Good morning. Happy Tuesday. Happy Inauguration Day. As of noon today Eastern time, the US will have a different president.
Except for China, the Asian/Pacific market closed down across the board. Australia lost 3%; Hong Kong, India, Japan, Seoul and Taiwan lost more than 2%; Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore lost more than 1%.
Europe is mixed. Germany, Switzerland and London are posting small gains. Belgium, France, Amsterdam, Norway, Italy, Spain and Stockholm are down.
Futures here in the States point towards a gap down open. 60 minutes before the open, Nas 100 futures are down 15.0 to trade at 1182.0 while SPX futures are down 12.75 to trade at 835.75.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) said it expects to post a $41 billion loss for 2008 – the largest loss ever for a UK company. The stock dropped 67%.
ECB President Trichet said economic prospects are “substantially” worse than the ECB predicted last month.
Japan’s consumer confidence in December tumbled to its lowest level since records began in 2004 and Japan’s Cabinet Office today said the economy is “worsening rapidly,” as it lowered its economic assessment for a fourth straight month.
The Chinese government warned that the official Chinese urban unemployment may climb to 4.6% this year, the highest since 1980.
Fiat is taking a 35% stake in Chrysler.
Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim is looking to expand his empire in the US by making a $250 million investment in The New York Times (NYT) and become its largest shareholder.
General Mills Inc. (GIS) and grocers Kroger Co. (KR), Safeway Inc. (SWY) and Meijer Inc. have joined the growing list of food companies and retailers pulling items with peanut butter amid a salmonella outbreak that has killed at least six people and sickened more than 470 others in 43 states.
BMW to reduce hours for 26,000 German workers to slow production amid economic downturn.
Online brokerage TD Ameritrade (AMTD) says its first-quarter profit dropped 23% and cut its outlook for the year because the nation’s economic problems.
German retailer Metro to cut 15,000 jobs globally amid deepening downturn.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) 4th-quarter profit rises 14 percent; 2009 outlook weaker than expected.
Natus Medical Inc. (BABY), a provider of medical devices for newborn care, said Monday its fourth-quarter and full-year profit rose, but the results fell shy of Wall Street forecasts while the company guides for a weaker-than-expected 2009.
Equipment-rental company United Rentals Inc. (URI) late Monday lowered its guidance for 2008 due to the weakening construction and economic environment and said it will take a hefty goodwill impairment charge in the fourth-quarter.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Tuesday it will halt production at its biggest plant in Japan for three weeks in February to cope with mounting inventories of unsold vehicles amid a deepening global downturn.
Luxury goods maker Burberry Group PLC reported Tuesday a 30% rise in revenues in the final three months of 2008, but said it plans to lay off more than 500 workers in its British and Spanish operations.
The debt ratings of Bank of America (BAC) and Merrill Lynch have been lowered by Moody’s.
Citigroup (C) as part of its restructuring effort, plans to sell Nikko Cordial Securities, its Japanese retail brokerage, according to a Wall Street Journal report Sunday.
ConocoPhillips (COP) will trim about 4% of its 32,000 employees and reduce the number of contractors it uses as it cuts its capital budget.
H. B. Fuller (FUL), the St. Paul, Minn., producer of adhesives, sealants, paints and specialty chemicals, swung to a fiscal fourth-quarter loss from a year-earlier profit on 3% lower revenue.
Gannett (GSI) is seeking a buyer for certain assets of the Tucson, Ariz., Citizen. The newspaper company said that if it can’t close a sale by March 21, it will close the paper.
Logitech (LOGI), producer of computer peripherals, reported that fiscal third-quarter net income fell 70% on 16% lower revenue.
Toyota Motor (TM) said Tuesday worldwide sales were down about 5% in 2008 from a year earlier, marking the first decline in annual vehicle sales in a decade, with overall sales falling just shy of 8 million units. They named a new CEO.
Motion control systems manufacturer Parker Hannifin Corp. (PH) slashed its fiscal 2009 profit guidance Tuesday, saying it expects demand to fall in the deepening global recession.
Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) said Tuesday it purchased some of Advance Micro Devices’ (AMD) handheld graphics and multimedia technology assets for $65 million in cash.
Gold is up 1.4% and Silver is up 0.90%.
Crude Oil is down 2.11 to trade at 34.40.
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| UPGRADES |
CP, CHKP, ARCC, HR |
| DOWNGRADES |
AINV, SPRD, RDEN, VQ, WFR, SJW, HSP, BAC, EMC, COP, CHU, SINA, TER, ALTR, BHP, PALM, TLM, SU, PCZ, NXY, CNQ |
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| EARNINGS | |
| before the open | BAC, CBSH, FAST, FRX, IIVI, JEF, JNJ, LEE, EDU, PH, PETS, PCP, RF, STT, SU, AMTD |
| during trading | none |
| after the close | CREE, CSX, FULT, HBHC, IBKC, IBM, PKG, PNFP, RJF, SPSN, SUPX, WIT, WGOV |
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ECONOMIC RELEASES
10:00 State Street Investor Confidence Index
11:00 4-Week Bill Announcement
13:00 3-Month Bill Auction
13:00 6-Month Bill Auction
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