Description: U.S. service industries expanded in September for the first time in a year as the emerging recovery spread from housing and factories to the broader economy. Source: Bloomberg.com Date: 10/05/2009 Keys: Cash flows (p355), Growth (p586) Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a9IZDDP21AtQ Questions for discussion:Â Why is the service industry index a useful measure of business growth? Do… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Uncategorized
Making oil from algae
Description: Turning the carbon-eating organism into crude could conserve oil and lower carbon emissions. Source: CNNMoney – video report  Date: 10/02/2009 Keys: Risk (p.209), Cash flows (p355) Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2009/10/02/n_ef_algae_oil.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: What are the risks associated with investing in this industry? What are the existing infrastructures that give this concept certain advantages over… Read more »
IBM Versus Google: You’ve Got To Be Joking
Description: So IBM decided to drop the bomb on Google — Big Blue will offer a basic email service for $36 per seat, undercutting the latter’s $50 a head Apps pricing. A Gartner analyst called it “trouble for Google,†but I’m not so sure. I think that Google has still got some enormous advantages, and… Read more »
‘Abusive Swaps’ Would Be Banned Under Frank’s Derivatives Plan
Description: Legislation tightening oversight of the $592 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market would give regulators authority to ban so-called abusive swaps. Source: Bloomberg.com Date: 10/03/2009 Keys: Stock market (p281), Derivatives (p664) Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=amik0fY5tT7c Questions for discussion: Do you agree with the effort to regulate the derivatives market. Explain your answer. Do you think the financial crisis… Read more »
Buffett praises BofA’s Ken Lewis — not!
Description: The Berkshire Hathaway chief notes the ‘irony’ in the BofA chief having saved the system — by overpaying for Merrill Lynch just hours before it would have failed. Source: CNNMoney.com Date: 9/16/2009 Keys: Analysis (p85), Stock market (p281) Link: http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/16/news/newsmakers/lewis.faint.praise.fortune/index.htm Questions for discussion: Do you think the Buffett’s criticism of Lewis is fair? What… Read more »
Rumor: Twitter’s worth $1B
Description: The microblogging site reportedly is planning to raise $100 million this year based on that valuation. Embedded video from CNNMoney.com Video Source: CNNMoney – video report  Date: 9/25/2009 Keys: Raising capital, valuations, IPO Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2009/09/25/f_tt_twitter_valuation.fortune/ Questions for discussion: Summarize the arguments for concern over Twitter’s valuation. Do you have similar concerns? Explain your… Read more »
RIM’s stock drops 17% on outlook
Description: BlackBerry maker Research in Motion reported a 37% jump in revenue after the bell Thursday, but its gloomy forecast punished the stock Friday. Source: CNNMoney.com Date: 9/25/2009 Keys: Investing, stock market Link:Â http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/25/technology/research_in_motion_stock_falls/index.htm?postversion=2009092517 Questions for discussion: Do you think the drop in market price is justified or is this an opportunity to buy on… Read more »
Unilever pays 1.3 bln euros for Sara Lee brands
Description: Sara Lee Corp (SLE.N)will sell its personal care brands like Sanex and Brylcreem for $1.87 billion (1.275 billion euros) to consumer goods giant Unilever and set a $1 billion share buyback plan, sending its stock up 6 percent. Sara Lee also said on Friday it has seen significant interest in its household products business,… Read more »
Dell Pays 68% Premium for Perot’s Health Technology
Description: Dell Inc.’s proposed $3.9 billion buyout of Perot Systems Corp. reflects the second-largest personal-computer maker’s ambitions in the market for health- care information technology. Source: Bloomberg.com Date: 9/22/2009 Keys: Mergers and acquisitions, marketing Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aQoF5RIBfpSY Questions for discussion: Explain why this deal makes sense for Dell. How might it affect its financial metrics –… Read more »
Study shows U.S. bank CEO pay dwarfs rest of world
Description: You wouldn’t know it by his pay stubs, but Jiang Jianqing heads the world’s largest bank. Jiang, chairman of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, made just $234,700 in 2008. That’s less than 2 percent of the $19.6 million awarded to Jamie Dimon, chief executive of the world’s fourth-largest bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co…. Read more »
