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Dell Earnings Drop 79% as Sales of PC Continue to Shrink
Dell has been in the middle of a takeover battle between the company’s billionaire founder and activist investor Carl Icahn. The company reported that its profit dropped 79 percent that was attributed to the decline of personal computer... More of this article »
Factory Output and Wholesale Price Add to US Economy Woes
Factory output declined in April as manufacturing activity in New York slowed down. These were seen as signs that the global demand has made an impact on the US economy. The slow growth was also caused by the largest decline in wholesale... More of this article »
Airlines Collect Record Baggage Fees in 2012
US airlines collected at least $6 billion in baggage and reservation change fees from customers in 2012. This was the highest amount since the fees were made common five years ago. The fees have helped the airline industry return to... More of this article »
Electric Carmaker Reports First Quarterly Profit
Tesla the electric carmaker saw its share prices jump by 2.5% on Tuesday to $90 after it had jumped by over 14% on Monday. The stock’s spike in price started during the first week of May when quarterly earnings showed the company... More of this article »
GM Unveils High Tech Data Center
General Motors revealed its state-of-the-art data center located at the company’s Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. GM said it was worth $130 million. The company has plans to open a second one at its Milford, Michigan facility.... More of this article »
JPMorgan Directors against Dividing Dimon’s Role
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s directors asked shareholders to oppose the calls to make Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon to resign from one of his roles as CEO and chairman of the company. The directors said that it could be disruptive... More of this article »
College Debt Bubble Same as the Housing Bubble
The Federal Advisory Council, which is composed of 12 bankers who meet each quarter to advise the Federal Reserve, warned that the growth in student loan debt was similar to the nature of the housing crisis. The group also said that... More of this article »
Oil Options Volatility Increases for Second Straight Day
Crude options volatility increased for the second day in a row as the futures dropped due to higher dollar that decrease the appeal of raw materials available in the US currency. Implied volatility for at-the-money options expiring... More of this article »
Another Round of Errors Made on Checks Issued as Compensation for Homeowners
Three weeks ago, checks released to homeowners as compensation for foreclosure abuses were rejected because of insufficient funds. This week, the consulting firm made another error with the checks once again. The amounts written on... More of this article »
Google Facing Increased Pressure From Competitors (NASDAQ: GOOG)
Search is estimated to be a $22 billion industry and is often considered the most lucrative and influential of online businesses. Now the industry is undergoing some changes. Instead of just pointing users in the right direction, the... More of this article »
McDonald’s Sales Drop Due to Avian Flu Scare
McDonald’s sales at restaurants open more than a year dropped in April, a month after the largest burger chain in the world said its sales dropped 1 percent in the first quarter. The company attributed the 0.6 percent fall to the... More of this article »
Job Openings Fall from Highest Level in Five Years
Job openings in the United States dropped in March from the highest level in almost five years. This was a sign that employers were waiting to see how the economy performs as the federal spending cuts take effect. The number of positions... More of this article »
Procter & Gamble Revises Profit Forecast Downward (NYSE:PG)
Procter & Gamble Co said that profit would fall more than anticipated in the next quarter. P&G said profit should decrease to $0.69 to $0.77 per share for the current fourth quarter ending in June. Analysts expected the company... More of this article »
HSBC Reports Profits of $8.4 Billion
More quarterly results were announced on Monday and one of those was for HSBC. The bank reported it had its best quarter result in many years, as Britain’s largest bank had profits increase to $8.4 billion, which was close to a... More of this article »
Caterpillar to Cut 300 Workers By July
Equipment maker Caterpillar announced Friday that it will lay off 300 more employees in Decatur, Illinois by July. The company said April that it planned to cut around 500 employees at the said facility. The 800 layoffs are around... More of this article »
Middle East Economy Recovering
The Global Economic Conditions Survey gauges finance professionals views around the globe and has revealed that topping the list of business confidence worldwide during the first three months of 2013 was the Middle East. The survey... More of this article »
