Financial news on August 15, 2008
Business and Financial news
A lawsuit between Greg LeMond, the three-time winner of the Tour de France, and Timothy L. Blixseth, the owner of the elite Yellowstone Club in Montana, has been settled. Read more..
American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia Airlines said that they planned to apply for antitrust approval to form a marketing alliance to link their global flight networks. Read more..
Thrift is the theme this back-to-school year, and stores are trying to play to the public mood with deeper and more creative discounts. Read more..
One of the largest private banking scandals in years in Liechtenstein has brought to light a group of characters worthy of a spy thriller. Read more..
Gross domestic product in the 15-nation euro area declined 0.2 percent in the April-June period compared with the first quarter, according to reports on Thursday. Read more..
The economy of the 15-nation euro area contracted 0.2 percent in the three months ended June 30, according to data. Read more..
Home equity loans, once seen as the borrowing of last resort, have grown a thousandfold since banks began spending billions of dollars to advertise them. Read more..
The head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios says he wants Tom Cruise to remain closely involved with United Artists after the departure of Paula Wagner, a friend of Mr. Cruise. Read more..
General Motors said that it had “essentially finished” designing its first plug-in hybrid car and would have production-ready prototypes within 10 days. Read more..
The government is trying to force Delphi to transfer more than $1.5 billion of unfunded pension obligations to General Motors by Sept. 30. Read more..
Stock Markets
Values are reported in US Dollars
| Stock | Ticker symbol | Open | High | Low | Close | Volume |
| Microsoft | MSFT | 27.98 | 28.15 | 27.58 | 27.81 | 47.3M |
| Cisco Systems | CSCO | 24.75 | 25.25 | 24.68 | 24.91 | 45.3M |
| Wells Fargo & Co. | WFC | 29.81 | 30.49 | 29.25 | 29.76 | 43.6M |
| Intel | INTC | 24.35 | 24.50 | 24.18 | 24.26 | 43.1M |
| General Electric | GE | 29.66 | 30.05 | 29.52 | 29.80 | 40.2M |
| Pfizer | PFE | 19.87 | 20.13 | 19.86 | 19.97 | 39.3M |
| JPMorgan Chase | JPM | 38.05 | 38.71 | 37.37 | 38.07 | 36.7M |
| Oracle Corp. | ORCL | 23.33 | 23.45 | 22.92 | 23.06 | 26.5M |
| ExxonMobil | XOM | 77.09 | 77.28 | 76.19 | 77.07 | 26.3M |
| Apple | AAPL | 179.04 | 179.75 | 175.05 | 175.74 | 25.3M |
| Home Depot | HD | 27.20 | 27.74 | 27.10 | 27.53 | 23.3M |
| Wal-Mart Stores | WMT | 58.13 | 59.93 | 58.13 | 59.37 | 22.6M |
| AT&T Inc. | T | 31.18 | 31.92 | 31.16 | 31.66 | 21.9M |
| ConocoPhillips | COP | 79.05 | 79.07 | 77.12 | 77.66 | 20.2M |
| Comcast | CMCSA | 22.01 | 22.54 | 21.94 | 22.28 | 18.3M |
| Procter & Gamble | PG | 70.49 | 71.98 | 69.71 | 71.60 | 17.6M |
| Chevron | CVX | 85.44 | 85.72 | 83.65 | 84.25 | 15.7M |
| Amgen | AMGN | 64.14 | 65.60 | 64.14 | 65.06 | 13.1M |
