Could US Government Lose It “AAA” Rating?
S&P could pull the "AAA" credit rating of the US government. Hard to imagine. If the US has to bail out Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie (NYSE: FRE), the consequences could be awful.…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Wal-Mart (WMT) To Move Into Russia And Eastern Europe
Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) has hired a new man to help it move into Russia and Eastern Europe. These are two of the large developed regions where the world’s largest retailer has made few in-roads.…
As Oil Moves Above $112, More Crude From Brazil, Less From Russia
Aside from the tireless speculators and falling dollar, oil prices do seem to be rising because due to fear of falling demand. Mexico says it may ship less crude. Now Russia says its oil…
New United/Continental Deal Could Kill Delta (DAL) Takeover
Who would have imagined that the Delta (NYSE: DAL) merger with Northwest (NYSE: NWA), which was announced yesterday, could be scuttled by a merger of Continental (NYSE: CAL) and United (NASDAQ: UAUA)? Most Wall…
As Banks Face Equity Raises And Tough Quarter, New Stock Lows In Offing
A look at the Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) and Wachovia (NYSE: WB) deals to raise more capital indicates that other banks and brokerages are looking at below-market deals if their Q1 numbers are light.…
Citigroup’s (C) Plan To Improve Balance Sheet Gets Dangerous
It is one thing for Citigroup (NYSE: C) to sell $12 billion in leveraged corporate loans to private equity firms and even lend part of the money for the transactions. It is another for…
Investors Fight Over Tranches Of Debt
CDOs and other derivative instruments are often huge collections of securities broken into tranches, some of which are much more risky than others. Institutional investors are now trying to pry the more valuable pieces…
Time Warner (TWX) Buys Blog Company
According to TechCurnch Time Warner’s (NYSE: TWX) AOL has bought blog aggregation company Sphere for $25 million. The report says that Sphere "adapted to the changing market and focused on delivering blog results relevant…
Media Digest 4/15/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTImes, FT, Barron’s
According to Reuters, Northwest (NWA) and Delta (DAL) will merge to create the world’s largest airline. Reuters writes that the profit at Bear Stearns (BSC) fell 79%. Reuters reports that Continental (CAL) and United…
Asia Markets 4/15/2008 (CHL)(LFC)
Markets in Asia rose modestly. The Nikkei was up .6% to 12,991. Casio was up 2% to 1352. Hitachi was up 1.8% to 640. The Hang Seng rose .5% to 23,919. China Life (LFC)…
McDonald’s (MCD): Being Open 24/7 Key To Sucess
Try to get a Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) at 3 AM. No such luck. But, according to data given to us by McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD), more than 30% of its 13,700 US stores are up…
The 52-Week Low Club (CRS)(CC)(FHN)(HBAN)(FITB)
Carpenter Technology (CRS) Company only manages to hit low end of guidance. Drops to $48.10 from 52-week high of $79.66. Blockbuster (BBI) Bid for Circuit City (CC) sends investors running for the exits. Down…
Banks And Brokerages May Have Large Earnings Misses, Stocks Could Fall 20%
Early indicators from companies like Wachovia (NYSE: WB) and General Electric (NYSE: GE) show that the last half of March may have been tougher on banks earnings than Wall St. expects. Bloomberg recently reported…
What Benefit For Google (GOOG): YouTube Traffic Up, Overall Visits To Video Sites Down
Google’s (GOOG) YouTube had a 78% market share among video websites in March, up from 55% a year ago. Most other sites lost share over the period and overall video category visits were down…
Biotech Busine$$ Daily (ALKS, CADX, CVTX, MNKD, GNBT, PPHM)
Alkermes (NASDAQ: ALKS) and Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Developed today submitted paperwork seeking approval of their partnership drug, RISPERDAL CONSTA, to be allowed for treatment of bipolar disorder chronic relapse. The drug…
Invesco Launches Active Managed ETF’s (IVZ, PQY, PQZ, PMA, PLK)
Invesco (NYSE: IVZ) PowerShares has launched its first actively-managed ETF on the NYSE Arca Friday. These 4 PowerShares ETFs include 3 first-in-kind equity exchange-funds and one actively-managed fixed income ETF. The PowerShares Active Alpha…
ETF Launch: NETS DAX Index Fund (DAX, NTRS)
The American Stock Exchange has launched an ETF called the NETS DAX Index Fund by Northern Trust Global Investments, an arm of Northern Trust Corp. (NASDAQ: NTRS) today. The exchange traded fund will track…
Yahoo!’s (YHOO) Huge Advantage: Time Spent On Site
One of the factors lost in the debate over the value of Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) is the amount of time that consumers spend on the site. For advertisers, especially those running display ads, the…
IPO FILING: Codexis (CDXS)
Codexis, a biocatalyst developer, submitted an SEC filing Friday evening to come public via an IPO. The offering shows a total proposed maximum price of $100 million, although this amount is for filing purposes…
IPO FILING: Fluidigm (FLDM)
Fluidigm, a California-based life science research device provider, has filed with the SEC to become public this morning. The offering shows a total proposed maximum aggregate price of $86,250,000. They applied to trade on…