Posted: July 5, 2009 at 6:13 am
Apple (AAPL) is doing an atrocious job of paying the developers of software for its iPhone, at least according to The New York Post. The newspaper reports that the companies which are not being paid have mounted a campaign on the internet to pressure the consumer electronics firm. “The group claims Apple is short-changing them by not paying them what they are due for helping the tech giant reach the one-billion-apps-sold milestone recently.”
Apple probably doesn’t care. It has the App developers under its thumb. Read Full Story »
Posted: July 3, 2009 at 7:31 am
It seems that venture capital has started to reappear in clean energy and clean technology. A report this week from The Cleantech Group with contributions from Deloitte saw a resumption to growth in venture investing after two quarters of decline. The funding seems focused on electric vehicles and in biofuels, but interestingly enough the investments into solar hit a new low. We have long maintained after watching solar stocks that they may be nothing more than a highly leveraged bet on the price of oil as far as publicly traded companies are concerned.
The outcome was funding in 94 companies receiving roughly $1.2 billion in total spread out in North America, Europe, China and India. This would represent a gain of 12% from the prior quarter, but is still down a sharp 44% from a year ago. The average round size was up roughly 5% over the prior quarter to $12.9 million.
All of this matters to the investing public because this is what leads to new IPO’s, mergers, partnerships and more. Much of this data also coincides with what we seen in the public capital markets as well.
Read Full Story »
Posted: July 3, 2009 at 5:41 am
Pre sales have to keep a very brisk pace for Palm (PALM) to continue its turnaround. Many experts believe that consumers will make a decision to buy the Pre in lieu of the Apple (AAPL) iPhone or RIM (RIMM) Blackberry. New data fromConsumer Reports shows that the Pre may be a tough sell Read Full Story »
Posted: July 3, 2009 at 5:19 am
By Antoinette Geyelin
So, Mr. Bernard Madoff is going to jail for 150 years. Seems like a fairer sentence than the twelve his lawyers asked for. But you know what? I don’t think he should be there alone; I think he should have some company.
Quite a lot of company in fact. Who should be there with him?
Read more….
Posted: July 3, 2009 at 5:16 am
By Kathleen Rogers
The state of California may soon issue IOUs to its business vendors, students awaiting financial aid payments, and taxpayers expecting refund checks. When I first read this story, I had to check the calendar – was it April 1? No, this April Fool’s joke is exactly three months late. I am reminded of my childhood, playing the Game of Life with friends, occasionally resorting to using those last-resort Promissory Notes, which even we kids knew could end up worthless. The state has not made clear when it might make good on these notes, whether or how much interest they might pay, etc. Even the threat of the issuance of promissory notes spells out just how dire California’s financial situation now is. It seems the “Golden State” may have entered its “Golden Years,” at least in terms of its financial vigor.
Read more…
Posted: July 3, 2009 at 5:14 am
China is scouring the world for oil as its expanding economy needs more crude to fuel its transportation and infrastructure needs. The world’s most populous nation is close to a deal to loan Brazil oil giant Petrobras $10 billion for off-shore drilling. The deal would help China lock up more than 100,000 barrels of crude a day.
China has been an aggressive bidder for rights to Iraqi oil fields although it is too early to say how that will work out. Sinopec (SNP) has bid $7.2 billion for oil company Addax Petroleum. Read Full Story »
Posted: July 3, 2009 at 4:54 am
Nouriel Roubini told Barron’s almost a year ago that 1,400 US banks would fail due to the collapse of the credit markets. RBC Capital made a similar estimate.
As it turns out, 2009 is only half over and only 52 banks have closed including seven that were announced yesterday. No major US financial firm has closed down. Read Full Story »
Posted: July 3, 2009 at 3:58 am
Reuters: Smart investors are starting to cherry- pick stocks.
Reuters: California may agree on a budget to stop using IOUs.
Reuters: Some stock funds are still making up for lost ground.
Reuters: The US housing market may be in early recovery.
Reuters: US unemployment spiked in June. Read Full Story »
Posted: July 2, 2009 at 6:34 pm
The notion of regulating risk and behavior on Wall St. was given another stunning blow today as the FT reported that one rogue broker cause a spike in oil prices earlier this week. The paper wrote “PVM Oil Associates, the world’s largest over-the-counter oil brokerage, said it had been the victim of unauthorised trading”.
Oil inexplicably jumped from $71 to $73.50 in one hour of trading on Tuesday.
The news makes it clear that even a small firm can move markets and that providing rules and watchdogs has severe limitations. Read Full Story »
Posted: July 2, 2009 at 9:44 am
This morning we caught an alert for volume and trading activity at VSInvestor.com in Beacon Power Corporation because of a government award of a loan commitment. This has now been confirmed. Beacon announced that it has received a conditional commitment from the Department of Energy for a loan guarantee of approximately $43 million. Keep in mind that this is subject to negotiation and completion of a number of contracts and conditions.
