8,86mil shares = +/- 34,5% of Free float, 29,8% of Mkt cap
Short interest was 2,3mil shares before today ( 8,87% of free Float ) - Days to cover
Closing Market Summary: Discretionary Sector Leads Stocks Higher
The stock market continued its strong start to the week with a broad-based Tuesday rally that sent the S&P 500 higher by 0.5%. Nine of ten sectors registered gains while the benchmark index extended its week-to-date advance to 1.4%.
Equities received an opening boost from a pair of economic data points that crossed the wires this morning. An in-line CPI report suggested inflationary pressures remain contained, while a better than expected Housing Starts report underpinned homebuilders and the discretionary sector.
Fittingly, the consumer discretionary space (+0.8%) surged out of the gate and spent the entire session among the leaders. Homebuilders rallied following the upbeat data and better than expected earnings from Home Depot (HD 88.23, +4.64). The Dow component jumped 5.6%, while the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF (ITB 23.99, +0.56) advanced 2.4%.
Retail stocks also played a part in the outperformance of the discretionary sector after Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS 44.21, +0.70) and Urban Outfitters (URBN 38.59, +1.67) beat their earnings estimates. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 87.05, +1.11) rose 1.3%.
While the influential discretionary sector displayed broad strength, other heavily-weighted groups were a bit more mixed. Technology (+0.7%) outperformed, while financials (+0.2%) and industrials (+0.2%) lagged.
The top-weighted sector—technology—received support from chipmakers. The PHLX Semiconductor Index recaptured its 50-day moving average and added 0.6% with all but five components posting gains. Meanwhile, most large cap tech components were limited to modest gains, but shares of Apple (AAPL 100.53, +1.37) climbed to a fresh all-time high.
Elsewhere, the top-weighted countercyclical sector—health care (+0.7%)—trailed the broader market for the majority of the session, but spiked during afternoon action in reaction to reports from the Wall Street Journal, indicating Salix Pharmaceuticals (SLXP 160.80, +21.63) was approached by Allergan (AGN 161.82, +6.21) about a potential acquisition. Shares of SLXP ended higher by 15.5%, while the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 267.23, +1.02) tacked on 0.4% after showing intraday weakness.
Similar to health care, the utilities sector (+1.2%) outperformed, while the remaining two defensively-oriented groups—consumer staples (+0.2%) and telecom services (-0.3%)—lagged.
Treasuries began the day with solid gains, but spent the session in a steady retreat. The 10-yr note shed one tick with its yield ending at 2.40%.
Participation was well below average with fewer than 550 million shares changing hands at the NYSE.
Economic data was limited to CPI, and Housing Starts/Building Permits:Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET, while the minutes from the latest FOMC policy meeting will cross the wires at 14:00 ET.
- Consumer prices increased 0.1% in July following a 0.3% increase in June, which matched the consensus
- As expected from the July PPI report, energy prices fell 0.3% in July after increasing 1.6% in June
- Food prices accelerated, up 0.4% in July from a 0.1% increase in June
- Food at home prices, typically from grocery stores, increased 0.7%, which was the largest increase since August 2011
- Excluding food and energy, core CPI increased 0.1% for a second consecutive month in July, which is what the consensus expected
- Housing starts increased 15.7% in July to 1.093 million from an upwardly revised 945,000 (from 893,000) in June, while the consensus expected an increase to 964,000
- The big news out of the housing data was an 8.3% increase (to 656,0000) in single-family construction after declines were observed in May and June
- Building permits rose to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.052 million in July versus a revised 973K for June, while the consensus expected an increase to 1.001 million
- Nasdaq Composite +8.4% YTD
- S&P 500 +7.2% YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average +2.1% YTD
- Russell 2000 -0.1% YTD
London among Europe’s least ‘liveable’ cities, according to index
LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 04: A Traditional terraced properties with the Canary Wharf skyline behind in Greenwich on June 4, 2014 in London, England. Mark Carney, Governer of the Bank of England has signalled worries with the housing market, pointing out that far too few homes are being built. Today, finalists were announced in a competition to design new garden cities outside of London to provide jobs, homes and economic growth in new places as the capital runs out of room for new property. (Photo by Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images)©Getty
London may be a global property hotspot, but social instability has a negative impact
London is the world’s hottest city for international home buyers – and yet it has become one of the least appealing places to live in Europe, according to new figures.
