The Wall Street Journal-20080115-EuroLinks Daily View- French Energy Firms Bid For Mideast Nuclear Deals- Online edition
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EuroLinks Daily View: French Energy Firms Bid For Mideast Nuclear Deals; Online edition
Amid a global push for nuclear energy as a leading alternative to shrinking fossil fuels, French energy companies are jointly bidding for the right to build a pair of nuclear power reactors in the United Arab Emirates. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been promoting his country's nuclear know-how as a key solution to the energy needs of the developing world.
As David Gauthier-Villars reports, the French government has already secured nuclear-partnership agreements with Algeria and Libya. In the works are deals with Morocco and Qatar among many other oil-exporting countries of the Mideast.
France is one of the world's largest producers of nuclear-power; their state-controlled company Areva SA is a nuclear-engineering leader by revenue. As one of the richest oil countries, the U.A.E. will benefit from the reactors because they could resolve a domestic energy dilemma as well as allow the country to burn fewer of its valuable oil resources for domestic use and earmark more barrels for export.
Find out more about what Mideast country's France is talks with about nuclear-partnerships and what this could mean for the technology-and the countries-in the future: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120031451814688311.html
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MAKING A QUARTER COMEBACK: Liquid-crystal display, or LCD, television maker LG.Philips LCD Co. reported its largest quarterly profit ever, predicted strong earnings for this year and said it may issue a dividend to shareholders. The company earned 760 billion won ($812 million) in the fourth quarter, compared with a year-earlier net loss of 174 billion won.
As the world's second-largest maker of LCDs, right after Samsung Electronics Co., results were buoyed by a rising demand for flat-panel TVs and other gadgets. LG.Philips caught up with the industry's supply of screens, which helped reduce cost.
Our SungHan Pak reports that for this year, LG.Philips executives said profit will be supported by this rise in demand for LCDs in TVs. The coming shift to digital broadcasting in the U.S. will boost sales as households that receive analog broadcast will need new equipment to switch.
Get the latest on what the company's executives are saying about the coming year for LG.Philips: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120031158537188265.html
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IBM'S FOURTH QUARTER BEATS EXPECTATIONS: International Business Machines Corp. surprised the market and analysts with an early look at strong earnings in the fourth quarter, up 24% from a year earlier. The stock climbed on the New York Stock Exchange, rising 6% to $103.54 Monday from Friday's closing price of $97.67.
While more details will be provided Thursday, our Kevin Kingsbury reports that IBM announced results ahead of schedule because they were significantly better than expected. The technology company said earning from continuing operations totaled $2.80 a share, up sharply from the year earlier $2.26, while revenue rose 10% to $28.9 billion with six percentage points of the increase attributed to the weaker dollar.
IBM's Chairman and Chief Executive Samuel J. Palmisano said the company is in great position for 2008, in large part because of IBM's global reach across Asia, Europe and emerging countries.
Read more about IBM's earnings and how it measures up to other technology companies: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120033878538189091.html
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DREAMING ABOUT WORK? Dreams can tell you a lot about yourself, but when they stumble onto the subject of work, it can tell you that you're doing too much of one thing. As Jared Sandberg reports, there is a growing amount of research that indicates that sleep is a time when we can figure out patterns beyond our grasp during the day. During sleep, the brain engages in processing that explores connections and ideas in a trial-and-error fashion. Whether about your work or your biggest fears, dreams may be useful to you as reminders that certain issues need to be addressed sooner than later.
Read Jared Sandberg's report about dreams and what they could mean for you: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120035022511289631.html
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BE FREE AND PROSPER: Mary Anastasia O'Grady discusses The Heritage Foundation/The Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom's 2008 rankings, and what it means for countries who are trying to end poverty for economic progress. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120033232475488781.html
