Posted on 03/27/2013 4:15:49 AM PDT by dennisw
Daily finance & investment thread (3-27-13 edition)
Trying to focus on the markets for today and each day and the economic news
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
We’re up early today.
ping pong
Good trading to you today! I am not a trader this month...just an observer of the passing scene. Bill O’Reilly was really firing off last night about Cyprus. Glenn Beck must have gotten to him. Bill O’Reilly called Cyprus a contagion (he used this word) that can spread to Europe then America.
Cyprus is so small and so easy, so cheap to paper over (17 billion Euros) with European fiat money that I have to think it won’t amount to anything
I’ve not been doing much either. Hanging onto a gold and silver stock. I will accumulate more SLW if it drops low enough. I tinker with SWHC because they are doing booming business (pun intended). Each weekend I buy 3X Bear stock in case something big (negative) happens and the markets are closed and sell Monday.
futures sure took a plunge. SPX 1565 is like a glass ceiling.
NYSE Morning Update:
Ahead of the Bell: Dow futures are trading down 27 points and S&P futures are trading down 5 points. Cyprus’s bailout and euro zone borrowing cost is weighing on financial markets. Concerns over the financial rescue deal reached by Cyprus and the ECB is dampening investor sentiment and could become the blueprint for the rest of the 17 member bloc. Despite assurances by euro zone finance officials, traders continue to be troubled by the precedence of wiping out some senior bank bond holders and impose losses on larger depositors. The country is set to complete capital measures today to avoid a run on bank deposits.
• On the economic calendar today, pending home sales index for February will be out after the opening bell, -0.7% is forecasted versus 4.5% for January. A number of Federal Reserve speakers will be on the speaking circuit, including Charles Evans, Eric Rosengren, Sandra Pianalto, and Narayana Kocherlakota.
• Yesterday, stocks advanced and the Dow hit another record high, after reports showed durable goods orders and home prices increased more than forecast, as investors await developments out of Cyprus.
• The dollar is up against the major currencies. Gold is trading at $1,591. Crude oil is currently trading at $94 a barrel.
• On CNBC today, Doug Parker, chairman and CEO of US Airways Group, talked about the future of the airline industry. Parker feels the industry has consolidated for the better and competition has become intense. He believes the proposed merger of the US Airways and America Airlines will be better for customers. Each airline separately was not able to offer customer value to connect to multiple cities, but the combined airlines will offer added value to connect customers. Parker added, oil prices are a major factor in setting fare prices. Parker feels there was too much capacity before, but now things have come down. He hopes it will help employee morale and built better customer relationship.
Tuesday’s Close
DJIA up 111.90 pts/+0.77%/ 14,559.65
S&P up 12.08 pts/+0.78%/ 1,563.77
Nasdaq up 17.18 pts/+0.53%/ 3,252.48
Wednesday’s Futures
Dow Futures down 27.27 pts/-0.27%
S&P Futures down 5.50 pts/-0.34%
Nasdaq Fut down 9.25 pts/-0.29%
Overseas Markets
FTSE -0.50%
CAC 40 1.35%
NIKKEI 225 +0.18%
HANG SENG +0.69%
Overseas: World stock markets are mixed. European markets are lower as Cyprus gets ready to recapitalize its banking system. Asian markets are higher following triple digit gains in US equities.
Economic Reports: Pending Home Sales expected to be -0.7% at 10:00 a.m.
Top Headlines:
• Reports indicate Protective Life Insurance (PL) is the leading candidate to purchase AXA SA’s US life insurance assets in a deal which could be worth $1 billion.
• Bloomberg reports Ericcon is in talks with Microsoft Corp (MSFT) to acquire its IPTV unit, which makes software used by phone companies to deliver television over the internet.
• CBS Corporation (CBS) and Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF) have formed a joint venture to operate the entertainment cable network TVGN and website TVGuide.com. Reports indicate CBS will pay about $100 million for the stake.
Commodities/Currency:
Gold: down $4.60 to $1,591.80
Oil: down 0.49 to $94.85
EUR/USD 1.2784 -0.0075
USD/JPY 94.5400 -0.0001
GBP/USD 1.5126 -0.0037
Volatility Index (VIX): As of the close of business Tuesday, March 26, the VIX is down 0.97 at 12.77
Companies Reporting Quarterly Earnings:
Lindsay Corp. reports Q2 EPS $1.50, vs. Est $1.30 and Q2 revenue $175.5M, vs. Est $163.26M.
Today’s Opening and Closing Bells:
Cohen & Steers MLP Income and Energy Opportunity Fund, Inc., Celebrates IPO on the NYSE SVP and Portfolio Managers Robert Becker and Ben Morton will ring the opening bell.
UNICEF Tap Project will ring the closing bell.
Great idea, dennisw. Thanks for starting.
Diversify where your stored time-of-life/value/medium-of-exchange is kept. Possession is 10/10ths in a lawless environment.
BE PREPARED
A Cypriot blogger with some information...
http://anewlifeincyprus.blogspot.com
...and the latest from zero hedge, which has been extraordinary in following the events...
Thanks for posting!
Busy day at work, but I got in a couple of good trades before pulling off to the sidelines.
Markets are still looking pretty irrational to me. I’m just looking for the quick in-and-out until they start making sense to me.
Lets see SPX 1570 today holding and old resistance turned support.
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