Top 10 News Items 08/06 - 08/10: Knight Finds Funding; Fed Prez Calls for More Action; Priceline.com Gives Warning; McDonald's Ails in July

Below are this week's Top 10 news items on Wall Street"

1. Knight Capital Group (NYSE: KCG) kicked-off the week with a bit of a heart attack for some investors. Following disclosure of a trading glitch and massive pretax loss last week, Knight ended up securing financing late Sunday night.
   
   
   Knight said it entered into a financing agreement with a group of private equity firms for about $400 million. Though the deal let investors and firms doing business with Knight breathe a sigh of relief, the financing came at a cost: holders will be able to covert their debt to common stock for $1.50 per share, with the convertible debt carrying a two percent coupon in the meantime.
   
   
2. Boston Fed president Eric Rosengren called for the Fed to boost efforts to stimulate the ailing U.S. economy. Rosengren was looking for an open-ended round of quantitative easing, according to comments from his interview on CNBC.
   
   
3. Priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) sank when most expected it to soar into its second-quarter report this week. Priceline.com reported Q2 EPS of 7.85 on revs of $1.33 billion, which were mixed to consensus expectations calling for EPS of $7.37 and sales of $1.33 billion. However, the Company commented it sees third-quarter 2012 non-GAAP EPS to be in the range of $11.10 to $12.10, compared with consensus views of $12.82.
   
   
4. National Oilwell Varco (NYSE: NOV) and Robbins & Myers (NYSE: RBN) entered into an agreement on Thursday, under which National Oilwell Varco will acquire Robbins & Myers in an all cash transaction that values Robbins & Myers at approximately $2.5 billion.
   
   Under the agreement, Robbins & Myers’ shareholders will receive $60.00 per share in cash in return for each of the approximately 42.4 million shares outstanding.
   
   For more color on the deal, click here.
   
   
5. McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) reported dire sales results for July, with global comps flat for the month and sales rising just 2.3 percent in constant currencies. Most notably, its Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa region, the biggest expected growth region for the restaurant, fell 1.5 percent.
   
   Amid the drop on Wednesday, shares mounted a decent rebound Friday, finishing-up the week down just a point or two.
   
   
6. Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) founder and former chairman Richard Schulze issued a formal offer to take the company private for a price between $24 to $26 per share.
   
   News of a potential deal has been out for a while, since Schulze stepped down earlier this year. Whether a deal will be able to be made or not is questionable, though Schulze certainly has built up the Rolodex of contacts through the industry over the years to get a deal done.
   
   
7. Two notable IPOs this week:
   • Manchester United (NYSE: MANU), arguably the world's most famous European football club, offered 16.7 million shares at a price of $14. And that's pretty much where they stayed for the duration of the session Friday, when the IPO commenced.
     
     
   • Bloomin' Brands, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLMN), owner of such delectable eateries as Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba's Italian Grill, and Bonefish Grill, went public on Wendesday, selling 16 million shares at a price of $11.60 after pricing at $11.
8. Living up to its name, Monster Beverage (Nasdaq: MNST) had one scary week.
   
   First, the beverage giant reported a two-cent earnings miss with lighter than expected revs for its second-quarter report.
   
   Then, HPQ) boosted third-quarter adjusted EPS expectations this week, while simultaneously disclosing it would take an $8 billion non-cash charge, which "stems from the recent trading values of HP's stock, coupled with market conditions and business trends within the Services segment."
   
   Mike Nefkens was also appointed to run HP Enterprise Services unit on an acting basis.
   
   
9. Payment POS pioneer VeriFone (NYSE: PAY) was hit earlier this week after coffee giant Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) announced it selected Square to roll-out mobile payment processing services across the U.S. Square will run about 7,000 Starbucks locations throughout the U.S.

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