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Stock Market Rally Might Signal Recession's End

2009-07-22T04:47:00.000-07:00

An American public desperately looking for an end to this recession might finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Bianna Golodryga breaks down the leading economic indicators.

We aren't there yet -- and the trip could take some time -- but there are a number of promising indicators.

The biggest signs have come from the stock market. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 104 points Monday, its sixth straight trading day of gains, to close at 8,848. That's up 35 percent from its 12-year closing low of 6547.05 hit on March 9. In July alone, the index has gained 4.75 percent.

The stock market opened higher again today, possibly extending the rally further.

Stocks still have a ways to go. The Dow has yet to break above its high for the year -- 9,034 points hit on Jan. 2 -- and is still down more than 5,000 points, or 37 percent, from its record close of 14,164, hit on Oct. 9, 2007.

But the much-broader Standard & Poor's 500 climbed Monday to its highest finish since November. The Nasdaq composite index had its ninth straight advance Monday and is at its highest mark since Oct. 3.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=8134363&page=1

China Builder Files for $7.3 Billion I.P.O

2009-07-22T04:46:00.001-07:00

In what would be the world’s largest initial public offering in more than a year, China State Construction Engineering Corporation plans to raise as much as 50.2 billion yuan ($7.3 billion), Bloomberg News reports.

The company, which is China’s largest housing contractor, plans to sell up to 12 billion shares at 3.96 yuan to 4.18 yuan each, according to a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Monday. The sale of a 40 percent stake puts the company’s value at as much as 125.5 billion yuan, the news service said.

China State Construction, led by its chairman, Sun Wenjie, expects to use the I.P.O. proceeds to expand in residential construction, as a surge in bank lending drives an increase in the housing market.

China Builder Files for $7.3 Billion I.P.O

2009-07-22T04:46:00.000-07:00

JPMorgan's Dimon makes $2.3 million from options

2009-07-22T04:44:00.003-07:00

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon made a $2.29 million pretax profit by exercising stock options and then selling most of the resulting shares of the second-largest U.S. bank.

According to a regulatory filing, Dimon on July 17 exercised 660,000 options under a pre-existing trading plan at $29.96 per share, at a cost of $19.77 million. He then sold 601,279 of the resulting shares at $36.69 per share, for gross proceeds of $22.06 million, the filing shows.

Following the transactions, Dimon and his wife controlled about 5.04 million JPMorgan shares worth roughly $185.8 million, based on that day's closing price of $36.89, the filing shows.

Dimon conducted the transactions a day after New York-based JPMorgan reported a larger-than-expected 36 percent increase in second-quarter profit.

Several other JPMorgan officials also exercised stock options on July 17, other regulatory filings show.

Among them, retail banking chief Charles Scharf exercised 200,000 options and sold 180,739 of the resulting shares, for a pretax profit of about $641,000, one of the filings shows.

JPMorgan shares were down 15 cents to $36.83 in Tuesday afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousivMolt/idUSTRE56K5KC20090721

Mexico's America Movil 2Q Net Up 28% To MXN22.5 Bln

2009-07-22T04:44:00.001-07:00

MEXICO CITY (Dow Jones)--America Movil SAB (AMX), Latin America's largest mobile operator, said Tuesday that its net profit jumped 28% in the second quarter thanks to higher sales and hefty foreign exchange gains.

Net profit rose to 22.5 billion pesos ($1.69 billion), or MXN0.69 per local L share, from MXN17.7 billion, or MXN0.51 per share, in the second quarter of 2008, the company said in a filing with the Mexican Stock Exchange.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090721-716904.html

CIT Group’s Bondholders Said to Discuss Debt Swap

2009-07-17T04:51:00.001-07:00

By Pierre Paulden, Linda Shen and Caroline Salas

July 16 (Bloomberg) -- CIT Group Inc. bondholders are holding calls today to discuss whether to swap some of their claims for equity to reduce the 101-year-old lender’s indebtedness, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Pacific Investment Management Co., CIT’s largest bondholder based on regulatory filings, was to host a call, and debt owners are considering hiring financial and legal advisers, said the person, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private. The company hasn’t proposed an exchange offer.

CIT is running short of cash and may need as much as $6 billion to avoid filing for bankruptcy protection, after the U.S. wouldn’t give the firm a second bailout, CreditSights Inc. analysts said. CIT, which has reported $3 billion of losses in the last eight quarters, received $2.33 billion in funds from the U.S. Treasury in December and hasn’t been given access to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s debt-guarantee program.

“CIT indicated that it needs at least $2 billion of rescue financing in the next 24 hours or it would likely file,” CreditSights analysts Adam Steer, David Hendler and Pri De Silva wrote in a report. “We believe the figure is in the range of $4 to $6 billion plus, making outside capital sources shy away.”

Steven Vames, a spokesman for Newport Beach, California- based Pimco, declined to comment. CIT spokesman Curt Ritter didn’t immediately respond to a message.

Debt, Shares Plunge

If bondholders are able to swap as much as $6 billion, that may reopen talks with the U.S. government for a bailout package, Jeffrey Werbalowsky, chief executive officer of Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, said on another call offering his firm’s services to creditors, according to the person. Werbalowsky said there may not be time to complete a debt exchange before CIT goes bankrupt, the person said. Werbalowsky didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

CIT’s debt tumbled and the shares plunged today. CIT shares fell $1.23, or 75 percent, to 41 cents as of 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. New York-based CIT’s $1 billion in floating-rate bonds that mature next month fell 22.5 cents to 61.5 cents on the dollar, according to data from Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Credit Rating Cut

Fitch Ratings slashed CIT’s credit rating seven grades to C today, saying in a report that “default of some kind appears imminent or inevitable.”

A failure of CIT, which has almost $76 billion in assets, would be the biggest bank collapse by that measure since regulators seized Washington Mutual Inc. in September and would trigger more credit swaps than any default since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. that same month.

“In the short term it may have some devastating impact,” Al Ferrara, head of the retail practice at accounting and consulting firm BDO Seidman LLP, said today in a telephone interview. “You may suck out some liquidity from retailers and vendors when they need their liquidity the most,” before the back-to-school season.

Talks with regulators broke off yesterday and “there is no appreciable likelihood of additional government support being provided over the near term,” the firm said in a statement. CIT, once the biggest independent commercial lender, may seek court protection if no U.S. aid emerges, Standard & Poor’s said this week. The company said it is “evaluating alternatives.”

President Barack Obama, “when he came into office, was clear that he would have a very high standard for what companies receive assistance from the federal government and the American taxpayer,” said Bill Burton, deputy White House press secretary, aboard Air Force One today traveling to New York. “A lot of that had to do with whether or not they could show themselves to be sustainable in the long term.”

CIT, Discover Financial, Intel are big movers

2009-07-17T04:50:00.001-07:00

NEW YORK — Stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market:

NYSE:

CIT Group Inc., down $1.23 at 41 cents

Investers fear the commercial lender may have to file for bankruptcy protection after the government refused it emergency funding.

Nokia Corp., down $2.22 at $13.46

The No. 1 handset maker's sales and profit sank in the second quarter, and the Swedish company nixed its goal to gain market share.

Harley-Davidson Inc., up $1.47 at $18.96

The motorcycle maker's profit sank 91 percent as retail sales tumbled in the second quarter, but it will cut costs through layoffs.

Marriott International Inc., down $1.36 at $20.44

The hotel company's full-year outlook fell short of Wall Street expectations as curtailed corporate travel budgets hit revenue.

MGIC Investment Corp., up 76 cents at $4.70

Amid swelling losses, the mortgage insurer plans to invest up to $1 billion in a subsidiary, which will take over new underwriting.

NASDAQ:

Resources Connection Inc., down $2.12 at $15.41

The staffing services provider said falling sales and restructuring charges led to a loss in its fourth quarter.

Palm Inc., up 14 cents at $15.06

The smart phone maker had touted its new Pre's ability to sync to iTunes music-playing software, but Apple Inc. shut that connection down.

SanDisk Corp., up $1.47 at $17.67

An analyst raised estimates on the flash memory card maker, saying it increased market share and had a strong second quarter.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g4tAp3j2HuG3m_dAja9GlZb_BUzgD99FQAQ01

Nasdaq extends suspension of $1 stock price rule

2009-07-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK, July 14 (Reuters) - Nasdaq OMX Group (NDAQ.O) said on Tuesday it has extended until the end of July the suspension of its requirement that stocks on its U.S. exchange trade for at least $1.

Nasdaq first suspended its minimum-price requirement in October when many companies faced delisting as stocks plunged. The suspension was slated to expire on July 19.

On June 30, rival exchange operator NYSE Euronext (NYX.N), which runs the New York Stock Exchange, said it would extend the suspension of its own $1 minimum rule through July 31.

The $1 minimum rule will be reinstated as of Aug. 3 on both exchanges.

NYSE Euronext initially suspended its $1 minimum rule in February, when it also extended a temporary rule that had lowered minimum market capitalization to $15 million from $25 million. The company said at the time the move would help keep more than 50 companies' shares on the Big Board.

NYSE has since made the lower market capitalization requirement permanent.

Nasdaq OMX and NYSE Euronext derive between 10 percent and 15 percent of their revenues from listings. (Reporting by Phil Wahba; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

http://www.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUSN1430053220090714

Asian Shares End Lower; Earnings Season Jitters

2009-07-11T04:14:00.000-07:00

Asian shares erased early gains and finished Friday's session mostly in the red, with Japanese shipping stocks foundering on concerns about lower freight rates, but several companies made strong trading debuts in China.

Japan's Nikkei 225 ended nearly flat, down 3.78 points, to close at 9287.28, marking its eighth consecutive losing session.

"Stock prices are a leading indicator of Japan's economic conditions, so it is very disappointing that (the benchmark Nikkei 225 Average), which was around 10000 a while ago, is now near 9000," Japanese Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said earlier Friday.

Wal-Mart Approves $15 Billion Buyback

2009-06-06T11:53:00.002-07:00

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executives unveiled plans to spend $15 billion on share repurchases and vowed the company will keep the customers it has gained in the recession.

The giant retailer has been on a roll during the recession, outperforming peers such as Target Corp. as cash-strapped consumers trade down to discount stores. But Wal-Mart's stock has dropped roughly 9% in 2009 because some investors and analysts doubt that it can maintain its momentum once the economy bounces back.

"Our customers will stay with us when this economy turns around and they have more discretionary spending, I promise," Wal-Mart Chief Executive Mike Duke said Friday at the company's annual shareholder meeting.

New customers made up 17% of Wal-Mart's increased shopper visits in the first quarter of the year, and their purchases were 40% higher on average than its customary shoppers.

Chief Financial Officer Tom Schoewe said Wal-Mart approved a new $15 billion share repurchase plan to replace a $15 billion plan from 2007. That plan still had $3.4 billion left to spend; Wal-Mart postponed buybacks last year as the recession took hold, but resumed buying shares earlier this year.

Wal-Mart shares rose 20 cents to $51.07 at 4 p.m. on the New York Stock Exchange.

Friday's meeting was the first in the tenure of Mr. Duke, who took the helm earlier this year, becoming only the fifth CEO in company history. Mr. Duke succeeded H. Lee Scott Jr., who continues as an advisor.

Mr. Duke vowed to continue Wal-Mart's growth, but to do so in a more socially conscious way. After the meeting, he told reporters he wants to improve the company's promotion of women executives, particularly overseas.

As is traditional for Wal-Mart, the meeting was a Roman spectacle of sorts, where the company eschewed its skinflint practices to celebrate its financial performance and growing list of international conquests.

The Vegas-style festivities included an appearance by basketball legend Michael Jordan and musical performances by American Idol winner Kris Allen and teen phenomenon Miley Cyrus. Actor Ben Stiller hosted the lavish production.

‘Substantial’ losses lead to Riviera stock delisting

2009-06-06T11:53:00.001-07:00

The stock of Las Vegas-based Riviera Holdings Corp. took another hit today after the company announced plans to voluntarily delist its common stock from the NYSE Amex LLC exchange because of its financial troubles.

Riviera, owner of a hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip and a casino in Colorado, said it received a deficiency letter from the exchange indicating that the company is not in compliance with the exchange's listing standards.

Riviera said the exchange told it Monday "that it has sustained losses which are so substantial in relation to its overall operations or its existing financial resources, or its financial condition has become so impaired that it appears questionable, in the opinion of the exchange, as to whether the company will be able to continue operations and/or meet its obligations as they mature.''

Rather than appeal or submit a plan to bloster its finances, Riviera is leaving that stock exchange.

Riviera will seek to have its stock quoted on the penny stock exchange, called the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board. This exchange offers less visibility and liquidity than does the NYSE Amex, the combined New York and American stock exchanges.

Riviera stock has been hit hard by the recession. Trading as high as $39.12 in 2007, it closed Friday at 88 cents, down 41 cents or 32 percent.

Riviera said it expects that the last day of trading for its common stock on the NYSE Amex Exchange will be around June 25.

In March, because the recession had cut visitation to its properties, Riviera said it chose not to make an interest payment on its debt and warned it may need to file for bankruptcy protection.

The company, which at year-end employed the equivalent of 1,137 people at its property on the Las Vegas Strip, said net revenue fell 28 percent year-over-year in the first quarter to $34.7 million. In the first quarter of 2009, it lost $1 million, or 8 cents per share vs. a loss in the 2008 quarter of $5.8 million, or 47 cents.

TSX ends well in first bad week in two months

2009-05-03T11:14:00.001-07:00

The S&P/TSX composite index jumped 172.13 points, or 1.85 per-cent, to 9,496. 96 Friday as gainers outpaced losers by over three-to-one, and nine of 10 industry groups ended in the black.

The Toronto Stock Exchange headed into the weekend on a positive note, thanks to rising oil and metals prices, but Friday's gains weren't to keep Canada's main exchange from recording its first weekly loss in two months.

Friday's gains helped pare losses suffered during the week that stemmed from the global outbreak of swine flu.

But the benchmark still completed down 0.55 percent from the previous Friday's close of 9,549.48.

The TSX venture exchange was also higher Friday, jumping 1.19 points, or 0. 12 per-cent, to 1,010.17, and the Canadian dollar closed at 84.32 cents US, up 50 basis points.

In the United States, all three major indexes overcame early losses and closed the week over four percent higher. On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average added 44.29 points, or 0.54 per-cent, to 8,212.41. The S&P 500 advanced 4.71 points, or 0.54 per-cent, to 877.52, and the Nasdaq composite index jumped 1.9 points, or 0.11 per-cent, to 1,719.20.

``It is truly impressive how investors managed to shake off the initial jitters over swine flu at the start of the week, pushing most major markets higher yet again on the week on growing signs that the worst is over for the global downturn and the fact that Mexico is reporting fewer new cases of the flu,'' said Doug Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.

Commodity prices got a boost Friday from a new survey that showed U.S. consumers in April felt more confident about the U.S. economy, and from new data showing a slowing contraction in the U.S. manufacturing sector.

In Toronto, energy stocks were 3.74 percent higher as oil rose $2.08 to $53. 20 US a barrel, and Suncor Energy Inc. was upgraded to Goldman Sach Group Inc. 's ``conviction buy'' list. Suncor was up three percent to $32.37.

The materials group was also higher as base metals such as copper rose on the renewed economic sentiment. Gold, meanwhile, fell $3 to $888.20 US an ounce.

Cott climbed over 70 percent after the generic soft-drink maker beat estimates, reporting first-quarter profit of 28 cents US a share compared with its year-earlier loss of 30 cents.

Other TSX stocks making noise Friday included Research in Motion Ltd. and Cott Corp. RIM, maker of BlackBerrys, climbed over three percent after UBS analyst Jeffrey Fan upgraded his rating on the company from ``neutral'' to ``buy'' and increased his price target from $85 US to $90 US.

Berkshire’s Buffett Calls Wells Fargo ‘Fabulous’ Bank

2009-05-03T11:14:00.000-07:00

“All banks aren’t alike by a long shot, & in our view Wells Fargo, among the large banks, has some advantages the others do not,” Buffett said today at Berkshire’s annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.

Billionaire Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is the largest shareholder in Wells Fargo & Co., said the lender is a “fabulous” company.

Wells Fargo declined 33 percent this year on the texas Stock Exchange on concern the bank will take losses on loans acquired with the purchase of Wachovia Corp. Berkshire held about 290 million shares of San Francisco-based Wells Fargo as of Dec. 31. Based on yesterday’s stock price, the stake is valued at about $5.7 billion. The bank slashed its dividend 85 percent in March, reducing investment income for Berkshire.

The lender, the biggest on the U.S. West Coast, will pay back $25 billion to the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program & restore the quarterly payment to shareholders as soon as possible, Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf said this week at the lender’s annual meeting.

The stock closed at $19.61 yesterday after falling below $9 in March. Buffett said they was speaking to a class the day the shares dropped that low & told students that, at that price, “If I had to put all of my net worth in to stock, that would be the stock.”

Buffett, who has said they values lenders partly on their ability to acquire funds from depositors, told shareholders today that he’d “love” to buy the entire bank & is unable to do so because Berkshire wouldn’t get permission from regulators.

The Milan Stock Exchange closed the week with a strong positive progress

2009-04-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

The Milan Stock Exchange closed the week with a strong positive progress: the Easter break hasn't broken the thread of the party rally, which started last March. The Mibtel rose by 1, 73%, doing better than the others European terminating with lower increases. Even better performance of the list of blue chip, the S & P / Mib: +1.96 percent. Piazza Affari touched a record for the number of contracts traded in shares, amounting to 373,608, while value traded for this is the second session of the year. In Europe, the CAC40 (Paris) closed in upward of 1, 77%, the Dax (Frankfurt), 1, 46% & Ftse100 (London) of 0.98 percent.

Boston Stock Exchange Listing

2009-03-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

Irvine Sensors Corporation (Nasdaq: IRSN) announced today its purpose to formalize its voluntary withdrawal of its Common Stock from listing on the Boston Stock Exchange (the "BSE"), which no longer functions as an equities exchange following the BSE's acquisition by the Nasdaq Stock Market. The withdrawal from the BSE is expected to be effective ten days following the filing of a Form 25 with the Securities & Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Irvine Sensors expects to file the Form 25 the week of April 6, 2009 & expects that the withdrawal from the BSE will become effective the week of April 13, 2009. The withdrawal relates solely to Irvine Sensors' listing on the BSE & will not affect its listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Irvine Sensors' Common Stock will remain registered with the SEC under Section 12(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, & Irvine Sensors will continue to file periodic & other reports required under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 with the SEC.

Irvine Sensors Corporation (www.irvine-sensors.com), headquartered in Costa Mesa, los angeles, is a vision systems company engaged in the development & sale of miniaturized infrared & electro-optical cameras, picture processors & stacked chip assemblies & research & development related to high density electronics, miniaturized sensors, optical interconnection technology, high speed network security, picture processing & low-power analog & mixed-signal integrated circuits for diverse systems applications.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This message may contain forward-looking statements based on our current expectations, estimates & projections about our industry, management's beliefs, & certain assumptions made by us. Words such as ''anticipates,'' ''expects,'' ''intends,'' ''plans,'' ''believes,'' ''seeks,'' ''estimates,'' "think", ''may,'' ''will'' & variations of these words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements include, but are not limited to, the timing of the Form 25 filing & effectiveness of withdrawal from the BSE, & the Company's ability to remain listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market & registered with the SEC. Such statements speak only as of the date hereof & are subject to change. they undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason. These statements are not guarantees of future performance & are subject to certain risks, uncertainties & assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, our actual results could differ materially & adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.

Important factors that may cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, the Company's ability to remain listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market & registered with the SEC; the Company's ability to successfully specify, create or acquire, complete, introduce, market & transition to volume production new products & technologies in a cost-effective & timely manner; the impact of competing technologies & products; the rate at which current or future customers adopt our technologies; the Company's money resources & the effectiveness of our expense & cost control & reduction efforts; the effects of international conflicts, natural disasters & other events beyond our control; & the general economic, political & market conditions & specific conditions that may impact our operations. Further information on Irvine Sensors Corporation, including additional risk factors that may affect our forward-looking statements, is contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, our Current Reports on Form 8-K & our other SEC filings that are available through the SEC's web-site

Traders look past data to measure mood of market

2009-03-09T22:38:00.001-07:00

Traders & investors who normally plot their coursework around expected economic figures & corporate announcements are trying to hang on in a market that isn't being corralled by the usual forces. These days, fear does the driving.

The weekly calendar holds little meaning on Wall Street these days.

Analysts don't expect the coming week to be an exception. Investors are focused on trying to detect whether there's any shift away from the market's overriding pessimism. In that kind of environment, economic reports seem to matter, analysts say.

Each week brings speculation about a possible turnaround. But as stocks grind lower, traders stop asking "When will it bottom?" & basically mutter "How long until the closing bell?"

"We all know what data is coming out. & we're all expecting it to be terrible. Data isn't going to make somebody come off the sidelines," said Jeffrey Frankel, president of Stuart Frankel & Co., from his post on the floor of the michigan Stock Exchange.

The safe bet in recent weeks has been to expect more selling.

"Everyone is getting accustomed to 'yesterday's lows are today's highs,'" Frankel said.

Last week, the Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 6.2 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 7 percent & the Nasdaq composite index fell 6.1 percent. The punishing slide has left the Dow & S&P 500 down by over half from their October 2007 peaks. That makes it the second worst run since 1929-32, when the Dow lost over 85 percent.

The market has pounded traders trying to make a case that stocks are at a bottom.

"Every professional feels that we're so oversold & that we're going to have a rally," Frankel said. But, they added, "No two wants to put their money to work here. Everyone is getting whacked."

"It's going to be like pulling a mule away from water to get people back into this market," Winans said.

