In the face of shareholder opposition, Yahoo defends its decision not to do a deal with Microsoft. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 30 Jun 2008 | 4:16 pm
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European shares ended mixed in the final trading session of the June, but still logged their fourth quarterly decline as oil pulled back from a new high.
Treasury prices trade little changed, although yields lean higher, amid signs of rising inflation overseas that may help steel central banks’ resolve to increase interest rates.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks turned higher on Monday, helped by crude oil backing off from a record above $143 a barrel, as fund managers bought up high-performing stocks, along with defensive issues, to embellish their portfolios on the last day of the second quarter.
Reuters - Longer-term U.S. Treasury bond yields
have bottomed and will steadily rise because of inflation
pressures as the U.S. economy clambers out of the current
downturn, the manager of the world's biggest bond fund wrote on
Monday. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 4:07 pm
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Longer-term U.S. Treasury bond yields have bottomed and will steadily rise because of inflation pressures as the U.S. economy clambers out of the current downturn, the manager of the world's biggest bond fund wrote on Monday.
CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. truck and engine maker Navistar International Corp said on Monday the U.S. pickup truck market was in a "stranglehold," squeezed by both economic weakness and high diesel fuel prices.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The subscription-music site Rhapsody on Monday said it will start selling unprotected songs online as it tries to drum up sales and challenge the dominance of Apple Inc. and its popular iTunes service.
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Consumer inflation across the 15-nation euro zone hit yet another all-time high in June, coming in at an annual rate of 4%, further boosting expectations the European Central Bank will hike its key lending rate.
Sirius Satellite Radio says that pending completion of its acquisition of XM Satellite, the combined company will generate “synergies” of $400 million in 2009 and achieve for the first time positive free cash flow for a full year.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq threw open the world's third largest oil reserves to foreign firms on Monday, putting British and U.S. companies in pole position five years after U.S.-led troops invaded the country to oust Saddam Hussein.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. cuts estimates for Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. and Morgan Stanley, joining a chorus of analysts predicting the two besieged banks will face serious headwinds in coming quarters.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. oil futures fell more than $1 on Monday, sliding on news the government revised U.S. April oil demand data sharply lower and on the dollar's bounce against the euro, after early weakness helped boost crude futures to a record high above $143.
Iraq has opened up six of its major oil fields to exploitation by
international companies, a first step toward reintegrating the country’s
massive reserves into a global market that has hit staggering new price
records. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 30 Jun 2008 | 3:44 pm
Reuters - U.S. truck and engine maker Navistar
International Corp said on Monday the U.S. pickup
truck market was in a "stranglehold," squeezed by both economic
weakness and high diesel fuel prices.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Monday as oil prices slipped and the broad market's descent to March lows drew bargain hunters, helping financial shares to pare losses.
Oil's above $143 a barrel. The dollar continues to weaken. Second quarter earnings, especially in the financial sector, are going to stink. And the employment report for June, due out this Thursday, is expected to show another month of job losses.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc on Monday sought to rally shareholder support for its board of directors and management amid a proxy battle with billionaire Carl Icahn, saying the investor had outlined an "ill-defined plan" for the future of the Internet company.
MADRID (Reuters) - The heads of some of the world's biggest oil companies countered on Monday OPEC claims that speculators were driving high oil prices, blaming instead a dearth of new supplies.
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Business activity in the U.S. Midwest contracted in June for a fifth straight month but at a less severe rate, even as production and new orders both slipped, a report showed on Monday.
Reuters - Tax preparer H&R Block Inc
said on Monday it swung to a quarterly profit from a loss,
beating estimates and driving the stock 6.6 percent higher, as
revenue rose 11 percent.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tax preparer H&R Block Inc said on Monday it swung to a quarterly profit from a loss, beating estimates and driving the stock 6.6 percent higher, as revenue rose 11 percent.
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Campbell Soup Co said on Monday that it expected to report fiscal-year profit at the upper end of its forecast range and set a $1.2 billion stock repurchase program, sending its shares up more than 5 percent.
