Shares in U.K. banks fall again as investors continue to worry about the prospects for the economy and the possibility that other banks could follow Royal Bank of Scotland’s lead and turn to shareholders for capital.
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Gains from VMware Inc., EMC Corp. and Apple Inc. gave the tech sector a boost in early trading Wednesday, while Yahoo Inc.'s flat earnings results were seen as not giving the company much ammunition in its fight against Microsoft Corp.
BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Drug stocks advanced in early action as shares of Schering-Plough Corp. climbed after it issued a favorable first-quarter earnings report.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Energy shares dip slightly ahead of key weekly petroleum inventory data and as oil falls back from a high of nearly $120 a barrel.
American Water Works Co. Inc. (NYSE: AWK) has opened for trading. The first real open-print was $20.60 for some 6.62 million shares. Unfortunately, this is going to gear down some of the water expectations on the utility side. The $21.50 pricing was well under expectations, and those expectations had been trimmed already. At $20.60 it is already trading as a busted IPO. We'll give this one some time before calling this one by any name. Despite the weakness, we actually think this will be huge for the water industry in general. That underwriting group was so large that this will...
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- After a higher opening, retail shares inched to red territory as oil prices hovered near a record high and the markets waited for a weekly inventory report.
Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trade in Wednesday’s session are American Water, Ameriprise, Becton Dickinson, Boeing, Broadcom, Industrial Distribution, Invitrogen, Mothers Work, Norfolk Southern, Pepsi Bottling, Praxair, Tupperware, VF, Yahoo and Zebra Technologies.
Jeff Immelt will get to explain the recent General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) earnings SNAFU all over again today. Frankly, all we really care about at 247WallSt.com is what lies ahead rather than rehashing what we already saw. We probably won't be hanging on for every single comment this morning, but there was at least some addressing of the current climate and some remedies it seeks. For starters, the company is now targeting for $3 Billion in cost cuts rather than $2 Billion. The company also said it will more frequently review its entire portfolio, which translates to the possibilities...
The Financial Services Authority has hired Barclays' former finance director to advise it on enforcing the recommendations of its own review into the way it handled the collapse of Northern Rock. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 Apr 2008 | 1:45 pm
The Financial Services Authority has hired Barclays' former finance director to advise it on enforcing the recommendations of its own review into the way it handled the collapse of Northern Rock. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 1:45 pm
Stocks are modestly higher in the first minutes of trading as investors sift through more earnings reports and take in the news that Liberty Mutual plans to acquire fellow insurer Safeco. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 1:38 pm
Delta Air Lines and its merger partner, Northwest Airlines, joined the list of US carriers to report quarterly losses amid record fuel costs. Source: FT.com - US homepage | 23 Apr 2008 | 1:38 pm
Schering-Plough Corp. on Wednesday reported a 48 percent plunge in first-quarter net income, due to increased spending on research, higher overhead and costs related to an acquisition _... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 1:37 pm
Liberty Mutual will buy Safeco for $6.12 billion in a deal to create the country's fifth-biggest property insurer. Liberty Mutual, a privately owned insurer based in Boston, has offered Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 1:33 pm
Toyota Motor Corp. has taken the first-quarter global automotive sales lead from General Motors Corp., selling 2.41 million vehicles to GM's 2.25 million over the first three months of... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 1:29 pm
British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline said on Wednesday that first-quarter net profits tumbled, partly because of sliding sales of diabetes drug Avandia. Net profits... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 1:28 pm
Delta Air Lines Inc., the nation's third-largest carrier, said Wednesday its loss widened in the first quarter to a whopping $6.39 billion because of soaring fuel prices and the steep... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 1:28 pm
The banks investment banking unit will be on a much tighter leash, top executives said, as UBS tries to overhaul its corporate governance after losses from the subprime mortgage collapse. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 1:27 pm
Reuters - Stock index futures were little
changed on Wednesday, as robust profits from Boeing Co
helped offset concerns about the health of the financial
sector.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures were little changed on Wednesday, as robust profits from Boeing Co helped offset concerns about the health of the financial sector.
CHICAGO (Reuters) - AmerisourceBergen Corp reported a higher quarterly net profit on Wednesday and said it has terminated the sale process for PMSI, its workers' compensation business,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 1:23 pm
CHICAGO (Reuters) - AmerisourceBergen Corp reported a higher quarterly net profit on Wednesday and said it has terminated the sale process for PMSI, its workers' compensation business, because bids were not high enough.
UPS, the largest package delivery company in the world, cut its earnings forecast after a 'sharp decline' in the US economy hit its first quarter earnings and said that conditions are not expected to pick up in the near future Source: FT.com - US homepage | 23 Apr 2008 | 1:19 pm
Delta Air Lines, the nation's third-largest carrier, says its loss widened in the first quarter to a whopping $6.39 billion due to soaring fuel prices and the steep decline in the... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 1:18 pm
U.S. stocks appeared headed for a narrowly mixed open Wednesday as investors pored over another round of first-quarter reports and hoped the numbers would help determine where the economy Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 1:16 pm
NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Dynamics Corp said on Wednesday first-quarter profit rose, helped by sales in combat systems, marine systems and the aerospace segment.
Ambac Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: ABK) saw yet another huge loss today, and as this is still key for system-wide "counterparty risk" concerns this is a drag on the market. On an operational basis, Ambac's losses came to -$6.93 EPS; First Call was at -$1.51. For the first quarter, Ambac lost $1.66 billion or a whopping $11.69 per share. It posted $1.73 billion in losses on a book of contracts promising to cover missed payments on complex investments backed by home loans. It has also set aside $1 billion preparing to pay claims on defaulted mortgage debt. About the only...
Strength in the US aerospace group's commercial aircraft division offset a weaker performance by its defence unit, as it reported a 37% rise in first-quarter net income Source: FT.com - US homepage | 23 Apr 2008 | 1:10 pm
Steep increases in food costs add £15 to a weekly shop for an average family in the UK, new research shows. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 Apr 2008 | 1:08 pm
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Package delivery company United Parcel Service Inc reported lower quarterly earnings on Wednesday, citing a sharp decline in U.S. economic activity, and cut its earnings forecast for the full year.
Reuters - General Dynamics Corp said on
Wednesday first-quarter profit rose, helped by sales in combat
systems, marine systems and the aerospace segment.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Dynamics Corp said on Wednesday first-quarter profit rose, helped by sales in combat systems, marine systems and the aerospace segment. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 1:06 pm
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil eased on Wednesday from a record high of nearly $120 a barrel in the previous session, as traders anticipated a rise in crude oil stocks in the world's top energy consumer the United States.
