HSBC (HBC) Earnings: Storm Flags Go Up For US Banks
HSBC (HBC) is the latest money center bank to be clobbered by more write-downs. For the most recently reported quarter net profit fell to $7.72 billion from $10.9 billion a year earlier and that…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
How Slow Will Video Game Sales Get? (SNE)(MSFT)
Nintendo owns so much of the video game console market that it may be coming up against market share problems. But, the entire industry could be facing the issue of whether it has picked…
GM (GM) And Ford (F) Can See The Future In Chrysler Financing Troubles
Chrysler had a fair amount of trouble re-financing a relatively large portion of its debt. The company’s finance division was only able to raise $24 billion to replace a $30 billion facility. The money…
What The 2009 Recession Looks Like Today
Orchard Lake, Michigan, August 3rd, 2008. A modest-sized office building with room for twenty tenants just north of this town of well-to-do homeowners does not have a single tenant. It is not unusual for…
Ethics Watch: Bear Stearns Fails To Disclose CEO’s Severe Illness
In an interview with Fortune that will be published shortly, James Cayne told a reporter that he was in the hospital for 10 days back in September, suffering from sepsis triggered by a severe…
Carl Icahn: Lost In A World He Predicted (MOT)(YHOO)(BIIB)(BBI)
Carl Icahn has evolved over the years, first rising to fame a "corporate raider", followed by an ill-fated journey into actual management at the helm of TWA and, most recently, as a kinder, gentler…
Media Digest 8/4/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
According to Reuters, the Fed will sit tight on rates as oil prices moderate. Reuters writes that Verizon (VZ) labor talks have continued past their dealine. Reuters reports that Chrysler renewed its credit facilities,…
Asia Markets 8/4/2008 (HMC)(LFC)(SNP)
Markets in Asia were sharply lower. The Nikkei fell 1.2% to 12,933. Honda (HMC) fell 5.8% to KDDI rose 4.6% to 657000. The Hang Seng dropped 1.6% to 22,493. China Life (LFC) rose 1.2%…
Ford (F) May Soon Be No.4 Car Company In US
Nice guys finish last. Ford (F) is a fine example. After being the No.2 car company in the US fro decades, it will probably moving into the No. 4 spot behind Honda (HMC) sometime…
Alibaba Anxious To Buy Back Yahoo! (YHOO) Shares
Yahoo! (YHOO) owns 39% of large Chinese online e-commerce operation Alibaba. Alibaba executives would like to exchange that stake for cash. Yahoo! could give that money to shareholders as a special dividend. It may…
With Royal Bank Of Scotland (RBS) Facing Record Loss, US Banks To Follow
Analysts who think that money center banks are out of the woods, may want to look at the RBS results for the first half of 2008. According to The Times, "The Royal Bank of…
AMR (AMR) And British Air May Be Closer To Link-Up
British Airways and AMR (AMR) may be closer to a deal which would allow them to operate their transatlantic businesses as one company. With AMR is deep financial trouble, and its stock down from…
Xerox (XRX) Director Chuck Prince Shows Zip Support For Stock
In what was supposed to be a display of confidence, newly anointed Xerox director Chuck Prince, the man who came about as close to Citigroup as any mortal could have, has acquired 10,000 shares…
Could Sirius (SIRI) Become A Penny Stock?
At the end of 2005, shares in Sirius (SIRI) were $7.87. At the end of 2006, they had fallen to $3.90. They now trade at $1.46. Seeing the stock price being cut in half…
Breaking Tradition, Whole Foods (WFMI) Becomes A Discounter
For years, Whole Foods Market (WFMI) was a fast-growing company with an ever-increasing stock price, buoyed by increasing demand for all-natural and organic foods and consumers who were willing and able to shell out…
The 52-Week Low Club (ELN)(GHS)(GFI)(CBS)(TOMO)(BIIB)
Elan Corporation (ELN) Problems with one of the company’s major drugs. Falls to $9.55 from 52-week high of $37.45. Gatehouse (GHS) More poor newspaper earnings raise issue of whether company is viable. Falls to…
Why Carl Icahn Is Good For Investors
In an editorial in The Wall Street Journal, UCLA law professor Lynn A. Stout argues that activist investors like Carl Icahn "rob average investors of better returns." She writes that "They push for strategies…
July Car Sales Better Than Expected, Except At GM (GM)
GM’s (GM) poor earnings were matched by its July sales. US light vehicle deliveries dropped 26.1% to 233,340 units from a year ago. Total truck deliveries declining 35.4% to 129,849 units. The company is…
Next Week’s Top Six Earnings Previews (CSCO, PG, FRE, S, TWC, SIRI)
Next week we may have the FOMC meeting, but analysts and economists are looking for no change in rates with the language growing more hawkish on inflation and more cautious on the economy. But…
Kraft Options Continue Volume Surge (KFT)
This has been a very unusual week over at Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT). Interestingly enough, this may be irrelevant from the company’s significant earnings win at the start of the week. We noticed…