Archive for January 22nd, 2008
Filed under: Products and services, Google (GOOG)
 Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is famous for just giving things away for free. The company is a large part of the information economy and allows anyone on the planet with internet access free use of its search engine, email, documents, photos and more. In return, it receives lucrative advertising dollars that mostly originate from its search engine. Well, the next free service is about to roll out — to large scientific concerns no less.
Google’s Research website will begin offering the free hosting of those enormous datasets scientists use to predict weather, decipher the human genome and fold proteins. Google will make available terabytes of information on its research website for this purpose. A terabyte is 1,000 Gigabytes. That PC you’re using right now? It probably contains 80 Gigabytes to 250 Gigabytes.
In addition to offering free online storage hosting for scientific purposes, the company will also make available algorithms that can be used to look at and study information contained within those huge, uploaded scientific datasets. In addition to allowing universities unparalleled access to storage and algorithm use for their research needs, those at home who want to explore scientific information never before widely available will have the capability to do so. All that remains will be the large question of how researchers will actually transport their datasets to Google’s system, but for now, the theory is that Google will ship a hard drive array in a suitcase to any interested party so that datasets can be sent to it then shipped back to Google.
Another day, another righteous Google project that seemingly has no monetary impact to the company but does have significant public impact. Isn’t life grand for Google?
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Filed under: Newspapers, Magazines, eBay (EBAY), Citigroup Inc. (C), BHP Billiton Ltd ADR (BHP), Rio Tinto plc ADS (RTP)
.gif) MAJOR PAPERS:
WEB SITES:
- Finance companies including Citigroup Incorporated (NYSE: C) could sell proprietary investments in India as they struggle to shore up their capital after suffering losses in the subprime sector in the U.S., LiveMint.com reported.
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Filed under: Management, eBay (EBAY)
The Wall Street Journal is reporting [subscription required] that eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) CEO Meg Whitman could be preparing to retire, possibly within the next few weeks.
John Donahoe, who has been president of eBay’s auction business since 2005, is sought to be the most likely candidate to succeed Ms. Whitman, who has been CEO for nearly 10 years.
Overall, Ms. Whitman has done an admirable job as CEO of the company, as evidenced by the stock’s strong performance since its IPO. But over the past five years, shares of eBay have provided essentially flat performance as the company struggles to find ways to deal with slowing growth in the auction business.
Shortly after joining the company, Whitman said that no CEO should stay more than 10 years because a fresh perspective is needed at that point. With her 10 year anniversary approaching in March, she could be staying true to her word.
If she does in fact retire, look for her to stay active working on the presidential bid of Mitt Romney, whom she worked with at Bain Capital.
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Filed under: Before the bell, Major movement, International markets, Earnings reports, Apple Inc (AAPL), Market matters, Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Bank of America (BAC), duPont(E.I.)deNemours (DD), Wachovia Corp (WB), Economic data, Oil, S and P 500, DJIA, Federal Reserve
 While stock futures are not as low as earlier this morning, they’re still pointing to one of the biggest decline days, if not the biggest, since 2000 as Wall Street looks set to join the global market sell-off stemming from fears over a U.S. recession and possible global slowdown.
S&P 500 futures were down over 4% (~55 points), the Nasdaq indicated a similar decline with a 70 points drop, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped nearly 480 points. If today is as bad as indicated, U.S. stocks may enter bear-market territory - a loss of over 20% from highs. After the drops from last week, the S&P 500 is nearly 16% below 2007 highs, and the Nasdaq Composite is down about 18%.
Overseas, markets continued the declines from Monday, when U.S. markets were closed. The steep sell-off drove 43 benchmarks into bear market, as tracked by bloomberg.
Weighing on futures were steep selloffs in overseas markets, which plunged Monday amid fears that the U.S. slowdown would spill over to the global economy. In Asia stocks continued plunging with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index nose-diving 5.7% - its biggest percentage drop in nearly 10 years, a day after falling 3.9%. Australia’s benchmark index sank 7.1%, the market’s steepest one-day slide in nearly 20 years. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, finished down 8.7% after declining 5.5% Monday. In China, the Shanghai Composite index lost 7.2%.
Yet, in Europe, shares seemed to have put on the brakes and recover somewhat from earlier lows as rate-cut hopes by central banks fueled markets. After London’s FTSE 100 shed 5.5% Monday and Frankfurt’s Dax-30 lost 7.2% of its value, this morning they’re off 0.7% and 2.5% respectively.
