Media Digest 12/23/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters:   US  business investment is rising.

Reuters:   Another outage shut down RIM’s (NYSE:RIMM) BlackBerry network.

Reuters:   Geithner said tight lending could hurt US economy.

Reuters:   Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) lost an appeal over IP in its Word software.

Reuters:   Hollywood may have its first $10 billion box office year.

WSJ:   Companies are concerned about the rise in costs attached to the healthcare bill.

WSJ:   Citigroup (NYSE:C) denied a report that hackers had broken in its systems and taken millions of dollars.

WSJ:   Investors are showing an increased interest in toxic assets and commercial real estate loans.

WSJ:   Home sales and prices improved.

WSJ:   Fiat will increase capital spending.

WSJ:   Start ups will get more cash from venture capitalists next year.

WSJ:   The US cleared the TicketMaster deal to buy Live Nation.

WSJ:   Novartis is paying $520 million for the rights to an experimental heart drug.

WSJ:   Nordstrom’s (NYSE:JWN) strategy on pricing and product mix should pay off during the holidays.

WSJ:   Ford (NYSE:F) hopes to sell Volvo next year.

WSJ:   Hynix, the No.2 memory chip company, sees a rebound next year.

WSJ:   Infineon raised first quarter sales forecasts.

WSJ:   Boeing (NYSE:BA) bought control of one of its main plants which was partly owned by a supplier.

WSJ:   A Roche drug infringes on an Amgen (NYSE:AMGN) patent.

WSJ:   Toyota (NYSE:TM) pushed cost cutting efforts.

WSJ:   Two key Comcast (NYSE:CMCSA) executives received huge bonuses in advance of the NBCU integration.

WSJ:   Recovery hopes are feeding a dollar rally.

WSJ:   Costco (NYSE:COST) and UAL (NYSE:UAUA) are getting options beat based on rises in their stocks.

NYT:   Tax credits lifted home sales.

NYT:   Winter storms delayed but did not stop holiday shopping.

NYT:   Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ:TTWO) reached a deal to sell one of its units.

FT:   Top hedge funds are betting on big yield increases and higher US inflation.

FT:   Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) film unit launched VOD in Europe.

FT:   OPEC said its target price for oil is $70 to $80.

Bloomberg:   China’s Geely is likely to pay $2 billion for Volvo.

Bloomberg:   Energy and financial firms may lead the rebound in M&A.

Bloomberg:   China’s growth may move up to 12% causing concerns about inflation.

Douglas A. McIntyre