It is elevated to fine art, with famous models posing for top fashion photographers.
All little boys had seen them, stuck to pegboards at the back of a garage, the only bursts of color amid the dank light and grime and tools. Girlie calendars were there to sneak a guilty peek at while our fathers were talking to the mechanic about the ping in the family Chrysler. They spoke to feelings boys had but were thought not of a piece with polite middle-class life. Here, among working men and dirt, was where these thoughts belonged, even if the women on the calendars looked as if they were used to much classier surroundings.
London has attracted yet another major mining float as Fresnillo, the largest primary silver miner in the world, said it planned to list in London next month in an IPO that could value the company at around £4bn and propel it into the FTSE 100. Source: Telegraph Business | 11 Apr 2008 | 12:40 pm
London has attracted yet another major mining float as Fresnillo, the largest primary silver miner in the world, said it planned to list in London next month in an IPO that could value the company at around... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 12:40 pm
TriZetto Group Inc. (NASDAQ: TZIX) is being acquired. Private equity firm Apax Partners will acquire health-care software company for $1.4 billion, or $22.00 per share. This represents a 25% premium to Thursday's closing price, and is slightly more than a 5% premium to the 52-week high of $20.85. Apax has made deals in the hospital and drug sectors, so this isn't its first prom dance. It appears that private equity money is still willing to look at deals in medical technology and information management that helps hospitals and medical companies. What is interesting is that BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee and...
Calls were made Friday to reopen an investigation into BAE Systems, following a ruling from a British high court that the decision by the U.K. government and the Serious Fraud Office to drop a corruption enquiry into defense contracts with Saudi Arabia was unlawful.
MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MXB) has filed to sell up to 30,861,235 shares in a secondary offering. Unfortunately, all of the shares are from selling holders. Those selling holders are Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Capital Group International, Inc, so none of the sold shares will go to MSCI's coffers. MSCI is provider of investment decision support tools to investment institutions. It produces index and risk and return portfolio analytics for use in managing investment portfolios, which are used by institutions in equity, fixed income and multi-asset class instruments. Based on yesterday's prices of $27.01 in the filing, this would allow...
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Mizuho Financial Group Inc. said profit in fiscal 2007 fell by more than 50% from the past year because of write-offs on subprime-related mortgages at its securities unit.
Owning a car is more expansive than ever. Record prices at the pump for gasoline will lift the cost of driving to 54 cents per mile this year or an annual average of $8,121, according to a new report from the motorist group AAA.
Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc. said Friday that it's filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but unlike collapsed rivals it hopes to continue operating a normal service.
General Electric Co. pulled an unpleasant surprise on investors Friday, reporting a 6% drop in first-quarter net profit -- largely over trouble in its financial-services businesses -- and revising lower its 2008 outlook.
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp believes it has made a fair offer to acquire Yahoo and is committed to bolstering its digital advertising capabilities irrespective of the outcome, its chief operating officer said.
British Airways delays moving most of its long-haul flights to Heathrow Airport's new Terminal 5. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 11 Apr 2008 | 11:35 am
Below are the top 10 pre-market analyst calls that 247wallst.com is focusing on: Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) cut to Neutral at JP Morgan. BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) Cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia. BP plc (NYSE: BP) raised to Overweight at JPMorgan. CKE Restaurants (NYSE: CKR) started as Outperform at FBR. Diamond Offshore (NYSE: DO) raised to Overweight at JPMorgan. Genpact (NYSE: G) started as Outperform at Robert W. Baird. Red Robin Gourmet (NASDAQ: RRGB) cut to market Perform at Wachovia. Spirit Aerosystems (NYSE: SPR) started as Outperform at FBR. Wright Medical (NASDAQ: WMGI) raised to Overweight at...
General Electric posted a surprising first-quarter earnings miss Friday, deflating investors' hopes that the conglomerate could rise above an economic slowdown.
Cadbury Schweppes, the world's biggest confectionery company, could come under further pressure from activist investor Nelson Peltz after a price war on the high street amid an early Easter hit growth Source: Telegraph Business | 11 Apr 2008 | 11:30 am
Cadbury Schweppes, the world's biggest confectionery company, could come under further pressure from activist investor Nelson Peltz after a price war on the high street amid an early Easter hit growth Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 11:30 am
Stocks were set to tumble at Friday's open as corporate bellwether General Electric posted disappointing results that raised new worries about problems in the nation's financial sector.
BOSTON (Reuters) - General Electric Co reported on Friday an unexpected 6 percent drop in profit, as the slumping U.S. economy and credit crunch drove down profits at its financial, industrial and healthcare units.
Reuters - Stock index futures indicated a lower
market open on Friday after industrial conglomerate General
Electric Co reported an unexpected drop in quarterly
profit and lowered its earnings forecast for the year, adding
to fears about a recession.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures indicated a lower market open on Friday after industrial conglomerate General Electric Co reported an unexpected drop in quarterly profit and lowered its earnings forecast for the year, adding to fears about a recession.
Shares in confectionery and beverage firm Cadbury Schweppes moved lower in London on Friday morning as analysts highlighted that the company probably didn’t sell as many Easter eggs as in previous years.
Reuters - General Electric Co reported on
Friday an unexpected 6 percent drop in profit, as the slumping
U.S. economy and credit crunch drove down profits at its
financial, industrial and healthcare units.
