IBM’s chasing the Sun, Beauty’s in the eye of the loan officer

GOOD DAY FOR: Sun sets, after The Wall Street Journal reported that IBM is in talks to buy Sun Microsystems for $6.5 billion. The purchase, at about a 100 percent premium to Sun’s closing price Tuesday, would increase IBM’s already dominant share of the computer server market and present a challenged to rivals such as Hewlett-Packard. (Reuters)

BAD DAY FOR: Unattractive lending rates, after a new study found that physical appearance affects if loan applicants are successful at getting credit. The researchers, from Rice University and the University of Washington, studied loans given through peer-to-peer service Prosper.com. A group of volunteers rated how creditworthy loan requesters looked, based entirely on photographs. The ones deemed more trustworthy-looking generally had higher credit scores and better loan success rates. (Reuters)

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