Petrobras' chairman Rousseff to step down
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:40:25 GMT
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- The board chairman of Brazilian state-run oil giant Petrobras , Dilma Rousseff, said Friday she will step down from her position at the company in the next few days to focus on her efforts to become Brazil's next president, according to various media reports. Rousseff, who serves as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's chief of staff, told reporters that she plans to focus on her electoral run starting in April. Rousseff's successor at Petrobras will be Guido Mantega, Brazil's finance minister. Brazil's presidential election will be held in October. The Petrobras chairmanship is traditionally held by a high-ranking government official.
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Petrobras Q4 profit rises 10% on lower revenue
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:21:41 GMT
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Brazilian state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro said late Friday that its fourth-quarter net earnings rose to 8.13 billion reals ($4.52 billion), up 10.5% from the year-earlier quarter when net earnings came in at 7.36 billion reals. Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had expected the company to report net earnings of 7.21 billion reals. Net revenue was 47.6 billion reals in the most recent period, dropping from 63.3 billion reals in the same period a year ago.
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Four more bank failures bring 2010 tally to 37
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:39:57 GMT
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Four additional banks in Georgia, Alabama and Minnesota were closed by regulators Friday, bringing the national total to 37 for the year to date. Ellijay, Ga.-based Appalachian Community Bank , Hiawassee, Ga.-based Bank of Hiawassee, Fort Deposit, Ala.-based First Lowndes Bank and Aurora, Minn.-based State Bank of Aurora were all closed. The four bank failures will cost the deposit-insurance fund $599.5 million, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
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Medicines Co. says patent extension denied
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:29:26 GMT
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Medicines Co. said late Friday that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied it a patent extension for its Angiomax blood-thinner. On Thursday, the office granted an interim extension on the patent up to May 23. The office, however, on Friday denied a company application for a more substantial patent extension. Medicines said that the patent will not expire on March 23, and that the May 23 extension remains in effect. The company said it will consider its options, including court challenges, going forward. Shares of Medicines, which had risen 20% earlier in the week, closed on Friday down 15%, and were unchanged in after-hours activity.
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Two more bank failures bring 2010 tally to 33
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:57:52 GMT
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Two additional banks were closed by regulators Friday, bringing the total number of U.S. bank failures in 2010 to 33. Duluth, Ga.-based Century City Bank, which had $94 million in deposits as of Dec. 31, was closed. Its failure will cost the deposit-insurance fund $29.9 million, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said. Draper, Utah-based Advanta Bank Corp. was also closed by regulators. Advanta had $1.5 billion in deposits as of Dec. 31, the FDIC said, and its failure will cost the deposit-insurance fund $635.6 million.
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Russians to bid on U.S. air-tanker contract: WSJ
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:22:42 GMT
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Boeing Co.'s uncontested bid for a multibillion dollar U.S. Air Force airborne tanker contract may be short-lived if a Russian aerospace firm tosses their hat into the ring, The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site late Friday, citing a lawyer close to the deal. United Aircraft Corp., an aerospace interest owned by the Russian government, seeks to offer a version of its Ilyushin Il-96 airliner as a candidate to replace the Air Force's Eisenhower-era fleet of tankers, according to the Journal. The newspaper said United Aircraft will seek to partner with a small U.S. aerospace firm to seal the contract, according to John Kirkland, a Los Angeles-based attorney representing the partnership.
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Lions Gate board to review new Icahn offer
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:36:24 GMT
SAN FRANCSICO (MarketWatch) -- Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. said late Friday its board will review Carl Icahn's new offer to acquire all its outstanding shares for $6 a share. The board had earlier rejected a similarly priced offer of Icahn's to increase his stake in the film company to 29.9% from 18.9%. Lions Gate urged shareholders not to take any action at this time.
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Ohio's American National Bank year's 31st failure
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:24:00 GMT
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- American National Bank of Parma, Ohio, became the 31st bank failure of the year, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Friday. National Bank and Trust Co. of Wilmington, Ohio, will assume all of the deposits and buy the assets of American National. The bank had about $70.3 million in assets and $66.8 million in deposits.
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U.S. stocks end down, trimming third weekly gain
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:15:07 GMT
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks fell Friday but posted their third-straight week of gains, with a drop in energy stocks and renewed worries about rising global interest rates weighing on the session's performance. Breaking a string of eight-straight gains, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 37.19 points, or 0.4%, lower at 10,741.98 points. It rose 1.1% for the week. The S&P 500 fell 5.93 points, or 0.5%, to 1,159.9 points, while adding 0.9% for the week. The Nasdaq Composite fell 16.87 points, or 0.7%, to 2,374.41. It lagged the other indexes with a 0.3% weekly rise.
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Medicines Co. shares tumble on patent defeat
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:50:06 GMT
BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Shares of The Medicines Co. tumbled Friday on reports that a federal court has denied the company's request that the patent for its top-selling drug, Angiomax, be extended. The Medicines Co. had sued the Patent and Trademark Office, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Department of Health and Human Services over their refusal to grant the extension. According to The Wall Street Journal, the company filed suit after the PTO ruled its 2001 extension application was submitted a day late. Angiomax's patent is now expected to expire this year. Shares of The Medicines Co. were down 15% at $7.94, after rallying almost 20% earlier in the week on renewed hopes the company would prevail in its suit.
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Crude oil futures end lower as dollar rallies
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:12:16 GMT
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Crude oil futures finished 1.8% lower on Friday and fell for the week, as continued jitters over aid to Greece led the euro to slump and the dollar to rally, pressuring commodities. Crude oil for April delivery finished down $1.52 at $80.68 a barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 0.8% for the week.
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AMA, AARP urge passage of health reform
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:14:06 GMT
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The American Medical Association and AARP, the organization for people 50 and older, announced their support Friday for the health-care overhaul bill on which Congress is expected to vote Sunday. "This legislation represents an opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of tens of millions of Americans, an opportunity we are not likely to see again for at least a decade if this bill fails to pass," AMA President J. James Rohack told reporters during a conference call. He called the bill "imperfect" but said it will expand coverage and keep health-care decisions in the hands of doctors and patients. AARP Board Chair Bonnie M. Cramer said the overhaul would strengthen Medicare. "It closes the dreaded Medicare Part D 'doughnut hole,' a gap in prescription drug coverage that is life-threatening for many," Cramer said in a prepared statement. "The package stops insurance companies from pricing people out of coverage because they have an existing health problem or arbitrarily limiting the amount of care someone can receive."
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