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Wednesday, January 7 2009
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  • 11:47 AM Meanwhile, ING analyst Rob Carnell says a monthly loss of one million jobs is coming "sooner than you might think." For Friday, Carnell predicts a drop of 750K. (previously) Comment!
  • 11:35 AM Today's ADP report, showing U.S. private employers shed 693,000 jobs in December suggests Friday's much-anticipated non-farm payrolls report could show a loss of 670K jobs. Consensus is for -540K, but Gallup thinks that's too optimistic. Comment!
  • 11:21 AM IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI) CEO Barry Diller on the ongoing success of Match.com: "People want an emotional future if they can’t have a financial one right now." 1 Comment
  • 11:11 AM Sheila Bair to remain FDIC chief under Obama. (WSJ) 1 Comment
  • 11:09 AM Crude futures continue to drop on the surprisingly large build in petroleum stocks, indicating demand remains soft even as prices drop. Now -8.1% to $44.70. Comment!
  • 11:03 AM BTW, the $1.2T 2009 budget deficit does not include Obama's stimulus. Comment!
  • 11:00 AM Obama: The upcoming stimulus package will be on the "high end" of estimates. He's still in consultation with Congress, which explains conflicting reports as to its value. Comment!
  • 10:50 AM Obama: We have a deficit of accountability and trust - not just dollars. He appoints Nancy Killefer as Chief Performance Officer. (live on C-SPAN) 1 Comment
  • 10:38 AM Here's the Chamber of Commerce's Twitter feed, where you can follow its State of American Business briefing (ongoing). It sees Q4 GDP of -5%, Q1 2009 of -3%, and unemployment approaching 8.5-9% in 2009. Here's the webcast. Comment!
  • 10:32 AM Petroleum Inventories come in much higher than expected. Crude +6.7M vs. consensus of +1M. Gasoline +3.3M vs. +0.75M. Distillate +1.8M vs. +1M. Feb. crude futures dive, -5.8% to $45.74. 11 Comments
  • 10:30 AM Here's the Congressional Budget Office's 2009-2019 Budget and Economic Outlook (.pdf). It sees real GDP dropping 2.2% in 2009, followed by a "slow recovery" in 2010, while unemployment hits 9%. (previously) Comment!
  • 10:17 AM Time Warner Cable (TWC) expects to take a $15B impairment charge in Q4 on its cable franchise rights, and another $350M charge related to its investment in Clearwire. As a result, it now expects a net loss in 2008. Shares -2.7%. (PR) Comment!
  • 10:15 AM Petroleum inventories at 10:30 (no longer 10:35). Consensus: Crude +1M. Gasoline +0.75M. Distillate +1M. Utilization 82.5%. Feb. crude futures -2.1% to $47.53. Comment!
  • 10:14 AM Sector ETF weakness: Coal– KOL -5.8%. Semis– SMH -4.5%. Solar– TAN -4.5%. Solar– KWT -4.4%. Silver– SLV -4.1%. Comment!
  • 10:13 AM Sector ETF strength: Agribusiness– MOO +0.7%. Comment!
  • 10:05 AM MGM Mirage (MGM) scales back plans for its CityCenter project on the Las Vegas Strip, again. MGM will postpone one hotel's opening and cancel a condominium component for roughly $200M in savings. Shares -8.0%. Comment!
  • 10:01 AM Stocks, energy and metals all struggling early on. DJIA -126 points to 8890. S&P -14 to 921. Nasdaq -29.5 to 1623. Crude -$1.01 to $47.58. Gold -$15 to $851. Comment!
  • 9:57 AM BTW, just two weeks ago, Satyam (SAY) jumped up and down when the World Bank barred it from its corporate procurement program for "providing improper benefits to bank staff and for failing to maintain documentation to support fees charged for its subcontractors." Comment!
  • 9:55 AM Today's disclosure that Satyam's (SAY) ill-received property deals were in fact a last-ditch attempt to fill a hole in its falsely-inflated finances pays off on every bet investors made against the company - and reinforces the old adage "where there's smoke..." Comment!
  • 9:54 AM Dow laggards: AA -6.0%. INTC -5.7%. HPQ -3.9%. AXP -3.7%. DIS -3.5%. Comment!
  • 9:53 AM Dow leaders: VZ +0.7%. Comment!
  • 9:47 AM Warner Bros.'s (TWX) Watchmen, the film already being heralded as "the Citizen Kane of comic book adaptations," may never be watched if 20th Century Fox (NWS) has its way. Fox wants Watchmen's March release blocked after a judge ruled it, and not TWX, owns distribution rights. Comment!
