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CMCSA | Regional Feds head hunting under scrutiny over insider bias delays | By Jonathan Spicer and Michael Flaherty NEW YORK WASHINGTON Reuters Efforts to fill top positions at some U S Federal Reserve regional branches are casting a spotlight on a decades old process that critics say is opaque favors insiders and is ripe for reform Patrick Harker took the reins as president of the Philadelphia Fed this week in an appointment that attracted scrutiny because he served on the committee of directors that interviewed other prospective candidates for the job he ultimately took The Dallas Fed has been without a permanent president for more than three months as that search process stretches well into its eighth month And the Fed s Minneapolis branch abruptly announced the departure of its leader Narayana Kocherlakota more than a year before he was due to go with no replacement named to date The delays and reliance on Fed employees in picking regional Fed presidents can only embolden Republican Senator Richard Shelby to push harder for a makeover of the central bank s structure which has changed little in its 101 years A bill passed in May by the Senate Banking Committee that Shelby chairs would strip the New York Fed s board of its power to appoint its presidents And it could go further given the bill would form a committee to consider a wholesale overhaul of the Fed s structure of 12 districts which has not changed through the decades of shifting U S populations and an evolving economy The bill is part of a broader conservative effort to expose the central bank to more oversight and some analysts saw the Philadelphia Fed s choice as reinforcing the view that the Fed needs to open up more to outsiders Nine of 11 current regional presidents came from within the Fed a proportion that has edged up over time Twenty years ago seven of 12 were insiders The process seems to create a diverse set of candidates in which the insider is almost always accepted said Aaron Klein director of a financial regulatory reform effort at the Bipartisan Policy Center Since it was created in 1913 the central bank s decentralized structure was meant to check the power of Washington where seven Fed governors with permanent votes on policy are appointed by the White House and approved by the Senate The 12 Fed presidents who are picked by their regional boards usually vote on policy every two or three years and they tend to hold more diverse views Former Richmond Fed President Alfred Broaddus told Reuters the regional Fed chiefs have more freedom to do and say things that may not be politically popular because they are not politically appointed On the other hand there is the question of legitimacy since they are appointed by local boards who are not elected TONE DEAF Two thirds of regional Fed directors are selected by local bankers while the rest are appointed by the Fed s Board of Governors in Washington Critics question how well those regional boards mostly made of the heads of corporations and industry groups meant to represent the public fulfill their mission Last year a non profit group representing labor unions and community leaders organized by the Center for Popular Democracy urged the Fed s Philadelphia and Dallas branches to make the selection of their presidents more transparent and to include a member of the public in the effort Philadelphia s Fed in particular proved tone deaf in its head hunting effort said Lou Crandall chief economist at Wrightson ICAP LONDON IAP in Jersey City New Jersey Harker was a Philadelphia Fed director when the board started looking to replace president Charles Plosser who left on March 1 and he was among the six directors who interviewed more than a dozen short listed candidates for the job according to the Philadelphia Fed But on Feb 18 Harker floated his own name recused himself from the process and a week later his colleagues on the board unanimously appointed him as the new president While the selection follows Fed guidelines and was approved by its Board of Governors it raised questions of transparency and fairness The Philadelphia Fed s search process might have made perfect sense in a corporate environment but is obviously problematic for an official institution said Crandall The board s chair and vice chair Swathmore Group founder James Nevels and Michael Angelakis of Comcast Corp NASDAQ CMCSA respectively declined to comment as did Harker Peter Conti Brown an academic fellow at Stanford Law School s Rock Center for Corporate Governance and an expert witness at a Senate Banking Committee hearing this year proposed to let the Fed Board appoint and fire regional Fed presidents or at least have a say in the selection process In the past reform proposals for the 12 regional Fed banks have focused on decreasing or increasing their number and their governance Changes to the way the regional Fed bosses are chosen could strengthen the influence of lawmakers at the expense of regional interests For now delays in appointments of new chiefs force regional banks to send relatively unknown deputies to debate monetary policy at meetings in Washington as Dallas and Philadelphia did last month when the Fed considered raising interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade The Minneapolis Fed still has time to find a new president before Kocherlakota steps down at year end For now the Fed criticism is just noise mostly from Republicans said Greg Valliere chief political strategist at Potomac Research Group But once the Fed begins to raise interest rates then the left will weigh in as well Additional reporting Ann Saphir in San Francisco Editing by Tomasz Janowski OLUSPOLITIC Reuters US Online Report Politics News 20150702T163032 0000 |
CMCSA | AT T T Expansion Plans On Track 400G Prospects Bright | AT T Inc NYSE T has had a solid run so far in the U S Ethernet market thanks to the company s extensive Ethernet footprint expansion as well as higher demand for 40G and 100G services Powered with high bandwidth 40G and 100G services were initially popular in the financial educational and healthcare industry and are now being adopted gradually by large corporations for their network infrastructure While AT T is benefitting from the exceptional growth in 40G and 100G services it is looking forward to the next gen Ethernet technology 400G The testing for the technology started in 2013 when the company claimed to transmit 400G signals over 100 Ghz spaced grid across a span of 12000 km Ethernet ExpansionThough the rollout of Ethernet services demand focus on speed the company is also looking to widen the service s reach through Fiber to the Premises FTTP expansion The company has already doubled its Ethernet footprint in 2015 and expects to forge ahead with its expansion plans through the laying out of more fiber and introduction of new services over the Ethernet AT T presently has 80 corporations of varying sizes that contribute to its Ethernet coverage while management expects to add more going forward The Bottom LineThe Ethernet market is now a major area of focus for the broader communication industry As the segment gains further traction and makes way for higher Internet speeds increasing competition will induce price compression in the future Although AT T is a leading player in the domestic Ethernet market other players like Comcast Corp NASDAQ CMCSA CenturyLink Inc NYSE T and Level 3 Communications Inc NYSE T are not lagging far behind Thus it is a no brainer that AT T is banking on 400G to fend off competition going ahead However the technology in itself is in a very nascent stage with no set standards as of now |
CMCSA | Under fire for comments Trump weighs in on California shooting | By Ellen Wulfhorst NEW YORK Reuters A random fatal shooting in San Francisco allegedly by an immigrant proves the United States must tighten its borders according to a statement on Friday by U S presidential candidate Donald Trump who is facing heavy criticism for his comments about Mexicans Kathryn Steinle 32 was fatally shot as she walked with her father along the popular Embarcadero pier on Wednesday in what San Francisco police described as an apparent random attack Francisco Sanchez 45 was quickly arrested nearby He is on probation from Texas police said He has a long criminal history and has been deported to Mexico five times according to local media reports This senseless and totally preventable act of violence committed by an illegal immigrant is yet another example of why we must secure our border immediately Trump said in a statement This is an absolutely disgraceful situation and I am the only one that can fix it Nobody else has the guts to even talk about it the billionaire developer and television personality said When announcing his plans on June 16 to seek the Republican nomination for president Trump described immigrants from Mexico to the United States as drug runners and rapists His comments prompted a widespread outpouring of criticism Comcast NASDAQ CMCSA Corp s NBC network cut ties with Trump and the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants and Spanish language network Univision pulled the July 12 Miss USA pageant Department store chain Macy s Inc said it would phase out Trump s menswear collection and New York City said it was reviewing its contracts with the developer Macy s is a company that stands for diversity and inclusion We have no tolerance for discrimination in any form Macy s said
Trump fired back saying it was his decision to end ties with Macy s He also filed a 500 million lawsuit against Univision for dropping the event |
CMCSA | Another golf event drops Trump course due to attack on immigrants | By Steve Holland WASHINGTON Reuters Republican U S presidential candidate Donald Trump suffered a fresh blow on Tuesday with the announcement that a professional golfing event scheduled for October at a Trump course in Los Angeles will be moved the latest fallout from his vitriol against undocumented immigrants from Mexico A statement issued by Trump s campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said the real estate mogul met on Monday with representatives from the PGA of America and they agreed it is in everyone s best interest not to conduct the 2015 Grand Slam of Golf at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in October Due to the controversy surrounding statements made by Mr Trump having to do with illegal immigrants pouring into the United States from Mexico and other parts of the world Mr Trump does not want his friends at the PGA of America to suffer any consequences or backlash with respect to the Grand Slam of Golf Hicks said The decision to move the Grand Slam of Golf event which usually features a handful of the best professional golfers competing against one another came a day after sports broadcaster ESPN announced it would move the ESPY Celebrity Golf Classic from Trump National Golf Club to Pelican Hill Golf Club in the Los Angeles area In addition the PGA of America said it is exploring options including a venue for its annual PGA Junior League Golf Championship scheduled to be held at the same Trump course in Los Angeles It said the group will comment further at the appropriate time Since his June 16 candidacy announcement speech in which he vented about illegal immigrants Trump has seen a steady flow of business away from him Univision UVN UL declared it would not broadcast the Miss USA pageant co owned by him And the Comcast NASDAQ CMCSA Corp owned NBC television network Macy s Inc department store chain mattress maker Serta and the NASCAR stock car racing organization cut ties with him Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton expressed dismay at Trump s comments and urged Republicans to pressure him to stop making them I feel very bad and very disappointed with him and the Republican Party for not responding immediately and saying Enough Stop it Clinton said in an interview with CNN aired on Tuesday U S Senator Marco Rubio of Florida considered a top contender among the 14 declared candidates vying to represent the Republican Party in the November 2016 election told the Fox Business Network that Trump s comments have distracted from serious debate about how to reform the U S immigration system We have a broken legal immigration system and we have an illegal immigration problem that isn t just composed by the way of a porous border with Mexico said Rubio a Cuban American
Trump said on Monday that some of his criticism of Mexico had been distorted but stuck to his stance that many undocumented immigrants coming across the Mexican border are criminals |
WFC | Wells Fargo Advisors names David Kowach new head | NEW YORK Reuters Wells Fargo Company NYSE WFC named David Kowach to head its retail wealth management division Wells Fargo Advisors the nation s third largest brokerage on Thursday Kowach was promoted from his job overseeing roughly 11 000 brokers in the bank s Private Client Group He succeeds Mary Mack who left Wells Fargo Advisors last month to head up Wells community banking business Kowach a 25 year veteran of the financial services industry was focused on recruitment retention growth and sales during the more than four years he led the Private Client Group Wells Fargo s largest wealth management business In his new role he will takes on managing an additional 4 000 bankers under the Wells Fargo Advisors umbrella Kowach enters the role at a time when the full service brokerage industry is undergoing major regulatory and technology changes A new Department of Labor rule that takes effect in April 2017 has sparked an industry overhaul as wealth management businesses big and small scramble to decipher which products and business practices meet the rule s fiduciary standard The cost of compliance industry wide is expected to reach as much as 31 5 billion in the next decade which will result in higher costs to serve mass affluent investors who make up a large portion of the St Louis based brokerage s clientele Wells Fargo Advisors is working to roll out a pilot version of a robo adviser in first half of 2017 in order to have more options for clients who want to pay lower fees or prefer digital options Wells also made a play last year to target wealthier clients by recruiting more than 100 private bankers from Credit Suisse SIX CSGN Group AG when the Swiss bank sold off its U S based brokerage business many of whom took jobs in Kowach s old division
Wells Fargo which said it would name Kowach s successor shortly did not make him available for interviews |
WFC | Legg Mason s Bill Miller leaves firm amid faded glory | By Richard Leong and Ross Kerber NEW YORK BOSTON Reuters Legg Mason Inc s Bill Miller whose mutual fund beat the S P 500 handily for 15 consecutive years at the turn of the century is riding off into the sunset after his recent lagging returns left a trail of disappointed investors Miller one of the last household names in the U S mutual funds industry is departing Baltimore based Legg Mason after 35 years the company said on Thursday He won high regard for picking value stocks and making big bets on them with the Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust fund which he left in 2011 and is now the ClearBridge Value Trust fund In its heyday the fund beat the S P 500 every year from 1991 to 2005 A spokeswoman for Miller 66 said he was traveling and not immediately available to comment At the 1 3 billion Legg Mason Opportunity Trust Miller s stock picking clearly had not been working prompting investors to pull their money This year investors have made net withdrawals of 112 million from the fund and 779 million over the past five years according to Lipper Inc a unit of Thomson Reuters The fund s 1 year return of 18 06 percent lags 98 percent of its peers and trails the 5 73 percent advance of the S P 500 Index during that time according to Morningstar Loren Fox director of research at Ignites Research which follows the fund industry said Miller s departure is mainly symbolic given that he oversaw a relatively small amount of assets under management at Legg Mason in recent years While a star manager can create a marketable face for a firm it can carry risks if that star underperforms or runs into other troubles Fox said Miller showed flashes of his old self in 2012 and 2013 when his fund returned 40 68 percent and 68 03 percent respectively He outperformed 99 percent of his peers during those two years according to Morningstar Inc But his departure as Wells Fargo NYSE WFC equity analyst Christopher Harris put it has no consequential bearing on Legg Mason s financials given the relatively small amount of assets Miller now manages The Legg Mason Opportunity fund generated 18 million in management fees in 2015 By contrast the Legg Mason Value Trust fund generated 121 million in fees in 2006 U S regulatory filings show Legg Mason shares are down 29 percent over the past 12 months compared with the S P 500 s 5 percent return Miller had been the public face of Legg Mason for years and his performance troubles handicapped the firm s recovery from the financial crisis Legg Mason s record eventually drew the attention of activist hedge fund investor Nelson Peltz who became a board member in 2009 and oversaw the replacement of the firm s CEO in 2012 Peltz has since left the board and his firm Trian Partners sold most of its Legg Mason shares earlier this year The exodus from Miller s fund underscores a larger problem for active managers everywhere as they lose a flood of money to passively managed index funds Since the end of 2008 Vanguard Group the industry s king of index funds has pulled in nearly 1 trillion in net deposits Miller left the Value Trust fund in 2011 after the fund s downturn during the recession I am thankful to Legg Mason for our 35 year relationship and to the many great people I ve worked with along the way Miller said in a statement With Miller s departure Legg Mason said Miller acquired Legg Mason s stake in LMM LLC which provides investment management services to Legg Mason Opportunities Trust Miller Income Opportunities Trust and related strategies
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed The deal is expected to close at the end of the year Legg Mason said |
WFC | Global stocks recede from highs dollar and yields weaken | By Lewis Krauskopf NEW YORK Reuters U S stock indexes pulled back on Friday from record peaks amid soft U S economic data that also weighed on the dollar and Treasury yields and tempered expectations of a near term rise in U S interest rates A short covering rally extended gains for oil prices which were on track for their biggest weekly advance in at least three months The pan European STOXX 600 index STOXX fell 0 2 percent after earlier setting a fresh seven week high with weakness in mining shares offsetting a surge in A P Moller Maersk CO MAERSKb after its earnings MSCI s all world stock index MIWD00000PUS shed 0 1 percent but lingered around year highs U S retail sales were unexpectedly flat in July as Americans cut back on purchases of clothing and other goods while other data showed producer prices recorded their biggest drop in nearly a year in July The retail sales number was not robust giving a little bit more reason to question the direction of the economy again said Peter Tuz president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville Virginia By and large the news today was just a little bit blah so there s no reason to commit a lot of money to the stock market on a summer Friday The Dow Jones industrial average DJI fell 58 18 points or 0 31 percent to 18 555 34 the S P 500 SPX lost 4 56 points or 0 21 percent to 2 181 23 and the Nasdaq Composite IXIC dropped 5 81 points or 0 11 percent to 5 222 59 All three indexes closed at record highs on Thursday the first time they have done so simultaneously since 1999 Energy shares SPNY were the best performing sector rising 0 7 percent and mitigating broader declines as crude prices gained The recent strength in crude has both lifted equity prices and also tended to assuage that fear that we are going into a season of protracted anemic consumer and global demand said Peter Kenny senior market strategist at Global Markets Advisory Group in Berkeley Heights New Jersey Crude oil is an enormously important factor right now in the global market Oil prices rose after a short covering rally was triggered by comments from Saudi Arabia s oil minister in the previous session about possible action to help stabilize the market Benchmark Brent LCOc1 climbed 1 7 percent to 46 84 a barrel while U S crude CLc1 rose 2 1 percent to 44 42 a barrel In the United States cooling consumer spending and tame inflation suggest the Federal Reserve will probably not raise interest rates any time soon despite a robust labor market The dollar DXY fell 0 2 percent against a basket of currencies The U S retail sales data in particular is causing the dollar to weaken said Nick Bennenbroek head of currency strategy at Wells Fargo NYSE WFC Securities in New York Benchmark U S Treasury yields fell to their lowest level in nearly two weeks after the economic data with 10 year Treasury notes US10YT RR last rising 19 32 in price to yield 1 5068 percent
The relationship is pretty straightforward with low inflation and low growth comes lower interest rates said Guy LeBas chief fixed income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia |
WFC | Dollar dips as retail sales data stokes growth concerns | By Karen Brettell NEW YORK Reuters The U S dollar weakened on Friday after U S retail sales were unexpectedly flat in July while producer prices also fell in the same month contrary to expectations raising concerns about the strength of third quarter economic growth Economists had forecast overall retail sales to rise 0 4 percent The drop in producer prices meanwhile was the first since March and the largest since September 2015 The U S retail sales data in particular is causing the dollar to weaken said Nick Bennenbroek head of currency strategy at Wells Fargo NYSE WFC Securities in New York adding that producer prices are also signaling limited inflation A third report on Friday showed consumer sentiment stable in early August though households views on income softened a bit A fourth report showed businesses made significant progress in June in reducing an inventory overhang that has weighed on economic growth since the second quarter of 2015 The dollar fell 0 15 percent against a basket of six major currencies DXY to 95 725 after falling as low as 95 254 the lowest in a week The greenback also tumbled 0 77 percent against the yen to 101 19 yen and 0 20 percent against the euro to 1 1159 The dollar had rallied last Friday on data showing employers added more jobs than expected in July raising expectations the Federal Reserve will raise U S interest rates this year It gave up those gains this week however as investors see a rate hike in September as a long shot and with the Fed s December meeting still far away The Fed will release minutes from its July meeting next Wednesday with the focus then likely to turn to Chair Janet Yellen s speech at the Fed s Jackson Hole symposium on Aug 26 Antipodean currencies ended lower after briefly turning positive on the U S data They fell overnight after data showed China s economic activity slowed in July with investment growing at its slowest pace since the turn of the century The weaker than expected Chinese data covered investment lending retail spending and factory output The Australian dollar fell 0 65 percent against the greenback to 0 7645 The New Zealand dollar dropped 0 18 percent to 0 7189
The kiwi and Australian dollar were buoyed earlier this week by investors reaching for yields as European and Japanese bond yields offer in many cases negative returns |
WFC | Before a career break millennials need a money game plan | By Bobbi Rebell NEW YORK Reuters The opinions expressed here are those of the author a columnist for Reuters Until a month ago Andrew Lampert was moving up the career ladder in New York City as a pricing manager at an auto parts company Now national parks are what Lampert 28 and his girlfriend Elise Murphy 24 call home The high cost of New York City can make it seem impossible to get by without an income and money on top Lampert said I m staying in national parks for free cooking on an open campfire no rent no cable no utilities Like many millennials Lampert is fed up with traditional 9 to 5 jobs A recent study by Wells Fargo NYSE WFC found that fewer than half of millennials ages 22 to 35 are employed in their preferred career Given a choice one in four would leave their current employer to join a new organization or do something different according to the 2016 Deloitte Millennial study But before you step off an established career track you need to review your finances carefully Saving for retirement and making sure you have healthcare coverage should be a top priority experts say The key of course is not to let an employment break derail your longer term financial plan Millennial workplace expert Lindsey Pollak points out that many millennials can now stay on their parents health insurance until age 26 And because of federally mandated healthcare coverage is available with subsidies if your income should drop Lampert is on a Cobra health benefits plan from his previous employer paying a monthly premium of 500 up from 125 in his workplace plan He plans to get catastrophic insurance when that runs out It is equally important to also stay on track with other financial priorities like retirement planning A Wells Fargo study found that 85 percent of millennials believe saving for retirement is an important part of becoming a financial adult but fewer than half 45 percent have an established routine Lampert was saving in his company s 401 k retirement plan and has moved his savings to an Individual 401 k plan The decision to stop working for a while is a personal one If you intend to return to the workforce after the break it s a good idea to maintain your professional contacts and be prepared to have a succinct positive answer when future employers ask why and how you took the break Pollak notes Job changes and career breaks are becoming more of the norm though The average millennial will change jobs an estimated four times in the first decade of work after college according to LinkedIn NYSE LNKD One reason why it s so hard for more millennials to pursue truly fulfilling careers is that they find themselves focused on financial realities such as paying back record amounts of student debt As a result they do not have the opportunity to consider passion for their work the way members of previous generations have in their early career years The cold harsh reality of the economy is really affecting their lives Pollak says In any career decision finances are at the top of the list In contrast previous generations had more leeway to pursue their passions That explains the popularity of the classic book What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Bolles Pollak says As for Lampert his journey is technically open ended but he expects to travel for about six months to a year and then settle down in a more affordable part of the United States Along the way he plans to look for intermittent work as a consultant to have some income and stay in touch with business contacts The plan has been to visit both points of interest and potential new homes to get a sense of the different lifestyles of different places Lampert says SQ to take pictures as the sun sets over Manhattan aligned exactly with the streets in a phenomenon known as Manhattanhenge alt Reuters People crowd 42nd Street near Times Square to take pictures as the sun sets over Manhattan aligned exactly with the streets in a phenomenon known as Manhattanhenge rel external image |
WFC | Euro Gained On Upbeat German Euro Zone Economic Sentiment Data | EUR USD title EUR USD width 866 height 356 For the 24 leading hours to 23 00 GMT the EUR rose 0 34 against the USD and closed at 1 3395 as investors ditched the safe haven greenback and opted for the higher yielding single currency after the German and the eurozone s economic sentiment indexes data beat market expectations In Germany the ZEW indicator of economic sentiment advanced to a reading of 48 2 in February surpassing the forecast for a reading of 35 0 and the previous month s reading of 31 5 while the eurozone s economic expectations index rose to a reading of 42 4 in February from a reading of 31 2 in January The market had expected a rise to 35 5 However the current situation index in Germany fell to 5 2 in February from 7 1 in January and against the expectations for an increase to 9 0 Also the eurozone s annual construction production declined 4 8 in December following a 4 7 drop recorded in November In France Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius stated that the French government would probably cut its growth forecast for the economy to 0 2 0 3 in 2013 from the 0 8 estimated earlier On the US economic front the NAHB Wells Fargo Housing Market Index fell to a reading of 46 0 in February from a reading of 47 0 in January The market had expected the index to climb to a reading of 48 0 in February In the Asian session at GMT0400 the pair is trading at 1 3414 with the EUR trading 0 14 higher from yesterday s close The pair is expected to find support at 1 3350 and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1 3287 The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1 3456 and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1 3499 Later today Germany s harmonized index of consumer prices the consumer price index and producer price index are scheduled for release while in France the business climate and consumer price index data and eurozone consumer confidence data are anticipated In the US the producer price index data and the FOMC minutes are likely to receive increased market attention |
WFC | US Home Prices Rising Construction Commodity Prices Lagging | The monthly Construction MMI registered a value of 92 in March on par with February s value Drops in US shredded scrap and aluminum prices tempered ferrous price increases resulting in a holding pattern for our construction metals index Single family housing starts home prices and the Architecture Billings Index ABI are all continuing to climb as we head into the latter part of Q1 2013 Seems like commodity prices used in those sectors are lagging those positive indicators just a bit Spending cuts and effective tax increases may affect the construction sector down the line but to what degree is not yet certain As Bernie Markstein Reed s US chief economist put it there is already a disruption to contracts and spending note the cutback in defense spending at the end of last year January figures for US construction spending were off slightly from December s figures but the 883 3 billion seasonally adjusted annual rate of spending was still 7 1 percent higher than the same time last year Construction industry contractors and equipment distributors remain confident about future growth according to a recent construction outlook survey by Wells Fargo The industry expects the residential sector to lead the way and rental fleets to grow and roughly 80 percent of the contractors surveyed responded that they intend to buy new and or used equipment in 2013 indicating optimism Primary Price Drivers of the Construction Index The price of US shredded scrap fell 3 9 percent over the month of February The price of Chinese H beam steel jumped 6 percent last month while Chinese rebar prices increased 2 7 percent European 1050 aluminum saw its price rise 1 5 percent The Chinese low price of 62 Australian iron ore fines grew 0 4 percent Chinese aluminum bar traded sideways last month The Construction MMI collects and weights 9 metal price points used within the construction industry to provide a unique view into construction industry price trends over a 30 day period |
CMCSA | Bigger teeth scarier thrills revive a dormant Jurassic World | By Piya Sinha Roy LOS ANGELES Reuters The dinosaurs are bigger the rides are scarier and there s a dashing new leading pair as the main attraction Jurassic World is open for business again and hoping to entice a new generation used to getting more bang for its movie buck The film out in U S theaters on Friday revives the classic sci fi action franchise that began with Steven Spielberg making dinosaurs come to life in 1993 s Jurassic Park But two decades on as Bryce Dallas Howard s Claire slyly says in the film no one is excited about seeing a dinosaur anymore Yawn That s why the theme park in which Jurassic World is set needs to amp up the danger for visitors drawn by the adrenaline fueled experience of getting up close and personal with dinosaurs Mirroring the film s attempt to reboot an old franchise with more thrills the park has hatched a new hybrid creature attraction the bigger badder Indominus Rex created in a lab from a test tube mix of dinosaurs But the monster has a mind of her own and as fans of the original franchise have learned never turn your back on a dinosaur Good science fiction always holds a mirror up to current events to our humanity director Colin Trevorrow told Reuters The Indominus Rex is a product of a desire for profit at all costs and that very corporate need is something that can do a lot of harm and really compromise our ethics and humanity in ways that we ve seen consistently played out over time Made for 150 million by Comcast NASDAQ CMCSA Corp owned Universal Pictures Jurassic World is projected to earn 121 million in its opening weekend making it one of the year s biggest debuts according to BoxOffice com To play raptor trainer Owen actor Chris Pratt said he embraced the swagger of the hero of one of Spielberg s most recognizable films rogue archeologist Indiana Jones You don t have to necessarily remake Indiana Jones to play that character he said He s an adventurer he s got a contentious relationship with the woman who s his polar opposite This whole movie is very much an homage to Steven Spielberg s work Trevorrow directing his first big budget film said he was eager to twist character archetypes with Pratt s Owen initially playing a classic hero to Howard s uptight and immaculately groomed Claire It is Claire however who Trevorrow said drives the film I consider her the lead but it isn t necessarily reflected that way in the marketing he said The film s campaign has focused on Pratt a newly minted leading man with last year s hit film Guardians of the Galaxy
When you would imagine the traditional hero to be the one riding in on his white horse and saving the woman who s cowering with the children we did it differently |
