The US economy grew at 0.6% in the first quarter of 2008, above analyst expectations. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 30 Apr 2008 | 12:52 pm
International Paper Co. and MeadWestvaco Corp. report results showing the paper and forest-products companies hindered by sharp increases in raw-material and energy costs, more than offsetting sales growth overseas and eating into their profits.
The U.S. economy barely kept its head above water in the first three months of the year, growing at an annual rate of 0.6% on inventory building, export strength and a never-say-die consumer.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures extended gains on Wednesday after the government's initial reading on first-quarter gross domestic product showed a stronger-than-expected rise, easing concerns about economic growth.
The reading for Q1-2008 GDP is out, and it's no real surprise that GDP managed to show a small gain of +0.6% on the advance and preliminary number. Bloomberg had noted a +0.5% Q1 GDP reading as the median expectation, and apparently the range of estimates was -0.8% up to +1.5%. Other sources had +0.6% as the consensus estimates. With the deflator and adjusting for prices, the reading came in at +3.5%, down from +3.9% in Q4-2007 and up from +1.8% in Q1-2007. Spending rose 1.0% in Q1, while Durable Goods were down 6.1%. Non-durable spending was -1.3% and services...
The nation's largest automaker, General Motors Corp., announced a large first-quarter loss Wednesday, due in large part to struggles from its former finance wing GMAC and slumping U.S. car sales.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Procter & Gamble Co on Wednesday posted higher quarterly profit as cost controls helped offset soaring prices for oil and other commodities.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The cost of employing a U.S. worker rose at a slower rate in the first quarter, the Labor Department reported Wednesday, thanks to weaker growth in benefit costs.
The nation's economy continued its sluggish growth in the first quarter, according to a government report Tuesday that showed a slightly better-than-expected gain in economic activity.
AP - The bruised economy limped through the first quarter of this year at a six-tenths of a percentage point growth rate as housing and credit problems forced people and businesses alike to hunker down.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The economy grew at a slightly stronger pace than forecast as 2008 began, helped by inventory-building that tempered a steadily deteriorating housing sector and less vigorous consumer spending.
Enthusiasm was curtailed as traders hung on the Federal Reserve's next moves on interest rates. Data showed the U.S. economy barely kept its head above water in the first three months of the year, growing at an annual rate of 0.6% on inventory building, export strength and a never-say-die consumer.
TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Israeli stocks gave up morning gains to fall for a fourth day, led by another drop in Israel Chemicals and Makhteshim-Agan and highlighted as well by a jump in AudioCodes shares and a rise in Teva.
There may be one of the stranger mergers out there today in Internet land, as United Online, Inc. (NASDAQ: UNTD) is acquiring FTD Group, Inc. (NYSE: FTD) in a merger valued at some $800 million. FTD shareholders will receive $7.34 in cash, 0.4087 shares of United common stock per FTD share, and $3.31 principal amount of United Online in 13% senior secured notes due in 2013. This total consideration, before any share change in UNTD will equate to $15.08 (based upon $10.83 United share price. This furthermore comes to an total consideration received of $456 million to FTD, composed of...
The carmaker reported a first-quarter loss due to a costly supplier strike, waning demand for its most profitable vehicles and charges related to struggling former subsidiaries Source: FT.com - US homepage | 30 Apr 2008 | 12:30 pm
Household-products giant Procter & Gamble reports its quarterly net income rose nearly 8% from a year ago, boosted in part by cost controls and higher grooming sales.
No news isn't always good news. Three days have passed since the expiration of Microsoft's deadline for Yahoo to accept its buyout offer or face a hostile takeover.
New measures will improve consumer choice and protect suppliers, the Competition Commission says. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 30 Apr 2008 | 12:27 pm
The Scotch Whisky Association says whisky exports reached a record level of £2.8bn last year. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 30 Apr 2008 | 12:26 pm
DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp on Wednesday posted a first-quarter loss due to a costly supplier strike, waning demand for its most profitable vehicles and charges related to struggling former subsidiaries, although results beat Wall Street expectations.
Tesco is in talks to sell its online property business to a chain of estate agents, the BBC learns. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 30 Apr 2008 | 12:19 pm
Reuters - General Motors Corp on Wednesday
posted a first-quarter loss due to a costly supplier strike,
waning demand for its most profitable vehicles and charges
related to struggling former subsidiaries, although results
beat Wall Street expectations.
Stocks futures edged lower early Wednesday as investors awaited a rate decision from the Federal Reserve and a flurry of corporate earnings and economic reports.
President Mubarak proposes a salary increase of 30% for public sector employees to compensate for recent price increases. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 30 Apr 2008 | 12:12 pm
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Kellogg Co , the world's largest breakfast cereal maker, on Wednesday, posted higher-than expected profits as price increases helped offset soaring commodity costs.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - IAC/InterActiveCorp , which plans to spin off four of its largest units, said on Wednesday its quarterly profit fell from a year ago, hurt by declines at its catalog business and a loss at online mortgage site LendingTree.
Reuters - Stock index futures were little
changed on Wednesday before data that could show whether the
economy was headed into a recession and a Federal Reserve
decision on interest rates.
Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) posted first quarter earnings that were off the mark. The GPS leader posted a profit gain of 6% to $147.8 million, or $0.69 EPS, on revenues of $663.8 million. First Call had estimates at $0.75 EPS on $705.1 million. The company generated $166 million in free cash flow during Q1-2008, and it ended with cash and marketable securities balance of $1.2 billion. Overall gross margins remained stronger than expected as its automobile margins remained flat, marine gross margin rose by 9 points and outdoor/fitness and aviation remained stable. This note from the release here shows a...
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Procter & Gamble Co on Wednesday posted higher quarterly profit as cost controls helped offset soaring prices for oil and other commodities. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 11:48 am
Reuters - UK gas producer BG Group Plc has
made a $12 billion bid approach to Origin Energy Ltd, seeking
to bolster its position in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific gas
market by securing the Australian utility's gas reserves.