BASEL (Reuters) - UBS signaled that it will cut
its investment bank to a rump after lost bets in subprime
mortgages landed the Swiss group with a $37 billion bill,
making it the biggest casualty of the financial crisis.
Wall Street stocks were set for a moderately lower start as earnings took centre stage again and healthcare companies, bond insurers, UPS and Boeing presented a mixed bag of results to the market Source: FT.com - US homepage | 23 Apr 2008 | 12:58 pm
Reuters - Ambac Financial Group Inc , a
bond insurer that struggled to raise capital earlier this year,
posted a surprisingly wide first-quarter loss on Wednesday
after setting aside $1 billion to cover future payouts on
mortgage bonds.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ambac Financial Group Inc , a bond insurer that struggled to raise capital earlier this year, posted a surprisingly wide first-quarter loss on Wednesday after setting aside $1 billion to cover future payouts on mortgage bonds.
Shares of EMC Corp. are running up after earnings. The company's net income of $268.8 million came to $0.13 EPS GAAP and $0.16 EPS non-GAAP while revenues were $3.47 Billion. First Call had estimates of $0.16 EPS and $3.45 Billion in revenues. Storage systems posted a gain of 10% revenue gain, and that is its largest group. Software license and maintenance revenue rose 18%. CEO Joe Tucci also noted that the company is off to a strong year and that the company is on track to meet targets set at the beginning of the year. The company also spent approximately...
Stocks were poised for a mixed open Wednesday as investors weighed a flurry of corporate earnings news including bigger-than-expected losses from both Delta Air Lines and the bond insurer Ambac.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc , the No. 3 U.S. carrier, posted a first-quarter loss on Wednesday as high fuel costs and a weakening economy roil the industry.
Reuters - Package delivery company United Parcel
Service Inc reported lower quarterly earnings on
Wednesday, citing a sharp decline in U.S. economic activity,
and cut its earnings forecast for the full year.
Ambac Financial, the world's second-largest bond insurer, on Wednesday posted a wider than expected first-quarter net loss, hurt by $3.1bn in charges related to subprime-related securities.The first quarter... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 12:33 pm
Ambac Financial, the world's second-largest bond insurer, posted a wider than expected first-quarter net loss, hurt by $3.1bn in charges related to subprime-related securities. Source: FT.com - US homepage | 23 Apr 2008 | 12:33 pm
SAN DONATO MILANESE, Italy (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. is standing by its $44 billion bid for Yahoo Inc and will "move forward" if it is rejected, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Wednesday.
The U.S. airline industry may be troubled, but the business of building American planes is still going strong.
Boeing said first-quarter earnings rose 38 percent, more than forecasts, as revenue from commercial airlines rose 8 percent.
The earnings exceeded analysts' estimates, although the revenue fell short. The company, which has been plagued by delays on its new big jet, the 787 Dreamliner, attributed the earnings strength in the quarter to "solid overall execution in both its commercial-airplane and defense businesses as well as lower unallocated costs."
Revenue rose 4 percent, to $16 billion.
"We're off to a good start in what we expect to be another strong year of financial performance for Boeing," Jim McNerney, Boeing's chief executive, said. "We are methodically working through our challenges, including the start-up of the 787, and our people remain focused on satisfying our customers and leveraging growth and productivity into better bottom-line and top-line performance for our company."
Boeing booked 289 gross orders for commercial planes during the quarter, most of them to overseas customers, raising its backlog to $271 billion. The company's total backlog, including defense orders, rose 32 percent, to $346 billion.
Noting the strength in international aviation markets, Jon Ogg on the 24/7 Wall St. blog says, "What is amazing here is that the U.S. airlines' woes are not yet bleeding over to Boeing."
Merrill Lynch has cut its forecasts for house prices and downgraded some of Britain's biggest housebuilders after its analysts spent three days touring 60 housing sites in the south of England and midlands. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 Apr 2008 | 12:30 pm
Merrill Lynch has cut its forecasts for house prices and downgraded some of Britain's biggest housebuilders after its analysts spent three days touring 60 housing sites in the south of England and midlands... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 12:30 pm
Level 3 Communications (NASDAQ: LVLT) is out with earnings, and the short sellers are getting out of the way. The company posted -$0.12 EPS on $1.09 Billion in revenues, while First Call estimates were -$0.11 EPS and $1.06 Billion in revenues. James Crowe, CEO, has noted that telecom strength has helped in the last several quarters and that core communications services pricing continues to be positive. The company has also substantially increased available installation capacity. Level 3 has also reaffirmed its two primary goals for 2008. The first is to reach free cash flow breakeven on a run rate basis...
While many companies are now rushing to "go green," recent surveys show American consumers are getting turned off by the organic hype for three reasons: price, skepticism and confusion.
Reuters - Delta Air Lines Inc , the No. 3
U.S. carrier, posted a first-quarter loss on Wednesday as high
fuel costs and a weakening economy roil the industry.
Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) posted a 38% profit gain of $1.2 billion on a 4% revenue gain to $16 Billion in Q1-2008, and its numbers come to $1.62 EPS. First Call had estimates of $1.35 EPS on $16.5 Billion. Here is where this gets tricky, or at least where it is surprising. The airplane giant has put 2008 EPS guidance as being reaffirmed at between $5.70 and $5.85 EPS (Fist Call is $5.93 EPS) and 2009 EPS expected to grow approximately 20% to between $6.80 and $7.00 EPS (First Call is $6.87 EPS). Despite some softness or not being above...
Reuters - Microsoft Corp.
is standing by its $44 billion bid for Yahoo Inc
and will "move forward" if it is rejected, Microsoft
Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Wednesday.
European equity markets slipped on Wednesday, as banking sector losses offset gains from pharmaceuticals and steelmakers.By midday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.3 per cent to 1,300.45, Frankfurt's... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 12:02 pm
The number of mortgages given to home buyers have fallen by nearly half in the last year, figures showed this morning. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 Apr 2008 | 12:00 pm
They have held on to their valuable triple-A ratings, but the big bond insurers are not out of the woods yet.
The No. 2 bond insurer, Ambac Financial Group, today reported a $1.66 billion loss in its first quarter after losing $1.73 billion on credit derivatives.
The loss of $11.69 per share was much wider than analysts' forecasts and compared with a profit of $213.3 million, or $2.02 per share, in the quarter a year earlier
"The housing-market crisis continues to disrupt the global credit markets, and our credit derivatives and direct-mortgage portfolios were severely impacted once again," Michael Callen, Ambac's chief executive, said. "While we realize that these are disappointing credit results, we continue to believe that the capital raise and strategic business actions taken during the quarter will enable us to get beyond this credit market."
