General Finance News

(Reuters) – A California judge has dismissed a fraud claim brought by Oracle Corp against Hewlett-Packard Co in the bitter legal battle between the two companies over the Itanium platform.

Last year, Oracle decided to discontinue its support for Itanium, a heavy-duty computing microprocessor, saying that Intel Corp made it clear that the chip was nearing the end of its life and that Intel was shifting its focus to its x86 microprocessor.

HP called Oracles decision “anti-customer” and sued Oracle in California state court in June.

Oracle then brought several claims against HP, including one for fraud. Oracle accused HP of concealing facts during settlement talks to resolve litigation over former HP chief executive Mark Hurds move to Oracle.

Specifically, Oracle said HP did not disclose that it was about to hire Leo Apotheker and chairman Ray Lane, who both have longstanding animosity with Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison. H

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Markets were slightly down today, as the Greek debt negotiations dragged on without an end in sight. The Commerce Department also released a batch of economic data; including the fact that consumer spending were basically unchanged in December from November. Income, however, increased 0.5 percent, meaning that the savings rate of the nation went up. In corporate news, Wendy’s saw a 29.5 percent decline in net income last quarter, despite the fact that revenue rose 5.6 percent. Pep Boys announced that it had agreed to be acquired by Gores Group for $15 a share, almost 25 percent higher than the price the stock opened at this morning.

Word on the Street

• Rumor that the Greek debt deal will be delayed has investors nervous.
• Consumer spending stalled in December while income grew.
• Wendy’s revenue is up, but profits fell by almost one third.
• Pep Boys will be purchased by Gores Group.

Interesting Tidbits

• Blogging Declines Across the Inc. 500

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ANZ have also advised that this is the first of a series of announcements regarding job losses that will occur in the first half of this year which will result in hundreds of jobs disappearing from its Australian workforce.

Whilst the FSU acknowledges that the market is slowing and the business environment is unpredictable, we do not agree with the banks decision to cut jobs as a way of reducing costs. In the tough environment of 2011, ANZ recorded a record profit of $5.3 billion and it seems ANZ will slash jobs to protect another record profit in 2012.

FSU calls on ANZ to find other ways to trim their budget and minimise the impact on their dedicated staff. 

If you are directly affected by these restructures, your ANZ Enterprise Agreement sets out your entitlements to Redeployment, Retrenchment and Redundancy provisions.

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Barack Obama will deliver his third State of the Union address tonight, with the Republican presidential primaries steadily gaining speed in the background.

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– The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a lower opening on Friday, as European debt fears have resurfaced amid Greece’s negotiations with its private sector creditors in a bid to avoid a default. Additionally, earnings news flow from the U.S. has been mixed. Market focus now shifts to the existing home sales report due to be released shortly after the markets open, with economists widely expecting a modest increase in sales. Given the overbought levels of the market, an extension of the recent gains is unlikely unless the housing data comes in well ahead of estimates some positive headlines concerning the European sovereign debt crisis emerge.

U.S. stocks extended their gains on Thursday, helped by multiple catalysts, including strong quarterly results from Morgan Stanley (MS) and Bank of America (BAC), positive European bond auctions and a steeper than expected drop in U.S.

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Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) managed to marginally beat earnings expectations this Tuesday morning.  This is the first of the consumer products and medical products companies to report, so this one could have a heavier impact depending on what is said. 

The company beat earnings at $1.13 EPS and sales rose almost 4% to $16.25 billion; estimates were $1.09 EPS and $16.28 billion in sales from Thomson Reuters.  The company noted that operational sales were up 4.0% and its negative currency impact was only 0.1% as domestic sales fell by 3.4% and international sales rose by just over 10% in the quarter.

For the Fiscal Year 2012, J&J sees earnings of $5.05 to $5.15 EPS and that is a bit shy of the $5.21 consensus target based upon operational growth of down slightly to as high as 5.5% and based upon a negative currency impact of around 2.5%.

J&J’s guidance is weighing on the stock.  Shares are indicated down 0.75% at $64.50 against a 52-week trading range of $57.50 to $68.05 and versus a Thomson Reuters consensus price target of $73.00.

The report has remained better than many may have guessed considering all of the product problems before.  Unfortunately, there is little driving force here that stands out as great opportunity.

The first-generation RDX small upscale SUV was something of a miss for Acura. Its turbocharged four-cylinder engine was unrefined. Its overall fuel economy of 18 mpg in our tests fell below that of many rivals V6 engines. Handling was agile, but the ride was very stiff and the cabin was narrow. Add in somewhat awkward styling and the RDX was a modest seller that was completely overshadowed by its three-row MDX big brother. Acura seeks to remedy these problems with the redesigned RDX unveiled at the Detroit auto show.

While other SUV manufacturers are moving to small-displacement turbocharged four-cylinders, Acura is retreating to a 3.5-liter V6. Despite the large-displacement engine and its 273 horsepower, Acura is claiming best-in-class fuel economy.

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There’s never a dull moment on Wall Street, especially now that 2012 is tossing us into its first earnings season. Let’s go over some of the items that will help shape the week that lies ahead.

1. Banking on a Bounce: The banking sector got off to a shaky start when JPMorgan Chase (JPM) kicked off the earnings season with a disappointing quarterly report Friday.

We’ll get a clearer picture this week when the rest of the financial services heavyweights chime in.

There’s Citigroup (C) and Wells Fargo (WFC) on Tuesday. Goldman Sachs (GS) and Bank of New York (BK) check in on Wednesday. Bank of America (BAC) is Thursday’s star on the earnings stage.

No one is holding out for a monster showing from these companies. Savers are turned off by historic low interest rates.

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