Prison For China Pirates Of Microsoft Products
There are a number of estimates of what piracy in China costs American software companies. Most are in the $2 billion to $4 billion range. It could be much more than that. China is…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Housing: The Well-To-Do Start To Default
No one was particularly surprised that the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Delinquency Survey showed defaults reaching record levels. The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties rose to a seasonally adjusted rate…
Starbucks (SBUX) Lowers Prices, Or At Least Some Of Them
Starbucks (SBUX) has come up with a plan to lower prices on many of its drinks and raise prices on others. The process is almost certainly not random, but the company’s thinking will not…
Why GM Should Run The National Stimulus Program
In its history, GM never made an important decision in less than ninety days. That changed recently when the auto maker said it would reimburse its dealers for money they had given to their…
Media Digest 8/21/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
Reuters: Sony (SNE) and Microsoft (MSFT) are battling to control home entertainment but consumers are slow to adopt their technologies. Reuters: The “clunkers” program will end on August 24. Reuters: GM is about to…
Asia Markets And Europe Open 8/21/2009
Markets in Asia were mixed The Nikkei fell 1.5% to 10,238. Shares in Toyota (TM) and Honda (HMC) fell. The Hang Seng was down .9% to 20,253. The Shanghai Composite was up 1.7% to…
The Cell Carriers’ Worst Nightmare: FCC Investigation Of Handset Deals
The partnerships between handset companies and cellular carriers in the US are too good to be true. The FCC has discovered that and the wireless industry may never be the same again. AT&T (T)…
Private Equity IPO: KKR’s Dollar General Files For IPO (DG, FDO, DLTR, NDN)
We have already noted on numerous occasions how the floodgates for re-sales or re-IPO’s of old private equity acquisitions have to come back on the market. And now we have the first of many…
Gap Holds Its Own (GPS)
Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) is holding its own considering the past few years. The apparel retail giant reported a slight gain in quarterly earnings, although this is on the heels of a 7% decline…
Is The New Nordic ETF For You? (GXF, ERIC, NOK, NHY, NVO, STO)
NYSE Euronext has begun trading a new ETF this week that is meant to track the large companies throughout the Nordic region. This seeks to track the FTSE Nordic 30 Index, which is comprised…
Starbucks & Higher Prices, Sort Of (SBUX)
Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) has come back from the sub-$10.00 category with a vengeance. In fact, if it rallies another $2.00 then it will have recovered a sharp 200% from lows. With shares are…
Video Game Sector Preps For Tough Year-End (GME, SNE, MSFT, ERTS, AMZN, NTDOY, TTWO, ATVI)
The video game sector was supposed to be one of the relative beneficiaries of the recession even if it was not to be entirely immune. The sector was part of the ‘in-living room entertainment’…
Top Day Trader Alerts (PETM, GOOG, STP, NTAP, SHLD, EDAP)
These are this Tuesday’s top day trader and active stock alerts. We have more detailed data on volume and price analysis with links through to VSInvestor.com on each stock: PetSmart Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM) was…
Jobless Claims Ticking Back Up
Weekly jobless claims are heading the wrong direction again this morning, although some of this may still have some seasonality to it. The Labor Department showed a gain of 15,000 jobless claims to 576,000…
Imagining a World Without Tax-Free Bonds
By John Tamny of RealClearMarkets Last month federal agents arrested a large number of New Jersey politicians on bribery and money laundering charges. As described in the Wall Street Journal, one $97,000 bribe was…
Top 10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AZN, BDN, CHA, HURN, PRU, PETM, RF, SOL, RDS-B, TWB, UA)
These are Thursday’s top ten analyst research summary upgrades, downgrades, and initiations from Wall Street brokerage firms: AstraZeneca (AZN) Cut to Hold at Citigroup. Brandywine Realty (BDN) Cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch. China…
Google Scores Significant Upgrade (GOOG)
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has scored a significant upgrade in both name and in quality. The king of search has been raised to Goldman Sachs’ Conviction Buy List. The target was raised to $560…
Wells Fargo (WFC) Gets Sued For Not Lending
Wells Fargo (WFC) and a lot of other American banks got in trouble by being more liberal than they should have been in their loan practices. Financial firms made to many risky mortgage loans,…
The Government Will Check The Government’s Decisions On Citigroup (C)
The precious time of senior government officials must not be so precious. Federal agencies seem to be spending more and more time looking back on the financial crisis to see if it was handled…
GM Kills New Buick Before It Is Born
GM’s aged product chief, Robert Lutz, says he can tell a successful car by looking at it. Marketing studies are useless. Car men can spot a good car a mile away. Lutz must have…