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Keystone Pipeline Bill Passes House, Lacks Match in U.S. Senate | By Katarzyna Klimasinska | 2012-02-17T05:00:17Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/keystone-pipeline-advances-as-house-passes-oil-drilling-bill-1-.html | 2 | 17 | c835c38afcbf4a77a0743b404f09150a | Legislation that would force U.S.
approval of TransCanada Corp. (TRP) ’s Keystone XL pipeline and open
Atlantic waters to offshore drilling passed the House, a measure
that the Senate doesn’t plan to consider. The bill, approved 237-187 yesterday, would strip President
Barack Obama ’s authority to decide on TransCanada’s $7 billion
project and give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 30
days to approve the pipeline after it’s deemed safe. Obama rejected Keystone last month and asked the Calgary-
based company to find a route that wouldn’t endanger a Nebraska
aquifer. “This legislation would create hundreds of thousands of
good-paying jobs for American workers,” Representative Doc Hastings, a Washington Republican and chairman of the House
Natural Resources Committee, said during a floor debate. “It’s
time to secure our own future with American-made energy.” The measure is part of the House Republicans’ three-bill
plan to add jobs, lower energy imports and finance highways and
mass-transit programs. A portion of the revenue would come from
giving oil producers access to federal waters off the coasts of
California, Florida and Virginia . The House plans to complete
action on the measures after taking a recess next week. The House and Senate are examining proposals for funding
projects from non-transportation sources. The House will next
consider a measure forcing federal employees to pay more toward
their pensions. The Senate began debating a separate measure
last week, which doesn’t include a Keystone provision. Wildlife Refuge The House bill passed yesterday would permit energy
production in a part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and
oil-shale deposits of Colorado. “We all know these places are not going to be developed in
the near term at all,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said
during a hearing at the House’s natural resources panel this
week. “They will not fund the transportation needs of the
United States of America .” The bill would raise $4.28 billion by 2022, less than 10
percent of the revenue needed to pay for transportation
projects, Representative Ed Markey of Massachusetts , senior
Democrat on the committee, said on Feb. 15. Democrats and environmental groups said the beaches of
California and Florida are too pristine to risk being spoiled by
an oil spill , while oil-shale production may taint Colorado’s
drinking water sources. NRDC Opposition Keystone XL is opposed by groups such as the Natural
Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club , that say the crude to
be carried is corrosive and air pollution will increase during
production and refining. The number of people needed to operate and maintain the
1,661-mile (2,673-kilometer) pipeline may be as few as 20,
according to the U.S. State Department, or as many as a few
hundred, according to TransCanada. Senate Republicans on Feb. 15 introduced legislation that
would bar the Obama administration from using the U.S. Strategic
Petroleum Reserve unless Keystone XL pipeline is approved. The bill is H.R. 3408. The other measures are H.R. 3813 and
H.R. 7. To contact the reporter on this story:
Katarzyna Klimasinska in Washington at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jon Morgan at
[email protected] | 2012 | keystone-pipeline-advances-as-house-passes-oil-drilling-bill-1- |
UN’s Ban Says ‘Onus on Iran’ to Show Peaceful Atomic Intent | By Jonathan Tirone | 2012-02-17T10:23:03Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/un-s-ban-says-onus-on-iran-to-show-peaceful-atomic-intent-1-.html | 2 | 17 | 60318e0ea7734a62855f99d233859683fc294df3 | United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said Iranian assertions that its nuclear program is
peaceful are unconvincing and that it is up to the government in
Tehran to assuage suspicions over its atomic work. “The onus is on the Iranian side to prove, convince the
international community that their nuclear program is genuinely
for peaceful purposes,” Ban told journalists in Vienna today.
“To my mind, and that of the IAEA, they haven’t been able to
convince the international community,” he added, referring to
the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency watchdog. IAEA inspectors will return to Tehran for a second time in
a month for meetings with Iranian atomic officials Feb. 21 and
22. Iran has been under investigation since 2003 over suspected
nuclear-nuclear weapons work. The UN Security Council has passed
four sets of sanctions against atomic officials and companies in
Iran. Israel and the U.S. haven’t ruled out the use of military
force. “All these issues must be resolved through negotiation,
through dialogue,” Ban said. “There is no alternative to a
peaceful resolution on this issue.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Jonathan Tirone in Vienna at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Boris Groendahl at
[email protected] | 2012 | un-s-ban-says-onus-on-iran-to-show-peaceful-atomic-intent-1- |
‘Spider-Man’ Trial Over Script Royalties Scheduled for January | By Philip Boroff | 2012-02-17T20:00:46Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/-spider-man-trial-over-taymor-s-script-royalties-is-scheduled-for-january.html | 2 | 17 | 2192df5956284dfcbf476f4b87e128d2 | Director Julie Taymor and the
producers of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” are set to square
off in federal court in Manhattan in January, 2013, 10 years
after Marvel Entertainment (MVL) began negotiating for its superhero
to fly on Broadway. In court today, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest
scheduled a jury trial to start Jan. 7, to resolve Taymor’s
claim that she’s owed money as co-author of the show. Yesterday, producers and the Stage Directors and
Choreographers Society announced a settlement regarding her
director royalties. The lead producers are Michael Cohl and
Jeremiah Harris. Taymor, 59, was removed from the stunt-filled $75 million
musical in March, 2011, after critics lambasted it during an
extended preview period. She sued the producers on Nov. 8,
saying they violated her intellectual property rights by making
changes without her permission and didn’t pay royalties due her
as a co-book writer. In her suit, Taymor claims she’s owed at least $2,917.50 a
week from April 17, 2011, to the present, plus damages. Dale Cendali, a lawyer for Cohl and Harris’s 8 Legged
Productions, declined to comment after the hearing. Taymor’s
spokesman, Chris Kanarick, didn’t return an e-mail today. Possible Settlement “It is my understanding that there is interest from both
parties to settle the author dispute,” said Laura Penn,
executive director of SDC, which represents directors and
choreographers. In 2003, producers began negotiating with Marvel about
staging “Spider-Man” on Broadway, according to Taymor’s suit.
The original producing team approached Bono and The Edge of the
band U2 to write a score; they approached Taymor to direct. In
2004, she wrote a three-page treatment for the show and the
following year she registered it with the U.S. Copyright Office,
according to her suit. All agreed Taymor was to be co-book writer and have
creative control over the show, she said in her complaint. Cohl and Harris took over as lead producers in 2009,
according to court papers, after the first team faced
“financing difficulties,” according to Taymor’s complaint.
(The leader of that team, Tony Adams, had died in 2005.) Countersuit Filed In a countersuit filed on Jan. 17 and amended yesterday, 8
Legged Productions said Taymor refused to listen or cooperate
after a problematic first preview, on Nov. 28, 2010. “The show is a success despite Taymor, not because of
her,” according to the countersuit, which seeks unspecified
damages against her. Taymor breached her obligations by “refusing to perform
her duties as a co-writer of the book” and breached her
fiduciary duties, 8 Legged said in the countersuit. It seeks
damages to be determined at trial. As part of the settlement yesterday, Taymor is entitled to
director royalties of $9,750 a week, from the beginning of the
production until it closes. The case is Julie Taymor v. 8 Legged Productions LLC, 1:11-
cv-08002-RJH, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
(Manhattan). To contact the reporter on this story:
Philip Boroff in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jeffrey Burke at
[email protected] | 2012 | -spider-man-trial-over-taymor-s-script-royalties-is-scheduled-for-january |
U.S. Companies Reporting Higher Quarterly EPS, Feb. 17 | By Wendy Soong | 2012-02-17T21:26:43Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/u-s-companies-reporting-higher-quarterly-eps-feb-17.html | 2 | 17 | cf3533b296d512c1b5b33c3e52a4ce9715348820 | The following U.S. companies reported higher
earnings per share for their latest quarter (end date of the quarter is
noted in the last column). Earnings estimates provided by Bloomberg.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Wendy Soong in New York at at [email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Alex Tanzi at at
[email protected] | 2012 | u-s-companies-reporting-higher-quarterly-eps-feb-17 |
Oil Options Volatility Falls as Crude Heads for Weekly Gain | By Ksenia Galouchko | 2012-02-17T18:37:36Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/oil-options-volatility-falls-as-crude-heads-for-weekly-gain.html | 2 | 17 | e6fb845938b4d45faa83afd7165f5421be5c18a6 | Oil options volatility fell as crude
climbed, heading for the biggest weekly gain this year, on signs
of an improving U.S. economy and progress on a Greek bailout
that bolstered the outlook for fuel demand. Implied volatility for at-the-money options expiring in
April, a measure of expected price swings in futures and a gauge
of options prices, was 28.3 as of 1 p.m. in New York, down from
29.9 yesterday. Crude for March delivery gained $1.12 to $103.43 a barrel
on the New York Mercantile Exchange . Prices have ranged between
$92.52 and $103.74 since Dec. 16. “As the price rises, the volatility is going to come
off,” Fred Rigolini, vice president of Paramount Options Inc.
in New York, said by telephone. “We’re starting to break out of
the range we’ve been in for the last month or so.” Volatility for 25-delta calls, which gain 25 cents for each
dollar rise in futures prices, was 30.6, little changed from
30.7 a week ago, while 25-delta puts were 27.9, down from 30.2. The most active options in electronic trading today were
April $150 calls. They slipped 1 cent to 10 cents a barrel with
1,642 contracts trading as of 1:35 p.m. in New York . Next were
April $100 puts, which dropped 52 cents to $1.62 a barrel on
1,580 lots. A contract covers 1,000 barrels of crude. Calls were
51 percent of the volume. The exchange distributes real-time data for electronic
trading and releases information on floor trading, where the
bulk of options trading occurs, the next business day. Calls accounted for 54 percent of the volume yesterday. May
$125 calls were the most actively traded options, with 6,927
lots changing hands. They rose 8 cents to 82 cents a barrel. The
next-most active options, December 2013 $140 calls, fell 17
cents to $3.07 a barrel on volume of 5,000 lots. Open interest was highest for December $80 puts with 42,336
contracts. Next were December $150 calls with 38,817 lots and
December $100 calls with 34,548. To contact the reporter on this story:
Ksenia Galouchko in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at
[email protected] | 2012 | oil-options-volatility-falls-as-crude-heads-for-weekly-gain |
Gasoline Futures Decline on Report U.S. Consumer Prices Gained | By Ksenia Galouchko | 2012-02-17T14:48:42Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/gasoline-futures-decline-on-report-u-s-consumer-prices-gained.html | 2 | 17 | bf81203b5ea8eb9f69e2cfab48bab18f6fb65ffb | Gasoline fell after two days of
gains as a rise in U.S. consumer prices boosted concern that
demand for the fuel may decline. Futures retreated as the consumer-price index increased 0.2
percent after no change the prior month, the Labor Department
reported today in Washington . Economists surveyed by Bloomberg
forecast a 0.3 percent gain. During the past 12 months, prices
climbed 2.9 percent, the smallest year-over-year advance since
March 2011. “It makes sense that this metric that’s very focused on
the U.S. would have a bigger impact on” gasoline, since it’s a
heavily U.S.-consumed product, Jacob Correll, a commodity
analyst at Summit Energy Inc. in Louisville, Kentucky , said by
phone. March-delivery gasoline fell 1.65 cents, or 0.5 percent, to
$3.0306 a gallon at 9:32 a.m. on the New York Mercantile
Exchange after declining as much as 2.4 cents to $3.0231.
Futures are up 13 percent this year. U.S. gasoline demand last week was the lowest level for
this time of year in weekly data since 2003, Energy Department
data show. Consumption over the past four weeks was 6.4 percent
below a year earlier. “High gasoline prices are going to put a crimp in growth
at some point, but it’s not going to stop growth,” Carl Larry,
president of the New York City-based Oil Outlooks & Opinions
LLC, said by phone. “We are going to get used to this, we are
going to change our driving patterns. It’s not going to slow the
path of recovery.” Heating oil for March delivery fell 1.51 cents, or 0.5
percent, to $3.1946 a gallon on the exchange. Futures have
advanced 8.8 percent this year. Regular gasoline at the pump, averaged nationwide, rose 0.6
cent to $3.529 yesterday, according to AAA data. Prices were 12
percent higher than a year earlier. To contact the reporter on this story:
Ksenia Galouchko in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at
[email protected] . | 2012 | gasoline-futures-decline-on-report-u-s-consumer-prices-gained |
Hyundai, Kia Sued by Toyota Foe in Fight Over Hybrids | By Susan Decker | 2012-02-17T21:53:57Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/hyundai-kia-sued-by-toyota-foe-in-patent-fight-over-hybrids.html | 2 | 17 | bb15c21cbec54d735766a59183ed544eebd9360e | Hyundai Motor Co. (005380) and Kia Motors
Corp. (000270) were named in a patent-infringement lawsuit filed by a
company that had been embroiled in a years-long fight with
Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) over hybrid-engine technology. Closely held Paice LLC and Baltimore’s Abell Foundation , a
non-profit that’s invested in Paice, filed the suit yesterday in
federal court in Baltimore, accusing the Seoul-based automakers
of infringing three patents. The complaint targets Hyundai’s Sonata Hybrid and the Kia
Optima Hybrid. Hyundai and Kia, which are affiliated and whose
hybrid vehicles use the same powertrain technology, were aware
of the patent litigation with Toyota. The litigation ended with
a 2010 settlement reached after eight years of legal fighting,
Paice said. “Since as early as 2004, Paice has contacted Hyundai on
numerous occasions and offered to discuss its patented hybrid
technology,” Paice said in the complaint. The company is
seeking cash compensation and an order that prevents further use
of the technology without permission. “Hyundai Motor America is still examining the issues
raised in the lawsuit, which we received a short time ago, and
is not able to comment on the specifics of the suit at this
time,” Chris Hosford, a spokesman for Hyundai said. Officials
with Kia couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Paice was founded by Alex Severinsky, a Soviet emigrant who
began his career developing antitank-warfare instrumentation. In
the 1990s, he developed a high-voltage method to power gas-
electric vehicles that he contends is the basis for modern
hybrid technology. Ford Motor Co. (F) , maker of the Fusion hybrid car, also agreed
to license Paice’s technology to resolve lawsuits. The case is Paice LLC v. Hyundai Motor Co., 12cv499, U.S.
District Court for the District of Maryland (Baltimore). To contact the reporter on this story:
Susan Decker in Washington at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Shepard at
[email protected] | 2012 | yundai-kia-sued-by-toyota-foe-in-patent-fight-over-hybrids |
U.S. Exporters Make Record Single-Day Soybean Sale to China | By Alan Bjerga and Whitney McFerron | 2012-02-17T20:42:38Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/china-soybean-import-tops-one-day-record-as-ties-with-u-s-growers-expand.html | 2 | 17 | e6757214d5604e5083e6b5d68b345df6 | Soybean exporters in the U.S., the
world’s top shipper, sold 2.923 million metric tons to China in
the biggest one-day deal on record. Prices in Chicago rose to
the highest in almost five months. The sale includes 2.75 million tons for delivery in the
year that begins Sept. 1 and 173,000 tons prior to Aug. 31, the
U.S. Department of Agriculture said today in a statement. China
is the largest oilseed importer and the biggest buyer of U.S.
agricultural products. U.S. and Chinese officials yesterday signed a five-year
accord to cooperate on agricultural production and trade and
food security. This week, China signed agreements in Iowa to
purchase 8.62 million tons of soybeans as Chinese Vice President
Xi Jinping visited the state. The Asian nation purchased $22.17
billion of U.S. farm products last year, helping to boost total
exports to a record. “No doubt those were whopper sales,” Don Roose , the
president of U.S. Commodities Inc. in West Des Moines , Iowa,
said in a telephone interview. “With the Chinese in town,
there’s something to that.” Cargill, ADM Sales Companies including Cargill Inc. and Archer Daniels Midland
Co. signed contracts on Feb. 15 to export $4.3 billion of
soybeans to China. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who
met with Xi and Chinese farm minister Han Changfu in Iowa during
their visit this week, said the sales highlight a strong
relationship he expects will expand. “I have a good relationship with the Chinese agriculture
minister, and I think these discussions will bring progress
later” on boosting sales of soybeans and other products,
including some U.S. beef cuts currently banned in the country,
Vilsack said. Soybean futures for May delivery rose 0.7 percent to close
at $12.7375 a bushel at 1:15 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade.
Earlier, the price reached $12.795, the highest for the most-
active contract since Sept. 23. “Agriculture has become one of the highlights in U.S.-
Chinese relations,” Han said yesterday at a symposium in Des
Moines . “Agriculture has had a huge benefit on both
countries.” The U.S. is the largest exporter of agricultural products.
China, the most-populous country, bought $10.5 billion of the
U.S. soybean crop last year, 29 percent of total production,
according to USDA data. Global soybean consumption has soared in the past decade,
fueled by economic growth in China, India and Brazil that
boosted incomes and demand for vegetable oil used in fried and
baked foods, candy and breads. People also are eating more meat,
increasing the need for the oilseed to make livestock feed. To contact the reporters on this story:
Alan Bjerga in Washington at
[email protected] ;
Whitney McFerron in Chicago at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Steve Stroth at
[email protected] | 2012 | china-soybean-import-tops-one-day-record-as-ties-with-u-s-growers-expand |
Exelon Gains Maryland’s Approval for Constellation Takeover | By Julie Johnsson | 2012-02-17T22:40:35Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/exelon-gains-maryland-s-approval-for-constellation-takeover-1-.html | 2 | 17 | a0abecd66244148d8a6f8c1795e3d9409de32fb8 | Exelon Corp. (EXC) won conditional
approval from Maryland regulators for its takeover of
Constellation Energy Group Inc. (CEG) , leaving one regulatory hurdle
to the $7.36 billion merger announced nine months ago. The five-member Public Service Commission voted to set 40
conditions for approving the deal, including a $113.5 million
fund to assist customers, more renewable-energy investments and
a $100 customer rebate, according to a statement today. The terms incorporate more than $1 billion in investments
that Chicago-based Exelon pledged in December as part of a
settlement with Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley , quadrupling
the $250 million package of economic incentives Exelon proposed
when the merger was announced. “We accept the additional conditions that the Comission
has imposed,” Exelon Chief Operation Officer Christopher M. Crane said in a statement. He will become chief executive
officer after the merger is completed. Texas , New York, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and
Justice Department have signed off on the merger. The Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees wholesale
electricity markets and power transmission, is the last approval
needed. The deal is expected to close by March 31, John Rowe ,
Exelon’s chairman and CEO, said during a Jan. 25 earnings call. Appeasing the Opposition Analysts had predicted Maryland would prove Rowe’s toughest
challenge in gaining approval for the transaction announced
April 28. O’Malley, who in 2006 thwarted a takeover of
Baltimore-based Constellation by Florida’s NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE) ,
previously opposed the Exelon bid. Exelon pledged to buy more electricity from wind, solar and
biomass power plants in the state. It also announced a
settlement with Electricite de France that guarantees the
partner on Constellation’s nuclear power plants a role in the
operation of the reactors. Regulators redirected some of the money that Exelon had
earlier pledged to O’Malley into a new $113.5 million fund that
will assist low-income customers and support energy efficiency. Exelon fell 0.6 percent to $39.27 at the close in New York .
Constellation declined 0.7 percent to $36.40. To contact the reporter on this story:
Julie Johnsson in Chicago at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Susan Warren at
[email protected] | 2012 | exelon-gains-maryland-s-approval-for-constellation-takeover-1- |
China’s Stocks Rise, Poised for Longest Weekly Rally Since November 2010 | By Bloomberg News | 2012-02-17T05:47:25Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/china-s-stocks-rise-poised-for-longest-weekly-rally-since-november-2010.html
China’s stocks rose, driving the
benchmark index toward the longest weekly gains in 15 months, as
fewer U.S. jobless claims and speculation Greece will secure a
second European debt bailout bolstered the outlook for China’s
two biggest export markets. China Life Insurance Co. (LFC) gained 2 percent, leading a gauge
of financial stocks to the biggest advance among industry groups
after the insurer’s premium income rose 12 percent in January.
China Cosco Holdings Co., the world’s largest operator of dry-
bulk ships, advanced 2 percent. China Vanke Co., the largest
property developer, slid 0.8 percent after the Economic
Information Daily quoted a housing official as saying the
government will keep property curbs in place for the long term. “The global economy isn’t as bad as some people had
feared, which is good for China and Chinese companies,” Jeff Papp, a senior analyst in Lisle, Illinois , at Oberweis Asset
Management Inc., which manages $700 million including Chinese
stocks, said by phone yesterday. “Most people still expect
China’s central bank will do more easing as the government has
shifted to a more accommodative mode in supporting growth.” The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) rose 6.6 points, or 0.3
percent, to 2,363.49 as of 1:36 p.m. local time. The CSI 300
Index added 0.3 percent to 2,543.83. The Bloomberg China-US 55
Index , the measure of the most-traded U.S.-listed Chinese
companies, added 1.5 percent yesterday in New York . The Shanghai Composite has advanced 0.6 percent this week,
a fifth week of gains and the longest winning streak since Nov.
5, 2010. It has rebounded 9.7 percent from a Jan. 5 low on
speculation the central bank will cut reserve-requirement ratios
for lenders to spur growth. It announced a reduction in reserve
ratios on Nov. 30, the first since 2008, after boosting them and
interest rates last year to cool inflation. Global Economy China may cut banks’ reserve requirements three more times
in the first half, after the central bank said this week it is
targeting greater growth in money supply in 2012, HSBC Holdings
Plc economists said in a report e-mailed yesterday. A gauge of banks, insurers and brokers in the CSI 300 added
0.6 percent, the most among 10 industry groups. China Life rose
2 percent to 18.63 yuan after it said last month’s premium
income increased to 49.1 billion yuan ($7.8 billion) from 43.9
billion yuan a year ago. Rival Ping An Insurance Group Co.
advanced 0.7 percent to 39.95 yuan. Asian stocks rose today after reports showed Americans
filed the fewest claims for jobless benefits since March 2008
and builders broke ground on more houses than expected.
Manufacturing in the Philadelphia region expanded this month at
the fastest pace in four months as orders and sales rose. Europe Debt European governments are considering cutting interest rates
on emergency loans to Greece and using contributions from the
European Central Bank to plug a new financing gap in the second
Greek bailout, two people familiar with the talks said. Europe and the U.S. account for about 35 percent of China’s
overseas shipments, according to Shenyin & Wanguo Securities Co.
China Cosco advanced 2 percent to 5.62 yuan. Commerce Minister Chen Deming said he is looking to support
exporters by easing funding pressures on companies and keeping
the local currency’s exchange rate stable, according to a Feb.
12 statement published on his ministry’s website. China may set its lowest annual growth target in eight
years as authorities place less emphasis on the pace of
expansion and the global economy remains weak, Fan Jianping ,
chief economist at the government-run State Information Center,
said. Lower Targets Premier Wen Jiabao may announce a 7 percent or 7.5 percent
target for economic growth this year at the annual National
People’s Congress meetings that convene in March, Fan said in an
interview yesterday. The last time China set a growth target
below 8 percent was in 2004, when the goal was 7 percent. An index tracking housing developers in the Shanghai stock
exchange fell 0.4 percent today. China Vanke slid 0.8 percent to
7.73 yuan. Gemdale Corp. declined 1.7 percent to 5.25 yuan. The property gauge slumped 18 percent last year as the
government limited mortgages and restricted home purchases to
rein in home prices that increased in the previous two years.
The cooling market helped slow gross domestic product growth in
2011 to 9.2 percent, matching the smallest expansion since 2002. China’s housing market is experiencing the “mother” of
all bubbles, and a property slump will hurt everything from
Australian mining firms to Europe’s luxury-goods makers,
according to Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co. “We are very concerned” about China’s economy , Peter Chiappinelli, a portfolio strategist for asset allocation at
Boston-based GMO, said at the Bloomberg Link Portfolio Manager
Mash-Up Conference in New York. “All bubbles pop eventually.” GMO, which oversees $97 billion in assets, is betting that
shares of Chinese real-estate developers, construction companies
and cement producers will decline, said Chiappinelli. The iShares FTSE China 25 Index Fund , the biggest Chinese
exchange-traded fund in the U.S., rose to a one-week high as
China Mobile Ltd. (CHL) and Cnooc Ltd. (CEO) jumped on speculation of more
monetary easing. | 2 | 17 | 26b97bd1640e45bca4ad6ba7d8b6ea95 | Zhang Shidong in Shanghai at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Darren Boey at [email protected] | 2012 | china-s-stocks-rise-poised-for-longest-weekly-rally-since-november-2010 |
Obama Says Export Aid Will Help U.S. Companies Compete | By Kate Andersen Brower and Susanna Ray | 2012-02-17T23:07:10Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/obama-pushes-export-aid-at-boeing-victory-lap-after-nlrb-clash.html | 2 | 17 | f27480202a5246b19540b2e8fc06a747 | President Barack Obama promised to
boost support for U.S. manufacturers such as Boeing Co. (BA) that
face subsidized foreign competition as part of his drive to
increase exports. Expanding on proposals he outlined in his State of the
Union address last month, Obama announced plans for Export-
Import Bank financing for U.S. companies for domestic as well as
overseas sales to match foreign competitors’ sources of official
funding. The bank will give “American companies a fair shot by
matching the unfair export financing that their competitors
receive from other countries,” Obama said today at Boeing’s jet
factory in Everett, Washington, which has more than 35,000
employees. Obama toured the Boeing plant, providing him with an
industrial backdrop for his manufacturing initiatives. Boeing
has 85 percent of its $296 billion jetliner backlog from buyers
outside the U.S., making the Chicago-based company pivotal to
Obama’s plan to double exports by the end of 2014. The aircraft
maker plans to increase commercial-jet production by more than
60 percent between 2010 and 2014. The facility just north of Seattle is where Boeing builds
wide-body jets. Erected in 1967, it remains the world’s biggest
building by volume and houses the production lines for the 747
jumbo jet, 767, 777 and the new 787 Dreamliner, which was
Obama’s backdrop. Air Force One, the presidential 747, was
assembled there. Boeing a Symbol “The president has embraced U.S. manufacturing, and Boeing
is an iconic symbol of U.S. success,” said Harley Shaiken , a
labor professor at the University of California at Berkeley. The U.S. lost 1.9 million manufacturing jobs since December
2007, the start of an 18-month recession that was the worst
since the Great Depression. “We can’t bring every job back,” Obama said. “But right
now, it’s getting more expensive to do business in places like
China . Meanwhile American workers have never been more
productive, and companies like Boeing are finding out that even
when we can’t make things faster or cheaper than China we can
make them better.” Obama also named two new members to the President’s Export
Council today. Gary Loveman, chief executive officer of casino
operator Caesars Entertainment Corp., and Denise Morrison, CEO
of Campbell Soup Co., are joining the advisory committee. Assembly Line Obama spoke at the end of the 787 assembly line. He was
given a tour of the factory and then appeared to a crowd of
hundreds of Boeing workers, stepping down to a stage on the
factory floor from a red-carpeted staircase leading from a 787
Dreamliner in the livery of United Continental Holdings Inc.,
which will be the first U.S. carrier to fly the plane. David Eddines, 57, of Everett, a quality technician on the
787 Dreamliner assembly line, met the president during his tour
of the factory today with Boeing Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney and commercial-jet President Jim Albaugh . “I found it reassuring that he said America is going to
rebound,” Eddines said in an interview after Obama’s speech.
“There’s a lot of fixing that needs to take place. There’s a
lot of loopholes for companies taking work abroad.” In his State of the Union speech, Obama called for a
program to provide credit to companies competing against foreign
counterparts that benefit from preferential credit from their
governments. Foreign Competition The administration will use existing authority “so that
the Export-Import Bank can provide U.S. firms competing for
domestic or third-country sales with matching financing support
to counter foreign non-competitive official financing that fails
to observe international disciplines,” the White House said in
a statement released in conjunction with Obama’s Boeing visit. The duopoly in jetliner production shared by Boeing and its
larger European rival, Airbus SAS (EAD) , is being challenged by new
competitors. Canada’s Bombardier Inc. and China’s Comac are
developing new single-aisle planes set to enter service this
decade that will compete with the 737 and the A320, the
workhorses of the airline industry. John Kvasnosky, spokesman for Boeing Capital Corp., said
Obama’s move to increase Ex-Im support was a new initiative. “We’re always encouraged about efforts to support U.S.
competitiveness, but we need to understand more about how it
would apply in our circumstances,” he said in an interview
before the president spoke. Plan Critic Chris Chocola, head of the anti-tax advocacy group Club for
Growth, said the aid would just create a “corporate welfare
slush fund” for companies with lobbyists, such as Boeing. “Congress should end the federal bank of Boeing, and
instead promote more international trade through corporate tax
reform and lower tariffs,” Chocola said in a statement. Obama also called for extending the lending authority of
the Ex-Im Bank, which may reach its $100 billion ceiling before
April. The bank, which is self-sustaining, provides financing to
U.S. exporters through loans, loan guarantees and payment
insurance. About 3,600 companies benefited last year from its
credit. Over the last three years the bank supported the export
of about 460 Boeing jets. Boeing and the White House have numerous ties: McNerney is
chairman of the President’s Export Council; William Daley left
Boeing’s board to become Obama’s chief of staff; John Bryson ,
also a Boeing director, became Obama’s Commerce secretary in
October. NLRB Complaint Boeing was targeted in a 2011 National Labor Relations
Board complaint that Republicans said showed the
administration’s hostility toward business. The case was dropped
after a new union accord helped pave the way for a planned
output boost at the biggest U.S. exporter. “It is a love-hate relationship,” with the company and
the White House wanting and needing rapport yet clashing over
regulations, said Gary Chaison , a labor professor at Clark
University in Worcester, Massachusetts . “Boeing becomes
incredibly symbolic now after the troubles they’ve been through
with the NLRB.” Obama is on the last day of a three-day trip in which he
also is raising money for his re-election campaign in California
and Washington state. Fundraising Stops He raised more than $6 million from California donors,
including money taken in at a fundraising dinner on Feb. 15 co-
hosted by actor Will Ferrell and attended by George Clooney. Obama left the Boeing facility for a lunch with 65 people
at the home of Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) co-founder Jeff Brotman
and his wife, Susan, in Medina, Washington. Among those who
attended were Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates . Obama also is raising money at a reception later in
Bellevue, Washington. Ticket prices for the lunch cost $17,900
and ticket prices for the reception started at $1,000. The
campaign expects the two events to bring in at least $1.6
million. Last month, Obama raised $12 million for his re-election
campaign, according to disclosures filed today with the Federal
Election Commission . Counting money raised for the party at
events featuring the president, Obama took in $29.1 million last
month. Obama’s major fundraising events solicit donations for
both his re-election campaign and the Democratic National
Committee. To contact the reporters on this story:
Kate Andersen Brower in Everett, Washington at
[email protected] ;
Susanna Ray in Everett, Washington at
[email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Ed Dufner at
[email protected] ;
Steven Komarow at
[email protected] | 2012 | obama-pushes-export-aid-at-boeing-victory-lap-after-nlrb-clas |
Ethiopia Plans to Seek Tougher UN Sanctions Against Eritrea | By William Davison | 2012-02-17T16:30:09Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/ethiopia-plans-to-seek-tougher-un-sanctions-against-eritrea.html | 2 | 17 | 272eba7c52a0ff6bc6bd7faf1b2c1956bcf08d0d | Ethiopia will push for stronger
United Nations sanctions on Eritrea’s mining industry in an
attempt to pressure its government to stop supporting rebels,
said State Minister of Foreign Affairs Berhane Gebre Kristos. Ethiopia wants tougher sanctions than those passed at the
UN Security Council last year that advised mining firms to
exercise greater “vigilance” when working in the Horn of
Africa nation, he said in an interview in Addis Ababa, the
capital, today. Mining and a tax on remittances “will be the major targets
with more teeth,” Berhane said. Further measures to restrict
political and military leaders are also sought, he said. Eritrea, with a $2.1 billion economy, has attracted
investment from companies including Canada ’s Nevsun Resources
Ltd. (NSU) An arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban on some
leaders was imposed by the UN in 2009 for supporting Somalia
rebel group al-Shabaab. The Asmara-based government calls the
sanctions “unjustifiable” and denies supporting al-Shabaab or
other rebel groups within Ethiopia. Eritrea became independent from Ethiopia after a 1993
referendum. The two countries fought a border war from 1998 to
2000 that killed 70,000 people, according to the Brussels-based
International Crisis Group . It’s “not in Ethiopia’s interests” to return to
hostilities, Berhane said. “Eritrea does not have the
capability to go to fully-fledged war.” Ethiopia wants the sanctions to change the government’s
behavior, rather than topple President Isaias Afewerki’s
administration, said Berhane. “It is up to the Eritrean people
to decide what kind of government it wants,” he said. To contact the reporter on this story:
William Davison in Addis Ababa at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Antony Sguazzin at
[email protected] | 2012 | ethiopia-plans-to-seek-tougher-un-sanctions-against-eritrea |
Pound Strengthens Versus Euro, Dollar After Retail Sales Unexpectedly Rise | By Emma Charlton | 2012-02-17T09:36:09Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/pound-strengthens-versus-euro-dollar-after-retail-sales-unexpectedly-rise.html | 2 | 17 | 3273ba08921a4a7194b8e548ee5ca2350ecf171b | The pound strengthened against the
dollar and the euro after U.K. retail sales unexpectedly rose
for a second month in January. Sterling appreciated 0.3 percent to $1.5843 at 9:33 a.m.
