Meta
Categories
- accounting
- Announcements
- architecture
- art
- auctions
- bailouts
- banking
- bankruptcy
- ben stein watch
- blogonomics
- bonds and loans
- charts
- china
- cities
- climate change
- commercial property
- commodities
- consumers
- consumption
- corporatespeak
- credit ratings
- crime
- Culture
- Davos 2008
- Davos 2009
- defenestrations
- demographics
- derivatives
- design
- development
- drugs
- Econoblog
- economics
- education
- emerging markets
- employment
- energy
- entitlements
- eschatology
- euro
- facial hair
- fashion
- Film
- Finance
- fiscal and monetary policy
- food
- foreign exchange
- fraud
- gambling
- geopolitics
- governance
- healthcare
- hedge funds
- holidays
- housing
- humor
- Humour
- iceland
- IMF
- immigration
- infrastructure
- insurance
- intellectual property
- investing
- journalism
- labor
- language
- law
- leadership
- leaks
- M&A
- Media
- milken 2008
- Not economics
- pay
- personal finance
- philanthropy
- pirates
- Politics
- Portfolio
- prediction markets
- private banking
- private equity
- privatization
- productivity
- publishing
- race
- rants
- regulation
- remainders
- research
- Restaurants
- Rhian in Antarctica
- risk
- satire
- science
- shareholder activism
- sovereign debt
- sports
- statistics
- stocks
- taxes
- technocrats
- technology
- trade
- travel
- Uncategorized
- water
- wealth
- world bank
Archives
- March 2023
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- December 2012
- August 2012
- June 2012
- March 2012
- April 2011
- August 2010
- June 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- September 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
- October 2004
- September 2004
- August 2004
- July 2004
- June 2004
- May 2004
- April 2004
- March 2004
- February 2004
- January 2004
- December 2003
- November 2003
- October 2003
- September 2003
- August 2003
- July 2003
- June 2003
- May 2003
- April 2003
- March 2003
- February 2003
- January 2003
- December 2002
- November 2002
- October 2002
- September 2002
- August 2002
- July 2002
- June 2002
- May 2002
- March 2002
- February 2002
- January 2002
- December 2001
- November 2001
- October 2001
- September 2001
- August 2001
- July 2001
- June 2001
- May 2001
- April 2001
- March 2001
- February 2001
- January 2001
- December 2000
- September 2000
- July 2000
- March 2000
- July 1999
Category Archives: stocks
E*Trade: In Defense of Prashant Bhatia
Just as one shouldn’t shout "fire" in a crowded theater, one shouldn’t shout "run on the bank" in an analyst’s report. If you do that, as Citigroup’s Prashant Bhatia notoriously did in his report on E*Trade, you risk your report … Continue reading
Mystery Stock Update
On Monday I wondered what stock could possibly have been worthless at the end of 2005, but worth $14 million at the end of 2006. A very loyal reader (really: the name on the comment is "averyloyalreader") pointed out that … Continue reading
Posted in stocks
Comments Off on Mystery Stock Update
Rio Tinto Won’t be Independent for Long
When mergers get mooted, the stock-market reaction is generally predictable: the stock of the target company rises, and the price of the would-be aquirer falls. In the case of the latest proposed mining mega-merger, the stocks followed most of the … Continue reading
Whole Foods Board Wimps Out, Exonerates Mackey
When the world found out that John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, was a sockpuppet hyping his own stock on internet message boards under an assumed name, it was clear that he should resign immediately. Instead, the Whole Foods … Continue reading
Posted in stocks
Comments Off on Whole Foods Board Wimps Out, Exonerates Mackey
Bleg: Looking for a Free-Float League Table
Companies like PetroChina and Google, which have a very small free float, have been getting a lot of press for their enormous market capitalizations. Does anybody have a league table of the most valuable companies in the world by value … Continue reading
Posted in stocks
Comments Off on Bleg: Looking for a Free-Float League Table
What is a Deferred Tax Credit Noncash Charge, Anyway?
The NYT is a general-interest newspaper, which should be comprehensible to a broad reading public. And certainly me. But even the NYT can’t seem to explain clearly what’s going on at GM. What does this mean? DETROIT, Nov. 7 — … Continue reading
Posted in stocks
Comments Off on What is a Deferred Tax Credit Noncash Charge, Anyway?
Citigroup Datapoint of the Day
Floyd Norris: We may be approaching a time when Citi’s stock would do better if it did eliminate the dividend… Such a cut would save the company $10.8 billion a year. As it happens, that is just about the amount … Continue reading
Name That Stock!
Two years ago, a benefactor donated a slug of stock to the Boys and Girls Club of Pittsfield, Mass. Back then, it was "basically worthless," according to John Donna, the club’s president. In December 2006, that stock was sold for … Continue reading
Posted in stocks
Comments Off on Name That Stock!
