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I learned something new. Thanks.
I also think this is worthy news. GE has tremendous power of CNBC format. Way back when I watched CNBC everytime they mentioned GE they just grinned.
GE Capital may need $5 BLN equity infusion-analyst
Friday November 8, 4:20 pm ET
BOSTON, Nov 8 (Reuters) - General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE - News) may have to contribute up to $5 billion in equity to shore up the balance sheet of GE Capital because the finance arm has a higher debt ratio than previously assumed, a J.P. Morgan analyst said on Friday.
The report by analyst Don MacDougall spooked investors, weighing down GE shares by 4 percent in Friday trade on the New York Stock Exchange, market sources said.
"A novel analysis of the balance sheet at GE Capital suggests a higher degree of leverage than we previously assumed, with implications for GE's acquisition strategy, the future capitalization of GECS, and reported returns," MacDougall wrote.
"We believe (GE Capital Services) may require a contribution of equity from the parent company, we estimate $5 billion, to shore up the balance sheet."
http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/021108/manufacturing_ge_debt_1.html
SEC chief accountant resigns
Robert Herdman worked on establishing
the agency’s accounting oversight board
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday that its Chief Accountant Robert Herdman resigned, following his boss SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt out the door of the market-regulating agency.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/832654.asp?0na=x2102GI2-
JP Morgan Downgrades Gold Stocks across the board. I wonder why?hehehehe
INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES (XETRA:IFXGn.DE - News)
The German chip maker posted worse-than-expected results, almost tripling its fourth quarter operating loss to 292 million euros compared to the previous quarter. The company hosts a news conference at 1000 GMT. Sales beat expectations.
I guess they sell it for full retail and reserve the rebate. Obviously it's a gimmick but I think it will work just like the Auto Dealers offering 0% finance or Cash Back.
Talking about giving away the farm. A major local furniture company (Star Furniture) is offering Negative Interest Rates on purchases. They will finance you for nothing and GIVE you 5.5% interest on the purchase once a year. That right give you a check for the negative interest.
The local GM dealer salesperson called me again today. Said she could earn more money at Mc Donalds last month than selling Automobiles. She said Sept and October sales suxs and not much happening November.
He just proved it to me.
AMD <AMD.N> CHAIRMAN SANDERS SAYS LONG-AWAITED RECOVERY IS
(Reuters 11/06 13:10:14)
UNDER WAY
MORE
S.RT AMD ELI.R DPR.R US.R CN.R JP.R TW.R HK.R KR.R
Yesterday he says this and then today they announce layoffs. WTF.
He should have been listening to you the whole time.
Notice how the wires are barely talking about CSCO Warning.
When was the last time we had 50bp in one cut. I can remember.
PriceWCooper happens to AUDIT IBM. Sounds to me like some inside job with the numbers.
Nothing but total deception from companies. I am fed up with it. IBM marked as another "not to be trusted" stock.
This article about IBM accounting practices tells all.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2644-2002Oct22.html
It's more of a shock than anything else. You have to question management.
Are you the Limtex from SI??
Sure doesn't look good.
Today was nothing but a FREAK show.
Pretty typical. You invent something and the others get the credit. Hope you get the royalties.
Now this is HARD TO BELIEVE.
The Great Dividend Heist
Carrie Coolidge, 11.11.02
Owens Corning, the Chapter 11-mired maker of insulation hawked by the Pink Panther, wants to force shareholders to give back years of payouts. Stock investors will get doubly hosed if this idea spreads.
That dividend check belongs to you, right? Maybe not. Owens Corning, in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, is seeking to recoup as much as $42 million it paid out to big shareholders in recent years. If it wins, investors in other troubled companies could lose--yet again.
Best known for its use of the Pink Panther to peddle Fiberglas insulation, Owens Corning is attempting a heist that would confound Inspector Clouseau. Owens Corning (nyse: OWC - news - people ), which went Chapter 11 in 2000 amid towering asbestos claims, filed a lawsuit on Oct. 2 against major shareholders, aiming to force them to relinquish dividends paid from 1996 to 2000. The last quarterly dividend it sent out before the Chapter 11 filing paid 7.5 cents a share for a nice 3.7% annual yield.
Should Owens Corning prevail in its suit, filed in federal bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Del., other Chapter 11-enmeshed outfits surely would be tempted to try their own grab-backs (see table). "Just how deep can they take this?" worries Abba David Poliakoff, a securities lawyer at the Baltimore firm of Gordon, Feinblatt, Rothman, Hoffberger & Hollander. Shareholders already get the worst of it in corporate bankruptcies; creditors often receive something back, but owners of common stock typically are wiped out.
