Icahn’s Yahoo Victory; XM Gains Listeners; Gloomy Economic Outlook; Crude Gains on Tropical/Political Storms; Hasbro Beats Expectations; Corn Cut Down; Goldman Banker Summoned by Paulson; Union Asks Citi to Break Up Operations

• Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) agreed to give three spots on its board of directors to activist investor Carl Icahn, a vocal opponent of the way current Yahoo management handled a buyout offer from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT). Icahn will fill one board spot himself, while the Yahoo board will select from Icahn’s pre-approved list of nine potential candidates to fill the other two spots, Bloomberg News reported.

• XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (XMSR) yesterday (Monday) announced better than expected net subscriber gains for the second quarter, Reuters reported. XM added 322,000 new net customers during the quarter, up 17% from the same period the year prior.

• The Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators slipped 0.1% in June, MarketWatch reported. “The domestic economy is showing no sign of strength,” said Ken Goldstein, labor economist at the Conference Board. “The deep financial crisis, a prolonged, intense slump in housing, high gasoline and food prices, weak consumer confidence and a weak dollar are all combining to produce unrelenting downward pressure on economic activity.”

• Crude oil for August delivery gained $2.32 to close at $131.20 on the New York Mercantile Exchange on news of a possible hurricane and continued political tensions with Iran. “We’re watching Tropical Storm Dolly because of the strong possibility that it will strengthen and head into the Gulf,” Tom Bentz, a broker at BNP Paribas SA (OTC ADR: BNPQY) in New York, told Bloomberg News. “The meeting with Iran ended in a stalemate. There were hopes that tensions might subside, instead they are being cranked up.”

• Toymaker Hasbro Inc. (HAS) said yesterday (Monday) that second-quarter profit rose to $37.5 million, or 25 cents per share, from $4.8 million, or 3 cents per share, a year earlier. Sales jumped 13% to $784.3 million from $691.4 million. Analysts expected sales of $675.4 million, the Associated Press reported. North American sales rose 11% and international sales were up 15%.

• Corn prices sank to a seven-week low yesterday (Monday) after crops continued to rebound from last month’s flooding, an indication that some relief may be on the way for consumers who are facing higher prices for meat, dairy and other foods. December corn prices fell 17.5 cents to $6.11 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, after earlier falling to $6.03, the lowest since May 29, the Associated Press reported. Corn has plunged about 20% in the last month.

• Kendrick Wilson, a senior Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), investment banker will take a leave of absence to advise U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. on the nation’s banking crisis, Reuters reported yesterday (Monday). Wilson, a vice chairman of investment banking and chairman of Goldman’s financial institutions business, has played a key role advising banks on capital raising and reorganizations.

• American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees President Gerald McEntee sent a letter to Citigroup Inc. (C) chairman Sir Win Bischoff, Friday asking that the company break itself up. McEntee said a place to start could be to break up Citigroup into two separate entities – one for securities and investment banking, and one for retail banking, Reuters reported.

Source: Global Investing Roundups Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008