Market News

[weatherweenie]

[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: -9.4. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -17.3. Futures drift lower despite a better than expected initial claims report. Initial jobless claims for the week ended Jan 5 came in at 322K, lower than the expected reading of 340K. The market will be paying close attention to Ben Bernanke’s speech on the economic outlook at 13:00 ET. Market participants are hoping to get some clues about future Fed policy. Fed funds futures suggest a 26% chance of a 50 basis point rate cut with the rest of the bets on a 25 basis point cut.

 

[weatherweenie]

[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: -10.5. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -19.8. The market is poised for a weak start. Overall, December same-store sales have been worse than expected, although the largest retailers posted better than expected numbers. There positive surprises include sales that topped estimates at Wal-Mart (WMT) and Costco (COST). Retailers are down 8.5% in 2008.

 

[weatherweenie]

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pledged Thursday to slash interest rates yet again to prevent housing and credit problems from plunging the country into a recession.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080110/bernanke.html

 

[weatherweenie]

Briefing.com: Bernanke said additional policy easing may well be necessary, and that the Fed stands ready to take "substantive additional action." These headlines hit before Bernanke's scheduled speech at 1:00 ET. The comments are likely from a prepared text, pre-released to Bloomberg.
The Bernanke statements suggest further Fed easing is very likely, causing the dollar to slide. Meanwhile, gold made a fresh intraday high of $893.60 per ounce.
Separately, National Bureau of Economic Research President Martin Feldstein said a U.S. recession is “not a sure thing,” but the odds are now over 50%, according to Reuters.

 

[weatherweenie]

AP
American Express Warns on 2008
Thursday January 10, 4:29 pm ET Housing Slump and Decaying Credit Quality Will Hurt American Express' Profit
NEW YORK (AP) -- American Express Co. expects slower spending and more missed payments on credit card bills to hamper its profit throughout 2008, the company said Thursday.

 

[weatherweenie]

[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: -12.8. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -17.5. Futures gain a couple of points, but a sharply lower open is still expected. There is more speculation that Wall Street banks will announce larger than expected write-downs. The New York Times reports Merrill Lynch is expected to report $15 bln in losses, which is almost double it original estimate. The report indicates Merrill is in discussions to raise about $4 billion to shore up its finances. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports Citigroup (C) may write down $16 bln, up from previous expectation of $11 bln. The companies are set to report their earnings next week. Bank of America (BAC) is now trading higher in pre-market as its conference call gets underway, while Countrywide (CFC) remains in the red.

 

[weatherweenie]

TOKYO (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER - News) is expected to suffer $15 billion in losses stemming from soured mortgage investments, almost twice the company's original estimate, the New York Times reported on Friday.

The loss exceeds the $12 billion hit that many Wall Street analysts had forecast, the newspaper said.

 

[weatherweenie]

Washington Mutual, the U.S. savings and loan slammed by slumping mortgage markets, has held "very preliminary" merger talks with JPMorgan Chase, CNBC has learned.
No deal is imminent but the talks were held fairly recently.

http://biz.yahoo.com/cnbc/080111/22607417.html

 

[weatherweenie]

[BRIEFING.COM] As expected, stocks open on a low note as credit concerns continue to weigh on sentiment.
This morning's top story was the confirmation that Bank of America (BAC) is buying struggling mortgage lender Countrywide (CFC) for approximately $4 billion in stock. Some traders have expressed disappointment that the price is only $4 billion.
Shares of American Express (AXP) is down nearly 12% after the company said increasing its loan loss reserves to cover an increase in customer defaults. Yesterday, Capital One (COF) reduced its profit outlook due to increased loan delinquencies and additional legal reserves.
​

 

[weatherweenie]

Briefing.com:
11:41AM Market View: S&P 500 Intraday Pattern II (TECHX) 1413.94 -6.39 : Suggested potential for a rebound in the S&P 500 in the 10:38 update (was at 1407) based on some technical factors and have seen the index reach as high as 1416.73 in recent trade. A posture above 1412 allows for further upticks but as noted earlier the technicals also suggested that this is a corrective/temporary push off the early low so watching resistances above at 1419 and 1422, if follow through does develop, to see if any intraday pressure begins to develop.

