Lou Gutheil

Let’s get one thing straight right from the beginning. I despise Walmart (NYSE:WMT). I despise Walmart as a reluctant customer, I despise Walmart as a Chamber of Commerce president, and I despise Walmart as a former supplier. What’s more I despise Walmart as an American businessman. Sam Walton Was Not a Saint, but He Was […]

2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the first commercial air flight. What was once a fantasy has become so much more than a reality. It has become so much of our daily lives that we now take air travel for granted. Yet, this now common experience continues to be offered in a financial sector where […]

Don’t say we didn’t tell you this could happen. It may not have been a Freaky Friday on Wall Street, but it sure was fun.  Both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DOWI:DJI) set new record highs and Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI) led all stocks as the most active by a long-shot. Let’s […]

As I sit down to begin this article, Friday is only and hour and a quarter away in London. A few short hours later, it will be business as usual, then off for the weekend. I would suggest that the occasional glance be given to Wall Street during the day, and after the LSE closes. […]

After writing yesterday about the S&P 500 reaching new heights, I was prepared to follow up today with a similar story. However, as I usually caution, what goes up must come down. Except that with the indexes it’s more like a kid blowing up a balloon. They get excited as it gets bigger and bigger, […]

The fireworks did not end Monday evening as the US Memorial Day weekend came to a close. They continued this morning on the New York Stock Exchange as the S&P 500 set a new intra-day record of 1,912.28 before closing at 1,911.91, up 11.38 and 0.6% from Friday’s close at 1,900.53. The previous high of […]

Phizer (NYSE:PFE) has officially withdrawn it’s £69 billion offer to acquire British pharmaceutical giant, AstaZeneca (LSE:AZN). According to a statement from Pfizer on 26 May, the deal has been withdrawn and, therefore, will not happen at any time in the near future, if ever. The text of Pfizer’s announcement read: On 18 May 2014, Pfizer announced […]

The Saga Group (LSE:SAGA) floated it’s IPO on the London Exchange today. Saga’s share price closed at the same price it was offered: 185.00 pence, after a short period spent at 189.00. As usual, there are at least two side to the story. The plot of one is that it was a successful IPO, raising £550 […]

The latest offer from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) for AstraZeneca (LSE:AZN) (NYSE:AZN) has turned into a Phizaster. No matter how loudly one shouts “No,” it usually causes other voices to cry out in protest. Whilst the original “No” was directed at Pfizer, now the AZN board is saying “No” to its own shareholders. That’s probably not a […]

The biggest financial news of the day, for me at least, is that the new company, formerly known as Glencore Xstrata (LSE:GLEN), and known before that as two companies, i.e., Glencore and Xtrata, shall now henceforth officially be called Glencore. Its EPIC ID will still be GLEN. The impact of the announcement at the company’s […]