Style Underperformer:
Sector Underperformer:
- 1) Oil Tankers -2.20% 2) Networking -1.50% 3) Restaurants -1.20%
Stocks Faling on Unusual Volume:
- TEF,
E, HMC, TOT, FTE, AAPL, GPN, NRG, WMC, EXP, ADTN, WAIR, ENL, PHG, CAJ,
CRI, MO, FWRD, FTNT, TM, CPHD, MLM, MCD, RBA, ASML, NSC, ICUI, TMH,
KORS, MT and HTGC
Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:
- 1) ETP 2) UA 3) COH 4) RIMM 5) NKE
Stocks With Most Negative News Mentions:
- 1) BAC 2) MCD 3) WAG 4) BHI 5) ROST
Charts:
Style Outperformer:
Sector Outperformers:
- 1) Computer Services +.24% 2) Gold & Silver -.05% 3) Hospitals -.25%
Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:
Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity:
- 1) RIMM 2) DG 3) NKE 4) PXP 5) CE
Stocks With Most Positive News Mentions:
- 1) TYC 2) ATW 3) UTX 4) MU 5) PNR
Charts:
Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Rajoy Raids Reserve Fund for 1st Time to Pay for Higher Pensions. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will raid for the first time a decade-old pension reserve
fund that invests in government debt to pay for an increase in
retirement payments. The Cabinet agreed to use 3 billion euros ($3.9 billion)
from the 67 billion-euro reserve fund, Deputy Prime Minister
Soraya Saenz de Santamaria told reporters yesterday in Madrid.
It raised pensions 1 percent in the 2013 budget and indicated it
would compensate retirees for above-forecast inflation. “The reserve fund is there to be used,” Budget Minister
Cristobal Montoro said. “Politically, it’s very important” to
maintain pensioners’ purchasing power. The pension reserve invests mostly in Spanish government
bonds, and accounts for about 10 percent of the central
government’s outstanding debt. The cache that has been built up
since 2000 to safeguard pensions from the aging population is
being raided as the 25 percent jobless rate undermines the
welfare system’s revenue. “It adds pressure for Spain to ask for the bailout since
it means less support for Spanish debt,” said Virginia Oregui,
the San Sebastian-based managing director at Geroa EPSV Fondos,
which manages 1.1 billion euros, including Spanish government
bonds.
- Monti Says ECB Conditions, IMF Role Hinder Bond Requests. The European Central Bank should
not impose extra economic conditions on nations using its bond-
buying mechanism, and the International Monetary Fund shouldn’t
have an oversight role, said Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. Countries such as Italy and Spain are reluctant to request
the bond-buying they championed because of uncertainty about
what conditions the central bank would seek to impose, he said.
The program is only available to countries that are already
taming public finances and conditions should not go beyond
European Union recommendations made in June, Monti said. Oversight should be limited to establishing “checks so the
countries continue to behave in that positive way,” Monti said
in an interview with Erik Schatzker on Bloomberg Television
yesterday in New York. “If this is the conditionality that will
be finally delivered, should a country be in a market situation
suggesting its use, there would be nothing dishonorable.”
- Japan Output Slides More Than Forecast as Contraction Risk Grows.
Japan’s industrial production fell more than economists forecast in
August as slowing demand in China and Europe undermines a recovery in
the world’s third- largest economy. Output fell 1.3 percent from
July, when it dropped 1 percent, the Trade Ministry said in Tokyo today.
The decline was the biggest in three months and compared with
economists' median estimate for a 0.5 percent slide. The data add to evidence that Japan’s economy is at risk of
shrinking this quarter as exports fall, political tensions with
China mount and the impact of the government’s car subsidy
program fades. JPMorgan Securities, Barclays Securities Japan
and BNP Paribas expect a contraction after growth slowed to a
0.7 percent annual pace in the previous three months. “There’s no
sign of a recovery in Europe and China’s economy remains dull,” Jun
Kawakami, an economist at Mizuho Securities Co. in Tokyo, said before
the report. “It’s difficult to be optimistic about the outlook for
production as
exports are weakening and domestic demand lacks momentum.”
