The Marissa Mayer era at Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) has been a windfall for investors. The stock is up 68% since Mayer took over as CEO and began remaking Yahoo in her — meaning, Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) — image. Now, the next-gen executive is aggressively addressing some easier wins with a brilliant move to prospectively acquire David Karp’s Tumblr.

Marissa Mayer’s strategy has been simple: reposition Yahoo as a tech company focused on the largest market opportunities for the next decade. However, along the way, Mayer still must appease Wall Street’s insatiable appetite for super-short-term quarterly earnings. Consequently, while the C-Suite stewards Yahoo’s ship toward longer-term glory, this quarter they must address the shortfall obsessing analysts: ad inventory.

All Wall Street cares about is generating cold, hard cash. In the current case, Yahoo is in a prized position because demand for ad inventory is outstripping supply. However, no one wants to see cash left on the table. Hence the genius move to acquire Tumblr.

Acquiring Tumblr immediately brings a massive, growing block of ad inventory online at Yahoo. BOOM!

Here’s how it works…

Ad Sales calls back to headquarters and asks, “Homies, can I get another 100 million page views for a campaign with [insert advertiser name here]?” Ad Operations then responds, “Aye-aye, captain. I can serve you those page views from our sparkling new Tumblr inventory.” (It’s a bit more complicated insofar as targeting, etc., but you get the point.)

Then, Mayer calls up the analyst firms covering Yahoo’s stock and says, “Oh, great Masters of the Universe, we are now able to monetize our surplus advertising demand.” Voila! Stock pops for shareholder nation.

Much digital ink will be spilled over whether Tumblr is a good fit for Yahoo. Don’t waste your time focusing on academic theories. This is an incredibly savvy business deal which haters won’t understand until long after Tumblr’s inventory has been sold to the highest bidder — whom, by the way, is already waiting in line with a blank check.

At the moment, a Tumblr acquisition has not yet been announced. In fact, Facebook and Microsoft may also be in the race (well, at least Tumblr’s bankers want Yahoo to think so).

Tumblr isn’t the only huge move on Yahoo’s plate. Check out why Mayer is also looking to disconnect Yahoo search from Microsoft.

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Fast forward to the start of this year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, and the University of Michigan and the US Economy are making strides. We obviously have a ton of work to continue doing to reduce our absurdly dangerous Federal Budget Deficit, but the economy is in a much better place than when it collapsed during the financial crisis.

We posted this video on September 29th, 2009. Has the revived US Economy followed the revived Michigan Basketball program (John Beilein, Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway Jr., Mitch Mcgary and the supporting cast) back to the Big Dance?

If you want to impress your friends and take the pot, ESPN Magazine revealed this secret formula:

“The most reliable indicators of upsets are offensive and defensive efficiency, schedule strength, turnover rate, and three-point shooting.”

Offensive efficiency is defined as the ratio of scoring per attempts. Therefore, if a slower pace team has a great ratio and can maintain that ratio in a faster pace game, they will likely defeat the faster pace team with a lower offensive efficiency. This works the same for defense based on points allowed per attempts by the other team.

Teams who have challenged themselves during the season tend to step up in the NCAA Tournament. Therefore, simply looking at wins and losses is not the best indicator during March Madness.

Every great coach will tell you turnovers are usually the difference between winning and losing. This axiom is even more important during March Madness. High ranked teams with high turnover rates tend to get upset when their fingers stay slippery after the tournament tips off.

Lastly, three-point shooting plays an extraordinary role in advancing through the brackets. However, unlike the previously mentioned indicators, three-point shooting is a much riskier variable because it’s more “all or nothing” than the others. Meaning, if a team shoots poorly from behind the arc (which is much easier to do than heavily altering efficiency or turnover ratios), the gamble is sure to come up empty.

The ESPN Magazine article has some very interesting charts and much more detailed explanations of the science behind these indicators. If you aren’t a subscriber like me, you can access the info if you want to subscribe to ESPN’s Insider program online.

This job is ideal for someone who loves writing about stocks and how new developments will affect the fundamental and technical outlook.

This is a serious job requiring you to write often and in a fast paced environment. We only want to hear from writers who are passionate about stocks.

If you or a friend are interested, please email a cover letter, resume, and writing sample to jobs [at] wallstcheatsheet.com with the email title “Stock Writer”.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you,

Damien & Derek Hoffman

Founders, Wall St. Cheat Sheet

Home Mortgage Applications

After three consecutive weeks of declines, applications for home mortgages in the United States managed to climb higher as interest rates declined.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest report issued this week, loan application volume jumped 14.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the index increased 15 percent. These figures include both refinancing and home purchase demand, and covers over 75 percent of all domestic retail residential mortgage applications.

The industry group’s Refinance Index and Purchase Index both jumped 15 percent from the prior week, with the Purchase Index reaching its highest level since February 1. On an unadjusted basis, the Purchase Index surged 18 percent and remains 17 percent higher than the same week a year earlier.

