152 Discussion / Question Topics
Remove Filter  | Technology workers are nervous enough without worrying about the health and safety of their investment deposits. While I think what I'm bringing to you now is nine parts hyperbole and one part reality, it makes for an interesting and even frightening discussion. Specifically, are your bank and investment deposits safe? …  |
| | In Part I of our look at the proposed economic policies of John McCain and Barack Obama, we found that each candidate brings his parties economic idealism to the table, whether that's a good or a bad thing. McCain will be a no-taxes, free-trading, domestic drilling supply sider right out … |
| | There’s an old joke that the definition of a successful politician is a person who can stand on a fence and make voters believe it’s a platform. That’s a tall order, however, for presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama – especially when it comes to their economic policies (and … |
| | The big news in the financial markets today is that New Orleans largely escaped the wrath of hurricane Gustav, which hit land about 85 miles west of the city, and lost some of its luster on the way in to shore. Still, oil companies haven’t tallied any potential damage yet … |
| | In the words of the immortal Chris Farley . . . “Holy Shnikey’s!” That was my reaction after watching Dell’s stock tank after what pundits are billing as an “underwhelming” second quarter earnings performance. Investors seemed to agree on Thursday, as Dell stock fell 13% to under $22 per share … |
| | A lousy way to start off the week on Wall Street. Stocks were down 250 points by 1 PM Monday, mostly from downbeat earnings expectations from financial giant AIG. Adding fuel to the fire was a modest spike in oil prices (to $115 per barrel) mostly due the onslaught of … |
| | It's football season and time for the old "option" play - with Cisco Systems, IBM and Hewlett-Packard lining up in the backfield. Options are a riskier way of investing on stocks. Essentially, options allow you to buy or sell a company's stock at a stated price and a stated date. … |
| | Salesforce.com is one of those companies that business writers and Wall Street investors refer to as an “upstart” or a “growth” company. But those days may be over. The company pioneered the concept of software-as-a-service, which enables companies and individuals to access software over the Internet via a web browser. … |
| | I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about specific technology companies that could take off and add some real beef to your financial portfolio (or warn you about tech stocks that could cut into your market gains). What I'd like to do more is to discuss countries …  |
| | Last week saw a potential top in commodities prices, as both oil and gold prices seem to have stalled out from their upward march in 2008. That should have spelled relief for the stock market, which has been down by 13% in 2008, as measured by the Dow Jones Industrial … |
| | I've written about the importance of knowing your investments before you buy them. You might remember the story about Fidelity Magellan mutual fund legend Peter Lynch, who would spend his Saturdays walking around Boston looking to see where shoppers were spending their money. Then he'd invest Magellan's money in the … |
| | This week doesn’t bode well for the overall stock market, even though the Dow Jones was up 300 points on Friday, and even though tech stocks have held up well over the past few weeks in a volatile traading environment. My chief concern is the Russia military action in Georgia. … |
| | First, the not-so-good news, then on to some encouraging revenue numbers for Motorola. Below I’ve condensed today’s big economic news as reported by the Associated Press, with the second quarter gross domestic product numbers coming in less than expected . . . -- Economic growth clocked in at a 1.9 … |
| | Information Week has a great piece out on how IT CEO’s are riding out the rough economy. Surely, the 266 hike in the Dow Jones Industrial Average today, thanks to lower oil prices and a report indicating increased consumer sentiment, should soothe the jangled nerves of even the most downcast … |
| | I was going to write that the Q2 quarterly numbers (not just in the tech sector but across the board) were better than most experts predicted. For the most part, that’s true. U.S. companies have performed fairly well for the past quarter, thanks especially to increased sales overseas and a … |
| | Oh, my - eBay shares dropped 7% in Wednesday trading. That after the company announced in a wide-ranging conference call with analysts that it wouldn’t meet current quarterly sales and revenue projections. That throws cold water on eBay’s reputation as a company that constantly delivers a positive earnings outlook every … |
| | I noticed that Market Pulse stock picking guru Bernard Schmitt put Sun Microsystems on his “closely watched” list, ultimately tagging Sun’s stock as a “bearish” one. Why? He says he doesn’t like the company’s fundamentals; doesn’t like the stability of the software server market, where Sun historically makes it hay; … |
