ThinkstockNormally the morning of the monthly jobs report, released at 8:30 a.m., is a frenzy of speculation about how many jobs the economy added in the past month and what the national unemployment rate was.…
ThinkstockUntil yesterday, ING was the title sponsor of the New York City Marathon. The deal made sense as ING Groep N.V. (NYSE: ING) sells products to consumers and has hundreds of thousands of customers.…
courtesy J.C. Penney Co. Inc.The National Retail Federation (NRF) reports that the industry should post a 3.9% increase in sales to $602.1 billion. On its face, the number looks good. However, if the forecast…
courtesy of BP plcLong after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, BP PLC (NYSE: BP) continues to battle those who do not believe they were adequately compensated for the fallout. This has moved into the courts.…
Courtesy of Tesla MotorsA video of a Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) car on fire that was posted on Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube helped push the firm’s stock price down by nearly 10%.…
Courtesy Volkswagen AGWith only one exception, Volkswagen of America is the least successful big car company with a presence in the United States. And that presence is dwindling as consumers find better alternatives to its…
ThinkstockMerck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) announced it would rid itself of 8,500 workers, many of whom work in the big pharmaceutical company’s R&D operations. Since the return on research investment at Merck and its…
courtesy of Apple Inc.Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), made the odd move of having dinner with ancient raider Carl Icahn, who owns between $1.5 billion to $2 billion in the…
courtesy of Nokia Corp.The press hit the high points of new research about smartphone sales in Europe. The data were analyzed as part of the Kantar Worldpanel. Largely lost in the tidal wave of…
ThinkstockOne strike and you’re out. That was the decision made by Gen. James F. Amos, the Marine Corps commandant. He essentially dismissed two major generals for allowing weak security at a base in southwest Afghanistan…
courtesy J.C. Penney Co. Inc.How long is too long before the shutdown of the federal government begins to batter U.S. gross domestic product and the fortunes of a number of industries? In the case…
courtesy of Apple Inc.Whatever damage Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has sustained in the stock market as its hyper-growth slows to more modest levels, it still owns the most valuable brand in the world. In the annual…
ThinkstockThe last government shutdown in 1995/1996 lasted more than three weeks. The one that is about to start could last longer. The stakes are not just over the budget and President Obama’s health care…
TwitterRumors spread that Twitter would file its initial public offering (IPO) papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this week. The likelihood of that has died as the federal government prepares to shut…
ThinkstockLast week, the U.S. Census Bureau released its data on poverty in America in 2012. While the overall rate of poverty did not rise from the rate in 2011, it is bad news that…
ThinkstockIt is national employee morale day at Siemens A.G. (NYSE: SI). The industrial conglomerate, often considered the General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) of Europe, will fire 15,000 people. According to news reports, the work…
courtesy of Facebook Inc.Facebook Inc. (NYSE: FB) has long been up against a simple problem with Wall Street. Investors who want to know if its revenue can ever reach a point at which the…
Courtesy Boeing Co.The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner has broken off and on since the aircraft maker began work on the plane over a decade ago. The most well-publicized recent problem involved batteries…
TwitterIn among the major and minor celebrities, news media outlets, the Pope and President Obama, there are no huge corporations with substantial followings on Twitter. As a matter of fact, among the list of…
Microsoft Sweden, via Wikimedia CommonsFord Motor Co. (NASDAQ: MSFT) CEO Alan Mulally apparently has taken the lead among the executives the Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) board favors to replace Steve Ballmer. There are several reasons such an…