One particularly vitriolic reader of my last article on The Distorted Shape of the Recovering Economy seemed to think I was predicting a doomsday scenario. I was not at all. Richard Duncan’s tentatively predicted Fall of Rome scenario is a true doomsday scenario, not mine. My focus of late has been ...

Brendan Wagner submits: The Gap (GPS) reported earnings of 44 cents for the fiscal third quarter, right in line with the guidance they updated back on November 5th. They also announced a $500 million stock buyback. Gross margin was up almost 4% versus a year ago thanks to better inventory management ...

Gary Weiss, Author and Business Week Journalist Gary Weiss submits: David Brooks' New York Times op-ed column today on Tim Geithner (mentioning in the lead my Portfolio cover story) misses the point, I think. The problem with Geithner's approach is not whether or not the banks are recovering because ...

The Burrill Report submits: A small study is causing a big splash in the multi-billion dollar world of cholesterol treatments. The test, pitting a prescription form of the B vitamin niacin against the prescription drug ezetimibe, found that niacin significantly shrank artery walls when taken in combination ...

Vinny Catalano submits: So, here we are. More than two years into what started out as a credit crisis, one plus year after the Lehman collapse and a question that pertains to the one of the central workings of the equities market cannot be answered. At last evening's Market Technicians Association Educational ...

Zacks.com submits: Stone Energy Corporation (SGY) reported third-quarter 2009 earnings of $1.06 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 66 cents and the year-earlier earnings of $1.04. The robust results were driven by increased production volumes and reduced costs. Production during the ...

This week was the second-busiest IPO week of 2009 with network security specialist Fortinet (FTNT) making its debut on Wednesday, followed by four additional companies that began trading today. Fortinet led the group with a first day pop of 33%, climbing even higher in the aftermarket to a total return ...

Tech Confidential submits: EBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) announced Friday that it has completed its spinoff of the Internet telephony unit to a consortium of investors that includes Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. The deal values Skype at $2.75 billion, with ...

Ockham Research submits: Barnes & Noble (BKS) reported Friday that its new eReader product has sold out of the entire supply for delivery before the holidays. This may be a positive sign for Barnes & Noble in the long run as demand appears to be quite strong, but it is clear that production ...

Felix Salmon submits: Last Friday, Jason Kelly put up a very funny blog entry about his launch of a pair of fictional 100x levered ETFs, with the ticker symbols SOAR and SINK: Kelly Capital will reset and relaunch the funds at the beginning of each trading day. The company is in talks with the Security ...