Comments »NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — One week after cutting 2,000 employees — about 14% of Yahoo’s workforce — CEO Scott Thompson unveiled an internal overhaul aimed at streamlining the sprawling Internet portal.
“I want every one of us to keep one thing top of mind: what we do is about our customers, not about us,” Thompson wrote in a staff memo obtained by CNN.
Yahoo’s main focus will be its consumer business group, an umbrella for its vast network of news, e-commerce and social sites.
Within the consumer unit, Yahoo’s media group will house its “marquee” online brands, including its Yahoo.com homepage and its news, finance, sports and entertainment sites. That group will be led by Ross Levinsohn, formerly Yahoo’s executive vice president of the Americas region.
A “connections” unit, helmed by former Yahoo search head Shashi Seth, will run Yahoo’s search and social sites, including Mail, Messenger and Flickr.
A newly created “commerce” team will oversee Yahoo’s autos, shopping, travel, jobs and real estate sites. Yahoo hasn’t yet appointed a leader for that group, but AllThingsD reports that it’s likely to be Sam Shrauger. A former top executive at PayPal — the eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500) unit Thompson led before leaving in January for the top job at Yahoo — Shrauger resigned yesterday after eight years with the company.
Monthly Archives: April 2012
U.S., China, and a mutual distrust
Comments »(CNN) — The United States and China have the most important bilateral relationship in the world. Whether they can develop a constructive, cooperative relationship or whether they become each others’ greatest nightmare has enormous consequences for each country and for the capacity of the international system to manage regional and global issues.
Both leaderships recognize what is at stake, which explains why, despite many disagreements, Washington and Beijing constantly stress the importance of building ties. The two governments conduct more than 60 formal dialogues a year and engage each other daily, to a far greater extent than most people realize.
Despite these efforts, each country has an underlying and growing distrust of the other’s long-term intentions. Such distrust is corrosive, casting even well-intentioned actions and initiatives in a negative light.
When President Nixon opened the door to Beijing 40 years ago, nobody imagined that U.S.-China relations would develop to this point. But extensive governmental contacts between the nations, economic interdependence and huge flows of students and tourists back and forth have failed to stem the growth of underlying mutual distrust. That distrust could well create a self-fulfilling prophecy of eventual confrontation.
A key problem is that neither government is confident that it understands how the other sees the future of their relationship. Although each side senses distrust in the other, the real reasons for that attitude are unclear. So, how do they separate propaganda efforts designed to manipulate from sincere concerns?
The Bears Spank the Bulls Silly; Will a Cocaine Rally Turn Into a Death Angel Crash ?
Today marks the largest down day in a while while topping off the longest down streak for the major averages in 6 months.
The 50 day moving average has been broken with vigor.
Look for a turn around shortly; if we are still in a bull run we should bounce. If not pay close attention to 1341 S&P as this is where we bounced from our last major sell off.
An interesting note today was that despite the meltdown that started in Europe and ended up across the pond for today’s trade; the Euro has not tanked. We shall see in the next few days if the Euro is a key to over panicking markets or if it’s going to play catch up. A crucial level is 1.29 for the Euro.
Historical averages have seen a 9% correction in any given year according to CNBC. As of today we have corrected about 4.1%…
DOW DOWN SILLY…213
S&P DOWN SILLY…23
NASDAQ DOWN SILLY…55
OIL DOWN $1.25
GOLD UP $16.3
2 4 2sday
[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4AggmLKTwc 450 300] [youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFl0nlHaWa4 450 300] Comments »Government can’t fix college costs
Read here:
Comments »President Obama said in his State of the Union Address that he is putting colleges on notice to lower costs. A few days later, he spoke to students at the University of Michigan, with a promise of more federal aid. Politicians claim they can make college affordable. No They Can’t!
In the last 30 years, inflation is up 160%, but tuition costs are up 750%.
It’s because colleges have no incentive to cut prices when students can get money from government. Federal aid, adjusted for inflation, increased from 32 billion in 1987, to 169 billion in 2010.
Government tells us, “Here’s the gap between what you can afford and what the college is charging, we will now make up that gap. And then the college just inches up the tuition a little bit higher,” says Naomi Riley author of The Faculty Lounges: and Other Reasons Why You Won’t Get the College Education You Paid For.
