Today’s Best Market Rumors (12/27/2010)
Updated throughout the day. Sonic Solutions (NASAQ: SNIC) may find a buyer to top a bid by Rovi (NASDAQ: ROVI) Logitech will delay shipments of set-top boxes because of delays in the release of…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Ten Brands Americans No Longer Love
Americans do not merely love their favorite and most cherished brands, they love them. Consumers love Apple. They love the Mustang. They love Starbucks, and they once loved The Dallas Cowboys. Brand loyalty involves…
Anti-Virus Program The Most Widely Downloaded This Year
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition was the most widely downloaded software in 2010 according to CNET. It was downloaded over 83 million times at CNET.com last year. It is odd that free PC security software…
E-Mail To Be Marketing Tool Of Preference
E-mail will be the target marketing tool of preference for companies that push their products and services online. Its growth in use will even surpass that of social media and search. E-marketer reports that…
Media Digest 12.27.31 Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg
China said it will try to keep prices down as inflation worsened (Reuters) Auto companies will lower the weight of light trucks to meet fuel standards (Reuters) Oil hits 26 month high as a…
OPEC Oil Ministers Bless $100 Oil
Several OPEC ministers said they believe $100 a barrel oil prices would represent a proper balance between supply and demand. OPEC will do nothing to increase production before mid-year 2011, and it may not…
China, Inflation Out Of Hand, Raises Rates
The Chinese economic machine has begun to sputter. An ongoing rapid improvement in its PMI, inflation at the wholesale level, and worker demands for higher pay have contributed to increased inflation. Add to those…
Are Canada’s Oil Sands Too Dirty for the US? (TRP, COP, SU, TOT, RDS-A, XOM, BP)
Developing the vast resources of the Canadian oil sands is a dirty business. The deposits are either strip-mined, leaving huge piles of waste and scarring the landscape, or wells use steam to heat the…
The Nine Problems That Could Derail The Recovery in 2011
Lost in the optimistic talk about the economic recovery around the world are the things that brought the recession on and the new challenges which may appear next year. The US stock market is…
Service Outages: The Challenge For Facebook, Twitter, And Skype
Facebook, Twitter, and Skype face an unusual challenge if they are to keep the dominance in their respective markets. It may be difficult to keep each of the services online all of the time.…
E-Pad Sales: Are Sales Strong Enough To Overcome Competition?
Securities analysts and research firms which cover the sales of e-readers and tablet computers continue to upgrade holiday shipment figures for most of the large brands. That means the purchase of the devices has…
Media Digest 12.24.2010 Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg
The head of the FCC said he supports the Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) plan to take a majority position in GE’s (NYSE: GE) NBCU. (Reuters) SpendingPulse reports online retail sales are up 15.4% (Reuters) Global…
The U.S. Economy Roars Into 2011
As the year comes to a close, consumers are not just quietly confident that better times lie ahead. They are getting downright giddy. Household purchases rose 0.4% gain in November, its fifth straight increase. …
Today’s Best Market Rumors 12.23.2010 AIG Taiwan, VW China
Updated throughout the day. Ruentex is the leader in a bid of AIG’s Taiwan operations (Reuters) China will tighten rules and regulations for financial firms that handle IPOs (Reuters) VW may launch a brand…
Gallup Says 11% Of Americans Lack Affordable Housing
More than 1 in 10 Americans faced times in the past year when they could not afford adequate housing, according to a Gallup Poll which documents how access to affordable housing remains a worldwide…
American Car Safety Posts Impressive Improvement
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has released its list of the safest cars for 2011. The “TOP SAFETY PICK” award for 2011, included 40 cars, 25 SUVs, and a minivan. The number of American…
Americans Will Take To The Roads Once More
Americans do not care much about the price of gas, at least for now. Ninety million people will take to the roads between December 23 and January 2. The AAA measures people who plan…
Late Holiday Sales Surge, Perhaps On Bush Tax Cut Extension
It is official now, or as official as anything gets. The last week of the holiday shopping season salvaged what might have been mediocre results and turned them into something just short of spectacular.…
Media Digest 12.23.2010 Reuters, WSJ, NYT, F, Bloomberg
China said it will help nations in the eurozone to return to financial stability. (Reuters) Riversdale will be bought by Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) for $3.8 billion. (Reuters) Oil moved higher on concerns about…
Existing Home Sales Up, But Prices Still Weak
Existing home sales rose 5.6% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.68 million. But “are 27.9 percent below the cyclical peak of 6.49 million in November 2009, which was the initial…