The Bank of England signalled this week that the worst of the credit crisis might be behind us, and that investors have become unduly gloomy about the outlook for property markets. And yet the latest housing market statistics don't make pretty reading. Source: Telegraph Business | 2 May 2008 | 2:02 pm
US employers laid off workers for a fourth consecutive month as businesses cut back on spending in the face of economic headwinds but overall job losses were far less severe than most economists had feared Source: FT.com - US homepage | 2 May 2008 | 1:22 pm
Central banks move to pump billions of extra dollars into the banking system to ease the continuing credit drought. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 May 2008 | 1:21 pm
AP - Employers cut far fewer jobs in April than in recent months and the unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent, a better-than-expected showing that nonetheless still revealed strains in the nation's crucial labor market.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Home goods retailer Linens 'n Things
on Friday said it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
and disclosed plans to close 120 underperforming stores.
Reuters - Home goods retailer Linens 'n Things
on Friday said it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
and disclosed plans to close 120 underperforming stores. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 2 May 2008 | 1:18 pm
Benfield, a leading Lloyd's of London reinsurance broker, has told staff to
cut down on expensive foreign trips to visit clients as part of a
cost-cutting drive aimed at saving £15 million over the next two years. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 2 May 2008 | 1:17 pm
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Washington Post Co posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday as it took a charge for an early retirement program at its Newsweek magazine.
AP - Bedding- and home-furnishing retailer Linens 'n Things on Friday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the latest major retailer to succumb to the difficult consumer environment. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 2 May 2008 | 1:16 pm
The US economy lost a fewer than expected 20,000 jobs in April, official figures from the Labor Department show. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 May 2008 | 1:16 pm
American Airlines is going to say it could have avoided massive grounding of its MD-80 fleet if the Federal Aviation Administration didn’t overrule an agreement between the carrier and regional agency managers, according to a published report.
Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) reported earnings of $5.17 billion and $2.48 EPS for the first quarter of 2008. First Call had estimates at $2.41 EPS. This compared with $4.72 billion and $2.18 EPS for the same period a year ago. Revenues jumped to $65.95 billion, up about 38% from $48.23 billion. Analysts were looking for revenues of $75.64 billion and $2.41 EPS. Refining earnings dropped from $1.62 billion to $252 million, due to higher crude oil costs and lower refining margins. It's a repeat of the same story from all the integrated oil companies. CVX stock is up almost 1% at...
It's extremely difficult to put a positive face on the housing market these days. From rising foreclosures and delinquencies to slumping sales, to curtailed mortgage lending -- especially the crunch on jumbo mortgages -- the data each month have been relentlessly downbeat.
Shares of banks such as Barclays, Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland were among the biggest gainers in London Friday, with welcome economic news from the U.S. underpinning strong gains for the U.K.’s main index.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks headed for a sharply higher open on Friday after a government report showed employers shed jobs in April at a far slower rate than had been expected, calming worries about the slump in the economy.
US stocks were set to add to Thursday's strong run after the latest data showed fewer job losses than expected and an easing in the unemployment rate Source: FT.com - US homepage | 2 May 2008 | 1:07 pm
The US central bank is increasing the size of some cash auctions for financial institutions and the amount of US dollars it provides to the European Central Bank and Swiss National Bank Source: FT.com - US homepage | 2 May 2008 | 1:06 pm
Chevron Corp. on Friday says first-quarter net income climbed 10% as revenue jumped by $19 billion on higher prices for crude oil, natural gas and refined products.
Reuters - Employers cut jobs for a fourth
straight month in April but not as vigorously as feared,
according to a government report on Friday that also showed an
unexpected improvement in the unemployment rate last month.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Employers cut jobs for a fourth straight month in April but not as vigorously as feared, according to a government report on Friday that also showed an unexpected improvement in the unemployment rate last month.
Gold futures gained Friday, with the metals contract recovering some of the last session’s lost ground even as the dollar jumped following a government report showing that the U.S. labor market was not as weak as expected in April.
Job losses decelerate in April, suggesting that the nation’s economic downturn may be short and shallow rather than long and severe, employment data reported by the government show.
Employers trimmed jobs again in April for the fourth straight month, according to a government report Friday that was not as weak as Wall Street's expectations.
A MarketWatch article published May 2 misstated the amount of the revenue increase generated by Chevron Corp. during the first quarter of 2008 as compared to the same period last year. The correct figure is $19 billion.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Viacom Inc said on Friday quarterly net profit rose 33 percent, beating Wall Street forecasts, on strong sales of "Rock Band" video game and higher advertising revenue at MTV Networks.
Reuters - Chevron Corp said on Friday
its first-quarter earnings rose 10 percent as record oil prices
outweighed weak profits from gasoline production.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chevron Corp said on Friday its first-quarter earnings rose 10 percent as record oil prices outweighed weak profits from gasoline production.
Employers cut far fewer jobs in April than in recent months and the unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent, a better-than-expected showing that nonetheless still revealed strains in the nation's crucial labor market.
The number of large companies going into administration in the first three
months of this year rose by more than a fifth and the total number seeking
bankruptcy jumped 25%, official figures revealed today. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 2 May 2008 | 12:48 pm
Reuters - The Federal Reserve on Friday
announced steps to help ease persistent strains in credit
markets, increasing the size of some cash auctions for
financial institutions and the amount of U.S. dollars it
provides to the European Central Bank and Swiss National Bank.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Friday announced steps to help ease persistent strains in credit markets, increasing the size of some cash auctions for financial institutions and the amount of U.S. dollars it provides to the European Central Bank and Swiss National Bank.
