Some of the more interesting and important items for July 3rd :

• Swine Flu Virus Resistant to Roche’s Tamiflu Found in Hong Kong Patient – Not a good sign. Already Level 6 by WHO
• Manhattan Apartment Prices Slide 42% as Lehman, Bear Stearns Woes Hit Home – Wow, that is amazing…
• Boeing Loses Orders for 15 Dreamliners, Bringing 2009 Cancellations to 73 – That is bug money!
• Boeing Loses Orders – Boeing loses 15 more orders for 787 Dreamliners in past week.
• Microsoft’s Bing search wins share from Google – Interesting
• General Motors says China sales up 38 percent (AP) – That is actually good news, etter to see numbers like this in U.S. as we know that China sales are up
• Mortgage Applications in U.S. Fall 19%, Refinancing Is at Seven-Month Low – Withering
• Nymex Gas Falls on Speculation Weak Demand Will Maintain U.S. Fuel Surplus – NO kidding…
• Pentagon to Award New Order for Trucks Soon – The Pentagon is soon to announce the winner of the multi-billion dollar contract to build thousands of armored off-road vehicles.
• UBS to Raise $3.5 Billion in Share Sale, Forecasts Loss in Second Quarter – Let's face it, it is not over just yet…
• Federal Reserve Preview – Federal Reserve Officials will more than likely keep rates near zero for an extended period, and quantitative easing will be in question.
• Three banks stop paying TARP dividends: Journal – Is it me or are things getting a lot worse again?
• Oracle Beats Analyst’s Expectations – Oracle stock rose in post market trading after the company reported better then expected earnings results.
• Dollar Drops Most in Six Weeks Against Euro as Rate-Rise Speculation Fades – That should be temporary
• Pulte Chief Dugas Sees Little Improvement in Home Sales in Coming Months – Housing recovery, an oxymoron
• Smith & Wesson profit doubles, beats Street view – Is this a good thing?
• War-Time Fungus Joins Elephant Dung to Make Cheap Biofuel at Danisco, CSM – I like it!
• VIX, VStoxx Indexes Surge After World Bank Report Sends Equities Tumbling – Volatility rising
• Stocks, Commodities Fall as World Bank Sees 2.9% Contraction; Dollar Gains – Not pretty
• Citigroup Chief Pandit Seeks Half of Future Business From Emerging Markets – Because it is a new place that does not know his tricks…
• For Markets, How Tweet It Is – Barrons.com – When will this end? No regulation? One giant message board for those who pump and dump..
• Toyota is Now Top Dog in U.S. – It was inevitable.
• North Carolina, Georgia, Kansas Bank Failures Cost U.S. Fund $363 Million – PHEW! I thought it was going to be another $billion Only $300 million, no biggie!
• Steve Jobs Said to Undergo Liver Transplant During Apple Medical Leave – Hmmm. What does that mean for shares ???
• After Hours: RIM shares sharply pare late-traded losses –
• War-Funding, ‘Clunkers’ Bill Approved –
• RIM Profit, Sales Forecasts May Miss Estimates – Research in Motion faces uphill battle against competitors.
• Treasury Prices Fall – Treasury prices fall and rates rise on economic data as continuing claims come in better than expectations.
• White House Details Financial Revamp Plan – Complicated…
• Natural Gas Rises on Crude Spread – Natural Gas moved higher on the possibility of warmer weather for the Midwest and the spread on Crude Oil.
• Foreign Direct Investment in China Falls 17.8% as Companies Slash Spending – 5 months of consecutive reduction
• Theme park firm Six Flags files for bankruptcy – Any surprise?
• Gasoline prices jump another 17 cents a gallon (AP) – Reaching toward $3 within a bat of an eye…
• Maguire Sells Building at Discount – 60% reduction from cost! Now that is not good….
• Web Ad Sales Open Door to Viruses – Google? Yahoo!?
• Wealthy Miss Opportunites as Markets Paralyze Investors, Barclays Reports – But did they participate in the down or were they out of that too?
• Ahmadinejad Victory Shores Up His Power as Iran Faces `Return to the Past’ – How far back are we talking about?
• Airbus Warns Output Could Drop as Much as 25% in 2010 and 2011 – YIKES!
• BlackRock to Purchase Barclays iShares Unit – BlackRock is bidding for Barclays iShares division for $13.5 Billion.
• Koenigsegg to Buy Saab – Swedish luxury car maker Koenigsegg and Norwegian investors have signed a letter of intent to purchase Saab from GM.
• Fed Pressured BAC to do Merrill Lynch Deal – Emails show that the Federal Reserve may have pressured Bank of America into completing deal with Merrill Lynch despite concerns from BAC's CEO Kenneth Lewis.
• House Passes Cash for Clunkers Bill – By a vote of 298-119 the house approved the cash for clunkers program.
• Treasury Yields Climb – Treasury yields rise after auction results.
• Oil Moves Higher on Inventory Drawdown – Oil supplies fell by 4.38 million barrels which caused oil to rally despite the strength of the dollar.
• BHP Billiton Says 2009 Prime Metallurgical Coal Prices Dropped About 58% – WOW. (X100) WOW!
• Japan’s Producer Prices Fall at Fastest in 22 Years – Deflation is looking like a real possibility and output is declining along with exports. Market keeps moving higher though… It is a real mystery….
• `Cash for Clunkers’ Proposal to Give $4,500 for New Cars Passes in House – Nice…
• U.S. bankruptcies highest since 2005 – I believe that was the year that the laws were changed and there was a mad rush before the opportunity closed.