General Motors Corp. struggled to a $3.3 billion first-quarter loss, due in part to a weak U.S. market, a strike at a major supplier and plummeting sales of sport utility vehicles and... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 11:46 am
PERTH/LONDON (Reuters) - UK gas producer BG Group Plc has made a $12 billion bid approach to Origin Energy Ltd, seeking to bolster its position in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific gas market by securing the Australian utility's gas reserves.
This is indeed a concern and we will tackle it." That was SEC chairman Christopher Cox's handwritten note to a senator worried that companies were retaliating against analysts who produced research critical of them.
OfficeMax says its first-quarter profit climbed 9 percent, helped by a gain from its investment in Boise Cascade. The Naperville, Ill.-based office supply retailer says net income ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 11:45 am
Food and drinks maker Kraft Foods Inc. says its first-quarter profit fell 13 percent, compared with the 2007 quarter which included a one- time benefit related to the Altria spinoff. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 11:45 am
Procter & Gamble says its third quarter profit rose 8 percent as cost controls and price increases helped offset higher commodity costs. The Cincinnati-based consumer product maker said Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 11:41 am
General Motors Corp. struggled to a $3.3 billion first-quarter loss, due in part to a weak U.S. market, a strike at a major supplier and plummeting sales of sport utility vehicles and... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 11:38 am
Analysts believe the deal could generate up to $4bn in cash for the US media group, which reported first-quarter earnings that narrowly missed expectations because of falling sales at its AOL internet division Source: FT.com - US homepage | 30 Apr 2008 | 11:37 am
These are not the only analyst calls affecting shares today, but these are ten of the calls that we are focusing on this Wednesday morning: Angiotech Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ANPI) raised to Outperform at RBC Capital Markets. BP plc (NYSE: BP) raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse. CBS (NYSE: CBS) downgraded to Market Perform at Wachovia; Raised to Hold at Citigroup. James River Coal (NYSE: JRCC) raised to Buy at UBS. MEMC Electronics (NYSE: WFR) downgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan. SAVVIS (NASDAQ: SVVS) downgraded to Hold at Jefferies and downgraded to Equal-Weight at Lehman. Smith & Nephew (NYSE: SNN) raised to...
Jeff Bewkes, who became chief executive of Time Warner in January, wants to turn the sluggish conglomerate into a more efficient, content-focused media giant in an effort to revive a moribund stock price.
The first big step came today as Bewkes announced that Time Warner would completely separate its cable business, giving up its 84 percent stake in Time Warner Cable.
"We've decided that a complete structural separation of Time Warner Cable, under the right circumstances, is in the best interests of both companies' shareholders," Bewkes said.
The cable business has been a strong performer. In the first quarter, cable service revenue climbed 8 percent.
Paul Greene, media analyst at T. Rowe Price Associates, told Bloomberg News: If you separate out cable, the content business is cheap. If they get cash from cable and use that to buy back shares of the parent company, that's very accretive.''
The other main element of a structural overhaul at Time Warner will be a decision on AOL. The company has talked to Yahoo about a possible merger with AOL, but that outcome seems unlikely. A sale of AOL is possible, but made difficult by the continued deterioration in its subscription business. AOL subscription revenue tumbled 38 percent in the quarter.
AOL again was a drag on Time Warner's first-quarter earnings, which fell 36 percent from the quarter a year ago.
The company earned $771 million, or 21 cents per share, from $1.2 billion, or 30 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter when Time Warner had gains from the sale of AOL's internet business in Europe and from the dissolution of a partnership with Comcast.
Overall revenue rose 2 percent, to $11.4 led by gains in cable, television networks and films.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc plans to split off its cable services division to lift its sluggish stock price as it also reported quarterly earnings on Wednesday that fell just short of Wall Street's expectations.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc plans to split off its cable services division to lift its sluggish stock price as it also reported quarterly earnings on Wednesday that fell just... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 11:29 am
The US central bank is likely to cut rates to 2% later, but inflation risks mean this may be the last cut for a while. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 30 Apr 2008 | 11:25 am
DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp on Wednesday posted a first-quarter loss due to a costly supplier strike, waning demand for its most profitable vehicles and charges related... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 11:22 am
GM (GM) revised its outlook for US car sales in 2008 down to 15 million. But, results moved the shares up 5%. GM revenue dropped less than 1% to $42.7 billion. Auto earnings before 2007 adjustments moved up slightly to $392 million. But, the reported results for the first quarter of 2008 include unfavorable special items totaling $2.9 billion. The charges include $1.45 billion to record a non-cash partial impairment of our equity investment in GMAC. GM North America revenue for the first quarter 2008 was $24.5 billion, compared to $28.1 billion in the year-ago period. The decline in GMNA...
EMI, the private equity-owned music group that is home to Coldplay and Lenny
Kravitz, is considering offloading its pension fund and has held talks with
Paternoster, Goldman Sachs and the Pension Corporation as potential new
owners, The Times has learnt. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 30 Apr 2008 | 11:18 am
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Kraft Foods Inc on Wednesday posted a lower quarterly profit, hit by rising ingredient and commodity costs and spending on new products and marketing, although sales... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 11:14 am
SAP disappointed investors on Wednesday with weak first-quarter results and a delay in the roll-out of new software for medium-sized businesses, which had formed the basis of much of its growth plans... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 11:14 am
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Power company Constellation Energy Group Inc on Wednesday posted quarterly earnings that fell well short of Wall Street forecasts on weaker profits from its merchant... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 11:10 am
General Motors Corp. says it lost $3.3 billion in the first quarter as strong overseas growth was dragged down by a strike at supplier American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. and weak U.S. sales.
Time Warner Inc. said its first-quarter profit fell 36% to $771 million, or 21 cents a share, from $1.2 billion, or 31 cents a share, in 2007. Results in the year-earlier quarter were boosted by asset... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 11:02 am
Time Warner Inc. said its first-quarter profit fell 36% to $771 million, or 21 cents a share, from $1.2 billion, or 31 cents a share, in 2007. Results in the year-earlier quarter were boosted by asset sales.
