Recent News: Volatility, Stock Performance, GE Healthcare, Hybrid Vehicles, and Weather Channel

Volatility the new reality for GE shares
Investors can expect more volatility in the stock of once rock-solid General Electric Co., at least until the company reassures Wall Street with a few solid earnings reports. Shares of the second-largest U.S. company by market capitalization fell for a second straight day on Friday -- hitting their lowest point since late 2003 -- after speculation about coming write-offs at its financial arm spooked investors....

GE, Near 5-Year Low, Says Outside Capital Not Needed
General Electric Co., whose shares neared a five-year low today partly on concern it may need to pump cash into its finance units, repeated that no outside infusion is needed to keep its AAA credit rating....

GE Healthcare to manage its operations from Turkey
GE Healthcare, General Electric's (GE) healthcare services branch worth $17 billion, will start managing its operations in the Eastern and Asian markets (EAGM), from Turkey. GE Healthcare decided to combine the EAGM region into a single "International Diagnostic Imaging" operation, and conduct its activities from Istanbul, officials from GE Healthcare and Turkey's Investment Support and Promotion Agency said at a joint press conference on Friday....

Feds Scrape Together $30M for Plug-In Hybrids. That's All?
The Bush Administration has shown its support for plug-in hybrids by promising a measly $30 million to get them on the road within eight years, a figure and a timeline some automakers and plug-in advocates say is too little and too long. Getting these cars on the road quickly, they say, should be a national priority with the funding to match....

NBC Nears a Deal for Weather Channel
A group of investors led by NBC Universal and the Blackstone Group is near a deal to buy The Weather Channel for more than $3 billion, people briefed on the negotiations said....

Weather Channel may be GE's prize as Time Warner balks
Everybody talks about the weather. Time Warner has decided not to do anything about it.
The media giant today withdrew its bid for the Weather Channel, leaving only General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal unit and its partners as potential buyers for one of the most widely available cable channels in the U.S....

GE teams with Chrysler on plug-in hybrid system
General Electric is interested in supplying components for plug-in hybrid vehicles and is teaming with Chrysler on a project to demonstrate a technology GE calls a dual-battery energy storage system.Vlatko Vlatkovic, a GE official, told Automotive News on Thursday that the company has developed a hybrid railroad locomotive--which he compared to a "6,000-horsepower Prius on rails"--and is working on a heavy-duty, off-highway hybrid truck....