Friday, June 29, 2007

Pre Market

Asia closed on the bullish side though Shanghai is down once again. Europe is slightly bullish as well.

The personal income report came in with moderate income and spending numbers and a low core PCE price index figure - all good news. The key negative was a surge in the overall price index from the non-core components. Personal income rebounded 0.4 percent in May, following a 0.2 percent dip in April. The May number was below the consensus expectation for a 0.6 percent gain. The key wages and salaries component also rebounded, rising 0.4 percent, following a 0.5 percent drop in April. April's wages and salaries had been weak due to a return to normal levels after a surge in bonus payments earlier in the year. Personal Income and Outlays
Treasuries rose after a government report showed the Federal Reserve's most closely watched measure of inflation slowed in May and consumer spending increased less than economists forecast. U.S. government securities also got a boost from investors who typically buy Treasuries at the end of the month to match changes in benchmark indexes. The 10-year note's yield has declined on the last business day of June each of the past five years. Bloomberg

Standard & Poor's, Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings are masking burgeoning losses in the market for subprime mortgage bonds by failing to cut the credit ratings on about $200 billion of securities backed by home loans. The highest default rates on home loans in a decade have reduced prices of some bonds backed by mortgages to people with poor or limited credit by more than 50 cents on the dollar and forced New York-based Bear Stearns Cos. to offer $3.2 billion to bail out a money-losing hedge fund. Almost 65 percent of the bonds in indexes that track subprime mortgage debt don't meet the ratings criteria in place when they were sold, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

On the eve of Apple Inc.'s release today of its much-vaunted iPhone, Research In Motion Ltd. continued to blow past expectations on the back of strong BlackBerry sales and watched its shares rocket up in after-hours trading in response.The Waterloo, Ont.-based company Thursday posted a first-quarter profit of $223.2 million US, or $1.17 per diluted share, up 16 per cent from a year earlier.Revenue was $1.08 billion, up 76.5 per cent from $613.1 million. RIM added another 1.2 million subscribers in the quarter for a total of nine million. Read the rest Here

On the eve of the day of reckoning for the most-hyped gadget in recent memory, eager customers lined up Thursday, a few even braving torrential rain, to be among the first to get their hands on the coveted new cell phone from Apple Inc.The gadget, which combines the functions of a cell phone, iPod and wireless Web browser, will go on sale in the United States at Apple and AT&T stores at 6 p.m. Friday in each time zone.

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