- Japan-China Politics Risk Prolonging Worst Ties Since 2005. Political transitions in both nations may prolong what’s
become the worst bilateral crisis since at least 2005 and
impair a $340 billion trade partnership. President Hu is
poised to hand power to the next generation of China’s leaders,
and Prime Minister Noda faces elections as soon as this year. With boats from China, Japan and Taiwan in disputed East
China Sea waters, any perception of backing down on territorial
claims would risk domestic political backlash. Noda faces a
newly installed opposition chief who advocates a harder line on
China, while Chinese citizens have demonstrated in public over
the Diaoyu, or Senkaku, islands.
- Obama Cabinet Flunks Disclosure Test With 19 in 20 Ignoring Law. On his
first full day in office, President Barack Obama ordered federal
officials to “usher in a new era of open government” and “act promptly”
to make information public. As Obama nears the end of his term, his
administration hasn’t met those goals, failing to follow the
requirements of the Freedom of Information Act, according to an analysis
of open-government requests filed by Bloomberg News. Nineteen of 20
cabinet-level agencies disobeyed the law requiring the disclosure of
public information: The cost of travel by top officials. In all, just
eight of the 57 federal agencies met Bloomberg’s request for those
documents within the 20-day window required by the Act. “When it comes
to implementation of Obama’s wonderful transparency policy goals,
especially FOIA policy in particular, there has been far more ‘talk the
talk’ rather than ‘walk the walk,’” said Daniel Metcalfe, director of
the Department of
Justice’s office monitoring the government’s compliance with
FOIA requests from 1981 to 2007.
- Shiller
Data Questions Housing Revival Power: Cutting Research. Don't bet the
house on a robust revival of the U.S. property market, says the Yale
University professor who predicted the bursting of the dot-com and
subprime-mortgage bubbles. There is no "unambiguous" sign of a strong
recovery in the market, Robert Shiller and fellow economists Karl Case
and Anne Thompson say in a paper published this week by the National
Bureau of Economic Research.
- Bullard Says Fed Should Have Waited on Bond Buying. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
President James Bullard said policy makers should have taken a
“wait-and-see posture” on new bond buying until they had a
clearer picture of the global economy. “I didn’t really think the committee had a good case for
taking a really big action,” Bullard, who doesn’t vote on
monetary policy this year, said in a CNBC interview today. “I
would have kept it in our pocket for a little bit and really see
if the global slowdown is going to impinge on the U.S. economy
and what the next steps in Europe are going to be.” “It could be that global growth drags down the U.S. and
sends us into a slower growth environment or even recession,”
Bullard said. “I would have wanted to see more data on that and
see how that’s unfolding before we’d taken more action.”
Wall Street Journal:
- How Bernanke Pulled the Fed His Way. In late August, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke argued on
behalf of Fed programs to stimulate the lumbering U.S. economy and
signaled that more might follow, making headlines in his highly
anticipated speech at the Fed's annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyo. As markets rallied at the prospect of new measures to ease credit, a
quiet drama was unfolding behind the scenes. Mr. Bernanke was
negotiating a high-stakes plan in a flurry of private conversations with
colleagues hesitant about aggressively re-engaging the levers of
America's central bank.
- Alleged Maker of Anti-Muslim Video Jailed in Fraud Case.
A man believed to be behind an anti-Muslim video that spawned
international protests was held without bail in Los Angeles on Thursday,
after federal authorities arrested him earlier in the day for allegedly
violating the terms of probation on his 2010 conviction. Magistrate
Judge Suzanne Segal said Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the
55-year-old alleged filmmaker, had a history of misrepresenting himself
and posed a flight risk in denying a request for bail. "The court has a
lack of trust in this defendant at this time," the judge said. Federal
prosecutors in Los Angeles have accused Mr. Nakoula of eight
violations of the terms of his probation for a 2010 bank-fraud
conviction.
- Chinese Slowdown Idles U.S. Coal Mines.
- Libor Furor: Key Rate Gets New Scrutiny. Banks Often Don't Change the Quotes That They Submit.
- Tackling the Many Dangers of China's State Capitalism. The U.S. won't solve the problems created by China's economic
juggernaut until it finds a way to tackle the big issue rather than
sideshows like the country's currency rate. The big issue is China's state capitalism, the tens of thousands of
state-owned enterprises that dominate half of China's economic output
and that the government heavily subsidizes and protects. Foreign
competitors—which threaten these near monopolies—are restricted by
government rules, forced to "share" their technology in joint ventures
with state enterprises, and denied lucrative government business, which
goes instead to the state champions.