  • 9:40 AM All 10 S&P 500 sectors are trading lower early on, as Nasdaq hits -2% and the others aren't far behind. Comment!
  • 9:32 AM Congressional estimators project an unparalleled budget deficit of $1.2 trillion for 2009 - followed by a $703B deficit in 2010. Here's some help putting a trillion dollar deficit in perspective (graphic). Comment!
  • 9:30 AM Dow opens -1.6% to 8863. S&P -1.6% to 919. Nasdaq -1.9% to 1621. Comment!
  • 9:29 AM Obama plans to offer states $7B as an incentive to expand unemployment coverage. Part of Obama's two-year stimulus plan, aides say the offer will use temporary aid to cash-starved states as a way to force long term changes. Comment!
  • 9:27 AM U.S. state enforcement officials are probing Manulife Financial's (MFC) accounting practices in connection with the Canadian insurer's role in a controversial tax shelter that collapsed amid the credit crisis, sources say. Shares -5.5% premarket. Comment!
  • 9:20 AM Warnings from Intel (INTC) and Time Warner (TWX) send already depressed stock futures further down; expect early weakness. With ten minutes to the open, Dow futures -1.3% to 8836. S&P -1.5% to 917. Nasdaq -1.6%. Crude -1.1% to $48.03. Gold -0.3% to 863. Comment!
  • 9:18 AM Premarket losers: IBN -12%. CHU -11%. ACAS -10.5%. CTSH -8%. ALD -8%. GNK -8%. LVS -7%. AAUK -7%. AA -7%. CHL -6%. INFY -6%. EXM -6%. TWX -6%. DRYS -5%. DSX -5%. TSM -5%. RTP -5%. S -5%. PGN -5%. FCX -5%. INTC -4%. LDK -4%. ROH -4%. HIG -4%. RIO -4%. ERTS -4%. JASO -4%. MGM -4%. Comment!
  • 9:18 AM Premarket gainers: PLCM +9.6%. FDO +9%. MON +9%. HMC +9%. SNE +5%. SYT +5%. NG +5%. RMBS +4%. BCS +3%. Comment!
  • 9:12 AM Apartment rents fell in Q4 as the national vacancy rate rose to 6.6%, a four-year high. Analysts had expected apartments to benefit from the housing slump, but job losses and lower wages are hurting potential renters. Comment!
  • 9:11 AM Intel (INTC) cuts revenue outlook to $8.2B vs. $8.74B consensus. Sees sales down 23% Y/Y on weakness in end demand and inventory reductions by its customers in the global PC supply chain. Predicts a $1.1-1.2B loss on equity investments etc. Shares -4.7% premarket. (PR) Comment!
  • 9:08 AM Time Warner (TWX) now expects a net loss for 2008, down from guidance of $1.04 to $1.07 a share. To boot, it will also take a $25B impairment charge related to goodwill and identifiable intangible assets at its Cable, Publishing and AOL segments. Shares slump 6.65% premarket. (PR) 1 Comment
  • 9:04 AM Down 89.8% premarket to $0.95, Satyam (SAY) could easily hit zero or near-zero today. First Global India tells investors to get out while they still can. Notable Calls gives kudos to ABN Amro for upgrading Satyam to Buy from Sell yesterday. Comment!
  • 8:58 AM Raju's confession letter to the Satyam (SAY) board, and interim CEO Ram Mynampati's statement to reassure employees. Comment!
  • 8:48 AM Continuing her forecast of a challenging 2009 for banks, Oppenheimer's Whitney estimates Q4 loss provisions: $6.7B for BoA (BAC), $7.9B for Citigroup (C), $4.4B for Wells Fargo (WFC). Comment!
  • 8:45 AM Meredith Whitney warns banks may have to raise fresh capital in 2009, and will be hit hard by a sharp increase in rating downgrades on mortgage-related securities.
    Comment!
  • 8:39 AM Obama and House Financial Services' Barney Frank reach an 'agreement in principle' to release the second half of TARP funds in return for a commitment to help homeowners and restrict executive bonuses. Comment!
  • 8:34 AM Orbitz (OWW) names Barney Harford its new president and CEO, and announces plans to cut another $20M-$25M in annual costs in addition to the $20M announced in November. Comment!
