Week of Aug 29 2014 Weekly Recap & The Week Ahead
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014“Every trader has strengths and weakness. Some are good holders of winners, but may hold their losers a little too long. Others may cut their winners a little short, but are quick to take their losses. As long as you stick to your own style, you get the good and bad in your own approach.” – Michael Marcus
1. Burger King in Talks to Buy Tim Hortons in Canada Tax Deal — WSJ, Burger King Worldwide is in talks to buy Tim Hortons (NYSE:THI) in a deal that would create the 3rd largest quick-service restaurant company in the world. The deal is being structured as a tax inversion, in which the new company would be headquartered in Canada. Tim Hortons and Burger King (NYSE:BKW) are expected to remain distinct brands if the merger is finalized.
2. Apple Preparing New 12.9-Inch IPad for Early 2015 — Bloomberg, Apple is preparing to manufacture the company’s largest iPad to date at 12.9″ (current versions are 9.7″ and 7.9″), with production set to start early next year. The move comes as sales for iPads have declined for two straight quarters, and suggests that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is going to go after enterprise customers where the larger device could replace the traditional laptop.
3. Second-quarter GDP revised up to 4.2% — the U.S. economy grew at a 4.2% annual pace in the second quarter as businesses sharply increased spending on buildings and equipment and consumers spent more after huddling inside during the winter.
4. Ebola vaccine from GSK to begin U.S. clinical trials within weeks — Reuters, a new announcement by U.S. health officials today will state that a human study for the Ebola vaccine made by GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) will begin within a couple of weeks instead of later this year as the company originally estimated. Glaxo’s vaccine contains a common cold virus that has been engineered to carry two genes of the virus.
5. Americans cut spending in July — MarketWatch, consumer spending dropped a seasonally adjusted 0.1% last month, the Commerce Department reported. The reduction in spending in the first month of the third quarter suggests the U.S. will fall well short of the second-quarter growth rate of 4.2% unless outlays rise much faster in August and September. Consumer spending accounts for nearly 75% of US GDP.
6. Morgan Stanley (MS) plans natural gas export plant in new commodities foray — Reuters, Morgan Stanley is filing plans to build, own and operate one of the first U.S. compressed natural gas export facilities and submitted its application to the Department of Energy in May. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), along with Goldman (NYSE:GS), are the only two Wall Street banks that are allowed to own and operate infrastructure of raw materials due to their “grandfather” status for any commodities activities they engaged in before 1997.
The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:
