- Nokia’s (NOK) adding its own twist to the Apple/Gizmodo iPhone 4 controversy earlier this year. Nokia’s getting Russian police involved in asking Eldar Murtazin, editor-in-chief of Moscow-based mobile-review.com, to return the prototype N8, a device he gave an unfavorable review earlier this year.
- “Investors have this week been buying up names that have been hit the hardest in recent months, which is usually the case when we see bounces like this,” Bespoke says.
- Banks and regulators must take “appropriate action” to strengthen banks’ resilience to shocks and safeguard the health of Europe’s financial system, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet says.
- Whatever happened to all those toxic assets on banks’ balance sheets that garnered so much attention a while back?
- Jobless claims dropping 21,000 to 454,000 represents a “tactical victory for the bulls,” James Picerno writes at The Capital Spectator. “But until and if the trend rolls on it’s only marginally encouraging. The strategic outlook, in other words, is still up for grabs.”
- Silicon Alley Insider says the real reason Google (GOOG) is worried about Facebook is that people buying things are more inclined to trust their friends than strangers or search ads. SAI says that’s the key message in a presentation prepared by Google researcher Paul Adams for company execs who are plotting the company’s next social network initiative, rumored to be called “Google Me.”
- Individual investors are turning more bearish, which contrarians could actually view as a bullish indicator. Only 25% of AAII’s respondents are bullish on stocks, compared to 42% who say they are bears. “I always prefer actual buy and sell driven data — prices, volume, asset allocation, etc. — versus mere surveys,” Big Picture blogger Barry Ritholtz says. “They can be useful, but have huge limitations. Us humans are notorious for saying what we hope, rather than what actually is.”
- Double-dip has dominated the market chatter in recent days. While pundits keep saying the economy won’t fall back into a recession, Reuters’ David Gaffen isn’t so sure. “It may not happen — but when a lot of people are trying to convince you that something’s not going to happen, it can make you believe that it’s more likely than not.”
- The commercial real estate market hasn’t collapsed because of a strategy known as “extend and pretend,” essentially banks giving troubled borrowers time to make good on their bets until the economy recovers. “Sometimes, it actually works. But, usually it doesn’t — especially when practiced on an industry-wide scale,” Henry Blodget writes at Business Insider.
- The LeBron James surreality show is about to begin. He’s “leaning” toward Miami, but we still have faith he’s coming to the Big Apple. Let the “LeBronference” begin.
US stocks stage another late-day rally and finish near session-highs, as momentum mounts for the bulls hoping the correction will quickly become a thing of the past.
DJIA rises 121 to 10139, has gained 4.7% over its three-day winning streak. S&P 500 jumps 10 to 1070, all 10 sectors finish in positive territory. Nasdaq Comp gains 16 to 2175.
Stocks started the session strong amid better-than-expected jobless claims data, but the rally faded and stocks bounced around for a majority of the day. Nevertheless, the bulls charged into the close, largely ignoring a late-day Fed report showing consumer credit fell again in May.
The bulls may be gaining steam, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves — the economy’s problems that were being cited over the last few months as the market fell off its late-April highs haven’t disappeared into thin air. Retailers’ June sales offer further evidence: The data were mixed as heavy discounting and other promotions couldn’t offset tight consumer spending.
“Given the headwinds in this economy, the lack of jobs, the falling consumer confidence numbers, falling new home sales and falling leading indicators, today may be the last hurrah for retail sales for quite some time,” says Michael Shedlock, an investment adviser for Sitka Pacific Capital.
Just keep that hint of caution in mind when digesting the stock market’s 5% rally this week.
Will the rally last, that’s the question of the day, and that’s what we’re talking about at the Markets Hub. It’s starting to look shaky, what with the Dow up only 17 a few minutes ago, after jumping as much as 97 out of the gate.
Posted by Steven Russolilloon July 08, 2010 Economy, Markets, Media /
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Dow Jones’ Dave Benoit and Nat Worden report:
On the day of truth, doubt creeps in.
Shares of Madison Square Garden (MSG), which runs the home of the New York Knicks and the place much of the city is dreaming will be called home by a certain basketball player as of 9:00pm ET tonight, are dropping this morning after yesterday’s big gain.
The shares and options both appeared pretty confident yesterday when news hit that LeBron James would announce in a TV special tonight where he’ll sign, the Knicks being one possibility. But reports suggest King James is headed to South Beach, a Knicks fan and MSG investor’s worst nightmare.
The potential LeBron could bring to Manhattan is hard to quantify. But it’s definitely safe to say LeBron could bring New York, and MSG, more than just a championship. If LeBron chooses to sign with the Knicks, increased suite and merchandising sales as well as higher MSG Network ratings would all ensure a stronger investment return on the upcoming renovation of the area, according to BTIG Research analyst Richard Greenfield (subscription required). Having James in the fold would also boost profitability levels across MSG’s businesses.
The rebuild is currently expected to cost more than $800 million, with a goal of adding over $75 million of annual EBITDA, according to Greenfield.
MSG shares were recently down 4.6% at $20.58 as enthusiasm is waning heading into tonight’s announcement on ESPN.
Editor’s Note: We here at Market Talk are still optimistic. Since the credible Chad Ochocinco is reporting LeBron’s headed to the Big Apple, we’re still holding out hope.
UPDATE: MSG shares close down 5.5% to $20.38, even as the market stages a late-day comeback and finishes sharply higher. We’re about three hours away from LeBron’s announcement. For Knicks fans and MSG investors, it’s not looking pretty.
We’ll let the always-witty Josh Brown set the tone for analyzing this morning’s jobless claims report:
This jobless recovery is like an Allman Brothers guitar jam – it goes on forever and many people need a fannypack full of drugs just to get through it.
Isn’t it amazing how one report on the labor market — which exceeds expectations, but still can’t be considered good by any stretch of the imagination — is still able to prop up the stock market?
Stocks enjoying another nice run-up this morning on the heals of the third-biggest rally of the year yesterday, with the catalyst being this suspect jobless claims report.
First, the facts. Workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped by 21,000 to an eight-week low of 454,000, better than the 12,000 decline economists were expecting. The four-week moving average — which eliminates week-to-week volatility and gives a better of the trend — also went down 1,250 to 466,000.
Listen, it’s obviously great to see this number dropping instead of rising. But let’s keep in mind claims still remain above 450,000, and that’s a figure that needs to drop closer to the 400,000 level for the labor market to experience sustainable job growth.
Impressive rally for US stocks yesterday, though its durability is an open question, considering its ethereal drivers. Volume was fairly decent for this time of year, so bulls have that to lean on.
Similar to yesterday, the premarket environment looks benign, with little in the way of market-moving news. That may change, with weekly jobless claims due at 8:30 a.m., and a stream of June chain-store sales reports flowing out this morning. Sleeper piece of data could be the Fed’s May consumer credit report at 3:00 p.m. ET.
Euro remains stronger ahead of ECB policy meeting and comments from Trichet. S&P futures down 2.40, DJ futures down 10. Ten-year note flat, yield at 2.98%.
J.P. Morgan reported some strong earnings today. But what this bloggers eye were some of the sub-numbers in the earnings report. The bank booked $1.8 billion in investment banking fees. But don’t be fooled – that wasn’t from big M&A advising. But $429 million was in advisory fees. Instead, that $1.3 billion + remaining fees […]
President Reagan’s former budget director David Stockman says Edward Snowden performed a heroic act, the Patriot Act should be repealed, and this whole spying-on-U.S.-citizens thing is a symptom of an out-of-control military-industrial complex. Click here to watch him go on YahooFinance. The author of “The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in A […]
