Financial news on December 18, 2006

Business and Financial news
Blessed by a U.S. Official, China Will Buy 4 Nuclear Reactors

The deal may stir worries in Washington that the United States is selling its competitive advantage an industry at a time. Read more..

By KEITH BRADSHER - The New York Times

Drug Middleman Plans Hostile Bid for Rival

Express Scripts will offer $26 billion for the larger Caremark Rx in an audacious takeover attempt that could lead to lower drug prices for consumers. Read more..

By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN - The New York Times

Fighting Crime Using Videos on YouTube

Canadian police posted video of two men wanted for questioning on YouTube in addition to giving it to local television stations for broadcast. Read more..

By IAN AUSTEN - The New York Times

From Heavy Metal to Symphonic Rock and Holiday Gold

The band Trans-Siberian Orchestra has sold five million copies of its Christmas rock operas over the last decade, as its elaborate, effects-filled shows have packed U.S. arenas. Read more..

By ROBERT LEVINE - The New York Times

How to Lose Cadillac and Other Lessons on Madison Ave. in 2006

This year’s big story was mainstream marketers embracing new technologies like podcasts, video-on-demand, blogs, social networking and video sharing. Read more..

By STUART ELLIOTT - The New York Times

Looking Ahead

MERRY, INDEED With one week to go before Christmas and two weeks before New Year’s Day, there are still bonuses and earnings to be awarded and announced on Wall Street, but already there have been a lot of merry tidings. Last week Morgan Stanley s... Read more..

By THE NEW YORK TIMES - The New York Times

Old Model Versus a Speedster

As they ponder how to outdo YouTube, media giants like NBC Universal and Viacom are discussing partnering to build a competing distributor of Internet video. Read more..

By RICHARD SIKLOS and BILL CARTER - The New York Times

On Demand and on DVD at the Same Time

Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, has introduced an experimental program to release films on demand simultaneously with their release on DVDs. Read more..

By GERALDINE FABRIKANT - The New York Times

Warner to Acquire Independent Label

Warner Music Group has struck a $73.5 million deal to purchase a controlling stake in the independently run Roadrunner music label. Read more..

By THE NEW YORK TIMES - The New York Times

Stock Markets

Values are reported in US Dollars

Stock Ticker symbol Open High Low Close Volume
Oracle Corp. ORCL 17.87 18.17 17.65 17.91 58.2M
Microsoft MSFT 30.19 30.26 29.78 29.89 57M
General Electric GE 37.41 38.13 37.41 38.00 50.1M
Intel INTC 21.05 21.30 20.66 20.84 49M
Cisco Systems CSCO 27.60 27.96 27.43 27.61 46.3M
Pfizer PFE 25.65 25.95 25.57 25.83 38.3M
AT&T Inc. T 35.75 35.95 35.28 35.47 37.8M
Apple AAPL 87.63 88.00 84.59 85.47 25.8M
ConocoPhillips COP 74.49 74.89 72.19 72.50 25.8M
ExxonMobil XOM 77.26 77.26 75.36 75.51 22.5M
Alphabet GOOGL 482.51 482.74 460.72 462.80 16M
Home Depot HD 40.07 40.30 39.68 39.96 14.1M
Wal-Mart Stores WMT 46.50 46.80 46.28 46.37 12.9M
Comcast CMCSA 43.04 43.21 42.80 43.12 12.2M
Merck MRK 43.89 44.07 43.67 43.83 10.8M
Wells Fargo & Co. WFC 35.74 35.81 35.53 35.76 10.3M
Verizon Communications VZ 36.60 36.70 36.41 36.54 10.1M
HP Inc. HPQ 39.93 40.24 39.90 40.03 9.72M
Chevron CVX 75.10 75.43 73.25 73.33 9.22M
Altria MO 85.68 86.56 85.25 85.63 8.98M
Schlumberger SLB 67.00 67.28 64.90 65.07 8.9M
JPMorgan Chase JPM 48.30 48.60 48.03 48.23 8.54M
Walt Disney & Co. DIS 34.10 34.69 34.10 34.49 8M
International Business Machines IBM 94.95 96.16 94.80 95.44 7.98M
Johnson & Johnson JNJ 66.22 66.84 66.22 66.60 7.9M
Abbott Laboratories ABT 48.30 48.34 47.85 48.13 6.94M
Amazon AMZN 40.20 40.64 38.86 39.26 6.49M
Procter & Gamble PG 64.02 64.27 63.65 64.16 5.77M
UnitedHealth Group UNH 50.20 50.53 49.98 50.40 5.47M
Bristol-Myers Squibb BMY 25.50 25.68 25.48 25.53 5.26M
Coca-Cola KO 48.85 49.10 48.82 48.90 5.22M
McDonald's MCD 43.34 43.75 43.25 43.48 5.2M
Amgen AMGN 70.21 70.84 69.85 70.05 5.19M
United Technologies UTX 62.41 62.57 62.14 62.26 5.08M
Pepsico PEP 63.11 63.34 62.65 63.07 3.1M
Gilead Sciences GILD 64.44 64.86 63.53 63.79 2.72M
Boeing BA 90.75 90.90 89.41 89.56 2.63M
3M MMM 78.35 79.01 78.23 78.35 2.33M
Union Pacific UNP 94.10 94.12 93.03 93.40 773K
Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B 3825.00 3825.00 3777.00 3781.00 22K
Exchange Rates of December 18, 2006
CurrenciesExchange Rates
US Dollar Japanese Yen 1 USD = 118.130 JPY 1 JPY = 0.008 USD
US Dollar Canadian Dollar 1 USD = 1.157 CAD 1 CAD = 0.864 USD
US Dollar Swiss Franc 1 USD = 1.222 CHF 1 CHF = 0.818 USD
US Dollar Chinese Yuan 1 USD = 7.820 CNY 1 CNY = 0.128 USD
Euro Japanese Yen 1 EUR = 154.720 JPY 1 JPY = 0.006 EUR
Euro Pound Sterling 1 EUR = 0.672 GBP 1 GBP = 1.487 EUR
Euro Australian Dollar 1 EUR = 1.678 AUD 1 AUD = 0.596 EUR
Euro Canadian Dollar 1 EUR = 1.515 CAD 1 CAD = 0.660 EUR
Euro Swiss Franc 1 EUR = 1.601 CHF 1 CHF = 0.625 EUR
Japanese Yen Pound Sterling 1 JPY = 0.434 GBP 1 GBP = 2.303 JPY
Japanese Yen Australian Dollar 1 JPY = 1.084 AUD 1 AUD = 0.922 JPY
Japanese Yen Canadian Dollar 1 JPY = 0.979 CAD 1 CAD = 1.022 JPY
Japanese Yen Swiss Franc 1 JPY = 1.034 CHF 1 CHF = 0.967 JPY
Pound Sterling Australian Dollar 1 GBP = 2.496 AUD 1 AUD = 0.401 GBP
Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar 1 GBP = 2.253 CAD 1 CAD = 0.444 GBP
Pound Sterling Swiss Franc 1 GBP = 2.380 CHF 1 CHF = 0.420 GBP
Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar 1 AUD = 0.902 CAD 1 CAD = 1.109 AUD
Australian Dollar Swiss Franc 1 AUD = 0.953 CHF 1 CHF = 1.049 AUD
Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc 1 CAD = 1.056 CHF 1 CHF = 0.947 CAD

See what else happened on December 18, 2006