After an initial statement about the Federal Reserve’s willingness to continue quantitative easing should the recovery languish, Bernanke added more cautious qualifiers, explaining that it was too premature to call for a QE3. As a result, the markets were down today. In corporate news, JP Morgan (JPM) announced better than expected earnings, which lifted its stock prices. Apple (AAPL) continued its long-term trend of steadily gaining marketshare in laptop sales.
Tags: Qualifiers, Qualifiers DepressThe second largest U.S. airline Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL – Analyst Report) plans to curtail its services to 24 small cities due to soft demand there.
These cities are served under Essential Air Service, a U.S. program, which ensures the minimum level of air services to passengers in small communities. The U.S. Department of Justice will select a new carrier within 90 days to serve the rejected areas. Until then, Delta Air Lines will continue to fly to these cities.
Steeply rising fuel prices and weak demand are taking a toll on Delta’s profits. The company’s flights depart from these cities with only 52% capacity on average, and sometimes even with no passengers on board. Now
Tags: Delta, Delta ScrapThe departure of Allstate’s domestic property-and-casualty chief is spooking more than a few folks, with the giant insurer’s stock down 5.2% to $27.95.
Sterne Agee downgrades Allstate to neutral, saying the announcement “causes significant uncertainty on strategic direction/turnaround in the near- to intermediate-term. We viewed Joe Lacher’s leadership…as a key aspect of strategic initiatives and turnaround story for Allstate P&C operations.”
An estimated $2.3B of catastrophe losses will be recorded in 2Q due to storm damage, resulting in a quarterly loss for the company. Allstate’s brief statement doesn’t say why Lacher is leaving; a spokesman wasn’t immediately available.
Tags: Departure, Departure Sparks 
The leadership team at Taleo Corp. (NASDAQ:TLEO) must not like their chances of the company’s stock price going any higher. Since the beginning of 2011, they have executed 22 sales worth $6.3M.
In the company’s latest reported first quarter, sales increased approximately 30% to $71.5 million from $55.0 million in the first quarter of last year.
Shares are trading just 2 points below their 52 week range.
Mastery Bottom Line:
When your principal accounting officer starts offloading shares just a week before they are scheduled to release their Q2 earnings report, you know something is up.
Tags: Tleo, Tleo Selling