CMCSA | Deutsche Telekom talks to Comcast about T Mobile US sale Manager Magazin | FRANKFURT Reuters Deutsche Telekom XETRA DTEGn is in talks with U S cable company Comcast NASDAQ CMCSA about a potential sale of T Mobile US German Manager Magazin reported on Wednesday citing sources Deutsche Telekom is in talks with several parties including satellite provider Dish according to the magazine but Comcast is viewed as a more attractive buyer by the German telecoms provider s management Comcast would be a better candidate as it is financially stronger and would be able to make an offer to buy all shares in T Mobile US Manager Magazine reported Earlier this month a person familiar with the matter said T Mobile US and Dish were in merger talks Comcast walked away from buying Time Warner Cable NYSE TWC for 45 billion in April citing regulatory concerns
Deutsche Telekom declined to comment while Comcast was not immediately reachable for comment outside regular business hours |
CMCSA | Brian Williams dropped from NBC s Nightly News will join MSNBC | By Paricia Reaney NEW YORK Reuters Television newsman Brian Williams who was suspended for fabricating a story about being on board a helicopter when it was attacked in Iraq has been dropped as anchor of the top rated NBC Nightly News program the network said on Thursday Williams 56 will join the network s cable channel MSNBC as anchor of breaking news and special reports in mid August Lester Holt who has anchored the Nightly News show since Williams six month suspension in February will now be the permanent anchor of the Comcast Corp NASDAQ CMCSA owned network s flagship news program Until his suspension Williams was among the most respected journalists in the country and had helmed Nightly News since 2004 Brian now has the chance to earn back everyone s trust His excellent work over 22 years at NBC News has earned him that opportunity Andrew Lack chairman of NBC News and MSNBC said in a statement Thursday s announcement follows an internal review by NBC Universal and a lengthy period of negotiations with the Emmy winning anchor who was managing editor of Nightly News and one of NBC s biggest names Williams came under scrutiny in January after telling different versions of a story about being aboard a U S military helicopter hit by a rocket propelled grenade during the first days of the Iraq war in 2003 He was suspended without pay after admitting that the story was not true I m sorry I said thing that weren t true I let down my NBC colleagues and our viewers and I m determined to earn back their trust Williams said in a statement on Thursday He added that he will miss working with the team at Nightly News but knew it was in good hands with Holt The extensive review covered Williams work over a period of more than 10 years in the field and during public appearances NBC said it had found that Williams made a number of inaccurate statements about his own role and experiences covering events in the field The network did not give details but said the inaccuracies occurred mainly during public appearances by Williams and on late night television programs and usually years after the events Lack praised Holt also 56 for his work helming the Nightly News under what he described as very tough circumstances He s an exceptional anchor who goes straight to the heart of every story he said In many ways television news stands at a crossroads and Lester is the perfect person to meet the moment
Holt a news reporter with 34 years of experience joined NBC in 2000 and became the full time anchor of Weekend Nightly News in 2007 He also will be first African American to be the solo anchor of a broadcast network s flagship newscast |
CMCSA | Brian Williams fall at NBC ends era of the celebrity news anchor | By Piya Sinha Roy LOS ANGELES Reuters Fifty years ago TV network news anchors such as Walter Cronkite were the trusted familiar faces watched by millions of Americans who tuned in every night to watch them deliver the news with authority Now in an era of news delivered around the clock on the Internet cable television and social media the celebrity TV news anchor appears to be a dying breed NBC may have driven the final nail in the coffin on Thursday The network removed Brian Williams from its Nightly News after heavy criticism that he made up a story NBC found that Williams 56 fabricated being on board a helicopter when it was attacked in Iraq during the first days of the Iraq war in 2003 The Brian Williams story really poisoned the waters of the celebrity anchor person said Robert Thompson director of Syracuse University s Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture No one now wants to pull the big stunt get the biggest person you can get because that s exactly what got the U S networks in trouble in the first place Williams will return to television on NBC s cable channel MSNBC in August Both are units of Comcast Corp NASDAQ CMCSA Known as much for his genial persona as for his journalism he has been the face of NBC News since 2004 He not only delivered the news but also appeared on talk shows and in magazines to promote the network Broadcast news has always been about getting the best anchor the one with the greatest charismatic appeal personality and visibility said Craig Allen professor at Arizona State University s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication But with morning television now the big money spinner for the U S networks the large personalities and huge salaries earned by evening news anchors have become an anachronism according to Andrew Tyndall publisher of The Tyndall Report which monitors U S television network news One by one the broadcast networks are resolving that anomaly by making the role of the nightly news anchor more generic and less personal he said THE KATIE COURIC GAMBLE Williams helped make NBC s Nightly News the most watched evening newscast in the United States Audiences have slipped since his suspension in February and ABC s World News Tonight is challenging NBC for the biggest audience according to Nielsen data Hiring a celebrity journalist has not always paid off for a network Tyndall recalled that in 2006 when CBS was third place in the evening news ratings the network gambled on hiring NBC celebrity news journalist Katie Couric But he said she had no impact on boosting viewership by the time she left in 2011 He also noted that CBS had returned to its hard news roots since the failed Couric experiment Since they went back to being more like a hard newscast they have started to narrow the gap he said ABC s flagship evening news broadcast anchored by the more low key David Muir is currently tied with NBC in ratings drawing about 8 5 million total viewers each night CBS Evening News anchored by war reporter Scott Pelley gets about 6 5 million viewers Even without celebrity anchors some experts see a bright future for network news precisely because of the constant around the clock information flooding into American homes and personal devices Although audiences for network news have declined dramatically in the past 30 years Thompson noted more people watch them than all the primetime cable news channels put together Tyndall agreed For people who are not news junkies and don t want to watch their Facebook NASDAQ FB feeds 24 7 but just want to check in for half an hour for the top headlines the networks are doing the work for you said Tyndall
Broadcast networks are still in great shape because they have the expertise the experience and the resources They don t need celebrity |
CMCSA | Friday The 13th Freddy Vs Jason Comcast Vs Viacom | Double dose of danger today out there people First it s Friday the 13th I don t know why people freak out about that but it s fun to talk about
To celebrate cable channel Syfy owned by Comcast NASDAQ CMCSA is airing a Nightmare On Elm Street marathon All day viewers will be horrified by the notorious Freddy Krueger burnt face sharp claws and dark Where s Waldo style sweater
But that s not the only cable channel seeking to grab your attention today Spike TV has thrown down the gauntlet with its own Friday the 13th marathon That s right people all the hockey mask wearing psychotic Momma s boy slashing you can take
All day you ll be able to flip back and forth between a creepy old guy and a fat a guy hiding behind a mask If you flip fast enough the images will melt together to form Gene Simmons
Who wins in a Freddy versus Jason fight You d think it s Freddy because he can get you in your sleep but look at how many tricky teens have pulled Freddy out of dreamland I gotta go with Jason because he s a madman that will kill you with anything he can get his hands on He can get you with knives throw you out of windows or slam you against trees Little Freddy wouldn t stand a chance
But who wins the battle of the parent companies Comcast is a Zacks Rank 3 Hold but has a VGM score of A The Cable TV industry surprisingly is in the Top 6 of our Zacks Industry Rank Viacom is a Zacks Rank 4 Sell right now in a Media Conglomerates industry that ranks in the Bottom 10 of our Zacks Industry Rank So if you re looking for a winner between the two I d have to say Comcast is the hands down winner here
Shares of Comcast have been trading sideways for the last month along with the rest of the market We are near the top end of its trading range above 60 The 200 day moving average sits in the middle of that range and is virtually horizontal That tells me this stock is range bound and will likely remain that way over the intermediate term |
WFC | Sprint says to be cash flow positive next year shares soar | By Aishwarya Venugopal Reuters Sprint Corp N S reported better than expected first quarter revenue as big discounts attracted more postpaid subscribers and the No 4 U S wireless carrier said it expected to be cash flow positive next fiscal year after breaking even this year The company s shares surged more than 28 percent to 5 93 on Monday their biggest intraday percentage gain ever after it also said it had enough money to fund its business this year Some analysts and investors had raised questions about Sprint s financial position after majority owner SoftBank Corp T 9984 agreed earlier this month to buy UK chipmaker ARM Holdings Plc L ARM for 32 billion Sprint had negative cash flow of 3 17 billion in the financial year ended March 31 We expect that we will have adequate sources to provide all the capital necessary to fund the business and repay the debt maturities due in FY 16 Chief Financial Officer Tarek Robbiati said on a conference call with analysts Sprint said it added a net 173 000 postpaid phone subscribers in the three months ended June 30 the biggest increase for any first quarter in nine years That compared with a net loss of 12 000 subscribers in the same period last year We believe the turnaround story is taking shape Wells Fargo NYSE WFC analyst Jennifer Fritzsche said in a client note Sprint which has been burning through cash as it faces intense competition for subscribers has said it aims to slash costs by more than 2 billion this fiscal year The carrier based in Overland Park Kansas also experienced its lowest postpaid phone churn in the company s history Chief Executive Marcelo Claure said Postpaid phone user churn or the rate at which subscribers defect was 1 39 percent However Sprint s net loss widened to 302 million or 8 cents per share in the quarter from 20 million or 1 cent per share a year earlier The latest quarter included contract termination charges of 113 million primarily related to an agreement with wireless carrier Ntelos Sprint in which Japan s SoftBank holds a more than 80 percent stake said its net operating revenue fell marginally to 8 01 billion Analysts on average had expected 7 98 billion according to Thomson Reuters I B E S
Up to Friday s close Sprint s shares had risen 27 6 percent since the start of the year |
WFC | In clash of billionaires Bloomberg calls Trump White House race a con | By Amy Tennery and Jonathan Allen PHILADELPHIA Reuters New York media mogul Michael Bloomberg assailed fellow billionaire Donald Trump on Wednesday calling his U S presidential race a con and ripping into his history of bankruptcies and lawsuits Trump says he wants to run the nation like he s running his business God help us Bloomberg told the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia to roaring applause I m a New Yorker and I know a con when I see one Formerly a Republican and now an independent Bloomberg was for the most part greeted warmly by the audience in the Wells Fargo NYSE WFC Center arena where he threw his support behind the Democrats presidential nominee Hillary Clinton The owner of the Bloomberg media empire and a former New York City mayor Bloomberg was an odd choice for a speaker at the Democratic conclave where many party progressives have railed against the influence of billionaires in politics Let me thank all of you for welcoming an outsider here to deliver what will be an unconventional convention speech he said when he took the stage eliciting cheers I am not here as a member of any party I am here for one reason to explain why I believe it is imperative that we elect Hillary Clinton as the next president of the United States Bloomberg had considered running for the White House as an independent this year but dropped the idea in March saying it could increase the chances Trump would win Bloomberg has known Trump casually for years and twice appeared on Trump s reality TV show The Apprentice But since Trump entered the race for president in June 2015 Bloomberg has taken issue with him lashing out at his policies and fiery rhetoric especially his call to ban Muslims from entering the country and his promise to wall off the Mexican border and deport millions of undocumented foreigners On Wednesday he went a step further and favorably compared his own business record to Trump s I ve built a business and I didn t start it with a million dollar check from my father Bloomberg said Forbes lists Bloomberg 74 as America s sixth wealthiest American with a fortune amounting to 47 7 billion Trump 70 who often boasts about his extravagant wealth and success in the real estate business is listed 113th with 4 5 billion though that figure has been widely challenged
A Reuters review of Trump s federal filings showed he had cash and other liquid investments worth between 60 million and 180 million in May far short of the amount he would need to self fund his campaign |
WFC | Data in focus as market struggles for direction | By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK Reuters Wall Street seeking direction as the S P 500 has been stuck in a narrow trading range for 12 days will next week shift its attention from second quarter corporate earnings reports to economic data Investors will be looking for signs of economic strength to reinforce the positive direction hit Friday when the S P 500 hit an intraday record high Data estimates for next week show the manufacturing and services sectors are expected to have expanded in July while the economy is seen having added a healthy 180 000 jobs this month I think the economy in the U S is getting better and still can improve The overall tone will be of an economy that is getting better at a reasonable pace said John Manley chief equity strategist at Wells Fargo NYSE WFC Funds Management in New York The U S stock market has been trading flat as second quarter earnings have come in better than initially expected but the outlook for third quarter earnings has worsened In fact the S P 500 traded in a less than 1 percent range throughout the 12 sessions to Friday a lull not seen in data going back to 1970 according to Ryan Detrick the senior market strategist at LPL Financial It is no wonder that investors are suffering from a lack of resolve they have been pushed and pulled by a slew of other factors including worries about the global economy and the fact that shares have already been on a tear not well supported by several quarters of weak earnings Stocks are pricey now but so are other asset classes The S P 500 is trading near its record high at roughly 17 2 times the earnings of its component companies over the next 12 months a valuation that is expensive when compared to its 15 5 median according to Thomson Reuters data Selling is not an obvious choice either since those who must remain invested face few other choices Bonds sport high prices and near record low yields and commodities led by oil hit a wall after a strong first half of the year U S crude CLc1 is down 14 percent this month alone The lack of direction in the S P index as it sits near its record close of 2 175 03 hit July 22 could be an indication of strength as these new highs are digested by the market If the jobs report data land far from expectations that will likely give indexes a jolt on Friday said Michael Yoshikami CEO and Founder at Destination Wealth Management in Walnut Creek California But neither that jolt nor the earnings reports still to come would be enough to set stocks on a new course he said because of the uncertainty brought on by the final stretch of the U S presidential election campaign leading up to the Nov 8 vote
Between now and the election there s going to be so many headlines that it s going to be difficult for the market to really rally significantly Yoshikami said |
WFC | Housing CPI And Why I Only Have A Nickel Left | In the daily download of economic data points two in particular jumped out at me the NAHB Wells Fargo Housing Market Index and CPI While both reports were a positive for the economy in the short term it was the broader aspect which sparked my curiosity Home Builder Sentiment Ahead Of FundamentalsThe release of the NAHB Wells Fargo HMI showed the housing market stalling slightly after eight prior months of dramatic improvement The housing market index is unchanged this month at 47 still three points short of the 50 level above which would indicate that more builders describe conditions as good than bad The index is also up sharply from its early 2009 lows of 8 as shown in the chart below which also smoothed with a six month average From the lows sentiment has surged by over 450 which if you could trade it would have been one helluva good investment However as with all things in the financial markets it is common place for sentiment to run well ahead of fundamentals Unfortunately that is the very issue that leads to large reversions when expectations collide with reality While the media is has been replete with stories about the return of housing and the economic driver that it will be I caution that such enthusiasm should be somewhat tempered with reality The housing market is indeed recovering which is a good thing However we are still a long way from just getting back to normal levels of activity David Rosenberg had an excellent note in his daily commentary recently stating When I look at recoveries I always make sure I assess them not only based on the bounce off of the bottom but also in terms of how much of the prior corrective backdrop has been reversed during the rebound That is needed for perspective So where I come from on the housing situation is this 1 The Case Shiller 20 city home price index has recouped 11 of the recession plunge 2 New Home Sales have recouped 9 of the recession plunge 3 Singly family starts have recouped 14 of the recession plunge Note that I am not disputing the recovery I m only disputing its vitality all the more so given how much attention this sector receives even though it is a 2 share of GDP and a 0 14 fraction of the S P 500 market cap Meanwhile the homebuilding stocks have reversed about 40 of its bear market loss in this recovery phase And the NAHB survey has recouped 60 of its peak to trough slide during this recovery so far In other words the sentiment is running far faster than the actual improvement in real activity For sure the market is a forward looking barometer but that said a lot of future expansion seems to be built in judging from the relative reversals The chart below shows our Total Housing Activity Index which is a composite index of New Existing Home Sales Permits and Starts relative to home building sentiment You can clearly see David s point Furthermore while housing activity has improved somewhat since the recessionary lows let us not confuse this recovery which has been driven by a multitude of interventions from bond buying programs mortgage write downs write offs short sells tax credits inducements forgiveness and bailouts from a normal organic housing recovery For the trillions of dollars that have been thrown at the mortgage and housing market since the crisis we should really be disappointed in the lackluster recovery that has occurred so far However what this does tell us is just how bad the housing market really was and most likely still is Inflation Is Dead Long Live Inflation The latest release of the Consumer Price Index CPI showed virtually no change in inflation in the last month Still lower energy costs in December kept the headline CPI soft The consumer price index in December was unchanged after declining 0 3 in November The December figure matched market expectations for no change Excluding food and energy the CPI edged up 0 1 percent following a modest 0 1 percent rise in November This was much of the same story we saw in yesterday s report on the Producer Price Index PPI The chart below shows the year over year change in the composite inflation index both headline and core No real surprise here Since 1980 inflationary pressures have been on the decline as gains in productivity technology and communications have pushed costs and wages lower The reality is that despite the fears of hyperinflationists there are still more deflationary pressures on the market than inflationary ones this is particularly the case with wages This is clearly shown in the chart below which shows the ratio of corporate profits to wages which is at the lowest level in history 3 95 in wages for every 1 in profits It is very difficult to have a large inflationary push when wages are being suppressed and the deflationary demand for lower product prices reigns supreme This is why Made In Some Other Country adorns everything from clothes to gadgets Why Do I Only Have A Nickel It certainly seems to me that my dollar doesn t go as far as it used to My four children and I will sneak out for an occasional trip to our favorite hamburger joint for some bonding time However that trip used to be accomplished with help of just Andrew Jackson Today it is starting to require Mr Jackson and a couple of Abraham Lincoln s to buy the same amount of food This is not a uncommon scenario for many American families which is why reported inflation always gets a good bit of push back from consumers The constriction of wages when combined with the rising costs of living have reduced the purchasing power parity of the dollar over time The chart below shows the purchasing power of the consumer dollar as compared to reported headline CPI Clearly between rising inflationary pressures and stagnant wage growth the realized purchasing power of dollar has fallen from 1 in 1913 to less than 0 05 today This is why subject of inflation reported versus real remains a very hotly contested topic As I wrote recently The sole purpose in measuring inflation is to help businesses individuals and governments adjust their financial planning for the impact of inflation Inflation erodes future purchasing power and decreases economic prosperity if not accurately accounted for The accuracy of measuring inflation and accounting for it properly is essential to long term economic prosperity While reported CPI is showing virtually no inflation over the last year the reality is that for the average American the gap between incomes coming in which have now decreased further due to higher taxes and their standard of living has to be filled by credit With savings rates already low the drag on incomes from debt service requirements erodes future prosperity As stated above the question that really must be answered is whether or not we are really accounting for inflation correctly If the next trip with the kids requires the company of more than one Andrew Jackson we may have our answer |
CMCSA | Americans prefer picking TV channels to buying bundles Reuters Ipsos | By Jennifer Saba Reuters A vast majority of Americans would prefer to assemble their own pay TV channels rather than subscribe to packages that include dozens or hundreds of networks a new Reuters Ipsos poll found in a challenge to traditional television distribution Seventy seven percent of U S adults said they would like a la carte pricing which would allow consumers to pick their own channels Only 23 percent said they would prefer bundles For a graphic see Media companies and distributors that provide satellite broadband and cable services are struggling to find ways to keep viewers from ditching traditional subscriptions and attract a younger generation which sees less need for a cable subscription and watches on computers and mobile devices I pay for a lot of channels that are not of interest to me said poll respondent Charles Bourque 63 who lives in Manchester New Hampshire He does not want the Russian and Spanish networks that he gets as a Comcast NASDAQ CMCSA subscriber paying north of 200 a month He does not speak either language Verizon tested the waters for a product offering more customization last month when it rolled out a Custom TV plan with 36 fixed channels and the choice of adding small bundles related to sports children or news That was seen as a step toward a la carte Twenty First Century Fox and Comcast s NBC Universal both said the offer violates the terms of their contracts that allow Verizon to carry their programming Walt Disney s ESPN took the same stance and launched a lawsuit against Verizon claiming the distributor breached the terms of their deal A Verizon spokeswoman declined to share details on subscriber numbers and the type of users signing up for FiOS Custom TV which is aimed at millennials and cord cutters She said that the Reuters Ipsos poll results validated the rationale for launching Custom TV ESPN did not immediately respond to a request for comment The survey found few willing to pay more than about 10 per channel The poll found 40 percent would pay up to 10 a month for sports network ESPN while 46 percent are willing to do the same with news networks such as CNN MSNBC or Fox News The percentage of people who will pay up to 30 a month for either ESPN or news networks was 4 percent and 6 percent respectively A 54 percent majority do not want ESPN while 47 percent said they do not want cable news networks Adam Smith a 27 year old who lives in Ludington Michigan said he would prefer to choose channels and pay 70 a month or less per month He pays over 100 a month for his Dish Network subscription The online poll was conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Reuters from May 1 through May 6 with a sample of 1 680 Americans age 18 or older The Reuters Ipsos poll s accuracy is gauged using a statistical measure called a credibility interval In this case the poll results are accurate within plus or minus 2 7 percentage points |
CMCSA | No classwide damages in U S sports blackout case court rules | By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK Reuters A federal judge said sports fans accusing Major League Baseball the National Hockey League and broadcasters of illegally restricting their ability to watch their favorite teams on TV cannot pursue damages as a class U S District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan on Thursday also said fans could still pursue class action claims that the defendants committed antitrust violations But the judge s decisions reduce the financial exposure of professional sports leagues teams and broadcasters in the high stakes legal battle over how to broadcast sports programming and how much to charge The leagues Comcast Corp NASDAQ CMCSA DirecTV regional network operators such as Madison Square Garden Co and YES and teams including the New York Yankees were accused in two lawsuits of using blackouts to limit broadcasts of games outside teams home markets Fans said this drove up prices by forcing them to buy costly packages that bundled games they did not care about rather than paying less to watch games a la carte for example if an Iowa resident wanted to watch the Yankees Ned Diver a lawyer for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment In two decisions totaling 128 pages Scheindlin said baseball and hockey fans could sue as a group to address the dearth of choice they now face Every class member as a consumer in the market for baseball or hockey broadcasting has been deprived of an option a la carte channels that would have been available absent the territorial restraints she wrote But Scheindlin also said classwide damages could not be awarded because there was not enough evidence that all viewers were harmed She said findings from Stanford University economics professor Roger Noll that the plaintiffs hoped would show the scope of overcharges were inadmissible because they did not rely on enough data about consumer preferences Scheindlin said Noll s findings on how a la carte pricing might benefit viewers were admissible Striking damages from the class action is welcome to the Yankees the team s lawyer Jonathan Schiller said in a phone interview It now becomes an injunction case Lawyers for the other defendants had no comment or were not immediately available Noll declined to comment Other team defendants included all New York area NHL teams the Chicago Cubs White Sox and Blackhawks and teams in Denver Philadelphia Pittsburgh San Francisco Seattle among others
The cases are Laumann et al v National Hockey League et al U S District Court Southern District of New York No 12 01817 and Lerner et al v Office of the Commissioner of Baseball et al in the same court No 12 03074 |
CMCSA | FCC chairman reached out to Time Warner Cable Charter CEOs WSJ | Reuters Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler reached out to the chief executives of Time Warner Cable Inc NYSE TWC and Charter Communications Inc to convey that the agency is not against cable deals the Wall Street Journal reported Wheeler told the CEOs that any deal would be assessed on its own merits the newspaper cited people familiar with the matter The calls were in response to recent statements from cable executives who have expressed uncertainty about the regulatory climate for future cable deals the Journal said Wheeler saw some of the statements as a significant over reading of the FCC staff s stance on the Comcast Time Warner Cable deal the newspaper said
Comcast Corp abandoned its 45 billion offer for Time Warner Cable last month after U S regulators raised concerns that the deal would give Comcast NASDAQ CMCSA an unfair advantage in the cable TV and Internet based services market |
CMCSA | Vox Media acquiring tech news website Re code | LOS ANGELES Reuters Vox Media owner of The Verge and other websites is acquiring Revere Digital the company that owns technology news website Re code according to a post on the Re code website on Tuesday Comcast Corp NASDAQ CMCSA s NBCUniversal exchanged its minority interest in Re code for shares in Vox Media a source familiar with the transaction said We want to assure you that this combination is designed to bolster and enrich Re code and that we will continue to publish under the same name and leadership with editorial independence Re code journalists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher wrote Vox Media confirmed the purchase in a press release Terms of the deal were not disclosed Re code said it would occasionally collaborate with The Verge Vox Media s tech news website While Re code will focus on the business of technology The Verge will cover technology from a lifestyle perspective Re code said on Tuesday Re code will continue to hold its Code conferences industry conferences where the journalists interview top technology executives the statement from the website said It will eventually migrate to Vox Media s publishing platform which it said will provide new ways to present news When Re code was launched 18 months ago Mossberg and Swisher held majority ownership with Comcast Corp s NBCUniversal and Windsor Media sharing a minority stake |
CMCSA | Frontier Communications FTR What s Up In Q1 Earnings | Frontier Communications Corporation NASDAQ FTR is slated to release first quarter 2016 results on May 3 before the market opens
In the last reported quarter the company s earnings missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a huge 266 67 However the company has delivered positive earnings surprises in three of the four trailing quarters with an average beat of 164 27 Let s see how things are shaping up for this announcement
Factors Likely to Influence this Quarter
Frontier s security solutions division Frontier Secure has been a solid source of growth for the company The division witnessed 141 growth in operating income at the end of the fourth quarter of 2015 and its subscriptions made a significant contribution to the Average Revenue per Customer ARPC for the company Moreover it has partnered with DistiNow to distribute its security solutions which we believe can generate further revenues for Frontier
Recently Frontier launched its latest line of services branded as Vantage a premium digital platform to deliver HD TV ultra fast broadband and enhanced Voice over Internet Protocol VoIP services The services will be made available to customers as Vantage TV Vantage Internet and Vantage Voice respectively With the launch of the Vantage brand Frontier will join the likes of AT T Inc NYSE T and Comcast Corp NASDAQ CMCSA which have witnessed success with their respective U Verse and Xfinity brands We believe that with the introduction of a premium brand the company can maintain sustainable broadband subscriber growth
Also Frontier is leaving no stones unturned in deriving benefits from the growing Business Service Segment In particular Frontier has been targeting the Small and Medium Businesses SMBs It has been enhancing its Ethernet capabilities lately and eyeing the retention of SMB customers with attractive plans However the persistent decline in the residential voice segment is a major headwind
Earnings Whispers
Our proven model does not conclusively show that Frontier Communications is likely to beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate this quarter This is because a stock needs to have both a positive and a Zacks Rank 1 Strong Buy 2 Buy or 3 Hold for this to happen Unfortunately that is not the case here as elaborated below
Zacks ESP Frontier Communications has an Earnings ESP of 0 00 This is because both the Most Accurate estimate and Zacks Consensus Estimate are pegged at a loss of 9 cents
Zacks Rank Frontier Communications has a Zacks Rank 3 which increases the predictive power of ESP However we need to have a positive ESP to be confident of an earnings surprise