| | News on the markets focused on President Bush’s removal of a 30-year-old ban on offshore drilling off the coast of the United States. But that’s only one step – he needs Congress to remove the ban completely and so far that’s showing no sign of happening. But there was some … |
| | It's a busy Monday morning for tech companies on Wall Street, with Apple announcing that over one million new G3 iPhones were sold last week (despite a public relations black eye over a downed Apple server that kept the new phones dark for thousands of new customers). Apple's stock is … |
| | Looking for a “relief rally”? That’s what Wall Street calls a temporary lull in selling that could lead to a more sustainable uptick in broad-based stock prices. Usually, it’s one industry that feeds the bounce-back and Kevin DePew, an analyst and editor at Minyanville.com, which tracks the stock market, says … |
| | A decent day in tech trading, with both the Morgan Stanley “Big 35” tech benchmark and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up from week-long lows. Maybe it’s the first day of the quarter and people are just glad the last one is over, or maybe the July 4th margaritas are going … |
| | The stock market is taking another major hit today after consumer confidence numbers came in well below expectations. The Conference Board, which measures the monthly consumer confidence number, reports that June’s number fell to 50.4%, down from 57% in May. Big investors had been anticipating consumer confidence numbers in the … |
| | Nasdaq is up nine points to 2,463 in Monday afternoon trading, with a slew of encouraging news from the technology sector, especially good news on the cell phone front and news that federal regulators will okay the Sirius/XM Satellite merger. Sirius is up five percent, to $2.68 while XM rose … |
| | Everybody's touting Intel as being the trigger for a run-up in chip stocks late last week, although I like the numbers that National Semiconductor is showing. What's beyond debate, however, is that the semiconductor market is on the rebound amid signs that the sector's long decline may finally be over. … |
| | Oh boy, just when we thought we were out of the woods, high oil prices are pulling us back in again. Oil prices skyrocketed by $7 a barrel today to $135 a barrel, gathering even more momentum after Thursday's big bump-up, and that, unfortunately, is the good news. A new … |
| | I know that, technically speaking, airline stocks aren't technology stocks (although I can't think of a more amazing technology that one which enables a 10-ton tube of metal to become airborne in New York and drop you safely in Chicago two hours later) but hear me out. This could be … |
| | Want to take a second look at a former high-flying tech stock? How about CA, the information technology giant, whose slow-and-steady growth is occurring mostly under the radar of most Wall Street observers? But that might not last too long, especially as CA’s most recent quarterly financials, released last Friday, … |
| | Taxes, inflation, oil prices – even the price of corn are dominating the economic headlines these days. But should they overshadow the story of the (briefly resurgent) U.S. dollar? I don't think so - and I don't think anyone in the tech sector should sell the dollar story short, either. … |
| | Is the Tel-Com industry going the way of the dinosaur? If worldwide trends in 2008 are any indication, that very well could be the case. Speaking of case, the tech industry research and analytical firm Heavy Reading is on it. In a study released this week entitled “Reinventing the Telco: …  |
| | Samsung Electronics had good news for the world equity markets, telling investors that it would post a 37% increasing earnings over the first quarter of 2008. The news wasn't so hot at consumer electronics competitor Toshiba Corp., which announced a 95% drop in profits. So why the disparity? Let's tackle … |
| | Harris Associates is typically one of the better value strategists out there - especially when it comes to finding value in technology stocks. One reason is why is the stock-picking acumen of chief information officer David Herro. He was interviewed on Tech Ticker this morning and had some interesting things … |
| | There's a lot of pressure on CEO's to keep costs down in a struggling economy. One way they can do that is by outsourcing their IT services to overseas firms, especially to India. Now, this isn't exactly breaking news, but the rate that company's are turning to lower cost outsourcing … |
| | Tech stocks have been lagging along with the rest of the stock market so far in 2008, but its long-term prospects are much, much better. So says Imran Khan, a JP Morgan senior analysts who specializes in the telecom and Internet markets. Khan is one of my favorite analysts and … |
| | I’ve been tough on Google this year, and with good reason. Part of what I do is write about how technology impacts the financial fortunes of companies and Google has been losing market share to the lousy economy and to other web portal developers in recent months. Look at online … |
