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Friday, March 29, 2024

News You Can Use From Phil’s Stock World

China shares drift lower (Market Watch)

China shares drifted lower Monday after a reading of the country’s manufacturing activity slowed more sharply than initially expected, a further sign the economy is flagging.

The Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, +0.57%  was down 1.2% at 4390.140 and the Hang Seng Index HSI, +0.08%  was off 0.1% at 28103.95.

The HSBC China manufacturing purchasing managers index was 48.9 for April, down from a preliminary reading of 49.2 and a drop from 49.6 in March. A reading below 50 indicates a contraction in activity…

Monday Morning Find: A Frankenwatch with a Mysterious History (Bloomberg)

This watch is a weird one. Some hardcore collectors might scoff at it because it came together over the course of decades, rather than was designed and constructed all at once. But I'm 100% on-board with this strange little time capsule, as it gives us a glimpse into the history of the watch industry and all its foibles. It's also attractive.

Norway's $900 Billion Fund Might Stop Getting Fresh Cash (Bloomberg)

What happens to a wealthy, oil-reliant nation when crude prices collapse and unprecedented monetary easing threatens to scupper returns for its sovereign wealth fund?

Yngve Slyngstad, who manages Norway's $900 billion wealth fund, has said many times in the past year that in a low-and even negative-interest rate world the fund will not be able to hit its expected 4 percent real return.

Twitter Inc (TWTR) Earnings Fiasco: A Payday for Wall Street’s Relentless Data Pursuit (Value Walk)

Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR)’s had a very bad week with its stock tanked ~ 27% in 5 trading days.  It all started when its weak 1Q earnings was posted early by Nasdaq on Twitter Inc (TWTR)’s IR web page.  Twitter originally planned to release earnings after market close on Tuesday (so investors may have time to digest the not-so-impressive 1Q numbers to perhaps arrive at amore rational course of action).

Twitter Inc TWTR

Manny PacquiaoManny Pacquiao says he fought with an injured shoulder (Business Insider)

Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao said a shoulder injury hampered his bid to hand Floyd Mayweather a first-ever defeat as a professional on Saturday as the American improved his record to 48-0 with a unanimous decision.

Pacquiao, a 2-1 underdog going into the welterweight bout billed as the "Fight of the Century" at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, suffered the injury during a sparring session, according to his trainer Freddie Roach.

IMF to Brighten View of China’s Yuan (WSJ)

The International Monetary Fund is close to declaring China’s yuan fairly valued for the first time in more than a decade, a milestone in the country’s efforts to open its economy that would blunt U.S. criticism of Beijing’s currency policy.

South Korean Economy Boosted As Won Jumps To New HighTakeover Fuel Begins to Flow as S&P 500 Bull Run Makes History (Bloomberg)

Mergers put a floor under energy stocks in 2015, they pushed biotech to records and breathed life into food makers. And yet their influence on U.S. equities is, by one measure, only beginning to be felt.

At $1.1 trillion, the value of completed takeovers in the last 12 months represents just over 4 percent of U.S. market capitalization, data compiled by Bloomberg and Credit Suisse Group AG show. That’s more than half the level in five previous bull markets — even though the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s six-year advance just became the second-longest of the last half century.

McDonald’s set to lay out its turnaround strategy (Market Watch)

After a string of attention-getting announcements in the past two months, McDonald’s Corp. Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook is expected on Monday to give the first thorough look at his strategy to revive the fast-food giant.

Analysts agree the meeting will be a must-watch for those interested in the Golden Arches’ future — though they have little idea what the new CEO is likely to say, and how far it will go beyond the moves he has announced already on issues from raising wages to trimming menu items.

Macau's Gaming RevenueWynn Macau Leads Rally as City Casino Revenue Falls as Expected (Bloomberg)

Casino shares rallied after Macau industry revenue in April fell by the same magnitude as the month before, in a sign the market’s months-long tailspin may have eased ahead of a wave of new projects being completed.

Wynn Macau Ltd. extended earlier gains to rise 2.8 percent as of 1:32 p.m. in Hong Kong trading, after the data was published. Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. rose 1.1 percent and Sands China Ltd. gained 1.3 percent, while the benchmark Hang Seng Index was little changed.

Paul Allen last year. In 1975, he and Bill Gates built Microsoft’s first software product.40 Busy Years Later, Paul Allen, a Microsoft Founder, Considers His Creation (NYTimes)

Looking at Microsoft’s sprawling product line and 118,000 or so employees, it’s easy to forget that the company started with one modest product made by two ambitious people.

In early April, one of those two people, Paul Allen, offered a reminder of Microsoft’s humble origins when he posted a photograph on Twitter commemorating the company’s 40th anniversary. The picture showed the introductory lines of the printed code for Microsoft’s first software product, an interpreter for the Basic programming language that Mr. Allen created with Bill Gates in 1975.

McDonald's Holdings Co. Japan Ltd. Reports Third-Quarter EarningsMcDonald’s to Reveal Comeback Recipe: What Options Are on Table? (Bloomberg)

Steve Easterbrook is preparing for his biggest moment as McDonald’s Corp.’s new leader on Monday, when he unveils a much-anticipated plan to put the shine back on the Golden Arches.

