Financial Resources 101

Wall Street to rise after steep decline as Facebook debuts

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 20:13:42 +0000

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks were set to open higher on Friday but major indexes were still setting up to close their worst week of the year, while Facebook’s market debut could help lift battered investor sentiment. The S&P has fallen 6.7 percent so far in May, and while volatility is expected to continue, some analysts were forecasting a near-term rebound as valuations become more attractive. Investors are bracing for Facebook’s debut after the world’s No. 1 online social network raised about $16 billion in one of the biggest initial public offerings in U.S. history. …

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Wall Street to rise after steep decline as Facebook debuts

BMW eyes new production sites abroad: source

creative — Fri, 18 May 2012 18:51:58 +0000

MUNICH (Reuters) – Premium carmaker BMW is considering new production sites around the world, with one option being Mexico, a person familiar with the situation told Reuters on Friday. German daily Handelsblatt earlier cited company sources as saying BMW was examining whether to build plants in Mexico and eastern Europe. It said Slovakia’s Kosice and Hungary’s Miskolc were possible candidates. BMW declined to comment. Earlier this month, it denied reports it plans to build an assembly plant in Slovakia. …

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BMW eyes new production sites abroad: source

Banks’ rising bad loans add to Spanish troubles

Fri, 18 May 2012 18:36:44 +0000

MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish bank bad loans rose in March to their highest in 18 years, figures from the Bank of Spain showed on Friday, underscoring the problems facing the government as it attempts to clean up the sector and get its economy back on track. The Bank of Spain said bad loans rose to 8.37 percent of the banks’ outstanding loans, the highest since August 1994 and up from 8.3 percent in February, which was also revised higher. The data came as Spain was set to name independent auditors to assess how much cash its banks are likely to need to rebuild their balance sheets. …

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Banks’ rising bad loans add to Spanish troubles

China cries foul after U.S. sets tariffs on solar imports

creative — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:22:59 +0000

(Reuters) – The United States imposed punitive tariffs on solar panel imports from China, the latest in a series of trade disputes between the world’s two biggest economies and sparking accusations by Beijing of protectionism. The new tariffs of around 30 percent, much bigger than had been expected, were set on Thursday by the U.S. Commerce Department after it ruled in favor of local firms which said Chinese exporters were dumping cut-price panels on their market. …

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China cries foul after U.S. sets tariffs on solar imports

Investors brace for Facebook debut on Wall Street

creative — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:08:58 +0000

(Reuters) – Investors are bracing for Facebook’s Wall Street debut on Friday after the world’s No.1 online social network raised about $16 billion in one of the biggest initial public offerings in U.S. history. Valued at $104 billion, Facebook is larger than Starbucks Corp and Hewlett-Packard combined, sparking intense speculation on how much higher its valuation will rise once shares start trading. “A 15 to 20 percent pop is in the realm of possibility,” said Tim Loughran, a finance professor at the University of Notre Dame. …

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Investors brace for Facebook debut on Wall Street

Adidas sues Big 5 over alleged sneaker knock-offs

admin — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:22:45 +0000

(Reuters) – Adidas AG has sued to stop a U.S. sporting goods retailer and a skateboarding equipment maker from selling sneakers with three parallel diagonal stripes, a design it said looks too much like its own. The world’s second-largest sporting goods company claimed that sneakers made by World Industries Inc and sold by Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp are knock-offs that infringe many Adidas trademarks. Adidas first used the three-stripe motif in 1952 and began trademarking it in the United States in 1994. World Industries could not immediately be reached for comment. …

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Adidas sues Big 5 over alleged sneaker knock-offs

Gupta insider trading jury to hear Rajaratnam tapes

admin — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:17:07 +0000

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Convicted hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam is in prison, but the jurors of a separate insider trading trial of former Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Procter & Gamble Co board member Rajat Gupta will hear his voice in court on FBI wiretaps. A federal judge in New York made a preliminary ruling on Wednesday to allow prosecutors to play a recorded telephone conversation from July 29, 2008, between Rajaratnam and Gupta, whose trial starts next Monday. Over defense objections, U.S. …

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Gupta insider trading jury to hear Rajaratnam tapes

Fears over Greece’s political and financial crisis

admin — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:42:01 +0000

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks closed lower in a choppy session on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 logging its fourth straight decline as investors worried about Greece’s future as a member of the euro zone. Early U.S. gains were erased after the European Central Bank said it had stopped providing liquidity to some Greek banks that had not been recapitalized. The ECB’s move caused some market confusion, adding to volatility as traders have a quick trigger finger when it comes to news about Greece. …

Insight: In Ohio, "fracking" boom a delicate issue for Obama

Thu, 17 May 2012 02:30:11 +0000

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (Reuters) – Out past the vacant storefronts and abandoned buildings, beyond the shuttered steel mills and decaying industrial plants, residents of eastern Ohio suddenly are seeing dollar signs. In a region more accustomed to hard times than optimism, residents hope that a boom in shale gas drilling using the controversial technique of hydraulic fracturing – or “fracking” – will lead to wealth, jobs and a reservoir of domestic energy that could dramatically boost the area’s fortunes. …

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Insight: In Ohio, "fracking" boom a delicate issue for Obama

FBI’s Mueller confirms JPMorgan preliminary probe

admin — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:03:08 +0000

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – FBI Director Robert Mueller on Wednesday confirmed that the agency has opened a “preliminary investigation” into JPMorgan Chase & Co , the nation’s largest bank. JPMorgan disclosed last week that it had suffered a multibillion-dollar trading loss due to a failed hedging strategy. A person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday that the FBI’s New York office has opened a preliminary probe into the loss, which has been estimated at more than $2 billion. Mueller was testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee. …

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FBI’s Mueller confirms JPMorgan preliminary probe