Corporation reports---Lane (medium)
>> there will be a change at the top at motor row lat the chipmaker announcing christopher galvin, the chairman and c.e.o. has decided to retire. he’s only in his 53rd year of life on this earth which makes it a surprise that he’s making this move at his age. motorola is saying he has informed the board of directors of his decision to retire. galvin has agreed to remain as chairman and c.e.o. until his successor is named and will work closely with the search committee to identify a replacement. no decision―or i should say no special reason has been put forward. just that mr. galvin has tendered his decision to retire. let’s take a look at motorola shares. i have a chart on the bloomberg right now, going back to the beginning of the year 2002. we can zoom in here. clearly it’s off the highs. however, this year it is up 28%. and you can take a look at that as i zoom in on this year’s activity. it has seen growth here, although again, as you go back it is still not near its historic highs, all o up 28%, and it hit a 52-week high in december of $12.25. but you go back and you see a very different story. christopher galvin set to retire. italian industrial production gained the most in more than a year in july, lifted by growing demand for consumer goods. analysts said it’s a sign europe’s fourth biggest economy is emerging from recession. production at factories, mines and utilities rose 1.5% from the previous month. output of consumer goods such as clothing and washing machines increased 3.4% in june. the gain was more than seven times the 2/10 percent forecast of economists according to the median of economists surveyed by bloomberg news. this adds to evidence the $8 trillion economy of the 12 nations sharing the euro may resume growth in the third quarter, after contracting in the previous three months. faster expansion in the u.s. economy, interest rates at a half century low and a drop in the euro against the dollar since may are fueling a recovery. further evidence is expected next thursday when the ifo institute relaces its latest survey of german business executive sentiment about the economy. the i.f.o. is forecast to rise from 91.6 to 91.8. it will italy, germany and japan will be replacing consumer price index. and germany and france will offer producer price reports. the yen ended the week surging to the highest against the dollar in more than two years after a group of seven officials said the organization may call on countries to let markets determine foreign exchange rates. that dollar also lost ground against the euro and the pound. world bank president james wolfenson said today he will have a rough estimate for postwar reconstruction contracts for iraq in two weeks. he was on hand in the emirates for a meeting of finance officers around the world. to calculate the iraqi reconstruction costs it was necessary for the world bank to clarify iraq’s annual budget in direct talks with officials. they said the four-year iraqi reconstruction cost is estimated at between $50 billion and $75 billion. the world bank is expected to release its estimate of the reconstruction costs in time for a meeting of donor countries set for late october in madrid. citigroup is the top underwriter of european share sales this year, displacing goldman sachs. that’s according to bloomberg data. the world’s largest financial services company won the spot by arranging royal k.p.n. ‘s stock offering. it’s the biggest european share offering this year. before the sale citigroup was ranked fufth among european equity underwriters. it bought 12% from the dutch government before selling the stake to investors. red hat, the world’s largest distributor of the linux computer operating system, surged to a three-year high in the latest session. the company forecast sales this quarter that will exceed analysts expectations. red hat said sales is boosting revenue.
>> we are seeing strong uptick from the latin american countries, brazil, argentina. you don’t see a deep commitment to the historical proprietary software and relatedded infrastructure so they become great markets for a linux hardware.
>> he said he doesn’t think lawsuits involving the s.c.o. group, the company that owns property rights to the unix operating system will slow down red hat’s global market growth. home builder centex doesn’t see a slowdown in business despite higher interest rates.
>> we have a few weaker markets that were weaker before this happened, a few markets in the midwest. but california is very strong, las vegas. the home buyer is still out there.
>> and chairman and chief executive larry hurst says centex sales are excellent. centex stock is 55% this year and pays a quarterly dividend of four cents. wrapup of the day of the nasdaq coming up after a quick break.
