Reuters: The Senate is near its first vote on healthcare.
Reuters: Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) is betting on corporate spending for its recovery.
Reuters: Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) AOL showed that the worst is not over for media job cuts.
Reuters: China cyber-spying against the US will probably grow. Read More
Updated throughout the day.
Update 12.50 PM EST: Boeing (NYSE:BA) could lose a $7.5 billion order for fighter planes to Brazil if the US Senate does not confirm Obama’s nominee to be ambassador to the South American country (Bloomberg)
Update 11.08 AM EST: TDAmeritrade (NASDAQ:AMTD) may be buying E*Trade (NASDAQ:ETFC) (Omaha World Herald)
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) has lost a large number of its most talented people to hedge funds. (Bloomberg)
The Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) tablet PC launch date has been delayed until late 2010. (Digitimes)
Monster.com (NASDAQ:MWW) may be taken over by News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) or Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (WSJ)
Blackstone’s (NYSE:BX) Pinnacle Brands may buy Birds Eye (CNBC)
Sony (NYSE:SNE), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Nintendo are working on ways to keep market share as smart phones come after their market share. (BusinessWeek)
Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) AOL is seeking to buy-out 2,500 employees as it is spun off by its parent. (various)
Citigroup (NYSE:C) may sell its auto lending group. (NYPost)
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For more information on Citi, Microsoft, Sony, and Google check the 24/7 Wall St 500.
Douglas A. McIntyre
Updated throughout the day.
Updated 4.06 PM EST: “U.S. chocolate giant Hershey Co. has been in high-level talks with Italian chocolate maker Ferrero Spa to possibly craft a rival joint bid to Kraft Foods Inc.’s $16.7 billion offer for Cadbury PLC.” (WSJ)
Toys ‘R’ Us could go public (The Deal)
The new Motorola (NYSE:MOT) Droid handset may be taking significant market share from the Palm (NASDAQ:PALM) Pre.
AOL’s market value will be $3.2 billion when it is spun off from Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) (The Business Insider)
Smartphones from Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and RIM (NASDAQ:RIMM) are becoming a security threat (BusinessWeek)
Several nations including Russia, the US, Israel, France, and China are preparing for cyberattacks. (CNET)
Talks between Sal. Oppenheim and Australia’s Macquarie over the sale of the Luxemburg-based firm’s investment banking operations collapsed. (Reuters)
Douglas A. McIntyre
CBS (NYSE:CBS) and Sirius XM (NYSE:SIRI) pose the greatest investment risks among media companies based on a forensic measure of their transparency and the statistical reliability of their financial reporting and governance practices, according to new data from Audit Integrity. The probability for bankruptcy for Sirius is 8.5% and 4.6% for CBS. Both numbers are remarkably low, but still high for major US companies. Audit Integrity’s bankruptcy model achieved 90.9% accuracy in 2008 and 93.8% in 2009.
The safest companies for investors, based on the same measurement are Disney (NYSE:DIS) and DirecTV (NYSE:DTV). The rest of the firms in the analysis are Time Warner (NYSE:TWX), Viacom (NYSE:VIA), Comcast (NYSE:CMCSA), Cablevision, (NYSE:CVC), GE (NYSE:GE), and Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC). Read More
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) can be added to the long list of American companies that made a profit in the last quarter and then fired a significant part of their workforces. It is a disturbing trend that will make it harder for the US economy to recover.
Applied Materials said it expected its fiscal year sales to be 30% higher. It then let go nearly 1,500 people. Read More
Reuters: China is the key stop on Obama’s tour of Asia.
Reuters: South Korea’s businesses may start to feel more pressure from China competitors..
Reuters: Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) bought 3Com (NYSE:COM) for $3.1 billion.
Reuters: Lou Dobbs left CNN (NYSE:TWX) Read More
Updated throughout the day.
