[A-List] US legitimation crisis: GE and other related garbage

[Sabri Oncu <soncu@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Henry,

Anything you heard on the street about GE recently? Buffet seems
to be playing a revenge game with GE in these days. What do you
think?

Sabri

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Top Financial News

11/11 17:20
U.S. Stocks Slide as Growth Slows; General Electric Declines
By Scarlet Fu

New York, Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks fell, pushing
indexes to their first three-day slide in five weeks. General
Electric Co. led the drop on speculation Warren Buffett will
offer less for the company's reinsurance unit than it has sought.

Hewlett-Packard Co. had its biggest decline in 14 months after
President Michael Capellas, former chief executive officer of
Compaq Computer Corp., resigned. His absence may make it more
difficult for Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina to integrate
Compaq, purchased in May.

Some investors said reports this week on retail sales and
industrial production will suggest the economy is slowing.

"There's still a lot of growth expectations built into the
market" that are likely to be lowered, said Marc Gabelli of
Gabelli Asset Management Inc., which oversees $23 billion, on
Bloomberg Television.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 18.55, or 2.1 percent, to
876.19. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 178.18, or 2.1
percent, to 8358.95. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 40.09, or 3
percent, to 1319.19. The indexes hadn't fallen for three straight
days since Oct. 3, 4 and 7.

Some 1.11 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange,
the fewest since Sept. 16, as some investors took off the
Veterans Day holiday. More than two stocks fell for every one
that rose on the Big Board and the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Concern that the U.S. may go to war with Iraq also deterred some
investors. Iraq may be unable to meet United Nations demands that
it eliminate any weapons of mass destruction, the chairman of
Iraq's parliament said.

"Right now, the concern is Iraq," said Susan Malley, chief
investment officer at Malley Associates Capital Management, which
oversees $65 million. "That is a weight on the market."

GE Declines

General Electric dropped 89 cents to $24.21. Buffett's Berkshire
Hathaway Inc. may buy the company's Employers Reinsurance Corp.
for less than the $8 billion General Electric wants, people
familiar with the situation said.

The stock has lost 7.3 percent in the past two days. J.P. Morgan
Securities Inc. on Friday said GE Capital, the company's
financial unit, has a higher debt-equity ratio than expected and
may require capital from General Electric to shore up its balance
sheet.

Hewlett-Packard slumped $1.83 to $14.85. Its 11 percent decline
was the biggest since Sept. 4, 2001. Capellas, who had joined the
company when it acquired Compaq, is the top candidate to become
chief executive officer of WorldCom Inc., the Wall Street Journal
reported earlier today.

"The timing is terrible, since nothing's been accomplished since
the merger," said Mark Herskovitz, who manages $1 billion in
technology funds at Dreyfus Corp.

Profit Outlook

The S&P 500 last week snapped four straight weeks of gains after
Cisco Systems Inc. said sales may decline this quarter and
McDonald's Corp. cut profit forecasts. That trimmed the S&P 500's
rally from a five-year low on Oct. 9 to 13 percent. For the year,
the index has fallen 24 percent.

Earnings at S&P 500 companies are forecast to rise an average 17
percent this quarter and 15 percent next year, according to an
analyst survey by Thomson First Call. Profit in the third quarter
advanced 6.8 percent, based on results from 90 percent of the
companies in the index. That's about two-thirds less than
analysts projected at the start of the quarter.

Retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp., Federated
Department Stores Inc., Tiffany & Co. start reporting earnings
this week.

Thursday's report on retail sales and Friday's industrial
production figures will probably provide more signs the economic
recovery is slowing, economists said. Federal Reserve Chairman
Alan Greenspan on Wednesday will also testify to Congress on the
state of the economy.

Slower Recovery

"The economy is going to be slower to recover than people think,"
said Mark Finn, president of Vantage Consulting Group, which
advises on and helps manage $65 million in assets in Virginia
Beach, Virginia.

Retail sales probably fell 0.2 percent in October, marking the
first back-to-back monthly decline in almost two years,
economists said before the report. Industrial production declined
0.3 percent last month after slipping 0.1 percent in September, a
Fed report is likely to show on Friday.

Personal-computer makers fell after Barron's reported, citing
analysts, that Wal-Mart may start its own brand of computers.
Dell Computer Corp. fell 68 cents to $29.11. Gateway Inc.
declined 54 cents to $3.72.

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, lost $1.03 to $53. The
company, which reports earnings on Wednesday, said sales last
week rose in line with its November forecast as consumers bought
clothing and electronics and more people visited its stores.

Oracle Falls

Oracle Corp. shed 50 cents to $9.05. Deutsche Bank Securities
Inc. analyst Timothy Dolan cut the shares to "hold" from "buy."
While the stock has climbed as much as 28 percent since Oct. 9,
the industry's prospects haven't similarly improved, he wrote in
a report.

Starbucks Corp. lost 80 cents to $21.77. Goldman, Sachs & Co.
analyst Coralie Tournier Witter said investors' expectations for
the largest chain of U.S. coffee shops are too high after
Starbucks' 10 percent increase in same-store sales last month
failed to lift its stock. Goldman cut its rating to "in-line"
from "outperform."

Duke Energy Corp. fell $1.55 to $18.41. The company -- along with
Reliant Resources Inc., Mirant Corp. and AES Corp. --received
subpoenas from a U.S. attorney's office in California as part of
a grand jury investigation into the manipulation of power prices.

Reliant Resources tumbled 31 cents to $1.94, Mirant declined 34
cents to $1.91 and AES slumped 45 cents to $1.54.

Teco Rises

Teco Energy Inc. advanced $2.46 to $12.95, recouping some of its
35 percent tumble the previous two days. The owner of Tampa,
Florida's utility said it's close to getting $650 million in new
loans and will go ahead with a planned bond sale to reduce short-
term debt.

Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings shed $1.20 to $22.75.
Standard & Poor's lowered LabCorp's credit rating after the
company agreed to buy Dianon Systems Inc. for about $598 million
in cash to increase its share of the market for diagnostic cancer
tests. Dianon rallied $6.45 to $46.64.

The Russell 2000 Index of smaller stocks fell 9.86, or 2.6
percent, to 369.14. The Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index, the
broadest measure of U.S. shares, slid 174.19, or 2.1 percent, to
8264.65. Based on changes in the Wilshire, the market value of
U.S. stocks decreased by $209 billion.