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>>> Greenlight Capital (David Einhorn ) discloses updated portfolio p

Greenlight Capital (David Einhorn ) discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing: New HGV SATS SFLY positions; Exited AABA, IAC

Highlights from 2018 Q4 filing as compared to 2018 Q3 filing:

New positions in: HGV (~1.12 mln shares), SATS (~0.6 mln), SFLY (~0.52 mln), DDS (~0.25 mln), CC (~0.2 mln), CEIX (~0.14 mln)

Increased positions in: ATUS (to ~4.11 mln shares from ~2.9 mln shares), ADNT (to ~1.98 mln from ~1.14 mln), TPX (to ~1.33 mln from ~0.78 mln), AER (to ~3.85 mln from ~3.79 mln)

Maintained positions in: GRBK (~24.12 mln shares), ESV (~20 mln shares), XELA (~8.38 mln shares), CCR (~5.49 mln shares) CNX (~3.49 mln shares), MDCO (~0.95 mln shares)

Closed positions in: AABA (from ~1.47 mln shares), IAC (from ~0.44 mln), PRGO (from ~0.22 mln), CPRI (from ~0.05 mln), TSCO (from ~0.04 mln)

Decreased positions in: BHF (to ~3.29 mln shares from ~11.58 mln shares), GM (to ~11.94 mln from ~14.88 mln), VOYA (to ~1.05 mln from ~2.05 mln)

(BN) Asia Stocks Drop on Trade Pessimism; Bonds Steady: Markets Wrap

(BN) U.S.-China Trade Talks Set to Wrap Up With Few Signs of Progress

>>> US Close Dow -0.41% S&P -0.27% Nasdaq +0.09% Russell +0.14%

Closing Stock Market Summary

The S&P 500 declined as much as 0.8% on Thursday, as disappointing retail sales data for December played into the market's concerns about a U.S. economic slowdown. The benchmark index, however, staged a late morning rebound back to its flat line, where it wavered for most of the afternoon. It almost finished flat, but a wave of selling activity in the final 20 minutes of trading left the S&P 500 down 0.3% to end the session.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.4%), the Nasdaq Composite (+0.1%), and the Russell 2000 (+0.1%) experienced similar price action.

Aside from the retail sales data, which showed a 1.2% decline in retail sales for December (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%) -- the largest monthly decline since Sept. 2009 -- the market navigated its way through a flurry of news headlines.

President Trump was considering a 60-day extension for the March 1 trade deadline, according to Bloomberg, although follow-up reports indicated that both the U.S. and China remained far apart on structural reform demands. In addition, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said that President Trump is set on signing the spending bill and declaring a national emergency to build a border wall, which caused some minor gyrations in the market.

Some occurrences that helped lift the market from early lows included (1) a belief that the December retail sales numbers were aberrant and will give way to better retail sales data for January, (2) the outperformance of high-growth, mega-cap stocks, (3) Fed Governor Brainard (FOMC voter) saying she thinks the balance sheet normalization effort should come to an end later this year, and (4) the market's resilience to selling efforts squeezing short-sellers and drawing in sidelined participants fearful of missing out on further gains.

The S&P 500 sectors finished the session mixed.

The consumer staples sector (-1.2%) felt the brunt of the negative fallout in Dow component Coca-Cola (KO 45.59, -4.20, -8.4%) after it disappointed with its FY19 earnings guidance. The financial sector (-1.2%) for its part underperformed as a flattening yield curve, and worries about net interest margin compression, weighed on the bank stocks. American Intl. Group (AIG 40.19, -3.99, -9.0%), which fell well short of consensus earnings estimates for the December quarter, was a notable drag on the sector as well.

Conversely, the real estate (+0.5%), health care (+0.2%), communication services (+0.2%), energy (+0.2%), and information technology (+0.1%) sectors finished with gains.

Dow component Cisco Systems (CSCO 48.40, +0.90, +1.9%) provided the information technology sector with added support as it gained ground after beating earnings estimates, guiding Q3 revenue above consensus, raising its quarterly dividend by 6.0%, and approving a $15 billion increase to its stock repurchase program.

U.S. Treasuries saw increased buying interest following the release of the retail sales data, which drove yields lower across the curve. The 2-yr yield declined three basis points to 2.50%, and the 10-yr yield declined five basis points to 2.66%. The U.S. Dollar Index decreased 0.1% to 97.05. WTI crude increased 1.2% to $54.47/bbl.

