Sooner or later, politicians will realize that roads are becoming a terrible way to deal with traffic.
This is top of mind, because Republican Bob McDonnell just won the Virginia governor's race in part by promising to build roads to unsnarl traffic in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., where earthworms move faster than cars on the Beltway. "Traffic congestion is a quality-of-life, economic development, and environmental issue," McDonnell said during his campaign. He wants to spend $17.5 billion on roads.
Lou Dobbs, the voluble CNN anchor who became a political lightning rod for his outspoken views on immigration and global trade, is leaving the cable news network effective immediately, he announced on his show Wednesday night. Dobbs, one of the premier news broadcasters in the television business, was the last of the original anchors at CNN, which pioneered the cable news format 30 years ago. Dobbs's contract extended through the end of 2011, but he said CNN had agreed to let him leave early.
"Some leaders in the media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond my role here at CNN and engage in constructive problem-solving," said Dobbs, who had dubbed himself "Mr. independent" of late, adding that he aimed to stay involved in the national discourse.
Somebody get the SEC on the phone, stat! Oh wait, they were closed Wednesday for Veterans Day.
Suspicious activity in the options market for 3Com (COMS) raised concerns late Wednesday that news of computer and printer maker Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ) $2.7 billion purchase of the networking company was leaked before the deal was officially announced, according to multiple reports. If this were the case, the activity could be a possible violation of securities law against insider trading.
There was an abnormally massive spike in activity for November and December put options, which would give the holder the right to buy 3Com shares at $5. The stock was up 35% in after-hours trading to $7.65, meaning that someone who exercised the option could have realized a 35% paper gain in a matter of hours.
Anyone who has ever gone on a Big Mac binge in hopes of winning the $1 million prize in the McDonald's Monopoly game may be feeling a little more hopeful. Brandi Futch, of White House, Tenn. collected both Boardwalk and Park Place (the two pieces needed to win) after she ordered a McChicken sandwich, fries and a sweet tea. The big prize came on that sweet cup of tea.
Futch, 23, who couldn't be immediately reached by DailyFinance, works in customer service for the Grand Ole Opry House and will receive $50,000 a year for the next 20 years. it may not be enough to retire on, especially after taxes, but it's enough to take care of most of her needs.
"I'm still in shock," Futch was quoted saying in a McDonald's (MCD) press release. "I haven't decided what I'll do with the money I've won, but I know that a new house and car are on my list." Even with her $1 million prize, Futch said she plans to keep playing the game.
When it comes to the way the U.S. government regulates the beleaguered financial industry, Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut wants to shake things up a bit. For starters, the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee is pushing the idea of a new super bank cop called the Financial Institutions Regulatory Administration. His plan would involve a complete overhaul of the financial regulatory structure, reducing the power of the Federal Reserve and instead amassing all banking regulatory authority in one place.
Dodd's plan is starkly different than that of the House Committee on Financial Services, which for now is content with the status quo of maintaining banking regulatory agencies and a regulatory council. But with Dodd facing re-election challenges in his home state, bold is the word. This new proposed regulatory authority would have full responsibility for bank supervision, instead of continuing the current practice of having four bank supervisors including the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Savings.
Wireless network operator Clearwire (CLWR) is pinning its fortunes on the booming mobile data market. But while wireless data usage grows at a blistering pace, investors should take a look a close look at how Clearwire's technology stacks up to the coming technologies from much larger rivals such as Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T) before getting on board.
"If ever there was a rising tide that is lifting all boats, this is it," Clearwire CEO William Morrow told investors after the company reported third quarter earnings on Tuesday. Adjusted earnings losses narrowed to 43 cents per share from 45 cents per share, while revenue was up 13% to $68.8 million.
On Tuesday, CVS (CVS) drugstores agreed to pay the State of New York $875,000 to settle a case alleging that it sold expired food, over-the-counter drugs, and infant formula. This settlement follows a $1.3 million settlement between New York State and Rite Aid (RAD), suggesting that this crop of expired-product sales may be just the tip of the iceberg.
This isn't the first time CVS has been cited by New York's attorney general for selling expired items. In 2003, the chain handled the problem by signing an "Assurance of Discontinuance," stating that it would "refrain from selling expired OTC drugs" and would institute "procedures to ensure that OTC drugs were identified and removed from CVS stores and directing and training employees involved in stocking of OTC drugs in these procedures."
