It’s what many economists have been warning about for a while, and now besides just a slowing in the economy, rising jobless numbers and sluggish consumer spending, there is fear that the Fed may begin backing off its bond buying program. Keeping the markets liquid cannot last forever, and any hint of a Fed slowdown might send investors panicking. Read more about it at Fox … [ Read more ]
JCPenney Losses Greater Than Expected
JCPenney is reporting greater than expected losses for 1Q, this as cash reserves shrink even as the company taps some of its credit lines. The sacking of CEO Ron Johnson doesn’t seem to have changed anything, and even the court victory for Penney and Martha Stewart hasn’t helped to turn the company around. Read more about the continuing slide at Penney at Fox Business News. … [ Read more ]
EU Investigates Possible Oil Price Fix
BP, Shell, and Statoil are just some of the big oil companies now being investigated by the EU for possibly rigging oil prices. The European Commission says anti-trust officials have already carried out surprise inspections over what might have been attempts to manipulate the price of oil. Read more about the ongoing investigation at CNN Business News.
DOD Reduces Total Furlough Days
The Defense Department announces that it will reduce the number of furlough days for its employees from 14 to 11. That still means a 20 percent cut in pay, one day per week, starting July 8 and going until Sept. 30. The Pentagon is required to cut spending by as much as $40 billion by the end of September. Furloughs will account for $1.8 billion … [ Read more ]
HTC Phone Proves a Failure
If discounting the price of a smartphone to 99 cents doesn’t mean it was a failure, the nothing does. The HTC First, otherwise known as the Facebook Phone, has been discounted to just 99 cents only one month after its debut. For Facebook, it first foray into the cell phone industry has turned out to be a flop. Read more about it at Fox Business … [ Read more ]
United Continental to Relaunch Boeing 787
United Continental says it is ready to relaunch its 787 flights, this after Boring fixed the ion-battery issue. The first scheduled flight is as early as May 20 as the company moves to make the necessary changes as per FAA policy. “Our customers responded extremely well when we introduced the 787, and we know they’ll welcome it back,” said United Chief Operations Officer Pete McDonald. … [ Read more ]
Bloomberg Apologizes to Clients for Snooping
The chief of Bloomberg news is apologizing to its customers for reporters at the firm snooping into their restricted data. News has broken that reporters at the company did indeed gain access to otherwise confidential information. “Our reporters should not have access to any data considered proprietary. I am sorry they did. The error is inexcusable,” says Matthew Winkler, editor in chief. Read more about … [ Read more ]
Average Investors Buying into Apple Dips
TD Ameritrade, the retail stock brokerage firm, says that recent decline in Apple share value is leading to many individual investors to buy into the stock over the last month. In fact, the online investment site that it now has a record number of clients invested in the company, making it the second most held stock to GE. Read more about this at CNN Business … [ Read more ]
Billionaire Falcone Agrees to Ban
Hedge-fund billionaire Phil Falcone has agreed to an SEC ban in the case of fraud against him. The SEC charges that Falcone and his firm, Harbinger Capital Partners, manipulated bond prices and played favorites with certain clients. The SEC also charges that Falcone borrowed as much as $132 million from his own company to pay his taxes. Read more about this at CNN Business News.
How High Can Stocks Really Rise?
Can the markets really just keep going up and up? Warren Buffett says he thinks they will rise substantially in the next two years. Some investors agree, others warn that a big drop is coming. So which way do you lean? Come see what some Wall Street analysts have to say about the fortunes of the market moving forward at Businessweek.com.
