Stock Market Today

Tesla Motors stock prices outlook 2013-2014

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 15:08:00 +0000

stock market today - Tesla Motors stock prices outlook 2013-2014 : Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk doesn't run his Silicon Valley electric car maker by traditional auto industry rules, and investors are so far rewarding him by putting a value on the company that defies easy comparisons.

Tesla is scheduled to report second quarter results on Wednesday, and most analysts are forecasting a 17-cent-a-share loss. In an industry where strategy is driven by the quest for economies of scale, Tesla is tiny. It delivered just 1,400 Model S electric sedans in July, according to researcher Autodata Corp., or about 1% of Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales for the month.

Yet Tesla's share price has more than quadrupled in the past year, to $142.15 on Tuesday and giving it a market value of about $17.15 billion, a quarter of Ford's, and about 70% more than Fiat SpA—majority owner of Chrysler Group LLC.

Despite its small size, the Palo Alto, Calif., company has become among the auto industry's most closely followed. General Motors Co. GM -0.67% CEO Dan Akerson recently ordered a team of GM employees to study Tesla and the ways that it could challenge the established auto industry business model.

Even Wall Street analysts who are enthusiastic about Tesla's prospects have put target prices on the company's shares that are much lower than their current market price.

A Tesla spokesman wouldn't comment on the stock price on Tuesday ahead of disclosing June quarter results on Wednesday. But Mr. Musk and other company officials have said in the past that they foresee a Tesla that is building 400,000 or 500,000 cars a year, and can achieve a market capitalization of as much as $43 billion by 2022. That is the level at which Mr. Musk can collect a chunk of stock under a multi-step compensation plan adopted by Tesla's board last year.

Most car companies are judged on the results they can deliver in the near term. Tesla investors are buying on results that probably won't exist until sometime in the next decade. And even that is only if it can deliver flawless manufacturing execution, continued annual growth and crack through the consumer concerns about driving range and upfront costs that have restrained demand for all-electric vehicles so far.

Analysts are expecting the company to lose 68 cents a share this year and earn 50 cents a stock 2014, according to Zacks Investment Research. By that 2014 projection, its forward price/earnings ratio is 289, compared with Ford's PE of just under 10 and Toyota Motor Corp.'s 7203.TO +0.16% P/E of less than 1, both based on 2014 earnings projections, according to Zacks.

Tesla's P/E ratio is more akin to Internet stocks than car makers. Supporters say that is because the company's electric vehicle sales strategy is disruptive and the auto maker possesses groundbreaking technologies.

Deutsche Bank recently raised its target price for the company's shares to $160. The bank estimates that Tesla will be able to achieve operating profit margins of 20%—or about twice that of BMW AG BMW.XE +1.53% in its most recent quarter—as it ramps up sales and spreads costs over a larger number of vehicles.

"We expect [Tesla] to reach at least 200,000 units by near the end of the decade, which implies about 5% of what we calculate as the addressable market of comparable vehicles in terms of capability and price," the bank said in a note to investors last month.

Tesla sold 8,931 vehicles this year through June, according to Autodata. In contrast, Porsche delivered 81,565 of its big ticket and high margin vehicles globally during the same period.

Mr. Musk has said he believes Tesla can achieve 25% gross margins by the end of this year, meaning that Tesla's direct costs of building cars will be just three-quarters of the revenue it collects from sales. In the first quarter, Tesla's gross margin was 17% of sales.

Wall Street analysts assume that Tesla will sell around 100,000 of the company's "Gen 3" models—electric sedans that are expected to start at about $35,000 when available in late 2016. Investors are counting on Tesla being able to deliver a car that competes against luxury sports cars such as the BMW 3 Series and Audi A4—and not similarly-priced electric cars.

The hurdles are many. Other manufacturers now offering electric cars for under $40,000 have so far failed to generate much volume. The Nissan Leaf, which starts at about $28,800, is on a pace to sell fewer than 50,000 cars this year on a global basis.

Established luxury brands also are planning to challenge Tesla with plug-in models of their own, such as the BMW i3 and a Cadillac ELR plug-in hybrid coming from GM.

Many analysts say the shares currently are overpriced based on their sales and profit projections. Adam Jonas, a Morgan Stanley analyst, says Tesla's shares should be trading at about $109. His estimate assumes Tesla continues to expand its business 15 years into the future to get to his stock value—which is about 23% less than its current price.

Mr. Jonas assumes Tesla eventually can sell more than 200,000 vehicles a year at an average price of $50,000, with the majority of the sales coming from the company's Gen 3 models. This year, Tesla is expected to deliver about 20,000 Model S vehicles.

"We argue that Tesla cannot be valued on traditional near-term multiple metrics like traditional auto companies," Mr. Jonas said.

Goldman Sachs analyst Patrick Archambault has one of the lower stock price estimates at $84 a share. He estimated Tesla will be making about 150,000 vehicles a year and earning about $1.1 billion, or $8.59 a share, in 2018.

Barclays senior analyst Brian Johnson is pegging Tesla at $90 a share. He thinks that Tesla, at a minimum, can sell about 50,000 Model S and Model X vehicles a year around the globe, making it is successful "niche luxury car maker." But that should only get Tesla to about $60 a share in value.

To be worth $90 a share, Tesla has to make a credible entry-level luxury car that he thinks will be priced at between $42,000 and $45,000. "They are going to have to do in five years what it took Audi decades to do—break into the volume entry-level luxury market."

Today's stock price, he said, reflects investors who believe Mr. Musk "is the next Henry Ford."

China, Asian stock markets outlook 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:53:00 +0000

China, Asian stock markets outlook 2013 : China and other East Asian stock markets will be able to shrug off recent turmoil and post some gains in 2013 on hopes of an economy recovery, policy easing in the second half of the year and attractive valuations, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.

Fears that the U.S. Federal Reserve may soon start rolling back its stimulus programme caused large outflows of investor money from emerging Asian stock markets in recent weeks, sending most Asian indexes, except Taiwan's Taiex, into the red.

Indeed, the rout sent valuations in China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan below their 5-year average, as measured by their 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratios, according to Thomson Reuters data.

But equity analysts polled by Reuters between June 10-17 said those markets would claw back those losses, and gains from now until the end of the year would range anywhere between 7 percent in Taiwan to 11 percent in Shanghai and as much as 13-14 percent in Hong Kong and South Korea.

Still, most analysts were caught off-guard by the recent sharp plunge in stocks and earlier estimates of double-digit gains for 2013 have now been scaled back sharply.

"Markets will continue to speculate when the U.S. Federal Reserve will start to taper its quantitative easing, but I don't think the Fed will act anytime this year," said Linus Yip, strategist at First Shanghai Securities.

The Fed's latest two-day policy meeting ends on Wednesday and markets will be keen for fresh guidance on when it would begin withdrawing its stimulus support, especially after recent jobs and housing data showed the world's largest economy appeared to be on a stable recovery track.

Notwithstanding the risk of stimulus tapering, equity strategists, usually a bullish lot, have again predicted almost double-digit gains from now until mid-2014 for stock indexes in China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan.

The Shanghai SSE composite index is expected to end the year at 2,400 points, representing a rise of around 11 percent from current levels and a full-year gain of nearly 6 percent.

It is then expected to climb to 2,500 by June next year.

"China's economy is likely to recover gradually, lending support to the stock market. However, the rise would be limited in the second half, curbed by resumption of IPOs and tighter liquidity," said Dongguan Securities Co strategist Pan Shaochang.

Analysts said soft Chinese economic data, sluggish corporate earnings and the People's Bank of China's reluctance to inject funds into interbank markets despite a cash shortage have contributed to pulling down stock indexes in Hong Kong and mainland China.

But attractive valuations could bring the shine back on these stocks.

The Shanghai SSE composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index .HSI are currently trading at over 9 times their 12-month forward earnings projections, way lower than their 10-year average of over 15 percent and 13 percent, respectively.

The Hang Seng is predicted to reach 24,000 by end-2013, according to the poll. That would translate into a rise of more than 13 percent from current levels and a full-year gain of close to 6 percent.

The index was seen hitting 24,500 by mid-2014.

SOUTH KOREA, TAIWAN STOCKS TO SURGE

South Korea's key share index also is seen making firm gains in the second half of the year, led by domestic consumption stocks and technology heavyweights on expected signs of improvement in both domestic and global economies and companies' earnings.

The median forecast was for the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) to rise 14.2 percent to 2,150 points by the end of this year from Monday's close of 1,883.1 points. That would mark a gain of close to 8 percent for the full year.

"We expect market fundamentals including economic health and corporate earnings to improve in the second half of this year," said Cho Yong-hyun, market analyst at Hana Daetoo Securities in Seoul.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's TAIEX is expected to end the year at 8,550 points, little changed from earlier expectations, but up 4 percent from current levels and 11 percent higher than its 2012 close of 7699.5.

Shares in Taiwan have weathered the recent turmoil better than their peers in the region largely due to a more resilient electronics and diversified semi-conductor market that relies on demand from global technology giants such as Apple Inc.

