The Wall Street Journal-20080125-Business and Finance
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Business and Finance
Societe Generale said a trader, Jerome Kerviel, had cost the bank $7.2 billion by allegedly making huge unauthorized trades that the 31- year-old hid for months by hacking into computers. The loss has forced the French bank to seek a capital infusion and exposes the latest breakdown of risk controls at a big international financial institution.
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Microsoft's net surged 79%, while sales of Windows Vista helped lift revenue to a record $16.37 billion. The software maker issued a bullish forecast.
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The Dow industrials rose 108.44 points to 12378.61 as a new wave of buyers sought to escape low-yielding bonds.
Gold gained $23 to $905.50 an ounce as investors bought the metal as a hedge against inflation and a weak U.S. dollar.
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A plan to bail out bond insurers could take time to resolve, the New York official spearheading the effort said. Shares of MBIA and Ambac fell sharply.
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Liberty Media sued IAC, seeking to block Chairman Diller from diluting Liberty's voting stake in units to be spun out of IAC.
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The Fed's latest rate cut is drawing growing criticism and fostering a perception that Bernanke is too ready to respond to downturns in stock markets.
The ECB may face an internal rift over its monetary policy as the global slowdown's impact varies among Europe's regions.
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Ford reaffirmed its goal to turn a profit next year despite posting a $2.75 billion loss that included a hefty write-down.
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AT&T's profit climbed 62% on growth in its wireless business. But landline and Internet operations showed weakness.
Nokia posted a 44% jump in profit, helped by strength in emerging markets as well as sales of multimedia devices.
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Pernod said it made a nonbinding offer for Sweden's state-owned Vin & Sprit. Quarterly revenue climbed about 5%.
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Hershey's net dropped 65% amid higher dairy costs. Investors expressed frustration about a lack of specific turnaround plans.
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Lennar, hurt by declining sales and lower home prices, posted a $1.25 billion loss as it wrote down the value of land holdings.
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The Wall Street Journal's Web site will remain a subscription-based site for a significant portion of its content, News Corp. Chairman Murdoch said.
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E*Trade reported a wider-than-expected loss as it took a $2.28 billion pretax loss on the sale of a real-estate portfolio.
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PPR aims to focus more on its high-growth Gucci Group luxury-goods brands, which helped drive a 15% increase in sales.
