another site
Another day, another broken market microstructure:
Perhaps we should rename the US equity (stock and options) markets – NasdaCare
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/JvwOV_42KE8/story01.htm Tyler Durden
Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,
It's painfully obvious that real estate valuations are once again at asset-bubble extremes.
Correspondent Mark G. submitted a chart of the Wilshire REIT (real estate investment trusts) index that sums up the current real estate market in one image: it's painfully obvious that real estate valuations are once again at asset-bubble extremes, one that's even bigger than the last RE bubble that popped in 2008 with devastating consequences to the global economy.
Defenders of current real estate valuations can draw upon an array of justifications, but they boil down to the same one used to justify valuations in every asset bubble: this time it's different.
Is there anything in this chart that suggests this belief might be misplaced, for example, that credit/asset bubbles burst with a rough time/amplitude symmetry?
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/0mwaQUSBjpE/story01.htm Tyler Durden
Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,
It's painfully obvious that real estate valuations are once again at asset-bubble extremes.
Correspondent Mark G. submitted a chart of the Wilshire REIT (real estate investment trusts) index that sums up the current real estate market in one image: it's painfully obvious that real estate valuations are once again at asset-bubble extremes, one that's even bigger than the last RE bubble that popped in 2008 with devastating consequences to the global economy.
Defenders of current real estate valuations can draw upon an array of justifications, but they boil down to the same one used to justify valuations in every asset bubble: this time it's different.
Is there anything in this chart that suggests this belief might be misplaced, for example, that credit/asset bubbles burst with a rough time/amplitude symmetry?
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/0mwaQUSBjpE/story01.htm Tyler Durden
In yesterday's stage-setting drama, "coming in mid-November" replaced of the often heard "plead the fifth" as response of choice for Marilyn Tavenner (CMS Administrator). Today brings the main event, amid another server crash, as Kathleen Sebelius (HHS Secretary) takes the stand to explain healthcare.gov's shortcomings and how great it will all be at some point in the future if we just have some patience, spend a few more billions of taxpayer money on lines of code, and ignore the fact that the website is just the start of the problems with Obamacare… Her initial remarks (released early – below) are almost exactly the same as her testimony to Congress (and a carbon copy of Tavenner's remarks): “I want to assure you that HealthCare.gov can be fixed, and we are working around the clock to give you the experience that you deserve.”
Tavenner's remarks yesterday:
Via FOX,
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., speaking on the Senate floor, called Tuesday for Sebelius' resignation. Alexander is the top Republican on the Senate health panel.
"Mr. President, at some point there has to be accountability. Expecting this secretary to be able to fix what she hasn't been able to fix during the last three-and-a-half years is unrealistic," he said. "It's throwing good money after bad. It's time for her to resign — someone else to take charge."
…
In written testimony released ahead of today's hearing, Sebelius vowed to improve the website and said the consumer experience to date is "not acceptable." But she defended the law itself and said extensive work and testing is being done.
"We are working to ensure consumers' interaction with HealthCare.gov is a positive one, and that the Affordable Care Act fully delivers on its promise," she said in the prepared remarks.
Sebelius blamed the website contractors and the "initial wave of interest" for the glitches, but expressed confidence in the experts and specialists working to solve "complex technical issues."
"By enlisting additional technical help, aggressively monitoring errors, testing to prevent new issues from cropping up, and regularly deploying fixes to the site, we are working to ensure consumers’ interaction with HealthCare.gov is a positive one, and that the Affordable Care Act fully delivers on its promise," she said.
Live Stream:
Live streaming video by Ustream
Full statement from Sebelius:
HHRG-113-IF00-Wstate-SebeliusK-20131030.pdf
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/aw6u7O0x3ug/story01.htm Tyler Durden
If there was another reason for the Fed to keep its foot ‘through’ the floor, it is the fact that despite a record growth in the Fed balance sheet YoY, CPI (ex food and energy) dropped to 1.7% and missed by its biggest margin in 14 months. This is the 2nd lowest print in two-and-a-half years. Perhaps most dismally, real hourly wages rose at only 0.9% year-over-year – around half the rate of inflation. Overall, energy costs rose the most MoM (+0.8%) while Apparel fell 0.5% MoM (its biggest drop in 6 months as we suspect the JCP-driven sales deflation has begun already); and given Sebelius’ testimony today we note that healthcare costs are up 2.4% YoY (almost triple the rate of wage increase).
