Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Couple reminders from a board
Just refresher info from another iHub board. Adds to the old saying of "Buying a Pink in a poke".
OTC issuers are not required to maintain current address or contact information with OTC Markets Group. With the exception of OTCQX companies, OTC Markets does not maintain listing agreements with OTC traded companies and has no other means of compelling companies to provide this information. Many investor-focused issuers do voluntarily provide their contact information and keep it current.
OTC Markets Group and the FINRA OTCBB distribute their market data to broker-dealers, investment professionals, market data re-distributors, and financial websites, including OTCMarkets.com.
a few pre open dippers
SINA Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA) shares declined 5.09% to $35.60 in pre-market trading. China is threatening to shutdown news service of Sina Weibo for not censoring and filtering false information.
Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) shares dropped 4.18% to $24.51 in pre-market. Symantec may be considering a sale of its Veritas unit, according to Dow Jones.
Extreme Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: EXTR) slipped 3.60% to $2.41 in pre-market trading after tumbling 22.84% on Friday.
FireEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: FEYE) shares fell 1.36% to $42.65 in pre-market trading after gaining 5.31% on Friday.
Shire plc (NASDAQ: SHPG) fell 1.21% to $245.76 in pre-market trading after dropping 2.18% on Friday.
China Is Said to Use Powerful New Weapon to Censor Internet
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/11/technology/china-is-said-to-use-powerful-new-weapon-to-censor-internet.html?emc=edit_th_20150411&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=16092731
By NICOLE PERLROTH APRIL 10, 2015
SAN FRANCISCO — Late last month, China began flooding American websites with a barrage of Internet traffic in an apparent effort to take out services that allow China’s Internet users to view websites otherwise blocked in the country.
Initial security reports suggested that China had crippled the services by exploiting its own Internet filter — known as the Great Firewall — to redirect overwhelming amounts of traffic to its targets. Now, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Toronto say China did not use the Great Firewall after all, but rather a powerful new weapon that they are calling the Great Cannon.
The Great Cannon, the researchers said in a report published on Friday, allows China to intercept foreign web traffic as it flows to Chinese websites, inject malicious code and repurpose the traffic as Beijing sees fit.
The system was used, they said, to intercept web and advertising traffic intended for Baidu — China’s biggest search engine company — and fire it at GitHub, a popular site for programmers, and GreatFire.org, a nonprofit that runs mirror images of sites that are blocked inside China. The attacks against the services continued on Thursday, the researchers said, even though both sites appeared to be operating normally.
But the researchers suggested that the system could have more powerful capabilities. With a few tweaks, the Great Cannon could be used to spy on anyone who happens to fetch content hosted on a Chinese computer, even by visiting a non-Chinese website that contains Chinese advertising content.
“The operational deployment of the Great Cannon represents a significant escalation in state-level information control,” the researchers said in their report. It is, they said, “the normalization of widespread and public use of an attack tool to enforce censorship.”
The researchers, who have previously done extensive research into government surveillance tools, found that while the infrastructure and code for the attacks bear similarities to the Great Firewall, the attacks came from a separate device. The device has the ability not only to snoop on Internet traffic but also to alter the traffic and direct it — on a giant scale — to any website, in what is called a “man in the middle attack.”
China’s new Internet weapon, the report says, is similar to one developed and used by the National Security Agency and its British counterpart, GCHQ, a system outlined in classified documents leaked by Edward J. Snowden, the former United States intelligence contractor. The American system, according to the documents, which were published by The Intercept, can deploy a system of programs that can intercept web traffic on a mass scale and redirect it to a site of their choosing. The N.S.A. and its partners appear to use the programs for targeted surveillance, whereas China appears to use the Great Cannon for an aggressive form of censorship.
The similarities of the programs may put American officials on awkward footing, the researchers argue in their report. “This precedent will make it difficult for Western governments to credibly complain about others utilizing similar techniques,” they write.
Still, the Chinese program illustrates how far officials in Beijing are willing to go to censor Internet content they deem hostile. “This is just one part of President Xi Jinping’s push to gain tighter control over the Internet and remove any challenges to the party,” said James A. Lewis, a security expert at the Center for Strategic Studies in Washington.
Beijing continues to increase its censorship efforts under its State Internet Information Office, an office created under Mr. Xi to gain tighter control over the Internet within the country and to clamp down on online activism. In a series of recent statements, Lu Wei, China’s Internet czar, has called on the international community to respect China’s Internet policies.
Sarah McKune, a senior legal adviser at the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto and a co-author of the report, said, “The position of the Chinese government is that efforts to serve what it views as hostile content inside China’s borders is a hostile and provocative act that is a threat to its regime stability and ultimately its national security.”
The attacks also show the extent to which Beijing is willing to sacrifice other national goals, even economic ones, in the name of censorship. Baidu is China’s most visited site, receiving an estimated 5.2 million unique visitors from the United States in the last 30 days, according to Alexa, a web ranking service.
Kaiser Kuo, a Baidu spokesman, said that Baidu was not complicit in the attacks and that its own networks had not been breached. But by sweeping up Baidu’s would-be visitors in its attacks, researchers and foreign policy experts say, Beijing could harm the company’s reputation and market share overseas.
Beijing has recently said that it plans to help Chinese Internet companies extend their influence and customer base abroad. At a meeting of the National People’s Congress in China last month, Premier Li Keqiang announced a new “Internet Plus” action plan to “encourage the healthy development of e-commerce, industrial networks and Internet banking and to guide Internet-based companies to increase their presence in the international market.”
Yet the latest censorship offensive could become a major problem for Chinese companies looking to expand overseas. “They know one of their biggest obstacles is the perception that they are tools of the Chinese government,” Mr. Lewis said. “This is going to hurt Baidu’s chances of becoming a global competitor.”
Researchers say they were able to trace the Great Cannon to the same physical Internet link as China’s Great Firewall and found similarities in the source code of the two initiatives, suggesting that the same authority that operates the Great Firewall is also behind the new weapon.
“Because both the Great Cannon and Great Firewall are operating on the same physical link, we believe they are both being run under the same authority,” said Bill Marczak, a co-author of the report who is a computer science graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley and a research fellow at Citizen Lab.
Mr. Marczak said researchers’ fear is that the state could use its new weapon to attack Internet users, particularly dissidents, without their knowledge. If they make a single request to a server inside China or even visit a non-Chinese website that contains an ad from a Chinese server, the Great Cannon could infect their web communications and those of everyone they communicate with and spy on them.
Ultimately, researchers say, the only way for Internet users and companies to protect themselves will be to encrypt their Internet traffic so that it cannot be intercepted and diverted as it travels to its intended target.
“Put bluntly,” the researchers said, “unprotected traffic is not just an opportunity for espionage but a potential attack vector.”
Paul Mozur contributed reporting from Hong Kong.
VLTC yes watching low OS/float em
Some pre movers
AirMedia Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AMCN) jumped 41.46% to $2.90 . AirMedia Group announced its plans to sell 5% equity interest of its Advertising Business for RMB 150 million .
Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. (NASDAQ: EYES) shares gained 21.63% to $15.35 after the company reported the first successful implant of Model of Orion I visual cortical prosthesis.
Zep, Inc. (NYSE: ZEP) climbed 17.50% to $20.08 after the company agreed to be acquired by New Mountain Capital for $20.05 per share in cash.
Regulus Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLS) rose 11.41% to $17.77 following news that AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (NYSE: AZN) selected its RG-125 as a clinical candidate.
PostRock Energy Corporation (NASDAQ: PSTR) shares jumped 7.52% to $4.68 after jumping 139.01% on Tuesday.
Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: INO) shares rose 5.73% to $9.60 as the company reported that it has been selected by the DARPA to lead a $45 million program to expedite development of novel products to prevent and treat disease caused by Ebola.
Mitcham Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: MIND) shares climbed 3.66% to $4.82 . Mitcham Industries reported Q4 adjusted loss of $0.32 per share on revenue of $15 million .
CyberArk Software, Ltd. (NASDAQ: CYBR) shares gained 3.63% to $61.61 after rising 8.13% on Tuesday.
Baltic Trading Limited (NYSE: BALT) shares surged 3.09% to $1.67 after Genco Shipping & Trading announced its plans to acquire Baltic Trading in a stock-for-stock transaction.
Tesla Motors, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) shares climbed 3.05% to $209.46 . Tesla has started taking orders for new Model S.
NSPH Nanosphere 1:20 for 4/9/15 am
Nanosphere Inc has announced a 1:20 split, effective 4/9/15
Could be was out @Noon on 4/7/15 said effective 5pm ET. Don't know.
Showed up at 6pm ET. Last 0.2408 -.0005 Nasdaq
NSPH Nanosphere 1:20 for 4/9/15 am
Nanosphere Inc has announced a 1:20 split, effective 4/9/15
Could be was out @Noon on 4/7/15 said effective 5pm ET. Don't know.
Showed up at 6pm ET. Last 0.2408 -.0005 Nasdaq
AEMD to do 1-50 to get Nasdaq? 0.195 now
07:14 AM EDT, 04/08/2015 (MT Newswires) -- Aethlon Medical (AEMD), which is developing targeted therapeutic devices to address infectious diseases and cancer, said it will implement a 1-for-50 reverse stock split in preparation for a possible Nasdaq listing.
