The Hidden TARP Fund
Most company budgets and some prepared by governments have a place to park unidentified expenses. Those amounts are a hedge against unexpected needs for capital, and are often called “rainy day” funds. Budgeting purists…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Being Rich Loses Its Luster
Being rich during a recession can almost be as bad as being poor. The only difference is that the rich have more to lose. RealtyTrak, a research firm that follows mortgage trends, recently reported…
Media Digest 5/8/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
According to Reuters, stress tests results will force ten banks to have to raise nearly $75 billion. Reuters reports that Toyota (TM) lost $6.9 billion and warned of more losses ahead. Reuters writes that…
Cramer’s #4 Speculative Tech Pick: ON Semiconductor (ONNN, TKLC, BRCD, CDNS)
Jim Cramer came out with his fourth speculative technology stock pick on CNBC’s MAD MONEY tonight. His #4 pick for the basket is ON Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: ONNN). He said the company did a…
Stress Test Results, Bank by Bank (AXP, BBT, BAC, COF, C, FITB, GS, JPM, KEY, MET, MS, PNC, RF, STT, STI, USB, WFC)
Finally, the stress tests are out for the US banking and financial institutions. Of the banks, 10 of 19 banks need a combined $74 billion of equity.The good news is that a few companies…
Consumer Credit Dries Up At Record Pace
If you think that credit to consumers (and by consumers) was being cut, you will see was an understatement. Consumer credit for the month of March was just released and it is the largest…
E-Commerce’s Little Miracle
While nearly every brick-and-mortar retailer in the country was fighting record drops in same-store sales, e-commerce held its own in the first quarter. Some categories actually showed sharp increases in activity lead by sports…
April Unemployment Could Beat Expectations
There has been a steady trend in economic data, and that trend is a steady wave of “less-bad” data. We are even starting to see hints of that in the the employment numbers. It…
GE (GE): Bringing Down The Costs Of Medical Equipment
GE (GE) announced a push to increase R&D in its medical division, bring down prices for many of the technologies it creates, and provide financing to the doctors and hospitals who use the GE…
Kindle DX: Sleeper Agent for Amazon’s Future
The device itself isn’t very different than the old Kindle. But it explains where Amazon sees itself expanding. By Chadwick Matlin of The Big Money At first, they hyped it as just a new…
Despite No Growth, Has Vonage Finally Made It? (VG)
Vonage Holdings Corporation (NYSE: VG) is seeing a surge in shares this morning after the VoIP telephony company announced a quarterly profit. Yep, a profit. This was a $5 million gain or $0.03 EPS…
Bernanke Outlines Future of Regulation, Sort Of
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has been speaking via satellite this morning since 9:30 AM EST before the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Conference on Bank Structure and Competition in Chicago. But the focus of…
Exxon Deal Pending on Sakhalin-1 Gas? (XOM)
Japan’s Nikkei newspaper has reported that Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) has reach an agreement to sell about 1.5 billion cubic meters/year of natural gas from the Sakhalin-1 project to Russia’s gas monopoly Gazprom. Exxon…
A Refiner Wins Again (HOC, ATN, KEG, ATLS)
Holly Corporation (NYSE:HOC) this morning reported EPS of $0.44 on first quarter 2009 revenue of $650.8 million. Analysts had expected EPS of $0.30 on revenuesof $590.48 million. For the same period last year, Holly…
Wal-Mart Wins, But Drops Monthly Reporting Entirely (WMT)
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is up big this morning on a whopper of a same-store-sales figure for the month of April. The world’s largest retailer also noted that its 13-week comparable store sales…
SIRIUS XM Manages Gains & Raises Guidance (SIRI)
SIRIUS XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) posted a pro forma revenue gain of 5% from last year of $605.5 and posted $108.8 million in pro forma adjusted income from operations (up $179 million year over…
GM’s (GM) Losses Go Global And Market Share Collapses
GM (GM) lost money in the last quarter, a total of $6 billion. That it only lost that much is a testament to its successful cost control work. The company’s revenue dropped a breathtaking…
Top Analyst Downgrades (AMSC, T, MU, MS, RWT, SYMC, UBSI, VZ)
These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades and cautious research calls from Wall Street this Thursday morning: American Superconductor (AMSC) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank. AT&T (T) Cut to Neutral at…
Top Analyst Upgrades (BAC, CTRP, ENOC, FITB, RTP, THQI, USM)
These are some of the top pre-market analyst upgrades or positive research calls from Wall Street this Thursday morning: Bank of America (BAC) Raised to Outperform at Baird; Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.…
Domestic & Global Rigs Counts Still Contracting, But Slower (BHI)
Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE: BHI) has announced its monthly rig counts for the month of April on the domestic and on a global basis. The good news is that the rate at which the…