WSF Headline Roundup - 4/3/08 - Obama Superdelegates; Bernanke finally utters "R" word; Wall St Banks want to separate troubled assets; Wal-mart scolds over healthcare; Apple 3G iPhone launch; RIMM beats; Circuit City activist stirs pot; Skilling do-over?

• Obama Catches Clinton in Support From Superdelegate Lawmakers
• Bernanke Says the Word: 'Recession' May Be Near
• Wall St banks seek to ring-fence bad assets
• Wal-Mart scolds business over healthcare
• Apple plans 3G launch for iPhone
• Research In Motion Earnings Double
• GM Weighs Taking Bigger Part Of Delphi Pension Liabilities
• Circuit City Critic Stirs It Up
• Skilling's Lawyer Stresses Honest-Services Issue at 5th Circuit

Obama Catches Clinton in Support From Superdelegate Lawmakers - Bloomberg

Barack Obama has pulled even with Hillary Clinton in endorsements from top elected officials, with a surge in support from congressional freshmen and governors from Republican-dominated states.

Obama yesterday won the backing of Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal, who became the sixth head of a Republican-leaning state to come out for him in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. In the past week, Obama picked up support from first-term Senators Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. Clinton, backed by two governors from Republican states, gained no superdelegates in that time.

Obama, 46, is endorsed by 16 U.S. House freshmen to Clinton's 6, and 40 percent of his congressional allies are from ``red states,'' or those that voted for President George W. Bush in 2004, compared with one-quarter for Clinton. That bolsters the Obama campaign's argument that he would have broader backing in the general election....

Bernanke Says the Word: 'Recession' May Be Near - Wall Street Journal

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said for the first time that the U.S. could slip into recession this year, using a word that other government officials including President Bush have gone to great lengths to avoid.

"A recession is possible," Mr. Bernanke told a congressional committee Wednesday, citing turmoil in the housing and credit markets. He added, "We're slightly growing at the moment, but we think that there's a chance that for the first half as a whole there might be a slight contraction."

His comments risk adding to economic gloom. But they also won praise from some economists as necessary straight talk that could help his efforts to bring clarity to monetary policy. Many private-sector economists, who often define a recession as two straight quarters of economic contraction, have been saying for weeks that the U.S. is either on the verge of a recession or already in one.....

Wall St banks seek to ring-fence bad assets - Financial Times

Wall Street banks are working on plans to separate troubled assets from the rest of their businesses in an effort to ring-fence problems and restore investors’ confidence in the financial sector.

A number of US firms are looking to follow the example set by UBS, which this week put securities linked to US mortgages into a separate subsidiary with a view to eventually reducing its exposure to the troubled assets, which have been responsible for more than $30bn of losses so far.

The Wall Street banks’ plans, which are yet to be finalised, would enable banks to move at least some troubled assets off their balance sheets by selling large stakes in the funds to outside investors.....

Wal-Mart scolds business over healthcare - Financial Times

The chief executive of Wal-Mart has criticised US business for not taking a lead in the debate on the future of US healthcare ahead of the presidential elections in November.

Lee Scott said in a Financial Times interview that he was “not particularly encouraged” by the public debate on the issues.

“I think business has been absent in this debate on healthcare. I’m not sure why,” he said.

“I think government is going to be engaged after this election regardless of who wins, and I think business should be more involved in the discussion. I think it has long-term ramifications for our global competitiveness.”....

Apple plans 3G launch for iPhone - Financial Times

Apple could launch a 3G version of its popular touch-based iPhone device this summer, somewhat earlier than had been initially expected.

AT&T, the US telecoms group whose wireless unit is the exclusive seller of the iPhone in America, said on Wednesday it expected all of the integrated devices or smartphones it sells to be built around 3G radio chips within the near future.

Ralph de la Vega, chief executive of AT&T’s wireless unit, speaking during the CTIA Wireless 2008 industry trade show in Las Vegas on Wednesday said he expected all AT&T’s smart integrated devices to be 3G “in the next couple months.”

He added: “Let me repeat what I said: I think that you’re going to see our integrated devices be 3G devices in the not-too-distant future ... months. That should be clear enough.”

