Gold jumps 1.5 percent on euro zone debt fears (Reuters)

Payrolls Grow in 42 States Including New York, Texas as Job Market Revives (Bloomberg)

Greece hit by Fitch debt downgrade (FT)

IMF approves 26 billion euro funding for Portugal (Reuters)

Former IMF Chief to Stay in Temporary Housing in Lower Manhattan

Dervis rules himself out of IMF race (FT)

IMF Aborted Strauss-Kahn Probe in 2008 (Bloomberg)

Emerging market equity funds see $1.6 bln outflows (MarketWatch)

Soros sharpens gold bubble debate (FT)

Analysts’ Rare ‘Sell’ Ratings are Rarely Right (Bloomberg)

Mayor Bloomberg says if Apocalypse happens, alternate side parking suspended (NYDN)

JPMorgan Traders’ Market-Share Inroads Growing, Deutsche Bank Analyst Says (Bloomberg)

Goldman Sachs Names Sorrell, Gutman as Co-Heads of U.K. Investment Banking (Bloomberg)

UBS Loses Two Top Investment Bankers (CNBC)

Who shot bin Laden? Former SEALs fill in the blanks (WaPo)

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

…unless you are “a leftist who hates liberty, or a snob who enjoys destroying civilization with your superior-sounding mendacity.” But if you’re neither of those things, “you will love this movie.” Do not believe the reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes, they know nothing.

Date: Apr 27, 2011 10:58 AM

Subject: A movie recommendation: Go see Atlas Shrugged

To:

I’ve sent to this distribution list essays on limited government, and wonky quant finance papers. Now a movie recommendation (that is itself kind of a mini-essay on limited government).

Go see Atlas Shrugged. I did and loved it.

The critics hate it like socialist cats in the bath. The movie’s producer, a hero of mine, is close to shrugging (see link below).

It’s hard to spend money, time, and blood on something, and have the critics savage it (which sadly matters a lot to success if not at all to truth), and go on.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2011/04/atlas-shrugged-producer-critics-you-won-hes-going-on-strike.html

I am telling you it’s good. Particularly if what you’re looking for is a rather straight (though adopted for modern times) telling of the story. Does it have its amateurish moments and characteristics?

Sure. It was made for a trifle by Hollywood standards. The same critics that, if this tiny amount of money was spent on a poorly produced and acted “Indie” film, that happened to be about a hermaphrodite Palestinian boy who after escaping fascist Israeli persecution moves to Texas to face fascist American persecution (and isn’t immediately granted his full “right” to all the healthcare the USA can afford), would sing it’s praises and laud it’s signs of a tight budget as “authentic.”

I’m not sure if we have art imitating life or the other way around, but the critics are themselves Randian characters. They have an agenda—punish those who love liberty and have the temerity to defend it, then go to parties and be lauded by their friends for their heroic progressivism. And if they can make some snobby lies about cinematography along the way, more the better. (note—a small minority of critics have not seemed ideologically motivated, with them I simply disagree thinking they are using the wrong standard)

The book was also savaged by critics of the left and right in 1957, but loved by its giant number of readers beyond almost all others.

History is repeating, but that’s because sadly little has changed. We have to fix that. On Rotten Tomatoes (wouldn’t the left love for me to have left off the “e”?) the critics have been running, wait for it, 6% for the movie, 94% against. The people have been running 85% for the movie. Now, you could argue that the people have tended to be Rand fans so that’s biased. That’s a bad argument. Rand fans would be the first, the absolute first, to savage it if it wasn’t a good movie (have you ever seen Rand fans agree on anything except loving Rand?).

If you love the book, if you like the book, if you are at all open to the arguments in the book, you will love this movie. If you’re a leftist who hates liberty, or a snob who enjoys destroying civilization with your superior-sounding mendacity, you probably won’t like it so much.

Go see the movie.

—Cliff

p.s. The movie superbly preserves a message from the book that gives the lie to so much the left says about it. The heroes are not “businessmen” and the villains “government”. The book and movie clearly show the heroes are liberty loving creators and the villains totalitarian thieves—and those thieves come in the form of big business crony capitalists (those who don’t create but use the state’s power to steal to enrich themselves) as often as government apparatchiks (and never the defenseless poor). Look for this. The movie and book are honest, the critics are not.

Cliff Asness: Go See Atlas Shrugged [NetNet]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

This is the other shoe dropping.

Following a revelation earlier this week by programmers that Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone maintains a database on the device of the locations an individual has traveled with the phone, The Wall Street Journal’s Julia Angwin and Jennifer Valentino-Devries write today that both Google’s (GOOG) and Apple’s operating systems are transmitting some location data back to the companies.

