Progressive Insurance's Twitter PR Nightmare/CNBC – Julia Boorstin: “Progressive Insurance's chipper spokesperson has a big headache. A blog post from comedian Matt Fisher entitled "My Sister Paid Progressive insurance to defend her killer in court" — has gone viral. There were nearly 16,000 negative tweets about Progressive just yesterday — that's up nearly 50,000 percent from a week earlier, according to General Sentiment, a firm which tracks social media chatter.”
New York Times Names BBC's Thompson as New CEO/WSJ – Keach Hagey: “Mark Thompson, outgoing director general of British Broadcasting Corp., will be the next president and chief executive of New York Times Co. , the company announced Tuesday. The 55-year-old Mr. Thompson will also join the company's board. He will report to the board and Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman of New York Times Co., beginning in November.”
NPD: Restaurant Traffic Stalling: “The restaurant visit gains this past winter are proving to be the result of a mild winter and not the beginning of a long-hoped-for recovery as industry traffic rose one percent in the spring quarter 2012 (March, April, May) against modest declines in same quarter year ago, according to The NPD Group, a leading market research firm. With foodservice traffic not gaining upward momentum, consumer confidence sagging, and unemployment still relatively high, NPD has adjusted its industry traffic forecast to flat for the next two years versus the one percent gain originally forecasted for years ending December 2012 and 2013.”
Owner complains Obama’s beer tent stop cost him $25,000/Des Moines Register – Kyle Munson: “…Obama’s fair stop Monday evening required shutdown of the popular Bud Tent, the heart of fairgrounds nightlife at the intersection of E. 33rd Street and Grand Avenue. Fairgoers eager to greet the president were ushered inside, screened and scanned by the Secret Service and penned in by yellow caution tape. The entire production required at least two hours, and the president’s sleek black coach bus pulled away from the Bud Tent by 8:30 p.m. … “I was in a position to make a campaign donation against my will,” said Cunningham, a Republican.”
Whale Watching
Berkshire Hathaway:
New: Phillips 66, National Oilwell Varco
Dissolves: Intel
Increases: Viacom, Liberty Media
Decreases: Johnson & Johnson, UPS, CVS Caremark, General Electric
Greenlight Capital:
New: Aetna, Chipotle, Hess, United Healthcare, Humana, Wellpoint
Dissolves: Dell, HCA, Research in Motion
Increases: Seagate, GM
Decreases: Best Buy, Delphi Auto, Apple
Paulson & Co.:
New: Cablevision, Equinix, Hillshire Brands, Kinder Morgan
Dissolves: Teva Pharma, Anadarko Petroleum, Beazer Homes, El Paso, Family Dollar, Medco Health, Medicis, MetLife, Motorola Mobility, NewsCorp, Novellus, Sara Lee, Tenet Health, United Rentals
Increases: SPDR Gold
Decreases: JPMorgan Chase, Capital One
Soros Fund Mgmt.:
New: Facebook, Wal-Mart
Dissolves: Amazon.com, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs
Stocks Seeing Frequent Whale Action:
KFT
Reduced – Berkshire, Trian
Exited – Pershing Square
JPM
Exited – Soros
New – Paulson
GS
Exited – Soros, Third Point
GLD
Increased– Soros, Paulson
Exited – SAC Capital
FB
Bought – Soros, SAC Capital
CSCO
Reduced– SAC Capital
Exited – Third Point
Economic Data
830 Jul CPI
830 Aug Empire State Survey
915 Jul Industrial Production
915 Jul Capacity Utilization
1000 Aug NAHB Survey
Earnings
Before the bell:
Deere & Co (10 cc), Target, Abercrombie & Fitch, Staples
After the bell:
Cisco Systems (430p cc), Applied Materials (430p cc), Limited Brands (430p), Agilent Technologies, Hot Topic Inc, NetApp Inc, PetSmart
Key Guests
Ben Mezrich, Author "The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook." (700a)
Wycliffe "Wyc" Grousbeck, Celtics Owner (740a)
John Foraker, Annie's CEO (1030a)
Bill Gurley, Benchmark Capital General Partner (1230p)
Pat Quinn, Gov. of Illinois (130p)
Richard Fisher, President, US Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas (310p)
John Chambers, Cisco Chairman & CEO (410p)
Howard Dean, (D) Fmr. Vermont Governor (700p)
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