Hedge funds, nervous about the fading magic of the markets, are moving into cash, the perfect investment for retiring school teachers. The reasons that fund managers give, according to The Wall Street Journal, is "the risk of sudden cash demands has risen, as banks require extra collateral against loans and more investors pull their money out of hedge funds." That would be the safe play, but is it the smart one? Putting capital into cash, which might earn 3% a year, undermines getting the 20% per annum results that make hedge funds attractive to investors who don't mind the risk....
EBay (EBAY) can post pretty good results, and the market does not care. Yesterday, the online auction company put up an earnings increase of 26% on a revenue pop of 24% to almost $2.2 billion. EBay was a bit cautious about what would happen the rest of the year, but, in a recession, the numbers were awfully good. Wall St. traders did nothing. EBay shares barely moved. The company trades at $32, down from a 52-week high of $40.73. Something is wrong. The EBay's core auction business is not growing as fast as the company as a whole. Its revenue...
After the close of trading this Thursday, we’ll get to see earnings out of Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). The estimates for the search engine super-giant from First Call are $4.52 EPS on $3.61 billion in revenues. Next quarter estimates are $4.64 EPS on $3.8 billion in revenues. Estimates for fiscal Dec-2008 are $19.55 EPS on $15.91 billion in revenues. Analysts have an average price target north of $651.00, although this number has plummeted over the last 60 days as analysts have raced to get to more realistic levels in light of a recession or potential slowdown in ad-spending. Those old...
It is no surprise that Google's (GOOG) search technology and its ability to marry advertising with search results is better than Yahoo!'s (YHOO). Otherwise Yahoo! would have Google's market cap instead of the very modest one its sports now. To try to keep the ball away from Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! is planning to outsource some or all of its internet search features to Google. According to The Wall Street Journal, the partnership may be just around the next corner. The financial paper writes that "such a deal could increase Yahoo's cash flow by more than $1 billion a year." In...
U.S. stock futures slipped on Thursday, with above-forecast results from International Business Machines not enough to drive markets higher after the last session’s rally.
If all goes according to plan, the business of buying and selling rights to pollute the atmosphere with carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases - carbon trading, as it is known - will curb global warming and save the world. That is its only purpose. Along the way, a lot of people will get rich.
For reasons that will escape even the most rigorous analysis, JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) has elected to raise $6 billion through the sales of preferred shares. In the last quarter, the big bank had profits of almost $2.4 billion. This was down by almost half from a year ago, but still very presentable in the current environment. JPM did put aside $4.42 billion for loan losses and took about $2.6 billion of write-downs tied to mortgages, loans to fund corporate buyouts, and tight credit markets. But, its balance sheet remained unusually strong, especially compared with peers like Citigroup (NYSE: C)...
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices set a record above $115 a barrel on Thursday as a fall in U.S. gasoline inventories raised supply shortage concerns ahead of the summer driving season.
No, Jack Welch wasn't dissing Jeff Immelt when he said his successor as GE's chief "has a credibility issue." He was just doing something he's famous for, which is telling the hard truth. Obviously Immelt has a credibility issue. The real question raised by this foofaraw is the profound one of whether Immelt has configured GE properly and when oh when the stock will finally start performing. In case you had CNBC muted on Wednesday morning, Welch was on Squawk Box talking about GE's spectacular earnings miss the previous Friday. As recently as mid-March, Immelt had reaffirmed previous earnings guidance for the quarter and the year. Then, on April 11, he announced that real first-quarter earnings were below his own promise and Wall Street's consensus expectation because of turmoil in the financial markets, and he said full-year earnings would be well below what he had promised earlier.
SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee was indicted on charges of tax evasion and breach of trust on Thursday, but was cleared of a more serious bribery charge after a probe into South Korea's biggest business group.
Asia-Pacific markets got some much-needed cheer on Thursday after US companies including JP Morgan, Coca-Cola and IBM unveiled resilient results overnight and a fresh record for oil prices spurred resources... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 17 Apr 2008 | 9:23 am
LONDON (Reuters) - World stocks rose to a one-week high on Thursday after better-than-expected corporate earnings announcements reassured investors that companies around the world are holding up despite the credit crisis.
Reuters - EBay Inc posted a 22
percent rise in quarterly net profit, topping Wall Street's
average estimate, as pricing changes increased online auction
listings and pushed revenue above all forecasts.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - EBay Inc posted a 22 percent rise in quarterly net profit, topping Wall Street's average estimate, as pricing changes increased online auction listings and pushed revenue above all forecasts.
Stock futures slipped early Thursday as investors caught their breath after the previous session's strong gains and awaited another batch of corporate earnings.
LONDON (Reuters) - Funds managed by private equity firms Candover and Alpinvest and Goldman Sachs have agreed to buy British oil services company Expro International for 1.605 billion pounds ($3.16 billion).
PARIS (Reuters) - France Telecom is considering a bid for TeliaSonera but is also exploring other options including with Telenor of Norway , its finance director told the Financial Times.
