Monday, April 12, 1999
Markets
Investors had all weekend to mull over
Compaq's
(CPQ)
earnings warning (see below), and reacted by garlanding major indices with a new round of record highs. A frenzy of program selling on the
Nasdaq Composite Index
burned itself out early, as
new tech separated itself from old tech like wheat from chaff. The Comp finally managed to finish in the black despite slack performances among its big tech bellwethers. Blue-chips also came back from a slow start, closing sharply higher, while the Net sector went gangbusters from start to finish. The transports alone closed lower.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
gained 165.67 to a record 10,339.51; the
S&P 500
rose 10.29 to a record 1358.64; the Nasdaq added 5.69 to a record 2598.74; the small-cap
Russell 2000
shot up 6.46 to 412.32; and
TheStreet.com Internet Sector
index shot up 58.51 to close at 790.44.
Europe's major indices finished mixed. But Asian markets got hammered overnight,
spooked by Compaq. Hong Kong's
Hang Seng
lost 169.36 to 11,744.74, and Japan's
Nikkei
dumped 348.23 to 16,507.40.
For more markets action and news, click
here.
Companies
Printing and graphics arts firm
Banta
(BN)
today announced plans to close three plants and eliminate about 650 jobs, or 9.2% of its workforce.
Bear Stearns
(BSC)
today reported earnings of $1.42 a share for its fiscal third quarter, easily topping the $1.15 a share
First Call
consensus.
The
Justice Department
is joining yet another whistleblower suit against
Columbia/HCA Healthcare
(COL)
. The suit, filed by a Columbia hospital CFO in Fort Myers, Fla., charges the company with defrauding
Medicare
by inflating charges for covered patients.
Ford
(F) - Get Report
is expanding its car service business by acquiring U.K. auto repair chain
Kwik-Fit Holdings
for about $1.63 billion in cash.
The
Pentagon
will likely block
General Dynamics'
(GD) - Get Report
$1.4 billion unsolicited takeover offer for
Newport News Shipbuilding
(NNS)
, according to
The Wall Street Journal
, which cited government and industry officials familiar with the matter.
Goldman Sachs
today confirmed that it is raising its IPO's price range to $45 to $50 a share from $40 to $45. It also named a 13-member underwriting syndicate, including Goldman as lead underwriter.
TheStreet.com
had the list
last week.
For more news on companies and stocks, click
here.
Tech
Adelphia Communications
(ADLAC)
, the fourth-largest cable company in the U.S., today announced that it is buying the cable TV systems of
Harron Communications
for about $1.17 billion.
Shares of Compaq are sinking in the wake of the company's announcement late Friday that it expects to earn about 15 cents a share for its fiscal first quarter, well under the
First Call
consensus of 31 cents a share. Compaq lately was down 6 3/4 to 24 3/16.
Joining the race for an industry standard for sending music over the Internet,
IBM
(IBM) - Get Report
announced today that it is teaming up with online media company
RealNetworks
(RNWK) - Get Report
to develop music-delivery software.
For more tech news and commentary, click
here.
General News
Jurors today found
Susan McDougal
innocent of obstructing
Kenneth Starr's
Whitewater investigation by refusing to testify before grand juries, and a district judge declared a mistrial on two related criminal contempt charges against her. Prosecutor Mark Barrett called a retrial "obviously an option.''
Ignoring U.S. requests to refrain from missile tests, India yesterday sent a second-generation
Agni
missile on an 11-minute test flight over the Bay of Bengal. The Agni is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to any target in Pakistan and deep into China.
Nineteen
NATO
ministers met at alliance headquarters in Brussels in a show of solidarity in its air campaign against Yugoslavia, which has entered its 20th day. Meanwhile, Yugoslav state media reported that NATO bombs struck a passenger train in Serbia, killing 90 and injuring 16; NATO confirmed that a train was near a rail bridge that it struck today.
International
French conglomerate
Lagardere
said it is offering $2.84 billion to buy the 55% of
Europe 1 Communication
it doesn't already own.
The saga continues:
Telecom Italia
(TI)
failed to gain shareholder support of its proposed defense against
Olivetti's
$65 billion takeover bid, leaving the company looking for a white knight.
For more international news and commentary, click
here.
In the Papers
AMR
(AMR)
unit
American Airlines
and the
Allied Pilots Association
meet before U.S. District Judge Joe Kendall today to determine how much the pilot's union should pay American for losses stemming from its mid-February "sickout."
The Dallas Morning News
today reports on the union's strategy, which includes plans to call more than 200 members to testify that they actually were ill during that period.
The South China Morning Post
reports the latest on the warming battle for Hong Kong newspaper publisher
Sing Tao Holdings
. A group backed by U.S. financier
Sam Zell
is complaining to Hong Kong's
Securities and Futures Commission
that
Lazard Asia's
$524.5 million rival offer gives Sing Tao's minority shareholders short shrift.
Elsewhere
The list of 1999
Pulitzers
is in, with winners including
Michael Cunningham's
The Hours
for fiction;
Margaret Edson's
Wit
for drama;
Edwin G. Burrows'
and
Mike Wallace's
Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898
for history; and
Mark Strand's
Blizzard of One
for poetry.
Another
Masters
near-miss for the Shark.
Greg Norman
yesterday finished two strokes back of
Jose Maria Olazabal
, who took home his second green jacket.
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