- Michael Bordo: Financial Recessions Don't Lead to Weak Recoveries. The evidence since 1880 shows a faster pace of recovery. The Obama
years are the exception.
- Evan Bayh: ObamaCare's Tax Raid on Medical Devices. The industry that gave us stents, replacement joints and defibrillators will get a dose of bad fiscal medicine. The Supreme Court decision in June upholding the Affordable Care Act
leaves in place a tax on medical devices that threatens thousands of
American jobs and our global competitiveness. It will also stifle
critical medical innovation in the industry that gave us defibrillators,
pacemakers, artificial joints, stents, chemotherapy delivery systems
and almost every device we depend on to save lives. The 2.3% tax
will be charged to manufacturers on each sale and takes effect in
January. Many U.S. device companies, in response, have already announced
layoffs, canceled plans for domestic expansion and slashed
research-and-development budgets.
MarketWatch.com:
CNBC:
Zero Hedge:
Business Insider:
Rasmussen Reports:
- Daily Presidential Tracking Poll. The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday
shows both President Obama and Mitt Romney attracting support from 46%
of voters nationwide. Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate, and
four percent (4%) are undecided.
Reuters:
MNI:
- China's
Wen Not Inclined To 'Ease Dramatically'. China Premier Wen Jiabao isn't
inclined to ease policies "dramatically," citing a person familiar with
State Council discussions. Wen's desire for stability towards the end
of his term as Premier suggests that there won't be aggressive moves on
policies. Any room for future easing is "limited", according to the
person.
eFXNews:
Telegraph:
- Spain must leave the euro. Mario Draghi's promise to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro never did
look like inducing any more than a temporary lull in the storm; still less
did the German Constitutional Court’s thumbs up to the European bail-out
fund and the trouncing that eurosceptic parties received in the Dutch
election.
- Spain's rising debt costs eat up austerity gains. Spain has pushed through €40bn of fresh austerity measures in the teeth of
recession, despite violent protests across the country and separatist crises
in Catalonia and the Basque region that threaten to break the country apart.
China Securities Journal:
- China
Should Speed Up Nationwide Property Tax Trial. China should accelerate
the introducing of nationwide property tax trial, citing Wang Juelin, a
researcher at the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
Evening Recommendations
Night Trading
- Asian equity indices are -.50% to +.75% on average.
- Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 137.0 -6.0 basis points.
- Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 114.75 -5.25 basis points.
- FTSE-100 futures +.33%.
- S&P 500 futures +.08%.
- NASDAQ 100 futures -.01%.
Morning Preview Links
Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
- (FINL)/.44
- (WAG)/.56
- (AM)/.07
Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
- Personal Income for August is estimated to rise +.2% versus a +.3% gain in July.
- Personal Spending for August is estimated to rise +.5% versus unch. in July.
- PCE Core for August is estimated to rise +.1% versus unch. in July.
9:00 am EST
- NAPM-Milwaukee for September is estimated to rise to 45.0 versus 42.9 in August.
9:45 am EST
- Chicago Purchasing Manager for September is estimated to fall to 52.8 versus 53.0 in August.
9:55 am EST
- Final Univ. of Mich. Consumer Confidence for September is estimated to fall to 79.0 versus a prior estimate of 79.2.
Upcoming Splits
Other Potential Market Movers
- The Fed's Fisher speaking, ECB's Asmussen speaking and the Eurozone inflation data report could also impact trading today.
BOTTOM LINE: Asian
indices are mostly higher, boosted by industrial and real estate
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.
Broad Market Tone:
- Advance/Decline Line: Substantially Higher
- Sector Performance: Almost Every Sector Rising
- Volume: Below Average
- Market Leading Stocks: Performing In Line
Equity Investor Angst:
- VIX 14.88 -11.48%
- ISE Sentiment Index 141.0 +13.71%
- Total Put/Call .82 -7.87%
- NYSE Arms .56 -49.02%
Credit Investor Angst:
- North American Investment Grade CDS Index 98.76 bps -3.38%
- European Financial Sector CDS Index 201.28 bps -3.82%
- Western Europe Sovereign Debt CDS Index 146.92 -1.42%
- Emerging Market CDS Index 224.95 -3.30%
- 2-Year Swap Spread 14.50 -1.5 basis points
- TED Spread 27.50 +1.5 basis points
- 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -26.5 +.25 basis point
Economic Gauges:
- 3-Month T-Bill Yield .09% -1 basis point
- Yield Curve 138.0 +2 basis points
- China Import Iron Ore Spot $104.20/Metric Tonne unch.
