Verizon (VZ) announced on Monday at an investor conference that the company expects to take about $9 billion to $10 billion in one time charges during its fiscal fourth quarter. Of that amount, about $1 billion was due to Hurricane Sandy, of which about a third will be covered by insurance, while about $1.5 billion in charges was related to debt refinance, and the remaining $7 billion related to pension liabilities.
Intel (INTC) was upgraded by Lazard Capital Markets (LAZ) to buy from neutral with a price target of $26 as margins should improve after the first quarter, while ultrabooks should drive growth for the remainder of the year. Shares are higher by about three tenths of a percent.
Applied Materials (AMAT) was downgraded by JP Morgan (JPM) to underweight, due to a trough in semiconductor capex. Shares are lower by about 2.3 percent.
Amazon. om (AMZN) was upgraded by Morgan Stanley (MS) to overweight from equal weight with a price target of $325, as the firm believes that the company will continue to gain market share.
In trading on Monday, non-precious metals & non-metallic mining shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 1.3%. Leading the group were shares of Alderon Iron Ore (AXX), up about 11.7% and shares of Western Copper and Gold (WRN) up about 10.5% on the day.
A few tips to help you stick with your New Year’s resolutions.
From Fnno.com, this is the Financial News Network. Here’s a few things to watch for in the financial world today January 7.
CBC’s Chris Hall reports on the findings of an accounting firm hired to audit the finances of the troubled Attawapiskat First Nation reserve in northern Ontario.
Police in Bangladesh fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells on Sunday to disperse protesters trying to enforce a general strike called to denounce a fuel price hike.
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 added to their overall short position against the US dollar last week. Speculators have now decreased their bets in favor of the dollar for six straight weeks.
Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, registered a US dollar short position total of $9.427 billion on December 31st after totaling a short position of $6.49 billion on December 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.
This is the largest short position in the US dollar since October 2nd when speculators were short by $16.31 billion.
Individual Currencies Large Speculators Positions:
EuroFX: Currency speculator sentiment for the euro rose to its best level of the year on the last day of the calendar year. Euro positions improved last week for a sixth straight week and crossed over to a long position for the first time in 2012. Euro net long positions or bets in favor of the common currency rose to 5,126 contracts on December 31st from the previous week’s total of 2,549 net short contracts on December 24th. Euro positions are at their best level since August 16th 2011 when positions were long by 6,726 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 decreased slightly last week after advancing for five consecutive weeks and reaching its highest level of 2012. British pound speculative positions declined to a total of 36,308 net long contracts on December 31st following a total of 37,321 net long contracts on December 24th.
JPY: Japanese yen speculative contracts improved last week for a third consecutive week after falling to the lowest level in years on December 11th. Japanese yen positions improved to a total of 80,517 net short contracts reported on December 31st following a total of 85,608 net short contracts on December 24th.
CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions increased just slightly last week to advance for a sixth consecutive week and to a new highest level of 2012. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures registered a total of 11,631 net long contracts on December 31st following a total of 11,435 net long contracts as of December 24th. Swiss franc large speculator positions are at their highest level since August 2nd 2011 when long positions totaled 12,341 contracts.
CAD: Canadian dollar positions rose last week after a decline the previous week. Canadian dollar positions edged higher to a total of 65,926 net long contracts as of December 31st following a total of 63,352 net long contracts that were reported for December 24th.
AUD: The Australian dollar positions rebounded last week after declining for two consecutive weeks. Aussie speculative futures positions rose to a total net amount of 79,522 long contracts on December 31st after totaling 75,433 net long contracts as of December 24th. Australian dollar contracts continue to be at a large bullish level against the US dollar and recently reached the highest level of the year on December 11th.
NZD: New Zealand dollar speculator positions rose higher last week and increased for a second consecutive week. NZD contracts advanced to a total of 17,082 net long contracts as of December 31st following a total of 14,739 net long contracts on December 24th. The New Zealand dollar speculator positions were at their highest level in 2012 on December 11th after surpassing the previous high on February 20th at 24,211 contracts.
MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts decreased lower last week after reaching the highest level of 2012 the previous week. Peso positions fell to a total of 141,752 net long speculative positions as of December 31st following a total of 149,355 long contracts that were reported for December 24th. Peso positions touched the highest level of 2012 two weeks ago after surpassing the previous high of December 11th level which registered 149,271 long contracts.
Article by CountingPips.com – Forex News & Market Analysis
