Archives: September 2009

Will The Players Please Take The Field For The Next Round Of M&A

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on September 25

A long long time ago, in May of 2007 when the S&P was 46% higher, there were $461 billion in deals sitting on the 500’s table, including 13 private offers...

Retail: A Flat Holiday Season?

Posted by: Ben Steverman on September 21

For retail companies and their investors, attention is turning to the prospects for the U.S. holiday season. Last year's holiday season arrived just months after an economic meltdown. Consumers panicked...

Corporate M&A war chest: cash & treasury shares

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on September 21

S&P Industrials (old) Cash Increases in short-term investments drove the Cash & Equivalent accounts (cash, short term investments, and securities -> all in the current asset account) to a record...

Cramer Boosts Apple Shares

Posted by: Ben Steverman on September 16

Jim Cramer went on CNBC last night, talked for several minutes in front of two apple-filled wheelbarrows, and created $5 billion in wealth for Apple (AAPL) shareholders. Apple shares were...

Buybacks Down 86% As Companies Hold Tight To Their Security Blanket - Cash

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on September 15

I have just released the S&P 500 second quarter buyback numbers and, shock and dismay, fewer companies did buybacks and those that did spent a lot less. Basically, not many...

One Year Later: Is the Financial Crisis Over?

Posted by: Tara Kalwarski on September 14

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index closed at 1042.73 this past Friday--a level that is only 16.7% below its level one year earlier, on the Friday preceding the collapse of...

Fine: Bloomberg Interested in BusinessWeek

Posted by: Dan Beucke on September 10

Media columnist Jon Fine reports here that Bloomberg LP has entered the bidding process for BusinessWeek. Executives of the media giant and those of the magazine are to meet next...

Has Monsanto Hit Bottom?

Posted by: Ben Steverman on September 10

Monsanto (MON) warned today that it expects to earn just $3.10 to $3.30 per share in fiscal 2010, well below the $4.10 that Wall Street analysts were expecting. The culprit...

2009 Performance: Hedge Funds vs. Mutual Funds

Posted by: Tara Kalwarski on September 09

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index returned 15% year to date through Aug. 31. For the same period, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 10.8%, the Russel 2000 +15.8%,...

Gold Hits a Five-Month High

Posted by: Ben Levisohn on September 02

After months of stagnation, gold is poised for a breakout. The precious metal rose over 22 points to close up 2.3% today, the biggest move since March. Strangely, there seems...

Big Discounts Work for Retailer Jos. A. Bank

Posted by: Ben Steverman on September 02

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers (JOSB) is the poster child for a retailing strategy that really seems to work these days: Sales, discounts and more sales. Visit a Jos. A. Bank...