Economy Blog

If you were looking at stocks alone, you?d be cautiously optimistic about the economy: they have remained above the intraday low they hit on Jan. 22, the day of the Fed?s surprise 0.75 percentage point rate cut, and even clawed out some gains lately, notably today.
An entirely different picture comes from the corporate bond market which is in full fledged flight. Investment grade spreads have widened steadily during the new year, according to B…
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Heparin, made Baxter International (NYSE: BAX) is one of the most widely used blood thinners in the world. Today’s disclosure that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it never inspected a Chinese facility that made the active ingredient of heparin. That makes Baxter the medical equivalent of Mattel (NYSE: MAT). Wall St. really has to ask why a company as large as Baxter cares so little about its reputation, the safety of millions of patients, and the value of it shares. By the same token, it has done trial lawyers a significant service. According to The Wall Street Journal…
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Options players were busy in the market today, trading options on healthcare insurance companies, as those companies get set to face more regulatory scrutiny.
Shares of UnitedHealth Group, Aetna, Wellpoint and Humana were all lower in trading today, losing ground in advance of a press conference from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who announced a probe i…
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$$$ Translating Corporate Speak: Wynn [LoSC]

$$$ Outstructuring Outsourcing [GP]

$$$ RSX [WallStrip]

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addslashes(Top 10 Most Searched Stocks on TheStreet.com, February 13

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As if he didn’t have enough on his mind, Jerome Kerviel must now bear the shame of knowing he’s the reason individuals with no discernable skills, initiative, brain cells or looks won’t get cannonballed from the back office to the trading floor anymore, so sayeth Bloomberg reporter Fabio Benedetti-Valentini. Sources tell Benicio del Toro that before the SocGen scandal, you could be, for all intents and purposes, “a moza-fuckeeng retarde” and still be executing trades by your second week on the job. Now, not so much. “When Jerome Kerviel pilfered that $7 billion,” Benedetti del Toro Valentini writes, “he wasn’t just pilfering money, he was pilfering a time-honored French bank tradition of promoting incompetents into positions of great importance.” Further digging by Vesit La Giubba Benedetti revealed that that wasn’t the only shit Kerviel fucked up for everyone else. As it turns out, Kerviel fucked everything for everyone everywhere. Look closely, Benedetti Valentini Bruni Pesci notes, and you’ll see that Kerviel can be blamed for: Global warming, Hepatitis C, feline AIDs, and the marijuana drought. One area man even told Benedetti Valentini Mosconi Bruni La Giubba Pesci Gasparino that he believes the rogue trader is to blame for his difficulties rising to certain occasions in the marital bed. “Ma femme, she say ‘C’est la booze!’ but I know Jerome, he had a hand in dis!”…
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Visa, Inc. has filed an amended S-1 to show its financials for the year-end December 31, 2007. The company posted revenues of $5.193 Billion, up from $3.902 Billion for 2006. Here are the growth factors year over year for 2007 vs. 2006: Service Fees $2.58B vs. $2.06B Processing Fees $1.659B vs $1.411B Vol./Support Incentives ($714M) vs, ($890M) International transaction fees $1.193B vs. $911M “other” $473M vs. $410M The lead underwriters are JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs; and co-managers are listed as Banc of America, Citigroup, HSBC, Merrill Lynch, UBS, and Wachovia. We are still awaiting this IPO and we’ll have more…
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Oculus Innovative Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: OCLS) has just filed a shelf registration that would allow the company to sell up to $75 million in securities. The offering can be in stock, debt, warrants, or preferred shares. The use of proceeds is for general corporate purposes. There is just one small problem: The company’s market cap is $73.6 million shares. Oculus has developed, manufactures, and sells a family of products intended to prevent and treat infections in chronic and acute wounds. Its platform Microcyn is a proprietary oxychlorine small molecule formulation that is designed to treat a wide range of organisms…
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Tightening the spigot (Wikipedia)

Hugo who?
Investors on Wednesday are shrugging off the decision by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to shut off oil supplies to …
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addslashes(The Real Story Wrap: February 13

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In this afternoon?s hearing of the Joint Economic Committee on sovereign wealth funds, Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer takes a stance on international issues that?s familiar to his fans and foes: ratcheting the pressure on foreign governments.

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I love my friend James Altucher dearly — and not just because his hair makes mine look half-decent, nor because he pitched in and helped last week at the Money:Tech conference — and his column in yesterday’s FT is another reason why. Blunt, smart, contrarian, empirical and irreligious, those are James’s calling cards. College a waste of time and money for kids By James Altucher P…
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While better-than-expected GDP results boost the Japanese yen.…
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In case you haven’t looked, it’s useful to scan how Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo respective shares have done since the proposed Microsoft/Yahoo news came out. Once you net out the the initial Yahoo post-news bump, here is what you get: …
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How bad must things be up in Armonk?

It’s usually a sure sign of deep trouble when a company blames short-sellers or runs crying to lawmakers for protection. MBIA has announced plans to do both. It’s asking lawmakers to investigate or curtail “the unscrupulous and dangerous market manipulation activities of short sellers,” according to a written copy of testimony it plans to give to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services that Reuters obtained.
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Chinese internet search leader Baidu.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) has posted earnings and it showed in $0.92 non-GAAP EPS on $78.3 million in revenues. The estimates from First Call for the Chinese search engine are $0.71 EPS on $77.1 million in revenues. It also offered guidance of $73.1 to $75.1 million in revenues and estimates are $77.01 million in revenues. The company posted Traffic Acquisition Costs (TAC) of roughly $9.9 million or 12.7% of total revenues, compared to 8.7% in Q4-2006. The company also had an income tax benefit of $2.5 million. Baidu had $18.3 million in cash and equivalents on…
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It’s unclear whether this term will end up alongside ‘w00t’ and ‘truthiness’ in Merriam-Webster’s words of the year, but ThinkEquity has one word to describe First Solar’s strong earnings reports, and it’s ‘debottlenecking.’ (It isn’t going to catch on.) Anyway, shares of the stock are up 28% on a stronger-than-expected earnings report, which ThinkEquity attributes to better “throughput,” that is, an improvement in manufacturing efficiency. They expect more gains on strong earnings for the sector.
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Many economists say the Fed?s interest rate cuts are less potent than usual because first, the most interest-sensitive part of the economy, housing, is a deflating bubble, and because credit markets are so dysfunctional that the rate cuts aren?t filtering through to the rates consumers and businesses actually pay. That is one reason fiscal stimulus has received such full-throated support.
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Meant to link to this yesterday, but good audio and slides here from yesterday’s Hudson Institute session on structured finance, credit markets, and bond insurers. Check it out.
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Pinnacle West Capital (NYSE:PNW) No special news, just slow sell-off. Down to $36.60 from 52-week high of $50.68. Daktronics (NASDAQ:DAKT) Bad quarter. Down to $16.53 from 52-week high of $39. Nxstage Medical (NASDAQ:NXTM) Brokerage downgrade. Falls to $7.79 from 52-week high of $15.61. Cephalon (NASDAQ:CEPH) PM sell-off. Market not in love with earlier results. Down to $56.20 from 52-week high of $84.83. Aruba Networks (ARUN) Still dropping from bad quarter. Down to $4.65 from 52-week high of $23.85. Douglas A. McIntyre
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