What Matters In The Financial World Today (11/5/2011)
The Greek democracy is over 3,000 years old, and it may take another 3,000 for the nation to sort out its national debt problems. Prime Minister George Papandreou was able to withstand a vote…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
The Eight Drug Shortages Putting Americans at Risk
President Obama this week signed an executive order directing federal regulators to address shortages of vital prescription drugs. According to the president, the order, which does not need congressional approval, was necessary to reduce…
Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/4/2011) Bank Of America Raise Money, Bank of NY Mellon Settlement
Bank of NY Mellon is in talks with federal prosecutors about charges it inflated fees for currency trades (WSJ) Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou will leave office (CNBC) Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) will…
What’s Important in the Financial World (11/4/2011) MF Global Scandal, Groupon IPO, AMD Layoffs
The fate of Greece remains undetermined. Rumors are that Prime Minister George Papandreou will leave as part of a brokered agreement to get the opposition party to support austerity measures. There are also rumors…
Without Papandreou, Greece’s Problems Will Continue
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou may leave his job to get members of the opposition party, and some of his own, to support government plans for austerity. But Greeks still will not be ruled…
Where Was Kodak’s Board of Directors?
Eastman Kodak’s (NYSE: EK) board of directors has been invisible as the company first intimated it would not need new funds, and then a short time later said it had potential cash problems. The…
Why Monthly Unemployment Does Not Matter
October unemployment figures will matter little, at least as far as the health of the economy. Job losses in 2009 ranged over 500,000 some months. More than 14 million Americans are unemployed, and over…
Media Digest (11/4/2011) Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT
Greece may kill a referendum to get an EU bailout and its prime minister may resign in the process. (Reuters) Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) raises $700 million with its IPO. (Reuters) Sales at large chain…
AMD Fires 10% Of Staff–1,400
AMD (NYSE: AMD), the perpetually badly run chip company, will cut 10% of its workers. The firm has labored in the shadow of larger rival Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) for over a decade. AMD’s trouble…
The Twitter-24/7 Wall St. Market Report (11/3/2011) Weekly Jobless, Kodak Hammered
Yahoo! Finance: Slightly fewer people likely applied for unemployment benefits last week, economists forecast MSNBC: Jobless claims drop for third straight week WSJ: Kodak Posts Wider Loss MarketWatch: U.S. first-time jobless claims fall to…
Where Was Career Education Corporation’s Board?
Career Education Corporation (NASDAQ: CECO) posted poor earnings, fired its CEO, and its board announced that an investigation by law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf had “confirmed the existence of improper placement determination practices at certain…
What’s Critical Today in the Financial World (11/3/2011) Greece Falls Apart, Syms Chapter 11
Will Greece be kicked out of Eurozone? Greece is on the brink of expulsion from the eurozone. That would cause an immediate default of the nation’s sovereign debt, as well as trigger a series of events that…
Big Companies Pay Little in Taxes
Yet another study shows that the largest U.S. companies pay very little in taxes. The problem, if it is one, has gone without a solution for years. There is nothing on the horizon that…
Cyclical Unemployment Disappears
The most important comment Ben Bernanke made at his recent press conference was that cyclical unemployment could become structural unemployment. The weight of joblessness on GDP will grow unbearably, if that happens. Bernanke said…
Media Digest (11/3/2011) Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
The Federal Reserve cuts its forecast for employment and GDP growth. (Reuters) The expanding Greek debt problem will trouble the G20 summit. (Reuters) Groupon’s IPO may be a dollar higher than its $16 to…
First Round Of October Jobs Numbers Is Strong
The first set of numbers the market watches to forecast October unemployment come from Challenger Gray. The figure for last month was strong. If they are confirmed by figures from ADP, the official government…
What’s Important in the Financial World Today (11/2/2011) Fed QE3, EU PMI Drop
Germany’s PMI contracts. Germany’s PMI contracted for the first time since September 2009, and to the lowest level since July 2009 — in the midst of the recession. This signals that the slowdown in Europe…
HTC Takes U.S. Smartphone Industry by Storm
HTC, the Taiwan-based smartphone company, was barely known in the U.S. three years ago. It is now the number one manufacturer of the devices sold in America because of its clever adoption of the…
Media Digest (11/2/2011) Reuters, WSJ
George Papandreou convinces the Greek cabinet of the virtues of a national referendum on budget cuts, but he now faces the leaders of France and Germany. (Reuters) The FBI may investigate the fall of…
Sony and CEO Stringer’s Last Failure?
Sony (NYSE: SNE) has made another in a long line of disappointing announcements about earnings. This one should cost chairman and CEO Sir Howard Stringer his job. He has been a failure as chief…