% of Profits Made in Q4
Big Lots 70%
Sears 57%
Best Buy 56%
Williams-Sonoma 53%
TIBCO Software 49%
Weight Watchers 19%
Coca-Cola 18%
Carnival 15%
Whole Foods 14%
Campbell Soup 9%
Source: Bloomberg
5:05 N.Y. sugar prices fall the most in 22 years. Link
5:03 GM – Bloomberg reports GM will price its IPO at the high end or above the offering range of $26-29. SAIC Motor of China will probably be one of the buyers. Link
4:57 According to NPD overall U.S. retail electronics sales went down 5.8% y/y in October. 2D LCD TVs -24.7% y/y in dollars and 2D plasma -22% y/y. Link
11:39 AAPL – Rodman & Renshaw Ashok Kumar says Apple’s iPad is unlikely to sell more than 2 million/month at the end of the year. Link
11:25 TechCrunch reports Facebook will launch a robust webmail client soon. Link
10:01 University of Michigan November consumer sentiment 69.3 vs. 69.0 estimate, 67.7 prior.
10:00 INTC – Intel announces 15% dividend increase to 72c annually. Link
8:31 WU – Federal Reserve may force money transfer firms to more fully disclose fees and exchange rates. Link
7:42 Rolls-Royce to miss 2010 profit target due to the fall-out from A380 engine blowout. Link
7:38 MU – PC OEMs are asking for bigger DRAM memory price reduction in November. Link
7:33 LULU IBM – The U.S. Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, owns stock in Lululemon and IBM. Link
7:04 Greece jobless rate rises to 12.2% in August. Link
7:03 MS – Morgan Stanley in discussions to spin-off their quant team. Link
7:01 Newsweek and Daily Beast to partner up. Link
6:54 TSLA – Tesla’s CEO says Japan will be their No. 2 market over time. The company plans to launch a mid-size sports sedan in 2012. Link
6:50 YHOO – AllThingsD says Yahoo plans 10% layoff as the company denies the 20% layoff number reported by TechCrunch. Link
5:10 YHOO – TechCrunch saying Yahoo will layoff 20% of its work-force. Link
4:49 FDX – FedEx see holiday volume up 11% y/y. Link
4:43 NVDA – Nvidia reported Q3 earnings of 15c vs. 14c estimate and revenue of $843.9M vs. $844M estimate. The company guided Q4 revenue to +3-5% growth ($869-886M) vs. $866M estimate.
3:36 DIS – Disney reported Q4 earnings of 45c vs. 46c estimate and revenue of $9.74B vs. $9.94B estimate.
3:19 ERTS ATVI – Analysts expect Viacom to sell Rock Band developer to either Activision or Electronic Arts. Link
3:17 ERTS – Electronic Arts takes over full publishing duties of Star Wars: The Old Republic from LucasArts. Link
1:58 Authors are making over $120K a year by-passing traditional publishers through selling e-books. Link
12:43 Jeremy Grantham says be in cash and wait for stocks to fall. Link
Grantham also recommended investing in such commodities as oil and copper for the long term of 10 to 20 years. For institutional investors, Grantham said a good mix is to be overweight in franchise companies, modestly overweight in emerging markets, underweight in everything else, plus a lot of cash and “patience.”
“The Fed has spent most of the last 15, 20 years manipulating the stock market, whenever they feel the economy needs a bit of a kick,” he added. “I think they know very well that what they do has no direct affect.”
11:48 AAPL – Steve Jobs calls iPad developer over rejected app. It really shows how hands-on he is. Link
10:55 ATVI – Activision announces Call of Duty: BlackOps sold $360M on its first day in North America and the U.K with 5.6M copies vs. 4.7M last year from Modern Warfare 2. Link
10:52 U.S. and Korea fail to reach a trade deal. Link
10:45 AMD – AMD Radeon HD6970 delayed due to component shortage. Link
10:44 Viacom seeking to sell Rock Band creator Harmonix. Link
10:41 Baupost Group returns 5% of its capital due to lack of opportunities. Link
10:27 China’s inflation rate rose to 4.4% y/y in October vs. 3.6% in September.
