The idea that interest-rate cuts can solve any economic ills is a misleading perception, says Charles Plosser, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
Citigroup posts a $5.1 billion loss for the first quarter as a result of writing down about $12 billion in soured mortgage investments and other credit-related items.
An SEC Filing this morning shows activists are going to go after Wendy's International Inc. (NYSE: WEN) with a little more publicity than mere private letters. Trian Fund Management, L.P., Triarc Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRY) Peter May, Nelson Peltz, Thomas Sandell, and others are in an activist group that have sent a letter to Wendy's International, Inc. (NYSE: WEN). Trian appears to be the lead in the group as far as signing the letter, and the letter says it is very concerned about the current direction of Wendy's. Trian and Triarc were informed that the Wendy's special committee had rejected...
US stocks were set for a higher start after Citigroup posted first quarter results that were better than many feared and Google dazzled investors with resilient earnings Source: FT.com - US homepage | 18 Apr 2008 | 1:12 pm
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Google Inc. dispelled concerns about growth in its advertising business, as the Internet-search company posted a 31% jump in first-quarter profit and saw its shares leap in premarket trading.
Earnings eports from I.B.M., Google, and even General Electric have shown that the world economy, particularly in Asian and emerging markets, is still churning ahead even as the United States slows.
That trend is underscored today by Caterpillar, which sells the tractors, bulldozers, and other heavy equipment used to build infrastructure in rapidly industrializing countries. Its first-quarter earnings rose 13 percent, more than expected, to $922 million, or $1.45 per share, compared with $816 million, or $1.23 per share, in the quarter a earlier.
Sales climbed 18 percent, to $11.8 billion. Sales outside North America —which now account for 58 percent of Caterpillar's business, up from 53 percent a year ago — rose 30 percent. In North America, sales were up just 4 percent.
"Even though we're currently weathering a recessionary storm in the United States, we expect the rest of the world to continue to invest in infrastructure growth well into the next decade," Jim Owens, Caterpillar's chief executive, said.
Exporters like Caterpillar have also benefited from the weak dollar, which makes their products more competitively priced abroad. Of the increase in sales this quarter, the impact of the dollar added 17 percent.
Strong global demand could generate earnings at a number of American companies that will stronger than current forecasts. And that could buoy stocks, notes Tom Lauricella in the Wall Street Journal.
And in a reversal from the last downturn, manufacturing may be among the few winners.
"Growth in exports...will tend to put the manufacturing sector in better stead than some other parts of the U.S. economy," Richard Fearon, Eaton's chief financial officer, told the Journal "So this is a little bit the opposite of what happened in 2000 and 2001."
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Talbots Inc said on Friday that it expects to report a net loss, after discontinued operations, of 7 to 17 cents per share for 2008 on revenue growth of 3 percent.
Reuters - Talbots Inc said on Friday
that it expects to report a net loss, after discontinued
operations, of 7 to 17 cents per share for 2008 on revenue
growth of 3 percent.
Citigroup said it lost $5.1bn in the first quarter following fresh writedowns of $13bn on troubled assets and a spike in credit costs and confirmed plans to slash costs including the sale of non-strategic assets Source: FT.com - US homepage | 18 Apr 2008 | 12:50 pm
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc , the largest U.S. bank, posted its second straight quarterly loss on Friday, hurt by more than $16 billion in write-downs and increased costs related to credit losses.
The Royal Bank of Scotland is preparing to launch a massive rights issue to rebuild its capital reserves, a sharp reversal of its previous position that could trigger a wave of similar offerings by other... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 18 Apr 2008 | 12:39 pm
Shares in the UK's second largest bank rose in a volatile session as speculation that the lender was preparing to launch a rights issue in excess of £10bn helped sterling recover some of its recent losses against the euro Source: FT.com - US homepage | 18 Apr 2008 | 12:39 pm
Reuters - Citigroup Inc , the largest U.S.
bank, posted its second straight quarterly loss on Friday, hurt
by more than $16 billion in write-downs and increased costs
related to credit losses.
Royal Bank of Scotland is set to seek £10bn from its shareholders in a rights issue to strengthen its finances. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 18 Apr 2008 | 12:28 pm
LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. oil-field services company Halliburton Co is mulling a counterbid for Britain's Expro International Group Plc, sources close to the situation said on Friday.
Volkswagen, the biggest European carmaker and a leading western auto manufacturer in China, inaugurated on Friday its fourth there as it work towards selling one million vehicles a year in... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 18 Apr 2008 | 12:23 pm
German central bank president Axel Weber believes the European Central Bank (ECB) should act decisively if inflation risks in the eurozone increase, raising the threat of an interest rate... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 18 Apr 2008 | 12:22 pm
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Xerox Corp , the leading provider of digital printers and document management services, on Friday posted a first-quarter loss as a $491 million litigation charge overshadowed solid sales growth.
