Newspaper wrap-up: Christmas sales fall short of predictions
Posted Dec 26th 2007 11:00AM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Newspapers, Google (GOOG), General Motors (GM), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM)
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MAJOR PAPERS:
- The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported that last minute shopping in the days before Christmas salvaged a slight increase in overall retail sales for the season, but the total still fell short of predictions with gasoline-price inflation factored out. According to MasterCard SpendingPulse, total U.S. retail sales, excluding automobile sales, rose 3.6% for the holiday season spanning the day after Thanksgiving to midnight Monday.
- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) announced it would pay $4.5 billion for a 60% stake in Marmon Holdings, an industrial conglomerate. The deal, Mr. Buffett said, is Berkshire's largest acquisition outside of the insurance industry, reported the Wall Street Journal.
- The Wall Street Journal reported that Toyota Motor (NYSE: TM) said it aims to boost global sales by 5% in 2008 to 9.85 million cars, pulling further ahead of rival General Motors (NYSE: GM). Toyota also said it expects global sales this year of 9.36 million vehicles, up 6% from 2006.
OTHER PAPERS:
- Japan's NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) is in talks with Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) to strengthen its business alliance in a bid to upgrade services for its mobile phone users, DoCoMo officials said Tuesday, reported Bloomberg.
WEBSITES:
- Advanced Semiconductor (NYSE: ASX) has laid off over 40 workers at its flip chip substrate plant in northern Taiwan and has reportedly suspended a plan to expand its FC substrate capacity, DigiTimes.com reported.
Tags: ASX, BRK.A, DCM, GM, GOOG, TM
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