CPI YoY Ex Food and Energy saw its biggest miss in 14 months…
As overall CPI also dropped with Energy and utilities costs rising the most…
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/_xVQxN0CGbs/story01.htm Tyler Durden
As we mentioned earlier, if there was one thing that would guarantee an 1800 print in the Stalingrad and Propaganda 500 index today, it was a 0 or negative ADP print. Well, it wasn’t that bad. But it was close: with a paltry 130K private jobs created in October, this was a monthly plunge in private (i.e. non-government) payrolls, well below expectations, and substantially lower than the September 166K print which also was revised lower to 145K. It was also the 4th consecutive monthly decline starting with a 190K print in June, and it’s all downhill from there. Finally, this was the 7th ADP miss in the past 8 months. We can’t wait as the spinmasters do all they can to explain how private payrolls were affected by a government shutdown.
Broken down by jobs, while there was finally a pick up in manufacturing (+5K), and Construction (+14K) jobs, this was more than offset by the best paying jobs of all, Financial Activities, which dipped by 5K in October, in line with the wholesale termination of every banker dealing with the mortgage banking loss center.
Blame Obamacare: the small firms showed the smallest job gain in 10 months, medium-sized firms: smallest gain in 14 months.
Report highlights:
From the ADP press release:
“According to ADP National Employment Report findings, the U.S. private sector added a total of 130,000 jobs during the month of October, well below the average of the last twelve months,” said Carlos Rodriguez, president and chief executive officer of ADP. “Small business growth was down from the previous month, while payrolls among large enterprises showed an increase.”
And of course: here comes the government shutdown blame. Quote Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said, “The government shutdown and debt limit brinksmanship hurt the already softening job market in October. Average monthly growth has fallen below 150,000. Any further weakening would signal rising unemployment. The weaker job growth is evident across most industries and company sizes.”
Someone please tell Zandi private jobs are not, well, non-private. Ah, forget it.
This is what a New Normal non-recovery looks like:
How ADP compares to BLS:
Total Nonfarm Private Employment by Company Size
Jobs by Industry:
Finally, thanks to the ADP being the most socially-media friendly jobs release organization, here is their October infographic:
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/7AswBjXhlsY/story01.htm Tyler Durden
I present to you a video that clearly demonstrates that intelligence has nothing to do with age, as 16-year-old Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai demonstrates far more compassion and wisdom about the topic of war than POTUS Barack Obama, who remains nothing but a sock puppet for European and Wall Street banking interests that control the US Central Bank and direct all “war-profiteering-for corporate interests” efforts. When she was just 14-years-old, the Taliban boarded a bus in Pakistan that Ms. Yousafzai was riding and shot her in the head for campaigning for a woman’s right to education. Since then, Ms. Yousafzai has shown remarkable courage, refusing to back down to the Taliban.
When asked what she would do if the Taliban came to kill her again, Ms. Yousafzia provided a most remarkable and courageous answer:
“I would reply to myself, ‘Malala, just take a shoe and hit him. But then I said, ‘If you hit a Talib with your shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib. You must not treat others with cruelty and that much harsh[ness], you must fight others but through peace and through dialogue and through education.’ Then I said I will tell him how important education is and that ‘I even want education for your children as well.’ And I will tell him, ‘That’s what I want to tell you, now do what you want.'”
