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With 10Y Treasury yields pressing up agaist 3.00% once again (and equities shrugging off the taper-confirming news from ADP), precious metals are under pressure. Despite a few positive days, the last two have seen silver give back all 2014 gains and push back into the red for the year. Gold remains modestly green (still outperforming stocks for now).
Chart: Bloomberg
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/68eU0yNW24c/story01.htm Tyler Durden
The war of words (and deeds) is once again escalating between China and Japan. As we detailed last night, this has been a long time coming and as Reuters reports today took a further turn for the worse. In an op-ed in Britain’s Daily Telegraph, the Chinese ambassador to Britain, Liu Xiaoming, wrote last week: “If militarism is like the haunting Voldemort of Japan, the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo is a kind of horcrux, representing the darkest parts of that nation’s soul.” Liu’s commentary was followed by another published on Sunday by his Japanese counterpart, Keiichi Hayashi, in the same newspaper, headlined: “China risks becoming Asia’s Voldemort“. As was noted, “Five thousand years of traditional virtues have been turned into this?”
China lambasted Japan on Tuesday for comparing it to Lord Voldemort, the villain in the Harry Potter stories, after both countries used the character to describe each other in a tit-for-tat diplomatic spat.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s December 26 visit to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, where Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals are enshrined along with other war dead, infuriated China and South Korea and prompted concern from the United States, a key ally.
Both China and Korea suffered under brutal Japanese rule, with parts of China occupied in the 1930s and Korea colonized from 1910 to 1945.
In an op-ed in Britain’s Daily Telegraph, the Chinese ambassador to Britain, Liu Xiaoming, wrote last week: “If militarism is like the haunting Voldemort of Japan, the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo is a kind of horcrux, representing the darkest parts of that nation’s soul.”
…
Liu’s commentary was followed by another published on Sunday by his Japanese counterpart, Keiichi Hayashi, in the same newspaper, headlined: “China risks becoming Asia’s Voldemort”.
…
“I would like to point out that, to Asia and countries in other regions of the world, militaristic invasion is the darkest devil in the history of Japan,” Hua said at a daily news briefing, according to a transcript posted on the foreign ministry’s website.
the People’s Daily, said the “Sino-Japanese war of public opinion is facing an escalation on all fronts“.
“We need to make our demands simple and clear, that is, the Japanese prime minister cannot visit the war criminals in Yasukuni because it is equivalent to paying homage to criminals like Hitler and Goebbels,” the newspaper said, referring to the leaders of Nazi Germany.
…
“Five thousand years of traditional virtues have been turned into this?” wrote another microblogger.
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/CaeeBuwlzLo/story01.htm Tyler Durden
The war of words (and deeds) is once again escalating between China and Japan. As we detailed last night, this has been a long time coming and as Reuters reports today took a further turn for the worse. In an op-ed in Britain’s Daily Telegraph, the Chinese ambassador to Britain, Liu Xiaoming, wrote last week: “If militarism is like the haunting Voldemort of Japan, the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo is a kind of horcrux, representing the darkest parts of that nation’s soul.” Liu’s commentary was followed by another published on Sunday by his Japanese counterpart, Keiichi Hayashi, in the same newspaper, headlined: “China risks becoming Asia’s Voldemort“. As was noted, “Five thousand years of traditional virtues have been turned into this?”
China lambasted Japan on Tuesday for comparing it to Lord Voldemort, the villain in the Harry Potter stories, after both countries used the character to describe each other in a tit-for-tat diplomatic spat.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s December 26 visit to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, where Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals are enshrined along with other war dead, infuriated China and South Korea and prompted concern from the United States, a key ally.
Both China and Korea suffered under brutal Japanese rule, with parts of China occupied in the 1930s and Korea colonized from 1910 to 1945.
In an op-ed in Britain’s Daily Telegraph, the Chinese ambassador to Britain, Liu Xiaoming, wrote last week: “If militarism is like the haunting Voldemort of Japan, the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo is a kind of horcrux, representing the darkest parts of that nation’s soul.”