London time and advanced 0.3 percent to 82.90 pence per euro. Sales including fuel increased 0.9 percent from December,
when they rose 0.6 percent, the Office for National Statistics
said today in London. Economists forecast a 0.3 percent decline,
according to a Bloomberg News survey before the report. To contact the reporter on this story:
Emma Charlton in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Daniel Tilles at
[email protected] | 2012 | pound-strengthens-versus-euro-dollar-after-retail-sales-unexpectedly-rise |
U.S. Companies Reporting Positive EPS Surprises, Feb. 17 | By Wendy Soong | 2012-02-17T21:26:43Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/u-s-companies-reporting-positive-eps-surprises-feb-17.html | 2 | 17 | d4aec086dfe9bc34aac69d2db2fa62cb3fbf903b | The following U.S. companies reported positive
surprises or matched expectations today. This list ranks percent surprises
of actual earnings estimates. Earnings estimates provided by Bloomberg.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Wendy Soong in New York at at [email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Alex Tanzi at at
[email protected] | 2012 | u-s-companies-reporting-positive-eps-surprises-feb-17 |
IPCA-15 mostra inflação abaixo de 6% pela 1ª vez desde 2010 | By Com colaboração de Dominic Carey | 2012-02-17T12:53:59Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/ipca-15-mostra-infla-o-abaixo-de-6-pela-1-vez-desde-2010-1-.html | 2 | 17 | 8da4dbc9ecd8916f23edb5a26a187b862d47c5cc | O Índice Nacional de Preços
ao Consumidor Amplo-15 subiu menos do que o esperado em
fevereiro e no acumulado de 12 meses ficou abaixo de 6 por cento
pela primeira vez desde dezembro de 2010. Os preços, medidos pelo IPCA-15, subiram 0,53 por cento até
o meio de fevereiro, caindo em relação aos 0,65 por cento de
janeiro, e abaixo da mediana das estimativas de 46 analistas em
pesquisa feita pela Bloomberg, que era de 0,56 por cento. A
inflação em 12 meses desacelerou para 5,98 por cento. O presidente do Banco Central , Alexandre Tombini, tem
prometido que os preços ao consumidor vão desacelerar para 4,5
por cento, nível que representa o centro da meta de inflação
este ano. O crescimento recente da economia “abaixo do
potencial” abriu espaço para reduzir mais as taxas de juros sem
pressionar a inflação, disse Tombini em Mumbai este mês. A meta
de inflação é de 4,5 por cento mais ou menos dois pontos
percentuais. A taxa dos contratos de juros com vencimento em janeiro de
2014, o mais negociado hoje, caiu cinco pontos base, ou 0,05
ponto percentual, para 9,60 por cento às 10:15. A inflação desacelerou, motivada pelo grupo de Alimentação
e Bebidas, que subiu 0,29 por cento ante 1,25 no IPCA-15 de
janeiro. O grupo de Transportes teve deflação de 0,05 por cento,
depois de subir 0,79 por cento em janeiro. O crescimento econômico deve se acelerar no segundo
semestre para uma taxa anualizada de mais de 5 por cento devido
a medidas de estímulo do gverno, disse o ministro da Fazenda,
Guido Mantega , ontem. Economistas ouvidos pelo BC na pesquisa
Focus divulgada na segunda-feira estimam que a economia vá
crescer 3,3 por cento este ano e 4,1 por cento no ano que vem. | 2012 | ipca-15-mostra-infla-o-abaixo-de-6-pela-1-vez-desde-2010-1- |
SunPower Jumps Most in Nine Months After Profit Beat Analyst Estimates | By Christopher Martin | 2012-02-17T15:06:32Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/sunpower-jumps-most-in-nine-months-after-profit-beat-analyst-estimates.html | 2 | 17 | 841b5efda4ef55610d9e859da1ced5d841995278 | SunPower Corp. (SPWR) , a solar panel
company majority-owned by Total SA, rose as much as 24 percent
after reporting better-than-estimated earnings. SunPower climbed as much as $1.83 to $9.31, the highest in
nine months, at 10:01 a.m. in New York and has gained 49 percent
this year. Fourth-quarter profit was an adjusted 16 cents a share on
sales of $563.4 million, San Jose , California-based SunPower
said yesterday in a statement. Analysts had expected a loss of 6
cents, the average of 13 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
SunPower said 2012 sales will be in line with previous guidance
of $2.6 billion to $3 billion. To contact the reporters on this story:
Christopher Martin in New York at
[email protected] ; To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at [email protected] . | 2012 | sunpower-jumps-most-in-nine-months-after-profit-beat-analyst-estimates |
Facebook Wins Lawsuit Over Power Ventures’ Unauthorized Use of Login Data | By Phil Milford | 2012-02-17T18:12:29Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/facebook-wins-summary-judgment-ruling-in-power-ventures-case-1-.html | 2 | 17 | 200a28675d809e39da466a198e48dc417bf9f4f0 | Facebook Inc. (FB) , the operator of the
world’s largest social-networking site, won a 2008 lawsuit
accusing Power Ventures Inc.’s Power.com of accessing and
storing users’ login data without authorization. The ruling yesterday by U.S. District Judge James Ware
paves the way for hearings on damages for Facebook. “The undisputed facts establish that defendants
circumvented technical barriers” to access Facebook’s site,
Ware wrote in a 19-page opinion issued without a trial. Facebook sued Power Ventures in December 2008 in federal
court in San Jose, California , saying Power.com offered users
the ability to retrieve their Facebook messages and other
information from Facebook’s computer servers without permission. Facebook, based in Menlo Park , California, accused
Power.com of infringing its copyrights and trademarks and
violating computer fraud and unfair competition laws. It sought
a court order prohibiting further access and unspecific damages. Power Ventures is based in the Cayman Islands , according to
court papers. Power.com is up for sale on the Internet. Facebook filed papers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission for an initial public offering on Feb. 1. “We are pleased that the court ruled in our favor,” Craig
Clark, lead litigation counsel for Facebook, said in an e-mailed
statement. “We will continue to enforce our rights against bad
actors who attempt to circumvent Facebook’s privacy and security
protections and spam people.” “Facebook has established a dangerous precedent for the
future of users rights to own and control their data,” said
Steven Vachani, chief executive officer of Power Ventures, in an
e-mailed statement. “We intend to aggressively continue this
fight.” The case is Facebook Inc. v. Power Ventures Inc., 08CV5780,
U.S. District Court, Northern District of California ( San Jose ). To contact the reporter on this story:
Phil Milford in Wilmington, Delaware, at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Hytha at
[email protected] | 2012 | facebook-wins-summary-judgment-ruling-in-power-ventures-case-1- |
Oriflame Cosmetics Soars on Dividend and 2012 Margin Outlook | By Janina Pfalzer | 2012-02-17T14:35:58Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/oriflame-cosmetics-soars-on-dividend-and-2012-margin-outlook.html | 2 | 17 | d63209268899584b28ab1767a877432c41d45d7e | Oriflame Cosmetics SA (ORI) , a seller of
cosmetics at parties hosted in private homes, rose the most in
over three years in Stockholm trading after it raised the
dividend and said it targets an improved operating margin. Oriflame rose as much 20 percent, the biggest jump since
Nov. 4. 2008, and was the third-biggest gainer in the Stockholm
All-Share Index and the second-biggest in the STOXX Europe 600.
The shares of the Luxembourg-based company advanced 12 percent,
or 26.40 kronor, to 243.60 kronor as of 2:38 p.m. Oriflame posted a 44 percent drop in profit to 31.2 million
euros ($41.1 million), matching the average estimate in a
Bloomberg survey of 11 analysts. The company said it will focus
on improving its operating margin in the current year and raised
its dividend payout to 1.75 euros from 1.50 euros, compared with
a prediction of 1.5 euros for 2011, according to a Bloomberg
dividend forecast . “2011 was a challenging year,” Chief Executive Officer
Magnus Braennstroem said on a conference call. “For 2012, the
focus is to reverse the sales trend and return to growth with
improved operating margin.” Oriflame, which markets makeup in more than 60 countries
through a direct sales force of more than 3 million, posted a
sales decline of 7.1 percent to 408.7 million euros in the
quarter, compared with the average estimate of 403.3 million.
The operating margin before restructuring costs was 12.8 percent
and 11 percent for the full year. Avon Products Inc. (AVP) , the door-to-door cosmetics seller based
in New York , on Feb. 14 reported a fourth-quarter net loss of
$400,000 and said 2012 will be a year of transition and
predicted margins wouldn’t improve. To contact the reporter on this story:
Janina Pfalzer in Stockholm at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christian Wienberg at [email protected] . | 2012 | oriflame-cosmetics-soars-on-dividend-and-2012-margin-outlook |
Televisa Upfront Advertising Sales for 2012 Up 8.9% | By Crayton Harrison | 2012-02-17T15:37:38Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/televisa-upfront-advertising-sales-for-2012-up-8-9-correct-.html | 2 | 17 | 4fa9d4d31be10ed37a5ad50023d37c738a321280 | (Corrects forecast for content sales in second paragraph.) Grupo Televisa SAB’s advance sales
of television advertising for 2012 were up 8.9 percent from the
previous year, Executive Vice President Alfonso de Angoitia
said. Sales in Televisa’s content business will expand 6 percent
to 7 percent this year with an operating profit margin of 47
percent, de Angoitia said today on a conference call. The Sky
satellite-TV unit will expand sales in the mid-single-digit
percentage points, he said. He forecast capital expenses this
year of $850 million. To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Crayton Harrison at
[email protected] | 2012 | elevisa-upfront-advertising-sales-for-2012-up-8-9-correct- |
Enbridge Profit Rises as Rates Boost Oil Pipeline Revenue | By Jim Polson and Mike Lee | 2012-02-17T13:57:21Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/enbridge-profit-rises-as-higher-rates-boost-oil-pipeline-revenue.html | 2 | 17 | 1661838fc7ff1c4f2fa860aa735c55fcccf5f62f | Enbridge Inc. (ENB) , the largest Canadian
pipeline company, said fourth-quarter profit rose 2.8 percent as
it increased rates for oil shippers and margins rose on natural-
gas processing. Net income climbed to C$335 million ($336.8 million) or 44
cents a share, from C$326 million, or 43 cents, a year earlier,
the Calgary-based company said in a statement today. Excluding
items such as gains and losses from financial contracts, per-
share profit was 37 cents, two cents less than the average of 14
analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue rose 31
percent to C$5.44 billion. Enbridge increased rates on an oil pipeline system between
Alberta and Illinois , helping to boost revenue, said Steven Paget, an analyst with FirstEnergy Capital Corp. in Calgary. Oil pipeline net income rose 74 percent to C$203 million as
volumes from oil-sands projects increased. Profit rose fivefold
to $157 million at the gas pipeline and processing unit aided by
wider margins between the price of raw natural gas and products
derived from it such as propane and ethane, a raw material for
plastics. Warmer weather than a year earlier damped profit from gas
distribution as volumes fell. Utility profit fell 43 percent to
C$34 million. Enbridge owns 24,613 kilometers (15,000 miles) of pipelines
that ship more than 2.2 million barrels of crude oil and liquids
a day, according to its website. Pipeline Proposal The company has proposed to build the Northern Gateway
pipeline, a 1,177 kilometer project across the Rocky Mountains
that would bring oil from Canada ’s oilsands to the coast of
British Columbia. Enbridge said in November it will buy ConocoPhillips (COP) ’s 50
percent stake in the Seaway pipeline for $1.15 billion and
reverse the flow to carry crude from Cushing, Oklahoma , to
refineries on the Gulf Coast. A shortage of pipeline capacity
between Cushing and Texas has caused Canadian and West Texas oil
to trade at a discount to imports. The earnings statement was released before the start of
regular trading on North American markets. Enbridge rose 0.7
percent to C$39.20 yesterday in Toronto. To contact the reporters on this story:
Mike Lee in Dallas at
[email protected] ;
Jim Polson in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Susan Warren at
[email protected] | 2012 | enbridge-profit-rises-as-higher-rates-boost-oil-pipeline-revenue |
Conrad Says Crisis May Prod Lawmakers to Cut Debt (Transcript) | By | 2012-02-17T20:16:37Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/conrad-says-crisis-may-prod-lawmakers-to-cut-debt-transcript-.html | 2 | 17 | 9ba289165fee4f3e84055ef81b2662aa | Senate Budget Committee Chairman
Kent Conrad , a Democrat, said in an interview on Bloomberg
Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt ,” airing this
weekend, that an economic catastrophe like the debt crisis in
Europe or a Middle East conflict may be the only way to spark
congressional action this year on a broad reduction of the U.S.
deficit. (This is not a legal transcript. Bloomberg LP cannot
guarantee its accuracy.) AL HUNT: We begin the show with the chairman of the Senate
Budget Committee, Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota . Thank you
for being with us, Senator. SENATOR KENT CONRAD: Good to be with you. HUNT: Let’s talk about the Obama budget. It really doesn’t
come close to the kind of deficit reduction long run that you
have been talking about for years. Isn’t the president really
ducking the long-term tough issue? CONRAD: You know, I don’t think so, and here’s why I say
that, Al. As you know, I’m a deficit hawk. HUNT: I do. CONRAD: I was part of the fiscal commission, part of the
Group of Six. But if we put this all in context, when the
president came in, the economy was in full-speed reverse, was
losing 9 percent on an annual basis, in terms of the gross
domestic product. In the most recent quarter, it’s a positive
2.5 percent. Job growth, we were shedding 800,000 private-sector
jobs a month. We’re now gaining 250,000. HUNT: I’ll cede you the short term. I’m asking, though,
Kent Conrad, Simpson-Bowles, long-term deficit reduction. The
president appointed Simpson-Bowles. He is yet to embrace it.
That’s ducking, isn’t it? CONRAD: Look, in many ways, he did embrace Simpson-Bowles.
If you look at this budget proposal, he has not quite as much
revenue as we had in our proposal. On Medicare, we had $400
billion of savings. He has $360 billion of savings in Medicare.
And - HUNT: Simpson-Bowles takes debt-to-GDP ratio to 60 percent
in 10 years. Obama takes it to 77 percent. That’s not close,
even in horseshoes. CONRAD: Well, remember, part of the test here is the
baseline. In fairness to the president, the Simpson-Bowles
baseline is a very different baseline than the one he is marking
to. And he does have very close to $4 trillion of deficit
reduction in this package. We were - we were more - HUNT: Would you like to see him embrace Simpson-Bowles,
just, I mean, absolutely say, “Let’s pass it”? CONRAD: Of course, things have changed since we did
Simpson-Bowles, so you can’t just embrace Simpson-Bowles at this
point because so many things have already been adopted that were
part of Simpson-Bowles. What I would really like is to have both sides come
together on a bigger package. Frankly, what I tried to sell to
Simpson-Bowles was not a $4 trillion package - HUNT: It was bigger. CONRAD: I tried to sell $6 trillion, because that would
balance the budget in 10 years. HUNT: You have the luxury of retiring, so you can go out on
limbs now. What are the odds that that could happen this year,
that finally both sides get together and say, “OK, let’s do the
big deal”? CONRAD: Look, the odds are very long, because this is an
election year. HUNT: Right. CONRAD: You know, I hear from my Republican friends all the
time, Democrats in the Senate haven’t passed a budget in 1,000
days. It’s like they missed the Budget Control Act. The Budget
Control Act that passed with overwhelming Republican support
that was signed into law by the president is stronger than a
budget resolution, because it’s an actual law. And that sets 10
years of spending caps. So on the discretionary side, the job is largely done. What
is left to do is revenue and the entitlement programs. Both of
those have to be reformed. HUNT: And Harry Reid won’t touch entitlements, and the
Republicans won’t touch revenues. So that kind of makes it
tough. CONRAD: Well, you know, in fairness, it’s not just
Democrats who won’t touch entitlements. Congressman Ryan’s
budget last year didn’t touch Social Security, didn’t touch
Medicare for the next 10 years. So the truth is, the American
people don’t support increasing revenue, don’t support changing
Medicare or Social Security, don’t support having savings out of
defense. So - (CROSSTALK) CONRAD: You know, at the end of the day - and guess what?
People who are elected actually pretty well reflect the people’s
views in the country. HUNT: So you’re not an optimist on doing anything this year
at all? CONRAD: Actually, I am. HUNT: Well, no. You just said the odds were very long. CONRAD: The odds are very long. I am - HUNT: But you still think - CONRAD: I am prepared to go to my colleagues, along with
others of the Group of Six, which is now a Group of Eight, and
lay out a plan and - and see, give people a chance. HUNT: Well, what would force that, though? If the odds are
long, what would force that? If the politics are bad, the odds
are long, what would force your colleagues on both sides of the
aisle to do that? CONRAD: Several possibilities. One, Europe . If Europe tanks
and begins to drag us down, it may become an acute situation
that requires a response. Second possibility is Israel attacking
Iran . That could create a big run-up in oil prices . That could
have dramatic economic effects and also require a fuller long-
term response by the United States. HUNT: So a crisis could force - could force action - CONRAD: Crisis could. HUNT: Let me ask you a couple other questions. It appears
the Republican frontrunner for president right now is none other
than Rick Santorum . You served with him in the Congress for
quite a while. Give me your take on Rick Santorum. CONRAD: Well, Rick is somebody that has no doubts about his
position and very little interest in the views of those who
disagree with him. I think that would be my take on how Senator
Santorum conducted himself with his colleagues when he was in
the Senate. HUNT: So pretty unyielding? CONRAD: Absolutely unyielding. And uncompromising. And
unfortunately, you know, my own view of what’s necessary here is
the left and the right have to get off their fixed positions if
we’re going to get this country back on track. HUNT: Not popular with his colleagues? CONRAD: You know, it’s always hard to know how popular one
is with one’s colleagues, but I wouldn’t say he was going to win
any popularity contest in the Senate. HUNT: Let me talk about the - about the Senate elections.
You’re not running for re-election, but about 70 percent of
those - of the seats that are up this are held by Democrats. A
lot of people say that makes the odds pretty great Republicans
will take control of the Senate, including winning your seat. CONRAD: Well, I don’t think they’re going to win my seat. HUNT: You don’t? You think the Democrats will hold that
seat? CONRAD: Heidi Heitkamp, who was the former attorney general
and succeeded me as tax commissioner when I was elected to the
Senate, is running. And the best polling available shows her
ahead. So I think we will hold my seat. HUNT: Think you’ll hold the Senate? CONRAD: I think we’ll hold the Senate. I do. Especially if
Obama is doing well. HUNT: Let me ask you this, Senator. You have been - you’ve
served nobly for many, many years in Washington , and you know
some of the virtues, but also a lot of the problems. Looking at
the Senate, if you could change one or two things to make it a
more workable institution, what would you change? CONRAD: Well, there are a whole series of things I’d
change. First of all, I would diminish the ability of a handful
of people to stop business in its tracks. We’re now in a
circumstance in which the filibuster is the norm, rather than
the exception, which means you’ve got to have endless, endless
delay - HUNT: So you’d change the filibuster. CONRAD: - in order to move legislation. I absolutely would
change the filibuster. HUNT: Second thing? CONRAD: Second thing I would do is I’d have more moderates
from both sides - HUNT: But how can you do that? CONRAD: - in the Senate of the United States . Well, only
the people can do that, and they’ve got to decide. Look, do you
really want people who are absolutely unwilling to reconsider
their positions in light of changed facts? The facts have
changed. The hard reality is, we’re borrowing 40 cents of every
dollar we spend. Revenue is the lowest it’s been in 60 years;
spending is the highest it’s been in 60 years. Our debt, our
gross debt is now 100 percent of our gross domestic product. Are we going to face up to this? Or are we just going to
keep kicking the can down the road and put this country in
financial jeopardy? HUNT: Senator Kent Conrad, before you leave, we’re going to
have you back on this show, because you’ve been a great guest.
Thank you very much for being with us today. CONRAD: You bet. Enjoyed it. ***END OF TRANSCRIPT*** THIS TRANSCRIPT MAY NOT BE 100% ACCURATE AND MAY CONTAIN
MISSPELLINGS AND OTHER INACCURACIES. THIS TRANSCRIPT IS PROVIDED
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LP. #<610805.56910.2.1.99.7.96># #<734998.263818.2.1.99.7.25># | 2012 | conrad-says-crisis-may-prod-lawmakers-to-cut-debt-transcript- |
Bank of America Said to Warn Investment Bank Equities Unit of Staff Cuts | By Hugh Son | 2012-02-17T20:56:44Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/bank-of-america-said-to-warn-investment-bank-equities-unit-of-staff-cuts.html | 2 | 17 | 2b87f299653355ce9a72bd13e82644662833cc3a | Bank of America Corp. , the U.S.
lender seeking to trim costs in investment banking , told
equities-unit employees to expect targeted dismissals next
month, said two people with knowledge of the message. The firm started to inform workers this week of reductions
scheduled for about March 15, said the people, who asked for
anonymity because the communications are private. Managers told
employees the number of jobs affected wasn’t final yet, and that
the dismissals were meant to free room to hire outsiders while
leaving headcount almost unchanged, the people said. “This reinforces that the equities business continues to
be under significant pressure,” said Richard Lipstein, a
managing director for Boyden Global Executive Search in New
York. “By hiring in spots, they could be trying to increase
their focus in specific areas or getting people who are
considered better performers.” Wall Street firms have reduced staff and pay after revenue
slumped from trading and underwriting equities and debt last
year. The latest firings at Bank of America’s global banking and
markets division aren’t part of Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan ’s efficiency plan, which seeks to cut as much as
$8 billion in annual costs, said the people. Improved Performance Employees were told this week that results improved from
the beginning of the year, said one of the people. In the fourth
quarter, equities sales and trading revenue dropped 16 percent
to $660 million. The global banking and markets unit, run by co-
chief operating officer Thomas K. Montag, posted a $433 million
loss in the fourth quarter. “Tom and his team don’t aspire to lose money in trading,”
Moynihan, 52, told employees in a Jan. 19 staff meeting. Moynihan said last month that he’ll trim as much as
$3 billion in expenses from investment and commercial banking,
trading and wealth management . That phase, scheduled to be
complete in April, will probably include more dismissals at the
Charlotte , North Carolina-based lender. Kerrie McHugh, a Bank of America spokeswoman, said she
couldn’t comment. Financial firms around the world have
disclosed plans to eliminate more than 200,000 jobs. Executives told the company’s investment bankers last month
to expect compensation averaging 25 percent less than last year,
people with knowledge of the discussions said. Instead of cash,
employees were awarded about $1 billion of their year-end pay in
Bank of America shares that can be sold starting this week. Bank of America lost market share last year to rivals
including Morgan Stanley in the trading of equities, bonds,
currencies and commodities, Matthew O’Connor, an analyst at
Deutsche Bank AG, said in a Jan. 19 research note. To contact the reporter on this story:
Hugh Son in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Scheer at [email protected] | 2012 | bank-of-america-said-to-warn-investment-bank-equities-unit-of-staff-cuts |
U.S. January Consumer Price Index Report (Text) | By Alex Tanzi | 2012-02-17T13:30:02Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/u-s-january-consumer-price-index-report-text-.html
Following is the text of the
Jan. consumer prices from the Labor Department. Consumer Price Index - January 2012 The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased
0.2 percent in January on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months,
the all items index increased 2.9 percent before seasonal adjustment. The indexes for food, energy, and all items less food and energy all
rose in January, each increasing 0.2 percent. Within the food group,
the index for food away from home increased while the index for food
at home was unchanged; within the energy group the gasoline index
increased while the index for household energy declined. Within all items less food and energy, the apparel index rose
sharply, and the indexes for shelter, recreation, medical care, and
tobacco increased as well. The indexes for used cars and trucks and
for airline fares both declined, while the new vehicles index was
unchanged. The all items index has risen 2.9 percent over the last 12 months, a
slight decrease from last month's 3.0 percent figure. The index for
energy has risen 6.1 percent over the last year and the food index
4.4 percent; both figures are slight declines from last month. The
index for all items less food and energy has risen 2.3 percent, its
largest 12-month increase since September 2008. Table A. Percent changes in CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): U.S. city
average Seasonally adjusted changes from
preceding month
Un-
adjusted
12-mos. July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. ended 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2012 Jan. 2012 All items............ .3 .3 .3 .0 .1 .0 .2 2.9
Food................. .4 .5 .4 .2 .1 .2 .2 4.4
Food at home......... .6 .6 .6 .2 .0 .2 .0 5.3
Food away from home (1).2 .4 .2 .2 .3 .2 .4 3.1
Energy..................9 .8 1.5 -1.8 -.5 -1.3 .2 6.1
Energy commodities. 1.3 1.1 1.9 -2.6 -.6 -2.0 .9 10.0
Gasoline (all types) 1.5 1.2 2.0 -2.8 -.9 -2.1 .9 9.7
Fuel oil (1)........ -1.7 -.4 -.7 -.5 2.7 -1.0 1.4 12.1
Energy services..... .1 .3 .8 -.4 -.4 -.2 -.8 .5
Electricity......... .5 .1 .6 .2 .2 -.1 .0 2.4
Utility (piped) gas
service............. -1.2 1.0 1.5 -2.6 -2.6 -.6 -2.9 -5.5
All items less food and
energy.............. .2 .2 .1 .2 .2 .1 .2 2.3
Commodities less food and
energy commodities... .2 .3 -.2 .0 .1 -.1 .2 2.2
New vehicles......... .0 .0 -.1 -.2 -.2 -.2 .0 3.2
Used cars and trucks. .8 .7 -.5 -.4 -.4 -.7 -1.0 3.2
Apparel.............. 1.0 .9 -.7 .4 .5 -.1 .9 4.7
Medical care commodities
(1).................. .0 .1 .2 .3 .2 .2 .6 3.2
Services less energy
services.............. .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2 2.3
Shelter............... .2 .2 .1 .2 .2 .2 .2 2.0
Transportation services.0 .2 .4 .2 .0 .1 .0 2.1
Medical care services...3 .3 .2 .5 .4 .4 .2 3.7 1 Not seasonally adjusted. Consumer Price Index Data for January 2012 Food The food index rose 0.2 percent in January, the same increase as in
December. The food at home index was unchanged, as the major grocery
store food groups were mixed. The index for dairy and related
products increased 0.9 percent, and the indexes for meats, poultry,
fish, and eggs and for other food at home increased as well. In
contrast, the index for fruits and vegetables fell 1.3 percent, its
fourth consecutive decline, and the indexes for cereals and bakery
products and nonalcoholic beverages also decreased. Over the last 12
months, the food at home index has risen 5.3 percent. The dairy and
related products index rose 9.0 percent over that span, the largest
increase among the major grocery store food groups, while the fruits
and vegetables index fell 0.1 percent, the only decline among the
groups. The index for food away from home rose 0.4 percent in
January, its largest increase since August, and has increased 3.1
percent over the last 12 months. Energy The energy index rose slightly in January, increasing 0.2 percent
after declining in each of the three previous months. The gasoline
index rose 0.9 percent after declining the three previous months.
(Before seasonal adjustment, gasoline prices increased 3.6 percent in
January.) In contrast, the household energy index declined 0.6
percent. The fuel oil index rose 1.4 percent but the natural gas
index declined 2.9 percent, its fourth consecutive decrease. The
index for electricity was unchanged in January. Over the last 12
months, the gasoline index has risen 9.7 percent while the household
energy index has increased 1.2 percent. The indexes for fuel oil and
electricity have risen over the last year, but the index for natural
gas has declined. All items less food and energy The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.2 percent in
January. The shelter index increased 0.2 percent, with the indexes
for rent, owners' equivalent rent, and lodging away from home all
rising 0.2 percent. The apparel index, which declined in December,
rose sharply in January, increasing 0.9 percent. The recreation index
rose 0.6 percent as the indexes for admissions and toys both rose
notably. The medical care index increased 0.3 percent, with medical
care commodities rising 0.6 percent. The index for tobacco rose 0.5
percent and the indexes for household furnishings and operations and
for personal care increased slightly. In contrast to these increases,
the index for used cars and trucks declined for the fifth month in a
row, falling 1.0 percent, and the index for airline fares fell 0.9
percent. The new vehicles index was unchanged in January after
declining in each of the prior four months. The index for all items less food and energy has risen 2.3 percent
over the last 12 months. The shelter index has risen 2.0 percent over
that span, the first time its 12-month change has been that high
since November 2008. The apparel index has increased 4.7 percent and
the medical care index has risen 3.6 percent. The indexes for both
new vehicles and used cars and trucks have each risen 3.2 percent. Not seasonally adjusted CPI measures The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased
2.9 percent over the last 12 months to an index level of 226.665
(1982-84=100). For the month, the index increased 0.4 percent prior
to seasonal adjustment. The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers
(CPI-W) increased 3.1 percent over the last 12 months to an index
level of 223.216 (1982-84=100). For the month, the index increased
0.5 percent prior to seasonal adjustment. The Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (C-CPI-U)
increased 2.7 percent over the last 12 months. For the month, the
index increased 0.4 percent on a not seasonally adjusted basis.
Please note that the indexes for the post-2010 period are subject to
revision. The Consumer Price Index for February 2012 is scheduled to be
released on Friday, March 16, 2012, at 8:30 a.m. (EDT). C-CPI-U Index Revisions As scheduled, effective with this release of data for January 2012,
the Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (C-CPI-U)
has undergone its annual revision. Because the current expenditure
data required for the calculation of the C-CPI-U are available only
with a time lag, the index is issued first in preliminary form, using
the latest available expenditure data at the time of publication, and
is subject to two subsequent revisions. Therefore, C-CPI-U indexes
for the 12 months of 2010 are issued in final form - employing
monthly expenditure weights from 2010. Values for the 12 months of
2011 are revised and issued as interim, using expenditure weights from
the 2009-2010 period. Calculation of the initial value of the January
2012 C-CPI-U index, and all subsequent months in 2012, will also be
based upon 2009-2010 expenditure weights. For more information on the C-CPI-U, contact Rob Cage by telephone at
(202) 691-6959 or by electronic mail at [email protected] . Redesigning the Consumer Price Index (CPI) Press Release Tables The format of the tables contained in the CPI News Release will
change beginning with the CPI News Release for March, 2012, which
will be issued on Friday, April 13, 2012. News Release tables are
currently available as part of the News Release pdf and html files,
and independently in html format. The new tables will also be
available in XLS format. In addition, the BLS will begin issuing
monthly companion XLS files, which will contain additional index
level and CPI-W information. These tables were made available for public comment during October
2011. In response to the public comments, the BLS will issue XLS
files each month, as companions to the News Release. There will be
CPI-U and CPI-W files, and in addition to the data contained in the
News Release tables, the Excel files will contain index values.
Samples of the companion XLS files will be available with the
February CPI News Release in March 2012. Samples of the new CPI press
release tables are available now at http://www.bls.gov/cpi/mock -
ups.htm. In August 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) restructured the
text of the CPI press release to focus on the price movements of
three broad expenditure categories, namely Food, Energy, and All
items less food and energy. Table A within the CPI press release text
was also updated in August 2009 to reflect this new structure.
Before August 2009, the text of the CPI press release had focused on
eight CPI `major groups' (Food and beverages; Housing; Apparel;
Transportation; Medical care; Recreation; Education and
communication; and Other goods and services). While the text of the CPI press release was restructured in 2009,
seven additional CPI press release tables continued to be published
using the eight major groups. BLS has redesigned these press release
tables, to reflect the focus on Food, Energy, and All items less food
and energy. Within these three broad categories, CPI item series will
be further divided into commodities and services. The CPI News
Release will contain these updated tables beginning with the March
2012 News Release, to be issued on Friday, April 13, 2012. Beyond the redesign in the structure of the CPI press release tables,
several other improvements to these tables have been made. The new Table 1 gives a summary of the index series which typically
contribute to changes in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban
Consumers (CPI-U). The new Table 2 will show the full publication stub using the new
structure for the CPI-U, including 11 new items series that were
created to augment the redesign in the publication structure. Table 3
will show aggregate item series (e.g., Transportation) that do not
fall under the Food, Energy, and All items less food and energy
structure. Table 4 will show the All items indexes at the local, regional, and
city-size class levels. Table 5 will show the Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban
Consumers (C-CPI-U), and presents a history of annual percentage
changes in the C-CPI-U compared to the CPI-U. Table 6 will focus on 1-month seasonally adjusted changes in the CPI-
U, while table 7 will focus on 12-month not seasonally adjusted
changes. Tables 6 and 7 will present three additional pieces of data
to help users better interpret index changes. First, these tables
will show the `effect' each item has on the price change for All
items. For example, if the effect of food is 0.4, and the index for
All items increased 1.2 percent, it can be said that increases in
food prices accounted for 0.4 / 1.2, or 33.3 percent, of the increase
in overall prices for that period. Said another way, had food prices
been unchanged, the All items index only would have increased 0.8
percent (or 1.2 percent for All items, minus the 0.4 effect for
Food). Effects can be negative as well. For example, if the effect
of food was a negative 0.1, and the All items index rose 0.5 percent,
the All items index actually would have been 0.1 percent higher (or
0.6 percent) had food prices been unchanged. Second, standard errors for percent changes will be shown on tables 6
and 7. Confidence intervals for statistics can be created using
standard errors; e.g., roughly 95 percent confidence intervals can be
constructed using two standard errors. For example, if an item
increased 3.7 percent, and its standard error was 0.6 percent, the 95
percent confidence interval for that price change can be said to be
3.7 percent plus or minus two standard errors, or 3.7 percent plus or
minus 1.2 percent. Finally, each item series in tables 6 and 7 will show the last time
that item had a price change as large (or as small) as the percent
change published that period. For example, if bananas rose 3.7
percent, and that was its largest increase since November 2007, that
would be noted in the new tables. In addition, most of the existing tables show the `relative
importance', or weight, of each item category as of the previous
December. The relative importance columns in the new tables will be
improved in that they will be updated monthly to reflect the change
in relative prices over time. Finally, there will no longer be any press release tables that focus
on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical
Workers (CPI-W). That said, the CPI-W All items index level and
percent changes will still be noted in the text of the press release,
and a companion XLS file with CPI-W information will be available. Facilities for Sensory Impaired Information from this release will be made available to sensory
impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200,
Federal Relay Services: 1-800-877-8339.
Expenditure Weight Update Effective with this release, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has
updated the consumption expenditure weights in the Consumer Price
Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) and Consumer Price Index for
Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) to the 2009-10
period. The updated expenditure weights for these indexes replace the
2007-2008 weights that were introduced effective with the January
2010 CPI release. As originally announced by BLS in December 1998,
CPI expenditure weights will continue to be updated at two-year
intervals. Brief Explanation of the CPI The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change in
prices over time of goods and services purchased by households. The
Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes CPIs for two population groups:
(1) the CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W),
which covers households of wage earners and clerical workers that
comprise approximately 29 percent of the total population and (2) the
CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) and the Chained CPI for All Urban
Consumers (C-CPI-U), which cover approximately 88 percent of the
total population and include in addition to wage earners and clerical
worker households, groups such as professional, managerial, and
technical workers, the self-employed, short-term workers, the
unemployed, and retirees and others not in the labor force. The CPIs are based on prices of food, clothing, shelter, and fuels,
transportation fares, charges for doctors' and dentists' services,
drugs, and other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day
living. Prices are collected each month in 87 urban areas across the
country from about 4,000 housing units and approximately 26,000
retail establishments-department stores, supermarkets, hospitals,
filling stations, and other types of stores and service
establishments. All taxes directly associated with the purchase and
use of items are included in the index. Prices of fuels and a few
other items are obtained every month in all 87 locations. Prices of
most other commodities and services are collected every month in the
three largest geographic areas and every other month in other areas.