AP - British gas company BG Group PLC has bid $12.1 billion in cash for Australian electricity retailer and oil and gas producer Origin Energy Ltd. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 30 Apr 2008 | 10:53 am
Dubai has told the EU that it will not sign any pacts which restrict how and where it will invest in the region. It considers the request a form a discrimination. To point a point on it, Dubai can refrain from investing in Europe if it cannot do so on reasonable terms. The FT writes that the head of Dubai World, the nation's sovereign fund said “People who have money to invest, if they hear that somebody’s going to discriminate against them, they wouldn’t go [there]." Douglas A. McIntyre
Home Retail Group today sparked fresh fears about a worsening consumer
slowdown after warning that its Homebase DIY chain had made a weaker than
expected start to the year. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 30 Apr 2008 | 10:47 am
Markets in Europe were down modestly. The FTSE fell .7% to 6,044. Barclays (BCS) was down 3.2% to 445.5. The DAXX was off .4% to 6,859. BMW was down 2.1% to 34.30. SAP (SAP) was off 4.6% to 31.53 The CAC 40 fell .6% to 4,948. Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) was off 7.8% to 4.16. Data from Reuters. Douglas A. McIntyre
The Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation says that the government is not doing enough to help the housing market. In a piece written for the FT by Sheila Bair, she argues that "The US should fight the housing crisis by using low-cost government loans to help borrowers pay down unaffordable mortgages". "These loans, which would be interest-free for the first five years, would be used to pay down part of the existing mortgage." It may take more than that to bring the housing market back. Douglas A. McIntyre
Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) hit the market with more bad news. For the quarter ended March 31, the company reported a net loss of €181 million, compared with an €8 million loss a year earlier. Worse, the company said that there are more bad times coming. According to The Wall Street Journal the company "expects revenue to fall 2% to 5% in 2008 due to the weak dollar and potential lower spending by operators." ALU now losses more money and downgrades it forecasts every quarter. How does CEO Pat Russo keep her job? Douglas A. McIntyre
Mining companies pulled the FTSE 100 under on Wednesday after a first quarter production update from Kazakhmys disappointed. The benchmark index fell 0.8 per cent to 6,036.0. Mid-cap financial stocks... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 10:28 am
Sterling fell to a two-week low against the dollar on Wednesday as gloomy data heightened the prospects that the Bank of England would have to cut UK interest rates to head off a slowdown in the economy... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 10:25 am
Microsoft (MSFT) may decide to pay $1.5 billion in payments to retain key employees at Yahoo!. (YHOO). According to Reuters "The $1.5 billion figure was discussed in a communication between the general counsels of Microsoft and Yahoo." No wonder Redmond does not want to raise its bid. Douglas A. McIntyre
House prices across the nation are now falling year-on-year for the first time in more than a decade, the Nationwide Building Society said today. Source: Telegraph Business | 30 Apr 2008 | 10:20 am
House prices across the nation are now falling year-on-year for the first time in more than a decade, the Nationwide Building Society said today. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 10:20 am
The SFO's former head says he was surprised by the High Court ruling it was wrong to end a BAE corruption probe. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 30 Apr 2008 | 10:19 am
Nationwide house prices fell 1.1pc in April, the sixth successive monthly decline on this measure, and twice as large a drop as City forecasters expected. Residential property prices are now below year-earlier... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 10:19 am
Nationwide house prices fell 1.1pc in April, the sixth successive monthly decline on this measure, and twice as large a drop as City forecasters expected. Residential property prices are now below year-earlier levels on three of the main house price indices (Nationwide, Halifax and Hometrack). Source: Telegraph Business | 30 Apr 2008 | 10:19 am
Asia’s largest sovereign wealth fund (SWF) is poised to exploit shattered
share prices around the world and may be planning a buying spree of European
and Wall Street banking titans. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 30 Apr 2008 | 10:16 am
Population growth, shrinking world grain stocks and a growing appetite for meat, particularly in the developing world, have collided with a shortage of fertilizer. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 10:06 am
Japan cuts its growth forecast amid continuing worries about the impact of the US slowdown on global markets. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 30 Apr 2008 | 10:02 am
Much has been said about what the Federal Reserve will do today, but only one thing is certain: No one will be happy about it.
Federal Reserve policymakers are widely expected to end their two-day meeting with another quarter-point cut in interest. And investors will probably be satisfied with that.
It is the accompanying statement that is sure to disappoint.
"This is a case where words are going to speak louder than action," David Rosenberg, the Merrill Lynch economist, said.
The Fed is likely to signal that it is done with cutting rates for now—an expectation that gained widespread currency after Greg Ip of the Wall Street Journalreported last week that policymakers were shifting to such a view.
The Fed is apparently worried about creating expectations of easier credit that will fuel a fire already building in inflation. In speeches and testimony in recent months, Ben Bernanke, the Fed chairman, and other Fed officials have noted their concerns about rising energy and food costs, and they clearly see a need to tamp down that momentum given that it takes five months before a rate cut works its way through the economy.
Indeed, a small number of analysts have suggested that the Fed could even surprize the market and not cut rates at all today.
In its aggressive rate cuts earlier this year, the Fed said that the housing slump and the stability of the credit markets and their threat to economic growth outweighed concerns over inflation.
Yet that threat—illustrated by more grim housing data this week and by forecasts that banks will need to take additional write-downs and raise more capital—is still present. Many investors will see the Fed statement as abandoning a fight before victory is anywhere in sight.
At the same time, investors and analysts who have accused the Fed of being too accommodating to the markets and not paying enough attention to inflation may not be satisfied by a gradual shift toward a more hawkish stance.
As Barry Ritholtz on the Big Picture blog has noted, the growing body of evidence that inflation is anything but modest is "beginning to undermine confidence in the Federal Reserve."
