Is Greece’s Euro Future Drowning Again?
thinkstockThere is an ongoing theme in Greece. The theme is one where it is going to exit or be forced out of the Euro, only to be saved yet again at the eleventh hour.…
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Jon C. Ogg
ISM Shows Manufacturing Growth in October, but Less Than Half of Sectors Are Growing
courtesy of philip morris internationalToday’s report from The Institute for Supply Management showed that the manufacturing sector was not in contraction during the month of October. The PMI came in at 51.7%, versus 51.5%…
Consumer Confidence Hits Year High in October
courtesy of General MotorsConsumer confidence is up at a year high! The Conference Board reported that the month of October showed a reading of 72.2. The problem is that this was light against estimates,…
Bill Gross and PIMCO November Investment Outlook Changes to Altruistic
courtesy of the White HouseBill Gross of PIMCO, aka The Bond King, is out with the November investment outlook. This one is titled “Time to Vote!” and the headline is one that will likely…
Mulally Staying at Ford Longer Than Expected, Succession Plan Now Very Clear
courtesy of Ford Motor CompanyFord Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is trying to signal that any future CEO and leadership change is going to go smoothly. Its star CEO, Alan Mulally, is now said to…
Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (BCS, CMVT, DTE, EW, FMS, JCP, MMP, NFLX, RVBD, STAA, HOT, SU, SUSS, TWX, VCI, WU)
These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall St. research calls this Thursday. Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) reiterated Buy and listed as “too cheap” at BofA/ML. Comverse Technology Inc.…
Weekly Jobless Claims Meets Q3 Productivity and Unit Labor Costs
ThinkstockWe have two more key economic and labor reports ahead of Friday’s key payrolls and unemployment report. The third-quarter preliminary nonfarm productivity and unit labor costs have been released at the same time as…
ADP Payrolls Report Shows Gains in October
ThinkstockThe ADP National Employment Report for the month of October is out and it shows under its new methodology that the U.S. private sector added some 158,000 jobs in the month. Dow Jones was…
Exxon Mobil Beats Earnings as Sales Decline, Keeps Buying Back Stock
Wikimedia CommonsExxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) has released a mixed earnings report for its third quarter. The oil and gas giant reported earnings of $9.57 billion for the quarter, and that translates to earnings…
Sirius XM Delivers on Earnings
courtesy of Sirius XM RadioSirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) had already raised its subscriber growth and it has already announced that Mel Karmazin will be stepping aside in early 2013. Now the satellite…
Challenger Jobs Report Confirms Layoffs Rising Rapidly
ThinkstockMore bad news is coming on the jobs front, if Challenger, Gray & Christmas is right in its assessment. The report for the month of October shows that layoffs rose by 41% from the…
Pfizer Earnings Dragged by Lipitor and Nexium
Wikimedia CommonsPfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) is out with its earnings report for the third quarter, and the drug giant reported that revenues were down 16% to $14.0 billion. Some 12% was due to an…
Carl Icahn Takes Activist Fight To Netflix
Carl Icahn is going after Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX). A 13D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that Carl Icahn, via investment entities under him, has taken a stake of 9.98% in total…
Facebook Withstands Lockup Expiration
Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) could have seen its shares crushed on a lockup expiration, but the stock is holding up marginally well when you consider the entire situation. The social networking giant had a…
Short Sellers Exited Generac Ahead of Hurricane Sandy
flickr / gsfcShort sellers seem to have intuitively known as early as October 15 that Hurricane Sandy was going to be a real bruiser of a storm for the Eastern Seaboard. While that is…
How $4 Billion for Star Wars Will Generate Over $30 Billion for Disney
starwars.comThe Force is Back! The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) has undoubtedly scored a major victory with its $4.05 billion acquisition of Lucasfilm. Star Wars fans will get to rejoice as the movie franchise…
October Chicago PMI Remains in Contraction
The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index for the month of October did manage to tick up from September, but it is unfortunately still in contraction territory. The report came in at 49.9 in October, and 49.7…
Employment Cost Index: Benefit Costs Rising Faster Than Wages
ThinkstockInflation in wages is not really present right now. A report for the third quarter showed that the Employment Cost Index slipped to +0.4% from +0.5% in the second quarter. Bloomberg was calling for…
Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ALU, CTRP, D, FLTX, IDTI, NANO, ODFL, RVBD, S, UBS, VLO, DIS, WU, AAPL, ACI, OFC, ARR, ISRG, LOCK, PCS, WIT, LAD, ALL, URI, MPC)
Jon OggThe top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall St. research calls will be playing catch-up on Wednesday as the markets did not get a chance to react to the analyst calls…
TrimTabs Cautious on Jobs Growth Ahead of Unemployment Report
ThinkstockThe markets may have been closed for two trading days this week due to the hurricane, but key economic data is still likely to be released this week from the Labor Department’s read on…