STOCK MARKET

Pakistan's Fauji Bin Qasim Profit Increases 88% to $10.7 Million on Prices

2010-07-27T03:56:00.001-07:00

Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Ltd., Pakistan’s only producer of di-ammonium phosphate, reported an increase in second-quarter profit because of higher prices.

Net income rose to 913.4 million rupees ($10.7 million), or 0.98 rupee a share, in the three months ended June 30, from 485.3 million rupees, or 0.52 rupee, a year ago, the Rawalpindi- based company said in a statement to the Karachi Stock Exchange today. Revenue fell to 5.4 billion rupees from 9.1 billion rupees.

The price of di-ammonium phosphate rose to 2,600 rupees for a 50-kilogram bag, from 2,000 rupees in the previous quarter, according to Invest Capital & Securities Ltd. in Karachi.

The company also booked a profit of 122 million rupees from a joint venture compared with a loss of 315.2 million rupees a year ago, according to the statement. Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim has a joint venture with a Moroccan phosphate company.

Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim, which has risen 15 percent this year, rose 1.4 percent to 30 rupees as of 1:42 p.m. local time, on the Karachi Stock Exchange. It plans to pay a mid-year cash dividend of 1.30 rupees a share.

Fauji’s profit in the six months ended June 30 rose to 1.72 billion rupees from 497.9 million rupees a year ago, according to the statement. Sales fell to 11.9 billion rupees from 14.9 billion rupees a year ago.

To contact the reporter on this story: Khurrum Anis in Karachi at Kkhan14@bloomberg.net

Top Sectors in Karachi Stock Market on 27-07-2010

2010-07-27T03:44:00.000-07:00

Chinese stimulus cash is inflating new stock market bubble, officials warn

2009-06-30T05:07:00.000-07:00

Half of the 5.8 trillion yuan (£522bn) of stimulus loans issued by Chinese banks have flowed into the country's stock and property markets, inflating new bubbles, according to senior Communist officials.

Under orders from the government, China's banks have flooded the economy with new credit this year, advancing more money in the first six months than the total for 2008.

It is the biggest wave of money since the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949. The loans are part of a stimulus package to spur domestic investment and consumption and help the economy through the financial crisis.

However, a significant proportion has been diverted into shares and property, with the Shanghai Stock Exchange rising 60pc since January.

Several economists believe a large part of the government's 4 trillion yuan state aid package has also failed to reach the "real" economy.

Wei Jianing, an economist at the Development Research Center of the State Council, said 20pc of the new bank loans had reached the stock market, and 30pc had been invested in property.

According to the Chinese state media, Wei said the huge flow of money could fuel further asset bubbles. However, he was careful to note that this was not yet the view of the State Council, China's ministerial cabinet.

“When funds are circulating and swelling inside the financial system, instead of servicing the real economy, we see this as a sign of bubble formation,” said Wei. “Now the rapidly circulating funds can easily boost the stock market and produce new financial bubbles, and lift real estate prices as well.”

Another official, Cheng Siwei, the vice-chairman of the standing committee of the National People's Congress, said around 2.4 trillion yuan of the 4.58 trillion lent in the first three months of the year had been used for "real" investment, while the remainder was used for speculation.

However, Cheng also predicted that the Chinese economy will grow by 8pc this year and by more than 9pc next year.

The lack of supervision over the enormous sums being advanced has started to trouble the Communist Party, which issued a stern commentary through the People's Daily, its official mouthpiece.

"Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures," said the commentary. "However we must at the same time improve the lending structure and guard against risks to ensure that lending supports good quality economic development".

China's bank regulator has already urged commercial banks to scrutinize borrowers to ensure loans aren't misused.

One factor that might inspire a rout in the market is the 3.2 trillion yuan of shares that will emerge from lock-up periods this year, a 53.1pc increase in value terms on the sum last year, according to the Chinese central bank. The People's Bank of China cautioned that the market would have to be watched closely for any impact.

Market opens positive on global cues

2009-06-26T01:20:00.000-07:00

The Sensex opened positive on global cues and continued to trade higher. Realty, oil & gas, capital goods and IT stocks moved up marginally, whereas healthcare declined.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap index rose 1.11% and 1.21% respectively.