Update 2.52 PM EST: The antitrust disagreement between Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and AMD (NYSE:AMD) may be resolved by a private settlement (MarketWatch)
Updated 12.23 PM EST: Motorola (NYSE:MOT) may have sold 100,000 Droid the first weekend the handset was on the market (Bloomberg)
Updated 11.33 AM EST: Huge hedge fund SAC says it has found no improper trades. Media sources has linked the firm to the Galleon insider trading investigation. (Bloomberg)
Updated 8.48 AM EST: Hedge fund assets could hit $2 trillion worldwide by the end of 2010 (DealBook)
American Air (NYSE:AMR) and US Air (NYSE:LCC) may merge (TheStreet)
The International Energy Agency may be downplaying the need for greater oil supplies to prevent a market panic. (CNBC)
AT&T (NYSE:T) is publishing data to undermine Verizon’s (NYSE:VZ) claims about the better quality of its cellular network.
Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) AOL unit will lay-off 1,000 people next month. (AllThingsD)
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is not likely to close its media properties. (Ad Age)
A number of public pensions face bankruptcy. (Forbes)
Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) may use its China business as a template for expansion in India. (The Deal)
Even after a $1 billion cash infusion 4G WiMax company Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) may need more money from Sprint (NYSE:S) and other partners. (BreakingViews)
Douglas A. McIntyre
Reuters: Toyota (NYSE:TM) returned to a profit.
Reuters: The Fed will keep rates near zero for an extended period.
Reuters: Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) beat forecasts.
Reuters: Gold is near $1,100. Read More
Updated throughout the day.
Updated 10.30 AM EST: Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) believes that EU authorities may try to block its buy-out of Sun (NASDAQ:JAVA) (FT)
Updated 10:26 AM EST: Apollo Management is buying debt swap instruments to increase is control of Harrah’s. (NYPost)
The CEOs of Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) met pay czar Feinberg before he announced pay cut plans (Bloomberg)
Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) Time, Inc publishing division will lay off 500 people (various).
Senator Chris Dodd will propose merging all four bank regulatory agencies (various).
Cisco’s (NASDAQ:CSCO) earnings outlook is likely to be poor (TheStreet)
Warren Buffett may join Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) in bidding for Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) tax credits.
Douglas A. McIntyre
Economists still expect layoffs in the US and Europe to slow as the recovery gains momentum. Pessimists among experts on GDP growth and job losses believe that the major risk of a double-dip recession is that unemployment will keep rising well beyond the middle of next year. Read More
We have four key earnings for technology and media investors and traders due on Wednesday, and one key cult stock. The two biggest for tech which can impact all components of their related sub-sectors are Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) and QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM). Then in media and communications will be Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX). Lastly, there is one of Wall Street biggest cult stocks with Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG) on deck. We have provided Thomson Reuters consensus estimates, and, where applicable, key performance measures and added color on each.
Read More
Updated throughout the day.
Updated 3.23 PM EST: Analyst Michael Mayo says Citigroup (NYSE:C) will take a $10 billion write down the quarter. Citi denies it (CNBC)
Updated 10.24 AM EST: Cisco (NSADAQ:CSCO) may drop its bid for Tandberg (Barron’s)
Venezuela may have gold reserves with a total value over $13 billion. (CNBC)
JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) may have had concerns about Galleon as early as 2001 (Financial Times)
Likely near-term tech acquisition targets include Sapient (NASDAQ:SAPE), Computer Sciences (NYSE:CSC), WNS (NYSE:WNS), Amdocs (NYSE:DOX), Cognizant Technology (NASDAQ:CTSH) and ExlService (NASDAQ:EXLS) (Reuters)
Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) may spin-off AOL in December (TheStreet.com)
CIT (NYSE:CIT) is likely to file for bankruptcy in the next few days. (Reuters)
Cargill is the largest private company in the US followed closely by Koch Industries (Forbes)
Douglas A. McIntyre
These are this Friday mornings top ten analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations of coverage from Wall Street firms:
Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Investment Technology Group (NYSE: ITG) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Kellogg Company (NYSE: K) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE: LYG) ADR upgraded at both BNP Paribas and Credit Suisse.