Reason why Apple shares prices down

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 18:47:00 +0000

Reason why Apple shares prices down : During midday trading on Wednesday, 17 April, Apple's share price fell to $398.81 (£261.54), down 6.4 percent since opening on the NASDAQ at $426.24 that morning. It marks a 16-month low for the company which in September, 2012, saw its stock price peak at over $700 just prior to the launch of the iPhone 5.

The price slump may be related to iPhone and iPad chip manufacturer Cirrus Logic, which today posted its financial guidance for the first-quarter. Forecasting Q1 revenue of between $150m and $170m, Cirrus Logic's results came in behind the $195m of revenue expected by Wall Street analysts, leading to speculation that demand for the iPad and iPhone may be slowing.

Foxconn, another manufacturer of Apple products, has also published disappointing financial results lately. The Taiwanese company, which earns between 60 and 70 percent of its business from building Apple products, posted first quarter sales of T$808.97 billion (£17.6bn), down from T$988.34bn in the previous quarter and T$1 trillion from the same period in 2012.

"A quarterly decline was expected, but not a yearly decline," KGI Securities analyst Ming-chi Kuo told Reuters. "This shows that Hon Hai's revenue depends too much on Apple, and iPhone orders corrected more than expected."

Despite the lower than expected results, Foxconn has since confirmed that it has been hiring thousands of new staff since the end of March, feeding speculation that the company may be preparing for the production of a new iPhone.

Despite slipping to $398.81, Apple's share price quickly jumped back over $400 and at time of writing sits at $403.90. The company will announce its second quarter financial results on 23

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was supposed to be the best stock in the world. It was always at the top of the list for stocks to buy and almost nobody would say to sell Apple stock. Its share price was supposed to go to the moon as analyst after analyst on Wall Street kept raising their price targets to $600, then $800, then even $1,000. After briefly hitting $700 in 2012, the Apple stock price has now broken under the $400 barrier briefly on Wednesday for the first time since late in 2011.

Apple’s weakness is along with a weak stock market today, but the weakness from Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ: CRUS) added to some concerns today. We would also note that Bernstein just said earlier this week that Apple may not actually announce its cash plans along with earnings. The report also showed that Apple may take on debt to avoid paying the taxes for the cash that is held outside of the United States.

We would note that estimates and expectations have been coming down steadily since the start of this year. Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of $613.53 for Apple. Thomson Reuters has a consensus estimate of $10.13 in earnings per share as of last look, but this has dropped. a week ago the estimate was a penny higher at $10.14 EPS. Then it was $10.18 30 days ago, $10.24 just 60 days ago, and $11.86 back 90 days ago. We would like to ask: Does a new $99.99 iPhone cheapen the brand of Apple?

Apple shares are down 5.2% at $403.80 and the stock hit a new 52-week low of $398.11. The 52-week high is $705.07, but Apple’s market cap is now back down to about $378 billion.

Thomson Reuters Apple shares prices projected, apple stock prices estimates, apple stock expectations

Alumina stock prices outlook 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 03:03:00 +0000

Alumina stock prices outlook 2013 : SHARES in Australia's Alumina have leapt up after its joint venture partner Alcoa signalled that the aluminium industry had turned around, with a jump in profit. The US aluminium giant Alcoa reported a 59 per cent rise in first quarter earnings. Alumina's shares were up 6.25 cents, or 6.22 per cent, at $1.0675 by 1410 AEST today.

Alumina chief executive John Bevan said Alcoa's strong result reflected improved industry conditions, despite volatility in aluminium prices and a strong Australian dollar.

Melbourne-based Alumina's only earning asset is its 40 per cent stake in Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals (AWAC), with Alcoa holding the remaining 60 per cent.

AWAC operates aluminium smelters in Victoria at Portland and the struggling Point Henry plant, near Geelong, which has had to be propped up by multi-million-dollar government handouts.

AWAC is benefiting from an increased independence of contracts to higher spot alumina prices (a key input in aluminium) so they are not linked to the aluminium price, as has traditionally occurred.

Despite metals prices booming in recent years, China's overproduction of aluminium has driven down prices that were above $US3,000 a tonne before the global financial crisis, to a realised $US2,398 for Alcoa in the first quarter.

That reduction drove down input costs through the linked alumina price, which was below $US300 a tonne.

Mr Bevan said more than half of AWAC's alumina shipments would be priced on an independent spot basis this year, which were currently higher than alumina contracts linked to the aluminium price.

"However, aluminium and alumina prices have fallen recently and we remain cautious on the outlook for the remainder of the year," he said.

Alcoa reported a $US149 million ($A144 million) first quarter profit, up from $US94 million in the same period last year.

The first quarter figure was down from $US242 million in the previous quarter, which had been inflated by asset sales.

Alcoa, the first major US company to report first quarter earnings, pointed to strong efficiency gains and a slightly tighter supply market for its result.

Alcoa said the alumina and aluminium markets were "essentially balanced" but would become slightly tighter as supply contracted.

AWAC's production of alumina for the first quarter was 3.8 million tonnes.

Alumina received a fully franked dividend of $US25 million from AWAC for the quarter.

Suntech stock did not meet the NYSE's price criteria for continued listing standard

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 02:45:00 +0000

Suntech stock did not meet the NYSE's price criteria for continued listing standard : Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd., a manufacturer of solar panels, today announced that it has been notified by the New York Stock Exchange that the Company did not meet the NYSE's price criteria for continued listing standard because, as of 4 April, 2013, the average closing price of the Company's American Depositary Shares, or ADSs, was less than $1.00 per ADS over a consecutive 30-trading-day period.

Under NYSE rules, the Company has six months following receipt of the notification to regain compliance with the minimum share price requirement. The Company can regain compliance at any time during the six-month cure period if the Company's ADSs have a closing share price of at least $1.00 on the last trading day of any calendar month during the period and also has an average closing share price of at least $1.00 over the 30 trading-day period ending on the last trading day of that month or on the last day of the cure period.

Suntech notified the NYSE that it wants to drive up shares and cure this deficiency within the prescribed timeframe. The company's ADSs will continue to be listed and traded on the NYSE, subject to compliance with other NYSE continued listing standards and oversight by the NYSE. The NYSE notification does not affect the Company's business operations or its Securities and Exchange Commission reporting requirements.

China stock index analysis april 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 02:35:00 +0000

China stock index analysis march 2013: China’s stocks swung between gains and losses before the release of trade data for March. Property developers advanced the most in the Shanghai Composite (SHCOMP) Index, while drugmakers slumped.

The Shanghai Composite rose 0.2 percent to 2,229.59 at 9:52 a.m. local time, after falling as much as 0.2 percent. The index jumped the most in two weeks yesterday as a report showing decelerating inflation eased pressure on policy makers to tighten monetary policy. The CSI 300 added 0.1 percent to 2,492.75 today, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index advanced 0.5 percent.

“Stocks will fluctuate in the near term with a lack of volume to drive stocks strongly in either direction, Deng Wenyuan, an analyst at Soochow Securities Co., said by phone from Suzhou, near Shanghai. Recent data ‘‘show we are still headed towards a weak economy as there isn’t enough demand,’’ Deng said.

The Shanghai index has fallen 8.6 percent from a Feb. 6 high amid concern steps to cool property prices will drag on economic growth. Valuations have dropped to 9.1 times projected 12-month earnings, the lowest level since Dec. 13 and less than the seven-year average of 15.8, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The Bloomberg China-US Equity Index (CH55BN) rose 1.3 percent in New York yesterday, with U.S.-traded shares of Yanzhou Coal Mining Co., Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. and China Life Insurance Co. advancing the most since January.
Export Outlook

Exports probably climbed 11.7 percent last month from a year ago, according to the median estimate of 36 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The data is scheduled to be released at 10 a.m. Overseas shipments rose 21.8 percent in February from a year ago, customs bureau data showed on March 8, beating the median estimate of 8.1 percent in a Bloomberg News survey.

Consumer prices rose 2.1 percent in March, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday, compared with the 2.5 percent median estimate of 38 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

China has no reason to ‘‘sharply’’ tighten monetary policy because inflation is ‘‘moderate’’ and growth is ‘‘relatively weak,’’ according to a front-page commentary in the China Securities Journal. Relatively weak demand in China may continue through the second quarter, the commentary said.

Fitch Ratings Ltd. cut China’s long-term local-currency debt rating, citing increasing risks to the country’s financial stability. Fitch lowered the rating to A+, its fifth-highest level, from AA-, the fourth-highest, the company said in an e- mailed statement yesterday. The company estimates total credit in China’s economy, including various forms of so-called shadow banking, may have reached 198 percent of gross domestic product at the end of 2012, up from 125 percent at end-2008.
Bird Flu

The Shanghai gauge’s trading volume was 31 percent lower than the 30-day average today, while 10-day volatility for the measure jumped to the highest level since January yesterday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

China’s government is pledging openness in divulging details of a deadly bird flu outbreak, saying it won’t repeat mistakes made during the SARS outbreak a decade ago that delayed response to the global contagion.

Any doctors who fail to disclose cases promptly and accurately will be prosecuted, Liang Wannian, an official at China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission, told reporters yesterday. The briefing came in response to an escalation in reported infections as the death toll rose to 9.

