Wednesday will potentially mark the apex for the scandals and controversy surrounding Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) as far as its role in Merrill Lynch bonuses, whether Ken Lewis (and/or other managers) get…
Senator Arlen Specter has decided to switch parties, according to multiple news reports. The senator from Pennsylvania is going to run in the 2010 election as a Democrat rater than as a Republican. This…
American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) is increasing its push into renewable and alternative energy with a fairly lofty goal on the surface. The utility with more than 5 million customers over 11 states is…
The Conference Board’s reading on Consumer Confidence just popped to 39.2 for the month of April. This is above a reading of 26.9 revised for March from a preliminary 26.0 reading. We had estimates…
There is some good news on the housing front, although this “good news” may only be a relative issue and we are having to go back to February in this data. The S&P/Case-Shiller home-price…
French supermajor oil company Total SA (NYSE:TOT) has let its offer for Canada’s UTS Energy Corporation expire. Total failed to get tenders for two-thirds of UTS’s shares, and has directed the tender depositary to…
Solar maker Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ) is incorporated in Canada, but all operations are based in China. The company has announced that three Chinese banks will kick in a total of $2.2 billion “in…
Vestas Wind Systems A/S is a company that many U.S.-based green and renewable energy investors may either not know at all or only know by name. But the Danish company is essentially the leader…
The best thing to say about the 2009 first quarter at refiner Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) is that it was better than the first quarter a year ago. Refining margins are higher now, and…
Nuveen Investments has completed the initial public offering of four new state-specific closed-end funds for municipal bind investors. The funds will begin trading on the NYSE Amex today and the total funds raised came…
These are some of the top pre-market analyst upgrades and positive research calls we have seen from Wall Street early this Tuesday morning: Brinker International (EAT) Raised to Buy at Argus Research. Discover Financial…
These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades and negative research calls from Wall Street we have seen early this Tuesday morning: Alliance Resource (ARLP) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia. BJ Services…
The recently rich nations of the Middle East and Russia are learning that having a lot of money is not all that it is cracked up to be, especially when the money goes away.…
Somewhere in the basement of a government warehouse, federal employees with too little to do have come up with estimates of the what the effects of an all-out flu pandemic would be. Like most estimates, these…
By the middle of the year, the federal government will own large, and in some cases, controlling interests, in two car companies and several major banks. There is a chance the the extent of rescue efforts and government…
There are many fears about the swine flu outbreak. It is not simply that it could cause the death of thousands or in the case of a pandemic, perhaps millions. Other fears are economic…
GM (GM) must fire another 21,000 factory workers, as part of a plan to get an additional $11.6 billion in aid from the federal government. The restructuring plan would give creditors stock in the…
According to Reuters, world health officials are fighting to contain the new flu. Reuters reports that the government may be pressing Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC) to raise more money. Reuters writes…
Markets in Asia were lower. The Nikkei was down 2.7% to 8,494. The Hang Seng was off 2.1% to 14,532. The Shanghai Composite was off .2% to 2,401. At the open in Europe, the…
Chinese online search leader Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) has reported its quarterly earnings. Its earnings came in at $0.76 net EPS and posted $0.86 non-GAAP EPS on $118.6 million in revenue versus estimates from…