Feb 26, 2010

Daily Markets - Financial News And Opinions

Daily Markets

Daily Markets - Financial News And Opinions

US Housing Plans Worsening The Situation

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 11:29 AM PST

Why do I remain overall bearish on housing?

All reports to the contrary, the pace of delinquencies will continue to steadily pressure housing - especially in selected markets.

While the Obama administration is dogged by the issues within housing, I continue to believe that their approach is more exacerbating the situation than improving it. What is the crux of the problem within housing? The law of unintended consequences which changes the behaviors of some, given the engagement with … [visit site to read more]


India Says Economy Will Grow By 8.75% In 2010, But Hurdles Remain

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 11:01 AM PST

The Indian economy will grow by as much as 8.75% in the coming fiscal year, the country’s finance ministry predicted on Thursday. But concerns about inflation and a growing deficit have some analysts worried.

The annual Economic Survey released in parliament yesterday (Thursday), one of New Delhi’s most important policy documents, said Asia’s third largest economy will return to a high rate of growth as it stages a “remarkable recovery” from the global recession. Economic growth this year is … [visit site to read more]

R.I.P., Walt Ratterman

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 11:00 AM PST

A few weeks ago I wrote about my friend Walt Ratterman, who was at the Hotel Montana in Haiti when the earthquake hit. Walt's wife Jeanne received an email only 10 minutes before the quake, which placed him in the courtyard, where he would have been OK. After the quake there was an eerie silence. We all assumed that Walt was helping those injured in the quake and that he and his friends would surface when they got a break. Those who knew Walt understand the passion he brought to many relief … [visit site to read more]

Southwestern Energy In-line

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 10:58 AM PST

Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) reported its fourth quarter 2009 earnings of 45 cents per share, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate but up from the year-earlier earnings of 30 cents. Revenue rose nearly 25% to $624.5 million from $500 million a year earlier.
 
Despite lower natural gas prices and higher operating expenses, Southwestern's earnings came in line with estimates on the back of increased production volumes.
 
Estimate Revisions Trend
 
We see a mixed … [visit site to read more]

Suncor Sheds Trinidad Assets

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 10:38 AM PST

Canada's Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU) has entered into an agreement with Britain's Centrica Plc. (CPYYY) – the parent company of British Gas – to sell its Trinidad & Tobago gas assets for $380 million (C$396 million) in cash. 

Current production is approximately 60 – 70 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day to Suncor from its 17.3% interest in Trinidad's North Coast Marine Area block NCMA-1. Additionally, the sales agreement includes equity in three … [visit site to read more]

Video: Market Movers: RST, CKR, AIG, BARE, MOT, LAMR

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 10:25 AM PST

The latest news and information on U.S. stocks that are moving the market. … [visit site to read more]

Deflated!

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 10:25 AM PST

Just when I get all poofy about some market “call”, here comes Mr. Market to deflate my bubble.

Two days ago, I wrote “Did You Sell GLD, GDX, SLV?”, and in my poofiness, I had the top in metals correct, and based upon the recent price action, I suggested that i-Shares Silver Trust (symbol: SLV) was vulnerable. In particular, I felt that SLV was essentially at resistance and in the face of a weak market and declining sponsorship (i.e., decreasing OBV), it appeared to me that SLV would test … [visit site to read more]

FMC Wins TOTAL Subsea Deal

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 10:23 AM PST

Oil drilling equipment maker FMC Technologies Inc. (NYSE:FTI) announced the receipt of a $65 million contract from French oil major Total SA (NYSE:TOT). The deal calls for FMC Technologies to design and provide subsea production systems to Total-operated Block 17 development, located offshore Angola. 

FMC Technologies said that the contract includes the manufacture of subsea trees, controls and associated equipment. The company expects delivery to begin in the first quarter of 2011. The order … [visit site to read more]

Note To Congress: America’s Energy Solution Is Right Here

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 10:15 AM PST

Friday, February 26, 2010: Issue #1205
A round of applause for the U.S. Congress.
In just one month, the bumbling bureaucrats have managed an impressive feat: From a 61% rating last month, voter unhappiness has now hit a record-high 71%, according to Rasmussen Reports.
That probably isn't surprising to the majority of Americans. Most view Congress as inept, driven by the belief that politicians' main goal is just to get re-elected. To wit: The Center for Responsive Politics says the 2010 … [visit site to read more]

