Head-To-Head: FBN’s Dobbs Beats CNBC’s Kudlow

-By Warner Todd Huston

At the end of June I noted the ratings success that Fox Business Network had over CNBC and that only Larry Kudlow was still beating FBN in the ratings. Now, for the first time, Kudlow lost the ratings battle, at least for one month.

For the month of July, Lous Dobbs Tonight hit the big time.

NEW YORK, Jul 30, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — FOX Business Network’s (FBN) Lou Dobbs Tonight beat CNBC’s The Kudlow Report in the coveted advertising demo of persons aged 25-54 for the month of July, according to Nielsen Media Research. The victory marks the first monthly win for the 7 PM/ET program, anchored by Lou Dobbs, since launching in March 2011.

For the month of July, Dobbs achieved a 10 percent advantage over CNBC with 43,000 viewers in the demo to Larry Kudlow’s 39,000. In total viewers, it was a close race with Dobbs earning 148,000, just shy of Kudlow’s 158,000. FBN is available in roughly half as many homes as CNBC and this is the first time a program has won the month in the advertiser friendly demo since launching in 2007.

FOX Business Network (FBN) is a financial news channel delivering real-time information across all platforms that impact both Main Street and Wall Street. Headquartered in New York–the business capital of the world–FBN launched in October 2007 under the leadership of FOX News Chairman & CEO Roger Ailes and is now available in more than 60 million homes in major markets across the United States. Owned by News Corp, the network has bureaus in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, DC and London. On the web at http://www.foxbusiness.com.

It is a milestone for Fox Business Network, for sure. Larry Kudlow is a great talent, for sure, but this news shows that Fox Business Network is a force to be reckoned with, for sure.
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Head-To-Head: FBN’s Dobbs Beats CNBC’s Kudlow”


CNBC Ratings Crash, Fox Business Network Surge

-By Warner Todd Huston

In this volatile market atmosphere, one might think that networks such as CNBC would be seeing all time high numbers as traders and other folks in the financial sector seek up-to-the-minute information. But as the second quarter comes to a close, CNBC is losing ground in the ratings and losing ground to upstart Fox Business Network, at that.

As the second quarter ratings hit it revealed the CNBC garnered its lowest ratings since 2005 in both total viewers as well as the coveted demo of persons aged 25 to 54. Even worse, chief business hour programming from 9:30 AM to 5 PM (ET) also had its worst low since 2005. CNBC also had its lowest rated quarter in the most sought after demo since 1997.

Just as alarming for CNBC is that one of their best anchors, Maria Bartiromo, had the worst rating for her timeslot since 1997.
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CNBC Ratings Crash, Fox Business Network Surge”


New Fox Business Network Show: Money With Melissa Francis

-By Warner Todd Huston

A new show is soon to debut on Fox Business Network. The new show, Money With Melissa Francis, will premiere on June 4 at 5PM/ET featuring Melissa Francis, recently of CNBC.

Francis was dubbed the “The Empress of Energy” by the New York Post for her reporting of the commodities market live from the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange. In a recent interview Francis talked about that incident.

I traveled around the world covering OPEC and anything related to energy, and got the Saudi oil minister to go on camera for the first time in as long as anyone could remember, so the Post did a fun article that I still have somewhere.

Melissa Francis will work to break all the day’s top financial stories and will discuss in depth how they impact our country, our markets, investors, and decision makers.
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New Fox Business Network Show: Money With Melissa Francis”


J.P. Morgan Chase $2 Billion Loss Raises Fears of Government Actions

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last week the news of the $2 billion trading loss suffered by J.P.Morgan Chase hit the country like another nasty slap in the face to a nation already facing an economic downturn that is the worst one in a lifetime.

The $2 billion bandied about by the media is not likely the end of that loss, either. This was only the first round of losses due to these bad derivatives trades and more losses are likely yet to come.

For some insight on this mess I exchanged some emails with Sandra Smith of Fox Business Network.

Smith said that the bank “characterized the trades as legitimate hedges of risks elsewhere in the banking group that went awry,” but this understated explanation won’t likely suffice for those out for the heads of those working in our financial sector.
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J.P. Morgan Chase $2 Billion Loss Raises Fears of Government Actions”


Black Friday Special on Fox Business Network: Follow the Money: The Investor’s Holiday Portfolio

-By Warner Todd Huston

On November 25, Fox Business Network’s Eric Bolling will be hosting a Black Friday special to kick off the holiday season this year titled, Follow the Money: The Investor’s Holiday Portfolio. The program will air at 10PM eastern.

The Chicago-born Bolling will enlist a panel of experts to examine which stocks will make great gifts this season, where the hidden deals can be found, and whether the European debt crisis will dampen investor spirits.

Guests will include: Dialectic Capital Management Head of Trading and “The Risk Doctor” Tim Strazzini; Exemplar Capital managing partner and “The Chartman” Gary B. Smith; Yahoo! Finance blogger and “The Lone Wolf” Jeff Macke, and others.
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Black Friday Special on Fox Business Network: Follow the Money: The Investor’s Holiday Portfolio”


Fox Bus. Network’s Cheryl Casone Broadcasts From Chicago on Friday

-By Warner Todd Huston

FOX Business Network (FBN)’s Cheryl Casone will report live from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) on Friday, October 14, 2011 at 11 AM/CST. Casone will interview a number of Chicago business leaders and CEOs to get the latest on commodities and market moves.