- Citi US Economic Surprise Index 8.8 -20.1 points
- 10-Year TIPS Spread 2.44 +1 basis point
Overseas Futures:
- Nikkei Futures: Indicating +33 open in Japan
- DAX Futures: Indicating +43 open in Germany
Portfolio:
- Higher: On gains in my Tech, Medical and Biotech sector longs
- Disclosed Trades: Covered some of my (IWM)/(QQQ) hedges and covered some of my (EEM) short, then added some back
- Market Exposure: Moved to 50% Net Long
Bloomberg:
- Spain Pledges Cuts to Meet Deficit Target as Bailout Loom. Spanish
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s nine-month-old government announced its
fifth austerity package in what may be a move to head off tougher
conditions demanded as part of a potential European bailout. Rajoy’s
Cabinet approved a new tax on lottery winnings and a cut in ministries’
spending to shrink the euro area’s third- biggest budget deficit. The 2013 target is 4.5 percent of gross domestic product compared with a 6.3 percent goal for this year. He’s risking a deeper recession while an unemployment rate of 25 percent stokes mounting protests.
Rajoy “wants to seriously limit any conditionality” and preserve as
much authority as possible, Antonio Barroso, an analyst at Eurasia Group
in London, wrote in a note yesterday. The package is intended “to limit the demands that would be attached to a rescue package.” Spain will make more of its budget adjustment through
spending cuts than increasing taxes next year even as it tries
to shelter pensioners and the unemployed, Montoro said. “The adjustment isn’t being made on social spending,”
Montoro said.
- Merkel
Allies Reject Joint EU Bank Guarantees, Urge Stress Tests. German
coalition lawmakers called on Chancellor Angela Merkel's government to
ensure that big euro-region banks are compelled to pass checks before
coming under European supervision, with any restructuring needed carried
out at the home country's expense. "Banks that pose systemic risks are
to be subjected to a stress test and restructured or liquidated at the
expense of the national restructuring fund before they are included in
the direct supervision mechanism," said the motion sponsored by Merkel's
Christian Democratic Union and their Free Democratic Party coalition
partner.
- Euro-Area Economic Confidence Unexpectedly Fell in September. Economic confidence in the euro
area unexpectedly fell in September as leaders strived to rein
in the debt crisis in the single-currency bloc and the economy’s
slump deepened (EUGNEMUQ). An index of executive and consumer sentiment in the 17- nation euro area dropped to 85 from 86.1 in August, the European Commission in Brussels said today. Economists had forecast no change in the indicator, the median of 28 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed. European consumers and executives are growing more pessimistic (EUGNEMUQ) about the outlook after the debt crisis pushed at
least five of the countries using the euro into recession.
- GM(GM) Says ‘Nobody’ Makes Money Amid European Car-Price Cuts. General
Motors Co. (GM) said Europe’s car industry will remain unprofitable at
current vehicle pricing levels, while Volkswagen AG (VOW) said some
competitors are at risk of going out of business without state aid. Fiat
SpA (F) and PSA Peugeot Citroen (UG) are producing “very scary numbers”
with discounts of as much as 30 percent off gross sale prices,
Susan Docherty, who runs European operations for GM’s Chevrolet unit,
told reporters today at the Paris Motor Show. “Nobody can make money in
Europe when you’ve got incentives at that level.” Demand has plunged so much that deliveries continue to tumble, even with such large price cuts. Although discounting in Germany is at the highest in more than a year, according to industry publication Autohaus PulsSchlag, car sales across Europe may fall to a 17-year low, the region’s main auto- manufacturing trade group has predicted.
- Spain’s Bubble-Era Building Gear Sold as Developers Cut Off.
