Crude-oil Climbs To Its Highests At $117
April 20, 2008
Crude-oil has reached a record high of $116.69 per barrel after news of a sabotage on pipelines in Nigeria was released and even the fortifying dollar couldn’t stop halt the rise.
After markets closed on Friday, electronic trading saw the price rise even higher, to $117 per barrel. Delivered crude-oil for May has also risen, to $1.83, or 1.6%, which lands it at $116.69 per barrel for the New York Mercantile Exchange. This marks a 6.2% rise on oil prices for the week.
Euro Countries Bring Down Deficit
April 18, 2008
Within the countries that have the Euro as their currency, it was seen that they were able to bring the country’s deficit to the European Union limit in 2007. With the growth of the European Union economically, many of the governments were able to claim the surplus of tax windfalls.
With the effect of the drop in the economy from the United States, the combined EU deficit stands at 0.6 percent what is a strong percentage to be at as the economy and the real estate industry continues to slide.
Even the countries that are commonly over the combined EU deficit - Italy and Portugal - reported a drop. Italy had a drop of three percent with a deficit at 1.9 percent, while Portugal’s deficit dropped by 3.9 percent.
Bleak Report For IMS Health
April 16, 2008
The firm IMS Health has released information reflecting the state of the economy. The company participates in market research for drug and health care companies. However, IMS Health said that their 2008 first quarter profit was reduced by thirty-one percent, as compared to this time last year.
According to economic analysts, the company made about $59.2 US million, whereas last year it was earning $85.6 US million. This translates into a share value in the first quarter of 2008 equal to thrity-two cents, compared with a previous value of forty-three cents last year.
Petition Letter Sent To Release Wecht
April 16, 2008
In the midst of the recent case against the pathologist Cyril Wecht, at least 33 people have sent a petition letter asking the United States Attorney General to dismiss the charges against Wecht.
Information released state that the petition letter challenges the charges that the Attorney General has made against Wecht. The letter challenged that the case was not a strong one, based on the retrial for May 27th. In the previous trial on April 8th, the jury was not able to reach either a not guilty or guilty verdict.
Many upstanding members of the community have signed the letter. For example, attorneys and a retired agent for the FBI.
Only Three Year Refund For Mining Companies
April 15, 2008
In 1978, a tax on coal was placed, but this decision was vetoed within the Supreme Court about twenty years later. It was found that at least ten percent of the coal was being exported. As a result, coal exported to international countries could not be properly taxed.
However some of the mining companies continued to pay a coal tax, even after the tax was overturned. A lot of this companies were small businesses that did not keep themselves properly informed about the industry laws.
When the minin companies realised they were still pay taxes, they filed a lawsuit under the Tucker Act to dispute their right to claim back a refund for the past six years. The judge handling the case, however, decided against their six year claim and only granted the companies a three year refund. He stated that they were not eligible under the Tucker Act.
Wachovia Stocks Drop By $3.01
April 14, 2008
With the rockiness of the stock market and the economy, Wachovia shares dropped during premarket.
This was in response to the bank stating that they would like to put at least seven billion of its stock up for sale. This is a consequence of reduced revenue after its first quarter, and having a lower dividend than the original.
By reducing stock amount, Wachovia will keep at least two billion dollars in savings. Wachovia is now trading at $24.80 after a drop of at ten point eight percent.
Beijing Will Allow Smoking For Olympic Games
April 14, 2008
It was previously stated that Beijing would not allow people to smoke within restaurants with the new smoking ban in May 1st. However, with the unpopularity of the Summer Olympics to be held in Beijing, the government is worried that to have a complete nonsmoking ban in bars and restaurant will hurt the amount of revenue from the Games.
Therefore, smoking in restaurants is still possible, but the restaurants if the restaurant has separated into a smoking and nonsmoking area. The smoking ban will not include bars and internet cafes, as this is where the government hopes to make the most of its money.
