>>> iPhone Home Button That Transforms Into Gaming Joystick Shown in Apple Paten


The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today published an Apple patent application revealing the company's interest in an iPhone or iPad home button that transitions form its normal functionality into a small joystick for gaming (via Patently Apple).

The "multi-function input device" would serve its normal home button functions, ostensibily with Touch ID and all other current features, but with a simple pressure click would pop up and transform into a slightly elevated thumb joystick.

Home button mode (left) and joystick mode (right)

A simple push of the elevated home button back into a flush position with the body of the iPhone would return it to its original state when done gaming. Diagrams included in the application show a very low-profile joystick , allowing for some level of physical control while being much smaller than traditional game controller joysticks in order to fit into the thin bodies of iOS devices.

Apple's claims within the patent application note some gamers' hesitancy to play seriously on a smartphone due to the entire set of controls resting on the screen, with their fingers blocking a significant portion of the game's content. The company thinks a built-in solution in form of this new home button could be an acceptable option for those unable or unwilling to carry additional gaming accessories.


As noted by Patently Apple, the patent, with inventor credit going to Colin Ely and Fletcher Rothkopf, was originally filed by the company in the summer of 2013. Though it's highly unlikely this particular technology will show up on the company's next iPhone, presumably launching later this year, like most patents it's still interesting to see what possibilities Apple has considered in the past and the possible directions it may choose to go in the future.

>>> US Gapping up

Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance: PNC +10.7%, FCAU +1.6%, (reported Dec EU sales), OZRK +1.4%, RNDY +1%, INTC +0.4%

Select Brazil related names showing strength: GOL +3.6%, PBR +2.3%, ITUB +1.7%, CPL +1.3%, BBD +1.2%, BUD +1.1%


Select oil/gas related names showing strength: DO +3.4%, STO +2.1%, SDRL +1.8%, RIG +1.2%, TOT +1.1%, RDS.A +0.7%

Other news: RVP +29.6% (settlement with Becton Dickinson (BDX) surrounding syringes), EOPN +11.7% (WSJ reporting co is working with Bank of America to find a buyer following stock price declines), DEPO +6.5% (entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the U.S. rights to the NUCYNTA franchise from Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for $1.05 bln), PIP +4.2% (PharmAthene announced that the Delaware Court of Chancery has entered its Final Order and Judgment in the co's litigation against SIGA Technologies (SIGA); the Court's judgment against SIGA totaled ~$194.65 mln ), BP +3.7% (reports of court ruling on 2010 pollution violations), VSTM +2.5% (announces publication of scientific data for VS-5584 in Cancer Research), WLH +2.1% (entered into an agreement with Stearns Lending, LLC, to form William Lyon Mortgage, LLC, a limited liability company that will offer an array of mortgage banking services), HCT +1.8% (shareholders approve merger with Ventas (VTR)), RCPT +1.8% (favorable commentary on Thursday's Mad Money), RRC +1.6% (announces updated 2015 capital budget of $860 mln targeting production growth of 20% YoY, Early Commissioning of Mariner East Propane Pipeline and 2014 YoY Production growth of ~24%), TERP +1.6% (prices 12 mln shares of common stock at $29.33 per share), NYNY +1.4% (announced that Kien Huat Realty III Limited exercised the basic subscription rights), ENTA +0.5% (confirms that the European Commission has granted marketing authorizations for AbbVie's (ABBV) VIEKIRAX)

Analyst comments: TUBE +4.9% (upgraded to Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts), ERJ +2.8% (upgraded to Outperform at Itau), NFLX +1.1% (upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Cowen), APC +1.1% (upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Atlantic Equities), GRUB +0.8% (initiated with a Buy at Stifel), BHP +0.6% (upgraded to Buy at Canaccord Genuity)

>>> JPM on Oil Sector

*BG GROUP RAISED TO OVERWEIGHT VS NEUTRAL AT JPMORGAN
*BP CUT TO UNDERPERFORM VS NEUTRAL AT JPMORGAN
*SHELL CUT TO NEUTRAL VS OVERWEIGHT AT JPMORGAN
*STATOIL CUT TO UNDERWEIGHT VS NEUTRAL AT JPMORGAN
*TOTAL SA CUT TO NEUTRAL VS OVERWEIGHT AT JPMORGAN

>>> Goldman Sachs beats by $0.06, reports revs in-line

--> GS -1,39% - Very low volume

Goldman Sachs beats by $0.06, reports revs in-line

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $4.38 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $4.32; revenues fell 8.3% year/year to $7.69 bln vs the $7.64 bln consensus.

