Archive for the ‘Business News’ Category

Well, there you have it. Real proof we are officially heading into a recession.

McDonald’s Corp. will increase the price of its $1 double cheeseburger to $1.19 in December to cover rising costs, ending the sandwich’s run as the top-selling item on the six-year-old dollar menu.

The world’s biggest restaurant company will replace the double cheeseburger with the McDouble. The new sandwich consists of two beef patties and a single slice of cheese, or one slice less than the double, Greg Watson, McDonald’s vice president of U.S. marketing, said today in a telephone interview.

Restaurant operators spend about 6 cents on a slice of cheese, an expense that emerged as the focus of franchisees’ pressure on McDonald’s to raise dollar-menu prices for the first time.

When prices of McDonald’s cheeseburgers rise $.19 because cheese costs 6 centers per slice, you know things are getting bad.

Read the entire article to find out about McDonald’s newest burger, the McDouble. There’s something crazy about a double cheeseburger that only has one slice of cheese. What’s up with that?

As a Dish Network subscriber, I am quite happy they are finally bringing this case to a close. I am so sick of it, I can’t stand it.

Dish Network Corp and EchoStar Corp will pay $104 million in damages to TiVo Inc after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied Dish’s appeal of a patent infringement case.

The court’s decision not to review an appellate court’s ruling follows years of legal wrangling over TiVo’s “Time Warp” software that allows users to record one television program while watching another via a digital video recorder.

One thing I have noticed, since Dish Network switched to their own “work-around” software, my DVR locks up more, has more errors, and well, just sucks. Coincidence? Probably not.

I’m not sure what the most shocking business headline of the day is… You decide.

Wachovia mortgage unit halting loans via brokers

Wachovia is planning to stop offering home loans through brokers. They claim they want to focus on customers who have “relationships” with the bank. When was the last time a bank focused on the customer and not their assets?

Bank of America profit falls 41 percent but tops views

How is it, that a companies profits can fall 41%, and still be seen as a good thing? Just think, if they hadn’t taken part in the whole sub-prime lending fiasco, they could have helped avert the crisis in the first place. But then again, I bet they don’t focus on their customers the way Wachovia does. (cough)

Apple outlook well below Wall Street view

What? I don’t get it. Apple is always conservative in their outlook. Why is anyone surprised they came in under Wall Street’s view? If you read the whole article you will find that along with their September forecast being low, they also forecast that their third-quarter income would come in at $1 per share. Wall Street analysts expected $1.08, and they came in at $1.19. I bet, come September, the numbers going to fall in line like it has every time in the past.

So, which one is the most shocking story of the day? Tell me.

What a strange day in business.

Google reported disappointing earnings, and so did Microsoft. NASDAQ dropped a bit, but the Dow was pushed higher because Citigroup’s news wasn’t quite as bad as the other two.

Technology stocks fell on Friday and drove the Nasdaq down 1 percent on disappointing earnings from Google (GOOG.O) and Microsoft(MSFT.O), while Citigroup’s smaller-than-expected loss pushed up the Dow and helped keep the broader market near the unchanged mark.

Is the cause of our economic downturn Google’s fault? I know, crazy concept, but look at the facts.

Wow. They want their online customers to have that “neighborhood bookstore” experience. Too bad they didn’t think of that, say, seven years ago.

Borders Group is jumping back into online retailing with a Web site designed to evoke the feeling of browsing at a neighborhood bookstore, down to the popular shelves of staff picks that are familiar to its customers nationwide.

But after seven years paired with Amazon.com, analysts say it will be a challenge for the new Borders.com to step out of the shadow of the Web retailing giant.

It will be interesting to see if they pull it off. Barnes & Noble has always been my favorite, even before the AT&T wi-fi and the Starbuck’s coffee.

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Great news! They saved the company. Bad news. They had to cut your job in order to do it. It could be worse you know.

More than 7,600 Bear Stearns Cos’ (BSC.N) employees, about 55 percent of its staff, are expected to lose their jobs as the troubled investment bank is absorbed into JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), JPMorgan Chief Executive James Dimon said Tuesday.

While discussing the historic $1.5 billion Bear Stearns takeover during Morgan’s annual shareholder meeting, Dimon said “we’re retaining 45 percent of Bear Stearns staff.”

Dimon’s remarks confirmed months of speculation that half of Bear’s employees would lose their jobs as a result of the merger. JPMorgan for weeks played down the speculation as premature.

Saving the entire company and 45% of the jobs is a good thing, right?

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First it was Lowes, and now Home Depot. Like Lowes, they are not losing money, they just made less money this time. Get over it already.

Two of the largest U.S. retailers said on Tuesday that the weak U.S. economy and battered housing industry were discouraging cash-strapped consumers from making anything more than basic purchases.

Leading home improvement retailer Home Depot Inc and No. 2 discounter Target Corp both reported lower earnings, and warned that results for the rest of the year would be sluggish.

Everyone knew that profits would be lower this year, like 9 months ago. This is not news. The real news is the fact that the economy seems to be rebounding now, and economists are ready to throw themselves out of their high-rise windows because we’re not as close to a recession as they hoped we were.

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I have long told my wife that one of the tell-tale signs that the economy was truly “close” to a recession would be when the home improvement stores started making far less money.

Lowe’s Cos., the nation’s second biggest home improvement retailer, reported a 17.9 percent drop in first-quarter earnings and lowered its guidance for the year on Monday as the slumping U.S. housing market and softer economy hurt sales. Its shares fell more than 2.5 percent in morning trading.

Lowe’s said it earned $607 million, or 41 cents per share, in the three months ended May 2. That is down from $739 million, or 48 per share, in the first quarter of 2007.

Now granted, they didn’t actually “lose” any money, they just didn’t make as much as they have in the past. I don’t think it will last though. We’re just getting into the season where most people do any remodeling and such. You’ll see.

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Just think, if the UAW had sat down to talk to all of the automakers, instead of singling out GM, they might have reached an agreement, oh, about 7 weeks ago.

Negotiators from General Motors Corp (GM.N) and the United Auto Workers union made progress toward a new contract before taking a break late Saturday, people familiar with the talks said.

GM and the UAW will return to the bargaining table on Sunday morning for the fourth day of a marathon bargaining session aimed at clinching a contract for the largest U.S. automaker.

The union had agreed to extend its now-expired contract on an hour-to-hour basis late Friday.

That move and subsequent developments stoked expectations the two sides were nearing a deal after eight weeks of bargaining and avoided the threat of an imminent and potentially crippling strike.

Why do they call it bargaining when neither side really gives in?

Not such a bad deal for Bank Of America now, is it?

Countrywide Financial Corp (CFC.N) shares on Thursday fell below the $18 price at which Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) may convert its $2 billion investment into common stock.

It was the first time the shares have dipped that low since the infusion was announced two weeks ago.

Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank, on August 22 bought preferred stock yielding 7.25 percent, convertible into common stock at $18.

…

“Countrywide has been criticized for adding to staff in a declining market, and the job cuts are what they should be doing as the mortgage market contracts significantly,” said Blake Howells, who helps invest $2.6 billion at Beckers Capital Management in Portland, Oregon, which owns Countrywide shares.

Shares of Countrywide fell as low as $17.95 in morning trading. They closed down 33 cents, or 1.8 percent, at $18.48 on the New York Stock Exchange, and are down 56 percent this year.

Howells said the shares are unlikely to drop much further, but for the time being, “Bank of America can collect the coupon payment, which is pretty attractive.”

It was a win-win situation for BoA, too bad the same can’t be said for all the people still having trouble.