courtesy J.C. Penney Co. Inc.J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) denied plausible rumors that CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) has cut off credit to small vendors of the retailer. The conjecture may be supported by a sharp drop in…
ThinkstockVery little in the Consumer Federation of America’s (CFA) “Nation’s Top Ten Consumer Complaints” was unexpected. The results of the survey show how hard it may be to operate in some of the businesses in which customers expect…
ThinkstockChina’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) figure for July was weak, or modest, depending on the source, but certainly no cause for optimism about a sharp slowing of the world’s largest economy. After adjusting for…
courtesy of Sony Corp.Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) posted a profit, but the figure is not likely to satisfy raider Daniel Loeb, who wants the company to break out its studio operations. Sales and operating…
ThinkstockAutomakers will be reporting July sales tomorrow, and while sales month-over-month are projected to decline, sales compared with July of 2012 are expected to be significantly higher. For the full year, the seasonally adjusted…
July 31, 2013: U.S. equity markets opened higher this morning as traders and investors this afternoon’s announcement from the FOMC. In Europe, the unemployment rate in the eurozone was unchanged at 12.1%, and Germany’s…
courtesy of SamsungA new smartphone brand study could be the harbinger of a new world order. Two smartphones made by Samsung Electronics were the top U.S. scorers, ahead of various iPhone models from Apple…
thinkstockStandard & Poor’s has decided that the corporate credit ratings for the National Bank of Greece S.A. (NYSE: NBG) are affirmed at “CCC/C.” What remains a caution is that the ratings outlook is now…
courtesy U.S. Federal ReserveThe Federal Reserve statement from the July FOMC meeting has been released. Ben Bernanke and the team inside the Fed are looking for the economy to continue improving, but there will…
ThinkstockEastman Kodak Co. (OTC: EKDKQ) is dead as far as its stock goes, or at least it might as well be at 11 cents a share. This company has been one of the longest.…
ThinkstockAlcatel-Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) is in the midst of a turnaround, or perhaps correcting a misguided turnaround that has hobbled the communications equipment maker for a decade. The stock was incredibly well received after…
Thinkstock Pershing Square Capital Management this morning filed a report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission revealing that it has purchased a 9.8% stake (about 20.55 million shares) in Air Products & Chemicals…
courtesy of Sirius XM RadioThe share price of Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) manages to just keep rising and rising. The stock recovered handily after the recession, increasing from pennies to $1.00. Then…
courtesy of Apple Inc.Taking market share or losing market share is one key metric over how popular a product is. What happens if that market share does not translate to profitability? In the finicky…
ThinkstockThe U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its weekly petroleum status report this morning. U.S. commercial crude inventories increased by 400,000 barrels last week, maintaining a total U.S. commercial crude inventory to 364.6 million…