U.S. stocks rise on factory, housing news
NEW YORK, July 3 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes closed up Tuesday in a shortened pre-holiday session following the release of manufacturing and housing reports.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 41.87 points, or 0.31 percent, at 13,577.30. The broader Standard & Poor's index added 5.44 points, or 0.36 percent, at 1,524.87. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 12.65 points, or 0.48 percent, at 2,644.95.
On the New York Stock Exchange, 2,000 stocks gained and 1,202 declined, on volume of 1.6 billion shares traded.
U.S. factory orders fell a smaller-than-expected 0.5 percent in May, while pending sales of existing U.S. homes dropped 3.5 percent.
U.S. markets closed at 1 p.m. EDT in advance of Wednesday's U.S. Independence Day holiday, when U.S. markets will be closed.
In London, the FTSE 100 index rose 49.20 points, or 0.75 percent, to close at 6,639.80.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index closed up 3.60 points, or 0.02 percent, to finish at 18,149.90.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 13/32, yielding 5.049 percent, while the 30-year bond was down 22/32, yielding 5.148 percent.
The U.S. dollar rose to 122.35 yen from 122.32 yen in New York late Monday. The euro, in U.S. dollars, moved to $1.3612 from $1.3622.
Blackstone buys Hilton Hotels for $26B
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., July 3 (UPI) -- Hilton Hotels Corp. said Tuesday it agreed to be acquired by U.S. private-equity firm Blackstone Group for about $26 billion.
Under the deal's terms, Blackstone will buy all the outstanding common stock of Hilton for $47.50 a share. That is 31.7 percent more than Hilton's Tuesday's closing price of $36.05 on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock had risen $2.18, or 6.44 percent, during the day.
The deal, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year, gives Blackstone nearly 600,000 hotel rooms.
Blackstone already owns more than 100,000 hotel rooms in the United States and Europe, it said, while Hilton has 480,000 rooms in more than 2,800 hotels in 76 countries and territories.
Blackstone's other hotel assets include La Quinta, a 575-hotel limited-service midscale hotel chain, and LXR Luxury Resorts.
Besides the Hilton brand, Hilton owns Embassy Suites, Doubletree, Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, Conrad, Waldorf-Astoria Collection and Homewood Suites by Hilton.
The deal comes two years after Hilton merged with Hilton Group PLC, its British sister company that had acquired Hilton's international operations in 1987 in a $6 billion deal.
KKR buyout firm files for IPO
NEW YORK, July 3 (UPI) -- U.S. private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. said Tuesday it filed with regulators to raise $1.25 billion in an initial public offering.
KKR said in a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission it expects to use the net proceeds from the offering to expand its business, to make additional capital commitments to its funds and portfolio companies, and for general corporate purposes.
The New York buyout firm's existing owners will not sell any common units or otherwise receive any of the net proceeds from the offering, KKR said.
The company said it intends to apply to list its common units on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "KKR."
KKR, which specializes in leveraged buyouts, had about $53.4 billion of assets under management as of March 31. Its 2006 net income was $1.11 billion.
For this year's first quarter, the company reported net income of $380.9 million, up 46 percent from $260.6 million in 2006's first quarter.
Party-goods designer sketches Pepsi can
PURCHASE, N.Y., July 3 (UPI) -- A suburban New York party-goods designer has become the first consumer to have his design featured on 500 million Pepsi-Cola cans.
The design by Jamey Jackson of West Nyack, N.Y., was voted on by U.S. Pepsi drinkers from among five semifinalists, PepsiCo Inc. said.
The semifinalists were decided from nearly 100,000 submissions based on originality, creativity and "strength of Pepsi branding," the company said.
Jackson -- a designer at Amscan Inc., which makes decorated party goods and accessories -- said he got the inspiration for his design, which emulates the doodling students do on notebook paper and school books, just a few days before the May 10 contest deadline.
His busy blue-and-white design features playful images, including people, cars, flying saucers, musical notes, arrows, bubbles, stars and hearts, along with affirmations such as "Create," "Dream" and "Celebrate."
Besides having his design featured on 500 million cans next year, Jackson will win $10,000, PepsiCo said.
Asked if he expected a raise from his current employer, Jackson laughed and said he already told his boss that PepsiCo's corporate office in Purchase, N.Y., was "not too far away" from Amscan if they need some additional help, The (White Plains, N.Y.) Journal News reported.
"She didn't think it was as funny as I did," Jackson said.
