SkyIG

SKY News Summary 5-30-08

Public transportation is involved in a conundrum: people are using public transportation more at the same time it must cut services. The increase in gas prices has effected town budgets and state agencies, just as it has hit the consumer. In fact, diesel, used in most buses, has gone up 40% since the beginning of the year, while regular gasoline is up only 27%. Adding to public transportation woes is the fact that transit budgets that are usually funded by sales tax revenue, have declined with a decrease in consumer spending.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121211647322531885.html?mod=todays_us_page_one

A former UBS employee, Bradley Birkenfeld has agreed to tell all and plead guilty to tax fraud in exchange for leniency from the Justice Department. At issue is supposed scheme between UBS and a Liechtenstein bank, LGT Group whereby wealthy American UBS clients used corporate shells and offshore accounts to avoid paying U.S. taxes. In a rare move, UBS may seek a settlement and give the Justice Department names of the U.S. citizens involved in the tax fraud.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121208971164130241.html?mod=todays_us_money_and_investing

The Commerce Department released personal spending and income numbers for the month of April. Personal spending rose a paltry 0.2% last month and personal income rose 0.2%. On Monday, the Institute for Supply Management will release its index of manufacturing conditions and its index of service conditions on Wednesday. Friday, the Labor Department will release its May employment report, a closely-watched number.

http://www.courant.com/business/nationworld/ats-ap_business11may30,0,5418064.story

Sources: The Wall Street Journal, The Hartford Courant, and USA Today

SKY News Summary 5-29-08

According to an article in USA Today, 6% of Amazon’s sales are for Kindle-compatible copies.

Medtronic was awarded $250 million in damages stemming from a patent infringement case with Boston Scientific. This case is one of many that involve the four major players (Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson, and Abbott Laboratories) in the $4 billion stent market.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121202451483428053.html

Federal Reserve governor, Frederic Mishkin will retire in August, leaving only four of the seven governors, barely a quorum, conducting business. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd has refused to fill the vacancies, even temporarily, until a new president takes office.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121200854143127269.html

UPS announced it is providing air transportation for DHL’s express business in the U.S. The 10-year contract is worth about $1 billion to UPS.
http://pressroom.ups.com/ups.com/us/press_releases/print_friendly/0,1937,5013,00.html

Praxair received a prestigious award from GE Healthcare for providing the company exceptional service and “half a million dollars in variable cost productivity savings and cost avoidance.” Praxair provides liquid helium to GE’s MRI machines.
http://www.praxair.com/praxair.nsf/AllContent/2F84942EA237C3D585257457006F9B37?OpenDocument

GE Energy signed a carbon sequestration alliance agreement with Schlumberger Carbon Services. GE has experience in carbon sequestration technology, but Schlumberger has experience in the geologic, management, and regulatory side of carbon capture.
http://www.genewscenter.com/Content/detail.asp?ReleaseID=3627&NewsAreaID=2&PrintPreview=True

Duke Energy will install 800,000 “smart meters” in order to modernize its power delivery system. The meters allow two-way electronic communication between the utility and the meters, reducing on-site meter readings and allowing for a laddered pricing schedule. A Dallas utility company, Oncor Electric, announced a deal with Landis+Gyr, for 3 million meters worth $360 million. It is expected that by 2010, 50 million meters in the U.S. will be replaced at a cost of $18 billion.
http://www.landisgyr.com/08/global/news/index.cfm?id=all

http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121185846630321989.html

http://www.duke-energy.com/news/releases/2008052702.asp?sec=content

Merck reported that results from a new Phase II study showed oral odanacatib reduced the breakdown and rebuilding of bone in women with breast cancer that had spread to the bones. In cancer that spreads to the bones, tumor cells speed up the process of bone breakdown and regrowth which allows further tumor growth and bone destruction.
http://www.merck.com/newsroom/press_releases/research_and_development/2008_0527.html