BOSTON (MarketWatch) - An analyst downgrade of Genentech Inc. weighed on the company on Friday, after the drug giant missed Wall Street's earnings target.
Sterling's weakness against the euro is likely to accelerate over the next few months, currency experts have warned, creating both winners and losers across the British economy. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 11:11 am
Sterling's weakness against the euro is likely to accelerate over the next few months, currency experts have warned, creating both winners and losers across the British economy. Source: Telegraph Business | 11 Apr 2008 | 11:11 am
European shares suddenly slid into neagtive territory on Friday morning after US bellwether General Electric reported an unexpected drop in profits, knocking confidence across the Atlantic.The FTSE Eurofirst... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 10:59 am
The dollar fell on Friday after General Electric fuelled concerns over the ailing US economy by reporting lower-than-expected first-quarter earnings. The US conglomerate said falling profits at its financial... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 10:58 am
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's Supreme Court on Friday overturned a court ruling on a suspended jail term for Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo, which could lead to his resentencing for fraud and embezzlement.
Reuters - U.S. buyout group J.C. Flowers is
prepared to walk away from takeover target Friends Provident
, frustrated at a lack of contact with the British
insurer's management, sources close to the matter said. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 11 Apr 2008 | 10:51 am
LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. buyout group J.C. Flowers is prepared to walk away from takeover target Friends Provident , frustrated at a lack of contact with the British insurer's management, sources close to the matter said.
It is time for Jeff Immelt to leave. His plans for GE's long-term future are a wreak. GE's pitch that being in many businesses is better than one and being in businesses in many parts of the world fell apart like a cheap clock today. Infrastructure is the one and only good operation at GE and that has been true for two years. That fact was dragged further into the daylight by the company's most recent results. They are the strongest argument yet that everything other than the company's largest unit should be spun-out. GE (NYSE: GE) missed most of...
Chancellor Alistair Darling will today highlight the need for reforms of
financial institutions and for transparency in the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) in order to prevent more problems in the global economy. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 11 Apr 2008 | 10:34 am
Budget carrier Frontier Airlines files for bankruptcy protection in the US, but says it will keep flying. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 11 Apr 2008 | 10:33 am
Cancelled flights for failed safety inspections have reduced air travel to a crawl for many passengers, but it is only the latest bad news in a series of woes for an already battered industry.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc repackaged unsold debt and used the Federal Reserve's new borrowing facility to convert loans that investors mostly rejected into cash to finance its business, the Wall Street Journal reported.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Mizuho Financial Group Inc cut a third off its earnings estimate for the year just ended, stung by $5.5 billion in subprime-related losses, mostly at its brokerage arm.
Mexican base-metals company Penoles SA announced plans on Friday to float its Fresnillo gold and silver operations on the London Stock Exchange, in a move large enough to change the make-up of the FTSE... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 10:21 am
The Serious Fraud Office is urged to reopen its inquiry into an arms deal between BAE and Saudi Arabia. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 11 Apr 2008 | 10:19 am
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - TomTom is committed to its 2.9 billion euros ($4.6 billion) buyout of digital map maker Tele Atlas and looking for a "positive outcome" from talks with European antitrust regulators, the company said on Friday.
Reuters - Japan's Mizuho Financial Group Inc
(8411.T) cut a third off its earnings estimate for the year
just ended, stung by $5.5 billion in subprime-related losses,
mostly at its brokerage arm.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ailing home goods retailer Linens 'n Things may file for bankruptcy protection by Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal said on Friday, citing people with knowledge of the situation.
You may think economics is just about GDP and the Fed. But actually, it's the science of weighing costs and benefits - which makes it also very useful for solving problems in everyday life.
New refineries will be opening soon in China and some countries in the Middle East. This may force other facilities in the US and Europe out of the business. The older plants are not as efficient and have high costs. The latest plants will be high-tech and have better operating margins. According to Reuters "The U.S. market for refined gasoline imports could disappear by 2020 as mandated use of biofuel such as ethanol takes an increasing share of demand." The refining business has been hurt because much of the rising price of oil cannot be passed on to gas, diesel,...
AP - Dairy farmers stand to lose income if the government honors congressional demands for a total ban on downer cattle after a California slaughterhouse failed to keep them out of the food supply.
Goodness gracious, fellow capitalists - I've never seen such a bunch of long faces! Where's that courageous can-do spirit that has forged growth out of fictional developments for so many years?
Glastonbury Festival generated more than £73m last year, thanks to the 177,500 people that descended on Worthy Farm's muddy fields in Somerset, according to the first economic study of the event. Source: Telegraph Business | 11 Apr 2008 | 10:00 am
Glastonbury Festival generated more than 73m last year, thanks to the 177,500 people that descended on Worthy Farm's muddy fields in Somerset, according to the first economic study of the event. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 10:00 am
Boosey & Hawkes, the classical music publisher, has been sold for 126m in a sign that investors still see value in the publishing end of the turbulent music industry.Imagen Music, a publishing investment... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 9:58 am
British Airways has postponed until June the planned move of its long-haul
services to Terminal 5 because of the fallout from the building's disastrous
launch. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 11 Apr 2008 | 9:57 am
Verizon (NYSE: VZ) went sniveling into US District Court to complain that Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) was running misleading ads about the phone company's new fiber optic TV and broadband product. TWC better do all the lying it can. Verizon's new product is, according to most analysts and the company, taking cable customers from the cable company. Time Warner Cable's shares are down over 30% during the last year. According to The Wall Street Journal "Verizon says that Time Warner Cable's ad implies FiOS requires a satellite dish for TV service and that it isn't able to bundle together...
