Morning Journal--An indictment of the EU bureaucracy

  News on Stocks in Our Portfolios

Medtronic EPS in-line, misses on revenue

·         Medtronic (MDT): FQ4 EPS of $1.12 in-line.

·         Revenue of $4.57B (+2.5% Y/Y) misses by $10M.

Donaldson misses by $0.01, misses on revenue

              Donaldson (DCI): FQ3 EPS of $0.46 misses by $0.01.

• Revenue of $624.2M (+0.8% Y/Y) misses by $19.63M.

Home Depot, Inc. misses by $0.03, misses on revenue

o    Home Depot, Inc. (HD): Q1 EPS of $0.96 misses by $0.03.

o    Revenue of $19.7B (+3.0% Y/Y) misses by $250M.

|6:06 AM

Tiffany beats by $0.20, beats on revenue

o    Tiffany (TIF): Q1 EPS of $0.97 beats by $0.20.

o    Revenue of $1.01B (+12.8% Y/Y) beats by $54.95M.

Hormel Foods misses by $0.04, revenues in line

• Hormel Foods (HRL): FQ2 EPS of $0.52 misses by $0.04.
• Revenue of $2.24B (+4.2% Y/Y) in-line.

Economics

   This Week’s Data

            The International Council of Shopping Centers reported weekly sales of major retailers down 1.3% versus the prior week but up 2.4% on a year over year basis; Redbook Research reported month to date retail chain store sales up 4.1% versus the comparable period a month ago and up 3.9% versus the similar timeframe last year.

            Weekly mortgage applications rose 0.9% but the more important purchase applications fell 3.0%.

           

   Other

            Oil demand showing slower growth (short):

            http://blog.yardeni.com/2014/05/global-oil-demand-showing-slower-growth.html

Politics

  Domestic

More bankster mischief (medium):

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-21/u-s-said-to-seek-more-than-5-billion-in-bnp-settlement.html

  International

            Japan’s Godzilla stimulus (short):

            http://www.thereformedbroker.com/2014/05/20/chart-o-the-day-japans-godzilla-stimulus/

                A strong indictment of the EU bureaucracy (medium and today’s must read):

            http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/05/ilargi-european-democracy-roadkill.html