Just a few months into Barack’s first term as POTUS, I penned an article, “8 Reasons Why the Obama Administration Will Not Solve This Crisis By the End of 2009” due to the fact that “President Obama’s cabinet appointments [did] not reflect, in the slightest manner, the enormous change that he spoke of during his campaign.” As absurd as that article title sounds today, many in the mainstream media were in the midst of a full-blown love affair with the then newly appointed (versus elected) President and some had illogically suggested that the POTUS would solve the Wall Street-created crisis by the end of his first year in office. Diametrically opposed to this mountain of propaganda, I warned a few months into Obama’s term: “Don’t let President Obama’s professed anger regarding the $165 million of bonuses slotted for AIG executives fool you.” With politicians, lies come as naturally to them as breathing, and one most be careful to judge a politician’s character by his or her actions, not his or her words. Why do I bring this up? Because bankers are inextricably linked to all major conflicts over resources that take place around the world, as US Brigadier General Smedley Butler so clearly described in his book “War is a Racket”. In the 1930s, after General Butler realized that he was being used as a pawn for the benefit of Wall Street interests, he declared, “I believe in making Wall Street pay for it, taking Wall Street by the throat and shaking it up.” But here we stand today, more than 80 years later, and Wall Street is still making us pay for all of their sins.
I truly hope this video makes it to the desktop of the POTUS himself, as he could learn a lot from Ms. Yousafzai to re-think his drone policy, and use education, as suggested by Ms. Yousafzai, to fight terrorism instead of ordering drones to drop bombs that many times end up killing innocent women and children, and instead of defeating terrorism, only serve to fuel more future retaliatory terrorism. To compound the errors of his drone policy, the POTUS has simply resorted to imprisoning journalists that know the truth about innocents murdered by his drones to prevent the world from learning the same truths. In fact, the Obama administration interrogated, beat, and told Yemeni journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye “we will destroy your life if you keep on talking about [the US drone massacre of 14 innocent women, five of whom were pregnant, and 21 innocent children, the youngest who was 2-years old]” that occurred in Al Majalah village in southern Yemen in 2009. Perhaps it’s time for an undeserving former Nobel Peace Prize winner to learn a thing or two from the young girl that should have won the Nobel Peace Prize this year – the wonderful and brilliant Malala Yousafzia.
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/MxbMML1I8bU/story01.htm smartknowledgeu
Remember when minutes before the September FOMC announcement everyone was absolutely certain the Fed would announce tapering, only to leave a lot of very angry traders fuming? Fast forward one month when everyone is absolutely certain, again, that there is no way the Fed can announce anything even remotely suggesting a taper. One wonders though: since the Fed has by now burned all credibility bridges, and since the capital market bubble is now far greater than it was when both Stein and Bernanke, implicitly, warned about a building asset bubble (a chorus which has now been joined by JPM, Pimco and BlackRock) in early 2013, would today not be the best opportunity for the Fed to once again stun the market with a dramatic policy U-Turn, just to teach those momentum wave-riding vacuum tubes who is in charge? Probably not. However, as Lloyd Christamas noted, there is a chance. Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid explains why.
So will today’s FOMC be as surprising to the market as the September meeting? Almost certainly not but you can’t completely rule out a small taper for the following reasons: 1) In the September meeting a large majority of FOMC participants expected the taper to start before December; 2) the fiscal situation has been kicked down the road for a while; 3) financial conditions have arguably eased since the last meeting with rates lower and equities higher and 4) many of the members won’t be on the committee into next year and may want to make a statement before leaving; and 5) they may feel a little bruised by the market’s verbal reaction last time.
Overall we continue to think the Fed are trapped to a large degree by the liquidity they’ve provided financial markets over recent years which could destabilise assets if they reversed course without a strong economic recovery. Indeed the current data uncertainties is probably the biggest reason for holding fire at the moment, especially so soon after the shutdown. Indeed our view is that the Fed may have to adjust their criteria for tapering if they want to make regular cuts to QE in 2014. We’re not sure how employment is going to suddenly pick up at this relatively mature stage of the cycle.