| | It’s a big day for semiconductor stocks, with an upbeat forecast from chip giant Intel boosting stocks in other semiconductor companies and giving the overall market a nice bounce, as well. Through mid-morning trading, Intel is up $1, to $22 per share. Other chip companies are following suit . . … |
| | The roller coaster ride for tech stocks grew even wilder today, but in a good, adrenaline-rush kind of way. The news is mostly all good, with Banc of America Securities issuing a report that boosted semiconductor companies, stating that "a modest inventory build-up has eased". That's all investors needed to … |
| | With the semiconductor market on the ropes, Intel is doing all it can to stay relevant - financially and globally. To that end, today's news that Intel has "doubled down" on China by rolling out its second venture fund in the burgeoning Far East Tiger. The fund, to be called … |
| | It’s been a lousy first quarter for tech stocks but the outlook for the second quarter of 2008 looks brighter and shinier. So say the investment gurus at Tech Ticker – specifically former Wall Street tech analyst Henry Blodget and Barons West Coast editor Eric Savitz. Savitz says there are … |
| | In case you hadn’t heard, and you probably have, Blu-ray has come out on top over HD-DVD in the new age video consumer marketplace. I thought that the higher prices for Blu-ray DVD players would work against it, but the superior technology and the always important “look-and-feel” quotient for Blu-ray … |
| | I wrote about Motorola last year, when the consumer technology provider was struggling to keep up with tougher Asian market competitors like Samsung and Nokia. The Associated Press reports that shares of Motorola, which has a market value of about $22 billion, have fallen more than 60 percent since October … |
| | I was talking to my brother again this Easter weekend – the one who traded equity options on Wall Street for 20 years. He’s consulting now, but still has some good opinions on the markets – especially the stock market over the past two or three bruising months – and … |
| | Forbes.com has a great piece on former microprocessing kingpin Intel, which held its annual meeting today (being Wednesday). The lowdown on the thoroughly reported story is that Intel may be building things up higher (or better) than they actually are. At the meeting, Intel employees were busy rolling out the … |
| | Ughhh . . . The markets continue to resemble a guy who swallowed too many red hot chili peppers, only with no Tums or ice water in sight. The problem this week is last Friday's jobs report. Down 63,000 jobs and with the outlook unsteady for new hirings, economists buzzed … |
| | Ugh. The tech meltdown turn toward the telecom sector this week, fixing its dark gaze on companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint Nextel, among others. On Thursday, shares of telecommunications companies fell badly from the ongoing fallout amid credit concerns. The carnage was grim and deep. U.S. traded shares of … |
| | I caught a technology sector analyst from Invesco on Yahoo's Tech Ticker this morning who had some interesting things to say about the dysfunctional relationship between the technology stock sector and the subcrime . . . err . . . subprime credit debacle. It seems that the credit & lending … |
| | Businesses are snapping their wallets shut, at least when it comes to software spending - usually a good leading indicator of economic growth. One key benchmark, the ChangeWave corporate software spending survey, has seen a shift into negative territory for the first time in years. In its January, 2008 survey …  |
| | How stupid is the state of Maryland? No, not it's fine people, but it's short-sighted governor Marty O'Malley and its state legislature, which recently upped taxes state-wide in an effort to fund new programs and pay for additional government services. The tax hike has residents steaming and companies rallying to … |
| | Anybody reading this blog knows that the media has been adamant about the U.S. economy tanking into recession, with reporters putting their notebooks and tape recorders down and waving pom-pom's in support of economic strife for millions of Americans. Why? Once again, who knows? Probably because it's a compelling story … |
| | It's not exactly a great time for CEO's and other boardroom types to be squawking over executive pay - especially over the prickly topic of who decides how much cash & compensation corporate managers should take home with them. But even in a tough economic climate where shareholders are understandably … |
| | Ugh . . . . Another lousy week for tech stocks. For the whole stock market, for that matter. But technology stocks bore the brunt of it. Let's look at some of the bigger players. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Company One-Week Return Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) - 12.4% Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) - 11.3% Research … |
The End.