Note that we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank 4 or 5 Sell rated stocks going into the earnings announcement especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions
A Stock to Consider
Here is a company you may consider as our model shows it has the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter
Yelp Inc YELP with Earnings ESP of 18 75 and a Zacks Rank 3 |
CMCSA | AT T Greatly Increases The Cost Of Cutting The Cord | AT T NYSE T has apparently lost patience with customers who forgo TV packages to stream content with internet only service The company s newest pricing model greatly increases costs for these cord cutters
On April 29 2016 I received an email from AT T announcing a dramatic change to the company s internet service No longer will AT T tolerate unlimited use of internet bandwidth at current prices AT T has decided to implement a pricing model for its internet service that is very similar to the model it uses for data plans on smartphones
Starting May 23 2016 AT T will establish a usage limit on internet service If customers exceed that limit AT T will charge them 10 for each 50GB in excess of the limit At least AT T will cap the overage charge at 100 per month I imagine heavy users of streaming services like Netflix Hulu and YouTube can easily hit the allowance every month Cord cutters like myself are exactly the customers most likely to fall into this category of heavy user For this reason I feel AT T s policy directly targets cord cutters
At the time of writing AT T does not provide specifics on the allowance or offer a way to review past internet usage Customers may not be able to gauge their risk for exceeding AT T s internet allowance until after May 23rd
There are two things customers can do to reduce the cost of heavy internet use My preferred option is to pay an additional 30 month to retain the privilege of unlimited internet use This represents a VERY painful 67 price increase AT T also offers a bundling option If customers subscribe to DIRECTV or U verse TV AT T will provide unlimited internet service The bundle option is more expensive because of the leasing charge for a cable box and the minimum 100 110 DIRECTV U Verse customers must spend on the bundle with internet service minimally good enough for streaming Separately the lowest option for TV DIRECTV or U Verse is 50 and for minimal internet is 40 AT T no longer offers a bargain basement option that only provides local TV channels
Here is the message AT T sent to customers
Beginning on May 23 2016 we will be increasing the U verse Internet data allowance for many customers After a grace period and as our agreement provides there s a 10 charge for each 50GB of data you use over the allowance amount The maximum overage charge will be 100 mo If you choose to bundle your U verse Internet with DIRECTV or U verse TV you will be provided an unlimited Internet data allowance with a 30 value at no additional charge as a benefit of bundling Or if you choose an unlimited allowance is available for purchase as an optional bolt on to your Internet service for an additional 30 mo
Notice how AT T cleverly attempts to use marketing to ease the pain of this message AT T starts by giving the good news that data allowances have increased Of course customers had no idea AT T had a data allowance in the first place Next AT T positions the 30 price increase for unlimited internet as an added value of choosing a bundled option Bottom line cord cutting just got a lot more expensive
I will very likely abandon ship and cut over to Comcast aka Xfinity for internet service However I strongly suspect Comcast will one day adopt AT T s anti cord cutting pricing model For now cord cutters can get Comcast s internet service minimally good enough for streaming for 50 For another 10 customers can get 10 local TV channels For a limited time customers who order this package online will also get HBO streaming through the Xfinity app Given I just MIGHT consider spending the extra 10 bucks but I doubt I will go there anytime soon
UPDATE In certain areas of the country Comcast implements what it calls for certain customers Customers can get unlimited internet by paying an extra 30 35 per month or by signing up for some other bundled plan This is exactly the same pricing model as AT T I was just not aware of it since I have not had Comcast internet in a long time In other areas of the country Comcast gave up on caps Here is Comcast s explanation
Effective May 17 2012 we suspended enforcement of our previous 250 GB static cap while we trialed more flexible data usage plans Our goal is to provide options that benefit consumers while also ensuring that all of our customers enjoy the best possible Internet experience over our high speed Internet service To accomplish this we have been trialing improved data usage management approaches that are in step with plans that other Internet service providers in the market are using and will provide our customers with more choice and flexibility than our previous static cap
Comcast s plans and rules and limitations are numerous and a bit involved So before signing up for Comcast internet I am definitely going to call and the details that apply to my specific locale
The stock for AT T T recently broke out to a new post recession high but has yet to achieve the glory of past years
Cord cutters are clearly not disturbing the business of Comcast NASDAQ CMCSA Its stock has soared for years and is at all time highs |
WFC | Wells Fargo to buy London office block shrugging off Brexit fears | Investing com Wells Fargo NYSE WFC to buy office development project in London s City financial district
Move suggests U S bank confident London to remain major financial center post Brexit
Eleven story project acquired from HB Reavis to be completed in Q3 of 2017
It will allow Wells Fargo to accommodate all of its 850 London based staff under one roof
Purchase one of largest UK real estate deals since Brexit at estimated 400 million |
WFC | Wells Fargo agrees City of London office buy shrugs off Brexit fear | LONDON Reuters Wells Fargo NYSE WFC has agreed to buy an 11 storey office development project in London s City financial district from HB Reavis the U S bank said on Monday one of the largest UK real estate deals since Britain voted to leave the European Union The purchase of the building at 33 Central King William Street close to the Bank of England and the River Thames will allow Wells Fargo to consolidate all of its London based staff in a single location when construction completes in the third quarter of 2017 Financial terms of the transaction which shows confidence in London remaining a global financial centre following the Brexit vote on June 23 were undisclosed but a source close to the deal said the price was around 300 million pounds 400 million With this new building in London we are able to bring our team members together in one location in order to more efficiently and effectively manage our operations Frank Pizzo Wells Fargo regional president for Europe Middle East Africa said in a statement Wells Fargo has 850 London based staff Property company HB Reavis originally hoped to retain and lease the development but later agreed to sell the shares in the subsidiary which owns 33 Central to Wells Fargo after initial leasing discussions Senior executives at the U S bank one of the world s biggest by assets have publicly stated its ambitions to grow organically outside its domestic U S market where it drives more than 90 percent of its revenues Many have doubted what will happen to the real estate market after the Brexit vote said Marian Herman Chief Financial Officer of HB Reavis Group describing the deal as a strong endorsement of its business model and the resilience of the market
Knight Frank and Gerald Eve were agents for the 227 000 square foot office development at 33 Central and CBRE advised Wells Fargo |
WFC | Wells Fargo to roll out pilot robo adviser in first half of 2017 | NEW YORK Reuters Wells Fargo NYSE WFC Co s wealth management business plans to roll out a pilot version of a robo adviser service during the first half of 2017 a spokeswoman said on Wednesday Robo advisers are computer software programs that manage client money using algorithms and computer generated portfolios rather than traditional human brokers They are popular with investors who want to pay lower fees or prefer digital options Wells Fargo Advisors spokeswoman Rachelle Rowe said the bank has not decided whether it will build the technology in house or partner with a third party robo adviser But she said Wells aims to have a pilot version available for a small number of clients around the end of the first quarter next year Reuters reported in May that the bank would announce an investment and strategic partnership tied to a robo adviser product for its clients in the second quarter which ended in June Rowe said she could not provide a timeline on when a model for the service would be announced Wells Fargo released a study on Wednesday that showed less than half of investors have heard of the term robo adviser and just 5 percent have used one
News of the bank s plan to release the service was reported earlier Wednesday by Bloomberg |
CMCSA | Time Warner Cable Cox Communications deny report of merger talks | Reuters Time Warner Cable Inc NYSE TWC and Cox Communications Inc COXC UL denied a Wall Street Journal report on Monday that Time Warner Cable had approached Cox Communications to discuss a potential merger Cox Communications did not show interest in the discussions the Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter It s simply not true We have not engaged in any discussions with Cox Time Warner Cable s spokeswoman Susan Leepson told Reuters Comcast Corp NASDAQ CMCSA abandoned its 45 billion offer for Time Warner Cable on Friday after U S regulators raised concerns that the deal would give Comcast an unfair advantage in the cable TV and Internet based services market
A spokesperson for Cox Communications also said that the company was definitely not for sale |
CMCSA | Boxing fans accuse Pacquiao of concealing injury | Reuters Boxer Manny Pacquiao has been sued in several U S courts by people who said they paid to watch him fight Floyd Mayweather Jr in the Fight of Century but felt defrauded by Pacquiao s failure to disclose a pre bout shoulder injury At least five lawsuits were filed against Pacquiao on Tuesday in federal courts in California Illinois Nevada and Texas The lawsuits seek compensation under laws meant to protect consumers and ask for status as class actions on behalf of ticket buyers pay per view television viewers and people who gambled on the fight The lawsuits are factually wrong and legally wrong and we expect they will be dismissed in due course Daniel Petrocelli an attorney for Pacquiao and Top Rank Inc a promotions company that represents Pacquiao and was also sued said in a statement on Wednesday One of the lawsuits also named as defendants Mayweather Mayweather s promotions company and several businesses involved in broadcasting and promoting the fight Time Warner unit Home Box Office Inc CBS Corp NYSE CBS unit Showtime Networks Inc AT T Inc NYSE T Comcast Corp NASDAQ CMCSA and DirecTV Spokespeople for Mayweather and the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday Pacquiao a native of the Philippines lost on a unanimous decision to Mayweather an American in a heavily hyped welterweight showdown in Las Vegas on Saturday that was expected to be the top grossing prize fight of all time Barely one hour after the contest ended Pacquiao s promoter Bob Arum said the 36 year old southpaw had been hampered by an old injury to his right shoulder Neither Pacquiao nor his team appeared to have informed the Nevada Athletic Commission about the shoulder issue until a couple of hours before the start of the fight when they asked for an anti inflammatory injection When Pacquiao s team filled out its pre fight medical questionnaire on Friday a query about any shoulder injury was marked No before the form was signed by Pacquiao and his adviser According to media reports Pacquiao was due to undergo surgery this week for a torn rotator cuff |
CMCSA | Why Has RGR Returned 5X The S P 500 | Quick how many Comcast Corp NASDAQ CMCSA technicians does it take to fix a DVR
Eight evidently and my DVR is still not working after five weeks of calling offshore customer service centers visiting technicians who are guaranteed to arrive within a two hour window and even the company s executive resolution team
Sadly my predicament isn t unusual and there s no way I d recommend investing in the company as a result There are thousands of companies who claim to be all about their customers when in fact their customers might as well be an inconvenience based on how they re treated
I m sharing my predicament with you for a reason buying what you know used to be a fundamental underpinning of investment success Now it s a recipe for disaster
We re going to talk about that today and as always I m going to highlight a company where customers are truly the most important part of their business
It s a distinction that s helped this company outperform the S P 500 by 5 to 1 and led to returns 100 times greater than those achieved by Comcast a popular investment choice over roughly the same time frame
What I Really Meant Was
Investing icon and onetime mutual fund manager Peter Lynch ran the Fidelity Magellan Fund from 1977 to 1990 In the process he achieved a remarkable 29 2 average annual return that more than doubled the S P 500 over the same time frame He was so successful that an estimated 1 in every 100 Americans invested with him for reasons that are easily understandable even today it was the world s best performing mutual fund
Lynch achieved near rock star status and coined a number of modern investing mantras the most famous of which is invest in what you know
It was an ode to the common man at a time when there weren t many common men on Wall Street and one I took to heart early in my career
Lynch believed that individual investors are far more capable of making money when it comes to stocks than fund managers because they have the luxury of spotting unique trends in their day to day lives
He noted in his books and frequently during interviews at the time that he came across many great profit opportunities while driving around with his family visiting the mall or simply buying something at the store
I don t disagree
Personal knowledge can be a very powerful driver when it comes to your money However that s also where Lynch and I parted company
You see buying what you know can also work against you especially lately
Take Weight Watchers International Inc NYSE WTW for example
The dietary company got a huge boost when uber celebrity Oprah Winfrey jumped on board as an investor last October Millions of investors piled on simplistically reasoning that if I know Oprah like I think I know Oprah I should buy in too
Unfortunately that never ends well
Doing so is really an emotional judgement nothing more
And as we have talked about many times making investment decisions based on emotions is with your money
Success is always about real numbers
Weight Watchers recently reported a loss of 0 03 per share Analysts expected a profit of 0 03 per share so we re talking about a 0 06 swing Worse the number of active users dropped by 4 8 to 2 39 million people
The company still has some terribly difficult challenges ahead including competition from other more successful programs wearable technology and the emergence of healthy grocers
No doubt that millions of investors who have watched their wallets get thinner as the stock has tumbled from a high of 26 56 a share last December to around 15 a share today are probably wishing they didn t know Oprah right about now and instead knew the numbers
Interestingly after years of quietly remaining in the shadows Lynch surfaced and dropped a bombshell during a Wall Street Journal interview published last December saying effectively that buying what you know hadn t been what he meant
And what exactly did Lynch mean
Precisely what I ve just shared with you that you ve got to know the numbers
Why You Know a Company Matters When It Comes to Profits
There s a big difference between investing in what you know and why you know it
Take Sturm Ruger Company Inc NYSE RGR for example
Most people are acutely aware of the gun debate raging in this country And whether they love the idea of investing in a gun stock or hate the idea of investing in a gun stock they know most of the companies involved at least anecdotally including Ruger
The fabled firearms maker doesn t need much to lure in legions of new customers and keep the ones they have The Unstoppable Trend War Terrorism and Ugliness will see to that albeit very unfortunately
Gun sales increase every time there s another mass shooting or terrorist event because people want to protect themselves And it s not just here either Shotguns and handguns alike are selling out in Europe as the migrant crisis accelerates
Every time Congress starts talking about gun control sales rise And when the president starts in on guns they skyrocket because people fear that they ll soon be unobtainable
My point is that there s plenty to know about the gun industry and Ruger in particular because the company offers legendary customer service strong dealer support and powerful incentives like a points program to keep customers coming back
And the numbers bear that out
As does Ruger s stock chart
No doubt that s a powerful draw for investors especially in choppy markets
What I want you to understand at the end of the day is this
There s a big difference between buying a company because you know it like Ruger and being stuck with one like I am with Comcast
So do yourself a favor and look beyond what you think you know because the answers may surprise you and your wallet
Ruger has returned 270 over the past four years while Comcast has eked out only 2 48 over roughly the same time frame a more than 100 to 1 advantage
Now YOU know |
WFC | Wells Fargo shares move lower after in line Q2 earnings | Investing com Wells Fargo NYSE WFC the third largest U S bank second quarter earnings and revenue ahead of Thursday s opening bell that were in line with consensus sending its shares lower in pre market trade
Wells Fargo said adjusted earnings per share came in at 1 01 in the three months ended June 30 up from 1 03 a share a year earlier and in line with expectations for adjusted earnings of 1 01 a share
The bank s revenue totaled 22 16 billion in the April to June quarter an increase from the 21 32 billion reported in the same period in 2015 but slightly below estimates for revenue of 22 22 billion
Traders will now turn their attention to the bank s conference call due to start at 10 00AM ET
Following the release of the report shares in Wells Fargo fell 0 34 or 0 69 in pre market trade to trade at 48 60 The bank closed Wednesday s session with gains of 1 4 on the back of JP Morgan s own earnings beat
Meanwhile U S equity markets remained flat after the release The blue chip Dow futures inched up 8 points or 0 04 by 12 09GMT or 8 09AM ET the S P 500 futures edged forward 1 point or 0 03 while the tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures slipped less than a point or 0 01 |
WFC | Wells Fargo beats appeal over voided Money Store verdict | By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK Reuters A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a bid to revive a 54 8 million jury verdict against Wells Fargo NYSE WFC Co saying the trial judge had authority to take the drastic step of decertifying the class action after the award was made In a decision that could end 15 years of litigation the 2nd U S Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said U S District Judge John Koeltl met a high legal standard in finding that borrowers whose mortgages had been owned or serviced by The Money Store and HomEq Servicing could not sue as a group Borrowers accused The Money Store and HomEq of improperly charging late fees after their loans had gone into default A Manhattan jury held Wells Fargo liable in December 2014 The San Francisco based bank faced possible liability because of various mergers including its 2008 purchase of Wachovia Corp Paul Grobman a lawyer for the plaintiffs said Friday s decision interfered with his clients constitutional right to a jury trial The decision is unprecedented Grobman said in an interview It allows a court under the guise of reviewing class certification to overturn a jury verdict in violation of the 7th Amendment We re considering all available legal avenues Wells Fargo spokesman Jim Hines declined to comment In voiding the verdict and decertifying the class action Koeltl in May 2015 found no proof that the defendants had a contractual relationship known as privity with plaintiffs whose loans they serviced but did not originate Writing for the appeals court Circuit Judge Dennis Jacobs said Koeltl had discretion to decertify the class action given that his conclusions implicitly meant he thought the jury s findings were at least seriously erroneous Jacobs said that met a standard requiring a trial judge mulling decertification after a jury verdict to defer to jurors factual findings unless they were seriously erroneous a miscarriage of justice or egregious Without class wide evidence that class members were in fact in privity with The Money Store the fact finder would have to look at every class member s loan documents to determine who did and who did not have a valid claim Jacobs wrote
The case is Mazzei v The Money Store et al 2nd U S Circuit Court of Appeals No 15 2054 |
WFC | Euro Gains As Investor Risk Appetite Improves | EUR USD title EUR USD width 680 height 457 For the 24 hours to 23 00 GMT EUR rose 0 51 against the USD and closed at 1 3229 as signs of headway in negotiations on the US fiscal cliff buoyed investor sentiment and amid encouraging US economic data Meanwhile S P s decision to upgrade Greece s sovereign credit rating also gave the euro a boost On the US economic font the NAHB Wells Fargo housing market index rose to a reading of 47 0 in December following a revised reading of 45 0 in November Meanwhile the current account deficit narrowed to 107 5 billion in the Q3 FY2012 from the upwardly revised deficit of 118 1 billion in the Q2 FY2012 However the Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher stated that the US central bank s bond buying programmes alone cannot help to bring down the unemployment rate in the US He indicated that the US lawmakers should address the fiscal uncertainty which is keeping employers on the sidelines Separately the Standard Poor s Ratings Services S P raised its credit rating on Greece to B from Selective Default with a Stable outlook citing the recent completion of its bond buyback programme and strong determination of eurozone members to support Greece In the Asian session at 04 00 GMT the pair is trading at 1 3249 with the EUR trading 0 15 higher from yesterday s close The pair is expected to find support at 1 3185 and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1 3121 The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1 3285 and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1 3320 Trading trends in the pair today are expected to be determined by the release of current account and construction output data in the eurozone Germany s IFO business climate current assessment and expectations are also awaited |
WFC | Wells Fargo The Time Is Now | Twenty twelve was a great year for Wells Fargo Co WFC especially in the last few of months when everything seemed to go its way The steep increase in the existing home sales accelerated the surge in stock prices making its outstanding loans more valuable On top of that the Fed helped the company indirectly through QE3 by purchasing 40B worth of mortgage backed securities MBS per month indefinitely The keen investor won t shouldn t miss out on the opportunity to start buying this stock quickly and massively WFC s Net Income Shows Steady GrowthThe bank s net income grew from 8 billion in 2009 to over 11 billion in 2010 The following year saw that figure rise to 15 billion then to almost 18 billion in 2012 Granted we have to wait for Q4 s results but that s the expected value and the numbers are encouraging for anyone thinking of buying WFC It would be unfair to overlook the fact that Wells Fargo has a diversified portfolio with consumer loans representing more than half and commercial loans accounting for about 40 Just after the onset of the financial crisis investors avoided Wells Fargo but those who acted sooner than later are now reaping the benefits The question is whether its stock is still underpriced or if the time for making significant profits has passed and traders today must settle for leftovers Regardless of the answer a quick glance at the stock dividend should reinforce the conviction to buy as dividends almost doubled in 2012 and promise to follow a similar path in 2013 Wells Fargo Can Outshine The CompetitionThose who believe in the economic recovery are basically trying to decide whether to buy WFC or its competition to maximize profit Wells Fargo seems like a better choice due to the fact that its asset productivity is excellent and it offers a great dividend Though being the leading mortgage originator was once considered a liability it has once again made Wells a leader to its peers The numbers coming from the housing market are encouraging and if they grow into a fully fledged trend WFC will be the main beneficiary Binary options traders can afford the luxury of testing the waters setting lower objectives for themselves But with Wells Fargo it s worth taking a chance aiming a bit higher as the gains will be equivalent |
CMCSA | Seth MacFarlane wins in lawsuit claiming he stole Ted idea | By Jonathan Stempel Reuters A California production company that sued Seth MacFarlane for allegedly stealing its idea for a foul mouthed talking bear with a penchant for drinking drugs and prostitutes for his 2012 hit movie Ted has withdrawn its copyright lawsuit Bengal Mangle Productions LLC had contended in a July 2014 complaint that Ted was strikingly similar to its own teddy bear Charlie who was created in 2008 and has appeared on websites such as YouTube and FunnyorDie But in a Monday court filing Bengal Mangle said it cannot pursue its case being satisfied that based on discovery produced in the action the character Ted was independently created by Seth MacFarlane using his own efforts and creativity and was not copied from plaintiff s Charlie character Among the other defendants were MacFarlane s Fuzzy Door Productions Inc film studio Media Rights Capital and Comcast Corp NASDAQ CMCSA s Universal Studios which released the movie Media Rights Capital in a statement said the lawsuit was without merit A spokeswoman for MacFarlane said he does not intend to file a countersuit MacFarlane directed co wrote and co produced Ted and provided the bear s voice The movie starred Mark Wahlberg and grossed about 550 million worldwide A sequel Ted 2 is expected in June MacFarlane also created the Family Guy American Dad and The Cleveland Show animated television series He hosted the 2013 Academy Awards
The case is Bengal Mangle Productions LLC v MacFarlane et al U S District Court Central District of California No 14 05498 |
CMCSA | Comcast to form investment company with CFO at helm | Reuters Comcast Corp O CMCSA the largest U S cable operator will form a company to invest in growth oriented companies both in the United States and international markets and it said its finance chief would leave his post and head the new company The new company will have total capital commitments of up to 4 1 billion of which 4 billion will be invested by Comcast and at least 40 million by Chief Financial Officer Michael Angelakis Angelakis whose resignation will be effective upon the earlier of the date on which Comcast s new CFO commences employment or June 30 2016 will also work with Comcast as senior adviser Comcast which already owns and operates a venture capital arm through Comcast Ventures said the newly formed company would begin operations in 2015 or early 2016 Angelakis will receive annual compensation of 8 million in his role as the CEO Comcast said in a regulatory filing He will also receive 100 000 for his role as senior adviser
Comcast s shares which closed at 56 61 on Monday were marginally up in premarket trading |
CMCSA | Video streaming service Hulu wins dismissal of U S privacy lawsuit | By Jonathan Stempel Reuters Hulu won the dismissal of a lawsuit in which users accused the video streaming service of illegally violating their privacy by sharing their viewing histories with Facebook Inc NASDAQ FB U S Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in San Francisco on Tuesday found no proof that Hulu knew it was sending user information to Facebook that when combined with information collected by the social media company showed which users watched which videos Hulu users claimed this activity violated the federal Video Privacy Protection Act a 1988 law adopted a year after a newspaper wrote about movies rented by failed Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork based on a list provided by a video store This case is different Beeler wrote The user s identity and that of the video material were transmitted separately albeit simultaneously By sending those two items Hulu did not thereby connect them in a manner akin to connecting Judge Bork to his video rental history Ultimately Beeler found no proof that Hulu knowingly disclosed any user as having requested or obtained specific video materials or services She dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice meaning it cannot be brought again Hulu is a joint venture owned by Comcast Corp NASDAQ CMCSA s NBCUniversal 21st Century Fox Inc s Fox Broadcasting and Walt Disney Co s ABC Users claimed that the information sharing including through cookies could allow marketers to target them with unwanted advertising and even let Facebook friends learn their viewing preferences They sought damages of at least 2 500 per violation plus punitive damages and other sums Scott Kamber a lawyer for the plaintiffs said his clients are disappointed in the decision and look forward to an appeal The issues implicated are key to privacy rights on the Internet he said in a phone interview The opinion undermines the express statutory protections provided by the VPPA Victor Jih a partner at O Melveny Myers representing Hulu said Hulu takes privacy very seriously and we are very happy it has been vindicated by the court
The case is In re Hulu Privacy Litigation U S District Court Northern District of California No 11 03764 |
CMCSA | Justice Dept staff may oppose Comcast Time Warner Cable deal Bloomberg | By Jennifer Saba and Malathi Nayak Reuters Staff attorneys at the Justice Department s antitrust division are nearing a recommendation to block the proposed 45 billion merger of Comcast Corp NASDAQ CMCSA and Time Warner Cable Inc NYSE TWC Bloomberg reported on Friday citing people familiar with the matter A spokesman for Time Warner Cable questioned the report saying the company had been working productively with both the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission We ve had no indication from the DoJ that this is true the spokesman said Bloomberg said that Justice Department attorneys investigating the deal are citing concerns for consumers as they lean against it Their review could be handed in as soon as next week people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg The final decision would be made by senior officials Time Warner Cable shares closed down 5 4 percent at 149 61 on the New York Stock Exchange while Comcast shares ended down 2 1 percent at 58 42 on Nasdaq A source close to Comcast said that discussions with the DOJ had been positive and that the Federal Communications Commission was still gathering material from companies making it early for any discussion of conditions for a deal The FCC which as well as the Justice Department is reviewing the deal earlier this month paused the informal countdown toward its decision as it awaited a court ruling related to how it should handle disclosures of some documents The FCC pause would push the conclusion of the regulatory review to the middle of the year a Comcast executive said in a March blog post There is no basis for a lawsuit to block the transaction a Comcast spokeswoman said in an emailed statement on Friday adding that expected benefits to both consumers and businesses from the deal have been essentially unchallenged in the record and all can be achieved without any reduction of competition The deal has faced severe scrutiny from several media companies and executives since its initial announcement over a year ago On Friday a coalition of companies associations and public interest groups sent a letter to FCC Chair Tom Wheeler opposing the merger The combined company would among other things control over half of the high speed residential broadband connections in the United States dominate pay TV across the nation combine even stronger distribution muscle with NBC Universal s must have video programing and control critical advertising and set topbox inputs the letter stated
the Commission should reject this merger because it would result in too much power in the hands of one company |
CMCSA | Comcast Time Warner Cable to meet DoJ officials over merger WSJ | Reuters Representatives of Comcast Corp O CMCSA and Time Warner Cable Inc N TWC are preparing to meet U S Department of Justice officials to discuss competition concerns raised by the planned 45 billion merger of the two cable giants the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday The meeting next Wednesday would aim to negotiate possible concessions addressing those concerns the Journal said citing people familiar with the matter The paper said it would be the first time the two cable giants have met with regulators since announcing their proposed deal a year ago Staffers at both the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission remain concerned the combined company would have too much power in the Internet broadband market and would have unfair competitive leverage against TV channel owners and businesses offering online video programming the Journal said Representatives of the two companies and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on the Journal report News of the planned meeting followed a report by Bloomberg on Friday that staff attorneys at the Justice Department s antitrust division were nearing a recommendation to block the deal A spokesman for Time Warner Cable questioned the Bloomberg report saying on Friday the company had been working productively with both the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission A source close to Comcast said on Friday that discussions with the DOJ had been positive and that the Federal Communications Commission FCC was still gathering material from companies making it early for any discussion of conditions for a deal The Bloomberg report said Justice Department attorneys were citing concerns for consumers as they lean against it and their review could be handed in as soon as next week A final decision would be made by senior officials Time Warner Cable shares closed down 5 4 percent at 149 61 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday while Comcast shares ended down 2 1 percent at 58 42 on Nasdaq In its report on Saturday the Journal said the Justice Department and the FCC were nearing the final stages of scrutinizing the deal Discussions on potential remedies to concerns would be an indication that the two agencies had not yet made a firm or final decision on the merger the paper said