“According to new research by security analyst Samy Kamkar, an HTC Android phone collected its location every few seconds and transmitted the data to Google at least several times an hour,” the authors write.

(Kamkar, a convicted computer felon, maintains a Web site here. The Journal used a consultant to test Kamkar’s research, and apparently he verified the findings about the Android OS.)

As for Apple, the authors cite a letter the company sent last year to representatives Ed Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Joe Barton, Republican from Texas, saying it, “‘intermittently’ collects location data, including GPS coordinates, of many iPhone users and nearby Wi-Fi networks and transmits that data to itself every 12 hours.”

As the authors note, there are some specific limitations. For example, Apple’s data on locations transmitted back to its data centers is not tied to a phone’s unique identification code. Google’s process, Kamkar’s work suggests, includes data gathering and transmittal that is tied to the phone and that proceeds even when the phone’s apps are not explicitly requesting network location.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

$$$ JPMorgan To Double Headcount In Brazil [Reuters]

$$$ “Michigan is giving hundreds of financial professionals and public employees a crash course in advising troubled municipalities, building an army of emergency managers that may become a model for other U.S. states.” [Bloomberg]

$$$ Jitters Put Focus Back On European Debt [WSJ]

$$$ Where did your tax dollars go? [GB]

$$$ Morgan Stanley fund fails to repay debt on Tokyo property [Reuters]

$$$ ProPublica wins Pulitzer for The Wall Street Money Machine [Pulitzer]

$$$ Texas University Takes Cue From Kyle Bass to Hold $1 Billion in Gold Bars [Bloomberg]

$$$ Winklevoss Twins Ask for New Hearing in Facebook Case [Bits]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Susquehanna Financial chip analyst Christopher Caso this morning cut his rating on Marvell Technology Group (MRVL) to Neutral from Positive, arguing that a cheap stock price is balanced by risk in the form of the hard-disk drive market and ongoing shifts at top customer Research in Motion (RIMM).

Marvell provided a forecast for its April quarter before the Tsunami hit Japan, which means that it couldn’t foresee at the time what may well be a weak Q2 market for disk drives, writes Caso, given supply chain disruptions. He believes Western Digital (WDC), 21% of Marvell’s revenue, “is likely to be affected by [Texas Instruments's (TXN)] motor controller shortage.” Seagate Technology (STX) will be adding some Marvell parts in its PC client business, but Marvell will also lose sockets at Seagate to LSI (LSI), which means Seagate is kind of a neutral, overall, for Marvell, he writes.

Marvell can look forward to getting parts into Hitachi’s drive business, but that’s going to take time. (Hitachi’s storage unit is being bought by Western Digital.)

As for RIM, there are “negative headlines” on the horizon. He expects Marvell will in the second half of this year have, “at least three new phones ramping at RIM,” which makes up 14% of Marvell’s revenue. However, the first RIM phones that eventually use the “QNX” operating system — the one that runs RIM’s “PlayBook” tablet — will probably use a Qualcomm (QCOM) chip, not Marvell’s, he thinks. And the Playbook tablet “will remain at Texas Instruments,” Caso thinks.

Marvell shares today are down 75 cents, or almost 5%, at $15.22.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Analysts at Gleacher & Co. downgraded shares of National Semiconductor (NSM) to Neutral from Buy, arguing that further competitive bidding on the company is unlikely after the $25 a share offer from Texas Instruments (TXN).

“The deal is expected to close in six to nine months with about $1 of upside,” wrote analyst Doug Freedman in a research note. “We advise investors to rebalance towards Analog Devices (ADI) and Texas Instruments.”

Freedman raised his target price to $25 from $17.

National Semiconductor is trading flat midday at $24.05.

Texas Instruments is down 0.9% at $34.88.

Analog Devices is down 2% at $38.32.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Ex-Goldman Board Member Took The Fifth (Bloomberg)
Shortly before the start of proceedings yesterday in the insider-trading trial of Galleon Group LLC co-founder Raj Rajaratnam, Assistant U.S. Attorney Reed Brodsky asked whether the defense intended to introduce into evidence a submission that Rajat Gupta made to the SEC. Defense attorney John Dowd said he didn’t plan on telling jurors about the so-called Wells submission. “In that Wells submission, Mr. Gupta took the Fifth Amendment when he spoke to the SEC,” Brodsky told U.S. District Judge Richard Holwell. Gupta “wasn’t deposed when the SEC asked for his deposition,” Brodsky said.

