Recent News: GE branded TVs, GE's 'boring' assets, Bernanke and Paulson, Inflation, and Analyst Dowdgrades

GE-branded TVs make a comeback
More than two decades after exiting the television manufacturing business, General Electric Co. is entering a new joint partnership that will make GE-branded flat panel TVs that connect to the Internet. The giant conglomerate is granting the use of its brand for 10 years and taking a 49 percent stake in the venture with Tatung Co. of Taiwan to make liquid crystal displays that also play Internet videos....

GE, Taiwan's Tatung team up on HDTVs
US conglomerate General Electric announced on Tuesday that it had entered into a joint venture with Taiwan's Tatung Co. to produce innovative high-definition television sets. The joint venture, General Displays & Technologies (GDT), will "design, market and service GE-branded HDTVs" with the first sets hitting the market early next year, GE said in a statement....

Stormy Weather, Sunny Outlook For Rails; GE Touts ‘Boring’
It’s come to this: that financial services companies have to defend their portfolios by describing their asset mix as some version of American cheese on white bread with the crusts cut off. All in the service of blunting any worries that the exotic equals the suspicious in the minds of contemporary investors. Still, even going the Lake Woebogone route doesn’t always insulate a portfolio from the skeptics. Take General Electric (GE): the industrial conglomerate / slash / financial services giant (the latter operations fund nearly half the company’s profits these days) insisted in a Wall Street Journal article that its financial arm was loaded up with ”boring” assets...

US STOCKS-Financial worries, GE push Wall Street lower
U.S. stocks fell in choppy trading on Tuesday, led by a drop in shares of General Electric and lingering worries about the financial sector that derailed an advance spearheaded by technology companies....

Bernanke and Paulson, Google, GE, inflation
U.S. equity indices are slightly lower this morning. S&P 500 futures eased 1 point before the opening. Traders are waiting for testimonies by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson in front of the Senate banking committee starting at 9:30 AM EDT. Several Democrat senators are expressing skepticism about the proposed rescue bill. Chances of approval of the bill by the end of this week have become diminished. Also, the bill could be “Christmas treed” with additional issues not directly related to the rescue program...

Opening View: General Electric Downgraded on Earnings Concerns
U.S. stock futures are lower this morning, pointing to a potentially negative start to the day. Taking a look at currencies and commodities, the greenback is higher against most of its foreign rivals, as gold and crude futures have pared recent gains. In focus this morning is the upcoming testimony of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the latest earnings from homebuilder Lennar Corp. (LEN), a downgrade for blue chip General Electric (GE), and a warning for Washington Mutual (WM)...

General Electric cut to neutral by Merrill Lynch
General Electric Company was downgraded to neutral from buy and its price target slashed to $28 from $37.50 by Merrill Lynch, with the broker cutting its earnings estimate for...