Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) just won when it comes to cashing in on China’s internet activity. 

Over the holiday weekend Microsoft and Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) announced a deal that will allow Baidu.com users in China to see English search results powered by Microsoft’s Bing.com’s search technology.

Here’s the 411 that puts the pressure on Google (GOOG) — (StreetInsider.com) The news has been confirmed by both companies and the service is expected to start later this year.

The news can be seen as a threat to Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), which has seen its search share in China erode to Baidu after a host of issues including a spat with the Chinese government about censorship and a hack originating in China which forced Google to pull back in the country.

Read more…

- Stock Quotes - No Comments »

Obama’s failure to demand a reckoning from banks has cursed his first term — Frank Rich inNew York

Frank Rich is wrong — Derek Thompson inThe Atlantic

Why only one in four teens is employed –Ritholtz

This is turning into the Season of the Defendant — Law Blog

Raid Fort Knox, and other debt-ceiling solutions — FT Alphaville

MySpace’s depressed price is a warning to today’s new tech exuberance — Kid Dynamite

Sleep improves performance, memory. I’ll have to try that some time. –San Francisco Chronicle

- Stock Quotes - No Comments »

Terex Corp. (TEX – Analyst Report) recently announced that the company has successfully achieved the minimum tender condition for Demag Cranes. The company offered €45.50 per share to Demag shareholders, which has exceeded the minimum requirement of 51%.

Terex Industrial Holding AG offered a price of €45.50 per share, representing an approximately 25% premium on the closing share price of €36.30 on April 29, 2011 and a 28% premium on the three-month volume-weighted average share price of €35.56 as of April 29, 2011.

The company also announced the reception of early termination under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 in connection with the offer, and that it has formally filed the transaction with the European Commission.

According to the information, the offer was accepted for a total of 14 million shares of Demag Cranes, comprising 68% of outstanding shares, including the shares previously purchased by Terex.

According to the German Securities Acquisition and Takeover Act (WpÜG), shareholders of Demag who did not get the opportunity to tender their shares can offer their shares during the additional acceptance period of two weeks following the publication of the final tender results. The comp

Read more…

- Stock Quotes - No Comments »

Government bonds dropped for a second day, pushing yields to 31-month highs, on speculation that domestic fuel prices will be raised this month.

Fuel prices may be increased after results of elections in five states are announced on 13 May, said Krishnamurthy Harihar, treasurer at FirstRand Bank Ltd in Mumbai. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor D. Subbarao said on Monday that global oil prices posed a risk to inflation and the government’s budget-deficit target. India, which imports more than 75% of its oil, hasn’t raised gasoline prices since January.

“Increasing fuel prices is a tough choice, Harihar said. “If you do that, inflation will accelerate. If you don’t, subsidies will rise, which will spur more borrowing. So anyway

Read more…

- Stock Quotes - No Comments »