Overall, the refinance share of mortgage activity was unchanged from the prior week at 77 percent of total applications, the lowest level since early July 2012.

The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage came in at 3.70 percent, down 7 basis point from 3.77 percent in the prior week. This was the lowest contract rate since the week ending January 25. Furthermore, points on the mortgage fell from 0.48 to 0.39 (including the origination fee). The average rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage declined from 3.03 percent to 2.96 percent.

The report gives the housing-recovery story more glimmers of hope, and housing-related stocks another reason to rally. Here’s how home related stocks closed the week…

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Lennar (NYSE:LEN): Current price $41.72

D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI): Current price $24.07

Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW): Current price $39.31

Home Depot (NYSE:HD): Current price $71.37

KB Homes (NYSE:KBH): Current price $20.18

Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL): Current price $35.12

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM): Current price $20.22

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Initial Unemployment Claims

Market participants who want to use this week’s initial unemployment insurance claims report to gain some insight in the the labor market may end up disappointed. The report, released on Thursday morning by the U.S. Department of Labor, indicates more of the same give-and-take that has characterized most unemployment data for the last year.

Initial unemployment claims for the week ended February 23 declined about 6 percent month over month to 344,000. The four-week moving average declined about 1.9 percent month over month to 355,000. This is a 3.2 percent improvement over the moving average for same week in 2012.

Ostensibly this is a slight improvement, but it’s hard to determine whether new hiring or the expiration of benefits caused this shift. Several states reported fewer layoffs in construction and manufacturing, which could be a reflection of healthy housing and PMI data that was released earlier in the month, but the slight drop is not enough to convince anyone that the headline rate will decline this month.

Next Friday, the Department of Labor will release the highly-watched Employment Situation report that sets the headline U-3 unemployment rate. The official rate ticked up from 7.8 percent in December to 7.9 percent in January, and only the most optimistic observers are expecting it to drop in the February report…

Fourth Quarter GDP

Also released on Thursday morning was the government’s second estimate of fourth-quarter GDP. The first estimate showed an unexpected drop in economic activity with a reading of -0.1 percent. Based on better-than-expected trade and manufacturing data, consensus estimates for the revised reading were looking for +0.5 percent growth.

But, in line with the tepid nature of the U.S. recovery, the revised GDP report once again disappointed, and showed just +0.1 percent growth. The report comments: ” While today’s release has revised the direction of change in real GDP, the general picture of the economy for the fourth quarter remains largely the same as what was presented last month.”

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Last month the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis produced some shocking news: advance figures showed that the United States economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.1 percent from October through December. But according the revised estimate, real gross domestic product grew at a rate of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter, a decided improvement to the previously reported figures, yet still missing the 0.5 percent growth analysts had expected.

“While today’s release has revised the direction of change in real GDP, the general picture of the economy for the fourth quarter remains largely the same as what was presented last month,” commented the news release, putting the numbers in harsh perspective.

As the BEA reported on Thursday, GDP — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — reflected contributions from personal consumption expenditures, nonresidential fixed investment, and residential fixed investment that were only partly offset by negative additions from private inventory investment, federal government spending, exports, and state and local government spending.

This most-recent calculation of GDP still represents a deceleration in economic growth. In the third quarter, the U.S. economy grew at rate of 3.1 percent…

For the three-month period, real personal consumption expenditures increased 2.1 percent, compared with an increase of 1.6 percent in the third quarter; real nonresidential fixed investment increased 9.7 percent,compared to a decrease of 1.8 percent in the previous quarter; and nonresidential structures increased 5.8 percent. In comparison, federal government consumption decreased 14.8 percent in the fourth quarter, pushed down by a drop of 22 percent in defense spending.

Two factors stand out in the data. First, inventory investment was stifled more than originally expected, possibly as a results of hesitation by businesses about the fiscal cliff and its fallout. Also, the report showed that inflation is low, a condition that will allow the Federal Reserve to theoretically keep up its easy-money policy.

In terms of hard numbers, the BEA’s revised figures show that current-dollar GDP for the fourth quarter — the market value of the nation’s output of goods and services — amounted to $15.8 trillion in the fourth quarter. When expressed in dollar amounts, a difference a 0.2 percentage point revisions seems almost insignificant, but that slight gain does mean that GDP has grown for 14 consecutive quarters.

The annual numbers do show an improvement over the previous year. Last quarter’s results pushed full-year GDP growth to 2.2 percent in 2012, up from 1.8 percent in 2011.

Consumer Debt

Although the side-effects of the Great Recession are still being felt by Main Street, consumer debt in the fourth-quarter increased for the first time in four years.

According to the New York Federal Reserve’s latest household debt and credit report, outstanding consumer debt edged $31 billion higher in the final three months of 2012 for the first time since 2008, compared to the previous quarter. Americans are now carrying a total debt load of $11.34 trillion, higher than the third-quarter, but still below the peak of $12.68 trillion in 2008.