Exchange CEOs Square Off (WSJ)
In 2008, NYSE Euronext Chief Executive Duncan Niederauer arrived at an investor conference early to hear comments by Robert Greifeld, the head of rival exchange operator Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. Mr. Niederauer cringed at Mr. Greifeld’s description of market-share gains in stock trading by Nasdaq over the Big Board, denouncing the numbers as “dishonest.” “He’s running for president. I am the president,” the NYSE chief told the crowd…If Mr. Greifeld can torpedo the Deutsche Börse deal and walk away with the Big Board, he also would likely become Mr. Niederaurer’s boss. Analysts say the Big Board chief, a former trader at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., probably would quit, a move that would entitle him to exit-related payments of $34.3 million.

Brady Dougan’s Pay Sliced 34% (Bloomberg)
Dougan’s pay of 12.8 million Swiss francs ($14 million) included a fixed salary of 2.5 million francs, which doubled from 2009, and 10.26 million francs in bonus and other compensation. He was paid 19.2 million francs in 2009.

Spanish Banks Hit By Moody’s (WSJ)
Iberian bank shares are expected to drop after the market opens Thursday, following a downgrade of the Spanish sector by Moody’s Investors Service Inc. and the collapse of Portugal’s minority government overnight.

Portugal Yields Hit New High; Report Of Bailout ‘Soon’ (CNBC)
Late on Wednesday, Portugal’s parliament rejected an austerity program proposed by Prime Minister Jose Socrates’ government and he resigned. “Portugal’s bailout will be among the top issues at the summit talks today and tomorrow. I believe they will seek the loan soon,” Dow Jones quoted a senior euro zone official as saying.

Irish Economy Shrinks Most in a Year on Investment, Exports (Bloomberg)
Gross domestic product fell 1.6 percent from the previous three months, when it increased 0.6 percent, the Central Statistics Office said in Dublin today. Consumer spending declined 0.4 percent on the quarter, exports fell 1.4 percent and investment dropped 2.3 percent. In 2010, the economy shrank 1 percent, a third straight annual contraction.

Blackstone Hedge Fund Seeder Business Gets Traction (Reuters)
In about four months, hundreds of individual investors sank some $355 million into a so-called hedge fund seeder set up by the New York-based investment firm, a recent regulatory filing shows…Overall, Blackstone’s Strategic Alliance fund has raised $2.4 billion, say people familiar with the fund. The new fund, which already has “seeded” two newcomers and is in advanced discussions to seed another two, is Blackstone’s second foray into the hedge fund incubating business.

Worst Texas Drought In 44 Years Hits US Wheat, Beef Supply (Bloomberg)
Texas, the biggest U.S. cattle producer and second-largest winter-wheat grower, got just 4.7 inches (12 centimeters) of rain on average in the five months through February, the least for the period since 1967.

Ten Economists Call A Severe Threat To US (CNBC)
In an open letter published in Politico to Congress and the president, 10 ex-chairman and chairwoman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers called for intense negotiations between both parties to take place in the wake of a report by the bipartisan National Commission of Fiscal Responsibility and Reform entitled “The Moment of Truth,” issued in December. The report, by co-chairmen Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, argues that the long-run federal budget deficit will pose a serious threat to the long-term recovery of the economy. It was supported by 11 out of a panel of 18 Democrats and Republicans.

Bank Of China Posts 29% Profit Growth (WSJ)
The state-run bank reported a net profit of 104.42 billion yuan (US$15.9 billion) for the 12 months ended Dec. 31, from 80.82 billion yuan in 2009. Net-interest income, which accounts for roughly 70% of Bank of China’s operating income, rose 22% to 193.96 billion yuan in 2010 from 158.88 billion yuan, the lender said.

Military Monetary Policy: Rebels Set Up Central Bank (Reuters)
Libyan rebels plan to set up a national oil company and central bank based in Benghazi as an alternative to the institutions of President Muammar Gaddafi, the Gulf newspaper The Nation reported Thursday.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

To everyone who signed up- congratulations on making the right call. As one component of the prize package is dinner at Peter Luger, which does not take credit cards, I’m most excited to meet the winner in an alley to pass off an envelope stuffed with cash.** Now, some words and numbers from your Pool Manager, Dealbreaker Commenter and Friend, NakedShort.

“772 people filed out brackets. I specify ‘filled out’ because 70 people signed up and didn’t input any picks and for that should be ashamed. You went through the trouble of clicking the link, either creating or logging into your CBS account and then couldn’t be bothered to spend a maximum of 5 minutes to complete a bracket. However, I am not sure if that’s worse than taking the time to actually complete a bracket and not inputting the tiebreaker of total points in the title game.