Investools Inc. (NASDAQ: SWIM) is under serious fire this morning from traders. The company posted net income of $0.17 EPS, but First Call was at $0.21 EPS. This is on a record revenue with a gain of 39% to $91 million. A miss on earnings is one thing, but this disclosure is something different entirely: "The Company is cooperating with a non-public, informal inquiry by the SEC relating to representations by certain presenters in certain portions of their presentations at some of the Company's seminars. The Company has been cooperating with and intends to continue to cooperate with the SEC....
IntercontinentalExchange experienced record profits and revenues in the first quarter, as the ongoing commodity boom prompted record quarterly volume of more than 100m contracts Source: FT.com - US homepage | 2 May 2008 | 12:42 pm
The Labor Department just released the April 2008 unemployment numbers. While these are negative, they aren't as bad as estimates. The unemployment rate came in at 5.0% versus estimates we had marked as as 5.2%. The change in non-farm payrolls came in at -20,000 versus and estimate we had of about -80,000. Average hourly earnings came in at +0.1%. There numbers aren't exactly good by any stretch. But quite often, "less bad" is good enough. Let's just hope that Elaine Chao's computers at the Labor Department are working and counting figures properly. Jon C. Ogg May 2, 2008
UK house prices saw an annual fall of 0.9% in April, says the UK's biggest mortgage lender. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 May 2008 | 12:31 pm
Reports released Thursday by top automakers affirmed the continuing shift in vehicle sales: Record-high gasoline prices are prompting more consumers to switch to smaller cars.
Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA) posted earnings of $0.44 EPS on $3.12 Billion in revenues. First Call consensus estimates were $0.41 EPS and $2.97 Billion on revenues. This shows that revenues rose 14.7% year over year, and now the company is forecasting a three-year period from 2008 through 2010 where Viacom plans to deliver low double-digit annual growth in diluted earnings per share from continuing operations. This is based on 2007 adjusted diluted EPS of $2.36. Interestingly enough for 2008, if we take the low-double digit face value and say 11%, we'd get $2.62 EPS and if we take 13% then...
Jerry York, henchmen for Kirk Kerkorian, has told Automotive News that it is time for Ford (F) to dump Volvo and Mercury. The former car exec said that the No.2 car company should keep luxury operation Lincoln. York is probably right. Ford has enough problems, Maintaining four brands keeps design and production costs high. Last month, Mercury sales fell 26%. The brand only sold 8,872 cars for the period. Sales of it Grand Maquis were off 51%. Volvo sales were down 12% for the month Douglas A. McIntyre
The immediate future of the Moss Bros menswear chain is expected to be
resolved this weekend after growing speculation that Baugur, the Icelandic
investor, is close to deciding whether to make a formal £40 million offer. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 2 May 2008 | 12:15 pm
The availability of various trades and services has a strong regional variation, a Barclays survey suggests. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 May 2008 | 12:10 pm
Italian dairy group Parmalat will pay out 10.5m shares to settle a US class-action lawsuit stemming from its collapse in Europe's biggest bankruptcy, the company said on Friday. The payment to settle the... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 11:59 am
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Power company Duke Energy Corp on Friday posted a 30 percent rise in first-quarter profit, beating Wall Street forecasts on gains in its utility and wholesale power businesses.
These are ten of the analyst calls we see impacting shares this Friday morning: Allergan (NYSE: AGN) cut to Hold at Jefferies. ComScore (NASDAQ: SCOR) raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer. Dynamic Materials (NASDAQ: BOOM) cut to Neutral at JP Morgan. Embarq (NYSE: EQ) raised to buy at Deutsche Bank. Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) cut to Neutral at Banc of America. Hill-rom (NYSE: HRC) started as Outperform at Oppenheimer. Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse. Morningstar (NASDAQ: MORN) raised to Outperform at Keefe Bruyette Priceline.com (NASDAQ: PCLN) cut to Hold at Citigroup. RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) raised to Buy...
AFP - British house prices dropped 1.3 percent in April from March and also declined year-on-year for the first time in 12 years, the country's biggest provider of home loans, Halifax, said on Friday.
India's inflation rate accelerates to its highest since 2004 because of rising food and fuel costs. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 May 2008 | 11:36 am
Duke Energy says its profit rose 30 percent in the first quarter, boosted by the company's three largest business units. The Charlotte-based utility said Friday it earned $465 million,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 11:32 am
After three months of public posturing and selective leaks, a break in the standoff over Microsoft's offer for Yahoo may be near.
Microsoft's chief executive, Steve Ballmer, told a town-hall meeting of Microsoft employees on Thursday that an announcement of what the company planned to do about Yahoo could come shortly. Microsoft, he said, according to several reports, was weighing three basic options: walking away, launching a hostile takeover, or sweetening the price to win a deal.
Matthew Karnitschnig, Kevin Delaney, and Robert Guth of the Wall Street Journalreport today that Microsoft is "leaning toward going hostile" with an announcement expected today. But the unidentified sources cited by the Journal also cautioned that the situation was fluid and could change.
