tax

A number of mining companies are in the red after Australia's prime minister said the government would require the nation's 500 largest polluters to pay a tax of A$23 per ton of carbon they produce. Australian mining company Rio T

GE profited $11 billion in 2010 on revenue of $150 billion.

GE uses a series of foreign tax havens that the company says are legal that helped lead to a large tax benefit for the 2010 tax year.

The Fairfield, Connecticut based company said it plans to phase out tax havens over the next 5 years and said it will create one job in the U.S.

General Electric, which faced heavy criticism recently over the amount of taxes it pays, said today that it will repay its entire $3.2 billion tax refund to the U.S. Treasury on April 18th.

The bank sees 2011 EPS of $1.75 down from $2.40, vs. the consensus for $1.84 per share, and 2012 EPS of $1.95 down from $2.45, vs. the consensus estimate of $1.96 per share.

The revisions are based on the continued improvement in Ford's operating results which should lead to a reversal of almost all of Ford's valuation allowance against deferred tax assets as soon as the second half of this year.

Morgan Stanley lowered its EPS estimates for Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F), while maintaining its overweight rating and $21 target price for the company.

One of America's premier home-builders, KB Home (NYSE:KBH), reported a Q1 loss today of $1.49 per share, a much wider loss than the expected $0.27 per share.

In consumer sector ETFs, the SPDR S&P Retail (XRT) is up 1.0%.

In mid-day news, shares of American Apparel are down after the Los Angeles-based clothing company said the shortfall in its cash may force it to seek bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg reported.

Two American Apparel board members from lender Lion Capital resigned to evaluate the investment, the report said, citing a regulatory filing.

American Apparel shares are down 15.9%, or $0.15, to $0.81.

Consumer shares are higher in mid-day trading,while American Apparel (APP) may have to file for bankruptcy protection.

The revised 2010 results will take the company to a loss from a profit for the year.

Office Depot reported that the Internal Revenue Service has, "denied its claim to carry back certain tax losses to prior tax years under economic stimulus-based tax legislation enacted in 2009, which claim was made after the compa

The company said the decision, "

Shares of Office Depot (NYSE:ODP) are down big in pre-market trading, after the company announced late Thursday that it is restating its full year 2010 results to reflect an IRS decision on its tax credits.

The current downtrend began in August 2010, after the federal homebuyer tax credit expired in the spring.

U.S. home prices declined in January, falling to a level equal with the summer of 2003, according to the S&P Case-Shiller indexes. The index showed prices fell 1% in the month, after rising 2.38% in December.

The company stated, "The fourth quarter net loss attributable to common shareholders included costs associated with the moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, impairments at several Gulf of Mexico shelf properties

ATP Oil & Gas Corporation (NASDAQ:ATPG) reported a Q4 loss of $4.06 per share, compared to a loss of $0.80 per share in Q4 2009. Revenue for the quarter however was up 90.7% year-over-year to $141.75 million, below the consens