Greek Risk Draws Global Concern on Lehman Echo Warnings (
BBG)
Merkel to urge caution in U.S. as pressure builds to arm
Ukraine forces (
Reuters)
West Races to Defuse Ukraine Crisis (
WSJ)
German-French Push Yields Ukraine Summit Plan With Putin (
BBG)
Swiss Leaks lifts the veil on a secretive banking system (
ICIJ)
Italy Lenders Seen Cleansing Books Amid Bad-Bank Plans (
BBG)
G-20 Finance Chiefs Face Tough Test in Istanbul (
WSJ)
Demand for OPEC Crude Will Rise This Year, Says Group (
WSJ)... or rather prays
U.S. Banks Say Soaring Dollar Puts Them at Disadvantage (
WSJ)
Oil steadies near $58 as U.S. rig count offsets Chinese data (
Reuters)
Turkish Lira Falls to Record as Erdogan Attacks Monetary Policy
(
BBG)
Behind RadioShack’s Collapse Is a Tiny Distressed Lender (
BBG)
British Muslims protest in London against Charlie Hebdo
cartoons (
Reuters)
Saxo Bank Takes Hard Line on Clients’ Swiss Franc Losses (
WSJ)
HSBC admits Swiss bank failings over client taxes (
Reuters)
Conquering China’s Mountain of Debt (
BBG)
U.S. companies may not be fleeing due to high tax rate, Reuters
analysis shows (
Reuters)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
* The United States and Germany are struggling to maintain a
united front against an unflinching Russia ahead of a crucial week
of high-stakes, top-level diplomacy on the Ukraine crisis. (
http://on.wsj.com/1Fo724Y)
* The strengthening U.S. dollar is rippling through the
financial system in unexpected ways, revealing what bankers say is
a hidden flaw in a Federal Reserve proposal to increase capital
cushions at the nation's largest banks. (
http://on.wsj.com/1ALSWM7)
* Dubai, through its government and ruler-owned real-estate
conglomerates, is leading a construction frenzy of ambitious
developments that seem to cost increasingly more with each new
announcement. Dubai has slowly but surely clawed its way out of the
hole it dug for itself in 2009 when a series of government-linked
companies, including several under the direct control of the ruler,
were unable to pay lenders on time and called for a standstill on
repayments. (
http://on.wsj.com/16Dp0Eo)
* As the telecom industry marches forward, Frontier
Communications Corp is growing quickly by snapping up the unloved
telephone lines its bigger competitors are leaving behind. (
http://on.wsj.com/1znmpFq)
* Copenhagen-based Saxo Bank has taken an aggressive approach to
handling customer foreign-exchange losses that followed the Swiss
central bank's decision to let the franc rise against the euro. (
http://on.wsj.com/1A48ZoK)
* The anti-austerity position taken by the just-elected
government toward Greece's creditors has given new hope to many
Athenians, even those who did not vote for the leftist Syriza
party. (
http://on.wsj.com/1yYYBJ9)
* Morgan Stanley is joining the hedge-fund retreat. The New York
bank is looking to sell its 19 percent stake in the $17.5 billion
London-based Lansdowne Partners LLP, according to people familiar
with the matter. (
http://on.wsj.com/1DvraTP)
* Coca-Cola Co and PepsiCo Inc likely will highlight rough going
abroad but improving conditions at home when they publish
fourth-quarter results this week. (
http://on.wsj.com/1DSSskY)
* Credit Suisse Group AG is launching a specialty finance
company to invest in the unrated debt of small or midsize U.S.
companies, following in the footsteps of rivals such as Goldman
Sachs Group Inc and a handful of private-equity giants. (
http://on.wsj.com/1C9IqvW)
FT
The U.S. Department of Justice will investigate the sale of
"structured products" to investors by Barclays and UBS without
disclosing the returns they made on currency trades used to
generate the products' returns.
Warren Buffett is facing pressure from investment analysts to
disclose more information on his $370 billion company Berkshire
Hathaway, particularly about its large insurance business.
Sienna Capital, an affiliate of Groupe Bruxelles Lambert , has
invested 150 million euros in Primestone - a hedge fund that aims
to buy stakes in listed companies and work alongside management to
increase shareholder value.
British private equity group Terra Firma will change its
approach to investment and put 1 billion euros ($1.13 billion) of
its own capital into deals as it seeks to restore its reputation
after the debt-laden takeover of EMI in 2007.
NYT
* The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is starting to draw
up regulations that could sharply reduce the number of unaffordable
loans with high interest rates from payday lenders.(
http://nyti.ms/170xu9v)
* A year after it was announced, Comcast Corp's audacious
acquisition of Time Warner Cable Inc remains in limbo as Washington
regulators scrutinize the deal. The air of inevitability around
Comcast's proposed $45 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable has
dissipated as the F.C.C. prepares to vote on a proposal to regulate
the Internet like a utility. (
http://nyti.ms/1uu1dlB)
* The New York Fire Department will receive additional funding
in Mayor Bill de Blasio's budget to increase staffing in hopes of
shaving seconds off ambulance response times, city officials said.