A torrent of cash has poured in to the British capital’s property market in the past couple of years from all over the world. But London is the third worst European city in which to live, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual liveability index.
Only Lisbon and Athens are less attractive places, it found.
The index looks at a number of factors that affect living conditions, including stability, healthcare, environment, education and infrastructure.
London has become a haven for money from around the world, with at least £122bn of UK property now held by offshore companies. As a result, house prices are growing rapidly, increasing by nearly 20 per cent in the past year according to official data published on Tuesday.
Despite this huge demand from international buyers, London is a less attractive place to live than Detroit or Reykjavik, the EIU researchers found.
US banks recently revealed that they are making plans to move staff from London to Dublin if Britain votes in favour of exiting Europe in a referendum after next year’s general election. They will find the city does not only offer economic attractions but is more liveable than London too.
Jon Copestake, an EIU analyst, said that London had slid down the index’s rankings in recent years because of a rise in social unrest.
He cited stability as the main factor making London less attractive to live in over the past half-decade. This category measures crime and the threat of terrorism, civil unrest, war or conflict.
In particular, Mr Copestake said, London had become less liveable because of the 2011 riots. He described them as “a fairly big event. It’s very hard to remember something like that occurring before.” He also expressed concern at the possibility of a recurrence. “The threat of that repeating itself is reflected in the [liveability] scores,” he said.
London also sees regular demonstrations such as the annual Mayday protests, which further contributed to its poor security score.
London’s move downwards reflects a wider trend in global security, Mr Copestake said.
“The decade of the Noughties was hallmarked by terror attacks, but now in this decade it is much more about social instability,” he said.
Mr Copestake cited the Arab Spring in 2011-13, the military coup in Thailand earlier this year, ongoing civil wars in Syria and Ukraine, the recent increase of violence in the Palestinian territories and Israel and rioting in the US city of Ferguson as examples of the trend.
“Civil unrest is very much the big global stability threat now,” he said.
Other European cities which have been downgraded by the EIU due to stability threats include Athens, which had widespread street battles during the eurozone crisis of 2010-12, and Madrid, which was hit by unrest last year and earlier this year as the government tried to impose economic reforms.
London’s score was also hit by its transport infrastructure, which is poor and overcrowded compared to many other European cities, the researchers found.
On a positive note, London scored “almost perfectly” on cultural availability, Mr Copestake said, adding that “the cities that tend to do the best [in the liveability index] tend to be the most boring cities”.
“The things that make a city exciting, such as diversity, may also be the things that create instability,” he said.
Update on Recommended Public Offer for Ziggo; U.S. Prospectus declared effective
Liberty Global plc (Liberty Global) (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK) today announces, in connection with its previously announced recommended public offer (Offer) to all holders of issued and outstanding ordinary shares in the capital of Ziggo N.V. (Ziggo) as more fully described in the joint press releases of Liberty Global and Ziggo of January 27, 2014 and June 27, 2014, that its prospectus/offer to exchange, dated August 19, 2014, (the U.S. Prospectus) related to the Offer has been declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The final U.S. Prospectus can be found on Liberty Globals and Ziggos offer websites. The U.S. Prospectus contains additional information to the Offer Memorandum, dated June 27, 2014, approved by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets, relating to, among other things, the fact that Liberty Global will issue a press release if it is willing to waive down the acceptance level condition to a lower percentage and that a waiver of the acceptance level condition to less than 65% will require consent from Ziggo under the Merger Protocol and its lenders under its debt financing.
