Dow was up 5, advancers ahead of decliners 4-3 & NAZ rose 11. The Financial Index added 1½ to the 198s (another high since late Jul) as buyers of bank stocks are not greatly worried about the Greek debt mess.
The MLP index fell 1 to the 386s & the REIT index was even. Junk bond funds were mixed as were Treasuries. Oil gave up much the gains early in the day & gold fell 12.
![Live 24 hours gold chart [Kitco Inc.]](http://www.kitco.com/images/live/gold.gif)
Athens, Greece
Photo: Bloomberg
Greek PM Papademos began negotiating with leaders of the political parties supporting his gov as he tried to make up for lost time to secure the bailout II package. He met with the chiefs today after delaying the gathering for a 2nd time in as many days as Greek officials & creditors haggled over terms. An unscheduled meeting was held late last night with the troika to put final touches on a €130B ($172B) rescue plan. Yesterday’s delay was just another hitch in completing a package that’s been on the table since Jul. That's more than 6 months with NOTHING to show for all the work! “The situation is getting more problematic for Greece day by day,” an assistant to Chancellor Merkel said today. “A day wasted in failing to tackle Greece’s administrative, budget and competitive problems is a bad day.” Greeks need to reform “not for Brussels, Berlin or the IMF, but for their own sake.” This tussle threatens to hold up a critical element of the plan: a debt swap to slice €100B off more than €200B of privately-held debt. Don't worry, more meetings will be held tomorrow. Bet money, nothing will be resolved as has been the case for sooo long.
Photo: Yahoo
A contract squabble between Walgreen (WAG & a Dividend Aristocrat) & Express Scripts (ESRX) has driven more customers to CVS, prompting that company to raise its 2012 EPSs forecast by 3¢. CVS had said it would gain business because of the dispute & CEO Merlo said the company is seeing more prescription transfers than it expected. CVS chances of retaining those customers improve the longer the impasse continues, especially once people refill their prescriptions a few times. "As I have said in the past, we know that that pharmacy customer is the hardest person to lose, but once you lose them, it's the hardest person to get back," he said. Q4 EPS rose nearly 4% to 81¢, above 75¢ in the prior year. Adjusted EPS was 89¢, in line with expectations. Revenue rose 15% to $28.3B, above the $28.1B expected. Revenue from the PBM side jumped 32% to $15.9B. For the full year, the company had EPS of $2.59 on $107.1B in revenue. CVS forecasts 2012 EPS of $3.18-$3.28 which doesn't reflect a benefit from the WAG-ESRX dispute beyond Q1. CVS gained 49¢.
CVS Caremark 4Q profit rises, 2012 outlook climbs AP
Photo: Yahoo
Time Warner got a boost from its movie studio & cable TV networks in Q4 & the company expects growth to continue in 2012 even with the end of its Harry Potter franchise. Q4 EPS grew slightly as revenue increased 5%. Adjusted EPS & the growth forecast for 2012 topped expectations. TWX also raised its dividend 11% & plans to expand a stock buyback program. The company said growth in adjusted EPS should be in the low double-digit percentages this year (above adjusted EPS of $2.89 in 2011). Q4 EPS was 76¢, compared with 68¢ a year earlier. Adjusted for one-time items EPS was 94¢, beating expectations of 87¢. Revenue grew to $8.2B from $7.8B a year earlier. The div was raise to 26¢. The company also announced plans to buy back up to $4B in stock, on top of the nearly $5B it had already repurchased since the beginning of 2011. The stock was up a penny.
Time Warner Profit Beats Estimates as Ad Revenue Improves at TV Networks
Markets continue to mark time, but that's a very impressive showing given the lack of progress for soooo long on bailout II for Greece. The promise of low yields for another couple of years keeps high yielding sectors (MLPs, REITs, junk bond funds, etc.) in high demand. All are at or near post recession highs & MLPs are just below the records reached 2 weeks ago. Central banks are ready to do whatever is required to support the € which has been strong in the last month (currently about $1.32½, up from $1.27 last month). But there is still a strong possibility, that despite the best intentions, this can quickly come unglued with protests & the contagion effect. They are throwing around €100Bs which is scary to watch from the sidelines.