All non-housing debt balances increased for the third consecutive quarter. Auto loans led the way with a $15 billion gain, while student loans and credit cards rose $10 billion and $5 billion, respectively.

“The data provides early evidence that consumers may be reaching the end of the four year deleveraging cycle, though we’ll need to see if this is sustained in upcoming quarters,” said Andrew Haughwout, vice president and economist at the New York Fed. “At the same time, we observed mixed developments, mortgage originations increased and fewer accounts entered the foreclosure pipeline but delinquency rates remain considerably higher than pre-crisis levels”…

While some may see higher debt loads as a positive sign for the economy, a large part of the deleveraging in recent years has come from the housing bubble bust. Delinquency rates are improving, but still remain elevated on a historic basis. In the fourth-quarter, delinquency rates for mortgages improved to 5.6 percent, compared to 5.9 percent in the previous quarter, while home equity lines of credit declined from 4.9 percent to 3.5 percent. Overall, 8.6 percent of total debt was in some stage of delinquency.

Furthermore, the student debt bubble continues to grow. Outstanding student loan balances increased $10 billion during the fourth-quarter to reach a total of $966 billion. Even more concerning, the number of borrowers who have fallen behind on their student debt by at least 90 days continues to climb higher. In the fourth-quarter, it surpassed the delinquency rates of credit cards to reach 11.7 percent. Thirty-five percent of people under 30 years old who have student loans are at least 90 days late on payments, compared to 26 percent in 2008.

Interestingly, the delinquency rates of student loans is likely even higher than reported. In the fine print, the Fed explains, “These delinquency rates for student loans are likely to understate actual delinquency rates because almost half of these loans are currently in deferment, in grace periods or in forbearance and therefore temporarily not in the repayment cycle. This implies that among loans in the repayment cycle delinquency rates are roughly twice as high.”

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Europe’s Economy

Data released Friday morning highlighted struggles facing some of the world’s largest economies. A report issued by London-based Markit Economics showed that the downturn in European manufacturing continued relatively unabated in February.

A composite index based on a survey of purchasing managers in the European Union services and manufacturing industries decreased to a reading of 47.3 in February, from January’s 11-month high of 48.6. Any reading below 50 indicates that the economy in question in contraction. While no economists had been predicting the bloc’s economy to expand this quarter, those polled by Bloomberg had anticipated the purchasing managers index to increase to a reading of 49 for the month.

The index was held back by a drop in the region’s manufacturing gauge, which fell to 47.8 in February from 47.9 in January. A drop in the services index to 47.3 from 48.6, the steepest drop in 10 months, also hurt results…

This data reinforced other indications that the economy of the 17-nation currency bloc will continue to contract in the first quarter of 2013, after recession deepened in the last quarter of 2012. The European Central Bank has predicted that gross domestic product will drop 0.3 percent this year. However, the central bank’s President, Mario Draghi, said this week that the region should begin to recover towards the end of 2013 as the effects of monetary stimulus begin to be felt throughout the economy.

“While the manufacturing sector is likely to have have again acted as a drag on the overall economy in the first quarter, causing GDP to fall for a fourth consecutive quarter, there are signs that the downturn has become less severe,” stated Chief Markit Economist Chris Williamson in the press release.

Even data from Germany — Europe’s biggest economy —  could not provide much of a bright point in the generally-depressed outlook; the country’s services measure declined more than forecasted, hitting a reading of 54.1, while its factory gauge edged just above 50, a sign of tepid expansion.

Unemployment figures, which were also released Friday morning, gave yet another grim indictment of the European economic situation. Austerity measures taken to counter the debt crisis deepened the currency bloc’s recession, reported Bloomberg, and as a result, the jobless rate in the euro zone hit a record high in January. Unemployment in the 17 nations of the bloc rose to 11.9 percent, from a revised 11.8 percent in December, according to the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg.

“The situation is very serious,” Alexander Krueger, chief economist at Bankhaus Lampe in Dusseldorf, told the publication. “There’s no support any more from Germany. It’s more or less a sideways movement which I expect to continue. Other economies like Italy, Spain and Portugal are very bad at the moment, so in the end the unemployment rate can only climb.”

Consumer Sentiment

Despite never-ending bickering among politicians, and a recovery dependent on central bank easing, Americans continue to feel…

better-than-expected about the economy.

The index of consumer sentiment compiled by Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan increased to 77.6 in February, compared to 73.8 from the previous month. On average, economists projected the reading to come in at 76.3, the same as the preliminary reading. In a Bloomberg survey, projections of 58 economists ranged from 74 to 78.

During the last recession, the index averaged slightly above 64. In the five years before the financial crisis, it averaged almost 90. Consumer sentiment is one of the most popular measures of how Americans rate financial conditions and attitudes about the economy. The University of Michigan’s Consumer Survey Center questions 500 households each month for the index.

