Here at the Fool, we've searched high and low across the
Web this Thursday morning to find the biggest news and best
stories around. Here are your top five morning reads.
1. Bernanke to the economy: Rise my pretty!
The economy managed to grow an annualized 3.5% over
last year's third quarter, which beat a median forecast of
3.2%. We'll wait to see whether the Fed unfurls a giant
"Mission Accomplished" banner over its headquarters. (Read
more at
Bloomberg
.)
2. Mickey heading to mainland China?
It looks like
Disney (NYSE: DIS) might be expanding their
China reach out of Hong Kong.
The China Dailyreports that the city and Disney are
close to striking a deal that could place a $3.6 billion park
within its borders. (Read more at
The China Daily
.)
3. A glut of earnings
Let's take a quick look at some of the notable earnings
from last night and this morning:
Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) continues to
hemorrhage postpaid subscribers and ended the quarter with
a wider than expected loss. (Read more at
Reuters.)
Motorola (NYSE: MOT) delivered a shocker
this morning: a profit. The company also unveiled its
much-vaunted Droid phone yesterday. The phone uses
Google 's Android OS and has been heavily
promoted by
Verizon (NYSE: VZ). (Read more at
Yahoo! Financeand
All Things Digital.)
Consumer Stocks:
Proctor & Gamble (NYSE: PG) is still
feeling a slight case of "recession," profits were down
about 1%, and revenue slid 6%. However, those figures did
beat expectations. (Read more at
The Wall Street Journal
.)
Energy Stocks:
ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) saw profits slide
68% from last year.
Royal Dutch Shell also saw a steep drop in
profitability; its earnings were off 62%. Both results
trailed
BP 's relatively strong drop of only 34%.
(Read more at
The Wall Street Journal
and
Yahoo! Finance.)
4. Another loss of taxpayer money?
The Atlanticquestions why the New York Fed paid out
par value on all of
AIG 's (NYSE: AIG) credit default swaps,
ignoring current market values. (Read more at
The Atlantic.)
5. Unfair trade practices? Look to America.
China has notified the U.S. that it plans to pursue a
trade case against U.S. automakers. Quid pro quo for
America's tariff on Chinese tires? Sounds about right. (Read
more at
The Associated Press.)
Check Fool.com throughout the day for commentary and
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This article was originally published as
Thursday's Top Stories in 2 Minuteson
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