…
Liu’s commentary was followed by another published on Sunday by his Japanese counterpart, Keiichi Hayashi, in the same newspaper, headlined: “China risks becoming Asia’s Voldemort”.
…
“I would like to point out that, to Asia and countries in other regions of the world, militaristic invasion is the darkest devil in the history of Japan,” Hua said at a daily news briefing, according to a transcript posted on the foreign ministry’s website.
the People’s Daily, said the “Sino-Japanese war of public opinion is facing an escalation on all fronts“.
“We need to make our demands simple and clear, that is, the Japanese prime minister cannot visit the war criminals in Yasukuni because it is equivalent to paying homage to criminals like Hitler and Goebbels,” the newspaper said, referring to the leaders of Nazi Germany.
…
“Five thousand years of traditional virtues have been turned into this?” wrote another microblogger.
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/CaeeBuwlzLo/story01.htm Tyler Durden
Equity markets appear wholly dissatisfied with this morning’s ‘good’ news and are unsure whether this taper-on data is confidence-inspiring or liquidty-sapping. The ADP print appears to confirm a hgher probability of another $10 billion taper. Bond yields jumped higher, the USD jumped higher, gold dropped, and stocks are limping to the day’s lows…
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/6O4OHBRMdQM/story01.htm Tyler Durden
Equity markets appear wholly dissatisfied with this morning’s ‘good’ news and are unsure whether this taper-on data is confidence-inspiring or liquidty-sapping. The ADP print appears to confirm a hgher probability of another $10 billion taper. Bond yields jumped higher, the USD jumped higher, gold dropped, and stocks are limping to the day’s lows…
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/6O4OHBRMdQM/story01.htm Tyler Durden
Unless ADP is forced to revise its December print following the BLS report on Friday (which in keeping with the baffle with BS tradition should be a major disappointment), the Fed will have no choice but to taper by another $10 billion at the next opportunity, because moments ago ADP, which for all intents and purposes is merely noise until it has revised its data to comply with Nonfarm Payroll reports, announced that in December, some 238K jobs were added in the US, well above the 2300K expected, and the highest monthly print since November 2012.
The ful breakdown by company size, sector and industry:
The primary driver for the above expectation surge were construction jobs, which added 48K in December, also the highest monthly print in over a year, while manufacturing jobs rose less than previously, adding 19K jobs in December. As ADP reports, over the course of 2013, goods-producers added 286,000 jobs. Nearly 75 percent of these gains came from construction as the housing recovery accelerated throughout 2013.
Service-providing industries added 170,000 jobs in December, down slightly from an upwardly revised November figure of 182,000. The ADP National Employment Report indicates that professional/ business services contributed the most to growth in service-providing industries, adding 53,000 jobs. This was the largest gain in the industry in a year. Expansion in trade/transportation/utilities slowed slightly, adding 47,000 jobs in December. Private payrolls increased by nearly 1.9 million jobs in the service-providing industries in 2013. The bulk of this increase was split evenly between transportation/trade/utilities and professional/business services. Finance brought up the rear gaining just 59,000 in the last twelve months
Some soundbites:
“The U.S. private sector added 238,000 jobs in December, surpassing November as the strongest month for job growth in 2013,” said Carlos Rodriguez, president and chief executive officer of ADP. “It’s encouraging news that hopefully bodes well for 2014.”
Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said, “The job market ended 2013 on a high note. Job growth meaningfully accelerated and is now over 200,000 per month. Job gains are broad-based across industries, most notably in construction and manufacturing. It appears that businesses are growing more confident and increasing their hiring.”
Some other pretty charts from the social-network friendly ADP:
Historical Trend – Change in Total Nonfarm Private Employment (in thousands)
Total Nonfarm Private Employment by Company Size (in thousands)
Finally, the best part about every monthly ADP report: the prepapred infographic – especially for Economist PhDs.
