Subject: [NEXTEL-1] NY shares seen lower; Nextel, Hilton under cosh

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2003 18:48:41 -0500

NY shares seen lower; Nextel, Hilton under cosh
Reuters, 03.28.03, 6:55 AM ET

By Huw Jones

LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Wall
Street was headed for a soft start on
Friday with Nextel Communications
(nasdaq: NXTL - news - people) and
Hilton Hotels (nyse: NXTL - news -
people) under pressure, while
uncertainty over the Iraq war's duration
and cost dominate investor sentiment.

Nextel on Thursday said in a filing with
the Securities and Exchange
Commission that it aimed to raise up to
$5 billion in debt securities, preferred
and common stock, depository shares
and other securities.

Shares in the U.S. wireless telephone
services company, which wants to use
the fresh cash to pay down debt and
expand its network, were indicated at
$13.50 after closing at $13.98 in New
York on Thursday, a London-based
dealer said.

By 1106 GMT, U.S. stock index futures
were down about 0.55 percent.

No major earnings reports are due on
Friday.

Hilton Hotels Corp. cut in half its profit
forecast for the first quarter late on
Thursday, joining a long list of lodging
companies who say the U.S. invasion
of Iraq has hurt business.

Earnings per share, before items, would be about two to three cents, compared with a
January 27
forecast of about five cents, a Hilton spokesman said.

Hilton shares were untraded in Europe.

In the media sector, AOL Time Warner's (nyse: AOL - news - people) hopes for raising cash
were dealt
a blow on Friday when Britain's biggest newspaper and book retailer WH Smith <SMWH.L>
pulled out
of talks to buy the American company's books arm.

AOL Time Warner traded at $11.45 per share in European trade, the U.S. dealer in London
said. The
stock closed at $11.54 on Thursday.

DIRECT TV DAY

Elsewhere in the media sector, Cablevision Systems Corp. (nyse: CVC - news - people) is
expected to
throw its hat in the ring for DirectTV as one of four suitors planning to submit a bid by
Friday to take over
at least part of General Motors Corp.'s (nyse: CVC - news - people) satellite TV business,
people
familiar with the situation told Reuters.

Also expected to bid are Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. <NCP.AX>, John Malone-led Liberty
Media
(nyse: L - news - people), and local telephone provider SBC Communications (nyse: L - news
-
people).

However, the Wall Street Journal reported that Liberty agreed to buy an additional $500
million in News
Corp. non-voting stock, signalling that Liberty won't make its own bid for control of
DirectTV.

American Airlines, part of AMR Corp (nyse: AMR - news - people), said late on Thursday it
reached a
tentative agreement with fleet service workers as it moves to secure wage-concession deals
aimed at
keeping the world's largest carrier out of bankruptcy.

U.S. personal income and consumption data for February are due at 1330 GMT, with the final
University
of Michigan consumer sentiment index for March at 1445 GMT.

Investors are increasingly worried that the war in Iraq will drag on longer than
anticipated to scupper the
patchy economic recovery seen before hostilities began.

The World Bank downgraded its outlook for global economic growth for this year to 2.3
percent from 2.4
percent and sees the risk of recession and deflation in the United States, a document
leaked to
Reuters showed.

http://www.forbes.com/home/newswire/2003/03/28/rtr923036.html
--
    "NEXTEL-1 IT'S NOT JUST NEXTEL"
  Note The New address
Subscribe to Nextel-1: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL-1

  "NEXTEL2 FOR iDEN SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS"
Subscribe to Nextel2: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL2

  "WIRELESS FORUM HOMELAND SECURITY GROUP"
     The Complete Resource for Wireless Homeland Security.
Subscribe to WFHSG:  http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/WFHSG

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Make Money Online Auctions! Make $500.00 or We Will Give You Thirty Dollars for Trying!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/yMx78A/fNtFAA/i5gGAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/