The risk of going hostile is that it could prompt a flight of talent from Yahoo and would make any integration more difficult, turning Microsoft's prize into damaged goods.
Walking away would again raise questions about Microsoft's strategy for the internet, although many Microsoft employees apparently feel a Yahoo acquisition would be the wrong way to try to take on Google.
And paying more for Yahoo? Microsoft could easily afford to increase the bid to $35 per share, but Ballmer may not want to feel that he has been outmaneuvered by Yahoo's C.E.O., Jerry Yang.
"I know exactly what I think Yahoo is worth to me—exactly,'' Ballmer said in a meeting with employees, Bloomberg News reports. "I won't go a dime above, and I will go to what I think it's worth if that gets the deal done.''
The Journal says that Microsoft has indicated that it is willing to raise its offer to $33 per share, but that major Yahoo shareholders are looking for $35 to $37 per share.
Henry Blodget on Silicon Alley Insider sees some significance in the absence in the Journal article of any suggestion from its unnamed Microsoft sources that talk of a $35 to $37 price should be dismissed out of hand.
"Jerry's playing this brilliantly," Blodget says of Yang. "But if he turns up his nose at $35, and then Steve rages off and pulls the bid, Yahoo shareholders are going to storm the Sunnyvale campus with torches and pitchforks."
The dollar dipped Friday against the euro as the markets awaited a vital US jobs report for fresh leads on the chances of further cuts to US interest rates, dealers said. In... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 11:23 am
Viacom Inc. says its first-quarter profit rose 33 percent on stronger results at its cable networks and the Paramount movie studio. Viacom said Friday it earned $270 million in the... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 11:23 am
Europe's main stock markets rose strongly on Friday after sharp gains by US share prices overnight and as Frankfurt and Paris returned to work after a public holiday, dealers said. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 11:21 am
after falling sharply from the early-week record near $120 a barrel. Light, sweet crude for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 54 cents to $113.06 a barrel in... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 11:17 am
The U.S. dollar was lower against other major currencies in European trading Friday morning. Gold rose. The euro traded at $1.5486, up from $1.5461 late Thursday in New York. Other... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 11:12 am
Oil prices rebound above $113 a barrel amid tension in Northern Iraq after three days of currency-induced falls. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 May 2008 | 11:04 am
Paula Abdul's judging snafu on Tuesday night's American Idol has caused quite an uproar among Idol fans.
Abdul—often charmingly dippy on camera—critiqued a contestant on two songs when he had performed just one, befuddling fellow judges and quickly ballooning into scandal territory among viewers.
The questions over Idol's authenticity have invited comparisons to the quiz-show scandals of the 1950s, when it came to light that producers rigged the outcomes of popular television game shows. The genre was devastated.
Ratings for Fox's American Idol are at a five-year low, and it's treated as a foregone conclusion that concerns about the show's authenticity could do irreversible damage to the franchise.
But is it really true that viewers stop watching reality shows if they see them as fake?
There are two separate issues at play when it comes to the variety show's veracity: whether it's staged, and whether it's rigged.
Ever since Idol's first season, cynics have speculated about irregularities in vote counting (an issue debated and examined in the blogosphere with greater gusto, I think, than the 2000 election), but no foul play was ever found.
Paula's brain spasm doesn't raise uncertainty about whether the outcome is fixed by producers, it draws into question to what extent the contents of the program are spontaneous versus preplanned.
Idol attributes Abdul's mistake to the fact that judges sometimes watch dress rehearsals, suggesting that (gasp!) the judging doesn't halt when the cameras stop rolling.
When it comes to reality shows peeling back the veneer of unfettered live action to reveal directorial influence, viewers aren't nearly as turned off as their opinions on the subject would suggest.
Ever-mounting evidence that MTV's reality show The Hills is more scripted drama than documentary hasn't tarnished the show's appeal. On the contrary, when the show returned for the second half of its third season in March, it drew a series-record 4.7 million viewers.
Gordon Ramsay's cooking show on Fox, Hell's Kitchen, has been widely panned for a number of elements that seem staged and disingenuous, but that program also has been steadily climbing the ratings ranks: this spring the fourth season premiered to a series-high 12.6 million viewers.
Man vs. Wild, a Discovery Channel series in which host Bear Grylls supposedly survives unaided in the wilderness, made headlines in the middle of its second season when the adventurer's stunts turned out to be staged and aided by a large team. But the show is about to enter its fourth season, and according to Nielsen ratings data, it's still one of Discovery's most popular programs.
Brad Adgate, a senior vice president of research at Horizon Media, said he believes the damage to American Idol will likewise be minimal.
"I don't even know that this is a bad thing for American Idol, because it gives them some press," Adgate says. "The show kind of benefits from that a little bit."
Maybe ultimately the speculation, the blogging, and the complaining on the part of the audience has become in itself a piece of the reality viewing experience—gossip about what's real and fake is all just part of the entertainment.
Tom Weeks, senior vice president and director at Starcom Entertainment, thinks the viewing public is in the end far less concerned with veracity than pure and simple entertainment value.
