Home Depot Forecasts Trouble in 2008; Apple Becomes No. 2 Music Retailer; Consumer Confidence Plummets; U.S. Banks Set Aside Record Amounts for Loan Losses; Target Reports Drop in Profit; IBM Soars on Planned Buyback; Starbucks Shutdown; RadioShack Delivers Net earnings fell to $671 million, down 27% from $925 million, and sales rose a meager 1.5% […]
Archives for February 2008
February 2008 - Page 3 of 15 - Money Morning - Only the News You Can Profit From
Home Prices Fall Record Rate in 2007
By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor An oversupply of homes, sharp rise in foreclosures, and stricter credit regulations caused home prices to fall 8.9% in 2007, the largest ever year-over-year decline in the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index. Some metropolitan areas were whacked with double-digit devaluations. Home prices fell 17.5% in Miami, 15.3% in Las […]
Yum! Shares Rise on UBS Upgrade
From Staff Reports Shares of Yum! Brands Inc. (YUM) gained 4.25% yesterday (Monday) after UBS AG (UBS) raised its rating to "Buy" from "Neutral." The Kentucky-based Yum!, which owns such well-known brands as KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, has been doing very well in overseas markets, particularly China. And it has been on a […]
Midday Market Update: IBM Leads the Charge as Stocks Rally
By Jennifer Yousfi Managing Editor Markets rallied for a third day despite a host of weak economic data that signaled a slowing U.S. economy. "All this bad news should be adding up to a triple-digit loss for the Dow, but there is already a lot of bad news priced into the market, and you get […]
Two Ways to Cash in on the Commodity Craze
By Martin Hutchinson Contributing Editor When Brazilian iron ore producer Vale (RIO) [formerly Companhia Vale do Rio Doce] induced its Asian steelmaking customers to agree to a 67% price increase for the iron ore it supplies, it demonstrated a key challenge companies face in today’s inflationary markets: It’s nearly impossible to control the cost of […]
S&P Affirms Triple-A Ratings Sending Stocks Soaring
By Jennifer Yousfi Managing Editor News that Standard & Poor’s had decided to maintain AAA ratings for both MBIA Inc. (MBI) and Ambac Financial Group Inc. (ABK) sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average up almost 200 points by New York’s close yesterday (Monday). “It was taking MBIA and Ambac off credit watch by S&P – […]
Here’s Why the Steroid Stimulus Today Can Only Lead to Inflationary Pains Tomorrow
By Peter D. Schiff Guest Columnist In perhaps one of biggest ironies to ever to come out of Washington, Congress recently pilloried major league baseball players for using artificial stimulants to pump up their performance while at the same time passing legislation to do the very same thing to the U.S. economy. Am I the […]
Global Investing Roundups
P&G Seeks Productivity Boost; EA Spurned by Take-Two; Inflation Hits 26-Year High in Singapore; Lowe’s Posts Lower Earnings; Getty Images $2.4 Billion Buyout Sealed; Sieman’s Cuts Telecom Jobs; Google Still Web Search Leader; Brazil Offers Argentina A Light The Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) announced yesterday (Monday) that it would reduce 15% of its management […]
Visa IPO Could be the Biggest in U.S. History
By Jason Simpkins Associate Editor Visa Inc. (V), the world’s largest payment-card network, expects to raise $17 billion in what may be the largest initial public stock offering (IPO) in U.S. history. Underwriters of the deal will have the opportunity to sell an additional 40.6 million shares, which would push the total value of the […]
Midday Market Update: Better than Expected Housing Data Boosts Markets
By Jennifer Yousfi Managing Editor Data from the National Association of Realtors offered hope that the housing slump might be stabilizing and helped the markets reverse losses in early-morning trading. “We all know that real estate is mired in recession and it's probably going to stay there for awhile, but other sectors are not, and […]