unrealty

~ Smartinmoney ~ Facebook Inc. set its final price at $38 a share, as the social network gets ready for its initial public offering on Friday. At $38 a share, Facebook is valued at $104 billion, the biggest-ever valuation by an American company at the time of its offering.

Facebook is set to raise $16 billion from its IPO, becoming third-largest public offering in the history of the United States, behind General Motors and Visa.

On Friday, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder, is set to ring the opening bell for the Nasdaq from Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., surrounded by executives, engineers and other employees. Shares of Facebook, which will trade under the ticker FB, will start selling to the public later in the morning.

Moody's Investors Service on Thursday lowered ratings of 16 Spanish banks and Banco Santander's U.K.-based subsidiary by one to three notches.

Moody's cited unfavorable operating conditions on renewed recession, reduced creditworthiness of the Spanish sovereign, and rapid deterioration in asset quality for the downgrades.

The outlooks on ten of the banks are negative while ratings of seven other banks remain on review for further downgrade. Some of the affected banks include Banco Santander SA, Banco Espanol de Credito, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Caixabank, and Ceca.

The Justice Department has initiated a criminal probe into the JPMorgan Chase’ $2 billion trading lossrevealed last Thursday, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the situation.

The news came as Jamie Dimon, the embattled chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, faced questions from shareholders Tuesday.

Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings last Friday downgraded J.P. Morgan Chase rating because of the $2 billion loss on derivatives

S&P cuts outlook on J.P. Morgan to negative

Standard & Poor's said late Friday it lowered its ratings outlook on J.P. Morgan Chase to negative from stable because of the bank's unexpected $2 billion loss on derivatives. S&P kept its A/A-1 issuer credit ratings on the bank and its A+/A-1 ratings on its subsidiaries.

S&P said it could lower its ratings by a notch if its determines that risk management mistakes were not limited to the specific credit portfolio mentioned late Thursday, or if it believes management is pursuing a more aggressive investment strategy than originally believed.

Fitch downgrades J.P. Morgan after trading loss

Fitch Ratings said on Friday it downgraded J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s long-term credit rating to A-plus from AA-minus, saying that while the $2 billion trading loss disclosed by the bank on Thursday is "manageable," the potential reputational risk and risk-governance issues raised are no longer consistent with an AA-minus rating. "The magnitude of the loss and ongoing nature of these positions implies a lack of liquidity," Fitch said in a statement after the stock market closed. "It also raises questions regarding J.P. Morgan's risk appetite, risk management framework, practices and oversight; all key credit factors."

Stock market reaction

Shares of J.P. Morgan closed down 9.3% on Friday and slipped further in after-hours trading.

U.S. stocks mostly slid Friday to a second weekly decline after a rise in consumer sentiment failed to outweigh J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s $2 billion trading loss, disclosed by the bank late Thursday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 34.44 points, or 0.3%, to 12,820.60, off 1.7% from the week-ago close. The S&P 500 retreated 4.6 points, or 0.3%, to 1,353.39, down 1.2% for the week. The Nasdaq Composite managed a fractional gain to close at 2,933.82, down 0.8% from last Friday's finish.

Source: Myvoiceoflife Blog

The smartphone giant's latest Android offering makes a splashy debut in London, boasting facial-recognition technology and Siri-like voice controls.

The device, which will be available in Europe May 23 and shortly thereafter in the U.S., is now the Korean manufacturer's flagship handheld. The phone comes equipped with expected spec bumps like a new quad-core processor, an 8-megapixel rear camera, and a high-contrast AMOLED screen.

The Galaxy S III boasts a formidable 4.8-inch touchscreen, a display 22 percent larger than the Galaxy S II, and vastly bigger than the iPhone's 3.5-inch touchscreen.

A new feature called Smart Stay follows your gaze and automatically dims the phone when you look away. That not only conserves power, but ensures that the screen won't dim when you're doing long-reading on the gadget.

The Galaxy S III keeps tabs on people's faces with exciting new facial-recognition technology. If you snap a picture of a friend, and the phone recognizes the person in the picture, it will ask you if you want to send a copy of the photo to that friend.

The new S Voice feature also allows you to send a text, use the camera, or launch an app with spoken commands.

The unemployment rate fell slightly to 8.1 percent and the economy gained 115,000 jobs in April, the Labor Department reported on Friday.

~ Unrealty ~ The final reading for consumer sentiment in April rose to 76.4 from 76.2 in March, according to reports on a gauge released Friday by the University of Michigan/Thomson Reuters.

High gas prices and stock-market volatility have been weighing on consumers.

The sentiment gauge, which covers how consumers view their personal finances as well as business and buying conditions, averaged about 87 in the year before the most recent recession. Economists watch sentiment data to get a feel for the direction of consumer spending.

NY Knicks guard, Jeremy Lin, whose rise from a nobody to superstar in just a matter of weeks earlier this year for the Knicks sparked global interest, trails only reigning NBA MVP Derrick Rose on the list of most popular jerseys at the NBA Store and nbastore.com since April 2011, according to the list of top-selling jerseys the NBA released on Thursday.

Lin hasn't even stepped foot on an NBA court since April 2 knee surgery and didn't even crack the Knicks starting lineup until February. He is back jogging and participating in shooting drills with the hopes of returning for the second round of the NBA playoffs if the Knicks advance that far

Lin is selling more jerseys than some of the biggest names in the sport. Lin's No. 17 is performing better than those of Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

Compare to the trio of NBA superstars who have a combined 30 All-Star appearances, Lin has only started 25 games in his brief pro career.

Source: smartinmoney.posterous

U.S. home prices continued to fall sharply in February to hit the worst level in nearly a decade, ccording to a closely followed index released Tuesday. The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite is at its lowest level since October 2002.

The index fell 0.8% compared to January levels to take the year-on-year drop to 3.5%. Of the 20 cities measured, 16 had negative readings and only three showed gains.

The decline may be due to the typical pattern of diminished interest during the winter and heightened interest in housing during the spring and summer, as prices rose 0.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Google announced that it would split its stock between voting and non-voting shares. The new shares, which will be listed on the NASDAQ exchange, will allow the search-engine company’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, along with the chairman, Eric Schmidt, to maintain a controlling stake. A bet on Google is now a bet that its bosses will stay sharp indefinitely.