Before the Bell: Earnings onslaught begins

A consortium of banks could announce as early as today a plan to inject up to $100 billion into the commercial paper market -- a key cog in debt financing for Corporate America, which has dried up because of the lingering credit crunch. The bailout, led by Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, was patched together in part by the Treasury Department. News of the plan prompted some backlash from critics, who say overextended borrowers should take their lumps.
--Bloomberg News

A Princeton University professor is among the Americans awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for developing a theory that helps explain situations in which markets work and others in which they don't. Eric Maskin, 56, is professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.
--Associated Press

Today's New Jersey business

Memory Pharmaceuticals Corp. of Montvale said its promising drug candidate for Alzheimer's disease failed to meet its primary goal in a mid-stage study. "While we are disappointed that the trial did not meet the primary endpoint, we are encouraged by the favorable trend seen in the subgroup of subjects receiving cholinesterase inhibitors," said Stephen R. Murray, the company's chief medical Officer.
--Reuters

Acid+All was a product that seemed to have been touched with a magic wand. From the moment the antacid launched early last year, supported by an aggressive ad campaign that billed the product as hip and trendy, things just fell into place. "It had everything going for it," said John Lucas, who served for a time as chief executive of Thomas Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Matawan-based iVoice. Everything but money.
--Greg Saitz

Cancer doctors have lined up with drugmakers in pressing Medicare to reverse its decision restricting reim! bursement for expensive, widely used and increasingly controve! rsial me dications to treat anemia in patients undergoing chemotherapy. The high-stakes battle involves concerns about patient care and safety, the practice of medicine and the costs to the tax payers. It also has financial consequences for the makers of the multibillion-dollar anemia drugs -- Johnson & Johnson and Amgen -- since Medicare is a major purchaser of these medicines.
--Robert Cohen

Witnesses to historic drop remember day of volatility
A money manager kept tabs on a $100 million portfolio from his hospital bed while his son, a Wall Street newcomer, saw history unfold. On the New York Stock Exchange floor, a broker and a specialist were among hundreds of professionals through whose hands flowed a sell-off of such ferocity it overwhelmed the nation's stock-trading engine.
--Beth Fitzgerald

Under its ambitious policy to provide children's health insurance to the working poor, New Jersey has long been one of the most aggressive states in the n! ation in throwing a wide safety net out for families like the Martinezes of Bayonne, the Palmers of Sicklerville and the Urquizos of North Plainfield. But the six children in those three families are among the 11,000 children in low- and middle-income families who will no longer be covered by the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or S-Chip, under new federal income eligibility rules.
--The New York Times

A move is on across the United States to unsnarl interstate highways where escalating truck traffic is adding to congestion and rattling drivers of passenger cars. Truck-only lanes and a plan to divert some truck cargo to ships along the Atlantic Coast are among the initiatives getting scrutiny from state and federal agencies. About 75,000 more big rigs cruise onto already crowded highways every year.
--Home News Tribune

Accoona Corp. hopes to make a killing with Money in China. That's the name of the venture unveiled by the Jersey ! City-based e-commerce company last week in its ongoing quest t! o tap th e vast and growing Chinese market. So what's a Hudson County company doing developing a Web site for Chinese entrepreneurs based 7,000 miles away? The answer lies somewhere in the array of Web sites now under the Accoona umbrella.
--The Record

My husband and I have a home equity line of credit with an 11 percent interest rate and a car loan at 8.3 percent. The HELOC is a revolving account and the car loan is an installment loan for five years. We will be receiving some extra money every month that will allow us to send an extra payment to the principal of one of these loans. My question is, which one should we pay down first?
--Don Taylor/ Bankrate.com

Newsworthy ...

What's ahead today
Earnings reports: Alfacell Corp., Citigroup, Genentech, Mattel, Sun Bancorp.

"Starting and Staying in Business": Learn the steps to starting a new business and increase the opportunities for success in an existing one. Workshop will be held! at the Hillsborough Public Library, 379 S. Branch Road, Hillsborough. Cost is $20. For more information, call (908) 369-2200 ext. 13.

By:

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Dustin Cannon, of Next Level Enterprises, LLC is a successful Internet marketer working with top leaders in the home business and Internet marketing industry. For more information visit: Coastal Vacations Marketing CoOp

Source: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2007/10/before_the_bell_25.html
Top Home ! Based Bu siness