The iShares FTSE China 25 Index Fund (FXI), the largest Chinese exchange-traded fund in the U.S., jumped 1.7 percent in New York, the steepest one-day rally since March 20.

Yanzhou Coal, the nation’s fourth-largest miner of the fuel, advanced 4.7 percent to $12.59, rallying the most since Jan. 2. Aluminum Corp., China’s largest maker of the light metal, known as Chalco, also surged 4.7 percent to $9.63 in New York, the steepest gain since Jan. 10. Its ADRs, each representing 25 underlying shares, traded 3.1 percent above the Hong Kong stock, the highest premium this year.

ADRs of China Life, the nation’s biggest insurer, surged 3.8 percent to $39.10, rising the most in three months.

analysts, best stock to buy april 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:08:00 +0000

analysts, best stock to buy april 2013 : As we do each month, we asked 10 of our top analysts across various sectors for one stock that looks especially compelling right now. Here are the companies they singled out.

Dan Caplinger: My stock for the month is Chinese online-search giant Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU ) . I've been a big fan of emerging markets for a long time, and China in particular intrigues me because of the language and cultural differences that provide such a big barrier to entry in many industries. Although fast-food giants and other consumer-facing U.S. companies have done a good job of building a big presence in the nation, Baidu has managed to fend off Google and retain a commanding share of the online search market. The stock's recent plunge in reaction to up-and-comer Qihoo 360 seems far too overblown, especially given the potential for huge growth in the search market in China and in neighboring countries that will leave room for multiple competitors in the space.

Moreover, investors are forgetting that Baidu has expansion plans beyond China, and its prospects for picking up market share in other lucrative emerging Internet markets look bright. Best of all, even if its lightning-fast growth pace slows, being able to pick up shares at a trailing multiple below 20 is a bargain that's too tempting to resist.

John Maxfield: Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL )
If I were the world's most interesting man (which I most certainly am not) here's how I'd sum up my selection of Apple as the one stock to buy in April: I don't usually buy technology stocks, but when I do they're dirt cheap.

Apple is patently, even offensively, inexpensive. It went from over $700 per share last September -- at which point even seasoned investors like David Einhorn were predicting it'd be the "first trillion-dollar company" -- down to roughly $420 earlier this month. It's the classic case of mania followed by utter despair.

On a valuation basis, the company's stock trades for a little more than 10 times its estimated future earnings over the next 12 months. If you exclude its obscene cash hoard, that figure falls to roughly seven times earnings. And even more telling is its 2.3% dividend yield, which is bound to increase, given that Apple is in "serious discussions" about returning more capital to shareholders.

While I've been wrong before, and will be again, I've personally bought Apple at three different price points during its descent, and couldn't be happier with the decision.

Keith Speights: Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB ) is on a roll that I don't see stopping anytime soon. Shares are up more than 40% during the last year. The biotech currently stands as the leader in the multiple sclerosis market with blockbuster drugs such as Avonex and Tysabri. Many expect Biogen's Tecfidera, which was recently approved by the FDA, to exceed the success of both of those drugs and become the top-selling MS drug within the next few years.

The excitement over Tecfidera stems from several important advantages for the drug. Most treatments for MS are taken via injection, which can be inconvenient and sometimes results in inflammation around the injection site. Tecfidera is a pill and therefore avoids these drawbacks. There are other MS pills available -- Novartis' Gilenya and Sanofi's Aubagio, but Tecfidera's better safety profile and solid efficacy should catapult it ahead of both of these rival drugs.

While multiple sclerosis is definitely Biogen's strongest niche, the company isn't entirely dependent on one therapeutic area. Rituxan, which generated $1.1 billion in sales last year, targets treatment of several indications including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, leukemia, and rheumatoid arthritis. The FDA also recently accepted the company's Biologic License Application (BLA) for a new hemophilia therapy. These products, combined with Biogen's increasingly strong MS portfolio, should help the stock continue its winning ways.

Tim Beyers: No less than Steven Spielberg -- STEVEN SPIELBERG! -- helped sell J.J. Abrams on taking Star Wars Episode VII, the director revealed in a recent interview with Empire magazine. Combine serious resources, serious talent, and serious brand and you might have the next $2 billion flick under development right now, only the third in history. In the meanwhile, Iron Man 3 shows up in May as the Marvel franchise continues to expand. All of it bodes well for Walt Disney, which has also hinted at plans to bring the Star Wars universe to a new theme park.

Matt DiLallo: Despite roots that go all the way back to the days of Standard Oil, the most intriguing aspect of Buckeye Partners is its future. While on the surface the company appears to just be another master limited partnership, the difference here is that the company has mixed in some international flavor to spice up its business mix.

The foundation of that international business is the company's crown jewel: the BORCO marine terminal in the Bahamas. The facility has a very strategic location in the Caribbean and unlike other locations it has the advanced marine infrastructure required for deepwater access. This gives BORCO an unmatched competitive advantage in two key growth areas. First, it can serve as a bunkering area for crude oil transportation through the soon-to-be-expanded Panama Canal and second, it has the potential to be a staging area for crude oil from Latin American production that's expected to come online over the next decade.

Buckeye is in the process of expanding BORCO by 20%, however, it has the room to double capacity as these two catalysts play out. When you combine this with the growth of its domestic operations, you can see a real catalyst for higher future distributions. Even better, Buckeye's units already yield almost 7%, so you'll be paid quite well as you watch these catalysts play out.

Chuck Saletta: Supplemental insurance giant Aflac (NYSE: AFL ) looks like a stock worth buying in April. Investors are rewarded with a 2.7% yield on a dividend that has risen annually for 30 consecutive years. That makes Aflac a company in the business of managing risks that knows the importance of directly rewarding investors for the risks they're taking in owning the stock.

Aflac is well-known in the U.S. for the injury-prone duck that serves as its mascot, and it's also the largest writer of individual insurance policies in Japan. To showcase just how committed to its dividend Aflac has been, note that the 30-year history of increasing dividends included 2011, the year of the tsunami-induced Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown in Japan. That commitment, along with a mere 22% payout ratio, gives plenty of reason to believe Aflac could continue to increase its dividend.

In spite of that strong base, Aflac's shares are down since it provided guidance in early February that raised concerns that currency conversions from a weaker Japanese yen would hurt earnings. That weakness gives investors an attractive buy-in price below eight times forward earnings estimates. Since the stock's weakness is driven by the ever-fickle currency market, there's no telling how quickly that window of opportunity may close, especially if currency traders sour on the U.S. dollar.

Anders Bylund: TIBCO Software is an unassailable giant in a booming niche market. And you can buy it today at drool-inducing prices.

The company rules the roost for real-time data analysis tools, to the point where larger and richer rivals have switched sales tactics in this sector. IBM and Oracle no longer even attempt to win contracts against TIBCO on technical merits or even with huge discounts, according to CEO Vivek Ranadive. Instead, they argue that integrated packages with everything from one vendor surely beat specialized products in terms of product support and simple setup.

The company should be having the time of its life in that sales environment, but lingering issues with sales execution have put a lid on short-term revenue growth. That's why the stock has traded down 25% over the last year.

I believe it's only a matter of time until Ranadive hammers out the execution issues in his North American sales force, which will unlock the next level of hypergrowth for his company. I thought TIBCO was such a mouthwatering deal in early December that I bought shares for myself. You can still enjoy exactly the same deep value today.

Rich Smith: A weak consumer confidence report siphoned wind from the sails of many retail stocks earlier this week -- including my top pick for April: Abercrombie & Fitch. This, however, is good news.

Abercrombie, if you recall, got shellacked last month despite beating earnings, when the company warned of weakness in the current year. To me, though, that looked like just as big an overreaction as the one that investors gave to news of waning consumer confidence.

Here's why: With earnings growth projected to average 18% or better over the next five years, Abercrombie looks like a great bargain based on the $345 million in free cash flow it says it generated in 2012. True, that number's going down in the weaker year ahead. But the company's still targeting $300 million in FCF, which is none too shabby in its own right.

I put the company's enterprise value-to-free cash flow ratio at just about 10.0 today, which means that if Abercrombie grows only half as fast as Wall Street's expecting, the stock's still fairly priced. If it gets anywhere near its target, the stock's just an amazing bargain. It may take some time for Mr. Market to realize this, true. But Abercrombie pays us a 1.7% dividend while we wait. Try getting your bank to match that.
Jim Mueller: We're barely done with snowstorms and now have summer storms to look forward to. Both mean power outages and that means good things for Generac Holdings, maker of backup power generators for the home and small to mid-size businesses. It's been in business for more than 50 years , but has only been public since 2010. It controls 70% of the market for home power backup, selling generators that stand alone or can be hooked into a natural gas supply, switching on automatically when the power goes out. For small to medium businesses, it provides larger generators that keep the business running and avoiding losses from things like thawed-out food (think grocery stores and restaurants).

The country's aging electricity infrastructure means we're experiencing more power outages affecting lots of people. In 2000, there were 16 outages affecting 50,000 customers or more, according to the Department of Energy. Last year there were 77, while in 2011, there were 139. This increase has spurred more people to buy generators, helping the company achieve 26% average annual revenue growth and 29% average annual net income growth over the past three years.

