Walmart Revenues up!

Walmart reported Earnings today, and says its sales are up. The figures are up based on International sales. US stores have been Plagued with lower consumer spending which can be tied to higher gas prices and higher mortgage payments. Walmart says net income rose to $2.86 billion, or 70 cents per share, in the third quarter that ended Oct. 31, from $2.65 billion, or 63 cents per share, a year earlier.

Home Depot Earnings Down!

With a slow housing market, Home Depot home improvement store reported a slump in its third quarter. Earnings fell to $1.1 billion, or 60 cents a share, in the third quarter ended on Oct. 28 from $1.5 billion, or 73 cents a share, a year earlier.

Difference Between Home Equity Line And Home Equity Loan

Now that the Wall Street Journal Prime rate is lowered to 7.5 percent, home owners can take advantage of the lower rates if they wanted to borrow money from the Equity in their homes. The Big Question Consumers have to ask themselves is wether to get a home equity loan or a home equity line of Credit.

Home Equity Loan:

Payments are fixed.
Money is given in a lump sum.
With Home Equity Loan Payments includes Principle and Interest.
Monthly Payments are usually Higher

Home Equity Line of Credit:

Payments are Variable.
You pay interest only on the portion you use.
Payments are usually interest only for a few Years.
Monthly payments are usually lower.

To Qualify for the Equity loan and The Equity Line of Credit you need to have Employemnt, Credit History and a acceptable loan to value.

Employment is used because a lender will need to feel secured that you can pay for the loan or line of credit. Credit history is also important becuase every one needs credit to apply for loans a good credit rating shows your credibility to repay debts. The Loan to Value is important it determines how much credit a Financial Institution will lend. The loan to value is the ratio between what you owe on your house and what it's worth. Financial Institutions approve lines and loans which are usually with 80 percent loan to value. Example if you owe $40000.00 on a house worth $100000.00 your loan to value would be 40 percent.

ETrade to at Risk of Becoming Bankrupt?

Online Brokerage Etrade reported today that it can absorb a write down of up th 1 billiob dollars. Etrade stock fell to their lowest, since 2003. At the End of the closing day the stock fell to $3.55 amid credit fears stemmed from sub prime loans. Financial stocks have been taking a beating for the third quarter and Etrade is just another stock that taking a beating after it was downgradedby an analyst at Citigroup.

According to CNBC, Citi group Analyst Prashant A. Bhatia cut his rating on the stock, and said that their is a 15 percent chance that the company would file for bankruptcy. Etrade on the other hand is stating that it is able to adapt to shifting market trends.

The US Dollar trying to make a comeback!

Last week we say the US dollar hit an all time low against the major currencies. People in Europe could come to America and enjoy a lavish Vacation. The European Currency the Euro bought $1.4673, which is an All time high, on monday the dollar rose as the Euro retreated to $1.4568 in mid european trade day.

The British Pound which is also trading at an all time high against the US dollar retreated to $2.0679 from $2.0909.

Blackstone Group Reports Loss

Revenues are up at Blackstone but the company reported a loss of $113.2 million, or 44 cents a share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30. That compares with a $372.5 million profit Blackstone posted in the year-ago period.

Today the stock plunged 6 percent and is down around 40 percent from its all time high of $38.00 on its first day of trader, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Revenue rose 14 percent to $526.6 million from $461.5 million in the third quarter.

CEO's Rewarded Big for turning in Losses.

While some people my be sad that Chuck Prince of Citi Bank, and Stan O'neal of Merill Lynch is leaving their respective companies should not be sad just yet. Both Prince and O'neal held the highest offices within their companies. Third Quarter losses and huge write downs led to their ousters from their companies, even though both Citi and Merrill announced that they were Retiring.

When you are a CEO when you are forced to retire or retire when your company is in turmoil apparently you will be rewarded with the big dollars. Stan O'Neal, is leaving with $161.5 million in stock, options and retirement benefits, even after leaving the brokerage with its biggest ever quarterly loss in the third quarter. Prince will leave with an estimated $41 million dollars. This is really outrageous. To think about all the people who have loss a significant amount of money due to bad deals made by these companies.

Merck to Settle in Vioxx Case

Vioxx was a pain medication which was approved for sale in 1999. To many sufferers of Rheumatic diseases this was seen as a wonder drug it was so popular it pulled in an estimated 2.5 billion dollars for Merck.

