Monday, January 25, 1999
Markets
At 9 a.m. EST the
S&P 500
were up 1.7, near fair value.
European bourses generally were lower at midday.
Asian markets closed mixed, as Japan's
Nikkei 225
picked up 54.41 to close at 14,208.81, while Hong Kong's
Hang Seng
plummeted 239.02 to 9,499.50.
For more markets action and news, click
here.
Companies
General Electric
(GE) - Get General Electric Company Report
subsidiary and asset scavenger
GE Capital
has agreed to buy the leasing business of bankrupt
TheStreet Recommends
Japan Leasing
, a unit of the now-nationalized
Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan
. Separately, GE Capital settled for about $100 million a class action lawsuit alleging unfair debt collection by the company.
Eli Lilly's
(LLY) - Get Eli Lilly and Company Report
Prozac patent-infringement suit against competitors
Barr Laboratories
(BRL)
and
Novartis
unit
Geneva Pharmaceuticals
begins today.
Merck
(MRK) - Get Merck & Company Inc. Report
said Friday that it has scrapped plans to begin Phase III testing of potential blockbuster antidepressant MK-869.
For more news on companies and stocks, click
here.
Tech
AT&T
posted fourth-quarter earnings of $1.12 a share, up 58% from last year. The company attributed the increase to cost-cutting and a booming mobile-phone services segment.
Netscape
(NSCP)
co-founder
Marc Andreessen
will be named chief technology officer of
American Online
(AOL)
, according to
The Wall Street Journal
.
For more tech news and commentary, click
here.
International
Swedish mobile-phone giant
Ericsson
(ERICY)
said it will cut 11,000 jobs over two years in response to slowing profit growth.
UBS AG
is downshifting. The Swiss banking behemoth said it will curtail its investment banking operations in favor of the private client and asset management segments, and cut its earnings forecast for 2002 by 10%.
Figures from Japan's
Ministry of Finance
show that country's trade surplus increased 14% in the month of December.
For more international news and commentary, click
here.
General News
Three
House
managers met for two hours yesterday with
Monica Lewinsky
to gauge her utility as a witness, against the objections of
Senate
Democrats who claim the interview undercuts the Senate's authority to determine witnesses in impeachment proceedings.
A U.S. and U.K. missile attack killed and wounded civilians in the Iraqi city of Basra, according to the official
Iraqi News Agency
.
Elsewhere
The
Vancouver Canucks
have replaced
Mike Keenan
with
Marc Crawford
as head coach.
