Bidu 'bye-bye'

"The future is like heaven-- everyone exalts it, but no one wants to go there now." - James Baldwin

Morning News of Note:

• GOOG Secondary: Google to Raise $4.41 Billion in Secondary Stock Sale Google Inc., the most-used Internet search engine, may raise $4.41 billion today in its first stock sale since going public, the largest such offering in more than 10 years. The sale will allow Google to bolster its cash reserves to compete with Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corp. for Internet users and advertisers. Google last month unveiled software to make phone calls over the Internet and said it may make acquisitions. (Full Story) Bloomberg
• FNSR CIEN: Fiber Optics May Be Back From the Grave AFTER ONE OF THE GREATEST DISAPPEARING ACTS in the history of modern equity markets, fiber optics stocks may finally be on the mend. In the dot-com implosion that melted the likes of Lucent Technologies from a $251-billion giant in 1999 to a $14-billion pip-squeak today, the market for equipment to send data at the fastest speeds has shriveled to a third its former size. Why? As WorldCom and other telcos went bankrupt, buyers of the stuff disappeared. (Full Story) BARRONS
• GE: General Electric-GE to sell parts of industrial businesses-FT: GE is initiating a new strategy to unlock shareholder value by restructuring or selling parts of its industrial businesses. The review comes in response to poor performance of the company's stock over the last twelve months. ""We need to continually look at whether we have our capital employed well or whether there are businesses that would be better off elsewhere or more valuable to someone else." said GE vice-chairman John Rice.
• US Economy: FOMC will raise interest rates at meeting on Sept 20 and discuss changees to wording of policy statement; Fed is reasonably relaxed about Katrina impact on production, consumer spending and employment; FOMC to discuss whether to refer to its current policy as accomodation and dropping measured phrase -- FT

Market Comments: Fairly flat open this morning; retail stocks are down a bit, while the brokers looks strong. Oil is up slightly ($63.25), and the 10-year Treasury yield is 4.13%.

Chinese-Internet company Baidu.com (BIDU) got downgraded today at Goldman Sachs and Piper. The analyst at Goldman said the stock is probably worth $27-45. That doesn't go over to well on a $115 stock, so it got whacked for 20% this am. Ouch.

long GE, GOOG