Hansen Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ: HNSN) announced last night the pricing of a spot secondary offering via Morgan Stanley as the sole underwriter for the deal. The size indication of 2.5 million shares that had just been indicated yesterday was bumped up to 3.0 million shares. The company stock closed up $0.52 at $14.58 in yesterday's trading. We frequently discuss secondary offerings, special financings, restructurings, insider activity, activist investor trends, IPO's, back door plays into IPO's, SPAC's, spin-offs, and more on our open email distribution list. This is also one that Cramer had given a huge endorsement to in referring to...
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Co reported better-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday and forecast that earnings would rise over the coming year, pushing its shares up 8 percent in pre-market trading.
Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trade in Wednesday's session are Aflac, Amdocs, Best Buy, CarMax, Dillard's, Genta, IDT, Immucor, Lululemon, Medarex, Monsanto, Nordic American Tanker Shipping, Packeteer, Rex Stores and Walgreen.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures edged higher Wednesday, after two sessions of sharp losses, though strength in the U.S. dollar following better-than-expected data on private sector jobs capped gains for the precious metal.
Stocks were poised to pull back at Wednesday's open as investors moved to the sidelines ahead of Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke's testimony before Congress.
Best Buy Co.'s fourth-quarter profit fell 3.4%, hurt by lower same-store sales of consumer electronics and appliances, but the decline beat estimates, sending shares higher.
Manhattan apartment prices hit fresh record highs in the first quarter of 2008, even as the rest of the country was reeling from the mortgage meltdown.
Stock futures gain after some better-than-expected data related to U.S. employment. Investors await Fed chief Bernanke’s testimony before Congress about the economy, rates and the credit crunch.
European shares extended second-quarter gains on Wednesday as banks such as UBS continued to gain ground, although auto makers lagged after U.S. sales data and a broker downgrade for Daimler.
Reuters - Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy
Co reported better-than-expected quarterly profit on
Wednesday and forecast that earnings would rise over the coming
year, pushing its shares up 8 percent in pre-market trading.
US Treasury boss Henry Paulson discusses economic issues with Chinese leaders, and raises the issue of Tibet. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 Apr 2008 | 12:32 pm
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Bertie Ahern, the prime minister of Ireland, announced he will leave office next month, ending a tenure that ran nearly 11 years and coincided with a massive economic boom that transformed the Irish economy into the Celtic tiger.
U.S. stock futures edged upward ahead of testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on the economy, interest rates and the credit crunch, with Best Buy also providing support with a better-than-expected earnings report.
Electronics, entertainment, and appliance retail giant Best Buy Co, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) has just posted earnings. This last quarter was a 10% rise to $1.71 EPS in a revenue gain to $13.418 Billion. First Call had estimates at $1.65 EPS on $13.19 Billion in revenues. The company is also forecasting a roughly 7% rise in its next fiscal year earnings to $3.25 to $3.40 EPS. It also forecast revenues of $43 to $44 Billion on a comparable store sales gain of 1% to 3%. First Call has Fiscal February-2009 estimates at $3.31 EPS on $43 Billion in revenues. For the...
Reuters - Stock index futures extended their
gains on Wednesday after a report on private-sector employment
showed an unexpected rise in new jobs last month.
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Monsanto Co posted a higher-than-expected second-quarter profit on Wednesday, continuing to see good market share growth in corn seed and other products.
MUNICH (Reuters) - German prosecutors are investigating
whether engineering group Siemens AG paid millions
of dollars in hush money to cover up bribes it used to win
business contracts, a newspaper reported.
Trina Solar Limited (NYSE: TSL) has announced that it has signed a long-term polysilicon supply agreement with a subsidiary of GCL Silicon Technology Holdings Ltd. Under the terms of this agreement, GCL Silicon Technology will supply Trina Solar with virgin polysilicon supplies that are sufficient to produce roughly 2,600 MW of solar modules in total over an eight-years period. Trina will begin accepting delivery of polysilicon supplies at predetermined prices in April of 2008. That won't be a steady or constant annual yield as the start deliveries are likely far smaller today than would be expected several years out. Trina...
So what might taxpayers end up owning if the Federal Reserve's $29 billion rescue of Bear Stearns should go bad?
Much of what you might be expected to found in Bear's collateral: largely "mortgage-backed securities and related hedge investments," the Treasury Department says in a letter to the Senate Finance Committee.
J.P. Morgan Chase, the letter notes, will be financing $1 billion of that pool of assets and "will assume the first loss position."
The Fed loan was undertaken to secure the emergency takeover of Bear by J.P. Morgan on March 16. The Treasury letter is the first official confirmation of what Bear's collateral is.
The rescue has been described as largely a Fed operation, but the letter makes clear that Treasury played a large role in helping to orchestrate it.
"While Treasury was not a party to the agreements, Treasury personnel, including the secretary, the under secretary for domestic finance, the general counsel, and other individuals from their offices, worked closely" with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the letter says.
The Bear Stearns rescue will be discussed at two Congressional hearings: today before the Joint Economic Committee and tomorrow before the Senate Banking Committee.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures were little changed on Wednesday, indicating the market may take a breather after starting the second quarter on Tuesday with the biggest rally in two weeks.
Below are the top analyst calls we are focusing on this Wednesday morning: AFLAC (NYSE: AFL) cut to Neutral from Buy at UBS. Crocs (NASDAQ: CROX) cut to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan. Dick's Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) cut to Neutral from Buy at UBS. DreamWorks Animation (NYSEL DWA) started as Neutral at UBS. Expeditors International (NYSE: EXPD) cut to Neutral at UBS. LM Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) cut to Neutral at HSBC Securities. Potash Corp. (NYSE: POT) target Raised to $240 From $200 at CIBC. State Street (NYSE: STT) cut to Market Perform from Outperform at KBW. UST (NYSE: UST)...
