Daily News

• Asian stock markets lower Wednesday, weighed by Wall Street’s decline and Chinese central bank’s move to rein in excessive credit creation.
• China’s stocks declined the most in 3 weeks, after a shift by central bank to restrain lending.
• China’s central bank said it will raise the % of deposits that banks must keep in reserve.
• Indonesia plans to renegotiate a trade pact between SE Asia, China that took effect this month.
• Japanese corp. bankruptcies fell for the first time in 4 yrs in 2009 led by export-led recovery.
• More problems in Greece, weak US corporate earnings and China’s curb on lending sends European stocks lower.
• Obama’s plan to impose bank fee taps voters’ anger over bailouts, bonuses.
• Yen near one-week high versus Euro as Asia stocks drop on slowdown concern.
• BYD showcased an all-electric car that it plans to sell in US by 2H 2010.
• Canon’s $1.1B Oce bid may be in jeopardy as some shareholders balk.
• Cisco to restructure its A-Pac and Japan ops; create segment focused on China.
• Culp Inc. says it expects third-quarter sales to rise about 18%.
• Ferrero pulled out of talks with Hershey over making a joint bid for Cadbury.
• Furniture Brands guides Q4 revs below consensus; sees Q4 revs at $285M (cons $312.5M).
• GM has freed up cash to fund a major update of its full-size pickups.
• GM studies bids for Saab as liquidators take over, Unit’s board dissolves.
• Google may close China site, offices after ‘highly sophisticated’ attack.
• H.B. Fuller beats by $0.08, reports Q4 EPS of $0.50; revs fell 2.5% to $341.6M.
• KB Home swung to Q4 profit of $100.7M on tax benefit. Revs fell 27% to $674.6M.
• Kraft sees 2009 EPS “at least $2.00,” up from a previous expectation of “at least $1.97.”
• Linear Tech beats by $0.04, posts Q2 EPS of $0.35. Revs up 2.9% at $256.4M.
• Microsoft, HP plan JV to “prepare customers for the next generation of business computing”.
• Orient-Express Hotels prices issue of 12M shares at $10.00/share.
• Shares of Japan Airlines plummeted 81% to just ¥7 before going ask-only once again Wed.
• Supervalu to reduce the number of items it offers per store–in some cases by as much as 25%.
• Economic Calendar: Data on Crude Inventories, Fed’s Beige Book to be released today.

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Data provided by Egan-Jones Ratings and Analytics

H/T Zero Hedge

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