Merck received a second ruling for the first Vioxx case to go to trial after the Company voluntarily removed the medicine from the market. A Texas appeals court overturned the August 2005 verdict of state court jury and rendered a verdict in favor of Merck. The Texas court found that that VIOXX did not cause the death of Mr. Ernst and reversed the $13 million in damages and attorneys fees.
http://www.merck.com/newsroom/press_releases/corporate/2008_0529a.html

P&G is selling its Stamford property which includes a 32.68 acre manufacturing plant and an office building by I-95.
http://phoenix.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=104574&p=irol-newsArticle_Print&ID=1147543&highlight=

Spectra Energy received a $3.4 million grant from British Columbia to investigate a large-scale carbon sequestration plant near its Fort Nelson natural gas plant. Two byproducts from the Fort Nelson plant, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, must be stored and Spectra’s initial work has identified two large saline reservoirs that may be suitable.
http://investors.spectraenergy.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=204494&p=irol-newsArticle_pf&ID=1150418&highlight=

Earlier this month, a 900-foot-wide, 250-foot-deep sinkhole opened up in Daisetta, Texas next to an oil-field waste-water disposal facility. The facility was injecting nearly twice as much water into the ground as its disposal permit allowed. The Railroad Commission oversees this function but did not catch the violation until the hole appeared.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121116401240302829.html

Sources: The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Hartford Courant, and Spectra, P&G, Merck, Duke Energy, Landis+Gyr, Praxair, UPS, GE websites.

SKY News Summary 05-27-08

Daniel Yergin’s Cambridge Energy Research Associates released a new study of energy costs today, reigniting controversy over different sources of energy. The analysis shows that the cost of building a new nuclear plant is up 19% from a year ago, and up 69% from 2005 because of a triple digit rise in component and construction costs. The cost of iron ore, needed to make steel has risen 65% in recent months, and coking coal, also needed to make steel is in short supply in Australia, a major export country. 30% of the equipment needed by the U.S. power industry comes from outside the country and is subject the weak dollar.
http://www.cera.com/aspx/cda/public1/home/home.aspx
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121184813975221465.html

Several interesting articles in today’s Wall Street Journal look at the issue of energy from various perspectives. One points out that “the short term energy shock of the 1970s followed the Arab oil embargo, a supply constraint. Today’s price pressure stems from what seems a longer-term trend: rising energy demand, particularly in the developing world.”

http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121185399739121799.html

Another article explains the reasons why Congress’ 2005 increase in oil reserves has yet to be funded. Congress had approved expanding the reserve from 727 million barrels to 1 billion barrels at a cost of the $5 billion, but recently voted, to stop filling the reserve altogether for fear that oil purchased would increase oil prices. In reality, the government was buying a paltry 70,000 barrels a day, which probably didn’t impact oil prices at all. Interestingly, the oil reserves are stored in salt domes, natural deposits of compressed salt that are hollowed out by injecting water from nearby streams. Environmentalists worry about the injection process, since the water, filled with salt, must be handled as a waste product.

http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121149091052915297.html

Yet another article compares our government’s strategy for handling the oil embargo in the 1970s with pending proposals currently being considered. According to Daniel Yergin, as mentioned in an article by Gerald F.Seib, this country was able to “save” four million barrels of oil a day by increasing Alaskan oil production and improving emissions standards at a time (1990) when we were importing an average of 5.9 million barrels a day.

http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121184163738921099.html

Anheuser-Busch may soon be involved in an unsolicited takeover from InBev NV, of Belgium. The deal is valued at $45 billion, which would be the record for a beer acquisition. InBev will likely get resistance from the Busch family, which controls less than 4% of the stock, and would likely balk at foreign ownership of the St. Louis company,
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121185125567421635.html
Sources: The Wall Street Journal, The Hartford Courant, and USA Today