The Australian government cancels an A$958 million (US$871.5 million) contract led by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. to build a rural broadband network, according to reports.
Losses from mortgage lenders and homebuilders kept London shares in check on Wednesday, as a move by a unit of HSBC Holdings to suspend mortgage lending and HBOS reporting falling margins flagged up pain ahead for homeowners.
The chances of a run-off in Zimbabwe's presidential election between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition Movement for Democratic leader Morgan Tsvangirai grew as state media conceded the president had not won an outright victory for the first time in his 28 years in power Source: FT.com - US homepage | 2 Apr 2008 | 11:45 am
The amount that Britons borrowed through credit cards, overdrafts and loans has soared to the highest level in more than five years, signalling that cash-strapped consumers are feeling the pinch. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 2 Apr 2008 | 11:44 am
The amount that Britons borrowed through credit cards, overdrafts and loans has soared to the highest level in more than five years, signalling that cash-strapped consumers are feeling the pinch. Source: Telegraph Business | 2 Apr 2008 | 11:44 am
Waterford Wedgwood's chief executive today stepped down from the cut glass and
fine chain maker with immediate effect amid another restructure, two months
after the company warned of worsening losses. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 2 Apr 2008 | 11:40 am
First Direct withdraws all its mortgages from new customers as the number of products available plummets. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 Apr 2008 | 11:35 am
Activity in Britain’s construction sector slowed last month for the first time
since the end of 2001, with overall activity levels dropping as the housing
market and commercial property downturns deepened, new figures showed today. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 2 Apr 2008 | 11:34 am
While the Bush administration focuses on plans to prevent housing crises in the future, Congress has decided that it is politically important to be seen taking action now.
Senate Republicans and Democrats have agreed to work together on a compromise on housing legislation. They have set a deadline of noon today.
"The time has come for us to legislate, not continue our bickering," the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, said at a joint appearance with the minority leader, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Nevada, the Los Angeles Timesreports. The nonpartisan display was so rare that Reid had to tell reporters that it was not an April Fools' joke.
The new legislative push, the New York Timessays, reflects “the mounting pressure on Congressional Republicans and the White House to extend a helping hand to average Americans after the Federal Reserve’s intervention in the near collapse and proposed sale of Bear Stearns.”
Details of the compromise bill are still being hammered out, but they are expected to include allowing state and local governments to issue $10 billion in tax-exempt bonds to refinance subprime mortgages and $200 million to expand counseling programs for homeowners.
An earlier Democratic proposal to give bankruptcy-court judges the power to modify mortgages is not expected to be included.
Despite the apparent breakup of the legislative logjam, Martin Kady and Victoria McGrane on Politico.com caution that there “are still deep divisions in this Congress over tax cuts, the Bear Stearns bailout, and how far the federal government should intervene on behalf of homeowners facing foreclosure.”
“But Republicans and Democrats alike seem so scared of the political repercussions of doing nothing that they are willing for the moment to cede a few debating points and entertain the type of compromises that may anger their respective political bases.”
An Italian minister says there is little alternative to the Air France-KLM offer for troubled state carrier Alitalia. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 Apr 2008 | 11:29 am
A looks at comScore data for January and February show that the battle between the two largest financial blogs, Seeking Alpha and Blogging Stocks, is getting more competitive. In February, Seeking Alpha had 797,000 unique visitors. Blogging Stocks had 2.385 million. The numbers were much closer together in January. In February, Seeking Alpha had about three million total pages viewed, compared to about five million in January. The Blogging Stocks figure was five million in both months. Blogging Stocks is owned by AOL. Seeking Alpha is independent. 24/7 Wall St. recently put the SA value at $15 million. Blogging has...
Stocks trim gains after an earlier rallying on hopes that the worst of the credit crisis may be over. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 Apr 2008 | 11:09 am
Australia on Wednesday began pumping carbon dioxide underground to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, using a technology that locks dangerous gases deep in the Earth. Officials opened a... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 2 Apr 2008 | 11:08 am
Russia's lower house of parliament has backed new restrictions on foreign investment, limiting access to key sectors such as oil and gas, aerospace and mass media. The legislation is... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 2 Apr 2008 | 11:06 am
European equity markets continued their strong start to the second quarter, with banks leading the gains for a second-successive session.Investors cheered efforts by companies like UBS and Lehman Brothers... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 2 Apr 2008 | 11:06 am
Financial stocks made further gains on Wednesday as the FTSE 100 touched a five week high.Banks were among the gainers after strong demand for a share offering from Lehman Brothers overnight boosted sentiment... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 2 Apr 2008 | 11:06 am
The top spot among American financial sites has become more of a two-horse race each month. In February AOL Money has 83.1 million visits and Yahoo! Finance weighed in with 81.1 million. MSN Money was in the No.3 spot with 50.9 million according to comScore Fox Business continued its online assault against CNBC. For the month, Fox had 1.44 million visitors to CNBC's 1.9 million. The new website launched by TheStreet.com, Mainstreet, made its debut in the rating with just over 1.3 million visitors. TheStreet itself had 4.7 million, keeping it well ahead of BusinessWeek online and The Motley Fool...
Wall Street headed for a lower opening Wednesday as investors paused after a massive rally in the previous session and awaited Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's view of the economy. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 2 Apr 2008 | 10:55 am
The euro rose on Wednesday as dealers digested a warning from European Central Bank governor Axel Weber that ongoing financial markets turmoil may not be over yet and that inflation... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 2 Apr 2008 | 10:53 am
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers, the U.S. investment bank that raised $4 billion this week to shore up its capital and calm investors' nerves, is looking at expanding its business in China, an executive said on Wednesday.
