One Bad Quarter Doesn't Knock Out ABB

By Stephen Simpson:Swiss industrial conglomerate ABB (ABB) has an oddly bipolar record when it comes to its financial reports. Where most companies tend to report streaks of better than expected (or worse than expected) numbers, with ABB it's always a toss-up from quarter to quarter. Although ABB did not end the fourth quarter on a uniformly positive note, the company still looks like an interesting name for the year ahead.

Now that Apple's (AAPL) stock has crashed more than 35% from its peak, most Wall Street analysts are frantically cutting their estimates and reducing their price targets.

By Stephen Simpson: By Stephen D. Simpson

Seoul, South Korea: Mervyn King has a very clear idea of what should happen at the G20 meeting in Seoul over the next two days. He's a lot less certain about what will happen in the UK.  

By Stephen Simpson:Every once in a while shares of the world's largest welding company, Lincoln Electric (LECO), sell off and get cheap. These opportunities seem to come about every two years or so, and investors would do well to look out for them, as there are plenty of people who know all too well just how good of a company this is.

ByOsiris Farol:Shares in Wells Fargo (WFC) were down as much as 2.5% on Friday, before closing off 1%, after the release of quarterly earnings in which some investors were disappointed because of the net interest margin (i.e., the difference between the interest-rate received on interest-earning assets, such as loans, and the interest-rate paid on interest-bearing liabilities, such as customer deposits).

By Greentech Media: By Jeff St. John ABB isn't satisfied with the $9-billion-and-counting it has spent buying companies over the past few years. CEO Joe Hogan said the Swiss grid giant is still looking to acquisitions to "fill blank spots in automation and industrial control technology," Reuters reported Monday.