The split is subject to approval by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which is expected on April 10, 2015. The reverse split will reduce the number of shares of the Company's common stock outstanding from approximately 323 million to approximately 6.7 million.
Directors approved the stock split in part to support the Nasdaq Capital Market listing application. At present, the company does not meet all of the initial listing requirements for the exchange and cannot be assured the application will be approved.
The stock closed on the OTC markets at $0.25 on Tuesday.
Price: 0.25, Change: , Percent Change:
AEMD to do 1-50 to get Nasdaq? 0.195 now
07:14 AM EDT, 04/08/2015 (MT Newswires) -- Aethlon Medical (AEMD), which is developing targeted therapeutic devices to address infectious diseases and cancer, said it will implement a 1-for-50 reverse stock split in preparation for a possible Nasdaq listing.
The split is subject to approval by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which is expected on April 10, 2015. The reverse split will reduce the number of shares of the Company's common stock outstanding from approximately 323 million to approximately 6.7 million.
Directors approved the stock split in part to support the Nasdaq Capital Market listing application. At present, the company does not meet all of the initial listing requirements for the exchange and cannot be assured the application will be approved.
The stock closed on the OTC markets at $0.25 on Tuesday.
Price: 0.25, Change: , Percent Change:
China Steps Back
By HO-FUNG HUNGAPRIL 5, 2015 NY Times
BALTIMORE — Beijing’s plans for a new multilateral Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank have put Washington on edge. More than 40 countries, including major United States allies in Europe, have signed up to join it despite the Obama administration’s objections and warnings.
In fact, the United States government has nothing to fear from the A.I.I.B.; its opposition is misguided. The bank’s creation will not enhance China’s global power at the expense of the United States. If anything, Beijing’s attempt to go multilateral is a step backward: It’s a concession that China’s established practice of promoting bilateral initiatives in the developing world has backfired.
Once more, anxiety about China supplanting the United States as the world’s leading power is undermining cool-headed analysis. When China set up its own sovereign wealth fund in 2007, many feared it would take control of strategic resources, acquire sensitive technology and disrupt global financial markets. But the China Investment Corporation, which controlled $575 billion in 2014, has been struggling with losses, partly because of mismanagement, according to China’s National Audit Office.
In 2008, just as the United States financial system was crashing, China surpassed Japan as the biggest holder of U.S. Treasury securities, setting off predictions that Beijing might one day dump them to force the United States into economic and political submission. Instead, China’s holdings of U.S. Treasuries have more than doubled, from about $493 billion in early 2008 to more than $1.2 trillion at the beginning of this year.
Again and again, the alarmists have been disproved. One reason is that they have often overlooked the real impetus for China’s outward investment. Beijing set up a sovereign wealth fund and bought up U.S. Treasuries because it needed to find a safe and profitable way to invest its vast foreign exchange reserve, which kept expanding thanks to the country’s growing exports. China’s move today to set up the A.I.I.B. is yet another rational response to the economic challenges it faces at the moment.
For more than a decade, Beijing used part of its massive reserves to support the activities of Chinese companies, mostly state-owned enterprises, around the world, in infrastructure development, mining and other industries. To facilitate that, it pledged to give out enormous amounts of bilateral loans and grants to developing countries — a total of $671 billion in 2001-11, according to a 2013 RAND Corporation report.
The Chinese government awarded much of this financial assistance with little interest in influencing local politics, but often on the condition that the projects it backed use Chinese contractors and Chinese-made products. Such terms were designed to serve the interests of Chinese companies. And they did, perhaps only too well.
Although China’s assistance to Africa, for example, brought new economic opportunities for the continent, it also created new inequalities and, in turn, a political backlash. During the 2011 election in Zambia, where China invests heavily in copper mines, voters elected the candidate who ran on an anti-China platform. In 2013, Lamido Sanusi, then the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, warned that China’s approach to Africa was “a new form of imperialism.”
This wariness exists in Asia, too, including among longtime allies of Beijing, like Myanmar. Over the past few years, the Myanmar government has moved closer toward Washington partly to overcome its dependence on Chinese assistance. It has also suspended a massive Chinese dam project that had sparked local unrest. Such pushback against China’s bilateral initiatives is the reason Beijing now wants to create multilateral vehicles for its investments.
The A.I.I.B.’s capitalization may reach $100 billion, with China providing up to $50 billion. Last year, China also pledged $40 billion to the new Shanghai-based BRICs bank. That, too, was seen as a challenge to America’s leadership in international financial institutions. But such concerns overstate just how much power any given government can reap from dominating a multilateral organization.
The United States became the twentieth-century’s superpower thanks to its bilateral economic assistance, rather than its clout in multilateral bodies. The World Bank was created in 1944 but was soon overshadowed and sidelined by the Marshall Plan and other United States bilateral assistance programs. It was revitalized only in the 1970s, when America’s global power had weakened.
Multilateral institutions are inherently restricting. When a country lends on its own it has total control over the terms of the arrangement. Lending via the A.I.I.B., or the BRICs bank, will mean being constrained by other stakeholders. And this is precisely Beijing’s point. As Shi Yaobin, a Chinese deputy finance minister, said recently, “every member’s share” of decision making power in the new A.I.I.B. “will decline commensurately with the gradual increase in the number of the member countries.”
China, in other words, is deliberately forgoing some of its leverage, including in the very organization it is setting up. And it is doing so because it wants the cover and the legitimacy that will come from the participation of other countries. Creating the A.I.I.B. is not Beijing’s attempt at world domination; it is a self-imposed constraint, and a retreat from more than a decade of aggressive bilateral initiatives. And the more China channels its international investments through multilateral institutions, even ones of its own making, the lesser the risk that it will become all-dominant.
Ho-fung Hung is associate professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University and the author of the forthcoming book, “The China Boom: Why China Will Not Rule the World.”
5 early Nasdaq ones
DYAX did run to touch 25 onite and backed off. @24 pre
Voltari Corporation (NASDAQ: VLTC) shares surged 86.14% to $1.88 in pre-market trading as Carl Icahn disclosed a 52.3% stake in the company.
Dyax Corp. (NASDAQ: DYAX) shares gained 42.94% to $23.95 in the pre-market trading session after the company said a Phase Ib trial of its DX-2930 drug met safety goals and demonstrated statistically significant reductions in attack rates of hereditary angiodema, a rare disease.
Innocoll AG (NASDAQ: INNL) shares climbed 10.25% to $8.28 in pre-market trading after the company reported that the results of a pharmacokinetic (PK) study support using a dose of 300 mg of XaraColl for phase 3 clinical studies in post-operative pain.
Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRPT) gained 7.30% to $14.25 in pre-market trading as the company named Edward Kaye as Interim CEO.
Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ESPR) shares rose 5.29% to $97.50 in pre-market trading. UBS initiated coverage on Esperion Therapeutics with a Buy rating and a $140.00 price target.
LO maybe no deal? FTC suggestion.
Price went soft @2:20p ET but only $1 lower now so prob waiting.
Caught this ah. NY Post.
Lorillard (LO)/Reynolds American (RAI) – According to a source, the FTC are going to suggest that the USD 27bln merger between Co.’s should not be allowed to go ahead. (NYP)
SNTA 22M at $1.75
1.90 -.43 now
10:35 AM EDT, 03/31/2015 (MT Newswires) -- Synta Pharmaceuticals (SNTA) shares were down more than 17% in recent trade, after hitting their lowest levels since 2009, after the biopharmaceutical company priced the sale of 22 million shares at $1.75 each, equivalent to a 24.9% discount to Monday's closing price.
SNTA was trading as low as $1.92 recently, after earlier setting a low of $1.85, the weakest level since March 2009.
Synta said it has granted underwriters a 30-day option to buy an additional 3.3 million shares.
Price: 1.92, Change: -0.41, Percent Change: -17.60
http://www.mtnewswires.com Copyright © 2015 MTNewswires. All rights reserved. MT Newswires does not provide investment advice. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.
Some MW plays now
By Sue Chang and Mark DeCambre , MarketWatch
CBRE climbs on Johnson Controls deal
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- These are the stocks making notable moves in Tuesday trade:
Gainers
Priceline Group Inc. (PCLN) was upgraded to buy from hold by Stifel Nicolaus, which set the online travel company's price target at $1,400 -- 22% above Monday's closing price.
Movado Group Inc. (MOV) reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter profits (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/movados-reports-better-than-expected-profit-raises-dividend-2015-03-31) and raised its dividend to 11 cents a share from 10 cents a share.
Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI) announced a deal to sell its workplace-solutions unit (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/cbre-to-buy-johnson-controls-unit-for-148-billion-2015-03-31) to commercial real-estate services giant CBRE Group Inc. (CBG) (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/cbre-to-buy-johnson-controls-unit-for-148-billion-2015-03-31) in a $1.48 billion cash deal.
Decliners
Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus lowered their view on Seagate Technology PLC's (STX) third-quarter earnings-per-share outlook to 98 cents from $1.08 a share and revenue forecast to $3.34 billion from $3.45 billion .
Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) shares were among the biggest S&P 500 losers. J.P. Morgan analyst Michael Gambardella said he remains cautious on the metals and mining sector as the strong dollar and weak oil prices are likely to weigh on demand.