The reading on current economic conditions increased from 85 to 89, while consumer expectations jumped form 66.6 to 70.2. However, 43 percent of those surveyed considered government economic policies to be poor and only 15 percent said the administration was doing a good job, according to Reuters. With the sequester set to take effect, consumers are not poised to feel any better about government policies in the coming weeks and months.

“Consumers find the blame-game for policy inaction a very unsatisfactory substitute for a concerted effort to improve the economy,” survey director Richard Curtin said in a statement.

Earlier this week, The Conference Board also reported a jump in consumer attitudes that exceeded expectations and every estimate in a Bloomberg survey. On the other, the future looks dismal for consumers.

Higher payroll taxes and gas prices are taking a toll on wallets. On Friday, the Commerce Department announced personal incomes in the United States fell 3.6 percent in January, the biggest plunge in two decades. Meanwhile, the personal savings rate dropped to 2.4 percent, compared to 6.4 percent in the previous month. It is the lowest savings rate since 2007…

International Economy

International economic data flooding the financial news airwaves on Friday was generally pessimistic; yet for some countries the news was worse than for others.

In the European Union, the survey of purchasing managers in both the services and manufacturing industries declined more than analysts had expected — giving another sign that the economy of the 17-nation currency bloc will continue to contract in the first quarter of 2013. Also under pressure, China’s manufacturing output shrank on a month-over-month basis, although the gauge remained barely in growth territory.

The official Chinese manufacturing index fell for the second consecutive month in February, reported Bloomberg, revealing the challenges to economic growth the country faces as it prepares for a change in leadership.

China’s new government — headed by President Xi Jinping — will take power after the annual session of parliament begins on March 5. Then, the National People’s Congress will set this year’s growth target. With this recent drop, that metric will draw particular focus from the country’s leaders, who may, economists fear, implement more governmental controls.

“We are still waiting for the congress,” First Shanghai Securities strategist Linus Yip told Bloomberg. “The major concern is whether there will be more controls coming out.”

China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index gave a reading of 50.1 for the month of February, according to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics. That level indicated that the index expanded by the tiniest margin; any reading of below 50 means that the gauge contracted for the measured period. Economists had hoped for slightly better results, with their consensus estimate set at 50.5 for the month, but even that figure would not have signaled an overwhelming boost to the economy.

A separate reading of manufacturing data compiled by HSBC gave a reading of 50.4 — the lowest level recorded by the firm in four months. This reading, down from 52.3 in January, evidenced a marginal improvement in operating conditions in China, with a slight expansion in output and an increase in total new orders.

The final February manufacturing PMI suggests “a slower pace of expansion,” stated Chief Chinese Economist Hongbin Qu in the press release. “But China’s recovery continues on improving domestic demand conditions and the labour market. The pace of ongoing recovery is mild, implying no need for the PBoC [The People's Bank of China] to tighten policy any time soon,” he added, referencing other analysts concerns over the possibility of a change in monetary policy.

The unexpected decline in the rate of expansion in manufacturing, pushed down Hong Kong Stocks and gave the city’s benchmark index its first decline in the past three days. The index has retreated 3.6 percent since the beginning of January when it hit a 20-month high.

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Existing Home Sales

The housing market continues to benefit from low mortgage rates and inventory levels, as existing-home sales edged slightly higher last month.

On Thursday, the National Association of Realtors announced that total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, town-homes, condos, and co-ops, increased 0.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.92 million units in January. It was the second highest rate of sales since November 2009 and a 9.1 percent improvement from the 4.51 million-unit pace a year earlier.

Analysts and economists polled by Reuters and Bloomberg both expected a 4.9 million-unit pace in existing-home sales. The December rate was revised downwardly to 4.9 million units.

Tight inventory is still a major factor in the so-called housing “recovery” story. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, explains, “Buyer traffic is continuing to pick up, while seller traffic is holding steady. In fact, buyer traffic is 40 percent above a year ago, so there is plenty of demand but insufficient inventory to improve sales more strongly. We’ve transitioned into a seller’s market in much of the country.”

Total housing inventory dropped almost 5 percent to 1.74 million existing homes available for sale at the end of January. This equals a 4.2-month supply at the current sales pace, down from 4.5 months in December, and the lowest housing supply since April 2005.

Compared to last year, listed inventory is 25.3 percent lower, when there was a 6.2-month supply. Raw unsold inventory is at its lowest level since December 1999.

According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage increased to 3.41 percent in January, compared to a record low 3.35 percent.

However, home prices are still receiving support. The national median exiting-home price for all housing types was $173,600 last month, a 12.3 percent jump from a year earlier and the strongest month since November 2005. Home prices have now increased for 11 consecutive months on a year-over-year basis.

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Housing Starts

Like much of the economic data released in recent months, the Commerce Department’s Wednesday report on U.S. homebuilding gave a picture of an improving, but still incomplete, recovery.