But it added the meeting could be the first of many and said it was not clear whether the companies could offer concessions that would satisfy the regulators |
CMCSA | FTSE Outperforms As Oil And Metals Recover | FTSE outperforms as oil metals recover
Asian currencies were better bid as Chinese officials announced plans to take further stimulus measures in terms of fiscal and monetary policies The optimism gave a boost to commodity and related assets Shanghai s Composite recovered earlier losses in the session and traded 0 26 higher Hang Seng gained 0 18 Oil rebounded to 36
The FTSE outperforms its European peers as energy and mining stocks ride on the back of a bull
BG Group L BG is the top gainer in London 2 93 following a broker report bringing up the oil prices as a barrier to Shell BG deal Oil cheapened by more than 40 since the announcement in April and the takeover may not go through as Shell s power to seal the deal tanks alongside the oil prices BG and Shell L RDSa shareholders will meet on January 27th for approval Should the debasing in the oil market continue the skepticism and uncertainty could further mount Investors who have moved capital from BG to Shell stakes could partially swing back to their BG holdings
ITV L ITV traded 1 down as Comcast O CMCSA rejected news on talks to buy ITV
US dollar softens as Fed hawks retreat
The US dollar is paring the post FOMC gains as the market doesn t see another rate hike until April 2016 the earliest meaning that the projection of four Fed hikes of 25bp to sum to 1 is being somewhat pushed back due to a gloomy macroeconomic picture The US GDP core PCE and personal consumption 3Q third read is due today and will either give reason to the Fed or revive further skepticism regarding the US economic health
Thin liquidity conditions could be a source of higher volatility as volumes decline before Christmas holidays
Turkey expected to hike by 50 basis point
Turkey s Central Bank is expected to rise the benchmark repo rate by 50 basis points and to tighten the overnight lending borrowing corridor to 7 75 10 75 from 7 25 10 75 While the Fed tightening is the main trigger of the CBT s policy adjustment the move will certainly be the first in a series of a broader modification at the heart of Turkey s monetary policy Turkey s Central Bank is preparing to step away from its complex multi rate strategy and to adopt a more transparent singular policy to improve efficiency in communication
Today s modification is not a significant rate tightening per se it is the first step toward a symmetrical and a tighter overnight rate band around the benchmark repo rate The central bank will certainly keep the average funding cost steady and avoid the market from taking a hit The bank is expected to gradually tighten the monetary policy in order to prevent an overheating in inflation and adjust the risk premium to rising geopolitical risks It is noteworthy mentioning that the CBT will move at moderate pace given that the political pressure is there to stay President Erdogan remains favourable for lowering rates to support economic growth somewhat contradictory to the fundamental picture |
WFC | Wells Fargo joins FX settlement system CLS | LONDON Reuters U S bank Wells Fargo N WFC has joined the more than 60 banks worldwide that process currency transactions directly through the settlement systems run by U S based lender CLS the two banks said in a statement on Tuesday CLS owned by dozens of the world s largest commercial banks has allowed banks over the past decade to cut the cost of insuring currency trades against the default of one of the parties With a number of the currency world s biggest European based players cutting back on investment banking and the volume of financial risk they take industry players say U S banks including JP Morgan have increased the share they hold in the 5 trillion market in the past year
Wells Fargo is the world s biggest bank by market capitalization and the third largest U S bank by total assets |
WFC | Weak consumer capital goods curb U S import prices | By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON Reuters U S import prices rose less than expected in June as rising costs for petroleum products were offset by declining consumer and capital goods prices suggesting inflation could remain benign for a while The marginal increase reported by the Labor Department on Wednesday likely reflects the lingering effects of the dollar s surge between June 2014 and December 2015 despite the greenback weakening this year against the currencies of the United States main trading partners The moderation in import prices is a concern Although we caution against over interpreting import price data this weakness is worth monitoring carefully as it likely reflects soft demand either domestically or internationally said Blerina Uruci an economist at Barclays LON BARC in Washington Import prices increased 0 2 percent last month after jumping 1 4 percent in May Import prices excluding petroleum dropped 0 3 percent after gaining 0 4 percent the prior month Economists polled by Reuters had forecast import prices rising 0 5 percent in June In the 12 months through June import prices fell 4 8 percent the smallest drop since November 2014 The dollar surged 20 percent on a trade weighted basis between June 2014 and December 2015 putting downward pressure on import prices and keeping inflation below the Federal Reserve s 2 percent target Though the dollar has weakened this year it has recouped the bulk of its losses in the wake of last month s stunning vote in Britain to leave the European Union It is now down only 0 94 percent on a trade weighted basis Lackluster global growth and a further rise in the dollar should keep import prices tame but the more modest rate of dollar appreciation relative to 2015 suggests a less severe trend said Sam Bullard an senior economist at Wells Fargo NYSE WFC in Charlotte North Carolina U S financial markets were little moved by the data Last month imported petroleum prices rose 6 4 percent while food prices stumbled 1 3 percent Prices for imported capital goods slipped 0 3 percent and consumer goods excluding automobiles fell 0 2 percent Imported industrial supplies and materials prices excluding fuels fell 0 3 percent The report also showed export prices increased 0 8 percent in June after rising 1 2 percent in May Export prices fell 3 5 percent from a year ago Prices for agricultural exports increased 2 4 percent boosted by higher soybean and corn prices Prices for nonagricultural exports rose 0 5 percent last month
The increase was led by gains in prices for industrial supplies and material as well as capital goods But prices for consumer goods exports fell |
WFC | Moody s Downgrades France On Weak Growth | EUR USD title EUR USD width 800 height 599 For the 24 hours to 23 00 GMT EUR rose marginally against the USD and closed at 1 2767 as robust housing data in the US increased investor risk appetite Earlier in the European trading hours the euro was in demand amid signs of a deal being reached to tackle the US fiscal cliff and optimism that EU leaders were closer to a resolution on Greece In the US the NAHB Wells Fargo housing market index jumped to 46 0 in November from 41 0 in October Meanwhile the NAR existing home sales rose 2 1 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4 79 million in October compared to a downwardly revised 4 69 million in September However late yesterday Moody s Investors Service lowered its sovereign rating on France by one level to AA1 from AAA and maintained its Negative outlook Additionally Moody s also warned that the outlook for Italy s banking sector remains negative citing rapid asset quality deterioration and limited access to market funding On the economic front eurozone s construction output fell 1 4 MoM in September following a revised 0 6 rise in August Meanwhile on a seasonally adjusted monthly basis Italian industrial new orders declined 4 0 in September compared to a revised 0 6 rise in the previous month In the Asian session at 04 00 GMT the pair is trading at 1 2797 with the EUR trading 0 23 higher from yesterday s close The pair is expected to find support at 1 2759 and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1 2722 The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1 2827 and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1 2858 Trading trends in the pair today are expected to be determined by release of the University of Michigan Confidence survey and the leading indicators data to be released later today Additionally the eurozone finance ministers would hold talks in Brussels to discuss financial issues in the bloc Meanwhile Germany is to release official data on producer price inflation |
CMCSA | Will Smith s Focus opens with 19 1 million to win U S box office | By Chris Michaud Reuters Will Smith s new action drama Focus booted the kinky sex tale Fifty Shades of Grey for its perch atop U S and Canadian weekend box office charts racking up 19 1 million in ticket sales Smith in his first leading role since 2013 s After Earth plays a seasoned con artist who meets up with an aspiring con artist played by Margot Robbie in the romance caper film hybrid Kingsman The Secret Service an adaptation of a popular comic series which stars Samuel L Jackson and Colin Firth about a spy agency s training program and a global threat by a tech genius also outpaced Grey to claim second place with 11 8 million Third place on a weekend that saw business hampered by rough winter weather in the south and midwest again went to the family friendly The SpongeBob Movie Sponge Out of Water based on the popular television show about a talking animated sponge It sold 11 2 million in tickets Grey the smash hit adaptation of the best selling novel which stars James Dornan and Dakota Johnson as the libidinous couple took in 10 9 million landing in fourth from Friday through Sunday according to studio estimates The film is closing in on 148 million at the domestic box office since opening just over two weeks ago Rounding out the top five The Lazarus Effect which stars Mark Duplass and Olivia Wilde as researchers trying to resurrect the dead took the No 5 spot on its opening weekend with 10 6 million in sales This was a rather slow weekend at the box office said Paul Dergarabedian senior media analyst at box office tracking firm Rentrak noting that Oscar winners such as Still Alice and Birdman had received a good boost from Sunday s awards The severely inclement weather in the south and midwest threw off our number said Jeff Goldstein executive vice president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros the Time Warner unit that released Focus When you look at the markets not hit by weather we did really well Goldstein said adding that the film had played especially well with younger audiences where word of mouth will really help International box office would further boost the film s fortunes Goldstein said
Comcast Corp NASDAQ CMCSA s Universal Pictures released Fifty Shades of Grey Kingsman The Secret Service was released by 20th Century Fox the unit of 21st Century Fox The SpongeBob Movie was distributed by Paramount Pictures a unit of Viacom Inc |
WFC | Sale Should Bode Well For SandRidge High Yield Bond | Below are details of a High Yield bond issued by SandRidge Energy SD As part of Bondsquawk s High Yield Portfolio released earlier this bond offers an investor an opportunity to capture high income with the potential for price appreciation SandRidge Energy CUSIP 80007PAL3 8 75 Fixed Coupon Paid Semi Annual basis January 15 2020 Maturity Date January 15 2015 Next Call Date at 104 375 Dollar Price Current Market Offered at 109 50 Yield to Worst of 5 83 according to 547 basis points Yield Advantage over comparable maturity U S Treasury On the run 3 Year 108 56 Dollar Price 6 30 Yield to Worst at time of Inclusion of Bondsquawk s High Yield Portfolio B Rating by Standard Poor s which falls on the High Yield spectrum Company Profile SandRidge Energy Inc Ticker SD was founded in 1984 and is an oil and natural gas exploration company with a focus in the U S The company s core drilling operations are on its oil properties located in West Texas Permian Basin and the Mid Continent area Mississippian of Oklahoma and Kansas Furthermore and as a result of the Dynamic Offshore Resources acquisition the company has sizable assets in the Gulf of Mexico The company is headquartered in Oklahoma City and has over two thousand employees Key Drivers Growth SandRidge reported Third Quarter EBITDA of 297 million which was higher than the consensus estimate of 281 million 2012 Third Quarter EBITDA is up 74 from a year ago and 11 from the previous quarter due to strong Mississippian production Management is guiding continuing production growth of 18 in 2013 while expecting only 10 growth coming from oil production Sale of Assets to Pay Down Debt The company is looking into a sale of assets in its Permian Basin due to its high margin production Street analyst estimates range anywhere from 1 7 billion to 2 6 billion for the Permian sale given market pricing While total debt has grown by 1 5 billion in the past year to 4 3 billion the monetization of assets will be used to pay down debt and help fund Mississippian operations Growing Cash According to JP Morgan analyst Joseph Allman the company should be cash flow positive by the end of 2017 not accounting for the potential Permian sale JP Morgan expects the company to outspend their cash inflows for a total of 2 7 billion during this time period SD has enough access to liquidity to cover this shortfall As of the Third Quarter the company has 674 million in cash up from 325 million posted a year ago Furthermore the company has access to credit facility for a total of about 745 In total SD has 1 4 billion in total liquidity which coupled with inflows should be enough as the company reaches a positive cash flow balance in the years ahead Relative Value versus Peers The bond is callable on and anytime after the following dates with minimum 30 days notice and at the following prices January 1 2015 104 375 Dollar Price 5 83 Yield to Call January 1 2016 102 917 Dollar Price 6 18 Yield to Call January 1 2017 101 458 Dollar Price 6 38 Yield to Call January 1 2018 100 000 Dollar Price 6 52 Yield to Call At a current price of 109 50 the bond has a Yield to Worst of 5 83 assuming the bonds are called in 2015 Yield to Worst takes the lowest of the Yields including Yield to Maturity of 7 02 for a worst case scenario This bond has a better yield to worst than some of its Energy Exploration and Production sector peers with similar rating and call date Oasis Petroleum OAS 7 25 Coupon Maturing 2 1 2019 with a Call Date in 2015 is yielding just 5 32 OAS is rated B by S P Similarly Plains Exploration Co PXP 6 55 Coupon Maturing 11 15 2020 with a Call Date in 2015 has a Yield to Worst of 4 30 S P has ESL rated B Furthermore Wells Fargo Credit Research reported that the average Yield to Worst of the sector which comprises of 54 High Yield issuers is 5 63 DisclaimerThe above content is provided for educational and informational purposes only does not constitute a recommendation to enter in any securities transactions or to engage in any of the investment strategies presented in such content and does not represent the opinions of Bondsquawk or its employees |
CMCSA | India s censor blocks Fifty Shades of Grey from cinemas | By Shilpa Jamkhandikar MUMBAI Reuters India s government censors have said they will not allow the big screen adaptation of erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey to be shown in Indian cinemas a decision most had anticipated in the largely conservative country The chief executive of the Central Board of Film Certification Shravan Kumar declined to say why the panel refused to approve the film adaptation but said Universal Pictures the Comcast Corp NASDAQ CMCSA unit that released the film could appeal the decision A Universal Pictures source familiar with the review process said the board had objected to some of the film s dialogue even after the studio made voluntary edits to the film to tone down its sex scenes and removed all nudity The film first opened in February and has grossed at least 400 million in global sales However for some countries the kinky storyline was too much Malaysia Indonesia and Kenya have banned Fifty Shades from their theaters largely because of its sexual content The film s distributor Comcast Corp is also not pursuing a theatrical release in China the world s second largest film market where the censors tend to ban sexually explicit films Universal Studios source said the studio had already approached the relevant committee at the central board to make its appeal The source declined to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media about the censorship process The movie version of the best selling 2011 novel stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson as a couple in a sadomasochistic relationship India s censor has received much criticism in recent months Leela Samson who served several years as its chairman quit in January after accusing the federal government of interfering in the board s decisions Prime Minister Narendra Modi s government then unveiled a new look censor board which has since issued guidelines saying Indian films should not contain profanity
In the case of a new Bollywood movie Dum Laga Ke Haisha Give It All You ve Got the censor board asked that the word lesbian be purged from the film s dialogue |
CMCSA | SXSW fans see late Paul Walker s Furious 7 send off | By Piya Sinha Roy AUSTIN Texas Reuters Paul Walker s final appearance in the street racing franchise Fast Furious left a preview audience teary eyed at the South by Southwest SXSW festival for the first public screening of the last film the actor made before he died in a car crash In the film Vin Diesel s character says those who are lost go on in the hearts of the living and that was how it felt for many fans attending the midnight screening on Sunday Furious 7 out in theaters on April 3 is Walker s last appearance as law enforcement officer Brian O Connor The 40 year old died as a passenger in a one car crash in Santa Clarita California in November 2013 Before the screening the film s producer Neal Moritz appealed to viewers not to reveal what becomes of Walker s character in the franchise which has grossed more than 2 billion globally We honestly lost a dear friend brother comrade while we were making this movie Moritz said When we decided we were going to continue this movie we were determined to honor his legacy and our love for him Walker had completed most of his scenes before his death but Comcast NASDAQ CMCSA Corp owned Universal Pictures was forced to put production on hold to figure out how to continue filming without him Walker s brothers stepped in for a few remaining scenes which make a seamless transition in the completed film Walker s character Brian appears within the first 15 minutes as a settled family man but he s restless for the underworld of crime illegal street racing and heists led by Diesel s Dominic The plot filled with one liners sees Diesel Walker and co stars Tyrese Gibson Ludacris and Michelle Rodriguez take on a villain Jason Statham in cities across the world Despite Walker s death filmmakers did not shy away from the turbulent storyline of Furious 7 in which his character along with the rest of the cast are thrown into high octane life threatening situations In one scene all five drive cars out of an airplane and parachute into a mountain top race The film ended with a tribute to Walker closing with the words For Paul written in black against a white backdrop
This story corrects crash location to Santa Clarita from Malibu in third paragraph |
CMCSA | Rand Paul woos donors and hackers at tech conference | By Sarah McBride AUSTIN Tx Reuters As his likely rivals spent the weekend shaking hands in New Hampshire potential Republican candidate Rand Paul flew to Texas to court the software developers and entrepreneurs who are likely to play a central role in the 2016 election The libertarian leaning Kentucky Senator tweeted Snapchatted and Instagrammed his way through the South by Southwest Interactive conference as he sought to make inroads among an independent minded crowd that could serve as an important source of money votes and programming talent for his expected presidential bid If you want talent you gotta go where the talent is he said on Monday It was the first time a potential candidate has participated in the conference according to organizers Paul spent much of the weekend talking about the shared DNA of the tech community and the libertarian movement but he spent little time talking about net neutrality the thorny question of how to ensure that all Internet traffic is treated equally While many tech companies back recently approved rules that broadband providers such as Verizon and Comcast NASDAQ CMCSA should be regulated like utilities Paul and other Republicans have argued that the new regulations will choke off innovation It s an argument he has made in great detail in other forums In front of this crowd he framed the debate in the broadest terms possible I don t want the government to screw up one of the greatest technologies we ve had he told the conference on Sunday drawing applause The applause that line drew came as a surprise for tech consultant Warren Hanes who said he thought many at the conference weren t aware of his opposition to the new rules It s possible there are people who simply responded emotionally to the issue of less regulation he said TECHNOLOGY ARMS RACE Paul s decision to spend the weekend in Texas rather than early voting states like Iowa or New Hampshire highlight the crucial role the technology industry is likely to play in 2016 both as a source of money and talent While former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has locked down many big donors on Wall Street and Florida Senator Marco Rubio has made inroads with the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch Paul has worked hard to cultivate ties in Silicon Valley where many entrepreneurs share his frustration with government eavesdropping Campaigns have also engaged in a technology arms race since 2004 to find ever more sophisticated ways to target voters Planting the flag at South by Southwest could help Paul build a cutting edge operation On Monday he opened an office for his political action committee at the Capital Factory a shared office space for technology startups in a downtown Austin high rise The tech industry gave twice as much money to Democratic President Barack Obama than his Republican rival Mitt Romney in the 2012 election Paul s conservative stances on social issues like gay marriage and abortion could prove troubling for many in the industry where liberal social views are widespread Mozilla Corp CEO Brendan Eich for example resigned under pressure in 2014 after board members objected to his support for a previous campaign against gay marriage
Paul s views on social issues are a real problem for people like me said Jeff Boedeker a producer at a multimedia company Still he says he believes the final say on abortion and same sex marriage will go to the courts not the president making support of Paul more palatable |
CMCSA | AT T DirecTV merger escapes heat as all eyes on Comcast | By Alina Selyukh and Diane Bartz WASHINGTON Reuters AT T Inc NYSE T s proposed acquisition of satellite television company DirecTV is getting a smooth ride from U S regulators and industry rivals who instead are directing their firepower at a merger deal between the nation s two biggest cable operators U S Federal Communications Commission filings and interviews with several people familiar with the Justice Department show the 48 5 billion AT T DirecTV deal is getting far less attention than Comcast Corp NASDAQ CMCSA s agreement to buy Time Warner Cable Inc NYSE TWC for 45 billion At the core is how Comcast s deal would bolster the company s already dominant position in broadband Internet an important growth area as more Americans drop cable subscriptions to watch video on the Web Each merger would create a company controlling more than a quarter of the pay TV market But it is the Comcast deal that has triggered FCC and Justice Department inquiries resulting in hours long depositions hundreds of meetings and nearly 90 000 comments according to disclosures and people who have met with the regulators Muted opposition does not necessarily guarantee a painless regulatory process for AT T and DirecTV but it does reduce pressure on regulators whose bar is high for rejecting a merger antitrust and FCC experts say COMCAST CONCERNS With Time Warner Cable Comcast would provide high speed Internet access to almost 40 percent of Americans according to SNL Kagan data Critics at advocacy groups and telecom media and Web companies say they fear Comcast would gain unparalleled control over how content providers reach millions of pay TV subscribers as well as consumers access to video delivered by competitors over the Internet By contrast AT T covers about 17 percent of the broadband market and DirecTV does not offer Internet access The customers aren t anxious and the competitors aren t rattled said former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt now at law firm Covington Burling The FCC or the Justice Department will be looking for markets where this will have an impact and hardly anyone is telling them that there are such markets The FCC which determines if deals are in the public interest has received nearly 20 petitions to deny Comcast s proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable but only five such petitions for AT T DirecTV a review of disclosures shows The FCC has received about 14 000 brief comments on the AT T deal many from members of the public concerned about the merger according to a Reuters tally On Comcast Time Warner Cable the agency has gotten about 88 000 such comments FCC disclosures show officials there have held more than 300 meetings with supporters and opponents of Comcast s proposed merger compared with about 70 for AT T DirecTV A critic of the AT T DirecTV deal who met with the Justice Department said reviewers there asked few questions and gave blank stares The Justice Department which looks at antitrust issues and the FCC declined to comment for this story A Comcast spokeswoman declined to comment on comparisons with AT T s merger But she said merging with Time Warner Cable would not cause consumers to lose any video broadband or phone choices as the two companies do not directly compete in any market
An AT T spokesman said the DirecTV acquisition received support from labor rural interests the tech community and many others eager for an alternative to cable |
WFC | Your Money Same sex marriage boom not yet fueling a path to wealth | By Beth Pinsker NEW YORK Reuters A year after Travis Kelso Turner and his husband got married their to do list of financial tasks still daunts them I m still finding times I have to fill out new paperwork because of the name change said the 30 year old Las Vegas resident who is executive director of the Executive Pride networking group for corporate executives advocating for lesbian gay bisexual and transgender rights in the workforce The most difficult job was adding his new husband to the deed and mortgage of the house they had bought together four years earlier before marriage equality became the law throughout the United States That landmark Supreme Court decision in June 2015 is making a significant impact on the finances of the LGBT community because of the large increase in the number of same sex married couples surveys have found The rate of marriage in the LGBT community more than tripled in four years to 26 percent in 2016 from 8 percent in 2012 according to a Prudential LON PRU survey released on Thursday The percentage of survey respondents with children also rose significantly to 39 percent from 15 percent Among the top benefits of same sex marriage are the ability to make healthcare decisions for a spouse and the access to a spouse s insurance and healthcare coverage according to a just released study from Wells Fargo NYSE WFC Also important inheritance rights and spousal Social Security benefits The ability to file taxes jointly is more of a toss up as the so called marriage penalty means a couple is taxed higher together than individually Kelso Turner and his husband for instance got hit with a big bill in their first year of married filing jointly because of their combined incomes and conversions they made to their retirement funds THE MARRIAGE BOOST For the most part though family formation is the key to creating wealth said RBC Wealth Management financial adviser Darla Kashian of Minneapolis That boost may be crucial to improving the finances of the LGBT community The Prudential survey found those respondents lagged the general population in several key areas of financial security Only 40 percent of LGBT respondents said they had savings accounts compared with 47 percent of the general population The LGBT individuals also were behind in retirement investing insurance and estate planning Prudential also uncovered a significant wage gap along a spectrum Heterosexual and bisexual men made more than gay men and gay men made more than heterosexual women Heterosexual women made more than lesbian women with bisexual women at the lowest end of the pay scale The income gap is probably driving the differences in financial security said Prudential Individual Life Insurance Prudential Advisors Chief Executive Officer Kent Sluyter There s a drag that magnifies itself over time Sluyter said When Kashian came out at 18 her family did not accept her and she had to support herself sooner than her peers Now in her 50s she said men of her generation who came out in the early 1980s simply did not think they would be alive today so retirement planning was not on their minds There s an element of catching up when they come in now for financial planning Kashian said My message to clients is that you have to start where you are at Christopher Street Financial Managing Partner Jen Hatch stressed the importance of making LGBT clients feel like they will not face rejection especially in rural areas where there is not as much acceptance Hatch whose New York firm specializes in LGBT financial planning said some certified financial planners are Accredited Domestic Partnership Advisors who deal with the lingering specialized issues One way to find a financial pro with the right skills is a site called Pride Planners There are some really wacky outstanding problems that don t apply to everyone Hatch said It s still very specialized and creative
This story has been refiled to add dropped letter to Wells Fargo in sixth paragraph |
WFC | U S business spending weak in May Brexit seen adding more pressure | By Lucia Mutikani
WASHINGTON Reuters New orders for U S manufactured capital goods unexpectedly fell in May as demand declined broadly indicating business spending will remain a drag on economic growth in the second quarter
The subdued business investment persists despite data on retail sales housing and layoffs suggesting the economy has regained speed after growth stalled at the start of the year
Economists say uncertainty over the global economy and the upcoming U S presidential elections are making companies cautious about spending and that uncertainty is likely to be exacerbated by Britain s shock vote to leave the European Union on Thursday
The surprising leave outcome of the British referendum will result in the intensification of these uncertainties potentially hampering business capital investment said Millan Mulraine deputy chief economist at TD Securities in New York
The U S Commerce Department said on Friday non defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft a closely watched proxy for business spending plans fell 0 7 percent last month after dropping 0 4 percent in April These so called core capital goods orders had been forecast to rise 0 3 percent in May
Core capital goods orders have increased in only six of the last 17 months With core capital goods orders falling for a second straight month in May spending on equipment will likely continue to weigh on economic growth in the second quarter
Shipments of core capital goods which are used to calculate equipment spending in the government s gross domestic product measurement slipped 0 5 percent last month after rising 0 6 percent in April Shipments were little changed in March
U S business spending on equipment has declined over the last two quarters It dropped in the first quarter at its quickest pace since the second quarter of 2009
Should spending on equipment fall in the second quarter that would be the first time since the recession of 2008 that it would have contracted for three straight quarters
Weak business spending and uncertainty over the so called Brexit referendum make it unlikely that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in the near term
A separate report on Friday showed U S consumer sentiment ebbed in June as Americans anticipated slower economic growth in the year ahead
U S financial markets were little affected by the durable goods orders data on Friday as investors were more concerned about the costs of Brexit The U S dollar jumped against a basket of currencies and prices for U S government debt rallied on safe haven bids while U S stock prices tumbled in line with share markets globally
GROWING UNCERTAINTY
Following the weak core capital goods orders figures the Atlanta Fed lowered its second quarter GDP estimate by two tenths of a percentage point to a 2 6 percent annual rate The economy grew at a 0 8 percent pace in the first quarter
With business spending remaining weak manufacturing is showing no signs of pulling out of the slump that started in mid 2014 which was precipitated by a surge in the U S dollar
Manufacturing has also been undermined by lower oil prices which have put pressure on producers of energy related equipment and efforts by businesses to reduce an inventory overhang have also inflected pain
