STOCKS NEWS US-Satyam soars, co may get financing soon

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1104 ET 23Jan2009
Satyam soars, co may get financing soon

Troubled software company Satyam Computer Services, which was recently hit with a fraud scandal, on Friday said it was in the final stages of arranging additional funding to help it cover operations expenses through March. The money will used to cover salaries and vendor payments, among other things. The company's board expects to make a formal announcement about the funding before Wednesday.

Satyam also said it narrowed its list of candidates for the positions of chief executive officer and finance chief. It will announce the candidates to these positions next week.

U.S.-listed shares of Satyam soared 24 percent to $1.33 on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.

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1100 ET 23Jan2009
Markets fall on concerns over earnings, outlooks

Major U.S. markets fell on Friday, as investors fretted about weak corporate earnings and company outlook for the rest of the year, as the recession weighed on many sectors across the economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.1 percent to 7,954.75 while the S&P 500 slid 1.5 percent to 815.41 and the Nasdaq was down 0.7 percent to 1,455.45.

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1047 ET 23Jan2009
Aflac higher after capital position comments

Shares of Aflac rose on Friday after the company said that it has a strong capital position, expects to report fourth-quarter operating earnings consistent with its stated objective and said it does not see a need to raise additional capital.

The insurance provider also said that its holdings of hybrid securities at fair value were $8.1 billion, based on preliminary year-end numbers.

Shares rose nearly more than 17 percent to $26.88 after plunging nearly 37 percent on Thursday when a Morgan Stanley analyst expressed concern about the hybrid securities issued by European financial institutions.

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1038 ET 23Jan2009
Longbow cuts price target on U.S. Steel by 17 pct

Longbow Research on Friday cut its price target on U.S. Steel by 17 percent, dropping it to $50 from $60, seeing 'negligible sequential appreciation' in domestic contract pricing in 2009 and weaker international results. 'Our expectations of lesser 2009 foreign capacity utilization and reduced spot price appreciation are consistent with a more severe European inventory overhang than domestically, with a less timely recovery of spot markets expected there. We forecast modest shipment levels throughout the balance of this year,' it wrote.

Despite that, Longbow expects the company's financial condition will remain strong, and that it will have little difficulty meeting 2009 debt covenants and sees a low probability of a funding shortfall in the course of expected 2009 capital expenditures, dividends and pension contributions.

Shares of U.S. Steel slid 1.43 percent to $29.57 on Friday.

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1030 ET 23Jan2009
Forestar surges after buyout offer

Shares of Forestar Group Inc surged over 37 percent to $12.69 on Friday after the company said it received an unsolicited letter from Holland M. Ware to buy the company for $15 per share in cash.

The offer represents a 62 percent premium over Forestar's closing price Thursday of $9.24 on the New York Stock Exchange.

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1015 ET 23Jan2009
Settlement nearing on RIM options practices

Securities regulators in the United States and Canada are close to finalizing a settlement with senior executives of Research in Motion , the Financial Post said on Friday. The settlement relates to options-granting practices that have cost the company $250 million in earnings as a result of restatements.

The Canadian paper reported that the financial penalty paid by the executives as a result of the U.S. investigation is expected to be much less than the penalty sought by the Canadian regulator.

U.S.-listed shares of Research in Motion, which makes the BlackBerry smart phone, fell 1.2 percent to $51.69 on Friday.

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1009 ET 23Jan2009
Credit card co's down after Capital One results

Shares of credit card companies fell on Friday, after Capital One Financial reported quarterly results that missed expectations and forecast more credit losses in 2009. Standard & Poor's also cut the company's outlook to negative, while three firms cut their price targets on it.

The stock tumbled 13 percent to $19.08. Among its peers, Dow component American Express fell 5 percent to $15.25, Visa Inc shed 2.4 percent to $43.11, MasterCard was down 4.2 percent to $123.40 and Discover Financial was off 2.7 percent to $7.19.

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