The International Energy Agency has cut its forecast for oil demand in 2008 as the world economy slows. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 11 Apr 2008 | 9:41 am
Frontier (NASDAQ: FRNT) filed for Chapter 11 joining ATA and Aloha Air. According to MarketWatch "The airline said the decision was taken after its principal credit-card processor unexpectedly said it would start withholding "significant proceeds" received from the sale of its tickets." But, like the others, it was the victim of high fuel prices and shrinking passenger prospects. The news also came that Delta's (NYSE: DAL) pilots had elected to approve a new contract which will allows their company to merge with Northwest (NYSE: NWA). Whether the combination will come soon enough to save the carriers is a matter of...
Retailers and technology companies gave a lift to Asia-Pacifc markets on optimism that regional demand might make up for any slowdown in the US as a result of the credit crisis.The MSCI Asia Pacific was... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 9:07 am
Cadbury Schweppes sees strong sales as it seeks approval to demerge its North American drinks business. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 11 Apr 2008 | 9:06 am
Cadbury Schweppes, the confectionery and soft drinks group, sought to calm
investor fears today ahead of its forthcoming demerger after admitting it
had lost market share over the crucial Easter trading period. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 11 Apr 2008 | 9:03 am
Streaming Media Magazine and Streamingmediia.com have released their list of the twenty-five most important people in in the streaming media industry over the last decade. “I suppose if you extend the baseball metaphor, these 25 people would really make up the streaming media hall of fame,” said Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen. According to Streaming Media "We began the selection process by issuing a call for nominations on StreamingMedia.com and to our Streaming Media discussion lists. From a list of more than 75 nominees, we picked the 25 who most clearly fit the bill, either for the technology they’ve created and advanced or...
Cadbury Schweppes said it had lost share in its home chocolate market over Easter, as it steered away from "aggressive discounting" to compete with rivals during the key festive period for confectionery... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 8:48 am
Electricite de France is reported to be considering making a bid for the nuclear power firm British Energy. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 11 Apr 2008 | 8:45 am
Top judges deliver a fierce rebuke to the government for failing to recognise the rule of law and allowing a foreign nation to pervert justice in the BAE-Saudi Arabia case Source: FT.com - US homepage | 11 Apr 2008 | 8:31 am
Sales from Waitrose stores tumbled 10.7 per cent last week, the biggest weekly
fall so far this year, with many of the stores failing to meet their
budgets. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 11 Apr 2008 | 8:26 am
Google has hired controversial banker Frank Quattrone as a strategic advisor
in his first major high-profile role since he was acquitted by a US judge of
obstruction of justice charges last year. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 11 Apr 2008 | 8:17 am
Chancellor Alistair Darling risks putting himself at odds with the International Monetary Fund by urging further major overhauls to the fund. Source: Telegraph Business | 11 Apr 2008 | 8:15 am
Reuters - Ailing home goods retailer Linens 'n
Things may file for bankruptcy protection by Tuesday, the Wall
Street Journal said on Friday, citing people with knowledge of
the situation.
According to Reuters, Bernanke says that the current financial system can be fixed. Reuters writes that Google (GOOG) is using Frank Quattrone as its investment bank advisor. Reuters reports that banks involved in the Clear Channel (CCU) buy-out argued that the case against them should be dismissed. Reuters reports that Delta (DAL) and its pilot's union have reached an agreement that will let a merger with Northwest (NWA) move forward. The Wall Street Journal writes that most observers believe that a Microsoft (MSFT) deal to buy Yahoo! (YHOO) is the most likely outcome of the struggle between the two companies....
Markets in Asia were mostly higher. The Nikkei rose 2.9% to 13,324. Mazda was up 8.9% to 367. Toyota (TM) was up 2.5% to 4950. The Hang Seng rose 1.6% to 24,580. China Netcom (CN) was up 3.6% to 22.9. PetroChina (PTR) was up 1.8% to 10.26. The Shanghai Composite rose .6% to 3,493. Data from Reuters Douglas A. McIntyre
Consumer groups today slammed a Government deal that will see the six major
energy companies pay merely an additional £225 million over three years to
help people struggling with rising power bills and accused the Chancellor of
backtracking on a Budget pledge to make the industry do more for vulnerable
customers. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 11 Apr 2008 | 7:07 am
The PUC-approved institute would research ways to cut emissions, but some question the fairness of charging ratepayers.
California utility customers will foot the bill for a $600-million global-warming think tank under a Public Utilities Commission program that critics say is a costly and questionable departure from the agency's mission to make sure ratepayers get affordable and reliable power.
The measure is overwhelmingly approved despite acknowledgment that it falls short in aiding homeowners. The House is working on its own version.
The Senate passed legislation Thursday aimed at addressing the nation's housing crisis -- setting the stage for thorny negotiations with the House, where Democrats are pushing a more sweeping measure tilted more toward aiding borrowers at risk of losing their homes.
People close to the CBS News situation say the anchor is frustrated over her program's ratings.
Amid swirling news reports that Katie Couric may exit the "CBS Evening News" after the November elections, multiple people close to the situation describe a discontented anchor who is conflicted about whether she wants to continue laboring on the third-place newscast.
