Burma has agreed to allow all foreign aid workers, regardless of nationality, to join relief efforts for survivors of tropical cyclone Nargis – a potential turning point in the delivery of aid to victims Source: FT.com - US homepage | 23 May 2008 | 12:56 pm
Asset Acceptance Capital Corp. (NASDAQ: AACC) made a filing with the SEC late Thursday showing that the company has filed to sell 10.932 million shares of common stock in a secondary offering. These shares are being sold by AAC Quad-C Investors LLC, so none of the proceeds from this secondary will go to the company. This filing will allow the holder to offer the shares from time to time through public or private transactions at prevailing market prices, at prices related to prevailing market prices or at privately negotiated prices. Based on the filing, its amount was $137.4 million in...
Transport for London will take over failed Tube maintenance firm Metronet next week. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 May 2008 | 12:44 pm
There are fresh fears of strike action in Argentina after talks between the government and producers collapsed. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 May 2008 | 12:44 pm
U.S. stock futures came under renewed pressure Friday as oil prices climbed higher, with Gap Inc. in focus after a sharp rise in profit and Dell Inc. set to benefit from a broker upgrade.
Reuters - NBC Universal, backed by Blackstone
Group , and Time Warner Inc are expected to be
the two top contenders for the Weather Channel cable network,
which has set a Friday deadline for second-round bids, the Wall
Street Journal reported.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - NBC Universal, backed by Blackstone Group , and Time Warner Inc are expected to be the two top contenders for the Weather Channel cable network, which has set a Friday deadline for second-round bids, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Reuters - British oil field services firm Expro
International , which agreed to a takeover in April,
said it had received a higher approach worth 1.7 billion pounds
($3.4 billion) from U.S. rival Halliburton .
LONDON (Reuters) - British oil field services firm Expro International , which agreed to a takeover in April, said it had received a higher approach worth 1.7 billion pounds ($3.4 billion) from U.S. rival Halliburton .
Suez has ended talks over a potential takeover of British Energy, while Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) has emerged as a surprise contender in the £10bn battle. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 May 2008 | 12:35 pm
BMI becomes the first UK airline to send passengers their boarding passes via a mobile phone text message. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 May 2008 | 12:33 pm
IPC Systems Holdings has withdrawn its IPO in a filing with the SEC on Thursday. No formal reason was noted, but since it said in the filing that "it has determined not to pursue at this time" you can probably chalk it up to the "market conditions." The company is provider of integrated and mission-critical communications solutions. Some applications were for specialists at financial services firms and emergency response organizations. It was going to list after its IPO under the ticker "IPCA," but that now looks off. The company did not originally show its proposed IPO terms nor did it...
ST GALLEN, Switzerland (Reuters) - A study saying consumers should play a bigger role in reviewing mergers and antitrust cases won a positive response from some competition authorities and experts on Friday.
Pakistan's main stock index falls almost 5% after interest rates jumped to 12.5% from 10% to slow the inflation rate. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 May 2008 | 12:25 pm
Gap Inc. posts a 40% jump in first-quarter profit, leading some analysts to believe that the retailer’s long-awaited turnaround may finally be taking hold.
Reuters - Fannie Mae , the largest
provider of financing for U.S. home loans, on Friday said its
commitments to buy mortgages soared to $30.7 billion in April.
Reuters - Fannie Mae , the largest
provider of financing for U.S. home loans, on Friday said its
commitments to buy mortgages soared to $30.7 billion in April.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fannie Mae , the largest provider of financing for U.S. home loans, on Friday said its commitments to buy mortgages soared to $30.7 billion in April.
A closely watched measure of business activity slows in five years in May, likely eliminating any prospect an inflation-wary European Central Bank will hike euro-zone interest rates.
(Reuters) - Moody's Corp's credit rating unit Moody's Investors Service switched analysts from covering deals of particular investment banks after the banks requested changes, the Wall Street Journal said on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Profits at Bmi fell by almost 50 per cent last year but the British airline
claimed that it would survive the current difficult trading conditions in
the aviation industry. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 May 2008 | 12:12 pm
Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) has made a conditional offer to Expro International, a British oil field services company, to acquire the company for 1.7 billion pounds (about $3.36 billion). What is interesting is that Expro had previously agreed to a bid of 1.61 billion pounds from private equity funds which included Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS). So far, Expro has maintained that this latest news does not yet constitute a firm intention to make an offer and that it has pre-conditions to it. With a $42 Billion market cap, Halliburton could easily absorb this. Halliburton shares are unchanged in early pre-market hours....
Oil prices are well off their $135 peak after investors cash in following five days of hefty price rises. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 May 2008 | 12:06 pm
Jerry Yang must truly believe that time is the great healer.
Yang and Yahoo, whose hesitation and foot-dragging helped drive away Microsoft, are pushing back the date of the annual shareholders' meeting in response to the proxy challenge from Carl Icahn.
The meeting, which had been set for July 3, will now be "around the end of July 2008."