Last month, Ambac said it would raise at least $1.5 billion in new capital by selling common stock and equity units. The plan disappointed investors, but it reassured the credit-ratings agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's, who maintained their triple-A ratings on the company. For bond insurers, a triple-A rating is the engine of their business. That rating provides a blanket of protection for states and municipalities that issue bonds, allowing them to pay a lower interest rate
For Ambac and its larger rival, MBIA, their business and stock price has been whipsawed by concerns that their exposure to C.D.O.'s and other structured financial products leave them vulnerable to billions of dollars in mortgage-related losses. Both have shored up their capital and shifted their focus back to their core business of muni-bond insurance.
The question now is whether that business can be the profitable money machine it once was.
Callen said "we have recently started to see some business come our way in the municipal markets."
But a number of people, including Bill Gross of Pimco and Jesse Eisinger in the February issue of Condé Nast Portfolio, have questioned the need for municipal-bond insurance. Some big issuers, like the state of California, have recently agreed.
Bloomberg News, citing Thomson Financial data, notes that Ambac insured just 1 percent of municipal bonds sold during the first quarter while a smaller competitor, Financial Security Assurance Inc., a unit of Dexia SA of Brussels and Paris, took 65 percent of the market.
The number of mortgages given to home buyers have fallen by nearly half in the last year, figures showed this morning. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 12:00 pm
These are not all of the analyst calls, but these are ten of the calls affecting shares this Wednesday morning: Biovail (NYSE: BVF) cut to Sector Perform at CIBC. Cerner (NASDAQ: CERN) raised to Buy at Jefferies. GigaMedia (NASDAQ: GIGM) started as Nuy at Brean Murray. iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT) raised to Buy at Kaufman. Medco Health (NYSE: MHS) raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer. Meredith (NYSE: MDP) cut to Hold at Citigroup. Smith International (NYSE: SII) raised to Overweight at JPMorgan; also cut to Perform at Oppenheimer. Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ: STLD) cut to Hold at Citigroup. SunTrust Banks (NYSE: STI) raised...
The new chief executive of UBS signalled today that he was prepared to shear
back the Swiss giant's investment banking arm to a fraction of its present
size, adding to the job cuts the troubled group has already announced. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 Apr 2008 | 11:41 am
Fears that energy bills will rise again in the coming weeks on the back of
soaring oil prices, will add urgency to a meeting today between energy
companies and ministers to discuss the problem of fuel poverty. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 Apr 2008 | 11:32 am
UBS on Wednesday warned of further big job losses at its investment bank as the largest European casualty of the US subprime crisis fleshed out plans to downscale operations that had contributed to losses... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 11:16 am
UBS warned of further big job losses in investment banking as it scales back operations to prevent any repetition of the mistakes that have made it Europe's biggest casualty of the US subprime crisis Source: FT.com - US homepage | 23 Apr 2008 | 11:16 am
UBS on Wednesday warned of further big job losses at its investment bank as the largest European casualty of the US subprime crisis fleshed out plans to downscale operations that had contributed to losses... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 11:16 am
BaFin, Germany's financial sector regulator, has uncovered evidence that points to insider trading involving shares in IKB, the bank that was one of the first casualties of last year's subprime crisis... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 11:15 am
Sub-prime lender Cattles, seeks to raise £200m from shareholders to bolster its finances after the credit crisis. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 Apr 2008 | 11:12 am
The worst of the financial turmoil that has engulfed Swiss bank UBS is over, its chairman tells shareholders. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 Apr 2008 | 10:57 am
Sony (SNE) has once again delayed the launch of its virtual PS3 application. It allows owners of the video console to play games together over broadband, chat, download games and the such. Microsoft's Xbox 360 has had a similar function for over two years. Redmond charges for the feature and probably makes plenty of money from it. According to The Wall Street Journal "As more people have access to faster Internet connections, online communities like those that allow players to socialize with one another in addition to playing games have grown popular in recent years. They are considered an important...
The number of mortgages granted to homebuyers slumped by nearly 50 per cent
last month to its lowest level in more than a decade as the rising cost of
home loans squeezed more borrowers out of the market. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 Apr 2008 | 10:35 am
The FDA says it needs $70 million to inspect all of the foreign facilities it needs to so it can screen for dangerous drugs or drug components. The amount does not seem like much, unless you don't have it. Tainted Heparin, a blood thinner, has killed over 80 Americans. So far the belief is that the ingredient causing the problem is from China. According to The Wall Street Journal "The agency (FDA) would need about $15 million to inspect about 700 facilities in China alone, Marcia Crosse, Government Accountability Office's health-care director said." Given the nature of the threat, that...
Rice prices scale fresh heights in Asian trade, amid concern that export bans by key producers will hit demand. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 Apr 2008 | 10:31 am
The office rental market in London's historic Square Mile has been issued a "code red" rating by Moody's, as the slowdown in banking industry hits demand for space. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Apr 2008 | 10:30 am
The office rental market in London's historic Square Mile has been issued a "code red" rating by Moody's, as the slowdown in banking industry hits demand for space. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 Apr 2008 | 10:30 am
The Wall Street Journal thinks that things are getting better at Ford (F) and that management efforts can now be called a "turnaround". The paper points to improving earnings and cars which get better quality marks, closer to Toyota's (TM). The Journal also points out that "More job cuts may be coming." But, if wishes were horses, all the beggars would ride. Ford may have cut costs. Its cars may have quality closer to the Japanese, but the quality of all US cars is now about equal with most imports. The Ford numbers are nothing special. Ford is also faced...
