Another Court Rejects Obama Oil Rig Shutdown
Obama may never get his way as he tries to shut down deepwater drilling in the Gulf as a reaction to the BP disaster An appellate court upheld a ruling the the government does…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
National Employee Morale Day At Merck
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) will dump 16,000 workers now that its merger with Schering-Plough well along. The company announced plans to phase out operations at eight research sites and eight manufacturing sites,…
Microsoft Bing Picks Up Market Share–A Rounding Error
The research firm Hitwise reports that Microsoft Corporation’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Bing search engine market share rose 7% in June, from 9.23% to 9.85%. The number is probably within a the margin of error of…
Commercial Real Estate Loan Restructurings Rise Dramatically
The second half of the real-estate debacle was supposed to come in the second of half of 2010. The first part came in 2008, when the value of residential mortgage-backed securities fell hard and…
Why Is Apple’s Stock Down? Android Gains On iPhone
Apple Inc’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock is down from its 52-week high of $279 to $256. One of the most significant reasons that although the iPhone, especially the latest version, is selling remarkably well its…
Container Shipping Rises While Commodity Shipping Slides
Seaborne shipping is experiencing a boom and bust period now as container shipping is having a difficult time meeting demand while dry bulk shipping continues its free-fall. The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of…
Today’s Best Market Rumors (7/8/2010)
Updated throughout the day. BP plc (NYSE: BP) will cap its well leak by July 27 (WSJ). The U.S. government is launching a program nicknamed “Perfect Citizen” to detect cyber assaults on private U.S.…
The Twitter-24/7 Wall St. Stock Market Report 7.8.2010 The Wisdom Of Crowds
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…
Consumer Confidence Plunges
Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index fell to -34 last week, the lowest weekly average since last July. At the same time, Gallup’s Job Creation Index remains relatively positive. That means that Americans believe that the…
Bets Payoff On LeBron James’ Future Move Toward Miami Heat
Update Labron James has announced he will leave Miami for Cleveland. Lebron James is moving to the Miami Heat and leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers. At least that is what Intrade, a prediction betting market…
More Americans Use Smartphones To Access The Web
More Americans are using wireless devices, primarily smartphones and laptops, to access websites. The number jumped to 59% in May, up from 51% a year ago, according to the Pew Internet Study. What those…
IMF Increases World Economy Growth Forecast
The IMF (International Monetary Fund) increased its forecast for global economic growth to 4.5% for this year and 4.25% for 2011. The agency added a major set of cautions: “Despite the stronger than expected…
Media Digest 7/8/2010 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
MarketWatch: The IMF expects slow growth this year and next. Reuters: The battle between the oil industry and government on drilling regulations continues. Reuters: The Gulf leak could be plugged in two weeks. Reuters: …
Record Heat Stresses Northeast Power Grid
Temperatures near, and above, 100 degrees have put some severe stresses on the electricity power grid in the northeastern United States. The New York Independent System Operator reported near-record peak demand of 33,452 megawatts…
China Won’t Call-in US Debt
As of the end of June, China owned $900.2 billion in US Treasury bills. If you add in all of China’s dollar-denominated assets, the total investment by China in the US is about $2.5…
Today’s Best Market Rumors (7/7/2010)
Updated throughout the day. The Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox 360 hit $1 billion in sales (Bloomberg) Microsoft will lay-off a modest number of workers (WSJ) Abu Dhabi is open to buying equity in BP…
CEOs Who Makes Hundreds Of Times What Their Workers Do
Even though the gap between executive and entry-level worker pay has shrunk ever so slightly in the past couple of years, it’s still not unusual for the CEO of a large public company to…
The Twitter-24/7 Wall St. Stock Market Report 7.7.2010 The Wisdom Of Crowds
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…
Walmart Sam’s Club To Offer Small Business Loans
The Sam’s Club division of Walmart (NYSE:WMT), which primarily does business with small companies, means to do what banks will not. It has started a test program to offer loans of as much as…
American Consumer Spending Plunges As Caution Grows
Self-reported spending among American consumers fell sharply in June as compared to May, down from $72 per person to $67. The June figure is up from the same month last year, but only by…