Mid-day Update

PODCAST: Telecom shares on fire, Japanese manufacturers recovering strongly

Daryl Paranada Aug 15, 2011

Here are today’s top headlines from the Marketplace Morning Report and from around the web.

Google’s buying handset maker Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. Shares of telecoms are really on fire right now. Some say because they could be targets of buyouts to compete with Google’s big shopping spree. Nokia’s up 12 percent. Research In Motion, maker of the Blackberry, is up around 4 percent.

And the National Association of Homebuilders said today builder sentiment this month is flat.

Foreigners were net sellers of all U.S. assets in June for a second straight month and bought the fewest long-term securities in more than two years.

The price of oil has rebounded somewhat. It’s trading around $86 a barrel in New York this morning. And gold is coming down from its highs. Currently selling for $1,737 an ounce.

Today, a bit of good news out Japan, a country ravaged this year by a natural disaster and an economy struggling to bounce back. More than 5 months after the devastating earthquake and tsunami there, the country reported today manufacturers are recovering strongly.

Home improvement chain Lowe’s said sales in the second quarter were weaker-than-expected and its profit was flat. Meaning people weren’t doing much remodeling in this stagnant economy.

Germany’s finance minister has reiterated his country’s firm opposition to issuing jointly guaranteed European sovereign bonds.

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