Global Investing Roundups: AT&T And Credit Suisse Cutting Jobs

AT&T Disconnecting 12,000 Jobs; Credit Suisse Announces 5,300; Capital One Puts Chevy Chase in Its Wallet; Argentina Announces $3.9 Billion Stimulus, Jobless Benefits at 26-year High; Dupont Cuts 2,500 Employees; Williams-Sonoma Beats Estimates; Oil Falls 5%

• AT&T Inc. (T) said it would scale back 12,000 jobs, about 4% of its workforce, between now and the end of 2009 to fight “economic pressures, a changing business mix and a more streamlined organizational structure.” It will also take a severance charge of nearly $600 million for the fourth quarter, Reuters reported.

• Credit Suisse Group AG (CS) will scale back its workforce, eliminating 5,300 workers, or about 11% of its workforce. Switzerland’s second-largest bank will also nix bonuses for its top executives, Bloomberg reported.

• Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) said it will acquire privately-held Chevy Chase Bank for $520 million in cash and stock, The Associated Press reported. Bethesda, Md.-based Chevy Chase Bank has branches primarily in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., and has about $11 billion in deposits.

• Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said the government will offer 13.2 billion pesos ($3.9 billion) for an economic stimulus. The plan seeks to reduce loan costs to manufacturers, help finance new auto purchases and reduce export taxes on corn and wheat, Bloomberg reported.

• The number of U.S. workers on unemployment benefits rolls soared to 4.09 million last month, the highest level in 26 years, according to the Labor Department. The four-week moving average of initial claims, a less volatile measure, climbed to 524,500, also the highest since 1982.

• E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. (DD) said yesterday (Thursday) that it will not turn a profit in the fourth quarter, and consequently, will be forced to cut 2,500 jobs and release 4,000 contractors by the end of this year. “We expect 2009 to be a very challenging year,” said DuPont chief financial officer Jeff Keefer.

• Williams-Sonoma Inc. (WSM) beat analysts’ third-quarter expectations, but the company’s revenue still fell 16% from a year ago, to  $752.1 million. The company lost $11 million, or 10 cents a share, for the in the three months ended November 2, compared with a profit of $27.1 million, or 25 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts’ average forecast was a loss of 11 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

• Crude oil prices fell more than 5% yesterday (Thursday) as employment and manufacturing data indicated the U.S. recession would be severe. Light, sweet crude for January delivery fell $2.49 to settle at $44.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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