Japan Exports: The First Economy To Fall Hard
While GDP measurements vary a bit from country to country, Japan is probably the world’s second largest economy. Based on the decade plus economic stagnation in the nation in the 1980s and 1990s, it…
Archive
Year: 2008
All Year: 2008 Articles
Newest first · Page 10Russia And China: Rioting For Fun And Profit
Violent labor unrest in the US may have seen its best days end with the Columbine Mine Massacre of 1927. There were some incidents after that, but they were not as notorious. American workers…
Media Digest 12/22/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
According to Reuters, Japan’s recession deepened as its exports fell sharply. Reuters reports that Ireland will spend $7.7 billion to bailout its largest banks. Reuters reports that Toyota (TM) will report its first operating…
Asia Market And Europe Open 12/22/2008
Markets in Asia were mixed The Nikkei rose 1.6% to 8,724 despite a big drop in exports. Toyota (TM) fell after cutting output. The Hang Seng dropped 2.6% to 14,742. The Shanghai Composite was…
The Obama Bailout Plan: Spending Beyond The Imagination
"That’s nothing." Percy had leaned forward and dropped his voice to a low whisper. "That’s nothing at all. My father has a diamond bigger than the Ritz-Carlton Hotel." –F.Scott Fitzgerald, "The Diamond As Big…
Getting $120 Trillion Into The Global Economy
It used to be that $1 trillion seemed like a lot of money. Now the Obama administration-to-be says that it plans to put just short of that sum into the US economy over the…
Canadian Aid To GM (GM) And Chrysler Will Cover Two Week’s Expenses
Canada will put up $3.3 billion in government loans for troubled car companies. GM (GM) and Chrysler have large operations there, particularly plants. A shutdown of the firms would cost thousands of jobs. The…
The Layoff Kings: The Companies That Cut The Most In 2008 (C)(HPQ)(T)(GM)(BAC)(SBUX)(WFC)(DOW)(JAVA)(JPM)(AMR)(MRK)
People who get to the end of 2008 and are still at work can be thankful. The unemployment rate will probably be over 7%. That does not count the people no longer looking for…
Barney Frank To Paulson: Do It My Way (C)(BAC)
Most members of Congress are still remarkably upset that Paulson too the first half of the TARP money and used it for purposes much different than the ones he first set out. Instead of…
Stating The Obvious: No Credit, No Car Sales
Michael Jackson, the CEO of Auto Nation (AN) has been around the car industry for decades. He got started as an auto dealer in 1979 and ran the North American operations of Mercedes-Benz. Jackson…
Companies That Won’t Make It Through 2009 (HMC)(SIRI)(AIG)(FRE)(FNM)(RAD)(NYT)(NT)(PIR)(CHTR)(HOV)
A lot of fairly well-known public companies either disappeared or went bankrupt this year. Circuit City is on the list. Based on the most recent news GM may get added soon. 24/7 Wall St.…
52-Week Low Club (ARTC, CORL, GEOY, HPGP, HLND, HRC, PDLI, SNN, TTWO)
There are plenty of 52-week lows out there for the picking. These are some of the major lows we saw today which we have seen. Some are on specific news, and some are just…
Cash Pipeline is Flowing, But Rates are Up (ETP, KMP)
Energy Transfer Partners L.P. (NYSE:ETP) has priced an offering of $600 million in 9.7% senior notes due 2019, and the paper has been rated ‘BBB-‘ with a ‘stable’ outlook by Fitch Ratings. Earlier this…
The Market Wises Up About GM (GM)
It has become just another trading day for GM (GM). Shares are up 11% to $4.09. Over the last two weeks, it has traded well above that level on several days. On December 8,…
NRG Lectures the Feds (NRG, EXC)
NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) responded to yesterday’s announcement by hostile suitor Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC) that Exelon had filed for Hart-Scott-Rodino approval of its proposed merger with NRG. The response is nothing more than a…