Lloyds TSB today announced that its group finance director, Helen Weir, will
become head of UK retail banking after former boss, Terri Dial, revealed
plans to join Citigroup to revitalise its flagging US consumer business. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 18 Apr 2008 | 12:20 pm
Citigroup delivered yet another devastating quarterly loss Friday, this time losing more than $5 billion due to troubling results in its fixed-income business and higher consumer credit costs.
The euro neared all-time highs above 1.59 dollars on Friday, as the market closely tracked the inflation outlook for the eurozone, dealers said. The European single currency... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 18 Apr 2008 | 12:16 pm
Reuters - Stocks looked set to open higher on
Friday after financial results from Citigroup Inc gave
investors hope the worst of the credit crisis may be ending and
other top companies delivered stronger-than-expected profits.
Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister-elect who promised in his campaign to save loss-making Alitalia, said on Friday he had reached out to Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, to bring Aeroflot... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 18 Apr 2008 | 12:16 pm
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks looked set to open higher on Friday after financial results from Citigroup Inc gave investors hope the worst of the credit crisis may be ending and other top companies delivered stronger-than-expected profits.
Citigroup Inc. lost $5.1 billion during the first quarter as poor bets on mortgages and leveraged loans lopped billions of dollars from its investment portfolio. Write-downs related to Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 18 Apr 2008 | 12:15 pm
Stock futures rose early Friday after Internet giant Google defied the economic slowdown and posted a hefty quarterly profit, good news that was balanced by more pain in financial sector results.
European stocks rallied Friday with banks in the spotlight as traders digested quarterly results from US banking giant Citigroup amid hopes that the worst of the global credit crunch could... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 18 Apr 2008 | 12:12 pm
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Schlumberger Ltd , the world's largest oilfield services company, on Friday posted a first-quarter profit that fell short of expectations due partly to weather... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 18 Apr 2008 | 12:12 pm
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Schlumberger Ltd , the world's largest oilfield services company, on Friday posted a first-quarter profit that fell short of expectations due partly to weather disruptions and lower income in its seismic business, sending shares down about 2 percent in pre-market trading.
BOSTON (Reuters) - Diversified manufacturer Honeywell International Inc said on Friday profit rose 22.2 percent, topping Wall Street expectations, on strong demand from the aviation and commercial construction sectors.
South Korea agreed to resume U.S. beef imports that had been halted over mad cow disease, clearing a key hurdle to a broader trade deal with Washington just hours before the countries'... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 18 Apr 2008 | 12:07 pm
Citigroup makes a loss of $5.11bn as the credit crisis continues to take its toll on the US banking sector. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 18 Apr 2008 | 12:07 pm
Reuters - Caterpillar Inc reported
stronger-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday as strong
international sales offset what the company characterized as a
"recessionary storm in the United States."
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Caterpillar Inc reported stronger-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday as strong international sales offset what the company characterized as a "recessionary storm in the United States."
US banking giant Citigroup posted its second straight quarterly loss as it wrote down loans and bonds by at least $12 bn and customers fell behind on home, car and credit-card payments amid a stalled housing market and weakening economy. Source: Telegraph Business | 18 Apr 2008 | 12:05 pm
US banking giant Citigroup posted its second straight quarterly loss as it wrote down loans and bonds by at least $12 bn and customers fell behind on home, car and credit-card payments amid a stalled housing... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 18 Apr 2008 | 12:05 pm
Netflix announces its first-quarter earnings after the bell Monday, April, 21. With a spate of upgrades by analysts during Q1, Netflix is expected to demonstrate that its momentum isn't slowing, especially since its rival in the DVD-by-mail business, Blockbuster, looks to be more and more occupied with its bricks and mortar stores and a takeover bid for Circuit City. But as is always the case with Netflix, there are a lot of folks expecting the online video service to falter somehow - almost 40% of the public float is short-action. Still, those folks have been wrong in the past.
Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar says demand for its global mining and energy products pushed its first-quarter earnings up 13 percent. Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar Inc. said Friday... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 18 Apr 2008 | 12:02 pm
Citigroup is preparing for more surgery as it reports another big quarterly loss and additional write-downs as a result of the credit crunch.
On a conference call today, the bank says that it will be cutting an additional 9,000 jobs.
Citi has already been cutting jobs—more than 4,000 announced earlier this year—reorganizing businesses and selling some units, like Diners Club.
