Monday, Aug. 9, 1999
Markets
Worries over interest rates and valuations kept stocks mired in their summer doldrums: Amid solidly negative breadth, all the major proxies finished lower.
Technology took the heaviest hits, with the
Nasdaq Composite Index
losing 29.17 to 2518.80. A lot of that selling was in Net stocks, which sent
TheStreet.com Internet Sector
index down 18.71 to 479.68.
Blue-chips fared a bit better than their small-cap brethren. The
dumped 2.45 to 1297.84 and the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
shed 6.33 to 10,707.70, while the
Russell 2000
lost 2.15 to 425.89.
The 30-year Treasury bond shed 21/32 to 86 25/32, its yield swelling to 6.235%
The big European indices finished higher, with Germany's
Xetra Dax
and France's
CAC
each gaining more than 1.5%.
Asian markets went both ways overnight, as Hong Kong's
Hang Seng
fell 221.59, or 1.7%, to 12,945.47 and Tokyo's
Nikkei
added 106.21 to 17,190.45.
More markets news and commentary are available in
TSC's
Markets section.
Companies
American Tower
(AMT)
is acquiring the rights to 2,100 communications towers from
AirTouch Communications
, a unit of
Vodafone AirTouch
(VOD)
.
Ashland
(ASH)
said it made a $21-a-share cash tender offer to shareholders of Danish construction company
Superfos
. The bid values Superfos at about $650 million.
General Electric
(GE)
unit
GE Medical Systems
is buying medical-imaging company
OEC Medical Systems
undefined
for $480 million in stock, or $36 a share.
MCI WorldCom
undefined
announced plans to cut its off-peak long distance rates to as low as 5 cents a minute. The call to price war isn't sitting well with investors: MCI Worldcom lost 3 7/8 to 77 7/16.
Radio and TV station operator
Paxson Communications
(PAX)
said it has hired
Salomon Smith Barney
to help it explore the possibility of a merger or sale of an equity stake.
Specialty chemicals and coatings maker
RPM
(RPM)
set plans to close 23 plants and cut 730 jobs, or about 10% of its workforce. RPM makes Rust-Oleum paints.
More news on companies and stocks are available in
TSC's
Stock News section.
Tech
Advanced Micro Devices
(AMD)
unveiled its 650-megahertz
Athlon
processor, which the company claims is "the world's fastest and highest-performance microprocessor for x86 computer systems."
AT&T
(T)
and
America Online
(AOL)
are considering a deal that would give AOL and other Internet service providers access to AT&T cable systems,
The New York Times
reported today, citing executives close to the companies. AT&T acknowledged meeting with AOL, but said that the two companies aren't discussing specific proposals right now.
Cisco
(CSCO)
yesterday set plans to invest $1 billion in consulting firm
KPMG LLP
, the U.S. division of
KPMG International
.
Corporate computer data storage firm
EMC
(EMC)
set plans to buy rival
Data General
undefined
for about $1 billion in stock. EMC is swapping 0.3262 share for each Data General share, valuing Data General at $19.58 a share.
More tech news and commentary are available in
TSC's
Tech Stocks section.
General News
For the fourth time in 17 months, Russian President
Boris Yeltsin
has fired his prime minister. The latest victim is Sergei Stepashin, who will be replaced by security head and former
KGB
spy Vladimir Putin, pending Duma approval.
TheStreet.com
wrote about this development in Russia's puppet show in
a story this afternoon.
One day after North Korea said it would not be deterred from test-launching an advanced version of a long-range missile that it fired over Japan last year, the
Korean Central News Agency
accused the U.S. of trying to bait it into a war. The paper wrote that the recent Balkan conflict functioned as a test of "a Korean War scenario."
International
U.K. buyout firm
CVC Capital Partners
is offering about $882 million for Acordis, the fiber unit of Dutch chemicals company
Akzo Nobel
. The deal would have CVC and Acordis' management buying most of Acordis, while Akzo Nobel would have an option to buy about 20%.
Deutsche Bank
said GE unit
GE Capital Structured Finance
will join in its bid for parts of
Deutsche Telekom's
(DT)
cable TV network. Telekom is taking offers for its nine regional cable units until Aug. 30.
Elf Aquitaine
(ELF)
said it would consider a friendly merger with rival oil company
Total Fina
(TOT)
if Total agreed to spin off the combined company's chemical business.
Softbank
,
Microsoft
(MSFT)
and
Tokyo Electric Power
are in talks to set up a joint venture to offer cheap Internet access via a system circumventing
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone's
(NTT)
local telephone networks, Tokyo Electric Power unit
TTNet
said today.
More international news and commentary are available in
TSC's
International section.
Elsewhere
What hurts worse than getting caught in a drive-by shooting? Ask 19-year-old Antonio Williams, whose mother and older brother identified him for the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner as the victim in a shooting Thursday near Williams' house. Williams learned about his supposed death through
a report in Friday's
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
, and immediately called his mother to tell her he was still alive. The actual victim was a 20-year-old Chicago man.