It is estimated that over three hundred million smokers live within the country of China.
Aruba Network Shares Worsen
April 11, 2008
A drop of about 12% of the shares that have lost their value in the first place, Aruba Network shares, as analysts evaluated, have worsened since Thursday, leaving the company without any meaningful way to be competitive despite a recent profit warning.
Shares in the Sunnyvale company increased from fifty-four cents to $ 5.23 US dollars, during the last part of March.
At the beginning of April, weak sales were responsible for a lowered earning forecasts, and even with the remaining weeks in the fiscal year for Aruba, it is not expected that there will be much change or stronger sales to compensate.
Drug Company Splits To Remain Competitive
April 11, 2008
PDL Biopharma Inc announced that it will pay a dividend to any shareholder of about $4.25 US dollars after it will split the company.
This will bring the cash benefits of the new company to $375 million US dollars.
The company has an initial cash injection, as well as potential milestone payments, royalties, and sales of its cardiovascular products for the past three years.
After the company is split, it will collect revenue from existing and future royalties of all licensed products. This will distributed as profits to shareholders. The company believes it can achieve sales of more than $240 to $260 million US dollars.
These sales will be on a variety of products, including: Genentech’s cancer drug, and sales of Elan Pharmaceuticals drug Tysabri.
Wall Street Stocks Increase On Good News
April 10, 2008
There was an increase of Wall Street stocks on Thursday. This information was good news to investors after succumbing to the drop in the stock market, earlier in the month. The rise in the stock market was due to an increase in sales by retailers and a decrease in unemployment claims.
Previously unemployment claims rose to a new high within the past month, but this week showed a dramatic decrease in people claiming unemployment benefits, and this strengthened the stock market.
However, many are not sure if this good news will spill into the banking industry, especially with Lehman Brothers Holdings stating they had to liquidate the assets of at least three funds.
Chevron Posts Higher Earnings
April 9, 2008
Despite producing less oil this quarter than in the last, Chevron Corp. announced yesterday that they are expecting net income for the first quarter to be higher than earnings for the last year’s fourth quarter.
Production and exploration are being hailed as the reason behind the mild upward movement in revenues, along with higher prices on both oil and natural gas.
The interim quarterly report of Chevron closed at $89.95, which has led the company’s shares up by 0.7%.
4Q Revenues Down For Bed Bath & Beyond.
April 9, 2008
In a statement released on Wednesday night, Bed Bath & Beyond announced that their fourth quarter profits declined to $172.9 million from $205.8 million. That is .66c per share down from .72c per share this time last year. Overall revenues also saw a reduction, from $1.99 billion to $1.93 billion over the last year.
Prior to this announcement, analysts were expecting the company to release a forth quarter profit of .66c per share, which was based on a revenue of $1.97 billion. The company itself is expecting first quarter profits to be between .26c to .30c per share even though analysts are still predicting .38c per share.
Microsoft Speaks Out Over Google-Yahoo Deal
April 9, 2008
Microsoft Corp. made a statement on Wednesday night in which they accused the new ad deal between Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. of creating a greatly reducing the competition in the advertising market when juxtaposed with the proposal that Microsoft had put forward for the acquisition of Yahoo.
The statement from Microsoft said that any deal between Google and Yahoo would place 90% of the search advertising market in the control of Google.
According to the statement, Microsoft has not given up completely as they intend to consider their options further.
A statment was released earlier in the week from Yahoo, in which they announced they will be initiating limited testing of the AdSense for Search application made by Google.
Kodak Buys Printing Company Intermate
April 9, 2008
The company Kodak is well known for its photography related software and hardware, has announced that it purchased the holdings of the Intermate company.
Intermate is based in Denmark, and is responsible for producing all of the computer hardware and software applications that are used by manufactures to operate printers.
The software and hardware Intermate manufactures is used to produce receipts or other items used as in sale transactions.
