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The European markets are all VERY green so far, all up about 1%. I think we have a nice day today in the US.
Oil adds to gains as dollar drops
By Kristene Quan, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures extended their rise during electronic trading Monday, passing a key technical level as the dollar pulled lower.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil for January delivery (NMN:CLF3) traded at $87.59 a barrel on Globex during Asia trading hours, marking a rise of 67 cents, or 0.8%.
The advance came after the January contract added $1.05, or 1.2%, to settle at $86.92 a barrel in Friday’s regular session on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The now-expired December contract ended Friday with a 1.4% gain. Read: Oil rallies, ends above $86 to score weekly gain
GFT technical analyst Fawad Razaqzada said Friday that as the benchmark Nymex contract manages to hold above $85 for several sessions, traders will be watching price action with great attention.
“It is now testing a trend-line resistance at $87. … Should it break above here, $89.30 would become the next target,” Razaqzada said ahead of the contract’s advance.
Monday’s gains for oil came as the U.S. dollar moved off its recent highs, providing support for crude and other dollar-denominated commodities, which tend to move inversely to the greenback.
The ICE dollar index (NYE:DXY) , which measures the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, fell to 81.077 from 81.286 — its highest level since early September — in late North American trade Friday.
Among other energy products Monday, heating oil for December delivery (NMN:HOZ2) rose 2 cents to $3.01 a gallon, and gasoline for delivery in the same month (NMN:RBZ2) also added 2 cents to $2.73 a gallon.
Natural-gas futures for December delivery (NMN:NGZ12) jumped 4 cents, or about 1.1%, to $3.83 per million British thermal units
Gold futures edge higher as U.S. dollar eases
By V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Gold prices on Monday began a new week on a positive note, adding to the modest gains recorded Friday as the U.S. dollar weakened and amid expectations that Japan may pursue inflation more aggressively after the upcoming general elections.
Gold futures for delivery in December (CNS:GCZ2) climbed $7.90, or 0.5%, to $1,722.60 an ounce in electronic trading. The metal had added less than $1 during Friday’s regular session on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Monday’s advance came as the ICE dollar index (NYE:DXY) , a measure of the greenback’s performance against a basket of six other major currencies, fell to 81.074 from 81.286 late in North America on Friday.
Gold prices have been subject to volatility as U.S. political leaders made efforts to reach to avert the “fiscal cliff,” an event that threatened to drag the economy into recession. Gold often drops on the dollar’s strength, but also tends to gain during times of uncertainty, as the metal is widely regarded as a store of wealth.
Meanwhile, Japanese stock markets extended their rally as the yen weakened on hopes for a more relaxed monetary policy to pull the country from an era of falling prices. Monetary easing and higher inflation usually support gold prices.
Elsewhere in the metals complex, December silver (CNS:SIZ2) rose 0.8% to $32.63 an ounce, and December palladium (NYMEX:PAZ2) gained 0.6% to $630.20 an ounce.
Copper futures for delivery in December (CNS:HGZ2) added 0.6% to $3.47 a pound, while January platinum prices (NYMEX:PLF3) climbed 0.4% to $1,568.40 an ounce.
Hello N4. LONG ago, on this very board, I did a huge study on the hammer candle, and posted like 10 charts that had beautiful hammers. The consensus was that like anything, it is a GOOD indicator that put the odds in your favor. I believe it was something like 7 of the 10 had positive next days. I used the BlackJack analogy, that when the dealer is showing a 6, the ODDS are in your favor, bet the max. You won't ALWAYS win, but you will win more times than lose, and in the game of stock picking, that is the ultimate goal.
I am still thinking that with the 'positive' tone coming out of Washington, we will see a nice bounce this week in the whole market. How long this positive tone will stay is the question. Looking at about $139 on the SPY to be the decision point if we move higher or not. My 'gut' tells me that we sell off again after that, Then again, it could be the nasty eggs and bacon I had this morning, lol.
You still double clocking your chips?
Must have been GOOD!
Getting ready for the oain in the butt SUNDAY meeting with the staff. Then, dinner. I will be back and posting like a MADMAN when I get back in the morning, and all of you are sleeping. Enjoy your Sunday!
How was your latest batch of soup? I could SURE use a nice big bowl right about now. I got a damn cold, and a bowl of home made soup would go perfect right now.
Man, CSX is dropping hard. Will need to see what the heck is causing the drop, but it looks WAY oversold to me. Thinking SPY will pop this week, as will the DOW, and float a lot of these stocks back up.