Tickers to Watch
Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) announced Chief Financial Officer Michael Angelakis will head up a new $4.1 billion strategic company (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/comcast-cfo-angelakis-to-head-new-41-billion-strategic-company-2015-03-31) to invest in growth oriented businesses.
Science Applications International (SAIC) posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter results, driven by lower expenses and new contracts at the technology-and-engineering company. That helped to offset weaknesses in legacy programs.
Conn's Inc. (CONN) saw a worse-than-expected 44% drop (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/conns-profit-falls-44-mulls-loan-portfolio-sale-2015-03-31) in fourth-quarter profit. The Texan furniture and appliance retailer, which is currently exploring its strategic options, cited struggles in its credit-financing business.
After Monday's closing bell, DryShips Inc. (DRYS) said it reached a deal to sell four of its Suezmax-class tankers for $245 million to entities controlled by the company's chairman and chief executive, George Economou . DryShips also entered into unconfirmed agreements to sell six Aframax-class tankers to Economou for a potential price of up to $291 million .
- Sue Chang ; 415-439-6400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-31-15 1034ET
yes saw that. RADA nice start. MSO
MSO bit dip off h. Thing won't die.
CHTR bit lower from pre h
That ICEL thing active pre @same as yest.
Slipped bit from +14 to +10
08:50 AM EDT, 03/31/2015 (MT Newswires) -- Charter Communications (CHTR) shares climbed in Tuesday's pre-market session as the provider of cable services confirmed it has agreed to buy Bright House Networks, a cable operator with 2 million subscribers, for $10.4 billon.
CHTR was up 6.2% recently at $194.80. Earlier in the pre-market session, the stock traded as high as $203.50, which would mark an all-time high for the stock, whose intraday high going into Tuesday's regular session is $196.00.
The provider of cable services including entertainment and video, internet and telephone services said Bright House is the U.S.'s sixth-largest cable operator, with subscribers in Florida, Alabama, Indiana, Michigan and California.
Under the terms of the deal, the business will be conducted through a partnership in which Charter will own 73.7% and Bright House's parent company, Advance/New House, will own 26.3%.
"The deal is subject to several conditions, including Charter shareholder approval, the expiration of Time Warner Cable's right of first offer for Bright House, the close of Charter's previously-announced transactions with Comcast and regulatory approval," Charter said.
The announcement from Charter confirms an earlier report by Reuters.
Price: 194.80, Change: +11.41, Percent Change: +6.22
http://www.mtnewswires.com Copyright © 2015 MTNewswires. All rights reserved. MT Newswires does not provide investment advice. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.
LO hit hard pre -2.40 CHTR +
LO off but swinging back up from low -$3
CHTR + in a generally soft pre market so far.
16:02 EDT - The market's negative reaction to reports Reynolds American (RAI) and Lorillard (LO) are meeting this week with the FTC "is unjustified," a Wells Fargo analyst says today. Senior analyst Bonnie Herzog writes that "industry sources are telling us these meetings are completely normal and should be viewed as positive." Shares of RAI and LO fell 1.6% and 2.6%, respectively, today. The stocks dipped after The Wall Street Journal on Sunday reported RAI and LO were meeting with the FTC ahead of a final agency vote on whether to grant antitrust approval to the companies' $25B merger. (tripp.mickle@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-30-15 1602ET
LO yes could pan out
ah old BAMM pop on earns. JCP even got jiggy Calls late day. 16:20 ET
Interesting tidbit on shopping malls
Rents and Mall Sales Productivity Showed Strong Growth
NEW YORK --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) reported on property data results for Q4 2014 and year-end 2014, and found strong growth in the U.S. shopping center industry with year-over-year growth in occupancy rates, rents and net operating income.
The data showed that shopping center occupancy rates were 92.7% at the end of Q4 2014, the highest level since Q2 2008. For the mall segment (combined super-regional and regional malls), occupancy rates were 94.2% at the end of 2014, a level not seen since Q4 1987.
Shopping center base rents rose 6.5% year-over-year in 2014, the third consecutive annual gain and the strongest level since 2008. For the mall segment, base rents rose 17.2% in 2014, marking the strongest annual gain since ICSC and NCREIF began tracking the data series in 2000; and increased 15.3% in Q4 2014 year-over-year, making it the fifth consecutive quarter with a double-digit gain.
NCREIF and ICSC data shows net operating income (NOI) at both shopping centers overall and the mall segment saw the highest annual growth rate from 2013 to 2014 since the beginning of the series in 2000. NOI at malls rose 17.5% in Q4 2014 year-over-year - the fifth consecutive quarter with a double-digit gain - and increased by 21.3% overall in 2014 to reach $28.62 per square foot. NOI at shopping centers solidly increased 8.3% in 2014 to reach $16.79 per square foot.
In 2014, mall sales productivity reached an annualized $475 per square foot. This indicator has been generally increasing at a healthy pace since 2009, when it was $383 .
"The 2014 data paints a very strong picture of the shopping center industry for the year ahead, and is especially promising in the mall segment," said ICSC spokesperson Jesse Tron . "Record growth in key indicators such as occupancy and NOI strongly indicate a healthy outlook and further underline the ability of the industry to innovate to fit the needs of today's consumer."
According to NAREIT, U.S. REITS performed well for investors in 2014 and saw a total return of 27.15% and a dividend yield of 4%, which is nearly double the S&P 500's total return of 13.69% and dividend yield of 1.92%. The 34 listed U.S. retail REITS delivered returns of 27.62% in 2014; regional malls were the strongest retail performers with a 32.64% return, followed by other types of shopping centers at a 29.96% return. Total returns in percent for regional malls and shopping centers in 2014 were the highest since 2010.
Based on U.S. Census Bureau data, the value of shopping center construction, including work done on both new and/or existing structures, reached $14.5 billion in 2014, the highest since 2008. This is an 18.6% increase over 2013, and also the fourth consecutive annual double-digit increase.
Anticipating the needs of our research-driven, digital age, ICSC has launched The Center of Shopping - an innovative, user-friendly website that houses all industry-related content under one roof. Created to serve the consumer, industry and media alike, the site functions as a go-to source for all things retail real estate. The visually compelling website features unique curated content: infographics, engaging thought leadership pieces and interviews, relevant articles, multimedia, and blog posts. The Center of Shopping delivers an array of topical information from the industry's most reputable sources including data-driven insights, the latest industry news, trends, and forecasts.
About ICSC:
Founded in 1957, ICSC is the premier global trade association of the shopping center industry. Its more than 68,000 members in over 100 countries include shopping center owners, developers, managers, marketing specialists, investors, retailers and brokers, as well as academics and public officials. For more information, visit www.icsc.org.
SCO claws out
Bit up on open. UCO dip bit. /ES /TF strong.
Oh tiny SSN oil 1:10 R/S open. Prob lot more of things to come at low end of pool. Bks, mergers, RS, stock offerings, etc.
Commodities in general are way cheaper as demand softens globally. Can't help dry bulks. DRYS got article that its oil tankers may help it. Not sure myself.
SSN R/S 1:10 3/29 open today
DENVER & PERTH, Australia --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- As previously announced by Samson Oil & Gas Limited (NYSE MKT: SSN) on March 19 th, a change in the number of its ordinary shares represented by American Depositary Shares, from 20 ordinary shares per ADS to 200 ordinary shares per ADS, will be effective prior to the commencement of trading on the NYSE MKT on Monday, March 30th, 2015 . The change in exchange ratio for the ADSs will have the same effect as a 1-for-10 reverse stock split of the ADSs, reducing the number of outstanding ADSs from 102,900,833 to approximately 10,290,000 ADSs. The ADSs will continue to trade on the NYSE MKT. Samson's ordinary shares, which are not affected by the change, will continue to trade on the ASX.
If this change in ADS to ordinary share ratio had been in place at the close of trading on the NYSE MKT on Friday March 27 th, 2015 the closing ADS share price would have been $1.93 .
Holders of Samson's ordinary shares, which are traded on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: SSN), are entirely unaffected by the new exchange ratio for ADSs. Approximately 70% of Samson's outstanding equity is currently represented by ADSs, with the balance held directly as ordinary shares.
Samson's Ordinary Shares are traded on the Australian Securities Exchange under the symbol "SSN". Samson's American Depository Shares (ADSs) are traded on the New York Stock Exchange MKT under the symbol "SSN". Each ADS represents 20 fully paid Ordinary Shares of Samson. Samson has a total of 2,837 million ordinary shares issued and outstanding (including 230 million options exercisable at AUD 3.8 cents ), which would be the equivalent of 141.85 million DSs. Accordingly, based on the NYSE MKT closing price of US$0.19 per ADS on March 27 th, 2015, the Company has a current market capitalization of approximately US$27.9 million (the options have been valued at an exchange rate of 0.7804). Correspondingly, based on the ASX closing price of A$0.012 for ordinary shares and a closing price of A$0.002 for the 2017 options, on March 27 th, 2015, the Company has a current market capitalization of approximately A$34.5 million .
