24/7 Wall St. » AA

Sell In May And Go Away? A 2012 Primer (BAC, JPM, GE, AA, CAT, MSFT, INTC, AAPL, XOM, CVX, DD)

Administrator — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:08:19 +0000

It is that time of year again. It is time to ponder the theory of pricing in a summer slowdown, whether it actually happens or not. In short, is time to “Sell in May and go away?” 2012 could be different. After all, this is an election year and it is not as though the U.S. is in the same spot it was in during the 2008 election. 2012 also faces the challenges of the larger European nations, as well as very sluggish reports from the growth markets of China, India, and South America.

Many investors might actually hope that we do get a 10% correction so that they can get into stocks again. Recent reports have shown that the average investor has still shied away from stocks in favor of the safety of bonds. The DJIA peaked above 13,300 in March after having ended 2011 at 12,217.56. It is hard to imagine this, but the DJIA had a low of under 6,500 in early 2009 at the peak of the panic selling. That was back to 10,000 by October of 2009 and the market is above 13,000 at the current time. Is it possible that the DJIA has really doubled from the lows and Joe Public has not participated at all?

We want to take a look at the valuations, dividend yields, performance, and underlying trends driving some of the key industry leaders which have already reported earnings and offered guidance in order to get a better handle on what to expect for the coming summer.

Chrysler is also acting as a strong barometer for U.S. auto sales, even if the highly-volatile durable goods orders have been weak for two months. While the retail segment is marred by a couple of undercurrents right now, sales have remained positive in 2012 when some were expecting some negative overall numbers. Now we also have a fresh report calling for at least 8% dividend growth from DJIA stocks this year and the components have so far been hiking dividends above what was expected.

We have taken a look at the following: Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) in banking; General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) as the conglomerate leader (and economic barometer); Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) as a leading indicator of the metals markets; Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) as the construction and super-heavy equipment leader; Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) as the tech leaders; Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) not as a DJIA component but as an asset class; and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) and Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) as the American leaders in Big Oil. We also want to consider E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE: DD), or DuPont,

A Recent History of “Sell In May and Go Away”

2009 was a very different year because the market was recovering from the crash and stocks were still benefitting from that move. 2010 was a nasty start of summer as investors worried about a double-dip recession as housing prices continued to sink and unemployment was still a prime concern. We also faced that punishing event called ‘The Flash Crash.’ Another big distraction was BP PLC (NYSE: BP) for its disaster in the Gulf and America and the rest of the world was starting to consider some problems in nations called the PIIGS. The market peaked around 11,300 in late April and had sunk to a 9,800 by early May. Even around July 6 the DJIA was only around 10,200 and was only back up to almost 10,500 after the end of August around Labor Day.

2011 felt close to a repeat of 2010 with the worries not just about the PIIGS but about the possibilities of a U.S. debt rating downgrade which did ultimately come. Housing was still in the tank and employment was not yet in a full-blown recovery in America. While the end of April to the end of May did see a drop of 800 points in the DJIA from almost 12,900 in late April and early May to just above 12,000 by late May and 11,900 by late June, it was late-July and August which were the cruel months for the DJIA as companies began to suffer serious earnings concerns. The DJIA bottomed out just under 10,600 in August. By late-October the market was back above 12,000 again.

So, here we sit at the end of April in 2012 with a long road of political hate ahead of us, and an economy that is still sluggish but one which not go into recession. Right now the labor data is still choppy even though unemployment is down to 8.2% due to lower labor force participation rates. Earnings growth has slowed down and Europe remains a key concern with the stable European nations being a concern on top of the PIIGS. The good news is that equity values remain attractive and the FOMC is still pledged to a policy of maintaining an “exceptionally low rate policy” through the end of 2014.

