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:
- Sovereign Yields On The Rise: “Here Comes the Trade of the Decade in Europe” – shorting German and French sovereign bonds may become “the trade of the decade” as “core” yields converge w/the periphery http://on.wsj.com/roKGdO
- AAPL TV: Apple has commissioned Sharp to begin manufacturing large displays for an Apple-branded television set. Sharp should ramp up production in January
- 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 WFChttp://bit.ly/sTz8QM
- Barney Frank Exits: In recent days, both Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Charlie Gonzalez (D-Texas) have announced they won’tseek re-election in 2012 http://wapo.st/vNisar
- Icahn Adds for WedMD: On November 25, Icahn exercised American-style call options for common shares of WebMD Health Corp. (Nasdaq:WBMD) and his stake has increased to 9.99% from previous 9.79% stake from a disclosure filing in early November
- Global Economics: “Expect Global growth to slow from 4.2% in 2010 and about 3% in 2011 to 2.5% in 2012. For 2013, expect a modest reacceleration in global growth, to 3.1%. Expect China’s growth to slow markedly, but global growth will still be Asia-led. The euro area is falling back into recession and only modest growth is likely for the US” (Citi Research)
- M&A Activity Is Depressed: Having recovered in 2010, the number and volume of M&A transactions dropped sharply this summerhttp://bit.ly/tfrCc1
- Mortgages: WSJ reports that MBIA would settle with 7 big financial firms over mtg-debt insurance losses, by paying unspecified payments. The firms include BAC, MS and 5 others
Economic Calendar:
- Tuesday: S&P/CS Home Price Index, Consumer Confidence, House Price Index
- 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
- CEDC +6% after Russian Standard reports 9.9% stake
- NYT DealBook reports that T is talking about making large sale to LEAP to save T-Mobile USA deal