Reuters - Yahoo Inc on Monday sought to
rally shareholder support for its board of directors and
management amid a proxy battle with billionaire Carl Icahn,
saying the investor had outlined an "ill-defined plan" for the
future of the Internet company.
No one hears much about the Bank for International Settlements but It deals with central banks worldwide and probably has as good a fix on the global economy as any single entity. There is still an opinion war being waged between the head of money center banks. Over the weekend, the chiefs a BNP Paribas and Barclays (BCS) tried to make the case that the worst of the credit crisis has passed. In the opponent's corner, the CFO of Merrill Lynch (MER) said that the brokerage would look at selling its pieces in Blackrock and Bloomberg. MER has nothing but...
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is seeing a rise of nearly 1% today, and this is after several days of hitting the 52-week low list and almost seeing its stock trade with $25 handles for the first time in five years. Lehman has come out defending the stock saying shares could be near a bottom. The research noted that it is rather cheap comparatively when you factor in current concerns over its financial service business all the way back to the 1989 to 1992 period. It noted that similar concerns over exposure to leveraged buyout and real estate lending pushed...
US stocks fell after oil prices broke past $143 a barrel, knocking the Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly into bear market territory - down 20 per cent from its recent highs Source: FT.com - US homepage | 30 Jun 2008 | 2:43 pm
Ireland's so-called Celtic Tiger economy is roaring no more and faces the prospect of a recession after official data on Monday revealed shrinking growth during the first three months of... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 2:41 pm
CHICAGO, June 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Seven Summits Research releases NewsBites on key stocks. Seven Summits Strategic Investments NewsBites are available to all Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 2:41 pm
ORLANDO, Fla., June 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Strength, Defense and Stamina are not the names of new super heroes, but three of the five products in Sun Shower's (TM) new... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 2:39 pm
Stocks were mixed Monday morning as investors weighed another selloff in auto and financial stocks, record oil and gas prices and some opportunities to scoop up recently-battered shares on the last day of the first half.
Iraq begins the process of opening up its oil industry to foreign investment to help boost its production. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 30 Jun 2008 | 2:37 pm
FREEHOLD, N.J., June 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corporation (Nasdaq: MNRTA), is proud to announce that it has been added to the... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 2:37 pm
Shares in Swiss banking giant UBS came under renewed pressure on Monday after weekend reports suggested that the bank would report further billions in asset write-downs and losses for the... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 2:33 pm
Leading figures in the oil world gathered in Madrid on Monday for one of the industry's biggest events, with the search for a remedy to record crude prices again stymied by division about... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 2:32 pm
'Have You Popped a Popster Today?' ENGLEWOOD, N.J., June 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Dale and Thomas Popcorn, and its team of popcorn chefs, unveiled Popsters(R) today. The... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 2:32 pm
Reuters - Business activity in the U.S. Midwest
contracted in June for a fifth straight month but at a less
severe rate, even as production and new orders both slipped, a
report showed on Monday.
Reuters - Business activity in the U.S. Midwest
contracted in June for a fifth straight month but at a less
severe rate, even as production and new orders both slipped, a
report showed on Monday.
New Photo Gift Wholesaler Offers an Exclusive Portfolio of More Than 70 Personalized Photo Gifts - Establishing the Industry's Only All-Premium Product Line ASHEVILLE,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 2:30 pm
Effective July 1, 2008, Lance Adams is Promoted to Partner of One of Southern California's Largest CPA Firms LONG BEACH, Calif., June 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Windes &... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 2:30 pm
Is today's economy as bad as it was during the Great Depression? Will the S&P 500 drop as much as it did in 1974? Is the Dow going to 4,500?
Is there any reason to get out of bed anymore?
Current economic forecasts certainly aren't providing it. The consensus seems to be: Things are bad, and they're going to get worse.
The Bank of International Settlements, which is known as the central bank for the world's central banks, said in its annual report that the global economic downturn is nearing a "tipping point" that could be so severe that the rising prices could reverse to enter a period of deflation.