House prices across the UK slipped during April, as new buyer demand was curbed by the increasing squeeze on household incomes, according to Halifax. . Source: Telegraph Business | 2 May 2008 | 11:00 am
Stock futures were little changed Friday ahead of a government report that is forecast to show the nation's payrolls shrank again in April. The Labor Department's report is closely... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 10:55 am
Asian countries sought Friday to tame the spiraling rice market, with Thailand proposing an OPEC-style cartel for exporters and the Philippines shoring up supplies while aiming to end its Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 10:50 am
The dollar rose against the yen Friday in Asia as sentiment turned upbeat after the release of better-than-expected data on U.S. consumer spending and manufacturing activity. The... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 10:45 am
Markets in Europe were rallying at 6.30 AM The FTSE was up 1.1% to 6,151 Cadbury was up 8.7% to 630. Prudential was up 3.4% to 721. The DAXX rose 1.2% to 7,033. BMW was up 4.6% to 36.86. Siemens (SI) was higher by 2.2% to 77.25. The CAC 40 was higher by 1% to 5,046. Credit Agricole was up 3.2% to 22.34. Societe Generale was up 2.8% to 77.27. Data from Reuters. Douglas A. McIntyre
European equity markets charged forward on Friday with banking stocks riding a global wave of relief as the dollar climbed and oil prices softened. In late morning trade, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 jumped... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 10:36 am
The country is bracing for more bad news on the jobs front. In advance of Friday's employment snapshot from the Labor Department, economists were predicting that employers cut jobs yet... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 10:35 am
A code of practice for sovereign wealth funds will be drawn up by October, according to the IMF. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 May 2008 | 10:32 am
Oil prices clawed back some ground on Friday as speculators positioned themselves for weak, dollar negative US employment data later in the session.Nymex West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark crude... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 10:22 am
Bond-holders who own debt in Countrywide (CFC) have assume that Bank of America (BAC) would take those obligations on and that they would get paid out. Maybe not. According to Bloomberg. ``There is no assurance that any such debt would be redeemed, assumed or guaranteed,'' the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank said in an April 30 regulatory filing. If the bond-holders push to be taken care of, the matter could end up in court. And, the deal to buy Countrywide could be killed. Douglas A. McIntyre
Owning one of those new cars that runs on ethanol or electricity may be more expensive than the old-school gas versions, even if petrol stays at $3.50 a gallon. The math wizards at The Wall Street Journal have figured out that battery-powered cars "will need ready access to inexpensive, plentiful electricity. That means the new vehicles "will make utilities more important than the oil companies" to many drivers, " Of course, utilities are less interested in making money than oil companies so they will keep prices down. The same issues are about to plague hybrid cars that run on biofuels....
Wal-Mart (WMT) has decided Mom does not want flowers or candy this year. It is aggressively marketing the new Nintendo Wii Fit as a way to pull reluctant and impoverished shoppers into its stores. According to Reuters "the Walmart.com homepage will be dominated by the Wii Fit -- a physical exercise program that uses a pressure-sensing board as a controller -- including a link to order the product now, ahead of its May 19 U.S. launch". It may be perverse to think that women who were not varsity athletes in their earlier years could use the Wii Fit. But, retailers...
Japan Airlines said on Friday it had roughly doubled its 2007/08 profit estimates to above market expectations, thanks to strong business travel demand on its international routes.The carrier, Asia's... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 9:40 am
Barclays, Britain's third largest bank, formally confirmed today that Paul
Idzik, its chief operating officer, will leave during the second half of the
year and will not be replaced. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 2 May 2008 | 9:39 am
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is being examined as part of the Connecticut Attorney General's probe into conflicts of interest in the credit rating industry, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
House prices across the UK slipped during April, as new buyer demand was curbed by the increasing squeeze on household incomes, according to Halifax. . Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 9:20 am
House prices across the UK slipped during April, as new buyer demand was curbed by the increasing squeeze on household incomes, according to Halifax. . Source: Telegraph Business | 2 May 2008 | 9:20 am
Score another victory for Apple boss Steve Jobs in his bid to win Hollywood's support for selling movies as digital downloads through iTunes. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company said yesterday that all... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 9:16 am
Drake Management, the money-management firm started by former BlackRock executives, is shutting down its largest hedge fund after losses prompted client withdrawals, according to a letter to investors... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 9:16 am
Recession Manufacturing in the US shrank for a third month and rising prices eroded consumers' buying power. The Commerce Department said consumer spend ing rose 0.4 percent in March. Stripping out the... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 9:16 am
US stocks rose to the highest level since January as a rally in the dollar and better-than-estimated technology earnings prompted investors to shun commodities and shift into shares of banks, retailers... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 9:16 am
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer during a town hall style meeting yesterday told the software giant's employees that he would announce his next move in the ongoing standoff with Yahoo! "in short order." Investors... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 2 May 2008 | 9:16 am
Cadbury, the newly formed holding company for some of the most famous
chocolate brands in the world, began trading today at a level that will
ensure the group stays within the FTSE 100. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 2 May 2008 | 9:16 am
Markets have been as undecided about where to go as the London electorate over the last few weeks, and there's good reason too. On one side you have something that we've always been aware of and had hanging over our shoulders for the last few months i.e. liquidity drying up and investors running for shelter. Source: Telegraph Business | 2 May 2008 | 9:10 am
In a presentation he made to students at the Wharton School earlier this month and a subsequent interview with Fortune, Warren Buffett shared his thoughts on everything from the economy to the credit crisis and the Bear Stearns bailout.