Reviewing Thursday's economic data, which included Retail Sales for December, the Producer Price Index for January, the weekly Initial and Continuing Claims report, and Business Inventories for November:

Retail sales declined 1.2% (consensus +0.2%) on the heels of a downwardly revised 0.1% increase (from +0.2%) in November. That is the largest monthly decline since September 2009. Excluding autos, retail sales fell 1.8% after a downwardly revised unchanged reading (from +0.2%) for November.
The key takeaway from this disappointing report is that the weakness wasn't isolated to gasoline station sales (-5.1%). It was pretty broad-based across discretionary spending categories like furniture and home furnishings (-1.3%), electronics and appliance stores (-0.1%), clothing and accessories (-0.7%), miscellaneous store retailers (-4.1%), nonstore retailers (-3.9%), and restaurants (-0.7%).

The Producer Price Index for final demand declined 0.1% in January (consensus +0.1%), pulled down by a 0.8% decline in the index for final demand goods. Excluding food and energy, the index for final demand increased 0.3% (consensus +0.2%). On a year-over basis, the index for final demand was up 2.0%, versus 2.5% in December, while the index for final demand, excluding food and energy, was up 2.6%, versus 2.7% in December.
The key takeaway from the report is that it could portend margin pressures for producers if they don't choose to pass along the higher costs to their customers.

Initial claims for the week ending February 9 increased by 4,000 to 239,000 (consensus 225,000). Continuing claims for the week ending February 2 increased by 37,000 to 1.773 million.
The key takeaway from the report is that the four-week moving average of 231,750 for initial claims is the highest since January 27, 2018.

Total business inventories declined 0.1% in November (consensus +0.2%) after increasing an unrevised 0.6% in October. Total business sales fell 0.3% after increasing a downwardly revised 0.1% (from 0.3%) in October.
The key takeaway from the report is that business sales rose at a slower pace than inventories. That distinction, if it persists, will diminish pricing power.

Looking ahead, investors will receive several economic reports on Friday: the preliminary University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment for February, Export and Import Prices for January, the Empire State Manufacturing Survey for February, and Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization for January.

Russell 2000 +14.6% YTD

Nasdaq Composite +11.9% YTD

S&P 500 +9.5% YTD

Dow Jones Industrial Average +9.1% YTD

Reuter’s : Bollore to hand over Vivendi to sons as Universal rumors swirl

Bollore to hand over Vivendi to sons as Universal rumors

Mathieu Rosemain, Gwénaëlle Barzic

PARIS (Reuters) - Billionaire Vincent Bollore will further withdraw from Vivendi’s management at a crucial time for the French media giant, which is struggling in Italy and is weighing the sale of Universal Music Group (UMG).

Bollore, Vivendi’s number one investor, will be replaced by his son Cyrille in April at the board, following a vote by shareholders, the group said. The appointment will come just a year after another son, Yannick, succeeded the French tycoon as chairman.

The surprising move comes three years ahead of the date Bollore, 66, had set for himself to hand over all of his businesses to his four children.

CNBC: Facebook is tracking ex employee

Facebook security keeps a detailed 'lookout' list of threats, including users and ex-employees, and can track their location

Facebook maintains a list of individuals that its security guards must "be on lookout" for that is comprised of users who've made threatening statements against the company on its social network as well as numerous former employees.

The company's information security team is capable of tracking these individuals' whereabouts using the location data they provide through Facebook's apps and websites.

More than a dozen former Facebook security employees described the company's tactics to CNBC, with several questioning the ethics of the company's practices.

Salvador Rodriguez | @sal19

Published 47 Mins Ago Updated 13 Mins Ago

CNBC.com

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg

Matt McClain | The Washington Post | Getty Images

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg

In early 2018, a Facebook user made a public threat on the social network against one of the company's offices in Europe.

Facebook picked up the threat, pulled the user's data and determined he was in the same country as the office he was targeting. The company informed the authorities about the threat and directed its security officers to be on the lookout for the user.

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"He made a veiled threat that 'Tomorrow everyone is going to pay' or something to that effect," a former Facebook security employee told CNBC.

The incident is representative of the steps Facebook takes to keep its offices, executives and employees protected, according to more than a dozen former Facebook employees who spoke with CNBC. The company mines its social network for threatening comments, and in some cases uses its products to track the location of people it believes present a credible threat.

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Several of the former employees questioned the ethics of Facebook's security strategies, with one of them calling the tactics "very Big Brother-esque."

Other former employees argue these security measures are justified by Facebook's reach and the intense emotions it can inspire. The company has 2.7 billion users across its services. That means that if just 0.01 percent of users make a threat, Facebook is still dealing with 270,000 potential security risks.

