In a fitting end to another desultory week on Wall Street, the stock market did its best to frustrate everyone Friday; first, it failed to sustain an early bounce on not-worse-than-feared jobs numbers, then avoided the cathartic “whoosh” down ma
Most everyone in Silicon Valley is still talking about Facebook and Twitter and
Twitter and Facebook. But I managed to find a few other buzz-worthy topics for
those of you who just don’t really care about whether techies are
broadcasting What-
Friday’s dismal jobs report is another reminder of the grim state of the U.S. economy. If there’s any saving grace for Americans, it’s that many economies around the world are in far worse shape, says
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then, or so the saying goes. But this stock market seems unable to sustain any kind of rebound, even after hitting 12-year lows yesterday and with the “excuse” the jobs numbers weren’t worse than feared.
Another 651,000 U.S. jobs were lost in February, the Labor Department said today, bringing the total number of jobs lost since the recession began in December 2007 to 4.4 million. The unemployment rate jumped to 8.1%, it’s the highest level in 25 years. .
Citigroup may have a $1 stock price, but at least it’s No. 1 in the league tables for mergers and acquisitions.
According to data from Thomson Reuters, Citigroup jumped to the top spot among advisers for global M&A, surpassing Goldman Sachs, which held that place at the end of last year. Citigroup ended 2008 at No. 3.
Citigroup, which got a boost in the league tables by Pfizer’s $68 billion purchase of Wyeth, bested rivals Morgan Stanley, which came in as No. 2 position so far this year. JP Morgan held the No. 3 spot, and Goldman Sachs fell to No. 4, Thomson Reuters said.
That may be the only good news Citigroup’s had lately. The company has racked up $37.5 billion of losses over the past 15 months and has seen the U.S. government boost its equity stake in the flagging bank to as much as 36 percent.
Natural and organic food grocer Whole Foods will sell 13 stores as part of a settlement that ends an antitrust battle with U.S. regulators over its acquisition of rival Wild Oats.
Is your store on the list?
(Photo\Mike Blake, Reuters)
