PODCAST: Pandora IPO pulls in more than expected, Pfizer to defend Viagra
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Here are today’s top headlines from the Marketplace Morning Report and from around the web.
We found out this morning that consumer prices rose again last month — by two-tenths of a percent. But energy costs actually fell by a full percent in May, which was the first drop in a year.
The online music service Pandora pulled in $16 a share yesterday in its Initial Public Offering. That’s about twice as much as expected for the so-far unprofitable company that boasts 94 million registered users.
Drug maker Pfizer heads to federal court today to defend its $1-billion-a-year money maker Viagra. That little blue pill is scheduled to go off-patent next year, which means generic drug makers can produce similar pills and sell them at a discount. But if Pfizer gets its way in this court case, the patent would be extended until 2019.
The Commodities Futures Trading Commission says it needs six more months to finish writing new rules required by the Dodd-Frank law.
The British Government is set to unveil the biggest shakeup in U.K. banks in a generation. The change is aimed at heading off another financial crisis. The key part of the plan is to separate retail banking from riskier investment banking.
To New York City now. In the Big Apple, restaurants are still getting used to a new law that requires them to post the letter grades they get from the Health Department where customers can see them. Turns out about 800 restaurants that got B’s and C’s haven’t been posting their grades very prominently. They’ll be slapped with a fine of up to $1,000. One customer says, however, she doesn’t mind her local pita restaurant’s violation of the rules. She told the New York Post it doesn’t matter to her as long as they have falafels for $3.
In Greece, more strikes are going on today in the nation’s capital and police have fired tear gas at protestors who are angry over more austerity measures. The S&P downgraded Greece’s debt rating to the lowest among all countries with sovereign debt. And yields on two-year Greek debt have reached another record high.
Bedbugs have finally hit the big time in the nuisance category. The tiny, itchy pests now have insurance policies working against them in New York. That’s where hotel owners and landlords have been paying big bucks to get rid of the bugs. And have suffered millions in business losses. Big insurer AON will offer the policies.
If you’re going to rob a fast food joint, don’t leave a trail of fast food to your hide out. In Shawnee, Okla., police had no trouble locating 18-year-old Dakota Lasley after a robbery at a Sonic Drive-In. They found Dakota in a house two blocks away. All they had to do to find him was follow a trail of foot-long hot dogs, hot dog buns, chicken breasts and corn dogs.
You can read the rest of today’s stories from the Marketplace Morning Report here.
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