Vikram Pandit, the chief executive of Citi, said that there will be more changes to come. "As we move into the second quarter and beyond, we will continue to divest nonstrategic assets and allocate capital to the products and regions that will drive increased revenues, enhance the value of our franchise, and ultimately, maximize shareholder value," he said.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Pandit indicated that deep job cuts are coming.
"It is clearly feasible for us to take 10, 15, 20 percent off our cost base, especially in information technology and operations," Pandit told the paper.
That would mean tens of thousands of jobs lost worldwide.
Wall Street would take the brunt of it. The financial industry has already been busy retrenching. Lehman Brothers is reducing its workforce by 5 percent, and Morgan Stanley is cutting several thousand jobs. And perhaps as many as two thirds of Bear Stearns' 14,000 employees will lose their jobs when J.P. Morgan Chase completes its takeover of the firm.
When there is a freeze on Wall Street jobs, the New York economy—and real estate, art sales, and luxury goods—certainly feel a chill.
Although Wall Street accounts for just 5 percent of the jobs in New York, it provides nearly a quarter of all wages in the city.
With Citigroup, Pandit is trying to prune a sprawling global giant that was created a decade ago by the merger of Citicorp and Sandy Weill's Travelers. As Jesse Eisinger detailed in Condé Nast Portfolio, the bank has staggered under its own weight, suffering from high costs, a lack of coordination among operations, and underinvestment in technology and businesses.
Since taking over in December, Pandit has been reviewing the bank's operations and has already moved to cut back its holdings of leveraged loans and its mortgage exposure. The bank has raised more than $30 billion in capital and has cut its dividend.
The write-downs for the first quarter was not as bad as some estimates, and the loss was smaller than the $10 billion hit in the fourth quarter of 2007.
Still, Citigroup's quarter was a complete reversal of a year ago. It reported a loss of $5.1 billion, or $1.02 per share, compared with a profit of $5 billion, or $1.01 per share, in the quarter a year earlier. The loss was wider than analysts' estimates. Revenue slumped 48 percent, to $13.22 billion.
The bank took $12.1 billion in write-downs: $6 billion on investments related to subprime mortgages, $3.1 billion on leveraged loans, $1.5 on its exposure to bond insurers, and $1.5 billion on its inventory of auction-rate securities. Citi is also accounting for an increase of $3.1 billion in credit costs tied to consumer lending.
"This is the quarter they get to clear the decks," Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co., told Reuters. "Vikram Pandit is coming in and making pretty big changes, and that's what he gets to do. It's a cathartic quarter."
Paypal says it will block "unsafe browsers" as part of wider anti-phishing efforts. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 18 Apr 2008 | 11:55 am
Russian carrier Aeroflot emerged Friday as a potential partner for cash-strapped Italian airline Alitalia, which could also be in line for a government loan of 100-150 million euros... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 18 Apr 2008 | 11:54 am
These are not all of the analyst calls affecting shares, but these are the initial calls we are focusing on early this Friday morning: Alliance Data Systems (NYSE: ADS) Raised to Buy From Neutral at Piper Jaffray. Capital One (NYSE: COF) Cut to Neutral from Buy at Piper Jaffray; Cut to Underperform from Market Perform at KBW. CenturyTel (NYSE: CTL) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley. Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) Started as Buy at Lazard. Cymer (NASDAQ: CYMI) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan. Ford (NYSE: F) and GM (NYSE: GM) losses widened out at JPMorgan. Franklin Resources (NYSE: BEN) cut...
Diversified manufacturer Honeywell International Inc. on Friday reported that first-quarter profit rose 22 percent on higher sales, and contracts from Embraer, Gulfstream and Airbus. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 18 Apr 2008 | 11:50 am
Punch Taverns has rejected proposals to sell its portfolio of managed pubs to Mitchells & Butlers but said it reserved the right to make a takeover offer for its pub rival. Source: Telegraph Business | 18 Apr 2008 | 11:35 am
The news that Royal Bank of Scotland, Britain's second-largest bank, is preparing to launch a rights issue to shore up its balance sheet received a mixed welcome from the City this morning. Source: Telegraph Business | 18 Apr 2008 | 11:30 am
The news that Royal Bank of Scotland, Britain's second-largest bank, is preparing to launch a rights issue to shore up its balance sheet received a mixed welcome from the City this morning. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 18 Apr 2008 | 11:30 am
Banking stocks rose on Friday in volatile sesson, after reports suggested that the Royal Bank of Scotland was considering a huge rights issue to rebuild its capital reserves. Overall, the FTSE 100 took... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 18 Apr 2008 | 11:28 am
Of all the financial firms which are to report earnings this season, Citigroup (NYSE: C) may have been the most important. The rumors about the bank have been crazy. Projections about losses have been in an extremely wide range. Yesterday, CEO Pandit said he could cut 20% of the financial service company's operating expenses. The would seem impossible without firing 50,000 people, but he means what he say. Citi showed that it was not at death's door by reporting a net loss for the 2008 first quarter of $5.1 billion, or $1.02 per share. Results include $6.0 billion in pre-tax...