The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee was split over its move to cut interest rates in April to 5%. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 Apr 2008 | 10:07 am
Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's next Prime Minister, says an emergency loan to Alitlia may save the problem-hit airline. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 Apr 2008 | 10:03 am
The global trade in rice lurched to the brink of a 1970s-style “oil shock”
today as prices surged 2.3 per cent to a new high and speculation mounted
that Thailand, Asia’s predominant “rice superpower”, may join other regional
producers in curbing exports. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 Apr 2008 | 9:47 am
The Office of Fair Trading has apologised to supermarket chain Wm Morrison and agreed to pay the retailer £100,000 to settle a defamation action linked to a probe into milk-price fixing. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 Apr 2008 | 9:00 am
The most powerful tycoon in South Korea has fallen on his sword after a
damaging investigation into his business affairs and an indictment for tax
evasion. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 Apr 2008 | 8:55 am
Minutes from the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting
this month revealed a three-way split at the top of the bank for the first
time since May 2006, as two members voted to keep the interest rate
unchanged. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 Apr 2008 | 8:48 am
The Office of Fair Trading gives supermarket chain Morrisons £100,000 to settle a defamation case. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 Apr 2008 | 8:30 am
Cattles, the loans company that provides credit to people rejected by the mainstream banks, has unveiled plans to raise £200m by selling new shares. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 Apr 2008 | 8:30 am
Microsoft lifts the lid on Live Mesh, web-based software designed to connect devices and applications online. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 Apr 2008 | 8:28 am
The Office of Fair Trading has apologised to supermarket chain Wm Morrison and agreed to pay the retailer £100,000 to settle a defamation action linked to a probe into milk-price fixing. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 Apr 2008 | 7:50 am
Cattles, the sub-prime and doorstep lender, is raising funds for the second
time in just over a year, this time launching a £200 million rights issue to
support its application for a banking licence and shore up its balance
sheet. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 Apr 2008 | 7:38 am
The weakening US economy takes its toll on Japanese exports, which fall 11% in the first quarter of the year. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 Apr 2008 | 7:38 am
EBay sues online ad site Craigslist, claiming it needed to "safeguard its four-year financial investment". Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 Apr 2008 | 7:23 am
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has issued an unprecedented apology to Wm
Morrison for wrongly suggesting that Britain's fourth-largest supermarket
group was guilty of fixing prices for butter and cheese five years ago. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 Apr 2008 | 7:06 am
The $580-million transaction would further heighten Rupert Murdoch's media profile in New York and give debt-laden Tribune much needed cash.
Tribune Co. has reached a preliminary agreement with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. to sell control of Newsday of Long Island, the media conglomerate's third-largest newspaper, in a deal valued at $580 million, according to people familiar with the negotiations.
UAL shares fall sharply on the news. The company, which blames the loss mostly on rising fuel costs, says it will eliminate 1,100 jobs and reduce flight schedules.
Skyrocketing fuel costs have plunged U.S. airlines into a sea of red ink -- and travelers can expect higher air fares and fewer flights from which to choose as a result.
The Dow falls more than 100 points and the Russell 2,000 index tumbles 2%.
Stocks pulled back Tuesday, with the Dow Jones industrials tumbling more than 100 points as a rush of quarterly results from bellwethers such as AT&T , DuPont and McDonald's failed to impress investors.
Federal regulators said Tuesday that placing tougher restrictions on agricultural commodity trading would not alleviate high and volatile prices in those markets and could make matters worse.
However, the federal proposal bars California from regulating auto greenhouse-gas emissions.
Proposed federal fuel-economy standards issued Tuesday would require cars and trucks to get an average of 31.6 miles per gallon by 2015, a significant increase over the current fleet. But the plan also included surprising language barring California and other states from regulating automobile greenhouse-gas emissions.
The complaint alleges that the Irvine chip maker's top officials -- namely Henry Nicholas and Henry Samueli -- backdated stock options.
Broadcom Corp. on Tuesday agreed to pay $12 million to settle allegations that its top executives backdated stock options, but the Securities and Exchange Commission complaint did little to put the matter behind the billionaire co-founders of the Irvine chip maker.
The number rises to 47,171 in the first quarter, more than four times as many as a year earlier.
Sinking home values and the collapse of flimsy mortgages fueled a record number of foreclosures in California in the first three months of this year, dimming prospects for any quick recovery in the housing market.
Hillary Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary, gaining the crucial double-digit margin of victory necessary to rejuvenate her prospects of securing the Democratic nomination Source: FT.com - US homepage | 23 Apr 2008 | 5:21 am
The federal probe into stock-options backdating claimed another target—semiconductor maker Broadcom Corp., which last year restated earnings to reflect $2 billion in unreported compensation expenses. That is the largest accounting restatement yet attributed to backdating.
Federal securities regulators charged the Irvine, California, company with falsifying income by backdating the stock-option grants over a five-year period. The chipmaker, which did not admit or deny wrongdoing, agreed to pay $12 million to settle the charges—a deal that must still pass a judge’s muster.
"The scope and magnitude of the fraud warrants the significant penalty imposed on the company," said Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement division.
The filing came the same day Broadcom announced that it bested its quarterly revenue targets and forecast continued growth in revenues. The company makes chips for mobile phones and network equipment.
Company spokesman Bill Blanning said that the settlement "is a major step in the process of closing this chapter" and that the company is focusing on its current and future business.
According to the complaint, Broadcom’s two-person options committee approved some 88 stock grants between 1998 and 2003. The dates they met did not always coincide with the dates the grants were approved.
Securities regulators said that the backdated options were used to recruit and retain executives in lieu of higher salaries. The options were also a means of avoiding reporting compensation expenses, leading to overstating company income by as much as 422 percent. Losses were also underreported by as much as 38 percent, and the disclosures misled shareholders.
Broadcom's co-founders are not yet off the hot seat because federal prosecutors are currently conducting a criminal investigation into the company’s backdating, and told a federal judge that founders Henry T. Nicholas III and Henry Samueli are "unindicted co-conspirators."
AFP - Switzerland's biggest bank UBS, the worst hit of its global banking peers by the US subprime home loan crisis, faces a stormy shareholders' meeting on Wednesday when a new chairman could emerge as the whipping boy.
To send Microsoft and its unwanted takeover packing, the company had to show it was doing fabulously on its own. So investors and many others were watching Tuesday for what might be the earnings report heard around the world.
But when the big moment came, there was a tinge of disappointment surrounding it all.
Not because Yahoo did badly. Its earnings showed it's doing well enough. But well enough wasn't what the crowd demanded. Yahoo either had to deliver the kind of blowout quarter usually associated with Google, or it had to do so poorly that Microsoft would have an instant mandate to take control.
It did neither. Coming five days before a deadline Microsoft set before it starts using nastier takeover tactics, Yahoo showed first-quarter earnings that were two cents a share stronger than Wall Street's estimates.
"It doesn't seem as if this was a game-changing quarter," said Derek Brown, an analyst with Cantor Fitzgerald. "It was a solid quarter, but on fairly light guidance. The hurdle was relatively low to begin with."
Yahoo's total revenue rose nine percent year-over-year to $1.8 billion--not bad, but below the 14 percent growth rate it's forecasting for the whole year. Net revenue, excluding marketing commissions and fees, grew 14 percent to $1.35 billion, below the 25 percent growth Yahoo is promising for all of 2008.
Net profit came in at $542 million, or 37 cents a share. And three-quarters of that profit came from $401 million in non-cash gains Yahoo received when Alibaba went public in Hong Kong. Yahoo owns 39 percent of Alibaba.
Factor out the Alibaba payout and stock-compensation costs, and Yahoo's profit was 11 cents a share, flat with the year-ago quarter and above the nine cents analysts had forecast. But the whisper number - Wall Street's way of second guessing itself at the last minute - was for 11 cents or 12 cents.