To be sure, the Fed will want to indicate that it is keeping all its options open, by pointing to continued risks to growth.
A quarter-point cut would bring the Fed's benchmark, its target for the federal funds rate, to 2 percent, the lowest it has been since December 2004. In September, that benchmark was at 5.25 percent.
The crucial thing for the central bank is to persuade the markets that it is ahead of the curve.
Brian Sack, a former Fed economist now with Macroeconomic Advisers, said the surprisingly sharp rate cuts in January was intended "to convince markets that the Fed was on the job."
"Now you could be seeing the opposite," he said, according to the Wall Street Journal's Real Time Economics blog.
Reuters - The Federal Reserve is expected to
cut interest rates by a modest quarter percentage point on
Wednesday and may suggest the rate-cutting cycle it kicked off
last fall has reached an end.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates by a modest quarter percentage point on Wednesday and may suggest the rate-cutting cycle it kicked off last fall has reached an end.
Consumer confidence in the States continues to show alarming weakness as yesterday's number came in at just 62.3. Of course this index has some quite strange component parts as it is heavily weighted by the 'perception' of woe or joy rather than their actuality. If all you hear on TV or read in the newspapers is dire news of this or that, it is quite difficult to state that you, personally, are 'confident' in your outlook. It is this 'talking into a recession' by the fourth state that annoys retailers and industry leaders; journalistic defence might be that there is a story in disaster but none at all in slow, steady growth. Source: Telegraph Business | 30 Apr 2008 | 9:40 am
Consumer confidence in the States continues to show alarming weakness as yesterday's number came in at just 62.3. Of course this index has some quite strange component parts as it is heavily weighted by... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 9:40 am
Shanghai stood out among generally dreary Asia-Pacific stock markets on Wednesday, rallying nearly 5 per cent on the back of buoyant results from Ping An Insurance.Shanghai's composite index surged 4.8... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 9:21 am
The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to lower rates to 2pc this evening, although the move is likely to be more about confidence shoring rather than a boost to the economy. Source: Telegraph Business | 30 Apr 2008 | 9:20 am
The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to lower rates to 2pc this evening, although the move is likely to be more about confidence shoring rather than a boost to the economy. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Apr 2008 | 9:20 am
Silverjet, the last business class-only airline flying from Britain, has
secured a $25 million ($£12.6 million) lifeline from a Middle Eastern
investor to keep it operating for at least the rest of this year. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 30 Apr 2008 | 8:30 am
House prices across the nation are now falling year-on-year for the first time in more than a decade, the Nationwide Building Society said today. Source: Telegraph Business | 30 Apr 2008 | 8:20 am
Since joining the industry over thirty years ago, I have witnessed major scientific advances that have led to the research and development of innovative medicines to treat many diseases including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, thrombosis, diseases of the central nervous system and even the first vaccine designed to prevent cancer. Source: Telegraph Business | 30 Apr 2008 | 8:12 am
The government should introduce tougher rules to protect supermarket suppliers and create a "supermarket Tsar" to oversee their relationship with retailers. Source: Telegraph Business | 30 Apr 2008 | 8:10 am
British Sky Broadcasting has shrugged off a difficult consumer climate to add
56,000 new customers in the first three months of the year, and said that it
remains on track to reach its target of 10 million by 2010. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 30 Apr 2008 | 8:09 am
A majority of consumers believe that Willie Walsh, the chief executive of
British Airways, should resign over the chaotic opening of Heathrow's
Terminal 5, an exclusive survey for The Times has revealed. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 30 Apr 2008 | 7:50 am
UK oil and gas group BG has made an unsolicited takeover offer for Origin Energy that values Australia's second-largest electricity and gas retailer at $12bn Source: FT.com - US homepage | 30 Apr 2008 | 7:49 am
UK energy firm BG offers 13bn Australian dollars ($12.1bn; £6.2bn) for Australia's Origin Energy. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 30 Apr 2008 | 7:25 am
Nationwide's measure of house prices has suffered its first annual fall in 12
years and the pace of monthly decline is increasing, Britain's largest
building society reported today. The last time house prices fell
year-on-year was March 1996. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 30 Apr 2008 | 7:07 am
Investors exercise caution. Policymakers are expected to cut a key interest rate to 2% from 2.25%.
Wall Street turned in a mixed performance Tuesday as investors remained cautious as they awaited the Federal Reserve's decision today on interest rates.
After years of piling up debt and neglecting to save, Americans are reining in their free-spending ways -- which could signal a long road ahead.
For a generation, Americans snapped up clothes tailored to every demographic, bought the latest sport utility vehicles and piled on the wide-screen TVs.
Cynics might wonder how dedicated the company is to a wholesale transformation of the system when it's doing so well under the current regime.
This is Cover the Uninsured Week, which is a good time to remind ourselves of the shameful statistic that 47 million Americans -- 16% of the population -- lack health insurance.
UK house prices are now falling year-on-year for the first time in more than a decade, Nationwide Building Society warned today. Source: Telegraph Business | 30 Apr 2008 | 6:50 am
Reuters - Microsoft Corp has
considered earmarking $1.5 billion to retain Yahoo Inc
employees if it acquires the company, according to court
documents in a shareholder suit filed against Yahoo.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp has considered earmarking $1.5 billion to retain Yahoo Inc employees if it acquires the company, according to court documents in a shareholder suit filed against Yahoo.
The Competition Commission was today attacked for “going nowhere near far
enough” in tackling the dominance of Britain’s biggest supermarkets as it
unveiled the findings of a two-year investigation into the sector. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 30 Apr 2008 | 6:27 am
BG Group today made an unsolicited A$12.9 billion ($£6.1 billion) takeover bid
for Australia’s second-biggest energy retailer as it seeks to tap into
soaring Asian demand for gas. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 30 Apr 2008 | 5:58 am
Facing high gasoline and food prices, many motorists are holding off on expensive jobs. They may pay the price later.
L.A. social worker Cathie Capp knew her teenage son's 1992 Toyota pickup needed work. Whether she could afford the $1,500 repair bill was another matter.
