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Housing Sales Plunge In March
Housing
Sales Plunge
In March

Housing Sales Plunge In March

Oversupply and tightened lending hit hard in already-weak market

(Newser) - Sales of previously occupied homes fell 8.4 percent in March, marking the biggest monthly drop since 1989 and ending hopes for a spring rebound. The new National Association of Realtors numbers reflect an oversupply of homes, lenders subdued by the sub-prime crisis, and bad winter weather, the Wall Street ...

Radio Replaces Commercials With Sponsors

Dallas station moves to keep up with the iPod generation

(Newser) - In a throwback to the days of Texaco Star Theater and the Colgate Comedy Hour, a Clear Channel radio station has ditched spot ads in favor of hourly corporate sponsors. In an effort to compete with uninterrupted satellite radio and mp3 players, DJs on KZPS-FM in Dallas will pepper their...

Dow Powers to Record High
Dow Powers to Record High

Dow Powers to Record High

(Newser) - The Dow rose 30.80 points yesterday, closing above 12800 for the first time. The new record was powered was by JP Morgan Chase, Boeing and Caterpillar, while nearly two-thirds of the Dow components failed to make gains, the Wall Street Journal reports. Tech stocks continued to be weak; the...

Yahoo's Earnings Drop Despite New Ad System

(Newser) - Yahoo's new online advertising system failed to break the company's earnings slump, with the search-engine pioneer reporting an 11% drop in first-quarter profits. Yahoo faces increased competition for graphic display advertising that represents a third of revenue, and the company is no longer doing ad brokering for Microsoft, which bolstered...

Senate Eyes Hedge Fund Tax Breaks
Senate Eyes Hedge Fund Tax Breaks

Senate Eyes Hedge Fund Tax Breaks

Bill limits pretax earnings managers can invest in their offshore funds

(Newser) - The Senate has an eye on extraordinary tax breaks that have allowed hedge fund managers to sock away hundreds of millions of dollars tax free, using their funds like giant pension schemes, the Times reports. Managers who run offshore funds can re-invest earnings in their own funds, deferring taxes for...

Loan Giant Sallie Mae Goes Private
Loan Giant Sallie Mae Goes Private

Loan Giant Sallie Mae Goes Private

Nation's largest student lender is sold for $25 billion

(Newser) - A group of investors is buying student lending giant Sally Mae for $25 billion, even as Capitol Hill debates reducing federal subsidies for student loans. The company—which began as a quasi-public agency—will be taken private by Bank of America, JPMorganChase, and private equity houses J. C. Flowers and...

Inside the Citadel: Hedge Fund Giant Mulls IPO

Founder Ken Griffin gets cozy with Portfolio

(Newser) - Portfolio magazine debuts with a look inside Citadel Investment Group, the $13.5 billion Chicago hedge fund that's even more press-shy than most of its brethren. A rare chat with founder Ken Griffin reveals that he's thinking of taking Citadel public —which the magazine notes could be the biggest...

Stocks Swing on CEO House Size
Stocks Swing on CEO House Size

Stocks Swing on CEO House Size

(Newser) - Don't buy stock in a company whose CEO lives in a huge house, a new study says.  CEOs who move into regular-sized digs —5,600 square feet for the typical company head — see their company's stock jump an average 6% the following year. Those who go palatial...

Sweetheart Deal May Sink Wolfowitz
Sweetheart Deal May Sink Wolfowitz

Sweetheart Deal May Sink Wolfowitz

World Bank staff boos his apology for pushing girlfriend's promotion

(Newser) - World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz faced mounting pressure to resign last night as details emerged over his role in ordering a promotion and pay raise for an employee with whom he is romantically involved. Wolfowitz apologized at a press conference and again to a gathering of bank staff members, where...

Citigroup Cuts 17,000 Jobs
Citigroup Cuts 17,000 Jobs

Citigroup Cuts 17,000 Jobs

Investors demanded downsizing; now the pressure's on raising revenue

(Newser) - Citigroup will cut 17,000 jobs in an attempt to close the gap between its revenue, up 7% last year, and its expenses, up 15%. The two-year cost-cutting plan comes after shareholders demanded major changes, but analysts agree that lowering expenses is only the first step. Upping revenue is the...