The company veteran, who was elevated to chief executive officer in March, is confronting the chain’s worst sales slump in more than a decade. And the challenges have been particularly pronounced in McDonald’s home market. U.S. same-store sales dropped 2.1 percent last year, the biggest decline since at least 2000.

For Those In Peril (Economist)

EVERY coin that he is left as a tip brings Daouda Boubacar a step closer to Europe. The 22-year-old, a waiter in a busy café on the outskirts of Bamako, the capital of Mali, is saving for a journey that will take him by bus to Gao in the north. From there he hopes to travel by lorry across the Sahara to Algeria and then Libya. That will open up the uncertain prospect of crossing the Mediterranean by boat in order to find a better paying job on the other side. He has saved $1,500 so far; he thinks he will need more than that.

stock market12 things everyone should know before investing in stocks (Business Insider)

A few days ago, our family was driving to a school event together.

We were listening to a podcast over the car's stereo and the host was talking about how they were worried about the stock market being so high.

This fatal Porsche crash is causing an uproar in Iran (Business Insider)

A high-speed Porsche crash has become a symbol of growing inequality in Iran, with even the country's top religious leader speaking out against corruption that has spawned extreme wealth for the 1%.

The New York Times reports that in Iran, "a new class of untouchable 1 percenters hoards money, profiting from sanctions and influential relations, leaving Iran’s middle classes to face the full force of the country’s deepening economic woes."

Three Mile IslandRadioactive and Short on Cash to Pay for Closures (Bloomberg)

At the edge of Humboldt Bay in northern California lies a relic from the heyday of U.S. nuclear power.

The reactor was shut down in 1976. The remaining cost to decommission the plant once and for all -– cleaning up lingering radiological dangers, dismantling the remains — will be about $441 million, according to its owner, PG&E Corp.

Kentucky Derby 2015: American Pharoah Wins a Close Race (NYTimes)

It was no secret that Bob Baffert had brought a couple of big horses to America’s biggest race, the Kentucky Derby: Dortmund had never been beaten, and his stablemate, American Pharoah, was being compared to the great Seattle Slew. In fact, some closed their eyes and transported themselves back to 1948, when the legendary trainer Ben Jones brought a couple of iconic colts named Citation and Coaltown to Churchill Downs.

<p>Not-so-Great Britain.</p> Photographer: Carl Court

Britain's Election Gets Weird (BloombergView)

As the British election approaches — the vote is on Thursday — opinion polls in Britain suggest that support may be shifting to the Tories. Surprises are possible: Many voters say they're undecided, and small changes in voting intentions, acting on closely contested seats, can move the balance of power in Westminster a lot. Still, at the moment, neither Labour nor the Conservatives seem likely to get a parliamentary majority.

The truth about 'sell in May and go away' (BusinessInsider)

It's May. And one of the oldest "rules" on Wall Street is "sell in May and go away."

Based on some rough historical observations, someone decided that it might be a great idea to stay out of the stock market between May and sometime in the fall.

sell in may

Screen Shot 2015-05-01 at 10.48.47 AMLegal Corruption In The US: Meet The 1% Of The 1% Who Drive American Politics (ZeroHedge)

That said, my greater source of personal concern, outrage and sympathy beyond this particular case is focused neither upon one night’s property damage nor upon the acts, but is focused rather upon the past four-decade period during which an American political elite have shipped middle class and working class jobs away from Baltimore and cities and towns around the U.S. to third-world dictatorships like China and others, plunged tens of millions of good, hard-working Americans into economic devastation, and then followed that action around the nation by diminishing every American’s civil rights protections in order to control an unfairly impoverished population living under an ever-declining standard of living and suffering at the butt end of an ever-more militarized and aggressive surveillance state.

Slow Down in Energy Sector Cuts Aids in Q2 Earnings Estimate Cuts (FactSet)

During the month of April, analysts lowered earnings estimates for companies in the S&P 500 for the second quarter. The Q2 bottom-up EPS estimate (which is an aggregation of the estimates for all the companies in the index) dropped by 1.9% (to $28.83 from $29.39) during the month. How significant is a 1.9% decline in the bottom-up EPS estimate during the first month of the quarter? How does this decrease compare to recent quarters?

Lay Off the Artisanal Ice, You Ignorant Hipsters (MotherJones)

If you want to understand the latest trend in craft cocktails, you could do worse than to listen to Outkast. What's cooler than being cool is indeed ice cold. Specifically, it's stored at minus-2 degrees, sculpted with a Japanese band saw, and retails for $1 a cube.

TEPCO Admits Fukushima Is Leaking Again – Over 600x 'Safe' Radiation Levels (ZeroHedge)

Having killed a robot by underestimating the level of radiation present in the Fukushima power plant, and after delaying its previous admission of a leak, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has quickly admitted that the nuclear plant has sprung another leak. As EFE reports, a small quantity of radioactive water has leaked from a storage tank with 70 microsieverts per hour of beta-ray-emitting radioactivity detected on the surface where the water had leaked, far exceeding the recommended maximum exposure of 0.11 microsieverts per hour. But apart from that it's "contained."