In 2004 when tests showed that people on Vioxx were at increased risk of developing heart conditions and stroke, the company pulled the drug from the market. The decision to pull the drug from the market was triggered by multiple lawsuits against the company. Eleven cases were taken to trial and Merck loss five, now the wall street journal is reporting that the company is set to announce a settlement of 4.85 billion dollars

Merck to Settle in Vioxx Case

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Merck will announce a settlement in the ongoing vioxx cases in the amount of 4.85 billion dollars. Vioxx was one of the top earning drugs for Merck, pulling in a reportedly 2.5 billion dollars. The drug was approved for use in 1999 and was pulled from the market in 2004 after studies show patients who were on the drugs are at risk of developing heart attacks and strokes.

There were more than a thousand complaints and lawsuits against this drug. 11 cases were taken to trial and lost 5.

Visa to pay American Express 2.2 Billion Dollars in Antitrust case

The Antitrust case brought by Master card and American Express against rival Visa three years will cost Visa 2.2 billion dollars at least for now. Visa agreed to give this money to American Express to settle the suit. Master card wants to take the trail to court and has not settled with visa.

Visa is said to be preparing its IPO in coming months.

Record Loss For General Motors

A $39 billion dollar charge related to unclaimed tax credits and the loss of GMAC are what GM says is the reason for a 39 billion dollar third quarter loss. Total revenue fell to $43.8 billion from $48.9 billion a year earlier.

Euro Soaring to New Highs against US Dollar!

The Dollar is at an all time Low against the European currency, (The Euro). The Euro rose to $1.466 against the dollar in Asia after there is specualtion that the fastest rising Economy China might shift more of its foreign-currency stockpiles into the Euro and away from the US dollar.

If you live in Europe you might be thinking of taking advantage of the dollar being at a record low and take a vacation to the good old US of A. Euro is becoming the top currency and the currency of choice. Even people in the entertainment industry are demanding payment in Euros rather than the dollar.

The two rate cuts made by the Federal Reserve Bank only allowed the currency to sink deeper against its overseas counterparts. The Euro is like the google of the currency market as some traders now beleive that the Euro will rise as much as $1.50 against the dollar by year end.

Bank Of England Expected to hold rates steady.

If you invest in Europe, The Bank of England and the European Central bank are expected to keep the interest rates steady when they meet tommorrow. Slowing Ecomonic growth and the Subprime lending mess with Financial institutions are some of the things which will also be evaluated.

Through out Europe inflation is on the rise, and Economies growth rates are slowing down. The Governor of the Bank of England also believes that it will be months before the banks reveals all the losses which are sub-prime related. The bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee is expected to keep its key interest rate of 5.75 percent.

Analysts also believe that the European Central bank will alos keep the Key refinance rate of 4 percent. The outlook for the Bank of England is to cut the key interest rates in months to come becuase of the slow growth of the British Economy.

Toyota is King on the Auto world!

After battling with General Motors for market Capiralization, Toyota as a market capitalization of 200 billion dollars, making it Larger than top US auto makers Ford and General Motors and is the current number one auto maker. The company is even becoming more powerful in China, Russia and Emerging markets desite lack luster sales in home country Japan.

With price of Oil rising the company had strong sales with its hybrid car the prius and also with the Camry. Second-quarter net profit grew 11.1 percent to 451 billion yen, as stronger sales in Europe, Asia and other markets eclipsed the slide in the United States and Japan, Toyota's two biggest markets. Revenue rose 11.2 percent to 6.49 trillion yen.

Nasdaq reportedly buying the Philadelphia Exchange

CNBC has reported that the Nasdaq stock market will be purchasing the Philadelphia stock exchange for a reported 500 - 600 million dollars.

Alibaba.com the new Google.

Alibaba.com shares which opened today on the Hong Kong stock exchange as an IPO saw the stock price jump 122 percent. Its initioal price was 13.50 Hong Kong Dollars and the price jumped to 30 Hong Kong dollars. Alibaba.com said its share sale was the biggest technology IPO since Google in 2004.

Who is Prince Alwaleed?

Time Magazine called him the Arabian Warren Buffet, but who exactly Is Prince Alwaleed. With all the comotion at Citi group, his name as been heard with all week as citi reported that Chuck prince has resigned and the company has closed to an 11 billion dollar write down. Well Prince Alwaleed is the Largest Share holder of Citi.

Prince Al-Walid bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, born in 1955 and his a member of the royal familiy of Saudi Arabia. Alwaleed is an International investor who was ranked the 13th richest person in the world with his net worth estimated at 20 billion dollars according to forbes magazine.

Alwaleed initially bailed citi out of debt with 550 billion dollar bailout which is caused by,caused by underpreforming American real estate loan and Latin American businesses,Alwaleed's investment in the company now stands at 10 billion dollars.

Alwaleed is said to be pushing for the return of old citi leader Sanford Weill to lead the company on an interim basis after the departure of Chuck prince according to CNBC. Weill stepped down as Citigroup chief executive in 2003 and as chairman in 2006.

Another CEO bites the dust!