Asian stocks rose as commodity prices jumped amid optimism the US recession may ease after the economy shrank less than expected in the first quarter. Japanese benchmark index Nikkei gained 65.18 points, or 0.67%, to trade at 9,861.10. Hong Kong`s Hang Seng index rose 216.77 points, or 1.16%, to trade at 18,488.96 and China`s Shanghai Composite declined 7.29 points, or 0.25%, to trade at 2,917.76. (10.05 a.m, IST).

European stocks declined led by banks, as the Federal Reserve disappointed investors by refraining from increasing bond purchases. UK`s benchmark index FTSE 100 fell 27.41 points, or 0.64%, to settle at 4,252.57. French benchmark index CAC 40 declined 21.66 points, or 0.68%, to end 3,163.10 and Germany`s benchmark index DAX lost 35.45 points, or 0.73%, to close at 4,800.56.

Indian stock market begun the day on a positive note after a fall of 0.53% on the previous working day. The 30-share index, BSE Sensex opened with a gain of 27.95 points, at 14,373.57 on Friday.

In the previous day session, the Sensex ended with a loss of 77.11 points, or 0.53%, while the NSE Nifty declined by 51.10 points, or 1.19%. The 30-share index, Sensex after losing 51.10 yesterday, opened on a flat note on Friday. It begun the day at 14,373.57 up 27.95 points from the previous day`s close

Currently, the 30-share index Sensex is trading up 164.19 points, or 1.14%, at 14,509.81, after touching a high of 14,515.55 and a low of 14,373.57. Meanwhile the broad based Nifty is trading higher by 47.80 points, or 1.13%, at 4,289.65, after hitting a high of 4,296.35 and a low of 4,243.95. (10.00 a.m.)

Overall market breadth is positive. Out of the total 939 stocks traded at BSE, 778 advanced, 140 declined while 21 remained unchanged.

Major gainers in the 30-share index were ICICI Bank (2.43%), DLF (2.31%), Wipro (2.26%), Sterlite Industries (India) (2.18%), Larsen & Toubro (2.13%), and NTPC (2.11%).

On the other hand, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (15.75%), Housing Development Finance Corporation (0.98%), Ranbaxy Laboratories (0.92%), Tata Steel (0.79%), Mahindra & Mahindra (0.37%), and Hindustan Unilever (0.10%) were the major losers in the Sensex.

KSE amends rules for OTC market

2009-06-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

KARACHI: Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) has introduced amendments in its regulations governing “over the counter (OTC)” market.

KSE made the amendments with the prior approval of Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) under the sub-section (1) of Section 34 of the Securities & Exchange Ordinance 1969.

The amendments are as follows

i) the securities listed should be traded through KATS under T+2 settlement system or any other counter subject to the clearing and settlement procedures.

ii) The chairman of a listed company shall ensure that minutes of the meeting of the board of directors are appropriately recorded. The minutes of the meeting shall be circulated to directors and officers entitled to attend board meetings within 14 days of the date of the meeting.

iii) All listed companies shall ensure that second quarterly financial settlements are subjected to a limited scope review by the statutory auditors in such a manner and according to such terms and conditions as may be determined by Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan and approved by SECP.

iv) All listed companies shall in the form and manner specified by the commission ensure that annual audited financial statements are sent to every member of the company at least twenty-one days before the annual general meeting is to held to consider the same.

v) No listed company shall circulate its financial statements unless the CEO present the financial statements, duly endorsed under his respective signatures for consideration and approval of the board of directors and board after consideration and approval, authorize the signing of financial statements for the issuance and circulation. staff report

Oil higher in Asian trade, trading above 50 dollars

2009-04-09T00:08:00.000-07:00

SINGAPORE ( 2009-04-09 09:15:57 ) :Oil prices were higher in Asian trade Thursday, pushed up by a smaller-than-expected rise in US crude reserves, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for May delivery gained 70 cents to 50.08 dollars.

Brent North Sea crude for May delivery advanced 59 cents to 52.18 dollars.

Prices received a mild boost from the latest US energy report released Wednesday, which showed the country's crude stocks increased by a smaller margin than the industry had forecast, analysts said.

The weekly Department of Energy report showed crude reserves rose by 1.6 million barrels in the week ending April 3, lower than the gain of 1.9 million barrels that analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had predicted.

"The increase in US crude oil inventories was less than some had feared," said David Moore, a commodity strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.

Oil prices are down significantly from record peaks of above 147 dollars reached in July last year, pulled down by worries about the global crisis, but Algeria's energy minister had an upbeat outlook.