The Leading Companies As Economic Barometers

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) are the two DJIA money-center banking leaders and they are both at discounts to their respective book values. Both banks turned in earnings reports that show some stabilization even if mortgage woes remain a hangover from yesteryear. 2012 has also been a period of incredible recovery from an awful 2011. Bank of America effectively doubled from trough to peak from late 2011 to the end of the first quarter and at $8.26 it has a consensus analyst target of effectively $10 that implies upside of close to 21%. J.P. Morgan is around $43 it has risen 35% from trough to peak from late 2011 to the present time. Its dividend yield is back up to almost 3% and the price target of about $52.80 implies upside of almost 23%.

Filed under: Banking, Compensation, Conglomerates, Consumer Goods, Corporate Governance, Dividend, Earnings, Economy, Editor's Picks, Index, Infrastructure, International Markets, Labor & Unions, Large Cap Stocks, Personal Finance, Transports Tagged: AA, AAPL, BAC, BP, CAT, CVX, DD, GE, INTC, JPM, MSFT, XOM

Scoring Earnings Season: A True Tale of the Tape (AA, JPM, WFC, GOOG, NOK, INFY, CSTR, MFRM, CSC)

Administrator — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 15:33:10 +0000

Earnings season for the first quarter of 2012 is upon us and 24/7 Wall St. wanted to see how the tale of the tape is treating the companies reporting earnings. Our aim is to offer some insight into a ‘earnings season bias.’ We have featured a preview of 13 of the 30 DJIA stocks which report earnings in the coming week and the common singularity in the lot shows that analysts think most of these stocks are close to full value.

In a separate issue to rank last week’s bias, we just featured the strongest stock charts in the S&P 500 Index after a poor week where the S&P fell by -1.9%. We already showed a tempering of expectations going into earnings season, so the reactions were not really any huge surprise.

Can you derive a true earnings season bias by evaluating the post-earnings reactions of Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA), J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK), Infosys Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFY), Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR), Mattress Firm Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: MFRM), and Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC)? 24/7 Wall St. thinks you can find a key trend here that may help investors cover their assets this earnings season. Hopefully this review and analysis will help investors focus on the underlying issues of each major earnings report rather than getting hung up on whether just over 8% GDP growth in China is good enough and whether the PIIGS in Europe are going to keep dragging down Europe and the rest of the world.

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) managed to surprise just about everyone to the upside. When it had just announced production cuts a week before, the aluminum giant managed to turn in a positive earnings report at $0.10 EPS rather than a loss of -$0.04 EPS expected. The conference call talked up growth in many key segments and said that China is not as weak as it looks. Alcoa went from $9.32 before earnings to close at $9.90 the day after and even closed at $10.17 the following day before closing the week out at $9.85. All in all, Alcoa added 2.3% for the week.

There was a big earnings reaction disappointment from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and from Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC). These are the two healthiest banks and it really sets up caution for the coming junk-bank earnings from the money center group this coming week. Both companies beat earnings and talked up their books and finances. At the end of the day, J.P. Morgan closed down 3.6% and Wells Fargo closed down almost 3.5% after earnings. We would pay closer attention to the book value analysis for the major financial sector earnings due this week because the sector was a great performer in the first quarter and looks to be treated rather poorly even after good earnings.

The Internet wild card was of course Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and the earnings were clouded by a stock split that is actually a share structure shenanigan giving Larry & Sergei ultimate and complete control of the company. The focus remains on the decline in pay-per-clicks as well, and shares fell 4% or $26.41 to $624.60 after the earnings report. This was a drop of less than $8.00 for the whole week.

It should be of little surprise that Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) issued an earnings warning. We do not even count Nokia as a market indicator any longer and this posted a double-digit drop after warnings and then weakened further the rest of the week. Shares are down at $4.02 now and at the weakest level in a decade. Ask yourself this question… Do you even know anyone that still has a Nokia phone?