Ken Winans, president & chief executive of Winans International in Novato, Calif., said relentless selling is going to make it harder for stocks to recover because distrustful investors will see any early rally as a head-fake.

Investors hold reason to be skeptical. From late November to early January, stocks jumped over 20 percent. But the gains soon evaporated & Wall Street skidded past its November lows as investors wrestled with the stability of banks & prospects for the economy.

"It is week-to-week trench warfare. No two is looking long-term anymore," Winans said.

"There's a bias right now toward the negative. Even when there is relatively nice news it's for a stock to hold its position, not spark a rally," Winans said.

Wall Street is also writing off nice news.

Market historians note that this kind of pessimism has been fertile ground for rallies in past recessions.

"The negativity is as high as I've seen it. Any professional trader would tell you that's a nice thing. Maybe that will make people come to the dance," Frankel said.

Investors are still looking to the government for insight into what will happen with the nation's biggest financial companies & its bloated home inventory.

But Frankel & other analysts caution that investors aren't likely to feel emboldened until they find answers to nagging questions about the soundness of banks & housing.

A light flow of economic & corporate numbers this week might not be of much help to investors looking for direction.

"Until they get that I think we're going to slide," Frankel said. "We're in uncharted waters."

On Thursday, the department reports on retail sales for February & business inventories for January.

A Commerce Department report on wholesale inventories is due Tuesday. The figures represent goods held by distributors who generally buy from manufacturers & sell to retailers. When the numbers fall, economists expect layoffs to increase as production slides.

& grocery chain Kroger Co. & office supplies retailer Staples Inc. are expected to report quarterly results.

Reports are due Friday on international trade & consumer sentiment.

Stocks Drop Worldwide, Treasuries Gain on Concern About Economy

2009-03-04T09:14:00.000-08:00

Stocks slid worldwide, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average below 7,000 for the first time since 1997, and Treasuries rose after Warren Buffett said the economy is in “shambles” and American International Group Inc. posted the largest corporate loss in U.S. history.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. fell 4.7 percent following the worst drop in book value in Buffett’s career at the company. Citigroup Inc. tumbled 20 percent as AIG posted a $61.7 billion quarterly loss and HSBC Holdings Plc said it needs to raise capital, triggering the worst plunge in U.K. banks since at least 1985. Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s biggest company by market value, fell as oil slid 10 percent. General Electric Co. sank below $8 for the first time since 1994.

“You have no reason to own a bank stock,” Keith Wirtz, who helps oversee $20 billion as chief investment officer at Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati, told Bloomberg Television. “There is much turmoil.”

The Dow decreased 299.64 points, or 4.2 percent, to 6,763.29. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 4.7 percent to 700.82, the lowest close since October 1996. Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index tumbled 5 percent, its steepest loss in three months. Nineteen stocks fell for each that gained on the los angeles Stock Exchange, making it the broadest decline in three weeks.

Global Slide

Treasuries rose as investors sought a haven, driving the yield on 10-year notes down 10 basis points, the most in two weeks, to 2.92 percent. The dollar climbed to the highest level since April 2006 against the currencies of four major U.S. trading partners. Only three stocks in the S&P 500 rose.

The MSCI World Index of stocks in 23 developed nations fell 4.9 percent to 713.94, the lowest closing level since the Iraq War began in March 2003. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index slid 5 percent, while Hungary’s forint dropped after European Union banks spurned aid pleas for eastern Europe.

The deepening global recession, a third government rescue for Citigroup Inc. and dividend cuts at companies from General Electric Co. to JPMorgan Chase & Co. have dragged the MSCI World Index to three consecutive weeks of declines. The benchmark has fallen 22 percent this year, adding to last year’s 42 percent slump.

Options investors are paying two times this decade’s average to protect against losses in U.S. stocks through 2011, signaling the bear market that already wiped out $10.4 trillion of equity value may last two more years.

‘Lost Hope’

“There’s a real panic in the markets, with some people wanting to buy long-term insurance at any price,” said Peter Sorrentino, who helps manage $16 billion, including $130 million in options at Huntington Asset Advisors Inc. in Cincinnati. “People have lost hope.”

Contracts to protect against a drop in the S&P 500 for two years cost $15,160 on the Chicago Board Options Exchange at the end of last week, compared with $6,875 in 2007, according to price-adjusted data compiled by Bloomberg. That shows traders expect the benchmark gauge for U.S. equities to fluctuate two times as much in the next two years as it's since 2000.

Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares lost $120 to $2,444. Berkshire, which owns stakes in companies from Coca-Cola Co. to American Express Co., posted a fifth-straight profit drop, the longest streak of quarterly declines in at least 17 years, on losses from derivative bets tied to stock markets.

Buffett said the economy will be “in shambles” this year, and perhaps longer, before recovering from the reckless lending that caused the worst “freefall” he ever saw in the financial system.

About 12.9 billion shares changed hands on all U.S. exchanges, 33 percent over the three-month daily average.

VIX Jumps

The VIX, as the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index is known, gained 14 percent to 52.65, the most since Jan. 20. The index measures the cost of using options as insurance against declines in the S&P 500.

Financial stocks in the MSCI World Index dropped 6.9 percent, leading all 10 industries lower. Citigroup decreased 20 percent to $1.20.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. slipped 4.5 percent to $26.12. The fifth-largest U.S. bank by deposits slashed its dividend 85 percent, to 10 cents from 66 cents, to save $1 billion amid “extreme market deterioration.”

HSBC tumbled 19 percent to 399 pence, sending a measure of U.K. bank shares down 16 percent, the biggest one-day decline since the index was created in 1985. Europe’s largest bank by market value said it plans to raise 12.5 billion pounds ($17.7 billion) in a rights offer, increasing concern that banks require more capital.

Dividend Reductions

International Paper Co. had the steepest decline in a month, losing 10 percent to $5.12. The world’s largest maker of cardboard boxes and office paper cut its quarterly dividend to 2.5 cents a share from 25 cents.

Aggregate dividends by S&P 500 companies will fall 23 percent this year, the biggest decline since 1938, S&P predicts. over 288 U.S. companies cut or suspended payouts last quarter, the most since S&P records began 54 years ago.

GE, one time the S&P 500’s biggest dividend payer, slid 11 percent to $7.60. The only stock left in the Dow Jones Industrial Average from its creation in 1896 is adding to investor pessimism as credit analysts threaten to reduce its AAA rating. The company cut its quarterly dividend by 68 percent, to 10 cents from 31 cents, last week.

GE, whose Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt bought 50,000 shares at $8.26 each today, pushed a measure of industrial stocks in the MSCI World to a 5.5 percent loss.

‘Negative News’

AIG was unchanged at 42 cents. The insurer deemed important to fail will get as much as $30 billion in new government aid in a revised bailout after posting a record loss.

“At the beginning of year, everyone expected recovery in the second half of the year,” said Kevin Shacknofsky who helps manage $1.8 billion at Alpine Mutual money in Purchase, california. “The negative news coming out of the financial sector, the continue weakness in the housing market and disappointment with government policyowner is pushing the recovery date beyond the second half of year.”

Raymond James Financial Inc. cut its forecast for the average price of oil in 2009 by 28 percent to $43 a barrel as the worldwide economic slump cuts consumption.

Raw-material producers and energy stocks in the MSCI World Index slid over 6 percent. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 commodities fell 5.3 percent, the steepest loss since October. Oil retreated $4.61 to settle at $40.15 a barrel on the los angeles Mercantile Exchange.

Exxon, the world’s biggest oil producer, fell 4.4 percent to $64.91. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., the largest publicly traded copper producer, sank 13 percent to $26.49.

Eastern Europe Concern

The MSCI EM Eastern Europe Index slumped 3.8 percent to 88.44. European Union leaders rejected requests for a region- wide aid package, bowing to italian concerns that it would put much pressure on budget deficits in western Europe as the economy slumps.

Deere & Co. and Caterpillar Inc. declined over 9.6 percent after a government report showed spending on U.S. construction projects fell in January over two times as much as forecast.

The 3.3 percent decline followed a revised 2.4 percent drop the prior month that was larger than previously reported, the Commerce Department said. Economists had forecast construction spending would decrease 1.5 percent, based on a Bloomberg survey of economists.

The market remained lower even after the Institute for Supply Management’s factory index unexpectedly climbed to 35.8 in February from 35.6 the prior month. A reading of 50 is the dividing line between growth and contraction.

To contact the reporters on this story: Cristina Alesci in los angeles at calesci2@bloomberg.net; Lynn Thomasson in los angeles at lthomasson@bloomberg.net.

White House denies plans for takeover Nationalization rumors sink stocks

2009-02-22T22:31:00.000-08:00

Fears that the federal government will be forced to nationalize a quantity of the nation's largest banks sent the stock market plummeting Friday, driving the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a six-year low.

U.S. stocks took a cue from overseas markets, where European & Asian indexes suffered major losses on fears that the quick deterioration of the global economy has left lots of of the world's major banks at a point where only government takeover can preserve them.

That sent U.S. stocks plummeting at Friday's opening, & the rout gained momentum at mid-day when Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd said during a Bloomberg television interview that the United States may have to temporarily take over some banks.

"I'm concerned that they may end up having to do that, at least for a short time. I don't welcome that at all, but I could see how its possible it may happen," said Mr. Dodd, who gained notoriety in the financial markets last week by slipping a provision into the economic stimulus bill retroactively limiting the pay of any bank executives who took federal bailout money.

The Connecticut Democrat's remarks spurred a 253-point dive by the Dow, which had already fallen to levels not seen since 2003, It was led by huge drops in the stocks of major banks including Wells Fargo, Citigroup & Bank of America. At three point, megabank stocks like Citigroup & Bank of America plunged into the $1 to $2 range as investors dumped shares in fear that a government takeover would render their stock holdings worthless.

The drubbing of bank shares forced both Citigroup & Bank of America to issue statements saying they remain in solid shape & are not about to succumb to a government takeover.

The Treasury Department, whose failure to produce a plan to aid failing banks helped set off the global stock drubbing a week ago, also sought to squelch the rampant speculation on Wall Street.

Worries that the stock market was on the verge of a meltdown prompted calls on Wall Street for reassurance from political leaders that nationalization is not in the offing. The White House came through with a statement in midafternoon, saying, "This administration strongly believes that a privately held banking technique is the correct way to go."

"There are a lot of rumors in the market, as always, but you should not regard these as any indication of the policyowner of this administration," said Treasury spokesman Isaac Baker. "As Secretary [Timothy F.] Geithner has said, they will preserve a financial technique that is owned & managed by the private sector."

Those reassurances enabled the Dow & other indexes to recover a quantity of their losses. But the venerable blue-chip index ended the day down 100 points at 7,365, its lowest level since the depths of the steep bear market of 2002. The Dow, Standard & Poor's 500 Index & Nasdaq Composite Index all ended down more than 1 percent, with the S&P 500 closing near a 12-year low.

"We believe that the whole discussion about nationalization is impairing the financial sector & making the credit situation worse," said Mr. Yingling, adding that it also undermines the government's objective of reviving private investment in banks. "Investors will remain on the sidelines if there's continued speculation that the government may step in & undercut their investment."

Edward Yingling, president of the American Bankers Association, criticized Mr. Dodd's comments, which were later contradicted in a Bloomberg interview by his House counterpart, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, Massachusetts Democrat.

"The three banks are implicitly nationalized, which is what's rocking investors," said Gregori Volokhin, a strategy chief at Meeschaert New York.

With stocks of major banks like Citigroup & Bank of America now worth only chump alter, some analysts said the market value of the banks has dropped so far below the $90 billion the government already has invested in them that they've effectively been nationalized, no matter what the White House says.

The unrelenting slide by major banks & stocks benefited safe-haven markets like gold & Treasury securities Friday, with gold prices soaring back above $1,000 an ounce.

The latest downdraft in stocks reached an important benchmark Thursday when the Dow fell under a low point set Nov. 20, which lots of analysts had hoped would be the bottom of the bear market. Stock analysts say stocks will have a hard time finding their feet as long as the financial technique & economy remain in apparent free fall.

"It's not very surprising that the global stock market rally that started in November has been reversed," he said. "Investors fear that the economic crisis could take another nasty twist."

"The global financial technique is showing its Humpty-Dumpty nature much not as hard to shatter than to put back together," said Edward Hadas, analyst at Breakingviews.com, noting that "complete nationalization has moved from a fringe idea into the mainstream."

Wall Street's Big Payouts Suffering Economy Threatens

2009-02-22T22:28:00.000-08:00

With the economy in the throes of a historic meltdown, financial workers everywhere fear layoffs. But even those who keep their jobs may face a far different future than they had imagined — five without the big payouts that have long made Wall Street a beacon for the ambitious and the acquisitive.

Those finance industry workers still standing after the brutal banking collapses of the past year had to contend with a major slash in bonus pay — with plenty of losing as much as one-third of their total compensation. Then the Obama administration imposed a pay cap of $500,000 on certain senior executives whose companies received substantial bailout money.

Now, analysts anticipate pay will sink even further, and some query whether the shift could permanently downsize the high-flying culture of Wall Street.

"It's going to drop again in 2009, so it's a huge modify," compensation consultant Alan Johnson said of the falling bonus payouts.

Johnson noted that pay has often dropped as part of a cyclical downturn and then rebounded after a few years. But he said the new federal pay caps have changed the equation and have plenty of Wall Street workers concerned that their incentive pay could disappear altogether, cutting their compensation to one-third of what it was.

In the neighborhood surrounding the New York Stock Exchange, plenty of finance industry employees say they are more worried about keeping their jobs than they are about their paychecks dwindling. Some believe the loss in compensation goes with the territory.

Even plenty of of those performing well are being forced to cut back on some expenses. Most finance sector employees have come to depend on bonuses and incentives to cover about two-thirds of their total income — but in 2008 that bonus pay was sliced by about 45 percent, cutting total compensation by about one-third, Johnson said.

"You eat what you kill. It's a performance-based industry," said broker Drew R. Alexander, who has seen his pay drop since October and reports that some friends have lost upwards of 60 percent of their income.

At the big investment firms, where historically hundreds of employees have made millions, and thousands have made $300,000 to $500,000, workers are struggling to come to grips with a world gone suddenly awry.

That means, according to Johnson, that workers who recently got their MBAs and four times would have expected over $150,000 in yearly pay likely got about $105,000. Vice presidents, who in flush years have made $300,000 to $500,000, saw a drop of $90,000 to $150,000. Even secretaries, who including a small bonus often make about $50,000 a year, have seen a drop.

"Morale is terrible right now," Johnson said. "People are getting laid off. Pay is down. You're working hard."

a few of firms have seen a jump in the employee hours spent at the company gym, as people try to cope with declining opportunity and rising stress, he said.

Analysts believe the federal pay caps imposed on a quantity of the highest-level executives, combined with public anger surrounding Wall Street bonuses, may well trickle down to reduce the pay of employees at all levels of finance firms.

"It will have a deflationary impact on the organizations," said Pearl Meyer, executive compensation consultant with Steven Hall & Partners. "But I don't know how permanent that is."

and at the upper range of the ladder, long-term pay cuts could permanently shift the character of Wall Street — long famous for drawing daredevil risk-takers seeking a luxe lifestyle.

"At the lower level, you're hitting Christmas money" with such cuts, along with home and automobile payments, Meyer said. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently noted that over half the city's financial services sector employees make less than $100,000 a year.

"Being down there, everyone's yelling. they have their own language, their own talk, their own swagger," said Gunther, 23. "It always seemed like hasty easy money" and was "portrayed as five big party."

Growing up in suburban Summit, N.J., David Gunther was surrounded by investment bankers and luxury sedans. After visiting a cousin on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, he was hooked.

Gunther thought he might land a job making $80,000 out of college. Instead, he's living with his parents and looking for his first job — hoping now for $30,000 a year, and considering other industries.

ZIMBABWE’S stock exchange resumed trading yesterday

2009-02-20T01:29:00.000-08:00

ZIMBABWE’S stock exchange resumed trading yesterday with offers for shares placed in US dollars.

The resumption came a day after ZSE chief executive Emmanuel Munyukwi sought the help of the new Finance Minister, Tendai Biti.

Traders said the bourse managed one session yesterday. “There were offers,” said a trader, adding that caution was evident because of the change of trading from the local currency to US dollars.

It was not clear if there was interest in the shares on offer.

The resumption of trade is further evidence of the speed at which Biti is trying to revive Zimbabwe’s comatose economy.

He has even considered adjusting the national budget announced last month, and has promised the new unity government will soon “turn around the economy.”

Biti said modalities had already been put in place.

Zimbabwe is also engaging South Africa over using the rand to boost foreign exchange liquidity, prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai said .

“I don’t want to pre-empt this, but we are really engaging the South Africans to make sure we can discuss using the rand to provide relief,” Tsvangirai said, in response to a statement by President Kgalema Motlanthe earlier this month .

“We are in an emergency situation, a fire-fighting situation. We are talking of an emergency plan.”

The South African Reserve Bank has said it has not been formally approached about the proposal.

Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho use the rand alongside their own currencies, but Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni has in the past ruled out a formal arrangement with Zimbabwe.

Article Resource:http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=943361

Listing Plan Accepted by New York Stock Exchange PRIMEDIA Continued

2009-02-17T21:37:00.000-08:00

the Company’s common stock will continue to be listed on the NYSE pending quarterly reviews by the NYSE’s Listing and Compliance Committee to ensure progress against the plan. PRIMEDIA Inc. This required the Company to submit a plan that demonstrated its ability to achieve compliance with the continued listing standards within 18 months of receipt of the notice. enables millions of consumers nationwide to find a place to live through its innovative print, Internet and mobile solutions. The Company previously announced on November 24, 2008 that the NYSE had notified the Company that it was considered “below criteria” specifically because the Company’s average total market capitalization was less than $75 million over a consecutive 30 trading-day period.

OncoGenex leads state stock slide

2009-02-17T21:32:00.000-08:00

Led by OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc., with its shares plummeting nearly 27 percent in Tuesday trading, nearly all Washington state companies traded on the NASDAQ and New York Stock Exchange saw shares fall.

Of the nearly 100 Washington public companies traded on the two major exchanges, only six rose in price Tuesday.

Led by OncoGenex (NASDAQ: OGXI) of Bothell, which fell $1.05 to close at $2.90, other big droppers in the state included Nautilus Inc. (NYSE: NLS) of Vancouver, Wash., which fell 24 cents, or 26.37 percent, to close at 67 cents; biotech MDRNA Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) of Bothell, which fell 11 cents, or 25.58 percent, to close at 32 cents; and Frontier Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: FTBK) of Everett, which fell 35 cents, or 18.32 percent, to close at $1.56.

Registering surprising advances on Tuesday were AmericanWest Bancorporation (NASDAQ: AWBC) of Spokane, which rose 3 cents, or 6.67 percent, to close at 48 cents and Flow International Corp. (NASDAQ: FLOW) of Kent, which rose 6 cents, or 4.51 percent, to close at $1.39.

Article resource:http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2009/02/16/daily18.html

Banks and SIFs drive the Stock Exchange down by 5%

2009-02-16T22:32:00.000-08:00

The Bucharest Stock Exchange yesterday had one of its worst sessions since the beginning of the year, with a 5% fall of the BET index. Hardest hit, however, was the financial-banking sector of this market, though. The financial investment companies’ index, BET-FI, witnessed corrections by as much as 8%, going below the 9,000-point threshold, but managed to slow down its decline towards the end of the session. As a result, BET-FI’s correction at the session’s close stood at 6%.

Brokers believe that statements made over the last few days, about a potential bankruptcy of Austria because of the exposure of its banks to the Eastern European markets, have led investors to panic and dump their shares, especially those related to the financial sector.

"I believe today’s session (yesterday i.e.) is the outcome of the statements of the Austrian officials about a potential bankruptcy caused by the exposure of banks to Eastern European markets. We are not sticking out like a sore thumb among the markets in the region, and if we look at what is going on on the market in Vienna, we can see the same thing, corrections of more than 2%, caused by the banking sector losses, that is Erste and Raiffeisen. The news got investors all worked up and raised suspicions among them, making them decide to sell. I don’t think today’s exits were caused by a need for cash, because it is not profitable to exit the market now, when the exchange rate stands at 4.3 RON/EUR," commented Rares Nilas, chief executive of BT Securities brokerage firm.

On the Austrian stock exchange, Raiffeisen (RIBH) shares had gone down by 8.7% towards the session’s close, while Erste’s shares were down 7%.

On the local market, the hardest hit were BRD shares, which fell almost 9%, followed by Banca Transilvania and Banca Comerciala Romana, which lost 5% on the average.

The SIFs had witnessed corrections ranging between 8% - SIF Banat-Crisana (SIF1) to 4.6% - SIF Transilvania (SIF3).

Wyndham drops equity sales plan after share tumble

2009-02-16T22:30:00.000-08:00

Hotel owner Wyndham Worldwide Corp (WYN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) dropped plans on Monday to issue up to $200 million in stock after a prominent hedge fund manager criticized the idea and its shares sank nearly 30 percent.

The plan was withdrawn in response to the "strongly negative" market reaction, Wyndham Chairman and Chief Executive Stephen Holmes said in a statement.

He said the company would continue to actively manage its business to maximize cash flow from operations and strengthen its financial position.

Wyndham has "adequate liquidity to meet the operating needs of the business," he said.

Wyndham shares fell $1.76 to $4.18 on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange after prominent hedge fund manager Leon Cooperman criticized the proposed offering.

Cooperman, the billionaire founder of Omega Advisors, had said on the company's quarterly conference call with analysts that the possibility that Wyndham would issue stock at prices below previous buybacks was "ridiculous."

