Spain GDP Down 1%, Panic Spikes
Spain’s gross domestic product fell 1% year-over-year in the second quarter and 0.4% from the first quarter of 2012. That, coupled with an unemployment rate of 24%, will cause the debate about austerity vs.…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Investors Move into Dividend Stocks
The increase in the stock prices of companies that have strong cash flow and high dividends almost certainly will continue as investors look for safe havens that pay investors an actual return. Treasuries may…
Oil Continues to Drop
Crude oil continues to fall. The run is now four days long. Worry about the EU economy and slowdowns in China and the United States has trumped the concern that Iran may try to…
Samsung Sells Ten Million Galaxy III Phones
Samsung management said the sales of its flagship Galaxy S III smartphone reached 10 million in the first two months it has been on the market. That pace may not be quite as fast…
What’s Important in the Financial World (7/23/2012)
Samsung management said the sales of its flagship Galaxy S III smartphone reached 10 million in the first two months it has been on the market. That pace may not be quite as fast…
Hang Seng Down 3% as Contagion Spreads to China
Economic contagion has spread to China, as the markets there signal deep concern. The Hang Seng fell 3% overnight as the reality that Europe will undermine growth in the People’s Republic set in. The recession in…
Roubini: Add U.S. to List of Doomed Economies
Nouriel Roubini picked the website “Project Syndicate: A World of Ideas” as the forum for his latest pessimistic comments about economies around the world. In this new case, the United States was his target: Even this…
Media Digest (7/23/2112) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) will shrink the connector for the iPhone 5. (Reuters) Greece presses for billions of euros in budget cuts before aid payments. (WSJ) Eastman Kodak loses several patent disputes, which puts the…
Spain and Italy Bond Yields Soar, Markets Fall
Fear of recession and national budget deficits that could trigger bailouts caused yields on Spain and Italy debt to soar. Spain’s two-year rose to 6.08% up 51 basis points. Italy’s 10-year rose 22 basis…
Trading in Some Italian Banks Suspended
As share prices around the world fall, Italy’s banks have gotten some of the worst of it. Worries about the nation’s sovereign debt have spiked, and Italy’s banks hold much of it. Shares in…
DirecTV and Viacom Settle Program Dispute
DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) and Viacom (NASDAQ: VIA) announced they have settled a battle over the fees DirecTV is paid to carry the channels. The firms announced: DIRECTV has reached a new long-term agreement with Viacom to…
AMR Continues to Battle with US Airways
The battle between management at bankrupt AMR and the management of US Airways (NYSE: LCC) about a possible takeover of the troubled carrier continues. Public comments by US Airways CEO Doug Parker have their…
Insufficient U.K. Austerity — Deficit Grows
Government borrowing in the United Kingdom has grown. That means austerity measures may not be aggressive enough, and the level of tax collection not great enough, to close the national deficit at forecast rates.…
Farmers Use Crop Insurance
The drought in the Southwest and Plains States has not gotten any better. Based on weather reports, it probably will get worse. The byproducts of the drought have worsened in the past few days.…
Ten Ways You’ll Know The Recession Is Over
When Gallup asked people about the state of the economy this spring, as a recovery appeared to have taken hold, the polling company found “nearly half of Americans, 46%, still say the economy is…
Default Rates on Student Debt Rise Sharply
It may be shocking that many people who took out student loans cannot pay them, until the full circumstances of the situation are explained. And these circumstances demonstrate why the system to make the loans…
Yahoo! CEO Pay Package Is Cheap, If Company Gets Fixed
The pay package of new Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) CEO Marissa Mayer has been pegged at between $59 million and $100 million, depending on what assumptions about bonuses and stock options get used. Anything within…
What’s Important in the Financial World (7/20/2012)
The drought in the Southwest and Plains States has not gotten any better. Based on weather reports, it probably will get worse. The byproducts of the drought have worsened in the past few days.…
Media Digest (7/20/2012) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg
Eurozone officials set final terms for a bailout of Spain’s banks. (Reuters) Marissa Mayer will receive as much as $70 million to head Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO). (Reuters) Banks hit by the Libor investigation may offer a…
Bulldozing Rather Than Foreclosing
Bloomberg ran a report that showed that some banks in Ireland, with the support of the government, have started to destroy houses that were built ahead of the home value bubble. These cannot be sold,…