Whose Birthday Is It Today?

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. And let us be thankful for fools; but for them the rest of us could not succeed. Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval. A person with a new idea is a crank until his idea succeeds. Actions speak louder than words, but not nearly as often. Age is an issue of mind over matter; if you don’t mind it doesn’t matter. All generalizations are false, including this one. All you need is ignorance and confidence and the success is sure. Always do right; it will gratify some people and astonish the rest. Anger is an acid that does more harm to the vessel it is held in than to anything on which it is poured. Buy land; they’re not making it anymore. “Classic”: a book people praise but don’t read. Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable. Familiarity breeds contempt. And Children. God made the idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board. He is now rising from affluence to poverty. I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it. If the world comes to an end, I want to be in Cincinnati; everything comes there ten years later. It is better to deserve honors and not have them, than have them and not deserve them. Laws control the lesser man; Right controls the greater one. Loyalty to the country always; loyalty to the government when it deserves it. Martyrdom covers a multitude of sins. Name the greatest of all inventors: Accident! Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow. Sometimes too much to drink is barely enough. The human race has only one effective weapon: laughter. The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. There are lies, damned lies, and statistics. There is no distinctly American criminal class, except Congress. Thunder is good and it is impressive, but it is the lightening that does the work. Truth is stranger than fiction. We have the best government that money can buy. You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.

And my favorite: It’s not the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

 

 

Where we left off 4:00pm EST:

INDU               11,052.49                                -39.51

SPX                 1,187.76                                  -1.64

CCMP              2,525.22                                  -9.34

Futures now at 7:30am EST:

DJA                                                                 -58.00

SPA                                                                 -7.80

NDA                                                                -17.50

Key Data out today:

 

07:45:                                           ICSC-UBS Store Sales (actual +0.5%)

09:00:                                           S&P/Case-Shiller Home price Index (estimate -0.4%)

09:45:                                           Chicago PMI (estimate 59.9)

10:00:                                           TCB Confidence (estimate 53.0)

 

Since the prior close, some key stories:

 

–       Euro weakens on debt concerns.

–       Wikileaks may leak a bank?

–       Wikileaks leaks that we watched the “personal actions” of Berlusconi. Wait. Didn’t we ban porn at government offices already?

–       US Banks see margins increasing.

–       Last day for free agent arbitration.

–       ABB and Baldor (BEZ) announce amended offer.

–       MSCI rebalancing overseas pops volumes in foreign stocks last night.

–       Irish bailout fails to quell contagion concerns; Spanish and Italian bonds plunge. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t… oh never mind.

–       European Companies sitting on huge cash and facing pressure to do deals. Bubblicious! Cheap money can do that you know.

–       STX private equity talks collapse. Stock off 4%.

–       Federal Government announces pay freezes for two years, after swelling the number of federal employees, as well as the number making over $100,000 per year.

–       Federal Government does NOT touch its own healthcare plans. Congress and the Senate do nothing about the fact that they have a whole other level of perks that their constituents don’t have.

 

Earnings:

 

Pre-market:  BKS, BPHX, CHOP, LDR, TSL

 

After the Close: OVTI, UTI

 

 

Significant Movers This Morning:

BEZ +40%, IBKR + 4% (dividend), KERX +10% (phase 3 trials), SODA +3% (earnings),  STX -5% (equity talks collapse), TICC – 4% (secondary)