Patriot Coal Corporation (PCX) was in focus Wednesday morning, thanks to some management shake-ups announced late Tuesday night. The company said that Paul Vining, who serves as president and chief operating officer, will step down effective immediately. However, Vining will do his part to ensure a smooth transition by staying on in a senior advisory role, potentially through the end of the year.

In order to fill the two roles left vacant by Vining, CEO Richard Whiting will now add the title of "president" to his resume. Meanwhile, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development Charles Ebetino Jr. scored a promotion to chief operating officer.

Continue reading Patriot Coal Plunges as President and COO Steps Down

Patriot Coal Plunges as President and COO Steps Down originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Congress would like to keep the car companies viable and independent and is spending a lot of time and money toward those goals. As General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Chrysler reach the point where they need to have plans to show they can manage their businesses with government loans, the UAW is starting to give them a hard time. Someone is going to have to break the log jam.

According to Bloomberg, "The United Auto Workers union is objecting to proposals from General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC to modify a retiree health-care fund as required by the U.S."

Continue reading The UAW will get a call from the president

The UAW will get a call from the president originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 14 Feb 2009 05:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I realize that it's not a reason to pick a president, but if you care about your stock portfolio, you'd be better off with a Democratic president. How so? Peter Siris of Guerrilla Capital has run some numbers -- comparing an investment of $10,000 in the S&P 500 under Republican administrations to the same investment under Democratic ones. He permitted me to preview these numbers which will run in his New York Post column on November 3rd.

Since 1929 both parties have controlled the White House for 40 years and Siris estimates that the $10,000 would be worth $11,733 under Republican administrations and $300,671 under Democratic ones. According to Siris, "for whatever reason, Republicans have been in office during the three worst stock market declines: The Great Depression, the early to mid-1970s, and the current market."

That may sound interesting but what about recent presidents? Under the Clinton administration, the S&P 500 rose the most in the last 60 years -- up an average of 17.4% per year. The only president who posted a negative performance is a familiar name -- George W. Bush -- under his administration, the S&P 500 has fallen 27% from 1,342 to 979. It's an exceptional record and one that I hope will never recur.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.

Democrats beat Republicans 25:1 in stock market returns originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Associated Press reports that President Bush will hold an economic summit to discuss why the world is such a mess and what can be done to fix things before the entire financial system goes down the porcelain toilet. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso announced the retreat at the Presidential retreat at Camp David.

No dates or locations have been set yet, but the first summit would focus on seeking "agreement on principles of reform needed to avoid a repetition of the problems and assure global prosperity in the future." Later summits will focus on specifics. What will come of all this? Absolutely nothing, if I had to guess.

The reality is that President Bush has little to no credibility at home or abroad, and this summit looks like a pretty desperate effort to remain relevant. Given that he has some of the lowest approval ratings of any president in history, and substantive discussions about reform will likely have to wait until the new guy is sworn in.

It's not yet known whether the president-elect will attend the summit but, if he does, lame duck Bush's presence will be irrelevant.

President Bush to hold financial summit originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 19 Oct 2008 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading When running for President, Obama's gotta give to receive vs. Hillary

When running for President, Obama's gotta give to receive vs. Hillary originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading President Bush looks to reassure Americans

President Bush looks to reassure Americans originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Meg Whitman and Mitt Romney: Oh, the gut wrenching horror of it

Meg Whitman and Mitt Romney: Oh, the gut wrenching horror of it originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 27 Dec 2007 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Wal-Mart (WMT) called 'eco leader' by for former President Bill Clinton originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 28 Sep 2007 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

A top-tier investment bank like Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) might seem like it would logically be a supporter of the traditionally more pro-business GOP. But the company's CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, is casting his lot behind Senator Hillary Clinton. According to a PR put out by her campaign, Blankfein said that "As a New Yorker, I have seen firsthand the outstanding work Hillary Clinton has done as a senator, proving herself to be a strong and experienced leader."

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) CEO John Mack, a formerly vocal supporter of the current President's candidacy, is also supporting Ms. Clinton. So what gives?

While it would be cynical to assume that these men cast their votes solely based on the interests of their employers, that could be one factor. The Democrats have been, by and large, vocal supporters of leveling the tax playing field between large private equity firms and the investment banks with which they compete. Having a firm like Blackstone (NYSE: BX) paying less in taxes puts Mack and Blankfein at a competitive disadvantage: If two firms are bidding for a deal and one has to pay twice as much in taxes, guess who's going to be able to bid the most on the deal? As a Senator from New York, Clinton is the logical choice for these executives.

