On Tuesday April 20, 2010, 5:54 pm EDT
Goldman earns $3.3B in 1Q as fraud case
looms
Goldman Sachs said Tuesday its
first-quarter earnings almost doubled to $3.3 billion as its trading business
again surpassed the rest of the financial industry. A top lawyer for the bank,
which is facing civil fraud charges, said Goldman would "never
intentionally mislead anyone."
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. earned $5.59 a
share on revenue of $12.78 billion as bond, commodities and currency trading
buoyed its profits for yet another quarter. That was well above expectations of
analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. It was Goldman's second most profitable
quarter since going public in 1999. In the fourth quarter, Goldman Sachs earned
a record $4.79 billion.
Apple 2Q net income leaps 90 percent
SEATTLE (AP) -- Blockbuster iPhone
sales helped Apple Inc. blow past Wall Street's expectations with a 90 percent
leap in net income for the most recent quarter. Shares skyrocketed in extended
trading Tuesday.
Apple said it sold nearly 9 million of
its popular iPhone smart phones in the three months that ended March 27, more
than double sales from a year ago.
Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief
financial officer, said in an interview that Apple sold more iPhones than in
any previous quarter, with strong sales coming from both existing and new
mobile carriers. Although AT&T Inc. remains the exclusive U.S. carrier,
Apple has been selling phones through multiple carriers in other countries.
SEC chief pledges better oversight of
banks
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The chairman of the
Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday pledged better oversight of the
nation's largest banks after noting the agency failed to spot accounting tricks
that led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Chairman Mary Schapiro told a
congressional panel that the agency has sent letters to 19 banks seeking
information about whether they are using accounting tricks that a bankruptcy
examiner said led to Lehman's demise in September 2008.
Schapiro, who was not with the SEC at
the time, said the agency is scrutinizing Lehman's use of the accounting move,
known as Repo 105, that allowed it to mask its weakness.
Stocks advance on higher earnings,
energy prices
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks resumed their
advance after investors got the numbers they wanted from first-quarter earnings
reports.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose
25 points to 11,117.06 Tuesday for its eighth gain in nine days. Broader
indexes posted bigger percentage increases after a mixed finish Monday.
Investors set aside some concerns about
the government's civil fraud case against Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and looked
to profit numbers. Beyond those reports, a bounce in the price of crude oil
after a two-week slide helped energy stocks.
Yahoo 1Q profit nearly triples, tops
analyst views
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Yahoo Inc.'s
first-quarter earnings nearly tripled as the Internet company's revenue edged
up for the first time in 18 months.
The results released Tuesday
represented Yahoo's best quarterly performance since it hired CEO Carol Bartz
to engineer a turnaround early last year. Investors apparently were hoping for
even more progress, and Yahoo shares fell more than 2 percent.
The performance reflected an upturn in
online advertising, the main source of Yahoo's income. Advertisers have been
spending more freely in recent months amid signs that the U.S. economy has
emerged from its worst recession in more than 70 years.
IMF trims estimate of losses from
financial crisis
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The world's banks
could be spared billions in losses thanks to a global economy that is
recovering from the financial meltdown more quickly than initially expected.
The International Monetary Fund is
forecasting that global bank losses from the financial crisis will total $2.28
trillion, a drop of $533 billion from an estimate made last October.
The IMF said Tuesday that its forecast
for losses just for U.S. banks had dropped to $885 billion, down from an
estimate of $1.03 trillion made in October.
Coca-Cola 1Q profit rises 19 pct on
overseas gains
NEW YORK (AP) -- The billions Coca-Cola
is investing overseas paid off in the first quarter as the world's largest soft
drink maker reported its profit climbed 19 percent thanks to emerging markets
like India and Brazil.
That helped to offset persistent
weakness in the U.S. and Europe, where shoppers skimped on soda, water, juices
and teas for health or economic reasons.
Analysts expected more improvement in
the domestic market and results missed expectations, but shares remained
relatively strong in trading Tuesday.
J&J posts higher 1Q profit, mainly
on 1-time gain
Johnson & Johnson, the world's
biggest maker of health care products, looks to be on the mend, with a slight
increase in first-quarter profit as consumer spending continues to recover from
recession levels.
But the company, which last year posted
its first annual revenue decline since the Great Depression, said Tuesday the
combined impact of the health care overhaul, currency fluctuations and generic
competition together will hold down profits the rest of the year. It lowered
its 2010 profit outlook by a nickel, about 1 percent.
EADS goes alone in bid on US tanker
contract
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A European defense
contractor said Tuesday that will make its own bid for the U.S. Air Force's
long-delayed $35 billion contract to build a fleet of new refueling jets after
its U.S. partner dropped out.
The European Aeronautic Defence and
Space Company, also known as EADS, opens a new chapter in the bitterly disputed
and politically sensitive Pentagon effort to replace its fleet of KC-135
refueling tankers that date back to the 1950s.
EADS is challenging Boeing Co., a U.S.
company, for the right to build 179 new planes for the Air Force. EADS'
one-time American partner, Northrop Grumman Corp., backed out earlier this year
after saying the Pentagon project unfairly favored Boeing.
Too much salt: Report urges FDA to
force rollback
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Too much salt is
hidden in Americans' food, and regulators plan to work with manufacturers to
cut back -- but the government isn't ready to go along with a major new
recommendation that it order a decrease.
Don't expect soups, pizzas and
breakfast cereals -- yes, they contain added sodium, too -- to taste different
any time soon. The FDA's plans are still being formulated, but the idea is for
gradual change so consumer taste buds can adjust, as well as industry recipes
and production methods.
By The Associated Press
The Dow rose 25.01, or 0.2 percent, to
11,117.06.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index
rose 9.65, or 0.8 percent, to 1,207.17. The Nasdaq composite index advanced
20.20, or 0.8 percent, to 2,500.31.
Benchmark crude for May delivery added
$2 to settle at $83.45 a barrel Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Most of the trading had already shifted to the June contract, which increased
72 cents to settle at $83.85 a barrel.
In other Nymex trading in May
contracts, heating oil rose 2.34 cents to settle at $2.1802 a gallon and
gasoline gained 2.65 cents to settle at $2.2809 a gallon. Natural gas added 3.1
cents to settle at $3.975 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude's June contract
added 57 cents to settle at $84.80 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange.