After rallying early Wednesday, stocks tumbled into the close. On an absolute basis, the loss was fairly minor; the Dow ended down 69 points. But the index fell below 10,000 and the psychological damage was potentially great given the chatter about Tuesda
In this time of increased market volatility and uncertainty it’s wise to stay diversified. That’s the message from today’s guest, Oliver Pursche, manager of the GMG Defensive Beta Fund (MPDAX).The relatively small fund, launched on Sept. 1, 2009, is able
U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, beginning two days of talks in Europe, urged calm and quick action to instill confidence and avoid a full-blown financial crisis. “The basic lesson for financial crises is that
you have to come in and act quickl
In the wake of the collapse of the Lehman Brothers and the forced taxpayer rescue of most of Wall Street, bank accounting practices have come under increased scrutiny. And one major discovery has been that banks routinely manipulate their numbers at
Stocks rallied around the world Wednesday, led by European bourses, on a sense Tuesday’s snapback in the U.S. marked a short-term bottom. In recent trading, the Dow was up 116 points and about 385 points above yesterday’s intraday low.Because “headl
From The Business Insider, May 26, 2010:Apple’s stock market capitalization (AAPL) has not yet quite surpassed Microsoft’s (MSFT), but the value of its actual business is now higher.
Specifically, Apple’s business is now worth $200 billion,
while Micros
RiskMetrics has weighed in against Pru buying AIG’s AIA Asian assets, saying $35.5 billion is too much. The risk advisory firm joins a chorus of analysts chirping away from Singapore to London about problems with a deal that would pay off a huge chunk of AIG’s debt to Uncle Sam while transforming Pru into an Asian powerhouse.
Prudential holds a shareholders vote on June 7 to clear a $21 billion rights offer to fund the acquisition. One big issue is the price tag, which has drawn scrutiny given the fact that AIG has limited leverage to demand a big premium since it is selling the assets under duress. Pru’s ability to hit its projected revenue “synergies” from the deal are a big concern too.
CLSA Asia Pacific Markets, a broker not involved with deal, said in a report last week that a plan keeping both AIA and Pru brands intact and competing with each other will negate such gains. “It is already a challenge to retain agents, let alone target a dramatic increase in sales,” CLSA said.
The view of RiskMetrics, which itself was bought only a couple of months ago, could help to unravel a big deal just when the falling market looks set to start pulling the rug out from under the M&A market.
As Congress moves closer to approving new, broad oversight of the banking system and the financial markets, we’re legislating against a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis, right?”That is certainly not the case,” says our guest John Authers, edi
Europe’s crisis remains on center stage amid continued debate over the euro’s long-term prospects. No matter what bailouts or austerity measures are announced, fears of a disintegration of the euro, continue to haunt financial markets. (For more on
The distinct smell of fear permeated the financial markets Tuesday morning. Following big declines in Asia and Europe, the Dow tumbled at the open amid fears that Europe’s financial crisis could lead to a double-dip for the world economy. “It’s the c
From The Business Insider, May 25, 2010: Dell’s new “Streak” gadget will launch in early June in the U.K. and will come to the States “later this summer.”
At first blush, people are suggesting that Dell’s new device will
Provided By Business Insider, May 24, 2010: That’s the argument put forth by Ambrose-Evans Pritchard in his latest Telegraph
column, and despite it sounding hyperbolic, it’s one of his best in
awhile, and it represents the vanguard of thinking about the