168 Archived Topics
Remove Filter  | Has there been a technology "leap" in the semiconductor market? Some people think so. But should investors go along for the ride? Earlier this year, George Scalise, the president of the Semiconductor Industry Association, was issuing talking points to the press over the relative health of the semiconductor sector. Much … |
| | We've been talking about "upside" in the technology stock sector all week. Hand held devices and memory cards were the sectors at the top of that list, and should stay that way. Another side to the upside discussion is who, exactly, will be buying these products? After all, a lot …  |
| | I had to shake my head when I read about the latest GDP numbers today. The news is good, maybe even great for the economy – a 3.8% upward spike in gross domestic product for the second quarter (the numbers were revised from the original GDP estimates, and were light …  |
| | In the customer service game, perception is everything. It can spell the difference between a company recording its annual revenues in black ink or red. I read a story once in USA Today about a guy named John Barrier, who didn’t like the way a bank manager in Spokane, Washington, … |
| | 90% of the game on Wall Street is picking stocks that will rise before they actually do. It's not easy. If everyone could do that, then everyone would be doing that. But stock-picking is not easy. It's akin to shooting an arrow at a moving target that you can't even … |
| | The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article out this morning touting a new defensiveness among investors -- and what they plan on doing to protect their portfolios against a possible recession. "With the housing downturn, credit crunch, gloomy employment data and a parade of maudlin financial forecasts have been … |
| | I wrote in an earlier blog about the time I met and interviewed Bill Gates, the brains behind Microsoft. I cornered Gates outside a back door at the Omni in Atlanta in 1991, where he had just delivered a speech at Comdex. Leaning on a bike stand, Gates riffed for … |
| | Last week I went and did something I swore I’d never do – save 15% or more on my car insurance with Geico.com. Yep, I know all about the annoying lizard and the perpetually ticked off cavemen. I went ahead and did it anyway. The trigger point was a letter … |
| | I have to admit, on my perch here overlooking Wall Street, of the industries traders typcially jawbone about, video games arean't at the top of the list. Exhibit "A". At a dinner Wednesday night with three options traders over some Kobi steaks and some good wine, all the talk was …  |
| | Cell phone agreements have long been the bane of many subscriber's lives. Cloudy language, hidden fees, legalese traps, and contract terms that lean heavily in the favor of cell phone companies. Anyone who's been roped into a lousy cell phone contract can relate. It turns out that Congress relates, too. … |
| | Corporate marketers are paid to think five years ahead of the curve. Like hockey great Wayne Gretzky, who once said that he didn't skate to to where the puck is, but "where it would be", today's marketers have to know where the consumer marketplace is going, not where it is … |
| | Labor Day weekend is a busy one for travelers. Families out shopping for back to school supplies, sun-worshipers heading back from the beach, and scores of backyard barbecues and college football games to attend, all make for some serious gas-guzzling out on the nation's highways. With gasoline hovering at $3 … |
| | Last week I wrote that I am a big Apple fan, and I am. I think its products are better than other technology companies and that's especially true of Microsoft. Anyone who's ever spent hours trying to debug a Windows-based PC or closing out pop-ups ad that appear with all … |
| | Maybe the guy on those Biz Hubs commercials is right. Those nefarious multi-function business machines just might be out to get us. That's the position taken by a North Carolina compuer science professor who says those all-in-one multifunction business machines – the ones that print/ fax/ scan/ and copy -- … |
| | Allow me one last word on the credit crisis of last week. I hope by now I've demonstrated that credit and debt aren't the sole domain of green eye-shaded numbers crunchers on Wall Street. As the green-eye shaded numbers cruncher in your own company's finance department can tell you, bad … |
| | Okay, you have to admit, I called that one. In our last blog, I pointed out that a tight money supply could prevent companies, especially smaller ones, from getting money to grow their businesses, make new hires, do more research -- that sort of thing. I said that if companies … |
| | August 9, 2007 was a tough day on Wall Street, with stocks falling 400 points on increased credit concerns over the struggling mortgage lending market. On the same day insurance giant AIG released a report showing that borrowers in the category just above sub-prime were showing increased residential mortgage delinquencies. … |
| | Only a few weeks ago, things were rosy on Wall Street . . . well, as rosy as things can get in the money maelstrom of Manhattan. The Dow Jones Industrial Index (DJIA) -- the chief benchmark for the U.S. stock market -- had surpassed the magic 14,000 mark. Most … |
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