Primary Fund “Breaks the Buck;” Samsung’s Hostile Bid; Gold Shines; Oil Rebounds; Construction Slowest in 17 years; Barclays Could Buy More Lehman Assets; GE and Google Go Green; Wachovia Reaches Out to Morgan Stanley

• The Reserve’s Primary Fund (RFIXX), one of the largest and oldest U.S. money market funds was forced to place a 7-day freeze on redemptions when its net asset value (NAV) fell below $1. The fund’s shares dropped to 97 cents as its $785 million holding of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEH) debt has been valued at zero, The Reserve said, MarketWatch reported.

• SanDisk Corp. (SNDK) stock surged almost 40% after Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. made a $5.85 billion hostile takeover offer for the memory-device maker. SanDisk shares surged $5.88 to close at $20.92 yesterday (Wednesday).

• The price of gold skyrocketed yesterday (Wednesday) posting its biggest one-day gain ever in dollar terms. Gold for December delivery rose as much as $90.40, or 11.6%, to $870.90 an ounce in after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after jumping $70 to settle at $850.50 in the regular session, The Associated Press reported.

• Oil ended its slump yesterday (Wednesday) shooting up $6 a barrel after a week and a half of substantial declines. Light, sweet crude for October delivery rose $6.01, or 6.59 percent, to settle at $97.16 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices slid more than $5 to close at $91.15 on Tuesday.

• Construction of new homes grew at the weakest pace in 17 years in August, dropping 6.2% the Commerce Department reported. Building permits, an indicator of future activity, dropped 8.9% for the month to an annual rate of 854,000 units.

• Barclays PLC (ADR: BCS) said yesterday (Wednesday) that it could acquire more Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEH) assets to expand its presence in Europe and Asia. “We wouldn’t want to miss the opportunity to add some of the talent from the U.K. and Europe to the team,” Barclays President Robert D. Diamond Jr. said in a conference call with analysts, The Associated Press reported. “It would most typically be where Lehman has a strong position and BarCap (Barclays Capital) a weak position.”

• General Electric Co. (GE) and Google Inc. (GOOG) announced (Wednesday) they would jointly lobby for alternative energy. GE’s Jeffrey Immelt and Google’s Eric Schmidt said at a public event that the companies would team up on a “policy partnership” in Washington intended to promote “tomorrow’s power generation, transmission and distribution,” MarketWatch reported.

• Wachovia Corp. (WB) is considering a possible merger with Morgan Stanley (MS), one of the last two big independent brokerage firms. Morgan Stanley chief executive, John J. Mack, received a telephone call yesterday (Wednesday) from Wachovia expressing interest in the Wall Street investment bank, The New York Times reported. Wachovia declined to comment.

Source: Global Investing Roundups Thursday, September 18th, 2008