August 4
It was a rough day for stocks. The Dow dropped 0.27%, the Nasdaq fell 0.18%, and the S&P 500 dipped 0.24%. Investors are proceeding cautiously before Friday’s jobs report. Apple entered correction territory, moving below its 200-day moving average and plunging 3% Tuesday. Trade volume for the stock was up to 62 million in the late morning. The stock is now 15% lower than its all time high in April. Twitter was up 0.2% at the close, after opening at an all-time low of $29.11. It’s the second day in a row the stock has closed below $30. Oil was up slightly, hitting $45.74 a barrel. Etsy’s stock crashed 13% Tuesday after the company reported a 7 cents per share loss for the second quarter. Etsy did beat expectations with $61 million, above an expected 8 cents per share loss and $60 million in revenue. Disney reported earnings of $1.45 a share on $13.1 billion in revenue, above the expected $1.42 a share and $13.23 billion in revenue. Shares fell 2% after the markets close.
Atlanta Fed president says rates could rise in September. Dennis Lockhart feels the economy is ready for a rate increase, and it would take a serious blow to economic data in the next few weeks to convince him to not vote for a rate rise in September. NexChange
Herbalife legal expert exits. Jim Berklas, associate general counsel and chief compliance officer for Herbalife, has left the company to join the Barnes Group. Berklas worked for Herbalife for seven years, taking on Bill Ackman’s accusations of Herbalife as a pyramid scheme. New York Post
Irish drug maker bids for U.S. company. Shire made an unsolicited offer of $30.6 billion in stock to acquire treatment maker Baxalta, but Baxalta rejected the deal. The Illinois-based Baxalta says the proposal undervalues the company, which spun off from Baxter International five weeks ago. Wall Street Journal
Planned Parenthood not safe yet. The Senate voted down a bill Monday that would have defunded Planned Parenthood, but the organization’s struggle isn’t over yet. An anti-abortion group released another video of Planned Parenthood employees talking about extracting and selling fetal tissue. The Washington Post broke down Planned Parenthood’s spending for readers: 41% of funding comes from the government, and only 3% goes to abortion services. Washington Post
China reins in short-sellers and stocks surge. New rules now force short-sellers to hold their positions over night, at a minimum. The Shanghai Composite gained almost 3.7% while the Shenzhen Composite Index soared a staggering 4.77%. Two major brokerages — CITIC Securities and Huatai Securities — immediately announced they would suspend their short-selling businesses. MarketWatch
Greek stocks are getting clobbered again; says bailout deal to be done by August 18. We’re not sure we’d mark our calendars in ink. Greek shares continued to nose-dive today and once again, Greek banking stocks were among the worst hit. Attica Bank, the National Bank of Greece, Alpha Bank, and Piraeus Bank are down 30%. The Guardian
Madoff trials finally come to an end. Irwin Lipkin, the 77-year old former controller for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities and the last defendant connected to the Ponzi scheme, is set to be sentenced by a Manhattan federal court tomorrow for falsifying records. Reuters
Puerto Rico misses $58 million payment. Puerto Rico was only able to make a partial payment Monday of about $628,000 towards its August 1 deadline to pay back millions of dollars in debt. Moody’s labeled the situation a default. CNBC
You won’t believe this:
NHL and MLB team up. The National Hockey League and Major League Baseball are teaming up for an unprecedented deal for MLB Advanced Media to take over the NHL’s digital operations. The NHL is getting $100 million per year, plus 7% to 10% equity in MLBAM. CBS
NFL chief medical officer speaks out on concussions. Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, appointed the first chief health officer for the NFL in February, is attending games and watching players to make recommendations for better health going forward. Football doesn’t need to end, she says, but teams need to know how to play the game right to prevent major injuries. CNN
Strange dinnermates: Rajaratnam, Gupta housed in same jail. Former Galleon CIO Raj Rajaratnam and ex-McKinsey Senior Partner Emeritus Rajat Gupta found themselves under the same roof at the Federal Medical Center Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts. The pair were ensnared in one of the biggest insider trading scandals ever. A great read. New York Times (paywall)
Photo: Bruce Tuten