Good morning. Happy Friday.
This is a bear market, right? About 30 minutes before the open, Nas 100 futures are down 31.5 (2.65%) to trade at 1158.5 and SPX futures are down 30 (3.43%) to trade at 844.5. They started selling off as soon as they started trading 15 min after yesterday’s close; then they took another dump in the middle of the night.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly down with sizeable losses. Hong Kong and Japan lost more than 5%; Seoul and Indonesia more than 4%; China, Singapore and Taiwan more than 3%. Only India moved up slightly.
Europe, which is still open for trading, is suffering 3-5% losses across the board. France, Amsterdam and Norway are down more than 5%; Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain and London more than 4%; Belgium, Stockholm and Switzerland more than 3%.
The losses are due to the Senate not approving the bailout of the Big 3 (are they still big) automakers. Unless minds change quickly, bankruptcy is inevitable. This is a good thing. As you could imagine, GM (GM) and Ford (F) are down a bunch before the open.
EU leaders on Friday backed a euro200 billion ($267 billion) economic stimulus package to ward off recession in the region’s 27 nations as new statistics highlighted just how deep a slowdown they are facing.
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Friday announced a new 23 trillion yen ($255 billion) stimulus package to shore up his country’s economy, with measures to spur employment, encourage lending and inject capital into financial markets.
Ex-Nasdaq chairman Bernard Madoff has confessed to a massive fraud scheme that will cost investors at least $50B.
Bank of America (BAC) plans to cut up to 35,000 jobs over the next 3 years as it absorbs Merrill Lynch (MER).
The government says wholesale prices sank 2.2% in November – the fourth monthly decline in a row. That is likely to raise fresh fears prices will keep on dropping, leading to a dangerous bout of deflation.
Woolworths (London) administrators cut 700 jobs in distribution division, scaling down sale efforts.
Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS) said Friday it plans to cut 1,100 jobs, or about 12 percent of its work force, and reduced its revenue guidance for its fiscal fourth quarter.
Department-store operator Kohl’s (KSS) said Friday it jointly acquired 46 Mervyns locations for about $6.25 million.
Canada-based Gildan (GIL) cuts 400 jobs at Alabama, Virginia plants, moving apparel work to Honduras.
Chemtura (CEM) is cutting 5,000 jobs or 10% of its workers as demand drops.
Cooper Tire (CTB) says it has reached an agreement with union at its Texarkana, Ark., plant.
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) to pay Exelixis (EXEL) $195 million in cancer drug development deal.
Park Electrochemical (PKE) to cut undisclosed number of jobs at Singapore subsidiary Nelco Products.
Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) announces 1,000 job cuts as part of new CEO’s strategic turnaround plan.
Elan (ELN) is shutting down its New York and Tokyo offices and will eliminate an unspecified number of jogs as it realigns operations to focus on research.
Las Vegas Sands (LVS) is cutting 200 casino workers on the Strip; part of $100 million yearly cost cuts.
United Technologies (UTX) is sticking with its 2008 earnings outlook which is up 15% from the year-ago results.
Calamos Asset Management (CLMS) said assets under management have nearly been halved this past year.
Legg Mason (LM) reduced its exposure to securities issued by Structured Investment Vehicles by $1.7B, or 43%, through its sale of Axon Financial holdings.
Gold is down 0.39% and silver is down 2.13%
Crude oil is down 3.01 to trade at 44.97.
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| UPGRADES | MHK, ANDE, CASY, MFC, HXM, URBN, IBKC, ACAS, IBKC |
| DOWNGRADES | WAT, AGP, LECO, VARI, DRYS, EXPD, LMNX, FII, SAP, F, AXL, MGA, TRW, LEA, VE, FMX, SWK |
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| EARNINGS | |
| before the open | none |
| during trading | none |
| after the close | none |
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ECONOMIC RELEASES
8:30 Core PPI
8:30 PPI
8:30 Retail Sales
8:30 Retail Sales ex-auto
10:00 Business Inventories
10:00 Michigan Sentiment-Prel.
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