Crude oil prices extended their record breaking run, breaking through the $115 a barrel level on Thursday, helped by dollar weakness and US inventories data, released in the previous session, which showed... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 17 Apr 2008 | 9:00 am
China Eastern is stripped of routes and fined $215,000 after pilots turned back flights amid a suspected strike. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 17 Apr 2008 | 8:50 am
WH Smith today gave a cautiously optimistic forecast for the rest of the year
despite falling sales elsewhere on the high street after the 215-year old
newspaper and stationary retailer reported profits above expectations and
lifted its interim dividend by 24 per cent. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 17 Apr 2008 | 8:50 am
The Office of Fair Trading chief executive John Fingleton has been busy since he took on the job two years ago. Source: Telegraph Business | 17 Apr 2008 | 8:45 am
AFP - The German retail giant Metro may start approaching potential buyers for its Kaufhof chain of department stores next month, a press report said Thursday.
Prudential, the UK insurer, is on the hunt for bolt-on acquisitions in the US
as the American market begins a cut-throat price war. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 17 Apr 2008 | 8:30 am
London equities made further gains on Thursday with banking stocks in the lead, however, Thomson Reuters lost ground on its debut and news of an investigation into construction companies hit builders... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 17 Apr 2008 | 8:30 am
Shares of Remy Cointreau soared as much as 10% Thursday after France’s second-largest spirits maker posted a 4% rise in annual sales, helped by continued strong demand from Asia, and confirmed its outlook for 2008.
Government agencies and local authorities are clients who may have overpaid on billions of pounds of building contracts, the Office of Fair Trading has warned, as it accused 112 construction companies of bid-rigging. Source: Telegraph Business | 17 Apr 2008 | 8:27 am
The Office of Fair Trading has accused 112 construction companies of price-fixing on building contracts worth 3bn following a three-year investigation. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 17 Apr 2008 | 8:27 am
The UK's Gordon Brown and President Bush are to meet in Washington to discuss ways of avoiding a world recession. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 17 Apr 2008 | 8:25 am
U.K. insurer Prudential said Thursday that strong growth from its Asian division helped drive a 13% rise in first-quarter new business and offset a decline in the U.S., where sales have been hurt by the market turmoil.
LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Thomson Reuters Corp debuted on Thursday as a leading global information company, hoping a portfolio of products from financial to legal and health-care will help it ride out a financial industry downturn.
Reuters - Thomson Reuters Corp debuted on
Thursday as a leading global information company, hoping a
portfolio of products from financial to legal and health-care
will help it ride out a financial industry downturn.
Private equity firm Candover Partners has led a group that's agreed to buy U.K. oilfield-services provider Expro International for 1.61bn, as energy companies step up exploration. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 17 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
Private equity firm Candover Partners has led a group that's agreed to buy U.K. oilfield-services provider Expro International for £1.61bn, as energy companies step up exploration. Source: Telegraph Business | 17 Apr 2008 | 8:00 am
Josh Birnbaum, one of the traders who led the push by Goldman Sachs into bets against subprime-mortgage bonds, has left the world's biggest securities firm and plans to form a $1bn hedge fund. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 17 Apr 2008 | 7:50 am
Josh Birnbaum, one of the traders who led the push by Goldman Sachs into bets against subprime-mortgage bonds, has left the world's biggest securities firm and plans to form a $1bn hedge fund. Source: Telegraph Business | 17 Apr 2008 | 7:50 am
The fee and policy changes that drove sellers to boycott eBay in February are here to stay, eBay CEO John Donahoe made clear on a call with analysts on Wednesday following eBay's first-quarter earnings report.
Shares in Europe inched higher on Thursday, attempting to build on strong gains made in the previous session, amid hopes that first-quarter earnings from companies on both sides of the Atlantic won’t be as bad as expected.
According to Reuters, the head of Samsung has been indicted for tax evasion. Reuters writes Ebay (EBAY) profits rose 22%, but the company was cautious about the rest of the year. Reuters reports that JP Morgan (JPM) will sell $6 billion in preferred shares. Reuters writes that IBM (IBM) profits rose on strength in its service and softwaer divisions. Reuters reports that it has completed its merger with Thomson. Reuters writes that Sallie Mae (SLM) posted a first quarter net loss. The Wall Street Journal writes that Yahoo! (YHOO) is close to a deal to outsource some of its advertising...
The Office of Fair Trading accuses 112 construction companies of rigging bids for contracts. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 17 Apr 2008 | 7:34 am
Expro, a company that tests oil and gas flows, has agreed to be acquired by a consortium of private equity firms led by Candover Partners for 1.6bn.The agreement, which follows an approach from Candover... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 17 Apr 2008 | 7:31 am
Markets in Asia were mostly higher. The Nikkei was up 1.9% to 13,398. Canon was up 5.1% to 4850. Sony (SNE) was up 4.3% to 4370. Toyota (TM) was up 2.7% to 5010. The Hang Seng was up 1.4% to 24,200. China Petroleum (SNP) was up 4.9% to 7.27. PetroChina (PTR) was up 2.6% to 10.02. The Shanghai Composite fell 2.1% to 3,223. Data from Reuters Douglas A. McIntyre
Oil prices hover close to $115 a barrel, having crossed the record mark on Thursday on US supply fears. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 17 Apr 2008 | 7:20 am
Reuters - Freddie Mac is set to unveil a
pact with three major lenders on Thursday as it seeks to make
more funds available for big home loans, the Wall Street
Journal said. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 17 Apr 2008 | 7:12 am
Reuters - Freddie Mac is set to unveil a
pact with three major lenders on Thursday as it seeks to make
more funds available for big home loans, the Wall Street
Journal said. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 17 Apr 2008 | 7:12 am
Reuters - Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee was
indicted on charges of tax evasion and breach of trust on
Thursday, but was cleared of a more serious bribery charge
after a probe into South Korea's biggest business group.
