Market Wrap: UBS Faces Billion-Dollar Fine; Rice Withdraws Name; Hostess Looks Sweet to Some; Gold Goes Comfortably Numb
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Market wrap-up for December 13th
End of the Day: S&P 500 down 9.0 to 1,419.45; Dow Jones down 74.7 to 13,170.72; Nasdaq down 21.7 to 2,992.16
The following is a brief summary of events moving markets today:
* Boehner, Obama. Obama and Boehner. The President and House Speaker are set for a meeting tonight to further talks in the ongoing battle of solving the fiscal cliff. To-date, Dems and GOP members haven't been able to come anywhere near a level discussion over the impending tax hikes and spending cuts, throwing more salvo than solutions.
Any announcement tomorrow about how the meeting went should be a market-moving event.
* UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) may be in the hurt box more if U.S. and U.K. regulators have a say in it. According to reports out today, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the U.K. Financial Services Authority (FSA), and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) could levy fines over $1 billion on UBS over key rate manipulation efforts, such as the London interbank offered rate (LIBOR). The amount would be twice as much as that put against Barclays (NYSE: BCS) in June, which was a much more svelte $468 million.
* Susan Rice said she was withdrawing her name from consideration as the next Secretary of State. Rice said that a battle over her confirmation would disrupt the Obama administration's second-term agenda, according to reports Thursday. Rice was noted for controversial comments made over an attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
* Richard Schulze, founder of Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), was said to be nearing a deal to buy the big box retailer for about $5 billion to $6 billion. Citing sources, the paper said Schulze will submit a formal proposal to the board before Sunday.
Other reports had Schulze being unable to secure financing, but he'll be able to submit a bid with conditional financing. For more color on the situation, click here.
* Kroger (NYSE: KR) and Wal-mart (NYSE: WMT) are said to be two of many firms in discussions to acquire the venerable Hostess Brands Inc., amid bankruptcy proceedings for the maker of Ding-Dongs and Wonder Bread. Sources said about two-dozen bidders are in the running, some wanting all the assets, some less. For more color, click here/
* Gold (NYSE: GLD ended the session lower, with February contracts dropping 1.2 percent to $1,696.80 per ounce Thursday. Many cheered FOMC action on Wednesday, but quickly moved to pare gains heading into the end of the year. The $1,700 to $1,750 level has been a comfortable spot for gold over the last month or so, since falling below $17,60 in October.
* EnCana Corp. (NYSE: ECA) and PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) unit Phoenix Duvernay Gas (Phoenix) entered an agreement to explore and develop Encana's extensive undeveloped Duvernay land holdings in west-central Alberta. Under the terms of the agreement, Phoenix will gain a non-controlling 49.9% interest in Encana's approximately 445,000 acres in the Duvernay play for total consideration of C$2.18 billion. For more on the deal, click here.
* RIM's step back into relevance: a tribe called "Astonishing": Er, make that The Astonishing Tribe. RIM acquired TAT back in 2010. The Swedish tech-design house was given the task of reinventing the look and feel of the BlackBerry interface. Though the new OS has garnered some critical acclaim during testing from analysts and developers, the same could be said for Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows Phone 8.
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End of the Day: S&P 500 down 9.0 to 1,419.45; Dow Jones down 74.7 to 13,170.72; Nasdaq down 21.7 to 2,992.16
The following is a brief summary of events moving markets today:
* Boehner, Obama. Obama and Boehner. The President and House Speaker are set for a meeting tonight to further talks in the ongoing battle of solving the fiscal cliff. To-date, Dems and GOP members haven't been able to come anywhere near a level discussion over the impending tax hikes and spending cuts, throwing more salvo than solutions.
Any announcement tomorrow about how the meeting went should be a market-moving event.
* UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) may be in the hurt box more if U.S. and U.K. regulators have a say in it. According to reports out today, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the U.K. Financial Services Authority (FSA), and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) could levy fines over $1 billion on UBS over key rate manipulation efforts, such as the London interbank offered rate (LIBOR). The amount would be twice as much as that put against Barclays (NYSE: BCS) in June, which was a much more svelte $468 million.
* Susan Rice said she was withdrawing her name from consideration as the next Secretary of State. Rice said that a battle over her confirmation would disrupt the Obama administration's second-term agenda, according to reports Thursday. Rice was noted for controversial comments made over an attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
* Richard Schulze, founder of Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), was said to be nearing a deal to buy the big box retailer for about $5 billion to $6 billion. Citing sources, the paper said Schulze will submit a formal proposal to the board before Sunday.
Other reports had Schulze being unable to secure financing, but he'll be able to submit a bid with conditional financing. For more color on the situation, click here.
* Kroger (NYSE: KR) and Wal-mart (NYSE: WMT) are said to be two of many firms in discussions to acquire the venerable Hostess Brands Inc., amid bankruptcy proceedings for the maker of Ding-Dongs and Wonder Bread. Sources said about two-dozen bidders are in the running, some wanting all the assets, some less. For more color, click here/
* Gold (NYSE: GLD ended the session lower, with February contracts dropping 1.2 percent to $1,696.80 per ounce Thursday. Many cheered FOMC action on Wednesday, but quickly moved to pare gains heading into the end of the year. The $1,700 to $1,750 level has been a comfortable spot for gold over the last month or so, since falling below $17,60 in October.
* EnCana Corp. (NYSE: ECA) and PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) unit Phoenix Duvernay Gas (Phoenix) entered an agreement to explore and develop Encana's extensive undeveloped Duvernay land holdings in west-central Alberta. Under the terms of the agreement, Phoenix will gain a non-controlling 49.9% interest in Encana's approximately 445,000 acres in the Duvernay play for total consideration of C$2.18 billion. For more on the deal, click here.
* RIM's step back into relevance: a tribe called "Astonishing": Er, make that The Astonishing Tribe. RIM acquired TAT back in 2010. The Swedish tech-design house was given the task of reinventing the look and feel of the BlackBerry interface. Though the new OS has garnered some critical acclaim during testing from analysts and developers, the same could be said for Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows Phone 8.
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