SAMSON OIL & GAS LIMITED
TERRY BARR Managing Director
Bit more pre news
DAILY US EQUITY OPENING NEWS - FINAL EDITION:
DJIA
News
Merck (MRK)/Intrexon (XON)/Ziopharm (ZIOP) – Merck and Intrexon have announced that they have signed a pact to jointly develop Car-T Therapy. Ziopharm and Intrexon are to share some of the provision of the pact. (BBG)
S&P 500
News
Alcoa (AA) – Co. has said that they are to curtail the remaining 74k tonnes of capacity at their Brazilian, São Luís operations. (BBG)
Time Warner (TWC)/Outerwall (OUTR) – Outerwall’s Redbox have announced that they have signed a new agreement with Time Warner's Warner Bros. (BBG)
NASDAQ 100
News
Baidu (BIDU)/ChinaNet Online (CNET) – Co.’s announce that they have signed an agreement for Baidu to sell services and products for ChinaNet Online. (BBG)
OTHER NEWS
Alibaba (BABA) – Co. announce that they have signed a deal with BMG to exclusively distribute their music in China. (WSJ)
DreamWorks (DWA) – Co.’s Home was at the head of the box office this weekend grossing USD 54mln. (BBG)
Intellipharmaceutics (IPCI) – Co. announce that they have had strong topline results from their Rexista trials. (BBG)
Lion Biotechnologies (LBIO) – Co. announces that their TIL- ipilimumab study has shown posoitve data. (BBG)
Norcraft Companies (NCFT)/Fortune Brands Home & Security (FBHS) – Fortune Brands Home & Security announce that they are to purchase Norcraft for USD 600mln. (BBG)
Verifone (PAY)/Heartland Payment Systems (HPY) – Co.’s announced that they have started a joint initiative to give better security as well as EMV-ready payment processing. (BBG)
BROKER MOVES
Upgrades
FINISH LINE (FINL) UPGRADED TO BUY FROM NEUTRAL AT MONNESS CRESPI
HERTZ (HTZ) UPGRADED TO EQUAL WEIGHT FROM UNDERWEIGHT AT MORGAN STANLEY
KRAFT FOODS (KRFT) UPGRADED TO BUY FROM HOLD AT CANACCORD
ORACLE (ORCL) UPGRADED TO OUTPERFORM FROM SECTOR PERFORM AT RBC CAPITAL
TRANSOCEAN (RIG) UPGRADED TO NEUTRAL FROM REDUCE AT GLOBAL HUNTER
FINISH LINE (FINL) UPGRADED TO BUY FROM NEUTRAL AT MONNESS CRESPI
HERTZ (HTZ) UPGRADED TO EQUAL WEIGHT FROM UNDERWEIGHT AT MORGAN STANLEY
KRAFT FOODS (KRFT) UPGRADED TO BUY FROM HOLD AT CANACCORD
ORACLE (ORCL) UPGRADED TO OUTPERFORM FROM SECTOR PERFORM AT RBC CAPITAL
TRANSOCEAN (RIG) UPGRADED TO NEUTRAL FROM REDUCE AT GLOBAL HUNTER
Downgrades
ALTERA (ALTR) DOWNGRADED TO UNDERPERFORM FROM OUTPERFORM AT CLSA
BREITBURN (BBEP) ENERGY DOWNGRADED TO SELL FROM HOLD AT WUNDERLICH
OI S.A. (OIBR) DOWNGRADED TO UNDERPERFORM FROM SECTOR PERFORM AT RBC CAPITAL
SYNTEL (SYNT) DOWNGRADED TO HOLD FROM BUY AT MAXIM
Initiations
DELTA AIR LINES (DAL) INITIATED WITH A BUY AT ARGUS
Broker Moves Compiled from: BBG, RTRS, ZeroHedge and theflyonthewall
UNH still up pre near 123. LO
In corporate news, UnitedHealth Group Inc. plans to acquire pharmacy-benefit manager Catamaran Corp. for about $ 12.8 billion in cash . The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. UnitedHealth shares rose 4.1% and those of Catamaran gained 25% in premarket trade.
-----------
Meanwhile, in equities, Catamaran (CTRX), a provider of pharmacy benefit-management services and technology, jumped 25% in recent pre-market trading after agreeing to be bought for $61.50 per share by UnitedHealth Group's (UNH) OptimRx, a free-standing pharmacy care services business. UNH was up 4.0% pre-market.
-----------
Tough call below.
Decliners
Lorillard Inc. (LO) was seeing active trading on Monday after The Wall Street Journal on Sunday reported that ithe Federal Trade Commission was meeting with the companies' officials ahead of a planned merger with Reynolds American Inc. (RAI)
some am gainers
Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. (NASDAQ: ICEL) gained 107.03% to $16.50 in pre-market trading after the company agreed to be acquired by Fujifilm (OTC: FUJIF) for $ 16.50 per share.
Auspex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASPX) shares surged 41.24% to $100.15 in pre-market trading after Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NYSE: TEVA) announced its plans to acquire Auspex Pharmaceuticals for $101 per share.
Catamaran Corporation (NASDAQ: CTRX) shares gained 24.20% to $60.00 in the pre-market trading session following the announcement of acquisition by UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH) unit. Catamaran agreed to be acquired by UnitedHealth's OptumRx business for $61.50 per share in cash.
Horizon Pharma plc (NASDAQ: HZNP) shares climbed 10.91% to $24.19 in pre-market trading after the company announced its plans to buy Hyperion for $1.1 billion in cash.
Hyperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: HPTX) shares rose 6.81% to $45.67 in pre-market trading after Horizon Pharma plc (NASDAQ: HZNP) announced its plans to acquire Hyperion Therapeutic for $46.00 per share in cash.
Goldman current oil rigs seen lower 2Q/3Q15
23:22 pm ET
GOLDMAN SACHS: CURRENT OIL RIG COUNT IS POINTING TO U.S. PRODUCTION DECLINING SLIGHTLY SEQUENTIALLY IN 2Q15 AND 3Q15
US sidesteps new China Bank membership
Haven't looked at full list but not seeing too many large Western nations for now. Certainly shaping up to be world leader. Just another nail in US best days. Would like to hope this shifts downward the costs of US uber alles but given Middle East expenses who knows. Wasn't Obama all about shifting to Asia?
5:52pm ET
BOAO, China--President Xi Jinping sketched out China's vision for a new security and economic order in Asia , offering to spread the benefits of Chinese prosperity and cooperation across the region.
In a speech to a regional forum Saturday, Mr. Xi presented China as a partner willing to "jointly build a regional order that is more favorable to Asia and the world." He highlighted a new China-led infrastructure bank and other initiatives designed to leverage hundreds of billions of dollars to finance railways, ports and other development projects, and foster regional economic integration.
Throughout the 30-minute speech, Mr. Xi stressed that China's vision, while centered on Asia , was open to participation by all countries. He was careful not to place China at the center of this emerging order, as some regional politicians and security experts have warned could happen.
But Mr. Xi said given China's size, it will naturally play a larger role. "Being a big country means shouldering greater responsibilities for the region, as opposed to seeking greater monopoly over regional and world affairs," Mr. Xi told the Boao Forum for Asia , an annual China-sponsored conference named for the southern seaside town where it is held.
The speech was the latest by Mr. Xi to articulate his government's plans to use China's growing power to reshape economic and security arrangements in the region--a change from recent decades when Beijing largely worked within a U.S. and Western-dominated international system.
At the center of these efforts is the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and plans to build infrastructure across Asia and along the maritime routes that historically connected China to the Middle East , Africa and Europe .
The plans have been welcomed by many countries and companies throughout the region, which the Asian Development Bank estimates is in need of trillions of dollars of infrastructure. Close U.S. allies and other governments have signed on to the infrastructure bank, despite concerns from Washington about the way the bank will be run.
Chinese officials said the bank, which is due to start operations this year, is expected to have about 40 founding member countries.
Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov announced Moscow's participation in Boao on Saturday. China's Finance Ministry said on its website Saturday that the Netherlands , Brazil and Georgia have also applied to join. Australian officials on Sunday confirmed that Canberra would participate as a prospective founding member in negotiations to set up the bank.
In an illustration of the breadth of China's plans, dignitaries attending Mr. Xi's speech included government leaders from 15 countries, including Indonesia , Sri Lanka , Zambia , Armenia and Austria --but there was no high-level representation by the U.S.
The Boao Forum , which was conceived as an Asian version of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland , has typically focused on business and economic matters.
Mr. Xi's speech was notable for touching upon security issues--though he didn't raise China's territorial disputes with Japan and the Philippines .
Without referring to the U.S. by name, Mr. Xi suggested the security alliances that have underpinned Washington's role in the region should be done away with. "No country could have its own security assured without the security of other countries, or of the wider world," Mr. Xi said. "The Cold War mentality should be truly discarded and new security concepts be nurtured as we explore a path for Asia that ensures security for all."
Mr. Xi held out the prospect that China's own economic growth, even if slowing, would bring opportunities for the region. Over the next five years, he said, China would import $10 trillion in goods, and invest $500 billion abroad.
Beijing's more expansive economic plans have also stirred up concerns that China may seek to use its largess for political and other goals. "There is concern that this is about China's dominance," Mari Pangestu , a former Indonesian trade minister, said at a Boao panel discussion Friday. "This is a word of caution. China is saying that this is open...I think we have to make sure that this is the case."
However, to realize its visions, China will need the assistance of private companies and other lending institutions, such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank , officials and business executives said
China's planned infrastructure bank will have $100 billion in capital. Properly borrowed against, that pool could provide $1.3 trillion in financing--still short of the trillions in estimated infrastructure demand, according to Fred Hu , a founding partner of Primavera Capital Group .
