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Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) Beats Analyst Expectations for Fourth Quarter Earnings
Shares of Hewlett-Packard stock declined by -0.78 percent ending at 26.65 on Tuesday after the company reported better than expected earnings after the closing bell Monday afternoon. The stock initially rose four percent after the announcement in after-hours trading but subsequently dropped, ending 2.2 percent lower at $26.27.
The company reported earnings of $1.17 cents per share for its fiscal fourth quarter down from $1.33 cents for the same period last year. Revenue for the fourth quarter was $32.1 billion, versus $33.28 billion for the fourth quarter of 2010. The analyst consensus for H-P’s fourth quarter earnings according to Reuters was for $1.13 per share on revenues of $32.05 billion.
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Palo Alto, CA based Hewlett-Packard, one of the world’s largest tech firms, went through some key changes during the fourth quarter. The
Google preaches Congress on Wikileaks-style embargo for the Web
A representative for Google testified before Congress this week that legislation proposed in the Stop Online Piracy Act could crush First Amendment rights. So what is Google’s solution? Look to WikiLeaks.
The Stop Online Privacy Act, or SOPA, could squash sites across the globe for sharing material protected otherwise under copyright laws, which while established with good intentions, could carry hefty penalties and fines for people that wish to stream music or watch footage as innocent as home recordings of video game gameplay. While major corporations and other groups have lent their support, specifically the Motion Picture Association of America, SOPA has come under criticism from all over the Web for the implications it could have on the future of the Internet and information sharing as we now know it.
Google has previously attacked the proposed legislation, saying that it would be a big blow to freedom of speech and freedom of press guarantees under the United States Constitution. T
How Much Do You Spend in Fees and Taxes For Cell Phone Service?
I read an article in today’s WSJ about “free” cell phone services for the poor. These services are paid for through taxes on regular cell phone bills. The article inspired me to calculate how much my family spends on cell phone taxes and fees on a monthly basis. Here’s what I found:
For us, the $28.54 (roughly $342 per year) represents an 11.9% tax (we have four cell phones on our plan).
I found it kind of funny that the taxes and fees are broken down into two different sections. The fir
Goverment to review bankruptcy fees
THE Government may change the cost of going bankrupt as fees have shot up almost 40% since last June.
It comes as figures show bankruptcies have fallen to 9,567 between July and September down more than 30% compared to the same time last year.
Charities say numbers are falling as those who should declare themselves bankrupt cant afford to. It costs £700 steep for someone who has run out of cash.
Mike Thomas of debtwizard.com, suggested letting people spread the cost of fees, rather than using a lump sum. The Insolvency Service is looking into it.
Citizens Advices Peter Tutton says: We often see people too poor to go bankrupt. Spreading the cost would help.
Swiss KOF Barometer in Decline
This morning’s publication of Switzerland’s KOF Economic Barometer revealed an economic outlook that has dipped somewhat since last month’s reading. A combination of economic indicators is now portraying economic conditions slightly more pessimistically than before.
The measure only fell by approximately 0.2 points from 1.00 to 0.80, a measure that still falls within optimist territory, but only slightly. The Swiss economy has fared relatively well over the last several years, only recently falling from a gouging effect brought on by an artificially strong currency.
EU financial crisis – The key questions
With the Eurozone leadership needing to unveil a ‘grand plan’ to deal with the European financial crisis, the news that they need to delay until at least mid-next week is raising fears that they are simply trying to bridge the unbridgeable.
The Key issues they need to deal with are:
Greece – Greece has slipped on implementing reforms to try and bring its budget under control, but ultimately it is burdened by crippling debts, and the austerity has already pushed Greek society and politics close to buckling, with the country looking at a debt to GDP ratio next year of more than 170%.The plan needs to identify what level of restructuring of Greek debt can be achieved, meaning private holders of Greek debt (mainly European banks) are looking at a far bigger haircut than the 21% they grudgingly accepted in July.
Recapitalizing Eurozone banks – Europe’s banks have largely resisted recapitalizing since the financial system meltdown of 2008.Now they will be forced to.Haircuts on Greek debt will leave large holes in balance sheets.Europe’s banks need to either cover this through recapitalization or shrink their operations.If they recapitalize the question becomes one of how.It will be a tight market for private investors with potentially a large number of banks all looking to recapitalize at the same time.That leaves either national treasuries or the EFSF as potential sources of funding – either carries profound implications.Using national treasuries will add to burdens of national treasuries under extreme pressure already, or in other cases add to ratings downgrade concerns.The current EFSF, €440 billion, isn’t big enough to handle the bank recapitalization need as well as sovereign debt.
Enlarging the EFSF – with as much as half of the existing EFSF probably allocated to Greek Portuguese and Irish bailouts it is in no position to handle debt market stress in Spain or Italy.It needs to be enlarged.The problem is that if it is leveraged with the ECB used as a backstop (which is currently being resisted by Germany and the ECB) then that is a step closer to monetizing debt.If it is enlarged with national contributions then that adds massively to the likelihood of credit downgrades of contributing nations, as well as adding massively to debt burdens of already stressed nations.If they don’t enlarge the EFSF then the risk of contagion as investors flee the Spanish and Italian debt markets (in particular – bearing in mind their yields have nudged back over 6% this week) potentially crippling economies already in recession, mounts.
But beyond these 3 issues there are others that Eurozone leaders need to address, including:-
Economic growth – handling financial system crises would be easier if there was some sort of economic growth on the continent. The two powerhouses of th
The Two Step Plan to National Economic Reform and Recovery
This is related to the video I posted the other day (if you haven’t watched the video, I urge you to do so as it is very interesting). I found this two step plan on the Money Masters website:
The Two Step Plan to National Economic Reform and Recovery
Step 1: Directs the Treasury Department to issue U.S. Notes (like Lincoln’s Greenbacks; can also be in electronic deposit format) to pay off the National debt.
Step 2: Increases the reserve ratio private banks are required to maintain from 10% to 100%, thereby terminating their ability to create money, while simultaneously absorbing the funds created to retire the national debt.
These two relatively simple steps, which Congress has the power to enact, would extinguish the national debt, without inflation or deflation, and end the unjust practice of private banks creating money as loans (i.e., fractional reserve banking). Pay