"The global economy is starting to pick up, especially in the United States," Algeria's energy minister Chakib Khelil told AFP on Wednesday.

"A barrel could hover around 70 dollars between the end of 2009 and early 2010 and then rise to 80 dollars," he said.

ECC allows Indo-Pak trade though Wagah-Attari

2009-03-20T02:18:00.000-07:00

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on Thursday allowed the Ministry of Commerce to start bilateral trade with India through the Wagah-Attari road link, a proposal that had been backed by President Asif Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a meeting in New York last September.

The ECC also permitted the Ministry of Commerce to increase the number of items traded between the two countries from the present 1938 in a phased manner commensurate with parallel development of infrastructure on both sides of the border.

Sources told Dawn the ECC, which met under the Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Tarin here, also directed the Ministry of Petroleum to cut by half its demand of gas from the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline project.

Pakistan’s share from the project is 1.05billion cubic feet a day (bcfd), which would now be reduced to 500 million cubic feet a day because of the refusal of Iranian authorities to reduce the rate of gas.

The meeting was told Iran was not willing to bring down its demanded price of gas that is 80 per cent of the crude oil price in the international market to 68-70 per cent of crude as requested by Pakistan.

The Iranian authorities had clearly told their Pakistani counterparts that Iran had been selling the same gas to Turkey at 85 per cent of the crude oil prices and that they had brought down their demand by 5 per cent after getting special approval from their Parliament. But, the price could not be slashed further.

Sources said Mr Tarin came hard on the petroleum ministry’s official for showing sluggishness in harnessing the country’s coal potential for power generation and waiting only for imported gas and furnace oil. They said the advisor asked the officials to reduce their demand of gas from IPI, which would be too expensive to be afforded by domestic or industrial sectors. The gas can only be used for power generation.

The ECC allowed the petroleum ministry to import used refineries which are not old beyond 15 years and have the capacity of purifying 110,000 barrel of oil a day to be installed in Balochistan. The ECC also allowed a tax holiday of seven years on such refineries.

The committee authorised the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) to waive regulatory duty at the rate of 20 per cent on fried potato chips to be imported by international franchise food chains (IFFC) operating in the country.

A surveillance committee was constituted under the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture comprising representatives from relevant federal and provincial government organisations, local governments and concerned district coordination officers (DCOs) to control price hike at provincial and district levels.

The ECC reviewed key economic indicators (KEI) and overall price situation in the country and noted that overall consumer price index-based inflation has declined by 0.4 per cent during July 2008-February 2009. Foreign exchange reserves stood at $10.2 billion as on March 16 that included impact of the first tranche of the International Monitory Fund (IMF)’s approved financial package and other positive inflows. Inflationary pressures, the meeting was told, were likely to ease down in the next few months owing to sharp decline in commodity prices particularly petroleum products and palm oil.

Overall workers’ remittances during July 2008-February 2009 amounted to $4.918 billion showing an increase of 19.2 per cent. The ECC was informed that FBR had collected Rs702.5 billion during first eight months of the current financial year, posting an increase of 20 per cent over the same period of last year. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during (July-January, 2008-09) amounted to $2.587billion registering a healthy growth of 1.3 per cent compared with the same period of last year.

The committee also directed the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) to complete provision of required wheat tock to Sindh. It noted that existing sugar stock was reported to be around 2.553 million tones to supplement open market needs. It said 76 per cent of planned quantity of urea (570,007 million tones) had arrived whereas 24 per cent was due to reach at ports.

While reviewing the Ministry of Communication summary proposing leasing of right of way by the National Highways Authority (NHA) according to an approved leasing policy, the meeting directed the Communication Division to revisit the draft leasing policy, and constituted a Committee comprising Ministers for Information, Privatisation and representatives of Communication Division to technically/commercially examine the proposal and resubmit its recommendations to ECC for approval.

It deliberated on the Ministry of Petroleum’s summary seeking extension in Uch Gas Field Development and Production Lease earlier granted to the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) for a period of 25 years, and approved Uch-II Expansion Project for commitment of gas supply for 25 years from the start-up date in relaxation of Rule – 32 of Pakistan Petroleum Exploration and Production Rules – 1986. However, it advised the Petroleum and Natural Resources Division to seek prime minister’s approval for it as per the law.

