“Dow, S&P fall on dollar rise; biotechs lift Nasdaq - MSN Money” plus 4 more

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• Dow, S&P fall on dollar rise; biotechs lift Nasdaq - MSN Money
• 2 men charged in NY with $80 million Ponzi scheme - Raleigh News & Observer
• Business leaders' optimism growing - Houston Business Journal
• Dell Makes $3.9B Buy to Expand into IT Services Business - CFO.com
• Business Calendar - Lowell Sun

Dow, S&P fall on dollar rise; biotechs lift Nasdaq - MSN Money Posted: 21 Sep 2009 09:31 AM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow and S&P 500 fell on Monday as a stronger U.S. dollar hurt energy and materials stocks, but the Nasdaq gained on strength in biotech share. The dollar, which has been weak of late, rebounded Monday, with the U.S. Dollar index up 0.4 percent, putting pressure on crude oil and other commodities prices. . The top drag on the Dow was Exxon Mobil , which fell 1.4 percent to $69.01 as the dollar pushed October crude futures down 3.9 percent to $69.24 per barrel. The S&P Materials sector was the biggest drag, down 1.7 percent, while the Energy index fell 1.6 percent. "The focus for traders has been on the dollar," said Rick Meckler, the president of LibertyView Capital Management in New York. "To the extent it rallies, they're using it as a reason to take profits." The Dow Jones industrial average shed 26.53 points, or 0.27 percent, to 9,793.97. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 3.08 points, or 0.28 percent, to 1,065.30. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 6.30 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,139.24. Through Friday, the benchmark S&P 500 had risen 58 percent off a 12-year closing low in early March, partly because of strong earnings and optimism that an economic recovery is gaining strength. Investors' appetite for riskier assets had reduced the safe-haven appeal of the dollar. But that optimism is beginning to come under strain as investors seek more clarity about the 2010 profit outlook and await hints of how results will be for the rest of the year. "It's been hard to explain the recent strength of the markets," Meckler said. "One explanation has been the weak dollar. When that turns, it takes away some technical support." Adding to the negative tone, the Conference Board's index of leading indicators posted a weaker-than-expected gain in August. Caterpillar Inc sank 1.7 percent to $52.49 after it said worldwide sales of machinery to dealerships fell in August. The Nasdaq gained after Robert W. Baird upgraded Celgene Corp , lifting the stock 5 percent at $55.20. The AMEX Biotech index gained 0.8 percent. Computer maker Dell Inc announced a $3.9 billion proposed takeover of Perot Systems Corp . Perot soared 65 percent to $29.62, while Dell shares dipped 4.1 percent to $16. (Editing by Kenneth Barry) © 2009 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Back to News Home MSN Money Search MSN Money Message Boards Site Status

2 men charged in NY with $80 million Ponzi scheme - Raleigh News & Observer Posted: 21 Sep 2009 09:24 AM PDT Both face charges of wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan and the FBI said the men solicited investments for ATMs, saying they would generate revenue from cash withdrawal fees. The machines supposedly were to be placed in retail locations around the country, including convenience stores, gas stations, malls and hotels. Most of the machines didn't exist, or were never owned by the men, authorities said. "It was a classic Ponzi scheme, and the phantom revenue came from new investors," said Joseph M. Demarest Jr., FBI assistant director-in-charge. "The scheme itself, until discovered, was one giant cash machine." The alleged scheme occurred from 2005 to January 2008. Bharara said the investigation is continuing.

