A Government Bailout For IPOs
The venture capital community has made a self-serving request of the federal government, but is may not be entirely without merit. The industry’s trade association “called for lower taxes and loosened listing rules, to…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Bondholders Ditch GM (GM) And Chrysler
Nearly everyone who could keep GM (GM) and Chrysler out of Chapter 11 has gone along with supporting painful restructuring plans. The UAW and managements at the two companies have given up a great…
Ken Lewis Keeps His Day Job (BAC)
Ken Lewis got a slap on the hand. Shareholders of Bank of America (BAC) voted to separate the chairman’s role from the CEO’s and the bank’s board was forced to elect a new chairman,…
The Fed: Things Will Get Better, If Everything Goes As Planned
The market continues to stage an improbable rally which should have been affected by concerns about the spread of the Swine flu virus and the fact that several large American banks may need tremendous…
Starbucks And The Resurrection Of The Middle Class
Consumer spending by America’s large middle class is an important indicator of economic recovery. GDP numbers from last quarter and opinions from the Federal Open Market Committee may not be as accurate an indicator…
Media Digest 4/30/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
According to Reuters, Bank of America (BAC) shareholders voted to separate the chairman and CEO roles and Ken Lewis was replaced as chairman. Reuters reports that talks to keep Chrysler out of Chapter 11…
Asia Markets 4/30/2009
Markets in Asia rallied The Nikkei rose 3.9% to 8,826. The Hang Seng was up 3% to 15,408. The Shanghai Composite rose .4% to 2,478. A the open in Europe, the FTSE rose .3%.…
ETF Watch: What Happened In iShares MSCI Taiwan Index? (EWT, TWN, TFC, FXI)
Today was one of the strangest days ever in the iShares MSCI Taiwan Index (NYSE: EWT) ETF. In fact, you rarely ever see such trading action as we saw today in any ETF that…
Chrysler Going Bankrupt
Bloomberg reports that Chrysler is going bankrupt. “President Barack Obama plans to announce tomorrow that Chrysler LLC will be placed into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, leading to an alliance with Italian automaker Fiat SpA.” Based…
Visa Numbers Looking Good Enough Ahead (V, MA)
Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V) has posted earnings of $0.71 EPS and $1.6 billion in net operating revenues. Thomson Reuters had estimates at $0.64 EPS and $1.61 billion in revenues. This appears to be good…
Starbucks (SBUX) Spills The Beans As Sales Drop
Revenue for the last quarter fell at Starbucks (SBUX) by 8% to $2.33 billion. Net earnings fell 77% to $25 million and earnings per share were down by the same percentage to $.03. The numbers were…
Confusing Buffett & Berkshire Hathaway’s 2009 Annual Meeting & Earnings Dates (BRK-A)
There appears to be some over-reporting around the upcoming earnings date of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) ahead of this weekend’s highly anticipated annual shareholder meeting. The media is reporting that there is not…
Fed Takes Less Negative Stance On Economy
The FOMC has said that it will leave the target Fed Funds Rates between 0.00% to 0.25%. The group also noted that the decision was unanimous and said that the contractions in the economy…
Yum Chairman/CEO Novak Pockets $30M More In Stock Options (YUM)
If you think that high compensation and getting rich on stock options was only in technology companies or on Wall Street, that is not the case. David Novak, Chairman & CEO of Yum Brands…
BofA Needs More Time To Tally Votes on Lewis & Other Issues (BAC)
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) has already had all of its votes turned in on the shareholder issues up for a vote. We have been (painfully) listening to the live webcast of this…
Massaging Bank Numbers—A How-To Guide
Now you, too, can have a great first quarter. By Martha C. White of The Big Money So you run a bank. And it’s not been the smoothest sailing lately. Sure, record-low interest rates…
Will Solar Conference Address Slowing Trends? (FSLR, STP, AMAT, AKNS, TSL)
Solar industry consulting firm, Solarplaza, hosting a conference on “The Solar Future” on May 26th in Munich, Germany. Speakers from First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR), Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE:STP), and Q-Cells as well…
Speculative Swine Flu Stocks Giving It Back (NVAX, GNBT, BCRX, PURE, VICL, VIVO, AVII)
This week there have been many crazy stock gains among the speculative biotech sector, and these were tied directly to the ‘speculative stocks’ that could have any ties in reality, fiction, and even imagination…
ArcelorMittal Needs Capital On Top of Losses (MT)
The world’s largest steel maker, ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT), is reporting quarterly results lower than even last quarter’s dismal showing. Analysts weren’t expecting much, and they got even less. To add insult to injury to…
Ken Lewis Gets Backing of Shareholder Activist Evelyn Davis (BAC, BLK)
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) just started out its annual shareholder meeting with a traditional introduction from CEO Ken Lewis. It is no shock that he is under fire today, and we have…