Market Talk

- If everyone’s so concerned about federal deficits, why the record low yields on US Treasurys, wonders FusionIQ CEO Barry Ritholtz. “Part of the answer is the lack of alternatives. Where else are you going to park yield-seeking money? Euro denominated issues? UK debt? Japanese bonds, emerging markets?” he ponders. “Amongst the motley crew of sovereign debt issuers, the US Treasury is the least ugly girl at the dance.”

- “I have and continue to believe this is a trader’s market in which valuations matter little,” Pragmatic Capitalism says. Ultimately, the macro trends are so fierce that the tides will sink or lift all boats.”

- Apple (AAPL) may be poised to update its iMac and Mac Pro computers sooner rather than later. The MacRumors blog tracks in-store pre-order availability and has taken note of depleted stock at several retail stores, suggesting updated models could be in the offing. MacRumors also points out the iMac was last updated in October, while the Mac Pro was last refreshed in March 2009.

- General tone from European analysts digesting the stress tests is “remarkably sanguine,” NYT’s DealBook says. The tests represent “a substantial step forward,” Goldman Sachs says, although notes if Tier 1 capital ratio was lifted to 7% from 6%, it would’ve tripled the number of failed banks from seven to 24.

- Oracle (ORCL) last week vehemently denied it has a five-year, $70B acquisition budget, which President Charles Phillips originally claimed in a Fortune Magazine article. But, as Digital Daily blogger John Paczkowski points out, it’s obvious Oracle doesn’t want competitors to know its strategic plans. “Hard to believe that a company as aggressively acquisitive as Oracle doesn’t have an M&A budget,” Paczkowski says. “But evidently that’s the party line here and by the sound of things Phillips clearly overstepped it.”

- Google (GOOG) introduces Google Apps for Government, a new edition of its package of Internet-based applications specifically designed to meet the policy and security needs of the public sector.

- When digesting the new home sales report, keep in mind the data point is notoriously noisy, Ritholtz says. June’s 24% monthly increase comes on the heels of May’s 33% drop. “Ignore the swings, look at the moving average to smooth out the volatility.”

- June new home sales surged 24% from a month earlier to 330,000. But don’t get too giddy, especially since the sales level represents the second lowest on record since 1963. “Bottom line, while the figure was better than expected, new home sales make up less than 10% of the overall industry with existing homes making up the balance,” Miller Tabak’s Peter Boockvar says. “It’s good to see a pick up in new home sales but an overall market that still has way to much inventory does not need too many new homes built.”

- IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI) chief Barry Diller tells CNNMoney that his firm has jumped on the Facebook advertising bandwagon, another indication the social network is gaining traction on Madison Avenue. “My company, which spends a huge amount on advertising, we spend every nickel we can on Facebook,” Diller says. “They’re effective. The targeting of the audience is precise enough. The message and the audience are quite aligned.”

- Robert Dudley has quite the to-do list facing him at BP.

Apple’s (AAPL) new 27-inch iMac has been among the best-selling desktops throughout the last few months, according to NPD, but that streak may come to an end this holiday season.

Apple’s delaying shipments of these models for two weeks, according to Digital Daily blogger John Paczkowski. Reasons for the delay are unclear at the moment; could be inventory related, or perhaps a hardware issue, especially since there are 82 pages of complaints about the machine on Apple’s support site.

Here’s the statement Apple offered to Paczkowski:

The new iMac has been a huge hit and we are working hard to fulfill orders as quickly as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience or delay in delivery this may cause our customers.

That doesn’t exactly address the specific reasons for the shipping delay. But whatever the case, it appears to be an “ill-timed postponement, one that will likely push many orders past the Christmas holiday,” Paczkowski says.

Nevertheless, Apple’s stock moving a bit higher as JPMorgan raises estimates on AAPL’s current quarter, fiscal 2010 and ’11, saying its “intra-quarter reads on Mac, iPhone and iPod have come in better than expected.”

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