Navigation On Topic Complete Directory About Us Add-site Link to Us MerchantStore Shopping	Advertisement 165 Business News - General Resources AIG AIG selling overseas business to rival MetLife AIG is selling an overseas insurance business to rival MetLife for $15.5bn, as it continues to raise funds to pay off a federal bail-out. View Source March 8, 2010 Provides Information AIG Selling 9.19 Million Shares Of TRH Stake American International Group said Friday it'll sell 9.19 million shares it holds in Transatlantic Holdings Inc. in a stock offering. Based on TRH's closing price of $53.76 a share on Thursday, the stock sale would fetch about $494 million. View Source March 5, 2010 Provides Information AIG sells Asian unit in bid to pay back bailout British insurer Prudential strikes deal worth around $35.5 billion View Source March 1, 2010 Provides Information AIG to Keep Up to 25% of Derivatives Portfolio American International Group intends to keep up to a quarter of a derivatives portfolio from its Financial Products unit, which was behind the insurer's near collapse, a spokesman said on Wednesday. View Source February 18, 2010 Provides Information Airlines Aer Lingus Sees Cabin Crew Cut By 230 Irish airline Aer Lingus said Wednesday that it expects it will operate with around 230 less cabin crew after implementing cost reduction measures. These include compulsory redundancies, new working conditions, new pay scales, lower variable pay and new employment principles. Shares were down 1.6% in London. View Source March 10, 2010 Provides Information Airline Stocks Climb With Delta, US Airways Airline stocks leapt higher Wednesday with US Airways and Delta Air Lines taking the lead. The NYSE Arca Airline Index rose 1.5% to 37.64 points with all of its 13 components in the green. View Source March 10, 2010 Provides Information United Airlines February Traffic Rises 2.1% UAL Corp. said late Monday that February traffic at United Airlines rose 2.1% to 7.82 billion revenue passenger miles from 7.66 billion a year ago. A revenue passenger mile equals one passenger flown one mile. February capacity declined 5.3% to 9.93 billion available seat miles from a year ago. Load factor, or the percentage of seats filled with passengers, in February rose to 78.7% from 73% in the year-ago period. View Source March 8, 2010 Provides Information Southwest Airlines February Traffic Down 2.3% Southwest Airlines Co. said Friday its total February traffic fell 2.3% to about 5 billion revenue passenger miles from 5.1 billion revenue passenger miles a year ago. A revenue passenger mile is equal to one passenger flown one mile. Total February capacity fell 8.7% to 6.8 billion available seat miles from a year ago. Load factor, or the percentage of available seats filled with passengers, in February rose to 73.9% from 69.1% last year. View Source March 5, 2010 Provides Information United Airlines Finalizes Order for 25 Boeing Planes United Airlines announced Thursday the completion of an order for 25 of Boeing’s 787-8 jets. Under the terms of the agreement, United reserves the right to purchase another 50 Dreamliners. View Source February 25, 2010 Provides Information United Airlines To Buy 25 787-8 Jets From Boeing Boeing said Thursday that United Airlines ordered 25 787-8 Dreamliners with an option to purchase another 50 planes. The order is valued at $4.2 billion at list prices. View Source February 25, 2010 Provides Information Continental Airlines Cutting 600 Jobs Continental Airlines will reportedly cut 600 jobs from its reservations centers, the Houston Chronicle reported Monday, with more than half of those cuts happening in the Houston area. View Source February 22, 2010 Provides Information Airlines’ attempt to increase fares fizzles Low-cost airlines did not hike fares, forcing major airlines to pull back View Source February 16, 2010 Provides Information U.S. Airlines Saw More Passengers In November The number of people traveling on U.S. airlines in November rose 1.6% from a year ago to 54.9 million, the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics said Tuesday. In October, the number of fliers fell 1.4%. Load factors, which measure the number of seats purchased on an average flight, hit a record of 78.9%, the government agency said, reflecting a sharp reduction in capacity by airlines during the recession. View Source February 16, 2010 Provides Information Virgin Atlantic Pins Hopes On Europe As US Approves BA Alliance Virgin Atlantic Monday called on the European Commission to force British Airways PLC and AMR Corp's American Airlines to give up far more than U.S. regulators have demanded in return for being allowed to expand their trans-Atlantic alliance. View Source February 15, 2010 Provides Information Iberia January Load Factor 80% Vs 74.1% A Year Ago Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA, Spain's largest airline, said Thursday its passenger load factor was 80% in January, up from 74.1% a year earlier. View Source February 12, 2010 Provides Information Banks - Banking - Bank Bailouts - TARP - Toxic Assets - Treasury (The) China Mobile To Pay $5.83 Billion For Bank Stake China Mobile Ltd. said Wednesday it has conditionally agreed to buy a 20% stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co. for 39.80 billion yuan ($5.83 billion). View Source March 10, 2010 Provides Information Geithner Praises B. Of A. Overdraft Fee Cut Geithner praises B of A overdraft fee cut WASHINGTON -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday praised Bank of America's decision to eliminate overdraft fees. View Source March 10, 2010 Provides Information Report: Regulators Tell Banks to Restrict Dividends, Buybacks Shareholders may have to wait for months to retrieve capital after U.S. regulators told banks not to increase dividends or buy back shares amid political and economic uncertainty surrounding the financial industry, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. View Source March 10, 2010 Provides Information BofA Merrill Stays Overweight On Greek Banks