Macy's Should Monetize Its Former Brands

seekingalpha.com — Except for the success of discounters like Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), BJ’s Wholesale Club (BJ), Dollar Tree (DLTR), Family Dollar Stores (FDO) and Dollar General (DG), it feels like 1932. That being said, not all retailers will go the way of Circuit City and Linens-n-Things. So the question becomes what retailers can do to tread water through 2009? And when they do make it, what sorts of things are they doing in 2009 to create opportunity in 2010? read more...

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Can Steve Jobs's Case Help Propel Biopharma?

seekingalpha.com — Recently three high-profile cases of pancreatic cancer have elevated a tumor type that many argue gets short shrift. Actor Patrick Swayze, professor-turned-motivational speaker Randy Pausch (he recently passed away) and now Apple's (AAPL) Steve Jobs have--voluntarily or involuntarily--saw or have seen their private battles against pancreatic cancer go public. Even though it's one of the leading causes of cancer death in the U.S., pancreatic normally doesn't get much attention. read more...

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Stock picks and pans for troubled times: ATVI, MCD, WMT, WSM, AMGN, AE

bloggingstocks.com — The first trading session of the 2009 may have brought some optimism with it as markets rallied, but it's difficult to imagine all our troubles over after a year that set one bad and worse record after another. Stocks mirrored the global economic slowdown brought on by the housing market and the financial markets crises. Still, there are many who still seek to invest in hope that one day they could get nice returns on their investments. While the recent volatility in the stock market benefited some shrewd day traders, most investors know to stick to a long-term, stable investment plan. read more...

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Stocks are looking good today, but...

bloggingstocks.com — You know, I was really hoping to buy some Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) today. I really was. In fact, I was even thinking about CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS), Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), and News Corp. (NYSE: NWS). These are all stocks that have been beaten down in 2008 and that I feel may rise if 2009 is a good year. I mean, in an existential sense, you figure that '09 is going to be a better year. If only it were that easy. Out of all the stocks I mentioned above, Microsoft was the one I was considering the most. Yet, I just can't take the plunge. As of this writing, according to AOL quotes, Microsoft has traded about 26 million shares, and is up 3.9%. That puts it at over $20 per share, a level I was hoping to buy under (hey, I know that shouldn't matter, but I guess I'm as prone to psychology as everyone else). I was kind of hoping that maybe Microsoft would be down today on low volume; instead, it is up on low volume (the 30-day average for volume is close to 80 million shares). That would have given me a little more confidence in the trade. I just have this feeling that stocks may go down once the real trading begins next week, and the volume hopefully comes back. Obviously, Wall Street hasn't exited holiday mode just yet. But, the flip side is I'm wrong and stocks rally from here upward, and I become too afraid to buy Microsoft in the mid-$20's. Or, worse, I'm too afraid not to, and get in at a high price. read more...

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Circuit City secures debtor-in-possession financing

bloggingstocks.com — Circuit City Stores received final approval for $1.1 billion in debtor-in-possession financing to allow it to continue to pay vendors and employees as it seeks to restructure itself after its bankruptcy filing last month. Meanwhile, the company's operations have continued to deteriorate even more rapidly than it had forecast when it made the filing. The company had anticipated same-store sales declines of as much as 35% when it produced its first bankruptcy budget but the company is now saying that sales at stores that aren't closing are down as much as 50% year over year. read more...

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Disney made the right decision in exiting the 'Narnia' franchise

bloggingstocks.com — I've been critical of Disney (NYSE: DIS) when it comes to some of the Mouse's moves in terms of content development. But, when I see something I approve of, I have no problem highlighting my feelings about it. Today is just such a day. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney does not want to help Walden Media make the next picture in the Chronicles of Narnia franchise. The studio teamed up with the production company on The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, as well as the second feature, Prince Caspian. Although I'm certain that there will be Caspian DVDs under a lot of Christmas trees this holiday, I, along with everyone else, noticed back in the summer that the film delivered disappointing results at theaters. And then, Disney CEO Bob Iger tried to make excuses about the bad performance (CEOs are always trying to make excuses about one thing or another, it seems). Now, though, Iger is done synthesizing reasons for the failure of Caspian. Instead, he's passing on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and I congratulate him on his decision. read more...

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Money losers of 2008: People of Iceland as its economy collapses

bloggingstocks.com — Almost every investor might be counted as a Money Loser of 2008, but anyone who is not living in or invested heavily in Iceland should thank their lucky stars (or anything else they might like to thank). With the global economic situation called as a financial crisis, then I can only assume that the Icelandic meltdown would be a supercrisis or maybe ubercrisis. Iceland's three largest banks essentially failed in early October of this year, partially as a result of the crisis in U.S. financial markets. As interbank loans were getting tougher and tougher to acquire, Iceland ran into trouble because its banks were too large for the country's central bank to backstop. From January of 2008 through September, the krona, Iceland's currency, had lost about 35% against the euro. Over the past few years, the U.S. dollar has lost about half of that amount, and it was still a big deal. However, this was just the precursor to Iceland's problems. At that point, it was roughly 130 krona to each euro. By the second week of October, the currency had collapsed and the last trade was at 340 before the government takeover of the banks halted trading. Currently, the system has been stabilized, but it is still 150 krona to each euro. read more...

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Obama’s Big Spending: Make money on the $850 Billion Stimulus

investingblog.org — Barack Obama has released numbers that appear to be near-official for the kick off of a 2009 economic stimulus package. Rumors suggested an aid package from $600 Billion to $1 Trillion and the new president appears to be willing to spend more than the $850 Billion figure if necessary. The new package offers similarities to the Chinese economic package aimed at developing infrastructure to create jobs. The opinion of Obama’s economic team is that this new stimulus will create as many as 2.5 million jobs over the course of its two year lifetime and raise the standard of living for US citizens. Much of the money will be dedicated to education and healthcare, two hot button issues that helped him win the election. But for the majority of the money, it will be earmarked for spending on a broad range of projects including improving roads and highways, making government buildings eco friendly and energy efficient and may even include spending in research and large scale use of green technologies. read more...

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