News of Note
US stocks are lower mid-day on continuing worries that higher interest rates and energy prices will slow economic growth. Taser International’s stock price has been halved, its sales hurt and its marketing and accounting programs subjected to scrutiny because of fears over the safety of stun-guns, the Wall Street Journal said. Yahoo! Inc. has acquired Canada’s Ludicorp Research & Development, developer of the photo-sharing Web site Flickr, the Wall Street Journal said. Jacques Barrot, the European Union’s transportation commissioner, said progress can be made toward an accord under which the US would allow foreign companies to buy stakes of more than 25% in the country’s airlines, La Tribune reported. Iraqi insurgents are attacking less frequently and in smaller numbers on central Baghdad’s Haifa Street in recent months, the NY Times reported. L-3 Communications Holdings is under federal criminal investigation after the company supplied defective parts for emergency pilot search radios, the Wall Street Journal reported. Google Inc., the world’s most-used Internet search engine, is being sued by Agence France Presse for allegedly including copyrighted material on Google’s search site, Reuters reported. UN Secretary General Annan’s proposals to expand the Security Council may help Germany obtain a permanent seat in the committee, which the US is seeking to prevent, Handelsblatt reported. Continental Airlines’ fare boost Friday of $10 on domestic round-trip fares is prompting rivals to push through a third increase within the month, the Wall Street Journal said. Executives at casino companies such as Harrah’s Entertainment, Boyd Gaming and Pinnacle Entertainment are nervous about a Louisiana proposal to raise the state’s gambling tax by half, to 32.5%, the Wall Street Journal reported. SunGuard Data Systems, whose software handles most Nasdaq Stock Market trades, may be acquired for $10 billion by an investment group headed by Silver Lake Partners, the NY Post reported. Advance Publications’ Jersey Journal newspaper is changing to a tabloid from broadsheet format as newspapers seek to find ways offset declining circulation and advertising revenue, the NY Times reported. Sony BMG Music Entertainment and other record labels are beginning to sell CDs in the DualDisc format that includes a DVD on the flip side, the first major new recording format since the CD was introduced more than 20 years ago, the Wall Street Journal reported. Ben Smith and Sheehan Maduraperuma left JP Morgan, where they traded equity derivative with the bank’s capital, to start a hedge fund, Derivatives Week said. General Motors needs new products, labor concessions and federal help containing health costs if Chief Executive Officer Wagnor is to halt the automaker’s decline, say corporate leaders, Bloomberg reported. Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. agreed to buy cosmetic surgery device maker Inamed for $2.8 billion in stock and cash to add products including facial and breast implants, Bloomberg reported. Infineon Technologies agreed with Rambus to settle all patent claims made by the US company, Bloomberg said. Shares of Schering AG plunged the most in at least 15 years after the colon-cancer pill it was counting on for more than $1 billion in annual sales failed to stop the growth of tumors in a late-stage study, Bloomberg reported. Carnival Corp. said first-quarter profit rose 70% on higher prices and more demand for trips, Bloomberg said.