Monday's Top Stories in 2 Minutes

by Eric Bleeker - November 3, 2009 - 0 comments

Here at the Fool, we've searched high and low across the Web this
Monday morning to find the biggest news and best stories around. Here
are your top five morning reads.

1. CIT Group (NYSE: CIT) dresses up as WaMu for Halloween
CIT
filed for bankruptcy on Sunday. The firm pursued a last-ditch effort to
convert debt to preferred shares, but bondholders balked, and the plan
failed. One casualty of CIT's bankruptcy: Taxpayers will be out the
$2.3 billion that was given to the company as part of the TARP program.
(Read more at CNNMoney.)

2. Ford (NYSE: F) cruises to profits
Ford
released an upbeat earnings report this morning. The company, which was
expected to post a loss, ended up generating nearly $1 billion in
earnings. While Ford received one-time benefits from the Cash for
Clunkers program last quarter, it also expressed confidence in its
long-term business by increasing guidance for 2011. (Read more at The New York Times.)

3. Steve Ballmer rains on the tech parade

While IT industry stalwarts such as Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), and IBM (NYSE: IBM)
all had solid quarters, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was quick to
downplay expectations. In a speech to South Korean executives, Ballmer
said he doesn't see IT spending returning to pre-crash levels anytime
soon. (Read more at Yahoo! Finance)

4. How to earn $10 million a day

The Wall Street Journal
details how John Paulson, a somewhat obscure hedge fund manager before
the crisis, decided to place major bets on housing prices collapsing.
Paulson's foresight netted more than $15 billion for his hedge fund and
grew his personal wealth by more than $10 million a day during 2007.
(Read more at The Wall Street Journal.)

5. The iPhone gets poor reception in China

Despite large amounts of fanfare, Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) roll out of the iPhone in China wasn't met with much enthusiasm. The phone is being sold by China Unicom (NYSE: CHU),
which is much smaller than the country's largest wireless operator,
China Mobile. Also, the Chinese iPhone may struggle because it's being
sold at higher prices than "gray-market" iPhones and lacks Wi-Fi
services. (Read more at The Wall Street Journal.)

Check Fool.com throughout the day for commentary and analysis on these and other stories. Or you can follow us on Twitter, on Facebook, or through our email digests.

Last edited by harsheeb on Tue, 11/03/2009 - 10:05 | Write to author: Eric Bleeker |