U.S. Treasury to Sell More GM Stock
Wikimedia CommonsThe U.S. Treasury said this morning that it will sell another 30 million shares of stock in General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) in conjunction with GM’s addition to the S&P 500 Index. The…
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Paul Ausick
UBS Investment Management Guru Warns of “Abegeddon”
ThinkstockSince the beginning of the year, the Japanese yen has fallen from around 86 to the dollar to around 100. The rapid depreciation is down to a massive easing program instituted by the country’s…
Mortgage Loan Applications Sinking on Higher Loan Rates
ThinkstockThe Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications this morning, noting a drop of 11.5% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index. That followed a decline of 8.8% for the…
Closing Bell for Tuesday on Wall Street: Markets Open Higher, Sink Later
U.S. equity markets opened slightly higher this morning but lost steam in the afternoon to finish with a loss for the first Tuesday in a record streak of Tuesdays. In Europe, Spain reported unemployment…
Corporate Pension Plan Funding Rises to Two-Year High
ThinkstockThe latest research from Mercer Investment Consulting shows that the aggregate deficit in pension plans sponsored by the companies listed on the S&P 1500 stands at $269 billion at the end of May. That…
GM New Car Sales Hold Slim May Market Share Lead Over Ford
ThinkstockYesterday’s reports on new vehicle sales in the U.S. underscored a well-known fact: U.S. drivers really love pickup trucks. And they like their trucks big: three full-size pickups sold more than all smaller pickups…
Intel Run to Mobile Devices May Be Too Little, Too Late
ThinkstockIn a look at Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) yesterday, we noted a positive article in Barron’s and an analyst’s upgrade from FBR Capital Markets. Intel’s design win for the 10-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab played…
Amazon Snags Viacom Programs After Netflix Passed in Favor of Disney
By Steve Jurvetson CC-BY-2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsAmazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB) said this morning that the two had signed a multiyear, exclusive deal that will offer Viacom programming on Amazon’s…
CoreLogic Home Price Index Climbs to Seven-Year High
ThinkstockHome prices rose 12.1% in April, compared with the same month a year ago, the largest monthly increase since February 2006, according to research firm CoreLogic Inc. (NYSE: CLGX). The firm had previously forecast…
U.S. Trade Deficit Up 8.5% in April
Courtesy Maersk LineThe U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported this morning that the U.S. trade deficit for April totaled $40.3 billion, up from $37.1 billion in March. U.S. exports rose…
Lenovo Seeks Larger Share of Smartphone Market
ThinkstockChina’s Lenovo Group has been looking for a way into the smartphone market at least since early this year, when the company was reported to be eyeing Research In Motion, now known as BlackBerry…
Salesforce.com to Acquire ExactTarget in $2.5 Billion Buyout
ThinkstockCustomer relationship management firm Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) has agreed to acquire cloud-based marketing firm ExactTarget Inc. (NYSE: ET) in a deal worth $2.5 billion. Salesforce.com will immediately begin a tender offer for all…
Dollar General Company Earnings: Outlook Weighs on Shares
ThinkstockDollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG) reported first-quarter 2013 results before markets opened this morning. The discount retailer posted adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.71 on revenues of $4.23 billion. In the same…
Closing Bell for Monday on Wall Street: Markets Wobble, But Finish Higher today
U.S. equity markets opened higher this morning following a slightly upbeat report on eurozone manufacturing PMI. While not yet in positive territory, eurozone PMI rose as a whole and rose in most European countries…
Zynga Cuts More than 500 Jobs, Shares Halted
courtesy of ZyngaShares of Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) were halted for five minutes this afternoon as the company announced a layoff of about 520 employees that it said would be completed by August. Zynga,…
Sprint Claims Dish Network Takeover Bid for Clearwire Violates Law
ThinkstockThe competing bids from Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) and Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) for Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR) are once again the subject of dueling press releases. This time Crest Financial Ltd.…
Private Equity Firms Bidding on Iron Ore, Other Mining Assets
ThinkstockAs the world’s largest mining companies look to shed assets as they seek to boost investor returns, the mining sector is drawing interest from private equity firms. Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX), The Carlyle…
Automobile Sales at Five-Year High for General Motors
courtesy of General MotorsAutomaker General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) said today that May automobile sales rose 3% this year, compared with May of 2012. The company sold a total of 252,894 vehicles in May,…
Fuller Planes, More Fees, Lower Fuel Costs Drive Airlines Profitability
ThinkstockThis was never going to be a boom year for the airlines. The world’s air carriers managed a profit of $7.6 billion in 2012, about 1.2% of industry revenues. The International Air Transport Association…
New Construction Spending Improves Slightly in April
ThinkstockThe U.S. Census Bureau reported this morning that construction spending in April rose by 0.4% to an estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of $860.8 billion, from an upwardly revised estimate of $857.7 billion in…