Greek banks continue to offer attractive value, are expected to deliver above-average returns on tangible book value in the medium to long run and are likely to be re-rated further, said Bank of America Merrill Lynch in a note to investors on Tuesday. View Source March 9, 2010 Provides Information Moody's To Rethink U.K. Bank Ratings Assumptions Moody's Investors Service said Tuesday it may downgrade the ratings of some U.K. banks following the expected withdrawal of the extraordinary support provided to the sector by the British government and the Bank of England. View Source March 9, 2010 Provides Information Citi CEO says bailout has led to new company Sharp questions meet ‘fundamentally different’ claim to oversight panel View Source March 4, 2010 Provides Information BofA to merge credit card, deposit units A former MBNA Corp executive who runs Bank of America Corp's global card services unit is leaving the company as part of a management shake-up within two of its biggest consumer businesses. View Source March 2, 2010 Provides Information Indonesian bank bailout sparks violent protest Demonstrators and police exchange rocks and tear gas outside parliament View Source March 2, 2010 Provides Information Prudential To Buy AIG's Asia Ops For $35.5 Billion Britain's Prudential plc said it's going to buy AIA, the Asia operation of American International Group , for $35.5 billion of cash and stock. View Source March 1, 2010 Provides Information RiskMetrics To Be Bought By MSCI At $21.75-share RiskMetrics Group Inc., the New York provider of risk-management and corporate-governments products and services, definitively agreed to be acquired for $21.75 a share, or $1.55 billion, of cash and stock by MSCI Inc. RiskMetrics shares closed Friday at $18.63, indicating that MSCI is paying a 17% premium. View Source March 1, 2010 Provides Information Treasurys Mostly Up After Home Sales, Sentiment Treasury prices were mostly higher on Friday, though short-term yields remained higher, after a pair of reports showed consumer sentiment dipped this month and existing home sales fell 7.2% in January. Yields on 10-year notes , fell 1 basis points to 3.62%, near the lowest in almost three weeks. Yields on 2-year notes stayed up by 2 basis points at 0.82%. View Source February 26, 2010 Provides Information Dodd: Consumer Protection Key To Bank Bill Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd on Wednesday said he is working hard to craft bipartisan sweeping bank reform legislation, adding that consumer protection for mortgages and credit card products will be a key piece of that bill. View Source February 24, 2010 Provides Information Senate seeks bank reform, Obama weighs in Key senators pushed for a bipartisan agreement on a package of reforms to tighten rules for financial industry behavior as President Barack Obama on Wednesday blasted critics who call his policies "socialism." View Source February 24, 2010 Provides Information List of ‘problem’ banks grows, FDIC says However, America’s banking sector eked out a profit in fourth quarter View Source February 23, 2010 Provides Information Widespread Skepticism Toward 'Volcker Rule' Maybe Jamie Dimon and his colleagues at JPMorgan Chase didn’t get the memo: the Obama administration wants to prevent another financial crisis by reining in Wall Street risk and putting an end to banks that are “too big to fail.” View Source February 19, 2010 Provides Information Treasury To Sell $126 Bln In Notes, Bonds, TIPS The Treasury Department said it plans to sell $126 billion in notes and bonds next week. The U.S. government said it will auction $44 billion in 2-year notes, $42 billion in 5-year notes, and $32 billion in 7-year notes. Treasury will also auction $8 billion in 30-year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, also know as TIPS. View Source February 18, 2010 Provides Information Bernie Madoff Life for One Woman, Post-Madoff Back in 2002 when I was laid off from a television producing job, I was wholly unprepared and found myself in the position of scaling back every possible aspect of my life. My subscriptions to The New York Times and The New Yorker were among the first things on the chopping block. View Source March 3, 2010 Provides Information Former Madoff executive charged with fraud Bonventre is sixth to face criminal charges over multibillion dollar fraud View Source February 25, 2010 Provides Information Madoff accomplice may get "extraordinary" leniency Bernard Madoff's top lieutenant may get "extraordinary" leniency from prosecutors for his help in unraveling the largest Ponzi scheme on record. View Source February 19, 2010 Provides Information Madoff Relatives May Face Tax-fraud Charges Manhattan-based Federal prosecutors are pursuing tax-fraud charges against members of Bernard Madoff's family, though the exact nature of the potential violations wasn't clear, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. View Source February 12, 2010 Provides Information Bonds and Treasury Notes Portugal Raises $1.35 Billion In Bond Auction Portugal's debt agency on Wednesday announced it has raised 990 million euros ($1.35 billion) in a bond auction in which it sold more bonds than it planned. The bonds were sold at an average yield of 4.171%, with a bid-to-cover ratio of 1.6. View Source March 10, 2010 Provides Information Treasury Sells $32 Bln In 7-yr Notes At 3.078% The Treasury Department sold $32 billion in 7-year notes on Thursday at a yield of 3.078%, lower than traders expected and finishing off the government's auctions for the week. Bidders offered to buy 2.98 times the amount being sold, the highest since the maturity was brought back a year ago and compared to an average of 2.75 at the last four sales. View Source February 25, 2010 Provides Information Buyouts - Take Overs - Mergers - Sales MetLife seals Alico deal after two-year quest MetLife Inc. pursued AIG's foreign life insurance business for two years before finally clinching a $15.5 billion purchase that will give it beachheads in 47 nations from Peru