Reuters - Royal Bank of Scotland is set to
announce a rights issue next week, an industry source said on
Friday, in a move which analysts believe could raise over $20
billion and lead to similar action by other UK banks.
LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland is set to announce a rights issue next week, an industry source said on Friday, in a move which analysts believe could raise over $20 billion and lead to similar action by other UK banks.
China's main share index falls 4% to a 12-month closing low as shares in PetroChina slide. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 18 Apr 2008 | 11:12 am
AP - China issued more gloomy inflation news Friday, saying prices of farm goods jumped 25.5 percent in the first quarter and housing costs rose 11 percent in March despite efforts to damp price rises that are battering ordinary Chinese. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 18 Apr 2008 | 11:01 am
European banks rallied on speculation the sector was increasing efforts to shore up balance sheets after Citigroup in the US announced huge costs cuts, while Britain's RBS was expected to announce a rights... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 18 Apr 2008 | 11:00 am
Alistair Darling won welcome respite this morning from the deluge of bleak
news on the economy as official figures confirmed that he met his revised
government borrowing target for the full 2007-08 financial year. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 18 Apr 2008 | 10:53 am
Citigroup, America's largest banking group, today posted its second
consecutive loss of $5.1 billion ($£2.5 billion) after writing off $15.1
billion in toxic assets, taking the bank's total hit from the credit crunch
to $33 billion so far.$ Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 18 Apr 2008 | 10:53 am
The news that Royal Bank of Scotland, Britain's second-largest bank, is preparing to launch a rights issue to shore up its balance sheet received a mixed welcome from the City this morning. Source: Telegraph Business | 18 Apr 2008 | 10:53 am
The news that Royal Bank of Scotland, Britain's second-largest bank, is preparing to launch a rights issue to shore up its balance sheet received a mixed welcome from the City this morning. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 18 Apr 2008 | 10:53 am
PARIS (Reuters) - France Telecom on Friday defended its possible takeover of Nordic rival TeliaSonera, as its shares hit an 8-month low on concerns the deal would be risky and could destroy shareholder value.
Profits at UK Coal rose almost fourfold last year as the company benefited
from property sales, higher coal prices, and smoother mining operations. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 18 Apr 2008 | 10:37 am
Markets in Europe were up modestly at 6.25 AM New York time. The FTSE rose .6% to 6,013. Barclays (BCS) fell 1.1% to 473.5. Lloyds fell 2.6% to 431.25. The DAXX was up .8% to 6,733. Deutsche Bank (DB) was up 1.5% to 75.8. RWE was down 3.7% to 74.5. The CAC 40 was up 1% to 4,909. Credit Agricole was up 1.8% to 21.06. France Telecom (FTE) was off 1.6% to 19.55. Data from Reuters Douglas A. McIntyre
The news that Royal Bank of Scotland, Britain's second-largest bank, is preparing to launch a rights issue to shore up its balance sheet has hit the headlines across the nation since the Telegraph broke the story on Thursday. Here is a quick layman's guide going over the facts on a rights issue. Source: Telegraph Business | 18 Apr 2008 | 10:28 am
The news that Royal Bank of Scotland, Britain's second-largest bank, is preparing to launch a rights issue to shore up its balance sheet has hit the headlines across the nation since the Telegraph broke... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 18 Apr 2008 | 10:28 am
Mobile operators with exclusive contracts to sell Apple's iPhone are bracing
themselves for significant losses on unsold stock as they clear the shelves
to make way for a new, faster version expected this summer. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 18 Apr 2008 | 10:17 am
The Wall Street Journal was good enough to point out that the price of natural gas in the US is up 93% since last August. Part of the reason is international demand. The paper reports that "power-hungry nations like South Korea and Japan compete in a global natural-gas market that scarcely existed a half-decade ago." Most of the "green" advocates of a cleaner Earth don't want companies to burn coal, and natural gas is a natural alternative. However, natural gas is used to heat about half of the homes in the US. Some could convert to oil, but the price...
