Global Investing Roundups: Boeing, McDonald’s, Wachovia, AT&T

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday (Wednesday) that U.S. economic growth would be flat or negative for the rest of 2008, and into 2009. In Canada, growth for 2008 will be about 0.3% but is projected to rise to 1.7% for 2009. Latin America and the Caribbean regions will grow at a 3% rate the IMF said.

• McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) said yesterday (Wednesday) that third-quarter profit jumped 11% with same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, up 7.1% globally and 4.7% in the United States. Revenue rose 6% to $6.27 billion and net income to $1.19 billion, or $1.05 per share, from $1.07 billion, or 89 cents per share, a year earlier.

• The Boeing Co.’s (BA) third-quarter profit dropped 38 percent after a 46-day worker strike that analysts estimate has cost roughly $100 million a day in deferred revenue and production delays, The Associated Press reported. Boeing, the world’s No. 2 airplane-maker behind European Airbus S.A.S., reported net income of $695 million, or 96 cents per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30, down from $1.11 billion, or $1.44 per share, a year earlier.

• ConocoPhillips (COP) said yesterday (Wednesday) that third-quarter profit nearly doubled, soaring 41% from last year as record high oil prices carried the company to profit. Net income for the three months ended Sept. 30 rose to $5.18 billion, or $3.39 per share, up from $3.67 billion, or $2.23 per share, over the same period last year. Revenue jumped 52% to $70 billion.

• Wachovia Corp. (WB) announced yesterday (Wednesday) a record-setting third quarter loss of $29.3 billion. The $11.18 per share loss compared to a profit of 85 cents per share, or $1.6 billion for the same period the year prior. Wachovia’s quarterly loss is larger than the gross domestic product of Panama, The New York Times reported.

• AT&T Inc. (T) missed analysts’ expectations yesterday (Wednesday) on costs associated with Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iPhone. Sales increased 4%, but subsidizing the cost of the iPhone took 10 cents per share off in expenses, leaving earnings at 67 cents per share, below expectations of 71 cents according to Bloomberg News. AT&T shares dropped $1.95 per share, a decline of over 7%, to close at $23.78.

• The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index (^GSPC) dropped 6% yesterday (Wednesday) to reach its lowest closing level since April 2003. The broad-based stock index shed 58.27 points to close at 896.78. “The question is: Is any money at all flowing towards equities?” Jeffrey Coons, co-director of research at Manning & Napier Advisors Inc. in Fairport, New York, which manages $16 billion, told Bloomberg News. “Dividend yields alone should be providing support for some of these stocks, but if everyone’s selling and no one is buying, it’s hard to overcome that.”

• U.S. President George W. Bush has invited world leaders to an economic summit at the White House on Nov. 15 to work towards a solution for the current global financial crisis. It will be the first meeting of a planned series. Heads of state from the G20 nations, which includes the Group of Seven major industrialized nations and key emerging economies such as China, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and India, have been invited, Reuters reported. Representatives from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations and the Financial Stability Forum have also been invited to attend.

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