Financial news on December 18, 2009

Business and Financial news
A.I.G. May Put Asian Unit on Hong Kong Exchange

The American International Group could use the $20 billion from a stock sale by the insurer American International Assurance to repay some of its giant bailout debt. Read more..

By THE NEW YORK TIMES - The New York Times

‘American Idol’ Creator Plans Web Show

The show, “If I Can Dream,” will follow the lives of five aspiring actors and musicians who move to Hollywood in search of stardom. Read more..

By BRIAN STELTER - The New York Times

As Patent Ends, a Seed’s Use Will Survive

The first patent to expire on a widely used bioengineered crop since gene-splicing became a mainstay of crop science. Read more..

By ANDREW POLLACK - The New York Times

Canada to Sell Reactor Unit of Energy Firm

The unit of Atomic Energy of Canada has been a longstanding financial drain on the government. Read more..

By IAN AUSTEN - The New York Times

Dow Slips for a Third Day, but the Dollar Strengthens

The dollar climbed to a three-month high against the euro, as equity markets declined on a weaker-than-expected jobs report and concerns over foreign debt. Read more..

By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ - The New York Times

Ernst to Pay the S.E.C. $8.5 Million

The audit firm forced Bally Total Fitness to stop improper accounting practices, but didn’t make it admit to poor accounting in the past. Read more..

By FLOYD NORRIS - The New York Times

Executive to Become Adviser to the Chief of CBS

Nancy Tellem, who helped CBS introduce shows like “C.S.I.” and “Survivor,” will become a senior adviser to CBS’s chief executive, Leslie Moonves. Read more..

By EDWARD WYATT - The New York Times

Google Loses in French Copyright Case

Google was ordered to stop putting scanned French books in its database and to pay about $430,000 in damages. Read more..

By MATTHEW SALTMARSH - The New York Times

Merger Lessons In the Oil Patch

The oil company is acquiring XTO Energy for a price that is more than 30 percent below its June 2008 high. Read more..

By CHRISTOPHER SWANN and NICHOLAS PAISNER - The New York Times

Questions on Security Mar Foreign Investments

Foreign investors’ moves to buy U.S. industrial assets are getting a wary reaction from the Obama administration. Read more..

