Posts for Ticker ‘C’

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 (11/19/2009) (BA)(AMTD)(MWW)(NWSA)(AAPL)

Updated throughout the day.

Update 12.50 PM EST:  Boeing (NYSE:BA) could lose a $7.5 billion order for fighter planes to Brazil if the US Senate does not confirm Obama’s nominee to be ambassador to the South American country  (Bloomberg)

Update 11.08 AM EST:  TDAmeritrade (NASDAQ:AMTD) may be buying E*Trade  (NASDAQ:ETFC)  (Omaha World Herald)

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) has lost a large number of its most talented people to hedge funds. (Bloomberg)

The Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) tablet PC launch date has been delayed until late 2010.  (Digitimes)

Monster.com (NASDAQ:MWW) may be taken over by News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) or Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)  (WSJ)

Blackstone’s (NYSE:BX) Pinnacle Brands may buy Birds Eye  (CNBC)

Sony (NYSE:SNE), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Nintendo are working on ways to keep market share as smart phones come after their market share.  (BusinessWeek)

Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) AOL is seeking to buy-out 2,500 employees as it is spun off by its parent. (various)

Citigroup (NYSE:C) may sell its auto lending group.  (NYPost)

You can join our open email distribution list to hear more news on key analyst calls, top day trader alerts, mergers and acquisitions, Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

For more information on Citi, Microsoft, Sony, and Google check the 24/7 Wall St 500.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 19, 2009 – 8:45 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, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Top Day Trader Alerts (C, DELL, NLST, NABI, PARD, RVSN, CSCO, S)

These are this Monday morning’s top day trader and active trader alert stocks.  We have a link through to each stock at VSInvestor.com with more detailed analysis and data.

Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) is up 4% on the Paulson stake being so large.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is up over 1% after Goldman Sachs re-started with a BUY rating and a $19.00 target.

Netlist Inc. (NASDAQ: NLST) is trying for a day-four run and volume is already exponential compared to old averages in pre-market trading.

Nabi Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: NABI) is up 35% on a GSK pact to develop nicotine conjugate candidate vaccine.

Poniard Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: PARD) is today’s biggest loser after its small cell lung cancer drug failed in trials.

RADVision Ltd. (NASDAQ: RVSN) is down 7% on word that Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) is juicing up the buyout offer to secure a Tandberg.

UPDATED at 9:48 AM EST:  Sprint Nextel is one of the S&P’s top gainers up almost 11% on the Oppenheimer upgrade.

You can join our open email distribution list which goes out several times per week to be notified of key analyst calls, top early morning day trader alerts, along with news of IPO’s, key offerings, guru investor data on Buffett and others, mergers, and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: November 16, 2009 – 8:59 am in Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert, , , , , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/16/2009) (DVN)(NVDA)(C)(AAPL)

magazinUpdated throughout the day.

Updated 12.43 PM EST:  Apple may hire its own video game developers to create iPhone and iPod products  (Apple Insider)

Updated 11.57 AM EST:  Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) may sell its international operations to interests in China  (NYT)

Central banks will be net purchasers of gold for the first time in decades  (CNBC)

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) wants to expand it wealth management operation (Investment News and Business Insider)

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) has started to complain about Intel’s (NYSE:INTC) just as the world’s largest chip company settled antitrust issues with AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Intel plans to release powerful new notebook chips in January. (Digitimes)

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) will launch a Zune music and movies brand outside the US to try to challenge Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the mobile content business.  (FT)

JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) is trying to buy the 50% of management firm Cazenove Group that it does not already own for $1.7 billion.  (Bloomberg)

Citigroup (NYSE:C) has rejected Terra Firma Capital’s offer to restructure EMI Group. (WSJ).

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 16, 2009 – 8:46 am in Rumors, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 11/16/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   The Ohio Attorney General is suing a number of Wall St. firms.

Reuters:   GM will start to repay part of its debt to the US.

Reuters:   Citigroup (NYSE:C) will sell Bellsystem to Bain.

Reuters:   Japan’s GDP numbers were leaked. Read More »

Posted on: November 16, 2009 – 4:00 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , ,

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, , , , , , , , , , , ,

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, , , , , , , , , , ,

Is Citi’s Primerica IPO For You (C, MS)

It has been some time in the making and won’t be the last IPO or divestiture out of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C).  The company is proceeding to divest its Primerica Inc. via an initial public offering.
Read More »

Posted on: November 6, 2009 – 12:36 pm in Banking, Financial Stocks, IPOs, ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/6/2009) (RTP)(BHP)(BRK.A)

newspaperUpdated throughout the day.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) will re-launch some of its least successful hedge funds  (FT)

The stock market is at risk of not holding 10,000.  (TheStreet)

AIG (NYSE:AIG) will not hold a conference call to avoid uncomfortable questions about its balance sheet  (The Deal)

Sales of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows 7 are outpacing those after the launch of Vista (Apple Insider)

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) are likely to fall sharply  (Barron’s)

BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) may make another bid to buy rival Rio Tinto (NYSE:RTP)  (FTAlphaville)

“Governments may take as long as a decade to cut debt issuance back to the levels before global markets seized up following the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. last year.”  (Bloomberg)

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) is likely to go through a period of sharp job cuts.  (Business Insider)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 6, 2009 – 9:17 am in Rumors, , , , , , ,

Media Digest 11/6/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   The Wall St. insider trading probe lead to another 14 arrests.