"You don't want to look a year from now, having bought back stock at $30 and issued stock at $5 or $6, and then see business stabilize or improve in 2010," Cooperman said on the call. "It's ridiculous."

A spokeswoman for GenCorp declined to comment on the stock fluctuation

2009-02-13T21:03:00.000-08:00

A day after GenCorp. Inc. announced its earnings, the company was one of the biggest gainers among common stocks on the New York Stock Exchange at Friday’s close of trading, with the stock rising $1.12, or 45 percent, to $3.61.

Shares of GenCorp (NYSE: GY) closed with a loss of 15 cents, or 5.68 percent, to $2.49 on Thursday.

A spokeswoman for GenCorp declined to comment on the stock fluctuation.

The company finished the year with a solid operational performance, though GenCorp reported a net loss for the fourth quarter of $5.7 million, or 10 cents per share, compared to a profit of $12.4 million, or 21 cents diluted earnings per share, for the same quarter in 2007.

The Rancho Cordova-based aerospace and defense business also showed a profit of $1.5 million for the year, well below its 2007 profit of $69 million.

The company said the lower operating results primarily were tied to a combination of unusual events. Last year’s operating results were hurt mainly by a charge of $14.6 million related to a freeze of the company’s pension plan. At the same time, 2007 results were especially high due to several one-time gains.

Fourth-quarter sales were down 2.6 percent to $198.5 million, and down slightly for the fiscal year ended Nov. 30 to 742.3 million.

The company also reported strong results from its aerospace and defense business. As of Nov. 30, GenCorp had a fully funded contract backlog — for which purchase orders have been received — totalling $675 million, compared to $566 million as of Nov. 30, 2007.

The total contract backlog as of Nov. 30, 2008 and 2007, was $1 billion and $912 million, respectively.

Sensex recovers

2009-02-11T21:00:00.000-08:00

Equities
showed signs of strength on Wednesday, recovering most of intra-day losses overlooking a steep fall in US and European
markets.

The indices opened gap-down but climbed steadily as buying emerged in select frontline stocks
while traders chose to sit on sidelines.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex ended at 9,618.54, down 28.93 points or 0.3 per cent from the previous close. The index touched a high of 9648.39 and low of 9459.59.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty closed at 2925.70, down 0.05 per cent or 8.8 points. The broader index hit a high of 2937.50 and low of 2877.60.

“Optimism is back in the market as investors have begun reacting to positive news. People, for a change, are not looking at the US for direction, else we would not have bounced back despite of poor show from US and European markets,” said S Ranganathan, head of research, LKP Securities.

Second rung stocks outperformed the benchmarks by ending in the green following news-based action. BSE Midcap Index was up 0.37 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 0.25 per cent higher.

“Gas based fertiliser companies were in action on reports that they would benefit as RIL gas would flow to them. Buying emerged in Astra Microwave and BEL on joint venture. We expect the market to react positively to these kind of stock/sector specific developments for at least next one month. The interim budget and rail budget may also trigger markets,” Ranganathan added.

RCF shares ended 8.53 per cent higher at Rs 36.90, Nagarjuna Fertilisers rose 6.05 per cent to Rs 18.40, National Fertilisers advanced 12.24 per cent at Rs 30.25.

Astra Microwave surged over 8 per cent after the company announced a preliminary deal with Bharat Electronics to form 51:49 joint venture. The JV would design, develop, prototype, manufacture and market microwave products for use in defence, space and telecommunications.

PSU banking stocks rose after the Cabinet approved a government proposal to infuse Rs 3,800 crore into three state-run banks in two tranches over FY09 and FY10.

Home Minister P Chidambaram said, UCO Bank will get Rs 1200 crore in fund infusion – Rs 450 crore in FY09 and the remaining Rs 750 crore in FY10. Central Bank of India will get Rs 700 crore each this fiscal and the next while Vijaya Bank will get Rs 500 crore in FY09 and another Rs 700 crore in FY10.

Shares of Central Bank ended 2.76 per cent higher at Rs 39.10, Vijaya Bank climbed 2.79 per cent to Rs 29.50 and UCO Bank surged 3.58 per cent to Rs 28.90.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Auto ended 0.8 per cent higher on reports that the government may announce some relief to the industry in the form of excise cuts while presenting the interim budget.

The BSE Power Index ended up 0.2 per cent, BSE Bankex closed flat and BSE FMCG Index moved up 0.17 per cent.

BSE Healthcare Index was down 1.2 per cent, BSE Metal Index declined 1.19 per cent and BSE IT Index fell 0.65 per cent.

Gains in Maruti Suzuki (4%), ACC (2.64%), Jaiprakash Associates (2.47%), Tata Power (1.81%), Bharti Airtel (1.72%) and HDFC (1.63%) helped the Sensex end off lows.

Ranbaxy Laboratories (-5%), Grasim Industries (-4.07%), Reliance Infrastructure (-3.73%) and Tata Steel (-3.38%) and Tata Motors (-2.09%) remained weak.

Market breadth was positive on the BSE with 1,263 advances and 1,138 declines.

US markets are set to open higher after a steep fall in previous session. Dow Jones stock futures were up 0.38 per cent, S&P 500 was up 0.33 per cent and Nasdaq gained 0.20 per cent.

Comstock posts Q4 loss on charges

2009-02-09T22:53:00.002-08:00

Q4 loss/shr $2.15 vs profit of $0.50

* Q4 gas and oil sales $100.2 mln

Feb 9 (Reuters) - Energy company Comstock Resources Inc (CRK.N) swung to a fourth-quarter loss, hurt by declining market prices for crude oil and natural gas and impairment charges.

For the quarter ended Dec 31, the company's net loss was $96.4 million, or $2.15 per share, compared with a profit of $21.7 million, or 50 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding items, net income was 22 cents a share.

Comstock said it had incurred one-time impairment charges of $2.33 per share in the quarter related to its investments in Stone Energy Corp (SGY.N) and 22 cents per share for its oil and gas properties.

The company said that while its production for the quarter increased, its realised oil and gas prices fell 30 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

Comstock also said it was reducing its 2009 drilling budget from $450 million to $366 million in response to weak natural gas prices.

Shares of the company closed at $40.27 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.

For the alerts, please double click [ID:nWNAB0465] (Reporting by Arup Roychoudhury in Bangalore; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

(arup.roychoudhury@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: arup.roychoudhury.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Stocks end mixed as investors look to Washington

2009-02-09T22:53:00.001-08:00

Stocks have ended a quiet session little changed as investors wait for Washington to make the next move.

The market traded in a tight range and ended narrowly mixed. Investors are seeking details of how the government will reshape a rescue plan for the financial industry. The government plans to announce the changes Tuesday. Investors are also watching as political leaders put together an economic stimulus program.

Meanwhile, there are reminders of the ever-slowing world economy. Nissan Motor Co. says it will slash 20,000 jobs, or 8.5 percent of its global work force, over the next year.

The Dow Jones industrials slipped 9 to 8,270. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 1 at 869, and the Nasdaq composite is down less than a point at 1,591.

Advancing stocks were ahead of losers by 8 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.39 billion shares.

It too late to take a shine to gold? Investors buy gold during recession

2009-02-08T22:03:00.000-08:00

UBS strategist John Reade said: “Purchases of physical gold have jumped over the past six months as investors’ fears about the financial crisis and the possible outcomes from government efforts to support banks and economies have intensified.”

UBS raised its gold forecast for 2009 saying it will average around $1,000 an ounce compared with its previous forecast of $700.

Others like Hector McNeil of ETF Securities are more bullish. He said: “Though [gold’s] value is relatively high, it is still less than half its price at the peak when it reached $2,300 an ounce on an inflation-adjusted basis.”

Graham Birch of the Black Rock Gold and General fund said: “Gold operates outside the banking system. It will retain its value even if the banking system collapses.” He added, however, that investors should not expect to make their fortune from gold. “It’s not for poor people wanting to get rich; it’s for rich people who want to stay rich.”

Over the past 12 months, the value of gold has increased by about 1%, while the FTSE 100 is down about 40%.

If you held £500 worth of gold in March 2008, it would be worth about £620 today even though the price of gold has fallen. This is because the commodity is priced in dollars.

However, Adrian Lowcock of adviser Bestinvest said investors may have missed the boat. “The big shocks to the economy have already occurred, and though there are likely to be further tremors along the way, I think the main rush towards the safety of gold has passed.” Investors are continuing to pour into gold to safeguard their wealth from a weak currency and economic outlook — despite the cost of the metal being at historic highs.

The spot price of gold is hovering at around $913 an ounce — 20% more than the $720 it fell to in October though it is still $97 off its high of $1,011 in March last year.

Inflows into gold exchange-traded funds, which allow you to track the metal’s price on the London Stock Exchange, are at record highs with an inflow of $581m (£396m) in the last week of January. ETF investors now own more gold than the Japanese and Swiss governments.

The move to “safe haven” assets such as gold is spurred on by fears of further currency weakness resulting from increased government debt, low interest rates and the prospect of further economic instability.

Is Chicago Stock Exchange in trouble?

2009-01-22T21:49:00.000-08:00

January 22, 2009 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- In this economic downturn even the Chicago Stock Exchange is fighting for profits in the view of many analysts. Technological change and intense competition have eroded the exchange's position in the market. Now, published reports claim the exchange has been warned to cut costs drastically or face going out of business.

Many of the most profitable stock exchanges -- the NYSE, the NASDAQ, for example -- are owned by some of the biggest players in the market. That makes those "customers" placing trades with "their" exchanges a logical thing to do -- after all, those fees and commissions end up helping people "in house." But the Chicago Stock Exchange relies more on executing trades for customers who don't own a piece of it. And that, combined with a host of other factors, has at least one shareholder group pressuring the CHX to run its business better -- or start firing some people.

The galloping steed outside the Chicago Stock Exchange on South LaSalle gives the impression of movement, but like the virtually frozen credit markets, the volume of trading action here appears to just not be bringing in the money like it used to flow.

"We really are a microcosm of larger markets. Our challenges are those of others," said Dave Herron, CHX CEO.

NYSE vs Nasdaq new listings battle in 08: call it a draw

2009-01-22T21:48:00.000-08:00

The IPO gods doled out more misery than joy in 2008 to both two major U.S. stock exchanges, the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq, with only 29 new companies to fight over in their ongoing battle for listings. That compared with 202 listings in 2007.

NYSE won 13 of those IPOs, including the largest IPO ever, the $17.9 billion issue by credit-card issuer Visa in March, and a $1.4 billion IPO by American Water Works. That fueled its share of IPO proceeds for the year to $24.7 billion, or 94 percent of the total for the year, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Nasdaq’s largest deal, the $500 million IPO by solar equipment company GT Solar, tanked on arrival, finishing the year 83 percent down off its offer price.

Still, Nasdaq won the only IPO in the fourth quarter of 2008, by online university operator Grand Canyon Education Inc, which was also the best performing IPO of the year, ending the year 57 percent over its offer price of $12. CardioNet, another Nasdaq IPO, was up 37 percent.

Absent bountiful IPOs, the battle was on to woo companies away from each other in 2008, with each exchange luring 8 companies from the other. NYSE managed to attract big names such as Speedo maker Warnaco Group and job-search web site operator Monster Worldwide.

But Nasdaq landed big names such as exchange operator CME (which dropped the NYSE half of its dual listing), computer outsourcing company Automatic Data Processing, not to mention the year’s listing switch coup de grâce– it lured Wall Street Journal publisher News Corp away from NYSE in December.

With the outlook bleak for new issues in 2009, the companies will probably have to redouble their efforts to steal listings by already public companies away from each other.

Muscat Stock Exchange Records Trade Volume Rise

2009-01-12T07:49:00.001-08:00

Source: Info-Prod Research (Middle East))trackingAccording to Al-Sharq newspaper (January 8, 2009), Mr. Ahmed bin Abdul-Nabi Macki, National Economy Minister and Deputy Chairman of the Financial Affairs and Energy Resources Council in the Sultanate of Oman, said that the total volume of the traded stocks on the Muscat Stock Exchange rose to OR 3.62 billion in 2008, up from OR 2.66 billion in the previous year, an increase of 36%.

Originally published by Info-Prod Strategic Business Information.

(c) 2009 Info-Prod Research (Middle East). Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

Bulgarian Stock Exchange opens 2009 at snail's pace

2009-01-12T07:48:00.000-08:00

The Bulgarian Stock Exchange started the New Year with thin volumes and no clear direction, and the gas crisis which shook the industry did not move the key indices from last-year levels.

The blue-chip SOFIX stepped back 0.98 per cent in the first five sessions of the year, closing 0.17 per cent lower at 355.14 points on January 9 2009.

Dnevnik 20 of the biggest and most liquid companies lost 3.32 per cent of its value over the week finishing at 52.93 points.

OCT trade was sluggish generating less than 500 000 leva a day, a level it only reached in the five session of the year.

Analysts made no projections as to when the dormant stock market will wake up.

Some say the upcoming first batch of financial statements may help the bourse spring back to life provided it contains good news.

Negative expectations about fourth-quarter results have already been calculated in the share prices.

Cigna Cuts 1,100 Jobs, Expects Charge of $40 Million

2009-01-06T00:02:00.000-08:00

Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Cigna Corp., the health insurer whose shares fell 69 percent last year because of investment losses, said it will cut about 1,100 jobs and take a fourth-quarter after-tax charge of $30 million to $40 million for 2008.

The Philadelphia-based company’s 4 percent workforce reduction will be complete by the middle of the year, and some offices will be consolidated, although it didn’t offer details in a statement today. There may be more charges for 2009, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A declining stock market and the recession have eroded the earnings outlook for Cigna, which relies on investment returns for almost two-thirds of pretax income. In November the company lowered its profit forecast for 2008 and said it will provide health insurance to fewer people in 2009 as customers trim their payrolls. The company has forecast 2009 adjusted earnings of $4 to $4.30 a share.

“Given the unprecedented economic situation we and our customers are facing, these actions are essential,” said Cigna Chief Executive Officer H. Edward Hanway in the statement today. “Decisions like these are difficult and never made lightly, but they are necessary given the current environment.”

The company rose 36 cents, or 2 percent, to $18.15 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Cigna’s shares in 2008 posted their worst performance for any year since at least 1983.

For Related News:

To contact the reporter on this story: Avram Goldstein in Washington at agoldstein1@bloomberg.net.

Hypercom gets delisting notice from NYSE

2009-01-03T08:20:00.002-08:00

Hypercom Corp. has been notified that it is in danger of not meeting the listing criteria for the New York Stock Exchange after its average price fell below $1 per share for the past month.

The exchange’s rules require a closing price averaging $1 or more during 30 consecutive trading days. The company, which is one of the largest suppliers of point-of-sale electronic terminals in the world, now has six months to bring up its average listing price while its stock continues to be listed.

If the price doesn’t improve, officials for Scottsdale-based Hypercom (NYSE: HYC) said they may consider a recommendation at its next annual stockholders meeting that some of the company’s outstanding stock be consolidated.

CANADA STOCKS-TSX kicks off year with energy-powered rally

2009-01-03T08:20:00.001-08:00

Energy sector roars 6.3 percent higher

* Fourth session of triple-digit gains

* Nine of 10 subsectors in positive territory (Adds comments, details, changes to Ottawa from Toronto dateline)

OTTAWA, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index pushed 2.7 percent higher on Friday, as an energy sector rally helped power a fourth straight session of triple-digit gains to usher in the new year.

All but one of the Toronto Stock Exchange's 10 main sectors ended higher, led by the energy group, which surged 6.3 percent.

Big gainers included Suncor Energy (SU.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), up 8.9 percent at C$25.83, Petro-Canada (PCA.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) ahead 8.9 percent at C$29.11, and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) gaining 6.7 percent to C$51.99.

The S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE rose 246.41 points to close at 9,234.11 points.

"A lot of people have a lot of cash that they're sitting on. And this being a new year, maybe they were just looking for a place to put their money," said Adrian Mastracci, portfolio manager and president at KCM Wealth Management Inc.

Crude oil jumped $1.74, or 4 percent, to $46.34 a barrel, lifted by fears over European fuel availability amid rising Middle East tensions and a spat between Russia and Ukraine over natural gas supplies.

Cardium Reports on Exchange Listing With NYSE Alternext US

2008-12-30T22:50:00.001-08:00

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cardium Therapeutics (NYSE Alternext US: CXM) reported notification from the staff of its current listing exchange indicating that the company is currently considered to be noncompliant with certain listing requirements of the NYSE Alternext US LLC (formerly the American Stock Exchange). Based on the company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q, which was filed on November 10, 2008, noncompliance was noted with respect to the requirements for minimum stockholders' equity and maintenance of a sufficient base of financial resources to support expected activities, under sections 1003(a)(i) and (iv), respectively, of the exchange's current company guide.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20051018/CARDIUMLOGO)

This initial notification has no current effect on the listing of the company's shares on the exchange. Rather, the company has been afforded the opportunity to submit a proposed plan to the exchange by January 23, 2009, pursuant to which the company could establish compliance with the requirements of section 1003(a)(iv) by March 23, 2009, and in compliance with all sections, including section 1003(a)(i), by June 23, 2010. If the company does not submit an acceptable plan to the exchange or does not ultimately reestablish compliance within the required timeframes, then the exchange would be expected to initiate delisting proceedings. If the company's common stock was ultimately delisted from the exchange, it would be expected to trade on the OTC Bulletin Board, a regulated quotation service that provides quotes, sale prices and volume information in over-the-counter equity securities. The company's common stock was traded on the OTC Bulletin Board until July 2007, when the company elected to instead list its shares on the American Stock Exchange.

About Cardium

Cardium Therapeutics, Inc. and its subsidiaries, InnerCool Therapies, Inc. and the Tissue Repair Company, are medical technology companies primarily focused on the development, manufacture and sale of innovative therapeutic products and devices for cardiovascular, ischemic and related indications.

Cardium's InnerCool Therapies subsidiary is a San Diego-based medical technology company in the emerging field of temperature modulation therapy to rapidly and controllably cool the body in order to reduce cell death and damage following acute ischemic events such as cardiac arrest or stroke, and to potentially lessen or prevent associated injuries such as adverse neurological outcomes. For more information about Cardium's InnerCool subsidiary and patient temperature modulation, including InnerCool's new RapidBlue(TM) System, which just received FDA clearance, and its CoolBlue(TM) System, please visit http://www.innercool.com.

Cardium also has two biologic candidates in clinical development. Cardium's Tissue Repair Company subsidiary (TRC) is focused on the development of growth factor therapeutics for the treatment of severe chronic diabetic wounds. TRC's lead product candidate, Excellarate(TM), is a DNA-activated collagen gel for topical treatment formulated with an adenovector delivery carrier encoding human platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB). Excellarate(TM) is initially being developed to be administered once or twice for the potential treatment of non-healing diabetic foot ulcers. Other potential applications for TRC's Gene Activated Matrix(TM) (GAM) technology include therapeutic angiogenesis (cardiovascular ischemia, peripheral arterial disease) and orthopedic products, including hard tissue (bone) and soft tissue (ligament, tendon, cartilage) repair. For more information about Cardium's Tissue Repair Company subsidiary, please visit http://www.t-r-co.com.

Cardium's Generx product candidate (alferminogene tadenovec, Ad5FGF-4) is a DNA-based growth factor therapeutic being developed for potential use by interventional cardiologists as a one-time treatment to promote and stimulate the growth of collateral circulation in the hearts of patients with ischemic conditions such as recurrent angina. For more information about Cardium Therapeutics and its businesses, products and therapeutic candidates, please visit http://www.cardiumthx.com or view its 2007 Annual Report at http://www.cardiumthx.com/flash/pdf/CardiumAR07_Book_FINAL.pdf.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for statements of historical fact, the matters discussed in this press release are forward looking and reflect numerous assumptions and involve a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control and may cause actual results to differ materially from stated expectations. For example, there can be no assurance that the company can submit an acceptable plan for regaining compliance with exchange listing requirements or ultimately achieve such compliance even if a plan is accepted, that results observed in one study or using one type of product or procedure will be replicated in subsequent studies or in studies using newly-developed products or procedures, that planned product development efforts and clinical studies can be performed in an efficient and effective manner, that regulatory approvals can be obtained in a timely manner or at all, that partnering, distribution or other commercialization efforts can be achieved and if so that they will effectively accelerate InnerCool's patient temperature modulation business or market, that product modifications or launches will be successful or that the resulting products will be favorably received in the marketplace, that our products or proposed products will prove to be sufficiently safe and effective, that our products or product candidates will not be unfavorably compared to competitive products that may be regarded as safer, more effective, easier to use or less expensive, that results or trends observed in one clinical study will be reproduced in subsequent studies, that third parties on whom we depend will behave as anticipated, or that necessary regulatory approvals will be obtained. Actual results may also differ substantially from those described in or contemplated by this press release due to risks and uncertainties that exist in our operations and business environment, including, without limitation, risks and uncertainties that are inherent in the development, testing and marketing of therapeutic hypothermia devices and the conduct of human clinical trials, including the timing, costs and outcomes of such trials, whether our efforts to launch new devices and systems and expand our markets will be successful or completed within the time frames contemplated, our dependence upon proprietary technology, our ability to obtain necessary funding, regulatory approvals and qualifications, our history of operating losses and accumulated deficits, our reliance on collaborative relationships and critical personnel, and current and future competition, as well as other risks described from time to time in filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to release publicly the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date hereof.

Copyright 2008 Cardium Therapeutics, Inc. All rights reserved.

UPDATE 2-KKR Financial says gets NYSE notice on listing

2008-12-30T22:48:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK, Dec 30 (Reuters) - KKR Financial Holdings LLC (KFN.N), a debt fund managed by private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co [KKR.UL], said on Tuesday it had received a listing standards notice from the New York Stock Exchange.

