Financial news on December 20, 2006

Business and Financial news
Advo and Valassis to Merge After All

The two companies came to terms after the board of Advo agreed late Monday to drop its asking price to $33 a share from $37. Read more..

By RITA K. FARRELL - The New York Times

A Suburb’s Big Project Is Outpacing Hartford’s

West Hartford has become a regional destination for dining and shopping, a role that the capital city, with a population twice as large, formerly played. Read more..

By JANE GORDON - The New York Times

Court Orders Lawyer to Return Documents About an Eli Lilly Drug

The internal Eli Lilly documents and e-mail messages detailed efforts by the drug maker to play down the health risks of Zyprexa. Read more..

By JULIE CRESWELL - The New York Times

Court Says U.S. Oversight of Power Industry Was Lax

The court ruled that in trying to increase competition in the power industry, national energy officials abdicated their responsibility to ensure fair electricity markets. Read more..

By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON - The New York Times

Dell’s Financial Chief Resigns Unexpectedly

Dell, the computer maker, said Tuesday that its chief financial officer was stepping down as the company faces two federal investigations into its accounting practices. Read more..

By DAMON DARLIN - The New York Times

Goldman Chairman Gets a Bonus of $53.4 Million

The bonus, the highest ever for a Wall Street chief executive, came a week after Goldman reported a record profit of $9.5 billion. Read more..

By JENNY ANDERSON - The New York Times

Japanese Securities Firm to Buy Stake in U.S. Hedge Fund

Nomura Holdings, Japan’s biggest securities firm, will buy a 15 percent stake in the Fortress Investment Group. Read more..

By BLOOMBERG NEWS - The New York Times

Study Predicts Foreclosure for 1 in 5 Subprime Loans

At that rate, about 1.1 million of the homeowners who took out subprime loans in the last two years will lose their houses, at an estimated cost of $74.6 billion. Read more..

By RON NIXON - The New York Times

Stock Markets

Values are reported in US Dollars

Stock Ticker symbol Open High Low Close Volume
Oracle Corp. ORCL 17,09 17,22 17,03 17,10 48.7M
Pfizer PFE 26,16 26,55 26,13 26,21 44.5M
General Electric GE 38,13 38,49 38,01 38,15 36.9M
Cisco Systems CSCO 27,68 27,70 27,38 27,39 31.8M
Microsoft MSFT 29,99 30,24 29,97 30,09 31.2M
Intel INTC 20,70 20,94 20,57 20,60 30.8M
AT&T Inc. T 35,06 35,45 34,93 34,95 29.8M
HP Inc. HPQ 40,35 41,46 40,35 41,34 21.1M
Apple AAPL 86,47 86,67 84,74 84,76 20.3M
ExxonMobil XOM 76,10 76,99 75,74 76,08 17.6M
Wal-Mart Stores WMT 46,00 46,13 45,87 45,87 13.9M
Home Depot HD 39,56 39,86 39,13 39,13 13.4M
ConocoPhillips COP 73,50 73,67 72,49 72,50 12.7M
Verizon Communications VZ 36,68 36,90 36,36 36,45 11.6M
UnitedHealth Group UNH 52,50 53,70 52,34 53,56 10.3M
Johnson & Johnson JNJ 66,65 66,89 66,34 66,43 9.78M
Alphabet GOOGL 470,00 471,50 462,33 462,90 8.73M
Chevron CVX 74,46 74,91 73,48 73,65 8.69M
Abbott Laboratories ABT 48,20 48,37 47,43 47,95 8.06M
Comcast CMCSA 42,81 43,06 42,63 42,64 7.85M
Amazon AMZN 39,43 40,30 39,39 40,01 7.78M
Merck MRK 43,38 43,94 43,25 43,30 7.4M
Schlumberger SLB 65,77 66,17 64,84 64,85 6.83M
Altria MO 86,13 86,25 85,60 85,68 6.83M
Wells Fargo & Co. WFC 35,92 36,05 35,85 35,88 6.41M
Coca-Cola KO 48,73 48,82 48,64 48,75 6.05M
JPMorgan Chase JPM 48,33 48,37 48,14 48,22 6.04M
McDonald's MCD 44,00 44,24 43,74 43,86 5.87M
Bristol-Myers Squibb BMY 25,60 25,89 25,57 25,77 5.76M
Walt Disney & Co. DIS 34,76 34,80 34,52 34,61 5.74M
United Technologies UTX 62,66 63,54 62,29 63,22 5.65M
Amgen AMGN 70,37 70,40 69,37 69,45 5.22M
Gilead Sciences GILD 65,25 65,98 64,71 64,76 5.08M
Procter & Gamble PG 64,30 64,48 64,02 64,47 4.48M
International Business Machines IBM 96,31 96,50 95,70 96,00 3.65M
Pepsico PEP 63,32 63,51 63,09 63,30 3.54M
Boeing BA 90,18 90,60 89,18 90,10 3.3M
3M MMM 78,30 79,20 78,15 78,83 2.31M
Union Pacific UNP 92,32 92,50 91,30 91,40 1.79M
Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B 3778,00 3788,00 3706,00 3721,00 25.9K
Exchange Rates of December 20, 2006
CurrenciesExchange Rates
US Dollar Japanese Yen 1 USD = 118,430 JPY 1 JPY = 0,008 USD
US Dollar Canadian Dollar 1 USD = 1,149 CAD 1 CAD = 0,870 USD
US Dollar Swiss Franc 1 USD = 1,218 CHF 1 CHF = 0,821 USD
US Dollar Chinese Yuan 1 USD = 7,815 CNY 1 CNY = 0,128 USD
Euro Japanese Yen 1 EUR = 156,000 JPY 1 JPY = 0,006 EUR
Euro Pound Sterling 1 EUR = 0,670 GBP 1 GBP = 1,492 EUR
Euro Australian Dollar 1 EUR = 1,676 AUD 1 AUD = 0,597 EUR
Euro Canadian Dollar 1 EUR = 1,513 CAD 1 CAD = 0,661 EUR
Euro Swiss Franc 1 EUR = 1,604 CHF 1 CHF = 0,623 EUR
Japanese Yen Pound Sterling 1 JPY = 0,430 GBP 1 GBP = 2,328 JPY
Japanese Yen Australian Dollar 1 JPY = 1,074 AUD 1 AUD = 0,931 JPY
Japanese Yen Canadian Dollar 1 JPY = 0,970 CAD 1 CAD = 1,031 JPY
Japanese Yen Swiss Franc 1 JPY = 1,028 CHF 1 CHF = 0,973 JPY
Pound Sterling Australian Dollar 1 GBP = 2,500 AUD 1 AUD = 0,400 GBP
Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar 1 GBP = 2,257 CAD 1 CAD = 0,443 GBP
Pound Sterling Swiss Franc 1 GBP = 2,392 CHF 1 CHF = 0,418 GBP
Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar 1 AUD = 0,902 CAD 1 CAD = 1,109 AUD
Australian Dollar Swiss Franc 1 AUD = 0,957 CHF 1 CHF = 1,045 AUD
Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc 1 CAD = 1,060 CHF 1 CHF = 0,944 CAD

See what else happened on December 20, 2006