Description:  There is nothing wrong with the IPO market that a few quality companies could not cure. That is what analysts insisted after a week of disappointing offerings that seemed to deflate a budding recovery in the market.

Source: Reuters.com

Date: 12/11/2009

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1126572920091212

Questions for discussion:

• Summarize the arguments given for the weak response to recent IPOs.
• Do you agree with the explanations? Explain your answer.
• What financials would you look for in an IPO? Explain your thinking.

Description: Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which took $10 billion in U.S. bailout funds last year, shouldn’t get taxpayer support if the firm focuses on trading over banking, according to former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

Source: Bloomberg.com

Date: 12/12/2009

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a.O8G_pyd5ZE

Questions for discussion:

• Summarize the highlights of the story.
• How might this impact the operations of the financial services industry and regulatory bodies? Explain your thinking

Description:  Fortune’s Andy Serwer is skeptical that the proposed Comcast-NBCU deal will work better than previous media mergers.

Source: CNNMoney – video report
 
Date: 12/02/2009

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/fortune/2009/12/02/f_sl_nbc_comcast.fortune/

Questions for discussion: 

• Summarize the reasons given for the acquisition of NBC by Comcast.
• Do you believe this was a good financial deal? Explain your answer.

Description: Taken all in all, Dubai’s debt crisis is the most significant financial development of 2007. Here in late 2009 it amounts to far less.

Source: Reuters.com

Date: 12/01/2009

Link:  http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN3058513220091201

Questions for discussion:

• Summarize the opinions presented in this article.
• Do you agree with these views? Explain your thinking.

Description: European banks are emerging from the credit crisis bigger than before, posing more risk to their national economies.

Source: Bloomberg.com

Date: 12/02/2009

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aRDrzOAWRekc

Questions for discussion:

• Summarize the arguments given for concern?
• Do you share those concerns? Explain your answer.
• Should the banks be regulated more? Explain your thinking.

Description: The world’s most expensive office markets got a little cheaper this year. More than 130 cities worldwide had declines in rent expenses in the year ended Sept. 30, CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. said in a report today. Almost 50 cities reported declines of more than 10 percent. Rental costs fell about 30 percent in Midtown Manhattan, 53 percent in Singapore and 41 percent in central Hong Kong. Overall, rents fell an average 7.7 percent across 179 markets worldwide.

Source: Bloomberg.com

Date: 12/01/2009

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aB6krhuvVZbU

Questions for discussion: 

• Summarize the highlights of the story.
• How will this impact the operations of businesses that own real estate for rental and those that do the renting?
• Explain why Brazil’s financing situation is different and how it has impacted business in that country.
• Are there financial lessons to be learned from Brazil? Explain your answer.

Description: Although there’s little direct exposure to Dubai World’s default risk, U.S. financial institutions could take major indirect hits.

Source: CNNMoney.com

Date: 11/27/2009

Link:  http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/27/news/companies/Dubai_bank_risks/index.htm

Questions for discussion:

• Summarize the reasons for concern about how this problem might affect U.S. banks.
• Do you believe this concern is justified? Explain your thinking.
• What would justify the debt created by Dubai in the past?
• Is that argument still justified for the future? Explain your thinking.

Description: An influential European parliamentarian is calling for borrowing caps on hedge funds in a report to lawmakers that could lead to a tough new regime for the secretive industry.

Source: Reuters.com

Date: 11/25/2009

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/hedgeFundsNews/idUSLNE5AO00O20091125

Questions for discussion:

• Summarize the arguments given for regulating hedge fund managers?
• What might the consequences be for hedge funds and financing if this regulatory environment continues to develop? Explain your thinking.
• Do you support this approach? Explain your answer.

Description: Hewlett-Packard Co. reported personal-computer sales that topped some analysts’ estimates after the company took market share from Dell Inc. and benefited from surging demand in China.

Source: Bloomberg.com

Date: 11/23/2009

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a71EClbbvM6I

Questions for discussion: 

• Summarize HP’s financial improvements and Dell’s decline. Explain the reasons for these results.
• What do these results say about the current and future conditions for these competitors? Explain your answer.