Uber wants your vote of support. And it has hired a campaign manager to win you over.
Uber, the fast-growing private car start-up, announced on Tuesday it had hired the political strategist David Plouffe to be its senior vice president of policy and strategy. The move further signaled the grand aspirations of companies like Uber, which are challenging entrenched industries and running into resistance from some local governments.
Mr. Plouffe, who ran President Obama’s 2008 campaign, said he planned to run Uber’s communication efforts much like a political race, pushing to woo consumers and regulators alike in the company’s fast-paced expansion across the world.
Uber, which allows consumers to summon private rides via a smartphone app, now operates in more than 170 cities globally, the company said. But it has tussled with regulators in the United States and overseas in its race to gain traction in new cities. The legality of the service was questioned in 2012 when it entered New York City. In June, thousands of taxi drivers in Europe tied up traffic as they protested Uber’s rise.
In recent months, as it has continued to face resistance in new markets, the company has made no secret of its desire to find someone who can create and execute a strategy to win over consumers.
“We’re on an inexorable path of progress here,” Mr. Plouffe said in an interview. “Uber is making transportation safer. It’s providing jobs; it’s cutting down on drunk and distracted driving. I think the mission is really important.”
The hiring of a politically skilled executive has practically become a sign of adolescence for tech start-ups, marking the moment when they realize that navigating government can be as essential as maneuvering past competition.
Uber had already hired Ashwini Chhabra, a former top official at the Taxi and Limousine Commission in New York, as its first leader of policy development and community engagement. Airbnb, the home-sharing start-up that has often clashed with regulators, hired David Hantman, a former vice president of public policy at Yahoo, to be its head of global public policy.
More established tech companies have also increased their government relations teams in recent years. Google, for example, has built a big lobbying presence in Washington, hiring Susan Molinari, a former member of Congress, to be its head lobbyist.
Jonathan Zittrain, a professor of law and computer science at Harvard, said companies realized how high the stakes are and were hiring accordingly.
“A tweet-length change to a law could spell the difference between success and failure of an entire new sector,” he said.
Mr. Plouffe, whom Uber described as its official “campaign manager” in a blog post, will be responsible for the company’s policy efforts, branding decisions and overall strategy and communications.
“As more of a techie and entrepreneur, it’s new territory to understand how politics works and how campaigns are run,” Travis Kalanick, chief executive of Uber, said in an interview. “We needed somebody on the policy and strategy side who is also a kindred spirit as a data geek.”
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A pioneer in the art of using technology and multiple sources of data to target messages to voters, Mr. Plouffe has deep and longstanding ties to President Obama; he managed his 2008 campaign for the White House and served in his White House from 2011 until early 2013. Even from outside the West Wing, Mr. Plouffe has remained one of Mr. Obama’s closest confidants, dispensing advice on a wide range of issues.
Mr. Plouffe also has experience in the private sector. After the 2008 campaign, he advised companies including Boeing and General Electric and gave paid speeches to groups and companies around the globe.
He was summoned back to the White House in 2011 to serve as Mr. Obama’s chief political adviser as the president retooled to face a divided Congress and geared up for his re-election bid. Since leaving the administration last year, Mr. Plouffe has served as a commentator on Bloomberg TV and ABC News.
Mr. Plouffe plans to use at least some of his campaign experience in his new position at Uber. “This is a company that loves data and utilizes it, which is something that I’ve utilized a lot,” he said. “If we can use data in smart and appropriate ways to tell our story better, people are more likely to use Uber for transportation.”
Mr. Kalanick said Uber also needed Mr. Plouffe to compete against the strong taxi lobby, and to make sure it faced fewer roadblocks in the new cities it entered.
“Uber has been in a political campaign but hasn’t been running one,” Mr. Kalanick said in a statement. “That is changing now.”
