Archives: February 2008

Hide Away in Brazil or India

Posted by: Ben Steverman on February 26

There's a big debate about how much the U.S.'s obvious economic difficulties are spreading to the rest of the globe. Where in the world can an investor hide from the...

IBM and buybacks

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on February 26

IBM announced it expects to spend $12 billion on buybacks this year. While that is one of the largest announcements, it is an authorization to buy, not a buy. That...

The Housing Theory of Everything

Posted by: Ben Steverman on February 25

The stock market reacted strongly to new numbers on existing home sales on Feb. 25. That reaction caught my attention, because it seemed bizarrely out of proportion to some flimsy,...

Good news, Q4 EPS is almost over; bad news, Q1 starts soon

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on February 22

American International Group (AIG) announced that they will release their 10K, which will include their Q4 EPS, after the close of business Thursday, February 28th and then have their earnings...

Economic Indicator: Camp

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on February 16

Then, the summer of 2002 My children are six and eight and have been in the summer day camp mode for two years now. That means that every morning at...

Housing and Cherry Blossoms

Posted by: Ben Steverman on February 15

Two quick notes to end the week: 1. Deutsche Bank (DB) has an interesting note out on home prices in the U.S. After an exhaustive analysis of 100 metropolitan areas...

Have We Had Enough Chipotle?

Posted by: Ben Steverman on February 15

On Friday, Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) reported earnings. Though they barely missed analysts' estimates, investors were clearly displeased, especially at first. At one point on Feb. 15, Chipotle's stock had...

Some rebound in Emerging Markets

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on February 15

There has been some rebound in the Emerging Markets with 21 of the 26 showing a February-to-date gain. Data is based on S&P/Citigroup Global Equity Indices Click for details and...

Valentines Day note

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on February 13

Historically, as defined by the S&P 500, 51.9% of the trading days are up and 46.2% are down. For Valentine's days it is different. On February 14th the market has...

Volatility

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on February 12

It only feels volatile if you're not an octogenarian: YTD 7 trading days have been up at least 1% and 10 down at least 1%. That ranks third (7+10 /...

Buffett bond insurer plan leaves the gun, takes the cannolis

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on February 12

Warren Buffett's offer to take over insurance coverage of $800 billion of muni bonds from the troubled "big three" insurers is no rescue plan for them -- it's a death...

Lots Of Money

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on February 08

Lots of money being spent. The stimulus program will be in excess of $160 billion, the proposed 2009 Federal budget is $3.1 trillion, which is $410 billion more than it...

How MicroHoo can avoid the fate of AOL-Time Warner

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on February 08

One thing was certain on almost every story I covered in the late 1990s as the Internet policy reporter for Reuters in Washington D.C. No matter what the controversy, the...

Cheer Up, Economy!

Posted by: Ben Steverman on February 04

Feeling depressed about the economy? Let's latch onto some reasons to be optimistic, courtesy of Marc Chandler of Brown Brothers Harriman: "There is no doubt that the U.S. economy has...

Bank Stock Euphoria?

Posted by: Ben Steverman on February 04

Stifel Nicolaus SF analyst Christopher Mutascio warns that bank stocks may be getting ahead of themselves. The analyst of regional banks said Feb. 4 that the banking industry has seen...

A Rockier Road for Muni Money Market Funds

Posted by: Lauren Young on February 01

Standard & Poor's just announced that that it has changed the fund credit quality ratings on the Van Kampen California Insured Tax Free Fund and the Van Kampen Insured Tax...