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…
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…
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…
Markets in Asia were mostly higher. The Nikkei rose 1.3% to 9,347. The Hang Seng was up .6% to 17,172. The Shanghai Composite rose .5% to 2,610. At the open in Europe, the UK…
In a long, analytic article about commercial real estate, The New York Post points out that the debt backed by commercial real estate in the US has hit $3.5 trillion. The paper writes that “about $1.4 trillion…
Saudi Arabia’s oil minister expects oil to move back to $75, about 22% higher than it is now. He also believes that OPEC will not have to cut production for crude prices to rise. Demand…
The Administration is starting to face some resistance in Congress to its plan to put GM (GM) into Chapter 11 using Treasury money to sustain the company as it works it way to profitability.…
The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming! Based on a report in The Wall Street Journal, Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian investment group wants to put $200 million into Facebook for preferred stock.…
How long has it been since nanotechnology was on the tip of everyone’s tongue as the next great speculative investment frontier? It seems like ancient history. But we have seen news from Altair Nanotechnologies…
We have just seen the newest weekly data from Baker Hughes, Inc. (NYSE: BHI). It is surprising how the rig count keeps heading lower and lower despite oil prices having risen so much. It…
Whether your goal is to go as green as possible regardless of costs or if the goal is to simply cut down on utility expenses, appealing to everyone’s pocketbook is generally an incentive that…
Playboy Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: PLA) is sitting in a tough spot. This morning there is a report that the company has the bunny franchise up for sale. We have looked at this very notion…
Our weekly headlines from 24/7 Wall St. partner Apple Investor News:
by Alexandra Andrews, ProPublica The Hope for Homeowners program was created by Congress last summer to help an estimated 400,000 homeowners avoid foreclosure. But it could more aptly be called the Hope for A…
Today’s FT energy blog includes a post claiming that China is responsible for recent rises in crude prices because it is building its strategic petroleum reserve. The post cites satellite imagery showing more tanker…
This week’s report from the Energy Information Administration noted that “strong supply availability from refiners now running at low utilizations in both Europe and the U.S. is likely to moderate gasoline price increases this…
Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) is the beneficiary of a research call this morning from Broadpoint AmTech. Many research calls are not very aggressive and many are very reactive on the surface. That…
Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE:STP) has priced its follow-on offering of 20 million ADSs at $12.50/ADS. The underwriters have an over-allotment option on an additional 3 million ADSs.
LDK Solar Co. Ltd. (NYSE:LDK) makes multicrystalline wafers used to manufacture PV solar cells and Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (NYSE:YGE) is an integrated maker of PV solar products. Both companies have reported…
DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) is seeing a surge of interest this morning after the company said it had completed its “ATM” financing of some $475 million in gross proceeds. Merrill Lynch acted as sales…