TODAY’S FAYRE – Thursday, 24th January 2013
“It was the Rainbow gave thee
birth,
And left thee all her lovely hues;
And, as her mother's name was Tears,
So runs it in my blood to choose
For haunts the lonely pools, and keep
In company with trees that weep.
Go you and, with such glorious hues,
Live with proud peacocks in green parks;
On lawns as smooth as shining glass,
Let every feather show its marks;
Get thee on boughs and clap thy wings
Before the windows of proud kings.
Nay, lovely Bird, thou art not vain;
Thou hast no proud, ambitious mind;
I also love a quiet place
That's green, away from all mankind;
A lonely pool, and let a tree
Sigh with her bosom over me.”
And left thee all her lovely hues;
And, as her mother's name was Tears,
So runs it in my blood to choose
For haunts the lonely pools, and keep
In company with trees that weep.
Go you and, with such glorious hues,
Live with proud peacocks in green parks;
On lawns as smooth as shining glass,
Let every feather show its marks;
Get thee on boughs and clap thy wings
Before the windows of proud kings.
Nay, lovely Bird, thou art not vain;
Thou hast no proud, ambitious mind;
I also love a quiet place
That's green, away from all mankind;
A lonely pool, and let a tree
Sigh with her bosom over me.”
“The Kingfisher”
WH Davies – poet – 1871-1940
"The
gods too are fond of a joke." -Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC)
Reams and reams have been written on the PM’s speech
on EU membership. The press in many places have been complimentary; some
implying that Merkel will listen to the PM’s suggestions as well as the Dutch
welcoming his comments. For those interested Mike Ingram of BGC and I
wrote some comment for the Sky News website –
My ‘bait-noire’ – the WEF in Davos - got under a full head of steam
yesterday. Today Gordon Brown bagged an early spot to pontificate on some
spurious subject! Breakfast, I am sure, will call, as he is on
early-doors! WPP’S Sir Martin Sorrell was up with the larks this morning in an
ebullient and authoritative frame of mind! Then Bloomberg grabbed the ESM’s
Klaus Regling and he told Francine Lacqua that no constituent member of the
Euro wanted to leave! I think he must be living on a different planet
from the rest of us. PM Medvedev is there with a huge entourage. David
Cameron makes a key not speech this afternoon – I suppose the subject might be
the EU. Don’t you love the French’s foreign minister’s reaction to the
PM’s speech? - Laurent Fabius said: "If the UK decides to leave the EU, we
will roll out the red carpet to businessmen." Finally Google has cancelled
its champagne party tomorrow. Mr Blair may have made the journey in vain!
The IMF seemed somewhat underwhelmed over growth in Europe particularly
Spain and the UK. I fear the IMF thoughts that the UK’s GDP could drop by 1.4%
in 2013 is a little far from the mark, despite the possibility of unappetising
4th quarter GDP numbers due tomorrow – could be as low as
-0.5%. Employment figures were very encouraging yesterday and there is
certainly a slightly less negative feel about the outlook. Over 550k jobs have
been created in the last year. Without being deeply disrespectful the IMF is
not exactly considered to be an august forecaster and is often behind the
curve!
And so to reality! Yesterday very modest gains were made in Europe as
there were on the Street of Dreams. McDonald’s and Starbuck’s earnings
captured the imagination. However after hours came Apple’s eagerly awaited
numbers. 47.8m iPhones (+29%), and 21 million tablets were sold in the last
quarter. Earnings beat expectation - $13.61 against $13.47. Profits were
in line at $13.07 billion on total sales of $54.2 billion (EST $54.7 billion).
Yet the market was terribly disappointed – the bar has been set so high.
Concern had recently been expressed that sales in Asia had dropped. Tim Cook
needs to establish a stronghold in China, which is already modifying a local
made model at half the price but presumably without the sophistication. Samsung
seems to have stolen a march with its smartphone enjoying a greater market
share in Asia – something like 18% to 15%. Apple’s shares have fallen 34% since
last September - $702 to £463, having yielded 10% after hours last night! Dell
and Hewlett-Packard’s shares also went in to reverse as did ARM Holdings and
Logitech this morning!
Yesterday there were decent numbers from Unilever, WH Smith and this
morning easyJet did not disappoint – shares up 4%. It is interesting to
note that the Paul Polman led operation (Unilever) has outperformed Procter
& Gamble in recent years. Though the LSE’S sales were up 6% on the back of
new business and increased M&A, volumes were down in concert with the
market. Fuller’s did well over the Christmas period – like for like sales up by
4.5%. Commerzbank disappointed again – shares are down 19% in the last year and
between 4,000 and 6000 members of staff are to be made redundant.
Barclays continues to review its staffing and 2000 jobs may go in London.
LIBOR manipulation has hit market peripheries with ICAP (-5%) now in the dock
to answer allegations. It follows in the wake of RP Martin. Nokia post
results later in the morning. The dividend may be threatened. Carphone
Warehouse confirmed its full year guidance and announces Q3 same store sales
gained 7.8%. Punch Taverns announces that its CEO plans to resign and move over
to be CEO at Greggs.
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