Post date: Jul 17, 2012 6:4:43 AM
USA-USCLOSE -
Yahoo has made a surprising pick for its third CEO in less than a year. Marissa Mayer will be leaving Google to take the helm on Tuesday. Interim CEO Ross Levinsohn had been expected to get the nod.
Stocks fell for the 7th consecutive Monday. Retail sales declined unexpectedly for the third month in a row in June, the longest run of consecutive drops since the 2008 recession.
Summary of business headlines: Yahoo snags Google exec as CEO; Citi's earnings surprise; Glaxo's $3b deal; IMF slashes global forecast; Microsoft unveils revamped Office.
Citigroup reported better than expected earnings in its latest quarter of a-dollar a-share. But the third biggest U.S. bank is still being hurt by losses from its credit crisis- era assets.
GlaxoSmithKline will buy its longtime partner Human Genome Sciences. The price tag: about $3 billion or $14.25 a share in cash. The deal ends a 3 month hostile pursuit on friendly terms- after Glaxo upped its original offer. The big prize: control of a recently launched drug to treat Lupus, a disease of the immune system.
Comcast-parent of NBC has bought out Microsoft's 50 percent stake in MSNBC.com for $300 million dollars. The site will now be NBCNews.com.
Separately, Microsoft today unveiled its revamped Office- the 15th version of the company's main profit driver. It will be available as a cloud based subscription service- but pricing plans and the full lineup of features won't be out until the fall.
The International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for global economic growth- warning it could get even worse if policymakers in Europe don't do enough to stop the region's debt crisis.
Taking a look at the closing numbers:
US stocks were lower across the board, a day ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony to congress.
In Europe, shares were mixed on thin trading.
Bobbi Rebell, Reuters