• 500 Internal Server Error – 500 Internal Server Error
• Profits Diluted 4% by Record Stock Sales, Biggest Dividend Cuts Since 1938 – The bull knows no math
• China Raises Export Tax Rebates on Aluminum Foil to 15 Percent – So, do I understand that growth us still a problem for China?
• Japan Aluminum Price Premium Said to Increase for the First Time in a Year – GO ALU!
• Blanchflower Says Bank of England May Expand U.K. Money-Printing Program – Maybe we should be investing in paper?
• Brown Says He Won’t `Walk Away’ as U.K. Lawmakers Call on Him to Resign – They really hate this guy.
• Fans gather for launch of ‘iPhone killer’ Palm Pre – Inventories are low, so a quick sell out was inevitable….
• Chrysler Creditors Ask U.S. High Court Justice to Block Asset Sale to Fiat – Maybe the 30 days will be longer?
• Mutual Funds: Fund manager to peers: ‘We stunk’ –
• Private Sector Jobs on the Decline – U.S. private employers shed 532,000 jobs in May.
• Japan May Scrap 50 Trillion-Yen Plan to Prop Up Stock Market – Bloomberg.com – Who said government is not involved in the equity markets? Does this mean that investors will start to walk away as there is no underpinning, no invisible (hardly) hand involved. Posturing, then pulling out. Not nice…
• Variable Annuity Sales Fall 27% as MetLife Takes Lead – Metlife will lead then lose…
• FDIC Paints Dark Picture of U.S. Banking – Read this. Is it any question that this was the plan of the stress test to begin with? No risk to taxpayers, just risk to investors that gobbled up the secondary offerings…
• Variable Annuity Sales Plunge 27% as Prices Climb, U.S. Savers Shun Stocks – Look out for insurers taking TARP, then a secondary…
• GM Moving Closer to Bankruptcy – GM moves closer to bankruptcy as not enough bondholders agreed to swap their debt for company stock.
• Secured Bank Lenders to GM to Get Full Recovery – WSJ.com – Are they kidding? $50 billion? Come on gang….Just say NO!
• PetroChina Gains, Matches Exxon Mobil as the World’s Most Valuable Company – You gotta love it…..
• Thailand’s Economy Shrinks More-Than-Estimated 7.1%, Entering a Recession – That is not pretty. Way too much optimism going on with economists.
• MasterCard Is Said to Lose Debit-Card Users to Visa After JPMorgan Shift – This is not good for any card company
• GMAC Needs $1 Billion in Cuts – That is good news
• Treasury Bonds Fall, TBT Rallies – Treasury prices turned lower as the Treasury announces more that $100 billion worth of debt coming to the block.
• Government to Invest Another 7.5 Billion in GMAC LLC – The U.S. Treasury is reportedly to invest another 7.5 Billion in GMAC which would make it a majority holder.
• Intel Unveils Software That Rivals Windows – WSJ.com – Is MSFT worried? Maybe..
• Yen, Dollar Strengthen on Speculation Global Recession Will Be Prolonged – Yes, no, yes, yes, no. Longer, shorter…. Relax.
• Bank of America Share Sale Raises $13.5 Billion After Stress-Test Verdict – Who bought these shares?
• U.S. Said to Consider Stripping SEC of Power, Shifting Some Duties to Fed – Here we go…….
• Hewlett-Packard Sales Forecast Signals PC, Printer Demand Keeps Slumping – But aren't they the same company that keeps on backing estimates. Come on fellas…Truth up!
• PNC Can Wait to Pay Back TARP Over `Next Couple Years,’ CEO Jim Rohr Says – This sounds different from GS talk..
• Petrobras Secures $10 Billion China Development Bank Loan for Investment – Black Gold!
• Record Lows in Housing Construction – Housing construction and building permits recorded record lows from data released May 19, 2009
• American Express cuts 4,000 jobs – Credit card troubles not going away
• Buffett Scales Back Stock Purchases as Berkshire’s Cash Holdings Dwindle – He is all in….
• Japan’s Machinery Orders Resumed Falling in March as Factories Sat Idle – This is a recovery?
• Mark Patterson: "It’s A Sham. The Banks Are Insolvent" – Really?
• Administration Official "Chrysler Bankruptcy Could Last Two Years" – What happened to 30 days?
• Raising Rates in the Fed’s Future? – Former Treasury official John Taylor states that "My calculation implies we may not have as much time before the Fed has to remove excess reserves and raise the rate."
• Retail Sales Show Surprising Decline – Retail sales reported surprisingly lower than expectation.
• Princeton Economist Sees Rapid Recovery Unlikely – Paul Krugman states that the V-shaped recovery to this recession is extremely unlikely.
• Advanta’s Credit-Card Account Shutdown May Imperil Customers, Debt Holders – This is not a good thing
• April Sales: How Retailers Fared – Real Time Economics – WSJ – An interesting cross-section
• Ford Diluting Shares – Ford announced a public offering for 300 million shares.
• FED Purchases Treasurys – Treasurys advance after the FED's first of three buybacks this week.
• Capital One, U.S. Bancorp, BB&T, KeyCorp to Sell Shares, Repay TARP Funds – Hoh Hum. Who is next?
• Obama Hedge Fund `Bullying’ May Hurt Efforts to Spur Lending, Asness Says – What are they talking about? Crazy talk!
• Microsoft to Sell Debt for First Time Ever, Fund $40 Billion Share Buyback – Against the grain
• China’s Bank Lending Cooled in April; Consumer Prices Decline – Even with all of the China stimulus it seems that there is little inflation…yet