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October 10, 2008 -- South Carolina is the second-most improved state in access to campaign finance records, according to an annual survey released last week by the Campaign Disclosure Project, a consortium of groups backed by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
South Carolina scored a Most Improved award in the 2008 Grading State Disclosure report. The award was credited largely to the state mandate requiring that legislative candidates file their campaign disclosure reports online for the first time this year.
The electronic filing program is administered by the State Ethics Commission and was built in partnership with the official Web site of the state of South Carolina (http://www.SC.gov). The solution earned the state an A+ and a top ranking in the electronic filing program category among all states, compared with 27th place and a C grade in 2007. Campaign finance reports are available through SC.gov and show the public what individuals and interests donate to candidates and how the candidates spend that money. Users can search by individual or committee/organization names, contributions and expenditures, sort and download results.
South Carolina was the third most improved state in the accessibility category since 2003. Since the 2007 assessment, legislative candidates' disclosure reports were posted online for the first time and the Ethics Commission debuted an online, searchable database of campaign expenditures.
According to Herbert Hayden, executive director of the State Ethics Commission, some of the survey's requirements do not reflect state-specific requirements, such as the structure of the campaign reporting law which is determined by the Legislature. "South Carolina's online system contains exactly what the Commission and the Legislature asked for and exactly what is required by South Carolina law."
October 10, 2008 -- -Rackspace Hosting (NYSE: RAX), the world's leader and specialist in IT hosting, today announced that it has drawn an additional $150 million on its revolving line of credit backed by Comerica Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Wachovia Bank, Bank of America and The Frost National Bank.
"We took this action as a prudent measure based on the uncertain economic conditions in the credit and bank markets. We continue to maintain a strong capital position with the liquidity we need to grow our business over the long term. Including operating cash, we now have more than $250 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments," said Bruce Knooihuizen, CFO, Rackspace Hosting.
At the end of the third quarter of 2008, Rackspace Hosting had $200 million outstanding on its revolving line of credit. Fifty million dollars of outstanding borrowings have been swapped into a fixed rate of 4.135% and $150 million have been borrowed on a three months LIBOR basis at 3.762%. With the current applicable margin spread of 1.3%, the weighted average borrowing costs of the $200 million outstanding debt balance is 5.16%. An additional $44 million is available and committed on the revolving line of credit.
All funds that are currently considered non-operating are invested in money market funds that invest exclusively in high-quality, short-term securities that are issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or by U.S. government agencies and instrumentalities. Currently, a total of $230 million is invested in such funds.
October 10, 2008 -- SonicWALL, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNWL), a leading secure network infrastructure company, today announced that on October 8, 2008 the Compensation Committee of the company's Board of Directors approved the grants of options to purchase up to 7,300 shares of common stock with an exercise price equal to the fair market value on the grant date to a total of nine (9) new employees of the company.
Each option is a non-qualified stock option and has an exercise price equal to the fair market value of the underlying shares as of the grant date. The options vest as to 25% of the covered shares on the first anniversary of the grant date and as to 1/48 of the covered shares each month thereafter, so as to be 100% vested on the fourth anniversary of the grant date, subject to the employee's continued service. The options have a maximum term of seven (7) years.
The options were granted as inducements material to employment under the company's 2008 Inducement Equity Incentive Plan in accordance with NASDAQ Marketplace Rule 4350(i)(l)(A)(iv).
Market Wrap for October 10, 2008 The stock market posted its eighth consecutive loss in an extremely volatile session, which marked a fitting end to one of the most tumultuous weeks ever. The S&P 500 settled with a loss of 1.2%, which was actually a pretty decent result considering how far it was down at session lows.
The S&P 500 plunged 7.7% on the open with global economic fears driving the selling interest. The index then quickly bounced back into positive territory, only to retreat toward session lows in afternoon trade. Then, in the final hour of the session, the S&P 500 rebounded from a loss of 7.3% to a gain of 2.9%, and eventually ended the day with a loss of 1.2%. Trading volume on the NYSE was one the third heaviest on record, with 2.95 billion shares exchanging hands.
Eight of the ten economic sectors posted a loss. Small-cap stocks outperformed, with the Russell 2000 surging 4.7%.
Continued tightness of credit markets and uncertainty regarding the economic outlook fueled the volatility. The TED spread, which is the difference between what banks charge each other for three-month dollar loans (three-month Libor) and what the government pays (three-month T-Bill) rose 40 basis points to 4.64%. For comparison, the TED spread averaged 0.36% in 2006. The volatility index, which is considered to reflect market fear, spiked to its highest level on record.
Overseas stock markets, which closed before the U.S. stock market rebounded, saw some of their worst sessions in decades. In Asian trading, Japan's Nikkei fell 9.6% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 7.2%. In Europe, London's FTSE fell 8.9%, Germany's DAX dropped 7.0% and France's CAC declined 7.7%.
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