WALL STREET JOURNAL
The Wall Street Journal’s “The Game” column speculates that one of the results of the Bear Stearns crash could be the push of investment banks and commercial ones closer together, which could result in better handling of volatility with more stability. Some observers think Merrill Lynch (MER), Morgan Stanley (MS) or Goldman Sachs Group (GS) could go that route by buying a commercial bank. Any move would force them to adhere to better reserve ratios, affect short term bank funding, and shrink balance sheets…The Wall Street Journal reported that Google (GOOG) will soon make available a new service that measure hits on the Internet with the intent of helping advertisers decide where to buy ads online and would directly compete with comScore (SCOR) and Nielsen Online. Ad executives say Google’s method could make targeting markets more efficient…FINANCIAL TIMES: A Manhattan judge dismissed four claims made by American International Group (AIG) in its fight to regain control of a block of its shares held by Starr International, a company that once founded a lucrative compensation plan for AIG executives. AIG believes the shares held by Starr should continue to be used to fund employee compensation, the Financial Times reported…BLOOMBERG: According to Scorpio Partnership, Bloomberg reported that UBS AG (UBS) and Merrill Lynch had slower growth in assets under management last year due to losses connected to the U.S. subprime crisis…
As coal demand grows delivery is stymied-WSJ
A slow permit process, not enough investment, and a lack of skilled workers means coal supplies will remain tight and prices up, reports the Wall Street Journal. Floods in the Midwest only add to the problem. “Despite the strong margins that coal companies are seeing, the supply response has so far been limited,” says Paul Forward at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. “I think it’s probably a couple years worth of time where these markets stay tight.”
Citigroup to raise funds by selling Indian properties-Financial Chronicle
Citigroup (C) will reportedly raise about $500M by selling some of its properties in India. The investment bank is even reportedly looking to sell its Indian headquarters in the city of Mumbai.
RS raises Q2 EPS guidance by 30%
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. announced that it is updating its guidance regarding the Company’s earnings estimates for the second quarter ended June 30, 2008. At this time, Reliance expects earnings to be in the range of $2.00 to $2.10 per diluted share, up approximately 30% from the Company’s prior guidance.
Very nice raise and this would be considered “Factual Actionable Data”, which is my favorite type of data.
Amazon.com moves into new product offering-Seattlepi.com
Amazon.com (AMZN) announced that it opened a new office supply division.
