- Moody’s Says U.S.’s Aaa Debt Rating ‘Remains Solid’
- Three Banks Suspend Their TARP Dividends
- Recovery’s Missing Ingredient: New Jobs
- Harvard Cuts Risk, Loses Bond Managers
- Settlement Anticipated in UBS Case
- Insurers face $6bn bill for board protection
- Peugeot May Have EU2 Billion Loss as Car Sales Slide
- A Transplant That Is Raising Many Questions
- Apple’s Secrecy on Products and Top Executives
- MySpace to Cut Two-Thirds of Non-U.S. Workers, Close Offices
- Saks Chief Cuts Orders to Avoid Discounts on Suits, Stilettos
Moody’s Says U.S.’s Aaa Debt Rating ‘Remains Solid’ – Bloomberg
The U.S. government’s Aaa credit rating “remains solid,” said Pierre Cailleteau, managing director of sovereign risk at Moody’s Investors Service.
“Although the U.S. is losing altitude in the Aaa range, it is starting from a very strong base,” Cailleteau, who is chief international economist at Moody’s, said in Tokyo today. The economy is resilient enough to recover and the government is committed to raising taxes and cutting spending, he said….
Three Banks Suspend Their TARP Dividends – Wall Street Journal
At least three small, cash-strapped banks have stopped paying the U.S. government dividends that they owe because they got $315.4 million in capital infusions under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Pacific Capital Bancorp, a Santa Barbara, Calif., lender that got $180.6 million from the Treasury Department in November, has since posted net losses of $49.7 million. Pacific Capital said Monday that it suspended dividend payments on its common and preferred stock as part of a wider effort to save about $8 million per quarter. A bank spokeswoman confirmed that the U.S.’s preferred shares are included in the dividend freeze.
Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida, of Stuart, Fla., and Midwest Banc Holdings Inc., of Melrose Park, Ill., have also halted their TARP-related dividends, citing the banking industry’s turmoil and a desire to fortify their balance sheets…..
Recovery’s Missing Ingredient: New Jobs – Washington Post
Despite signs that the recession gripping the nation’s economy may be easing, the unemployment rate is projected to continue rising for another year before topping out in double digits, a prospect that threatens to slow growth, increase poverty and further complicate the Obama administration’s message of optimism about the economic outlook.
The likelihood of severe unemployment extending into the 2010 midterm elections and beyond poses a significant political hurdle to President Obama and congressional Democrats, who are already under fire for what critics label profligate spending…..
Harvard Cuts Risk, Loses Bond Managers – Wall Street Journal
Harvard’s endowment, scalded in the financial crisis, is shying from some riskier bets even as markets had been improving — and losing talent in the process.
Marc Seidner, the head of domestic bond investing for Harvard Management Co., the company that manages the nation’s largest endowment, is leaving along with a colleague, Michael Llodra. The endowment lately turned away from investing in a strategy that they wished to pursue — buying distressed assets such as bonds backed by mortgages….
Settlement Anticipated in UBS Case – NY Times
The Justice Department may drop a closely watched legal case aimed at forcing the Swiss bank UBS to divulge the names of 52,000 wealthy American clients suspected of offshore tax evasion, a United States official briefed on the matter said Monday. The move, which would halt an unusually aggressive effort to force Switzerland to lift its veil of banking secrecy, could happen by mid-July…..
Insurers face $6bn bill for board protection – Financial Times
The financial crisis could cost insurers $6bn (€4.3bn) on policies that protect US companies and directors from legal costs, insurance consultants have warned.
Disgruntled investors hoping to recover their losses have filed a spate of lawsuits against companies and their executives since 2007, resulting in a dramatic increase in claims activity under so-called directors and officers (D&O) policies…..
Peugeot May Have EU2 Billion Loss as Car Sales Slide – Bloomberg
PSA Peugeot Citroen, Europe’s second-largest carmaker, said it may have an operating loss of as much as 2 billion euros ($2.8 billion) this year as sales decline and people buy smaller, less costly autos.
Peugeot rose as much as 3.5 percent in Paris trading after the company said European unit sales may fall 12 percent this year, better than a 20 percent drop forecast April 22, as governments pay people to scrap old cars and buy new ones. The loss will be 1 billion euros to 2 billion euros, it said…..
A Transplant That Is Raising Many Questions – NY Times
Reports that Apple’s chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, traveled to Tennessee for a liver transplant about two months ago raise many questions — not just about his prognosis, but also about the system for allocating scarce organs to the many people who need them.
Whenever someone rich and famous receives a transplant, suspicions inevitably arise about whether that person managed to jump to the head of the waiting list and take an organ that might have saved the life of somebody just as desperate but less glamorous….
Apple’s Secrecy on Products and Top Executives – NY Times
Apple is one of the world’s coolest companies. But there is one cool-company trend it has rejected: chatting with the world through blogs and dropping tidbits of information about its inner workings.
Few companies, indeed, are more secretive than Apple, or as punitive to those who dare violate the company’s rules on keeping tight control over information. Employees have been fired for leaking news tidbits to outsiders, and the company has been known to spread disinformation about product plans to its own workers……
MySpace to Cut Two-Thirds of Non-U.S. Workers, Close Offices – Bloomberg
News Corp.’s MySpace social- networking unit, which last week fired almost 30 percent of its staff in the U.S., today said it will cut two-thirds of its international workforce and close at least four offices.
MySpace’s international workforce outside the U.S. will shrink to 150 from 450 and London, Berlin, and Sydney will become the primary regional hubs, the company said in an e- mailed statement today.
The offices in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Sweden and Spain will be reviewed and may be closed, the company said…..
Saks Chief Cuts Orders to Avoid Discounts on Suits, Stilettos – Bloomberg
Saks Inc., Neiman Marcus Group Inc. and other luxury retailers are reducing orders this year to limit supply and boost profitability.
The cuts may rein in what Saks Chief Executive Officer Stephen Sadove calls the “enormous excess” that existed last year in stores that cater to the wealthy…..
Tags: Apple, Harvard, Headline roundup; Moody's, Ratings, retailers, TARP, UBS
