Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) posts earnings that trouble Wall St. and its shares fall by 10%. (Reuters)

A deal on mortgage data and foreclosures between five banks and state attorneys general is close to being done. The amount of the settlement will be about $25 billion. (Reuters)

Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) posts a drop in Q4 results. (Reuters)

Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) posts poor results due to metal prices. (Reuters)

Levovo beats earnings forecasts as its market share rises, and it will produce a TV product for Chinese consumers. (Reuters)

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) to launch a cloud storage product. (WSJ)

The House probably will approve a bill to regulate insider trading by members of Congress and their staffs. (WSJ)

China and Canada to increase official trade relations. (WSJ)

China’s CPI rises to 4.5% in January — up from 4.1% in December. (WSJ)

Some car companies press sales in Indonesia as the number of drivers there surges. (WSJ)

Chrysler may set a deal with banks for consumer and dealer loans that would replace its relationship with Ally. (WSJ)

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) tightens it approval process for apps used on the iPad and iPhone. (WSJ)

Petrobras (NYSE: PTR) estimates of its reserves and the P&L they may create could be too optimistic. (WSJ)

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) buys much of AIG’s (NYSE: AIG) troubled bond portfolio, which dates back to 2008. (WSJ)

Two million homeowners could benefit from a $25 billion settlement over mortgages reached between five banks and the government. (NYT)

Car sales in China fall 24% in January. (NYT)

Young people are watching TV more and more on PCs. (NYT)

BP (NYSE: BP) is conversing with the U.S. government over claims from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and may settle. (Bloomberg)

Sarkozy’s approval ratings in France are near all-time lows for a president. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Fed president Richard Fisher says there is no need for QE3. (Reuters)

Panasonic posts a quarterly loss of $2.6 billion. (Reuters)

Martha Stewart Omnimedia (NYSE: MSO) says a provision in its deal with Macy’s (NYSE: M) would let it move ahead with its new JCPenney (NYSE: JCP) deal. (Reuters)

The U.S. plans to spend $2.8 billion to upgrade the F-16. (Reuters)

The Senate will pass a bill that makes it illegal for members of Congress to engage in insider trading. (WSJ)

Glencore and Xstrata may merge because of the rise in value of natural resources. (WSJ)

Bank “rainy day” funds may be run down by a need to boost earnings. (WSJ)

PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) will buy into Canadian shale assets to ensure future supply. (WSJ)

Corporate profits have risen but the portion paid out in taxes has fallen. (WSJ)

The Government Accountability Office says many hospitals overpay for devices. (WSJ)

The Obama Administration will accelerate the approval of wind farms off the East Coast. (WSJ)

Facebook will push advertisers to use its Sponsored Stories to increase its revenue. (WSJ)

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) will try to add to the security of its Android mobile-device software to combat hackers. (WSJ)

The head of Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) says Europe is in a recession. (WSJ)

New York Times (NYSE: NYT) profits fall as digital revenue fails to grow enough to offset print. (WSJ)

CME Group (NASDAQ: CME) will set an insurance program to help farmers after the collapse of MF Global. (WSJ)

A St. Louis Federal Reserve report shows that startup growth has slowed. (WSJ)

Excess natural gas supplies could cause a price crash in the spring. (WSJ)

The Securities and Exchange Commission allows big banks to avoid some sanctions. (NYT)

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research says the UK will be in recession this year. (NYT)

Greek tax reform has not overcome the nation’s inability to collect taxes. (NYT)

China may put money into the European Stability Mechanism/European Financial Stability Facility to help the region. (FT)

In testimony before Congress, Bernanke expresses concern about the growth of the economy. (FT)

Greece faces more trouble in its effort to remain in the eurozone as its rescue falters. (Bloomberg)

Deutsche Bank will not take European Central Bank loans in a move to protect its reputation. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

One of Shell’s big ideas is to shed assets. PetroChina Co. Ltd. (NYSE: PTR) announced this morning that it has acquired a 20% stake in the shale gas assets of Shell’s Canadian subsidiary for a price believed to be north of $1 billion. While shale gas is driving down the cost of natural gas in the US, in Canada a large portion of gas production is used to feed the energy-hungry oil sands industry, keeping prices somewhat higher.

Another big idea is to invest more in its upstream operations with the goal of reaching production of 4 million barrels/day by 2017. Shell also said that it would focus more on its North American projects that include oil as well as natural gas. Neither of these is a new idea. The company also said it would look at ways to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Asia. Another old idea, with a long lead time.

The company’s profits from its production rose 29% year-over-year for the quarter, but refining and downstream had a swing of about $650 million, from a $411 million profit last year to a loss of $244 million this year. The company’s production profits came exclusively from higher prices, as its actual produced barrels fell by about 180,000 barrels/day to 3.31 million barrels.

