Afternoon Roundup: Today's Top Stories

Motley Fool Staff
Updated

At The Motley Fool, we know our readers like to be informed. Here's a quick look at today's most relevant financial news, boiled down to what you need to know.

Big deals for digital content providers
Rivals Netflix (NAS: NFLX) and Amazon (NAS: AMZN) drew up separate deals with WaltDisney (NYS: DIS) to license movies and television shows, offering subscribers a wider range of content.

The deal is welcome news for Netflix, which has seen its stock price plummet more than 75% in the past few months after a series of management missteps. Financial terms of the deals weren't disclosed. Read more atThe Wall Street Journal.

Yahoo! leans toward dividend
Shares of digital media company Yahoo! (NAS: YHOO) opened down more than 3% this morning on news that the company is leaning toward selling its Asian assets and paying out the proceeds to shareholders. Yahoo!'s been exploring a tax-free disposal of its 40% stake in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group, which would offer the company a tax savings of about $5 billion.

Before today, Yahoo! was considering offers from private-equity buyers interested in purchasing the entire company. However, a change of ownership would endanger the tax-free treatment of a subsequent sale of Yahoo!'s stake in Alibaba. No final decision has been made. Read more atBloomberg.

Around the world in currency news
U.S. stocks fell more than 1% early this morning, as the dollar rallied following the Bank of Japan's decision to intervene against the recent rise in the yen. The dollar's rise of nearly 3% against the yen likely contributed to a broad decline in stocks, with financials taking the biggest hit. Shares of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America (NYS: BAC) , Morgan Stanley (NYS: MS) , and Citigroup (NYS: C) were all down between 2.5% and 5% in early trading. Read more atCNN.

That's a wrap
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At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Tamara Rutter does not own shares of any companies mentioned here. You can connect with her on Twitter @TamaraRutter. The Motley Fool owns shares of Bank of America, Yahoo, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Netflix, Amazon.com, Walt Disney, and Yahoo!. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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