Yahoo also said that Edward Kozel, a venture capitalist and former Cisco Systems executive, would step down and that the board would shrink to 9 from 10 as a result.,
Peter Kafka on Silicon Alley Insider says: "On the face of it, this helps Carl Icahn by giving him more time to maneuver, gather allies, etc. So that can't be what Jerry and Roy [Bostock, Yahoo's chairman] are thinking. So what are they thinking?
And it is not just Carl. Apparently some Icahn wanna-be's are putting up slates. In a preliminary proxy, Yahoo says: "The company has also received notice from two individual stockholders that they intend to nominate themselves for election to the company's board of directors at the annual meeting, and from a hird individual stockholder that he intends to nominate nine (9) individuals (not including himself) for election as directors at the annual meeting."
So the annual meeting will be quite interesting, most of all because of the uncertainty of whether a Microsoft takeover offer could again emerge. The two companies have said they are in discussions on an alternative deal, one that centers on Microsoft buying Yahoo's search business, according to several reports.
Such a deal is not what Icahn, and his followers, which includes T. Boone Pickens Jr. and hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, want. They want the $31-per-share acquisition offer back on the table.
And most long-term Yahoo shareholders, says Zachery Kouwe of the New York Post, "have said privately that they would not support Icahn's slate unless Microsoft comes back with a formal offer for the company."
One of Yahoo's biggest shareholders, Bill Miller of Legg Mason, which has 5.4 percent stake, says he has not yet decided whether to support Icahn's slate.
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil rallied towards $133 a barrel on Friday, on a weaker dollar and as nagging concerns about stagnating production in Russia and other countries outside the OPEC group continued.
These are ten of the analyst calls we are keying in on this Friday morning: Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) added to CONVICTION BUY LIST at Goldman Sachs; stock up 2% pre-market. ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs. BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) Raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia. Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) started as Neutral at Robert W. Baird. Carnival (NYSE: CCL) and Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL) downgraded at Morgan Stanley. Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley; stock up 2% pre-market. Linear Tech (NASDAQ: LLTC) cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank. National Semi (NYSE: NSM) raised...
Marston's, the brewer and pub operator that sponsors English cricket, dampened
down the sector's renewed enthusiasm for real estate investment trusts
(Reits) today by saying it could not currently see any benefit from
conversion. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 May 2008 | 11:50 am
Reuters - Stock index futures fell on Friday,
suggesting Wall Street will end the week lower, as crude oil
prices resumed their climb, leaving investors on edge about
inflation before a long holiday weekend.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures fell on Friday, suggesting Wall Street will end the week lower, as crude oil prices resumed their climb, leaving investors on edge about inflation before a long holiday weekend.
Reuters - Microsoft Corp Chief Executive
Officer Steve Ballmer said on Friday the company had never seen
buying Yahoo as strategic, and dropping the bid meant
it now had $50 billion to spend on other acquisitions.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said on Friday the company had never seen buying Yahoo as strategic, and dropping the bid meant it now had $50 billion to spend on other acquisitions.
U.S. stock futures came under renewed pressure on Friday as oil prices climbed higher, putting consumer-discretionary firms including Royal Caribbean Cruises and Six Flags under further strain.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the top aviation regulator in the UK, said
today that it wants BAA, the airports operator, to be broken up. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 May 2008 | 11:31 am
Stocks in Europe traded lower Friday afternoon, as oil prices resumed their upward path after a one-day hiatus and investors closed positions before long weekends in the U.S. and the U.K.
Europe's main stock markets fell on Friday as rebounding oil prices weighed on the auto and aviation sectors, while miners slid on profit-taking, traders said. London's FTSE... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 May 2008 | 11:26 am
A renewed rise in oil prices after a short respite left the dollar flat to slightly lower against its major counterparts in cautious, pre-holiday trade Friday.
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The mining sector continued the week's retreat on Friday, helping to drag the broader London market lower ahead of a three-day break.
The ONS says it underestimated the amount of money pensioners receive from private pensions. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 May 2008 | 11:08 am
The Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange will launch trading of crude-oil futures on Tuesday, a timely move given the astronomical prices for oil and talk of U.S. regulation of speculators in the commodity markets.