It's an uncommonly bright day in Pacifica, California, the often fog-bound beach town just south of San Francisco where tech-guru and Wired magazine maverick editor Kevin Kelly is showing me his DNA. And I'm showing him mine.
Welcome to the new world of genetic voyeurism, where those of us who are DNA curious can now peek inside another person's double helix and glimpse his or her DNA.
I'm Doomed. Or Not. Part 2: Commercial genetic tests tell me I have high, medium, and low risk for heart attack. What gives?
Kevin and I are perusing our results on 23andMe and DeCodeMe, online genetic testing sites that have analyzed our DNA and posted our results on password-protected Web pages. We check out risk factors for everything from heart attack to diabetes, comparing our disease results, me using my laptop and Kevin checking two giant flat-screen monitors.
Kevin, who writes the The Quantified Self blog, is typically gung-ho about this new technology and information, but admits to being underwhelmed so far. "I'm not learning that much about myself," he says, but believes this will change. "It's like the first personal computers or fax machines."
I was able to get these tests gratis as a journalist or paid for by my publication, but Kevin is an actual customer. He paid nearly $1,000 each for 23andMe and DeCodeMe. "This is too expensive for what you get," he tells me, though he points out that the first PCs cost $4,000 or $5,000.
Kevin and I are both relatively clear of scary secrets in terms of diseases hidden in our genes, though if you read my last column, you'll see that I might have a high risk for heart attack—or not, depending on which company one is to believe.
I'll let Kevin reveal what he wants to about his results for disease; what I'd like to share right now is how we came out on those genetic variations that might be called recreational, or just plain bizarre. These include gene markers for wet or dry earwax, the sprinter's gene, and a marker that increases one's chance of becoming a heroin addict.
I'm not kidding. Skip ahead to the chart of results below, and you'll see that Kevin and I both are at high risk of drug addiction, according to a 2004 study conducted in Sweden. Here is what 23andMe says about this test:
In the brain, heroin is converted to morphine, an opioid painkiller. Morphine acts by signaling through a receptor encoded by the gene OPRM1. Different versions of the OPRM1 gene are thought to affect how much morphine one needs to feel a given effect. This study of 139 heroin-addicts (primarily Swedes) and 170 non-addicts found that people with one or two copies of the G version of the SNP rs1799971 have almost 2.9 times the odds of being a heroin addict.
Here is how Kevin's results are presented on his 23andMe site:
A 2.9 times normal risk factor is relatively high, though even 23andMe gives the validity of this data only two stars (out of four) because the researchers tested only about 300 people. That gives these results a very low statistical power to predict whether others, such as Kevin and myself, will really become addicts. 23andMe calls such findings "preliminary." Which makes one wonder why such a test is even included. 23andMe offers the following caveat:
Preliminary Research
This is a Preliminary Research topic, and includes results of studies that still need to be confirmed by the scientific community. It also includes topics where there may be contradictory evidence. The results of these studies are not conclusive.
Just for the record, Kevin and I are not addicted to heroin.
Most of these "fun" or oddball traits appear only on 23andMe, which features results for 60 genetic traits, compared with 26 for DeCodeMe and 17 for Navigenics (these numbers vary slightly according to sex).
23andMe has close ties to Google and tends to treat nearly all genetic results as equal—that is, they list and describe ear wax right there with age-related macular degeneration and colorectal cancer. Each of 60 traits they offer are accompanied by detailed information about the trait, studies, risk factors, and links to more information.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is Navigenics, which offers only information on medical conditions—no bitter taste or heroin addiction. In between the two is DeCodeMe, which offers mostly disease information, but throws in some recreational results—bitter taste, for instance.
23andMe and DeCodeMe also provide results for ancestral data that traces customer's genetic lineage back to migration patterns of early humans coming out of Africa 50,000 years ago and spreading out to Asia, the Americas, Oceania, and Europe.
DeCodeMe tracked my DNA to the most common markers for western Europeans, with the closest ethnic association through my father (my Y chromosome) connecting me to Scotland – where my ancestors do come from.
Through my mother (my mitochondrial DNA) I am also associated with a band of humans that emerged in Europe 15,000 years ago. Luminaries from this haplogroup—a cluster of people sharing similar ancestral patterns of DNA—include St. Luke, Marie Antoinette, and Warren Buffett.
Kevin, who is of Irish ancestry, belongs to the same "tribe" as I do through our fathers, but his mother's lineage links him with a group that also includes Kurds, Druze, and Ashkenazi Jews.
For many other attributes, Kevin and I tested the same, for better or for worse. Both of us have a high probability of having blue eyes and for being lactose tolerant, things we knew even without a genetic test.
DNA Traits Comparison: David Ewing Duncan and Kevin Kelly
Trait
Gene Marker
Risk
DED
KK
Risk-Factor
Alcohol Flush*
rs671
A
GG
GG
Normal/No Flush
Avoiding errors
rs1800497
A
GG
GG
Learns to avoid errors
Blue Eyes*
rs12913832
G
GG
GG
Blue Eyes
Bitter Taste*
rs713598
C
CC
CG
No Bitter Taste / Bitter Taste
Caffeine Metabolizer
rs762551
C
AA
AC
Fast / Slow
Earwax
rs17822931
C
CC
CC
Wet
Heroin Addiction
rs1799971
G
AG
AG
Substantially Higher Risk
Endurance (or Sprint)
rs1815739
T
TT
CT
High Endurance / Sprinter
Intelligence
rs363050
G
GG
GG
Lower IQ (3 points)
Lactose Intolerance*
rs4988235
G
AG
AA
Lactose Tolerant
Novelty Seeking**
rs6280
T
CT
TT
Med Risk-Taking/High Risk
All Traits are from 23andme.com, except: *Also on deCodeme.com **Not on either site
Also, neither of us have a variation that causes some people to get flushed cheeks when they drink alcohol, and both of us have a proclivity to learn from our mistakes—a useful thing for writers and geneticists.