Colleges don’t use all or even most of that money in the classroom. We were stunned at the gyms and dining halls that serve lobster and sushi. Check out the University of Missouri, which is proud of its spa, rock climbing wall and “Tiger Grotto” – an elaborate pool complex.
Government creates perverse incentives. Colleges compete on prestige and luxury amenities, not their price tag. Administrators don’t worry about high tuition costs because their customers have government subsidies.
White House warns NK launch undermines food aid
Read here:
Comments »The White House Tuesday cautioned the North Korean plan to launch a rocket in defiance with the United Nations resolution could have impacts on aid to the country.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said it would be nearly impossible to follow through with the US planned aid in the form of nutritional assistance to the isolated country should they violate sanctions. “The proposed missile launch, if conducted, would represent a clear and serious violation of North Korea’s obligations under two United Nations Security Council resolutions that explicitly prohibit North Korea from testing ballistic missiles,” Carney said aboard Air Force One.
While North Korea says their rocket is ready for lift off this week, the White House is working with international partners to discourage otherwise. Carney says the United States is working with international partners “to work to persuade North Korea to consider a different path, the path that would lead to progress towards feeding its people, educating its people, and ending its severe, self-imposed isolation.”
FB IPO: May 17 or 24
Read here:
Comments »Facebook has homed in on two possible dates to launch its initial public offering on the Nasdaq, according to a person familiar with the matter. Bankers & management are currently looking at a primary target date of May 16 or May 17 to price the deal (with trading commencing the following day), according to this person, and trading would commence the following morning. The company would begin marketing the deal on May 7 under that scenario.
The final timing, however, will be highly dependent on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s review of Facebook’s recently announced $1 billion acquisition of Instagram. While bankers expect the commission to give the deal a go-ahead by the end of April, unforeseen comments or questions from regulators could push IPO pricing back by roughly one week.
If that were the case, the company would default to a plan B, which would aim to price the deal on May 23 or 24 and begin trading the following day.
Under either scenario, Facebook is leaning towards a 10-day period to market the deal with investors – known as a road show – which will primarily focus on domestic investors in hubs like New York, Silicon Valley, and Boston, according to this person. The company is considering meeting with prospective investors abroad in Europe, but would keep that trip brief (if it happens at all). Typically, road shows for large IPOs last around 14 days.
BERNANKE POWER! Pentagon Study Finds Beards Directly Related To Combat Effectiveness
Tampa, FL – Forget new gear, weapons, or sophisticated targeting systems. The newest tool coming to combat troops is low-tech: beards. In a report released yesterday, research think-tank Xegis Solutions noted that beards have a direct correlation to combat effectiveness.
Jonathon Burns was the lead researcher in the study.
“We took 100 soldiers. 25 were Special Forces qualified and had beards, 25 were Special Forces qualified without beards, 25 were regular Army allowed to grow beards for the study, and the last 25 were regular Army without beards. All 100 of these subjects were in direct combat in Afghanistan during the study.”
He continued, “Xegis Solutions had several teams of researchers embedded with these troops to make observations on their combat effectiveness. The results were overwhelming, out of the 50 soldiers with beards, zero were wounded or killed and they had a significantly higher accuracy of fire than the soldiers without beards. The soldiers lacking beards had a higher rate of weapons malfunctions and basically, shit went wrong most of the time.”
CENTCOM wasted no time establishing a new rule forcing males to grow beards.
Commander Gen. James E. Mattis issued a statement to all troops in combat zones.
“The time has come for the Armed Forces to accept the facts, and the facts are that beards save lives. All this time it was speculated that Green Berets were better because of their superior and intensive training while in fact, most of it had to do with beards.”
There’s no doubt that many in the Special Forces community will be angered, but General Mattis is convinced.
“It’s settled science. In light of this information we will enforce a rule requiring all males to wear at least one inch of facial hair at all times. Furthermore, any females able to grow facial hair are encouraged to do so as well.”
