News Round-Up (BXP, DAL, AMR, GLW, MKND, DOX, SAPE)

New York Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman takes charge of Boston Properties (NYSE: BXP) following the demise of co-founder and CEO Edward Linde on Sunday due to pneumonia related complications.

Recent reports from Tokyo have indicated that Japan's turnaround czar favors a tie-up of Japan Airlines (JAL) with Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL). However, he is not in favor of capital infusion by DAL. According to Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp, the alliance with DAL would generate $186 million per year, which is three times more than what JAL will get by expanding its current deal with American Airlines (NYSE: AMR).

Deutsche Bank has upgraded Corning (NYSE: GLW) to “buy,” as it believes that demand for TV and PC will become "robust" and capacity may be tight in 2010. Meanwhile, Goldman has raised its rating for GLW to “buy,” as it expects the LCD TV market to have bottomed in Q4, instead of the previous expectations of early 2010.

Teresa Dial has resigned as the CEO of consumer banking at Citigroup (NYSE: C). Dial has cited personal reasons for the sudden resignation. She will be replaced by Manuel Medina-Mora, who has been heading Citi Latin America and Mexico.

Goldman Sachs has become positive on the IT sector. As a result, it has upgraded Amdocs (NYSE: DOX) and Sapient (NASDAQ: SAPE) from “neutral” to “buy.”

A recent study has indicated that local unemployment has remained unaffected by stimulus dollars spent on road construction. The analysis reviewed stimulus projects worth $21 billion in every state and found that there was no statistical difference between counties that received most of the money and those that did not receive any.

Mannkind (NASDAQ: MKND) shares suffered a setback after the FDA delayed its review of MKND’s insulin inhaler. The FDA’s decision to delay was based on the incomplete inspection of a manufacturing plant.

Fitch affirms the AAA rating for the US. The outlook for the country remains stable, "given its exceptional financing and economic flexibility and the US dollar’s role as the world’s predominant reserve currency." However, Fitch warned that the country will need to take tough decisions to attain long-run sustainability.