In September, the Producer Price Index rose by 0.3%. While this is an acceleration from the 0.6% decline in September, it is well below consensus expectations of a 0.5% increase. All of the price pressures were coming from food and energy. If they are stripped out to get the Core Producer Price Index, prices fell by 0.6% for the month -- a much faster decline than the 0.1% decline last month, and even farther below the consensus expectations of a 0.1% increase for the month. Both food and energy rose by 1.6% at the finished level in September. For energy, though, it was just a partial reversal of the 2.4% decline in September. In September, finished food prices fell only 0.1%. On a year-over-year basis, the total Producer Price Index is down 1.9%. However, last month the year-over-year decline was 4.8%. Thus on a year-over-year basis, the ...

Wendy’s/Arby’s Group, Inc. (WEN), the third largest fast-food restaurant operator, recently reported third-quarter 2009 results. The quarterly earnings of 6 cents a share were in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company had reported a loss of 14 cents in the prior-year quarter, excluding income from discontinued operations. Lower commodity prices and cost-cutting initiatives have driven earnings.   Consolidated revenue surged 191% year-on-year to $903.2 million due to Wendy’s merger, which added 6,608 restaurants as of Sep 27, 2009, and contributed $613.5 million in total revenue during the quarter. The merger between Triarc Companies, the franchisor of the Arby’s restaurant chain and Wendy's International was completed in Sep 2008.  The quick-service food chain is trying to lure consumers by offering $5.01 combo meals, and plans to make $1 menu available at most of its restaurants to compete with big players like McDonald’s Corporation (MCD) and ...

Chinese fast food chain Youghe King, currently a subsidiary of the Philippine fast food giant Jollibee, has opened its first chain restaurant in Tianjin. Located in Tianjin's Longmen Building in front of the city's railway station, the new Yonghe King restaurant covers an area of 350 square meters. With nearly one hundred seats, the restaurant serves [...]

Why We Need Less Of Michael Moore

by Alexander Wissel, Editor in Chief, Investment U

Knock my favorite football team… make fun of my sports jacket… tease me about my hairline… destroy my finance books… have at it. I’ll even give you a pass for making fun of my mother.

But when it comes to capitalism, “it’s on like Donkey Kong.”

And that means you, Michael Moore. His new film, Capitalism: A Love Story, concludes that capitalism is evil.

Time to draw the line at that one.

Capitalism is no more evil than a lion, alligator, shark, or pack of hyenas. These animals are all necessary parts of the food chain, just as corporations are necessary parts of an efficient society. They aren’t evil… they’re the efficient expression of Mother Nature.

Is the outcome always fair? No. Is it always

...

President Chain Store, a subsidiary of the Taiwanese Uni-President Group, has announced that it has set up a joint venture with the Japanese fast food chain company Duskin to operate Mister Donut stores in Shanghai. With a total investment of USD16.5 million, the new joint venture is equally-owned by the two companies. C.J. Hsu, the general manager [...]

Headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, Biofuels Power Corp.’s mission is to introduce renewable fuels for North America power and reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil. Trading on the OTCBB, the company is the first in the biofuels power sector. This involves generating grid power from biodiesel and renewable gas. Incorporated in 2004, Biofuels Power Corporation is the first company to enter the U.S. power grid with 100 percent biofuels made from waste oils. They do not use corn and they do not remove edible vegetable oils from the food chain.

Biofuels Power Corp. gets fat from animal renderers (chicken, beef, and pork) and waste feedstock from vegetable oil processors. The company then processes the feedstock into spec fuel for their power plant. They have a laboratory with technicians that evaluate each feedstock and provide a recipe that will make a high-quality fuel.

Biofuels Power developed the nation’s first grid-connected biodiesel powered

...

Japanese fast food chain Yoshinoya Holdings has signed a cooperative memorandum with the Taiwanese food giant Ting Hsin International Group to set up a joint venture for expansion in the Chinese mainland. The two parties will jointly invest at least CNY100 million in this new joint venture, which is expected to be formally launched in September [...]

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 22, 2009 - Zacks.com releases the list of companies likely to issue earnings surprises. This week's list includes Oracle (ORCL), Micron (MU), Monsanto (MON), Bank of America (BAC), KB Home (KBH), Lennar (LEN) and CKE Restaurants (CKR). To see more earnings analysis, visit http://at.zacks.com/?id=3207.

Every day, Zacks.com makes 4 stock picks available, free of charge. To see them, go to http://at.zacks.com/?id=5612.

The Week's Events

We'll see another round of early second-quarter results this week. A total of 42 companies are scheduled to report, including 14 S&P 500 members. Oracle (ORCL), Micron (MU) and Monsanto (MON) will be among the mostly closely-watched reports.

The Fed will also grab traders' attention. A 2-day meeting is scheduled for

...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 22, 2009 - Zacks.com releases the list of companies likely to issue earnings surprises. This week's list includes Oracle (ORCL), Micron (MU), Monsanto (MON), Bank of America (BAC), KB Home (KBH), Lennar (LEN) and CKE Restaurants (CKR). To see more earnings analysis, visit http://at.zacks.com/?id=3207.

Every day, Zacks.com makes 4 stock picks available, free of charge. To see them, go to http://at.zacks.com/?id=5612.

The Week's Events

We'll see another round of early second-quarter results this week. A total of 42 companies are scheduled to report, including 14 S&P 500 members. Oracle (ORCL), Micron (MU) and Monsanto (MON) will be among the mostly closely-watched reports.

The Fed will also grab traders' attention. A 2-day meeting is scheduled for

...

The full transcript of John Bogle’s recent webinar examining exchange-traded funds and the outlook for America’s investors.

 

As part of the festivities surrounding the 2009 Journal of Indexes editorial board meeting, IndexUniverse.com hosted a live webinar with Vanguard founder and index industry legend John Bogle.

During the one-hour presentation, Mr. Bogle unveiled new research regarding how successful (or not) investors are when trading exchange-traded funds, and took a big picture look at the state of American finance.

Moderated by JoI editor and IndexUniverse.com publisher Jim Wiandt, the webinar features an extensive audience Q&A session. A full transcript follows below.

Jim Wiandt, editor, Journal of Indexes (Wiandt): Good morning everyone, and welcome to a very special event that we have here today. We are actually at the NASDAQ market site and we have the Journal of Indexes editorial board meeting today.

We have

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