However when all said and done, the Fed do seem to want to taper and although we think they won’t until well into next year, we can’t help but think that the Fed are currently unpredictable enough at the moment that we need to be vigilant tonight and indeed in December. The story of the next 6 months could be very little tapering but a swing between liquidity complacency and liquidity fear. Maybe we’re veering towards the former at the moment. DB’s Peter Hooper expects today’s FOMC to be most likely a “wait and see event” though he sees the case for a taper now is about as strong as it was in September when it was a very close call.
To all of the above we add one more reason: the following headline from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, which hit earlier.
And so, just like in 2011, China is once again openly complaining about QE (and, tangentially, the inflationary implications it has on the Chinese economy). Recall that it was the soaring Chinese inflation in 2011 that sent gold from roughly where it is now, to all time highs. So if we have a repeat, even as the entire world is now effectively begging Mr. Debtfire to taper, will the BIS’ gold selling team headed by Michael Charoze out of Hong Kong be able to contain that one last remnant of the Fed’s idiotic monetary policies? Stay tuned.
As for today, our personal hope is no taper now… or ever. After all, the faster the Fed proceeds to monetize everything, and in unlimited amounts, the faster this centrally-planned charade finally ends.
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/RhYULJNkvKg/story01.htm Tyler Durden
Remember when minutes before the September FOMC announcement everyone was absolutely certain the Fed would announce tapering, only to leave a lot of very angry traders fuming? Fast forward one month when everyone is absolutely certain, again, that there is no way the Fed can announce anything even remotely suggesting a taper. One wonders though: since the Fed has by now burned all credibility bridges, and since the capital market bubble is now far greater than it was when both Stein and Bernanke, implicitly, warned about a building asset bubble (a chorus which has now been joined by JPM, Pimco and BlackRock) in early 2013, would today not be the best opportunity for the Fed to once again stun the market with a dramatic policy U-Turn, just to teach those momentum wave-riding vacuum tubes who is in charge? Probably not. However, as Lloyd Christamas noted, there is a chance. Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid explains why.
So will today’s FOMC be as surprising to the market as the September meeting? Almost certainly not but you can’t completely rule out a small taper for the following reasons: 1) In the September meeting a large majority of FOMC participants expected the taper to start before December; 2) the fiscal situation has been kicked down the road for a while; 3) financial conditions have arguably eased since the last meeting with rates lower and equities higher and 4) many of the members won’t be on the committee into next year and may want to make a statement before leaving; and 5) they may feel a little bruised by the market’s verbal reaction last time.
Overall we continue to think the Fed are trapped to a large degree by the liquidity they’ve provided financial markets over recent years which could destabilise assets if they reversed course without a strong economic recovery. Indeed the current data uncertainties is probably the biggest reason for holding fire at the moment, especially so soon after the shutdown. Indeed our view is that the Fed may have to adjust their criteria for tapering if they want to make regular cuts to QE in 2014. We’re not sure how employment is going to suddenly pick up at this relatively mature stage of the cycle.
However when all said and done, the Fed do seem to want to taper and although we think they won’t until well into next year, we can’t help but think that the Fed are currently unpredictable enough at the moment that we need to be vigilant tonight and indeed in December. The story of the next 6 months could be very little tapering but a swing between liquidity complacency and liquidity fear. Maybe we’re veering towards the former at the moment. DB’s Peter Hooper expects today’s FOMC to be most likely a “wait and see event” though he sees the case for a taper now is about as strong as it was in September when it was a very close call.
To all of the above we add one more reason: the following headline from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, which hit earlier.
And so, just like in 2011, China is once again openly complaining about QE (and, tangentially, the inflationary implications it has on the Chinese economy). Recall that it was the soaring Chinese inflation in 2011 that sent gold from roughly where it is now, to all time highs. So if we have a repeat, even as the entire world is now effectively begging Mr. Debtfire to taper, will the BIS’ gold selling team headed by Michael Charoze out of Hong Kong be able to contain that one last remnant of the Fed’s idiotic monetary policies? Stay tuned.
As for today, our personal hope is no taper now… or ever. After all, the faster the Fed proceeds to monetize everything, and in unlimited amounts, the faster this centrally-planned charade finally ends.