For the month of January, housing starts fell by 8.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 890,000. Comparing this figure to both the previous month’s numbers and those of last January show that the housing recovery still faces some obstacles. In December, homebuilders began construction on 973,000 new homes, while in January of 2012, new-home construction was up 23.6 percent. Economists were not overly optimistic ahead of the report, but they had been predicting slightly better results. A decrease in housing starts of 3.1 percent was set as their consensus estimate, according to a survey conducted by Dow Jones Newswires.

However, there were signs of growth. Construction of single-family homes, a segment of homebuilding that represented approximately two-thirds of all new housing starts last month, increased 0.8 percent to a rate of 613,000 units, a gain of 20 percent from a year earlier. In addition, the construction of single-family homes was at its highest level since the financial crisis began.

The single-family home construction figures provided a sign that the housing market is improving, as did the increase in the number of new building permits. The number of new permits, an indication of future construction, jumped 1.8 percent to an annualized level of 925,000 last month. This is the highest level reached since June 2008, and it surpassed analysts expectations for a rate of 920,000…
The housing market has been pegged by economists as a bright spot in the U.S. economy and an important driver of growth. Last month, the Commerce Department stated, according to The Wall Street Journal, that spending on home construction and home improvements contributed to economic growth in each of the past seven consecutive quarters. Yet, housing starts remain below historic levels; last year construction began only 780,000 homes. This year, the United States is on pace for modestly higher annual results.

Some areas of the country reported extremely divergent results; housing starts dropped 35.3 percent in the Northeast and 50 percent in the Midwest, while the West saw an increase of 16.7 percent and the South experienced a 4.1 percent gain.

Luxury home builder Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) capitalized on these gains in the housing market, swinging to a profit for the quarter ended January 31. However the company, which is largest builder of luxury single-family homes in the United States, missed Wall Street’s expectations with the results reported on Wednesday.

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Homebuilder Confidence

After reaching multi-year highs, confidence among U.S. homebuilders unexpectedly dropped in February. The surprise is causing a quick reality check among housing-related stocks.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder confidence for newly built, single-family homes dropped to 46 this month, compared to January’s 47 reading, which was the best level since April 2006.

It was the first drop in almost a year and the first miss since April 2012. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 50 economists expected the confidence index to increase to 48. Readings under 50 indicate more respondents think conditions are poor. The index was first published in 1985, and averaged 54 in the five years leading up to the recession.

“Following solid gains over the past year, builder confidence has essentially leveled out and held in the same three-point range over the last four months,” noted NAHB Chairman Rick Judson, a home builder from Charlotte, N.C. “This is partly due to ongoing uncertainties about job growth and consumer access to mortgage credit, but it’s also a reflection of the fact that builders are now confronting rising costs for building materials and, in some markets, limited availability of labor and lots as demand for new homes strengthens.”

Here’s how home related stocks closed the week…

Lennar (NYSE:LEN): Current price $37.88

D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI): Current price $22.31

Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW): Current price $37.67

Home Depot (NYSE:HD): Current price $65.58

KB Home (NYSE:KBH): Current price $17.91

Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL): Current price $34.59

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM): Current price $18.90

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So rumors appearing in the august tomes of the WSJ, NYT, and Bloomberg means Apple wants us to think an iWatch is coming and is quietly feeding rumors to plant stories it wants to see in the press. Which either provides great pre-buzz for that product when Apple releases it, or  – and probably more likely — pre-seeds excitement and interest around a product that is something like an iWatch but not quite … something that clearly, with a quick dose of gen-u-wine Apple Mixture No. 1 Reality Distortion Field, is instantly and obviously better.

Recently the Jury awarded $1 billion to Apple in a Samsung patent dispute case. For Samsung, this smart watch could mean more recognition as an innovator, as well helping to gain market share. This would be relatively new domain for the technology moguls to conquer. If true, then let the race begin.

Here’s how Apple and Samsung’s stock have performed over the past 52-weeks…

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL): Current price $460.16

Samsung (SSNLF): Current price $1,425

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Monday

The U.S. equity markets edged slightly lower on Monday. A national holiday that closed down most major Asian markets helped make for a pretty light trading day, as investors used the relative lull to consider the direction of the market. On the table is the idea that equities are overbought, and that the markets risk short periods of sharp declines.

At the close: DJIA: -0.16%, S&P 500: -0.06%, NASDAQ: -0.06%.

On the commodities front, Oil (NYSE:USO) climbed 1.35 percent to $97.01 per barrel, while the national average for gasoline jumped to $3.59 per gallon. Precious metals were down, with Gold (NYSE:GLD) falling 1.03 percent to $1,649.70 per ounce, and Silver (NYSE:SLV) falling 1.39 percent to $31.01 per ounce. The yield on the 10-year T-Bill increased 0.014 points to 1.965 percent.