Computer giant Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) announced a $2.7 billion deal to buy 3Com (COMS), the huge networking company, late Wednesday. It's HP's fourth-largest acquisition ever and instantly makes the Silicon Valley pioneer the second-largest networking company in the world after Cisco Systems (CSCO). The deal, which represents a 44% premium on 3Com stock, sent 3Com shares soaring some 35% to $7.65, 25 cents short of HP's offer, in after-hours trading.
HP's move is a bold attack on Cisco, the networking Goliath. "Companies are looking for ways to break free from the business limitations imposed by a networking paradigm that has been dominated by a single vendor," Dave Donatelli, HP's executive vice president and general manager for enterprise servers and networking, said in a statement.
MasterCard (MA) looks to be charging back to stability sooner rather than later.
The company swung to profitability in the third-quarter thanks to cost cuts and a slowdown in the rate of decline in consumer spending. Now if consumers would just start spending a smidge more, the company could generate some compelling growth.
It seems that when it comes to Aranesp, its blockbuster anemia drug, Amgen (AMGN) just can't catch a break, nor for that matter, create one. Recently, Amgen was hit with a double whammy -- a lawsuit and an unfavorable study of the drug. On Tuesday, yet another study confirmed that cancer patients who took anemia drugs were twice as likely to develop blood clots as other patients, while transfusion rates remained the same.
The decade-long study of 56,210 cancer patients conducted by Dr. Dawn L. Hershman and her colleagues at the Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University Medical Center in New York adds to earlier evidence about the risks of anemia drugs, and further suggests that those risks may outweigh the benefits.
The stock market managed modest gains Wednesday as a weaker dollar lifted gold and oil prices and Federal Reserve officials signaled that borrowing rates would remain low. The moves in the dollar again tugged at stocks, a pattern that has become familiar in recent months.
The market bounded higher in early trading but came off its highest levels as the dollar pulled off of a 15-month low. The Dow Jones industrial average rose about 20 points in light trading after being up as much as 95 points and hitting a 13-month high. A higher finish on Wednesday would be the sixth straight gain for the Dow. Trading was light because of the Veterans Day holiday, but volume has been weak for most of the month.
Last year, some 307 American soldiers died in Iraq -- nearly twice the number killed in Afghanistan. But the home front was far deadlier for veterans: an estimated 2,266 U.S. military veterans died last year -- not from combat but from lack of health insurance, Harvard Medical School researchers report. That's more than seven times the number of U.S. casualties in Iraq last year, or six preventable deaths a day.
Despite a common misconception that all veterans qualify for lifetime care through the Veterans Health Administration, researchers found that 1.46 million vets under 65 were uninsured last year. Some earn too much to qualify for Veterans Affairs assistance but too little to afford private insurance.
Bing is, apparently, still alive and kicking. On Nov. 11, Microsoft (MSFT) announced a deal with Wolfram|Alpha, the search engine created by Mathematica founder and math genius Stephen Wolfram. Microsoft will be Wolfram|Alpha's first partner and will incorporate results from the search engine, which aims to provide actual answers to questions asked in natural language.
This follows on the heels of Microsoft inking deals to pull in real-time update data from Twitter and Facebook. But perhaps best for Microsoft was Bing's very strong traffic growth numbers for October.
Motorola (MOT), the once-soaring cell phone maker now attempting a comeback, is looking to offload its television set-top box and business equipment unit for $4.5 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. The plan's proponents argue it would leave a more streamlined business focusing on the white-hot mobile space, where the company has garnered good reviews for its new Droid phone.
But Jim Kelleher, an analyst with Argus Research, says the spinoff would be a mistake for Motorola. The company -- and its shareholders -- would be better served by leaving the company intact for now, he says. "If the company splits up, the parts would be exposed to cyclical tornadoes," Kelleher told DailyFinance. "Also, they would lose a lot of shared best practices, shared intellectual property and shared research and development. All these things would be isolated."
When children write their letters to Santa this year, many will be skipping last year's hot item: Webkinz. The stuffed animals were so popular last holiday season it was hard for retailers to keep the toys on their shelves. The plush dolls appealed to children and parents by linking the physical toy with a virtual world, where kids play with online versions of their personal stuffed animals and spend virtual cash to clothe and feed them.
