General Electric has posted a quarterly decrease in profit of 42 percent, a result that, while disappointing in and of itself, actually marks an improvement from what analysts predicted for the massive company. In fact, GE’s results showed that its important industrial business is showing signs of recovery, hitting a record $174 billion backlog of equipment and services orders.
The company’s quarterly revenue was smaller than analysts expected, but the strong performance of its industrial and media businesses helped to stave off GE’s current main weakness, its GE Capital financial division. GE’s results sent its shares down 5.5 percent, or 92 …read more

Steve Walters has been named as the president of a joint venture between General Electric and SAFRAN. The joint venture was announce in 2008 and features Middle River Aircraft Systems (the General Electric subsidiary) and Aircelle (SAFRAN’s subsidiary).
Together the two companies will develop, support and produce nacelles that will be used on next-generation airliners.
Walters, who has spent most of his professional career with General Electric in various capacities, sounds ready to tackle the challenge.
Said Walters: “This is an exciting time for the joint venture, as airlines are seeking more efficient and more environmentally-friendly solutions for the next generation of airliners. …read more

Most Americans could not locate Kazakhstan on a map, but that has not stopped the large Central Asian country from signing a $500 million deal with GE. In return for the money, General Electric will maintain locomotives for Kazakhstan’s federal railway and invest in locomotive-related infrastructure in the country.
According to GE, this deal with Kazakhstan marks the company’s largest such deal ever outside of North America. All in all, GE will provide maintenance for about 400 locomotives owned by a company called Kazakhstan Temir Zholy. The two companies will also join forces to invest in a Kazakhstan plant that will …read more

In both 2007 and 2008, Wal-Mart was on top of the Fortune 500, while Exxon Mobil finished in second place. For 2009, Exxon Mobil leapfrogged Wal-Mart and is now first while Wal-Mart finished in the second slot.
The Fortune 500 is released by Fortune magazine on a yearly basis and it lists the 500 richest corporations in the United States by using gross revenue as the measure. This year, Exxon Mobile topped the list with more than $440 billion in revenue. Wal-Mart was second with revenue of more than $405 billion.
Overall, the national economic woes was felt in the Fortune …read more

If Congress passes a bill that is currently on the table, FedEx is one of many companies that may be reclassified and fall under new jurisdiction. Rather than being under the National Railway Labor Act, FedEx would fall under the National Labor Relations Act. That change would make it easier for FedEx employees to form a union.
Considering that FedEx is already suffering during these tough economic times and also considering the perceived damage unions have done to other industries such as the automobile industry, it’s no surprise that FedEx is concerned. To show their concern, FedEx has made a not-so-veiled …read more

After five straight days of losses, the United States stock market finally broke that streak on Wednesday. Of the stocks that saw their prices move, approximately 75% of the stocks became more valuable. At the bell, the Dow Jones industrial average gained almost 150 points to finish at 6,875.84.
The other indexes also showed improvement. The S&P’s 500 gained 16.5 points to go back over 700 and finish at 712.9. Indexes for Nasdaq and the Russell 2000 also posted gains.
Most of the good news in the stock market is being attributed by market experts to the Chinese government. In China, it …read more

The month of February has taken another turn for the worse on the stock market. The Dow Jones industrial average now sits at 7062.93 following a 1.7% drop of 119.5. Additionally, the Nasdaq composite index dropped 1%, while the S&P 500 slid 2.4%.
Most fingers are being pointed at Citigroup as the main culprit for today’s bad news. In a deal with the United States government, Citigroup has decided to trade a 36% stake of equity for $25 billion. The bank will attempt to use that bailout money to raise the confidence of investors and try to survive these economic woes.
The …read more

The days are so crazy, I have to write long after the markets close for fear of being outdated!
Pointwise the Dow posted its largest one-day gain ever, closing at 9,387.61.  Bravo, bravo!!!  Alas, even after today’s earth-shattering performance, I am not convinced. 
I am waiting for the day when stocks stop trading as a market and start trading as individuals again.  What do I mean?  Well, let’s take a look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average.  The index which contains 30 blue-chip companies rose 11 percent.  Of the 30 components, 29 closed higher today.   The Dow’s largest gainer was General Motors, which packed on 33 percent. 
I did …read more

General Electric has a hand in everything, but has still managed to fall victim to the credit crunch.
Now, GE plans to sell $15 billion worth of new stock, $3 billion in preferred and $12 billion in common stock.  The preferred stock has snagged a buyer in one Berkshire Hathaway.  I’m with Warren Buffett on this one, GE has struggled to maintain its footing during the recent crisis but, the company is solid. 
Today, the stock is trading down about 5 percent and it may continue to go down in the short term, but long term GE is probably one of the …read more