Europe Markets 3/18/2008 The Wheels Fall Off (BCS)(SI)
Markets in Europe were down sharply at 6.25 AM New York time. The FTSE was off 2.2% to 5,506. Barclays (BCS) was down 6.9% to 403. HBOS was off 9.6% to 477.25. The DAXX…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
International Paper (IP) Gets Larger
According to Reuters "International Paper (NYSE: IP) has agreed to pay $6 billion in cash to buy the packaging and recycling unit of Weyerhaeuser Co, (NYSE: WY) the timber and forest products company." Douglas…
Bristol-Myers (BMY) Looks To Sell Baby Food Business For As Much As $9 Billion
Bristol-Myers (NYSE: BMY) does not see much future in baby food. It is trying to sell its operation to a company where its is a better fit. According to the FT, that includes Pepsi…
Oil At $100 Beyond 2016
Oil hit nearly $112 today. The debate now is not over whether oil will be at $100 for the near-term. Traders and economists are focused on whether a recession will take oil demand, and…
Asia: No Protection From US Financial Problems
Some bright person came up with the term "decoupling". It is meant to say that trouble in the US economy will not spread to the hot economies is Asia. Perhaps it gives them some…
Google (GOOG) Disrespects Microsoft (MSFT) Buy-Out Offer For Yahoo! (YHOO)
Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) certainly does not want to see Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) buy Yahoo! (NASDAQ: MSFT). It would allow Microsoft to spread its search features across a much larger audience. It would also create…
Will The Fed Put Up $500 Billion?
The Fed has already provided a facility of $200 billion to banks to help them improve balance sheets by exchange some of their less-than-liquid and less-than-valuable paper for real honest-to-God money from the government.…
What The Tax-Payer Loves About The Financial Bail-Out
Much of the concern about the Fed lending out tens of billions of dollars to financial institutions is that tax-payers will eventually pay the bill. The Fed is taking in securities from banks and…
Media Digest 3/18/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
According to Reuters, the Fed is opening up its own balance sheet to poisonous securities it may get from banks in exchange for cash. Reuters writes that JP Morgan (JPM) bought Bear Stearns (BSC)…
Asia Markets 3/17/2008 Big Drop (SNE)(TM)(LFC)(SNP)
Markets in Asia fell sharply. The Nikkei was off 3.7% to 11.788. Sony (NYSE: SNE) was off 5.7% to 3960. Toyota (NYS: TM) was down 5.1% to 4830. The Hang Seng was down 4.2%…
Asia Opens To A Terrible Beating, Some Shares Off Over 4% Early
The news that Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) was sold to JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) and that the Fed would increase liquidity for primary dealers was too much for the Japanese market to bear. It…
Federal Reserve Acts To Avert A Panic
The Federal Reserve Board unanimously approved a request by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to decrease the primary credit rate from 3-1/2 percent to 3-1/4 percent. The Fed also authorized the Federal…
Bear Stearns (BSC) Wiped Out, JP Morgan (JPM) Takes Over
Most on Wall St. thought it would come to this, but few thought the price would be so low. JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) will take over Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) for $2 a share.…
Bear Stearns (BSC) Will Probably Disappear Into JP Morgan (JPM)
According to The Wall Street Journal, JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) is close to buying Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC), just days after providing financial aid, which was backed by the Fed, to the brokerage. The…
Financial News From Around The World 3/16/2008
According to Reuters, the head of the World Bank sees the US moving into recession and a slowdown in Europe but believes that developing countries are not being hurt by the current economic situation.…
Bleak House: Despair On The 52-Week Low List (GE)(VZ)(GOOG)(C)
Those rummaging through the garbage of 52-week low lists are usually bottom-fishing investors or desperate CEOs. But, the list is so broad that it has become a tableau of the market as a whole,…
E*Trade’s (ETFC) Hidden Value
Because of its exposure to mortgage-related securities, shares in E*Trade (NASDAQ: ETFC) have fallen from a 52-week high of $25.79 to $3.63. Over the last six months, shares of rivals Schwab (NASDAQ: SCHW) and…
What If The Fed Only Cuts Half A Point?
"If wishes were horses, all the beggars would ride." The market expects the Fed to take rates down .75% this week. According to MarketWatch "After the Bear Stearns news, market bets that the central…
Goldman Sachs (GS) Earnings May Crush Wall St. Further
Shares in Goldman Sachs (NYSE GS): are only down about 12% over the last six months. That is about the same as the S&P. But, shares in peers Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Merrill…
This week on Stockhouse March 10-14
Fed’s actions lead to extreme highs and lows in the markets this week. The Fed and other central banks’ announced plan to ease subprime woes and S&P’s optimistic outlook for the financial sector couldn’t…