9:19 Airbus blowout traced to Rolls-Royce engine oil fire. Link
8:54 BA – Boeing grounds its Dreamliner test fleet. Link
8:53 WMT – Walmart.com to offer free shipping till December 20th. Link
8:36 China blocks rare earth exports to Japan again. Link
5:06 CSCO – Cisco guided Q2 revenue growth to 3-5% y/y vs. 13% estimate and FY2011 to 9-12% vs. 13% estimate.
4:23 CSCO – Cisco reported Q1 earnings of 42c vs. 40c estimate and revenue of $10.75B vs. $10.74B estimate.
4:21 AAP – Advanced Auto reported Q3 earnings of $1.03 vs. 92c estimate and revenue of $1.41B vs. $1.36B estimate. The company guided FY2010 earnings to $3.80-3.90 vs. $3.85 estimate.
2:28 Fed’s $105B POMO schedule till December 9th. Link
11:01 AKAM – Dan Rayburn updates his Akamai losing Netflix business post and cites his internal sources inside Netflix. Link
9:25 BJ – NYPost reports BJ’s Wholesale Club is close to hiring an advisor to explore strategic alternatives that could lead to an auction price of $3B. Link
8:31 Jobless claims 435K vs. 450K estimate.
8:23 M – Macy’s reported Q3 earnings of 8c vs. 5c estimate and revenue of $5.62B vs. $5.56B estimate. The company guided 2H-2011 comps to $3.3-4%.
8:21 RL – Polo Ralph Lauren reported Q2 earnings of $2.09 vs. $1.70 estimate and revenue of $1.5B vs. $1.48B estimate. The company guided Q3 revenue growth to high teens percent growth.
7:52 BBY – Best Buy senior VP of home theater, Mike Mohan, is quoted in WSJ: “There is no question TV demand is a little softer.”
7:50 RIMM – Research in Motion will sell the Playbook tablet in Q1-2011 for less than $500. Link
7:33 BA – Boeing Dreamliner said to lose power during test flight. Link
8:48 GOOG – Google employees get a $1,000 bonus and 10% raise. Link
7:05 TSLA – Tesla Motors reported Q3 earnings of -38c vs. -43c estimate and revenue of $31.2M vs. $28.1M estimate.
6:57 JOBS – 51job reported Q3 earnings of 33c vs. 30c estimate and revenue of $40.6M vs. $39.1M estimate. The company guided Q4 to 30-33c vs. 32c estimate and revenue to $41.1-42.6M vs. $41.1M estimate.
5:24 Interview with hedge-fund legend Michael Steinhardt. Link
5:23 Interview with Warren Buffett Biographer, Alice Schroeder. Link
11:28 ATVI – Activision community manager tweets that there are already 1 million players playing BlackOps on Xbox Live. The game was released at mid-night last night. Link
10:55 David Tepper’s $14B hedge-fund was up 5.1% in October and 20.90% YTD. Link
10:01 September wholesale inventories 1.5% vs. 0.6% estimate.
9:06 AKAM – Report that Akamai has lost the Netflix business. Link
7:44 CVX ATLS – Chevron will acquire Atlas Energy for $43.35/share. Link
7:41 FOSL – Fossil reported Q3 earnings of $1.00 vs. 75c estimate and revenue of $523.8M vs. $484.7M estimate. The company guided Q4 earnings to $1.26-1.30 vs. $1.20 estimate and revenue growth to 21-23% vs. 16% estimate.
