Archive for May 2008

Principal Financial Group Inc. announced yesterday that its board of directors has declared a cash dividend of $1.39075 per share on its 5.563 percent Series A non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock and a cash dividend 40.7375 …

The euro gained 1 cent against the dollar after Germany’s Ifo business confidence index unexpectedly rose, strengthening the argument for the European Central Bank to keep interest rates high to curtail inflation, Bloomberg reported.

The …

Merck & Co. Inc. has agreed to pay $58 million to 29 states and the District of Columbia in a settlement announced yesterday, which includes more than $1.3 million to be paid to the state …

Wholesale prices rose 0.2 percent in April after a 1.1 percent jump in March, even though the cost for prescription drugs and some food items soared, the Associated Press reported.

The figure reported by the …

MF Global Ltd., the world’s largest broker of exchange-traded derivatives, lost $71.1 million, or 59 cents per share, in its fiscal fourth quarter, compared with a profit of $76.1 million, or 73 cents per share, …

Attorney General Tom Miller has filed a consumer fraud lawsuit against Florida-based Galaxy Gadgets and Gizmos LLC, doing business as Galaxy Member Benefits, alleging that the company’s telemarketers used deception to get Iowans to sign …

The index of leading U.S. economic indicators improved for a second month in April, a sign the economy may not keep weakening in the second half of the year, Bloomberg reported.

The Conference Board’s gauge …

Take away Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips, and profits at U.S. companies are the worst in at least a decade, Bloomberg reported.

Without the $70 billion that oil producers earned in the last …

Kevin O’Donoghue, who recently moved to Des Moines to join Aviva Capital Management Inc., a subsidiary of Aviva USA, as a senior securities analyst has been named the top insurance analyst in the world by …