to Bangladesh. View Source March 8, 2010 Provides Information Microchip Tech raises bid for Silicon Storage Microchip Technology Inc. on Monday raised its purchase price for Silicon Storage Inc. a second time, competing with a private-equity firm for the maker of flash memory cards used in digital cameras and MP3 players. View Source March 8, 2010 Provides Information Pfizer Reportedly To Offer $4.1 Bln For Ratiopharm Drugmaker Pfizer Inc. plans to bid as much as 3 billion euros ($4.1 billion) for German generic-drug company Ratiopharm, according to a Bloomberg report citing two people familiar with the situation. View Source March 3, 2010 Provides Information Astellas Launches Hostile $3.5 Bln OSI Pharma Bid Astellas Pharma announced a hostile $3.5 billion, or $52 a share, offer for OSI Pharmaceuticals , which is a premium of over 40% to Friday's close. View Source March 1, 2010 Provides Information Tesco Upgraded To Neutral At J.P. Morgan U.K. grocery giant Tesco was upgraded to neutral from underweight on Monday at J.P. Morgan, which cited a better relative sales performance in the U.K. and internationally, as well as better prospects for free cash flow generation. View Source March 1, 2010 Provides Information UK's Prudential negotiates $35.5 billion deal for AIG unit Prudential, Britain's largest insurer, is in advanced talks to buy the Asian arm of American International Group in a deal worth about $35.5 billion, sources familiar with the matter said on Saturday. View Source February 27, 2010 Provides Information CKE Restaurants Inks $928 Million Buyout; Eyes Higher Bid CKE Restaurants reached a $928 million buyout agreement with Thomas H. Lee Partners on Friday that places a 24% premium on its stock, but the parent of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. restaurant chains said it will seek out higher bids for the next 40 days. View Source February 26, 2010 Provides Information Airgas Rejects Air Products' Latest Buyout Offer Airgas Inc. rejected a formal all-cash purchase offer from Air Products and Chemicals Inc. on Monday, saying it significantly undervalues the company. "The Airgas Board strongly urges stockholders to reject Air Products' offer and not tender their shares," the company said in a release. View Source February 22, 2010 Provides Information Barnes & Noble Rejects Burkle Stake Increase Bid Barnes & Noble Inc.'s board rejected a request by Ron Burkle to be allowed to acquire up to 37% of the the bookseller, according to a letter to Burkle filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday. View Source February 17, 2010 Provides Information Air Liquide CEO: Not Seeking Acquisition Of Airgas Industrial gases giant Air Liquide SA is focused on growing markets and isn't looking to bid for U.S. industry peer Airgas Inc., Chief Executive Benoit Potier said Monday. View Source February 15, 2010 Provides Information SkillSoft Agrees To $1.1 Billion Buyout SkillSoft said the price is a 26% premium to the average closing price over the year to Feb. 11. Under the terms of the deal, SkillSoft would be acquired by a new company formed by funds sponsored by Berkshire Partners, Advent International and Bain Capital Partners. View Source February 12, 2010 Provides Information Citigroup Citigroup Is 'back In Business,' CreditSights Says Citigroup Inc. is "back from the brink and back in business," research firm CreditSights said in a report released late Monday evening. "Citi is still a work in progress," the research firm explained, but the bank's debt and equity should benefit from its branch-light configuration, international consumer exposure, improving liquidity and the fact that the stock "is just plain cheap." View Source March 9, 2010 Provides Information Citigroup To Reduce Number Of Directors To 15 Citigroup Inc.'s plans to restructure its board by reducing the number of directors to 15 from 17 at its annual meeting in April, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday in its online edition. View Source February 26, 2010 Provides Information Credit Cards 5 Ways the CARD Act Helps Balance Carriers Some provisions of the new credit card law won't mean much to people who pay their balances in full each month. After all, who cares about increased notification time of imminent rate hikes if you never incur finance charges? View Source February 23, 2010 Provides Information Credit Card Issuers React to new law Feb. 22, 2010 marks a milestone for credit card reform. Sweeping new protections from the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, signed by President Barack Obama in May 2009, take effect. Two provisions of the new credit card law already took hold last August, and one more batch of rules will come in August 2010. View Source February 23, 2010 Provides Information U.S. credit card charge-offs up, delinquencies ease The U.S. credit card sector posted mixed performance in January as charge-offs rose sharply, while early stage delinquencies declined for a third month in a row, according to Moody's Investors Service. View Source February 22, 2010 Provides Information Credit card relief is here, but watch out for new traps If you haven't heard, big changes are here for the credit card industry. On Monday the CARD act goes into effect and consumers finally get some relief from such practices as "double-cycle billing" and arbitrary rate increases. View Source February 22, 2010 Provides Information Moody's Hikes GlaxoSmithKline's Outlook To Stable Moody's Investors Service on Thursday revised the outlook on GlaxoSmithKline Plc's A1 long-term rating to stable from negative. The stable outlook reflects its well laid-out diversification strategy as well as Moody's belief that the company can continue to generate strong cashflow. View Source February 18, 2010 Provides Information Are Chip and PIN Credit Cards Coming? The U.K. is all abuzz about "chip and PIN," but it's not a popular pub snack or a nickname for the newest celebrity power couple. It's the credit card security system rolled out in recent years to stem a wave of