Global Business Roundup
Investment News Briefs
With our investment news briefs, Money Morning provides investors with a quick overview of the most important investing news stories from all around the world.
House Rethinks Glass-Steagall; Boeing's Dreamliner Finally Lifts Off; Manufacturing, Wholesale Prices Both Rise; Best Buy Beats Street; GE Sees Flat Revenue; Wells Fargo to Pay Back TARP
- The Glass-Steagall Act, which barred banks that took deposits from underwriting securities, is under consideration for reinstatement by the U.S. House of Representatives, according to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-MD. A renewal of the 1933 law “is certainly under discussion” by House members, Hoyer told Bloomberg News in Washington. The Glass-Steagall law was repealed in 1999 to help pave the way for the formation of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) with the $46 billion merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group Inc. Enactment of the law has generated debate about whether it helped spawn reckless lending practices and financial speculation that led to the meltdown of credit markets last year and the $700 billion U.S. bailout of troubled banks, including Citigroup. “As someone who voted to repeal Glass-Steagall, maybe that was a mistake,” Hoyer said.
Investment News Briefs
AOL Goes It Alone; Citi to Pay Back TARP Funds; Jim Rogers: Audit, Then Abolish The Fed; Goldman Sachs Adopts "Say on Pay" Policy; GE Gets Contract for World's Largest Wind Farm; Weekly Jobless Claims Rise, Trade Gap Narrows; Gold Bounces Back; U.S. Households' Net Worth Gains in Q3
Investment News Briefs
With our investment news briefs, Money Morning provides investors with a quick overview of the most important investing news stories from all around the world.
Survey: China Investments Will Continue to Grow Next Year; Japan's Q3 GDP Revised Down; Kraft Offers Changes to Cadbury Bid; Volkswagen Buys 20% Stake in Suzuki; Research in Motion Option Activity Surges; U.S. Inventories Rise for First Time in 13 Months; Sprint Shares Rise After Citi Upgrade; Neiman Marcus Hit Hard
- A survey of 369 U.S. firms showed China will continue to be U.S. companies' top investment destination in 2010, the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Shanghai said yesterday (Wednesday). More than 90% of those polled by AmCham had an optimistic business outlook for the Red Dragon, up from 81% in a similar 2008 survey. The study also revealed that 64% of companies polled plan on increasing their 2010 investments in China, up from 58% that increased their investments this year. "American companies are finding that their performance in China is the bright spot in an otherwise difficult global picture," said AmCham Shanghai Chairman J. Norwell Coquillard.
- Japan's economy grew at a much slower pace than previously thought, with government figures showing a revised growth of 0.3% on a quarterly basis, down from the initial 1.2%. On an annualized basis, Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 1.3%, well below the preliminary 4.8% growth estimate. Consumer spending did improve thanks to stimulus measures, but the corporate sector continued to lag, the data showed.
Investment News Briefs
More AIG Execs Threaten to Quit Over Pay; Bernanke Not Raising Rates Anytime Soon; Gold, Oil Fall After Fed Comments; October Consumer Credit Falls Less Than Expected; SEC Charges Former New Century Execs with Fraud; Cadbury to Respond to Kraft Bid Next Week; BlackRock Plans First Debt Offering in Two Years; Commercial Loan Delinquencies at Record High; RIM's BlackBerry to Get Wider Reach in China
Buy, Sell or Hold: Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) Brings a Strong Business Model and 100 Years of Experience Into 2010
I know Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) very well. I live in the heart of big pharma country: Princeton, N.J. And I have been interacting regularly with many people in this industry, including all levels of the Johnson & Johnson management for years.
Johnson & Johnson is a company that my peer analysts and I have admired for decades. And this well-deserved admiration goes well beyond the financial community.
Let me tell you why.
JNJ has a sound business model that emphasizes the development and marketing of top quality drugs and benchmark consumer products. Its strong and stable profit margins – with gross profit north of 70% – and its consistent growth over more than a century are matched by only a handful of companies.
Investment News Briefs
With our investment news briefs, Money Morning provides investors with a quick overview of the most important investing news stories from all around the world.
Bernanke Defends Record Before Senate; Service Sector Slumps in November; Retailers Hit by Bargain Hunters; New Rules May Grant Relief to Banks; Mortgage Rates Hit Record Lows; ECB Keeps Rates at 1%; American Outbids Delta for JAL Partnership
Unemployment Monkey Loosens Grip On Economy's Back
Is the dark cloud of joblessness finally starting to dissipate? Key indicators suggest it is, and while this will be a slow-moving dissipation, top economists as well as the U.S. Federal Reserve now say the picture for the coming months looks a little less bleak. Unemployment, considered to be one of the darkest spots of [...]
Investment News Briefs
With our investment news briefs, Money Morning provides investors with a quick overview of the most important investing news stories from all around the world. GM May Keep Saab After Deal Falls Apart; Third Quarter GDP Revised Down; Home Prices Rise for Fourth Straight Month; European Commission Drops Qualcomm Antitrust Inquiry; Fitch Downgrades Mexico; Bank [...]
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