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Holiday Shoppers Discourage Investors
On Wednesday, in light trading, stocks were down for the third straight day thanks to the ongoing anxiety over the possible budget cuts, increase in taxes and the less than anticipated holiday retail sales figures. Trading was very... More of this article »
Blackberry Maker Sees Stock Drop
Research In Motion, the Canadian based manufacturer of the Blackberry smartphone, announced a decision to end certain service fees for users, which threatens its most profitable income source. Following the announcement, RIM stock... More of this article »
New Smartphone Being Designed by Motorola and Google
Engineers from Motorola have been hard at work trying to complete the design of a new and sophisticated mobile handset that inside the company is known simply as “X Phone.” Nevertheless, the new unit recently purchased by Google... More of this article »
Arab Women Represent only 20% in Entire Female Work Force in Israel
Since 1970, the amount of Arab women in the Israeli work force has increased by 50%, but just 20% are employed today. That is less than one third of the rate for Jewish women and well below the 72% rate for Arab men, said a Tel Aviv... More of this article »
Foxconn Invests $200 Million in GoPro
Manufacturing giant Foxconn from Taiwan, which is best known for all the contract manufacturing they perform for Apple products has announced it will purchase a stake worth 9%in GoPro, a camera maker that had been an industry buzz. The... More of this article »
Profits at FedEx Fall
FedEx announced on Wednesday that its profits had dropped 12% during their fiscal second quarter. However, the drop was not as much as investors had feared as the shipping company struggled for better results in the airfreight sector... More of this article »
Samsung to Become Top Maker of Phones Worldwide
South Korea based Samsung Electronics has overtaken Nokia, the Finnish phone maker, for just the time since 1998 as the world’s top maker of phones for 2012. At year’s end, Samsung will account for close to 29% of all shipments... More of this article »
Nielsen to Acquire Radio Ratings Arbitron
The way of measuring ratings is now a bit smaller. Nielsen has measured ratings for television for a number of decades and announced it has now acquired Arbitron, the giant in radio ratings in a deal estimated to be worth over $1.26... More of this article »
Refund Delay Might Cause Recession
Congress it seems is bent on debating simultaneously the debate over the fiscal cliff, which has a remedy of a short-term widening of the national deficit along with the fiscal crisis, which has a remedy that is long-term narrowing... More of this article »
Holiday Shoppers Get Reprieve through Falling Gas Prices
In November, overall consumer prices fell due to the price at the gas pump dropping. The nation’s key inflation measure, the Consumer Price Index dropped in November by 0.3% thanks mainly to a drop in the price of gasoline of 7.4%... More of this article »
Retail Sales Jump in November thanks to Autos and Holiday Shoppers
U.S. retail sales increased in November, as automobile demand returned and shopper started holiday shopping for clothes and electronics. The gain of 0.3% for November followed a decrease of 0.3% for October. The average forecast by... More of this article »
Tequila Talks Ended by Diageo
Diageo PLC, on Tuesday, ended discussions with Jose Cuervo, the tequila maker, after a deal was not reached with the Beckmann family of Mexico to purchase a stake. Diageo will forfeit the entire brand as its contract for distribution... More of this article »
McDonald’s Beats Sales Estimates
Same-store sales globally at McDonald’s increased at a bigger than expected rate of 2.4% during November, as the largest fast food group in the world succeeded in reversing its decline that was reported in early November for October. Analysts... More of this article »
Investors See Gold Prices Continue to Drop
Investors of gold are still waiting to receive holiday cheer after the first week of December ended. The price of the precious metal has fallen 5% since its highs in October following the announcement by the Federal Reserve of its... More of this article »
American Airlines Offered Merger Deal
AMR Corp, the parent company of American Airlines has been offered a deal to merge by US Airways. The merger deal has placed a value of the two airlines combined at more than $8.5 billion. While American pilots were busy voting to... More of this article »
Weekly Price of Crude dropping for first time since October
Oil is on track to fall this week for the first weekly drop since mid October, as a forecast for economic growth in Germany was lowered and an earthquake in Japan created worry that consumption of crude might be lowered. Bundesbank,... More of this article »
