Bits & Pieces (Wednesday Night Open Mic)

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Kevin S. Willis

Not much from me today. Feel free to add. I’m busy transferring data between my laptop and the new iMac at work, and it’s taking a lot longer than I expected. A little disappointed: I thought I was getting the big honkin’ 3.1 ghz 27″ iMac, and instead I got it’s less robust baby brother, the 21″ 2.8ghz model.

The iMac

Not exactly what I expected . . .

Ah, well, you get what you get and you don’t pitch a fit. I should be able to hook up my current monitor to it, doubling my working screen real estate, which is what I’m really after. Still could have used that extra .3 ghz, though.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 65 Comments »

Morning Report

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Brent Nyitray

Vital Statistics:

Last Change Percent
S&P Futures 1292.7 3.4 0.26%
Eurostoxx Index 2397.8 1.190 0.05%
Oil (WTI) 101.93 1.220 1.21%
LIBOR 0.5612 -0.001 -0.20%
US Dollar Index (DXY) 80.634 -0.480 -0.59%
10 Year Govt Bond Yield 1.85% 0.00%
Futures are up slightly on earnings and a lack of market-moving news out of Europe. Bond geeks will note that EURIBOR / OIS (a measure of stress in the banking system) has been moving lower since the year began. It is at 84 basis points, having dropped from 101 basis points six weeks ago. ECB funding probably explains some of it, but it is a welcome sign and helps explain the more sanguine mood of Mr. Market recently.
Goldman reported better than expected results this morning based on cost cuts. Compensation fell 21% and staff decreased 7%. On cue, William Cohan was on Bloomberg TV this morning complaining that Wall Street comp is still 50% too high. US Bancorp also reported better than expected earnings.
The Producer Price Index came in a little hot, but still subdued. PPI ex food and energy was up .3% MOM and 3.0% YOY. Inflation is still a non-issue as far as the Fed is concerned. Tomorrow will be a big economic day with CPI, Housing Starts and Initial Jobless Claims. No report tomorrow as I will be in the city all day.
EDIT:  More bullish economic data:  Capacity Utilization increased again to 78.1% and the NAHB Homebuilder sentiment index increased to 25, confirming what the homebuilders have been saying on their conference calls.

Filed under: Earnings Announcements, Economic data, Economy, eurozone, Financial Crisis, Homebuilding, Morning Report, stock market, Wall Street | Tagged: | 49 Comments »

Wednesday Admin Open Thread

Posted on January 18, 2012 by lmsinca

Ask your questions and discuss problems in this thread today.  I don’t want to disrupt another thread and the conversation going on there.  Hopefully, we won’t need these threads much longer.  At some point we’ll put up a FAQ tab but it may take a little time.  Michi did the last one and did a fantastic job but I don’t expect her to do it again without some help.  Maybe if she starts it, we could all add to it and then edit each others q & a’s.  Unless of course she wants to do it again….. 🙂

Update:  After reading comments from last night it appears there are issues with various mobile devices and your ipad.  Any suggestions or has anyone found a work around these issues they’d like to share?

Also, in thinking about the FAQ page, perhaps we could all just write a brief paragraph regarding a feature or use of the format and then michi could just edit and put into the q & a form.  I’m trying to think of a way we can all contribute to the process so it’s not so much work for one person.

Update II: 

Internet to Shut Down Wednesday to Protest SOPA and PIPA

Less than 24 hours after I noted that we’ve won a brief respite from SOPA, the bill’s chief sponsor said it’s back on track for mark up in February.

But a number of the world’s most popular websites – including Wikipedia, Twitpic, Reddit, Imgur, Mozilla and WordPress – are “going dark” on Wednesday January 18th to protest the censorship bills (SOPA and PIPA).

In addition, Google and other web titans will place prominent messages on their front pages urging their readers to oppose the draconian bills.

This could affect us today so don’t panic…..it’s only one day.

Filed under: 2012, administrative, FAQ, Uncategorized | 9 Comments »