watson wyatt worldwide

The Trading Radar highlights key earnings and economic announcements for tomorrow's trading session: Before Market Opens: Economics: 8:30am ET

• Import/Export Prices for July
• Initial Jobless Claims for the week of 8/8 - Street expects 545K
• Retail Sales for July - Street expects 0.7%

Earnings: Briggs & Stratton (NYSE: BGG) - consensus loss $0.05 Dr Pepper Snapple Group (NYSE: DPS) - consensus EPS $0.49 Gammon Gold (NYSE: GRS) - consensus EPS $0.06 Gildan Activewear (NYSE: GIL) - consensus EPS $0.29 Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) - consensus EPS $0.73 Estee Lauder (NYSE:

Shares of Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc. tumbled more than 7 percent in afternoon trading Monday after a Citi Investment Research analyst downgraded the stock to "Hold" from "Buy," citing short-term concerns about the management consulting firm's proposed combination with competitor Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby Inc.

• This weekend, Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby, Inc. and Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: WW) announced a merger of equals to form a new, publicly listed company called Towers Watson & Co., with an implied equity value of the transaction of approximately $3.5 billion.
  
  The merger will create one of the world's largest employee-benefits consultancy. Watson Wyatt CEO John Haley will serve the combined company as CEO and Towers Perrin CEO Mark Mactas will serve as President.
  
  The companies see increased profitability through operating synergies.

The management consulting firms Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby and Watson Wyatt Worldwide said that they would merge in an all-stock deal valued at $3.5 billion.

(Commonwealth Fund) The 161 million Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance are facing substantial increases in out-of-pocket costs, according to a study published today on the Health Affairs Web site.The study, authored by researchers from the National Opinion Research Center and Watson Wyatt Worldwide and funded by the Commonwealth Fund, examines trends in the comprehensiveness of employer-sponsored insurance from 2004 to 2007.

It finds rising rates of underinsurance and unaffordability, particularly for poorer and sicker people.