| Liberals and Conservatives Agree: Proposed Oversight Bill Will Make Things Worse Washington's Blog submits: When a liberal labor leader and a conservative financial policy analyst unite against something, you know that something is really bad (actually, I don't believe in the whole false left-right dichotomy; I think its Americans versus those trying to steal our wallets and our rights, but that's another story). Yesterday, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka slammed the Fed and the proposed "TARP on steroids" legislation in his testimony to Congress. Here are the must-read parts of Trumka's prepared remarks to the House Financial Services Committee:Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Shipping Recovery Boosting the Sector's ETF Michael Johnston submits:With barely more than a month in the books, 2010 is shaping up to be a bipolar year for global equity markets. After surging ahead in the first week and a half of January trading, a sharp pullback handed many benchmarks one of their worst monthly performances since the recovery began. But when the calendar turned to February, equities took off again on a mini-rally. January’s big sell-off has left many equity ETFs trying to get back to break-even on the year. Of the 559 non-leveraged, non-inverse ETFs in the ETF screener, only about 100 are up year-t0-date, and there are some surprising names at the top of the list. Banking funds have surged in the first month of the year, as have certain emerging and frontier markets (Turkey and Colombia are among the top performing equity markets so far). Also near the top of the list is the Claymore/Delta Global Shipping Index ETF (SEA), an ETF designed to offer exposure to the global shipping industry.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
What Toyota Probes Are Likely to Find Rick Newman submits:Can America's best scientists figure out what's wrong with Toyotas? Probably. And chances are, they'll reach conclusions very similar to what Toyota (TM) itself has found.To get to the bottom of the mysterious "sudden acceleration" problems that have plagued Toyota, the government has established two high-caliber probes. Experts from NASA, the space agency, will investigate whether evasive electronic bugs in Toyota vehicles could be causing the cars to speed up without warning—and without leaving a trace of the problem. And the prestigious National Academy of Sciences will convene its own group to study whether the widespread replacement of mechanical systems by electronics—in cars built by virtually every automaker—could be causing sudden acceleration or other safety problems.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Volcanic Ash to Curtail Air Traffic Into Midday Friday The plume of ash from a volcano in Iceland forced aviation authorities to order the restrictions, affecting thousands of flights in a wide arc from Ireland to Scandinavia. nytimes.com |
FedEx Exhibits Lukewarm Economy, But Misses Earnings Estimates Wall Street Cheat Sheet submits: Shipping giant FedEx (FDX) continues to have some small problems keeping Wall Street earnings expectations in check. However, the global economic bellwether still proves the economy is doing much better than apocalyptic bears are preaching. “[T]he economic environment and growth prospects are much improved from a year ago,” said FedEx CEO Frederick Smith. Smith and FedEx’s numbers show us growth going forward may be slower than eternal optimists crave, but it’s growth nonetheless.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |