Opening Bell: 11.6.15
Gross Says 100% Certain of December Rate Hike as Jobs Surge (Bloomberg)
“They are ready to go,” Gross said in an interview with Tom Keene and Michael Mckee of Bloomberg Radio after the Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy added a better-than-expected 271,000 jobs in October and wages rose the most in more than six years.
U.S. Hiring Surges as Eyes Turn to Fed (WSJ)
Nonfarm payrolls rose a seasonally adjusted 271,000 in October, the Labor Department said Friday. Revisions showed employers added a combined 12,000 more jobs in September and August than previously estimated, bringing the three-month average through October to 187,000.
Issues that deterred Fed from September rate hike largely disappeared: Bullard (Reuters)
Fear over a "hard landing" in China have decreased, Bullard said, with growth in the country still estimated at close to 7 percent and indexes of financial market stress now back to pre-market levels, Bullard said in a presentation to St. Louis-area financial advisers.
Square Sets IPO at 27 Million Shares; Dorsey Expected to Have 23.6% of Voting Power (Bloomberg)
Square Inc. is aiming for a valuation of as much as $4.2 billion in its initial public offering, well short of the $6 billion the mobile-payments service sought in its latest funding round. The large gap underscores a lingering question for the latest crop of startups: Will they be able to fetch the same rich valuations they are getting in private markets when they hawk their shares to public investors? The resounding “No” for Square is significant because it is one of the few young companies recently making the move to go public.
Battery Charge Dropped In Dildo Attack Case (TSG)
Prosecutors have declined to pursue a criminal charge against a Florida woman who was arrested for allegedly striking her girlfriend in the face with a dildo during a confrontation in the couple’s home, court records show. In a recent filing, the State Attorney’s Office disclosed that they will not press a domestic battery charge against Annette Kielhurn, a 57-year-old St. Petersburg resident who was arrested in July...Prosecutors did not reveal why they decided to drop the misdemeanor count, though Kielhurn’s girlfriend recently wrote to a Circuit Court judge seeking the case’s dismissal. Gamze Capaner-Ridley, 47, argued that Kielhurn, in light of media coverage of the case, “doesn’t deserve to suffer more than she already has.”
Goldman Sachs Sweetens Deal for Young Bankers (WSJ)
Just a few years after scrapping its two-year analyst program for investment bankers, Goldman is again rethinking the way it structures bankers’ early years at the firm. The bank is dangling carrots, including promises to speed the path to promotions and eliminating some of the grunt work that often falls to younger employees.
Asia’s Short Sellers, Activists Go After Bigger Fish (WSJ)
Short sellers and activist-research firms in Asia are taking on higher-profile targets as an economic slowdown exposes weak points in companies’ finances. The trend marks a shift from years past, when most targets were lesser-known, largely Chinese-listed firms. This year, a shaky corporate outlook amid spending pullbacks has given Asian firms less wiggle room to paper over problems like high debt levels and inconsistent accounting standards.
American Apparel Founder Says He's Broke and Can't Afford Lawyer (Bloomberg)
Ex-American Apparel Inc. Chief Executive Officer Dov Charney lives in a Los Angeles mansion with eight bedrooms, but says he can’t scrape together enough cash to keep paying a lawyer.
SEC Charges: False Tweets Sent Two Stocks Reeling in Market Manipulation (SEC)
The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed securities fraud charges against a Scottish trader whose false tweets caused sharp drops in the stock prices of two companies and triggered a trading halt in one of them. According to the SEC’s complaint filed in federal court in the Northern District of California, James Alan Craig of Dunragit, Scotland, tweeted multiple false statements about the two companies on Twitter accounts that he deceptively created to look like the real Twitter accounts of well-known securities research firms.
Jim Cramer: I was a moron about Facebook (CNBC)
Cramer doubted Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who Cramer thought overpaid with the $19 billion price tag for WhatsApp. Now it has 900 million users. Whoops! Cramer also doubted the $2 billion purchase of Oculus, though it is now clear that Zuckerberg intends to dominate the gaming category with 250 million users and intense growth. "Call me a moron, but I was simply taking my cue from the headline writers and the bears, never a wise sign," Cramer said.
Gundlach's DoubleLine Capital posts 21st month of net inflows (Reuters)
DoubleLine Capital, the investment firm with $80 billion in assets overseen by widely followed co-founder Jeffrey Gundlach, posted net inflows of $1.61 billion in October, the 21st month it has attracted new money.