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/kLr_gdafzeA/story01.htm Tyler Durden
Today’s AM fix was USD 1,226.50, EUR 902.50 and GBP 747.37 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,237.50, EUR 907.92 and GBP 754.44 per ounce.
Gold fell $6.50 or 0.52% Yesterday, closing at $1,232.30/oz. Silver slipped $0.30 or 1.49% closing at $19.87/oz. Platinum dropped $3.01, or 0.2%, to $1,409.74/oz and palladium rose $3 or 0.4%, to $738.25/oz.
Gold Silver Ratio – 1960-Today
Gold edged down in London for the second day ahead of the release of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee minutes. Strong support is at $1,180/oz which could turn into a double bottom and resistance is at $1,250/oz and $1,270/oz.
FXStreet.com’s Dale Pinkert interviewed Research Director, Mark O’Byrne on Monday about the current state of the gold and silver markets, the history of paper currencies, a global currency reset, the amero currency, the gold silver ratio and silver rising to $150/oz in the coming years.
Another topic looked at was bail-ins by banks of individual creditors becoming one of the most under appreciated risks of our time and noting Poland’s recent government confiscation of pensions.
Silver in U.S. Dollars, 5 Year- (Bloomberg)
They discuss how the gold silver ratio throughout history has been 15:1. Today it is at over 60:1 (see chart) and GoldCore believe it will revert to the mean.
There are a number of reasons that silver should revert to the long term historical mean but the two primary ones are the fact that geologically in the earth’s crust there are fifteen parts of silver to every one part of gold.
The other reason is that silver is used in many industrial, technological, medical applications today and since the Industrial Revolution a huge amount of silver has been used up.
Silver in U.S. Dollars, from 1970 – (Bloomberg)
It is for this reason that we are more bullish on silver than on gold in terms of price. We continue to believe that silver will surpass its inflation adjusted high of $150/oz in the coming years.
It was noted how international storage of coins and bars is becoming a popular diversification for U.S. citizens in Zurich, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Dale asked some good questions and had a great expression that we had not heard before “Don’t wait to buy gold and silver. Buy gold and silver and wait.”
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The polar vortex came, saw, and is on its way out, and now comes the time for the damage report. As Reuters reports, “At least nine deaths have been reported across the country connected with the polar air mass that swept over North America during the past few days. Authorities have put about half of the United States under a wind chill warning or cold weather advisory…. Homeless shelters and public buildings took in people who were freezing outside. Daniel Dashner, a 33-year-old homeless man who typically sleeps under a bridge on Milwaukee’s south side, said he opted to seek a spot at a shelter on Monday night. “Usually if I have four or five blankets, I can stay pretty warm, but when that wind is blowing, I don’t care how many blankets I have, the wind blows right through me,” he said, as temperatures dropped to minus 6 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 21 degrees Celsius).”
Among the deaths reported was a 51-year-old homeless man in Columbus, Georgia, whose body was found in an empty lot after spending the night outdoors.
Two men died in Westerport, Massachusetts, while duck hunting on Tuesday when their boat capsized, dropping them into a frigid river, officials said. A third man was rescued.
A large avalanche in backcountry outside the Colorado ski resort area of Vail killed one person on Tuesday and caught up three others who survived and were being rescued, officials said. Avalanche danger in the area was rated as “considerable” due to high winds and recent heavy snows, said Spencer Logan, forecaster with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
Reuters with more on the geographic impact:
Major U.S. cities were in the grip of temperatures well below freezing, with Chicago seeing 2 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 17 C), Detroit 0 F (minus 18 C), Pittsburgh 5 F (minus 15 C), Washington 19 (minus 7 C) and Boston 15 F (minus 9 C).
New York’s Central Park recorded the lowest temperature for the date, 4 Fahrenheit (minus 16 C), rising to 9 F (minus 13 C) on Tuesday afternoon with wind chills making it feel much colder, meteorologists said.