SKY News Summary 05-20-08

Lately, the media has focused its discussion of “going green” on the use of the internet and its effect on the economy, specifically, telecommuting. The Wall Street Journal’s opinion page featured an article by Michael Malone, one of the first high-tech daily reporters and author, who likened the internet to America’s “Next Frontier”. He cites a 2005 study by Intel that showed that 20% of its employees had never met their boss face-to-face. Half of them never expected to. Last summer, when the Media X institute at Stanford extended that survey to IBM, Sun, HP, Microsoft, and Cisco, the percentages turned out to be higher.
Today’s USAToday has an interesting editorial, also on telecommuting, by Laura Vanderkam. She cites a summary of 46 studies published in the Journal of Applied Psychology which showed that telecommuting “was associated with higher supervisor performance ratings, increased job satisfaction and a reduction in intent to leave the company.” Emphasizing the positive effect telecommuting has on the environment, Cisco published a case study about one of its executives that increased his productivity 20% and reduced his carbon footprint by 57% by eliminating his corporate travel.
http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/apl9261524.pdf
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/05/want-to-save-th.html
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121115437321202233.html

Merck agreed to pay $58 million to settle claims by 29 states and the District of Columbia which claimed that the drug maker had used deceptive advertising for its Vioxx painkiller.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121130041562407333.html

Johnson Controls plans to open a new plant in Georgia to provide seat systems and door panels for the new Kia SUV. Kia has spent $1.2 billion on a new plant in West Point, Georgia to manufacture and assemble 300,000 vehicles for its North American market by the end of 2009.
http://www.johnsoncontrols.com/publish/us/en/news.html

CBS entered into an agreement last week to acquire CNET Networks, Inc. for about $1.8 billion. The acquisition brings CBS into the top ten Internet companies in the U.S., with 54 million unique users in the U.S. and 200 million users globally. CBS also expands its Internet advertising sector.
http://www.cbscorporation.com/news/prdetails.php?id=3263

Coke and Greenpeace seem like an unlikely couple, but Fortune Magazine reports that the two entities unveiled a new, super-efficient vending machine that will be available at the Beijing Olympics this summer. Coke has made slow, but steady progress on the “green” front as it tries to wean the world away from PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles which currently account for half of Coke’s global volume (three times as much as aluminum). PET is made from oil, and the company recovers only 10% of its PET output. Recycled PET may carry health problems and cannot produce a clear bottle. However, the company perseveres, investing about $44 million in the world’s largest plastic-bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in Spartanburg, S.C., as well as in PET recycling facilities in Switzerland, Mexico, Austria, and the Philippines. It is hoped these investments will garner interest in recycling PET.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/14/news/companies/coca_cola.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008041708

Duke Energy received $1 million in a federal grant to study the permanent storage of carbon dioxide from a clean coal gasification electric power plant in southwest Indiana. “Duke Energy’s funds are part of a $61 million grant to the Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership, a collaborating network of more than 35 members that includes eight states, state geologic surveys, universities, non-governmental organizations, state government organizations and many of the leading energy companies operating in the region. The partnership is led by Columbus, Ohio-based Battelle.”
http://www.duke-energy.com/news/releases/2008050901.asp

Medtronic will reduce its workforce by 1,100 positions this year. Some functions will be consolidated for efficiencies.
http://wwwp.medtronic.com/Newsroom/

Sources: The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Hartford Courant, Fortune, Money, CBS Website, Johnson Control Website, and Medtronic Website, and The Journal of Applied Psychology.

SKY News Summary 05-16-08

GE made it official today. The company has hired Goldman Sachs to auction its appliance division, according to The Wall Street Journal. GE expects to get between $5 billion and $8 billion for the unit. In other related news, Mesa Power, T. Bone Pickens’ company, awarded GE a contract for hundreds of wind turbines. The proposed project, on 400,000 acres in Texas, will eventually have 4,000 megawatts of capacity, powering 1.3 million homes, and should cost about $12 billion. Mr. Pickens is gambling on Congress renewing the tax credits of 2 cents per kilowatt hour, expiring this December.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121094138940498605.html
http://www.courant.com/business/hc-ge-mesa0516.artmay16,0,6363002,print.story

The new BlackBerry Thunder, being introduced in the third quarter, will be sold exclusively through Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone. The device’s touchscreen and multimedia features are in direct competition with those of AT&T’s iPhone developed by Apple. However, Apple is expected to introduce a new iPhone that runs on a faster 3G line, and makes iTunes more accessible.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121087480469495889.html