credit card crime. View Source February 17, 2010 Provides Information Capital One Says Credit-Card Delinquencies Rose in January Credit card company Capital One Financial said its credit-card delinquencies in January rose for the second month in a row. View Source February 16, 2010 Provides Information Credit Rating ING Downgraded To Market Perform At KBW Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Dutch banking and insurance group ING to market perform from outperform, saying the group still has a number of hurdles to overcome before it can complete its restructuring. View Source March 10, 2010 Provides Information Q-Cells Cut To Underweight From Neutral At HSBC HSBC cut its 2010 and 2011 earnings before interest and taxes forecasts by 40% and 47%, respectively, on expectations for re-emerging price pressure in the second half of 2010. The target price was cut to 6 euros versus 14 euros. View Source March 10, 2010 Provides Information Imperial Tobacco Cut To Sell From Neutral At UBS Imperial Tobacco was downgraded to sell from neutral on Tuesday at UBS, which said the stock is fully valued and market consensus for fiscal 2011 onwards is too high. Post-2010, the investment bank said, the rate of underlying earnings per share growth will slow significantly as the bulk of cost savings from the Altadis integration are completed and the group remains unable to repurchase stock or make any meaningful acquisitions as it tries to re gear. View Source March 9, 2010 Provides Information Moody's To Rethink U.K. Bank Ratings Assumptions Moody's Investors Service said Tuesday it may downgrade the ratings of some U.K. banks following the expected withdrawal of the extraordinary support provided to the sector by the British government and the Bank of England. Over the next one to three years, Moody's will phase out the extraordinary support assumptions currently incorporated into the senior debt and deposit ratings of a number of U.K. financial institutions and revert to its lower, pre-crisis support assumptions. View Source March 9, 2010 Provides Information Nestle Upgraded To Overweight At J.P. Morgan Nestle was upgraded to overweight from neutral by J.P. Morgan on Tuesday. The broker said that the firm is its top pick of the pan-European food producers as it believes that it's best placed to manage the raw-materials headwind it expects to see in 2010. "Last year Nestle benefited less than Unilever and Danone from the tailwind of declining raw material costs and this year it will be less exposed if, as we expect, this turns into a headwind once again," the broker said. View Source March 9, 2010 Provides Information Moody's Cuts MetLife's Rating Outlook To Negative Moody's Investors Service on Monday affirmed MetLife Inc.'s credit rating of A3 but cut its rating outlook to negative from stable. The move comes after MetLife said it will buy American Life Insurance Co., an insurance subsidiary of American International Group , for about $15.5 billion. View Source March 8, 2010 Provides Information Moody's Upgrades Dr Pepper Snapple Moody's Investor Service said Monday that it raised the long term debt rating of Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. to Baa2 from Baa3. The outlook is positive. The upgrade was due to "good business momentum and substantial improvement in financial metrics since DPSG's spin off from Cadbury in May 2008," Moody's said in a statement. View Source March 8, 2010 Provides Information Actelion Raised To Hold At Citigroup Actelion Ltd , a Switzerland-based biopharmaceutical firm, was upgraded to hold from sell at Citigroup on Friday. Pipeline delivery is challenging, but downside risks are limited, the broker said. "Our long-held thesis has been that the valuation already prices in substantial success on a high-risk pipeline," Citigroup said. "With the shares down 33% versus the NASDAQ global biotechnology index in the last six months, this is no longer the case." View Source March 5, 2010 Provides Information British American Tobacco Cut At Credit Suisse British American Tobacco was downgraded to neutral from outperform at Credit Suisse on Friday and the broker recommended investors switch into Imperial Tobacco . It downgraded BAT as it sees limited upside to its new target price of 2,350p following recent strong performance in the firm's shares. View Source March 5, 2010 Provides Information Moody's Investors Service upgrades Mylan's credit ratings Mylan Inc. today reported that Moody's Investors Service upgraded the company's credit ratings, including the "Corporate Family Rating" to Ba3 from B1 and the senior secured bank rating to Ba2 from Ba3. Moody's also affirmed Mylan's SGL-1 Speculative Grade Liquidity Rating. View Source March 5, 2010 Provides Information Moody's Downgrades Deutsche Bank To 'Aa3' Moody's Investors Service on Thursday lowered Deutsche Bank AG's long-term deposit and senior debt ratings to Aa3 from Aa1, and its bank financial strength rating to C+ from B. Moody's cited exposure of bank's earnings to risk management challenges as well as the delay in finalizing the purchase of Deutsche Postbank AG for the move. View Source March 4, 2010 Provides Information Netflix Cut To Underperform At B. Of A. Merrill Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded Netflix Inc. two notches to underperform from buy, saying the company would need to nearly triple its subscriber base by 2015 to justify the current share price of nearly $70. "With competitive risks likely to increase, we believe the risk/reward ratio is tilted to the negative," the broker said. View Source March 3, 2010 Provides Information Bayer Cut To Neutral At Credit Suisse German pharmaceutical and chemicals group Bayer was downgraded to neutral from outperform, with the price target cut to 52 euros from 55 euros on Monday by Credit Suisse. View Source March 1, 2010 Provides Information Fifth Third Shares Slip After Analyst Downgrade Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp were off 5% in midday trading Thursday after Citigroup downgraded the regional