In his speech, Mr. Xi said that plans to develop the land and maritime routes connecting China to Asia and beyond had drawn interest from 60 countries and international organizations.
The "initiative is not meant as rhetoric," he said. "It represents real work that could be seen and felt to bring real benefits to countries and the region."
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-29-15 1241ET
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All recovery households were rentals?
http://wallstreetexaminer.com/2015/03/the-keep-all-households-created-during-recovery-were-renters/
Not sure of how valid, but on face of it could be especially when states like Florida foreclosures considered. Fed monetary policy charts included to round it out.
Couple interesting other discussions at link. Like the Pro$ version has: "Cycle screening measures continued to weaken on Friday in spite of the slight gain in the market averages."
US consumer prices up at last
US Consumer Prices Rise For First Time Since October
Facebook May Host News Sites’ Content
By RAVI SOMAIYA, MIKE ISAAC and VINDU GOEL MARCH 23, 2015
NY Times
Nothing attracts news organizations like Facebook. And nothing makes them more nervous.
With 1.4 billion users, the social media site has become a vital source of traffic for publishers looking to reach an increasingly fragmented audience glued to smartphones. In recent months, Facebook has been quietly holding talks with at least half a dozen media companies about hosting their content inside Facebook rather than making users tap a link to go to an external site.
Such a plan would represent a leap of faith for news organizations accustomed to keeping their readers within their own ecosystems, as well as accumulating valuable data on them. Facebook has been trying to allay their fears, according to several of the people briefed on the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were bound by nondisclosure agreements.
Facebook intends to begin testing the new format in the next several months, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. The initial partners are expected to be The New York Times, BuzzFeed and National Geographic, although others may be added since discussions are continuing. The Times and Facebook are moving closer to a firm deal, one person said.
To make the proposal more appealing to publishers, Facebook has discussed ways for publishers to make money from advertising that would run alongside the content.
Facebook has said publicly that it wants to make the experience of consuming content online more seamless. News articles on Facebook are currently linked to the publisher’s own website, and open in a web browser, typically taking about eight seconds to load. Facebook thinks that this is too much time, especially on a mobile device, and that when it comes to catching the roving eyeballs of readers, milliseconds matter.
In addition to hosting content directly on Facebook, the company is talking with publishers about other technical ways to hasten delivery of their articles.
Even marginal increases in the speed of a site, said Edward Kim, chief executive of the analytics and distribution company SimpleReach, generally mean big increases in user satisfaction and traffic. So it is likely, he said, that Facebook’s plan focuses on those small improvements, rather than on getting money from deals with media companies.
“But there are a lot of implications for publishers,” he added. “It really comes down to how Facebook structures this, and how they can ensure this is a win on both sides.”
The issue is also pressing, he said, because some media companies have seen a drop in traffic from Facebook that could be attributed to the company’s prioritizing of video — a much more lucrative medium for ad sales.
Video has become increasingly popular with Facebook users and advertisers, and at its developer conference that begins on Wednesday, the company is expected to introduce expanded tools to place video ads inside non-Facebook applications.
Like Facebook, media companies also want improved user experiences. Still, they are treading carefully. While BuzzFeed has an overt policy of spreading its content outside of its own site, The Times uses a subscription model that provides a growing portion of the company’s revenue. It would have to weigh the benefits of reaching Facebook’s users — and the ad revenue that comes with them — against the prospect of giving away its content and losing the clicks on its own site that would instead stay within Facebook.
Some news organizations have reacted coolly to the proposal. Several Guardian employees, for example, have informally suggested to colleagues at other publications that publishers should band together to negotiate deals that work for the whole industry, and should retain control of their own advertising, whether content is hosted on Facebook or not, a person with knowledge of the discussions said.
Representatives for The Times and BuzzFeed declined to comment on Monday. The Guardian and National Geographic did not immediately respond to questions about talks with Facebook.
The Huffington Post and the business and economics website Quartz were also approached. Both also declined to discuss their involvement.
Facebook declined to comment on its specific discussions with publishers. But the company noted that it had provided features to help publishers get better traction on Facebook, including tools unveiled in December that let them target their articles to specific groups of Facebook users, such as young women living in New York who like to travel.
The company recognizes that the new plan, championed by Chris Cox, the top lieutenant to Facebook’s chief, Mark Zuckerberg, on product matters, would remove the usual ads that publishers place around their content. Although the revenue-sharing ideas are still in flux, one would allow publishers to show a single ad in a custom format within each Facebook article, according to one person with knowledge of the discussions.
Facebook has not historically done any kind of revenue-sharing with content publishers. Essentially, its position has been “Put your content on Facebook and we’ll send you traffic.” But lately Facebook has been experimenting with revenue-sharing options. In December, it began showing N.F.L. clips sponsored by Verizon. Verizon paid for the clips to be sent to people’s news feeds and ran an ad at the end of them. The N.F.L. and Facebook split the revenue.
The new proposal by Facebook carries another risk for publishers: the loss of valuable consumer data. When readers click on an article, an array of tracking tools allow the host site to collect valuable information on who they are, how often they visit and what else they have done on the web.
That data might instead go to Facebook, which like many companies uses that information itself to target and track consumers more effectively for advertisers (and which has been subject to criticisms over its privacy policies). It has not been disclosed how much of that data Facebook would be willing to share.
And if Facebook pushes beyond the experimental stage and makes content hosted on the site commonplace, those who do not participate in the program could lose substantial traffic — a factor that has played into the thinking of some publishers. Their articles might load more slowly than their competitors’, and over time readers might avoid those sites.
And just as Facebook has changed its news feed to automatically play videos hosted directly on the site, giving them an advantage compared with videos hosted on YouTube, it could change the feed to give priority to articles hosted directly on its site.
Over the long term, said Alan D. Mutter, a newspaper consultant who writes a blog called Reflections of a Newsosaur, all publishers are likely to have to allow their content to range more freely outside of their own sites.
“But in the short term,” he said, “it’s a scary proposition because publishers want to control their brand, and their audience and their advertising dollars.”
Facebook, on the other hand, he said, can only benefit from it. “It enhances user satisfaction, keeps users on its site and has better content which allows it to sell advertising at better rates,” Mr. Mutter said.
Ted Cruz on student loans he blocked
This guy is a real piece of work. Speaks in third person, covers his student loan pitch, and never mentions the wife's job at The Squid (temp leave from GS). No Elmer Gantry here.
Ted Cruz invokes his student loans, but will he help others with theirs?
By Jillian Berman Marketwatch.com
Published: Mar 23, 2015 5:37 p.m. ET
When Texas Sen. Ted Cruz kicked off his campaign for President on Monday morning, he wanted the audience of college students gathered for his announcement at Liberty University to know he is just like them.
While recounting his biography (inexplicably in the third person), Cruz told the crowd: “He took over $100,000 in school loans, loans I suspect a lot of y’all can relate to, loans that I’ll point out I just paid off a few years ago.”
Cruz may feel their pain, but that doesn’t mean he’s making it any easier for others to pay their loans off.
In fact, Cruz was one of many Senate Republicans who voted last year to block a bill that would have allowed more than 25 million Americans to refinance their student loans at lower interest rates. Republicans opposed the bill, called the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act, because its Democratic backers proposed using a boost in taxes on the wealthiest Americans to cover the cost of allowing millions to refinance their loans, political blog The Hill reported at the time.
The Cruz campaign didn’t immediately respond to our request for a comment.
As the Washington Post points out, Cruz’s nod to his debt on Monday was part of a larger narrative about the presidential hopeful as someone who came from little means, struggled and eventually achieved the American Dream. Student debt is an issue that’s likely important to many potential voters, given that about 40 million Americans are saddled with student loans worth a total of more than $1 trillion.
Still, some in the audience didn’t totally buy Cruz’s pitch, according to a sampling of messages on Yik, Yak, an app that allows people within a given location to communicate anonymously. As Business Insider pointed out, a user in the Liberty area wrote, “Thats right, mention paying off debt so you seem accessible to the college crowd.”
China Japan Mar Mfg PMI Flash drops
Below piece on China's Feb LEI.
CHINA MAR HSBC MFG PMI FLASH DECREASE TO 49.2 (FCAST 50.6 ) VS PREV 50.7
Japan also. Lost data on it, about same as China.
Get long Alibaba.
Wall Street's sales traders are increasingly telling clients to buy Alibaba Group Holdings (ticker: BABA ) at a time when the stock and associated implied volatility are trading near lows.
The recommendation is gaining vigor since the passing of last week's lock-up phase that allowed some pre-IPO investors to sell shares.
But a funny thing has happened. Early investors seem to be keeping their shares. This is likely because Alibaba's stock is below where it closed on IPO day.
But the removal of this expected selling pressure is proving attractive to some investors who are buying stock. This makes Alibaba's late April to early May earnings report a key trading opportunity.
Investor sentiment is so negative going into earnings that the stock could rally on the slightest bit of good news. And it is hard to see the stock taking a big hit if the quarter is bad.
Meanwhile, the implied volatility of Alibaba's options plummeted over the past few days.
One-month implied volatility - essentially the options market's equivalent of stock - fell to 25% from 33.5%, indicating the options market has re-priced the risk of owning Alibaba's stock. Three-month implied volatility is at 29% , a hair away from the February low of 28%.
