Cross Purposes

In one corner, a company perhaps best known for selling baby oil and bandages. In the other, what’s probably the world’s best-known charity. The prize: a centuries-old symbol, the Greek cross, that both lay passionate claim to.

Johnson & Johnson, which dates its trademarked use of the famous red cross to the 19th century, is suing the Red Cross, the Washington-based relief organization, claiming the charity has been illegally selling commercial rights to the iconic symbol. Don’t expect an edifying debate: the head of the Red Cross has already called the company’s claim “obscene.”

Source: New York Times

Campbell’s Decides Chocolate Isn’t a “Wellness” Food

The soupmaker, which has taken such pains to cultivate an upscale “European” image for its line of pricey Godiva chocolates that most consumers probably don’t even now it’s owned the brand for 40 years, has now decided chocolate doesn’t fit its focus on healthy foods. The unit could fetch as much as $1 billion.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Toyota Will Delay Launch of New Hybrid Vehicles

Batteries have always been the Achilles heel of the electric car. They’re either too heavy or need recharging too often, or they don’t provide enough juice to give conumers the performance they demand. Now add safety concerns to that list. The world’s most profitable carmker has decided to delay the introduction of new high-performance hybrid cars for one or two years because of problems with their lithium-ion batteries. They have a bad habit of overheating, catching fire, and sometimes even exploding.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Top French Bank Hit by Subprime-Lending Debacle

BNP Paribas, France’s biggest bank, suspended redemptions at three funds it manages saying the virtual freeze-up of the mortgage bond market in the US meant it could no longer realistically price the value of some of its assets even though they held top-grade credit ratings.

Source: Reuters

Wall Street’s ‘Quant’ Funds Produce Computer-Assisted Losses

The problem with computer models is that by their nature they can’t predict—or react to—anomalous behavior. Small wonder, then, that so-called quantitative hedge funds whose investments are entirely computer-directed have suffered badly as credit markets dried up.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Big German Bank Denies It Faces “Liquidity Crisis’

WestLB, Germany’s third-largest state-owned bank, denied a report in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that it faced a funding crisis because of heavy losses at New York-based Brightwater Capital Management. The unit made investments similar to those that forced a bail-out last week of another German lender.

Source: Bloomberg

Investors Pile Back Into Some Risky Debt

You wouldn’t know the credit markets have taken their worst beating in years from the spreading mortgage-lending debacle to judge by the behavior of some investors. Emerging-market bonds staged their biggest rally in six years on the first faint signs of a return to more orderly markets.

Source: Bloomberg

Wilbur Ross on the Aftermath of “Risk-Ignored” Investing

The man who’s made a tidy fortune cleaning up other people’s financial and corporate messes is betting there’s money to be made—eventually—out of the subprime mortgage fiasco. < /p>

Source: Business Week

US Broadband Expansion Slows

Though only a scant 50% of US households have broadband internet access, compared with 89% in world leader South Korea, there are signs the recent rapid growth in penetration is slowing. That could forces providers to cut their often sky-high prices which might induce a lot more consumers to make the switch from Stone-Age dial-up connections.

Source: Wall Street Journal