Check with Sun (JAVA). The server end of the tech industry has poor margins and unforgiving competition. HP (HPQ) has a server division. It grew only .7% in the company’s last fiscal year, and…
Fiat is very near an agreement with Chrysler to take a piece of the No.3 US car company. The deal will need the blessing of the Treasury Department which is supplying Chrysler with financial…
This week is the launch of earnings season, and we have outlined the companies which we believe will have the largest impact on their sector or on the overall market. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:…
Fox Business has been sending us PR alerts off and on for the last several business days. Usually the editors here would find them helpful. We are not allowed to watch financial TV because…
The EU finally owned up to what everyone already knew. It will face its first recession since it was formed over ten years ago. It was nothing more than a fantasy that it could…
John Tamny, RealClearMarkets Last fall, in an Oct. 16 interview with CNBC’s Larry Kudlow, outgoing U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson addressed the imposition of the Troubled Asset Relief Program on banks, and specifically responded…
The next big threat to bank earnings may be corporate defaults on debt, much if it originally supplied by the banks themselves. The irony is that the problem could be solved by the banks,…
What is it with billionaires and newspaper publishers? Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecommunications tycoon, is consideringincreasing his investment in the New York Times Co. (NYSE:NYT) byseveral hundred million dollars, according to The Wall Street…
Faced with a $42 billion loss at RBS (RBS) and credit markets which appear to become more frozen as each day passes, the UK will move its economic rescue package beyond the banks into…
According to Reuters, there is at least some chance that the US could have to nationalize some banks. Reuters reports that the UK launched a huge new bank rescue plan. Reuters writes that Citigroup…
Markets in Asia were slightly higher The Nikkei rose .3% to 8,257. The Hang Seng was up .6% to 13.340. The Shanghai Composite was higher by 1.7% to 1.987. On news of a huge…
It is stunning to think that Americans have begun to believe that this recession and the effects that it will have on their lives could go on for years. It is more surprising that,…
The UAW and GM’s (GM) creditors are making the great auto company bailout a process that will funnel money into Detroit for years beyond the March 31 deadline which has been set for restructuring…
The federal government really does not want to build a "bad bank" to take toxic assets from America’s largest financial institutions. It has taken a number of measures to avoid it. The Fed has…
According to Bloomberg, GE (GE) may layoff as many as 11,000 people at its financial unit. "General Electric Co.’s finance arm may cut 7,500 to 11,000 jobs, or at least 10 percent of its…
Looking at the headlines at WSJ.com, the majority are about large companies that cut workers today. Circuit City is liquidating, which could put 30,000 people out of work. AMD (AMD) is cutting 1,100. Pfize…
Yesterday’s story about Venezuela opening the bidding for its oil resources raised an interesting question. What are the chances that Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), with nearly $40 billion in cash at the end of…
Today marks the official death of Circuit City Stores, Inc. All hopes of reviving or saving all or part of the company are gone. The company is now officially seeking approval from the U.S.…
It has begun to dawn on investors. The news about Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup’s (C) fourth quarter earnings is the beginning of the end of the private enterprise banking system in America.…
Husbands have long joked that certain segments in their households, such as cosmetics and personal beauty care products, were largely immune from recessions. Many will still joke about this, but the numbers reported by…