One thing that remains to be seen is how well Mr. Plouffe’s tactics translate overseas, where Uber faces some of the stiffest resistance. Last week, for example, the Berlin state authority issued a ruling prohibiting Uber from picking up passengers, saying the services did not meet passenger safety standards. On Monday, a court suspended the ban.
Professor Zittrain said that any effort to make government relations a higher priority had a big potential upside.
“Whether it’s to persuade local regulators using their own vernacular why these new services are to be accommodated,” he said, “or to tap national lawmakers to explicitly bless them, it can be crucial to include people on a corporate policy team who know the ways of government.”
Chevron rumored to want to acquire stake in Naftogaz, Newswire Roundup
Chevron reportedly wants to buy a stake in Ukraine's natural gas pipeline company, Naftogaz, AFP reported.
Ukraine opened Naftogaz to European and American investment last week, allowing them to buy stakes up to 49%. Naftogaz operates 25,000 miles of pipelines transporting natural gas across Ukraine and from Russia to the European Union.
Three companies are reportedly interested in purchasing an interest in Naftogaz, Itar-Tass, a Russian newswire quoted sources as saying. Two of Itar-Tass' three sources confirmed Chevron was one of the interested firms. Chevron, however, refused to comment.
Last year, Chevron began operating in Ukraine through a shale production sharing agreement.
Source Agence France-Presse
Sprint S -3.91% isn't being nearly disruptive enough.
The No. 3 U.S. carrier by subscribers announced new family plans late Monday, set to replace its puzzling "Framily" pricing arrangement later this week. The new plans offer more data for the money than those of Verizon Communications VZ -0.22% and AT&T T -0.45% and even undercut T-Mobile US TMUS +0.27% in some instances.
For Sprint, whose current prices are higher than peers' on the most popular plans, the move should at least slow its recent flood of subscriber defections. The carrier has lost a net 1.2 million of the most valuable postpaid subscribers over the past four quarters.
But the price cuts should mean lower margins and may not move the subscriber needle that much, particularly as Sprint's network still trails the rest of the industry. This is why many had expected Sprint to wait to lower prices.
Sprint's new chief executive Marcelo Claure, who replaced Dan Hesse earlier this month, was apparently unwilling to let the subscriber drain continue at this pace, though. The move comes against the backdrop of intensifying competition, mostly spurred by T-Mobile and after Sprint gave up on a possible merger with its smaller rival.
Under the new plans, a family of four can get 20 gigabytes of shared data for $160 a month—the same price AT&T and Verizon charge for 10 gigabytes. T-Mobile charges $100 for 10 gigabytes.
The new plans cost about $1 a month less on average than T-Mobile's unsubsidized plans, according to New Street Research. By comparison, Sprint's current prices are $7 to $10 a month higher than those of AT&T and Verizon and $10 to $15 above T-Mobile on the most popular plans.
Sprint is also offering a promotion, from Aug. 22 to Sept. 30, under which it will waive access fees, bringing the $160 plan down to $100. In addition, it will pay up to $350 in early-termination fees for customers leaving rivals and signing up for one of its higher-data plans.
This may lure some customers. But they might not like what they find at Sprint. The carrier's network remains well behind those of rivals and won't catch up to them for at least another year, New Street says. It will be even longer before Sprint can claim network superiority as an advantage.
For Sprint investors, lower prices alone won't get it out of its current jam.
Ukraine ambassador to the US Motsyk: Ukraine will face a gas shortage in the winter months and wants to resume gas discussions with Russia - press
BN 08/19 17:10 Volcano-Ash Risk Puts Airlines on Guard Against Iceland Eruption
Volcano-Ash Risk Puts Airlines on Guard Against Iceland Eruption
2014-08-19 17:21:04.59 GMT
By Julie Johnsson, Omar R. Valdimarsson and Kari Lundgren
Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Airlines are on alert as Iceland’s
Bardabunga volcano rumbles to life, threatening ash clouds that
may force flight cancellations across the Northern Atlantic.
