Citigroup to pay dividend to shareholdersCitigroup Inc., the U.S. bank that received the largest taxpayer bailout, said it would reinstate a dividend at 1 cent per share in the second quarter after a 1-for-10 reverse split of its common stock. Citigroup, which hasn't paid a quarterly dividend since 2009 because of the financial crisis, will exchange one new share for every 10 of common stock after the close of trading on May 6, the New York-based bank said Monday.
Microsoft sues Barnes & Noble over e-readerMicrosoft Corp. again took legal action aimed at Google Inc.'s Android software, suing Barnes & Noble Inc., Foxconn International Holdings Ltd. and Inventec Corp. for alleged patent infringement related to Barnes & Noble's Nook e-reader, which runs on the Google operating system. Microsoft Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Horacio Gutierrez said the company filed suit in both the U.S. International Trade Commission and in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Monday's actions bring to 25 the number of Microsoft patents in litigation for infringement by Android devices, Gutierrez said.
Skin cancer drug said to boost survival rateAn experimental skin cancer drug being developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. reportedly boosted the survival of patients with advanced melanoma when combined with chemotherapy. A final-stage trial required for regulatory approval found that melanoma patients receiving Bristol-Myers' drug ipilimumab and chemotherapy lived longer than patients who got chemotherapy alone, the New York-based company said. Bristol-Myers said full results of the trial will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting later this year.
Shell gets U.S. approval for Gulf drillingRoyal Dutch Shell Plc won approval for deep-water exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, the first plan cleared by U.S. regulators since the BP Plc oil spill. "This exploration plan meets the new standards for environmental review and marks another important step toward safer deep-water exploration," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Monday. Shell, based in The Hague, is seeking to drill in about 2,950 feet of water, 130 miles off the Louisiana coast, according to the Interior Department's statement. It still needs drilling permits.
Options volatility index dropsThe benchmark index for U.S. stock options dropped the most in 10 months as equities advanced, Japan made progress in cooling nuclear reactors at a crippled plant, and allied forces attacked military targets in Libya. The VIX, as the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index is known, dropped 16 percent, the most since May, to 20.61. The index measures the cost of using options as insurance against declines in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, which gained 1.5 percent to 1,298.38.
Buffett touts Japan stocks despite earthquakeWarren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has a bullish derivative bet on Japan's benchmark stock index, said the country's record earthquake created a buying opportunity for equity investors. "If I owned Japanese stocks, I would certainly not be selling them because of the events of the past 10 days or so," said Buffett, speaking to reporters in the South Korean city of Daegu. "Something out of the blue like this, an extraordinary event, really creates a buying opportunity." Buffett canceled a trip to Japan where he was scheduled to visit a factory owned by Iscar Metalworking Cos.'s Tungaloy Corp.
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