Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) shares got slammed big time on Wednesday in heavy volume plunging 19% and touched a 52-week low. While some analysts said the company's longer-term prospects remain solid as the economy recovers, there are warning signs indicating otherwise.
President Obama and Secretary Geithner are talking yuan tough again as the currency has risen only 1.53% since June. Economists estimate the yuan is undervalued by 12% to 40%. This makes yuan an effective political diversion of the high U.S. unemployment in an election year. The prevailing argument in Washington is that a yuan appreciation would bring manufacturing jobs back to America. Nevertheless, I believe this is overly hyped, exaggerated, and mostly politically motivated. Besides, not everyone is as certain about how large a role the RMB's value would play in the U.S. economy.
After much speculation and many flying rumors, Japanese government stepped in and intervened--sell yen, buy dollar--for the first time in six years. But the bigger question is whether this would achieve the ultimate goal--pushing export and domestic price levels high enough to help fight deflation--which has plagued the country for a decade.
Spot gold Tuesday hit a record $1,274.75 an ounce,drifted lower on Wednesday partly weighed down by fresh comments from billionaire financier George Soros that gold is the ''ultimate bubble,' and that "this is a period of great uncertainty so nothing is very safe."
On Labor Day, President Obama announced a new $50-billion infrastructure plan next year as a way of a second stimulus for job creations as well as for the faltering economic recovery. However, in light of the fact that the Democrats are losing a bunch of congressional seats, and their majority, this new plan would seem more of a last-ditch effort with little substance. So far, the Obama administration has demonstrated very little understanding of the economy, markets, and business.
In response to HP's suit against its former CEO Mark Hurd to block him from working at Oracle, Larry Ellison threatened the suit could jeopardize the 25-year partnership between HP and Oracle. Whereas in fact, if anything Ellison was trying to instigate a fued with HP.
Hewlett-Packard Co. slapped Mark Hurd, the CEO it ousted last month, with a law suit soon after rival Oracle Corp. named Hurd as Co-president and Director. HP claims that Hurd cannot perform his job at Oracle without violating a confidentiality agreement.
The back-to-back super-sized traffic jams near Beijing has landed China on the top spot among the cities with the world's worst traffic. While the world seems quite fixated on the length--miles and number of days--of these mega jams near Beijing, there's also a serious message--the under-capacity of China’s infrastructure.
The 3PAR saga finally came to a close on Sep. 2 with Dell beaten by Hewlett-Packard in an 18-day bidding war. The final price tag of 3PAR is at $33 a share, or $2.35 billion, almost twice Dell’s initial offer at $18 a share last month. So, does this acquisition make sense for HP?
Merger mania is definitely back in the Tech sector. However, the more intriguing story (or rumor) is when news broke on Sunday night that Cisco (CSCO) has made an offer to acquire Skype before they complete their IPO.
While the fierce 3PAR bidding war is becoming even more exciting than a live Sotheby auction, the most active market sector in terms of consolidation is undeniably Technology, and there is a reason for this wave of M&As.
The Hindenburg Omen was triggered again last week. But before everyone goes running for the exit, the probability of a major stock market crash was only 24%, and it would also help to take a closer look at the significance of the Hindenburg Omen itself.
The 10 year T-Note is currently yielding 2.5%, and the fed`s latest quantitative easing initiative is becoming counterproductive to their stated purpose of trying to stimulate the economy by encouraging more risk taking. The issue is that Mr. Ben Bernanke and the Fed governors although great academicians have failed to take account for how traders and financial markets impact and take advantage of Fed policy.
While China is the top U.S. debt holder in the world, percentage-of-GDP-wise, the U.S. receives relatively very little non-bond investment from China, mostly due to the long existing tensions over various issues, including but not limited to, trade imbalance and currency. However, there has been some changes on both sides since CNOOC was blocked from the Unocal acquisition in 2005.