"In the aftermath of a long credit-driven boom, it would not be surprising to see turmoil in financial markets, slowing real growth and temporarily rising inflation. While difficult to predict, their interaction does appear to point to a deeper and more protracted global downturn than the consensus view seems to expect."
It urges central banks to raise interest rates and to be prepared to keep them high even when inflationary pressures are not apparent.
Elsewhere, economists used last week's dramatic sell-off in the stock market to evoke moods of past periods of financial turmoil. On Friday, the Dow Jones industrials officially dipped into bear-market territory, when their intraday lows fell to 20 percent below their highs set last October. It was the Dow's worst performance for the month of June since the Great Depression.
Bloomberg reports that some money managers believe the losses in the stock and bond markets look quite like the losses suffered in 1974, when the S&P 500 lost 30 percent of its value and consumer prices surged 12.3 percent.
Writing in the Financial Times, Harvard's Lawrence Summers suggests that "we are now at the most dangerous moment since the American financial crisis began last August," and he offers advice to policymakers on ways to soften the blow.
The blogger Yves Smith points to a number of stomach-churning headlines, including the forecast from a Société Générale strategist who predicts the Dow will fall to 4,500 and the S&P 500 will drop to 500.
Other European banks are similarly bearish on the U.S. economic state of affairs. The chairman of Fortis said part of the reason it sought a capital injection last week was because it foresees a "complete meltdown" in American financial markets within weeks.
Strategists at Barclays Capital predicts the Federal Reserve will need to raise interest rates six times by the end of next year as inflation rises to 5.5 percent.
Against this backdrop of pessimism, the price of a barrel of oil hit $143 today, and the cost of a gallon of gas hit a record high at $4.08.
BOSTON, June 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Eagle Investment Systems LLC, a leading provider of financial services technology and a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon, today... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 2:30 pm
Tesco today launched a legal challenge against one of the key proposals of the
Competition Commission’s two-year investigation into Britain’s £120 billion
supermarket sector. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 30 Jun 2008 | 2:22 pm
Posco of South Korea, the world's fourth largest steelmaker, has moved to strengthen the security of its coal supplies by joining ArcelorMittal and China's Citic on Macarthur Coal's share register.Posco... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 2:19 pm
Shares in London moved higher in afternoon trading despite news of a big writedown in the housebuilding sector and further evidence the slowdown is accelerating in the housing market.The FTSE 100 was 1... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 2:05 pm
Bradford & Bingley's (B&B) army of small shareholders are being urged
to consider voting down the troubled mortgage lender's £258 million rescue
rights issue at next week's crunch meeting. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 30 Jun 2008 | 1:57 pm
Crude oil prices surge to a new high near to $144 a barrel as ministers from oil producing nations meet in Madrid. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 30 Jun 2008 | 1:51 pm
A video-on-demand venture between the BBC, Channel 4 and ITV is referred to the Competition Commission. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 30 Jun 2008 | 1:49 pm
Hicks Acquisition Company I, Inc. (AMEX: TOH) has reached an agreement in principle to go from SPAC to operational. The deal and terms are subject to execution of a definitive agreement, although the company noted that this is expected to be finalized in the next few days. Hicks Acquisition will merge with Graham Packaging Holdings Co. through a transaction with Hicks Acquisition. Interestingly enough, this will be in partnership with The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) and the Graham Group. Hicks Acquisition is a Dallas-based special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that was founded and headed by Thomas O. Hicks....
A French court orders eBay to pay 40 million euros in damages to luxury goods group LVMH for allowing the sale of fake goods. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 30 Jun 2008 | 1:11 pm
Wall Street stocks were set for a lower start on Monday, after oil prices broke past $143 a barrel, confirming the Dow Jones Industrial Average was on a course for the worst June since the Great Depression... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 12:59 pm
Annualised inflation across the Eurozone countries has rocketed to its highest
level since the launch of the euro, prompting leading economists to argue it
is a near racing certainty that the European Central Bank will increase
interest rates this week. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 30 Jun 2008 | 12:55 pm
A French court ordered the online auction giant to pay damages to the luxury goods company LVMH, in the latest round of a legal battle over the sale of counterfeit goods on the Internet. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 12:52 pm
In the wake of the credit crisis, there has been much discussion about overhauling the regulatory oversight of Wall Street, changing capital requirements, and whether investment banks should merge with commercial banks.