City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo says the health insurer made false promises of coverage and hid a scheme to drop sick policyholders. The company denies the allegations.
The state's largest for-profit health insurer, Anthem Blue Cross, was accused Wednesday of a widespread pattern of false advertising and fraud in a $1-billion lawsuit that claims that the company's coverage "is largely illusory."
Profits at JPMorgan and Wells meet or exceed forecasts. East West disappoints.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. posted first-quarter results that soothed investors who had counted on the giant banks to handle the U.S. housing and credit crises better than many rivals.
A key cost of living index rises just 0.3% in March despite another sharp increase in fuel and energy costs -- up 17% in the last year. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 17 Apr 2008 | 7:00 am
The Culver City hospital says it worries about the chain's business practices.
There is no For Sale sign on the front lawn of Brotman Medical Center in Culver City. But a behind-the-scenes drama is unfolding that could determine the financially troubled hospital's future and what kind of care may be offered to patients on the Westside.
Shares surge after three Dow components post better-than-expected quarterly results. Oil prices hit a new record.
Stocks surged Wednesday, sending the Dow Jones industrials up more than 250 points, after better-than-expected earnings reports from three Dow components relieved anxiety about corporate profits and the economy.
But some carriers are leery of offering the service on European flights.
For a decade, the French author and comic Phil Marso has been fighting a losing battle against the ubiquity of jangling mobile phones. He even tried to promote a cellphone-free day in February titled "A Day without blah blah."
The maximum that a flier could receive will double, to $800, under a new federal rule next month.
Airlines were ordered Wednesday to pay passengers as much as $800 when they are involuntarily bumped from flights starting next month, the latest sign of a get-tough attitude in Washington toward the nation's air carriers.
The Office of Fair Trading has today formally accused 112 construction firms
in England of participating in "bid rigging", in its biggest
investigation of cartel activity to date. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 17 Apr 2008 | 6:46 am
Prosecutors in South Korea indict Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee for tax evasion and breach of trust. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 17 Apr 2008 | 6:38 am
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc is looking to turn over Web search advertising to Google Inc following a successful test using Google's service to deliver ads alongside its Web search results, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.
WH Smith sees a 8% rise in half-year profits despite a fall in sales, as it continues to refocus its business. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 17 Apr 2008 | 6:19 am
US economic conditions have worsened noticeably in the past six weeks, the Federal Reserve's Beige Book says. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 17 Apr 2008 | 5:59 am
ZURICH (Reuters) - Roche Holding AG, Europe's largest drugmaker by market value, posted first-quarter sales up 2 percent in local currencies to 10.9 billion Swiss francs ($10.86 billion), hit by loss of pandemic Tamiflu sales, and missing forecasts.
Reuters - JPMorgan Chase & Co is to sell
$6 billion in non-cumulative perpetual preferred shares,
according to a report in International Financing Review, a
Thomson publication.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co is to sell $6 billion in non-cumulative perpetual preferred shares, according to a report in International Financing Review, a Thomson publication.
The nation's GDP expands 10.6% in the first quarter. Also, prices climb 8.3% in March.
China's economy kept growing at a sizzling pace in the first quarter, but the nation's inflation rate also remained high, at above 8%, the government said Wednesday. The trends prompted officials to raise banks' reserve requirements for the third time this year to slow lending.
Millions of people use Google's search engine every day to find the answers to questions. Today, they'll turn to the company itself in search of an answer to a particularly burning matter: Is online advertising helped or hurt by the economic downturn?
The disagreement is as wide as the stakes are high. Some argue that hard times are bad enough to spare no sector. Others, noting that internet companies stood at the epicenter of the upheaval in 2001, say the internet will be spared this time. If anything, a recession would speed up the shift in ad dollars from other media since online ads are usually cheaper.
Why not ask the company that has become almost synonymous with online advertising? Unlike most public companies, Google never gives any hints in the form of earnings guidance. So in recent months, as uncertainty and expectations alike piled up, investors have turned to other metrics; they haven't liked what they've seen.
The trouble with those alternative metrics is, they don't always agree. There are multiple research firms measuring market share and they deliver contradicting statistics.
Hitwise, for example, says Google has a 67 percent share of the search market, while comScore reads it at 60 percent.
Those looking for a fresh angle thought they found it when comScore revealed data on its sponsored clicks. Consumers clicking through onto such revenue-generating links dropped 7 percent in January over December and flat year over year. They fell even further in February.
That data overlooked the simple fact that the first quarter is seasonally slow and that the decline in paid clicks happened because Google had started factoring out accidental clicks. This move, meant to benefit advertisers, was potentially evidence of how smart Google had gotten about user activity. Yet all that was overshadowed by investors' hunger for a metric to hang their hats on.
Aiding those bulls, the paid-clickthrough declines ended in March. Some analysts looking for a strong quarter from Google noted that reversal to make their case.
"The latest data for March doesn't move the needle much in terms of expectations for the quarter," said Douglas Anmuth of Lehman Brothers. He argued that the decline in paid-click growth earlier this year can be chalked up to fewer clicks in the name of better results.