7:10 BLK – BlackRock priced a secondary at $163. 43.6M from BAC and 7.5M from PNC. BlackRock will receives no proceeds from the sale. Link
7:08 AMZN – Amazon.com will increase the Kindle royalty rate to magazine and newspaper publishers to 70%. Link
7:04 YHOO – Private equity groups have approached Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma to gauge his interest in joining a bid to buy Yahoo. Link
5:45 ABK – Ambac files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Link
5:38 PCLN – Priceline.com reported Q3 earnings of $5.33 vs. $4.97 estimate and revenue of $1B vs. $973M estimate. The company guided Q4 earnings to $2.91-3.06 vs. $2.68 estimate and revenue growth to 31-36% vs. 27% estimate.
5:37 RAX – Rackspace reported Q3 earnings of 9c vs. 9c estimate and revenue of $199.7M vs. $197.5M estimate.
5:36 LDK – LDK Solar reported Q3 earnings of 72c vs. 43c estimate and revenue of $675.6M vs. $628M estimate. The company guided Q4 revenue to $710-750M vs. $593.5M estimate.
1:54 Hedge-funds raising bullish bets on oil to 4 year high. Link
1:39 Fed’s Bullard QE2 PowerPoint slide-show. Link
11:40 Fed bought $6.26B of treasuries today. Link
10:39 Cost of insuring Irish debt hits record new high. Link
10:22 Groupon seeks funding at a $3B valuation. Link
9:09 AMZN – Amazon buys Diapers.com and Soap.com for $500M. Link
8:07 CTV – WSJ reported on Saturday TPG and Corning may consider a rival bid for CommScope vs. Carlyle. Link
8:04 Germany industrial production fell in September -0.8% vs. 0.4% estimate. Link
8:01 Quantas engineers found oil in 3 Rolls-Royce engines where oil shouldn’t be. Link
7:45 Obama defends QE2. Link
7:35 Paul Volcker pans QE2. Link
“The thought that you can create a prosperous economy by inflating is an illusion, in my judgment,” he told reporters after his speech. “And we should never forget that. I thought we’d learned that lesson and I hope we continue to learn that lesson.”
7:34 MSFT – Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer sells over $1B worth of stock. Link
7:30 Chinese Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao criticizes QE2. Link
3:32 Former managers at Duquesne start new $5B hedge-fund. Link
2:51 Bernanke on commodity inflation. Link
1:46 Fed’s Hoenig explains his vote against QE2. Link
12:31 September pending home sales -1.8% vs. 3% estimate.
12:18 CLWR – Clearwire discloses “going concern” risk. Link
11:29 AAPL RIMM – Bank of America and Citigroup are testing to iPhone. It may take the place of the Blackberry for their employees. Link
10:20 DISH – Dish Network reported Q3 earnings of 55c vs. 42c estimate and revenue of $3.21B vs. $3.15B estimate.
9:57 AMZN – Amazon is in a price war with Diapers.com. Link
9:40 SYMC – NYPost reports that activist shareholders want Symantec to be broken up. Link
9:38 Germany criticizes QE2. Link
“What the U.S. accuses China of doing, the U.S.A. is doing by different means,” Mr. Schaeuble said of the action, known as quantitative easing.
9:19 37 business groups from around the world ask the G-20 to make a stand on rare-earths. Link
9:17 Meredith Whitny expects municipal debt defaults in the coming years. Link
8:47 Japan will start buying REITs, government debt, and Nikkei 225/Topix stock index ETFs starting early next week. Link
8:45 China is scolding the U.S. about “planned economies.” Link
Cui Tiankai, a deputy foreign minister and one of China’s lead negotiators at the G20, on Friday said the US plan for limiting current account surpluses and deficits to 4 per cent of gross domestic product harked back “to the days of planned economies”
8:42 Vietnam raised interest rates 1% to 9%. October inflation in the country is 9.66% y/y.
8:39 Non-farm payrolls 151K vs. 60K estimate. Unemployment rate 9.6% vs. 9.6% estimate. Average hourly earnings 0.2% vs. 0.2% estimate. Average work-week 34.3 hours vs. 34.2 hours.