According to Kodak’s President Philip Faraci, the recent buyout of Intermate will help Kodak grow tremendously within the printing industry.
Tax Refund Needed By Many To Pay Bills
April 9, 2008
The way in which the United States economy is today, many people are happy to receive a tax refund from the government. However, in recent
years a trend has been growing. Previously, members of the public might have put their tax refund into a savings account or save it for a rainy day.
However, many people are now using this refund to pay bills.
The amount of people that depend on their tax refund to pay bills has rose steadily over the last few years, until it has been reported that at least
thirty-five percent of people will use their refund to settle an outstanding debt.
Analysts say that this percentage is an increase from at least twenty-seven percent from last year.
Shares Drop For Major Drug Companies
April 8, 2008
One area on the stock market that gained attention this week were shares involving drug companies. Shares of many of these companies fell as the stock market opened.
During the opening, the biggest fall in price was from Astra Zeneca PLC. They are produces of the drug Nexium, however, the shares were reduced in price by Goldman Sachs. There was a decline by more than three percent.
Astra Zeneca PLC is currently in competition with Ranbaxy over the generic version of Nexium, and with Teva Pharmaceuticals over the generic version of Seroquel.
Shares in GlaxoSmithKline also fell by more than three percent - 3.7 - after the FDA issued a warning letter to the company demanding to see the results of the studies they conducted on the diabetic drug Avandia.
Clinton Adamant About Not Supporting Columbian FTA
April 8, 2008
With recent discussions underway about the possibility of the United States going into a free trade agreement with the South American country Columbia, Senator Hilary Clinton was quick to voice her disproval of the matter.
There has been a lot of drama concerning this issue, as supporters for Hilary Clinton also support the proposed free trade with Columbia.
For example, a Campaign strategist was let go after it was discovered they supported the free trade agreement.
Of course Clinton is not alone in her opposition to the potential free trade with Columbia, as many other labour groups and unions state that a free trade agreement will cause less US jobs.
Clinton vehemently stated that she would not ever support such an agreement.
Many Illegals Filing US Income Tax
April 7, 2008
Even though their immigration status might be illegal, even illegal workers will pay income tax, without the small probability that a refund claim is obtained, and no hope of social security checks in the future.
The US government does collect tax on illegal immigrants, experts agree. How much do they pay the federal government will not be easy to determine because it is not tracked. However, recent data show that the billions of dollars in federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes for the year, at certain amount was paid by people using fake data, suggesting illegal immigrants.
The IRS is a very important part of the federal government to collect the taxes sourced from the salary of legal workers, as well as undocumented workers. However, some illegal immigrants come and select to file an income tax, using ITIN numbers issued by the IRS, even though they might be owed a refund, that they are too afraid to apply for.
In total, the IRS believes that of the $9 billion US dollars collected since 2005, a percentage of this was paid by illegals working within the country.
Analysts Wait For Minutes Of Federal Open Market Committee
April 7, 2008
As economic analysts are patiently waiting the release of the news from the previous meeting of the Federal Reserve, it was observed that the prices for the Treasury did not change by many percentage points.
At the moment many people are sitting at the edge of their seat waiting to hear if there will be a reduction in interest rates when the Federal Open Market Committee meets again at the end of the month.
With the volatile nature of the stock market in the past, any who has invested in stocks and bonds is also eagerly awaiting the report from the Federal Reserve, and hoping that the recent stability of the market will continue.
American Airlines Postpones Hiring
April 4, 2008
The major airline company American Airlines has decided to stop hiring management and airline support workers at the moment. This hiring freeze is due to the declining economy and the increase in the price of fuel that airlines are faced with.
The company will still employ anyone who was offered a job before April, but will stop hiring any more staff at this time. According to airline spokeman, Andy Backover, “I think it’s no secret that the entire industry, including us, has been struggling to contain costs, mainly the cost of fuel,” he stated.
This hiring freeze is just another clue of how things are at the moment within the airline industry.
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