Archives for March 2008

March 2008 - Page 6 of 16 - Money Morning - Only the News You Can Profit From

After its Record U.S. IPO, Visa's Shares Post Double-Digit Gains for Second-Straight Day

By William Patalon IIIExecutive EditorMoney Morning/The Money Map Report Just one day after its debut from a record-setting initial public stock offering, demand for newly public Visa Inc. (V) was still so strong that the deal underwriters yesterday spent $1.79 billion to purchase another 40.6 million shares, the operator of the world's biggest electronic-payments networks […]

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Billionaire Joseph Lewis Maneuvering for a Better Bear Stearns Deal

By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor Down more than $1 billion from his 8.4% stake in crippled financial giant The Bear Stearns Cos. Inc. (BSC), British billionaire Joseph Lewis said he'll try to steer Bear Stearns away from the U.S. Federal Reserve-backed JP Morgan & Chase Co.'s (JPM) acquisition offer of $2 per share. Lewis said […]

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Steelmakers from India and Russia are Pursuing the Former Bethlehem Steel's Historic Sparrows Point Mill

By William Patalon IIIExecutive EditorMoney Morning/The Money Map Report India's Essar Steel Ltd. and several Russian steelmakers are competing suitors for the Baltimore-region Sparrows Point steel mill now owned by ArcelorMittal SA (MT), India's Financial Express newspaper reported yesterday (Thursday). "The most prominent suitors continue to be Russian producers, although India's Essar Group also has […]

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Beleaguered Investment Banks Bleeding Jobs

By Jennifer YousfiManaging Editor For the first two months of 2008, the financial sector has already lost 22,000 jobs, many of which will never return. On top of that, analysts say another 30,000 finance jobs could be lost by the end of this year, as the credit crisis continues to unfold. "A lot of firms […]

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How Wall Street Bankers Helped Create the Current Credit Crisis

By Martin HutchinsonContributing Editor Prior to the beginning of the current financial crisis last August, many of you had probably never even heard of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). So how did these obscure, tottering towers of debt precipitate a crisis that has since prompted the U.S. Federal Reserve to take such drastic action and brought […]

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Is the Fed Fueling the Inflation Fire?

By Jennifer Yousfi Managing Editor With six rate cuts in the past seven months, the U.S. Federal Reserve has focused its efforts on a slowing economy, while placing inflationary worries on the back burner. But as Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and the rest of the Board of Governors move further down this path, some experts […]

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Global Investing Roundups

General Mills Serves Up 60.8% Net Profit; Vale to Add 62,000 New Jobs; Berkshire Takes Stake in Marmon; Oil Drips Lower; Gold Loses Luster; Tata Communications Launches & Slumps; Cheaper Coffee at Starbucks; Nike Hits $1 Billion in China General Mills Inc. (GIS) offset the soaring cost of wheat with cost-cutting measures and increased sales, […]

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After its U.S. Record IPO, Visa's Shares Should Generate Long-Term Profits For Investors, an Expert Says

By William Patalon III Executive Editor Money Morning/The Money Map Report Visa Inc. (V) shares soared nearly 30% after the company's record U.S. stock offering yesterday (Wednesday), as investors bet that its dominant market position and the growing shift into electronic payments will translate into consistently escalating profits for the operator of the world's biggest […]

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Price Controls Gauge PetroChina's Bottom Line, Lead to Fuel Shortages

By Jason Simpkins Associate Editor PetroChina Ltd. (PTR), China's biggest oil producer, recorded only a modest growth in profit in 2007, as government controls kept the company from passing record-high crude prices on to its customers. Beijing has kept a tight lid on fuel prices, even as oil trades between $105 and $110 a barrel, […]

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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Poised to Boost U.S. Mortgage Market

By Jennifer YousfiManaging Editor A loosening of government restrictions announced yesterday (Wednesday) for Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) has freed up an estimated $200 billion to boost the flagging mortgage market. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) announced it is reducing the capital surplus requirement of both Fannie Mae and Freddie […]

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