The price of many agricultural commodities rose more than 25% from June 2010 to December 2010, according to a recent World Bank study. There are several reasons that the report is alarming. The first…
When does time run out for Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke? The stock market seems to believe he has done a good job. Wal-Mart’s stock trades at $55.38, about midway between its 52-week high and…
Moody’s put the rating of Japan’s debt on credit watch. The outlook was cut to “negative” from “stable.” The government of Japan’s current rating is Aa2. Moody’s said, “The rating action was prompted by…
Investors are concerned about whether Wal-Mart’s (NYSE: WMT) US store division has grown. (Reuters) Moody’s cut its outlook on Japan to negative due to concerns about whether government austerity measures will work. (Reuters) US…
The auction of Blockbuster’s assets began today with what the company termed a “stalking horse” bid. It was set at what might be a considered a low price–$290 million. The amount may actually be…
For once, a major credit ratings agency was not weeks or months behind making a downgrade of a worsening economic situation “Fitch Downgrades Libya to ‘BBB’, Negative Watch”, the agency reported. The downgrade reflects…
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…
Updated throughout the day DST will put $100 million into online music firm Spotify (TechCrunch) China social network firm Renren will have a US IPO (WSJ) CIC and Blackstone (NYSE: BX) will team to…
The cost for regular gasoline has rose over $3.17 on average last week according to AAA. That is 20% above the same time a year ago. The price is much higher in densely populated areas…
Successful political activity often spreads from one geographic area to another. That has certainly been true among financially weak countries in Europe. It is now happening among nations in the Middle East where citizens…
Research firm Markit announced that its joint monitoring of China’s PMI, done in tandem with HSBC, predicted a surprising slowdown in February. The brief report’s most important observation was “Flash China Manufacturing PMI™ at…
Dr. Thomas Bogdan of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder recently expressed concern that solar activity could disrupt satellite communication, GPS accuracy and electrical power. He said that the…
Yields on the five-year sovereign debt of Portugal rose over 7% as capital markets investors lost faith once again in the nation’s ability to right its economy. Past patterns, if they are followed, would…
The US federal government could shut down as House Republicans battle the Administration on budget deficit matters (Reuters) Riots in Libya moved oil higher and Asia markets lower. (Reuters) Air France-KLM may make a…
Ben Bernanke charged that investments from abroad helped cause the credit crisis. “Excess savings”, money credited in emerging nations, sought save haven investments. Among these were mortgage-backed securities that they credit ratings agencies had…
S&P 500 WEEK TOP 10 (11FEB -17FEB) Ticker Weekly Price Change (%) Close Price 17Feb11 Close Price 11Feb11 Market Cap($Mil) Family Dollar Stores Inc. FDO 19.3 52.67 44.16 6656.8 Tesoro Corp TSO 17.8 25.83…
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…
Updated throughout the day. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has not decided whether to introduce a smaller versions of the iPhone (NYT) Zynga may have an IPO next year (NYT) Citadel may sell itself to Cumulus…
The seven members of The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling might as well have stayed at home instead of venturing out to examine why the well exploded and sent…
The poor do not use Facebook much. Neither do the poorly educated. Facebook users are not only usually college graduates. They tend to make more than $90,00o a year and be under the age…