Other analysts aren't so sure. Brian Bolan of Jackson Securities lowered his Google estimates in part because of the early comScore numbers. And Jason Helfstein of Oppenheimer, while maintaining his outperform rating on Google, acknowledged that the decline "could also be due to fewer clicks by consumers slowing their spending or by advertisers requesting fewer paid clicks."
Both are persuasive arguments. Google will have to give evidence today that its two months of declining clicks this year came in the name of more efficient ads. Without that, bears could gain the upper hand.
But Google also has the chance to set a positive tone for the rest of the tech earnings season (a role that traditionally belonged to Yahoo, which won't report until next Tuesday).
Oil prices hit an all-time high above $115 a barrel Thursday amid concerns about sagging U.S. gasoline supplies ahead of the peak demand of the Northern Hemisphere summer. The U.S.... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 17 Apr 2008 | 4:01 am
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average rose 2 percent on Thursday, buoyed by confidence on Wall Street after reassuring earnings eclipsed weak data on the U.S. economy which... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 17 Apr 2008 | 2:51 am
Nigerian oil output could fall by nearly a third by 2015 if the country does not garner more investment, the Financial Times reported Thursday. The business daily quoted a... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 17 Apr 2008 | 1:38 am
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - IBM posted stronger-than-expected quarterly results on Wednesday and raised its 2008 outlook, boosting the shares 2.7 percent and sending an encouraging signal... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 17 Apr 2008 | 12:37 am
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil surged to new highs on Wednesday, piercing $115 a barrel as the dollar crashed to new lows and U.S. inventories fell sharply as the world's top consumer gears up... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 17 Apr 2008 | 12:36 am
The world's top banking regulators moved to tighten the screw on the industry with new rules aimed at preventing a repeat of the crisis that has rocked the financial system Source: FT.com - US homepage | 17 Apr 2008 | 12:21 am
The US economy weakened in the six weeks to April 7, according to the Federal Reserve's beige book survey, providing further evidence of a slide into recession Source: FT.com - US homepage | 17 Apr 2008 | 12:18 am
Jack Welch, the former head of General Electric, delivered a blunt rebuke to his handpicked successor, saying the failure of the conglomerate's earnings to meet market expectations last week was a "screw-up" Source: FT.com - US homepage | 17 Apr 2008 | 12:10 am
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - EBay Inc posted a 22 percent rise in quarterly net profit, topping Wall Street's average estimate, as pricing changes increased online auction listings and pushed Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 17 Apr 2008 | 12:09 am
LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Thomson Reuters Corp debuted on Thursday as a top global information company, hoping a portfolio of products from financial to legal and health-care will help it Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 17 Apr 2008 | 12:04 am
Rio Tinto shares soared 6pc to record levels yesterday after its largely positive first quarter production report combined with speculation that rival BHP Billiton was poised to increase its offer for the miner. Source: Telegraph Business | 17 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
Japan has been warned that it risks frightening off foreign investment after blocking the attempts of a British hedge fund to double its holding in the country's leading power wholesale group. Source: Telegraph Business | 17 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
Prime Minister Gordon Brown met the heads of Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan Chase and Lehman Brothers in an attempt to understand when the worst effects of the credit crisis will be over. Source: Telegraph Business | 17 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
The chairman of oil explorer Imperial Energy, Peter Levine, is re-investing £19m in the company just three months after taking out £25m. Source: Telegraph Business | 17 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
Credit card holders have been hit with an extra charge of £50 on their average annual bill because lenders have been putting up their rates. Source: Telegraph Business | 17 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
The world's leading bank regulator launched a crackdown in response to the global credit crunch, saying it aimed to raise the costs of complex debt securities and risky practices. Source: Telegraph Business | 17 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
Merrill Lynch was close to hiring Thomas Montag, a former Goldman Sachs executive, to fill a senior role in its investment banking and capital markets trading business Source: FT.com - US homepage | 16 Apr 2008 | 11:58 pm
Reuters - IBM posted
stronger-than-expected quarterly results on Wednesday and
raised its 2008 outlook, boosting the shares 2.7 percent and
sending an encouraging signal about technology earnings in the
face of a weak U.S. economy.
The market was buoyed by Intel's (NASDAQ:INTC) earnings. It should have been. Gross margins were good, Year-over-year results were fine. If there was any concern about the quarterly report is was the drop of key P&L numbers from Q4 07 and guidance which was modest. Intel's news did not cause traders to handle live snakes or speak in tongues. Its shares moved up a little under 6% for the day. Looked at in the context of the last several years, Intel still trades well below the highs it made in 2004 and 2005. It is also,at $22.13, well below its...