Prices of most goods and services are obtained by personal visits or
telephone calls of the Bureau's trained representatives. In calculating the index, price changes for the various items in each
location are averaged together with weights, which represent their
importance in the spending of the appropriate population group.
Local data are then combined to obtain a U.S. city average. For the
CPI-U and CPI-W separate indexes are also published by size of city,
by region of the country, for cross-classifications of regions and
population-size classes, and for 27 local areas. Area indexes do not
measure differences in the level of prices among cities; they only
measure the average change in prices for each area since the base
period. For the C-CPI-U data are issued only at the national level.
It is important to note that the CPI-U and CPI-W are considered final
when released, but the C-CPI-U is issued in preliminary form and
subject to two annual revisions. The index measures price change from a designed reference date. For
the CPI-U and the CPI-W the reference base is 1982-84 equals 100.
The reference base for the C-CPI-U is December 1999 equals 100. An
increase of 16.5 percent from the reference base, for example, is
shown as 116.500. This change can also be expressed in dollars as
follows: the price of a base period market basket of goods and
services in the CPI has risen from $10 in 1982-84 to $11.65. For further details visit the CPI home page on the Internet at
http://www.bls.gov/cpi/ or contact our CPI Information and Analysis
Section on (202) 691-7000. Note on Sampling Error in the Consumer Price Index The CPI is a statistical estimate that is subject to sampling error
because it is based upon a sample of retail prices and not the
complete universe of all prices. BLS calculates and publishes
estimates of the 1-month, 2-month, 6-month and 12-month percent
change standard errors annually, for the CPI-U. These standard error
estimates can be used to construct confidence intervals for
hypothesis testing. For example, the estimated standard error of the
1 month percent change is 0.03 percent for the U.S. All Items
Consumer Price Index. This means that if we repeatedly sample from
the universe of all retail prices using the same methodology, and
estimate a percentage change for each sample, then 95% of these
estimates would be within 0.06 percent of the 1 month percentage
change based on all retail prices. For example, for a 1-month change
of 0.2 percent in the All Items CPI for All Urban Consumers, we are
95 percent confident that the actual percent change based on all
retail prices would fall between 0.14 and 0.26 percent. For the
latest data, including information on how to use the estimates of
standard error, see "Variance Estimates for Price Changes in the
Consumer Price Index, January-December 2010". These data are
available on the CPI home page ( http://www.bls.gov/cpi ), or by using
the following link http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpivar2010.pdf Calculating Index Changes Movements of the indexes from one month to another are usually
expressed as percent changes rather than changes in index points,
because index point changes are affected by the level of the index in
relation to its base period while percent changes are not. The
example below illustrates the computation of index point and percent
changes. Percent changes for 3-month and 6-month periods are expressed as
annual rates and are computed according to the standard formula for
compound growth rates. These data indicate what the percent change
would be if the current rate were maintained for a 12-month period. Index Point Change Regions Defined The states in the four regions shown in Tables 3 and 6 are listed
below. The Northeast | 2 | 17 | 65ee74edf4c543d699b0388d23921dc1 | changing climatic conditions, production cycles, model changeovers,
holidays, and sales. The unadjusted data are of primary interest to consumers concerned
about the prices they actually pay. Unadjusted data also are used
extensively for escalation purposes. Many collective bargaining
contract agreements and pension plans, for example, tie compensation
changes to the Consumer Price Index before adjustment for seasonal
variation. Seasonal factors used in computing the seasonally adjusted indexes
are derived by the X-12-ARIMA Seasonal Adjustment Method. Seasonally
adjusted indexes and seasonal factors are computed annually. Each
year, the last 5 years of seasonally adjusted data are revised. Data
from January 2007 through December 2011 were replaced in January
2012. Exceptions to the usual revision schedule were: the updated
seasonal data at the end of 1977 replaced data from 1967 through
1977; and, in January 2002, dependently seasonally adjusted series
were revised for January 1987-December 2001 as a result of a change
in the aggregation weights for dependently adjusted series. For
further information, please see "Aggregation of Dependently Adjusted
Seasonally Adjusted Series," in the October 2001 issue of the CPI
Detailed Report. Effective with the publication of data from January 2006 through
December 2010 in January 2011, the Video and audio series and the
Information technology , hardware and services series were changed
from independently adjusted to dependently adjusted. This resulted
in an increase in the number of seasonal components used in deriving
seasonal movement of the All items and 54 other lower level
aggregations, from 73 for the publication of January 1998 through
December 2005 data to 82 for the publication of seasonally adjusted
data for January 2006 and later. Each year the seasonal status of
every series is reevaluated based upon certain statistical criteria.
If any of the 82 components change their seasonal adjustment status
from seasonally adjusted to not seasonally adjusted, not seasonally
adjusted data will be used in the aggregation of the dependent series
for the last 5 years, but the seasonally adjusted indexes before that
period will not be changed. Note: 38 of the 82 components are not
seasonally adjusted for 2012. Seasonally adjusted data, including the all items index levels, are
subject to revision for up to five years after their original
release. For this reason, BLS advises against the use of these data
in escalation agreements. Effective with the calculation of the seasonal factors for 1990, the
Bureau of Labor Statistics has used an enhanced seasonal adjustment
procedure called Intervention Analysis Seasonal Adjustment for some
CPI series. Intervention Analysis Seasonal Adjustment allows for
better estimates of seasonally adjusted data. Extreme values and/or
sharp movements which might distort the seasonal pattern are
estimated and removed from the data prior to calculation of seasonal
factors. Beginning with the calculation of seasonal factors for
1996, X-12-ARIMA software was used for Intervention Analysis Seasonal
Adjustment. For the seasonal factors introduced in January 2012, BLS adjusted 31
series using Intervention Analysis Seasonal Adjustment, including
selected food and beverage items, motor fuels, electricity and
vehicles. For example, this procedure was used for the Motor fuel
series to offset the effects of events such as damage to oil
refineries from Hurricane Katrina. For a complete list of Intervention Analysis Seasonal Adjustment
series and explanations, please refer to the article "Intervention
Analysis Seasonal Adjustment", located on our website at
http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpisapage.htm . For additional information on seasonal adjustment in the CPI, please
write to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Division of Consumer Prices
and Price Indexes, Washington , DC 20212 or contact David Levin at
(202) 691-6968, or by e-mail at [email protected] . If you have
general questions about the CPI, please call our information staff at
(202) 691-7000. Revised seasonally adjusted changes
Over-the-month percent changes in the U.S. City Average Consumer
Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for All Items and for All
Items less food and energy, seasonally adjusted, using former and
recalculated seasonal factors for 2011. All Items 2011 Former Recalculated Difference January .4 .3 -.1
February .5 .4 -.1
March .5 .5 .0
April .4 .4 .0
May .2 .3 .1
June -.2 .1 .3
July .5 .3 -.2
August .4 .3 -.1
September .3 .3 .0
October -.1 .0 .1
November .0 .1 .1
December .0 .0 .0 All Items less food and energy 2011 Former Recalculated Difference January .2 .2 .0
February .2 .2 .0
March .1 .2 .1
April .2 .2 .0
May .3 .3 .0
June .3 .2 -.1
July .2 .2 .0
August .2 .2 .0
September .1 .1 .0
October .1 .2 .1
November .2 .2 .0
December .1 .1 .0 To contact the reporter on this story:
Alex Tanzi in Washington [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Marco Babic at [email protected] | 2012 | u-s-january-consumer-price-index-report-text- |
Totvs Eyes Acquisitions as Brazil Software Market May Expand 10% | By Taís Fuoco | 2012-02-17T18:38:03Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/totvs-eyes-acquisitions-as-brazil-software-market-may-expand-10-.html | 2 | 17 | 88ceff5b30c5ef00b4f7d6fa4ada99d0cf609da4 | Totvs SA (TOTS3) (TOTS3) plans to buy specialist
information technology companies to attract small and medium-
sized clients as it bets Brazil ’s software market will expand as
much as 10 percent this year, according to Chief Executive
Officer Laercio Cosentino. “We want to be the best software-house option for foreign
companies arriving in Brazil and also for Brazilian companies
doing business outside the country,” Cosentino said in a Feb.
14 interview in Sao Paulo. “There is still a lot of space to
grow.” Sao Paulo-based Totvs, Latin America ’s biggest maker of
business-management software, aims to acquire small IT computer
program providers that target specific market niches, Cosentino
said, without naming particular industries. The company signed a
contract in January with Officer Distribuidora de Produtos de
Informatica SA to sell products targeted at small and medium-
sized businesses in Officer’s 12,000 retail outlets. Only 15 percent of small and medium-sized companies in
Brazil, with between 10 and 499 employees, own a business-
management IT system, according to research firm Gartner Group
Inc. There are 4.6 million companies with less than 10 employees
without management software, Cosentino said. Small and medium-
sized companies in Brazil are likely to grow 10 percent this
year, the same rate as the software industry , compared with
gross domestic product growth of 4 percent, he added said. Totvs currently has 26,000 clients, of which 700 are
outside Brazil. The company would finance acquisitions from its
own cash flow or with loans, Cosentino said. The company posted a record profit of 60 million reais ($35
million) in the fourth quarter, as debt plummeted to 53 million
reais from a peak of 282 million reais at the end of 2008 after
its takeover of Datasul SA. Totvs shares have risen 5.5 percent since its quarterly
earnings were released on Jan. 31 through yesterday. That
compares with a 4.9 percent increase for Brazil’s benchmark
Bovespa (IBOV) stock index in the same period. To contact the reporter on this story:
Taís Fuoco in Sao Paulo at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Telma Marotto at
[email protected] ; | 2012 | otvs-eyes-acquisitions-as-brazil-software-market-may-expand-10- |
Midmorning Negative EPS Surprises for U.S. Companies, Feb. 17 | By Wendy Soong | 2012-02-17T16:37:50Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/midmorning-negative-eps-surprises-for-u-s-companies-feb-17.html | 2 | 17 | 28e9842bacdb1ee39957eefe161e785768d2c6c8 | The following U.S. companies reported
negative earnings surprises today. This list ranks percent
surprises of actual earnings to earnings estimates. Earnings estimates provided by Bloomberg.
* - Company in Standard & Poor’s 500 Index To contact the reporter on this story:
Wendy Soong in New York at at [email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Alex Tanzi at at
[email protected] | 2012 | idmorning-negative-eps-surprises-for-u-s-companies-feb-17 |
U.S. Insider Probe Widens With Ex-SanDisk Official Plea | By Patricia Hurtado and Bob Van Voris | 2012-02-18T05:00:00Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/expert-networker-john-kinnucan-charged-with-insider-trading.html | 2 | 17 | c5ab8d55f09349788ae0d304c3738c2e | Ex-SanDisk Corp. executive Donald Barnetson pleaded guilty to passing nonpublic information to
hedge fund consultant John Kinnucan in the U.S.’s five-year
crackdown on insider trading by fund managers, expert-networking
consultants and employees of publicly-traded companies. Barnetson revealed his own role in the conspiracy yesterday
at a plea hearing in Manhattan federal court. In Portland ,
Oregon, Kinnucan, an analyst who gained national attention for
refusing to cooperate with the FBI, was ordered held without
bail on charges he passed and received illegal tips. The U.S.
said he engaged in a “pattern of threats and intimidation” and
left anti-Semitic messages for prosecutors and FBI agents. U.S.
Magistrate Judge John Acosta set the next hearing for Feb. 22. The probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New
York and the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office, called operation
“ Perfect Hedge ,” has resulted in charges against at least 64
people. Since 2009, more than 50 individuals have either pleaded
guilty or been convicted at trial, including Galleon Group LLC
co-founder Raj Rajaratnam , who is serving an 11-year prison term. In October, the U.S. charged Rajat Gupta , a former Goldman
Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Procter & Gamble Co. director. The
government said he leaked nonpublic information to Rajaratnam.
Gupta, who has denied wrongdoing, is scheduled for trial in May. The U.S. initiative expanded earlier this week to focus on
banks and activities in Taiwan, with an investigation of Henry King, a Goldman Sachs analyst covering Taiwanese technology
companies, a person familiar with the matter said. Outbound Marketing Barnetson, 37, formerly a senior director of outbound
marketing at Milpitas, California-based SanDisk, the biggest
maker of flash-memory cards, said he passed illegal tips.
Kinnucan shared them with clients, according to the plea
agreement, including hedge funds and money managers. Barnetson, who is cooperating with the government, pleaded
guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities and wire
fraud . He faces as long as five years in prison and was ordered
released on $50,000 bond. “I conspired with a consultant to provide confidential
information with regard to my employer at the time, SanDisk
Corp. (SNDK) ,” Barnetson told U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein
at the hearing. Tipped Kinnucan Prosecutors claim Barnetson tipped Kinnucan in July 2010
about SanDisk’s anticipated revenue , which wasn’t public. In
September 2010, he told Kinnucan about confidential negotiations
about a legal dispute between SanDisk and Apple Inc., according
to the complaint. Kinnucan paid Barnetson with a $25,000 investment in a
business he was starting, as well as meals at expensive
restaurants and food deliveries, according to the criminal
complaint against Kinnucan. The consultant also gave Barnetson
inside information about other companies, according to
prosecutors. Kinnucan, 54, the founder of Broadband Research LLC, was
arrested at his Portland home Feb. 16. He was charged in the
criminal complaint unsealed in New York federal court with one
count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud , one count of
conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of securities
fraud. Yesterday, Carlson Capital LP, a $4.4 billion hedge-fund
firm based in Dallas , said that one of its former portfolio
managers had received inside information from Kinnucan. Nine Months “The individual referenced was at the firm for nine months
and left in March 2011,” Carlson said in a statement without
identifying the person. “Carlson has cooperated fully with the
government and has been informed that it is not a target of the
investigation. The former employee was the only member of the
firm to use this consultant.” Kinnucan used “financial incentives, fancy meals and other
inducements to curry favor with public company insiders so
they’d serve up their employer’s secrets,” Manhattan U.S.
Attorney Preet Bharara , whose office is prosecuting the case,
said in a statement. Kinnucan allegedly paid one source of illegal tips $27,500.
He also provided inside information to his clients on the
understanding they would use the tips to execute transactions,
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Avi Weitzman and Katherine Goldstein
said in the complaint. From 2008 to 2010, Kinnucan obtained nonpublic information
such as quarterly revenue numbers from co-conspirators who
worked at publicly traded companies such as F5 Networks Inc.,
SanDisk and Flextronics International Ltd., according to
prosecutors. Sought Information In June and July of 2010, he sought information about F5’s
financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2010, from an
F5 employee, the U.S. said. Kinnucan obtained information about F5's quarterly results
from an F5 employee in a July 2, 2010, telephone call, prosecutors
said. While Kinnucan said revenue guidance the company had
previously provided was $220 million, the F5 employee told
Kinnucan the unadjusted revenue number was actually “$232 million,”
confirming the company would beat Wall Street’s consensus, the
U.S. said. Within minutes of the conversation, Kinnucan called
numerous Broadband clients to provide them with the inside
information and at least two executed trades based in whole or
in part on the information Kinnucan provided, earning profits or
avoiding losses of more than $1.5 million, according to the
government. To attract and retain clients and to hide the true identity
of his sources, Kinnucan lied to Broadband Research clients
about the sources of inside information by claiming falsely that
none of them were employed at publicly traded companies and that
he didn’t pay them for information, the U.S. said. Broadband Research “Kinnucan’s company, Broadband Research, was a misnomer,”
Janice Fedarcyk, head of the FBI’s New York office, said in a
statement. “As the complaint alleges, the information he
obtained and passed along to clients was not the result of
research. It was inside information Kinnucan bought from company
insiders. That kind of information beats research every time.
The only problem is it isn’t legal.” The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a
parallel lawsuit against Kinnucan yesterday in federal court in
Manhattan. The agency claims that he got tips in 2009 and 2010
from insiders at publicly traded technology companies and shared
the information with several unnamed fund managers. The SEC said Kinnucan generated hundreds of thousands of
dollars in annual revenue for Broadband Research from a series
of “well-placed employees” at public companies. Financial Results “Obtaining important unreported financial results from
company insiders and selling that information to hedge funds is
not legitimate expert networking services, it’s old fashioned
insider trading ,” said Robert Khuzami , the SEC’s director of
enforcement. Kinnucan whose public refusal of an FBI request to wear a
wire presaged a dozen insider-trading arrests, said in a July 8
interview that he expected to be arrested. “Am I a target? Yeah, absolutely,” Kinnucan said in the
interview. “There’s a saying that the government indicts who
they investigate, so I have always assumed that I was a
target.” Kinnucan denied he ever received illegal tips on companies,
and insisted the kind of information he provided hedge fund
clients was publicly available. Sent E-Mail In October 2010, he sent an e-mail saying he had been
approached by federal agents who asked him to record
conversations with an unidentified money manager. The message
was sent to about 50 recipients, including clients such as
Wellington Management Co. in Boston , Janus Capital Group Inc. in
Denver and SAC Capital Advisors LP in Stamford, Connecticut .
None of those firms has been accused of wrongdoing. Federal prosecutors in New York last year disclosed in
court papers that they had a court-authorized wiretap on
Kinnucan’s mobile phone. His calls were recorded in talks with
Donald Longueuil, a former SAC portfolio manager, and Level
Global Investors LP co-founder Anthony Chiasson, prosecutors
said. At yesterday’s hearing, prosecutors said Kinnucan should be
held without bail. The U.S. cited numerous calls as well as
ethnic and racial slurs and references to Adolf Hitler and the
Holocaust. “Kinnucan has engaged in volatile and extreme conduct,
using references to genocide, violence and physical harm
directed to the targets of his ominous tirades,” Assistant U.S.
Attorney Chris LaVigne in New York said in papers filed in
federal court in Portland. Hitler On Dec. 6, prosecutors said, Kinnucan left a voice-mail
message for an unidentified prosecutor saying “Remember me? The
guy who you tried to destroy,” followed by a series of
expletives, the government said. Kinnucan added, according to
prosecutors, “Ah, too bad Hitler’s not around. He’d know what
to do with scum like you.” The calls “are the actions of a volatile and hostile
individual” prosecutors argued. He also allegedly threatened
cooperating witnesses, the government said. Longueuil was sentenced in July to 2 1/2 years in prison
for his role in an insider-trading scheme. Chiasson pleaded not
guilty Feb. 14 to conspiracy and securities-fraud charges in
federal court in Manhattan. Assistant U.S. Attorney Antonia Apps said at the Feb. 14
hearing that prosecutors had recordings of conversations between
Chiasson and Kinnucan. Four Men Chiasson was one of four men arrested last month and
charged with participating in a “criminal club” that made
almost $62 million using illegal tips to trade in Dell Inc. (DELL)
stock. Prosecutors said the ring, which allegedly involved five
hedge funds and investment firms, is the largest identified by
the U.S. to date tied to a single stock. Expert-networking firms such as Broadband connect investors
with industry experts who provide insight into a specific market. Walter Shimoon, a former Flextronics International Ltd.
executive charged with insider trading who pleaded guilty in
July, said in court that he gave Kinnucan confidential nonpublic
information about his own company, as well as about OmniVision
Technologies Inc., Apple and Cisco Systems Inc. Kinnucan said in July that he didn’t know why the
government would focus on him, saying his research was
“entirely in line” with standard industry practices. “This
was industry gossip,” he said of his work. ‘Find Every Day’ “The stuff we talked about you can find every day,
publicly, on the Internet,” he said. During his plea before U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff,
Shimoon said he provided “specific production schedules and
forecasts for Flextronics customers and about its suppliers like
OmniVision, which produced camera sensors.” Shimoon said that, at the time, he was working as a paid
consultant for Broadband Research, which Kinnucan opened in 1999,
as well as for Mountain View , California-based Primary Global
Research LLC, another expert-networking firm. Shimoon said Primary Global paid him about $200 an hour and
that he had earned a total of $18,000 from the company for
passing secret tips to hedge fund managers. Shimoon said he got
more than $27,000 from Kinnucan’s firm. The crime was committed “in connection with Shimoon
providing material, nonpublic information to John Kinnucan,
Broadband Research, and, indirectly, to Broadband Research’s
clients, including money managers,” the government said in
court papers in Shimoon’s case. The criminal case is U.S. v. Kinnucan, 12-MAG-424, and the
civil case is SEC v. Kinnucan, 12-CV-1230, Southern District of
New York (Manhattan). To contact the reporters on this story:
Patricia Hurtado in New York federal court
at [email protected] ;
Bob Van Voris in New York federal court
at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Hytha at [email protected] | 2012 | expert-networker-john-kinnucan-charged-with-insider-trading |
Texas Rice Farms Look for Miracle | By Whitney McFerron | 2012-02-17T20:56:46Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/texas-rice-farmers-look-for-miracle-as-irrigation-cutoff-looms.html | 2 | 17 | bd8f9ca64a7b4a579c56ca2e654260d7 | Rains in Texas have failed to refill
water reservoirs for the state’s main rice-growing areas,
prompting the first-ever restrictions on irrigation that may
lead to the smallest planted acreage since the 1920s. The Lower Colorado River Authority, which manages lakes
supplying water to 1.1 million people, including the city of
Austin, Texas, plans to stop releasing water for irrigation on
March 1, right before the start of planting for this year. The
restriction would affect farmers in Colorado, Matagorda and
Wharton counties, which produced 62 percent of the Texas rice
crop and 3.7 percent of the U.S. harvest in 2009. While central and eastern Texas received as much as double
the normal amount of rain so far this year, that isn’t enough to
make up for getting less than half the normal moisture in 2011.
Lake Travis and Lake Buchanan, the two main reservoirs providing
irrigation for farmers, were about 38 percent full as of
yesterday, according to the water district. “If we get no water, I won’t farm any rice this coming
year,” said Mike Burnside, who normally grows rice on 1,000
acres in Bay City , Texas. “We do have crop-insurance protection
for prevented planting, which will let us survive the year. But
the seed salesman, fertilizer salesman, everybody is suffering
under the drought.” Lower rice output in the U.S., as farmers switch to more
profitable corn, and as saltwater erodes soil in Louisiana , may
send prices on the Chicago Board of Trade up 11 percent to $16
per 100 pounds by November, the highest since November 2011,
Dennis DeLaughter, the owner of Progressive Farm Marketing Inc.
in Edna, Texas, said in a telephone interview. Futures for May
delivery settled at $14.385 today in Chicago. Global Supply Rice futures have dropped 18 percent in the past six months
as prospects for rising output in India , China and Indonesia
signaled higher global stockpiles. World food prices have fallen
9.9 percent from a record in February 2011, partly because of
lower grain costs, United Nations data show. The UN’s Food & Agriculture Organization said Feb. 1 that
prices probably will drop in coming months as global demand for
imports weakens, while supplies and reserves expand. Global
milled-rice trade may slip 5 percent to 32.8 million metric tons
in 2012 from a record 34.5 million in 2011, the UN said. “We are long-term bullish because rice is the staple food
of the world, and there will be problems,” said DeLaughter, who
correctly predicted last year’s rally to $18. In the U.S.,
“some of these mills are going to get really nervous about the
supply of rice available to them, with acres declining.” U.S. Benchmark Prices in Chicago are used as a benchmark for U.S. millers,
who mostly buy domestically grown crops. The U.S. was the
world’s fifth-biggest rice exporter in the past year, behind
Vietnam , Thailand , India and Pakistan , according to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture . Texas, the fourth-largest U.S. grower last year after
Arkansas , California and Louisiana, may plant about 90,000 acres
of rice this year, Larry Falconer, an agricultural economist at
Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi , said in a telephone
interview. That would be the lowest since at least 1929,
according to the earliest data available from the USDA. Rice production, milling and other related industries
provided more than 4,000 jobs to Wharton, Colorado and Matagorda
counties last year, and contributed about $458.3 million to the
local economy, Falconer said. The three counties had a total
population of about 98,900 in 2010, according to U.S. Census
Bureau data. Lake Travis and Lake Buchanan held about 767,000 acre feet
of water as of yesterday, equal to about 249.9 billion gallons
(946 billion liters), according to the water district. Recent
rains expanded the lakes by about 4.2 percent from 736,000 acre
feet on Dec. 1, the lowest level since 1964, said Clara Tuma, a
spokeswoman for the Lower Colorado River Authority in Austin. Not Enough Still, irrigation won’t be allowed unless lake levels climb
to 850,000 acre feet, and the amount of water farmers would be
able to use would be restricted until levels reach 920,000 acre
feet, Tuma said. The region had its driest 12-month period on
record from October 2010 to September 2011, which resulted in a
record-low amount of water flowing into the lakes, Tuma said. It’s unlikely that storms will bring enough rain by March 1
to boost lake levels enough for farmers to irrigate, said John Nielsen-Gammon, the state climatologist. Texas received 15.05
inches (38 centimeters) on average statewide in 2011, the driest
year since 1917, he said. Western, central and southern Texas
were the driest on records dating to 1895, he said. “The problem is, to get significant inflows into the
lakes, the soil would have to be moist enough to allow most of
the rain to run off,” Nielsen-Gammon said. “It would probably
take several inches of rain to do it.” Digging Wells Burnside, the Bay City farmer, said some growers are
digging wells, hoping to tap into enough ground water to make up
for the lost surface-water irrigation, normally pumped by LCRA
through canals along the Colorado River. A typical well costing
around $250,000 would only be big enough to irrigate about 300
acres, too expensive for most farmers, including him, Burnside
said. “We’ve got another 20 days to see if we can catch some
rain,” Burnside said. “Miracles do happen. It’s in God’s hands
now. We’ve just got to roll with it and keep on going.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Whitney McFerron in Chicago at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Steve Stroth at
[email protected] | 2012 | exas-rice-farmers-look-for-miracle-as-irrigation-cutoff-looms |
Redecard in Talks to Buy Online Payment Company, Valor Says | By Telma Marotto and Katerina Petroff | 2012-02-17T13:34:20Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/redecard-in-talks-to-buy-online-payment-company-valor-says-1-.html | 2 | 17 | d4f59686ca49e04e25ca517b03d57ae0956c7e5f | Redecard SA (RDCD3) is in talks to acquire
an e-commerce payment company, Sao Paulo-based Valor Economico
newspaper reported, without saying where it obtained the
information. Redecard declined to comment, according to an e-mailed
statement sent by the press department today. To contact the reporters on this story:
Telma Marotto in Sao Paulo at
[email protected] ;
Katerina Petroff in Sao Paulo at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Telma Marotto at
[email protected] | 2012 | redecard-in-talks-to-buy-online-payment-company-valor-says-1- |
Minneapolis Football Stadium Subsidy Blocked by Taxpayer Anger | By Tim Jones and Joe Kimball | 2012-02-17T19:08:29Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/minnesota-s-dayton-rallies-for-vikings-as-taxpayers-decry-stadium-subsidy.html | 2 | 17 | 1cac0b2d2aaa49f1a15d0118f5167b73 | The formula to get taxpayers to pay
for professional sports stadiums usually works this way: Promise
construction jobs and downtown revitalization, and threaten to
move the team if you don’t get what you want. That strategy is meeting stiff resistance in Minnesota (STOMN1) ,
where unhappiness with cuts to education and human services, and
Tea Party politics in the Legislature have stalled efforts to
obtain a public subsidy to build a $1 billion stadium for the
National Football League ’s Vikings. The fight has thrust the
state’s Democratic governor, Mark Dayton , 65, into the role of
head cheerleader for the Vikings. “I’m amazed that some people feel no urgency to put
several thousand more Minnesotans back to work,” Dayton said in
his Feb. 15 State of the State speech. “Some of you reportedly
want to avoid voting on a stadium until after next fall’s
elections. That would be terribly unfair.” The slowdown has empowered taxpayers who have grown
accustomed to seeing public dollars pay for football titans’
stadiums even as the nation recovers from the worst recession
since the 1930s. State revenue nationwide remained 7 percent
below prerecession levels in the third quarter of 2011, and is
“not growing fast enough to recover any time soon,” according
to a report this month by the Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities , a Washington-based nonprofit research group. Subsidy resistance is also massing in St. Louis, where the
NFL Rams want $124 million in upgrades to the 16-year-old Edward
Jones Dome. ‘It’s Just Nuts’ “The city doesn’t have enough money to maintain a dog
pound and the mayor doesn’t know how he’ll pay for pensions,”
Fred Lindecke, spokesman for the St. Louis-based Coalition
Against Public Funding for Stadiums, said in a telephone
interview. “In that kind of atmosphere we’re supposed to
subsidize a multimillionaire? It’s just nuts.” Seattle is considering a proposal for a new basketball and
hockey arena that would include $200 million in city and county
financing, and require no new taxes, the Seattle Times reported. Research by Judith Grant Long, who teaches urban planning
at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts , has shown
that public subsidies for sports venues cost taxpayers an
average of 40 percent more than the stated price for each of the
99 facilities built through 2001. In Minnesota , the Vikings want as much as $700 million in
state and local government support, roughly 60 percent of the
annual $1.2 billion Minneapolis budget. A site hasn’t been
determined for a stadium and financing hasn’t been decided. Roof Falls In While the Twin Cities have lost professional hockey and
basketball teams, the Vikings have been a mainstay since 1961.
They’ve played for 30 years in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome,
where the roof collapsed in 2010 under the weight of heavy snow.
The Vikings notified the NFL on Feb. 15 that they will play the
2012 season in the Metrodome, despite the expiration of the
lease. While business leaders are rallying around the idea of a
new stadium, as is Mayor R.T. Rybak, the City Council hasn’t
embraced taxpayer support, nor have lawmakers. “What’s more urgent are the broken emergency medical
systems in the state, where people are being turned away from
dialysis and chemotherapy,” said state Representative Karen Clark, a Democrat of Minneapolis. “Our wealthy players and
owners, I think they can hang in there a bit. It doesn’t seem so
urgent to me.” The Vikings are owned by Zygi Wilf , 61, a real estate
developer. He didn’t immediately return telephone messages
seeking comment. Strange Teammates Stadium politics has changed in the state, creating
“peculiar coalitions,” said Larry Jacobs, a political
scientist at the University of Minnesota . The business-oriented
constituency of the Republican Party , Jacobs said, has been
weakened by a faction bent on lowering taxes and cutting
spending. “And you’ve got a Democratic governor fighting like heck
for it,” Jacobs said. “A very strange situation.” The debate over stadiums’ economic benefit has raged for
decades. Brad Humphreys, a sports economist at the University of
Alberta in Edmonton , Canada , said the argument for new stadiums
“used to be that they’d create jobs, and that’s been debunked.
Now it’s because you need to revitalize downtowns,” he said. “The jury’s still out on whether the revitalization takes
place,” Humphreys added. Humphreys co-wrote a 2008 study that said most economists
“believe that sports subsidies are unwarranted.” Rams Running “The fact that sports subsidies continue to be granted,
despite the overwhelming preponderance of evidence that no
tangible economic benefits are generated by these heavily
subsidized professional sports facilities, remains the puzzle,”
the report said. In St. Louis , financial pressures prompted the Convention
and Visitors Commission to propose that the Rams pick up 52
percent of the cost of renovating the Jones Dome. The Rams, who can break their lease and move if luxury box,
lighting and other issues aren’t addressed, have until March 2
to respond to the proposal. The team moved to St. Louis in 1995
from Los Angeles , seven years after the Cardinals moved to
Phoenix. Voters Weigh In Voters in St. Louis and St. Louis County approved ballot
issues in 2002 and 2004 requiring public votes for the building
of taxpayer-supported stadiums. While changes to the Jones Dome
wouldn’t require a vote, Mayor Francis Slay promised in a Feb. 1
blog posting that “new public dollars spent to make the
facility ‘top tier’ will be subject to the prior vote of the
people. ‘‘If the CVC gets an agreement with the Rams, YOU will get
the final say.’’ Rams owner E. Stanley Kroenke, 64, who runs Kroenke Sports
Enterprises, didn’t immediately return telephone messages
seeking comment. Artis Twyman, communications director for the
Rams, said the team had nothing to say. With states and cities cutting education funding and other
popular services, stadiums are a harder sell, said Patrick
Rishe, an economist at Webster University in suburban St. Louis. ‘‘This is not the kind of environment to be making
ultimatums for upgrades to football facilities,’’ Rishe said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Timothy Jones in Chicago at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Mark Tannenbaum at
[email protected] | 2012 | innesota-s-dayton-rallies-for-vikings-as-taxpayers-decry-stadium-subsidy |
Air Liquide Predicts Growth in 2012 Profit | By Francois de Beaupuy | 2012-02-17T06:20:00Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/air-liquide-predicts-growth-in-2012-net-income-as-sales-slowed.html | 2 | 17 | 821615ce2e87d1b1ae6bfc7b3c8241cf24177f2b | Air Liquide SA (AI) , the world’s biggest
producer of industrial gases, forecast higher profit this year
after reporting 2011 earnings in line with analyst estimates
while sales growth slowed as the company slashed costs. Net income climbed 9.4 percent to 1.54 billion euros ($2.02
billion), the Paris-based company said today in a statement. The
average estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts was 1.53
billion euros. Like-for-like sales of gas and services rose 7.5
percent, slowing to a pace of 1.9 percent in the fourth quarter,
hurt by steelmakers and makers of electronic goods “Air Liquide continues to aim for growth in net profit in
2012,” Chief Executive Officer Benoit Potier said in the
statement. For 2011, he had predicted “steady growth” in net
income. Potier has predicted sales may rise 8 percent to 10 percent
on average through 2015. Potier is boosting investments in
China , Russia , the Middle East and other fast-growing regions to
meet rising demand for oxygen, hydrogen and other gases used by
the oil-and-gas industry or steelmakers. To contact the reporter on this story:
Francois de Beaupuy in Paris at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Benedikt Kammel at
[email protected] | 2012 | air-liquide-predicts-growth-in-2012-net-income-as-sales-slowed |
Canada December Employment Insurance Report (Text) | By Editor: Alex Tanzi | 2012-02-17T13:30:01Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/canada-december-employment-insurance-report-text-.html | 2 | 17 | d0f383f108b3480dac9e999c102fd5b3 | The following is the text of
Canada's employment insurance report for Dec. released
by Statistics Canada . The number of people receiving regular Employment
Insurance (EI) benefits edged up 4,200 (+0.8%) to 544,700
in December. The number of beneficiaries remained
relatively stable during the final quarter of the year,
but was down 109,400 (-16.7%) compared with 12 months
earlier. There were more people receiving benefits in six
provinces, with the largest percentage increases occurring
in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario. The largest decline
was observed in Newfoundland and Labrador. Number of Employment Insurance beneficiaries relatively
stable in the fourth quarter Number of Employment Insurance claims unchanged in
December To receive EI benefits, individuals must first submit a
claim. The number of claims provides an indication of the
number of people who could become beneficiaries. Nationally, the number of initial and renewal claims
was essentially unchanged, at 238,000 in December.
Provincially, the number of claims declined 4.8% in
Saskatchewan and 1.8% in Quebec . In Newfoundland and
Labrador, claims rose 2.7%, while in Alberta, they
increased 1.9%. There were no notable changes in the other
provinces. Number of claims unchanged in December Provincial summary The number of people receiving regular EI benefits in
December rose in six provinces, with the largest
percentage increases occurring in Manitoba (+3.7%),
Saskatchewan (+3.6%) and Ontario (+2.6%). At the same
time, the number of beneficiaries in Newfoundland and
Labrador fell 2.1%, the third consecutive monthly decline
in the province. Sub-provincial and demographic overview EI data by sub-provincial region, sex and age are not
seasonally adjusted and are therefore compared on a year-
over-year basis. Year-over-year declines continue in most large centres Between December 2010 and December 2011, the number of
people receiving EI regular benefits declined in 131 of
the 143 large centres (see map). Large centres are those
with a population of 10,000 or more. In Newfoundland and Labrador, the number of
beneficiaries was down in four of the five large centres.
In St. John's, the number of people receiving benefits
fell 16.0%, continuing a series of year-over-year declines
that began almost two years earlier. In Prince Edward Island , both large centres had fewer
beneficiaries in December. The biggest percentage decline
was in Charlottetown, where the number of beneficiaries
fell 14.2%. In Nova Scotia , all five large centres had fewer
beneficiaries in the 12 months to December. The largest
percentage decline occurred in Halifax, where the number
of people receiving benefits fell 14.1% to 4,900,
continuing the downward trend that began in spring 2010. In New Brunswick , two of the six large centres had
fewer beneficiaries in December compared with 12 months
earlier. The number of people receiving benefits fell
13.8% in Moncton and 10.6% in Saint John. There was little
change in the four other large centres in the province. In Quebec, the number of beneficiaries declined in 29
of the 33 large centres, with the largest percentage
decreases in Rouyn-Noranda, Amos, Montreal and Quebec. In
Montreal, the number of people receiving benefits fell
19.1% to 52,800, extending a series of declines that began
in spring 2010. In the census metropolitan area of Quebec,
the number of beneficiaries declined 17.4% in the 12
months to December. Of the 41 large centres in Ontario, 38 had fewer
beneficiaries in December compared with 12 months earlier.
The largest percentage decreases occurred in Hamilton,
Stratford, Windsor, Chatham-Kent, Guelph and Toronto. In
Toronto, the number of beneficiaries fell 25.6% to 53,700,
extending the series of year-over-year monthly declines
that started in spring 2010. In Manitoba, the number of people receiving regular
benefits was down in all four large centres in the 12
months to December. In Winnipeg, the number of
beneficiaries fell 15.4% to 6,400, the 16th consecutive
month of year-over-year declines. In Saskatchewan, all eight large centres recorded year-
over-year declines in the number of beneficiaries, the
largest occurring in Moose Jaw, Saskatoon and Regina. In
Saskatoon, 1,800 people received benefits, down 19.0%,
extending a year-long series of declines. In Regina, the
number of beneficiaries fell 13.5% to 1,300, continuing a
series of declines that began in summer 2010. In Alberta , all 12 large centres had fewer
beneficiaries in December than 12 months earlier. The
largest percentage decreases occurred in Grande Prairie ,
Cold Lake, Lethbridge and Calgary. In Calgary, 8,100
people received benefits in December, down 38.2% from 12
months earlier, the fastest pace of decline among all
census metropolitan areas. In Edmonton, the number of
beneficiaries was 9,200, down 33.8%. In British Columbia, the number of beneficiaries fell
in all 25 large centres, with the largest percentage
declines in Fort St. John, Powell River, Dawson Creek,
Vernon and Vancouver . In Vancouver, 24,400 people received
benefits in December, down 25.2% from 12 months earlier.
In Victoria, the number of beneficiaries was 3,000, down
23.5%. Demographic groups In December, 337,500 men received regular benefits,
down 16.0% from December 2010. The number of beneficiaries
fell 16.2% among men under 25 years of age and 17.2% among
those aged 25 to 54. For men aged 55 and over, the number
receiving benefits declined 12.2%. In December, 211,600 women received benefits, down
15.9% from 12 months earlier. Among those under 25, the
number of beneficiaries fell 18.4%, while for those aged
25 to 54, it declined 16.7%. For women aged 55 and over,
the decline was 12.1%, similar to the rate of decrease for
their male counterparts. Note to readers The change in the number of regular Employment
Insurance (EI) beneficiaries reflects various situations,
including people becoming beneficiaries, people going back
to work, and people exhausting their regular benefits. All data in this release are seasonally adjusted unless
otherwise specified. EI statistics are produced from administrative data
sources provided by Service Canada and Human Resources and
Skills Development Canada. These statistics may, from time
to time, be affected by changes to the Employment
Insurance Act or administrative procedures. The number of
regular beneficiaries and the number of claims received
for November and December are preliminary. In this
release, large centres correspond to those with a
population of 10,000 or more. The number of beneficiaries is a measure of all people
who received EI benefits from December 4 to 10. This
period coincides with the reference week of the Labour
Force Survey (LFS). EI statistics indicate the number of people who
received EI benefits, and should not be confused with data
coming from the LFS, which provides information on the
total number of unemployed people. There is always a certain proportion of unemployed
people who do not qualify for benefits. Some unemployed
people have not contributed to the program because they
have not worked in the past 12 months or their employment
is not insured. Other unemployed people have contributed
to the program but do not meet the eligibility criteria,
such as workers who left their job voluntarily or those
who did not accumulate enough hours of work to receive
benefits. | 2012 | canada-december-employment-insurance-report-text- |
Small Hedge Funds Draw Investments as Bigger Rivals Stumble | By Jesse Westbrook | 2012-02-17T10:11:10Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/small-hedge-funds-draw-investments-as-bigger-rivals-stumble.html | 2 | 17 | 80b660b5c4c94ef69c12406c2130fcb4 | Richard Maraviglia spent January
flying to Zurich, New York , Chicago and Miami to raise $250
million for his hedge fund. Maraviglia, who now oversees about $610 million for Carlson
Capital LP from London, raised the money because the almost 40
percent gain he posted last year made him a rarity: a hedge-fund
manager who made money trading stocks. Hedge funds were down an
average 5 percent in 2011 and those focused on equities fared
even worse, losing 8.3 percent, Hedge Fund Research Inc. says. Though the largest hedge funds continue to attract the bulk
of the industry’s incoming money given their perceived lower
risk, Maraviglia has outperformed better-known rivals including
Paulson & Co., which manages $23 billion, and Lansdowne Partners
Ltd., with $12.5 billion, which made big bets on stocks in 2011
and had their worst years ever. The 42-year-old veteran of Steve Cohen ’s SAC Capital Advisors LLC says small size made him nimble
as stocks gyrated and enabled his individual bets to make more
difference to the fund’s total returns. “Larger hedge funds have been victims of their size and
the volatile markets in general,” said Andrew Lee, a New York-
based adviser at JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s wealth-management unit,
which helps clients find emerging managers. “Smaller funds are
able to react quickly and so are better positioned.” A January report published by Barclays found that about
two-thirds of hedge fund clients plan to increase investments
this year in firms managing less than $1 billion. Overcrowded Trades “It makes a lot of sense to invest in the speedboats over
the oil tankers ,” said Ben Funk, head of research at London-
based Liongate Capital Management LLP, which has more than $3
billion allocated to various hedge funds. Maraviglia, who manages Dallas-based Carlson Capital’s
Black Diamond Thematic Fund, told investors during his travels
last month that he started reducing bullish stock wagers in the
first half of 2011, correctly betting that policy makers in
China would take steps to curb inflation and the U.S. Federal
Reserve would end its program of buying $600 billion of
Treasuries. After a flat second quarter, the MSCI World Index
lost 17 percent in the third quarter. He then bought equities when other investors sold positions
en masse in September, which made it easier for him to find
stocks whose performance was no longer correlated to broader
markets due to overcrowded trading. Black Diamond Thematic,
which Maraviglia founded with former SAC Capital senior analyst
Matthew Barkoff, gained about 4 percent in January. Allocation Dilemma “If you want strong outperformance, a smaller fund has a
better chance of producing that,” said Maraviglia, who plans to
close his hedge fund to new money after receiving commitments
from investors for the $250 million. “How big an allocation can
a big fund make to a great trading idea for it to make much of a
difference in their total portfolio?” Like Maraviglia, LMR Partners LLP benefited from being
nimble. Its $750 million LMR Fund gained 38.7 percent last year
after rising 30.4 percent in 2010, according to investors. The
firm takes positions in currencies, bonds, stocks and
commodities for time horizons as short as a day, based on
economic data and price discrepancies spotted by computers. Former UBS AG traders Benjamin Levine and Stefan Renold and
ex-Goldman Sachs Group Inc. traderAndrew Manuel kept size in
mind when they started London-based LMR in 2010. They stopped
taking money in April as assets grew to about $600 million, with
the majority of the firm’s capital coming from Donald Sussman’s
Paloma Partners LLC, said two people familiar with the matter.
They declined to be identified because the firm is private. OVS Switches Tactics When LMR decided in November to accept more money at a
higher performance fee of 30 percent, rather than the 20 percent
they had been charging, clients sought to invest $300 million,
the people said. LMR accepted about $150 million and closed the
fund. It’s now raising assets for a new hedge fund. OVS Capital Management LLP has increased its assets to more
than $300 million from $18 million in January 2011 after making
profitable trades from a strategy that proved challenging for
hedge funds last year: betting on European companies they
thought were likely to be taken over. When mergers dried up amid uncertainty over Europe ’s debt
crisis, OVS switched tack into so-called relative-value trades
that try to benefit from small price differences in related
securities, according to a Jan. 12 note sent to clients. OVS
plans to close its hedge fund to new investors in April. Smallest Funds London-based OVS, led by ex-HBK Investments LP trader Sam
Morland, rose 7.8 percent last year and gained about 2 percent
in January. Other so-called event-driven hedge funds with a
European focus fell 5.4 percent in 2011, according to Singapore-
based data firm Eurekahedge Pte. Executives at LMR and OVS declined to comment. Data from Barclays Capital shows that modestly sized hedge
funds are both the industry’s best and worst performers.
Worldwide, funds with less than $100 million of assets reaped an
annualized average gain of 10.1 percent from 2001 through 2010,
according to an April study published by the London-based
securities firm . Firms managing between $100 million and $500
million returned 8.3 percent a year over the same period, and
those with more than $500 million of assets returned 8 percent. The outperformance was more pronounced when Barclays
limited its study to firms with the best returns. The top
quartile of small hedge funds generated annual average returns
of 99 percent, while mid-sized firms rose 71 percent and the
biggest funds gained 60 percent. Greater Downside The opposite also proved true, with the worst-performing
small funds losing 39 percent a year between 2001 and 2010. Big
hedge-fund laggards had average losses of 27.6 percent over the
same time period. “Investors should choose their small funds wisely,”
Barclays analysts wrote in the report. “If they select winners,
they have the potential to win big, but if they falter, the
downside is comparatively greater than larger funds.” Volatility in financial stocks hurt large managers like
Paulson and Lansdowne last year. John Paulson , 56, who made
billions of dollars betting against the U.S. housing market in
2007, incurred losses of 51 percent last year in one of his
firm’s biggest hedge funds on investments in Citigroup Inc. (C) and
Bank of America Corp. Lansdowne, a stock-trading firm based in
London, was down 20 percent in its biggest fund after making
bullish wagers on banks including Lloyds Banking Group Plc. (LLOY) Big Funds Rebound Paulson addressed his critics in a letter sent to clients
this month, saying “some people have suggested that our
negative performance in 2011 was due to our size.” The firm
“outperformed the markets and our peers” in 2008, 2009 and
2010, all years when the hedge fund was bigger than it is now,
according to the letter, which was obtained by Bloomberg. To be sure, both Paulson and Lansdowne have done well in
2012 as falling U.S. unemployment and the European Central
Bank ’s help for lenders pushed the MSCI World Index to its best
start to the year since 1994. Paulson’s Advantage Plus Fund rose
5 percent in January and Lansdowne’s U.K. Equity Fund (LANUESI) gained 5.6
percent, the most since May 2009, according to Bloomberg data.
Hedge funds broadly rose 2.6 percent last month, the industry’s
best January since 2006, according to Hedge Fund Research. Paulson has reservations about the bull market , telling
clients in his letter that Greece may default by the end of
March and trigger the breakup of the euro and a global
recession. His skepticism is matched by Liongate Capital’s Funk,
who cited the dangers of debt woes worsening in Portugal, Italy
and Spain and U.S. joblessness rising. ‘Bumpy Year’ Liongate says that even if larger funds correctly predict a
downturn, they may be too big to easily change course and
protect their returns. “There are lots of reasons why it will be a bumpy, highly
correlated year” that benefits smaller managers, Funk said. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (VIX) , which
rises when investors predict price swings for stocks will
increase, jumped to a two-year high of 48 in August after
Standard & Poor’s cut the U.S. government’s credit rating. The
gauge has since declined to 21 as of Feb. 15. Hedge funds overseeing more than $5 billion drew 70 percent
of net capital raised by the industry in 2011, according to
Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research. Though that’s down from 80
percent in 2010, the largest firms are still the most able to
absorb the large checks written by clients such as pension funds
and sovereign-wealth funds. “As institutions increase their allocation to hedge funds,
the focus on established managers with longer track records,
significant assets under management and robust infrastructure
will continue,” said William Smith, Morgan Stanley’s European
head of hedge fund capital introductions. Corner Cafe, Starbucks Barclays analysts say they’re skeptical that investors will
follow through on intentions to allocate more to small managers.
The bank’s poll surveyed 165 hedge-fund clients who had about
$500 billion invested during last year’s third quarter. “It’s more an indicator of desire for size
diversification, rather than something that is necessarily going
to translate into action,” said Anurag Bhardwaj, Barclays
Capital’s head of strategic consulting. “If there is extreme
market volatility and you don’t know what is going to happen
next, your instinctive reaction is to stick with the tried and
tested.” Another risk of investing in hedge funds with less than $1
billion of assets is that they are more reliant on incentive
fees generated from good performance to run their business and
pay staff, Bhardwaj said. A stretch of losing years can force a
small firm to shut down because it can’t retain talent, he said. Maraviglia concedes that’s true. “If you take a hit or something goes wrong, there’s a
bigger risk of blowing up,” he said. “It’s more likely for a
small coffee shop down the road to go bust than Starbucks.” To contact the reporter responsible for this story:
Jesse Westbrook in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for the story:
Edward Evans at [email protected] | 2012 | small-hedge-funds-draw-investments-as-bigger-rivals-stumble |
Libyans Mark Revolt Anniversary Amid Criticism of Government | By Clare Stephens | 2012-02-17T15:55:03Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/libyans-mark-anniversary-uprising-amid-criticism-of-government.html | 2 | 17 | 17cbe9ca629e4e73968177a7d77e98c36126731e | Thousands of Libyans gathered in
Tripoli to mark the first anniversary of the start of the
uprising that toppled Muammar Qaddafi . Flags decorated public buildings and streets in the
capital. Security was tightened, with roadblocks set up and
militias from across the country brought into the capital, after
Saadi Qaddafi, a son of the late ruler, last week predicted a
loyalist “uprising” today. U.S. President Barack Obama ’s spokesman issued a statement
saying while it “will take time” to build a democracy in
Libya , the National Transitional Council must make its decisions
“openly and transparently” and revolutionaries who toppled
Qaddafi “now have a responsibility” to enable stability, peace
and reconciliation. “Last February, few could imagine that the peaceful
protesters in cities from Benghazi to Tripoli would bring down a
four-decade-old dictatorship,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said the statement. “Through their courage and great sacrifice, and with the
support of the United States and an international coalition, the
Libyan people defeated a brutal regime and won their freedom,”
Carney said. Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council declared
victory on Oct. 23, three days after Qaddafi’s death at the
hands of rebel fighters. Since then, authorities have struggled
to create a unified administration and revive the economy as
they prepare for national elections due in June. Protests
accusing the NTC of incompetence and secrecy are widespread. Amnesty International said in a report this week that
detainees have been tortured and sometimes killed by militias
that the government is unable to control. “The authorities have
not moved on a single case,” Donatella Rovena, who helped
compile the report, said in a phone interview. To contact the reporter on this story:
Clare Stephens in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrew J. Barden at
[email protected] | 2012 | ibyans-mark-anniversary-uprising-amid-criticism-of-governmen |
Index of Leading Indicators Points to Sustained Expansion in U.S.: Economy | By Shobhana Chandra and Bob Willis | 2012-02-17T21:22:17Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/index-of-leading-economic-indicators-in-u-s-climbs-0-4-in-expansion-sign.html
The index of U.S. leading indicators
rose in January and the cost of living climbed less than
forecast, pointing to sustained economic growth with limited
price pressures. The 0.4 percent increase in the Conference Board’s gauge of
the outlook for the next three to six months followed a 0.5
percent rise in December, the strongest back-to-back gains in
almost a year. The consumer-price index rose 0.2 percent in
January after no change, the Labor Department said today. An improvement in the labor market and increased hours
worked may help deliver the income gains needed to encourage
Americans to boost spending. A lack of inflation gives Federal
Reserve policy makers room to keep interest rates low through
2014 to ensure the expansion endures a global slowdown. “There is some pretty good momentum in the economy,” said
Michael Feroli , chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in
New York . “Inflation seems to be in a sweet spot | 2 | 17 | 5888d62efd444cb98e8bc68d0647d9fb | hot, not too cold.” Stocks advanced, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index
near the highest level in about three years, amid optimism
Greece will get a bailout. The S&P 500 increased 0.2 percent to
1,361.23 at the close in New York. The yield on the benchmark
10-year Treasury note climbed to 2 percent from 1.98 percent
late yesterday. In Europe today, a report showed U.K. retail sales
unexpectedly rose for a second month in January, adding to signs
the economy may strengthen and avoid a recession. Purchases
including fuel rose 0.9 percent from December, when they rose
0.6 percent, according to figures from the Office for National
Statistics in London . Europe’s Debt Crisis Elsewhere, Singapore ’s exports fell in January for the
first time in three months as Europe’s debt crisis crimped
demand for electronics and petrochemicals and the Chinese New
Year holiday shortened the working month. The median forecast of 48 economists surveyed for the
January leading index called for an increase of 0.5 percent,
with estimates in the Bloomberg survey ranging from 0.4 percent
to 1.4 percent. Seven of the 10 indicators in the leading index contributed
to the pickup, helped by a gain in the factory workweek and
higher stock prices. The Conference Board’s index of coincident indicators, a
gauge of current economic activity, rose 0.2 percent after a 0.3
percent increase in the prior month. Companies seeing a pickup in demand include Swift
Transportation Co., the biggest truckload carrier in North
America . Swift Transportation “Our customers are all doing very, very well,” Jerry Moyes , chief executive officer at Swift Transportation, said in
a Feb. 16 conference presentation. “They’re very bullish about
going forward. They’re talking about adding new stores, adding
new distribution centers and a lot of them have got quite a bit
of cash.” Consumers’ moods also are lifting. The Bloomberg Consumer
Comfort Index rose for a fourth straight week to reach the
highest level in a year as more households said they believe the
economy is improving, according to data for the period ended
Feb. 12. Claims for jobless benefits last week dropped to the lowest
level since 2008, showing the job market is on the mend.
Builders began work on more houses in January, and manufacturing
in the Philadelphia area accelerated, other reports showed this
week. Federal Reserve “Despite some recent signs of improvement, the recovery
has been frustratingly slow,” Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said
yesterday. He also said bank supervisors must strike a
“delicate balance” between encouraging lending and avoiding a
race to the bottom in loan standards. Central bank officials have said they plan to keep the
benchmark interest rate low until at least late 2014 to spur
economic growth. Limited inflation is affording policy makers the room to
keep a lid on borrowing costs. The consumer-price index rose 2.9
percent from January 2011, the smallest year-to-year advance
since March 2011. The so-called core measure of consumer prices, which
excludes food and energy costs, also rose 0.2 percent in January
from the previous month. The core measure increased 2.3 percent
in the 12 months ended in January, the biggest gain since
September 2008. Fed policy makers see inflation decelerating this year to
below their 2 percent goal, with most expecting prices to rise
1.4 percent to 1.8 percent, according to forecasts released Jan.
25. “Inflation has been subdued in recent months, and longer-
term inflation expectations have remained stable,” the Fed said
Jan. 25. The monetary policy-making committee “also anticipates
that over coming quarters, inflation will run at levels at or
below those consistent with the committee’s dual mandate” of
fostering price stability and maximum employment. To contact the reporter on this story:
Shobhana Chandra in Washington at
[email protected] ;
Bob Willis in Washington at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christopher Wellisz at
[email protected] | 2012 | index-of-leading-economic-indicators-in-u-s-climbs-0-4-in-expansion-sign |
Mexico Stocks: Grupo Televisa Advance, TV Azteca Drops | By Christine Jenkins | 2012-02-17T21:38:12Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/mexico-stocks-grupo-elektra-grupo-televisa-advance.html | 2 | 17 | 7f71500d3709b5cffedb4143a0415b4811fe3c7a | The following companies had unusual
price changes in Mexico trading. Stock symbols are in
parentheses and prices are as of the close of trading. The IPC index fell 0.8 percent to 37,914.70. Grupo Televisa SAB (TLEVICPO) , the world’s largest
Spanish-language broadcaster, advanced 2 percent to 54.20 pesos
after Executive Vice President Alfonso de Angoitia said
Televisa’s content business, which includes advertising, cable
network subscriptions and syndication, will expand 6 percent to
7 percent this year on a conference call today. TV Azteca SAB (AZTECACP) (AZTECACP MM), Mexico’s second-largest
broadcast television network, fell 2.2 percent to 8.42 pesos. TV
Azteca’s 2012 sales will grow in the mid-single digit percentage
points, Bruno Rangel, executive director of investor relations ,
said today in a conference call, falling short of the average
estimate for a 9.5 percent increase from six analysts, according
to data compiled by Bloomberg. To contact the reporter on this story:
Christine Jenkins in New York at
[email protected] ; To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Papadopoulos at
[email protected] | 2012 | exico-stocks-grupo-elektra-grupo-televisa-advance |
Canadian Dollar Extends Rally as Consumer Prices Rise More Than Forecast | By Austen Sherman | 2012-02-17T12:08:29Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/canadian-dollar-gains-as-january-consumer-prices-rise-more-than-forecast.html | 2 | 17 | ef915b1c34ad817e036551a0331dea06fbb5bb92 | The Canadian dollar rose versus its
U.S. counterpart as a government report showed the inflation
rate increased last month more than forecast, supporting the
case for higher interest rates . The Canadian currency was headed for a rally this week as
investor appetite for risk increased on speculation Greece,
where Europe ’s sovereign-debt crisis began more than two years
ago, will win a second international rescue to avert a default. The loonie, as the currency is also known for the image of
the aquatic bird on the C$1 coin, appreciated 0.1 percent to
99.56 cents per U.S. dollar at 7:02 a.m. Toronto time. The consumer price index rose 2.5 percent in January from a
year earlier after December’s 2.3 percent gain, Ottawa-based
Statistics Canada said. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News
predicted the rate to stay at the previous level, according to
the median of 24 estimates. The Bank of Canada has held its overnight rate at 1 percent
since September 2010, the longest stretch since it began
targeting that interest rate in 1994. Growth in Canada and the U.S. will be “more modest” than
previously forecast as Europe struggles to contain its debt
crisis, the Ottawa-based bank said Jan. 17 in a statement after
its last rate meeting. The bank said Canada’s economy will return to full output
and the pace of price increases will accelerate back to its 2
percent target in the third quarter of 2013, one quarter earlier
than it had forecast. To contact the reporter on this story:
Austen Sherman in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dave Liedtka at [email protected] | 2012 | canadian-dollar-gains-as-january-consumer-prices-rise-more-than-forecas |
New World Resources Gains as Greece Optimism Boosts Commodities | By Krystof Chamonikolas | 2012-02-17T09:20:22Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/new-world-resources-gains-as-greece-optimism-boosts-commodities.html | 2 | 17 | 15a1fd45ce2d9bbd60007908a1def2b4aea3ac58 | New World Resources Plc, the biggest
Czech producer of coking coal, rose as speculation that Greece
will secure a bailout boosted demand for stocks and commodities. The stock climbed 2.6 percent to 156 koruna by 10:10 a.m.
in Prague , headed for its largest one-day gain since Feb. 8.
Europe’s benchmark coal futures contracts increased 1.1 percent
to $114 a metric ton in the Netherlands. To contact the reporter on this story:
Krystof Chamonikolas in Prague at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Gavin Serkin at [email protected] | 2012 | new-world-resources-gains-as-greece-optimism-boosts-commodities |
SIPC Tells Federal Judge Stanford Investments Aren’t Eligible for Payouts | By Tom Schoenberg and Edvard Pettersson | 2012-02-17T01:29:44Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/sipc-tells-federal-judge-stanford-investments-aren-t-eligible-for-payouts.html
The Securities Investor Protection
Corp. told a U.S. judge that federal law prevents it from
setting up a claims process for the victims of R. Allen Stanford’s alleged investment fraud. SIPC, a nonprofit corporation funded by the brokerage
industry, said in a court filing today that there is no basis to
require it to guarantee investments with an entity that isn’t a
member, in this case Antigua-based Stanford International Bank
Ltd. The Securities Investor Protection Act “does not even
permit, much less require, the initiation of a liquidation for
purchasers of the offshore bank certificates of deposit at issue
here,” SIPC said in the filing in U.S. District Court in
Washington . U.S. District Judge Robert Wilkins last week told SIPC to
explain why it shouldn’t be ordered to start a liquidation
proceeding in federal court in Texas to handle more than
$1 billion in possible claims tied to Stanford’s alleged fraud. At issue is whether more than 7,000 brokerage customers who
invested in the alleged $7 billion Ponzi scheme run by Stanford
are entitled to have their losses covered by SIPC. In June, the Securities and Exchange Commission told SIPC
to start a process that could grant as much as $500,000 for each
Stanford client | 2 | 17 | cca175d6aca964312ea15f92f3fbad77bf7471ba | case. After SIPC balked, the SEC for the first time sued the
congressionally chartered group. Madoff Coverage SIPC is responsible for providing coverage for individual
investors who lose money or securities held by insolvent or
failing member brokerage firms. It has agreed to cover losses
sustained by victims of Bernard Madoff ’s multibillion-dollar
Ponzi scheme and investors who may have lost money in the
October collapse of commodities broker MF Global Holdings Ltd (MFGLQ) . The SEC sued SIPC in December to compel coverage. Investors
and their advocates in Congress say SIPC is deliberately taking
a narrow view of the law to protect brokers from higher
assessments. In a hearing last month, Eugene Assaf, a lawyer for SIPC,
said a liquidation proceeding would cause significant expense
for the insurer. The case is Securities and Exchange Commission v.
Securities Investor Protection Corp., 11-mc-00678, U.S. District
Court, District of Columbia (Washington). To contact the reporters on this story:
Tom Schoenberg in Washington at
[email protected] ;
Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Hytha at
[email protected] | 2012 | sipc-tells-federal-judge-stanford-investments-aren-t-eligible-for-payouts |
Brazilian Futures Yields Head for Sixth Weekly Drop on Inflation | By Josue Leonel and Ney Hayashi | 2012-02-17T11:48:24Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/brazilian-futures-yields-head-for-sixth-weekly-drop-on-inflation.html | 2 | 17 | 748ad0002715f572a1dcb763375a7b236c643571 | Yields on Brazilian interest-rate
futures contracts headed for a sixth weekly drop as traders
stepped up bets for lower borrowing costs after a report showed
consumer prices increased less than expected this month. The yield on the contract due in January 2013 fell three
basis points, or 0.03 percentage point, to 9.19 percent at 9:43
a.m. in Sao Paulo , bringing the weekly decline to 10 basis
points. Consumer prices as measured by the IPCA-15 index increased
0.53 percent through mid-February, the national statistics
agency said today. It was expected to rise 0.56 percent, the
median forecast of 46 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The
second preview of the IGP-M index measuring consumer, wholesale
and construction prices fell 0.11 percent this month through
yesterday, more than the 0.02 percent median estimate of 20
economists. “Food is pushing the consumer price index lower, and soft
commodities are falling,” helping drive wholesale prices down,
Newton Rosa , chief economist at SulAmerica Investimentos, said
by phone from Sao Paulo. “This makes the central bank more
comfortable” about lowering the benchmark lending rate. The real climbed 0.1 percent to 1.7150 per U.S. dollar ,
from 1.7164 yesterday. To contact the reporters on this story:
Josue Leonel in Sao Paulo at
[email protected] ;
Ney Hayashi in Sao Paulo at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Papadopoulos at
[email protected] | 2012 | brazilian-futures-yields-head-for-sixth-weekly-drop-on-inflation |
Canada Pension Hires Ex-Goldman Banker Machin to Lead Asia | By Cathy Chan | 2012-02-17T17:21:49Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/canada-pension-plan-hires-ex-goldman-banker-machin-to-lead-asian-division.html | 2 | 17 | 7c2021420c6a4d73bc9e6937ec3d797c | Canada Pension Plan Investment
Board, the country’s second-biggest retirement fund, tapped a
veteran investment banker to head its Asia-Pacific unit as it
seeks to increase investments in the region. Mark Machin, who stepped down as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) ’s
vice-chairman for Asia-Pacific excluding Japan in December, will
become president of CPPIB Asia Inc. effective March 19, the
company said in an e-mailed statement today. Machin, 45, joins Toronto-based Canada Pension as the
retirement plan is expanding its reach into emerging markets
with a focus on Asia and Latin America . The fund had less than 9
percent of its C$152.8 billion ($153.3 billion) in total assets
invested in Asia at the end of December, according to the
statement. “Our expectation is that our investments in Asia-Pacific
will grow disproportionate to the upside of the total fund,”
said Mark Wiseman , executive vice president at Canada Pension,
in an interview in Hong Kong today. “We have to be here. I
think we’re actually behind where we need to be.” Canada Pension’s current level of investment in Asia is
“arguably underweight,” relative to size of the region’s
economies, Wiseman said. Machin, who spent 20 years at Goldman Sachs and ran the New
York-based bank’s investment bank for six years, will be based
in Hong Kong in his new role, according to the statement. Record Fundraising Fundraising by private equity firms in Asia rose to a
record $53.8 billion last year, from $43.5 billion a year ago
according to the Asia Venture Capital Association. Canada
Pension has already committed capital to Asia-focused funds run
by Baring Private Equity Asia, Citic Capital, Hony Capital Ltd.,
and MBK Partners Ltd., according to its website. The fund will invest in local funds and also co-invest with
those funds, Wiseman said. Apart from private equity, Canada
Pension is broadening is investment in real estate and
infrastructure and its primary markets are China, Australia ,
India and Japan , he said. “It certainly makes sense for them to be thinking on those
terms,” William Robson, chief executive officer of C.D. Howe
Institute, a Toronto-based nonpartisan research firm, said in an
interview. “They do need, increasingly, to move abroad if they
want to escape the cap on growth that Canadian demography
imposes on them and do a little better for the investors in the
fund.” Goldman Departures Machin’s appointment comes after several senior investment
bankers have left Goldman Sachs for the private equity industry
in Asia. TPG Capital hired former Goldman Sachs managing
director Steve Sun as a partner in China last year, and Permira
Advisers LLP hired Alan Chen, executive director of the bank’s
Asian Special Situations Group, as head of China , it said in
August. Richard Ong, who was Goldman Sachs’s co-head of Asia
investment banking with Machin, left in 2008 to join Hopu
Investment Management Co., a fund set up by Fang Fenglei, who
ran Goldman Sachs’s Chinese securities venture. Ong later
started his own fund called RRJ Capital. Machin trained as a doctor before joining Goldman Sachs,
where he worked for 20 years until his departure. Canada
Pension, which opened its Asia office in Hong Kong in 2008, has
20 staff based in the city, according to the statement. The fund
may open its second Asian office in India, Wiseman said. Canada Pension also said today it also retained Vikram
Gandhi, a former Credit Suisse Group banker, to advise the fund
on investment opportunities in India. Canada Pension covers every Canadian province except
Quebec . Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, the country’s
largest pension manager, oversees pensions for retirees in the
French-speaking province. To contact the reporter on this story:
Cathy Chan in Hong Kong at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Mohammed Hadi at
[email protected] | 2012 | canada-pension-plan-hires-ex-goldman-banker-machin-to-lead-asian-division |
Spider-Man, Pfizer-Sanofi, Apple: Intellectual Property | By Ellen Rosen | 2012-02-17T13:13:39Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/spider-man-pfizer-sanofi-apple-intellectual-property.html | 2 | 17 | 00a02e12f08a4542b4200ded644f2233 | Producers of “Spider-Man: Turn Off
the Dark” said they will pay full royalties to the show’s
former director, Julie Taymor , three months after she sued for
back pay. The announcement is part of a settlement with the Stage
Directors and Choreographers Society, the union which filed an
arbitration on Taymor’s behalf. Producers of the $75 million
musical continue to battle in a separate copyright lawsuit in
federal court over Taymor’s role in writing the book of the
musical and whether she’s owed money. Laura Penn, executive director of the society, said she’s
hopeful there will be a settlement. “Julie should be making great theater and not in
litigation,” she said in a telephone interview. Penn declined to disclose the total royalties owed. Taymor
wasn’t available for comment, said a spokesman, Chris Kanarick. Taymor sued producers in November, claiming that they
refused to pay royalties guaranteed by her contract and violated
her intellectual-property rights by changing the show without
her permission. As the co-writer, she said she worked on the
script for more than seven years. Producers countersued last
month in federal court in Manhattan. The show formally opened on June 14 after 182 previews.
