10) The US has not yet requested extradition from Namibia of actor Wesley Snipes who is wanted on tax fraud charges. Snipes, 44, was indicted on eight counts of tax fraud and also of trying to cheat the government out of nearly $12 million in false refund claims and not filing returns for six years. If convicted of all the charges, he could face 16 years in prison. Snipes is not fleeing the US, but, rather, is, working on the set of a film, Gallowwalker, in the Namibian desert.
9) Borrowers get a break. The Federal Reserve kept the benchmark interest rate steady for a third consecutive time, saying the economy was likely to expand at a moderate pace, but still sees inflation risks. The central bank's policy-setting committee voted to keep the overnight federal funds rate target at 5.25%, the level it reached in June after 17 consecutive increases since mid-2004.
8) Sony's quarterly profits dropped 94%. Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) is struggling with its profit after repeatedly recalling millions of laptop computer batteries because of a potential fire risk. The Japanese firm has also been hit by delays to its PlayStation 3, which will not now be released until next year -- missing the holiday shopping market. About 9.6 million of the lithium-ion batteries have been recalled.
7) Ford's results were the worst of the "big three." The nation's second biggest automaker said its loss widened to $5.8 billion in the third quarter, weighed down by the costs of its massive restructuring plan. Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) officials also predicted things would get worse in the fourth quarter, as market share drops and Ford pays for further plant closures and restructuring costs.
6) Former Enron boss Jeffrey Skilling has been sentenced to 24 years in prison. Skilling's fate for his role in the giant fraud that led to the energy firm's 2001 collapse has finally been handed down. In May he had been found guilty on 19 counts including fraud, conspiracy and insider trading, and was told he could expect 20 to 30 years in prison.
5) The housing market shows serious signs of cracking. The Commerce Department reported that the median price for a new home sold in September was $217,100 -- 9.7% below a year ago. Builders did succeed in forcing a 5% increase in the sales of new homes, but it was mainly due to steep declines in price and creative buyer incentives.
4) ExxonMobil does it again with quarterly profit of $10.5 billion. Record oil prices and higher production helped US oil giant ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) report quarterly profits rise 6% from the same period in 2005. The $10.5 billion profit was the second-largest quarterly profit ever recorded by a publicly-traded US firm. The biggest quarterly profit came in the final quarter of 2005, when Exxon earned $10.7 billion.
3) Oil prices rise above $60 a barrel. With demand for heating oil and natural gas expected to rise in lockstep with the cold weather, oil rose above $60. This is still way off the July high of $78 per barrel.
2) The biggest IPO in history is a success. Shares for Industrial & Commercial Bank of China soared on Friday as China's largest lender launched the world's biggest IPO in history. The stock's price rose 17% when it started trading in Hong Kong.
1) The Dow set another record high and the NASDAQ hit its highest point in 5 1/2 years on Thursday. The Dow gained 114.54 points and closed at a record 12,116.91 after earlier reaching an intraday record of 12,125.16. The Nasdaq composite index gained 13.26 points, or 0.57 percent, and closed at 2,355.56.
Nuclear power is on the comeback trail
Apple backs AT&T in continuing spat with Verizon
Closing Bell: The recession is still over, still... do you feel it?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-27-2006 @ 5:39PM
Mr. noitall said...
O.K., these business stories are all important. But the biggest and most important story of the week is occurring right now, right here on Blogging Stocks. Melly Alazraki has posted more articles over the last 30 days than the prolific Brian White! The score: Melly 176 posts, Brian 175 posts. Out-posting Brian White is a remarkable achievement. Congradulations, Melly. But the week hasn't officially ended yet and the race is too close to call. Good Luck to both of you.
10-27-2006 @ 6:05PM
Brian said...
Ah-ha! Mr. noitall returns -- a race it may be, my friend. We'll see :-)
10-27-2006 @ 7:53PM
Gary E. Sattler said...
My synopsis of the week's top ten:
10.)No opinion on Mr. Snipes' actions. Perhaps he received word that nowhere in the IRS's 9 million words of tax code does it state a constitutional requirement to pay income tax. In fact, I believe the practice itself is unconstitutional. Gee, I hope I didn't just start a riot somewhere.
9.)Borrowers break: I only feel sorry for those who have adjustable rate mortgages. They'd have done better to have gone to the casino that day they signed those papers. Bumping the interest rate brightens foreign investment opportunities. Be prepared and be well rewarded.
8.)Sony let me down. I'm not hurt by it. They're a long haul scenario. Let's see how they handle it.
7.)Another good one to watch. Ford, get your act together. I still think GM has something BIG up their sleeve.
6.)Rot Jeffery, just plain rot. I hope you meet a guy named Bull Dog in there. Smile pretty!
5.)The smart money moves from new construction into renovation and interior appointments. Look into cabinet and furniture manufacturing operations. A lot of new money has been sunk into enlarging those manufacturers over the last two years. Review the high end niche marketers. You'll be amazed at what they've done to survive.
4.)No surprise here! In another three to five years they can kiss our (monitors).
3.)See item 4.
2.)Smoke and mirrors.
1.)Just my opinion: You ain't seen nothin' yet.
Have a great weekend!
..
U
10-28-2006 @ 11:37AM
Melly said...
Thanks, Mr. noitall.
Indeed, it was no easy feat. As you said, Brian is most prolific. We'll have to wait and see how the week ends...
10-28-2006 @ 12:32PM
Americas Watchdog said...
We have the Americas Watchdog group and we are most interested in the housing bubble. In September we wrote an article about the "Housing Bubble" & later this month we wrote an article about the homebuilding industry and billions in federal & State tax liability because they used undocumented workers to build our nations new homes. The question for us...if Wall Street really looks 6 months out what arte they seeing we don't? We see a train wreck.