WATFORD (Reuters) - Most of the downside risks to the world economy identified six months ago have now materialised, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Saturday.
WATFORD (Reuters) - Most of the downside risks to the world economy identified six months ago have now materialised, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Saturday. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 5 Apr 2008 | 12:15 pm
AP - It's no longer a question of recession or not. Now it's how deep and how long. Workers' pink slips stacked ever higher in March as jittery employers slashed 80,000 jobs, the most in five years, and the national unemployment rate climbed to 5.1 percent. Job losses are nearing the staggering level of a quarter-million this year in just three months.
The world faces "the first truly global financial crisis", the prime minister tells a meeting of world leaders. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 5 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
Low-cost carrier Skybus Airlines is shutting down Saturday and plans to file for bankruptcy protection next week, becoming the latest of the nation's airlines to fall because of rising... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 5 Apr 2008 | 10:26 am
MBIA cutFitch Ratings cut MBIA's insurance unit to AA from AAA, say ing the bond insurer no longer has enough capi tal to warrant the top ranking. Fitch said MBIA, the world's larg est financial guarantor,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 5 Apr 2008 | 9:22 am
The economy is suffering its worst loss of jobs in five years, with companies slashing payrolls by 80,000 last month alone. The wipeout - larger than economists had expected - sent the relatively stable... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 5 Apr 2008 | 9:22 am
JPMorgan Chase, which is taking over rival investment bank Bear Stearns, will dominate the management ranks of the combined investment banking and trading businesses, according to an internal memo. Of... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 5 Apr 2008 | 9:22 am
General Motors shares fell in New York trading after investors pulled out of a $6.1 billion plan to allow former parts unit Delphi Corp. to emerge from bankruptcy. GM dropped $1.01, or 4.7 percent, to... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 5 Apr 2008 | 9:22 am
Like a ticking time bomb, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is counting down to an imminent explosion over Yahoo!'s refusal to consider a deal. Sources close to the situation said yesterday afternoon that Ballmer's... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 5 Apr 2008 | 9:22 am
Circuit City Stores, the money-losing US electronics retailer, said its lead director is willing to meet with investor Mark Wattles, who wants a new board and chief executive officer. In February, Wattles,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 5 Apr 2008 | 9:22 am
The German central bank warned Saturday that inflation could be higher than it had predicted due to recent public sector deals for wage hikes. Earlier this week German... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 5 Apr 2008 | 9:16 am
YAHOO’S shares took a tumble late Friday on rumours that Microsoft may revise
or walk away from its $44.6 billion ($£22.3 billion) bid for its smaller
rival. The two sides have made no progress despite several meetings in the
two months that have elapsed since Microsoft’s offer. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 5 Apr 2008 | 8:53 am
VILLA DE VZQUEZ, Mexico Carlos Danel and Carlos Labarthe turned a nonprofit that lent money to Mexicos poor into one of the countrys most profitable banks. But not all of their colleagues in the world... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 5 Apr 2008 | 8:36 am
With the start of a new quarter, Wall Street seems to have found something it badly needed: a major shift in sentiment. Stocks punished during months of sharp losses were scooped up... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 5 Apr 2008 | 7:55 am
With the start of a new quarter, Wall Street seems to have found something it badly needed: a major shift in sentiment. Stocks punished during months of sharp losses were scooped up... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 5 Apr 2008 | 7:51 am
Special prosecutors probing claims of corruption at Samsung Group took their investigation to the very top, quizzing its chairman in a lengthy interrogation over allegations the... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 5 Apr 2008 | 7:14 am
The carrier, which had touted $10 fares, blames fuel costs and a slowing economy.
The third small airline in a week shut down Friday as Skybus Airlines, a carrier that offered $10 fares from Burbank to Columbus, Ohio, called it quits.
It says it will use the spectrum won in an FCC auction to speed up wireless Internet.
The highest bidder in the multibillion-dollar sale of prime airwaves disclosed its plans for the wireless spectrum Friday, and the most prominent loser explained why it was still a big winner.
Unemployment rises to 5.1%, signaling that weakness in the financial sector and housing are spreading.
With the government reporting the third straight month of job losses Friday and wages lagging behind inflation, the problems that originally centered on housing and financial markets now appear to have spread through almost every segment of the economy.
The Dow dips 16.61 but broader indicators advance.
