Before you can fix something, it’s good to know exactly what the problem is. The persistently high US unemployment rate is one of those problems that has defied an exact description. There are those…
When shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) hit an intra-day high of $664.74 earlier today, the company’s market cap hit $623 billion. That topped the previous record market cap of $618.9 billion reached by…
Even though the trailing 12-month default rate on high-yield bonds in July was a little better than the June rate, Fitch Ratings expects the default rate to end the year with a 2.5%-3% rate.…
Flickr, James SarmientoCorinthian Colleges Inc. (NASDAQ: COCO) reported a fourth fiscal quarter EPS loss of $0.08 and $394.78 million in sales before markets opened this morning. In the same period a year ago, the…
Not the last bastion of male exclusivity, but certainly among the most prominent, Augusta National Golf Club has offered membership to two women: former US national security adviser and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice…
The world’s largest restaurant chain, McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) has confirmed that it is testing mobile payments at 30 of its stores in France. McDonald’s has about 30,000 stores all around the world, and…
The latest installment of “The Expendables” franchise debuted at number one at weekend box offices around the country. “The Expendables 2” from Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: LGF) hauled in $28.8 million in its…
As a condition of regulatory approval for its acquisition of El Paso Corp., Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: KMP) agreed to divest some assets in the Rocky Mountains. Today the company made good…
The Motorola unit of Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has filed a claim with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) seeking an import ban on foreign-made products by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). The case would…
For those of us who spent Sunday doing something other than reading financial news, German magazine Der Spiegel ran an unsourced story claiming that the European Central Bank (ECB) planned to propose setting a…
Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) reported second-quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $0.64 and $14.25 billion in sales before markets opened this morning. In the same period a year ago, the home improvement retailer…
The three major US stock indexes opened higher this morning after the news that German chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany would support European Central Bank sovereign bond buying. Unfortunately she doesn’t have the last…
Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE: BHI) has reported that the North American rig count totaled 2,240, up from 2,230 the week before and down from 2,460 in the same period a year ago. The increase…
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics today released its data on state and regional unemployment for July. Compared with June 2012 data, unemployment rates rose in 44 states, with 2 states and the District…
The YouTube division of Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) drew 157 million unique viewers in July, nearly 3x the number of unique viewers of its nearest rival, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB). The figures come from…
Economists had expected the University of Michigan/Thomson Reuters consumer sentiment index for August to be roughly equal to the 72.3 reading posted in July. But today’s report indicated a reading of 73.6, the highest…
The most recent Gallup unemployment survey reported that the unadjusted U.S. unemployment rate in mid-August rose from 8.2% at the end of July to 8.3%. The polling firm’s seasonally adjusted rate also rose from…
Real-estate website Trulia Inc. has filed a preliminary Form S-1 with the SEC for an IPO to raise $75 million. The company offers free and paid subscription home search products for both home buyers…
South African authorities said that 34 “protesters” at a platinum mine were killed after police opened fire on the striking workers. The mine is owned by London-listed Lonmin PLC, the world’s third-largest producer of…
In less than two months, the price of Brent crude has risen from around $90 per barrel to threaten $120 per barrel again. At the pump, gasoline prices are up about $0.30 a gallon…