Boeing lost a $1.46 billion contract to provide next-generation navigational satellites to the Air Force. Lockheed will be making up to 32 satellites with the help of General Dynamics and ITT.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121091061114098201.html

Microsoft will be providing One Laptop Per Child with Windows XP for $3 per computer. Microsoft hopes to market its software in emerging markets and has done similar $3 deals in Russia, Libya, and Egypt. So far, OLPC has sold only 600,000 of the expected 150 million laptops as the laptop’s Linux operating system proved cumbersome.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121090009765197433.html

The Senate approved the massive $300 billion farm bill by a vote of 81-15. The bill funds programs for biofuel research, land conservation, and nutritional assistance.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121088161312296299.html

Sources: The Wall Street Journal, The Hartford Courant, and USA Today

SKY News Summary 05-15-08

UBS announced that Jerker Johansson, head of the company’s investment banking operation, will take charge of its fixed-income area. The company has created a new position, which will be given to John Wall, overseeing proprietary trading in equities and fixed income. UBS will also combine its market risk and credit risk functions under Joe Scoby, chief risk officer. These changes are a response to a recent internal report that said UBS failed to realize that its hedge fund, its fixed-income, and its treasury departments had all taken on the same risks last year.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1e4d6f9e-2217-11dd-a50a-000077b07658.html

Freddie Mac was given greater flexibility by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. Freddie announced plans to raise $5.5 billion in new capital and the Oversight Committee responded by lowering the surplus capital requirement to 15% given completion of the offering.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8fc077fe-2215-11dd-a50a-000077b07658.html

An updated climate change study will be published today in Nature. The new study warns that man-made, not natural causes are responsible for global warming. Scientists believe that La Niña will lower temperatures in the next ten years, confusing the issue, but after that passes, temperatures will be warmer.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/73fc674e-2215-11dd-a50a-000077b07658.html

The Bush administration added Polar Bears to the Endangered Species Act acknowledging that, although the population has grown from 10,000 in the 1960’s to 25,000 today, polar bears could be endangered in the next 30 years. The inclusion on the list requires federal agencies to reduce the harmful impact of greenhouse gases on the species. The polar bear had already been protected under the Marine Mammals Protection Act, which is more stringent. The Department of Interior will now issue a ruling that whatever has been allowed under the Marine Mammals Protection Act will now be allowed under this new ruling. This will affect the federal Mineral Management Service lease sale of 46,000 square miles off Alaska’s northwest shore, in the Chukchi Sea as reported in the January 3, 2008 SKY blog. The area contains about 15 billion barrels of oil and 77 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The issue of oil and gas exploration in the polar bear habitat will now most likely end up in the courts.
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2008-05-14-polar-bear-threatened-global-warming_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Sources: The Boston Globe, USA Today, The Financial Times, The Hartford Courant

SKY News Summary 05-13-08

Merck and Indian drug maker, Ranbaxy Laboratories signed a pact to research and develop drugs to treat bacterial and fungal infections. Merck is receiving an undisclosed upfront investment from Ranbaxy, while Ranbaxy is getting a shot at increasing its margins by moving outside its low-margined manufacture of generic copies of popular drugs.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121061166485485535.html

The ENI SpA-led consortium developing the huge Kashagan oil field in Kazakhstan, has again said that opening of the fields will be delayed. The consortium includes Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell. Production, which was initially slated for 2005 has been pushed to 2012-2013 due to the project’s complexity. The Kazakhstan government is considering new fines for the delay.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121064676913487451.html

Hewlett-Packard is in the news again today, as it announced plans to acquire Ross Perot’s EDS for $12 billion to $13 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. The aim is to compete with IBM on a larger scale for consulting services that help companies design, build, and manage computer systems.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121061881292685875.html

The Treasury Department reported on Monday that corporate taxes for the first seven months of the fiscal year are 14.7% lower than the same time last year. Government spending has increased 7.3%, pushing the federal deficit up 88% to $152 billion.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121061743851685773.html

