The Wall Street Journal-20080129-Business and Finance
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Business and Finance
Full Text (399 words)Societe Generale's rogue trader faces forgery and other charges as emerging details show Jerome Kerviel's trades began more than a year earlier than the bank has said. The French financial firm, which could be a takeover target, is looking to its head of corporate and investment banking to lead it out of the crisis.
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CME Group is in talks to buy Nymex, an $11 billion proposal that would create the world's largest exchange with a stock-market value of about $45 billion.
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The Dow industrials rose 176.72 points, or 1.5%, to 12383.89, with financial components like American Express and Citigroup leading the way.
American Express shares fell 2.9% in after-hours trading after the company posted a 9.9% net decline as it set aside more money to cover loan losses.
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The SEC chided 21 companies for not giving enough data about the role of performance in executive-pay decisions.
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Liberty Media, taking steps to seize control of IAC/InterActiveCorp from Chairman Diller, filed a court action to remove him from the board.
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Sears said CEO Lewis will depart. The retailer named W. Bruce Johnson, head of logistics and operations, as interim chief.
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Legg Mason said Mark Fetting, senior executive vice president, will be its new CEO and president, capping a long search for Raymond Mason's successor.
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Countrywide's $4 billion deal with Bank of America was spurred in part by fears of potential regulatory crackdowns.
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Carl Icahn is set to nominate three members to Biogen's board and argued it put up too many barriers against takeovers.
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Blackstone warned its $6.4 billion buyout of Alliance Data may not close because of conditions imposed by a U.S. regulator. Alliance Data shares fell 35%.
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McDonald's net income rose 2.6% as international sales offset sluggishness in the U.S., where same-store sales were flat.
Wendy's shares fell 5.3% after the fast-food chain's board signaled a decision is near on whether to sell the company.
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DHL parent Deutsche Post is exploring a variety of options to turn around its U.S. express-package-delivery business.
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The New York State Insurance Department hired Perella Weinberg for advice on the financial health of bond insurers.
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A Russian court upheld a ruling that PricewaterhouseCoopers was effectively a participant in tax evasion by Yukos.
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Verizon posted a 3.9% increase in profit, bolstered by a gain of nearly 1.9 million net retail wireless-phone customers.