A senior executive at Barclays is stepping down amid reports of boardroom tension at the bank. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 May 2008 | 9:02 am
Thailand wants to form an Opec-style rice cartel to give it more control over international prices. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 May 2008 | 9:01 am
George W Bush offers $770m (£390m) in new international food aid to help ease the effects of surging food prices. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 2 May 2008 | 8:29 am
One of Barclays' most senior executives is stepping down in a sign of tensions at the top of Britain's third-largest bank Source: FT.com - US homepage | 2 May 2008 | 8:24 am
Microsoft is likely to go hostile in its battle to win Yahoo! and a statement of intent could come as early as today. Source: Telegraph Business | 2 May 2008 | 8:18 am
Home-owners were dealt a fresh blow today as Halifax, Britain's largest
mortgage provider, said today its measure of house prices had suffered its
first annual fall in 12 years. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 2 May 2008 | 7:44 am
Rentokil Initial, the parcels to pest control group, has given warning that it
will cut its dividend this year following large first-quarter losses. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 2 May 2008 | 7:08 am
Complaints of unfair rate hikes spur new consumer protections.
Credit card companies would be barred from some retroactive interest rate hikes and other "unfair and deceptive" practices that cost consumers billions of dollars each year under a proposal by federal regulators Thursday.
The superhero film should lead the box office as the summer movie season kicks off.
Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark character in "Iron Man," the wealthy arms dealer, swinger and superhero alter ego, asks: "Is it better to be feared or respected? And I say, 'Is it too much to ask for both?' "
Their union says the action is to protest the war in Iraq, but port operators and shippers say it's an attempt to influence their contract.
Thousands of dockworkers at 29 West Coast ports took the day off Thursday, effectively shutting down operations at the busy complexes in what the union called a protest of the war in Iraq but employers worried might be a prelude to labor unrest.
The oil company's quarterly gain of $10.9 billion fall short of expectations, anger consumer activists.
Is it possible for a company to have its best earnings ever for the first three months of the year and the second-best of all time for any corporation and still not please anyone?
About 8,500 peaceful protesters converge on L.A. City Hall, urging an end to work-site immigration raids.
Thousands of workers waved American flags, marched to mariachi music and rallied for labor and immigrant rights in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday, as May Day gatherings drew light but peaceful crowds.
The New Zealand dollar steadied today, following equity markets higher after a fall in oil prices provided a boost in the United States.
By 5pm, the kiwi was at US77.77c, from US78.06c late yesterday afternoon, having lost around... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 2 May 2008 | 5:48 am
Reuters - Microsoft Corp Chief
Executive Steve Ballmer said on Thursday that walking away from
a deal with Yahoo remained one of "three big options" the
company is weighing and to expect an announcement shortly.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Thursday that walking away from a deal with Yahoo remained one of "three big options" the company is weighing and to expect an announcement shortly.
Issuance of eurokiwi and uridashi bonds to foreign investors picked up strongly in April and matched maturities, ensuring there was no strong outflow of New Zealand dollars that would have depressed the currency.
However, a couple... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 2 May 2008 | 2:09 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 | 2 May 2008 | 12:01 am
Hammerson, the commercial property company, said rents in the City of London office market were falling because banks were shedding jobs in the wake of the credit crunch and needed less space. Source: Telegraph Business | 2 May 2008 | 12:01 am
ANZ and National banks have increased their variable mortgage rates by 25 basis points to 10.95 per cent, despite there being no increase in the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's Official Cash Rate (OCR).
ANZ and National have... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 1 May 2008 | 11:30 pm
Japanese stocks are expected to rise on Friday after a tech-powered rebound on Wall Street, with banks such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group climbing along with chipmakers.
One stock to watch will be Canon Inc, which the Nikkei... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 1 May 2008 | 11:20 pm
George W. Bush stepped up pressure on the European Union and other governments to lift restrictions on genetically modified crops to help ease the crisis in global food supplies Source: FT.com - US homepage | 1 May 2008 | 11:15 pm
It would be easy to caricature the row over Sir Stuart Rose's £100,000
investment in Martha Lane Fox's karaoke bars as an absurd fuss over nothing.
With Britain's biggest clothing retailer heading into a nasty downturn, this
is surely no time to nitpick about the minutiae of personal financial
dealings between two of its board members. This is a time to be wholly
focused on shifting pants, not ticking boxes. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 1 May 2008 | 11:00 pm
Telecom was sold down after its third quarter result today, pegging back an otherwise mostly positive sharemarket.
The market got a positive lead from Wall Street, where stocks rallied on a rebound in the US dollar while retreating... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 1 May 2008 | 10:42 pm
Secret technology on the $300bn Joint Strike Fighter programme might have been compromised by "unauthorised access" at BAE Systems, the UK defence company, according to an internal Pentagon report Source: FT.com - US homepage | 1 May 2008 | 10:37 pm
Berkshire Hathaway is being examined as part of a broad investigation into conflicts of interest in the credit rating industry that is being conducted by the Connecticut attorney-general Source: FT.com - US homepage | 1 May 2008 | 10:26 pm
NEW YORK - The number of women accusing the financial data and news service company founded by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of discrimination has risen from three to 58, with more likely to be added, a lawyer told a judge Thursday.
The... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 1 May 2008 | 10:18 pm
ExxonMobil, long regarded as the most successful international oil company, is beginning to show signs of weakness, revealing that it is struggling to grow oil production and to squeeze profit out of its refining business Source: FT.com - US homepage | 1 May 2008 | 10:09 pm
The New Zealand dollar fell around a third of a cent overnight as the US dollar staged a recovery based on easing concern about the American economy.