<p>Will Puerto Rico's ship ever come in?</p> Photographer: Christopher Gregory/Getty ImagesPuerto Rico Needs Some Tough Love (BloombergView)

Puerto Rico's long-running drama as the "Greece of the Caribbean"may be entering its final act — what Governor Alejandro Garcia Padillacalled "one of the greatest fiscal and economic crisis in its history."

Its power utility teeters on the brink of default. The government itself may run out of money in the next three months. Standard & Poor's has downgraded the island's bonds to junk status on par with those of Greece. And the Puerto Rican House of Representatives just voted down a tax reform plan championed as the best hope for persuading investors to buy $2.9 billion in new debt.

Australia stocks rise despite weakness in banks (MarketWatch)

Australian stocks trudged higher in early Monday moves, with strength in some of the top energy and mining names overcoming weakness in the big banks.

payday-lenders-apHere’s How The Nation’s Two Largest States Plan To Crack Down On Predatory Lending (ThinkProgress)

Predatory lenders thrive in Texas, where regulations are scarce on stores that offer payday advance loans and allow borrowers to put their cars up as collateral for high-cost, short-term credit. But a trio of bills being considered in the legislature would update state law to make it harder for desperate borrowers to wind up trapped in endless loan-renewal cycles when they turn to payday and auto title loans.

What Bubble? Wall Street To Turn P2P Loans Into CDOs (ZeroHedge)

So far this year, around $38 billion in auto loan-backed ABS issuance has hit the market, around a quarter of which is backed by subprime loans. Meanwhile, America’s $1.3 trillion pile of student debt is likewise being sliced, packaged, and sold even as real delinquency rates (i.e. the rate for students in repayment and stripping out those borrowers in IBR payment plans whose calculated payments are zero) are probably at least 40% if not far higher. All told, around $76 billion in ABS deals went off in Q1 and for 2015, the total should come in at around $200 billion. While that’s a far cry from the $750 billion or so that came to market in 2006, it’s still on par with last year, which saw the highest total since the crisis.

The undefeated club: Mayweather’s unbeaten peers in the world of boxing (QZ)

The fight of the century is over and, as predicted, Floyd Mayweather Jr. beat Manny Pacquiao by unanimous decision after 12 rounds. Pacquiao claimed that more of his punches had landed, but that was not the case: Mayweather landed 34% of 439 punches; Pacquiao landed 19% of 425.

F.E.C. Can’t Curb 2016 Election Abuse, Commission Chief Says (NYTimes)

The leader of the Federal Election Commission, the agency charged with regulating the way political money is raised and spent, says she has largely given up hope of reining in abuses in the 2016 presidential campaign, which could generate a record $10 billion in spending.

“The likelihood of the laws being enforced is slim,” Ann M. Ravel, the chairwoman, said in an interview. “I never want to give up, but I’m not under any illusions. People think the F.E.C. is dysfunctional. It’s worse than dysfunctional.”

Winners and losers in China: Which U.S. companies are profiting? (MarketWatch)

Losing: Yum Brands and McDonald’s

Yum Brands Inc. YUM, +6.91% which owns the popular KFC and Taco Bell restaurant brands, and McDonald’s Corp. MCD, +1.29%  — a pioneer in selling Western fast food to China — have clearly taken a hit from a Chinese food-safety scandal last year.

Specifically, Chinese media reported last July that a meat supplier had intentionally provided expired chicken and beef to both Yum and McDonald’s.

IMG_0998This is what it's like to be a shareholder at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting (BusinessInsider)

The Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting is a financial pilgrimage. 

Investors from around the world come to Omaha, Nebraska, to hear Berkshire CEO Warren Buffett and his vice chairman, Charlie Munger, take questions from journalists, analysts, and shareholders for seven hours. 

And the lines for getting in to see the two speak starts hours before the sun begins to rise in Omaha. 

Women are going to save Japan (QZ)

Why do economies grow?

It’s a simple recipe, actually.

Add rising labor productivity—total output per worker—to an increase in the number of people working, or some combination of the two. Shake vigorously. Voilà.

The star marks the epicenter of Saturday's earthquake -- the second-biggest in Michigan's history -- which was felt in at least four states.Michigan Hit With Its Second-Largest Earthquake Ever Recorded (ThinkProgress)

Michigan was hit with a 4.2 magnitude earthquake on Saturday, the second-strongest in the state’s recorded history, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported.

There have been no reports of damage or injuries, though the earthquake was big enough that it was reportedly felt in parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. A 4.2 quake is not terribly large — people indoors are expected to feel to movement, and hanging objects might swing back on forth.

David Einhorn At 2015 Ira Sohn Conference Presentation (Value Walk)

Einhorn is Chairman of the Board of Greenlight Capital Re, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GLRE), Ltd, founder of Greenlight Capital. founder of Greenlight Masters, and serves on the boards of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, and the Robin Hood Foundation.

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