Thoughts

After hearing from a slew of restaurants lately, it appears that gas prices are not spooking diners.

IBM seems like a company that everyone thinks was passed by two decades ago. However, it has transformed itself and is a tech leader that never seems to get any respect.

Maybe today's $8 billion buyback and dividend boost will get CEO Sam Palmisano and the company the respect it deserves.

Ford Posts a Great Quarter

The automaker beat on the top and bottom line. Retail-related charge-offs were down $84 million vs. the December 2010 quarter.

To put it mildly, F put in a terrific quarter, beating on the top and bottom line. This company has had plenty of rumors and stories thrown at it by the bears over the past few weeks, but there is no denying the strength of Ford's results today.

I have been sifting through the Ford Motor Credit results. The credit arm of Ford was one of the reasons why Ford did not buckle under during the credit crisis. One metric really stood out this quarter: charge-offs. On finance receivables of $73 billion, there were only $59 million in retail-related charge-offs, which was down from $143 million in the December 2010 quarter.