Shoppers appear to be continuing their searches for the perfect holiday gift in strong numbers today. Tracking site pricegrabber.com says that Cyber Monday searches will rise by about 15% this year, with the most…
Commercial Metals Co. (NYSE: CMC) is up nearly 23% on more than 6 times normal daily volume shortly before noon today. Shares are trading at $14.04, following a takeover offer of $1.73 billion from…
This year’s cost for all the items in the popular Christmas song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” now tops $100,000. The folks at PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: PNC) have the details. The biggest…
Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO) stands to complete its offer a junior uranium miner with the withdrawal of Cameco Corp. (NYSE: CCJ) from the bidding for Hathor Exploration Ltd. (OTC: HTHXF). A side effect…
Mining giant Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO) will apparently win the bidding war it’s been waging with Cameco Corp. (NYSE: CCJ) over Canadian uranium miner Hathor Exploration Ltd. (OTC: HTHXF). Cameco has announced that…
For several months now, the world’s largest mining firms have been re-affirming that their businesses are solid and that demand has remained solid. Now, though, the veneer may be cracking. Both Rio Tinto plc…
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reports that air freight volume fell by 4.7% in October, compared with the same month a year ago. Passenger traffic increased by 3.6% in the same period. Part…
With one holiday down and another on deck, the coming week offers something of a breather. Most quarterly earnings are out already, but there are several due next week that could be interesting. The…
Ever since the Energy Act of 2005 was passed and signed by President Bush, USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU) has been working on a loan guarantee of $2 billion to build a new uranium enrichment…
Many stores are planning to open early on Black Friday in an effort to get a jump on holiday shopping, but spending increases are not expected to rise more than 3% or so. In…
To say that Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) has had a tough go lately is an understatement. To even whisper the same thing about Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR) is a colossal understatement. Sprint has…
The US Energy Information Administration’s weekly petroleum status report shows that the US commercial crude inventory fell by 6.2 million barrels in the week ending November 18th. Crude oil in commercial storage now totals…
For-profit colleges have had a tough couple of years. First, the colleges were forced to change admissions procedures in a way that has cost them enrollment. Then student loan default rates and job placement…
Stocks opened a bit lower this morning, but almost immediately turned around without being able to break through the opening numbers. Revised third-quarter US GDP numbers were worse than expected, falling to a revised…
An unexpected gain in October retail sales has boosted prospects for a better-than-forecast holiday retail sales season. Some of the sales gains will come from lower pricing, which can’t always be counted on to…
Following the terrible earnings reports just out from a half-dozen of China’s largest solar PV makers, it is mathematically possible that at least one of these companies is at the edge of the bankruptcy…
The solar PV sector has been struggling for the last two or three quarters as manufacturing over-capacity has driven down module pricing by around 40% since the beginning of the year. China’s top solar…
Stock prices plunged this morning and spent most of the day trading way down. The DJIA hovered around -300 points for most of the day, while the NASDAQ was off around -50 points and…
It now costs about $1 billion to get a new drug to market, or, if a company is unlucky, $1 billion to fail to get the drug to market. Like the movie business, a…
The weak economic forecast for 2011 and 2012 appears to have weighed unevenly on electronics and computer wholesalers. Tech Data Corp. (NASDAQ: TECD) reported missed earnings and revenue estimates this morning, failing to keep…