Newspaper wrap-up: J.C. Penney expected to cut jobs, merge operations

MAJOR PAPERS:

With a possible coming recession, J.C. Penney Company Inc (NYSE: JCP) CEO Myron "Mike" Ullman is expected to today announce plans to merge the buying and marketing operations for store and online sales and cut up to 200 jobs, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that the warning from UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) that its write downs for 2007 would be $4B higher than forecast is an indicator that other Wall Street banks are still vulnerable to the subprime crisis; Citigroup Incorporated (NYSE: C) and Merrill Lynch & Co Inc (NYSE: MER) may be the most vulnerable to the next wave of write downs.

WEB SITES:

Merck & Co Inc (NYSE: MRK) and Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE: SGP) perform quite differently, despite jointly marketing Vytorin, Barron's reported. while Merck offers a golden opportunity for bargain hunters, Schering's prospects remain less certain with the company relying on Vytorin for more than one-third of its pretax profits, according to estimates from Lehman Brothers.

Tags: C, Citigroup, JC Penney, JCP, JcPenney, MER, Merck, Merrill Lynch, MerrillLynch, MRK, Penney, Schering, Schering-Plough, SGP, UBS, UBS AG, UbsAg, Vytorin, writedown