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index or VIX on Wednesday dropped to its lowest levels this year as encouraging earnings from blue-chip stocks... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 Apr 2008 | 11:22 pm
The Bank of England is close to agreeing a plan designed to ease the mortgage
funding drought. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
Britain looked set for a summer of high oil and petrol prices yesterday as oil
reached a record of more than $115 a barrel. The price surge came as Opec
insisted that it did not intend to increase supply, an apparent snub to
Gordon Brown.$ Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
The fall in unemployment to the lowest level for three decades may look cause
for celebration. But don't break out the champagne. There are clear signs
that the UK job market is weakening and predictions for job losses in those
sectors most exposed to the credit crunch are mounting by the day. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
Signs that the credit crunch is hitting Britain's jobs market emerged
yesterday as official figures showed the first rise in the number of people
out of work and seeking benefit since 2006. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
Lawyers are used to being the butt of a million jokes, but one refusing to
take the persecution any more is Peter Kurer, the former in-house counsel at
UBS. He was named this month as the surprise successor to Marcel Ospel as
chairman of the Swiss banking group — to the consternation of some UBS
shareholders. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
The German power giant RWE has teamed up with Vattenfall, of Sweden, to bid
for British Energy, <i>The Times</i> has learnt. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
It rounds off one of the worst seven days of Jeffrey Immelt’s career. Last
Friday the chief executive of General Electric had to admit to Wall Street
that profits at the world’s second biggest company had missed targets and
had fallen 6 per cent. To make matters worse, the admission hit the entire
New York stock market as traders interpreted the numbers as a sign that the
US economy was in even worse trouble than first believed. The Dow Jones
industrial average sank 256 points — a 2 per cent drop. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp said on Wednesday it would realign North American sales and marketing management and announced that a former Nissan North America sales chief would... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 Apr 2008 | 10:22 pm
Like almost everything else related to air travel in recent weeks, government proposals unveiled Wednesday rankled airlines and could be bittersweet for an already sour traveling public. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 Apr 2008 | 10:16 pm
Computer giant IBM reports a 26% jump in quarterly profit despite fears of a faltering US economy. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 Apr 2008 | 10:06 pm
IBM brushed aside fears that the US economic slowdown and dislocation in the financial industry had hit broader spending on information technology, reporting surprisingly robust earnings for the opening months of the year Source: FT.com - US homepage | 16 Apr 2008 | 10:02 pm
The government is to try to rescue the mortgage market by letting banks swap housing debt for government bonds. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 Apr 2008 | 9:49 pm
Quarterly profits at online auction site eBay rise 22% as the weak dollar boosts the value of overseas sales. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 Apr 2008 | 9:28 pm
On Thursday, we’ll get to see earnings out of TD AMERITRADE Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: AMTD) and E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC). In fact, that will already mark the actual end of the discount brokerage firms and their earnings trifecta as Charles Schwab Corp. (NASDAQ: SCHW) already posted its earnings on Tuesday. The estimates for the TD AMERITRADE from First Call are $0.31 EPS on $615.66 million in revenues. Next quarter estimates are $0.32 EPS on $ 603.41 million in revenues. Estimates for fiscal Sept-2008 are $1.34 EPS on $2.45 billion in revenues. Analysts have an average price target north of...
Pfizer, Inc (NYSE: PFE) has signed an agreement with the much smaller AVANT Immunotherapeutics (NASDAQ: AVAN). The two have announced an agreement where Pfizer will be granted an exclusive worldwide license to its CDX-110 therapeutic cancer vaccine candidate and the agreement also gives Pfizer exclusive rights to the use of EGFRvIII vaccines in other potential indications. CDX-110 is currently under both Fast Track and Orphan Drug designations by the FDA for GBM, and the company just put out positive Phase II data yesterday. Terms of the licensing and development agreement are for Pfizer to make an upfront payment to AVANT...
US stocks rallied for a second session after JPMorgan Chase, Coca-Cola and other leading companies reported robust results, cheering investors after a lacklustre opening to the 2008 first-quarter earnings season Source: FT.com - US homepage | 16 Apr 2008 | 8:39 pm
LONDON - The Rugby World Cup has lost Visa as one of its longest-standing main sponsors, a source close to the deal said today.
"The International Rugby Board (IRB) were informed last night," the source said.
"Visa... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 16 Apr 2008 | 8:35 pm
Now that original programming is resurfacing at the major TV networks, industry executives are asking one another the $64,000 question. Will viewers come back?
The industry is rife with speculation that the forced hiatus from favorite shows during the 100-day writers’ strike earlier this season, could have a dampening effect on the crucial next few months leading into the summer season.
“I think there’s going to be some audience falloff,” predicts Brad Adgate, senior vice president and director of research at Horizon Media, a media services company.
“You have to look at the strike as a summer,” says Adgate—in other words, see it as a downtime in the TV business when networks traditionally rely on reruns or reality shows to fill up hours. “Viewing patterns may change because people have started to watch cable channels and other shows they never watched before.”
NBC’s Thursday-night comedies The Office, 30 Rock, and Scrubs all boasted new episodes for the first time on April 10, and the network capped the night off with a brand-new ER.
The new episode of The Office helped NBC’s 9 to 9:30 p.m. time slot jump to a 5.4 percent household rating, a significant improvement over the 3.4 percent rating a week before, when an Office rerun had aired.
But the first new episode of 30 Rock, which debuted before The Office in the 8:30 to 9 p.m. time slot, didn't fare as well, receiving a 3.7 percent household rating its first night back. That is substantially down from the 4.9 percent rating recorded a week earlier during the 8 to 9 p.m. broadcast of My Name Is Earl.
The two new episodes of Earl that have run so far have brought good news for NBC. On April 3, the show’s first night back, it was No. 1 among the desirable viewing group of adults aged 18 to 34. And a week later the show delivered NBC’s highest 18-to-49 rating in the time slot in over three months, according to the network.