So have a seat, everyone. This takeover battle is going to drag on.
"It's like reading a potboiler," said Jeffrey Lindsay, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein. "Just when you think it's going to be decisive, Yahoo gives you just enough to keep it going."
Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang, who has a knack for wrapping bullish sentiments in underwhelming rhetoric, said he was "very proud" that Yahoo's revenue came in "in the upper half" of the guidance he gave in January. Not outside the range. Just better than average.
Preening about a narrow escape from mediocrity - that says everything you need to know about Yahoo in April 2008.
Yang also broadcast reruns of anti-Microsoft rhetoric he's given before. He said Microsoft's bid undervalues Yahoo. Yahoo's board has been "expeditiously exploring a number of strategic alternatives" but it remains "open to any and all alternatives including a sale to Microsoft," said Yang.
As positive as the quarter was for Yahoo, it brought evidence that the company remains a laggard in a growing industry. While total revenue at Yahoo rose nine percent, revenue from ads alone rose only seven percent.
And international revenue - which had propelled Google and eBay to strong earnings last quarter - were sluggish. Net revenue from international operations grew seven percent for Yahoo, compared to 17 percent at home. Yahoo has a strong presence in China and Japan, but only through minority stakes that don't translate into earnings.
On the conference call, Jefferies analyst Youssef Squali pointed out that the 25 percent growth Yahoo is forecasting in net revenue for both this year and next not only exceeds its first-quarter growth rates, it outstrips the growth forecast for online ads in general. Yahoo C.F.O. Blake Jorgensen responded simply that Yahoo stands by its forecasts.
So Yahoo must not only grow faster than it has been, it will have to grow faster than others, including Google. (Google's net revenue grew by 46 percent last quarter.) Squali noted that the Wall Street's 2008 estimates for Google aren't tracking with the company's guidance, which "implies a lot of skepticism."
And that raises a discomfiting question for Google. How can it convince Microsoft it's doing fabulously if it can't even persuade Wall Street?
Official figures to be released across the Tasman today are tipped to show a steep rise in inflation over the last quarter in Australia.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and many economists predict the Consumer Price Index has... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 23 Apr 2008 | 1:30 am
New Zealand Post has moved to defend its new parcel pricing scheme, following an outburst of outrage from online traders.
The company last month introduced a "pricing in proportion" scheme, in which letters and parcels are charged... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 23 Apr 2008 | 12:56 am
The total value of electronic card transactions (ECT) was 1 per cent lower in March than in February, on a seasonally adjusted basis, Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) says.
Looking just at retail industries, the fall was a smaller... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 23 Apr 2008 | 12:40 am
The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee was split three ways over last month's decision to cut interest rates, as two members argued for rates to be left unchanged and a final member seeking a deeper reduction in borrowing costs. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
Associated British Foods, the food to clothing conglomerate, has warned consumers already feeling the pinch from the credit crunch that "accelerating" commodity inflation will force it to put up the price of bread and other staples. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
The Serious Fraud Office will appeal against a High Court ruling that it acted unlawfully by dropping an investigation into arms deals between BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 Apr 2008 | 12:01 am
It's now emerging just how strongly Treasury supported the Canadian bid to buy a stake in Auckland International Airport.
The Government's moves to block the sale were strongly opposed by Treasury who said it would breach international... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 22 Apr 2008 | 11:45 pm
Big US financial groups have raised more than $28bn in the capital markets in recent days, suggesting that many investors believe the sector is poised for a strong comeback Source: FT.com - US homepage | 22 Apr 2008 | 11:32 pm
It's very tempting to say that Sir Fred Goodwin should stay on at Royal Bank
of Scotland. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 22 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
ANZ National, New Zealand's biggest bank, has posted a 7 per cent increase in interim profit in stark contrast to its parent ANZ and the world's biggest lenders.
The writer of one in three home mortgages in this country described... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 22 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
The sharemarket eased in opening trading in line with major offshore markets and its own lacklustre performance yesterday.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index was down 11.997 points to 3571.262 in early trading.
The market has been... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 22 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
US bank failures could rise above "historical norms" as a weakening economy puts pressure on badly underwritten loans, particularly in commercial real estate, according to a bank regulator Source: FT.com - US homepage | 22 Apr 2008 | 10:52 pm
AP - Gas and oil prices pushed further into record high territory Tuesday, with retail gas reaching a national average of $3.51 for the first time and crude nearing $120 as the dollar fell to a new low against the euro.
Yahoo beat Wall Street expectations and raised its forecasts, but failed to produce the blow-out quarter that might force a rethink of Microsoft's takeover offer, valued at $43bn Source: FT.com - US homepage | 22 Apr 2008 | 10:26 pm
Tasman Mortgages is sending out final demand notices to suffering Blue Chip investors, despite the scheme's liquidator telling them it wouldn't come to that.
Tasman, owned by publicly listed Lombard Group, was part-owned by Blue... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 22 Apr 2008 | 10:00 pm
New York Times co-chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr told shareholders today the company is not for sale, rejecting speculation a prolonged newspaper industry slump made it vulnerable to a takeover.
"This company is not for sale,"... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 22 Apr 2008 | 10:00 pm
Wall Street stocks lost ground today as sentiment took a hit from fresh records for oil futures, a weak report on housing and cautious guidance from companies reporting earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 96.32 points... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 22 Apr 2008 | 9:30 pm
Around 13 per cent of people who take out reverse mortgages do so to repay other debt.
This is one of the findings of a study into the reverse mortgage market commissioned by Sherpa, the industry body representing home equity release... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 22 Apr 2008 | 9:30 pm
First the good news: Yahoo said its revenue grew by 9 percent in the first quarter, to $1.8 billion.
Now the rest of the news, and it's not so good:
Operating income fell by 28 percent in the first three months of the year (though that decline was steepened by the $14 million that Yahoo said it spent to fend off a hostile takeover).
And net income was essentially flat—$150 million compared with $154 million a year ago. That works out to 11 cents a share, unchanged.
Were the results good enough to frustrate Microsoft's unsolicited $40 billion hostile bid for Yahoo? Not judging by the market reaction: Yahoo shares fell slightly in late-day trading after the earnings were made public and were comfortably below Microsoft's $31-a-share offer.
Still, Yahoo founder and chief executive Jerry Yang put on a brave face. "Yahoo is beginning to realize the benefits of the very substantial and deliberate long-term investments we've made to capitalize on the opportunities ahead," he said in a prepared statement.
Yahoo president Sue Decker also talked up the numbers.
