China’s Ministry of Commerce told the nation’s official news agency, Xinhua, that the People’s Republic will be the country with the most online retail volume in the world by 2013. U.S. e-commerce companies do…
China wants to do business in Europe. It is the world’s largest region by GDP, even if the economy has slowed. But many companies in European nations have lost some of their…
In a conference presentation earlier this week, Bill Simon, the CEO of US operations for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), made some comments about the 10 Walmart Express stores the company now…
Paul Ausick Retailers have fared better than many other sectors over the past year, with the majority of share prices having risen although price to book values remain negative. Thus, either the sector is…
Oil has hit an extraordinarily low price, below $90 a barrel for WTI crude. That is the lowest level since October. It shows no inclination to spike back up. PMI data from Europe and China actually…
Costco (NASDAQ: COST) continues its extraordinary run as the most successful big box retailer. Its “club membership” system has bettered the more traditional store operations of Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Target (NYSE:…
With 80% of the 120 companies it tracks having reported first quarter 2012 results, research firm Retail Metrics says that retailers who beat earnings estimates are up 5% year-over-year for the period,…
The California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), by many measures the second largest pension in the United States, has taken the advice of and has joined proxy advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis in…
Merkel and Hollande will fight over stimulus for the eurozone at the EU summit. (Reuters) The OECD expresses concerns that Europe could slip into a deep recession. (Reuters) The EU debt crisis pushes global…
Electronics retailer Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) reported first quarter results this morning that were better than expected and the company’s shares are getting a much-needed bounce. The company reported adjusted…
ZyngaZynga’s (NASDAQ: ZNGA) shares are down 15% over the past two days, a little more than those of Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) after its initial public offering. There are several critical difference between the…
The three major US stock indexes opened essentially flat this morning as investors were faced with a flat report on new claims for jobless benefits (our coverage here). Manufacturing data from the…
Neither Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) nor Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was expected to post big numbers for the quarter just ended. And they didn’t — but the numbers were better…
Famous short-seller David Einhorn attacked Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) in a presentation recently. The company’s business model will not lead to consistent profits, he said. Therefore, the stock is overvalued. It is not hard…
The European Central Bank no longer offers help to Greek banks it believes are insolvent. (Reuters) Some brokerage firms stop taking orders for Facebook shares. (Reuters) Japan’s gross domestic product rises 3.5%…