The MLP index fell 1 to the 386s & the REIT index was even. Junk bond funds were mixed as were Treasuries. Oil gave up much the gains early in the day & gold fell 12.
JPMorgan Chase Capital XVI (AMJ)
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Treasury yields:
U.S. 3-month | 0.076% | |
U.S. 2-year | 0.250% | |
U.S. 10-year | 1.973% |
| CLH12.NYM | ...Crude Oil Mar 12 | ...98.85 | ... 0.44 | (0.5%) |
Photo: Bloomberg
Greek PM Papademos began negotiating with leaders of the political parties supporting his gov as he tried to make up for lost time to secure the bailout II package. He met with the chiefs today after delaying the gathering for a 2nd time in as many days as Greek officials & creditors haggled over terms. An unscheduled meeting was held late last night with the troika to put final touches on a €130B ($172B) rescue plan. Yesterday’s delay was just another hitch in completing a package that’s been on the table since Jul. That's more than 6 months with NOTHING to show for all the work! “The situation is getting more problematic for Greece day by day,” an assistant to Chancellor Merkel said today. “A day wasted in failing to tackle Greece’s administrative, budget and competitive problems is a bad day.” Greeks need to reform “not for Brussels, Berlin or the IMF, but for their own sake.” This tussle threatens to hold up a critical element of the plan: a debt swap to slice €100B off more than €200B of privately-held debt. Don't worry, more meetings will be held tomorrow. Bet money, nothing will be resolved as has been the case for sooo long.
A contract squabble between Walgreen (WAG & a Dividend Aristocrat) & Express Scripts (ESRX) has driven more customers to CVS, prompting that company to raise its 2012 EPSs forecast by 3¢. CVS had said it would gain business because of the dispute & CEO Merlo said the company is seeing more prescription transfers than it expected. CVS chances of retaining those customers improve the longer the impasse continues, especially once people refill their prescriptions a few times. "As I have said in the past, we know that that pharmacy customer is the hardest person to lose, but once you lose them, it's the hardest person to get back," he said. Q4 EPS rose nearly 4% to 81¢, above 75¢ in the prior year. Adjusted EPS was 89¢, in line with expectations. Revenue rose 15% to $28.3B, above the $28.1B expected. Revenue from the PBM side jumped 32% to $15.9B. For the full year, the company had EPS of $2.59 on $107.1B in revenue. CVS forecasts 2012 EPS of $3.18-$3.28 which doesn't reflect a benefit from the WAG-ESRX dispute beyond Q1. CVS gained 49¢.
CVS Caremark 4Q profit rises, 2012 outlook climbs AP
CVS Corporation (CVS)
Time Warner got a boost from its movie studio & cable TV networks in Q4 & the company expects growth to continue in 2012 even with the end of its Harry Potter franchise. Q4 EPS grew slightly as revenue increased 5%. Adjusted EPS & the growth forecast for 2012 topped expectations. TWX also raised its dividend 11% & plans to expand a stock buyback program. The company said growth in adjusted EPS should be in the low double-digit percentages this year (above adjusted EPS of $2.89 in 2011). Q4 EPS was 76¢, compared with 68¢ a year earlier. Adjusted for one-time items EPS was 94¢, beating expectations of 87¢. Revenue grew to $8.2B from $7.8B a year earlier. The div was raise to 26¢. The company also announced plans to buy back up to $4B in stock, on top of the nearly $5B it had already repurchased since the beginning of 2011. The stock was up a penny.
Time Warner Profit Beats Estimates as Ad Revenue Improves at TV Networks
Time Warner Inc. (TWX)
Markets continue to mark time, but that's a very impressive showing given the lack of progress for soooo long on bailout II for Greece. The promise of low yields for another couple of years keeps high yielding sectors (MLPs, REITs, junk bond funds, etc.) in high demand. All are at or near post recession highs & MLPs are just below the records reached 2 weeks ago. Central banks are ready to do whatever is required to support the € which has been strong in the last month (currently about $1.32½, up from $1.27 last month). But there is still a strong possibility, that despite the best intentions, this can quickly come unglued with protests & the contagion effect. They are throwing around €100Bs which is scary to watch from the sidelines.
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