Comments »
FLASH: Rick Santorum Suspends His Presidential Campaign
Today’s 52 Week Highs and Lows
NYSE
New Highs 21 COMPANY SYMBOL HIGH VOLUME ------- ------ ---- ------ ApartmentInvMgmt7%Cl Z AIVpZ 25.10 4,765 Atlas Energy ATLS 37.19 384,241 BRT Realty Trust BRT 7.15 11,700 BlkRk MuniYld Inv MYF 16.13 37,984 BlackRockStrategicBond BHD 14.44 27,457 Bluegreen Corp BXG 4.73 17,405 Chipotle Mexican Grill CMG 428.95 448,704 Credicorp BAP 137.35 145,561 Delphi Fincl DFG 45.37 854,401 HSBC USA pfd. Ser H HBApH 25.52 14,185 Hlth Care REIT 6.50 Pfd J HCNpJ 25.30 67,146 Home Depot HD 50.86 5,743,035 KKR Finl 7.5% Notes 2042 KFI 25.22 106,943 Kayne Anderson MLP Pfd E KYNpE 25.90 17,150 Kilroy Realty Corp Pfd G KRCpG 25.47 54,802 Mangd Durtn InvGr Mun Fd MZF 15.89 7,744 Orientl Finl Grp 7% pfd B OFGpB 23.55 1,000 PPLUS 6.7% TRUCs LMG-4 PYL 24.11 5,258 Retail Prop of America RPAI 9.44 1,057,303 Terra Nitrogen TNH 270.93 48,675 TX Pacific Land Tr TPL 52.88 43,881 New Lows 60 COMPANY SYMBOL LOW VOLUME ------- ------ ---- ------ ASA Gold & Prec Metals ASA 23.47 26,179 AbitibiBowater ABH 13.32 480,975 Accretive Health AH 18.97 315,817 Alpha Natural Res ANR 13.80 8,803,541 AngloGold Ashanti AU 32.44 2,618,617 AngloGold Ashanti Pfd A AUpA 39.51 45,476 Arch Coal ACI 9.90 6,894,846 Baker Hughes BHI 39.40 3,829,340 Banco Macro SA BMA 16.76 98,948 Banco Santander STD 6.57 11,981,872 Best Buy BBY 21.61 20,453,193 Bill Barrett BBG 22.47 557,709 Cellcom Israel CEL 11.29 198,242 Clear Chnnl Outdoor CCO 7.50 436,709 Cloud Peak Engy CLD 14.65 448,921 DelhaizeGrp DEG 48.49 26,350 DeVry DV 31.37 441,615 EXCO Resources XCO 5.93 4,720,432 EldoradoGold EGO 12.44 2,147,468 Enerplus ERF 19.06 2,113,392 Equal Energy EQU 3.50 98,790 Exelon EXC 37.97 3,514,414 Ferrellgas FGP 13.39 450,501 Fortuna Silver Mines FSM 3.85 267,239 France Telecom FTE 13.70 1,098,876 GFI Group GFIG 3.36 134,513 GenOn Energy GEN 1.95 1,714,659 Gold Field ADS GFI 12.53 2,419,629 Great North Iron Ore Prop GNI 90.01 9,760 Harmony Gold Mining HMY 9.90 1,097,223 Harvest Ntrl Res HNR 5.86 273,695 Heckmann HEK 3.82 2,555,186 Hecla Mining HL 4.09 2,920,193 Jaguar Mining JAG 4.00 1,339,474 Kaydon Corp KDN 23.02 201,411 Memc Elec Materials WFR 3.31 2,450,353 Modine Mfg MOD 8.01 142,653 NRG Energy NRG 14.54 1,271,019 Natl Presto Indus NPK 70.00 31,803 Newfield Exploration NFX 33.23 1,360,959 No Amer Engy Ptnrs NOA 4.31 13,377 Nuveen Glbl Val Opp Fd JGV 15.50 70,010 Pandora Media P 8.67 3,449,182 Panhandle Oil PHX 26.00 8,928 Patriot Coal PCX 5.42 3,044,458 Peabody Energy BTU 27.11 3,952,213 Penn Virginia PVA 3.92 511,355 Petrobras Argentina ADS PZE 10.78 116,107 Pitney Bowes PBI 16.73 1,397,994 Portugal Telecom PT 4.87 230,149 Pulse Electronics PULS 2.17 120,409 RadioShack RSH 5.86 1,999,095 STR Holdings Inc. STRI 3.93 214,105 Standard Register SR 1.00 54,206 Telefonica TEF 15.02 3,448,550 Tootsie Roll Indus TR 21.69 69,780 Transalta Corp TAC 17.70 44,817 Ultra Petroleum UPL 19.50 1,940,385 Vonage Holdings VG 1.99 2,157,334 Xerium Tech XRM 5.45 79,990
NASDAQ