  • 8:30 AM GM (GM) says it has received enough money from the government to make it through a worst-case scenario and won't need additional funds... unless the economy worsens. 1 Comment
  • 8:24 AM Monsanto (MON): FQ1 EPS of $0.98 beats by $0.39. Revenue of $2.65B (+29.3%) vs. $2.44B. Shares +6.5% premarket. (PR) Comment!
  • 8:20 AM Nonfarm employment fell by 693K from November to December, ADP says, far worse than consensus of -493K. The service sector fell an estimated 473K in December. Manufacturing -120K, its 27th decline in 28 months. Comment!
  • 8:11 AM SuperValu (SVU): Q3 EPS of $0.62 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $10.2B (-0.4%) in-line. (PR) Comment!
  • 8:06 AM Constellation Brands (STZ): Q3 EPS of $0.60 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $1.03B (-5.8%) vs. $1.13B. (PR) Comment!
  • 7:44 AM Big companies announced 166,348 layoffs in December, 1/4 of them in the financial sector, up 275% from a year ago, Challenger says in its monthly report. For the year, companies announced 1.2M cuts, 59% more than 2007. Still, the number fell 8.4% from November's mammoth 181,670. Comment!
  • 7:35 AM Taiwan's central bank cuts its key lending rate by 50 BPS to 1.5% in a surprise move after data showed exports shrinking at a record pace (chart). Taiwan's weighted index gained 1.3% Wednesday. (ETF: EWT) Comment!
  • 7:26 AM In Tokyo, yen weakness (trading at lows not seen since November vs. the dollar) is sparking investor appetite for export-heavy companies. Honda (HMC) +11%. Panasonic (PC) +8.7%. Sony (SNE) +8.7%. Nissan (NSANY) +9.7%. Toyota (TM) +4.9%. Comment!
  • 7:11 AM Family Dollar Stores (FDO): FQ1 EPS of $0.42 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $1.75B (+4.2%) in-line. (PR) Comment!
  • 7:07 AM Mortgage applications fell 8.2% from a week ago, MBA says, on a seasonally adjusted basis. The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.07% from 5.03%. Comment!
  • 7:04 AM Crude futures are +0.3% to $48.76. Israel agreed to a three-hour quiet period to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, and there are signs negotiations may be making progress. Gold -0.2% to $864. Comment!
  • 7:01 AM U.S. stock futures trended lower overnight. Dow -0.6% to 8895. S&P -0.7% to 924. Nasdaq -0.4%. Comment!
  • 7:01 AM In Europe, equity markets are flat to lower at midday as central bankers and government officials note the possibility of a prolonged recession. London -1.4%. Paris +0.06%. Frankfurt -0.9%. Comment!
  • 7:00 AM The Satyam (SAY) scandal pulled India's BSE down; elsewhere in Asia markets were mixed. Nikkei +1.74% to 9,239. Hang Seng -3.37% to 14,987. Shanghai -0.68% to 1,924. BSE Sensex -7.25% to 9,587. 1 Comment
  • 6:26 AM The Fed and several other agencies join the Corporate Fraud Task Force as the Justice Department tries to get tougher on financial crimes. Comment!
  • 6:16 AM BoA (BAC) sells $2.8B of shares in China Construction Bank, or 13% of its stake, at a 12% discount to yesterday's closing price. Comment!
  • 5:58 AM Lenovo (LNVGY.PK) shares are suspended pending the release of price-sensitive info. Market chatter expects a major restructuring plan as the PC giant faces flagging sales from the global slowdown and competition from aggressive, smaller rivals. Comment!
  • 5:30 AM $1/gallon gas? Comment!
  • 5:16 AM Satyam (SAY) chairman B. Ramalinga Raju resigns, saying over $1B of Satyam's balance sheet as of Sept. 30 was inflated non-existing cash and bank balances. Managing director B. Rama Raju also resigns. Shares -76.5% premarket. Comment!
  • 2:21 AM Yale's David Swensen talks to FBN's Liz Clayman about this market - see video. 1 Comment
  • 2:14 AM The Atlantic: 'what if The New York Times goes out of business - like, this May?' Comment!
  • 12:10 AM Notable earnings after Wednesday's close: BBBY Comment!
  • 12:05 AM Notable earnings before Wednesday's open: FDO, MON, STZ, SVU Comment!
  • 12:00 AM Wednesday's economic calendar:
    7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
    7:30 Challenger Job-Cut Report
    8:15 ADP Jobs Report
    10:30 EIA Petroleum Status
    12:00 PM Paulson talks on Fannie & Freddie's role in housing recovery
    1:00 PM Fed's Hoenig speaks on U.S. economic outlook Comment!