via techradar.com
I just traded my touch screen phone in for a QWERTY... Imagine dialing on a watch :s
Don't see it as a hot seller (if it comes out)...
Friday, August 14, 2009
Does Porsche + Volkswagen deal = a boxter on Diesel???
Alert Email Print Share #var paragraph = content as Paragraph; #var textChunk = chunk as TextChunk; #// #// -->By Simon Kennedy, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Shares in Germany's Porsche SE surged over 10% Friday after Volkswagen agreed to buy a 42% stake in its core sports car business as the precursor to a full merger in 2011.
Volkswagen /quotes/comstock/11e!fvow (DE:VOW 211.92, -16.07, -7.05%) said it will pay up to 3.3 billion euros for the stake by the end of the year and will issue new preferred shares sometime in the first half of 2010 to finance the acquisition.
/quotes/comstock/11e!fpah3 PAH3 49.61, +4.91, +10.98%
/quotes/comstock/11e!fvow VOW 211.92, -16.07, -7.05%
20%0%-20%-40%-60%09FMAMJJAThe deal will create an automotive giant with ten major brands -- including Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi and Skoda -- annual sales of around 6.4 million vehicles and over 400,000 employees.
The deal follows a failed attempt by Porsche /quotes/comstock/11e!fpah3 (DE:PAH3 49.61, +4.91, +10.98%) to take over its bigger rival. Porsche amassed over 10 billion euros of debt after building a roughly 50% stake in Volkswagen and acquiring options on around another 20%.
But it was unable to sustain the high levels of debt and was eventually forced to seek help from Volkswagen.
Shares in Porsche jumped 10.7% in early trading Friday, while Volkswagen dropped 3.5%.
Porsche is negotiating to sell its remaining options on Volkswagen to investors in Qatar.
Volkswagen said Friday that the planned deal is conditional on the successful sale of those options, which would make Qatar the group's third biggest shareholder.
"Additional new growth opportunities will emerge for Porsche under the umbrella of the integrated group," said Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn in a statement.
"Following constructive talks, we have agreed a solution that reflects the interests of all parties. I am convinced that the outcome of this integration will be the best vehicles for our customers, secure jobs and the creation of long-term value for our shareholder," he added.
Porsche said late Thursday that Winterkorn will become its CEO with effect from Sept. 15 and that Volkswagen Chief Financial Officer Hans Dieter Poetsch will take over the top finance role at Porsche on the same date.
The sports care group's former CEO Wendelin Wiedeking and finance chief Holger Haerter both stepped down late last month.
Simon Kennedy is the City correspondent for MarketWatch in London.
via marketwatch.com
Super lottery fever grips Italy (138.9 Million Euros???)
via news.bbc.co.uk
Now that's a lottery system. Getting frees flight just to go buy a 1 Euro ticket? Where do I sign up?
Stock index futures signal flat start for Wall St. - MarketWatch
Alert Email Print Share #var paragraph = content as Paragraph; #var textChunk = chunk as TextChunk; #// #// -->By William L. Watts, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock index futures were slightly lower in choppy trade Friday, pointing to a flat to lower opening for Wall Street as investors await data on July consumer price inflation and industrial production.
S&P 500 index futures were down 1.5 points at 1,012, while Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 4 points to 1,627.75. Dow Jones Industrial futures were off 12 points.
The consumer price index, set for release at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, is expected to have remained flat in July, according to a survey of economists by MarketWatch. Core CPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, is forecast to show a 0.1% rise.
July industrial production data, due at 9:15 a.m. Eastern, is expected to show a 0.7% rise after a 0.4% fall in June, the survey found.
U.S. stock indexes posted a second day of gains Thursday, shaking off weakness in the consumer sector after a disappointing fall in July retail sales underlined expectations that consumers aren't willing or able to boost spending.
A growing appetite for risk, which has helped buoy shares around the world, remains the dominant theme in the market, despite the retail data, wrote strategists at Lloyds TSB, in a note to clients.
But caution remains the watchword, they said, noting that the weak retail data underlined the U.S. Federal Reserve's observation Wednesday that consumer spending is struggling to gain traction amid rising unemployment and a the readjustment of household balance sheets.
"So while the upbeat sentiment in risk assets is encouraging, there is an argument that some markets could be living on borrowed time," the strategists wrote.
On the earnings front, clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!anf/quotes/nls/anf (ANF 32.96, +0.88, +2.74%) is expected to post a second-quarter loss of 7 cents a share, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
Department-store retailer J.C. Penney Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!jcp/quotes/nls/jcp (JCP 33.34, +0.13, +0.39%) is forecast to post a second quarter loss of 1 cent a share.
European shares gained ground Friday. See Europe Markets.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/comstock/10w!i:dji/delayed (INDU 9,398, +36.58, +0.39%) closed at 9,398.19 Thursday, a 0.4% gain. The S&P 500 Index /quotes/comstock/21z!i1:in\x (SPX 1,013, +6.92, +0.69%) finished at its highest level since October, gaining 6.92 points, or 0.7%, to 1,012.73. The technology-led Nasdaq Composite /quotes/comstock/10y!i:comp (COMP 2,009, +10.63, +0.53%) advanced 10.63 points, or 0.5%, to settle at 2,009.35.
Oil futures were up 25 cents a barrel at $70.77 in electronic trade on Nymex.
The dollar slipped 0.3% versus the Japanese currency to 95.06 yen. The euro was little changed versus the greenback at $1.4275.
William L. Watts is a reporter for MarketWatch in London.
via marketwatch.com
Where's the super computer when you need it?
Our Supercomputer Loves These Stocks - Motley Fool
By David Gardnerupdated 3:00 a.m. ET, Thurs., Aug 13, 2009When former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov lost to IBM's Deep Blue chess computer more than a decade ago, we at The Motley Fool had our own particular insight into what had just happened.
And even better, the insight -- translated into action -- has led us to pick numerous winning stocks in the years since. Below, I'm going to share with you five stocks our supercomputer predicts will beat the market going forward, and two that will not.
via msnbc.msn.comCan a supercomputer make you rich by predicting the best stocks?
I think a better use would be to foresee the next General Motors and prevent that from happening.
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