Global Investing Roundups Friday, December 12th, 2008
Dec 12th, 2008 | By William Patalon III | Category: Financial NewsSouth Africa Cuts Interest Rates; BlackRock Cans 500; Empire Co. Posts 13% Profit; KB Toys Files for Bankruptcy; Citi and UBS to Buy Back $30 Billion in Securities; Bank of America to Cut 35,000 Jobs
- South Africa’s central bank cut a half-percentage point from its benchmark interest rate, marking the country’s first interest rate reduction in more than three years, Bloomberg reported. The growing global crisis, rising unemployment and falling commodity prices are hampering growth for the emerging economy.
- Asset manager BlackRock Inc. (BLK) cut 500 jobs, Chief Executive Laurence Fink said Thursday. Many of the job losses were part-time employees, Reuters reported. BlackRock is the largest publicly traded U.S. asset manager.
- Second-quarter profit rose 13% for Empire Co., owner of Canada’s second-largest supermarket chain. Net income rose $53.6 million and revenue increased 7% for the three months through Nov. 1, Bloomberg reported.
- KB Toys Inc. yesterday (Thursday) filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in four years and plans to hold going-out-of business sales at its stores immediately. The 86-year-old company said in a filing that its debt is “directly attributable to a sudden and sharp decline in consumer sales,” an indication of how poor this holiday season has been for many retailers.
- Light, sweet crude for January delivery yesterday (Thursday) rose $4.46 to settle at $47.98 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil spiked 12% earlier in the day approaching $49 a barrel.
- Citigroup Inc. (C) and UBS AG (UBS) yesterday (Thursday) agreed to buy back a total of nearly $30 billion in risky auction-rate securities that the Securities and Exchange Commission said the banks marketed to customers as safe. Tens of thousands of the customers bought the auction-rate securities before the $330 billion market froze in mid-February, the SEC said.
- Bank of America Corp. (BAC) said yesterday (Thursday) that it plans to cut up to 35,000 jobs over the next three years. The bank said the reductions are aimed at eliminating redundancies resulting from its merger with Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. (MER), as well as the recessionary environment.
Source: Global Investing Roundups Friday, December 12th, 2008
Advertisement
Simply by "Repatriating" the World's Hottest Currencies!
Peter Schiff – outspoken analyst and president of Euro Pacific Capital – has found a wildly profitable "loophole" in the global currency markets. It allows you to easily "repatriate" the hottest foreign currencies into your personal bank account… automatically. When the transactions hit, you can make money. It's that simple.
For details on how you can use Schiff's technique to turn $8,000 into $80,000 every year, like clockwork, please CLICK HERE now.
William (Bill) Patalon III is the Managing Editor and Senior Research Analyst for Money Morning, and is also the Managing Editor for The Money Map Report. Patalon's work has appeared in Kiplinger's personal finance magazine, USA Today, and The South China Morning Post, among other publications.
