As if you didn’t know there were problems at SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI), Moody’s has decided in its infinite wisdom to downgrade the company’s debt ratings. This downgrade is showing an increased…
The shareholders of Grey Wolf, Inc. (NYSE:GW) have overwhelmingly chosen to accept cash instead of stock in Precision Drilling Trust (NYSE:PDS) as consideration for Precision’s buyout of Grey Wolf. We’ve been following the story…
Energy industry publisher Platts is reporting that the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) is meeting in Moscow this week, and is expected to sign a framework agreement to set up a natural gas exporters…
Nortel Networks Corp. (NYSE: NT) is trading higher today on news reports that it has received three offers worth nearly U.S. $1 billion for the company’s Metro Ethernet unit. What is interesting is that…
Last summer, Suzlon Energy Limited had a nasty problem with its wind turbine blades. Blades shipped to the US started cracking. Then blades sold in the company’s home country, India, also started cracking. The…
There was no way the November housing data was going to be good. There are too few people chasing too many homes. In some markets like Florida and Michigan, there are no people chasing…
The good news is that PC sales are not dead if the latest iSuppli data is accurate. But there are some trends in which are going to revolutionize the PC industry. We have harped…
Bill Miller is the Legg Mason (NYSE: LM) money manager, whose two funds have each lost more than 50% this year, has been asked to help run a third fund as the firm tries…
The final revision for Q3 GDP is still indicative of a recession. The NBER already declared a recession was in effect since last December, but this was the first quarter to actually show negative…
It is getting pretty thin in major analyst coverage as firms are encouraged to go easy on major year-end calls barring anything unexpected. These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and new coverage calls…
It is easy to see the Madoff affair as all bad. Regulators missed critical warnings. How many other cases like this are still hiding under rocks? Foundations and personal fortunes were wiped out. A…
Every economist worth his salt assumes that consumer confidence and consumer spending are hitting multi-decade lows in Japan, the EU, and the US. There has been some hope that the disease had not spread…
The profitable businesses of granting mortgages and investing in related derivatives is gone now. So are the large, profitable loans given to major corporations and the equity and debt underwriting that was part of…
Lower interest rates on home loans are causing people to run to the banks. Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages are as low as 5.2%. According to several media accounts, banks cannot handle the influx of new…
The easy answer to the question of what US operations of The Big Three are worth is that they are worth nothing. That assessment is entirely accurate based on the current encumbrances of union…
According to Reuters, a survey of 22 countries show three-quarters of households cutting spending and a sharp drop of confidence in emerging economies. Reuters writes that the US sold record debt and there was…
Markets in Asis were mostly off with Japan closed. The Hang Seng fell 3% to 14,183. The Shanghai Composite was down 4.6% to 1,897. In Europe at the open, the FTSE was flat at…
McClatchy (MNI) Another big newspaper company headed toward liquidation. Drops to $.83 from 52-week high of $13.31. Markwest Energy (MWE) Downgraded by Morgan Keegan. Drops to $7.36 from 52-week high of $38.50. ArthroCare (ARTC)…
The board of AllianceBernstein (AB), controlled by majority shareholder AXA, dumped longtime CEO Lew Sanders. The stock has been way down recently. Over the last year it is off over 70%, but so are…
Sprint (S) is down sharply today, heading toward penny-stock land. Shares are at $1.70, off their 52-week high of $13.90. Much of the drop is due to its falling cellular subscriber base which contrasts…