LONDON (Reuters) - British bank First Direct has withdrawn mortgages for new customers to clear a backlog after people flocked to its relatively cheap rates as other lenders raised rates due to the credit crunch.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says he told Chinese leaders that Washington is making progress in resolving the U.S. credit crisis but cautioned there will be "more bumps" ahead. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 2 Apr 2008 | 10:49 am
SINGAPORE, April 2 (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers , the U.S. investment bank that raised $4 billion this week to shore up its capital and calm investors' nerves, is looking at expanding... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 2 Apr 2008 | 10:43 am
Reuters - Lehman Brothers, the U.S. investment
bank that raised $4 billion this week to shore up its capital
and calm investors' nerves, is looking at expanding its
business in China, an executive said on Wednesday.
Kingfisher, owner of the B&Q DIY giant, has appointed the chief executive
of Superdrug, the pharmacy and beauty product chain, to head up its UK
division. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 2 Apr 2008 | 10:38 am
Exposure to the US sub-prime crisis leads to a 1.6bn euro loss for 2007 at German bank WestLB. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 Apr 2008 | 10:36 am
If China can't come by oil in the open market, it can send a big check to a country with oil which could use a few bucks. According to the FT "China has offered export guarantee facilities worth up to $50bn to encourage investment in Nigeria in a bold strategy to woo Africa’s biggest oil producer." And, why not? China needs the oil to fuel its 10% a year GDP growth. The great African nation needs that capital. Of course, if China can corner the market of much of the oil coming out of Nigeria, the net effect may be...
Halifax, the UK's biggest mortgage lender, is expected to pull its current
home loan deals from the market in a matter of days, after brokers put the
bank on "withdrawal watch". Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 2 Apr 2008 | 10:36 am
LONDON (Reuters) - Google Inc has lost another member of its executive team as Chief Information Officer Douglas Merrill is leaving to join music company EMI. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 2 Apr 2008 | 10:28 am
An executive at China Investment Corp, the country's $200bn sovereign wealth fund, defended its steps toward transparency and said the fund only targets a modest, single-digit investment return. The comments... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 2 Apr 2008 | 10:28 am
African economic growth will increase to 6.2% in 2008, despite potential negative factors, a UN report says. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 Apr 2008 | 10:21 am
Madrid/Paris Spain's Sacyr Vallehermoso escaped having to make a forced $12.5bn (8bn) cash takeover bid for Eiffage, making a possible sale of its stake in the French public works firm easier. The Paris... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 2 Apr 2008 | 10:21 am
Rally caps were out in force yesterday with the Dow moving up almost 400 points. How and why it did that in a day of predominantly bad news is hard to fathom. The FT mentioned that much of it was short covering. The pink-colored paper noted "bankers and analysts cautioned that the rally could also reflect the large number of hedge funds and other investors who had bet that prices would go down and were retreating from short positions" But that is an inadequate explanation for such a big surge The list of negative data posted as the day went...
Sir Richard Greenbury has launched a stinging attack on institutional
investors opposing the new boardroom structure at Marks & Spencer and
has warned they could drive Sir Stuart Rose out of the business. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 2 Apr 2008 | 10:18 am
The dollar eased on Wednesday as investors paused for breath after a sharp rally that saw it recover sharply from record lows against the euro. On Tuesday the dollar recovered from its lows, driven by... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 2 Apr 2008 | 10:16 am
Oil prices rose on Wednesday ahead of the latest US inventories data while gold consolidated below the $900 a troy ounce level and copper helped base metals make modest gains. In energy markets, crude... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 2 Apr 2008 | 10:09 am
Share prices rallied strongly across most of Asia on Wednesday on optimism that the worst of the credit crisis might have passed. Investors were encouraged that Lehman Brothers was able to raise $4bn of... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 2 Apr 2008 | 10:09 am
The proposed £400 million sale of the Tote is expected to move a step closer
later today when the Government appoints advisors to handle a formal auction
of the state-controlled betting group, Times Online has learnt. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 2 Apr 2008 | 10:07 am
A bit of dj vu this morning as the recapitalisation of UBS has shocked banks and prompted a huge rally across the globe. Forgive me for being a bit cynical but didnt the same thing happen a few months... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 2 Apr 2008 | 10:00 am
A bit of déjà vu this morning as the recapitalisation of UBS has shocked banks and prompted a huge rally across the globe. Forgive me for being a bit cynical but didn’t the same thing happen a few months ago when Bear Stearns (amongst others) announced similar balance sheet injections? Source: Telegraph Business | 2 Apr 2008 | 10:00 am
Intel (INTC) has decided to push into the chip market for small mobile devices which can access the internet. According to The Wall Street Journal "Intel, which largely missed out on the market for chips used in cellphones, is using a technology conference in Shanghai to talk up gadgets it calls MIDs, for mobile Internet devices." The idea seems good, but why anyone would want the devices is a mystery, especially with the ultra-smart smartphones coming to market from Apple (AAPL), Samsung, LG, RIM (RIMM), and Nokia (NOK). These handsets, not much bigger than a regular cellphone can work with...
Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez attacks farmers for continuing their three-week protest over tax rises. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 Apr 2008 | 9:54 am
Iceland considers intervening in financial markets to fight hedge funds it says are attacking its economy. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 Apr 2008 | 9:52 am
The European Commission has launched an in-depth investigation into the British government's bailout of mortgage lender Northern Rock. Late last year, the EU authorized Britain to... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 2 Apr 2008 | 9:44 am
Two years ago the Shanghai Composites was at 1,300. It got over 6,000 last October and trades at about 3,300. At its recent 52-week low, it was off almost 50% from its peak. According to The New York Times "there are worries that a prolonged downturn could reverberate through China’s financial markets — especially since a large number of corporations had aggressively shifted money, sometimes secretly, to play the market." Pundits and professional will give a lot or reasons that the market has dropped as much as it has. The biggest concern should be that the theory that stock markets...
