StreetInsider.com Top 10 News Items 7/28-8/1: Merrill, ImClone, Biogen/Elan, More...

August 1, 2008 1:55 PM EDT

StreetInsider.com Top 10 News Items for the Week of July 28th - August 1st. This is a recap of this week's major news in the U.S. stock market.

1. Late Monday, Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) sold $30.6 billion gross notional amount of U.S. super senior ABS CDOs to an affiliate of Lone Star Funds for a purchase price of $6.7 billion. In addition, Merrill sold 380,000,000 shares of common stock for an aggregate amount of $8.55 billion. Shares of Merrill traded up 8% Tuesday following the news, although shares were off 11% on Monday ahead of the news.

2. On Thursday, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) offered to acquire partner Imclone Systems (Nasdaq: IMCL) for $60 per share offer. Shares of Imclone traded up 38% on Thursday, above $60 per share, on hopes of a higher bid.

3. Late Thursday, Biogen Idec (Nasdaq: BIIB) and Elan Corporation (NYSE: ELN) disclosed two confirmed cases of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients treated with TYSABRI in the commercial setting. PML is a rare and often fatal brain disease. On Friday, shares of Biogen were down 25% and Elan was down 45%.

4. On Thursday, it was reported that U.S. Q4 GDP was revised to show a drop of 0.2%, versus the reported number of a 0.6% gain. The latest quarter (Q2) showed a gain of 1.9%.

5. On Friday, Nonfarm Payrolls were reported down 51K, versus the consensus of a 75K drop. The unemployment rate rose to 5.7%

6. The Federal Reserve extended the securities dealer loan programs through Jan 30. The also introduced 84-day Term Auction Facility (TAF) loans as a complement to 28-day TAF loans.

7. On Friday, General Motors (NYSE: GM) reports a Q2 adjusted loss of $11.21 per share, versus the consensus of a $2.62 loss. Revenues were $38.16 billion, versus the consensus of $44.57 billion. Shares of GM fell 5% on Friday.

8. On Tuesday, U.S. Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) reports Q2 EPS of $5.65, well above the analyst estimate of $3.91. Shares rose 10% on the week.

9. Visa (NYSE: V) and Mastercard (NYSE: MA) both reported strong Q2 results, but investors were concerned about slowing revenue growth. Visa is down 8% since reporting results. Mastercard is down 16% in that time.

10: Showing the strength in solar, sector leader First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR) reports Q2 EPS of $0.85, well above the analyst estimate of $0.58.

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Related Entities

• Carl Icahn
• Nonfarm Payrolls
• Merrill Lynch
• Lone Star Funds

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