HP Goes After “Me Too” Windows 8 Market (HPQ, MSFT, AAPL)
One thing that can be said about the high-tech marketplace is that it does not lack ideas. But it is sometimes difficult to sort out the good ones from the bad ones. Hewlett-Packard Co.…
All Work
Paul Ausick
Kindle Fire Sold Out (AMZN, AAPL, GOOG)
Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), said this morning that the company is sold out of its Kindle Fire tablets and that the device has captured 22% of the U.S. tablet market.…
Good News (Mostly) on Retail Sales (M, TGT, COST, LTD, WTSLA, GPS)
Several retailers are announcing August same-store sales today, and the reports are generally good. The good results are pushing share prices close to or above current highs. Here’s a rundown: Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M)…
DuPont Sells Paint Unit, Will Cut “Overhead” Later (DD, CG, APO, KKR, SYT)
Following a months-long auction process, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (NYSE: DD) has agreed to sell its performance coating unit (DPC) to the Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) for $4.9 billion in cash.…
Sales of Foreclosed Homes Not a Weight on Market
The second-quarter foreclosure report from RealtyTrac was published this morning and at first glance it might seem that sales of foreclosed homes could be an anchor of sorts for the housing market. In the…
Air Carriers Face Slowdown
Passenger travel actually posted a 3.4% year-over-year gain in July, but that gain was much lower than the 6.3% increase in June and the 6.5% increase in the first six months of 2012. July…
Fed’s Beige Book Describes Gradual Growth
The U.S. economy expanded “gradually” in July according to today’s release of the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book. The expansion included most regions of the country and sectors of the economy, with nine districts reporting…
Profiting from the U.S. Drought
Higher commodities prices and payments to farmers who purchased crop insurance have led the U.S. Department of Agriculture to conclude that total farm profits will rise this year to $122.2 billion, up 3.7% from…
24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — August 29, 2012: Markets Rise on Slim Economic News (WPI, SCHN, IBM, BIDU, IDXX, TFM, GCO, HNZ, ISLE, JASO, JOY, YGE, ZLC, LTRX, P, TIVO, VRA, TD, YELP, MCP, NOK)
The three major U.S. stock indexes opened slightly higher this morning following an upward revision to the U.S. second quarter GDP growth reading to 1.7%, above the 1.5% preliminary reading and better than the…
Chinese Firm Files for Approval to Buy Canadian Oil & Gas Company
When China’s Cnooc Ltd. (NYSE: CEO) made its offer of $15.1 billion to acquire Canada-based Nexen Inc. (NYSE: NXY), the offer quickly brought to mind Cnooc’s failed 2005 $18.5 billion offer for Unocal, which…
U.S. Borrowers Getting Better at Managing Debt
Ever since the financial crisis of 2008-2009, U.S. households have borrowed less and paid debt more quickly than in the years before the crisis. Between 2000 and 2007, Americans were adding an average of…
Internet Music Still Dances to Big Labels’ Tune (SIRI, P, SNE, AAPL, AMZN, GOOG)
Internet music services are stuck in a period of relatively quiet turmoil as the companies deal with rising content costs and fierce competition with one another and with some very well-established players. Sirius XM…
New Car Sales on Upswing (GM, F, TM, HMC)
In 2011, new car and light truck sales in the U.S. came in at about 13 million units sold. According to TrueCar.com, forecast sales for August put new light vehicle sales at a seasonally…
If You Like Your Job, You’re in the Minority
Almost 60% of Americans would change careers according to a recent survey conducted by Yahoo! Finance and Parade magazine. That’s just one of a number of startling results: Most Americans (28%) don’t expect to…
Crude Inventories Rise, Price Slips
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its weekly petroleum status report this morning. U.S. commercial crude inventories rose by 3.8 million barrels last week, bringing the total U.S. commercial crude inventory to 364.5…
Pending Home Sales Jump to Two-Year High
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) this morning released its data on pending home sales in July. The index rose from 99.3 in June to a two-year high of 101.7. Compared with July of…
Half of Americans Die Broke
New research from MIT indicates that nearly half of Americans die with essentially no financial assets. About 46% of U.S. senior citizens hold less than $10,000 in assets at the time of their deaths…
More Bleeding in Solar Sector (JASO, YGE)
Solar cell and module makers JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE) reported second-quarter earnings this morning and both fell short of consensus estimates. JA…
Heinz Results Mixed, but Margins Rise on Higher Pricing
H.J. Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) reported adjusted first quarter 2013 earnings per share (EPS) of $0.87 on $2.79 billion in sales before markets opened today. In the same period a year ago, the food…
Mortgage Applications, Interest Rates Fell Last Week
The Mortgage Bankers Association released its weekly report on mortgage applications this morning, noting a 4.3% decline in the group’s composite index compared with last week’s total. Applications for refinancing fell 6% (seasonally adjusted),…