12Jan2016 Market Close: Averages Closed Higher, DOW Up Triple Digits, NASDAQ Up 1%, WTI Crude Bounces Off Support, Closes Higher

Exclusive: Printing services company Lexmark considers breaking up – sources

(Reuters) – Printing services company Lexmark International Inc is considering the possibility of divesting its hardware and software assets separately to revive interest in its sale process, according to people familiar with the matter.

Aetna CEO sees Humana deal on track to close this year

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Aetna Inc Chief Executive Mark Bertolini said on Tuesday that he still expects the company’s $37 billion acquisition of rival Humana Inc to close this year.

Bewkes against HBO spinoff, open to Time Warner sale: NY Post

(Reuters) – Time Warner Inc Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes is against a sale or a spinoff of premium cable channel HBO, but hinted he would be open to a sale of the whole company, the New York Post reported, citing sources.

New York jury hears claim GM concealed ignition switch defect

NEW YORK (Reuters) – General Motors Co should pay for concealing an ignition switch defect from its customers that has been linked to nearly 400 injuries and deaths, a lawyer for an Oklahoma man injured in a car crash told a Manhattan jury on Tuesday.

Wall St. rises in late trading; energy shares turn up

(Reuters) – U.S. stocks climbed in volatile trading on Tuesday as energy shares turned higher and Apple and other technology shares added to gains.

Tumbling oil trades below $30 a barrel for first time in 12 years

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil fell briefly below $30 a barrel on Tuesday, extending a relentless selloff that has wiped almost 20 percent off prices this year amid deepening concerns about fragile Chinese demand and the absence of output restraint.

California board rejects Volkswagen’s diesel fix plan

(Reuters) – The California Air Resources Board said on Tuesday it had rejected Volkswagen AG’s plan to fix 2.0 liter diesel cars with software that allow them to emit up to 40 times legally allowable pollution.

California board rejects Volkswagen’s diesel fix plan

(Reuters) – The California Air Resources Board said on Tuesday it had rejected Volkswagen AG’s plan to fix 2.0 liter diesel cars with software that allow them to emit up to 40 times legally allowable pollution.

Ford unveils resurrected Lincoln Continental, targets China market

(Reuters) – Ford Motor Co unveiled on Tuesday a new luxury flagship full-size Continental sedan aimed at Chinese and American consumers.

Chinese Shipyards “Vanish” As Baltic Dry Collapses To New Record Low

Another day, another plunge in The Baltic Dry Index, which just dropped a further 3.1% to 402 today – a new record low. While the index is driving headlines, under the surface, reality in the shipping (and shipbuilding) industry is a disaster. Total orders at Chinese shipyards tumbled 59% in the first 11 months of 2015, and as Bloomberg reports, with bulk ships accounting for 41.6% of Chinese shipyards’ $26.6 billion orderbook as of December, there is notably more pain to come, as one analyst warns “Chinese shipbuilders won’t be able to revive even if you try breathing some life into them.”

Baltic Dry Bloodbath…

About 140 yards in the world’s second-biggest shipbuilding nation have gone out of business since 2010, and more are expected to close in the next two years after only 69 won orders for vessels last year, JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts Sokje Lee and Minsung Lee wrote in a Jan. 6 report. That compares with 126 shipyards that fielded orders in 2014 and 147 in 2013.

As Bloomberg reports, the weakening yuan and China’s waning appetite for raw materials have come around to bite the country’s shipbuilders, raising the odds that more shipyards will soon be shuttered.

This Is The Biggest EBITDA Drop Outside Of A Recession Since 2000

To finance professionals, EBITDA is a proxy for corporate cash flow, while Adjusted EBITDA is a proxy for telling investors whatever they want to hear. Most of the time it involves a unjustifiably high cash flow number, one which has no basis in reality.

To be sure, we have railed against “adjusted” numbers, be they EBITDA, EPS or revenue (in the case of Tesla) for years, culminating past summer “The Non-GAAP Revulsion Arrives: Experts Throw Up All Over “Made Up, Phony, Smoke And Mirrors” Numbers”, at which point we got tired of repeating the same story over and over (with the occasional exception like yesterday’s Alcoa numbers which as we showed were a GAAP debacle, something perhaps reflected in the stock price today which has just dropped to a new post-crisis low).

That said, we were very surprised to find that overnight none other than Bank of America, through its chief HY Credit Strategist Michael Contopoulos, picked up this torch with a scathing report on the farcical nature of “adjusted” financials, in which the author warns that “from our seat, we see global and US economic growth that is slowing and corporate earnings growth that has diverged more and more from revenue growth. We are increasingly concerned with the number of companies (non-commodity) reporting earnings on an adjusted basis versus those that are stressing GAAP accounting, and find the divergence a consequence of less earnings power.”

Here are the facts:

Consider that when US GDP growth was averaging 3% (the 5 quarters September 2013 through September 2014) on average …

U.S. Oil Prices Settle Near $30 a Barrel

U.S. oil prices briefly tumbled below $30 a barrel, underscoring the global economy’s difficulty with absorbing a relentless flood of crude supplies.

Stocks Rally Heading Into Close

U.S. stocks pared early gains Tuesday as a renewed drop in oil prices pushed energy shares down further. The move lower occurred even as Chinese stocks managed to eke out a gain.

Beijing Flexes Muscle to Put Yuan in Line

Beijing won round one in its battle to show it is still in control of China’s currency, forcing up the yuan’s value in overseas markets and effectively shutting down its biggest offshore trading center in Hong Kong.

The Tell: SocGen perma-bear Albert Edwards sees S&P plunging 65%

Société Générale strategist says the S&P could fall below 666 as investors are faced with a bear market and the beginning of a new recession.

Global police arrest bitcoin extortion suspect

European police have, with the help of global authorities, arrested an individual they call a key suspect in a gang of cyber extortionists.

Market Extra: Strategist bets stock market poised for a V-shaped rebound

The bears are rampaging through the stock market as pessimism spreads. But at least one strategist is taking the carnage in stride and going as far as to predict a fairly robust recovery in the market.