Bloomberg:
- EMI Group Plc, the world’s third-largest music label, will sell songs without copyright protection software through Apple Inc.’s(AAPL) iTunes online store.
- New Century Financial(NEWC) filed for bankruptcy in Delaware today.
- Xerox(XRX) agreed to buy Global Imaging(GISX) for about $1.5 billion to gain more small companies as customers.
- Kohlberg Kravis Roberts agreed to buy First Data Corp.(FDC), the world’s biggest processor of credit-card payments, for about $29 billion in the second-biggest leveraged buyout so far this year.
- The US economy is slowing. Mortgage defaults are rising. And stocks are the cheapest in 20 years, a “buy” signal for some of the world’s biggest money managers.
- Bear Sterns(BSC), the biggest US underwriter of bonds backed by mortgages, set up a team to help homeowners stave off foreclosures as defaults by the riskiest borrowers surge.
- Oil rose above $66/bbl. in NY as a standoff between the UK and Iran over the capture of British naval personnel entered a ninth day.
- Corn is falling the maximum daily limit of 5% for the second day in a row after US farmers indicated they play to sow the most acres in 63 years to take advantage of high prices.
- Wheat futures are falling to a six-month low in Chicago on speculation livestock producers will abandon plans to feed wheat to cattle as corn prices fall.
- Egypt plans to increase sugarcane production to capture a share of the growing US market for biofuels and offset the cost of rising foods imports.
Wall Street Journal:
- DoubleClick’s(DCLK) potential buyers now include Google Inc.(GOOG), intensifying a growing battle for the profitable online advertising brokering business.
- Policies at Exxon Mobil(XOM), Chevron(CVX), ConocoPhillips(COP) and other oil companies make it harder for motorists to find ethanol readily at gasoline stations. Exxon’s standard contract with stations bars them from buying fuel from anybody else and the company doesn’t sell E85, ConocoPhillips doesn’t allow E85 sales under the covered canopy where gasoline is sold, while Chevron’s agreement with franchisees appears to discourage selling E85 on the main station island.
- US Democrats are under increased pressure to show they can achieve change after dozens of initiatives didn’t make much headway.
- American Intl. Group(AIG) CEO Sullivan plans to retain the entrepreneurial spirit fostered at the company by Maurice “Hank” Greenberg while improving oversight.
- Tribune Co.(TRB), owner of the Chicago Tribune and LA Times, accepted a takeover offer from billionaire investor Sam Zell.
NY Times:
- Genetic tests that reveal if people share common ancestors are attracting customers interested in tracing their family genealogy.
- Darfur immigrants in the US are choosing to live in Indiana and other Midwestern states instead of metropolitan areas.
- More than 1,000 potential contestants have expressed interest in vying for an award of more than $10 million to build a commercially viable car that can travel 100 miles on a gallon of gasoline.
Forbes.com:
- After a seven-year run "value" stocks are pricier than ever. When Jeremy Grantham, chairman of GMO, says that, it’s time to think about buying "growth" stocks instead.
Financial Times:
- Over 20 US fund managers overseeing more than $55 billion in investments want more transparency in US corporate political spending ahead of the 2008 presidential election.
- Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said the US is blocking Arab investment in its transportation industries because it’s “obsessed” with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Iran and Syria to avoid pursuing paths of isolation in the Middle East and said that a nuclear-armed Iran would be “unaccecptable.”
Al-Rai Al-Aam:
- Kuwait’s budget for this fiscal year forecasts revenue of $28.8 billion based on an average oil price of $36 a barrel.
No comments:
Post a Comment