Existing Home Sales Rise, But Miss Estimates; Boeing Shares Plummet; Automakers Get $8 Billion for Fuel Efficiency; Sprint CFO Not Concerned About Pre Shortages; Kroger Beats the Street; MySpace Lays Off 300 More; Best Buy Testing Used Game Waters; Madoff’s Lawyer Pleads for Leniency

There’s a lot of figures in the news being tossed around about the smartphone market, and while it may be difficult to make sense of it all, one thing is clear: The market is growing at a rapid pace, and will soon take over conventional mobile phones as the device of choice among consumers and corporate users alike.

Freddie Mac’s Grim Quarter; Sprint Swings to 2Q Loss; Time Warner Could Dump AOL; Lonmin Rejects Xstrata Offer; Ambac Posts Record Net Profit; Playboy Stripped of Earnings; Oil Prices Continue Slide

As investors, we can rejoice in the work ethic of Asian companies, as well as their inventive technology and presence in some of the world’s greatest growth markets. But there’s one “bad habit” that Asian management just can’t seem to shake and it’s one investors need to look out for: Trying to build businesses in the United States, and devoting huge amounts of shareholder resources in the process.Nomura Holdings Inc. (ADR: NMR), the Japanese investment bank, is a good example of this bad habit. On Tuesday, Nomura reported a loss for the quarter ended June 30 of $770 million (84.3 billion yen) due to a write-down of $575 million (63.1 billion yen) on its exposure to monoline insurance companies. Nomura…

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