Archive for June 29th, 2009

For shareholders of government-backed mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the last year has been most unkind. After Congress bullied the firms into making risky loans, regulators seized them last fall as defaults spiraled out of control, threatening the safety of trillions of dollars in mortgage bonds. Shareholders lost more than 97% of their… »

Corn and soybean prices slipped a day ahead of the impending U.S. crop acreage report. Investors had anticipated a significant reduction to corn crop acreage since weeks of rainy weather drenched U.S. corn regions, delaying the planting period, and farmers were expected to surrender corn fields to soybeans, which can be planted later and require… »

As we head into the short trading week in the U.S., a JPMorgan Chase strategist is predicting that several signs of an economic recovery will emerge.JPMorgan Funds’ chief market strategist David Kelly says that increases in manufacturing production, mortgage applications and vehicle sales combined with a forecast decrease in the number of Americans who continue… »

One veteran banking analyst lowered his estimate Monday on JPMorgan Chase’s earnings for this year-but he’s bullish about the value of the company in 2010 and 2011.This month the U.S.’s second-largest bank, which has weathered the recession better than most as it acquired ailing firms like Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual while maintaining a healthy… »

Hugo Spowers is an inventor with a dream-perhaps an impossible one. After nearly a decade of mighty labor and no little expense, he has built a hydrogen-fuel cell car-albeit one so tiny it’s more like a buggy. If the money holds out, he intends to make 50 more of them and then test market the… »

RBS Group Chief Executive Stephen Hester’s 9.6 million pound pay package came under fire yesterday, animating a conference at the London Business School. An American entrepreneur living in London challenged John Kingman, the chief executive of UK Financial Investments Ltd., on Hester’s pay. “The government owns this bank and sets a compensation package of 9.6… »

Things between Porsche and Volkswagen are getting messier and this could undermine both companies in the long run. On Monday Volkswagen denied reports that it had presented Porsche an ultimatum to accept its proposal for a merger of the two companies, after Porsche management had accused its rival of “extortion.””Ultimatums do not belong in the… »

Indian carmaker Tata Motors is taking a gamble in its goal to revamp struggling British brands Jaguar and Land Rover, which it bought in June last year, after launching them with much fanfare in Mumbai on Sunday.Jaguar was previously a Ford Motor property, sold off in anticipation of a cash crunch. Ford’s Jaguar diverstiture is… »

Britain’s crowded mobile phone sector has been great for consumers, but terrible for the margins of its five big players. That’s why reports on Monday that Vodafone was exploring a bid to buy T-Mobile U.K., the British mobile network unit belonging to Deutsche Telekom, came as little surprise. Not only had Deutsche Telekom booked a… »

Tata Motors may have launched Jaguar and Land Rover to much fanfare in Mumbai on Sunday, but the Indian carmaker is also taking a gamble in its goal to revamp the struggling British brands it bought in June last year. Tata has said that it wants to target India’s wealthy, but growth in the country’s… »