For some reason, retailers have been thinking that this holiday season would be bad but not brutal. Industry experts have been saying sales might only be up 2% or 3% year-over-year.
Someone must have been drinking the good stuff. Any man on the street could have told the retail industry that sales this year will be off, way off. People are too worried about their jobs and have no credit.
Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone does everything. It is a phone, a multimedia player, a web browser, and a washing machine.
Now, Apple wants the iPhone to be a gaming platform and it is going to take on the remarkably successful Nintendo DS and Sony (SNE) Playstation Portable, which currently rule the mobile video game market.
Mobile search is supposed to be the next big thing on the internet. Now that PC users have pretty much decided what search service they want to use, the war is moving to handsets. Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo! (YHOO) are desperate to make sure that Google (GOOG) does not move its 65% market share on the PC to mobile devices.
Rumors that Goldman Sachs (GS) will have to raise more money have helped push its stock from $123 less than a month ago to $71 yesterday.
Wall St. wants to believe that the money which the venerable trading house got from Warren "Warrant" Buffett and the US Treasury was not enough. Goldman is in trouble, they say, like Morgan Stanley (MS) and Merrill Lynch (MER) before it.
Henry Paulson’s newest idea for his $700 billion bailout fund is to get private equity firms to invest side-by-side with him in the next series of financial firms that will get money. This will not apply to those banks which have already gotten their hand outs.
Paulson’ argument may be that even $700 billion is a finite amount and to stretch it new applicants should go out and get extra money from the private sector. Why should the US government take all of the risk?
Short sellers are still betting that financial shares will fall but they have boldly moved into shares of companies which are considered healthy, those with both good balance sheets and relatively strong earnings prospects.Data is as of the end of October.
The short interest in AIG (AIG) rose 44% to 135.7 million shares. Short interest in Citigroup (C) rose 18% to 138 million. Shares short in Morgan Stanley (MS) were up 85% to 44 million. Shares short in Well Fargo (WFC) jumped 14% to 151.4 million. The short interest in American Express (AXP) rose 37% to 30.3 million.
"Safe" companies were also attacked by short sellers. Shares short in P&G (PG) rose 39% to 46.3 million. The short interest in GE (GE) rose 18% to 79.8 million. Shares short in AT&T (T) rose 30% to 41 million. The short interest n Caterpillar (CAT) was up 31% to 26.7 million.Short interest in Exxon (XOM) rose 18% to 39.5 million. Shares short in Microsoft (MSFT) rose 20% to 82.8 million. Shares short in Oracle (ORCL) were up 37% to 43.6 million. Short interest in Cisco CSCO) rose 9% to 61.4 million. Shares short in Apple (AAPL) moved up 16% to 28.1 million
Short sellers were willing to make huge bets against companies in deep financial trouble. Shares short in Qwest (Q) rose 24% to 70.7 million. The short position in Ford (F) was up 4% to 305.2 million. Shares sold short in GM (GM) rose 10% to 102.6 million. The short interest in Motorola (MOT) was up 29% to 40 million. Shares short in Nortel (NT) were up 28% to 40.7 million. Short interest in Sirius (SIRI) moved up 23% to 285.2 million.
Data from NYSE and NASDAQ.
Douglas A. McIntyre
According to Reuters, Chrysler is running out of time and options for staying in business.
Reuters reports that American Express (AXP) is seeking $3.5 billion from the government bailout fund.
Reuters writes that Goldman Sachs (GS) intends to operate as it has in the past even though it is now a bank holding company.
Markets in Asia were mixed.
The Nikkei fell 1.3% to 8,696.
The Hang Seng rose ,4% to 14,093.
The Shanghai Composite was up ,8% to 1,859.
At the open in Europe, the FTSE rose .7% to 4,267. THe Dac was up 1.1% to 4,816. The CAC 40 rose 2.1% to 3,407.
Data from Reuters
Douglas A. McIntyre
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