Career News 24/7: The Big Picture

Friday, October 14, 2011

The Big Picture

Anthony Freda: Too Big To Fail
Succinct summation of week’s events (10/14/11)
Who are some of these billionaires anyway?
QOTD: Bill King on Normal Markets
Who are some of these billionaires anyway?
US Manufacturing: The Engine That Could
Wired: Steve Jobs, Revolutionary
Confidence falls, Outlook lowest since ’80
Influencing the Influencers
Bianco: What does the VIX mean here?

Anthony Freda: Too Big To Fail

Posted: 14 Oct 2011 03:00 PM PDT

Anthony Freda:

Succinct summation of week’s events (10/14/11)

Posted: 14 Oct 2011 12:30 PM PDT

Succinct summation of week’s events:

Positives:

1) Merkel and Sarkozy agree to agree on European solution with details to come but EU specifically working on Greek debt restructuring Part II, bank recap’s and Superman EFSF

2) Retail Sales in Sept surprise to upside and Aug gains revised up, notwithstanding tough labor market and global market turbulence over past few months

3) Initial Jobless Claims 4 week average falls to lowest since mid Aug

4) Sept NFIB small business optimism index up slightly from one yr low

5) Indonesia cuts interest rates, 1st Asian country to reverse recent tightening policy, Singapore follows with slight ease

6) Australian job gains in Sept twice expectations, key to watch as China proxy

Negatives:

1) Contagion threat in Europe still front and center as bond yields jump in Italy, Spain, France, Belgium and Portugal. French yields in particular at highest since Aug and Belgium 5 yr CDS at record high after Dexia bailout

2) Chinese CPI remains elevated at 6.1% in Sept at same time loan growth slows to lowest since Dec ’09, money supply growth slows to lowest since Feb ’02 and import and export growth both moderate

3) Oct UoM confidence falls, led by the Outlook component which drops to the lowest since 1980

Who are some of these billionaires anyway?

Posted: 14 Oct 2011 12:00 PM PDT

As we now get daily news reports from Occupy Wall Street, where the object of ire is not just banks but also those that are in the 1% wealth/earnings category, I felt the need for factual purposes just to list some of the publicly traded companies that were founded by billionaires and the amount of employees working at companies that were founded by them. Microsoft, Oracle, Walmart, Las Vegas Sands, Amazon, Google, Dell, Nike, News Corp, Apple, Echo Star, Estee Lauder, EBAY, Ralph Lauren, Franklin Resources, Carnival Cruise, Viacom, Limited Brands, Intel, Charles Schwab, MGM Resorts, Wynn Resorts, Cablevision, Dolby, Waste Management, Republic Services, Autonation, Best Buy, Salesforce.com, Direct TV, Home Depot, FedEx, Paychex, Marriott, AOL, Starbucks, Chesapeake Energy, Qualcom, Yahoo, Progressive and Vornado. The above 42 companies employ a combined 4,000,000+ people globally. I fully understand the frustration of many as our country goes through a difficult time and I don’t want to get political in this note on who’s to blame. I just wanted to put some faces behind these billionaires and corporations they built and I can’t imagine our world without them.

QOTD: Bill King on Normal Markets

Posted: 14 Oct 2011 11:30 AM PDT

I am no conspiracy theorist, and my assumption is this has been an oversold rally. However, I love that Bill King (of M. Ramsey King Securities) asks the questions that others gloss over:

SPZ s rallied 13.75% from the pre-NYSE open low on October 4 to October 12 high. Normal markets do not rally almost 14% in 6 sessions. Normal buyers do not behave this way. Volume was lacking on the rally; there was little real buying. The compelling question is: Who forced SPZs higher and why?

14% in 6 sessions? That some serious shite!

Who are some of these billionaires anyway?

Posted: 14 Oct 2011 11:18 AM PDT

US Manufacturing: The Engine That Could

Posted: 14 Oct 2011 11:00 AM PDT

Click for ginormous chart:

Source:
US Manufacturing Is Not Dead
Forbes, October 11, 2011

Wired: Steve Jobs, Revolutionary

Posted: 14 Oct 2011 09:30 AM PDT

Wired magazine has a new eBook anthology out reviewing the best of Wired coverage of Steve Jobs: Revolutionary.

Includes work by Steven Levy, who interviewed Jobs many times over the last two decades, and six other stories that track Jobs on his uncanny rise, his dramatic fall, and his spectacular, unlikely return to Apple.

Free to Wired subscribers; Kindle version $2.99

Confidence falls, Outlook lowest since ’80

Posted: 14 Oct 2011 09:06 AM PDT

The first Oct UoM confidence figure was almost 3 pts below expectations at 57.5 and down from 59.4 in Sept. It’s the 2nd lowest reading since Mar ’09 but as seen in today’s Retail Sales data and the Aug upward revision, how people feel doesn’t always equate to how they behave. Current Economic Conditions fell about 1 pt to 73.8 and the Economic Outlook was down by 2.4 pts to 47.0, the lowest since 1980. Coincident with the recent decline in gasoline prices, one year inflation expectations fell to 3.2% from 3.3% and are the lowest since Dec.