Investment Banking
  • Net revenues in Investment Banking were $1.44 billion for the fourth quarter of 2014, 16% lower than the fourth quarter of 2013 and 2% lower than the third quarter of 2014.
  • Net revenues in Financial Advisory were $692 million, 18% higher than the fourth quarter of 2013.
  • Net revenues in Underwriting were $748 million, 34% lower than a strong fourth quarter of 2013.
Institutional Client Services
  • Net revenues in Institutional Client Services were $3.15 billion for the fourth quarter of 2014, 8% lower than the fourth quarter of 2013 and 17% lower than the third quarter of 2014.
  • Net revenues in Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities Client Execution were $1.22 billion for the fourth quarter of 2014, 29% lower than the fourth quarter of 2013. During the quarter, Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities Client Execution operated in an environment generally characterized by difficult market-making conditions and continued low levels of activity, particularly in credit products, interest rate products and mortgages.
  • Net revenues in Equities were $1.93 billion for the fourth quarter of 2014, 15% higher than the fourth quarter of 2013.
Expenses
  • Non-compensation expenses were $2.52 billion for the fourth quarter of 2014, 17% lower than the fourth quarter of 2013 and 11% higher than the third quarter of 2014. Net provisions for litigation and regulatory proceedings for the fourth quarter of 2014 were $161 million compared with $561 million for the fourth quarter of 2013.
  • Compensation Expense was $12.7 bln or 36.8% of revenues.
Capital
  • Book value per common share was $163.01 and tangible book value per common share was $153.79, both approximately 7% higher compared with the end of 2013 and approximately 1% higher compared with the end of the third quarter of 2014.
  • The firm's Common Equity Tier 1 ratio was 12.2% as of December 31, 2014, up from 11.8% as of September 30, 2014.

Reuters - Altice primes market for leveraged loans and holdco bonds


LONDON, Jan 16 (IFR) - Altice is shifting its funding strategy for its upcoming Portuguese acquisition and will now include leveraged loans as well as a substantial amount of holding company bonds, according to sources close to the deal.

When Altice originally bid for Oi's Portuguese operations in October, the cable and telecoms firm planned to raise mainly dollar bonds solely at Altice International, according to the sources.

Altice International includes the company's cable and telecoms assets in far-flung geographies such as Israel and the Dominican Republic. The other half of the business is Altice France, which holds its French assets.

The listed holdco, Altice SA, sits above both of these businesses.

But Altice had to raise its offer to beat a rival bid from private equity funds Apax and Bain in December, while lowering the earn-out portion of the deal. This raised the cash consideration from around EUR4.5bn to nearly EUR5.7bn, according to the sources.

In order to fund this increase, the company will now have to raise a significant amount of debt at the Altice SA holdco, as it did on the record-breaking Numericable-SFR deal in April.

The company's management are now priming the market to expect 65% of the deal to be funded at Altice International and 35% at Altice SA, according to an investor.

He added that this could be problematic for some investors, as Altice's management indicated that holdco issuance would be infrequent when Numericable acquired SFR in April.


LOAN SURPRISE

Plans have also shifted to include a new leveraged loan deal alongside bonds at Altice International, according to a banker on the deal.

"Most of the market had assumed the deal was going to be all-bond, so this may take some people by surprise," he said.

Altice International has tapped the leveraged loan market before, raising a US$1.034bn term loan B in July 2013. That came during a nasty bout of volatility, forcing the company to drop a planned euro tranche and price at a significant discount.

The new loan is expected to include a euro tranche, however.

"The fact Altice was primarily an Israeli business was a stumbling block for European CLOs last time, but now the company is 70% in Western Europe this should not be a problem," the banker said.

The rejigging of the deal reflects recent shifts in the market. Raising long-dated dollar bonds and swapping them back into euros was hugely attractive back in October, but the dollar market has sold off somewhat since then.

At the same time, the differential between issuers' euro and dollar tranches has widened. Dutch cable company Ziggo raised a euro bond at a yield 125bp tighter than its dollar bond on Wednesday, for example.

This has made the benefit of raising funding in dollar bonds more marginal, pushing Altice to split its funding across multiple markets.

JP Morgan is set to lead the Altice SA holdco bonds while Goldman Sachs will lead the Altice International opco bonds.

Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley have underwritten the debt raising, which is still dependent on a approval from Portugal Telecom SGPS shareholders at a vote on January 22.

Altice did not respond to a request for comment

>>> GSK - More unit IPOs an option for evolving GlaxoSmithKline

More unit IPOs an option for evolving GlaxoSmithKline<GSK.L><NOVN.VX><PFE.N> - RTRS

EXCLUSIVE-More unit IPOs an option for evolving GlaxoSmithKline GSK.L NOVN.VX PFE.N - RTRS
16-Jan-2015 09:47
Offering for HIV business may be model for future moves
Consumer more tenable as standalone business after Novartis deal
GSK CEO says consumer health M&A could get interesting
But substantial consumer change unlikely for three years
By Ben Hirschler

LONDON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline GSK.L could consider more partial public share offerings for component units as it evolves in the coming years, potentially pointing to a break-up of the group if this offers value to shareholders.

Chief Executive Andrew Witty told Reuters the group's large consumer health business would be more viable as a standalone operation following the conclusion of a $20 billion asset swap with Novartis NOVN.VX, especially if it bought additional assets.

While nothing is planned for the near term, Witty said the options for changing the structure of the group were considerable and management would be very pragmatic.

