North Korea walks away from plans for high-level talks with South Korea, taking its southern neighbor by surprise after calling for negotiations in the first place. The meetings were planned for tomorrow, but collapsed after North Korea objected to the South's pick of its deputy unification minister for its chief delegate, calling the choice a "grave provocation." The North had wanted a meeting with more "senior officials." [View news story]
Perhaps HBO's Game of Thrones is popular in Korea...
The U.S. government will hold the first sale for commercial offshore wind energy leases July 31, offering ~164K acres off the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island which could produce 3,400 MW of electricity. Republicans say the administration is “picking energy industry winners and losers” by blessing the offshore wind sale while forestalling oil and gas development in the same Atlantic waters. [View news story]
Yet the Republicans agreed, they'd never heard of a wind turbine exploding and creating $30+ billion worth of environmental damage.
New Chesapeake Energy (CHK) CEO Doug Lawler will make more than $22M in 2013 - a cash salary of $1.25M plus a signing bonus, stock awards and other perks - according to an SEC filing. Predecessor Aubrey McClendon's 2012 compensation package totaled $16.9M, with a $975K cash salary. [View news story]
Exelon Corporation (EXC) declares $0.31/share quarterly dividend, 41% decrease from prior dividend of $0.525. Forward yield 3.33%. For shareholders of record May 15. Payable June 10. Ex-div date May 13. (PR) [View news story]
Regulators are investigating whether "a benchmark daily rate set by a group of banks" has been the subject of widespread manipulation. Sound familiar? The CFTC has issued multiple subpoenas in connection with its investigation into the possible manipulation of ISDAFIX, the rate referenced by $379T (that's "trillion") of interest-rate swaps which are used by "everyone from hedge funds to manufacturing companies … to protect against fluctuations in funding costs."[View news story]
Are Utilities Done Switching From Coal-To-Gas? [View article]
Except peaker plants can't really replace baseload coal plants because they were never designed to run for more than short periods of time and have huge maintenance costs.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder declared Detroit to be in a state of emergency on Friday and said he would appoint an outside manager to help turn around its dire finances, which include $14B in long-term liabilities. City officials have ten days to persuade Snyder to change his mind. Should he uphold his decision, it would be the latest step in attempts to prevent Detroit filing what would be the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. [View news story]
Part of the reason for the takeover is to prevent bonds from being defaulted on.
The bloom is off the rose as both Office Depot (ODP -18.5%) and OfficeMax (OMX -7.8%) tumble from early trading levels after the merger was announced. A conference call this morning covered a number of important financial details of the combination but here's what was missing: 1) What is the new company called? 2) Who is running the new company? 3) Where will the yet-to-be-named company run its operations from? 4) Can a board split 50-50 between OMX and ODP pedigree get things done? [View news story]
I guess they will finally corner the market on overpriced printer/copier paper...
Oil is set to fall by 30% this year, says Levitt Capital's Robert Levitt. The impact of increased shale oil supplies have been drastically underestimated by the markets, Levitt says. This increase, when combined with the resolution of pipeline transportation issues, should ease upward pressure on oil prices. "Once we have all these issues straightened out, the price of oil is going to come down and that will be a great boom for the global economy." [View news story]
But we're soon to have $4 per gallon gas again, and it's February?
Another Boeing (BA) 787, this one operated by All Nippon Airways (ALNPY.PK), made an emergency landing in Takamatsu in western Japan today after pilots received a battery-fault warning and smelled smoke. It's not immediately clear what caused the problems, but all 137 passengers and crew members were evacuated safely. Japan is the biggest market so far for the Dreamliner, with JAL and local rival All Nippon Airways flying 24 of the 50 Dreamliners delivered to date. BA shares -1.9% AH. [View news story]
Americans are using more electronic gadgets, but electricity use is barely growing, posing a challenge for utility companies. PEG, NU and others are pouring money into high-voltage transmission lines, while others are slashing spending. EXC is cutting investment in nuclear plant expansions by $1B and in renewable energy projects by $1.3B as it tries to avoid a credit downgrade. [View news story]
I thought EXC was cutting nuclear and clean energy expansion because nat gas was so cheap.