Nasdaq Options Philly Mart
Nasdaq Options Philly Mart

Nasdaq Options Philly Mart

Eyes exchanges options business

(Newser) - The tech-heavy Nasdaq exchange is looking to expand into the options-trading market, and it's in talks with the Philadelphia Stock Exchange about a possible merger. Nasdaq's bid to buy the third-largest options trading exchange, valued at up to $300 million, comes as a number of bigger exchanges are on the...

Advertisers Won't Get It on eBay
Advertisers Won't Get
It on eBay

Advertisers Won't Get It on eBay

Stations opt out of TV-ad auction site

(Newser) - Cable networks are boycotting eBay's experiment in auctioning television airtime to ad houses, in a decision that could ground its nascent spin-off site. The networks protest that Online Media Exchange, which eBay claimed would reduce inefficiency, doesn't account for today's complex targeting and multimedia promotional packages.

Big Oil Shut Out Of Iraq Deals
Big Oil Shut Out
Of Iraq Deals

Big Oil Shut Out Of Iraq Deals

First new oil contracts go to China, India—even Vietnam and Indonesia

(Newser) - U.S. oil companies are far from first in line as Iraq doles out its initial oil contracts.   China, India—even Vietnam and Indonesia—have the inside track instead, thanks to contracts and infrastructure dating back to the Saddam regime, and more positive Iraqi sentiment. "They have...

Kerkorian Offers $4.5 Billion For Chrysler

Dumped his shares last time around; now is ready with cash

(Newser) - Beverly Hills billionaire Kirk Kerkorian has offered to buy the Chrysler group for $4.5 billion. Kerkorian's investment company, Tracinda Corp., can pay cash for the ailing automotive giant, and is pitching an extra $100 mil for an exclusive two-month period to run due diligence. Tracinda told parent DaimlerChrysler it...

Tax Code Spurs Llamapalooza
Tax Code Spurs Llamapalooza

Tax Code Spurs Llamapalooza

The upper crust is using alpaca farming as a huge tax write-off

(Newser) - Some very ulikely agrarians—doctors, lawyers, computer programmers—have spurred a huge boom in alpaca farming in the last few years, not for the profits, of which there are rarely any, but for the huge tax write-offs. "What can't I write off?" Manhattanite Rob Bruce says. "I write...

Small Towns to Chain Stores: Let Us Shop!

Little places lure big retailers at annual shopping convention

(Newser) - Small towns and exurbs are bending over backwards to woo national retail chains, Governing magazine reports from the International Council of Shopping Centers' convention. Phalanxes of city reps descend on the dizzingly massive—and cutthroat—annual spring conference in Vegas, attempting to raise their profile and land a Pottery Barn...

DaimlerChrysler Wants Divorce
DaimlerChrysler Wants Divorce

DaimlerChrysler Wants Divorce

Detroit legend's fate may be decided in a German boardroom -- but tk can't seem to get out of first gear

(Newser) - DaimlerChrysler is trying to unload its clunky Detroit half, its CEO (and occasional company mascot) Dieter Zetsche confirmed at a shareholder's meeting today. The news, which comes after nearly two months of eager speculation, was a relief to frustrated German shareholders, who have long seen Chrysler as a drag on...

Feds Sue Tax Preparers for Fraud
Feds Sue Tax
Preparers for Fraud

Feds Sue Tax Preparers for Fraud

(Newser) - Tax preparers Jackson Hewitt have bilked the government out of more than $70 million, alleges a suit filed yesterday by the Justice Department. The suit claims that over 125 of the company's franchises, all owned at least in part by the same Atlanta businessman, engaged in massive tax fraud.

Tribune Saddled With Daunting Debt
Tribune Saddled With Daunting Debt

Tribune Saddled With Daunting Debt

New owner must repay $12 billion with declining revenues

(Newser) - Sam Zell 's bid for the Tribune Co. beat back his well-heeled rivals, but it saddled an already struggling enterprise with over $12 billion in debt. Now the Wall Street Journal wonders how he expects to pay it back. The likely annual interest fees alone will reach $1 billion, only...

Financial Action Flees to London
Financial Action Flees
to London

Financial Action Flees to London

Goldman Sachs is now doing as much business abroad as on Wall Street

(Newser) - Wall Street’s position as the center of the financial universe—unchallenged for more than a century—is under serious threat from the City of London, according to John Gapper. London is catching up with Gotham in bond trading, already ahead in derivatives and the place to be for really...

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