World powers ‘surrendered’ to Iran with nuclear deal. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani boasted on Twitter that the United States and other world powers effectively "surrendered" to Tehran with the newly struck nuclear deal. "Our relationship w/ the world is based on Iranian nation's interests. In #Geneva agreement world powers surrendered to Iranian nation's will," a tweet from the Iranian leader's account said on Tuesday.
MarketWatch: 
  • Gold ends lower on equities strength, Fed comments. Gold futures settled lower on Tuesday with strength in U.S. equities, a rise in retail sales and comments from Federal Reserve officials pointing to the prospects of further tapering of the central bank’s bond-buying program fueling the metal’s first loss in four sessions.
CNBC:
ZeroHedge:
Business Insider:
NY Times:
Tradersmagazine.com:
  • The Big Data Edge for Hedge Funds. The term ‘Big Data’ has been around for some time but questions remain exactly how hedge funds and other buysides exploit the vast stores of data that has never been available to them in the past and continue to grow each day.
Reuters:
  • US holiday sales rise but discounts to hit margins -NRFU.S. retail sales rose 3.8 percent in the 2013 holiday season, the National Retail Federation said, but the trade body warned that deep discounting could hurt retailers' profits. Retailers offered the biggest promotions since the 2008 recession to get shoppers to spend, but many slashed profit forecasts last week because of the deals.
  • Wells Fargo(WFC) profit beats estimates; mortgage loans slump. Wells Fargo & Co reported a better-than-expected 11 percent jump in fourth-quarter profit, though mortgage financing was at its slowest in five years, and the bank's shares fell in morning trading. The fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets said cost cuts, and dipping into money it had set aside to cover bad loans, helped it post a record profit even though revenue fell 6 percent, as fewer consumers refinanced home loans due to higher mortgage rates.
Red Orbit:
Financial Times:
  • Fannie Mae warns of fall in US house prices. Weakening demand by financial companies that have been snapping up thousands of US homes on the cheap could fuel a future fall in house prices, the chief economist of Fannie Mae has warned. The warning is one of the first instances of a US government agency voicing concern about the increased involvement of institutional buyers – including some from the “shadow banking” sector – in the country’s property market.

1 comment:

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