A major pillar of Wall Street—compensation—already appears to be heading for a change.
Citigroup is planning to revamp its bonus system, reports Francesco Guerrera of the Financial Times. The aim of the changes is to tie bonuses to the performance of Citi as a whole, rather than as a unit or a trading desk. Bonuses will be calculated in part on how well divisions cooperate with one another.
Douglas McIntyre of 24/7 Wall St. is skeptical, noting that Wall Street has done very well in the past by rewarding individual performances. The bank's plan, he says, "will lump the 'all-stars' in with the mediocre and cause the kind of executive revolt that Citi can ill afford."
But if there is a financial institution that needs to focus on the collective good, it is Citi, a sprawling creation of two decades' worth of mergers. The bank has long suffered from lack of investment and a minimum of integration that at times has had bankers in different divisions working at cross-purposes.
Year-end bonuses are coming under fire in different ways. A number of Wall Street executives did not take bonuses for 2007, and Richard Fuld of Lehman Brothers has already told managing directors at his firm that he will not take one for 2008.
The Financial Times also reports today that a wave of layoffs of bankers this month was prompted in part by fears that the firms could face litigation over bonuses if they were fired in the second half of the year.
It's worth repeating the question posed by Felix Salmon in the March issue of Condé Nast Portfolio: Why are the banks giving out huge bonuses at all?
Wall Street earned a total of $11.4 billion in 2007. But the five firms at the time paid their employees $66 billion, 10 percent more than in 2006.
Investment banks routinely spend half their revenue on paying their bankers, traders, and support staff. A good chunk of that comes in the form of year-end bonuses. But the bonus system has been criticized for encouraging too much risk, for putting the interests of individuals and units above those of the firm itself. In good times, bonuses often reward mediocrity, and in difficult times, they can invite danger.
Michael Santoli provided a good overview of the changes that may come to Wall Street in Barron's this weekend.
Wall Street, "is likely to be a less lucrative and less fun place to work," for perhaps the next couple of years. And compensation practices may change.
"Shareholders may agitate for more for themselves," he notes.
France Telecom shot higher on Monday after withdrawing its offer for Nordic telecoms operator TeliaSonera.France Telecom jumped 7.3 per cent to 18.73 as investors breathed a sigh of relief that the French... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 12:21 pm
France Tlcom said it had withdrawn its bid to buy TeliaSonera, after the board of the Swedish-Finnish telephone company said the $42-billion offer undervalued the company. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 12:18 pm
Paris, June 30 A French court on ordered Ebay to pay 38.6m ($61m) to luxury goods group LVMH for allowing the sale of fake merchandise, in a ruling immediately appealed by the online auction website... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 12:13 pm
A French court on ordered the online auction website to pay €38.6m to luxury goods group LVMH for allowing the sale of fake merchandise, in a ruling that Ebay immediately appealed Source: FT.com - US homepage | 30 Jun 2008 | 12:13 pm
RealMedia's Rhapsody music service is launching a full-scale assault on iTunes. In a dramatic strategy shift, on June 30 the company announced the opening of its MP3 store. The new service does away entirely with digital rights management, the software baked into digital music that controls how widely it can be distributed. (iTunes uses DRM for a good portion of its music, but newer mp3 stories like Amazon's, which launched last September, have dropped it.) Listeners will be able to play music anywhere - even on an iPod
The most senior head to roll at the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the
wake of the Northern Rock collapse walked away with a £612,000 farewell
package plus a £30,000 "performance-related bonus," it
emerged today. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 30 Jun 2008 | 12:08 pm
The drama around the possible defection from Paramount of the cinematic powerhouses behind DreamWorks is headline-grabbing - but it's only a distraction from what must really be driving Sumner Redstone crazy: In tough times for media giants, Viacom and CBS are doing even worse than their peers.
