Shares News

ANNANDALE, Va. (Dow Jones) -- Even though the combined value of all U.S. stocks reached a new all-time high Thursday morning, most of the media attention in the past week was focused on the Dow Jones Industrial Average's failure to reach a new closing high of its own. Does that failure mean anything? What would a new Dow high mean, if and when it were to occur? For answers, I turned to the  ...

TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) - Share prices ended the morning session higher as investors took heart from the stronger-than-expected September Tankan survey of business sentiment, dealers said. The closely-watched Tankan showed that the headline diffusion index for large manufacturers jumped to plus 24 from plus 21 in the June survey, its highest level since September 2004 and above the market consensus est ...

HONG KONG (AFX)- Private-equity fund MBK Partners LP is close to a deal to buy all of Taiwan's dominant cable-television operator, China Network Systems (CNS), for 1.6 bln usd, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. It said that CNS and its advisers have chosen MBK, a fund founded last year by former Carlyle Group LP partner Michael Kim, as preferred bidder for  ...

TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) - Share prices were higher in early deals after the Bank of Japan's closely-watched Tankan survey showed an unexpected sharp rise in confidence among leading Japanese companies in the September quarter, dealers said. Alhough gains were capped after the latest Tankan also suggested companies were more cautious about the outlook for the economy in the near term, they said. The Tan ...

NEW YORK (AFX) - Investors still glowing from the Dow Jones industrial average's reach toward new highs last week will be looking for signs in the coming week of whether the market's run-up will continue. With the quarter's end so recent, investors won't be able to rely on much in the way of corporate earnings news, but rather will be looking for any companies that might issue profit forecast ...

FORT WORTH, Texas (AFX) - The chairman and chief executive of Pier 1 Imports Inc., Marvin Girouard, will retire from the unprofitable home-furnishing retailer and its board early next year, the company said. Girouard has been at Pier 1 for 32 years, the last seven in his current positions. He will retire Feb. 28. "I feel that it is time for me to leave in the course of a normal retirement a ...

NEW YORK (AFX) - Surprising a spouse with a new car or extravagant piece of jewelry is an expensive way to express affection, but at least there aren't tax consequences. But gay couples, technically, should file a gift tax return -- gifts worth more than $12,000 come with tax consequences -- so one could imagine the results if an individual decides to retitle a home or a bank account, giving half ...

TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) - Paper profits from stocks, held by the six major banking groups and seven core life insurance firms, collectively stand at roughly 20 trln yen as of end-September, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported. While unrealized profits declined about 1.4 trln yen from end-March, the gains continue to underpin stable finances, it said. Paper profits on the banking groups' stockholdings fel ...

TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) - The August diffusion index of coincident indicators is expected to reach 88.9 pct, surpassing 50 pct for a fifth consecutive month, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported. Preliminary figures are due out from the Cabinet Office on Friday. The index, which consists of a number of indicators sensitive to economic trends, shows the proportion of indicators that have improved compared  ...