Fannie Sues Nine Banks Seeking $800 Million, OfficeMax Wins Merger Approval

Nichole Harper
01 Nov, 2013
New York City

U.S. stocks opened higher and market indexes in Europe trended lower. Fannie Mae sued nine banks seeking $800 million. OfficeMax and Office Depot won a regulatory approval for their $1.2 billion merger.

[R]10:40 AM New York – U.S. stocks opened higher and market indexes in Europe trended lower. Fannie Mae sued nine banks seeking $800 million. OfficeMax and Office Depot won a regulatory approval for their $1.2 billion merger.[/R]

Market indexes in New York opened higher and the dollar edged lower as investors focused on more litigation and rising regulatory actions.

On Wall Street, S&P 500 index increased 7.42 to 1,763.96 and Nasdaq Composite index gained 13.20 to 3,923.91.

European Markets

In European markets, indexes generally traded lower in active trading as more companies release earnings.

FTSE 100 index in London gained 0.2%, DAX 30 index in Frankfurt eased 0.07% and CAC 40 index in Paris declined 0.1%.

Asian Markets

Market indexes in Japan eased for the second day in a row and the Nikkei declined 0.9%. Indexes in Hong Kong gained 0.2% and in Mumbai added 0.15%.

Australian central bank is expected to leave its reference rate unchanged this Tuesday and investors are facing a barrage of economic news next week.

The National Bureau of Statistics reported China''s purchasing managers'' index rose 0.3 points to 51.4 points in September.

A private survey index, the HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing managers'' index came in at 50.9 in October jumped 50.2 from the month before.

Australian manufacturing activity expanded to a 3-year high in last month.

In October, the Australian industry group''s performance of manufacturing index increased 1.5 points, manufacturing activity expanded to a three-year high in September.

Fannie Mae Sues Nine Banks for $800 Million

London Interbank Offered Rate also known as Libor, the widely followed but flawed reference rate set by banks in London for more than $1 trillion of loans, rate manipulation is the current focus of regulatory action.

Fannie Mae sued nine banks for alleged manipulating Libor rate and is seeking $800 million in damages.

The complaint alleged that the bank lost $332 million on interest rate derivatives or swaps with Barclays Plc, UBS AG, RBS plc, Credit Suisse Group AG, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank AG, Bank of America, JP Morgan and Citigroup.

U.S. Stocks in Review

Chevron ((CVX)) declined 1.5% to $116.78 on the earnings worry in its refining business segment.

First Solar Inc ((FSLR)) soared 12% to $56.67 after the power plants maker reported net income increased to $195 million from $87.9 million in the period a year ago. Earnings per share increased $1.94 from $1 in the prior year.

Netflix Inc ((NFLX)) increased 2% to $328.76 after the video streaming service provider with more than 29 million subscribers was recommended by Robert Baird & Co.

OfficeMax Inc ((OMX)) increased 4% and Office Depot Inc ((ODP)) soared 3.5% to $5.79 after the two companies said in a press release that the government approved its merger plan that was valued at $1.2 billion.

Trimble Navigation Limited ((TRMB)) soared 17% to $33.41 after the company estimated higher revenues growth in 2014 than 11% in 2013.