Afternoon Market Roundup: iPad Hits Stores Today, Bank of America 'Too Crooked To Fail

Here’s what’s important in the financial world this morning:

Apple: The new third generation iPad hits stores today in ten countries after its share price reached for the first time, $600. The first country to see sales was Australia. In the U.S., Apple stories and retail giant Wal-Mart, Best Buy and RadioShack, will sell the new tablet.

Bank of America: Rolling Stone magazine writer Matt Taibbi continues to take on the financial community. This time he has gone after the “too crooked to fail” Bank of America. Taibbi has alleged in his recent article that the bank has massively defrauded investors, insurers, homeowners, and the unemployed. He questions why the government continues to bail it out and looks at the recent SEC vs. Citigroup ruling.

United Parcel Service: UPS is still in talks to buy Dutch rival TNT Express after proposing a February 9 EUR per share transaction at 4.9 billion EUR ($6.4 billion). The company said it will seek Dutch regulatory approval by May 11 at the very latest; a price had not been included but UPS may improve its previous offer in light of TNT’s recent  poor numbers and the lack of counter bids, reported Reuters.

Four strategic partners have taken a 16.5 percent equity stake valued near $10 billion in China’s Cinda Asset Management Corp. This includes UBS, Standard Chartered, CITIC Capital and the National Social Security Fund, China’s biggest pension fund. This investment comes ahead of Cinda’s plans to sell shares on domestic and foreign markets. The company is one of four large asset managers created by government in 1999 to get rid of bad loans from China’s large lenders.

[Editor’s note: the above is from a cross post that originally appeared on Wall St. Cheat Sheet.]