Finance - Full Closing Bell for Monday, July 20, 1998
America Online Inc. (AOL)
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)
AMERICA ONLINE INC. said its Digital City Inc. unit has expanded into 12 additional U.S. cities. Digital City now operates community guides in 50 U.S. markets and reaches about 3 mln viewers per month, AOL said. Rivals, such as MICROSOFT CORP's Sidewalk.com, currently operate in 10 U.S. cities, while CitySearch offers local listings for 11 U.S. cities, one in Canada and two in Australia, according to their web sites. CitySearch has financial backing from Barry Diller's USA NETWORKS INC. (Reuters 12:19 PM ET 07/20/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555160652-fde>
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Charles Schwab Corp (SCH)
CHARLES SCHWAB CORP soared on Friday on speculation the discount brokerage company would merge with an investment bank and after the company reported strong second quarter earnings. Speculation about a merger between Schwab and CFSB BANCORP INC. arose after a story in the European version of the Wall Street Journal describing a recent agreement between the two companies in the fixed income area. Schwab will have preferred underwriting or selling group participation in CS First Boston-led primary debt offerings, the article said. (Reuters 07:23 PM ET 07/17/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555122107-4f2>
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Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO)
Lucent Technologies (LU)
LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES said late Sunday it plans to acquire Australian telecommunications equipment maker JNA Telecommunications for $70 million (A$114 million) in cash. In a statement, Murray Hill, N.J.-based Lucent said the acquisition would effectively double Lucent's design and development, sales and service capabilities in the Australian telecommunications market. The deal is believed to have followed a bidding war between Lucent and CISCO SYSTEMS INC, The Australian Financial Review newspaper reported. (Reuters 12:34 AM ET 07/20/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555153826-854>
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Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO)
Intel Corporation (INTC)
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)
CISCO SYSTEMS INC and MICROSOFT CORP said they had agreed to extend their technology alliance to cover systems for delivering multimedia voice and video over computer networks. Cisco and Microsoft said that over the next few months, they will announce additional details on how so-called "streaming media" technologies from the companies will be made to interoperate on corporate computer networks. It builds on existing partnership among Cisco, Microsoft and INTEL CORP, who joined forces in March 1997 to promote the widespread adoption of multimedia network standards and technologies. (Reuters 02:41 PM ET 07/20/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555162092-c79>
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Dell Computer Corp (DELL)
CORRECTED BY REUTERS: In AUSTIN story headed "DELL COMPUTER CORP sees no cuts in stock buybacks" please read in first paragraph "...Tom Meredith, the company's chief financial officer..." instead of "...chief executive officer." (correcting title). (Reuters 07:48 PM ET 07/17/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555122321-82d>
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Duke Energy Corporation (DUK)
DUKE ENERGY Transport and Trading Company has signed a letter of intent to purchase certain U.S.-based crude oil transportation and marketing operations from DYNEGY INC. The sale is expected to close by the end of the 3Q. Under the agreement, Duke Energy will acquire Dynegy's crude oil pipeline, gathering and marketing business in Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana. Dynegy's crude oil operations in Canada are not affected by the transaction. (PR Newswire 01:03 PM ET 07/20/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555161167-ac2>
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General Electric Company (GE)
ELECTRIC FUEL CORP. and GENERAL ELECTRIC CO announced plans to jointly develop a new all-electric, battery/battery hybrid propulsion system for powering electric buses and heavy duty trucks. The first application for the system will be an all electric, zero emission, full size transit bus. The two companies have recently been awarded funding from the Israeli-U.S. Bi-national Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation for the joint development of the electric propulsion system. (PR Newswire 09:02 AM ET 07/20/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555158990-72d>
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General Electric Company (GE)
