Interview: NYSE
>> it’s 12 past 9:00 in the morning in sydney. mostly sunny today in the city with high temperatures reaching 25 degrees celsius. b.h.p. billiton is planning to make a cash offer for w.m.c. resources of the b.h.p., the world’s biggest mining company, is competing with a $6.5 billion offer u.s. offer bid from xstrata. b.h.p. hired deutsche bank to look into the deal. xstrata is listed in london. b.e.a. systems agreed to buy united defense industries for $3.97 billion. europe’s biggest defense company says the move will help it meet demand for utility and armor, including the bradley fighting vehicle used by the u.s. in iraq. b.e.a. will pay $75 a share for united defense, 29% premium to friday’s closing price. this would be the biggest defense industry acquisition in more than four years as well as the biggest ever by a foreigner in the u.s. b.e.a. also owns 20% of airbus. the s&p benchmark index rises for the third day while the dow fell. deborah kostroun reports from the new york stock exchange.
>> the dow jones industrial average ending lower and today the topic was followthrough. we did not see the followthrough in the market . i was talking with peter henderson with bank of america specialists and he said today with the dow stay 3 1/2 year high on a friday and the transports also hitting a three 1/2 year high on the same day, this goes to the dow theory that says when you have 30 dow stocks at a high and also the transports at a 3 1/2 year high, that is a major buy signal for the market , but we did not see the followthrough in today’s session and the utility index also at a multiyear high so he says very significant and something that the market will be looking at over the next few days to see if we can see a little bit of followthrough. look at what has been helping out the market . first-quarter earnings estimates for s&p 500 companies. today we are looking at a 7.2% increase. on february 1, it was 6.3%. we have seen an increase in earnings estimates, that’s helping out the market today. looking at some of the aerospace and defense stocks and their performance today. aerospace and defense stocks performing well. u.d.i., united defense, purchased by b.e.a. systems and so that is europe’s largest defense contractor. that stock, united defense, coming in today at a record high. looking at semiconductor stocks, the biggest gainers in the s&p 500 after qualcomm raised its second-quarter profit forecast and so we did see many of the semiconductors performing well in the session. auto-related stocks, general motors, of course, we heard about them last week saying that february sales were lower. but now they’re saying first-quarter profit will be reduced by $79 million because they’re shutting down a plant that―in lansing, michigan. i’m deborah kostroun at the new york stock exchange.
>> sony’s incoming president vows to revise the company’s electronics unit.
>> the reconstruction of our consumer electronics business is essential for sony’s overall revival. we must make the right decisions in a timely manner.
>> the company monday replaced chief executive nobuyuki idei with the head of sony’s u.s. division, howard stringer.
>> i think the target of 10% is a worthy goal. i don’t believe we’ll achieve it this year but i think it’s worth leaving out there for all of us to fight to reach improved margins and greater shareholder value.
>> sony shares rose 2% in new york, their biggest gain in nearly four month. honda motors says it may offer more incentives to boost falling u.s. sales. japan’s number three automaker is considering cheaper loans and leases and may raise dealer incentives to lift u.s. sales of accords and civics. malaysia’s industrial production growth probably accelerated in january. manufacturers raced output ahead of february’s lunar new year holidays. economists we surveyed expect out put rose 7.4% in january. malaysia reports the numbers this afternoon in kuala lumpur. expect hong kong retail sales for january at 4:00 p.m -- 4:15 p.m. local time and national australia bank releases the survey of business confidence today. my next guest says the yen’s weakness won’t last. he’ll tell you what’s behind that belief.
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Listen Market briefing - Cathy (medium)
Boeing -- James (fast)
Tokyo market --- Ron (slow)
welcome to “ live” from hong kong, i’m catherine yang. texas instruments says earnings and sales will come in on the low end of earlier estimates in the first quarter. the world’s largest chipmaker for cell phones forecasts it will earn 22 to 26 cents a share -- 22 to 24 cents a share compared to the estimates of 22 to 26 cents. analysts surveyed by thomson financial were looking for 24 cents. they see first-quarter revenue at $2.91 to $3.04 billion. texas instruments shares in after-hours trade down more than 3.3%. we’ll have a live report from the u.s. on texas instruments later in the show. coming up this hour, the anyone falls against the dollar as the latest japanese economic report fails to measure up to investors’ expectations. we’ll speak with a currency strategist in 20 minutes. australia targets china for tourism dollars. we’ll speak with the general manager of australia’s tourism board to find out why he’s counting on chinese visitors to boost the australian hospitality industry. u.s. stocks gained after texas instruments’ mid quarter update. the s&p 500 rose .25% and semiconductor shares lifted the nasdaq higher by almost 1%. still, the dow finished slightly lower. qualcomm raised its second-quarter profit forecast to 28 cents a share, a penny above its january estimate. qualcomm is the world’s number two maker of mobile phone semiconductors after texas instruments. intel, world’s biggest maker of computer processor, will be giving its mid quarter update march 10. the philadelphia semiconductor index gained nearly 2% with xilinx among the winners. boeing shares fell after it ousted chief executive officer harry stonecipher for having an affair with an employee. boeing snammed chief financial officer, james bell, interim c.e.o. bell told bloomberg his job is to maintain the performance.