China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile phone company, has been granted
permission to begin offering fixed-line services as part of a move that
unleashes the long-awaited shake-up of the country’s sprawling
telecommunications industry. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 May 2008 | 11:04 am
AP - Gross domestic product in the United Kingdom rose 0.4 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the last quarter of 2007, the government said Friday. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 23 May 2008 | 11:03 am
Gross domestic product in the United Kingdom rose 0.4 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the last quarter of 2007, the government said Friday. GDP is now 2.5 percent Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 May 2008 | 11:03 am
Companies that were sued over contaminated pet food linked to the deaths of perhaps thousands of dogs and cats have agreed to pay $24 million to pet owners in the United States and... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 May 2008 | 11:00 am
Wall Street tilted toward a lower open Friday as investors awaited a report on existing home sales and adjusted their portfolios before the three-day holiday weekend. The National... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 May 2008 | 10:57 am
London equities fell on Friday, with mining stocks easing back from their strong run as investors continued to take profits from the sector. The FTSE 100 was 0.6 per cent weaker at 6,145.3 in mid-session... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 May 2008 | 10:53 am
A bidding war looks set to erupt over Expro International, the UK oil and gas
exploration specialist, after America's Halliburton Group today proposed a
£1.7 billion offer for the business, trumping a £1.6 billion bid from
Candover and Goldman Sachs. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 May 2008 | 10:51 am
The dollar was little changed on Friday, holding on to its gains on Friday after oil prices retreated from a record high.The dollar fell to a one-month low of $1.5814 against the euro on Thursday after... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 May 2008 | 10:41 am
European oil and mining stocks fell on Friday as the crude price traded below its recent record high and investors worried that regulators might block consolidation in the mining sector.Though oil was... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 May 2008 | 10:40 am
Eurozone economic growth has slowed to its weakest since July 2003, according to a closely-watched survey, heightening the European Central Bank's dilemma as oil prices send inflation sharply higher Source: FT.com - US homepage | 23 May 2008 | 10:39 am
growing global demand, after tumbling around $4 overnight from a record above $135 a barrel. Light, sweet crude for June delivery was up $1.29 on the day to $132.10 a barrel in... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 May 2008 | 10:36 am
The battle to gain control of Expro International intensified on Friday after Halliburton made a 1.7bn all-cash takeover proposal for the oil services group, trumping a bid from a private equity consortium... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 May 2008 | 10:30 am
Halliburton has made a conditional bid of $3.36 billion for Expro International Group PLC, the British oil services firm said Friday. Halliburton's all-cash proposal of 1525 pence... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 May 2008 | 10:24 am
When oil was at $65 almost no one believed it would double. There were a few nuts making the case, but they were ignored like Galileo was when he said the Earth moved around the Sun. Now, it is hard to find analysts who do not believe oil is going to move over $140 a barrel, and, perhaps above $200. Their reasoning is sound enough. Demand in emerging nations like China and India is still increasing. While crude use in the US may be off slightly, it in not off enough to matter. Suppies may be drying up as fields...
The euro rose against the dollar Friday as oil prices leveled out somewhat from record prices. The 15-nation euro bought $1.5725 in European morning trading, up from $1.5699 in late... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 May 2008 | 10:07 am
A surprise rebound in household spending in the first quarter confounded City
expectations of a sharp slowdown in consumer demand but failed to prevent
the economy growing at its weakest pace for three years. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 May 2008 | 10:01 am
Sir Howard Stinger, head of Sony (SNE), believes that his executive ranks lack passion. Perhaps they have spent too much time as engineers, or the string of bad years at the consumer electronics company has caught up with them According to The Wall Street Journal, "I'm asking you to get mad," Mr. Stringer said in one of his most strongly worded speeches. He did not make it clear whether that meant "mad" as in aggressive or "mad" as in insane. Getting thrilled by Sony's prospects may be hard, even for the people who work there. The company has given up...
Do fish, bears, eagles, and porcupines care about having oil rigs on the land where they roam? Probably not. They don't know any better. To relieve some of the supply pressure on oil prices, petrol companies and certain politicians see plenty of reasons to put oil wells in national parks and offshore areas previously restricted from drilling. According to The Wall Street Journal "Increasing U.S. oil production would require overturning decades-old moratoriums that limit offshore drilling and accelerating leasing of federal lands." Forest animals are not the only issue. Homeowners in Palm Beach and Malibu may not want to have...
Trading in Silverjet, the sole surviving business class only airline, was suspended this morning after the company failed to receive the funding lifeline it was relying on. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 May 2008 | 9:40 am
Trading in Silverjet, the sole surviving business class only airline, was suspended this morning after the company failed to receive the funding lifeline it was relying on. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 May 2008 | 9:40 am
Trading in Silverjet, the sole surviving business class only airline, was suspended this morning after the company failed to receive the funding lifeline it was relying on. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 May 2008 | 9:40 am
For just shy of one month way back in 1995, the Walt Disney Company was poised to become the world's biggest media company after announcing it was buying ABC/Capital Cities. But mere weeks later, Time Warner announced it was buying Turner Broadcasting, putting itself back into the lead dog position among the media pack as measured by revenue, a position it held through its wayward combination with America Online and up to this week.
Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer says that his plan to buy Yahoo! (YHOO) was never strategic. It is hard to imagine spending $45 billion on an acquisition as being tactical, but Redmond has a lot of money. The news is probably not good for Carl Icahn who wants control of Yahoo! so he can shop it back to Ballmer. According to Reuters, Ballmer made the point that "We will spend money on some acquisitions. You can do a whole lot of things with 50 billion dollars." None of those deals will be strategic either. Douglas A. McIntyre
A home-price index considered to be the most comprehensive reading of the U.S. market posted the sharpest decline in its 17-year history, and analysts say housing has yet to bottom out. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 May 2008 | 9:24 am
The Pimco Total Return, run by highly-worshiped bond manager Bill Gross, is putting most of its chips into mortgage debt. The fund, which manages $130 billion, is counting on the federal government to make the bet work. According to the FT "Mr Gross said his decision to raise exposure to mortgage debt in recent months was based on the US government’s implicit guarantee of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored mortgage agencies." Gross is usually right, but, with his exposure to mortgage-related paper tripled over that last few months, he could be facing his Waterloo. The housing crisis in...
Russia's President Medvedev arrives in China for talks with President Hu, on his first foreign tour. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 May 2008 | 9:21 am
LONDON (Reuters) - British oil field services firm Expro International , which agreed to a takeover in April, said it had received a higher approach worth 1.7 billion pounds ($3.4 billion)... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 May 2008 | 9:15 am
AP - Gap Inc.'s sales are slumping and shoppers appear unlikely to spend more anytime soon, but the clothing retailer still boosted its first-quarter profit by 40 percent by managing inventory and cutting costs.
Based on several pieces of analysis, the US airline industry will lose over $7 billion this year. If jet fuel stays high and a recession cuts passenger counts, the figure could go much higher. Several major airlines, particularly AMR (AMR), trade near liquidation value. The company's market cap is now 7% of total revenue. Numbers at Delta (DAL) and United (UAUA) are not much better. In a call which could not even be called "better late than never", S&P has put a number of airlines on its watch list and may downgrade them. The agency even thinks one or more...
Jerry Blotter has grown winter wheat on his central North Dakota farm for decades. This year, he's destroying much of his crop and seeding corn and spring wheat instead. A lack of soil Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 May 2008 | 9:11 am
While consumers, air carriers and lawmakers have been struggling with the burden of surging oil prices, the stock market has remained curiously nonchalant. Until this week.
Does your business travel routine need an upgrade? The editors of Fortune partnered with design bible Wallpaper* and scoured the globe to find the top new spots in dealmaking hubs.
Silverjet, the business-class airline, suspended its shares from trading this morning, after revealing that it has not received part of a pledged investment. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 May 2008 | 8:50 am
Silverjet, the business-class airline, suspended its shares from trading this morning, after revealing that it has not received part of a pledged investment. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 May 2008 | 8:50 am
Silverjet suspended trading in its shares on Friday, after failing to receive urgently needed funds from a new investor.The all-business class airline is battling for survival in the face of the steep... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 May 2008 | 8:40 am
HONG KONG, May 23 - The parent of top wireless carrier China Mobile will take over fixed-line firm Railcom and absorb executives from rivals as Beijing kicks off a long-awaited industry overhaul, sending... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 May 2008 | 8:35 am
Internet search engine Yahoo! has postponed its annual general meeting after activist investor Carl Icahn proposed to oust the existing board in response to the handling of Microsoft's takeover approach... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 May 2008 | 8:31 am
Internet search engine Yahoo! has postponed its annual general meeting after activist investor Carl Icahn proposed to oust the existing board in response to the handling of Microsoft's takeover approach in February. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 May 2008 | 8:31 am
Merrill Lynch has appointed a specialist to rid the firm of assets harmed by the US sub-prime mortgage crisis. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 May 2008 | 8:30 am
Merrill Lynch has appointed a specialist to rid the firm of assets harmed by the US sub-prime mortgage crisis. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 May 2008 | 8:30 am
Shares in business class airline Silverjet are suspended after it fails to get money vital to the firm's survival. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 May 2008 | 8:29 am
French utility firm Suez ends talks about a possible offer for nuclear power generator British Energy. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 May 2008 | 8:23 am
Sports Direct International, the retailer run by Mike Ashley, the
controversial entrepreneur, is today expected to announce that Credit Suisse
- which helped float the business with Merrill Lynch - is stepping down as
corporate broker. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 May 2008 | 8:10 am
Silverjet, the start-up business class airline, has suspended its shares from
trading on AIM after it was forced to admit that it had been unable to draw
down a bail-out loan arranged three weeks ago. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 May 2008 | 7:50 am
Yahoo!, the embattled internet search giant, has delayed its annual meeting by
as much as three weeks as it tries to buy time to fend off an assault by
Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor pushing for merger talks with
Microsoft. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 May 2008 | 7:20 am
Suez has pulled out of the race for British Energy, the nuclear generator,
leaving just two bidders in negotiation for the company. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 May 2008 | 7:13 am
Yahoo postpones its annual meeting after investor Carl Icahn threatened to launch a battle to oust the board. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 May 2008 | 6:06 am
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. home prices fell a record 1.7 percent in the first quarter and the number of workers on jobless benefit rolls held at a four-year high, underscoring the economy's woes, data on Thursday showed.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch & Co Inc is setting up a group to get rid of troubled or underperforming assets and named U.S. fixed income sales head Doug Mallach its head, according to an internal memo.