Schools in Minneapolis and Chicago were closed for a second day on Tuesday, although Chicago plans to reopen schools on Wednesday. Cleveland remained below freezing after temperatures fell to minus 11 F (minus 24 C) on Monday, breaking a 130-year-old record.
Impassable snow and ice halted three Chicago-bound Amtrak trains on Monday, stranding more than 500 passengers overnight in northwestern Illinois.
In the normally mild south, Atlanta recorded its coldest weather on this date in 44 years, as the temperature dropped to 6 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 14 degrees Celsius), while temperatures in northern Florida also briefly dropped below freezing, though the state’s citrus crop was unharmed, according to a major growers’ group.
On the other hand, there was some levity in the newsflow, when as AP reported, an escape inmate opted for the familiar warmth of prison and turned himself in.
Just how cold is it in Kentucky? Apparently cold enough for an escaped prisoner to decide to turn himself in. Authorities said the inmate escaped from a minimum security facility in Lexington on Sunday. As temperatures dropped into the low single digits Monday, officials say the man walked into a motel and asked the clerk to call police.
Robert Vick, 42, of Hartford told the clerk he wanted to turn himself in and escape the arctic air, Lexington police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts said. Vick was checked out by paramedics and returned to Blackburn Correctional Complex, Roberts said.
“This was definitely of his own volition,” she said. “It’s cold out there, too cold to run around. I can understand why the suspect would turn himself in.”
Vick would have been dressed in prison-issued khaki pants, a shirt and a jacket when he escaped, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Lisa Lamb said. Wind chill readings were 20 below zero Monday in Lexington.
The Lexington Fire Department treated Vick for hypothermia Monday evening, Roberts said. A call to the department was not immediately returned Tuesday morning.
Vick was serving a six-year sentence for burglary and criminal possession of a forged instrument at the time of the escape from Blackburn Correctional Center.
A forged instrument? Like a Federal Reserve note?
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/c8AoAjqRgjg/story01.htm Tyler Durden
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/QG3MEabF-Bg/story01.htm williambanzai7
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
* Federal investigators are probing whether a number of Wall Street banks cheated clients in the years following the financial crisis by deliberately mispricing a type of mortgage bond that was central to the economic turmoil.
* Three years after IBM began trying to turn its “Jeopardy”-winning computer into a big business, revenue from Watson is far from the company’s ambitious targets.
* JPMorgan will pay roughly $2.6 billion as part of several criminal and civil settlements that resolve allegations the largest U.S. bank failed to provide adequate warnings about Madoff’s decades-long Ponzi scheme.
* Investors are bailing out of emerging markets from Turkey and Brazil to Thailand and Indonesia, extending a selloff that began last year, amid concerns about faltering economies and political unrest.
* Goldman Sachs names George Lee as the chief information officer for investment banking, as part of an effort to shake up its technology banking team and raise its profile among startups. Viewed as Wall Street’s most tech-savvy firm, Goldman has often preferred to develop its own programs rather than bring in outside vendors.
* Citigroup Inc is considering selling its $1 billion stake in a private-equity fund to comply with new federal rules, said a person familiar with the matter.
* Amazon doesn’t rush into filling higher-level jobs. Indeed, the e-commerce giant has a gantlet of people, dubbed “bar raisers,” who must sign off on would-be hires.
* Ford CEO Alan Mulally said he won’t leave the auto maker to take the top job at Microsoft, ending months of speculation about his future.
* As Apple sells more iPhones and iPads, it also sells more apps. The volume of those sales became clear for the first time when Apple said it sold more than $10 billion worth through its App Store last year.
* Apple asked a federal judge late Tuesday to remove the lawyer she appointed to monitor the company’s e-book pricing reform, escalating an already contentious feud between the company and the lawyer.