Good morning Stuff! Will take a peek at CSX chart. I am bopping around right now trying to catch up since I missed so much last week dealing with stupidity.
I hope you have had a good weekend. Is the eye healing up nice? Is bear getting better looking each day?
Israel Stocks, Bonds Gain for First Day in 3 on Cease-Fire Bets
By Sharon Wrobel and Shoshanna Solomon - Nov 18, 2012
Israeli stocks and bonds rose for the first time in three days amid intensifying international efforts to broker a cease-fire as fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants enters a fifth day.
The benchmark TA-25 index advanced 0.7 percent, the largest intraday gain since Nov. 6, to 1,189.39 at 10:29 a.m. in Tel Aviv. The gauge dropped 2.5 percent last week, the biggest decline since the week ended June 14, as Palestinian missiles landed in areas around Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and Israel kept up its bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The yield on the 5.5 percent Mimshal Shiklit bonds maturing January 2022 dropped three basis points, or 0.03 percentage point, to 3.98 percent.
“There are reports of cease-fire talks,” Richard Gussow, senior analyst at Tel Aviv-based DS Securities & Investments Ltd. “Investors see the military action coming to an end and are coming back into the market.”
Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last night and later said there are indications a cease-fire may be reached between Hamas and Israel. Erdogan, speaking earlier before departing for Egypt, said Hamas is ready to halt missile attacks if it’s given guarantees by the U.S. that Israel will stop firing.
The shekel rose 0.3 percent to 3.9664 a dollar on Nov. 16, trimming last week’s decline to 1.3 percent. The Bloomberg Israel-US Equity Index of the largest New-York traded Israeli companies sank 2.4 percent last week to 81.75, the biggest slump since July 13.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, Egypt’s EGX 30 Index (EGX30) dropped 2.3 percent while the Bloomberg GCC 200 Index (BGCC200) of the biggest companies in the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, fell 0.3 percent.
To contact the reporters on this story: Sharon Wrobel in Tel Aviv at swrobel4@bloomberg.net; Shoshanna Solomon in Tel Aviv at ssolomon22@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net
Here is one for the CALL side of the house, BRY. I posted this as a watch last week. Well, looks ready now. They had missed earnings recently, but STILL making money on oil at about an average price of $82 a barrel. (I believe that was the figure from their earnings report) The mid-east mess will bring oil BACK UP, as will cold winter weather, which should float BRY up as well. Look at that beautiful hammer. Lots of insider buys in the $32 area recently. Liking for $35 calls.
Here is one for the CALL side of the house, BRY. I posted this as a watch last week. Well, looks ready now. They had missed earnings recently, but STILL making money on oil at about an average price of $82 a barrel. (I believe that was the figure from their earnings report) The mid-east mess will bring oil BACK UP, as will cold winter weather, which should float BRY up as well. Look at that beautiful hammer. Lots of insider buys in the $32 area recently. Liking for $35 calls.
Worked on speed today. Ugh! My legs are gonna be aching tomorrow.
Here is one for the CALL side of the house, BRY. I posted this as a watch last week. Well, looks ready now. They had missed earnings recently, but STILL making money on oil at about an average price of $82 a barrel. (I believe that was the figure from their earnings report) The mid-east mess will bring oil BACK UP, as will cold winter weather, which should float BRY up as well. Look at that beautiful hammer. Lots of insider buys in the $32 area recently. Liking for $35 calls.
This is a bit much, and should come back down to some semblance of normal. The pop was due to the fact that PENN is splitting up into 2 seperate entities; Casinos and a REIT. WAY overvalued due to that, as can be seen by the fact that it popped, and pretty much did nothing but go down the rest of the day. That huge gap will be eaten into, ESPECIALLY with a lot of profit taking before year end tax hikes. Looks great for DEC $44 Puts.
NOTE: That pop could ALSO mean that GB is starting to frequent their casinos.
This is a bit much, and should come back down to some semblance of normal. The pop was due to the fact that PENN is splitting up into 2 seperate entities; Casinos and a REIT. WAY overvalued due to that, as can be seen by the fact that it popped, and pretty much did nothing but go down the rest of the day. That huge gap will be eaten into, ESPECIALLY with a lot of profit taking before year end tax hikes. Looks great for DEC $44 Puts.
