Results tagged “stocks”

New York Times says it best: "The gross domestic product shrank at an annual rate of 6.1 percent from January through March after a 6.3 percent decline in the fourth quarter of 2008. Not since 1958 have Americans experienced such a sharp contraction over six months." Basically, companies are just not buying. Is there a silver lining? "But on Wall Street, investors barely flinched at the worse-than-expected decline in economic output. Stock markets rallied 2 percent in midday trading as two big media and entertainment companies beat earnings expectations and analysts upgraded their outlook on bank profits."

The Pasadena Symphony is citing "recent extraordinary conditions in the financial markets" as reason why they are canceling their November concert, according to Laurie Niles, a violinist who writes a blog. "What?" she writes. "A couple weeks of plummeting stocks and...kablouey? What about the sponsor that the Symphony already had lined up for the concert? Or the tickets that have been sold?" The symphony's website does not note any cancellation and a concert is also scheduled for this month. (h/t LAO)

Yesterday morning police discovered a home in Porter Ranch--an LA neighborhood tucked above the 118 Freeway--with all six members of the family dead with three suicide notes from the father and killer, one of them to police citing financial problems. The story of Karthik Rajaram has unfolded quickly telling of a man who made it big in the markets, at one point earning $1.2 milion, but as the economy took a turn for the worse, so did the family's pockets.

The results are in and the House voted 205 to 228 to reject the Bailout plan which in turn sent stocks plunging.

Today is the first day that West Hollywood based Ticketmaster is on their own. Its parent company IAC/InterActiveCorp spun off the ticket seller and three other internet sites to make five separate publicly traded companies. At the end of the article posted on the LA Times' website, it has this little nugget about one of the most frustrating parts regarding Ticketmaster: "[The Company] may consider revamping how it presents fees and charges, if not reduce the actual costs, which vary from ticket to ticket but can amount to nearly half of face value.'The fee structure is too complex,' [CEO Sean] Moriarty said. 'We're hopeful that over the next couple of years we'll make it much more fan-friendly.'"

In like a fox and out with a yodel? Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo for $50 billion. Many have speculated that Microsoft would eventually spring for big Y, as a marriage with the online media giant increasingly appears to be the most viable option to compete with Google in the great war of search and online advertising. Always a fun rumor to kick around, but today it's being corroborated by the WSJ, and considering...