Good News, Only Over 6 Million Jobless
There may be some good news on the jobless claims front. We saw a drop of 53,000 on the weekly jobless claims. The new number was ‘only’ 610,000 for the week. This would have…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Sun Ready To Resume Talks, Should IBM Even Listen? (JAVA, IBM, HPQ)
Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) is seeing a bit of excitement this morning on word that it is ready to resume talks with IBM (NYSE: IBM). We have been under the belief that this…
Whatever GDP’s Path, Don’t Expect a Bull Recovery
By John Tamny of RealClearMarkets A recent survey of economists in the Wall Street Journal pointed to economic recovery beginning in September. The problem here is that true economic growth is about productive economic…
Starbucks Catching Another Downgrade (SBUX)
Shares of Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) are getting hit by an analyst downgrade this morning. If it sounds like a repeat call mistaken for yesterday’s downgrade, it isn’t. Not really. This morning we have…
Earlybird Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AEP, CME, FNFG, KFT, LSTR, RGLD, SD, SBUX, TRI)
We still have well over two-hours until the opening bell this Thursday morning. So far we have seen many select upgrades and downgrades from Wall Street analysts. Here is what we have seen so…
JPMorgan Chase Shows How It’s Done (JPM, FAS)
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) rose about 7% yesterday ahead of this morning’s earnings announcement along with other major financial stocks, and now we know why. Jamie Dimon and friends at one of…
Nokia (NOK) Sales Crater, Handset Industries Shudders
It won’t be a nice day to go to work at Motorola (MOT), Samsung, or Sony Ericsson. Their larger competitor, Nokia (NOK) said it sold 19% fewer phones in the first quarter than it…
Rosetta Stone IPO Has Arrived, And Then Some (RST)
Rosetta Stone Inc. (NYSE: RST) has priced its initial public offering of 6.25 million shares of common stock at $18.00 per share. Of the offering, Rosetta Stone is selling 3.125 million shares of common…
Bottom For Real Estate Far Away As Foreclosures Rise
The foreclosure rates on homes in the US is still rising sharply, which is bad news for banks and almost anyone trying to sell a house. It could also totally undermine the Administration’s plan to…
General Growth And Another Burden For Bank Stocks
General Growth (GGP), the big mall owner, filed for bankruptcy, as many experts thought it would. The company has $27 billion in debt and, with real estate prices depressed, it may be impossible to…
Looking For The “Real” Investor
The head of The New York Stock Exchange is questioning the viability of the tremendous March market rally. He contends “real” investors were not in the thick of the trading. He has the benefit…
Media Digest 4/16/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
According to Reuters, Obama vowed to overhaul the tax code. Reuters reports that GM (GM) is working on a plan to cut dealers at an accelerated pace. Reuters writes that China’s first quarter growth…
Asia Markets And Europe Open 4/16/2009
Markets in Asia were mixed. The Nikkei rose 2.9% to 8,996. The Hang Seng was down .3% to 15,619. The Shanghai Composite was down 1.1% to 2,507. At the open in Europe, the FTSE…
Dell (DELL) Falls Further And Further Behind
Dell (DELL) has done a modest amount of what it could do to keep pace with its PC competition. It recently launched a high-end laptop, the Adamo, which mimics the look of a Apple…
Trouble In China As GDP Slows
The central government put on a brave face and hinted that GDP in China’s first quarter might be a bottom, but a look at the role that exports played in the number suggests otherwise.…
Twelve Major Brands That Will Disappear
A number of well-known brands disappeared in the last year in large part due to economic forces. Many of them were in the retail industry, led by Circuit City. ATA and Aloha airlines are…
Duke Realty Joins Wave Of REITs Raising Cash (DRE)
Duke Realty Corporation (NYSE: DRE) has joined in with other REIT operations in announcing the sale of common stock in order to pay down debt. The company plans to sell 64 million shares of…
Game-Changer For Premier Exhibitions (PRXI)
Shares of Premier Exhibitions Inc. (NASDAQ: PRXI) have been higher all day on word that G. Michael Harris’ company WLM, Inc. has made two offers that total $40 million on a combined basis of…
Some Relief In Homebuilder Data (XHB)
The National Association of Home Builders monthly index for this month took a huge leap from 9 to 14 to get the index out of single digit territory and at a 6-month high. The…
Does GM Have A Real Buyer For Saturn? (GM)
General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) may have an answer as to what could happen with that Saturn unit. Just be sure you stress the “may” in this thought. A press release came out mid-day…