Business Blog Posts

NEW YORK Reuters Dell Inc dealt the latest blow in a bidding war over data storage company 3PAR Inc on Friday, sweetening its bid to $1.8 billion to match a rival offer from Hewlett-Packard Co.

Dell said 3PAR had accepted its new bid $27 per share bid, which is up 10 percent from its last offer.

The new Dell deal comes as HP launched a tender offer on Friday to buy all outstanding shares of 3PAR for $27 per share in cash, according to a newspaper advertisement.

The pursuit of 3PAR comes as HP and Dell, as well as other large technology vendors from International Business Machines Corp to Cisco Systems Inc, are trying to expand into new business areas.

Reporting by Paritosh Bansal; Editing by Derek Caney

New York Reuters Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 are flat to 0.1 percent firmer, pointing to a slightly higher start on Wall Street ahead of U.S. GDP data and a major speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

The second estimate of U.S. second-quarter GDP will be of importance at 8.30 a.m. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a 1.4 percent annualized rate of growth compared with a 2.4 percent rate in the advance estimate.

At 10 a.m., investors will eye a speech by Bernanke at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He is likely to signal his views about the uncertain prospects for the worlds biggest economy but probably wont offer many clues on whether the U.S. central bank will pump in more cash to keep the recovery going.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers releases it final August consumer sentiment index at 1355 GMT. Economists in a Reuters survey expect a reading of 69.6, a repeat of the preliminary August number.

There is little in the way of earnings news on Friday, but Tiffany & Co. is reporting second-quarter figures.

In corporate news, Hewlett-Packard Co HPQ.N raised its bid for data storage company 3PAR Inc PAR.N to $1.8 billion, dealing a blow to Dell Incs DELL.O $1.6 billion effort to win a rapidly escalating bidding war.

Cybersecurity firm ArcSight Inc ARST.O has put itself up for sale and could be bought by a technology giant such as Oracle Corp ORCL.O, Hewlett-Packard Co HPQ.N or IBM IBM.N, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Boeing Co BA.N said on Friday it now expects delivery of the first 787 Dreamliner in the middle of the first quarter 2011, owing to a delay in engine availability.

Canadian insurer Manulife Financial Corp MFC.TO and Switzerlands Ace Ltd ACE.N are among bidders for New York Life Insurance Cos Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korean assets that are up for sale, sources said, in a deal valued between $800 million and $1 billion.

Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding ROG.VX said on Friday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration FDA has rejected its request to fast-track a license application for a drug aimed at combating breast cancer.

The Obama administrations so-called Public-Private Investment Program, which was devised to purge troubled real estate assets from the financial system, has generated an estimated return of 15.5 percent for taxpayers so far, according to the New York Times.

Oil snapped a two-day rally on Friday and was heading for a third straight week of losses as a forecast downgrade in U.S. economic growth fed disquiet over record oil inventories and weak housing and manufacturing data.

European shares fell 0.5 percent on Friday and were on track for a third straight week of losses as investors remained concerned about the pace of economic recovery after recent grim macroeconomic data.

The Dow closed below 10,000 points on Thursday, the first time the Dow has finished below that psychologically important level since July 6.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 0.7 percent, the Standard & Poors 500 Index .SPX shed 0.8 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC lost 1.1 percent.

Reporting by Joanne Frearson; Editing by Michael Shields

LONDON/TOKYO Reuters Boeing Co BA.N has pushed back delivery of its first 787 Dreamliner by several weeks due to a delay in the availability of a Rolls-Royce RR.L engine which is needed for the final phases of flight testing.

The U.S. planemaker now expects to deliver the carbon-composite plane, already delayed by more than two years, to launch customer Japans All Nippon Airways ANA 9202.T by the middle of the first quarter of 2011.

Boeing previously said the first delivery would be made a few weeks into 2011.

The delay comes after a Rolls Trent 1000 engine blew up earlier this month at a test site in Derby, central England, forcing the company to temporarily close the facility.

"The delivery date revision follows an assessment of the availability of an engine needed for the final phases of flight test this fall," Boeing said. "Flight testing across the test fleet continues as planned."

Boeing added it was working with the British engine maker to ensure engines were made available as soon as possible but that the delay would not affect its financial outlook.

A Rolls-Royce spokesman said it was "working closely with Boeing to expedite delivery in support of their program schedule."

Shares in Rolls-Royce were 1.3 percent down at 552 pence by 0820 GMT. Boeing shares closed 0.5 percent higher at $61.33 on Thursday in the United States.

"REGRETTABLE" DELAY

Boeing had initially aimed to deliver the first Dreamliner to All Nippon Airways by the end of 2010, but last month pushed the delivery date back to a few weeks into 2011, citing technical issues.

ANA called the delay "regrettable" and said it was keen to know when Boeing would be able to deliver its second 787.

ANA has ordered 55 of Boeings latest jetliner, eight of which the planemaker has promised to deliver by April 2011.

Deliveries of the long-range passenger jet to ANA have been delayed by more than two years due to production problems.

The Japanese carrier said it did not include revenue from the 787 in its business plan this year so there would be no change to its profit outlook for the year ending March 31.

The Dreamliner promises greater fuel efficiency and its lightweight materials and innovative design have captured the imagination of the industry.

Yet flight testing has been going more slowly than expected after the twin-engined passenger plane made an inaugural flight last December.

A spokesman for Australias Qantas Airways QAN.AX said it was too early to say what impact the delay would have on it.

Qantas in July brought forward its 787 delivery schedule, saying it would receive the first 50 of the aircraft it has on order in mid-2012. Additional reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Tim Kelly and Mark Potter