Sony Faces Serious Headwinds
Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) continues it retreat as most of its business divisions continue to sputter in the face of competition. The company closed a camera and mobile phone factory. It also will “downsize”…
All Work
Trey Thoelcke
Southwest Air Lines Posts Profit Despite Weak September
Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) this morning reported an in-line profit in the third quarter, boosted in part to fewer negative fuel-hedging impacts. The Dallas-based company posted adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.13…
Toys“R”Us Extends Free Layaway
In its latest attempt to win over customers during the crucial holiday season, Toys“R”Us announced today that it will extend its free layaway plan until Dec. 16. The toy company has offered free layaway…
$99 Nexus Is One Step Closer to Free Tablets
The tablet wars will continue to heat up if rumors are right that Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) will release a $99 machine. Although it may not be as feature rich as current products from…
Apple Loses a Round to Samsung
The intellectual property lawsuits between Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Samsung continue to go back and forth. The latest court decision hurts Apple. A U.K. court said that the Samsung Galaxy tablet did not…
U.S. Unemployment Reaches New Low — Gallup
In the wake of the controversial 7.8% unemployment rate reported by the U.S. Labor Department earlier this month, Gallup today said that its nonseasonally adjusted rate fell from 7.9% at the end of September…
Abbott Labs Q3 Profit Surges, but Revenues Slip
Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) said that third-quarter earnings surged, despite a slip in revenue, due to a double-digit decline in expenses. The health care company posted adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.30 on…
U.S. Bancorp Posts Record Q3 Profit
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) reported third-quarter 2012 results before markets opened this morning. The Minneapolis-based bank posted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.74 on revenues of $5.18 billion. In the same period a year…
What Will Be Spain’s Next Move?
nationsonline.orgSpain is on the cusp of something, but no one seems to know for sure what it is. The country received good news from Moody’s that kept Spain’s sovereign paper rating at investment grade.…
IBM, Intel Results Reflect the Sluggish Economy
Analysts continue to sift through the earnings reports from International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) and Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC). Each released relatively weak results for the most recent quarter. The fates of their…
Apple to Unveil iPad Mini Next Week
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) apparently is about to have another in a series of very public product announcements that stretch back over all of the years when Steve Jobs ran the company. As the…
Johnson & Johnson Tops Earnings Expectations
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) reported fiscal third-quarter results before markets opened this morning. The health care giant posted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.25 on revenues of $17.1 billion. In the same period…
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…
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…