Europe Car Sales Fall
The European Automobile Manufacturers Association reports that the region’s car sales fell 5.8% in December. That closed a year in which total registrations dropped 1.4% to 13.6 million. Fiat and Peugeot were hit particularly…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Spain Bond Sale Yields Good Results
Spain’s bond sales today indicated that the S&P downgrade of nine area nations and the European Financial Stability Facility has not roiled the capital markets. Spain got reasonable yields According to Bloomberg The Madrid-based…
Zappos Hacked Says 24 Million Accounts May Have Been Exposed–Website Down
Zappos, an online shoe retailer owned by Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) said its database has been hacked. Management at the company has asked 24 million customers to change their passwords. Customer e-mail addresses, credit card addresses. shipping…
European Financial Stability Facility Downgraded As EU Rescue Plans Dissovle
nationsonline.orgS&P downgrade the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to ‘AA+’ from ‘AAA’. The move raises another barrier to a rescue of the weakest nations in the region. It combines with the S&P downgrade of nine…
Pembina Pipeline To Buy Provident Energy
Pembina Pipeline will buy Provident Energy which will create a large energy infrastructure company The announcement said Under the terms of the Arrangement Agreement, Provident shareholders will receive 0.425 of a Pembina share for each…
Motorola Wins One Round In Patent Fight With Apple
Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI), soon to be bought by Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), reported that it has won a preliminary round against Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) in a dispute over three patents. The patent wars among Apple,…
Chinese On Internet Reach 513 Million
The China Internet Network Information Center reports that 513 million Chinese are now on the internet. That is from a total population of 1.3 billion. The report also said that 356 million people log…
Retail Sales Growth Begins to Falter
The National Retail Federation could hardly have been more optimistic over the course of the holiday season. It raised its forecasts for November and December substantially in early December. The thrill has faded, though. The…
Drop in Public Workers Digs a Deeper Jobs Hole
The fear that a drop in public sector jobs could undermine overall national employment has become a reality. The economy may have added an average of over 100,000 jobs each of the past six months.…
Ireland Continues to Fall Apart
Ireland’s economic problems have been largely forgotten as concerns about a financial collapse of Italy and Spain have taken the spotlight. That likely will change now. Research firm Davy has significantly cut its 2012 GDP forecast…
The Problem with Gas Prices
Fifteen months ago, the price of a gallon of regular gas was well below $3 a gallon, according to AAA data. It came close to the $4 level six months ago, but fell off…
What’s Important in the Financial World (1/16/2011) China’s GDP, Apple iPad 3
The tension over the financial crisis has risen at an astonishing rate in just three days. Downgrades of the sovereign debt of several nations have rattled the markets. But the most immediate trouble is at…
Media Digest (1/16/2012) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg
S&P downgrades of a number of EU nations, as well as difficult talks about a Greek bailout, put pressure on the euro. (Reuters) The foreign minister of Germany says he still believes Greek debt…
S&P Downgrades Shake Asia And Europe Markets
The downgrade of the sovereign debt of nine EU nations, including France, battered stock markets in Asia and Europe. The Nikkei 225 dropped 1.43% to 8,378. The Hang Seng was off 1% to 19,012.…
Apple iPad 3 Will Have 4G
The news Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad 3 will be released in March, according to several media reports. The machine will likely connect to super fast 4G LTE networks. These are being deployed by Verizon Wireless and AT&T…
Department Of Defense Blocks Lightsquared
The ultra fast high speed wireless network company Lightsquared has probably had its deployment plans blocked again. Lightsquared is running out of time, as it tries to compete with other wireless services, and money, as its controlling…
A Complete List Of S&P Eurozone Downgrades And Details
Standard & Poor’s Takes Various Rating Actions On 16 Eurozone Sovereign Governments 13-Jan-2012 Credit FAQ: Factors Behind Our Rating Actions On Eurozone Sovereign Governments13-Jan-2012 France’s Unsolicited Long-Term Ratings Lowered To ‘AA+’; Outlook Negative13-Jan-2012 Germany’s…
S&P Takes Action On 16 Eurozone Sovereign Governments
S&P acted on the sovereign debt of 16 eurozone nations. Nine were downgraded and seven kept at current status. The action is likely to have long-term and troubling effects as the region tries to calm markets from the…
Lionsgate Completes Deal To Buy Summit For $412.5 Million
Summit Entertainment today announced that Lionsgate has completed a transaction to acquire Summit for a combination of cash and stock valued at $412.5 million. The majority of the purchase price was funded with cash…
EU Nation Sovereign Debt Cuts Spread–Italy, Spain, Portugal Dragged In
Rumors and news have circulated for most of the day that S&P will cut France’s AAA rating, which has been expected, and the Germany will remain on the top rung The credit score adjustments…