Lou Gutheil

The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee reported today that UK banks need an additional £25 billion in aggregate on reserve to guard against what Andrew Bailey called “inadequate provisions for losses on loans.”  The committee wants the extra capital raised by December. There is at least one small catch.  The banks are going to have […]

On 12 June 2012 ADVFN reported that Thalassa share price had jumped 61% to 47.50 following its announcement of a joint venture with P-Cable to market Thalassa’s patented high-resolution, sub-oceanic, seismic data acquisition technology and the commencement of a contract with State Sevmorgeo Company in Russia.  Executive Chairman Duncan Soukup was looking forward to increased […]

It has been a non-stop news week for pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.  Its share price has jumped 186.0 in the last seven days from 3,050 to 3,236.  The stock hit a high of 3,273 at 9:40 this morning before receding to 3,250 by 12:30 pm. Massive Cutbacks On 18 March the company announced that it would […]

It comes as not surprise that Nike (NYSE:NKE) is the world’s largest largest athletic clothing and shoe company.  But it was a surprise when company with the Swoop® logo announced a 55% increase in revenue year-on-year for the third quarter ending 28 February 2013. Expectations had been positive for Nike’s third lap in its annual Fiscal Relay, […]

Lamprell (LSE:LAM) will be glad to get March 2013 behind it.  The company has taken it on the chin with a major fine from the FSA and a year end report that makes the Titanic’s voyage look like a raging success.  Nonetheless, the appointment of a new CFO,the arrival of its new CEO, and a […]

ARM Holdings (LSE:ARM) announced this morning that CEO Warren East will be retiring effective 1 July 2013 and will be succeeded by current company president Simon Segars.  ARM’s share price stumbled at the opening bell, but was up 4.5 pence (0.5%) to 901.0 by midday. East blazed the trail for ARM, leading it to the […]

One of the wisest things that I have ever heard, especially with respect to governmental budgeting, is that “Public works bake the cake, most politicians care only about the icing, and the public is concerned only about how much cake they are entitled to.”  From what we know today, George Osborne will buck that trend tomorrow […]

The Office for National Statistics announced that the consumer price index for the month of February rose to 2.8%, up from 2.7% in January and the three months prior.  WAIT!  Don’t go away.  This brief article is not financial techno-babble.  It should help you understand what the CPI and inflation means to you on a […]

Mark Twain, having seen his obituary printed in a local newspaper, said, “The rumors of my death are highly exaggerated.”  In similar fashion (pardon the pun), the rumors of Marks & Spencer (LSE:MKS) being taken over by the Qatar Investment Authority, the country’ sovereign wealth fund, also have been highly exaggerated. The publicity sure didn’t […]

JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon has been an outspoken critic of the US Congress’ attempts to more closely regulate Wall Street and the banking industry following the infamous bailouts of 2008.  Apparently Dimon never learned the old axiom “You can’t fight City Hall.”  Either that or he hasn’t thought about applying the principle at the […]