Tuesday Closing Bell: Markets Stall, Waiting for Fed, Jobs Report
December 3, 2013: U.S. equity markets opened lower Tuesday morning and for the most part the day got worse from there. There was no new economic data in the U.S. today, and it could…
All Work
Paul Ausick
OPEC Production Stays High, Prices Falling
The dramatic production increase from U.S. shale plays in North Dakota, Montana and Texas have had little impact on the amount of oil produced by members of OPEC. However, the cartel does face a…
3D Stocks Could All Be Great Short Plays
ThinkstockShort interest in stocks of 3D printer makers has been just as volatile as the stock price at the newly discovered next big thing. The stocks bounce higher, the shorts sell; the stocks dip…
November Auto Sales Keep Pace for Yearly Sales Jump to 16 Million
ThinkstockAutomakers reported November U.S. sales throughout Tuesday, and we will follow the reports and post results as they come in. Carmakers had another good month both in sales and in average sales prices. Two…
Activist Investor Demands New Abercrombie CEO
ThinkstockJoining what should be a large chorus calling for replacing Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) CEO Michael Jeffries, activist investor Engaged Capital, headed by Glenn Welling, has sent a letter to the A&F’s…
QEP Resources Yields to Activist Investor
ThinkstockWithout ever speaking the name of its antagonist, QEP Resources Inc. (NYSE: QEP) announced Tuesday morning that it will pursue a separation of QEP Field Services Company and its interest in QEP Midstream Partners…
October Home Price Gains Show Expected Slowdown
ThinkstockHome prices rose 11% in October, compared with the same month a year ago, for a 20th consecutive monthly year-over-year gain, according to research firm CoreLogic Inc. (NYSE: CLGX). Home prices rose 0.2% from…
Happy Holidays: Potash Corp. Slashes Jobs
thinkstock‘Tis the season for companies to try to cut the last little bit out of expenses so they can show investors that they can make the tough decisions and get that stock price back…
Cyber Monday Success: Online Sales Set New Record
ThinkstockOnline shopping on Cyber Monday lived up to its billing, topping Black Friday’s online sales of around $2 billion with a new record of $2.29 billion. That is very close to an estimate of…
Six Tech Stocks for 2014 Under Activist Investor Pressure
ThinkstockActivist investing firms have been raising the pressure on companies that either have underperformed or that are sitting on a mountain of cash that is returning very little value to shareholders. We have taken a…
Monday Closing Bell: Markets Close Down Following Mixed Open
December 2, 2013: U.S. equity markets opened mixed Monday morning and got a small boost from a decent report from ISM on manufacturing. The uptick didn’t hold though and stocks ended the day on…
U.S. Okays Microsoft Acquisition of Nokia Phone Business
courtesy of MicrosoftWith no fanfare and just a list of all the subsidiaries included in the deal, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Monday granted permission…
Valero Commences Logistics IPO, Setting Up for Refinery Payday
ThinkstockContinuing a trend begun in May, Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) on Monday commenced an initial public offering (IPO) of a logistics group called Valero Energy Partners L.P., announcing plans to sell 15 million…
November Auto Sales Expected to Rise, but Inventories Rising Faster
ThinkstockCarmakers are expected to report November sales on Tuesday, and the consensus estimate calls for sales of about 1.2 million cars and light trucks, a gain of 3.6% over November 2012, according to Kelley…
Hilton Doubles IPO Plan
ThinkstockLess than a month ago, the planned initial public offering (IPO) for Hilton Worldwide Holdings was expected to raise about $1.25 billion that the company would use to pay down debt. The hotel chain’s…
Will Cyber Monday Offset Weak Holiday Shopping Start?
ThinkstockA survey for the National Retail Federation (NRF) estimated that more than 141 million different shoppers hit the stores over the four-day Thanksgiving holiday. That is slightly more than the 139 million that hit…
Shopping Report: Gains on Thanksgiving Day, Declines on Black Friday
ThinkstockConsumers turned out in big numbers for the Thanksgiving Day-Black Friday shopping weekend, but the numbers were a bit more wrinkled than many observers expected. Total numbers for the two days rose compared with…
Petrobras Raises Brazilian Gasoline, Diesel Prices: Better Late than Never
ThinkstockPetroleo Brasileiro SA (NYSE: PBR), commonly called Petrobras, announced on Friday that it is raising the prices it charges for gasoline and diesel fuel by 4% and 8%, respectively. This is the fifth rise…
Thanksgiving Day Shopping Soon to Top Black Friday?
ThinkstockResults for the shopping extravaganza known as Black Friday have begun to come in and by all accounts, Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday shoppers held up their end of the bargain. Retailers’ promotional prices…
The Day After Black Friday: Cyber Monday
ThinkstockWhat has become the largest day for online sales in any given year is nearly upon us again. Cyber Monday, the first Monday after the long Thanksgiving weekend, is right around the corner, and…