Positive outlooks from Wal-Mart and Costco strengthen hope that consumer spending won't fall too far.
Investors encouraged by a drop in unemployment claims and a better-than-expected sales performance by discount retailers bought back into stocks Thursday and helped lift Wall Street after two days of losses.
The teen-horror thriller is expected to be an easy sell at the box office.
"Leatherheads," last weekend's release starring George Clooney and Renee Zellweger, was the kind of quirky movie that needed help from critics despite its prominent cast. Instead, Universal Pictures' screwball-football comedy, a period piece aimed at adults, got lukewarm reviews and opened to a soft $12.7 million at the box office.
Local newscasts seem to be turning away from high-priced anchors
Like the Hollywood sign and the Cinerama Dome, KCBS-TV Channel 2 news anchors Ann Martin and Harold Greene were fixtures of Hollywood, hard to miss on huge billboards plastered on the station's former headquarters as they smiled down on travelers zooming along Sunset Boulevard.
His proposal to help 'deserving' homeowners could assist up to 400,000 people, aides say. He'd previously expressed concern about bailing out speculators.
Amid widespread concerns about the nation's mortgage crisis, John McCain outlined Thursday a proposal to help "well-meaning, deserving homeowners who are facing foreclosure" and called for a Justice Department investigation into possible "criminal wrongdoing" by unscrupulous lenders.
The carrier's CEO says costs for customer service and inspections of its fleet will total tens of millions of dollars.
American Airlines renewed its apologies Thursday to more than 200,000 passengers whose travel plans were disrupted this week. Almost 600 more flights were expected to be canceled today, and the airline said it would be at least Sunday before things were back to normal.
Higher imports reduces China's trade surplus, but exports rise too, despite fears demand for its goods is slowing. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 11 Apr 2008 | 6:52 am
India is to invite global bids worth two billion dollars for 384 light helicopters in the second biggest military deal this year, defence ministry officials told AFP on Friday. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 6:47 am
Rice prices will continue to rise as production cannot keep up with demand, a research body says. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 11 Apr 2008 | 6:41 am
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The banks being sued in the dispute over the $20 billion Clear Channel Communications leveraged buyout, put forward arguments on Thursday outlining why the case against them in New York should be dropped.
Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc. says it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but plans to continue normal business operations throughout its reorganization. The low-fare... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 6:24 am
Biotechnology giant Genentech Inc. is reporting a jump in its first- quarter profit of 12 percent compared to last year, but sales of its top-selling cancer drug disappointed Wall Street... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 6:16 am
Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee arrived Friday for a second round of questioning by an independent counsel probing allegations of bribery and other wrongdoing at South Korea's biggest... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 6:11 am
Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Japan's second largest bank, lowered its fiscal 2007 earnings forecast Friday, blaming growing damage from the U.S. credit crisis. In its third revision... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 6:09 am
A six-year-old Australian girl with high levels of lead in her body will be part of a law suit against Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata over alleged pollution, her lawyer said Friday. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 5:52 am
Japan's wholesale inflation rate hit a fresh 27-year high of 3.9 percent in March as companies struggled to cope with soaring raw material and energy costs, a report from the central bank... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 5:17 am
The New Zealand government Friday rejected a bid by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to take a 40 percent stake in the country's aviation hub, Auckland International Airport. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 4:50 am
New Zealand companies Telecom and Fletcher Building have been included in Forbes' annual global list of the world's 2000 biggest listed companies.
The list, first compiled in 2004, ranks Telecom at 1095 and Fletcher Building at... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 11 Apr 2008 | 4:45 am
AP Video Air traveler angst was sure to continue Friday as American Airlines grounded hundreds more flights. The financial toll and loss of goodwill likely would grow as well, as the... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 4:01 am
Oil prices retreated further Friday to less than $110 a barrel as a stronger U.S. dollar prompted investors to book profits after this week's rally to a record. An unexpected decline... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 11 Apr 2008 | 4:00 am
Software company Diligent announced sales growth of 60 per cent in the first quarter to March 31.
The New York-based company sells and licenses software that looks after the paperwork for corporate board members.
It said sales... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 11 Apr 2008 | 2:30 am
Fonterra has boosted its record payout for the 2007-2008 milking season to $7.30.
It today lifted the payout prediction from the existing record forecast of $6.90/kg milksolids.
The 2006-2007 payout was $4.46/kg, and Fonterra's... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 11 Apr 2008 | 2:00 am
The Bank of England did the right thing by cutting interest rates but it is "behind the curve" in acting to counter the credit crunch, billionaire investor George Soros said.
The British central bank cut its main rate overnight... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 11 Apr 2008 | 12:30 am
More and more top hedge fund and private equity managers are set to move to new firms as the credit crisis bites, speakers at this week's Reuters Hedge Fund & Private Equity Summit in London said. Source: Telegraph Business | 11 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
Iceland's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate for the second time in three weeks to shore-up the krona and douse inflation. Source: Telegraph Business | 11 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a civil lawsuit against London-based hedge fund Headstart Advisers, claiming it earned $198m (£98m) in profits as a result of improper trading. Source: Telegraph Business | 11 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
Goldman Sachs chairman and chief executive Lloyd Blankfein has declared the beginning of the end of the credit crisis - just as Wall Street rival Lehman Brothers took a further $1.8bn (£900m) credit crunch hit. Source: Telegraph Business | 11 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
National says the government is playing reckless politics by vetoing a decision to allow a Canadian company to buy a stake in Auckland International Airport (AIA), despite official advice which said the deal could proceed.
Land... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 11 Apr 2008 | 12:00 am
Chaos gripped US airports for a third straight day as American Airlines cancelled about 1,500 more flights amid growing criticism of the aviation regulator Source: FT.com - US homepage | 10 Apr 2008 | 11:57 pm
The International Monetary Fund rejected claims that it should have better foreseen the onset of a global financial crisis and instead singled out the US for refusing to adopt its programme to improve the stability of national economies Source: FT.com - US homepage | 10 Apr 2008 | 11:51 pm
The Government's decision to veto the Canadian bid for Auckland International Airport has drawn praise from the expected quarters today.
New Zealand First, the Greens, and a Council who is a major shareholder have all come out... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 10 Apr 2008 | 11:25 pm
If there were any investors left in the retail sector who thought that the
high street could not get any worse after such a poor Christmas period, then
the trading update yesterday from DSG International, Britain's largest
electrical goods retailer, should make them think again. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 10 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
The European Central Bank (ECB) refused to cut the Continent’s base rate
yesterday and called for unions and companies to hold off wage and price
increases to avoid adding to inflationary pressures. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 10 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
Electricité de France is drawing up plans for a full offer for British Energy
of more than 700p per share as the deadline for formal bids draws closer. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 10 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
Corporate cultures are very hard to define, which is probably why so many
consultants make so much money advising on them. Different companies
obviously have different cultures. At Virgin nobody wears a tie, at Google
nobody wears shoes but at a City law firm it is suits and ties or go home
and change. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 10 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
US lawmakers voted to stall consideration of a controversial free trade agreement with Colombia, in an unprecedented move that critics and the White House portrayed as a huge setback for US trade policy Source: FT.com - US homepage | 10 Apr 2008 | 10:52 pm
Republican John McCain sought to push back against criticisms of his alleged do-nothing approach to the US housing crisis, unveiling a plan that would provide federal help to 'well-meaning' homeowners facing foreclosure Source: FT.com - US homepage | 10 Apr 2008 | 10:34 pm
The sharemarket was down early this morning after government ministers vetoed the Canadian Pension Plan's (CPP) bid to buy a stake in Auckland Airport.
The NZSX-50 was down 36.5 points, or 1.03 per cent, to 3503 at 10.10am.
Auckland... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 10 Apr 2008 | 10:30 pm
Financial advisers have been told not to be negative about impending legislation which will impact on their activities.
In fact, they should look upon it as a chance to increase business.
This was the underlying message delivered... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 10 Apr 2008 | 10:00 pm
Investor's Business Daily - Exchange traded funds hit the $572 billion mark in the first quarter of the year, but they are still only 4.8% of the $11.7 trillion mutual fund market. That's up from 4.2% at the end of 2006. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 10 Apr 2008 | 9:56 pm
Most of us are going to get tax rebate checks as a result of the stimulus package approved a couple of months ago. But, there's a catch or two. Marketplace Money host Tess Vigeland has the details. Source: Marketplace | 10 Apr 2008 | 9:42 pm
The nation's hospitals are struggling to care for low-income patients. Proposed solutions usually involve more money or more doctors. But some medical centers are trying a different approach -- more lawyers. Jeff Tyler reports. Source: Marketplace | 10 Apr 2008 | 9:42 pm
The Senate has passed its version of the housing rescue bill. Commentator Jeff Birnbaum says the bipartisan plan includes a surprisingly large, $6 billion in tax credits to help home builders. Source: Marketplace | 10 Apr 2008 | 9:42 pm
Canada is enforcing a never-before-used law to block an American company from buying a Canadian firm that has developed advanced satellite technology. Jeremy Hobson reports the $1.3 billion offer couldn't overcome Ottawa's worries about national security. Source: Marketplace | 10 Apr 2008 | 9:42 pm
The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Group of 7 countries meet this week. The topic at hand is one we're all far too familar with -- the U.S. credit crunch. Marketplace's Stephen Beard in London talks with Kai Ryssdal about the world view. Source: Marketplace | 10 Apr 2008 | 9:42 pm
Much of America's trade gap with China has been tied to the yuan holding at 8 to the dollar. The U.S. has pushed China to lower that imbalance and today the yuan fell below 7 to the dollar for the first time. But Alisa Roth reports it's a case of being careful what you ask for. Source: Marketplace | 10 Apr 2008 | 9:42 pm
American Airlines has now canceled 2,500 flights over the past 72 hours as it tries to get right with an FAA safety audit. The company's CEO apologized today, and some in Congress are blaming the FAA. Kai Ryssdal has more. Source: Marketplace | 10 Apr 2008 | 9:42 pm
Not so eager to make a deal with Microsoft, Yahoo has been talking with Google, NewsCorp and AOL about various partnerships. Lisa Napoli reports that there's a big reason for all this back and forth. Source: Marketplace | 10 Apr 2008 | 9:42 pm
Lehman Brothers has liquidated three floundering US investment funds that lost value and ended up taking US$1 billion of assets onto its balance sheet, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The bank... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 10 Apr 2008 | 9:30 pm
Anyone who was surprised by Rupert Murdoch's latest maneuver—talking to Microsoft about possibly joining a deal for Yahoo, after first offering to help Yahoo fend off a Microsoft takeover—probably doesn't remember 1977.
