Market Currents

• Friday, November 27, 2009

• 12:13 PM Still just weakness across Dow components: CAT -2.4%. AA -2.2%. BAC -2%. XOM -1.9%. GE -1.7%. MSFT -1.7%. HPQ -1.7%. Comment!

• Wednesday, November 25, 2009

• 13:30 PM Dow leaders: CAT +2.1%. DIS +1.5%. DD +1.4%. HD +1.1%. BA +1.1%.
  Dow laggards: KFT -1.5%. JPM -1.2%. BAC -0.8%. MSFT -0.6%. IBM -0.6%. Comment!
• 10:50 AM Reflecting on the emerging News Corp. (NWS) / Microsoft (MSFT) / Google (GOOG) content/search war, The Economist wonders if Tim O'Reilly is right for dreading the war for the web: "A handful of well-funded and robust platforms locked in heated competition could be better for consumers and generate more innovation than Mr O'Reilly's vision of an internet made of many 'small pieces loosely joined'." Comment!
• 10:31 AM Dow leaders after one hour: HD +1%. AA +0.9%. DIS +0.9%. PG +0.8%. DD +0.5%. AXP +0.5%. BA +0.5%.
  Laggards: KFT -1.1%. JPM -0.7%. MSFT -0.5%. Comment!
• 08:10 AM Two more publishers say they may yank stories off Google's (GOOG) search engine and hand them exclusively to Microsoft's (MSFT) Bing, following Rupert Murdoch's (NWS) lead. MediaNews Group Inc., publisher of the Denver Post, plans to block Google when it starts charging readers for online content next year. And Morning News owner A.H. Belo (AHC) says it may start charging online subscription fees and block Google. 4 Comments

• Tuesday, November 24, 2009

• 17:13 PM Microsoft (MSFT) promotes Peter Klein as its new CFO, to replace Chris Liddell, who is leaving the company at year's end. Shares -0.6% AH. (PR) 1 Comment

• Monday, November 23, 2009

• 14:31 PM Rupert Murdoch point/counterpoint: Murdoch's a fool for the threats to pull News Corp. (NWS) content from Google (GOOG) and sell it to Bing instead (MSFT): "We don't live in Murdoch's world anymore." Murdoch may be a genius if Bing's bling is enough; Google traffic is a fig leaf if it doesn't pull its weight in advertising dollars. 2 Comments
• 08:56 AM Sources say News Corp. (NWS) and Microsoft (MSFT) have discussed a tie-up which would see News Corp. getting paid to remove its news websites from Google's (GOOG) search engine. Microsoft, which relaunched its search engine as Bing this year, has reportedly talked with other online publishers about a similar move, as it looks for ways to grab market share from Google. 2 Comments

• Thursday, November 19, 2009

• 12:54 PM Microsoft (MSFT) says that Windows 7 has sold twice as well as previous operating systems during the same timeframe - not quite a month - including boxed versions as well as those preconfigured for PCs. 1 Comment

• Tuesday, November 17, 2009

• 16:55 PM ComScore's latest search rankings have Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT) gaining, and Yahoo (YHOO) slipping - again. Google grows to 65.4% from 64.9%; Bing goes to 9.9% from 9.4%; and Yahoo slips to 18% from 18.8%. 1 Comment
• 15:11 PM Dow leaders: MSFT +1.9%. MRK +1.2%. VZ +0.9%. HPQ +0.9%. WMT +0.8%.
  Dow laggards: HD -2.9%. BAC -1.5%. MCD -1.4%. CAT -1.1%. 1 Comment
• 13:22 PM Dow leaders: MSFT +1.5%. WMT +1%. MRK +0.8%. CSCO +0.8%. XOM +0.7%.
  Dow laggards: HD -3.4%. CAT -1.5%. MCD -1%. BAC -1%. AXP -0.9%. 2 Comments
• 11:41 AM Intel (INTC) CFO Stacy Smith expects a recovery in corporate spending on PCs in the next 18 months, as "ingredients are being put in place" for a large-enterprise refresh cycle. The release of Windows 7 (MSFT) has had only a slight net positive impact so far, he said. 1 Comment
• 10:35 AM Dow leaders after one hour: MSFT +1.4%. WMT +0.75%. XOM +0.6%. MMM +0.5%.
  Laggards: HD -3.6%. AA -1.3%. AXP -1.2%. CAT -1.2%. BAC -1.1%. BA -0.9%. 1 Comment

• Monday, November 16, 2009

• 14:26 PM Dow leaders: AA +4%. AXP +3.6%. CAT +3.5%. BA +3.5%. GE +3.1%.
  Dow laggards: TRV -0.4%. WMT -0.1%. MSFT -0.1%. Comment!

• Friday, November 13, 2009

• 07:40 AM The only game console to tick higher in October was the Wii (NTDOY), with 507K units sold vs. 463K in September. PS3 (SNE) dropped to 321K from 492K in September after a price cut. Xbox 360 (MSFT) declined to 250K from 353K. Top title was Sony's "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves" at 537K, followed by Nintendo's "Wii Fit Plus" at 441K. (MW) 1 Comment