Shell tried to paper over some of this nasty news with a 2% hike in its dividend. That sometimes works, but this time analysts were expecting a rise of 4%.

Shares are down about -1.9% in pre-market trading this morning at $72.23 for RDS-A and $73.74 for RDS-B.

Paul Ausick

Most of the largest companies in the U.S. will not have large earnings swings from last year, with the notable exception of financial firms. The majority of banks and investment houses will suffer earnings declines because of poor trading results and bad loans, notwithstanding the fact that JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), arguably the best-run bank in America, is on this list, as is Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) . Corporations like IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) have such huge customer bases worldwide that they can hardly outperform the global economy. What differentiates them is their ability to manage their operations better than peers as they keep expenses low and take all the advantages they can of their significant market shares.

24/7 Wall St. looked at the top 200 companies in the Fortune 500 based on the revenue in the past reported year. We then reviewed earnings and earnings forecast from Thomson/First Call. There were some cases in which earnings appeared to be too low or too high because of events in the past month. We took those into account when we produced the final numbers.

This is 24/7 Wall St.’s 10 Most Profitable Companies for 2012.

Bill Gross’s PIMCO Total Return Fund has $1.4 billion in outflows in December, according to Morningstar. (Reuters)

MF Global sold some assets to Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) before its collapsed. (Reuters)

As a move toward making its activities more public, the Federal Reserve will publish its rate forecasts. (Reuters)

BP (NYSE: BP) stops payments from its Gulf Coast Claims Facility as it waits for a court hearing on how some outlays should be made. (Reuters)

Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) says small business payrolls rose by 55,000 in December. (Reuters)

Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) may take the chairman title away from its co-CEOs. (Reuters)

Samsung expects a good Q4 because of rising smartphone sales. (Reuters)

PayPal President Scott Thompson will be named Yahoo!’s (NASDAQ: YHOO) CEO. (AllThingsD)

Venture capitalists cut investment activity after a torrid 2011. (WSJ)

Banks grow concerned about investments in Asia as the economy there slows. (WSJ)

MBIA (NYSE: MBI) wins a ruling in its mortgage suit against Bank of America’s (NYSE: BAC) Countrywide. (WSJ)

Toyota’s (NYSE: TM) earnings power will be challenged by the value of the yen. (WSJ)

Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) hires the CEO of Brookstone to help resurrect Kmart. (WSJ)

Farmers and the food industry want relief from new government rules on consumer intake of dioxins. (WSJ)

The French government will increase its VAT. (WSJ)

Oprah Winfrey’s new TV show has a poor start. (WSJ)

Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) to raise prices in some parts of the country. (WSJ)

Athabasca Oil Sands will sell 40% of one of its oil sands products to PetroChina (NYSE: PTR). (WSJ)

AT&T (NYSE: T) will pay TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO) $125 million for a license to some of its technology. (WSJ)

Ford (NYSE: F) to launch a new SUV in India. (WSJ)

Online sales help the results of UPS (NYSE: UPS) and American Express (NYSE: AXP). (NYT)

The jobless rate in Germany falls to 6.8%. (NYT)

As Spain’s unemployment reaches 23%, evidence grows that Europe has been divided into financial “haves” and “have not” nations. (FT)

Mobile research firm Flurry says that more than 1.2 billion apps were downloaded the week of Christmas. (FT)

Due to a slow global economy, Fiat may be well short of its goal to sell 6 million cars,  between its main unit and Chrysler, by 2014. (Bloomberg)

Shares of Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) fall as investors worry about the future of online daily deals. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

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Affymetrix Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFX) Raised to Neutral from Sell with a $4.50 price target at Goldman Sachs.
AMC Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: AMCX) Started as Overweight at J.P.Morgan.
Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Canadian Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) named as Bear of the Day by Zacks Investment Research.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Started as Buy at Nomura.
Deckers Outdoor Corporation (NASDAQ: DECK) Cut to Underperform from Buy at Stern Agee.
E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. (NYSE: DANG) Started as Hold at Brean Murray.
Elan Corporation, plc (NYSE: ELN) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Estee Lauder Companies (NASDAQ: EL) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Cut to Neutral from Buy at R.W. Baird.
Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. (NYSE: IVR) Cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.
The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE: IPG) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) Started as Neutral at Nomura.
Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) Started as Equal Weight at Barclays.
OmniVision Technologies (NASDAQ: OVTI) lowered estimates again but maintained as Buy with $12.00 price target at Canaccord Genuity.
Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ONXX) Raised to the Conviction Buy List with a $47.00 price target objective at Goldman Sachs.
PetroChina Co. Ltd. (NYSE: PTR) Raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.
Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN) Started as Hold at Brean Murray.
Riverbed Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) Started as Neutral at Nomura.
Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) Cut to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Youku.com Inc (NYSE: YOKU) Started as Hold at Brean Murray.

