Thursday, February 04, 2010

Initial Jobless Claims: Survey: 455k Actual 480k Prior 470k Revised 472k

Visa (V) announces earnings of $1.02 vs estimates of 0.92. Strong earnings driven by increased
consumer use of credit and debit cards. Stock is trading up ~2.5% in pre-market.

Cisco (CSCO) announces earnings of $0.40 vs estimates of 0.35. Cisco tops estimates and predicts an
acceleration in sales growth as customers resumed projects they put off during the recession. Stock
trading up ~2% in pre-market.

Clorox (CLX) announces earnings of 0.77 vs estimates of 0.75 and raised its forecasts for current year.
Stock is trading slightly up (less than 1%) in pre-market

Mortgage spreads – how much an impact will the end of Fed buying have? In a survey of some of the
4,000 people attending a securitization conference this week, 73 per cent of respondents expected
spreads on mortgage-backed securities to go “much wider” when the Fed ceases buying mortgage
bonds; many portfolios are very underweight mortgages at this point – FT

The 30 year fixed mortgage rate over the last 30 years

Job creation - Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) released a plan Wednesday to give
tax breaks to companies that add new workers, a proposal that is likely to become a key component of
the jobs bill Senate Democratic leaders are hoping to unveil this week. Washington Post.

Men at Work stole Down Under - Australian band Men at Work copied a well-known children's campfire
song for the flute melody in its 1980s hit Down Under and owes the owner years of royalties, a court
ruled today (The Guardian).