Washington Post… The Last Stable Paper Company (WPO, BRK-A)
Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO) has to be thankful that it is not just a newspaper company as most tend to think of it. Today, came an analyst rating action that was actually in…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Take-Two’s (TTWO) Well-Paid Management, Awful Earnings
It is time for the board of Take-Two (NASDAQ:TTWO) to see if it can renegotiate its contract with Zelnick Media, which runs the video game company. The current arrangement calls for Zelnick to get…
Did Obama Warn on Friday’s Unemployment Data?
There have been at least two occasions where President Obama referred to the direction of the unemployment and non-farm payrolls data before the key report due Friday. Once was just a month ago, but…
24/7 Wall St. TV: Viacom + Time Warner = Next Big Media Merger
No one would be surprised to see Sumner Redstone, the 86-year-old head of Viacom (NYSE:VIA), and Jeff Bewkes, CEO of Time Warner (NYSE:TWX), wearing disguises to their private meetings in coffee shops around Manhattan. The…
SunTrust ‘Sell’ From Meredith Whitney (STI, BRK-A)
SunTrust Banks, Inc. (NYSE: STI) is getting hit this morning, although perhaps not as harshly as the call might sound. Meredith Whitney put on her banker Scrooge hat and issued a SELL rating on…
ISM Data: Service Sector Back in Hell
The Institute of Supply Management has released its November data for the services sector this morning. The ISM non-Manufacturing data had gotten back to growth briefly in October and September. The November figure came…
Top Day Trader Alerts (GERN, STEM, OPXA, HGSI, DRYS, ABK, MBI, TRGT)
These are this morning’s top day trader and active trader alert stocks, with more details and analysis over at VSInvestor.com with a link to each story: Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN), StemCells Inc. (NASDAQ: STEM),…
Today’s Best Market Rumors (12/3/2009) (S)(HUN)(GE)(AAPL)(F)(TWX)
Updated throughout the day. Updated 1.17 PM EST: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) may sign up Sprint (NYSE:S) and T-Mobile to market the iPhone in the US (Barron’s) Updated 11.29 PM EST: Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) may be a…
Amazon.com: As Cramer and Others Get Too Bullish (AMZN, WMT, BBY)
It is impossible to argue against the success of Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) as a company, and it is also impossible to say that the stock is not on fire. After all, 52-week highs…
Jobless Data Staying in Right Direction
The Labor Department is out with the newest weekly jobless claims data. The figure came in at 457,000 versus the estimates from Bloomberg of 485,000. The preliminary unrevised figure a week ago was 466,000,…
Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, and Initiations (AMZN, AAPL, AGO, BAC, CELG, CBST, DRYS, EBAY, POT, RIG)
These are this Thursday morning’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls: Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Started as Market Perform at JMP Securities. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Started as…
FDIC: A Quarter Of Americans Have Little Or No Bank Access
The FDIC reports that millions of Americans have no access to a bank. The agency report “reveals that more than one quarter (25.6 percent) of all households in the United States are unbanked or…
Why Hasn’t Citigroup (C) Repaid TARP Funds
The program Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) has announced to repay the TARP funds it received is a modest vindication for its retiring CEO Ken Lewis. He has proved that his firm, which has rolled…
Goldman Sachs (GS) Explains Comp To Big Shareholders
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) has started to meet with its largest shareholders to defend the millions, and in some cases tens of millions, that it pays its management and star bankers. The Wall Street Journal…
GE (GE): Cash Rich, Strategy Poor
GE (NYSE:GE) will pick up close to $8 billion in net cash as part of its deal to pass a majority interest in its NBCU unit to Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA)leaving the conglomerate with 49%. GE has not done much…
Wasting Time At The Jobs Summit
The ADP private sector jobs report says that 169,000 people became unemployed in November. This means that the government figures on unemployment for last month will likely indicate that the jobless population went up…
Media Digest 12/3/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
Reuters: Affluent borrowers are being made credit card offers. Most other people are rarely solicited. Reuters: Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) will repay $45 billion in TARP funds. Reuters: AMR (NYSE:AMR) and TPG have offered JAL $1.1…
Asia Market And Europe Open (12/3/2009)
Market in Asia were mixed. The Nikkei rose 3.8% to 9,978. The Hang Seng rose .13% to 22,554. The Shanghai Composite fell .2% to 3,265. At the open in Europe, teh FTSE rose .6%…
Bank of America Free to Exit TARP (BAC)
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) will soon be out of the TARP. The report was first out by CNBC’s Charlie Gasparino right after 5 PM that Bank of America is about to do…
GM CEO Whitacre May Stay Until He Is 100
GM Chairman and interim CEO Ed Whitacre said he has no idea how long it will take to find a permanent chief. He told GM employees it could take a year. He is not…