8:16 Fed will be purchasing $110B/mo of treasuries till end of June 2011 ($75B from QE2 and $35B to replace mortgage bonds). Government will be issuing about $114B/mo of new debt in that period.
5:10 Fannie and Freddie overhaul may cost the tax-payer $685B. Link
4:41 NILE – BlueNile reported Q3 earnings of 19c vs. 18c estimate and revenue of $67.5M vs. $72M estimate. The company guided Q4 earnings to 41-46c vs. 43c estimate and revenue of $106-115M vs. $109.5M estimate.
4:40 ATVI – Activision reported Q3 earnings of 12c vs. 9c estimate and revenue of $857M vs. $750M estimate. The company guided the full year to 74c vs. 74c estimate and revenue to $4.45B vs. $4.46B estimate.
4:39 HANS – Hansen Natural reported Q3 earnings of 72c vs. 71c estimate and revenue of $381.5M vs. $360.88M estimate.
4:05 SBUX – Starbucks reported Q4 earnings of 37c vs. 32c estimate and revenue of $2.8B vs. $2.77B estimate. The company guided FY2011 EPS to $1.41-1.47 vs. $1.43.
2:50 The U.S. Treasury pushed for a higher $30 IPO price for GM. Link
2:27 Julian Robertson is long the currencies of Norway, Canada, Singapore, and South Korea to bet against the U.S. dollar.
1:36 Clarium Capital is down 17% YTD through October. Link
11:26 APOL – U.S. Department of Education will review federal financial aid administration by Apollo. Link
11:23 Bloomberg report on Penn’s endowment performance vs. its Ivy League peers. Link
11:16 Pimco’s El-Erian on QE2. Link
11:13 The Fed bought $4.7B in treasuries today. Link
11:11 POT – The Canadian government decided to block the BHP Billiton take-out bid for Potash. Link
11:10 – CNBC reporting that Obama is open to discussing extending Bush tax cuts to all income levels.
10:56 AAPL – On CNBC Julian Robertson said he likes Apple and thinks it can trade to 25-30Xs earnings.
10:22 DTV – DirectTV reported Q3 earnings of 55c vs. 55c estimate and revenue of $6.03B vs. $5.98B estimate.
10:21 CVC – Cablevision reported Q3 earnings of 37c vs. 41c estimate and revenue of $1.81B vs. $1.79B estimate.
9:34 Jobless claims 457K vs. 445K estimate.
8:58 Ben Bernanke explains his QE2 action today. Link
8:23 CSTR NFLX – Time Warner is considering a longer “new release” DVD delay than the 28 days currently used for Coinstar Redbox and Netflix. Link
4:38 TRLG – True Religion reported Q3 earnings of 48c vs. 58c estimate and revenue of $92.8M vs. 94M estimate. The company guided FY2010 EPS to $1.73-1.78 vs. $2.06 estimate and revenue to $355-360M vs. $363M estimate.
4:34 QCOM – Qualcomm reported Q4 earnings of 68c vs. 59c estimate and revenue of $2.95B vs. $2.85B estimate. The company guided Q1 earnings to 70-74c vs. 64c estimate and revenue to $3.05-3.35B vs. $2.99B estimate.
4:32 WFMI – Whole Food reported Q4 earnings of 33c vs 28c estimate and revenue of $2.1B vs. $2.07B estimate. The company guided FY2011 earnings to $1.66-1.71 vs. $1.62 estimate and revenue growth to 10-12% vs. 10.5% estimate.
2:26 Fed says $600B for QE2 over 8 months till Q2-2011. $75B/month.
1:59 Nissan U.S. October sales +16.1%
1:48 GLD – Dan Loeb’s hedge-fund has gold as its largest position. His fund is up 25% YTD. Link
1:46 John Paulson’s hedge-fund was up 2.6% in October and 2.5% YTD. Link
1:44 SEC proposes a rule that opens the door for the agency to pay up 30% of the money it collects from fines to whistle-blowers. Link
12:51 Chrysler U.S. October sales +37%
12:50 F – Ford U.S. October sales +19.2%
12:49 General Motors U.S. October sales +3.5%
12:48 TM – Toyota U.S. October sales -4.4%
10:01 October ISM services 54.3 vs. 54 estimate and 53.2 prior. Factory orders 2.1% vs. 1.8% estimate.