David Einhorn has a thing or two to say about Erin Callan's purported transparency.
Einhorn, it should be noted before going any further, is a hedge fund manager and an outspoken short seller of certain stocks including Lehman Brothers. Callan is Lehman's high-profile chief financial officer.
Since Bear Stearns' spectacular collapse in March, Callan has tried desperately to quell concerns that Lehman's financial condition resembles anything close to Bear's before J.P. Morgan Chase agreed to take it over for $2, and then $10, per share. She has made herself available to the media and to investors, disclosed greater details about Lehman's numbers, and promised to answer any questions about how it calculates them.
But still, she hasn't quite been able to shake Einhorn.
In a speech at an investor conference earlier this week, Einhorn went into great detail trying to demonstrate how little transparency Lehman actually has about its balance sheet, and specifically where there were discrepancies between what Callan announced to analysts during a conference call in March and what was included in its quarterly filing several weeks later.
Among Einhorn's many claims is that Lehman isn't properly evaluating its level-three assets, which are the more worrisome balance-sheet items for investment banks because they are hardest to value. He believes it isn't writing them down enough.
In the March 18 conference call, Callan said this:
"At the end of the quarter, I mean at the end of the year we were about $38.8 [billion] in total level-three assets. In terms of what happened in level-three asset changes to this quarter, we had net, short of payments, purchases, or sales, of $1.8 billion. We had net transfers in of $1.1 billion, so stuff that was really moved in or recharacterized from level two. And then there was about $875 million of write-downs, so that gives you a balance of $38.682 [billion] as of February 29th."
In the April 9 regulatory filing, however, Lehman disclosed that it actually had realized and unrealized gains of $228 million in its level-three assets during the period, not an $875 million loss. Even more curiously, this change was also not reflected in the income statement in the regulatory filing. Moreover, it said it transferred just $90 million in from level-two assets, not $1.1 billion.
Einhorn says that Lehman told him the changes reflect a "recategorization of certain assets" between the two levels, but it did not address specifically how it went from showing a loss of $875 million to a gain of $228 million, or about why the income statement didn't reflect that change.
As a Lehman short seller, to be sure, Einhorn has reason to highlight these discrepancies to other investors and to the press.
But what Einhorn missed in his analysis is the fact that Callan's explanation of the level-three assets during the conference call isn't even mathematically correct. ($38.8 billion + $1.8 billion + $1.1 billion - $875 million = $40.9 billion, not $38.7 billion.)
A Lehman spokesman declined to comment on the discrepancies between the call and the filing, or on any of Einhorn's other arguments.
He did, however, confirm that Callan misspoke on the call: She meant to say that $1.1 billion of assets were transferred out of level three to level two, not the other way around.
So now the facts are thus: Lehman first believed it had losses on a smaller amount of level-three assets, and then three weeks later it said that it actually had gains on a greater amount of the hard-to-value securities.
It is not so difficult to believe that figures can change between the initial press release and the regulatory filing. The release is typically unaudited, while the filing is approved by auditors. It's also not surprising that Callan might have misspoken on the call.
What's troubling is that Lehman, which claimed to be open and transparent and willing to respond to any and all questions about its financials, is suddenly clamming up at a time when it's still vulnerable to serious skepticism.
It is one thing to ignore imprecise assertions raised by an investor who wants your stock to fall. It's quite another to refuse to explain factual, quantitative discrepancies while declaring yourself open and transparent.
Casual labour company Allied Work Force reported a 10.6 per cent increase in annual net profit to $1.89 million.
Chairman Ross Keenan said momentum established at the end of the previous financial year had not continued at expected... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 23 May 2008 | 1:30 am
Retailer Briscoe Group is expecting the current slowdown to be protracted, with retail being the hardest hit of any sector and taking the longest to recover.
Managing director Rod Duke told today's annual meeting that the return... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 23 May 2008 | 1:15 am
The tax cuts announced in yesterday's Budget are here to stay after Parliament today passed the law needed to put them in place.
Though it has heavily criticised Michael Cullen's Budget, National backed the tax cuts allowing the... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 23 May 2008 | 1:10 am
Bay of Plenty kiwifruit growers worried about breaking even this year were yesterday handed their own budget boost - the promise of nearly a 10 per cent increase in returns from marketing giant Zespri International.
Zespri, which... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 23 May 2008 | 1:05 am
NEW YORK - The Wall Street Journal is moving uptown.
Nearly 6 months after being bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, the business daily's news staff will move to the company's headquarters at 1211 Sixth Avenue in midtown Manhattan.
The... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 23 May 2008 | 1:05 am
The black cloud hanging over the international airline industry became even darker yesterday as Air France and Qantas became the latest carriers to add to the chorus of gloom surrounding the industry.
