It’s rare when the Fed chairman’s semi-annual Congressional testimony doesn’t dominate the conversation on Wall Street, but these are extraordinary times.On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee got at le
From Silicon Alley Insider, July 15, 2008:A solid summer so far for Intel: The chip giant blew away
Street revenue and EPS expectations for Q2, but gross margins were a
bit lower than forecasted. Why? Greater demand for cheap laptops, which
include che
Ben Bernanke came to Capitol Hill Tuesday and essentially admitted what many on Wall Street have been saying for months: stagflationary pressures have arrived.The chairman sees “significant downside risks to the outlook for growth” — a downgrad
Part of Michael Dell’s strategy to revive his namesake company is operating systems. But with technical glitches plaguing Microsoft’s Vista software, many tech eyes are waiting to see if Dell will tip his hat toward a favorite – Vista, XP or Linux. So say
From paidContent.org, July 15, 2008:The top legal officers from Google (NSDQ: GOOG), Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO)
and Microsoft are currently testifying in front of the U.S. Senate
Committee on the Judiciary, headed up by U.S. …
Lehman Brothers “is seriously mulling a way to take itself private,” the NY Post reports Tuesday.As Henry and I discuss in the accompanying video, going private isn’t a terrible idea for Lehman, whose stock has tumbled more than 80% in the past
From Silicon Alley Insider, July 15, 2008:A source close to Yahoo, a source close to Microsoft, and Carl Icahn
disagree about a critical part of the search proposal that Yahoo
rejected over the weekend: whether or not it required that Carl Icahn
be giv
Yep, that headline has a double meaning. As we all know Michael Dell is back to reclaim– and hopefully relegitimize– the computer empire he started in his dorm room. Russ Mitchell of CondeNast Portfolio flew to China to interview Dell, as his company lu
With the stock market tumbling and financials in freefall, a nation of investors turns its lonely eyes to Intel’s results after the close Tuesday.Intel is expected to report second-quarter earnings of 25 cents a share, a solid 15% above year-ago levels, a
Heading into Monday’s session, the widely held view was that the Treasury’s plan to aid Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would trigger a big rally, led by the financials.But hope proved misplaced again. …
A day after Fox-Pitt Kelton analyst David Trone suggested Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc may be better off going private, the investment bank may be ready to do just that. Lehman Chief Executive Richard Fuld is considering ways to take the Wall Street bank private, but it’s not quite clear how such a move might work, the New York Post reported, citing sources. Lehman’s shares have plunged this year on the back of rumors and questions about its solvency. Talks of privatizing Lehman have got serious as a result, the papers said. The company’s shares closed down more than 14 percent on Monday, reaching their lowest level since August 1999. Lehman’s shares have fallen about 81 percent so far this year. Trone said on Monday Lehman may be better off going private to shake off short sellers that are spreading bogus rumors about the bank.
Those nasty rumors, if that’s what they are, may come back to bite some folks on the hindquarters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has sent subpoenas to more than 50 hedge-fund advisers as it investigates whether individuals spread false rumors to manipulate shares in Lehman and Bear Stearns Cos, The Wall Street Journal said, citing a person familiar with the matter. You remember Bear Stearns, right? You know, the one that initially sold for about $2 a share? No wonder Lehman may be thinking about getting out of the stock market limelight.
And now for something completely different (different from Lehman, anyway). Hong Kong phone company PCCW Ltd says it expects to shortlist bidders for its media and telecoms unit within a month. The deal could fetch more than $2.5 billion. Private equity firms are among those bidding for the newly formed unit, known as HKT Group Holdings, group managing director Alex Arena told reporters on Tuesday. Reuters reported on Friday that the Blackstone Group and Providence Equity Partners were among those pursuing a bid for HKT.
More deals of the day:
** Private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners purchased eight News Corp television stations for about $1.1 billion.
** Bank of Nova Scotia will expand its wealth-management business by buying the Canadian operations of U.S. online brokerage E*Trade Financial Group Inc for $442 million cash, the companies said.
** Barrick Gold Corp is launching a C$354 million ($350 million) hostile bid for Cadence Energy Inc as a hedge against oil prices to get control of soaring production costs, the world’s top gold miner said.
** Lawson Inc, Japan’s second-largest convenience store, will spend at least 3.98 billion yen ($38 million) to take control of discount grocery chain Ninety-nine Plus Inc, aiming to use acquisitions to grow in a mature market.
** China’s CITIC Resources Holdings has raised its stake in Australian miner Macarthur Coal Ltd to 20.39 percent, overtaking global steelmaker ArcelorMittal as the top shareholder.
** Hungarian drug maker Richter Gedeon said its takeover of Poland’s Polpharma was not completed as scheduled on Monday because Polpharma owner Genefar did not agree to the terms of the closure of the deal.
** French seeds company Vilmorin said it was taking a 25 percent stake in Australian Grain Technologies (AGT) for an undisclosed amount.
** Banca Popolare dell’Emilia Romagna has suspended plans to buy Banca delle Marche, it said in a statement.
** Irish billionaire investors the Quinn family said they would buy a 15 percent stake in Anglo Irish Bank which they saw as a long-term investment despite difficulties facing international banking.
I’m a big fan of Heidi’s work. (Aren’t we all?) But in all seriousness, a closer look at Heidi’s, um, business portfolio suggests another talent — stock picker. Target, Limited Brands and Procter & Gamble have all used Ms. Klum in very