Car Company 0% Financing Surges as Year Ends
Courtesy Ford Motor Co.Car companies are not exactly giving their products away, but as the year draws to a close many are gambling as they take on the burden of interest rates, normally carried…
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Douglas A. McIntyre
“Fast and Furious” $2.4 Billion Franchise May End With Paul Walker Death
ThinkstockThe movie franchise known as “The Fast and the Furious” produced six films and approximately $2.4 billion in ticket sales worldwide. With the death of star, Paul Walker, who played ex-cop Brian O’Conner, the franchise…
Retailers Hurt by Slow Holiday Sales
ThinkstockThe worst fears of the retail industry were realized as holiday retail sales fell below expectations. Research firm ShopperTrak reported that Thanksgiving and Black Friday only produced $12.3 billion dollars for the industry. That…
Amazon and Walmart: Weekend Sprint Over, Holiday Marathon Begins
courtesy of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.Thanksgiving online sales may have gone above $1 billion for the first time. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) may have had record-breaking Black Friday sales. But the big Thanksgiving holiday…
Amazon Tablet Sales Hammer Competition
Amazon.com Inc.If the fourth quarter matters as much to tablet sales as it does to other consumer electronics devices, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) will almost certainly have a huge lead. New research shows Kindle sales…
Can Amazon Have A $25 Billion Holiday Quarter?
ThinkstockWhat would a huge holiday quarter look like for Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)? Revenue of $25 billion. At that level Amazon would prove that its sales can continue to grow at an unexpectedly rapid pace,…
Several Twitter Hashtags Show Holiday Social Media Trends
courtesy of TwitterThe most popular Twitter (NASDAQ: TWTR) hashtags, usually dominated by celebrity names, breaking news, and common terms like “climate”, have expanded during the busiest part of the holiday season. A few products and…
Prime Time TV Ratings Falter As Viewers Travel For Holidays
thinkstockNetwork and cable television program ratings were hammered by the travel patterns of people on their ways for the four day holiday weekend. Nothing the networks offered for Thanksgiving Eve did well, nor did anything on…
“Google Play” Cuts Prices Up To 75% For Holiday Weekend
Wikimedia CommonsGoogle (NASDAQ: GOOG) does not want to be outdone by Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) or the dozens of national retailers which have offered massive discounts on items to bring in foot and online traffic…
GM, Ford, And Chrysler Surge As Detroit Still Falters
Courtesy Ford Motor Co.Warren Buffett called Detroit land an asset of “huge potential”. That could only be true if the city’s finances were repaired enough so that tax revenue would outrun city expenses. For the…
Why Americans Can’t Lose Weight
ThinkstockBy most measures, close to a third of Americans are overweight if the scientific BMI measurement is used. Some smaller portion are “morbidly obese”, at the far end of the yardstick of those who…
S & P Raises Outlook On Spain–The Details
ThinkstockSpain, one of the most badly damaged economies in Europe got a break as S&P raised its outlook on the nation’s sovereign paper to “stable” from “negative. The debt will keep its ‘BBB-/A-3’ grade. Spain…
Walmart’s “$10 Or Less” Item Black Friday Sale
courtesy Making Change at Walmart and UFCWIf discounts are the stuff of Black Friday’s allure, then Walmart (NYSE: WMT) has set enough products which sell for $10 or less to draw nearly every shopper.…
Amazon’s $1 Item Black Friday Sale
Wikimedia CommonsWhile J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) and Walmart (NYSE: WMT) have run ads in newspapers and online around the country to get shoppers through their doors in a desperate attempt to take market share from…
Retails Sales, Looking Beyond Thanksgiving And Black Friday
courtesy of Apple Inc.The deals are good enough and promotions aggressive enough that the millions of Americans who are supposed to shop on Thanksgiving and Black Friday will. However, retailers face the same puzzle they…
How BMW, Audi, And Mercedes Won The U.S. Car Wars
courtesy of The Car Spy, via Wikimedia CommonsWhen the November car sales figures come out, one certain result will be that BMW, Audi, and Mercedes will post another month of double-digit growth. Perhaps the…
An American, US Airways Merger For Christmas
AMRAn AMR (OTCBB: AAMRQ) merger with US Airways (NYSE: LCC) should be complete in time to for Americans to fly home for the year-end holidays–Christmas perhaps. With the launch of the new American Airlines Group, many experts…
Ten Brands That Will Disappear in 2014
Each year, 24/7 Wall St. identifies 10 well-known brands sold in America that we predict will disappear before the end of 2014. This year’s list reflects the brutally competitive nature of certain industries and…
Evidence Grows That Amazon Thrives as Weak Retailers J.C. Penney and Sears Falter
Wikimedia CommonsAgain and again, retail experts and research firms that cover the retail industry offer evidence that Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) will continue to suck the marrow from the bones of weak department store chains.…
Pessimism About Apple Holiday Sales Results
courtesy of Apple Inc.If Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has a better chance to sell the new iPhone 5S and iPad Air, it is hard to pick a time other than November and December. Holiday gift purchase activity…