News round-up: 11 Sep 2008

Articles below in the news include talk about Lehman, WaMu, and Deutsche Bank. The stock plummeted in the pre-market as it is downgraded by banking analysts who were not impressed by yesterday’s conference call. Hurricane Ike forces an evacuation of Houston. And Global markets are at a two-year low.

However, there is a bright side to things for some. Petrobras has found lots of oil. The U.S. Dollar is rising. And Fannie is going to pay a preferred divided. Oh and American Airline flight attendants are protecting us from Internet porn.

Another day in the markets begins. Enjoy!

Hurricane Ike Churns Toward Texas as Houston Calls Evacuation – Bloomberg
Governor Palin May Try to Stop Subpoenas in Trooper Firing Case – Bloomberg (hmmm…)

Markets
Petrobras Says Iara Holds 3-4 Billion Barrels of Oil – Bloomberg
World equities at 2-yearr low as dollar surges – Reuters
Junk Bond Distress Levels Surge, Signaling Defaults – Bloomberg
Bollard Cuts N.Z.’s Key Rate to 7.5%; Currency Slumps – Bloomberg
Another bull goes over to the bears – Market Watch
U.S. August import price index falls 3.7% – Market Watch (It looks like inflation will fall, but remember this has no effect on GDP)

Financial Services
Insurers and banks face huge CDS losses – FT (Can you say credit writedowns. Everybody now, credit writedowns. Hooray)
Fannie to Pay Third-Quarter Preferred Stock Dividends – Bloomberg (hooray, our preferreds aren’t worthless; long live, moral hazard)
Fannie Mae Sells $7 Billion in Record Note Sale – Deal Book
Lehman Shares Plummet After Three Analysts Cite Rating Risk – Bloomberg
Analysts Question Lehman’s Self-Help Plan – Deal Book
Lehman Brothers: a turbulent history – Times Online (sounds almost like a post-mortem)
Macklowe May Lose $500 Million Site on Park Avenue – Bloomberg
Is Washington Mutual Running Out of Time? – Deal Book
Deutsche Bank Confirms Postbank Talks – Deal Book

Global Economy
Taiwan to Spend $5.6 Billion on Economy, Stocks – Bloomberg (Asia is suffering too)
Britain, Germany and Spain will be in recession this year, says EC – Guardian

UK
Consumer slowdown: Department store profits fall sharply at John Lewis – Guardian
Cash-strapped consumers boost Morrisons’ profits – Guardian
Home Retail to slash Homebase value by 70% – Times Online

Odds & Ends
American Air Attendants Urge Filters to Bar Web Porn – Bloomberg (Rats!)
Luxury shopping bends but doesn’t break – Market Watch (those poor rich people)
Cowboys Lead as NFL Team Values Average $1 Billion, Forbes Says – Bloomberg
Mexico’s Slim owns 6 percent of New York Times – Reuters (Slim has been the richest man in the world)