Early Edition September 30 2008 at 06:00 AM Chi-Chu Tschang and Harry Maurer
House Rejects Bailout, Markets Reel
In a stunning defeat for the Bush Administration and Congressional leaders, the U.S. House of Representatives voted down a proposed $700 billion bailout for troubled mortgage lenders, spurring the largest point decline ever for the Dow Jones Industrial average. Republican legislators rejected the bill by a margin of 2-to-1, despite the pleading of the president and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
Senate leaders said they may try to revive the legislation as soon as Wednesday. But they face an uphill battle, as a wave of popular criticism has pitted the issue as a fight between fat cats on Wall Street and the little guy on Main Street.
Source: New York Times, BusinessWeek, Bloomberg
World Markets React to Bailout Rejection
After an initial plunge in Asia and Europe, stock markets around the world recovered their losses and even turned higher on hopes for the passage of revised mortgage bailout legislation in the U.S.
Source: New York Times, Wall Street Journal
Dexia Becomes Latest European Bank Rescue
The French and Belgian governments, as well as other investors, moved quickly on Sept. 30 to pump $9.2 billion into shaky Franco-Belgian bank Dexia, which is the world's largest lender to local governments. The move came a day after four other coordinated bank rescues in Europe, signaling a new proactive stance among policymakers there to head off financial collapses.
Source: Financial Times, BusinessWeek
EU Sees Regulatory Overhaul Amid Bailouts
Charlie McCreevy, the European Union's top markets official, is preparing an overhaul of financial regulations that could include higher capital requirements to back up securitized debt and the establishment of regional regulators to supervise cross-border banking.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Probe Widens into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
The U.S. government probe into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac widened as the mortgage giants disclosed Sept. 29 they are under investigation by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Source: Washington Post
Food Giants Respond to Chinese Milk Scandal
The crisis over tainted milk from Chinese suppliers is prompting multinational food giants such as Heinz, Nestle, and Cadbury to probe their suppliers or even to pull products off shelves.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Boeing to Reassess Japanese 787 Deliveries
Boeing said on Sept. 30 that it would reassess its 787 Dreamliner delivery schedule for the Japanese market once an ongoing strike ends, raising concern that a prolonged production halt could further push back already-delayed deliveries.
Source: Reuters
A Big Boost for Mobile Laptops
A coalition of mobile operators and PC companies announced on Sept. 30 a new program to pre-install support for mobile broadband services directly into laptop computers. The initiative could drive use of an emerging rival to Wi-Fi.
Source: BusinessWeek
New Sign that Google-Yahoo Deal Under Scrutiny
The hiring of a high-profile litigator to assist Canadian antitrust regulators in reviewing the proposed advertising partnership between Yahoo and Google could signal the deal faces a legal challenge north of the border.
Source: MarketWatch
Apple Shares Hammered on Consumer Spending Fears
On an already brutal day for Wall Street, shares in Apple were hit especially hard--plunging nearly 18%--on fears that slowing consumer spending could slow sales of music players, phones, and Macintosh computers. Shares in Amazon, Google, and Microsoft also were smacked.
Source: Los Angeles Times, BusinessWeek
Pfizer to Quit Heart, Obesity Drug Development
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, known for its blockbuster Lipitor cholesterol-lowering drug, says it will abandon efforts to develop new drugs to combat obesity and heart disease and focus its research instead on cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and three other therapeutic categories.
Source: Reuters
InBev Shareholders Approve Anheuser Deal
Shareholders in the Belgian-Brazilian brewer approved its historic $52 billion takeover of Budweiser maker Anheuser-Busch and a $10 billion capital increase. To placate Americans, the merged company will be called Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Source: AP/CNN Money
Conversation of the Day: Main Street vs. Wall Street
Reader Chuck Gaffney writes: "Paulson is not qualified to count your cash as a teller at any bank, let alone come up with anything that deals with money--or in this case, have the U.S. taxpayers write him a blank check."
Read the Story and Tell Us What You Think
Hot Topic on the Business Exchange: 2008 Election
The 2008 U.S. Presidential Election is already historic, and current financial events are heating it up even more. Rob Hunter and others are sharing their insights.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Keep a civil tongue.