Monday, January 25, 1999
Markets
U.S. stocks were trading modestly higher at midafternoon on moderate volume. Blue chips were bobbing in positive territory despite the weight of loss-leading
IBM
(IBM) - Get International Business Machines Corporation Report
, still feeling the backdraft from Friday's big loss, and
Merck
(MRK) - Get Merck & Company Inc. Report
, hurt by bad news from its pipeline (see below).
European bourses closed mixed, as did Asian markets, 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
Dwayne Andreas
, the 80-year-old chairman of
TheStreet Recommends
Archer Daniels Midland
(ADM) - Get Archer-Daniels-Midland Company Report
, has retired. He'll be succeeded by CEO -- and nephew --
Allen Andreas
.
Citigroup
(C) - Get Citigroup Inc. Report
reported fourth-quarter net income declined 53% in 1998, partly reflecting one-time charges from last year's merger of
Citicorp
and
Travelers
.
Eli Lilly's
(LLY) - Get Eli Lilly and Company Report
Prozac
patent-infringement suit against competitors
Barr Laboratories
(BRL)
and
Novartis
unit
Geneva Pharmaceuticals
ended with a whimper today as those companies agreed to not manufacture a generic version of Prozac in exchange for a $4 million payment from Lilly.
Automotive component manufacturer
Federal-Mogul
(FMO) - Get Fiduciary/Claymore Energy Infrastructure Fund Report
will offer nearly $6 billion for the U.K.'s
LucasVarity PLC
(LVA)
, according to
The Sunday Times
.
General Electric
(GE) - Get General Electric Company Report
subsidiary and asset scavenger
GE Capital
has agreed to buy the leasing business of bankrupt
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.
Shares of
3M
spiked upward after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings exceeding Wall Street expectations. 3M's profit for the quarter declined 42% from the previous year.
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
. The stock was lately down 2 11/16 to 136 5/16.
Nursing home company
Vencor
(VC) - Get Visteon Corporation Report
said that co-founder
W. Bruce Lunsford
resigned as chairman and CEO, to be succeeded by current president and COO
Edward Kuntz
.
Warner-Lambert
(WLA)
posted fourth-quarter earnings of 40 cents a share, up 45% from last year.
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.
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Microsoft Corporation Report
said its board of directors has approved a 2-for-1 stock split. The split still requires shareholder approval. Separately, the company also said it will invest $500 million in U.K. cable company
NTL
(NTLI)
.
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 global trade surplus increased a hefty 40% in 1998. Japan's trade surplus with the U.S. increased 33.4%.
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.
