Cisco Is Still Trying To Block Microsoft's 2011 Skype Acquisition (CSCO)

CNBC

Cisco CEO John Chambers

Microsoft closed its $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype in October 2011 and, believe it or not, Cisco is still trying to fight that deal.

It will argue in court on Wednesday why the European Commission's approval should be overturned, reports Reuters' Foo Yun Chee. This stems from an initial complaint Cisco filed in February 2012.

It's rare for the court to overturn the EC's decision. The last time that happened was in 2002 with Sony Music and BMG, a more obvious threat than Microsoft and Skype.

What Cisco really wants is for after-the-fact requirements to be slapped on Microsoft. It wants the court to force Microsoft to make Skype's PC-based teleconferencing tech work better with Cisco's expensive, room-based teleconferencing tech.

Microsoft's Skype doesn't support the same video and audio standards used in Cisco's products.

That's not a big concern for Microsoft, but it is for Cisco. Cisco fears that Skype combined with Microsoft's enterprise videoconferencing product, Lync, will hurt Cisco's Telepresence business.

The truth is, Skype actually can work with Cisco's TelePresence systems if companies buy a service from Microsoft called Skype Connect or a third-party connection service like Blue Jeans Network or Kontiki. Still, Cisco would like to force Microsoft to change its technology.

Lync hasn't, so far, worked well with Skype though. In June, the two products will finally work together for instant messaging and voice, but video is still to come.

We've reached out to Cisco for comment.

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Things Are Getting Ugly In The Markets

Sam Ro | May 29, 2013, 7:43 AM | 1,345 |

U.S. futures are deteriorating ahead of the U.S. trading session.

Dow futures are down 86 points.

S&P 500 futures are down 10.6 points.

Nasdaq futures are down 16.5 points.

Meanwhile, the yen is strengthening against the dollar, improving to ¥101.3.

Here's a look at the movement in Dow futures this morning via FinViz.

FinViz

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The Aussie Dollar Is Getting Smoked

The Aussie dollar is fading tonight, and really it's been getting smoked since the beginning of April.

It's getting slammed by 3 different but related trends.

The first is the China slowdown, which obviously hurts Aussie exports.

The second is the weakness in commodities, which is partly, but not totally related to the China slowdown.

And then finally, everything's underperforming against the US Dollar, which is in beast mode.

Meanwhile, as Reuters noted last week, shorting the Aussie is a popular hedge fund play, so the sharks smell blood.

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Today's Rally In Japan Is Already Fading Fast

Japan continues to be kind of sickly looking.

Today the Nikkei opened up over 1%, but the rally is fading hard, and has all but disappeared.

Remember, the market crashed 7% on Thursday and then another 3% on Monday. The juice, for now, is gone.

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MIKE O'ROURKE: The Stock Market Has Been Violating One Of The Fundamental Lessons That Every Wall Streeter Learns

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In his latest nightly note, Mike O'Rourke of JonesTrading comments on this seemingly gravity-defying, can't lose market.

The End of the Free Lunch Trade?    

Early on in most Wall Street careers budding financiers are taught there is no free lunch on Wall Street.  That stems from the belief that you cannot get something for nothing.  For the past 18 months, and more specifically the past 6 months, the market has acted as if there is a Free Lunch - Central Bank policies of promising perpetually low rates, asset purchases and support for whatever ails or does not ail the economy. 

Despite middling but expansionary economic data and unimpressive earnings growth, equity prices have bounded higher.  Low rates have fueled corporate debt refinancing and buyback programs.  The low rate environment has made fixed income products so expensive that everything else looked relatively inexpensive.  Today, the S&P 500 opened up over 1%, which was on top of a 55 basis point pre-holiday mark-up into Friday’s close.  The Dow Industrials' streak of avoiding three consecutive negative closes in 2013 remained intact.  It turns out the Free Lunch is an "All You Can Eat Buffet." 

O'Rourke goes on to warn about higher rates as the possible death knell of this Free Lunch Trade.

Bigger picture though is that the airwaves are being consumed with talk like this: Bubble! The Taper! Too far to fast! And so on.

Amazingly, before the market has even fallen, the wall of worry is being rebuilt before our eyes.

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CHART OF THE DAY: The Absolutely Insane Explosion Of Tesla's Stock (TSLA)

Here's Tesla's stock chart for the last year. It's a pretty mind-blowing jump in price. We're not exactly sure what's driving this pop, but it's had some pretty good news lately, which we've added to the chart.

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CONSUMER CONFIDENCE BLOWS PAST EXPECTATIONS TO FIVE-YEAR HIGH IN MAY

UPDATE: The results from the Conference Board's May consumer confidence survey are out.

The headline index rose to 76.2 from last month's upward-revised 69.0 reading.

Economists predicted a smaller rise to 71.2.

Below is the full text from the release.

---------------------------------------

28 May, 2013

NEW YORK, May 28, 2013…The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index®, which had improved in April, increased again in May. The Index now stands at 76.2 (1985=100), up from 69.0 in April. The Present Situation Index increased to 66.7 from 61.0. The Expectations Index improved to 82.4 from 74.3 last month.

The monthly Consumer Confidence Survey®, based on a probability-design random sample, is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and analytics around what consumers buy and watch. The cutoff date for the preliminary results was May 15.

Says Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board: “Consumer Confidence posted another gain this month and is now at a five-year high (Feb. 2008, Index 76.4). Consumers’ assessment of current business and labor-market conditions was more positive and they were considerably more upbeat about future economic and job prospects. Back-to-back monthly gains suggest that consumer confidence is on the mend and may be regaining the traction it lost due to the fiscal cliff, payroll-tax hike, and sequester.”

Consumers’ appraisal of present-day conditions improved in May. Those saying business conditions are “good” increased to 18.8 percent from 17.5 percent, while those stating business conditions are “bad” decreased to 26.0 percent from 27.6 percent. Consumers’ assessment of the labor market was also more positive. Those claiming jobs are “plentiful” increased to 10.8 percent from 9.7 percent, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” edged down to 36.1 percent from 36.9 percent.

Consumers were considerably more optimistic about the short-term outlook. Those expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months increased to 19.2 percent from 17.2 percent, while those expecting business conditions to worsen decreased to 12.1 percent from 14.8 percent.

Consumers’ outlook for the labor market was also more upbeat. Those expecting more jobs in the months ahead improved to 16.8 percent from 14.3 percent, while those expecting fewer jobs decreased to 19.7 percent from 21.8 percent. The proportion of consumers expecting their incomes to increase dipped slightly to 16.6 percent from 16.8 percent, while those expecting a decrease edged down to 15.3 percent from 15.9 percent. 

Source:
May 2013 Consumer Confidence Survey®
The Conference Board

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