The stock market showed some signs of stability Friday, closing mostly higher despite a report showing the biggest monthly decline in jobs in five years.
Couples are assessing their compatibility by going on adventurous outings.
Just six weeks into their romance, 28-year-old Mandy Gresh and her boyfriend decided to take a mini-vacation to Quebec City. She bought airline tickets and reserved a hotel room for the weekend.
President Hugo Chavez, who has long accused foreign companies of keeping prices high and supplies tight, will take over the industry.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is planning a government takeover of his country's cement industry, his latest effort to impose state control over key sectors of an economy battered by shortages and inflation.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed on Friday as nagging fears about more bank losses and the biggest monthly decline in the job market in five years overshadowed earlier optimism that the credit crisis may be easing.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed on Friday as nagging fears about more bank losses and the biggest monthly decline in the job market in five years overshadowed earlier... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 5 Apr 2008 | 2:13 am
Reuters - American International Group ,
the world's largest insurer, cut Chief Executive Martin
Sullivan's 2007 pay by about 48 percent from 2006, to $13.93
million, according to a regulatory filing late on Friday. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 5 Apr 2008 | 2:07 am
NEW YORK (Reuters) - American International Group , the world's largest insurer, cut Chief Executive Martin Sullivan's 2007 pay by about 48 percent from 2006, to $13.93 million, according... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 5 Apr 2008 | 2:05 am
NEW YORK (Reuters) - American International Group , the world's largest insurer, cut Chief Executive Martin Sullivan's 2007 pay by about 48 percent from 2006, to $13.93 million, according to a regulatory filing late on Friday.
A spokeswoman for the Columbus airport says low-cost carrier Skybus Airlines is ceasing operations. Angie Neal of Port Columbus International Airport says the airline's goal is to operate Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 5 Apr 2008 | 1:12 am
AP Video It's no longer a question of recession or not. Now it's how deep and how long. Workers' pink slips stacked ever higher in March as jittery employers slashed 80,000 jobs, the... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 5 Apr 2008 | 1:11 am
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former Sprint Nextel executive has sued the No. 3 mobile service provider for wrongful dismissal, saying that she was fired after claiming Nextel Partners artificially pumped up sales data prior to its acquisition by Sprint, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Reuters - Microsoft Corp said on Friday
a U.S. jury awarded Alcatel-Lucent $367.4 million in
damages after finding that the company had violated two patents
related to the user interface in its software.
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp said on Friday a U.S. jury awarded Alcatel-Lucent $367.4 million in damages after finding that the company had violated two patents related to the user interface in its software.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is evaluating its bid for Yahoo Inc because the Internet company may have lost value since Microsoft made its offer, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Reuters - Microsoft Corp is evaluating its
bid for Yahoo Inc because the Internet company may have lost
value since Microsoft made its offer, people familiar with the
matter said on Friday.
Luqman Arnold has had unfinished business to attend to for some time. A former president of UBS, Arnold left the Swiss bank in 2001 after a boardroom battle saw the public school educated investment banker forced out of the front door. Source: Telegraph Business | 5 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
Apple's online music store, iTunes, has eclipsed Wal-Mart as the biggest music retailer in the US, in a further sign that CD sales are being savaged by the growth of music downloads Source: Telegraph Business | 5 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
Marks & Spencer's largest shareholder has given its backing to the retailer's board and welcomed Sir Stuart Rose's promotion to executive chairman. Source: Telegraph Business | 5 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
Microsoft is seriously reconsidering its $42bn (£21bn) bid for Yahoo! in light of the search engine's continued rejection of its takeover offer. Source: Telegraph Business | 5 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
Peter Cullum, the insurance tycoon, has joined the legions of company directors selling off or transferring shares into tax-efficient trusts ahead of tomorrow's changes to capital gains tax. Source: Telegraph Business | 5 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
Mortgage costs rose further yesterday as a building society became the first major lender to charge borrowers to take out a standard variable rate home loan. Source: Telegraph Business | 5 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
Alison Reed, who was ousted as finance director of Standard Life, has received £1.36m to settle legal action she took against the company following her departure in October 2006. Source: Telegraph Business | 5 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
You couldn't Google it... Just as co-founder Larry Page discovers marital bliss, Wall Street starts to fall out of love with the search engine. Source: Telegraph Business | 5 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
A 64-hectare Marsden Point industrial park development in Northland, with a 3ha artificial lake as its central feature, is now offering individual sites for sale by expressions of interest through Barfoot and Thompson Commercial.
Lakeside... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 5 Apr 2008 | 12:00 am
Politicians on both sides of the aisle are wrangling over their proposed fixes to the housing mess, Tess asks Nick Retsinas about possible solutions and reforms. Source: Marketplace Money | 4 Apr 2008 | 11:58 pm
In this special housing edition of Getting Personal, Chris and Tess talk about saving for a home, renting to own and reverse mortgages. Source: Marketplace Money | 4 Apr 2008 | 11:52 pm
Looking for a formula to aid your house hunting? Commentator and MIT professor Dan Ariely says science doesn't have much to offer us when it comes to finding the right home. Source: Marketplace Money | 4 Apr 2008 | 11:44 pm
NEW YORK - Oil prices rose more than 2 per cent on Friday as weakness in the US dollar following a batch of soft jobs data outweighed fears of a demand slowdown in the world's biggest energy consumer.
News of a fire at an Exxon... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 4 Apr 2008 | 11:35 pm
NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co , which is taking over rival investment bank Bear Stearns Cos Inc , will dominate the management ranks of the combined investment banking and trading businesses, according to an internal memo.
Homes that banks are eager to unload can be a big bargain for buyers willing to put in some elbow grease. Marianne Russ visits bank-owned homes to see if you really get what you pay for. Source: Marketplace Money | 4 Apr 2008 | 11:33 pm
DETROIT (Reuters) - Investors led by Appaloosa Management backed out of a $2.55 billion equity deal to support Delphi Corp's emergence from bankruptcy on Friday, dealing a blow to General Motors Corp and its goal of putting the problems of its former parts subsidiary behind it.
The older the listing, the more desperate the seller, right? Maybe not. Dan Grech explains the controversial way some sellers turn back the clock on their listings. Source: Marketplace Money | 4 Apr 2008 | 11:25 pm
With all the negative housing news, a glimmer of hope: falling prices mean many people can now afford a new home. We meet a couple moving into their first house this weekend. Source: Marketplace Money | 4 Apr 2008 | 11:19 pm
US employers cut more than 80,000 jobs last month, triggering the sharpest
fall in the number of Americans in work for five years. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 4 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
Sir Stuart Rose turned on the charm yesterday and called for “sense to
prevail” as the embattled Marks & Spencer chief executive took
centre stage for the first time since the row over his future erupted nearly
four weeks ago. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 4 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
Ministers have begun a review of London NHS property in a move that could lead
to the sale of some or all of the capital’s biggest hospitals to raise
billions of pounds for new projects. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 4 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
Luqman Arnold, the rebel UBS shareholder, has rounded on Marco Suter, the
Swiss bank's chief financial officer, as part of his campaign for a
boardroom shake-up and a break-up of Switzerland's biggest bank. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 4 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
It's 11.30 on a Friday morning. I'm sitting in a large book-lined room, and a
dozen pair of eyes are trained on me, with varying degrees of pity and
impatience, as I stammer and stutter and stall. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 4 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
Tiscali’s decision to prepare itself for sale, announced this week, has shaken
up the UK broadband industry at a crucial time for the sector. As the market
slows – the growth rate stands at 18.5 per cent year on year compared with
almost 50 per cent four years ago – and it becomes increasingly difficult to
attract new consumers, the chance to grab Tiscali’s 1.7 million UK broadband
customers has got the big players eyeing the group. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 4 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
Electricity prices could soar if EDF, the French electricity group, is allowed
to take over British Energy, the UK’s main nuclear generator, in a £9
billion deal. Shares in British Energy leapt more than 7 per cent yesterday
to 711p on hopes of an EDF bid. EDF’s board has given the green light to bid
for all of the UK company, which recently said that it was in talks with
several suitors. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 4 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
Lower-ranking creditors of Mainsail II have been told that they will lose all
their cash after the $1.6 billion ($£800 million) structured investment
vehicle (SIV-lite) managed by Solent Capital Partners went into the hands of
receivers yesterday. Mainsail II was one of several SIV-lites structured by
Barclays Capital and managed by banks and hedge funds that ran into trouble
early in the credit crunch. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 4 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
Setanta Sports has quietly abandoned plans to sell itself after potential
buyers balked at the £1 billion asking price for the specialist sports
broadcaster. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 4 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
The way we think about our homes has changed drastically over the years. Tess asks Chris Thornberg if the American dream of home ownership for all is realistic anymore. Source: Marketplace Money | 4 Apr 2008 | 10:57 pm
Many of those students that were expecting to start working for Bears Stearns this spring as either an intern or a full-time hire, are now finding themselves cut loose following the firm's dramatic near collapse last month.