The Commerce Department reported today that retail sales, minus auto sales, rose 0.5%, well above economists’ expectations of 0.3%. Winners were the building and garden supplies sector which grew 1.9%, and the electronics and appliance sector which grew 1.4%. Auto sales declined 2.8%.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-05-13-consumer-spending-drops_N.htm
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121068163716188223.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news

The steel industry is a wonderful example of American resilience. A decade ago, the industry was all but defunct, but thanks to globalization, and the industry’s ability to reinvent itself, the U.S.steel industry has benefited from the world’s insatiable demand for steel. (China, for example, plans to build 97 airports, all requiring steel, by 2020). Whereas, in 1970 it took 500,000 people to produce 91 million tons of steel, now it takes 160,000 people to make 110 million tons, with a market price per gross ton that has grown 90% to $1,115 per gross ton from $587 per gross ton in January 2007.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/manufacturing/2008-05-12-steel-stocks_N.htm

The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment, pushed for by the Environmental Defense Fund and signed into law by the elder George Bush, established the cap and trade system to diminish sulphur dioxide emissions associated with acid rain. The Economist, in an article dated July 4, 2002, applauded the program as the “greatest green success story”. This program is now the basis for the carbon cap and trade program which is a part of the legislation being introduced by Senators Lieberman and Warner to stem carbon emissions and global warming. The link, below, to the Environmental Defense Fund includes a YouTube video that is very informative on the history and mechanics of the cap and trade program.
http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_TNDDNDV
http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1085
http://lieberman.senate.gov/newsroom/release.cfm?id=285619

Sources: The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, USAToday, The Economist, Senator Joe Lieberman’s web site, and the Environmental Defense Fund web site.

SKY News Summary 05-12-08

Since 2005, eight states have made it easier for homeowners to add solar panels or wind turbines to their homes.  Previously, towns or homeowner associations have made “going green” virtually impossible due to stringent legislation on aesthetics.  In 2005, 5,000 homes in the U.S. had added solar panels.  In 2007, that number grew to 10,900.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-05-12-green_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

The $300 billion farm bill will head to the House floor later this week, then speed to the Senate soon after.  President Bush is expected to veto the bill.  The legislation would, among other things, end some farm subsidies, create a disaster relief package for farmers, increase funding for nutrition programs such as food stamps,  increase funding for wet conservation, and fund a new initiative to protect the Chesapeake Bay.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2008-05-11-farm-bill_N.htm

The price of nuclear reactors has almost quadrupled since rough estimates were made years ago, as prices for materials – cement, copper, and steel- have risen precipitously.  A new plant would cost between $5 billion and $12 billion and the cost could be passed on to the consumer in the form of high electric bills.  If carbon emission rules change, making polluters such as coal fired plants expensive to run, nuclear power may still be the less-expensive alternative.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121055252677483933.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace

A Department of Energy report out today envisions wind turbines providing 20% of the nation’s electricity by 2030.  The report outlines the costs and outcomes of wind energy, noting in particular the need to improve turbine technology.
http://www.eere.energy.gov

BT Group may be selling its 24 British data centers to Hewlett-Packard for $2.9 billion according to The Sunday Times, which did not mention the source of the information.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aX95B9q_7nJs&refer=uk

According to Nikkei, the Japanese daily, Citigroup may be selling its Japanese consumer finance company as part of a move to restructure it’s balance sheet.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&WTmodLOC=C3-News-3&symbol=C&storyID=2008-05-11T052139Z_01_T198093_RTRIDST_0_CITIGROUP-JAPAN.XML&type=qcna

A new study by IBM notes that U.S. consumers will spend $104 billion to change to green goods and services.
https://www-931.ibm.com/bin/cp/driver.cgi?tn=121079_1OTR_1IN&ca=ezvrm_121079&me=print&met=ceoebrc1&re=0&tactic=6n8a802w&cm_mmc=6n8a802w-_-p-_-ceoebrc1-0-_-ezvrm_121079 

About 40 developing countries have approached the U.N. about developing a nuclear program.  It is doubtful that these countries are interested in nuclear power.  The United Arab Emirates, for example, has proven oil reserves of 100 billion barrels, and yet, asked the French to build the country two nuclear reactors. Libya, Algeria, Kuwait and Bahrain have all made similar requests, perhaps responding to Iran’s interest in nuclear weapons.
http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld/hc-nuclear0512.artmay12,0,2747064.story

Sources:  IBM Web site, Bloomberg Web site, Department of Energy Web site, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Hartford Courant.