(
http://nyti.ms/1M4DVIE)
* Investors in billions of dollars of Puerto Rico bonds secured
a major legal victory when a federal judge ruled that the
commonwealth's recently enacted debt-restructuring law was
unconstitutional. (
http://nyti.ms/1yZ1XM2)
* A pair of fast-growing digital media companies, Vox and
BuzzFeed, have landed their first interviews with President Obama.
The interviews are the latest indication that Vox and BuzzFeed News
have emerged as serious news organizations, and are a further sign
of the Obama administration's efforts to connect with millennials.
(
http://nyti.ms/1yZ3rpE)
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** Tim Hortons Inc has apologized after the owner of a Vancouver
location was seen dumping a bucket of water on a homeless man
sleeping outside. The incident at the Tim Hortons was first
reported on Friday by witnesses on social media, where posts urging
a boycott were shared thousands of times. (
http://bit.ly/1CablQC)
** After suffering a clear loss in the Canadian Supreme Court,
opponents of physician-assisted suicide now want to persuade the
federal government to impose the tightest possible restrictions on
the medical procedure. Constitutional-law experts and political
insiders said the most likely option at this point is new
legislation within the 12-month time frame that was offered by the
Supreme Court in its unanimous ruling on Friday. (
http://bit.ly/1A9AhZg)
** The Canadian army somehow lost three highly sophisticated,
precision-guided artillery shells on its ways out of Afghanistan in
an embarrassing case that resulted in an almost two-year
investigation. (
http://bit.ly/1yZNek5)
NATIONAL POST
** Fourth-quarter figures released last week by the Canadian
Venture Capital Association show the information and communications
technology sector scooped the largest share of venture capital
funding in 2014 with C$1.3 billion ($1.04 billion) - up from C$1.1
billion in 2013. (
http://bit.ly/1ERZ1rH)
** London-based barrister Amal Clooney is going to Cairo for
visiting the family of Mohamed Fahmy, a Canadian citizen who was
former Cairo bureau chief for Al Jazeera English and has been
jailed for over a year in Egypt on charges of falsifying news
during civil unrest and having terrorist links to the Muslim
Brotherhood. (
http://bit.ly/1Dw81Bg)
Britain
The Times
The new boss of Centrica Plc is facing calls to cut its dividend
for the first time in almost a decade as it grapples with the oil
price collapse and falling profits for household gas and
electricity. (
http://thetim.es/1ER2ir7)
Inflation will turn negative this year because of the dramatic
slide in energy costs, the Bank of England will predict this week.
(
http://thetim.es/1Ky7OPI)
The Guardian
HSBC's Swiss banking arm helped wealthy customers dodge taxes
and conceal millions of dollars of assets, doling out bundles of
untraceable cash and advising clients on how to circumvent domestic
tax authorities, according to a huge cache of leaked secret bank
account files. (
http://bit.ly/1zM7Tun)
A leading free market thinktank has issued a fierce attack on
George Osborne, accusing him of cynical electioneering after the
chancellor announced the amount of market-beating "pensioner
bonds", available to people over 65, would be increased to 15
billion pounds ($22.86 billion) by the general election in May. (
http://bit.ly/1zMCmZq)
The Telegraph
The Labour Party has begun a desperate attempt to quell growing
accusations that the party is anti-business after Ed Miliband's
attack on the chairman of Boots Company Plc, insisting it is
"aggressively pro-business". (
http://bit.ly/1vzm081)
Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis's attempts to heal
relationships with suppliers suffered a blow yesterday as it
emerged that the troubled supermarket continues to put pressure on
already squeezed small businesses. (
http://bit.ly/1DuSAZT)
Sky News
Ministers are to unveil a fresh drive urging consumers to switch
energy companies just weeks before the main parties pledge renewed
oversight of the industry in their general election manifestos. (
http://bit.ly/1vzm9IP)
Tax havens such as Bermuda, Jersey and Guernsey will have six
months to open their books or face international blacklisting if
the Labour Party wins the general election in May, Ed Miliband has
vowed. (
http://bit.ly/1CJoNOa)
The Independent
Poundland Group Plc is set to take over rival discounter 99p
Stores for 55 million pounds in a deal that would see the company
become one of the biggest retailers on the high street. (
http://ind.pn/1zVIEZN)
The accountancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers is promoting tax
avoidance by multinational firms "on an industrial scale," MPs said
in a damning report published today. (
http://ind.pn/1IduJSF)
Fly On The Wall Pre-market Buzz
ECONOMIC REPORTS
Domestic economic reports scheduled for today include:
Labor market conditions index change for January at
10:00--prior 6.1
ANALYST RESEARCH
Upgrades
Advanced Semiconductor (ASX) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral
at JPMorgan
Conn's (CONN) upgraded to Buy from Hold at KeyBanc
Delhaize (DEG) upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Exane
BNP Paribas
Frontier Communications (FTR) upgraded to Neutral from Sell
at Citigroup
Harris (HRS) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sterne Agee
Hyatt Hotels (H) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at SunTrust
Mosaic (MOS) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at
