Updated throughout the day. The CEO of Zynga has tried to get restricted shares back from some employees (WSJ) The State of Michigan may take over control of troubled city Flint (WSJ) Mario Monti…
Italian bonds yields drop. The Italian two-year note yield slid 53 basis points, after jumping 82 basis points yesterday. The level, a recent low, probably will not hold. Yields were well above 7% yesterday.The yield continued…
It seems hard to draw a direct line from the sovereign debt crisis in Italy to China’s recent trade balance figures. But the line can be drawn and may have been already. The relationship between…
No matter how much better the real estate market appears to be or how much worse it actually is, two states cannot escape a collapse that has continued for three years. Californian and Nevada…
Walmart (NYSE: WMT) said that the press was mistaken when several media reported the world’s largest retailer would create a national medical clinic system within its stores. The denial hardly matters. Walmart is already on…
EADS, parent of Airbus, said it will delay the launch of its A350 aircraft. The news echos the many setbacks of the commercial release of the Boeing (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner. These two events…
Financial concerns about Italy have raised the issue of a breakup of the eurozone. (Reuters) China’s October imports rise but exports are weak. (Reuters) A deal to name a new prime minister in Greece…
NYT: G.M. Profit Falls on Rising Costs http://nyti.ms/s8Io25 Reuters: Macy’s posts higher net, raises full-year outlook http://reut.rs/szLlTP Zerohedge: Worldwide Markets Collapse Following Italian Bond Margin Hike http://tinyurl.com/bouy2o4 BBC: Adobe job cuts cloud Flash future…
Updated throughout the day. Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) may sell its piece of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for as much as $1.54 billion (Reuters) Carlyle Group has cut fees to raise…
Foreclosures which had been delayed by the robo-signing scandal and bankrutpcy overflow in some courts have hit some housing markets with a vengeance. It is yet another examples that the crisis is primarily in a few…
Greek and Italian prime ministers resign.The sovereign debt crisis in Europe became more confused as an unprecedented event occurred. The heads of two major national governments resigned within days of one another — Italian…
The Labor Department reported that there were 3.4 million open jobs nationwide in September. Most analysis of the number said that this was great progress over the 3.1 million level in August. The optimism…
The Wireless Broadband Alliance predicts that “global public Wi-Fi hotspot numbers are set to grow from 1.3 million in 2011, to 5.8 million by 2015, a 350% increase.” The organization has no way to know that,…
Italy’s government is inherently unstable. ‘The nation has elected prime ministers 38 times since World War II. Several men have served more than once. Silvio Berlusconi, about to depart, has held the job three times since…
Research firm Exclusive Analysis says the financial world is doomed. According to a report by CNBC, “there is a 65 percent chance of a banking crisis between November 23 and 26 following a Greek…
Greece will announce its new government today. (Reuters) Inflation in China drops in October. (Reuters) Olympus investment losses may have gone above $1 billion. (Reuters) Silvio Berlusconi leaves as prime minister of Italy. (Reuters)…
The number of underwater mortgages in the U.S. increased again in the third quarter. That makes sense because by most measures home values have fallen throughout the period. It also confirms that widely held…
Updated throughout the day. Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) may sell its webOS business (Reuters) The SEC will set new regulations for money market funds (FT) Douglas A. McIntyre
The recession-proof, big-dividend-paying, 52-week-high-trading, largest fast food company on the globe, McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) posted remarkable same-store sales worldwide. McDonald’s global comparable sales growth of 5.5% in October. In the U.S., comparable sales rose 5.2% . “The…
Many forecasts expect consumer holiday spending to rise this year. An equally impressive set of data forecasts that it will not. The difference in the two points of view shows how challenging it is to…