"Our physical security team exists to keep Facebook employees safe," a Facebook spokesman said in a statement. "They use industry-standard measures to assess and address credible threats of violence against our employees and our company, and refer these threats to law enforcement when necessary. We have strict processes designed to protect people's privacy and adhere to all data privacy laws and Facebook's terms of service. Any suggestion our onsite physical security team has overstepped is absolutely false."

Facebook is unique in the way it uses its own product to mine data for threats and locations of potentially dangerous individuals, said Tim Bradley, senior consultant with Incident Management Group, a corporate security consulting firm that deals with employee safety issues. However, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's general duty clause says that companies have to provide their employees with a workplace free of hazards that could cause death or serious physical harm, Bradley said.

"If they know there's a threat against them, they have to take steps," Bradley said. "How they got the information is secondary to the fact that they have a duty to protect employees."

Making the list

One of the tools Facebook uses to monitor threats is a "be on lookout" or "BOLO" list, which is updated approximately once a week. The list was created in 2008, an early employee in Facebook's physical security group told CNBC. It now contains hundreds of people, according to four former Facebook security employees who have left the company since 2016.

Facebook notifies its security professionals anytime a new person is added to the BOLO list, sending out a report that includes information about the person, such as their name, photo, their general location and a short description of why they were added.

In recent years, the security team even had a large monitor that displayed the faces of people on the list, according to a photo CNBC has seen and two people familiar, although Facebook says it no longer operates this monitor.

Other companies keep similar lists of threats, Bradley and other sources said. But Facebook is unique because it can use its own products to identify these threats and track the location of people on the list.

Users who publicly threaten the company, its offices or employees — including posting threatening comments in response to posts from executives like CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg — are often added to the list. These users are typically described as making "improper communication" or "threatening communication," according to former employees.

The bar can be pretty low. While some users end up on the list after repeated appearances on company property or long email threats, others might find themselves on the BOLO list for saying something as simple as "F--- you, Mark," "F--- Facebook" or "I'm gonna go kick your a--," according to a former employee who worked with the executive protection team. A different former employee who was on the company's security team said there were no clearly communicated standards to determine what kinds of actions could land somebody on the list, and that decisions were often made on a case-by-case basis.

The Facebook spokesman disputed this, saying that people were only added after a "rigorous review to determine the validity of the threat."

Awkward situations

Most people on the list do not know they're on it. This sometimes leads to tense situations.

Several years ago, one Facebook user discovered he was on the BOLO list when he showed up to Facebook's Menlo Park campus for lunch with a friend who worked there, according to a former employee who witnessed the incident.

The user checked in with security to register as a guest. His name popped up right away, alerting security. He was on the list. His issue had to do with messages he had sent to Zuckerberg, according to a person familiar with the circumstances.

Soon, more security guards showed up in the entrance area where the guest had tried to register. No one grabbed the individual, but security guards stood at his sides and at each of the doors leading in and out of that entrance area.

Eventually, the employee showed up mad and demanded that his friend be removed from the BOLO list. After the employee met with Facebook's global security intelligence and investigations team, the friend was removed from the list — a rare occurrence.

"No person would be on BOLO without credible cause," the Facebook spokesman said in regard to this incident.

The Facebook campus in Menlo Park, California.

Noah Berger | Reuters

The Facebook campus in Menlo Park, California.

It's not just users who find themselves on Facebook's BOLO list. Many of the people on the list are former Facebook employees and contractors, whose colleagues ask to add them when they leave the company.

Some former employees are listed for having a track record of poor behavior, such as stealing company equipment. But in many cases, there is no reason listed on the BOLO description. Three people familiar said that almost every Facebook employee who gets fired is added to the list, and one called the process "really subjective." Another said that contractors are added if they get emotional when their contracts are not extended.

The Facebook spokesman countered that the process is more rigorous than these people claim. "Former employees are only added under very specific circumstances, after review by legal and HR, including threats of violence or harassment."

The practice of adding former employees to the BOLO list has occasionally created awkward situations for the company's recruiters, who often reach out to former employees to fill openings. Ex-employees have showed up for job interviews only to find out that they couldn't enter because they were on the BOLO list, said a former security employee who left the company last year.

"It becomes a whole big embarrassing situation," this person said.

Tracked by special request

Facebook has the capability to track BOLO users' whereabouts by using their smartphone's location data collected through the Facebook app, or their IP address collected through the company's website.

Facebook only tracks BOLO-listed users when their threats are deemed credible, according to a former employee with firsthand knowledge of the company's security procedures. This could include a detailed threat with an exact location and timing of an attack, or a threat from an individual who makes a habit of attending company events, such as the Facebook shareholders' meeting. This former employee emphasized Facebook could not look up users' locations without cause.

