InvestMacro FX

In trading on Thursday, precious metals shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 5.3%. Leading the group were shares of Mcewen Mining (MUX), up about 14.7% and shares of Pretium Resources (PVG) up about 11.5% on the day.

Walmart (WMT) announced that it earned $3.74 billion, or $1.09 per share, in its most recent fiscal quarter, versus $3.39 billion, or 97 cents per share, in the same period last year. Revenue increased by 8.6 percent to $112.2 billion.

This is what’s in the news for Wednesday May 16, 2012. The Wall Street Journal reports Greece’s future in Europe’s common currency was in doubt after efforts to form a new government failed and the country’s political turmoil set off a dramatic increase in bank withdrawals. The Wall Street Journal also reports BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) backed away from its ambitious spending plans that would have led the company to invest about $80B on new projects over the next five years Reuters reports Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) added new positions in GM (NYSE:GM) and Viacom (NASDAQ:VIAB) in Q1, and lowered its stake in Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) 33%. Bloomberg reports JPMorgan Chase’s (NYSE:JPM) individual trades that led to a $2B loss weren’t monitored by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which said it didn’t expect to be notified about the positions. Finally, Bloomberg reports AIG (NYSE:AIG) CEO Robert Benmosche increased non-government-guaranteed residential and commercial-mortgage backed securities holdings by $11.1B since 2010 to $28.4B at the end of March.

Facebook boosted its IPO by 25% to 421.2 million shares from 337.4 million shares as holders chose to raise their offering to 241.3 million from 337.4 million, according to its ever evolving S-1 filing. The company still sees about $6.4 billion of net proceeds if the IPO prices at $36 midpoint. The company’s CEO will control about 55.8% of the voting power of its outstanding capital stock vs. the prior 57.3% control. Also of note, GM (NYSE:GM) announced it was no longer advertising on the platform, which has caused some concern over its business model.

This is what’s in the news for Tuesday, May 15, 2012. The Wall Street Journal reports Macy’s (NYSE:M) is building a network of online-sales distribution centers around the country in the backrooms of its stores, responding to a distribution war going on in the retail business increasingly being won by Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN). The Wall Street Journal also reports Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) will launch a low-cost smartphone running its newest mobile operating software, as the company that dominates Internet searches in China looks to shore up its presence in the mobile-device field. Reuters reports President Obama said the trading loss at JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) illustrated the need for Wall Street reform and warned that the same kind of error at a less stable bank may have required government intervention. Reuters also reports Macquarie Group, Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) and Singapore’s United Overseas Bank are among suitors that submitted bids for ING’s (NYSE:ING) Asian asset management business that may be worth $500M-$600M, sources say. Bloomberg reports Blackstone Group (NYSE:BX) and TPG Capital are among global firms being pushed aside as preferred investors in China as investments by Chinese firms jumped to $7.8B last year. Finally, Bloomberg reports Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMLN) has attracted suitors that include Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) and Sanofi (NYSE:SNY), which signed confidentiality agreements on the drugmaker’s sale process.

Lam Research (LRCX) was downgraded today by JP Morgan (JPM) to underweight from neutral with a price target of $35, as the firm expects slower growth during the second half of the year. Shares are lower by about 4.9 percent.

Barclays (BCS) was upgraded today by UBS (UBS) from neutral to buy with a price target of $13.85, as the firm believes that the stock is attractive at current price levels. Shares are higher by about one percent.

In trading on Wednesday, precious metals shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 2.2%. Leading the group were shares of Seabridge Gold (SA), up about 6.3% and shares of Silvercorp Metals (SVM) up about 6.2% on the day.

Chico’s (CHS) announced that it earned $53.6 million, or 32 cents per share in its most recent fiscal quarter, versus $45.9 million, or 26 cents per share, in the same period last year, beating analyst estimates of 30 cents per share. Revenue increased by 21 percent to $650.8 million, beating estimates of $628.1 million.

First job finances with Rick Reagan 5-16-12