FT
JPMorgan Chase & Co agreed on Tuesday to pay $2.6 billion to settle a criminal prosecution and private litigation over failures to report suspicious activity involving Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
Apple Inc said on Tuesday that its customers spent $10 billion on purchases in its applications store in 2013, roughly as much as it sold in the previous four years combined, cementing the company’s lead over Google Inc in a key battleground of mobile computing.
AP Moller Maersk has agreed to sell most of its stake in Denmark’s largest retailer, Dansk Supermarked, as the shipping-to-oil conglomerate continues to prune its sprawling portfolio.
The entire financial services industry should comply with tighter rules over the appointment of senior bankers, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) watchdog said on Tuesday as it admitted to shortcomings in its screening senior staff at the Co-operative Bank.
Centrica Plc finance director Nick Luff will quit this year to join information group Reed Elsevier, adding to a string of recent departures from Britain’s biggest household energy supplier.
Yields on government debt for the euro zone’s crisis-hit countries tumbled on Tuesday after Ireland made a storming return to the international bond market with bumper demand for the country’s first debt sale since exiting its international bailout programme last month.
NYT
* As part of a deferred-prosecution agreement, JPMorgan Chase & Co will pay $1.7 billion to the Justice Department for not maintaining proper anti-money laundering controls and failing to file a “suspicious activity report” on Bernard Madoff’s account.
* The Federal Trade Commission charged Sensa Products, L’Occitane, HCG Diet Direct and LeanSpa with deceptively marketing weight-loss products, asserting they made “unfounded promises” that consumers could shed pounds by using their food additives, skin creams and other dietary supplements.
* An indictment by the Manhattan district attorney’s office charged 106 people in the largest fraud ever perpetrated against the Social Security disability system. The scheme, stretching back to 1988 and involving as many as 1,000 people, many of whom are officers and firefighters already collecting pensions from the city, is suspected to have cheated the federal government out of about $400 million.
* The Senate voted to advance legislation extending expired unemployment benefits. The three-month extension of benefits passed on a vote of 60 to 37, and some of the six Republicans who voted yes said they wanted the $6.4 billion cost paid for through cuts elsewhere in the budget.
* While the federal government is spending more than $22 billion to encourage hospitals and doctors to adopt electronic health records, it has failed to put safeguards in place to prevent the technology from being used for inflating costs and overbilling, according to a new report by a federal oversight agency.
* A legal struggle over Utah’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage has catapulted the socially conservative state to the center of the national debate over who should be allowed to wed, and whether states have the right to limit marriages to one man and one woman.
* A U.S. military helicopter crashed on the coast of eastern England on Tuesday, and all four people aboard were believed to have been killed, authorities said. The cause of the crash was unclear. The helicopter was a United States Air Force HH-60 Pave Hawk that was based at the Royal Air Force base in Lakenheath in Suffolk, also in eastern England.
* Drawing on lessons from Hurricane Sandy, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo outlined how the state would spend more than $16 billion in federal disaster aid on items like high-tech weather stations and seals for entrances to subway stations.
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, Canada’s largest airport, said the deep freeze gripping the eastern part of the continent forced it to temporarily halt landings for hundreds of flights.
** Parka maker Canada Goose is trying to “bully” Sears Canada Inc and other retailers through litigation, Sears said in court documents as it hit back at a trademark infringement lawsuit filed last year. Canada Goose’s real motive is to curtail the sales of lower-priced winter jackets so it can keep selling its products “at a huge markup,” Sears said.
Reports in the business section:
** Insurers are expected to increase homeowners’ premiums by hefty amounts as the industry seeks to protect itself against the steepening costs of severe weather. Some property and casualty insurers are already charging more for home insurance following a particularly expensive year for claims from flooding, ice storms and hail.
NATIONAL POST
** Two Canadian women were under Mexican custody, suspected of lobbing Molotov cocktails at Mexico City government offices. Late Sunday night, three suspects allegedly ignited a series of gasoline bombs at a Nissan Motor dealership and a high-rise building housing the offices of Mexico’s Secretariat of Communications and Transportation.