 

[weatherweenie]

Briefing.com
Many investors fear weakness in the consumer will push the U.S. economy into a recession. Philadelphia Fed President Paulson said today the Fed's biggest worry is potential weakness in consumer spending.
This fear was exacerbated by overall disappointing same-store retail sales, which weighed on the consumer discretionary sector (-2.5%), and the S&P 500 Retailing Index (-3.2%).

 

[weatherweenie]

[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: +10.1. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +18.0. Futures point to a noticeably higher start. A fourth quarter earnings preannouncement from IBM is driving the positive sentiment. IBM expects fourth quarter earnings of $2.80 per share compared to the consensus of $2.60. IBM said strong operational performance in Asia, Europe and emerging countries led to the better than expected results. On the negative side, Sears Holdings (SHLD) warned of fourth quarter earnings shortfall.

 

[weatherweenie]

08:30 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +10.2. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +21.5. A higher start is expected. Beaten down retailers Home Depot (HD) and Lowe’s (LOW) are higher in pre-market trading after being upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse. In commodity trading, gold (+1.5% to $911.10) and platinum hit fresh all-time highs in overnight trade.

 

[weatherweenie]

08:59 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +11.6. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +21.5. It is still shaping up to be a strong market for the stock market. Citigroup (C) is higher in pre-market trading despite a CNBC report that suggests the firm’s fourth quarter write-down could be as much as $24 billion dollars. Citigroup is slated to report its earnings before the open on Tuesday.

 

[weatherweenie]

By Anne D'Innocenzio, AP Business Writer Group Sees 3.5 Pct Growth in '08 Retail Sales As Shoppers Face Slower Job Growth

NEW YORK (AP) -- Retail sales are expected to rise at the slowest pace in six years as shoppers worry about a slumping housing market and slower job growth, according to the world's largest retail trade organization.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080114/outlook_retail_sales.html

 

[weatherweenie]

08:00 am : S&P futures vs fair value: -12.7. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -21.8. Current indications suggest a sharply lower open, with the S&P 500 set to give up most of yesterday’s gains. Citigroup (C) reported poor fourth quarter earnings, missing analysts’ expectations by a large margin. Citi reported a loss of $1.99 per share, larger than the consensus estimate that called for a loss of $1.03. The loss includes an $18.1 bln pre-tax write down on its subprime exposure and a $4.1 billion increase in credit costs for its U.S. consumer division. Citi is cutting its dividend 40% and is raising $12.5 bln in new capital. It stock is currently lower in pre-market trading after trading higher immediately following the release. Meanwhile, Merrill Lynch (MER) has raised $6.6 bln in new capital. December retail sales and PPI are due out at 8:30 ET.

 

[weatherweenie]

Retail Sales Unexpectedly Fall 0.4% in December. Producer Price Index Down 0.1%.

 

[weatherweenie]

LONDON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - European stocks hit their lowest closing level in 15 months on Tuesday, led by banks as concern over the probability of a U.S. recession was heightened by Citigroup's record loss and U.S. monthly retail sales staged a shock fall.

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idCAL1583237420080115?rpc=44

 

[weatherweenie]

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel Corp (INTC - News) on Tuesday posted quarterly results and an outlook behind Wall Street targets, sending its shares down nearly 15 percent.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080115/intel_results.html

 

[weatherweenie]

08:00 am : S&P futures vs fair value: -9.0. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -23.0. Futures point to a negative start, but are off their worst levels. A disappointing earnings report from Intel (INTC) is weighing on the market. Intel issued first quarter earnings guidance that was below the consensus estimate, which is helping fuel concerns of a broader economic slowdown. JPMorgan’s (JPM) earnings report helped give futures a slight boost. JPMorgan missed its earnings expectations, but its write-down was relatively modest, which helped send its shares higher in pre-market trading. The futures market pared some more of its losses on news that BEA Systems (BEAS) is going to be acquired by Oracle (ORCL) for $19.375 per share.