Continue reading Before the bell: Wall Street set to join international sell-off
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Filed under: Before the bell, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, American Express (AXP), Under Armour’A’ (UA)
American Express (NSYE:AXP) was downgraded to “hold” from “buy” at Citigroup. According to MarketWatch the bank is concerned about the AXP earnings in 2008 and 2009.
Susquehanna intiated Under Armour (NYSE:UA) with a “neutral” rating according to Briefing.com.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
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Filed under: BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), BHP Billiton Ltd ADR (BHP)
Markets in Europe have gained back most of their sell-offs at 5.40 AM Eastern time.
The FTSE is off 0.1% at 5,571. BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) is up 1.9% to 1259. BP (NYSE:BP) is off 1.4% to 512.
The DAXX is off 2% at 6,654. Deutsche Telekom (NYSE:DT) is off 2.7% to 14. Siemens (NYSE:SI) is off 2% to 82.52.
The CAC 40 is down 0.5% to 4,722. BNP Paribas is up 1.4% to 63.56. France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is down 1.6% to 23.17.
Data from Reuters.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
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Filed under: Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Sony Corp ADR (SNE), PetroChina Co Ltd ADR (PTR), China Life Insurance ADS (LFC)
Asia markets fell sharply.
The Nikkei was off 5.7% to 12,573. Docomo (NYSE:DCM) was down 8.5% to 151000. Sony (NYSE:SNE) was down 6.5% to 5110. Toyota (NYSE:TM) was down 7.2% to 4880.
The Hang Seng dropped 8.7% to 21,578. China Life (NYSE:LFC) was off 16% to 27.60. China Netcom (NYSE:CN) was off 15% to 19.96. PetroChina (NYSE:PTR) was off 15% to 9.62.
The Shanghai Composite was off 7.2% to 4,560.
Data from Reuters
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Filed under: Major movement
It’s been said many times before but, given how few people pay attention, it’s worth repeating every time that the market takes a nosedive. History has demonstrated amply that investors who try to jump in and out of the market to avoid big declines find themselves achieving horrendously bad results than those who simply buy and hold.
I know — with the Dow looking like it could open down 500+ points tomorrow, it can be scary. And maybe you’ll be able to save yourself more anguish by dumping everything. But maybe not. It’s impossible to know and the track record of investors who make that bet during market meltdowns is not good at all.
Bottom line: If you’re in a panic over the market’s gyrations today, do not trade! Take a walk. Play with your kids. Read. Go to the gym. Whatever! But making investment decisions in a state of emotional instability is never a good idea.
If the market’s volatility is messing with your mind, I would strongly urge you to pick up a copy You Money & Your Brain for some strategies on how to manage your emotions. So go pick up a copy, turn off your computer, shut off CNBC, stuff the Wall Street Journal in the trash, and chill out.
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Filed under: Before the bell, Major movement, International markets, Forecasts, Bad news, Indices, Japan, Economic data, Politics, DJIA
The New York Times reports that global stocks are crashing. Two indices, Frankfurt’s DAX and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, last lost this much altitude on 9/11/01. Here are the biggest financial damages:
- Bombay’s Sensex -7.4%
- Frankfurt’s DAX -7.2%
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng -5.5%
- London’s FTSE -5.5%
- Shanghai’s Shanghai Composite -5.1%
- Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 -3.9%
What’s going on? Investors seem concerned about the pending U.S. recession. And they seem uninspired by the Bush administration’s $145 billion stimulus plan to damp the severity of that recession. There was also a problem with another German bank, WestLB, which said on Monday it would report a loss of $1.4 billion in 2007 because of its exposure to deteriorating mortgage assets. Other German banks are also reporting worse than expected results.
If today’s futures are any indication, the Dow Jones industrial average will lose 520 points, or more than 4% when it opens tomorrow morning.
Will you hold, sell, or buy?
Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.
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Filed under: Stocks to Buy
The market’s choppy/consolidating pattern continues, suggesting the need for an additional defensive play or two (or perhaps more). And in this category Hewitt Associates is worth a review.
Hewitt Associates, Inc. (NYSE: HEW) provides a variety of human resource-related services including payroll, organizational change management, talent consulting, reward consulting, and benefits outsourcing (medical, 301K, pensions).
Analysts expect 2008 revenue growth of 4-7% with strong gains in consulting. Benefits administration revenue should advance 3-5%. Margins are adequate. The Reuters FY 2007/FY 2008 EPS consensus estimates for HEW are $1.75 to $2.12.
Continue reading Hewitt Associates has a winning human resources formula
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