Garmin Sees Weaker 2010 Margins

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 10:13 AM PST

Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) reported fourth quarter earnings that beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 47 cents.
Revenue
Revenue of $1.06 billion was up 35.6% sequentially and 1.1% year over year. This was the first year-over-year increase in five quarters. Volumes were up a whopping 71.2%, driven by seasonality, although the ASP declined 20.8%, mainly due to pricing pressures in Garmin's core PND product family. The ASP also declined 3.2% from the year-ago quarter, but this was offset by a 4.4% … [visit site to read more]

Garmin Sees Weaker Margins In 2010

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 10:13 AM PST

Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) reported fourth quarter earnings that beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 47 cents.
Revenue
Revenue of $1.06 billion was up 35.6% sequentially and 1.1% year over year. This was the first year-over-year increase in five quarters. Volumes were up a whopping 71.2%, driven by seasonality, although the ASP declined 20.8%, mainly due to pricing pressures in Garmin's core PND product family. The ASP also declined 3.2% from the year-ago quarter, but this was offset by a 4.4% … [visit site to read more]

Textron Gets Marine Contract

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 10:08 AM PST

Textron Marine & Land Systems, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) company, and Granite Tactical Vehicles Inc., has won a contract to deliver three upgraded High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs) to the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Lab for testing. 

The three upgraded HMMWVs are scheduled for delivery in Mar 2010 for mobility, thermal and durability performance testing. Textron Marine & Land Systems and Granite Tactical Vehicles have teamed … [visit site to read more]

Video: Yen Surges To Close The Week

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 10:00 AM PST

The Japanese yen strengthened once again this session following an unexpected decline in existing home sales. … [visit site to read more]

How To Enjoy An Economic Depression

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 10:00 AM PST

The depression is alive and well!
Unemployment claims just came in higher than expected.
And new house sales in January were at their lowest ever. Pundits were quick to blame the snow. But sales were off even in areas that had better-than-usual weather.
Household income has gone nowhere in 10 years. Stocks have suffered a lost decade too. And now Ben Bernanke says we'd better be careful…because the recovery ain't no sure thing.
The Fed chief has no idea. But average people know what's … [visit site to read more]

Northeast Utilities Profits Rise

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 09:53 AM PST

Northeast Utilities (NYSE:NU) reported fourth quarter 2009 EPS of 48 cents, up from the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 41 cents and last year’s earnings of 46 cents. For the full year 2009, the company reported earnings of $1.91 per share, above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.85 and 2008 earnings of $1.86. Earnings per share in both the periods were positively impacted by the issuance of about 19 million additional NU common shares in March 2009. 

During 2009, the company’s business … [visit site to read more]

George Soros Questions The Euro’s Future

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 09:50 AM PST

In an editorial penned for the Financial Times, billionaire investing icon George Soros said that while Greece could be salvaged by a makeshift financial-rescue package, bigger problems lie ahead for the euro.

According to weekend news reports, Germany’s finance ministry has sketched out a plan under which countries using the euro currency will provide between $27 billion and $33.7 billion (20 billion and 25 billion euros) in aid for Greece, which is teetering on the brink of … [visit site to read more]

Where The GDP Growth Came From

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 09:48 AM PST

This is essentially the same report as was posted when the first cut at the 4th Quarter GDP numbers came out — but with the revised contributions to growth shown (and the original numbers shown in parentheses). This will allow you to quickly assess what has changed in this report relative to the first cut, and also assess how the fourth quarter was different from the earlier quarters of 2009.
When looking at the GDP report, and trying to look at what is driving growth, it is important to keep … [visit site to read more]

Warning: Buy China Yuan ETFs (CYB, CNY) At Your Own Risk

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 09:40 AM PST

As job loses continue to mount in the United States–first-time claims for unemployment insurance recently rose by 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 496,000–many political officials and ordinary citizens are looking for creative ways to stem the seemingly never-ending loss of jobs. One of the hottest issues in recent weeks has been China's currency policy, which many feel has been grossly manipulated to give the country a significant advantage in the global economy. Some argue that the yuan … [visit site to read more]

IBM Leads Server Market

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 09:38 AM PST

According to research firms - Gartner and IDC, worldwide server revenue fell 3.2% to $12.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009. However, unit shipments increased 4.5%. The firms expect the server market to resume growth in 2010 due to improvement in IT spending. 

