U.S. corporate borrowers are marketing roughly $1.86 billion of bonds as credit investors remain bullish on the outlook for debt securities in 2010, according to a survey conducted by Bank of America (NYSE:BAC). Company bond sales totaled $1.24 trillion this year, up from $873.3 billion in the same period a year ago. Of investment grade bond buyers, 51 percent were overweight relative to their benchmarks, and 53 percent of respondents were overweight high yielding debt, the survey showed. Corporate bond buyers expect credit quality to improve, the first time those in the survey have predicted a positive trend in investment grade issuers’ ability to repay debt since back in 2005. -Bloomberg
General Electric (NYSE:GE) estimate cut at Barclays. 2009 EPS estimate increased from $1.00 to $1.03, 2010 maintained at $0.97. Reiterate "overweight" rating and $22 per share target. In other news, PG&E (NYSE:PCG) sees estimates higher at Credit Suisse. Price target was raised to $50 from $43. 2009 and 2010 EPS estimates jumped to $3.23 and $3.39, respectively. Maintain "outperform" rating. -24/7 Wall St.
The country continues to make progress on the employment front: Initial jobless claims plunged 28,000 to 452,000 for the week ending December 19th, the U.S. Labor Department disclosedyesterday. This figure was considerably better than had been forecasted. The consensus of economists surveyed had been for jobless claims to drop by 10,000 to 470,000. Initial claims haven’t been lower since the week of September 6th, 2008, when they were 447,000. Meanwhile, continuing claims also dropped, falling 127,000 to 5.07 million. In addition, the four week moving average for initial jobless claims fell 2,750 to 465,250. A year ago, initial jobless claims totaled 564,000 and continuing claims totaled 4.33 million. -Daily Finance
Crude futures extended their gains to a fresh three-week high, supported by positive equity markets, a weaker dollar and recent declines in U.S. oil stocks. Light, sweet crude for February delivery settled $1.38, or 1.8%, higher at $78.05 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange settled 86 cents, or 1.1%, higher at $76.31 a barrel. With little fresh fundamental news to direct the market, oil took its cues from rising equity markets. -The Wall Street Journal
When the Treasury Department shelved its plans to sell $5 billion of Citigroup (NYSE:C) common stock in a public offering last week, the news came only two days after the bank had said the sale was a go. The delay was a reminder that predicting the future can be a tough exercise. -Bloomberg
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