A Record Fine on the Table for BP
courtesy of BP plcThe U.S. Department of Justice and BP PLC (NYSE: BP) have reportedly reached an agreement on the penalties the company will face related to the blowout of its Macondo well in…
All Work
Paul Ausick
October Foreclosures Up 3% — RealtyTrac
ThinkstockA total of 186,455 foreclosures filings were made in the United States during the month of October, according to real estate tracking firm RealtyTrac. That number represents a rise of 3% month-over-month, and a…
24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — November 14, 2012: Markets Can’t Hold Gains, Lose Again Today (ABX, JCP, POT, HD, SOHU, CSCO, IAG, RENN, ANF, SPLS, TYC, DMND, DRYS, NTAP, PETM, SPB, GME, ROST, VIAB, WMT, FB, ANF, IAG)
U.S. equity markets opened higher this morning, but the three major indexes fell below the neutral line after the first hour or so of trading. In Europe, Greece said its GDP contracted by 7.2%…
Facebook Shares Rise as More Shares Hit Market
courtesy Facebook Inc.In a counter-intuitive development today, shares of Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) are up more than 11% as roughly 800 million newly tradable shares of the company’s stock hit the market. Today marks…
Samsung Won’t Deal with Apple
courtesy of AppleIn the wake of the news that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Taiwan’s HTC Corp. had settled their big patent infringement case, there was some speculation that Samsung would also choose to…
Utica Shale’s Hopes Dimmed at Chesapeake
courtesy Chesapeake Energy Corp.Aubrey McClendon, co-founder and CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) told an investor conference yesterday that the Utica shale play in eastern Ohio is unlikely to be a location “where…
Shell to Spend Big on Natural Gas
thinkstockAnglo-Dutch oil supermajor Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS-A) said today that it plans to invest more than $20 billion by 2015 in the company’s Integrated Gas business. The company claims to produce 22…
Wireless Carriers May Hold Key to RIM’s Hopes
courtesy of BlackberryNow that Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) has announced a launch date for its new BlackBerry 10 smartphones and operating system, the $64 question is whether anyone will care when the…
October Homes for Sale Declines, Prices Flat: Realtor.com
ThinkstockAccording to data released today by Realtor.com, the number of homes for sale fell by 17% year-over-year in October. And instead of rising prices, the real estate website says that prices have remained flat.…
Mortgage Applications Rebound on Rebuilding After Hurricane
ThinkstockThe Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications this morning, noting a rise of 12.5% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index, compared with last week’s decrease of 5%. Unadjusted,…
Piling on Citi After Pandit
ThinkstockWhen Vikram Pandit abruptly left Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) last month, the story was that it was his decision to do so. Maybe, but Pandit’s missteps over the years did not leave him with…
Walmart Delivers the Goodies
courtesy of Wal-Mart Stores Taking a page from the book of some high-end, direct-marketing retailers, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) today announced the launch of the company’s Goodies Co., a monthly food-subscription service “for…
Staples’ Loss Brings Out Buyers
ThinkstockStaples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) reported third-quarter fiscal 2013 adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.46 and $6.35 billion in revenues before the markets opened this morning. In the same period a year ago,…
Fertilizer Maker Mosaic Cuts Guidance
thinkstockAfter markets closed today, The Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) cut its guidance on fiscal second quarter shipment volumes and tightened its price forecasts to the upper end of its previous range. The maker of…
24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — November 13, 2012: Markets Bounce Higher, Close Lower (CL, DOW, NS, FFIV, FMS, BAGL, JEC, DKS, HD, KORS, SKS, TJX, CSCO, IAG, RENN, ANF, SPLS, TYC, WFT, GBX, TTWO, NFLX, MSFT)
U.S. equity markets opened lower this morning on softness in Asian markets and another punt in the eurozone. In Asia, China is rumored to be ready to expand its property tax program, Japanese industrial…
Scientists Urge Closure of Hundreds of Coal-fired Power Plants
ThinkstockThe Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today released a new report that argues for closing more than 350 of the nation’s oldest — and dirtiest — coal-fired power plants. The plants are located in…
IEA Monthly Report Cuts Crude Demand Estimate
ThinkstockThe International Energy Agency released its monthly Oil Market Report for November today and the agency has cut its fourth quarter demand estimate by 290,000 barrels a day from the October report’s estimate of…
Microsoft, Google Launch Courtroom Patent Fight Today
Wikimedia CommonsThe U.S. District Court in Seattle today kicks off the latest patent royalty payment battle, this one between Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). The two combatants have locked horns…
BHP Dumps Canadian Diamond Mine
ThinkstockDiamond company Harry Winston Diamond Corp. (NYSE: HWD) has agreed to purchase the Ekati diamond mine from the Canadian subsidiary of BHP Billiton PLC (NYSE: BHP) for $500 million. BHP owns 80% of the…
Economic Confidence Remains High: Gallup
ThinkstockFor the week ending November 11, the Gallup U.S. economic confidence index came in at -11, a slight decline from the -10 reading of the previous week. These two weeks have put up the…