Infosys Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFY) is supposed to be the king of Indian IT-outsourcing, and the earnings report itself did not look bad. The problem came from cutting its growth rates by one-third for the coming year and that spooked investors big time with a drop of 13.4% to $49.15 at the end of the week. Infosys is now within striking distance of a 52-week low of $46.12.

One positive did come from Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR) with much higher guidance. Shares rose 7.3% to $65.78 and the stock put in a new 52-week high of $69.74 before softening up with the weak stock market tape. The bright side here was no negative reaction from a price hike. Go figure. Unfortunately, it was hard to draw any major inference here into other media and movie companies.

Another bright spot came from Mattress Firm Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: MFRM) with higher earnings guidance and an acquisition which will boost its market share in the mattress sales segment. Shares hit a new post-IPO and all-time high of $45.96 and this one gained almost 13% for the week. Unfortunately it is going to be hard to draw much pin-action here for other retail names.

Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC) put a hex on its turnaround story as this key contract in the U.K. is still held up and is not finalized for better or worse. The earnings warning turned a value stock back into a value trap. CSC closed down almost 8% for the week at $27.02 and it is a weak stock that got weaker.

So, the vote is in if you just look at the broad market reaction on each and filter out all of the other noise. The long and short of the matter is that if you look at the core economy companies here and filter out the few bright spots, Wall Street is not really wanting to pay up for what appear to be decent earnings. After a huge first quarter, it seems as though the bias is leaning toward only rewarding companies which really exceed expectations. Now we know what to be braced for going into the coming week as the real earnings season floodgates open wide.

You are invited to join or free daily email list to hear about upcoming earnings trends, market trends, IPOs, market rumors, M&A, private equity, and also to get our daily feature stories delivered right to your inbox each morning.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Annual Report, Banking, Corporate Governance, Dividend, Earnings, Earnings Warning, Economy, Editor's Picks, Index, The Week, Trading Alert, Value Investing Tagged: AA, CSC, CSTR, GOOG, INFY, JPM, MFRM, NOK, WFC

Media Digest (4/11/2012) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg

247wallst — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:37:48 +0000

Spain’s industrial production falls 5.1% on an annual basis in February. (MarketWatch)

U.S. brokerage firms pay increasingly higher bonuses to get top producers. (Reuters)

Alcoa (NYSE: AA) has a surprising first-quarter profit. (Reuters)

Travelzoo (NASDAQ: TZOO) may put itself up for sale. (Reuters)

The Department of Justice will sue Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) over the way it helps price e-books. (Reuters)

Shareholder Starboard tells AOL (NYSE: AOL) that it will continue its proxy fight despite the company’s sale of patents. (Reuters)

Carlyle will try to get an $8 billion valuation as it goes public. (Reuters)

Best Buy’s (NYSE: BBY) CEO resigns because of a board investigation into his “personal conduct.” (WSJ)

Fears of financial problems in Spain push down global markets. (WSJ)

Retailers cannot stop buyers from looking at merchandise in stores and then buying online. (WSJ)

SAP (NYSE: SAP) makes a large investment in its efforts to compete with Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL). (WSJ)

American International Group (NYSE: AIG) will return to the property investing business. (WSJ)

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could save $1.7 billion by writing down some loan balances, according to a regulator. (WSJ)

The Institute of Medicine suggests a new tax on medical care. (WSJ)

The National Federation of Independent Business says small businesses are less optimistic because of energy costs. (WSJ)

Officials in India express concerns about energy prices. (WSJ)

The International Monetary Fund will cut its forecasts of China’s current account surplus. (WSJ)

CareerCast says the most desired job last year was software engineer. (WSJ)

China’s oil imports reached 5.55 million barrels a day in March, up 8.7% from last year, according to the China’s General Administration of Customs. (WSJ)

The Federal Reserve may change the way it stress tests large banks. (WSJ)

The falling prices of real estate likely will hurt Chinese property investment firms. (WSJ)

Some economists believe that subsidies for U.S. service firms to do business overseas could sharply improve sales. (NYT)

