Markets

AOL, or "Aol.," as DailyFinance's corporate parent shall soon be known, won't be spun off from Time Warner (TWX) until Dec. 9, but Wall Street is already forecasting its (or should we say, "our") business prospects.

Barclays Capital analyst Douglas Anmuth laid out his earnings estimates for soon-to-be-independent AOL on Tuesday, coinciding with the stock trading on a "when-issued" basis on the New York Stock Exchange. (A when-issued listing is standard practice ahead of a spin-off in order to ensure a smooth transition for market participants.)

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Stocks sag after crummy reports on economic growth, consumer confidence

By AP | Nov 24th 2009, 4:35PM EST Filed Under: Company News, Investing

Stocks drifted below 13-month highs after a lackluster reading on consumer confidence and a report showing slower economic growth sapped some of the market's optimism. Major indexes posted modest losses Tuesday, as drops in financial and industrial stocks were tempered by gains in health care companies. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 17 points a day after jumping by 133.

Stocks pulled off their lows of the day after the Federal Reserve released minutes from its latest rate-setting meeting, during which it pledged to keep rates low for the foreseeable future and said inflation remained at bay. The Fed raised its expectations for economic growth during the second half of this year, but said unemployment will remain high.

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Galleon's Rajaratnam strikes back, calls SEC tactics unconstitutional

By Vishesh Kumar | Nov 24th 2009, 2:00PM EST Filed Under: People, Investing

Billionaire hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam had vowed to fight the insider trading charges against him with the same vigor he used to amass his fortune. And now his army of seasoned lawyers is swinging back hard against allegations that the founder of the Galleon Group engaged in insider trading in stocks ranging from Google (GOOG) to Hilton (HLNQ).

On Tuesday, Rajaratnam's legal team responded...

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As foreclosures of rental units jump, renters lose

By Lita Epstein | Nov 24th 2009, 12:30PM EST Filed Under: Economy, Investing, Real Estate

As foreclosures of rental units mount, renters find themselves caught between the bank and their landlord. They often suffer as much-needed repairs are left undone at units nearing foreclosure.

While the biggest hit to the rental sector may not happen until after 2013, when two-thirds of Fannie Mae's multifamily debt matures, renters are already beginning to feel the pain as multifamily units enter the foreclosure process.

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TARP repayment plans: Too late now to change public sentiment?

By Lita Epstein | Nov 24th 2009, 9:40AM EST Filed Under: Company News, Economy, Investing, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo & Co.

As TARP nears it's end on Dec. 31, discussions about extending it -- or killing it -- are flooding the halls of Congress and the White House. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner can ask to extend TARP until October 2010, but he'll do so with a lot of objection from members of Congress. In fact Republicans are so disappointed in Geithner's performance that they're calling for his resignation. Now, the Federal Reserve is asking the big banks that were part of the stress tests to submit plans...

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Stocks in the news: Hewlett-Packard, Heinz, Medtronic, Hormel Foods

By Melly Alazraki | Nov 24th 2009, 9:10AM EST Filed Under: Company News, Investing

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) reported quarterly results Monday after the bell. There were few surprises, because the company had pre-announced them last week when it acquired 3Com, so the 14% profit rise boosted by China sales and better profit margins was mostly expected. However, H-P also announced it had tripled the size of its share repurchase program to $12 billion. Shares declined 0.8% ahead of the bell.

H.J. Heinz Co. (HNZ) posted a 14% lower quarterly profit of $231.4 million, or 73 cents, on Tuesday, hurt by sales declines in North America and Europe, but said it is optimistic about its sales momentum...

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Investors await economic data; stocks seen opening flat

By Melly Alazraki | Nov 24th 2009, 8:00AM EST Filed Under: Economy, Investing

U.S. stocks look ready for a flat open after investors pushed markets to a new 13-month high Monday. Stock futures traded in a tight range as investors await several key economic reports, including GDP and housing. Recent tech earnings and more bank news have also captured the headlines.

More here: Before the bell: Stock futures steady ahead of GDP, housing data

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Asian markets: Warning by Chinese regulator sends banking, retail stocks plummeting

By Lauren Cooper | Nov 24th 2009, 7:00AM EST Filed Under: Economy, Investing

Shares in Asia headed south Tuesday. In China, the Shanghai Composite index plunged 3.5% to 3,224, its largest drop in nearly three months. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index fell 1.5% to end the day at 22,423 and in Japan, the Nikkei Index lost 1% to close at 9,402.

Banking shares suffered losses today as China's banking regulator warned lenders that they must comply with rules requiring them to have adequate amounts of cash held against the loans they have made. The Wall Street Journal reports that in the first six months of this year, Chinese banks have issued loans worth $1.1 trillion -- an amount equal to half of China's GDP for the same period...

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Campbell Soup's stock looks m'm, m'm good

By Dan Burrows | Nov 23rd 2009, 4:45PM EST Filed Under: Investing, Earnings, Campbell Soup Company, Stock Picks

When you're the world's biggest soup maker, it's important to have good stock.

Campbell Soup (CPB) reported Monday that its fiscal-first quarter earnings rose 17%, beating Wall Street's view by a hearty 6 cents a share. True, revenue dipped slightly, but that was more due to difficult year-over-year comparisons and the fact that Campbell rolled out its major soup-season marketing campaign a couple of months early this year.

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Wall Street's no-longer-so-secret society: High speed trading gets scrutiny, rivals

By Matthew Scott | Nov 23rd 2009, 3:30PM EST Filed Under: Investing

An arms race has begun in the secretive world of high frequency trading, the practice of making a high number of trades netting small gains that can add up to big profits at the end of the day. Fueling the competition is the entry of more players into the field as well as technological advances that continue to enhance the speed and quality of trades. A sense of urgency comes from the fact that the industry is bracing for new regulation.

Becoming increasingly popular in the last couple of years, high frequency trading uses technology and computer algorithms to take advantage of sub-millisecond arbitrage -- or essentially the spread between the buy and the sell price of a stock or commodity that can appear in fractions of a second. But the trading technique has come...

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