Month: January 2013

Swatch Group adding to its portfolio this morning by acquiring Harry Winston’s luxury retail business for $750 million in cash. The company will also assume about $250 million of Harry Winston’s debt.

President Barack Obama is demanding that Congress raise the federal debt limit quickly. He says benefits including those for veterans will be delayed if they don’t, and warns Republicans not to demand concessions in exchange.

By CountingPips.com

The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that large futures speculators trimmed their overall short position against the US dollar last week. Speculators had previously increased their bets against the dollar for the past six straight weeks.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, registered a US dollar short position total of $6.96 billion on January 8th after totaling a short position of $9.427 billion on December 31st, 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 Large Speculators Positions:

EuroFX: Currency speculator sentiment for the euro decreased last week after rising to its best level of the year on December 31st. Euro positions fell on January 8th to a small short position of 8,035 contracts after the previous week’s total of 5,126 net long contracts. On December 31st, euro positions had risen for a sixth straight week and crossed over to a long position for the first time in 2012.

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.)

GBP: British pound sterling positions decreased last week to fall for a second straight week. British pound speculative positions declined to a total of 25,949 net long contracts on January 8th following a total of 36,308 net long contracts on December 31st. Pound sterling positions had reached their highest level of 2012 on December 24th when contracts equaled 37,321.

JPY: Japanese yen speculative contracts improved last week for a fourth consecutive week after falling to the lowest level in years on December 11th. Japanese yen positions improved to a total of 74,096 net short contracts reported on January 8th following a total of 80,517 net short contracts on December 31st.

CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions dipped just slightly last week after advancing for six consecutive weeks. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures registered a total of 10,261 net long contracts on January 8th following a total of 11,631 net long contracts as of December 31st. Swiss franc large speculator positions on December 31st had stood at their highest level since August 2nd 2011.

CAD: Canadian dollar positions fell slightly last week after a small increase the previous week. Canadian dollar positions edged lower to a total of 64,005 net long contracts as of January 8th following a total of 65,926 net long contracts that were reported for December 31st.

AUD: The Australian dollar positions rose last week to increase for a second consecutive week. Aussie speculative futures positions advanced to a total net amount of 80,315 long contracts on January 8th after totaling 79,522 net long contracts as of December 31st. Australian dollar contracts continue to be at a large bullish level against the US dollar and recently reached the highest level of the 2012 year on December 11th.

NZD: New Zealand dollar speculator positions rose higher last week and increased for a third consecutive week. NZD contracts advanced to a total of 19,220 net long contracts as of January 8th following a total of 17,082 net long contracts on December 31st. The New Zealand dollar speculator positions were at their highest level in 2012 on December 11th with a total of 24,600 contracts.

MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts decreased lower last week to fall for a second week. Peso positions fell to a total of 139,523 net long speculative positions as of January 8th following a total of 141,752 long contracts that were reported for December 31st. Peso positions reached the highest level of 2012 on December 24th after surpassing the previous high on December 11th level.

Article by CountingPips.com – Forex News & Market Analysis

This second trading week of 2013 comes to a close with investors analyzed weak results from Wells Fargo (WFC) and higher inflation in China. Hi.

American Express (AXP) had its numbers increased by Credit Suisse (CS) as the company has been cutting costs. A $59 price target was set with an underperform rating.

Principal Financial (PFG) was downgraded by UBS (UBS) from neutral to sell as the company’s accumulation business remains weak. A $27 price target was set.

Walgreens Company (WAG) maintained its quarterly dividend of 27.5 cents per share. The dividend is payable March 12, 2013, to shareholders of record February 15, 2013.

Bargain hunters are wise to pay careful attention to insider buying, because although there are many various reasons for an insider to sell a stock, presumably the only reason they would use their hard-earned cash to make a purchase, is that they expect to make money. Today we look at two noteworthy recent insider buys.

Wells Fargo (WFC) announce that earnings for the fourth quarter increased by 24 percent due to increased leading and better revenue. The company earned $5.09 billion, or 91 cents per share, up from $4.11 billion, or 73 cents per share, in the same period last year, beating estimates of 89 cents per share.

The Greenbrier Companies (GBX) had its price target increased by Jefferies (JEF) to $17, as the backlog has increased despite the weak environment. A hold rating was issued.