Manufacturing accounts for about 12 percent of the U S economy
Last month overall orders for durable goods items ranging from toasters to aircraft that are meant to last three years or more fell 2 2 percent after surging 3 3 percent in April
There were declines in orders for machinery primary metals computers and electronic products as electrical equipment appliances and components Orders for transportation equipment plunged 5 6 percent as demand for automobiles fell 2 8 percent
After the U S dollar retreated this year against the currencies of the United States main trading partners and with oil prices gradually rising there had been hope that the worst of the manufacturing downturn was over
But economists now worry that Britain s departure from the European Union could spur fresh economic weakness which could hurt global growth and put downward pressure on oil prices and boost the appeal of the U S dollar
For the U S industrial sector the outlook for global demand looks weaker this morning than it did just a day ago given the added uncertainties surrounding the U K and euro area economies said Tim Quinlan a senior economist at Wells Fargo NYSE WFC in Charlotte North Carolina |
WFC | Fed minutes suggest rate hikes on hold until Brexit impact clearer | By Jason Lange and Lindsay Dunsmuir WASHINGTON Reuters Federal Reserve policymakers decided in June that interest rate hikes should stay on hold until they have a handle on the consequences of Britain s vote on EU membership according to the minutes of the Fed s June policy meeting released on Wednesday The minutes of the June 14 15 meeting which took place ahead of the June 23 referendum in which Britons voted to leave the European Union showed widespread unease over the so called Brexit vote including among voting members on the rate setting Federal Open Market Committee Members generally agreed that before assessing whether another step in removing monetary accommodation was warranted it was prudent to wait for additional data on the consequences of the U K vote according to the minutes Worries have only intensified since the vote and Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo cited the rise in uncertainty on Wednesday when he argued for holding off on rate hikes until inflation had turned decisively higher At the June policy meeting policymakers also cited a severe slowdown in hiring by U S employers as a reason for leaving interest rates steady last month the minutes showed The Brexit vote shocked investors and triggered 2 trillion in losses in global stock markets the day after the referendum Anxieties remain with global financial conditions tightening as investors anticipate it could take years before Britain and the EU agree to new rules on finance trade and immigration On Wednesday U S benchmark and long dated Treasury yields hit record lows with some investors betting the Fed would keep rates on hold through 2017 We would need to see a few months of good data to support a hike said Brian Jacobsen chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo NYSE WFC Funds Management in Menomonee Falls Wisconsin The dollar which has gained more than two percent against a basket of currencies since the Brexit vote and could weigh on U S exporters weakened slightly following publication of the minutes Before the British vote the Fed had signaled two interest rate hikes would likely be needed this year to keep the U S economy from eventually overheating But since the British referendum several Fed policymakers have said the uncertainty warrants caution including New York Fed President William Dudley who said on Tuesday the Fed needed to be patient on rate increases and that it was too soon to know the fallout from the British decision A severe slowdown in hiring during May and weak business investment even outside the sagging energy sector had raised questions about the U S outlook even before the Brexit vote Still in the minutes of the June meeting many Fed policymakers who participated in the policy discussion stressed the sharpness of the hiring slowdown could be statistical noise and most argued the economy would be ready for rate increases unless a financial or economic shock knocks America off course according to the minutes Since the Brexit vote the British pound has plunged 13 percent against the dollar including a 1 percent decline on Wednesday and investors and policymakers are watching out for further signs of financial stress that could hit economic growth in America and worldwide
None of us really knows the magnitude and I doubt there will be a moment when people say Brexit is done Tarullo said on Wednesday There is a good bit of uncertainty |
WFC | An Assault On Yield Oriented ETFs | Are we tiring of the fiscal cliff story Is it becoming cliche to state the obvious that uncertainty over the resolution of expiring tax breaks and potential spending cuts is adversely affecting the stock market Perhaps Yet one avenue that hasn t received as much digital ink is the possibility that yield is turning into a dirty word It may have five letters but yield oriented assets have been performing like four letter losers Consider what we might typically expect when economic growth is weak that is sub par expansion usually favors income producers Dividend stocks utility stocks master limited partnerships REITs each tends to rely less on economic cycles and more on reliable income streams However the current uncertainty surrounding future tax policy is wreaking havoc on income producers Many have been hit every bit as hard as the broader S P 500 SPDR Trust SPY High Yielding ETFs Since Post Election Selling Spree 11 7 11 15 Theoretically of course the vast majority of assets in the table should have a built in buffer against downside erosion The distribution component on yield oriented ETFs should offset excessive capital depreciation On the other hand the market has presented a different theoretical construct Specifically if dividend tax hikes have the potential to be worse than capital gains hikes can you still afford to hold onto the cash flow generators From my vantage point no asset should be deemed riskless One still needs to employ hedges or stop limit loss orders to including yield oriented ETFs By the same token an investor should not wait for calm waters to participate If you have cash that you ve been waiting to put to work and if you do not currently own assets like JP Morgan Alerian AMJ or E Tracs Wells Fargo Business Development Company ETN BDCS now might be the perfect time to get your yield on Just make certain that you have an exit plan Disclosure Gary Gordon MS CFP is the president of Pacific Park Financial Inc a Registered Investment Adviser with the SEC Gary Gordon Pacific Park Financial Inc and or its clients may hold positions in the ETFs mutual funds and or any investment asset mentioned above The commentary does not constitute individualized investment advice The opinions offered herein are not personalized recommendations to buy sell or hold securities At times issuers of exchange traded products compensate Pacific Park Financial Inc or its subsidiaries for advertising at the ETF Expert web site ETF Expert content is created independently of any advertising relationships |
CMCSA | Fifty Shades of Grey rakes in 81 7 million on opening weekend | By Chris Michaud Reuters Fifty Shades of Grey the widely anticipated adaptation of the best selling novel about a kinky relationship between a businessman and a college student took in 81 7 million in ticket sales to soar to the top of U S and Canadian weekend box office charts The film which stars James Dornan and Dakota Johnson as the libidinous couple far outpaced the No 2 release Kingsman The Secret Service which took in 35 6 million from Friday through Sunday according to studio estimates Third place on the U S Presidents Day holiday weekend went to the family friendly The SpongeBob Movie Sponge Out of Water based on the popular television show about a talking animated sponge which sold 30 5 million in tickets at U S and Canadian theaters Fifty Shades got a boost from a Valentine s Day opening after it was released earlier in the week in 57 foreign markets It took in an additional 158 million overseas for a global total of 240 million Early U S screenings on Thursday night brought in 8 6 million setting the scene for a record breaking opening for any Presidents Day weekend Nick Carpou president of domestic distribution for Universal Pictures the Comcast Corp Unit that released the film said a combination of Valentine s Day a long holiday weekend and intense interest from smaller and mid sized markets all helped drive the record numbers Pre sale figures in southern states such as Mississippi and Kentucky reflected especially high interest Sales in the northeast being pummeled by another big winter storm as well as in the south central regions of the country exceeded what might have been expected Carpou said Kingsman an adaptation of a popular comic series starring Samuel L Jackson and Colin Firth about a spy agency s training program and a global threat by a tech genius received solid reviews and exceeded industry forecasts Rounding out the top five the box office hit American Sniper took in 16 4 million bringing its domestic haul to just over 304 million and making it one of the biggest hits of 2014 15 The Clint Eastwood directed film is nominated for six Oscars including one for Bradley Cooper as best actor The sci fi film Jupiter Ascending was fifth with 9 4 million
Kingsman The Secret Service was released by 20th Century Fox a unit of 21st Century Fox The SpongeBob Movie was distributed by Paramount Pictures a unit of Viacom Inc American Sniper and Jupiter Ascending were released by Warner Brothers a unit of Time Warner Inc |
CMCSA | Obama chooses Clancy to be Secret Service director | WASHINGTON Reuters President Barack Obama has chosen Joseph Clancy as the new head of the U S Secret Service the White House said on Wednesday after a series of high profile security lapses led to a shake up in the troubled agency s leadership Clancy who personally helped guard the lives of three U S presidents has been head of the agency on an interim basis for the past four months Director Julia Pierson stepped down in October after an embarrassing Sept 19 White House breach in which a man carrying a knife jumped the fence and ran into the executive mansion Obama chose Clancy a 27 year veteran of the Secret Service despite the recommendation of an independent review panel in December that the next director be someone from outside the agency which it said had become too insular White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Clancy has a lot of credibility built up inside the agency and he used that credibility to put in place reforms that were recommended by this outside panel appointed by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson Over the course of the last several months Director Clancy has demonstrated the kind of leadership that frankly many of us expected him to demonstrate Earnest said at a news briefing Republican U S Representative Jason Chaffetz chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee which has investigated the Secret Service s problems said he was disappointed Obama did not appoint someone with a fresh perspective The good men and women of the Secret Service are screaming for a fresh start he said in a statement At this moment in time the Secret Service would best be served by a transformative and dynamic leader from outside the agency Clancy rejoined the service after leaving his job as head of security for the Comcast O CMCSA media corporation in the Philadelphia area where he grew up In addition to the fence jumper with a knife in September the service s credibility also was damaged in 2012 when it was revealed that members had hired prostitutes while in Cartagena Colombia in advance of an Obama trip and in 2011 when a man hit the White House with automatic rifle fire although the damage was not discovered until four days later
Corrects to Director from Doctor fifth paragraph |
CMCSA | Hit Fifty Shades of Grey retains top spot at U S box office | By Chris Michaud Reuters The hit film Fifty Shades of Grey an adaptation of the best selling novel about a kinky relationship between a businessman and a college student raked in another 23 2 million in ticket sales to lead U S and Canadian box office charts for a second week The film which stars James Dornan and Dakota Johnson as the libidinous couple again outpaced the No 2 release Kingsman The Secret Service which took in 17 5 million from Friday through Sunday according to studio estimates Third place on Oscar weekend when Hollywood is buzzing with anticipation of Sunday s annual Academy Awards ceremony again went to the family friendly The SpongeBob Movie Sponge Out of Water based on the popular television show about a talking animated sponge It sold 15 5 million in tickets The three films replicated their standings from a week ago and also outperformed a trio of new films that opened this week Fifty Shades a bona fide box office bonanza has already racked up 410 million in global sales in less than two weeks according to Universal Pictures the Comcast Corp NASDAQ CMCSA O unit that released the film Despite an expected steep second weekend drop the film is an unqualified success and a profit making machine noted Paul Dergarabedian senior media analyst at box office tracking firm Rentrak Fourth place went to McFarland USA which stars Kevin Costner as a track coach in a small California town The film released by Walt Disney made 11 3 million for the three days from Friday to Sunday Rounding out the top five high school comedy The DUFF which stars Mae Whitman took in 11 million Both films scored solid reviews before proving popular with audiences Another new release Hot Tub Time Machine 2 settled for the No 7 spot after being outpaced by box office juggernaut and Oscar nominee American Sniper s 9 7 million haul The film developed and financed by MGM and which cost just 14 million took in 5 8 million on its opening weekend less than half the take of the original 2010 film Kingsman is an adaptation of a popular comic series starring Samuel L Jackson and Colin Firth about a spy agency s training program and a global threat by a tech genius
Kingsman The Secret Service was released by 20th Century Fox the unit of 21st Century Fox The SpongeBob Movie was distributed by Paramount Pictures a unit of Viacom Inc |
CMCSA | Eddie Redmayne wins first Oscar for Theory of Everything | LOS ANGELES Reuters Eddie Redmayne won his first Oscar on Sunday for his break out role as physicist Stephen Hawking in the biographical movie The Theory of Everything The British actor 33 took home the Academy Award for best actor for playing Hawking and the disabling complications of a motor neuron disease known as Lou Gehrig s disease or ALS over the course of 30 years The Oscar came as little surprise following Golden Globe SAG and British BAFTA trophies for his performance which catapulted Redmayne from a relative unknown in Hollywood to its newest and most modest star I am fully aware that I am a lucky lucky man Redmayne said as he held the gold statuette on stage This belongs to all of those people around the world battling ALS Redmayne spent seven months preparing to play Hawking mastering his physical decline into almost total paralysis as well as his dry wit mischievous glint and lady s man charm He met the author of A Brief History of Time just days before filming began Hawking now 72 gave his blessing to the film even though it is based on the memoir of first wife Jane who married the young genius when he was given two years to live Before The Theory of Everything the freckle faced Redmayne was best known as an up and coming actor in movies such as My Week with Marilyn and the musical Les Miserables in which he played the rebellious young lover Marius Educated among Britain s elite at Eton College and Cambridge University Redmayne made his professional acting debut in London in 2002 at Shakespeare s Globe Theatre Eight years later he won Britain s top stage award an Olivier for his role in the play Red and followed it with a Tony award when the play transferred to Broadway
Redmayne has also worked as a Burberry clothes model and he topped the 2015 list of GQ s magazine s 50 best dressed British men |
CMCSA | Comcast revenue rises as it adds video internet customers | By Lisa Richwine Reuters Comcast Corp NASDAQ CMCSA O the largest U S cable operator posted fourth quarter revenue that marginally beat estimates as the company added new video and high speed internet customers The owner of media and entertainment company NBCUniversal also increased its stock buyback program to 10 billion of which it earmarked 4 25 billion for 2015 and raised its annual dividend to 1 00 per share from 90 cents Comcast which is awaiting approval from U S regulators for its 45 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable NYSE TWC said on Tuesday total revenue rose 4 8 percent to 17 73 billion in the quarter ended December That was slightly higher than the 17 68 billion analysts on average had expected according to Thomson Reuters I B E S Net income attributable to Comcast inched up 0 6 percent to 1 93 billion or 74 cents per share Earnings was 77 cents per share after excluding items such as favorable income tax adjustments Comcast added video customers for the third time in the last five quarters picking up 6 000 new subscribers from October through December But that was less than the 46 000 it brought in a year earlier The number of new video subscribers is closely watched on Wall Street as pay TV operators fight to keep customers in the midst of competition from streaming video services Comcast s high speed internet customers rose by 375 000 a similar gain to a year earlier The company also added 123 000 voice customers during the quarter At NBC Universal revenue rose 2 3 percent to 6 62 billion boosted by theme parks and the NBC broadcast network While the Universal theme park in Florida lured visitors with a new Harry Potter attraction NBC s performance has improved with bigger audiences for shows including crime drama The Blacklist Advertising revenue at cable networks dropped 5 6 percent in the quarter to 857 million amid a decline in ratings that has hit networks across the TV industry The NBC broadcast network s ad revenue rose 3 1 percent to 1 66 billion Revenue at the film studio fell nearly 11 percent from a year earlier when the company benefited from home entertainment sales of blockbuster animated film Despicable Me 2
Comcast s shares closed at 58 21 on Monday on the Nasdaq |
CMCSA | Comcast expects to close to Time Warner Cable deal in early 2015 | Reuters Comcast Corp NASDAQ CMCSA O said on Tuesday it was optimistic that it would close its 45 billion deal to buy Time Warner Cable Inc NYSE TWC in early 2015 Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts said during a conference call on Tuesday that lots of information gathering was taking place between Comcast and U S regulators Chief Financial Officer Michael Angelakis said We are optimistic and feel comfortable that the deal will close in early 2015 The merger is being closely watched especially as the government considers tightening rules on how broadband Internet service is provided Comcast is one of the leading broadband and cable providers in the United States Later this week the Federal Communications Commission will vote on whether to regulate broadband service companies like telephone companies Roberts reiterated Comcast s position calling the proposal antiquated
Comcast earlier on Tuesday said fourth quarter revenue rose 4 8 percent to 17 73 billion |
CMCSA | New Internet rules set up industry s next battle | By Leila Abboud and Julia Fioretti BARCELONA BRUSSELS Reuters New rules that aim to protect the openness of the Internet will allow telecom and cable groups to prioritize and earn potentially vast income from some types of data setting up likely clashes with regulators in the future Telecom companies such as AT T NYSE T and Vodafone have convinced U S and European regulators finalizing so called net neutrality rules to allow them to dedicate network capacity to services such as providing connectivity to driverless cars and facilitating the exchange of medical data between patients and health professionals Whether this proves to be a loophole or a necessary protection will only be known later The industry will be able to develop such specialized services as long as they do not hurt the delivery of the normal Internet to homes and businesses The firms expect such services could generate billions in revenue one day as everyday tasks are increasingly connected to the web Telecom and cable companies argue being able to charge for different services and speeds would help fund network upgrades and develop new industrial uses for the web such as smart electricity meters Silicon Valley and net neutrality activists counter that such treatment would lead to a two speed system where telecom and cable groups could prioritize their own content and squeeze out start ups who cannot pay Antonios Drossos a net neutrality advocate at consultancy Rewheel Ltd in Finland said the U S FCC and European regulators would handle the issue of what was permitted under specialized services on a case by case basis It comes down to whether you trust the network operators Do you believe they want to do health care and connected cars or are they just looking for a loophole around the net neutrality The debate about whether all web traffic should be treated equally has become a hot issue because of disputes between network operators and bandwidth hungry services such as Google s Youtube and Netflix and attempts by some telecom and cable companies to block services like Skype and file sharing software Bit torrent The issue will be one focus of discussion this week at Mobile World Congress the telecoms industry s annual conference where U S Federal Communications Commission FCC head Tom Wheeler will speak on Tuesday OPPORTUNITY FOR EUROPE Some European telecoms executives believe that the region will take a more accommodating stance on net neutrality in the future than the U S where the FCC on Thursday expanded its powers to police broadband companies The new European Commission under President Jean Claude Juncker wants to spur growth by encouraging telecoms firms to invest in faster broadband infrastructure so is advocating a softer regulatory line on the industry The FCC voted in the U S to regulate broadband as a utility like service ending decades of a light touch approach to companies like Verizon and Comcast NASDAQ CMCSA O A high level European telecom executive said European carriers could jump ahead in developing new businesses that use their networks to collect mountains of sensor data from everything to connected cars to factory production while their U S peers are mired in regulatory uncertainty U S Internet service providers or their trade associations are expected to challenge the new regulations in court potentially dragging into 2016 There is a real opportunity to re launch European innovation in the so called industrial Internet said the executive A window will exist for Europe to take the lead in connected devices if policymakers set the right net neutrality rules A U S telecoms lobbyist acknowledged that development of such services could be slowed if companies felt that regulators were looking over their shoulders I think when we talk about a connected fridge we don t yet know lots of future products are unclear the person said If there are robust protections for non Internet broadband services we ll continue to innovate and remain ahead of Europe If I don t know which bucket my service is going to fall into that s not a great answer to have MORE SANGUINE IN EUROPE The political environment on net neutrality in the U S and Europe is very different While U S network operators are up in arms about the FCC taking new regulatory authority on broadband their European peers are more accustomed to harsher regulation Europeans also have more choice of broadband providers because of rules forcing former state owned telecom groups to share their line into homes with rivals while Americans typically only have a choice between a local cable monopoly and a telecom carrier Tom Phillips who heads regulatory affairs for telecoms trade group GSMA said European carriers can live with the coming net neutrality rules because a patchwork of different national laws would be worse The Netherlands and Slovenia have their own net neutrality rules Dutch regulators in January fined carriers KPN 250 000 euros and Vodafone 200 000 euros for breaking the rules The European operators are pragmatic and would prefer to get a European policy done so as not leave a vacuum for member states to fill said Phillips A challenge for regulators globally will be policing whether telecom and cable companies are using specialized services as a way around the obligation to treat traffic equally
The European Parliament which passed net neutrality rules last April now being negotiated with member states tried to build in protections against this issue But those are likely to be watered down in the final version of the law experts say under pressure from industry |
WFC | Public pension funds seek infrastructure as market heats up | By Robin Respaut SAN FRANCISCO Reuters The California Public Employees Retirement System recently bought a stake in a private Indiana toll road with a troubled history one sign of how popular infrastructure investments have become among U S pension funds In May CalPERS bought a 10 percent stake of the road s concession representing the first U S transportation investment for the nation s largest public pension fund The Indiana Toll Road had been acquired out of bankruptcy in 2015 for about 50 percent more than its original 2006 price by a fund made up of more than 70 U S pension plans Infrastructure such as roads bridges rail airports water storage utilities and pipelines has long been favored by pension funds in Canada Australia and the United Kingdom Now as an era of strong returns in stocks and bonds is believed to be winding down more U S public pension funds are looking to buy real assets for their portfolios seeking cash generating stable investments in a low interest environment The number of institutional investors with stakes in infrastructure has more than doubled since 2011 to more than 2 750 from 1 300 according to Preqin an alternative assets research firm Among the top 10 public pension funds investing in infrastructure allocations more than quadrupled over the past five years to 17 7 billion The pace is likely to continue Forecasts for infrastructure are more bullish than other real assets such as real estate or private equity with the majority of fund managers planning to increase the pace of investment in the next year according to a 2016 report by Preqin and financial services firm BNY Mellon For a graphic on rising demand for infrastructure assets see Such competition has made it more difficult for public pension funds to secure revenue from projects like Indiana Toll Road There s too much capital chasing too few deals said Randy Gerardes Wells Fargo NYSE WFC Securities Senior Analyst On Monday CalPERS plans to discuss a new bill that would spur the state to identify needed California infrastructure projects The state would then propose that CalPERS directly invest in the projects while the state guarantees a favorable return rate The bill is part of a push by the legislature to improve the state s aging infrastructure estimated to need 77 billion worth of repairs according to state estimates CalPERS began purchasing infrastructure projects in 2008 in an effort to diversify its portfolio amid plunging equity markets and later set an ambitious goal to invest 5 billion about 2 percent of the portfolio The long lifecycles of road airport and energy projects correspond well with funds long term liabilities Pension funds seek investments that are large enough to house billions of dollars and infrastructure projects typically require huge commitments of capital There s also the allure of inflation protection as toll revenues often rise at a similar pace Interest has intensified as confidence in the equity markets has waned We think we re entering a world of much lower average returns particularly in the developed world s bond and equity markets said Richard Hobbs McKinsey Global Institute Council Director Public pension funds many under intense pressure to achieve returns of at least 7 5 percent often seek projects that offer the right combination of low risk steady cash returns and good price The California State Teachers Retirement System CalSTRS the nation s second largest public pension fund would like about 4 percent of its portfolio in infrastructure But today it has committed only 1 4 percent or 2 7 billion CalPERS too has struggled to reach its target commitment Infrastructure only makes up 1 percent of the funds behemoth 293 6 billion total portfolio just half of the long term target Still CalPERS made considerable strides in the last three months boosting its infrastructure investments to 3 1 billion from 2 3 billion with the purchase of stakes in California solar plants and the Indiana Toll Road Demand has driven deal prices to a record high of 528 million in 2015 compared to 337 million in 2010 and will likely force investors into riskier assets or different geographies such as in emerging markets In April Paul Mouchakkaa CalPERS managing director for real assets said opportunities were much more tilted to outside the country but CalPERS has capped its investment abroad to 50 percent arguing that any more would require the pension fund to hire a significant amount of people These are extremely local markets Chief Investment Officer Ted Eliopoulos told the board in April Potential returns must be weighed against risks of foreign currencies tax codes and laws You can t just pick up and bring them back home |
WFC | Fed leaves interest rates unchanged signals lower rate path going forward | By Jason Lange and Howard Schneider
WASHINGTON Reuters The Federal Reserve kept U S interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and signaled it still planned two hikes this year although a slowing economic growth path for 2016 and 2017 prompted a downgrade in where the U S central bank thought rates would peak
Even this year s rates projection was less secure than previously however Six of the Fed s 17 individual forecasts from governors and regional Fed presidents projected just one hike this year compared with one such outlook when the forecasts were last issued three months ago
We are quite uncertain about where rates are heading in the longer term Fed Chair Janet Yellen told a news conference after the rate decision
The U S central bank lowered its economic growth forecast for 2016 to 2 0 percent growth from 2 2 percent and its outlook for 2017 to 2 0 percent from 2 1 percent
It also cut its longer term view of the appropriate federal funds rate by a quarter point to 3 percent and indicated it would be less aggressive in tightening monetary policy after the end of this year
Yellen gave no clues as to whether a rate hike could come as early as the Fed s next rate setting meeting in July or whether the central bank would wait for a slew of firmer data as it headed into its September meeting Markets have all but priced out any rate rise in 2016
While the recent labor market data have on balance been disappointing it s important not to overreact to one or two monthly readings she said adding the Fed expected jobs to strengthen further
Policymakers have been worried about potential weakness in the U S labor market and the possibility of financial turmoil if Britain votes next week to leave the European Union
Yellen acknowledged Brexit was one of the factors in Wednesday s rate decision and said Britain s decision whether to remain or leave the European Union would have consequences for economic and financial conditions in global financial markets
A DOVISH SETUP SIGNALING CONCERNS OVER FUTURE GROWTH
Financial markets all but priced out a rate increase this year after the Fed statement and U S short term interest rate futures contracts rose U S stocks held on to their pre meeting gains
Even steady Fed hawks backed away from pushing for a hike at Wednesday s meeting analysts noted
It s as dovish as the Fed can get without actually cutting rates Even Kansas City Fed President Esther George withdrew her dissent The path of rates is lower which is a big dovish swing said Brian Jacobsen chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo NYSE WFC Fund Management
The Fed has implemented just one rate rise in a decade and its target range for overnight lending rates between banks remained between 0 25 percent to 0 50 percent
It raised rates in December and initially signaled four increases were likely for 2016 Concerns about a global economic slowdown and volatility in financial markets subsequently reduced that number to two
Although worries about the health of the global economy have eased a sharp slowdown in U S hiring in May was unsettling More recent data have indicated that last month s jobs report may have been a blip
The Fed statement said economic activity appeared to have picked up since April
Economists polled by Reuters had seen virtually no chance that the Fed would raise rates on Wednesday Most had expected it to do so in July or September on a view that the U S job market would bounce back and Britain s EU referendum would not lead to a financial meltdown |
WFC | DoubleLine s Gundlach Rate hike cycle has left the building | By Jennifer Ablan NEW YORK Reuters Jeffrey Gundlach chief executive officer at DoubleLine Capital said on Wednesday that Federal Reserve officials are no longer trying to prepare the markets for rate hikes because they are no longer certain they are going to raise them The rate hike cycle has left the building Gundlach said in a telephone interview after Wednesday s decision by Fed policymakers to leave rates unchanged They are not preparing the markets for a rate hike at all he said The Federal Reserve kept U S interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and signaled it still planned two hikes this year although a slowing economic growth path for 2016 and 2017 prompted a downgrade in where the U S central bank thought rates would peak What I think is that the Fed doesn t believe their own dot plot anymore said Gundlach who oversees 100 billion at Los Angeles based DoubleLine Capital Federal Reserve officials publish their forecasts for the central bank s key interest rate on a chart known as the dot plot Even steady Fed hawks backed away from pushing for a hike at Wednesday s meeting analysts noted It s as dovish as the Fed can get without actually cutting rates Even Kansas City Fed President Esther George withdrew her dissent The path of rates is lower which is a big dovish swing said Brian Jacobsen chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo NYSE WFC Fund Management Gundlach said he does not believe U S economic growth is strong enough to justify the two rate hikes the Fed is planning later this year I just don t see it They ll be lucky if they can raise it once Overall Gundlach said following Fed Chair Janet Yellen s news conference Yellen sounds like she doesn t have confidence anymore She is backing away from any forecast She is simply saying I really don t want to forecast anymore We are done with this forecasting game The subtext is that we ve been so wrong forecasting the data we should stop The man known on Wall Street as the Bond King is one of the first heavyweight investors to raise red flags publicly about the credibility of major central banks including the U S Federal Reserve as countries struggle to manage economic growth