Since then, demand has fallen off a cliff. According to The NPD Group, sales for Web-connected play toys have plunged 41% this year through August, marking the biggest decline among the 13 categories tracked by the market research firm, which provided its data to DailyFinance. The drop-off was so stark that at least two retailers disclosed the dwindling sales of Webkinz as drags on their performance in recent earnings calls.
While the planet's environmental apocalypse may not be much much nigh than it was last month, this year's Election Day bore grim tidings for voters concerned with climate change. By electing public officials whose tendency on this issue is inaction, we may tipped the climate ever so slightly in the direction of the doomsday scenario -- a realm of irreversible ecological change that scientists have long warned about.
One battlefield was New Jersey, which elected Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie, a U.S. attorney, over hapless Democratic incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine. Another was Virginia, which elected former state Attorney General Bob McDonnell over his Democratic challenger, Creigh Deeds. Christie vowed, if elected, to make trouble for the Environmental Protection Agency, while McDonnell revealed his own radical views denying climate change, despite overwhelming scientific evidence of its existence. McDonnell's denial of global warming also puts him at odds with the most prominent members of the Republican party, who acknowledge climate change as fact:
Macy's (M) closed a losing quarter with an upbeat holiday forecast, saying it will have fresh merchandise for the holidays, but just enough to avoid big markdowns. And it boosted its forecast for the fourth quarter and the full year, based on better-than-expected results.
The department store company posted a net loss of $35 million, or 8 cents per share, a penny more than the analysts' estimate, but an improvement over a $44 million loss for the same period last year. Total sales of $5.28 billion were down 3.9% below last year, and 3.6% lower on a same-store basis.
When California Treasurer Bill Lockyer sought a $7 billion federal loan guarantee from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in May, it was a clear indication that states, and not just financial institutions, were struggling mightily to find firm fiscal footing in the face of the Great Recession.
As states continue to grapple with the current harsh economic conditions, the Pew Center on the States has compiled a list of the 10 that are closest to financial collapse, part of a report on the budgetary health of all 50 states. The report warns of potentially damaging consequences if states fail to take decisive measures to fix their money woes.
FedEx (FDX) and United Parcel Service (UPS) are gearing up for a busy holiday season with expectations of record-setting numbers of shipments. Their upbeat estimates fly in the face of tepid retail sales and expectations that recession-weary consumers will keep a tight rein on purchases this year.
"The consensus is flat, but I believe it will be slightly better than that," UPS CEO Scott Davis said of holiday demand. Speaking Wednesday at a meeting of Asia-Pacific corporate and political leaders in Singapore, Davis said that many of the company's retail and technology customers "are quite bullish on this Christmas season," even as others remain cautious, Reuters reported.
In the wake of news that Bernard Madoff's associate and pal Jeffrey Picower (pictured) was found dead in his Palm Beach swimming pool last month, the revelation that Picower had left his wife Barbara $200 million and appointed her to head a charitable foundation funded with his estate's assets from his estate won't satisfy any Madoff victims' lust for vengeance. Nor, most likely, will the strange detail that Madoff's 17 Rolex watches are heading to the auction block on Saturday.
Picower's attorney denies claims by court-appointed bankruptcy trustee Irving Picard that Picower was complicit in the fraud. Still, some Picower money, and the proceeds from Madoff's auction, will eventually go toward restitution for Madoff's victims. But that's chump change. Madoff, after all, swindled his victims out of $65 billion.
Retailers have been saying all year that they want to bring back customers' enthusiasm for shopping, but there are limits. This year, they want to control the mayhem on Black Friday.
The day after Thanksgiving is always a busy one at the nation's stores, and retailers do their best to stir things up and get the holiday shopping season off to a good start. But as the sales have escalated, so has the in-store violence. The last few years have seen some alarming incidents in which shoppers took the term "doorbuster special" much too literally.
Is a deal with Satan the kind of thing you're required to disclose in a proxy statement? If so, I'll be very curious to see the one filed after Comcast (CMCSA) completes its takeover of NBC Universal (GE).
It's hard to imagine what else could account for the continuing employment of Jeff Zucker as the head of one of the world's premier media conglomerates -- even as it becomes increasingly clear how unfit he is for the job. Now it looks like not even the sale of his company will put an end to Zucker's reign of error: Reuters reports that Comcast has agreed to keep him on as the CEO of the joint venture created by the acquisition, if and when it comes to fruition. This despite the availability of former News Corp. (NWS) president Peter Chernin, a media executive with a substantially better track record than Zucker's. Chernin is advising Comcast in the deal.
