Conference Board: “The Worst Is Now Behind Us”
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index just saw a sharp increase in May, and the quote will say it all. This follows a strong April as well. The May data showed a reading of…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Case-Shiller Housing Data May Not Be What It Seems
The S&P Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index dropped by another record. The March report was another drop of 2.2%. The Q1-2009 period does have a look-back to it that is older than more…
Goldman Sachs & Morgan Stanley, Banks Yet Still Not Banks (GS, MS, C, TD, BKUNA)
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) have so far not lived up to the notion of being “bank holding companies.” These companies have not just been poor acquirers of…
Making Steel Just Got Cheaper (RTP, CLF, MT)
UK-based miner Rio Tinto plc (NYSE:RTP) has announced a pricing agreement with Japan’s Nippon Steel for iron ore for the contract year beginning April 1, 2009. The new prices are about 33% below last…
If 8% Is New Unemployment Benchmark, Simulus Plans Have Failed
Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive officer of Pimco, says that 8% unemployment is “the new normal.” He bases that, to a large extent, on the fact the GDP growth will only be 2% over the…
Book Review: Bremmer & Keat’s The Fat Tail
By John Tamny of RealClearMarkets In their entertaining new book, The Fat Tail, Eurasia Group investment strategists Ian Bremmer and Preston Keat observe that while banks likely spent $8 billion on credit-risk software in…
Top 10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AAPL, ARBA, AVID, BAC, FSLR, JCG, ERIC, MWW, Q, YGE)
These are the top ten analyst research calls from Wall Street’s upgrades and downgrades we have seen early this Tuesday morning: Apple (AAPL) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley. Ariba (ARBA) Cut to Perform…
Microsoft (MSFT) To Spend Tens Of Millions To Promote New Search Engine Called “Bing”
Microsoft (MSFT) has come up with a name for its new search engine technology–“Bing”. The world’s largest software company is prepared to spend as much as $100 million promoting the product. There is still…
The Failure Of The Mortgage Modification System Threatens Housing
The theory was simple and elegant. By offering homeowners who could not afford their monthly mortgage costs lower monthly payments, people could be able to stay in their homes. That would lower the US default…
Nokia (NOK) Application Store Faces Apple (AAPL) Dominance
Nokia (NOK) is the world’s largest handset company. It has been late to the high-end smart-phone market, but it has distribution leverage all over the world because of its 37% global market share. One…
American Companies Selling More $1 Products (AAPL)(KRT)(WMT)(MCD)(SBUX)
American companies are increasingly offering products for $1 or less. Some are among the largest firms in the United States such as Wal-Mart (WMT) and McDonald’s (MCD). Other are smaller but use big distribution…
Tech Innovation Moves From West To East (HPQ)(AAPL)(DELL)(INTC)(IBM)(MSFT)(CHL)(GOOG)
The West, particularly the US, has been able to hang onto its lead in technology innovation for the better part of thirty years while the manufacturing economy was driven by cost savings to Asia…
Summer 2009: The Long Wait For Evidence Of A Recovery
Almost every analyst or forecasting group of any substance has offered opinions over the last few weeks, regarding the performance of the economy for the last half of this year. Paul Krugman, Alan Greenspan,…
Media Digest 5/26/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
Reuters: Bears control the dollar because of concerns about the deficit and heal of the US economy. Reuters: Crunch time looms for the GM (GM) and Chrysler restructurings. Reuters: The US is cracking down…
Asia Markets 5/26/2009
Markets in Asia fell. The Nikkei was down .4% to 9,311. The Hang Seng dropped .4% to 17,648. The Shanghai Composite was down .8% to 2,588. At the open in Europe, the FTSE was…
Starbucks (SBUX) Explodes In New York City, Literally
According to several media reports someone planted a bomb outside the Starbucks (SBUX) store at 92nd Street and Third Avenue in New York City, causing an explosion and shattering windows. The incident took place…
EPA Administrator Forecasts Potential Shift on Bush-Era Drilling Loophole
By Joaquin Sapien, ProPublica Signaling the potential for an important policy reversal, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a congressional hearing on Tuesday that the agency would consider revisiting its controversial position…
To Fix the Derivatives Market, Don’t
John Tamny of RealClearMarkets In his 1940s classic, The Road to Serfdom, Friedrich Hayek described classical liberalism as essentially a non-system whereby “there are no hard-and-fast rules fixed once and for all.” Major media…
As PetroChina (PTR) Buys Into Singapore Pet, Issues About Strategic Interests Rise
China Petroleum (PTR) is buying 45.5% of Singapore Petroleum for just over $1 billion and will probably move to purchase the balance of the company. China recently proposed a deal to lend $10 billion…
Media Digest 5/21/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
Reuters: Magna and Fiat improved bids for Opel as competition for the firm rose. Reuters: The air cargo market, a key global indicator, has probably bottomed. Reuters: Banks are coming up with novel ways…