Gross domestic product may improve, with wholesale inventories as a sign. (NYT)

U.S. states that have tried to change retirement benefits begin to face court actions. (FT)

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says his nation’s future may ride on its ability to bring down bond yields as it presents austerity plans. (Bloomberg)

The Journal of the American Medical Association says auto crashes rise before Tax Day. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: Press Digest Tagged: AA, AAPL, AIG, AOL, BBY, ORCL, SAP, TZOO

Alcoa’s Big Positive Surprise (AA)

Administrator — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:18:54 +0000

Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA) has managed to pull a rabbit out of its hat and it is the good kind. The aluminum giant and DJIA component just reported earnings of $94 million or $0.09 EPS on sales of $6.01 billion. The earnings per share would have even been $0.10 EPS outside of special items. The report is shocking because the company just announced Atlantic basin production cuts last week. Who was expecting strength after that? Thomson Reuters projected estimates of a loss at -$0.04 EPS and $5.77 billion in revenues.

For the yearly growth Alcoa sees global aluminum demand up 7%. Other areas for 2012 are as follows:

automotive growth at 3% to 7%;
aerospace 13% to 14%;
commercial transport 1% to 5%;
packaging 2% to 3%;
industrial gas turbines 1% to 2%;
building & construction 2.5% to 3.5%.

Chairman & CEO Klaus Kleinfeld noted Alcoa’s performance was based upon a focus on profitable growth and stabilizing markets. He further talked up Alcoa’s “aggressive strategy to move down the cost curve in the upstream businesses” and its move to record profitability in the midstream and downstream businesses. Demand and shipment control were key because the firm noted that a 9% drop in the realized price of aluminum and a 13% drop in the realized price of alumina.

Shares closed down 2.9% at $9.32 against a 52-week trading range of $8.45 to $17.96. This report truly was a surprise when you consider the recent news and caution out there about earnings from the first quarter.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Earnings, Metals Tagged: AA

Alcoa To Set Tone Of Earnings Season… Beware? (AA)

Administrator — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:09:47 +0000

Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA) is set to report earnings after the close on Tuesday and this will both be the first DJIA component to report earnings and it may set the tone for earnings season. 24/7 Wall St. argues over how relevant Alcoa is to the overall picture, but the reality is that there is no reason to fight the tape. Alcoa transcends many business segments from mining to consumer electronics, from canning outfits to retail, from consumer goods to auto-makers.

We have noted this week and last week how so many key earnings have been tempered down in expectations. It seems like the bar is being set low here as estimates are -$0.04 EPS and $5.77 billion in revenues. The reason the expectation is low is that the company itself already said just last week that it was dialing down production in the Atlantic basin by a couple or few percentage points. That might not be the end of the world, but it is hard to expect that Alcoa’s CEO will come out say “Golly, demand is shooting through the roof” out of the blue.

If Alcoa offers guidance, the consensus target for the coming quarter is $0.12 EPS and $6.17 billion in sales. We still expect Alcoa to maintain that the Aluminum market is expected to double going out to 2020. Here is the question to ask… “What if Alcoa doesn’t really ratchet down earnings all that much?” That would likely be considered a real win.

With shares down 2.2% at $9.39 ahead of the report, the 52-week trading range is $8.45 to $17.96. Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of $11.70 for Alcoa.

Options traders are braced for a move of close to $0.50 in either direction if we use the speculative puts and calls for April.

Alcoa is still higher than it was at the December lows, but not by much when you consider the first quarter double-digit S&P 500 rally. The 50-day moving average is up at $10.18 and that acted as hard resistance over the last month. The 200-day moving average is all the way up at $11.02 and the 200-day moving average has not been a real consideration going back to last summer.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Earnings, Metals Tagged: AA

Earnings Expectations for First Quarter are Modest (AA, GOOG, JPM, WFC)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:45:40 +0000

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) kicks off the new earnings season after the markets close today, and according to S&P Capital IQ consensus estimates, it looks like earnings are going to be off to a wobbly start. Capital IQ expects an EPS loss of -$0.03/share compared with EPS of $0.28 in the first quarter of 2011.

