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Doherty at the Close 8.13.2012

European markets ended similar to the US, if not slightly lower, with the Stoxx Europe down -0.4%. In other european news, Greece is reported to have contracted 6.2% in the second quarter and is expected to lose near 7% of its GDP year over year.

In corporate news, Sears (SHLD) gained 5.72% after Barron’s reported that their proposed asset sales could boost the company’s share price after faltering in national prominence over the last decade. Google also gained 2.81% after they announced that they will be buying the Frommer’s travel guide brand from John Wiley & Sons (JWB) and will be cutting employees to reduce Motorola’s Mobility’s workforce to 20%, or nearly 4,000 jobs.

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Morning Rage 8.13.2012

The Hang Seng fell for a second session in a row dropping .3% today. Tencent Holdings lost 1.9%, but
is still up over 45% this year. Citi analysts agree with their performance stating that Tencent should
be “resilient” to the slowdown in China. Yanzhou Coal lost 5.2% today after a downgrade to sell from
neutral by Goldman Sachs. The property sector was down yet again today as Citic lost 7.3% however
Haitong added 4.4%.

Europe is just slightly down at the moment with the FTSEurofirst off .1% today with very low trading
at 11% of its 90-day daily average. Investors are appearing unsure of where to put their money at the
moment in Europe.

BAC agrees to sell Merrill Lynch’s private bank outside the US to Switzerland’s Julius Baer for 1.47B Swiss
Francs. BAC needs a strong cash position to meet Basel III requirements.

At the moment commodities are showing crude +.70%, natural gas +1.05%, gold +.25% and silver the
only downer -.12%.

Contributer Chris Rygh is currently pursuing his MBA in Wisconsin and has a passion for the Market.
Comments can be directed to ryghcw19@uww.edu

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Doherty at the Close 8.10.2012

In corporate news, Monster Beverage (MSNT) lost 12%, the biggest drop in the S&P after reporting a smaller than expected increase in Q2 profit and a reported scandal involving their ingredients.

JC Penney (JCP) climbed 6% climbed after executives said that the company has plenty of cash to complete a turnaround and revitalize their stores, despite falling on EPS and revenue. Finally, Manchester United (MANU) premiered on the NYSE today to a stable buying as their stock hovered above the $14 level all day long.

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Natural Gas Update 8.10.2012

Yesterday, the government weekly natural gas report released a smaller than expected growth in natural gas supplies. Supplies came in at 24 billion cubic feet, last week’s storage was 28 billion and analysts’ expected a number of 30 billion, causing a 19 cent increase in the front month futures contract. This price increase comes at the end of the seasonal peak summer demand, and historically prices tend to fade from about this point on.

This morning natural gas prices dropped almost 5% after weather forecasts looked cooler than expected and the demand for natural gas this summer may be fading sooner than expected. The front month natural gas futures were trading at $2.8100 this morning. I am looking to short futures after a pullback.NatGas


David Cornes holds a degree in economics from the University of Montana.

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