LONDON (Reuters) - British bank First Direct has withdrawn mortgages for new customers to clear a backlog after people flocked to its relatively cheap rates as other lenders raised rates... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 2 Apr 2008 | 9:41 am
The EU says it will launch a full investigation of the state bailout plan of mortgage firm Northern Rock. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 Apr 2008 | 9:33 am
After Portfolio.com reported that Warner Music Group was exploring the idea of adding a monthly fee to consumers' internet-access bills to pay for music downloads, the digital music community rose up to ask: What about us?
"It's the talk of the industry right now," Phil Crosland, the marketing chief of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, said.
Crosland added that he doesn't care if it's Warner's plan or anyone else's. "Let's just make sure we have the songwriters, composers, and music publishers covered in any solution," he said.
Across the internet, the nascent fee proposal put forth by Warner Music executive Jim Griffin was denounced as an authoritarian "culture tax" that would fatten industry coffers even as it was praised as a visionary solution that treats music like a utility and spreads the cost across the entire population.
But amid all of the sound and fury over the concept—which Griffin emphasizes is still in the earliest stages of development—one key constituency has been largely overlooked: independent musicians.
Griffin said he wants to create "a collective society for the digital age" to work with ASCAP and other industry groups like Broadcast Music Inc. and the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers. These "performance-rights organizations" collect royalties from radio stations, restaurants, malls, and podcasters, then distribute money to artists and rights holders.
Many independent musicians, however, say they have serious reservations about Griffin's plan.
One of them, singer-songwriter Samantha Murphy, said she fears that any collective licensing model will shortchange independent artists like her—musicians who are not affiliated with a corporate music publisher—unless they are granted "a seat at the table" to help shape the plan's contours.
"Artists need to be brought into this process," said Murphy, adding that both ASCAP and B.M.I. had repeatedly stiffed her. "If you're trying to serve someone, you go to them and ask them what they need, you don't shut them out. And that's what has happened in the past."
Murphy said she has little faith in the major performance-rights organizations to fairly compensate independent artists who might not be accurately represented on the surveys that ASCAP, B.M.I., and the other performance-rights organizations use to determine royalty payments.
Despite having the No. 1 record on a California college radio station for six months, Murphy said she never saw a dime because the station was too small to be included in ASCAP's sampling survey.
Crosland, the ASCAP executive, acknowledged that "it is possible that she got missed," referring to Murphy. He added that ASCAP is committed to improving its sampling model.
As evidence of the effort, he cited ASCAP Plus, a program that paid out about $3 million last year to writers whose work is performed substantially in media not surveyed by ASCAP.
Murphy, however, has moved beyond haggling over a few lost dollars. She's taking a stand on behalf of all independent musicians.
"Right now is when we need to establish a fair system," Murphy said. "If middlemen sit in a room and discuss how everything should be decided, the artist is inevitably left out of the equation."
Reuters - Fannie Mae , the largest U.S.
home funding company, told lenders on Monday that it will
require a minimum credit score for loans it buys on an
individual basis, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday in
its online edition.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fannie Mae , the largest U.S. home funding company, told lenders on Monday that it will require a minimum credit score for loans it buys on an individual basis, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday in its online edition.
Customers will be able to buy Woolworths products at supermarket chain Somerfield from the end of this week, as part of a trial partnership between the two retailers. Source: Telegraph Business | 2 Apr 2008 | 9:15 am
UK bank shares jumped today, led by Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays, on hopes that lendera around the world may be nearing the end of credit-related losses.. Source: Telegraph Business | 2 Apr 2008 | 8:20 am
NEW YORK (Reuters) - National City Corp , which has been battered by the housing downturn, is considering a plan to sell itself to rival KeyCorp , the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Global stock markets rebounded sharply, stirring debate about whether investors were growing more confident or just retreating from trading strategies that profit from falling prices Source: FT.com - US homepage | 2 Apr 2008 | 8:09 am
US lawmakers take the oil industry to task over huge profits as ordinary Americans struggle with high fuel prices. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 Apr 2008 | 7:44 am
Woolworths Group took the axe to its dividend today, slashing the final
pay-out by a greater than expected 87 per cent as it moved to conserve cash. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 2 Apr 2008 | 7:33 am
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New orders to U.S. factories for manufactured goods will likely post their second straight monthly drop in February, providing further evidence of a flagging industrial sector, according to a Reuters poll.
Reuters - New orders to U.S. factories for
manufactured goods will likely post their second straight
monthly drop in February, providing further evidence of a
flagging industrial sector, according to a Reuters poll.
More than five million people switched their energy supplier last year, new
figures revealed today by the energy regulator show. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 2 Apr 2008 | 7:01 am
Growing demand and curbs on U.S. drilling are among reasons they cite for record highs at the pump.
Executives from the five largest oil companies told a House panel Tuesday that they were not responsible for record gas prices and defended the industry's record profits for 2007.
Wireless calling might not change the island for the better.
The Cuban government made headlines worldwide when it announced the other day that its citizens would finally have unrestricted access to cellphones, ushering in a new era in telecommunications for the economically challenged island.
Shares in Asia followed stock markets across the world higher on tentative hopes of a beginning of the end of the banking crisis which has rocked equities for the last nine months. Source: Telegraph Business | 2 Apr 2008 | 7:00 am
Companies are targeting an influential group -- cheerleaders -- to get their message to teens
At a national cheerleading competition last month, girls wearing short skirts and purple eye glitter competed for points at the Anaheim Convention Center. But the real contest was going on in the beauty lounge.
The major indexes rise more than 3% , taking heart from firms' capital-raising plans.
The stock market began the second quarter with an impressive rally Tuesday as investors dared to believe -- at least for a day -- that Wall Street is nearing the end of its painful sub-prime mortgage saga.
Despite opposition from phone companies, the bill now goes to the Senate floor.
California's four biggest telephone companies Tuesday couldn't convince a key legislative committee that they should be allowed to charge consumers for unlisted numbers.
The company says it is sticking with the technology that is raising questions among analysts.
Sprint Nextel Corp., the No. 3 U.S. cellphone carrier, reaffirmed its commitment Tuesday to a next-generation system for delivering data that an increasing number of analysts are questioning.
Legislation is expected to include provisions for refinancing sub-prime loans and counseling for struggling homeowners.
Under pressure to help Main Street after the government saved a Wall Street firm from bankruptcy, senators ended weeks of partisan stalemate Tuesday and agreed to try to quickly pass legislation that could help some homeowners avoid foreclosure.
A global rally faded in London this morning as a sell off of commodity related
stocks amid fears of a global recession countered rising bank shares. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 2 Apr 2008 | 6:59 am
MANILA (Reuters) - Growth in Asia's developing economies will slow in 2008 to the weakest in five years, but the region needs to tackle inflationary pressures before they spiral out of control, the Asian Development Bank said on Wednesday.
Reuters - National City Corp , which has
been battered by the housing downturn, is considering a plan to
sell itself to rival KeyCorp , the Wall Street Journal
reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
When British troops pulled out of Basra last year, UK military officials claimed the Iraqi military would be capable of taking over security, but critics now say the handover was premature Source: FT.com - US homepage | 2 Apr 2008 | 5:07 am
In the embryonic stem-cell wars, the microscopic building blocks of human life have been fodder for presidential politics, pro- and anti-evolutionists, multibillion-dollar state ballot initiatives, and squabbles among Hollywood celebrities—and even members of Ronald Reagan's family.
Now it appears that embryonic stem cells may be nearly ready for something altogether different: treating patients.
This is according to a briefing after the first-ever meeting of the Global Forum of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, recently in Half Moon Bay, California, about 25 miles south of San Francisco.
Since James Thompson of the University of Wisconsin-first isolated embryonic stem cells in 1998, the conversation among researchers has been have been more about promise than reality.
The promise is that stem cells, which can grow into any body part, could be used to replace or regenerate damaged cells in the heart, brain, liver, skin, and spine. But the reality is that the science of understanding how these cells develop and how they might be used in patients has been frustratingly difficult.
Politics hasn't helped. In 2001, President Bush restricted federal funding for research on embryonic stem cells, setting back efforts in the U.S. for years while world-class programs developed in Europe, China, and elsewhere.
Bush has vetoed an attempt to lift the funding curbs, though a new era is poised to begin with whichever presidential candidate is elected this November. All three remaining major-party candidates—Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain—have said they favor lifting the Bush restrictions.
Now a leading researcher, Robert Klein, director of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, is saying that fresh heart and liver cells derived from stem cells may be ready for testing in humans within 18 months.
Safety tests for using stem cells to treat paralysis could start within a year, he told the San Jose Mercury News after the meeting in Half Moon Bay; tests for stem cells that replace damaged retinas could start in two years.
Later will come stem-cell trials to replace bone and cartilage and to better target bone-marrow transplants to treat leukemia.
Scientists are poised right now to use stem cells to test for toxicity in drugs being developed, said Klein. Researchers hope to replace animal testing, which is notoriously unreliable, with human stem cells to determine whether or not a candidate medication is safe.
Klein was the leading figure in the effort to persuade California to approve a $3 billion, 10-year state-bond initiative to fund stem-cell research. (Bush's restrictions apply only to federal funds.) The institute that Klein now runs is charged with distributing the money raised each year from the sale of those bonds.
Several companies and medical centers in the U.S. and abroad are already testing or using so-called adult stem cells to grow or regenerate damaged corneas and bone tissue. Adult stem cells do not come from embryos; they are special cells in the brain, skin, or certain organs that produce fresh supplies of cells as needed by the body.
StemCells Inc. of Palo Alto, California, for instance, recently announced successful early-stage trial results that used stem cells to treat a patient with Batten's disease, a fatal neurodegenerative disorder. Injected into the brain, the stem cells were designed to stimulate the production of an enzyme that's missing in such patients.
Thompson, the stem-cell pioneer, wasn't optimistic about the near-term outlook for stem-cell-based treatments—until recently. "The field is moving very fast now," he said, when I visited him recently in Wisconsin. "I'm now thinking it is time to start thinking seriously about commercialization."
Last fall, he once again shifted the debate about stem cells by announcing that he had transformed skin cells into something very similar to embryonic stem cells. Using special genes added to the cells, his team tricked the cells into reverting back to their embryonic state.
If this discovery pans out, it might dissipate the controversy over having to harvest stem cells from human embryos, which usually causes the destruction of the embryo.
Thompson said he believes that these reverted cells can be fine-tuned to develop into any cells that need replacing, though it would be years before any such designer stem cells could prove practical.
"The beginning of trials are cause for celebration," Klein told the Mercury, "but patients and their families know to expect setbacks and difficulties, as well as victories. We have to have tolerance for setbacks and to respect patients' decisions to take risks."
The best news in all of this is that this odd period when promising therapies were slowed down by an ideological stance supported by a minority of Americans is nearly over—and that meanwhile the science has managed to make strides anyway.
A big majority of privately-held New Zealand businesses say they are paying significantly more in staff costs than a year ago.
The figures are contained in a report produced by accountancy and business advisory firm Grant Thornton.
