Dell Weighs On Tech
Dell reported earnings after the close last night and investors appear not to have liked what they heard. While revenue was up 8.5% and net income 27%, gross margins were a bit below where analysts expected them, US Consumer PC…
Uncle Ben Is “Nimble” And “Flexible”
“Economic forecasting is always difficult, but the current stresses in financial markets make the uncertainty surrounding the outlook even greater than usual. We at the Federal Reserve will have to remain exceptionally alert and flexible as we continue to assess…
Markets Consolidate Gains, Wait On Fed
“Now the market smells a move by the Fed in two weeks.” – Jim Swanson, Chief Investment Strategist, MFS Investment Management. Quoted in “Fed’s Hints of a Rate Cut Cheer Markets” (subscription required). Today was actually a pretty positive day…
“Nimble” = Good, “Lumpy” = Bad
“It’s more of a technical correction of oversold conditions. There’s no fundamental reason that today should [bring a] rally.” – Tom Higgins (subscription required), Chief Economist, Payden & Rygel In a speech this morning, Fed Governor Donald Kohn said the Fed…
Up, Down And All Around – Wall Street Does Its Thing
Markets were down big yesterday on news that HSBC was taking $45 billion worth of mortgage backed securities from some of its SIVs onto its balance sheet and speculation that other banks, like Citigroup, might have to do the same….
Citi Sells Stake To Abu Dhabi
Citigroup (C) just announced that they are selling a $7.5 billion stake to the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi, one of the United Arab Emirates. The stake is in the form of equity units which are “mandatorily convertible” into…
Another Wild One On Wall Street
Stocks were up in the morning on the strong report and forecast from Hewlett Packard (HPQ). But they started to sell off in the afternoon as investors digested Freddie Mac’s (FRE) report of a $2 billion loss for the 3rd…
Goldman Downgrades Citi To Sell; Lowe’s Reports Weak Quarter
Goldman Sachs analyst William Tanona this morning downgraded Citigroup (C) to “Sell” and suggested they might have to cut their dividend to raise capital. He also cut his price target on a number of other financial companies including Merrill Lynch,…
More Weak Earnings Reports And Forecasts; Starbucks US Customer Transactions Decline
Starbucks (SBUX) US same store customer transactions decreased by 1% in the just completed quarter, the first time that measure has been negative since Starbucks started reporting it three years ago. Their 4% same store sales increase in the US…
Weak Earnings and Forecasts Weigh on Stocks
“As we look forward to the fourth quarter, we are doing so with a heightened sense of caution due to our belief that the overall macro environment is having a greater impact on retail traffic than we previously anticipated.” –…