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Major shareholder of Yahoo, Icahn, amasses 4% of Yahoo - proxy fight may loom 

Carl Icahn may be smelling blood at Yahoo Inc. (stock quote: YHOO). The activist investor has accumulated a 4% stake of the Internet portal company and may be gearing up for a proxy fight to replace Yahoo’s board. The deadline for Yahoo board nominations is Thursday, with a vote scheduled for the company’s annual shareholder meeting in July. Investors criticized Yahoo for failing to reach a $47.5 billion buyout deal with Microsoft Corp.

China quake disrupts natural gas  production

China’s two largest oil companies said the killer earthquake in Sichuan province forced them to shut some gas wells and an oil refinery in the city of Nanchong. PetroChina Co. has cut daily gas output from Sichuan by about 14%. China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. said aftershocks and blocked transportation links led it to keep gas wells closed. Natural gas demand could drop until business resumes in the province, which uses about 19% of China’s supply, said Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. analyst Cheng Khoo in Hong Kong.

Congress orders end to oil reserves purchases

Congress has directed the Bush administration to stop buying oil for a national reserve. The White House has said filling the reserve, which is at about 97% capacity, was needed to protect the U.S. against supply disruptions. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said halting the oil purchases could cause gasoline prices to drop by 5 to 24 cents a gallon. Some economists predicted the impact would be marginal. Republicans in both chambers voted overwhelmingly to support the directive.

Sony stock analysis

Annual profits nearly tripled at Sony Corp. (stock ticker: SNE) to 369.4 billion yen (US$3.5 billion) on strong sales of electronics and games. Wednesday’s results were higher than consensus estimates for 2007. Sales of Bravia LCD televisions, Vaio computers and digital cameras lifted revenues in Sony’s electronics division nearly 9%. A sharp jump in PlayStation3 sales led to a 26.3% revenue increase for the games unit. Sony’s film and financial services segments saw double-digit declines.

BNP stock analysis

BNP Paribas posted a net profit of €1.981 billion in the first quarter, a 21% decline from the previous year, although higher than the average profit forecast of 20 analysts. The drop was attributed to a 73% plunge in earnings at the bank’s corporate and investment banking division. Meanwhile, the bank’s retail banking operations reported higher profits

Ambac and Mbia: losses reignite the credit concerns

Continuing losses again threaten the AAA credit ratings at MBIA Inc. and Ambac Financial Group Inc., Moody’s Investors Service said. The two largest bond insurers posted higher-than-expected losses related to home-equity loans and CDOs in the first quarter. Moody’s stuck with its AAA rating on the two firms in March after they boosted capital by a total of $4.1 billion. “This could be a signal that (Moody’s is) going to put them back under review,” CreditSights Inc. analyst Robert Haines said. “If they’re put under review, they’ll be back for capital.”

Bernanke cautions credit crisis isn´t over 

The credit crisis is not over and it “is likely to take some time” before financial markets return to normal, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said. His comments Tuesday led stocks to rise, bonds to sell off sharply, and rate future markets to start pricing in prospects for higher interest rates by year-end. His comments highlighted the Fed’s efforts to keep the U.S. economy out of a deep slump. Meanwhile, speeches by other Fed officials noted the fear that rising energy prices would stoke inflation.