The kiwi gained on the Australian dollar which weakened more steeply against... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 1 May 2008 | 9:19 pm
In Saudi Arabia, strict religious laws forbid women from driving. There's talk of changing that rule in the next couple of years. But in the meantime, it's keeping women out of the workforce. Kelly McEvers reports. Source: Marketplace | 1 May 2008 | 9:06 pm
Now that last weekend's NFL draft is over the hard work starts for lawyers and agents trying to hammer out multimillion-dollar contracts for their college-age athletes. Business-of-sports analyst Diana Nyad gets into the details with Kai Ryssdal. Source: Marketplace | 1 May 2008 | 9:06 pm
A Chicago club has been ordered to pay more than $500,000 in damages after Red Bull spies spotted the club's bartenders serving a cheaper imitation to customers who had requested the super-caffeinated beverage in their drinks. Jill Barshay reports. Source: Marketplace | 1 May 2008 | 9:06 pm
Homeowners aren't the only ones who've gotten up to their ears in debt in the subprime loan debacle fallout. Investment banks and hedge funds have gotten into trouble by borrowing more and more to finance their investments. Amy Scott reports. Source: Marketplace | 1 May 2008 | 9:06 pm
The Department of Agriculture says U.S. farm profits this year are going to be well above average. But commentator and journalist Bill McConnell says farmers know better than to get too excited about any short-term windfall. Source: Marketplace | 1 May 2008 | 9:06 pm
After shedding its debtor-nation status, Brazil has now received an investment-grade credit rating from Standard & Poor's. And the news is getting the kind of attention usually reserved for the national soccer team. Dan Grech reports. Source: Marketplace | 1 May 2008 | 9:06 pm
Some big rice growing countries are taking a page from the global oil markets and considering forming an organization like OPEC for Asia's rice growers. Jeff Tyler reports on whether a food cartel could actually work. Source: Marketplace | 1 May 2008 | 9:06 pm
Exxon Mobil reported $10.9 billion in profits last quarter, but Wall Street was disappointed. Because even though Big Oil's prospects look good at the well head, they're mostly evaporating by the time consumers pull up to the gas station. Bob Moon reports. Source: Marketplace | 1 May 2008 | 9:05 pm
The climate change debate has moved on from whether we need to bear costs to curb emissions of greenhouse gases to who should pay and how soon.
Two reports out this week have helped crystallise the hard choices Parliament faces... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 1 May 2008 | 9:00 pm
Shares in Telecom Corp were sold 4 cents to $3.81 after the company reported its March quarter net profit fell to $140 million from $239m a year ago.
Excluding the contribution of the Yellow Pages Group, which was sold last year,... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 1 May 2008 | 8:19 pm
The Australian dollar opened weaker today, sliding back below US$0.9400, as more upbeat expectations for upcoming US payrolls data boosted the American currency.
The domestic unit could fall under US$0.9300 today if weak Australian... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 1 May 2008 | 7:58 pm
Speculation that the single currency's seven-year run was coming to an end intensified as it fell to five-week lows against the dollar and the pound Source: FT.com - US homepage | 1 May 2008 | 7:43 pm
After days of silence following the expired deadline for Yahoo to respond to its takeover proposal, Microsoft is still looking for a way to avoid an expensive and uncertain proxy fight.
Yahoo, meanwhile, is carefully avoiding any move that might force its unwanted suitor's hand and thus scuttle any hope of a higher bid.
In their spare time, they're also still wrestling with the question of whether to merge.
The Wall Street Journalreported Wednesday evening that Microsoft was willing to raise its offer to as much as $33 a share for Yahoo, 6 percent above the $31 it offered originally. Yahoo shareholders are holding out for $35 to $37 a share.
Microsoft and Yahoo officials declined to comment on the report or the status of takeover talks.
The news signals Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer's determination to complete the deal without launching a proxy fight to fire Yahoo's board. A hostile takeover could take months and leave both companies bruised—while rekindling ill will toward Microsoft.
Those sentiments have cooled a bit since Microsoft backed away from the aggressive tactics it used in the '80s and '90s.
Microsoft may be holding off on a hostile takeover for now, but it could still resort to one. Microsoft has an alternative slate of directors ready for nomination when Yahoo holds its shareholder meeting.
Yahoo hasn't announced the date for that meeting, but all of its directors will be up for election when it's held.
On Tuesday, Yahoo amended its quarterly report with the Securities and Exchange Commission to include information that normally appears in the annual proxy statement tied to the annual shareholder meeting. That suggests the company wants to wait as late as possible before scheduling an event that could trigger a proxy fight.
Not all of Yahoo's shareholders are hoping for a higher bid. Two pension funds representing Detroit's firefighters, police officers, and other employees, filed a class-action lawsuit against Yahoo, chiding it for "destroying or threatening to destroy shareholder value" by rebuffing Microsoft's initial offer.
Ballmer is facing pressure from his own shareholders, as well as his employees. Both groups might be distressed to learn something revealed in the a hearing for the shareholder lawsuit. Microsoft has set aside $1.5 billion to retain Yahoo employees if the merger goes through, equal to $113,000 per employee.
Still, that's less than Microsoft has set aside in other mergers: When it bought TellMe, it set aside more than $300,000 per employee.
