MEMC, The Meltdown Continues (WFR)
A long weekend is always a good time to send bad news over the wires, hoping that either nobody will see it or that they’ll forget they saw it by the next business day.…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Fertilizer Mergers in the Backstretch (CF, AGU, TRA)
The proposed acquisition of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) by Canadian firm Agrium Inc. (NYSE:AGU) is heading for the shareholders’ meeting on April 21st. CF Holdings has received an opinion from RiskMetrics Group, a…
The Drain of MBAs to Washington
John Tamny of RealClearMarkets In trying to explain why capitalism in the U.S. thrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter broke it down to the flow of talent.…
Top Analyst Upgrades (BRY, BRCD, GS, LULU, MWW, CRM)
These are some of the top analyst upgrades or positive research calls that we have seen early this Monday morning from Wall Street: Berry Petroleum (BRY) Raised to Outperform at Morgan Keegan. Brocade (BRCD)…
Top Analyst Downgrades (GLW, ETN, EBAY, GMCR, INTU, WFR, VDSI, WFC, WYNN)
These are most of the top pre-market analyst downgrades and cautious research notes we have seen from Wall Street analysts this Monday morning: Corning (GLW) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer. Eaton (ETN) Cut to…
As China Slows US Debt Purchases, Will Treasury Rates Rise
The Administration is going to have to raise hundreds of billons of dollars to support its stimulus package, budget, and mortgage bail-out programs. Several things could make the process difficult, and the most troubling…
The World’s Most Ethical Companies? A Joke
An organization called Ethisphere has put out a list called “2009 World’s Most Ethical Companies” There is nothing wrong with the list, but the basis on which it was put together is a bit…
GM (GM) Creditors May Simply Get Robbed
GM’s (GM) creditors seem to believe that they should get a better deal than the car company is offering them so that it can reduce its debt. Even the most senior creditors are being…
TARP Recipients Face Another Charge Of Mismanagement: A Customer Bill Of Rights
There would appear to be no end to the extent to which banks which received TARP funds will go to make Congress and the public unhappy with the program and its results. Executive pay…
Microsoft’s (MSFT) Key Bargaining Chip—Yahoo!’s (YHOO) Earnings
There have been a number of news reports recently saying that Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo! are back in the process of negotiating a combination of their search businesses to take on the industry leader,…
China Makes Claim To Lead World Economies
Based on claims from the Chinese government, which should not be a revelation to anyone given their source, the economy of the world’s most populous nation has begun to turn around. That would put…
Media Digest 4/13/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
According to Reuters, GM (GM) has been told by Treasury to begin work on a bankruptcy. Reuters reports that China’s growth has started to move inland from the coast. Reuters reports that Credit Suisse…
A Note To The Treasury: Toyota (TM) Will Lose $5 Billion
The Treasury Department may want to adjust what it thinks the cost of the bailouts of GM (GM) and Chrysler will cost. Word out of Japan is that Toyota (TM) will loss $5 billion…
For eBay (EBAY) A Chance To Sell Skype And Dump A Problem
The founders of Skype, the huge VoIP service, may buy it back from eBay–for about half the price that they received. It would be a chance for eBay to focus on the two businesses…
News Shorts From Silicon Valley (AAPL)(MSFT)(YHOO)
From The Wall Street Journal, Steve Jobs is working from home and is still involved in critical decisions at Apple (AAPL). From AllThingsDigital and to no one’s surprise, Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo! (YHOO) have begun…
Confirmed: First-Half Budget Deficit $1 Trillion
As 24/7 Wall St. mentioned in an earlier post, the Federal budget deficit was nearly $1 trillion. The Treasury department issued its numbers today. CBO came out with its figures three days ago. 24/7: …
Weekly AAPL Headline Roundup: April 9
In addition to today’s Credit Suisse price target upgrade, there’s lots of interesting news for Apple in this pre-earnings (coming April 22) period. Here are the week’s top stories, aggregated from 24/7 Wall St.…
Death a la Carte
It’s not Google that’s killing the media. By Mark Gimein of The Big Money What you are reading now is an article, published by a Web site, The Big Money. One way you could…
Government Tries To Hold A Gun To The Head Of GM (GM) Creditors
The Treasury is using all of its muscle in The Motor City. Bondholders in GM (GM) and Chrysler think they may do better if the companies go bankrupt than if they take the paltry…
Banks, With Goldman Sachs (GS) Out Front, Get Ready To Raise Cash
The market capitalization of some big banks has doubled in a month. All of them will have “stress test” results from the government within a few weeks. Those that get fairly high marks will…