The French national carrier... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 23 May 2008 | 1:00 am
Regulators around the world have lessons to learn from the subprime crisis and other recent events, including the collapse of investment bank Bear Stearns, the head of the US Securities Exchange Commission says Source: FT.com - US homepage | 23 May 2008 | 12:03 am
UBS plans to raise SFr1bn (£490m) more than expected in a deeply discounted SFr16bn rights issue to shore up its battered balance sheet. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 May 2008 | 12:01 am
Record trading on the London Stock Exchange drove profits sharply higher in the year to end March, but the shares fell amid fears it will not be able to sustain that growth due to increasing competition and tough market conditions. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 May 2008 | 12:01 am
Chris Wright spoke for the first time about the failed sale of Chrysalis as the music publishing company he founded 40 years ago fell deeper into the red. Source: Telegraph Business | 23 May 2008 | 12:01 am
The Bank of Canada became the first central bank to signal that it may soon begin to scale back the provision of extraordinary liquidity to financial markets Source: FT.com - US homepage | 22 May 2008 | 11:46 pm
The New Zealand sharemarket continued downward today in early trade.
After falls in the three previous days, the benchmark NZSX-50 index was down a further 7.69 points to 3583.65 by 10.15am today.
Top stock Telecom was the main... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 22 May 2008 | 10:50 pm
Bill Gross, head of the world's biggest bond fund, has pulled ahead of rivals in the past year and almost tripled his holding of mortgage debt to more than 60 per cent of the fund Source: FT.com - US homepage | 22 May 2008 | 10:32 pm
Sandy Weill, Citigroup's former chairman and chief executive, has acknowledged that the planning that led to the choice of Chuck Prince as his successor in 2003 was flawed and turned out not to be the "right thing" for the company Source: FT.com - US homepage | 22 May 2008 | 10:32 pm
In his new book, Jeff Sharlet, a research scholar at New York University's Center for Religion and Media, writes about the fundamentalist Christian group at the center of U.S. economic evangelism. He talks with Kai Ryssdal. Source: Marketplace | 22 May 2008 | 9:12 pm
This holiday weekend Americans are going to be taking to the roads and the skies in large numbers. But some of us are getting a little more green-minded about how we travel for vacation. Christy George reports. Source: Marketplace | 22 May 2008 | 9:12 pm
What drives an otherwise bright and ambitious young person to become an economist and subject himself to a life of deciphering regression analyses and using words like "resource allocation"? Faress Bhuiyan says, for him, it's personal. Source: Marketplace | 22 May 2008 | 9:12 pm
Rescue and rebuilding efforts from the China earthquake have prompted such a strong response from volunteers and donors in the country that many are wondering whether a new interest in private philanthropy will develop out of the tragedy. Jamila Trindle reports. Source: Marketplace | 22 May 2008 | 9:12 pm
To get the subprime mess off its books, the Swiss bank UBS is selling $15.5 billion-worth of mortgage-backed securities to private investment firm BlackRock. And it's lending BlackRock $11 billion to do it. Ashley Milne-Tyte reports. Source: Marketplace | 22 May 2008 | 9:12 pm
Just a month ago Ford executives were predicting a return to profitability by the end of this year. But the company now says it's going to have to cut production, and it isn't sure when it might return to black ink. Alisa Roth reports. Source: Marketplace | 22 May 2008 | 9:12 pm
The International Energy Agency says operating oil fields around the globe are pumping as much black gold as they can. Yet, there are numerous fields untapped. John Dimsdale reports on why oil companies haven't drilled into them. Source: Marketplace | 22 May 2008 | 9:11 pm
Official committee's review of early 1990s contracts finds that Shell and ExxonMobil owe the state $1.91bn in unpaid taxes and revenues Source: FT.com - US homepage | 22 May 2008 | 8:35 pm
Potential kick-start to long-awaited round of German financial consolidation as banking heavyweights consider making a combined offer for country's largest retail lender Source: FT.com - US homepage | 22 May 2008 | 8:02 pm
Michael Cullen has emptied the piggy-bank in a bid to mitigate the severity of the economic slowdown.
After running Budget surpluses in the range of 3 to 6 per cent of gross domestic product during the good times of the past six... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 22 May 2008 | 7:40 pm
Well, not the onetime anonymous internet alter-ego of the Whole Foods' chief executive, but the man himself, resuming his blog after suspending it in July.
Last summer, it emerged during a review of Whole Foods' proposed acquisition of Wild Oats that C.E.O John Mackey had been posting messages under a pseudonym—a fake online identity known as a "sock puppet"—on Yahoo stock message boards about Whole Foods for years.
Mackey was accused of hyping his own company's stock and running down its rival. Both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the board of Whole Foods conducted investigations. Felix Salmon argued vehemently that Mackey should resign.
The C.E.O. apologized and halted his blog in July. The investigations came to nothing, and the board affirmed its support of him.
Now Mackey has written a defense of his actions, saying that he was wrongly accused of trying to manipulate stocks and that his only mistake was an error in judgment, not ethics.
Most of the rahodeb posts, he said, were made in response to other posts that were making "defamatory and often inaccurate statements about the company."
He said that "All of the Whole Foods Market information that I used in my posts was information that previously had been disclosed by the company and was included in the public domain."