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/RhYULJNkvKg/story01.htm Tyler Durden
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
* U.S. officials said electronic spying that ignited a political firestorm in France and Spain recently was carried out by their own intelligence services and not by the NSA. The phone records were shared with the U.S.
* Problems surrounding the launch of the federal health-care law broadened, as concerns that thousands of Americans are getting insurance-cancellation notices bubbled over at a hearing on Capitol Hill.
* SAC Capital will plead guilty to securities fraud as part of a landmark criminal insider-trading settlement with federal prosecutors set to be announced by next week.
* Dutch lender Rabobank agreed to pay $1.07 billion to settle accusations that it skewed key financial benchmarks and its chief executive resigned, the latest casualty of a global interest-rate-rigging scandal.
* A multibillion-dollar settlement between JPMorgan Chase and the U.S. over soured mortgage bonds is at risk of collapsing because of disagreements related to a criminal probe of the bank and its effort to get penalties reimbursed by a government-controlled fund, according to people familiar with the discussions.
* Operators of U.S. truck fleets are accelerating a shift to natural gas fueled trucks, betting on new engines that promise to drop the cost of shifting from diesel fuel.
* BlackBerry Ltd executives flew to California to meet with Facebook Inc last week to gauge its interest in a potential bid for the struggling smartphone maker, according to people familiar with the matter.
* Google Inc’s smartwatch is in late-stage development and the company is in talks with Asian suppliers to begin mass production of the device, people familiar with the matter said.
FT
Rabobank agreed to a $1 billion fine to U.S., British and Dutch authorities, admitting that dozens of employees manipulated the Libor and other key benchmark interest rates over six years.
Barclays may need to pay out as much as $700 million to U.S. hedge fund Black Diamond, after losing an appeal in a five-year legal struggle when a New York supreme court found the bank liable for breach of contract over a vast credit derivatives transaction.
Creditor banks of Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista’s OGX on Monday struck a private deal to sell off the troubled oil company’s natural gas business. The move has other creditors and shareholders anxious that they will be left with next to nothing if OGX files for bankruptcy.
BP’s Chief Executive Bob Dudley said the UK oil major plans to sell a further $10 billion worth of assets by the end of 2015, which could signal higher payouts to investors.
DVD rental chain Blockbuster’s British arm is set to go back into administration for the second time in 10 months, putting 2,000 jobs at risk after poor retail and rental sales.
NYT
* Twitter, which has been built around 140-character snippets of text since its founding in 2006, has added photo and video previews to the feed of items that users see when they log onto the service from the Web or mobile applications.
* When Brian Sozzi, the Chief Executive of Belus Capital Advisors, visited Sears locations in New York and New Jersey this month, he said, he found barren shelves, haphazard displays and badly stained carpets. Also missing: customers.
* The Senate voted unanimously to confirm President Obama’s two picks for the Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler as chairman and Michael O’Rielly as a commissioner.
* Samsung recorded its highest share of smartphone shipments to date in the third quarter, while Apple showed more modest gains, according to a new report from Strategy Analytics.
* The White House has long been aware in general terms of the National Security Agency’s overseas eavesdropping, the nation’s top spymaster told a House hearing on Tuesday.
* The CBS Corp is developing a 24-hour news channel that would be streamed online and would mainly repurpose video and reporting already produced by CBS News, according to executives involved in the planning.
* LinkedIn announced strong user growth and better-than-expected third-quarter revenue on Tuesday, but issued a conservative revenue forecast for the fourth quarter and the 2013 fiscal year.
* After months of wrangling and tough negotiating, Dell Inc is finally going private. The computer company said on Tuesday that its $24.9 billion sale to its founder, Michael Dell, and the investment firm Silver Lake had closed.
* Nextdoor, a social network for neighbors, is moving into elite territory. The San Francisco startup announced a $60 million investment on Tuesday, led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Tiger Global Management, two prominent venture capital firms.