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to the top stock stories:

Nasdaq OMX Group (NASDAQ:NDAQ) closed the day up over 3 percent, and climbed an additional 1 percent in after-hours trading, following reports that Carlyle Group (NYSE:CG) had engaged the exchange in possible takeover talks. However, fundamental differences over valuation emerged in the early stages of the due diligence process and the talks reportedly disintegrated… (Read more.)

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) is participating in the giant game of musical chairs that many financial institutions have had to play with top executives in the wake of the financial crisis. Most recently, the bank announced that it will redistribute executives in its mergers and acquisitions division, shuffling some top brass around without losing any heads… (Read more.)

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ:GMCR) closed the regular trading session down 4.5 percent, rounding out 9.3 percent losses over the past five trading days. Despite posting strong earnings last week, the stock has been beat up because of weaker-than-expected guidance for sales in the coming quarter… (Read more.)

There’s no hiding the fact that when it comes to video entertainment, content is king. The battle for equitable access to content has already generated its fair share of lawsuits, and rising costs have already pushed millions of Americans away from traditional cable packages, which can cost as much as $100 per month, to digital video streaming services that cost less than $10. As a result, the video streaming services market is rapidly growing, and competition between the likes of Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is heating up… (Read more.)

Since 1990, Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDSA)(NYSE:RDSB) has been the custodian of the terms that govern the North Sea Brent crude market, and the oil and gas company used its status to rewrite the rules for the benchmark that prices billions of dollars of oil worldwide, sparking a debate over whether the benchmark was in need of a reform. In an amendment of its SUKO 90 contract terms and conditions, Shell announced Friday that it will begin requiring buyers to pay a premium for North Sea oil grades sold in the Brent Blend forward market… (Read more.)

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Tuesday

The markets were mixed on Tuesday. Earnings continued to come in strong on average, but there wasn’t enough love to go around and the Nasdaq missed out.

At the close: DJIA: +0.34%, S&P 500: +0.16%, NASDAQ: -0.17%.

On the commodities front, Oil (NYSE:USO) climbed 0.39 percent to $97.41 per barrel, rising in part due to an announcement by the U.S. Energy Information Administration indicating that a rapid increase in North American supply may not be enough to keep gasoline prices in check, as demand expectations were revised upward. Gas prices are expected to peak at $3.73 in May.

Precious metals were up, with Gold (NYSE:GLD) climbing 0.15 percent to $1,651.60 per ounce after hitting a five-week low on Monday. Silver (NYSE:SLV) gained 0.65 percent, rising to $31.11 per ounce. The yield on the 10-year T-Bill climbed 0.014 points to 1.978 percent.

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to the top stock stories:

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) closed the day down 3.15 percent after getting hit with downgrades from analysts at Sanford Bernstein and BTIG. The downgrades followed a series of ratings revisions that came immediately following the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year earnings reports, which revealed that costs were escalating much faster than revenues… (Read more.)

Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) could be in for a long struggle to go private. CEO Michael Dell secured a $13.65 per share buyout deal, but the PC-maker’s largest shareholder — Southeastern Asset Management at an 8.44 percent stake — said it was looking for something closer to $24 per share… (Read more.)

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) landed itself a minor victory over Disney (NYSE:DIS), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) as the e-commerce giant placed first in the reputation-ranking Harris Poll. The other companies occupied ranks two through four, respectively… (Read more.)

Harris Interactive, a New York custom market research firm, recently conducted its 14th annual Reputation Quotient Study. The report asked more than 14,000 people to select companies that were most visible to them on a daily basis. The respondents were then asked to rank the top 60 most-visible companies by 20 attributes folded into 6 dimensions. Technology remained the highest-rated industry in corporate America, but the number of companies with great reputations continued to decline… (Read more.)

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Wednesday

The S&P 500 advanced just past 15,520 points on Wednesday to close at its highest level since October 2007, simultaneously spurring optimism among bullish investors and concern from those who think the market is overbought. Many investors looked closely at fundamental economic indicators in the wake of the President’s State of the Union address, trying to gauge how his fiscal initiatives will play out over the coming year. The U.S. Department of Commerce reported retail sales and manufacturing and trade inventories.

At the close: DJIA: -0.26%, S&P 500: +0.06%, NASDAQ: +0.33%.

On the commodities front, Oil (NYSE:USO) fell 0.38 percent to $97.14 per barrel after the EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report showed a 0.6 million-barrel increase in crude inventories to 372.2 million barrels, well above the upper limit of the average range for this time of the year. The national average price for regular gasoline for the week ended February 8 increased for the eighth consecutive period to $3.611 per gallon, a 2.5 percent year-over-year gain.

Precious metals were down, with Gold (NYSE:GLD) futures for April delivery, the most active contract, falling $4.50 to settle at $1,645.10 per ounce, while Silver (NYSE:SLV) futures for March dropped 15 cents to close at $30.87. Both precious metals remain stuck in consolidation mode, despite an outlook from the United Kingdom saying inflation will remain above the 2 percent target rate for the next two years. (Read more.)

