According to Reuters, and other news services, this merger saga has been closely watched both on Wall Street and inside the Beltway.

Ostensibly, the deal means that the aggregate subscriber base of more than 18 million will be able to receive programming from either service.

“I think this merger is in the public interest and will ultimately benefit consumers,” FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told reporters.

FCC commissioners voted 3-2 to approve the merger, though also stipulating that the companies much meet a series of consumer-protection conditions. The companies must:

• Cap prices for three years.
• Pay $19.7 million for past FCC regulatory violations.
• And set aside 8% of their channel capacity for minority and non-commercial programming.

The companies also will have to make available to consumers radios that receive both Sirius and XM. As part of the order, the FCC also will conduct an inquiry into whether it should require that all satellite radios be built with technology that allows them to also receive so-called “HD” signals – the high definition terrestrial radio signals that are available when listening to some stations on the AM or FM bands.

According to the FCC’s Martin, the conditions imposed on the merger will make sure that customers will be able to listen to the best offerings from each service, and also will push for a low-priced programming package in which customers can choose from both services.

Source: FCC Approves Sirius-XM Satellite Radio Merger Late Friday

• Wachovia Corp. (WB) said yesterday (Tuesday) that it lost $8.86 billion in the second quarter and would be forced to slash its dividend and cut 10,750 jobs. Wachovia said it lost the equivalent of $4.20 per share in the April-June period. Over the same period of time last year, the bank earned $2.34 billion, or $1.22 per share.

• Caterpillar Inc.’s (CAT) second-quarter profit jumped 34%, $1.11 billion, or $1.74 per share, for the three months ended June 30, compared with $823 million, or $1.24 per share, a year earlier. While the domestic market falter overseas sales for the company increased 60% of quarterly sales and revenue coming from outside North America, up from 55% a year earlier.

• The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said yesterday (Tuesday) that U.S. home prices fell a record 4.8% in May from the same month last year. On a seasonally adjusted basis, prices fell 0.3% from April to May. The index is down almost 5% from its peak in April of last year, the Associated Press reported.

• United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) said yesterday (Tuesday) that its profit fell nearly 21% in the second quarter despite a more than 6% increase in sales. Profit was $873 million, or 85 cents a share, in the second quarter, compared to $1.10 billion, or $1.04 a share, for the same period a year ago. Revenue grew to $13 billion from $12.2 billion. “We’re feeling the impact of higher energy costs throughout the company,” Chief Executive Scott Davis told the Associated Press.

• Two out of the 12 Federal Reserve directors wanted an increase in the discount rate in June, according to documents released yesterday (Tuesday). Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher and Kansas City Fed President Tom Hoenig asked that the discount rate be raised from 2.25% to 2.50% in June, MarketWatch reported, a request that was ignored by the majority of the Federal Open Market Committee.

• Light, sweet crude for August delivery fell $3.09, hitting a six-week trading low yesterday (Tuesday). On their last day of trading, August delivery contracts settled at $127.95 a barrel in afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, CNNMoney reported. September delivery contracts, which begin trading today (Wednesday), are priced at $128.42.

• UAL Corp. (UAUA), parent of United Air Lines Inc., yesterday (Tuesday) announced a new credit-card/frequent flyer agreement that would boost liquidity $1.2 billion, Reuters reported. The news, helped along by lower oil prices, pushed UAL stock up over 65% for the day with a gain of $3.42 to close at $8.41.

• Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps voted against the proposed merger between Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (SIRI) and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (XMSR) late Monday night, The Wall Street Journal reported. It’s the first vote against the deal, as two commissioners have voted for it and two others have yet to vote. The deal must receive majority approval from the five-member FCC board to proceed.

