Changing CEO’s During Palm Pre Launch, Risky Notion (PALM)
What do you do as an investor when you have a hot product launch that is the entire future of a company and a new CEO gets named to replace a long-term company leader? …
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Is Stimulus Spending Fast or Slow?
by Amanda Michel, ProPublica Here at ProPublica, we’re closely watching stimulus projects set up by the Transportation Department. Given all the hand-wringing over how quickly—or how slowly, depending on how you look at it—the…
Dell Shows More Corporate Bond Market Healing (DELL, MSFT)
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) raised $1 billion in the corporate bond issuance markets today. While these are shorter-term than many others, this is just further and further evidence that corporate bond spreads are tightening…
Federal Deficit Spending Passes Alarming Levels
It seems that the “Treasury Budget” is in need of a name change just like the “Trade Balance” has seen. We can all finally start to formally call both of these “Deficits.” The “Budget…
Beige Book Keeps Looking in Rear-View Mirror
The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book is noting improvements in most local economies, although as you might expect there is the normal pause or caution still underlying the combined reports. The overall economy was still…
Mortgage Rates: The Housing Market Is More Fragile Than Expected
Mortgage rates are near multi-year lows, so it would seem that if buyers were going to be lured back into the housing market, now would be the time. But, even the most modest increase…
Surprise Short Selling Changes (DNDN, DRYS, ETFC, FLEX, GRMN, SIRI, AMTD)
After looking through the short interest changes for the end of May. We saw unusual gains in short selling increases in Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN), DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS), E*TRADE Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC),…
DOE Inventories Confirms EIA Trends (USO, OIL)
The weekly DOE inventories confirmed the EIA data last night, and the data is about just as bullish for oil and energy prices. The United States Oil (NYSE: USO) ETF and iPath S&P GSCI…
Short Sellers Confused in Alternative Energy Bets (CSIQ, CPST, CLNE, ENER, ESLR, FSLR, FCEL, SOLR, JASO, LDK, SFUN, SPWRA, STP)
We have seen the new short interest data out of the NASDAQ and NYSE for the end of May reports. There are many mixed bets in the alternative energy sector. While some of these…
AMD Taking Back Market Share from Intel (AMD, INTC)
The worst may have been seen in the market share war for Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) against Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC). A report from late yesterdayfrom iSuppli said that the quarterly growth…
Sprint (S) Still Near Top Of MSN “Worst Customer Service” List
Palm (PALM) may not have had much of a choice in terms of which cellular company was going to market its new Pre. AT&T (T) and Verizon Wireless (VZ)(VOD) were probably not interested. Palm’s…
Top Analyst Upgrades (ALNY, DB, DSCM, ZEUS, SEPR, X, YHOO)
These are some of the top pre-market analyst upgrades and positive research calls we have seen from Wall Street research calls early this Wednesday morning: Alnylam (ALNY) Started as Buy at Jefferies and at…
Top Analyst Downgrades (CRDN, FSLR, NUE, RS, SINA, TLB)
These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades and cautious research calls we have seen early this Wednesday morning: Ceradyne (CRDN) cut to Underperform at Wachovia; Cut to Accumulate at ThinkEquity. First Solar…
Short Interest In Banks Plunges
The short interest in most large banks fell very sharply for the period ending May 29, an indication that traders believe that TARP repayments and ongoing strong earnings mean the fate of American financial firms…
Housing Inventory Down, But Figures Not Meaningful
Housing inventory came down a bit in May, but not enough to put a real foundation on faltering home prices. ZipRealty reported “the supply of homes available for sale in 28 major metropolitan areas at…
With Pay Cap Restrictions Faltering, Will Talent Return To Wall St.?
Wall St. firms and the large money center banks with investment and M&A arms have continued to insist that their best talent will head to private equity firms and hedge funds as opportunities for…
The Theory The Low Demand Will Moderate Oil Prices Dies
The theory that the recession would mitigate the price of oil had all the trappings of being true. Consumption in the US, UK, EU, and Japan happen to be down substantially. Industrial production has…
Signs That Ford (F) Sales Are Dipping
Over the past week, the 24/7 Wall St.–The Channel Checkers poll surveyed Ford dealerships to gauge business trends at the ten retailers. We asked the following questions: 1. What is the best selling vehicle currently? 2. Are there any…
Average Purchase At Darden (DRI) Unit Falls
Over the past week, the 24/7 Wall St.–The Channel Checkers poll surveyed various Red Lobster locations, part of Darden Restaurants (DRI), to gauge trends in the casual dining business. We asked the following questions: 1. Is this location…
Sales At Ann Taylor (ANN) Hold Steady
Over the past week, the 24/7 Wall St.–The Channel Checkers poll surveyed Ann Taylor (ANN) locations to gauge business trends at the ten retailers. We asked the following questions: 1. On a scale of 1-5 with…