Store Closings Aside: Circuit City (CC) Can’t Make It To 2009
Today’s financial news headlines and stories are about how Circuit City (CC) is closing 155 stores in the hope of staying in business. The real story is in the fine print. Based on the…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Today’s Most Remarkable Moment On Financial TV Today: CNBC And Ryanair
CNBC interviewed remarkably pompous Michael O’Leary, CEO of European discount airline Ryanair. O’Leary described why a recession is great for the economy. He called other airlines "rubbish" and explains how he is ruining British…
Shareholders Fighting SIRIUS XM To The Core (SIRI)
If you are one of the hundreds of thousands of investors following penny stocks and low-priced stocks such as SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI), then you will not be surprised to learn that…
Have Cisco Earnings Expectations Come Down Enough? (CSCO)
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is set to report earnings after the close of trading on Wednesday. While many technology, telecom, and networking companies have grown more cautious, it is almost impossible not to…
Most Overpaid CEO Of The Day: Sachi Gerlitz Of Ness Technologies (NSTC)
Sachi Gerlitz, the CEO of Ness Techologies (NSTC), is remarkably well paid for doing a less than modest job of getting shareholders results. According to the NSTC proxy he made $903,000 last year in…
Worst Corporate Press Release Of The Day: Dana (DAN)
"Dana Holdings Corporation Sharpens Focus On Leadership Roles" "Dana Holding Corporation (DAN )today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed John Devine to the expanded role of chairman and CEO, and named Gary…
Sierra Pacific: More Might Be Less (SRP)
Back in September, Sierra Pacific Resources (NYSE:SRP) changed the names of both its utility companies to NV Energy. That didn’t do much to help its third-quarter earnings, which the company reported before the market…
Nicor: Shares Could Head South Today (GAS)
This is a story about that rare thing these days: a company with a stock price higher today than it was a year ago. Unfortunately, that may change following today’s release of third quarter…
Early Bird Analyst Upgrades (ACOR, BIIB, BKC, CHRT, OSG, SLB, TSO, WMT)
These are some of the top pre-market upgrades from analysts which we have seen in the early hours this Monday morning: Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR) Raised to Outperform at Baird. Biogen Idec (BIIB) Raised to…
Early Bird Analyst Downgrades (B, CCL, CTCM, DO, ESS, HAL, HMY, IP, ODFL, PKG)
These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades we have seen with more than two hours to the open this Monday morning: Barnes Group (B) Cut to Neutral at Baird. Carnival (CCL) Cut…
China’s Dream Machine Loses It Mojo
The final shoe to fall in the global recession is China. It is a large enough supplier of goods to the entire civilized world and much of the world which is not civilized that…
Commodities, Stagflation, And Recession
If memory serves, commodities prices were too expensive at mid-year. Corn was too high for ethanol companies to make money. One of the largest, Verasun (VSE), just went bankrupt. Oil prices were so high…
The Brilliance Of The JP Morgan (JPM) Mortgage Salvation Plan
Congress does not like the way that most bailout money is going to banks. It wants to see the little guy with the underwater mortgage and stagnant income get some direct help. Federal agencies…
The Bailout Gets Too Big
The Treasury may have to hire circus clowns and insurance salesmen to keep track of all the US banks it is bailing out. Now that the really large money center and regional banks have…
Media Digest 11/3/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
According to Reuters, South Korea launched a major economic stimulus package. Reuters reports that nearly 1,800 publicly held institutions could apply for U.S. government investments. Reuters reports that HBOS took an $8.5 billion hit…
Asia Markets And Europe Open 11/3/2008
Japan was closed for a holiday. Most other Asia markets were higher. The Hang Seng was up 2.7% to 14,344. The Shanghai Composite was off .5% to 1,718. The FTSE rose 1.1% to 4,421…
Will US Unemployment Hit 10%? (SHLD)(NCC)(GM)
The US unemployment rate in September was 6.1%. The consensus estimates are that the numbers will rise, but there are differences over how much. The Bloomberg News survey of economists gives an average prediction…
UAW To Break The Back Of GM (GM) Buyout Of Chrysler
GM (GM) may not get the $10 billion it needs to buy Chrysler, but, even if the Fed comes up with the money, the UAW may try to block the deal. A long strike…
Toyota (TM) And Honda (HMC) Finally Lock Up US Market
American car companies hoped the day would never come. Data from October is expected to show the market shares of Toyota (TM) and Honda (HMC) for US vehicle sales is expected to be over…
Credit Card Losses, Next Big Trouble For Banks
Word is starting to get around town that Citigroup (C) has some more trouble coming and it could show up as soon as the next quarter. In this case, Citi’s problems may not be…