24.35% of the field picked Kansas to win the tournament. As a diehard KU fan I can coach the other 204 folks that picked them on how to handle the upcoming crushing second round defeat to UNLV.

23.16% of you picked Ohio State not realizing that the only thing Ohio State has a chance of winning is the soon be announced Fencing Athletic Department Goods for Cash and/or Tattoos Tournament.

15.56% picked Duke, most likely in hopes of heading down to Durham after the tournament to tell some girl how you just won a big tourney pool in an attempt to end up an entry in a PowerPoint presentation about fucking.

Special thanks to those that filled out the tournament with Fuck You Winners like Texas A&M, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin and Purdue.”

**We actually haven’t yet worked out the details of how we’ll do this but the aforementioned scenario is what I’m hoping for.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Wells Fargo analyst David Wong this afternoon began coverage of Nvidia (NVDA) with a Market Perform rating and a “valuation range” of $18 to $21, writing that the company is at risk from the highly competitive market for mobile and graphics processors, as well as uncertainty about the non-Apple (AAPL) tablet market.

There’s potential for the company’s “Tegra” microprocessor to become a much more substantial portion of revenue, in part thanks to phone and tablet computer sales, writes Wong. Today, Tegra is part of the “consumer/other” category of the company’s revenue, representing just 8% of sales.

However, “While the iPad has, to date, been very successful, we think it is as yet unclear how rapidly the market might develop for vendors of tablets other than Apple,” writes Wong.

And, Wong thinks that, “although Intel (INTC) is making a relatively late entry into the tablet space, we think that over time, Intel is likely to be a formidable competitor in this segment.”

Wong also thinks Nvidia is somewhat at a disadvantage in smartphones given the lack of a baseband chip offering, given that competitors such as Qualcomm (QCOM), Texas Instruments (TXN), and ST Microelectronics NV’s (STM) ST Ericsson venture already have that capability.

As for standalone mobile graphics processors, or GPU, Wong notes the company’s notebook GPU shares has fallen from 70% to 40% in the last three years, and that, “the concentration of Nvidia’s GPU business in the lower-growth desktop segment creates a risk that Nvidia’s GPU growth might be lower than that of the overall GPU market.”

Nvidia shares today rose 15 cents, or 0.8%, to $18.20.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Following a narrowing of its Q1 forecast that was in line with estimates, Texas Instruments (TXN) held a conference call with analysts this afternoon.

Head of investor relations Ron Slaymaker said that the company sees mobile phone demand for chips being “softer” this quarter in line with seasonal trends.

Demand from communications equipment makers is also expected to drop “a few points,” Slaymaker said.

The personal computer market was “weak” in February, he said, mostly as a result of a recall by Intel (INTC) of chips that accompany its recently released Sandy Bridge microprocessor. That situation “seems to be resolved,” however, and demand is improving.

Demand for chips for tablet computers has been “strong,” said Slaymaker, while the game console market is slowing and there’s no rebound yet in televisions.

Demand from customers in industrial equipment is about what it was in Q4 and is “solid,” he said.

When Slaymaker was asked by one analyst why TI kept the mid-point of its revenue forecast the same, when “everything is going according to plan,” save for PCs, Slaymaker said that there “wasn’t enough of a roll-off there,” meaning in the PC market, “considering the noise of the various other product organizations that we needed to move off of the mid-point with our guidance.”

Overall, chip sales into the distributors are “relatively well matched” with the actual sales to equipment makers, said Slaymaker.

Asked about Nokia’s (NOK) transition to using Microsoft (MSFT) software, Slaymaker said TI had been planning “for some time” for its handset revenue from Nokia “to go away,” and so the shift at Nokia is neutral for the company. Nokia represented 12% of TI’s Q4 revenue. “Draw a straight line between where we are” with Nokia revenue and an expectation of zero revenue from Nokia handsets by 2013, Slaymaker said.

Lead times, TI said, are about “normal” so far this quarter, with the company working to reduce lead times in “outlier” markets by replenishing inventory this quarter.

Slaymaker said TI expects to record revenue from smartphones and tablets this quarter, based on winning business for its “OMAP4” chip in new gadgets such as LG Electronics’s (LGERF) “Optimus 3D,” a smartphone that can record and display 3D video.

Slaymaker also took a moment to talk up the advantages of the company’s OMAP5 chip, a 28-nanometer device that was announced back on February 7th.

TI shares are down 36 cents, or 1%, at $35.50.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily