Financial news on October 31st, 2007
Business and Financial news
In a trend known as consumer-generated content, an 18-year-old student and Apple devotee was hired to make a television commercial for Apple’s new iPod Touch. Read more..
A coalition of privacy groups asked the government today to set up a mandatory do-not-track list for the Internet. Read more..
The share price that Facebook has used for its employee stock options rose more than 30-fold between January 2006 and August 2007. It’s likely to experience another steep jump in value after Microsoft’s investment is factored in. Read more..
Prices of homes in 20 major U.S. metropolitan areas fell 4.4 percent for the 12 months through August. Read more..
Cravath, Swaine & Moore raised the salary bar for law associates in New York, saying it will award a special bonus in addition to the year-end bonus the firm already pays. Read more..
As Merrill Lynch begins to search for its next chief executive, the company named Alberto Cribiore as its nonexecutive chairman and leader of its search committee. Read more..
Top oil-producing countries have blamed the advance of crude prices toward $100 a barrel on financial speculation, geopolitical instability and a shortfall in refining capacity. Read more..
Representative Charles B. Rangel’s proposal has shaped the debate over whether to keep President Bush’s tax cuts. Read more..
Sony Pictures is considering selling half of its animation studio and even more of its thriving digital visual-effects company, although the matter is still at an early stage. Read more..
In what may be the earliest holiday shopping season ever, Wal-Mart plans to offer big discounts this Friday, three weeks before retailers traditionally start their holiday sales push. Read more..
Stock Markets
Values are reported in US Dollars
| Stock | Ticker symbol | Open | High | Low | Close | Volume |
| Microsoft | MSFT | 35.52 | 37.00 | 35.51 | 36.81 | 186M |
| Intel | INTC | 26.37 | 26.90 | 26.35 | 26.90 | 64.8M |
| Cisco Systems | CSCO | 32.90 | 33.19 | 32.49 | 33.06 | 54.9M |
| Comcast | CMCSA | 21.01 | 21.10 | 20.84 | 21.05 | 38.5M |
| General Electric | GE | 40.62 | 41.22 | 40.46 | 41.16 | 34.2M |
| ExxonMobil | XOM | 91.46 | 92.18 | 90.50 | 91.99 | 32.1M |
| Oracle Corp. | ORCL | 21.64 | 22.24 | 21.63 | 22.17 | 31.5M |
| Pfizer | PFE | 24.56 | 24.63 | 24.42 | 24.61 | 31.5M |
| Apple | AAPL | 187.63 | 190.12 | 184.95 | 189.95 | 29.8M |
| AT&T Inc. | T | 41.51 | 41.79 | 41.15 | 41.79 | 24.7M |
| JPMorgan Chase | JPM | 46.95 | 47.55 | 46.04 | 47.00 | 23.9M |
| Wal-Mart Stores | WMT | 45.71 | 45.81 | 44.53 | 45.21 | 22.1M |
| Wells Fargo & Co. | WFC | 34.48 | 34.52 | 33.40 | 34.01 | 21.6M |
| ConocoPhillips | COP | 83.44 | 85.52 | 82.60 | 84.96 | 17.6M |
| Schlumberger | SLB | 96.61 | 97.07 | 94.52 | 96.57 | 15.8M |
| Home Depot | HD | 31.71 | 31.80 | 31.02 | 31.51 | 14.9M |
| Procter & Gamble | PG | 69.35 | 69.89 | 69.04 | 69.52 | 14.1M |
