Stock Preacher

The Walt Disney Company made the first move in what is expected to be a wave of consolidation in Hollywood on Monday with a surprise US$4B bid for Marvel Entertainment in a deal that will unite Iron Man and Spider-Man with Mickey Mouse and Hannah Montana. The deal, which will earn more than US$1.4B for Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s chief executive and largest shareholder, raised the prospect of other transactions at a time when the entertainment industry is in flux. Disney shares fell US$0.82 to US$26.02 in afternoon trading. Read more

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Nokia, the world’s largest handset maker yesterday unveiled its first phone running on Linux software with the plan to improve its offerings at the top end of the market. The focus of cell phone business worldwide has shifted to services and software following Apple and Google’s entrances to the market in the last two years.The Finnish firm has been looking for business opportunities from offering services like music downloads or games to cell phone users as the handset market itself is maturing, but to date its offerings have gained limited traction. Read more

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Vonage Holdings Corp shares surged 35% on Wednesday on growing views that the company would survive despite earlier skepticism over its business model. The stock has now climbed more than 300% in the past week, a rally that has surprised analysts who say the company still faces stiff competition and weak revenue. Last week, the stock was trading at less than 50 cents a share, and yesterday it closed above US$2.00/shr. on news of Google Inc’s new voice application may be renewing interest in VoIP, a technology that Vonage pioneered. Vonage was among the first to offer Internet-based calling services to people looking for cheaper alternatives to regular phone lines. Since its inception, the company has struggled with high costs and competition from traditional phone and cable operators that now offer bundled video, Internet and phone services. It is also challenged by SKYPE, a unit of eBay Inc, and other Internet-based services. While it posted its 1st quarterly net profit earlier this month, a weaker economy resulted in fewer subscribers. Vonage, perhaps, is in the sights of a larger company.

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UBS and the US government have agreed to an out of court settlement ending one of the most bitter assaults on Switzerland’s hallowed bank secrecy laws. The case has significant implications for the future of client confidentiality, amid fears among many Swiss bankers that a dilution of traditional secrecy rules could prompt a defection by worried foreign customers. No details of the deal were revealed yesterday, pending formal signing, probably early next week. However, lawyers said the settlement would involve UBS supplying the names of least 5,000 US offshore clients and possibly paying a big fine. Shares in the bank closed up 3% at SFr16.34 on relief that the issue had finally been resolved. Read more

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HK shares rally for 5th month, up 3% on week. Both markets recorded another month of hefty gains in July, the seventh successive monthly gain for Shanghai and the fifth winning month for Hong Kong, fuelled by positive earnings momentum and analyst upgrades. In the absence of a major disappointment in US economic data due next week, or in corporate earnings that will continue to trickle in through August, analysts expect the stock markets to continue their upward trajectory. China’s 4 trillion yuan (US$585.5B ) stimulus package, unprecedented lending growth and stabilising economy have helped to propel a more than doubling of the Shanghai index from last October’s two-year low and fuelled a 43 % surge in Hong Kong shares

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Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase Co. have emerged two bellwethers of the US finance sector in the post-bailout Wall Street, leading the surge of optimism with their strong profits in the Y 2009 Q-2. Six major US banks have reported their second-quarter profits in the past two weeks, vastly beating analyst predictions. The business of Goldman has little to do with common consumers, its quarterly earnings of more than US$3.4B posted were buoyed by record results in its trading and underwriting business. According to the quarterly report, the Wall Street giant generated a record US$6.8B in revenue from fixed income, currency and commodities trading during the quarter. Revenue from equity underwriting jumped to US$736M form UD$ 48M in the first quarter compared with US$616M last year. JP Morgan Chase, the largest US bank by market value, posted a US$2.72B earnings, and made its profits mainly from investment-banking services including bond and equity trading, and underwriting debt to help companies issue shares and bonds, not commercial loans and consumption credit.

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