South Korea agrees to relax US beef import restrictions, as President Lee Myung-bak visits Washington. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 18 Apr 2008 | 10:13 am
Punch Taverns has rejected proposals to sell its portfolio of managed pubs to Mitchells & Butlers but said it reserved the right to make a takeover offer for its pub rival. Source: Telegraph Business | 18 Apr 2008 | 10:10 am
Punch Taverns has rejected proposals to sell its portfolio of managed pubs to Mitchells & Butlers but said it reserved the right to make a takeover offer for its pub rival. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 18 Apr 2008 | 10:10 am
The good news about AMD's (AMD) first quarter news was that the bad news was not worse. The Intel-Jr. of the chip world reported Q1 2008 revenue of $1.505 billion and a net loss of $358 million, or $0.59 per share. The company's explanation for the bad results was barely in English. “A seasonally weak first quarter was amplified by a challenging economic environment for consumers and lower than expected revenues of previous generation products, resulting in lower than expected revenues in all business segments." Guidance for the next quarter was, in a word, poor. AMD's results bring Wall St....
German wholesale prices rise at their quickest annual rate since December 2006, fuelling inflation fears. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 18 Apr 2008 | 10:00 am
RBS is preparing to launch a rights issue to shore up its balance sheet, despite past indications from chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin that it would not be necessary. While his job looks under threat, some of the City's banking analysts react to the bank's plan to raise £5bn-£12bn. Source: Telegraph Business | 18 Apr 2008 | 9:57 am
The FBI is looking into why the subprime market fell apart. As a matter of fact, it wants those who are guilty to turn themselves in so they do not have to be pursued to the ends of the Earth. According to Reuters FBI head man Bob Mueller also told a meeting of lawyers that "their corporate clients should come forward and admit any wrongdoing before the FBI or Justice Department become involved." Then there is that part about pigs flying. The Feds believe that companies like Countrywide (NYSE:CFC) may have committed wrongful acts in their lending practices and accounting...
Pub group Punch Taverns says it has ended all talks with rival Mitchells & Butlers over a possible deal. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 18 Apr 2008 | 9:40 am
Mortgage lending slumped by 17 per cent in the 12 months to March after the
rising cost of home loans and tightening credit conditions dampened the
start of the traditional spring house buying season. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 18 Apr 2008 | 9:37 am
Russia agrees to cancel $4.5bn (£2.3bn) of Libyan debt in exchange for major contracts for Russian firms. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 18 Apr 2008 | 9:35 am
New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo wants the job his father used to have. He wants to be governor of the Empire State. He wants to fight evil. He want to bring the unrepentant to justice. Cuomo has launch a big probe of the auction-rate mess. He plans to probe to know how a market which operated seamlessly since 1985 suddenly shut down. He wants to know why major banks and brokerage houses walked out on making this market. And, most of all, he want to know why investors and corporations were told that auction-rate securities were virtually the...
The Royal Bank of Scotland owns a string of household names from NatWest and Direct Line, to Coutts & Co, best known as the Royal Family's bank. The news that Britain's second-largest bank is preparing to launch a rights issue to shore up its balance sheet received has received a cautious welcome from the City today. The bank is looking to raise between £5bn and £12bn. Source: Telegraph Business | 18 Apr 2008 | 9:00 am
France Telecom says it is in exploratory talks to acquire Nordic telecommunications firm TeliaSonera. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 18 Apr 2008 | 8:59 am
Miitchells & Butlers (M&B), the All Bar One and Toby Carvery operator,
said it was still keen to persuade Punch Taverns to sell Spirit Group, its
£1 billion-plus managed pub division, despite Punch's decision today to end
talks. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 18 Apr 2008 | 8:29 am
According to Reuters, RBS (RBS) plans a rights offering next week to raise capital. Reuters reports that Google (GOOG) beat Wall St. expectation. Reuters reports that NY State will investigation the auction-rate securities debacle. Reuters writes that AMD (AMD) posted is sixth straight loss. Reuters reports that the FBI says subprime investigations may lead to hedge funds. Rueters writes that the FCC is weighing actions about broadband providers who restrict access to some users. The Wall Street Journal reports that natural gas prices in the US are up 93% since August. The Wall Street Journal writes that GE (GE) is...
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is to urge the US to lead the world in tackling global problems. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 18 Apr 2008 | 7:29 am
Markets in Asia were mixed. The Nikkei rose .6% to 13,476. Casio rose 4.9% to 1423. Hitachi rose 2.3% to 667. The Hang Seng fell .4% to 24,168. China Mobile (CHL) rose 2.5% to 132.2. China Petroleum (SNP) fell 2.5% to 7.15. The Shanghai Composite fell 4% to 3,095. Data from Reuters Douglas A. McIntyre
Commentator and character actor Ben Stein, whose film career took flight when he played the boring, strait-laced economics teacher in the 1986 teen comedy "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," has come around to the other side.
The action, which affects thousands of Californians, is the boldest yet in dealing with companies' practice of rescinding coverage of sick policyholders.