* Infosys, the giant Indian technology outsourcing company, has agreed to pay $34 million in a civil settlement after federal prosecutors in Texas found it had committed “systemic visa fraud a
nd abuse” when bringing temporary workers from India for jobs in American businesses, according to court documents and officials familiar with the case.
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
* Canada has promised the European Union it will be able to take advantage of any further loosening of foreign investment restrictions on the country’s telecom sector.
* A heated debate is raging among some of the biggest names in the food world over a boycott of Canadian seafood, a move aimed at ending the annual seal hunt.
Reports in the business section:
* United States Steel Corp will permanently cease steel production at its Hamilton mill at the end of the year, ending an era that goes back more than a century. The permanent end of steel making in what was the cradle of the Canadian steel industry is the latest step in what has been a troubled history for U.S. Steel.
* The race is on for one of Canada’s hottest retail sites after Sears Canada Inc abandoned its flagship store at the Toronto Eaton Center. U.S. department store Nordstrom Inc is in talks with the mall’s owner, Cadillac Fairview Corp, to move into the space – and could be close to a deal, industry sources said.
NATIONAL POST
* A report tabled Tuesday by the federal Conservative government in the House of Commons, explaining the final negotiated outcomes of the Canada-EU free-trade agreement, has shed more light on what is being billed as the largest and most wide-ranging free trade deal for Canada since the North American Free Trade Agreement.
* The unsteady sand of who is considered a terrorist in Canada has once again shifted in favor of a Tamil woman living in Toronto, whose politician husband was assassinated in Sri Lanka while attending Christmas Eve mass in 2005. Weeks after Joseph Pararajasingham, a member of parliament in Sri Lanka, was shot dead, Canada granted residency to his widow. In 2011, however, the Immigration and Refugee Board concluded that the woman was a member of a terrorist group and should be deported because of her ties to her husband, who had ties to the Tamil Tigers.
FINANCIAL POST
* Stephen Poloz, Canada’s new head of monetary policy, is already being credited with putting a kinder, gentler face on the Bank of Canada, and cutting through decades-old jargon that is central-bank speak.
* Any chill in foreign investment resulting from tougher Industry Canada reviews hasn’t caught up with the British, who are warming up to the Western Canadian energy economy like never before. Energy giants such as Centrica, BG Group, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, are all growing their Western Canadian operations, encouraged by the British government, the recently announced Canada-EU free trade deal and perception that the Canadian government welcomes their business.
China
CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL
– The net profit of 116 Chinese property companies increased 30.6 percent in the first nine months of this year, according to Wind, a financial data provider.
SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS
– China Development Bank Corp is working with local governments and enterprises to review re-mortgage financing issues of photovoltaic power plants, according to sources. The bank is developing new finance rules to address industry financing difficulties, they said.
CHINA BUSINESS NEWS
– China Vanke Co Ltd confirmed on Tuesday that it will buy up to HK$3 billion ($386.9 million) worth of shares in the Hong Kong IPO of Huishang Bank, making it the largest shareholder.
SHANGHAI DAILY
– China’s central bank has set up a firewall that can distinguish between accounts set up within and outside of Shanghai’s pilot free-trade zone so that authorities can monitor transactions in real time, said Li Xunlei, chief economist at Haitong Securities.
CHINA DAILY
– Sixteen percent of Chinese households have had their homes demolished or seized during China’s urbanization drive, but few have received support in gaining employment or access to social security services, a survey of some 12,500 people nationwide showed.
Less than 80 percent of those who had land seized said they received compensation, while 94 percent of those whose homes were demolished had received compensation.