- PBOC Adviser Says Easing Restrained by Concerns on Homes. A People’s Bank of China academic
adviser said concern for a rebound in property prices may help
explain why the government is holding back from easing monetary
policy to counter a deepening economic slowdown. That concern “is indeed a big restraint,” Chen Yulu,
president of Beijing’s Renmin University, said yesterday to
reporters after speaking at a forum in the city. Further cuts in
reserve requirements or interest rates depend on how much
external demand worsens, Chen said. “China’s monetary policy is in a quite difficult
position,” said Chen, 45. “On one hand, it has to stabilize
growth; on the other hand, it has to avoid a rebound in home
prices.” The country is not repeating past “one size fits all”
easing measures, and “that’s the direction of monetary policy
that we will continue to uphold -- the reverse-repo operations
exactly reflect such an orientation,” Chen said. “Once property bubbles are formed, there is no country in
the world that is able to address the problem effectively --most
countries have to go through a crisis,” Chen said. “China must
seek a soft landing and can’t afford such a crisis.”
- China Calls Japan’s Refusal to Budge on Islands ‘Outrageous’.
China’s Foreign Ministry described as “outrageous” and “self-deceiving”
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s remark that his country would
never budge on its ownership over East China Sea islands claimed by both
sides. While Japan isn’t seeking a military confrontation with
China and wants to keep talking “calmly,” the disputed islands “are an
inherent part of our territory in light of history and also under
international law,” Noda told reporters in New York yesterday. “There
can’t be any compromise that would be a step back from this basic
position.” “The Chinese people made enormous sacrifices and
contributions to the victory of the world anti-fascist war and now, a
defeated country is trying to grab the territory of a victor,” Foreign
Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said today, referring to Japan’s defeat in
World War II. “This is outrageous.”
- U.S. Economy Expanded Just 1.3% in Second Quarter.
The economy in the U.S. grew less than previously forecast in the
second quarter, reflecting slower gains in consumer spending and farm
inventories. The world’s largest economy expanded at a 1.3 percent
pace from April through June after growing at a 2 percent rate in the
first quarter. The revision compared with a prior estimate of 1.7
percent and the Bloomberg survey’s 1.7 percent median forecast.
Household purchases, which account for about 70 percent of the economy,
rose at a 1.5 percent annual pace last quarter, the slowest in a year
after a previously reported 1.7 percent gain. Purchases advanced at a
2.4 percent rate in the prior three- month period. “Consumption is not
good,” said Thomas Simons, an economist at Jefferies Group Inc. in New
York. “Consumers are still driving GDP but only at a very modest pace.”
- Pending Sales of Existing Homes in U.S. Fell 2.6% in August. Americans signed fewer contracts
than forecast to purchase previously owned homes in August,
showing the recovery in the housing market will be uneven. The index
of pending home resales dropped 2.6 percent after a revised 2.6 percent
gain in July that was more than initially reported, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed today in Washington. The reading compared with a median
forecast of a 0.3 percent gain in a Bloomberg survey of 40
economists.
- Oil Rises on China Stimulus Speculation and Spain Budget.
Futures rose as much as 2 percent and equities gained on
signals China will announce measures to boost the economy after the
Shanghai Composite Index (MXWD) fell below the 2,000 level. Crude oil
for November delivery rose $1.20, or 1.3 percent, to $91.18 a barrel at
10:47 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent oil for November settlement increased $1.50, or 1.4
percent, to $111.54 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures
Europe exchange.
- Gold Sets Records in Euros and Francs on Currency Concern. Gold climbed to a record priced in
euros and Swiss francs on concern that central banks’ moves to
boost economies will devalue currencies, spurring demand for the
metal as an alternative investment. Bullion for immediate delivery in London reached 1,379.32
euros an ounce and has rallied 14 percent this year, data
compiled by Bloomberg show. Gold priced in dollars rose 13
percent this year to $1,771.30 by 4:49 p.m. local time and is
trading 7.8 percent below the all-time high set in September
2011. The commodity set a record 1,667.18 Swiss francs today and
peaked in Indian rupees earlier this month.
Wall St. Journal:
- Markets Hub: Weak Economy Only Getting Weaker. We’ve been harping on the weak economy, and this morning brought a
spate of data that highlighted exactly what we were saying. The U.S. is currently in a “stall-speed” economy, and this is not a safe place to be. Steve hit the data this morning, so we won’t rehash that. We will add a couple more layers, though. Check out the Aruoba-Diebold-Scotti index, published weekly by the Philadelphia Fed. This little-known but useful
index is designed to illustrate business conditions, and is currently at
its weakest level since 2010. Also, Sageworks, a private research and data firm, reported that
sales growth at private companies has slowed to 5.4% from 11% in
January, and while that’s faster than the rate for the broader economy,
“it’s the slowest rate since November 2010 and comes at a time of mixed
results for other economic indicators,” the firm wrote.
