Actuant (NYSE:ATU) announced that it was raising the size of its private placement of senior notes offering to $300 million from $250 million.The company said the proceeds would be used to boost higher-interest debt.Actuant (NYSE:ATU) has potential upside of 13.3% based on a current price of $29.57 and an average consensus analyst price target of $33.5.
According to Nasdaq.com, Yahoo will begin layoffs this morning in an effort to cut costs.The internet company is set to announce a 14% cut in its total workforce before the stock market opens today, which could be up to 2,000 of its employees.This is part of a massive restructuring at Yahoo by its new CEO Scott Thompson. The layoffs will include employees from all departments including its marketing division and products group, which builds and maintains new Yahoo websites and mobile apps.The move is to boost Yahoo’s performance and increase efficiency following a failed turnaround under former CEO Carol Bartz who was fired in September 2011. This all speculation but Yahoo should be releasing a statement in the next hour or so. Keep it right here to the Financial News Network for the latest update on this story and more of the latest financial news.
A day after GM (NYSE:GM) announced its March sales missed estimates, 11.8% rise vs. estimates of 19%, the car maker said it intends on resuming production of the Chevy Volt a week early.The company sold a record 2,289 units in March, according to a UAW official.General Motors (NYSE:GM) has potential upside of 34.2% based on a current price of $25.54 and an average consensus analyst price target of $34.27.
This is what’s in the news for Wednesday April 4, 2012. The Wall Street Journal reports Fitch Group CEO Paul Taylor said Credit Suisse Group (NYSE:CS) dropped the firm’s rating from a mortgage-backed security because it took a harsher view than rivals that assigned triple-A ratings to the deal. Reuters reports China Premier Wen Jiabao called the country’s large banks a monopoly that needed to be broken up to get money flowing to cash starved private firms. Bloomberg reports U.S. apartment vacancies dropped to their lowest level since 2001 as the rate fell to 4.9% in Q1 from 6.2% a year ago, according to Reis, Inc. (NYSE:REIS). Finally, Bloomberg also reports ad revenue is growing as car and retail sales rebound, a sign U.S. consumers feel more confident in the months leading up to the Olympic Games, a $4B opportunity for advertisers.
Popular photography app Instagram was released yesterday for Android users and got 2,000 sign ups a minute, according to the company’s chief executive, Kevin Systrom.The app has been around since 2010 has only been available for iPhone users but the Android application was revealed in early March at the South by Southwest Interactive conference and pre-registration opened in 2010.
Walgreen (NYSE:WAG) reported March same-store sales fell 4.3% year-over-year to $6.02 billion.Meanwhile, comp store front-end sales rose 1.2%, and comp customer traffic fell 1%.Comparable prescriptions fell 11.4% and the negative impact from no longer being in Express Scripts (NASDAQ:ESRX) network was 10.7 percentage points.
More positive news on the labor market. ADP Employer Services reported this morning employment in the private sector increased by 209,000 jobs for the month of March after a revised gain of 230,000 in February. This shows businesses are expanding their payrolls, leading to a strengthening in the labor market. According to Bloomberg, economists expect the Labor Department to report 215,000 jobs were added in the month of March and the unemployment rate to stay steady at 8.3%.This news hasn’t caused much stirring in the markets before open. In premarket trading all major indices are down almost a percent each.
One of the world’s largest burger chains is planning on going public again.Burger King announced that it expects to re-list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange within the next three months.The deal, which was announced late Tuesday, has New-York based investment firm 3G Capital seilling a 29% stake in the burger chain for $1.4 billion in cash to Justice Holdings. 3G Capital will keep the remaining 71%. This comes in the wake of a complete overhaul of its menu and stores. Burger King plans on spending $750 million to introduce new menu items and a re-design of its stores in the U.S. This came in response to losing the number two spot to Wendy’s this past year.Burger King traded under the symbol BKC between 2006 and 2010 but its new ticker has not yet been determined.
JP Morgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) was fined $20 million due to overcharges by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission fined due to illegally handling Lehman Brothers customer segregated funds.The trading commission is also ordering the bank to create changes to make sure they handle set apart customer funds in the future and to release customer funds upon instructions from the agency.JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) has potential upside of 11.7% based on a current price of $44.65 and an average consensus analyst price target of $49.89.JPMorgan Chase is currently above its 50-day moving average (MA) of $40.68 and above its 200-day of $36.36.
This is what’s in the news for Thursday April 5, 2012. The Wall Street Journal reports Russia is close to joining the WTO, a landmark move to integrate their economy into the international trading system, but U.S. firms may be left out because of restrictions on trade. The Wall Street Journal also reports talks to resolve U.S. and European price fixing probes into e-books are picking up as three international publishers may want to settle, while Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and others resist, sources say. Reuters reports PetroChina (NYSE:PTR) is in talks with Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) and Hess (NYSE:HES) to explore shale oil in Santanghu Basin in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region. Finally, Bloomberg reports four Federal Reserve regional bank presidents who vote on monetary policy this year see less of a need for the Fed to spur the economy with new accommodation.
