Morning Roundup: Today's Top Stories

Tamara Rutter, The Motley Fool
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.

Apple could lose big bucks in Motorola suit
iPhone maker Apple (NAS: AAPL) stands to lose as much as $2.7 billion in sales, pending a decision from a German court in a patent-infringement case against Motorola Mobility. The dispute is over email-account synchronization on mobile devices. Read the full story at Bloomberg.

Alleghany to purchase reinsurer
U.S. property insurer Alleghany (NYS: Y) says it will buy Transatlantic Holdings (NYS: TRH) in a $3.4 billion deal. This comes after months of takeover interest in Transatlantic. Shareholders turned down earlier deals from Allied World Assurance and Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYS: BRK.B) , and Validus Holdings had made a hostile takeover bid for the company. Read the full story at Reuters.

Expedia goes eLong
Online travel company Expedia (NAS: EXPE) , coughed up $72.4 million to buy Renren's (NYS: RENN) interest in Chinese Internet-based travel business eLong. Renren, which reported a loss in third-quarter earnings this month, said it would keep working with eLong. Read the full story at Yahoo! Finance.

Tyson Foods reports fourth-quarter earnings
The results are in for Tyson Foods (NYS: TSN) fourth quarter's and fiscal year 2011. The company posted EPS of $0.26 for the quarter, compared with $0.57 for the same period a year earlier. Sales were up 13% to $8.4 billion, and overall operating margin came in at 2% in the fourth quarter. Read the full report at Yahoo! Finance.

U.S. budget concerns drive down stocks
News that the bipartisan super-committee failed to agree on $1.2 trillion in budget cuts has flooded the market with uncertainty. Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 2.9%, followed by the S&P 500's decline of 3.8%, while the Nasdaq lost nearly 4%. Read the full story at CNN.

That's a wrap
So there you have it -- the top financial stories for this morning. If you are interested in getting all the news and commentary on these stocks, sign up to My Watchlist here --it's free!

At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Tamara Rutter owns shares of Apple. Connect with her on Twitter @TamaraRutter. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple and Berkshire Hathaway. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Alleghany, Apple, and Berkshire Hathaway, as well as creating a bull call spread position in Apple. 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.

Copyright © 1995 - 2011 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Advertisement