Mr. Softy with its head in the clouds
O Internet, where have you gone as a growth vehicle? Stagnancy is catching up to cyberspace. This week alone, Nielsen Online showed that search engine traffic fell by 2% last month over last year's showing. It gets even worse for some of the top companies like Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Ask.com parent IAC (NASDAQ:IACI), which are all looking at year-over-year declines in market share. Thinning slivers within a shrinking pie?
Oh boy!
It gets worse. Rival marketing research firm comScore now projects a flat online holiday shopping season, on the heels of a 4% decline through the first three weeks of November. This also comes at a time when desperate real world retailers are doing anything they can to make sure you don't walk away from their stores. Forget doorbusters this weekend. Just be lucky if the cashiers let you out.
Oh joy!
Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week:
- The trading week got off to a good start when Citigroup (NYSE:C) treated bailouts like families conquer Thanksgiving meals: Dig in, and then come back for seconds. The struggling financial giant got a second bailout on Monday, this one in the form of a $20 billion capital infusion and sturdier asset protection. Gee, all I get after Thanksgiving dinner is a chance to whip out a turkey tetrazzini recipe.
- Shares of Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI) hit an all-time low earlier this week, but it doesn't mean that shareholders shouldn't be grateful during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Until next week, I remain,
Rick Munarriz