bank to hold from buy on valuation concerns. Citi analysts noted the stock has shown "strong recent performance" and is up about 30% for the year-to-date period. View Source February 25, 2010 Provides Information S&P May Downgrade Coke Bottler Ratings On Proposal Standard & Poor's said Thursday that it may downgrade the ratings on bottlers Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. and Greece-based Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Co. on Coca-Cola Co.'s proposed deal to acquire North American bottling operations. S&P has an A long-term corporate credit rating on the bottlers. S&P affirmed its A+ long-term corporate credit rating on Coca-Cola Co. View Source February 25, 2010 Provides Information Autodesk Upped To Buy At Needham & Co. Autodesk was upped to buy from hold at Needham & Co., which estimates that the company will be able to generate upwards of 50% operating margins on incremental revenues. The software firm's revenue grew on a sequential basis for the second time, and its outlook for the April quarter was in line with consensus. View Source February 24, 2010 Provides Information AXA Cut To Sell From Hold At ING Insurance giant AXA was cut to sell from hold on Wednesday at ING. The investment bank said concerns over Solvency II, the updated set of regulatory requirements for insurance firms that operate in the European Union will continue to weigh on shares until the summer, until greater clarity is seen regarding the new rules. View Source February 24, 2010 Provides Information BBVA, Santander Cut To Underweight: Barcap Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria was downgraded to underweight from overweight and Banco Santander was cut to underweight from equalweight on Wednesday by Barclays Capital, which also sharply reduced price targets on both. View Source February 24, 2010 Provides Information Merck KGaA Cut To Underweight At J.P. Morgan German chemicals group Merck KGaA was downgraded to underweight from neutral on Wednesday at J.P. Morgan, in the wake of fiscal year 2009 results that missed analysts' targets, plus a weak outlook. View Source February 24, 2010 Provides Information Moody's Downgrades PepsiCo To 'Aa3' Moody's Investor Service downgraded PepsiCo Inc. on Wednesday following a deal to acquire two of its bottlers, Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas . Moody's lowered PepsiCo's senior debt ratings to Aa3 from Aa2. The outlook is stable. Ratings for Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas will remain on review for an upgrade based on whether PepsiCo assumes the bottlers' debt or not, Moody's said. View Source February 24, 2010 Provides Information Fitch Downgrades Four Greek Lenders Fitch Ratings downgraded the long-term ratings of Greece's four largest banks, National Bank of Greece , Alpha Bank, Efg Eurobank Ergasias and Piraeus Bank to BBB from BBB+ with a negative outlook. It also cut its short-term ratings. View Source February 23, 2010 Provides Information Fitch Downgrades Aflac Issuer Default Rating Fitch Ratings said Monday it downgraded its issuer default rating of Aflac Inc. by one notch because of the insurer's increased leverage and financial sector investment concentration. Fitch cut Aflac's issuer default rating to 'A' from 'A+'. The outlook is negative. View Source February 22, 2010 Provides Information Moody's Raises Kodak's Rating Outlook To Stable Moody's Investors Service on Friday said it upgraded the outlook on Eastman Kodak's B3 corporate family rating to stable from negative. The move is due to a belief that Kodak will be able to sustain its improving operating performance while maintaining a good liquidity profile, according to Moody's. View Source February 19, 2010 Provides Information Gap, J.C. Penney Downgraded At Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley downgraded Gap Inc. to underweight from equal-weight and J.C. Penney Co. to equal-weight from overweight, citing concerns about margins at both retailers. "Contrary to the consensus view, we are forecasting a contraction in margins, returns and earnings per share in 2010," the broker said on Gap. Morgan Stanley said its forecasts stem from a weak top-line outlook for the company in North America and that it's forecasting comparable store sales to drop 1.5%, compared to the consensus forecast for a 0.5% rise. On J.C. Penney, Morgan Stanley said gross margins are now likely to be at their peak. View Source February 16, 2010 Provides Information S&P Raises Costco Rating To 'A+' On Profitability Standard & Poor's said late Tuesday that it raised the corporate credit rating on Costco Wholesale Corp. to A+ from A because of its profitability in a difficult business environment. The rating outlook is stable. "Although Costco experienced declining sales during its fiscal year ended August 2009, its profitability and credit metrics remained very strong," S&P said in a statement. View Source February 16, 2010 Provides Information Moody's Warns On U.K. Government Mortgage Support Withdrawal U.K. lenders face "a considerable funding challenge" as the government withdraws schemes that have been supporting bank borrowing and the U.K. mortgage market, Moody's Investors Service warned Monday. View Source February 15, 2010 Provides Information Dividends Miller Industries Offers 10-cent Yearly Dividend Miller Industries Inc. said Wednesday that it has approved an annual cash dividend of 10 cents a share payable on March 25 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on March 18. View Source March 10, 2010 Provides Information Wal-Mart Boosts Annual Dividend by 11% Wal-Mart Stores upped its annual dividend by 11% Thursday, saying the company's underlying operations remain strong. View Source March 4, 2010 Provides Information Qualcomm Hikes Dividend By 11.8% To 19 Cents Qualcomm Inc. said late Monday its board approved increasing the quarterly dividend by 11.8% to 19 cents a share and a new $3 billion stock buyback plan. Qualcomm has about 1.64 billion common shares outstanding as of Feb. 26. View