That was when Murdoch took control of New York magazine, muscling out founder Clay Felker in a move that drew national attention. Felker, who owned about 10 percent of New York's parent company, considered Murdoch a friend and ally, and appealed to him for help when his board starting leaning on him to improve profits. Recognizing opportunity, Murdoch instead went behind Felker's back and bought up more than half the company's shares. Felker, one of the magazine industry's towering figures, soon resigned.
"Rupert is very opportunistic," says Ed Kosner, who followed Felker as an editor of New York, and later went on to compete against his old boss as editorial director of the New York Daily News. (Murdoch bought the Post a year before he seized New York.) "If there's an angle that makes sense, he's going to be there, if for nothing else than to raise the price for somebody else."
Kosner calls Murdoch's machinations vis-à-vis Yahoo—coming in as a potential white knight, only to join forces with the enemy—"a recapitulation of what happened with New York. So there's a precedent."
Indeed, looked at a bit more broadly, there are quite a few precedents. Over his span of four decades as a media mogul, the News Corp. chairman has consistently managed to further his interests through a Machiavellian combination of flexible strategy, fungible ethics, and iron will.
Take his most recent coup: News Corp.'s acquisition of the Wall Street Journal. Persuading the Bancroft family to relinquish control of its prize possession after more than 100 years required a combination of overwhelming force—a $5 billion offer that amounted to an irresistible 67 percent premium—and subtle diplomacy. The eye-popping price served to shield his bid from competition by other potential suitors whom the white-glove Bancrofts might have found preferable to a conservative Australian with tabloid tastes. The diplomacy helped them to set aside such reservations—even if his promises may not always be kept in full.
For instance, from the moment of his first meeting with then-Dow Jones C.E.O. Richard F. Zannino, Murdoch insisted that he meant to keep the company's management team in place. But the Journal's publisher is out. (Its managing editor and editorial page editor remain in place.) Murdoch also agreed to a carefully delimited pact safeguarding editorial independence, then redrew the Journal's reporting lines in a way that arguably transgressed the spirit of the agreement.
However far Murdoch goes in putting his stamp on the Journal, no one can ever say they weren't warned. Time after time, he has done and said what he deemed necessary to extend his reach, never apologizing for his actions, no matter how much others cried foul.
His handling of the Journal so far has been a model of gentility compared with his bulldozing of the Times of London, which he added to his holdings in 1981. Nor did he show much remorse about flipping the New York Post's political polarity, despite a public promise to former owner Dorothy Schiff to maintain its liberal stance.
Then there's China. So many are the contortions Murdoch has felt obliged to take in pursuit of News Corp.'s interests there—dropping the BBC from his satellite service there to placate the Communist authorities; canceling publication of a book by the British governor of Hong Kong; ordering publication of another by the daughter of Deng Xiaoping—that they form the subject of a new book: Rupert Murdoch's Adventures in China, by Australian journalist Bruce Dover. (The Far Eastern Economic Review, a Murdoch-owned publication, spiked its review of the book.)
But moral consistency isn't Murdoch's ultimate goal; growing News Corp., ideally at the expense of its competitors, is.
"He's somebody who's always looking for the edge," says media consultant Peter Kreisky. "He's always trying to take strategically critical positions that are going to give him real power in the marketplace."
Hence his interest in Yahoo, the ailing internet giant that just might find new life if paired with News Corp.'s own undermonetized behemoth, MySpace.
"It's classic Murdoch because it's a game changer, if you can make it happen. We're not just talking about scale. We're talking about creating an entirely different entity that has the potential to compete effectively against Google," Kreisky says.
"Clearly this is a deal he wants to get in the middle of," Kreisky adds, "either on one side or the other."
The pound hits another low against the euro, driven by an interest rate cut from the Bank of England. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 10 Apr 2008 | 9:05 pm
Lombard Finance and Investments' moratorium plan has been rejected by its trustee, Perpetual Trust, who last night called in the receivers.
Lombard, a subsidiary of listed Lombard Group, owes $127 million to 4400 secured debenture... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 10 Apr 2008 | 9:00 pm
The boss of the International Monetary Fund admits it was late to warn on the risk of the continuing global credit woes. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 10 Apr 2008 | 8:59 pm
US equities overcame a wobbly start to close higher as improved profit forecasts from Wal-Mart and a series of upgrades for technology shares helped damp fears that first-quarter corporate earnings will take a pummelling Source: FT.com - US homepage | 10 Apr 2008 | 8:42 pm
Can a search partnership between Yahoo and Google possibly pass regulatory muster?
Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, quickly waved the antitrust flag on Wednesday, saying: "Any definitive agreement between Yahoo and Google would consolidate over 90 percent of the search-advertising market in Google’s hands. This would make the market far less competitive, in sharp contrast to our own proposal to acquire Yahoo."
Even a longtime antitrust litigator who rarely agrees with Microsoft called the temporary partnership "an agreement in restraint" of trade that is "almost certain or very likely to violate" Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
Not so fast. The key to understanding how Google and Yahoo could clear the antitrust hurdle if they try to make the two-week trial a broader deal is this: The agreement is nonexclusive, says a person close to the situation.
"Nonexclusive contracts are generally thought to be pro-competitive," this person said. "This preserves Yahoo as a competitor search engine. And it provides them with the means to monetize their site."