I expect this trend to continue and this is why I purchased shares for Messed-Up Expectations, the real-money portfolio I run for The Motley Fool.

Jason Moser: This year marks Chipotle Mexican Grill's (NYSE: CMG ) 20th anniversary and with more than 1,400 restaurants serving almost 1 million customers daily, it's safe to say the concept has caught on. I love the fact that the company owns all its stores; it doesn't franchise any of them. What this means for investors is strategic growth based on management's goals.

These stores are not only self-funding but also veritable cash machines with each ringing up more than $2 million in average annual sales, and when we consider that the average store yields an operating profit of around $570,000 per year (and growing), it's not hard to see why Chipotle makes for an attractive long-term holding. Initiatives like the ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen and the recently announced catering service offer up additional growth drivers beyond expanding the current store footprint (which I believe has room to at least double) meaning that today's price at around 30 times full-year estimates is a fair one to own shares in an excellent company.

The biggest risk on the horizon for Chipotle is food costs. Management does possess some pricing power thanks to the quality of the food and experience, but they don't have a history of abusing it. Best of all, we know that with Chipotle and its streamlined store concept, for founder and co-CEO Steve Ells it always has been and always will be about the food. Ells has developed a platform with which he can deliver an excellent product. But for investors to look at Chipotle as "just a burrito joint" is extremely short-sighted. This story has a long way to go. (source http://www.fool.com )

Could it affect Cyprus banking crisis in the US

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 09:03:00 +0000

Could it affect Cyprus banking crisis in the US : The two largest banks on the island country of Cyprus – Bank of Cyprus and Cyprus Popular Bank (aka Laiki bank) – are insolvent. Without a bailout, they will close their doors Monday, perhaps never to open again.

The much publicized “haircut” (just a bit off the top please) bailout proposal from the EU called for a 5.8 billion Euro “contribution” from Cypriot depositors in order to receive the 10 billion Euro (13 billion dollars) in bailout funds.

Reuters reported Saturday afternoon that a deal appears to have been brokered between the EU and beleaguered Cyprus. There are roughly 371,000 accounts in the Cypriot banking sector. 361,000 of those accounts are under 100,000 euros in value, and would therefore remain untouched. The remaining 10,000 do, of course include many wealthy citizens of Cyprus, but are primarily owned by foreign (Russian) depositors.

The terms of the deal would include a 25 percent levy on all accounts exceeding 100,000 euros from the Bank of Cyprus, and a 4 percent levy on accounts of the same size from all other Cypriot banks.

That is, all other banks with the exception of the second largest bank – Cyprus Popular Bank – which is apparently where the bulk of foreign depositors, mainly Russians, have their accounts. The accounts over 100,000 Euros held by the Cyprus Popular Bank could see as much as 70 percent of their funds seized.

The Cyprus banking system is to Russian oligarchs what the Cayman Islands are to the American oligarchs; a tax haven. Russian billionaires have long used Cyprus as their financial hub, avoiding various excise taxes imposed on international transactions.

The EU is sending an extremely dangerous signal to the global banking sector by robbing Russian billionaires to fund the Cyprus bailout: As a foreign investor, your accounts are not sacrosanct, and will be used as needed to fund bailouts.

Why is this so scary? According to JP Morgan, about fifty percent of all unsecured deposited funds in the EU banking sector are from outside the EU. Wealthy denizens from around the globe have trillions of euros parked in banks across the Eurozone.

What could possibly go wrong with telling them that should they be needed, their accounts will be frozen and levied as necessary to fund any shortcomings of the local government?

While the capital flight (international bank run) from these accounts will certainly not approach a complete withdrawal, many European banks, in Greece, Italy, Portugal and France just to name a few, are on the “bleeding edge” of solvency, and could easily be pushed over the edge should even five percent be withdrawn. Five percent is at this point a conservative estimate.

Should that push a few banks into insolvency across several nations within the Eurozone, the situation in Cyprus could very easily escalate from a six billion euro “haircut” for the small country, into a Marine Corps barber shop on payday across the Eurozone. That would cause the type of capital flight that could potentially destroy the single currency union entirely.

So how could that affect those of us on the left side of the pond?

In today’s global economy, most large US banks have branches overseas, which being part of the same company, are tied to a communal pool of collateral. If their branches in the Eurozone experience bank runs, the branches in the US must cover any losses. Thanks to wonderful fractional reserve banking system (you deposit $100, they gamble $90 away and only have $10 of your money), this could have a devastating impact on domestic banks.

This does not take derivatives into account at all. Most people’s eyes glaze over when the word is mentioned, but it is very important to have a basic understanding of derivatives and how they could affect our economy. Derivatives were instituted as an insurance policy that was available to protect your investment in a stock you owned. If the company you invested in went bust, the derivative contract would cover your losses, not unlike car or home insurance.

A couple decades ago, somebody got the bright idea to enable derivatives contracts against assets they didn’t actually own. Think of it this way: if I were able to take out an insurance policy on your house for ten million dollars at a cost of a thousand dollars per month, how long do you think it would take for me to find a way to burn your house down? The first hedge fund manager was born.

That is what happened in 2008.
The only real regulations that were added to prevent another 2008 derivatives meltdown was in Dodd-Frank, which put you and me, aka Joe Taxpayer, automatically on the hook for any derivatives losses by the big banks; no bailout legislation required. Skip Jail – go directly to go – collect as much as is needed.

Estimates for derivatives contracts outstanding range between $600 trillion and $1.5 quadrillion, and amount more than three times greater than all the world’s financial assets, all virtually invisible to regulatory bodies, with essentially no regulations except the aforementioned full faith and credit of the US debt-slave. (source http://communities.washingtontimes.com )

Why Commerzbank shares prices dow today

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 15:56:00 +0000

Why Commerzbank shares prices dow today : Commerzbank shares plunged Wednesday after Germany's second-largest bank said it would carry out a 2.5-billion-euro ($3.3-billion) capital hike to pay back state bailouts received during the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

"Commerzbank is planning an early repayment in full" of about 1.6 billion euros in so-called "silent participations" from the German bank bailout fund SoFFin and a further 750 million euros from insurance giant Allianz, the bank said in a statement.

Silent participations are a form of debt under which creditors agree to forego voting rights in the company.

In order to raise the funds needed for repayment, Commerzbank had decided to undertake a capital increase, which it would ask shareholders to approve at the annual general meeting of Commerzbank, originally set for May 22 but now being brought forward to April 19.

SoFFin will participate in the increase, but instead of investing new capital, it will contribute some 625 million euros worth of shares.

That means that once the operation has been completed, SoFFin's shareholding in Commerzbank would decrease from 25 percent plus one share to below 20 percent, the bank said.

The move is expected to beef up Commerzbank's capital resources, with the key Core Tier 1 ratio -- a measure of a bank's financial strength -- rising to 8.6 percent from 7.6 percent.

"The improvement of our capital resources has the highest priority for us," said chief financial officer Stephan Engels.

"At the same time we are enhancing Commerzbank's ability to pay a dividend in future," Engels said.

"With the resulting reduction of debt servicing costs and the removal of the obligation to repay the silent participations of SoFFin and Allianz, dividend payments may be possible at an earlier date in the future," he explained.

The last time Commerzbank paid a dividend was in 2007.

In 2008 and 2009, the state invested around 16.4 billion euros in Commerzbank as it struggled to integrate the distressed Dresdner Bank.

Commerzbank has already repaid most of the money and "with the announced repayment of the remaining 1.6 billion euros, the silent participations of the Federal Republic will be repaid in full," the bank said.

"With the complete repayment of the silent participations of SoFFin we are repaying ahead of schedule all components of the state support over which we have influence," said chief executive Martin Blessing.

"The support of politicians and the taxpayer was very important for us during the financial crisis. For us the repayment ... marks the beginning of the end of the Federal Republic's engagement in Commerzbank," Blessing said.

On the Frankfurt stock exchange, Commerzbank shares were the biggest losers, however, as investors fretted about the dilutionary effects of the capital increase.

In late afternoon trading, the shares were showing a loss of more than 10 percent while the overall blue-chip DAX 30 index was up 0.02 percent.

Silver Spring Networks ipo shares prices opened at $22

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 15:24:00 +0000

Silver Spring Networks ipo shares prices opened at $22 march 13 2013 : Silver Spring Networks (NYSE: SSNI), a provider of smart grid technology, priced its initial public offering (IPO) of 4.75 million shares at $17.00 each, raising $81 million.

The company had earlier planned to sell about 3.7 million shares at between $16 and $18 each in the offering. On Wednesday, shares opened at $22 on their public debut, nearly 30 percent above their IPO price.

The Redwood City, California-based company, which was founded in 2002, offers services such as advanced metering, which allows utilities to automate a number of manual processes; distribution automation, which provides utilities with real-time visibility into the health of the grid;

In addition, the company provides demand-side management, which enables utilities to offer consumers a variety of programs and incentives to use energy more efficiently and reduce usage at times of peak demand.

For the year ended December 2012, the company posted a net loss of $90 million on revenue of $196.7 million and billings of $304.3 million.

As of December 31, 2012, Silver Spring Networks said its total backlog was $745 million. The underwriters have the option to purchase up to an additional 712,500 shares. Goldman Sachs and and Credit Suisse are leading the offering.

