Financial news on October 18, 2007
Business and Financial news
The F.D.A. has begun to crack down on the thousands of drugs, often made by small companies, that have never had to go through the agency’s stringent approval process. Read more..
The new logo for the New Museum of Contemporary Art will be featured in a campaign to promote the institution’s move to a new home in downtown Manhattan. Read more..
Brazilian law enforcement officials raided the offices of Cisco Systems and arrested top executives as part of a continuing investigation into a smuggling and tax fraud scheme. Read more..
The International Accounting Standards Committee has been pressured by some European politicians who want the board to be more accountable to governments. Read more..
A federal judge has disqualified a defense lawyer for a former KPMG partner in the government’s high-profile tax shelter case, a surprise twist on the eve of the trial. Read more..
MySpace will have new tools for people to develop programs for its site. MySpace has always been open, more so than Facebook. But it hasn’t done much to improve its own site. Read more..
An F.C.C. proposal to relax decades-old rules would be a big victory for some executives of media conglomerates. Read more..
After seeing Midwestern farmers improve their lot by selling corn to ethanol distilleries, sugar cane and sugar beet growers want their own ethanol deal, paid for by U.S. taxpayers. Read more..
The cost of government has risen about 20 percent since 1975, when taxes accounted for less than 30 percent of the gross domestic product of the O.E.C.D.’s member countries. Read more..
The Mexican government said it would sell its controlling stake in Aeroméxico to an investor group that includes Banamex, the Mexican subsidiary of Citigroup. Read more..
Stock Markets
Values are reported in US Dollars
| Stock | Ticker symbol | Open | High | Low | Close | Volume |
| Intel | INTC | 26.51 | 26.98 | 26.47 | 26.97 | 66.2M |
| Microsoft | MSFT | 31.22 | 31.23 | 30.63 | 31.16 | 49.2M |
| Pfizer | PFE | 24.55 | 24.91 | 24.52 | 24.54 | 43.1M |
| Cisco Systems | CSCO | 32.19 | 32.93 | 32.18 | 32.68 | 33.2M |
| Oracle Corp. | ORCL | 21.49 | 21.58 | 21.11 | 21.43 | 32.3M |
| General Electric | GE | 40.93 | 41.00 | 40.52 | 40.79 | 32.2M |
| Apple | AAPL | 171.50 | 174.19 | 171.05 | 173.50 | 29.4M |
| Wells Fargo & Co. | WFC | 33.72 | 33.91 | 33.30 | 33.50 | 28.6M |
| Alphabet | GOOGL | 635.41 | 641.37 | 628.50 | 639.62 | 24.6M |
| AT&T Inc. | T | 41.86 | 42.35 | 41.71 | 41.81 | 21.1M |
| UnitedHealth Group | UNH | 49.00 | 49.00 | 47.92 | 48.10 | 20.6M |
| ExxonMobil | XOM | 94.63 | 95.24 | 94.15 | 95.05 | 20.5M |
| Comcast | CMCSA | 24.13 | 24.31 | 23.81 | 24.07 | 20.1M |
| JPMorgan Chase | JPM | 46.10 | 46.13 | 45.45 | 45.90 | 19.4M |
| Wal-Mart Stores | WMT | 45.78 | 46.04 | 45.34 | 45.89 | 19M |
| Home Depot | HD | 31.60 | 32.01 | 31.38 | 31.68 | 17.9M |