Last week, its eight performances grossed $1.4 million, behind
only “Wicked” and “The Book of Mormon,” according to the
Broadway League, a trade group, The remaining copyright case is Julie Taymor v. 8 Legged
Productions LLC, 1:11-cv-08002-RJH, U.S. District Court,
Southern District of New York (Manhattan). Copyright EU Court Won’t Require Filter System for Social-Networking Site The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled yesterday
that social-networking sites cannot be forced to install
filtering systems to protect against the unauthorized sharing of
files. The case involved SABAM, a Belgian company that represents
authors, composers and publishers of musical works and
authorizes the use of those works by third parties. Netlog NV is
a social-networking company that, according to SABAM, allows the
unauthorized sharing of music and videos. While the court recognized the importance of protecting
intellectual property rights, imposing a filtering system would
improperly require social-networking sites “to actively monitor
almost all the data relating to all of its service users in
order to prevent any future infringement of intellectual
property rights,” according to the decision. “It follows that an injunction would require the hosting
service provider to carry out general monitoring,” which is
prohibited by EU law, the court found. The court also held that “such an injunction would result
in a serious infringement of the freedom of the hosting service
provider to conduct its business” and said that such a system
would impinge on users’ right to “protection of their personal
data and their freedom to receive or impart information.” The case is Belgische Vereniging van Auteurs, Componisten
en Uitgevers(SABAM) v Netlog NV, C-360/10. For more copyright news, click here. Patent Pfizer, Mylan Settle With Sanofi Over Allergic-Reaction Device Mylan Inc. (MYL) and a unit of Pfizer Inc. (PFE) , the world’s largest
drugmaker, settled patent litigation with France’s Sanofi (SAN) over a
device used to treat severe allergic reactions. Sanofi may start selling the device, the Intelliject
epinephrine e-cue auto injector, beginning Nov. 15, according to
the settlement with Pfizer’s Meridian Medical Technologies,
Mylan and Pfizer said in a statement yesterday. The sales are
contingent upon final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration. “We are pleased with this settlement,” said Mylan Chief
Executive Officer Heather Bresch. “In addition to our
significant efforts in this area, people with life-threatening
allergic reactions will benefit from more voices in the fight”
against such reactions. The initial lawsuit was filed in January 2011 in federal
court in Wilmington, Delaware, by Meridian, which makes the
EpiPen, alleging the Intelliject product would infringe a U.S.
patent. Further terms of the settlement weren’t released. Mylan is based in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and Pfizer is
based in New York. The case is King Pharmaceuticals v. Intelliject Inc.,
11CV65, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).
To see the patent, click: 7,794,432 Intellectual Ventures Sues AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile Intellectual Ventures, the firm controlled by former
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) Chief Technology Officer Nathan Myhrvold , sued
AT&T Inc. (T) ’s AT&T Mobility division, Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) and T-
Mobile USA Inc. for infringement of 15 patents. Closely held Intellectual Ventures, founded by Myhrvold
after he left Microsoft in 2000, owns more than 35,000 patents
and has earned more than $2 billion in licensing fees, according
to the complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Wilmington,
Delaware. The suit is the company’s eighth against several high-
tech companies, including Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) , Canon Inc. (7751) and
Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. Mark Siegel , an AT&T spokesman; Anna Friedges, a T-Mobile
spokeswoman; and Stephanie Vinge-Walsh, a spokeswoman at Sprint
Nextel, all declined to comment on the lawsuit. Melissa Finocchio, Intellectual Ventures’ chief litigation
counsel, said in a statement on the company’s website that it
“previously attempted to discuss licensing options with each of
these companies, but none were responsive.” Verizon Wireless wasn’t sued because it is already a
licensee of the firm’s patents, said Naomi Zeitlin, a
spokeswoman for the Bellevue, Washington-based Intellectual
Ventures. She declined to say whether Verizon licensed the
specific patents at issue in the lawsuit. Myhrvold is a columnist for Bloomberg View, which is owned
by Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News. The case is Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. AT&T Mobility
LLC, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington). Apple Gets Partial Win Against Motorola Mobility in Germany Apple Inc. (AAPL) won a partial victory in a patent case against
Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. over mobile-device technology in
Germany . The Munich Regional Court granted an injunction against
Motorola Mobility mobile phones that use methods for unlocking
touch screens protected by a European patent owned by Apple,
company spokesman Alan Hely said in an e-mailed statement. Part of Apple’s case was dismissed, said Marcus Grosch,
Motorola Mobility’s German lawyer. The court ruled that Motorola
Mobility Xoom tablets don’t violate Apple’s patent, he said. Yesterday’s ruling is Apple’s first win in Germany after
Motorola Mobility won two out of three rulings in suits it filed
against Apple in a Mannheim court. The world’s most valuable
technology company was forced to briefly remove some older
iPhone and iPad models from its online store in Germany earlier
this month when Motorola Mobility sought to enforce its first
win from December. Motorola Mobility “has implemented a new design for the
feature,” the company said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
“Therefore, we expect no impact on current supply or future
sales.” European and U.S. antitrust regulators this week approved
Google Inc. (GOOG) ’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility.
The deal arms Google with patents to protect its Android
operating system, used by smartphones and tablets from companies
including Motorola Mobility that compete with Apple’s products.
The regulators warned they will continue to watch how the
companies use patents in litigation. The Munich case centered on Apple’s European patent
EP1964022B1, which protects a method for unlocking a device in
which the user swipes his finger across an image. The case is LG Muenchen, 7 O 11395/11, 7 O 19692/11. For more patent news, click here. Trademark Apple Wins Hong Kong Ruling, Aiding China IPad Trademark Fight Apple Inc. can use some documents filed previously by
Proview International Holdings Ltd. (334) in the Hong Kong courts,
aiding the iPad maker’s efforts in a trademark dispute over the
tablet computer’s name in China . Apple’s application to use four documents filed by Proview
in a case that started in 2010 was granted by Master A. Ho in a
hearing today. Ho rejected another application by Apple to use
documents submitted in the future by Proview, saying he couldn’t
issue such a “blanket” order. A lawyer representing Apple said the company wants the
documents as it prepares to appeal a November ruling by a
Chinese court that Proview’s Shenzhen subsidiary owns the iPad
trademark in the nation. Since that ruling by the Shenzhen
Intermediate People’s Court, Proview asked China’s customs
bureau to stop imports and exports of the iPad, and asked local
retailers to stop selling the device. The lawyer for Apple told the court that the documents
sought by the Cupertino, California-based company contained
details of correspondence between Proview officials. The lawyer
wasn’t required to identify herself during the hearing and
declined to give her name when approached by Bloomberg News. Apple was represented by the law firm Baker & McKenzie at
the hearing, according to Hong Kong court information. Proview
wasn’t represented at today’s hearing. Apple started litigation against Proview over the iPad
trademark in Hong Kong and China in 2010. In June 2011, a Hong
Kong court granted Apple’s application for an injunction
preventing Proview from selling the iPad trademark to others. Apple said this week it acquired Proview’s worldwide rights
to the iPad trademark in 10 countries, including China. Proview
is refusing to honor an agreement with Apple in China, Apple
said. Roger Xie, a lawyer for Proview at the Grandall Law Firm in
Shenzhen, didn’t respond to a phone call seeking comment. The
Higher People’s Court of Guangdong will hear Apple’s appeal on
Feb. 29. For more trademark news, click here. Trade Secrets/Industrial Espionage UBS Claims Two Ex-Advisers Took Customer Data to Wells Fargo A UBS AG (UBSN) brokerage unit sued two former financial advisers
in Chicago, claiming they took confidential trade secret
information including customer account data to competitor Wells
Fargo (WFC) Advisers LLC. Named as defendants in the lawsuit filed Feb. 15 by UBS
Financial Services Inc. are David Kinnear and Kathleen Bakas,
who allegedly resigned two days earlier to join the Wells Fargo
& Co. unit. One full-time and one part-time UBS employee, all
part of Kinnear’s wealth-management group, went with them,
according to the complaint. “Led by Kinnear, the team serviced accounts that generated
more than $3.7 million in revenues for UBS over the past 12
months of the defendants’ employment,” UBS alleged. The New York-based brokerage unit of Zurich-based UBS seeks
a court order blocking the defendants and any Wells Fargo
representative from soliciting any UBS client Kinnear or Bakas
had advised while there, preventing the disclosure of any
proprietary UBS information and directing its return. UBS also seeks expedited arbitration of its claims through
the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Ancel Martinez, a spokesman for San Francisco-based Wells
Fargo, which isn’t a party to the suit, couldn’t immediately
comment on the case. Kinnear and Bakas didn’t immediately
respond to e-mail messages seeking comment on the lawsuit. The case is UBS Financial Services Inc. v. Kinnear,
12CH05333, Cook County, Illinois, Circuit Court, Chancery
Division (Chicago). MacAndrews & Forbes, Drapkin Reach Post-Verdict Settlement Ronald Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc. and
Donald Drapkin settled their remaining claims against each other
after Perelman’s ex-lieutenant won $16 million at a trial in
January. “All disputes between Donald Drapkin and MacAndrews &
Forbes are resolved,” David Dunn, a lawyer for Drapkin, said in
a telephone interview. The terms of the agreement are
confidential, he said. The two sides filed papers in Manhattan federal court
yesterday dismissing the case. A jury deliberated for 90 minutes last month before
returning a verdict for Drapkin in his breach-of-contract suit
against MacAndrews & Forbes, which he left in 2007. The
agreement means the court won’t consider any remaining disputes
between the parties, including Drapkin’s claim for attorneys’
fees and MacAndrews & Forbes’s planned request to have the
verdict thrown out. Steven Kobre, a lawyer for MacAndrews & Forbes, didn’t
immediately return a message seeking comment on the settlement.
MacAndrews & Forbes had also claimed that Drapkin tried to
induce another employee to leave and had failed to turn over
company documents. Drapkin had denied those charges. The cases are Drapkin v. Mafco Consolidated Group, 09-
cv-1285, and MacAndrews & Forbes LLC v. Drapkin, 09-cv-4513,
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). To contact the reporter on this story:
Ellen Rosen in New York at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Hytha at
[email protected] . | 2012 | spider-man-pfizer-sanofi-apple-intellectual-property |
Witherspoon’s “This Means War” Tanks on All Fronts: Greg Evans | By Greg Evans | 2012-02-18T05:01:00Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/witherspoon-s-this-means-war-tanks-on-all-fronts-greg-evans.html
“This Means War” is a brainless
mash-up of derivative, disposable action scenes and a third-rate
episode of “Sex and the City.” With clumsy direction from McG (“Charlie’s Angels”) and a
slapdash screenplay by Timothy Dowling and Simon Kinberg, “This
Means War” mixes romantic comedy with action as awkwardly as it
pits two best-buddy CIA hunks ( Chris Pine and Tom Hardy ) against
one another for the affections of a lonely, supposedly charming
consumer advocate ( Reese Witherspoon ). The film begins with a phony-looking, shoot-out atop a Hong
Kong skyscraper, setting up a mostly neglected subplot in which
the two agents battle some ill-defined international arms cartel
(headed by the cartoonishly grim Til Schweiger). Back in Los Angeles , the smooth-talking agent FDR Foster
(Pine) and his beefy, Brit-accented partner Tuck (Hardy) bemoan
their pitiful love lives until each meets the woman of his
dreams. Or the woman of their dreams: They’ve fallen for the
same gal | 2 | 17 | ab64ce9bff27bea82d4502b5f331b6f72add8416 | cast members’ unnaturally blue eyes. “This Means War,” from 20th Century Fox, is playing
across the U.S. Rating: * ( Greg Evans is a critic for Muse, the arts and leisure
section of Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own.) To contact the writer on the story:
Greg Evans at [email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Manuela Hoelterhoff in New York at
[email protected] . | 2012 | witherspoon-s-this-means-war-tanks-on-all-fronts-greg-evans |
Ex-Dallas Cowboy Lockhart’s Co-Conspirator Found Guilty in Mortgage Fraud | By Edvard Pettersson | 2012-02-17T21:02:25Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/ex-dallas-cowboy-lockhart-s-co-conspirator-found-guilty-in-mortgage-fraud.html | 2 | 17 | a7bf6338e91a13bb17d9e12fa9201c7309831c34 | Four defendants were found guilty at
trial for their part in a mortgage-fraud scheme led by former
Dallas Cowboys football player Eugene Lockhart, who pleaded
guilty last year. William Randolph Tisdale Jr., 46, who together with
Lockhart, 50, ran the scheme, was found guilty of conspiracy to
commit wire fraud and of bank fraud, according to a statement
yesterday from the office of U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldana in
Dallas. Three others were also found guilty of conspiracy, and
two of them of fraud. Ten defendants have been convicted, including six who
pleaded guilty, in a scheme whereby Lockhart and Tisdale set up
real estate ventures with names derived from the National
Football League team, such as Cowboys Realty, and used straw
buyers to obtain inflated loans for distressed and pre-
foreclosure homes in the Dallas area, according to prosecutors. They got about $20.5 million in fraudulent loans,
prosecutors said. Lockhart faces as long as 10 years prison
under the terms of his plea agreement, prosecutors said. Tisdale
faces as long as 30 years on the bank fraud conviction and 20
years for the conspiracy count, according to the statement. Phillip Gregory, Tisdale’s lawyer, said in a phone
interview that he will pursue an appeal. “We’re disappointed in the outcome of the trial,” the
lawyer said. “We disagree with the jury.” The case is U.S. v. Lockhart, 09-CR-00247, U.S. District
Court, Northern District of Texas (Dallas). To contact the reporter on this story:
Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Hytha at [email protected] . | 2012 | ex-dallas-cowboy-lockhart-s-co-conspirator-found-guilty-in-mortgage-fraud |
Audio of Roger Clemens’s 2008 Deposition on Drug Use Released by Congress | By Michael Riley and Tom Schoenberg | 2012-02-17T20:03:21Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/congress-releases-audio-recordings-of-clemens-s-deposition-on-drug-use.html | 2 | 17 | ac1971ede695c0ae25c40bab92155dc5bdaf3781 | The U.S. Congress released audio of
a 2008 deposition of Roger Clemens that his lawyers argued was
needed to defend the ex-New York Yankees pitcher against charges
he lied to lawmakers about use of performance-enhancing drugs. A House resolution releasing the recording to the
prosecutors, who will make them available to Clemens’s
attorneys, passed on a voice vote earlier today, said Salley
Wood, a spokeswoman for the House Administration Committee. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton chastised lawmakers last
year during Clemens’s original trial for withholding the audio,
saying failure to make it available could compromise the
defense, potentially affecting appeals if the seven-time record
Cy Young Award winner were convicted. That proceeding ended in a
mistrial. Clemens’s retrial is scheduled to begin on April 17. “It doesn’t look good for our government” that Congress
won’t produce the audio of the deposition when the criminal
referral for Clemens’s prosecution came from Congress itself,”
Walton said July 6 in federal court in Washington . Ten of the 15 statements on which the obstruction of
Congress charges are based came from testimony Clemens gave
during his Feb. 5, 2008, deposition, according to the
indictment. ‘Official’ Record William Pittard, assistant counsel to the House of
Representatives , argued last year that the transcript of the
deposition constitutes the “official” record, while the audio
recording is a “backup” and the property of Congress protected
by the Constitution’s speech and debate clause. Clemens’s attorneys argued in court last year that the
transcript wasn’t sufficient. The tape was necessary to
understand the tone and context of the questions and Clemens’s
answers, according to the attorneys, led by Rusty Hardin , a
Houston-based criminal defense attorney. The only way the tapes could be released was by a
resolution of the House. Hardin, like everyone involved in the case, is under a gag
order barring him from any comments outside of court. He
declined to discuss the release of the audio. Clemens, 49, is charged with one count of obstructing a
congressional investigation, three counts of making false
statements and two counts of perjury in connection with a
congressional probe of the use of performance-enhancing drugs by
ballplayers. If convicted on all charges, he faces a $1.5
million fine and as long as 30 years in prison. The case is U.S. v. Clemens, 10-cr-00223, U.S. District
Court, District of Columbia (Washington). To contact the reporter on this story: To contact the reporter on this story:
Michael Riley in Washington at
[email protected] ;
Tom Schoenberg in Washington at
[email protected] | 2012 | congress-releases-audio-recordings-of-clemens-s-deposition-on-drug-use |
Canada January Inflation Unexpectedly Quickens to 2.5% on Food, Gasoline | By Greg Quinn | 2012-02-17T15:33:42Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/canada-january-inflation-unexpectedly-quickens-to-2-5-on-food-gasoline.html | 2 | 17 | d439a1ed2d724695b908a83f96e22251 | Canada ’s inflation rate unexpectedly
quickened in January as prices increased for every category
except for leisure products, led by groceries and fuel. The consumer price index rose 2.5 percent in January from a
year earlier after December’s 2.3 percent gain, Ottawa-based
Statistics Canada said. The core rate, which excludes eight
volatile items, rose to 2.1 percent from December’s 1.9 percent.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted both rates would stay
at last month’s levels, according to the median of 24 estimates. Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has said inflation will
fall below his 2 percent target in the second quarter because
the economy will continue to operate below its potential into
next year. Inflation exceeded 3 percent as recently as September
as Carney sought to boost growth by extending the longest pause
in interest rates since the 1950s. “Core CPI is still at a comfortable level for the Bank of
Canada,” said Jimmy Jean, a strategist in the fixed-income
group at Desjardins Capital Markets in Montreal . “We expect
soft domestic demand and still elevated spare capacity to keep a
lid on inflation in months to come.” The Canadian dollar appreciated 0.1 percent to 99.57 cents
per U.S. dollar at 9:53 a.m. Toronto time. Government bond
yields rose including the two-year bond to 1.10 percent from
1.07 percent, the highest since October 28. The cost of bread rose 9.9 percent from a year ago in
January, Statistics Canada said, followed by an 8.3 percent rise
in fresh vegetables and a 6.5 percent increase for meat. Higher Energy Costs Gasoline posted a 6.8 percent gain while electricity costs
were 7.3 percent higher, Statistics Canada said. WestJet Airlines Ltd., the discount carrier based in
Calgary, reported a 4.3 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit on
Feb. 8 as the average fuel cost climbed 26 percent. Energy drove a 2.9 percent average increase in consumer
prices last year, the fastest since the central bank adopted
inflation targets in 1991. The bank forecast last month that
inflation would slow to a 1.5 percent annual pace in the April-
June period. “It’s a still a bit of a dovish story,” said Derek Holt ,
Scotia Capital’s vice-president of economics in Toronto. “This
restores some sanity to the print we had in the last report”
when inflation slowed from 2.9 percent to 2.3 percent. Inflation Goal The Bank of Canada runs monetary policy with a goal of
achieving 2 percent annual inflation, the mid-point of a 1
percent to 3 percent target range. The only major category of eight to post an annual decline
in January was recreation, education and reading, with a 0.1
percent drop, as consumers paid less for video equipment and
travel tours. On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in
January while core inflation rose 0.2 percent. Economists
surveyed by Bloomberg predicted monthly inflation of 0.3 percent
and a 0.1 percent advance in core prices. Seasonally adjusted inflation rose 0.5 percent in January
from the month before, more than reversing the December decline
of 0.2 percent. Canada’s index of leading economic indicators rose for the
seventh consecutive month in January led by housing while
December jobless benefits claims rose, Statistics Canada also
reported today. The leading index gained 0.7 percent, matching
December’s revised increase, and the number of Canadians
receiving jobless benefits increased 0.8 percent. To contact the reporter on this story:
Greg Quinn in Ottawa at
[email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Christopher Wellisz at
[email protected] ;
David Scanlan at
[email protected] . | 2012 | canada-january-inflation-unexpectedly-quickens-to-2-5-on-food-gasoline |
European Stocks Advance to Highest Level Since July on Greek Debt Optimism | By Namitha Jagadeesh | 2012-02-18T00:00:01Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/european-stocks-post-weekly-advance-to-highest-level-since-july.html | 2 | 17 | a82197908ec54e50b2ad0405f220414c | European stocks rose this week,
pushing the Stoxx Europe 600 Index to the highest in more than
six months, amid optimism the region’s finance ministers will
approve a Greek rescue and U.S. economic data beat forecasts. Cable & Wireless Worldwide Plc soared 37 percent as
Vodafone Group Plc said it’s considering buying the
telecommunications services provider. Nestle SA gained 4.1
percent after reporting earnings that exceeded analyst
estimates. Cap Gemini SA jumped 14 percent after it forecast a
higher operating-profit margin this year. The Stoxx 600 added 1.8 percent to 265.93 this week, the
highest daily close since July 22. The benchmark measure has
rallied 24 percent from its low on Sept. 22 and 8.8 percent this
year as investors speculated euro-area policy makers will
contain the sovereign-debt crisis. “I don’t think that Greece will default by any means,”
said Ali Mahdavi, an equities trader at Newedge Group in London.
“They have to save it in order to save the euro zone . The
Greece situation will be resolved sooner rather than later. Now,
with more positive news and also what we’ve had from the U.S.,
stocks have rallied back up.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel , Italian Prime Minister
Mario Monti and Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos expressed
optimism that an agreement on Greece can be reached at a Feb. 20
meeting of the finance chiefs. The ministers delayed the rescue package even after Greek
Prime Minister Lucas Papademos won parliamentary approval on
spending cuts. U.S. Economy A report showed the prospects for the world’s largest
economy increased in January. The Conference Board’s gauge of
the outlook for the next three to six months climbed 0.4 percent
after a revised 0.5 percent gain in December that was more than
initially reported, the New York-based group said. The median
forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for an
increase of 0.5 percent. Claims for jobless benefits fell unexpectedly last week to
the lowest level in four years, Labor Department figures showed
on Feb. 16. Housing starts rose 1.5 percent, beating
projections. A third report showed that manufacturing in the
Philadelphia region expanded in February at the fastest pace in
four months as new orders and sales picked up. All but one of the 19 industry groups in the Stoxx 600
increased this week, led by a gauge of technology shares that
gained 3.6 percent. An index of mining companies fell 1 percent. National benchmark indexes rose in 15 of the 18 western-
European markets. France ’s CAC 40 Index added 2 percent.
Germany ’s DAX Index advanced 2.3 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100
Index increased 0.9 percent. Moody’s Review Moody’s Investors Service downgraded six euro-area
countries on Feb. 13, including Spain, Portugal and Italy , and
threatened to cut the top Aaa ratings of U.K. and France. The ratings company also placed 17 banks and securities
firms under review. UBS AG, Credit Suisse Group AG and Deutsche
Bank AG are among lenders that may be downgraded. In China , the central bank’s chief said the world’s second-
largest economy will help the European Union end the debt
crisis. “China will always adhere to the principle of holding
assets of EU sovereign debt,” People’s Bank of China Governor
Zhou Xiaochuan said on Feb. 15. “We would participate in
resolving the euro debt crisis,” he said. Cable & Wireless, Nestle Cable & Wireless Worldwide rose 37 percent after Vodafone,
the world’s largest mobile-phone company, said it’s evaluating a
bid for the telecommunications services provider. Nestle, the world’s biggest food company, gained 4.1
percent after reporting 2011 sales growth that beat estimates
and forecast higher earnings in 2012. BNP Paribas SA rallied 5.2 percent as France’s largest bank
posted a fourth-quarter net income of 765 million euros, beating
the 587 million-euro average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by
Bloomberg. Oriflame Cosmetics SA surged 18 percent after Chief
Executive Officer Magnus Braennstroem said the company plans to
“reverse the sales trend and return to growth with improved
operating margin” in 2012. Cap Gemini, France’s biggest computer-services company,
rose 14 percent after it forecast higher operating-profit margin
this year. Spanish banks declined as the country’s stock market
regulator lifted a six-month ban on short-selling of financial
stocks. Banco Santander SA fell 0.8 percent. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya
Argentaria SA lost 3.4 percent. Bankia SA retreated 13 percent
to the lowest price since it sold its shares to the public last
year. Of the 170 Stoxx 600 companies that have reported quarterly
earnings since Jan. 9, as many as 75 have exceeded analysts’
estimates, compared with 84 that missed projections, according
to data compiled by Bloomberg . To contact the reporter on this story:
Namitha Jagadeesh in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrew Rummer at
[email protected] | 2012 | european-stocks-post-weekly-advance-to-highest-level-since-july |
Kenya to Crack Down on Illegal Coffee Exports to Boost Output | By William Davison | 2012-02-17T14:14:51Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/kenya-to-crack-down-on-illegal-coffee-exports-to-boost-output.html | 2 | 17 | 9aafd1883ec0e20afa0a934c5ca4de736d5d93a8 | Kenya ’s coffee board plans to crack
down on illegal exports of the beans to boost official
production to 51,000 metric tons of the crop this year, Managing
Director Loise Wanjira Njeru said. Last year, output was recorded at 36,629 tons in the 12
months through September when the actual figure may have been
about 50,000 tons, Njeru said in an interview in Ethiopia ’s
capital, Addis Ababa , yesterday. “The biggest next agenda is going to be how we track the
coffee moving out,” she said. “We believe that the unofficial
channels would account for the balance.” Kenya earned $221.7 million from the crop last year,
compared with $171.3 million a year earlier, according to the
Kenya Coffee Producers and Traders Association. Output may reach
70,000 tons within the five years as a debt-write off for
farmers and investment in inputs such as fertilizers boost
productivity, Njeru said. Yields should be at least 5 kilograms
(11 pounds) per tree instead of the current 2 kilograms,
according to Njeru. “If we have 50 percent of farmers at 5 kilograms we would
still be able to make the 70,000 tons” target, she said.
“Productivity is our biggest undoing.” Kenya also plans to grow coffee in new areas after
plantations were lost to real-estate development, said Njeru.
“We will shift to the west of the Rift Valley where we still
have huge tracts of land suitable for coffee growing,” she said. To contact the reporter on this story:
William Davison in Addis Ababa via Nairobi at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Paul Richardson in Nairobi at
[email protected] . | 2012 | kenya-to-crack-down-on-illegal-coffee-exports-to-boost-outpu |
German President Probed by Bafin Over Porsche, VW, Spiegel Says | By Karin Matussek | 2012-02-17T07:49:36Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/german-president-probed-by-bafin-over-porsche-vw-spiegel-says.html | 2 | 17 | ff71f63655f730184fcb1a5b87ca4c134bf3751b | German financial regulator Bafin is
reviewing whether Christian Wulff, the country’s president,
violated capital market rules in the wake of Porsche SE’s failed
bid to take over Volkswagen AG (VOW) , Der Spiegel said. Wulff may have learned in February 2008 that Porsche was
planning the bid and Bafin reviews whether he may have had to
disclose that fact to the markets, the magazine reported,
without saying where it got the information. Wulff was prime minister of Lower Saxony and a member of
Volkswagen’s supervisory board at the time of the Porsche bid. Bafin’s press office didn’t immediately return a call
seeking comment. Wulff’s attorney Gernot Lehr didn’t immediately
reply to an e-mail requesting comment. To contact the reporter on this story:
Karin Matussek in Berlin at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Anthony Aarons at
[email protected] | 2012 | german-president-probed-by-bafin-over-porsche-vw-spiegel-says |
German President Wulff’s Legal Immunity Ends Tomorrow, DPA Says | By Brian Parkin | 2012-02-17T17:38:09Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/german-president-wulff-s-legal-immunity-ends-tomorrow-dpa-says.html | 2 | 17 | 75f77b0d78264ddc382b2d4258cd610cb5da5894 | German President Christian Wulff ’s
legal immunity will be lifted tomorrow, allowing prosecutors to
investigate alleged abuse of office, the Deutsche Presse Agentur
reported, citing the spokesman for the prosecutor’s office in
Hanover, Hans-Juergen Lendeckel. Wulff announced his resignation today after prosecutors
said they wanted to investigate allegations he accepted illicit
favors during his tenure as governor of Lower Saxony before he
became head of state. Wulff said he had done nothing illegal and
was convinced any legal action would lead to a “complete
discharge.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Brian Parkin in Berlin at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Hertling at
[email protected] | 2012 | german-president-wulff-s-legal-immunity-ends-tomorrow-dpa-says |
Emerging Stocks Reach 6-Month High on Signs U.S. Economy Growing | By Zachary Tracer and Chris Kay | 2012-02-17T22:27:14Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/emerging-market-stocks-rise-to-one-week-high-on-u-s-data-greece-optimism.html | 2 | 17 | 6f20f5441fc74064ab3d9f45a1a55a9a | Emerging-market stocks rose to a
six-month high and the yield premium on developing-nation debt
dropped to the lowest since October as signs of U.S. growth and
prospects Greece will get its bailout boosted riskier assets. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index (MXEF) gained 1.3 percent to
1,062.46 at the close in New York, the highest since Aug. 4. The
extra yield demanded by investors to hold emerging-country bonds
over U.S. Treasuries narrowed to 374 basis points, the least
since Oct. 28, JPMorgan Chase & Co. data showed. An index of leading U.S. indicators rose in January and the
cost of living climbed less than forecast, Conference Board and
government data showed, a day after a report showed jobless
claims slid to the lowest level since 2008 in January. A
“solution” to outstanding issues blocking Greece from getting
its second rescue package will be found, said Steffen Seibert,
German Chancellor Angela Merkel ’s chief spokesman. “If the U.S. economy looks better, the global growth
outlook looks more positive,” Michael Ganske , head of emerging-
markets research at Commerzbank AG, said by phone from London .
“Investors are already positioned for a risky scenario in
Greece” so it is no longer a force pushing down markets, Ganske
said. Brazil ’s Bovespa (IBOV) rose for a third day, led by Cia
Brasileira de Distribuicao Grupo Pao de Acucar , after the
nation’s biggest retailer reported fourth-quarter profit that
beat the average of analyst estimates. Equity Fund Inflows The PX Index (PX) reached a one-week high in Prague as
Telefonica Czech Republic AS (SPTT) jumped the most since October 2008
after net income rose 50 percent. China Life Insurance Co. (2628) , the
nation’s biggest insurer, reached a six-month high in Hong Kong
trading, sending the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of
mainland shares to the highest level since August. The
Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PCOMP) jumped 2.4 percent to a record. Investors added $2.19 billion to emerging-markets equity
funds in the week ended Feb. 15, while pulling assets from
developed markets, according to data researcher EPFR Global.
About 40 percent of the $47 billion pulled out of emerging-
market stock funds last year has been returned in 2012, the
research firm said by e-mail today. MSCI’s emerging-market gauge has gained 16 percent this
year, beating the 8.9 percent increase for the MSCI World Index (MXWO)
of developed-market shares. The developing-nation index trades
at 10.7 times estimated earnings, compared with 12.8 times for
the MSCI World measure. The Bovespa gained 0.1 percent, bringing its advance in the
week to 3.4 percent. Pao de Acucar surged 5.7 percent to 79.20
reais, a record close. Telecom Argentina Argentina ’s Merval Index (MERVAL) gained 1.1 percent to a two-week
high, as Telecom Argentina SA (TECO2) rose the most in more than two
weeks after reporting that net income in the last three months
of 2011 increased 18 percent. China Life advanced 3.5 percent to HK$23.60, the highest
level since Aug. 5, as the insurer said premium income rose 12
percent in January. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI) rose
1.2 percent to the highest since Aug. 4. South Africa ’s FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index (JALSH) advanced for
the first time in four days, rising 0.8 percent, as an index of
commodity prices reached the highest level since July 28. Anglo American Plc (AAL) , a diversified miner that makes up about
9 percent of the South African index, jumped 1.9 percent, its
first gain in four days, after the company said profit rose 23
percent last year as iron-ore and copper output increase. The Philippine Stock Index ended three days of losses to
close at a record-high 4880.71 after foreign investment into the
Southeast Asian nation climbed in January. Net overseas
investment in Philippine stocks, bonds and deposits rose last
month, the central bank reported yesterday. Twenty-three of 25 emerging-market currencies tracked by
Bloomberg advanced against the dollar. Indonesia ’s rupiah
strengthened 0.7 percent and Russia ’s ruble appreciated 1.1
percent. To contact the reporters on this story:
Zachary Tracer in New York at
[email protected] ;
Chris Kay in Abuja at
[email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Emma O’Brien at
[email protected] ;
Gavin Serkin at
[email protected] | 2012 | emerging-market-stocks-rise-to-one-week-high-on-u-s-data-greece-optimis |
Turkish Stocks: Arcelik, Emlak Konut GYO, Eregli Demir Rise | By Benjamin Harvey | 2012-02-17T12:56:16Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/turkish-stocks-arcelik-emlak-konut-gyo-eregli-demir-rise.html | 2 | 17 | 96240e610060ba52510ce198f8bba6a333924115 | Turkey ’s benchmark ISE National 100
Index rose 0.9 percent to 60,543.23 as of 2:52 p.m. in Istanbul,
increasing its weekly gain to 2 percent. The following stocks are active. Stock symbols are in
parentheses. Arcelik AS (ARCLK) , Turkey’s biggest producer of
household appliances, gained 1.9 percent to 7.70 liras. The
company is a “buy” even though its fourth quarter results were
weaker as growth in white goods will continue in 2012 and cost
pressures will ease, Citigroup’s brokerage in Turkey said. Emlak Konut Gayrimenkul Yatirim Ortakligi AS (EKGYO) ,
Turkey’s largest real estate developer, climbed 1.8 percent to
2.28 liras. BGC Partners in Istanbul upgraded the company to
“buy” following its underperformance relative to the overall
index in the past three months and on expectations that legal
changes would benefit the real estate sector. Eregli Demir & Celik Fabrikalari AS (EREGL TI), Turkey’s
largest steelmaker, added 3.1 percent to 3.99 liras. The company
has announced a bonus for its shareholders, giving away 0.44
units for every share held. The bonus shares issue will cost the
company 940 million liras ($534 million). To contact the reporter on this story:
Benjamin Harvey in Istanbul at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Gavin Serkin at
[email protected] | 2012 | urkish-stocks-arcelik-emlak-konut-gyo-eregli-demir-rise |
Yelp to Raise as Much as $100 Million in IPO | By | 2012-02-17T13:26:57Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/yelp-to-raise-as-much-as-100-million-in-ipo.html | 2 | 17 | 8e8c39f56d4b61aa1d5d57ec83a9e830d13fd342 | Yelp Inc. , the user-generated
review website, plans to raise as much as $100 million in what
may be the first initial public offering from a major Internet
company this year. Bloomberg's Cris Valerio reports on
Bloomberg Television's "In The Loop." (Source: Bloomberg) Running Time: 01:54 | 2012 | yelp-to-raise-as-much-as-100-million-in-ipo |
Aegon Profit Falls on Reorganization Costs; Shares Jump on Longevity Swap | By Maud van Gaal | 2012-02-17T11:25:14Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/aegon-profit-tumbles-after-reorganization-costs-lower-investment-returns.html | 2 | 17 | d01fa5f54343463aa9bbbbb10975af82 | Aegon NV (AGN) , the Dutch owner of U.S.
insurer Transamerica Corp., reported a 75 percent decline in
fourth-quarter profit on reorganization costs and lower
investment returns from equity markets and interest rates. Net income fell to 79 million euros ($106 million) from 318
million euros a year earlier, the Hague-based insurer said
today. The firm had 194 million euros in charges, including 48
million euros related to U.K. insurance policies. The shares rose as the insurer said it completed a swap
with Deutsche Bank AG to protect the firm against the risk of
pensioners living longer than expected. Aegon, which makes most
of its profit in the U.S., repeated that it aims to increase
underlying pretax profit by 7 percent to 10 percent a year on
average until 2015 and to post a return on equity of 10 percent
to 12 percent. “It’s positive that longevity risk has been reduced in the
Dutch book,” Albert Ploegh , an Amsterdam-based analyst at ING
Groep NV, wrote in a note today. “After several insurers had to
take charges on the back of increased longevity, Aegon now
appears to have tackled this issue.” Shares of Aegon, whose Pyramid building is a landmark in
San Francisco ’s financial district, jumped as much as 7 percent
in Amsterdam today. They were up 6.3 percent to 3.97 euros at
11:50 a.m. local time, giving the company a market value of 7.6
billion euros. That outpaced the 1.1 percent advance in the 28-
company Bloomberg Europe 500 Insurance Index . No Acquisitions Aegon doesn’t plan a share buyback or acquisitions at this
point, Chief Executive Officer Alex Wynaendts told analysts on a
conference call today. He plans to continue a strategy of
maintaining a strong capital position as market volatility will
likely persist in coming years, even as the “bottom of the euro
crisis is probably behind us.” Profit missed the average estimate of 209 million euros in
a Bloomberg survey of 10 analysts. Aegon said today it proposed
a 2011 dividend of 10 cents per share, as the company had
previously indicated. It would be the company’s first payout
since 2008, when it took state aid during the financial crisis. “The fourth-quarter result was mainly affected by one-off
charges which we do not expect to occur in 2012,” Lemer Salah,
an Amsterdam-based analyst at SNS Securities, said in a note.
