Government Workers Take Brunt Of June Layoffs
The price of austerity has begun to hurt local and state government employment again. The trend is the continuation of one that started three years ago as a sharp drop in tax receipts decimated…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Non-Manufacturing ISM Craters
Challenger, Gray & Christmas remarked that layoffs moved higher in June. “The number of planned job cuts announced by U.S.-based employers increased by 4,297 or 11.6 percent to 41,432 in June.” The information was…
How Does Moody’s Know Balance Sheet Of EU Banks? It Doesn’t
Moody’s has been called arrogant before. It has misread the value of mortgage-backed securities and re-rated troubled balance sheets of corporations and nations well after the bad news that affects them is out. Now,…
The 24/7 Wall St./Flame Index: Companies With The Worst News (July 7)
Nothing compared to the negative press News Corp (NYSE: NWS) has gotten in the last three days as its The News of The World is accused of tapping the phone of a dead girl…
Top Active Trader Alert Stocks (ASML, DRWI, HTCH)
Active traders and day traders have many stocks to choose from this Wednesday morning. We are tracking news and moves in shares of ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ: ASML), DragonWave, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRWI), and Hutchinson Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:…
Today’s Best Market Rumors (7/6/2011) AirAsia 300 Jets, Sony Irish Hack
Updated throughout the day. AirAsia will up its Airbus order to 300 planes (Reuters) Strauss-Kahn lawyers may meet with prosecutors to settle charges or dismiss them completely (NYPost) Sony (NYSE: SNE) said hackers hit…
The Nine Foods The Government Is Paying For You To Eat
Over the past 15 years, the federal government paid nearly $150 billion in subsidies to U.S. farmers. It paid $77 billion to plant corn in the U.S. between 1995 and 2010; $32.4 billion to…
HTC’s Threat To RIM May Lessen
HTC, the Taiwan based smartphone company, posted extraordinary earnings for its fiscal second quarter. Earnings more than doubled to $608 million, exceeding most analysts forecasts. The firm said much of its success was based on sales…
A Silver Lining For Jobs?
Any good news about jobs is surprising news. The data about unemployment has been that bad. The economy is not supposed to add to non-farm payrolls much more than a few hundred thousand jobs…
Recession Continues For Small Business With No End In Sight
The NFIB, which acts as an advocate organization for small businesses, issued a report called “Small Business Credit In A Deep Recession.” The group could have avoided this waste of effort. The conclusions of…
Media Digest (7/6/2011) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg
Banks object to plans that would allow regulators to clawback pay if a bank becomes troubled and has to be liquidated (Reuters) Geithner has not told The White House he wants to resign (Reuters)…
Moody’s Downgrades Portugal: Junk Alert
The financial domino game in the eurozone hasn’t stopped. With Moody’s downgrade of Portugal, the sovereign debt crisis has began to spread beyond Greece again, even as the funding of the southern European nation…
Eastman Kodak Death Watch
Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK) has been on and off life support for years. Its shares trade just above $3 down from nearly $30 in mid-2007 and and $75 in 1999. Kodak has posted a…
The Twitter-24/7 Wall St. Market Report (7/5/2011) China Vs. WTO, OECD Inflation
Twitter has, by most estimates, 225 million members, which makes it one of the largest social networks in the world. All major media companies are on Twitter and some have more than one million…
Top Active Trader Alert Stocks (BIDU, BLUD, CLWR)
Active traders and day traders have many stocks to choose from this Tuesday morning. We are tracking news and moves in shares of Baidu.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), Immucor, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLUD), and Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR).…
Investors Throw Away More Money On LightSquared
Investors threw another $265 million at LightSquared, the troubled LTE 4G wireless provider with the audacity to compete with Sprint-Nextel (NYSE: S), Verizon Wireless and AT&T Wireless. Many observers think the company is doomed…
What Can Moody’s Know About Local Chinese Banks?
Moody’s generally sends teams of experts to review its ratings on international sovereign debt and the financial firms that are the core of an overseas government loan facilities. It is strange that the credit…
The Opposition In The U.S. And Greece Want Tax Cuts
Greek opposition leader Antonis Samaras wants the parliament there to approve tax cuts. He believes it will shock the economy back into a period of growth, he told the WSJ. The IMF and EU…
A Note About CellPhones And Cancer
A brief note about the seesaw scientific and medical debate over whether cellphone use causes cancer. A new study from the International Commission for Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection Standing Committee on Epidemiology says not. “Although…
The iPad’s 100,000 Apps
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) now offers 100,000 apps for the iPad, according to MacStories. The iPhone has four times that many, but the iPad has only been on the market for a year. The one…