(Guess what? Many questions remain after the first month of 2014!)
By Larry C. Paxton
The New Year started with a lot of mixed signals.
Earnings reports for companies with fiscal years ending in December, 2013, started coming in with both encouraging and discouraging results. Economic indices like job growth, housing starts, consumer spending, and GDP were also mixed. The stock market exchanges were all down, as were most key commodities.
Janet Yellen takes over from Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve Chairman starting in February. What changes will she make, how will she handle the taper? Mid term election campaigns are already starting. President Obama in his State of the Union address didn’t seem to close any gaps between the Executive and Legislative branches of the federal government. Will Congress pass any really meaningful laws regarding the debt ceiling, job creation, and immigration? Some severe cold snaps hit the US in January, what role will the weather and other nature related events play in the US and world economies?
Then there are the foreign influences. Significant tensions remain in the Middle East, China‘s economy is changing, there is some uncertainty about The European Union direction, compounded by revelations of the US NSA operations.
So, will February give us a better picture of the year ahead? The economy is still too fragile and there are too many variables for anyone to forecast with any accuracy. Prepare to hang onto your hats and enjoy what could be a rather rocky ride through 2014!
Here’s a recap on the stock exchanges and some key commodities for January. After the stock/commodity name is the December 31, 2013, price, then the January 31, 2014, price, and finally the percent change.
DJIA: 16,576.66, 15,698.85, Down 5.30%
NASDAQ: 4,176.59, 4,103.88, Down 1.74%
S&P500: 1,848.36, 1,782.59, Down 3.56%
Gold: 1,202.30, 1,245.60, Up 3.60%
Silver: 19.37, 19.15, Down 1.14%
Oil: 98.42, 97.46, Down 0.98%
As usual, there were a lot of mergers & acquisitions, selling and acquiring of assets, and other activities in The PBR1000. Following are the January Breaking News Recaps with hotlinks to the press releases. The PBR 1000 Ranking is in parenthesis after the company name, based on the The PBR1000 ranking at the end of December, 2013. An NR means No Ranking. The order of the Breaking News items is from most current to oldest.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014:
Google(PBR55) selling Motorola unit to Lenovo(NR) for $2.91 billion. Click here for the Google press release.
Hess Corp(PBR71) selling its Utica Shale dry gas acreage to an undisclosed 3rd party for $924 million. Click here for the Hess Corp press release.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014:
Verizon Communications(PBR16) & VodaFone(NR) shareholders okay Verizon’s $130 billion buy of Vodafone’s 45% stake in Verizon Wireless. Click here for the Verizon press release.
Martin Marietta Materials(PBR850) is buying cement & concrete producer Texas Industries(NR) for $2.7 billion, to close 2nd quarter 2014. Click here for the MMM press release.
Monday, January 27, 2014:
KKR & Co(PBR257) is acquiring majority ownership in Sedgwick Claims Management Services(NR) for $2.4 billion. Click here for the KKR press release.
Liberty Global(PBR239) is buying Dutch cable operator Ziggo(NR) for $13.7 billion. Click here for the Liberty Global press release.
Friday, January 24, 2014:
Global Payments(PBR799) is acquiring PayPros(NR) for $420 million. Click here for the Global Payments press release.
Thursday, January 23, 2014:
IBM(PBR20) is selling its x86 Server Business to Lenova for $2.3 billion. Click here for the IBM announcement.
AOL(PBR803) acquiring Instant Graph creator Gravity(NR) for $83 million. Click here for the AOL press release.
Vulcan Materials(PBR729) selling its Florida cement & concrete business to Cementos Argos(NR) for $720 million. Click here for the Vulcan press release.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014:
Wells Fargo(PBR24) selling $39 billion of residential loans servicing to Ocwen Loan Servicing(NR). Click here for the Wells Fargo press release.
American Eagle Outfitters'(PBR629) exec chairman Jay Schottenstein appointed Interim CEO immediately, succeeding leaving CEO Robert Hanson. Click here for the AEO press release.
The Federal Trade Commission has agreed to let the Community Health Systems(PBR174) $7.6 billion acquisition of Health Management Associates(PBR353) proceed. Click here for the CHS press release.
VMWare(PBR481) acquiring mobile management & security solutions vendor AirWatch(NR) for $1.54 billion. Click here for the VMWare press release.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014:
Endo Health(PBR643) & NuPathe(NR) terminate merger agreement per NuPathe/Teva agreement. Click here for the Endo press release.
General Electric(PBR8) to acquire workforce management software developer API Healthcare(NR), terms not disclosed. Click here for the GE press release.
Monday, January 20, 2014:
Annheuser-Busch InBev(NR) to reacquire South Korea’s Oriental Brewery(NR) from KKR & Co(PBR257) & Affinity Equity Partners(NR) for $5.8 billion. Click here for the KKR press release.
Friday, January 17, 2014:
Actavis(PBR400) selling generics operations in 7 Western Europe countries to Aurobindo Pharma Ltd(NR). Click here for the Actavis press release.
IBM(PBR20) completes acquisition of privately held large data file transfer developer Aspera. Click here for the IBM press release.
