Financial news on December 19, 2011
Business and Financial news
More doctors and hospitals are digitizing patient records, with 57 percent of office-based physicians using electronic health records in 2011, up 12 percent from 2010; however, the number of reported breaches has increased 32 percent in 2011 from 2010 at a cost of $6.5 billion to the industry; in almost half the cases, a lost or stolen phone or personal computer was responsible for the breach. Read more..
MTV is changing the name of its election season campaign to Power of 12, nod to both the election year and the notion that 18- to 29-year-olds have a lot of political power if they choose to wield it; former name was Choose or Lose. Read more..
Many pawnshops are embracing holiday shoppers like never before, offering promotions long deployed by more traditional stores; gloomy economy is most immediate explanation, but industry experts also point to success of television shows like Pawn Stars, which have attracted a more mainstream audience to the stores. Read more..
Highlights from the DealBook newsletter. Read more..
Account assignments, executive appointments and miscellaneous news from advertising agencies. Read more..
Stuart Elliott Advertising column roundup of high and low points for 2011. Read more..
Sean Parker, the entrepreneur probably now most famous for being portrayed in the movie “The Social Network,” struggles with his fame. Whether by design or impulse, Mr. Parker, one of the people behind Napster and Facebook, has an almost compulsive need to share whatever is on his mind. His publicist tells him to be quiet, but he often shrugs his shoulders and carries on. Read more..
Bonnie Hammer, chairwoman of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, oversees networks and cable channels that contribute close to $2 billion in profits for the company; she is seen as possibly the most important cable television executive. Read more..
Stock Markets
Values are reported in US Dollars
Stock | Ticker symbol | Open | High | Low | Close | Volume |
General Electric | GE | 16.97 | 17.10 | 16.79 | 16.86 | 66.3M |
Microsoft | MSFT | 26.02 | 26.12 | 25.46 | 25.53 | 52.3M |
JPMorgan Chase | JPM | 31.87 | 31.90 | 30.42 | 30.70 | 47.4M |
Pfizer | PFE | 21.13 | 21.40 | 21.04 | 21.14 | 42.5M |
Intel | INTC | 23.39 | 23.48 | 23.05 | 23.10 | 42.2M |
Cisco Systems | CSCO | 17.96 | 18.01 | 17.62 | 17.69 | 39.7M |
Wells Fargo & Co. | WFC | 26.14 | 26.20 | 25.18 | 25.31 | 28.8M |
Oracle Corp. | ORCL | 29.41 | 29.44 | 28.50 | 28.62 | 24.8M |
AT&T Inc. | T | 28.98 | 29.06 | 28.65 | 28.74 | 19M |
HP Inc. | HPQ | 25.95 | 26.08 | 25.02 | 25.13 | 16.8M |
Merck | MRK | 36.43 | 36.80 | 36.34 | 36.47 | 16.5M |
ExxonMobil | XOM | 80.24 | 80.46 | 79.38 | 79.53 | 16M |
General Motors | GM | 20.12 | 20.23 | 19.00 | 19.05 | 15.6M |
Verizon Communications | VZ | 38.79 | 39.10 | 38.48 | 38.63 | 14.5M |
Comcast | CMCSA | 23.36 | 23.40 | 22.71 | 22.87 | 13.5M |
Abbott Laboratories | ABT | 54.82 | 54.93 | 54.16 | 54.35 | 12.9M |
Walt Disney & Co. | DIS | 35.39 | 35.55 | 34.51 | 34.75 | 11.4M |
Altria | MO | 29.36 | 29.63 | 29.29 | 29.34 | 10.7M |
Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | 64.18 | 64.28 | 63.36 | 63.53 | 9.02M |
