Aug. 17, 2010 at 6:29 a.m.
Filed under:
Food,
Health care,
Investing
By Associated Press
Warren Buffett’s company has partially rebuilt the stake in Johnson & Johnson he reduced over the past two years to raise cash for other investments, and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. boosted its investment in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. during the second quarter. Berkshire detailed its $46.4 billion U.S. stock holdings Monday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The document revealed several changes in the Omaha-based company’s portfolio between March 31 and the end of June, including decreases in Berkshire’s holdings in Kraft Foods, ConocoPhillips, Procter & Gamble and M&T Bank. Berkshire also increased its stakes in Becton Dickinson & Co., Nalco Holding Co. and Sanofi Aventis. Get the full story »
Aug. 16, 2010 at 4:59 p.m.
Filed under:
Autos,
IPOs,
Investing
By Reuters
General Motors Co is considering selling a chunk of the carmaker’s stock to institutions who would commit to buy and hold major stakes as the company prepares for its initial public offering, people familiar with the discussions said on Monday.
GM is mulling a plan under which sovereign wealth funds or pension funds would serve as “cornerstone investors,” a technique often used for large initial public offerings to show that key investors are supporting the deal, four people said.
“It’s on the table and would be part of the normal course of the IPO,” one of the sources said, asking not to be named because the preparations for the IPO are private. Get the full story »
Aug. 16, 2010 at 6:31 a.m.
Filed under:
Banking,
Investing
From Forbes
Northern Trust Chief Investment Officer Bob Browne said in an interview with Steve Forbes that he’s still investing in high-yield bonds and anchoring investments with gold.
He said he’s surprised by people who have very strongly-held views about the direction of the market at this point in time. “We’re decisively neutral,” he said. “We think it can go either way and we’re placing a lot of value on liquidity and flexibility.”
Aug. 13, 2010 at 8:50 a.m.
Filed under:
Investing,
Retirement,
Stock activity
By MarksJarvis on Money
The brief honeymoon with stocks has come to another abrupt halt as investors once again have decided to flee from risk. Treasury bonds are a favorite security blanket again even though they are promising very little to investors locking up their money for as much as 10 years.
As nervous people have flooded bonds with money, yields have dropped to just 2.7 percent. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial average has fallen 320 points in two days as the Federal Reserve has spooked investors with deflation talk and as more people have filed for unemployment benefits. See where the full stock market has taken investors since happy days faded in 2007.
Aug. 12, 2010 at 3:37 p.m.
Filed under:
Banking,
Exchanges,
Investing,
Stock activity
CME Group Inc., the world’s largest futures market, was downgraded by Goldman Sachs Group because of slowing volume and longer-than-anticipated effects of financial reform.
Aug. 12, 2010 at 2:08 p.m.
Filed under:
Investing,
M&A,
Retail
By Reuters
Barnes & Noble said it failed to reach a deal to end a rift with billionaire investor Ron Burkle, casting doubt on the bookstore chain’s ability to attract buyers and raising the specter of a proxy battle.
“Barnes & Noble and Yucaipa were unable to conclude an agreement on mutually acceptable terms,” the company said in a statement on Thursday, referring to Burkle’s investment firm. Get the full story »
Aug. 11, 2010 at 2:54 p.m.
Filed under:
Investing
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
The parent company of Ameristar Casino Hotel East Chicago in Hammond, Ind., confirmed Wednesday it is exploring strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of the company.
The company said it retained Lazard and Bank of America Merrill Lynch as its financial advisers and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP as its legal adviser in the process. Get the full story »
Aug. 11, 2010 at 10:50 a.m.
Filed under:
Fraud,
Investing,
Litigation,
Retirement
By Becky Yerak
About 120 Illinois and California residents thought they were investing more than $20 million in Turkish Eurobonds when, in fact, a Lisle man and others were spending the money on luxury automobiles, homes, vacations and online pornography, the Illinois Department of Insurance alleged Tuesday.
The state’s action follows a lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in March in which the federal regulator said the group was using the investors’ money to also buy a stamp collection, and also invest in “the cryogenic preservation of umbilical cord stem cells.” Get the full story »
Aug. 10, 2010 at 2:37 p.m.
Filed under:
Internet,
Investing,
Small business,
Startups
By Wailin Wong
TransFS, a Chicago-based start-up that helps small businesses compare credit-card processors, has raised $510,000 in its first round of funding.
TransFS was launched in the spring of 2009 by Sean Harper and Joshua Krall, classmates at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. The company provides a comparison shopping Web site for credit-card processors, including ratings, reviews and explanations of how contracts work. Get the full story »
Aug. 10, 2010 at 1:11 p.m.
Filed under:
Cell phones,
Investing,
Telecommunications
By Associated Press
Fitch Ratings affirmed its ratings on Motorola Inc. and raised its rating outlook to “stable” from “negative” Tuesday, saying it is more confident in the health of the company’s business. Get the full story »
Aug. 10, 2010 at 11:31 a.m.
Filed under:
Investing,
Mortgages
By Tribune staff report
The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau has no director, but infrastructure for the powerful agency that will regulate mortgages, credit cards and other consumer products already is being developed, says one of the Washington insiders under consideration to head the bureau.
“Treasury isn’t sitting and waiting for the confirmation process,” Michael Barr, assistant U.S. treasury secretary, said during a wide-ranging conversation Tuesday morning with the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board. Get the full story »
Aug. 9, 2010 at 5:44 p.m.
Filed under:
Exchanges,
Investing,
Stock activity
By Reuters
CME Group Inc’s profitable over-the-counter clearing operations may be headed for an overhaul.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is putting pressure on the giant exchange operator to change the way its ClearPort unit handles OTC swaps, two people familiar with recent discussions said.
CME treats many of the OTC swaps — which are bilaterally matched away from the exchange — like its exchange-traded futures, a popular feature that has allowed investors to cross-margin, and thus save money on, the two products for years. The treatment requires CFTC approval. Get the full story »
Aug. 6, 2010 at 8:55 a.m.
Filed under:
Banking,
Earnings,
Investing
By Reuters
Hedge funds posted small gains in July but lagged the broader market because many managers played it safe after market tumult in May and June took a bite out of their portfolios, according to data released Friday.
The average hedge fund gained 1.9 percent in July after losing 1.35 percent in June and falling 3.01 percent in May, consultants at Hennessee Group found. Get the full story »
By Reuters
Research In Motion pledged to satisfy the security needs of customers and governments, a day after the United Arab Emirates threatened to cut off some BlackBerry services because authorities could not access encrypted messaging data.
In the latest of several disputes over BlackBerry security, the UAE said over the weekend that it would suspend BlackBerry Messenger, email and Web browser services from Oct. 11 until it could access encrypted messages. Get the full story »
July 30, 2010 at 1:41 p.m.
Filed under:
Government,
Investing
By Dow Jones Newswires
Last year Ben Bernanke was able to make up for the losses suffered in 2008 thanks, in part, to the stock market recovery he helped bring about.
The U.S. Federal Reserve chairman’s wealth rose last year, according to financial disclosure forms released Friday by the central bank. As of the end of 2009, Bernanke’s asset holdings were $1.2 million to $2.5 million, the same as in 2007. That compares with $850,000 to $1.9 million in 2008, when stocks were walloped by the worst financial crisis since the 1929 Wall Street Crash. Get the full story »