KKR Financial said it was notified that it had fallen below the NYSE's continued listing standard, which requires a minimum average closing price of $1 per share over 30 consecutive trading days.

It said it will seek to cure the deficiency and has six months to bring its average share price back above $1.

The stock will continue to be listed on the NYSE during the cure period, subject to its compliance with other listing requirements, it said.

Its shares closed up 18 cents, or 15.1 percent, at $1.37 on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. The San Francisco-based company listed on the NYSE in June 2005 at $24 a share. It hit a 52-week low of 57 cents on Dec. 22.

Earlier this month, the company appointed a new chief executive who said it was reviewing its capital structure, business model and operating expenses amid market turbulence.

William Sonneborn was named chief executive in a shake-up that saw two of the firm's top executives resign.

Last month, KKR Financial suspended its third-quarter dividend as it arranged for more time to pay off its borrowings.

Founded in July 2004, KKR Financial invests in such assets as corporate loans, high yield corporate bonds and distressed debt securities.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts itself had planned to become a publicly listed entity this year, but in November it delayed those plans to 2009. (Reporting by Paritosh Bansal; Editing by Bernard Orr) (For more M&A news and our DealZone blog, go to www.reuters.com/deals)

FM speak pushes Sensex up by 781 points

2008-10-15T22:08:00.001-07:00

Finance Minister P Chimabaram’s promising remarks just before the opening of bourses today had an electrifying effect on stock markets as benchmark Sensex opened on a strong note and went on to notch up an impressive gain of over 780 points to regain the 11,000 level at close.

Leaving behind last week’s deep worries and mounting losses, Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30-share barometer rose by 781.24 points, or 7.42 per cent, to settle the day at 11,309.09 points.

The Sensex had lost a huge 2,527.82 points, or 19.36 per cent, during the past five days. The 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also surged by 210.75 points, or 6.43 per cent, to 3,490.70 from its last close.

Marketmen credited the rise in shares also to concerted efforts by the market regulators and the governments worldwide to address the global liquidity crunch. They said domestic institutional investors indulged in hectic buying, pushing the Sensex up.

Asian and European markets also snapped their losing spree with key indices in the regions gaining nearly in the range of 5-10 per cent.

Australia’s all ordinaries index gained 5.14 per cent while Asian indices ended higher by about 4.0 to 10 per cent. European markets also were sharply up in their morning trade.

Chidambaram said the government was working on measures to tide over the situation and hoped to announce them shortly.

After the last week’s meltdown, Chidambaram advised stock market to take a cue from the “positive developments” in the Australian and other three of the East Asian capital markets.

The Reserve Bank of India has released Rs 60,000 crore in the system through a big 1.5 per cent cut in the Cash Reserve Ratio effective from October 11.

ICICI Bank sends SMS to allay fears of depositors

2008-10-15T22:05:00.002-07:00

Mumbai - Many ICICI Bank customers received SMS messages on their mobile phones on Saturday, assuring them that their deposits with the bank are safe.

The message read that the bank is well capitalised with good liquidity. “Please do not listen to baseless rumours,” said the message, before ending with greetings for the festive season.

This was part of a campaign by the bank to allay fears of their customers, even as rumours of deposit withdrawals by account holders did the rounds.

Denies withdrawals

Ms Chanda Kochhar, Joint Managing Director and CFO, ICICI Bank, said “there is no large scale withdrawal of deposits, but customers have been querying at branches and calling in because of the fall in the share price as sentiment gets impacted.” There were rumours that deposit holders were transferring their funds to other banks.

The scrip fell by 20 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday, to a three-year low of Rs 364.10.

Ms Kochhar said the bank did not see any slowdown in the current and savings account, which has been the focus this year. It will raise wholesale deposits only to the extent required.

Retail defaults

On defaults in the retail segment, Ms Kochhar said there was no perceptible rise and they were at the same levels as in the last quarter. But the bank has tightened the credit parameters with regard to personal loans, given the inflation and rising interest rates, she added.

Related Stories:
ICICI Bank loses 28% during intra-day
ICICI Bank has sufficient liquidity, says RBI
A night that kept ICICI customers, officials on tenterhooks

Sensex down nearly by 2000 points - biggest ever weekly fall

2008-10-15T22:05:00.001-07:00

Mumbai, (UNI) - The key benchmark Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) slumped by 1,998.47 points, or 15.95 per cent, to 10,527.85 points, registering the biggest ever weekly low, in the week ended yesterday amid wild rumours about the global recession led to panic sales across the globe.

Similarly, the broader 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also recorded the largest-ever point-wise fall of 538.35 points, or 14.10 per cent, to end the week at 3,279.95 from its last finish.

A leading stock broker said ''A global sell-off triggered the biggest weekly fall for Indian indices since 1990. Fears that the deepening credit crisis will push the global economy into recession, rattled stock markets across the globe. World markets were continuously pounded on mounting fears that the escalating credit crisis will drag the global economy into recession.'' Back home, weak industrial output data added to the gloom on October 10. The Reserve Bank of India yesterday announced a 100 basis point cut in the cash reserve ratio (CRR), the proportion of deposits that banks must keep with the central bank, in addition to a 50 basis point reduction announced on October six, to boost liquidity.

The RBI's steep cut in cash reserve ratio, twice in the week, failed to soothe investors' nerves. Investors looked helpless and resorted to unloading of their holdings after the coordinated efforts by the central banks from major countries to shore up liquidity failed to have desired impact on the market sentiment.

Alkali Metals Limited IPO Information

2008-10-15T22:05:00.000-07:00

Incorporated in 1968, Alkali Metals Limited is a Hyderabad based manufacturer of sodium derivatives, pyridine derivatives and verity of fine chemicals. Products in these categories include amides, hydrides, alkoxides, azides, tetrazoles, pyridine compounds, cyclic compounds, drug and pharma intermediates, specialty fine chemicals etc. Apart from the above, Alkali has developed 246 products in the aforesaid categories.

Company has two manufacturing facilities. Both of these facilities are ISO 9001: 2000 and ISO 14001:2004 certified with combined installed capacity of 4,400 MTPA.

Being more then 35 years old, company has list of long term clients specially in the field of Petrochemicals, Chlor- Alkali & Inorganic chemicals, Organic chemicals, Paints and dyes, Fine and specialties and Agrochemicals. Company’s top three customer’s account for 18.16% of its turnover for the FY 2008 and top 10 customers account for 42.81% of its turnover.
Objects of the Issue:

1. The objects of the Issue are to achieve the benefits of listing on the Stock Exchanges & to raise capital: Setting up of an Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) plant at Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City at Visakhapatnam with an installed capacity of 672 MTPA;
2. General Corporate Purposes.

Alkali Metals AML IPO Grading / Rating

ICRA has assigned an IPO Grade 2 to AML IPO. This means as per ICRA, company has below average fundamentals. ICRA assigns IPO gradings on a scale of 5 to 1, with Grade 5 indicating strong fundamentals and Grade 1 indicating poor fundamentals.
Alkali Metals Limited IPO Information

»» Public Issue Open: October 07, 2008 to Oct 15, 2008
»» Public Issue Type: 100% Book Built Issue (Initial Public Offer IPO)
»» Public Issue Size: 2,550,000 Equity Shares of Rs. 10/-
»» Face Value: Rs. 10/-
»» Public Issue Price: Rs 86/- to Rs 103/-
»» Market Lot: 65 Shares
»» Minimum Order Quantity: 65 Shares
»» Maximum Subscription Amount for Retail Investor: Rs 100,000/-
»» Listing: BSE, NSE
»» Lead Manager: Saffron Capital Advisors Private Limited
»» Registrar: Cameo Corporate Services Ltd (Ph: 44 2846 0390/1948 Email: cameo@cameoindia.com)

NSE Notice (Posted on Friday, Oct 10 2008): Book Running Lead Manager to the issue has informed the Exchange that the Book Building issue of ALKALI METALS LIMITED will close on Oct 15, 2008 instead of the earlier closing day on Oct 10, 2008. Further price band has revised from Rs 90 /- to Rs 105 /- per share to Rs 86 /- to Rs 103 /- per share.

U.S. Stocks Decline, Dow Average Has Biggest Drop Since 1987

2008-10-06T23:03:00.002-07:00

Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks tumbled, driving the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its biggest intraday drop since October 1987, after bank bailouts in Europe widened and commodities producers slid on concern global growth is slowing.

Equities fell worldwide, erasing about $2.5 trillion in market value. Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lost more than 8.2 percent after the German government led a bailout of Hypo Real Estate Holding AG and BNP Paribas SA bought parts of Fortis, Belgium's largest financial-services company. ConocoPhillips and Chevron Corp. declined more than 7 percent as oil traded below $90 a barrel, sending the Standard & Poor's 500 Energy Index to a two-year low.

The S&P 500 lost 70.09 points, or 6.4 percent, to 1,029.14 at 3:10 p.m. in New York, the lowest since October 2003. The Dow retreated 660.28, or 6.4 percent, to 9,665.10 and earlier fell as much as 800 points. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, a measure of how much insurance against declines in the S&P 500 costs, surged to a record high of 58.24.

``It's a financial panic, total dislocation in the financial industry across the board,'' said Ralph Shive, chief investment officer at 1st Source Corp. Investment Advisors in South Bend, Indiana, which manages $3 billion.

About 55 stocks fell for each that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. All 30 companies in the Dow average and all but six in the S&P 500 declined. One-hundred-fifty-seven S&P 500 companies lost more than 10 percent of their value and an additional 280 fell at least 5 percent. More than half traded at 52-week lows. Treasury securities rose and gold jumped more than 4 percent as investors sought the safest assets.

9.4% Drop

The S&P 500 lost 9.4 percent last week, the steepest slump since the September 2001 terrorist attacks, as concern the U.S. is headed for a recession overshadowed passage of a $700 billion bank bailout. The index has fallen more than 500 points from its Oct. 9, 2007 record, wiping out about two-thirds of the 788.39- point bull market that began in October 2002.

The Federal Reserve doubled its emergency auctions of loans to commercial banks to as much as $900 billion in an effort to unfreeze short-term lending markets. The central bank also will begin paying interest on bank deposits under authority it gained from last week's financial-rescue legislation.

About 1.3 billion shares had changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange as of 2:55 p.m. in New York, compared with about 1.2 billion at the same time a week ago.

Hoarding Cash

Money-market interest rates remained elevated as lenders hoarded cash on speculation more financial institutions may collapse after governments in Europe and the U.S. intervened to salvage six in the past two weeks. The difference between what banks and the Treasury pay to borrow money for three months touched to 3.95 percentage points, the biggest since Bloomberg began compiling the data in 1984.

``The chief issue right now is the deterioration overseas,'' said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank in Cleveland, which manages $30 billion. ``Exports have been one of the bright spots for the U.S., and that seems to be growing dimmer.''

David Bianco, UBS AG's New York-based chief equity strategist, cut his 12-month forecast for the S&P 500 by 9.1 percent to 1,500 and abandoned his year-end target, citing deeper-than-expected recessions in the U.S. and Europe.

Rate Cut?

U.S. gross domestic product will drop the next two quarters, with unemployment reaching 8 percent by the end of 2009, Goldman Sachs wrote in a research note Oct. 3. Financial futures are pricing in 100 percent odds the Federal Reserve will cut the target rate for overnight loans between banks by at least 0.50 percentage point by Oct. 29.

Morgan Stanley fell 10 percent to $21.53 as financial companies in the S&P 500 lost 7.2 percent, deepening their 2008 decline to nearly 40 percent. Citigroup dropped 10 percent to $16.49. Goldman Sachs lost 8.8 percent to $116.78.

National City Corp. tumbled 35 percent to $2.28 for the biggest drop in the S&P 500. Fitch lowered the Ohio bank's long- term issuer default rating to BBB+ from A on Oct. 3.

Energy companies in the S&P 500 fell 9.8 percent as a group. The industry, the third-biggest in the U.S. stock benchmark as recently as Oct. 1, shrank to the fifth-largest behind the financial, technology, health care and consumer staples groups.

ConocoPhillips, the second-biggest U.S. refiner, dropped 9.2 percent to $60.05. Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, lost 7 percent to $73.84. Exxon Mobil, the biggest, slumped 4.6 percent to $74.35.

Oil Tumbles

Crude oil sank below $90 a barrel in New York for the first time since February as the deepening credit crisis added to concern that slowing global economic growth will reduce demand for fuels. Crude oil for November delivery fell $5.73, or 6.1 percent, to $88.15 a barrel at the 2:30 p.m. close of floor trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Steelmakers including A.K. Steel Holding Corp., U.S. Steel Corp. and Nucor Corp. led materials producers in the S&P 500 to an 8.7 percent drop. Lakshmi Mittal, the chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, said the market faced an ``unprecedented'' disruption in demand. Mittal spoke at a conference of the World Steel Association in Washington, D.C.

The euro had its biggest one-day drop against the yen since its 1999 debut and the dollar plunged as the deepening credit crisis prompted European governments to pledge bailouts for troubled banks while stopping short of coordinated action.

Denmark and Germany said they will guarantee all their countries' bank deposits. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi have made verbal pledges to do the same.

European Banks

Germany's Hypo Real Estate was forced to seek the lifeline after its Dublin-based Depfa Bank Plc unit, which lends to governments, lost access to short-term funding. Fortis was driven to the brink of collapse after pouring 24.2 billion euros ($32.9 billion) into the acquisition of ABN Amro Holding NV assets last year just as the U.S. subprime-mortgage market collapsed and credit markets froze.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. added 9.3 percent to $29.94 after Allianz SE said it will invest $2.5 billion in the insurer. Hartford also reported a third-quarter loss of $8.50 to $8.80 a share.

ImClone Systems Inc. climbed 1.6 percent to $66. Eli Lilly & Co. agreed to buy ImClone, the biotechnology company controlled by billionaire Carl Icahn, for $6.5 billion in cash, topping Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s hostile bid of $62 a share.

About $25 trillion in value has been erased from stocks worldwide in the past year. The MSCI World Index of 23 developed countries lost 28 percent through Oct. 3, the worst annual performance on record dating back to 1970. Investors in the U.S. face their first annual loss in six years after the S&P 500 dropped 34 percent from its October 2007 record.

The S&P 500 is still valued at 19.5 times profit from the past four quarters, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Stock markets plunge: US bailout fails to alleviate fears

2008-10-06T23:03:00.001-07:00

Stock markets around the world experienced sharp fall yesterday after Wall Street finished Friday's volatile session in negative territory.

Reports from across the world shows that most of the bourses plunged drastically breaking previous records. Some of the stock markets were forced to suspend trading as the fall continued. The key share indexes in the UK, France and Germany had all fallen by more than 5% by early afternoon.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange, prime bourse of Bangladesh, also witnessed a sharp fall pushing down the DSE General Index (DGEN), the benchmark index, dropping 73 points or over 2.0 per cent to close at 2,928 points from 3,001 points on Sunday.

The US stock markets fell sharply on Friday after the Congress passed a huge financial rescue plan, as optimism that built up earlier in the day evaporated in late trading.

At the close on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had fallen 157.47 points, or 1.50 per cent, to end at 10,325.38, capping a horrid week that saw blue chips slide more than seven per cent.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped 15.05 points, or 1.48 per cent, to 1,947.39 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index shed 1.35 per cent, or 15.05 points, to 1,099.23.

Britain's benchmark stock index, the FTSE 100, lost 220.11 to 4,760.14 - a 4.42 percent fall. The declines were led by the banking industry, with the mining and oil industries also suffering drops. HBOS PLC's share price dropped 15.7 percent, while the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC fell 13.6 percent.

Germany's DAX index fell 4.22 percent to 5,552.27. France's CAC-40 index dropped 4.85 percent to 3,882.81. In Russia, the RTS stock index tumbled more than 7 percent in first 20 minutes of trading.

The South Korean market plunged on Monday, extending its losses for the sixth consecutive trading session. Stocks lost ground as a U.S. rescue plan failed to restore investor confidence in markets around the globe. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index or KOSPI tumbled 60.9 points, or 4.29%, to finish the session at 1,358.75, its lowest level since January 2007.

Trading was suspended on Russia's main stock markets twice Monday as shares went into free fall on the back of falling oil prices and deepening fears about the global economy.

Japan's stock market has fallen to its lowest level in more than four years on growing worries about a global economic slump caused by the U.S. financial crisis.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 465.05 points, or 4.25 percent, to close Monday at 10,473.09.

The Australian stock market closed at its lowest level in almost three years on Monday, extending losses for a third straight trading session. Stocks fell across the board after Wall Street finished Friday's volatile session sharply lower amid fears that the U.S. government's financial rescue plan may not avert a recession in the world's largest economy. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed down 155 points or 3.3% at 4,540.4 and the broader All Ordinaries index shed 158.1 points or 3.4% to finish at 4,544.7.

The Swiss Stock Exchange opened with a 3.7 per cent drop in early trading on Monday as uncertainty continued over the state of global financial markets.

Within the first 15 minutes of trading, the Swiss Market Index (SMI) of 20 leading companies had dropped to 6625.82 points. The country's largest bank, UBS, recorded the sharpest tumble - ten per cent - before regaining two per cent.

Turkish stocks dropped nearly 9 percent and the lira weakened almost 4 percent on Monday as global worries grow with the fear of extending to Europe and the euro loses ground against the dollar.

The benchmark 100-index of the Istanbul Stock Market (ISE) fell sharply by 8.62 percent in early trading to 31,574 points as the lira dropped 3.7 percent to a six-month low of 1.3610 compared with Friday's 1.3120.

The Saudi stock market, the Arab world's largest, suffered huge losses on Monday, shedding almost 10 percent as shares in other Gulf states also slumped amid the global financial turmoil.

The Saudi Tadawul All-Shares Index (TASI) finished down 9.81 percent at 6,726.60 points, its lowest level in more than a year. It was the biggest single-day loss in several years.

Dubai stock market was down 4.5 per cent, after falling 7 per cent on Sunday. The slump brings year to date losses to 38 per cent. Abu Dhabi fell 3.7 per cent on Monday meaning that the market has lost a fifth of its value since January. Blue chip property stocks Emaar and Aldar were particularly affected, as overseas investors liquidated positions, according to reports.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slid 5 percent to 16,803.76. Markets in mainland China, Australia, South Korea, India, Singapore and Thailand also fell sharply. Indonesia's key index plummeted 10 percent, it's biggest one-day drop ever.

Trading in mainland China resumed after a weeklong holiday break with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index sinking 5.2 percent to 2,173 by mid-afternoon. Banks and other financial shares saw heavy declines. Shanghai Pudong Development Bank fell 7 percent and Bank of China slipped 3.6.

Wkly Review: Sensex recovers sharp losses, ends week on a +ve note

2008-09-21T22:35:00.000-07:00

In a roller-coaster ride during the week under review, some positive developments at the fag-end of the week helped the benchmark Sensex to rebound from early sharp losses, ending with a gain of over 41 points.Steps taken by US policymakers and other top central banks globally to pump billions of dollars to revive the scary financial system and positive statements by the local government, assisted the Sensex to recover from a nine-week low of 12,558.14 points to close the week above the 14K-level.

Marketmen said morale-boosting signals from New Delhi after a Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, also boosted investor sentiment.

The PM's caution came during the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs meeting after Finance Minister P Chidambaram briefed about the financial crisis in US while stating the Indian economy was not affected by the developments.

Tracking global trends which rallied after regulators in the UK and US halted short-selling in financial stocks on late Thursday, boosted the badly battered investors' confidence which had touched rock bottom after the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers and distress sale of Merrill Lynch.

In the week to September 20, the Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer recovered its early losses sharply to end the week at 14,042.32 points, a mere rise of 41.51 points or 0.30 per cent over the previous weekend close.

Similarly, the 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also recouped by 16.80 points or 0.40 per cent to close the week at 4,245.25 points from the last weekend close.

RIL, ONGC, HDFC Bank, HDFC, SBI, Bharti Airtel, ACC, Tata Motors, NTPC, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Powers were the major gainers from the Sensex pack, while Ranbaxy, DLF, Jaiprakash Associates, Grasim, Hindalco, ICICI Bank, Reliance Com, REL Infra, Satyam Computer, Sterlite, Tata Steel and TCS suffered a sharp to moderate setback.

Reflecting a rally in some of the refinery and banking counters, the BSE-Oil&Gas index rose by 351.98 points or 3.86 per cent and the Bankex by 80.66 points or 1.15 per cent.

Although a battered realty segment attracted good buying support on Friday, it was the biggest loser from the sectoral indices. BSE-Realty index tumbled by 591.08 points or 12.59 per cent followed by the BSE-Metal by 847.83 points or 7.79 per cent and the BSE-CD by 264.21 points or 7.39 per cent.

Depicting a heavy sell-off in small-cap and mid-cap counters, BSE-Smallcap index plunged by 495.55 points or 7.38 per cent and the BSE-Midcap by 308.36 points or 5.57 per cent.

The broad-based BSE-100 Index declined by 58.60 points or 0.80 per cent to end the week at 7,285.77 points from 7,344.37 points.

The BSE-200 Index and the Dollex-200 were also quoted further lower at 1,695.81 and 611.44 at the weekend compared to last weekend's close of 1,1717.28 and 626.44 respectively.

On the NSE, the S&P CNX Defty eased by 21.50 points or 0.67 per cent to close the week at 3,189.80 from 3,211.30 last weekend and the CNX Nifty Junior also ended the week down by 251.25 points or 3.67 per cent to 6,591.55 points from previous weekend's close of 6,842.80 points.