Thursday, January 16, 2014:
The Carlyle Group(PBR654) to acquire Johnson & Johnson’s(PBR40) Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics for $4.15 billion. Click here for the Carlyle press release.
Brown & Brown Insurance(PBR1036) to acquire The Wright Insurance Group(NR) for $602.5 million. Click here for the B&B press release.
Wednesday, January 15,2014:
JC Panney(PBR151) to close 33 underperforming stores, eliminate 2,000 positions. Click here for the JCP press release.
Monday, January 13, 2014:
Japan based beverage company Suntory Limited(NR) to acquire Beam, Inc(PBR748) for $83.50/share, $16 billion total value. Click here for the Beam press release.
The Time Warner Cable(PBR123) board unanimously rejects the the third acquisition offer by Charter Communications(PBR321). Click here for the TWC press release.
Google(PBR55) is acquiring Nest Labs(NR) for $3.2 billion cash. Click here for the Google press release.
Friday, January 10, 2014:
Target(PBR37) updates holiday credit/debit card breach to 70 million, updates financials. Click here for the Target press release.
Thursday, January 9, 2014:
The European Commission gives unconditional clearance for the Publicis Groupe(NR) & Omnicom(PBR182) international merger. Click here for Omnicom’s press release.
Endo Health(PBR643) selling its urological Healthtronics unit to Altaris Capital for up to $130 million. Click here for the Endo Health press release.
JPMorgan Chase(PBR18) is exploring sale of its corporate & public prepaid card business. Click here for JPMorgan Chase’s press release.
Mondelez Intl(PBR83) announces $1 billion cash tender offer for certain notes. Click here for the Mondelez press release.
IBM(PBR20) to invest over $1 billion in new cloud-based big data services unit Watson Group. Click here for IBM’s press release.
Alcoa(PBR115) agrees to $384 million settlement with the Dept of Justice over the Alba suit. Click here for Alcoa’s press release.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014:
Barnes & Noble(PBR339) appoints Mike Huseby as CEO, effective immediately. Click here for Barnes & Noble’s press release.
Forest Laboratories(PBR483) acquiring privately held gastrointestinal & cystic fibrosis pharmaceutical Aptalis for $2.9 billion. Click here for the Forest Labs press release.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014:
Microsoft Corp(PBR34) acquires Parature to add leading customer self-service suite to Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Click here for Microsoft’s press release.
Reuters reports that JPMorgan Chase(PBR18) agrees to $2.6 billion settlement per its management of Madoff funds. Click here for the Reuters article.
Honeywell Intl(PBR74) to sell its Friction-Materials unit to Federal-Mogul Corp for $155 million. Click here for Honeywell’s press release.
Macy’s(PBR102) outlines cost-reduction initiatives. Click here for Macy’s press release.
SandRidge Energy(PBR699) selling its Gulf of Mexico operations to Fieldwood Energy LLC(NR) for $1.2 billion. Click here for SandRidge’s press release.
A. Schulman(PBR836) acquires custom colors & additive concentrates manufacturer Prime Colorants(NR) for $15.1 million. Click here for Schulman’s press release.
Oracle(PBR76) to acquire software-defined networking WAN developer Corente. Click here for Oracle’s press release.
Monday, January 6, 2014:
Time Warner Cable Inc(PBR123) completes its purchase of Duke Energy’s(PBR133) DukeNet regional fiber optic unit for $600 million. Click here for TWC’s press release.
T-Mobile US(PBR446) buying 700 MHz A-Block spectrum from Verizon Wireless(PBR16) for $3.315 billion. Click here for T-Mobile’s press release.
FedEx(PBR61) announces $2 billion notes offering for shares repurchase. Click here for the FedEx press release.
Crown Castle Intl(PBR755) to operate as an REIT effective 01/01/14. Click
here for Crown Castle’s press release.
Thermo Fisher Scientific(PBR204) to sell its cell culture & other businesses to General Electric(PBR8) for $1.06 billion. Click here for TFS’s press release.
Saturday, January 4, 2014:
Boeing(PBR31) comments on Seattle area IAM union approving an 8 year contract extension for 777X work. Click here for the Boeing statement.
Thursday, January 2, 2014:
Advance Auto Parts(PBR379) completes its $2.04 billion acquisition of General Parts International Click here for the AAP press release.
Macy’s(PBR102) & Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia settle legal dispute. Click here for the Macy’s press release.
Motorola Solutions(PBR285) acquires privately held Twisted Pair Solutions, known for its push-to-talk over broadband applications. Click here for the Motorola press release.
The February The PBR1000 Monthly Update Reports should be available in a few days.
Let’s see what adventures are in store for The PBR1000 in February!
(The purpose of The PBR1000 is to provide a wide range of interested people with key demographic, industry, financial, personnel, and comments/news briefs on over 1,000 of the largest publicly traded companies with principal offices in the US, companies that have a huge impact on the US and world economies. This information is updated monthly and published in MS Excel format as The PBR1000 Monthly Update Report. During a month several supplementary reports are published as well.
Larry C. Paxton is the President/CEO of Pax Business Resources, LLC. PBRMarketTools is the marketing research unit. For several years Larry has worked for and provided products and services to The PBR1000 companies.)