So the stakes are high for shareholders of both companies, none of whom seem happy these days. For other investors with no direct stake, the Microsoft-Yahoo merger has value mostly as a comic spectacle.
The drumbeat of negative news about the housing market has gone on for so many months now that it's hard not to feel a little numb from it all. It's been bad. It continues to be bad. And it will likely be bad for some time to come.
But investors in Home Depot had reason to perk up a little today. No, the big- box retailer did not exceed earnings expectations or forecast better sales. Instead, it announced plans to shutter 15 poorly performing stores, halt plans to build 50 new stores, lay off 1,300 employees, and incur a charge of $586 million.
And this is good news for Home Depot shareholders? Yes, apparently. Its stock jumped nearly 5 percent on the news.
The reason for the glee is that the slower expansion will cut Home Depot's capital spending by $1 billion during the next three years.
Home Depot shareholders have accepted the new reality in the housing market, and they're fired up that the company finally has too. Slower growth? Yes, we know. Just slash your expenses, and we'll be happy.
They are right to be pleased with Home Depot's announcement. After all, the Commerce Department said today that spending on residential construction fell a record 4.6 percent from February to March.
And yesterday it said that investments in residential real estate plummeted 26.7 percent during the first quarter of this year.
Americans aren't spending big bucks refinishing their kitchens, and they aren't spending little bucks on new lamps that they don't really need. A scale-back at Home Depot was inevitable, and it comes as a welcome relief to shareholders.
The Wild West of the Web has gotten a little tamer.
A federal judge late yesterday resolved a long-running battle between three big online music-streaming services and independent composers and musicians over how—and how much—artists should be paid for songs people listen to over the internet.
In a landmark ruling that sets a precedent for online streaming music royalties, U.S. District Judge William Conner in White Plains, New York, ordered Yahoo, Time Warner's AOL, and RealNetworks to pay as much as $100 million in total to the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, the leading performance-rights organization representing songwriters.
The 153-page ruling sets a basic rate of 2.5 percent of music-generated revenues to be collected from the websites for the use of Ascap-licensed songs between 2002 and 2009.
Ascap hailed the ruling, saying that the three companies could be on the hook for $100 million in retroactive royalties, based on the formula selected by the judge.
"We believe this is a historic decision, because for the first time it provides a clear framework for how online performances of copyrighted musical works should be fairly valued," Ascap chief executive John LoFrumento told Portfolio.com in an interview.
The decision is the culmination of a three-year battle between Ascap and the websites, waged in so-called rate court, over the appropriate formula for determining online streaming music royalties owed to Ascap and its members. The ruling does not apply to the major record labels, which have struck their own revenue-sharing deals with many music websites.
"In the early days, we gave a lot of leeway to the online services because we wanted their businesses to develop," LoFrumento said. "But now that these businesses have matured, the time has come for us to establish fair rates, and when we tried to do that in negotiation, we were pushed into a rate court because we couldn't come up with an agreement."
Yahoo must pay performance royalties dating back to 2002, while AOL's and RealNetworks' unpaid royalty bills go back to 2005 and 2004, respectively. The new formula will be used to determine royalty payments through the end of 2009, at which point the parties must return to the negotiating table.
AOL would owe nearly $6 million for 2006 alone, for example, while Yahoo would owe $6.7 million, based on the court-mandated formula. Future royalties, based on Judge Conner's precedent, could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars more.
Conner ruled in favor of Ascap's "simple formula," which applies a flat percentage to streaming music revenue. The websites had advocated for a more complex formula that would have broken down revenue into five categories based on the nature of the stream.
"The court finds no fundamental flaw with the formula proposed by Ascap for computing the fee," Conner wrote in his decision. He ordered both sides "to cooperate in computing the royalties due to Ascap." LoFrumento said that discussions with the websites are set to begin immediately.
Samantha Murphy, an independent musician who has been outspoken about copyright issues, reacted warily to the ruling.
"I have no reason to believe this will change things for the 'long-tail' artist since Ascap cannot seem to figure out a fair method of distributing the funds they collect," Murphy said, referring to smaller, independent artists who she claims are often left out of music-royalty distribution schemes. "I am quite certain that if you asked Ascap right now how they are planning to distribute these funds from AOL, Yahoo [and RealNetworks], they would not be able to give you an answer."
LoFrumento said that Ascap would be looking to the websites to provide it with the details of the streaming performances, in order to determine how to distribute the royalty payments to its members. He also said that Ascap would be using the new formula in negotiations with other music streaming websites.
Bob Kimball, general counsel for RealNetworks, sought to play down Wednesday's ruling.
"To be clear, the court did not award $100 million in royalties," Kimball said in a statement. "The court has provided a formula and required the parties to negotiate how the rate will be applied to their different businesses. Those negotiations have not yet commenced, and there is considerable work to be done before a final resolution is reached."
"This is a long way from being over," Kimball added.
Jonathan Potter, executive director of the Digital Media Association, a trade group representing the websites, said that his group "agrees that internet portals and multifaceted online services should pay fair royalties to songwriters and music publishers."
"We are disappointed, however, that the court ruled that online services' royalties should be based in part on service-wide revenue, not simply on revenue directly attributable to music usage," Potter said. He said it could take several weeks to work out exactly how much Yahoo, AOL, and RealNetworks will have to pay.