This is a bit much, and should come back down to some semblance of normal. The pop was due to the fact that PENN is splitting up into 2 seperate entities; Casinos and a REIT. WAY overvalued due to that, as can be seen by the fact that it popped, and pretty much did nothing but go down the rest of the day. That huge gap will be eaten into, ESPECIALLY with a lot of profit taking before year end tax hikes. Looks great for DEC $44 Puts.
Yesterdays support is todays resistance. Look how RAX bounced up off the 20MA, and now it is bouncing down. Think we see that again. Good for PUTS at about the $63 level. Cloud stuff is slowly losing the high flying excitement like before. See CRM. If CRM posts crappy numbers (And they are ALWAYS crappy) RAX should move down faster.
Yesterdays support is todays resistance. Look how RAX bounced up off the 20MA, and now it is bouncing down. Think we see that again. Good for PUTS at about the $63 level. Cloud stuff is slowly losing the high flying excitement like before. See CRM. If CRM posts crappy numbers (And they are ALWAYS crappy) RAX should move down faster.
Yesterdays support is todays resistance. Look how RAX bounced up off the 20MA, and now it is bouncing down. Think we see that again. Good for PUTS at about the $63 level. Cloud stuff is slowly losing the high flying excitement like before. See CRM. If CRM posts crappy numbers (And they are ALWAYS crappy) RAX should move down faster.
I will be home in time next year to get in some great races up in Saratoga. After the flats, my wife and I go over to the trotter track and play dopey 'lotto' slot machines at the Racino. I missed that this year.
Fiscall Cliff plays will be fun this time of the year. Right now, there is a sense of relief as it LOOKS like all sides are playing nice and coming up with some sort of compromise. I believe this will keep things green for a few days this week. The big question is, WHAT TAXES WILL RISE? If the tax on stock profits go up, there will be a SLEW of selling before the year ends to save on taxes. (The question will be, which stocks? I believe stocks that are close to highs, and have a larger PE will be the ones to drop. Good value stocks will stay relatively stable)
Bonds as well, if there is gridlock, they are going to dump. The question then becomes, where will the money go to? Let's not forget that Europe is also still a basket case. What are the safe havens for cash?
On that, thinking maybe gold and silver.
Will be looking for ideas on high flying stocks that may be ready for a profit taking party. First I need to *sigh* go running.
Hi there GB! I hope things are doing good out in your neck of the woods, and the white stuff hasn't stsarted falling yet. You still hitting it big at the casinos?
Kaching! SHLD Puts gonna make me VERY happy come Monday. Those SBUX Puts as well. The BMRN and TXI puts going nowhere, so I will bail and take the profit and RUN. I feel we are in line for a bit more of a bullish week now that the government is playing kind of nice.
LOL, WAY TO GO EZ! Great win there!
Kaching! Kicking MAJOR BUTT on those SHLD Puts. Didn't get a chance to get to a computer on Friday, so I sure as hell hope there is no damn bounce come Monday, but I will be out some VERY nice cash on those suckers. My SBUX Puts as well, so long as it does not bounce like crazy.
BMRN and TXI puts basically flat.
The way the market roared back on Friday, Monday MAY be a nice green day. Checking the charts, LOTS of green bottom hammers out there. I think NOW is the time for BRY Calls. Need to find that chart and reply fo rth link.
I hope everyone has a nice weekend. I had a brutally busy and crappy ass day yesterday, and it will get crappier later. Tomorrow, I relax! Hope to post a lot of charts and such.
Off for a run. Hope there is enough good info posts to start your morning on what has gone on overnight. Will be back before market opens. KEEP PROFITABLE!!
Oil Trades Near One-Week High After Israeli Air Strikes on Gaza
By Grant Smith and Ben Sharples - Nov 15, 2012
Oil traded near the highest level in more than a week after Israel attacked the Gaza Strip, raising concern that Middle East unrest would disrupt supply. A report showed U.S. stockpiles rose to the highest since July.
Futures were little changed in New York after advancing for the first time in three days yesterday. The air strikes killed Ahmed al-Jabari, the leader of Hamas’s military wing, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Israeli army said it called up reserves for a possible infantry assault on Gaza that would be the first since 2008. U.S. crude inventories climbed 1.35 million barrels last week, data from the American Petroleum Institute showed. Government data today may show a gain of 2.65 million barrels, according to a Bloomberg News survey.
“Middle Eastern tension will skew the bias to the upside,” said Michael Poulsen, an analyst at Global Risk Management in Middelfart, Denmark. “We continue to advise consumers to take advantage of any dips in the market.”
