Posts for Ticker ‘BAC’

Unusual Friday Options Activity (AAPL, GOOG, BAC, LEAP, PCS, DRYS, YHOO)

We have seen some unusual options trading today.  As you would expect, some is around today’s 4:00 PM close  with today being options expiration date.  But some bets are way out into 2011 and we have some around merger rumors.  All have links with full details on the options trading analysis at VSInvestor:

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) are both seeing very active trading around expiration date today, and the closest strikes are acting as magnets.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) has seen a very bullish bet in options out to 2011.

There is some elevated Dec-2009 Call options activity in both Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) and MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS) on today’s re-rumor of a potential deal coming back up.

DryShips, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) is very active in the stock after an increased convertible note offering, yet the options activity seen today seems muted.

Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) has a big bet out in January 2011 options expiration.

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JON C. OGG
NOVEMBER 20, 2009

Posted on: November 20, 2009 – 3:24 pm in Options, Rumors, Trading Alert, , , , , , ,

The Federal Reserve Vs. Ron Paul

There is a rumor that has been around Hollywood for decades that some of the greatest silent film comedy scripts were created by screen writers who would bribe wardens at a local insane asylum to allow a patient to sit in on their story meetings. Allegedly, some of the most hilarious moments in the history of comedic cinema came out of ideas from the minds of people who spent all of their time on locked wards. Even the craziest person in the world can give birth to an idea which is both brilliant and intelligible. Read More »

Posted on: November 20, 2009 – 4:35 am in Banking, Regulation, ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/18/2009) (MCD)(BAC)(GOOG)

Updated throughout the day.

Updated 1.48 PM EST:  News Corp’s (NYSE:NWS) MySpace is in talks to buy free music streaming site imeem. (AP)

Update 1.42 PM EST:  Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) will launch its own Android phone  (TechCrunch)

Carl Icahn is aggressively buying shares in MGM  (HollyWood Daily)

Apollo Management may try to list on the NYSE. (FT)

Paulson & Co. believe that Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) will double by the end of 2011.

Oil prices at $80 could damage the economy.  (Fortune)

The low volume of the rally is raising concern about why investors are not convinced the market is going higher  (CNBC)

Subway may open 1,000 stores in Russia by 2015, a challenge to McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD)  (Reuters)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 18, 2009 – 8:17 am in Rumors, , , ,

$1 Salary For Pandit: Citigroup Gets What It Paid For

The most charitable thing that can be said about Vikram Pandit, the CEO of Citigroup (NYSE:C) since December 11. 2007, is that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The bank’s stock is down 90% since his first day as chief executive. The shares of other large international banks were battered by the credit crisis, but JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) have gained most of their value back during the two-year period. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), the most hapless of all the large financial firms, has even performed better than Citi in the market. Read More »

Posted on: November 18, 2009 – 5:06 am in Banking, Compensation, , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 11/18/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters:   Thain regrets nothing he did at Merrill Lynch and during its merger with Bank of America (NYSE:BAC).

Reuters:   Trump put his support to the bondholders of his casino business.

FT:   A Chinese court ruled against Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in an intellectual property case. Read More »

Posted on: November 18, 2009 – 4:07 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Buffett & Berkshire Hathaway Q3-2009 Holdings A to F (BRK-A, AXP, BAC, BDX, BNI, KMX, KO, CMCSA, CDCO, COP, COST, XOM, ETN)

BuffettImage gates foundation Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A)(BRK-B) has shown its Q3-2009 holdings as of September 30, 2009.  We had already seen how his securities holdings were up on the books in the holdings with earnings.  There are also some portfolio changes that have taken place since the September 30 cut-off date.  These have been broken down into 3 groups of ‘A to F’ and ‘G to O’ and ‘P to Z’ so it is more concise and clear.  Here are Warren Buffett’s holdings and accompanying notes for the group ‘A ot F.’

  • American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) over 151.6 million shares, same as last quarter.
  • Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) 5 million shares; same as last quarter.
  • Becton Dickinson & Co. (NYSE: BDX) 1.2 million shares, same as last quarter.
  • Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI) was reported as 76.77 million shares but frankly it does not really matter as BNSF is becoming part of Berkshire.
  • Carmax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) 9 million shares is same as last quarter.
  • Coca Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) right at 200 million shares, still same as before.
  • Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) 12 million shares, same as before.
  • Comdisco Holdings (NASDAQ: CDCO) roughly 1.5 million shares, same as before.
  • ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) 57.43 million shares, DOWN FROM 62.485 million at the end of June.
  • Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) 5.254 million shares, same as before.
  • Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) is a NEW HOLDING of 1.276 million shares.

