Stocks to watch for Thursday, June 5, 2008:
 

• Bear Stearns' (BSC) private-equity division, called Bear Stearns Merchant Banking, is expected to announce that it will spin-off into an independent company, reported The Wall Street Journal. JPMorgan (JPM) will assume a total of roughly $1 billion in Bear Stearns' investments and commitments in BSMB vehicles, making it the new company's largest investor, according to people familiar with the situation. The company manages about $5 billion and deals with smaller companies than some of the bigger private-equity players.
• E-Trade (ETFC) has created an application for Research in Motion's (RIMM) BlackBerry that will allow users to easily get stock quotes in real time and place trades on their phone. According to the Associated Press, while users have been able to visit the websites of their banks and brokers, this is the first that will allow for real time quotes and cash transfers.
• Verizon's (VZ) wireless division, according to stakeholder Vodafone (VOD), is in talks to acquire rural US mobile service provider Alltel. in a deal worth about $27 billion, including around $23 billion of its debts. With the acquisition the company would become the top US wireless provider, surpassing AT&T (T).
• Yahoo (YHOO) revealed plans to build out its online advertising operations along with a number of new partnerships. The company hopes to either prove it can succeed without forming a partnership, or that it is actually worth more than what Microsoft (MSFT) had previously offered. Yahoo's president, Susan Decker, noted that a deal with the company can still be made.

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• Asian trading closed with the Hang Seng +0.55%, Nikkei -0.65%, Sensex +1.64%, Taiwan +1.28% and Shanghai -0.54%.
• A quick check of Europe finds the CAC -0.08%, DAX +0.25%, FTSE -0.11%, ATX +0.05%, Swiss Mkt. +0.16% and Stockholm +0.01%.
• In commodities, crude oil is trading higher +0.22 to 122.52 while gold is dipping -9.3 to 874.5 this morning.