“We believe that the company is well positioned to achieve its
objectives in the U.S. and Netherlands.” Longevity Swap Wynaendts said Aegon may do more transactions like today’s
longevity swap, which will see Deutsche Bank (DBK) protect 12 billion
euros, or one-third of the reserves in the Dutch business. “The
transaction reduces required capital at an attractive cost,”
Aegon said. The risk of pensioners living longer will be borne by
investors rather than Deutsche Bank, the German bank said in a
separate statement. It is the first transaction to place such
risk wholly in the capital markets , it said. In 2011, Aegon set aside 82 million euros to cover life-
expectancy risks in the Netherlands, Wynaendts said in an
interview today. The transaction today helps the insurer
increase its capacity on the Dutch pension market. Aegon’s value of new business, a measure of projected
future profitability of new policies, fell 59 percent to 53
million euros in the fourth quarter. That is unsurprising given
“the historic low interest rates” in the insurer’s key
markets, Wynaendts told reporters on the call. U.K., Dutch Charges Underlying pretax profit, which excludes investment swings,
fell 23 percent to 346 million euros, almost matching the
average estimate of 347 million euros in a Bloomberg survey of
12 analysts. Earnings on this basis fell 17 percent in 2011. In the Netherlands , Aegon wrote down 75 million euros on
its distribution business in anticipation of a ban on
commissions in life and pension products starting in 2013,
Wynaendts said. The U.K. charges, which were related to fixing
administrative errors, exceeded the estimate of Cor Kluis, an
analyst at Rabobank International. “With all these charges for the U.K. taken, the year 2012
should be a normal profit level,” Kluis, based in Utrecht, the
Netherlands, said in a note. Aegon’s profit goals rely on assumptions including a 4.75
percent U.S. 10-year bond yield for 2016, which is more than
double the current 2 percent rate. The U.S. Federal Reserve said last month that it sees
“exceptionally low” interest rates through 2014, having
previously pledged to refrain from raising borrowing costs until
at least the middle of 2013. Insurers suffer from lower long-
term interest rates as they hold back returns from bond
investments and increase future liabilities. To contact the reporter on this story:
Maud van Gaal in Amsterdam at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Frank Connelly at
[email protected] | 2012 | aegon-profit-tumbles-after-reorganization-costs-lower-investment-returns |
Hungarian Stocks: OTP Bank, Magyar Telekom Move in Budapest | By Andras Gergely | 2012-02-17T16:46:12Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/hungarian-stocks-otp-bank-refiner-mol-are-active-in-budapest.html | 2 | 17 | aaf5da7c1954aa136c75c5cf1711d47959b2ce8a | Hungary ’s benchmark BUX stock index
rose 2.1 percent to 19,147.54 by the close in Budapest. The
following were among the most active equities in the Hungarian
market today. Stock symbols follow company names. OTP Bank Nyrt. (OTP) , Hungary’s largest lender, pared
its weekly decline as the country’s stocks advanced on
speculation Greece will get a second bailout and as Hungary
worked to obtain its own rescue. The shares climbed 1.9 percent
to 3,945 forint. Magyar Telekom Nyrt. (MTEL) , Hungary’s former phone
monopoly, increased the most since May 2010 as a drop in
government bond yields made the company’s dividends more
appealing to investors, according to Concorde Ertekpapir Zrt.
The shares rallied 5.5 percent to 573 forint. To contact the reporter on this story:
Andras Gergely in Budapest at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Gavin Serkin at
[email protected] | 2012 | ungarian-stocks-otp-bank-refiner-mol-are-active-in-budapes |
Oil Set for Biggest 2012 Weekly Gain | By Grant Smith | 2012-02-17T13:25:05Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/crude-oil-set-for-biggest-weekly-gain-this-year-on-u-s-economy-greek-aid.html | 2 | 17 | 69fa8722aad444a9bbe159e4e4dfd968 | Oil rose for a third day in New
York, heading for the biggest weekly gain this year, as signs of
an improving U.S. economy and progress on a bailout for Greece
bolstered the outlook for fuel demand. Brent touched an eight-
month high. West Texas Intermediate futures climbed as much as 0.6
percent today and have gained 4.1 percent this week, the most
since the five days ended Dec. 23. U.S. applications for jobless
payments fell to the lowest since 2008, the Labor Department
said yesterday. European governments are considering cutting
interest rates on emergency loans to Greece and using European
Central Bank contributions to plug a financing gap for the
second bailout, two people familiar with the discussions said. “The U.S. economy is in better shape than had been
feared,” Eugen Weinberg , the head of commodities research at
Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt , who predicts Brent crude will slide
toward $110 a barrel by the end of the year. “The current price
action is a liquidity and investment-driven rally on the back of
U.S. economic sentiment and improving equity markets, fueled
further by fears of possibly supply cutbacks.” WTI for March delivery rose as much as 66 cents to $102.97
a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $102.76
at 1:19 p.m. London time. Prices yesterday rose to $102.31
yesterday, the highest close since Jan. 4. Brent oil for April settlement was down 19 cents at $119.92
a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange, after advancing to
$120.70 earlier, the highest since June. Brent’s premium to WTI
for was at $16.86, compared with a record $27.88 on Oct. 14. ‘Main Driver’ Crude in New York has technical resistance along the upper
Bollinger Band on the daily chart, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg. This indicator is around $102.82 a barrel today. Sell
orders tend to be clustered near chart-resistance levels. Oil may rise next week on concern that shipments will be
disrupted by tension between Iran and the West over the
country’s nuclear program, a Bloomberg News survey showed.
Fifteen of 37 analysts, or 41 percent, forecast oil will climb
through Feb. 24. Twelve respondents, or 32 percent, predicted
prices will decline and 10 said there will be little change. “For the next few months, the demand side for the oil
market should be getting better,” said Tetsu Emori , a commodity
fund manager at Astmax Ltd. in Tokyo who helps manage $390
million and predicts futures in New York will reach $145 a
barrel this year. “The main driver of the market is Brent,
which potentially has more lift to the upside due to supply-side
risks.” Threats From Iran Daily volumes in options granting the right to buy Brent
for more than the current market price have risen above 25,000
on four days during the past two weeks in New York, signaling an
increase in bets on a possible price rally. Iran said Feb. 15 it was cutting crude shipments to France
and the Netherlands, and had loaded locally built fuel plates
into its nuclear research reactor in Tehran, according to
reports by the state-run Mehr news agency and Press TV. The EU
decided last month to halt purchases from Iran starting July 1
in an attempt to halt its nuclear program. Iran will increase the volume of oil it ships to China
“soon,” state-run Mehr news agency reported yesterday, citing
an unidentified official at National Iranian Oil Co. In the U.S., applications for unemployment payments dropped
by 13,000 in the week ended Feb. 11 to 348,000, the Labor
Department said yesterday. The claims were less than the most-
optimistic estimate of 45 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Progress in Greece Greece expects euro-area finance ministers to approve a
second aid package at a meeting on Feb. 20, according to
Pantelis Kapsis, a government spokesman. Overcoming the final
obstacles may enable finance ministers to approve the 130
billion-euro ($170 billion) lifeline and a bond exchange with
private investors that are critical to staving off a Greek
default in March, the German finance ministry told coalition
lawmakers in Berlin yesterday, three officials said. Oil prices are rising on demand from Asian countries,
including China , the world’s second biggest crude consumer,
according to HSBC Holdings Plc. “Most blame geopolitics for the latest spike, and we don’t
quibble with that,” Frederic Neumann , co-head for Asian
economic research at the bank in Hong Kong , said in a report
today. “But fundamentally, Asia’s huge appetite for crude is
providing the backdrop.” China’s crude imports increased 7.4 percent from a year ago
to 23.41 million metric tons in January, a record high,
according to preliminary data from Beijing-based General
Administration of Customs on Feb. 10. Final figures are
scheduled to be released on Feb. 21. Saudi Arabian Oil Co. plans to re-open the Damman oilfield,
the company’s oldest, and produce there for the first time in 30
years in response to “tight market conditions,” the Economist
Intelligence Unit reported yesterday. Officials at Aramco’s
headquarters in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia , didn’t answer phone calls
seeking comment. To contact the reporter on this story:
Grant Smith in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss on [email protected] | 2012 | crude-oil-set-for-biggest-weekly-gain-this-year-on-u-s-economy-greek-aid |
UAW Bonuses on GM Profit May Lift Economy | By Jeff Green and Keith Naughton | 2012-02-17T05:01:00Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/uaw-7-000-bonuses-on-record-gm-profit-drives-u-s-economy-cars.html | 2 | 17 | 833afd8866ea428ba1ea1d6c7b0745ec | Mike Green says he already knows how
he’s going to use a $7,000 profit-sharing check from General
Motors Co. (GM) : He’ll help his son buy a new car, throw him a
graduation party and sock some money away in the bank. “A lot of people are going to catch up on stuff,” said
Green, president of UAW Local 652 in Lansing, Michigan, where GM
builds Cadillacs. “People haven’t really had a raise since 2005.
It’s kind of nice we get to reap some of the rewards now.” The rebound in carmaker profits is putting money into the
pockets of U.S. workers after years of belt-tightening. GM
yesterday reported a record $9.19 billion in net income for
2011, which will mean profit-sharing bonuses of as much as
$7,000 for 47,500 eligible UAW members. That’s an all-time high
for GM, and up from an average of $4,300 for the company’s U.S.
union workers last year. The payouts, scheduled for March 2, come on top of similar
bonuses at Ford Motor Co. (F) and Chrysler Group LLC. The money may
help lift the economies of states with unionized auto factories
such as Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky. “This is a day that none of us thought we’d see,” said
Harley Shaiken , labor professor at University of California at
Berkeley. “Given what UAW workers have been through, if there
is a time to buy something, it is now.” The return of bonuses will help consumers shake off fears
from the Great Recession and boost spending, said Donald Grimes,
a senior research specialist at the University of Michigan who
studies labor and the economy. Savings rates peaked in December
2009 and have now fallen back to 2004 levels, he said. Michigan Rising Already, the economies of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio have
improved faster than that of the U.S. since April 2009 as GM and
Chrysler were forced into U.S.-backed bankruptcies as part of an
$80-billion bailout, according to the Philadelphia Federal
Reserve. Michigan is expected to lead all 50 states over the
next six months, the Fed data show. “This is a reversal of the first half of the 2000s when
Michigan and other auto states bore the brunt of the downturn,”
said Grimes, who conducts annual economic forecasts for the
Institute for Research on Labor, Employment and the Economy.
“Now they are getting a bigger share of the recovery.” GM posted its record profit as sales rose 7.6 percent last
year to 9.03 million vehicles, allowing the company to outsell
Toyota Motor Corp. and reclaim the title of the world’s top-
selling automaker. GM also benefited from a lower break-even
point from the 2009 bankruptcy. $49,600 Corvettes The Upper Midwest will be a hotly contested region in this
year’s presidential election. Michigan and Ohio went for Barack Obama in 2008 and now each has a Republican governor. GOP
candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are campaigning against
the auto bailout in Michigan, which has a Republican primary
Feb. 28. President Obama has visited the region several times to
tout the U.S. auto industry’s comeback. In the battleground state of Ohio, David Green says he
plans to pay off his 2011 Chevrolet Cruze sedan with his GM
profit sharing. “I’m would think some folks are going to save it after
being through some tough times, other people are going to use it
to pay off bills and some are going to go out and buy stuff,”
said Green, president of UAW Local 1714 in Lordstown, Ohio,
which stamps metal parts for the Cruze. Union workers at the Corvette factory in Kentucky will
probably use their profit sharing checks to put a down payment
on the $49,600 sports cars they build, said Eldon Renaud,
president of United Auto Workers Local 2164 at the Bowling
Green, Kentucky factory that builds the cars. UAW Discounts “There are some people ready to put that toward a
Corvette,” he said. “With all the concessions we gave during
and after the bankruptcy, it’s an exciting time. Some of the
money we lost will be made up with this profit sharing. ‘‘Morale is certainly quickly improving. Everyone is
starting to feel like it was worth biting the bullet.’’ Local businesses are beginning to market specifically to
workers in line for bonuses. The Art Van furniture chain in
Michigan is offering GM workers a special promotion of as much
as 65 percent off and no 6 percent state sales tax. ‘‘We have noticed that auto workers are spending their
bonuses at Art Van,’’ said Diane Charles, a spokeswoman for the
retailer. ‘‘After three years of ‘needs’ spending, there is a
little pent up demand for the ‘want’ spending. Many folks are
beginning to replace furniture, carpet and televisions.’’ Ford paid out about $3,750 in profit sharing in December
for the first half of 2011 and will pay out $2,450 more on March
14 as part of $6,200 in total payments on $20.2 billion profit
last year. Chrysler paid out an average of $1,500 to about
26,000 union workers on Feb. 10. Jobs Gains GM paid no bonuses to union workers from 2005 through 2010
and Ford and Chrysler skipped all but two of those years,
according to data compiled by the Center for Automotive Research
in Ann Arbor , Michigan. The most GM paid before last year was
$1,775 in 1999, Ford paid out a record $8,000 that year and
Chrysler paid its biggest ever bonus as well, at $8,100. Auto states are starting to see benefits from the
industry’s recovery. Michigan, Ohio and Indiana all ranked among
the top eight performers for improvement of economic health in
the Bloomberg Economic Evaluation of States from the third
quarter of 2009 through the third quarter of last year. Michigan
gained 66,000 jobs in 2011, according to a Jan. 13 report , the
first gain in the state since the turn of the century. ‘Problems Lurking’ With about a third of each bonus check going to state and
federal taxes, governments are also gaining from the largess,
said Sean McAlinden , a labor economist with the Center for
Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. ‘‘Michigan tax revenues will certainly benefit: first
income taxes, then sales taxes, then spinoff effect,’’ McAlinden
said. ‘‘I wish I owned an appliance firm.’’ Gary Chaison , professor of industrial relations at Clark
University in Worcester, Massachusetts , said the economic bump
from bonuses may not be as big as before the recession. ‘‘Most GM workers realize there still may be problems
lurking and that they’re not out of the woods yet,’’ he said.
‘‘They’re not going to go out and buy a summer home or a new
car. They’ll pay a large share in taxes and use the rest to pay
off debts.” The UAW’s Renaud isn’t among the cautious ones. He plans on
using his $7,000 profit-sharing check to take his wife to Italy
to celebrate her new doctorate and his survival at GM. “Things are finally starting to look up and we’re just
excited that we still have jobs,” said Renaud. “I’m sure my
wife will be excited. I owe her a trip to Italy.” To contact the reporters on this story:
Jeff Green in Southfield, Michigan, at
[email protected] ;
Keith Naughton in Southfield, Michigan, at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jamie Butters at
[email protected] | 2012 | uaw-7-000-bonuses-on-record-gm-profit-drives-u-s-economy-cars |
Hochtief, Ventizz Set Up Company to Develop Offshore Wind Farms | By Stefan Nicola | 2012-02-17T10:58:56Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/hochtief-ventizz-set-up-company-to-develop-offshore-wind-farms.html | 2 | 17 | 358ca59b34075c846b0efe21b11fff59640113bf | Hochtief AG (HOT) , Germany’s biggest
builder, set up a company with Ventizz Capital Partners to
develop offshore wind farms. The joint venture would sell projects after “readying the
subsequent construction of the wind farms in a way that
significantly reduces the risk of cost overruns and delays,”
Hochtief said in an e-mailed statement today. Germany plans to install 10,000 megawatts of turbines off
its coast this decade to help replace its nuclear reactors,
which are to shut by 2022. Hochtief, with 20 billion euros ($26
billion) of sales in 2010, could lend financial power to
projects that can cost as much as 1.5 billion euros. Hochtief seeks to purchase at least two wind farm
concessions off Germany , Ullrich Reinke, head of energy and
infrastructure at the company’s Solutions unit, said in
November. To contact the reporter on this story:
Stefan Nicola in Berlin at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
[email protected] | 2012 | ochtief-ventizz-set-up-company-to-develop-offshore-wind-farms |
Magyar Telekom Rises Most Since 2010 on Bond Yield Decline | By Andras Gergely | 2012-02-17T16:25:55Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/magyar-telekom-rises-most-in-month-as-yield-fall-favors-dividend.html | 2 | 17 | 5a10025d06c6b2a6c3b9dbcf7b4e6a3e75aeb562 | Magyar Telekom Nyrt. (MTEL) , Hungary ’s
former phone monopoly, rose the most in almost two years as a
drop in government bond yields made the company’s dividend more
attractive to investors, according to Concorde Ertekpapir Zrt. The shares rose 5.5 percent to 573 forint, the biggest
advance since May 2010 and the highest closing level since July
by the end of trading in Budapest. Gains in Hungary’s government
notes maturing in 2017 cut the yield five basis points today to
8.42 percent, compared with 10.844 percent on Jan. 4. Hungary’s bonds and the forint have rallied since Prime
Minister Viktor Orban said on Jan. 5 he was ready to discuss
steps needed to obtain a “quick” international bailout. Magyar
Telekom, which is often sought for its dividends, benefits as
bond yields become less attractive in comparison, said Attila Gyurcsik, an analyst at broker Concorde. “Magyar Telekom is a yield-sensitive stock,” Gyurcsik
said in a telephone interview from Budapest today. “The shares
have missed out on the recent rally in bonds and it is now
catching up.” The prospect of a bailout deal with the International
Monetary Fund and the European Union may help cut yields
further, Gyurcsik added. To contact the reporter on this story:
Andras Gergely in Budapest at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Gavin Serkin at
[email protected] | 2012 | agyar-telekom-rises-most-in-month-as-yield-fall-favors-dividend |
Brait Surges After It Entered Negotiations: Johannesburg Mover | By Stephen Gunnion | 2012-02-17T15:47:48Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/brait-jumps-after-as-it-entered-negotiations-johannesburg-mover.html | 2 | 17 | c1c954732ecbee6aaeea1f7bba06157a38146d30 | Brait SA (BAT) , South Africa ’s largest
private equity company, climbed the most in 11 months after the
investment company said it is in talks that may affect its
shares, without providing more details. The stock rose as much as 5.1 percent to 21.80 rand, the
biggest jump since March 9, and closed 3.4 percent higher at
21.45 in Johannesburg. Brait said Jan. 19 that it has 1.7 billion rand ($219
million) “available for new investments,” according to a
regulatory filing. “They have some funds and may be looking to make an
acquisition in a new stock or take up a bigger stake in one of
their existing investments,” Jean Pierre Verster, an analyst
with 36ONE Asset Management Pty Ltd. in Johannesburg, said by
phone. Brait Chief Executive Officer John Gnodde declined to
comment. Christo Wiese, chairman of Pepkor, one of Brait’s largest
investments, owns 33 percent of the South African private equity
firm. The investment management team at Brait owns 18 percent of
the company, acccording to Brait. “With Christo Wiese and management being anchor
shareholders, I would be surprised if it is a takeover of
Brait,” Verster said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Stephen Gunnion in Johannesburg at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Antony Sguazzin at
[email protected] | 2012 | brait-jumps-after-as-it-entered-negotiations-johannesburg-mover |
Republicans Are Unprotected on Contraception: Jonathan Alter | By Jonathan Alter | 2012-02-17T00:00:12Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/republicans-are-unprotected-on-contraception-jonathan-alter.html
During the 1928 presidential
campaign, nutty right-wing Protestants claimed that Al Smith,
the first Catholic nominated for president by a major party, was
planning to extend New York ’s Holland Tunnel all the way to the
Vatican. Today’s tunnel would run from the Vatican to a suburban
Pentecostal megachurch. We learned this week that U.S. Catholics support President
Barack Obama’s Feb. 10 compromise on contraception in almost
identical numbers to the population as a whole. Many of those
sticking with the Catholic bishops in opposition are evangelical
Protestants. Historians are rubbing their eyes in wonder that the
spiritual and political descendants of Protestants who founded
the Know Nothing Party in the 1850s on anti-Papist ideas | 2 | 17 | 2dfb69c4378e4cf8bcfa4e757537c8e5 | - out of their private lives. The culture wars are over, and the Republicans lost. ( Jonathan Alter is a Bloomberg View columnist and the
author of “The Promise: President Obama, Year One.” The opinions
expressed are his own.) Read more opinion online from Bloomberg View . To contact the writer of this article:
Jonathan Alter at [email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this article:
James Gibney at [email protected] . | 2012 | republicans-are-unprotected-on-contraception-jonathan-alter |
How the U.S.-Iran Standoff Looks From Iran: Hossein Mousavian | By Seyed Hossein Mousavian | 2012-02-17T00:00:11Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/how-the-u-s-iran-standoff-looks-from-iran-hossein-mousavian.html
The past six U.S. presidents have
employed a policy of sanctions, containment and deterrence
against Iran . Earlier in his tenure, President Barack Obama
tried to change course by offering instead to engage, stressing
“diplomacy without preconditions.” Two years later, however, the
talk in Washington is of an inevitable coming war. This is entirely the wrong direction for the U.S. to be
taking. The consequences of a military strike on Iran would be
catastrophic for the U.S., Iran and Israel . Whether Iran should be able to build its nuclear program
cannot be dealt with separately from the larger issue of the
confrontational relationship that Iran and the U.S. have had
since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. In his recent memoir, former
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said he doubted policy makers in Washington were ever
truly interested in resolving the Iranian nuclear issue, but
that they sought instead to achieve isolation and regime change
in Iran. Regardless of whether ElBaradei was right about that | 2 | 17 | 128ac2bf64e148c7aaa80ddf6420117f | the most conducive path to reaching such a deal. The Russian
plan includes full supervision by the IAEA; implementation of
the non-proliferation treaty’s Additional Protocol and
Subsidiary Arrangement; readiness to stop production of low-
enriched uranium and limiting enrichment to 5 percent; halting
the production and installation of new centrifuges; limiting
enrichment sites to one; addressing the IAEA’s “possible
military dimension” concerns and other technical ambiguities;
and temporary suspension of enrichment. In return, Iran would expect the P5+1 to remove sanctions
and normalize Iran’s nuclear file in the IAEA and Security
Council. Iran has already welcomed both initiatives. The U.S.
and Europeans have declined. Instead, they have chosen to try
coercion. The result was evidenced in recent days, as Iranian
officials announced the insertion of their first domestically
produced 20 percent fuel rod, and an increase in the number of
enrichment centrifuges to 9,000 from 6,000. Non-Interference Key Finally, the U.S. should seek a broad relationship with
Iran based on mutual respect, non-interference, equality,
justice and common interests. No significant progress can be
made toward achieving the U.S. security objectives without first
convincing Iran that the U.S. is prepared to discuss all agenda
items in U.S.-Iran relations. Both the U.S. and Iran have become prisoners of the past.
They need to have a realistic assessment of potential areas
where they could have common interests, such as Afghanistan ,
Iraq , security in the Persian Gulf , curbing drug trafficking,
opposing al-Qaeda, and limiting the role of the Taliban.
Unfortunately, the pursuit of these potential common interests
has so far been hampered by a preoccupation with the nuclear
file and the domestic political climate in both countries. (Seyed Hossein Mousavian is an associate research scholar
at Princeton University ’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and
International Affairs, and a former spokesman for Iran’s nuclear
negotiating team. He was Iran’s ambassador to Germany from 1990
to 1997. This is the third in a series of op-ed articles about
Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program. The opinions expressed
are his own.) Read more opinion online from Bloomberg View . To contact the writer of this article:
Seyed Hossein Mousavian at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this article:
Marc Champion at [email protected] | 2012 | ow-the-u-s-iran-standoff-looks-from-iran-hossein-mousavian |
Most-Hated Stocks Burn Short Sellers as Sears, Netflix Rally | By Lu Wang | 2012-02-17T21:37:23Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/most-hated-stocks-burn-short-sellers-as-sears-netflix-lead-s-p-500-rally.html | 2 | 17 | 6f94884b7399481e988558df3460bf14 | The companies investors hated the
most in 2011 have returned twice as much as the Standard &
Poor’s 500 Index this year, burning speculators who bet stocks
from Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) to Netflix Inc. would keep falling. The 26 companies in the S&P 500 with the highest so-called
short interest relative to shares available for trading rallied
18 percent this year, compared with 8.2 percent for the full
index, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Speculators who borrowed
Sears shares and sold them to profit from a drop got hammered as
the stock surged 72 percent. Netflix, with short interest of 17
percent at the end of 2011, rose 76 percent. Banks, commodity and industrial companies, the only groups
to post losses last year, are leading stocks higher on signs the
U.S. economy is gaining momentum. That’s forcing speculators to
cut bearish wagers after pushing them to the highest levels
since the market bottomed in 2009, according to a survey by
International Strategy & Investment Group. “It’s been a rotation back into fundamentally sound,
economically sensitive companies that had been unduly punished
in the second half of last year,” David Spika, who helps
oversee $13 billion as an investment strategist at Westwood
Holdings Group Inc. in Dallas , said in a telephone interview.
“When the market turns, those shorts have to be covered and
that creates momentum.” Investors are shifting toward companies most-tied to
economic growth as data on manufacturing, housing and jobs
bolstered optimism in the world’s largest economy and European
leaders stepped up efforts to contain the region’s debt crisis. Financials, Utilities Financial stocks and commodity producers, the S&P 500’s
worst-performing industries in 2011, have climbed more than 11
percent this year. Utilities and phone companies have the only
losses among 10 groups in 2012 after rallying last year. Analysts say bank and brokerage earnings will advance at an
average rate of 12 percent this year and in 2013, while
commodity profits may climb at the same pace, according to
estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Income growth in the S&P 500 is
forecast to average 10 percent. “Everyone was fearful last year, buying the safety of
dividends and predictable earnings,” said Gary Flam, who helps
manage $6.5 billion for Bel Air Investment Advisors LLC in Los
Angeles . “That has reversed now that we’ve got solid economic
data and positive news flow out of Europe . People are getting
more comfortable in picking better opportunities.” Hedge Funds Hedge funds, largely unregulated investment pools that aim
to make money whether markets rise or fall, have trailed the S&P
500 for the last four months, according to data compiled for
Bloomberg’s Active Index for Funds. An ISI gauge of hedge-fund bullishness, which measures how
much they’re betting on rising shares, rose to 47.4 this week,
the highest level since Aug. 3. The gauge was at 42 at the end
of November, the lowest level since two weeks before the S&P 500
reached a 12-year low in March 2009. A reading below 50 suggests
a bias toward short bets. “These hedge fund guys can’t seem to get a grasp on this
basket of stocks and getting the direction right,” said Jason Cooper , who helps oversee $2.5 billion at 1st Source Investment
Advisors in South Bend , Indiana . “This really put them behind
the eight ball.” Equity valuations have been stuck below the historical
average since May 2010, the longest period since a 13-year
stretch beginning in 1973, as stock prices failed to keep pace
with profit growth. The S&P 500 trades for 14.1 times earnings
from the past 12 months, below the average of 16.4 since 1954,
data compiled by Bloomberg show. Beating Projections While S&P 500 companies are on pace to exceed analysts’
profit forecasts for a 12th straight quarter, earnings-per-share
have risen 4.9 percent for the 383 companies that reported since
Jan. 9, the slowest growth since 2009, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg. “I don’t have a lot of faith in this rally continuing for
much longer,” said Scott Armiger, a money manager at Christiana
Trust in Greenville, Delaware , which has $11 billion in client
assets. “There has been at least an equal amount of bad news as
has been good news.” Sears, based in Hoffman Estates , Illinois , was the most-
shorted equity in the S&P 500 in December, with bearish bets
reaching 38 percent of available stock as the shares plunged 56
percent in 2011. The largest U.S. department store chain
rebounded this year even as S&P and Moody’s Investors Service
cut its credit ratings on deteriorating sales. Subscriber Revolt Netflix (NFLX) ’s short interest amounted to 9.1 million shares at
the end of 2011 after the Los Gatos , California-based company
slumped 61 percent during the year. The online and mail-order
video-rental service has advanced more than any other S&P 500
company this year as Netflix contained a subscriber revolt in
the fourth quarter and forecast improving margins for its
streaming business. First Solar Inc., (FSLR) the second-most shorted stock in the S&P
500 in December with speculators betting against 31 percent of
its shares, jumped 7.3 percent today after the biggest maker of
thin-film solar panels resolved a permitting issue with Los
Angeles County for a $1.36 billion power project under
construction. The Tempe, Arizona-based company is up 26 percent
this year. Harris Corp. (HRS) , based in Melbourne , Florida , has climbed 18
percent as the maker of military radios reported earnings that
beat analysts’ estimates for the 14th consecutive quarter. Its
short interest reached 13.1 million shares in December, or 11.4
percent of its total. “It’s not just squeezing the short,” said Flam of Bel Air
Investment Advisors. “There are a lot of quality companies that
are also performing very well this year,” he said. “The pain
trade is higher. The risk today appears to be defined as missing
the next up move.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Lu Wang in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Nick Baker at
[email protected] | 2012 | ost-hated-stocks-burn-short-sellers-as-sears-netflix-lead-s-p-500-rally |
Hungary Replies to EU, Sees More Debate on Road to Bailout | By Zoltan Simon and Ewa Krukowska | 2012-02-17T15:38:03Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/hungary-replies-to-eu-sees-more-debate-on-road-to-bailout-1-.html | 2 | 17 | 54303587598f404a9007dbddd4acad45 | Hungary sent its reply to the
European Commission on the European Union executive’s
infringement procedures in three areas, including monetary-
policy independence, in an effort to revive talks on a bailout. The reply addressed the independence of the central bank
and the data-protection authority as well as the reduction in
the retirement age of judges, government spokesmen Peter Szijjarto and Andras Giro-Szasz said in an e-mail today. “The next step in the procedure is the evaluation by the
Commission of the responses provided,” according to the
statement. “Previous experience shows that we can expect an
objective, impartial, professionally and legally sound analysis
from the Commission.” Hungary can’t begin formal talks until it meets EU and
International Monetary Fund demands to change a disputed central
bank regulation, which led to the suspension of talks in
December. The 27-member bloc also requested changes to overhauls
of the judiciary and data-protection ombudsman’s office. Prime Minister Viktor Orban reversed a policy of shunning
international aid in November as the forint fell to a record and
the country’s sovereign-credit grade was cut to junk. A month
later, he said reaching an agreement “isn’t so significant.”
On Jan. 5, he said he wanted a “quick” agreement after the
forint fell to a record. Forint Gains The forint has risen 10 percent against the euro since
Orban’s pledge, making it the best-performing currency in the
world in the period. The currency rose 0.3 percent against the
euro to 290.25 at 3:22 p.m. in Budapest. It strengthened as
investors poured money into emerging markets . The MSCI Emerging
Market Index of shares has rallied almost 16 percent this year. Hungary remains a “positive idiosyncratic story,” Luis Costa , a London-based currency strategist at Citigroup Inc.,
said in an e-mail today. The “central assumption” is that
Hungary will obtain a bailout in the second quarter, which may
support further improvement in Hungarian risk, Costa said. In its reply to the EU, Hungary also addressed concerns
about the functioning of the judiciary and the “situation of
the media,” in addition to the three infringement cases,
according to the government statement. ‘Further Debate’ The government expects “further debate” with the European
Commission about cutting the central bank president’s salary and
his oath of office, Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics said
yesterday, according to state news service MTI. On the judicial
overhaul, the government would allow judges to work past the new
retirement age “in certain cases,” MTI said. That suggests Hungary’s start of formal talks on a loan
with the IMF and the EU may be delayed as a rally in local
assets reduces pressure on the government to reach an agreement,
according to Daniel Bebesy of Budapest Fund Management. “The market had forced the government to change course in
the first place and as market conditions improve, I sense that
the government doesn’t feel the same pressure to come to an
agreement,” Bebesy, who helps oversee $1.5 billion, mostly in
Hungarian government bonds , said in an interview today. Hungary may be pressed to meet debt-payment obligations
this year if the euro crisis worsens and economic growth misses
the government’s 0.5 percent forecast, the IMF said on Jan. 25,
underscoring the need for a financial safety net. Growth Forecast The IMF is considering a cut in its 0.3 percent growth
estimate for Hungary for this year, Iryna Ivaschenko, the
lender’s representative in Budapest, said on Feb. 9. The central back unexpectedly held the benchmark interest
rate unchanged last month at 7 percent, the highest level in the
EU, in a four-to-three vote, with the majority saying that the
improvement in country risk will last. Hungary should keep borrowing costs unchanged until the
government reaches an agreement with the IMF, which may allow
rate cuts, policy makers Ferenc Gerhardt and Gyorgy Kocziszky
said in an interview on Feb. 15. Negotiations are “unlikely to be as smooth as many now
seem to expect,” William Jackson , a London-based economist at
Capital Economics Ltd., said in an e-mail today, citing the
government’s “significant credibility gap.” “Accordingly, we would not be surprised to see a fresh
spike in investor risk aversion put Hungarian assets under
renewed strains this year, resulting in further defensive
interest-rate hikes,” Jackson said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Zoltan Simon in Budapest at
[email protected]
Ewa Krukowska in Brussels at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Balazs Penz at
[email protected] | 2012 | ungary-replies-to-eu-sees-more-debate-on-road-to-bailout-1- |
Time Warner Cable Ends Dispute With MSG After Jeremy Lin’s Winning Streak | By Scott Soshnick and Edmund Lee | 2012-02-18T07:06:22Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/msg-time-warner-said-to-reach-deal-ending-fee-dispute-amid-lin-streak.html
Madison Square Garden Co. (MSG) and Time
Warner Cable Inc. reached an agreement on a new contract, ending
a seven-week stalemate that kept the operator’s 2.8 million
local subscribers from watching the New York Knicks and their
Jeremy Lin-led winning streak. Alex Dudley , a spokesman for New York-based Time Warner
Cable, declined to discuss terms in a phone interview yesterday.
