Wow, what a news week ahead of us.
- Everyone on the edge of their seats over a Greek debt deal (although many realize this is but a minor chapter in a long-unfolding story).
-South Carolina’s primary results rehash and analysis, leading into even more debates and Florida’s primary
-Pres. Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday evening
-FED (FOMC) Meeting and announcement Wednesday
-The Davos World Economic Forum also starts Wed., with a kick-off address by Germany’s Angela Merkel
-GDP report Friday before the market open
-One of the busiest weeks of the earnings season, including AAPL
-And, of course, the onslaught of non-stop pre-Super Bowl coverage, analysis, predictions and media hype
But that is next week. Surely there had to be some quotable items to get our attention this past week, no?
“The Obama Administration may be called on to bail out Hostess Brands, maker of Twinkies, Sno Balls, Drake’s Devil Dogs and Ding Dongs, the argument being ‘they are too delicious to fail’”. --Wall Street Journal, on the bankruptcy filing for Hostess (wouldn’t you know one of the angles being played up is the role of one of those pesky private equity firms)
“Grandiosity has never been a problem with Newt Gingrich.” --Rick Santorum in a South Carolina debate, belittling Newt’s call for him to leave the race (We thought Gingrich had a pretty effective if not entirely accurate response, saying, “This is a grandiose country of big people doing big things,” going on to cite his record in helping Republicans take over the House in 1994 and leadership in supply side economics and massive job creation. Barron’s Alan Abelson weighed in, saying “The White House might have to be renamed ‘The Harem’ if Gingrich wins the Presidency”.)
“It is a toss-up on what was more important tech news last week: well-received earnings from “old school” techs IBM, INTC and MSFT or the beating for “new school” GOOG.” --Bloomberg Radio. (Some would argue that any softness in the quarter’s ad revenues is disturbing, as the advertising market is a notorious leading indicator. However, GOOG’s paid clicks were up +34%, and while missing on the topline, overall growth figures were still not too shabby).
“My income comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past, rather than ordinary income or earned annual income. I got a little bit of income from my book, but I gave that all away. Then, I get speakers fees from time to time, but not very much." --Mitt Romney, answering questions on his 15% estimated personal income tax rate, and getting skewered for calling $374,327.62 in speaking fees “not very much”.
"I’m here because I want tourists here tomorrow. I want America to be the top tourist destination in the world. So this is what it’s all about - telling the world that America is open for business." --Pres. Obama in a speech given at Walt Disney World, highlighting some loosening of visa requirements. Mitt Romney commented, “I think it’s appropriate the President was speaking from FantasyLand.”
“The New York Giants have never lost an NFC Conference title game, 4-0”. –USA Today (Gambling sites point out “they are 4-0 straight up and 4-0 Against the Spread in conference championship games, while three of their four games have beat the under. Although this might be a moot point by the time you read this, we in the NYC area are hoping all this talk is not the ultimate jinx).
“In our opinion, the supranational entity known as the EU benefits from multiple layers of debt-service protection sufficient to offset the current deterioration we see in member states’ creditworthiness.” --S&P in affirming the EU’s AAA rating, although with a “negative” outlook.
“Hong Kong investors preparing to welcome the Year of the Dragon should look forward to a strong stock market rally much like the mythological creature rising from the depths, but will first have lackluster performance in the first half of the year, with the dragon lingering below the water.” --Hong Kong brokerage CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets release of its highly anticipated annual “feng shui index” ahead of the Lunar New Year next week.
“We are standing by our conviction that 2012 will be another flattish year for equities. There is narrow leadership in the market and a lack of institutional commitment and inflows). –David Kostin, Chief Equity Strategist for Goldman Sachs. (We also take notice of GS calls, especially since they are usually erring on the bullish side. Kostin favored techs and telecoms and dividend payers with lesser European exposure).
“Excessive on-court grunting, especially by female players, is one of the issues we will be focusing on this year.” --USA Today, quoting senior pro tennis officials, who complain about the aesthetic effect for spectators as well as deliberate unfair tactics.
“It’s like a food fight between teenagers in the high school cafeteria, with “us” versus “them”. –WSJ on the flap over online piracy legislation SOPA and PIPA, which saw Google and Wikipedia at the forefront of anti-legislation protests this week, aligned against traditional entertainment giants. (estimates of the true cost of online intellectual property rights are all over the place but suffice to say it is many billions of dollars; we don’t know if this was “flawed legislation” or not but we agree with the principle behind it, even though our kids are mourning the shutdown of Megaupload.com. The argument by new media that old media “just doesn’t get it” doesn’t cut it with us).
“We are concerned about three market indicators right now.” –yesterday’s Barron’s, focusing on the sharp drop in the Baltic Dry Shipping Index to levels last seen in 2009, the three standard deviations of the S&P above its 20-day moving average, and the high level of OEX put activity last week.
“Yahoo loses its Yin.” –One of many media puns on the departure of Yahoo founder Jerry Yang. Many of Yang’s critics applauding the move, still smarting over the failure to take MSFT’s buyout offers several years ago, and one pointedly saying, “Yahoo right now has all the cultural relevance of Vanilla Ice.”
“Italy's ‘Get back on board, damn it!’ T-shirts a hit.” --Reuters, in a sad commentary on exploitation of the Italian cruise line disaster, although makers of the T-shirts claim they are merely emphasizing in these difficult times that Italians need to pull together, shoulder personal responsibility and help one another.
“Is Financial Rally Real or Phony” --Jim Cramer last week, pointing out that it is more of a sentiment and good feeling rally than one based on facts, with most big banks showing results down 20-40% from last year even while beating “low expectations”. Cramer said he could “pick the BAC earnings apart nine ways from Sunday”.
“Stick the following words together in any order – England rugby captain, beautiful blonde, royal family, boobs, dwarf-throwing – and you have all the ingredients for global tabloid nirvana” --UK media reports on the ongoing scandal engulfing former national