Less attractive is a DNA marker linking us to a reduction of three points in our IQ scores, whatever that means.
We diverge, however, on a marker for risk taking—Kevin is a bigger risk-taker. He also has a gene marker often found in sprinters, while I have the version of the same marker associated with athletic endurance.
Then there is one of my favorites—a marker associated with rapid caffeine metabolism (as I suck down another latte). I have a genetic variation linked with being able to drink coffee all day with no added risk of heart attack. Poor Kevin has a variant that links caffeine consumption to an increased risk of heart attack. (If heroin doesn't get him, a double espresso will.)
About half of these traits get 23andMe's top 4-star rating, though even this rating includes studies with only 1,000 people tested to make a link between a genetic marker and a trait or disease. Most geneticists consider a test group of only 1,000 people to have a low statistical strength compared with studies in which thousands or tens of thousands of subjects tested.
Analyzing too few people means that random outliers—those who have or don't have a gene or disease—can overly influence the results by causing the risk factors to be too low or too high. Imagine polling 100 people in Harlingen, Texas, about their choice for president: You would get a skewed result compared with a test in a larger or more statistically relevant population.
23andMe's rating criteria:
Established Research
These topics meet our criteria for findings that are very likely to reflect real effects.
4-stars: At least two studis that xamined more than 1,000 people with the trait/condition, or smaller studies where there is a consensus that the effect is real.
Preliminary Research
Includes results of studies that still need to be confirmed by the scientific community.
3-stars: More than 1,000 people with the trait/condition were studied. However, the effect has not yet been confirmed in a second independent study of similar size.
2-stars:Fewer than 1,000 people with the trait/condition were studied.
1-star:Fewer than 100 people with the trait/condition were studied.
"I am interested in finding out how to quantify who I am as an individual," Kevin tells me, "that's why I'm doing this. It's not useful if this information is incomplete or inaccurate, but the best way to fix this is with more and better information."
None of the sites are saying how many people are paying $1,000 (the price that 23andMe and DeCodeMe charge) or $2,500 (Navigenics) and getting their results, though I suspect it's not a huge number. Some people argue that genetics now are where cell phones were in the mid-1980s: Remember how rare it was then to see someone using one of the first clunky mobile phones? Then phones got smaller, sleeker, and more useful, and now they're practically ubiquitous.
One's genes, though, are not cell phones or computers, they are part of what makes us who we are, and can give us clues to how we will live and die. That's why it's crucial to get this right.
Next week (the fourth and final part of this series): Why the online genetic testing companies are important.
A seemingly generous takeover proposal for Origin Energy of Australia, 51 per cent of Contact Energy, sent shares in the New Zealand company soaring to record levels today.
Origin, Australia's second biggest electricity and gas... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 30 Apr 2008 | 3:45 am
The Warehouse's venture into the grocery trade would have no real effect on the market because of the existing vigorous competition between the two major supermarket chains, the Court of Appeal was told today.
Counsel for Woolworths,... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 30 Apr 2008 | 3:31 am
Business confidence improved a little in the National Bank's April survey, though pessimists still outnumber optimists by nearly seven to one.
A net 55 per cent of respondents to the survey expect general business conditions to... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 30 Apr 2008 | 3:25 am
Air New Zealand is putting up domestic fares for the second time in six weeks due to record jet fuel prices.
The cost of domestic fares will rise by an average of three per cent for travel booked from May 6.
Trans-Tasman fares... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 30 Apr 2008 | 12:45 am
Standard and Poor's said it had upgraded its rating for Geneva Finance to CCC from CC after debenture holders voted for a NZ$23 million equity injection plan on Monday, but that it had kept the outlook on negative given a challenging... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 30 Apr 2008 | 12:30 am
The Government's proposed carbon emissions trading scheme has been criticised from yet another quarter - with a leading economics group now saying the plan will damage our economy more than necessary.
The New Zealand Institute... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 30 Apr 2008 | 12:00 am
A visibly angry Barack Obama all but disowned Jeremiah Wright, his former pastor, whose ever more provocative comments are believed to have dented the Illinois senator's hopes of securing the Democratic party's presidential nomination Source: FT.com - US homepage | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:33 pm
Building consent numbers tumbled by nearly a third last month compared to March 2007, figures published today by Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) show.
In March this year, consents were authorised for 1567 new units, a decrease of... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:30 pm
Nine weeks ago a senior official at HBOS remarked that the world would have to
end for the bank to cut its dividend. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
Shares in kids clothing retailer Pumpkin Patch continued to fall today despite it being tipped as a takeover target.
Analysts quoted in today's Independent Financial Review said the stock had been so heavily sold as a result... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
NZF Group, formerly NZ Finance, has increased its reliance on bank funding as its debenture funding dropped to NZ$65.8 million from NZ$80.5 million a year ago.
