By James Langton
(July 12 – 09:00 ET) – There are no major economic releases today, although Fed chairman Alan Greenspan speaks this evening on “global challenges”. The speech is not expected to reveal any market moving information, although neither was yesterday’s speech and that ended up boosting markets. Traders are looking ahead instead to tomorrow’s CPI numbers in Canada and Friday’s PPI in the U.S.
In Europe stocks are up today on the heels of yesterday’s rally, with paper stocks and chemicals are leading the way. In London the FTSE is up 50 points to 6,525. France’s CAC 40 has gained 59 points to 6,549. Germany’s DAX is up 74 points to 7,078.
The big M&A news has Europe’s third-largest bank, UBS AG, buying Paine Webber Group Inc. for about US$16 billion.
Global Crossing Ltd. is selling its local-phone operations to Citizens Communications Co. for US$3.65 billion in cash to pay down its debt.
Toronto-based Teklogix International Inc. is selling out to UK-based Psion Plc for $544 million, or $35 per share, in a mix of cash and stock. The deal is at a 41% premium to Teklogix’s closing price on Tuesday.
In other business news, 724 Solutions Inc. and Certicom Corp. are partnering to build a wireless Public Key Infrastructure, the technology used to verify customer identity online.
After announcing better than expected earnings after markets closed yesterday, shares of Yahoo! Inc. are booming this morning, up as much as 13%.
Markets were mixed overnight in Asia. The Nikkei dropped 162 points to 17,342. The Hang Seng however rose 193 points to 17,552.