New Highs 21 COMPANY SYMBOL HIGH VOLUME ------- ------ ---- ------ Anika Therapeutics ANIK 14.38 140,014 Annapolis Bancorp ANNB 6.50 1,891 Apple AAPL 644.00 19,425,092 Bassett Furniture Inds BSET 9.53 19,639 Bridge Capital Hldgs BBNK 13.75 13,208 CaesarStone SdotYam CSTE 12.75 59,538 Extreme Networks EXTR 4.24 2,775,380 1st Century Bcshs Inc FCTY 5.19 3,390 Flexsteel Industries FLXS 19.00 1,300 Fonar Corp FONR 3.75 199,353 Liquidity Services LQDT 51.80 353,222 Mercantile Bank MBWM 14.61 9,203 Merrimack Pharmaceuticals MACK 6.87 191,700 MSB Fincl MSBF 6.49 3,747 Pozen POZN 6.92 362,618 pricelinecom PCLN 774.96 1,374,218 Retalix RTLX 20.00 956 John B Sanfilippo & Son JBSS 12.97 9,742 Transcept Pharm Inc TSPT 12.99 579,002 Verenium VRNM 5.66 469,725 X-Rite XRIT 5.55 3,269,202 New Lows 74 COMPANY SYMBOL LOW VOLUME ------- ------ ---- ------ APCO Oil and Gas APAGF 51.25 9,371 AVEO Pharmaceuticals AVEO 11.56 171,589 Amyris AMRS 3.64 172,044 AngioDynamics ANGO 11.35 49,298 CD Intl Ents CDII 0.72 29,593 CEVA CEVA 21.35 58,946 Cadence Pharmaceuticals CADX 3.30 330,103 Cardiome Pharma CRME 0.57 268,910 Chelsea Therapeutics Intl CHTP 1.92 779,863 China TechFaith Wireless CNTF 1.38 90,595 CommTouch Software CTCH 2.81 3,350 Consolidated Water Co CWCO 7.17 33,320 Data I/O Corp DAIO 2.52 127,973 Diamond Foods DMND 21.36 358,245 Digital Generation DGIT 8.94 297,302 Durect DRRX 0.69 157,920 Electronic Arts EA 15.36 3,853,117 Energy Recovery ERII 2.00 132,631 EnerNOC ENOC 6.49 143,547 Enterprise Fincl Services EFSC 10.81 34,262 Euroseas ESEA 1.90 48,115 Exceed Co EDS 2.01 30,755 First Solar FSLR 20.02 3,234,758 GSI Tech GSIT 4.08 82,667 Galectin Therapeutics GALT 3.74 32,061 Genetic Techs (ADS) GENE 2.51 37,766 GeoMet GMET 0.47 20,987 Groupon Inc GRPN 13.44 1,413,215 Hoku HOKU 0.43 58,541 Hydrogenics HYGS 4.50 4,132 iSh MSCI Emg Mkts Lat Am EEML 53.39 100 James River Coal Co JRCC 4.51 667,667 Knightsbridge Tankers VLCCF 12.76 230,232 Lifeway Foods LWAY 8.68 4,553 Lumos Networks LMOS 9.57 22,914 MDC Partners (Cl A) MDCA 9.97 153,914 Meru Networks MERU 2.90 146,197 Mission NewEnergy MNEL 0.38 51,906 Mitek Systems MITK 5.96 1,345,897 NeurogesX NGSX 0.39 201,966 Northwest Pipe Co NWPX 18.87 33,036 Opexa Therapeutics OPXA 0.50 193,246 OPNET Techs OPNT 26.73 74,477 Origin Agritech SEED 1.96 243,111 Peerless Manufacturing Co PMFG 13.09 35,040 Partner Comm Co PTNR 6.86 94,126 Peregrine Pharma PPHM 0.47 355,562 Pinnacle Airlines PNCL 0.30 743,757 Plug Power PLUG 1.11 190,155 PwrShs Gbl Gld & Prec Mtl PSAU 36.36 4,754 PwrShrs Glbl Wind Energy PWND 6.44 17,214 Primo Water PRMW 1.61 151,466 Quantum Fuel Sys Techs QTWW 0.54 656,520 RF Micro Devices RFMD 4.35 1,386,005 Research Frontiers REFR 3.05 13,710 Richardson Electronics RELL 11.15 75,580 Rimage RIMG 9.57 27,850 SMART Technologies SMT 2.80 75,172 SMF Energy FUEL 0.90 238,231 Senomyx SNMX 2.15 150,013 Sigma Designs SIGM 4.65 74,752 Sinovac Biotech SVA 1.82 102,048 Skywest SKYW 10.13 94,586 Sunshine Heart SSH 7.50 1,350 THQ THQI 0.45 675,523 Targacept TRGT 4.21 1,725,518 Telestone Techs TSTC 3.06 39,064 Twin Disc TWIN 22.67 49,594 US Auto Parts Ntwk PRTS 2.84 24,646 Utd Online UNTD 4.55 404,614 UniTek Global Services UNTK 2.97 42,904 WPCS Intl WPCS 1.11 6,400 YRC Worldwide YRCW 4.69 178,898 ZELTIQ Aesthetics ZLTQ 5.47 123,627Comments »
The VIX Spikes Above 20
“SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The CBOE Market Volatility Index VIX +9.20% rose Tuesday as stocks were battered by poor economic data that underscored the fragility of the U.S. economic recovery as well as revived worries about Europe. The Vix, The so-called fear gauge rose over 8% to 20.40. It last closed above 20 on March 6 when it ended at 20.87. The National Federation of Independent Business small-business optimism index fell to 92.5 in March from 94.3 in February, after six months of gains. A steady rise in Spanish and Italian government bond yields also weighed on sentiment, highlighting concerns that Europe’s debt crisis remains unresolved. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -1.34% slid 1.2% to 12,776 and the S&P 500 SPX -1.41% fell 1.3% to 1,364. “
