Every morning the Street of Walls team puts out an update on market levels, today’s top stories, and active M&A deals.
Today’s Top Stories:
- FREE 60pg HF Holdings: AAPL was by far the most crowded position in the top 8 holdings for hedge funds: Greenlight, Lone Pine, Blue Ridge, and Tiger all have AAPL as the largest position in their holdings. Other large crowded positions include AMZN, GOOG, NWSA, MSFT, and WFC http://bit.ly/sTz8QM
- EU Has 10 Days: Ollie Rehn overnight said Europe had “10 days” to avert disaster. EFSF deal reached by finance ministers Tues night but investors shrug – there is little faith in the fund’s remaining EU250B being enough to calm sovereign markets
- Banks Get Downgraded: S&P Tues after the close published its review on 37 of the world’s largest financial institutions and wound up downgrading a few names
- BAC Bonus Rumors: We’re starting to hear bonus rumors trickle in and they aren’t good http://bit.ly/toh56K
- US Net Exporter of Fuel: U.S. exports of gasoline, diesel and other oil-based fuels are soaring, putting the nation on track to be a net exporter of petroleum products in 2011 for the first time in 62 yearshttp://on.wsj.com/uW5smH
- WSJ on QE3: If stocks are thrown a life preserver, it may come from the rescue ship QE3 http://on.wsj.com/s7XUPi
- Icahn Sells More MMI: Activist investor Carl Icahn continues to sell out of his position of Motorola Mobility Holdings (NYSE:MMI)http://bit.ly/vuQxtN
- Facebook De-Friending Bankers: Company potentially looking to ‘de-friend’ bankers as it pertains to its IPO? WSJ article says Facebook CFO hinting the company may shun bankers help w/ the planned $10B IPO ($100B val’n)
- Europe Update: “Eurogroup press conference last night (the first of 3 important dates/events). They actually agreed/delivered on some notable issues. (1) The next tranche of the Irish loan is released, and they commented on how well Ireland is doing. (2) Agreed on 6th disbursement of the Greek bailout. (3) Italian Premier Mario Monti presented new policy objectives on how to arrive at a balanced budget by ‘13. (4) An agreement was reached on EFSF leveraging with 20-30% insurance on new debt, to be ready by December. It will have the same maturity as the bond and can be detached and traded separately” (KBW Research)
Economic Calendar:
- Wednesday: Fed’s Beige Book, ADP Employment, Nonfarm Productivity, Chicago Purchasing Manager, Pending Home Sales
- Thursday: Initial Jobless Claims/Continuing Claims, Construction spending, ISM Manufacturing
- Friday: Nonfarm Payrolls, Unemployment Rate
M&A Watch:
- Facebook IPO: WSJ says that Facebook is in initial discussions w/ the SEC concerning timing of IPO. Talk of $100B IPO
- The FCC lets T withdraw its $39B T-Mobile merger proposal
- AFFX acquires eBioscience for $330M in cash
- WSJ article says YHOO hoping to reach a deal to sell minority stake to private equity sometime this year