Why CEDC stock prices down

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 15:43:00 +0000

Why CEDC stock prices down ": The Central European Distribution Corp, the Polish vodka maker, has seen its share price value fall by as much as 58% in the NYSE because of concerns as to its ability to repay debts that would fall due next month. The company's problem was compounded by the sudden resignation of the company's Chief of Investor Relations.

Current share value fell to its lowest in twelve years at US$0.60 per share and is poised for its sharpest drop despite trading at ten times average volume in the past three months. The share value in Poland also lost twenty percent to its own record low of 3.74 zloty or US$1.19.

A total amount of US$257.9 million in debt would be falling due on March 15 and in order to avoid bankruptcy, CEDC would need to refinance the debt or pay it back in full. CEDC for its part has declined to give its comment on stock decline or the repayment plans.

advantages to using bond funds than individual bonds

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 15:13:00 +0000

advantages to using bond funds than individual bonds : Returns on bonds have been strong and steady over the past couple of years, and investors have flooded cash into bond mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.

From January through November of last year, $346 billion flowed into bond funds and ETFs, while just $11 billion went into stock funds, according to the Wall Street Journal. There’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation here: money flows into bonds because of good performance, and good bond performance comes at least partly from high demand from investors.

But some bond experts are starting to question how long the good times can last. Barron’s reported that Loomis Sayles bond fund manager Dan Fuss felt the bond market was overbought and had “very high” risk. CNBC cited a note Bank of America credit strategist Hans Mikkelsen wrote to clients about the risk of “a disorderly rotation out of bonds—characterized by higher interest rates and wider credit spreads.”

Of course no one can know for sure what the future holds, but we do know that bond markets, like stock markets, do change over time, and what works in one market environment may not work in future markets.

Some investors see changing markets as a problem, but for active investors, changing markets can be an opportunity. Active investors can respond to changing markets. If foreign stock markets lag, they can move into better-performing domestic stocks. If growth is out of favor, active investors can turn to value stocks.

The same holds true for fixed-income. If interest rates rise, active fixed-income investors could invest in short-term bonds, which tend to remain fairly stable in rising rate environments, or use floating rate funds, which are more insulated from the negative impact of rising rates. If credit conditions deteriorated, active investors could move to very high quality bonds, including Treasurys. If bond prices across the board were hit, active investors could even opt to go to cash.

I believe the most effective way for investors to actively manage their portfolios is to use mutual and exchange traded funds. Funds make it easy to move from one area of the market into another. This is especially true of bond funds.

Considering the headwinds facing the bond market, I think there are more advantages to using bond funds than individual bonds. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Diversification: Creating a truly diversified portfolio of individual bonds would require a portfolio upwards of $1 million. But investors can buy a diversified portfolio of bond funds with a few thousand dollars. Another benefit is that bond funds spread out their positions over many individual issues, and this can reduce credit (default) risk. Most individual bond investors hold less than ten bonds in their portfolio. This may not be very risky when defaults are few and far between, but if the economy falters and more companies start to default on their debt, there could be greater danger in a homemade portfolio of individual bonds.

2. Expert Research: Most investors don’t check on companies’ financial health before buying their bonds. Instead they turn to rating agencies and simply buy a bond rated Aaa by Moody or AAA by Standard and Poor’s. But these ratings may not always be reliable, as the debt crisis of 2008 made painfully apparent. Mutual fund companies really earn their fees by doing the research on companies before they buy their bonds. This is particularly valuable when dealing with lower-quality bonds issued by smaller companies. Often companies don’t pay to have the ratings agencies evaluate their debt, so fund managers turn to their own team of analysts to evaluate risk.

3. Tracking Performance: Assessing the returns of a group of individual bonds can be difficult, because the income is not reinvested and some bond issues may not be readily priced. You’re more likely to pay attention to total return on your bond fund and ETF holdings—and more likely to notice when part of your portfolio isn’t working.

4. Access to Different Areas of the Bond Market: Investors who hold individual bonds don’t usually have access to foreign or emerging market bonds, but bond funds make it easy for investors to invest in niche areas like high yield corporate bonds, and global bonds, particularly those of emerging market governments. These areas are likely to become increasingly important sources of returns for fixed-income investors.

Emerging market economies issue about 10% of the world’s sovereign debt (bonds issued by governments), yet they make up about 40% of the world’s GDP. That puts them (as a group) in a good position to re-pay their debt. Bank loans are another type of security best accessed through mutual funds. Floating-rate funds are pools of bank loans made to companies, and the interest rates on those loans adjust as interest rates change. This can make them potentially appealing in a rising rate environment.

5. Liquidity: Perhaps the most important feature of bond funds versus individual issues is liquidity—the ability to exit a particular asset quickly and efficiently. If volatility increases and all areas of the bond market start to decline, active fixed-income investors can go to cash. By dumping bond funds and moving to the sidelines, fund investors make falling bond prices the fund manager’s problem. It’s much easier to sell shares of a bond fund than to unwind a portfolio of individual bonds. After all, a mutual fund is always required to buy back your shares but no one is required to buy back your individual bond.

These are just some of reasons are why I invest my fixed-income portfolios in funds and ETFs, rather than individual issues. As yields rose in January, I reduced my exposure to intermediate-term bonds in favor of bond funds like PIMCO Income (PONDX) and Osterweis Strategic Income (OSTIX), which have a broader spectrum of fixed-income that they can invest in.

PIMCO Income is weighted toward mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, but also holds about 13% in emerging market bonds and 5% in floating-rate bank loans.

Osterweis Strategic Income has more credit risk but lower interest-rate risk (due to shorter average duration) than some intermediate-term bond funds. OSTIX also holds about 18% cash because the fund’s managers would rather wait for the bonds they like to reach the prices they perceive to be attractive before buying them. These funds offer a little bit higher yield, and a little lower duration so they offer a little more protection in case interest rates were to rise. (source www.forbes.co )

U.S. Stock Futures news today february 14 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 15:06:00 +0000

U.S. Stock Futures news today february 14 2013 : A better-than-expected reading on the labor market helped push stock futures off the morning's lows, but stocks remained set to open lower after a weak reading on the European economy jarred investors.

Less than 60 minutes ahead of the open, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures declined 38 points, or 0.3%, to 13920. Standard & Poor's 500-stock index futures lost three points, or 0.2%, to 1514 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell seven points, or 0.2%, to 2763.

Changes in stock futures don't always accurately predict stock moves after the opening bell.

Initial claims for jobless benefits fell more than expected during the latest week from the previous week, to 341,000. Economists expected 360,000 new claims.

H.J. Heinz soared 20% in premarket trading after the company agreed to be acquired by an investment group, including Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital in a deal valued at $28 billion, including debt. Berkshire's Class B shares ticked up 0.2%.

Fellow food companies Kraft Foods Group, General Mills and Campbell Soup also advanced, tacking on 1.6%, 0.8% and 1.9%, respectively.

Dow component Cisco Systems advanced 0.2% after the networking company reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings but provided a somewhat downbeat outlook amid continued economic weakness in Europe and uncertainty surrounding government spending.

European markets were broadly lower, with the Stoxx Europe 600 shedding 0.3%, after euro-zone gross domestic product contracted 0.6% in the fourth quarter, worse than expectations of a 0.4% decline. The bloc's two largest economies, Germany and France, also shrank by more than expected. Germany's DAX index dropped 0.9% and France's CAC 40 shed 0.5%.

Asian markets generally rose as the Bank of Japan left its monetary policy unchanged and said the economy appeared to have stopped weakening. That helped offset data showing Japan's GDP contracted slightly in the fourth quarter, versus expectations of a slight increase.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.5%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index, which reopened after an extended holiday weekend, rose 0.9%. Mainland Chinese markets remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Crude-oil futures rose 0.2% to $97.21 a barrel, while gold futures declined 0.1% to $1,642.90 a troy ounce. The dollar advanced against the euro and nudged higher against the yen. Yields on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bond fell to 2.049% as prices rose.

In other corporate news, Constellation Brands surged 32% after agreeing with rival Anheuser-Busch InBev on revised terms of A-B InBev's divestiture of Grupo Modelo's U.S. assets, in which Constellation will be granted perpetual rights for the Corona and Modelo beer brands in the U.S. for $2.9 billion. Constellation will also buy the rest of Crown Imports it doesn't already own for $1.85 billion.

US Airways Group added 3% after the air carrier and the parent of American Airlines formally announced merger plans, which are expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2013.

Artio Global Investors climbed 33% after agreeing to be acquired by the U.K.'s Aberdeen Asset Management for $175 million.

Best Buy shed 0.7%. The shares lost 2% on Wednesday after The Wall Street Journal reported just before the closing bell that the electronics retailer's founder, Richard Schulze, may cancel his plans to take the company private, and may instead line up investors to take a minority stake.

PepsiCo gained 1.9% after the beverage and snack giant reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and revenue and announced a 5.6% increase in its quarterly dividend.

Angie's List surged 29% after the reviews-based website reported a fourth-quarter profit, while analysts were anticipating a loss, and provided a first-quarter revenue outlook that was above current projections.