Tess Vigeland tours the wasteland of foreclosed homes near Stockton, California, and meets a family that's resorted to squatting in their own home. Source: Marketplace Money | 4 Apr 2008 | 10:44 pm
Tess introduces us to the Goslins, a family in the midst of foreclosure as they hand over their keys and leave their home. Source: Marketplace Money | 4 Apr 2008 | 10:36 pm
Oil prices climb $2, tipping beyond $106 a barrel as the dollar weakened amid signs of a further slowdown. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 4 Apr 2008 | 10:30 pm
The current housing crisis is talked about by a lot of people, but how bad is it really? Tess asks to Marketplace's Chris Farrell to help us understand the scope of the problem. Source: Marketplace Money | 4 Apr 2008 | 10:28 pm
Hillary and Bill Clinton have earned almost $110m since they left the White House in 2000, according to tax returns released by the Clinton presidential campaign Source: FT.com - US homepage | 4 Apr 2008 | 10:28 pm
Reuters - Investors led by Appaloosa Management
backed out of a $2.55 billion equity deal to support Delphi
Corp's emergence from bankruptcy on Friday, dealing
a blow to General Motors Corp and its goal of putting
the problems of its former parts subsidiary behind it.
NEW YORK - US stocks were little changed on Friday as nagging fears about more bank losses and the biggest monthly decline in the job market in five years overshadowed earlier optimism that the credit crisis may be easing.
Nasdaq,... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 4 Apr 2008 | 9:55 pm
Stocks were mixed Friday - at the end of an otherwise upbeat week on Wall Street - as the dismal March jobs report vied with hopes that the worst may be over for the market.
The IMF orders Tajikistan to pay back more than $47m in loans after misreporting figures, the BBC has learned. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 4 Apr 2008 | 9:32 pm
Producers of a new documentary on the creationism-evolution debate in academia hope it can succeed at the box office like Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." Stacey Vanek-Smith reports on the marketing efforts for the film "Expelled." Source: Marketplace | 4 Apr 2008 | 9:01 pm
The U.S. edition of the Wall Street Journal is going to be printed and sold in London for the first time, which some see as a predatory move by the Journal's new boss, Rupert Murdoch. Stephen Beard reports on the opening salvo of a new circulation war. Source: Marketplace | 4 Apr 2008 | 9:01 pm
A new division of publisher HarperCollins is trying to turn the old model of selling books inside out. Jeremy Hobson reports on a new chapter in a struggling industry. Source: Marketplace | 4 Apr 2008 | 9:01 pm
Kai Ryssdal chats with Kim Clark of U.S. News & World Report about what happened on Wall Street this week and what may lie ahead. Source: Marketplace | 4 Apr 2008 | 9:01 pm
Are Prius drivers really concerned about their carbon footprints, or are they more interested in being seen in a hybrid? Commentator Rob Walker says the days of status shopping are behind us. Source: Marketplace | 4 Apr 2008 | 9:01 pm
The Great Depression of the 1930s came about from problems in the banking system. Today's economic woes are primarily rooted in investment banks and hedge funds. Kai Ryssdal looks at how the names have changed but the underlying problems are the same. Source: Marketplace | 4 Apr 2008 | 9:01 pm
Democratic leaders have sent the president a letter asking for more withdrawals of U.S. troops from Iraq. It's the first shot in a looming battle over another emergency spending bill for the war on terror. John Dimsdale reports. Source: Marketplace | 4 Apr 2008 | 9:01 pm
The heat between Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) wanting to acquire Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) may be cooling. Or it may just be a negotiating tool to show Jerry Yang that he's up the creek with no paddle if Microsoft just quits its offer. The talk is now all over after-hours that Microsoft may be reevaluating its buyout offer for the #2 search player. This is after the companies met earlier this week to no avail. The report is being tied to Dow Jones Newswire although this started coming out all over that this might want to still be considered as hearsay. Microsoft...
