Microsoft Issues Ultimatum
April 4, 2008
Microsoft has decided to give Yahoo! an ultimatum in accepting its buyout bid. Microsoft has offered $41 billion to buyout Yahoo!, but as yet no deal has been reached by the two parties.
Recently Microsoft stated it will give Yahoo! until April 26th to accept its bid. If Yahoo! fails to accept its bid Microsoft plans to launch a hostile takeover, but this will be done at a much lower price.
At the moment shareholders are pushing Yahoo! to accept the bid that Microsoft has tabled before the company is bought at a lower price.
Cigarettes To Cost More In NY
April 3, 2008
The state of New York is will become the state with the highest cigarette state tax. This will be after the state has agreed to increase the cigarette state tax to almost $1.25 more per pack. This $1.25 will be added to the current cigarette state tax of $2.75. Therefore the usual price of $5.82 for a pack of cigarettes is expected to rise tremendously with the increase in state tax. This cigarette state tax for New York is in comparison to South Carolina with a cigarette state tax of only 7 cents.
Stocks Drop After Unemployment News
April 3, 2008
There was a drop in the stock market today, after the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted at a possible recession. Stocks mainly fell after it was disclosed that there was an increase in the amount of Americans putting in an application for unemployment benefits. Thus jobless claims increased from to over four hundred thousand. This is the highest the amount of unemployment benefit applications have been since September 2005. However it was only a small drop in Wall Street, which was balanced by the news that only a little change was seen in the services industry.
Utility Stocks On A Rise
April 2, 2008
Even with the state of the economy, analysts released information that shares within the US utility companies rose during this week of trading.
Analysts are quick to point out that even though the US economy might be heading for a recession, as predicted by the Federal Reserve Chairman, they see utility stocks as a “safe haven” with economic downturn. For example, American Electric Power Co. increased its share value by forty-one cents to close at $43.08, while Consolidated Edison Inc. rose by twenty cents to close at $40.89.
Possible Recession?
April 2, 2008
According to Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve Chairman, the US economy is not expected to improve, but will reduce over the next couple of months. Bernanke is hinting that a “recession is possible”. Even on the eve of this news, the public was not surprised but wondered if this would push the Federal Reserve Chairman to issue an interest rate cut. The US GDP is not expected to increase much during the first quarter of 2008, and might even lessen. If the GDP decreases for a least six months, the country is said to be in recession.
McClatchy’s Raitings Reduced By Moody
April 2, 2008
Tuesday saw Moody’s Investors Service decrease McClatchy Co., the newspaper publisher, from Ba2 to Ba3 for both the company’s corporate side and their probability of default.
Moody’s also downgraded McClatchy’s senior unsecured notes from Ba3 to B1, and speculation is that the news mogul could fall further.
This decrease in ratings will have an impact on $2.8 billion in debt, as Moody’s expects the ongoing financial pressure in revenues from the advertising sector to severely reduce the chances for McClatchy to raise their leverage or make serious moves on cost management or reductions on their current debt.
Amdocs Ratings Risen By S&P
April 2, 2008
Based upon Amdocs’ business profile performing so highly, Standard & Poor revised their ratings and late on Tuesday they announced that that they are raising the rating from BBB- to BBB. Amdocs Ltd is expected to hold onto the rating too.
S&P made a statement to coincide with the ratings alteration, in which they said that their new rating for Amdocs is indicative of the high level of customers and their obvious and ongoing revenue structure. Also the fact that the company is using little in the way of debt leverage with their considerable liquidity.
The chance for continued growth for Amdocs was another factor that aided in the new higher rating, as it shows that the company is establishing itself in the telecom market as it matures whilst lowering costs.
S&P Seesaw On Commerce Bancorp Ratings
April 2, 2008
Last Tuesday saw Standard & Poor increase their ratings for Commerce Bancorp so that they matched those of TD Bank Financial Group.
The counter-party credit ratings for Commerce Bancorp were raised from BBB+/A-2 to AA-/A-1+. The ratings for Commerce Bank were also raised to AA-/A-1+ from A-/A-2.
Soon after the upgrades however, S&P announced that they were withdrawing the ratings change on Commerce.
German Bank Writes Down Loss
April 1, 2008
The German Deutsche Bank has released information that it will write down at least $4 billion of its debt in the first quarter of the year. This is attributed to the dismal financial conditions occurring within worldwide financial markets.
The bank itself is stating that it was caught inside the fallout of the US subprime economic crisis, and it has loss of two billion Euros. This write down will be mostly in the area of commercial real estate, loans, or mortage-related securities.
EU Jobless Rate Remains Stable
April 1, 2008
According to the European Union’s agency for statistics Eurostat, the countries that used the Euro had a stable unemployment rate. Eurostat stated that for the fifteen EU countries, the unemployment rate held itself steadily at approximately seven percent. This rate was calculated from January until now, with no change.
Of all the European Union countries, the Netherlands had the lowest rate of unemployment at around two percent, with France having a rate of over seven percent. This is in comparison to Japan where unemployment is close to four percent, and in the USA where it is a little less than five percent.