Media Digest (5/2/2011) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg
The death of Osama bin Laden raised US futures and the dollar and pushed crude oil lower. (Reuters) The US helped cut the amount of oil China imported from Iran to punish the ruling…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
The Deficit: Are Americans Too Stupid To Vote?
When historians look back on the recent recession, the growth of the American deficit, and the debate to control the national debt, they will be awed that voters blamed Congress and the Administration for…
Companies That Were Crushed By Their Auditors
There is almost nothing worse a public company can get from its auditors than a “going concern” opinion. That means that there is a good chance that the corporation in question cannot make it…
The Death Of Classical Music in America
For generations, large and small cities saw orchestras, operas and other classical music organizations as part of civic life. Now, many are in deep financial trouble with no relief in sight. The reasons for…
Commodities Watch: Iron Ore Prices Hit China’s Steelmakers; Caterpillar Soars; Lumber Prices Remain Soft; Coffee at Near-Record High (BHP, RIO, VALE, CAT, WY, DHI, SBUX)
Today’s report on commodities begins with some sobering news from Chinese steel makers and some roaring news from a maker of heavy equipment. Lumber prices remain low, but arabica coffee beans are at their…
The 24/7 Wall St./Flame Index: Companies With The Worst Press (4/29/2011
A great deal of the most harsh business press is related to Warren Buffett companies and the Sokol insider trading scandal. The puts Berkshire Hathaway and Lubrizol on the list Allergan received negative coverage…
Today’s Best Market Rumors (4/29/2011) Golf M&A
Updated throughout the day Blackstone (NYSE: BX) and Callaway (NYSE: ELI) may buy Fortune Brands (Reuters) Alcatel Lucent and Siemens may have an IPO of their enterprise joint venture (Bloomberg) Douglas A. McIntyre
Top Active Trader Alert Stocks (CSTR, RIMM, SONC, SPWRA, TOT)
Active traders and day traders have many stocks to choose from this Friday morning. We are tracking news and moves in shares of Coinstar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR), Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), Sonic Corporation (NASDAQ: SONC), Sunpower Corporation…
Spain’s Economy Disintegrates
Spain made an important announcement about its first quarter economic activity and another about the month of April. The National Statistics Institute said “La tasa de paro crece casi un punto y se sitúa…
Skepticism About China’s Slowing Growth
The carefully followed HSBC measure of China’s purchasing manufacturing index showed flat activity in April. The number was the same as March at 51.8. The figure is below the longer term trend over the…
Can Microsoft Become The Next Oracle?
Wall St. was disappointed by the sales of Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows products as the world’s largest software company announced earnings for the quarter which ended March 31. Microsoft’s two enterprise software units did…
Ten States Where Pensions Are Running Out Of Money
Corporate pensions, municipal pensions, state pensions — each category has funds that have run out of money and certainly many are running low. The fate of the UAW pensions was a critical part of…
Media Digest 4.29.2011 Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg
Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) and ICE may make a hostile bid for NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) (Reuters) Silver and gold are near all-time highs (Reuters) The House Budget Chair favors a cut in oil subsidies (Reuters)…
Top Active Trader Alert Stocks (AKAM, FLEX, TFM, URBN)
Active traders and day traders have many stocks to choose from this Thursday morning. We are tracking news and moves in shares of Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM), Flextronics Technologies (NASDAQ: FLEX), The Fresh Market (NASDAQ: TFM), and Urban…
The Twitter-24/7 Wall St. Market Report 4.28.2011
Twitter has, by most estimates, 175 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…
Daily Austerity Watch: The Philadelphia Story
Anyone wondering whether the economic recovery is taking hold might want to take a look at yesterday’s announcement of massive layoffs from the Philadelphia School District. Faced with a mammoth $629 million budget deficit,…
Short Sellers Attack Tech
Short sellers seem to have ignored the strong earnings released recently by Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and IBM (NYSE: IBM). They have, for the most part, bet strongly that the stocks in many large tech…
Baidu Earnings: China Search Industry Still Tiny
China’s largest search company, Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU,) released its first quarter 2011 earnings. The firm’s growth rate is impressive, but its total revenue is not. For the period which ended March 31. revenue was…
Americans Despair About The Economy
No matter what Ben Bernanke says about a slow economic recovery or what improved GDP growth and lower unemployment signal, many Americans still believe the economy is in horrible shape. “More than half of…
Media Digest (4/28/2011) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg
Many experts believe the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates near zero until the end of the year (Reuters) Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) says Sokol deceived the company and may have violated securities laws…