Here's your morning "brief" from the Silicon Valley.
So why is the stock market so tepid this Monday morning on good economic news? Investors are concerned the Fed will raise interest rates after great jobs news Friday showed "only" 11,000 people lost their jobs in November. Plus news the TARP may cost 200 billion dollars less than expected, as banks pay back their debt earlier.
The Fed raises rates when the economy strengthens in order to control inflation. Higher interest rates also make money more expensive, so generally stocks go down on that worry.
Apple over the weekend bought Lala.com, which provides low cost music streaming to a growing number of customers. There was lots of talk Lala had developed an iPhone app. Does the news mean Apple is going to provide a streaming service for iTunes? We'll keep an eye on that.
eBay and Craigslist head to court in Delaware today. BTW: Lots of companies are "from" Delaware because of that state's loose incorporation laws. Former eBay chief Meg Whitman is testifying about her company's purchase of a portion of Craiglist back in 2004. eBay is upset Craiglist issued more private shares to its investors, thus diluting eBay's portion of the company. Craigslist says eBay copied its ideas and even stole information.
And Activision points out more people played Call of Duty: World at War 2 than there are people in the American Armed Forces.
Five times as many, in fact. There are three times as many virtual soldiers in Call of Duty than there are real soliders in the largest army in the world, China's People's Liberation Army.
