Finance Newsletters: Dan Stewart's The Wall Street Shuffle

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Thursday, July 18, 2013

Ben Day 2
by: Dan Stewart

The markets were anxiously awaiting the Bernanke's Humphrey-Hawkins testimony yesterday before Congress. He reiterated that the FED needs a plan to taper but the economy is still too weak to begin yet.

Then he went on to say that the bond buying is not "a preset course" and that the FED wasn't even tied to the original metrics given by Ben himself. It all depends upon the economy. Ben said "the risks remain that tight fiscal policy will restrain economic growth" and the economy "remains vulnerable to unanticipated shocks, including the possibility that global economic growth may be slower than currently anticipated." "A highly accommodative policy will remain in place for the foreseeable future. Really! No surprise here...

Mosaic Earnings Say It's Still Too Early to Buy Fertilizer Stocks
by: Jim Jubak

Mosaic's (MOS) fiscal fourth quarter earnings report, released on July 16, sums up the problems facing global fertilizer producers. The company reported strong sales by volume for phosphate and potash fertilizers—in fact 2013 now looks like it will set a record for sales volume for potash. But earnings fell to $1.14 in the period from $1.19 in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2012 and sales dipped to $2.7 billion from $2.8 billion in the 2012 quarter on a drop in realized selling prices.

If you're looking for high sales volumes to drive up prices, it's clear from Mosaic's conference call that you've still got a wait ahead of you. The company continues to see new capacity come on line from expansion projects begun five years ago. So that even though Mosaic is now delaying the next stage of its expansion, 2013 is still witnessing expanded production capacity at the company...