* Air France, Deutsche Lufthansa, EasyJet and Delta among
carriers watching the volcano
* NOTE: Iceland’s Civil Protection Agency has recorded about
800 earthquakes in area since yday, raised risk of eruption
to “orange,” the second-highest level
Story Link:NSN NAKD136TTDSP<GO>
For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO>
First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>
--With assistance from Andrea Rothman in Toulouse and Thomas
Black and Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Libby Sallaberry McGowan in New York at +1-212-617-8044 or
lsallaberry@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Brad Skillman at +1-212-617-2763 or
bskillman1@bloomberg.net
2014-08-19 17:21:04.59 GMT
By Julie Johnsson, Omar R. Valdimarsson and Kari Lundgren
Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Airlines are on alert as Iceland’s
Bardabunga volcano rumbles to life, threatening ash clouds that
may force flight cancellations across the Northern Atlantic.
* Air France, Deutsche Lufthansa, EasyJet and Delta among
carriers watching the volcano
* NOTE: Iceland’s Civil Protection Agency has recorded about
800 earthquakes in area since yday, raised risk of eruption
to “orange,” the second-highest level
Story Link:NSN NAKD136TTDSP<GO>
For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO>
First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>
--With assistance from Andrea Rothman in Toulouse and Thomas
Black and Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Libby Sallaberry McGowan in New York at +1-212-617-8044 or
lsallaberry@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Brad Skillman at +1-212-617-2763 or
bskillman1@bloomberg.net
Citigroup Considers Sale of Retail-Banking Business in Japan Move Would Shift Focus to Citigroup's Other Businesses in Japan
Citigroup Inc. C +0.61% is considering the sale of its retail-banking business in Japan, where the U.S. financial giant has had a presence for decades as a leading Western bank, people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
The New York company is considering a possible auction to sell the retail business, they said. The move would leave Citigroup to focus on its remaining businesses in Japan: corporate banking, investment banking and trading. Japanese loan growth has remained weak recently, amid interest rates close to zero.
Citigroup, one of the world's most sprawling global banks, has been scaling back since the financial crisis, trying to become simpler and easier to handle. The bank suffered a setback earlier this year when the U.S. Federal Reserve balked at Citigroup's dividend and share-buyback plans, citing the difficulty the firm was having measuring how a stressful scenario would affect all of its global operations.
The bank has also said it wants to home in on areas that have "the highest growth potential" for consumer banking, eschewing some smaller cities and slower-growth countries.
Since Michael Corbat became chief executive of the bank in late 2012, Citigroup has jettisoned its retail operations in countries including Honduras, Turkey, Romania, Uruguay and Paraguay. This summer it agreed to sell its consumer-banking businesses in Greece and Spain.
Citibank Japan Ltd. currently has 33 branches for the retail operations across the country and has deposits of 3.9 trillion yen ($39 billion). In the past decade, Citigroup had already shrunk its operations through divestitures of units following regulatory punishments and a series of restructurings in Japan.
In 2004, Japanese Financial Services Agency, the country's financial watchdog ordered Citigroup to shut its private-banking operations in the country, citing improper trading practices and lax anti-money-laundering procedures.
Citigroup's CEO at the time, Charles Prince, bowed in apology over the situation. Citigroup also said then that it would be taking the measures necessary to enhance its governance and internal-controls systems.
In 2007, Citi also closed most of its consumer-finance branches in Japan after suffering hundreds of millions of losses in the unit hit by legal changes that required it to repay overcharged interest rates in the past to borrowers and cut the maximum interest rates on loans. A spokesman at the time described the move as a "repositioning...to compete effectively."
After the financial crisis in 2008, the bank also sold its retail brokerage unit—then called Nikko Cordial Securities—to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and its asset-management unit to another Japanese trust bank.