Top Analyst Downgrades (CTAS, LEAP, SLE, TI)
There were only a few top analyst downgrades and cautious research calls from Wall Street firms this Monday morning. Cintas (CTAS) Cut to Neutral at Baird. Leap Wireles (LEAP) Cut to Sell at Auriga.…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Google (GOOG) Offers First Real Challenge To Amazon (AMZN) Kindle
Google (GOOG) is about to release an e-book program which will allow consumers to download content onto PCs and portable electronics devices. It is a direct competitor to Amazon’s (AMZN) e-book reader, the Kindle. The…
Nintendo May Have To Cut Wii Price To Keep Its Lead
Nintendo is facing more competition for its remarkably successful Wii and DS products. Microsoft (MSFT) and Sony (SNE) are both coming out with consoles that appeal to the casual game market, which Nintendo has…
Improvement In China Exports May Indicate Strength In Other Emerging Markets
New data from China shows that its manufacturing sector is more stable than it has been in a year and that exports are moving up very modestly. According to Reuters, “The new export orders…
The Economy: Another Page Out Of The Worst Case Scenario Handbook
Robert Zoellick, the head of the World Bank, recently said that the current efforts to right the world’s economy are wholly inadequate. It is a position in which he has been joined intermittently by…
A $1 Trillion A Year Deficit Interest Rate Payment
Like the Texas Hold’em player who pushes every last dime into the center of a poker table, the federal government is now “all in” with its commitment to push the national debt to 50%…
The Death Of The UAW
The UAW under Walter Reuther was arguably the most powerful union in the United States negotiating contracts with all of The Big Three on what became a pre-set cycle. Reuther got union members the…
Media Digest 6/1/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
Reuters: GM (GM) will file for Chapter 11 today. Reuters: Geithner told China its dollar assets are safe. Reuters: A judge approved the sale of most of Chrysler’s assets to a group led by…
Asia Markets And Europe Open 6/1/2009
Markets in Asia were sharply higher. The Nikkei rose 1.6% to 9,678. The Hang Seng was up 3.5% to 18,803. The Shanghai Composite rose 3.4% to 2,721. At the open in Europe, the FTSE…
Gas Prices Rocket Up, Threaten Recovery: Will Government Cut The Gas Tax?
A report from the AAA that polls 100,000 service stations shows that average gasoline prices are up 20% over the last month to $2.42 for a gallon of regular. With oil above $65 and…
Instead Of Letting Free Markets Operate, EU Attack Microsoft (MSFT)
The EU has decided to go further to force Microsoft (MSFT) to give competition to its Internet Explorer a better chance to get PC market share. According to The Wall Street Journal, the EU’s…
Imminent Change to DJIA 30 (GM, F, CSCO, ORCL, AAPL, GOOG, CL, HON, PEP, TGT, AMZN, MDT, ABT, GS, BRK-A)
Word is out that the Dow Jones Indexes team is set to release the name of the replacement for General Motors (NYSE: GM) in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. We have heard that the…
Rig Counts Finally Chasing $60 and $65 Oil (BHI, USO, OIH, SLB)
It seems that the steady rise in oil prices is finally starting to support some stability in rig counts. We just got some fresh weekly rig count data from Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI)…
Troubled Banks, Private Equity, Buyouts & Regulation (GS, MS, BX, BKUNA)
There remains an issue about what to do with troubled banks, and the regulations over who can own banks and at what percentages only add more questions rather than answers. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair…
GM BREAKS THE BUCK (GM)
General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) is soon to cease being a public stock for some time, if all the recent reporting and all the jaw-boning is correct. The stock itself is showing fresh evidence…
Silver Trumping Gold as Inflation Hedge (SLV, JJC, GLD)
Since the beginning of the year, the price for copper has nearly doubled, silver has risen by nearly a third, and gold has added more than 20%. Silver is in the process of having…
Gold Miners Staging Breakouts (GDX, AU, GOLD, RGLD, ABX, AUY, GG, NEM)
Gold has been making a serious comeback and many are talking about the $1,000 per ounce level again as being ahead shortly. This latest run is with energy prices screaming, the US Dollar getting…
Why the Sunshine in Solar Stocks? (STP, CSIQ, YGE, ENER, USO, BTU)
Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE:STP) closed its follow-on offering of 23 million ADSs on May 28th. The price per ADS was $12.50, and the company raised net proceeds of about $277 million. Suntech…
Q1 GDP, When Less-Bad Is Just Less-Bad
This morning came the Q1-2009 revision to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product from the Commerce Department, and the recession is still going. The original figure of -6.1% GDP was revised to a lower -5.7%. …
Uniform Indicators Show No Employment Recovery (CTAS)
Many investors use companies such as Cintas Corp. (NASDAQ: CTAS) as a bogey of the economy, particularly for the employment sector. There is a simple reason here: it provides corporate uniforms and related business…