Who's Next?
These companies, which paid dividends before their Chapter 11 filings, could follow Owens Corning's lead if it wins in court. None will say what it will do at this point.
Company Bankruptcy
filing Last
paid dividend* Dividends
paid** ($mil)
Comdisco July '01 Feb. '01 $15
Enron Dec. '01 Sept. '01 372
Federal-Mogul Oct. '01 Nov. '00 7
Polaroid Oct. '01 Nov. '00 153***
USG Corp. June '01 Feb. '01 20
Warnaco June '01 Sept. '00 19
*To shareholders of record. **Sum of most recent four quarters common dividends paid. ***Paid 15 cents per share for three quarters; for one quarter (for shareholders of record on July 7, 2001) paid a dividend of one share for every share owned. Sources: MarketGuide via FactSet Research Systems; Bloomberg; companies.
Owens Corning's legal theory borders on a kind of stupidity defense: Duh, we didn't even know we were insolvent when we paid the dividends, so now we want 'em back. It is based on a recent ruling in another asbestos-related Chapter 11 filing: that of W.R. Grace & Co. (nyse: GRA - news - people ) Creditors want the Delaware court to rule that Grace's 1998 sale of the Cryovac unit to Sealed Air Corp. (nyse: SEE - news - people ) should be nullified because in July the court ruled Grace was technically insolvent years before its 2001 filing. Grace's creditors want the Cryovac unit to rejoin Grace so they can draw money from a bigger asset pool.
Armed with the Grace ruling, Owens Corning argues that it, too, was insolvent before its bankruptcy filing--for four years, in fact. Hence the 1996-2000 dividends were as invalid as the Cryovac sale and should be refunded. That shareholders received the payouts in all innocence makes no difference, the firm says.
Other companies in trouble are taking note. At what's left of Polaroid, President Kevin Pond says he's not wild about an Owens Corning-style move but would not stand in the way if bankruptcy attorneys think it's a good thing to do. Now called PDC (One Equity Partners bought most of the Polaroid assets in July), the company paid $153 million in just the last four quarters of dividends before its October 2001 bankruptcy filing.
In the Owens Corning case, at least the company isn't going after small shareholders. Owens Corning is pursuing only big holders who received more than $100,000 in dividends. That includes such institutions as Fidelity Management & Research ($4.8 million received, 1996-2000), Franklin Advisers ($5.3 million) and Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. ($5.9 million). None of these firms would comment.
An Owens Corning spokesman says the company has no choice but to try to recover the payouts; once a company goes into Chapter 11, it is obligated to serve creditors, not shareholders. And at least the pockets it is trying to pick are deep ones. But if Owens Corning can pull off this ploy, what will stop other bankruptcy filers from coming after average investors?
Nothing in the Grace ruling is limited to just asbestos cases, bankruptcy lawyers say. "The boy has bit the dog here," says James D. McGinley, a bankruptcy attorney at Edwards & Angell in Boston. Even companies guilty of accounting fraud, he says, could end up trying to claw back their dividends. Yes, even Enron. In its last four quarters of dividends it paid out $372 million. An Enron spokesman, told of the Owens Corning move, says the company will alert its lawyers.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2002/1111/046.html
I guess my OMG call ended up being good for the longs. I got out of it but at least the call was right.
Enough of this insaness. I sold into this mess. For some reason it feels good.
Yea I know How you feel.
How do we decode the list. Better yet, how do you know if your on it.
The world economy needs a reduction in interest rates
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,542-468768,00.html
At the beginning of this year the question asked about the monetary authorities in the United States and Britain was “when will they increase interest rates?” The question levelled at the European Central Bank (ECB) then was “could they not cut rates further?” After a difficult period for the world economy, with estimates for growth in most industrial democracies being revised downwards, the questions raised at the outset of a crucial week are “will the Federal Reserve Board and the Bank of England entertain a further reduction in interest rates?” and “why on earth is there any debate about this issue within the ECB at all?” The central banks of the United States, Britain and the eurozone need to demonstrate some leadership and in concert.