In other words, others, including Microsoft, could bid for search results under the agreement. Google, however, would probably win the vast majority of search traffic.
Harry First, an antitrust professor at New York University School of Law, is skeptical about the agreement, or at least what is known about it.
The partnership "just sounds like an extension of Google's dominance," he says.
But what's unclear, he added, is how the deal affects pricing and whether Yahoo and Google would still be competing with each other.
"That sort of platform partnership means that they don't compete vigorously on the commissions they make for clicks," he said.
Complicating the discussions about a Yahoo-Google partnership are the merger talks involving Yahoo: whether a Microsoft takeover of Yahoo, with or without the help of News Corp., or a Yahoo merger with the AOL unit of Time Warner.
Antitrust regulators look at "some market in which we can determine how price and output are affected," First notes. But the proposed deals, which focus on the future and control of the dominant platform on the internet, "may be hard to translate on today’s antitrust analysis," he says.
And there is the question of which federal regulator would review a Google-Yahoo alliance.
It was agreed last year that the F.T.C. would review Google's $3.1 billion deal to purchase DoubleClick (later approved), and in exchange the Department of Justice would review any potential for Microsoft to buy Yahoo—long rumored to be a possibility—and that Justice Department would get another big deal, should it come along.
During the Bush administration, the F.T.C. has been much tougher on deals than the Justice Department.
Microsoft would surely want an F.T.C. review of a Google-Yahoo partnership.
And whoever strikes a deal with Yahoo will want to have it reviewed this year, while George Bush is still in the White House.
Canada's Conservative government has blocked the sale of the country's biggest space technology business to Alliant Techsystems, bowing to a wave of protest against politically sensitive technology falling under US control Source: FT.com - US homepage | 10 Apr 2008 | 5:31 pm
The push for more openness in figuring out exactly how top executives are paid is yielding a few more results, if somewhat grudgingly, pay consultants say.
A new study [subscription required] by Equilar, an executive-compensation benchmarking firm, shows that overall disclosure is up among Fortune 100 companies. At the same time, more companies are detailing specific performance targets for their executives to meet. This covers all types of compensation plans.
From 2006 to 2007, the number of firms doing so rose about 10 percentage points, to 66.4 percent, according to an Equilar review of filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Those disclosures included cash bonuses as well as longer term incentive plans, the Redwood Shores, California, consulting firm said.
Among the Fortune 100 companies with annual bonus plans—the ones that usually get the most attention—more than two-thirds disclosed the actual performance targets their executives must meet to earn the payouts, according to the study. That contrasts with only 44 percent of such companies making a comparable amount of detail available last year.
A similar study by another compensation consulting firm, Watson Wyatt, reached comparable conclusions: More than two-thirds (68 percent) of the 75 large publicly traded companies it studied disclosed the actual goals on which they based rewards under their annual incentive plans, up from 54 percent that disclosed goals last year. For longer term incentives, 57 percent included the goals, compared with 45 percent a year ago.
"Fuller disclosure of specific performance targets for executives has been a major point of emphasis for the S.E.C. over the past year, and we are clearly seeing improvements in this year's proxies," said Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, Equilar's research manager.
"The biggest gains in disclosure surround annual-incentive-plan targets, which have traditionally been closely guarded by companies," Cwirko-Godycki added.
The Equilar study found that of the companies it looked at, 81 percent benchmark short-term performance against only internal company goals. In contrast, almost 61 percent of the companies that benchmark performance over the long term use relative measures, such as comparing performance with peer companies.
Steve Seelig, executive-compensation counsel at Watson Wyatt, said he was baffled as to why one-third of the companies that his firm studied still don't disclose more about executive pay.
"Most companies have a very positive pay-for-performance story to share, yet a surprisingly large number are not taking the opportunity to tell it," Seelig said. "Showing how executive pay varies with performance and compares to the competition would go a long way in addressing the concerns of shareholders and critics of the U.S. executive-pay model."
Watson Wyatt did note that some companies are working to reduce what it said are "some of the less shareholder-friendly or noncore elements of compensation." These include executive pensions and severance.
About one out of 10 companies reported changes to executive pensions. All of the firms that made changes to their severance or change-in-control programs—24 percent of the total—reduced the potential payments to executives.
"Companies are increasingly sensitive to the appropriateness of existing severance and change-in-control provisions," said Ira Kay, Watson Wyatt's global director of compensation consulting. "As a result, companies are putting more emphasis on maintaining core pay programs that are well aligned with corporate performance." Related Links Homeland Security, Corporate America Style No Matter How Nicely One Asks, the Answer Is No The Money Men
A beloved national proverb in the Netherlands notes, "God created the world, but the Dutch created the Netherlands"—a reference to the industrious North Sea land reclamation begun as early as the ninth century to form what now constitutes about 20 percent of that country's total territory. The country, located on a swampy delta where three of Europe's biggest rivers converge, spends heavily to maintain hundreds of miles of dikes and sand dunes to prevent land erosion.
All those years of experience may have finally paid off. Today, the Dutch affinity for taming the sea not only provides domestic wealth, it may also serve in protecting other countries' future economic survival.
The Netherlands' knowledge of marine dredging and land formation has reached its glitziest apotheosis in the formation of Dubai's coastal havens for the superrich—the series of man-made, themed archipelagos known as The World (completed this February), The Palm Jumeirah (completed in 2003), and the Palm Deira (completion expected in 2013). And these massive projects have helped to increase the fortunes of one Dutch family-run company in particular—Van Oord, which announced last month an annual net profit increase of 85 percent to 164 million euros ($260 million) in 2007.
