The company board authorized repurchase of up to 25% of the outstanding common stock or app 217 million shares.


[R]2:00PM New York, 7:00PM London – UK stocks edged higher. Cadbury plans to spin-off the beverage unit as it fails to find a buyer. Northern Rock attracts two investors.[/R]

In London trading FTSE 100 advanced 0.27% to 17.60 or 6,633. Northern Rock led the climbers. Of the UK shares, 62 gained, 36 fell, and 4 remain unchanged.

Northern Rock surged 32.3% to 273.50p in London trading on Wednesday, valuing it at 1.15 billion pounds or $2.35 billion. The stock has fallen 78% year to date. Two investors have acquired little more than 5% stake in the troubled home lender Northern Rock. SRM Adviser announced that it had bought 4% in the UK fourth largest mortgage lender. E. Shaw & Co., a New York-based hedge fund manager also said that it had bought 1% percent stake in the lender. A number of investors are still bidding for different stakes in the bank.

Global credit market malaise in the mid- July nearly shut off access to new loan funds to Northern Rock forcing the Bank of England to issue emergency loans. On Monday the government also extended a guarantee on customer deposits until financial markets become less volatile. The stock rose 19.7% by the close of trade on Monday trading. The BoE also widened the range of assets that Northern Rock can use to secure its credit line.

Cadbury Schweppes (CSG: chart) said today that it had abandoned plans to sell its American beverage unit and intend to list its unit as a separate company on a stock exchange in New York. News reports said investors would be allotted shares in the business, which will be eventually listed during the second quarter of 2008. Cadbury said it could not secure a buyer capable of financing the deal at good value.

Cadbury CEO Todd Stitzer said that the spin-off may take longer but shareholders are likely to receive same value that may be recognized in the sale of the unit.

Analysts said the spin-off would lift uncertainty over Cadbury. The stock has fallen from 722p at the beginning of June to as low as 521p before rebounding to 600p. Analysts had hoped that the company will be able to fetch at least 7 billion pounds before the credit market jitters. Earlier Financial Times had reported that a consortium of private equity funds had offered $13 billion, far less than what company had hoped for.

Cadbury Schweppes beverage division includes Dr Pepper, Seven Up, and Snapple beverages. The unit accounts for 35% of total sale of 7.4 billion pounds at Cadbury.

Of the FTSE 100 shares, Northern Rock led the gainers followed by increases in Schroders Plc at 5.7%, in British Airways at 4.6%, and Xstrata at 4.4%. Of the index stocks Experian lost 7% followed by losses in HBOS of 3%, in Shire of 2.1%, in ITV and Barclays of 1.5% each.


[R]10:30:00AM New York – Stocks in New York trading fell after earnings warnings from energy companies. Costco jumped 8% on earnings.[/R]

In the early trading in New York stocks opened lower on mixed earnings. Dow Jones fell 47 to 14,118, Nasdaq declined 1.5 to 2,802, and S&P 500 lost 3 to 1,561.

Costco (COST: chart), largest warehouse club retailer, reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings of 83 cents per share compared to 75 cents a year ago, an increase of 4.7%. Earnings in the quarter were $372.4 million compared to $355 million a year ago. Excluding one-time charges earnings rose 21% to $372 million or 91 cents per share on revenue rise of 3% to $20.5 billion.

Monsanto (MON: chart) fell 4% after it reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings. The company reported a loss of $210 million compared to a loss of $144 million from a year ago on revenue rise of 13% to $1.6 billion. Earnings per share were 39 cents loss compared to a loss of 27 cents a year ago. For the fiscal year company reported a profit of $993 million compared to $689 million or $1.79 per share compared to $1.25 a year ago.

Monsanto said that its full-year 2008 EPS guidance, both on a reported and ongoing basis, is in the range of $2.20 to $2.40. The company''s 2008 EPS guidance reflects a projected growth rate of 10 percent to 20 percent from the fiscal year 2007 EPS ongoing base of $2.00 per share.

Chevron Corporation (CVX: chart) reported interim update for the third quarter earnings and warned that the company earnings are expected to be ‘significantly below’ the record $5.4 billion in the second quarter of 2007. The company added that one time charge of $700 million and lower refining margins will hurt earnings. In the last quarter the company had booked gain of $860 million for its stake in Dynegy and expects to record a gain of $260 million for sale of its marketing assets in Benelux countries.

Refining margins were $19.36 per barrel in the third quarter of 2006, $20.55 in the fourth quarter of 2006, and rose to $30.28 per barrel in the second quarter of 2007. The margins are estimated to be $14.77 per barrel in the third quarter of 2007.

Separately Valero Energy (VLO: chart) also fell after it warned that third quarter earnings excluding one-time charges are likely to be between $1.30 and $1.40 per share. The company added that it expects to report lower throughput margins for the third quarter of 2007 primarily due to substantially higher feedstock costs resulting from increased premiums for light sweet crude oils and narrower discounts for sour crude oils and other feedstocks. Higher feedstock costs are expected to reduce the company’s throughput margins by approximately $700 million in the third quarter compared to a year ago.