Some... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 2 Apr 2008 | 2:30 am
Coal miner Pike River says it will have to spend an extra $5 million because poor ground conditions have forced it to change the method of drilling a ventilation shaft.
The 4.15m diameter and 108m deep shaft will ventilate the... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 2 Apr 2008 | 2:30 am
South Canterbury Finance said it has purchased the loan book of Nelson-based Finance and Investments from receiver PricewaterhouseCoopers for an undisclosed sum.
The purchase by Tasman Bay Finance, South Canterbury's local subsidiary,... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 2 Apr 2008 | 2:30 am
KiwiSavers who want to add a "green" touch to their investment can now do so through a fund being launched by ASB.
The new Global Sustainability Fund (GSF) will invest in companies committed to sustainable activities and practices... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 2 Apr 2008 | 1:30 am
Workers walked off the job this morning at Rotorua aluminium fabrication company Bradnams Windows & Doors over an ongoing pay dispute.
The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) said most of the 17 union members earned... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 2 Apr 2008 | 12:55 am
Americans abandoned sports utility vehicles and big pick-up trucks in droves last month, pushing passenger vehicle sales to their lowest level in more than a decade Source: FT.com - US homepage | 2 Apr 2008 | 12:47 am
Google has lost a second senior executive in as many months, after Douglas Merrill, vice president of engineering, announced plans to quit the internet search giant in favour of heading up the digital music arm at struggling record group EMI Source: Telegraph Business | 2 Apr 2008 | 12:05 am
A week is a long time in the banking sector at the moment. This month, shareholders in Bear Stearns lost virtually all (and then slightly less) of their money in a matter of a few days. Source: Telegraph Business | 2 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
Confidence at major Japanese manufacturers fell to its lowest in more than four years as the plunging dollar, soaring fuel prices and fears of a US slowdown weighed on the economy. Source: Telegraph Business | 2 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
Secured debenture investors in failed Nathans Finance will have to wait longer than hoped for to get their first payout.
Nathans was put in receivership last August. It is a subsidiary of listed VTL Group which owns vending machine-related... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 1 Apr 2008 | 11:45 pm
The New Zealand sharemarket started strongly today, following a 1.8 per cent gain yesterday and after US stocks had their biggest rise in a fortnight.
By 10.10am the NZSX-50 benchmark index was up 38.69 points, or 1.1 per cent,... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 1 Apr 2008 | 11:15 pm
Air New Zealand is sitting on a billion dollar war chest and plans to keep hold of the money in case tougher times strike the aviation industry.
The airline has outlined its financial position and future strategies and challenges... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 1 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
Lehman Brothers said it had sent information to the Securities and Exchange Commission about possible abusive short-selling in its shares in recent days Source: FT.com - US homepage | 1 Apr 2008 | 10:52 pm
Bridgecorp's receivers have started court action to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars from the group's directors which include founder Rod Petricevic.
The receivers also said the property market downturn had hit likely payouts... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 1 Apr 2008 | 9:00 pm
With the dollar falling and the economy in Brazil booming, Brazilian immigrants in the United States are returning home by the thousands. Dan Grech reports. Source: Marketplace | 1 Apr 2008 | 8:59 pm
Kai Ryssdal reviews your letters on issues ranging from corruption in Louisiana to electronic devices marketed to women and an assumption about our audience's demographics. Source: Marketplace | 1 Apr 2008 | 8:59 pm
Most taxpayers will get anywhere from $600 to $1,200 from Uncle Sam as part of the federal plan to stimulate the economy. But many taxpayers will use the money to pay down debts instead. So, the IRS isn't taking any chances. Rico Gagliano reports. Source: Marketplace | 1 Apr 2008 | 8:59 pm
Treasury Secy. Paulson's plan to get the financial system under control doesn't address a once-obscure kind of credit insurance that's become an enormous money-maker for some of the country's biggest banks and other rich investors. Bob Moon explains. Source: Marketplace | 1 Apr 2008 | 8:59 pm
Since Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow Airport opened last week, more than 250 flights have been canceled due to a backlog of 19,000 suitcases that've been parted from passengers. Janet Babin reports on why it's so hard to get luggage from here to there. Source: Marketplace | 1 Apr 2008 | 8:59 pm
Prices on food have been soaring worldwide, including rice, which has doubled in the last couple of months. And the staple for so many people and cultures could get even more expensive. Jeff Tyler reports. Source: Marketplace | 1 Apr 2008 | 8:59 pm
Executives from Big Oil were in the hot seat on Capitol Hill today, trying to defend billions of dollars worth of tax breaks their companies receive. Jeremy Hobson reports. Source: Marketplace | 1 Apr 2008 | 8:58 pm
Domestic airline competition is stepping up with the announcement Pacific Blue is to expand its network to include daily direct flights between Christchurch and Dunedin from July 1.
The airline said it would fly one daily return... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 1 Apr 2008 | 8:30 pm
It's probably always a mistake to make too much of one day's movement in the markets, but the powerful rally in stocks today—the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index closed up 3.6 percent—should prompt some head-scratching.
One big bank writes down $19 billion. Another shores up its capital to put to rest rumors that it could be the next Bear Stearns. Those are reasons to start buying up shares of financial companies?
The S&P had its best first day of a second quarter since 1938. The index is up 8.1 percent since March 17, the first market day after the emergency takeover of Bear Stearns was announced.
Shares of Lehman Brothers rose today for the first time in seven days, jumping nearly 18 percent. The American-traded shares of UBS climbed more than 14 percent. Shares of other financial stocks were sharply higher.
Sure, those shares have been battered in recent weeks, and perhaps there is again a sense that the worst is behind the big global banks.
As Richard Sparks, an analyst with Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati told the Wall Street Journal's MarketBeat blog: "What you're seeing there might be a psychological reaction to getting this out in the open. You're seeing a little more clarity and that we're a little closer to the end of this thing than the beginning."