China Datapoint of the Day
Value of PetroChina on Friday: $456.6 billion. Value of PetroChina on Monday: $1.004 trillion.
Citi: Looking Weak
Never mind the Rubin news; that was all but a given. And the Bischoff news is not that much of a big deal either: the chap is the classic safe pair of hands who will be competent enough at managing … Continue reading
Posted in banking, defenestrations, stocks
Comments Off on Citi: Looking Weak
Investment Banks: Much Room to Fall Further
Floyd Norris has a chart today which puts the recent share-price drops at Merrill, Citi, Bear and the like in context. Yes, they’re down from their highs, but the broker-dealers in general have massively outperformed the rest of the stock … Continue reading
Markets: Still Inexplicable
You may or may not be aware that stocks are down quite a bit this morning, and, as ever, no one really has the foggiest notion why. David Gaffen, in a market round-up headlined "What Is Going On Around Here?", … Continue reading
Posted in stocks
Comments Off on Markets: Still Inexplicable
Beware Fund Managers Claiming Trading Prowess
Mark McQueen of Wellington Financial is patting himself on the back for staying long Goldman Sachs during the dark days of this summer. "Goldman was the trade of the year," he tells us, in a prime example of the bias … Continue reading
Posted in stocks
Comments Off on Beware Fund Managers Claiming Trading Prowess
Subprime: It’s Still Really Bad
Countrywide shares gained more than 32% today: that must mean the market thinks the subprime crisis is over, right? Not at all. For one thing, today’s close of $17.30 a share puts the company’s share price at pretty much exactly … Continue reading
Posted in bonds and loans, housing, stocks
Comments Off on Subprime: It’s Still Really Bad
The End of the Merrill Myth
There is absolutely no silver lining to the $8.4 billion in writedowns that Merrill Lynch announced today. Merrill is being hit from all sides: sell-side analysts, on the conference call; journalists; ratings agencies; and, of course, the stock market. Dana … Continue reading
Apple Datapoint of the Day
Apple’s market capitalization, @ $186.55/share: $162.23 billion. IBM’s market capitalization, @ $114.00/share: $157.32 billion. Yes, it actually happened: Apple is now worth more than IBM. Still hasn’t caught up to Google, though.
Posted in stocks
Comments Off on Apple Datapoint of the Day
The Citic Flip-Flop
On Friday, things seemed clear enough, with Citic issuing a clear denial that it would take an ownership stake in Bear Stearns. China Citic Bank, meanwhile, also denied that it was in talks to buy a stake in Bear Stearns. … Continue reading
Wall Street vs Blogs, Analyst Edition
Bernstein Research media analyst Michael Nathanson is worried about "a new paradigm in how financial markets get information and how that information impacts our markets". He’s been putting out all this research about NewsCorp and MySpace, you see – but … Continue reading
What is the Point of a Price Target?
What is a price target, and what is it for?
Continue reading
Posted in stocks
Comments Off on What is the Point of a Price Target?
Adventures in Technical Analysis, Citigroup Edition
David Gaffen notes today that Citigroup shares are now trading at a 2-year low of $43.97 per share. He then quotes this wonderful piece of advice from technical analyst Joseph Hargett: The $45 level “has not been breached on a … Continue reading
Posted in stocks
Comments Off on Adventures in Technical Analysis, Citigroup Edition
China Datapoint of the Day
Eight of the 20 biggest public companies in the world, by market capitalization, are Chinese. The US has just seven of the top 20. To put it another way, China Mobile is worth more money than Microsoft, and China Life … Continue reading
$6.66: The Number of the BEAS
Dana Cimilluca notes that Oracle is offering $6.66 billion exactly for BEA Systems, whose ticker symbol is BEAS. He asks whether this is a coincidence. The answer is that no, it isn’t. It’s another instance of tech CEOs being cute, … Continue reading
Posted in stocks
Comments Off on $6.66: The Number of the BEAS
Boeing’s Fastener Slowdown
Boeing doesn’t seem to be going into much detail about the "parts shortages" which have delayed the rollout of its new 787 Dreamliner by six months. But Jeff Matthews talked to a Boeing supplier a couple of weeks ago, who … Continue reading
Posted in stocks
Comments Off on Boeing’s Fastener Slowdown
Stocks: The Hunt for Causality
It’s another day of volatility in the Dow, with an intraday movement of 200 points from high to low in the space of about 90 minutes. Barry Ritholtz is hunting for causality: is it something to do with the oil … Continue reading
Posted in stocks
Comments Off on Stocks: The Hunt for Causality
Bank Stock Datapoint of the Day
On Tuesday, shares in Goldman Sachs closed at a new record high of $239.20 per share. Goldman stock has risen by more than 50% from its August lows – a trajectory, says, Helen Thomas, "we’re more accustomed to seeing on … Continue reading