The Wall Street Journal-20080212-Business and Finance
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Business and Finance
Full Text (415 words)AIG will be forced to write down the value of financial instruments tied to mortgages by an estimated $4.88 billion before tax. The write- down came after AIG's auditors said they found "material weakness" in the insurer's accounting systems. Shares dropped 12% to $44.74, a five-year low.
The Dow industrials rose 57.88 points, or 0.5%, to 12240.01. Bank of America and Chevron will replace Honeywell and Altria in the index's 30 component stocks.
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The title-insurance business is coming under new scrutiny as an antitrust suit accused four firms of illegally fixing prices in New York.
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Six big mortgage lenders are due to announce today a plan to rescue homeowners on the brink of foreclosure.
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Student-loans auctions are succumbing to the credit crunch, with investors now shunning the products for fear they could decline in value.
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Former class-action lawyer William Lerach was sentenced to two years in federal prison for his role in alleged kickback payments.
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BlackBerry maker RIM experienced a significant outage of its wireless email service.
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Yahoo formally rejected Microsoft's bid, currently valued at $41.6 billion, setting the stage for a takeover battle.
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Nelson Peltz's firm said it wants to expand Wendy's board to 15 directors and then gain control of it.
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Baxter temporarily suspended production of blood-thinner heparin after reports of possible allergic reactions, including four deaths.
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Societe Generale began a $7.98 billion capital increase aimed at restoring its creditworthiness and said it will cut down on aggressive trading.
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Harry Macklowe was served a notice of default, while the developer's talks with lenders bogged down.
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Crude surged $1.82, or 2%, to $93.59 a barrel amid tensions in oil- exporting countries and refinery outages.
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A deal involving IAC's home-shopping network HSN may help settle the legal dispute with Liberty Media.
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Johnson & Johnson is using a Web advertising campaign with cartoons to promote its best-selling baby lotion.
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Shares of Reliance Power fell 17% in their trading debut, exacerbating India's stock-market downturn.
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Australia's central bank said its key short-term rate is "likely" to be increased from the current 7% level to restrain surging demand.
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Kellwood endorsed an offer to be acquired by Sun Capital for almost $544 million.
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Two hedge funds seeking seats on New York Times's board doubled their joint ownership stake to nearly 10%.
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Safeway is embarking on a new policy that will elevate animal welfare as a priority when it buys meat and eggs.