When a credible threat is detected, the global security operations center and the global security intelligence and investigations units make a special request to the company's information security team, which has the capabilities to track users' location information. In some cases, the tracking doesn't go very far -- for instance, if a BOLO user made a threat about a specific location but their current location shows them nowhere close, the tracking might end there.

But if the BOLO user is nearby, the information security team can continue to monitor their location periodically and keep other security teams on alert.

Depending on the threat, Facebook's security teams can take other actions, such as stationing security guards, escorting a BOLO user off campus or alerting law enforcement.

street sign reading 'Hacker Way' is seen in the parking lot of the Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California.

Robyn Beck | AFP | Getty Images

street sign reading 'Hacker Way' is seen in the parking lot of the Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California.

Facebook's information security team has tracked users' locations in other safety-related instances, too.

In 2017, a Facebook manager alerted the company's security teams when a group of interns she was managing did not log into the company's systems to work from home. They had been on a camping trip, according to a former Facebook security employee, and the manager was concerned about their safety.

Facebook's information security team became involved in the situation and used the interns' location data to try and find out if they were safe. "They call it 'pinging them', pinging their Facebook accounts," the former security employee recalled.

After the location data did not turn up anything useful, the information security team then kept digging and learned that the interns had exchanged messages suggesting they never intended to come into work that day — essentially, they had lied to the manager. The information security team gave the manager a summary of what they had found.

"There was legit concern about the safety of these individuals," the Facebook spokesman said. "In each isolated case, these employees were unresponsive on all communication channels. There's a set of protocols guiding when and how we access employee data when an employee goes missing."

Safety first

While the company is aggressive about dealing with potential threats, the risks are real. Just in recent weeks, Facebook had to deal with a with bomb threat against the company's Menlo Park campus and with an employee getting "swatted" -- that's when an attacker calls in a false emergency to get police to send an armed SWAT team to somebody's home, a prank with potentially fatal results.

One person pointed to an incident in 2015 where the BOLO list was essential. Facebook's security teams recognized the license plate of a suspicious car that was loitering on the company's campus, said a former Facebook physical security employee who left the company in 2016.

The Facebook security guards kept watch on the individual until Menlo Park Police Department officers showed up, the former employee said.

They eventually arrested the driver on charges of indecent exposure for public masturbation, according to a public records request confirming the incident.

FT : Pershing Square: Ack is back

Pershing Square: Ack is back

Bill Ackman’s stock picks are working. But investors stay away from his own stock

Bill Ackman must be happier than has been in ages. He recently remarried and has a child on the way (events commemorated in no less than the Sunday Styles section of the New York Times). And after several rough years for his hedge fund, Pershing Square, it has rallied sharply. So far in 2019 it is up 25 per cent, well ahead of the S&P 500. In 2018, Mr Ackman simplified his investing operation including sharply reducing his staff. But while returns are up, investors still have concerns about his publicly listed vehicle, Pershing Square Holdings. Its discount to net asset value stubbornly remains at 27 per cent. That fulfilment still eludes Mr Ackman.

One argument mounted by critics of Mr Ackman against his fund is that he is merely buying large-cap public equities that any investor can purchase from an online broker. His counterargument is that his stockpicking skills are unique and that by making large, concentrated bets he can lobby management for change. Whether explained by mean reversion or acumen, Mr Ackman’s picks like United Technologies, Restaurant Brands, ADP and Chipotle have returned between 14 and 40 per cent so far this year.

Ironically, Pershing Square’s biggest gains on a percentage basis have come from a regulatory bet. Mr Ackman, along with other high-profile hedge funders, have speculated in the common and preferred securities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage guarantors seized by the federal government during the financial crisis. The Trump administration is signalling that Fannie and Freddie may be privatised sending their securities prices soaring. Pershing’s stakes in Fannie and Freddie are up between 35 and 140 per cent this year.

Mr Ackman says if you are unimpressed with his stock picks, then think of Pershing Square Holdings as a way to buy his stocks cheaply because of the embedded NAV discount. That is reasonable if an investor believes that discount will narrow. Pershing Square Holdings said this week it would begin paying a dividend in line with the S&P 500 yield to attract a new shareholder base. It has also spent more than $500m buying back its shares to close the valuation gap. These discounts are obviously irritating to Mr Ackman but not unusual for such investment vehicles. Sustained, strong investment returns offer the best antidote. A happy marriage takes years of steady effort.