So why be anonymous?
"An online screen name is a great "equalizer" between people," Mackey says. "No one knows who most of the other participants are in everyday life, and so everyone relates to everyone else on equal terms. … What matters is the quality of what is said—not who says it."
As an unknown poster, he said, how could he inflate Whole Foods' stock or knock Wild Oats' down? "I was just one anonymous poster amongst hundreds at any particular time. Rahodeb had no authority or power to do anything in the real world."
Mackey, in his blogging return, promises that he will soon be moving on to other topics.
Perhaps his return might inspire Carl Icahn to resume blogging? Since a January 31 post announcing the debut of his blog, there have been no posts from the shareholder activist.
Australia could be forced to give up its place among the world's biggest wine exporters within 50 years and become a niche player.
Britain's oldest independent wine merchant Berry Bros & Rudd believes hotter temperatures and water... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 22 May 2008 | 7:30 pm
Budget 08 was the people's Budget.
It was focused on personal tax relief. Budget 07 was the business Budget with the crescendo being the reduction of the corporate tax rate to 30 per cent, the research and development regime and... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 22 May 2008 | 7:20 pm
Air France-KLM warned that its operating profit could fall by a third this year after fuel prices surged Source: FT.com - US homepage | 22 May 2008 | 7:06 pm
Soaring commodity prices, falling sales and a consumer shift away from large vehicles might delay carmaker's target of becoming profitable in North America by next year Source: FT.com - US homepage | 22 May 2008 | 6:51 pm
Run for your lives! The apocalypse is nigh. How can we tell? Celebrities are launching Web startups — again. Not since the height of the bubble, when the likes of Cindy Crawford, Michael Jordan, Matt Damon, and Patrick Stewart tried to cash in on dotcom fever, have so many stars lent their names to dubious online enterprises. The four horsemen are saddling up, and tech is asking for another trampling.
Hammer (He ditched the "MC" in the '90s.) dancejam.com U can't touch Hammer's Internet venturing skills. Well, maybe you can: Hammer is chief strategy officer of DanceJam, a video-sharing site where dancers upload clips of themselves.
Ashton Kutcher ooma.com Kutcher is the creative director of ooma, a VoIP company that offers free US calling to customers who buy its phone jack gadget. Just who is it that's being punk'd here, the investors or the consumers?
Kanye West kanyetravel.com For some reason, the rapper launched Kanye Travel Ventures, a fairly typical travel site where you can book discount airfare, hotels, rental cars, and vacation activities. What, no deals on Louis Vuitton luggage?
David Caruso lexicondigital.tv Caruso is CEO of Lexicon Digital Communications, which is "developing intellectual proprietary application solutions and products." Perhaps the rest of the CSI Miami team can figure out what the hell Lexicon does?
Andrew Shue cafemom.com Shue (Billy on Melrose Place) launched this social network where mothers can share stories, pictures, and advice--like don't let your daughter marry her sister's ex-husband who's sleeping with his coworker.
AFP - Stock markets around the world mostly slid on Thursday, weighed down by record-high oil prices that stoke inflation and bite into earnings, analysts said.
Plenty of Bear Stearns employees are desperate these days. Some have reluctantly agreed to take a lower salary at J.P. Morgan Chase. Others are furiously networking to find other opportunities on Wall Street. Some will start getting unemployment checks in the mail soon.
But at least one Bear employee isn't desperate at all. In fact, he's so confident in his job prospects that he turned down a $27 million offer from J.P. Morgan.
In what is sure to feel like a blow to J.P. Morgan chief Jamie Dimon, Jeffrey Mayer, the co-head of fixed income trading at Bear Stearns since 2002, has reneged on an agreement to take a position at J.P. Morgan when the merger is complete. He was one of just five Bear executives that were offered top management positions at Dimon's bank.
According to an internal memo sent to J.P. Morgan executives, both Mayer and his fixed-income co-head Craig Overlander will not head to Bear's new owner next month as planned. The contents of the memo were confirmed and reported by Reuters.
Just last month, the bank disclosed in an S.E.C. filing that Mayer had verbally accepted the offer, which included a $12 million bonus in 2008 and another $15 million in restricted stock. His $250,000 salary would have come with the title Vice Chairman of the Investment Bank.
Although the memo did not disclose why the pair declined their job offers, it's certainly possible they plan to launch a new venture on their own. And they're not alone. While most other investment banks are also paring back jobs, the well-connected are hoping to capitalize on available talent to pitch new business to Wall Street's most dissatisfied and lucrative clients.
Ford Motor has tapped the brakes on its turnaround.
The company says it is cutting its North American production, especially that of large trucks and S.U.V.'s. And Ford cautions that it no longer expects to turn profitable in North America next year as it had earlier vowed to do.
"Unless there is a fairly rapid turnaround in U.S. business conditions, which we are not anticipating, it now looks like it will take longer than expected to achieve our North American Automotive profitability goal," said Alan Mulally, Ford's chief executive. "Overall, we expect to be about break-even companywide in 2009—with continued strong results in Europe and South America."