Another bad report on the economy from the government today: 80,000 jobs lost in March, the biggest monthly drop in five years. How bad are things going to get? Marketplace's Alisa Roth went looking for answers. Source: Marketplace | 4 Apr 2008 | 8:40 pm
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Employers cut payrolls in March for a third straight month and the jobless rate jumped to a 2-1/2-year high, further evidence that a housing downturn and credit crisis may have pushed the economy into recession.
When John Mack, the chief executive of Morgan Stanley, takes the stage Tuesday at the company's shareholder meeting in Westchester County, New York, there will be a harsh spotlight.
The California State Teachers' Retirement System, the nation's second-biggest pension fund, has turned up the pressure on the C.E.O., announcing that it has withheld votes for Mack and seven other nominees to the Morgan Stanley board.
Mack's leadership has been questioned by investors as the firm has written down some $13 billion in assets and ousted top executives amid the collapse in subprime.
"CalSTRS is concerned about Morgan Stanley's subpar performance, having underperformed the market and peer group on one-, three-, and five-year bases," said the pension fund, which owns 4.99 million shares of Morgan Stanley. "Also, we have concerns about the strategic direction the company took leading into the subprime situation."
CtW Investment Group, which advises union pension funds that hold about 5.7 million Morgan Stanley shares, is calling for shareholders to withhold votes for Mack and two board members, Howard Davies and Robert Kidder, because they were members of the board's risk committee.
The protest vote of withholding will be a symbolic embarrassment to Mack if the total is significant. The 11 nominees are likely to be reelected, as pension funds are not among Morgan Stanley's 20 largest shareholders.
The chief executive won some breathing room last month with first-quarter earnings that, while down 43 percent from a year ago, exceeded analysts' forecasts. And an influential proxy adviser, Institutional Shareholder Services, recommended the reelection of Mack and all directors nominated for the board.
"While we agree mistakes were made and some warning signs were ignored, there is no evidence that wholesale lapses in controls were resident at the firm," I.S.S. said in its report.
Still, another proxy adviser, Glass Lewis, has recommended votes against Davies, Kidder, Roy Bostock, Donald Nicolaisen, Charles Noski, and Charles Philips, but not Mack.
CalSTRS said it withheld votes for Mack, Davies, Kidder, Bostock, Nicolaisen, Noski, Philips, and Erskine Bowles. It also voted in favor of a resolution to give shareholders an advisory vote on executive compensation. Morgan Stanley has recommended that shareholders vote against the resolution.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers Inc strategists expect financial institutions worldwide to write down as much as $400 billion for bad debts by the end of 2008, and said competing estimates of as much as $1.2 trillion seem implausible.
First Horizon Natl (FHN) Analyst cuts regional bank stocks. Down to $13.67. from 52-week high of $41.46. Demandtec (DMAN) Issues poor outlook for the year. Sells off to $6.65 from 52-week high of $20.55. Mesa Air Group (MESA) Airlines sell off on high fuel costs. Drops to $1.35 from 52-week high of $8.02. Riverbed Technology (RVBD) Poor Q1 outlook. Down to $12.71 from 52-week high of $52.81. Douglas A. McIntyre
Calstrs, the second-largest public pension fund in the US, said it would withhold votes from John Mack and seven other members of Morgan Stanley's board, adding to pressure on the investment bank's chief Source: FT.com - US homepage | 4 Apr 2008 | 7:29 pm
Zimbabwe braces for weeks of political turmoil after the president backs party hardliners and opts for a second-round poll against the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai Source: FT.com - US homepage | 4 Apr 2008 | 6:23 pm
Rice prices rose more than 10 per cent to a fresh record as African countries joined the rush of south-east Asian importers to secure supplies from the handful of exporters that continue to sell the grain in the international market Source: FT.com - US homepage | 4 Apr 2008 | 6:22 pm
From RealClearPolitics.com to the Huffington Post, the internet has moved from support act to leading role in delivering political content Source: FT.com - US homepage | 4 Apr 2008 | 6:18 pm
Those PC users who hate Vista will be happy to hear that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) plans to release its new version of the Windows OS next year. According to Reuters "The software giant has been aiming to issue more regular updates of the operating system software that powers the majority of the world's personal computers." The news may be welcome for Microsoft investors. Vista has been criticized for having bugs, working poorly with non-PC hardware like printers, and operating slowly on low-powered computers. Apple (AAPL) has begun to market, with some success, its own OS created for the Mac as...