Other major reports due this week include Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), and Wells Fargo and Co. (NYSE: WFC). Earnings estimates from Capital IQ estimate EPS of $9.62 from Google, compared with $8.08 a year ago (up 19%); EPS of $1.16 for JPMorgan, down from $1.28 a year ago (down 9.1%); and EPS of $0.73 from Wells Fargo, up from $0.67 a year ago (up 9.3%).

So far this year, 81% of 27 S&P 500 companies that have reported first quarter earnings have beaten expectations. The surprise has been 11.3% to the upside so far, but overall the calendar quarter growth rate projected by Capital IQ is just 1.02%. That’s a far cry from the 11.2% earnings growth posted in the fourth quarter by the S&P 500.

We noted the tempered expectations for first quarter earnings in more detail yesterday. The S&P Capital IQ numbers reiterate the modest outlook for the new earnings season.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Earnings, Research Tagged: AA, GOOG, JPM, WFC

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (AAPL, LNKD, DIS, MJN, GOLD, WDFC, GBX, SVU, AA, AOL, MSFT, CKSW, WOLF)

Paul Ausick — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 20:07:35 +0000

Markets opened lower this morning on the first trading day in the US following last week’s poor report on non-farm payrolls. Higher-than-expected inflation in China also caused led some observers to suggest that the Chinese government may introduce more measures to cool the economy. The US dollar index fell today, now down -0.21% at 79.720. Commodities were mixed, with wool posting the largest gain and orange juice the biggest loss. WTI crude oil closed down -0.8% at $102.46/barrel, and Brent crude trades down -0.60% at $122.69/barrel. Gold settled up 0.9% today, at $1,643.90/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA more than 130 points to 12,929.59 (-1.0%), the NASDAQ fell more than 33 points (-1.08%) to 3,047.08, and the S&P 500 fell -1.14% or nearly 16 points to 1,382.20.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) cut to ‘neutral’ at BTIG; LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) started as ‘hold’ at Needham; Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) cut to ‘neutral’ at Citigroup; Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (NYSE: MJN) reiterated ‘outperform’ with target price of $82 at Credit Suisse; and Randgold Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ: GOLD) raised to ‘buy’ at Stifel Nicolaus.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: WD-40 Co. (NASDAQ: WDFC) is up 0.56% at $45.03, and Greenbrier Companies (NYSE: GBX) is down -6.4% at $18.45. The new earnings season begins in earnest tomorrow with Supervalu Inc. (NYSE: SVU) reporting before markets open and Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) reporting after the markets close.

Here’s our preview of the coming week’s top earnings reports.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is up 43% at $26.37 after posting a new 5-week high of $27.47 earlier today. The company sold a package of patents to Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) More coverage here.

ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CKSW) is down nearly -16% at $10.56. The workforce management software company lowered its first quarter outlook. More coverage here.

Great Wolf Resorts Inc. (NASDAQ: WOLF) is up more than 12% at $7.39 after posting a new 52-week high of $7.45 earlier today. The company is the target of a bidding war. More coverage here.

Soon-to-be-public Facebook Inc. paid $1 billion in cash and stock for photo-sharing site Instagram. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, Minneapolis Fed President Naryana Kocherlakota, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher, and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart are all giving speeches. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:30 a.m. – NFIB small business optimism index
10:00 a.m. – Wholesale trade
11.30 a.m. – 4-week bill auction
1:00 p.m. – 3-year note auction

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AA, AAPL, AOL, CKSW, DIS, GBX, gold, LNKD, MJN, MSFT, SVU, WDFC, WOLF

