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INVESTING
Heart attack kills Madoff associate
A man accused of making more than $7 billion off the investment schemes of convicted financier Bernard L. Madoff drowned after a heart attack, authorities said.
Jeffry Picower, 67, was found around noon Sunday by his wife, Barbara, at the bottom of a pool at their Florida mansion.
An autopsy conducted Monday found he suffered a heart attack and drowned, said Dr. Michael Bell, chief medical examiner for Palm Beach County. The death has been ruled accidental, and the heart attack was brought on by heart disease.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
ING Group to split itself in two
Dutch banking and insurance conglomerate ING Group said it would split itself in two, spinning off its insurance arm to simplify its business and issuing $11.3 billion in new shares to repay state bailout money.
The dramatic change in strategy caps a year of cutting costs and selling operations since the financial crisis struck, when ING was kept afloat only with two major rounds of assistance from the Dutch state.
RETAIL
Limited Brands cuts sales forecast
Limited Brands Inc., owner of the Victoria's Secret chain, fell in late trading after cutting its forecast for this month's comparable-store sales.
Limited fell $1.82, or 9.3%, to $17.67 after the end of regular trading. The shares closed up 27 cents at $19.49 and have gained 94% this year.
October sales at stores open at least a year will decline by a percentage in the low to mid single digits, Columbus, Ohio-based Limited said.
The retailer, which had predicted comparable-store sales would be about unchanged, didn't provide a reason for the revised forecast.
BANKING
Credit card rate freeze proposed
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), who is fighting for his political survival, has proposed an immediate interest rate freeze on existing balances for the estimated 700 million credit cards in circulation.
The proposal is unlikely to go anywhere in the Senate, where business-minded Democrats would join Republicans in opposing the measure.
REAL ESTATE
Home prices fall 7.3% in the state
Single-family home prices in California dropped 7.3% in September from a year earlier, helping boost the number of houses sold, the California Assn. of Realtors said.
The median price for a previously owned detached house fell to $296,090 from $319,310 a year earlier, the Los Angeles group said in a statement. The price rose 1.1% from August, the seventh consecutive month-over-month increase.
Sales of foreclosed homes accounted for 42% of transactions involving previously owned properties in California in August, research company MDA DataQuick said.
EARNINGS
Verizon profit tops forecasts
Verizon Communications Inc., the second-largest U.S. phone company, reported third-quarter profit that topped analysts' estimates after cutting workers and adding mobile-phone customers.
Profit, excluding severance and other costs, amounted to 60 cents a share, New York-based Verizon said. That compared with the 59-cent average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Sales rose 10% to $27.3 billion, compared with the average projection of $27.2 billion.
-- times wire reports
Heart attack kills Madoff associate
A man accused of making more than $7 billion off the investment schemes of convicted financier Bernard L. Madoff drowned after a heart attack, authorities said.
Jeffry Picower, 67, was found around noon Sunday by his wife, Barbara, at the bottom of a pool at their Florida mansion.
An autopsy conducted Monday found he suffered a heart attack and drowned, said Dr. Michael Bell, chief medical examiner for Palm Beach County. The death has been ruled accidental, and the heart attack was brought on by heart disease.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
ING Group to split itself in two
Dutch banking and insurance conglomerate ING Group said it would split itself in two, spinning off its insurance arm to simplify its business and issuing $11.3 billion in new shares to repay state bailout money.
The dramatic change in strategy caps a year of cutting costs and selling operations since the financial crisis struck, when ING was kept afloat only with two major rounds of assistance from the Dutch state.
RETAIL
Limited Brands cuts sales forecast
Limited Brands Inc., owner of the Victoria's Secret chain, fell in late trading after cutting its forecast for this month's comparable-store sales.
Limited fell $1.82, or 9.3%, to $17.67 after the end of regular trading. The shares closed up 27 cents at $19.49 and have gained 94% this year.
October sales at stores open at least a year will decline by a percentage in the low to mid single digits, Columbus, Ohio-based Limited said.
The retailer, which had predicted comparable-store sales would be about unchanged, didn't provide a reason for the revised forecast.
BANKING
Credit card rate freeze proposed
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), who is fighting for his political survival, has proposed an immediate interest rate freeze on existing balances for the estimated 700 million credit cards in circulation.
The proposal is unlikely to go anywhere in the Senate, where business-minded Democrats would join Republicans in opposing the measure.
REAL ESTATE
Home prices fall 7.3% in the state
Single-family home prices in California dropped 7.3% in September from a year earlier, helping boost the number of houses sold, the California Assn. of Realtors said.
The median price for a previously owned detached house fell to $296,090 from $319,310 a year earlier, the Los Angeles group said in a statement. The price rose 1.1% from August, the seventh consecutive month-over-month increase.
Sales of foreclosed homes accounted for 42% of transactions involving previously owned properties in California in August, research company MDA DataQuick said.
EARNINGS
Verizon profit tops forecasts
Verizon Communications Inc., the second-largest U.S. phone company, reported third-quarter profit that topped analysts' estimates after cutting workers and adding mobile-phone customers.
Profit, excluding severance and other costs, amounted to 60 cents a share, New York-based Verizon said. That compared with the 59-cent average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Sales rose 10% to $27.3 billion, compared with the average projection of $27.2 billion.
-- times wire reports
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