The NZX-listed finance company has reported operating profit rose 9.8... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 29 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm
The US should fight the housing crisis by using low-cost government loans to help borrowers pay down unaffordable mortgages, Sheila Bair, one of the country's top banking regulators, proposes Source: FT.com - US homepage | 29 Apr 2008 | 10:57 pm
The sharemarket took its lead from Wall Street today, continuing to fall, albeit on a more gentle gradient than yesterday.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index, down 1 per cent yesterday, was off another 8.2 points to 3597.4 at 10.15am... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 29 Apr 2008 | 10:45 pm
One of the most powerful Gulf investors has warned that European attempts to force greater transparency on sovereign wealth funds are making the continent unattractive for investment Source: FT.com - US homepage | 29 Apr 2008 | 10:32 pm
The Federal Reserve could use proposed new regulatory powers to try to stop credit and asset market excesses from reaching the point where they threaten economic stability Source: FT.com - US homepage | 29 Apr 2008 | 10:23 pm
Citigroup announces plans to issue $3bn (£1.5) of new shares to bolster its financial position. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 29 Apr 2008 | 10:22 pm
President Bush was firmly on message today in a Rose Garden press conference: It's a slowdown, not a recession... He'd love to lower gas prices, but Congress is standing in the way. Bob Moon and Kai Ryssdal examine what the president said and didn't say. Source: Marketplace | 29 Apr 2008 | 8:43 pm
In Europe, utilities pay people who provide green energy for the power grid. But everyone else foots the bill for those payments. There's talk about doing the same thing in the U.S. Can Americans afford another surcharge on their energy bills? Lisa Desai reports. Source: Marketplace | 29 Apr 2008 | 8:42 pm
Kai concentrates on collected comments concerning coverage of computers, commercials, concrete and college costs. Source: Marketplace | 29 Apr 2008 | 8:42 pm
Speculators armed with subprime or adjustable-rate loans flooded the condominium market a couple of years ago. Now, many are in trouble, and other residents in their condo communities are paying the price. Dan Grech reports. Source: Marketplace | 29 Apr 2008 | 8:42 pm
A $3 billion plan to revitalize downtown Los Angeles has been pushed back due to the credit crunch. Lisa Napoli reports on what it means when commercial real estate developers can't develop real estate. Source: Marketplace | 29 Apr 2008 | 8:42 pm
The Federal Open Market Committee is in the middle of a two-day meeting on interest rates. Chances are good that tomorrow the federal funds rate will be trimmed again, despite worries about rising prices. John Dimsdale reports. Source: Marketplace | 29 Apr 2008 | 8:42 pm
The Discovery Channel just started the third season of its hit show "Deadliest Catch," a wild ride with crab fishermen on the Bering Sea. Kai Ryssdal talks with the two stars, brothers Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand. Source: Marketplace | 29 Apr 2008 | 8:42 pm
President George W. Bush attacked Democratic-controlled Congress for blocking measures to increase domestic oil production and refining capacity Source: FT.com - US homepage | 29 Apr 2008 | 6:23 pm
NEW YORK -- As headlines about a struggling economy pour in, parents worried about their wallets are waiting longer to register their children for summer camp and more are asking for financial aid.
Sumner Redstone often appears not to like anybody, so the praise he lavished today on Les Moonves is a clear signal that the CBS chief's job is secure for some time.
"There is no one, no one, that I would rather have at the helm of CBS than Les Moonves," Redstone said in a conference call, after CBS reported a 14 percent rise in quarterly earnings.
That is extraordinary attention from Redstone, who in the past has seemed to resent the limelight that executives like Mel Karmazin basked in while serving under him. And he has been impatient with executives. He abruptly replaced Tom Freston and Frank Biondi and ultimately forced out Karmazin.
CBS's quarterly gain, which was higher than forecasts, was the result of higher syndication sales from the CSI franchise in overseas markets. Syndication sales from Everybody Loves Raymond also helped results. CBS also owns Showtime, Simon & Schuster, and radio stations.
Speculation about Moonves has been growing as questions mount about the fate of Katie Couric, the CBS Evening News anchor. Two weeks ago, the news program had its worst five days of ratings in its history.
But the strong showing by the television business of CBS, formed by the split of Viacom, makes amends for the uncertainty over the high-profile news division.
"It shows CBS is holding its own despite the recessionary advertising environment in the U.S.,'' Fred Moran, an analyst with the Stanford Group in Boca Raton, Florida, told Bloomberg News.
House prices are falling throughout the country, and a growing glut of homes, on top of a recessionary economy and tight credit, threatens to weaken them even further.
The slide in prices accelerated in February, according to the latest Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index.
The index for 20 housing markets fell 12.7 percent from a year ago and 2.6 percent from January. Its index of 10 metro markets slumped a record 13.6 percent from a year ago.
All 20 markets were down in February from January, and only Charlotte, North Carolina, was up (just 1.5 percent) from a year ago. Ten of the 20 had double-digit annual declines.
"There is no sign of a bottom in the numbers," said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor's.
Prices will continued to be pressured as more homes come on the market through foreclosures.
RealtyTrac, an online real-estate-data company, reported that foreclosure filings more than doubled in the first quarter of 2008 from a year ago and rose 23 percent from the last three months of 2007.
"Foreclosure activity in the first quarter increased on a year-over-year basis in 46 out of the 50 states and in 90 of the nation's 100 largest metro areas, demonstrating that most regions of the country are seeing more foreclosures," said James Saccacio, chief executive of RealtyTrac.
Census Bureau data on Monday showed the number of vacant homes in the United States grew by one million, to a record 18.6 million.
"I don't think we're anywhere near a bottom in housing,'' Eli Broad, the co-founder of KB Home, told Bloomberg TV. "We're going to have a big inventory of unsold, unoccupied homes that's going to take three or four years to clear out.''
Perhaps the most searing image of the housing crisis is that of the "walk away"—homeowners, crushed by the burden of a mortgage much greater than the value of their house, who just walk away and abandon their homes.
Break the mortgage contract. Put the keys in the mail. See ya!
This behavior has been highlighted on 60 Minutes: A couple was shown ready to abandon their $350,000 two-bedroom home. It has also been noted by the Wall Street Journaland the New York Times. And on Capitol Hill, Senator Barack Obama cited walk aways in introducing legislation intended to tackle the larger housing crisis.
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Yet even as the housing market slumps and the number of foreclosures rises, the idea that there has been a spike in walk aways across the nation may be more rhetorical than real.
Walk aways "are not going to be anywhere near as large as most people think," said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance. "Lenders are not going to forget about you."
Homeowners whose homes are "underwater"—worth less than their mortgages—are more likely to be deed the properties back to lenders rather than cutting off all ties and walking away, said Rick Sharga, vice president for marketing at RealtyTrac, a foreclosure-data provider.
"There is less of a blatant walk away and more of a hand-shake deal between the lenders and the homeowners," Sharga said. In these cases, known as deeds in lieu of foreclosure, the lender takes possession of the property and has no further recourse to go after lost funds. This arrangement, while still not ideal for banks, is less costly than going through the foreclosure process.