"This past quarter's financial results, important acquisitions, and, most importantly, the string of successful product rollouts demonstrate our enhanced execution against our longer-range goals," she said. "As we look forward, we are particularly excited by the potential capability of AMP! from Yahoo!, our revolutionary new ad-management platform, to help us further extend our lead in display advertising, which more than any other area of online advertising we believe has great potential for growth." Related Links Stop Whining, Start Winning Why Google Might Want a Microsoft-Yahoo Merger Dangerous Liaison
There's been a lot of litigation over private equity deals that have gone bust since the credit crunch began, last summer. But the banks themselves have thus far avoided an adverse ruling that could haunt them in the future.
Until now. On Thursday, New York State Supreme Court Justice Helen Freedman will hold a hearing on motions for summary judgment by the private equity firms Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital against six banks who have been accused of failing to honor their commitments to finance the $19.4 billion buyout of radio-station giant Clear Channel Communications. The banks, meanwhile, are also potentially on the hook to Clear Channel itself on claims that their repudiation of the financing deal amounts to a tortuous interference with contract.
This morning, counsel for the banks made public a letter to the private equity firms, suggesting that the fight over the commitment letter be resolved through binding arbitration before a single, neutral arbitrator.
"The banks are repeat players in this game," says Elizabeth Nowicki, a professor at Tulane University Law School and a participant in a private equity session at the recent Tulane Corporate Law Institute. "I can see how these banks are beginning to sweat. The stakes are pretty darned high," she said.
Nowicki sees the offer to arbitrate as "a sign that nobody, including the banks' counsel, knows how this is going to play out." An adverse ruling could impact the banks' potential liability in other deals that are teetering on the brink of failure. That said, Nowicki observed, "this is not a superconciliatory letter," with the offer putting the dispute before just one arbitrator rather than the classic three-person panel.
The private equity firms, however, responded with lightening speed. "This proposal is yet another disingenuous attempt by the banks to avoid living up to their commitments. The banks want to move this case into the back room because they fear that a public trial will clearly expose their misconduct," said a spokeswoman for the firms. "We are ready to complete the deal to buy Clear Channel on terms consistent with the binding commitments the banks made nearly a year ago and provided all the documentation needed to execute the funding, but the banks refused to sign. The New York court hearing on April 24 offers a further opportunity for these critical issues to be revealed in the bright light of day."
But what about Clear Channel itself? Corporate litigators say that the company should have been pressing for arbitration—because all it wants is to close the deal. It doesn't necessarily care about the precedent of a court ruling. In a counterclaim in the New York case, the banks have argued that their liability should be limited to the $500 million breakup fee.
A Clear Channel spokesman said, "The company isn't commenting on the banks' letter. You have to ask the sponsors." The company is also not commenting on ongoing litigation, he said.
The parties are expecting a sellout crowd at the hearing on Thursday.
The New York State Supreme Court is heating up as a venue for failed deals. Alliance Data Systems filed a suit late last Friday against Blackstone Group's Blackstone Capital Partners, a day after their deal terminated, seeking to collect the $170 million breakup fee specified by the agreement, alleging that Blackstone failed to use "reasonable best efforts" to secure regulatory approval for the deal.
Blackstone walked away when the Office of Comptroller of the Currency demanded that A.D.S. maintain a $400 million fund to supply additional capital to a bank subsidiary. A.D.S. agreed to drop the purchase price by $400 million, but that may not matter in court, says Nowicki. "When push comes to shove, $400 million is such a high regulatory concession that it doesn't fall within reasonable best efforts," she says.
When tough regulatory problems are known, there is often much more specific language in the contract about what would be required to meet the regulatory approvals. This contract did not go beyond the general "reasonable best efforts language."
Crops such as corn and wheat have jumped 50% or more in price in the past year. Those prices are hitting everyone in the food chain, including a group stuck squarely in the middle -- grain elevator operators. Adriene Hill reports. Source: Marketplace | 22 Apr 2008 | 8:53 pm
Contributions continue to grease the political skids in Washington. Jeanne Cummings of Politico tells host Kai Ryssdal that some of the key players in the subprime mess still have enough loose change to lobby for their causes. Source: Marketplace | 22 Apr 2008 | 8:53 pm
Jim Buckmaster isn't much interested in maximizing profits. The chief executive of Craigslist says the rapidly growing website's business model is all about the social good. He talks with host Kai Ryssdal in our latest Conversations From the Corner Office. Source: Marketplace | 22 Apr 2008 | 8:53 pm
China's government says it's ready to move past a proposed boycott of a major French retailer. But talk of boycotts has been making multinationals nervous, since they all want in on the massive Chinese market. Scott Tong reports. Source: Marketplace | 22 Apr 2008 | 8:53 pm
The Department of Homeland Security says it wants foreign visitors fingerprinted as they leave the U.S. from airports and seaports. It also says airlines and cruise lines would pay for the equipment, training and maintenance. Jeremy Hobson reports. Source: Marketplace | 22 Apr 2008 | 8:53 pm
While most of the business world frets over the future of newspapers, Rupert Murdoch keeps buying them up. His NewsCorp is going after the Long Island paper Newsday for about $580 million. Alisa Roth reports. Source: Marketplace | 22 Apr 2008 | 8:53 pm
On a day when crude oil topped out just shy of $120 a barrel, the Transportation Department issued new fuel economy standards for cars and trucks -- the first major changes to automobile mileage rules in 30 years. Sam Eaton reports. Source: Marketplace | 22 Apr 2008 | 8:52 pm
It's official: Marcus Brauchli is out as managing editor of the Wall Street Journal. But what does it mean?
In the view of many longtime editors and reporters at the paper, Brauchli, in less than a year at the helm, has become a martyr to Rupert Murdoch's ambition, having done everything that was asked of him, only to find that it was not enough.
"The assumption here is that he was forced out," says one editor. "It was clear that Murdoch wanted to have his own people in place, and it was clear that Marcus was feeling increasingly marginalized."
A reporter said that Brauchli "seemed to be doing everything Murdoch wanted—shorter stories, broadening the coverage. It's hard to think he could've jumped much higher."
While a report in the New York Times suggests that Brauchli's resignation may have stemmed from his opposition to reducing the number of editors, that is only part of the story.
More significant, insiders say, is how Brauchli’s powers have gradually been appropriated by Robert Thomson, who came on board as publisher in December. (Unlike Gordon Crovitz, the newspaper’s previous publisher, Thomson's position description spells out an explicit editorial role.)
News Corp. had pledged, in a formal agreement, to respect the Journal's editorial independence. The committee in charge of ensuring compliance with that agreement met today but has made no pronouncements; according to one source, Murdoch has spent much of the past two weeks huddled with lawyers to make sure he wouldn't run afoul of the pact.
