BATS Plans The Other-Other IPO Market
BATS Exchange has been an almost stealth success in the world of trading stocks. In about four years it now claims to have about 10% of the US equity trading market share and about…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Hackers Take Twitter Down Again
Twitter is the third largest social network by most measures behind Facebook and MySpace. Most internet measurement services say that Twitter is the fastest-growing of the three with its pool of users still doubling…
Foreclosure Backlog Hits 1.7 Million Homes
There are 1.7 million homes on the market which have gone through the foreclosure process. The number is at the highest level in history. The number, up from 1.1 million a year earlier, is…
The Ten Most Successful Brands Of 2010
Brand measurement is a popular exercise. Several major business magazines run brand value lists. The annual Brand Z and Interbrand lists always get heavy press coverage. Companies are concerned about their rankings and what…
Android: What Hath Google Wrought
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has made impressive strides into the smartphone market since launching the iPhone. There has been plenty of evidence since then that it is taking a part of BlackBerry’s market. But, there was…
Media Digest 12/18/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
Reuters: Merger activity will grow slowly in 2010. Reuters: Bank of America’s new CEO said he would focus on execution. Reuters: Profits at RIM (NASDAQ:RIMM) topped forecasts. Reuters: Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) posed a surprise rise in…
Asia Markets And Europe Open (12/18/2009)
Markets in Asia were lower. The Nikkei dropped .3% to 10,142. The Hang Seng fell .7% to 21,193. HSBC (NYSE:HBC) was off sharply. The Shanghai Composite was down 2.1% to 3,113. At the open…
Nike’s Comments on Future with Tiger Woods (NKE)
Most people in America now are probably not as interested in what Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) did for earnings after the closing bell today, but the Tiger Woods story is still big news. Our…
S&P Supports Amazon.com… Pullback an Opportunity? (AMZN)
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) may have found a new friend. Standard & Poor’s has come out late in the day with a research note with “positive” credit implications for Jeff Bezos and friends. S&P…
Fannie & Freddie Christmas Gift: No Foreclosures (FNM, FRE)
It seems that Uncle Sam does not want to be the Grinch this Christmas and is giving a gift of no foreclosures during the holidays. At least its GSE mortgage lenders in government conservatorship,…
Palm’s Slight of Hand (PALM)
Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) is one of the companies many investors have felt is an at-risk entity. Yet its reaction after the earnings call today is not signaling that. The company posted a loss…
RIM’s (RIMM) Quarter: No Damage From Apple (AAPL)
Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) posted earnings after Street consensus was $3.78 billion in revenue and $1.04 a share. Guidance was for $3.6 billion to $3.85 billion and EPS of $1 to $1.08. As it turned…
Oracle Shows How It’s Done, Still Wants Sun (ORCL, SAP, JAVA)
Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) has posted its earnings at $0.29 EPS on a GAAP basis, but $0.39 EPS on a non-GAAP basis. Revenues were $5.86 billion for the quarter. Thomson Reuters had estimates pegged…
52-Week High Club (APWR, PIR)
A-Power Energy Generation Systems (NASDAQ: APWR) rose over 10.3% to a yearly high of $20.60 after the Chinese power system manufacturer announced that it signed a deal to supply turbines to a 600 megawatt…
Risks in Exxon-XTO Merger? (XOM, XTO, CVX, BP, RDS-A, CHK)
It seems that the huge game-changing deal between Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) and XTO Energy Inc. (NYSE: XTO) may have more than just one risk associated with it. The acquisition, announced on Monday,…
Gold May Be Dead For Rest of 2009 (GLD, GDX, ABX, GG, NEM, GDXJ)
If there was a single trading event for investors, traders, and speculators from early October to early December, it was not stocks and was not bonds. It was not even the bet against the…
Moody’s Calls Bottom in Homebuilders, Sort Of (XHB, ITB, HOV)
Moody’s Investors Service has raised the bias and outlook on the U.S. homebuilder sector this morning. Its report was titled “U.S. Homebuilding Industry Shows Signs of Stability” and the ratings agency raised the sector’s…
Worst PR Of The Day: Sen. Ted Kaufman
Sen. Ted Kaufman may be the most self-aggrandizing member of Congress. His office sends out press releases ever few days about his stances on the financial services industry and other items he thinks the…
Top Day Trader Alerts (FSLR, EZCH, YONG, C, SQNM)
These are this Thursday’s top day trader alerts and active trader alerts. We have links to more details and analysis over at VSInvestor.com for each stock: First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) is up about…
Today’s Best Market Rumors (12/17/2009) (GE)(AMR)(AIG)
Updated throughout the day. Tudor Investments will close its largest fund to investors (Bloomberg) Steve Cohen of SAC made money illegally trading on the RCA buyout by GE (NYSE:GE) (Cohen’s ex-wife) Apollo Management will…