Tuesday, January 26, 1999
Markets
U.S. stocks extended their gains at midafternoon. Blue-chips strengthened but still lagged the red-hot technology sector.
European bourses generally closed modestly higher.
Asian markets also closed up, as Japan's
Nikkei 225
picked up 173.20 to close at 14,382.01, while Hong Kong's
Hang Seng
gained 10.33 to 9,509.83.
For more markets action and news, click
here.
Companies
BP Amoco
(BPA)
said it plans to offer low-sulfur gasoline in 39 U.S. cities within two years.
Office-products manufacturer
Avery Dennison
(AVY) - Get Report
will slash 1,500 jobs and close eight plants.
Fabric maker
Burlington Industries
(BUR)
said it will cut 2,900 jobs and close seven plants to reduce capacity in the face of a flood of low-priced garments from Asia.
Cendant
(CD)
has filed suit against
Ernst & Young
, charging it with negligence in its failure to detect the highly publicized book-cooking that scandalized Cendant last year.
Shares of
McDonald's
(MCD) - Get Report
shot up after the company reported earnings matching Street estimates and announced a 2-for-1 stock split. The stock lately was up 2 1/2 to 78 3/8.
Automotive-component manufacturer
TRW
(TRW)
has joined
Federal-Mogul
(FMO) - Get Report
in the bidding war for the U.K.'s
LucasVarity PLC
(LVA)
. LucasVarity said it favors TRW's offer, the more generous of the two.
Packaging and auto-parts manufacturer
Tenneco
(TEN) - Get Report
announced that it is selling a majority stake in its containerboard business to private equity company
Madison Dearborn Partners
for $2 billion.
For more news on companies and stocks, click
here.
Tech
Compaq
(CPQ)
is expected to announce plans to spin off its
AltaVista Search Services
, according to
The Wall Street Journal
.
GTE
(GTE) - Get Report
said it has hired
Bear Stearns
(BSC)
to help it sell
GTE Government Systems
, its telecom and defense systems subsidiary.
IBM
(IBM) - Get Report
matched rival
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Report
by setting its own 2-for-1 stock split today. See how
TSC's
James Cramer
reacted to the news.
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Report
said it will license its
Microsoft Network
online communications technology to
Compaq
(CPQ)
in exchange for making Compaq's
AltaVista Search
the main search engine on Microsoft Network. Shares of
Inktomi
(INKT)
, whose search engine will be displaced by AltaVista, were lately down 18 3/4 to 129 1/2 on the news.
For more tech news and commentary, click
here.
International
Turkish holding company
Akmaya Sanayi Ve Ticaret
has acquired 65% of the Romania's
Petromidia
oil refinery for $725 million.
For the first time in 30 years, the best-selling car in Japan is not the
Toyota Corolla
. The
Suzuki Wagon R
minicar now holds that honor, with sales of 206,548 last year in Japan.
For more international news and commentary, click
here.
General News
House managers will ask the Senate for permission to call
Monica Lewinsky
,
Vernon Jordan
and
Sidney Blumenthal
as witnesses, according to
The Associated Press
.
The
Conference Board
said its consumer confidence index rose 0.9% in January, reaching its highest level since August.
U.S. military officials have confirmed
Iraqi News Agency
reports of civilian casualties from an American missile attack in southern Iraq.
Labor Department
figures show that U.S. union membership grew by more than 100,000 in 1998, although the overall percentage of workers who belong to a union dropped amid strong job growth.
The U.S. government ran a $5.4 billion deficit for the month of December, compared with a $13.6 billion surplus the previous year. The
Treasury Department
said that an irregular Social Security payment schedule accounted for the deficit.
Elsewhere
Retailer and
Seinfeld
inspirer
J. Peterman
has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Goalie
Patrick Roy
has signed a two-year contract extension with the
Colorado Avalanche
.