Of course John Edwards was quick to attack Clinton for being supported by an investment bank. Wait, didn't he work for a hedge fund and receive compensation in the high six-figures? Oh yeah, he did that to learn about poverty. In a related story, Barry Bonds claims he used steroids to learn about how hard it is to compete as a drug-free athlete.

Goldman Sachs CEO jumps behind Clinton originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 10 Aug 2007 07:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There's something about Barack Obama that Wall Street likes. He raised more money in the most recent quarter than candidates in either party and according to the New York Times DealBook, "Wall Street money had something to do with it." Obama raised money from investment bankers and hedge fund managers and the President of Lehman Brothers.

For whatever reason, Senator Clinton has been less successful in raising money from Wall Street-types. But still this raises an interesting question: Why is a Democrat like Obama cashing in on Wall Street instead of Bain Capital founder Mitt Romney?

Here's one explanation: According to a piece in the Wall Street Journal, private equity firms are giving more to Republicans, "a shift from past fund-raising patterns as Democrats view the industry as a source of new taxes." And Romney is leading all candidates with fund raising among private equity firms.

My explanation: Private equity firms and traditional investment firms like Goldman Sachs are competing, and favorable tax treatment for private equity puts other firms at a competitive disadvantage. How can you compete when you're paying twice as much in taxes?

Wall Street lines up behind Obama originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Republican party has been embroiled in several high-profile scandals involving its corporate donors in recent years. First the Bush Administration came under fire for its close ties with former Enron executives, and then questions have been raised about Vice President Dick Cheney's relationship with his former employer, Halliburton (NYSE: HAL).

With the Democrats in charge of the Congress, corporate America is shifting its energy and dollars over there. According to the Wall Street Journal, "Big companies that have shifted their funding in Democrats' favor so far this year include General Dynamics Corp., whose PAC gave 62% of its $210,500 in contributions to Democrats in early 2007, compared with 64% to Republicans in the previous election cycle. PACs for Honeywell International Inc., Home Depot Inc. and insurer Aflac Inc. have also greatly increased the proportion of their giving to Democrats."

With issues like global warming, insurance regulation, and taxes likely to be hot-button issues in the coming months and years, corporations want to make sure the Democrats won't forget about them, now that they're in charge. But there's a little bit of irony here: Democrats were able to accuse the Republicans of being influenced by special interest groups and may have picked up votes with that argument. But now that Democrats are in charge, they are collecting more money and now it's Republicans that can make that charge.

Oh well. I'd much rather follow the battles between the Red Sox and the Yankees anyway.

Democrats pick up corporate donors originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 30 Apr 2007 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When I first read this article from CNN Money.com, regarding the Obama/Edwards tag team against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), my brain yelled, "Huh? What? Who?"

What are two liberal socialist Democrats doing taking potshots at Wal-Mart of all things? Egads, couldn't they even wait until after Christmas before tossing their first '08 presidential campaign grenade?

Illinois senator Barack Obama(D) and former Democratic vice presidential hopeful John Edwards, drew the sword Wednesday along with Wal-Mart watchdog group WakeUpWalMart.com to denounce Wal-mart Corporation regarding the treatment of their employees. The two politicians had to "back door" their appearance by going through the union assembled public group because it is perhaps bad form and too controlled to directly address the union through normal channels. The entire event was obviously exploited by Obama and Edwards in an attempt to gain increased appeal to the minimum wage sector.

I'm not a big fan of Wal-mart, but I don't like this political pawn pushing either. If Obama and Edwards are looking for grassroots brownie points, they've picked a pretty rude way to get them.

Continue reading Obama vs. Wal-Mart: Someone's in over his head...

Obama vs. Wal-Mart: Someone's in over his head... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 17 Nov 2006 09:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Those of you who have been worried about the jittery markets can breathe a sigh of relief. Everything will be just fine. Ya know how I know that? The man who declared mission accomplished in Iraq more than 4 years ago said it will be, gosh darnet.

According to the Associated Press, President Bush is confident that the markets will work their way through the turmoil and achieve a "soft landing".

"I'm not an economist, but my hope is that the market, if it functions normally, will be able to yield a soft landing," he said. "That's kind of what it looks like so far."

"So the conditions for a, you know, for the marketplace working through these issues are good, and that's how I look at it."

"The underpinnings of our economy are strong."

"I'm a glass half-full person."

Hmm... I'm all in favor of optimism, really I am. But for this President to see his glass half-full isn't optimistic. It's delusional. His approval rating is near a record-low of 37% -- 13 points below half-full. His credibility is so strained that I don't think anyone really cares about his analysis of the market. Any positive impact that his prognostication might have is likely to be offset by Mr. T's announcement that he "pities da fool who is long da Dow".

President Bush expresses confidence in markets originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 08 Aug 2006 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.