| Gilead Sciences | GILD | 42.60 | 43.99 | 42.57 | 43.51 | 14.2M |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | 65.24 | 65.32 | 64.69 | 64.90 | 13.5M |
| Abbott Laboratories | ABT | 51.30 | 52.03 | 51.19 | 51.67 | 12.3M |
| ConocoPhillips | COP | 87.01 | 88.21 | 86.82 | 88.01 | 10.8M |
| Coca-Cola | KO | 59.04 | 59.65 | 58.77 | 59.36 | 10.4M |
| Chevron | CVX | 93.07 | 93.75 | 92.00 | 92.42 | 10M |
| Altria | MO | 71.17 | 71.30 | 70.75 | 70.89 | 9.86M |
| Verizon Communications | VZ | 45.15 | 45.44 | 44.80 | 44.97 | 9.85M |
| HP Inc. | HPQ | 52.49 | 53.00 | 52.02 | 52.87 | 8.66M |
| Walt Disney & Co. | DIS | 35.31 | 35.40 | 34.71 | 34.78 | 8.5M |
| Procter & Gamble | PG | 70.55 | 71.00 | 70.50 | 70.90 | 8.08M |
| International Business Machines | IBM | 114.82 | 116.41 | 114.44 | 114.80 | 7.74M |
| Schlumberger | SLB | 110.46 | 111.87 | 109.68 | 111.62 | 7.67M |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb | BMY | 29.53 | 29.82 | 29.40 | 29.58 | 7.48M |
| Merck | MRK | 53.00 | 53.65 | 52.99 | 53.39 | 6.78M |
| Boeing | BA | 95.36 | 97.15 | 94.80 | 96.94 | 6.76M |
| Amgen | AMGN | 56.28 | 56.96 | 56.02 | 56.71 | 6.64M |
| United Technologies | UTX | 76.77 | 78.24 | 76.52 | 77.43 | 6.54M |
| Union Pacific | UNP | 118.90 | 127.17 | 118.90 | 125.93 | 5.9M |
| Amazon | AMZN | 89.37 | 90.43 | 89.15 | 89.85 | 5.33M |
| McDonald's | MCD | 56.89 | 57.10 | 56.67 | 56.79 | 3.71M |
| Pepsico | PEP | 72.07 | 72.44 | 71.71 | 71.88 | 3.43M |
| 3M | MMM | 94.28 | 95.36 | 93.23 | 94.73 | 2.5M |
| Berkshire Hathaway | BRK.B | 4320.00 | 4324.00 | 4275.00 | 4300.00 | 17.3K |
Exchange Rates of October 18, 2007
| Currencies | Exchange Rates | ||
| US Dollar | Japanese Yen | 1 USD = 115.600 JPY | 1 JPY = 0.009 USD |
| US Dollar | Canadian Dollar | 1 USD = 0.974 CAD | 1 CAD = 1.027 USD |
| US Dollar | Swiss Franc | 1 USD = 1.170 CHF | 1 CHF = 0.854 USD |
| US Dollar | Chinese Yuan | 1 USD = 7.511 CNY | 1 CNY = 0.133 USD |
| Euro | Japanese Yen | 1 EUR = 165.140 JPY | 1 JPY = 0.006 EUR |
| Euro | Pound Sterling | 1 EUR = 0.699 GBP | 1 GBP = 1.430 EUR |
| Euro | Australian Dollar | 1 EUR = 1.597 AUD | 1 AUD = 0.626 EUR |
| Euro | Canadian Dollar | 1 EUR = 1.391 CAD | 1 CAD = 0.719 EUR |
| Euro | Swiss Franc | 1 EUR = 1.672 CHF | 1 CHF = 0.598 EUR |
| Japanese Yen | Pound Sterling | 1 JPY = 0.423 GBP | 1 GBP = 2.363 JPY |
| Japanese Yen | Australian Dollar | 1 JPY = 0.966 AUD | 1 AUD = 1.035 JPY |
| Japanese Yen | Canadian Dollar | 1 JPY = 0.842 CAD | 1 CAD = 1.188 JPY |
| Japanese Yen | Swiss Franc | 1 JPY = 1.012 CHF | 1 CHF = 0.988 JPY |
| Pound Sterling | Australian Dollar | 1 GBP = 2.283 AUD | 1 AUD = 0.438 GBP |
| Pound Sterling | Canadian Dollar | 1 GBP = 1.989 CAD | 1 CAD = 0.503 GBP |
| Pound Sterling | Swiss Franc | 1 GBP = 2.390 CHF | 1 CHF = 0.418 GBP |
| Australian Dollar | Canadian Dollar | 1 AUD = 0.871 CAD | 1 CAD = 1.149 AUD |
| Australian Dollar | Swiss Franc | 1 AUD = 1.047 CHF | 1 CHF = 0.956 AUD |
| Canadian Dollar | Swiss Franc | 1 CAD = 1.202 CHF | 1 CHF = 0.832 CAD |
See what else happened on October 18, 2007