Tag: news

Oil price falls on concerns about global economy

Posted on by The INO.com Team

By CHRIS KAHN
AP Energy Writer

(AP:NEW YORK) Oil prices fell Wednesday on concerns of a weakening European economy and disappointing job growth in the U.S.

Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude gave up 86 cents to $105.30 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, which helps set the price of oil imported into the U.S., lost $1.35 to $118.31 per barrel in London.

Prices dropped after a survey showed that Europe's manufacturing industry is slowing down. Germany's unemployment figures also increased in April. That's happened only twice in more than two years. A separate report says U.S. businesses added 119,000 jobs in April, far lower than the 201,000 added in March. Continue reading "Oil price falls on concerns about global economy" →

Bad news about jobs spooks markets

Posted on by The INO.com Team

By CHRISTINA REXRODE
AP Business Writer

(AP:NEW YORK) Investors homed in on bad news about jobs in the U.S. and Europe Wednesday. They sent stocks down in early trading, erasing the hope generated the day before about a brisk May for the market.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 78 points to 13,201 in the first hour of trading. The day before it closed at the highest point in four years, propelled by encouraging reports about U.S. manufacturing.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 fell 11 points to 1,395. The Nasdaq composite index fell 16 points to 3,034. Continue reading "Bad news about jobs spooks markets" →

B&N, Microsoft team up on Nook, college businesses

Posted on by The INO.com Team

By PETER SVENSSON
AP Technology Writer

(AP:NEW YORK) An infusion of money from Microsoft Corp. sent Barnes & Noble Inc.'s stock zooming Monday, as the software giant established a way to get back into the e-books business.

The two companies are teaming up to create a subsidiary for Barnes & Noble's e-book and college textbook businesses, with Microsoft paying $300 million for a minority stake.

Shares of Barnes & Noble jumped $10.41, or 76 percent, to $24.09 in morning trading. The opening price of $26 was a three-year high. Microsoft's stock rose 2 cents to $32.

The deal gives Barnes & Noble ammunition to fend off shareholders who have agitated for a sale of the Nook e-book business or the whole company, but the companies said Monday that they are exploring separating the subsidiary, provisionally dubbed "Newco," entirely from Barnes & Noble. That could mean a stock offering, sale or other deal.

The deal puts to rest concerns that Barnes & Noble doesn't have the capital to compete in the e-book business with market leader Amazon.com Inc. and its Kindle, said analyst David Strasser at Janney Capital. Continue reading "B&N, Microsoft team up on Nook, college businesses" →

Income Growth Outpaces Spending Growth In March

Posted on by The INO.com Team

RTTNews) - U.S. workers took home more pay in March but growth in consumer spending slowed somewhat, according to figures released Monday by the Commerce Department.

Department figures put U.S. personal incomes up 0.4 percent in March, slightly higher than the 0.3 percent growth posted for February.

That comes in slightly higher than the 0.3 percent growth predicted by most economists.

Furthermore, the February personal income figures were revised up from the 0.2 percent growth rate initially reported. Continue reading "Income Growth Outpaces Spending Growth In March" →

What earnings reports have revealed about ads

Posted on by The INO.com Team

By The Associated Press

Here are highlights of recent quarterly earnings reports from selected Internet and media companies and what they say about the state of spending on advertising:

April 12: Google Inc. says its revenue, after subtracting ad commissions, totaled $8.14 billion in the first quarter. Analysts were expecting revenue of $8.09 billion on this basis. Google's revenue was helped by a 39 percent increase in "paid clicks," but the prices of its search-driven text ads continued to decline. The so-called "cost-per-click" for these ads declined 12 percent from the same time a year earlier.

April 16: Gannett Co. reports a 25 percent drop in first-quarter net income, as advertising in its newspapers continued to decline. Broadcasting revenue rose, helped by advertising related to autos, the Super Bowl and political campaigns.

April 17: Yahoo Inc. says that after subtracting commissions paid to its advertising partners, revenue was $1.08 billion in the first quarter, up slightly from last year. It marked the first time since the third quarter of 2008 that Yahoo's quarterly net revenue has increased from the previous year. Continue reading "What earnings reports have revealed about ads" →