Source March 1, 2010 Provides Information BlackRock Raises Quarterly Dividend 28% BlackRock Inc. said late Thursday that its board raised the quarterly dividend 28% to $1 from 78 cents. The dividend is payable March 23 to shareholders of record as of March 8. View Source February 25, 2010 Provides Information Kimberly-Clark Hikes Dividend By 10% To 66 Cents Kimberly-Clark Corp. said Tuesday its board increased the quarterly dividend by 10% to 66 cents from 60 cents a share. The dividend will be paid April 5 to shareholders of record on March 5. View Source February 23, 2010 Provides Information ITT Boosts Quarterly Dividend ITT Corp.'s board of directors declared a cash dividend of 25 cents per share, payable during the first quarter of 2010 to shareholders of record as of March 3. View Source February 22, 2010 Provides Information Daimler scraps dividend after 2009 loss German carmaker Daimler scrapped its dividend for the first time in 14 years after it swung to a worse-than-expected 2009 net loss, sending shares down to their lowest level in five months. View Source February 18, 2010 Provides Information Tiffany Hikes Quarterly Dividend 18% To 20 Cents Luxury retailer Tiffany & Co. on Thursday said it raised its quarterly dividend by 18% to 20 cents a share from 17 cents. The dividend will be paid on April 12 to shareholders of record on March 22. View Source February 18, 2010 Provides Information Dividends may help companies avoid tax rise Privately-held companies have started to pay their shareholders special dividends to help them avoid being hit by the rise in the highest rate of income tax – from 40 to 50 per cent – on April 6. View Source February 12, 2010 Provides Information Stagecoach Group Declares 4.5P Second Interim Dividend   View Source February 12, 2010 Provides Information Dollar (The) and Foreign Currencies Dollar Extends Losses After Consumer-price Data The dollar extended losses versus major counterparts on Friday after a report showed consumer prices rose 0.2% last month, less than economists expected. Core prices, excluding food and energy, unexpectedly fell 0.1%. View Source February 19, 2010 Provides Information Dollar Falls Vs. Euro As Worries About Greece Fade The U.S. dollar declined against a rebounding euro on Tuesday following a slightly more optimistic reading in the U.S. housing market and as investors found some comfort in European officials' response to Greek debt problems. View Source February 16, 2010 Provides Information Dow Jones Stocks End Lower After Recovering Bulk Of Declines U.S. stock indexes recouped the bulk of their losses on Thursday to finish modestly lower as Greece's debt and an unexpected rise in weekly jobless claims furthered worries about the economy. "The top issue for Main Street is jobs, and unfortunately unemployment is a lagging indicator, and too many are looking to it to tell them 'things are better,' which is tantamount to driving forward while looking in the rearview mirror," said Daniel Penrod, industry analyst for the California Credit Union. View Source February 25, 2010 Provides Information Dow Jones Newswires North America Provider of comprehensive real-time business, financial, and geopolitical news to financial professionals. View Source   Provides Information Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Fannie Mae To Offer 2-year Notes Fannie Mae said Thursdsay it will offer new 2-year Benchmark Notes and reopen $1 billion in 5-year Benchmark Notes. The 2-year notes will settle on March 2 while the 5-year will settle on March 1. Barclays Capital, Citigroup Global Markets, and Morgan Stanley are the joint lead managers for the new issue. View Source February 25, 2010 Provides Information Federal Open Market Committee - FOMC Fed Vice Chairman Kohn to leave in late June Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn, a 40-year veteran of the U.S. central bank, will step down in late June, giving President Barack Obama a freer hand to reshape the institution. View Source March 1, 2010 Provides Information Gold Prices Gold Ends Lower As China Data Digested Gold futures finished lower on Wednesday, losing early gains as traders took a cautious approach ahead of more economic reports from China following strong February imports data. Gold for April delivery ended down $1.70, or 0.2%, at $1,122.30 an ounce at the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose as high as $1,128.30 in morning trade. View Source March 10, 2010 Provides Information Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs Adds Bucyrus To Conviction Buy List Mining-equipment provider Bucyrus International Inc. was added to Goldman Sachs buy list on Wednesday on higher capital spending among mining companies and due to its acquisition of Terex. Mining company capital expense budgets will likely be revised higher in coming quarters, Goldman Sachs said in a note, particularly for iron ore and seaborne coal operations due to higher commodity prices. View Source March 10, 2010 Provides Information Goldman: Sell Sweden's SEB, Swedbank Swedish bank SEB was added on Friday to the conviction sell list at Goldman Sachs, which also downgraded Swedbank AB to neutral from sell. "A combination of fierce competition in Sweden and Europe's least attractive Eastern European exposure make the Swedish banks an unattractive investment in our view," Goldman said in a note to clients. View Source March 5, 2010 Provides Information Ex-Goldman Employee Indicted The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Sergey Aleynikov was indicted Thursday on charges related to his theft of proprietary computer code for a high-frequency trading platform at his former employer, Goldman Sachs. View Source February 11, 2010 Provides Information Governmental Budgets - Spending Bills Obama Names Deficit Panel, Gives it Wide Leeway   View Source February 18, 2010 Provides Information Inflation Core Inflation Drops 0.1% on Falling Housing Costs With shelter costs dropping sharply, U.S. core consumer prices fell a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in