Bits & Pieces (Monday Night Open Mic)

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Kevin S. Willis

Work has been miserable. A lot of not great information from our Rapid Notice Service provider has made adding SMS numbers to student outreach much, much more problematic than it has to be. So I’ve been busy.

However, a U.S. Navy Ship-Mounted Rail Gun is closer to reality. It’s about time we started flinging superheated aluminum at distant objects at supersonic speeds.

Here’s an original 1982 Featurette on The Making of Tron.

Michelle Obama indulges in $50,000 shopping spree. I’m pretty sure the cost of vacationing on Air Force One is a lot higher, and the tax payers foot the bill for that.

Warren Buffett says: "I'm too rich! And so, I demand the government take your money! Mine, of course, will remain in untouchable tax shelters."

Warren Buffett is not an oracle of public finance. It covers a lot of the stuff we touched on previously. But here it is again, if you just can’t get enough.

If you don’t use coupons, you’re leaving money on the table. Why not set some cash on fire, while you’re at it?

UPDATE! The Muppets respond to Fox accusing said Muppets of advancing an anti-oil, anti-capitalist agenda:

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Morning Report

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Brent Nyitray

Vital Statistics:

Last Change Percent
S&P Futures 1303 -9.5 -0.72%
Eurostoxx Index 2412.9 -23.710 -0.97%
Oil (WTI) 99.02 -0.540 -0.54%
LIBOR 0.5469 -0.004 -0.77%
US Dollar Index (DXY) 79.32 0.484 0.61%
10 Year Govt Bond Yield 1.83% -0.06%

Stock index futures are lower this morning as Europe becomes the focus again.  The Germans have proposed creating a commissioner with veto power over Greek budgetary decisions as a condition for aid.  Greek Financial Minister Evangelos Venizolos rejected the idea.  Portugese spreads are 180 basis points wider this morning as well.

Merger Monday is back with a couple of deals – The Gores Group (a West Coast private equity group) is buying Pep Boys.  Swiss engineering giant ABB is buying Thomas and Betts.  Eastman Chemical bid for Solutia on Friday.  Merger activity seems to be picking up, another sign that the economy is gathering strength.

Personal income came in at .5% for December, slightly higher than the .4% estimate.  Spending however was flat, lower than the .1% estimate.  The spending number may be explained by the marked strength in spending in 2010.  Spending started to gather momentum from Q310 – Q111 before falling off as the European crisis began to coalesce.  So the weakness may simply be a tough comp problem.

The earnings parade continues this week with McKesson, ADM, Exxon, Eli Lilly, UPS, Amazon.com, Pulte, and Dow as the major players releasing Q4 results.

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