General News:
– Financial Times is reporting that investment banks are toughening credit and lending standards for hedge funds, and prime brokerage departments are raising their margin requirements.
– NY Times is running a story about a $3 billion hedge fund being down 10% for the year.
– IKB, a German bank, is reporting weak earnings due to US subprime markets.
– 313 of 500 S&P companies have reported earnings. The share weighted EPS growth is 9.7% and market-cap weighted growth is 14.3%. Non-weighted average is 5.5%.
Asia/Europe:
Asia:
– Asian stocks rebounded from a one- month low after higher profits at JFE Holdings Inc. and Nippon Steel Corp. offset concern U.S. housing investment is dropping.
– China Life reported strong profits.
– The State Bank of India rose on earnings even though its bad loans provisions jumped.
– The People’s Bank of China raised their reserve requirements by 50 basis points effective August 15th.
– Senior advisor, Xia Bin, of China said that China should use its massive holdings of foreign exchange reserves as a bargaining chip in its discussions with foreign governments. He continued by saying that China should introduce a short sharp yuan revaluation as the slow valuation hasn’t helped.
– Japan’s Prime Minister Abe’s ruling coalition suffered a major defeat in the upper house.
– Japanese industrial production rose 1% year over year.
– India’s central bank said that inflation has been contained by rate hikes and import duty cuts in the past three years.
Europe:
– French PPI rose 1.9% year over year.
– French July quarterly manufacturing reflects that demand has improved bolstered by export expectations.
– ABN Amro Holding NV, the target in the world’s biggest banking takeover battle, withdrew its support for Barclays Plc’s offer because of a higher bid from a group led by Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.
– HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe’s largest bank, said first-half profit rose 25 percent, beating analysts’ estimates, as investment gains in China overcame rising costs from bad mortgage loans in the U.S.
– Telefonica SA, Europe’s second- largest telephone company, raised sales and earnings forecasts for 2007 after second-quarter profit more than doubled on broadband customer growth in Spain and Latin America.
Corporate News:
– Humana Inc. (HUM) reported that its second-quarter profit more than doubled from a year ago on the strength of improved cost controls and sharply higher income from its government business.
– Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) reported second-quarter earnings that rose 4.5% from a year ago, mainly due to its successful cell phone division. The results met analysts’ expectations.
– Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN), the world’s largest meat processor, reported a bigger-than-expected profit for its third fiscal quarter and raised its profit forecast for the year it rebounds from last year’s losses.
– Agricultural processor Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit more than doubled pushed up by more than $600 million in asset sales.
– Gum and candy maker Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. (WWY) said its second-quarter net income climbed 21%, fueled by growing international sales and a weakened U.S. dollar.
– RadioShack Corp. (RSH) said it swung to a second-quarter profit from a year-ago loss, but a 15% decline in revenue sent the electronic retailer’s stock tumbling.
The widely used diabetes drug Avandia should be pulled from the market because of heart risks, a federal scientist said Monday.