The Wall Street Journal writes that the Clear Channel (CCU) buy-out is in trouble.
The FT writes that shares in Merrill Lynch (MER) fell over concerns about CDO write-offs
Reuters writes that Toyota (TM) is unlikely to make 2008 sales targets.
Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) raised to Outperform at KBW.
Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) raised to Outperform at KBW.
The Inquirer is reporting that AMD (NYSE: AMD) is cutting 5% more of its staff.
This may be an indication that the chip company will miss its numbers for the first quarter.
FDX reports Q3 EPS $1.26 vs. consensus of $1.22
Reports Q3 revenue $9.44B vs. consensus of $9.11B.
FDX sees sees Q3 EPS $1.60-$1.80 vs. consensus of $1.95.
From flyonthewall.com
Commodities Overview: Sudden Impact
Overnight commodities of all kinds were down sharply across the board. Agricultural (Wheat especially on the back of better weather in Australia), Industrial metals, Energy and Precious Metals. We had noted there was a risk that the Fed’s tip of the hat to inflation might have an adverse impact on commodity prices. To be sure the appreciation of the dollar off its low (up around 4% from that ultimate low as this is written) has had some impact. But we are seeing range moves that are breathtaking and completely unprecedented in some cases. Wheat for example was lock limit down yesterday, Gold looks like it has effectively collapsed, covering a range in price equal to several weeks if not months in a 24 hour period. Crude too has broken its uptrend despite bullish fundamental news. Is this all the result of the dollar? We don’t think so. It is possible that we are seeing a collapse in speculative positions and perhaps some leveraged funds are rapidly unwinding. We may see prices return to equilibrium if that is the case within a few days. If we do not we are into some interesting territory. Inflationary pressures would most certainly ease in the US if commodities reverse their five year climb which would be great news for the US. We would likely however see extreme downward pressure in emerging and developing markets that are inversely correlated to dollar movement and very sensitive to commodity price shifts. We could see extreme downward moves in China (which appears to be the case today), Brazil, Canada, Australia which are all heavily commodity dependent. The dark side to this scenario is if this collapse in commodities is telling us something about broader economic conditions on the demand side. If that is the case, this move down would suggest few asset classes offer a safe haven. That would be bad news for everyone. The cross-currents of expiration are likely also having some impact so next week is going to be important. If this is some technical unwind then prices may quickly revert, though the previous uptrends are snapped so that becomes an unknown.