Corruption Probe Underway involving Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce the aircraft engine maker might face prosecution due to allegations of corruption in Indonesia, China and other international locations. The company first started as a luxury carmaker. However, it also provides power systems... More of this article »
Starbucks Announces Big Expansion
Starbucks, the biggest coffee business in the world, announced it was planning to add up to 1,500 new cafes over the next five years in the U.S. The new plan, which would increase the number of cafes in the U.S. by 13%, will be officially... More of this article »
U.S. Sees Contraction in Manufacturing for November
The manufacturing sector of the U.S. shrank in November and employment weakened, according to new data on Monday. The Institute of Supply Management’s purchasing managers’ index fell unexpectedly to 49.5 during November from October’s... More of this article »
Mexican Court Rules Against Yahoo
A Mexican court has ruled that Yahoo is liable for $2.7 billion in damages in a lawsuit over a contract that was disputed between the Internet giant and its former partners over a directories business. An announcement was made on Friday... More of this article »
Spending by Consumers Drop to Five Month Low
Consumer spending in the U.S. fell during October for just the first time in the past five months. Growth in income stalled, which suggested that slower economic growth would take place during this year’s last quarter. On Friday,... More of this article »
Costco announces Special Dividend Prior to Fiscal Cliff
Warehouse merchant, Costco Wholesale has announced it will have a special dividend of $3 billion before the end of 2012, saving its shareholders from being bit should the increase in taxes take place due to the pending fiscal cliff. The... More of this article »
Research In Motion Stock Surges
Research In Motion the maker of the Blackberry 10 saw its shares surge even higher on Friday. The rally by RIM stock on Friday followed a bullish report from analysts. The price target for the stock was moved up along with the amount... More of this article »
Stock Price Surges for Groupon
Groupon Inc. stock shares increased earlier this week by over 10% after a 9.9% stake in the company was purchased by a hedge fund. Tiger Global Investments discloses it had purchased 65 million shares in their securities filing Monday.... More of this article »
Earnings Miss Wall Street Estimates at John Deere
The largest maker of agricultural equipment, John Deere & Co. reported its fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday that missed estimates by analysts after the company saw sales outside Canada and the U.S. decline. Profit jumped to over... More of this article »
Fraud Alleged by Hewlett-Packard in Autonomy Acquisition
On Tuesday morning, Hewlett-Packard asserted there were instances of financial fraud involved with its purchase of Autonomy, the software business, in 2011. HP paid over $10 billion for the business. At the same time, the company released... More of this article »
Walmart Hit by Walkouts and Protests
Employees at Walmart this week started to walk off the job in advance of next week’s Black Friday, when three groups backed by unions expect thousands to protest nationwide. During October, a strike took place in Los Angeles at a... More of this article »
FedEx and UPS Investigated by Department of Justice
Fed Ex and UPS announced they both were targets of an investigation by the Department of Justice related to illegal online pharmacies. The pharmacies have become the target of a crackdown by federal investigators and international... More of this article »
Walmart Earnings Increase, but Sales Fall Short
Walmart Stores Inc., the discount retailer, said on Thursday that its profits for the third quarter had increased by 9%, which beat estimates, but that its revenues had fallen short of Wall Street expectations, while sales for same-store... More of this article »
Microsoft’s Sinofsky Steps Down
Microsoft’s head of Windows, Steven Sinofsky resigned on Monday. Sinofsky was thought by many to be in line to take CEO Steven Ballmer’s place. However, he left Microsoft on Monday only three weeks after the software giant launched... More of this article »
Japan’s Economy Shrinks
The Japanese economy contracted during the third quarter. The rate of contraction was at 3.5% at an annualized figure. That ended up sparking concerns that the shrinkage would cause a sustained slowdown across the region. The GDP figures... More of this article »
Patents Settlement Reached by Apple and HTC
Taiwanese mobile phone maker HTC has reached a settlement with Apple, the Cupertino, California based tech giant. The settlement resolves all the pending disputes that relate to patents and closed out a fight between the two companies... More of this article »
Biggest Surplus in Trade for China in Four Years
