“Okay, he either said, "move to the back of the throat," or he "wants a root beer float.”
- Dory, “Finding Nemo”
- Below: Don’t worry Dory, you may not speak whale but we’ve got you covered — but be careful, whale watching isn’t for everyone.
Robert Hum's Market Musings
- Stocks fade, close lower as Dow posts 9th loss over past 10 sessions
- S&P Tech Sector has 2nd ever 9-day losing streak
- Gold hits another 2012 low
- Crude oil settles below $94 for first time since mid-December
- U.S. Dollar Index rises for record 12th straight day
Whale Watching — Notable 13F Moves:
- GREENLIGHT CAPITAL Q1 13F
New Stake in: Expedia, Computer Sciences
Dissolves share stake in: First Solar, Yahoo
Cuts stakes in: CBS Corp, Dell, Research in Motion, Xerox
- THIRD POINT Q1 13F
Increases stake in Yahoo, Sara Lee
Adds stake in Cisco Systems, Apple
Cuts stake in Goldman Sachs
- SAC CAPITAL Q1 13F
Cuts Stake in: Apple, Weatherford International, Gilead, Boeing, Dollar General
Ups stake in: 3M, Dow Chemical
Reduced stake in: Cablevision, Alcoa
- PAULSON & CO Q1 13F
Cuts stake in: SunTrust, Beazer Homes, News Corp, Anadarko Petroleum
Eliminates stake in: Whirlpool, Transocean, Pharmasset
New stake in Sara Lee
- FAIRHOLME CAPITAL Q1 13F
Ups stake in: Wells Fargo, BAC Warrants,
New Stake in: Mercury General, Orchard Supply Hardware
Cuts entire stake in Goldman Sachs
- PERSHING SQUARE Q1 13F
Cuts Stakes in Family Dollar, Fortune Brands
Cuts Stakes in Kraft Foods
Cuts Stake in Fortune Brands Home & Security
What Wall Street Is Saying Tonight
Facebook to Increase IPO Size by 25%: Source/CNBC.com: Kate Kelly: "Facebook plans to increase the size of its IPO by 85 million shares, says someone familiar with the matter, a move that could value its upcoming offering at as much as $18.5 billion."
WHALE WATCH: WHY COPYING BIG INVESTORS IS 'DANGEROUS'/CNBC.com: Jeff Cox: "...But there's danger in following the big guns - specifically, that the forms often are backward-looking and thus can be misleading about where someone like hedge fund giant John Paulson is putting his money. "There's some benefit in" following the 13f filings, says Michael Yoshikami, CEO and founder of Destination Wealth Management in San Francisco. Yoshikami advises following "not exactly what they're doing but more following the theme of what they're saying."
JCPENNEY LOSS DOUBLE WHAT EXPECTED; SUSPENDS DIVIDEND/Reuters with CNBC.com: “JC Penney surprised after the bell, reporting quarterly earnings that widely missed analysts' expectations. It's shares dropped in after-hours trading on Tuesday. In February, Penney began a multiyear transformation when the company eliminated hundreds of sales events in favor of everyday prices on most items, a radical departure that analysts predicted would confuse or alienate its customers.”
GREEKS WITHDRAW NEARLY $1 BILLION FROM LOCAL BANKS/CNBC.com with wires: “Greek depositors withdrew 700 million euros ($900 million) from the nation's local banks recently, said President Karolos Papoulias, though the exact timing of the transfer was unclear. Citing a conversation he had with Greek Central Bank Governor George Provopoulos, Papoulias said "that the strength of banks is very weak right now."
SCARED OF FACEBOOK SHARES? WAGER ON FRIDAY'S CLOSE/Reuters – David Gaffen: "Intrade, the online prediction market where investors can bet on numerous events, from movie box office receipts to the U.S. presidential election, started a contract Tuesday for bets on where shares of Facebook will close on Friday, their first day of trading. ... For Facebook, Intrade is offering contracts that bet on the stock closing anywhere from $25 to $60, at $5 intervals."
GM HALTING FACEBOOK ADS: DID THE AUTO MAKER JUST “NOT GET SOCIAL”?/TechCrunch – Anthony Na: “General Motors plans to stop advertising on Facebook, says The Wall Street Journal according to “people familiar with the matter.” But I spoke to a source close to Facebook that characterize GM’s efforts as “taking one swing and deciding to quit.” My source says GM’s efforts weren’t social enough, focusing on building apps rather than launching social ad campaigns that spread by word-of-mouth. So what went wrong, and does Facebook need to offer more flexibility to advertisers?”
HEDGE OR BET? PARSING A TRADE/WSJ – Katy Burne, Aaron Luchetti & Gregory Zuckerman: “J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s trading losses of more than $2 billion centered on a complicated three-step strategy that could raise new questions about whether the bank was hedging its risks or making a big bet. The size and complexity of the trades suggest to some critics that the bank might have been seeking to generate profits rather than to simply protect its giant portfolio of corporate loans and other holdings from losses.”
CONSUMERS LESS HAPPY WITH BLACKBERRYS/NY Times – Ian Austin: “A survey of customer satisfaction released on Tuesday underscored the importance of a new line of BlackBerry phones for reversing the fortunes of the beleaguered Research In Motion . The American Customer Satisfaction Index, which is affiliated with the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, found that RIM’s customers were the least satisfied cellphone users among customers of the seven phone makers it tracked in its survey during the first quarter of this year.”
Tomorrow's Earnings
Before the bell:
Target, Abercrombie & Fitch, Deere, Staples
After the bell:
Limited Brands
Tomorrow's Economic Data
830 Apr Housing Starts
830 Apr Building Permits
915 Apr Industrial Production
915 Apr Capacity Utilization
1400 FOMC Minutes
Tomorrow on CNBC
Ken Langone, Invemed Associates Chairman (700a)
Phil Mickelson, Golfer (730a)
T Boone Pickens, BP Capital Founder (835a)
Richard Anderson, Delta Airlines CEO (1115a)
Gerald Lipkin, Valley National Bancorp CEO (200p)
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