While maintaining a united front publicly with his new bosses, Brauchli, says a former staffer who maintains ties to the paper, “was resistant to a lot of the things they were trying to do," such as a redesign that has relegated business news to the B and C sections of the paper. "He's been rubbing up against Thomson and Murdoch for weeks now."
Still, the former staffer adds, Brauchli would not have left of his own accord: "Marcus didn't spend 20 years managing upward to get the top job, only to walk away after a year."
Moreover, as time went on, Brauchli was increasingly being denied even the chance to object. That's been the case with the new culture section under development, the editor adds.
While Thomson and Murdoch provided plenty of input, "it just wasn't even portrayed as anything Marcus was going to have any final say on."
"He certainly had day-to-day power, but there was always the sense that there was somebody hovering above him who had veto power," the editor says.
And it would have gotten only worse: There has been much speculation at the Journal that Thomson is planning to relocate his office from the executive area on the 11th floor to the newsroom on the 9th floor.
"That's intended to be a sign," says a staffer who left recently.
A Dow Jones spokesman did not returns calls seeking comment.
Don't expect to hear Brauchli taking his complaints public. "Since the acquisition last December, the new management scrupulously has avoided imposing any political or business viewpoints on our coverage and rigorously has enforced the code of conduct," he wrote in an email to staff. "I am confident that our journalistic integrity remains intact and that News Corp. is committed to a Journal that is vibrant, vital, and preeminent in American journalism."
For now, he's staying on as a consultant, according to News Corp., and has reportedly hired Washington power lawyer Robert Barnett to oversee the details of his gradual fade from view.
Presumably, it'll include a nondisparagement clause—and a lot of money.
Hewlett-Packard is a $117 billion information-technology conglomerate. Citigroup is a $130 billion financial-services supermarket. So why is the C.E.O. of the latter seeking leadership advice from the C.E.O. of the former?
The Financial Timesreports that Citigroup chief executive Vikram Pandit has turned to H.P. chief Mark Hurd for advice on how to turn around the bank he took over late last year. More specifically, Citigroup is seeking "advice on how to revive its fortunes without breaking up the company." Today, Pandit will square off with investors calling for a breakup at Citigroup's annual shareholder meeting.
Even though the two companies operate in disparate industries that are subject to very different macroeconomic problems, in many ways, Hurd is a perfect candidate for mentoring Pandit. And the fact that Pandit is seeking it at all is welcome news for Citigroup shareholders.
Hurd was virtually unknown when he took over a struggling H.P. in 2005 after the ouster of the ubiquitous Carly Fiorina. He was greeted by an army of irate investors upset with the poor execution of the company's controversial $19 billion takeover of Compaq. Just months after he arrived, the company was embroiled in a scandal involving spying and board leaks.
Hurd has managed to remain well below the radar since then, while H.P.'s shares have doubled. He has remained focused on cutting costs and finding efficiencies in running the various businesses. In short, his stellar execution effectively makes the argument not to break up a struggling, diversified company.
It's an argument that Pandit desperately wants to make as well. Like H.P., Citigroup has been challenged ever since its own controversial mega-merger with Travelers in 1998. Pandit, who was also little known and had no experience running a large company, replaced Chuck Prince, who was ousted after the company reported dismal results in the midst of the credit crunch.
Neither Hurd nor Pandit is taking the flashy, bells-and-whistles approach to managing the corner office that their predecessors did, and there's certainly something to say for that. They both seem to approach cost cutting with an emotionless, methodical approach. Neither one is known as the guy you want to get a beer with, but, then again, that guy is rarely known for turning around a troubled conglomerate.
In the four months since he took the helm at Citigroup, Pandit has won over some investors, but the biggest challenges remain ahead of him. Today, the company quietly raised $6 billion by selling preferred shares, just days after it announced a $5 billion quarterly loss.
Citigroup shareholders have endured a lot in recent years. Those who plan on sticking around long enough to see what happens should be pleased to learn that Pandit is seeking knowledge on how to get it there, even in the unlikeliest of places.
For proof, look no further than the fat $130 million investment scooped up by eSolar, a company whose basic solar power strategy -- using sunlight-reflecting mirrors to generate steam -- was all but abandoned in the 1980s, and has recently recently caught investors' attention again.
The money, from Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org, and venture capital firms Idealab and Oak Investment Partners, will go towards the construction of eSolar's first functioning solar power plant.
"ESolar's long term is to become a viable replacement for all fossil fuel," said Robert Rogan, a Cal Tech Ph.D. and eSolar's executive vice president for corporate development. "The reason Google invested in us is that they saw the potential of this technology to beat the cost of using coal."
The company's core technology is an implementation of concentrating solar power, which uses mirrors to turn liquid into steam that drives standard electricity-generating turbines. CSP, also sometimes called solar thermal, is considered a promising replacement for fossil fuel power plants, particularly the coal plants that generate more than half of U.S. electricity. It's been around for decades, last seeing popularity in the early 1980s, when oil hit an inflation-adjusted price of $82 per barrel. Higher oil prices make fossil fuel plants more costly, making it easier for alternative technologies to compete. (Oil is currently trading for more than $115 a barrel, its highest level ever.)
Google's green-energy plan goes by the formula-like name RE<C, which sets out the goal of the company's operation -- to find renewable energy sources that reliably generate electricity more cheaply than burning coal. In modern times, that's been impossible, with fossil fuel plants able to generate power for a few cents a kilowatt-hour while solar energy from photovoltaics has cost upwards of $0.25 per kwh.
But times are changing as coal and natural gas plants have gotten more expensive to build. That's happening for a variety of reasons: Banks are including the risks of climate change legislation in their pricing for power plant loans, the raw construction materials used in power plants have become more expensive, and natural gas and coal prices have gone up alongside the skyrocketing price of oil. Within this changing marketplace, wind power has been growing phenomenally fast, but is too intermittent to power the whole grid. As a result, many clean-energy advocates are turning to solar thermal power plants as the solution du jour.
"There's hope and optimism but a little bit of skepticism as well," said Ryan Wiser, a renewable energy analyst at Lawrence Berkeley Labs. "No one knows whether the technologies are really cost competitive with other energy alternatives."
That hasn't stopped Abu Dhabi's clean-tech fund, Masdar, from funding a $1.2 billion solar thermal company called Torresol. Another competitor in the market, Ausra, has received more than $40 million from blue-chip venture capitalists. Yet another player, Abengoa, recently signed a $4 billion deal with Arizona Public Utilities, and Brightsource recently landed a 900-megawatt deal with the California utility PG&E. Stirling Energy Systems, a company that has adapted the Stirling Engine, a 200-year-old invention, for concentrated solar power, even pulled in a $100 million investment.