9:27 CVS reported Q3 earnings of 65c vs. 65c estimate and revenue of $23.9B vs. $23.9B estimate. The company guided FY2010 earnings to $2.68-2.70 vs. $2.71 estimate.
9:23 GRMN – Garmin reported Q3 earnings of 70c vs. 75c estimate and revenue of $692M vs. $730M estimate. The company guided FY2010 earnings to $2.70-2.90 vs. $2.98 estimate and revenue to $2.65-2.75B vs. $2.88B estimate.
9:22 VG – Vonage reported Q3 results of 4c vs. 3c estimate and revenue of $214M vs. $222M estimate.
8:45 POT – Russia’s Phosagro is reportedly planning a bid for Potash. Link
8:42 Facebook alumni leaving to start their own companies. Link
8:33 GM – General Motors will received an extra tax break of as much as $45B. Link
8:18 Andreessen Horowitz raises $650M second venture capital fund. Link
8:16 First New York, a prop trading firm, plans to raise its first hedge-fund. Link
8:15 October ADP employment +43K vs. +20K estimate
8:43 CTRP – Ctrip reported Q3 earnings of 31c vs. 24c and revenue of $121M vs. $117M estimate. The company guided Q4 to 30-35% y/y revenue growth vs. 40% estimate.
5:27 STEC – STEC reported Q3 earnings of 31c vs. 20c estimate and revenue of $86.1M vs. $79.4M estimate. The company guided Q4 earnings to 31-33c vs. 25c estimate and revenue to $88-90M vs. $88.5M estimate.
5:25 OPEN – OpenTable reported Q3 earnings of 23c vs. 15c estimate and revenue of $24.5M vs. $23.1M estimate.
5:22 ERTS – Electronic Arts reported Q2 earnings of 10c vs. -10c estimate and revenue of $884M vs. $814.6M estimate. The company guided Q3 earnings to 50-60c vs. 70c estimate and revenue to $1.375-1.50 vs. $1.45B estimate.
5:13 Volkswagen U.S. October sales 17.9% y/y, Kia 38.7% y/y, BMW 12.6% y/y, Hyundai 37.6% y/y.
12:21 ERTS – Electronic Arts signs a 5 year deal with Facebook. The company will receive a 70% revenue share for its Playfish Facebook games. Link
10:26 Former Fed chairman Paul Volcker says quantitative easing may create future inflation. Link
10:06 MSFT – Microsoft announced their holiday Xbox 360 bundle. It comes with 2 free games (Forza 3 and Alan Wake). Link
9:59 AAPL – According to Strategy Analytics Apple captures 95% of the tablet market. Link
9:47 ERTS – Electronic Arts admits that Medal of Honor didn’t meet their quality expectations. Link
9:09 AMZN – Amazon expanded their Disc+ On Demand program to 10,000 titles. This program lets you watch movies online that you buy on DVD. Link
8:13 Dot-com bears bulled up on emerging market equities. Link
8:04 MA – Mastercard reported Q3 earnings of $3.94 v. $3.54 estimate and revenue of $1.4B vs. $1.41B estimate.
8:01 ORCL ARTG – Oracle to buy Art Technology Group for $6/share in cash.
7:48 India raised their interest rate 25bps to 6.25%. Link
7:46 William von Mueffling of Cantillon Capital Management is having success raising money for his long-only asset management firm. His fund was up 21% last year and now has $5B in assets vs. $1B last June. Link
7:45 WMT – Walmart integrates movie streaming with DVD purchases. Link
7:44 Australia raised their interest rate 25bps to 4.75%. Link