Business leaders' optimism growing - Houston Business Journal Posted: 21 Sep 2009 07:51 AM PDT U.S. business leaders' confidence in the economy rose nearly 12 percent following the close of the second quarter, according to accounting firm Grant Thornton's Business Optimism Index. The optimism index rose to 60.9, up from 54.5 three months earlier, with 58 percent of business respondents reporting that they expected to come out of the recession by early 2010. The BOI is a quarterly survey of executives' perception of the U.S. economy, their own business growth and hiring expectations. More than 360 senior executives from an array of industries, nearly half of them representing businesses with revenue topping $1 billion, responded to the survey. Another 20 percent of respondents had revenue between $1 million and $500 million. Mark Wuller, managing partner of Chicago-based Grant Thornton's St. Louis office, said the index suggested a growing consensus among business leaders that the worst of the recession was over. "We're seeing some clients point to the month of June, saying it seemed to be a bottom for them and that orders or business picked up in July and some more in August," he said. Michael Jenny, vice president in the industrials group at the Chicago office of Houlihan, Lokey, Howard & Zukin Inc., an investment bank and mergers and acquisition company, said the mood among his firm's industrial clients matched that of business executives surveyed by Grant Thornton. But businesses are wary of turning an initial recovery upside down by being too aggressive, Jenny said. "If (manufacturers) start restocking and demand doesn't come back then we might have another downturn a few months out, which is the worry now." While more business leaders feel their companies are gaining a solid footing, most are still reluctant to begin hiring. Only 26 percent of business executives surveyed said they planned to increase staff, while 18 percent expected more layoffs to come.

Dell Makes $3.9B Buy to Expand into IT Services Business - CFO.com Posted: 21 Sep 2009 09:38 AM PDT Dell plans to buy Perot Systems for about $3.9 billion in cash to get a stronger foothold in the information technology professional services market, and grow beyond its status as a PC-focused business. Dell has agreed to buy Perot's outstanding Class A common stock for $30 per share. And the company expects its latest acquisition to positively affects its earnings per share starting in 2012. In the meantime, Perot will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Dell, as early as November, pending regulatory approval. "We believe this is a critical acquisition in our strategy to transform the company," said Dell CFO Brian Gladden during a morning conference call with analysts. "IT services will be a big part of our strategy, and we're very focused on getting a great anchor acquisition, which we believe we did." CEO Michael Dell said the deal between the two Texas companies will answer some of his customers' demand for new types of IT services, such as cloud computing, a new outsourcing concept that turns computers into utilities that access information and applications from the so-called cloud, for fees. Dell has been playing catch-up to its bigger competitors. For instance, HP bought EDS for $13.9 billion a year and a half ago to expand its own IT global services business. With $8 billion in revenue — based on Perot's and Dell's combined revenue from IT services work over the past quarter — the merged business could "launch Dell in head-to-head competition with HP/EDS, IBM and the likes" on some deals, says Dane Anderson, vice president of research for IT services and sourcing at Gartner. However, considering that more well-known IT-services vendors hit multi-billion dollar revenue marks every year for the same type of work, it remains to be seen how strong a player Dell will be in the already crowded space, he added. According to Gladden, the new, integrated business will cost Dell more than $4 billion annually to run, and the finance chief expects to trim that amount by $300 million within the next two years. For Perot, which has been working with Dell for the past two years, the smaller company believes its new setup will expand its business for corporate clients, which make up 27% of its revenue, noted Peter Altabef, president and CEO of Perot. The rest of its revenue comes from the health-care and government sectors. Dell executives said they may make additional acquisitions to supplement their IT services business after Perot is fully integrated. Perot Systems, which reported $2.8 billion in revenue last year, was founded more than 20 year ago by Ross Perot, who is best known for running two unsuccessful, but noteworthy, presidential campaigns in the 1990s. It has 23,000 employees. Dell plans to consider appointing Perot's son, Ross Perot Jr., to its board.

Business Calendar - Lowell Sun Posted: 21 Sep 2009 07:37 AM PDT September 23 - Wednesday Night Tax Talks. Presented by the Dracut office of H&R Block. This month's topic: "Tax Topics Affecting Senior Citizens." Hosted by Colleen Chapman, senior tax adviser at H&R Block. Learn how new withholding policies affect your pension; whether Social Security benefits are taxable; and whether you qualify for the Massachusetts Circuit Breaker Credit. Free and open to all. Takes place at 6:30 p.m. at H&R Block, 1734 Lakeview Ave., Dracut. Information: (978) 957-6981.

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