The volatility declines enable investors to buy options on Alibaba's stock without a fear or greed premium. This is the options market's equivalent of a free trade.
With analysts largely negative, as indicated by earnings estimates coming down over the past 90 days, investors can buy Alibaba's May $85 call that was offered at $4.10 when the stock was around $85 . To lower the price of the call, sell the May $82.50 put that was recently bid at $3.05 . The risk reversal - short put, long call with different strike prices but the same expiration - lowers the trade price to 60 cents .
The position expresses a view that Alibaba's stock will rally into and after earnings. The trade is profitable above $ 85.60 . Below $82.50 , investors are obligated to buy the stock.
To be sure, investor sentiment is so negative on Alibaba - despite the bullish sales talk - that it is hard to be anything but bullish. Alibaba is now expected to earn 44 cents a share on revenue of about $3 billion . Ninety-days ago, Alibaba was expected to earn 49 cents a share.
Investor positioning is equally dour. Average daily stock trading volume has trended lower since the September stock offering, and now stands around 10 million shares.
At the same time, Alibaba's short interest - which represents investors betting the stock declines - is at an all-time high. With 10 million shares sold short, it would take about five days to cover, or buy back the shares. If the stock rallies on a bit of good news, short sellers would be forced to chase the stock and buy back higher shares sold lower.
In the option market, Alibaba's options are experiencing something of a renaissance. Alibaba increasingly appears on the top-10 most traded list that includes momentum names like Apple ( AAPL ), Facebook ( FB ), Twitter ( TWTR ) and special situation like Bank of America ( BAC ). On most days, bullish calls exceed bearish put action.
Outside the options market, it seems stock analysts are looking for a chance to say something good about Alibaba . Consider J.P. Morgan's Alex Yao and Doug Anmuth . Last week, they lowered Alibaba's price target to $117 from $109 . At the same time, they reiterated an overweight rating, essentially telegraphing to investors to be patient and keep buying stock.
Though they acknowledge the stock has traded weakly, they think Alibaba will work out its short-term kinks, including recently reporting weak third-quarter revenue, concerns about the sale of counterfeit products, and management changes.
We think near-term headwinds stem primarily from Alibaba's efforts to enhance the health of its eco-system and we think these changes should pay dividends in the long term," they averred in a recent note.
We agree, and advise investors to avoid the navel gazing that accompanies every twist and turn of a hot stock like Alibaba .
Alibaba has a leading market position in China . It is operationally and financially strong. It is, however, inexperienced dealing with the intense pressure of shareholders and analysts, and arguably even a Chinese government that is sensitive to Alibaba as a high-profile representative of the nation's financial system.
In many ways, Alibaba's current experiences are similar to Facebook's similarly volatile post-IPO trading. For a while, Facebook was loudly criticized as a hyped stock as it struggled to find its capital-market sea legs. Now, Facebook is widely regarded as a great way to play rising mobile advertising.
Time will tell if Alibaba will be as well regarded as Facebook . But these facts are hard to argue: successful investors always manage risk and limit losses and they finance positions that have fallen from favor and are experiencing growing pains. The recommended Alibaba trades lets investors do just that.
---
Comments? E-mail us at asia.editors@barrons.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-23-15 2139ET
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
-----------------
The Conference Board Leading Economic Index(R) for China Increased in February
Today 10:00 PM ET (PR NewsWire)
The Conference Board Leading Economic Index(R) (LEI) for China increased 1.5 percent in February to 317.6 (2004 = 100), following a 0.5 percent increase in January and a 0.9 percent increase in December. Five of the six components contributed positively to the index in February.
Said Andrew Polk, resident economist at The Conference Board China Center in Beijing, "China's current economic conditions deteriorated further in February, led by significant weakening in electricity production. Meanwhile, the Leading Economic Index for China stabilized on improvement in the consumer outlook, which is likely buoyed by the Chinese New Year holiday. Still, compared to the second half of 2014, the six-month growth rate of the LEI remains subdued, pointing to continued moderation in economic growth in Q2."
The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index(R) (CEI) for China, which measures current economic activity, decreased 0.7 percent in February to 266.8 (2004 = 100), following a 0.4 percent decline in January and a 1.3 percent increase in December. Three of the five components contributed positively to the index in February.
The Conference Board LEI for China aggregates six economic indicators that measure economic activity in China. Each of the LEI components has proven accurate on its own. Aggregating individual indicators into a composite index filters out so-called "noise" to show underlying trends more clearly.
About The Conference Board Leading Economic Index(R) (LEI) for China
The Conference Board Leading Economic Index(R) for China was launched in May 2010. Plotted back to 1986, this index has successfully signaled turning points in the economic cycles of China. The Conference Board also produces LEIs for Australia, Brazil, the Euro Area, France, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The six components of The Conference Board Leading Economic Index(R) (LEI) for China include:
Total Loans Issued by Financial Institutions (source: People's Bank of China) 5000 Industry Enterprises Diffusion Index: Raw Materials Supply Index (source: People's Bank of China) NBS Manufacturing PMI Sub-Indices: PMI Supplier Deliveries (source: National Bureau of Statistics) Consumer Expectations Index (source: National Bureau of Statistics) Total Floor Space Started (source: National Bureau of Statistics) NBS Manufacturing PMI Sub-Indices: Export Orders (source: National Bureau of Statistics)
For more information including full press release and technical notes: http://www.conference-board.org/data/bcicountry.cfm?cid=11
To view The Conference Board calendar of 2015 indicator releases: http://www.conference-board.org/data/
About The Conference Board The Conference Board is a global, independent business membership and research association working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: To provide the world's leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance and better serve society. The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States. For additional information about The Conference Board and how it can meet your needs, visit our website at www.conference-board.org.
Summary Table of Composite Economic Indexes
2015 6-month
Dec Jan Feb Aug to Feb
Leading Economic index (LEI) 311.2 p 312.9 p 317.6 p
Percent Change 0.9 p 0.5 p 1.5 p 5.8
Diffusion 83.3 50.0 83.3 66.7
Coincident Economic Index (CEI) 269.9 p 268.7 p 266.8 p
Percent Change 1.3 p -0.4 p -0.7 p 0.8
Diffusion 100.0 40.0 60.0 80.0
n.a. Not available p Preliminary r Revised
Indexes equal 100 in 2004
Source: The Conference Board All Rights Reserved
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-conference-board-leading-economic-index-for-china-increased-in-february-300054851.html
SOURCE The Conference Board
Torrent of Cash Exits Eurozone
A major shift in the flow of money around the globe is driving down the euro at a rapid clip, boosting the U.S. dollar and leaving smaller countries to struggle with the consequence of an extraordinary flood.
A wave of cash is leaving the eurozone, where returns on safe assets are infinitesimal, if they are positive at all, and headed to the U.S. and other refuges such as Denmark and Switzerland .
Europe's common currency has fallen 22% against the dollar in less than a year, from $1.39 to $1.08 . The euro touched a 12-year low of less than $1.05 this month. The European Central Bank is holding interest rates, while the U.S. Federal Reserve is looking to raise them--a combination that pushes the euro down against the dollar.
But the fall, many analysts said, has been exacerbated by the willingness of big investors to move their assets out of euros, not just by speculators placing bets that the euro will fall. The diverging paths of European and U.S. monetary policy have been a catalyst for European savers and investors to reallocate their portfolios away from Europe and into the U.S. in search of returns.
Big central banks appear to be following suit, with China and the oil-rich Middle Eastern countries that had poured some of their foreign reserves into euros changing course.
"It's all about the flows," said Roger Hallam , chief investment officer for currency at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, which oversees $1.7 trillion . The firm has bet on a weaker euro throughout the recent decline and believes it can fall further.
The ECB pushed interest rates down to nearly zero and the rate it pays on commercial-bank deposits below zero last summer. This year, it started quantitative easing, in which it prints euros to buy bonds.
Since the ECB brought in negative deposit rates in June, more cash has flowed out of the eurozone to buy foreign stocks and bonds than has flowed in, ECB data show. Recently, a steady trickle has become a torrent. In the final quarter of 2014, the gap was EUR124.4 billion ( $134.35 billion ).
The euro has fallen, but European stocks and bonds have rallied. That is largely thanks to quantitative easing, which should push investors to buy riskier assets such as stocks, while the ECB's own heavy buying of bonds keeps that market supported even as some investors move outside the eurozone.
The starkest consequences of these flows have been seen in the eurozone's small neighbors. The Danish central bank has cut interest rates four times this year to discourage foreigners from piling into the krone. To keep the currency, which is pegged to the euro, from climbing, it has printed huge volumes of kroner to sell for euros.
Switzerland was so swamped by inflows that the central bank abruptly lifted its cap on the Swiss franc in January, leading to a dramatic one-day surge of more than 40% in the franc's value.
But even the U.S. has been far from immune. Massive demand from European investors has helped drive the dollar higher this year. The rush into the dollar has also fueled a rally in U.S. Treasurys despite expectations that the Fed will raise interest rates this year. Foreign investors increased their holdings of Treasury bonds by $374.3 billion in 2014, Federal Reserve data show. That trend has continued this year.
Another effect has made the flood out of Europe especially powerful. Unlike the Fed's three waves of quantitative easing, the ECB's version is coming as European governments are trimming budgets. That means they issue fewer bonds, and European investors have more reason to look abroad for returns instead of paying dearly for relatively scarce assets at home or having cash in euros that they might need to pay to hold on to.
