Wimpy Bush-Era Antitrust Rules To Go

The Obama administration is seeking to undo yet another leftover from the Bush years by strengthening antitrust laws, the New York Times reports in leading off its business coverage. In a speech later today, the Justice Department antitrust chief, Christine A. Varney, will lay out new "plans to restore an aggressive enforcement policy against corporations that use their market dominance to elbow out competitors or to keep them from gaining market share." During the Bush years, the newspaper points out, the cards were stacked in favor of the corporate defendants facing antitrust claims. The White House is looking to level the playing field, restoring a policy "that led to the landmark antitrust lawsuits against Microsoft and Intel in the 1990s," the newspaper writes.

Intel (INTC) is in hot water these days, too, for its alleged market-bruising tactics. According to the Financial Times, later this week Intel faces a fine that could exceed 1 billion euros ($1.36 billion), the biggest corporate fine ever handed down by the European Commission, for anti-competitive behavior. An investigation into Intel's marketing practices dates back to 2000, when rival chip maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) complained that Intel was muscling it out of the market. In 2007, Intel was formally charged after EC investigators found it was allegedly issuing illegal rebates to computer manufacturers to use its processors. Sources in Brussels tell the Wall Street Journal that the commission will also insist Intel "make changes to the way it provides rebates to computer makers."

And today there is a glimmer of hope hanging over China's aggressive build-out of coal-powered fire plants. According to the NYT, China has emerged as a world leader in clean(er) coal. "While the United States is still debating whether to build a more efficient kind of coal-fired power plant that uses extremely hot steam, China has begun building such plants at a rate of one a month," the newspaper writes. Also, China is well ahead of the United States in developing "a new generation of low-pollution power plants that turn coal into a gas before burning it." The progress has surprised even green-policy wonks. "The steps they’ve taken are probably as fast and as serious as anywhere in power-generation history," Hal Harvey, president of ClimateWorks, told the NYT.

The advances in clean(er) coal come as the once-bright solar industry feels the pain of the global credit crunch. The WSJ reports that government subsidies and private investment in solar projects has dropped dramatically in the past year. As a result, "sales of the tiny chips that convert the sun's rays into electricity are expected to drop by at least 20% this year," the newspaper writes. Even the Silicon Valley venture-capital community is starting to rethink the promise of green energy. "Venture capital is starting to move away from its infatuation with alternative energy and returning to one of its traditional strengths: applying information technology to improve the efficiency of energy consumption," the NYT writes. Proving just how much the global energy sector is in flux, U.K. energy giant Centrica has agreed to purchase a 20 percent stake in British Energy, operator of eight nuclear power plants, for £2.3 billion ($3.5 billion), the BBC reports this morning.

There'll be no quick bounce-back as hoped for AIG, according to an internal memo reported on by the WSJ. The memo comments on a 45-day review of global operations code-named "Project Destiny," designed to provide AIG (AIG) with a way to "get our groove back," in the words of Paula Reynolds, AIG's vice chairwoman and the head of its restructuring effort. The conclusion? "The insurer and its government owners expect a multi-year roadmap to restructure AIG," writes the WSJ.

Hedge funds are proving far fleeter of foot, however. Another WSJ piece reports that, "After suffering steep losses last year, hedge funds as a group are up 4.2% through the end of April." And the bulls are faring far better than the bears. "Managers who bet on further falls in stocks are suffering badly, while bullish managers have gained as much as 30% on the market rally in April alone," it adds. Wounded retailer Target (TGT) finds itself in the sites of one aggressive hedge fund. Activist investor Bill Ackman is making a move against the company today, introducing a new slate of five dissident directors—including himself—whom he'd like shareholders to elect on May 28. And outside the United States, opportunities abound. "As fears of a deepening global recession are pushed aside by expectations of recovery, investors have rediscovered their appetite for risk in places ranging from Brazil and China to Russia," writes another WSJ piece, noting: "During the week ended May 6, investors plowed $4 billion into emerging-market investment funds, marking the biggest week for the funds since late 2007—and their eighth-largest week ever."

And, finally, does the world need a "doctorate of McDonald's burgers and fries"? Some McDonald's (MCD) brass evidently think so. David Fairhurst, the fast-food chain's "chief people officer," told the FT, "One day I’d love to see us doing a PhD, I definitely think we should go as far as we can." Before you scoff, consider this: Micky D's claims to already have 2,500 people signed up to its shift-management courses, a number that is sure to rise in this shaky economic climate.