Still, that first full Thursday night of original comedy, which was heavily hyped by NBC, didn’t do much to move the needle for the network’s overall ratings that week. NBC claimed 6.6 million viewers from April 7 to April 13, up just 300,000 from the week before (the strike ended about two months ago, on February 12).
One bright spot for NBC: the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing, which are likely to lift ratings during the slow summer period.
Over at ABC, the news is better. Ratings winners Ugly Betty and Grey’s Anatomy will return April 24 (comedies generally take less time to make than dramas because they're shorter in length and easier to shoot). Both series have five original episodes planned before the summer, which should help them to perform well.
Desperate Housewives, one of ABC’s top dramas, has already proven itself to be strike-proof. During its first return episode on April 13 at 9 p.m., the hourlong show garnered a whopping 10.3 percent household rating, compared with the 5.9 percent for Oprah’s Big Give a week before.
The real winner in the post-strike ratings war, however, may be Fox, which, according to Horizon Media, is poised to steal the mantle of "most-watched network" from CBS—the first time in six years that CBS will lose the position.
This year’s N.F.C. Championship—the most-watched conference title match since 1995—helped Fox weather the writers' strike, as did a record Super Bowl audience.
Opus International, one of the few successful new listings on the stock exchange in recent years, said it was on track to meet its prospectus forecast.
Chairman Basil Logan told shareholders in Wellington at the company's inaugural... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 16 Apr 2008 | 8:30 pm
How many C.E.O.'s of big American companies can say that during a recession?
I.B.M. chief Samuel Palmisano can—and has. Big Blue has reported a 26 percent increase in first-quarter earnings, vaulting past analysts' forecasts.
The gains were propelled by overseas sales and by I.B.M.'s shift into software and services in recent years under Palmisano.
The results considerably brighten the outlook for global spending on technology, especially following Intel's bullish forecast on Tuesday. Today eBay also reported a 22 percent gain in quarterly earnings, again topping estimates.
For the quarter, I.B.M. earned $2.3 billion from continuing operations, compared with $1.8 billion in the quarter a year ago. Revenue rose 11 percent, to $24.5 billion. Adjusting for gains from the weak dollar against other currencies, revenue rose 4 percent.
"These results reinforce our confidence in I.B.M.'s ability to perform well in a dynamic global economy," Palmisano said.
Sales in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa rose 16 percent, to $8.8 billion; sales in the Asia-Pacific region rose 14 percent, to $5.1 billion.
Total global-services revenue climbed 17 percent, while its software business had a 14 percent gain in revenue.
China reported today its economy grew 10.6% in the 1st quarter, which may seem red hot, but it was 11.9% last year. So is China catching America's subprime cold? Or is it immune? The answer has big implications for the global economy. Scott Tong reports. Source: Marketplace | 16 Apr 2008 | 8:16 pm
College education costs continue to soar at the same time studies show college graduates getting paid less. Commentator David Frum says Americans should re-examine the real value of a college degree in today's economy. Source: Marketplace | 16 Apr 2008 | 8:16 pm
President Bush is calling for government limits to stop the growth of carbon dioxide emissions by 2025. While he has resisted curbs on the burning of fossil fuels, Bush is now jumping on board a trend that has lots of momentum. John Dimsdale reports. Source: Marketplace | 16 Apr 2008 | 8:16 pm
The dollar has hit another low against the euro. For Yanks living abroad the dollar's freefall demands a whole new mindset, as Eleanor Beardsley reports from Paris. Source: Marketplace | 16 Apr 2008 | 8:16 pm
Worries of a world food shortage led more countries this week to suspend grain exports. What will happen if nations keep hoarding supplies? Host Tess Vigeland asks Javier Blas, who covers the commodities market for the Financial Times. Source: Marketplace | 16 Apr 2008 | 8:16 pm
An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association claims some of Merck's academic reports on the arthritis drug Vioxx were written by company employees, and doctors were paid to put their names on the research. Stacey Vanek-Smith reports. Source: Marketplace | 16 Apr 2008 | 8:16 pm
A new survey of hedge-fund managers shows the top five made more than $1 billion a year each -- even as the housing and credit markets fell down the rabbit hole. Jill Barshay reports. Source: Marketplace | 16 Apr 2008 | 8:15 pm
After JPMorgan and Wells Fargo announced big drops in 1st-quarter profits today their shares promptly shot up and the Dow jumped for joy. Why? The numbers actually met or exceeded expectations. Bob Moon reports. Source: Marketplace | 16 Apr 2008 | 8:15 pm
Last month's near collapse of Bear Stearns hasn't reduced demand for the firm's top traders and salesmen in the mortgage-backed-securities business they once dominated.
Auckland lingerie company Bendon, owned by Eric Watson's Cullen Investments, has appointed Simon Hughes its new chief executive officer.
British-born Hughes, 47, was Asia managing director of Warnaco Asia. He spent five years... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 16 Apr 2008 | 7:30 pm
Four out of five KiwiSaver providers will not exist within five to 10 years, an industry leader says.
Michael Chamberlain, an actuary and principal of KiwiSaver provider Aventine, told yesterday's first Retirement Symposium there... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 16 Apr 2008 | 7:20 pm
A former Commerce Minister regrets being a director of ruined property business Blue Chip but says he didn't warn the public about the company's problems because he feared the corporate fallout.
