Ailing Biotech Firms Need Shot in the Arm

(NEWSER) - Swiss drug giant Roche has succeeded in its quest to own biotech firm Genentech outright, and will purchase the 44% of shares it does not already own for $95 each, the San Francisco Chronicle reports today. The $46.8 billion deal comes after months of haggling, wherein Roche offered as little as $86.50 for shares Genentech valued at $112. Roche pledges to maintain Genentech’s San Francisco campus. More»

2008 finishes as the worst year for the Dow since 1931

(NEWSER) - Weary relief that 2008 was finally over greeted the final bell at the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, but shaken investors worry about what 2009 holds, the New York Times reports. The final tally confirmed that the year was the worst for stockholders since the Great Depression. Stock plunges across the board wiped out the gains of the previous 6 years, erasing $7 trillion in wealth. More»

Markets rack up more losses despite bill's passage

(NEWSER) - Investors were feeling finicky today, pushing stocks higher by 300 points after the House approved the revised $700 billion bailout, then reversing the gains and moving the major indices to sharp weekly losses, MarketWatch says. The Dow dropped 157.15 to 10,325.70. The Nasdaq lost 29.33, finishing at 1,947.39, and the S&P fared no better, losing 15.05 to 1,099.23. More»

Feds in emergency talks with investment banks to avert another crisis

(NEWSER) - Insurance giant AIG teetered on the brink of catastrophe last night as ratings agencies downgraded the beleaguered firm's credit ratings, forcing it to raise $14.5 billion to meet debt obligations, reports the Wall Street Journal. Federal Reserve officials were holding emergency talks with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase in an effort to assemble a $75 billion line of credit to avert a crisis. More»

Critics say accounting rules exaggerate losses, hinder market

(NEWSER) - After months of staggering writedowns battering Wall Street, some investors and executives are charging that accounting rules are exaggerating losses and triggering slumps like yesterday’s 315-point plunge in the Dow, reports the Wall Street Journal. Rules requiring companies to value holdings at current market rates, no matter how volatile, have a domino effect, they say: "The market falls, forcing banks to take write-offs, pushing the market lower, causing more write-offs," the Journal writes. More»