Crude for December delivery was at $86.31 a barrel, down 1 cent, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:33 a.m. London time. The contract increased 94 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $86.32 yesterday, the highest settlement since Nov. 6. Prices have lost 13 percent this year.
Brent for December settlement on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, which expires today, rose 49 cents to $110.10 a barrel. The more actively traded January contract gained 30 cents to $108.78. The European benchmark crude was at a $23.84 premium to New York futures, from $23.29 yesterday.
Rocket Attacks
Oil in New York remains in a downtrend channel on the daily chart, signaling price advances may not be sustainable, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Futures have traded between the middle and lower Bollinger Bands for almost two months. These indicators, representing technical resistance and support levels respectively, are around $88 and $82.50 a barrel today.
MORE - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2012-11-15/oil-trades-near-one-week-high-after-israeli-air-strikes-on-gaza.html
Early morning Update: Dollar taking a slapping, futures up, but the BIG data dump for the US begins at 0830, with Unemployment Report and CPI. Today:
US:Consumer Price Index
8:30 AM ET
US:Jobless Claims
8:30 AM ET
US:Empire State Mfg Survey
8:30 AM ET
US:Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
9:45 AM ET
US:Philadelphia Fed Survey
10:00 AM ET
US:EIA Natural Gas Report
10:30 AM ET
US:EIA Petroleum Status Report
11:00 AM ET
US:Ben Bernanke Speaks
1:20 PM ET
Must be GLOBAL WARMING!! I will use only solar power from now on, and save the planet from sure doom.
NOT!
Sorry Ske, it is a BEAUTIFUL 76 out here. In the morning it is in the 40s, but during the day, just perfect.
Any white stuff yet?
Eurozone falls into recession
15 November 2012 Last updated at 10:13 GMT BBC NEWS
The eurozone has returned to recession as the region's debt crisis continues to hurt demand, latest official statistics show.
The economy of the 17-nation bloc contracted by 0.1% between July and September, after shrinking 0.2% in the previous three months, Eurostat said.
The eurozone was last in recession in 2009.
However, its largest economy, Germany, is still growing despite being affected by the eurozone debt crisis.
Germany's economy grew by 0.2%, down from growth of 0.3% recorded in the second quarter and the 0.5% figure seen in the first three months of this year.
Germany's growth was driven mainly by "foreign demand", federal statistics office agency Destatis said.
Meanwhile, French gross domestic product rose by 0.2% in the third quarter compared with the previous three months. But the previous quarter was revised down to -0.1% from zero, according to French statistics agency Insee.
The production of goods and services in France, Europe's second-largest economy, increased "after five quarters of near stagnation", it said.
"We are now talking about the fourth quarter already and there the figures show that things are not looking as good," said Christian Schultz, an economist at Barenberg Bank.
'Negative growth'
Last month, the German government cut its forecast for economic growth in 2013 from 1.6% to 1%, blaming the reduction on the eurozone crisis and weaker growth in emerging nations in Asia and Latin America.
Germany's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 4.2% in 2010 and 3% in 2011.
"The negative data seen in recent weeks and months could very well lead to negative growth" in the fourth quarter, said analysts at Natixis Bank.
Unlike most of its partners in the 17-nation eurozone, Germany has mainly escaped the worst effects of the crisis that has threatened to unravel the bloc.
Until now, it has benefited from the weaker euro, making its exports more competitive outside the eurozone.
However, German consumers are still spending. "Consumption by both private households and government was higher than in the second quarter when adjusted for price, seasonal and calendar variations," Destatis said.
Figures released in the past week from the eurozone's hardest hit economies show that the Spanish economy contracted by 0.3% between June and September and Portugal by 0.8%.
Greece said on Monday that its economy had contracted by 7.2% in the third quarter compared with a year earlier. It did not give a comparison with the preceding three months
I DID buy these, though, and all were on that notepad. Big smile on my face. But then again, SHORTING pretty much anything lately has been good. Let's see how they do when a bounce shows up in the market. All ina ll, they ALL expire in DEC, so any short term bounces will sell off I think.
TOPPY PLAY
GAP FILL
TOPPY AND GAP FILL
JCP Wannabe
<mish>Spain's Unpleasant Choice: Accept Lower Wages and Still Higher Unemployment, Leave the Euro and Default
On the near 100% probability that Germany will not voluntarily give money to Spain, nor will Germany voluntarily modify its trade policies, the choices facing Spain are quite bleak.
Michael Pettis, writing for Carnegie Europe describes Spain's unpleasant choices in Spain Will be Forced to Choose.
