Ethanol Boom in Brazil
Since the beginning of the year, Brazil’s ethanol industry has generated more than its share of news. Today brings the announcement of a joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell (RDS-A) and Cosan Limited (CZZ)…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Brand Keys Laughable Loyalty Awards
Most brand valuations done by consultancies render suspect figures because none are based on completely transparent data. This is particularly true of the well-known Brand Z and Interbrand annual numbers. Each of these two firms has…
SPAC Deals Keep Rolling; More Blank Checks Set to Emerge (NLX, CSAQF, AXG, CFQCF, AMRR)
We have been given some exclusive coverage on the recent developments in special purpose acquisition companies and blank check companies from SPACupdate.com this morning. Deals with news on deck are in Overture Acquisition Co.…
Today’s Best Market Rumors (2/1/2010) (TTWO)(C)(AAPL)
Updated throughout the day Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) will get a $100 million bonus (Times of London) Morgan Stanley (NYSE::MS) will hire hundreds of traders over the next few years (FT). Citigroup…
Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (BIDU, CPN, ID, M, MIR, OMCL, PLD, RFMD, RRI, SLXP, TWX, VRTX)
These are Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls: Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse. Calpine Corp. (NYSE: CPN) Raised to Equal Weight at…
Health Care, and the 16 Percent of GDP Canard
John Tamny from Forbes Nowhere in the Constitution is health care mentioned as something the federal government has the power to oversee. Yet politicians in both political parties pay varying degrees of lip…
Nokia Cuts Prices, Starts Handset Price War
The price war for market share in the cellular business have moved from carriers to handset manufacturers. AT&T (NYSE:T) and Verizon Wireless have dropped subscriber fees in a battle for US customers. Now Nokia (NYSE:NOK)…
China GDP Growth Trumps Arms Dispute
The People’s Republic had a particularly nasty reaction to the US plan to sell $6.4 billion in arms to Taiwan. China threatened to suspended military cooperation with America and sanction the US manufactures who made…
Financial Confusion Reigns On Record $1.6 Trillion Deficit Forecast
The White House is about to present its budget to Congress for the 2010 fiscal that will cause a $1.6 trillion deficit and $3.8 trillion in spending. That would be an all-time record and $200…
The White House Discovers The Budget Deficit
Most economists have warned that the budget deficit could cause a need for ongoing huge borrowing by the Treasury and the need for higher taxes to stanch the red ink. Neither alternative is particularly…
Nokia (NOK) Stays Ahead Of Apple (AAPL) And RIM (RIMM) In Smartphone Market
It might appear that the only two companies in the race for first place in the global smart phone industry are Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and RIM (NASDAQ:RIMM). That is not even close to being the…
24/7 Wall St.’s Corporate Power Rankings (Week 4)
The 24/7 Wall Street Corporate Power Rankings of the thirty-two most important companies in America are determined by earnings, analyst rankings, important corporate news, trends in each firm’s industry, product introductions, management strength and…
Media Digest 2/1/2010 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
Reuters: Obama is looking for ways to cut the deficit. Reuters: Citigroup (NYSE:C) may sell its private equity group. Reuters: Toyota (NYSE:TM) will announce the fix for its gas pedals. Reuters: China and India…
Asia Markets And Europe Open (2/1/2010)
Markets in Asia were mixed. The Nikkei rose .1% to 10,205. Toyota (NYSE:TM) and Honda (HYSE:HMC) fell on recall news. The Hang Seng rose .4% to 20,193. The Shanghai Composite dropped 1.6% to 2,941. At…
24/7 Wall St. 2010 Best And Worst Managed University Endowments: Harvard, Yale, And Duke Worst
The National Association of College and University Business Officers released its analysis of the financial performances of the endowments at 842 institutions which have a combined $306 billion in assets. The report compared figures for…
Inspector General Calls Much Of TARP A Failure, Warns Of New Housing Price Inflation
The Office of The Special Inspector General for The Troubled Asset Relief Program said in a quarterly report that the program may have saved the banking system but that it has so far failed to…
Jobs Say Google “Don’t Be Evil” Stance Is “Bullshit”
Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) used to serve on the Apple board of directors. He left, presumably, because of a growth in competition between the two companies. That competition has gotten more intense…
Tesla: The First US Car Company IPO Since 1956
The last US auto company IPO was in 1956 when the Ford (NYSE:F) family decided to sell part of its company to the public while maintaining voting control though a special class of shares. Luxury…
The January Barometer Curse Returns (DIA, SPY, QQQQ, YTEC, GLD)
Friday marked month-end for January in the financial markets. There have been many efforts out there to discuss the market’s direction, but perhaps the one issue that traders will be using to judge 2010…
Nuveen’s Unusual Municipal Fund Issuance (NFZ, NZW, NVJ)
Nuveen Investments has made an unusual filing that under normal circumstances might not matter. But we live in a near-zero rate world now where investors are looking for more interesting ways to earn in…