Good morning. Happy Friday. Hope you had a great New Years.
The indexes traded range bound for the entire month of December, so it’ll be interesting to see who grabs initial control in the new year.
Half the Asian/Pacific markets were closed today, but of the ones that were open, mostly gains were seen. Hong Kong rallied 4.5%, Singapore and Seoul moved up more than 2%, and Indonesia, Japan and New Zealand rallied more than 1%. Only Australia closed slightly down.
Europe is currently up across the board. Norway and Stockholm are up more than 3%. Belgium and Amsterdam are up more than 2%. Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and London are up more than 1%.
Futures here in the States are mixed with a negative bias. 35 minutes before the open, Nas 100 futures are down 4.75 (0.39%) to trade at 1207.75 while S&P futures are unchanged and trading at 900.00
South Korea’s president said the government would implement measures to fight the economic slowdown.
India today cut its benchmark repo rate by 100 bp to 5.5%, which is the fourth rate cut in less than three months. India’s government also said it would implement additional fiscal stimulus measures.
Singapore’s economy contracted for a third consecutive quarter as a global slump hurt demand for the city-state’s exports, prompting the government to lower its 2009 growth forecast and foreshadowing a deeper downturn for the region.
Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom (GZPFY) yesterday cut off natural gas supplies to Ukraine in a dispute over pricing but the two sides are still meeting to resolve the differences. Russia supplies about one-quarter of Europe’s gas supply and most of those supplies come through Ukraine, meaning that Europe’s gas supplies will eventually be curtailed.
Manufacturing activity contracted for the seventh month running in December for the countries using the euro, falling at its sharpest rate for at least 11 years, a closely-watched survey found Friday.
Car sales in Spain plummeted by 28 percent last year, the worst slump on record, manufacturers said Monday.
House prices in Britain fell in 2008 at their fastest rate for at least 25 years, the country’s biggest mortgage lender said Friday, stoking market expectations that the Bank of England will cut borrowing costs further next week.
GM (GM) is up 15% in European trading today after GM received the first $4 billion in rescue loans from the US government.
Automotive supplier Visteon Corp (VC) says it will shift more than 2,000 workers to a four-day week and cut pay by 20 percent as tight credit and collapsing sales cause huge industry losses.
Motorists are driving less and buying less gasoline, which means fuel taxes aren’t raising enough money to keep pace with the cost of road, bridge and transit programs. A 50 percent increase in gasoline and diesel fuel taxes is being urged by the commission to finance highway construction and repair until the government devises another way for motorists to pay for using public roads.
The US government is getting 5 million preferred GMAC shares in exchange for $5 billion in bailout cash. So the government is acting as a VC firm and getting ownership. I guess that’s better than simply handing money out.
Semiconductor sales plunged nearly 10 percent in November from a year ago, led by a steep decline in revenue from memory chips, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported Friday.
Camden National (CAC) declares regular quarterly dividend of 25 cents payable Jan. 30.
West Coast Bancorp (WCBO) declares regular quarterly dividend of a penny payable Jan. 30.
Ingles Markets (IMKTO) declares regular quarterly dividend payable Jan. 22.
Automotive supplier BorgWarner (BWA) said Friday it has received a mini-tender offer from TRC Capital Corp., and urged its shareholders not to sell their stock to the firm at a discount.
Bank of America (BAC) has completed its $19.4 billion all-stock purchase of Merrill Lynch (MER) while Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) said it has completed its $12.7 billion all-stock purchase of Wachovia Corp (WB).
Time Warner Cable (TWC) and Viacom (VIA) (VIA.A) have agreed on fees.
Citigroup (C): Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said he and Chairman Win Bischoff will not take a 2008 bonus and will cut pay and severance packages for executives.
Flir Systems (FLIR) has been moved to the S&P 500 to replace National City Corp.
Janus (JNS) boosted its stake in Chicago asset manager Perkins, Wolf, McDonnell & Co. to 80% from 30%.
Scana (SCG) increased the size of a planned public offering to 2.5 million shares from 2 million. The offering is priced at $35.50 a share. The offering comes in conjunction with the company’s inclusion in the S&P 500, which became official at market close Wednesday.
Swiss bank UBS (UBS) has sold its 1.3% stake in the Bank of China for $808 million, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
Gold is down 1.1% and Silver is down 1.7%.
Crude oil is down 2.48 to trade at 42.12.
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| UPGRADES | STX, AF |
| DOWNGRADES | SUN, CSIQ, SOL, LHCG, MDTH |
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| EARNINGS | |
| before the open | none |
| during trading | none |
| after the close | none |
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ECONOMIC RELEASES
10:00 ISM Index
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