Bernanke Joins Paulson In Focus On Housing (FNM)(FRE)
As late in the game as it may be, Paulson began to address bringing down mortgage interest rates for new home buyers by suggesting the Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mach (FRE) could be…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
10 CEOs To Go In 2009: Mike Zafirovski of Nortel (NT)
Kicking management and practices at Nortel Networks Corp. (NYSE: NT) is nothing new for us. We have discussed the company’s problems here for longer than memory serves. Mike Zafirovski is president and chief executive…
24/7 Wall St. Hooks Up With Twitter
As many of our readers know, 24/7 Wall St. writes copy for a number ofsites including our own sites and those of our partners. Our ownsites include 24/7 Wall St., Volume Spike Investor, andBioHealthInvestor. …
Cramer Says Pfizer (PFE) Should Buy Allergan (AGN)
On Mad Money last night, Jim Cramer said Pfizer (PFE) should consider buying Allergan (AGN). Cramer thinks this is a smart play similar to Johnson & Johnson acquisition of Mentor Corporation (MNT) earlier in…
The Fallacious Notion of ‘Money Supply’
By John Tamny RealClearMarkets Supply-siders are concerned with the quality of money, not its quantity. Nobody, except the market as a whole, could ever know how much of what kind of money is appropriate…
Rock Star Bono Gets Pole-Axed By Elevations Partners (MOVE)(PALM)
Rock star Bono must be a lot less well off financially than he was two years ago. He must also wish he never met Roger McNamee, who runs private equity firm Elevation Partners where…
Equitable Resources Plans 2009 CapEx (EQT)
Before the market opened this morning, Equitable Resources (NYSE:EQT) announced a capital expenditure budget of $1 billion for 2009. This amount is down from Equitable’s expected capex of $1.4 billion this year. The company…
Schlumberger Confirms Lower 2008 Profit (SLB)
Oil field services giant Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) confirmed yesterday that its gross profit for the full 2008 fiscal year would come in below analysts" estimates. The stock closed off about 3% yesterday and shares are…
Fluor: A Strong Balance Sheet Is a Good Thing (FLR, STO, XOM, JEC, FWLT, KBR)
When everyone else is ducking for cover, it often pays to stick your neck out. That seems to be what Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) is doing with the announcement of a new business that it…
Advanced Micro Devices: Even Cheaper Processors Off (AMD, INTC, NVDA)
It seems that the lower demand for PC’s and the demand that is there heading into the under-$500.00 PC market is taking its toll on everyone. We have already seen a sharp warning from…
DJIA Losing 3 Trifecta (T, DD, MRK)
It is easy to get pumped up about overseas rate cuts, but there is cautionary data from at least three DJIA components. Wal-Mart is the economic trade-down so that win in retail sales is…
Weekly Jobless Claims Obscured by Turkey & Bread Lines
The weekly jobless claims just came out at a drop of 21,000 to 509,000. Economists were looking for a roughly 540,000 who applied for benefits. Last week’s initial report of 529,000 was also revised…
The Wal-Mart (WMT) Miracle Lives On
After Costco (COST) posted poor numbers for last month and almost every other large retailer in the US said that the early parts of the fourth quarter were bad and the future looked worse,…
Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (ACN, ADBE, DOX, CREL, CTRP, IACI, ISIL, KLAC, SAPE, SSCC)
These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades and cautious calls we have seen this Thursday morning: Accenture (ACN) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs. Adobe Systems (ADBE) Cut to Neutral at Baird.…
Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (AMZN, AMAT, NILE, CECE, DCP, GPN, RHT, AUY, YRCW)
These are some of the top pre-market analyst upgrades we have seen this Thursday morning: Amazon.com (AMZN) Raised to Overweight at Barclays. Applied Materials (AMAT) Raised to Buy at Citigroup. Blue Nile (NILE) Raised…
Merck (MRK): People Won’t Even Buy Drugs
So much fore feeling better in a bad economy. Merck (MRK) offered lackluster guidance for next year and the stock is off before the open. According to Reuters, "Merck said it expected earnings, excluding…
Nokia (NOK) Revises Sales Forecasts Down, Again
Nokia (NOK) can’t keep up with the falling demand for cellular handsets. It cuts its forecasts for Q4 and 2009 again. That is probably not good new for Motorola (MOT), Samsung, RIM (RIMM), or…
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…
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…