International Business News - Of http://www.ibtimes.com All articles are copyrighted by IBTimes.com 400 100 http://www.ibtimes.com/ http://www.ibtimes.com/images/top_logo_ibt2_3.gif For those who live in its path, hurricane season stirs up anxiety even before devastating winds and rains hit land. And for Suzanne Bonner, that means the days of blissfully lying in bed and listening to the rain no longer exist. Instead, alarms sound at 5 a.m. so she can check the latest forecast. She turns to the Weather Channel instead of watching a tennis match. And the first spot on her speed dial is reserved for a contractor, not her husband. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/124603-psychology-of-hurricanes.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080906/hurricane-ike-churns-west-triggers-fears.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080906/hurricane-ike-churns-west-triggers-fears.htm Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:55:31 EDT The mother kneels in the snow, cheerfully posing beside her bundled up daughter, behind the bloody, dead caribou the mom just shot. Maybe not your typical family photo. But that's Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the disarming mom who's not afraid to carry arms or use them. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/124554-portrait-of-palin.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080906/palin-more-and-less-than-she-seems.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080906/palin-more-and-less-than-she-seems.htm Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:53:19 EDT Bank of America Corp. said Friday it is ready to settle federal and state investigations into sales of risky auction-rate securities, joining eight other big investment banks that have agreed to buy back a total of more than $50 billion of the securities. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080905/bank-of-america-ready-to-settle-securities-probes.htm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:48:03 EDT Agriculture futures traded lower Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade. Wheat for December delivery fell 25.5 cents to $7.515 a bushel; December corn fell 16 cents to $5.485 a bushel; December oats lost 2 cents to $3.41 a bushel; November soybeans shed 58 cents to $11.77 a bushel. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080905/agriculture-futures-open-trading-lower-on-cbot.htm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:29:36 EDT M&T Bank Corp. shares fell shortly after the opening bell Friday after a Robert W. Baird & Co. analyst cut his rating to "Neutral" from "Outperform," noting the stock has reached his price target following recent outperformance. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080905/m-t-bank-shares-slip-after-baird-downgrade.htm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:34:36 EDT Goldman Sachs and Co. downgraded ImClone Systems Inc. stock to "neutral" with a price target of $64 per share, near its current trading price. ImClone shares closed at $63.97 on Thursday. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080905/goldman-sachs-downgrades-imclone-on-valuation.htm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:30:36 EDT Wall Street is still looking for details on a federal investigation into Spectranetics Corp., but the medical device maker's stock rebounded in premarket trading Friday following a plunge the day before. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080905/ahead-of-the-bell-spectranetics.htm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:28:20 EDT Shares of UST Inc. rose Friday after the New York Times reported that Altria Group Inc. may buy the maker of tobacco products Copenhagen and Skoal for more than $10 billion. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080905/ahead-of-the-bell-ust-up-on-report-of-buyout-talk.htm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:59:35 EDT Citing a preference for service companies linked to oil, as opposed to natural gas, Goldman Sachs on Friday rejiggered a list of stocks it's recommending and issued a fresh batch of rating upgrades and downgrades. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080905/ahead-of-the-bell-goldman-rejiggers-oil-ratings.htm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:02:49 EDT A Citi analyst cut her rating on shares of teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co. late Thursday, saying she expects the company's profit in the second half of the year to fall short of expectations. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080905/ahead-of-the-bell-abercrombie-fitch-downgraded.htm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:51:19 EDT Order flow in the most recent quarter has probably been soft for Oracle Corp., analysts said Friday, after checks with industry participants. However, the current stock price indicates investors are already expecting some disappointment from the company, wrote Piper Jaffray analysts headed by Mark Murphy. They trimmed their price target on the stock to $23 from $25 but kept their "Neutral" rating. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080905/ahead-of-the-bell-analyst-sees-tepid-1q-at-oracle.htm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:50:40 EDT A Sandler O'Neill & Co. analyst said Friday that there is too much uncertainty in the market right now to justify a "Buy" rating on Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080905/ahead-of-the-bell-analyst-keeps-lehman-at-hold.htm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:39:20 EDT The stock of SanDisk Corp. was up by a third in pre-market trading Friday on news that Samsung Electronics Co. was considering buying the maker of flash cards used in digital cameras and other gadgets. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080905/ahead-of-the-bell-sandisk-soars-on-samsung-report.htm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:32:44 EDT Shares of GrafTech International Ltd. could see increased activity Friday after an analyst upgraded the shares of the graphite products maker on signs it is pushing through "the single largest annual (price) increase the company has realized." http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080905/ahead-of-the-bell-graftech-upgraded-on-price-hike.htm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:26:39 EDT Dell Inc. is talking to contract computer manufacturers about selling its factories, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The paper cited unnamed people familiar with the matter. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080905/ahead-of-the-bell-dell-may-sell-plants-wsj-says.htm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:08:28 EDT A JPMorgan analyst on Friday raised her rating for Navistar International Inc., after the heavy truck maker reported strong third-quarter results and raised its fiscal-year guidance. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080905/ahead-of-the-bell-navistar-international-upgraded.htm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:06:27 EDT Merrill Lynch & Co. shares pointed lower early Friday after Goldman Sachs cut its rating on the stock to "Sell" on expectations for more write-downs tied to troubled investments. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080905/ahead-of-the-bell-goldman-cuts-merrill-to-sell.htm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:57:06 EDT Government data due out Friday is expected to show the economy lost jobs for the eighth month in a row and that the unemployment rate moved higher. Wary employers probably cut payrolls by around 75,000 in August, even deeper than the 51,000 eliminated in July, according to the consensus estimate of Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR. So far this year, the economy has lost a total of 463,000 jobs. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080905/ahead-of-the-bell-unemployment-seen-rising.htm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:13:16 EDT Snowmobiles are good. NASCAR is very good. Football metaphors about God are better. "Sam's Club Republicans" are the salt of the American earth. Hollywood, the media and academics are suspect at best, subversive at worst. Though not as bad as European ideas. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080905/its-gops-world-elitists-just-live-in-it.htm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:02:41 EDT How dare you say that about John McCain, war hero? That, in so many words, is the line of counterattack coming from Republicans who only four years ago dismissed the war service of another decorated Vietnam veteran with his own story of bravery. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/122853-republican-convention.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080904/mccains-hero-aura-inoculates-him-against-critics.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080904/mccains-hero-aura-inoculates-him-against-critics.htm Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:22:07 EDT