Archive - Mar 15, 2011

You asked for it, and here it is - a fully interactive Japan wind map which includes forecasting up to 3 days forward. By the looks of things, the Jetstream is about to start glowing in the dark.

SSDD

Yeah, humiliation doesn't get much worse than putting up the following text a month before the company you just did "extensive due diligence on" and have at a Buy with $26 Price Target ends up being a total and utter fraud (as was warned on Zero Hedge over a month ago... but at least we charge nothing for our services): "We were in China last week to conduct additional due diligence on CCME. We visited CCME’s headquarters again, and reviewed all of its contracts with advertising clients and bus operators, tax filings, and bank statements for the last three years. We called or met 16 top  advertisers, who verified a total of approximately $105MM of revenue or ~50% of our estimated 2010 revenue. We called China Telecom, and the exclusive advertising agents for Coca Cola and L'Oreal, who confirmed they have placed ads on CCME's platform. We also spoke to 17 bus operators, who confirmed that they have signed in aggregate 14,191 buses with CCME, or 52% of the total number of buses CCME reported. The amount of revenues and buses these advertising customers and bus operators confirmed with us matched the numbers in the contracts we reviewed at CCME. Shanghai Ba-shi Public Transportation and Eading Group also confirmed their partnerships with CCME. CCME until 2010 had been focused on expanding its intercity bus network in tier II and III cities, and has utilized regional advertising agencies which have extensive local relationships, rather than many of the national 4A agencies. We believe this niche market position and unique approach has made them less visible but kept them very profitable. Based on our due diligence to date, our thesis remains unchanged: CCME is a leader in the inter-city bus advertising market with a unique business model and large growth potential. We reiterate our Buy rating and $26 price target." Oh well - at least we can be certain next week's non seasonally adjusted initial claims number will be at a minimum one (The Seasonally Adjusted can well be negative - it is from the BLS after all).

While we have no confirmation yet, the USDJPY just jumped by 60 pips from post-earthquake low levels to 81.20 on what appears a Bank of Japan intervention. The last time we had confirmed intervention was on October 31 last year, when the pair was trading at 52 week lows of 81.30. 30 pips from the previous trigger point would makes sense for Shirakawa to say "enough." If this was indeed an intervention, we hope to bring you just how much USD the BOJ purchased. Indicatively, in 2010 each intervention cost the BOJ a few hundred million. And with the effect already wearing off, the half life (pardon the bad pun) on interventions is now the lowest it has ever been.

RANsquawk US Afternoon Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc. – 15/03/11

RANsquawk US Afternoon Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc. – 15/03/11

RANsquawk US Afternoon Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc. – 15/03/11

RANsquawk US Afternoon Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc. – 15/03/11

RANsquawk US Afternoon Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc. – 15/03/11

RANsquawk US Afternoon Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc. – 15/03/11

RANsquawk US Afternoon Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc. – 15/03/11

RANsquawk US Afternoon Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc. – 15/03/11

RANsquawk US Afternoon Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc. – 15/03/11

RANsquawk US Afternoon Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc. – 15/03/11

RANsquawk US Afternoon Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc. – 15/03/11