Week of Dec 31 2015 Weekly Recap & The Week Ahead
Happy New Year…
1. Verizon Offering Consumers Up to $650 to Switch — Verizon (NYSE:VZ) is now offering mobile users up to $650 per line to switch from another carrier. Consumers who trade in their current smartphone and buy one on a Verizon payment plan get up to $650 (through a prepaid card) to cover remaining installment balances with another carrier.
2. Buffett Faces Worst Stock Market Year Since 2009 — the Oracle of Omaha is headed for his worst year relative to the rest of the U.S. stock market since 2009, with shares in Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) down 12% YTD. While the company doesn’t have oil and gas subsidiaries, its railroad business transports oil, coal and agricultural products, and its manufacturing arm sells products to the shrinking oil industry. Berkshire has also been hit by big declines in two of its largest investments: American Express (-24%) and IBM (-13%) YTD.
3. Puerto Rico Partly Defaulting on Bonds due on Jan 4 2016 — Puerto Rico won’t be making two of its thirteen debt payments due tomorrow – a $35.9M payment on the territory’s Infrastructure Financing Authority and a $1.4M payment to its Public Finance Corporation. The rest of the nearly $1B in payments will be made, including one to general obligation bondholders (in which half of the payment comes from revenues clawed back from other bonds). Monoline insurers Ambac (NASDAQ:AMBC), MBIA (NYSE:MBI), and Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO), each of which have Puerto Rican exposure, are in focus.
4. Crude Heads for Second Annual Decline — Oil is set for its first back-to-back annual loss since 1998 after record U.S. inventories data last Wednesday reinforced worries about a global supply glut. Crude stocks rose by 2.6M barrels last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said, raising additional concerns after OPEC effectively abandoned output limits at a meeting earlier this month. WTI has tumbled over 30% in 2015 to under $37/bbl.
5. Market Action Suggests Yet Another Downside Test of the S&P’s 1990 to 2000 Support Zone.
The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:
Tags: Buffett 2015 Performance, YE 2015