But UBS has been counting up its subprime toll since October: a few billion here, a few billion there, and it is getting close to $40 billion. Why is this now a bottom? Wasn't the fourth quarter supposed to be when Wall Street dumped out all the garbage?
The surge may be nothing but a quirk of the calendar: It's the first trading day of the second quarter. The market slumped in the two previous quarters, and it has been three decades since it has had three consecutive down quarters.
And while Lehman's move to raise $4 billion in new capital is admirable and good for investors in the long term, it is certainly bad for shareholders in the near term. It dilutes their equity, and by cutting leverage, reduces the firm's potential returns.
Playing it safe is what all of Wall Street needs to do this year, but that doesn't promise much for investors.
France's stock market regulator dealt a devastating blow to the hard-won management stability at EADS, laying charges of insider dealing against 15 present or former executives and the company's two core investors Source: FT.com - US homepage | 1 Apr 2008 | 6:52 pm
Governments across the developing world are scrambling to boost farm imports and restrict exports in an attempt to forestall rising food prices and social unrest Source: FT.com - US homepage | 1 Apr 2008 | 6:05 pm
If the dismal results produced by automakers in March have made one thing clear, it's that trucks and sport-utility vehicles are out of favor in a big way.
Ford Motor's U.S. sales fell 14 percent in March, while General Motors had a 19 percent drop for the month. Toyota Motor, the global No. 1 in sales, was down 10 percent. Honda Motor came out the winner, with a mere 3 percent drop in sales.
Across the board, most of the pain was concentrated in the S.U.V. and truck divisions. Those categories have been steadily losing ground, hurt by high gas prices and the slowdown in the construction industry.
Ford's truck and S.U.V. sales decreased by 17 percent from a year earlier, as G.M.'s business slowed 22 percent. Toyota and Honda had slightly more modest losses of 14 percent and 12 percent, respectively.
For Ford, the most painful blow was a 24 percent slide in sales of the perennially popular F-Series pickups, the nation's top-selling line of vehicles.
G.M.'s gas-guzzling Hummer weighed the automaker down with a 29 percent decrease in sales. Honda's sales shortfall was led by the Pilot S.U.V., which saw sales fall 24 percent. Toyota S.U.V. sales as a whole fell 20 percent.
Small cars fared best as consumers focused on fuel-efficiency. Ford Focus sales jumped 24 percent for the month, while sales of the Edge, a crossover in size between a car and an S.U.V., rose 35 percent.
Toyota's subcompact Yaris benefited from an 83 percent sales increase, and Honda's Fit subcompact saw a 74 percent uptick.
Car sales overall, while slightly better, were nothing to write home about. Honda managed to squeeze out a 3 percent increase in sales, while Ford saw a 9 percent loss; G.M., a 14 percent loss; and Toyota, a 7 percent slowdown in the month of March.
On the bright side, one of Ford's six divisions did manage a sales gain for the month.
The star performer? Jaguar, which Ford agreed to sell last month to Tata Motors of India.
In recent weeks, Lehman Brothers has been "the poster child for investor anxiety about the stability of financial institutions," as the blog Vix and More put it.
All that has changed with the firm's successful pricing of $4 billion in convertible preferred stock, more than the $3 billion announced on Monday.
"The significant oversubscription for this deal demonstrates the confidence that investors have in Lehman Brothers," said Erin Callan, Lehman's chief financial officer.
Shares of Lehman are up 11 percent in late morning trading. And credit fault swaps on Lehman's debt tumbled.
"The ability to raise over $3 billion in capital in a difficult environment represents a vote of confidence from the equity markets," said Jeffrey Hart, an analyst with Sandler O'Neill & Partners, according to Bloomberg News.
The offering has helped answer the main question about Lehman, which was not its liquidity but its leverage. As Condé Nast Portfolio's Jesse Eisinger noted on March 20, one of the most worrisome signs in Lehman's balance sheet was how gross leverage increased in the first quarter.
The new capital, while diluting earnings per share, will significantly lower the firm's leverage.
"We estimate that the capital raise will reduce gross leverage by three to four times and net leverage by almost two times...resulting in the lowest net leverage ratio among peers," wrote Prashant Bhatia, an analyst with Citigroup, in a note to clients today.
Lehman will have a ratio of assets to net shareholder equity of 13.5, Bhatia estimates, compared with a ratio of 17.5 for Goldman Sachs, as of the fourth quarter of 2007.
Lehman is the latest Wall Street firm to raise some serious capital. Others, like Merrill Lynch, have turned to the sovereign wealth funds.
The latest move shows that "hoarding capital is likely to be the new reality for Wall Street," says Antony Currie on Breakingviews.com.
Confirming fears that the U.S. economic slowdown is harming the venture capital industry, a new study has found that venture capital-backed initial public offerings declined "significantly" in the first quarter of 2008 to their lowest level since 2003.
Only five venture capital-backed I.P.O.'s totaling a relatively paltry $282.7 million were issued in the first quarter of 2008, according to a new report by Thomson Financial and the National Venture Capital Association.
The study also found that the venture-backed mergers and acquisitions market saw only 56 deals in the first quarter, representing one of the lowest quarterly levels in the past decade.
"U.S. economic uncertainty clearly impacted the venture-backed I.P.O. market in the first quarter," said Mark Heesen, president of the N.V.C.A. "It was not a great start to the year by any measure and we will need to see a significant increase in volume in the remaining three quarters to salvage the rest of the year."
"This is not an April Fools' Day joke," Heesen added in an interview with Portfolio.com. "I wish it was, but it's not. This is reality."
