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Wednesday, January 7 2009
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  • 4:59 PM Warren Buffett (BRK.A): Morningstar's 2008 CEO of the Year. More here. Comment!
  • 4:55 PM Surowiecki: Maybe we had too little speculation. 1 Comment
  • 4:50 PM The Washington Post (WPO) will survive the print-media shakeout, David Phillips says. It's secret: diversification. Comment!
  • 4:40 PM Venture capitalists predictions for 2009. Comment!
  • 4:32 PM Christopher & Banks (CBK): FQ3 EPS of -$0.04 beats by $0.05. Revenue of $143M (-7.9%) vs. $133M. (PR) Comment!
  • 4:31 PM Jeff Cox on this week's slew of earnings warnings: "If the plotline for 2009 was to start the year with an optimistic bang, corporate America doesn't seem to be following the script." Comment!
  • 4:30 PM Crude futures are down -12.2% to $42.67 in electronic trading on much bigger than expected supplies of crude oil, gasoline and distillate fuel as consumption dropped. "We have the making of a huge glut here," energy trader Phil Flynn says. "Supplies are more than adequate and should continue to rise because demand is so poor." Comment!
  • 4:26 PM Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY): FQ3 EPS of $0.34 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $1.78B (-0.6%) in-line. Sees FQ4 EPS of $0.40-0.46 vs. $0.49. Shares -2.6%. (PR) Comment!
  • 4:23 PM Steve Ballmer's (MSFT) CES keynote tonight may be exciting, Erick Schonfeld says, but he's been pre-briefed and Balmer doesn't really have much to say - Win7; Win Mobile with Flash; Halo... "Wake me up when CES is over." Comment!
  • 4:13 PM Americans are consistently driving less for the first time since 1980 - and the trend hasn't reversed even as gas prices plunge. Comment!
  • 4:06 PM Wednesday began weak and finished weaker, with two of the three major averages shedding 3%+ after ominous labor data and multiple earnings warnings. Dow -2.72% to 8,769.70. S&P -3% to 906.65. Nasdaq -3.23% to 1,599.06. Comment!
  • 3:59 PM Microsoft (MSFT) beats out Google (GOOG) and Yahoo (YHOO) to provide Verizon Wireless (VZ) customers with mobile web services. MSFT has one-seventh the internet search traffic of Google (.pdf), and is paying to cement this deal and ones with H-P (HPQ) and Sun (JAVA) to try and narrow the gap. 1 Comment
  • 3:52 PM Constellation Brands (STZ -6.7%) may have been a culprit in its own undoing, Barron's Bob O'Brien writes after STZ trimmed its full-year outlook this morning. STZ chose the wrong time to buy high-end wines and offload some of its bargain brands, he says. Comment!
  • 3:42 PM Sign of the times: Flood of calls, online requests crash NY unemployment systems; no timeline for their return. Comment!
  • 3:31 PM Bank Medici founder Sonja Kohn has dropped out of sight since Madoff went public with his massive fraud, leaving the firm in the hands of Austrian regulators. Russian oligarchs' money counted for a chunk of the $2.1B that Medici invested with Madoff. "With Russian oligarchs as clients, she might have reason to be afraid." 1 Comment
  • 3:21 PM According to multiple sources, including one inside Cisco (CSCO), Google (GOOG) is developing its own router. This may spell trouble for Juniper (JNPR) - as Google is one of its biggest customers. Comment!
  • 3:15 PM Earnings previews for companies reporting after today's close: BBBY Comment!
  • 3:10 PM Blodget's not sure what Microsoft (MSFT) thinks of TechCrunch's rumor that MSFT will fund a $20B buyout of Yahoo (YHOO), but his one-man survey finds YHOO shareholders think $15/share is a joke. Bloomberg reports MSFT is said not to be in any such talks. Shocking. Comment!
  • 3:03 PM Crude's 12% drop is its biggest one-day percentage drop since Sep. 2001. Comment!
  • 3:01 PM The final hour kicks off with stocks under relentless selling pressure. Dow -2.85% to 8761. S&P -3.1% to 906. Nasdaq -3.4% to 1596. Crude -11.5% to $43. Gold -3.1% to $838.80. Comment!