John Luxton, Commerce Minister from... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 16 Apr 2008 | 7:00 pm
JPMorgan Chase remains on the acquisition trail in spite of its recent takeover of Bear Stearns and tough market conditions Source: FT.com - US homepage | 16 Apr 2008 | 6:53 pm
Shortfalls in client funds at Access Brokerage were detected by employees years before the firm collapsed in late 2004, and the Serious Fraud Office says market regulator and operator New Zealand Exchange could easily have unearthed... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 16 Apr 2008 | 6:40 pm
Investment company Hellaby Holdings says its "strike price", used to calculate entitlements under its dividend reinvestment plan, has been set at $1.67.
Shareholders who hold 20.1 per cent of the company have decided to take shares... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 16 Apr 2008 | 6:30 pm
A Christchurch-based energy efficient lightbulb seller has raised $10 million from two Australian investors and is about to open its own lightbulb factory in China.
Energy Mad, started by a pair of university mates just four years... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 16 Apr 2008 | 6:20 pm
Vodafone is calling for a radical overhaul of rural phone services.
Critics claim the 2001 Telecommunications Services Obligations agreement has propped up Telecom's profits. Telecom's competitors contribute 30 per cent of the... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 16 Apr 2008 | 6:00 pm
Landlords are being offered a new online accounting service.
TCL Accountants Group of Palmerston North said yesterday landlords could get the new service for $350 plus GST for each property.
Information on the web-based business... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 16 Apr 2008 | 5:30 pm
Turning around Citigroup has been compared to steering a huge ocean liner away from danger.
In his four months as Citi's new captain, Vikram Pandit has moved quickly to stabilize the company and shore up its balance sheet. The question—as Citigroup prepares to report first-quarter results on Friday—is whether a steady hand on the helm will be enough.
While some investors have been hoping for a radical shake-up at Citi, there is a growing realization that a recovery will take years and that Pandit has taken the right—if not very splashy—steps so far.
William Smith, president of New York-based S.A.M. Advisors, said he had hoped that "a cost cutter" would have come in to lead Citi and "start breaking furniture," ultimately splitting up the financial supermarket that Sandy Weill built. Still, he has a confidence that Pandit will succeed.
"My turnaround and his might look a little different, but I think he will pull the turnaround off," Smith says.
On Friday, Citi is expected to announce an additional huge write-down for the first quarter, estimated to be as much as $18 billion. Yet investors will be focusing less on the subprime past than on the future direction of the bank as articulated by Pandit.
In recent weeks, the grumblings of some of the bank's long-standing skeptics has grown quieter. Deutsche Bank’s banking analysts, Michael Mayo and Christopher Spahr, who were critical of Pandit's predecessor, say that Pandit has "made logical changes." And Smith now says he backs Pandit "100 percent," after being initially "extremely skeptical" of Pandit’s ability to fix Citi’s sprawling and dysfunctional empire because of his lack of operational experience.
Known for his cautious analytical approach to managing risk, Pandit spent much of his time on Wall Street at Morgan Stanley, dealing with institutional securities, before starting his own hedge fund, Old Lane Partners. He only joined Citi last April, when the company purchased his hedge fund for $800 million, and he has never run a Wall Street firm.
His lack of experience running a company, along with his all-too-apparent discomfort in his first public appearances as Citi C.E.O., left many scratching their heads. The widely followed banking analyst, Meredith Whitney, then with CIBC World Markets, gave Pandit poor marks for his first conference call in December, calling the details "scant" and the tone "defensive."
Since taking charge, Citi watchers say Pandit has worked quickly to change the bank’s course. Among the moves: Pandit slashed the company’s high-paying dividend by 41 percent to bolster reserves and removed the guesswork from about $49 billion in possibly shaky assets in Citi-backed investment vehicles by taking them onto Citi's balance sheet. Citi is also negotiating to sell off at a loss $12 billion worth of leveraged loans to private equity groups.
Organizationally, he has moved to simplify the corporate structure, dividing it into four regional units. He has brought in new blood to run the various arms and has moved to further reduce Citi’s workforce. The company is also in the process of separating its credit card business from the company and shoring up its 900 U.S.-based consumer branches, moves that could portend a spin-off or sale of these assets.
Smith, who publicly tangled with Pandit’s predecessor, Chuck Prince, notes that "a lot of things that were on the plate before Pandit arrived have now been reversed, which I think is positive."
Citi began to struggle several years after Sandy Weill created the behemoth in the merger of Citicorp and Travelers in 1998. No amount of tinkering so far—be it reshuffling of personnel, restructuring of units, or tweaks in the game plan—has been able to fix Citi's problems.
Last month, on the eve of the combined company's 10-year anniversary, one of the merger's architects, former Citibank chief John Reed, called it a mistake. "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," said Reed in an interview with the Financial Times. Weill shot back that it was not that Citi was too big, just that management had not been strong enough.
But for many investors, these problems seem to be intertwined. They note that Prince consistently snubbed calls to consider a breakup of the company even as he failed to gain control over it and discounted worries over the credit markets—saying Citi should continue the derivatives dance until the music stopped—even as the band was packing up. Prince resigned in November, as Citi was disclosing it had $55 billion in direct exposure to the American subprime market.
Citi’s chairman, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, has scoffed at any insinuation that he should have been more watchful of the risk the company was taking, even while he has shown a striking lack of understanding about that danger.