The yield on the 10-year T-Bill increased 0.050 points to 2.028 percent, flirting with levels not seen since April 2012.

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to the top stock stories…

Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) closed the day up 5.39 percent following an upgrade from Neutral to Buy from Sterne Agee. The daily-deals company is now up more than 100 percent since November, as investors pile behind the bullish argument that Groupon will be able to successfully redefine itself as a robust e-commerce platform. Fun fact: the stock is up 57 percent since Tiger Global Management, the hedge fund run by Chase Coleman, announced a 9.9 percent stake… (Read more.)

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) got slapped with a $1 million fine from federal safety investigators over an August fire at a refinery in Richmond, California. Investigators found that the cause of the incident was negligence, as the pipe that broke was heavily corroded and improperly treated. The facility is not scheduled to restart production until the end of March… (Read more.)

Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE:CLF) received no love from investors on Wednesday following its fourth-quarter and full-year 2012 results. Shares closed the regular session down 19.99 percent as the mining and natural-resources company announced an 11-percent decline in revenues and slashed its dividend by 76 percent… (Read more.)

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) reported fiscal second-quarter earnings that came in ahead of expectations, but the company’s shares still fell in after-hours trading. Revenue growth of 5 percent to $12.10 billion and earnings of $0.51 per share edged narrowly ahead of expectations, and guidance for the third quarter is largely in line with expectations for between 4 and 6 percent revenue growth and earnings between $0.48 and $0.50 per share.

Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFM) tanked over 6 percent in after-hours trading following its fiscal first-quarter results. The decline is largely due to softening comparable-store sales growth, which fell from 14.1 percent to 13.7 percent between the fourth quarter and the third quarter, and to 12.5 percent in the current quarter to date.

Worldwide sales of mobile phones declined in 2012, the first drop since 2009. To be clear, this measure of mobile phones includes both smartphones and traditional cellphones. Taken separately, smartphone sales to end users continued to climb, according to data released by research firm Gartner. The data also show which major smartphone manufacturers sold the most phones last year… (Read more.)

Don’t Miss: Obama Gives a Shout-Out to These Companies.

Thursday

After a rough morning, the U.S. equity markets curbed most of their losses and ended the day on a relatively flat note. Gloomy economic data from Europe and Japan was counter-balanced by strong business activity in the U.S., highlighted by earnings and a major buyout.

At the close: DJIA: -0.07%, S&P 500: +0.07%, NASDAQ: +0.06%.

On the commodities front, WTI crude oil (NYSEARCA:USO) climbed 0.30 percent to $97.30 per barrel, while Brent climbed 0.12 percent to $118.02 per barrel. Yesterday, the EIA reported that crude inventories were well above the upper limit of their average range for this time of the year. The national average price for regular gasoline for the week ended February 8 increased for the eighth consecutive period to $3.611 per gallon.

Gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) futures for April delivery, the most active contract, fell $9.60 to settle at $1,635.50 per ounce, while silver (NYSEARCA:SLV) futures for March dropped 52 cents to close at $30.35. Both precious metals experienced weakness as the U.S. dollar climbed higher. The latest report on gross domestic product in the euro zone provided support to the greenback. In the fourth quarter of 2012, GDP in the euro zone declined 0.6 percent from the third quarter, missing all estimates.

The yield on the 10-year T-Bill fell 0.031 points to 1.998 percent.

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to the top stock stories:

Pepsico (NYSE:PEP) felt some shareholder love on Valentine’s Day following the release of its fourth-quarter and full-year 2012 earnings report. Shares climbed 2 percent in morning trading after the soft-drink company beat expectations and provided solid 2013 guidance. Fourth-quarter reported earnings grew 19 percent to $1.06 per share, or $1.09, excluding one-time items, above expectations for $1.05. Organic revenue grew 5 percent, but net revenue for the period fell 1 percent to $19.95 billion, negatively impacted by a strong dollar… (Read more.)

General Motors (NYSE:GM) closed the day down 3.2 percent after reporting weaker-than-expected quarterly profit of $0.48 per share, 3 cents shy of expectations. For the three-month period, net income rose to $892 million, or 54 cents per share, from $472 million, or 28 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. The quarter’s results were affected not so much by weakness in its business, but by charges associated with a challenging economic environment… (Read more.)

H. J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ) shot up nearly 20 percent after the company behind the namesake ketchup brand confirmed it would be acquired by 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKA)(NYSE:BRKB) in a transaction valued at $28 billion, the largest ever in the food industry. Heinz shareholders will receive $72.50 in cash per common stock held, a 19 percent premium over the stock’s all-time high, as the company will be taken private… (Read more.)

