Dow fell 38, decliners ahead of advancers almost 2-1, NAZ was up 1 & S&P 500 slid 1. The Financial Index was even at 201. The MLP index fell 2+ to the 289s while the REIT index was off pennies in the 262s. Junk bond funds were mixed to lower & Treasuries were a tad higher. Oil hardly budged & gold lost 9.
![Live 24 hours gold chart [Kitco Inc.]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uDEfqr-JpEJYX8FjQxTzmMnloJNA0J5xXFGHWDHMOHm3SyvD41fqtyudl06q-qWB6zvg5Gd5ZLmIrlxvN7kc2Aarb_IGqBiAFtB3nR=s0-d)
Photo: Bloomberg
Chancellor Merkel's softening stance toward the ECB rescue plan for Spain & Italy is repelling investors who bought bunds because of her fiscal vigilance. Investors seeking a haven from tumbling bond markets were willing to accept yields below zero for German bunds due in as long as 3 years because they were confident in her pledge that she wouldn’t add to the nation’s debt to expand bailout programs for weaker neighbors. Funds managing more than $4T are turning against bunds on concern Germany’s costs to bail out the eurozone's most indebted nations will rise. The total could reach €500B ($614B) or 45% of Germany’s current debt outstanding. Many money euro maney managers are reducing or eliminating bund holdings.
Merkel Returns to Crisis as Bond Buying Remains in Focus
Pfizer, a Dow stock, took another step forward with a plan to spin off its animal health unit by registering the IPO with regulators. PFE plans to sell as much as 20% of the new company, to be called Zoetis, to raise cash. Current investors will be able to swap a portion of their PFE shares for stock in the new company. PFE also could hold the stock for sale later. This filing moves to complete the final announced piece of CEO Ian Read's effort to shrink the company by selling & spinning off non-drug units, which included the recent sale of its infant nutrition unit for $12B. The stock slipped 23¢.
Pfizer Files for IPO in Plan to Spin off Animal Health
Sears plans to spin off its Hometown & Outlet stores as well as some hardware stores into a separate publicly traded company. There are 1238 Hometown, Outlet & hardware stores, according to SHLD. It has already closed 5 Hometown stores, 8 hardware stores & 1 Outlet store. SHLD, which also owns Kmart, has looked at spinoffs & real estate sales to restore profitability & boost shareholder value. Aside from the separation of the stores, the company announced in May that it would spin off a stake in its Canada division. SHLD expects to raise $346M with the spin-off. Previously it said that it expected the deal to raise between $400-$500M. A cash dividend of $100M is also expected to be paid to SHLD. For fiscal 2011, the combined Sears Hometown, hardware & Outlet businesses had net income of $33M on sales of about $2.34B, below 2010 net income of $49B on sales of approximately $2.35B. The stock rose $3 (6%).
Sears Spinning Off Some Stores Into Separate Co.
Stocks fell, with the S&P 500 Index (barely) halting its longest rally since 2010, while Treasuries rose amid concern about slowing Asian growth. Dow was down 100 & the S&P 500 was down 9 at their lows, but buying in the PM limited the losses by day's end. The € gained a fraction to over $1.23, up only a couple of pennies from recent lows. Overall this rates as a lackluster day, a lazy summer day with many away on holiday. But euro leaders, among others, will be returning soon, adding excitement to the markets.
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
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Treasury yields:
U.S. 3-month | 0.096% | |
U.S. 2-year | 0.261% | |
U.S. 10-year | 1.651% |
| CLU12.NYM | Crude Oil Sep 12 | 92.67 |  0.20 (0.2%) |
Chancellor Merkel's softening stance toward the ECB rescue plan for Spain & Italy is repelling investors who bought bunds because of her fiscal vigilance. Investors seeking a haven from tumbling bond markets were willing to accept yields below zero for German bunds due in as long as 3 years because they were confident in her pledge that she wouldn’t add to the nation’s debt to expand bailout programs for weaker neighbors. Funds managing more than $4T are turning against bunds on concern Germany’s costs to bail out the eurozone's most indebted nations will rise. The total could reach €500B ($614B) or 45% of Germany’s current debt outstanding. Many money euro maney managers are reducing or eliminating bund holdings.
Merkel Returns to Crisis as Bond Buying Remains in Focus
Pfizer, a Dow stock, took another step forward with a plan to spin off its animal health unit by registering the IPO with regulators. PFE plans to sell as much as 20% of the new company, to be called Zoetis, to raise cash. Current investors will be able to swap a portion of their PFE shares for stock in the new company. PFE also could hold the stock for sale later. This filing moves to complete the final announced piece of CEO Ian Read's effort to shrink the company by selling & spinning off non-drug units, which included the recent sale of its infant nutrition unit for $12B. The stock slipped 23¢.
Pfizer Files for IPO in Plan to Spin off Animal Health
Pfizer (PFE)
Sears plans to spin off its Hometown & Outlet stores as well as some hardware stores into a separate publicly traded company. There are 1238 Hometown, Outlet & hardware stores, according to SHLD. It has already closed 5 Hometown stores, 8 hardware stores & 1 Outlet store. SHLD, which also owns Kmart, has looked at spinoffs & real estate sales to restore profitability & boost shareholder value. Aside from the separation of the stores, the company announced in May that it would spin off a stake in its Canada division. SHLD expects to raise $346M with the spin-off. Previously it said that it expected the deal to raise between $400-$500M. A cash dividend of $100M is also expected to be paid to SHLD. For fiscal 2011, the combined Sears Hometown, hardware & Outlet businesses had net income of $33M on sales of about $2.34B, below 2010 net income of $49B on sales of approximately $2.35B. The stock rose $3 (6%).
Sears Spinning Off Some Stores Into Separate Co.
Sears Holdings (SHLD)
Stocks fell, with the S&P 500 Index (barely) halting its longest rally since 2010, while Treasuries rose amid concern about slowing Asian growth. Dow was down 100 & the S&P 500 was down 9 at their lows, but buying in the PM limited the losses by day's end. The € gained a fraction to over $1.23, up only a couple of pennies from recent lows. Overall this rates as a lackluster day, a lazy summer day with many away on holiday. But euro leaders, among others, will be returning soon, adding excitement to the markets.
Dow Jones Industrials
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