Archives: July 2009

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on July 31, Categories: weekend

Second-Quarter GDP: Not So Bad The U.S. economy contracted at a slower place than expected in the second quarter. The Commerce Dept says the annual rate of decline was...

"Cash for Clunkers" Scheme Maxed Out

Posted by: Mark Scott on July 31, Categories: early

The U.S. government's $1 billion "cash for clunkers" car sales incentive program has unexpectedly reached its funding limit after an avalanche of business exhausted the funds, according to the...

Jobless Claims Drifting Lower

Posted by: Harry Maurer on July 30, Categories: late

The great layoff tsunami in the U.S. appears to be easing, as initial claims for unemployment benefits in the week ended July 25 stayed below the levels of late...

Obama: I'm Not Antibusiness

Posted by: Andy Reinhardt on July 30, Categories: early

In a July 27 interview with BusinessWeek in the Oval Office, President Barack Obama reflected on his first six months in office and discussed his evolving relationship with business...

Yahoo-Microsoft Deal May Draw Regulatory Scrutiny

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on July 29, Categories: late

The Internet search partnership deal that Yahoo and Microsoft unveiled today will likely face intense anti-trust scrutiny. Under the terms of the agreement, Yahoo will start using Microsoft’s new...

Global Automakers Suffer, but Recovery in Sight

Posted by: Mark Scott on July 29, Categories: early

Results from the world's leading automakers on July 29 painted a depressing short-term picture for the struggling industry. But signs that a recovery is near are bubbling to the...

Healthier Housing, Gloomier Consumers

Posted by: Harry Maurer on July 28, Categories: late

U.S. housing prices in May posted their first monthly gain in three years, with the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index rising 0.5% from April. The index was down 17.1% from May...

U.S. Moots New Transparency Rules for Short-Sellers

Posted by: Andy Reinhardt on July 28, Categories: early

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced a pair of measures on July 27 intended to quell concerns that speculators are driving down share prices through improper short selling. The...

New-Home Sales Surge

Posted by: Harry Maurer on July 27, Categories: late

Sales of new homes in the U.S. jumped by 11% in June over the month before, to their highest rate this year. The surprising number gave more weight to...

Bernanke: U.S. Unemployment Will Remain High

Posted by: Mark Scott on July 27, Categories: early

The U.S. jobless rate will stay high even when the country's economy recovers from recession some time in the next few months, according to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke....

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on July 24, Categories: weekend

Buffett: C’mon In, the Water’s Fine In an interview on CNBC, the Sage of Omaha said it’s a good time to buy stocks even with the Dow at 9000....

Microsoft Quarterly Net Income Plunges 29%

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on July 24, Categories: early

After a string of sunny earnings from Apple, Intel, and other tech companies, Microsoft's dreary fiscal fourth-quarter results reported July 23 threaten the rising sense of optimism that a...

Ford's Surprising Quarter

Posted by: Harry Maurer on July 23, Categories: late

”Ford delivered a very solid quarter, and our transformation plan remains well on track,” crowed the company’s CFO, Lewis Booth, in announcing that Ford earned a surprising $2.3 billion...

Wiedeking Leaves Porsche to Pave Way for Volkswagen

Posted by: Ian Rowley on July 23, Categories: early

Porsche Chief Executive Officer Wendelin Wiedeking will step down after 16 years, paving the way for a merger between the 911 sports-car maker and Volkswagen. Wiedeking, 56, as well...

A Smaller Drop for Home Prices

Posted by: Harry Maurer on July 22, Categories: late

Yet another sign of incipient recovery in the U.S.: Home prices in May showed the smallest decline in 10 months, said the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Prices dropped 5.6%...

Apple Defies Recession

Posted by: Moon Ihlwan on July 22, Categories: early

Apple not only beat analysts' consensus sales and profit estimates for its fiscal third quarter ended June 27, but it reported its second-best results ever on July 21 for...

Bernanke's Exit Strategy

Posted by: Harry Maurer on July 21, Categories: late

In testimony before Congress, the Fed chief laid out a strategy by which the Fed will soak up the unprecedented liquidity in the U.S. financial system. He said he’ll...

Apple: Augur of Recovery?

Posted by: Dexter Roberts on July 21, Categories: early

Apple's (AAPL) fiscal third-quarter earnings report, due after markets close on July 22, will likely surpass Wall Street analysts' expectations, advancing the argument made by chipmaker Intel (INTC) this...

U.S. Taxpayers Potentially on the Hook for $24 Trillion

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on July 20, Categories: late

Add it all up and the cost of the U.S. financial rescue may reach $23.7 trillion, according to a report released on July 20. The eye-popping figure is found...

CIT Negotiates Lifeline, But Lender Still Remains Unstable

Posted by: Mehul Srivastava on July 20, Categories: early

After a frantic weekend of negotiations, CIT, the lender to over a million small and medium businesses, won itself more breathing time with an emergency $3 billion loan. If...

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on July 17, Categories: weekend

Mixed Results for Tech This week saw a slew of earnings report from tech industry bellwethers, but the numbers revealed no clear trends. On July 14, Intel reported second-quarter...

IBM's Blowout Quarter Lifts Tech Sentiment

Posted by: Andy Reinhardt on July 17, Categories: early

Adding to the momentum provided July 14 by better than expected revenues and earnings from bellwether chipmaker Intel, computing and services giant IBM reported on July 16 a 12%...

