Another Reason To Fire Boeing’s CEO
W. James McNerney, Jr., Boeing’s (NYSE: BA) Chairman and CEO, has hung onto his job since July 2005. The company’s flagship Dreamliner has been delayed at least a half a dozen times over that…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
America’s Housing Paradox: Homes Are Affordable, But No One Will Buy
Americans still believe homes are still a good long-term investment. Unfortunately for the real estate sector, 30% of the same people think home prices will continue to drop compared with 28% who believe they…
Media Digest (4/25/2011) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg
The NYSE (NYSE: NYX) said an M&A deal with Deutsche Boerse would offer greater savings than a NASDAQ (NYSE: NDAQ) deal. (Reuters) Silver rose 5% on the dollar’s weakness. (Reuters) The housing market may…
America’s Ten Largest Employers
The largest companies in the US based on the number of workers worldwide are not necessarily the biggest in terms of revenue, profits or business locations. Some are much more efficient than others. Apple…
Windows’ Future In Question As Sales Reach 350 Million
Odd, that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) should announce that it had sold 350 million copies of Windows 7 just as Amazon’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) cloud computing service collapsed and left clients’ website and download services marooned.…
The Week’s Largest Market Losers
Iron Mountain’s proxy fight with Elliott Management continued, as the company added an Elliott board member and said it may sell its digital assets. Harley fell on weak earnings. Gilead posted atrocious earnings. S&P…
Week’s Largest Stock Gainers
Biogen Idec shares rallied on news that its MS drug has posted positive trial results. F5 reported a strong quarter as did Intel. S&P 500 WEEK TOP 10 (15 APR – 21 APR) Ticker…
Daily Austerity Watch: Rich People Can Withstand Tax Increases
Daily Austerity Watch learned long ago that there lies, damned lies and lies about taxes. One of the most often-told tales involves the notion that when the going gets tough (taxes rise), the tough…
Are CEOs Sacrificed Too Quickly?
Peter A. Darbee has been CEO of PG&E (NYSE: PCG) since 1999. The company has made strong profits and its stock has performed well over the period since he got his job. He said…
Unlocking The Mystery About How Android Makes Money
Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) investors have been puzzled about how the company will make money on its Android mobile operating system. It is offered to mobile and portable hardware firms for free. The software might promote…
Americans Mourn The Future As Deficit Grows
A new New York Times/CBS poll shows that the number of Americans who think the country is on the wrong track has risen sharply to 70%. The figure has not been that bad in…
Microsoft Pay Raises: The Death Of Growth
There are at least two ways to look at the cash pay raises that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will give employees. One is that it is a way to retain talent. Another is that it is…
Media Digest (4/22/2011) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg
Samsung filed patent lawsuits against Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) over smartphone technology (Reuters) The Japanese government will release $50 billion to cover initial costs of the earthquake (Reuters) The Administration will create a group to…
Earth Day Special: The Most And Least Green States
April 22 is Earth Day. This year, its theme is “A Billion Acts of Green.” The idea behind the 2011 program is to demonstrate that millions of small acts can make a profound difference…
A Year After Gulf Tragedy, Offshore Oil Companies Still Shielded by Liability Limits
by Marian Wang ProPublica, April 19, 2011, 11:25 a.m.April 18, 2011April 20, 2011 When the Deepwater Horizon disaster killed 11 men at sea last April and set off the worst oil spill in U.S.…
Commodities Watch: Transparency, and its Lack, in the Oil Market; Someone Cornering Supply of Lead; Global Corn Supply Estimate Raised
Commodity news today begins with a look at counting barrels of oil. There are also reports of a single buyer holding as much as 89% of the lead in storage in London, and new…
Alternative Energy Watch: Redirecting Ethanol Subsidies; Heritage Foundation Proposes Cuts to Energy Department Funding; Wind Generation Subsidies Suspended in New Jersey
Today’s alt energy news leads off with some comments from Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, reports on some problems with wind generation in New Jersey, and comments on a new report from the Heritage…
Daily Austerity Watch: Playing Fiscal Chicken
In today’s Daily Austerity Watch, we struggled to find an appropriately macho analogy to describe the Republican’s attempts to fight efforts to raise the debt ceiling. About the best we could come up was…
Honeywell, United Technologies Earnings Jump (HON, UTX, GE)
US manufacturers like Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON), United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX), and General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) could be signalling a broader recovery coming in the US and global economies. Even manufacturing…
Schlumberger Earnings, Revenues Fall Short; BP Sues Halliburton (SLB, WFT, HAL, BHI, BP, RIG, CAM)
courtesy of BP plcBad weather in North America and Australia, political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, and a slow return to drilling in the US Gulf of Mexico have all led…