Although it recently took $40 billion from the government in order to stay afloat, American International Group’s CEO Edward Liddy has expressed his confidence that AIG is on its way to quickly paying back its federal debt. AIG chalks this up to a sweeping decrease in risks in its derivatives business.
 
AIG has not released any sort of predictions regarding the value of its stock increasing or decreasing in the near future, much to its shareholders’ chagrin. However, Liddy has called AIG’s chances of repaying the government “excellent” and promises a changing business model in the coming months.
 
Liddy revealed his predictions …read more

Add FedEx’s name to the growing list of companies struggling under the burden of the economic recession: the second largest package shipping company in the country has reported a steep loss of money. FedEx blames this on a general downsizing in shipments for consumers and businesses and does not expect things to get better any time soon.
In the quarter that ended in May, FedEx lost $876 million, or $2.82 a share, compared to a loss of $241 million a year ago, or $0.78 a share. The company has also taken charges worth about $1 billion for situations related to its …read more

After eight years of intense legal conflict, a judge has finally thrown out the lawsuit against Oracle CEO Larry Ellison of insider trading and deceiving investors. According to the judge, Susan Illston, lawyers failed to provide enough conclusive evidence that any of this ever went on, leaving the judge no choice but to dismiss the charges.
The lawsuit arose when Oracle missed an earnings report back in 2001 and blamed it on an economic slump. Investors quickly rose to blame the nonexistent earnings forecast on problems with software, bad accounting, and poor judgment, things that the Oracle leadership were aware of …read more

Adobe Systems Inc., the software company renowned for creating programs like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Acrobat, has released a report revealing its underperformance. In its fiscal second quarter, Adobe suffered a 41 percent decrease in profits and a general fall in sales of its core products.
 
According to Adobe, the recession is the main culprit, cutting demand for its creative tools in such a way that is to be expected in light of the weak economy. Profit is down from $214.9 million to $126.1 million, while revenue has dropped 21 percent to $704.7 million. These results are mostly in line with …read more

Most people remember Tyco’s name in relation to the scandalous exploits of Tyco International’s CEO Dennis Kozlowski and CFO Mark Schwartz, but fortunately for Tyco Electronics, the future is looking bright. The stronger dollar, along with increased sales and higher revenue, has led to a more optimistic fiscal third-quarter outlook.
Tyco Electronics’ shares are up 19 percent this year so far, jumping 7.2 percent in after-hours trading today to $20.65. The news probably comes as a surprise and a relief to Tyco investors and executives who, earlier in the year, expressed concern over a general lack of demand in its products …read more

Thanks to the struggling economy and its devastating effects on the profitability of airlines, more and more airlines have been reporting a significant number of jobs cuts going forward. Among these, American Airlines will let go of 1,600 jobs, Cessna will let go 1,300 employees, and Delta seems prepared to drop an unspecified number of workers.
These job cuts come as slowing travel demand leads to dramatic drops in profit, creating the need for a reduction in overhead costs to come up even. Already, fares are being reduced in an effort to attract more potential travelers to fly, but so far …read more

Economic indicators point to a slowdown for the fifth consecutive month: manufacturing & services slowing, companies cutting jobs accompanied by first time claims for jobless benefits increasing, continuous deterioration of the housing market, stock prices down, etc.
Jean Murray of Small Business Boomers citing Jennifer Heigl’s Daily Blender presents evidence of consumer spending pushing the US economy into recession.
Technically, an economy is in recession if indicators drop for 2 consecutive quarters.

Whether the US is in actual recession or not, consumers feel it is. Consumers, even those with comfortable discretionary disposable incomes, are behaving as if recession has already occured.
Should you …read more