SKY News Summary 5-08-08

There was plenty of economic news reported this week. The Federal Reserve reported yesterday that Consumer borrowing increased at an annual rate of 7.2% or $15.3 billion in March which was twice the rate of February. Consumer borrowing on credit cards and auto loans were responsible for most of the growth.

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-credit0508.artmay08,0,1216491.story

Investment Company Institute, which represents the mutual-fund industry, will release its 2008 Investment Company Fact Book today. The data shows that retirement assets rose by 7%, or $1.1 trillion in 2007, which was a smaller increase than the 12% increase in 2006. According to the ICI, “Investors held $9.2 trillion in IRA and defined-contribution plans at year-end 2007, which accounted for about half of the entire retirement market, the ICI said. IRA assets rose 12% to $4.7 trillion, with $2.2 trillion of that invested in mutual funds. Investors held $4.5 trillion in defined-contribution plans, up 8% from the previous year, with mutual funds accounting for $2.4 trillion of that, the ICI found. And $3 trillion was held in 401(k)s at the end of 2007, making them the most popular type of defined-contribution plan.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121020982749675801.html

Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Edward Lazear held a meeting with editors and reporters from the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires yesterday. In his interview, he expressed optimism for the economy. He stated, “I think there are some signs of optimism out there in terms of credit markets and the aggregate indicators, as well…When people talk about the economy being bad, I think they don’t have what most economists and most people who are talking about a recession have in mind, namely these indicators — profits, industrial production, tightness in credit markets. That’s not what they’re thinking about. When they’re thinking about problems in the economy, they’re thinking primarily about gasoline prices and food prices, to some extent. Those are as consistent with an expansionary period as they are with a recessionary period.”
When talking about the high price of oil, he said, “it’s significant, no question.” He added that a $10 increase in the price of oil subtracts roughly a quarter-percentage-point from annual GDP.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121019473822674751.html

Clearwire and SprintNextel announced they will combine their wireless broadband units to create a new $14.55 billion communications company, also called Clearwire. The new entity will receive $3.2 billion from Intel, Google, Comcast Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. It also will receive an investment from John Stanton, the wireless industry guru, who heads Trilogy Equity Partners. The new Clearwire is being formed to get WiMax, which is similar to Wi-Fi but is available everywhere and operates on an Intel chip, into the market. AT&T and Verizon have their own broadband network for the future, called Long Term Evolution.
http://www.courant.com/business/hc-wimax0508.artmay08,0,4177085.story

Sources: The Wall Street Journal, The Hartford Courant, USAToday

SKY News Summary 5-6-08

The Nuclear Energy Institute has re-elected John W. Rowe, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Exelon Corp., as chairman of its board of directors
http://www.nei.org/newsandevents/

P&G has sued J&J for patent infringement. P&G alleges that J&J’s Listerine Whitening Strips infringe on patents relating to Crest Whitestrips.
http://www.pginvestor.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=104574&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1139235&highlight=

Web searches through AT&T’s Yellowpages.com increased by 70% over last year. There are now over 125 million searches each month, making it number 31 in comScore’s top 100 Web properties for March 2008.
http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=25638

There is an article by Erik Lacitis from the Seattle Times, in the Hartford Courant today. The article is about Art Pearson, 89, America’s oldest active Fuller Brush salesman. He has 4,000 to 5,000 active customers and has made about 100,000 cold calls. What I find interesting is his sales method, honed over 70 years in the business. First, he always wears a coat and tie and carries a suit case with his products. He puts the suitcase on the right-hand side of the door. Then he’d knocks on the door, and steps back two paces, so as not to appear overbearing. When the homemaker opens the door, she sees Pearson holding a vegetable brush and a spatula. “Which gift would you like? he asks. “May I step in and give it to you?” “When I go into a house, my eyes wander through the house quickly. I suggest, “Maybe you need a wall brush for those cobwebs, or window cleaner”. Then he demonstrates his products and almost always makes a sale. Trivia for the day: Billy Graham, Dennis Quaid, and Dick Clark were all Fuller Brush salesmen.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004361380_fullerbrushman20m.html