Home Depot | HD | 40.31 | 40.81 | 40.11 | 40.20 | 8.9M |
Apple | AAPL | 382.47 | 384.85 | 380.48 | 382.21 | 8.41M |
ConocoPhillips | COP | 68.04 | 68.75 | 67.65 | 67.85 | 8.3M |
Bristol-Myers Squibb | BMY | 34.30 | 34.68 | 34.18 | 34.27 | 8.27M |
Procter & Gamble | PG | 65.35 | 65.59 | 64.74 | 64.95 | 8.17M |
Gilead Sciences | GILD | 37.15 | 37.97 | 36.98 | 37.47 | 8.13M |
Schlumberger | SLB | 67.42 | 67.42 | 64.95 | 65.07 | 8.05M |
Amgen | AMGN | 60.32 | 61.12 | 59.97 | 60.17 | 8.01M |
Wal-Mart Stores | WMT | 58.30 | 58.57 | 57.61 | 57.78 | 7.24M |
Chevron | CVX | 101.16 | 101.33 | 99.50 | 99.72 | 5.98M |
Visa | V | 97.51 | 99.37 | 97.51 | 98.58 | 5.89M |
Coca-Cola | KO | 67.46 | 67.87 | 67.22 | 67.37 | 5.88M |
UnitedHealth Group | UNH | 48.92 | 49.56 | 48.84 | 48.97 | 5.88M |
Berkshire Hathaway | BRK.B | 75.06 | 75.32 | 73.73 | 74.04 | 5.28M |
McDonald's | MCD | 97.92 | 98.37 | 96.98 | 97.24 | 5.17M |
International Business Machines | IBM | 184.51 | 184.69 | 182.25 | 182.89 | 5.04M |
Pepsico | PEP | 64.63 | 65.17 | 64.20 | 64.37 | 4.94M |
Amazon | AMZN | 182.00 | 183.17 | 179.00 | 179.33 | 4.53M |
United Technologies | UTX | 72.61 | 73.28 | 71.60 | 71.75 | 4.3M |
Alphabet | GOOGL | 628.01 | 628.50 | 620.00 | 621.83 | 4.28M |
Boeing | BA | 71.20 | 71.62 | 69.91 | 70.16 | 3.57M |
3M | MMM | 79.02 | 79.50 | 77.51 | 77.82 | 3.49M |
Union Pacific | UNP | 100.14 | 100.91 | 98.28 | 98.49 | 2.79M |
Exchange Rates of December 19, 2011
Currencies | Exchange Rates | ||
US Dollar | Japanese Yen | 1 USD = 78.040 JPY | 1 JPY = 0.013 USD |
US Dollar | Canadian Dollar | 1 USD = 1.039 CAD | 1 CAD = 0.963 USD |
US Dollar | Swiss Franc | 1 USD = 0.937 CHF | 1 CHF = 1.067 USD |
US Dollar | Chinese Yuan | 1 USD = 6.338 CNY | 1 CNY = 0.158 USD |
Euro | Japanese Yen | 1 EUR = 101.410 JPY | 1 JPY = 0.010 EUR |
Euro | Pound Sterling | 1 EUR = 0.839 GBP | 1 GBP = 1.192 EUR |
Euro | Australian Dollar | 1 EUR = 1.313 AUD | 1 AUD = 0.762 EUR |
Euro | Canadian Dollar | 1 EUR = 1.350 CAD | 1 CAD = 0.741 EUR |
Euro | Swiss Franc | 1 EUR = 1.218 CHF | 1 CHF = 0.821 EUR |
Euro | Chinese Yuan | 1 EUR = 8.242 CNY | 1 CNY = 0.121 EUR |
Japanese Yen | Pound Sterling | 1 JPY = 0.827 GBP | 1 GBP = 1.210 JPY |
Japanese Yen | Australian Dollar | 1 JPY = 1.294 AUD | 1 AUD = 0.773 JPY |
Japanese Yen | Canadian Dollar | 1 JPY = 1.330 CAD | 1 CAD = 0.752 JPY |
Japanese Yen | Swiss Franc | 1 JPY = 1.201 CHF | 1 CHF = 0.833 JPY |
Pound Sterling | Australian Dollar | 1 GBP = 1.566 AUD | 1 AUD = 0.639 GBP |
Pound Sterling | Canadian Dollar | 1 GBP = 1.609 CAD | 1 CAD = 0.621 GBP |
Pound Sterling | Swiss Franc | 1 GBP = 1.453 CHF | 1 CHF = 0.688 GBP |
Pound Sterling | Chinese Yuan | 1 GBP = 9.829 CNY | 1 CNY = 0.102 GBP |
Australian Dollar | Canadian Dollar | 1 AUD = 1.028 CAD | 1 CAD = 0.973 AUD |
Australian Dollar | Swiss Franc | 1 AUD = 0.927 CHF | 1 CHF = 1.078 AUD |
Australian Dollar | Chinese Yuan | 1 AUD = 6.276 CNY | 1 CNY = 0.159 AUD |
Canadian Dollar | Swiss Franc | 1 CAD = 0.902 CHF | 1 CHF = 1.108 CAD |
Canadian Dollar | Chinese Yuan | 1 CAD = 6.111 CNY | 1 CNY = 0.164 CAD |
Swiss Franc | Chinese Yuan | 1 CHF = 6.765 CNY | 1 CNY = 0.148 CHF |
See what else happened on December 19, 2011