China Car Sales Off 24% In January
China car sales fell 24% in January, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers reported. The size of the fall off was blamed on the time as which China’s new year falls. But, the question…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Google Offers More Cloud-Based Services
The cloud, a way for people and businesses to store information on remote servers instead of locally on PCs and other devices, has become a part of the product offerings of every major tech…
Congress Nears Insider Trading Deal–For Congress
Congress moved closer to legislation that would prevent federal officials, particularly members of Congress, from trading on insider information. A bill has passed the House and will go to the Senate. The Senate may…
Alibaba To Raise $3 Billion To Buy Yahoo! Stake–WSJ
One of the longest running issues about the future of Yahoo!, the troubled internet portal, is what it would do with its 39% stake in China e-commerce giant Alibaba, and its shares in Yahoo!…
US To Sue Banks Over Mortgage-Backed Securities—WSJ
It has been a long time coming. The sale and mis-pricing of mortgage backed securities, tied to American housing prices, are considered the prime contributor which almost brought down the US financial system at the end…
Banks Near $25 Billion Mortgage Settlement–WSJ
According to The Wall Street Journal, one of the longest running disputes between the government and financial industry connected to the housing boom collapse may be settled. The scandal of botched foreclosures has plagued…
Nearly 200,000 Sign Petition Against Apple Supplier Use
Following media reports in The New York Times and other outlets about the treatment of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) supplier workers at China manufacturer Foxconn, nearly 200,000 people have signed an online petition to get Apple to…
S&P May Downgrade US, Again
S&P gave the US fair warning when it took away the country’s AAA rating. And, the credit rating agency said that America could not sustain massive budgets and continue to borrow capital at the…
The Four Things That Destroyed The US Economy–SF Fed
John C. Williams the President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco gave a presentation in which he enumerated the reasons for the economic collapse, and why the recovery will be a very…
An Improvement In Small Business Hiring
Small business is often described as the engine of the US economy. It has been stalled as access to capital and bank loans has been strong for large companies with excellent balance sheets but none-existent…
The Ten Countries That Rule The World’s Wind Energy
The biggest producers of wind power are racing to add capacity to meet growing energy demands. Last year alone, the world’s wind energy capacity increased by 17.3%. But the growth is largely the result…
State Employment — The Rich Get Richer
There has been some hope as unemployment improves nationally that the weakest job markets would outpace the stronger ones. Theses markets would be “catching up” as the tide lifts the entire market for new jobs.…
A Setback for Germany’s Export Machine
It turns out that the global manufacturing export slowdown is not restricted to China. The German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that the country’s exporters had a difficult December: Domestic turnover decreased by 2.1%,…
As Nissan and Toyota Surge, Opel Falters
Nissan and Toyota (NYSE: TM), two of Japan’s largest car companies, reported better than expected quarterly earnings and posted solid forecasts. Europe-based Opel, part of General Motors (NYSE: GM), continues to struggle with huge…
What’s Important in the Financial World (2/8/2012) Nokia Fires 4,000, Yahoo! Cuts Chairman
The restructuring of the world’s troubled multinationals continues. The trend has been particularly evident in industries like big pharma, where sales have fallen too fast to maintain expense levels. The most recent victim of poor sales, Nokia (NYSE:…
Media Digest (2/8/2012) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg
The Greeks try to get a financial aid package while some regional leaders say the eurozone does not need the southern European nation. (Reuters) A House committee pushes through plans for a reconsideration of…
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…
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…