Thursday, April 29, 1999
Markets
John Henry is a steel trading man, and his heart hasn't given out yet.
Newly invigorated cyclicals joined oil and financial stocks in forcing the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
to another record close, up 32.93 to 10,878.38. But slumping tech and Net stocks knocked the
Nasdaq Composite Index
down 22.40 to 2527.97.
Other major proxies also fell. The
S&P 500
lost 8.08 to 1342.83; the small-cap
Russell 2000
dropped 0.68 to 432.85; and
TheStreet.com Internet Sector
shed 10.49 to 647.41.
The bond market rallied on encouraging employment data from the
Labor Department
(see below).
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Major European indices finished lower, while Hong Kong's
Hang Seng
rose 46.31 to 13,179.70. Tokyo markets were closed for a holiday.
For more markets action and news, click
here.
Companies
Tyco International
(TYC)
electrical and electronics equipment subsidiary
AMP
set plans to cut about 8,000 jobs, or 15% of its total workforce.
Pharmaceutical research firm
Covance
(CVD)
is buying rival
Paraxel International
(PRXL)
in an $827 million stock deal that will form the world's largest drug development services firm. Paraxel shareholders will receive 1.184 Covance shares for each share of Paraxel, or $32.56 a share, based on yesterday's closing prices.
MCI WorldCom
(WCOM)
posted first-quarter earnings of 36 cents a share, 2 cents better than the 26-analyst consensus and up from last year's 10 cents.
Jack E. Little is stepping down as president and CEO of
Shell Oil
effective June 30. He'll be succeeded by
Royal Dutch Petroleum's
(RD)
managing director, Steven L. Miller, who will also replace Mark Moody-Stuart as Shell's chairman. Separately, Shell Oil subsidiary Shell Exploration and Production set plans to sell 22 production fields and 16 exploration leases to
Apache
for $715 million in cash and 1 million shares of stock.
Former conglomerate
Tenneco
(TEN) - Get Tenneco Inc. Class A Report
set plans to separate its two remaining businesses, auto parts and specialty packaging. The company will spin off its auto parts operations in a tax-free distribution to shareholders.
U.K. media firm
United News & Media
(UNEWY)
, owner of
PR Newswire
and the British
Express
and
Daily Star
newspapers, agreed to buy high-tech publisher
CMP Media
(CMPX)
for $920 million in cash, or $39 a share.
For more news on companies and stocks, click
here.
Tech
Amazon.com
(AMZN) - Get Amazon.com, Inc. Report
reported a first-quarter loss of 23 cents a share, 6 cents better than the 21-analyst First Call estimate but deeper than the year-ago loss of 7 cents. Revenue more than tripled, to $294 million from $87 million. But the company's warning of deeper operating losses to come sent the stock tumbling. Amazon lost 25 9/16 to 168, or 13.2%.
TheStreet.com
looked at Amazon's earnings report in a
story last night.
America Online
(AOL)
Chairman
Stephen Case
suggested that the company may support
Comcast
(CMCSK)
in its quest to outbid
AT&T
for
MediaOne
(UMG)
, according to
The Washington Post
.
MarketWatch.com
(MKTW)
set plans to buy financial charting Web site
BigCharts
for $160 million in stock and $6 million in cash.
For more tech news and commentary, click
here.
General News
Yugoslavia filed
World Court
suits against 10
NATO
members today, charging that the alliance's bombing campaign violates international law. Belgrade asked the court to call for a halt to the airstrikes while the case is being considered, which could take months or even years. Meanwhile, NATO acknowledged today that a missile fired by one of its planes accidentally struck a suburb in Bulgaria.
The Labor Department released figures showing initial jobless claims at 294,000 for the week ended April 24, down 20,000 from the previous week and 14,000 fewer than economists' forecast. The department also released its
employment cost index
for the first quarter of 1999; the index rose a scant 0.4%, down three-tenths of a percent from the previous quarter and four-tenths lower than the forecast.
The
International Monetary Fund
yesterday agreed to tide Russia over with a further $4.5 billion. Moscow will use the loan to pay the interest on the $20 billion the IMF has lent it over the past eight years. The loan is contingent on an overhaul of Russia's banking system and an outside audit of its central bank to determine what happened to previous IMF funds.
International
Airtours
, the U.K.'s second-largest tour operator, made a $1.37 billion takeover offer for No. 3
First Choice Holidays
, which has already agreed to a lower offer from Switzerland's
Kuoni Reisen
. Tour industry leader
Thomson Travel
is likely to enter the bidding war, having said today that it will not surrender its pole position.
For more international news and commentary, click
here.
Elsewhere
Issuing new guidelines for reporting on princes
William
and
Henry
, Britain's
Press Complaints Commission
urged Buckingham Palace to make the teen heartthrobs more available to the public. "They will need to try and offer real stories of interest about the princes as well as photo opportunities," said the commission, which doubtless hopes its request will result in a corresponding reduction in the number of such stories on and opportunities for
Elton John
.
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