GMAC’s Lifeline Is the Economy’s Noose
By John Tamny The 18th century French writer Voltaire once observed that the State is “a device for taking money out of one set of pockets and putting it into another.” Voltaire elegantly distilled…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Buffett Makes His Whale of an Acquisition (BRK-A, BRK-B, BNI, UNP)
We always knew that Warren Buffett loved the railroad stocks. We also had for years heard Buffett talk about the prospects of a “whale of a deal” in large acquisitions. And now this morning…
Tech M&A King Cisco (CSCO) Pushes Into The Living Room
Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) may control most of the global router and enterprise video conferencing business, but it wants a bigger footprint in home video delivery. Silicon Valley’s biggest M&A machine has snapped up China set-top…
India Buys 200 Tons Of Gold And Moves From The Dollar
The dollar is still losing its luster as the foreign reserve currency of choice. India has just bought 200 tons of gold from the IMF at $1,045 an ounce which is close to a…
A Coffee Firm Merger Aimed At Starbucks (SBUX)
Two coffee companies which sell their products online and through retailers are merging. They should be able to create a formidable competitor for Starbuck’s retail business outside its own stores. Diedrich (NASDAQ:DDRX) will be bought by Peet’s…
The Fed Asks Banks To Read Its Mind
Bankers from the nation’s 28 largest banks were called to regional Federal Reserve offices across the country today to get a message from the agency. That message was that they should not wait for…
A Guide To The Auto Industry’s 2010 Winners And Losers
Jerome York is a nasty piece of work and a financial genius who has been successful as a lieutenant to billionaire raider Kirk Kerkorian. York’s curriculum vita as a financial analyst is impeccable. He…
Media Digest 11/3/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
Reuters: The value of the yuan could cause a trade war between the US and China. Reuters: Executive pensions rose despite drops in stock prices. Reuters: Lloyds will make a large stock offering. Reuters: …
Asia Market And Europe Open 11/3/2009
Markets in Asia were mixed. The Hang Seng was down 1.8% to 21,240. The Shanghai Composite was up 1.2% to 3,114. At the open in Europe, The FTSE was down 1% to 5,053. RBS…
Bill Gates Goes Deeper Into Autos (AN, MSFT, KMX, BRK-A)
We noted just last week that Bill Gates was getting more entrenched in the waste disposal sector. It turns out that Mr. Gates is getting deeper into the auto-retailing sector as well. In an…
Stanley Wants Bigger Tool Works (SWK, BDK, SNA)
The tool sector for builders and home repair is about to get a lot smaller for investors looking for diversification of company choices to invest in. The Stanley Works (NYSE: SWK) and The Black…
Chinese Hotel IPO: 7 Days Group Holdings Limited (SVN, HMIN)
7 Days Group Holdings Limited is national economy hotel chain based in China, and it has just filed to come public via an Inital Public Offering. No terms were disclosed other than it will sell…
Mixed Earnings Metrics on Chesapeake (CHK)
Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) has put to bed at least some of the concerns over how much lower natural gas prices seen earlier this year were going to affect its earnings performance. But…
Bankruptcy Watch
VeraSun Energy Corporation (OTC: VSUNQ), which filed for Chapter 11 protection on July 31st 2009, announced that the 158 million shares of common stock in the company have been cancelled. The shares currently trade at $0.0055.…
Recently Completed SPAC Deals Tripped up by De-Listing Threats (TMI, WLBC, CNWHF)
SPACupdate.com provides daily reports and e-mails covering blank checks, their targets and relevant trading data. The team has provided 24/7 Wall Street with many examples of solid developments in special purpose acquisition companies, but…
CIT Highlights Risks in Junkier Financial Stocks (CIT, FNM, FRE, ABK, C, ETFC, AIG, PMI)
It is of little surprise that CIT Group, Inc. (NYSE: CIT) is seeing clobbered today. The company has finally filed its pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy package and that has CIT shares down a sharp…
Did Obama Further Temper Unemployment Expectations?
Today’s market weakness is being attributed to a myriad of issues, with most profit taking being attributed to added valuation after huge gains not meeting up to the current economy. But there have been…
Coal IPO Hikes Planned Sale (CLD, RTP, ACI)
It seems that there is no caution in all the pending Initial Public Offerings coming to market. Cloud Peak Energy, Inc. is raising the amount targeted for its capital raise of up to $650…
24/7 Wall St. TV: Another Pay Outrage: University Presidents Making Over $1 Million
Wall St. executives are apparently in for their best pay day in history, despite the fact that the collapse of the credit markets and the beginning of one of the worst recessions in US history are barely…
Ancestry.com on IPO Deck (ACOM)
This week we are expecting to see the market absorb the pending initial public offering from Ancestry.com Inc. The company has a very unique niche and business model in that it operates a subscription-based…