Here at the Fool, we've searched high and low across the Web this Wednesday morning to find the biggest news and best stories. Here are your top five morning reads.
1. GMAC needs more money ... again
What's
another bailout after you've already had two of them? GMAC is in talks
with the government for a third capital infusion, since it's apparently
struggling to meet the capital requirements set by stress tests earlier
this year. (Read more at Real Clear Markets.)
2. The insider trading saga deepens
Sources have told The Wall Street Journal that ex-Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD)
CEO Hector Ruiz is accused of sharing insider information with the
Galleon Group. If this source proves reliable, Ruiz would be the
biggest name yet in this expanding case. Don't think the buck stops
with him, though; expect more big names to fall in the coming months.
(Read more at The Wall Street Journal.)
3. A couple of earnings reports from this morning
International Paper (NYSE: IP)
beat earnings expectations by trimming fixed costs and capacity. While
cost-cutting is all the rage this earnings season, the company managed
to pump the bottom line in other areas, too, including an impressive
$525 million tax credit for an alternative fuel program. (Read more at MarketWatch.)
Meanwhile, Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q) failed to deliver on the top line, but still beat earnings estimates and gave upbeat guidance. As seen in Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T's (NYSE: T) earnings reports earlier this week, home phone lines are drying up as customers move to wireless accounts. Those companies have large wireless units to offset this switch, but Qwest isn't so lucky. The company will continue to focus on heavy cost-cutting to combat its declining phone-line business. (Reead more at Yahoo! Finance.)
4. Time to stock up on food?
Despite
dwindling supplies of agricultural goods, farm commodities have largely
missed out on the rally. Is there an investment case for putting some
of your portfolio in agriculture-related goods at this point? The Telegraph looks at what factors could push farm goods prices upward. Some investors seem to be banking on the trend. For example, Invesco's (NYSE: IVZ) DB Agriculture Fund (NYSE: DBA) ETF has more than $2.3 billion in assets. (Read more at The Telegraph.)
5. In case you're still watching housing ...
I
know focusing on Case-Shiller numbers is sooo 2008, but August's
numbers did once again show a modest month-over-month gain. The good
news: this is the fourth consecutive month of improvement. The bad
news: We're still facing heavy year-over-year declines. (Read more at CNBC or Calculated Risk.)
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