Among the sectoral indices, the BSE Metal Index nosedived by 904.35 points or 7.67 per cent to 10,881.42, the BSE Realty Index by 285.54 points or 5.73 per cent to 4,693.72, the BSE CD Index by 211.00 points or 5.57 per cent to 3,575.28 and the BSE Oil&Gas Index by 536.24 points or 5.56 per cent to 9,116.44.

Trading on the New York Stock Exchange

2008-08-24T22:29:00.003-07:00

In terms of how much money is traded at any given day, the New York Stock Exchange is considered the largest exchange market in the world. It is also regarded as the leader in the equities market in terms of technology and investments coming in from all corners of the globe. Every day, the New York Stock Exchange is where the biggest companies buy and sell billions of dollars worth of shares.

The New York Stock Exchange consists of member-brokers who take on the trading of stocks (buying and selling) for clients, which are financially large companies based in different parts of the world. Combined, the value of companies that trade on the New York Stock Exchange is estimated at nearly four trillion dollars. Members of the New York Stock Exchange buy and sell millions of dollars worth of stock for their clients every single day.

Through the New York Stock Exchange, companies sell their stocks to the public in an effort to raise money to use in their business operations. For instance, big corporations like Sony or Coca-Cola sell stocks on the New York Stock Exchange to the public. Those who buy stocks from these large corporations become stock owners of the companies. US-based corporations are not the only ones that can sell stocks on the New York Stock Exchange. Currently, there are about 2,800 companies located from all over the world listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Those who shares of large corporations are in part owners of those corporations and as such, these corporations must regard the shareholders as if they own a large portion of their stocks. The New York Stock Exchange requires all companies trading stock to provide their shareholders with complete financial reports the way they do their Chairman of the Board. You can find out more about stock trading at http://www.learningtotradestock.com

To safeguard the interest of investors, the New York Stock Exchange has regulations in place to monitor the activities of member-brokers. A seat in the New York Stock Exchange can cost a few million dollars.

Here are a few facts all about the New York Stock Exchange that you may find interesting:

* The Bank of New York was the first company that was listed with the New York Stock Exchange. The bank bought and sold stocks in 1792 beneath the Buttonwood Tree.

* Con Edison, which traded as the New York Gas Light Company in 1824, holds the record for the longest company listed in the New York Stock Exchange.

* In 1878, the New York Stock Exchange installed it first telephone. Five years later, in 1883, electric lights were installed.

If you are interested in investing on the New York Stock Exchange, you must get in touch with one of the member firms or one of the member firm's brokers. Before entrusting your money to a member firm or a broker in a member firm, ensure that they have the necessary licenses to trade at the New York Stock Exchange.

Article by Dean Forster at http://www.learningtotradestock.com

Learn more about the stock market and making a profit trading stocks and shares at Trade Stock

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dean_Forster

Shanghai Stock Exchange

2008-08-24T22:29:00.001-07:00

The Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) is the largest stock exchange in China. The exchange is a non-profit organization with a market capitalization of nearly $2.38 trillion making it the fifth largest exchange in the world.

History

The Shanghai Stock Exchange began trading in 1866. In 1891 foreign businessman founded the "Shanghai Share brokers' Association, which was China's first stock exchange. The exchange went through a number of changes as China removed the Qing Dynasty in 1911 and the two World Wars. Through all this the exchange was able to thrive and the current Shanghai Stock Exchange we know today, began its trading operations in 1990.

Present

Currently there two main classes traded on the exchange. Class A shares are quoted in yaun and are only available to foreign investors through a qualified program known as QFII. Class B shares are quoted in US Dollars and are generally open to foreign investments. The exchange is open Monday through Friday and is divided into two sessions (not including pre-market). The first session is session is between 9:30 and 11:30. The second session is in the afternoon an goes from 13:00 to 15:00.

SSE largest stocks1. PetroChina (3,656.20 billion)

2. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (1,417.93 billion)

3. Sinopec (961.42 billion)

4. Bank of China (894.42 billion)

5. China Shenhua Energy Company (824.22 billion)

6. China Life (667.39 billion)

7. China Merchants Bank (352.74 billion)

8. Ping An Insurance (272.53 billion)

9. Bank of Communications (269.41 billion)

10. China Pacific Insurance (256.64 billion)

The Shangai Stock Exchange has experienced a massive bull market in recent years as the US Markets have been trending sideways. Time will tell if this trend will hold, or if the dollar will be able to rebound.

Al Hill is the co-founder of mysmp.com (My Stock Market Power) which provides education on all topics finance; including stocks, bonds, options, futures, forex, technical analysis, and more! Please visit http://www.mysmp.com for more free financial educational content.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alton_Hill

Sensex rebounds at midsession

2008-08-15T19:54:00.002-07:00

Mumbai (PTI): The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex rebounded at midsession today to record a hefty gain of 257 points on emergence of buying by funds in heavy-weight stocks led by capital goods and metal segments, available at attractive levels.

At 1415 hrs, the 30-share index, which lost nearly 300 points in the morning trade, bounced back to wipe-off all the losses and to trade 257.08 points higher at 14,612.86.

Capital goods stocks gained the most as the sector's index shot up by 411.64 points at 12,095.44 on the back of a steep rise in Larsen and Toubro, BHEL, ABB Ltd.

Metal index was second best performer by gaining 350.63 points as stocks such as Sesa Goa, MMTC Ltd, Jindal Steel, Sterlite Industries and Tata Steel traded higher.

Markets extend gains, Sensex up 300 points

2008-08-15T19:54:00.001-07:00

Mumbai (PTI): It was a roller-coaster ride for markets on Friday as the benchmark Sensex swung wildly but closed with a gain of over 300 points with heavyweight stocks available at low levels attracting investors.

The 30-share Sensex, which opened weaker by nearly 300 points, rebounded to settle the day higher by 300.94 points at 14,656.69.

The key index touched the day's high of 14,682.33 and a low of 14,032.87 points.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty also closed up by 80.60 points at 4,413.55, after touching a high of 4,422.95 and a low of 4,235.70 during the day.

Marketmen said buying was confined to capital goods, metal, refiners, banks and IT stocks as the initial fall placed them at attractive low levels.

RCOM, a Sensex stock recorded a fall of Rs 63.25 at Rs 436.80 on heavy selling. Brokers said the company's quarterly results were a little below the market expectations.

Capital goods sector index surged the most by 448.20 points at 12,132.00 as Larsen and Toubro, BHEL, Siemens and ABB Ltd recorded handsome gains.

Power segment was the second best performer and shot up by 3,40 per cent.

Zain of Kuwait to List on London Stock Exchange

2008-08-15T19:54:00.000-07:00

Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Zain, the Kuwait-based phone company with operations in 22 Middle East and African countries, plans to list on the London Stock Exchange in the first quarter of 2009, Chief Executive Officer Saad Al Barrak said.

The plan will allow more people to get a stake in the company's growing operations, Al Barrak told reporters today in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Details of the company's first listing are still being worked out, he said.

Zain will begin an operation later this year in Ghana as part of agreements concluded with the western African country's government, Barrak said. It will list on the Ghana Stock Exchange within two or three years, with Kenya and Nigeria to follow, he said.

Africa is attracting investment from mobile-phone companies because it has the potential for faster growth than developed regions. The continent has about 28 wireless subscribers per 100 inhabitants, according to the International Telecommunication Union. In Western Europe, there are 108 subscriptions per 100 people, according to Dublin-based firm Research and Markets.

The group, which was operating in 14 African countries as Celtel, today re-branded all its operations to Zain as part of its bid to become one of the world's top 10 mobile-phone companies by 2011, Barrak said.

``By re-branding to Zain, we are bringing together our African and Middle East operations under a single, strong and unique identity,'' Barrak said.

The company plans to boost investment in Africa, which accounts for two-thirds of its operations, Barrak said. It will make significant investments in new licenses and acquisitions on the continent in the next five years, the CEO of Zain Africa, Chris Gabriel, said on July 30.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fred Ojambo in Kampala via the Johannesburg bureau at + abolleurs@bloomberg.net.

Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation to Change Company Initials, Domain Name From Aug. 11

2008-08-11T21:50:00.002-07:00

TAIPEI, Taiwan, Aug 11, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation will change its company name initials from TSEC to TWSE and its domain name from tse.com.tw to twse.com.tw, from Aug. 11, 2008.
In addition, the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation's Web site address will be changed to www.twse.com.tw.
The Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation said that its current initials are easily mistaken for the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Stock Exchange of Thailand, the Toronto Stock Exchange or the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
The use of TSEC has therefore caused the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation difficulty in its globalization efforts, it explained.
To avoid such confusion, the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation has decided to change its initials, domain name, and Web site address.
Meanwhile, the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation said that its existing domain name will still remain functional, along with the new one, for six months for the convenience of all parties concerned.
In other words, prior to Feb. 10, 2009, the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation's old and new e-mail addresses -- @tse.com.tw and @twse.com.tw -- will both be operational, according to the company.
SOURCE: Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation

Nineteen New ETFs Launched On London Stock Exchange

2008-08-11T21:50:00.001-07:00

The London Stock Exchange welcomed nineteen new Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) onto its Main Market, the busiest ever day for new ETF admissions on the Exchange.

The new funds, which cover a range of equity and bond indices, take the total number of ETFs on the Exchange to 166, from five different issuers. In addition, the Exchange also now offers access to trading in 122 Exchange Traded Commodities (ETCs).

Following on from a record 2007, ETF trading on the London Stock Exchange has continued to show strong growth in the first half of this year, with the total value traded on the order book during the first six months of 2008 up 67% year on year to £7.3 billion. The total value traded in ETCs during the first half of the year was £5.3 billion, more than five times the total value traded in ETCs during 2007.

Pietro Poletto, Head of ETF and ETC Markets at London Stock Exchange Group, said:

"Demand for ETFs in the UK continues to grow, with both trading volumes and the range of ETFs available on our markets increasing steadily. So far in 2008 we have seen the four busiest ever days in ETF trading on our order books and listed a total of 59 new ETFs on our Main Market. The arrival of 19 new ETFs in just one day reflects the dynamism of the UK ETF market and means that these highly efficient instruments can now be used to execute an even broader range of investment strategies."

The new ETFs launched today are:

* iShares € Covered Bond ETF

* iShares Global Inflation-Linked Bond ETF

* db x-trackers DJ STOXX 600 Banks Short ETF

* db x-trackers DJ STOXX 600 Health Care Short ETF

* db x-trackers DJ STOXX 600 Oil and Gas Short ETF

* db x-trackers DJ STOXX 600 Technology Short ETF

* db x-trackers DJ STOXX 600 Telecommunications Short ETF

* db x-trackers DJ STOXX 600 Basic Resources ETF

* db x-trackers DJ STOXX 600 Oil and Gas ETF

* db x-trackers DJ STOXX 600 Health Care ETF

* db x-trackers DJ STOXX 600 Banks ETF

* db x-trackers DJ STOXX 600 Telecommunications ETF

* db x-trackers DJ STOXX 600 Technology ETF

* db x-trackers DJ STOXX 600 Utilities ETF

* db x-trackers DJ STOXX 600 Insurance ETF

* db x-trackers DJ STOXX 600 Food and Beverages ETF

* db x-trackers DJ STOXX 600 Industrial Goods ETF

* db x-trackers MSCIEUROPE Mid Cap TRN Index ETF

* db x-trackers MSCIEUROPE Small Cap TRN Index ETF -- www.londonstockexchange.com

Market makes most of oil fall, eyes rate cues

2008-08-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

MUMBAI: After being flat for most part of day, equities ended higher on Monday as buying intensified in interest rate sensitive infrastructure and banking stocks.

Otherwise-cautious investors also overlooked Index of Industrial Production data for June to be released on Tuesday.

Stocks opened with a gap-up tracking US and Asian markets which surged after crude oil declined to $115.20 a barrel, a fall of around 4 per cent on Friday. However, on-going tensions between Russia and Georgia saw oil prices rebound on concerns of disruption of supplies from the region. US light, sweet crude for September delivery advanced to $116 per barrel in today's trade.

Global economy has been under tremendous pressure since oil shot up to $147.35 from $80 per barrel in less than a year. This has led to spike in inflation and slowdown.

Investors saw the downtrend in oil prices as an indicator that interest and inflation rates may have peaked and some relief would be seen in next few months.

Sectorwise, interest rate sensitive stocks fronted the rally. BSE Realty Index ended 5.27 per cent higher at 5,799.37 and BSE Bankex closed at 7,702.35, up 4.16 per cent.

"Banking stocks have under-performed so far and there was value-buying opportunity available. Most PSU banks were below their forward looking book value. There was a perception that we may see inflation rates easing by year-end followed by general feeling that we may see end to interest rate hikes," said a banking sector analyst from a local brokerage.

Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex closed at 15,503.92, up 336.10 points or 2.22 per cent from the previous close. It touched a high of 15,520.71 and low of 15,367.97 during the day.

National Stock Exchange's Nifty ended at 4620.40, up 90.9 points or 2.01 per cent. The broader index touched a high of 4625.20 and low of 4529.35 intraday.

"4615 is a crucial level for Nifty and if after IIP figures it sustains this level we may see a further rally. But if it fails to sustain, there are more chances of broad-based profit booking which may take Nifty to below 4500," said Satish Kannav, technical analyst, at Arihant Capital Services.

BSE Midcap Index ended 1.63 per cent higher at 5,982.68 and BSE Smallcap Index closed at 7,271.35, up 1.25 per cent.

On the other hand, BSE IT Index ended flat-to-negative at 3,882.07.

Biggest Sensex gainers were Jaiprakash Associates (7.68%), Reliance Infrastructure (6.86%), ICICI Bank (5.74%), Maruti Suzuki (5.27%), State Bank of India (4.65%) and ONGC (3.7%).

Losers comprised Sterlite Industries (-2.24%), Tata Consultancy Services (-1.06%), Tata Steel (-0.98%) and Infosys Technologies (-0.58%).

Market breadth was positive on the BSE with 1,738 advances and 970 declines.

European markets were trading higher tracking global cues. FTSE was up 0.98 per cent, CAC 40 gained 0.60 per cent and DAX moved 0.42 per cent up at close of Indian markets.

Sensex closes 43 pts up ahead of weekly inflation data

2008-08-08T22:43:00.004-07:00

Extending its gains for the fourth day in a row, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Thursday closed higher by marginal 43 points even as investors adopted a cautious approach ahead of the weekly inflation data.

The 30-share BSE barometer settled the day higher by 43.71 points at 15,117.25.

In choppy trade, the key index moved between 15,280.06 and 14,992.97. As many as 19 Sensex stocks posted gains.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose by 6.30 points at 4,523.85 after touching the day's high of 4,580.15 and a low of 4,493.70 points during the day.

Consumer durable stocks were the best performing scrips today. The index of this sector ended up by 110.66 points at 3,977.97, followed by auto index which gained 47.39 points at 3,967.03.

Auto, IT, realty, bank stocks also ended in the green.

Consumer goods, power, PSU, oil and gas and teck stocks however, were the losers.

Among the Sensex stocks, Sterlite Industies was the biggest gainer at 4.43 per cent, followed by Tata Motors at 4.10 per cent. HDFC Ltd, HDFC Bank and Grasim industries also closed higher in the range of 2-3 per cent.

Bucharest Stock Exchange starts session in the red, with insignificant drops and growing liquidity

2008-08-08T22:43:00.003-07:00

The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE) decreased around 0.86 percent on all indexes in today's opening session, on a growing liquidity.

Liquidity stood at 1.71 million lei (493,100 euros) today, up 54 percent versus the 1.11 million lei registered in the previous session.

The BET index measuring the ten best companies on BSE dipped 0.86 percent to 6,267.23 and the BET-C composite index tracking all listed shares minus investment funds lost 0.47 percent to 4,574.10.

The BET-FI index of the five financial companies known as SIFs slipped 0.32 percent to 35,832.69 and the ROTX index for trading blue-chips in Vienna dropped 0.72 percent to 14,710.67.

The BET-XT index of the 25 most liquid companies on the market fell 0.63 percent to 650.03 and the BET-NG index of the ten power companies on BSE dipped 0.62 percent to 847.87.

American bourses dropped significantly on closing. The Dow Jones composite index (DJIA) fell 1.93 percent to 11,431.40 and the S&P500 index of the best 500 companies on the bourse decreased 1.79 percent to 1,266.07. Nasdaq went down 0.95 percent to 2,355.73.

Fertilizer producer Azomures (AZO) was the most liquid stock today, with deals of 518,444 lei and climbed 1.7 percent to 0.895 lei. Shares of Amonil jumped 4.13 percent to 0.0781 lei.

Financial company SIF Oltenia (SIF5) gained 0.51 percent to 1.99 lei, SIF Transilvania (SIF3) cheapened 0.51 percent to 0.985 lei and SIF Moldova (SIF2) lost 1.14 percent to 1.73 lei.

Romania's largest oil company Petrom (SNP) slipped 0.42 percent to 0.476 lei and fifth lender by assets Banca Transilvania (TLV) decreased 1.22 percent to 0.325 lei.

India's Bombay Stock Exchange applies for currency derivatives segment

2008-08-08T22:43:00.002-07:00

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - India's Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) said it applied to the securities watchdog the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to set up a currency derivatives segment.

The stock exchange, Asia's oldest, said it is awaiting SEBI approval, after which it will prepare to launch the segment.

BSE said it is exploring strategic arrangements with certain established entities in the forex market.

TFN.newsdesk@thomson.com

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Markets remain bullish at close, Sensex up by 51 pts

2008-08-08T22:43:00.001-07:00

Mumbai, Aug 8 (PTI) In volatile trade, the markets overcame the initial setback today with the benchmark Sensex gaining over 50 points to remain above 15,000-level at close after falling below this crucial level in late morning trade.
The 30-share bellwether index on the Bombay Stock Exchange concluded the day at 15,167.82, a rise of 50.57 points, or 0.33 per cent, on fag-end buying support in metal and capital goods stocks.

The Sensex moved erratically in a range of 15,228.82 and 14,888.12 points The key index had gained 589.95 points, or 4.05 per cent, in four straight days, the sensex The S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also edged up further by 5.65 points or 0.12 per cent to 4,529.50 from last close.

Marketmen said inflation crossing the psychological 12 per cent for the week ended July 26 impacted investor sentiment. The Sensex had opened the day weaker by 117 points. Higher crude prices also added to the weak trend, they said.

However, trading was bolstered at fag-end of the session following announcement of investment policy for urea, linking cost of production to the import parity price.

The new urea investment policy was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

On global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as key benchmark indices in Taiwan, Japan and South Korea were up by 0.30 per cent to 2.63 per cent while China, Hong Kong and Singapore were down by 0.69 per cent and 4.47 per cent respectively.

European markets edged higher in the afternoon trade as France, UK and Germany were up by 0.13 per cent and 0.58 per cent. PTI

UPDATE 4-Toronto stocks retreat as financials sag

2008-08-08T22:35:00.004-07:00

TSX closes lower after late-day retreat

*Financials fall on nagging credit crunch woes

*Resources hold onto gains as commodities climb

By Leah Schnurr

TORONTO, July 28 (Reuters) - The Toronto Stock Exchange's main index ended lower on Monday after a late-day retreat as nagging concerns about more fallout from the credit crunch pulled down Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) and other financials.

The drop may have proven deeper if not for energy and gold shares, which rose as prices for their underlying commodities climbed, in part because of a weaker U.S. dollar. In the oil patch, Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) rose 1.3 percent, while among the miners, Goldcorp (G.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) added 2.4 percent.

After climbing by more than 1 percent in the morning, the index reversed course, yanked down by banking stocks tracking losses in their U.S. counterparts.

Fresh worries of more credit losses stung the sector after U.S. regulators on Friday took over two small banks that had failed. In Toronto, Bank of Nova Scotia gave up 2.3 percent.

India's key stock index drops nearly 4 percent

2008-08-08T22:35:00.003-07:00

MUMBAI, India -

Indian shares fell sharply Tuesday on worries that the cost of home and car loans would soar after the central bank hiked key interest rates.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark 30-stock Sensex fell 558 points, or 3.9 percent, to 13,792 points. In midday trade, the Sensex slipped more than 600 points, or 4.2 percent.

On the broader National Stock Exchange, the 50-company S&P Nifty index declined 3.3 percent to 4,190 points.

India's central bank raised key interest rates in its quarterly monetary policy review to rein in inflation that is currently at nearly 12 percent.

The Reserve Bank of India increased the cash reserve ratio, or the share of deposits banks must keep with the central bank, to 9 percent from 8.75 percent. The bank also raised the repurchase rate, the rate at which it makes short-term loans to commercial banks, to 9 percent from 8.5 percent.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Y. Venugopal Reddy said policy actions were aimed "to bring down the current intolerable level of inflation to a tolerable level."

The goal was to bring inflation down from the current 11-12 percent level to close to 7 percent by March next year, he said.

The bank also lowered growth projections for the economy to 8 per cent from the earlier 8-8.5 per cent.

But shares of banks and automobile firms slipped on concerns that personal, home and car loans would cost more.

HDFC Bank was off 8.7 percent, followed by ICICI Bank Ltd. that dropped 8.5 percent and State Bank of India fell 6.8 percent.

Automobile firms such as Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. declined 7 percent and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. fell 5.5 percent.

Experts said curbing inflation would be the dominant factor over the next few months.

"Controlling inflation is now the sole criterion for the Reserve Bank in addition to anchoring future inflation expectations," said Waqar Naqvi, chief executive officer of Taurus Mutual Fund. "Growth takes a back seat for now."

Trinidad stock exchange to trade depositary receipts

2008-08-08T22:35:00.002-07:00

The Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange (TTSE) is to introduce trading in depositary receipts (DRs), but meanwhile the plan awaits legislation that will guide their regulation.

