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293 Posted Topics
 | In the alternative energy movement, the mantra is a simple one: go to where you want to be – not where you are now. Think of hockey great Wayne Gretzky, who once said “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it is has been, or … |
| | Feast or famine (probably famine); 2009 should be another interesting year for the tech sector. After all, any industry that can provide sexual performance drugs (Viagra) for the CIA to give to Afghan warlords is always going to find room on the front pages of every news outlet in the … |
| | I want to get to the impact of the current economic crisis on tech workers, but first a word on U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulsen, who engineered the mammoth $700 federal bailout of Wall Street with your tax dollars. And your kids' future tax dollars, and their kids' future tax … |
| | Uh-oh. When Barack Obama promised change, this wasn't what Wall Street was hoping for. The market was down, big time, today as investor came to grips with an Obama administration and its taxing impact on the investor class. Today's Yahoo.com headline said it all: "Stocks fall as investors ponder Obama … |
| | Is today the worst day of the recession? A lot of people seem to think so. I’ll get into that in a moment, in an otherwise light trading day for technology stocks. I think we’re seeing a run out of tech this week and into more stable companies, especially in … |
| | A new normal? That’s what one financial services guru says America consumers can expect now that the housing market has collapsed and people are losing their jobs in droves. “The worst is yet to come," adds Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates. He thinks that the once lofty American's … |
| | Intel is killing the tech sector this morning, down six percent in trading – to $14.40 per share – after a particularly dismal earnings outlook. I’ll get into the details in a moment, but it’s worth noting that we can’t just point the icy finger of guilt at Intel. I’m … |
| | The Street is still buzzing about Apple and its amazing quarterly performance numbers, boosted by solid iPod and iPhone sales, especially in the month of March. Apple’s stock is selling at $125 per share right now, but there is no shortage of analysts who believe that stock price is a … |
| | It’s no secret that one big key to unlocking the business and consumer technology spending lockbox is easier credit from banks and other lenders. On the surface, the better-than-expected earnings news from big banks like Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase gave a much-needed boost to that theory. … |
| | Will the tech sector lead an economic turnaround? Forbes.com thinks so. This week, Peter C. Beller writes that Monday’s IBM revenues numbers and the fallout from the proposed Oracle and Sun Microsystems could lay the groundwork for an economic rebound. I’ll get to the IBM numbers in a moment, but … |
| | I want to get to GameStop and the overall video game market, which finally seems to be losing steam. But tech is going nowhere until we straighten the banking mess out and this week’s earnings report from perhaps the biggest bank out there - Citi – is being falsely touted … |
| | So much for a “glimmer of hope”. Wall Street is looking more skeptically at claims from Washington that the economy is getting better. The stock market is down about 45 points in late morning trading, after more layoffs were announced by U.S. companies (Yahoo (YHOO) being one of them – … |
| | Google stock was up yesterday, down this morning and everyone has an opinion for the yo-yo effect currently frustrating Google investors. At the top of the list of issues is actually a projected issue – Google’s first quarter earnings which come out on Thursday. The sentiment is a downward one … |
| | President Obama – who only weeks ago warned of the greatest financial meltdown since the Great Depression if his $1.1 trillion stimulus package wasn’t passed by Congress - now says that he sees a “glimmer of hope” that the financial trauma is ending and that things could be stabilizing. Call … |
| | If you’re holding shares in Saleforce.com (StockQuote: CRM) it might be time to sell. So says Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Nemeroff. The analyst slashed his rating on Salesforce.com from “hold” to “sell” and says that the online sales giant’s current stock price of $36 is about $10 higher than his … |
| | Is it time to get back into the market? I don’t think so – if it walks like a sucker’s market, talks like a sucker’s market, and squawks like a sucker’s market, it’s a sucker’s market. Tech Ticker’s Aaron Task agrees. He says today that the U.S. still haven't dealt … |
| | The Nasdaq is down 43 points this morning, with Google (down $12) and RIMM (down $3) leading the charge down the hill, so to speak. I think we’re seeing the first symptoms of anther false bottom, which sounds incredible after hearing from so many experts on Wall Street that the … |