Chuck Prince resigned as CEO of Citigroup in an emergency meeting called by the board of Citi. This comes after the company announced a 6.5 billion dollar write down due to sub prime mortgage exposure, (Poor Business decisions). This comes exactly a week after Merrill Lynch CEO Stan O'neal retired at Merrill Lynch. Citi is also reporting that it expects an additional $5 billion to $7 billion after-tax write-down related to subprime mortgages.

For all the people who follow business news knows that Chuck Princes tunure was not a smooth ride as their were many management shake ups and many losses from bad debts and mortgages, and questions as to how he was running the company.

GOOGLES CLOSES ABOVE $ 700

I was only a matter of time since we reported that Google closed above $ 600, but we did not know it would get to $ 700 this quick. Google seems to be on fire and there is no turning back. The reason google is able to go up is its ability to branch into different areas of business rather than search.

Myspace along with several social networking websites joined in an alliance with Google to take on the the fastest growing social networking site Facebook which microsoft has a big stake.

According to Reuters, "Web search leader Google said on Thursday that MySpace will join its OpenSocial platform that allows developers to write programs across multiple social sites using one set of tools.The tools, which will become available early Friday on the Web, will eliminate the need for small start-ups or even one-person shops to customize their programs for each site.
"OpenSocial is going to become the de facto standard (for developers) instantly out of the gates. It is going to have a reach of 200 million users, which is way bigger than anything else out there," Chris DeWolfe, chief executive and co-founder of MySpace, told reporters.
Google unveiled the system earlier this week and said it has already lured some of the biggest developers aligned with Facebook, which opened its site to outside applications in May in a move that has helped boost its user base to more than 48 million people.Developers have created interactive programs that let users rank their friends, wage virtual food fights or compare and recommend music. Some of the applications are now used by millions of people and are already being sought out by advertisers."

For more information on the Myspace Google Alliance see Reuters Article, http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSWEN225320071101

Bernanke cuts rates again.

The Federal Reserve cuts rates today to help ease the housing slump, but at what cost, as I stated in previous post it might not be the best thing to cut rates, becuase with inflation looming. The US dollar is at an all time low with against the major currencies, and the price of oil being at an all time all.

According to the Wall Street Journal, "The decision, following a half-point cut six weeks ago, shows Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is grappling with risks on two fronts: Plunging home construction and eroding real-estate values could hit the broader economy, while rising oil and commodity prices, combined with a falling dollar, could spoil the Fed's hopes to contain inflation".

In his speech Bernanke seems to think that the housing slump will be a drag on the economy in 2008. We know from Economics 101 that lowering the interest rates usually leads to prices of goods, but if people have more money to spend demand for these goods will go up and the prices of these goods along with it.

The street saw stocks soaring after the Fed Chaiman announced the quarter point rate cut. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 137.54 ending its day at 13 930.01, The S&P 500 ended its day up 42.41 to close at 2859.12, and the Nasdaq closed up 18.36 to end its day at 1549.38.

The FED will meet again to discuss wether or not they will cut or increase interest rates on December 11th, 2007, this will also be their last meeting of the year.

Will the FED cut rates this week

It is widely speculated the Federal Reserve bank will cut rates this week after a half point reduction in September which swnd stocks soaring. A quarter point reduction is expected, but with inflation still a threat, and oil prices at record highs, and the dollar slipping to all the major currencies no one can say for sure what will happen. The Wall Street Journal reporter Greg Ip is not optimistic that the rates will be reduced. Ip said, said policymakers view this week's decision as a choice between a quarter-point cut to 4.5 percent and not moving at all.

for more on Ip's article, visit the Wall Street Journal at Http://www.wsj.com

Stan Oneal to RETIRE from Merrill Lynch

We Knew after a 8.4 billion dollar write down this quarter which stan oneal to the blame for would only lead to his demise from Merrill but we didn't know it would be announced in this fashion. Merrill Lynch announced that Stanley Oneal would retire immediately from Merrill, let me stress the word RETIRE. This announcement leaves the CEO position open and the company is in the process of searching both internal and external for a new CEO. They are many rumours that Oneal with receive a package as much as 160 million dollars.

Merrill CEO says Mistakes led to 2.3 billion dollar Loss.

Merrill Lynch CEO says that a lot of mistakes were made in the sub prime lending arm which led to the 7.9 billion dollar write down, but could it be a cover up for merrill trying to boost its profits by giving loans to people who could not afford it?

In a statement to CNBC, Oneal says, "The bottom line is we got it wrong by being overexposed to subprime, and we suffered as a result of an unprecedented liquidity squeeze and further deterioration of the market," O'Neal said during a conference call. "No one is more disappointed than I am at that result; I'm not going to talk around the fact that there were some mistakes that were made," he said. "We, I, am accountable for those mistakes just as I'm accountable for the performance of the firm overall."