Lenders do not keep track of the number of people who have abandoned their homes, so there is no clear data on how widespread the problem may be.
The motivation for abandoning a home happens when borrowers can no longer afford their mortgage payments and the value of their homes are underwater. By the end of June, Moody's Economy.com estimates that 10.6 million homeowners will have zero or negative equity. If the mortgage lender is simply going to foreclose on the home anyway, the credit hit from a foreclosure is seen as being less painful than one from bankruptcy.
As a result, a number of websites have popped up in recent months to cash in on this growing number of underwater homeowners by offering services to assist in the walk-away process. According to the owners of these sites, there is no shortage of customers.
"The business is great and we're looking to expand. It's been pretty phenomenal," said Phillip Bellante, co-founder of San Diego-based HomeFreeMe.com.
To be sure, walking away is quite unneighborly. An abandoned home is at risk of vandalism and falling into decrepitude, meaning that the value of properties next to it will also take a hit. Not only is walking away selfish, it's also damaging.
And assuming that your credit score won't experience severe harm from walking away is a naive view, based on the assumption that "lenders do not or will not modify their behavior," said Glenn Schultz, head of nonconforming mortgage research at Wachovia.
The immensity of the real estate meltdown all but guarantees that banks will protect themselves from getting burned in the future.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the nation's largest mortgage lenders, have already started to work on limiting incentives for walking away. In March, Fannie Mae announced that foreclosed borrowers won't be able to get a mortgage from the lender for five years, and Freddie Mac said that foreclosures would count against the potential borrowers for seven years.
Schultz also expects Fair Isaac, the firm that developed the FICO score used by mortgage lenders to gauge a borrower's credit worthiness, to seriously reconsider how it measures abandoning a mortgage into its score.
So who exactly are the mortgage walkers?
Homeowners that analysts believe are most likely to cut their losses are those who took out subprime loans on investment properties. That group accounted for 5.3 percent of subprime loans originated in 2006 and 2007, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. This translates into roughly a little under 250,000 homes. The speculators most likely to dump houses are also ones who saw the biggest price drops, bringing this at-risk number down even more.
As for the rapidly growing websites, they also have the advantage of starting from a low base. The actual number of clients they've reported is still tiny: HomeFreeMe has had about 80 clients since launching in February, and Carlsbad, California-based YouWalkAway.com has served about 200.
For his part, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson reportedly held a meeting with top lenders and servicers last week and urged them to come up with a plan to help underwater borrowers. (Paulson was also said to express his frustration over the lack of granular data on these borrowers.)
The lesson here is that as banks and federal officials work to reduce incentives for walking away, and as lenders become more willing to negotiate with delinquent borrowers, there is a good chance that we've already seen the worst of the walk aways.
March was a very cruel month for financial firms, from Bear Stearns to General Electric. Deutsche Bank, which had so far been spared the worst of the market contagion, was not immune.
The giant German bank swung to its first quarterly loss in five years, writing down $4.2 billion on leveraged loans and mortgage-backed securities.
The loss of 131 million euros ($204 million) came even after the bank realized a gain of more than $1 billion on the sale of stakes in Daimler, Allianz, and the Linde Group. A year ago, Deutsche Bank earned 2.1 billion euros, or nearly $3 billion in the quarter.
"In the month of March, pressure on the banking sector was more intense than at any time since the current credit downturn began," said Josef Ackermann, chief of Deutsche Bank. "Inevitably, this left its mark on Deutsche Bank's results."
To be sure, Deutsche Bank's write-downs pale in comparison to the huge hits taken by other European banks, in particular UBS, which has written down nearly $40 billion. And the German bank did warn earlier this month that it would need to take a significant write-down for the quarter.
More troubling may be the uncertainty in the markets for the rest of the year. Deutsche Bank's most profitable lines have been in the trading of debt securities, a business that continues to feel the impact of the credit crunch.
In a conference call on the earnings, Deutsche Bank's finance director, Anthony Di Iorio, told analysts that the bank could not give a forecast for full-year results because of the turmoil in the markets.
"Deutsche Bank is dependent on the market," Dieter Ewald, a fund manager with Frankfurt Trust, which owns shares in Deutsche Bank, told Reuters.
"Are they in a strong position here? I would put a question mark over this."
Jeffrey Goldfarb on Breakingviews.com notes that revenue in Deutsche Bank's corporate banking and securities division fell sharply and that the bank remains highly leveraged.
"Dodging subprime, though commendable, has not been enough to keep the bank out of trouble," he says. "It's starting to look as though Deutsche could be forced to raise capital, just as so many of its peers are doing."
On Monday, analysts with Morgan Stanley said that the credit crunch was still in its early days, warning that some big banks would need to raise additional capital and cut dividends.
"We think we are only in the third inning of the credit cycle and expect this credit cycle will be worse than 1990-91," they wrote.
AP - The bruised economy limped through the first quarter of this year at a six-tenths of a percentage point growth rate as housing and credit problems forced people and businesses alike to hunker down.
Reuters - General Motors Corp on Wednesday
posted a first-quarter loss due to a costly supplier strike,
waning demand for its most profitable vehicles and charges
related to struggling former subsidiaries, although results
beat Wall Street expectations.
Reuters - Stock index futures were little
changed on Wednesday before data that could show whether the
economy was headed into a recession and a Federal Reserve
decision on interest rates.
Reuters - UK gas producer BG Group Plc has
made a $12 billion bid approach to Origin Energy Ltd, seeking
to bolster its position in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific gas
market by securing the Australian utility's gas reserves.
Reuters - The Federal Reserve is expected to
cut interest rates by a modest quarter percentage point on
Wednesday and may suggest the rate-cutting cycle it kicked off
last fall has reached an end.
Reuters - Microsoft Corp has
considered earmarking $1.5 billion to retain Yahoo Inc
employees if it acquires the company, according to court
documents in a shareholder suit filed against Yahoo.
