Archive for July 21st, 2009

So far this earnings season, Wall Street has given all manner of stocks a lift.Strong earnings reports from the strongest of the nation’s big former investment banks turned bank holding companies like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase were welcome news. Troubles at Citigroup and Bank of America were laid bare, but their hurdles were known… »

Sales of videogames have finally taken a hit from the financial crisis, weakened by record-high unemployment, uncertainty about the future and a growing number of Americans swapping credit cards for savings accounts. Game software and hardware sales fell a combined 31% in June compared with last year, according to hot market research firm NPD. That’s… »

In addition to the difficult conditions arising from weak financial markets already impacting the commercial aerospace and defense industry, Boeing faces additional pressures from extended aircraft delivery delays. When Boeing reports second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, the market will be most interested in management’s guidance regarding a new timeline for projects-particularly new delivery dates for its… »

Newspaper readers are disappearing, advertising has dried up and yet McClatchy, the country’s third largest newspaper chain, more than doubled its profits in the second quarter. On Tuesday, the owner of the Miami Herald and Sacramento Bee reported quarterly net income of 42 million, or 50 cents a share, up from 19 million, 24 cents… »

AQR Capital Management’s recently launched AQR Momentum are designed to offer fundamental investors a bit of diversification. Keep looking for shrot term inefficiencies with the bulk of your portfolio but play the efficient markets championed by AQR’s well-known guru Cliff Asness, a long-time intellectual ally of Vanguard founder John Bogle.The momentum trading strategy measures the… »

This quarter will be an interesting one for the U.S. tobacco industry as the market begins to see the impact of new federal taxes, which went into effect on April 1. Altria Group, owner of Philip Morris USA, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, John Middleton, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates and Philip Morris Capital, kicks off the group’s… »

Times have been tough for Northern Trust, which manages money for pensions, endowments and wealthy individuals and performs custodial and trust services. Like other asset managers, the past year’s dive in the markets took away a chunk of business, since it reaps fees based on the size of clients’ portfolios. On top of that, some… »

More than 700 people may have died of swine flu around the world so far, but the virus is good news for GlaxoSmithKline. Investors are hoping the British drugmaker will be able to cash in on the rapidly growing market for swine flu treatments as the virus spreads.Shares of GlaxoSmithKline rose 1.3%, or 15.16 pence… »

The lesson of the Swedish banks is this: diversify, but don’t go so far afield that you take on new, unexpected risks.Soon after the quarterly earnings of their compatriots, SEB and Swedbank were dragged down by loan losses to the Baltic region of Eastern Europe, Nordea and Svenska Handelsbanken surprised with better than expected earnings…. »

When Catherine Monahan of Clink! Wines wrote a letter to the British Prime Minister complaining about the increasing tax on alcohol in May, she was surprised to get a reply just two months later. Signed on behalf of the U.K. Treasury, a government official explained that the government wasn’t raising taxes to try and curb… »