"In the Netherlands, we have one of the world’s longest histories in fighting the sea," says Bert Groothuizen, manager of marketing and communications for Rotterdam-based Van Oord and a hydraulic engineer. Groothuizen points out that the low-lying areas east of Rotterdam contain one of the largest concentrations of marine-related businesses in the world. "The firsthand experience of those businesses, as well as the very strong educational and research institutions clustered in that area, give the Netherlands an innovation advantage," he adds.
Van Oord is one of over 11,000 Dutch companies in what is known as the Dutch "marine cluster network," which consists of equipment suppliers, vessel builders, researchers, dredgers, and marine contractors. In the $11 billion dredging market alone, approximately two thirds of which is considered open to foreign competition, 40 percent of the industry's market share is retained by just four companies from the Benelux region: Royal Boskalis Westminster, DEME Group, Jan De Nul Group, and Van Oord. And Van Oord's combined presence in both dredging and marine contracting—which generally refers to oil and gas extraction—make it one of the world’s most visible players in maritime development.
It’s an advantageous position for Van Oord: While one area of the business develops equipment and techniques to draw out Earth's remaining fossil fuels, which is said to cause global warming and therefore land erosion, the other part of the business is proffering services in coastal reclamation. So is it a hedge for or against global warming? Groothuizen acknowledges the dynamic, but he says it was not a deliberate strategy.
In places like Dubai, the potential for tourism dollars is driving the growth of reclamation projects, as the emirate ponders a future where oil revenues may not be quite so free flowing.
"The success of the projects in Dubai and the way they were put together opened the eyes of a lot of other countries in that region," says Groothuizen, while noting that port and harbor expansion, especially in burgeoning economic areas like China and India, is the biggest short-term growth driver in marine development.
Van Oord’s 2008 slate of projects includes a mix of old and new contracts, including the expansion of the Rotterdam harbor and ports, known as the Maasvlakte 2 project, on which they are collaborating with their competitor Royal Boskalis Westminster.
Projecting further ahead, coastal development and defense, necessitated by population growth, increasing scarcity of resources, and global warming, will likely compete with port expansion as a leading revenue source for companies like Van Oord.
With most of the world's population living in coastal cities, land shortages 40 years from now may make the current Manhattan moans about lack of housing sound comparatively feeble. Add rising seas to the mix, and you've got a scenario that should set Wall Street moguls, ensconced in their glass-front river-view condos, wondering whether New York (and London, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Mumbai, and a host of other cities) has had conversations with companies located in its former colonizer.
In the latest bit of disappointing economic news, America's trade deficit widened 5.6 percent last month, to $62.3 billion, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported.
Economists had expected the weaker dollar to reduce the trade deficit in March by making American-made goods and services relatively cheaper and thus more competitive abroad while also damping demand for imports by making them relatively more expensive.
Higher prices and increased demand for natural gas and refined petroleum products were the main reasons why imports grew faster than exports, as were higher prices for platinum and other nongold precious metals. Increased imports of industrial machines and computer accessories also fed the gap.
Among the fastest-growing exports were gold, fuel oil, automobiles and auto parts, aircraft parts, and pharmaceuticals.
Wal-Mart Stores has set the tone for what is expected to be weak March sales reports from the nation's biggest retail chains.
The world's biggest retailer says sales excluding gasoline at U.S. stores open at least a year rose 0.7 percent in March, less than analysts' forecasts. Wal-Mart blamed cold weather, which hurt apparel sales, and an early Easter.
But the company was more optimistic about April and raised its forecast for the first quarter.
"Because of the Easter calendar change and its potential positive impact on the April sales period, we expect comparable store sales without fuel for the April four-week period in the United States to be between one and three percent," said Tom Schoewe, executive vice president and chief financial officer. "This guidance is slightly higher than our comparable sales guidance of the previous two months, which has been flat to two percent."
Citing better management of its inventory, Schoewe said Wal-Mart was raising its forecast for first-quarter earnings from continuing operations to 74 cents to 76 cents per share, up from an earlier forecast of 70 cents to 74 cents per share.
As a Banc of America Securities analyst wrote this week, a "tough economy is Wal-Mart's sweet spot.''
Reuters - Stock index futures indicated a lower
market open on Friday after industrial conglomerate General
Electric Co reported an unexpected drop in quarterly
profit and lowered its earnings forecast for the year, adding
to fears about a recession.
Reuters - General Electric Co reported on
Friday an unexpected 6 percent drop in profit, as the slumping
U.S. economy and credit crunch drove down profits at its
financial, industrial and healthcare units.
Reuters - Japan's Mizuho Financial Group Inc
(8411.T) cut a third off its earnings estimate for the year
just ended, stung by $5.5 billion in subprime-related losses,
mostly at its brokerage arm.
AP - Dairy farmers stand to lose income if the government honors congressional demands for a total ban on downer cattle after a California slaughterhouse failed to keep them out of the food supply.
Reuters - Ailing home goods retailer Linens 'n
Things may file for bankruptcy protection by Tuesday, the Wall
Street Journal said on Friday, citing people with knowledge of
the situation.
AP - With little money left after buying food and fuel, American shoppers handed most retailers their most dismal March in 13 years.