Cheryl dropped me a note to weigh in on why she’s leaving New York City for Chicago for the day.

Why NOT Chicago? The Chicago Metro Area is home to 27 Fortune 500 company headquarters and 34 S&P 500 company headquarters. They make Chicago their home and now Fox Business has made the CME our home. The city is crucial to Fox Business Network in so many ways.

Look at what Chicago contributes to US GDP. While it doesn’t equal New York, at $532.33 billion in 2010, Chicago is a crucial component to the United States. If Chicago does well, America does well.

The CME has been and still is the hub of US commodities trading. From grain to soybeans to cotton to what Americans pay at their table and at the clothing store begins right here. Fox Business has a unique vantage point our competition doesn’t: we are looking out for everyone not just Wall Street traders.

Chicago’s banking sector is of particular fascination. What are they doing New York is not? I am joined Friday by Stephen Calk the Chairman and CEO of Chicago Bancorp who sees a lot fear in lending right now. He also believes mortgage rates are in store for some volatility.

Personally I love coming to Chicago for the amazing food! From pizza to steak I always bring my running shoes to burn those calories. My good friend Chris Artinian (CEO of Morton’s The Steakhouse) is coming by the CME as well Friday to talk business at his chain and of course food.

Be sure to tune in Friday –DISH Channel 206; DIRECTV Channel 359.
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Fox Bus. Network’s Cheryl Casone Broadcasts From Chicago on Friday”


Fox Business Network Takes on Regulations Burying the Open Road Trucking Industry

-By Warner Todd Huston

Much of what you eat, wear, read, play with, drive, and ride gets to your hometown store via a truck of some kind so the open road trucking industry — as well as local, short distance haulers — is a vital link between all of us and the necessities of life. That is why the constant wave of new regulations that roll over truckers like a killer tidal wave is something to which we all need to pay more attention. So, it looks like Fox Business Network’s Adam Shapiro has been doing some of that attention paying.

These jobs killing regulations need to be reassessed because small business owners — called owner-operators — are being priced right out of the business leaving only the giant trucking firms that can afford to pay all the fees, licenses, tags, and stickers while at the same time being able to have the legal advice to satisfy all the mounds of regulations as well as the yearly and multitudinous changes in same that happen every single year.

Remembering that President Obama keeps claiming that he wants to eliminate regulations, even though his own regulatory powers grow by the day, regulations in this country are killing businesses and smothering any possible recovery. Nearly every day we hear of a new major regulation the Obama administration wants to add to the pile.

Worse, every single year there are hundreds of new regulations and thousands of alterations to regulations that we never hear about, changes that affect nearly every American business. Changes that ultimately make our lives more difficult and costly, changes that cost jobs.

Fox Business Network has been doing a special entitled Regulation Nation that explores the litany of regulations that inhibit the stimulation of the economy and one of the particular issues has been those regulations that affect the trucking industry.
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Fox Business Network Takes on Regulations Burying the Open Road Trucking Industry”


FBN’s Eric Bolling: ‘Obama’s Economy Will Dip Back Into Recession’

-By Warner Todd Huston

“The debt deal was a bad deal…”

We were told that the country was about to collapse like the Weimar Republic or the Soviet Union, even, if Washington didn’t get that darn debt ceiling hike done. Yet, even as President Obama was signing the very bill that was supposed to save our faltering economy, the DOW tanked closing down 512 points.

I had a chance to talk with Fox Business Network’s Eric Bolling about this mess and, hoping for some happy news, found that Bolling was not so optimistic about the near economic future of our great nation.

Here is our exchange:
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FBN’s Eric Bolling: ‘Obama’s Economy Will Dip Back Into Recession’”


A Few Things Illinois Needs to know about the Debt Crisis

-By Warner Todd Huston

The debt crisis is a national disaster, of course. But Illinois will likely be affected worse than many other states. For one thing, Illinois is the most broke state in the union and will be affected more immediately by the mess that is our national economy than any other state. But, as Fox Business network’s Ashley Webster reports, there are five things that Illinoisans need to know about how the crisis will affect them.

Webster will be doing a special report on Fox Business Network on Monday, August 1 at 5AM, talking about how the debt crisis will affect Illinois, but I had a nice exchange with him and he gave me a little sneak peek at his report.

Webster told me several important points that the debt crisis means for Illinois.
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A Few Things Illinois Needs to know about the Debt Crisis”


Fox Business Network Opens New Studio Overlooking Floor of Chicago Mercantile Exchange

-By Warner Todd Huston

Fox Business Network is leaping head first into full time coverage right in the thick of it all at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange with a new CME-based studio booth on the next level up from trading floor itself. Interestingly, this marks as the very first time a financial network will have its own, branded booth so close to the floor.

Thursday afternoon I spoke to Fox Business Network correspondent Jeff Flock about the grand opening of the CME booth and asked him what made the Network make this move. “Since both exchanges were consolidated there that makes that floor the center for futures trading in the country and now Fox Business will have a permanent presence where all the traders can see us.”
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Fox Business Network Opens New Studio Overlooking Floor of Chicago Mercantile Exchange”