In trading on Monday, showing relative strength are music & electronics stores shares, up on the day by about 5.2% as a group, led by Best Buy (BBY), trading up by about 18.4% and Hhgregg (HGG), trading up by about 6.1% on Monday. For MarketNewsVideo.
8-2-2012- General Motors (NYSE:GM) posting strong second quarter results this morning despite weakness in Europe. The automaker had EPS of $0.90, topping analyst estimates of $0.74. Revenue for the quarter fell to $37.6 billion, a little less than the $38.58 billion analysts were expecting.GM said the lower revenue was due to an operating loss of $361 million in Europe. However analysts predicted a bigger loss, making it higher than expected. Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann said the company is taking decisive action in Europe which he says is a very challenging environment.This is GM’s 10th straight profitable quarter. The company did not give a profit outlook for the second half of the year. For more financial news and analysis follow us on Twitter @FNNOnline or check out our website at fnno.com.
For The Financial News Network you are watching FNNO.com. The Labor Department is back in our sights as the number of jobless claims rises, yet again. According to the agency, new claims rose to around 8,000 from last week for a total of 365,000. It’s no wonder–with reports of companies like UBS gradually laying off thousands of employees to make up for lost revenue. This doesn’t bode well for the expected added jobs numbers in the month of July. Analysts expect the unemployment rate to remain steady at 8.2% but only 95,000 jobs added in the month, a very low number for job growth. Investors surely are hoping tomorrow’s monthly jobs report from the Labor Department will will be higher than that number. For more up to date business news and other videos, find us online at FNNO.com or follow us on Twitter @FNNONLINE.
8-2-2012- Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) will be one to watch today after it posted its second quarter results. Profit for the company rose 7.6% with an EPS of $1.48, excluding restructuring costs. This was higher than analysts expectations of $1.39 a share. Revenue also rose 93.% to $5.4 billion which was in line with estimates.The company said the boost was due to growth in its high-speed services segment but it did lose video subscribers over the quarter. The loss also comes with the higher programmer fees that have been plaguing cable providers recently. By the numbers, Time Warner Cable lost 169,000 video subscribers in the quarter.
By CountingPips.com
The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that large futures speculators sharply trimmed their overall US dollar long positions last week for a second consecutive week as traders boosted positions in the Australian dollar, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar and New Zealand dollar while also cutting euro short positions.
Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, decreased their total US dollar long positions to $13.65 billion on July 31st from a total long position of $20.44 billion on July 24th, according to the CFTC COT data and calculations by Reuters which calculates the dollar positions against the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc.
Individual Currencies:
EuroFX: Currency speculator sentiment for the euro improved for a second consecutive week last week and reached its best level since May. Euro net short positions or bets against the currency fell to 138,994 contracts on July 31st from the previous week’s total of 155,066 net short contracts on July 24th. The latest data shows that euro short positions are at their best level since May 1 when short positions equaled 106,990 contracts.
The COT report is published every Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and shows futures positions as of the previous Tuesday. It can be a useful tool for traders to gauge investor sentiment and to look for potential changes in the direction of a currency or commodity.
Each currency contract is a quote for that currency directly against the U.S. dollar, a net short amount of contracts means that more speculators are betting that currency to fall against the dollar and a net long position expect that currency to rise versus the dollar.
(The graphs overlay the forex spot closing price of each Tuesday when COT trader positions are reported for each corresponding spot currency pair.)
GBP: British pound sterling positions improved slightly for a third consecutive week last week. British pound sterling speculative positions totaled 1,810 net short contracts on July 31st following a total of 2,934 net short contracts on July 24th. Although the currency has improved for three weeks straight, it remains bearish on the negative side against the US Dollar.
JPY: Japanese yen speculative contracts continued to rise and gained for a fourth consecutive week last week. Yen positions rose higher to a total of 32,254 net long contracts reported on July 31st following a total of 25,061 net long contracts on July 24th. Japanese positions have now continued to be positive on the long side for nine consecutive weeks and is at the highest level since February 6th when long positions equaled 55,171 contracts.
CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions rebounded last week after declining for two consecutive weeks and falling to its lowest level since June 12th. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures registered a total of 18,808 net short contracts on July 31st following a total of 25,945 net short contracts as of July 24th.
CAD: Canadian dollar positions rebounded after declining for four consecutive weeks that brought the Canadian currency sentiment to the lowest level since January. Canadian dollar positions rose to a total of 12,449 net long contracts as of July 31st following a total of 2,432 net short contracts that were reported for July 24th. Increased sentiment brings the Canadian currency to its highest level since June 5th when long positions equaled 14,906 contracts.