Comments »Today’s Most Active Options Trades
-CALLS- OPTION EXP.DATE STRIKE PRC. VOLUME LAST S/PRC. NET CHANGE BAC 4/13/12 9.0000 2610 0.0900 dn 0.0700 F 4/13/12 12.0000 1011 0.0900 dn 0.1700 BAC 4/21/12 10.0000 967 0.0400 dn 0.0300 BAC 4/21/12 9.0000 645 0.1900 dn 0.1200 AAPL 4/13/12 650.0000 622 2.4100 dn 1.2900 GLD 4/13/12 160.0000 563 1.8300 up 0.7300 MSFT 4/21/12 32.0000 515 0.1400 dn 0.0900 AAPL 4/13/12 640.0000 486 5.2500 dn 1.7000 AAPL 4/13/12 645.0000 467 3.9000 dn 1.0000 AAPL 4/21/12 640.0000 457 10.9000 dn 1.8000 -PUTS- OPTION EXP.DATE STRIKE PRC. VOLUME LAST S/PRC. NET CHANGE BAC 5/19/12 7.0000 1180 0.0900 up 0.0300 BAC 4/21/12 7.0000 1000 0.0300 up 0.0100 BAC 4/21/12 8.0000 692 0.1400 up 0.0700 F 6/16/12 13.0000 610 1.4500 up 0.3000 BAC 4/21/12 9.0000 496 0.5800 up 0.2000 AAPL 4/13/12 640.0000 454 12.9500 up 2.8500 BAC 5/19/12 8.0000 402 0.2900 up 0.0900 RIMM 9/22/12 12.0000 399 1.6200 up 0.0400 MS 5/19/12 16.0000 398 0.4200 up 0.1000 AAPL 4/13/12 630.0000 392 6.8900 up 1.0400 -VOLUME- CALLS PUTS TOTAL 91866 100168 192034
-CALLS- OPTION EXP.DATE STRIKE PRC. VOLUME LAST S/PRC. NET CHANGE SIRI 1/19/13 2.0000 44091 0.4600 dn 0.0300 SIRI 1/18/14 2.0000 43900 0.6400 dn 0.0600 SIRI 1/18/14 2.5000 25010 0.4900 up 0.0500 EMC 4/21/12 29.0000 10848 0.5500 dn 0.0200 EMC 4/21/12 28.0000 10820 0.9700 dn 0.1600 CHK 4/21/12 22.0000 9456 0.2800 dn 0.0800 BAC 4/13/12 9.0000 9344 0.0800 dn 0.0800 SQNM 1/19/13 7.5000 8919 0.1700 dn 0.0800 BAC 4/21/12 9.0000 8723 0.1900 dn 0.1200 AAPL 4/13/12 650.0000 6889 2.5800 dn 0.7100 -PUTS- OPTION EXP.DATE STRIKE PRC. VOLUME LAST S/PRC. NET CHANGE HPQ 8/18/12 21.0000 10020 0.7000 dn 0.0700 HPQ 5/19/12 21.0000 10011 0.1500 dn 0.0200 MS 1/18/14 10.0000 10000 1.1100 up 0.0900 JCP 5/19/12 33.0000 10000 1.6000 up 0.3800 XOM 1/19/13 90.0000 6410 11.2600 up 1.3100 XOM 1/19/13 87.5000 6400 9.6100 up 1.2600 MS 5/19/12 16.0000 5418 0.4200 up 0.1100 X 4/21/12 27.0000 5192 1.0500 up 0.2700 JCP 5/19/12 40.0000 5163 6.9500 up 0.7200 AAPL 4/13/12 630.0000 4871 7.4000 up 1.6500 -VOLUME- CALLS PUTS TOTAL 1810079 1678879 3488958Comments »
Bifurcation in America In Focus
“It doesn’t just seem like America is dividing into two nations — one where luxury spending is going strong, the other where more and more people can’t afford to put food on the table. It really is.
No, there’s not much question income inequality has exploded over the past 30 years. What’s under dispute is the idea that spending patterns have diverged too. Some economists argue that even though there’s a wide gulf between the country’s highest and lowest earners, the differences in what people spend and how they spend it aren’t actually all that huge. After all, even those in poverty have televisions and refrigerators, the argument goes.
Yet a growing chorus of scholars aren’t so convinced, arguing just the opposite — that as income inequality has grown, so has consumption inequality. In other words, a rising tide lifts only some boats.