FINANCIAL POST
** The “polar vortex” weather system blasting Canada and the U.S. with extreme cold has disrupted infrastructure and threatened crops and cattle. But economists do not expect to see a lasting impact on Canada’s GDP.
** The Desmarais family disposed of a major block of stock in Power Corp of Canada, for the third time in less than six years, through a marketed overnight offering. The latest deal was announced on Dec. 24 and marked the first sale since the death of Paul Desmarais, the company’s founder, last October.
China
CHINA DAILY
– China’s box office generated 21.77 billion yuan ($3.60 billion) of revenue last year, an increase of 27.51 percent from 2012, according to the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. Meanwhile, overseas movies made 9 billion yuan, an increase of 54.32 percent.
– Sina Weibo, a popular micro-blogging site, and Alipay, an e-payment provider, announced on Tuesday that they would integrate their systems to boost e-commerce, in a bid to rival WeChat, an increasingly popular chatting app owned by Tencent Holdings Ltd.
SECURITIES TIMES
– The marginal cost to China of accumulating foreign exchange reserves surpasses the marginal revenue and is no longer beneficial for the country, said Yi Gang, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China. New foreign exchange measures will be introduced in 2014, he said.
PEOPLE’S DAILY
– Revisions made by the Ministry of Finance to travel spending regulations have been successful, said an article in the paper that acts as the Party’s mouthpiece. The introduction of stringent travel management is not only to control invoices, but to promote thrift, it said.
Britain
The Telegraph
EUROZONE LOSING ‘SAFETY MARGIN’ AGAINST DEFLATION TRAP AS CORE GAUGE FALLS TO RECORD LOW
Eurozone inflation has fallen to the lowest recorded under two key measures, raising the risk of a textbook deflation trap if recovery falters or there is an unexpected shock.
IMF TO REVISE UP GLOBAL GROWTH FORECASTS, SAYS CHRISTINE LAGARDE
The International Monetary Fund will revise upward its global growth forecast in about three weeks, Managing Director Christine Lagarde has revealed.
The Guardian
FCA STANDS BY DECISION TO SANCTION PAUL FLOWERS AS CO-OP BANK CHAIRMAN
The regulator who authorised Paul Flowers’s appointment as chairman of the Co-operative Bank faced intense criticism from MPs on Tuesday after he insisted he stood by the decision to allow the now disgraced Methodist minister to take on the role after a 90-minute interview in 2010.
JPMORGAN CHASE TO PAY MORE THAN $2BLN IN PENALTIES FOR MADOFF TIES
JPMorgan Chase & Co has agreed to pay a record $2 billion to settle charges that it knowingly ignored evidence that convicted fraudster Bernard Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme was “too good to be true.”
The Times
GATWICK CHIEF APOLOGISES FOR FLOOD FAILURE
Gatwick Airport ignored its own contingency plan when floods struck on Christmas Eve and tried to get as many passengers away as possible, even though it lacked sufficient staff or bus drivers to transfer travellers between terminals, Parliament was told on Tuesday.
HARVEY NICHOLS’ NEW CHIEF SETS SIGHTS ON CHINA
A former Burberry executive at the forefront of the designer’s transformation into a global powerhouse has been named as the new boss of Harvey Nichols and set out plans of how she plans to “supercharge” the luxury department store chain. Stacey Cartwright said that she wanted to introduce a Harvey Nichols own-brand clothing range, roll out more overseas stores, launch transactional websites and weigh up opening a store in mainland China.
The Independent
EASYJET NARROWS GAP WITH RYANAIR AS PASSENGER NUMBERS TAKE OFF
EasyJet flew more than 60 million passengers last year as more Britons spent Christmas overseas. In total, the airline flew 61.33 million passengers in 2013, which is 3.6 per cent more than during the previous 12 months. EasyJet’s growth in 2013 helped it to narrow the gap with Europe’s biggest budget carrier, Ryanair, which saw passenger numbers grow only 2.3 percent last year.