Morgan Stanley
Nippon Telegraph (NTT) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at
JPMorgan
Pfizer (PFE) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at
BMO Capital
Statoil (STO) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at
Morgan Stanley
Downgrades
Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) downgraded to Sell from Hold at
Wunderlich
Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) downgraded to Underperform from
Neutral at BofA/Merrill
Alcoa (AA) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan
American Capital Mortgage (MTGE) downgraded to Neutral from
Buy at Compass Point
BNP Paribas (BNPQY) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at
JPMorgan
BioMed Realty (BMR) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel
Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD) downgraded to Hold from Buy at
Miller Tabak
CBOE Holdings (CBOE) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS
Century Aluminum (CENX) downgraded to Underweight from
Neutral at JPMorgan
Chesapeake Lodging (CHSP) downgraded to Market Perform at JMP
Securities
Cummins (CMI) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at
Atlantic Equities
DISH (DISH) downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at
RBC Capital
Deckers Outdoor (DECK) downgraded to Equal Weight from
Overweight at Morgan Stanley
Dermira (DERM) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup
Discovery (DISCA) downgraded to Market Perform from
Outperform at FBR Capital
Emerson (EMR) downgraded to Perform from Outperform at
Oppenheimer
Foresight Energy (FELP) downgraded to Equal Weight from
Overweight at Barclays
KeyCorp (KEY) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup
MarineMax (HZO) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Longbow
Marsh & McLennan (MMC) downgraded to Equal Weight from
Overweight at Morgan Stanley
PHH Corp. (PHH) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform
at Keefe Bruyette
Petrobras (PBR) downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at
Credit Suisse
Prudential (PRU) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank
Regions Financial (RF) downgraded to Underperform at Keefe
Bruyette
Roche (RHHBY) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup
Sensient (SXT) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Gabelli
Skechers (SKX) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley
Initiations
AbbVie (ABBV) initiated with a Sell at Citigroup
Novartis (NVS) resumed with a Buy at Citigroup
Post Holdings (POST) initiated with an Outperform at BMO
Capital
Valeant (VRX) initiated with an Overweight at Barclays
Vermillion (VRML) initiated with a Buy at Roth Capital
COMPANY NEWS
Alibaba (BABA) announced a $590M strategic investment in Meizu
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists,
which is comprised of reporters from 45 countries, said over the
weekend that leaked documents show HSBC (HSBC) profited from
maintaining secret bank accounts for "criminals, traffickers, tax
dodgers, politicians and celebrities"
Google (GOOG) acquired private photo sharing/backup app
Odysee
SeaWorld (SEAS) appointed Daniel Brown Chief Parks Operations
Officer
Starboard 'applauds' Staples (SPLS) acquisition of Office
Depot (ODP)
Intuit (INTU) announced that TurboTax has resumed e-filing of
state income tax returns. The company continues to work with the
states as they build their own anti-fraud capabilities and will
share best practices as it works toward the best interests of the
taxpayer. The resumption comes after the company temporarily paused
transmissions upon seeing an increase in suspicious filings and
attempts by criminals to use stolen identity information to file
fraudulent state tax returns and claim tax refunds
EARNINGS
Companies that beat consensus earnings expectations last night
and today include:
Hasbro (HAS), Diamond Offshore (DO), Loews (L), Sohu.com
(SOHU), Cameco (CCJ), Dominion (D), Dominion Midstream (DM)
Companies that missed consensus earnings expectations include:
Boardwalk Pipeline (BWP), Nordic American Tankers (NAT),
Changyou.com (CYOU)
Companies that matched consensus earnings expectations include:
Golub Capital (GBDC)
CNA Financial (CNA) reports Q4 adjusted NOI 96c, consensus 80c
Changyou.com (CYOU) sees Q1 non-GAAP EPS 64c-68c, consensus
24c
Sohu.com (SOHU) sees Q1 non-GAAP EPS ($1.05)-(95c), consensus
(72c)
Cameco (CCJ) sees FY15 consolidated revenue declining up to
5%, consensus $2.52B
Frontier Communications (FTR) sees Q4 revenue approximately
$1.33B, consensus $1.34B, sees FY14 revenue about $4.772B,
consensus $4.79B
Dominion (D) sees Q1 EPS 85c-$1.00, consensus $1.03
NEWSPAPERS/WEBSITES
HSBC (HSBC) admits control failures at Swiss unit, Reuters
reports
Qualcomm (QCOM) could announce deal with China today, Reuters
reports
U.S. probe of UBS (UBS), Barclays (BCS) foreign exchange
products expands, FT reports
Motorola Solutions (MSI) to explore possible sale, Bloomberg
reports (RTN, HON, GD)
JPMorgan (JPM) hiring practices in Asia under U.S. scrutiny,
WSJ reports
Actuant (ATU) shares could rise 25%, Barron's says
AbbVie (ABBV) could climb 30%, Barron's says
Donaldson (DCI) could be good for long-term investors,
Barron's says
SYNDICATE
American CareSource (ANCI) files to sell $15M of common stock
Johnson Controls (JCI) files automatic mixed securities shelf
Marcus & Millichap (MMI) files to sell 4.6M shares of
common stock for holders
POZEN (POZN) files to sell 8.5M shares of common stock