The latest research to support this idea comes from Orazio Attanasio, Erik Hurst and Luigi Pistaferri, three professors who recently published a paper through the National Bureau of Economic Research. The authors argue that because of long-running errors in the way consumption inequality is usually measured, the disparity between the biggest and the most modest spenders is much greater than previous researchers have claimed.
In fact, they write, “consumption inequality within the U.S. between 1980 and 2010 has increased by nearly the same amount as income inequality” — in other words, a whole lot….”
Comments »The 100 Best Small Companies in America
“The 100 Best Small Companies in America. For the first time, 24/7 Wall St. presents the 100 Best Small Companies in America. To be considered, companies had to be publicly traded with more than $5 million and less than $1 billion in revenue. 24/7 Wall St.’s inaugural 100 Best Small Companies in America is comprised of America’s best publicly traded companies marked by outsized revenue, growth and innovation.
The initial list based on the universe of public corporations with less than $1 billion in revenue.
These companies are among the best for their size because they have increased revenue over the period covered by our analysis. Their relatively small sizes and robust sales expansion rates also makes it likely many will continue to grow even further, if the record of public company expansion is any example. Past growth does not mean all of these firms will prosper, but most on this list have been consistently profitable, which adds to the chances of future progress.
Small companies, our research shows, usually have one or two specialized divisions and are focused on one core market. For instance, Steve Madden, True Religion and rue 21 have all carved out a niche segment in the apparel and footwear market. Their lack of diversity could be a drawback because the companies rely completely on one set of products, but it can also mean that management can be laser focused on a single opportunity.
Another industry which is well represented on this list is niche healthcare. Once again, most of the firms in this sector which made the list are in only one business. Mesa Labs makes manufacturing quality control products for medical devices. It is a narrow market, and there is no guarantee that a large device manufacturer might not attack the same sector. Bio-Reference Laboratories provides testing services. Cantel Medical provides infection prevention and control devices. This infection prevention business appears to be a relatively small one, but the overall medical industry in the US is expanding at such a rapid rate and regulations are changing so quickly that some of these companies will prosper because of these changes. Given the state of American healthcare costs, not many people would be surprised to see healthcare firms on a list of fast growing companies
These corporations are also often willing to take calculated risks, in some case, as they strive to expand their bases. Retailers are a good example. Steve Madden, one of our companies, was started in 1990 with $1,100. The company has consistently added lines of apparel since then to increase revenue…”
Comments »The Government Plans to Release New Mortgage Servicing Rules to Help Home Owners in Foreclosure
The IMF Warns of Deflation
Gold and Silver Go Parabolic
Are investors rotating from the ‘safety’ of Apple to the new ‘safety’ of Gold and Silver?