The bleak industry numbers confirm fears that the nation's slumping economy is pouring cold water on a venture capital and I.P.O. market that was red hot as recently as last quarter.
In a January interview with Portfolio.com, Fred Wilson, general partner of Union Square Ventures, a top internet startup incubator, predicted that the softening economy could hammer the I.P.O. market - and by extension, the venture capital industry writ large.
"There has been a real 'de-risking' of the market, which will certainly affect the I.P.O. market," Wilson said at the time. "That will impact the late-stage venture market, because the I.P.O. market drives the late-stage venture market. And that will slowly impact the early-stage venture market."
Wilson, whose investments include Twitter and Tumblr, said that if the U.S. falls into a recession "it will be less attractive to sell our companies, so we may choose not to do that, and we may choose to continue to finance them and grow them and develop them some more."
"It may mean that we finance our companies differently," he added. "We may finance them for longer periods of time, and take a more conservative approach to how we do the financing rounds."
Heesen confirmed that trend.
"Companies are taking longer before going public, which means that venture capitalists need to spend more money and resources on them, and not new startups," Heesen said. "So the pipeline is getting backed up."
The takeover battle for Yahoo is now resembling Groundhog Day.
Microsoft still doesn't feel like raising its bid! Yahoo is still trying to persuade investors it should stay independent!
But unlike the movie, time won't stay stuck in a loop for Yahoo.
That's the point Matthew Karnitschnig makes today in the Wall Street Journal,reporting that, yes, Microsoft has no plans to raise its bid because it would be bidding against itself. But Karnitschnig says the two sides have had only one meeting since Microsoft announced its offer of $31 per share on February 1.
And Yahoo doesn't have much time if it ultimately wants to enter into negotiations to extract a higher price.
The company extended its March deadline for nominating directors to its board, postponing a proxy challenge from Microsoft. The deadline is now 10 days after whenever the company announces the date for its annual shareholder meeting. That date has not been set, but Yahoo needs to hold it by July 13.
Kara Swisher on her BoomTown blog says that Yahoo's institutional investors (many of whom are also Microsoft shareholders) are becoming impatient and frustrated with the apparent lack of discussions between the two sides.
"And the bottom line from several of them: If Yahoo does not wise up and start seriously kibitzing with Microsoft over its takeover bid sooner than later, then some investors have signaled to the company's top execs that they would likely back Microsoft if a proxy fight came to pass."
Some suggest that the obstacle to talks is what one person talking to Swisher called "founderitis"— Jerry Yang's inability to accept that a takeover is in the best interests of shareholders, employees, and customers (an assessment Swisher disagrees with, although adds that Yang risks trouble by letting the clock run).
Bear Stearns may have been ultimately taken down by the collapse in the subprime market, but UBS is taking the biggest hit.
The Swiss bank giant announced what a Merrill Lynch analyst called "the big kahuna of legacy write-downs": $19 billion on U.S. real estate and "related structured credit positions." Since October, UBS has written down nearly $37 billion worth of assets.
Because of the latest write-down, the bank expects to report a loss of $12.1 billion for the first quarter. UBS is also seeking $15.1 billion of new capital from shareholders.
Yves Smith on the Naked Capitalism blog points out that UBS lost a third of its equity in a single quarter. "No wonder my trader buddies put UBS high on the list of firms at risk of serious trouble," Smith says.
With those staggering first-quarter numbers, another executive is falling on his sword. Marcel Ospel, the architect of the 1998 merger between Swiss Bank and the Union Bank of Switzerland that created UBS, will leave as chairman. Last summer, UBS began the wave of executive ousters, forcing out its C.E.O., Peter Wuffli. Stan O'Neal of Merrill Lynch, Charles Prince of Citigroup, and James Cayne of Bear Stearns followed in the months to come.
"I have always stated that I ultimately take responsibility for the bank's situation," Ospel said in a statement.
Peter Kurer, who joined UBS in 2001 as general counsel, will succeed Ospel. Haig Simonian of the Financial Timessays that the choice of Kurer "indicates a failure to find a more suitable replacement, in spite of intensive contacts with top bankers around the world."
Shares of UBS rose in trading in Switzerland on hope for change with the departure of Ospel and the pursuit of new capital. But Standard & Poor's lowered its rating on the bank to AA- from AA.
"The one saving grace in this is that banks are acting quickly to highlight their exposure," Peter Dixon, economist at Commerzbank, told Reuters. "The quicker the bad news is out in the open, the quicker we can start to repair the problems."
But do UBS shareholders trust that the bank has put the worst behind to stump up another big investment? The bank has already done the sovereign wealth fund well, reaching a deal late last year with the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation and a still-unidentified investor in the Middle East. Its options are running out.
Reuters - Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy
Co reported better-than-expected quarterly profit on
Wednesday and forecast that earnings would rise over the coming
year, pushing its shares up 8 percent in pre-market trading.
Reuters - Stock index futures extended their
gains on Wednesday after a report on private-sector employment
showed an unexpected rise in new jobs last month.
Reuters - Lehman Brothers, the U.S. investment
bank that raised $4 billion this week to shore up its capital
and calm investors' nerves, is looking at expanding its
business in China, an executive said on Wednesday.
Reuters - Fannie Mae , the largest U.S.
home funding company, told lenders on Monday that it will
require a minimum credit score for loans it buys on an
individual basis, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday in
its online edition.
Reuters - New orders to U.S. factories for
manufactured goods will likely post their second straight
monthly drop in February, providing further evidence of a
flagging industrial sector, according to a Reuters poll.
Reuters - National City Corp , which has
been battered by the housing downturn, is considering a plan to
sell itself to rival KeyCorp , the Wall Street Journal
reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
AP - Gas prices may be sitting near record levels, but the owner of your local gas station quite likely is struggling.