Yikes! Apple Had a Crap January

January was the worst month in a very long time for Apple stock.

How bad was it?  At the close of trading Thursday, Apple shares had lost more than 14 percent of their value since New Year's Day. That kind of monthly loss has only happened to the Cupertino powerhouse three other times in a decade. The last time? September 2008.

But really, that doesn't fully capture the impact of the stock's tumble. That's because while Apple tumbled, the broader markets were having a banner start to the year, with the Nasdaq up 4.1 percent and the S&P 500 up 5 percent.

How unusual is that? Since the year 2000, there had never been a month when Apple lost more than 14 percent while the Nasdaq rose. There had been only one month when Apple lost more than 14 percent while the S&P rose, back in May 2001, but that was a half a percent.

Read all about it at http://www.cnbc.com/id/100427194]

The Republican War on America: Austerity Politics Threaten Economy

Lawmakers were stunned Wednesday to learn that the U.S. economy officially dove toward a double-dip recession at the end of 2012, contracting for the first time in three and a half years amid steep declines in government spending and sluggish exports.

Policymakers were similarly stunned in Europe when reductions in government spending led to continued economic malaise, leading top economists there to question the logic behind austerity recommendations. European austerity programs are a major driver of the slowdown in U.S. exports, and several economists have argued that reductions in government spending, here and abroad, are almost solely responsible for the suddenly tanking economy.

"Austerity has been terrible for Britain and the rest of Europe," said Chad Stone, an economist with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank. "We've not been as bad as them, but we haven't given our economy the support it needs."

Congress is still driving headlong into the forced austerity known as sequestration, scheduled to take effect in March, which requires across-the-board spending cuts at the Pentagon and among domestic policy programs…..

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/30/jobs-deficit-austerity-po_n_2582371.html

BofA: 'SELL-SIGNAL TRIGGERED'

Fasten those seatbelts, constant Weird readers.  The Dow hit 14,000 and according to BI: It's been a historic month for fund flows into the stock markets, and the final week of January was no exception.  This week, total flows into equity funds amounted to $18.8 billion, making it the third-largest week on record.

In a note to clients this morning titled "Sell-Signal Triggered," BofA Merrill Lynch strategist Michael Hartnett says flow signals are now pointing to a correction, or a decent-sized sell-off.  According to Hartnett, last time this signal was triggered, in January 2011, an 8 percent correction on the MSCI All World Country Index (an index of global stocks) followed over the course of February and March.

Hartnett writes, "On average, a 'sell' signal precedes a 5 percent correction in global stocks over the subsequent 4-5 weeks."

We've seen a lot of similar calls from other strategists in recent days. Citi strategists, for example, sees these flows as seasonal, which indicates to them that a correction is looming

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/bofa-sell-signal-triggered-2013-2

Buy Signal: Top Hedge Funds Are Moving Into Energy

According to Dr. Kent Moors  There is an easy way to find out where the market thinks a particular sector is heading: Check out the movement of futures contracts held by top hedge fund managers.  These days the signal is clear and pointing in one direction. It's in energy.

Reports have recently surfaced that hedge funds are moving into commodities in general, and energy commodities in particular. What's more these moves are more bullish than at any time since midsummer.

The reason is the same one that we have been discussing for several months. Demand is coming back more quickly than anticipated.   Energy spikes usually start that way. Indicators of market resurgence seem to rush onto the scene, catch analysts by surprise, and the acceleration begins… 

Two elements have emerged over the past several days that finally require the pundits to catch up with us.

First, it is becoming impossible to ignore what is happening in the U.S. and China. Both markets are moving up, with that direction intensifying of late.  In the U.S., forward economic indicators are developing into a bull market signal.  But it's the second factor that everybody will be talking about this week…..

http://moneymorning.com/2013/02/01/buy-signal-top-hedge-funds-are-moving-into-energy/

NY insider trading cooperator gets year in the Slammer

            

From HuffPo: A notorious Florida investor who feigned cooperation with the government even as she initially told lies in one of the biggest insider trading investigations was sentenced to a year in prison Thursday by a judge who said that cooperators who lie must be punished, even if they eventually provide substantial assistance.

Roomy Khan, 54, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., dabbed tears from her eyes during the sentencing proceeding in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where Judge Jed Rakoff credited Khan with "huge cooperation" in a probe prosecutors have repeatedly touted as the biggest hedge fund insider trading investigation in history.

He said, though, that he could not overlook the lies she initially told investigators to protect friends before she told the truth. Her cooperation played a role in enabling the largest use of wiretaps ever in an insider trading investigation, along with the dozens of convictions that followed….

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20130131/us-hedge-fund-insider-trading/?utm_hp_ref=green&ir=green

The Mark Zuckerberg Era Is So Over

Get out your hankie.  No, get two of them. For a long time, Facebook was the most dramatic, exciting company in Silicon Valley, if not the world.  According to BI its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, was a global icon thanks to his remarkably young age. Before 23, he became a subject of intense scrutiny and hero-worship.

This all happened for several good reasons. Facebook was a global phenomenon with users. It grew from a few thousand users at Harvard to a few million at college campuses around the country to more than a billion people in about five years.  As a business, its growth floored people. Revenues reached a billion dollars in half a decade, all while Facebook's valuation soared past a billion, stunned people at $15 billion, and just kept going…..

But now, suddenly, Facebook is a lot like many other public companies in the tech industry….

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-mark-zuckerberg-era-is-over-2013-1#ixzz2JddLNARW

Look Who Gets a BIG Base Salary Bump

According to the NY Time's Dealbook James P. Gorman, the chief executive of Morgan Stanley, will receive a huge raise in his base salary this year, but his overall pay package for 2012 was down from 2011, according to a filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Gorman made $9.75 million in 2012, down 7 percent from 2011. The firm had previously disclosed pieces of Gorman’s pay, like some incentive bonuses, but on Thursday, the firm revealed the value of his entire package. He was also granted performance-based stock compensation valued at almost $3.75 million in 2012.

The firm also said that his base salary in 2013 would double to $1.5 million, or $28,846.15 a week. The firm’s board said in the filing that Gorman’s base salary was raised to bring it in line with the salaries of other bank chiefs. The CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd C. Blankfein, for instance, makes a base salary of $2 million.

Want to eat your heart out?  Read all about it at http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/gorman-gets-a-big-bump-in-base-salary/