Archives: October 2009

Earnings and Sales Continue Ahead of Expectation – Everything is Beautiful

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on October 23

With over half of the S&P 500 earnings reported(report)the numbers are coming in ahead of expectation, which considering two thirds of the issues historically beat their estimates, doesn’t say that...

Should Bond Powerhouse Pimco Jump into Stocks?

Posted by: Lauren Young on October 19

News reports from Bloomberg and Pensions & Investments say that fixed-income giant Pacific Investment Management Co. is considering a move into equity investing. Pimco may hire an existing management team...

Pfizer Loses Its Triple-A Credit Rating

Posted by: Ben Steverman on October 16

The Triple-A credit rating is disappearing before our eyes. On Oct. 16, Standard & Poor's yanked drug maker Pfizer's (PFE) AAA-rating, the best rating the agency can give out to...

Things are looking up for Cerberus Capital Management

Posted by: Emily Thornton on October 15

Things are looking up for Cerberus: After being dogged by investor jitters and false rumors that its hedge fund was about to default, Cerberus Capital Management is taking several of...

Dow 10K: Why One Pro Thinks It’s Important

Posted by: Ben Levisohn on October 14

The Dow Jones Industrial average closed above 10,000 today for the first time since October 2008. After having watched the blue-chip benchmark cross the magical five-digit figure numerous times in...

Women with Kids Cut Spending Most During Recession

Posted by: Lauren Young on October 14

Women with children are feeling the impact of the economic downturn most profoundly, according to a new survey. “Women with children are tightening their purse strings and protecting their lairs,”...

Gold Price Spikes As Investors Focus on Hard Assets

Posted by: Karyn McCormack on October 09

by David Bogoslaw Hard assets. That's what more investors are talking about and putting money into these days. Look at the price of gold this week, surging to an all-time...

What's a More Typical 401(k) Balance: $12K or $86K?

Posted by: Lauren Young on October 08

Several readers asked how is it possible that the typical U.S. worker had an average balance of $86,513 in their 401(k) account at the end of 2008, based on data...

Costco: Early Sign -- or Exception?

Posted by: Ben Steverman on October 07

Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) posted impressive results this morning. My question is what sales and profits at the warehouse retailer say about retail more broadly. Costco posted earnings of 85...

Typical U.S. Worker Saw 401(k) Lose 24.3% in 2008

Posted by: Lauren Young on October 06

Maybe it wasn't so bad after all. U.S. workers suffered a 24.3% average loss in their 401(k) accounts in 2008, according to a new study from the Employee Benefits Research...

Apple iPhone: Can it Leap from Consumer to Corporate?

Posted by: Lauren Young on October 02

Will Corporate America take the next big bite into Apple's (AAPL) iPhone? Maynard Um, a UBS tech analyst, upgraded Apple from neutral to buy on Oct. 2. Um's new price...

GE Said to Entertain Offers for NBC

Posted by: Dan Beucke on October 01

Ron Grover posts the following over on BW’s On Media blog: After months of denying it’s for sale, General Electric seems to be entertaining offers for its NBC Universal unit....