Of all the big Wall street Banks Merrill Lynch is the only one to report a quarterly loss and with a 7.9 million dollar write down Merrill is by far the street's biggest loser companered to the combined writedown of 3.6 billion dollar writedown of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns.

At the opening of the markets the stock took a beating, opening as much as 6 percent down. This is not good news for merrill which as seen its down being down 28 percent since this year.

Boeing Soaring to New Highs

Boeing who is always competing with rival Airbus reported a 61 percent profit for the quarter ended september 30th 2007. the company rose to $1.1bn, from $694m a year ago.

Boeing delivered 109 commercial planes in the quarter, up 9% percent from the year-ago quarter, which helped boost sales at its commercial planes unit by 23% to $8.3 bn.
Defence revenue increased a more modest 3% to $8bn, helped by strong sales at its network and space systems unit.

Losses up to A Billion dollar in Califoria Fires

More than a half a million people evacuated from their homes, 5 people have been reported dead, and more than a Billion dollar in losses in the California fires in Malibu and San Diego. According to Reuters, "If the weather cooperates maybe we can turn the tide," U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said as he toured San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium, where 10,000 people have taken refuge. "We're still facing some very serious fires." Most of the destroyed homes are in the San Diego Area were one person was killed and another four reported in the evacuation process.

Not since Hurricane Katrina has the Nation seen an evacuation this big, and it is not a pretty site to see your home loss on television as thy could do nothing.

Updates at 11 am according to the Los Angeles times reported that the Weather conditions are improving and the winds which allow the fire to spread are dying down. The Times also reported that the fire is 75 percent contained in the Malibu Area, the Buckweed fire that burned through Canyon Country north of Los Angeles was 80% contained, and the Magic fire around Stevenson Ranch was 93% contained. The Ranch fire in northern Los Angeles County was about 10% contained.

for more up to date news on the california fires, visit http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/breakingnews/

Merrill posts $2.3 billion loss!

The world's largest brokerage reported a net loss of $2.3 billion, or $2.85 a share, from continuing operations, compared with profit of $3 billion, or $3.14 a share, in the year-ago period.

Merrill cites the loss after a 7.9 billion dollar write down caused by shaky risk management and mortgages in default. This is the first loss reported by Merrill Lynch in six years.

ING To pay money to cheated clients

ING Direct which offers the Orange account the will pay as much as 1 million to clients who were cheated out of money after one of its Brokers gambled away money from clients. According to Reuters, "William Galvin, the state's secretary of the Commonwealth, said Peter Tzamalas spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of his clients' money at Trump casinos in Atlantic City and Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos in Connecticut".

Since of late the Orange Account ads are everywhere. With this tragic news the company may have problems gaining new clients, because there is no physical presence.

Apple beats Earnings estimate

The minute we saw Steve Jobs introducing the Iphone to the world we knew Apple would have another hit on their hands. The company was able to revolutionize the music industry with its Ipod products. The Ipod is a Mp3 player, even though it is not the only one on the market it was the best selling one. Through its itunes online music service apple profited greatly. Apple Inc a company which had one percent of the computer market share is now a major player and the company still has a lot of potential to grow and so will its stock. Microsoft introduced a MP3 called zune to try to tap into the Ipod's territory , but still cannot best the Ipod in sales.

When the Iphone came out this summer the product was sold out within a week, and suddenly it was cool to have apple products, the Ipod the Iphone and the Mac are all becoming the thing to have. The main reason why apple is able to be so profitable is its ability to produce cutting edge innovativ products.

For the three months that ended Sept. 30, Apple said Monday it earned $904 million, or $1.01 per share, compared with $542 million, or 62 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Google's Stock is on Fire

Is Google going to a point of no return. The company closed at $650.75 and in after hours trading is $658.30. Is this a bubble? or is it the new Berkshire Hathaway? only time will tell. The price of the stock is up forty percent year to date, which if you ask me is a very good return on your investment.

Google seems to be branching out in different ventures, the company is reported to tap the mobile market and is set to introduce their new phone as early as February next year according to CNBC. Google's Ability to venture into new territory's such as its aquisition of Youtube.com are reasons why the company is able to grow and be profitable.

Google reported 3rd qtr 2007 earnings of $3.91 per share on 10/18/07. This beat the $3.78 consensus of the 31 analysts covering the company.

Bank of America's third profit falls!!!!!!

Financial Giant, Bank of America surprised everyone when the reported a less that expected profit for the third quarter. Bank of America's third-quarter net income dropped to $3.7 billion, or 82 cents per share, from $5.42 billion, or $1.18 a share, a year earlier.