Investmeant Banking Lifts JP Morgan Profits

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on July 16, Categories: late

JPMorgan Chase today reported that profits rose in the second quarter for the first time since 2007. Earnings at the second-largest U.S. bank climbed to $2.7 billion, up from...

Deals Loom in Tumultuous German Auto Industry

Posted by: Andy Reinhardt on July 16, Categories: early

Even as news reports suggest that Belgian holding company RHJ International is closing in on a deal to acquire GM Europe's Opel and Vauxhall units, the German government—which earlier...

U.S. Stocks Soar on Intel, Bank News

Posted by: Justin Bachman on July 15, Categories: late

Optimism from Intel Corp.’s latest earnings and positive data on credit card delinquencies sent U.S. share prices surging on July 15, with the Dow Jones and Nasdaq indices each...

China's Foreign Reserves Exceed $2 Trillion

Posted by: Mark Scott on July 15, Categories: early

China's foreign exchange reserves now stand at over $2 trillion due to a sharp accumulation of funds in the second quarter. The People's Bank of China, the country's central...

Goldman Sachs Turns in a Boffo 2Q Profit

Posted by: Justin Bachman on July 14, Categories: late

Goldman Sachs Group demolished quarterly profit expectations with a $3.44 billion net income and sales of $13.8 billion. On a per-share basis, Goldman earned $4.93 a share, surpassing the...

Changing of the Guards in Obama Auto Advisors

Posted by: Andy Reinhardt on July 14, Categories: early

President Obama's chief auto industry advisor, Steven Rattner, who won praise for his deft handling of the restructurings of Chrysler and General Motors, is leaving the post as controversy...

Washington Weighs Rescue for CIT

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on July 13, Categories: late

The value of CIT Group’s bonds plunged on July 13, as the struggling lender tried to convince customers, investors, and regulators that it can work its way out of...

U.S. Authorities & UBS Seek Settlement in Major Tax Case

Posted by: Mark Scott on July 13, Categories: early

Swiss financial giant UBS and the U.S. government are seeking to delay a major U.S. tax trial set to start on July 13 so they can find a negotiated...

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on July 10, Categories: weekend

GM Exits Bankruptcy General Motors emerged from bankruptcy on July 10, after a just a 40-day stint under court protection. The new GM, which is 60.8% owned by the...

Citigroup Reshuffles Top Management

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on July 09, Categories: late

In an unexpected move, Citigroup reshuffled its top management, swapping out its CFO for the second time in four months. According to a July 9 statement put out by...

China’s Car Sales Jump 48%

Posted by: Moon Ihlwan on July 09, Categories: early

China’s passenger-vehicle sales jumped 48% in June, the biggest increase since February 2006, as government stimulus spending helped the country surpass the U.S. as the world’s largest auto market...

Investors Seek Haven of Treasuries

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on July 08, Categories: late

Jittery investors sought refuge in U.S. Treasuries on Wednesday, as evidenced by strong demand at today’s $19 billion auction of 10-year notes. The auction attracted the most demand from...

Google to Launch NetBook OS, Encroaching Further Into Microsoft Territory

Posted by: Mehul Srivastava on July 08, Categories: early

Stepping up its inroads into Microsoft’s territory, Google announced that it plans to release an operating system for PC’s, a market that Microsoft has dominated for almost two decades....

Boeing Buys Insurance Against More Dreamliner Delays

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on July 07, Categories: late

Frustrated with repeated delays on its 787 Dreamliner jet, Boeing announced on July 7 that it will spend $580 million to purchase a South Carolina plant run by Vought...

California Closer to Junk Status

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on July 07, Categories: early

With talks between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers at an impasse, California’s budget crisis took a new turn for the worse yesterday when Fitch’s downgraded the state’s bond rating...

Wall Street Shrugs Off Positive Services Report

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on July 06, Categories: late

Investors took no comfort from a July 6 report from the Institute for Supply Management showing that U.S. industries shrank at their slowest pace in nine months in June....

What to Expect from Obama’s Russia Trip

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on July 06, Categories: early

In Moscow for a highly anticipated summit starting today, President Obama will find a U.S.-Russia business relationship that has barely taken off despite exceedingly hopeful beginnings 17 years ago...

U.S. Unemployment Hits 9.5%

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on July 02, Categories: late

The U.S. unemployment rate rose to a 26-year high of 9.5% last month, according to a Labor Dept. report released on July 2. Employers cut a larger-than-anticipated 467,000 jobs,...

Auto Sales: Less Bad

Posted by: Andy Reinhardt on July 02, Categories: early

June car sales stabilized somewhat in the U.S. But the pain was spread unevenly among carmakers and types of vehicles, as fears of gas price increases continued to slaughter...

Manufacturing Reports Lift Stocks

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on July 01, Categories: late

Investors took heart from new data that seems to show that manufacturing sectors in the U.S., China and elsewhere have seen the worst of the crisis. The Institute for...

U.S. Auto Sales Fell 30% in June

Posted by: Mark Scott on July 01, Categories: early

Major U.S. automakers will report the highest sales rate of 2009 when they post results for June. Deep discounts in recent months are expected to limit industry-wide sales to...