Month: September 2012

A new sign of economic recovery comes today as real estate data provider CoreLogic reports home prices rose 3.8% in July when compared to a year earlier. This jump is the greatest the market has taken since August 2006, when they rose 4.1%. The state with the largest jump in numbers was Utah, seeing a 16.6% boost in home prices. Conversely, states like Alabama, Connecticut and Delaware all saw falls, with the latter seeing the greatest fall of 4.8%.According to the LA Times, the same data provider expects a further rise .6% in August.For more news and analysis follow us on twitter @fnnonline or check out our website at fnno.com.

Stocks were in negative territory for most of the day and turned mixed as investors took in some disappointing economic data on this first trading day of the month. The Institute for Supply Management is reporting a drop in manufacturing, to 49.6 in August, which fell short of expectations for a reading of 50.0.

Alon USA Energy (ALJ) announced today that its subsidiary, Alon USA Partners, LP, has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the proposed initial public offering of common units representing limited partner interests in Alon Partners. Application will be made to list the common units of Alon Partners on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “ALDW.” Alon USA intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to reduce its outstanding indebtedness.

The Daily Ticker’s Henry Blodget interviews market strategist David Kotok

As the saying goes, there are many possible reasons for an insider to sell a stock, but only one reason to buy — they expect to make money. So let’s look at two noteworthy recent insider buys.

In trading on Tuesday, precious metals shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 0.5%. Leading the group were shares of Jaguar Mininginc (JAG), up about 7.8% and shares of Primero Mining (PPP) up about 4.2% on the day.

The first trading day of the holiday shortened trading week opens with investors weighing a new report from China indicating that manufacturing growth may be slowing in that country. Good morning, this is Sayoko Murase with the Week Ahead Market Report for September 4, 2012.

By CountingPips.com

The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that large currency speculators decreased their overall US dollar long positions last week to a short position for the first time since September 2011. Speculators raised their bets in favor of the non-dollar currencies such as the Japanese yen and the Canadian dollar while short positions in the euro continued to decrease.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, reduced their total US dollar positions to being short by $441.7 million on August 28th from a total long position of $4.57 billion on August 21st, according to the CFTC COT data and calculations by Reuters which calculates the dollar positions against the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc.

Individual Currencies:

CAD: Canadian dollar positions rose higher for a fifth consecutive week and advanced to the best level since May 1st. Canadian dollar positions rose to a total of 60,936 net long contracts as of August 28th following a total of 50,867 net short contracts that were reported for August 21st. The Canadian currency positions are at the highest level since May 1st when long positions equaled 70,223 contracts.

The COT report is published every Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and shows futures positions as of the previous Tuesday. It can be a useful tool for traders to gauge investor sentiment and to look for potential changes in the direction of a currency or commodity. Each currency contract is a quote for that currency directly against the U.S. dollar, a net short amount of contracts means that more speculators are betting that currency to fall against the dollar and a net long position expect that currency to rise versus the dollar.

(The graphs overlay the forex spot closing price of each Tuesday when COT trader positions are reported for each corresponding spot currency pair.)

AUD: The Australian dollar positions declined for the first time in six weeks last week after Aussie positions had risen to the highest level all year the previous week. Aussie speculative futures positions fell to a total net amount of 78,072 long contracts on August 28th after totaling 86,882 net long contracts as of August 21st.

NZD: New Zealand dollar speculator positions decreased following 11th straight weeks of rising kiwi bets. NZD contracts declined to a total of 14,229 net long contracts as of August 28th following a total of 16,372 net long contracts on August 21st. Before last weeks decline, the kiwi contracts were just below their highest level since March 5th when contracts equaled 16,788 long positions.

MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts dipped last week after surging to the highest level all year the previous week. Peso positions decreased to a total of 94,626 net long speculative positions as of August 28th following a total of 97,981 long contracts that were reported for August 21st. Before last week’s fall, Peso positions were at their highest level since July 12, 2011 when long positions equaled 98,447 contracts.

EuroFX: Currency speculator sentiment for the euro improved for a second consecutive week and brought euro positions to their best level since April. Euro net short positions or bets against the currency decreased to 101,561 contracts on August 28th from the previous week’s total of 123,932 net short contracts on August 21st. Euro positions are at their best level since April 9th when short positions equaled 101,364 contracts.

GBP: British pound sterling positions fell last week after improving for two consecutive weeks. British pound sterling speculative positions totaled 1,968 net long contracts on August 28th following a total of 7,833 net long contracts on August 21st. The previous week’s position for the British currency was the best level since May 22nd when long positions equaled 11,340 contracts.

JPY: Japanese yen speculative contracts increased as of the August 28th data following a sharp decrease the previous week. Japanese yen positions totaled 21,556 net long contracts reported on August 28th following a total of 11,171 net long contracts on August 21st.

CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions improved for second straight week last week and brought CHF speculative positions to their best level since June 19th. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures registered a total of 11,461 net short contracts on August 28th following a total of 15,662 net short contracts as of August 21st.

COT Currency Data Summary as of August 28, 2012
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar

EUR -101561
GBP +1968
JPY +21556
CHF -11461
CAD +60936
AUD +78072
NZD +14229
MXN +94626

Toymaker Lego reported its results for the first six months of 2012 today. The family owned Danish company saw a net profit rise of 36% in the first half of the year, reaching 2 billion kroner, or about 338.5 million dollars. Revenue for the company was up 24% in the period, reaching 9.1 billion kroner, or about 1.5 billion US dollars. Lego attributes much of its success to its Lego Friends line of toys, which it said sold twice as many units as expected. Despite increasing its share of the global toy market by 8%, the company has expressed concern that the global toy market has shrunken 4% in the first half of 2012.

From Fnno.com, This is the financial news network. Here’s what’s in the news for Friday August 31, 2012. The Wall Street Journal reports Nomura Holdings (NYSE:NMR) said it’s planning to cut costs by $1B next fiscal year, in the first indication of how Japan’s biggest brokerage is changing course under new management. The cuts come after another $1B in cost reductions in its wholesale business implemented earlier this year. Reuters reports Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will likely acknowledge the U.S. central bank is actively considering another round of monetary easing in his keynote in Jackson Hole today. But he could disappoint financial markets if he stops short of signaling another bond-buying program, which many analysts say is a strong possibility. Reuters also reports as AIG (NYSE:AIG) becomes free next week to sell a $7.6B stake in former unit AIA, bankers in Hong Kong are angling for a role in what may be Asia-Pacific’s biggest stock market event of the year. Bloomberg reports the sale of corporate bonds worldwide jumped to the most on record for August as issuers rushed to lock in record-low borrowing costs. Siemens (NYSE:SI) and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) led borrowers selling $237.6B of debt this month, more than the $235.3B raised in August 2010. Finally, Bloomberg also reports concerned about Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), manufacturers including Toshiba (PINK:TOSBF), LG Electronics and Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG) are coming together to develop a common system that allows users to listen to music, watch videos and play games via the Internet on TV sets. For more financial news and analysis follow us on Twitter @FNNOnline or check out our website at fnno.com.