US Airways (NYSE:LCC) and American Airlines (AAMRQ.PK) officially announced the definitive merger between the two companies, which had been in the works for more than a year. The all-stock transaction will create a combined entity with an implied value of $11 billion, and will operate under the American Airlines brand. Under the terms of the merger agreement, US Airways stockholders will receive one share of common stock of the combined airline for each share of US Airways common stock they held… (Read more.)

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Friday

The U.S. equity markets closed Friday on a mixed note as investors juggled a battery of economic data that did not paint an overall positive picture.

At the close: DJIA: +0.06%, S&P 500: -0.10%, NASDAQ: -0.21%.

On the commodities front, WTI crude oil (NYSEARCA:USO) fell 1.41 percent to $95.94 per barrel, catalyzed by industrial production data reported earlier in the day. The Federal Reserve reported that its total industrial production index contracted by 0.1 percent in January, below expectations for 0.2 percent growth. Brent crude dropped 0.13 percent to $117.85 per barrel.

Gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) futures for April delivery, the most active contract, fell $26 to settle at $1,609.50 per ounce, while silver (NYSEARCA:SLV) futures for March dropped 50 cents to close at $29.85. It was gold’s lowest close in about six months. Both precious metals received heavy selling pressure as headlines hyped the disclosure that Soros Fund Management sold 720,400 shares of the SPDR Gold Trust during the fourth quarter. However, other funds are still keeping a large interest in gold… (Read more.)

Heavily influencing trading behavior on Friday was news that Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) is experiencing its weakest February sales start in seven years, a sign that economic headwinds and the expiration of the payroll tax holiday are taking a heavy toll on consumer spending behavior. The news, which circulated around 2:00 p.m., pulled Wal-Mart down 2.15 percent for the day, and helped catalyze a broader market sell-off.

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to the top stock stories:

For almost a decade, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has used a uniform system for input/output on all of its iPods and iPhones: the beloved 30 pin connector. Then, with an announcement of the pending iPhone 5, that all changed as fast as, well, Lightning. In September 2012, Apple announced plans to abandon the 30-pin system in favor of a smaller, more powerful, and sleeker-looking system. Named Lightning, the new plug poses some different issues for aftermarket hardware makers… (Read more.)

Burger King (NYSE:BKW) reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2012 results on Friday that had shares trading up as much as 4.1 percent. In need of some good news after sliding nearly 7 percent in the first two weeks of February, and with industry projections generally bleak for 2013, the burger maker served up results that showed substantially reduced costs and a strong game plan for the coming year… (Read more.)

Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) has announced that it will take a charge of $46 million as a direct result of a write-down they are performing on Blockbuster locations in England. According to Hollywood Reporter, the move comes after failing to find a buyer for the embattled video rental franchise.

The news that former Research in Motion co-chief executive officer Jim Balsillie cut his last ties to the company now known as BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY) hit the company’s stock like a strong uppercut to the jaw. On Thursday, it was revealed that as of December 31, Balsillie owned zero shares in the company, down from the 5.1 percent stake he had a year ago. Then on Friday, news circulated that Samsung (SSNLF.PK) had plans to reveal a new enterprise platform at the Mobile World Congress trade show later this month that will be highly competitive with the BlackBerry 10 operating system… (Read more.)

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) may be creating thousands of jobs, but many of the Internet retailer’s employees are less than happy with their positions. In Germany, a grim portrait of life at Amazon’s packing and distribution centers was revealed in a documentary that was broadcast on Wednesday by the television channel ARD… (Read more.)

Activist investor Carl Icahn delivered a Valentine to Bill Ackman that was worthy of a bloody massacre. The two billionaires recently gained attention for their epic feud on live television, but the investing world now realizes how serious Icahn is about sticking it to the Pershing Square founder. A filing made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed Icahn has bought more than 14 million shares of Herbalife (NYSE:HLF), the nutritional supplement marketer that Ackman believes is a pyramid scheme… (Read more.)

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The Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday that its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity — which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand — jumped 3.4 percent in the week ended February 1. This compares to a decrease of 8.1 percent the previous week. On an unadjusted basis, the index jumped 16 percent.

Along with the survey of mortgage application activity, the MBA reported that its seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications rose 3.5 percent, while its measurement of home loans, an important indicator for home sales, increased 2.2 percent.

Of the total mortgage activity, 78 percent of applications were for refinancing, down from 79 percent the week before…

In addition, fixed 30-year mortgage rates averaged 3.73 percent last week, an increase of 6 basis points from the previous week, and the contract interest rate for 30-year fixed mortgages has risen in seven of the last eight weeks.

The MBA covers more than 75 percent of U.S. residential mortgage applications, the industry group said in the accompanying press release.

Now let’s take a look at how top housing related stocks reacted this week…

Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL): Current price $36.32

KB Home (NYSE:KBH): Current price $18.51

Home Depot (NYSE:HD): Current price $67.01

Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW): Current price $39.03

D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI): Current price $23.08

Lennar (NYSE:LEN): Current price $39.96

Don’t Miss: Home Prices Fuel Real Estate Euphoria.