For its part, eSolar has a gigawatt of electricity production capacity planned.
In the near term, these deals are being driven by southwestern states' laws, which have built solar requirements into their renewable energy dictums. Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado all require between 15 and 20 percent of their power to come from solar sources.
In the medium term, any sort of system that puts a price on emitting carbon dioxide -- either a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade framework -- would help these companies because it would penalize fossil fuels and aid cleaner technologies.
Long-term, though, the vision of truly cost-competitive solar energy is what drives all the competitors in the space.
"Once cost parity is reached, we'll see a flowering of solar power," said Rogan. "It's a question of time and place and technology. Right now, that perfect storm is developing."
But with more than a dozen competitors crowding into concentrated solar power, picking a winner looks extremely difficult.
"You have this diversity of designs ... but until we have more plants that are actually built, it's going to be hard to know which design will come out on top," said Wiser.
ESolar claims that its method for tracking the sun uses superior algorithms to focus its mirrors. Further, the company argues that its modular manufacturing processes, which allows it to build relatively small power plants ranging from 33 to over 500 megawatts, gives it time-to-market and cost-efficiency advantages over its competitors.
"If everyone else is building Cray supercomputers, we're building blade servers," Rogan said, coining an info-tech analogy. "If you took all the subsidies away, we believe that we're half the price of other solar technology."
Ausra's CEO Bob Fishman, however, who was formerly a natural gas executive with big utility Calpine, disputed eSolar's "smaller is better" assertion.
"I've looked at it, and I can tell you right now, there's a direct correlation between size and cost. If they want to build 30 megawatt plants, they can have at it," Fishman said. "Why do you think people build big coal-powered power plants and not small ones?"
Both eSolar and Ausra are planning to have demonstration plants up and running later this year. Several other plants from competitors are planning to come online within the next five years. Soon, some of these companies' claims will be subject to rigorous scrutiny by analysts like Wiser. But for now, hard data is hard to come by.
"We've been tracking the CSP market to some extent," Wiser said. "But we haven't done any analytic studies like we have for photovoltaics."
That means that pesky problems, like transmitting the power from the world's deserts to cities where it's needed and finding ways to store the energy for nighttime usage, remain subject to competing claims.
But while the different solar power plant companies have different approaches, they all agree that deploying any renewable technology is better than building more coal plants.
"The world needs all of these solutions," said Rogan. "One power plant is not going to solve the emissions problems of the world."
Now that the first burst of enthusiasm for social networking has died, people are realizing that web 2.0 is actually a huge time sink.
Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Plaxo may have helped foster community and communication, but they've also added immensely to the flow of often-interruptive messages that their users receive, leading to information overload and possibly a nasty internet addiction.
"We have people calling on a weekly if not daily basis," says Libby Smith, a corporate clinician for the Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery, which helps treat internet addicts. "If somebody engages in the use of an application compulsively, we get calls about it. There isn't one application that's good or bad, but if people are unable or unwilling to stop using it, that's what we look at as a red flag for an intervention."
Counselors who treat "internet addicts" would likely have a heyday at the Web 2.0 Expo, which begins in San Francisco on Tuesday. Ostensibly, the conference is for web designers, marketers and web professionals, but it's definitely weighted toward businesses that claim to help users and publishers harness data, or the web, to improve efficiency and productivity. Some of the scheduled panels include discussions on how to innovate in a timely manner; ways to make e-mail useful; how to create an effective user interface; ways to optimize a site for search engines; and a session on how to build a flash application in three hours.
Indeed, web 2.0 companies are starting to realize the demands they're putting on their users. Unfortunately, many of the solutions aimed at mitigating information overload -- like Facebook's ability to import Flickr, Picasa, Yelp and del.icio.us feeds into its users' news feeds -- only wind up multiplying the amount of news flowing across the screen. Other solutions, like Plaxo's new desktop notifier, add their own pop-up windows to desktops already cluttered with dialog boxes, instant-messaging windows, updates from RSS feed readers, and e-mail notifications.
Web 2.0 Expo exhibitors will have a wide range of collaboration, communication and "data integration" tools on offer, for end-users as well as web developers. All are hoping to capitalize on social networkers' diminishing attention spans by providing ways of cramming more information into less time.
But how to avoid information overload at the conference itself? That could be challenging. There are nearly 250 speakers and co-presenters on the schedule; an estimated 9,000 people are expected to attend; and as many as 25 parties (that we've heard about) are planned for the 4-day event.
The panels are mostly short and sweet (between 45 to 50 minutes long), but the days are packed. There are at least 9 different sessions for every time slot, and possibly more, since there is also a free sister event, "Web 2Open," a parallel unconference which is happening simultaneously. (Attendees can hop over to Web 2Open to submit an idea for a possible panel, and people use their feet to vote on whether the idea is any good.)
In just one time slot (9:40 a.m. on Wednesday), attendees can listen to a discussion about offline applications, led by guys from Google and Adobe; a session on using "personal informatics" to your advantage (with a discussion led by Dopplr and Yahoo representatives); how to integrate web 2.0 into business; ways to choose domain names to maximize traffic; and how to create a coherent social media strategy. And those are just the most interesting sessions during that time slot.
"We looked at the next wave of applications and tried to find some of the underrepresented skills," says Brady Forrest, co-chair of the conference.
Reuters - Stock index futures were little
changed on Wednesday, as robust profits from Boeing Co
helped offset concerns about the health of the financial
sector.
Reuters - General Dynamics Corp said on
Wednesday first-quarter profit rose, helped by sales in combat
systems, marine systems and the aerospace segment.
Reuters - Ambac Financial Group Inc , a
bond insurer that struggled to raise capital earlier this year,
posted a surprisingly wide first-quarter loss on Wednesday
after setting aside $1 billion to cover future payouts on
mortgage bonds.
Reuters - Package delivery company United Parcel
Service Inc reported lower quarterly earnings on
Wednesday, citing a sharp decline in U.S. economic activity,
and cut its earnings forecast for the full year.
Reuters - Delta Air Lines Inc , the No. 3
U.S. carrier, posted a first-quarter loss on Wednesday as high
fuel costs and a weakening economy roil the industry.
Reuters - Microsoft Corp.
is standing by its $44 billion bid for Yahoo Inc
and will "move forward" if it is rejected, Microsoft
Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Wednesday.
AFP - Switzerland's biggest bank UBS, the worst hit of its global banking peers by the US subprime home loan crisis, faces a stormy shareholders' meeting on Wednesday when a new chairman could emerge as the whipping boy.
AP - Gas and oil prices pushed further into record high territory Tuesday, with retail gas reaching a national average of $3.51 for the first time and crude nearing $120 as the dollar fell to a new low against the euro.