| | It didn’t take long for CA to pay the price for the lower earnings outlook that popped up among Wall Street analysts last week. The stock fell 3% today after Jefferies analyst Katherine Egbert downgraded CA to “hold” from “buy”, and lowered her target price for the computer giant’s stock … |
| | Apple is reportedly coming out with a new iPhone that will be so popular to consumers that it will drive the price of Apple’s stock up to over $140 per share. That’s the view of Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes, who upped his target price this morning on Apple from … |
| | Cisco isn’t putting the fear of God into Hewlett-Packard over its new entry into the blade server market. But even so, Cisco is seeing a nice run-up in its stock over the last three weeks - from under $13 per share to $17.50 per share – so Cisco shareholders don’t … |
| | My first job on Wall Street was on the equity options floor of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, running trades for Bear Stearns’ clients, mostly market maker and floor brokers trading on their own accounts or for affluent clients. Options are a tricky beast, and I don’t recommend that average investors … |
| | I’m back from a timely and tropical Florida break, and now I’m tanned, rested and ready to talk tech stocks. Issue #1 is Research in Motion, a stock on the upswing (at $44 per share) on news that it plans to roll out a new, full-service TV feature in the … |
| | On January 9, Google’s stock was at a historic low – at $290 per share – it spiked upward to $380 per share in mid-February before settling in at its current state at $340. Now, that’s a lot of volatility, even in this wild stock market environment. But Google has … |
| | Now that the news is out on IBM’s proposed $6.5 billion purchase of Sun Microsystems, analysts are in a lather over why Big Blue wants to make the deal. The Wall Street Journal originally broke the story, reporting that the merger “could help IBM in the finance and telecommunications markets … |
| | When you rush legislation through Washington, like Congress did with the two financial sector bailout bills, you lose the right to complain when the outcome blows up in your face That means you Senator Chris Dodd, who actually inserted the language in the $170 billion AIG bailout bill guaranteeing the … |
| | One more note on the solar energy piece I wrote about yesterday. Evidently, the bad news on solar energy has made its way across the country. According to Barclays Capital analyst Vishal Shah early today, two solar energy stocks have seen their ratings cut due to lousy demand for solar … |
| | CNBC has a list of big name U.S. companies that could slide into default – meaning they won’t be able to meet their financial obligations, including paying their employees. There are a few technology companies on CNBC’s liability list, and it makes for an interesting slideshow – but only if … |
| | There’s a lot of talk about ‘dead cat” bounces in the financial markets these days. Nobody really knows if the stock market has hit bottom, but last week’s rebound continues into Monday, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke went on “60 Minutes” and said that the recession could abate if … |
| | Tech employees are starting to take matters into their own hands, with some apparently not above kidnapping. Our story begins in southwestern France, at a soon-to-be-closed Sony plant where employees had suffered numerous layoffs. Frustrated with the aggressive pace of the layoffs, and the seeming arrogance among Sony execs in … |
| | The stock market is up about 10 points, trying to find some buoyancy after yesterday’s big 400-point gain. Traders credit two events for the quick market turnaround: Citi coming out and saying it actually made a profit during the last quarter and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announcing that the … |
| | Rumors are rampant over a proposed Verizon-Nokia deal on a 4G mobile device, as equity options traders snapped up calls (options to buy a given stock at lower prices) in anticipation of a big run-up in Nokia’s stock. Nokia is trading at: $8.76, up a tick or two from the … |
| | When Warren Buffett talks, Wall Street – and Main Street – listen. And now he’s talking about the future of the U.S. economy. In a wide-ranging, three-hour interview on CNBC yesterday, Buffett said, “the economy has fallen off a cliff.” Noting people have "changed their habits", Buffett seemed very frustrated … |
| | Charlie Payne, sounding a lot like Revolutionary War pamphleteer Thomas Paine, says that we're in the 2009 version of “these are the times that try men’s souls”. Of course, the historical Paine once also said that those who want to reap the benefits of this great nation must bear the … |
