Flowers Foods (FLO) and Mexico's Grupo Bimbo are reportedly set to be the stalking horse bidders for Hostess Brands' bread ops, which the bankrupt company is likely to sell in at least two groups and which could fetch over $350M. Other possible suitors include Wal-Mart (WMT) and Kroger (KR). Wonder Bread, Nature's Pride, Home Pride, Merita and Butternut are among the brands on offer. [View news story]
Cup of good hot coffee and a Suzy Q is mighty good !!
U.S. vehicle sales - a five-year high for November, at 1.14M - are considered one of the encouraging spots of the economy, but appearances are deceiving. On a per capita basis, sales look downright depressed: at one vehicle sale for every 21 people, outside of the current slow economy, one would have to go back to the lowest point of the 1991 recession to find a similar rate. [View news story]
Completely agree. I have 2004 Ford Explorer - 130,000 miles, and a 2004 Mercury Mountaineer - 90,000 miles. Both in good shape and will be at least 2 years before I consider replacing. But because of economics, mainly the high cost of living, the next vehicle will have a smaller price tag.
Marissa Mayer might finally be planning those huge job cuts many have called on her to carry out: sources tell Kara Swisher Yahoo (YHOO) will implement a new performance-measurement system with the goal of identifying the "bottom 20%" of workers, with the goal of lowering the compensation allocated to that group. Also, Yahoo has cancelled a policy of giving most workers the week between Christmas and New Year's off. Yahoo cut 2K jobs this year ahead of Mayer's arrival. [View news story]
Fed stress tests on the banks will require lenders to show they can withstand a recession in which unemployment rises more than 400 bps, GDP declines 5%, equity prices fall more than 50% (along with the VIX jumping 70%), and residential and commercial property values fall more than 20%. It sounds harsh, but it's still not as bad as what happened from 2007-09. Capital plans are due on Jan. 7. [View news story]
It's tough to find any market pros to go on the record, says a fired-up Gary Kaminsky, but what they're telling clients is the election was bad news for stocks. The bull market from the 2009 lows was about stocks priced for Armageddon meeting massive central bank stimulus, he says, but that dynamic is played out, leaving the markets to deal with the reality of a weak economy and questionable leadership in D.C. [View news story]
Market recap: Stocks rallied on investor relief over an end to election uncertainty, as the market typically has done on presidential election days. "Republican sectors" such as coal, HMOs and defense stocks performed well, fueled by rumors of Romney strength. Tracking the rally in stocks, crude oil spiked 3.6% to $88.71 and gold jumped 1.9% to $1,715. NYSE advancers led decliners nearly two to one. [View news story]
Dont you think the odds of that happening somewhere, are around 100 % ??
Market recap: Stocks ended narrowly mixed in thin trading as the early bounce from a better-than-expected jobless claims report fizzled. Investors appear to be taking profits this week after September's run-up, and stocks may continue to drift lower absent any catalyst. Crude oil futures topped $92; heating oil and natural gas rallied. NYSE advancers led decliners three to two. [View news story]
I think it was more of a deciphering the "better-than-expected jobless claims report" than profit taking.
"We're going to patent it all," Steve Jobs declared in '06 after Apple (AAPL) paid $100M to settle an IP suit. The result would be a huge patent portfolio Apple is now wielding against rivals amidst complaints many patents cover obvious and/or existing software concepts. Apple's "unified search" patent was rejected in '04, with an examiner calling it "an obvious variation" on existing ideas. It would be rejected 8 more times before getting approved last year, and then successfully used against Samsung. [View news story]
More like keep throwing money till someone grabs it
Pres. Obama may have caught a break in today's jobs numbers, but retail gasoline prices - already the highest on average since July 2008 - likely will continue to climb this month as refinery and pipeline problems overshadow weakness in U.S. consumer demand. "It will only take another refinery issue and a bit more geopolitical noise to have the first U.S. election [with gas] at $4/gallon," one analyst says. [View news story]
Power failures at Exxons refinery is the main problem along with the elite brew that Calif. requires.
The September Global Manufacturing PMI rises to 48.9 from 48.1 previously, remaining in contraction territory for the 4th straight month. The average Q3 read of 48.5 compares to 50.4 in Q2, and is the weakest outcome since 2009 Q2. Of 50 global PMI measures, just 9 are in expansion mode. [View news story]
The cure for low prices is low prices. Left for dead a few months back, natural gas soars today to its highest price this year as the multi-year collapse in working rig counts looks to finally be taking effect. UNG +3%. The double-levered oil & gas ETF (DIG), +30.1% in Q3. [View news story]
The beauty of capitalism and competition, It will work itself out the quickest and most efficient way.
