How to Get Smarter, One Breath at a Time

At 4:30, when most of Wall Street is winding down, Walter Zimmermann begins a high-stakes, high-wire act conducted live before a paying audience. About 200 institutional investors—including airlines and oil companies—shell out up to $3,000 a month to catch his daily webcast on the volatile energy markets, a performance that can move hundreds of millions of dollars.

Share

Credit Default Swaps: The Next Crisis?

As Bear Stearns careened toward its eventual fire sale to JPMorgan Chase last weekend, the cost of protecting its debt, through an instrument called a credit default swap, began to rise rapidly as investors feared that Bear would not be good for the money it promised on its bonds. Not familiar with credit default swaps

Share

Sales of Video Game and Flagship Software Lift Microsoft

Sales of Video Game and Flagship Software Lift Microsoft Microsoft’s profit engine is humming along nicely, even if most investors remain unimpressed and the software giant’s stock price is stagnant. Microsoft reported strong gains on Thursday in its first-quarter profit and revenue because of robust sales in its mainstay business of selling personal computer software […]

Share

Germany considers carmaker Opel’s future

The German government plans to meet Wednesday night to discuss the future of carmaker Opel and weigh bids for the General Motors subsidiary. A spokesman for the German chancellor’s office said he did not expect a final decision on Opel to be made Wednesday. “It’s just to check the offers of the investors, then to see how we can go on,” said the spokesman, who declined to be named

Share