Eaton Corp. (NYSE: ETN) was NOT LISTED ANY LONGER, so sold from holdings.

BUFFETT HOLDINGS G to O

BUFFETT HOLDINGS P to Z

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JON C. OGG

Posted on: November 16, 2009 – 4:33 pm in Activist Investor, Buffett, Buffett Holdings, Conglomerates, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Paulson Takes Huge Stake In Citigoup, Dumps Goldman

Money ImageJohn Paulson is rather notorious, and wealthy, for how much he picked up by shorting financial stocks on the way down.  But the financial world found out in August that Paulson & Co. had bought up many key financial and banking stocks.  Paulson & Co. Inc. is out with a 13-F filing after the close showing he is still in many key financial stocks.

The famed hedge fund manager took a massive stake in Citigroup and sold his entire interest in Goldman Sachs

  • Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) was listed as 159,794,229 shares, down from 167,990,464 shares.
  • Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) was static as a stake of 17,000,000 shares of common stock.
  • Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) is listed as 300,000,000 (three-hundred million) of common stock.
  • Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) was static as a 5,000,000 share stake.
  • First Horizon National Corp. (NYSE: FHN) was 7.11 million, up from a stake of 3,000,000 shares in August.
  • JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) was down to 2,000,000 shares, down from an August stake of 7,000,000 shares of common stock.
  • Marshall & Ilsley Corp. (NYSE: MI) was static at 12,000,000 shares of common stock.
  • People’s United Financial Inc. (NASDAQ: PBCT) was static at 2,750,000 shares of common stock.
  • Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) was static at 35,000,000 shares of common stock.
  • SunTrust Bank Inc. (NYSE: STI) was static at 1,500,000 shares of common stock.

We had also noted back in October how Conseco, Inc. (NYSE: CNO) had scored a Paulson investment.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) was NOT in the new filing compared to the August filing where he listed 2,000,000 shares of common stock in the August filing.  State Street Corp. (NYSE: STT) was NOT in the filing versus a stake of 700,000 shares of common stock in August.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: November 13, 2009 – 5:50 pm in Activist Investor, Banking, Financial Stocks, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/13/2009) (PALM)(INTC)(AMD)

magazinUpdated throughout the day.

Updated 10.30 AM EST: PALM (NASDAQ:PALM) shares are up on speculation that Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) or Nokia (NYSE:NOK) will buy the faltering handset firm (VSInvestor)

Former Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) CEO and New Jersey governor Jon Corzine said he has not talked to Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) about running the firm. (The Deal)

Some former bank CEOs are considering bidding for failed banks at FDIC auctions.  (WSJ)

Now that it has settled a legal dispute against AMD (NYSE:AMD), Intel’s (NASDAQ:INTC) biggest challenge is competition from ARM Holdings  (BusinessWeek)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 13, 2009 – 9:00 am in Rumors, , , , , , ,

Corzine as Bank of America CEO? (GS, BAC)

B of A LogoJon Corzine recently lost the gubernatorial race in New Jersey.  He is also a very wealthy Wall Streeter that is a former disciple of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS).  He is also a democrat that is very friendly with the Obama administration.   And now the strange rumor mill is getting stranger….

Charlie Gasparino on CNBC just threw out the idea that Corzine could potentially be in the running for the CEO role at Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) as the replacement for Ken Lewis….. after he touted his book again.  Gasparino noted that he asked Bank of America about this and the ‘rumor’ was not denied but was given a ‘no comment’ answer which Gasparino expanded upon.

In this new world under the ‘new normal’ it seems that anything is possible.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: November 12, 2009 – 10:28 am in Banking, Financial Stocks, Management Change, Politics, Rumors, Turnarounds, ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/12/2009) (VZ)(EBAY)(SBUX)

magazinUpdated throughout the day.

Ebay (NASDAQ:EBAY) PayPal profits will increase sharply in Q4. (TheStreet)

A former lead director at Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) is pushing for the firm to pick an insider as the new CEO  (TheDeal)

British Airways will merge with Iberia  (Bloomberg)

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) employees and customers are upset that the company has gone into the instant coffee business.  (BusinessWeek)

Verizon (NYSE:VZ) may be spending as much as $100 a phone to market the Motorola (NYSE:MOT) Droid  (Fortune)

Bain Capital has made a $1 billion bid for Japanese telemarketing company Bellsystems24. (NYTimes)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 12, 2009 – 8:59 am in Rumors, , , , ,

Media Digest 11/12/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   China is the key stop on Obama’s tour of Asia.

Reuters:   South Korea’s businesses may start to feel more pressure from China competitors..

Reuters:   Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) bought 3Com (NYSE:COM) for $3.1 billion.

