Doug Hornig, senior prognosticator at The Casey Report, analyzes the alarming trend of U.S. federal debt and its future implications.

“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers,” said Blanche DuBois, in the final words of the play A Streetcar Named Desire. Well, don’t we all.

Many citizens probably still cling to the old saw that public debt doesn’t matter because “we owe it to ourselves.” Wrong. Debt always matters. And as for whom we owe it to, it is a lot of kind (or, at least, not yet unkind) strangers.

As recently as 1970, foreign holders of U.S. debt were essentially non-existent. But their slice of our obligation pie has steadily increased, especially over the past two decades, until now foreign governments and international investors hold about 35% of Treasuries, as the following chart reveals.

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MarkWest Energy Partners L.P. (MWE), a master limited partnership (MLP), reported weaker-than-expected third quarter results. Earnings per unit came in at 13 cents, which fell way short of the year-ago result at $3.24 and also missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 15 cents. The year-over-year negative comparisons were due to sharply lower commodity prices. Revenue declined approximately 31.5% to $207.9 billion. Distribution Maintained MarkWest’s quarterly distribution of 64 cents per unit ($2.56 per unit annualized), remains unchanged from the year-earlier quarter and the previous quarter distribution. The distribution was paid on November 13 to unit-holders of record on November 2, 2009. Distributable Cash Flow During the quarter, the partnership generated distributable cash flow (DCF) of $40.3 million, down from $45.4 million in the prior-year quarter, providing 0.95x distribution coverage. The negative comparison reflects the significant decrease in ...

After market closed, SINA Corp. (SINA) reported revenues of $96.4 million in the third quarter of 2009. Revenues was down 8.6% year over year but was up 6.8% sequentially. Revenues exceeded the company's guidance of $91.0 – $94.0 million and easily beat the Zacks Consensus estimate of $94.0 million. This reflects strong execution of the company’s online advertising business in China , which grew double-digits sequentially. We expect a huge improvement in SINA’s advertising business, as advertising spending recovers. SINA expects to benefit from government stimulus packages. Moreover, management is witnessing signs of a strong recovery in the advertising market in China in the second half of this year, which is reflected in the company’s higher-than-expected guidance. Advertising revenues decreased 16.3% year over year but was up 10% quarter over quarter, exceeding the company’s guidance of $60.0 – $62.0 million. Non-advertising ...

I am not sure how much longer the Browder film will be available online, given that one individual featured in it has died (I have seen it pulled from some sites).  Anyways, if you haven't seen it yet, today is the day if you would like to better understand what happened to Sergei Magnitsky (fast forward to 4:15 in the video to hear about the Firestone Duncan office raids, and then later about the Jan. 2008 arrest of Magnitsky at 9:37).UPDATE: The press release states that Magnitsky died of an abdominal rupture, and that he was repeatedly denied medical treatment for a condition he developed while in custody.

Last night the U.S. House of Representatives brought us one large step closer to a national healthcare system. Investors should be cognizant of the financial effects that would follow.

In the extreme short-run, it would be reasonable to assume that the U.S. stock market would react negatively, although short-term price movements are often chaotic. In the intermediate-term, if the legislation goes forward, the healthcare sector should perform at a lower level than in periods prior to national healthcare.

The chart below shows the historical relative price performance of several healthcare sectors versus the S&P 500. They are: biotech ($DJUSBT), pharmaceuticals ($DJUSPR), healthcare providers ($DJUSHP), medical equipment manufacturers ($DJUSAM) and medical supplies ($DJUSMS). The overall healthcare sector is represented by $DJUSHC.

Biotech and pharmaceuticals have underperformed. We expect that relationship to be accentuated. The other sectors are expected to have lower relative performance than before, particularly the healthcare

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Last night, VeriSign, Inc. (VRSN) reported revenues of $258 million from continuing operations in the third quarter of 2009.

Core businesses (Internet Infrastructure and Identity Services) generated revenues of $257 million, up 1% sequentially and up 6% year-over-year. Revenues from discontinued operations came in at $41 million.

Operating margin came in at 38.6%, marginally up from the previous quarter. Net income was $64 million. Earnings per share (EPS) of 33 cents easily beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 28 cents.

During the quarter, the company generated $105 million of cash from operations and used $25 million in capital expenditures. The company ended the quarter with cash and equivalents of $1.4 billion, an increase of $124 million from the previous quarter. As of September 30, 2009, deferred revenue came in at $881 million.

Subsequent to the end of the quarter, VeriSign completed the sale of its Global Security Consulting business, and Messaging and

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Avnet, Inc. (AVT) recently reported revenues of $4.36 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2010, down 3.1% from a year ago. Excluding the negative impact of foreign currency exchange rates, revenues declined 0.6%.

Management stated that the impact of global slowdown led to the year-over-year decline, but the business environment is improving.

On a segment basis, Electronics Marketing (EM) sales came in at $2.44 billion, down 9.8% year over year (down 8.0% when adjusted to exclude the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates). The rate of revenue decline moderated in the reported quarter and management is encouraged by pace of bookings for this segment in recent months.

Technology Solutions (TS) generated sales of $1.92 billion, up 6.9% year over year (up 10.5% when adjusted to exclude the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates), driven by growth in Americas and Europe, Middle East and Asia (EMEA).

The company

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Last night, VeriSign, Inc. (VRSN) reported revenues of $258 million from continuing operations in the third quarter of 2009. Core businesses (Internet Infrastructure and Identity Services) generated revenues of $257 million, up 1% sequentially and up 6% year-over-year. Revenues from discontinued operations came in at $41 million. Operating margin came in at 38.6%, marginally up from the previous quarter. Net income came in at $64 million. Earnings per share (EPS) came in at 33 cents easily beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 28 cents. During the quarter, the company generated $105 million of cash from operations and used $25 million in capital expenditures. The company ended the quarter with cash and equivalents of $1.4 billion, an increase of $124 million from the previous quarter. As of September 30, 2009, deferred revenue came in at $881 million. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, VeriSign ...

99 Cents Only Stores Inc. (NDN) reported fiscal second quarter results after the closing bell on Wednesday. The company recorded a net income of $9.6 million, compared to a net loss of $9.4 million in the year-ago period. Earnings per share came in at 14 cents, topping the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 7 cents. The company had reported a loss of 13 cents per share in the same period last year.   The deep-discount store operator’s sales posted a growth of 2.2% year over year to $324.7 million, as customers affected by continuing macroeconomic headwinds preferred to shop more in its stores. The City of Commerce, CA-based retailer’s same-store sales grew by 2.3% over the same period.   Non-Texas Operations   99 Cents revenues from non-Texas operations grew 4.0% year over year to $296.4 million driven by same-store sales growth of nearly 1% coupled with the effect of ...

Digital River, Inc. (DRIV) recently reported third-quarter revenues of $99.4 million, up 3.2% from the year-ago level and surpassed management’s revenue guidance of $96.5 million – $98.5 million. The growth in revenues was driven by strength in software, consumer electronics and games markets where the company expanded existing client relationships and closed new business as well. Earnings per share of 42 cents easily beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 33 cents and exceeded management’s forecast of 38 cents – 41 cents. Earlier, prime customer Symantec announced that it would not renew its existing e-commerce agreement with Digital River beyond June 30, 2010, when its existing contract expires. However, management is encouraged by the future prospects of its existing business. Going forward, management continues to work on its business plans in response to Symantec’s decision to not renew its e-commerce contract. The company stated that it does

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