Apple Halted Ahead Of Earnings, Company Beats Both Revenue and EPS Estimates; International Accounts For 58% Of Revenue

Blowout quarter, with $3.67 in EPS ($3.50 estimates), on $15.7 billion in revenue ($14.96bn consensus) . Apple sold 3.36 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing a 33 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 8.7 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 100 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 21 million iPods during the quarter, representing an eight percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. Apple had $7.6 billion of cash as of December 31, up $2.4 billion from a year ago, although coupled with a decline in marketable securities from $18.2 billion to $17.1 billion.

The Volume Story: Convictionless Buying Follows Conviction Selling

Complacency is back with concerns of an overvalued market promptly brushed under the carpet. The sharp downward market trend has reversed today, courtesy of VWAP algos and other low-volume gimmicks. The volume picture is the same we have seen time and time again- selling accelerates on catalysts, while the autopilot move is higher on marginal volume. The market no longer cares about upside catalysts (look at tepid reaction to earnings season), yet give it a negative catalyst and the floor falls off, with fund managers looking for any excuse to sell.

The Volkswagen Soap Opera Rises From The Dead As Perry, Elliott And Glenhill Sue For Alleged Stock Manipulation

Regular readers know our fascination with the Volkswagen "soap opera" which, as a result of a massive short squeeze in late 2008, resulted in VOW stock being the single most expensive stock in the world, albeit for a short period of time. In fact, last February we noted: "If hedge funds are successful at proving manipulation, which this disclosure may have made significantly easier, Porsche could be on the hook for a full refund of the option proceeds, in addition to further civil disgorgement and/or criminal liabilities. While the luxury carmaker is currently in swimming financial health with a huge cash war chest thanks to the options trades, any regulatory escalation could result in a rapid and dramatic downfall of the company which has a €10 billion term loan maturity in March, as banks may run away from a debtor that may be liable for a €7 billion cash outflow. And if the dominoes really collapse and Adolf Merckle's suicide is found to be a result of the alleged stock market manipulation, the life of Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking may get really ugly fast." Sure enough, today the life of Porsche, and its now-former CEO Wendelin Wiedeking, just got pretty ugly. Dow Jones reports, that the bulk of the hedge funds, that were in the groupthink trade de jour at that time, the very same hedge funds we speculated may sooner or later end up suing the carmaker-cum-busted hedge fund, just came out, guns blazing, and are alleging stock manipulation.

Obama's Wall Street "Punishment" Provides Quick 10% Bonus Boost To Goldman Employees

A humorous interlude demonstrates how the Administration's quick-fire plans to punish Wall Street have in fact benefited firms such as Goldman which are increasingly paying bonuses in stock. As Bloomberg reports, Goldman priced the share bonus at Firday's Goldman closing price of $154.12, which represents an 8.1% two-day slide in the stock price, in essence awarding Goldman employees with a comparably higher number of shares. With Goldman already trading at $157, or nearly 2% higher from Friday, Goldmanites have also received capital appreciation to boot. Ironically, Goldman's gain is JP Morgan's loss, which priced bonus shares as of the January 20th closing price, which was followed by a nearly 10% drop in JPM stock. Once again, Goldman gets the better of Obama. Once again, Goldman gets the better of Obama. Obviously, assuming some form of lock up, the real question remains: where will the financial be in 3 years - the traditional full vesting period.

With 20% Of S&P Reporting, YoY Ex-Fin Revenue Growth Is... Negative

So much for a pick up in Q4 revenues. With 20% of the S&P companies reporting, revenues ex-Fins (a vertical yield curve will do miracles for bank revenues - will this continue for ever? and what happens if and when the curve flattens...) are actually down 0.57% compared to the prior year. Expectations for future revenues ex-Fins jump to the 10% ballpark YoY for the next 3 quarters. Without a new stimulus, where will the money to push these revenues come from?

Latest Bernanke Vote Tally: Yes - 35; No - 17; Undecided - 29

Most recent Bernanke reconfirmation vote tally: YES - 35; NO - 17; UNDECIDED - 29;

By Party:

Democrats: YES - 24; NO - 5; UNDECIDED - 17

Republicans: YES - 11; NO - 12; UNDECIDED - 12

Insider Selling Moderates As Bulk Purchases In Two Names Pick Up

Insider selling for the prior week declined from $418 million to just $99 million, as buying accelerated from $18 million to $41 million. The bulk of the purchases, or $38 million, occurred in two names: Cedar Fair and Texas Instruments. In the first, Q Funding, presumably an entity with a big fascination by T.S. Eliot, as its funding vehicles are called J Alfred Onshore and Prufrock Onshore, bought $13.5 million worth of FUN shares. This may mark the first time in history when a hedge fund manager is actually edumacated and doesn't name their funds for a cloud formation, or a Greek letter. The other big buyer was Longleaf Partners which bought about $25 million of Texas Instruments. In the selling category, investors in Broadwind Energy may consider dumping, as both the CEO and Jeff Gendell offloaded about $40 million worth of stock on the 21st.