The Hopelessness of State Finances
A new report from the State Budget Crisis Task Force received nearly universal coverage by the media. One reason is that the task force was led by legends Paul Volcker and Richard Ravitch. Another reason…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
American Worry About Fat People Grows
Americans have become much more concerned about obesity than about smoking as a health problem, according to research from Gallup. The report’s authors do not mention that the annual cost of obesity-related illnesses has risen to…
Global Network Spending Hobbled
Ericsson posted disappointing earnings. So did network supply firms Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) and ZTE. Telecom firms, wireless suppliers and cable companies have retreated from increasingly higher spending habits that have ranged over several years. Either…
Major U.S. Airlines Projected to Post Record Revenue and Near Record Profits for Q2
By the end of next week, AirlineFinancials.com is projecting the seven largest U.S. airlines will have collectively reported $2.0 billion in profits from $37.1 billion in revenue for the second quarter. This will be a record for…
Media Digest (7/18/2012) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg
Yahoo!’s (NASDAQ: YHOO) profits fall slightly. (Reuters) Intel’s (NASDAQ: INTC) forecast implies PC sales will be weak. (Reuters) The head of the holding company for British Air and Iberia says an AMR merger with…
Oil Well Completions Spike Higher—API
The American Petroleum Institute reported an increases in oil well completions last quarter–a sign of onging increases in exploration of energy reserves which has been driven higher by shale and relatively high oil prices.…
Tech Giant EMC Appoints New President
EMC (NYSE: EMC), the storage tech giant, promoted its CFO David Goulden to the role of president and COO. Pat Gelsinger, president and COO of EMC Information Infrastructure Products, has moved to take the chief executive…
Yahoo! Earnings Met Expectations, Shares Do Not Move
Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) posted earnings within expectations, and its shares barely moved. The announcement came just after Marissa Mayer was named as Chief Executive Officer. For the quarter which ended June 30, revenue excluding traffic…
America’s Worst Boards
At a time when corporate malfeasance is high on the public radar, it is important to understand corporate structure and how the checks and balances within a public company operate. GMI, a corporate governance…
Today’s Best Market Rumors (7/17/2012) TiVo Buys TRA
Updated throughout the day on the 24/7 Wall St. Wire: Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) new iPhone will have a thinner screen than past models. (WSJ) TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO) will announce that it has bought advertisement research…
Spain Yields Fall
The government of Spain received some good news. The country raised $3.6 billion in the capital markets, and rates fell sharply in the process. The yield on 12-month bills had an average interest rate…
Gas Prices Up
Gasoline prices have begun to tick up again, although only slightly. It may be only a coincidence that oil prices are rising too. The price for a gallon of regular nationwide was $3.406 yesterday,…
GM Trouble in Europe Grows
General Motors (NYSE: GM) warned that losses in Europe will be greater than expected in the second half, according to the Wall Street Journal. The news was easy to forecast. None of the large…
What’s Important in the Financial World (7/17/2012)
General Motors (NYSE: GM) warned that losses in Europe will be greater than expected in the second half, according to the Wall Street Journal. The news was easy to forecast. None of the large…
Can New CEO Double Yahoo! Stock Price? Yes
Yahoo!’s (NASDAQ: YHOO) new CEO, Marissa Mayer, worked at Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). So did AOL (NYSE: AOL) CEO Tim Armstrong, who took up the reins there in 2009. Mayer may want to take some…
PIMCO’s Gross Worries About Recession
Twitter is an odd place for a famous investor to make a crucial forecast. That did not keep bond king Bill Gross of PIMCO from tweeting that America is “approaching recession when measured by employment,…
German Confidence Falls
If the Germany economy is the only real healthy one in Europe, and Europe must rely on Germany as the bedrock for bailouts of weak nations, the odds that the country can be of substantial…
Media Digest (7/17/2012) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, Bloomberg
Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) appoints Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Marissa Mayer as CEO. (Reuters) A Senate report says that HSBC (NYSE: HBC) handled Iran and drug cartel funds. (Reuters) Many investors do not like Google’s move into hardware.…
Apple iPhone 5 To Have Thinner Screen–WSJ
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the new Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone 5 will have a thinner design and a higher resolution display. The makes it sound like the smartphone will be quite a bit…
Moody’s Downgrades Thirteen Italian Banks
Moody’s downgraded by one to two notches the long-term debt and deposit ratings for ten, and the issuer ratings for three, Italian financial institutions.The action was triggered to some extent by an earlier downgrade…