Britain's biggest drugmaker announced plans in October for an initial public offering (IPO) of a minority stake in its HIV business, ViiV Healthcare, which could serve as a model for future moves, he said.

"Post-Novartis, particularly if we did more transactions in the consumer space, the idea of the consumer company being a standalone consumer powerhouse is much more tenable," Witty said in an interview.

GSK is forming a consumer health joint venture (JV) with Novartis, as well as buying vaccines and selling cancer drugs. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2015 and Novartis has an option to sell its JV stake to GSK after three years.

"It is pretty unlikely anything substantial can happen until after that point, so this is all very much in the world of strategic theory rather than tomorrow morning's press release," Witty said.

The willingness to embrace change comes at a testing time for the company and as other drugmakers, most notably Pfizer PFE.N, also debate the case for break-ups.

ROUGH RIDE

GSK had a rough ride in 2014, after being fined nearly $500 million for bribing Chinese doctors and suffering a bigger than expected fall in sales of its ageing but still top-selling lung drug Advair.

A new chairman, Philip Hampton, will take over in September but management is not waiting around to shake things up, given investors’ concerns about an underperforming share price. In addition to the spin-off of ViiV, GSK is also cutting costs by a further 1 billion pounds ($1.5 billion). (Full Story)

Despite high-profile setbacks with an experimental heart drug and a cancer vaccine, Witty is confident GSK still has a compelling new drug pipeline, which augurs well for the core pharmaceuticals business.

The company has 129 distinct pharmaceutical research milestones pending in 2015, ranging from first-in-man tests of new drugs to numerous clinical trial results to potential regulatory approvals.

In addition to promising treatments, there are also high hopes for the enlarged vaccines business, which will be boosted by the inclusion of meningitis shots from Novartis.

However, pressure on drug prices from governments and insurers is a growing risk, and the new GSK emerging from the far-reaching deal with Novartis could change its identity in the years ahead.

The entire drugs sector is undergoing major upheaval at present, reflected in a wave of deal-making as companies seek to build up in areas of strength, while jettisoning businesses where they lack critical mass.

With more mergers and acquisitions predicted for the industry as a whole, GSK will continue to eschew big, pricey drug deals, Witty said.

(BofA-ML) Waiting for the ECB

* The most important week of the year?
Next week the potential sovereign QE announcement (22 January) at the ECB meeting, and Greek elections (25 January) are likely to be two of the most important events of the year.

* Euro area: QE, at last
We expect the ECB to announce government bond buying of between EUR 500 and EUR 700bn over 18 months. The crucial issue is whether the ECB will manage to create an “open ended” feel to its program.

* UK: A slippery start to 2015
December CPI inflation was weaker than expected, at 0.5% yoy. Given the continued fall in oil prices, we now see it reaching a trough in February at 0.1%.

* Peripheral watch: Greece: conditions for a positive outcome
We discuss the main conditions that we think any new Greek government will have to meet in order to avoid tail risks. We argue that there is room to improve Greece's adjustment program, but that this will depend to a large extent on the political will to implement key reforms.

Week ahead calendar - see attached

WSJ : IEA Slashes 2015 Forecast Increase in Non-OPEC Oil Supply

IEA Slashes 2015 Forecast Increase in Non-OPEC Oil Supply
Price Recovery May Not Be Imminent But Signs Are Mounting That Tide Will Turn, Agency Says

LONDON—The collapse in oil prices is expected to slash growth in non-OPEC oil production this year, bolstering demand for the producer group’s own output, the International Energy Agency said Friday, indicating the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ strategy to defend its market share may be working.

The decision taken by the oil cartel in November to abandon its traditional role of stabilizing the market and maintain its output in the face of falling prices has proved divisive even within the group. Oil prices, already under pressure from surging U.S. production and sluggish demand, tanked following the group’s decision and are now down more than 50% since June.

Oil prices ticked higher Friday, following steep losses this week. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in February traded at $46.86 a barrel, up 1.4%. March Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose 1.2% to $48.84 a barrel.

The sharp drop in oil prices is also hitting non-OPEC producers. Companies are slashing capital expenditure and the number of rigs drilling and drilling permits in the U.S. has already decreased, suggesting that supply pressure could ease in the coming months.

“A price recovery—barring any major disruption—may not be imminent, but signs are mounting that the tide will turn,” the IEA said in its closely watched monthly oil market report, as it slashed its forecast for the increase in non-OPEC oil supply this year by 350,000 barrels a day. The knock-on effect of that is an expected increase of 300,000 barrels a day in demand for OPEC’s oil this year to 29.2 million barrels a day.

Still, oil production from the U.S. is expected to remain robust this year, with supply growth slipping by just 80,000 barrels a day, according to the IEA. Oil output from Canada and Colombia is expected to weaken slightly more, adding to the easing in supply growth.

Meanwhile, OPEC’s oil output continues to exceed demand projections and the group’s own output ceiling of 30 million barrels a day. According to the IEA, OPEC production rose by 80,000 barrels a day in December to 30.48 million barrels a day, marking its eighth straight month above the group’s official output target.