In the run-up to the big Copenhagen Climate Talks next week, the battle lines are already being drawn as the developed world and developing world square off over who should bear the burdens of slashing carbon output in order to halt the growth of greenhouse gases. Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega flatly told the BBC on its Business Daily podcast that if the West wants Brazilian farmers to stop their deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest, the rich world will have to compensate his nation for its idled agricultural capacity.
The logic behind this argument is somewhat clear. Brazil and the other developing nations claim they are too poor to sacrifice local economic development to accommodate global needs. Further, the logic goes, the West and the developed world did most of the damage to the environment by pumping out greenhouse gases during two centuries of breakneck industrial growth. Now, the developing world says, the West needs to realize that it must pay for the lifestyle its hot-shower-taking, SUV-driving citizens consider to be their birthright.
Unemployment, which jumped to a 26-year high of 10.2% in October, will continue to be a dark cloud looming over the U.S. economy through at least next year, according to World Bank President Robert Zoellick.
"If you have large-scale unemployment remain, say about [the] 10% level you have in the U.S., you're going to see feedback effects," Zoellick is quoted by Bloomberg News as saying. His comments are hardly a surprise.
The U.S. may worry about having enough H1N1 vaccine to protect its population from swine flu, but at least it's getting precious doses. Many developing countries, which can't afford the sometimes expensive medication, don't have any at all.
That may change soon. The U.K.'s GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said Tuesday it will donate 50 million doses of its adjuvanted H1N1 influenza vaccine to developing countries most in need through the World Health Organization. Initial shipments will start by the end of November with shipments to be completed by May 2010, the WHO said. GlaxoSmithKline's move comes as several other pharmaceuticals have pledged similar measures.
This summer, for the first time in five years, I used Priceline.com (PCLN) to book a hotel room and rental car. Turns out, I am part of a trend. The online travel agency saw an increase in bookings over the summer. Now it forecasts sales in the current quarter rising 28 percent from last year's fourth quarter.
The stock closed 18 percent higher Tuesday, rising $30.49 to $202.22, the highest close in nine years. Count Priceline.com among the Internet companies that rallied in 2009. In the past year, Priceline has outperformed Amazon.com (AMZN) shares, which are up 168 percent and shares of Google (GOOG), which has gained 78 percent in the past 12 months. I decided to find out what's going on at the company, which is known for its business model of letting customers name their price for travel services and then seeing what they get at the price.
The U.S. unemployment rate is at a 25-year high, 10.2%, and the job market is likely to get worse before it gets better. The nation's economy has started to recover, but net monthly job creation -- a lag indicator -- is not likely to start for several months, and perhaps not until mid-2010. That means the unemployment rate will probably rise until early next year.
Is the United States resigned to just let market forces play themselves out, with the unemployment rate rising to whatever level it could? Or are there additional actions the U.S. Congress and state legislatures can take to stimulate job growth and create jobs? Indeed, there are measures legislators can enact. Below are a few:
AIG (AIG) CEO Robert Benmosche has threatened to step down from the top job only three months after taking it as he struggles to deal with heavy government oversight and restrictions on pay to employees, according to the Wall Street Journal. Shares declined over 1.5% in premarket trading.
UPS (UPS), which is often seen as a bellwether to the economy, now expects growth in its volumes next year as the global economy gradually recovers, its CEO said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. UPS will hike shipping rates for 2010. He also expects the holiday season to be slightly better than estimated. Shares rose over 2% ahead of the bell.
U.S equities are perched at a 2009 high and third-quarter earnings are coming in much better than Wall Street analysts expected, yet this has to be one of the most hated rallies (and earnings seasons) of all time.
The reason is pretty straightforward: The fundamentals and economics remain appalling. Companies are hitting or beating Street estimates because of a scorched earth policy on cost cuts. That's where the official 10.2% unemployment number came from. (It's probably closer to 20% if you count all the jobless folks who've given up looking for work.)
U.S. stocks are set for a strong open after several speeches from Federal Reserve officials signaled interest rates will remain low for some time despite the pressure on the dollar. But as the dollar falls, investors turn to higher yielding assets, pushing stocks higher. Today, U.S. bond markets are closed for Veteran's Day.