In the great debate over the economy we sometimes forget the simple arithmetic of economic rebalancing. This arithmetic, like it or not, severely limits the options open to Spain.
t is easy and popular to blame the greed of the Spanish and the stupidity of the government for the mess in which Spain has found itself, but the policies Germany put into place in the late 1990s guaranteed that Germany, a country that had run massive trade deficits in the 1990s, would run equally massive trade surpluses in the subsequent decade.
Because once they joined the euro the rest of Europe had no control over the value of their currencies and the level of their interest rates. It was inevitable that European countries that had joined the euro with a higher-than-average level of inflation would be forced to respond to German trade surpluses either by forcing up unemployment or by running the large trade deficits that corresponded to Germany’s trade surplus. No other choice was possible.
These deficits, as a matter of economic necessity, had to be financed with loans from Germany, leaving Spain with an enormous debt burden. Just as Spain could not run a trade deficit without borrowing from abroad, Spain can only repay its debt if it runs a trade surplus. What is more, since rich Spaniards are taking enormous amounts of money out of the country in order to protect themselves from the debt crisis they know is coming, the Spanish trade surplus must be large enough to accommodate both flight capital and debt repayments.
In practice there are only three ways Spain can achieve a sufficiently large trade surplus. The first way requires that Berlin reverse those policies that forced a German trade surplus at the expense of its European neighbors. Berlin must cut taxes and increase spending so much that Germany runs a trade deficit large enough to allow Spain to run the opposite surplus, which it must do if it hopes to repay the debt.
If Germany does not move quickly to reverse its trade surplus, Spain only has two other ways of creating a trade surplus in spite of German recalcitrance. One way requires that Spanish wages are forced down by many years of high unemployment. This will allow Spain to run a sufficiently large trade surplus.
Spain’s second option is to leave the euro and devalue. This will immediately force down prices and wages relative to Germany.
Neither option will be easy, but it is important that we realize that if Germany doesn’t adjust, Madrid has no choice but to pick one or the other. Both options will cause debt to soar in real terms, and will probably force Spanish businesses, and even the government into default. But in both cases Spain will begin running large trade surpluses.
As much as leaders in Madrid, Brussels, and Berlin hate to admit it, these are the only three options open to Spain. Any policy proposed by policymakers that is not consistent with one of these three ways will be impossible to achieve.
Simple Math
The only good options from Spain's point of view are for Germany (or Germany and France) to bail out Spain with free money (not a loan) or for Germany to go on a massive sustained spending spree (no doubt accompanied by higher inflation), such that Germany's trade surplus turns into a deficit.
However, those are not options Spain can choose. Those are options that only Germany can choose. The odds Germany voluntarily selects those options are roughly zero percent.
Spain gets to decide between these two choices
1.Lower Wages Coupled With Still Higher Unemployment
2.Leave the Euro and Default
For now, Spain has selected choice number one. How long can it last?
Yesterday I wrote Looking Ahead, Spain Worse Than Greece; Only One Realistic Solution.
The realistic solution of course is to "leave the euro and simultaneously undertake structural reforms" but in spite of 25.8% unemployment, Spain still sees things differently (for now).
Brussels Blinks
The nannycrats in Brussels are starting to get worried because following massive protests in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Belgium, the nannycrats decided Spain will not need further austerity measures in 2013.
For details please see Anti-Austerity Protests Sweep Europe, Sparking Violence; Brussels Blinks, No Further Austerity for Spain; Economic Burnt Toast
However, a one year suspension in austerity is not going to do a thing for Spain in the long run.
Greece has missed budget target after target (see Greece Allegedly Gets Time, Not Money; Mish Says Time Is Money) and Spain is following smack down the same path.
Eventually Spanish citizens will have had enough and will force a change. The only question is how much pain Spanish citizens can take before that happens.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/11/spains-unpleasant-choice-accept-lower.html#xQzzBuMk6bScjfLi.99
Fitch Boosts Irish Bailout Exit Prospects Improving Outlook
By Joe Brennan - Nov 15, 2012
Fitch Ratings raised its outlook on Ireland’s debt to stable from negative, boosting the government’s efforts to become the first euro-region nation to exit a bailout since the debt crisis took hold.
Fitch late yesterday affirmed its BBB+ stance on the nation, citing a narrowing of the fiscal deficit and a view that its banks probably won’t need further state capital. London- based Fitch, which removed Ireland from watch negative in January, stripped the nation of its AAA rating in April 2009.