France Telecom abandons its offer to buy rival Teliasonera after the Nordic firm rejected its offer. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 30 Jun 2008 | 11:49 am
Oil prices jumped more than $3 per barrel to a new record of above $143 after
Iran threatened to block shipping in the Persian Gulf if Israel were to
attack it.$ Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 30 Jun 2008 | 11:29 am
Goldman Sachs has come out with some positive calls in the communications technology group, and one of the stocks has been given an upgrade. Specifically, Goldman Sachs noted that it is maintaining a bias toward the large-cap stocks in the communications tech universe with stocks like Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM), and Research-in-Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM). The firm is starting to see some opportunities in small-caps in the sector and the firm has listed Powerwave (NASDAQ: PWAV) as its top idea. PowerWave was RAISED TO BUY FROM NEUTRAL and it has a premium over Wall Street's consensus estimates for...
These are ten of the analyst calls we have seen in the early hours of trading this Monday morning: Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) Raised to Neutral from Underperform at Merrill Lynch. Atheros Communications (NASDAQ: ATHR) Raised to Buy from Neutral at Piper Jaffray. Huntsman (NYSE: HUN) raised to Hold from Underperform at Jefferies & Co Level 3 Communications (NASSDAQ: LVLT) Cut to Sell from Hold at Citigroup. Mid-America Apartment (NYSE: MAA) raised to Outperform at Robert W. Baird. Real Goods Solar (NASDAQ: RSOL) started as Perform at Oppenheimer. Teradyne (NYSE: TER) Raised to Buy from Neutral at Piper Jaffray. Teva Pharmaceuticals...
The dollar struggled on Monday after last week's heavy losses on Wall Street, while traders eyed a key level against the euro which, if breached, could send the greenback into a tailspin.The dollar fell... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 11:00 am
Oil surged to a new record above $143 a barrel on Monday as the dollar fell and worries about Iranian supply deepened. Nymex August West Texas Intermediate rose $3.25 to $143.50 a barrel as the US dollar,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 10:59 am
Oil prices hit a new record on Monday as the dollar fell and worries about Iranian supply deepened Source: FT.com - US homepage | 30 Jun 2008 | 10:59 am
eBay has been ordered to pay €38.6 million compensation to LVMH, the French
luxury goods group, for allowing fake versions of its products to be sold on
the online auction website. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 30 Jun 2008 | 10:56 am
Inflation in the euro area rises to 4%, increasing the prospect of a hike in interest rates later this week. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 30 Jun 2008 | 10:54 am
Steel Partners, the US fund headed by Warren Lichtenstein, on Monday won a seat on the board of Japanese wigmaker Aderans in a major boost to shareholder engagement in the country.It is the first time... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 30 Jun 2008 | 10:54 am
The UAW's members have become prisoners of the economic war, used now as galley slaves rowing a fleet of doomed ships of into the hellish center of an oil-crazed war between OPEC and the US dollar. All of them will drown shackled to their ships. It was supposed to be different. The union cut a deal to save some jobs and take control of its own pension and retirement packages. A part of the consideration meant to fund those pools was to come in the form of car company stock. Now, the industry is falling apart, and the UAW has...
Profitability in the financial services industry is falling at its fastest rate in at least 19 years as the credit crisis continues to weigh on the sector, a new study indicates. Source: Telegraph Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 10:40 am
Shares in Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto rise in London after a report that Arcelor Mittal could buy a stake. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 30 Jun 2008 | 10:39 am
The number of new mortgage approvals during the 12 months to May plunged by 64
per cent to a record low, as the slump in the UK housing market shows no
signs of abating. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 30 Jun 2008 | 10:37 am
All of the corporate CFOs and treasurers who bought auction-rate securities from the salesman from their investment banks need a scapegoat. When the credit crisis hit, the financial firms which had kept the market liquid since 1985 walked out. The banks would hold some of the securities between auctions to keep the market trading. With huge losses hitting their P&Ls, the risk was not worth the commissions they earned in the auction-rate market. When the market dried up, auditors made the CFOs write-down the value of the securities. A new study indicates that most corporate financial chiefs thought that the...
