| Business News |
Citigroup aims to sell $400 billion of assets
(Reuters)
 Reuters - Citigroup Inc , the largest
U.S. bank, said on Friday it aims to shed $400 billion of
assets -- nearly 20 percent of its total -- over the next two
to three years to become more efficient and profitable.
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AIG loss, oil, drug firms rattle investors
(Reuters)
 Reuters - Stocks fell on Friday after American
International Group , the world's largest insurer,
reported a record $7.8 billion quarterly loss, rekindling
concerns about financial services companies.
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AIG says rating cuts to raise costs
(Reuters)
 Reuters - American International Group
said on Friday two rating agency downgrades will likely
increase funding costs for some of its businesses, and has
required it to post $1.6 billion more in collateral.
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Oil ebbs a little from record high
(Reuters)
 Reuters - Oil hit a new peak above $126 on Friday,
the fifth straight session of record gains, in a market given
an additional spur by tight supplies of diesel.
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U.S. crude futures jump more than $2, above $126
(Reuters)
 Reuters - U.S. crude futures jumped more than $2
to a record high above $126 on Friday, fueled by fund buying
and surging distillate prices on both sides of the Atlantic,
according to traders.
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SMBs Remain Bullish Despite Weak Economy
(NewsFactor)
NewsFactor - Small businesses are confident that bleak economic conditions will pass without their being adversely affected by the economic downturn, according to a new study of 250 small-business owners. Or, at the very least, they're keeping a stiff upper lip about the downturn and the prospects for a speedy recovery.
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| Bank and economic woes hit Wall St; Oracle dives late - 27, Mar 2008 |
By Ellis Mnyandu
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks dropped on Wednesday as financial shares slid when concerns resurfaced that bank profits will take much longer than expected to recover from the housing slump.
Surging oil prices and data showing a tumble in orders for U.S.-made manufactured goods revived concerns that the economy is already in recession.
Bank stocks tumbled across the board when a prominent analyst lowered her first-quarter profit forecasts for Citigroup, Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), and Wachovia Corp (WB.N). The S&P financial index fell 3.5 percent, marking its biggest setback after rising more than 10 percent in the last two weeks.
Oppenheimer & Co analyst Meredith Whitney said bank profits would not start growing any time soon because of fallout from what she called the worst credit cycle in generations.
Financials are down "on the combination of Citigroup, Meredith Whitney coming out with talk of more potential write-downs and a lot of profit-taking. Financials moved big the last two weeks," said Matt McCall, president of Penn Financial Group in Denver, Colorado.
The other backdrop for the drop in Citigroup's stock was news that the largest U.S. bank by assets has agreed to pay Enron creditors $1.66 billion to settle a lawsuit over its responsibility in the energy trading company's downfall.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI finished down 109.74 points, or 0.88 percent, at 12,422.86. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX dropped 11.86 points, or 0.88 percent, to end at 1,341.13 -- marking the broader market's first decline in four days. The Nasdaq Composite Index slumped 16.69 points, or 0.71 percent, to close at 2,324.36.
After the bell, there was unnerving news from the technology front as Oracle Corp (ORCL.O), a major software maker, posted quarterly revenue that missed Wall Street's forecasts. Oracle shares slid 8.3 percent to $19.20 after the bell from their Nasdaq close at $20.94.
(c) 2008 Reuters
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| Other news from Business category: |
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MUNICH/HAMBURG (Reuters) - Prosecutors investigating suspected bribery at German engineering group Siemens said on Friday they have found no evidence to warrant criminal charges against former Chief Executive Heinrich von Pierer.
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Clear Channel Communications Inc posted a weaker-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday and the U.S. radio station operator said it was unclear whether a proposed buyout would be completed.
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LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices leapt to a new peak of more than $126 a barrel on Friday, hitting a record for the fifth straight session, in a market given an additional spur by tight supplies of diesel.
More
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - American International Group said on Friday two rating agency downgrades will likely increase funding costs for some of its businesses, and has required it to post $1.6 billion more in collateral.
More
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PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc, the largest U.S. bank, said on Friday it aims to shed $400 billion of assets -- nearly 20 percent of its total -- over the next two to three years to become more efficient and profitable.
More
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SEOUL (Reuters) - Hyundai Motor Group, the world's sixth-largest automaker, said on Friday it had shelved plans to produce a pickup truck in the United States amid concerns surging oil prices will hit demand for gas-guzzling vehicles.
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc will present plans to sell as much as $400 billion of extraneous assets when it meets with investors and analysts on Friday, a person familiar with the situation said.
More
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TOKYO (Reuters) - Oil rose to a fresh record near $125 a barrel on Friday, as a strong performance over the last week and a surge in heating oil futures convinced investment funds to push prices higher.
More
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - American International Group Inc , the world's largest insurer, posted its largest ever quarterly loss on Thursday after writing down assets linked to subprime mortgages, and said it would raise $12.5 billion to strengthen its balance
More
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RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Sugar cane and cane-based ethanol became a more important energy source than hydroelectric power plants in Brazil's overall energy complex last year, topped only by petroleum and oil products.
More
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| Software News |
Sun: Java ubiquity an advantage in RIA battle
(InfoWorld)
InfoWorld - Sun Microsystems is counting on the ubiquitous nature of Java to help its JavaFX technology compete in the rich Internet application (RIA) space against rivals Adobe Systems and Microsoft.
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Flomerics surges after rejects Mentor cash bid
(Reuters)
Reuters - Shares in British engineering software
firm Flomerics Group surged on Friday after rejecting a
buyout offer from larger U.S. rival Mentor Graphics, saying it
would explore interest from several other parties.
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Windows Vista More Vulnerable To Malware Than Windows 2000
(TechWeb)
TechWeb - InformationWeek - Vista let 639 threats per thousand computers through, compared with 586 for Windows 2000, 478 for Windows 2003, and 1,021 for Windows XP, security vendor PC Tools said.
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Four Microsoft Security Patches Due Next Week
(PC World)
PC World - Microsoft plans to fix critical bugs in its Word, Publisher and Jet database software next week.
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Intel, Sun: So Happy Together, When It Comes To Software
(TechWeb)
TechWeb - InformationWeek - The joint development efforts have been broader and deeper than anticipated, company executives reveal.
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Grand Theft Auto IV Speeds Past Six Million Mark
(NewsFactor)
NewsFactor - Since its release on April 29, global sales of the Grand Theft Auto 'GTA IV' video game from Take-Two Interactive Software (Nasdaq: TTWO) have surpassed six million units, with an estimated retail value of more than $500 million in the first week. Over the first day alone, GTA IV sales were approximately 3.6 million units with a retail value of $310 million worldwide.
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