With oil prices above $100 a barrel, is it possible that Exxon Mobil, the biggest of Big Oil, could still fall short?
Yes.
While reporting a 17 percent gain in first-quarter earnings, the company has come up shy of analysts' forecasts as its profit margins in the production of chemicals and gasoline were pressured. Revenue surged 33 percent, to $116.85 billion, but still less than estimates.
"Higher crude oil and natural gas realizations, driven by record worldwide crude oil prices, were partly offset by lower refining and chemical margins, lower production volumes, and higher operating costs," the company said in a statement. Earnings from refining fell 39 percent, to $1.17 billion in the quarter. "Upstream" earnings, or earnings from oil and natural gas production, surged 45 percent, to $8.8 billion.
The miss is all the more remarkable because the other global oil giants—Royal Dutch Shell and BP—reported strong quarterly gains earlier this week that surpassed expectations. And it came a day after members of Exxon Mobil's founding family, the Rockefellers, criticized what they called the company's focus on the short term and not doing enough to diversify into alternative fuels.
Still, the numbers from Exxon Mobil are awfully big: first-quarter earnings of $10.89 billion, not that far off from the $11.66 billion recorded in the fourth quarter of last year, an all-time record for any company.
And with gasoline prices heading toward $4 a gallon, few (other than its investors) will feel sorry for Exxon's miss.
And investors don't have that much to complain about: Its shares are up 13 percent since February, the company has bought $8 billion of shares this quarter, and it has raised its quarterly dividend by 10 percent.
In an election year when many Americans are struggling with rising food costs, sinking home values, and higher fuel and gasoline prices, Big Oil can be a convenient target. There may even be renewed calls for a new tax on oil "windfall" profits.
"Exxon is clearly putting a damper on the market," Jim Awad, chairman of W.P. Stewart Asset Management, told Reuters. "I think they might be understating the numbers going into a political environment that's hostile for oil."
The mystery of the legal clash between eBay and the online classifieds service Craigslist has been solved.
At the heart of the dispute, as Megan Barnett speculated last week, was that eBay liked Craigslist so much that it launched a direct competitor, Kijiji, in some U.S. markets in 2007.
In a redacted lawsuit that was released late on Wednesday, eBay does not deny that Kijiji would compete, but contends that Craigslist went too far in its response under the terms of a 2004 agreement that gave eBay a 28.4 percent stake in the company. Kijiji has reportedly grown to 10 percent the size of Craigslist in just six months.
"The original agreement between the two parties always envisioned that there could be competitive activity," an eBay spokeswoman, Kim Rubey, told the Associated Press.
Months after Kijiji's start in the United States (it began in overseas markets in 2005), Craigslist's owners, Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster, "engaged in clandestine transactions" to dilute eBay's stake to 24.85 percent, and prevent it from nominating a new member to Craigslist's board, the suit says.
"We are no longer comfortable having eBay as a shareholder, and wish to explore options for our repurchase, or for otherwise finding a new home for these shares," Buckmaster, Craigslist's chief executive, told Meg Whitman, the C.E.O. of eBay, in an email last July.
Whitman's response, according to the suit, was an offer to buy the entire company.
"We would welcome the opportunity to acquire the remainder of [Craigslist] we do not already own whenever you [and Newmark] feel it would be appropriate," she wrote.
Speculation about a sale or initial public offering of Craigslist has periodically swelled in the wake of rich valuations given to YouTube after Google's $1.5 billion acquisition and to Facebook after Micosoft's investment in it.
Craigslist's top executives have consistently mocked such ambitions, expressing a complete lack of interest in cashing out.
The lawsuit cites an appearance by Newmark on The Charlie Rose Show just days before Whitman's overture. Nemark said that people are always asking Buckmaster how they are going to make more money.
"And we say, 'hey, not interested.' Because once you are living well, and maybe providing for your future, what's the point in more," Newmark said.
Henry Blodget on the Silicon Alley Insider website last month estimated that Craigslist has $80 million in annual revenue and $25 million in operating profit. But Craigslist is run like a nonprofit, he notes.
To get a look at Craigslist's true value, one would have to make certain assumptions about its earnings power, which leads Blodget to conclude that it is a business with the potential to $750 million in revenue and $500 million of operating profit, giving it a valuation of $5 billion.
AP - Employers cut far fewer jobs in April than in recent months and the unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent, a better-than-expected showing that nonetheless still revealed strains in the nation's crucial labor market.
Reuters - Employers cut jobs for a fourth
straight month in April but not as vigorously as feared,
according to a government report on Friday that also showed an
unexpected improvement in the unemployment rate last month.
Reuters - Chevron Corp said on Friday
its first-quarter earnings rose 10 percent as record oil prices
outweighed weak profits from gasoline production.
Reuters - The Federal Reserve on Friday
announced steps to help ease persistent strains in credit
markets, increasing the size of some cash auctions for
financial institutions and the amount of U.S. dollars it
provides to the European Central Bank and Swiss National Bank.
AFP - British house prices dropped 1.3 percent in April from March and also declined year-on-year for the first time in 12 years, the country's biggest provider of home loans, Halifax, said on Friday.
Reuters - Microsoft Corp Chief
Executive Steve Ballmer said on Thursday that walking away from
a deal with Yahoo remained one of "three big options" the
company is weighing and to expect an announcement shortly.