The Audit RSS
Fri, 9 May 2008
Opening Bell: Et tu, A.I.G.?
Plus, NYT strong work on NYT housing and a powerful senator; Toyota's skids; the container shortage. etc.
By Posted at 08:20 AM
Insurance giant American International Group posted a record $7.8 billion loss in the first quarter as it wrote down more than $15 billion in assets, much of them mortgage-related, and said it needed to raise more than $12 billion to shore up its capital. The Wall Street Journal on its page one says the news illustrates that “while... Read More
Thu, 8 May 2008
The Anglo-ization of The Wall Street Journal
A struggle over the editor was about much more than turf
By Posted at 01:16 PM Comments (1)
LAKE JACKSON, Texas -- When Lisa Kelly learned she had leukemia in late 2006, her doctor advised her to seek urgent care at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. But the nonprofit hospital refused to accept Mrs. Kelly's limited insurance. It asked for $105,000 in cash before it would admit her.Read MoreSitting in the hospital's business office, Mrs. Kelly...
Opening Bell
SEC's new rules; fluffing the mortgage numbers; Moody's man out; etc.
By Posted at 07:48 AM
Stocks fell the most in four weeks, with the Dow dropping 206 points (1.6 percent) and financial shares tumbling 3.7 percent. The Wall Street Journal blames the financials drop on investors taking profits they’ve made in the run-up of the last few weeks and on another record for oil prices, but Bloomberg’s lead cause is the Securities... Read More
Wed, 7 May 2008
Opening Bell: Oil Prices Keep Rising...
But no one’s talking about using less; Myanmar’s rice harvest hit; greenback bulks up; etc.
By Posted at 07:15 AM
The price of oil continued its record rise, and the papers all give major play to stories on how much higher it’ll go.
The Financial Times on page one reports that a Goldman Sachs analyst, “who three years ago correctly predicted a price ‘super-spike’ above $100 a barrel,” says crude could hit $200 in the next six months... Read More
Tue, 6 May 2008
Opening Bell: Countrywide Deal Hits Snag
Analyst urges B of A to bail; Sprint wants to unload Nextel; Fannie and Freddie need help; etc.
By Posted at 07:18 AM
Investors bailed out of Countrywide Financial yesterday, sending its shares down 10 percent after an analyst said Bank of America would lower its price to as little as $0 a share and urged it to bail out of the deal.
The Wall Street Journal for some reason leads its C1 story with “people familiar” with Bank of America’s... Read More
Mon, 5 May 2008
Debits & Credits: Morgenson vs. Lender Abuse
Plus, a great healthcare story; deal madness; Directors vs. directors, etc.
By Posted at 10:05 AM
A Credit to Gretchen Morgenson of The New York Times for something she declined to take credit for herself.
Morgenson’s reported Tuesday that a Senate subcommittee will examine the extent to which mortgage lenders have extended their sleazeball tactics even into bankrucpty court.
As the mortgage crisis has spread, an army of law firms, loan servicers and foreclosure...Read More
Opening Bell: Yahoo To 'Burn The Furniture'
If Microsoft went hostile; Buffett: we avoided worst of financial crisis; U.S. like S. Korea, 1997?
By Posted at 07:11 AM
The business press goes wide with Microsoft backing away from its unsolicited bid for Yahoo, ending for the moment a pursuit that could have reconstituted Internet competition.
The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Financial Times all go above the fold with stories on the $44.5 billion bid’s collapse (Yahoo wanted another $8 billion or so). The... Read More
Fri, 2 May 2008
Opening Bell: The Fed Flashes Its Fangs
Cracks down on credit-card industry; is SUV era over?; ExxonMobil has another record quarter; etc.
By Posted at 07:21 AM
The Washington Post on A1 says the Federal Reserve and other bank regulators will unleash “one of the most aggressive efforts in decades” against abusive credit-card industry practices. This expected wave of oversight must be real after all.
The proposed regulations, which could be finalized by year's end, would label as "unfair or deceptive" practices that consumers have...Read More
Thu, 1 May 2008
Little Buttercup
The Bancroft’s opera singer/News Corp. director is “unavailable for comment”
By Posted at 03:00 PM
And what of the opera singer?
You remember: Natalie Bancroft, the twenty-something aspiring diva who wound up on News Corp.’s board to represent the Bancrofts?
Oh, come on. The Bancrofts. Descendants of Clarence Barron—almost? Fine—descendants of Barron’s wife’s eldest daughter from a previous marriage. The Waldrons. Close enough.
These lucky few—a horsewoman, a retired airline pilot, a yachtsman or... Read More
Opening Bell: Economy Expands, But...
just barely and it won’t last; another Fed rate cut; Rent-A-Center squeezes food banks; etc.
By Posted at 07:20 AM
The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Financial Times all go big with news that the economy expanded—barely—in the first quarter, but most signs point to recession.
Gross domestic product rose at a slightly higher than expected annual pace of just 0.6 percent in the quarter, as it did in the fourth quarter. But companies built up their... Read More
