There is a long-standing debate over the effect and impact of share buyback plans. What is not up for debate is that many companies have given big updates or announced new buyback plans in…
Moody’s is at it again with yet another debt rating downgrade in the lands of the PIIGS. Today came a debt rating cut to four Irish banks and an Irish insurer, and the cut…
It is almost hard to say it, but the world of exchange-traded products (ETFs, ETNs, etc) hit an almost unbelievable milestone. The exchange-traded market is now over $1 trillion in assets. ONE-TRILLION…. We have…
Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO) is expanding in the U.S. The fourth largest bank in Canada is acquiring Marshall & Ilsley Corp. (NYSE: MI) for $4.1 billion in stock. The terms call for a…
Moody’s has been on a warpath this week downgrading the PIIGS. The calls are late. Very late. These should have been about as telegraphed as a replay of a World War II outcome. Moody’s…
Data from Reuters shows that global M&A activity rose to $2.2 trillion in 2010. The 2010 improvement was the first since 2007. Most comments about the news said that 2011 should be an even…
Credit card clearing and processing giants Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) and Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V) are getting hammered on strong volume today. The culprit is probably easy to guess… interchange fees. Today’s opinion from…
Another day, another late-late sovereign debt rating downgrade warning. Moody’s has just placed the “Ba1” rating of Greece on review for a possible downgrade. This is on the heels of a similar warning to…
ThinkstockCoffee prices have been rising, primarily as a result of a projected failure in the Colombian crop due to heavy rains. Colombia usually produces about 12 million bags of coffee annually. Weak crops in…
The longer-end of the curve is is still rising. Earlier we had seen the highest yields since June, and now we are seeing the highest yields since May. The 10-Year Treasury yield has broken…
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) may be the poster child firm for wealth and excess on Wall Street. The bonus pools around Wall Street are being tallied up, and Bloomberg has shown that…
GAIN Capital Holdings Inc. (NYSE: GCAP) is coming public this morning via an initial public offering. The company priced 9 million shares of common stock at $9.00 per share. The company is an FX…
The woes of Europe continue, again… Get used to it. The markets are soft this morning on news that Moody’s is warning Spain of a downgrade to its Aa1 rating due to funding vulnerability,…
Carl Icahn usually makes his headlines by criticizing management for not rewarding shareholders. This morning he is in the news because he is buying Dynegy Inc. (NYSE:DYN) for a higher price than had been…
FleetCor Technologies Inc. (NYSE: FLT) is coming public. The company sold some 12.675 million shares at $23.00 per share, at the bottom of a $23.00 to $26.00 per share range. This is another under-indication…