Tuesday, January 19, 1999
Markets
U.S. stocks were mixed at midafternoon, with blue-chips trading deep in the red and tech and Internet stocks remaining strong.
European bourses closed mixed.
Asian markets closed lower, as Hong Kong's
Hang Seng
dropped 112.43 to 10,290.11, while Japan's
Nikkei 225
dumped 34.62 to 13,770.44.
For more markets action and news, click
here.
Companies
BankAmerica
(BAC) - Get Bank of America Corporation Report
reported fourth-quarter profits of $1.6 billion, down 4.8 % from the previous year and lower than analysts' expectations. Meanwhile,
Chase Manhattan
(CMB)
reported fourth-quarter profits up 31% from 1997.
Delta Air Lines
TheStreet Recommends
(DAL) - Get Delta Air Lines Inc. Report
beat estimates with 1999 second-quarter earnings of $194 million, while
Northwest Airlines
(NWAC)
posted a 1998 fourth-quarter loss of $181.3 million, primarily due to its September pilot strike.
Merrill Lynch
(MER)
said its earnings for the fourth quarter of 1998 fell 23%, beating expectations.
Montgomery Securities
founder Thom Weisel said his
Thomas Weisel Partners
should be up and running by Feb. 1. Yesterday
TSC
interviewed Weisel about the launch.
United Parcel Service of America
agreed to settle a racial discrimination lawsuit for $12.1 million.
For more news on companies and stocks, click
here.
Tech
High-speed Internet service provider
@Home
(ATHM) - Get Autohome Inc. American Depositary Shares each representing four class A. Report
announced that it will buy the search engine
Excite
(XCIT)
for $6.7 billion in stock.
TSC
covered the deal this morning.
Onsale
(ONSL)
soon will begin selling personal computers at wholesale, relying on advertising and fees to make money, according to
The Wall Street Journal
.
For more tech news and commentary, click
here.
International
British Aerospace
has agreed to buy
General Electric PLC's
Marconi Electronics for about $12.7 billion in a deal that will create a U.K. defense group on the scale of U.S. juggernauts such as
Boeing
(BA) - Get The Boeing Company Report
and
Lockheed Martin
(LMT) - Get Lockheed Martin Corporation Report
.
Japan's
Mitsui Trust & Banking
and
Chuo Trust & Banking
today said they are in preliminary merger talks.
French automaker
Renault
confirmed yesterday that it is considering an alliance with
Nissan Motor
(NSANY)
.
For more international news and commentary, click
here.
General News
Federal Reserve
Chairman
Alan Greenspan
is scheduled to speak before a
House
committee tomorrow on the state of the economy.
TSC
columnist
James J. Cramer
worries about the chance of a rate hike.
Serb forces continued to ignore the three-month-old cease-fire in Kosovo by shelling the area surrounding the town where 45 ethnic Albanians were massacred.
The hearing to determine whether Chilean Gen.
Augusto Pinochet
can be charged in Britain with human rights violations resumes today in London.
Elsewhere
Say it ain't so, Sammy. The
Congress of Racial Equality
could not award
Sammy Sosa
an International Brotherhood Award for achievement when the Dominican slugger failed to show up for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day dinner. Sosa reportedly had said that his attendance was contingent upon a private jet to and from the
Mike Tyson
-
Francois Botha
fight in Las Vegas Saturday and a $50,000 donation to a fund for Dominican hurricane victims.