- Fed’s Plosser: Economy Immune to Fed Stimulus Right Now. A veteran Federal Reserve official argued Thursday
that new central bank stimulus efforts are unlikely to spur the growth
supporters want, as those same policies further complicate the Fed’s
eventual exit strategy. The economy “is not doing as well as anybody would like” and “I think
the case is pretty clear we are in a funk” as households cut debt and
companies hunker down in the face of pervasive uncertainty about the
future, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles
Plosser said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires. Given what ails
the nation, “I am really dubious” stimulus now being
provided by the Fed is “really going to have very much effect on the
real aspects of our economy, mostly employment and real growth,” Plosser
said.
- Looking for the 'Next Big Thing'? Ranking the Top 50 Start-Ups. This Year's List Shows a Focus on Business Tech as Health Care and Energy Fade.
- Harsh Words for Fed From Beijing, Seoul. Chinese and South Korean central-bank officials criticized the U.S.
Federal Reserve's latest easing efforts and advocated reducing Asia's
dependence on the U.S. dollar. The comments Thursday, at a joint
seminar in Beijing by the two central banks, are the clearest
indication yet of a rising backlash in Asia against U.S. monetary
policy, suggesting it could speed up the search for alternatives to the
dollar as the main global currency. "The rise in global
liquidity could lead to rapid capital inflows into emerging markets
including South Korea and China and push up global raw-material prices,"
said Bank of Korea Gov. Kim.
- U.S. Ties Libya Attack to 'Powder Keg' in Mali.
Mali has become an incubator for terrorist activity that demands
urgent international attention, world leaders said Wednesday, as the
U.S. drew its most explicit link between al Qaeda havens in such places
and the recent attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The political, economic and humanitarian crisis in Mali—and much of
the broader North African region known as the Sahel—has turned the
country into a "powder keg" for terrorist activity by al Qaeda's Saharan
front, said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Fox News:
- US Officials Knew Libya Attack Was Terrorism Within 24 Hours, Sources Confirm. U.S. intelligence officials knew within 24 hours of the assault on
the U.S. Consulate in Libya that it was a terrorist attack and suspected
Al Qaeda-tied elements were involved, sources told Fox News -- though
it took the administration a week to acknowledge it. The account conflicts with claims on the Sunday after the attack by
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice that the administration
believed the strike was a "spontaneous" event triggered by protests in
Egypt over an anti-Islam film. Two senior U.S. officials said the Obama administration internally
labeled the attack terrorism from the first day in order to unlock and
mobilize certain resources to respond, and that officials were looking
for one specific suspect. In addition, sources confirm that FBI agents have not yet arrived in
Benghazi in the aftermath of the attack. Four Americans including U.S.
Ambassador Christopher Stevens were killed in the assault. The account that officials initially classified the attack as
terrorism is sure to raise serious questions among lawmakers who have
challenged the narrative the administration put out in the week
following the strike. A few Republican lawmakers have gone so far as to
suggest the administration withheld key facts about the assault for
political reasons.
MarketWatch.com:
CNBC:
Netanyahu Presses for Iran 'Red Line' in UN Speech. Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, in his speech to the United Nations, called
for setting a "red line" for Iran's nuclear program on Thursday. "Red
lines don't lead to war; red lines prevent war," the Israeli prime
minister told the General Assembly. He said the red line must be set on
Iran's enrichment of uranium.
Zero Hedge:
Business Insider:
FINAlternatives:
- Simons Backs Democrats With $4 Million To Super PACs. While many of his peers have switched sides, one hedge fund
billionaire is keeping faith with President Barack Obama and the
Democratic Party—and in a big way. Renaissance Technologies founder James Simons has taken advantage of a
2010 Supreme Court decision allowing unlimited donations to so-called
Super PACs, one of just a few Democratic supporters to fully embrace the
controversial vehicles. The retired former math professors has donated
at least $4 million to the PACs, making him the biggest giver to
Democratic Super PACs in the country.