Last year Gundlach correctly predicted that oil prices would plunge junk bonds would live up to their name and China s slowing economy would pressure emerging markets In 2014 he forecast U S Treasury yields would fall not rise as many others had expected |
WFC | U S based fund managers eye British homebuilders banks before Brexit vote | By David Randall
NEW YORK Reuters Market volatility heading into Thursday s British vote on whether to remain in the European Union is creating opportunities to buy homebuilders banks and consumer companies linked to the domestic economy in Britain contrarian fund managers from several well known firms say
Their argument That domestic companies should hold up better than the market expects even if voters elect to leave the European Union partly because they tend to have strong balance sheets and could weather the costs of a transition Domestic focused British companies would also see less of an impact by any declines in the value of the sterling
Obviously the stock market could be worse in the short term with a leave vote but we don t see demand for services being impacted significantly said Connor Muldoon a portfolio manager at Causeway Capital Management which manages 40 billion in total assets Muldoon s funds owns banks such as Lloyd s Banking Group PLC that are large mortgage lenders and which are down for the year to date
Domestic companies have been the most hurt in the run up to the referendum The FTSE 250 index made up of companies on the London Stock Exchange that tend to be more dependent on domestic spending is down 2 5 percent in the year to date while the larger more globally focused companies in the FTSE 100 are up slightly for the year
Vince Montemaggiore who manages the 5 3 billion Fidelity Overseas Fund said that he remains overweight on companies with a defensible moat that focus on the British domestic economy while remaining underweight on Europe as a whole
Consumer company Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC the parent of brands ranging from Durex condoms to Lysol disinfectant spray was among his top holdings in his April quarterly disclosures according to Morningstar data
I do like the odds but we have to wait as the world figures out what the future is going to look like in Europe he said
Jim Tringas a portfolio manager at Wells Fargo NYSE WFC Asset Management who co manages the 226 million Global Opportunities Fund and the 941 million Special Small Cap Value fund said that he added to Britain focused real estate stocks over the last week as the market swooned
We ve been finding opportunities to buy very strong franchises that were down significantly because of the macro factor he said |
WFC | S P 500 Snapshot Worst Week Since Memorial Day | Despite positive pre market futures the S P 500 struggled at the open but rallied around the amazingly strong report But alas the gains had no staying power Earnings season continues to weigh heavily with the popular press pointing to concerns about shrinking profit margins in big financials e g the fine print in in the quarterly reports of Wells Fargo and JP Morgan The S P 500 closed the day with a modest 0 30 decline but the tally for the week was 2 21 the worst weekly close since the four day Memorial Day week which saw a 3 02 plunge Here is a 5 minute snapshot of today s market action Here is a 60 minute view since just before the QE3 announcement We ve had twin peaks between then and now And we re currently resting on the 50 day moving average which may or may not provide support see the last chart below Stay tuned The index is now up 13 60 for 2012 From a longer term perspective the S P 500 is 111 2 above the March 2009 closing low and 8 7 below the nominal all time high of October 2007 For a better sense of how these declines figure into a larger historical context here s a long term view of in the S P Composite since 1871 |
WFC | Jack Welch s Gaffe | If I could write that tweet again I would have added a few question marks at the end in order to make it clear I was raising a question he wrote Still he added the dip in unemployment is downright implausible Bloomberg reporting on Jack Welch s now infamous tweet about the employment report Welch s original Twitter quote was Unbelievable jobs numbers these Chicago guys will do anything can t debate so change numbers Since his gaffe Welch has been on the receiving end of ongoing criticism Rightfully so in our view Anyone remotely familiar with the Bureau of Labor Statistics and its methods knows how impossible it would be to cook these numbers Furthermore those engaged in the massive task of preparing employment statistics are true professionals and do their work without political partiality Each of those 2000 folks may personally have a view on Obama or Romney but it doesn t color the monthly employment numbers The most disappointing thing about the Jack Welch affair is his continuing belligerent stance He introduced the question mark addition in an interview with Anderson Cooper of CNN I saw it and watched Welch dig himself into an even deeper hole He repeated it in a CNN interview with Ali Velshi the next day Oh Jack why not just admit you made a mistake Our friend and regular fishing partner John Silvia has an excellent piece on the Welch gaffe and the BLS activity John is quite skilled in this statistical arena He has given us permission to link to Wells Fargo s website so readers See the Unemployment Rate Debate We thank John and hope readers find his words helpful John in return you will get one of my special Chernobyl Ants in Jackson Hole or in Maine BTW dear readers if you know Jack Welch please send him the link BY David R Kotok |
WFC | October Signals The Start Of Corporate Earnings Season | Stocks slipped on Friday as investors fretted over what is expected to be a weak corporate earnings season Investors failed to be cheered even by data showing Americans were the most upbeat they have been in five years as well as record quarterly profits at JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo As a result U S stocks posted their worst weekly decline since June There s a lot of trepidation about earnings season said Michael Sawyer chief investment officer of Forex Capital Management in Sydney Australia The predictions have been for weaker earnings and we ve heard a few companies saying things are slowing down a little bit in various places especially overseas Weak global demand has heightened concerns over the prospects for corporate earnings growth As a group S P 500 companies quarterly earnings are expected to fall 3 percent from a year ago according to Thomson Reuters data marking the first decline in three years The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 2 46 points or 0 02 percent at 13 328 85 The Standard Poor s 500 Index dipped 4 25 points or 0 30 percent to 1 428 59 The Nasdaq Composite Index eased 5 30 points or 0 17 percent to 3 044 11 All three indexes were down more than 2 percent for the week Bank shares as a group have had a nice move up this year so far said Jesse Smythe Head of Sales at FXAsia in Hong Kong Guidance is cautious so people are taking money off the table |
WFC | Greenback Rose Amid Robust US Economic Data Trading Lower This Morning | USD JPY title USD JPY width 940 height 554 For the 24 hours to 23 00 GMT the USD strengthened 0 08 against the JPY and closed at 78 86 as industrial production in the US increased more than expected and homebuilder confidence matched market expectations In the US industrial production increased 0 4 in September after tumbling 1 4 in August Meanwhile the NAHB Wells Fargo housing market index rose to 41 in October from 40 in September Moreover the consumer price index rose 0 6 MoM in September compared to a similar rise recorded in August In the Asian session at 03 00 GMT the pair is trading at 78 71 with the USD trading 0 19 lower from yesterday s close The pair is expected to find support at 78 56 and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 78 41 The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 78 91 and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 79 11 Trading trends in the pair today are expected to be determined by the release of machine tool orders in Japan |
CMCSA | NBC to investigate anchor Williams Iraq war reporting | By Patricia Reaney NEW YORK Reuters NBC launched an internal probe on Friday into top rated Nightly News anchor Brian Williams debunked claim that he was aboard a helicopter that was downed by a rocket propelled grenade RPG during the U S invasion of Iraq in 2003 In an internal memo NBC News President Deborah Turness told staffers that a team would gather the facts about the incident in which Williams 55 falsely said he was in a U S Army helicopter that was hit and forced down by an RPG This has been a difficult few days for all of us at NBC News she said As you would expect we have a team dedicated to gathering the facts to help us make sense of all that has transpired Williams apologized on TV on Wednesday for making a mistake after veterans complained about the claim he made during a broadcast last week saying it was not true But the lie threatens his credibility as the anchor and managing editor of NBC s flagship evening news program I was instead in a following aircraft We all landed after the ground fire incident and spent two harrowing nights in a sandstorm in the Iraq desert Williams said in his apology He blamed it on repeatedly watching a video of himself looking at the impact damage and the fog of memory over 12 years that he said made him misremember The probe by the network s investigative unit is being headed by Richard Esposito who was formerly the editor of Daily News newspaper of New York according to media reports The apology by Williams did little to quell the uproar and cast doubt about whether he would be able to continue in his role at NBC a unit of Comcast Corp We re working on what the best next steps are Turness added in the memo NBC did not respond to requests for comment and Williams appeared on his evening news show on Friday But the Emmy winning anchor was ridiculed on social media and in the press for his lame apology Now Williams is under fire read a banner headline in the New York Post which listed other interviews and news segments in which he spoke about his helicopter being forced down Williams is also facing scrutiny about his remarks about covering Hurricane Katrina In an interview he spoke about seeing a deceased man float face down from his hotel window in the French Quarter of New Orleans But a former city health director Dr Brobson Lutz told the New Orleans Advocate he questioned Williams account because the historic district did not experience as much flooding as other parts of the city Lutz was also dubious about comments Williams made in another interview when he said he suffered from dysentery after mistakenly drinking flood water while covering Katrina I saw a lot of people with cuts and bruises and such but I don t recall a single solitary case of gastroenteritis during Katrina or the whole month afterwards said Lutz |
CMCSA | NBC s Brian Williams taking himself off the air for several days | NEW YORK Reuters NBC News anchor Brian Williams said on Saturday he was taking himself off the evening newscast for several days responding to intense criticism over his claims that he rode in a helicopter that was hit by a rocket propelled grenade in Iraq a decade ago In the midst of a career spent covering and consuming news it has become painfully apparent to me that I am presently too much a part of the news due to my actions Williams said in a statement posted on NBC News website Williams a star anchor who has garnered high ratings for NBC said he planned eventually to return to the broadcast and continue my career long effort to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us Lester Holt who typically anchors NBC Evening News on weekends will step in to handle the weekday evening broadcast in the interim Williams said NBC a unit of Comcast Corp on Friday said it was launching an internal probe of Williams false statements that he was in a helicopter in 2003 that was brought down by enemy fire during the U S invasion of Iraq Williams who over the years had repeated his tale of being aboard a military helicopter during a harrowing forced landing admitted this week that the story was inaccurate But his apology in which he said he misremembered the incident provoked widespread derision and both military personnel and other journalists have called for his resignation Media observers said Williams had no choice but to take a break from the anchor s chair This was a good move by Williams and the network to remove him from the air until a decision is reached on his future said Richard Hanley director of the graduate program in journalism at Quinnipiac University in Hamden Connecticut It would be difficult for the audience to pay attention to what he s reading in terms of the news when the perception is all about this scandal he said The controversy has embroiled NBC s news division as it battles other networks for ratings on nightly news broadcasts
Williams is also facing scrutiny over his statements about covering Hurricane Katrina in 2005 including assertions he saw a body float by the Ritz Carlton hotel in New Orleans where he stayed and that he got dysentery from the flood water |
CMCSA | Brian Williams cancels Letterman appearance NBC source | Reuters NBC News anchor Brian Williams has canceled a planned appearance with late night talk show host David Letterman this week an NBC News source said on Sunday the latest fallout over misstatements by Williams over his experience reporting on the Iraq war Williams a star anchor who has garnered high ratings for the network said on Saturday that he would voluntarily take himself off the evening newscast for several days while NBC looks into an issue that has damaged his credibility NBC a unit of Comcast Corp on Friday said it was launching an internal probe of Williams over his statements that he was aboard a helicopter in 2003 that was brought down by enemy fire during the U S invasion of Iraq Williams who has told the tale repeatedly over the years has escaped close scrutiny over the remarks until recently He apologized this week saying he misremembered the incident an explanation that prompted military personnel and other journalists to call for his resignation Williams has also been widely derided on social media Elizabeth Spayd editor and publisher of Columbia Journalism Review told ABC s News s This Week with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday that NBC should have an outside expert carry out an investigation of Williams statements
NBC News declined comment over the Letterman cancellation |
CMCSA | NBC s Brian Williams says he assumed helicopter took damage | By Eric Kelsey Reuters NBC News anchor Brian Williams struggled to explain in an interview with U S military newspaper Stars and Stripes how he often misrepresented an Iraq war story of his helicopter coming under fire In his first published interview Williams the anchor of top rated NBC Nightly News said he assumed the helicopter took damage Williams took himself off the air on Saturday as the Comcast Corp owned network investigates his claims that he rode in a helicopter that was hit by a rocket propelled grenade during the first days of the Iraq War in 2003 It s very basic I would not have chosen to make this mistake Williams told the newspaper on Feb 4 Stars and Stripes first reported on a number of soldiers who disputed the claims saying Williams was not on or anywhere near the helicopter that was hit The claims have threatened to erode the credibility of the 55 year old who has anchored Nightly News since 2004 and helped maintain its top spot among network newscasts for most of that time The scandal has also stoked a wider debate about the role of a news anchor in a world where the relevance of a nightly network broadcast has waned in the Internet age Because I knew we had all come under fire I guess I had assumed that all of the airframes took some damage because we all went down Williams said in the interview published on Monday I don t know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft from the other he added Williams apology last week in which he said he misremembered the event was widely mocked and derided Backlash against Williams first gained steam on social media after a Jan 30 Nightly News segment in which Williams retold the false story Williams had frequently told his version of events since first reporting it in March 2003 and his retellings over the years have often differed Unlike the buttoned up public image of many network anchors Williams frequently appears on television away from his anchor chair hosting NBC s late night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live in 2007 and appearing often on shows like Jimmy Fallon s The Tonight Show on the network On Sunday Williams called off a scheduled Thursday appearance on David Letterman s Late Show
Williams is also facing scrutiny over statements he made about Hurricane Katrina in 2005 |
CMCSA | U S bill seeks more Wi Fi airwaves alongside smart cars | Reuters Two U S senators on Tuesday revived legislation that seeks to allocate more airwaves to public Wi Fi by requiring regulators to quickly test how shared radio frequencies could coexist alongside those used for communications among smart cars The bill by Senators Marco Rubio a Florida Republican and Cory Booker a New Jersey Democrat would direct the Federal Communications Commission to study how more spectrum can be freed up for public use without interfering with connected vehicles which are incumbent users The Wi Fi Innovation Act which was previously introduced last year had garnered widespread support from various makers of high tech equipment as well as the wireless and cable industries which seek more connections to use for phone calls and data guzzling gadgets The result will transform 75 megahertz of currently moribund and lightly used spectrum into a powerhouse for American broadband Comcast s Regulatory Policy Vice President David Don wrote about the bill in 2014 The auto community however has used those airwaves to develop safety systems that allow cars to communicate with each other and the elements around them such as traffic signals or bicycles They remain concerned about interference Several groups including the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and Intelligent Transportation Society of America wrote to all lawmakers both in the Senate and the House of Representatives to oppose the bill Talking cars that avoid crashes and reduce traffic congestion and pollution are being deployed today as tests continue the groups wrote That is why we ask for you to oppose any legislation such as the Wi Fi Innovation Act that could set the program back and risk the implementation of this life saving technology and safety system The FCC has been weighing how to expand the use of the so called upper 5 gigahertz band of spectrum The bill which was introduced in June last year but never voted on seeks to speed up their considerations A bipartisan group of lawmakers at the House of Representatives also introduced companion legislation |
CMCSA | NBC News anchor Brian Williams suspended after Iraq misstatement | WASHINGTON Reuters Brian Williams the anchor of NBC s top rated Nightly News program has been suspended without pay for six months after admitting last week that a story he told about coming under fire while on a helicopter during the Iraq war was not true the network said on Tuesday By his actions Brian has jeopardized the trust millions of Americans place in NBC News NBC Universal Chief Executive Officer Steve Burke said in a statement from the network owned by Comcast Corp O CMCSA His actions are inexcusable and this suspension is severe and appropriate Williams 55 a star anchor who has led Nightly News since 2004 has told versions of a tale in which a U S military helicopter he was riding in during the first days of the Iraq war in 2003 was hit by a rocket propelled grenade His suspension comes after he voluntarily took himself off the air over the weekend and NBC News launched an inquiry into his reporting of the event NBC News President Deborah Turness said in a memo to staff that the inquiry is still ongoing Backlash against Williams who also served as managing editor of the newscast first gained steam from soldiers on social media after a Jan 30 Nightly News segment in which Williams retold the false story This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian s position Turness said in the memo Williams apology last week in which he said he misremembered the event was widely mocked and derided Lester Holt the weekend anchor of Nightly News will continue to fill in for Williams the memo said |
CMCSA | NBC s Nightly News pledges to earn viewers trust after Williams suspension | WASHINGTON Reuters Acknowledging it was an enormously difficult story to report NBC Nightly News aired a segment on its broadcast on Wednesday about the six month suspension of its anchor Brian Williams and pledged to make itself worthy of viewers trust Lester Holt who is filling in for Williams opened the report by saying And now to the story many of you are talking about tonight and one that for us not only hits close to home but in our home NBC on Tuesday suspended Williams without pay after he acknowledged last week that a story he told about coming under fire on a helicopter during the Iraq war was not true The suspension of Williams 55 a star anchor who has led the top rated Nightly News since 2004 came after he voluntarily took himself off the air on Saturday and five days after NBC News launched an inquiry into his story of the event Williams suspension and sudden downfall cast a pall over the Comcast Corp owned network and its reputation as one of the most authoritative sources for news in the United States Holt quoted from statements announcing the suspension by NBC News President Deborah Turness and NBC Universal Chief Executive Officer Steve Burke in which they described Williams actions as wrong and completely inappropriate and which jeopardized the trust millions of Americans place in NBC News Holt then added Now if I may on a personal note say it is an enormously difficult story to report
Brian is a member of our family but so are you our viewers and we will work every night to be worthy of your trust |
CMCSA | Fifty Shades goes global but film too hot for some countries | By Lisa Richwine LOS ANGELES Reuters The steamy novel Fifty Shades of Grey is a global phenomenon but fans in China and other countries will not be able to see the movie version in theaters even though the sex scenes have has been toned down for the big screen The film adaptation opened this week in 57 international markets including France where it was declared suitable for anyone 12 or older The movie tells the story of a sexual relationship between a wealthy businessman and a college student and includes scenes that depict whipping and bondage The distributor Comcast Corp unit Universal Pictures is not pursuing a theatrical release in China the world s second largest film market according to a source with knowledge of the studio s plans who spoke on condition of anonymity Sexually explicit films generally do not make it past Chinese government censors Three countries that often object to sexual content Malaysia Indonesia and Kenya have banned Fifty Shades from theaters In Malaysia the head of the film censorship board called it more pornography than a movie according to Hollywood trade publication Variety The distributor in Indonesia said the film did not meet the country s censorship standards Kenyan authorities gave no reason for their ban but have a history of censoring sexually explicit content They prohibited the 2013 blockbuster The Wolf of Wall Street a film that contains graphic depictions of sex and drugs At the film s London premiere Fifty Shades author E L James said Oh the book was banned in a few countries It s great publicity and you know the DVD will come out and hopefully they ll get to see it then It is unclear whether Fifty Shades will be shown in India or throughout the Middle East Only Lebanon is scheduled to show it BOOK FRENZY DRIVES TURNOUT Film critics have found the sex scenes tamer than the book Those looking for hot kinky sex will be disappointed Claudia Puig of the newspaper USA Today wrote in her review Most countries are welcoming the movie and box office analysts project strong international ticket sales Markets where the film is playing include Britain Germany Hong Kong Australia Russia Singapore and Japan The film took in 28 6 million in 34 markets where it played on Wednesday and Thursday and set several records In Argentina the movie ranked as the largest opening day ever for any film in that market Fifty Shades collected 8 6 million Thursday night in the United States and Canada which together form the world s biggest movie market A Universal spokesman declined to comment on whether the film was edited for some overseas markets where studios get an increasingly larger share of ticket sales Fifty Shades of Grey is the first volume in a trilogy by James The three books have sold more than 100 million copies and have been translated into 52 languages Just do the math on that said Phil Contrino chief analyst at movie website Boxoffice com Even if a third of the people who have read the book go to see the movie that s a lot of money right there
Fans are counting on a sequel or sequels to see the other two books brought to the screen but Universal has not yet said whether there will be another Fifty Shades film |
WFC | Exclusive In Ecuador cyber heist thieves moved 9 million to 23 Hong Kong firms | By Clare Baldwin and Nathan Layne HONG KONG CHICAGO Reuters Cyber thieves who stole 12 million from an Ecuadorian bank in 2015 routed the funds through 23 companies registered in Hong Kong some of them with no clear business activity according to previously unreported court filings and judicial rulings The court papers offer a first glimpse into where some of the money was moved after it reached accounts in Hong Kong The filings stem from a lawsuit filed in early 2015 by Ecuador s Banco del Austro BDA in Hong Kong against the web of companies that received or handled more than 9 million in stolen funds bank records submitted to the territory s Court of First Instance show The BDA lawsuit alleged the companies had been unjustly enriched and sought recovery of the money The remaining 3 million was routed to entities in Dubai and elsewhere according to separate court filings in the U S Those transfers are not the subject of litigation in Hong Kong The cyber thieves allegedly used the SWIFT global messaging system to move the funds SWIFT a conduit for bank money transfers worldwide also was the network used to move 81 million out of Bangladesh Bank in February According to the Hong Kong court filings BDA submitted criminal reports to police in both Hong Kong and Ecuador about the transfers The content of those reports was not part of the court record reviewed by Reuters The attacks have caught the attention of global investigative agencies The U S Federal Bureau of Investigation and Bangladesh authorities are leading a search for criminals behind the February heist which ranks among the largest ever In the Ecuadorian heist the money was transferred by Wells Fargo N WFC based on authenticated SWIFT messages and both BDA and the U S bank now believe those funds were stolen by unidentified hackers according to documents in a BDA lawsuit filed against Wells Fargo in New York this year It was not clear whether the Hong Kong Police have launched an official probe A spokesman for the agency declined to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation The Ecuador attorney general s office did not respond to a request for comment The FBI and BDA also declined comment Initially cyber thieves moved 9 139 million of the more than 12 million they stole from BDA into the Hong Kong accounts of four companies at HSBC L HSBA and Hang Seng Bank HK 0011 At least 3 1 million of the funds were then routed from those four companies to 19 second layer bank accounts meaning the funds made a second hop to another set of Hong Kong registered companies the papers show NOT TIED TO REAL BUSINESSES Hang Seng did not immediately respond to a request for comment HSBC declined to comment on the details of the case but a spokesman said in an e mail that the bank actively co operates with law enforcement and has controls in place to know its customers and deter crime SWIFT an acronym for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication has said its core messaging system has never been breached A BDA lawyer said in the filings that the Ecuador bank knew none of the firms or people behind the four companies that initially received the funds Most of the second layer accounts appeared not to be tied to real businesses the lawyer added Hong Kong Deputy High Court Judge Conrad Seagroatt said in a December ruling in the case that the four initial recipients showed no prior history of business activity They all appear to be otherwise inactive corporate vehicles controlled by citizens of the People s Republic of China Seagroatt wrote In March last year BDA secured an order from the court to freeze the accounts of the four companies that intially received the funds although it later settled with the recipient of the smallest transfer of 95 731 18 and withdrew its claim against that firm the court record shows As of last month complaints against five of the 23 defendants had been withdrawn or dismissed and settlements with some defendants have taken place court papers reviewed by Reuters indicate
BDA has declined to speak with Reuters about the Hong Kong case or the related litigation in the United States against Wells Fargo N WFC |
WFC | CFPB fines ex Wells Fargo employee over mortgage fee shifting scheme | Reuters The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau CFPB fined former Wells Fargo NYSE WFC Co employee David Eghbali 85 000 and banned him from working in the mortgage industry for a year for an illegal mortgage fee shifting scheme The CFPB said from at least November 2013 to February 2015 Eghbali had an arrangement with New Millennium Escrow Inc that allowed him to manipulate the prices his customers would pay for escrow services New Millennium would reduce its fees for some of Eghbali s customers and make up for its loss by adding fees to loans for other customers the watchdog said The scheme ultimately increased the number of loans Eghbali closed boosting his commissions the CFPB said Eghbali who served as a loan officer at the Wilshire Crescent branch in Beverly Hills California referred more than 100 loans to New Millennium the consumer bureau said |
WFC | Fed reaction to data barrage is focus for stocks | By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK Reuters Data on inflation and employment two of the economic indicators most important to a data dependent U S Federal Reserve are expected next week While Fed policymakers will be looking at those numbers as they decide whether to raise key interest rates as soon as June traders will read through them to try and get ahead of the Fed decision For most of the current bull market stocks have sold off on expectations of tighter monetary policy But they rose sharply over the past week as Fed speak turned more hawkish The Fed has remained constant in using economic data to decide whether to raise the Fed funds rate On Friday Fed Chair Janet Yellen said that if current economic conditions hold a rate hike over the next few months would be appropriate However stocks have not yet priced in a rate hike in June or even July according to analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch The vast majority of hawkish industries which have outperformed when rate hikes have been pulled forward by the market are still cheap while most dovish industries which have outperformed when rate hikes have been pushed out are still expensive the bank s analysts said in a Friday note They list consumer finance banks and insurance among industries that appear cheap while beverages real estate investment trusts and electric utilities still rank as expensive even though they benefit from policy the Fed seems to be walking away from Financials led the way on the S P 500 on Friday If next week s data continues to point to a hike from the Fed banks will likely continue to outperform as higher interest rates mean increased returns for lending the core of their business Shares in the utilities sector SPLRCU were the laggard of the week and could continue to be if investors see a hawkish slant at the Fed With a dividend yield of 3 5 percent the sector is mostly favored when rates are expected to remain lower for longer The Fed s favorite inflation gauge personal consumption expenditures is due on Tuesday and is expected to show a 0 2 percent monthly increase for April Non farm payrolls data due on Friday is expected to show the U S economy created 164 000 jobs in May Besides the big inflation and jobs data the Fed will get its own numbers out with the Beige Book of anecdotal information of current economic conditions out Wednesday Though the probability of all data pointing in the same direction is small a chance of an increase in the manufacturing work week numbers in the payrolls report a broad build up of wage pressure in the Beige Book and a strong reading in the new orders component of the private sector ISM manufacturing data out Wednesday are key to determining the Fed s next move according to Brian Jacobsen chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo NYSE WFC Asset Management in Menomonee Falls Wisconsin
Those three things could line up to make a rate hike in June a real possibility he said |