ExxonMobil is hoping to reduce the cost of carbon dioxide removal from produced natural gas with its new Controlled Freeze Zone (CFZ) technology. The company is committing more than $100 million to build a commercial demonstration plant near LaBarge, Wyoming. Construction will start this summer, with completion in late 2009. “Using the CFZ process, the carbon dioxide and other components are discharged as a high-pressure liquid stream for injection into underground storage or for use in reservoir management to enhance oil recovery. Besides reducing the cost of separation, transportation and reinjection, the CFZ process can eliminate the use of solvents, sulfur plants and carbon dioxide venting in processing of the natural gas.”
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/exxonmobil/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ndmConfigId=1001106&newsId=20080505006145&newsLang=en

Fannie Mae plans to raise $6 billion in new capital through underwritten public offerings of new securities. Today, the company offered $4 billion of common stock and non-cumulative mandatory convertible preferred stock.
http://www.fanniemae.com/newsreleases/2008/4357.jhtml;jsessionid=35L1OFUKBDULZJ2FQSHSFGI?p=Media&s=News+Releases

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy selected Wilmington, NC as the site for a commercial uranium enrichment facility. It will now pursue a license with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Start-up date is planned for 2012. GE already has a joint venture with Hitachi and Toshiba in Wilmington called Global Nuclear Fuel-Americas, which receives low enriched uranium and fabricates fuel bundles for nuclear power plants. GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy could become the supplier of low enriched uranium to Global Nuclear Fuel-Americas.
http://genewscenter.com/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=3471&NewsAreaID=2&MenuSearchCategoryID=

GE Healthcare signed an agreement with Merck to share technology on imaging of the lungs so that Merck can use the technology in its therapy trials. The new technology uses xenon, a gas that can be modified with Spin Signal Technology to be detectable with MRI. Princeton University originally licensed this technology to GE Healthcare.
http://genewscenter.com/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=3494&NewsAreaID=2&MenuSearchCategoryID=

Mobile devices, including cell phones, outnumber PCs three to one. Dr. Daniel Dias, Director, IBM India Research Laboratory is promoting IBM projects that will allow the cell phone to do anything that a PC can do. Specifically:

- “The Spoken Web – Allowing mobile commerce to be conducted by voice.
- Instant Translation – Real-time communication between multiple languages through mobile devices.
- SoulPad – Software that separates a computer’s “soul” – the programs, settings and data – from its body, the disks, keyboard and other hardware. Once stored on a storage device, that “soul” can be reincarnated in any other computer.
- Social networking on-the-go – Letting social network users connect via mobile devices.
- Good Samaritan – Combining mobile phones, “presence” technology and health records to provide a potential “good samaritan” with information on how to aid people in a critical medical situation.”
http://www.ibm.com/news/us/en/2008/04/2008_04_21.html

Merck is reducing its sales force by 15% or about 1,200 people due to slowing sales of Vytorin and Zetia, and FDA’s rejection of Cordaptive, a cholesterol drug. The company has eliminated 9,300 jobs since a reorganization plan was announced in 2005.
http://www.merck.com/newsroom/press_releases/corporate/2008_0505.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121002063418168565.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace

Target is selling a 47% stake in its $8.2 billion credit card receivables to J.P. Morgan Chase for $3.6 billion. The deal is more like a loan than a sale, in that Target retains control of its credit-card operations.
http://investors.target.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=65828&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1139845&highlight=
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121002172162968681.html

Sources: The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Seattle Times, Hartford Courant, Target.com, Merck.com, IBM.com, GE.com, FannieMae.com, ExxonMobil.com, AT&T.com, NEI.com, PG.com.