At Least A Quarter Of Home Sellers Have Cut Prices
Twenty-five percent of people with homes on the market as of August 1 have cut the prices of their homes at least once according to real estate research firm Trulia. The trend has lasted…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Amazon May Push Into Tablet PCs
Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) was ambushed by Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) when Jobs & Co. launched the iPad. It was close enough in price to the Amazon Kindle and had more features. Amazon eventually dropped…
Oil Demand Predictions Revise Up For 2010 And 2011, Maybe
The International Energy Agency has revised upward its forecast for oil demand this year and next. Demand is seen at 86.6 million barrels per day in 2010 , 50,000 barrels a day higher than…
Dell, Late To The Tablet Party, Hopes To Gain
Dell Computer (NASDAQ: DELL) has been a troubled company ever since founder Michael Dell returned as CEO. The company has fallen behind rivals in PC and server sales. Other large tech firms including IBM…
US Economists Wake Up And See A Crisis
The second half of this year will be worse than the first–economically. That is what economists are saying now that they have looked at the Federal Reserve notes, the unemployment numbers, and housing data.…
A Festering Pessimism In US And Other Developed Nations
People in nations with the most developed economies are extremely pessimistic about the future financial health of their countries, according to a new poll by the global research firm Ipsos Mori. Only 18% of…
Short Sellers Exit Telecom Shares
Short sellers pulled out of telecom stocks for the period ending on July 30, after many of them reported weak earnings. Investors are gambling that most of these shares are not likely to fall…
Media Digest 8/11/2010 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
Reuters: Research In Motion will share some BlackBerry code with the Saudis. Reuters: The dollar hit a 15-month low compared to the yen Reuters: India will decide whether to restrict the BlackBerry. Reuters: Dell…
Nintendo Wii Sales Hit 30 Million In US
Nintendo Wii sales have not been particularly spectacular recently. The console is aged and the Sony (NYSE SNE) PS3 and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox 360 have new features and have sharply cut retail prices.…
As Russia Burns, Who Wins And Loses?
Russia’s worst heat wave on record is going to complicate its recovery from the worst recession in 15 years. It also may wreak havoc on many of its trading partners. Though the human toll…
What Ever Happened To Cable Giant John Malone?
Cable magnate John Malone offered a gloomy outlook on the economy to the Wall Street Journal that has not been born out by his own holdings. “Well, my wife, who is very concerned about…
Drop in Container Shipping Could Point to Retail Slowdown
The dramatic increase in China’s trade balance in July could indicate a number of possibilities. One is that the country’s currency is more fairly priced. That’s barely true. Another is that Chinese consumers are…
For the Economy’s Sake, No Quantitative Easing
By John Tamny of Forbes Try as it might, the Fed can’t push credit into an economy where demand for it is low. Not only will quantitative easing not work, it has the potential…
Today’s Best Market Rumors (8/10/2010)
Updated throughout the day. The Queensland government remains in talks with a group, including BHP Billiton, which has raised its bid for the state’s coal freight network to 5.2 billion Australian dollars ($4.8 billion)…
The Twitter-24/7 Wall St. Market Watch (8/10/2010) China Trade, Ellison Ravages BP Board
Twitter has, by most estimates, 100 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…
KKR Kills $500 Million IPO–A Sign Of The Times
KKR, the private equity firm, pulled its $500 million IPO. It made a similar move in 2007 as the investment markets fell apart. The large financial operation said the market conditions were not favorable,…
Sam’s Club Adds Wi-Fi As A Marketing Tool
Free Wi-Fi has been a marketing tool at restaurant and beverage establishments including McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) and Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX). Now Walmart (NYSE: WMT) has decided the service will help it attract and retain…
Personal Income Falls In Most Cities–Except Washington DC
Washington DC is a good place to work during a recession. Information from the Commerce Department shows personal incomes declined in 233 cities and rose in 134 in 2009. In nine cities, the figure…
A Huge China Surplus–US Ire And A Troubled Chinese Consumer
China’s trade surplus hit $28.7 billion for July. The number has not been so high since the depths of the recession eighteen months ago. The General Administration of Customs said that exports moved up…
Media Digest 8/10/2010 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
Reuters: Economists have cut forecasts and look to the Federal Reserve to take action. Reuters: BP Plc (NYSE: BP) will try the final stage of killing its leaking well and has begun to fund…