IDC said global factory revenue fell 3.9% year over year to $13 billion in the fourth quarter, but unit shipment rose 1.8% to 1.9 million. 

Although global sever revenues fell, International Business Machines Corp. … [visit site to read more]

Interpublic Group Matches View

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 09:23 AM PST

Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG) reported decent results for the fourth quarter and full year 2009 in a difficult economic environment. 

During the fourth quarter of 2009 revenue was $1.80 billion, compared to $1.90 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, with a decrease of 8.2% in organic revenue. Full year 2009 revenue was $6.03 billion, compared to $6.96 billion in 2008, with a decrease of 10.8% in organic revenue. 

Fourth quarter 2009 net income was $129.4 million, … [visit site to read more]

Federal Reserve - The Recession Is Most Certainly Over

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 09:17 AM PST

By Dr. Steve Sjuggerud

“There are still no jobs here,” my friend Lee tells me.

Lee used to work for a beachfront resort on Florida’s east coast. Our town was built on tourism and real estate. Both are dead. The resort is on the brink of bankruptcy.

I told you Lee’s story a few months ago in DailyWealth. The situation isn’t any better today. I lent him some money recently… which I know I might not see again.

Officially, Florida’s unemployment rate is 12%. But unofficially, it has to be … [visit site to read more]

Iron Mountain Beats Expectations

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 09:08 AM PST

Iron Mountain Inc. (NYSE:IRM) announced fourth-quarter 2009 adjusted (excluding the impact from foreign currency rate changes and other discrete tax items) earnings of 27 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 24 cents. EPS of 27 cents was up 23% from 22 cents reported in the year-ago quarter. The increase in earnings was driven by higher operating income and a lower effective tax rate. 

Revenues 

Total revenues for the quarter were $779.3 million, an increase of … [visit site to read more]

Flowserve Ahead Of Zacks Ests

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 08:53 AM PST

Flowserve Corp. (NYSE:FLS) reported fourth-quarter earnings per share from continuing operations of $2.41, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.87.
Earnings per share, excluding realignment charges, was higher primarily due to an improvement in gross margin of 70 basis points and a reduction of 210 basis points for SG&A expenses as a percentage of sales.
Order bookings decreased to $939 million, down $85 million, a decrease of 8%, or 13% excluding currency benefits. The decrease was … [visit site to read more]

CenturyTel Tops, Outlook Tepid

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 08:36 AM PST

CenturyTel (NYSE:CTL), which now operates under the CenturyLink moniker, announced fourth quarter 2009 results with adjusted (excluding non-recurring items or non-GAAP) earnings per share of 95 cents beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 88 cents and the year-ago quarter EPS of 87 cents. Non-recurring items includes integration costs associated with the Embarq acquisition (completed on July 1, 2009).
Adjusted net income for the quarter surged to $286.7 million from $87 million registered in the … [visit site to read more]

AIG Misses, Narrows Loss

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 08:34 AM PST

American International Group Inc. (NYSE:AIG) has narrowed its fourth quarter loss to $8.9 billion or $65.51 per share from a net loss of $61.7 billion or $458.99 per share reported in the prior-year quarter.
Adjusted net loss was $7.2 billion or $53.23 a share, compared to an adjusted net loss of $38.5 billion or $287.69 a share in the prior-year quarter. The results were significantly below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $3.94 per share.
The loss included $6.2 billion related to the … [visit site to read more]

Forex Trading: EURUSD Squeezes Higher.

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 08:29 AM PST

The EURUSD continues the squeeze higher as some of the worry about the Greek situation permeates into the market. There is a rumor of a German owned back providing relief.  This, coupled with Friday squaring, has the EURUSD the currency of choice - to the upside. 

With the market now above the 100 and 200 hour MA, where can the pair go?  If the price is able to hold above support levels like the 1.3627 level and  the 200 hour MA at the 1.3588 level, the price does have the … [visit site to read more]

US Jobless Numbers: A Lag In A Lagging Indicator?

