Global Investing Roundups

Oil’s Big Rebound; More Deposit Insurance; Home Prices Continue to Collapse; Sovereign Soars on Management Change; Taking Midway Private; Pfizer’s R&D Refocus

• Oil prices rallied yesterday (Tuesday) jumping $4.27 to settle at $100.64 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier rising as high as $101.40. On Monday, prices fell $10.52 to settle at $96.37 – the second largest drop ever in dollar terms.

• Barney Frank (D-MA), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, yesterday (Tuesday) told policymakers that Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., would seek to increase the deposit insurance limit to a level above its current $100,000 level, Reuters reported. The agency’s insurance fund stood at about $45.2 billion at the end of the second quarter.

• Prices of U.S. single-family homes fell a record 16.3% in July from a year earlier, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Indexes. The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas fell 0.9% in July from June. Since the peak of the housing boom in July 2006, the index has dropped 19.5% the group said.

• Shares of Sovereign Bancorp Inc. (SOV) yesterday (Tuesday) shot up 70% with a gain of $1.62 to $3.95 on analyst upgrades and a new chief executive officer. Sovereign announced Paul Perrault would replace Joseph Campanelli as CEO, a move met with enthusiasm by stock analysts, Bloomberg News reported.

• Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley announced the city had selected a consortium of investors headed by Citigroup Inc. (C) to privatize Midway Airport for $2.52 billion. The deal, approved by both the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Security Administration, represents the first privatization of a major U.S. airport, The Wall Street Journal reported.

• Pfizer Inc. (PFE), the world’s largest drugmaker, yesterday (Tuesday) announced a refocusing of its research and development budget. Pfizer is looking to cut costs and focus on areas with potential high profits as it faces increased competition from generic drug manufacturers, The Associated Press reported.