January, the first decline since 1982, the Labor Department estimated Friday. View Source February 19, 2010 Provides Information Japan sets inflation goal in fight against deflation Japan has reiterated its commitment to beating deflation, with the country's finance minister setting a target for price rises of 1%. View Source February 16, 2010 Provides Information International Monetary Fund - IMF Moody's, IMF Welcome New Greek Austerity Measures Moody's Investors Service and the International Monetary Fund offered praise on Wednesday for Greece's newly announced package of additional austerity measures. Moody's said the new measures "lend credibility" to the Greek fiscal adjustment plan and are consistent with Moody's current A2 rating, with a negative outlook, for Greece's government bonds. View Source March 3, 2010 Provides Information IMF Ready To Provide Greece Technical Assistance The International Monetary Fund is willing to provide Greece technical assistance as it works with fellow members of the European Union to resolve its debt problems, a fund spokesman said Thursday, according to news reports. View Source February 18, 2010 Provides Information Interest Rates Fed's Hoenig Wants Rate Hike Sooner Than Later The Federal Reserve should raise short-term interest rates "sooner rather than later," said Thomas Hoenig, the president of the Kansas City Federal Reserve bank. Rates "could be higher, and the effects would be minor" on growth, Hoenig said in an interview with CNBC business cable television channel. View Source March 2, 2010 Provides Information Fed Raises Discount Rate; Fed Funds Rate Unchanged The Federal Reserve on Thursday raised its discount rate to 0.75% from 0.5%, an effort to return its lending facilities to more normalized levels. View Source February 18, 2010 Provides Information Misc. Cable group wants U.S. FCC to end fee disputes A coalition of cable and satellite companies will this week call on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to create a new process to resolve increasingly bitter disputes over carriage fees paid to broadcasters. View Source March 9, 2010 Provides Information DirecTV Issuing $2.98 Billion In New Debt DirecTV Holdings LLC, a unit of DirecTV , said Tuesday that it priced about $2.98 billion in new debt for general corporate purposes. DirecTV is issuing $1.2 billion of 3.55% senior notes due in 2015, $1.3 billion of 5.2% senior notes due in 2020, and $500 million of 6.35% senior notes due in 2040. The company expects to close the offer on Thursday. View Source March 9, 2010 Provides Information Millionaire Ranks up 16% Last Year The number of U.S. households with a net worth of at least $1 million jumped 16% last year after dipping sharply during the financial crisis, an industry consulting group said on Tuesday. View Source March 9, 2010 Provides Information Frank: Housing Consumer Unit At Fed Is a Bad Idea A proposal to house a consumer financial protection division within the Federal Reserve under consideration in the Senate is a bad idea, said House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., on Wednesday. Frank's comments come after a key Democratic Senator was reportedly considering such a proposal on Tuesday. View Source March 3, 2010 Provides Information Barclays Reportedly To Spread Impact Of Bonus Tax Barclays has decided to spread the impact of a U.K. tax on bonuses across all employees at its investment banking business globally, rather than just staff in London, according to a Reuters report Friday, citing a person familiar with the matter. View Source February 12, 2010 Provides Information Consumer Sentiment Unexpectedly Slips in February U.S. consumer sentiment slipped in early February, with high unemployment expected to continue and with most looking for no gain in income or home values in the year ahead, a survey released Friday showed. View Source February 12, 2010 Provides Information AMM Online The international news service of American Metal Market, the daily newspaper of the metals and recycling industries. View Source   Provides Information Asian Business Watch Asian business and financial news, special reports and economic trends. View Source   Provides Information Bank of Montreal Economics on Canada, United States and International Economies Current economic data, research and analysis from the Economics department at the Bank of Montreal. View Source   Provides Information Briefing.com Provides stock market news and commentary, quotes and charts, portfolio tracking, sector ratings and an economic calendar. View Source   Provides Information Business 2.0 A business portal with links to other magazines and sites covering the old and the new economy. View Source   Provides Information Business Cycle Indicators News, data and analysis of consumer confidence index and other business cycle indicators from The Conference Board, a leading non-profit business research organization. View Source   Provides Information Business In Depth Using links to newspapers, magazines and internet resources you can read business news from around the world. View Source   Provides Information Business Wire Includes press releases, IPOs, company profiles, trade show announcements and links to related sites. View Source   Provides Information Campaign for America's Future News, analysis and resources from website for progressives that focuses on issues of social justice like wages, Social Security and trade. View Source   Provides Information CBS MarketWatch Offers business and financial news, market commentary, U.S. and international quotes, charts, headlines, mutual fund info, portfolio tracking, an IPO report and a chat room. View Source   Provides Information Chicago Business unprecedented coverage of metro Chicago's business community. View Source   Provides Information CNNfn The financial news site presents feature articles, headlines, world market updates, stock quotes, an industry watch and a Quicken.com investment center. View Source   Provides Information Corporate Governance