Read Full Story »
Posted: July 2, 2009 at 7:37 am
The Labor Department has a slew of data on the employment front this morning. Actually, it is the unemployment front. The data for unemployment in June showed a rate of 9.5%. The bad news comes in the form of the change in non-Farm Payrolls, which came in at-467,000. Where this gets tricky is inside the individual data and inside the weekly data.
Read Full Story »
Posted: July 2, 2009 at 7:22 am
JPMorgan has decided to make some key solar ratings changes this morning. The firm is cautious on the valuation of some in the position of a declining market trend right now, but there are some key takeaways here that are up as well. Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENER) and Evergreen Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: ESLR) are up, while shares of First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) are getting slapped on this call today.
Read Full Story »
Posted: July 2, 2009 at 6:31 am
These are the top pre-market analyst upgrades and downgrades we have seen this Thursday. There are going to be fewer and fewer research notes from now to what is most likely Tuesday morning as Friday is a holiday and Monday is being taken off by so many investment and research personnel.
- Blue Coat Systems (BCSI) Started as Buy ar Auriga.
- Cisco Systems (CSCO) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
- Continental Airlines (CAL) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
- Delta Airlines (DAL) Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
- Dynegy (DYN) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.
- Hawaiian Airlines (HA) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
- Mechel Steel (MTL) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
- Sempra (SRE) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
- Southwest Airlines (LUV) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
- Tata Motors (TTM) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Jon C. Ogg
July 1, 2009
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Posted: July 2, 2009 at 5:08 am
Bing is arguably the best search product Microsoft (MSFT) has ever launched. It has gotten good to excellent reviews. A number of internet reseach firms show that Bing is picking up market share from Google (GOOG) and Yahoo! (YHOO).
Microsoft is paying a price for Bing, one that is well beyond its development costs. The world’s largest software company says it will spend $100 million on the Bing launch campaign and may invest as much as 10% of its operating income on search over the next five years. That could be as much as $20 billion.
Microsoft is being especially smart in areas that involves very little investment, too. Read Full Story »
Posted: July 2, 2009 at 4:59 am
It is hard to say whether a person is better off stopping smoking and lessening their chances of a heart attack or killing themselves. Some of the anti-smoking drugs from Pfizer (PFE) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) can have terrible side effects. The drugs are Chantix, made by Pfizer, and Zyban, made by GlaxoSmithKline. Inexplicably, the FDA will allow the treatments to stay on the market.
The New York Times reports that “Federal drug regulators warned Wednesday that patients taking two popular drugs to stop smoking should be watched closely for signs of serious mental illness, as reports mount of suicides among the drugs’ users.” Read Full Story »
Posted: July 2, 2009 at 4:46 am
Several car companies have offered to make monthly payments for new auto buyers who lose jobs. Hyundai even has a program to take some vehicles back if their owners can’t find work.
The K-Mart division of Sears (SHLD) is joining the parade of firms hoping to aid those down on their luck. According to the FT, the program will start in Michigan, the hardest-hit state where joblessness is above 14%. It is also the home of K-Mart’s former parent. Read Full Story »
Posted: July 2, 2009 at 4:34 am
Goldman Sachs (GS) recently said that media reports that its employees would make huge sums based on the firm’s 2009 earnings were not true. It turns out that they probably are. In an article in The Wall Street Journal, the paper says Goldman “is on track to pay out as much as $20 billion this year, or about $700,000 per employee.”
Goldman is just asking for trouble. Read Full Story »
Posted: July 2, 2009 at 4:01 am
The SEC’s inspector general has suggested to Congress that the government should pay a bounty to individuals who turn in financial felons, a new wrinkle among the attempts to keep fraud out of the system. According to the FT, the agency’s comments included the observation that “Although the bounty system has been in place at the SEC for more than 20 years, there have been relatively few awards made.” The agency also recommended that the Roman Catholic Church pay altar boys for turning in priests who they suspect of bad behavior. Read Full Story »
Posted: July 2, 2009 at 3:54 am
The recovery seemed so certain just a month ago. The American economy would be out of the recession before the end of the year. A number of arrows have pointed in that direction. The May unemployment figures were tame despite the ongoing human toll of rising job losses. Housing prices are not plunging at the same rate that they were earlier in the year. The revisions of the numbing GDP drop of the first quarter have improved the number slightly. The assumptions for deteriorating second quarter GDP is that it will be so much better than the first quarter that the American consumer will be less afraid to make even modest purchases. The auto sales figures for June appear to give some support to the idea that not all of the cash available for consumer spending has been put into mattresses. Read Full Story »
Posted: July 2, 2009 at 3:04 am
Reuters: California declared a financial emergency.
Reuters: An SEC attorney raised concern about a Madoff report in 2004.
Reuters: Auto parts supplier Lear filed for bankruptcy.
Reuters: NYC apartment sales are down more than 50%.
Reuters: Beijing Automotive will bid for Opel.
Reuters: GM told a judge asset sales was its only option. Read Full Story »
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