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 08:24 AM PST

The markets didn't hold any real surprises yesterday as they continued to trade in a narrow range throughout the trading day. Overnight, the Asian markets sold the dollar, as good economic data from Japan and some promising data out of Australia convinced traders the global economic recovery is still underway. While Europe and the US continue to focus on the debt crisis in Greece, the Asian region continues to perk up. But I'm getting ahead of myself; let me get back to what happened in the … [visit site to read more]

Sempra Energy Surpasses Ests

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 08:19 AM PST

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) posted strong fourth-quarter earnings of $1.16 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3 cents. However, the company's profit lagged behind the year-ago earnings per share (EPS) of $1.30. Fiscal 2009 results also witnessed an upward trend with EPS of $4.52, which
easily beat last year's profit of $4.43.
Operational performance
Quarterly revenue increased 7.1% year over year to $2.5 billion. The upside came from both Sempra Utilities and Sempra Global … [visit site to read more]

Canadian Dollar: Bounce

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 08:18 AM PST

Update on supports and resistances. … [visit site to read more]

Australian Dollar: Bounce

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 08:18 AM PST

Update on supports and resistances. … [visit site to read more]

Forex Trading: EURUSD Tests The 61.8% Retracement Of The 2 Week Range

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 08:07 AM PST

The level comes in sta 1.3659. The high reached 1.3664.  The support now comes in at 1.3620  which is the midpoint of the same two week high to low trading … [visit site to read more]

PAC Beats Zacks Consensus

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 08:03 AM PST

Mexican airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:PAC) reported results for the fourth quarter and full year 2009.
 
During the quarter, total revenue was MXN$832.3 million, an increase of 0.7% year over year. Aeronautical revenue per passenger increased 1.9%, while non-aeronautical revenue per passenger decreased 3.5%. During full year 2009, total revenue was MXN$3,266.2 million, down from MXN$3,490.8 million in 2008.
 
Consolidated net income was … [visit site to read more]

What Every Investor Ought To Know About The Spain ETF

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 07:54 AM PST

To this point in 2010, investors around the globe have paid close attention to every development in the euro zone, as crumbling public finances in the region have threatened to spark a wave of crippling defaults and have called into question the sustainability of the common currency. Most of the attention has focused on Greece, where a skyrocketing public deficit has set the stage for a downgrade of sovereign debt to below investment grade.
While Greece's financial mess is less than ideal for … [visit site to read more]

Novell Revenue Falls, EPS Exceeds

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 07:46 AM PST

Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVL) – a leading technology software company – reported first-quarter earnings of 7 cents that beat the Zacks Consensus Estimates by a penny. 




However, quarterly revenue of $202 million decreased 6% from the year-ago figure. This was due to softness in 2009 invoicing and weakness in the company's legacy products. Moreover, the decline was a result of a sharp drop in software license revenue, which fell 28% year over year. Services revenue declined 20.1% year … [visit site to read more]

Video: NYSE Opening Bell Market Monitor: AIG, CKR, GPS

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 07:43 AM PST

The latest in news, commentary, and information on what’s moving the US equities markets. … [visit site to read more]

Forex Trading: GBPUSD Tests 100 Hour MA At The 1.5229 Level

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 07:39 AM PST

Support now at 1.5213 and 1.5205 (prior high) .  A move below these levels should pressure the pair again.  A move above 100 hour MA  at the 1.5229 level should push the pair higher with 1.5248 area the next target on the upside. This is the 200 hour MA (green line in the chart … [visit site to read more]

Foster Wheeler Slips

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 07:30 AM PST

Foster Wheeler AG (NASDAQ:FWLT) reported a net income of $65.1 million, or 51 cents per share for the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with $99.9 million, or 75 cents in the fourth quarter of 2008. This was lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 65 cents for the most recent quarter. Operating revenues were $1.2 billion in the quarter.
Segment Details
Global Engineering & Construction Group (E&C)
New orders booked in Foster Wheeler scope were below the average quarter of 2008, reflecting … [visit site to read more]

Video: Asian Markets Rise As Week Comes To An End

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 07:20 AM PST

Asian markets rose this session to close out the week on the upside on continued growth in domestic shares. … [visit site to read more]

Fluor Reports Below Consensus

Posted: 26 Feb 2010 07:15 AM PST

Net earnings attributable to Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) for the fourth quarter of 2009 were $149 million, or 82 cents per share, compared with $190 million, or $1.03 in 2008. This was lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 88 cents.
 
The effective tax rate in the fourth quarter of 2009 was higher than expected at 39%, while the fourth quarter of 2008 benefited from a materially lower 24% effective tax rate due to a variety of factors. Segment profit for the quarter decreased 4% to … [visit site to read more]
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