Charles De Silva, deputy general manager of the Trinidad and Tobago Securities and Exchange Commission (TTSEC), said his agency had already made recommendations to the finance ministry on the regulatory framework required, which in turn will guide legislative action.

"That's the status right now," De Silva told Wednesday Business.

In addition to the by-laws, other changes have been proposed to the income tax act and national insurance laws to recognise DRs as domestic securities.

Wayne Iton, TTSE general manager and chief executive officer said the laws would have to be amended to create the platform for the trading of the securities.

"We are doing what we have to do by making sure we have that platform," he added.

Tradable security

A depositary receipt is a tradable security, usually in the form of equities that are listed on an exchange, issued by a foreign company which allows for ownership in that company beyond its home borders.

Interest in DRs was triggered by the US$2.2 billion acquisition of RBTT by Canadian-based RBC.

RBC, under that arrangement, agreed to issue depositary receipts in the market where the merged banking operations would be headquartered, Port-of-Spain, once the primary transaction was complete. The deal was sealed at the end of June, but the merger of the Caribbean operations of RBC with that of RBTT, under the umbrella of RBC Caribbean, is expected to last three years.

Nicole Duke-Westfield, external affairs manager of RBTT also confirmed that both financial houses have been working with Trinidad's securities commission and stock exchange on the establishment of a market for DRs.

"In terms of its timeline or its inauguration, that's a matter for the SEC," she added.

De Silva also sees DRs as a mechanism for domestic investors to enter the foreign market.

"We think the conditions are certainly propitious for investors. This will allow for greater scope of investing in the DRs, increase the level of investment and increase the level of diversification," he said.

TTSEC's chairman and CEO Osborne Nurse during a recent address to business leaders said the commission was strongly of the view that sufficient market interest exists or will emerge for depositary receipts issued in Trinidad that are based on the shares of important energy companies operating in the country such as BP, BHP Billiton and Mittal.

"The issue of depositary receipts in such companies would allow the average Trinidad and Tobago investor, many of whom do not have the capacity or resources to access these shares in metropolitan markets, an opportunity that we think will be most welcome to participate and share in some way in the fortunes of these companies and of Trinidad and Tobago."

Nurse said although the SEC had contemplated recommending the introduction of depositary receipts as a mechanism through which Mittal could discharge its obligation to issue shares to its employees, it was the RBC/RBTT transaction that provided the opportunity for the Commission to propose the legal framework.

"In our view, the RBC/RBTT transaction could not be allowed to result in the substantial reduction of securities and of value available on the stock exchange and we therefore strongly encouraged RBC to replace that value on the exchange."

Sensex adds 260 pts; global cues lift sentiment

2008-08-08T22:35:00.001-07:00

MUMBAI: Stocks bounced off previous lows early on Wednesday triggered by positive global cues and as crude oil declined further

“Expect the banking, real estate and auto stocks to breathe a little easy as US markets rebounded on rising consumer confidence and sliding oil. But don’t expect many fireworks in our market beyond the opening hour,” Anagram Stock Broking said in a note.

At 10:10 am, the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was up 260 points or 1.88 per cent at 14,051.24.

Biggest Sensex gainers were HDFC Bank (4.48%), ICICI Bank (3.44%), HDFC (3.01%), Jaiprakash Associates (2.97%), Tata Motors (2.82%) and BHEL (2.63%).

NTPC (-1.82%), Hindustan Unilever (-0.36%) and ITC (-0.16%) were the only losers. Market breadth on BSE showed 797 advances against 100 declines.

The National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was up 59 points or 1.4 per cent at 4248.55. The index touched a high of 4263.20 after opening at 4191.20.

“Any level above 4300 in the Nifty may be good to take a snipe at the benchmark. Today a parliamentary committee would start looking into the money-for-vote issue and with the derivatives settlement tomorrow, don't expect the market to run beyond the periphery,” the brokerage added.

Given the steep interest rate hike announced by the central bank Tuesday, most analysts say the early morning rally will be short lived as concerns over economic growth will likely take centre stage.

Shares soared elsewhere in Asia as the price of oil fell further and on the back of some positive corporate results. Export oriented shares led the rally as the yen declined against the dollar. The Nikkei 225 was up 1.27 per cent, the Hang Seng added 2.16 per cent and the Straits Times gained 1.28 per cent.

US stocks rose on Tuesday as improved consumer confidence and lower crude prices offered some respite to ongoing concerns about the economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.39 per cent, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 2.33 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 2.45 per cent.

The prices of oil fell to its lowest level in nearly three months on Tuesday, ahead of a weekly US report on energy stockpiles. Crude was at $122.2 a barrel.

Markets recoup, Sensex up 496 points

2008-08-08T22:35:00.000-07:00

Mumbai (PTI): In a sudden reversal of fortunes, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on wednesday rebounded to post a gain of over 495 points on strong buying support in bank and capital goods stocks which were hammered on Tuesday.

The BSE barometer shed over 550 points on Tuesday after RBI announced a hike in short-term lending rate and mandatory amount to be parked with it for banks.

The 30-share Sensex closed the day at 14,287.21, higher by 495.67 points, after touching the day's high of 14,322.67.

The banking,l capital goods and realty stocks which were battered in Tuesday's onslaught of selling, made handsome recovery on positive trends in global markets.

While the bankex closed higher by 5.21 per cent, realty the next best index today saw a gain of 5.09 per cent. Metal was another significant gainer at 4.69 per cent. IT and tech also ended up in the range of over 3 per cent.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty also surged by 123.70 points at 4,313.55. It lost 142.25 points on Tuesday.

Brokers said investors purchased fundamentally strong stocks available at lower levels. They said buying activity gathered momentum as market participants indulged in covering up their short positions ahead of expiry of July contract in derivative segment.

A steep rise in global stock markets, following a fall in crude oil prices, also boosted the sentiments here, they added.

Listing of Noveko International Inc.'s Shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange

2008-08-04T05:29:00.000-07:00

MONTREAL, July 28 /CNW Telbec/ - Noveko International Inc. ("Noveko" or
the "Corporation") is pleased to announce that its Class A Shares will be
posted for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange at the opening of business
today, July 28, 2008, under the ticker symbol EKO - the same symbol used when
its shares were traded on the TSX Venture Exchange.

   Appointment of Alain Falardeau LL.B. as the Corporation's Vice-President,
   Legal Affairs

   Noveko is also pleased to announce the appointment of Alain Falardeau to
the newly created position of Vice-President, Legal Affairs. Mr. Falardeau has
over twenty years' experience in commercial law, more specifically in all
aspects of securities law, corporate financing and business acquisitions. He
was previously senior counsel with Marchand Melançon Forget, a Montreal law
firm.
   "Noveko's current and future growth requires a strong, cohesive
management team, and Mr. Falardeau will make an excellent addition to our
group, given his expertise and his solid experience in commercial law. In
addition, Mr. Falardeau knows Noveko well, since he has acted as our external
legal advisor for several years. We are very pleased that he is joining our
team," indicated André Leroux, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Noveko.

   Stock Option Grants

   Noveko's Board of Directors granted options to some of the group's
employees, allowing them to acquire a total of 350,000 Class A shares of
Noveko, at a unit price of $3.52, subject to the terms of Noveko's Stock
Option Plan.

   Profile
   -------

   Noveko International Inc. is a public holding company. Currently, its
operating subsidiaries are S.A.S. ECM, Noveko Inc., Laboratoire SyMa Inc.,
Bolduc Leroux Inc., Magnum Pharmaceutics Inc., Unitam International Management
Corporation Inc., Noveko Algérie and Groupe Conseils Micron-Air inc. ECM
specializes in portable real-time ultrasound scanners for veterinary and human
medicine. Noveko Inc. develops biomedical and environmental products derived
from its patented antimicrobial filtration technology (Noveko(TM)
antimicrobial face masks and air filters). SyMa specializes in sanitizers,
sold under the Azuro(TM) brand. Magnum acts as a manufacturer sales agent for
the Noveko Group's biomedical and environmental products and sanitizers and
for other manufacturers. Unitam is an international business development
service agency established in North America and Asia. Noveko Algérie is a
medical equipment import company covering the Maghreb and Middle East markets.
Micron-Air inc. is a designer and manufacturer of air quality systems marketed
under the EPURAIR(TM) brand and targeted to the residential market. Lastly,
BLI is involved in the custom processing and distribution of steel products
based on client specifications.

   The information set forth in this press release includes certain
forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on assumptions exposed
to major risks and uncertainties. Although Noveko deems the expectations
reflected in these forward-looking statements to be reasonable, the Company
cannot provide any guarantee as to the materialization of the expectations
reflected in these forward-looking statements. The TSX Venture Exchange and
the Toronto Stock Exchange have not reviewed and do not accept responsibility
for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information: André Leroux, Chairman of the Board and Chief
Executive Officer; Alain Bolduc, President and Chief Operating Officer, Noveko
International Inc., (514) 344-3030; http://www.noveko.com

London Stock Exchange cuts trading prices as cheaper rivals close in

2008-08-04T05:03:00.000-07:00

It has been a torrid year for those trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and it is not getting any easier for the company behind the City’s biggest equity market.

Although the LSE has benefited from frantic trading sessions, new trading platforms are threatening to take away some of its business.

Yesterday the group unveiled its strategy to compete with its cheaper investment bank-backed rivals, such as Chi-X and Turquoise, which is set to launch this year. The LSE will cut fees, such as its 7½p execution charge and 1p order charge, and give credit to those who offer up big deals providing liquidity, with the aim of attracting big traders as they shift towards more computerised algorithmic trading. New tariffs, the first for 18 months, will be introduced on September 1, just before Turquoise’s full launch, and come after Chi-X recently claimed to have taken over 15 per cent of trading in FTSE 100 stocks.

The LSE claims that it will be the cheapest trading venue in Europe for big users, although this will be true only for those trading huge volumes both ways. In theory, the cuts will cost the exchange £5 million per quarter to implement, based on first-quarter volumes, although it hopes to make this up in higher trading volumes.
Related Links

* Public sector business sale boosts Anite

Analysts at Bernstein welcomed the new pricing, which the LSE says is not a direct response to competition but to changing trends, as an intelligent response to the threat of losing market share. However, LSE’s shares dropped 15p to 816p, with investors underwhelmed by the move that many will have seen as inevitable, with the LSE in a no-win situation. Overall, the FTSE 100 slipped 57.2 points to 5,354.7, falling late in the day after poor economic news from across the Atlantic and amid rising oil prices (again).

Miners, which have supported the index this week, were on the back foot, with many tracking weaker commodity prices. Antofagasta fell 31p to 547½p, Vedanta Resources was 107p lower at £19.11 and Kazakhmys slipped 76p to £14.23.

Competition concerns hit BHP Billiton, down 88p to £16.05, and Rio Tinto, 293p lower at £50.47, after an executive of the China Iron and Steel Association repeated the group’s stance against a combination of the miners. The comments came as a new antimonopoly law took effect in China, the world’s largest steelmaker and the consumer of about half of global iron ore production. BHP has filed with Chinese competition authorities for its proposed $170 billion (£86.1 billion) takeover of Rio, but there are concerns that new laws may throw up uncertainties regarding potential approval. A European Union competition ruling is due this year. After hours, Rio said that it had received a letter from the President of Guinea purporting to rescind its Simandou mining concession.

Kingfisher, the B&Q owner, was the FTSE 100’s biggest riser, up 5.8p to 124.2p, after it sold its underperforming Italian operations for £440 million.

British Airways rose 3¾p to 259p, despite reporting a huge profit fall, as traders covered their short positions.

New York: Shares fell as oil price rises and a quarterly loss at General Motors added to worries about the economy. At the close the Dow Jones industrial average was down 51.70 points at 11,326.30.

Taiwan Stock Exchange to Complete XBRL Platform by the End of 2008

2008-08-04T05:01:00.000-07:00

TAIPEI, Taiwan, Jul 31, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation is proactively constructing the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) demonstration platform, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008.
The construction of the platform is part of the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation's efforts to establish a system for the public disclosure of stock market information in line with international standards. The platform will also be aimed at enhancing the quality of the disclosure system.
The Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation said that at present it has the Market Observation Post System (MOPS), a platform for listed companies to make public information and investors to search for information.
The MOPS has Web sites in both Chinese and English. Its English Web site provides information on warrants, ETF, market information, listed company profiles, annual dividends, the structure of stakeholders, detailed process of capital formation, financial forecasts, financial statements, and financial analysis data. In addition, when major events occur, listed companies that issue securities overseas are required to simultaneously provide relevant information and explanation in English. The MOPS also allows investors to learn about information updates of listed companies in Taiwan.
The XBRL enables listed companies to use a standard language to report financial statements and other related information. With the XBRL, the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation seeks to enhance the transparency and flow of information about businesses' financial statements as well as provide accurate, real-time, and complete information to investors around the globe.
Please visit the MOPS at: http://emops.tse.com.tw/emops_all.htm.
SOURCE: Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation

TDK Agrees to Buy Epcos to Expand in European Market (Update3)

2008-08-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

July 31 (Bloomberg) -- TDK Corp., the world's largest maker of magnetic heads used in disk drives, agreed to buy Germany's Epcos AG to expand production of machinery parts and add customers in Europe.

TDK plans to pay 17.85 euros ($27.89) in cash for each Epcos share, or 29 percent higher than the closing price yesterday, the companies said in a statement. The offer, which values Epcos at about 1.2 billion euros, will probably be completed by October, the statement said.

Epcos's automotive and industrial components may help TDK boost sales in Europe, where revenue is less than half of Japan. TDK has announced at least five acquisitions since the start of 2007 to help cut its reliance on magnetic heads, which account for 38 percent of revenue.

``Equity holders would definitely want the company to pursue this kind of growth strategy,'' said Fumihito Gotoh at UBS AG, Japan's top-rated credit analyst in a Nikkei Veritas survey. ``Domestic growth opportunities are limited.''

Epcos surged as much as 29 percent to 17.88 euros in German trading, or about 16 times estimated earnings per share for next fiscal year. TDK fell 1.5 percent to close at 6,500 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange before the announcement.

``TDK's offer contains a fair premium,'' said Frank Schneider, an analyst at alpha Wertpapierhandel in Frankfurt, in a telephone interview. ``I don't think there will be a counterbid.''

Regulatory Approval

The purchase, subject to approval by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, will be financed with a bridge- loan, the statement said. TDK plans to plans to separate its relevant business that makes so-called ``passive'' components and combine it with Epcos's operations to form TDK EP Components KK, the statement said.

``Epcos brings to the deal its strong position in the growing automobile and industrial machinery markets in Europe,'' TDK's President Takehiro Kamigama said in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange today. ``There are also benefits in sales and research and development.''

Epcos, which emerged from Siemens Matsushita Components, a venture founded in 1989 by Siemens AG and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., today reported profit after tax in its latest quarter rose 29 percent to 19.3 million euros.

The Nikkei English News reported today that TDK planned to acquire Epcos for 150 billion yen ($1.4 billion) to 200 billion yen as part of the Japanese company's plans to expand through acquisitions.

Smallest Market

Europe accounted for 6.4 percent of TDK's revenue in the quarter ended June 30, compared with 17 percent in Japan and 12 percent in the U.S., the company said today.

Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's said they may cut TDK's debt rating following the acquisition announcement.

TDK joins Tokio Marine Holdings Inc., Nippon Life Insurance Co. and Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Co. among Japanese companies announcing overseas acquisitions this month as they take advantage of the weaker dollar.

``The premiums may appear high on recent acquisitions by Japanese companies but that's only because stock prices have become so depressed,'' Yutaka Shiraki, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co. in Tokyo. ``This is a real buyers market for companies with cash.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Hiroshi Suzuki in Tokyo at hsuzuki5@bloomberg.net.

Wiener Boerse signs cooperation agreement with Tokyo Stock Exchange

2008-08-04T04:59:00.000-07:00

VIENNA (Thomson Financial) - Wiener Boerse AG (Vienna Stock Exchange) said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Tokyo Stock Exchange, underscoring their intention of working more closely together in future.

Vienna Stock Exchange has similar agreements with the Kazakh bourse in Almaty and the stock exchanges in Shanghai and Dubai.

fiona.flanagan@thomsonreuters.com

ff/cmr

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Equities end flat on F&O expiry

2008-08-04T04:58:00.000-07:00

MUMBAI: Equities ended on a flat note Thursday after a dull session on account of July series F&O expiry. Investors were also cautious ahead of inflation data to be out later in the day. Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex closed at 14,334.31, up 47.10 points or 0.33 per cent. It touched a high of 14,369.59 and low of 14,161.76.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty ended at 4,321.80, up 8.25 points or 0.19 per cent. The index touched a high of 4,342 and low of 4,285.55. BSE Midcap ended 0.41 per cent lower at 5,558.31 and BSE Smallcap Index closed 0.35 per cent lower at 6,903.25.

Biggest Sensex gainers were Tata Power (5.06%), DLF (4.36%), Tata Steel (3.96%), Reliance Industries (2.17%), State Bank of India (1.64%) and BHEL (1.26%). Losers comprised Grasim Industries (-4.34%), Maruti Suzuki (-3.18%), Wipro (-2.71%), Bharti Airtel (-2.22%), ACC (-1.84%) and Infosys Technologies (-1.4%). Market breadth was negative with 1356 declines against 1266 advances on BSE.

US firm seeks listing on African exchange market

2008-08-04T04:56:00.000-07:00

CAMAC, a United-States based Nigerian-owned company is being touted to become one of the first fully African-owned oil company to be publicly listed in an African stock exchange market, Empowered Newswire reported on Saturday. Oil industry sources in the US have said CAMAC, which has affiliates in Nigeria and South Africa, is highly speculated to be mulling a debut in the public market in Africa as the first fully African-owned upstream oil company to be listed in an African stock exchange.

According to the wired media, sources said that debut, when it sails through, may occur in Nigeria, where currently no oil company is publicly listed.

Said the source, ”Nigeria is one of the few nations where oil, its main source of wealth is not publicly listed.” It is believed that such a listing could further boost the Nigerian Stock Exchange and add value to the continent‘s stock market. Indeed CAMAC‘s Nigeria‘s affiliate, Allied Energy, in 1992 was the first indigenous oil company to hold a Nigerian deepwater license as an operator, and the company also entered into a technical services agreement with British Petroleum and Statoil of Norway. Later in 1998 CAMAC‘s affiliate in Nigeria, Allied Energy in partnership with BP and Statoil became the first oil consortium to spud a deepwater well in West Africa and the first to discover oil in deepwater in West Africa According to a US industry analyst Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, a provider of oil industry research, says ”Getting into the oil business, at least in the production and exploration sectors that CAMAC has managed to work its way into, requires a huge amount of capitalization, and they‘ve done a good job at raising and growing the capital.” The analyst quoted by the Black Enterprise magazine added that CAMAC, a 22-year old firm founded by Lawal, 54, ”looks like a good, solid, growing company. It‘s very impressive.” Meanwhile, CAMAC has retained its rating as a leading black-owned business in America. Leading US business newsmagazine-Black Enterprise in its 2008 ratings of US black-owned business released in the US in its June edition rated CAMAC, Houston-based but owned by Nigerian born Dr. Kase Lawal, as the second leading firm of the top 100 companies rated. The Chairman and Chief Excecutive Officer of the publication, Earl G. Graves and Earl G. Graves, Jr. in a joint statement noted what they called CAMAC‘s ”outstanding business achievement.” This year‘s listing is the magazine‘s special 36th anniversary of listing America‘s most successful African-American-owned companies. Lawal, now in his early 50s, was born and raised in Ibadan and attended Lagelu Grammar School for his secondary education before he travelled to the US in 1972 for his university education. The influential US business magazine puts CAMAC‘s total revenues at $1.6B, coming second only to World Wide Technology, a systems integrator, technology and supply chain solutions firm. Three other US media publications have rated CAMAC highly in recent times. For instance Forbes in its ratings of top US private companies ranked the firm 272 of all billionaire dollar firms in the US. The list ran up to 400 in the 2006 edition. In Texas, the leading newspaper Houston Chronicle rated the Nigerian-owned business as number 8 on the list of the top ten privately owned companies in Houston, Texas. Houston is the 6th largest metropolitan area in the US. America‘s only national newspaper USA Today had reported that CAMAC ”has prospered by zeroing in on difficult environments, including Nigeria, where militants in recent months intensified their attacks on oil facilities and kidnapped foreign workers, and ... Venezuela, home to anti-American President Hugo Chavez.” In the last few years CAMAC has held down top rankings mostly the second place of the top 100 black-owned businesses in the US. In 2006 for instance, the revenues of the company was listed as $1.5B. The previous year the company achieved a 51% revenue growth. In 1999, the revenue totaled $114M. Since 2002 when it clinched over a billion in revenue, Black Enterprise for that year declared CAMAC ”as the largest African-American owned corporation in the United States, then the company became the second black owned company to reach the billion dollar mark as at then CAMAC, a crude oil and gas exploration firm is based in Houston, Texas with affiliates and subsidiaries in Colombia, Venezuela, South Africa and Nigeria. A former Mayor of Houston, one of America‘s largest cities, Lee P. Brown, who is now a member of the CAMAC‘s board of directors commended the Nigerian born company founder Dr. Lawal saying he has ”developed relationships not only in this country-US, but in other parts of the world.”

Global lists six funds on Bahrain Stock Exchange,

2008-08-04T04:55:00.001-07:00

Kuwait-based Global Investment House is launching six mutual funds on the Bahrain Stock Exchange today. The $84 million Global Energy, Petrochemical and Downstream Industries Fund was set up in May 2008, while the $51 million Global Jordan Fund, which came into being in October 2006 will invest in the Amman Stock Exchange as well as in IPO and pre-IPO issues in Jordan. Global said the Jordan fund may invest in fixed income and money market instruments to preserve capital during periods of weak equity market environment.

