Bloomberg:
- Walt Disney, whose film unit said it will lose money in the fourth quarter, raised $505 million from investors to reduce the risk of financing movies, the first time it has done so in almost a decade.
- Insurers including Allstate Corp. and St. Paul Travelers cover an estimated $740 billion of property in Hurricane Rita’s path, twice as much as in the three states pummeled by Katrina last month.
- China widened the yuan’s trading band against the euro, yen and Hong Kong dollar, allowing the currency to trade more freely for the second time since July 21.
- Iran warned that the European Union’s US-backed resolution that would send the Islamic Republic to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions over its nuclear program would be a “dangerous” development that may lead to confrontation.
- Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns are hiring the most bankers and traders in at least five years as profits set records.
- Genentech stopped enrolling women with advanced ovarian cancer in a trial testing another use for its Avastin drug after researchers noticed higher rates of gastrointestinal perforations.
- Gasoline and crude oil are falling as Hurricane Rita was forecast to make landfall tomorrow to the east of the Houston refining center.
Wall Street Journal:
- The US Dept. of Homeland Security has mobilized military forces to assist in rescue missions after Hurricane Rita strikes.
- Wal-Mart Stores is offering more variations of digital music players and selling an eight-megapixel digital camera from Japan’s Canon for about $1,000.
- Merck researchers will double enrollment in a trial of its experimental AIDS vaccine after initial tests yielded positive results.
- Companies including UnitedHealth Group and Health Net are facing stiff competition to offer prescription-drug benefits to seniors, suggesting a future shakeout of the market.
NY Times:
- President Bush plans to visit Texas today before Hurricane Rita hits to lead federal efforts in anticipation of the storm.
Washington Post:
- The US, which has planned to deploy as many as 125,000 trailers in the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, yesterday had 10,100 trailer homes in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
No comments:
Post a Comment