Taco Bell to Roll Out Low Price Menu
Taco Bell officials said that the fast food chain is set to launch a new $1 Cravings menu that would provide value offerings at lower prices. The chain started testing its new value offerings earlier this year and has changed the menu... More of this article »
Kraft Foods Reports Earnings and Revenue Above Forecasts
Kraft Foods Group released its earnings and revenue report Thursday that showed results that exceeded analysts’ forecasts. The food company’s shares increased after the release of the report. Its earnings excluded items were 76... More of this article »
New Job Hires Reached 165,000 in April
The U.S. jobs market rebounded sharply in April with 165,000 new jobs, while the unemployment rate fell to 7.5%, its lowest rate in over five years, said the Labor Department on Friday. The jobs figure for April exceeded expectations... More of this article »
Home Prices Climb the Most in 20 Cities
Residential real estate prices went up in February the most since May 2006. This is an indicator that the housing market in the United States is improving. The S&P/Case-Shiller Index of property values in 20 cities increased 9.3... More of this article »
Premium Income Drop Hurts Hartford Financial Profits
Hartford Financial Services Group reported a quarterly profit that was above analysts’ expectations. It was helped by higher underwriting margins but was dragged by the slight drop of premium income in its property and casualty business. Hartford... More of this article »
Ford’s Results Boosted By North American Sales (NYSE:F)
The Ford Motor Company reported that its net income improved 15 percent in the first quarter, rising to $1.6 billion. Overall revenue increased by 10 percent in the quarter, reaching $35.8 billion. Alan R. Mulally, Ford’s chief executive,... More of this article »
Burger King Reports 1st Quarter Profits
Burger King Worldwide reported its first quarter profit more than doubled. The company attributed it to less expense that helped offset the negative sales in same-stores and lower revenue. It went public in June of 2012 after it was... More of this article »
GrainCorp Agrees to $3 Billion Takeover Offer from ADM
GrainCorp, which is the biggest crop handler in eastern Australia, agreed to the $3 Billion takeover offer from Archer Daniels Midland. This brought GrainCorp shares to reach record level in Sydney Friday. The latest offer was the... More of this article »
T-Mobile Attracts Customers With Contract Free iPhones (PINK:DTEGY)
In an attempt to gain ground on its competitors, T-Mobile started selling the iPhone to its customers without asking customers to sign-up for long-term service contracts. The new marketing strategy spreads the cost of the device over... More of this article »
Exxon Mobil Reports Flat Profit for 1st Quarter
Exxon Mobil released its earnings report Thursday that showed flat profit for the first quarter. It got strong earnings on its chemical business that offset the declines in production, exploration, marketing and refining. Exxon, which... More of this article »
Complaints Continue To Pile Up Against Google in Europe (NASDAQ: GOOG)
In Europe, antitrust regulators have received a formal complaint about Google’s Android operating system for mobile devices. Fairsearch Europe, a group of Google’s competitors, filed the complaint against the Android operating... More of this article »
Demand for Durable Goods Down in March
It looked like manufacturing in the United States cooled at the end of the first quarter. One of the most recent indicators is the slump of the demand for durable goods in March. It went down the most in seven months. Orders for merchandise... More of this article »
Home Sales Drop due to Low Supply
Existing home sales dropped last month and this could indicate that recovery in sales has reached a lull that can only be resolved by higher prices. Total existing home sales declined 0.6 percent in March from February to a seasonally... More of this article »
Boeing 787 Battery Risks Were Underestimated (NYSE:BA)
Boeing acknowledged that tests of the lithium-ion batteries on its 787 planes underestimated the risks of fire. Mike Sinnett, Boeing’s chief engineer on the 787, revealed that the calculation that a battery would fail only once every... More of this article »
Optimism Surrounds the Opening of High Point Market
The High Point Market opened April 19 as officials hope that the housing market recovery would result to high demand for furniture and give the market a sustainable economy. The High Point Market is the world’s largest trade show... More of this article »
Antitrust Beer Deal Will Expand Corona’s Global Presence
Anheuser-Busch InBev said that its deal with the antitrust regulators in the United States will expand the global presence of Mexican beers. The settlement between the beer company and the Department of Justice calls for the sale of... More of this article »
