| Yesterday's trading: Disaster at Debenhams
Wall Street jumped 68 points in the early stages ahead of President Bush's sub-prime aid package. Speculation suggested he was ready to freeze interest rates for a long as five years for sub-prime borrowers. Housebuilders certainly thought the reduction in mortgage rates would be insufficient to resuscitate the housing market. Persimmon lost 45½p to 750½p, Barratt Developments 19½p to 448¼p and Taylor Wimpey 3.95p to 199.3p. In the absence of an increased offer from BHP Billiton (28p off at 1619p) or a rival bid from Chinese top steelmaker Baosteel, Rio Tinto succumbed to profit-taking and shed 137p to 5583p. Nervous selling ahead of Tuesday's thirdquarter trading statement left Whitbread 22p off at 1390p. Tracker buying following its historic promotion into the Footsie helped the London Stock Exchange climb 67p to 1870p.
Brown feels heat as Libdems and Tories seek answer to West Lothian ...
Devloution, as some said at the time, is inherently unstable. I think we will see plenty of patch up jobs (like on the West lothian question) for a while yet until people get a chance to vote on independence. And if the SNP perform well over the next few years and time it right then it will be a case of ........ "they think its all over, well it is now". .
The coming rust-belt recovery
We should note that economy cannot grow continuously forever. Just ask the bacteria in a petry dish. Growth of economy or population is exponential - more you have faster the growth (or decline). Anything on earth growing exponentially must eventually come to a stop. We need to decide where we want the steady state (no growth) to be. Must we continue struggling with nature or can we find a happy balance? Posted 27/01/08 at 4:09 AM EST | Link to Comment .
BHP ups takeover bid for Rio Tinto to $147bn
BHP Billiton increased its bid for Rio Tinto last night but failed to offer more than what Chinalco, China's state-owned aluminum giant, paid in a dramatic share swoop on the company last week. Marius Kloppers, head of BHP, yesterday formalised what would be one of the world's largest ever takeovers by offering 3.4 BHP shares for each Rio share, or about $147bn (£75bn) – up from the three-to-one ratio that it first offered for its smaller rival in November. The bid is conditional on receiving approval from 50 per cent plus one of Rio's investors. Mr Kloppers said that the fate of his bid to forge the world's first mining super-major was now in the hands of Rio's shareholders after he was repeatedly spurned by the Rio board. "The way we look at it, we were proactive in unlocking value for Rio shareholders, and they will now be asking why the Rio board is not allowing them to realise this substantial uplift." Rio noted the offer, but chairman Paul Skinner urged shareholders to "take no action".
Prepare to say goodnight to some shows
The Writers Guild of America strike is officially over, but its effects will linger for a while on Fridays. According to various trade-magazine reports, the futures of Women's Murder Club and Friday Night Lights are in doubt, and I get the sense that folks shouldn't get too close to Las Vegas, either. CBS, meanwhile, has announced anticipated April returns for first-run episodes of Ghost Whisperer, Moonlight and Numbers. Tonight, except for a two-hour Las Vegas season finale, most of the first-run scripted stuff is on cable, where you'll find some other season finales. Stuff to watch or record Friday Night Smackdown!: And you thought Valentine's Day was over -- in this episode of the wrestling series, World Heavyweight Champ Edge gives Smackdown general manager Vickie Guerrero a valentine.
Chamber’s decision to nix ag committee stirs tension
Continued fallout from the elimination of the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce's agri-business committee is expected to be discussed today at a closed-door meeting.The chamber will address restructuring its committees at its regular board meeting today, as some members have asked for refunds and tensions have arisen in response to the potential elimination of the committee.With traditional farm commodities - corn, soybeans, hay, livestock, dairy and others - generating more than $72 million in yearly sales from Warren County farmers, many in the agriculture community are questioning why the chamber sent a memo dated Nov. 28 that said the agri-business committee would "no longer be under the umbrellas of the committee of the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce.""The Chamber Board of Directors realizes the economic impact of agri-business in our region, yet as an organization has found it challenging to provide the resources and partnership support to adequately carry this message due to agri-business representing less than two percent of the Chamber partnership," according to the memo, obtained by the Daily News.After seeing that memo, Hartland Equipment owner Sam Lawson said he made a hard decision to cancel his chamber membership."I asked them for my check back," Lawson said.
|
