ThinkstockThe Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications this morning, noting an increase of 7% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index, following a rise of 1.8% for the previous…
ThinkstockThe Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued the first good news about the federal budget deficit since the 2008 recession and the huge stimulus program meant to pull the economy out of its dive. In…
ThinkstockChina reported a strong trade surplus for April. The problem is that few analysts believed information from the People’s Republic. Experts have been skeptical about China’s economic data for years. One reason is that…
courtesy of Toyota Motor Corp.Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) issued financial data that showed that in the short term the auto manufacturer has experienced a recovery. Toyota’s fortunes mostly have gotten better since the…
courtesy of Facebook Inc.Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) will hurt the value of online video ads just the way it hurt the value of display ads beginning three years ago. And the effect of Facebook’s…
courtesy J.C. Penney Co. Inc.J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) traded up a little after the retailer gave details about results for its latest quarter. The investors who stepped in made a mistake. The…
White House Photo by Pete SouzaThe improvement in stock prices has done nothing to bring the investment in equities by individuals higher at all. As a matter of fact, participation in stock ownership has…
courtesy of The Car Spy, via Wikimedia CommonsShrinking Federal Budget Deficit The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued the first good news about the federal budget deficit since the 2008 recession and the huge stimulus…
courtesy of AOL, IncChina’s trade surplus is better than expected in April. (Reuters) With inflation below Federal Reserve targets, the central bank may have to increase bond buying. (Reuters) Some hedge funds move into…
ThinkstockFor the past four and a half years, teen unemployment has exceeded 20%. As of April 2013, 24.1% of teens seeking jobs were unable to find work, according to a report released this week.…
ThinkstockWhat often happens after a stock (or a sector) runs to new all-time highs based upon hype and based upon current trends? You often see companies and their corporate insiders sell more shares. That…
via Wikimedia CommonsThe 2009 agreement between Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is scheduled to run for 10 years, but the agreement contains provisions to allow the two companies to make…
courtesy of the Walt Disney Co.The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) has released its first-quarter earnings report. Earnings rose by 32% to $0.83 per share from $0.63 in the prior-year quarter. Outside of items…
U.S. equity markets opened higher this morning following an unexpected 0.25% cut in Australia’s key interest rate to a new level of 2.75%. Japan’s Nikkei reopened today after a two-day holiday and buyers were…
ThinkstockThe Federal Reserve has reported that consumer credit in March rose by only $8.0 billion. Bloomberg was calling for consumer credit to rise by $15 billion, but today’s Fed report was worse than all…