Archive for the ‘News Analysis’ Category
Thursday, June 4th, 2009
Microsoft Corp. said that its new operating system, Windows 7, will be launched on October 22, 2009, well ahead of its original schedule of early 2010, making it just in time for the holiday shopping season. This version will be available on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, netbooks, and media center PCs.
It’s been less than 3 years since its predecessor, Windows Vista, was released. However, Vista wasn’t a huge success due to problems such as compatibility with other software applications and components. Many corporate customers avoided the program, saying that it required costly hardware upgrades and that they preferred to rely on the earlier operating system, Windows XP. Vista overall received many complaints and now it is up to Microsoft to reverse its previous missteps with their new release of Windows 7.
Microsoft has said that Windows 7 will come in 5 different editions in most markets – Starter, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate. Windows 7 will include a number of new features, such as advances in touch and handwriting recognition. Presentations given by the company in 2008 have focused on multi-touch support, which is often associated with Apple products.
I am actually very excited to use Windows 7. I have been wanting a netbook (the mini laptops) for awhile now and I’ve considered getting it during this summer. However, a friend of mine bought up a good point and asked, “Why don’t you just wait until Windows 7 comes out?” In fact, I might actually do just that. The only downside about its release date is that Microsoft will miss some opportunity from students going back to school in the fall.
There are some YouTube links featuring the new Windows 7 if you want to check out some of their new features:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8AqXaNr8ag
Another question arises to our attention? How will Apple handle Microsoft’s new release? Do they also have something locked up, perhaps even better than Windows 7?
Tags: apple, bill gates, computers, holiday shopping, microsoft, msft, multi-touch, netbook, operating system, windows 7, windows vista, windows xp
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Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
A month after Chrysler declared bankruptcy, America’s biggest carmaker, General Motors came next in line to file for Chapter 11. GM has officially declared itself bankrupt in a legal filing, making it the biggest industrial collapse in U.S. history after racking up losses of $81 billion over 4 years. GM is also the 3rd largest bankruptcy of any sort, after the investment bank Lehman Brothers and the telecommunications firm WorldCom.
However, GM will continue to manufacture and sell cars. The U.S. government is hoping for a “surgical” process to build a new, smaller GM out of its remains. GM’s chairman, Kent Kresa, described this process as a “new beginning” for the company, saying that, “A court-supervised process and transfer of assets will enable a new GM to emerge as a stronger, healthier, more focused and nimbler company with a determination not to just survive but to excel.”
This massive reorganization of GM would leave the U.S. government holding 60% of the company’s equity but, nevertheless, this is an essential process in order for America to sustain a feasible US auto industry. Yet still, Obama had to reiterate that the government was still reluctant about becoming a shareholder in GM, but acknowledged that to go to with the alternative, which would be to extend more loads, would be worse.
Today, GM announced that they plan to sell their Hummer brand to Chinese equipment maker Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. Ltd., in a transaction that would secure more than 3,000 U.S. jobs.
Yet another question lingers in our minds as we think to ourselves, “Will GM’s bankruptcy work?” Some people believe that GM has finally made the necessary changes to be competitive but still others hold their doubts about GM’s future prospect.
Tags: bankruptcy, chapter 11, Chrysler, general motors, GM, hummer, investment bank, kent kresa, lehman brothers, obama administration, sichuan tengzhong, telecommunications, worldcom
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Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
Will this be the end of General Motors? Bondholders have rejected a debt exchange offer from GM, which expired at midnight last night. The United States’ biggest automaker has failed to persuade enough creditors to ingest their losses and is now approaching their deadline that the Obama administration has set for them–June 1, which is next Monday. This leaves GM the rest of the week and the weekend to finish restructuring for a possible miracle or resort to filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which is more than likely to happen.
One thing is for sure: GM’s uncertainty over its finances has hurt sales of their cars, as consumers worry about matters such as warranty protection. Would you purchase your own car from a company that is nearly bankrupt? For many people, this bankruptcy issue does not affect their personal interest, as the case shows that Chrysler’s sales have been holding up well even though they had recently filed for bankruptcy.
Does the news of GM dampen our optimistic attitude about the economy and its possible recovery by this year? More than 90% of economists predicted that the recession will end this year, acknowledging that the recovery will be bumpy and slow. Nevertheless, this news still may have a significant impact on consumer confidence, although there has been some positive reading in that consumer confidence has been improving lately. However the reality is that the economy is still very weak, which is also stated by Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist at RidgeWorth Capital Management.
