Financial news on August 20, 2008
Business and Financial news
Given all the nastiness on the Internet -- blog trolls, flame wars, vicious gossip, pornography, snark and spam -- what better antidote is there than looking at pictures of cute animals? Read more..
Two closely watched companies that offer consumers information about their genes have received licenses that will allow them to continue to do business in California. Read more..
Tsingtao Brewery, China’s largest beer company by sales, said first-half profit rose 32 percent after publicity from sponsoring the Beijing Olympics increased demand. Read more..
Hewlett-Packard, the world’s largest technology company, continues to roll along financially -- except in one traditional core business -- its printing business. Read more..
Businesses have been passing the costs on to consumers, just as joblessness expands and spending power shrinks. Read more..
The interior landscaping industry finds itself in a difficult place as tastes seem to be leaning toward fewer plants in building lobbies. Read more..
The News Corporation reported compensation of $27.5 million for its chairman, Rupert Murdoch, for its 2008 fiscal year. Read more..
Top Chrysler executives are determined to fix the company, and executives at Cerberus Capital, Chrysler’s new private-equity owner, say they will get the chance. Read more..
Shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac declined almost 25 percent on concerns that the companies will need a bailout from the federal government. Read more..
De Beers, the world’s largest producer of rough diamonds, said prices had increased an average of 16 percent since the beginning of the year. Read more..
Stock Markets
Values are reported in US Dollars
Stock | Ticker symbol | Open | High | Low | Close | Volume |
Intel | INTC | 23,74 | 23,80 | 23,15 | 23,39 | 54.2M |
Wells Fargo & Co. | WFC | 28,01 | 29,01 | 27,17 | 28,92 | 52.8M |
Microsoft | MSFT | 27,54 | 27,58 | 27,17 | 27,29 | 41.5M |
General Electric | GE | 28,74 | 28,93 | 28,09 | 28,65 | 40.7M |
JPMorgan Chase | JPM | 35,52 | 37,07 | 35,02 | 37,00 | 39.1M |
HP Inc. | HPQ | 45,00 | 46,36 | 44,80 | 46,16 | 33.2M |
Cisco Systems | CSCO | 24,34 | 24,48 | 24,01 | 24,23 | 32M |
Pfizer | PFE | 19,36 | 19,43 | 19,06 | 19,28 | 30.3M |
ExxonMobil | XOM | 78,54 | 79,66 | 77,38 | 78,81 | 26M |
Oracle Corp. | ORCL | 22,68 | 22,95 | 22,50 | 22,66 | 21.9M |
AT&T Inc. | T | 30,96 | 31,01 | 30,39 | 30,69 | 21M |
Home Depot | HD | 26,01 | 26,44 | 25,67 | 25,97 | 19M |
Apple | AAPL | 174,77 | 176,94 | 173,61 | 175,84 | 18.1M |
Comcast | CMCSA | 21,66 | 21,75 | 21,10 | 21,28 | 17M |
ConocoPhillips | COP | 80,09 | 81,16 | 79,44 | 80,85 | 16.6M |
Wal-Mart Stores | WMT | 58,52 | 58,65 | 57,68 | 58,36 | 12.9M |
Walt Disney & Co. | DIS | 31,86 | 32,20 | 31,40 | 31,82 | 12.4M |
Chevron | CVX | 85,32 | 87,00 | 84,50 | 86,46 | 11.7M |