>>> Tiger Global discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing: New STNE T

Tiger Global discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing: New STNE TME ESTC SWI positions; Exited TWTR AAPL

Highlights from 2018 Q4 filing as compared to 2018 Q3 filing:

New positions in: STNE (~10.6 mln shares), TME (~5.18 mln), ESTC (~0.74 mln), SWI (~0.2 mln)
Increased positions in: FCAU (to ~81.05 mln shares from ~62.17 mln shares), JD (to ~57.92 mln from ~50.41 mln), APO (to ~37.66 mln from ~34.42 mln), RUN (to ~17.82 mln from ~14.89 mln), SE (to ~12.3 mln from ~11.46 mln), FB (to ~5.37 mln from ~4.62 mln), FLT(to ~1.79 mln from ~1.12 mln) ADBE (to ~1.03 mln from ~0.52 mln), ZEN (to ~3.63 mln from ~3.14 mln), TDG (to ~2.07 mln from ~1.84 mln)
Maintained positions in: SVMK (~30.47 mln shares), EB (~14.36 mln shares), MSFT (~13.17 mln shares), SPOT (~12.8 mln shares)
Closed positions in: TWTR (from ~6.86 mln shares), BEDU (from ~2.02 mln), TWLO (from ~1.03 mln), AAPL (from ~1.02 mln), MDB(from ~0.7 mln)
Decreased positions in: DESP (to ~12.27 mln shares from ~24.2 mln shares), UXIN (to ~19 mln from ~25.65 mln), BILI (to ~1.1 mln from ~5.84 mln), BABA (to ~4.11 mln from ~6.47 mln), TAL (to ~9.59 mln from ~11.7 mln), ADSK (to ~0.88 mln from ~2.32 mln), EDU(to ~2.35 mln from ~3.05 mln), NFLX (to ~1.48 mln from ~2.16 mln), V (to ~0.16 mln from ~0.79 mln), AMZN (to ~0.74 mln from ~1.2 mln), QSR (to ~1.59 mln from ~1.9 mln), NEW (to ~0.4 mln from ~0.7 mln), DPZ (to ~1.87 mln from ~2.11 mln), PDD (to ~1.09 mln from ~1.3 mln), BKNG (to ~0.45 mln from ~0.66 mln), COUP (to ~1.27 mln from ~1.42 mln

>>> Omega Advisors (Leon Cooperman) discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F

Omega Advisors (Leon Cooperman) discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing: Exited FRAC, MU positions

Highlights from 2018 Q4 filing as compared to 2018 Q3 filing:

Increased positions in: CVS (to ~0.8 mln shares from ~0.39 mln shares), TCRD (to ~0.2 mln from ~0.19 mln), CI (248K from 107.5K)
Maintained positions in: ET (~2.24 mln shares), MPC (~0.41 mln)
Closed positions in: FRAC (from ~4.64 mln shares), SBGI (from ~3.32 mln), DISH (from ~0.74 mln), MXL (from ~0.74 mln), FGP (from ~0.43 mln), MU (from ~0.33 mln), DXC (from ~0.28 mln), BC (from ~0.27 mln), PVH (from ~0.26 mln), EMN (from ~0.17 mln), ADBE(from ~0.11 mln)
Decreased positions in: COOP (to ~1.66 mln shares from ~9.15 mln shares), FDC (to ~2.39 mln from ~5.14 mln), NEWM (to ~0.03 mln from ~2.28 mln), OCN (to ~12.67 mln from ~14.42 mln), AMCX (to ~0.81 mln from ~2.48 mln), NBR (to ~8.78 mln from ~10.44 mln),UAL (to ~1.16 mln from ~2.62 mln), NLSN (to ~2.63 mln from ~3.63 mln), MSFT (to ~0.25 mln from ~0.92 mln), WPX (to ~3.38 mln from ~3.92 mln

>>> Starboard Value (Jeffrey Smith) discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F

Starboard Value (Jeffrey Smith) discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing: New DLTR MGLN TVPT positions

Highlights from 2018 Q4 filing as compared to 2018 Q3 filing:

New positions in: DLTR (~2.6 mln shares), MGLN (~2.12 mln), TVPT (~0.7 mln)
Increased positions in: MRVL (to ~35.88 mln shares from ~34.29 mln shares), BAX (to ~1.41 mln from ~0.73 mln), CARS (to ~6.54 mln from ~6.29 mln), IWN (to ~0.7 mln from ~0.5 mln)
Maintained positions in: SYMC (~24.5 mln shares), PRGO (~10.04 mln shares), AAP (~3.18 mln shares), AABA (~2.24 mln shares)
Closed positions in: NWL (from ~0.79 mln shares)
Decreased positions in: BMS (to ~0.57 mln shares from ~1.97 mln shares), MLNX (to ~4.32 mln from ~4.44 mln), RPM (to ~1.1 mln from ~1.2 mln)