In October, China saw its biggest trade surplus in close to four years. That gave the economic recovery in the country one of its biggest boosts of late, but could potentially add fire to the outside criticism of China’s for its... More of this article »
Automaker Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Suzuki announced on Tuesday that it was no longer going to sell cars in the U.S. due to dwindling auto sales. Today it announced it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Japanese automaker will no longer sell cars under... More of this article »
Due to Falling Sales in China, Nissan Lowers Forecast
The annual forecast for profit was cut by Nissan officials by 20%. Nissan said sales in China have been plummeting following the territorial dispute between the second largest economy in the world and Japan. The automaker, based in... More of this article »
Fiat Lowers Earnings Targets Due to European Economy
Fiat announced sharp cuts in performance targets for the next two years. The Italian based automaker said that because of languishing sales throughout the European region, due to austerity measures, up to 33% of the projections for... More of this article »
Profits fall by 83% at Burger King
Burger King has reported its first earnings since it went public again. The company earned just over $6.6 million, but that was down from third quarter earnings of last year that were $38.8 million. Burger King Worldwide, one of the... More of this article »
Economy grows during third quarter
The U.S. economy grew during the third quarter by 2%, which was higher than economists had predicted. The growth was propelled by the rise in consumer spending, an increase in government spending on defense and more home construction. Economists... More of this article »
Record Revenue by Apple still below Wall Street Expectations
Apple on Thursday announced it had record revenue during the third quarter thanks in part to the huge success of its iPhone. However, for the second straight quarter, iPad sales were lower than what had been expected by Wall Street.... More of this article »
Nokia Launches Inexpensive Lumia for Emerging Markets
Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia is attempting to make a comeback. Part of its plan of attacking emerging markets was launched today when it unveiled the new Lumina 510, its most inexpensive smartphone with the Windows operating... More of this article »
Lawsuit Claims Wal-Mart Broke Overtime Laws
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is facing a lawsuit that claims that the world’s biggest retailer and its staffing agencies broke federal minimum wage and overtime laws when it required temporary workers to appear early for work, stay late... More of this article »
Caterpillar Says Sales will Grow Slower in 2013
The largest maker in the world of mining and construction equipment, Caterpillar Inc. has forecasted that sales growth during 2013 would slow down and be less than in the last three years, as a deceleration of the global economy takes... More of this article »
Another Quarterly Loss Posted By Nokia
Nokia, based in Finland, reported on Thursday another quarterly loss. The latest loss for the smartphone maker was its sixth consecutive quarterly loss. The company also announced that its cash reserves had nearly been depleted. This... More of this article »
A123 Systems Files for Chapter 11
A123 Systems, which received a grant of $249 million from the government of the U.S., announced on Tuesday it was filing for bankruptcy protection. The announcement gives Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney yet another reason... More of this article »
Alcoa Warns, Market Opens Down
Stocks on Wall Street opened lower on Wednesday as another round of the quarterly earnings season started with Alcoa warning of slower consumption of aluminum, which underscores the widespread concern over growth worldwide. Other large... More of this article »
California Gas Prices Hit Record Highs
Over the weekend, the price of gasoline in California hit new record highs. The new highs were reached after a surge in prices at the pumps had been propelled by a downfall in inventories in the area to historic lows. The average price... More of this article »
Hewlett Packard Stock Plummets 13%
On Wednesday, shares of Hewlett-Packard fell to a new 10-year low after Meg Whitman the CEO of the tech company warned the turnaround efforts were going to take much longer than originally thought. The tech company has been hit with... More of this article »
Asian and European Manufacturing Contract Yet Again
Asia and Europe’s factory output wilted during September bringing back worries of the return of a recession for the euro zone along with the seventh consecutive quarter of less growth in China. The new data indicated that countries... More of this article »