The proposed transaction would have created Europe's largest telecommunications company, but had always struggled to generate support from shareholders on both the French and Swedish sides Source: FT.com - US homepage | 30 Jun 2008 | 10:31 am
Citigroup (C) has decided to change its bonus structure so that senior management will be paid on the results of the entire bank instead of the success of their individual operations. It will lump the "all stars" in with the mediocre and cause the kind of executive revolt that Citi can ill afford. According to the FT, the big money center bank "is planning to overhaul its bonus system for hundreds of top managers in an effort to increase co-operation and minimise in-fighting among the disparate parts of the sprawling financial services conglomerate." The program will undermine the key element...
Shares in Southern Cross Healthcare, the UK’s biggest care home operator,
dived 75 per cent after warning that a higher-than-expected death rate,
lower demand and slower funding from Government has reduced occupancy
levels. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 30 Jun 2008 | 10:04 am
During the 19th century, the West began a brisk trade relationship with the Chinese though Canton. It has been a good deal for both sides, with a few exceptions like the First Anglo-Chinese War, ever since. China has now developed a problem which undermines the foundation of what has been its attraction as an exporter for countless decades. Inflation in the country is increasing the costs of its goods. According to The Wall Street Journal, the heart of the problem is that "manufacturers say their profits have dwindled as they pay out more for raw materials and energy." With oil...
Prices in the eurozone are rising at 4 per cent a year, the highest inflation rate the 15-nation bloc has seen since statistics began in 1997 and a further sign the European Central Bank will raise its main rate from 4 to 4.25 per cent later this week Source: FT.com - US homepage | 30 Jun 2008 | 9:57 am
The profit-mongering Big Pharma companies don't want the FDA to take so long approving their drugs. It cuts into profits and delays their chances of making money on new blockbuster treatments. According to The Wall Street Journal, the head of Schering-Plough, almost certainly representing the sentiments of his industry expressed profound concern that "an intensifying focus on safety and a diminished tolerance for side effects at the Food and Drug Administration have dramatically lowered the odds that the drugs would make it to market -- at least not without a lot of extra time and money." If many new pharmaceuticals...
Shares in FranceTelecom shares soared today as investors reacted with relief
to an announcement that the Gallic communications group had withdrawn a
takeover bid for TeliaSonera, its Nordic rival. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 30 Jun 2008 | 8:53 am
Taylor Wimpey, the UK's second biggest housebuilder, will today confirm that it is in talks to ask its largest institutional shareholders for a £500m cash injection to keep the business afloat amid the lowest house sales levels since the 1970s Source: Telegraph Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 7:10 am
The New Zealand sharemarket extended Friday's hefty plunge, dropping another 1 per cent today on poor sentiment about the economy.
On Friday the NZSX-50 benchmark index lost 1.98 per cent or 65 points to its lowest point since... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 5:50 am
The New Zealand dollar rose slightly today against the US dollar but only within a narrow range.
By 5pm today the kiwi was at US76.27c from US76.05c at 4.45pm on Friday.
ANZ Institutional Bank dealer Murray Hindley said the... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 5:30 am
Shares in listed investment company Hellaby Holdings have been put in a trading halt, pending a "material announcement" from the company.
The NZX says the halt will stay in place until the announcement is made likely to be before... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 5:10 am
Business confidence nudged higher in the June National Bank Business Outlook survey but the bank continues to see a "lack of conviction" in the reading.
A net 39 per cent of those surveyed expect worse times over the... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 3:40 am
Hydro lake levels have lifted slightly, bringing a small amount of relief for the electricity sector even as cold and stormy weather sweeping the country raised demand.
As consumers are urged to save power to ensure supplies remain... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 3:19 am
A proposed $220 million deal between two major primary industry players will shake up the struggling meat industry.