In Asia Wednesday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.6% to close at 22,627. In Japan, the Nikkei Index closed at 9,872, virtually unchanged from yesterday. In China, the Shanghai Composite Index dropped for the first time in nine days, ending the day at 3,175 -- a loss of 0.1%.
In Hong Kong, HSBC Holdings (HBC), the index's most heavily weighted stock, climbed 6% after announcing that its third quarter pre-tax profits were higher than last year, and had exceeded even its own expectations. The bank, which has its headquarters in London, serves more than 100 million customers throughout the world. The bank's CEO plans to relocate to Hong Kong this February, signaling that operations will become more focused on the East.
In an exclusive report in The Wall Street Journal, word emerged that AIG (AIG) CEO Robert Benmosche has said he may leave, largely because of what he sees as heavy-handed government regulation. He believes that the "pay czar" is hurting the insurance company's chances of bringing in new talent.
Benmosche has fought the government, his board and the public's perception of him at nearly every turn. He complained when government officials did not immediately approve his $10.3 million pay package -- perhaps forgetting that his predecessor Ed Liddy worked for $1.
Sooner or later, politicians will realize that roads are becoming a terrible way to deal with traffic.
Lou Dobbs, the voluble CNN anchor who became a political lightning rod for his outspoken views on immigration and global trade, is leaving the cable news network effective immediately, he announced on his show Wednesday night. Dobbs, one of the premier news broadcasters in the television business, was the last of the original anchors at CNN, which pioneered the cable news format 30 years ago. Dobbs's contract extended through the end of 2011, but he said CNN had agreed to let him leave early.
Somebody get the SEC on the phone, stat! Oh wait, they were closed Wednesday for Veterans Day.
Anyone who has ever gone on a Big Mac binge in hopes of winning the $1 million prize in the McDonald's Monopoly game may be feeling a little more hopeful. Brandi Futch, of White House, Tenn. 
When it comes to the way the U.S. government regulates the beleaguered financial industry, Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut wants to shake things up a bit. For starters, the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee is pushing the idea of a new super bank cop called 
Wireless network operator Clearwire 
On Tuesday, CVS (
Computer giant Hewlett-Packard (
MasterCard (
It seems that when it comes to Aranesp, its blockbuster anemia drug, Amgen (
The stock market managed modest gains Wednesday as a weaker dollar lifted gold and oil prices and Federal Reserve officials signaled that borrowing rates would remain low. The moves in the dollar again tugged at stocks, a pattern that has become familiar in recent months. 
Last year, 
Bing
Motorola (
When children write their letters to Santa this year, many will be skipping last year's hot item: 
Macy's (
When California Treasurer Bill Lockyer sought a $7 billion federal loan guarantee from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in May, it was a clear indication that states, and not just financial institutions, were struggling mightily to find firm fiscal footing in the face of the Great Recession. 
FedEx (
In the wake of news that Bernard Madoff's associate and pal 
Retailers have been saying all year that they want to bring back customers' enthusiasm for shopping, but there are limits. This year, they want to control the mayhem on 
Is a deal with Satan the kind of thing you're required to disclose in a proxy statement? If so, I'll be very curious to see the one filed after Comcast (
In the run-up to the big 
Unemployment, which jumped to a 26-year high of 10.2% in October, will continue to be a dark cloud looming over the U.S. economy through at least next year, according to World Bank President Robert Zoellick.
The U.S. may worry about having enough H1N1 vaccine to protect its population from swine flu, but at least it's getting precious doses. Many developing countries, which can't afford the sometimes expensive medication, don't have any at all. 
This summer, for the first time in five years, I used Priceline.com (
The U.S. unemployment rate is at a 25-year high, 
U.S equities are perched at a 2009 high and third-quarter earnings are coming in much better than Wall Street analysts expected, yet this has to be one of the most hated rallies (and earnings seasons) of all time.
U.S. stocks are set for a strong open after several speeches from Federal Reserve officials signaled interest rates will remain low for some time despite the pressure on the dollar. But as the dollar falls, investors turn to higher yielding assets, pushing stocks higher. Today, U.S. bond markets are closed for Veteran's Day.
In Asia Wednesday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.6% to close at 22,627. In Japan, the Nikkei Index closed at 9,872, virtually unchanged from yesterday. In China, the Shanghai Composite Index dropped for the first time in nine days, ending the day at 3,175 -- a loss of 0.1%.
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