Television networks are likely to see major ownership changes as they face rising program costs and a hotly competitive market, a NBC executive said late Sunday. Warren Littlefield, president of programming wing NBC Entertainment, responded to recent published reports that parent GENERAL ELECTRIC CO was seeking a partner for NBC "I don't know exactly what will happen," Last week the Los Angeles Times reported that Welch and Barry Diller, chairman of USA NETWORKS INC, had recently discussed merging NBC and USA . While those talks reportedly broke down over who would control NBC, other reports surfaced that VIACOM INC and SONY CORP had also talked to GE about acquiring interests in NBC. (Reuters 07:14 PM ET 07/19/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555150175-b88>
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General Electric Company (GE)
GE CAPITAL SERVICES has agreed to acquire Warsaw-based Polish American Mortgage Bank S.A. from Wielkopolski Bank Kredytowy (WBK) and the Polish-American Enterprise Fund. Sale of the Polish mortgage institution is subject to regulatory approval. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Last year, Polish American Mortgage Bank generated $260 million in mortgage originations. (PR Newswire 01:09 PM ET 07/20/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555161216-d1f>
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General Electric Company (GE)
GENERAL ELECTRIC CO said it has combined GE Electrical Distribution and Control and GE Industrial Control Systems to form GE Industrial Systems, a business with annual revenues of about $5 billion. The company said Lloyd Trotter has been named president and chief executive officer of GE Industrial Systems and has been promoted to the position of senior vice president at GE. Trotter, formerly president and CEO of GE Electrical Distribution and Control, is a founder and chairman of the African American Forum at GE and serves as GE's representative to America's Promise, the volunteerism initiative started by Gen. Colin Powell. (Reuters 01:57 PM ET 07/20/98)
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General Electric Company (GE)
C/NET and NBC said that NBC executives had joined the senior management team of Snap! In June, NBC, a unit of GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. bought a 4.99% equity stake in CNET for $26 mln. As part of that deal, NBC acquired 19% ownership in Snap! Snap! said Edmond Sanctis has been named COO of the service. Initially, Snap! will be 81% owned by CNET with NBC retaining the option to increase its ownership stake in Snap! to 60%. Key NBC executives have assumed five seats on the Snap! board of directors, comprising the majority of the board. (Reuters 03:50 PM ET 07/20/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555162764-942>
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IBM (IBM)
IBM is expected to show tepid year-to-year growth in its 2Q results amid the economic slowdown in Asia, sales declines at its troubled personal computer business and a transition for its mainframe business. Offsetting these risks will be growth in IBM's fast-paced services business, revenues are nearly a third of IBM's total and rising faster than 20% a year, along with solid gains in software, data-storage and mid-range computer systems. The world's largest computer maker plans to report 2Q results after the close of regular trading. (Reuters 03:26 PM ET 07/19/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555147423-100>
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IBM (IBM)
After market close, IBM reported 2Q EPS of $1.50 vs $1.43 on revenues of $18.82 bln vs $18.87 bln last year. Analysts' mean estimates were $1.49, according to First Call. (Reuters 04:47 PM ET 07/20/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555163447-711>
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Lucent Technologies (LU)
LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES confirmed it had won a $699 million mobile telephone contract in Saudi Arabia. Saudi newspapers said Saudi Telecommunications Co. had awarded Lucent the contract to expand the mobile telephone network. "I can confirm that we have won a contract," a spokesman for Lucent's wireless networks group said. "I can confirm it is worth $699 million." Saudi Arabia's al-Hayat newspaper said, "The new lines will cover all areas of the country, including regions where the service has not yet been launched." (Reuters 01:20 PM ET 07/20/98)
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Lucent Technologies (LU)
LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES shares surged more than 6% to a new record high amid positive earnings expectations, a new contract and rumors that another stock split may be imminent, analysts said. "I think it's (the stock's gain) more in anticipation of earnings...These guys don't trade on contract announcements these days. I think it's more earnings related," said Gregory Geiling, a telecommunications equipment analyst with J.P. Morgan. In addition to the bullish earnings expectations, some analysts said investors were buying shares on rumors that Lucent may split its stock again now that it has crossed the $100 a share level. (Reuters 03:03 PM ET 07/20/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555162704-8fa>
