These are this Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls early this morning: Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) Cut to Sell at Collins Stewart. Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA) Cut…
Updated throughout the day. The New York Fed told AIG (NYSE:AIG) not to disclose swaps deals with companies including Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS). (Bloomberg) Ivanhoe Mines may be for sale (Reuters). AMR (NYSE:AMR) has raised its offer…
The Labor Department posted the weekly jobless claims data this morning. The figure came to a gain of 1,000 on an adjusted basis to 433,000. Bloomberg had the consensus estimate at 450,000, although that…
By John Tamny of Forbest While there are varying views as to what tomorrow’s unemployment report will reveal, it’s generally assumed that the number will be too high. But what’s not spoken of…
By Douglas A, McIntyre One way to fight a hostile takeover is to find a “white knight”. Cadbury (NYSE:CBY) is doing just that in clandestine meetings with Hershey (NYSE:HSY). The meetings are no longer…
CostCo’s (NASDAQ:COST) December numbers look like a strong sign that retail sales are recovering, at least in the affluent end of the warehould sales business. CostCo reported net sales of $8.26 billion for the month…
The FDIC wants to increase fees to banks where executives have their pay tied to decisions that may involve high risk of capital. According to The Wall Street Journal, The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s…
It is a paradox and one that is bad for both the residential and housing real estate markets. Reis, an industry analyst group, says that the vacancy rate in the apartment sector rose 8%,…
Digital downloads accounted for 40% of all music sales in 2009, according to Nielsen SoundScan. But, that was not enough to stop an overall drop in sales which reached 13% compared to 2008. According…
The stock and bond markets would like to be able to easily predict what the Federal Reserve will do for several months after each Federal Open Market Committee Meeting. If they had the knowledge…
The residential real estate crisis is over. Home prices are stable. The number of people who are in the market for a home is up. Tax credits and home prices, which are still historically…
By Paul Ausick of 24/7 Wall St. Auto companies have recently reported sales figures for the month of December and full-year 2009. For nearly all, the numbers are better. The numbers are also not…
Yesterday’s report from Reuters that some OPEC member nations are cheating on their quota agreements is unique only in that the news agency has apparently got a document outlining what the cartel wants its…
Reuters: Cadbury (NYSE:CBY) has held private talks with Hershey (NYSE:HSY). Reuters: Oil dropped below $83 as China said it would tighten its energy policy. Reuters: GM will close Saab.
Markets in Asia fell moderately. The Nikkei was down .5% to 10,661. JAL fell on fears of bankruptcy. The Hang Seng dropped .7% to 22,269. China Life (NYSE:LFC) fell. The Shanghai Composite was down…
Jim Cramer came out with his series of themes for 2010 on CNBC’s MAD MONEY this evening, and tonight’s theme was ‘Going Global.’ Despite the market being overbought and the negative news headwinds, today held up…
If you have ever wondered just how much exchange traded funds and exchange traded notes can run a market, you can forget about wondering how much the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) has helped to…
PC also-ran firm Dell (NASDAQ:DELL), desperate to get into new lines of business, has launched its Android-based handset, the Mini 3. Dell announced that AT&T (NYSE:T) will be offering the phone to subscribers to its cellular…
Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) may be posturing to top Kraft Food Inc.’s (NYSE: KFT) bid for Cadbury Plc. (NYSE: CBY) Hershey would likely make a friendly bid, at least 10 percent higher, between $19…
One problem the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has had since its founding is ensuring that members abide by their quota agreements. To some degree, keeping member states in line resembles nothing so…