Worries Continue over the Strait of Hormuz
There continue to be rumors that Iran will dump oil into the Strait of Hormuz to block the shipping lane that is so critical to the movement of crude. For months, there have been worries…
All Work
Trey Thoelcke
Soros Warns of EU Self-Destruction
Billionaire investor George Soros has spent the past year warning that the European Union will be destroyed by financial and debt problems that will plunge Europe into an economic dark age. Soros will talk about his concerns to…
Microsoft’s Surface Faces Huge Headwinds
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) needs to build and sell its Surface tablet to “hedge against a declining PC market,” a reporter from ZDNet writes. The problem is that even if the Surface does well,…
U.K. Inflation Nears Three-Year Low
The U.K. Office for National Statistics (ONS) said today that inflation in the country fell to its lowest level in almost three years in September. Annual consumer price inflation slowed to 2.2% last month,…
Economic Sentiment for Germany Up for the Second Straight Month
The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany has increased by 6.7 points in October 2012 to -11.5 points. This is the second consecutive increase of the indicator, and it compares to a consensus…
Broadcasting Unit Lifts Gannett’s Q3 Profit
Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI) reported fiscal third-quarter results before markets opened this morning. The USA Today publisher posted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.56 on revenues of $1.31 billion. In the same period…
NABE Survey Sees Tepid Growth Through 2013
The latest outlook survey by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) indicates that economists see a “tepid, albeit improving” outlook developing for the United States. Respondents to the October survey expect inflation-adjusted growth…
Skepticism Grows About China’s Economic Data
The fall-off in China’s factory activity may be beyond what Chinese central government officials have admitted so far. Pockets of pessimism have begun to crop up across the country. Zhou Dewen, who runs a lobbying group…
Finance Ministers Point Fingers, Throw Stones
Most observers think that the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank exposed the simmering disagreements among the finance ministers of large nations about how the world’s weakening economy can be bolstered.…
Movie-Goers Are Taken with Mature Hollywood Stars
via Wikimedia Commons“Taken 2,” a kidnapping movie starring aged Hollywood star Liam Neeson, shows that the market for new films is not driven only by films that feature young actors, vampires or animated characters. “Taken…
Workday Soars on First Trading Day
Workday Inc. (NYSE: WDAY) began trading on the New York Stock Exchange today and shares of the enterprise software company soared early. The stock was trading up 73% to $48.50, after pricing at $28…
Google Maintains Its Huge Lead in Search
Not much of a surprise, but Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) was again the leader in the U.S. search market in September by a wide margin, according to comScore’s latest monthly analysis of the U.S.…
Apple Maps Issues Have Little Impact on iPhone 5 Sales
A new survey of 4,270 primarily North American consumers by the research firm shows an unprecedented degree of consumer interest in the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone 5. Dr. Paul Carton, VP of Research…
TARP: Was It Worth It?
The bailout programs that made up the TARP investments will end up costing taxpayers very little, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report: CBO estimates that the net cost to the federal government…
Germany Rebuffs IMF Pressure for Stimulus
Germany wants nothing of the International Monetary Fund pressure to allow some money that will go to Europe’s financially weakest nations to be used for stimulus and not to underwrite recoveries based on austerity.…
OECD Secretary General Sees Spain Going It Alone
Organization for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentAngel Gurria, the secretary general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, told CNBC that Spain’s reluctance to request a bailout is understandable and the country may try…
European Union Honored with Nobel Peace Prize
nationsonline.orgThe Nobel Committee in Oslo today awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union “for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.” The…
Short Interest in Biotech Is Mixed (ALXN, AMGN, ARNA, BIIB, CELG, DNDN, GILD, ILMN, ONXX, PCYC, REGN, VRTX, VVUS, IBB)
The short interest in biotech stocks is mixed, judging by the short interest changes between the September 14 and September 28 settlement dates. There were notable swings in shares sold short from Biogen Idec,…
Siemens Prepares to Shrink
It is never a good sign when a global corporation with customers across almost the entire world and a broad array of businesses says it will cut workers because of the economic slowdown. But A.G.…
A Trade War with China Is Brewing?
The trade and business battles between China and the United States were ratcheted up again as the American government set tariffs on China made solar panels that will be as high as 30%. The action comes…