Daily Highlights: 10.21.09

• Asian currencies fell on concern emerging-market central banks will follow Brazil in taxing investment from overseas to temper currency gains.
• Asian stocks fall on commodities, US housing data; Treasuries and Dollar advances.
• Bank of England Governor suggests splitting up largest banks to stem risk.
• China's 'growth on steroids' risks next slowdown as lending binge subsides.
• Hong Kong may end mortgage insurance for investment properties.
• Housing Starts, Wholesale Prices signal low rates to ensure US recovery.
• Oil prices fell for a second day Wednesday in Asia, falls below $79
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce spends $34.7M on 3Q lobbying
• AT&T sued Samsung, LG, AU Optronics, others over price-fixing claims.
• Bank of New York Mellon posts Q3 loss of $2.5B loss on $4.8B charge on investments.
• Boeing reports Sept. loss of $1.56B loss compared to $695M gain last year.
• Cadbury PLC raises forecasts, fueling Kraft Foods Inc. speculation
• California's attorney general to sue State Street Bank for $200M for defrauding pension funds.
• Caterpillar's Q3 net falls 53%, but says it likely has seen a bottom in sales.
• Cnooc Jan-Sep pretax profit at CNY28.31B; down 46% YoY.
• Deutsche Bank to acquire parts of ABN Amro's commercial-banking operations.
• DuPont surprised by a 11% rise in Q3 profits on lower material, freight costs.
• Ford, Geely talks on Volvo sale said to falter over intellectual property.
• LG Electronics' Q3 net soars to $693.1M on strong sales of flat-screen televisions.
• Marshall & Ilsley posts fourth straight quarterly loss; plans for a $775M stock sale.
• MGM Mirage to take a $955M Q3 write-down on its CityCenter project in Las Vegas.
• Morgan Stanley reports Sept. EPS of 38 cents compared to 27 cents expected.
• No uptick seen for natural gas prices: ENI says.
• Pfizer's profit rose 26% in absence of a year-earlier charge. Sales fell 2.9% to $11.62B.
• Qatar's sovereign wealth fund is cashing out about half of warrants it holds in Barclays.
• Sherwin-Williams's Q3 net dips only 1.1% on cost cutting measures, revs fall 12%.
• Sun Micro plans to lay off about 3,000 employees, or about 10% of its work force.
• Tupperware Q3 profit up 18% on margins, raises dividend, 2009 EPS view.
• UAL narrowed its Q3 loss to $57M on continued cost controls; revs down 20%.
• Wells Fargo's Sept. EPS 56 cents versus 37 cents expected

Recent Egan-Jones Rating Actions

EI DU PONT DE NEMOURS & CO (DD)
CSX CORP (CSX)
UAL CORP (UAUA)
COCA-COLA CO/THE (KO)
CATERPILLAR INC (CAT)
BOSTON SCIENTIFIC CORP (BSX)
GANNETT CO INC (GCI)
EATON CORP (ETN)
INTERNATIONAL PAPER CO (IP)
MGIC INVESTMENT CORP (MTG)
ASBURY AUTOMOTIVE GROUP INC (ABG)
PENSKE AUTO GROUP INC (PAG)
AUTONATION INC (AN)

Data courtesy of Egan-Jones Ratings and Analytics

Comments

[Anonymous]

Burn baby burn.

Tired of being too early on my shorts.

[Danz Gambit]

The PBS documentary that aired last night was must see tv imo

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/view/

"We didn't truly know the dangers of the market, because it was a dark market," says Brooksley Born, the head of an obscure federal regulatory agency -- the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC] -- who not only warned of the potential for economic meltdown in the late 1990s, but also tried to convince the country's key economic powerbrokers to take actions that could have helped avert the crisis. "They were totally opposed to it," Born says. "That puzzled me. What was it that was in this market that had to be hidden?"

[Sisyphus]

+1

I had forwarded this to a few of my friends requesting them to watch it. None did. We all can rave, rant, fret and fume over what is taking place, but unless the 'kernel' wakes up, all this is in vain. 'tis my opinion, of course.

[Anonymous]

OT- From Mish's blog comments. A clear and simple description of Federal Reserve Notes and how the average person is getting robbed and doesn't even know it...

The FED is "the banks". The "dollars" in our bank accounts are fed notes, or non-interest bearing promissory notes, that earn a negative rate of return every year equal to the inflation rate. The fed (private banks) pockets the difference. The dollar is not an obligation of the US Gov, but and obligation of the private FR bank.

The hidden bailout consisted of the biggest, most powerful private bank in the world printing 1 trillion notes and buying all the bad assets of the other banks with it. Currency debasement by 50%.

And people wonder why the average guy can't get ahead and bankers have all the money. The Fed should be abolished and the Treasury should print all currency in the form of Treasury Notes. Our money supply should be under control of the government, not the private bankers who are glorified counterfeiters. The way our money is created and buying power destroyed is the real outrage.