MAN GROUP DENIES IT MISLED RICHARD DESMOND OVER ‘INCOMPREHENSIBLE’ DEAL
Hedge fund giant Man Group has brushed off Richard Desmond’s 20-million-pound High Court claim for losses on a financial product, insisting it did not even act as the counter-party in the disputed transaction.
Fly On The Wall 7:00 AM Market Snapshot
ANALYST RESEARCH
Upgrades
C.R. Bard (BCR) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Atlantic Equities
Comerica (CMA) upgraded to Perform from Underperform at Oppenheimer
Crown Holdings (CCK) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan
Guidance Software (GUID) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Benchmark Co.
Helmerich & Payne (HP) upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital
Hershey (HSY) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank
Integra LifeSciences (IART) upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at BofA/Merrill
Kraft Foods (KRFT) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank
MV Oil Trust (MVO) upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Raymond James
Manitowoc (MTW) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley
MetLife (MET) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup
NASDAQ (NDAQ) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup
Nabors Industries (NBR) upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital
Oceaneering (OII) upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital
PDC Energy (PDCE) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo
Panera Bread (PNRA) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo
Patterson-UTI Energy (PTEN) upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital
Philippine Long Distance (PHI) upgraded to Buy from Sell at Citigroup
Rite Aid (RAD) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan
Rowan Companies (RDC) upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital
TCF Financial (TCB) upgraded to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer
Tyco (TYC) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup
Valeant (VRX) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley
WESCO (WCC) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup
Downgrades
Ambarella (AMBA) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham
CME Group (CME) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup
Cardinal Health (CAH) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan
Clorox (CLX) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan
Container Store (TCS) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill
Cooper Tire (CTB) downgraded to Hold from Buy at BB&T
Copa Holdings (CPA) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman
Dean Foods (DF) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank
Eli Lilly (LLY) downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital
First Midwest (FMBI) downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer
Generac (GNRC) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel
Honeywell (HON) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup
Humana (HUM) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays
Ingredion (INGR) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital
J.M. Smucker (SJM) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank
KeyCorp (KEY) downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer
Magellan Health (MGLN) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays
McDonald’s (MCD) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo
National Oilwell (NOV) downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital
Neurocrine (NBIX) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley
Noble Corp. (NE) downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital
Steven Madden (SHOO) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray
Tenet (THC) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James
Transocean (RIG) downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital
Twitter (TWTR) downgraded to Sell from Hold at Cantor
U.S. Bancorp (USB) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse
United Technologies (UTX) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup
Initiations
Bank of America (BAC) initiated with a Buy at Jefferies
Brinker (EAT) initiated with an Outperform at Credit Suisse
Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD) initiated with a Buy at UBS
Burger King (BKW) initiated with a Neutral at Credit Suisse
Burger King (BKW) initiated with a Neutral at UBS
Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) initiated with a Neutral at UBS
Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) initiated with an Outperform at Credit Suisse
Chipotle (CMG) initiated with a Neutral at UBS
Chipotle (CMG) initiated with an Outperform at Credit Suisse
Citigroup (C) initiated with a Hold at Jefferies
Darden (DRI) initiated with a Neutral at UBS
Darden (DRI) initiated with an Underperform at Credit Suisse
Delta Air Lines (DAL) initiated with an Overweight at Atlantic Equities
Ignite Restaurant (IRG) initiated with a Buy at UBS
IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) assumed with a Neutral at Citigroup
JPMorgan (JPM) initiated with a Buy at Jefferies
Jack in the Box (JACK) initiated with a Neutral at UBS
Mallinckrodt (MNK) initiated with an Overweight at Piper Jaffray
McDonald’s (MCD) initiated with a Buy at UBS
McDonald’s (MCD) initiated with a Neutral at Credit Suisse
NeoGenomics (NEO) initiated with an Outperform at William Blair
Nimble Storage (NMBL) initiated with a Market Perform at William Blair
Noodles & Company (NDLS) coverage assumed with a Neutral at UBS
Panera Bread (PNRA) initiated with a Buy at UBS
Ruby Tuesday (RT) initiated with a Neutral at UBS
SodaStream (SODA) initiated with a Buy at KeyBanc
Sonic (SONC) initiated with a Sell at UBS
Southwest (LUV) initiated with a Neutral at Atlantic Equities
Starbucks (SBUX) initiated with a Neutral at UBS
Starbucks (SBUX) initiated with an Outperform at Credit Suisse
Texas Roadhouse (TXRH) initiated with a Neutral at UBS
United Continental (UAL) initiated with an Overweight at Atlantic Equities
Wendy’s (WEN) initiated with a Sell at UBS
Yum! Brands (YUM) initiated with a Buy at UBS
Yum! Brands (YUM) initiated with a Neutral at Credit Suisse
HOT STOCKS
Hess Corp. (HES) filed for tax-free spin-off retail unit
Shares of Ford (F) were higher, Microsoft (MSFT) lower, in after hours trading after Ford CEO Mulally told the Associated Press he will stay at the carmaker through at least 2014
WellPoint (WLP) to sell online contact lens retail subsidiary 1-800 CONTACTS to Thomas H. Lee Partners
WellPoint (WLP) entered into an asset-purchase agreement for glasses.com and its virtual try-on technology with Luxottica (LUX)
Era Group (ERA) to purchase four S92 helicopters from Sikorsky (UTX) for $129M
Comcast (CMCSA) , Live Nation (LYV) extended partnership, naming agreement
EARNINGS
Companies that beat consensus earnings expectations last night and today include:
Micron (MU), Apollo Education (APOL), Container Store (TCS)
Companies that missed consensus earnings expectations include:
AZZ Inc. (AZZ), Franklin Covey (FC), Micron (MU)
Companies that matched consensus earnings expectations include:
Team (TISI)
NEWSPAPERS/WEBSITES
Federal investigators are probing whether a number of Wall Street banks (BCS, C, DB, GS, MS, JPM, RBS, UBS) cheated clients in the years following the financial crisis by deliberately mispricing a type of mortgage bond that was central to the economic turmoil, sources say, the Wall Street Journal reports
Three years after IBM (IBM) began trying to turn its “Jeopardy”-winning computer into a big business, revenue from Watson is far from the company’s ambitious targets, the Wall Street Journal reports
Forest Laboratories (FRX) is nearing an agreement to acquire specialty pharmaceutical company Aptalis Holdings from private equity firm TPG Capital for about $3B, sources say, Reuters reports
Chinese tycoon Chen Guangbiao dialed back his ambitious plans to buy The New York Times Co. (NYT) about a week after making his intentions public. Chen, does not hold shares in the Times, nor does he plan to buy any of its common shares, he said, noting that the Times rebuffed a request for a meeting. The company has a market value of $2.3B. Chen thinks it’s worth $1B, Reuters reports
Delta Air Lines (DAL) and United Airlines (UAL) were forecast to experience fewer canceled flights today as weather warms and schedules begin to return to normal after winter storms erased more than 11,000 flights in four days and marooned millions of fliers, Bloomberg reports
Cisco Systems (CSCO) CEO John Chambers, speaking at the International Consumer Electronics Show, said that the Internet of Everything, connected products ranging from cars to household goods, could be a $19T opportunity, Bloomberg reports
SYNDICATE
Cedar Realty Trust (CDR) to offer 6M common shares
Rouse Properties (RSE) 7M share Secondary priced at $19.50
Rubicon (RBCN) 2.46M share Spot Secondary priced at $10.65
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/pbSWSbQyuzE/story01.htm Tyler Durden
