China Cyberattack On Google Focuses On Schools
By Douglas A. McIntyre Two Chinese schools may be the source of the cyberattacks on Google (GOOG) and a number of other U.S. corporations, and according to The New York Times these schools have…
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Douglas A. McIntyre
Google: The Utility, The Conglomerate
Google (GOOG) got approved by US regulators to sell electricity, allow it to buy and sell power like a power company. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission greenlighted the search firm’s application yesterday. Google will…
The New Deficit Panel Begins A Journey To Nowhere
The President has appointed an 18-member blue ribbon panel to analyze how the US budget deficit can be reduced. The panel is then to make recommendations meant to bring the deficit down to 3%…
Media Digest 2/19/2010 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
Reuters: The Fed will try to calm the markets after it raised the discount rate to .75%. Reuters: The head of Toyota (TM) will go to Congress to testify. Reuters: The Fed’s action helped…
Asia Markets And Europe Open (2/19/2010)
Markets in Asia fell. Shanghai was closed for a holiday. The Nikkei fell 2.1% to 10,124. The Hang Seng was down 2.6% to 19,894. At the open in Europe, the FTSE fell .6% to…
Mr. Toyoda Goes To Washington
Akio Toyoda, the head of Toyota (TM), will go to Washington to testify before the House Oversight Committee. He did not want to visit Congress, but he ended up with little choice. The committee’s chairman…
The Rate Hike Cycle Begins
Just yesterday in the FOMC meeting minutes from January, it was becoming painfully clear that the FOMC was getting closer to hiking rates. Most notable was that the discussions had revolved around whether changing…
First Solar… First Cheer, Then Dump (FSLR)
First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) is out with earnings today, and there is nothing great and nothing awful to report in here. For its fourth quarter, revenues were $641.3 million, up from $480.9 million…
Dell Earnings Drop 5%, Shares Drop 3%
Earnings for Dell’s (DELL) fiscal fourth quarter which ended January 29 fell 5% to $334 million. EPS dropped 6% to 17%. The company reported that sales rose 11% to $14.9 billion. Dell posted improvements…
Meredith Whitney Still Bank-Cautious (JPM, BAC, C, BLK)
Esteemed banking analyst Meredith Whitney just gave a CNBC interview a year after starting that she was starting Meredith Whitney Advisory Group. She is still very cautious on the banking sector and the prospects…
More Heated Google Search Competition Coming (GOOG, MSFT, YHOO)
The search pact between Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) has been approved. Finally. The companies announced that the search pact was okayed by the Department of Justice and the European…
Today’s Best Market Rumors (2/18/2010)
Updated throughout the day. Apple (AAPL) may have a deal with book publishers to sell e-books for $9.99. (NYTimes) Greece may issue a 10-year bond next week with a value of $6.8 billion (WSJ).…
What Buffett Didn’t Tell You in Latest Holdings (BRK-B, BRK-A, COP, XOM, BDX, JNJ, GCI, MCO, WMT, PG, UNH, WLP, WFC, STI, IRM, RSG, NSC, UNP, NRG)
We already gave a full run-down position by position in the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B, BRK-A) holdings as of December 31, 2009. What is interesting is that this round of 13F holdings had…
Top 10 Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ACOR, AGCO, AEO, AU, ANDE, CTXS, DE, ITRI, NTAP, VMW)
These are this Thursday’s top ten analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations we have seen from Wall Street research calls this Thursday morning: Acorda Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ACOR) Cut to Market Perform at Leerink Swann. AGCO…
The Naive Conceit of Banking Regulations
By John Tamny of Forbes Past troubles within the U.S. financial system continue to generate a great deal of feverish commentary from allegedly wise minds in the economic commentariat about how to fix…
Walmart Earnings: Still The Best
Some analysts thought that Walmart’s (WMT) earnings and outlook were a bit disappointing. They were actually excellent given the harsh retail environment in which the company operates. The fact that Walmart’s revenue went up…
Government Moves Toward Regulation Of Systemic Risk
It is easier said than done. The US government wants to oversee the bank system in a way that would check for the kind of systemic problems that froze the credit markets in late…
Good News For Amazon: Apple May Offer Best-Sellers For $9.99
Amazon’s (AMZN) e-reader business which fuels sales of its Kindle e-reader is supposed to be in trouble. The e-commerce operation has charged $9.99 for many of the e-books it sells, which has helped the company keep…
IMF To Dump 191 Tons Of Gold
The International Monetary Fund says it will sell 191 tons of gold. The agency claims it needs the cash for lending. It may be that the IMF suspects that gold price will fall from their…
Public Pensions Face $1 Trillion Shortfall
US states face a $1 trillion shortfall in the funding of their pensions, and the figure could grow substantially in the near future. The Pew Center On The States reports that “the gap at the…