Comment by Phil

View Single Comment

Phil
February 17th, 2012 at 3:07 pm

2:00 PM On the hour: Dow +0.31%. 10-yr -0.23%. Euro +0.14% vs. dollar. Crude +0.71% to $103.36. Gold -0.21% to $1724.85.

The good news: Italian police have seized about $6T in fake U.S. Treasury bonds in Switzerland. The bad news: They were on their way to the ECB to be used as collateral in the February 29 LTRO (a little lunchtime humor).

Art Cashin: Here’s The Real Risk If Greece Defaults (WSJ)

Athens faces tough bail-out terms (FT.com)

Soybean merchants sold 2.923M metric tons of product to China today, the biggest one-day amount on record. Not surprisingly, the sales occurred amidst China's putative next leader Xi Jinping's visit to Iowa. Beans continue a nice run, +1.1% today, up about 10% in the last month. 

The big airlines should earn a combined $6B in 2012 vs. $3.5 in 2011, Maxim Group says, having already pushed through two ticket price increases this year and looking to keep capacity tight. The smart money for now is with the smaller niche carriers, the firm says, which are “not trying to be all things to all customers”: ALGT, ALK, HA,SAVE.

The housing market in U.S. southern states is among the most attractive asset classes in the world, Marc Faber tells CNBC, as property prices hadn't moved much despite rallies in homebuilder stocks. Pointing to cities such as Atlanta, Phoenix and Miami, Faber says investors could earn a rental yield of 8%/year and buy homes at a 40%-50% discount to construction costs. 

Student Loans Near $1 Trillion Hurt Young Home Buyers (Bloomberg)

S&L giant Washington Mutual (WAMUQ.PK) finally gets the go-ahead to exit bankruptcy proceedings after more than three years of brutal legal battles. The plan calls for ~$7B to be distributed to creditors and includes significant recoveries for shareholders, who often are left with nothing in bankruptcy cases. WaMu's assets were sold to JPMorgan Chase (JPM +1%) in 2008.

How Citibank Dumped Lousy Mortgages on Taxpayers (Pro Publica)

Chesapeake Energy (CHK +4.2%) shares jump after receiving an upgrade to Buy from Hold at Stifel Nicolaus. This is "an attractive entry point for a company whose stock has gone nowhere since late 2008 and yet has amassed a huge resource exposure with some large acreage positions in some of the best plays," the firm says.

Nestle (NSRGY.PK) and Danone (DANOY.PK) havesubmitted preliminary bids of ~$10B for Pfizer's (PFE) infant nutrition business, according to Bloomberg, in-line with the unit's estimated value. However, with the bids likely to face regulatory hurdles, Nestle is said to be considering making asset sales as part of any deal, while Danone is reportedly considering a joint bid with Mead Johnson (MJN). 

They're loving ketchup in Russia, China and Brazil but not so much in the U.S., where Heinz (HNZ +4.6%) says FQ3 sales trailed strong international results. While revenue abroad spiked 20% and made up 20% of all sales, North American sales rose just 1.3% while volume slipped 2% as HNZ raised prices on its frozen potatoes, sauces and ketchup. 

With 425M monthly mobile users to serve ads to, Facebook (FB) could generate $1.2B in mobile ad revenue in its first year just from the U.S. and the EU-5, claims research firm MobileSquared. Facebook, whose slowing PC ad revenue growth is a concern for some, currently doesn't serve ads on its mobile sites and apps, but has announced plans to do so. 

Twitter looks to cast a wider net in its advertising efforts, pitching to small and medium-sized merchants alongside existing efforts to lure larger firms. The plans come as the company tries to build revenue that lives up to its $8.4B valuation, and as CEO Dick Costolo urges employees to be patient about going public. – And nobody ever wonders where these Billions of new ad spending Dollars will come from?

Apple’s Stock Is a Bargain (Slate)