Posts tagged ‘Reuters Before The Bell’

Welcome to the Reuters Before the Bell news mail.

Wachovia has apparently dashed any hope that today’s batch of earnings releases can help Wall Street forget yesterday’s disappointing outlooks from Apple, Texas Instruments and American Express.

Instead, Wachovia’s news of a big loss, job cuts and a much lower dividend has underscored those pervasive worries about the financial sector, and stock futures are pointing down.

Strong results from Caterpillar are failing to disperse the bad vibes.

The dollar is mired near record lows against the euro, while U.S. Treasuries are higher.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is speaking on markets and the economy, while Philly Fed President Charles Plosser will discuss the economic outlook.

On the data front, look for housing figures and the Richmond Fed’s manufacturing and services indexes.

Oil prices are holding steady. Tropical Storm Dolly doesn’t look like much of a threat to U.S. production, and experts say it’s too early to say whether last week’s record slide is over.

There might be more news about Roche’s offer to buy the remaining stake of Genentech, since the two companies are meeting today.

Meanwhile, Brocade has sewn up a deal to buy data equipment maker Foundry Networks for about $3 billion.

Until tomorrow,

Lisa Von Ahn
News Mail Editor

Welcome to the Reuters Before the Bell news mail.

The government’s plans to stabilize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could only temporarily distract Wall Street from its longstanding jitters about the financial sector. Stock futures are pointing down as investors fret over IndyMac’s collapse last week and worry about the future of other banks.

With that sort of backdrop, the appearances of Fed chief Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and SEC Chairman Christopher Cox before the Senate Banking Committee should be interesting, to say the least.

The dollar has hit a record low against the euro and is down against an index of major currencies. Gold and U.S. Treasuries, on the other hand, are doing pretty well as some of the favored destinations in the flight to safety. Read more »

Welcome to the Reuters Before the Bell news mail.

Megamergers and soothing congressional testimony from the likes of Fed chief Ben Bernanke don’t come along every day, as Wall Street is painfully aware. Stock futures are pointing down as the glow from yesterday’s news fades and the focus returns to the latest installment of the credit crisis.

The New York Times says that if problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac get worse, the U.S. government might take over the mortgage financiers in a plan that would leave shareholders with nothing.

And earlier today, oil hit another record high – $145.98 a barrel – on worries over supply disruptions from Iran and Nigeria, as well as the threat of a strike in Brazil next week.

General Electric’s reassuring quarterly results, which might have moved the market higher on another day, failed to penetrate the overall gloom, although they did boost the company’s stock.

The dollar is steady against an index of major currencies. U.S. Treasuries are mixed.

Two more chemical companies are looking to tie the knot. Ashland is buying Hercules in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $2.6 billion.

Several pieces of data are on the way, including the international trade deficit and import-export prices.

There will also be a report on consumer sentiment. It may not be all that bad, given that people are lining up for the new version of Apple’s iPhone, which is going on sale today.

Until Monday,

Lisa Von Ahn

News Mail Editor

Taken from the source : Reuters Before the Bell