US employers in March cut more jobs than at any time since the start of the Iraq war and the unemployment rate climbed more than expected, reinforcing fears that the economy has slipped into recession Source: FT.com - US homepage | 4 Apr 2008 | 6:04 pm
Reuters - JPMorgan Chase & Co , which is
taking over rival investment bank Bear Stearns Cos Inc ,
will dominate the management ranks of the combined investment
banking and trading businesses, according to an internal memo.
WuXi PharmaTech (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: WX) has filed for a secondary offering of ADR's in the US for 10,126,800 shares, or 11,645,820 if the overallotment option is used. The underwriting managers are listed as Credit Suisse and JPMorgan. WuXi PharmaTech is a Chinese outsourced medical development company for biotech, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices. It does research and development with operations in China and in the U.S. More specific services are as follows: laboratory services consisting of discovery chemistry, service biology, toxicology, pharmaceutical development, analytics, device testing, and other related contract R&D services. It also provides manufacturing services that focus on...
With sales off nearly 20% in March, GM (NYSE: GM) does not need any more headaches. But, it got one today. The company's former parts operation, Delphi, is in the process of coming out of Chapter 11. GM was to provide a portion of the financing. Today, the lead investor, Appaloosa Management, walked away. Appaloosa said that GM's investment in the project would give it too much influence over Delphi management. GM may have to take on more of a financial burden to help Delphi to a new exit program. Investors took it badly, driving down GM shares almost 4%...
President Vladimir Putin berated Nato for what he called the "total demonisation" of his country, and criticised the alliance's ambition to expand right up to the Russian border Source: FT.com - US homepage | 4 Apr 2008 | 5:34 pm
New Zealand companies pushing into the United States at the time of a global financial meltdown seems a concept that makes very little sense.
Yet firms headquartered in Christchurch, Manukau, North Harbour and Mt Eden do not see... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 4 Apr 2008 | 5:00 pm
DDay is quickly approaching for Auckland International Airport (AIA) shareholders. The Overseas Investment Office has sent its recommendation on the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's (CPPIB) offer for 40 per cent of the company... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 4 Apr 2008 | 5:00 pm
Despite moves to distance itself, Companies Office records suggest stricken finance group Lombard continues to have a close relationship with troubled property investment group Blue Chip.
Lombard Finance & Investments Ltd, which... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 4 Apr 2008 | 5:00 pm
Among the giant New Zealand delegation off to China for the historic free-trade agreement signing are a cafe owner from Opotiki, a group of Eastern Bay of Plenty councillors and the chairwoman of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
Shunguo... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 4 Apr 2008 | 5:00 pm
Magic from hit series Flight of the Conchords is rubbing off on New Zealand businesses working in the United States.
Government officials and Kiwi company executives are all praising the series which they say has sparked a positive... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 4 Apr 2008 | 5:00 pm
The Island Cruising Association is, according to the couple that run it, "a friendly, informal group of yachties who enjoy the camaraderie of cruising in company".
Association heads and long-time cruising couple John and Lyn Martin... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 4 Apr 2008 | 5:00 pm
Q Until recently, I leased the ground floor of a building as my business premises. A while ago, I received notice that the tiles in the entrance of the building were damaged and that it was my responsibility to fix them (as they had... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 4 Apr 2008 | 5:00 pm
French oil firm Total says a Chinese state-controlled fund has acquired a stake in the company. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 4 Apr 2008 | 4:46 pm
NewsFactor - With new online music retailers springing up to challenge its Net dominance, Apple's iTunes Store moved the goalposts again Thursday. It announced its store has overtaken even Wal-Mart as the number-one music retailer in the U.S. -- online or off. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 4 Apr 2008 | 4:30 pm
There have been few deals in corporate America that have been debated as intensely as the one that formed Citigroup, in 1998.
A mistake from day one? Or is it a sleeping giant whose potential has yet to be awoken?
John Reed of Citicorp, who forged the merger with Sandy Weill of Travelers, describes the deal as "a mistake" in an extraordinary interview with Francesco Guerrera of the Financial Times.