By ERIC LIPTON - The New York Times

Stock Markets

Values are reported in US Dollars

Stock Ticker symbol Open High Low Close Volume
Wells Fargo & Co. WFC 26.38 27.00 26.18 26.78 146M
Bristol-Myers Squibb BMY 26.05 26.08 25.32 25.78 124M
Intel INTC 19.21 19.71 19.10 19.63 99M
Microsoft MSFT 29.84 30.45 29.80 30.36 94.1M
Oracle Corp. ORCL 24.01 24.74 23.98 24.34 88.2M
Visa V 87.40 89.69 87.39 88.97 84.4M
General Electric GE 15.91 15.91 15.59 15.59 79.2M
Cisco Systems CSCO 23.13 23.37 23.02 23.33 67.2M
ExxonMobil XOM 68.56 68.80 67.64 68.21 63M
Pfizer PFE 18.35 18.48 18.25 18.30 62.2M
JPMorgan Chase JPM 40.53 41.19 40.04 40.95 48.1M
AT&T Inc. T 27.46 27.55 27.18 27.32 47.1M
Wal-Mart Stores WMT 53.06 53.06 52.31 52.85 26.1M
Merck MRK 37.36 37.79 37.20 37.40 25.4M
Procter & Gamble PG 61.98 62.00 60.41 61.55 22.8M
Johnson & Johnson JNJ 64.75 64.75 63.91 64.37 22.2M
Apple AAPL 193.17 195.50 192.60 195.43 21.7M
HP Inc. HPQ 50.90 51.61 50.70 51.50 21.5M
Abbott Laboratories ABT 53.75 53.75 53.00 53.34 19.6M
ConocoPhillips COP 50.65 50.69 49.40 49.80 19.5M
Verizon Communications VZ 32.94 33.10 32.66 32.80 19.3M
Altria MO 19.70 19.74 19.56 19.65 18.9M
Coca-Cola KO 57.26 57.26 56.31 56.92 18.9M
Pepsico PEP 59.92 59.92 58.77 59.48 18.6M
Home Depot HD 28.98 29.02 28.42 28.65 17.3M
Chevron CVX 77.42 77.67 76.56 76.90 16.6M
UnitedHealth Group UNH 31.88 32.00 31.08 31.54 15.7M
Gilead Sciences GILD 43.51 43.56 42.61 42.83 15.7M
Walt Disney & Co. DIS 32.08 32.17 31.58 31.95 15.2M
Comcast CMCSA 17.07 17.28 16.86 17.23 14.7M
Amgen AMGN 55.23 56.01 54.90 55.80 11.9M
Schlumberger SLB 63.20 63.66 62.65 62.95 10.9M
McDonald's MCD 61.99 62.43 61.97 62.17 9.85M
Amazon AMZN 127.91 128.79 125.65 128.48 9.61M
United Technologies UTX 69.90 70.00 69.12 69.46 9.57M
International Business Machines IBM 127.97 128.39 127.00 127.91 9.11M
Boeing BA 54.70 54.74 53.10 53.44 8.92M
Alphabet GOOGL 596.03 598.93 595.00 596.42 7.06M
3M MMM 80.80 81.35 80.55 80.97 6.67M
Union Pacific UNP 63.50 63.99 62.85 63.38 3.65M
Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B 3280.00 3303.50 3263.50 3303.50 38K
Exchange Rates of December 18, 2009
CurrenciesExchange Rates
US Dollar Japanese Yen 1 USD = 90.450 JPY 1 JPY = 0.011 USD
US Dollar Canadian Dollar 1 USD = 1.066 CAD 1 CAD = 0.938 USD
US Dollar Swiss Franc 1 USD = 1.042 CHF 1 CHF = 0.960 USD
US Dollar Chinese Yuan 1 USD = 6.829 CNY 1 CNY = 0.146 USD
Euro Japanese Yen 1 EUR = 129.770 JPY 1 JPY = 0.008 EUR
Euro Pound Sterling 1 EUR = 0.888 GBP 1 GBP = 1.127 EUR
Euro Australian Dollar 1 EUR = 1.610 AUD 1 AUD = 0.621 EUR
Euro Canadian Dollar 1 EUR = 1.530 CAD 1 CAD = 0.654 EUR
Euro Swiss Franc 1 EUR = 1.494 CHF 1 CHF = 0.669 EUR
Euro Chinese Yuan 1 EUR = 9.796 CNY 1 CNY = 0.102 EUR
Japanese Yen Pound Sterling 1 JPY = 0.684 GBP 1 GBP = 1.462 JPY
Japanese Yen Australian Dollar 1 JPY = 1.241 AUD 1 AUD = 0.806 JPY
Japanese Yen Canadian Dollar 1 JPY = 1.179 CAD 1 CAD = 0.848 JPY
Japanese Yen Swiss Franc 1 JPY = 1.152 CHF 1 CHF = 0.868 JPY
Pound Sterling Australian Dollar 1 GBP = 1.814 AUD 1 AUD = 0.551 GBP
Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar 1 GBP = 1.724 CAD 1 CAD = 0.580 GBP
Pound Sterling Swiss Franc 1 GBP = 1.683 CHF 1 CHF = 0.594 GBP
Pound Sterling Chinese Yuan 1 GBP = 11.025 CNY 1 CNY = 0.091 GBP
Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar 1 AUD = 0.949 CAD 1 CAD = 1.053 AUD
Australian Dollar Swiss Franc 1 AUD = 0.927 CHF 1 CHF = 1.078 AUD
Australian Dollar Chinese Yuan 1 AUD = 6.082 CNY 1 CNY = 0.164 AUD
Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc 1 CAD = 0.976 CHF 1 CHF = 1.024 CAD
Canadian Dollar Chinese Yuan 1 CAD = 6.403 CNY 1 CNY = 0.156 CAD
Swiss Franc Chinese Yuan 1 CHF = 6.552 CNY 1 CNY = 0.153 CHF

See what else happened on December 18, 2009