The position of the ECB was once perplexing but now verges on the perverse. The single most significant source of weakness for the world economy today lies with the eurozone, notably Germany. Growth in Europe’s largest economy has ground to a miserable 0.5 per cent this year and there is not much hope for a notable improvement next year. Interest rates are too high to permit such an expansion. The ECB should cut interest rates by 0.5 per cent to demonstrate its belated appreciation of the scale of the problem. A 0.25 per cent reduction would offer the impression of a reluctant concession tossed at protesting politicians and hardly a wholesale shift in sentiment and strategy. The ECB should aspire to be an engine of renewal, not a handbrake.
The argument in the United States is more complicated. The third quarter of the year did witness growth of 3.1 per cent, disappointing at this stage of the economic cycle but not a disaster. The American recovery is, however, being powered by the consumer and is especially dependent on cheap automobiles. This cannot continue indefinitely, and the most recent statistics released on Friday suggest some deceleration in this sector. Business confidence and corporate profits are in a dire state and few are willing to contemplate expensive new investment. In these circumstances, it is worth the Federal Reserve Board accepting whatever risks might come with a 0.25 per cent cut. Alan Greenspan should, once again, set other central banks an example. A serious slowdown in the US in 2003 would torpedo the global economy.
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at the Bank of England faces a different dilemma. Growth, while subdued, is higher than in the eurozone while business executives are not quite as pessimistic in this country as in America. Rates are low by recent historical standards and there have been fears expressed about both a boom in consumer debt and a rampant property market. A majority of the MPC therefore opted at its last meeting to hold rates steady. It is worth reconsidering that position. Debt as a proportion of income is not out of control. The surge in house prices in London and the South East seems to have abated. On balance, an additional stimulus now is preferable to the possibility of stagnation later.
In each case, it is right and proper for those casting their votes to consider the outlook for inflation. A spurt in growth in 2003 purchased at the price of pronounced pressure on prices in 2004 would not be much of a bargain. But all the evidence indicates that, in the eurozone, the United States and the United Kingdom, inflation is not waiting in the wings hoping that reckless central bankers will let it leap into the limelight. There is, if anything, a contention to be made that deflation cannot be discounted. A co-ordinated reduction in interest rate cuts this week would be rational and responsible. The question that must not be asked in 12 months’ time is “why did the monetary authorities not intervene last November?”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,542-468768,00.html
Yup! When they oust him...Abby J.C. will step in and take over. We will keep getting poor choices until the crying public just gives up. It worked for the Supreme Court.
<<Sold SONS for +.125>> I guess we both sold way to early, it's up 50% Friday. Geeezzzz.
Cisco reports Nov 6, so lets see what the gift of gab master has to say.
Foreclosures leap 21% in Bay Area
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/10/31/MN52875.DTL
Very Good article. Thanks. I will share this with SI folks.
I think he is a total embarassement and not worthy of any replies. I bet he is really unside down on investments. Spinners are taken the MSFT news and making it out as something wonderful. Quite frankly I think the economy is in retrenchment. If A. Greenspan cuts rates again the elderly will suffer even more. I don't care how much he cuts the elderly will hold on to the principle tighter.
Inflation is here right now and I already see cost of goods going up across the board. Prime example is Goodyear and Michelin announced a 5% increase. When manufactures slow down producing everythings naturally goes up in price.
I just hope the market can trade sideways until the economy gets back on its' feet.
I hope everything is fine with you and I am sure you look a lovely as ever. Best Regards.
The MSFT settlement is really old news. I guess the pundits are using it to rally the market for their own cause. Seems that investor quickly forgot Oct 17 when Mr. All Power and Mighty warned. This economy is worst than the government numbers published (some insiduous character massageing the numbers). Recently I looked at the Classified help wanted section. Usually the section has 50 pages but now only has 10 pages. That is worth mention and really a slap into reality. The news today is all fluff and no substance.
Maybe the postponement of the War is why the market moved up.
TEL AVIV — Israel has revised its assessment of a U.S.-led war against Iraq.
Defense officials said the United States appears to have shelved plans for an imminent war against the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. They said the Bush administration has delayed any attack on Baghdad until early 2003.
I am back with the Master! Thread has only one chief. I am not worthy....hehehe
That was yesterday! Lighten up a bit. HEHEHE
p.s. It's easy to point fingers. I tooks my hits as well, but 10 to 20 cent hits are not bad. I never heard of OMG until I got on this thread. <vbg>
I am out OMG. This is BS. I need a stock with some direction.
OMG is some wicked trading bids and ask. I have never seen so much spreads and bids over ask.