WFC | U S funds buying in to energy sector s latest bull market sand | By David Randall NEW YORK Reuters With new signs of life in U S oil fields as the price of crude has climbed back above 50 a barrel fund managers are upping their bets on an unheralded aspect of the fracking boom sand Shares of companies that mine and sell sand which is pumped into wells to make them more efficient are on a tear with some stocks nearly doubling for the year to date while the benchmark Standard Poor s 500 SPX index is up less than 3 percent On Monday for instance shares of Fairmount Santrol Holdings Inc N FMSA were up 14 4 percent at 7 61 in afternoon trading while Hi Crush Partners LP N HCLP shares were up 8 percent at 11 61 following analyst upgrades Yet even with Monday s outsized gains fund managers and analysts say they expect the bounce back from the bottom to be leveling off and they are focusing instead on companies they perceive as gaining market share in the year ahead If you look out over two to three years you can see overall sand usage some 50 to 100 percent higher than current levels said Stephen DeNichilo a portfolio manager at the 5 1 billion Federated Kaufman fund which added a new position in U S Silica Holdings Inc N SLCA the largest publicly traded sand company in the first quarter by buying 1 million shares Shares of the 2 1 billion market cap company are up 72 percent of the year to date yet still remain 2 percent below their level at this time last year The number of funds adding new positions in the company has jumped 183 percent over the last three months compared with the quarter before according to Morningstar data and includes funds from firms such as Loomis Sayles Wells Fargo NYSE WFC and Meridian FOCUS ON LOGISTICS Overall sand companies are still trying to recover from the oil bust that sent prices down from above 100 a barrel in June 2014 to 13 year lows of 26 a barrel in February of this year Shares of Fairmount for example are still 52 percent below their October 2014 high of 16 Sand usage overall should rise even if oil prices stay within a range of 40 to 60 a barrel because drillers are now using two to three times more sand per well than they were three years ago said Brandon Dobell an analyst at William Blair Between 2 000 and 3 000 tons of sand are now routinely pumped into new and refracked wells with wells in some parts of Texas consuming up to 8 000 tons he said adding that the largest well he has seen required 15 000 tons enough to fill up a 1 5 mile 2 4 km long train of rail cars Sand is also proving much more efficient in fracked wells than higher priced substitutes made by companies including Carbo Ceramics Inc N CRR whose shares are down 23 percent for the year despite a jump of more than 10 percent on Monday Companies including U S Silica and Fairmount which have the best access to rail and barge lines to ship sand quickly will continue to take share he said If sand is sand then what matters is a facility on a rail that allows you to ship 100 railcars at once and beat me by 20 to 40 a ton in costs Dobell said The market is still very focused on costs The broad bounce back among sand companies meanwhile will likely soon peak at least until companies start to show rising earnings said Darren Gacicia an analyst at KLR Group
We re starting to creep into show me some numbers territory before we get another leg up he said |
WFC | Weak U S productivity likely to remain a drag on profits | By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON Reuters U S nonfarm productivity fell less sharply than initially thought in the first quarter and labor related costs surged for a second straight quarter as companies hired more workers to raise output suggesting profits could remain under pressure The Labor Department said on Tuesday productivity which measures hourly output per worker contracted at an annualized rate of 0 6 percent instead of the 1 0 percent pace the government reported last month Productivity fell at a 1 7 percent rate in the fourth quarter The revision for the first quarter which reflected modestly higher output than previously estimated was in line with economists expectations Despite subdued wage growth low productivity growth means that companies still face significant labor costs for producing an extra unit of output said Blerina Uruci an economist at Barclays LON BARC in New York Fast rising unit labor costs have been associated with weak profits for companies in recent years Corporate profits have been soft also hurt by a strong dollar which has undercut demand for U S manufactured goods and overseas earnings of multinational firms After tax corporate profits fell 5 1 percent in 2015 and rose at only a 0 6 percent rate in the first quarter U S financial markets were little moved by the productivity report Output per worker in the first quarter was revised to show a 0 9 percent rate of increase up from 0 4 percent The government last month raised its first quarter economic growth estimate to a 0 8 percent rate from the 0 5 percent pace reported in April LOW GROWTH POTENTIAL Productivity has only increased in two of the last six quarters It rose at a 0 7 percent rate compared to the first quarter of 2015 The weakness in productivity partially explains the divergence between the economy s anemic performance at the start of the year and a fairly strong labor market marked by average monthly job gains of 196 000 in the first quarter Some economists have attributed the weak productivity to the changing industry mix which has seen a shift from manufacturing and energy toward the production of services Productivity increased at an annual rate of less than 1 0percent in each of the last five years suggesting the economy s potential rate of growth has declined That would imply the spare capacity in the economy is being squeezed out more quickly than thought and that inflation pressures may take hold a bit faster than had been anticipated The slower pace of productivity gains in recent years suggests the economy s potential rate of growth has fallen said Sam Bullard a senior economist at Wells Fargo NYSE WFC in Charlotte North Carolina Even with economic growth of around only 2 percent for the remainder of the year inflation is likely to rise if corporations aim to maintain margins Unit labor costs the price of labor per single unit of output increased at a revised 4 5 percent pace in the first quarter They were previously reported to have advanced at a 4 1 percent rate Fourth quarter unit labor costs were revised to show a 5 4 percent rate of increase the fastest rate since the fourth quarter of 2014 instead of 2 7 percent Unit labor costs rose at a 3 0 percent rate compared to the first quarter of 2015
Hourly compensation per hour increased at an upwardly revised 3 9 percent rate in the first quarter instead of the previously reported 3 0 percent pace |
WFC | Stocks And ETFs Start Strong Skid Into The Close | U S stocks and ETFs start off strongly but fizzle into the close U S stock markets and index ETFs got off to a strong start but fizzled in the last 30 minutes of trading to close mixed with some losses and some gains in major U S markets Major U S Index ETFs Dow Jones Industrial Average NYSEARCA DIA 0 14 S P 500 NYSEARCA SPY 0 02 Nasdaq 100 NYSEARCA QQQ 0 345 Russell 2000 NYSEARCA IWM 0 37 Overall major U S markets continue to exhibit substantial weakness on concern over earnings reports the Presidential election and fiscal cliff Nearly everywhere one looks uncertainty abounds and so markets remain in a tight trading range as they wait for resolution or at least some forward looking guidance regarding all of these significant issues The bright spot today was a surprise in jobless claims which added fuel to the argument that the economy is in fact gathering strength and this was bolstered by a report indicating that foreclosure filings for September fell to a level not seen since 2007 Action in other major markets was slow with gold NYSEARCA GLD adding 0 24 and VIX NYSEARCA TVIX crashing another 4 3 today victimized yet again by strong economic reports Today s economic reports were largely positive and tomorrow brings producer and consumer price reports and University of Michigan consumer sentiment along with important earnings reports from JP Morgan and Wells Fargo due before traders head home for the weekend The Nasdaq continues to lag the other major indexes which is troubling as Nasdaq tends to leads markets both higher and lower However today the direction was lower again with the Nasdaq 100 NYSEARCA QQQ down some 5 over the last month alone Bottom line Stocks and ETFs try to rally but get shot down by weakening fundamentals predominantly too much debt and slow growth Technically major ETFs remain locked in a sideways channel Disclaimer The content included herein is for educational and informational purposes only and readers agree to Wall Street Sector Selector s and before accessing or using this or any other publication by Wall Street Sector Selector or Ridgeline Media Group LLC |
CMCSA | HBO tech executives leave ahead of Internet launch as network s strategy changes | By Liana B Baker
NEW YORK Reuters Time Warner s TWX N HBO is preparing to sell a standalone service over the Internet for the first time in one of the most closely watched moves in pay TV history Yet the road to the launch has been far from an easy one marked by changes in strategy deadlines and the departure of its chief technology officer along with two of his lieutenants
Otto Berkes who was previously a Microsoft executive resigned from the CTO position in December only a matter of months before HBO is expected to start selling the new product and two senior vice presidents on the technology team Mark Thomas and Drew Angeloff are also leaving sources familiar with the situation said
The original plan discussed by the network s top executives was to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a sophisticated streaming platform that would make HBO one of the best known premium channels in the United States capable of challenging streaming video services from Netflix NFLX O and Amazon AMZN O head on Berkes who was also a cofounder of Xbox was a key part of that ambitious project he had been hired by HBO in 2011 to set up a new office in Seattle initially hiring 80 engineers with plans to grow much bigger
The idea was that the technology would not only support HBO but potentially other Time Warner offerings such as Turner Broadcasting and Warner Bros The platform which would power a product that doesn t require a cable subscription would be used globally and was supposed to be ready in 2016 said the sources who worked on that effort
But these sources said that much of the plan was changed when Rupert Murdoch s Twenty First Century Fox Inc FOXA O made a surprise takeover bid for Time Warner last summer
To justify to shareholders why they shouldn t consider the Australian born media tycoon s overtures Time Warner said that its own strategic plan would deliver more value to shareholders than Murdoch could
COST CUTTING
In October at its first investor day in four years Time Warner outlined a series of measures aimed at bolstering revenue growth and cutting costs Among those was an announcement by HBO s CEO Richard Plepler that the standalone HBO was going to launch in 2015 news that quickly became the main headline from the event
Time Warner needed to show investors that they had a plan that the Murdoch bid was not factoring in said Michael Nathanson a media analyst at MoffettNathanson research
At the time HBO also decided to cancel the internal technology investment and to use a third party to provide the new HBO service a move in sync with a cost efficiency plan driven by Time Warner s Chief Financial Officer Howard Averill
The more ambitious platform was going to eat up too many dollars and be too slow to come to market sources familiar with Time Warner s thinking said
The sources said the decision to speed up the standalone product was not related to the battle with Murdoch They said this year was viewed as simply the right time for the initiative given that rival media companies were starting to debut online offerings outside of a traditional cable subscription Dish Network is launching its own 20 per month Internet service later this month and CBS CBS N has said that its Showtime network the biggest direct competitor to HBO will sell its own separate offering later this year
Shortly after the October announcement HBO told its engineering team about the decision to cancel plans to develop its own technology platform Instead of being developed internally technology would be handled by MLB Advanced Media a subsidiary of Major League Baseball best known for powering the technology that streams live baseball games Going with this vendor would save millions one of the sources close to Time Warner said
A person who had worked on the earlier HBO strategy said that pulling back from building its own platform may come back to haunt the network HBO and Time Warner lost the appetite for the investment required to go big here the person said Old media lost its nerve
The people who worked on the earlier effort say there are drawbacks to having a third party handle distribution of the product including having less control over how subscribers experience it They say HBO could be missing out on the long term potential of owning all of the software behind the standalone service
An HBO spokesman in a statement said any business strategy undergoes many iterations and that it was confident in its decision We believe we landed in exactly the right place with MLB Advanced Media as our partner and we will deliver a great product later this year that fully lives up to the reputation of the HBO brand he said
DEPARTURES
Among the casualties of the decision was Berkes He left amid tensions with HBO management over his role following the change in strategy the people who worked on the effort said Thomas and Angeloff are leaving for similar reasons these people said
The 80 or so employees in Seattle still have jobs but HBO is without a CTO and has no immediate plans to hire a new one
HBO declined to comment on the departures
As for the big debut the launch plans are still vague Company insiders had anticipated an April start date to leverage off the fifth season of the top HBO series Game of Thrones But a source close to the matter said HBO has other big shows beginning in the summer such as a new series of True Detective that any launch could leverage off
The pricing of the new product and how it will be sold could not be learned The company is exploring a number of options including selling the standalone through pay TV providers like Comcast Corp CMCSA O and through the likes of Apple AAPL O and Amazon one source close to the company said |
CMCSA | Need for speed US regulators raise bar for broadband Internet | By Alina Selyukh WASHINGTON Reuters U S regulators on Thursday raised the standard for high speed Internet voting that only connections with download speeds of 25 megabits per second or faster will qualify as broadband meaning fewer parts of the United States have broadband access The change in the Federal Communications Commission s definition of broadband previously a download speed of at least 4 megabits per second Mbps means nearly a fifth of Americans and more than half of those living in rural areas lack access to high speed Internet The change opposed by Internet service providers and Republican FCC commissioners is not expected to immediately influence how competitive the FCC formally views the broadband market But it could give the agency more of a bully pulpit to push Internet service providers to increase connection speeds and support competitors formed by municipalities The new definition is also likely to give new ammunition to critics of the pending 45 billion merger of Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc as cable companies emerge as the dominant competitors to offer such speeds The FCC is expected to use the new definition to guide how they distribute subsidies to encourage broadband deployment and upgrades to networks Some observers also said the agency could also use it in their work to prevent states from blocking cities efforts to build municipal broadband networks The FCC could also press Comcast to commit to faster speeds in its Internet Essentials program a discounted Internet service for low income families if they decide to use it as part of the merger review analysts said The FCC has not typically used broadband reports such as the one that set the new definition for punitive measures or stricter regulations said experts Such reports required by Congress are meant to ensure high speed Internet is rolled out to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion The FCC will now collect comments on how it should spur faster deployment The FCC also voted on Thursday on new requirements for wireless carriers to better locate callers who dial 911 on cellphones indoors Nationwide carriers will have to help 911 dispatchers locate within 50 feet 40 percent of wireless 911 calls within two years and 80 percent of such calls within six years |
CMCSA | Dads pups Kardashian battle for Super Bowl ad buzz | By Lisa Richwine LOS ANGELES Reuters Dads comfort crying kids and animals look adorable as brands take a play it safe route this year in the fiercely fought ad battle that will unfold during Sunday s broadcast of the Super Bowl Companies spent up to a record 4 5 million for 30 seconds during the U S football championship that traditionally draws more than 100 million viewers the year s biggest TV audience The contest between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks will be broadcast on Comcast Corp s NBC With so much on the line many marketers are turning to upbeat messages and striking tones of unity festivity and triumph over adversity experts said Dozens of commercials and teasers have already been released online We are going to see safe humor and advertisers sticking with broadly popular themes said Tim Calkins marketing professor at Northwestern University s Kellogg School of Management Anheuser Busch InBev s Budweiser which scored a year ago with a heart warming ad about a puppy and the brand s trademark Clydesdales is returning to that theme On Thursday its new Lost Dog ad topped rankings by iSpot which tracks video views and social media comments and had been watched more than 6 million times on YouTube Reality TV star Kim Kardashian s spot for T Mobile also generated buzz Mocking her celebrity Kardashian warns that other carriers take back unused data that customers could use to view photos of her while T Mobile lets users keep data for up to a year Three brands Toyota Nissan and Unilever s Dove Men Care are celebrating fatherhood Dove s ad shows doting dads rushing to help an upset child or dancing at a daughter s wedding Fifteen advertisers are joining the game for the first time They include glue maker Loctite Skittles candies and cruise operator Carnival Corp The NFL will inject a serious note with a public service announcement that urges an end to domestic violence an issue that tarnished the league this season Viewers also will see surprises as some brands withhold their commercials until the game So far few ads are stirring controversy this year Web services company GoDaddy pulled its planned commercial after animal lovers said it seemed to promote puppy mills The company will run a different ad in its place GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving wrote on the company s blog We hope it makes you laugh he said |
CMCSA | American Sniper is top U S box office hit for third week | By Chris Michaud Reuters Box office juggernaut American Sniper held the top spot at U S and Canadian box offices over the weekend with 31 9 million in ticket sales according to studio estimates The Oscar nominated war film directed by Clint Eastwood and starring best actor nominee Bradley Cooper as a Navy Seal sharpshooter easily triumphed over several new releases as it closed in on a domestic total of 250 million since opening on Jan 16 Family film Paddington based on the series of classic children s books about a loveable bear in search of a home finished in second with 8 5 million for Friday through Sunday In a virtual tie estimates showed Paddington sold just 5 000 more in tickets than sci fi time travel tale Project Almanac which debuted this weekend with 8 5 million The low budget teen focused film starring Jonny Weston and Sofia Black D Elia cost just 12 million to make Sniper s continued strong performance helped drive overall box office performance on Super Bowl weekend when many Americans are focused on the final game of the pro football season The hit film was on course to set an all time record for an individual film on Super Bowl weekend while total overall box office was up about 23 percent to 103 million from the same weekend a year ago according to tracking firm Rentrak It is now the highest grossing war film ever unadjusted for inflation said Paul Dergarabedian senior media analyst at Rentrak noting Sniper had surpassed the 216 2 million of 1998 s Saving Private Ryan Another new release Black or White debuted in fourth place with 6 5 million The family drama about a family custody battle stars Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer Costner helped finance and also produced the film Distributor Relativity Studios said it was confident that adults will continue to come out over the weeks ahead given the film s A CinemaScore rating and growth from Friday to Saturday noting that the film s second day take exceeded that of opening day Rounding out the top five the Jennifer Lopez thriller The Boy Next Door took in 6 1 million pushing its total since opening last weekend to nearly 25 million
American Sniper was released by Warner Brothers a unit of Time Warner Inc Paddington was released by The Weinstein Company Paramount a unit of Viacom Inc distributed Project Almanac Universal Pictures a unit of Comcast Corp released The Boy Next Door |
CMCSA | Coke Budweiser win as Super Bowl ad battle gets serious | By Lisa Richwine and Jennifer Saba LOS ANGELES NEW YORK Reuters Budweiser capitalized on cuteness with the return of a puppy and Coca Cola stood out with an anti bullying message as many brands stirred emotions rather than going for laughs during the annual high stakes battle of Super Bowl commercials Companies paid up to a record 4 5 million for 30 seconds during the championship game on Comcast Corp s NBC network seen by an estimated 100 million plus viewers the year s biggest television audience The New England Patriots defeated the Seattle Seahawks Brands employed uplifting themes including the celebration of dads and tackled somber social issues in their bids to grab attention among more than 70 commercials There has been an awful lot of stuff tugging at the heart strings said John Maxham chief creative officer of DDB Chicago I m struck at how many brands have gone with a serious almost socially minded tone to their advertising Budweiser had a hit even before kickoff The beer maker owned by Anheuser Busch InBev reprised last year s winning formula with another appearance by a puppy and his Clydesdale friends This time the horses help the lost puppy find his way home That ad was watched nearly 42 million times ahead of the game and topped rankings by iSpot which tracks online views and social media chatter Coke won cheers from advertising experts for addressing digital hate speech showing mean messages sent through texts or social media that were changed to positive missives once a bottle of Coke spilled into the wiring of servers The NFL ran a public service announcement that urged an end to domestic violence a problem that tarnished the league s image during the season The spot featured a woman calling the police but pretending to order a pizza so she wouldn t tip off her abuser Taking on serious issues during the Super Bowl can be tricky with viewers used to a celebratory atmosphere Nationwide Insurance sparked a social media backlash with an ad that many called jarring The ad spotlighted a boy who could never grow up and ride a bike or get married because he died in an accident in a commercial meant to highlight preventable child injuries Many people felt it was just the wrong time for a message like that said Tim Calkins marketing professor at Northwestern University s Kellogg School of Management which runs an annual review of Super Bowl ads It was a very disturbing piece of advertising Adam Tucker president of Ogilvy Mather the agency that created the commercial said the ad was intended to spark a conversation and create awareness around an important issue Web services company GoDaddy s commercial focused on a guy missing the game because he was working the type of business owner GoDaddy serves The company scrapped an earlier spot following an outcry from animal lovers who said it seemed to advocate puppy mills They ended up running an ad that just didn t break through the clutter Calkins said Going with comedy Snickers scored with its spot featuring Marcia Brady of The Brady Bunch TV series transformed into angry action movie star Danny Trejo part of the company s You re Not You When You re Hungry campaign It stood out said Jay Russell chief creative officer at advertising agency GSD M It s simple and quick Reality TV star Kim Kardashian mocked her own celebrity in a T Mobile ad dead panning about the tragic practice by some wireless carriers that take back unused data that could have been used to view more photos of her Unilever s Dove Men Care was one of at least three companies to celebrate fatherhood showing doting dads rushing to help an upset child or dancing at a daughter s wedding McDonald s which ran a crowd pleasing TV ad in which people paid for their orders by showing love to others told people to follow its Twitter feed during each commercial break The fast food restaurant chain set up a team of people in a war room to comment on every commercial encouraging people to re tweet to win a related promotion
Lovin Clydesdales puppies wolves oh my Budweiser RT to try win a trip with your best bud up to 500 miles McDonald s wrote |
CMCSA | Nationwide Insurance defends controversial Super Bowl ad | Reuters Nationwide Insurance defended its Super Bowl ad featuring a dead boy saying on Monday that it was intended to start a conversation about preventable accidents not sell insurance The ad labeled by one Twitter user as the most depressing ever has a young mop haired boy saying sadly that he won t be able to learn to ride a bicycle or get married because he died from an accident The ad goes on to show an overflowing bathtub a under sink cabinet containing cleaning materials with the doors ajar and a wall mounted flatscreen TV that has crashed to the floor A female voice intones that at Nationwide we believe in protecting what matters most your kids The response was overwhelmingly negative Hope you guys are having a great day Did you know your kid is probably gonna die soon Enjoy your nachos funeral planning Rob Fee of Louisville Kentucky tweeted Nationwide was unapologetic While some did not care for the ad we hope it served to begin a dialogue to make safe happen for children everywhere the company said on its website Companies paid up to a record 4 5 million for 30 seconds during the game on Comcast Corp s NBC network seen by an estimated 100 million plus viewers the year s biggest television audience Apart from Nationwide s ad Coca Cola stood out with an anti bullying message while brewer Budweiser owned by Anheuser Busch InBev played on happier emotions by again featuring a labrador puppy The New England Patriots won Sunday s game beating the Seattle Seahawks 28 24 |
CMCSA | Super Bowl draws U S record 114 4 million TV audience | Reuters The New England Patriots heart stopping 28 24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl delivered the largest television audience in U S history with an average of 114 4 million viewers network NBC said Sunday s National Football League championship game in Glendale Arizona topped last year s record audience of 112 2 million live viewers on network Fox The figures compiled by Nielsen are fast national data and could be revised later Viewership peaked to 120 8 million between 9 45 and 10 p m EST 0245 0300 GMT during the Patriots game winning fourth quarter drive Comcast Corp owned NBC said Pop star Katy Perry s halftime performance with rapper Missy Elliott and rocker Lenny Kravitz also scored 118 5 million viewers 3 million more than last year s show featuring singer Bruno Mars and Red Hot Chili Peppers The Super Bowl is the most expensive TV program for advertisers who were willing to pay up to 4 5 million for a 30 second commercial this year Nielsen revised down the Super Bowl s rating the percentage of households watching the game on TV to 47 5 from 49 7 That makes it the fourth highest rated Super Bowl as measured in percentage of households since 1986 The top TV market watching the Super Bowl was Boston with a 61 rating NBC said Seattle was tied for 17th with a 52 1 rating
Next year s Super Bowl will be played in Santa Clara California and will be broadcast by network CBS |
CMCSA | Buy In May And Tap Dance Away | The proverbial Wall Street adage that urges investors to Sell in May and go away in order to avoid a seasonally volatile period from May to October has driven speculative trading strategies for generations The basic premise behind the plan revolves around the idea that people have better things to do during the spring and summer months so they sell stocks Once the weather cools off the thought process reverses as investors renew their interest in stocks during November If investing was as easy as selling stocks on May 1 st and then buying them back on November 1st then we could all caravan in yachts to our private islands while drinking from umbrella filled coconut drinks Regrettably successful investing is not that simple and following na ve strategies like these generally don t work over the long run
Even if you believe in market timing and seasonal investing the prohibitive transaction costs and tax implications often strip away any potential statistical advantage
Unfortunately for the bears who often react to this type of voodoo investing betting against the stock market from May October during the last two years has been a money losing strategy Rather than going away investors have been better served to Buy in May and tap dance away More specifically the S P 500 index has increased in each of the last two years including a 10 surge during the May October period last year
Nervous Why Invest Now
With the weak recent economic GDP figures and stock prices off by less than 1 from their all time record highs why in the world would investors consider investing now Well for starters one must ask themselves What options do I have for my savings cash Cash has been and will continue to be a poor place to hoard funds especially when interest rates are near historic lows and inflation is eating away the value of your nest egg like a hungry sumo wrestler Anyone who has completed their income taxes last month knows how pathetic bank rates have been and if you have pumped gas recently you can appreciate the gnawing impact of escalating gasoline prices
While there are selective opportunities to garner attractive yields in the bond market as exploited in Sidoxia Fusion strategies strategist and economist Dr Ed Yardeni points out that equities have approximately 50 higher yields than corporate bonds As you can see from the chart below stocks blue line are yielding profits of about 6 6 vs 4 2 for corporate bonds red line In other words for every 100 invested in stocks companies are earning 6 60 in profits on average which are then either paid out to investors as growing dividends and or reinvested back into their companies for future growth
Hefty profit streams have resulted in healthy corporate balance sheets which have served as ammunition for the improving jobs picture At best the economic recovery has moved from a snail s pace to a tortoise s pace but nevertheless the unemployment rate has returned to a more respectable 6 7 rate The mended economy has virtually recovered all of the approximately 9 million private jobs lost during the financial crisis see chart below and expectations for Friday s jobs report is for another 220 000 jobs added during the month of April
Wondrous Wing Woman
Investing can be scary for some individuals but having an accommodative Fed Chair like Janet Yellen on your side makes the challenge more manageable As I ve pointed out in the past with the help of the Fed s stimulative Quantitative Easing program counter intuitively raised interest rates during its implementation What s more Yellen s spearheading of the unprecedented 40 billion bond buying reduction program a k a Taper has unexpectedly led to declining interest rates in recent months If all goes well Yellen will have completed the 85 billion monthly tapering by the end of this year assuming the economy continues to expand
In the meantime investors and the broader financial markets have begun to digest the unwinding of the largest most unprecedented monetary intervention in financial history How can we tell this is the case CEO confidence has improved to the point that have been announced this year including offers by Pfizer Inc NYSE PFE 100 billion Facebook Inc NASDAQ FB 19 billion and Comcast Corporation NASDAQ CMCSA 45 billion
Banks are feeling more confident too and this is evident by the acceleration seen in bank loans After the financial crisis gun shy bank CEOs fortified their balance sheets but with five years of economic expansion under their belts the banks are beginning to loosen their loan purse strings further see chart below
The coast is never completely clear As always there are plenty of things to worry about If it s not Ukraine it can be slowing growth in China mid term elections in the fall and or rising tensions in the Middle East However for the vast majority of investors relying on calendar adages i e selling in May is a complete waste of time You will be much better off investing in attractively priced long term opportunities and then tap dance your way to financial prosperity
DISCLOSURE Sidoxia Capital Management SCM and some of its clients hold positions in PFE CMCSA and certain exchange traded funds ETFs but at the time of publishing SCM had no direct position in FB or any other security referenced in this article No information accessed through the Investing Caffeine IC website constitutes investment financial legal tax or other advice nor is to be relied on in making an investment or other decision |
CMCSA | AT T s Satellite TV Gambit | With so many transformative mega deals being announced this year it s not a surprise that AT T NYSE T wants a piece of the action Regulators previously rejected AT T s plan to acquire of T Mobile US NYSE TMUS in 2011 for 39 billion Now AT T has announced its intention to purchase DIRECTV NASDAQ DTV for just under 49 billion
