From Bloomberg:
Investors Grumble as Freddie Shifts Risk of Helping Homeowners
Some mortgage-bond investors are criticizing a change in Freddie Mac debt that increases the risk of loss from homeowners who can’t afford their loans. (Continue)
Yahoo Weighs Options for Japan Stake; Revenue Misses Estimates
Yahoo! Inc. Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer outlined plans to explore options for the company’s stake in its Japanese division, heartening investors dismayed by another report showing disappointing sales and profit.
The company has hired advisers to consider opportunities to maximize value for its stake of about 35 percent in Yahoo Japan Corp., valued at more than $8 billion, Mayer said on a conference call Tuesday. Earlier, the company said first-quarter sales fell 4 percent to $1.04 billion, and gave a lackluster forecast for the current period. (More)
Perrigo Board Rejects Mylan’s Unsolicited $28.9 Billion Proposal
Perrigo Co.’s board unanimously rejected Mylan NV’s $28.9 billion takeover proposal, saying it doesn’t reflect the value of the over-the-counter drug company’s growth potential. (Read more)
VMware Profit Tops Estimates as Revenue Forecasts Reduced
VMware Inc. reported first-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates, even as the software maker reported slower revenue growth and reduced sales forecasts for the year due to currency fluctuations.
Profit, excluding some costs, was 86 cents on sales of $1.51 billion, VMware said in a statement Tuesday. Analysts had projected 84 cents and revenue of $1.5 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. (More here)
Chipotle Sales Miss Estimates on Price Hikes, Pork Shortage
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. posted first-quarter sales that trailed analysts’ estimates, hurt by higher menu prices and supply-chain woes that are causing shortages of one of its main ingredients.
Sales rose 20 percent to $1.09 billion, the Denver-based company said Tuesday in a statement. The average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg was $1.11 billion. (Continue reading)
Canada Aims to Boost Investment With 40-Year Gas Licenses
Canada will extend natural gas export licenses to 40 years while cutting taxes for small businesses and the manufacturing industry in a budget designed to boost flagging business investment.
The extension of natural gas export licenses from 25 years comes amid a global race for liquefied natural gas projects. The extension is in addition to recently announced measures to allow faster write-offs of LNG equipment, according to budget documents presented Tuesday in Ottawa by Finance Minister Joe Oliver. (Full article)
Broadcom’s Sales Forecast Meets Estimates on Smartphone Demand
Broadcom Corp., seeking a return to growth as it shutters its loss-making mobile-phone modem business, predicted second-quarter sales that may equal analysts’ estimates helped by orders from phone makers for other kinds of chips. (Read more)
Exxon’s Tillerson Says OPEC Not Waging War on U.S. Shale Rivals
OPEC’s refusal to curb output in response to the collapse in crude prices is an attempt to find the most economic price for oil, not an attack on U.S. shale drillers, said Exxon Mobil Corp. Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson. (More here)
These Charts Will Tell You Where the Housing Market Is Headed This Year
The Federal Reserve is preparing to raise its benchmark interest rate for the first time since 2006. Yet the gradually healing housing industry — one of the biggest beneficiaries of rock-bottom borrowing costs in this economic recovery — isn't panicking. (Continue reading)
Saudis Call Halt to Yemen Operation Saying It Achieved Goals
Saudi Arabia called a halt to its campaign of airstrikes in Yemen, saying its goals were achieved and the focus will move to reviving political talks, though it didn’t rule out further military action.
Operation Decisive Storm, the four-week bombing campaign against the Shiite Houthi rebels who have the upper hand in Yemen’s civil war, succeeded in eliminating threats to the kingdom and allies, according to a statement read out on state television. Heavy weapons and ballistic missiles held by the Houthi rebels have been destroyed, it said. (Read more)
Investors Just Got a Billion-Dollar Lesson in China's 'Mystery Meat'
China’s first developer bond default gave global funds a $1 billion-plus lesson. Investors just wish they could understand what it was all about.
The market value of Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd.’s six offshore bonds has fallen by $1.2 billion since the first signs of trouble in October that culminated in missed payments Monday, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Anti-graft probes, incomplete financial disclosure and wayward corporate governance have all been blamed for the decline of a company that had $1.5 billion of cash only 10 months ago. Yet none of the world’s biggest finance companies can say for sure. (More)
Buttered Coffee Could Make You Invincible. And This Man Very Rich
Dave Asprey is following his usual morning routine: drinking coffee and doing drugs. It’s a Tuesday in March, and Asprey, who is 6 feet 4, with graying brown hair and a stubbly beard, is in his office in the countryside town of Cobble Hill, B.C., 45 minutes north of Victoria. His children play in the house just a few steps away. He reaches into a large armoire full of bottles, carefully gathers about 20 pills, and washes them down with a gulp of water. Then he takes a sip of coffee. The milky brown concoction sloshes in his clear plastic mug like a pint of Guinness. (Continue)
