Corporate Default Rates Expected To Soar
The damage of the recession is beginning to move from the financial sector to other parts of the economy. According to the FT, "The Markit iTraxx Crossover index rose above 1,000 basis points for…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
IBM (IBM) Takes Another Bite Out Of Microsoft (MSFT) Windows
IBM (IBM) has decided to be the next company to pile onto Microsoft (MSFT), which has already been beaten like a red-headed step child for bringing out Vista, a flawed bit of software which…
The Bonus Pool: Citigroup’s (C) Pandit Comes To His Senses
Despite what executives at Goldman Sachs (GS) and several other large financial firms have done by agreeing to take no bonuses, there has been no such word out of Citigroup (C). It looked like…
Costco (COST), One Of Retail’s Last Hopes, Falters
The retailers who were supposed to do OK during the recession were the ones with the really, really good goods which were being sold at the really, really low prices. Wal-Mart (WMT) falls into…
The Bankruptcy Option Catches GM (GM) And Chrysler In It Web
The last word from Washington is that Congressional staff and some car company executives understand that pre-packaged bankruptcies of GM (GM) and Chrysler may be the only effective ways of saving the companies. The…
The Recesssion Metastasizes To The Bone
There are a lot of pieces of data about what is happening to the economy, perhaps too many to make any sense of them. In the last day or so, two stand out. One…
Media Digest 12/4/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
According to Reuters, falling interest rates will not offset unemployment and falling prices to save to housing market. Reuters reports that GM (GM) and Chrysler are considering bankruptcy to get US funding. Reuters reports…
Asia Markets And Europe Open 12/4/2008
Markets in Asia were mixed. The Nikkei was off 1% to 7,924. The Hang Seng rose .2% to 13,611. The Shanghai Composite was up 1.8% to 2,002. In Europe, at the open, the FTSE…
The Treasury Finally Looks To The Real Problem (FNM)(FRE)
Now that the Fed, Treasury, and Congress have set up plans to bailout everything from banks to car companies to bicycle shops, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has decided to turn his attention to the…
CEO Of The Year Nominees: 5) Samuel J. Palmisano Of IBM (IBM)
24/7 Wall St. will name its annual CEO of the Year next week. The executive will be picked from a field of ten which we will profile this week The CEOs are chosen on…
The 52-Week Low Club (IFX)(RTP)(POT)(MSCC)
Infineon Technologies (IFX) Misses numbers by a mile. Drops to $1.16 from 52-week high of $13.06. Rio Tinto (RTP) Falling commodities prices and ongoing disappointment about failed takeover by BHP. Down to $64.35 from…
Chrysler Threatens World Order
Fighters who are about to go down for good always resort to fighting dirty. Why not? Nothing to lose. Jim Press, Chrysler’s vice chairman, repeated the party line. If we don’t get cash, we…
Beige Book: Depression, Recession
All districts showed weakness… weakening labor, weak exports, weak housing, commercial real estate declines, lower housing prices, weak retail, mining and energy down, wage pressure subdued, lower manufacturing…. You already know most of this. …
Before You Buy Into SanDisk Alert (SNDK)
SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) has traded up most of the day on options reports from OptionMonster regarding a potential bid from Toshiba. This was after a flurry of call options buying, but the shares…
Rumor: UAW May Cry “Uncle”
According to The Wall Street Journal, "Leaders of the United Auto Workers union are close to signing off on changes to the 2007 labor contract with Detroit’s three auto makers, in a move that…
Deutsche Bank Said Mining Companies Dividends Are Not Safe (AA, FCX, PCU,
In a report out this morning, Deutsche Bank said investors are takingfalse comfort in the dividends of mining stocks and said most metalscompanies have now gone into "survival" mode and slashing dividends willbe the…
PC Sales To Die Next Year (AAPL)(HPQ)(DELL)(MSFT)(RIMM)(NOK)(PALM)
PCs. cell phone, and video games. Winners every year. Rock solid growth driving remarkable industry earnings. Nokia (NOK), RIM (RIMM), and PALM (PALM) have destroyed the hope that 2009 will be a strong year…
Precision Drilling: The Grey Wolf Saga Continues (PDS, GW)
The merger between Precision Drilling (NYSE:PDS) and Grey Wolf (NYSE:GW) could turn into the longest running soap opera on Wall Street. Our story last month summed up the action so far. Last night, Precision…
Nexen: Another Foray from France (NXY, TOT)
The FT reported that Canadian oil company Nexen (NYSE:NXY) is being courted by France’s Total SA (NYSE:TOT). Total could be preparing a bid for as much as $16 billion for the Canadian company. Total…
CEO Of The Year Nominees: 4) H. Lee Scott Of Wal-Mart (WMT)
24/7 Wall St. will name its annual CEO of the Year next week. The executive will be picked from a field of ten which we will profile this week The CEOs are chosen on…