ThinkstockThe Securities and Exchange Commission is usually seen going after individuals, fiduciary managers, and companies for various aspects of investor fraud. We already have seen the state of Illinois get charged by the SEC, and now…
thinkstockThis week has brought much in the news of video games and the convergence of media. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) shareholders might consider that Tuesday’s testimony on taxation of international income was the bomb.…
Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) has so far managed to only get the ship ready for the big turn in its long turnaround. Now we have another company earnings report showing that HP’s core PC…
U.S. equity markets opened barely higher this morning following a report that mortgage loan applications had fallen by 9.8% from the previous week, on top of a 7% decline for the prior period. In…
thinkstockInvestors have had time to know and prepare for a capital raise of sorts from the National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG). That is almost upon us and this is bringing a negative…
Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) is surging on Wednesday after a Stern Agee analyst upgrade. LED investors should know ahead of time that this particular research call is perhaps one of the most strange analyst…
courtesy U.S. Federal ReserveWe have already seen Ben Bernanke testify to Congress today and the aim was to push back an immediate end to the bond buying and to even push back on the…
ThinkstockDidn’t Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony on Wednesday morning intend to calm fears that the bond buying was going to come to a quick end, or even a quick tapering off of activity? Apparently…
courtesy of General Electric Co.General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) did not get treated well after its first-quarter earnings report. Perhaps the largest problem was that the conglomerate’s stock had gotten ahead of itself. That…
When it comes to returning capital to shareholders, companies generally choose to pay dividends or to start share buyback plans. Many companies do both, but the real question to ask is which method of returning…
ThinkstockThe U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its weekly petroleum status report this morning. U.S. commercial crude inventories decreased by 300,000 barrels last week, bringing the total U.S. commercial crude inventory to 394.6 million…
ThinkstockThe National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports that the seasonally adjusted annual rate of existing home sales in April rose 0.6% to 4.97 million, from an upwardly revised total of 4.94 million in March.…
ThinkstockFederal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is speaking today in testimony to Congress. While all heads were turned to watch Bernanke’s hints and intonations, we do not expect to see any major changes signaled in…
ThinkstockIt was perhaps inevitable that the fight between Japan’s Softbank and Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) over Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) would take turn in this direction. In a not-at-all-veiled attempt to paint…
ThinkstockA strong stock market has the oil and gas master limited partnerships (MLPs) on fire in 2013, which already offer high dividends or distributions as income and return of capital. MLPs underperformed the broad…