But the question is Will this deal even help AT T considering that growth in the satellite TV industry is stagnating
There s no denying that bundling video broadband and voice makes for a much stronger competitive service But Forrester Research s Jim Nail suggests that AT T wants something else
This is a way for them to get their hands on some cash to help accelerate the build out that they need to do to grow their footprint and get the kind of scale where they can compete with those established cable players
Let s look at what else AT T stands to gain from the merger
An additional 2 5 billion annual cash flow
15 million more broadband customers
A contract to broadcast NFL Sunday Ticket generating 1 billion annually
These benefits may seem attractive but it s uncertain just how large the potential synergies could be to say the least And if the NFL deal isn t renewed AT T has the option to back out of the deal
Although the biggest obstacle for AT T may be the regulators once again This consolidation in the media industry leave five major players assuming both the NASDAQ Comcast NYSE Time Warner Cable and AT T DirecTV deals go through
Consumers would be left with far fewer choices For this reason AT T s proposed deal is coming under serious scrutiny
But that may actually be a blessing in disguise
Dividend Income Daily s Editor in Chief Alan Gula draws a scary parallel between the and other mega deals in the past which ended horribly
So perhaps investors should pray that the U S Department of Justice blocks this deal and in the process saves AT T from itself so that history doesn t repeat
Dividends Income Daily Research |
CMCSA | 5 Monthly Dividend Stocks To Consider Now | In December I compiled a list of Monthly Dividend Stocks to Snag in 2014 which has proven to be one of my most popular articles of the past year It s not hard to see the appeal of a monthly dividend particularly if you are retired and living off your investments Your expenses including everything from house and car payments to your utilities and mobile phone bill are almost always on a monthly cycle whereas most income producing investments pay quarterly or semiannually A monthly dividend makes basic budgeting and planning a whole lot easier
But let s say that you re still years from retirement A monthly dividend is still preferable because if you reinvest your dividends in new shares your share count will grow faster speeding up the process of compounding This matters very little over the course of a single month But over an investing lifetime it can have an outsized effect on your returns
Today I m going to give you five new monthly dividend stocks But first let s quickly review my list from December In the last article I recommended monthly payers Realty Income NYSE O American Realty Capital Properties NASDAQ ARCP Banco Bradesco NYSE BBD Banco Ita NYSE ITUB Whitestone REIT NYSE WSR and Student Transportation Inc NASDAQ STB
With the single exception of ARCP which has been in the doghouse with investors due to some of late all of these monthly dividend stocks are positive for the year and beating the total return of the S P 500 I continue to recommend all six of these original picks as part of a diversified dividend portfolio
Now with no more ado let s add some new names to the list
I ll start with LTC Properties Inc NYSE LTC a real estate investment trust that invests primarily in the long term care sector of the health care industry including long term care provider properties skilled nursing properties assisted living properties independent living properties and memory care properties LTC also invests in first lien mortgages secured by long term care properties
A little over 80 of LTC s portfolio is invested in properties with the remainder in mortgages And among properties skilled nursing is the biggest single segment at 55 Assisted living comes in second at 37
LTC is backed by absolutely fantastic macro trends As the Baby Boomers age there will be unprecedented demand for long term services and thus unprecedented demand for long term care facilities
The elephant in the room when discussion long term care is of course Medicare It s no secret that the U S government is short of funds these days and Medicare cutbacks have been an unfortunate outcome But that is what makes LTC such an attractive way to play the trend of Boomer aging LTC is a landlord not a care provider so Medicare cutbacks will have little impact on revenues And even better as with Realty Income and American Capital Realty Properties most of LTC s properties are leased under triple net leases meaning the tenant covers taxes insurance and maintenance
LTC s monthly dividend works out to a current yield of 5 2
Next on the list is Canadian entertainment and media company Corus Entertainment OTC CJREF Corus has an extensive presence in both TV and radio Corus television operations include the children s brands YTV Treehouse Nickelodeon Canada TELETOON Cartoon Network Canada They also include networks geared towards women including W Network Cosmopolitan TV OWN Oprah Winfrey Network Canada and W Movies Additional assets include Quebec s French language channels Historia and S ries HBO Canada and three local over the air television stations Corus also owns 39 radio stations that are among the most popular in Canada
Corus recently reported earnings that were a little less than the Street expected sending the shares down sharply But revenues were up a not too shabby 14 for the quarter and earnings per share were up 20 in the quarter
If you buy Corus s U S traded ADR be careful While Corus has a 2 billion market cap the ADR is traded over the counter and has low trading volume Be sure to use a limit order to avoid moving the market
Corus s monthly dividend works out to a current yield of 4 5
Next on the list is another Canadian stock Shaw Communications NYSE SJR Shaw can be thought of as Canada s Comcast NASDAQ CMCSA It s one of Canada s largest cable companies and is particularly dominant in Western Canada Shaw provides internet service cable TV and home phone service to more than 3 million Canadian households
Paid TV is no longer a growth business of course Cord cutting is a long term problem that won t be going away any time soon But a home internet connection is more important than ever in the age of streaming media and Shaw s overall business looks to remain stable for the foreseeable future
Unlike Corus Shaw s ADR trades on the NYSE and is far more liquid with average volume of over 200 000 shares per day
Shaw s monthly dividend currently yields 4 1
Investor who have grown to love MLPs over the years should also love this next monthly dividend payer The Tortoise Power Energy Infrastructure Fund TPZ TPZ is a closed end fund which means that unlike ETFs or mutual funds its share price can vary wildly from the value of its underlying holdings As of this writing TPZ traded at a discount to its net asset value of 10
TPZ s portfolio is an interesting mix It s currently invested about 50 in stocks and 68 in bonds And yes I realize that this adds up to well over 100 TPZ like many closed end funds can use leverage to juice returns
TPZ s biggest holdings include some of the most familiar names in the MLP space including Kinder Morgan Management NYSE KMR Enbridge Energy Management EEQ and Enterprise Products Partners NYSE EPD
At current prices TPZ s monthly dividend works out to a yield of 5 3
Most of my recommendations in this article and in the previous article on monthly dividends have been pretty conservative If you want to add something with a little sizzle to your portfolio consider the PIMCO Global StockPLUS Income Fund PGP managed by Bill Gross prot g Dan Ivascyn
Like TPZ this PIMCO fund is a closed end fund meaning it can trade for above or below its net asset value PGP currently trades at a massive premium to NAV of about 73 though this is within normal ranges for this fund Part of the reason for the inflated premium is Ivascyn s use of derivatives but a big factor as well has been the consistently high income that the fund throws off
At current prices PGP s monthly dividend yields 8 5
If you decide to buy PGP be prepared for a wild ride Its share price is known to fluctuate wildly But investors have been more than compensated for the volatility by the fund s returns of recent years PGP has enjoyed over the past five years
This article first appeared on
Disclosure Charles Lewis Sizemore CFA is the editor of Macro Trend Investor and chief investment officer of the investment firm Sizemore Capital Management Click here to receive his FREE weekly e letter covering top market insights trends and the best stocks and ETFs to profit from today s best global value plays |
WFC | Germany s JAB to take Krispy Kreme private for 1 35 billion | By Sruthi Ramakrishnan Reuters Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc N KKD agreed to be taken private by JAB Holding Co for about 1 35 billion as Germany s Reimann family continues to build up its global coffee empire JAB making its second big U S acquisition in just over two months has ambitions to build a global coffee powerhouse to rival market leader Nestle SA VX NESN The company which led the 13 9 billion buyout of K cup maker Keurig Green Mountain NASDAQ GMCR in March already owns the Caribou Coffee and Peet s Coffee Tea chains in the United States Luxembourg based JAB took a big step forward in its coffee strategy last year when it formed a joint venture in Europe called Jacobs Douwe Egberts by combining its D E Master Blenders 1753 business with the coffee business of U S based Mondelez International Inc O MDLZ The business is now the world s largest pure play coffee company by volume JAB the investment vehicle of the billionaire Reimann family said on Monday it would buy Krispy Kreme through JAB Beech Inc in which U S private equity firm BDT Capital Partners is a minority investor Krispy Kreme known for its glazed and jelly filled doughnuts as well as coffee had 1 121 stores worldwide as of January of which 824 were outside the United States The company sells its ready to drink and bagged coffee and K cup coffee pods for Keurig machines through retailers Krispy Kreme s shares jumped 24 4 percent to 20 98 on Monday just shy of the offer of 21 per share Cosmetics company Coty Inc N COTY and luxury goods maker Jimmy Choo L CHOO are among the other companies controlled by JAB Krispy Kreme said it would continue to operate independently after the close of the deal expected in the third quarter and its headquarters would stay in Winston Salem North Carolina Wells Fargo NYSE WFC Securities LLC is the U S company s financial adviser while Barclays LON BARC and BDT Co LLC are advising JAB Beech
Simpson Thacher Bartlett LLP and Womble Carlyle Sandridge Rice LLP are Krispy Kreme s legal advisers Skadden Arps Slate Meagher Flom LLP is legal counsel to JAB Beech |
WFC | Crooks terrorists tax evaders Can new shell company rule stop them | By Elizabeth Dilts and Suzanne Barlyn NEW YORK Reuters The U S Treasury Department wants to go after money launderers tax evaders and terrorists by cracking open the shell companies they use to hide cash flows but critics say a new agency effort to identify them could be easily evaded Treasury last week issued a new rule effective in 2018 requiring financial institutions to obtain the identities of beneficial owners of their client companies and at least one senior manager Financial firms will have to verify their identities through documents such as passports but will not have to confirm their ownership stakes in the companies That could allow criminals to provide false information with little risk of getting caught critics say If a company has criminal intent they are probably not going to file that their beneficial owner is ISIS said Anders Rodenberg who oversees relationships with financial firms in North America at Bureau van Dijk a beneficial ownership data provider The Treasury Department says its rule along with separate but related legislation it proposed to Congress strikes the right balance between rooting out corruption and avoiding burdensome requirements on financial firms and legitimate clients But what if a customer lies Then they are committing fraud said Steve Hudak spokesman for Treasury s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Treasury and law enforcement officials can contact the person a company names as a senior manager if they want to investigate further Hudak said The regulation called the Customer Due Diligence rule has been in the works since 2012 It comes at a time when President Obama and other world leaders are under pressure to respond to a string of recent reports known as the Panama Papers Distributed by a group of investigative journalists the reports disclosed how rich and powerful people including heads of state and convicted financial criminals use shell companies to avoid paying taxes Treasury s rule will apply to banks brokers mutual funds and other financial firms It will require them not only to collect data on owners and managers but to update records with changes they discover during routine checks Legislation proposed by the agency which requires congressional approval would create a federal database and require companies to register either when they incorporate or transfer ownership to the U S from overseas Critics contend that the plan does not go far enough to unmask shell companies true owners They argue a criminal enterprise can for instance keep individual ownership stakes below 25 percent and list anyone as a point person even if he or she has no real management responsibilities You can only keep the honest people honest said Steve Goldstein chief executive of Alacra which provides services to banks seeking to comply with current know your customer regulations I don t think it will be that hard for a bad actor beneficial owner to avoid detection Industry groups ranging from the American Bankers Association to the American Bar Association have offered different criticism arguing compliance with the rules will be too costly and time consuming James Richards Wells Fargo Co s N WFC global director of financial crimes risk management said it will be hard to meet new requirements because the information clients provide ranges widely in quality We have to trust without being able to verify that the information they are giving us is accurate he said The innocent will give us good information or sloppy bad information by mistake The guilty will give us bad information and we won t be able to tell the difference WHO OWNS WHAT Having access to a central database maintained by the government could make a difference Richards said But as it stands corporations are formed across 50 states whose governments have resisted collecting beneficial ownership data In April alone more than 12 million ownership changes 400 000 a day took place at corporations worldwide according to Orbis a database of incorporation records owned by Bureau van Dijk A few corporations may change ownership to hide from international sanctions but most times it happens as a result of ordinary business practices like opening a foreign subsidiary The sheer volume of changes makes it difficult for even legitimate companies to track and report them For example a tire company bought by private equity might know the name of its new owner but not the investors who put money into the private equity fund Likewise the private equity company may not know the identities of the investors who may have channeled money through family offices or other funds Rodenberg of Bureau van Dijk said the new rule is a significant step forward but may ultimately provide little transparency
Companies all know who owns them and are notified if this ownership changes he said However often companies don t know the owners owners and even less the owners owners owners |
WFC | MSCI fields skeptics and enthusiasts as China A share decision looms | By Michelle Price HONG KONG Reuters The world s biggest investors are divided over whether MSCI will decide next month to include China listed shares in a key global benchmark with many harboring concerns over the country s handling of last summer s rout and lack of full market access New York based index provider MSCI will announce on June 14 whether it will add yuan denominated Chinese shares to its widely used Emerging Markets Index which could draw 400 billion into China stocks over the next decade Foreign investors have been wary of entering Chinese markets following heavy handed intervention by authorities last year as they moved to prevent a rapid 40 percent slide in stocks from turning into a full blown financial crisis Last June MSCI decided against including China s so called A shares in the index a benchmark for some 1 5 trillion of assets due to investment restrictions Since then China has addressed many of MSCI s concerns by relaxing its 81 billion Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor QFII scheme a quota based foreign investment scheme and clarifying foreign ownership rights prompting MSCI to reconsider inclusion of the A shares But investors are still concerned about some Chinese market rules that could leave foreign investors trapped in the market as they were during last year s slump when more than 50 percent of companies listed in China halted trading When and how long a stock can be suspended had to be clearer and stricter said several investment managers including State Street Global Advisors BNP Paribas PA BNPP Investment Partners and Legg Mason The most important issue is stock suspensions said Paul Danes Asia chief executive at Martin Currie a Legg Mason subsidiary Stock suspensions can happen on any exchange but it was the number and the length of suspensions that caused a lot of problems around liquidity and valuations last summer We have emphasized to MSCI that this is a reasonably big issue The Shenzhen and Shanghai exchanges plan to introduce new suspension rules imminently the China Securities Journal reported on Monday but it did not provide details Since last year China has simplified its rigid QFII application process But major investors said it remains unclear how Beijing measures assets under management and how long the new approval process takes China imposes a three month lock up period on QFII investments and only allows 20 percent of net asset values to be repatriated per month These restrictions have left investors nervous about their ability to get money out of China The repatriation cap is a problem said Kevin Hardy a managing director at asset manager BlackRock in Singapore adding though that the company was very encouraged by recent QFII reforms MSCI declined to comment Under its industry consultation MSCI has proposed adding 5 percent of the free float market capitalization of 421 eligible stocks to the benchmark The shares would account for just 1 1 percent of the index If China is added to the MSCI index the change would take effect in June 2017 Global investors exposure to China is at an almost ridiculously low level relative to the size of China s economy said Anthony Cragg managing director and senior portfolio manager at Wells Fargo NYSE WFC Asset Management
I think the time for inclusion has come but it needs to come incrementally and be ramped up over time |
WFC | Clock did not run out on FDIC lawsuit vs big banks U S court | By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK Reuters The U S government on Thursday won a victory in its effort to hold big banks liable for selling older toxic debt as a divided federal appeals court in New York revived a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp lawsuit over the 2009 collapse of Alabama s Colonial BancGroup Inc In a 2 1 decision on Thursday the 2nd U S Circuit Court of Appeals said the FDIC did not wait too long to sue Credit Suisse SIX CSGN Group AG First Horizon National Corp Royal Bank of Scotland Group LON RBS Plc Wells Fargo NYSE WFC Co and seven other banks for selling or underwriting toxic mortgage securities that Colonial bought The 2 1 decision on Thursday confirmed the authority of federal agencies to pursue older claims often predating the financial crisis concerning the sale of shoddy debt to banks finance companies and credit unions they oversee as receivers or conservators Banks have agreed to pay tens of billions of dollars to settle litigation by the agencies which include the FDIC the Federal Housing Finance Agency the conservator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the National Credit Union Administration Colonial based in Montgomery Alabama went into FDIC receivership in August 2009 after struggling from losses tied to mortgage securities and an aggressive foray into Florida Three years later the FDIC sued the 11 banks claiming they violated federal securities law by selling 388 million in toxic debt to Colonial in 2007 It said the lawsuit was timely because it had three years from the start of the receivership to sue A lower court judge threw out the case accepting the banks argument that the clock ran out in 2010 three years after Colonial bought its securities But in the reversal Circuit Judge Gerard Lynch said Congress intended that an extender statute giving the FDIC more time to pursue some legal claims covered the Colonial case Circuit Judge Barrington Parker dissented He said Congress did not design the statute to bring dead claims back to life and that the three year clock provides certainty as to when companies can stop worrying about being sued Few compromises in the securities law are as integral to the operation of the nation s capital markets as this compromise he wrote
Robert Giuffra of Sullivan Cromwell who represents the banks in the FDIC appeal said Judge Parker s dissent is powerful and we are considering our options for further review The FDIC declined to comment The case is FDIC v First Horizon Asset Securities Inc et al 2nd U S Circuit Court of Appeals No 14 3648 |
WFC | Special Report Cyber thieves exploit banks faith in SWIFT transfer network | By Tom Bergin and Nathan Layne LONDON CHICAGO Reuters Shortly after 7 p m on January 12 2015 a message from a secure computer terminal at Banco del Austro BDA in Ecuador instructed San Francisco based Wells Fargo NYSE WFC to transfer money to bank accounts in Hong Kong Wells Fargo complied Over 10 days Wells approved a total of at least 12 transfers of BDA funds requested over the secure SWIFT system The SWIFT network which allows banks to process billions of dollars in transfers each day is considered the backbone of international banking In all Wells Fargo transferred 12 million of BDA s money to accounts across the globe Both banks now believe those funds were stolen by unidentified hackers according to documents in a BDA lawsuit filed against Wells Fargo in New York this year BDA declined comment Wells Fargo which also initially declined comment on the lawsuit said in a statement to Reuters on Friday that it properly processed the wire instructions received via authenticated SWIFT messages and was not responsible for BDA s losses BDA is suing Wells Fargo on the basis that the U S bank should have flagged the transactions as suspicious Wells Fargo has countered that security lapses in BDA s own operations caused the Ecuadorean bank s losses Hackers had secured a BDA employee s SWIFT logon credentials Wells Fargo said in a February court filing SWIFT an acronym for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication is not a party to the lawsuit Neither bank reported the theft to SWIFT which said it first learned about the cyber attack from a Reuters inquiry We were not aware SWIFT said in a statement responding to Reuters inquiries We need to be informed by customers of such frauds if they relate to our products and services so that we can inform and support the wider community We have been in touch with the bank concerned to get more information and are reminding customers of their obligations to share such information with us SWIFT says it requires customer to notify SWIFT of problems that can affect the confidentiality integrity or availability of SWIFT service SWIFT however has no rule specifically requiring client banks to report hacking thefts Banks often do not report such attacks out of concern they make the institution appear vulnerable former SWIFT employees and cyber security experts told Reuters The Ecuador case illuminates a central problem with preventing such fraudulent transfers Neither SWIFT nor its client banks have a full picture of the frequency or the details of cyber thefts made through the network according to more than dozen former SWIFT executives users and cyber security experts interviewed by Reuters The case details of which have not been previously reported raises new questions about the oversight of the SWIFT network and its communications with member banks about cyber thefts and risks The network has faced intense scrutiny since cyber thieves stole 81 million in February from a Bangladesh central bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York It s unclear what SWIFT tells its member banks when it does find out about cyber thefts which are typically first discovered by the bank that has been defrauded SWIFT spokeswoman Natasha de Ter n said that the organization was transparent with its users but declined to elaborate SWIFT declined to answer specific questions about its policies for disclosing breaches On Friday following the publication of this Reuters story SWIFT urged all of its users to notify the network of cyber attacks It is essential that you share critical security information related to SWIFT with us SWIFT said in a communication to users Reuters was unable to determine the number or frequency of cyber attacks involving the SWIFT system or how often the banks report them to SWIFT officials The lack of disclosure may foster overconfidence in SWIFT network security by banks which routinely approve transfer requests made through the messaging network without additional verification former SWIFT employees and cyber security experts said The criminals behind such heists are exploiting banks willingness to approve SWIFT requests at face value rather than making additional manual or automated checks said John Doyle who held a variety of senior roles at SWIFT between 1980 and 2005 SWIFT doesn t replace prudent banking practice he said noting that banks should verify the authenticity of withdrawal or transfer requests as they would for money transfers outside the SWIFT system SWIFT commits to checking the codes on messages sent into its system to ensure the message has originated from a client s terminal and to send it to the intended recipient quickly and securely former SWIFT executives and cyber security experts said But once cyber thieves obtain legitimate codes and credentials they said SWIFT has no way of knowing they are not the true account holders The Bank for International Settlements a trade body for central banks said in a November report that increased information sharing on cyber attacks is crucial to helping financial institutions manage the risk The more they share the better said Leo Taddeo chief security officer at Cryptzone and a former special agent in charge with the FBI s cyber crime division in New York SYSTEMIC RISK SWIFT a cooperative owned and governed by representatives of the banks it serves was founded in 1973 and operates a secure messaging network that has been considered reliable for four decades But recent attacks involving the Belgium based cooperative have underscored how the network s central role in global finance also presents systemic risk SWIFT is not regulated but a group of ten central banks from developed nations led by the National Bank of Belgium oversee the organization Among its stated guidelines is a requirement to provide clients with enough information to enable them to manage adequately the risks related to their use of SWIFT However some former SWIFT employees said that the cooperative struggles to keep banks informed on risks of cyber fraud because of a lack of cooperation from the banks themselves SWIFT s 25 member board of directors is filled with representatives of larger banks The banks are not going to tell us too much said Doyle the former SWIFT executive They wouldn t like to destabilize confidence in their institution Banks also fear notifying SWIFT or law enforcement of security breaches because that could lead to regulatory investigations that highlight failures of risk management or compliance that could embarrass top managers said Hugh Cumberland a former SWIFT marketing executive who is now a senior associate with cyber security firm Post Quantum Cases of unauthorized money transfers rarely become public in part because disagreements are usually settled bilaterally or through arbitration which is typically private said Salvatore Scanio a lawyer at Washington D C based Ludwig Robinson Scanio said he consulted on a dispute involving millions of dollars of stolen funds and the sending of fraudulent SWIFT messages similar to the BDA attack He declined to name the parties or provide other details Theoretically SWIFT could require its customers mainly banks to inform it of any attacks given that no bank could risk the threat of exclusion from the network said Lieven Lambrecht the head of human resources at SWIFT for a year and a half through May 2015 But such a rule would require the agreement of its board which is mainly made up of senior executives from the back office divisions of the largest western banks who would be unlikely to approve such a policy Lambrecht said FIGHT OVER LIABILITY This week Vietnam s Tien Phong Bank said its SWIFT account too was used in an attempted hack last year That effort failed but it is another sign that cyber criminals are increasingly targeting the messaging network In the Ecuadorean case Wells Fargo denies any liability for the fraudulent transfers from BDA accounts Wells Fargo said in court records that it did not verify the authenticity of the BDA transfer requests because they came through SWIFT which Wells called among the most widely used and secure systems for money transfers BDA is seeking recovery of the money plus interest Wells Fargo is attempting to have the case thrown out New York based Citibank also transferred 1 8 million in response to fraudulent requests made through BDA s SWIFT terminal according to the BDA lawsuit against Wells Fargo Citibank repaid the 1 8 million to BDA according to a BDA court filing in April Citibank declined to comment For its part Wells Fargo refunded to BDA 958 700 out of the 1 486 230 it transferred to an account in the name of a Jose Mariano Castillo at Wells Fargo in Los Angeles according to the lawsuit Reuters could not locate Castillo or verify his existence ANATOMY OF A CYBER HEIST The BDA Wells Fargo case is unusual in that one bank took its correspondent bank to court thus making the details public said Scanio the Washington attorney BDA acknowledged in a January court filing that it took more than a week after the first fraudulent transfer request for BDA to discover the missing money After obtaining a BDA employee s SWIFT logon the thieves then fished out previously canceled or rejected payment requests that remained in BDA s SWIFT outbox They then altered the amounts and destinations on the transfer requests and reissued them both banks said in filings While Wells Fargo has claimed in court filings that failures of security at BDA are to blame for the breach BDA has alleged that Wells could easily have spotted and rejected the unusual transfers BDA noted that the payment requests were made outside of its normal business hours and involved unusually large amounts The BDA theft and others underscore the need for banks on both sides of such transactions often for massive sums to rely less on SWIFT for security and strengthen their own verification protocols Cumberland said
This image of the SWIFT network and the surrounding ecosystem being secure and impenetrable has encouraged complacency he said |
WFC | SWIFT tells banks to share information on hacks | By Tom Bergin LONDON Reuters International financial messaging service SWIFT told clients on Friday to share information on attacks on the system to help prevent hacking after criminals used SWIFT messages to steal 81 million from the Bangladesh central bank Earlier on Friday Reuters reported that Wells Fargo NYSE WFC Ecuador s Banco del Austro BDA and Citibank whose managing director Franchise Risk Strategy Yawar Shah is SWIFT s chairman did not inform SWIFT of an attack last year in which more than 12 million was stolen from BDA The banks and Shah all declined to comment on why they did not inform SWIFT Banks use secure SWIFT messages for issuing payment instructions to each other The network is considered the backbone of international finance but faith in its security has been rocked by the theft from Bank Bangladesh s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York SWIFT said in a communication to users on Friday that they should immediately inform SWIFT of any suspected fraudulent use of their institution s SWIFT connectivity or related to SWIFT products and services SWIFT spokeswoman Natasha de Teran said banks whose SWIFT systems had been hacked should inform SWIFT She said she was unable to say whether banks such as Wells Fargo that received messages they later discovered were fraudulent should inform SWIFT SWIFT has a role to play in educating its members about cyber threats said Doug Johnson senior risk adviser at the American Bankers Association noting there were disparate levels of security across financial institutions globally The ABA is a powerful lobby group for the U S banking industry This is a teachable moment for everybody who uses the SWIFT system to recognize that there is an effort by criminals underway to compromise the end points of companies using that system Johnson said in a statement to Reuters after SWIFT communicated to its users on Friday SWIFT is especially concerned about the use of malware to access interfaces with the SWIFT network The Belgium based co operative which is owned by its user banks said it needed technical information from systems which have been compromised with malware to better understand the risks of attack Malware was used in the hacks on Bank Bangladesh in February and in the BDA case in January 2015 It is essential that you share critical security information related to SWIFT with us SWIFT said SWIFT told clients it would notify them as soon as possible of cases where malware had been used to attack systems so that you can better target your preventative and detective efforts
SWIFT did not inform clients about the BDA theft because it was unaware of it a spokeswoman told Reuters |
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