| | Two pieces of dispiriting information on the economy hit the big wire services today: The Associated Press -- The economy contracted at a staggering 6.2 percent pace at the end of 2008, the worst showing in a quarter-century, as consumers and businesses ratcheted back spending, plunging the country deeper into … |
| | Rumors were rampant all over Wall Street that Barack Obama trotted Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke out yesterday to calm the markets by declaring the recession could be over by the last half of 2009. It was a surprise to hear Bernanke, who’s been relatively quiet about the economy to … |
| | Is there hope for stocks in 2009? At all? A University of Iowa business professor things so, and he claims he has the data to prove it. It’s all about upside potential – and the fact that Wall Street has already baked a lot of the bad news into the … |
| | Are small company software stocks – especially medical technology companies -- a safe, even profitable, haven for investors these days? Could be – especially if you’re looking to forego higher-risk plays like oil and financials – that your focus should be on smaller med tech companies, one institutional investor advises. … |
| | Just one follow-up note (as promised) on the Sirius XM situation. Just days before Sirius XM purportedly was going to default on its next loan payment, Direct TV came through with a $534 bridge loan to keep Sirius afloat so it can continue to reorganize – possibly as a takeover … |
| | The bearish global economic environment just keeps adding pressure to technology stocks. As gross domestic product (GDP) drops in bourses around the globe, tech traders are nervous, at least for the short term. Take Japan. The Land of the Rising Sun is seeing a decline in GDP, falling to the …  |
| | Earlier in the year I clipped out a few expert predictions on technology stocks for 2009. From time to time, I’ll check in and see how those stocks are doing. It’s only six weeks into the new year, and perhaps it’s not fair to check in so early. Still, conditions … |
| | Some slivers of sunshine amidst the economic clouds today. First, retail sales are up for the first time in six months, perhaps signaling that consumers aren’t as bearish on the economy as President Obama appears to be. I like the President and certainly wish him success, but his mantra of … |
| | I’m a big fan of satellite radio. I have XM Radio in my car, and right now, at my desk as I’m writing these words, I’m listening to Frank Caliendo on XM's Laugh USA on channel 151. So I was very excited to hear last year that Sirius Radio and … |
| | Boy. What does a tech outfit have to do to get some love on Wall Street? Intel announces a $7 billion effort to upgrade a pair of chip manufacturing centers in the U.S. and Intel’s stock price actually drops by over 3% in Tuesday trading (to $14..44 per share). I’ll … |
| | I really don’t write enough about the biopharmaceutical market, which in tough economic times, can be a good defensive play relative to the rest of the market – even when compared to uniform technology stocks. My reasoning is simple. We have illness, disease, and injury in good economic times and … |
| | Beacon Research is out with its monthly, and highly useful take on technology stocks, focusing on Google and Yahoo, among others. In its “Traders Alert” report, Beacon says that a new alliance between Google and IBM make the latter a good buy. "Google Inc. (GOOG) shares slipped .38% to $341.70 … |
| | The Nasdaq was able to shake off the lousy jobs number today, and is up 31 points in mid-day trading. Apple, Dell, and Verizon are also way up – at around 3% each – as the market waits for Washington to come to terms on another bailout relief bill. The … |
| | Another sliver of sunshine in the economic clouds – two of them, actually – as the U.S. service sector shrank in January, but less severely than expected, according to a report released by The Institute for Supply Management. The ISM reported that its non-manufacturing index came in at 42.9 in … |
| | Topping the news this morning is an announcement by Citigroup that it will finally crack open its wallet, stuffed with over $45 billion tax-payer funded TARP cash, and start lending again. The financial giant had come under fire in recent months for taking the TARP money and sitting on it. … |
| | It’s Tuesday and all eyes on Wall Street are on Yahoo, where new CEO Carol Bartz is expected to lower expectations for Yahoo going forward as the tech behemoth issues its Q4 earnings results. We’re in the midst of the tech earnings season right now and there have been surprises … |
| | It’s a big bag, if a mixed one, for the financial markets and for technology companies today. Overall, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 42 points, buoyed somewhat by (finally) some good economic news. Check out Monday’s housing sales numbers, which unexpectedly rose off of record lows. Also, a … |
The End.