Eight Percent Unemployment Through 2011
The latest Dow Jones survey of economists, which polled 48 experts, showed that, showed on average they believe that unemployment will peak at 10.2% this February and then remain above 6% until sometime in…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Delaying The Housing Bottom By Saving Mortgages
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issues a quarterly report that shows the rate at which people with mortgage loan modifications default on those loans. The rate changes from period to period,…
Media Digest (10/9/2009) Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
Reuters: Chinese investors are holding a large amount of gold. Reuters: Bernanke sees tighter policies as the economy improves. Reuters: The Congressional Oversight Panel says that the US plan to help homeowners with mortgages…
Asia Markets And Europe Open (10/9/2009)
Markets in Asia were mixed. The Nikkei rose .8% to 9,892. The Hang Seng was down .2% to 21,448. The Shanghai Composite rose 4.8% to 2,912. PetroChina rose (PTR) and HSBC (HBC) fell. At…
52-Week High Club
American Eagle Outfiters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) hit a yearly high of $18.08 after the clothing vendor announced that it had raised its 3Q09 EPS estimate to $0.24-$0.26 from $0.22-$0.25. Anheuser-Busch InBev SA (NYSE:…
The New Lehman Trade: Selling the Bankruptcy Claims (BAC, MS, CS)
There have been many ways which companies exit bankruptcy court. Historically, many companies have used tax loss carryforward strategies as well. But selling a claim against assets for recovery in bankruptcy is a strategy…
Investor Taste Challenge: Pepsi vs. Coke (PEP, KO, PBG, PAS)
PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) is trading down after the company’s quarterly earnings report from this morning. PepsiCo’s earnings were $1.08 EPS on a 1.5% drop in revenues to $11.08 billion, versus Thomson Reuters estimates…
Bankruptcy Watch
Today Accuride Corporation, an auto parts manufacturer, filed for protection under Chapter 11. In the proposed restructuring agreement will cancel all senior subordinated notes. Holders of those notes will receive 98% of the common…
The Never Ending Price Cuts in Home Prices
If you have had a home for sale on the market for a while, you have probably had to get used to the notion that you have either cut the selling price or that…
SPAC Shareholders Keep OK-ing Big Mergers (IAN, DSP, STTA, TGY, GHC, NAQ, REN)
SPACupdate.com monitors live deals involving blank check companies, associated stock and warrant transactions and relevant personnel moves. So far this week, shareholders approved one SPAC transaction and shot another down and two blank checks…
Could Apple (AAPL) End Up With 1,000 Retail Stores?
Analysts are constantly speculating about what Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will do with its $25 billion in cash. The company has no track record of buying back shares or issuing a dividend. Apple rarely buys other…
Today’s Best Market Rumors (10/8/2009) (XRTX)(CLWT)(CTIC)(CIT)(BRCD)(ACP)(AAPL)(GOOG)
Updated throughout the day. Updated at 4.24 PM EST: Xyratex (NASDAQ:XRTX) is up 14% today, another tech stock in the buyout rumor mill. (Barron’s) Updated at 2.12 PM EST: Euro Tech Holdings (CLWT) is…
Top Day Trader Alerts (AA, CENX, DDSS, DRYS, SQNM)
These are this morning’s top day trader and active stock alerts for Thursday. We have more detailed analysis and price/volume information with a link through to each over at VSInvestor.com: We have provided some…
The Surprise in Weekly Jobless Claims
The Labor Department has released its figures for the weekly jobless claims came in at 521,000 versus a revised figure of 554,000 last week (originally reported as 551,000). Bloomberg had a consensus reading of…
24/7 Wall St. TV: Not All’s Well At Alcoa (NYSE:AA)
Aluminum giant and Dow Jones Industrial Average component Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) has just kicked off earnings season for the Q3-2009 period. Shares were halted ahead of the earnings report. The company posted a…
Disappointing IPO Pricings (MG, OMER, BSBR, VRSK)
Initial public offerings are supposed to do well in up-markets. This morning we have two IPOs and both seem weak compared to some of the strength we have seen elsewhere. Mistras Group (NYSE: MG)…
Top 10 Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ADBE, BRCM, EBAY, GS, LLL, MS, MWW, MOS, RAX, WFC)
These are this Thursday morning’s top 10 Wall Street research calls we have seen in the land of upgrades, downgrades, and initiations: Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) Raised to Outperform at RW Baird. Broadcom (NASDAQ:…
Very Mixed Analyst Calls in Financial Stocks (GS, MS, BBT, CMA, FITB, PNC, PRSP, STI, WFC)
We are seeing a very mixed picture among the analyst calls this morning over banks and financial stocks. We are seeing some very positive “BUY” calls and we are also seeing some new “SELL”…
SEC Appeals Cuban Insider Trading Decision
The SEC”s reputation, already hurt by its action or lack thereof during the credit crisis, took another blow when a federal judge rejected its $33 million settlement with Bank of America (NYSE:BAC). The SEC…
As Recovery Takes Root, Airlines Delays To Hit Record Levels
The events of 9/11 and the recession have cut sharply in to airline travel. That has been demonstrated by carriers cutting routes and laying off employees. There were a few airline bankruptcies last year.…