"There are more and more euros being printed, but these are hot-potato euros," Mr. Hallam said.
January data showed a net inflow of EUR29.8 billion , which was composed of a big rush into European stocks in anticipation of quantitative easing and a continued flow out of bonds. Market participants say most non-European equity investors who buy eurozone stocks also simultaneously bet on a weaker currency, canceling out any upward pressure on the euro. Debt investors typically don't.
ECB demand has driven up bond prices, pushing yields, which fall when prices rise, to record lows. German 10-year debt now yields just 0.18%, and German yields are negative to maturities up to seven years.
APG Groep NV , which oversees EUR415 billion of pension investments in the Netherlands , has been shifting more of its investments overseas in recent months. "As interest rates in the eurozone are so low and the euro is dropping, it's sensible for us to look outside the eurozone to U.K. and U.S. [government bonds] because they've become more attractive than they used to be, both from a capital preservation and a return perspective," said Harmen Geers , spokesman for asset management at the firm.
European investors face a choice, said Stephan Hirschbrich, a fixed-income portfolio manager at Germany's Union Asset Management Holding AG , which manages EUR232.1 billion : shift into longer-dated or riskier debt, or look overseas. "For our clients that are able to, we've been moving into the U.S. where we can benefit from a rising dollar and higher yields," he said.
Some analysts think the big outflows from the euro area will continue. Deutsche Bank forecasts a fall as far as 85 cents for the euro by the end of 2017 as a large and persistent excess of savings particularly in northern European economies like Germany and the Netherlands looks for a home overseas.
The effect of such flows appears more decisive than speculative bets that the euro will fall. The euro slumped substantially in March, even though speculators slightly trimmed their wagers on a euro decline, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission show.
The euro's fall is also linked to a shift in the behavior of the investors with the deepest pockets of all: central banks.
Before the financial crisis, central banks led by the People's Bank of China bought up huge piles of dollars to keep their own currencies from climbing. After the euro's launch in 1999, they gradually began to diversify into the new currency, which looked set to become a serious rival to the buck as a global reserve.
This recycling of dollars into euros was a constant boon to the common currency, helping fuel its rise from less than 90 cents in 2000 to a peak of $1.60 in 2008.
But the pace of foreign-currency accumulation among these big central banks has slowed in recent years, according to the International Monetary Fund , which monitors the composition of central banks' reserves.
The share of reserves held in euros peaked in 2009 at nearly 28%, IMF data show. In the third quarter of 2014, the most recent data available, it fell sharply to 22.6%.
"Some very big reserve managers are no longer scooping up huge amounts of dollars, which means that they are no longer diversifying into the euro," said Neil Mellor , a currency strategist at Bank of New York Mellon . China has backed away from foreign reserve accumulation as a direct policy measure, Russia has largely let its currency float freely since the start of 2015 and oil-producing nations in general have seen dollar revenues plummet, said Mr. Mellor.
That means less cash to recycle into euros.
"The euro's turbocharger has been removed," Mr. Mellor said.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-22-15 2106ET
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
2 articles SP500 ES-Emini & Baltic DI
http://wallstreetexaminer.com/2015/03/who-the-real-smart-money-is/ for short article & Chart on ES- Emini SP futures, the 3 COT players & which does best.
http://wallstreetexaminer.com/2015/03/is-trade-dying-plunging-baltic-dry-index-and-commodity-prices/
Short bit
Then we have plunging core commodities such as West Texas Intermediate Crude oil falling like a rock along with raw material and food prices. While falling prices could be a sign of excess supply, the fact the shipping costs (as measured by the Baltic Dry Index) has fallen as well.
Interesting site on DRYS, Marketrealist
http://marketrealist.com/2015/03/dryships-fourth-quarter-earnings-fleet-investor-snapshot/
Not sure why DRYS knocked down this much. Of course much news about global declines in heavy goods shipments. But DRYS is pretty well balanced. Guess traders waiting for upturn to be in place, say around $2+ to think it's 'safe'.
Have seen market treat things like airlines, coal, oil, banks, etc, this way and eventually they made some recoveries. Trick is to not get into the very worse of them. Instead get C when <$1 or F at lows.
Right now treating DRYS like it's a JOEZ or something. Maybe market right and there's no bounce recovery to be had. That prices this at zero or Pinky.
My best low grabs seemed to come from those that stood out a bit in their sector like SIRI, ROSG, JAZZ, RAD, ALU. So used to fishing in dangerous waters. But DRYS not yet putting out even the early signals of being even a MSO bounce. Know soon.
All in all, fairly positive coverage here esp concerning returns from their divy paying (to DRYS) sub.
majority-owned (59.3%) subsidiary Ocean Rig UDW (ORIG)
Baltic DI 584 points +2.3% em
a few actions
HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE: HUBS) shares climbed 7.21% to $40.00 . The volume of HubSpot shares traded was 3399% higher than normal. HubSpot announced the pricing of its follow-on public offering of 4,114,486 common shares at a price of $37.00 per share.
Retrophin, Inc. (NASDAQ: RTRX) surged 25.41% to $18.51 . The volume of Retrophin shares traded 2589% higher than normal. Retrophin announced the FDA approval of Cholbam.
Papa Murphy's Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRSH) shares moved up 6.46% to $15.65 . The volume of Papa Murphy's traded was 845% higher than normal. The company posted quarterly net income of $2.8 million , or $0.17 per diluted share, on total revenue of $28.3 million .
DBV Technologies S.A. (NASDAQ: DBVT) shares rose 3.86% to $22.07 . The volume of DBV Technologies shares traded was 337% higher than normal. H.C. Wainwright initiated coverage on DBV Technologies with a Buy rating and a $50.00 price target.
a few lower pre Nasdaq
Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG) shares fell 9.82% to $2.48 in pre-market trading after the company posted a wider-than-expected loss for the fourth quarter.
StemCells Inc. (NASDAQ: STEM) shares dropped 6.45% to $1.16 in pre-market after the company reported a wider loss for the fourth quarter on Monday.
National Penn Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: NPBC) shares declined 4.92% to $10.24 in pre-market trading after the company announced the pricing of a 11.56 million share secondary offering by affiliates of Warburg Pincus.
Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. (NASDAQ: CRZO) slipped 4.54% to $45.21 in pre-market trading after the company priced a 4.5 million share offering at $45.50 per share.
Himax Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: HIMX) fell 3.48% to $7.21 in pre-market trading after dropping 6.39% on Monday.
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
a few lowers pre
8:18 ET
Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG) shares fell 9.82% to $2.48 in pre-market trading after the company posted a wider-than-expected loss for the fourth quarter.
StemCells Inc. (NASDAQ: STEM) shares dropped 6.45% to $1.16 in pre-market after the company reported a wider loss for the fourth quarter on Monday.
National Penn Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: NPBC) shares declined 4.92% to $10.24 in pre-market trading after the company announced the pricing of a 11.56 million share secondary offering by affiliates of Warburg Pincus.
Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. (NASDAQ: CRZO) slipped 4.54% to $45.21 in pre-market trading after the company priced a 4.5 million share offering at $45.50 per share.
Himax Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: HIMX) fell 3.48% to $7.21 in pre-market trading after dropping 6.39% on Monday.
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
BOJ keeps massive monetary stimulus unchanged
Bit more of story at link.
CNBC.com staff | @CNBC 43 Mins Ago
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102510046
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept its massive monetary policy stimulus intact on Tuesday, as widely expected, but analysts are still calling for further action in the coming months on the back of a tumble in the consumer inflation rate.
The BOJ decided in an 8-1 vote to keep its pledge of increasing base money at an annual pace of 80 trillion yen ($659 billion) via purchases of government bonds and risky assets.
The focus now shifts to BOJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda, who will be holding a media briefing later in the day to explain the policy decision.
"The statement was virtually unchanged, which is somewhat surprising given that recent industrial production and export figures were strong," Marcel Thieliant of Cpital Economics wrote in a note following the decision.
"The only adjustment was that the Board now expects inflation to remain around zero for the time being abstracting from the impact of last year's sales tax hike. Last month, it predicted it would slow further," he added.
The central bank is under pressure to meet its goal of reflating the economy, targeting the consumer inflation at 2 percent by early 2016.
Looming Recession Unsettling Russia
22:30 ET
KALUGA, Russia--When the flashy American-style Black Bull steakhouse opened here six years ago, it was a sign that this Russian provincial city had arrived.
These days, the restaurant is preparing a new menu for a new era. Gone are the American and Australian cuts of beef now subject to a Russian ban. Gone, too, are expensive imported duck and the foie gras that once topped arugula salads. Head chef Yuri Skorinov says he will offer steaks from Uruguay , Russian duck and domestic brie fried to mask its provenance.
A new economic reality is dawning in Kaluga, as it is in the nation as a whole. Falling oil prices and Western sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine have raised the prospect of a recession. Last year marked the first annual decline in real disposable income since Vladimir Putin assumed power. Russia's central bank said Monday it expects the economy to contract by 0.7% in the first quarter, and has forecast a contraction of up to 4% this year.
