123jump.com Staff
28 Mar, 2008
New York City
JC Penney lowered its earnings estimate for the current quarter to 50 cents from 75 cents to 80 cents per share. The retailer that counts half of American families as its customers blamed lower than expected sales during Easter holiday. However, retailer did not lower its plan to open new stores and appears to keep spending money under is capital investments plan.
123jump.com Staff
28 Mar, 2008
New York City
Lehman Brothers stocks was upgraded to buy from hold by an analyst at Citigroup with a target price of $65. The research note suggested that the company has adequate liquidity and the recent Fed action will provide ample support to the stock. Lehman stock traded as high as $81 in June of 2007 and since then has been on a slide. Lehman on March 17, Monday after the deal between JP Morgan and Bear Stearns, came under heavy pressure and touched as low as $20.
123jump.com Staff
27 Mar, 2008
New York City
Money markets remained tight as interbank interest rare rose to near record high for the year. Banks remain unwilling to extend loans to other banks despite several auctions by central banks in the UK and Europe to ease the liquidity. Separately, Man Group said earnings will be higher than expected and Compass Group reported better than expected earnings. Kingfisher, home supplies retailer reported 20% decline in earnings.
123jump.com Staff
27 Mar, 2008
New York City
European stocks closed higher led by a rise in financials, banks, and insurance stokcks. Money markets continue to struggle as banks show unwillingness to lend each other. Interbank loan rates reached near record high for the year for lending in euro and pound. The recent liquidity measures from the Bank of England and ECB have failed to ease the money markets. Separately, Swiss Life reported higher than expected earnings on sale of two units and a private bank.
123jump.com Staff
27 Mar, 2008
New York City
Tech stocks led the decliners in the U.S. trading led by a fall in Intel, Google and Oracle. Oracle fell 7% after sales were below expectations, Google fell after click through estimate in February were 3% lower than last year. Lehman fell 9% on persisten rumors of liquity crunch at the firm. McCormick jumped after predicting higher sales in the year. Clear Channel rose after the company and buyout groups sued banks for refusing loans to fund the deal.
123jump.com Staff
27 Mar, 2008
New York City
January domestic traffic at Qantas increased to 1.35 million and international traffic fell 4.6% to 731,000. Overall traffic in January increased to 3.23 million, up 5.6% from a year ago in the month. AWB Ltd gained 6% after U.S. court dismissed a case against it. Asset manager Babcock & Brown and a consortium of banks agreed to extend $2.8 billion in debt to 2011. Spotless Gold made a $556 million hostile offer for Programmed Maintenance Services Ltd.
123jump.com Staff
27 Mar, 2008
New York City
U.S. stocks at the opening traded lower after another round of lowered earnings estimates, loss at home builder Lennar, and Oracle reported lower than estimated earnings. Nasdaq and S&P 500 tracked lower on weak technology stocks. Lennar swung to a quarterly loss on 64% decline in revenue. Fourth quarter GDP rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.6%. Stocks in Shanghai fell 4% but better than expected earnings in Hong Kong reversed earlier losses. European markets are trading up.
123jump.com Staff
27 Mar, 2008
New York City
Hong Kong closed higher after it reversed earlier losses on better than expected earnings from several companies. Banks and property companies led the gainers. In Hong Kong trading Hang Seng Index regained from a 0.21% slump in the morning session to close up 0.21% or 47.21 to 22,664.22. In Shanghai trading, the CSI Index fell 4.23% or 165.45 to 3,748.92. Cheung Kong, Citic Bank, CNOOC and Hutchison beat market expectations.
123jump.com Staff
27 Mar, 2008
New York City
Stocks in Japan and Asia fell on a lowered earnings expectations at four largest U.S. banks and talks of a hike interest rate in Japan dominated the news. In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 fell 0.8% or 102.05 to 12,604.58, and the broader Topix Index declined 0.9% or 11.11 to 1,226.44. The Bank of Japan board member in a speech suggested that rate should be lifted to cover easy credit conditions. Mitsui will take 20% in a joint venture with Qatar to develop a city project for $3.9.
123jump.com Staff
26 Mar, 2008
New York City
European markets closed lower after earning worries for banks and a downgrade on drug stocks. Deutsche Bank chief said that the assset write downs and loan losses may make it harder to achieve profit estimate for the year. Morgan Stanley lowered its price target for Sanofi-Aventis and GlaxoSmithKline. Bureau Veritas in Paris reported earnings rise of 3% on 12% rise in sales.
123jump.com Staff
26 Mar, 2008
New York City
U.S. stocks edged lower after rising steadily in the last three sessions. Market averages fell after new home sales declined in February. Home sales plunged 30% from a year ago and durable goods orders fell 1.7% from January and declined 1.4% from a year ago. Crude oil inventories at the end of last week were unchanged. Citigroup led the decliners in Dow after an analyst projected a loss for the year. Clear Channel fell after the deal to go private collapsed.
123jump.com Staff
26 Mar, 2008
New York City
Australian stocks rallied as prices of base and precious metals and oil jumped in the international markets. ASX 200 gained 1.2% to 5,381.40. Perilya and CBH agreed to merge and create ninth-largest zinc manufacturer. Three CBH shares will be exchanged for one Perilya shares and a stake in Kimberly Metals. IMF Australia plans to finance litigation against Centro, MFS and Allco. Xstrata in London trading fell 12% after Vale said that it is no longer negotiating with the company.
123jump.com Staff
26 Mar, 2008
New York City
Tata Group agreed to purchase Jaguar and Land Rover brands from Ford Motor company for $2.3 billion. The deal financed with short term debt may challenge the management at Tata. Jaguar despite receiving more than $10 billion in investment from Ford in the last fifteen years has failed to generate consistent profit and lost sales. In January of 2007, Tata purchased Corus for $11.3 billion. Tata Group generates more than third of its revenue from international sales.
123jump.com Staff
26 Mar, 2008
New York City
Hong Kong surplus in the fourth quarter 2007 jumped to 78.3 billion and in the year rose to 114.5 billion or 7.1% of GDP. Higher tax receipts and rising property values played a key role in the surge. Hong Kong, earlier had proposed to lower personal taxes on low income families on the rising government receipts. ICBC net income surged 65% to Rmb 82.3 billion lifting bank stocks. Jiangxi Copper declied 2% after reporting 12% drop in 2007 profit.
123jump.com Staff
26 Mar, 2008
New York City
Trade surplus of Japan in February increased 0.9% from a year ago on rising exports to emerging markets and China. Imports increased 10.1% and exports rose 8.7%. Trade with the U.S. generated 70% of total trade surplus. Exports to the U.S. fell 6% and imports increased 3.7% generating a surplus of nearly $7 billion in the month, underscoring its dependence on the U.S. demand.
