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Mid-day Update

PODCAST: Mirror, Mirror on the wall

Jeremy Hobson Feb 19, 2013
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Mid-day Update

PODCAST: Mirror, Mirror on the wall

Jeremy Hobson Feb 19, 2013
HTML EMBED:
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The stocks of both Office Depot and OfficeMax were up following reports the two companies are in advanced talks to merge. While many market analysts have been touting the recent spate of mergers and acquisitions as a sign of business confidence, Juli Niemann, analyst with Smith Moore & Company, thinks the trend is more out of necessity.

Since the banking crisis hit hard in 2008, Georgia has seen more than 80 banks go under. That’s more than any other state. Most have been small, community banks whose assets were tied to the housing market. But did those banks have to fail? A new report from the University of West Georgia says in many cases, the answer is no. The reason so many did, the report finds, is because of an accounting rule called “mark-to-market,” which regulators put in place after the collapse of Enron.

Barnes & Noble had been expected to announce its financial results today, but it pushed the date back to February 28. Analysts predict the bookseller will report a profit for last quarter, but the outlook is doesn’t look so good — not even for its Nook e-reader. Barnes & Noble says this year its Nook will lose more than the $260 million it originally predicted.

And finally, to London where some people are selling an antique mirror that “very possibly haunted.” The sellers say since putting up the mirror, they’ve woken up screaming in pain and items have been disappearing from their apartment. Paintings fell from the wall and things were inexplicably strewn across the floor. Speaking of inexplicably, the mirror just sold for a $155.

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