Thousands of people whose policies were canceled by California health insurers will have a chance to win back their coverage and be reimbursed for outstanding medical bills, the Schwarzenegger administration announced Thursday.
Brewers are forced to pass along higher costs for their main ingredients.
Artist Jeff Foye savors the bitter flavor and floral aromas that emanate from a well-crafted beer. Lately, the San Pedro resident has experienced an unexpected sensation when he reaches for a brew -- the unpleasant taste of rising prices.
Current and former Lakers and Dodgers players are among those who claim Gary R. Fournier charged more than $3 million in excessive commissions on bond trades.
NBA legend Jerry West, Dodgers third-baseman Nomar Garciaparra and a bevy of other major sports figures have accused their prominent Los Angeles investment advisor of gouging them out of more than $3 million in excessive commissions on bond trades.
A mixed earnings bag leads to a similar result for shares as jittery investors shy away.
Wall Street finished an erratic session mixed Thursday after an uneven batch of earnings reports made investors cautious about buying stocks. Disappointing economic readings added to the market's uneasiness a day after a big rally.
Cars have connected Wilcox County with the wider world, and with jobs. But now the drive doesn't pay off.
The modest Japanese sedan made its way down the gravel drive between the cow pasture and the dirt basketball court, kicking up a cloud of dust before coming to rest beside Roy Saulsberry Jr.'s ancient gas pumps.
A special prosecutor probing alleged corruption at Samsung indicted Lee Kun-hee, chairman, for tax evasion and breach of trust but cleared him of a more serious bribery charge Source: FT.com - US homepage | 18 Apr 2008 | 12:14 am
Global trade growth is expected to slow to a six-year low of 4.5 per cent this
year but China has overtaken the US as the world's second-biggest exporter,
the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said yesterday. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 17 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
Europe's trade chief gave warning of “a spiral of protectionism” in the grain
trade as the price of rice soared to a new record and grain-producing
countries stopped exports to prevent further outbreaks of food rioting. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 17 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
A large British government contract to supply Saudi Arabia with Typhoon fighter jets could be in jeopardy because of an internal US administration debate over whether to approve the deal Source: FT.com - US homepage | 17 Apr 2008 | 10:56 pm
A High Court judge has blasted a top City of London law firm for charging nine years' worth of man hours on a five-day trial over BlackBerry patents, in a judgment that will fuel the growing controversy over lawyers' billing practices Source: FT.com - US homepage | 17 Apr 2008 | 10:56 pm
Reuters - E*Trade Financial Corp
reported a steeper-than-expected quarterly loss on Thursday on
additional losses from home equity loans as its management
sharpens the discount brokerage's strategic focus.
MILWAUKEE -- Harley-Davidson Inc., which has been slowing down for the past few years, has hit a serious rough patch as even its upwardly mobile customer base thinks twice about dropping thousands of dollars on a classic motorcycle.
Deutsche Bank and other investment banks are working on plans to develop a clearing house for the credit derivatives markets in an effort to allay growing regulatory and investor fears about "counterparty risk" Source: FT.com - US homepage | 17 Apr 2008 | 9:19 pm
A decade after Apartheid, whites still control 90% of businesses in South Africa. To turn that around, the government has launched a program to force whites to share the wealth -- requiring a new type of racial auditing in the workplace. Terry FitzPatrick reports. Source: Marketplace | 17 Apr 2008 | 9:05 pm
The National Basketball Association has managed to put a nasty off-season behind it and generate new excitement for its game. With the playoffs about to begin, Tess Vigeland talks with Henry Abbott, who writes the True Hoop blog for ESPN.com. Source: Marketplace | 17 Apr 2008 | 9:05 pm
Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook are all the rage, but nobody has any idea how to make money off of them. Are they the Google of the future, or just the newest examples of that old Internet bubble? Stacey Vanek-Smith reports. Source: Marketplace | 17 Apr 2008 | 9:05 pm
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain wants to suspend the federal gas tax for the summer travel season. Truckers say they like the idea. But commentator and tax expert Len Burman says McCain's proposal won't get us where he wants to go. Source: Marketplace | 17 Apr 2008 | 9:05 pm
There are lots of factors behind the soaring prices of food around the world. A big one is the rapidly growing cost of fertilizer. Dan Grech reports. Source: Marketplace | 17 Apr 2008 | 9:05 pm
Bank of America and a unit of Citigroup have joined a growing list of lenders cutting back on student loan programs. At the same time, the House passed an emergency bill that would enable lenders to have more cash to keep making loans. John Dimsdale reports. Source: Marketplace | 17 Apr 2008 | 9:05 pm
Concern is growing that banks may have been hiding their distress by manipulating a key financial benchmark called the LIBOR. It's used as the basis for millions of financial transactions around the world, including mortgages and corporate loans. Stephen Beard reports. Source: Marketplace | 17 Apr 2008 | 9:05 pm
A wave of relief washed over Wall Street as Google revealed that its search engine advertising business had stood up better than expected in the face of the US economic slowdown and its own system improvements Source: FT.com - US homepage | 17 Apr 2008 | 8:41 pm
The internet advertising giant shredded worries about a decline in the number of people clicking on its text ads by posting a 42 percent jump in revenue in the first three months of the year compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
Revenue in the first quarter of 2008 rose 7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007, the company said. Earnings climbed more than 8 percent over that period.