Tags: alan gayle, automaker, bankrupt, big three, chapter 11 bankruptcy, Chrysler, detriot, economics, general motors, GM, obama administration, recession, ridgeworth capital management
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Saturday, May 23rd, 2009
As many of you have probably noticed, the website Circuitcity.com was shut down after the company filed for bankruptcy in March this year. Now, Circuit City is under new ownership, Systemax Inc., which is leading multi-channel retailer of computers, electronics, and industrial products. The acquisition took place just last Tuesday, May 19, 2009 with Systemax purchasing the Circuit city brand, trademark, website, customer records, among a few other assets. Systemax Inc. is a publicly traded company on the NYSE, using the symbol SYX. Systemax also owns CompUSA.com and TigerDirect.com , both which have been quite remarkably successful throughout these years. However, Systemax did not announce any plans for physical Circuit City stores, so therefore, purchases are to be made online.
Although Systemax has also acquired access to the previous Circuit City’s customer record, due to privacy issues, they have offered the earlier buyers the ‘opt-option’ right on its website, so that their personal information would not be transferred to the ‘new’ Circuit City.
The new Circuit City is offering new lower prices, new wider selection, and new faster shipping. Sounds quite attractive, right? BUT caution out folks because there is also a stricter return policy, in that the company reserves the right to reject specific returns, with some products not being accepted at all for returns. These products include widely-known brand names — Compaq, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Toshiba, and Epson, etc. So before you get lured into consumerism, do your research!
Tags: bankrupt, bankruptcy, circuit city, compaq, compusa, epson, hewlett packard, ibm, nyse, systemax, syx, tigerdirect, toshiba, trading
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Sunday, May 10th, 2009
The price of a first-class stamp will be 44 cents this coming Monday, May 11, 2009, making it the third year in a row that rates have gone up in May. Last minute savings include stacking up on some Forever stamps, which at this moment is still 42 cents.
The Postal Service lost $2.8 billion last year and already lost $2.3 billion this year. However, even with this rate increase, it is unlikely that the losses will be covered and there is a chance that the post office could run out of money before the end of this year. So why not a bigger increase? Well, the post office have indeed asked the Postal Regulatory Commission for a larger increase but doing so could also result in a great decline in mail volume, which would lead to even greater losses. Especially with today’s technology — phone, email, instant messaging, webcamming — it is rare that we sent letters to our loved ones anymore.
Tags: forever stamps, postal regulatory commission, postal service
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Friday, May 8th, 2009
Exhale. The stress tests results of the nation’s 19 largest banks have been announced. For some, this wasn’t pleasant as some banks find out that they did not have enough capital to withstand a prolonged recession. For others, it was relieving, providing a decent amount of comfort to our investors, along with the public as whole. Overall, the results have established that those banks can withstand to lose approximately $600 billion in a bleak economic situation.
Results showed that 10 of the bank holding companies need to raise an additional $74.6 billion in new capital. Of the 10, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) needs to raise the largest amount: $33.9 billion. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WF) comes in second place. Other banks include KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), Fifth Third Bancorp (NYSE: FITB), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), GMAC LLC (NYSE: GJM), PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: PNC), SunTrust Banks Inc. (NYSE: STI), and Regions Financial Corp (NYSE: RF).
These banks will have 6 months to fill their capital shortfalls but they are to submit their plans to federal regulators by June to show how they will fabricate the capital needed.
Some suggestions are:
1) selling stocks - Wells Fargo plans to sell common stocks to bolster their capital base
2) selling business units- Fifth Third Bancorp sold 51% of its processing business, which handled credit card, debit and other transactions, to Advent International. This deal increased FITB’s capital levels by $1.2 billion.
3) selling securities – Each of the banks can sell government issued-bonds and other various types of securities to generate capital.
4) TARP- The Troubled Asset Relief Program still has $110 billion in cash available for investment.
Fortunately for the 9 other banks, they do not need to raise additional capital. These banks include: US Bancorp (NYSE: USB), Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK), Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS), Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF,) JP Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT), State Street Corp. (NYSE: STT), and MetLife Inc. (NYSE: MET).
With that said, if you are still not quite sure about what the stress test entails and its purpose, please feel free to read “Stressing Out” published on May 3 on this following website. It might be able to provide you pieces and probable answers to any questions that you might have.
Tags: bank of america, bank stress tests, banks, citigroup, goldman sachs, jp morgan, morgan stanley, recession, securities, stress test, strest test results, TARP, wells fargo
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