Daily finance & investment thread (3-25-13 edition)

A number of people have talked about such a thread. Lets see how it goes. This is where you can impart some investment wisdom to

your fellow freepers. You can vent about the big one that got away. You can chime in how Obama is out to wreck American capitalism.

If you see another FR economic thread you like and want to link to it here, please do

Post your favorite economic site links. Your favorite precious metals blogs and sites

Apmex.com is a solid place with good reputation to buy precious metals Kitco is a good site for charts and other precious metals information

Ping list -- on or off let me know here or via freep-mail. If I missed you then Freep-mail me

I might ping you to other interesting economic threads a few times a week. One per day maybe

NYSE Morning Update

Ahead of the Bell: Dow futures are trading up 39 points and S&P futures are trading up 6 points rallying with global shares after Cyprus reached a deal with lenders to bail out the indebted island and avert a collapse of its banking system. Cyprus reached an agreement with international lenders to shut down its second-largest bank and inflict heavy losses on uninsured depositors, including wealthy Russians, in return for a 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout. German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble said Cypriot lawmakers would not need to vote on the scheme, since they had already enacted a law setting procedures for bank resolution

• On the economic calendar today, Dallas Fed Manufacturing survey will be out after the opening bell, a reading of 3.7 is expected compared with -0.32 the month prior. Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke and IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard discuss lessons from the crisis with BOE Gov Mervyn King at the London School of Economics.

• The dollar is up against the British pound and down against the euro and Japanese yen. Gold is trading at $1,607. Crude oil is currently trading at $94 a barrel.

• Last week, stocks retreated on eruo zone fears after Cypress’s government rejected a proposal to implement stricter austerity measures by the European Central Bank. According to reports the country is on the brink of exiting from the European Union. The economic data was mixed, led by weekly jobless claims after the Labor Department reported more Americans than expected filed for jobless claims last week. Existing homes sales and housing starts rose again despite higher prices and more homes enter the market. The Federal Reserve said it sees the jobless rate falling faster than originally anticipated and that it will keep interested rates at historic lows for the foreseeable future. According to ICSC-Goldman’s same-store sales index, retail sales rose last week on strength at grocery stores, apparel stores, and discounters. Earlier in the week, Congress approved a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown.

• The week ahead, U.S. stocks could break through to all-time closing highs, following a last-minute deal by lawmakers and international lenders to bail out the indebted island and avert a collapse of its banking system. Now that the banking crisis in Cyprus has been resolved, investors are expected to turn their attention to economic data due during the holiday-shortened week, with equity markets closed on Friday for the Good Friday holiday. The U.S. data will include orders for durable goods and pending home sales for February as well as the final reading of fourth-quarter gross domestic product. With earnings season several weeks away, only nine S&P 500 companies are expected to report quarterly results this week, including discount retailer Dollar General Corp and video game retailer GameStop Corp. A strong showing this week could push the index past both its record closing high as well as its record intraday high of 1,576.09.

• On CNBC today, Howard Ward, GAMCO Investors CIO spoke about the markets and upcoming economic data this week. Ward said the economic data has been better than expected, resulting in people raising their GDP numbers for this year. He believes that market participants should be looking at the fact that unemployment claims are at a 5-year low and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is at all-time high. Housing is very strong, autos are very strong and the banking system has healed; there a lot of very good things out there. Ward added that he sees the S&P continuing to rise to 1,650 at year end on the conservative side.

Friday’s Close

DJIA up 90.54 pts/+0.63%/ 14,512.03
S&P up 11.09 pts/+0.72%/ 1,556.89
Nasdaq up 22.40 pts/+0.70%/ 3,245.00

Monday’s Futures

Dow Futures down 39.27 pts/+0.27%
S&P Futures down 6.50 pts/+0.42%
Nasdaq Fut down 15.25 pts/+0.55%

Overseas Markets

FTSE +0.93%
CAC 40 +1.48%
NIKKEI 225 +1.69%
HANG SENG +0.61%

Overseas: World stock markets are trading higher today after lawmakers in Cyprus reached a last-minute deal to bail out the island and avert a collapse of its banking system.

Economic Reports: Housing Market Index expected to be 47 at 10:00 a.m., later in the week FOMC Meeting Begins, Housing Starts, FOMC Meeting Announcement, FOMC Forecasts, Chairman Press Conference, Jobless Claims, PMI Manufacturing Index Flash, Existing Home Sales, and Philadelphia Fed Survey.

Top Headlines:

• Verizon (VZ) will be in focus after shares in UK telecom group Vodafone rose 2.5% on renewed speculation the firm could be working towards a deal to either sell its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless in the United States, or merge itself with Verizon.

• The Wall Street Journal reported that UBS AG (UBS) is in talks with the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle allegations the bank defrauded investors in a mortgage bond deal that soured during the financial crisis.

• According to sources, Dutch express delivery firm, TNT Express said it will cut 4,000 jobs and focus on Europe after a failed $7 billion takeover by United Parcel Service (UPS).

• Shares in Dell (DELL) will be in the spotlight after a source told Reuters a special committee of the group’s board is evaluating separate takeover proposals from Blackstone Group and billionaire investor Carl Icahn to decide whether either or both are likely to trump an existing $24.4 billion take-private deal

• According to sources, the board of directors of JPMorgan (JPM) said it “strongly endorses” keeping Jamie Dimon as both their chairman and chief executive of the company.

• Reports indicate CBS Corp (CBS) is nearing an agreement to purchase about half of TV Guide Network.

• Otelco (OTT) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday, court documents showed, three months after the telecom services provider lost a key revenue-generating contract from Time Warner Cable Inc .

Commodities/Currency:

Gold: up $1.60 to $1,607.80
Oil: up 0.48 to $94.19

EUR/USD 1.2993 +0.0006
USD/JPY 94.6550 +0.1450
GBP/USD 1.5216 -0.0016

Volatility Index (VIX): As of the close of business Friday, March 15, the VIX is down 0.42 at 13.57

Companies Reporting Quarterly Earnings:

Dollar General (DG) reports Q4 EPS of $0.97 and revenue of $4.21B, misses estimates by $0.05B.

Apollo Group (APOL) reports FQ2 EPS of $0.34, beating estimates by $0.16 and revenue of $834.4M, beating estimates by $11.6M

Today’s Opening and Closing Bells:

Vantiv, Inc. will visit the NYSE to mark the company’s first year as a publicly-traded company. The company celebrated its initial public offering at the NYSE on March 22, 2012. President and Chief Executive Officer Charles Drucker, joined by employees, will ring the opening bell.

Earl “The Pearl” Monroe and Walt “Clyde” Frazier Visit the New York Stock Exchange and will ring the closing bell.

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