Fly On The Wall 7:00 AM Market Snapshot
ANALYST RESEARCH
Upgrades
Agree Realty (ADC) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James
BP (BP) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Societe Generale
Baidu (BIDU) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Brean Capital
Baidu (BIDU) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies
Electronic Arts (EA) upgraded to Strong Buy from Hold at Needham
Facebook (FB) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BTIG
Masco (MAS) upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Raymond James
Nanometrics (NANO) upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at Pacific Crest
Nike (NKE) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley
Downgrades
Aflac (AFL) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James
Ambarella (AMBA) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley
Axiall (AXLL) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup
Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Canaccord
Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD) downgraded to Market Perform at Raymond James
CAI International (CAP) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse
Calix (CALX) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James
Carpenter Technology (CRS) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman
Changyou.com (CYOU) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup
Chesapeake Granite (CHKR) downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman
Cirrus Logic (CRUS) downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays
Cyan (CYNI) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies
Cyan (CYNI) downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at Pacific Crest
Dana Holding (DAN) downgraded to Fair Value from Buy at CRT Capital
Dana Holding (DAN) downgraded to Hold from Buy at KeyBanc
Digital Realty (DLR) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Evercore
Digital Realty (DLR) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James
Edwards Lifesciences (EW) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan
Plantronics (PLT) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James
Questcor (QCOR) downgraded to Fair Value from Buy at CRT Capital
SanDisk (SNDK) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill
Sensata (ST) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital
U.S. Steel (X) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank
UBS (UBS) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill
Union Pacific (UNP) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at RW Baird
Western Union (WU) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James
Willis Group (WSH) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill
Xylem (XYL) downgraded to Hold from Buy at KeyBanc
Initiations
Cherry Hill Mortgage (CHMI) initiated with an Outperform at FBR Capital
Dick’s Sporting (DKS) initiated with a Hold at Jefferies
Ecolab (ECL) initiated with a Buy at UBS
Skechers (SKX) initiated with a Buy at Brean Capital
HOT STOCKS
Barclays (BCS) said cooperating with foreign exchange trading probe
Nidec (NJ) to acquire Honda Elesys (HMC) for about $500M
Teleflex (TFX) to acquire Vidacare for $262.5M
Western Union (WU) no longer expects operating profit growth in 2014
LinkedIn (LNKD) said mobile continues to be ‘fastest’ growing product
Aflac (AFL) sees FY14 share repurchases $800M-$1B
Wi-LAN (WILN) to explore strategic alternatives
EARNINGS
Companies that beat consensus earnings expectations last night
and today include:
Pioneer Energy (PES), TE Connectivity (TEL), AU Optronics (AUO), Range Resources (RRC), Trulia (TRLA), Charles River Labs (CRL), NuVasive (NUVA), Ameriprise (AMP), Ryland Group (RYL), Take-Two (TTWO), DreamWorks (DWA), Questcor (QCOR), IAC (IACI), Western Union (WU), LinkedIn (LNKD), Electronic Arts (EA), Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD), Gilead (GILD)
Companies that missed consensus earnings expectations include:
Praxair (PX), Universal Health (UHS), SL Industries (SLI), EXCO Resources (XCO), Genworth (GNW), Wabash (WNC), Arthur J. Gallagher (AJG), Aflac (AFL), Cabot (CBT), CBRE Group (CBG), Big 5 Sporting (BGFV), Rubicon (RBCN), Caesar’s (CZR), Yelp (YELP), Plantronics (PLT), CAI International (CAP)
Companies that matched consensus earnings expectations include:
NICE Systems (NICE), Ocean Shore Holding (OSHC), RPX Corp. (RPXC), FEI Company (FEIC), PAREXEL (PRXL), Kforce (KFRC), Danaos (DAC), Sonus Networks (SONS)
NEWSPAPERS/WEBSITES
SYNDICATE
Ascent Solar (ASTI) raises $10M in a registered direct offering
Brixmor (BRX) 41.25M share IPO priced at $20.00
Criteo (CRTO) 8.08M share IPO priced at $31.00
HCA Holdings (HCA) files to sell 30M shares of common stock for holders
Mazor Robotics (MZOR) 2.4M share Secondary priced at $17.00
Surgical Care Affiliates (SCAI) 9.778M share IPO priced at $24.00
Veracyte (VCYT) 5M share IPO priced at $13.00
Yelp (YELP) files to sell $250M of Class A common stock
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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/W4Uj4vqEZ0c/story01.htm Tyler Durden