Schacknow - Today's Brief, August 10, 2012

TODAYS PRIMER                            
Peter Schacknow, Senior Producer, CNBC Breaking News Desk

The S&P 500 is coming off its best weekly gain in 13 weeks and both the Dow and S&P sit at 4-3/4 year highs — but the fate of the current rally clearly rests in the hands of the Fed. The central bank’s policy making Open Market Committee meets later this week with investors hoping for a new round of quantitative easing. The two-day meeting concludes with the latest policy statement and a news conference by Fed chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday afternoon.

Today’s lone government economic stat doesn’t come until later in the day, with July consumer credit figures set for release at 3 p.m. New York time. Economists expect a $7.0 billion increase following June’s $6.5 billion rise. The earnings calendar has few companies of note today or for this week.

AIG (AIG) leads our list of stocks to watch, as the government announces it’s selling more of its stake in the insurer, a sale which will bring Treasury’s stake below 50 percent for the first time since the $182 billion bailout in 2008. The latest sale will see institutional investors buy $18 billion in common stock, with AIG buying back $5 billion of that amount.

Homebuilder Beazer Homes (BZH) is asking shareholders to approve a one-for-five reverse stock split. The vote will take place at a special meeting on October 11.

Michael Kors (KORS) will sell 20 million shares in a secondary offering, with the underwriters of the offering also being granted a 30-day options to purchase an additional 3 million common shares.

General Motors (GM) is asking dealers not to sell about 60,000 vehicles, mostly from the 2013 model year, because of a software glitch in its OnStar system. GM does expect to have the issue fixed in a few days.

J.C. Penney (JCP) is making permanent its recent promotion that gives children free haircuts every Sunday, starting November 4. 1.6 million free haircuts were given during an August promotion.
BP (BP) is reportedly in talks to sell Gulf of Mexico assets to Plains Exploration for $7 billion, according to Reuters. BP is still seeking to raise money to pay for damages from the 2010 Gulf oil spill.

Navistar (NAV) is the target of more criticism from investor Carl Icahn, who’s slamming the truck maker for naming a new chief executive without getting input from major shareholders. Icahn says the move to appoint Lewis Campbell as interim CEO was “worse than ill-advised”, as Icahn and three other shareholders who own about 60 percent of the company were not consulted.

Amazon.com (AMZN) is allowing customers to pay $15 to opt out of advertisements that will otherwise appear on new models of its Kindle Fire e-readers.

Intel (INTC), which cut its revenue outlook on Friday, may have to cut further, according to a “Heard On The Street” column in today’s Wall Street Journal. The column says sales from developing nations may be declining at a faster rate than the company and analysts are expecting.