MEMC Electronics (NYSE: WFR) Raised to Buy at Soleil.
SunTrust Banks (NYSE: STI) Raised to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
VVMware (NYSE: VMW) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Zumiez (NYSE: ZUMZ) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
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JON C. OGG
The old media is running out of time. The online editions of The Washington Post (NYSE:WPO), New York Times (NYSE:NYT), and Time, Inc (NYSE:TWX) properties do well, but not well enough to off-set losses at their print properties. Read More
Reuters: The US economy is stable but risks remain according to Geithner.
Reuters: JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) raised concerns about Galleon in 2001.
Reuters: As many as five million Americans have been infected with H1N1.
Reuters: Sony (NYSE:SNE) posted a fourth straight quarterly loss. Read More
The music industry never saw the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPod coming. The iPod was an expensive toy when it was introduced in 2001. There was no reason to think it would do well. Digital multimedia players were not part of mainstream consumer electronics. Read More
Reuters: UBS (NYSE:UBS) will put in a new US chief.
Reuters: Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) says “dark pools” help investors.
Reuters: The US is welcoming the rise of the yuan.
Retuers: Nelson Peltz’s board seat at Legg Mason (NYSE:LM) may not signal change. Read More
Updated throughout the day.
Updated 1.36 PM EST: Nokia’s (NYSE:NOK) patent suit against Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) could cost iPhone maker $1 billion (Reuters)
The Bank of England may have to increase bond purchases after the UK economy shrank in Q3. (Bloomberg)
Chrysler Financial will cease business within two years (CNBC)
Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) Time, Inc publishing unit will eliminate serveral hundreds jobs. (PaidContent)
ETF Securities will launcha ETFS Palladium Trust (PALL) (TheStreet)
Bank analyst Dick Bove is under criticism for changing his opinion on Well Fargo (NYSE:WFC) from “standout” just after the bank released earnings to “sell” nine hours later (FT Alphaville)
AT&T (NYSE:T) is close to getting government approval of its deal to buy Centennial Communications. (The Deal)
The liabilities of Japan Airlines would exceed assets by $8.8 billion if the carrier is liquidated. (NYTimes)
A deal for Nelson Peltz not to criticize Kraft (NYSE:KFT), where he is a major shareholder, is set to expire which may complicate the US company’s efforts to takeover Cadbury. (Financial Times)
First Portfolio, the business magazine launched just two years ago by publishing giant Conde Nast, folded. Then, the largest business magazine in America, BusinessWeek, was sold by its parent company, McGraw-Hill (MHP), to Bloomberg for as little as $3 million plus its subscription liabilities. Now, Fortune, started by Time, Inc. founder Henry Luce, will cut its publishing frequency from 25 times a year to 18 times. According to several media reports, Time, Inc. will also cut several hundred jobs. Time, Inc. is part of media giant Time Warner (TWX).
Like BusinessWeek, Fortune began publishing during The Great Depression in 1930, when it came onto the market bearing the steep price tag of $1 an issue. It was printed on heavy paper and contained a sustained level of expensive photography and illustrations not found in other business magazines. Fortune published monthly until 1978, when it changed it frequency to fortnightly in order to match the publishing schedule of rival Forbes.
The founders of the large web properties of Web 1.0 are all gone now save one. Yahoo!’s (NASDAQ:YHOO) chief Yahoo!s have very little to do with the company, although one of them, Jerry Yang, made a brief and troubled attempt to run the company recently. The founders of eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) and AOL retired a long time ago. Many of the websites that were among the most visited in the US a decade ago have disappeared since Jeff Bezos created Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) in 1994. Lycos, Excite, Altavista, Infoseek, and Switchboard have either disappeared or are tiny players among the new elite group of Web 2.0 firms which includes Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG). Read More
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