Financial News Fri May 18th 2012 – Facebook IPO, G8, Osiris, Jamie Dimon


Financial News Fri May 18th 2012 – Facebook IPO, G8, Osiris, Jamie Dimon

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    It is a bit of a historic moment of our times as Facebook goes public! The Wall Street Journal reports, Facebook priced its shares at $38 apiece, for an IPO, that would make it the most valuable U.S. company, at the time of its stock market debut. Facebook is valued at $104 billion, the biggest-ever valuation by an American company, at the time of its offering. Facebook’s IPO is set to raise $18.4 billion, becoming the second-largest U.S. IPO of all time behind Visa Inc.’s 2008 offering, that brought in $19.65 billion. The company’s shares will begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market around 11 a.m. Eastern Time, today with the symbol FB.
    Reuters reports, Leaders of major industrial economies meet this weekend to try to tackle a full-blown crisis in Europe where fears are growing that Greece could leave the euro zone bloc, threatening the future of the common currency. President Barack Obama, the G8 host, has urged European leaders repeatedly to do more to stimulate growth, fearing contagion from the euro crisis that could hurt the U.S. economy and his chances of re-election in November.
    Bloomberg reports, Osiris Therapeutics, surged 15 percent in early trading, after the company said it won the world’s first approval, for a stem-cell drug, gaining clearance in Canada, to sell Prochymal, for a disease that can attack patients, who received bone-marrow transplants. Prochymal was approved for the treatment of acute graft versus host disease in children for whom steroids haven’t worked. The company hasn’t sought approval for this indication in the U.S., where regulators asked for more data before considering whether to allow sales of the drug.
    The drama around the $2bln loss at JP Morgan is heating up. BBC world reports, JP Morgan Chase chairman and chief executive Jamie Dimon has agreed to appear before a Senate committee to explain the bank’s unexpected $2bn (£1.3bn) loss on high-risk trades. US senator Tim Johnson, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, said it was crucial to hear directly from Mr Dimon. The hearing will take place next month. The surprise losses at JP Morgan have revived the debate over whether regulators should tighten the so-called Volcker rule.

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