General News:
– Federal Reserve policy makers, who declared that inflation was their paramount challenge just two weeks ago, have been forced to make financial-market stability the trigger for changes in interest rates.
– KKR Financial Holdings LLC, the Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. affiliate that invests in bonds and loans, plans to raise $500 million by selling stock after being hurt by losses on residential mortgages.
– Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. put its 31 percent stake in London Stock Exchange Plc up for sale, abandoning an 18-month-old attempt to buy the U.K. market as it battles for control of Sweden’s OMX AB.
– Grocery shopping has become a painful experience for Zhang Xueyi. Meat prices have risen 50 percent in the past year, and eggs and other products are not far behind, forcing the 31-year-old railway technician’s family to spend a third of its $400 monthly income on food.
– Jim Cramer’s stock picks on his nightly CNBC show “Mad Money” haven’t beaten the market over the past two years, according to an article in the August 20 edition of Barron’s.
– Oil prices dropped Monday on expectations a strong Hurricane Dean will spare key oil and gas facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.
Asia/Europe:
Asia:
– Asian stocks rallied the most in three years after the U.S. Federal Reserve unexpectedly cut its discount rate, halting a global equities sell-off that erased more than $5.5 trillion of market value.
– Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui may say no to an interest-rate increase this week. It won’t be his last word on the subject.
– HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe’s biggest bank by market value, may buy 51 percent of Korea Exchange Bank from Lone Star Funds after two previous attempts to acquire banks in Asia’s third-biggest economy failed.
– Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd., the world’s second-biggest producer of alumina, reported its first profit decline in five years after cutting prices of the material used to make aluminum.
– China’s currency regulator said it will let individuals buy Hong Kong stocks for the first time, helping send the city’s benchmark Hang Seng Index to its biggest gain in almost nine years.
Europe:
– European stocks rose for a second day after analysts recommended buying shares of financial companies and investors speculated the worst may be over in a rout of global equity markets.
– Banks including Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG cut their forecasts for European Central Bank interest rates, citing financial-market volatility
– Deutsche Bank AG, Germany’s biggest bank, abandoned some of its trading strategies after losing more than 100 million euros ($135 million) in the past month because of credit-market turmoil, according to a person with direct knowledge of the decision.
Corporate News:
– A two-day outage that left millions of Skype users unable to use the popular Internet phone service was caused by an abnormally high number of restarts after people had downloaded a Windows security update, the company said.
– Countrywide Financial Corp. (CFC), the nation’s largest mortgage lender, has begun laying off staff as part of its effort to ride out the credit crunch that has rocked the home loan industry, according to a report.
– Bowater Inc. (BOW) announced a quarterly cash dividend of 20 cents per share. The Greenville, S.C.-based company will pay the dividend Oct. 1 to shareholders of record Sept. 10.
– The U.S. Army ordered $107.7 million worth of additional armor from General Dynamics Corp. (GD) for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, the company said.
