Morning Journal--Pimco on Europe

 News on Stocks in Our Portfolios

Tiffany's earnings top the street. Tiffany's (TIF) Q1 EPS beat expectations by $0.18, coming in at $0.70, while revenue grew 9% to $895M as comparable-store sales rose 8%. By region, revenues in Asia-Pacific increased 15% to $223M, while those in Europe and the Americas climbed 6%. A mix shift to lower gross margin products cut into profitability during the quarter as SG&A expenses grew 8%. Tiffany sees FY13 EPS of $3.43-$3.53, unchanged from prior guidance. 

Scotiabank (BNS): Q1 EPS of C$1.23 misses by C$0.03. 

Cato (CATO): Q1 EPS of $1.05 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $269.7M misses by $5.M. 

Hormel Foods (HRL): Q1 EPS of $0.46 misses by $0.03. Revenue of $2.15B (+7% Y/Y) misses by $0.04B.

Quality Systems (QSII): FQ4 EPS of $0.21 misses by $0.07. Revenue of $111.3M misses by $6.01M.

Target (TGT): Q1 EPS of $1.05 beats by $0.13. Revenue of $16.7B (+1% Y/Y) misses by $0.12B

Economics

   This Week’s Data

            The March Case Shiller home price index rose 1.1% versus expectations of up 1.0%.

            http://scottgrannis.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-housing-recovery-is-real.html

            http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/05/home-prices-see-strong-gains-in-q1-2013/

May consumer confidence came in at 76.2 versus estimates of 71.5

            http://advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/Conference-Board-Consumer-Confidence-Index.php

            The May Richmond Fed’s manufacturing index was reported at -2.0 versus forecasts of -3.0.

            The May Dallas Fed’s manufacturing index came in at -10.5 versus expectations of -8.0.

            http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2013/05/dallas-and-richmond-fed-regional.html

                Weekly mortgage applications were down 8.8% while purchase applications rose 3.0%.

   Other

            Bernanke’s cure is the economy’s disease (medium):

            http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2013/05/28/bernankes_cures_are_the_economys_disease_100349.html

            Can the dollar love fest last (medium):

            http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/05/28/can-dollar-love-last/?mod=WSJBlog&utm_source=feedly

            More nonsensical data out of Europe (short):

            http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-28/why-nonsensical-spanish-data-about-make-even-less-sense

            Sallie Mae splits in two insuring that the taxpayer will pick up all the losses from the impending student loan debacle (short):

            http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-29/sallie-mae-splits-two-will-firewall-student-loan-portfolio-standalone-company

Politics

  Domestic

Quote of the day (short):

http://cafehayek.com/2013/05/quotation-of-the-day-646.html

Gibson Guitar raids now make sense (short):

http://www.aei-ideas.org/2013/05/now-the-gibson-guitar-raids-make-sense-it-was-on-the-political-enemies-list/

            Senator Ted Cruz on the debt ceiling debate (11 minute video):

            http://www.clubforgrowth.org/perm/?postID=16137

            AG Holder now under investigation for lying (medium):

            http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-28/eric-holder-under-investigation-house-judiciary-committee-lying-under-oath

  International

            Pimco on Europe (medium):

            http://advisorperspectives.com/commentaries/pimco_052813.php