Did oil prices rise or fall today? The answer sometimes is both.
When U.S. investors talk oil, it’s usually about a type of crude called West Texas Intermediate. It gets delivered to a facility in Cushing, Okla. But investors also trade contracts for Brent crude in London. Brent has a little more sulfur, and lately it’s been more expensive.
On Feb. 12, for example, WTI crude tumbled nearly $2 a barrel to $33.98, while Brent rose 37 cents to $44.65. The reason for the spread: A lot of supply has been sloshing around Cushing, distorting prices there.
Do CEOs take advantage of shareholders?
When companies get buyout offers, their CEOs face a potential conflict of interest.
When Lear Corp., for example, agreed to a deal in 2007, a major stockholder argued executives’ motives were tied more to their nest eggs than shareholders’ interests.
Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Ohio State University looked at more than 1,000 deals. They found that those in which CEOs retain their jobs don’t fetch lower premiums, suggesting CEOs don’t sell out shareholders.
OK, now I’ll stop.
It’s something stock investors and Chicago Cubs fans have long known: Pain of a loss outweighs the joy of a win. That phenomenon leads people to bet more at gambling tables than they had planned, according to research from the University of California, Berkeley.
Before gambling, most people plan to bet less on hands after a loss, and the same after a win. But once they suffer a real loss, people bet more.
After a win, they stick to the plan. It’s likely because people underestimate how much losing hurts while planning, the researchers say.
How would you like your $3 billion ?
It can make a big difference how a company decides to spend $3 billion.
Offshore-driller Transocean recently unveiled plans for a stock buyback that one analyst says could boost 2010 earnings per share by 15 percent. Yet analysts peppered executives about why they didn’t use the $3 billion for a dividend instead.
CEO Robert Long said he did consider a dividend, but a buyback offered more financial flexibility.
The Associated Press
