Financial news on October 31, 2007

Business and Financial news
A Consumer’s Spot for Apple Grows Up

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..

By STUART ELLIOTT - The New York Times

Consumer Advocates Seek a ‘Do-Not-Track’ List

A coalition of privacy groups asked the government today to set up a mandatory do-not-track list for the Internet. Read more..

By LOUISE STORY - The New York Times

Facebook’s Rapid Stock Appreciation

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..

By MIGUEL HELFT - The New York Times

Home Prices Are Down, and So Is Confidence

Prices of homes in 20 major U.S. metropolitan areas fell 4.4 percent for the 12 months through August. Read more..

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM - The New York Times

Law Firm Is Giving Its Associates Two Year-End Bonuses

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..

By ELLEN ROSEN - The New York Times

Merrill Chooses Insider to Lead Search for Chief

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..

By LANDON THOMAS Jr - The New York Times

Oil Leaders Say Prices Are Not Their Fault

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..

By JAMES KANTER and ALISON SMALE - The New York Times

Rangel Offering Broad Tax Plan, and Big Target

Representative Charles B. Rangel’s proposal has shaped the debate over whether to keep President Bush’s tax cuts. Read more..

By STEVEN R. WEISMAN - The New York Times

Sony Said to Be Pondering Partial Sale of Movie Units

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..

By DAVID M. HALBFINGER and ANDREW ROSS SORKIN - The New York Times

Wal-Mart Jump-Starts Discounts for Holidays

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..

By MICHAEL BARBARO - The New York Times

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 31, 2007
CurrenciesExchange 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 31, 2007