Filed under: Company News , Earnings Citigroup ( C ) surprised Wall Street today, reporting a lower than expected loss of 18 cents per share and higher than expected net income of $1.6 billion, further fueling sentiment that a recovery in the banking sector may be underway. Citi reported revenues of...

Filed under: Company News , Technology , Earnings Google ( GOOG ) beat analysts’ profit estimates after cutting jobs and costs, but the online ad giant saw its first quarter-to-quarter drop in sales since going public in 2004. “We’re still basically in uncharted territory,” Eric...

Filed under: Economy Fourteen months ago, I learned about the $330 billion market for a new financial instrument called Auction Rate Securities (ARS) — bonds sold as cash-like instruments whose yields reset in periodic auctions. But in February 2008, the banks that created ARS stopped propping...

Filed under: Economy , People Not surprisingly, now that banks have lifted the moratorium on foreclosures, the number of foreclosures jumped dramatically in March. Nationwide, 804,000 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice in the first quarter, up from about 650,000 in the same time...

Filed under: Company News , Columns The short-term publicity General Electric Co. ( GE ) got from signing a reality show deal with ousted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich will be eclipsed by the long-term harm it will do to the credibility of its NBC network. Blagojevich has reportedly been offered...

Filed under: Company News , Columns The short-term publicity General Electric Co. ( GE ) got from signing a reality show deal with ousted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich will be eclipsed by the long-term harm it will do to the credibility of its NBC network. Blagojevich has reportedly been offered...

Filed under: Economy This is just one of the Innovative Ways to Stimulate the Economy suggested by DailyFinance contributors. See them all. Here’s how the stimulus money flows — a flood reaches federal agencies, which in turn send a river of money to state and local government entities,...

Filed under: Economy This is just one of the Innovative Ways to Stimulate the Economy suggested by DailyFinance contributors. See them all. Before you jump down my throat, saying that all immigrants do is drive up unemployment, allow me to bring forth some evidence to the contrary that shows immigration...

Filed under: Economy Just call it that non-swiping sound. It seems that Americans are keeping their credit cards in their wallets, as the nation’s worst recession in decades has prompted citizens to re-evaluate their spending habits. Balances on U.S. consumer credit cards fell by $7.4 billion...

Filed under: Company News , Earnings Amid dropping demand and falling prices, Alcoa just announced its second consecutive quarterly loss. At a drop of 59 cents per share, it did slightly worse than analyst predictions of between 52 and 58 cents per share. However, its revenues of $4.15 billion were...