Source: Global Investing Roundups Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

• 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

NEW HIGHS OF NOTE LAST WEEK

Halliburton (HAL)… oil services
Patterson-UTI (PTEN)… oil services
Carbo Ceramics (CRR)… oil services
Atwood Oceanics (ATW)… oil services
Key Energy Services (KEG)… oil services
National Oilwell Varco (NOV)… oil services
Spectra Energy (SE)… gas pipelines
U.S. Steel (X)… you guessed it
Schnitzer Steel (SCHN)… scrap steel
Fluor (FLR)… infrastructure
Quanta Services (PWR)… infrastructure
Crude oil, Natural gas, Gasoline, Corn, Soybeans, Cocoa

NEW LOWS OF NOTE LAST WEEK

JetBlue (JBLU)… airline
US Airways (LCC)… airline
Continental Airline (CAL)… airline
MGM Mirage (MGM)… casinos
Boyd Gaming (BYD)… casinos
Wynn Resorts (WYNN)… casinos
Las Vegas Sands (LVS)… casinos
Monarch Casinos (MCRI)… casinos
Winnebago (WGO)… RVs
Thor Industries (THO)… RVs
Fleetwood Enterprises (FLE)… RVs
Goodyear Tire (GT)… tires
News Corp (NWS)… media
Hershey (HSY)… candy
Playboy (PLA)… eye candy
American Express (AXP)… credit cards
Capital One Financial (COF)… credit cards
International Gaming (IGT)… gambling machines
Circuit City (CC)… landfill stuffing continues to suffer
Veolia Environnement (VE)… world’s largest water stock
Honeywell (HON)… conglomerate
General Electric (GE)… conglomerate
United Technologies (UTX)… conglomerate
XM Satellite Radio (XMSR)… satellite radio
Legg Mason (LM)… asset management
Callaway Golf (ELY)… golf equipment
Whole Foods (WFMI)… expensive groceries
General Motors (GM)… read the letter from the Chairman
Lead, Nickel

Source: Brian Hunt’s Market Notes Monday, June 30, 2008

• Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC) announced Monday that it bought Long Island daily newspaper Newsday for $650 million, a deal Cablevision hopes will profit through cross marketing and advertising in cable and newspaper operations, Reuters reported. Cablevision – which also owns TV networks AMC and IFC, venues such as Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden and sports teams New York Knicks and New York Rangers – recently announced it would buy the Sundance Channel for $496 million.

• Brazil’s government announced it will launch a sovereign wealth fund and offer more than $12.8 billion in tax cuts to boost the economy, Bloomberg reported. Called the Productive Development Policy Package, the plan hopes to increase exports and bolster infrastructure.  “We need to invest more and better,” Trade Minister Miguel Jorge said in a speech yesterday (Monday). “Investing better is nothing but taking a big leap in terms of the quality of our industrial matrix.”

• Oil prices hit a record high for the sixth straight trading day yesterday (Monday), before receding slightly. Light, sweet crude for June delivery jumped to a new record of $126.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the Associated Press reported. Retail gas prices rose to a record $3.718 a gallon according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.

• Consumer prices in China for the month of April were 8.5% higher than last year, the country’s National Bureau of Statistics reported. April inflation was driven by a 22.1% jump in food prices, the Associated Press reported.

• Despite a jump in revenue and subscribers, XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.(XMSR) reported a first-quarter net loss of $129.3 million, compared with loss of $122.4 million year ago. Revenue was $308.5 million, up 17% from a year ago. The company picked up 355,000 new customers through deals with auto manufacturers. It lost 51,000 retail customers. XM ended the quarter with 9.3 million subscribers.

• Shares of Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM), maker of the popular BlackBerry device, climbed 7% yesterday (Monday) after the firm revealed its new 3G version. The stock gained $9.20 to close at $141.97. The BlackBerry Bold will be released later this summer, MarketWatch reported.

• Shares of Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS) soared 28% before having trading suspended late in the day yesterday (Monday). The tech stock gained $5.27 to close at $24.13 on news reports that Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) could be announcing plans to buy the business solutions tech firm.

• An announcement that Clear Channel Communications Inc. (CCU) was trying to come to a settlement with banks that backed out on its planned $19.4 billion privation sent the stock up almost 10% yesterday (Monday). Shares gained $2.87 to close at $32.87.