Also on Portfolio.com: The Bloated Legacy What Sandy wrought. Who’s to Blame? When former C.E.O.’s snipe at each other, you know things can’t be good.
"The stockholders have not benefited, the employees certainly have not benefited, and I don't think the customers have benefited, because our franchises are weaker than they have been," Reed says.
Weill tells the paper that he disputes the notion that the merger was a mistake. But he is critical of Citi's management in recent years—an interesting comment given that his hand-picked successor, Chuck Prince, was running the bank and dealing at first with problems left behind by Weill.
The finger-pointing at management reminds DealBreaker of "those horrendous conversations kids have in college about whether communism could ever work if only it had the right leaders."
Felix Salmon says, "Given that they were the people charged with managing a financial behemoth the likes of which this country had never seen, one wonders how much either of them blame themselves."
Eric Dash in the New York Times on Thursday reported that "even within Citigroup, many have rejected Mr. Weill's grand vision of a globe-spanning financial supermarket, an agglomeration of investment and commercial banking, insurance and fund management that could prosper in both good times and bad."
Even the famous red-umbrella logo has been abandoned, he notes.
Shares of Citigroup are trading today above $23—nearly $10 less than they were in April 1998.
The Halifax, the UK's biggest mortgage lender, targets buyers who can pay larger deposits. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 4 Apr 2008 | 3:55 pm
AFP - Santander, Spain's biggest bank, said Friday it would acquire the consumer credit activities of Royal Bank of Scotland in continental Europe, its second such move in just over a week.
A group of investors led by Appaloosa Management has pulled out of a plan to inject $2.6bn in equity into Delphi, throwing the restructuring of the bankrupt automotive parts maker into doubt Source: FT.com - US homepage | 4 Apr 2008 | 2:46 pm
Workers at an Arcelor Mittal steel plant in France tear apart their boss's office to protest against job losses. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 4 Apr 2008 | 2:40 pm
Hedge funds are often depicted as sharks or vultures, so one might assume that the turmoil in the markets and the economic slowdown would present a feast of opportunities to these predators.
Well, up to a point. Even the vultures say the worst is not over, reports Louise Story in the New York Times. ''There aren't many great bargains around,'' David Tepper, founder of Appaloosa Management, told the Times.
And one near-carcass, Delphi, the auto-parts maker, is apparently no longer a bargain.
Appaloosa today filed a notice that it will pull out of a $2.55 billion investment plan intended to help Delphi emerge from bankruptcy protection. Delphi, the hedge fund says in a letter attached to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, failed to meet the conditions of the investment agreement. Appaloosa has requested its $82.5 million termination fee.
The move will delay Delphi's exit from bankruptcy, which it entered in October 2005. Harbinger Capital Partners, Pardus Capital Management, Merrill Lynch, UBS, and Goldman Sachs are also part of the investment group, which has been critical of the growing role being played by former parent General Motors in the Delphi bankruptcy.
Another deal that is leaving a sour taste in the mouths of some hedge funds is the endangered buyout of Clear Channel Communications.
Zachery Kouwe of the New York Postreports that some of Clear Channel's major shareholders, including hedge fund Highfields Capital Management, are threatening to pull their trading business from Citigroup and Deutsche Bank if they do not proceed with their financing of the buyout. "Some estimate that Highfields paid as much as $12 million in fees to Citi last year for its prime brokerage services," he says.
Shares of Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) are surging pre-market after beating its earnings expectations. The company posted a record posted a record $520.8 million in net income, translating to $1.17 EPS from $2.15 Billion in revenues. First Call had estimates at $0.95 EPS. Mosaic also said that its phosphate selling price would jump over the next three months by up to 48% to $720 per metric ton, up from an average of $487 per metric ton this last quarter. Its sales volume was maintained at 2.2 to 2.4 million metric tons. These high prices are more than offsetting cost increases...
US employers shed 80,000 jobs in March, figures have show, the latest sign that recession is a real risk. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 4 Apr 2008 | 1:14 pm
Fortis Merchant Banking has successfully closed syndication of a $280 million senior secured financing for Sherbino I Wind Farm LLC. This west-Texas wind farm is a joint venture owned by BP plc's (NYSE: BP) BP Alternative Energy North America Inc. and NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG). Interestingly enough, this syndication was oversubscribed with nine banks joining the deal. Fortis Merchant Banking structured and underwrote the financing, which is comprised of a construction loan of some $280 million, which will then convert into a 15-year term loan in the amount of $140 million at the commercial operation date. Fortis acted as...
