Will DJIA Hit All-Time High
As the DJIA assaults the 13,000 mark, there is talk that it could reclaim its 2007 record of 14,164.53. The index is currently at 12,878.20. The Dow only needs to rise 10% to reach…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
CalSTRS Objects To Facebook Board
California pension operation CalSTRS say it objects to the lack of diversity of Facebook’s board of directors. The social network is expected to go public soon, at a valuation which will be nearly $100 billion by some…
Japan Big Three Car Companies Recover
Nissan was the latest of the large Japanese car companies to post positive earnings results and strong forecasts for the balance of the year. The news follows Toyota’s which included a forecast that it would…
GM Will Try To Cut Open Costs
GM says that its European operation Opel has lost $18 billion since 1999. This, in the minds of many investors, undermines the profits that GM makes in large markets–particularly the US and China. With…
Symantec Source Code Released–Trouble For PC Owners?
A hacker has released some of the source code to a Symantec product that protects PCs against viruses and other attacks. The company is viewed as the industry leader in such software, which means its sales…
House Bill To Revive Keystone XL Pipeline Advances
Republican members of the House are upset that Obama has set aside the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline which would deliver oil from Canada to the Texas Gulf coast. The president wants more…
Amazon Closes In On Content Licensing With Viacom
Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) has made no secret of its desire to compete with Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) in the streaming of premium video to customers. Amazon has a built in advantage. It website…
Boeing 787 Construction Problems Hurt Sales
Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner continues to be beset by construction problems. Supplier and manufacturing issues cause the release of the aircraft to be over five years last. Now, inspectors have found gaps in some of the supports used…
Spanish Banks Set More Reserves
The real estate markets in Spain are still in an awful state–perhaps worse than in the US. Six Spanish banks said the would set aside €11.8 billion to reserve for real estate losses. The largest banks…
Nokia To Fire 4,000
Nokia, the world’s largest handset company, will fire 4,000 workers at manufacturing operations in Finland, Hungary, and Mexico. Most of those jobs will go to Asia. Apple and HTC has already discovered the benefits…
Job Openings Rise To 3.4 Million In December
The number of open jobs is the US rose to 3.4 million, in December, according to the BLS. The figure is up from 3.1 million in November. There are a number of reasons for…
Qantas A380 Has Wing Cracks–Sydney Morning Herald
The concerns about the structural integrity of Airbus’s super jumbo A380 has come into question again. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Qantas recently found a number of cracks in one of the planes…
ECB To Aid Greek Debt Restructure–WSJ
The ECB will offer a complex set of debt swaps to lower the near term pressure on Greek sovereign paper and help affect an overall bailout of the nation, which needs to receive the…
Yahoo! Chairman To Leave
Roy Bostock, blamed for his role in Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) failed buyout of the portal company in 2008, and for the rocky tenures of CEO Jerry Yang and Carol Bartz, announced he would leave…
Illumina Rejects Roche
Genetic biotech company Illumini (NASDAQ: ILMN) rejected an offer, now hostile, made by drug giant Roche. The Illimina board said that the “$44.50 per share cash offer is grossly inadequate in multiple respects.” Wall St.…
Consumer Confidence Up For Fifth Month–Gallup
Unemployment has improved. Home sales have not. Other economic data appears to favor a growth in confidence among consumer and not a drop. Data from the University of Michigan and Conference Board seem to…
China To Release “Wealth Gap” Study
The wealth gap, a fuel behind the Occupy Wall Street movement and a push by the Administration to rise taxes for the rich, is not just an American concern. The Chinese government worries about…
Costco Tops Consumer Reports Retailer Survey
A new survey by Consumer Reports rated both in-store and online shopping. The poll covered responses from over 26,000 people Costco (NASDAQ: COST) ranked first, not surprising because of the reputation of the big…
States That Believe in the Recovery (and Those That Do Not)
Americans remained pessimistic about the economy last year. Confidence has improved recently, reaching its highest levels since last spring, but has fallen from -28 in 2010 to -37 in 2011, according to the Gallup Economic…
Walmart Decides to Cut Sales of Unhealthy Foods
Instead of admitting that it has, in the past, sold food with too much sodium, salt and sugar, Walmart (NYSE: WMT) has made a public relations bonanza of its decision to sell more healthy…