On Tuesday November 2, 2010, 6:18 pm EDT
Is GM really worth as much
as Ford right now?
DETROIT (AP) -- If
investors pay what General Motors hopes to get for its stock in a planned IPO,
they'll have to buy the logic that the company's stock-market value should be
similar to its closest competitor, Ford.
But Ford is making far more
money these days and its U.S market share is rising while GM's is falling and
its new management team has little auto industry experience.
Ford's market value --
calculated by multiplying its current share price by the total number of shares
outstanding -- is almost $50 billion.
GM's total would be close
to that if it is successful in selling a portion of its shares in an initial
public offering later this month somewhere between $26 and $29 a share. That
price range was confirmed Monday by three people briefed on the sale who asked
not to be named because a formal announcement has not yet been made.
BP's oil spill costs grow,
Gulf residents react
BILOXI, Miss. (AP) -- BP
PLC is once again reporting profits even with an estimated $40 billion price
tag for the response to its blown out well in the Gulf of Mexico.
In this waterfront city,
where many lost their livelihoods to the summer of oil, a mixture of relief and
melancholy greeted the news Tuesday. A financially healthy BP means jobs and
compensation, but residents still reeling from the worst offshore oil spill in
U.S. history are waiting for some good news of their own.
BP said that costs related
to the April 20 oil spill dragged down its third-quarter profit by more than 60
percent. The London-based company earned $1.79 billion from July through
September, compared with $5.3 billion a year earlier. But the fact that BP
returned to profits at all, coming after a loss of $17.2 billion in the second
quarter, indicated the company's operations remain solid despite the spill.
Homeownership stays at
lowest level in a decade
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The
nation's homeownership rate remained at its lowest in more than a decade,
hampered by a rise in foreclosures and weak demand for housing.
The percentage of
households that owned their homes was unchanged at 66.9 percent in the
July-September quarter, the Census Bureau said Tuesday. That's the same as the
April-June quarter.
The last time the rate was
lower was in 1999, when the rate was 66.7 percent.
Stocks rise on Election
Day, Dow near 2010 high
NEW YORK (AP) -- Major
stock indexes rose Tuesday as investors awaited the results of Congressional
elections, putting the Dow Jones industrial average near its highest point of
the year.
The Dow Jones industrial
average rose more than 60 points. The Dow has now traded above its 2010 closing
high of 11,205 four times over the past two weeks but failed to close above
that level each time.
Small companies performed
especially well. The Russell 2000, the index that tracks the performance of
smaller corporations, jumped 2 percent to 712.89. The index is up nearly 14
percent for the year, roughly double the return of the Dow and the broad
Standard and Poor's 500 index.
Pfizer 3Q profit down 70
percent due to charges
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer
Inc.'s mega-acquisition of Wyeth boosted its third-quarter revenue 39 percent,
but hefty charges and a higher tax rate, both related to that $68 billion
purchase, dragged its profit down 70 percent, the company said Tuesday.
The New York-based maker of
cholesterol blockbuster Lipitor and impotence pill Viagra posted net income of
$866 million, or 11 cents per share. That's down from $2.88 billion, or 43
cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding one-time items
totaling $3.51 billion, or 43 cents a share, the world's largest pharmaceutical
company by revenue said net income would have been $4.37 billion, or 54 cents
per share. That topped Wall Street expectations by 3 cents.
Battle begins in
business-software square-off
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- A
battle between two of the world's biggest makers of business software hinges on
the value of a trove of millions of stolen customer-support documents.
In its first pitch to a
federal jury Tuesday, Oracle Corp. said archrival SAP AG's plundering of
password-protected Oracle websites dealt a $2 billion blow to Oracle's
business.
The attacks on Oracle's
resources at times seemed ham-handed.
The jury trial is expected
to last six weeks.
MasterCard posts 3Q profit
jump of 15 percent
NEW YORK (AP) -- MasterCard
Inc. on Tuesday said increased use of credit and debit cards, especially
overseas, helped lift its third-quarter profit by 15 percent.
The payments processor
recorded a net income of $518 million, or $3.94 per share, for the three months
ended Sept. 30. That compares with $452 million, or $3.45 per share, in the
year-ago quarter.
Revenue rose 5 percent to
$1.43 billion, from $1.36 billion last year.
Analysts polled by Thomson
Reuters, on average, were expecting profit of $3.54 per share, on revenue of
$1.41 billion.
Court hears arguments on
violent video games
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The
Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed sympathy for a California law that aims to
keep children from buying ultra-violent video games in which players maim, kill
or sexually assault images of people.
But justices seemed closely
split on whether the restrictions are constitutional.
The high court has been
reluctant to carve out exceptions to the First Amendment, striking down a ban
on videos showing graphic violence to animals earlier this year.
Weak cereal sales dampen
Kellogg's 3Q results
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) --
Kellogg Co. said Tuesday that a drop in cereal sales, intense competition and
the lingering impact of some of the largest food recalls in the company's
history have made 2010 a difficult and disappointing year.
The world's largest cereal
maker hopes to regain its momentum in 2011, but executives said they are being
pragmatic in their expectations.
Kellogg's third-quarter net
income fell 6 percent and the company issued a cautious 2011 forecast that sent
shares down Tuesday.
Toyota asks court to
dismiss acceleration lawsuits
NEW YORK (AP) -- Toyota
Motor Corp. asked a federal court to throw out lawsuits over acceleration
defects in its cars, saying many of the plaintiffs never identified any defect
or experienced sudden, unintended acceleration.
The automaker filed its
motion in court Monday.
Hundreds of lawsuits were
filed against Toyota after the company started recalling millions of vehicles
because of acceleration problems in several models and brake defects with the
Prius hybrid.
By The Associated Press
The Dow Jones industrial
average rose 64.10, or 0.6 percent, to close at 11,188.72. It reached its
closing high of 11,205.03 on April 26.
The broader Standard &
Poor's 500 index rose 9.19, or 0.8 percent, to 1,193.57. The S&P 500, which
is more closely watched than the Dow by professional investors, is also still below
its 2010 high of 1,217.28, reached on April 23.
The Nasdaq composite index
rose 28.68, or 1.1 percent, to 2,533.52.
Benchmark crude for
December delivery rose 95 cents to settle at $83.90 a barrel on the New York
Mercantile Exchange.
In other Nymex trading in
December contracts, heating oil added 1.59 cents to settle at $2.2936 a gallon,
gasoline gained 1.67 cents to settle at $2.1096 a gallon and natural gas rose
3.8 cents to settle at $3.870 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude rose
79 cents to settle at $85.41 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.