| HP Inc. | HPQ | 45.62 | 45.84 | 45.12 | 45.59 | 12.3M |
| Verizon Communications | VZ | 34.84 | 35.25 | 34.70 | 34.96 | 12.1M |
| Coca-Cola | KO | 55.22 | 55.62 | 54.75 | 55.06 | 11.9M |
| Abbott Laboratories | ABT | 58.68 | 59.82 | 58.28 | 59.62 | 11.5M |
| Walt Disney & Co. | DIS | 32.47 | 32.92 | 32.34 | 32.50 | 11.5M |
| Schlumberger | SLB | 93.29 | 93.37 | 90.10 | 91.47 | 11.4M |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb | BMY | 22.00 | 22.13 | 21.88 | 21.98 | 11.4M |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | 70.82 | 71.41 | 70.77 | 71.33 | 10.8M |
| Altria | MO | 21.47 | 21.80 | 21.32 | 21.60 | 10.1M |
| UnitedHealth Group | UNH | 31.94 | 33.10 | 31.13 | 33.01 | 9.85M |
| Merck | MRK | 36.06 | 36.65 | 36.06 | 36.16 | 8.9M |
| Boeing | BA | 64.77 | 65.33 | 63.82 | 64.45 | 7.67M |
| Alphabet | GOOGL | 506.99 | 510.66 | 505.50 | 510.15 | 7.08M |
| Amazon | AMZN | 88.28 | 89.53 | 86.26 | 86.40 | 6.87M |
| Visa | V | 75.99 | 76.53 | 74.83 | 75.79 | 6.5M |
| Pepsico | PEP | 70.20 | 70.43 | 69.77 | 70.20 | 5.64M |
| International Business Machines | IBM | 127.07 | 127.19 | 125.35 | 126.36 | 5.57M |
| Gilead Sciences | GILD | 56.77 | 56.91 | 55.67 | 56.26 | 5.48M |
| McDonald's | MCD | 64.13 | 64.35 | 63.23 | 63.63 | 5.17M |
| Union Pacific | UNP | 78.02 | 78.44 | 76.58 | 76.87 | 4.6M |
| United Technologies | UTX | 66.35 | 67.30 | 66.03 | 66.80 | 4.45M |
| 3M | MMM | 73.09 | 74.10 | 73.09 | 73.49 | 4.41M |
| Berkshire Hathaway | BRK.B | 3905.00 | 4000.00 | 3896.00 | 4000.00 | 23.2K |
Exchange Rates of August 15, 2008
| Currencies | Exchange Rates | ||
| US Dollar | Japanese Yen | 1 USD = 110.490 JPY | 1 JPY = 0.009 USD |
| US Dollar | Canadian Dollar | 1 USD = 1.059 CAD | 1 CAD = 0.944 USD |
| US Dollar | Swiss Franc | 1 USD = 1.096 CHF | 1 CHF = 0.912 USD |
| US Dollar | Chinese Yuan | 1 USD = 6.870 CNY | 1 CNY = 0.146 USD |
| Euro | Japanese Yen | 1 EUR = 162.280 JPY | 1 JPY = 0.006 EUR |
| Euro | Pound Sterling | 1 EUR = 0.787 GBP | 1 GBP = 1.271 EUR |
| Euro | Australian Dollar | 1 EUR = 1.695 AUD | 1 AUD = 0.590 EUR |
| Euro | Canadian Dollar | 1 EUR = 1.555 CAD | 1 CAD = 0.643 EUR |
| Euro | Swiss Franc | 1 EUR = 1.610 CHF | 1 CHF = 0.621 EUR |
| Japanese Yen | Pound Sterling | 1 JPY = 0.485 GBP | 1 GBP = 2.063 JPY |
| Japanese Yen | Australian Dollar | 1 JPY = 1.044 AUD | 1 AUD = 0.958 JPY |
| Japanese Yen | Canadian Dollar | 1 JPY = 0.958 CAD | 1 CAD = 1.044 JPY |
| Japanese Yen | Swiss Franc | 1 JPY = 0.992 CHF | 1 CHF = 1.008 JPY |
| Pound Sterling | Australian Dollar | 1 GBP = 2.154 AUD | 1 AUD = 0.464 GBP |
| Pound Sterling | Canadian Dollar | 1 GBP = 1.976 CAD | 1 CAD = 0.506 GBP |
| Pound Sterling | Swiss Franc | 1 GBP = 2.044 CHF | 1 CHF = 0.489 GBP |
| Australian Dollar | Canadian Dollar | 1 AUD = 0.917 CAD | 1 CAD = 1.091 AUD |
| Australian Dollar | Swiss Franc | 1 AUD = 0.949 CHF | 1 CHF = 1.054 AUD |
| Canadian Dollar | Swiss Franc | 1 CAD = 1.035 CHF | 1 CHF = 0.967 CAD |
See what else happened on August 15, 2008