May 12
Markets began the week with gloom as the Dow recorded triple digit losses and the S&P 500 hits its lowest point in months. Scapegoats include continued Euro Zone fears and more fall out from JP Morgans $2 billion debacle. In other controversial news, Yahoo has appointed yet another CEO in Ross Levinsohn after the most previous was found to be a fraud. Another surprising event in tech is Groupons impressive earnings, beating expectations, and sending shares up nearly 20%. Read more…
May 05
Free flights? Meh. Catalog discounts? Soooo last century. Gasoline rebates? BOR-ing!
Isn’t there something a little more awesome that you can get for all of those rewards points that you have amassed on your href=”../../../../../../../../”>credit cards? Thankfully, the answer is yes. Here are 10 of the most outlandishly cool options.
- Play fighter pilot for a day. If you have a Wells Fargo credit card, you can cash in your rewards to pretend you’re the next Top Gun. You’ll be fitted with a flight suit, control your fighter aircraft (in a simulator), and utter brilliant catch-phrases after every “kill.”
- Get private DJ lessons. Chase’s Ultimate Rewards card is your ticket to rockin’ some fresh beats. The one-hour private DJ lesson at Los Angeles’s Jam Master Jay DJ school will heighten your street cred with the “in” crowd.
- Have Elvis walk you down the aisle. Isn’t an appearance by The King at your wedding truly priceless?
Read more…
Apr 08
Groupon revised its financial results on Friday, an unexpected restatement that deepened losses for the daily deals site and once again raised questions about the accounting practices of the newly public company.
As part of the revision, Groupon disclosed a “material weakness in its internal controls, saying it had failed to set aside enough money to cover customer refunds. The accounting issue increased the company’s losses in the fourth quarter to $64.9 million from $42.3 million.
The news sent shares of Groupon tumbling 6 percent, to $17.29, in after-hours trading. Shares of Groupon have fallen more than 30 percent since the company went public in the fall.
The disclosure highlights current concerns about the reliability of Groupon’s financial statements.
Founded only four years ago, the company has experienced astonishing growth as it came to dominate the world of daily deals.
Read more…
Apr 02
Stocks bounced today, ending a streak of losses this week. Part of what brought this about was a jump in consumer confidence, which this month reached its highest levels since 2007. In corporate news, after a brutal quarter talk of Research in Motions eventual sale began circulating the financial and tech press. As one of the few American auto companies that weathered the recession without a bailout, Ford rewarded its CEO with almost $30 million in compensation last year.
Word on the Street
- Consumer sentiment is at its highest in years.
- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a new director.
- Rim may be headed towards eventually selling the company.
- European authorities agreed to a massive euro bailout fund today.
- Fords CEO made tens of millions in 2011.
Interesting Tidbits
Mar 27
Somewhere, over the rainbow, bluebirds fly…right into Wal-Mart. According to the Wall Street Journal, American Express will offer their new prepaid Bluebird card at about 180 select Wal-Mart stores on the west coast.
If you’re thinking a big-box discount retailer isn’t exactly standard Amex territory, you’re right. The usually upper-tier credit card issuer is venturing into a new market with Bluebird, positioning the reloadable cards as an approachable, easy alternative to credit cards and a good option for those without traditional bank accounts.
The Bluebird cards will be accepted wherever American Express credit cards are accepted, but come with a host of perks the traditional cards lack. There are no monthly fees, no over-draft fees, no late fees—but of course, that is partially because you’re dealing with your own money, not credit.
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Mar 15
Bank stocks climbed as the results of the Federal Reserve’s stress test were released on Tuesday, two days earlier than planned.
Fifteen of the 19 banks included in the stress test, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, met the Feds criteria. The test was intended to measure the strength of bank capital buffers in the event of another serious economic downturn. Banks submitted capital plans in early January that were then run through a hypothetical situation that tested their ability to withstand “very high unemployment rates and significant further declines in housing prices, the regulator said Tuesday.
The four bank holding companies that failed the test were Ally Financial, SunTrust, Citigroup and MetLife.
Read more…