WEDNESDAY 4/23/14; PMI's; BA; PG; New Home Sales; AAPL; FB

The dollar/yen remains elevated at 102.55-102.70 so the steady weak yen sends the NIKK +1% higher. TM outsells all other carmakers. China HSBC Flash PMI for April is 48.3 a slight improvement from March but remains below the 50 level indicating economic contraction. The data continues to conflict with China’s growth rate remaining elevated at 7.4%. April is typically a much stronger month economically so perhaps China’s growth numbers will leak lower as the year proceeds. The SSEC is down -0.3% and the HSI drops -1% due to a weak telecom sector. The Aussie dollar drops to 0.9302. SPASX200 rises +0.7%.

Elon Musk visits China to unveil the Tesla electric car. Crowds appear but one person complains about the small back seat and another shouts out “I’m disappointed.” Musk has delayed the release of the Tesla in China for a few months which is frustrating potential buyers. China has its own electric car agenda which works against Musk and Tesla but the overall introduction into China and Asia is off to a positive start.

North Korea prepares for a nuclear test. Ukraine says the truce is over and the pro-Russian occupations in East Ukraine will be rooted out and removed. A Russian bond auction fails as investors are hesitant to invest due to the ongoing Ukraine unrest. 














[Text is Redacted: Purchase April 2014-04 to Read the Complete Chronology]

AAPL resumes trading at 4:45 PM and the buyback, divvy and stock split win the day catapulting shares +8% higher. AAPL price jumps to 568 which is a test of the December highs. Five months of weakness is immediately wiped away in a heartbeat. Accounting gimmickry always wins and weak iPad sales are ignored. No value is added to the company by the accounting moves but the stock price will move higher. Who needs product sales when creative financial engineering can boost the stock price easier? QQQ and XLK jump +1.2%. The action points to a strong day for the tech sector tomorrow and a positive overall market mood just when the bears started to roll the indexes to the down side. Apple saves the day. Rumors surface that Apple made the 7 for 1 split to set an attractive price for a possible future inclusion into the Dow Jones Industrials.

CBI, one of the darling LNG plays, misses on earnings and trades -2% lower. TXN beats by a penny and trades +4% higher. TSCO misses on top and bottom lines and trades lower. IRBT drops -10% on weak earnings. The dollar/yen is 102.49 remaining elevated so AAPL may create happiness in Asia and then into Europe overnight. FB jumps +5% higher feeding off the Apple frenzy. AAPL is +8% as the conference call begins. General Electric is in talks to buy Alstom so GE trades slightly lower -0.2%. General Electric is looking for ways to use the cash on hand in Europe since the money cannot be brought back to the US due to the tax hit.