The European Central Bank (ECB) will offer the next round of its long-term refinancing operation (LTRO) on February 29th, and observers expect the EU’s banks to swap €470 billion ($629 billion) in short-term funds…
After a flat opening this morning, markets turned down before reversing course in mid-morning to return to positive territory, where they spent the rest of the day. A good report on new US jobless…
Wireless carrier T-Mobile USA plans to spend about $4 billion to build out its own 4G LTE network. Oddly enough, the $4 billion is likely coming from a cancellation fee paid by AT&T Inc.…
Chinese solar panel maker Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) posted a larger-than-expected net loss today and dragged down other Chinese solar makers including Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE), Hanwha SolarOne Co.…
Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, told an interviewer from The Wall Street Journal that Greece must live up to its promises to cut its fiscal deficit targets, saying, “It’s hard to…
Shortly before noon ET today, all three major US stock indexes are showing gains, with the DJIA up about 47 points at about 12,985, the Nasdaq up more than 19 points at 2,953, and…
The metals and materials sector, including miners, has been hit hard by the weaker global economy. China’s manufacturing slowdown, the turmoil in Europe, and slow growth in the US have caused prices to fall…
The three major US equities indexes opened about flat this morning as US jobless claims came in near expectations at 351,000 new claims (our coverage here). The European Commission’s forecast of a mild recession…
A court in Shanghai has suspended proceedings in a lawsuit brought by Proview Technology (Shenzen) against Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) for infringing Proview’s claim to the iPad trademark. The suspension comes as a higher…
The value of every oil company rests primarily on the number of barrels in a company’s proved reserves. Ideally, through exploration and acquisitions an oil company wants to replace the number of barrels it…
A non-partisan federal budget watchdog organization, U.S. Budget Watch, has issued a report this morning on the national debt should the policies espoused by four Republican presidential candidates be implemented. The report offers debt…
US index futures are trending higher this morning following a better-than-expected report from Germany’s Ifo Institute on that country’s business index and expectations that US jobless claims will rise slightly from last week’s 348,000…
Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) was expected to have a good quarter, just not this good. The company reported fourth quarter and full-year results this morning and absolutely hammered expectations. Quarterly adjusted EPS came in…
Satellite TV service Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) reported fourth quarter and full-year earnings this morning. The company posted quarterly EPS of $0.70, an increase of 25% from the same period a year ago,…
The precious metals subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A; BRK-B) has agreed to acquire the US business of UK precious metals firm Cookson Group PLC. No price was announced. Richline Group, the Berkshire…
Japan, which gets about 9% of its crude oil supply from Iran, is negotiating with the US for a waiver of sanctions on its banks if it cuts the country’s Iranian imports by 20%.…
US equities markets opened lower this morning following surprisingly weak manufacturing reports from Europe and China. Fitch Ratings’ downgrade of Greek debt to ‘CCC’ could not have been a surprise, but the move highlighted…
Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS-A) has reportedly offered $1.58 billion to acquire London-based energy company Cove Energy PLC. The offer is a 73% premium to Cove’s average closing price over the past five…
The $3.6 billion acquisition by Verizon Wireless of advanced wireless services licenses from SpectrumCo LLC is generating some stiff opposition from Verizon’s competitors. Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ)…
Pennsylvania-based PPL Corp. (NYSE: PPL) today won a unanimous verdict from the US Supreme Court, overturning a Montana Supreme Court ruling that PPL must pay rent to the state for the riverbeds underneath its…