Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Google(GOOG) is adding a finance site to its stable of offerings, a move that sparks fresh competition for Microsoft(MSFT) and Yahoo!(YHOO).
- Newspaper publishers, including USA Today parent Gannett(GCI) and the LA Times’ Tribune(TRB), are taking a beating in the bond market as newsprint costs rise and advertisers increasingly turn to the Internet.
- Microsoft(MSFT) ramped up shipments of its Xbox 360 video-game console, seizing on a delay in Sony’s(SNE) PlayStation 3 to bolster sales.
- The number of US businesses owned by Hispanics rose by almost a third between 1997 and 2002, three times the average growth rate for all businesses.
- President Bush said Iraq is making progress toward democracy even as terrorist attacks persist.
- Jones Apparel(JNY), maker of Anne Klein clothes and Nine West shoes, said it’s exploring a sale of the company.
- The US Treasury yield curve inverted for the first time in nine days after Fed Chairman Bernanke’s comments led traders to speculate interest rate hikes would continue.
- General Motors(GM) and Delphi, closing in on an agreement with unions to cut costs, may offer as many as 70,000 workers incentives to retire, according to a labor analyst monitoring the talks.

Wall Street Journal:
- The European Union has agreed to offer protection for regional foods names to non-EU exporters of foods such as Idaho potatoes.
- High US fuel inventories and subdued household demand have pushed down prices of gasoline, heating oil and other refined products, resulting in narrower margins and lower share prices for refiners.
- US investment banks are looking at acquisitions of home-loan providers, eager for more assets to underpin their mortgage securities businesses.
- President Bush’s administration will ask the US Congress to force the chemical industry to improve security at plants and in transportation.
- Credit Suisse Group, Lehman Brothers Holdings(LEH) and hedge funds have gotten into energy trading in search of profit, yet the markets remain highly volatile.

NY Post:
- Nike Inc.(NKE) has joined with Google(GOOG) to develop a soccer Web site called Joga.com, which is Portuguese for “joy,” as the athletic-shoe maker seeks to increase brand loyalty.

NY Times:
- Some US banks, credit card issuers and wireless providers are developing payment systems that use mobile phones.
- US high school students are applying to as many as 12 colleges, up from three or four a generation ago.

Focus-Money:
- Adidas-Salomon AG regained market share of soccer-related equipment from rival Nike(NKE), recovering the leading position in Europe.
- Intel(INTC) is still suffering from supply problems.

Vedomosti:
- ConocoPhillips(COP) plans to spend $2.5-$3 billion raising its stake in OAO Lukoil to 20% by the end of this year.

Independent Online:
- South Africa will apply to the UN to boost its sea territory by as much as 65% to increase the area for oil exploration.

Shanghai Securities News:
- China’s central bank may tighten monetary policy by raising the percentage of deposits domestic banks must set aside as reserves.

Independent:
- Japanese and other nationals are increasingly buying kidneys and other organs that come from executed prisoners in China, citing recipients and doctors.

El Watan:
- Algerian Energy Minister Khelil said global oil production will rise this summer.

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