Who's duping whom in a fight over the F.C.C.'s recent wireless frequencies auction? Read More
Earnings per share climbed to $4.12 from $3.18 in the same period a year earlier. Excluding special items, earnings per share came in at $4.84, compared with $4.43 in the fourth quarter of 2007.
That $4.84 hit targets that analysts had set in January, before news of slower click-through growth led them to cut their estimates to $4.52 this week, according to Thomson Financial.
Google shares rocketed by 10 percent in the minutes after the better-than-expected results were released.
Google reported revenue of $5.19 billion for the quarter ended March 31. Net income rose to $1.31 billion in the quarter from $1.21 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007.
Aggregate paid clicks increased about 20 percent over the first quarter of 2007 and roughly 4 percent over the fourth quarter of 2007, Google said.
Wall Street might want to quiet its chortling over former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's recent turn of events. His prosecutorial legacy appears to be alive and well in the form of Andrew Cuomo.
Current New York Attorney General Cuomo has sent subpoenas to 18 banks to find out more about how they sold auction-rate securities, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. And even more subpoenas are in the works.
Auction-rate securities are long-term municipal bonds that were widely considered to be like cashlike, liquid investments until their market froze in February due to a lack of buyers. Because the bonds' rates reset at auction every week or month, corporate and individual investors used them as a place to park their money. But now they can't access that money since they can't sell the securities.
Cuomo is allegedly looking at how the banks, including Goldman Sachs,Merrill Lynch, and UBS, marketed the securities to investors, as well as how they pitched them to municipalities as a way to help them raise money. The municipalities, such as cities, schools, and transportation agencies, are often stuck paying high rates on the bonds when their auctions fail.
Separately, regulators from nine states announced today that they have joined forces to investigate the collapse of the auction-rate securities market. "We're all getting complaints on a daily basis from retail investors and they all have the same the story: They were told by their brokers these were as safe as cash and they're not," Bryan Lantagne, the securities division director for Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin, told Bloomberg News.
But, echoing the prosecutorial style of his predecessor Spitzer, Cuomo isn't part of the group effort. New York is the only state that grants its attorney general the privilege of bringing criminal charges related to securities cases, thanks to a law called the Martin Act. His counterparts in other states have civil authority in such matters.
Spitzer used his criminal authority (and headline-making powers) to skewer Wall Street banks and their research practices after the dotcom bubble burst. He also went after them for their trading practices in mutual funds.
This latest matter provides one more example of how tough times for Wall Street often end up being lucrative times for Wall Street lawyers. The banks are already facing a plethora of investigations and class-action lawsuits related to many of the toxic securities that have led to funds collapsing and the fire sale of Bear Stearns.
It's not often that you hear an entire industry give a collective sigh of relief. But it happened for internet advertising Thursday when Google said that—recession or not—it's powering ahead.
After the markets closed, Google presented its earnings for the first quarter—a period when investors grew increasingly anxious that a looming recession would halt the robust growth in online ad spending. In the report, Google made its case that it is in fact thriving during these hard times.
Investors loved what they heard. Google's stock, which closed Thursday at $449.54, surged as high as $530.56 in after-hours trading once the numbers were disclosed—an 18 percent gain in a matter of minutes.
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C.E.O. Eric Schmidt hammered home the bullish message from the opening words of the conference call. "It's clear to us that we're well positioned for 2008 and beyond, regardless of the business environment we are surrounded by," he said.
Google's net revenue, which excludes commissions to advertising partners, grew 46 percent to $3.7 billion. That was $100 million more than analysts were expecting. Net profit excluding items such as stock-based compensation came in at $4.84 a share, or 32 cents above analyst forecasts.
Three months ago, analysts were expecting Google's profit to be $4.87 a share. But then came data from comScore suggesting that paid clicks—the lifeblood of Google's revenue—were dropping. The data spurred a frenzy of bearish stories. Analysts cut estimates and investors sold off shares. Google's stock fell 34 percent from its January high of $685.33.