>> i want to keep the focus that we’ve had in the last 15 months to make sure we meet our commitments to customers and maintain our relentless focus on executing on our programs and i’ll have to maintain the outstanding financial performance we’ve had over the last several months and stay focused on taking us to a new level in that area.
>> boeing is the second biggest defense contractor in america. chairman lewis plat ordered a review after receiving an anonymous tip about stonecipher’s affair.
>> we certainly want somebody with a track record. boeing is not a place that you throw in a c.e.o. on training wheels. we want somebody who has success neled large organizations, industry experience is always a plus. but we will look beyond that and if we find somebody who comes up very high on our scale on all the other attributes but lacks industry experience, we certainly would consider that individual.
>> stonecipher’s ouster comes 15 months after he took the job. he returned from retirement after boeing was ensnared in a defense contracting scandal. stonecipher got employees to sign a code of conduct to restore the company’s reputation boeing was barred from issuing bids for the air force after a scandal involving the hiring of of a pentagon official. the yen crossed the 105 level to the dollar and approached 139 per euro. the dollar is worth 105.18 per yen. the yen’s drop began in asia after japan reported first-quarter capital spending rose a smaller-than-expected 3.5% from the year earlier and fell compared to the third quarter. investors had been buying yen on expectations stronger economic data would indicate the end to recession. the dollar rose against the euro and british pound but slipped against the dollar. in the bond market , the 10-year note traded near a one-week high as concerns about inflation eased. crude oil slipped in extended trading after closing at a four-month high during the regular session. oil finished the new york session at $53.89 a barrel, the high close to october’s record. investors pushed oil prices higher on expectations opec has no plan to increase production. opec pumps about 40% of the world’s oil. the group is scheduled to meet on march 16 to discuss production targets. our survey of analysts show oil prices are expected to rise this week. 48% of those surveyed say oil prices will gain and 37% say they will fall, 15% predict no change. asian stocks rise in u.s. trading. technology stocks including taiwan semiconductor, chartered semiconductor and wipro rose. the bank of new york indexes tracking asian stocks gained and nikkei futures point to a lower start for japanese stocks the day after the nikkei 225 completed its longest winning streak in more than five years. now with a look at world news, ron madison joins us from tokyo.
>> syrian soldiers in lebanon will retreat to eastern lebanon near the syrian border before the end of march.
>> they’re waiting for the go-ahead from syrian and lebanese leaders for a full pullout. they will decide within a month how many syrian troops will remain and for how long. the development follows a meeting of the presidents of syria and deb none in damascus. the bush administration named state department arms control official, james bolton, as next u.s. ambassador to the united nations to replace john danforth. danforth left the post in january. u.s. secretary of state condoleezza rice say she and the president have full confidence in bolton.
>> the president and i have asked john do this work because he knows how to get things done. he is a tough minded diplomat, he has a strong record of success and he has a proven track record of effective multisophia latuzkineralism -- multilateralism. bolton has been a vocal critic of the effectiveness of the u.n. italian prime minister silvio berlusconi and other state officials attend a state funeral service in rome for the intelligence officer that was killed in iraq by u.s. forces. 51-year-old nicola calipari was shot while trying to protect guiliana sgrena, the italian reporter who had been freed hours earlier after spending a month in captivity there. calipari was escorting sgrena to the airport for a flight to rome when u.s. forces fired on their convoy approaching a checkpoint. sgrena says it’s possible they were targeted deliberately because the united states opposes italy’s policy of negotiating with kidnappers. in response, white house spokesman scott mcclellan says it is absurd to suggest that u.s. troops would target individual civilians. that’s the latest look at world news.
>> thanks, ron. after the break, the standard & poor’s 500 rises for the third day, reaching a 3 1/2 year high. our reporter at the new york stock exchange looks at what’s behind the gains.