  • 2:51 PM American Bankers Association says it's worried the Treasury has overspent its rescue allowance, leaving the capital injection program for U.S. banks underfunded. 1 Comment
  • 2:38 PM Dow Chemical (DOW) CEO Andrew Liveris says he'll swallow the $100M/month 'ticking fee' on the Rohm & Haas (ROH) acquisition if need be, missing coming Monday's deadline in order to raise enough cash to fund the deal without drowning in debt. "The ticking fee is not a huge amount of money." Ok. 1 Comment
  • 2:24 PM Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), now a state-backed bank, funded $9.3B in buyouts in 2008, underscoring concerns that the private-equity market could become stifled if bailed-out banks are forced to pare back buyout lending. 1 Comment
  • 2:11 PM With 20 minutes to go in the pits, crude hits $43. Currently -11.1% to $43.20. Comment!
  • 2:11 PM Can you spot a fraudster? CNBC's five interviews with Satyam (SAY) CEO Ramalinga Raju - from Jan. thru Nov. of 2008. 1 Comment
  • 2:00 PM Cost of S&P's Detroit downgrade: $400M. Comment!
  • 1:58 PM The outlook for the first half of 2009 is grim, Fed's Hoenig says. But "if we pursue systematic policies with the right balance of monetary and fiscal stimulus, the early signs of economic recovery could show themselves as early as the third quarter of 2009." 1 Comment
  • 1:47 PM Meanwhile T. Boone Pickens says oil prices will surge above $100 by the end of 2010 sparked by a global economic recovery. Pickens is out there hawking his $1T-or-so Pickens Plan, which he says stands a better chance under President-elect Obama. Comment!
  • 1:36 PM Raymond Carbone of Paramount Options and The Prize author Daniel Yergin face off on oil - will the rally continue? (video). Carbone sees $150-200 oil the not so distant future. 1 Comment
  • 1:24 PM Delinquencies on auto loans and home equity credit lines reached all-time highs in Q3 (3.25% and 1.15%, respectively), and will likely continue to rise. ABA's James Chessen says the data reflects a weakening economy and rising unemployment. Comment!
  • 1:20 PM Crude's excursion above $50 was brief. Now -9.3% to $44. 1 Comment
  • 1:13 PM In the weeks leading up to his arrest, Madoff scrambled to raise enough cash to keep his firm from collapsing. One long time investor gave Madoff $250M just days before the scam went public, on promises the money would be returned quickly and with a profit. 1 Comment
  • 1:03 PM All major averages now down more than 2%. The Dow's now just 50 points higher than where it started 2009. Dow -2.1% to 8824. S&P -2.3% to 913. Nasdaq -2.4% to 1613. Comment!
  • 12:54 PM Paulson Remarks on the Role of GSEs in Supporting the Housing Recovery. "The first step must be for policymakers to decide – in light of the recent housing bubble and the severe financial and economic penalty it has imposed on our nation – the role government should play in supporting home ownership." 2 Comments
  • 12:41 PM Arrington's at it again: "A group of well known Silicon Valley executives and top investment bankers are putting together a Yahoo (YHOO) takeover deal that would be financed largely from debt supplied by Microsoft (MSFT)." Premium about 20% to current $12.50 or so. 1 Comment
  • 12:37 PM The cost of running TARP is rising sharply as the outside firms that handle some of the work get more expensive. A Treasury report estimates associated costs will reach $26.6M by January's end vs. $5.6M at the end of December. 1 Comment
  • 12:25 PM Even as WaPo's Steven Pearlstein calls Obama's choice of Mary Schapiro as SEC head "as safe and predictable as it is disappointing," Broc Romanek says she's a "great choice." "We should be grateful that Mary is willing to take a large pay cut to serve as SEC chair," he writes. More. Comment!
  • 12:12 PM Despite the heavy drop in December's retail numbers, sales began to show signs of stabilization, the first step on the road to recovery. Lower gas prices, heavy discounts, better weather and pent-up consumer demand helped stem the retail erosion. 2 Comments
  • 11:59 AM Shopping mall vacancies neared 10-year highs in Q4, and will continue to rise as anemic retail sales put more stores out of business. 1 Comment
  • 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. 13 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!