MARKET CURRENTS
real-time news and commentary for investors
MARKET CURRENTS
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Today - Wednesday, May 22, 2013
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11:15 AM Rosetta Resources (ROSE -0.3%) is downgraded to Hold from Buy at Cowen, which thinks significant credit is priced in for vertical drilling potential in Permian assets. The firm's long-term positive view on ROSE is based on focused Eagle Ford development drilling, strong cash flow growth and a conservative balance sheet. Comment!
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10:55 AM Suntech's (STP -14.8%) local creditors claim the Chinese solar panel maker's bankrupt Wuxi subsidiary owes them a combined 15.6B yuan ($2.5B), as a debt restructuring process expected to last months begins. The restructuring of STP's domestic debts is being closely watched by its overseas creditors, whom analysts say are likely to take a haircut. Comment!
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10:45 AM Oil pipelines are essential to Canada's economic growth in the same way railroads were in the 1880s, Enbridge's (ENB) Al Monaco tells Bloomberg's Canada Economic Summit: “Canada is an export-driven resource economy. This is our foundation." Pipelines should be “symbols of unity” like the cross-Canada railroad that enabled western grain farmers to get their wheat to market, a TD Bank exec adds. (also) Comment!
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10:30 AM EIA Petroleum Inventories: Crude -0.3M barrels vs. consensus of -0.62M. Gasoline +3.0M barrels vs. consensus of -0.1M. Distillates -1.1M barrels vs. consensus of -0.3M. Comment!
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9:43 AM CVR Partners (UAN -7.4%) prices its 12M-share secondary offering, from which it will receive no proceeds, at $25.15/share. Albert Alfonso thinks the offering may prove a buying opportunity, noting the offering is not dilutive for UAN and common units outstanding will remain unchanged; global demand for urea ammonium nitrate is strong as farmland per capita decreases. Comment!
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9:22 AM Entergy's (ETR) Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan reportedly is expected to remain offline until at least early summer after being closed following a water leak earlier this month. Palisades says it will replace the bottom of a water tank. Comment!
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8:48 AM Kazakhstan will decide by July whether to exercise its option to buy ConocoPhillips' (COP) 8.4% stake in the huge Kashagan oil field, which has attracted interest from companies in China and India. The government has a right to buy the stake, which it could sell for ~$5B, as part of an international consortium developing the field, or to decide on a buyer. Comment!
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8:36 AM Cleantech Solutions (CLNT) +22.2% premarket on news it has become a certified supplier of components to Sinopec (SNP) and China National Petroleum (PTR). As a certified supplier, CLNT is able to market its components to the subsidiary companies of Sinopec and CNPC throughout China, CEO Jianhua Wu says. Comment!
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8:21 AM Chesapeake Energy (CHK) +1.7% premarket as Susquehanna upgrades the stock to Positive from Neutral, believing CHK should get a boost from both higher oil and gas prices and its new CEO. The firm boosts its valuations for CHK's oil and gas reserves, saying investors have become more comfortable with higher prices; asset sales so far have been of "mixed quality." Comment!
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8:09 AM Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) is unlikely to proceed with the planned sale of its holding in Australia’s Woodside Petroleum this year as it refuses to sell too low, CFO Simon Henry says. Shell is Woodside’s largest shareholder, with a 23% stake; it sold a 10% stake in 2010 at A$42.23/share, but Woodside stock closed yesterday at A$37.66. Comment!
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7:54 AM A Chevron (CVX) executive working in Indonesia is re-arrested as part of a probe into alleged corruption, despite a court order six months ago clearing him of any wrongdoing. The case adds to mounting concern among multinational companies over rising economic nationalism in Indonesia. Comment!
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5:59 AM Since February, BP has stepped-up challenges to compensation awards stemming from the 2010 Gulf oil spill. The company now objects to 9.3% of awards administered by Patrick Juneau who oversees settlement claims, that's up from just 4% earlier in the year. The company's lawyers are challenging the way Juneau calculates losses, although they have so far been unsuccessful. If an appeal of a District Court decision upholding Juneau's interpretation is denied, BP says it will be "irreparably harmed." 4 Comments
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Tuesday, May 21, 2013
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6:32 PM If you harbor doubts about the sharp rise of energy MLPs, you don’t have many short sellers on your side. Fewer than 1% of the shares of MLP constituents of the Alerian index (AMJ) are out on loan. Low short interest may have less to do with a lack of negative opinion than with the nature of who owns MLPs, but it’s a notable feature since it should mean a classic short squeeze isn’t possible. 5 Comments
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6:12 PM Four companies ignoring their shareholders' votes, according to Theo Francis: Impax Labs (IPXL), where three directors were retained despite failing to reach 50% approval; Occidental Petro (OXY), which counted 55M non-voting shares as voting against a proposal; Hecla Mining (HL), which left open a say-on-pay vote for an extra month; and NYSE Euronext (NXY), which continues to thwart the right to call special shareholder meetings. Comment!
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5:54 PM As a second U.S. liquefied natural gas export project gets the green light, Credit Suisse is the latest to predict how much LNG the U.S. might send overseas: potentially 10B cu. ft./day by the end of the decade. Growing confidence that more export approvals are ahead has lifted U.S. natural gas calendar-strip prices for 2015, '16 and '17 by 3%, 4% and 5%, respectively, CS says. (earlier) 2 Comments
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5:36 PM Enbridge (ENB) CEO Al Monaco says he's spending more time seeking public support for projects such as the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline than regulatory approval as opponents try to block new routes to market. New conduits are needed from Canada to correct a "huge disconnect” in North American oil prices as supply exceeds pipeline capacity - a $25B/year "value destruction" gap for Canada's economy. 3 Comments
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5:09 PM KBR is awarded a contract by Pacific NorthWest LNG, a subsidiary of Malaysia's state-owned oil company Petronas and Japan Petroleum Exploration, to execute front-end engineering and design and early detailed engineering work for a proposed $11B two-train liquefied natural gas export facility in British Columbia with a yearly capacity of 12M tons. Comment!
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4:58 PM Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) says initial production results for its First Horizontal Wolfcamp Shale well in Texas showed a 24-hour peak natural flow rate of 1,572 boe/day. PXD says the results demonstrate the prospectivity of its 900K-acre Spraberry/Wolfcamp leasehold, which holds an estimated net resource potential of more than 4.6B boe. Comment!
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4:28 PM CVR Partners (UAN) -3.3% AH after announcing a secondary offering of 12M common units by a subsidiary of CVR Energy (CVI). UAN will receive no proceeds from the offering. 10 Comments
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