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Monthly Archives: June 2010

China Exports Up 50%: A Rumor Turns Real

A rumor that China's exports rose 50% compared to last May drove China's markets up over 2% at the close of trading. It turns out that the numbers were correct. ...
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BP: Oil Consumption In 2009 Dropped First Time Since 1982

BP plc (NYSE: BP) has found a place in the oil business beyond being one of the largest polluters in the industry's history. The company released extensive numbers on the ...
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GM Reverses Itself On Dealer Closings

GM will spare 900 of the nearly 2,000 dealerships it planned to close.  That will leave it with 5,000. The revised plan will save GM money. Closing dealerships adds to ...
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US Trade War With China Escalates On Steel Tariff Plan

The US International Trade Commission will put a 15.72% tariff on steel pipe imported from China. The ruling is based on a preliminary finding by the division of the Commerce ...
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Media Digest 6/9/2010 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters:   Fed officials are at odds about rates. Reuters:   The "Volcker Rule" may be in trouble as the Senate works on financial reform. Reuters:   Shareholders would sack BP plc's (NYSE: ...
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Does Microsoft Still Deserve a “AAA” Rating? (MSFT, GOOG, AAPL, YHOO)

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) closed lower today along with many technology companies, but there is something rather interesting worth noting.  This morning we covered a small esoteric convertible debt offering ...
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Administration Committed To Improving IT Use To Make Way For Layoffs

The Administration means to make good on its goal to cut $250 billion from the discretionary part of the federal budget over the next decade--a sum that almost all analysts ...
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Walgreen Vs. CVS Caremark: When Partnerships Turn South (WAG, CVS)

Sometimes little surprises are just as interesting as big ones. For example, Walgreen Co. (NYSE:WAG) has announced that it would not accept either new or renewal business from prescription drug ...
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Companies Coming Clean About Euro Impact Against Earnings (BCSI, MCD, BKD, MMM, STP, HPQ)

A little over two weeks ago, we ran a list of "8 Big Companies With High E.U. Exposure" to see which companies had the most at risk due to the ...
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Rumor: Is There a Second Leaking Well in the Gulf? (DO, BP, RIG, NE, ATW, BHI)

Satellite imagery has revealed what appears to be a second leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico about 10 miles offshore of Louisiana. The semi-submersible Ocean Saratoga, owned by Diamond ...
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More Vendor Souring Fears at Tellabs (TLAB, T, CSCO)

Tellabs Inc. (NASDAQ: TLAB) started to look like it was in worse trouble than a garden variety sell-off from an analyst downgrade last week.  There was no downgrade on mere ...
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The US Might Begin Exporting Natural Gas (COP, MRO, LNG, CQP, APA, DVN, CHK, XTO, XOM)

For the past 40 years a natural gas liquefaction plant on Alaska's Cook Inlet has been producing LNG and shipping it to Asia. The plant is owned by ConocoPhillips Corp. ...
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Recalls May Hit All-Time Record: GM Brings Back 1.3 Cars

The auto industry is trying to recover from a 2009 when U.S. companies sold only 10 million vehicles, down from 16 million in 2005. In another example of how the ...
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Baidu’s Growing Market Share In China–A Market That Does Not Matter

Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) wants to have 80% of the Chinese search market even though it does not matter. The company told Reuters that it believes that with Google Inc. (NASDAQ: ...
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Eight of 2010′s Worst ADR Performers (ALU, AIB, IRE, NBG, BBVA, OTE, WMD, MPEL)

ADR investors have probably made money this year only if they were writing call options or if they were shorting the stocks.  The added currency component has greatly magnified the ...
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