The ruble has lost nearly half its value against the dollar since the beginning of last year. Russia's gross domestic product fell by 1.5% in January from the year-earlier period, and an important manufacturing index reached a 5 1/2 year low. Consumer-price inflation hit 16.7% in February, with a 23.3% jump in food prices. Mr. Putin has warned of economic pain that could last as long as two years.
The result is the kind of economic uncertainty Russians haven't seen since a brief period in 2008-09, and before that in the 1990s, when the Soviet Union's collapse brought hyperinflation and financial collapse. A top Bank of Russia official said Monday that the central bank was considering halting currency trading on the Moscow exchange in the event of excessive volatility.
European and American investors are growing wary. That is especially worrisome for Kaluga, which had transformed its economy by enticing foreign companies to build factories to supply nearby Moscow with everything from cars to cement. "If all the factories become unprofitable, there will be a bust," says Mr. Skorinov, the chef.
Kaluga, located about 110 miles southwest of Moscow , dates to the 1300s. Parts of it look like they popped out of the pages of Nikolai Gogol. Pastel-colored czarist-era buildings alternate with old wooden cottages. A grand theater in the center of the city resembles Moscow's famous Bolshoi. It has a heartland feel: Kaluga fisherman dotted the city's frozen river on a rainy day late last year, even as the ruble crashed and the ice around them thawed.
When Mr. Putin took office in 1999, Kaluga was a sleepy backwater suffering from nearly a decade of post-Soviet neglect. But as energy prices soared, the roughly 20 million people in and around Moscow began renovating their homes and buying television sets, high-end cosmetics and their first smartphones and cars. Foreign firms, looking to save on labor and escape import duties, sought places near the Russian capital to manufacture their products.
Foreign companies
Anatoly Artamonov , governor of the Kaluga region since 2000, realized its proximity to Moscow was its main competitive advantage. He went on a crusade to convince multinational companies that Kaluga was the cheapest, least bureaucratic place to set up shop.
Even amid economic slump, the 62-year-old governor, a former Communist Party member who ran a socialist collective farm in the days of Leonid Brezhnev, travels to European capitals courting executives. He gives Western investors his personal cellphone number. He offers generous subsidies, reduced tax rates and promises of no corrupt business.
"We take care of our investors like parents look after their children," he likes to say.
Among the multinational companies to set up facilities in the area are L'Oréal SA, Samsung Electronics Co. , General Electric Co. , AstraZeneca PLC , and Lafarge SA . The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development , established to help former Communist countries make the transition to capitalism, has invested EUR638 million ( $675 million ) in the region since 2007, financing a number of new factories via loans and equity investments.
The influx of foreign money helped change Kaluga. An English-language international school opened. Brick sidewalks appeared in the city center, a rarity for small Russian provincial cities. Western-style restaurants and hotels opened downtown. People learned English. There was even money to help transform one regional village into an outdoor museum and artist commune.
"The city has become cleaner, and the roads have become better. The mentality of people has changed," says Ksenia Denisova , the 30-year-old manager at a travel agency in Kaluga. "People who work here now have contact with foreigners."
The region became a hub for European auto makers. Volkswagen AG , PSA Peugeot Citroën, and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. opened car plants. Volvo AB established a factory to make trucks. Parts makers, such as Magna International Inc. and Benteler International AG , launched operations to supply bumpers and chassis to the auto plants. In 2014, Kaluga pumped out its one-millionth car. The motor-vehicle industry now accounts for 42% of the Kaluga region's industrial output.
The boom taxed Kaluga's resources. The factories required more electricity, produced more waste and demanded more skilled labor. But the prosperity they brought outweighed the drawbacks.
Then, last year, Russia invaded and annexed Crimea and backed separatist rebels in a war in east Ukraine . The resulting political tension, instability and Western sanctions spooked investors.
Net direct foreign investment outside of the banking sector dropped to $18.6 billion last year, from $61.5 billion a year earlier, according to the World Bank . The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development , which had financed many of the foreign factories in Kaluga, halted all new investments in Russia because of the sanctions.
At the same time, the price of oil, Russia's most important export, plunged. Brent crude fell to less than $55 a barrel this month, from more than $110 in June 2014 . In December, as the ruble declined sharply, the central bank raised interest rates. For many Russians, that effectively cut off access to credit to buy homes or cars.
Russian consumers, whose spending supports much of Kaluga's factory-floor economy, are feeling the pinch. Retail sales in Russia were down 4.4% in January from the year-earlier period, the biggest decline since the 2008-09 financial crisis. Real wages dropped 8% in January from a year earlier, the largest drop on record, according to research firm Capital Economics.
As East-West relations deteriorated to their worst point since the Cold War, many Russian officials sang the praises of self-sufficiency. "We can have our own fun without your Coca-Cola," said one of many T-shirts released by Russian companies in response to sanctions. Russian authorities, alleging health violations, temporarily shut down McDonald's restaurants around the country, including its flagship on Moscow's Pushkin Square . McDonald's said at the time it was studying the closures and aimed to reopen the restaurants as soon as possible.
Mr. Artamonov, Kaluga's governor, says those who contend that Russia can go it alone don't understand economics and remain mired in Soviet-style thinking. He criticizes Western politicians for pushing through sanctions. "They're trying to cut Russia off from the world," he says. "That's bad. It can't come to that."
Western investors, he says, have become more cautious about their communications. "If before no one hid that I was talking with someone in some country, now they are saying, 'It'd be better if no one else knew about our meeting,' " he said. "This is some kind of stupidity."
Auto troubles
The Russian auto sector has been hit hard. Sales of new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles declined 37.9% in February from the year-earlier period, after dropping 10.3% during 2014, according to the Association of European Businesses . As the ruble plunged late last year, the chief executive officer of Renault SA , part-owner of Russian car maker Avtovaz , described the situation as a "bloodbath."
For foreign-branded cars coming off assembly lines in Russia , only about 30% to 40% of production costs are localized, in some cases even less, according to Sergei Litvinenko , a Moscow -based director in PricewaterhouseCoopers' automotive practice. Imported parts account for most of the rest of the cost, and their prices in rubles have soared. As a result, sticker prices of domestically assembled cars are rising.
The Volkswagen plant in Kaluga temporarily suspended production three times last year amid the sales slump. The factory, which has roughly 5,000 workers, has let go hundreds of temporary employees and likely will start laying off regular staffers, according to Dmitry Trudovoi, a union representative for the plant.
A spokesman for Volkswagen said the company is committed to the Russian market and intends to invest a further EUR1.2 billion by 2018, including in a new engine plant in Kaluga.
In February, Volvo let go 30% of the roughly 600 workers at its truck-manufacturing facilities in the region and suspended production indefinitely, citing sluggish demand, the company told Russian news outlets.
Kaluga's joint Peugeot Citroën and Mitsubishi factory also has repeatedly suspended production. About 40% of the plant's roughly 2,000 workers are on fixed-term contracts that end March 31 and might not be renewed, according to union representative Dmitry Kozhnev. A spokeswoman for Peugeot in Russia declined to comment.
Mr. Putin has pledged government support for auto makers, including foreign firms where local labor and content accounts for at least 50% of the cost of their products. The Russian government also has embarked on a broader economic bailout package worth 2.34 trillion rubles ( $37.46 billion ), which includes auto-industry support. In addition, Russia has ordered ministries to cut spending by 10% to control the budget deficit, and has authorized plans to tap the country's reserve fund for the first time in six years.
Not all of the businesses in Kaluga are in such dire straits as auto makers. The Kremlin has stepped up military spending, a boon for facilities in the region that make military equipment. Some local farmers and agricultural firms have received a boost from Russia's ban on an array of food imports from the European Union and the U.S.--a response to sanctions.
Authorities in Kaluga say the region will fare better than others in the economic downturn because of the work it put into diversifying the economy and building infrastructure when times were good. A new airport is opening. The region is expecting a number of pharmaceutical enterprises to start production this year. The drop in the ruble has helped boost export-focused firms, including one of Russia's largest steel companies.
Even in the automotive sector, there are some bright spots. Continental AG recently opened a new Kaluga tire factory. So far, it distributes its Russian-made products to dealers who sell the tires as replacements. "If it's a crisis, you think, 'I could run an additional couple thousand kilometers,' but you still have to change them," says Georgy Rotov , Continental's director for Russia .
Locals are trying to adjust to the economic changes. Ms. Denisova, the travel-agency manager, said she booked a New Year's trip to St. Petersburg instead of heading abroad like usual. Customers looking to vacation abroad have dwindled.Mr. Skorinov, the chef, says he could devise an entire menu of Russian products if he had to, and it still would be delicious.
Workers at the Volkswagen plant had been approaching the salary of their counterparts in Europe , but the ruble's fall has set them back.
Mr. Kozhnev, the union organizer, characterized the situation as a reality check. "This idea that we can show the world what's what when we have an economy so dependent on oil and gas had to end at some point," he says. "Now this is a moment of truth."
Mr. Artamonov, Kaluga's governor, is trying to stay positive. In an interview with a Russian radio station, he pledged to re-evaluate and further improve the business climate. "There's probably a crisis," he said. "But we're banning that word from being said."
William Boston contributed to this article.
Write to Paul Sonne at paul.sonne@wsj.com
Putin in public but....
Maybe just me but the brief piece I saw of him sitting in chair he looked kinda restrained, almost twitchy. But then he be much man, fulla action so chair not his thing?? lol