Salient to Investors: Shares of casual-dining chains are rallying despite Americans eating out less because investors prefer holding stocks with little foreign exposure. Rachael Rothman at Susquehanna Financial Group said investors are fearful of holding companies that have a lot of business outside the U.S. Martin Leclerc at Barrack Yard Advisors is bearish,
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The U.S. economy may be on the cusp of a pickup in productivity that will make it more difficult for the Fed to reduce unemployment. Corporate profits rose 6.5 percent in Q1 from a year ago, the smallest year-to-year gain since the recession ended in mid-2009. Predictions: Ellen Zentner at Nomura securities
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Hedge funds that specialize in commodities lost again third May in a row. Commodity managers mirrored hedge funds as a whole, which dropped 2.9 percent in May. Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-20/hedge-funds-hurt-in-may-commodity-rout-as-brevan-drops.html
READ MORE... →Carl Pope says: Abundant, cheap fossil-fuel energy – that created the modern consumer economies of the U.S., Europe, Russia, Australia and Japan – is not viable in the 21st century due to cost. Coal is geologically more abundant than oil, but cheap coal, close to population centers, is not. Powder
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Bloomberg poll shows: 45 percent believe they are better off, 36 percent worse off, than at the beginning of 2009. 28 percent say their household income is higher than a year ago, 22 percent who said it is lower. 32 percent are hopeful about improvement in the economy, down
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Arizona building permits are close to a three-year high, creating a scarcity of framers, roofers and masons. Immigration laws add to the shortage by pushing experienced laborers out of the state. The construction jobs increase in May from a year ago was the biggest gain of any industry
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Shanghai index down 6.8 percent since 2012 high on March 2, trades for 9.9 times estimated earnings versus five-year average of 17.8. Health-care stocks trade at 20.3 times estimated profit versus 10.9 for the CSI 300. Mao Sheng at Huaxi Securities says it’s difficult for stocks to rise with market liquidity. Gigi Chan
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Bill Black at Invesco says if Prop 29 passes, other states will raise their tobacco taxes, with significant impact on tobacco bond yields. California accounts for $28 billion of $102 billion of tobacco securities – tobacco securities haven’t beaten the market since 2009. Each 10 percent increase in tobacco prices
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Fifty-eight percent of economists polled by Bloomberg expect the Fed to expand Operation Twist today. Sixty percent said the Fed won’t start QE3. Josh Feinman of DB Advisors says extending Operation Twist is the path of least resistance. Stuart Hoffman of PNC Financial Services Group says the economy needs monetary stimulus, though QE3 is a
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Lithium prices have tripled since 2000. Investors are investing in producers of lithium to take advantage of the demand for iPads and hybrid cars. Apple and Toyota Motor have few alternatives. Lithium-ion generates more electricity than competing cells such as lead-acid. Hybrid electric vehicles fitted with a lithium-ion battery contain about
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