Germany posts
FeedPosted Oct 15th 2010 10:00AM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Management, Rants and Raves, General Electric (GE), Money and Finance Today, Chasing Value™, Stocks to Buy, Stock Picks
Short and sweet -- General Electric (GE) reported higher profits on slower sales with a positive outlook.
The company reported earnings of $3.2 billion, with EPS of 29 cents, up 32% from the third quarter of 2009. This is the second quarter (oh boy, a streak!) GE increased orders, displaying continuing-earnings growth. Revenue was $35.9 billion for the quarter, down 5% on lower equipment sales and reduced GE Capital assets. GE expects fourth-quarter 2010 Industrial revenues to grow sequentially from third quarter and to be about flat with the year-ago period.
Continue reading Chasing Value: GE Reports -- Good News, Finally?
Posted May 19th 2010 6:00PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bad News, Rants and Raves, General Electric (GE), Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Economic Data, Wells Fargo (WFC), Politics, Headline News, E*TRADE (ETFC), Financial Crisis

The financial stocks and the overall market continued to get pounded by news out of Europe. This time it was
Germany halting naked short selling. Chancellor Merkel's coalition wants to stop traders from buying credit insurance on government bonds they don't own ("naked swaps").
While there has been little support for this measure outside of Germany by governments or financial institutions, I think it is long over due. Many are crying foul, stating that it will increase interest rates, dry up liquidity, and prevent institutions from hedging their risks. I'm not so sure these would be bad things. I can think of good reasons to ban naked swaps.
I do not take this stance without due consideration because I have significant stakes in the financial sector, including positions in Bank of America Corporation (
BAC), Citigroup, Inc. (
C), E-Trade Financial Corporation (
ETFC), General Electric Company (
GE), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (
GS) and Wells Fargo & Company (
WFC).
Continue reading Great, Germans Halt Naked Short Selling
Posted May 18th 2010 4:30PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Wal-Mart (WMT), Home Depot (HD)

The red coats are coming! This time they are from continental Europe. Today's drop was tied to tighter financial reform and a ban on naked short selling in Germany. Oh well, an excuse is an excuse. PPI did not even matter because of the price drop in oil of late, and we did see housing starts were up, but building permits were down.
Here were today's closing bell levels:
S&P 500 1,120.80 -16.14 (-1.42%)
Dow 10,510.95 -114.88 (-1.08%)
Nasdaq 2,317.26 -36.97 (-1.57%)
Continue reading Closing Bell: Europe Keeps Feeding the Bears (HPQ, VRSN, WMT, HD, LOW)
Posted May 14th 2010 3:30PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)

Last weekend French President Nicolas Sarkozy reportedly threatened to pull France out of the euro-zone if Germany did not agree to a comprehensive stabilization package for Greece, Agence France-Presse
reported Friday, citing Spain's El Pais.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero reported Sarkozy's remarks to a meeting of leaders of his Socialist Party on Wednesday. However, a government source in Madrid denied the Sarkozy incident, telling the AFP that it is "lacking in any foundation."
Continue reading Sarkozy Reportedly Threatened to Pull France out of Euro-Zone
Posted May 4th 2010 12:30PM by Mark Fightmaster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Economic Data, Financial Crisis

As soon as the opening bell sounded this morning, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) plummeted more than 150 points - effectively ruining yesterday's 143-point gain. In fact, as I write this blog, the Dow fell past a 200-point loss.
Why the drop?
Blame it on Greece, as the euro fell against the dollar thanks to worries that the Greek government will not be able to meet the rather stringent guidelines of its aid package. Moreover, the German government is set to provide most of the EU's support, and there is no guarantee that the electorate will back Chancellor Angela Merkel. Add this to the fact that German retail sales dropped more than 2% in March, and we have a full-blown European panic hitting Wall Street.
Continue reading Dow Jones Falls Below 11,000
Posted May 4th 2010 10:00AM by Connie Madon (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, Currency

In an unexpected move, German chancellor, Angela Merkel, called for the "
orderly insolvencies" of member states.
Germany says it wants to get tough on European Union members to prevent another Greek crisis. Germany has been against helping Greece, and only under pressure from the EU and the IMF did it agree to participate in the bailout.
Now, the Germans want to let member states default to avoid any repeat of the Greek crisis. What they fail to realize is that defaults are often messy and not orderly. What could happen is that confidence in the eurozone would disappear as would the euro.
Continue reading Is the Eurozone History?
Posted Apr 29th 2010 10:30AM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Financial Crisis

A day after signaling rigorous scrutiny of Greece's austerity plan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel did an about-face, of sorts, Wednesday, vowing a quicker approval of aid to the deficit-plague euro-zone country. Not before, however, the chancellor's earlier remarks rattled bond, currency and stock markets around the globe.
Standing beside International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Merkel said, "It's completely clear that the negotiations between the Greek government, the European Commission and the IMF need to be sped up now," Bloomberg News
reported Wednesday.
Continue reading Aid Package to Greece Now Priority After Contagion Fear Rises
Posted Apr 27th 2010 4:40PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)

Despite market sentiment that suggests a Greek debt default is ahead, it won't occur if Europe remains on the path it laid out Friday when the Mediterranean nation asked for implementation the European Union's bail-out package. And that path includes tangible evidence by Greece, forwarded to German officials, that it's implementing the first phase of austerity measures.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said "first I want to see the program," before Germany releases any funds to debt-plagued Greece, Bloomberg News
reported Tuesday. Merkel's Christian Democratic party faces state-level elections in May at a time when most German citizens are opposed to the bailout.
Continue reading Germany's Merkel Wants to Verify Fiscal Cuts Before Releasing Funds to Greece
Posted Apr 19th 2010 9:00AM by Connie Madon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Scandals, Goldman Sachs Group (GS)

The furor over the fraud charges brought against Goldman Sachs (
GS) is spreading across the pond. Britain and Germany have jumped into the fray.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown launched a scathing attack on Goldman by saying that the SEC investigation of Goldman revealed the
"moral bankruptcy" of the firm. "This is probably one of the worst cases we have seen," he said.
The German government is considering legal action against Goldman. German bank IKB was one of the first casualties in the collateralized debt obligations (CDO) scandal, losing $150 million.
Continue reading Goldman Sachs Faces Attacks from Britain and Germany
Posted Apr 10th 2010 1:40PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, Rants and Raves, Politics, Headline News, Financial Crisis
Germany, the European Union member with the largest and strongest economy, should get off their high horse and support Greece, not the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -- which to a large extent is the United States.
Greece is on the brink of disaster and for some reason the German government, following the sentiments of the man on the street, is willing to let the chips fall where they may. They do not seem to be able to grasp that the EU ship can only sail in one direction at a time and that half a ship will not sail at all.
Continue reading Germany Must Help Greece Without IMF
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