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MCI Communications Corporation (MCIC)
Telecommunicaoes Brasileiras Sa (TBR)
The Rio de Janeiro Stock Exchange set up rooms to accommodate companies that will participate in the July 29 auction of the 12 companies spun off from TELECOMMUNICAOES BRASILEIRAS SA, it said late Friday. "We will provide the rooms so that participating consortia will be able to watch the auction right from the bolsa, and not in brokerage houses away from the action," Carlos Alberto Azevedo said. There are 14 rooms with 150 square meters of space each, loacted on four floors in the bolsa's building, he said. The auction is expected to last over five hours because it will be conducted in several steps, he added. Among the 12 companies that have signed up for rooms so far are MCI COMMUNICATIONS, SPRINT CORP and FRANCE TELECOM. (Reuters 07:26 PM ET 07/17/98)
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Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)
Pressure tactics by MICROSOFT CORP often led computer maker Acer America Corp. to use the software giant's products instead of its competitors', according to a former Acer product manager. Ricardo Correa said in a series of interviews with Reuters that in making three separate software decisions, Acer opted to put Microsoft applications on its consumer line of computers to satisfy Microsoft. Acer and Microsoft denied Correa's claims and said the charges come from a disgruntled employee. (Reuters 10:17 AM ET 07/19/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555144475-f05>
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Motorola Inc. (MOT)
MOTOROLA INC is expected to unveil on Tuesday long-awaited digital wireless phones, seen as key to a recovery for the struggling technology giant, analysts said. The company is holding a media luncheon with management on Tuesday and said it would introduce new products. A spokeswoman for Motorola declined to give specifics about the product announcements. Analysts, however, said they expected Motorola to unveil its popular tiny, pager-sized StarTAC phones for more digital networks in an effort to catch up with rivals. Motorola is also expected to show new phones for GSM digital networks, common in Europe. (Reuters 03:58 PM ET 07/18/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555134024-e12>
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Motorola Inc. (MOT)
MOTOROLA INC and ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES INC said they have formed what they called a "far-reaching" strategic alliance and technology exchange for the development of advanced, faster semiconductors. In a seven-year agreement, Motorola will license its copper process technology, which will be used to manufacture faster chips using copper instead of aluminum, to AMD. The companies will also collaborate on developing future process technologies including copper which will be used to develop faster microprocessors for Motorola's PowerPC processors and AMD's Intel compatible chip family. In return, AMD will license its flash-memory technology to Motorola and the two will co-develop process technology to created embedded flash memory chips. (Reuters 02:44 PM ET 07/20/98)
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Philip Morris Companies Inc. (MO)
A federal judge ruled late Friday that the EPA made procedural and scientific mistakes when it declared in a 1993 report that secondhand cigarette smoke caused as many as 3,000 cancer deaths a year among nonsmokers, the Wall Street Journal reported. The landmark report was considered critical in helping to launch an era in which hundreds of municipalities nationwide passed full or partial bans on smoking indoors. In the ruling, NC District Judge William Osteen held that EPA officials made significant mistakes when the agency brought together scientists to study secondhand smoke, the New York newspaper reported. (Reuters 03:24 AM ET 07/20/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555154926-04f>
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Telecommunicaoes Brasileiras Sa (TBR)
A group of Brazilian labor unions opposed to the privatization of TELECOMMUNICAOES BRASILEIRAS SA are preparing nearly 100 lawsuits to have the July 29 sale suspended, a union leader said. "Starting Monday, we will present civil lawsuits in almost all of the states and in the Supreme Federal Tribunal in Brasilia," Luiz Antonio Souza da Silva, head of Brazil's Telecommunications Workers' Federation, Fittel, told Reuters. Fittel is an umbrella union for workers in Brazil's telecommunications industry, which represents nearly 70% of the 86,000 workers of Telebras. It is linked to the country's largest leftist union CUT. (Reuters 07:28 PM ET 07/17/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555122148-841>