Stamps.com slumped 20% after the web-based postage services company's fourth-quarter earnings topped estimates, but revenue and its 2013 outlook missed forecasts.

Zillow climbed 8.3% after the real-estate website reported a fourth-quarter profit versus, versus expectations of a breakeven quarter, along with better-than-expected revenue.

Facebook stock prices dropped today

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 15:02:00 +0000

Facebook stock prices dropped today : Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) shares dropped 5.45% to $28.11. The company, on Jan. 31, reported a plunge in fourth-quarter profit on higher spending. Net income fell 79% to $64 million last quarter as operating expenses jumped 82%. That outpaced a 40% revenue gain to $1.59 billion and raised concerns that margins will come under pressure.

Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg plans to increase expenses, excluding certain costs, 50% this year to hire staff and roll out new tools for advertisers. Profit excluding some items was 17 cents a share. That compares with analysts’ prediction for 15 cents. Analysts had projected $45.8 million in profit on sales of $1.52 billion.insurance shares

Newmont Mining NEM shares analysis next week

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 04:53:00 +0000

Newmont Mining NEM shares analysis next week january 28 2013 : What's happening: Over the past year, Newmont Mining (NEM -1.48%) has been in a downward trend. Despite record-low interest rates, gold has not rallied to the extent that one would have imagined. On January 28, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its latest meeting, and we expect to see the Fed continue on its current path of near zero interest rates in hopes of keeping the overall economy in recovery mode. Nations across the globe are in the midst of stimulating their economies, with Japan being the latest nation to announce plans to devalue its currency in order to make its exports more attractive. If the Fed announces that it will continue to keep the same policy we do not expect to see much upside to gold.

Technical analysis: NEM was recently trading at $44.76, down $19.67 from its 12-month high and $1.81 above its 12-month low. Technical indicators for NEM are bullish with the stock in a weak downward trend. The stock has support above $44.25 and resistance under $45.70. Of the 18 analysts who cover the stock eight rate it a "strong buy," one rates it a "buy" and nine rate it a "hold." The stock receives Standard & Poor's 3 STARS "Hold" ranking.

Analysts' thoughts: We expect the Fed to maintain its current policy, at least through the end of 2014. Gold prices remain high, but have been stuck in a tight trading pattern since the middle of 2011, and we do not believe that that is going to change any time soon. Gold typically rises when investors believe that the global economy is in serious jeopardy of disaster, but we did not see much movement during the recent fiscal cliff drama in Washington. Now that a temporary deal has been reached to raise the U.S. debt limit to cover expenses for the next four months, it seems unlikely that investors are going to flock to gold any time soon.

Stock-only trade: If you're looking to establish a long stock position in NEM, we like the stock under $44.50. We would sell the stock if it falls under $40.50 or 10% under your purchase price, and take profits off the table should the stock jump above $49.

Option trade: If you are looking for a hedged options trade on NEM, consider a March 37/42 bull-put credit spread for a 60-cent credit. That's a potential 13.6% return (97.6% annualized*) and the stock would have to fall 4.8% to cause a problem.

Speculative call-only trade: For those of you with an appetite for higher risk and bigger returns, consider buying the September $45 call. If NEM rises just 8.7% you can pull in a 20% or better profit on the option. However, if the stock moves lower, this kind of trade could lose a significant amount.

General Motors stock analysis next week

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 04:43:00 +0000

General Motors stock analysis next week, gm shares prices forecast next week : General Motors will react to Ford's earnings What's happening: The auto industry has been strong of late, and General Motors (GM +1.01%) has been no exception. The stock has had a bit of selling pressure since hitting its 52-week high earlier this month, but this has more to do with the current economic situation in Europe than it does with the auto market in the U.S. The auto industry has been in decline in Europe for the last 15 months, and December, new car registrations in the European Union were down 16.3%, the steepest one-month decline since 2008. GM's biggest American competitor, Ford Motor (F -1.37%) will report its fourth quarter results on January 29, and its results will have an impact on General Motors, especially any insight that Ford gives on the current condition in Europe.

Technical analysis: GM was recently trading at $28.57, down $2.11 from its 12-month high and $9.85 above its 12-month low. Technical indicators for GM are bullish and the stock is in a strong upward trend. The stock has support above $26.10. Of the 15 analysts who cover the stock 10 rate it a "strong buy," one rates it a "buy," three rate it a "hold" and one rates it a "sell." The stock receives Standard & Poor's 4 STARS "Accumulate" ranking.

Analysts' thoughts: We expect to see the American auto market to continue to improve in 2013. New vehicle offerings, a stable economy, and pickup demand remaining strong analysts believe that U.S. auto sales will eclipse the 15 million mark this year and rise above 16 million in 2014. In December, the U.S. government announced that it would sell its remaining 500 million shares of GM stock over the next 12 to 14 months, and as GM sheds the image of government control investors will be more likely to buy into the stock. We will keep a close eye on the European situation, since GM does a material amount of business in the region, but for now the U.S. market has been more than strong enough to offset the weak European market.

Stock-only trade: We do not like GM at its current level. The run-up we saw in the latter part of December appears to have been overdone and we believe there is still more room to the downside before the stock finds support. We would look to get into GM if shares were to trade below $26. We would sell the stock if it falls under $23.75 or 10% under your purchase price and take profits off the table should the stock jump above $29.75.

Option trade: If you are looking for a hedged options trade on GM, consider a March 22/27 bull-put credit spread for a 40-cent credit. That's a potential 8.7% return (62.2% annualized*) and the stock would have to fall 4.1% to cause a problem.

Speculative option trade: For those of you with an appetite for higher risk and bigger returns, consider buying the September $29 call. If GM rises just 11.9% you can pull in a 20% or better profit on the option. However, if the stock moves lower, this kind of trade could lose a significant amount.

Amazon stock analysis next week

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 04:36:00 +0000

Amazon stock analysis next week jan 28 -1 feb 2013 : Amazon stock prices is best stock to watch for next week and What's happening: Amazon.com (AMZN +3.79%) stock has been on fire over the last two months. While the majority of the retail sector had a lackluster holiday shopping season, things were great at Amazon. Online sales were higher than any holiday season in the past, and Amazon was the top used e-commerce site. Amazon has emerged as one of the strongest technology companies, also finding success in the highly-competitive tablet market with its Kindle Fire. Amazon is willing to sell its Android-powered tablet at a loss in exchange for gaining market share and using the tablet as a point of sale device to bring more users to its Amazon store. Analysts expect Amazon to report fourth quarter earnings On January 29 of $0.27 per share, down from $0.38 during the same period last year.

Technical analysis: AMZN was recently trading at $268.11, down $6.39 from its 12-month high and $96.11 above its 12-month low. Technical indicators for AMZN are bullish and the stock is in a weak upward trend. The stock has support above $254.25 and resistance below $262.75. Of the 30 analysts who cover the stock 22 rate it a "strong buy," one rates it a "buy" and seven rate it a "hold." The stock receives Standard & Poor's 3 STARS "hold" ranking.

Analysts' thoughts: We expect Amazon to show continued strength through 2013. Consumers trust the Internet for their shopping needs and Amazon remains the leader in the industry. While other companies have failed to really make an impact in the tablet market, Amazon entered the market and quickly had the best-selling Android tablets on the market. Amazon is estimated to have sold around 6 million Kindle Fire tablets during the holiday season. As Amazon continues to penetrate the market, it will improve revenues from its digital downloads. Since the margins on its digital downloads are so high, the more tablets it can sell the better. Amazon was very clever to sell the tablets at a loss, and its forward thinking approach to using the Kindle Fire as a point of sale device will pay off huge down the road.

Stock-only trade: While we are bullish on the stock, we would not recommend jumping into a new position at the current time. We would rather set up a new position only on a dip and would likely get into the stock under $240 a share.

Option trade: If you are looking for a hedged options trade on AMZN, consider a March 225/230 bull-put credit spread for a 45-cent credit. That's a potential 9.9% return (70.8% annualized*) and the stock would have to fall 14.0% to cause a problem.

Speculative call-only trade: For those of you with an appetite for higher risk and bigger returns, consider buying the July $280 call. If AMZN rises just 13.5% you can pull in a 20% or better profit on the option. However, if the stock moves lower, this kind of trade could lose a significant amount.

crude oil futures prices today have advanced

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:18:00 +0000

crude oil futures prices today have advanced : Global oil prices have advanced, buoyed by a weakening US dollar, upbeat German economic data and gains on European stock markets, dealers said. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in March rose 41 cents to $US113.69 a barrel in London midday deals. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for March, won 47 cents to $96.42 a barrel.

In foreign exchange trade on Friday, the European single currency surged to $1.3465 - which marked the highest level since February 29, 2012. The shared eurozone unit soared following news that German business confidence had struck the highest level in seven months.
The Ifo institute's closely watched business climate index for Europe's top economy rose to 104.2 points in January - its highest reading since June - from 102.4 points a month earlier.

The euro also spiked after the European Central Bank revealed that 278 eurozone banks will repay early 137.16 billion euros ($A176.53 billion) of ultra-cheap three-year loans made available to them last year in emergency liquidity measures.