The U.S. dollar plunged but then quickly recouped losses Friday after the economy lost more jobs than economists had forecast, putting a renewed spotlight on worries about the depth of the U.S. economic downturn.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. employers cut back their hiring in March for the third straight month, confirming widespread pessimism about the near-term economic outlook, government data released on Friday showed.
Gold futures edged lower Friday as the precious metal and the U.S. dollar zig-zagged following a report that March employment declined more than expected, another sign that the U.S. economy is already in a recession.
European shares wobbled after some weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs data highlighted ongoing problems in the U.S. economy on Friday afternoon but gains from drug makers and miners helped stocks to hold onto early gains.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. employers cut back their hiring in March for the third straight month, a clear sign that pessimism about the near-term economic outlook was justified, government data released on Friday showed.
American employers cut 80,000 jobs in March, the steepest decline since March 2003, the U.S. Department of Labor reported.
The job loss was greater than expected, and the cuts in February and January proved to be deeper as well. During the last three months, 232,000 jobs have been shed from the nation's payrolls.
The unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent, the highest since September 2005, from 4.8 percent in February.
Manufacturing erased 48,000 jobs; construction lost 51,000. The service sector, which has buoyed the economy in recent months, showed additional signs of weakening. Service jobs overall grew by 13,000, but 35,000 professional and business service jobs, like those on Wall Street, were lost.
The health-care, food services, and mining sectors added jobs. Average hourly earnings rose by 5 cents, or 0.3 percent, in the month.
While the March number was larger than expected, the weakness in the job market is no surprise. The slump in housing prices; the tightness in the credit markets; and high energy costs have dampened consumers' willingness to spend. And businesses are retrenching.
A number of economists have said that labor data and retail sales reports have indicated that a recession has already started.
In testimony before the Joint Economic Committee on Wednesday, Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, acknowledged what no other government official has so far been willing to, saying that "a recession is possible."
Barry Ritholtz notes on the Big Picture blog the argument that because the last recession, in 2001, produced monthly job losses of 200,000 or more, then we are clearly not in a recession now. But Ritholtz points out that job creation was much weaker in the 2003 to 2008 cycle than it was during the late 1990s. So, he says, "It's no surprise that very weak job creation would not generate the same sort of recessionary layoffs we saw after a much bigger jobs boom."
And the job market appears to be weakening further. In a report that is more current than the March employment data, the number of Americans filing initial claims for state unemployment benefits shot up by 38,000 last week, to 407,000, the highest level since September 2005.
Federal Reserve policymakers are expected to cut interest rates again when they meet later this month.
U.S. stock futures turned lower on Friday after more jobs were shed in March than economists had predicted, setting the stage for further worries about the health of the world’s largest economy.
AP - It's no longer a question of recession or not. Now it's how deep and how long. Workers' pink slips stacked ever higher in March as jittery employers slashed 80,000 jobs, the most in five years, and the national unemployment rate climbed to 5.1 percent. Job losses are nearing the staggering level of a quarter-million this year in just three months.
Reuters - Microsoft Corp said on Friday
a U.S. jury awarded Alcatel-Lucent $367.4 million in
damages after finding that the company had violated two patents
related to the user interface in its software.
Reuters - Microsoft Corp is evaluating its
bid for Yahoo Inc because the Internet company may have lost
value since Microsoft made its offer, people familiar with the
matter said on Friday.
Reuters - Investors led by Appaloosa Management
backed out of a $2.55 billion equity deal to support Delphi
Corp's emergence from bankruptcy on Friday, dealing
a blow to General Motors Corp and its goal of putting
the problems of its former parts subsidiary behind it.
Reuters - JPMorgan Chase & Co , which is
taking over rival investment bank Bear Stearns Cos Inc ,
will dominate the management ranks of the combined investment
banking and trading businesses, according to an internal memo.
AFP - Santander, Spain's biggest bank, said Friday it would acquire the consumer credit activities of Royal Bank of Scotland in continental Europe, its second such move in just over a week.