The Travelers Companies Inc. (NYSE: TRV) reported first quarter earnings this morning that were lower than for the same period a year ago, but well above consensus estimates. The company posted revenue of $6.4…
The government of Iraq will prohibit Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) from participating in the May auction of new leases because the US company last year signed six leases for exploration in Kurdistan without…
The revelation that the CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK), Aubrey McClendon, was borrowing money from a private equity firm that did business with Chesapeake to finance his personal stake (2.5%) in the…
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) and Russia’s state-controlled oil company Rosneft have revealed some details of a recent deal the two signed which could result in a total investment of $500 billion. The agreement…
The World Gold Council has released its summary of the first quarter’s price performance for the yellow metal. The Council noted a few macroeconomic trends that had an impact on the price of gold…
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in a speech today encouraged European governments to support the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) efforts to double its cash on hand and build an even higher firewall to prevent…
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its weekly petroleum status report this morning. US commercial crude inventories increased by 3.9 million barrels last week, bringing the total US commercial crude inventory to 369…
US railroads have suffered from the warm winter with falling volume on coal transportation, but rising prices for gasoline and diesel fuel have bumped up container (intermodal) traffic and taken much of the sting…
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) CEO Aubrey McClendon has received loans totaling $1.1 billion in the last three years backed by his share in Chesapeake’s wells. Under the terms of his employment contract, McClendon…
Health care benefits manager SXC Health Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ: SXCI) has agreed to acquire competitor Catalyst Health Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: CHSI) in a deal valued at $4.4 billion. According to the announcement: Catalyst shareholders…
Here’s a pre-open look at several stocks making moves this morning: United Rental Inc. (NYSE: URI), Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE), and Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:…
US car buyers purchased 11,642 clean diesel vehicles in March, a rise of nearly 29% over February sales and up nearly 40% year-over-year. Year-to-date US sales of clean diesel vehicles is up 35% to…
The introduction of the Lumia 900 smartphone from Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), and AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) was not exactly a thing of beauty. First, the launch was set for…
The coming nationalization of the YPF portion of Repsol YPF SA (OTC: REPYY.PK) by the Argentine government has killed a deal that the Spanish company had been reportedly negotiating with China Petroleum and Chemical…
Markets opened higher this morning and by late-morning equities were trading down about 1.5% across the board, where they have mostly remained for the rest of the day. An upbeat auction on short-term Spanish…
In testimony in the copyright infringement case brought by Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) against Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said that his company considered buying smartphone makers Research in Motion Ltd.…
A couple of weeks ago there were press reports that Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) was contemplating the acquisition of one of three idled Eastern US refineries, with the most likely being the…
The country’s second-largest package delivery firm, FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) has revealed that it is in discussions to acquire French express company TATEX. The French firm carriers about 19 million packages annually and turns…
AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) will soon make advertisers an offer it hopes they can’t refuse. The company will give advertisers the opportunity to buy online advertising using the same model currently used to buy…
President Obama is expected today to call for Congressional action to add teeth to the regulations governing oil market trading. The President’s main proposal is likely to propose that regulators be given the power…