IBM Shares Drop after Releasing Lower-Than-Estimates Earnings Report
IBM declined in the first quarter due to economic uncertainty and a falloff in the company’s hardware business that dragged its profits and revenue down. In the past, the company’s cost-cutting discipline as well as its shift towards... More of this article »
Intel Profit Drops 25 due to Fall in Chip Sales
Intel, which is the world’s biggest computer chip manufacturer, reported a drop in its quarterly profits Tuesday that reflected the consensus within the personal computer industry. The big chip maker faces several challenges as it... More of this article »
Hybrids reach 5 million mark in sales for Toyota
On Wednesday, Toyota Motors announced it reached the five million sales mark for its autos that are hybrid. The giant automaker from Japan produces the Prius Hybrid and announced that more than 5.125 million of its hybrid vehicles... More of this article »
TurboTax Goes Down as Late Filers Panic
TurboTax, which is one of the most popular tax preparation programs in the United States, temporarily went down and made last minute filers panic. At around 6:40 Sunday night, filers were not able to log in or enter data online for... More of this article »
Yahoo Posts Surprising Profit Increase (NASDAQ: YHOO)
Yahoo’s first-quarter earnings beat analysts’ expectations. Net income in the first quarter increased 36 percent to $390 million, or 35 cents a share, from the same quarter a year ago. Wall Street analysts had expected net income... More of this article »
Fed Downplays Risk of US Inflation
Federal Reserve policymakers stated that there are no indications that their aggressive measures to improve the US economy would lead to inflation in the future. It is a clear sign that they will continue the stimulus action to boost... More of this article »
US Postal Service Advices Taxpayers to File on Time
US Postal Service stations will not extend their counter hours or collection times on Monday, which is the Internal Revenue Service’s income tax deadline. Income tax filers must sent in their forms by the last collection times as... More of this article »
Retail Sales Drop in March
The US Census Bureau released the nominal read of retail sales showed a drop of 0.4 percent in March compared to February. Despite the decline, the reading was still an increase of 2.8 percent on a year-over-year basis on an aggregate... More of this article »
Japan Warned by U.S. over Currency Valuation
The U.S. Department of Treasury has said that valuation currency policy must be geared toward growth instead of giving a country a competitive advantage. The Obama administration this week used new and harsh language in warning Japan... More of this article »
Obama Stresses the Need to Revive the Economy with Bankers
President Barack Obama met with the world’s most powerful bankers Thursday. He stressed to them the need to revive the economy and overhaul the fiscal and immigration policies. The ongoing reform of Wall Street was not part of the... More of this article »
Microsoft Begins Releasing Transparency Reports (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Microsoft has published reports of recent requests for data made by government law enforcement agencies. They are joining companies like Google and Twitter that publish these reports to provide transparency to their millions of customers.... More of this article »
American Airlines Plans to Expand LAX Service
It looks like American Airlines is not affected by its parent company’s bankruptcy. The airline just announced its plans to expand to eight new destinations out of the Los Angeles International Airport. The airline wants to attract... More of this article »
Caribou Coffee to Close Down Shops in Chicago
Caribou Coffee is going out of Illinois and Peet’s Coffee & Tea will gain some ground in Chicago. Caribou became private this year as a result of a $340 million deal with Joh. A. Benckiser. It announced that it will shut down... More of this article »
US Small Businesses Slash Borrowing for 2nd Month in a Row
Small businesses in the United States cut their borrowing in February for the second month in a row. This is an indicator of slower growth in the next couple of months even as other economic reports showed recovery picked up in the... More of this article »
GE Purchasing Lufkin as CEO Increases Energy bet
On Monday, General Electric agreed to purchase Lufkin Industries, Inc. for $3.3 billion, adding technologies for the gas and oil industry as Jeffrey Immelt, the GE CEO increases his bet on energy. Shareholders of Lufkin will be paid... More of this article »
US Shale Boom to Burst Soon
Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller dismissed the current energy boom in the United States as a soap bubble that is going to burst soon. He said that the US is not a competitor of his company. He added that there are no projects that would make... More of this article »