Under the proposal, rural servicing firm PGG Wrightson would buy a 50 per cent stake in meat marketing and processing... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 3:00 am
Although the country is meant to be on the cusp of a recession, optimism remains as strong demand from China and other trends sustain the global steel industry Source: FT.com - US homepage | 30 Jun 2008 | 2:56 am
The number of permits issued for new dwellings, including apartments, fell 42.3 per cent in the month of May compared with April.
The decline was 25.3 per cent if apartments are excluded.
Statistics New Zealand said a seasonally... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 2:00 am
It is the last day of the financial year and to date, the Australian All Ordinaries index is down more than 15 per cent.
It is the worst performance since the 1981-82 financial year, which saw share market losses of just over 32... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 1:30 am
Receivers have been appointed to a business involved in the upmarket Gulf Harbour Country Club north of Auckland after a default on a large loan.
Mark Bryers, who founded the collapsed Blue Chip business, is the golf club company's... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 1:00 am
Britain's richest man, the steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, has been appointed to the board of the investment bank Goldman Sachs. Source: Telegraph Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
The global economy may be heading for a far deeper crisis than is expected and a bout of deflation in the world's biggest economies is now a possibility, according to one of the world's most highly regarded economic institutions. Source: Telegraph Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
Private equity firm Texas Pacific Group will meet leading Bradford & Bingley shareholders today to court their favour ahead of the bank's pivotal extraordinary general meeting next week. Source: Telegraph Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
Lloyds TSB is sending the cards directly to children raising fears that they are being used to buy cigarettes, alcohol and pornography over the internet. Source: Telegraph Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
Wall Street's outlook for the second half of the year has soured as US stocks stare into the jaws of a bear market. Source: Telegraph Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
We all know about the forces battering UK consumers - softening real incomes, plunging house prices and falling credit availability. Although the recent official sales figures bizarrely suggested that retail sales grew strongly in May (do our statisticians live on the planet Zog, I wonder?), the reality on the ground is that consumer spending is under serious pressure. Source: Telegraph Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
Orange will today seek to replace one of the most successful advertising slogans in history as it unveils a £30m advertising campaign aimed at resurrecting its brand. Source: Telegraph Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 12:01 am
Better protection for users of internet banking services is expected under revisions to the banking industry's Code of Banking Practice.
InternetNZ (Internet Society of New Zealand) deputy executive director Jordan Carter said... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 30 Jun 2008 | 12:00 am
Public US companies are not preparing for new financial reporting technology that could soon become mandatory under US regulatory proposals, research shows Source: FT.com - US homepage | 29 Jun 2008 | 10:40 pm
The vast majority of investors in some of the "safest" bonds hit by the credit squeeze were led to believe they would be bailed out in case of trouble, according to research Source: FT.com - US homepage | 29 Jun 2008 | 10:34 pm
Leaders of the Group of Eight rich nations are set to backtrack on their pledge at the Gleneagles summit in 2005 to increase development aid to Africa to $25bn a year, according to a draft communiqué obtained by the Financial Times Source: FT.com - US homepage | 29 Jun 2008 | 10:33 pm
Citigroup is planning to overhaul its bonus system for hundreds of top managers in an effort to increase co-operation and minimise in-fighting among the disparate parts of the sprawling financial services conglomerate Source: FT.com - US homepage | 29 Jun 2008 | 10:33 pm
Reuters - U.S. truck and engine maker Navistar
International Corp said on Monday the U.S. pickup
truck market was in a "stranglehold," squeezed by both economic
weakness and high diesel fuel prices.
Reuters - Tax preparer H&R Block Inc
said on Monday it swung to a quarterly profit from a loss,
beating estimates and driving the stock 6.6 percent higher, as
revenue rose 11 percent.
Reuters - Yahoo Inc on Monday sought to
rally shareholder support for its board of directors and
management amid a proxy battle with billionaire Carl Icahn,
saying the investor had outlined an "ill-defined plan" for the
future of the Internet company.
Reuters - Business activity in the U.S. Midwest
contracted in June for a fifth straight month but at a less
severe rate, even as production and new orders both slipped, a
report showed on Monday.