Morgan Stanley announced Friday its long-expected plans to spin off its Discover credit card operations in an initial public offering. It was not immediately known how much the investment house expected to raise from the IPO. Discover, which recently announced a new version of its cards, called Motiva, is the fourth-largest debit and credit card network, after Visa, MasterCard and American Express.
TV Guide to test online video search
TV Guide, which has helped viewers navigate through thousands of TV shows for 53 years, now wants to do the same for Internet video. Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. will launch a test version next month of an online video search tool that allows viewers to find clips and full episodes of TV shows now being posted on the Web. A formal launch is planned for September.
Mortgage woes on the upswing
Sales of existing homes rose in February, the biggest one-month gain since March 2004. That put sales at an annual rate of 6.69 million units, a pace that was still 3.6 percent below a year ago. Worsening troubles in subprime mortgages were viewed as a roadblock to a full-fledged rebound. The National Association of Realtors reported Friday that existing home sales climbed 3.9 percent last month, pushed higher by a milder-than-normal winter that boosted sales in areas of the country such as the Northeast.
Oil prices, futures continue to rise
Oil prices jumped above $62 a barrel Friday and gasoline futures continued to surge as unrest in the Middle East and Nigeria helped vault front-month crude prices to their highest level since December. Light, sweet crude for May delivery gained 59 cents to settle at $62.28 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier climbing as high as $62.65.
Buyer rumors aid Chrysler stock
Shares of DaimlerChrysler AG pushed to a new 52-week high Friday as speculation swirled that a Canadian auto supplier and a private equity partner would bid for Chrysler, the German company’s ailing U.S. arm. KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Brett Hoselton said in a note to investors that his sources, whom he did not identify or describe, tell him that Canadian auto supplier Magna International Inc. and a private equity partner have written a joint letter offering to buy Chrysler for $4.6 billion to $4.7 billion. The talk comes as investors, markets, employees and suppliers have been itching to find out who will buy Chrysler. There have been constant rumors that one suitor or the other will soon make a multibillion dollar bid.
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