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Agrium, Inc. (NYSE: AGU) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (NYSE: AEM) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR) Raised to Outperform at Rodman & Renshaw.
BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) Started as Outperform with $370 target at Credit Suisse.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (NYSE: SNP) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
CNOOC Ltd. (NYSE: CEO) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
The Jones Group Inc. (NYSE: JNY) Value stock of the day at Zacks.
LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
PetroChina Co. Ltd. (NYSE: PTR) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Riverbed Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) Cut to Equal-Weight at Barclays.
SodaStream International Ltd. (NASDAQ: SODA) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Sonoco Products Co. (NYSE: SON) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Stillwater Mining Company (NYSE: SWC) Removed from Focus List ar Credit Suisse.
W.R. Berkley Corp. (NYSE: WRB) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

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 JON C. OGG

China, in particular, stirs a lot of interest because its technically recoverable shale gas deposits are estimated to be about 1,275 trillion cubic feet (Tcf). That’s about 50% more than the estimated 862 Tcf of technically recoverable shale gas in the US. And US companies like Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI), Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL), Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB), and National Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE: NOV) with both deep pockets and experience in shale gas exploration and production could get a crack at developing China’s vast shale gas deposits. US producers like Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) and Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN) are less likely partners, but such a deal is not impossible.

To date, no development of China’s shale gas resources has begun. The government is mulling plans both to offer subsidies to domestic E&P companies and to permit foreign company participation in extracting the gas. China’s approach to allowing its domestic companies to develop shale gas is something of a balance between granting licenses only to big players like Sinopec, formally China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (NYSE: SNP), Cnooc Ltd. (NYSE: CEO), and China National Petroleum Co.’s Petrochina Ltd. (NYSE: PTR) and permitting smaller players to get into the hunt.

The government wants to avoid the development of hundreds of independent companies, as happened with the coal mining industry. The unlicensed coal mines were extraordinarily lethal to miners and riddled with corruption. The central government has fought hard to bring the miners under control in the last two years or so.

The Chinese have no experience or technology to develop their shale gas resources. Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS-A) has already been signed on by one of the two small Chinese companies to win a lease and the company has also formed a partnership with Petrochina.  Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) and BP plc (NYSE: BP) are in discussions with Sinopec to form a partnership as well. Cnooc paid Chesapeake more than $2 billion for rights to participate in developing some Eagle Ford shale leases.

As China’s government continues to explore its options regarding shale gas development, one thing does seem clear. The government is leaning towards a less restrictive approach than it has taken with other hydrocarbon development. The country is also likely to adopt some sort of subsidy policy that would encourage shale gas development. That would be enough to really get foreign companies lined up to go to work.

Paul Ausick

Some of Buffett’s greatest investments might not be what they seem, but some are as follows: The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO); American Express Company (NYSE: AXP); Proctor & Gamble (NYSE: PG); The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW); and PetroChina (NYSE: PTR).  See his greatest investments in full.

Warren Buffett’s most recent holdings had some new additions, but these are far too small to become anywhere near his greatest moves ever.

Happy Birthday!

JON C. OGG

The US Energy Information Administration estimates the China sits on top of about 1,275 trillion cubic feet of shale gas, which is about 50% more than the agency’s estimate for US deposits. The Chinese companies are looking for partners to develop the shale gas resources, and the expertise is in the foreign major integrated oil companies, the oil field services companies, and the drillers.

Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS-A) has signed a deal with a small Chinese gas company to explore, making it the first of the major integrated companies to get a toehold in exploration for shale gas in China. PetroChina has also formed a partnership with Shell and both Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) and BP plc (NYSE: BP) are reportedly talking with Sinopec to create exploration joint ventures, and Norway’s Statoil ASA (NYSE: STO) is also seeking shale-gas assets in China.

The start of a boom in exploration for shale gas inevitably begins with the majors because that is their basic business. But it’s difficult to imagine that these companies will get any sort of participatory deal in the production of the gas. More likely is a fee-based deal where the companies are paid their expenses plus a defined amount for every cubic foot produced.

More likely to see bigger profits are the services companies like Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) and Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) and the drillers like Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) and National Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE: NOV) with extensive onshore experience. It is unlikely that US producers like Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DEV) or Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) will derive much benefit from the Chinese push into shale gas development, but if one of the producers does some creative thinking it’s possible.

The good news is likely to last a relatively short time however. Sinopec’s chairman has said that he expects unconventional gas like shale gas and coal-bed methane to drive growth for the company in the future. And getting Sinopec and the others to the point where they are self-sufficient could take up to four years.

And the Chinese certainly intend only to rent the technology they need now and to demand a transfer of technology from its partners so that the partners can be cut loose eventually. This pattern has been played out in solar PV development, wind turbine development, and virtually every sort of information technology development in China.

It’s still very early days in the Chinese shale gas industry. But the broad outline is well-established and well-rehearsed. There’s no reason to expect shale gas development to follow a different script.

Paul Ausick