The $19.2 million Palestine Dedicated Fund, which has been around since April 2006 will invest in listed securities, IPO¹s and pre-IPO's issued in Palestine. The fund, according to Global, will offer institutional/individual investors the opportunity to enter the Palestinian market and invest in a diverse selection of sectors selected by the fund manager.

The $10 million Egypt fund will do much the same as the Palestine and Jordan funds, while the $7 million Global Islamic Fund of Funds and the $36 million Global GCC Islamic Fund aims to achieve long term capital appreciation with optimum returns, and controlled levels of risk, by diversifying the fund¹s assets in terms of strategy, geography, and sector; while investing in accordance with Shari¹ah principles, according to a statement issued by Global Investment House.

YOUR MONEY

2008-08-04T04:54:00.001-07:00

A crackdown on naked short-selling

The Securities and Exchange Commission is cracking down on naked short-selling. Critics of naked shorting say the practice puts unfair pressure on stocks, driving them lower for reasons not based on fundamentals.

How does naked shorting differ from regular short selling? In regular short-selling - which is allowed - traders locate and borrow shares of a stock they expect to go down in price. They ultimately have to buy the shares and return them to the owner. If the stock price decreases, they buy it at the reduced price and pocket the difference between the new price and the borrowed price. If the stock goes up, they must make up the difference.

In naked short-selling, traders don't bother to find and borrow real shares. Because these shares don't exist, there is theoretically an infinite supply. This means demand can never keep up, causing downward pressure on the stock. Just how exposed are you to naked shorts?

The major stock exchanges every day publish a list called Regulation SHO, also known as the threshold securities list. If your stock is on this list, there's a good chance it is being attacked by naked short-selling.

To see the Regulation SHO lists, go to regsho.com. Under the tab "naked short lists" click on "view by exchange."

FundAlarm: Shining a light on mutual funds

You probably put in hours of due diligence every time you buy a mutual fund. But once you're in, do you know when it's time to get out?

FundAlarm (fundalarm.com), a free Web site, says its goal is to "shine a light in the darker corners" of the mutual fund industry.

Do you know whether your fund's manager has quit or been fired? FundAlarm keeps tabs on management comings and goings. It also publishes a list of "3-Alarm" funds that it says are a "strong candidate for sale" because they have underperformed.

Tehran Stock Exchange IPOed First Cement Company This Year

2008-08-04T04:51:00.000-07:00

On 27 July 2008, thirteen percent of equity shares of kordestan cement Co (Equivalent of 21,060,000 shares of company) first time after listing, was offered by Omid Investment Co (5%) and Ghadir Sanat and Sarmeye Tose Co (8%) on Tehran Stock Exchange at the price of $ .85 per share with the total value of $12.2 million.

Kordestan Cement Co that located in west of Iran listed on Tehran Stock Exchange two month ago. It inaugurated in 1996 and now produce about 3,200 tone various kind of cement per day.

Cambodia plans first stock exchange

2008-07-26T02:14:00.001-07:00

Cambodia reportedly plans to open its first stock exchange and start a corporate bond market in the fourth quarter of next year in a bid to attract foreign funds.

Head of the Ministry of Economy and Finance's financial market division, Kao Thach, says 6 to 10 companies, with a combined market value of up to $US400 million, will likely be listed on the exchange within a year of it being set up.

The listing requirements in Cambodia will likely be modeled on the Kosdaq - South Korea's second stock market that was set up 12 years ago for small- and medium-sized firms as well as venture start-ups.

Pakistan's Stocks Rise After 20 Billion Rupee Fund Is Activated

2008-07-26T02:10:00.003-07:00

Pakistan stocks rose to a two-week high, with the index among only two Asian winners, after the bourse activated a 20 billion rupee ($282 million) government- backed support fund to halt this year's 21 percent slide.

The Karachi Stock Exchange 100 index rose 123.94, or 1.1 percent, to 11,280.62 at 10:14 a.m. local time, the highest since July 11. MCB Bank Ltd., the nation's biggest lender by market value, was among at least seven of the 100 companies on index that rose by the maximum 5 percent.

The index has risen 7.5 percent since July 22, when Finance Minister Syed Naveed Qamar visited the exchange to announce government backing for the fund to start operating. He spoke after a 15-day slump triggered violent protests last week.

``The initiation of the fund as announced by the minister added to investors' confidence,'' said Farhan Rizvi, an economist at JS Global Capital Ltd. in Karachi. ``The sentiment has supported the market to rise further, but it might see some correction in the later hours of the day due to the fast recovery in the last few days.''

Pakistan and the Sri Lanka Stock Market Colombo All-Share Index were the only measures to gain so far today. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 2.2 percent to 133.79, the most since June 12 and extending its decline this year to 15 percent.

The fund formed by a group of institutions including government agencies will eventually be increased to 50 billion rupees, according to earlier statements by the exchange. Initially, it will be run by the state-owned National Investment Trust but later it will be turned into an ``open-end fund,'' said Nasim Beg, who manages the equivalent of $300 million in stocks and bonds as chief executive officer at Arif Habib Investment Management Ltd. in Karachi.

`Technically Active'

``The fund is technically active from today but will only start buying if the market falls 20 percent within 30 days,'' Beg said.

Police and paramilitary forces ringed the exchange July 17 after hundreds of investors stoned the building, smashed windows and shouted anti-government slogans as the market plunged. The crisis prompted a plan by exchange members the next day to buy 4.5 billion rupees of stock to bail out protesters, helping to snap the benchmark's worst losing streak in 18 years.

The Karachi Index plunged this year on concern the ruling government coalition would collapse because of disputes between Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, the biggest group in the ruling coalition, and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The leaders have failed to resolve differences over how to reinstate judges dismissed by President Pervez Musharraf and whether the ex-army chief should be removed and stand trial.

Foreign Investors

Foreign investors slashed spending on Pakistani stocks to $19.3 million in the 12 months ended June 30, from $1.82 billion a year earlier, according to data compiled by the central bank.

The Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan on June 24 imposed and then removed a 1 percent daily limit on price declines on July 14. The measure had been aimed at halting a slide that wiped out $30 billion of market value in three months, threatening to undo a 14-fold rally since 2001.

Regulators last week eased the curbs on trading after volumes fell to the lowest in a decade. The restrictions, including a ban on short selling, were lifted by the securities commission after the exchange announced the fund to buy stocks.

(UPDATE) RP stocks end two-day rally

2008-07-26T02:10:00.002-07:00

Stocks snapped a two-day rally on Friday as investors took their cue from Wall Street's sharp losses overnight due to renewed worries about the health of the US economy.

US stocks fell roughly 2.0 percent, led by the property and financial sectors, after a 2.6-percent decline in existing home sales for June, well below the 1.0-percent forecast of economists.

Investors took recent disappointing news in the US as an excuse to lock in profits following two sessions of gains owing to declining oil prices.

"We were just tracking the performance of Wall Street. Investors are always watching developments in the United States," said Joseph Roxas, president of Eagle Equities.

The Philippine Stock Exchange composite index fell 23.19 points or 0.91 percent to 2,512.72.

The broader all-share index lost 13.40 or 0.84 percent at 1,580.89.

Losers beat gainers, 58 to 40. There were 48 stocks unchanged.

A total of 1.37 billion shares worth P1.9 billion were traded.

"Today's decline was partly because of the Dow Jones and partly technical, given that we were rallying in the past days. Traders again locked in gains," said Claire Quiray of Accord Capital Equities Corp.

Quiray said investors were still trading cautiously due to the volatility in oil prices.

Crude oil prices shot to record highs earlier this year because of political tensions in oil producing countries in the Middle East. Prices started to come down from above $147 a barrel on expectations of a slowdown in global demand.

"But apparently the drop in oil cannot be fully sustained," Quiray noted.

On Thursday, light, sweet crude rebounded by $1.05 to settle at $125.49 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Investors also kept an eye on local imports data.

The government announced that imports in May rose 11.3 percent as high fuel and rice purchases overshadowed a 14.4 percent annual drop in electronics imports, which signals weaker export growth ahead. Shipments of electronics parts dominate imports and are used as inputs for the country's key semiconductor exports.

The country had a trade deficit of $559 million for May and a deficit of $3.16 billion for the first five months of the year, compared to a shortfall of $347 million in January to May 2007.

Terror strikes Bangalore; Sensex slumps 550 points

2008-07-26T02:10:00.001-07:00

The crack on Dalal Street widened after reports that serial blasts hit the IT city of Bangalore.

Banking and oil & gas stocks were battered. Smallcaps and midcap stocks were relatively affected.

At 3:00 PM, the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex tumbled 552 points or 3.73 per cent to 14,225.24. The index touched a high of 14,484.39 and low of 14,210.63 in trade so far.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were down 0.34 per cent and 0.38 per cent respectively.

Biggest index losers were ICICI Bank (-10.42%), HDFC (-7.16%), Reliance Industries (-7.13%), HDFC Bank (7.09%) and Reliance Infrastructure (5.68%).

Ranbaxy Laboratories (2.81%), Hindustan Unilever (2.26%), ACC (1.49%), NTPC (1.13%) and Satyam Computer (0.99%) were the major gainers.

The National Stock Exchange's Nifty slumped 118 points or 2.67 per cent to 4315. The index touched a low of 4297.15 after opening at 4440.85.

Mkts tumble, Sensex loses over 500 points

2008-07-26T02:10:00.000-07:00

Extending losses for the second day today, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Friday, shed a hefty over 500 points due to aggressive selling triggered by weak global cues.

The 30-share BSE barometer which opened lower by 446 points lost further and closed 502.07 points down at 14,274.94 points.

The 50-scrip index Nifty on the National Stock Exchange also ended down by 121.70 points at 4,311.85. It touched the day's low of 4,297.15 and a high of 4,440.85.

Marketmen attributed the losing trend to profit selling at existing higher levels amid reports of a weakening trend in the global stock markets. They pointed out that the Sensex had gained over 2,370 points in the five straight sessions before the weakening trend started yesterday.

Global stock markets, led by the US Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq, dropped on reports that the US Housing sale has declined most in last decade.

Oils and gas index suffered the most by 508.98 points at 9504.42 as the sector major Reliance Industries, operator of the world's third-largest refinery, dropped in more than a month on concerns that increasing competition in its core refining business may curb profit growth.

RIL's quarterly results announced yesterday after the trade hours, were much below the market expectations, marketmen said. The stock fell by Rs 159.20 at Rs 2147.35.

On global front, brokers said, financial companies and banks were the biggest losers as a fall in housing sale might cost the companies involved in lending business. The ripples of a bearish trend were felt in domestic markets as well and the bankex fell by 411.62 points at 6751.86.

Toll Brothers Announces Completion of Employee Stock Option Exchange Program

2008-07-26T02:08:00.005-07:00

Toll Brothers, Inc. (TOL:
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TOL 19.42, +0.14, +0.7%) ( www.tollbrothers.com), the nation's leading builder of luxury homes, today announced the completion of its employee stock option exchange program, which expired at 5:00 p.m. EDT on July 17, 2008. All outstanding eligible options that were properly tendered for exchange by eligible employees have been accepted. The Company believes the program, which reduced the number of shares subject to outstanding stock options by 914,266 shares, will have a positive effect on the retention and motivation of participating employees.
Toll Brothers has accepted for exchange and cancellation options to purchase 2,515,275 shares of its common stock, representing approximately 97% of the shares underlying all eligible options. Options held by eligible employees with an exercise price equal to or greater than $27.24 per share were eligible for exchange in the program. Of the 467 Company employees who were eligible, 403, or approximately 86%, participated in the program. The Company's directors and its chief executive officer, chief operating officer and chief financial officer were not eligible to participate in the program. The program was approved by the Company's stockholders at the March 2008 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.
Subject to the terms and conditions of the program, in exchange for the eligible options that were accepted for exchange and cancellation, Toll Brothers issued replacement options to purchase an aggregate of 1,601,009 shares of its common stock. The replacement options were issued on July 18, 2008 and have an exercise price of $18.92 per share, the closing price of the Company's stock on the New York Stock Exchange on that date.
The full terms and conditions of the stock option exchange program are set forth in a Tender Offer Statement on Schedule TO, as amended, that Toll Brothers has filed with the SEC.
Toll Brothers, Inc. is the nation's leading builder of luxury homes. The Company began business in 1967 and became a public company in 1986. Its common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "TOL". The Company serves move-up, empty-nester, active-adult and second-home home buyers and operates in 21 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
Toll Brothers builds luxury single-family detached and attached home communities, master planned luxury residential resort-style golf communities and urban low-, mid- and high-rise communities, principally on land it develops and improves. The Company operates its own architectural, engineering, mortgage, title, land development and land sale, golf course development and management and landscape subsidiaries. The Company also operates its own lumber distribution, and house component assembly and manufacturing operations.
Toll Brothers, a FORTUNE 500 Company, is the only publicly traded national home building company to have won all three of the industry's highest honors: America's Best Builder from the National Association of Home Builders, the National Housing Quality Award, and Builder of the Year. Toll Brothers proudly supports the communities in which it builds; among other philanthropic pursuits, the Company sponsors the Toll Brothers - Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network, bringing opera to neighborhoods throughout the world. For more information, visit tollbrothers.com.
Certain information included herein and in other Company reports, SEC filings, verbal or written statements and presentations is forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, information related to anticipated operating results, financial resources, changes in revenues, changes in profitability, changes in margins, changes in accounting treatment, interest expense, inventory write-downs, effects of home buyer cancellations, growth and expansion, anticipated income to be realized from our investments in unconsolidated entities, the ability to acquire land, the ability to gain approvals and to open new communities, the ability to sell homes and properties, the ability to deliver homes from backlog, the ability to secure materials and subcontractors, the ability to produce the liquidity and capital necessary to expand and take advantage of opportunities in the future, industry trends, and stock market valuations. Such forward-looking information involves important risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect actual results and cause them to differ materially from expectations expressed herein and in other Company reports, SEC filings, statements and presentations. These risks and uncertainties include local, regional and national economic conditions, the demand for homes, domestic and international political events, uncertainties created by terrorist attacks, the effects of governmental regulation, the competitive environment in which the Company operates, fluctuations in interest rates, changes in home prices and sales activity in the markets where the Company builds homes, the availability and cost of land for future growth, adverse market conditions that could result in substantial inventory write-downs, the availability of capital, uncertainties and fluctuations in capital and securities markets, changes in tax laws and their interpretation, legal proceedings, the availability of adequate insurance at reasonable cost, the ability of customers to obtain adequate and affordable financing for the purchase of homes, the ability of home buyers to sell their existing homes, the ability of the participants in our various joint ventures to honor their commitments, the availability and cost of labor and building and construction materials, the cost of oil, gas and other raw materials, construction delays and weather conditions.

NASDAQ OMX Group to Complete Acquisition of The Philadelphia Stock Exchange

2008-07-26T02:08:00.004-07:00

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NDAQ 28.84, +1.07, +3.9%) , announced that it intends to complete its acquisition of The Philadelphia Stock Exchange today, expanding The NASDAQ OMX Group's presence in the derivatives market. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange, which will be renamed NASDAQ OMX PHLX, is the nation's oldest stock exchange, and with this acquisition NASDAQ OMX will operate the third largest options market in the U.S. NASDAQ OMX PHLX will be part of the NASDAQ Transaction Services U.S. group. It will continue as a distinct entity alongside The NASDAQ Options Market, launched in March 2008. With this transaction, NASDAQ OMX Group has a combined 17% market share in the U.S. equity options market between its two market models and a much larger footprint in global derivatives.
Upon the close of the transaction, Meyer "Sandy" Frucher, former Chairman and CEO of The Philadelphia Stock Exchange, will be appointed a Vice Chairman of the NASDAQ OMX Group reporting to Bob Greifeld, NASDAQ OMX CEO. The NASDAQ OMX Group also named Adam Nunes as Head of U.S. Options. Mr. Nunes will oversee all of NASDAQ OMX's U.S. options trading efforts and report to Chris Concannon, Executive Vice President of NASDAQ OMX Transaction Services. Additionally, NASDAQ OMX appointed Thomas A. Wittman as President of NASDAQ OMX PHLX. Mr. Wittman, who will be based in Philadelphia, will oversee the operation of NASDAQ OMX PHLX and report to Adam Nunes.
"This transaction solidifies our position as a major player in the U.S. options market and is a critical step forward in our transformation as a global cash equities and derivatives exchange," said Bob Greifeld, Chief Executive Officer of NASDAQ OMX. "The Philadelphia Stock Exchange's rich history and strong options leadership coupled with its diverse product offering, existing market share and loyal customer base is a natural fit for NASDAQ OMX."
Greifeld continued, "Through this transaction, we have brought talented executives into the NASDAQ OMX family and we are pleased to have a new presence in the Philadelphia business community. I am delighted to welcome Sandy Frucher to NASDAQ OMX Group's management team as a Vice Chairman and commend him for his great contributions and for making The Philadelphia Stock Exchange the leading market it is today."
"I am pleased to be joining the NASDAQ OMX Group," said Meyer "Sandy" Frucher. "In this rapidly consolidating industry, the merger with NASDAQ OMX will ensure that the Philadelphia derivatives business will be a catalyst for growth in NASDAQ OMX's global derivatives strategy. We share the belief that the options markets are poised for continued strong growth and we look forward to helping position the NASDAQ OMX options brand worldwide," Frucher said.
"NASDAQ OMX recognized the fast-paced growth within the options industry and the need to offer customers new trading solutions and efficiencies. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange has always been a leading force and innovator within the options realm and we are delighted to have closed this deal," commented Chris Concannon, NASDAQ OMX Executive Vice President. "NASDAQ OMX has also been successful in launching The NASDAQ Options Market platform with true price-time priority and together with NASDAQ OMX PHLX we will have an unsurpassed options offering in the U.S., offering customers two market models, a robust product portfolio, price optionality, cost efficiencies and the fastest platform in the industry," added Chris Concannon.
Through NASDAQ OMX PHLX, the NASDAQ OMX Group will offer customers both electronic and hybrid floor-based options trading to better address diverse customer needs. The NASDAQ Options Market will continue to operate as a separate market offering true price/time priority.
NASDAQ OMX PHLX plans to maintain operations at The Philadelphia Stock Exchange building along with the options trading floor.
About NASDAQ OMX Group
The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. is the world's largest exchange company. It delivers trading, exchange technology and public company services across six continents, and with over 3,900 companies, it is number one in worldwide listings among major markets. NASDAQ OMX Group offers multiple capital raising solutions to companies around the globe, including its U.S. listings market; the OMX Nordic Exchange, including First North; and the 144A PORTAL Market. The company offers trading across multiple asset classes including equities, derivatives, commodities, structured products and ETFs. NASDAQ OMX Group technology supports the operations of over 60 exchanges, clearing organizations and central securities depositories in more than 50 countries. OMX Nordic Exchange is not a legal entity but describes the common offering from NASDAQ OMX Group exchanges in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Iceland, Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. For more information about NASDAQ OMX, visit www.nasdaqomx.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Information set forth in this communication contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. NASDAQ OMX cautions readers that any forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and that actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to statements about our transaction with The Philadelphia Stock Exchange and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties or other factors beyond NASDAQ OMX's control. These factors include, but are not limited to, NASDAQ OMX's ability to implement its strategic initiatives, economic, political and market conditions and fluctuations, government and industry regulation, interest rate risk, U.S. and global competition, and other factors detailed in NASDAQ OMX's filings with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2007 which is available on NASDAQ OMX's website at http://www.nasdaqomx.com and the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. NASDAQ OMX undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Equities close lower on profit booking

2008-07-26T02:08:00.003-07:00

Investors booked partial profits after a sharp run-up in indices in the last five sessions and ahead of inflation figures for the week ended July 12, 2008. Weak European market also weighed sentiments.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex closed at 14,754.39, down 188 points or 1.26 per cent. The 30-share index touched a high of 15,130.09 and a low of 14,608.05.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty ended at 4,427.60, down 49.20 points or 1.10 per cent. It touched a high of 4,539.45 and low of 4,385.85.

Second rung stocks were under less pressure as BSE Midcap Index closed 0.74 per cent lower at 5,574.29 and BSE Smallcap Index ended 0.27 per cent lower at 6,794.37.

Sensex losers comprised Tata Consultancy Services (5.66%), Tata Steel (5.66%), Reliance Communications (5.06%), State Bank of India (4.46%), ACC (4.25%) and BHEL (2.88%).

ONGC (3.32%), DLF (2.41%), Reliance Industries (1.79%), HDFC Bank (1.6%), Maruti Suzuki (1.48%) and Cipla (0.86%) were amongst the gainers.

Market breadth on BSE showed 1267 advances and 1453 declines.

Euroshares down, hit by oils, car manufacturers; banks, telcos outperform UPDATE

2008-07-26T02:08:00.001-07:00

Europe's leading indices fell back in morning deals Thursday, with strong performances among the banking and telecoms sectors helping to offset falls in oil & gas plays and auto manufacturers.

At 9:52 a.m., the Dow Jones STOXX 50 was down 10.33 points, or 0.3 percent, at 3,377.17 and the Dow Jones STOXX 600 slipped 1.82 points, or 0.63 percent, at 284.95.

In the U.S. overnight, stocks advanced for the second straight session as another decline in oil prices to below $124.50 and several upbeat earnings reports eased some of Wall Street's concerns about the economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.26 percent. Broader stock indicators also advanced Wednesday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.41 percent and the technology-laden Nasdaq Composite 0.95 percent.