Three months of hand-wringing, it turns out, were largely wasted. "There was a series of negative articles that caused a lot of anxiety and distress for investors," said Jeffrey Lindsay, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein. "But the first quarter was not nearly as bad as feared."
Google bulls had argued that, as the broader economy slowed, online ads would benefit at the expense of print and TV ads because they are cheaper and better at targeting shoppers. Google executives noted that some financial, retail, and travel advertisers were postponing some of their spending, but not shutting it off completely.
"Generally we're seeing absolute growth even in those areas that are otherwise impacted by adverse macroeconomic conditions," Jonathan Rosenberg, Google's senior vice president of product development, said on the call. "But on an absolute basis, they are all showing healthy growth in ad revenue."
Any slowdown in online ads is more likely to come from display ads, which promote a company's brand, than from the sponsored links that are Google's bread and butter. "Companies are loathe to cut paid-search ads," said Lindsay. "They are as close to the point of sale as you can get. When people click on paid-search ads, they are often looking to buy."
Deeper into the numbers, there were some slightly worrying signs. Domestic revenue—which for the first time was less than half of total revenue—totaled $2.54 billion, only 1.2 percent above the previous quarter's figure. Factoring out changes in exchange rates, Google's international sales showed only a 6 percent gain from the previous quarter.
While the first quarter is seasonally a slow one, that kind of tepid growth was exactly the kind of metric that in a normal quarter would have gotten investors worried. But this wasn't a normal quarter: All the gloom of the past few months ended up setting the bar so low that Google could nimbly hop over it.
Daniel Bouton is to step down as chief executive of Société Générale, paying the price for the damage done to France's second-largest bank after the rogue trading scandal that cost it €4.9bn Source: FT.com - US homepage | 17 Apr 2008 | 8:09 pm
Rice prices have for the first time reached the $1,000-a-tonne level as panicking importers scrambled to secure supplies, exacerbating the tightness already provoked by export restrictions in Vietnam, India, Egypt, China and Cambodia Source: FT.com - US homepage | 17 Apr 2008 | 5:58 pm
Things have officially gone from bad to worse at the New York Times Co.
A weak advertising market drove the media company to swing into the red during the first quarter. It reported a loss of $335,000 versus earnings of $26.9 million during the same period last year. Excluding special charges, it earned $0.04 cents per share, which is well below Wall Street's $0.14 per share expectation.
Revenue fell 5 percent to $748 million.
"Advertising revenues decreased in the quarter as weaker economic conditions compounded the effects of secular change in our business," said chief executive Janet Robinson in a statement.
Also on Portfolio.com: Troubled TimesFull coverage of the battle for the board of America's most influential newspaper.
There were a few positive numbers, however. Online advertising rose 16 percent in the quarter, and circulation managed to eke out a 2 percent gain. But total advertising revenues fell more than 9 percent. Operating profits at its news-media group plunged 78 percent.
Earlier this week, the New York Times said it expects to lay off some of its newsroom staff as part of a cost-cutting effort. It first offered buyouts to employees, but it failed to get enough volunteers to reach the head count it needs to reduce.
During the quarter, the company avoided a proxy fight with an investor group led by activist investor Scott Galloway and the hedge fund Harbinger Capital. The New York Times agreed to add two board seats to accommodate two of the investor nominations. Shareholders will vote on the board at the company's annual meeting next week.
The company expects the advertising slump to continue, and it anticipates reporting a decline in the "mid-single digits" for April, according to Robinson. "During the balance of the year, we plan to stay focused on what we do best—producing high-quality journalism, introducing new products in print and online, and stringently managing our costs.”
Reuters - Talbots Inc said on Friday
that it expects to report a net loss, after discontinued
operations, of 7 to 17 cents per share for 2008 on revenue
growth of 3 percent.
Reuters - Citigroup Inc , the largest U.S.
bank, posted its second straight quarterly loss on Friday, hurt
by more than $16 billion in write-downs and increased costs
related to credit losses.
Reuters - Stocks looked set to open higher on
Friday after financial results from Citigroup Inc gave
investors hope the worst of the credit crisis may be ending and
other top companies delivered stronger-than-expected profits.
Reuters - Caterpillar Inc reported
stronger-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday as strong
international sales offset what the company characterized as a
"recessionary storm in the United States."
Reuters - Royal Bank of Scotland is set to
announce a rights issue next week, an industry source said on
Friday, in a move which analysts believe could raise over $20
billion and lead to similar action by other UK banks.
Reuters - E*Trade Financial Corp
reported a steeper-than-expected quarterly loss on Thursday on
additional losses from home equity loans as its management
sharpens the discount brokerage's strategic focus.