Reuters:   Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) lost $19 billion and asked Treasury for money.

Reuters:   GM is readying its plans for Opel as some of its workers went on strike.

Reuters:   The pay czar says the jury is still out on reforms. Read More »

Posted on: November 6, 2009 – 3:58 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

CIT Highlights Risks in Junkier Financial Stocks (CIT, FNM, FRE, ABK, C, ETFC, AIG, PMI)

Burning Money PicIt is of little surprise that CIT Group, Inc. (NYSE: CIT) is seeing clobbered today.  The company has finally filed its pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy package and that has CIT shares down a sharp 63% at $0.26 on triple its average volume.  By now, the game is probably known by everyone that bankruptcy usually leaves shareholders of common stock out in the cold.  Should it be of any surprise that the “other troubled financial stocks” are seeing their shares head south?

It was just a week ago that I discussed the Fannie-Freddie equity conundrum.  Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) are down further.  After all, these two are in government conservatorship.  It is even easy to argue that these are just being kept alive so that Uncle Sam doesn’t have to include the obligations on the Fed’s balance sheet.  And how many investors in these companies really believe that they are holding anything more than a long-term warrant or LEAP option that is way out of the money?  Fannie Mae is down 7.4% at $1.00 and Freddie Mac is down almost 9% at $1.12, and neither are on active volume today.
Read More »

Posted on: November 2, 2009 – 3:36 pm in Banking, Financial Stocks, Trading Alert, , , , , , , ,

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 (10/30/2009) (C)(CSCO)(SAPE)(DOX)(CTSH)

newspaper

Updated throughout the day.

Updated 3.23 PM EST:  Analyst Michael Mayo says Citigroup (NYSE:C) will take a $10 billion write down the quarter. Citi denies it (CNBC)

Updated 10.24 AM EST:  Cisco (NSADAQ:CSCO) may drop its bid for Tandberg  (Barron’s)

Venezuela may have gold reserves with a total value over $13 billion.  (CNBC)

JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) may have had concerns about Galleon as early as 2001 (Financial Times)

Likely near-term tech acquisition targets include Sapient (NASDAQ:SAPE), Computer Sciences (NYSE:CSC), WNS (NYSE:WNS), Amdocs (NYSE:DOX), Cognizant Technology (NASDAQ:CTSH) and ExlService (NASDAQ:EXLS) (Reuters)

Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) may spin-off AOL in December  (TheStreet.com)

CIT (NYSE:CIT) is likely to file for bankruptcy in the next few days.  (Reuters)

Cargill is the largest private company in the US followed closely by Koch Industries  (Forbes)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: October 30, 2009 – 9:02 am in Rumors, , , , , , , , , , ,

More Bizarre Pay Czar News

GeithnerA new analysis from The Wall Street Journal shows that pay czar Kenneth Feinberg raised the salaries of most of the executives over which he has jurisdiction. The paper reports that base salaries climbed to $437,896 or 14% among the managers pay packages that he reviewed.

If Feinberg’s goal is to make executives at financial companies that owe the government money think long term, then he must be tying hundreds of thousands of dollars per person to stock options, restricted stock grants, and cash bonuses. Read More »

Posted on: October 28, 2009 – 6:13 am in Compensation, , ,

Short Interest Up In Financials, Mixed In Tech (FRE)(CIT)(EBAY)(INTC)

bearShort interest in a number of major financial firms rose for the period ending October 15.

Shares short in Citigroup (NYSE:C) rose 51% to 178.1 million. The short interest in CIT (NYSE:CIT) was up 21% to 85.6 million. Share sold short in Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) were up 14% to 71.5 million. Shares short in Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) were fairly flat. Read More »

Posted on: October 27, 2009 – 4:12 am in Short Interest, , , , , , , , , , , ,

B of A And Citi Top Managers Earn $18 Million Each

bank

Bankers have become more and more adroit at shooting themselves in the foot this year. Congress, the Administration and the public are already upset by actions that they believe caused the credit crisis, forcing the government to pump hundreds of billions of dollars into the financial system. Goldman Sachs (GS) has drawn tremendous criticism because it will probably pay out record bonuses this year.

Now, it turns out that the the managements of flailing firms Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) paid themselves extravagant sums in 2008

Read more…..

Posted on: October 26, 2009 – 8:22 am in Compensation, , ,

Media Digest 10/26/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Corporate directors are on the hot seat over management pay.

Reuters:   The US healthcare system wastes up to $800 billion a year.

Reuters:   Capmark Financial filed for bankrupcy.

Reuters:   The land dealer advisor resigned from Calpers. Read More »

Posted on: October 26, 2009 – 4:13 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , ,

TARP Too Secret, GM Investment A Bust

GeithnerThe Troubled Asset Relief Program inspector Neil Barofsky has almost nothing good to say about the way the Treasury has handled the TARP. He released his latest report to Congress today.

His first criticism. which echoes a previous one, is that taxpayers are unlikely to ever get their investments in GM and Chrysler back. Chrysler’s sales problems are so severe that some auto industry analysts believe that the company cannot make it. The government’s $49 billion investment in GM will only be returned should GM’s “market cap” goes above $100 billion if the company goes public again. That would mean that GM would have to be worth nearly as much as Toyota (NYSE:TM). Read More »

Posted on: October 21, 2009 – 5:37 am in Banking, ,