Reuters:   Lou Dobbs left CNN (NYSE:TWX) Read More »

Posted on: November 12, 2009 – 4:00 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Short Sellers Abandon Financials (WFC)(CIT)(BAC)(JPM)

bearShort sellers have bought into the notion that the financial industry is in full recovery.

Shares sold short in Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) fell 8% to 78.8 million shares. Shares short in CIT (NYSE:CIT) were off 4% to 78.1 million. The short interest in Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) dropped 12% to 67 million. The short interest in JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) dropped 4% to 37.7 million. Read More »

Posted on: November 11, 2009 – 4:24 am in Short Interest, , , , , , , , , , , ,

9 Of 10 Bank Holding Companies Make The Cut

Yesterday, the Federal Reserve reported that 9 out of 10 bank holding companies that were required to raise additional capital to bolster their balance sheets have successfully done so.  The Supervisory Capital Assessment Program (SCAP) had determined in May that these needed to raise $74.6 billion by November 9th.  This was achieved through new issuance of equity in the amount of $39 billion, conversion of existing preferred equity to common equity amounting to $23 billion, and the sale businesses and assets amounting to 9$ billion.  The ten bank holding companies that were required to raise additional capital were: Banks of America (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB), GMAC LLC, KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), PNC Financial Services (NYSE: PNC), Regions Financial (NYSE: RF), SunTrust (NYSE: STI), and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC).

Of the ten the one laggard was GMAC, which failed to raise the necessary funds.  The May SCAP report indicated that GMAC needed to buffer its balance sheet with an additional $11.5 billion in Tier 1 capital.  The Federal Reserve expects the troubled mortgage and auto loan originator to fill in its funding gap by accessing the TARP Automotive Industry Financing Program.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted on: November 10, 2009 – 9:08 am in Banking, Financial Stocks, , , , , , , , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/5/2009) (JAVA)(ORCL)(BAC)(DELL)

newspaperUpdated throughout the day.

The New York Yankee victory in the World Series could help stock prices  (various)

Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) could drop its deal to buy Sun (NASDAQ:JAVA) in the face of opposition to the deal from the EU. (Forbes)

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) may look outside the banking sector for a new CEO. (The Street.com)

Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) may have taken billions of dollars in marketing payments from Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)  (BusinessWeek)

Congress may force ISPs to block fraud sites  (CNET)

Seven more Wall St. brokers will be charged with insider trading today according to FBI and SEC sources  (WNBC)

You can join our open email distribution list to get updates on top analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, IPO’s, secondary offerings, Warren Buffett and other guru activity, M&A and more.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 5, 2009 – 9:17 am in Rumors, , , , ,

Mozilo Can’t Dodge Fraud Charges

bearAngelo Mozilo, the former CEO of Countrywide Financial which was bought by Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), tried to get out of facing government fraud charges, US District Judge John Walter told Mozilo that he will indeed stand trial despite his efforts to get the case dismissed.

The SEC case against Mozilo seems simple. He knew that his company was in financial trouble but sold stock in Countrywide and made $140 million. Those charges may be hard to prove. Read More »

Posted on: November 5, 2009 – 6:06 am in Banking,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/3/2009) (CHU)(AAPL)(LGF)

newspaperUpdates throughout the day.

Updated 10.33 AM EST: Royal Bank of Scotland may have to divest its majority interest in the RBS Sempra Commodities joint venture. (The Deal)

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) may allow its CEO to be located in NYC and not the company’s headquarters in Charlotte (Bloomberg)

Fiat’s deal with Chrysler may end up helping the Italian company more than it does the American one. (Forbes)

Several states hard hit by the real estate downturn are considering suing large mortgage lenders.  (NYTimes)

GM’s board may decide the fate of Opel today.  (AP)

The New York State Pension Fund will put $1 billion into hedge funds  (Crain’s NY)

Studio Summit Entertainment may be a buy-out target for a larger studio like Lions Gate  (NYSE:LGF)  (LATimes)

China Unicom (NYSE:CHU) has only sold 5,000 Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhones. (Reuters)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 3, 2009 – 8:52 am in Rumors, , , ,

Media Digest 11/3/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   The value of the yuan could cause a trade war between the US and China.

Reuters:   Executive pensions rose despite drops in stock prices.

Reuters:   Lloyds will make a large stock offering.

Reuters:   Stanley Works (NYSE:SWK) bought Black & Decker (NYSE:BDK) for $3.46 billion.

Reuters:   CIT’s (NYSE:CIT) exit from bankruptcy is not clear.

Reuters:   UBS (NYSE:UBS) posted a loss and wealth management clients continued to leave.

Reuters:   Ford (NYSE:F) posted a surprise profit.