Yahoo, $YHOO, Gives the Street Some Insight Into Their Restructuring
“Yahoo Inc. YHOO -0.73% Chief Executive Scott Thompson, just days after announcing the biggest round of layoffs in its 17-year history, on Tuesday laid out a new leadership structure as he tries to return the Internet company to prominence.
His strategy includes a new emphasis on “commerce” initiatives.
In a memo sent to employees and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Thompson said he was splitting Yahoo into three main groups: consumer, which oversees the company’s popular media websites as well as its commerce-related, Web search and email services; regions, which he said is accountable for all of Yahoo’s revenues and is broken up into Americas, Europe and Asia divisions that work with the company advertising customers; technology, which will include the data centers and systems that power Yahoo’s Web services as well as its advertising platforms, including Right Media ad exchange, that Yahoo is currently considering selling.
The three main groups will be supported by the finance, legal, and human-resources departments.
Notably, Mr. Thompson wrote that Yahoo “will renew our focus on commerce” and “will go beyond traditional e-commerce.”
He added that “the focus of this team will be driving higher [return on investment] for advertisers and agencies that reach users on Yahoo by closing the loop for them between user interests, advertiser spend, consumer intent, and purchase behavior.”
Comments »GARY SHILLING: Recession Is Coming, And It’s All Due To The Consumer
“Gary Shilling has a new column up at Bloomberg View, explaining why he still thinks a recession is coming.
What’s great about it is that, forecast aside, he has a very clear-eyed assessment of the state of the economy, featuring all the bullish data points and bearish data points.
The key to his argument is that consumers are getting by on mediocre income growth, and that retrenchment is inevitable, though he acknowledges we haven’t seen it so far, and that even high gasoline prices haven’t been a problem.
Anyway, we summarize his key thoughts:
- Consumer spending does remain strong. Growth of 0.8 percent in February was the best number in 7 months.
- Retail sales and consumer confidence have also been strong.
- But the numbers can’t last. Personal income growth was just 0.2 percent in February.
- Thanks to college tuition and the car market, consumer debt is growing again.
- The housing market is still miserable.
- State and local spending is still depressed.
- There’s still plenty of excess capacity, restraining business investment.
- It all comes down to the consumer: Due to weak wage growth a retrenchment is inevitable, and that’s what will cause the recession.
Today’s Heat Map and A/D Lines
Matt Taibbi Shreds Obama Over JOBS Act That Will ‘Nearly Legalize Fraud’
“Matt Taibbi thinks the JOBS Act signed by President Obama last week is just about the worst thing ever.
To backup, the JOBS act has been called the “crowdfunding act” because it lifts various regulations on startups raising money, and how many shareholders it can have.
The JOBS Act has been hailed as a bipartisan triumph.
Here’s the left’s response, per Rolling Stone’s Taibbi: The JOBS Act “couldn’t suck worse.” It will nearly legalize and encourage fraud on Wall Street. And it completely goes against the populist anger against Wall Street that sparked Occupy Wall Street.
The worst aspect of the bill, Taibbi argues, is one that exempts firms from independent tests of internal controls. It’s a “comedy routine,” he writes, because the rationale is that it is costly for a firm to hire independent auditors and fill out legal forms.
Here’s a good analogy:
This is like formally eliminating steroid testing for the first five years of a baseball player’s career. Yes, you can pretty much bet that you’ll see a lot of home runs in the first few years after you institute a rule like that. But you’d better be ready to stick a lot of asterisks in the record books ten or fifteen years down the line.
In the same way, get ready for an avalanche of shareholder suits ten years from now, since post-factum civil litigation will be the only real regulation of the startup market. In fact, there are already supporters talking up future lawsuits as an appropriate tool to replace the regulations being wiped out by this bill.
Here’s Taibbi talking about his column and why he thinks the JOBS Act is a disaster on Eliot Spitzer’s Current TV show:
Read Taibbi’s full shredding of the bill at Rolling Stone.”
Comments »