The system carried the Knicks’ 89-85 loss last night to the New
Orleans Hornets , ending New York’s streak at seven. Lin’s success, dubbed Linsanity, led the two sides to a
face-to-face meeting this week. The attention surrounding Lin
and the team played a role in pushing the two into an agreement,
Chris Marangi , a portfolio manager at Gamco Investors Inc., said
in a telephone interview. “Linsanity helped,” said Marangi, based in Rye, New York,
whose funds own about 5 million MSG shares and 500,000 Time
Warner Cable (TWC) shares. “Time Warner Cable realistically couldn’t
have dropped MSG | 2 | 17 | 7941b11cf30241c588d65994a9ac1b5a | York to not be carried. Both sides probably gave a little.” David Joyce , an analyst at New York-based Miller Tabak &
Co., also cited Lin’s success as helping to pressure the two
sides into an agreement. The Knicks, buoyed by the Harvard
University-educated Lin, who wasn’t drafted by a National
Basketball Association team, have won seven straight to even
their record at 15-15. Time Warner Cable rose 0.8 percent to $77.66 yesterday in
New York. MSG, based in New York, advanced 3.1 percent to
$32.85. The stock has gained 12 percent since Feb. 4, when Lin
came off the bench to score 25 points against the New Jersey
Nets to begin New York’s winning streak. Disputed Rates Time Warner Cable, the second-largest U.S. cable provider
with about 12 million subscribers, had said MSG was asking for a
53 percent increase in carriage fees, a figure MSG disputed. Cable and satellite-TV operators pay more than $4.50 a
month per subscriber for MSG and MSG Plus, according to
researcher SNL Kagan. Time Warner Cable Chief Executive Officer
Glenn Britt has publicly supported the idea of putting sports on
separate tiers from basic cable to give non-sports fans cheaper
bills. MSG, controlled by New York’s Dolan family and led by
Chairman James Dolan, had organized viewing parties during the
dispute so that fans could watch the Knicks and Rangers of the
National Hockey League. MSG’s lineup also includes games of
NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. ‘Annoying Consumers’ Dudley acknowledged the help of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo , New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and NBA
Commissioner David Stern in the negotiating process. “They were leaving money on the table and annoying
consumers and it is not good to annoy consumers,” Cuomo said
today on The Governor David Paterson Show on WOR radio in New
York. “I believe Jeremy Lin heightened it. That heightened the
pressure because people really wanted to see the program.” Schneiderman said his office has worked with Time Warner
Cable and MSG over the past month to help resolve the dispute. “We are pleased that both parties have reached an
agreement that will finally allow Knicks, Rangers, and Sabres
fans to enjoy the rest of this season’s games,” Schneiderman
said. To contact the reporters on this story:
Scott Soshnick in New York at
[email protected] ;
Edmund Lee in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Michael Sillup at
[email protected] ;
Ville Heiskanen at
[email protected] | 2012 | sg-time-warner-said-to-reach-deal-ending-fee-dispute-amid-lin-streak |
Ukraine Rail to Buy 1,000 Cars From Kryukovsky, Kommersant Says | By Kateryna Choursina | 2012-02-17T07:33:19Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/ukraine-rail-to-buy-1-000-cars-from-kryukovsky-kommersant-says.html | 2 | 17 | dd0ebb1b301f439b55815626eade5297b129ca5c | Ukraine’s state-run railway company,
Ukrzaliznytsya, will buy 1,000 freight wagons this year from
OJSK Kryukovsky Carriage Works, Kommersant-Ukraine newspaper
reported, citing Volodymyr Kozak, the chief executive officer of
Ukrzaliznytsya. To contact the reporter on this story:
Kateryna Choursina in Kiev at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Claudia Carpenter at
[email protected] | 2012 | ukraine-rail-to-buy-1-000-cars-from-kryukovsky-kommersant-says |
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Move Away From Mark-to-Market on Loan Commitments | By Michael J. Moore | 2012-02-17T05:00:03Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/morgan-stanley-goldman-move-away-from-mark-to-market-on-loan-commitments.html | 2 | 17 | 4a553fae21bb0584a6525b72dfdd673a0c9d9a7c | Morgan Stanley increased its use of
historical cost accounting for corporate loan commitments,
joining Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) in moving away from the mark-
to-market approach the firms had earlier used. Morgan Stanley raised the amount of loans and lending
commitments that it accounted for as “held for investment,” or
HFI, to $9.7 billion in the fourth quarter from $800 million a
year earlier. Goldman Sachs decided to make the change to some
of its corporate loan book, the Wall Street Journal reported
yesterday, citing people familiar with the matter. Both New York-based firms had losses on relationship
lending last year and face differing treatment from regulators
between HFI and fair-value commitments. Fair-value accounting
often requires firms to book losses on the commitments, even if
they aren’t tapped by the borrowers, while commercial bank
competitors avoid mark-to-market declines by holding the
commitments at historical cost. “We are still fanatical believers in mark-to-market,”
Goldman Sachs Chief Financial Officer David Viniar said on a
conference call with analysts last month. “Substantially all of
our assets today are mark-to-market. Our risk is managed on a
mark-to-market basis. And whatever we conclude on what I’ll call
a very small portion of assets, just relationship lending, those
statements will still be true.” Morgan Stanley (MS) had about $400 million of losses in the
third quarter from corporate lending, the majority of which is
unfunded commitments. Goldman Sachs had $1 billion in unrealized
losses related to relationship lending for 2011. Michael DuVally , a Goldman Sachs spokesman, declined to comment on
whether the firm made a decision on the accounting treatment. ‘Onerous’ Treatment Consideration of the change was also being driven by “more
onerous capital treatment” of mark-to-market commitments
compared to similar HFI assets, Viniar said. Fair-value loans
“were penalized substantially more than HFI loans,” in the
Federal Reserve ’s annual review of banks’ capital plans, Morgan
Stanley CFO Ruth Porat said last month. Morgan Stanley is working to increase lending as it gains
more deposits through buying Citigroup’s remaining stake in the
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney brokerage, which had $110.6 billion
in deposits as of Dec. 31. Total corporate loans and commitments
rose to $82.9 billion at the end of 2011 from $69.1 billion a
year earlier. “Fundamentally, we are a mark-to-market shop,” Porat said
last month. “As it relates to the loan book, we obviously have
a bank. We’re the fifteenth-largest U.S. depository by deposits,
and so we’re always considering what makes sense in terms of
capital and funding efficiency.” Commercial banks helped fight off a proposal last year from
the Financial Accounting Standards Board that sought to make
them mark loans to market. The panel sets U.S. accounting
standards. Goldman Sachs told Norwalk, Connecticut-based FASB during
the comment period for that proposal that banks hide losses on
loans used to generate investment-banking fees and should be
required to report the loans at fair value. To contact the reporter on this story:
Michael J. Moore in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Scheer at [email protected] | 2012 | organ-stanley-goldman-move-away-from-mark-to-market-on-loan-commitments |
Royal Adultery Movie Battles Hate-Crime Story for Berlin Prize | By Catherine Hickley | 2012-02-17T00:00:01Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/royal-adultery-movie-battles-hate-crime-story-for-berlin-prize.html
The Berlin Film Festival reaches its
climax tomorrow, when the winners of the bear awards will be
announced. Eighteen movies are competing. The jury is led by the
U.K. film director Mike Leigh and includes actors Charlotte
Gainsbourg and Jake Gyllenhaal . These are my top four choices of the 15 competition movies
seen so far. Arranged Marriage “A Royal Affair”: Queen Caroline Mathilda of Denmark
(Alicia Vikander), who grew up in 18th-century England, had an
arranged marriage to a king she hadn’t met. Christian VII
(Mikkel Boe Foelsgaard) is a troubled soul, a buffoon in public
and a pushover for his ministers. Johann Friedrich Struensee, a
German man of the Enlightenment who tends to the sick and poor,
is enrolled as the king’s physician. Portrayed by Mads Mikkelsen (best known as the villain in
the James Bond movie “Casino Royale,”) Struensee also becomes
the queen’s lover. The king gives him with more and more power,
until Struensee is effectively running Denmark single-handedly,
introducing one startlingly progressive reform after another.
It’s only a matter of time before reactionary forces unite
against him. Directed by Nikolaj Arcel (who co-wrote the script for the
2009 Swedish movie “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo ”), the
film is based on historical events. With accomplished acting
(Foelsgaard is fabulous as the fragile, unpredictable king), it
moves at a cracking pace. Subtle Script The script is taut, subtle and erudite, capturing a brief,
bright chapter of excitement and change. Casual mentions of
Voltaire, Rousseau, Shakespeare and Malory mingle with plans for
smallpox inoculations and sewage management. Sadly, it may not be topical or innovative enough for the
Berlin festival jury, which traditionally favors edgier fare.
Yet this seems as good a time as any for Europe to be reminded
of the values passed onto it by the Enlightenment | 2 | 17 | 54043d47afd74c459ffdd46c48752b41 | with no stonewashed denim or unfortunate perms. It’s a
compelling, quiet story of how duty and love can overcome
politics. Rating: ***. Ski Robber “Sister”: Set in the Swiss Alps, the movie contrasts the
wealthy skiers at a resort with those eking out an existence by
the main road below. Twelve-year-old Simon (Kacey Mottet Klein)
invests in a ski pass so that he can rob tourists of their
equipment and sell it to buy groceries for himself and his older
sister. His practical self-sufficiency belies a desperate need
for affection. His sister, played by a puff-faced Lea Seydoux, is
incapable of holding down a job, is prone to drunken binges and
hangs out with unsavory men. A dramatic twist halfway through
the movie makes Simon’s plight even more heartbreaking. These
two are among the more memorable characters of this year’s
Berlinale. Rating: ***. For more information, go to http://www.berlinale.de/en/ (Catherine Hickley writes for Muse, the arts and leisure
section of Bloomberg News. Any opinions expressed are her own.) To contact the writer on the story:
Catherine Hickley in Berlin at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Manuela Hoelterhoff at
[email protected] . | 2012 | royal-adultery-movie-battles-hate-crime-story-for-berlin-prize |
China Overseas Said to Plan Increase in 2017 Bond Size | By Rachel Evans | 2012-02-17T08:47:29Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/china-overseas-said-to-plan-increase-in-2017-bond-size-correct-.html | 2 | 17 | 0b7908f67934fef73c96a5a5c5eaecd806bfc51c | (Corrects coupon in first paragraph.) China Overseas Land & Investment
Ltd. (688) , a developer with projects in 34 cities and regions in
mainland China , Hong Kong and Macau, plans to increase its
existing 4.875 percent dollar bonds, according to a person with
direct knowledge of the matter. The company may sell as much as $200 million more of the
bond, which matures in February 2017, said the person, who
declined to be identified because the details are private. The notes are being marketed to yield 405 basis points more
than similar-maturity treasuries, the person said. Polly Tong, a spokeswoman at China Overseas Land, was not
immediately available for comment when called at her offices in
Hong Kong. Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co., ICBC International
and HSBC Holdings Plc, the same banks that arranged the original
$500 million sale on Feb. 9, are managing the increase, said the
person. The company has a $300 million bond outstanding that will
mature in July, the data show. To contact the reporter on this story:
Rachel Evans in Hong Kong at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Beth Thomas at
[email protected] | 2012 | china-overseas-said-to-plan-increase-in-2017-bond-size-correct- |
U.S. Stocks Erase Gains | By Michael P. Regan | 2012-02-17T16:07:24Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/stocks-in-u-s-erase-earlier-gains-as-s-p-500-fails-to-surpass-2011-peak.html | 2 | 17 | df98c0ee2d1a81409ee0f7deb6074c99d95f030e | U.S. stocks erased gains as optimism
among European leaders that a Greek bailout will be completed
failed to drive the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index above last
year’s peak. The S&P 500 was little changed 1,357.96 at 11:06 a.m. in
New York after climbing 0.4 percent earlier. To contact the reporter on this story:
Michael P. Regan in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Nick Baker at
[email protected] | 2012 | stocks-in-u-s-erase-earlier-gains-as-s-p-500-fails-to-surpass-2011-peak |
PetroEcuador Says Crude Exports Jumped 39 Percent in January | By Nathan Gill | 2012-02-17T22:42:28Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/petroecuador-says-crude-exports-jumped-39-percent-in-january.html | 2 | 17 | c4548c33b1b8727f4e67579e55b2838b38acad3f | PetroEcuador, the state-owned oil
company, said oil exports rose 39 percent to 12.2 million
barrels in January from a year earlier. Revenue from exports of its Oriente and Napo crude
increased 67 percent to $1.23 billion in January from a year
earlier, the company said today in an e-mailed statement. To contact the reporter on this story:
Nathan Gill in Quito at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dale Crofts at [email protected] | 2012 | petroecuador-says-crude-exports-jumped-39-percent-in-january |
Odyssey Marine Must Hand Over 1804 Shipwreck Treasure to Spain, Judge Says | By Edvard Pettersson | 2012-02-18T05:01:01Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/odyssey-marine-ordered-to-hand-shipwreck-treasure-to-spain.html | 2 | 17 | 4f6b312e3ce18ade9390c1de707a9bca80ffe6e9 | Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. (OMEX) was
directed to start turning over to Spain a 17 ton-haul (15,400
kilograms) of treasure and artifacts from a Spanish warship it
discovered five years ago in the Atlantic Ocean. U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Pizzo in Tampa, Florida,
yesterday ordered Odyssey to return the treasure from Nuestra
Senora de las Mercedes to Spanish custody on Feb. 24. A federal
appeals court last year affirmed the dismissal of Odyssey’s
claims for ownership of the wreck’s cargo. Spain claimed the Mercedes was a Spanish Royal Navy Frigate
that exploded and sank in combat in 1804, according to the Sept.
21 ruling by the U.S. appeals court in Atlanta. As Spanish
sovereign property, the ship is immune to claims made in the
U.S., Spain argued. Melinda MacConnel, general counsel for Tampa-based Odyssey,
didn’t immediately return a phone call to her office after
regular business hours yesterday seeking comment on today’s
order. The Mercedes, loaded with 900,000 silver pesos, 5,809
golden pesos and about 2,000 copper and tin ingots, was part of
a convoy taking treasure to Spain from Peru , then still a
Spanish viceroyalty, when it was intercepted by a British
squadron one day from arriving at the Spanish port of Cadiz. Secret Agreement Spain needed the treasure to pay France under a secret
agreement and Great Britain , which was at conflict with France,
had informed Spain that it considered the financial support of
France as grounds for attacking Spain, according to the
appellate court ruling. When the Spanish convoy refused to surrender, a sea battle
ensued and the Mercedes exploded after only a few minutes.
Odyssey, which searches for sunken treasure, discovered the
remains of the ship on the bottom of the Atlantic about 100
miles west of the Straits of Gibraltar and recovered about
595,000 coins. In December 2009, U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday in
Tampa backed Spain’s position that the court had no jurisdiction
over it under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, and
dismissed the case that Odyssey Marine had brought. Merryday had
said Odyssey could hold the property while it pursued its
appeal. Odyssey had argued the ship isn’t entitled to sovereign
immunity because it was “primarily on a commercial voyage when
it sank, and therefore should not be considered as a
‘warship.’” More than 70 percent of the coins never belonged to
Spain, the company has said. The case is Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. v. The
Unidentified Shipwrecked Vessel, 07-cv-614, U.S. District Court,
Middle District of Florida (Tampa). To contact the reporter on this story:
Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Hytha at [email protected] . | 2012 | odyssey-marine-ordered-to-hand-shipwreck-treasure-to-spain |
New York Knicks Sign Free Agent Guard J.R. Smith, Waive Renaldo Balkman | By Scott Soshnick | 2012-02-18T05:01:04Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/j-r-smith-reveals-his-next-nba-home-on-twitter-new-york-knicks-it-is-.html | 2 | 17 | 3e472734019c04fe2bc56ac7c78cb2ba12d9af0f | The New York Knicks signed free
agent guard J.R. Smith and waived forward Renaldo Balkman,
interim General Manager Glen Grunwald said in a statement
released last night by the team. Smith will provide depth at guard and small forward. He’ll
be paid the team’s $2.5 million exception to the salary cap,
prorated for the remainder of the season. Smith, 26, who had been playing for Zhejiang in China , also
weighed offers from clubs such as the Los Angeles Clippers. He
announced the signing yesterday morning on his Twitter account,
posting a message saying “New York Knicks It Is.” Smith has averaged 12.5 points per game in his seven
National Basketball Association seasons with New
Orleans /Oklahoma City and Denver. He’s shot 37 percent from 3-
point range. Balkman, 27, was in his sixth NBA season with the Knicks
and Denver. The Knicks, fueled by the emergence of point guard Jeremy Lin, have won seven of their last eight games. New York lost
89-85 last night at home to the New Orleans Hornets . To contact the reporter on this story:
Scott Soshnick in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Sillup at
[email protected] | 2012 | j-r-smith-reveals-his-next-nba-home-on-twitter-new-york-knicks-it-is- |
Citigroup Names Bakhshi Head of Japan Markets Following Libor Suspension | By Donal Griffin | 2012-02-17T19:19:25Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/citigroup-names-bakhshi-head-of-japan-markets-following-libor-suspension.html
Citigroup Inc. (C) appointed a new head
of its Japanese markets business as Chief Executive Officer
Vikram Pandit seeks to rebuild in the country after receiving
the third regulatory punishment in seven years in December. Suneel Bakhshi was appointed president and CEO of Citigroup
Global Markets Japan, according to a statement on the New York-
based bank’s website. Bakhshi is currently chief risk officer of
Citigroup’s commercial bank, according to the statement. Bakhshi is taking over duties from Brian Mccappin, who the
bank said in December would resign after the unit was banned for
two weeks from trading tied to the London and Tokyo interbank
offered rates. Citigroup staff attempted to improperly influence
the rates, the Japanese Financial Services Agency said. The bank
was also suspended from soliciting sales of certain products to
retail customers after failing to fully explain their risk. Citigroup said Mccappin would resign after regulators
announced the ban, and apologized to customers in a statement in
response to the FSA’s allegations. “Citibank Japan takes the administrative action very
seriously and sincerely apologizes to its customers and all
other concerned parties,” the company said on its website.
“The bank is implementing measures to prevent future occurrence
of the problems identified, and is committed to executing and
completing the business improvement plan.” Thirty Years James “Jamie” Forese, head of Citigroup’s securities and
banking unit, said in an internal memorandum obtained by
Bloomberg News that Bakhshi has held several senior positions in
trading, banking, and risk management during his 30-year career
at Citigroup. “His balanced viewpoint and broad skill set will help him
provide great leadership for the CGMJ business as we move
forward,” Forese said. Danielle Romero-Apsilos, a spokeswoman for Citigroup,
confirmed the memo’s contents. Shuntaro Higashi, the unit’s
interim president and CEO, will continue as chairman of the
business, according to the statement. | 2 | 17 | e3f10a571eec6e55336fee769eceed566c91b66e | Donal Griffin in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Scheer at
[email protected] . | 2012 | citigroup-names-bakhshi-head-of-japan-markets-following-libor-suspension |
Julius Baer Cuts CEO Boris Collardi’s Pay After Profit Declines | By Giles Broom | 2012-02-17T15:10:47Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/julius-baer-cuts-ceo-boris-collardi-s-pay-after-profit-declines.html | 2 | 17 | 1589902fb320531d6d5de3f668d587f84603ddeb | Julius Baer Group Ltd. (BAER) cut Chief
Executive Officer Boris Collardi ’s pay by 29 percent last year
after the Swiss wealth manager reported a decline in profit. Collardi, 37, earned 5.7 million Swiss francs ($6.2
million) in 2011, compared with 7.9 million francs the previous
year, according to the Zurich-based firm’s annual report
published today. His cash bonus was cut by a third to 2 million
francs while deferred share payments were reduced by the same
amount to 1.33 million francs. Collardi also voluntarily reduced his base salary by 10
percent for the 10-month period through June 2012, according to
the annual report. That salary totaled 943,467 francs last year. Julius Baer, founded in 1890, reported a 27 percent drop in
2011 profit and lowered its medium-term target for pretax
profit, citing a “changed market environment” and the strength
of the Swiss currency. UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group AG,
Switzerland ’s biggest banks, cut bonus pools last week by 40
percent and 41 percent respectively as lenders worldwide curb
pay to address shrinking revenue. Julius Baer has climbed 2.1 percent this year in Zurich
trading after declining 16 percent in 2011. To contact the reporter on this story:
Giles Broom in Geneva at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Frank Connelly at [email protected] | 2012 | julius-baer-cuts-ceo-boris-collardi-s-pay-after-profit-declines |
Asia Stocks Equal Record Win Streak as China Pledges Help on Europe Crisis | By Nick Gentle and Yoshiaki Nohara | 2012-02-17T23:46:47Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/asia-stocks-equal-record-win-streak-as-china-pledges-help-on-europe-crisis.html | 2 | 17 | f5349c597a034f1993e2392db0971761 | Asian stocks rose this week, with
the MSCI Asia Pacific Index equaling its longest streak of
advances, as China pledged to do more to help Europe cope with
the debt crisis and Japan boosted asset purchases. Cosco Pacific Ltd. (1199) , the Hong Kong-listed operator of
Greece’s Piraeus port, climbed 4.1 percent. Chipmakers outside
Japan rallied after debt-laden Elpida Memory Inc. said it may
not survive. Reliance Power Ltd. jumped 19.7 percent, leading
Indian companies higher. Billabong International Ltd. (BBG) , an
Australian surfwear maker, jumped 42 percent after receiving a
takeover bid from TPG Capital. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 1.7 percent to 126.95
this week, extending its winning streak to the longest since
December 2005. The gauge has advanced for nine consecutive weeks
only three previous times since 1988. “It’s a distinct improvement from the fourth quarter last
year from the perspective of investor confidence and risk
appetite,” said Prasad Patkar, who helps manage about $1
billion at Platypus Asset Management Ltd. in Sydney. “The
European news flow still seems to be determining the direction
of the markets. So, when there’s a bit of relief from the
European front, the markets can focus on fundamentals, which
seem to be improving by the day.” Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 4.9 percent, heading
for the biggest weekly gain since Dec. 2, as the yen fell
against all of its 16 major counterparts. A weaker yen boosts
the earnings of Japanese exporters overseas when repatriated.
The Bank of Japan surprised the market on Feb. 14, when it
expanded its government bond purchases. China’s Economy Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.2 percent, and South Korea’s
Kospi Index advanced 1.5 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index
advanced 3.4 percent. India ’s BSE Sensitive Index climbed 3.1
percent. The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks the bigger of
China ’s stock exchanges, trailed major regional gauges as
slumping foreign direct investment and trade data pointed to
further weakness in the world’s second-largest economy. “The fundamentals of the economy aren’t good and monetary
policy will still be kept relatively tight this year,” said
Wang Zheng , Shanghai-based chief investment officer at Jingxi
Investment Management Co., which manages about $120 million.
“But investors anticipate the government will have measures to
support equities. Stocks will be volatile for the moment.” Europe Assistance Asian stocks extended gains as People’s Bank of China
Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said on Feb. 15 that China is ready to
be more involved in resolving the European crisis through the
European Financial Stability Facility and European Stability
Mechanism. Premier Wen Jiabao said on Feb. 14 that the nation is
willing to get “more deeply” involved. Financial companies gained amid optimism Europe’s debt
crisis won’t throw the global financial system into disarray. Germany , the biggest country contributor to euro-area
rescues, signaled yesterday that finance ministers may be ready
to back Greece’s second bailout in two years when they meet Feb.
20 in Brussels. “The sense of worry is weakening slightly in markets
across the board,” said Hisakazu Amano, who helps oversee the
equivalent of $29 billion at T&D Asset Management Co. in Tokyo .
“Expectations for a U.S. economic recovery are increasing and
the uncertainties on the European debt issues are subsiding.” Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group advanced 5.5 percent to 406
yen. Nomura Holdings Inc. (8604) , Japan’s biggest brokerage by market
value, rose 10 percent to 345 yen. HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) , Europe’s
No. 1 lender, climbed 2 percent to HK$70.50. Cosco, Esprit Cosco Pacific rose 4.1 percent to HK$12.60. Esprit Holdings
Ltd. (330) , a clothier that gets more than 80 percent of revenue from
Europe, climbed 5 percent to HK$15.02. Canon Inc. (7751) , the Japanese
camera maker for whom Europe is the biggest market by sales,
added 4 percent. Elpida touched its lowest price since listing in November
2004. The chipmaker slumped 16 percent to 310 yen after saying
it sees “uncertainty” over remaining in business because it
hasn’t secured financing. The company, which reported 311.7
billion yen ($3.97 billion) revenue in the 12 months to Dec. 31,
has 210.8 billion yen of debt maturing this year, according to
data compiled by Bloomberg. Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea’s biggest exporter of
consumer electronics, rose 11 percent to 1.176 million won.
Samsung may separate its liquid-crystal-display business, the
Electronics Times reported Feb. 15. Hynix Semiconductor Inc., a
maker of semiconductors such as dynamic random access memory,
gained 6.9 percent to 28,850 won. Billabong Buyout Bid Billabong International jumped 42 percent to A$2.62 after
it received a takeover approach from buyout firm TPG Capital
valuing the company at A$765 million ($825 million). The
approach comes less than two months after the company started a
review of its capital structure amid a slump in earnings and
looming debt payments. Reliance Power Ltd. (RPWR) , the Indian utility controlled by
billionaire Anil Ambani, led a rally among power and related
companies this week on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) after Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh ordered additional supplies of coal to
the nation’s utilities. Reliance Power rallied 19.7 percent this week, boosted by a
42 percent increase in third-quarter profit, the company said on
Feb. 13. The government ordered Coal India Ltd., the world’s largest
producer of the commodity, on Feb. 15 to sign agreements to
supply power projects due to be completed by March 2015 and
import the fuel to overcome a shortfall in local production,
failing which it needs to pay fines. The move is expected to
ease a shortage of coal for generation plants. Indian Companies Surge Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) , the biggest power-equipment
maker, jumped 16.5 percent to 303.55 this week, the second-best
performer on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index. Axis Bank Ltd. (AXSB) , India’s fourth-largest lender by market
value, soared 14.3 percent this week. Reliance Communications
Ltd. (RCOM) , the nation’s second-largest mobile-phone operator, climbed
10.7 percent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 11.5 percent this year
through yesterday, compared with an 8.2 percent advance by the
S&P 500 and an 8.8 percent increase by the Stoxx Europe 600
Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 14.5 times
estimated earnings on average, compared with 13.1 times for the
S&P 500 and 10.99 times for the Stoxx 600. More than half of the companies listed in the Asia Pacific
index that have reported earnings since Jan. 9 missed analysts’
estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. To contact the reporters on this story:
Nick Gentle in Hong Kong at
[email protected] ;
Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Nick Gentle at
[email protected] | 2012 | asia-stocks-equal-record-win-streak-as-china-pledges-help-on-europe-crisis |
South Sudan Faces 470,000-Ton Grain Deficit, Food Insecurity | By Rudy Ruitenberg | 2012-02-17T11:10:24Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/south-sudan-faces-470-000-ton-grain-deficit-food-insecurity-1-.html | 2 | 17 | 9faeaae175f31fe84615660c77c753aad5ea832a | South Sudan faces a grain shortfall
of 470,000 metric tons this year, close to half the country’s
total consumption, that will make more people food insecure, the
United Nations ’ Food and Agriculture Organization forecast. Cereal output in 2011 fell 19 percent to 562,600 tons, hurt
by a dry period that started in June before the return of more
normal rainfall at the end of July, the Rome-based FAO wrote in
an e-mailed statement today. South Sudan declared independence from northern neighbor
Sudan on July 9, and the countries this month signed a non-
aggression pact aimed at preventing cross-border clashes. Trade
restrictions between the two nations have “significantly” cut
availability of food commodities, the UN agency said. “Civil insecurity, in the form of armed cattle rustling,
inter and intra-communal conflict and militia attacks continue
to hamper the country’s production capacity, particularly
limiting the potential expansion of cropped area,” the FAO
said. The FAO estimates 4.7 million people in South Sudan will be
food insecure this year, from 3.3 million last year, while those
who may be “severely food insecure” could climb to 1 million
from 900,000 in 2011. A decline for the South Sudanese pound and
rising fuel costs lifted food expenses last year, the FAO said. Livestock Vaccines The FAO estimated as much as 185,000 tons of food will be
needed to help the most food-insecure households, children,
refugees and people returning to the country. The organization
said it is supporting distribution of livestock vaccines,
fishing equipment, vegetable seeds and tools to help long-term
development in South Sudan. As an emergency measure, the FAO said it will provide
vaccines and antibiotics to prevent the spread of animal
disease, treating as many as 100,000 animals over the space of a
month. “These people are pastoralists, or herders,” Nimaya
Mogga, livestock officer at the FAO, was cited as saying in the
statement. “These cattle are their livelihood. Without them,
they have nothing.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Claudia Carpenter at
[email protected] | 2012 | south-sudan-faces-470-000-ton-grain-deficit-food-insecurity-1- |
Robusta Premium Drops 22% as Vietnam May Sell Beans After Rally | By Isis Almeida | 2012-02-17T16:37:25Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/robusta-premium-drops-22-as-vietnam-may-sell-beans-after-rally.html | 2 | 17 | 8a12fbc27cf46a93b39940f78ef7bc9c390bab15 | The premium for robusta coffee
delivered in March over May dropped another 22 percent today as
farmers in Vietnam, the world’s biggest grower of the beans,
resumed sales to take advantage of higher prices. Beans for March delivery were $102 a metric ton more
expensive than May-delivered coffee by 4:22 p.m. on NYSE Liffe
in London , data on Bloomberg show. That’s down 22 percent from
yesterday and 38 percent from two days ago. Robusta coffee has jumped 18 percent this year, exceeding
all but silver of 24 commodities in the GSCI gauge of raw
materials. The March contract went from being $10 a ton cheaper
than the May contract on Feb. 8 to $164 a ton more expensive
five days later, triggering speculation that there was more
interest in taking a delivery of beans. The first notice of
delivery for the March contract is March 1. “The price difference between March and May has started to
come down, showing that there is definitely coffee in Vietnam ,
and producers want to sell but aren’t finding the demand,” said
Oscar L. Schaps, managing director of global soft commodities at
INTL FCStone Inc. in Miami. “People have already started
talking about delivering into the market.” NYSE Liffe has proposed limits on deliveries in its London
commodity futures. That would prevent buyers from taking more
than 75,000 tons of coffee. Limits would also be imposed for
cocoa, white sugar and feed wheat. Vietnam’s coffee exports fell 48 percent to 112,182 tons in
January, according to government figures. Farmers there had sold
about 35 percent of the crop before the Tet holiday, down from
an anticipated 50 percent, according to broker Marex Spectron
Group in London. The Tet festival, which marks the Lunar New
Year, ran from Jan. 23 to Jan. 27. To contact the reporter on this story:
Isis Almeida in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Claudia Carpenter at
[email protected] . | 2012 | robusta-premium-drops-22-as-vietnam-may-sell-beans-after-rally |
Novartis to Add Warnings to Rasilez Blood-Pressure Drug | By Simeon Bennett | 2012-02-17T11:25:06Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/novartis-to-add-warnings-to-rasilez-blood-pressure-drug-1-.html | 2 | 17 | 44e0626db3cbefdced7e775f3e72a790b56f188b | Novartis AG (NOVN) said it will add a
warning to the label for its blood-pressure drug Rasilez in
Europe to comply with a request from regulators. Novartis is changing the product information for Rasilez,
sold in the U.S. as Tekturna, to say that the drug should not be
used to treat patients with diabetes or kidney problems who are
taking certain other medicines, the Basel, Switzerland-based
company said in a statement today. The drugmaker is also complying with a recommendation of
the European Medicines Agency that the label include a warning
against combining products containing aliskiren, the active
ingredient in Rasilez, with heart drugs known as ACE inhibitors
or ARBs, the agency said today in an e-mailed statement.