Pandit may not be the most sociable C.E.O. to take over Citi. But investors can now at least take comfort that the man who told analysts he would "undertake an objective, dispassionate view" of Citi's parts knows deeply which mess he oversees. While a student, Pandit tackled the question of "asset pricing with heterogeneous agents" in his dissertation at Columbia University. It was very complex problem, says Rajnish Mehra, a finance professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who served on Pandit’s dissertation committee.
It is also a very relevant one considering the difficulty banks such as Citi are now having placing a value on their diverse portfolios of asset-backed securities. "He has a very strong analytical background and, looking back, I was really impressed how much he had done early on in the game," said Mehra, noting that he went back over Pandit’s work shortly after he learned his former student would take charge of the bank. "He can think through complex situations pretty thoroughly and has a clarity of thoughts. So, if that is any indication, then I think Citi is in safe hands.”
Richard X. Bove, an analyst with Punk Ziegel & Company, notes that one of the smartest moves Pandit has made since taking over has been to ignore the analysts and the rest of the chattering class.
"He’s got to turn his back on investors and on the analysts and he’s got to run the business," Bove says. "This company has gone through mismanagement for something like 13 years and nobody steps in for two months and turns it around."
One of the arcane financial acronyms that has gained much prominence over the course of the credit crisis is Libor—the London interbank offered rate. It is the average interest rate when banks make short-term loans to one another.
It is one of the most important credit benchmarks, used by banks and financial institutions around the world.
Carrick Mollenkamp of the Wall Street Journalreports that there are growing suspicions that some banks may be underreporting the rates they are paying for short-term loans, undermining the accuracy of the Libor.
His report is a startling revelation. If the Libor is viewed as unreliable, the credit crisis may be much worse than previously thought, with borrowers receiving loans tied to the index getting a cheaper rate than they should.
Yves Smith on the Naked Capitalism blog points to another serious implication: "As more and more statistics and benchmarks come into doubt, it creates uncertainty and undermines planning, which in turn is a deterrent to investment."
The Journal says there is no evidence that banks are providing false data, but bankers have expressed concerns that the Libor does not reflect true credit costs.
The Cash and Burn blog says the underreporting phenomenon "might just be a blip (and it probably is), but it is having real effects on commercial lending."
"Amongst other things, it is driving up investment-grade syndicated-loan pricing."
The British Bankers Association in London, which gathers the rate information from its member banks, says that it will ban anyone who provides false rate information, Bloomberg News reports.
"It's very important to us that we preserve the integrity of the figures,'' an association spokeswoman told Bloomberg News. "It's something we have been looking at. If we find that people have been putting in figures which don't reflect accurately their financial figures, the ultimate sanction is to throw them out of the pond.''
J.P. Morgan Chase, with its "fortress balance sheet" and its takeover of Bear Stearns, may be the hero of the financial world, but that doesn't mean it is immune to the effects of the credit crunch.
The bank said that first-quarter earnings fell by half as it took a $5.1 billion hit on credit losses and markdowns on mortgages, leveraged loans, and collateralized debt obligations.
For the banking industry overall, the first quarter was ugly, with tight, still-fearful credit markets and a weak economy. Even in a slump, J.P. Morgan still impressed by reporting results that exceeded analysts' forecasts.
Yet many have said the rest of the year will be equally difficult for banks, and Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of J.P. Morgan, gave weight to that view with an uncharacteristically downbeat forecast.
"Our expectation is for the economic environment to continue to be weak and for the capital markets to remain under stress," Dimon said. "These factors have affected, and are likely to continue to negatively impact, our firm's credit losses, overall business volumes, and earnings—possibly through the remainder of the year or longer."
He emphasized, however, that J.P. Morgan was prepared to ride through the storm. "We are prepared to manage through this down part of the economic cycle, given the strength of our liquidity, credit reserves, capital, and operating margins, and to successfully position our company well for the future."
J.P. Morgan earned $2.37 billion, or 68 cents per share, compared with $4.79 billion, or $1.34 per share in the quarter a year earlier.
Net revenue, or revenue minus interest expenses, fell 11 percent, to $16.9 billion.
The bank set aside $2.5 billion for credit losses. It marked down $1.2 billion on mortgages and $1.1 billion on leveraged loans.
Reuters - EBay Inc posted a 22
percent rise in quarterly net profit, topping Wall Street's
average estimate, as pricing changes increased online auction
listings and pushed revenue above all forecasts.
AFP - The German retail giant Metro may start approaching potential buyers for its Kaufhof chain of department stores next month, a press report said Thursday.
Reuters - Thomson Reuters Corp debuted on
Thursday as a leading global information company, hoping a
portfolio of products from financial to legal and health-care
will help it ride out a financial industry downturn.
Reuters - Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee was
indicted on charges of tax evasion and breach of trust on
Thursday, but was cleared of a more serious bribery charge
after a probe into South Korea's biggest business group.
Reuters - JPMorgan Chase & Co is to sell
$6 billion in non-cumulative perpetual preferred shares,
according to a report in International Financing Review, a
Thomson publication.
Reuters - IBM posted
stronger-than-expected quarterly results on Wednesday and
raised its 2008 outlook, boosting the shares 2.7 percent and
sending an encouraging signal about technology earnings in the
face of a weak U.S. economy.