US equity markets opened lower this morning and never moved into positive territory all day. Greek debt swap negotiations made no discernible progress today and there was no scheduled data on tap to move…
Drug giant Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) plans to file this year with the US FDA for approval of the company’s newest sleep aid drug, suvorexant. The drug has completed late-stage trials with positive…
Private Swiss banker Julius Baer Group expects to be fined by the US for the bank’s role in allowing US citizens to hide assets and avoid US taxes. The bank also said it does…
Japan’s Sanyo Electric Co. will close its Carson, California, solar wafer plant and fire about 140 workers by Ocober, according to a report from Bloomberg New. The small plant produces about 30 megawatts of…
Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) has apparently given up on its effort to sell its credit card business in the UK and Ireland, which is operated under the MBNA Europe name. MBNA Europe…
President Obama has ordered a freeze on the assets of Iran’s government and central bank held in US banks and offshore branches of US banks. In a statement to Congress, the President said: I…
Here we go again: the Good E-Reader blog is citing “sources close to the situation” for the story that Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) is preparing to open a bricks-and-mortar store in Seattle. The rumored store…
The launch of the iPhone 4S from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) catapulted the market for smartphones to 157.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011, up 54.7% from 102 million units shipped in…
For the first time since last Spring, President Obama is getting favorable ratings on his job performance from 50% of US voters. And the President now leads probable Republican nominee Mitt Romney by 51%…
At about noon, the DJIA is still down 43 points at about 12,819, the Nasdaq has made up some ground, but is still down about 8 points at around 2,898, and the S&P 500…
US coal miners had a tough fourth quarter and most are expecting the same conditions for at least the first half of 2012. Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: ANR), Patriot Coal Co. (NYSE: PCX),…
Large Asian importers of crude oil like China and India have been cutting back on purchases of Iranian crude, substituting instead crude from North and West Africa, according to an exclusive report from Reuters.…
Reports of a third quarter IPO from solar PV installer SolarCity could propel Tesla Motors Inc. CEO Elon Musk into the ranks of US billionaires. Musk, a cousin of SolarCity’s founders, is the company’s…
The three major US equities indexes opened lower this morning on continued worries about the still-pending Greek debt swap. The DJIA is about 43 points at about 12,819, the Nasdaq Composite is down nearly…
The annual meeting of shareholders in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) could be a bit livelier than usual this year. The February 23rd meeting includes four shareholder proposals, all of which are opposed by the…
Large federal contractors have been resorting to cost containment to maintain their profits as federal spending is reduced. The situation is likely to undergo more strain as planned cuts in military spending are enacted…
US index futures are lower this morning as the negotiations between Greece and its creditors once more come to the fore. Discussions over the weekend led to no resolution, and investors worry that the…
The Chinese government has ordered the country’s airlines not to pay the European Union’s carbon emissions fee which went into effect at the beginning of this year and applies to any airline that flies…
Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) will begin inspecting its 787 Dreamliners for a possible delamination problem in the plane’s carbon-fiber fuselage. One of the aircraft, which is now owned by Japan’s All Nippon Airlines, has…
Last week’s announced $88 billion merger of Glencore International AG (OTC: GLNCY) and Xstrata plc (OTC: XSRAY) has been on the back burner for a long time. Perhaps the biggest reason for Glencore’s 2011…