Novartis halted a trial of the drug in December after it was
linked to increased risk of stroke and kidney problems. Novartis said in January it expects that Tekturna sales in
2012 will be less than half of last year’s $557 million. The
company booked a fourth-quarter charge of $900 million related
to the lower forecast. The company said today it has written to doctors worldwide
recommending that patients with type 2 diabetes not be treated
with products containing aliskiren if they’re also receiving an
ACE inhibitor or ARB. Novartis is in continuing discussions with the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration over the use of the products, it said in
the statement. To contact the reporter on this story:
Simeon Bennett in Geneva at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Phil Serafino at
[email protected] | 2012 | novartis-to-add-warnings-to-rasilez-blood-pressure-drug-1- |
Mobile TeleSystems May Buy Tascom WiFi Network, Vedomosti Says | By Ilya Khrennikov | 2012-02-17T04:52:16Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/mobile-telesystems-may-buy-tascom-wifi-network-vedomosti-says.html | 2 | 17 | fad139ebd44c2c9f0cd068abce739ce0c377c494 | OAO Mobile TeleSystems, Russia ’s
largest cell-phone operator, applied for antitrust permission to
acquire ZAO Tascom, a Moscow WiFi network with $30 million of
annual revenue, Vedomosti reported, citing Dmitry Rutenberg, an
official at the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service. To contact the reporter on this story:
Ilya Khrennikov in Moscow at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
John Viljoen at
[email protected] | 2012 | obile-telesystems-may-buy-tascom-wifi-network-vedomosti-says |
Brazilian Finance Ministry Denies Plan to Impose Tax on FDI | By Matthew Bristow | 2012-02-17T20:30:14Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/brazilian-finance-ministry-denies-plan-to-impose-tax-on-fdi.html | 2 | 17 | dd7ad047a638479d6b8a06bba0ec3c3e6e9083c0 | Brazil ’s Finance Ministry denied a
report that the government is considering a tax on foreign
direct investment to stem the appreciation of the real. Veja magazine reported in this week’s edition that the
government is studying the implementation of a tax on all
capital inflows as a means of curbing currency gains. There are no studies at the moment to tax FDI, Finance
Minister Guido Mantega said, according to a statement read by a
press officer over the phone. Mantega also said that the
measures taken so far to stem the currency gains were
successful, said the press officer, who can’t be identified
because of internal policy. The government continues to monitor the currency market
closely and is ready to take new measures to guarantee a
competitive exchange rate, Mantega said, according to the
statement. To contact the reporter on this story:
Matthew Bristow in Brasilia at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Joshua Goodman at [email protected] | 2012 | brazilian-finance-ministry-denies-plan-to-impose-tax-on-fdi |
Mechel Falls in N.Y. as Cold Weather Halts Production in Romania | By Halia Pavliva | 2012-02-17T15:56:01Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/mechel-falls-in-n-y-as-cold-weather-halts-production-in-romania.html | 2 | 17 | 69b1347e2e1faf357dad34c8495cb1547708eaab | OAO Mechel (MTLR) , Russia’s largest
producer of coal for steelmaking, fell in New York after saying
it would halt production at two plants in Romania as cold
weather in Europe disrupted scrap supplies. American depositary receipts of the company declined 0.4
percent to $10.75 at 10:52 a.m. in U.S. trading, after falling
as much as 1.8 percent. The stock, which lost 71 percent last
year, has gained 26 percent this year. Production at the Mechel Targoviste and Ductil Steel Otelu
Rosu plants will be temporarily halted beginning tomorrow
because colder-than-usual weather in the region led to
disruption of raw materials supplies, Mechel said in an e-mailed
statement. It did not indicate when production may resume. To contact the reporters on this story:
Halia Pavliva in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Emma O’Brien at
[email protected] | 2012 | echel-falls-in-n-y-as-cold-weather-halts-production-in-romania |
Romania’s Romgaz Increases Imports by 40% on Record Consumption | By Andra Timu | 2012-02-17T10:36:07Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/romania-s-romgaz-increases-imports-by-40-on-record-consumption.html | 2 | 17 | 0b611fd1af063e4db23176ab8583069ac348f2b6 | Romgaz SA, Romania ’s natural gas
company, said it’s increased imports by 40 percent this month
because of record consumption amid freezing temperatures,
according to an e-mailed statement today. Twenty-two million cubic meters of gas will be imported
during the remainder of the month to cover domestic demand, the
company said in the statement. The Romanian government said on Feb.15 it will limit
exports of electricity as domestic consumption reached the
highest level in a decade. To contact the reporter on this story:
Andra Timu in Bucharest at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James M. Gomez at
[email protected] | 2012 | romania-s-romgaz-increases-imports-by-40-on-record-consumption |
U.S. Chlorine Plants in January Run at Highest Rate Since August | By Jack Kaskey | 2012-02-17T19:12:05Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/u-s-chlorine-plants-in-january-run-at-highest-rate-since-august.html | 2 | 17 | f19e81985bf7dad00e35bccac982ff0d9b9ea9a1 | The average operating rate of U.S.
plants that make chlorine and caustic soda rose to 85 percent in
January, the highest output level in five months, a trade group
said. The industry’s average operating rate for plants that make
the chemicals known as chlor-alkali rose from 79 percent in
December, The Chlorine Institute , based in Arlington, Virginia ,
said today in an e-mail. Plants on average ran at 86 percent of
capacity in August. Chlorine is used to make vinyl products such as siding and
polyvinyl chloride pipe. Caustic soda, produced in tandem with
chlorine, is used to make pulp, paper and soap. Dow Chemical Co. (DOW)
is the world’s largest maker of chlor-alkali, followed by
Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) , Olin Corp. (OLN) and PPG Industries Inc. (PPG) To contact the reporter on this story:
Jack Kaskey in Houston at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Simon Casey at
[email protected] | 2012 | u-s-chlorine-plants-in-january-run-at-highest-rate-since-augus |
Dudamel Live, Aretha Franklin, Willie Loman, Loons: NYC Weekend | By Zinta Lundborg | 2012-02-18T05:01:00Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/george-soros-aretha-franklin-sleigh-bells-hoffman-s-loman-nyc-weekend.html
See what’s happening among “The
Ungovernables,” about 50 young artists who are part of the New
Museum’s 2012 Triennial, many of whom have never been shown in
this city. Curator Eungie Joo has assembled a global group:
Argentinian sculptor Adrian Villar Rojas has built a wonky site-
specific clay tower, which will be demolished at the end of the
exhibition. Amalia Pica’s “Eavesdropping,” a meditation on privacy, has
cheerfully colored drinking glasses glued to the wall. And for
“We the People,” Danh Vo deconstructs the Statue of Liberty. Runs through April 22 at the New Museum, 235 Bowery.
Information: +1-212-219-1222; http://www.newmuseum.org . Saturday Matinee Philip Seymour Hoffman puts on Willie Loman’s shiny suit of
desperation in a revival of Arthur Miller ’s 1949 Pulitzer Prize-
winning “Death of a Salesman.” Mike Nichols directed, with Linda Emond as Linda and Andrew
Garfield as Biff. In the role, Hoffman follows theatrical heavyweights Lee J.
Cobb, George C. Scott, Dustin Hoffman and Brian Dennehy . In previews at the Ethel Barrymore Theater, 243 W. 47th
St., for a March 15 opening. Information: +1-212-239-6200;
http://www.shubertorganization.com . Revive your spirits at Joe Allen with a big, icy martini.
Then dig into a classic Caesar salad and a grilled New York
strip steak. You may run into a Broadway star or two. At 326 W. 46th St. Information: +1-212-581-6464. Saturday Afternoon Gustavo Dudamel, the Los Angeles Philharmonics’s live-wire
music director, has taken the orchestra to his home turf in
Venezuela as the climax of their unprecedented Mahler project. You can see it all live from Caracas in HD at movie
theaters around the country, as Dudamel conducts Mahler’s 8, or
“Symphony of a Thousand,” with the combined forces of the LA
Phil and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra and multiple
choirs and soloists. All told, there will be 1,400 musicians onstage | 2 | 17 | 989824acb55d42d9b2e2128ed9dcc7e1 | Zinta Lundborg at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Manuela Hoelterhoff at
[email protected] . | 2012 | george-soros-aretha-franklin-sleigh-bells-hoffman-s-loman-nyc-weekend |
Obama Re-Election Organizations Raised $29.1 Million in January | By Hans Nichols | 2012-02-17T11:16:37Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/obama-re-election-organizations-raised-29-1-million-in-january.html | 2 | 17 | 76e1749e5c9074ad1a8e2a23f9ff6fcf33b86093 | President Barack Obama ’s re-election
organization and a related Democratic National Committee effort
raised a combined $29.1 million in January, his campaign said in
a Twitter posting. About 98 percent of the January contributions came in
amounts of $250 or less, the campaign said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Hans Nichols in Washington at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Steven Komarow at
[email protected] | 2012 | obama-re-election-organizations-raised-29-1-million-in-january |
Weidmann Didn’t Back ECB’s Bond Swap Decision, Spiegel Says | By Rainer Buergin | 2012-02-17T08:11:53Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/weidmann-didn-t-back-ecb-s-bond-swap-decision-spiegel-says.html | 2 | 17 | 874b15f8bd40702dd0546e5cc8d42e72ca3d4901 | European Central Bank governing
council member Jens Weidmann didn’t support the bank’s decision
to swap its Greek bonds for new ones to ensure it isn’t forced
to take losses in a debt restructuring, Spiegel magazine
reported, citing ECB officials it didn’t name. Special rules for the ECB may prompt legal action by other
Greek bondholders, and increase investor doubts about other
peripheral euro countries such as Portugal , possibly worsening
the debt crisis, the magazine said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Rainer Buergin in Berlin at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Hertling at
[email protected] | 2012 | weidmann-didn-t-back-ecb-s-bond-swap-decision-spiegel-says |
Ballymore Project Approved Next to Future London U.S. Embassy | By Neil Callanan | 2012-02-17T10:03:41Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/ballymore-project-approved-next-to-future-london-u-s-embassy.html | 2 | 17 | d74faf9efd639628473135c590b8a5e05c319b0a | Ballymore Group Ltd. won approval
from Wandsworth Council for a plan to turn a former DHL depot
and adjoining land into almost 2,000 homes at a site near
Battersea Power Station in London . The development was approved by the council’s planning
committee last night, Ballymore director Paul Keogh, said by e-
mail. A total of 1,626 to 1,982 apartments may be built, as well
as well as shops, a car showroom, a 100-bed hotel and offices,
according to the planning application. The site is known as
Embassy Gardens and will be developed next to a five-acre plot
sold to the U.S. in 2009 for a new embassy. Ernst & Young, the administrators appointed to companies
that control Battersea Power Station, had objected to the retail
element of the Embassy Gardens development, saying it
represented a “real and significant threat to the future
viability and ultimate delivery” of the plan to redevelop the
derelict station. Battersea was put into administration by creditors led by
Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LLOY) and Ireland’s National Asset Management
Agency in December. That site is expected to be put on the
market in the first quarter of this year, according to a
statement in January from the administrator. NAMA wrote to the council saying it supported Ballymore’s
plan and believed that Ernst & Young’s objections were
commercially “misguided,” according to a document circulated
by the council before the vote. Ballymore is owned by Irish businessman Sean Mulryan.
Canary Wharf Group (CWG) bought it out of the Wood Wharf site in
London’s docklands last month for 38 million pounds in January. To contact the reporter on this story:
Neil Callanan in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Ross Larsen in London at
[email protected] . | 2012 | ballymore-project-approved-next-to-future-london-u-s-embassy |
Magellan Opens Pipelines at Minnesota Tank Farm After Leak | By Colin McClelland | 2012-02-17T17:50:45Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/magellan-opens-pipelines-at-minnesota-tank-farm-after-leak-1-.html | 2 | 17 | 725534ec8e60f93e15ab853c55ea3cdddd91119f | Magellan Midstream Partners LP (MMP) ,
owner of fuel pipelines stretching from the Gulf Coast to North
Dakota , said it reopened lines that were shut Feb. 14 at the
Apple Valley tank farm in Minnesota after a gasoline leak. Excavation of soil and cleanup following the spill of
62,034 gallons are expected to continue for the foreseeable
future, Bruce Heine, a company spokesman based in Tulsa,
Oklahoma, said in an e-mail. The fuel leaked when a line flange
gasket failed. “We have maintained adequate supplies of gasoline and
diesel fuel throughout the northern tier of our distribution
system, which includes the state of Minnesota,” Heine said. The Apple Valley tank farm has a storage capacity of
approximately 500,000 barrels, he said. Pipelines from Apple
Valley generally transport refined products to the northern part
of the Magellan system, he said. No injuries, evacuations or road closures resulted from the
spill, Heine said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Colin McClelland in Toronto at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Marino at
[email protected] | 2012 | agellan-opens-pipelines-at-minnesota-tank-farm-after-leak-1- |
Unilever, PepsiCo India CEOs see Consumption Slow Before Rebound | By Malavika Sharma | 2012-02-17T19:00:00Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/unilever-pepsico-india-ceos-see-short-term-consumption-slowdown.html | 2 | 17 | 0765c3a8215f10636a4edc394077f6243e6ada64 | India ’s consumption will continue to
grow at a slower pace before rebounding, said chief executives
of Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUVR) and PepsiCo. India Holdings Pvt. “We live in challenging times,” Nitin Paranjpe, chief
executive officer at Hindustan Unilever, said at a conference in
Mumbai on Feb. 16. “The short term is likely to be volatile.”
The so-called fast-moving consumer goods industry, or FMCG, will
see “slightly” lower growth, PepsiCo India CEO Manu Anand
said. India’s government expects the economy to grow at the
slowest pace since 2009, as consumers spend less amid high
inflation. The Reserve Bank of India raised key interest rates
by a record amount from 2010 until October last year to curb
rising prices in the world’s second most-populous nation. “Consumers take longer to make decisions about their
purchases because they were uncertain about the economic
outlook, said Sadashiv Nayak, CEO of Future Value Retail, a
subsidiary of Pantaloon Retail India Ltd. (PF) ‘‘People are
differentiating between essential and things that are not so
essential.’’ Rising borrowing costs hurt Pantaloon, the country’s
largest retail company, which reported a loss of 79.6 million
rupees ($1.6 million) in the second quarter ended Dec. 31,
compared with a 124 million-rupee profit a year earlier. Reliance Retail Ltd., a unit of India’s most valuable
company, Reliance Industries Ltd., expects consumer confidence
to rebound in the second half of 2012, said Bijou Kurien,
president of the company’s lifestyle operations. Little Impact A slowdown in consumer spending has had little impact on
same-store sales which grew eight percent to 22 percent in
January from a year earlier, he said. India may see significant increases in consumption amid
growing incomes, said Paranjpe from Hindustan Unilever, a unit
of the world’s second-largest consumer-goods maker. India’s consumer spending is likely to almost quadruple by
2020 to $3.6 trillion spurred by economic growth and rising
incomes, as household incomes could climb 2.9 times from 2010 to
2020, according to the Boston Consulting Group. To contact the reporter on this story:
Malavika Sharma in New Delhi at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephanie Wong at
[email protected] | 2012 | unilever-pepsico-india-ceos-see-short-term-consumption-slowdown |
No, Japan Is Not the Next Greece: The Ticker | By William Pesek | 2012-02-17T19:28:47Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/no-japan-is-not-the-next-greece-the-ticker.html
Investor Jim Rogers has a very specific reason for not buying Japanese government bonds : extinction. The Singapore-based chairman of Rogers Holdings can't fathom how a $5.5 trillion economy can, in the long run, avoid defaulting on a roughly $12 trillion debt with a shrinking population. A few years back, he concluded: "If the current birth rate, which is the lowest in the major developed countries, continues, there will be no Japanese. Who will pay the enormous debt?" It's a valid question, especially as the nation's deflationary funk, a product of the 1990 bursting of its economic bubble, deepens. More and more, markets are buzzing about the chances of Japan becoming the next Greece . That's unlikely because about 95 percent of government debt is held domestically. While this factoid is well known , one particular possibility it affords Japan isn't: debt forgiveness on a national, and indeed unprecedented, scale. Yes, if things unraveled the way the bears expect, Japan could always appeal to nationalist tendencies for survival. Is that an unlikely event? Yes. A tough sell? Absolutely. But my sense is that if Japan were facing the kind of financial Armageddon some fear, such a step isn't beyond the realm of possibility. Greece is having trouble getting foreigners to take a haircut on its bonds. Japan might have more success getting its masses to take losses on the piles of public debt stashed under the tatami mats. For all its problems | 2 | 17 | 6ff98d066d4fa2e8130ff4e27ae7ef1c9943ff64 | 2012 | no-japan-is-not-the-next-greece-the-ticker |
|
Gilead Tumbles as Some Hepatitis C Patients Relapse After Drug Treatment | By Meg Tirrell | 2012-02-17T21:24:47Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/gilead-drops-as-hepatitis-c-drug-from-10-8-billion-buy-fails-to-sustain.html | 2 | 17 | f951687ab4854673aacbaf3a879dfb0b | Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) , which fueled a
land grab for hepatitis C therapies with its $10.8 billion
purchase last year of Pharmasset Inc. (VRUS) , dropped the most in 11
years after some patients on the acquired experimental medicine
relapsed after stopping therapy. Among eight patients with hepatitis C genotype 1, the most
common form of the disease in the U.S., six had a viral relapse
within four weeks after stopping a 12-week regimen with the
medicine, GS-7977, plus ribavirin, Gilead said today in a
statement. The other patients in the trial are two weeks out
from stopping treatment, and haven’t relapsed, the company said. Gilead fell 14 percent to $47 at 4 p.m. New York time for
the biggest drop since January 2001. The decline narrowed the
Foster City , California-based company’s gain for the last 12
months to 20 percent. Rival makers of hepatitis C drugs rose. “Gilead announced what is unquestionably bad news,” Mark Schoenebaum , an analyst with ISI Group in New York, wrote in a
note to clients today. The results could mean this kind of
therapy “isn’t going to be enough in genotype 1 patients.” The promise of a potential $20 billion market in hepatitis
C, a bloodborne virus carried by 170 million people worldwide,
has spurred three acquisitions in the last year. Bristol, Roche Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) followed Gilead with a $2.5
billion purchase of Inhibitex Inc. (INHX) to gain a similar medicine to
Pharmasset’s, while Roche Holding AG (ROG) bought experimental
hepatitis C drugmaker Anadys Pharmaceuticals in November for
about $230 million. Pharmasset’s medicine was thought to be the cornerstone of
new regimens that treat hepatitis C orally, said Raghuram Selvaraju, an analyst with Morgan Joseph TriArtisan in New York,
in an interview. Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ACHN) and Idenix Pharmaceuticals
Inc. (IDIX) , other developers of medicines for the disease, are
probably acquisition targets, Selvaraju said. Achillion, based
in New Haven, Connecticut, rose 26 percent to $11.04 for the
biggest increase since December 2009; Idenix, in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, increased 3.9 percent to $11.91. Medivir AB, a
Swedish maker of an experimental hepatitis C medicine in
collaboration with Johnson & Johnson’s Tibotec unit, advanced 15
percent to 65.75 kronor, the most since July 2010. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) , also in Cambridge, joined
Merck & Co. last year in gaining approval for the first new
hepatitis C drugs in almost a decade. Its shares jumped 4.7
percent to $39.24. Vertex Response “The Gilead news is positive for Vertex’s investor
sentiment,” Jason Kantor , an analyst with RBC Capital Markets ,
wrote in a research note today. “While we think other upcoming
data from Gilead will likely be more positive and 7977 is still
the best HCV drug to date,” the negative data “may likely call
into doubt the thesis that Incivek will essentially go to zero
in 2014.” A developing medical theory that hepatitis C can be
overcome with the same type of drug cocktails that tamed HIV has
driven acquisition strategies as companies try to anticipate
which products work best with other medicines. Because only a few hepatitis C drugs are approved, and
others in testing may not pan out, “we don’t know what the
winning formula will be,” Ben Weintraub, an industry analyst at
Wolters Kluwer InThought in New York, said during a Bloomberg
Industries panel last week. To raise the odds, “companies are
doing M&A and starting new trials on almost a daily basis.” While the results announced today by Gilead
“disappointed,” a “disaster scenario is unlikely,” said
Robyn Karnauskas, an analyst with Deutsche Bank in New York, in
a note to clients. Future Trials The data were from a study in patients who hadn’t responded
to an earlier treatment involving interferon. Gilead will
consider combining other direct-acting antivirals with 7977 and
longer treatment times, company executives said on a conference
call today with analysts and investors. “These data answer an important question about the use of
GS-7977 and ribavirin for the treatment of genotype 1 null
responder patients, suggesting that additional direct acting
antivirals may be necessary to effectively treat this patient
population,” Norbert Bischofberger, Gilead’s chief scientific
officer, said in a statement. “We will continue to explore a number of therapeutic
approaches to address this significant unmet medical need,
including combinations with other oral antivirals,” he said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Meg Tirrell in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reg Gale at
[email protected] | 2012 | gilead-drops-as-hepatitis-c-drug-from-10-8-billion-buy-fails-to-sustain |
Philippine Stocks: Ayala Land, Jollibee Foods, SM Prime | By Cecilia Yap | 2012-02-17T08:08:13Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/ipvg-jollibee-manila-water-philippine-stocks-preview.html | 2 | 17 | ce917524ecd7dcbf6f30af23be1de5652760d8a0 | The following companies had unusual
price changes in Philippine (PASHR) trading . Stock symbols are in
parentheses and share prices are as of the close in Manila . The Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PCOMP) rose 2.4 percent to a
record 4,880.71. The gauge climbed 2 percent this week, a third
weekly advance. Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) gained 6.8 percent to an all-time
high of 20.50 pesos after the Philippines ’s largest builder said
it would spend about a quarter of this year’s record budget to
expand its land holdings. “We are expanding our landbank to areas north and east of
Metro Manila,” Ayala Land President Antonino Aquino said in a
mobile-phone message, confirming a BusinessMirror report. The
company will spend 10 billion pesos ($234 million) for land
purchases, Aquino said. The developer that built Manila’s Wall
Street said on Feb. 15 it has set a budget of 37 billion pesos
($868 million) this year to build more houses and fund
acquisitions. Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) advanced 3.2 percent to 99.90
pesos, the biggest gain since Jan. 20. The nation’s biggest
fast-food company reported fourth-quarter net income increased
10 percent from a year earlier to 1.16 billion pesos as sales
rose 18 percent. SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPH) rose 3.3 percent to 16.20
pesos, its biggest gain in a week, after the nation’s largest
mall operator said profit in 2011 increased 15 percent to 9.1
billion pesos. To contact the reporter on this story:
Cecilia Yap in Manila at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Darren Boey at
[email protected] | 2012 | ipvg-jollibee-manila-water-philippine-stocks-preview |
Rail & Bridge Jumps Before Merger: Shanghai Mover | By Bloomberg News | 2012-02-17T11:08:36Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/rail-bridge-jumps-before-merger-shanghai-mover-correct-.html | 2 | 17 | 50613f574d427fb48819c7e8acca94054c36cd33 | (Corrects company name from first paragraph.) Rail & Bridge International Co. rose
by the 10 percent daily limit in Shanghai trading before its
proposed merger with China Communications Construction Co., the
country’s biggest port builder. Rail & Bridge, an infrastructure construction company, rose
to 16.18 yuan at the 11:30 a.m. trading break, the highest
intraday level since March 2008. The shares resumed trading
today after a suspension since Jan. 30 and will be halted again
from Feb. 21 for shareholders to exercise their options. The
benchmark Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) fell 0.1 percent. China Communications, a Beijing-based infrastructure
company, said yesterday it will issue 1.3 billion shares at 5.40
yuan in its IPO and buy all the stock in Rail & Bridge that it
doesn’t already own. Rail & Bridge shareholders can opt to
receive China Communications shares at a ratio of 2.69 to one,
or receive a cash payment of 12.29 per share, according to a
statement to the exchange yesterday. “The stock is rising because China Communications is going
to merge the company through a share swap,” Vivian Liu, an
analyst at Sinopac Securities Asia Ltd., said in a phone
interview in Shanghai. Through the transaction, Rail & Bridge
shareholders will get access to the larger company’s dredging
and port machinery operations, Liu said. China Communications, which already owns 61.06 percent of
Rail & Bridge, had delayed its Shanghai IPO last year amid
weakness in the stock market, Chairman Zhou Jichang said in
July. The company’s Hong Kong-traded shares have gained 23
percent this year, compared with a 16 percent increase in the
benchmark Hang Seng Index . The IPO (1800) will be the largest for China
this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. To contact the reporter on this story:
Jiang Jianguo in Shanghai at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Shiyin Chen at
[email protected] | 2012 | rail-bridge-jumps-before-merger-shanghai-mover-correct- |
Utah Immigration Laws Violate Constitution and Must Be Blocked, U.S. Says | By Andrew Harris and Shelley Osterloh | 2012-02-17T23:57:48Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/utah-immigration-laws-violate-constitution-and-must-be-blocked-u-s-says.html
A Utah law requiring police to
verify the immigration status of people arrested on felony
charges violates the U.S. Constitution and must be blocked,
lawyers for the federal government said. That measure was included in a package of four bills signed
into law last year by Governor Gary R. Herbert in a legislative
package he called “the Utah solution” to illegal immigration. The U.S. asked U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups in Salt
Lake City for an order temporarily blocking the status-
verification law and two other measures it says conflicts with
powers reserved to the federal government. Justice Department
attorney Joshua Wilkenfeld told Waddoups today that the law also
risks damaging federal prosecution of more serious crimes, such
as drug trafficking. “Just asking aliens for information can interfere with
government’s ability to pursue high priorities of federal law
enforcement ,” he said. Barry Lawrence, a lawyer in the office of Utah Attorney
General Mark Shurtleff, said the purpose of the statute is to
identify people who are arrested and to determine how many
crimes are committed by those who aren’t lawfully in the U.S. “An officer cannot walk up and say, ‘Show me your
papers,’” Lawrence said. “What we are doing is identifying
people who are committing crimes. If there isn’t an arrest, we
don’t get to the verification.” Subject to Removal The U.S. also asked the judge to block enforcement of
measures authorizing police to arrest without a warrant people
they believe are subject to the removal order of an immigration
judge and making it a felony to encourage or induce an illegal
alien to enter or settle in Utah. “In our constitutional system, the power to regulate
immigration is exclusively vested in the federal government,”
the U.S. argued in court papers. “The state of Utah has crossed
this constitutional line.” The U.S. sued to block the law in November, six months
after a challenge was first lodged by a Latino civil rights
advocacy group, Utah Coalition of La Raza. Waddoups has
consolidated the cases. The state argues the U.S. is mischaracterizing the
legislation, known as HB 497, and says it’s consistent with
congressional mandates and is constitutional. Not ‘Complicated’ “This issue is neither difficult nor complicated,” the
state’s attorneys told Waddoups in a Jan. 17 submission. Utah spends almost $8 million a year to keep about 300
illegal immigrants in prison, according to the state’s filing,
while more than $55 million is spent on public education of
undocumented children. “There are those who will say these bills may not be
perfect, but they are a step in the right direction and they are
better than what we had,” Herbert said in a statement after
signing the legislation on March 15. Utah’s act and immigration measures enacted by the
governors of Arizona , Alabama and South Carolina have all been
challenged by the U.S. government. The U.S. Supreme Court in December said it would review a
San Francisco-based federal appeals court’s 2011 ruling that
barred enforcement of an Arizona law requiring police to check
immigration status when they stop or arrest a person they have
reasonable suspicion to believe is in the country illegally. Arizona Neighbor Utah lies in a different federal appellate circuit than
Arizona, its neighbor to the south. An Atlanta-based appeals court on March 1 will hear
arguments on state and federal government challenges to a
September ruling by U.S. District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn in Birmingham, Alabama , blocking parts of package of
immigration control measures signed into law by Alabama Governor
Robert Bentley. A federal judge in South Carolina, Richard M. Gergel, in
December blocked enforcement of a law in that state which would
require police officers suspecting somebody of unlawfully being
in the U.S. to check their legal status. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s administration is
appealing Gergel’s decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals in
Richmond, Virginia. Empowered States Congress has empowered the states to communicate and
cooperate with one another and with the federal government on
immigration enforcement efforts, Utah said in court papers
opposing the U.S. bid for a court order blocking the law. “HB 497 reflects Utah’s attempt to undertake its
supporting role in the fight against illegal immigration, within
the parameters set by Congress,” Utah told Waddoups. “HB 497
does not conflict with Congress’ mandate, but is entirely
consistent with it.” While Waddoups heard about six hours of argument today, he
issued no ruling on the preliminary injunction request and said
he may refrain from doing so until after the Supreme Court rules
in the Arizona case. A temporary restraining order issued by Waddoups in May
blocked the law from taking effect. The judge today said at the
end of today’s hearing that that order remains in effect. Outside the court, Alicia Cervantes | 2 | 17 | 9d2248e88c164681a23e612c832e10e6 | feared the legislation could separate families and divide
communities. “It’s not the Utah I grew up in,” she said. “Utah
deserves better than that.” The case is Utah Coalition of La Raza v. Herbert, 11-401,
U.S. District Court, District of Utah ( Salt Lake City ). To contact the reporters on this story:
Andrew Harris in Chicago at
[email protected] ;
Shelley Osterloh in Salt Lake City at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Hytha at [email protected] . | 2012 | utah-immigration-laws-violate-constitution-and-must-be-blocked-u-s-says |
U.S. Companies Reporting Negative EPS Surprises, Feb. 17 | By Wendy Soong | 2012-02-17T21:26:43Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/u-s-companies-reporting-negative-eps-surprises-feb-17.html | 2 | 17 | 96bd22c83e979568c5d2626e06cb886d985c4da2 | The following U.S. companies reported negative
earnings surprises today. This list ranks percent surprises of actual
earnings to earnings estimates. Earnings estimates provided by Bloomberg.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Wendy Soong in New York at at [email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Alex Tanzi at at
[email protected] | 2012 | u-s-companies-reporting-negative-eps-surprises-feb-17 |
TPCA Plans to Reduce Vehicle Production From May, CTK Reports | By Lenka Ponikelska | 2012-02-17T12:12:53Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/tpca-plans-to-reduce-vehicle-production-from-may-ctk-reports.html | 2 | 17 | d00d0180425f3232d5c98000ec6f4064055c37ed | Toyota Peugeot Citroen Automobile
Czech, a car venture formed by Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) and PSA
Peugeot Citroen, plans to reduce production to four days a week
as of May as demand for smaller cars in European markets
declined, CTK reported, citing the company. The plant is estimated to produce 221,000 cars this year, a
fifth less than a year ago, CTK said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Lenka Ponikelska in Prague at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James M. Gomez at
[email protected] | 2012 | pca-plans-to-reduce-vehicle-production-from-may-ctk-reports |
Velarde Sees Improved 2012 Outlook for Peru, Andina Says | By John Quigley | 2012-02-17T14:25:56Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/velarde-sees-improved-2012-outlook-for-peru-andina-says.html | 2 | 17 | 6430c06ea5120644a6b65d1623aeeecd68d9254c | Peru’s economy may expand at a
faster-than-expected pace this year as global conditions
improve, Andina reported , citing comments by central bank
President Julio Velarde. The Andean nation’s growth may exceed the central bank’s
forecast of 5.5 percent, Velarde said, according to the
government’s online news agency. The bank is considering issuing
a revised forecast in March, he said, according to Andina. To contact the reporter on this story:
John Quigley in Lima at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Joshua Goodman at
[email protected] | 2012 | velarde-sees-improved-2012-outlook-for-peru-andina-says |
UN’s Ban Criticizes U.S., Iran Over Nuclear Test Treaty Delays | By Jonathan Tirone | 2012-02-17T15:48:10Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/un-s-ban-criticizes-u-s-iran-over-nuclear-test-treaty-delays.html | 2 | 17 | 2374b8d5c63e0be82647a52d89b825e5498c3f1c | United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon criticized the U.S., Iran and six other nations for
failing to ratify a ban on nuclear weapons testing and offered
to meet with their leaders to speed passage of the measure. “It is distressing that this treaty has yet to enter
force,” Ban said in the Austrian capital at a ceremony
commemorating the 15th anniversary of the accord’s creation.
“Any country opposed to signing or ratifying is simply failing
to meet its responsibilities as a member of the international
community.” Before becoming UN secretary general, Ban helped create the
Vienna-based organization that oversees the Comprehensive
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. It won’t become law until both the U.S.
Senate and Iran’s parliament ratify the accord. Egypt , India ,
Pakistan, China and North Korea must also agree to the terms
before atomic-test explosions are banned. “I certainly believed that this treaty would have entered
into force by now,” Ban said. He offered to travel and meet
with leaders of the eight countries that have yet to sign the
accord in order to bring the treaty into force. U.S. President Barack Obama supports the treaty and has
said he’d submit it to the Senate for ratification. Iranian
lawmakers have accused the test ban treaty organization’s
network of spying. There have been more than 2,000 nuclear test explosions
worldwide since the Manhattan Project’s Trinity test in the U.S.
in July 1945. The last detonation occurred in May 2009, when
North Korea conducted a test, an event that was detected at 61
of the UN organization’s seismic stations. To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jonathan Tirone at +43-1-513-266-025 or
[email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story:
James Hertling at +33-1-5365-5075 or
[email protected] ; | 2012 | un-s-ban-criticizes-u-s-iran-over-nuclear-test-treaty-delays |
Portsmouth Soccer Club Enters Bankruptcy for Second Time in Two Years | By Christopher Elser | 2012-02-17T15:52:00Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/portsmouth-soccer-club-enters-bankruptcy-for-second-time-in-two-years.html | 2 | 17 | cde3d64deb908a10c5bad9111e298d6f7c2ac5ab | English soccer club Portsmouth went
into administration today for the second time in two years. Trevor Birch, who works at the PKF accounting firm, will be
the executive to run the club while it attempts to get out of
administration, Portsmouth said today on its website. The team has been run by accountants UHY Hacker Young since
parent Convers Sports Initiatives Plc entered administration on
Nov. 29. CSI, a U.K.-based investment vehicle used by former
owner Vladimir Antonov to buy Portsmouth, defaulted on an
interest payment to former owner Balram Chainrai. “Our aim is to achieve an outcome that helps ensure the
club’s long term survival, preferably by finding a suitable
buyer,” Birch said in an e-mailed statement. “We will now
begin discussions with the club’s stakeholders with a view to
getting Portsmouth out of administration as soon as is
practically possible. Until then, our intention is to stabilise
the situation and keep the club running on a day-to-day basis.” Creditors include electricity suppliers that have
threatened to cut the team off, UHY’s Peter Kubik said in an
interview earlier this week. To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christopher Elser at
[email protected] | 2012 | portsmouth-soccer-club-enters-bankruptcy-for-second-time-in-two-years |
Midmorning Positive EPS Surprises for U.S. Companies, Feb. 17 | By Wendy Soong | 2012-02-17T16:37:50Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/midmorning-positive-eps-surprises-for-u-s-companies-feb-17.html | 2 | 17 | 2f8d0a3d45c66a032ec60bb659508a2fbf03b086 | The following U.S. companies reported
positive surprises or matched expectations today. This list ranks
percent surprises of actual earnings to earnings estimates. Earnings estimates provided by Bloomberg.
* - Company in Standard & Poor’s 500 Index To contact the reporter on this story:
Wendy Soong in New York at at [email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Alex Tanzi at at
[email protected] | 2012 | idmorning-positive-eps-surprises-for-u-s-companies-feb-17 |