According to the National Restaurant Association, Mothers Day is the most popular time to dine out. The observance couldn’t come at a better time for businesses trying to turn a profit during the down economy.
The National Restaurant Association reports that 38 percent of consumers go out to eat on Mother’s Day. For many areas, graduation ceremonies added another boost to weekend sales as families headed out to restaurants for celebrations. Mother’s Day restaurant sales were expected to be 2 percent above last years.
I remember sitting in this chair this time last month going through charts and marking Activision Blizzard towards the top of the list. Through the bulls and bears I kept knocking it further down until the next thing I knew, the reason ATVI crossed my mind had already passed me by. What was that my friends? Q1 Earnings! Thats right, the stop jumped just about a dollar from the point I first taking notice to today sitting at just about $10.55. Activision, best known for title franchises such as World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero, and “Tony Hawk” is quite a shaky subject for most technical investors, but here are some good reasons why its still a good company to keep in mind.
With all the market volatility going on, I think you could make a good case that now is the time to start buying equities. The problem is, you also could make a good case, a technical one mostly, that we have more downside to go. And you have to be as selective as you can when looking for quality names that have been knocked down.
Video games are not quite a safe sector at the moment: the latest console cycle is aging and the industry is waiting for further catalysts to emerge to make the sector an unambiguous buy once again. Of course we can’t forget the competition: Electronic Arts (ERTS) and THQ (THQI)
Although $10.50 still seems cheap, I would like to see it dip a little lower with no bad news or no reason at all just to feel a little safer why with all the commotion and what-not going on.
Google is going to have a problem because Google is only known for their search…they’ve got to find other things to do
Funny because she just stated that Yahoo!’s next ad campaign will highlight search If by “other things to do” you really mean “find a way to cram more stuff on your homepage” than yes, this is perfect logic. Unfortunately, I think she is serious.
In my opinion I think Google is doing way more that Yahoo will ever accomplish. They have a suite of web apps for both the average web surfer (Picassa and YouTube) and professionals (Google Apps and AdWords). Not to mention they have their own mobile operating system as well as attempting to dip their hands into the energy department.
For someone making 8 figures a year, you would think that keeping up with the competition was a top priority.
FastCompany sums it up perfectly: “Yahoo is a fine company run by fine people, I’m sure. But seriously guys–get a new ad team. This one’s a dud.”
In another case of complete non-sense, students who (whether intentional or not) were displaying any form of the American Flag or a combination of red, white and blue on Cinco de Mayo this past Wednesday were forced to leave.
One student’s account of being called into the principles office stated that the principle told him [it was] “disrespectful for them to have worn such articles of clothing on the Mexican holiday” and to turn there shirts inside out or leave school for the remainder of the day.
By now, I’m sure everyone is aware of the additional oil rig accident that occurred near Morgan city, Louisiana while on it’s way to a demolition and scrapyard. Although there is no sign of any major environmental damage, there is no telling what the effects with be on the market Monday morning. And we thought the fishermen had it bad.
In an article posted at BloggingStocks, Garry Sattler attempts to outline a broad plan of defense if your portfolio includes major holdings in oil sector stocks, British Petroleum or XOM or anything to do with travel or hospitality.
Many people believe that this will be another difficult, but unique, summer travel season with rising gas prices which in turn will keep being out of the driver seat and into more airline seats and train cars even staying home all together. Maybe a surge in home entertainment and electronics?
Either way, this is a situation to keep our eyes on as it will directly effect the way the markets move in the next week as well as deep into the summer months. So much for gas prices finally becoming steady.
At a Council of Foreign Relations event in NY, Ivan Seidenberg, Chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications, spoke to Alan S. Murray the Deputy Managing Editor and Executive Editor of the Wall Street Journal. He touched upon various topics including the iPad and the gulf between silicon valley and phone companies.
So if you look at Silicon Valley, they’re view was anything that Verizon, or AT&T, or any of the carriers did was an encroachment on the software business. So the best thing is to come up with a strategy that defines “network” and segments it away from software, and therefore you create a whole argument around Net neutrality. What we know is that the technology is not that easy to separate. Things are more integrated.
“Its going pretty well.” Thats Alan Mulally’s, CEO of Ford, take on the restructure efforts made by the company before and after The Great Recession. Mulally, who left Boeing in 2006, adds that the American motor company has begun the process of paying down debt and that the company’s credit ratings have improved.
Ford is vigorously advancing to provide the greener, more fuel-efficient vehicles the U.S. market demands. To achieve this, continuous improvements in gasoline and diesel powered engines to boost their fuel economy. The company is planning to develop more hybrid-gas-electric engines as well as all-electric engines like the Ford Connect small commercial vans.
If you want to be in this business, Ford is a good place to be.
And of course, you always have to note when your talking about Ford that during the big drawback in the economy, this is the only major auto maker in the US that did not take government assistance or bailouts. Through Alan Mulally’s management, Ford was prepared for the un-seen once and is on the path to continual success for many more decades to come.
While E-Trade doesn’t typically comment on pending litigation, we felt it appropriate given the high level of interest in the E-Trade Baby.
Linsday Lohan, the 23-year-old star that is suing the financial company E-Trade for the sum of $100 million big ones for using her name in its latest commercial about a boyfriend-stealing “milkaholic” baby. Wait, wasn’t the Superbowl in Febuary? Yes it was, but E-Trade just recently responded to the lawsuit in a defensive tone that they’re not backing down.
Lohan’s lawyers argue that she is at such a level of fame that she claims she can be recognized around the world simply by “Lindsay,” such as “Oprah” or “Madonna” who are known by single names. “Many celebrities are known by one name only, and E-Trade is using that knowledge to profit,” Lohan’s lawyer, Stephanie Ovadia, told the NY Post.
E-Trade is a leading online brokerage firm, which also offers retail banking services, such as checking and savings accounts and CD accounts. As traditional retail banks Bank of America and Wells Fargo have entered the industry, the online brokerage firm have been facing increased competition and downward price pressure. The Trading and Investing segment is their main service sector. They provides an online investing and trading platform that allows clients to trade market and limit equity, options, futures, exchange-traded funds, and bond orders.
We believe the claims are without merit and we intend to defend ourselves vigorously in this case.
~E-Trade.
She’s going to have to say that she’s such a lush and an alcoholic that the use of the word ‘milkaholic’ obviously refers to her.
