Financial news on November 20, 2007

Business and Financial news
A New Science, at First Blush

Scientists are working feverishly to develop new technologies to test cosmetics before a European Union ban on animal testing begins in March 2009. Read more..

By DOREEN CARVAJAL - The New York Times

Employees at CBS News Vote to Authorize a Strike

The vote enables the guild to call a strike at any time, although a walkout is not imminent. A strike could affect CBS television and radio newscasts, both nationally and in four local markets. Read more..

By BRIAN STELTER - The New York Times

Fed Report Trims Economic Outlook

Policy makers expect the economy to keep expanding over the next year, but they have lowered their forecasts. Read more..

By EDMUND L. ANDREWS - The New York Times

Freddie Mac Posts a $2 Billion Loss

Turmoil in housing continued to reverberate today, with the homebuilder D.R. Horton also reporting a loss. Read more..

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM - The New York Times

Icahn Acquires More Shares of Blockbuster, Nudging His Stake to 16%

Carl C. Icahn holds 13.2 million shares of Blockbuster Class A shares, according to a filing yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Read more..

By BLOOMBERG NEWS - The New York Times

New Worries About Credit Drive Down Stock Markets

An analyst’s downgrading of Citigroup to “sell” hit a raw nerve among investors and sent the Dow tumbling more than 218 points. Read more..

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM - The New York Times

On the Job, Everywhere

Hotels and airports are gradually catching on to the fact that mobile workers need more help getting their jobs done on the road. Read more..

By SUSAN STELLIN - The New York Times

Pioneer Lodging Chain Aims to Get Its Consistency Back

In recent years, Holiday Inn, now owned by InterContinental Hotels Group of London, has recovered from its decline and is expanding aggressively. Read more..

By JOE SHARKEY - The New York Times

Suit on Apple Options Is Dismissed

Apple won dismissal of a lawsuit claiming that company directors and managers, including the chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, lied to shareholders about the backdating of option awards. Read more..

By BLOOMBERG NEWS - The New York Times

Swiss Re Takes $1 Billion Write-Down

The company’s stock dropped the most since March 2003 after the announcement, which came two weeks after the company said its exposure to U.S. subprime mortgage woes would be limited. Read more..

By JULIA WERDIGIER - The New York Times

Stock Markets

Values are reported in US Dollars

Stock Ticker symbol Open High Low Close Volume
Microsoft MSFT 34.23 34.97 34.10 34.58 100M
Intel INTC 25.35 25.75 24.91 25.52 74.7M
Cisco Systems CSCO 29.44 29.84 28.49 29.04 63.3M
Pfizer PFE 22.85 22.85 22.42 22.72 56M
Apple AAPL 165.67 171.79 163.53 168.85 55.1M
General Electric GE 38.15 38.61 37.50 38.04 43.3M
Wells Fargo & Co. WFC 30.27 30.98 29.70 30.42 39M
Oracle Corp. ORCL 20.44 20.94 20.23 20.69 34.6M
JPMorgan Chase JPM 41.37 42.35 40.28 41.63 33.3M
HP Inc. HPQ 50.58 50.69 48.62 49.56 32.5M
AT&T Inc. T 38.24 38.41 37.69 38.03 32.1M
ExxonMobil XOM 84.98 88.72 84.97 87.82 31.8M
Home Depot HD 28.19 28.75 27.95 28.50 26.6M
Comcast CMCSA 19.51 19.68 18.99 19.37 25.6M
Wal-Mart Stores WMT 45.45 46.21 44.70 45.50 25.6M
ConocoPhillips COP 77.54 79.87 77.54 79.29 20.2M
Alphabet GOOGL 636.48 659.10 632.87 648.54 19.7M
Bristol-Myers Squibb BMY 28.13 28.48 27.89 28.11 16.5M
Johnson & Johnson JNJ 67.83 67.95 67.20 67.64 15.5M
Verizon Communications VZ 43.03 43.73 42.71 43.16 14.8M
Merck MRK 58.23 58.40 57.34 57.92 14.3M
Abbott Laboratories ABT 55.02 55.80 54.80 55.58 13.7M
Procter & Gamble PG 73.08 73.85 72.46 73.21 12.8M
Amazon AMZN 79.86 82.00 78.31 80.39 11.6M
Chevron CVX 85.05 88.61 85.05 87.90 10.9M
Coca-Cola KO 62.52 63.10 62.10 62.79 10.8M
Altria MO 74.11 74.40 73.31 73.81 10.5M
Walt Disney & Co. DIS 31.47 31.89 31.02 31.55 9.43M
McDonald's MCD 58.60 58.81 57.90 58.48 9.41M
Schlumberger SLB 91.77 94.18 91.31 93.26 9.09M
Amgen AMGN 54.59 55.40 53.27 54.13 9.06M
Boeing BA 88.31 88.95 86.92 87.86 8.74M
UnitedHealth Group UNH 53.47 54.45 53.35 54.07 8.67M
International Business Machines IBM 102.59 104.97 101.38 103.42 8.39M
Pepsico PEP 75.35 75.58 73.97 74.84 8.16M
Gilead Sciences GILD 43.61 44.28 42.82 43.75 7.77M
United Technologies UTX 73.80 75.00 73.56 74.32 5.33M
3M MMM 81.99 82.68 81.02 82.11 4.43M
Union Pacific UNP 125.15 127.85 124.49 126.45 2.35M
Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B 4563.00 4584.00 4544.00 4551.50 25.4K
Exchange Rates of November 20, 2007
CurrenciesExchange Rates
US Dollar Japanese Yen 1 USD = 109.980 JPY 1 JPY = 0.009 USD
US Dollar Canadian Dollar 1 USD = 0.979 CAD 1 CAD = 1.021 USD
US Dollar Swiss Franc 1 USD = 1.106 CHF 1 CHF = 0.904 USD
US Dollar Chinese Yuan 1 USD = 7.424 CNY 1 CNY = 0.135 USD
Euro Japanese Yen 1 EUR = 163.200 JPY 1 JPY = 0.006 EUR
Euro Pound Sterling 1 EUR = 0.718 GBP 1 GBP = 1.393 EUR
Euro Australian Dollar 1 EUR = 1.661 AUD 1 AUD = 0.602 EUR
Euro Canadian Dollar 1 EUR = 1.453 CAD 1 CAD = 0.688 EUR
Euro Swiss Franc 1 EUR = 1.641 CHF 1 CHF = 0.609 EUR
Japanese Yen Pound Sterling 1 JPY = 0.440 GBP 1 GBP = 2.275 JPY
Japanese Yen Australian Dollar 1 JPY = 1.017 AUD 1 AUD = 0.983 JPY
Japanese Yen Canadian Dollar 1 JPY = 0.890 CAD 1 CAD = 1.124 JPY
Japanese Yen Swiss Franc 1 JPY = 1.005 CHF 1 CHF = 0.995 JPY
Pound Sterling Australian Dollar 1 GBP = 2.315 AUD 1 AUD = 0.432 GBP
Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar 1 GBP = 2.024 CAD 1 CAD = 0.494 GBP
Pound Sterling Swiss Franc 1 GBP = 2.285 CHF 1 CHF = 0.438 GBP
Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar 1 AUD = 0.874 CAD 1 CAD = 1.145 AUD
Australian Dollar Swiss Franc 1 AUD = 0.987 CHF 1 CHF = 1.013 AUD
Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc 1 CAD = 1.129 CHF 1 CHF = 0.886 CAD

See what else happened on November 20, 2007