Bloomberg:- Crude oil in NY is falling again, heading for the lowest close in five months, as concern eased that shipments from Iran, will be curbed because of a dispute about the country’s nuclear program.
- The Fed said companies last month had difficulty passing along higher energy prices to customers as economic growth slowed in some areas, adding to the case for keeping interest rates unchanged.
- GM(GM) will extend warranties to 100,000 miles on 2007 cars and trucks as part of a plan to tout quality and win back buyers lost to Toyota Motor(TM) and other rivals.
- SEC Chairman Cox said regulators will be bringing action against more companies for fraudulent reporting of their stock options grants.
- ASML Holding NV, Europe’s largest maker of semiconductor equipment, raised its forecast for third-quarter machine orders and 2006 sales because of “strong demand” from manufacturers of memory chips.
- Sony Corp.(SNE) delayed the European release of its PlayStation 3 video game console until March and cut its 2006 shipment target in half to 2 million, surrendering holiday sales to Microsoft and Nintendo.
- Fast growing demand has resulted in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company(TSM) to extend its shipment time to eight weeks or more.
Wall Street Journal:- Cisco Systems(CSCO) is beginning a campaign to broaden its image to include consumers and sell services such as Internet phone calling, set-top television boxes, and networked DVD players.
- Eastman Kodak(EK) is to introduce more than 2,000 photo-processing kiosks into Wal-Mart Stores(WMT) as the popularity of instant print, self-service booths grows.
- Amazon.com(AMZN) will offer a movie downloading service, called Amazon Unbox, to match its DVD sales and rental businesses.
NY Times:- New Boston-area buildings designed as laboratory space for biotechnology research are attracting cash-rich institutional investors.
- A group including Cisco Systems(CSCO), IBM(IBM) and Azulstar Networks will spend between $75 million and $270 million to build a wireless network for Silicon Valley.
Sacramento Bee:- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., California’s largest provider of homeowners’ insurance, will propose cutting its rates there by an average of 10.6% today.
Philadelphia Inquirer:- A professor emeritus at the Wharton School who was arrested last week in Virginia on child porn allegations now faces charges in Pennsylvania after a search of his campus office turned up illegal photos and videos.
Finanz & Wirtschaft:- UBS AG CEO Wuffli sees “very good” prospects to expand in wealth management in the US.
Emirates Today:- Foreign direct investment into the United Arab Emirates will drop by almost half by 2010.
AFP:- Russia’s foreign minister said the country may support UN sanctions against Iran because of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