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Telecommunicaoes Brasileiras Sa (TBR)
With less than two weeks to go before its huge privatisation, Brazil's TELECOMMUNICAOES BRASILEIRAS SA is still struggling with about one billion reais ($870 million) in debt, its president revealed on Saturday. The debt, which is equivalent to 5% of Telebras' revenues in 1997, will be passed on to investors participating in Latin America's largest ever privatisation, Fernando Xavier Ferreira told Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper in an interview. The debt was mostly concentrated in the three fixed-lines and Embratel, Xavier told Folha. "The size of these debts are absolutely normal for a company which earned 20 billion reais ($17.4 billion) last year," Xavier said. (Reuters 11:22 AM ET 07/18/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555131581-42b>
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Travelers Group Inc. (TRV)
TRAVELERS GROUP INC. reported 2Q EPS of $0.95 vs $0.73 in the prior year period, on revenue of $10.096 mln vs $9.184. Analysts' mean estimates were $0.77, according to First Call. (Reuters 08:38 AM ET 07/20/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555158168-939> and also full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555158366-0a0>
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Warner Lambert Company (WLA)
WARNER LAMBERT reported 2Q EPS of $0.40 vs. $0.28 per share in the prior year, on revenues of $2.56 bln vs. $1.97 bln in 1997. Analysts' mean estimates were $0.37, according to First Call. (Reuters 07:10 AM ET 07/20/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555157139-dc6>
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Warner Lambert Company (WLA)
WARNER LAMBERT CO delivered a solid upside surprise by reporting profits vaulted to $338 mln in the 2Q, a 46% gain due to surging sales of two newer drugs. Two prescription drugs launched in early 1997 worked most of the earnings magic, cholesterol-lowering agent Lipitor and Rezulin. Worldwide sales of Lipitor more than tripled to $533 mln for the quarter. Sales of Rezulin, meanwhile, almost tripled to $226 mln compared with the 1997 quarter, the company said. (Reuters 09:44 AM ET 07/20/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555158869-1c8>
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Warner Lambert Company (WLA)
FOREST LABS and WARNER LAMBERT said the FDA has approved the marketing of Celexa, an anti-depressant drug. Pharmaceutical analysts expect U.S. sales of the drug to be about $600 mln a year after two-three years on the market. Forest said Celexa is the best-selling depression treatment drug in 13 countries, including eight in Europe. Forest said it has U.S. marketing rights to Celexa, and will co-promote it with Parke-Davis, a division of Warner-Lambert. In 1998, the U.S. market for antidepressants is expected to reach $6 bln, Forest said. (Reuters 11:27 AM ET 07/20/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555160062-bda>
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Warner Lambert Company (WLA)
Standard & Poor's raised its corporate credit, senior unsecured debt, and bank loan ratings for WARNER LAMBERT CO to double-'A' from double-'A'-minus. The rating on the company's shelf debt was raised to preliminary double-'A' from preliminary double-'A'-minus. The top-tier commercial paper rating was affirmed at 'A-1'-plus. The outlook is now stable. The rating upgrades on Warner-Lambert's long-term debt reflect the company's increasingly broad and profitable prescription pharmaceuticals business; diversity provided by well established over-the-counter drugs, confectionery, and other franchises; and moderate use of debt financing. (Reuters 12:18 PM ET 07/20/98) For the full text story, see full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555160643-8e9>
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Dow Jones 30 Industrials (DJIA)
MARKET NEWS: Jittery U.S. blue chips eased Monday to snap their record run ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's update on the economy Tuesday, but the Nasdaq eked out a ninth straight record close. The Dow closed off 42 points at 9296. The Nasdaq rose about five points to end at 2014. In the broader market, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index closed at 1184.10 points, off 2.65 on the day. Dealings were subdued with market breadth on the NYSE negative throughout the day. Declining issues led advancers by nearly three-to-two with 558 million shares changing hands.The long bond was calm ahead of Greenspan's testimony, gaining 16/32 to yield 5.72%. The dollar closed mixed at 1.7822 marks and 138.85 yen. |
