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News of an Abu Dhabi investment in Citigroup, the largest U.S. bank, gave a shot in the arm to some Asian markets.
Other markets remained sluggish due to gloom from Wall Street’s overnight drop and concerns about the overall U.S. economy, writes the Associated Press (via the International Herald Tribune).
News that the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority will invest $7.5 billion in Citigroup was welcome, according to some traders, and may benefit the market, perhaps by “keeping subprime loan-related news out of other places from causing big selling in New York financial sector shares… for now,” according to Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management.
The Nikkei 225 average gained 0.6 percent yesterday, following volatile trading. Hong Kong shares, on the other hand, slipped due to concerns over banking giant HSBC’s announcement that it will provide up to $35 billion to bail out two funds in order to prevent liquidation. The blue chip Hang Seng Index fell 1.5 percent.
Asian investors will be watching the U.S. holiday shopping season closely for indications of the strength - or lack thereof - of the U.S. economy.
In the last year or so, agency holding companies and entertainment conglomerates have been seeking to gain firmer footholds in the high-growth Asian market.
Hyper-conservative Rush Limbaugh - heard weekly by nearly 20 million listeners on about 600 radio stations nationwide - renewed his contract with Premiere Radio Networks and Clear Channel Radio, continuing syndication of The Rush Limbaugh Show.
The deal also includes…
WSJ.com’s traffic soared an impressive 94 percent in June compared to the same month last year, according to the company’s internal traffic numbers.
Total page views ballooned 45 percent, to 150 million, compared to the same month last year, writes Mediaweek.…
Kozy Shack, maker of rice and chocolate pudding, is sponsoring the New York Mets, with tubs of the pudding being sold individually at Shea Stadium as well as being included in children’s meals. And the snacks are selling so well…
Though U.K. advertiser investment committed for 2008 is staying put, discretionary spending is becoming shorter-term, at or slightly short of budget; still, WPP’s GroupM forecasts 4 percent growth in 2008 and 3 percent in 2009 for the U.K., thanks to internet…
Email is the most popular form of direct response marketing, with 35 percent of companies using it - compared to 25 percent that use traditional direct mail - according to a new survey conducted by Direct Partners (via Adweek).
The survey…
Without spam protection, the average web user can expect to get 70 spam messages each day, according to a survey by McAfee, the BBC reports (via MarketingVOX).
For the McAfee spam test, 50 people worldwide were asked to web-surf without a spam…