“It is encouraging to see further positive noises from the ratings agencies around Ireland,” Philip O’Sullivan, an economist at Dublin-based NCB Stockbrokers, said by e-mail. “Following the public recognition by Moody’s that the risks around Ireland have abated, the improved outlook on Ireland from Fitch is an incremental positive.”
Moody’s Investors Service yesterday removed a warning that Ireland may follow Greece in inflicting losses on investors, after the government made a partial return to credit markets and lowered its deficit. Ireland stepped out of international bond markets and sought a 67.5 billion euros ($86 billion) bailout in 2010 as its banking system came close to collapse.
The yield on Ireland’s benchmark security due in October 2020 was unchanged today at 4.73 percent, down from 14 percent in July 2011.
Bill Sale
Ireland plans to hold its fourth public auction of three- month treasury bills today. Glas Securities, a Dublin-based fixed-income firm, said today in a note a sale of longer-term debt by Ireland may be “imminent.”
The debt agency described Fitch’s move as an encouraging recognition of the state’s efforts to deal with the crisis sparked by the implosion of a real-estate bubble in 2008. The state has pumped about 64 billion euros into its financial system and now controls five of the six biggest domestic lenders.
MORE - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2012-11-14/moody-s-hornung-lifts-explicit-potential-irish-psi-warning-1-.html
Gold demand drops 11% in third quarter
By Francesca Freeman
World gold demand fell 11% on the year in the third quarter, driven by a sharp drop in investor appetite for gold coins and bars and lower consumption in China, the World Gold Council said Thursday.
Third-quarter gold demand totaled 1,084.6 metric tons, down from record levels of 1,223.5 tons in the same period of 2011, the industry body said in its latest Gold Demand Trends report. In dollar terms this equated to $57.6 billion, down 14% from the third quarter of 2011.
The most significant factor in the drop in demand was a fall of 16% in investment demand for gold to 429.9 tons, said the WGC. This was driven by a steep drop in demand for gold bars and coins, which fell 30% to 293.9 tons.
According to the WGC, this decline was "largely a reflection of the strength of demand in 3Q 2011, a period of exceptional investment inflows."
Weaker Chinese demand was also a factor in lower gold demand in the third quarter, it said.
Chinese gold consumption fell 8% in the third quarter to 176.8 tons, led by a 6% and 12% drop in jewelry and investment demand respectively.
According to Marcus Grubb, managing director of investment at the WGC, the slowdown in Chinese demand last quarter came as somewhat of a surprise and was "very much a reflection of the Chinese economy slowing down."
Indian gold demand, on the other hand, improved in the third quarter, rising 9% to 223.1 tons.
MORE - http://www.marketwatch.com/Story/story/print?guid=EBB2F963-590E-4D6C-9BD8-FEDD9C93446A
Texas Instruments Eliminating 1,700 Jobs to Cut Expenses
By Ian King and Danielle Kucera - Nov 15, 2012
Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) is cutting 1,700 jobs to reduce expenses by about $450 million a year, part of a shift away from chips that run mobile electronics to focus on components for cars, industrial equipment and other devices.
The measures will result in costs of $325 million, incurred mostly in the current quarter, Texas Instruments said yesterday in a statement.
Under Chief Executive Officer Richard Templeton, Texas Instruments is no longer pursuing orders for chips that run tablets and phones, markets dominated by Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Samsung Electronics Co. The Dallas-based chipmaker instead is shifting toward semiconductors for so-called embedded applications such as those used in autos and industrial machinery.
“They’re accelerating an exit from a less profitable business,” Daniel Berenbaum, an analyst at MKM Partners LLC, said in an interview. “There are a lot of providers of application processors for smartphones and tablets. Texas Instruments made the decision that there’s a big investment to be made, and they think the market is too small for all the current players.”
Samsung and Apple, the leaders in smartphones, are increasingly developing their own chips. Texas Instruments had previously announced plans to focus on “a broader set of embedded applications with long life cycles, instead of its historical focus on the mobile market where large customers are increasingly developing their own custom chips,” the company said in yesterday’s statement.
The company’s shares slipped 2.1 percent to $28.76 at the close in New York, leaving them down 1.2 percent this year.
Texas Instruments forecast fourth-quarter profit last month that fell short of most analysts’ estimates as chip resellers cut inventory on concern about weak economic growth. The expenses related to the job cuts weren’t included in those forecasts, the chipmaker said yesterday.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.net; Danielle Kucera in San Francisco at dkucera6@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net