September 17, 2013: U.S. markets opened higher Tuesday following a report from the Labor Department that the consumer price index (CPI) rose just 0.1% in August, putting to rest any immediate concern about inflation.…
thinkstockPrivate equity firm Sycamore Partners and its affiliates appear to be on a mission to snatch poorly performing retailers from the jaws of oblivion. The firm said Tuesday morning that it had acquired a…
ThinkstockRetail sales during the 2013 holiday shopping season are forecast to rise by 2.4%, but store traffic is expected to decline by 1.4% from year-ago levels. Compared with last year’s sales gain of 3%,…
ThinkstockThe world of semiconductors has been in a state of flux as the world is moving from PCs to smartphones, tablets and other consumer electronics. 24/7 Wall St. tracks many key sectors to identify…
ThinkstockU.S. government debt held by the public has soared for the past several years and now stands at 73% of total U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). Except for a short period around World War…
Microsoft Sweden, via Wikimedia CommonsMicrosoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced Tuesday morning that it would raise its quarterly dividend by $0.05 to $0.28, a boost of 22%, and that the company’s board had approved a…
Courtesy General Motors Co.U.S. automakers have a lot at stake in the battle for sales of full-size pickup trucks. Nearly 1.3 million pickups have been sold this year through the end of August, the…
ThinkstockJames River Coal Co. (NASDAQ: JRCC) has had a rough couple of years. Monday’s announcement that the company was cutting production and laying off 525 workers is just the latest installment of bad news…
September 16, 2013: U.S. markets opened higher Monday morning after an announcement on Sunday by Larry Summers that he was withdrawing his name from consideration as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve. Summers…
Courtesy SanofiThe U.S. division of Paris-based Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) announced on Monday that an iconic U.S. consumer product not named Twinkies is on its way back to store shelves. Over-the-counter antacid Rolaids is once…
ThinkstockIn 2012, the U.S. imported nearly 3 million barrels of oil a day from Canada. The Keystone XL pipeline, if it is approved, would increase that total by 830,000 barrels, but without a change…
ThinkstockIt is the sort of record that most people would wish had never been set. According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), a gallon of regular gasoline in the United States has cost an…
courtesy Boeing Co.Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA experienced a third problem with one of its two 787 Dreamliners from Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA). A plane scheduled to fly from New York to Oslo was delayed…
ThinkstockHong Kong-listed Tencent Holdings Ltd. announced Monday morning that the company has invested $448 million in privately held Sogou Inc. and merged its search business with Sogou’s. Tencent now holds 36.5% of Sogou, which…
ThinkstockGlobal oil markets never seem to sit still. Crude oil prices, of course, vary minute by minute nearly 24-hours a day, but that is only the most visible manifestation of the action. A technological…
courtesy of Chevron Corp.Following a November 2011 leak of about 3,600 barrels of oil from a rig offshore of Brazil, Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) and driller Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) were slapped with a…
September 13, 2013: U.S. markets opened higher Friday morning after mixed reports on the retail sales and producer prices. The preliminary reading on September consumer sentiment came in well below the August reading and…
ThinkstockSecond-quarter 2013 results for solar power markets offered a mixed bag. Residential solar installations were flat quarter-over-quarter, commercial installations were down 11% and utility-scale installations jumped 42%. The United States installed 832 megawatts of…
ThinkstockThe Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary consumer sentiment index for September dropped to 76.8 from a final reading of 82.1 in August. The September index is the lowest reading since April. Economists were expecting…
ThinkstockAccording to today’s report from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Commerce, seasonally adjusted retail and food services sales in August rose 0.2% month-over-month and 4.7% compared with August 2012. Economists had…