By John Tamny RealClearMarkets
Governmental price controls are problematic in two ways. For one, prices of goods reached naturally in the marketplace are essential signals that producers rely on in order to give consumers what they want. When governments seek to block out the message of the market, future scarcity is a certainty due to the inability of producers to achieve the profits that would normally prevail, and which give them the incentive to produce what we want to begin with.
These are some of the top pre-market analyst upgrades and positive calls from Wall Street this Thursday morning:
Jon C. Ogg
February 5, 2009
These are some of the top downgrades and negative calls we are seeing from Wall Street analysts this Thursday morning:
Jon C. Ogg
February 5, 2009
PCs are so well-made now that they do not have to be replaced until they break. The processors put in computers made two years ago are still powerful enough for most consumer and business use. Server-side applications like the ones sold by Google (GOOG) allow PCs to operate without much of their capacity being taxed
The key reason that many people used to have for upgrading their PCs was to get ahold of Microsoft’s (MSFT) newest operating system. The latest one, Vista, is almost universally hated. It is hard to get consumers and businesses to buy something they despise.
The people in Washington think they have bank CEOs and the investment bankers which they employ on the run. The threat of salary caps for CEOs at financial firms that take too much TARP money is just the beginning of a series of lynchings.
If the populist sentiment grows, traders and M&A executives who made $10 million each of the last five years could see their pay capped at $400,000.
They have an option. They can leave the country.
News came out that pending home sales moved up 6.3% in December and this caused a lot of conversation about the housing market finding a bottom.
The rapidly falling prices of homes and lower interest rates on mortgages got the credit for the positive move.
Only an idiot would think it will last.
It is hard to understand why anyone would want to buy Sirius XM (SIR). All it has left is Howard Stern and he will probably leave soon enough.
Sales at Sirius are being hurt by the downturn in the car market. The satellite radio firm had an operating loss of $4.8 billion in the September quarter due to write-downs. Without the accounting action, the company would still have lost about $50 million. Revenue and subscriber growth are both slowing. SIRI also has a lot of debt due this year.
All of that makes Sirius a queer takeover candidate.
Much of the crisis in the banking industry has been blamed on the inaction of the boards of directors at companies including Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C). Some of Citi’s most prominent members have left, probably not entirely of their own volition. The board at B of A has been savagely attacked over the last several weeks because it did not insist on better due diligence in the buyout of Merrill Lynch and for allowing large bonuses to be paid to employees after the firm had taken TARP money.
According to Reuters, Wall St. workers face a bleak future.
Reuters reports that the Senate has agreed to a soft "buy America plan."
Reuters reports that the government needs an investment plan for its bank shares.
Reuters writes that a US housing bottom may be in sight.
Markets in Asia were narrowly mixed.
The Nikkei fell 1.1% to 7,950.
The Hang Seng was up ,9% to 13,178.
The Shanghai Composite dropped .5% to 2,098.
Most of Europe opened down.
Data from Reuters.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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