courtesy of StarbucksCoffee retailer Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) will begin selling a reusable plastic cup for $1 at all its U.S. and Canadian locations in an effort to reduce the amount of waste generated…
ThinkstockIn a tracking survey that estimates the percentage of the U.S. population employed at least 30 hours a week, Gallup reports that the Payroll to Population (P2P) employment rate rose from 43.7% in November…
ThinkstockRetailers are announcing December same-store sales figures today and, to tell the truth, expectations are pretty low. Research firm Retail Metrics projects an overall gain of just 1.9% year-over-year, sharply lower than the 3.5%…
ThinkstockFamily Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE: FDO) reported first-quarter fiscal 2013 results before markets opened this morning. The discount retailer reported diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.69 on revenues of $2.42 billion. In the…
ThinkstockThe Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications this morning. It noted a decline of 21.6% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index, compared with a decline of 12.3% for…
U.S. equity markets opened sharply higher this morning following approval last night from the U.S. House of Representatives of a bill that preserves some tax cuts, eliminates others, and basically kicks the can down…
ThinkstockWarren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) subsidiary MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. has acquired the 579-megawatt Antelope Valley solar projects from SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) for a total price of up to $2.5 billion.…
ThinkstockRevenue rose to $35 billion at the Chinese special administrative region of Macau in 2012, up 13.5% for the year after posting a record rise of nearly 20% in December. Predictions of a downturn…
Any tax legislation worth the name carries with it a host of hangers on that represent special gifts to special interests. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 is no different. Here is a…
ThinkstockRetailers do not appear to be headed for uniformly upbeat sales increases in December. Research firm Retail Metrics has dropped its forecast for a same-store sales increase by another 10 basis points this morning,…
ThinkstockOn a day when exuberance — either rational or irrational, who knows? — is ruling equity prices, rare earths miner Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) is surging. The company, which has had its troubles in…
ThinkstockThe Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported this morning that its manufacturing survey rose to 50.7% in December, up 1.2% from November’s reading of 49.5%. The rise is only the third in the past…
ThinkstockThe U.S. Census Bureau reported this morning that construction spending in November fell by 0.3%, to an estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of $866 billion, from a revised estimate of $868.2 billion from October.…
ThinkstockResearch firm Markit Economics reported that the final U.S. purchasing manager’s index (PMI) rose from 52.8 in November to 54 in December, the highest index reading in seven months. The final reading was somewhat…
ThinkstockNow that the United States has dodged the fiscal cliff, investors are expecting at least a boomlet in manufacturing and production. That means more energy and more basic materials. Coal and steel stocks are…
ThinkstockLast night’s agreement on a fiscal cliff deal is lifting the commodities markets this morning, especially for crude oil. Traders are reacting to the now-lessened chance of a global recession led by severe cutbacks…
thinkstockLast night’s passage of a deal on the fiscal cliff in the U.S. House of Representatives has lit a fire under stock futures this morning. The DJIA is up more than 160 points (about…
courtesy Boeing Co.If all that Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) had to do was build and sell airplanes, 2012 would go down as the biggest success ever. The company is expected to have delivered 585…
ThinkstockThe popular with consumers and expensive for the company short-term car rental business got a boost today. Avis Budget Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CAR) announced this morning that it has agreed to acquire Zipcar Inc.…
U.S. equity markets opened flat to lower this morning as the clock ticked down to the final hours in negotiations related to the U.S. fiscal cliff. Share prices edged upward for most of the…