Bristol-Myers Squibb | BMY | 21,49 | 21,83 | 21,34 | 21,52 | 11.6M |
Verizon Communications | VZ | 34,35 | 34,75 | 33,83 | 34,45 | 11.5M |
Procter & Gamble | PG | 70,68 | 70,76 | 69,68 | 70,30 | 11M |
Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | 71,18 | 71,55 | 70,59 | 71,08 | 10.3M |
Abbott Laboratories | ABT | 58,66 | 58,97 | 57,88 | 58,34 | 9.88M |
Merck | MRK | 35,25 | 35,43 | 34,70 | 34,94 | 9.69M |
Amgen | AMGN | 64,05 | 64,29 | 63,40 | 63,57 | 9.58M |
Schlumberger | SLB | 93,90 | 96,10 | 92,92 | 95,62 | 8.89M |
Altria | MO | 21,07 | 21,07 | 20,75 | 20,99 | 8.34M |
Alphabet | GOOGL | 494,72 | 496,69 | 482,57 | 485,00 | 7.96M |
UnitedHealth Group | UNH | 30,95 | 30,96 | 29,89 | 30,24 | 7.08M |
International Business Machines | IBM | 123,50 | 123,97 | 122,01 | 122,51 | 6.87M |
Gilead Sciences | GILD | 55,07 | 55,55 | 54,13 | 54,62 | 5.97M |
Amazon | AMZN | 82,00 | 83,25 | 81,20 | 82,13 | 5.95M |
Coca-Cola | KO | 54,55 | 54,74 | 53,90 | 54,35 | 5.52M |
Union Pacific | UNP | 77,49 | 78,30 | 76,90 | 77,83 | 4.99M |
McDonald's | MCD | 62,64 | 62,67 | 61,96 | 62,43 | 4.63M |
Visa | V | 74,10 | 74,71 | 73,66 | 74,57 | 4.53M |
United Technologies | UTX | 64,98 | 65,15 | 63,99 | 64,75 | 4.52M |
Pepsico | PEP | 70,37 | 70,37 | 69,40 | 69,85 | 4.08M |
Boeing | BA | 62,99 | 63,97 | 62,21 | 63,21 | 3.96M |
3M | MMM | 71,24 | 71,43 | 70,29 | 70,69 | 2.93M |
Berkshire Hathaway | BRK.B | 3885,00 | 3908,00 | 3845,00 | 3855,00 | 17.1K |
Exchange Rates of August 20, 2008
Currencies | Exchange Rates | ||
US Dollar | Japanese Yen | 1 USD = 109,810 JPY | 1 JPY = 0,009 USD |
US Dollar | Canadian Dollar | 1 USD = 1,060 CAD | 1 CAD = 0,943 USD |
US Dollar | Swiss Franc | 1 USD = 1,099 CHF | 1 CHF = 0,910 USD |
US Dollar | Chinese Yuan | 1 USD = 6,855 CNY | 1 CNY = 0,146 USD |
Euro | Japanese Yen | 1 EUR = 161,890 JPY | 1 JPY = 0,006 EUR |
Euro | Pound Sterling | 1 EUR = 0,792 GBP | 1 GBP = 1,263 EUR |
Euro | Australian Dollar | 1 EUR = 1,689 AUD | 1 AUD = 0,592 EUR |
Euro | Canadian Dollar | 1 EUR = 1,563 CAD | 1 CAD = 0,640 EUR |
Euro | Swiss Franc | 1 EUR = 1,620 CHF | 1 CHF = 0,617 EUR |
Japanese Yen | Pound Sterling | 1 JPY = 0,489 GBP | 1 GBP = 2,045 JPY |
Japanese Yen | Australian Dollar | 1 JPY = 1,043 AUD | 1 AUD = 0,959 JPY |
Japanese Yen | Canadian Dollar | 1 JPY = 0,965 CAD | 1 CAD = 1,036 JPY |
Japanese Yen | Swiss Franc | 1 JPY = 1,000 CHF | 1 CHF = 1,000 JPY |
Pound Sterling | Australian Dollar | 1 GBP = 2,133 AUD | 1 AUD = 0,469 GBP |
Pound Sterling | Canadian Dollar | 1 GBP = 1,973 CAD | 1 CAD = 0,507 GBP |
Pound Sterling | Swiss Franc | 1 GBP = 2,044 CHF | 1 CHF = 0,489 GBP |
Australian Dollar | Canadian Dollar | 1 AUD = 0,925 CAD | 1 CAD = 1,082 AUD |
Australian Dollar | Swiss Franc | 1 AUD = 0,958 CHF | 1 CHF = 1,044 AUD |
Canadian Dollar | Swiss Franc | 1 CAD = 1,036 CHF | 1 CHF = 0,965 CAD |
See what else happened on August 20, 2008