Reuters:   Manufacturing and pending home sales both rose.

Reuters:   Volker said the economy could not rely on consumer spending.

Reuters:   The commercial real estate business is still in deep trouble.

WSJ:   Toyota (NYSE:TM) expects a monthly sales decline.

WSJ:   IllyCaffè SpA will work with local coffee shops to compete with Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX).

WSJ:   The head of the IMF says financial firms are going back to old practices.

WSJ:   Blu-ray makers are becoming more involved with web video.

WSJ:   Research-in-Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) is the focus of a number of bearish comments.

WSJ:   Schwab (NASDAQ:SCHW) is making a push into ETFs.

WSJ:   GM’s board will revisit the Opel sale.

WSJ:   Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Office faces inexpensive versions of similar software.

WSJ:   Sears (NASDAQ:SHLD) may need to get cash from its Canadian operation which presents challenges.

WSJ:   Problems are beginning to appear in the financials of Chinese banks.

WSJ:   Business bankruptcies rose 7% in October.

NYT:   The US will allow GM to use federal money to put into Delphi.

NYT:   The Supreme Court is looking at fees advisors charge mutual funds.

NYT:   The Senate is pushing insurance companies on the amount of premiums they actually spend on care.

NYT:   Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) may buy tax credits from Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM)

FT:   The Fed has asked banks to adopt it new pay rules early to cover 2009 compensation.

FT:   Ebay’s (NASDAQ:EBAY) PayPal has opened doors to outside developers.

Bloomberg:   The next head of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) may be based in NYC.

Douglas A. McIntyre

 

Posted on: November 3, 2009 – 3:55 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/2/2009) (LVS)(PFE)(PLX)(BK)(ODFL)(PALM)(AAPL)

newspaperUpdated throughout the day.

Updated 1.05 PM EST:  Las Vagas Sands (NYSE:LVS) will try to raise $2.5 billion though an IPO in Hong Kong  (AP)

Updated 11.12 AM EST: Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) is considering a joint venture with Protalix Biotherapeutics (AMAX:PLX) and may buy the Israeli company. (Reuters)

Updated 9.50 AM EST: The Fed will keep rates as they are  (CBNC)

A deal for Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) to take control of NBCU from GE (NYSE:GE) is imminent, as usual.  (NYTimes)

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) is considering buying Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) tax credits (WSJ)

Bank of NY Mellon’s (NYSE:BK) CEO turned down a chance to be considered for the Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) CEO job.  (WSJ)

Roger Nightingale, economist at Pointon York, says the world faces a 1930s type depression if government stimulus packages are pulled too soon  (CNBC)

A draft order to approve AT&T’s (NYSE:T) $2.8 billion acquisition of Centennial Communications Corp is circulating at the Federal Communications Commission. (The Deal)

Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) top advertising strategist is not leaving his job.  (AppleInsider)

Sprint (NASDAQ:S) is starting to downplay the importance of the Palm (NASDAQ:PALM) Pre compared to other smartphones it is marketing.  (Barron’s)

Shares of Old Dominion (NASDAQ:ODFL) could move from $27 to $40 in a year  (BusinessWeek)

The market share of Apple’s Mac has not been hurt by the release of Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows 7.

You can join our open email distribution list to get updates on top analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, IPO’s, secondary offerings, Warren Buffett and other guru activity, M&A and more.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 2, 2009 – 9:58 am in Rumors, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 11/2/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Investors in the banking sector were disturbed by the CIT (NYSE:CIT) bankruptcy.

Reuters:   Summers will lead a high level meeting on the economy.

Reuters:   US companies are holding more cash.

Reuters:   The Fed is likely to keep interest rates flat due to economic uncertainty. Read More »

Posted on: November 2, 2009 – 4:54 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (10/29/2009) (SNI)(NWS)(YHOO)

newspaperUpdated throughout the day.

Updated 10.45 AM EST   There is not as much cash on the sidelines as most investors expect.  (Reuters)

Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) has frozen hiring on the team evaluating integration with the Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Bing search platform  (BusinessInsider)

GMAC’s request for more bailout money may hurt the chances of its CEO, Al de Molina, getting the top job at Bank of America (NYSE:BAC)

Galleon may have paid millions of dollars to Wall St. firms for market information.  (FT)

Former NBC CEO Bob Wright thinks an IPO of the unit as a means to get it out of GE (NYSE:GE) are very small. (PaidContent)

The dollar will rally in coming months.  (Forbes)

News Corp (NYSE:NWS) and Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE:SNI) have made $800 million offers for 65% of the Travel Channel.  (The Deal)

Holiday shopping may drop more than expected this year.  (CNBC)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: October 29, 2009 – 9:15 am in Rumors, , , , , ,