US retailers are reporting December same-store sales today, and here’s a wrap-up of the results as of about 10 a.m. this morning. Reports were in from Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST), Target Corp. (NYSE:…
The US Energy Information Administration released its weekly petroleum status report this morning, one day later than usual due to the holiday. US commercial crude inventories rose by 2.2 million barrels last week, bringing…
The US Energy Information Administration just released natural gas inventory data for last week. Natural gas stocks have dropped by 76 billion cubic feet compared with the previous week. For the year, stocks are…
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) hurdled a very low bar for December same-store sales, but that was all the good news the company could muster. The consensus estimate for Penney’s was a decline…
Profits at Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) in 2012 will be sharply lower than analysts had been expecting. The drug maker, which lost patent protection on its best-selling anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa in late…
December same-store sales at Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) rose 6.2%, well above the consensus estimate of 5%. But sales for the peak sales season of November and December rose less, just 5.7%. But the…
Big box retailer Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) posted a same-store sales gain of 1.6% for December, well short of the consensus estimate of 3.1%. This compares with a 7% same-store sales gain at Costco…
Wireless phone company MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS) reports this morning that it added 197,000 net customers in the fourth quarter and about 1.2 million net new subscribers for the full year. The company…
One of the most venerable names in high-performance computing, Cray Inc. (NASDAQ: CRAY), expects to report a loss 2011. The company spelled out the problem in a press release: During the fourth quarter of…
Taiwanese chip maker Elan Microelectronics Corp. has settled a patent dispute with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). According to Elan, Apple will pay the company $5 million and the two will sign a cross-licensing agreement…
Retailer Limited Brands Inc. (NYSE: LTD) reported December same-store sales increased by 7% compared with the same period in 2010. For the full year sales are up 10% over 2010. Limited also revised its…
Last year’s volatility in the corn market could repeat itself this year, but for a different reason. Seed corn, which is grown from specialized plants, is in short supply due to dry conditions in…
The global shipping industry has been hit hard by an oversupply of vessels leading to a drop in day rates and lower revenues and profits for the shippers. One branch of the industry, though,…
Too much of a good thing, maybe, for Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ). Verizon Wireless, the company’s joint venture with Vodafone plc (NASDAQ: VOD) sold 4.2 million Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhones in the…
Markets opened lower today and stayed in negative territory until mid-afternoon. Car makers reported December sales throughout the day, with Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) both showing gains…
The government of Spain will require the country’s banks to add another €50 billion to reserves against bad property assets. The amount was higher than the banks had been expecting and contrary to some…
Shares of Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) have risen about 7% today and it’s hard to say whether the main cause is speculation that Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) might buy the company or a report…
Now that Cisco Cystems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) appears to have put its restructuring in the rear-view mirror, it might be worth looking at whether or not the stock is headed toward $20/share again. The…
President Obama will appoint former Ohio attorney general Richard Cordray as the head of the Consumer Finanicial Protection Bureau today, invoking the president’s authority to make appointments when Congress is adjourned. To counter the…
A state appeals court in Pennsylvania has sided with two women who filed suit against drugmaker Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) claiming that the company’s Prempro menopause drug caused their breast cancers. The award of…