Archive for April 21st, 2010
ARM Holdings higher on good results from Apple
European equities markets saw declines Wednesday on more concerns over how much it is costing to make sure that Greece does not default on its debt, as that nation took steps toward tapping an emergency aid package earlier decided by the European Union.
The FTSE 100 was 1.04 percent lower to 5,723.43 in London, while the [...]
The South Park Episode That Might Get Its Creators Killed
Here’s a screen grab from the “South Park” episode that has put the controversial cartoon back in the news.
The 200th episode of “South Park” aired last week depicting the Prophet Mohammed dressed in a bear suit.
On Sunday, the New York-based radical Islamic Web site Revolutionmuslim.com posted a frightening warning to the show’s creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone:
“They will probably wind up like Theo van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them.
(Theo van Gogh was a Dutch filmmaker that a Muslim extremist stabbed to death in Amsterdam in 2004 over his short documentary depicting oppressed European Muslim women.)
Here’s a clip of Parker and Stone talking about the episode:
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See Also:
- South Park Does Cramer (And Facebook)
- South Park Plays "Tiger Woods: The Game"
- Tiger Woods Nike Ad Spawns 160 Spoofs
In a play for ad revenue, New York Times launches a ‘Calorie Count’ iPhone app.
In a play for ad revenue, New York Times launches a ‘Calorie Count’ iPhone app.
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Mid-Day Update: Here’s What’s Going On Right Now (GS, MS, T, MCD)
Indices:
- DJIA: Down 11 points to 11,106.
- NASDAQ: Down 6 points to 2494.
- S&P 500: Down 3 points to 1204.
Today’s biggest gainers on the S&P 500:
- Huntington Bancshares Inc (HBAN): $6.57 / +12.69%
- Marshall & Ilsley Corp (MI): $9.92 / +6.55%
- Zions Bancorp (ZION): $28.99 / +5.73%
Today’s biggest losers on the S&P 500:
- Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD): $40.40 / -10.36%
- Juniper Networks Inc (JNPR): $29.58 / -6.27%
- Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (FCX): $76.97 / -4.74%
Commodities:
- Oil: Down 0.92% or $0.77 to $83.08 a barrel.
- Gold: Up 0.05% or $0.60 to $1139.80 an ounce.
- Silver: Up 0.25% or $0.04 to $17.87 an ounce.
Futures:
- Mixed, with grains and softs seeing most of the gains.
- Palladium on the rise; up 2.25% to $563.80 an ounce.
- Natural gas futures up 1.25% to 4.0250.
Now here are the stories you need to know:
- Further doubts emerged over the legitimacy of the SEC’s case against Goldman Sachs, as it was revealed that it has testimony that contradicts its case. Goldman’s Frabrice Tourre has agreed to testify to the U.S. Senate.
- Morgan Stanley beat earnings estimates notching EPS of $0.99, higher than the projected $0.57. The bank was buoyed by its fixed income division, which had its earning double over last year.
- AT&T also beat earnings numbers, but its future earnings are in doubt over whether or not the company will be able to maintain its exclusivity rights in the U.S. for Apple’s iPhone.
- First qua ter profit for McDonalds impressed with the restaurant chain making $1.00 a share, up $0.13 from a year earlier. The firm said the results were a product of better breakfast sales.
- As airlines in Europe return to some normalcy there is a rumor that a British Airways plane has experienced engine failure due to volcanic ash and has had to be diverted.
All prices as of 11:45 AM EST
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This ETF Pair Oddly Predicts Both A Growth Slow-Down And Higher U.S. Equity Fund Flows
Emerging markets stocks had a long run vs. large cap U.S. ones. Now they’re starting to underperform, as measured by a chart of the iShares Emerging Markets Index (EEM) ETF vs. the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) ETF.
When traders are more risk averse and anticipating global slowdown, they will tend to seek the relative safety of large cap stocks in the world’s largest economy. That will show up as SPY outperforming EEM.
What we’ve seen lately (above) is that, despite very rapid economic growth in Asia and South America, EEM has stopped outperforming SPY.
The chart below from Trader Feed tracks relative performance between the two ETFs, starting as a base 100 level.
Thus at the peak, EEM outperformed SPY by 35%, but now has given back a substantial amount of this outperformance since early January. This confirms the view that consensus doesn’t expect the current pace of economic growth, to sustain itself, given that the world just experienced a sharp V-shaped rebound in the aftermath of a sharp fall. (ie. growth rates are expected to slow, but not collapse)
Consensus now expects growth to slow, plus also might be switching into better relative values in the U.S. stocks, given U.S. underperformance vs. emerging markets.
From a U.S. investor fund flow perspective, where international stocks have been favored over U.S. stocks during the last year, this means it’s likely we could now see increased flows into U.S. stocks since we’ve yet to see all the money which fled during the crisis come back.
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