IBM acquires AT&T’s Sterling Commerce unit
IBM said Monday that it has agreed to acquire AT&T’s Sterling Commerce unit for $1.4 billion in cash.
Ohio-based Sterling makes technology that helps companies to do business with other companies. Its “business-to-business” software is used to automate processes such as the purchase or raw materials or the replenished of depleted inventory. About 80% [...]
Hewlett-Packard Profits Soar On Strong PC Sales
Hewlett-Packard on Tuesday reported that profits in the second fiscal quarter rose 28%, as consumers and businesses continued to spend more on computers.
Technology sector stocks saw mild gains Wednesday morning thanks to strength from the chip sector as well as Hewlett-Packard Co.., which posted a strong earnings report the previous afternoon.
Those gains offset [...]
$63.6 million Legg Masson profits gain in Q4
Legg Mason Inc. said late Monday that it swung to a fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $63.6 million, or 39 cents a share, from a loss of $330.2 million, or $2.33 a share, in the year-ago period. Total operating revenue rose to $671.4 million from $617.2 million a year ago. Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research [...]
SEC, US Exchange officials agree to do something
The Securities and Exchange Commission said regulators and U.S. exchanges have agreed on a conceptual plan to strengthen circuit breakers and error trade policies in response to last week’s stock market plunge.
Many knowledgeable critics of high-frequency trading have fingered the blindingly fast trades made possible by automated computer programs for losses of about $1 [...]
High-speed trading to blame for plunge, says NYSE
“We have a market that responds in milliseconds, but the humans monitoring respond in minutes, and unfortunately billions of dollars of damage can occur in the meantime,” said James Angel, a professor of finance at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.
The glitch that sent markets tumbling Thursday was years in the making, driven [...]
Paulson’s Wall Street Reform Proposals
Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson outlined a number of “suggestions” Thursday to fix the nation’s broken financial system and the outdated regulatory regime overseeing it, including reforming the derivatives trade, the securitization process, the credit rating agencies and lessening the reliance on megabanks.
“Our financial system cannot move forward without fortifying the weak parts of its [...]
Euro weakens against Dollar as ECB doesn’t discuss bond purchases
The euro slumped to its weakest level in almost 14 months against the dollar as European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said the bank didn’t discuss government bond purchases as the region’s fiscal crisis spreads.
“There’s no let-up in concerns that the euro zone debt crisis could continue to worsen and as a result equity [...]
Warren Buffett defends Goldman Sachs
“I haven’t seen anything in Goldman’s behavior that makes it any more subject to criticism than Wall Street generally,” Buffett said at a news conference yesterday, the report said. He explicitly addressed Abacus, the deal at the center of the SEC’s lawsuit against Goldman: “I have no problem with that Abacus transaction. If there [...]
Exxon Mobil profit climbs 38%, misses Street
Exxon Mobil on Thursday said its first-quarter profit climbed 38% on rising prices, while production rose 4.5% on contributions from mega-projects such as its Qatar liquid natural gas complex.
The Irving, Texas oil giant said it benefitted from higher crude oil prices and stronger chemical margins, while its downstream business remained
Exxon Mobil’s earnings for [...]