RasmussenReports:
Reuters:
- TEXT-Fitch: Weaker global growth outlook despite monetary policy stimulus. Fitch Ratings says weak recent data and high-frequency indicators highlight the
persistent weakness and downside risks facing the global recovery. In its latest quarterly
Global Economic Outlook (GEO) Fitch forecasts the economic growth of major advanced economies
(MAE) to remain weak at 1% in 2012, followed by only a modest acceleration to 1.4% in
2013 and 2% in 2014. "Notwithstanding a new round of forceful monetary policy stimulus measures in
September from the Fed, ECB and BoJ, as well as a rate cut by the People's Bank
of China in July, Fitch has revised down its global GDP forecasts for 2012 and
2013 compared with the previous GEO in June 2012," says Gergely Kiss, Director
in Fitch's Sovereign team. The agency forecasts global growth, based on market exchange rates, at 2.1% for
2012, 2.6% in 2013 and 3% in 2014, compared with 2.2%, 2.8% and 3.1% in the
previous GEO. Fitch forecasts that the eurozone economy will contract 0.5% in 2012, followed
by growth of only 0.3% and 1.4% in 2013 and 2014 respectively, even weaker than
forecast in the June GEO, despite the recent supportive policy announcements by
the ECB. Business and household sentiment has weakened over recent months,
financing conditions remain tight and fiscal austerity measures are biting in
the periphery, while core countries' growth momentum is slowing. In the US, the persistently high unemployment rate, which has not declined since
Q112, and the deceleration of growth in H112 underlines the weakness of the US
economy, compared with normal cyclical recoveries.
- U.S. commercial paper market shrinks for fourth straight week. The amount of
seasonally adjusted U.S. commercial paper contracted for a fourth
consecutive week in the week ended September 26, Federal Reserve data
showed on Thursday.
- Brazil cbank cuts 2012 GDP view, signals end to rate cuts. Brazil's central
bank slashed its 2012 economic growth forecast on Thursday but
signaled that it is unlikely to keep cutting interest rates to
boost the economy because inflation looks on track to rise more
than initially expected. In its quarterly inflation report, the bank predicted that
the world's sixth-largest economy will expand just 1.6 percent
this year, down sharply from its previous estimate of 2.5
percent but in line with most market forecasts. The easing cycle now looks to be over, as the central
bank raised its inflation forecast for this year to 5.2 percent
from 4.7 percent.
- Emerging economies at risk if rich nations should slow - IMF. The International Monetary
Fund cautioned emerging market countries on Thursday that their
impressive growth could be at risk if advanced economies should
slow, urging policymakers to ensure their economies were ready
to respond.
- Up to 700,000 Syrians may flee by year-end -UNHCR. Up to 700,000 Syrian refugees
may flee abroad by the end of the year, the U.N. refugee agency
said on Thursday, nearly quadrupling its previous forecast for
the exodus from the deepening crisis.
AP:
- EU wants $12B a year from US over Boeing(BA) aid. The European Union said Thursday it is asking the World Trade
Organization to impose up to $12 billion per year in sanctions on the
United States as part of a long-running dispute involving government
subsidies to plane-makers Airbus and Boeing. The EU said in a
statement that the amount was "based on estimates of the damages
suffered by the EU due to unfair and biased competition from the U.S.
industry," which received U.S. government subsidies.
Telegraph:
Bild:
- German
FDP's Doering Rejects Third Greek Bailout Package. One of the leaders of
Merkel's junior coalition partner, FDP, has rejected another bailout
for Greece in a newspaper interview. A 3rd package would "lead straight
into a quagmire of debt, FDP general secretary Patrick Doering said.
There will be no additional time, no more money, he said.
Style Underperformer:
Sector Underperformer:
- 1) Airlines +.03% 2) Retail +.14% 3) Road & Rail +.28%
Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:
- BTH, FUL, CPHD, TXI, CMTL, NSM, WMC, NWE, ATU, IBKC, MKC, BAK, WAC, QIHU, TDG, IMGN, BIIB, AHGP, EZCH, TREX, PNG and DG
Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:
- 1) ETP 2) ISRG 3) CCJ 4) GLW 5) STZ
Stocks With Most Negative News Mentions:
- 1) UAL 2) ALTR 3) TOL 4) GS 5) JBLU
Charts:
