December 4, 2012 Update

DJIA:12,965 NASDAQ:3,002 10-YR TRS: 6/32, yield 1.628% Oil: $89.09 EURO: $1.3053 YEN:82.25 

Micro

• SPZ: trading in a tight range, without any notable data releases investors can focus on fiscal cliff.  
• Earnings: Autozone (NYSE: AZO) Q1 forecast EPS of $5.41 a share, Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) Q4 expects EPS of $0.25 per share, Pandora Media (NYSE: P) Q3 forecast EPS of -$0.02.
• Cerebus is now in the game to acquire Knight Capital (NYSE: KCG), negotiating with Virtu to join their $1.5B deal, debt included. Jefferies Group (NYSE: JEF) is providing $950M to help Getco acquire the firm for their deal valued at $1.4-1.8B, also including debt. 
• Gold deliveries for February are down $15 to $1,706.80. 
• Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) extends iTunes stores to 56 countries (totaling to 119 countries), which nearly doubled iTunes international presence. 
• CIRP estimates that 68% of iPhone sales in October can be credited to the iPhone 5, which is down from iPhone 4’s 90%... which might be a factor in AAPL’s Q1 gross margin guidance. 
• News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS) is rumored to buy the Cleveland Indian’s SportsTime Ohio TV Channel  for about $230M, Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) also is also rumored in the money.  

Macro

• Asian Markets: trading lower from disappointing data.  
• European Markets: acting erratically, but mostly trading up as investors eye US fiscal cliff. 
• House republicans’ deficit-reduction proposal contains an $800B in tax revenue, and is forecast to cut deficit by about $4.6 trillion over ten years.  
• Registration for unemployment benefits have increased in Spain for November by 1.5% to 4.91M, making it the fourth consecutive monthly increase. With banks deciding to close branches and new regulation that simplifies the process of firing employees, unemployment benefits are forecast to continue to rise. 

Yesterday’s Biggest Winners

• Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) +4.36% (+$0.42) to $10.06 from an upgrade by Goldman Sachs who increased target price to $13, up four bucks!
• Equifax (NYSE: EFX) +4.18% (+$2.14) to $53.38 due to the purchase of Credit Suisse’s credit-services unit.
• Deckers Outdoor (NASDAQ: DECK) +10.58% (+$4.05) to $42.34 from an upgrade and new price target set by Sterne Agee to $65.00. 

Yesterday’s Biggest Losers 

• Health Management Assoc. (NYSE: HMA) -5.66% (-$0.45) to $7.50 resulting from 60 Minutes’ report bashing the company’s patient-administration practices. 
• Myriad Genetics (NASDAQ: MYGN) -3.24% (-$0.93) to $27.79 from Supreme Court’s agreement to take case regarding the patentability of genes. 
• Suncoke Energy (NYSE: SXC) -8.43% (-$1.37) to $14.88 due to the deferment of plan to IPO an energy partnership. 

Meatless Habits in Mongolia

In a country where livestock outnumber humans 12 to 1, it is no wonder why meat and dairy products are staples in Mongolian cuisine. Meat drives Mongolia's economy, helps civilians survive harsh and lengthy winters, and is inexpensively preservable. In fact, an excess quantity of cattle is how Mongolia's nomadic culture was derived. Regardless of this history, some Mongolian youths are joining the global trend of healthy living and switching to vegetarian diets. Vegetarian restaurants, such as the Loving Hut chain, have expanded at unprecedented rates nationwide in an effort to meet the demands of a growing meat-free population, which consists of an estimated 30,000 vegetarians and 2,500 vegans (Economist).  Even if the health benefits of vegetarian living remain controversial, the opportunity to invest in this international trend has never been more robust. India, a growing financial power and a nation which cherishes all walks of life, has the largest vegetarian population in the world! Scare tactics, health concerns, and religious influences all coalesce as factors pushing consumers toward veggies.  With a growing global population, and subsequent demand for sustainable food sources, a number of considerations have the characteristics to be profitable investment outlets; the creative part is up to you.