A Tempered Outlook of Key Earnings Expectations (AA, SNDK, CSCO, AAPL, GE, JPM, BAC, WFC, WMT, LUV, IBM, T, VZ, BAC, MCD, AAPL)

Administrator — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:45:02 +0000

The first quarter earnings reports will start to dribble out this week and expectations have been tempered in recent trading days ahead of Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) on Tuesday afternoon. The stock market had an incredible first quarter performance with double-digit gains but there has been some growing caution over real expectations. 24/7 Wall St. has taken a look at internal corporate commentary and external comments which show some continued caution toward the high income growth. This data features several DJIA components and also other industry leaders to get to the bottom of what to expect this earnings season.

This week’s review focuses on the most fresh data on Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA), SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) and Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO). We also have more fresh data on the following: General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE); J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM); Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT); Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV); International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM); AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) and Verizon Communications, Inc. (NYSE: VZ); Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC); and also McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD).

The trends should not move investors towards a panic button, but there is some growing concern even compared to just three weeks ago. The news is far from positive and could act as a drag on the expectations that the market will keep rising.

Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA) reports earnings on Tuesday and it is generally the first DJIA component to report earnings each quarter. Investors always try to use Alcoa as a benchmark for all major economic companies each earnings season. The issue goes far beyond Alcoa and far beyond just the base economy companies as one last tempering of earnings expectations for the first quarter of 2012. The company just noted at the end of last week ahead of earnings that it would be dialing down some capacity in the Atlantic region, a move which cannot exactly be interpreted as strengthening demand ahead of earnings.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Calendar, Earnings, Economy Tagged: AA, AAPL, BAC, CSCO, GE, IBM, JPM, LUV, MCD, SNDK, T, VZ, WFC, WMT

First Quarter Earnings Season Begins, With Worry

247wallst — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:41:19 +0000

Companies will begin to release first quarter results this week. S&P says it expects a sharp slowdown in earnings improvements among the S&P 500. This, in turn, could knock the stock market advance off its axis. And. it may not take much. The S&P 500 is up nearly 10% over the last three months.

New concerns about the economy began last week as the jobs report for March was much worse than expected. High gas and oil prices are the subject of everyday conversations and analysis by economists. Earnings may be the last weight on the pile. It appears the advance of the markets is over.

Among the firms which will report early are Alcoa (NYSE: AA) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG)

Filed under: Earnings Tagged: AA, GOOG

Media Digest (4/6/2012) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg

247wallst — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 09:54:13 +0000

A federal judge approves a $25 billion mortgage misconduct settlement between the federal and several state governments and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM), and Ally. (Reuters)

Facebook will list on the Nasdaq. (WSJ)

Samsung expects a record first quarter, based to some extent on it mobile product business. (Reuters)

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) will announce its reorganization next Tuesday. (Reuters)

PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) is in talks with Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) and Hess (NYSE: HES) about shale oil exploration. (Reuters)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) presses developers to make apps for its Windows Mobile OS. (WSJ)

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) may buy an idled ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) refinery to hedge jet fuel costs. (WSJ)

Alcoa (NYSE: AA) to cut aluminum production. (WSJ)

Viacom (NASDAQ: VIA) starts another copyright suit against Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube. (WSJ)

JCPenney (NYSE: JCP) cuts staff at its headquarters. (WSJ)

General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Toyota (NYSE: TM) post modest car sales in China in March. (WSJ)

Ford (NYSE: F) to invest in a new $600 million facility in China. (WSJ)

Many retailers report better-than-expected March sales. (NYT)

Spanish bond yields still test multimonth highs. (FT)

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) mounts a defense of its e-book pricing. (Bloomberg)

Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) loses more workers as it adjusts its strategy. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: Press Digest Tagged: AA, AAPL, BAC, C, COP, DAL, F, GM, GOOG, HES, JCP, JPM, MSFT, PTR, RDS-A, RIMM, TM, VIA, WFC, YHOO