Research In Motion Earnings Double - Wall Street Journal

BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion Ltd. continued its string of strong quarterly results, reporting that its fourth-quarter profit and revenue more than doubled even as the economy shows signs of a slowdown.

The company, which is based in Waterloo, Ontario, said it added 2.2 million net new BlackBerry subscribers in the quarter, which ended March 1, bringing its total subscriber base to more than 14 million.

The company's shares, which fell $1.69, or 1.4%, Wednesday to $115.79 in 4 p.m. Nasdaq Stock Market trading, rose 4.8% to $121.38 in after-hours trading.

Research In Motion has been introducing BlackBerry service in new markets like China, but the subscriber growth was largely due to strong North American sales, RIM's co-chief executive, Jim Balsillie, said. The share of RIM's subscriber base that is outside North America was roughly 33% at the end of the quarter, essentially the same as last quarter.....

GM Weighs Taking Bigger Part Of Delphi Pension Liabilities - Wall Street Journal

General Motors Corp. is considering taking on more of Delphi Corp.'s pension liabilities to help its parts supplier exit bankruptcy-court protection, said people familiar with the situation.

Delphi, a former GM division, has struggled to line up the $6.1 billion in financing it needs to exit Chapter 11 amid a financing crisis that has crippled the credit markets. GM already has agreed to provide a chunk of that financing to help seal a deal, and is now in talks about going further to ease Delphi's pension burden.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which has expressed worry that delays in Delphi's exit from bankruptcy could hurt the pension plans, said it would favor a proposal for GM to assume more of Delphi's pension liabilities.

"For the last two years we have been fighting to preserve the Delphi pensions, and this looks like it could be a very positive development," Charles E.F. Millard, the PBGC's director, said in an email. The PBGC is the federal agency that guarantees corporate pension plans.....

Circuit City Critic Stirs It Up - Wall Street Journal

Calling Circuit City Stores Inc.'s turnaround efforts "disastrous," Wattles Capital Management LLC sent a letter to the retailer's board reiterating its desire that Chairman and Chief Executive Philip Schoonover be ousted.

The move is a sign the proxy battle between the shareholder group -- which holds a 6.5% stake in Circuit City -- and the consumer-electronics giant is heating up. Wattles already has nominated a slate of five directors for election at the annual meeting.

Circuit City officials couldn't be reached for comment.

Wattles said Mr. Schoonover and his senior management team appear to have focused on cost-cutting measures with little or no consideration for their negative impact on revenue and gross profit, referring to the company's year-ago layoff of 3,400 workers. To much criticism, Circuit City replaced them with lower-paid staff.

Wattles said the company "has repeatedly touted the fact that they have cut $200 million of annualized selling, general and administrative expenses while ignoring the fact that approximately $500 million of gross profit has been wiped-out in the process."....

Skilling's Lawyer Stresses Honest-Services Issue at 5th Circuit - Law.com

Daniel Petrocelli asked a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Wednesday to throw out Jeffrey Skilling's conviction. The 2006 Houston trial in which Skilling was convicted on criminal counts related to the collapse of Houston's Enron Corp. was "fundamentally unfair and defective," Petrocelli told the three judges.

Petrocelli told the judges that, because of the 5th Circuit's 2006 opinion in United States v. Brown, they should reverse the judgment against former Enron CEO Skilling. In Brown, the court held that a corporate employee does not unlawfully deprive his employer of his honest services when the employee's conduct was carried out in pursuit of the employer's goals.

Douglas Wilson, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in San Francisco, told the judges that Brown did not taint the jury's verdict at the Skilling trial. He said that even if Brown taints the conspiracy charge that Skilling was found guilty of, the error is harmless.

In May 2006, a federal court jury in U.S. District Judge Sim Lake's Houston court convicted Skilling of 19 criminal charges, including one count of conspiracy, 12 counts of securities fraud, five counts of false statements to auditors and one count of insider trading. Skilling has been in a federal prison in Minnesota since December 2006, when he began serving a sentence of more than 24 years.....