8.15.2010

Aug 16

  • Stocks closed the regular session at levels just under the even mark as trade mostly moved sideways Friday in the wake of positive data on consumer sentiment and domestic retail sales. The lower trade completed the fourth straight day of declines for the major indices.
  • Consumers looking for home loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration will face tougher hurdles and higher costs under new legislation and new rules that could take effect as soon as this month.
    • Higher monthly fees, larger down payments and better credit scores are among the new initiatives intended to insure that the FHA stays solvent. Its reserves, which are used to cover bad loans, plummeted to $3.5 billion at midyear from $19.3 billion in September 2008, according to a report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
  • U.S. stock investors will brace for further signs of weakness in the economic recovery this week as earnings from key retailers are expected.
    Industrial production, housing starts and inflation data will come under scrutiny as well, after stocks on Friday wrapped up their worst week in six. Last week's sell-off also drove stocks back into negative territory for the year.
    • Technical charts show "sell" signals, indicating more weakness. At the same time, some analysts say the market may be due for a bounce.
    • So far this earnings period, some 75 percent of results from Standard & Poor's 500 companies have beaten earnings estimates, according to Thomson Reuters estimates, offsetting a batch of economic reports that pointed to a slowdown in the recovery.
  • Japan's economic growth slowed markedly in April-June and analysts predict further slowdown, adding to policymakers' difficulties as they grapple with deflation and a rise in the yen that threatens an export-reliant recovery.
  • Russia plans to discuss after October 1 whether to extend a grain export ban into next year, First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov told Reuters, after a severe drought ruined vast tracts of the country's grain crop.
  • The Federal Reserve is undertaking a "dangerous gamble" by keeping rates at near zero for so long, and it must start raising rates or risk damaging the nascent U.S. recovery, a top Federal Reserve official said on Friday.
  • The ratings agency has downgraded hundreds of billions of dollars worth of residential mortgage-backed securities in recent months as credit raters have steadily increased loss expectations on them at a time of low home prices, high unemployment and an uneven economic recovery.
  • Sylvester Stallone outmuscled Julia Roberts at the weekend box office in North America on Sunday to score the biggest opening of his career with his new film "The Expendables.
  1. First Business Financial Services (FBIZ:$9.18,00$0.00,000.00%) reports Q2 non-GAAP EPS $0.46 compared to Street estimates of $0.30 per share.
    • First Business Financial Best Q2 EPS Estimates 
    • Shares are flat in after-hours trading.
  2.  Late-traded Nvidia (NVDA:$9.39,00$0.429,04.79%) shares fell 0.2% to $9.37. The shares finished the regular session up 4.8% after the computer-graphics chip maker and Rambus Inc. (RMBS:$18.71,00$0.69,003.83%) agreed to a patent-licensing agreement.
    • NVDA gains despite earnings miss and license agreement with competitor.
    • The companies have been in a legal dispute with each other over Rambus' allegations that Nvidia infringed on some of its patents. But Rambus, in a release, said that the two companies "have not signed any releases of liability, nor dismissed any outstanding litigation between them."
  3. Looking out to next week, earnings season winds down but there are still some heavyweights due with quarterly financials. On Monday, investors will see results from Agilent Technologies (A:$27.3500,$-0.1800,-0.65%) and Lowe's (LOW:$19.5900,$-0.1500,-0.76%) followed by Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF:$37.6600,$0.0100,0.03%) , Home Depot (HD:$27.3100,$-0.3000,-1.09%) and Wal-Mart (WMT:$50.40, flat) on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Applied Materials (AMAT:$11.17,00$0.01,000.09%) , NetApp (NTAP:$38.14,00$0.56,001.49%) , Deere (DE) and Target (TGT:$50.8100,$-1.0000,-1.93%) post numbers. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ:$40.4500,$0.3100,0.77%) reports on Thursday, and AnnTaylor (ANN:$15.2000,$-0.6600,-4.16%) is due with results on Friday.
  4. PowerShares DB Agriculture Dble Long ETN (DAG), +4.35%
  5. Oracle Corp.'s (ORCL:$22.66,00$-0.28,00-1.22%) patent lawsuit against Google Inc. (GOOG:...) comes after the Internet search giant failed to resolve the dispute with Sun Microsystems, despite negotiations, an indication of how intensely Oracle plans to defend Sun's technology.
  6. Bank of America Corp (BAC:...) is considering whether to reduce its stake in asset manager BlackRock Inc (BLK:$151.5800,$2.0800,1.39%) , which is viewed as a non-core asset, a source familiar with the situation said on Sunday.
  7. Telestone Technologies Corp (TSTC:$10.34,00$-3.25,00-23.91%) fell 20.90% to $10.75 at 9:33 AM ET on August 13, 2010.
  8. ADSK($28.12) beats with Q2 results, guides for Q3 in a range that straddles Street.
  9. The education department was also expected to release loan repayment rates for individual schools later on Friday. Among the laggards, Strayer Education (STRA:$200.01,00$-9.79,00-4.67%) slipped 4.7 percent to $200.01, while Career Education Corp (CECO:$18.79,00$-0.80,00-4.08%) lost 4.1 percent to $18.79.
  10. Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. (RRGB:$18.60,00$-1.07,00-5.44%) is down more than 4%, but has bounced off its session low of $18.26, after analysts pulled in their wings on the stock following disappointing Q2 financials and lowered guidance.
A Look Ahead: Major Corporate & Economic Events, Aug. 16 to Aug. 20        
  • MONDAY, Aug. 16
    Extended-Hours Earnings: A, BITS, CMED, DGLY, DIET, LONG, EMKR, EMIS, EGAS, FFHL, ICXT, INO, LOW, NLS, ONSM, PEIX, PWRD, RICK, RINO, SVA, SIX, SYY, URBN.
    Economic Data: 8:30 a.m. NY Fed - Empire Manufacturing Index; 9 a.m. Net Long-Term TIC Flows.
  • TUESDAY, Aug. 17
    Extended-Hours Earnings: ASTM, ANF, ADI, ALOT, BLTI, BPHX, BOBE, CACI, CNTF, ESLT, HD, JKHY, JMBA, KTCC, LZB, PLAB, SKS, SGI, SPB, TJX, WMT.
    Economic Data: 8:30 a.m. Housing Starts; Building Permits; PPI; 9:15 a.m. Industrial Production; Capacity Utilization.
  • WEDNESDAY, Aug. 18
    Extended-Hours Earnings: AFCE, AMAT, BJ, BRCD, CHS, CEDU, IMOS, CTRN, COCO, DE, GYMB, HOTT, LTD, NTAP, NTES, OTEX, PETM, STP, SNPS, TGT, VVTV.
    Economic Data: 10:30 a.m. Crude Inventories.
  • THURSDAY, Aug. 19
    Extended-Hours Earnings: FLWS, ATV, ARO, CRMT, BCSI, BONT, CMRG, JRJC, CPWM, DLA, DKS, DLTR, FLO, FL, GME, GPS, GSOL, HPOL, HPQ, INTU, MRVL, MENT, ROST, CRM, SCSC, SCHS, SHLD, SSI, SPLS, SMRT, TECD, BKE, CATO, PLCE, WSM, YGE, ZUMZ, ZIGO.
    Economic Data: 8:30 a.m. Initial Claims; 10 a.m. Leading Indicators; Philadelphia Fed.
  • FRIDAY, Aug. 20
    Extended Hours Earnings: ANN, HIBB, HRL, SJM, KIRK.
    Economic Data: None.