Exelon (EXC -6.9%) shares accelerate their descent after CEO Chris Crane says the utility company may cut its dividend for the first time to maintain an investment grade credit rating, which is “fundamental” to about half of EXC’s businesses. EXC’s credit is rated at the second-lowest investment grade, BBB by S&P and Baa2 by Moody’s. (earlier: Q3 earnings) [View news story]
The yield using today's closing price is well over 6%.
North Korea walks away from plans for high-level talks with South Korea, taking its southern neighbor by surprise after calling for negotiations in the first place. The meetings were planned for tomorrow, but collapsed after North Korea objected to the South's pick of its deputy unification minister for its chief delegate, calling the choice a "grave provocation." The North had wanted a meeting with more "senior officials." [View news story]
The U.S. government will hold the first sale for commercial offshore wind energy leases July 31, offering ~164K acres off the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island which could produce 3,400 MW of electricity. Republicans say the administration is “picking energy industry winners and losers” by blessing the offshore wind sale while forestalling oil and gas development in the same Atlantic waters. [View news story]
New Chesapeake Energy (CHK) CEO Doug Lawler will make more than $22M in 2013 - a cash salary of $1.25M plus a signing bonus, stock awards and other perks - according to an SEC filing. Predecessor Aubrey McClendon's 2012 compensation package totaled $16.9M, with a $975K cash salary. [View news story]
Time To Be Bullish On Walter Energy [View article]
Exelon Corporation (EXC) declares $0.31/share quarterly dividend, 41% decrease from prior dividend of $0.525. Forward yield 3.33%. For shareholders of record May 15. Payable June 10. Ex-div date May 13. (PR) [View news story]
Regulators are investigating whether "a benchmark daily rate set by a group of banks" has been the subject of widespread manipulation. Sound familiar? The CFTC has issued multiple subpoenas in connection with its investigation into the possible manipulation of ISDAFIX, the rate referenced by $379T (that's "trillion") of interest-rate swaps which are used by "everyone from hedge funds to manufacturing companies … to protect against fluctuations in funding costs." [View news story]
Are Utilities Done Switching From Coal-To-Gas? [View article]
Dissecting The Upgrade Of Peabody Energy [View article]
Dissecting The Upgrade Of Peabody Energy [View article]
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder declared Detroit to be in a state of emergency on Friday and said he would appoint an outside manager to help turn around its dire finances, which include $14B in long-term liabilities. City officials have ten days to persuade Snyder to change his mind. Should he uphold his decision, it would be the latest step in attempts to prevent Detroit filing what would be the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. [View news story]
The bloom is off the rose as both Office Depot (ODP -18.5%) and OfficeMax (OMX -7.8%) tumble from early trading levels after the merger was announced. A conference call this morning covered a number of important financial details of the combination but here's what was missing: 1) What is the new company called? 2) Who is running the new company? 3) Where will the yet-to-be-named company run its operations from? 4) Can a board split 50-50 between OMX and ODP pedigree get things done? [View news story]
Oil is set to fall by 30% this year, says Levitt Capital's Robert Levitt. The impact of increased shale oil supplies have been drastically underestimated by the markets, Levitt says. This increase, when combined with the resolution of pipeline transportation issues, should ease upward pressure on oil prices. "Once we have all these issues straightened out, the price of oil is going to come down and that will be a great boom for the global economy." [View news story]
Another Boeing (BA) 787, this one operated by All Nippon Airways (ALNPY.PK), made an emergency landing in Takamatsu in western Japan today after pilots received a battery-fault warning and smelled smoke. It's not immediately clear what caused the problems, but all 137 passengers and crew members were evacuated safely. Japan is the biggest market so far for the Dreamliner, with JAL and local rival All Nippon Airways flying 24 of the 50 Dreamliners delivered to date. BA shares -1.9% AH. [View news story]
Americans are using more electronic gadgets, but electricity use is barely growing, posing a challenge for utility companies. PEG, NU and others are pouring money into high-voltage transmission lines, while others are slashing spending. EXC is cutting investment in nuclear plant expansions by $1B and in renewable energy projects by $1.3B as it tries to avoid a credit downgrade. [View news story]
Exelon (EXC -6.9%) shares accelerate their descent after CEO Chris Crane says the utility company may cut its dividend for the first time to maintain an investment grade credit rating, which is “fundamental” to about half of EXC’s businesses. EXC’s credit is rated at the second-lowest investment grade, BBB by S&P and Baa2 by Moody’s. (earlier: Q3 earnings) [View news story]