| Verizon Communications | VZ | 45.89 | 46.13 | 45.50 | 46.07 | 13.9M |
| Alphabet | GOOGL | 700.69 | 707.00 | 696.04 | 707.00 | 13.7M |
| Abbott Laboratories | ABT | 54.65 | 54.74 | 53.94 | 54.62 | 13.1M |
| HP Inc. | HPQ | 51.72 | 51.95 | 51.04 | 51.68 | 12.5M |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb | BMY | 30.05 | 30.23 | 29.86 | 29.99 | 11.2M |
| Merck | MRK | 57.71 | 58.26 | 57.25 | 58.26 | 11.1M |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | 64.83 | 65.25 | 64.60 | 65.17 | 10.5M |
| Amgen | AMGN | 56.85 | 58.18 | 56.78 | 58.11 | 10.2M |
| Chevron | CVX | 90.40 | 92.13 | 90.18 | 91.51 | 9.89M |
| UnitedHealth Group | UNH | 48.55 | 49.62 | 48.40 | 49.15 | 9.46M |
| Altria | MO | 72.86 | 73.16 | 72.40 | 72.93 | 9.22M |
| Coca-Cola | KO | 61.99 | 62.06 | 61.13 | 61.76 | 8.32M |
| Walt Disney & Co. | DIS | 34.01 | 34.73 | 34.01 | 34.63 | 7.82M |
| McDonald's | MCD | 59.23 | 59.85 | 58.83 | 59.75 | 7.66M |
| Gilead Sciences | GILD | 45.99 | 46.19 | 44.72 | 46.19 | 7.24M |
| International Business Machines | IBM | 114.75 | 116.25 | 113.28 | 116.12 | 7.22M |
| Amazon | AMZN | 88.05 | 89.60 | 87.00 | 89.15 | 7.04M |
| Boeing | BA | 98.15 | 98.71 | 97.33 | 98.59 | 5.94M |
| United Technologies | UTX | 75.88 | 76.71 | 75.30 | 76.59 | 5.29M |
| Pepsico | PEP | 74.04 | 74.30 | 72.85 | 73.72 | 4.81M |
| 3M | MMM | 85.98 | 86.91 | 85.35 | 86.36 | 4.64M |
| Union Pacific | UNP | 126.68 | 128.50 | 126.51 | 128.04 | 2.17M |
| Berkshire Hathaway | BRK.B | 4295.00 | 4414.00 | 4285.00 | 4414.00 | 20.7K |
Exchange Rates of October 31st, 2007
| Currencies | Exchange Rates | ||
| US Dollar | Japanese Yen | 1 USD = 115.230 JPY | 1 JPY = 0.009 USD |
| US Dollar | Canadian Dollar | 1 USD = 0.943 CAD | 1 CAD = 1.061 USD |
| US Dollar | Swiss Franc | 1 USD = 1.159 CHF | 1 CHF = 0.863 USD |
| US Dollar | Chinese Yuan | 1 USD = 7.462 CNY | 1 CNY = 0.134 USD |
| Euro | Japanese Yen | 1 EUR = 166.850 JPY | 1 JPY = 0.006 EUR |
| Euro | Pound Sterling | 1 EUR = 0.696 GBP | 1 GBP = 1.438 EUR |
| Euro | Australian Dollar | 1 EUR = 1.553 AUD | 1 AUD = 0.644 EUR |
| Euro | Canadian Dollar | 1 EUR = 1.365 CAD | 1 CAD = 0.733 EUR |
| Euro | Swiss Franc | 1 EUR = 1.678 CHF | 1 CHF = 0.596 EUR |
| Japanese Yen | Pound Sterling | 1 JPY = 0.417 GBP | 1 GBP = 2.400 JPY |
| Japanese Yen | Australian Dollar | 1 JPY = 0.931 AUD | 1 AUD = 1.075 JPY |
| Japanese Yen | Canadian Dollar | 1 JPY = 0.818 CAD | 1 CAD = 1.223 JPY |
| Japanese Yen | Swiss Franc | 1 JPY = 1.005 CHF | 1 CHF = 0.995 JPY |
| Pound Sterling | Australian Dollar | 1 GBP = 2.233 AUD | 1 AUD = 0.448 GBP |
| Pound Sterling | Canadian Dollar | 1 GBP = 1.962 CAD | 1 CAD = 0.510 GBP |
| Pound Sterling | Swiss Franc | 1 GBP = 2.411 CHF | 1 CHF = 0.415 GBP |
| Australian Dollar | Canadian Dollar | 1 AUD = 0.878 CAD | 1 CAD = 1.139 AUD |
| Australian Dollar | Swiss Franc | 1 AUD = 1.079 CHF | 1 CHF = 0.927 AUD |
| Canadian Dollar | Swiss Franc | 1 CAD = 1.228 CHF | 1 CHF = 0.814 CAD |
See what else happened on October 31st, 2007