Stocks to Watch: Office Depot, GE

NEW YORK -- Activist investment fund Starboard Value LP is expected to disclose Monday it has taken a 13.3% stake in Office Depot (ODP), The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The stake would make Starboard the largest shareholder in Office Depot.

Starboard CEO Jeffrey Smith, in a letter to Office Depot's CEO Neil Austrian that was reviewed by the Journal, said Office Depot's shares are "deeply undervalued" but that management could cut expenses, among other actions, to improve performance.

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General Electric (GE) has hired Morgan Stanley to review its 33% stake in Thailand's Bank of Ayudhya, which could potentially lead to a sale of GE's roughly $2.2 billion holding, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the matter said.

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Regulators are investigating whether several major U.S. banks failed to monitor transactions properly, allowing criminals to launder money, according to The New York Times.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the federal agency that oversees the biggest banks, is leading the money-laundering investigation, according to the newspaper. The report said the OCC could soon take action against JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and that it is also investigating Bank of America (BAC).

U.S. Banks Subject of Money-Laundering Probe: Report

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The Treasury Department is resisting a push by General Motors (GM) to sell the government's entire stake in the automaker, the Journal reported.

Treasury officials aren't interested in GM's offer to sell the shares, saying that a sale now would leave the government with a hefty loss on its investment, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

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The Canadian Auto Workers union will focus on reaching an agreement with Ford as talks continue with all of Detroit's Big Three, the chief of the union said Sunday.

A strike deadline is Monday night.

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LDK Solar (LDK) is expected by analysts Monday to post a quarterly loss of $1.32 a share on revenue of $245 million.

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-- Written by Joseph Woelfel



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