2010, The Year of Irish Banks! (IRE, AIB, IRL, STD, BBVA, NBG)
If today’s price action is of any indication for the full year, it seems that 2010 may be poised to be the year of the Irish banking sector. Today’s big winners were not just…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Kraft (KFT) Merger Move May Drive More M&A
By Jon Ogg It seems that Kraft Foods (NYSE:KFT) is about to go after Cadbury plc (NYSE:CBY) in the U.K. harder than it already has. Many believe Kraft is about to make a high…
Google Android Starts To Hurt Apple iPhone Share
The rise of the Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android mobile operating system has happened so quickly that it has humiliated Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), which has pushed it OS for years with little success.. Android has also begun to threaten…
More Stimulus Could Cause Double Dip Instead Of Preventing One
By Douglas A. McIntyre In his op-ed piece in The New York Times on Sunday, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman argued that if the Obama administration and Congress on the one hand and Fed…
Today’s Best Market Rumors (1/4/2010) (AMD)(GS)(CBY)
Updated throughout the day. Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) may move some of its operations out of London to avoid high taxes on banker bonuses (London Telegraph) Kraft (NYSE:KFT) will raise its bid for Cadbury (NYSE:CBY)…
Will US Bailout Carriers Like Japan Will JAL?
By Douglas A. McIntyre Shares in JAL, the flagship carrier of Japan, rose by over 30% Monday as the Development Bank of Japan, which is backed by the government, said it would increase its…
Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (WTR, EAT, BRCM, CLWR, DUK, FTO, HNSN, INFY, INTC, LVS, MELI, NVDA, TSO, WYNN, UNH, VLO)
These are this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls: Aqua America (NYSE: WTR) Cut to Neutral at Macquarie. Brinker International (NYSE: EAT) Cut to Neutral at UBS.…
Movie Ticket Sales Race Ahead Of DVDs
By Douglas A. McIntyre The digital age was supposed to destroy the movie theater business. Why drive to a multiplex and stand in line to buy four $9 tickets when it’s easier, and perhaps…
Obama’s Ill-Advised Small-Business Tax Cuts
John Tamny of Forbes In a speech last month at the venerable Brookings Institution, President Barack Obama laid out a series of objectives meant to stimulate economic activity. As he put it, “Our work…
DJIA 2010: Best Targets Imply 11,455 (BAC, CVX, CSCO, GE, HPQ, INTC, JPM, KFT, PFE, PG, TRV, WMT, XOM, AA, BA, DIA)
We have started taking a look at the 30 stocks comprising the Dow Jones Industrial Average to see which stocks had the most implied upside of all DJIA components. We have taken a snapshot…
Oil Jumps Above $80: Cold Weather And Overheating Economies
Oil prices are back above $80. This time the rise is blamed on cold weather in the Northern Hemisphere. Weather forecasters predict that the winter of 2010 may be especially cold. Global warming in…
China Inflation May Be A US Opportunity
China continues to thrash the US in economic growth. Analysts expect GDP growth in the People’s Republic to be above 10% this year while the improvement in the US may be no better than…
China And India Save GM’s Bacon
GM said today that its sales in China were up 67% in 2009 to 1.83 million vehicles. The No.1 US car company believes that things could get even better. “Despite the sales records in…
The Advent Of Mobile TV
Like visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads, the chiefs of the Hollywood studios and their bosses at the major media conglomerates want to extend the profits that they make on premium programs.…
The Fed Lays Blame On Everyone Else
The Federal Reserve was not to blame for any of the financial events that caused the collapse of the credit markets late in 2008. It is the same credit collapse that caused Congress to…
Media Digest 1/4/2010 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
Reuters: Novartis (NYSE:NVS) will buy the part of Alcon (NYSE:ACL) that it does not currently own for $39 billion. Reuters: JAL may receive a bailout from the Japanese government. Reuters: The Fed defended it policies from…
Asia Markets And Europe Open (1/4/10)
Markets in Asia were narrowly mixed. The Nikkei rose 1.1% to 10,865. JAL rose on news of government financial support. The Hang Seng fell .2% to 21,823. The Shanghai Composite dropped 1% to 3,244.…
TMZ.com Valuation Tops $100 Million
TMZ.com’s audience growth over the last six months and its expansion into content delivery through TV as well as the internet has increased the value of the company to more than $100 million. TMZ is owned by a…
“Avatar” Passes $1 Billion Global Box Office Figure As Escapism Increases
The global gross ticket sales for the film “Avatar” passed $1 billion this weekend, which makes it the third-highest grossing movie in history. “Avatar” was directed by James Cameron, who also directed the No.1 grossing movie…
Signs Of Intelligent Life At Kraft (KFT)
The Times of London reports that Kraft (NYSE:KFT) will raise its bid for Cadbury (NYSE:CBY). Cadbury trades above the amount of the Kraft offer price and several companies including Italian confectioner Ferrero are rumored to be…