Ford pointed to rising steel costs and higher gasoline prices as reasons for the production cuts. It will reduce production by 15 percent in the second quarter, to 690,000 vehicles, and plans lower production in the rest of the year as well.
It will increase production of some models, including the Ford Focus and Fusion and Mercury Milan and Mariner.
"The most important thing we can do right now is to continue to take decisive action implementing our plan to respond to the rapidly changing business environment," Mulally said.
In April, Ford surprised the market by reporting a first-quarter profit of $100 million when analysts were expecting another loss, suggesting that the company was gaining traction in its recovery.
In the June issue of Condé Nast Portfolio, Paul Ingrassia wrote that of the Big Three, "Ford has the cleanest, most achievable recovery plan in Detroit."
Under Mulally, Ingrassia noted, Ford has been working aggressively to reduce the number of factories, workers, and dealers in North America. And the automaker has taken big strides toward improving the quality of its lineup of cars.
But the scaled-production and pessimistic profit forecast shows how quickly the consumer economy has weakened and commodity cost increases have accelerated.
"With the continuing escalation in fuel prices and erosion in sales of trucks and S.U.V.'s, it's a necessary move on the part of Ford," Dennis Virag, president of Automotive Consulting Group, told Bloomberg News. "They are trapped within the circumstances. They could have done things differently five and 10 years ago, but hindsight is 20-20."
That will be of scant comfort to Kirk Kerkorian and other big investors who have piled into Ford this year in the hopes that it is Detroit's likeliest survivor.
The nearly daily recordbreaking is numbing: $100-a-barrel oil in March, then $120, quickly followed by $130.
Today, oil prices rose above $135 for the first time, extending Wednesday's surge that was sparked by an unexpected decline in inventories of crude oil in the United States last week.
The oil rally this year has shaken the airline industry to the core and triggered fears about inflation and concerns about slowing economic growth. The scene is set for a replay of the 1970s, when oil-price spikes and runaway inflation dragged down the U.S. economy.
At $135 a barrel, oil is more than twice as expensive as it was a year ago and more than four times as costly as it was four years ago.
What's driving the rally? A report by Bloomberg News bolsters the view that this is a speculative frenzy, an investment bubble ready to pop.
Alexander Kwiatkowski and Grant Smith of Bloomberg say that the number of short positions on the New York Mercantile (in other words, bets that oil prices would fall) have shrunk sharply, suggesting that traders have been buying to cover their positions and limit their losses.
The number of outstanding futures contracts fell 8.1 percent in the same week that oil prices rose 2.6 percent, Bloomberg says.
James Hamilton, the economist, however, contends that the price gains are largely about fundamentals, supporting the view of Goldman Sachs and others.
Hamilton points to data that show that it is the newly industrialized countries, China in particular, that account for 60 percent of the increase in petroleum use between 2003 and 2006.
And China has the immense potential to increase consumption even further. He notes that in 2006, China used about two barrels of oil per person. In comparison, the U.S. used nearly 25 barrels, while Mexico used 6.6.
Hamilton does say "I think we will see some net production gains this year, and I expect this to bring some relief for oil prices."
Others are less certain that world oil production can increase. The closely followed International Energy Agency is in the middle of a survey of the world's biggest oil fields, but it is already apparent, the Wall Street Journalreports, that supply is much tighter than previously thought.
The view that oil production will soon peak has already fostered fears and caused buying in the market.
Neil McMahon of Sanford Bernstein told the Financial Times: "Peak oil views—regardless of whether right or wrong—are seeping into the market and supporting high prices."
Reuters - NBC Universal, backed by Blackstone
Group , and Time Warner Inc are expected to be
the two top contenders for the Weather Channel cable network,
which has set a Friday deadline for second-round bids, the Wall
Street Journal reported.
Reuters - British oil field services firm Expro
International , which agreed to a takeover in April,
said it had received a higher approach worth 1.7 billion pounds
($3.4 billion) from U.S. rival Halliburton .
Reuters - Fannie Mae , the largest
provider of financing for U.S. home loans, on Friday said its
commitments to buy mortgages soared to $30.7 billion in April.
Reuters - Stock index futures fell on Friday,
suggesting Wall Street will end the week lower, as crude oil
prices resumed their climb, leaving investors on edge about
inflation before a long holiday weekend.
Reuters - Microsoft Corp Chief Executive
Officer Steve Ballmer said on Friday the company had never seen
buying Yahoo as strategic, and dropping the bid meant
it now had $50 billion to spend on other acquisitions.
AP - Gap Inc.'s sales are slumping and shoppers appear unlikely to spend more anytime soon, but the clothing retailer still boosted its first-quarter profit by 40 percent by managing inventory and cutting costs.
AFP - Stock markets around the world mostly slid on Thursday, weighed down by record-high oil prices that stoke inflation and bite into earnings, analysts said.