Financial news on November 13, 2008

Business and Financial news
Glass Makers Are Fined $1.7 Billion in Europe’s War on Price Fixing

The European Union fined four car glass producers more than $1.66 billion, the largest sum it has ever levied for a cartel. Read more..

By JAMES KANTER - The New York Times

Hedge Fund Managers to Testify in Washington

The money managers have been called by a House panel to discuss some of their trade secrets at a hearing on Thursday. Read more..

By LOUISE STORY - The New York Times

It Takes a Drop and Doesn’t Stop

What looks like a standard laptop with a 14.1-inch screen and DVD drive is actually a beast able to withstand drops from about five feet. Read more..

By JOHN BIGGS - The New York Times

Junk Filters Need Updates

The junk filter in Outlook 2003 used to be great at catching spam, but it has gotten worse lately. Is there anything I can do? Read more..

By J. D. BIERSDORFER - The New York Times

Life Insurers Facing Cuts in Ratings

Life insurance companies, hobbled by real estate investments and committed to paying some costly retirement contracts, face more cuts in their credit ratings before the year is up. Read more..

By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH - The New York Times

Major Indexes Fall Sharply as Economic Uncertainty Spurs Fear

Shares fell more than 4 percent as investors wondered about the depth and length of the recession. Read more..

By JACK HEALY - The New York Times

Powerful German Union Agrees to Modest Raises

Germany’s most powerful union, IG Metall, reached a modest wage deal with employers in the flagship engineering sector. Read more..

By JUDY DEMPSEY - The New York Times

Stock Markets

Values are reported in US Dollars

Stock Ticker symbol Open High Low Close Volume
General Electric GE 16.41 16.93 14.58 16.86 301M
Microsoft MSFT 20.15 21.25 18.74 21.25 148M
Intel INTC 13.04 14.44 12.87 14.43 143M
Cisco Systems CSCO 16.37 17.30 15.60 17.26 90.3M
Wells Fargo & Co. WFC 27.51 29.34 25.75 29.09 86M
JPMorgan Chase JPM 34.65 37.50 33.50 37.19 74.5M
ExxonMobil XOM 69.54 76.50 67.54 75.41 72.7M
Apple AAPL 89.87 96.44 86.02 96.44 66.2M
Pfizer PFE 15.88 16.75 15.30 16.73 62.6M
Oracle Corp. ORCL 16.33 17.75 15.63 17.72 62.1M
AT&T Inc. T 26.12 28.74 25.75 28.67 45.7M
Procter & Gamble PG 61.71 66.82 60.87 65.05 44.9M
HP Inc. HPQ 30.65 31.86 28.23 31.71 38.2M
Wal-Mart Stores WMT 52.97 54.95 51.06 54.93 37.7M
Altria MO 16.73 16.98 15.90 16.68 35.6M
Comcast CMCSA 14.87 16.36 14.32 16.26 33.4M
Chevron CVX 67.66 76.11 65.88 75.71 28.5M
Bristol-Myers Squibb BMY 19.30 20.11 19.19 19.99 28.2M
Home Depot HD 19.89 22.37 19.15 22.23 28.1M
ConocoPhillips COP 45.01 49.55 42.15 49.18 27.9M
Johnson & Johnson JNJ 58.40 63.01 57.32 62.90 27.3M
Verizon Communications VZ 29.03 31.24 28.30 31.14 27.3M
Alphabet GOOGL 291.77 313.00 280.00 312.08 26.4M
Walt Disney & Co. DIS 20.30 21.75 19.58 21.65 24.1M
Abbott Laboratories ABT 54.67 57.31 53.57 57.14 23.4M
Merck MRK 27.39 28.73 26.08 28.53 20M
Schlumberger SLB 45.24 51.96 44.00 51.70 19.6M
Coca-Cola KO 43.85 46.37 43.32 46.28 18.8M
Amazon AMZN 41.40 45.00 38.48 44.93 16.9M
McDonald's MCD 54.15 56.30 52.00 56.25 15.7M
International Business Machines IBM 79.62 84.39 75.40 84.21 15.1M
Gilead Sciences GILD 44.23 47.45 43.80 47.30 15M
Boeing BA 42.03 43.32 39.07 43.16 14M
UnitedHealth Group UNH 18.98 20.87 17.86 20.84 13.8M
Amgen AMGN 55.44 59.62 55.31 59.60 13.6M
Union Pacific UNP 60.44 62.18 54.16 61.61 13M
United Technologies UTX 49.80 52.45 46.57 52.28 11.8M
3M MMM 59.23 64.87 57.91 64.43 11.1M
Pepsico PEP 53.28 55.69 52.01 55.59 11M
Visa V 51.88 54.58 49.89 54.44 9.68M
Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B 3301.00 3425.00 3111.00 3425.00 86.1K
Exchange Rates of November 13, 2008
CurrenciesExchange Rates
US Dollar Japanese Yen 1 USD = 97.670 JPY 1 JPY = 0.010 USD
US Dollar Canadian Dollar 1 USD = 1.210 CAD 1 CAD = 0.826 USD
US Dollar Swiss Franc 1 USD = 1.186 CHF 1 CHF = 0.843 USD
US Dollar Chinese Yuan 1 USD = 6.829 CNY 1 CNY = 0.146 USD
Euro Japanese Yen 1 EUR = 124.810 JPY 1 JPY = 0.008 EUR
Euro Pound Sterling 1 EUR = 0.861 GBP 1 GBP = 1.162 EUR
Euro Australian Dollar 1 EUR = 1.918 AUD 1 AUD = 0.521 EUR
Euro Canadian Dollar 1 EUR = 1.548 CAD 1 CAD = 0.646 EUR
Euro Swiss Franc 1 EUR = 1.516 CHF 1 CHF = 0.659 EUR
Euro Chinese Yuan 1 EUR = 8.722 CNY 1 CNY = 0.115 EUR
Japanese Yen Pound Sterling 1 JPY = 0.689 GBP 1 GBP = 1.451 JPY
Japanese Yen Australian Dollar 1 JPY = 1.536 AUD 1 AUD = 0.651 JPY
Japanese Yen Canadian Dollar 1 JPY = 1.241 CAD 1 CAD = 0.806 JPY
Japanese Yen Swiss Franc 1 JPY = 1.215 CHF 1 CHF = 0.823 JPY
Pound Sterling Australian Dollar 1 GBP = 2.228 AUD 1 AUD = 0.449 GBP
Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar 1 GBP = 1.796 CAD 1 CAD = 0.557 GBP
Pound Sterling Swiss Franc 1 GBP = 1.761 CHF 1 CHF = 0.568 GBP
Pound Sterling Chinese Yuan 1 GBP = 10.129 CNY 1 CNY = 0.099 GBP
Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar 1 AUD = 0.806 CAD 1 CAD = 1.240 AUD
Australian Dollar Swiss Franc 1 AUD = 0.790 CHF 1 CHF = 1.266 AUD
Australian Dollar Chinese Yuan 1 AUD = 4.547 CNY 1 CNY = 0.220 AUD
Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc 1 CAD = 0.978 CHF 1 CHF = 1.022 CAD
Canadian Dollar Chinese Yuan 1 CAD = 5.627 CNY 1 CNY = 0.178 CAD
Swiss Franc Chinese Yuan 1 CHF = 5.747 CNY 1 CNY = 0.174 CHF

See what else happened on November 13, 2008