“Double Irish” and “Dutch Sandwich” sounds like action movies or detective novels. The last thing that anyone would suspect them to be were sophisticated tax avoidance strategies that save Google Inc. (GOOG) and other…
Like all well-run businesses, the federal government has a worst, best, and middle case for the cost to bail out Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The range is from $221 billion to $363 billion,…
How investors view the oil field services business depends a lot on whether a company is heavily involved in offshore drilling. Onshore drillers have seen share prices rise steadily as production companies in the…
Twitter has, by most estimates, 145 million members, which makes it one of the largest social networks in the world. All major media companies are on Twitter and some have more than one million…
Updated throughout the day. Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) may buy back the $5 billion investment that Warren Buffett made in the investment bank. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will retain lawyers to recover…
McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) earnings were up again and it renewed its commitment to raise its dividend which adds to the return it has made to shareholders through buy-backs and improved pay-outs. The firm said…
AT&T (NYSE:T) turned in strong wireless numbers but its fiber-to-the-home numbers were anemic. The drop in its consumer landline business continues to damage the company’s prospects For the quarter ended September 30, 2010, AT&T’s…
E-commerce sales are still below 10% of all retail sales in the US, but the category has posted a better growth rate than bricks-and-mortar revenue for some time. comScore reported that between Black Friday…
Almost no one expected Nokia (NYSE: NOK) to post strong third quarter earnings, but it did. Revenue rose 5% to 10.27 billion euros. Operating profit rose to 423 million euros from a 426 million…
The Transportation Department probably keeps statistics on car recalls which date back to the Model T. It does not matter much since problem cars are recalled for an infinite number of reasons and some…
Third quarter GDP growth in China slowed to 9.6% from 10.3% in the second. Economists said this was a return to “normal” growth instead of an unsustainable expansion. It is, in fact, no slow…
The UK will fire about 490,000 public workers as part of an austerity program to cut its deficit. The plans call for $124 billion in budget cuts over four years. The UK deficit is…
Reuters: Geithner said the major currencies are “in alignment” but need negotiations to make sure their status remains that way. Reuters: Toyota (NYSE: TM) will fix 1.52 million Avalons. Reuters: The…
A gangbusters earnings report from Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) is no surprise, which makes the video rental giant’s decision to disclose less about its operations puzzling. Net income at the Los Gatos, Calif-based company…
Twitter has, by most estimates, 145 million members, which makes it one of the largest social networks in the world. All major media companies are on Twitter and some have more than one million…
Updated throughout the day. GE (NYSE: GE), United Technologies (NYSE: UTX), and Honeywell (NYSE: HON) are all considering a bid for BEA Systems aerospace business (Reuters) The NY State Attorney General may soon settle…
Americans continue to stay out of diploma lines. The American Council On Education has issued a new report that says “today’s young adults are no better educated than the baby boom generation.” That seems…
Strikes and labor stoppages around Europe have increased in number and intensity. The increase has occurred as workers protest the effects of pending austerity programs planned by several nations which have run high deficits…
Starbucks (NADSAQ: SBUX) will begin to offer new Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) online services as part of its free in-store WiFi plan. It already gives away some content on the network including WSJ.com, which is paid…
Reuters: Wall St. was disappointed by Yahoo!’s (NASDAQ: YHOO) revenue forecast. Reuters: French police unblocked the fuel deposites held by strikers against auterity. Reuters: The CEO of Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) refuted comments…