Some short-term price relief could be on the horizon for North American natural gas producers due to tightening inventories, rising demand from power generation, and less gas-directed drilling, Peters & Co. says in a new report. Injections into inventories are 36% below last year’s levels, summer power demand is up 20%, and the U.S. nat gas directed rig count is down 52%. [View news story]
"(The) ability of government to quickly induce changes in behavior of large intermediaries through financial incentives is quite limited," concludes an academic study of why the full force of the federal government has resulted in only 900K mortgage modifications in 3 years. Is that PhD-speak for "central planning doesn't work?" [View news story]
"central planning doesn't work?" Why, they will just keep turning the screws tighter until the desired change is realized
Lowe's (LOW) discloses in a regulatory filing that one of its subsidiaries received a subpoena relating to the handling of hazardous waste in California. [View news story]
Flowers Foods (FLO) and Mexico's Grupo Bimbo are reportedly set to be the stalking horse bidders for Hostess Brands' bread ops, which the bankrupt company is likely to sell in at least two groups and which could fetch over $350M. Other possible suitors include Wal-Mart (WMT) and Kroger (KR). Wonder Bread, Nature's Pride, Home Pride, Merita and Butternut are among the brands on offer. [View news story]
U.S. vehicle sales - a five-year high for November, at 1.14M - are considered one of the encouraging spots of the economy, but appearances are deceiving. On a per capita basis, sales look downright depressed: at one vehicle sale for every 21 people, outside of the current slow economy, one would have to go back to the lowest point of the 1991 recession to find a similar rate. [View news story]
Marissa Mayer might finally be planning those huge job cuts many have called on her to carry out: sources tell Kara Swisher Yahoo (YHOO) will implement a new performance-measurement system with the goal of identifying the "bottom 20%" of workers, with the goal of lowering the compensation allocated to that group. Also, Yahoo has cancelled a policy of giving most workers the week between Christmas and New Year's off. Yahoo cut 2K jobs this year ahead of Mayer's arrival. [View news story]
Fed stress tests on the banks will require lenders to show they can withstand a recession in which unemployment rises more than 400 bps, GDP declines 5%, equity prices fall more than 50% (along with the VIX jumping 70%), and residential and commercial property values fall more than 20%. It sounds harsh, but it's still not as bad as what happened from 2007-09. Capital plans are due on Jan. 7. [View news story]
It's tough to find any market pros to go on the record, says a fired-up Gary Kaminsky, but what they're telling clients is the election was bad news for stocks. The bull market from the 2009 lows was about stocks priced for Armageddon meeting massive central bank stimulus, he says, but that dynamic is played out, leaving the markets to deal with the reality of a weak economy and questionable leadership in D.C. [View news story]
Market recap: Stocks rallied on investor relief over an end to election uncertainty, as the market typically has done on presidential election days. "Republican sectors" such as coal, HMOs and defense stocks performed well, fueled by rumors of Romney strength. Tracking the rally in stocks, crude oil spiked 3.6% to $88.71 and gold jumped 1.9% to $1,715. NYSE advancers led decliners nearly two to one. [View news story]
The French government decides against seeking a ban on EU imports of a type of Monsanto's (MON) genetically modified corn after the country's food safety agency ruled that a study linking the crop to cancers in rats was flawed and inconclusive. [View news story]
There is blatant propoganda everywhere !! Read everything,believe nothing.
Market recap: Stocks ended narrowly mixed in thin trading as the early bounce from a better-than-expected jobless claims report fizzled. Investors appear to be taking profits this week after September's run-up, and stocks may continue to drift lower absent any catalyst. Crude oil futures topped $92; heating oil and natural gas rallied. NYSE advancers led decliners three to two. [View news story]
"We're going to patent it all," Steve Jobs declared in '06 after Apple (AAPL) paid $100M to settle an IP suit. The result would be a huge patent portfolio Apple is now wielding against rivals amidst complaints many patents cover obvious and/or existing software concepts. Apple's "unified search" patent was rejected in '04, with an examiner calling it "an obvious variation" on existing ideas. It would be rejected 8 more times before getting approved last year, and then successfully used against Samsung. [View news story]
Pres. Obama may have caught a break in today's jobs numbers, but retail gasoline prices - already the highest on average since July 2008 - likely will continue to climb this month as refinery and pipeline problems overshadow weakness in U.S. consumer demand. "It will only take another refinery issue and a bit more geopolitical noise to have the first U.S. election [with gas] at $4/gallon," one analyst says. [View news story]
the elite brew that Calif. requires.
The September Global Manufacturing PMI rises to 48.9 from 48.1 previously, remaining in contraction territory for the 4th straight month. The average Q3 read of 48.5 compares to 50.4 in Q2, and is the weakest outcome since 2009 Q2. Of 50 global PMI measures, just 9 are in expansion mode. [View news story]
The cure for low prices is low prices. Left for dead a few months back, natural gas soars today to its highest price this year as the multi-year collapse in working rig counts looks to finally be taking effect. UNG +3%. The double-levered oil & gas ETF (DIG), +30.1% in Q3. [View news story]
quickest and most efficient way.
Some short-term price relief could be on the horizon for North American natural gas producers due to tightening inventories, rising demand from power generation, and less gas-directed drilling, Peters & Co. says in a new report. Injections into inventories are 36% below last year’s levels, summer power demand is up 20%, and the U.S. nat gas directed rig count is down 52%. [View news story]
"(The) ability of government to quickly induce changes in behavior of large intermediaries through financial incentives is quite limited," concludes an academic study of why the full force of the federal government has resulted in only 900K mortgage modifications in 3 years. Is that PhD-speak for "central planning doesn't work?" [View news story]
screws tighter until the desired change is realized
Lowe's (LOW) discloses in a regulatory filing that one of its subsidiaries received a subpoena relating to the handling of hazardous waste in California. [View news story]