News News developments in the field of Corporate Governance. View Source   Provides Information Crain's NY New York business news. Including back issues and resource material. View Source   Provides Information Department of Justice: Antitrust Division Home Page News and background from government bureau responsible for anti-trust enforcement. View Source   Provides Information EconData.Net Free resource for accessing on-line regional socioeconomic data, with links to government, non-profit and other sources of information and statistics by category. View Source   Provides Information Ecoworld Ideas and discussions about environmmental issues from free market perspective. View Source   Provides Information Ethical Performance Monthly newsletter for professionals concerned with corporate social responsibility or for investors. View Source   Provides Information Factiva Delivers worldwide business news and information and powerful searching to provide customers with relevant information to inspire their business decisions. View Source   Provides Information Financial Times Business Publications Publisher of industry specific management reports, magazines, directories and newsletters. View Source   Provides Information Fortune The on-line version of Fortune Magazine is part of the Pathfinder web site. View Source   Provides Information Frontier News for Entrepreneurs. View Source   Provides Information Inside China Today Chinese business, economic and political news, courtesy of the European Internet Network. View Source   Provides Information Institute for Policy Studies A think tank for progressive research and action to promote values of justice, nonviolence, sustainability, and decency. View Source   Provides Information International Monetary Fund (IMF) News, information, research and other materials from official IMF website. View Source   Provides Information InternetNews.com Mecklermedia's InternetNews.com covers business, e-commerce, financial, international, Intranet and ISP news. View Source   Provides Information Journal of Commerce Online The units of the Journal of Commerce Group collectively make up the world's leading source of information on international trade logistics, as well as domestic logistics and international maritime commerce. View Source   Provides Information Lafferty Group Providers of high value business intelligence including newsletters, reports, executive education, conferences and online learning, on the financial services, accountancy and consulting sectors. View Source   Provides Information Microsoft Investor Offers superior portfolio management tools and market reports. View Source   Provides Information Mondaq Business Briefing Provides global coverage of business legislation and regulations, corporate finance and financial markets. View Source   Provides Information MoreOver.com Brings you the lastest Business news. And webmaster can get live newsfeeds for their website. View Source   Provides Information Motley Fool, The This popular site presents a mix of business and financial news, stock market commentary, model portfolios and intelligent humor. View Source   Provides Information National Bureau of Economic Research A private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization to promote a greater understanding of how the economy works. View Source   Provides Information Newstrack A business news audio digest, available in cassette, CD, and RealAudio forms. View Source   Provides Information PR Newswire Founded in 1954, this service offers financial and business news stories and company press releases. View Source   Provides Information Reason Online A conservative research and educational organization that promotes public policies based on rationality and freedom. View Source   Provides Information Russia Today Sponsored by the European Internet Network, Russia Today offers business and political news headlines. View Source   Provides Information SEC News Digest provides daily information on recent Commission actions, including enforcement proceedings, rule filings, policy statements, and upcoming Commission meetings. View Source   Provides Information Sierra Club's Responsible Trade Campaign Information, commentary and other resources about global trade and impact on the environment from environmentalist organization the Sierra Club. View Source   Provides Information TechInvestor CMP's TechInvestor provides feature articles, market and company news, stock quotes, investment strategies, IPO info, press releases, a discussion forum, an e-mail newsletter. View Source   Provides Information The Digital Tool Breaking stories on technology, convergence, startups in addition to useful tools for business, investing, and the good life. View Source   Provides Information The Global South Monthly e-journal on the Global South and issues of development. View Source   Provides Information Turning Points Online monthly publication on the state of the U.S. economy. Aimed for business and investment professionals. View Source   Provides Information U.S. Federal Trade Commission Antitrust/Competition View Source   Provides Information US News US news you can use on money, health, tech. travel work and more. View Source   Provides Information Vanderbilt Center for Environmental Management Studies Interdisciplinary research center for the study of environmental issues faced by business firms. View Source   Provides Information Worth The Business of you. Keep up with the latest financial changes. View Source   Provides Information ZDNN Ziff-Davis offers Internet, business and computing news headlines, articles and commentary. Includes links, a searchable database and ZDNN radio. View Source   Provides Information Resignations Armstrong World CEO Lockhart Stepping Down Michael Lockhart will step down as the chief executive officer, president and chairman of the board and a director of Armstrong World Industries, effective at the end of the month. View Source February 12, 2010 Provides Information
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