Sponsored Link:

Global Investing News Briefs

MasterCard Posts 4Q Profit; Buffet’s Berkshire Investing in Swiss Re; Rogers Staying Out of Russia; Ford in Volvo Talks with Geely Auto; Louis Vuitton Misses on Earnings; Brown Refuses to Ban Bonuses; Mortgage Rates Jump; Retail Trade Group Wants Tax Holidays 

  • MasterCard Inc. (MA) reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings, surprising some analysts given the tightened credit market. For the quarter, the world’s second-largest credit card network earned $243 million, or $1.87 a share, and boosted its revenue by 14.2% to $1.2 billion, Reuters reported.
  • Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, BRK.B) is investing 3 billion Swiss francs ($2.6 billion) in Swiss Reinsurance Co. (ADR: SWCEY ). Swiss Re, which is expecting a net loss, said it is also seeking another 2 billion francs on the capital markets, the Associated Press reported.
  • LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA (ADR:LVMUY) said net income dropped 4.2% to $1.5 billion (1.14 billion euros) in the six months ending in December, missing analysts’estimates for second-half profit, Bloomberg reported.  The world’s largest luxury-goods maker said higher handbag sales failed to offset slumping demand for Hennessey cognac and Moet champagne. The financial crisis has crimped demand for even the most expensive luxury goods, eroding sales in the $230 billion (175 billion-euro) luxury goods market.
  • U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown signaled he won’t block bonuses to executives at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (ADR: RBS) as lawmakers stepped up pressure to adopt a U.S.-style plan capping pay. While he told reporters he supported President Barack Obama “strongly” on the need to change the way bankers are rewarded, he twice refused to say he’d ban bonuses at RBS, Bloomberg reported.  The U.K. government is taking a 70% stake in RBS after the Edinburgh-based institution tapped part of the Treasury’s 50 billion-pound recapitalization fund.
  • U.S. mortgage rates jumped to their highest levels since December this week, frustrating efforts to bring mortgage rates down to levels that will spur demand and help the hard-hit housing market begin to recover, Reuters reported. Interest rates on U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 5.25% for the week ending February 5, up from the previous week’s 5.10%, according to a survey released Thursday by home funding company Freddie Mac (FRE).
  • The National Retail Foundation said current economic stimulus legislation might not do enough to spur consumer spending and repeated its call for a series of temporary sales tax holidays. The retail trade group estimates that the proposed tax holidays would save consumers about $20 billion, or $175 per family, Reuters reported. The U.S. government would reimburse states for the lost revenue.  The proposal comes as the NRF forecasts a 2.5% drop in retail sales in the first half of 2009.

More on this topic (What's this?)
As goes January so goes the year – Testing the January Barometer (Dividend Growth Investor, 2/4/09)
The 10 Rules for Successful Investing (Penny Sleuth, 11/17/09)
2009 Investing Goals (Dividends Value, 12/20/08)
Dividend Portfolio Investing for monthly income (Dividend Growth Investor, 12/4/08)
Read more on How To Invest at Wikinvest
February 6th, 2009

Why Gold Will Surpass $2,500

Few investors realize that inflation is the least of the factors driving the bull market in gold. Other factors, like Venezuela's crackdown on gold exports, are likely to push prices higher. Find out how to play each of the "7 Key Drivers" in our Money Morning Publisher's Series report... Go here to get it for free.




This entry was posted on Friday, February 6th, 2009 at 12:30 pm and is filed under Global Business Roundup, Global Roundup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Due to the amount of comments we receive Money Morning will not be able to respond to all questions. If you have not already registered to leave a comment, once doing so you will receive Money Morning's Daily Email.

There Are 2 Responses So Far. »

  1. Pingback by Jutia Group - Market Jitters & Political Critters on 6 February 2009:

    [...] Money Morning addthis_pub = ‘jutiagroup’; addthis_logo = ‘http://www.jutiagroup.com/favicon.ico’; addthis_brand = ‘Jutia Group’; addthis_options = ‘email, favorites, digg, delicious, myspace, facebook, google, live, reddit, more’; [...]

  2. Pingback by Stock market news | Global Investing News Briefs Friday, February 6th, 2009 - Contrarian Stock Market Investing News - Featuring Bargain Stocks on 6 February 2009:

    [...] Global Investing News Briefs Friday, February 6th, 2009 Advertisement Tags: BRK.A, BRK.B, Ford, FRE, Gelyf, Global Investing News, Jim Rogers, LVMUY, [...]

Post a Response