Business - Page 17

Business

Reuters - Upstart energy exchange IntercontinentalExchange Inc. on Thursday offered to buy futures market CBOT Holdings Inc. for $9.9 billion, besting an existing takeover offer from Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. .

Reuters - Global financial markets on Thursday emerged from two days of turmoil sparked by a crisis in the U.S. housing finance sector, and government officials stepped up efforts to find out what went wrong and how to fix it.

Reuters - Producer prices rose sharply in February and new claims for jobless aid fell last week, data showed on Thursday, but sluggish factory activity in the Northeast suggested the economy was only limping along.

FT.com - London equities recovered in opening trade on Thursday, as stronger Asian markets helped dispel the gloom and investors warmed to strong numbers from Prudential and Wm Morrison and confirmation that Cadbury Schweppes (NYSE:CSG) is looking at selling its US drinks business. More Info...  

AFP - India's Reliance Industries has named two investment bankers to negotiate the purchase of a strategic minority stake in French-based Carrefour, the world's second largest retailer, according to a report Thursday.

Business

Reuters - Hours before Hewlett-Packard Co. shareholders convened their annual meeting on Wednesday, a judge dismissed charges against HP's former chairman, Patricia Dunn, for her role in a boardroom spying scandal.

Reuters - There was no sign of financial meltdown on Wednesday at the Southern California office park surrounding New Century Financial Corp. , but neighbors walking by one of the starting points of the mortgage industry crisis shivered at the thought of what could be next. More Info...  

Reuters - U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday, led by hard-hit financial shares as some investors' concerns about the subprime mortgage crisis eased.

Reuters - U.S. builders are assessing their exposure to home buyers with weak credit histories amid a subprime mortgage lender meltdown, while one analyst estimated the figure at 8 to 15 percent of their business on average. More Info...  

FT.com - Retail stocks outperformed as the London market suffered another severe downward lurch Wednesday. More Info...  

AFP - Indian business giant Reliance is in advanced tie-up talks with France's Carrefour, a company official said on Wednesday, but the world's second biggest retailer denied it was in negotiations.

Reuters - General Motors Corp. swung to a profit in the fourth quarter but fell short of Wall Street expectations on mounting mortgage losses from its former finance unit.

Reuters - National City Corp. , the No. 9 U.S. bank, on Wednesday said it wrote off $11 million stemming from subprime home loans, expects to write off more, and may boost reserves by $50 million because an insurer is rejecting mortgage-related claims.

Reuters - Major U.S. CEOs complained about regulatory burdens in the post-Enron environment at a high-profile conference on regulation and the legal system, while an investor advocate warned on Tuesday that business leaders should not lose sight of what matters to investors.

Reuters - H&R Block Inc., the largest U.S. income tax preparer, said on Tuesday that it expects to delay filing its quarterly results with regulators after turmoil in the subprime mortgage market forced it to write down assets at its Option One Mortgage Corp. unit.

Reuters - The chairman of Lowe's Cos. Inc. , the second-largest U.S. home improvement retailer, warned on Tuesday that problems in the subprime mortgage sector may hurt its business in some areas.

Reuters - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Tuesday a decline in U.S. housing activity has caused some damage in subprime mortgage markets but was not hurting the overall economy. More Info...  

Reuters - General Motors Corp. will inject $1 billion into GMAC, its former finance arm said on Tuesday, a capital infusion needed to complete the sale of the automaker's majority stake in the face of escalating defaults in the U.S. mortgage market. More Info...  

Business

Reuters - U.S. financial markets were rattled by news on Tuesday that late payments on U.S. mortgages had reached their highest level in 3-1/2 years, while regulators began a probe of subprime mortgage lending and called for legislation.

Reuters - Stocks plunged on Tuesday in their second-worst sell-off of the year as the impact of losses in the subprime mortgage group cascaded across the financial sector, knocking down shares of investment banks and traditional lenders.