Month: August 2012

Treehouse (THS) was upgraded by Citigroup (C) to buy from neutral as the private-label K-cup launch should add to the bottom line. A $61 price target was set.

Lowes Companies Incorporated (LOW) maintained its quarterly dividend of 16 cents per share. The dividend is payable November 7, 2012, to shareholders of record as of October 24, 2012.

Bargain hunters are wise to pay careful attention to insider buying, because although there are many various reasons for an insider to sell a stock, presumably the only reason they would use their hard-earned cash to make a purchase, is that they expect to make money. Today we look at two noteworthy recent insider buys.

In trading on Monday, music & electronics stores shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 1.9%. Leading the group were shares of Best Buy (BBY), up about 7.6% and shares of Conns (CONN) up about 2.9% on the day.

The first trading day of the week opens with investors assessing the impact of Apple’s (AAPL) victory against Samsung in a patent dispute, as well as news that car rental giant Hertz (HTZ) was buying rival Dollar Thrifty (DTG). Good morning, this is Tracey Fitzpatrick with the Week Ahead Market Report for August 27, 2012.

By CountingPips.com

The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that large currency speculators continued to decrease their overall US dollar long positions last week. Speculators increased their bets in favor of the pro-risk currencies such as the Australian dollar New Zealand dollar and Canadian dollar while short positions in the euro were trimmed.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, cut their total US dollar long positions to $4.57 billion on August 21st from a total long position of $8.92 billion on August 14th, 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:

CAD: Canadian dollar positions advanced higher for a fourth consecutive week and surged to their best level since May 15th. Canadian dollar positions rose to a total of 50,867 net long contracts as of August 21st following a total of 20,593 net short contracts that were reported for August 14th. The Canadian currency positions are at the highest level since May 15th when long positions equaled 51,005 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.)

AUD: The Australian dollar positions continued to surge sharply higher last week, rising for the fifth consecutive week and bringing Aussie positions to the highest level all year. Aussie speculative futures positions advanced to a total net amount of 86,882 long contracts on August 21st after totaling 66,679 net long contracts as of August 14th. The improvement in Aussie contracts brought positions to their highest level since April 12, 2011 when long positions totaled 90,651 contracts.

NZD: New Zealand dollar speculator positions increased for an 11th straight week and continued to be at the highest level since early March. NZD contracts increased to a total of 16,372 net long contracts as of August 21st following a total of 15,247 net long contracts on August 14th. The kiwi contracts are just below their highest level since March 5th when contracts equaled 16,788 long positions.

MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts advanced higher again last week and jumped to the highest level all year. Peso positions increased to a total of 97,981 net long speculative positions as of August 21st following a total of 83,511 long contracts that were reported for August 14th. Peso positions are now at their highest level since July 12, 2011 when long positions equaled 98,447 contracts.

EuroFX: Currency speculator sentiment for the euro rebounded last week after dipping the previous week. Euro net short positions or bets against the currency decreased to 123,932 contracts on August 21st from the previous week’s total of 137,810 net short contracts on August 14th. Euro short positions are at their best level since May 1st when short positions equaled 106,990 contracts.

GBP: British pound sterling positions improved last week for a second straight week and brought contracts to their best position since May 22nd. British pound sterling speculative positions totaled 7,833 net long contracts on August 21st following a total of 288 net short contracts on August 14th. The latest week’s position for the British currency is the best level since May 22nd when long positions equaled 11,340 contracts.

JPY: Japanese yen speculative contracts decreased sharply as of the August 21st data following a small advance the previous week. Japanese yen positions totaled 11,171 net long contracts reported on August 21st following a total of 30,704 net long contracts on August 14th.

CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions improved last week after edging lower the previous week. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures registered a total of 15,662 net short contracts on August 21st following a total of 18,854 net short contracts as of August 14th.

COT Currency Data Summary as of August 21, 2012
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar

EUR -123932
GBP +7833
JPY +11171
CHF -15662
CAD +50867
AUD +86882
NZD +16372
MXN +97981

While Britain is in its second recession in four years, its quarterly results are still better than analysts had expected. The nation’s gross domestic product fell 0.5% for the quarter, beating analysts estimates of a shrinkage of 0.7%.The largest factor for the fall in GDP was a 3.9% cut in construction output. In addition, Britain’s exports were greatly hurt by the euro zone debt crisis affecting the European Union.While the shrinkage was less than expected, many are still hoping that finance minister George Osbourne will inject more stimulus into the floundering economy, and adjust current austerity policies.

Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) seeing losses after posting a weak third quarter outlook on positive second quarter results. The company reported a non-GAAP EPS of 42 cents, higher the 39 cents a share analysts were expecting. Revenue was up 34% to $731.6 million, also above the street’s estimate of $728 million. But, the company’s third quarter outlook, now in the range of 31 to 32 cents per share, was below the analyst estimate of 34 cents. Salesforce says foreign exchange fluctuations and faltering technology spending in Europe led them to the lower forecast.This has caused doubt to surface among investors as well as a sell off in after hours trading yesterday. Currently, Salesforce stock is down over 2.5% to $143.11.

The Madison Square Garden Company (NASDAQ:MSG) seeing gains after posting its fourth quarter and full-year earnings results. For the fourth quarter, the company saw EPS of 37 cents, much higher than the 11 cents per share last year. Revenue for the quarter also rose 42% to $332.9 million. Both earnings and revenue exceeded expectations.In growth terms, MSG’s net income almost tripled in the quarter, mostly due to changes in the NBA schedule and the continuing renovations that are enticing more sporting events to use the venue. For the full year, the company saw earnings per share of $1.38 on revenue of $1.28 billion. Both grew 34% and 8% respectively.MSG stock is up over 9% to $43.90 after the opening bell, above its all time high set yesterday.

It seems as though BP’s tainted gas drama has finally come to a close. The company has identified the source of the problem with its gasoline and corrected it. Starting Tuesday, August 21, BP had to recall 2.1 million gallons of gasoline from the Northwest Indiana, Chicagoland, and Milwaukee regions of the United States. The gas had high polymeric residue which caused difficulties for cars when starting.BP found the problem to be at its Whiting, Indiana refinery, in the alkylation unit. Processes within the plant have been modified to rectify the problem.