'Crude oil prices extended gains on Friday ... mainly supported by the weaker US dollar that offered strong upside momentum to the market,' said analyst Myrto Sokou at the Sucden brokerage in London.

'In the meantime, European equity markets continue to post fairly strong gains.'

A weak greenback tends to stimulate demand for dollar-priced crude, which becomes cheaper for buyers using stronger currencies like the euro. That tends to stimulate demand and spark higher price levels.

European stock markets also advanced on Friday, with Frankfurt hitting a five-year high as the German data helped offset news that the British economy had contracted by 0.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year.

Crude futures had jumped on Thursday on the back of growing optimism after strong economic indicators in the US, China and Europe.

U.S. stocks market rose today Rise on Earnings

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:13:00 +0000

U.S. stocks market rose today Rise on Earnings : U.S. stocks rose Friday, extending the S&P 500 index's longest winning run in more than six years, on improving profit from Procter & Gamble Co. and other quarterly results. "The housing market is generally positive and causing an upward bias to the market [and] quarterly earnings are generally in line to above expectations," said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Asset Management.

And, growth in emerging markets should be a positive factor for many U.S. multinationals, and is "one catalyst that could see earnings to the upside; you're seeing some of that with fourth-quarter results," he said.

"That said, I think the market is a little ahead of itself, and I would like to see it go sideways in coming weeks to take some of the adrenaline out of the market," Sandven added.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) climbed 52.23 points, or 0.4%, to 13,877.56. The S&P 500 (SPX) rose 5.96 points, or 0.4%, to 1,500.78, with consumer discretionary the best performing and technology advancing the least among its 10 major industries.

Consumer discretionary is also among the better performing sectors so far this year, running second only to energy from the end of 2012.

"The consumer at present hasn't pulled back the reigns; the market would tell you it hasn't had a major impact yet," said U.S. Bank's Sandven of the expiration of the payroll-tax recess, which meant the average American started getting paychecks smaller by about 2% this year.

The S&P 500 on Thursday managed to finish with a seventh straight gain, ending at a five-year high, and briefly managed to clear 1,500 during the session for the first time since late in 2007.

Without Apple Inc. (AAPL), the S&P's less than 0.1% rise on Thursday would have been closer to 0.5%, and the technology sector's 2% decline would have been a 0.5% gain, according to Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst for S&P Dow Jones indexes.

On Friday, Apple shares continued their decline, with the company falling to second behind Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) in market capitalization.

Apple late Wednesday reported disappointing financial results, with a slew of analysts lowering their price targets on the iPhone maker in response. The company lost $59.9 billion in market value during the Thursday session alone, and its shares were treading water in Friday's dealings. .

Should the S&P end higher Friday, the index would notch its longest win streak since the nine-day run that ended in early November 2004.

Procter & Gamble (PG) reported a second-quarter profit well above expectations, with the household-products maker also hiking its sales and earnings outlook for the blue chip's fiscal year.

Halliburton Co. (HAL) shares climbed 4.8% after the oilfield-services company reported adjusted fourth-quarter results that topped estimates.

Of the 174 companies, or 29% of the S&P 500, that had reported earnings for the fourth quarter as of Thursday's close, 68% reported earnings that beat consensus estimates, almost 14% were in line, and more than 18% missed, according to Greg Harrison, earnings research analyst at Thomson Reuters.

The Nasdaq Composite index (RIXF) advanced 13.82 points, or 0.5%, to 3,144.20. For every three stocks on the decline four gained on the New York Stock Exchange, where 306 million shares traded as of 1:30 p.m. Eastern.

Nikkei share ehead Bank of Japan policy meeting

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 04:43:00 +0000

stock market today - Nikkei share ehead Bank of Japan policy meeting : The Nikkei share average eased on Tuesday as investors awaited the outcome of a Bank of Japan policy meeting which is expected to set a 2 percent inflation target, double the current figure, and introduce more aggressive easing steps to boost growth.

The BOJ is also widely expected to bump up its budget for asset purchases and discuss scrapping the interest it pays on banks' reserves, according to sources familiar with the central bank's thinking.

    The Nikkei fell 0.4 percent to 10,704.09 by the midday break, retreating for a second day in a row from Friday's nearly hree-year closing high, with investors unwilling to play their hands before the BOJ announcement.

    "It's quite difficult for the market to move in one direction before the BOJ announcement. The market is closely monitoring what they are going to say after today's meeting," said Shun Maruyama, chief Japan equity strategist at BNP Paribas Securities.

    "If BOJ governor Shirakawa hints that the central bank has secured its independence, I think the yen could strengthen. On
the other hand, if he changed his attitude, the yen could soften. Anyway, the stock market is going to be very sensitive to moves in the forex market," Maruyama added.

    Investors have been girding for the BOJ decision since mid-November when Shinzo Abe, then the leading candidate to win a general election and now prime minister, began calling for
aggressive easing, helping to weaken the yen. That boosted exporters and sparked a 26 percent rally in the Nikkei.

    Some think the market has become overbought as a result, with the BOJ meeting a ripe opportunity for a correction. The Nikkei's up-down ratio, or the 25-day moving average of gainers
divided by the 25-day average of losers, stood at 146.85, well above the 120-mark that signals an overheated market.

    "I think the yen's weakening is pretty much over, which means the Nikkei's run is also over," said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, general manager of investment and research at SMBC Friend Securities.
    The yen was still off its 2-1/2 year low against the dollar hit on Monday morning, trading at 89.43 yen.

    However, Nakanishi said the market would remain firm, albeit
with a different focus.

    "Exporters are overbought and attention is now going to switch to domestic companies as the supplementary budget is discussed in the Diet, which opens again on Jan. 28," he added.

    On Tuesday morning, Sony Corp remained in focus, gaining as much as 3.3 percent on the back of a report in the Nikkei business daily that it would launch a new version of its Xperia tablet in Japan this spring after halting sales last year due to problems.

    Sony topped the main board as the most-traded stock by turnover for a third day, after news on Friday that its U.S.

subsidiary would sell its New York headquarters building, with $685 million of the sale to be recorded as operating income.
    Toshiba Corp rose as much as 3.3 percent to 379 yen, its highest in nearly 10 months, after J.P. Morgan raised its rating to "overweight" from "underweight", citing expectations of strong earnings on a softer yen.      "The depreciation of the yen should significantly boost the profitability of the NAND business," J.P.Morgan said in a note.

    The broader Topix fell 0.5 percent to 900.60 in relatively active trade in the morning session, with 72 percent of its full daily average for the past 90 trading days.

    Other notable gainers included Olympus Corp, up 6 percent at 1,973 midday after UBS Securities started its coverage with a "buy" rating and a target price of 3,000 yen, against Monday's close of 1,862 yen.

    The company on Monday submitted to the Tokyo Stock Exchange a written affirmation on its internal control systems as
stipulated in the securities listing regulations, which, if approved, will see the camera maker's "securities on alert" status lifted. It was placed on that status following an accounting scandal that broke in late 2011.

stock market next week january 21-25 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 10:30:00 +0000

stock market next week january 21-25 2013 : With earnings momentum on the rise, the S&P 500 seems to have few hurdles ahead as it continues to power higher, its all-time high a not-so-distant goal.

The U.S. equity benchmark closed the week at a fresh five-year high on strong housing and labor market data and a string of earnings that beat lowered expectations. Sector indexes in transportation .DJT, banks .BKX and housing .HGX this week hit historic or multiyear highs as well.

Michael Yoshikami, chief executive at Destination Wealth Management in Walnut Creek, California, said the key earnings to watch for next week will come from cyclical companies. United Technologies (UTX.N) reports on Wednesday while Honeywell (HON.N) is due to report Friday.

"Those kind of numbers will tell you the trajectory the economy is taking," Yoshikami said.

Major technology companies also report next week, but the bar for the sector has been lowered even further.

Chipmakers like Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.N), which is due Tuesday, are expected to underperform as PC sales shrink. AMD shares fell more than 10 percent Friday after disappointing results from its larger competitor, Intel (INTC.O). Still, a chipmaker sector index .SOX posted its highest weekly close since last April.

Following a recent underperformance, an upside surprise from Apple (AAPL.O) on Wednesday could trigger a return to the stock from many investors who had abandoned ship.

Other major companies reporting next week include Google (GOOG.O), IBM (IBM.N), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and DuPont (DD.N) on Tuesday, Microsoft (MSFT.O) and 3M (MMM.N) on Thursday and Procter & Gamble (PG.N) on Friday.

CASH POURING IN, HOUSING DATA COULD HELP

Perhaps the strongest support for equities will come from the flow of cash from fixed income funds to stocks.

The recent piling into stock funds -- $11.3 billion in the past two weeks, the most since 2000 -- indicates a riskier approach to investing from retail investors looking for yield.

"From a yield perspective, a lot of stocks still yield a great deal of money and so it is very easy to see why money is pouring into the stock market," said Stephen Massocca, managing director at Wedbush Morgan in San Francisco.

"You are just not going to see people put a lot of money to work in a 10-year Treasury that yields 1.8 percent."

Housing stocks .HGX, already at a 5-1/2 year high, could get a further bump next week as investors eye data expected to support the market's perception that housing is the sluggish U.S. economy's bright spot.