AUD: The Australian dollar positions rose sharply higher again last week and brought Aussie sentiment to its highest level since May 1st. Aussie speculative futures positions advanced to a total net amount of 37,235 long contracts on July 31st after totaling 26,443 net long contracts as of July 24th. The improvement in Aussie contracts pushed positions to their highest level since May 1st when long contracts equaled 52,280.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures speculator positions increased for an eighth straight week and are at the highest level since the middle of April. NZD contracts increased to a total of 10,347 net long contracts as of July 31st following a total of 7,779 net long contracts on July 24th. The kiwi contracts are now at their highest level since April 16th when contracts equaled 11,939 long positions.
MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts dipped slightly after surging higher for seven consecutive weeks. Peso positions declined to a total of 47,556 net long speculative positions as of July 31st following a total of 49,662 long contracts that were reported for July 24th.
COT Currency Data Summary as of July 31, 2012
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR -138994
GBP -1810
JPY +32254
CHF -18808
CAD +12449
AUD +37235
NZD +10347
MXN +47556
Monsanto is at it again. The world’s single most infamous genetically modified agriculturist, won a tremendous court hearing yesterday regarding it’s genetically modified soybeans. Now, if you recall, Monsanto gained it’s infamy when courts found that Monsanto actually owned the genes that were altered in plants to make them resistant to specific herbicides and pesticides. Because nature will prevail, these genes were naturally spread around the world by animals, humans, air currents–and then Monsanto and their lawyers came in and either repossessed or destroyed all the crops they could find that weren’t grown by them, but possessed these expensive genes. Now Dupont has purchased some seed technology for the Roundup Ready soybean, (90% of the US Market). The technology is a gene that provides the soybean protection from Roundup pesticide, generically known as glyphosphate. While Monsanto owns Roundup protection, Dupont wanted to create a new glyphosphate resistant gene that was a hybrid of Roundup and something new. Dupont is to pay out $1 Million dollars in damages to the biotech giant, a staggering patent loss. They, of course, are already planning an appeal. For more news and updates, Visit us online at FNNO.com or comment on what you’ve seen on Twitter @FNNonline.
8-3-2012- More jobs in the month of July but apparently there is more people out of work. The Labor Department came out with its monthly jobs report this morning. The agency said 163,000 jobs were added in the month, above the average economist estimate of 100,000.However, the unemployment rate rose to 8.3% showing more people are out of work despite the addition of jobs. Many economists believe the reason employers aren’t hiring is for fear of deep government spending cuts and higher taxes that could begin in 2013. This report comes after both the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank said they will hold interest rates steady and wait to asses the world economic situation. The Fed meets again in September to discuss a possibility of more measures to stimulate the economy.
This is your Mid-day Market Update. Stocks open to up arrows and are in the green so far today with the Dow in the triple digits. This over a positive jobs report from the Labor DepartmentThe Labor Department reported 163,000 jobs were added in July, which was above the average economist estimate of 100,000. And even though the agency also reported the unemployment rate climbing to 8.3%, the good news outweighed the bad in today’s trading.Oil and gold also up in the market today. Oil over the $90 a barrel mark and Gold reaching over $1600 an ounce.Winners in today’s trading include OpenTable and LinkedIn, both having positive second quarter earnings reports. And even though there are few losers today Zipcar is leading the downward trend. Its shares falling because of its very negative earnings and full year outlookCurrently, the Dow is up 242 points to 13,120. The Nasdaq is up 62 and the S&P is up 28 points. Both the Nasdaq and S&P are up over 2% with the Dow not far behind. For more market updates and analysis of the business world follow us on twitter @FNNOnline or check out our website at fnno.com.
8-3-2012- Heineken just made an acquisition that may position it as the new king of beers in Asia. Asia Pacific Breweries or APB is one of the largest brewery chains in the Asian Pacific, responsible for bringing such brews as Tiger, Anchor and ABC. Heineken has agreed to pay Fraser and Neave, one of Singapore’s top food and beverage firms, $4.1 Billion for an 40% stake in APB. This compliments their already sizable holding, giving them an 82% grip. A key move for Heineken, already the third largest brewer in the world, since F&N recently has seen some major bids for power from competitors such as Kirin and Chang. With this increase, APB’s 24 breweries will compliment Heineken with an expected 9% profit boost in Asian markets. On this news, Heineken is trading up 3.43% at $45.98. For this and more updates, you are watching The Financial News Network at FNNO.com Also visit us at Twitter @FNNONLINE.
Whole Foods (WFM) was upgraded by Morgan Stanley (MS) to overweight from equal wight with a price target of $110, as the firm expects 19% annual growth in earnings through 2015. Shares are higher by almost two percent.
