Top 10 News Items 5/10-5/14: Eurozone Contagion Bailout, Gold Taps New Highs, SAP Buys Sybase (SY)
Here is a recap of the top news items from this week on Wall Street:
1. To start the week, the EU announced a nearly trillion dollar bailout plan to stop the debt contagion fears that have gripped Europe, sparked by problems in Greece. Stocks soared early in the week on the news, only to give up much of those gains as many realize the problems in the Eurozone are far from over. The euro continued to plummet against the dollar, falling as low as $1.2361 - an 18 month low.
2. Gold rose to a new all time high this week of $1249.70, before settling back down to $1234 as EU monetizing Greek debt creates fears about the devaluing of fiat currencies and possible inflation. Investors have been playing gold through ETFs SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) and Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX).
3. SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) agreed to acquire Sybase Inc. (NYSE: SY) for approximately $5.8 billion. SAP announced a cash tender offer to acquire Sybase for $65 per share, a 44 percent premium over the three-month average price of the stock.
4. Priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) reported solid Q1 earnings, but shares plunged as its outlook couldn't beat lofty expectations. Priceline.com reported Q1 EPS of $1.70, 4 cents better than the analyst estimate of $1.66. Revenue for the quarter was $584.4 million, which compares to the estimate of $595.80 million. The company sees Q2 EPS of $2.50-$2.70, versus the consensus of $2.83. Sales up 18-23% in Q2. Shares fell over $40 per share this week following the results.
5. Credit and debit card processors Visa (NYSE: V) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA) fell 10% and 9% respectively on Friday after the Senate voted in favor of Senator Durbin's interchange amendment which would impose new rules for restricting merchant-paid debit interchange fees as well as allowing merchants more freedoms to charge different prices based on payment type.
6. The SEC and Dept of Justice widened their probes into Wall Street credit derivative practices during and before the credit melt-down. Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is now reportedly the target a DOJ probe and the SEC is now looking at nearly every firm that packaged CDOs, no just Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS).
7. Shares of Chinese search engine provided Baidu, Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU) completed a 10-for-1 reserves stock split on Wednesday. Shares shot up 9% the day of the split as as retail investors clamored to get into the stock which saw its price go from $700 to $70.
8. With earnings season wrapping-up a few notable stragglers came out this week - Cisco (Nasaq: CSCO) - click for report, Disney (NYSE: DIS) -click for report, Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) - click for report, J. C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) - click for report.
9. TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) fell 40 percent Friday after an appeals court set aside its win in a lawsuit with rivals Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) and EchoStar Corp. (NASDAQ: SATS) over patents for digital video recorders and granted a petition for rehearing en banc.
10. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced his resignation Tuesday evening after last week's general election that left no clear-cut winner. Conservative leader David Cameron will step-in as the new Prime Minister.
1. To start the week, the EU announced a nearly trillion dollar bailout plan to stop the debt contagion fears that have gripped Europe, sparked by problems in Greece. Stocks soared early in the week on the news, only to give up much of those gains as many realize the problems in the Eurozone are far from over. The euro continued to plummet against the dollar, falling as low as $1.2361 - an 18 month low.
2. Gold rose to a new all time high this week of $1249.70, before settling back down to $1234 as EU monetizing Greek debt creates fears about the devaluing of fiat currencies and possible inflation. Investors have been playing gold through ETFs SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) and Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX).
3. SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) agreed to acquire Sybase Inc. (NYSE: SY) for approximately $5.8 billion. SAP announced a cash tender offer to acquire Sybase for $65 per share, a 44 percent premium over the three-month average price of the stock.
4. Priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) reported solid Q1 earnings, but shares plunged as its outlook couldn't beat lofty expectations. Priceline.com reported Q1 EPS of $1.70, 4 cents better than the analyst estimate of $1.66. Revenue for the quarter was $584.4 million, which compares to the estimate of $595.80 million. The company sees Q2 EPS of $2.50-$2.70, versus the consensus of $2.83. Sales up 18-23% in Q2. Shares fell over $40 per share this week following the results.
5. Credit and debit card processors Visa (NYSE: V) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA) fell 10% and 9% respectively on Friday after the Senate voted in favor of Senator Durbin's interchange amendment which would impose new rules for restricting merchant-paid debit interchange fees as well as allowing merchants more freedoms to charge different prices based on payment type.
6. The SEC and Dept of Justice widened their probes into Wall Street credit derivative practices during and before the credit melt-down. Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is now reportedly the target a DOJ probe and the SEC is now looking at nearly every firm that packaged CDOs, no just Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS).
7. Shares of Chinese search engine provided Baidu, Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU) completed a 10-for-1 reserves stock split on Wednesday. Shares shot up 9% the day of the split as as retail investors clamored to get into the stock which saw its price go from $700 to $70.
8. With earnings season wrapping-up a few notable stragglers came out this week - Cisco (Nasaq: CSCO) - click for report, Disney (NYSE: DIS) -click for report, Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) - click for report, J. C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) - click for report.
9. TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) fell 40 percent Friday after an appeals court set aside its win in a lawsuit with rivals Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) and EchoStar Corp. (NASDAQ: SATS) over patents for digital video recorders and granted a petition for rehearing en banc.
10. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced his resignation Tuesday evening after last week's general election that left no clear-cut winner. Conservative leader David Cameron will step-in as the new Prime Minister.
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