Home resales are expected to have risen 0.6 percent in December, data is expected to show on Tuesday. Pending home sales contracts, which lead actual sales by a month or two, hit a 2-1/2 year high in November.

The new home sales report on Friday is expected to show a 2.1 percent increase.

The federal debt ceiling negotiations, a nagging worry for investors, seemed to be stuck on the back burner after House Republicans signaled they might support a short-term extension.

Equity markets, which tumbled in 2011 after the last round of talks pushed the United States close to a default, seem not to care much this time around.

The CBOE volatility index .VIX, a gauge of market anxiety, closed Friday at its lowest since April 2007.

"I think the market is getting somewhat desensitized from political drama given, this seems to be happening over and over," said Destination Wealth Management's Yoshikami.

"It's something to keep in mind, but I don't think it's what you want to base your investing decisions on."

Pfizer animal health Zoetis Ipo shares prices

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:07:00 +0000

Stock market today - Pfizer animal health Zoetis Ipo shares prices : Closing in on its IPO for its animal health unit Zoetis, Pfizer ($PFE) on Thursday reported that it would price shares between $22 and $25 each, potentially raising $2.2 billion when it happens at the end of the month, Bloomberg reports. The company intends to offer 86.1 million shares, a 20% stake, to investors.

Earlier in the day, the deal set off a scramble in the bond market with $30 billion in orders pouring in for a $3.65 billion four-part deal. For tax reasons, the sale starts with an equity-for-debt swap. After the IPO, Pfizer may distribute its remaining equity stake in Zoetis to shareholders, tax-free. Pfizer claims that the unit is the largest animal health and vaccines business in the world with sales in 2012 of $4.2 billion.

The company, the largest drugmaker in the world, has been trimming down under CEO Ian Read. The company has already agreed to sell its nutritionals business to Nestlé

Apple iPhone market share prediction 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 12:06:00 +0000

stock market today - Apple iPhone market share prediction 2013, Apple Smartphone Market Share Expected 2013 : One research firm says market share for Apple's iPhone will peak at 22 percent, and that the device will hit that ceiling this year -- with market share then remaining flat.

Despite predictions that half of all handset shipments will be smartphones by 2014, and a steady rise to 2.4 billion shipments by 2014: "Barring an unlikely collapse in Samsung's business, even Apple will be chasing Samsung's technology, software, and device leadership in 2013 through the foreseeable future," says ABI Research Senior Analyst Michael Morgan.

Apple currently holds an 18.5 percent share of the U.S. mobile subscribers market, according to recent ComScore figures. Samsung currently pegs in at 26.9 percent, rising by 1.2 percent in the three months ending with November.

Samsung continues to grow in market share at a steady rate -- occasionally falling by a percentage point here and there -- but Apple continues to, month-on-month, increase its share, and at a faster rate than Samsung.

Samsung has grown significantly in market share since 2010, from mid-single-digit percent through to around 30 percent at its peak, depending on the market share statistics one reads. The reason Samsung has rocketed so far and so quickly is partially thanks to the availability of its less-expensive smartphones that deliver a lower profit margin than Apple's. It's also because Samsung spreads its platform load across the various Android versions, but also Bada, Tizen, and Windows Phone.

Samsung has also invested in newer technologies faster than Apple did in the smartphone space, by including near-field communications (NFC) technology for wireless payments, and 4G LTE networking for next-generation mobile broadband speeds.

But if Apple were to gain further traction in the enterprise market, the Cupertino, Calif.-based technology giant could grab even more of the overall market for smartphones, and even surpass the estimated peak of 22 percent this year.

Apple does not pitch its products to the enterprise, at least on the face of it. The company said on its fiscal third-quarter earnings call that the number of iPhones in the enterprise has doubled, while the number of iPads in the enterprise has tripled. The rate of installing in-house apps, delivered through Apple's B2B application store, continues to increase rapidly.

Whether or not Apple pitches to the enterprise directly, indirectly, willingly, or inadvertently, the enterprise sector is knocking on Apple's door asking to be let in. Forget the BlackBerry, the iPhone is where it's at. Forget Windows on the PC, because businesses are starting to rely on post-PC devices, such as the iPad. Android isn't gaining traction in the enterprise space because Google's fragmentation of the Android ecosystem is making it increasingly difficult for IT managers to secure every single version. iOS has one, consistent version throughout, and benefits from the back-end mobile device management (MDM) enhancements.

If momentum carries on the way it has, and IT budgets stretch that little bit further in order to continue to snap up iPhones for their enterprise workspace, the consumer iPhone saturation point won't matter.

Asian stock market opened january 17 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 03:29:00 +0000

Asian stock market opened january 17 2013 : Asian shares consolidated on Thursday as better-than-expected U.S. earnings lifted sentiment, but concerns over the global economic outlook and U.S. fiscal problem capped markets.The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was up 0.2 percent after falling the past two sessions.
"Fourth-quarter earnings results for U.S. companies have been better than expected, lifting investor outlook. However, concerns over the fiscal slope continue to weigh, and the main board is expected to see choppy trading above the 1,950-mark," Kim Soon-young, an analyst at IBK Securities, referring to South Korean shares .KS11, which opened up 0.3 percent at 1,983.67.

Australian shares .AXJO added 0.3 percent, led by the financials sector, but the market was capped by losses for miners after a big drop in iron ore prices on uncertainty over demand from China ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday.

World stock markets ended flat on Wednesday with the banking sector rising as earnings from Goldman Sachs (GS.N) nearly tripled and JPMorgan Chase's (JPM.N) fourth-quarter net income jumped 53 percent and earnings for 2012 set a record.

But data showing demand for new cars in recession-bound Europe fell to a 17-year low in 2012 raised concerns about the global growth rate and weighed on sentiment. Worries were also apparent in global markets after the World Bank sharply cut its outlook for world growth this year to 2.4 percent from 3 percent, citing a slow recovery in developed nations.

The dollar and the euro regained ground against the yen early on Thursday, snapping two days of selling when investors took profits from these currencies' sharp and rapid rises against the Japanese currency since November.

Traders expect the yen to remain on a weakening trend amid expectations for bolder monetary easing measures from the Bank of Japan as part of the new government's push to drive Japan out of years of deflation and economic slump.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei average .N225 opened up 0.6 percent, after tumbling 2.6 percent for its largest daily decline in eight months on Wednesday. The Nikkei hit a 32-month high on Tuesday as the yen's slump to multi-year lows against the dollar and the euro bolstered exporters on improving earnings outlook. .T

The dollar rose 0.4 percent to 88.70 yen, off its peak since June 2010 of 89.67 touched on Monday, while the euro also climbed 0.3 percent to 117.81 yen, after surging to its highest since May 2011 of 120.13 yen on Monday.

Australian employment numbers due at 0030 GMT were expected to show no jobs growth and a higher unemployment rate of 5.4 percent. Any unexpected weakness in the report could see markets price in a bigger chance of an interest rate cut next month.

The data precedes a slew of economic reports from China which are due on Friday, including fourth-quarter GDP, December industrial output, retail sales and house price, offering investors clues on the health of Asia's biggest economy and global growth prospects.

In the United States, the Federal Reserve's latest Beige Book, a collection of anecdotes on regional economic conditions, showed mild growth across the U.S. in recent weeks but no signs that economic expansion will accelerate, while U.S. consumer prices barely grew in December.

In the credit default swap market, the five-year cost to insure against a U.S. default rose to 44 basis points on Wednesday, the highest since August 2011 during the first debt ceiling battle between U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican lawmakers.

The euro steadied around $1.3287 against the dollar, after reaching an 11-month high of $1.3404 on Monday, and was also barely moved against the Swiss franc at 1.2375, after touching a 13-month high of 1.2413 francs on Tuesday.

U.S. crude eased 0.1 percent to $94.15 a barrel.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday after an Algerian gas field came under attack from Islamist militants and as data showed crude stocks fell in the United States last week. (Reuters)

share Nifty index is expected today

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 03:25:00 +0000

share Nifty index is expected today january 17 2013 : The 50-share Nifty index is expected to open soft on Thursday, while investors will keep a close eye on Hero MotoCorp and HCL Technologies ahead of their results which will be out later today. At 07:30 a.m., Nifty India stock futures in Singapore were up 20.50 point at 6036.50, indicating a soft opening on the domestic market.

Hero MotoCorp is expected to report a 2 per cent YoY growth in its consolidated net sales to Rs 6155 crore for the quarter ended December 31 from Rs 6031 crore reported in the year-ago period, according to ET NOW Poll.

HCL Technologies is likely to report a 6.75 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 825.2 crore for the quarter ended December 2012 as compared to a net profit of Rs 885 crore in previous quarter, says ET Now poll.

The Nifty closed just above its the psychological mark of 6,000 as weak global cues and concerns whether the Reserve Bank of India will cut interest rates at its next meet hurt sentiment.

Technically, after notching gains in two consecutive trading sessions, Indian market fell on profit-booking on Wednesday.

"In the coming trading sessions we need to watch whether Nifty hold 5980 levels on closing basis or not. Even the hourly chart of the Nifty indicates that it has retracement 61.8% of the last two trading session gains," LKP said in a report.