AT&T and T-Mobile Merger Stopped

By digitalart

AT&T’s plan for Global Domination has been stopped by the Justice Department earlier today. Global Domination may be over exaggerating but the merger with T-Mobile would make AT&T the largest cell phone service provider in the United States. AT&T is currently the number 2 provider while T-Mobile stands in at Number 4. The deal has been discussed for some time now and it has had a lot of opposition from rival companies to individuals who wouldn’t want to see another oligopoly set up because it would spike up prices for all of our wireless bills.

I am glad the Justice Department blocked the merger. It would have meant far less competition and it could have turned out to be a huge burden on the consumers. T-Mobile was looking forward to the merger because they have struggled at the number 4 position, behind Sprint at Number 3 and Verizon at Number 1. However, AT&T promised T-Mobile $3 billion in case the deal fell through. Hopefully AT&T keeps their word and pays T-Mobile so that T-Mobile can keep competing with the big names.

AT&T may also challenge the actions of the Justice Department in court in hopes that a Judge would reverse the decision and allow them to go forward with the merger. I hope that they don’t proceed with the case and even if they do, I hope whatever Judge they get deny their request. Giving AT&T more power is a bad idea. They have tried to set up a monopoly years ago but it was stopped and this deal needs to be thrown out.

After the news came in of the merger blog, AT&T (T) stocks fell 4.5% to $28.30 a share. Sprint (S) stocks on the other hand, increased 8% to $3.84 per share. And Clearwire Corporation (CLWR) also grew 7% and is now at $3.08. AT&T Stocks will most likely stay in the red for the rest of the day because of the bad news. But just like Apple (AAPL), AT&T is a big enough company to bounce back just as quickly. I will follow the news of AT&T and T-Mobile as they come in over the next few days, let’s hope it’s good news. If anything, some of the big companies need to be split up into smaller companies to increase competition. It would be great for the consumers if they have more than a few choices for their wireless plans because it would drive prices down greatly.

But it’s unlikely that these companies will be split up every more. We’ll have to look at the rest of the stock market world for hopes to making and saving money.

So what’s going on with the stock market besides the blockage of AT&T and T-Mobile?

As predicted over the past few days, the momentum of the stock market has kept up. So far today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased another 92 points and is currently standing at 11,652. The NASDAQ Composite so far grew more than 13 points and is at 2,589. The S&P 500 grew more than 11 points and the NYSE grew more than 96 points so far.

The day isn’t over yet, anything can happen. But I believe the stock market will stay in the green mainly because consumers and investors are hoping for a new Federal Stimulus in the near future. Even though the economy is slowly growing, it’s still weak. Many investors are hoping for the stimulus from the Federal Reserve even though Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke didn’t signal or indicate that there will be another stimulus coming our way.

Either way, the stock markets seem to be benefiting for now. I don’t know if the Stimulus will actually help the economy in the long run. The government has to get the money somewhere and just printing money without backing by resources would just lower the value and end up having a negative effect and could cause inflation to rise faster. I know some are saying that the government already has the money and that it will most definitely help, but I guess I will be convinced when I see it.

Until more news comes out, I believe it will keep going up and the Dow Jones will get closer to the magic 12,000 mark that we haven’t seen for a while. The market will most likely stay in the green for the rest of the day and hopefully the rest of the week.