Why Americans Have Stopped Buying Barbie
Mattel did not give a reason for the sharp drop in Barbie sales in the fourth quarter. However, developments in the way that children spend their time could be ongoing culprits.
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Douglas A. McIntyre
All 50 States Have Gas Prices Over $3
In a sign that gasoline prices may not take a predicted dip, the cost of a gallon of regular has moved above $3 in all 50 states, even the ones near refineries and large…
Could California Drought Hurt U.S. Economy?
California has come back from the Great Recession, buoyed by the rise of new technology companies and a modest recovery of its agricultural industry. Now a drought could set back much of the recovery…
AT&T Announces “Best Ever” Data Price Plan for Wireless
Wikimedia CommonsThe price war among cellular service providers in the United States has heated up again. Pressured, perhaps, by the incredibly low pricing offered by T-Mobile US Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS), which is trying to…
Retail Wrecks: Amazon to J.C. Penney
ThinkstockNow that the holiday season is over, one thing is crystal clear. Fourth-quarter results are just in and revenue fell for most of the retailers. It was the rare company that did well in…
Netflix Rating Upped at Moody’s
courtesy of Netflix Inc.Moody’s gave some confirmation that the debacles that plagued Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) in late 2012 and crippled its share price are well behind the company. Its relationship with customers has…
As Cloud Chief Takes Over Microsoft, Rivalry With Amazon Jumps
The head of Microsoft's cloud businesses, Satya Nadella, most likely will become CEO of the aging software company, which will make it Amazon.com's primary rival. The battle ground will not be e-commerce, but rather…
Wyoming Most Conservative State, D.C. Most Liberal
ThinkstockThe most conservative Americans live in the Plains States and the South, which probably comes as no surprise. And the liberals tend to live in the Northeast and on the West Coast, not surprising…
Twitter Market Value Tops Target and CBS
With a huge price surge driven in part by strong results from Facebook, the market value of Twitter has pressed above those of Target, the nation's second largest retailer, and CBS, one of America's…
Chances Rise for 10% Market Drop
The S&P 500 has dropped more than 5% in 2014, and virtually all of that has come in the past week. Much of the blame has been put on financial risks in emerging markets.…
People Move Back to Cities With High Unemployment
ThinkstockAmong the cities that people are moving to in extraordinary numbers are ones that had terribly high unemployment during the recession. Perhaps the economies in these cities have improved markedly. Perhaps many people in…
Facebook’s Market Value Races to Match Verizon and Citigroup
If Wall Street's measure of a company's promise is its market value, then Facebook's extraordinary earnings have put it solidly onto the list of the 25 most valuable companies in the United States based…
Toyota Produces 10 Million Cars, Breaks All-Time Record
No automotive manufacturer has ever produced 10 million cars in a year. That is until Toyota did it in 2013. The news cements the impressive comeback Toyota has made from quality problems and the…
Harvard Endowment Reaches $32 Billion
America's colleges and universities have the equivalent of the richest 10%, just as the population does. At the top of that elite group are Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT and others.
North Dakota Jobless Rate at 2.6%
ThinkstockThe unemployment rate in the United States was 6.7% in December. In North Dakota, it was 2.6%. The low number is a testament to what having a very low population, and a jobs market…
Icahn Spends $500 Million More On Apple Shares
courtesy of Apple Inc.Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) disappointed investors on Monday with sales of iPhones that weren’t as strong as expected and then weaker-than-expected guidance for the fiscal-second quarter. The shares were down $40.94…
Exxon Could Pass Apple in Market Value
If poor earnings reset Apple's shares back to where they traded in September, the market value of Exxon Mobil may well top that of the consumer electronics company. A 10% sell-off in Apple's stock…
Short Interest in Big Tech Companies Falls
NASDAQShort interest data from mid-January showed that short sellers moved out of big tech stocks, a sign that the market has warmed to a sector about which it has been ambivalent. Shares sold short…
Smartphone Sales Top One Billion in 2013
courtesy of AppleUpdate: Apple earnings and an erosion of its global market share are set to push its stock down as much as 10% at the open. A drop of this magnitude would erase…
Where Will Retail Industry’s Next Layoffs Be?
There are indications, with holiday numbers in, that several other large retailers will have to cut stores and staff, and that some of these cuts will be large. The most likely candidates for this…