Economic Numbers & Holiday Work Pains
It was hard to get excited about a half-day of the markets already, and the poor economic data only exacerbated that feeling. Durable goods coming in "less-bad" than expected initially helped the markets, but…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Durables Numbers Look Better Than Expected
Orders for U.S.-made durable goods fell 1% in November, the Commerce Department estimated Wednesday, as orders for transportation goods fell 7.4%. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected an overall decline of 3%. Excluding transportation,…
Jobless Claims Job Up: More Deep Recession Evidence
The U.S. labor market has gotten worse in the last month, with unemployment hitting the worst levels since 1982, the Labor Department said. First-time applications for state unemployment benefits jumped by 30,000 to a…
No RIM Jobs For Ex-Motorola Workers? (RIMM, MOT)
There is an interesting story out in technology, and it is far more interesting if you are a laid-off or disgruntled technology employee. Bloomberg has a report outlining a lawsuit where Research In Motion…
Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (LFC, NUE, PLD, SLF, CCJ, SSCC)
These are the few upgrades and downgrades we have seen this shortened Wednesday. As we are in the holidays, the analyst community has largely gone quiet until after the first of the year. China…
Mortgage Applications Are Way Up, But Are Loans?
According to MarketWatch, "With mortgage rates approaching record lows, the volume of applications filed for mortgages jumped a seasonally adjusted 48% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s…
Why Is GM (GM) Waiting Until Next Year To Clean Its Stable?
The executives in the automobile industry will go to any lengths to prove what boobs they are. GM management has elected to wait until next year before it begins to negotiate cuts with its…
Retailers Want Bailout, Too
Add to the list of the hundreds of companies and scores of industries that want part of the Obama bailout money the nation’s largest retailers. The National Retail Federation has proposed that there be…
Do Bank Of America (BAC), JPMorgan (JPM), And Wells Fargo (WFC) Kill Dividends?
Last October, Bank of America (BAC) cuts its dividend in half to $.32. Citigroup (C) has taken its down to a penny a share. There are not may reasons to invest in large money…
How Close Is Cerberus To The Ledge?
Cerberus, the private equity firm which has taken large positions in Chrysler and GMAC, is stopping year-end withdrawals from one of its large funds. According to The Wall Street Journal, "Stephen Feinberg, the head…
Will The New York Times (NYT) And New York Post Share Content?
Yesterday, The Washington Post (WPO) and Baltimore Sun said they will start to share content to save money. The newspaper industry’s fortunes are that bad. The Post says that the deal with cover everything…
Media Digest 12/24/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
According to Reuters, authorities do not think Madoff could have acted alone. Reuters show that the US is sinking deeper into recession. Reuters reports that the SEC defended it response to the economic turmoil.…
Asia Markets And Europe Open 12/24/2008
Many markets were closed for the holidays. In Japan, the Nikkei fell 2.4% to 8,501 after bad earnings forecasts from Toyota (TM). The Hang Seng was down .3% to 14,184. The Shanghai Composite fell…
Starbucks (SBUX) May Take Another Chance To Screw Employees
Merry Christmas you underpaid, overworked coffee barista boys and girls. Uncle Howard Schultz, your founder and CEO, has found another way to screw Starbucks (SBUX) employees, if he wants to. According to The Wall…
The 52-Week Low Club (KVA)(AM)(MNI)(BRY)(SSCC)
K-V Pharmaceutical (KVA) Suspends shipments of tablet-form drugs and expects earnings hit. Stock falls to $2.50 from 52-week high of $29.02. American Greetings (AM) Says it lost money. Drops to $6.20 from 52-week high…
Profitable American Express (AXP) Gets $3.4 Billion In TARP Funds
American Express (AXP) is still paying its $.18 dividend. The company will fire about 7,000 people and chop other costs to save $1.8 billion next year. Last quarter AXP did relatively well, making $815…
Tell Us Something We Don’t Know: Consumers Deeper In Debt
From the "not news" file comes a report from credit rating firm, Equifax, that consumers are falling more deeply into debt. According to Reuters, Dann Adams, president of U.S. Information Systems for Equifax Inc,…
Stocks Hitting 52-Week Highs (ALGT, AGNC, LOPE, ROCM, RGLD)
There are still some stocks doing extremely well despite all the interests outside against ythe economy. Allegiant Travel Co. (NASDAQ: ALGT), American Capital Agency Corp. (NASDAQ: AGNC), Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: LOPE), Rochester…
Moody’s Outlines Default Risks For SIRIUS (SIRI)
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…
Grey Wolf Nearly, Finally Merged (GW, PDS, BAS)
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…