Reuters - ArcelorMittal, the world’s top steel
maker, is mulling breaking up a takeover bid from
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc for U.S. coal miner Alpha Natural
Resources, with a counter bid, the Financial Times reported.
AP - A North Carolina judge threw out a class-action lawsuit Thursday filed by North Carolina residents seeking refunds on income tax they paid on interest generated from out-of-state bonds.
Reuters - General Motors Corp investors
expect the No. 1 U.S. automaker to post a steep second-quarter
loss on Friday, reflecting the pressure from a deepening
downturn in the U.S. auto industry.
Investor’s Business Daily - Banks’ primary credit borrowings averaged $17.45 bil per day in the latest week, breaking the prior week’s record of $16.38 bil, the Fed said, a sign of continued liquidity woes. Commercial paper, a vital source of short-term corporate funding, fell $16 bil to $1.728 tril, the lowest in 2 years. But, the interbank cost of borrowing 3-month dollar funds posted its biggest fall in a month, a day after the Fed and other central banks set new liquidity measures.
Reuters - Exxon Mobil Corp broke
its own record for the highest-ever quarterly profit for a U.S.
company on Thursday, but it was lower than Wall Street expected
largely due to lost output from Venezuela and Nigeria and lower
yields from some oil fields.
Reuters - Banks borrowed a record amount of
funds from the Federal Reserve in the latest week as the year
old credit crisis took a persistent toll, while the commercial
paper market continued to contract, signaling tough conditions
for short term borrowers.
Reuters - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan
Greenspan said on Thursday that a slowing global economy may
push the United States into recession, though it is not yet in
one.
Reuters - Stocks fell on Thursday, led by Exxon
Mobil after its earnings fell short of Wall Street’s
expectations and as disappointing economic data revived fears
of a U.S. recession.
Reuters - Standard & Poor’s on Thursday cut
ratings on all three major U.S. automakers deeper into junk
status, citing expected losses due to higher gas prices and a
weakening U.S. economy.
Reuters - Corporate bond defaults are on track
to quadruple this year and company bankruptcies may soar to
more than 100 in 2009, a senior Bain & Co consultant said on
Thursday.
Reuters - Fidelity Investments’ flagship Magellan
stock fund significantly boosted its holdings in June of
insurer American International Group and U.S.
investment bank Goldman Sachs , in a big reshuffle of its
financial sector exposure.
Reuters - The Dow industrials and the S&P 500
fell on Thursday as disappointing growth and employment data
heightened concerns about the economy’s health and the outlook
for corporate profits.
AP - The country didn’t get the energetic rebound in economic growth hoped for from the government’s tax rebates in the second quarter, and the economy jolted into reverse at the end of 2007, raising new recession fears.
Reuters - Exxon Mobil Corp broke
its own record for the highest-ever quarterly profit for a U.S.
company on Thursday, joining other major oil companies in
posting stronger earnings on the back of sky-high oil prices.
Reuters - An emergency dose of government
stimulus helped the U.S. economy grow at a 1.9 percent annual
rate in the second quarter, a soft pace but enough to take it
off a path perilously close to recession.