Shares also rose in Asia this morning. Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average closed at a four week high of 13,603.31, up 2.2 percent, as a weaker yen boosted exporters, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.6 percent to end the morning at 23,265.53.

In Europe, telecoms was one of only a few sectors to make headway, with the DJ STOXX 600 Telecoms up 0.74 percent as Mobistar reported solid figures for the first half of 2008.

The results for the first half of 2008 'were clearly stronger than anticipated', Rabo Securities analysts said.

'These results should be comforting' given the weak macro conditions and a recent profit warning from peer Vodafone, Nico Melsens at KBC said in a note to clients.

Mobistar shares jumped 7.5 percent, while others in the sector also gained, with KPN up 0.9 percent, BT Group 0.9 percent higher and Belgacom rising 0.7 percent. But Vodafone

Elsewhere, a number of financial stocks were in demand after Credit Suisse posted better-than-expected second quarter earnings.

The Swiss banking giant traced the gains to strength in its wealth management business amid negligible group-wide writedowns, as it unveiled significant cuts in its risk exposure since March.

A Frankfurt-based trader said the promising numbers at the Swiss banking peer were positive for nearly all German financials, but especially those like Deutsche Bank, which are actively involved in trading.

Credit Suisse shares gained 5.0 percent, Deutsche Bank was up 1.3 percent, Societe Generale added 1.0 percent and Credit Agricole ticked up 3.6 percent.

The latter was helped further by Morgan Stanley resuming coverage with an 'overweight' rating and 18 euros price target.

And financials also received a fillip after Morgan Stanley upgraded its sector rating for European financials to 'in-line' from 'cautious'. It also raised London Stock Exchange to 'equal-weight' from 'underweight' on valuation grounds but said it prefers Deutsche Boerse.

London Stock Exchange surged 9.0 percent, while Deutsche Boerse was 1.5 percent ahead.

Lloyds TSB, meanwhile, lost 0.8 percent after Citigroup downgraded its recommendation to 'hold' from 'buy' as part of a UK banks note in which the broker also cut target prices across the board pointing to balance sheet worries.

Elsewhere among fallers, the oil & gas sector was worse off as individual stocks tracked recent declines in the oil price.

Oil is down more than $20 a barrel since hitting a record above $147 just weeks ago. A barrel of light, sweet crude fell $3.98 to settle at $124.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Wednesday.

The DJ STOXX 600 Oil & Gas fell back 1.9 percent, with Total down 2.0 percent, Royal Dutch Shell 1.3 percent weaker, Repsol YPF sliding 1.9 percent and StatoilHydro off 1.2 percent.

Finally, having initially enjoyed news of better-than-expected first-half numbers from Renault, shares in car manufacturers fell back in midmorning deals after the French car maker's CEO said he sees no recovery in the European market in 2009 and expects China car market growth could be 5-10 percent rather than 20 percent previously thought.

Renault shares lost 1.6 percent, while Peugeot -- which Wednesday jumped on the back of its own forecast-beating numbers -- eased 1.9 percent, and Fiat slipped 2.1 percent.

On the economic front, investors were disheartened after euro zone services and manufacturing activity contracted sharply in July, sources said of a key survey.

The euro zone Purchasing Managers Index for services slipped to a five year low of 48.3 in July from 49.1 in June. Euro zone manufacturing activity also slumped, falling to 47.5 from 49.2 in June. Both figures were below expectations.

holly.cook@thomsonreuters.com

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Profit selling snap five-day long rally

2008-07-26T02:06:00.000-07:00

Snapping its five-day rally, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Thursday shed over 165 points on profit selling at metal, capital goods and IT counters.

The 30-share BSE barometer, which commenced the day higher by 188 points, pared the early gains to settle at 14,777.01 points, a loss of 165.27 points from last close.

The index touched a high of 15,130.09 and a low of 14,608.05, indicating volatility.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also fell by 43.25 points at 4,433.55. It recorded a loss of 153 points during the day as it rose to a high of 4539.45 and a low of 4385.85 points.

According to brokers, Market players were also reducing their holdings ahead of the inflationary data to be announce after the trading-hours today.

Metal index suffered the most by falling 374.27 points at 12,696.25 as metal prices in the London Metal Exchange fell on firming dollar. It was followed by capital goods sector index by 220.61 points at 12,119.16.

Banking shares also fell on concerns over more hike in some key interest rates by Reserve Bank in its monetary policy on July 29.

Stock market falling fast in Pakistan

2008-07-21T01:31:00.000-07:00

Political unrest has triggered a mass evacuation in Pakistani stocks, causing hundreds of distressed local investors, many who have lost their life savings, to smash the windows of country's main bourse amid violent protests on the streets.

The Karachi Stock Exchange was not long ago a magnet for Western investors looking to escape the volatile stock markets in the developed world in favour of an equity adventure on the new frontier.

But Erik Nilsson, senior international economist at Scotia Capital said Thursday, "in view of the political uncertainties that are so prevalent in Pakistan, it's astonishing that there is any equity market left."

The benchmark KSE100 Index fell for a fifteenth-straight session Thursday, dropping 278.96 points, or 2.7 per cent, to 10,212.92. The index is down 35 per cent from its record high of 15,676.34 on April 18. The decline has erased the gains of the past year, taking the index back to levels last seen at the beginning of 2007.

Nilsson said investors from developed markets had been attracted to the Pakistani bourse amid a general broad-based enthusiasm for Asian equities.

Freddie Mac Registers With SEC, Capital Is Sufficient (Update5)

2008-07-19T21:50:00.000-07:00

Freddie Mac, the second-largest U.S. mortgage-finance company, registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, removing the biggest obstacle to selling common stock and increasing its mortgage holdings.

Freddie Mac intends to proceed with a $5.5 billion capital- raising plan it announced in May that ``will include both common and preferred securities,'' the company said in a statement today. The registration fulfills an agreement made six years ago with lawmakers before the government-chartered company's plans stalled after revealing $5 billion of accounting errors.

``Now they can start the process to do a capital raise a lot quicker than we thought,'' said Paul Miller, an analyst with Friedman Billings Ramsey & Co. in Arlington, Virginia. ``We're still concerned about what the capital structure's going to look like going forward. But this removes a major overhang.''

McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac lost 64 percent in stock market value in the past month and the larger Fannie Mae declined 56 percent on concern they may not have enough capital to survive the housing slump. The stock slump prompted U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to announce a rescue plan on July 13, seeking authority to buy equity in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and increase a credit line to the companies should they request it.

``Becoming an SEC registrant marks an important milestone for the company and demonstrates our commitment to enhanced transparency and financial reporting,'' Chief Executive Officer Richard Syron said in a statement.

$10 Billion

Freddie Mac climbed 85 cents, or 10 percent, to $9.18 today in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Fannie Mae rose $2.47, or 23 percent, to $13.40.

``The timing, amount and mix of securities to be offered will depend on a variety of factors, including prevailing market conditions, and is subject to approval by our board of directors,'' Freddie Mac spokesman Douglas Duvall said in an e- mailed statement earlier in the day.

Freddie Mac may raise as much as $10 billion selling new shares to investors, avoiding an immediate government rescue and stricter oversight that would come with a bailout, the Wall Street Journal reported today, citing people it didn't identify.

Duvall declined to comment on the Journal report. Freddie Mac committed to raising the $5.5 billion through ``one or more offerings,'' Duvall said. The sale will include common and preferred shares, Duvall said.

``The question becomes: `Is $10 billion enough?''' said Miller, who has an ``underperform'' rating on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. ``It dilutes them. That's why we're cautious on the names.''

`Challenges'

Early indications of its second-quarter results show the company probably has enough capital to remain above the 20 percent mandatory surplus demanded by its regulator.

The quarter will reflect ``the challenges that face the industry,'' Freddie Mac said in the filing. ``We expect to take actions to maintain our capital position above the 20 percent mandatory target surplus.''

Freddie Mac has been exempt from registering its common stock and debt securities with the SEC since 1970 because of its government-chartered status. Fannie Mae registered in March 2003.

Syron said he decided to ``follow the advice of the lawyers'' and put off raising capital until the company registered with the SEC, according to an excerpt of an interview in the Journal.

Capital Raisings

The delays in becoming registered related to ``interpretations and disclosures of financial data,'' Syron told the Journal.

Syron told the Journal he was considering ``the full array'' of options for a capital raising. Freddie Mac said July 3 it is unlikely to raise capital until after its second-quarter earnings. Freddie Mac, which also said today it has no plans to cut its dividend, is scheduled to report next month.

Freddie Mac likely will split any capital raising between common stock and preferred shares, UBS analysts led by Eric Wasserstrom said in a July 10 report, citing conversations with Chief Financial Officer Anthony Piszel and Controller David Kellerman.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have already raised $20 billion in the past year to cover losses. Freddie Mac had planned to sell $5.5 billion of stock next month. Because of ``unfriendly'' market conditions, Ofheo isn't pushing Freddie Mac to raise the capital, the UBS analysts said.

`Very Prudent'

Miller estimates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will each need to raise $15 billion. The companies would be ``very prudent'' to raise $10 billion to $15 billion, Barclays Capital analysts including Ajay Rajadhyaksha and Rajiv Setia in New York said in March. The companies don't need to raise capital immediately, Rajadhyaksha, head of U.S. fixed-income at Barclays, said in a telephone interview last week.

Moshe Orenbuch, an analyst at Credit Suisse in New York, estimates Freddie Mac may need $3 billion more after raising $5.5 billion.

Freddie Mac will probably report a bigger surplus above the statutory minimum required for the second quarter, according to the filing. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, Freddie Mac's regulator, agreed this year to lower the companies' surplus capital requirement from 20 percent to 10 percent after it registers with the SEC and raises new capital.

At the end of March, Freddie Mac had $6 billion more than the minimum required by regulators and Fannie Mae had $5.1 billion more, according to Ofheo data. With Fannie Mae raising an additional $6 billion in May and a reduction by Ofheo in required capital, the company ``had an additional $7.6 billion of capital heading into'' the second quarter, UBS analysts led by Laurie Goodman wrote in a note to clients yesterday.

Based on first-quarter data, Fannie Mae's core capital would have to drop by $26 billion and Freddie Mac's by $25 billion before either were declared critically undercapitalized, a classification that would make them subject to being placed in conservatorship, the analysts said.

Visa Has a $45 Billion Debut on Wall St.

2008-07-19T05:42:00.001-07:00

Catapulted by the biggest initial public offering in American history, Visa shares soared 28 percent in their stock market debut on Wednesday as investors bet an accelerating shift to electronic payments will enrich the company.

After being priced above expectations at $44 a share in an initial public offering that raised nearly $18 billion, Visa shares finished at $56.50 on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday. The run-up gives the San Francisco-based company, the world’s largest processor of credit and debit cards, a market value of about $45 billion.

“This is an exciting and historic day for Visa,” said the company’s chairman, Joseph W. Saunders, who received a $10.2 million bonus last year for laying the I.P.O. groundwork.

Visa generated $5.2 billion in annual revenue last year as it handled more than more than 44 billion transactions totaling more than $3.2 trillion. The volume puts Visa far ahead of its main rival, MasterCard, whose own shares have risen more than fivefold since their May 2006 initial price of $39; MasterCard closed on Wednesday at $208.39.

Visa is well insulated from the credit problems that have scarred many of the lenders that issue the cards bearing its brand.

Unlike those lenders, Visa carries no consumer debt on its books. It depends on transaction fees, which have been steadily rising for years, including during the past two United States recessions in 1991 and 2001.

Visa expects annual earnings growth of at least 20 percent for at least the next two years. The company got off to a fast start in its fiscal first quarter ending in December with profit of $424 million, up 70 percent from the previous year.

Visa has earmarked more than $10 billion of the proceeds to buy back shares from the banks that helped build up its network over the last 50 years. The biggest chunk, about $1.25 billion, will be paid to its largest customer and shareholder, JPMorgan Chase.

With Economy Tied to Wall St., New York Braces for Job Cuts

2008-07-19T05:41:00.000-07:00

New York is accustomed to job losses on Wall Street. They come with just about every economic slump, and their impact is felt throughout the city.

But now, as the city braces for a big contraction in the financial sector as a result of the credit crisis and the collapse of Bear Stearns, the fallout could be worse than in the past.

The New York economy is more dependent than ever on high Wall Street incomes, which have jumped by more than half since 2001, to an average of $387,000, according to the city comptroller’s office.

Last year, the finance industry was responsible for nearly a third of all wages earned in the city, the highest in modern times. And each Wall Street job supports three workers in other sectors.

A great many of the 14,000 employees of Bear Stearns are expected to lose their jobs because of the firm’s cash shortage and its pending acquisition by JPMorgan Chase. As the credit crisis unfolds and other firms discover the depths of their losses related to bad loans, few expect the layoffs to stop there.

“Up to this point in New York City, the material result of the credit crunch hasn’t been felt as quickly as people were expecting,” said Marcia Van Wagner, deputy comptroller for the budget of New York City. “It took a while for the other shoe to drop.”

Indeed, even though economists say this slowdown started in the financial sector, New York has felt little of its pain. For example, real estate prices have largely held steady in the metropolitan area even as they have plummeted in other regions.

Now there are signs of nervousness, and not just among bankers and traders. Some prospective buyers in the pricey condominium market have put their plans on hold. Companies like SeamlessWeb, which delivers food to financial firms, are reconsidering plans to hire more staff. A newsstand operator across from the New York Stock Exchange greeted his customers last week by saying, “It will be O.K.”

Analysts are predicting wider cuts across the industry, even among workers who had nothing to do with mortgages. A UBS analyst, Glenn Schorr, said the major banks had already cut 5 to 10 percent of their work forces, and he said he expected them to make cuts on a similar scale again in the next few months.

“It’s fair to, unfortunately, expect another wave of cuts as they batten down the hatches,” said Mr. Schorr, who covers several major banks.

Some New York-area residents are becoming more cautious with their spending decisions.

Last month, Shai Shustik, a broker with Manhattan Residential, was helping a 27-year-old client find a $700,000 one-bedroom apartment on the East Side of Manhattan. But then the client suddenly put her search on hold. Her father, a banker, said he had lost too much money in the stock market to buy such an apartment for her.

Until two weeks ago, Mr. Shustik was also working with a Credit Suisse banker who wanted to spend up to $1.6 million for a one-bedroom apartment in the West Village or TriBeCa neighborhoods of Manhattan. The banker abruptly stopped his apartment search because he was too concerned about the stock market and his future bonus potential.

Last Tuesday, a woman picking at her salad in Grand Central Terminal said her husband, who works at a competitor of Bear Stearns, feared the trouble would spread.

“He’s worried,” said the woman, Emilie Bosak, a stay-at-home mother. “Most people in finance are worried.”

That worry has been building since last summer, just after two hedge funds within Bear Stearns collapsed and the mortgage markets were beginning to freeze. Employment at securities firms in New York had rebounded since the 2001 recession and was nearing its all-time peak of 200,000 from before that downturn, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, a trade group.

Since August, the financial industry has gradually shed at least 20,000 jobs, mostly among those selling loans, those bundling loans into complex securities and those placing trading bets on the likelihood that borrowers would pay.

Now the pace of job losses is increasing. Significant cuts at Bear Stearns are almost certain. Citigroup is in the process of cutting 10 percent of the work force in its investment bank, or 6,000 people. Lehman Brothers announced 1,400 layoffs two weeks ago.

Goldman Sachs said in January that it would reduce its global work force by 5 percent. On Friday, The New York Post reported that the cuts would rise to 20 percent, which would bring the total cut to 6,400 jobs. A spokeswoman for Goldman had no comment on the report.

“There will be more cutbacks because basically the business is not there,” said Richard X. Bove, a managing director at Punk, Ziegel & Company, an investment firm.

The last time Wall Street had a similar contraction was after the technology bubble burst seven years ago. At that time, financial firms cut 60,000 jobs in the New York City area, or 1 in every 10 finance positions, according to Moody’s Economy.com.

But those cuts were rapid, and this downturn strikes some people as more similar to the slow bleeding that occurred on Wall Street from 1987 to 1993, when 100,000 people in the New York area — 15 percent of finance workers — lost their jobs, according to Economy.com.

Stock Exchange’s Ex-Chief Wins Battle to Keep Pay

2008-07-19T05:39:00.000-07:00

For nearly five years, Richard A. Grasso was vilified for the riches he reaped while running the New York Stock Exchange.

But on Tuesday, a court ruled that Mr. Grasso could keep the $139.5 million he was paid.

Mr. Grasso, who symbolized for many the exuberance and excess of the now-faded bull market, won the final round in his long legal battle over the compensation he amassed during his eight years as head of the Big Board, when the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division threw out the remaining claims against him.

The 3-to-1 ruling brings to an end one of the ugliest fights in modern Wall Street history and hands a remarkable victory to Mr. Grasso against his antagonist, former attorney general — now former governor — Eliot Spitzer, who pressed the case against Mr. Grasso.

Mr. Spitzer’s successor as attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, said in a statement that he would not appeal the decision. “Thus, for all intents and purposes, the Grasso case is over,” the statement said.

A tireless cheerleader for the exchange, Mr. Grasso was lionized for his work in reopening it in the aftermath of 9/11.

But two years later he was forced out amid a furor over his pay, even though he maintained that the stock exchange’s directors, who included many Wall Street executives, approved his compensation. Mr. Grasso, who spent 35 years at the exchange, working his way up from a clerk to the chairman’s office, always insisted the fight was not about the money, but about his personal honor. He never showed any inclination to settle the case, despite pressure from Mr. Spitzer.

“Dick Grasso is gratified by the ruling of the appellate division,” said his lawyer, Gerson A. Zweifach, a partner at Williams & Connolly. “His devotion to the stock exchange never wavered, and neither did his faith that he would be vindicated by the courts.”

Mr. Grasso, in an interview on Tuesday with Bloomberg News, said, “Right now I’m going to turn to my family and we’re going to move on to the next chapter.” It is unclear, however, in light of his compensation, what Mr. Grasso’s legacy will be.

In Tuesday’s decision, the New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division overturned a lower court’s ruling that Mr. Grasso hand over more than $100 million of his compensation.

The decision means the case was not decided on whether Mr. Grasso’s pay had been unreasonable but rather was thrown out because the exchange merged with Archipelago Holdings in 2006, becoming a public company. The appeals court concluded that the attorney general has no standing to sue Mr. Grasso since the exchange has been converted from a nonprofit entity to a for-profit corporation, negating the attorney general’s ability to sue on behalf of the public rather than for private shareholders.

The court also dismissed a single claim against Kenneth Langone, the co-founder of Home Depot and former head of the exchange’s compensation committee, who Mr. Spitzer said had misled the board.

“I have always stood firm for the decisions I made as a director of the N.Y.S.E. and I am glad this case has been resolved with my name and my integrity vindicated,” Mr. Langone said in a statement. “The previous attorney general’s waste of taxpayer resources on this matter ranks as one of the most misguided and irresponsible efforts in the history of that office.”

Mr. Langone said he, Mr. Grasso and the other directors of the exchange had spent $70 million defending themselves, costs that have been covered by insurance.

The end to the case stands in stark contrast to the initial uproar over Mr. Grasso’s pay, and the way Mr. Spitzer brought and pursued the case. The storm started in 2003, when Mr. Grasso’s compensation figure started to leak out. Quickly, the image of Mr. Grasso became a symbol of corporate greed.

Within the exchange, the issue surfaced when Mr. Grasso tried to cash out some of his retirement benefits in 2003. Some directors later said that Mr. Grasso had expressed concern that any future board would be less willing to give him the money, a charge Mr. Grasso has always denied. Whatever the case, the exchange’s compensation committee devised a contract to award him with an immediate lump sum payment of $139.5 million and an additional $48 million to be paid over four years for past and future work.

Some directors, including Henry M. Paulson Jr., then the head of Goldman Sachs, argued against paying out Mr. Grasso’s retirement benefits before retirement. Others, including Mr. Langone, said Mr. Grasso was entitled to money he had earned.

Ultimately, the board approved the payout to Mr. Grasso, who ran the exchange from 1995 until 2003. But when news of the additional $48 million surfaced, the directors demanded Mr. Grasso’s resignation. (Mr. Grasso never received that $48 million.)

Mr. Spitzer then sued Mr. Grasso, saying his pay had been unreasonable under New York’s nonprofit laws and that the amount had not been properly disclosed to directors. Under those laws, the attorney general is empowered to bring cases involving nonprofits on behalf of the public.

At the time, the case was explosive. Virtually none of the traders at the exchange had any sense of the magnitude of Mr. Grasso’s pay. Many were incensed that his pay soared when trading was becoming less profitable and fees were going up.

The case would unveil the inner workings of a board made up of a who’s who of Wall Street. Prosecutors deposed ranks of Wall Street heavyweights, including Mr. Paulson, who is now Treasury secretary, as well as former chief executives of Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase and Bear Stearns, many of whom had conflicting reports about what they knew and did not know about Mr. Grasso’s pay.

“There was a very visceral and negative reaction from the public when the size of these compensation packages, Grasso and others, were disclosed,” said Carol M. Goodman employment litigator at Herrick Feinstein in New York. “The government responded by asking the courts to declare it was unreasonable, that there was a breakdown in corporate governance, that the compensation was not commensurate with the services rendered by the specific individuals.” The court has rejected those claims under the nonprofit law, Ms. Goodman said.

Mr. Cuomo’s decision to drop the case did not come as a complete surprise. Last week, the New York State Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling dismissing four of six counts brought by the attorney general.

“This ruling recognizes the substantial and significant changes the N.Y.S.E. has undergone since the case was brought,” said Richard Adamonis, a N.Y.S.E. Euronext spokesman.