Stock futures were mixed Monday morning, indicating stock would start on a down note a week full of economic data. This morning, investors are focusing on rising oil prices and existing home sales data to be released at 10:00 a.m. EDT. Also, over the weekend, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke commented from the Fed's yearly retreat, saying that problems in credit markets not yet over and are a threat to economy. Meanwhile, economists are saying inflation is catching up to the credit crisis as the major concern for the economy.American International Group's (NYSE: AIG) credit ratings may be downgraded by Fitch due to uncertainties over AIG's exposure to mortgage backed securities. AIG was down 1.5% in after-hours Friday.
The Australian government approved Chinalco 14.99% stake in Rio Tinto's (NYSE: RTP) but warned the Chinese firm against buying more shares without prior approval. Alcoa (NYSE: AA) backed the purchase. RTP shares were up over 1% in Australian trading.
Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) will pay around $192.8 million in cash to acquire chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s (NYSE: AMD) digital TV business, the companies announced Monday.
Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) and Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) shares are continuing their slide in premarket trading this morning. Freddie is set to auction its three- and six-month bills. On Friday, both Freddie and Fannie had their preferred stock ratings and bank financial strength ratings downgraded by Moody's Investors Service.
Meanwhile, Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) shares are also trading lower in premarket after rumors of a takeover Friday caused the stock to surge. CEO Richard Fuld is facing an internal campaign to force him out by the end of the year, U.K.-based daily The Observer reported Sunday.
Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) plans to reorganize the capital markets business within its investment bank, The Wall Street Journal reported.
On Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), read MarketWatch's commentary about the iPhone's recent launch in India: "Steep pricing and absence of 3G poses a major challenge to iPhone success, but usage of data and value-added services may take off."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-13-2008 @ 9:08AM
maggs said...
all the "big" ceo's of the large handbag retail business should stop taking from the top, 32 mill bonus etc. feed back into the company ,pay your employees, stop the outragous salary increases and the rediclous bonus. greed will destroy any business. small business will pay their employees before they pay themsleves. tighten the belt and put the monies where it belongs.
9-13-2008 @ 9:10AM
maggs said...
i wonder what the ceo's of leahman took off the top for themselves? what dollar bonus did each ceo revieve?????