The ECC considered the Ministry of Water and Power proposal for power transmission enhancement multi tranche facility project, based on an earlier agreement between the government and Asian Development Bank (ADB) seeking financing for a power transmission enhancement investment programme and approved ADB loans re-lending proposal to National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) at an interest rate of 12 per cent including exchange risk coverage.

A proposal of the Ministry of Finance for equity based investment abroad by resident Pakistanis comprising a request of M/s Educational Services Pvt Limited (ESL) to remit an amount of $17.5 million to its wholly-owned UK based subsidiary (ESL) titled New Silk Route UK was also approved.

The committee approval a food ministry proposal seeking government’s collaboration with M/s Monsanto USA in Bt Cotton Technology Transfer along with an action plan mutually agreed by all stakeholders. The food ministry was allowed enter into agreement Monsanto for implementation of a collaboration-based action plan that would lead to Bt. Cotton technology transfer.

ASEAN exchanges to develop electronic trading link

2009-02-25T10:37:00.001-08:00

MANILA: Five ASEAN exchanges, namely Bursa Malaysia Berhad, Indonesia Stock Exchange, Philippine Stock Exchange, Singapore Exchange and The Stock Exchange of Thailand have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to form an ASEAN electronic trading link to enhance the competitiveness of their capital markets.

This e-trading link, through one single access point, allows intra-ASEAN cross-border trading and will attract more international funds into ASEAN.

This initiative is clearly another important milestone for the ASEAN nations. Korn Chatikavanij, Thailand’s Finance Minister said, “This project will strengthen our regional financial stability by deepening regional capital markets and facilitating progressive liberalisation of our financial sector. A stronger, integrated and more competitive ASEAN is necessary to respond to the changing global landscape. Offering a single platform is a starting point to achieve our 2015 vision of a more integrated ASEAN capital market with harmonised rules, regulations and practices.”

Swiss banks deposits plummet in 2008

2009-02-25T10:31:00.000-08:00

GENEVA: The amount of money deposited in Swiss banks shrank by more than a quarter last year as the global financial crisis hit asset values and customers withdrew large sums amid concerns about probes into the offshore banking industry.

Figures released by the Swiss National Bank showed total deposits fell 27 per cent, or 1.41 trillion Swiss francs, to 3.82 trillion francs, their lowest since August 2005.

Deposits from foreign customers shrank by 882 billion francs, while Swiss customers had 531 billion francs deposited in their country's banks, according to the SNB's monthly statistical bulletin.

Foreign private customers saw the highest proportional drop in assets, 36 per cent or 371 billion francs, leaving only 671 billion francs worth of deposits in Swiss vaults.

That is the lowest deposit amount from foreign private customers since the end of 1998.

Deposits by foreign institutional customers dropped 23 per cent to 1,386 billion francs.

Domestic private customers had 417 billion francs deposited by the end of the year, 28 per cent less than in 2007.

Oil prices hold firm

2009-02-25T10:30:00.000-08:00

LONDON: Oil prices rose slightly on Tuesday after losses the previous day, but gains were capped by lingering demand concerns and sliding equity markets, analysts said.

Brent North Sea crude for April delivery added 52 cents to 41.51 dollars per barrel.
New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, gained 45 cents to 38.89 dollars a barrel.

"Demand concerns remain prevalent on the energy markets, so the upside continues to be limited and we could be in for more sideways trading," said VTB Capital analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov.

Asian and European markets spiralled lower Tuesday after Wall Street had struck a near 12-year low overnight, as investors were unconvinced by Washington's bank rescue strategy, analysts said.

Tokyo shares dived to within striking distance of a 26-year trough after the rout in New York as investor worries grew over the banking sector. However, US stocks opened higher Tuesday on bargain hunting.

Crude futures had fallen Monday in tandem with global stocks amid gathering economic gloom and despite hints that oil cartel OPEC could cut output next month in a bid to boost prices.

"Oil prices weakened further yesterday due to renewed concerns over the health of the global economy," said analysts at energy consultancy John Hall Associates.

"Contracts moved downwards in line with equities -- a factor often cited as a secondary price driver -- given that they are a barometer of economic sentiment."

KSE plunges down after Sharif Brothers case verdict

2009-02-25T10:28:00.000-08:00

KARACHI: After Supreme Court’s verdict of declarating Sharif brothers ineligible, Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) witnessed bearish trend on Wednesday as benchmark 100-Index shed more than 200 points to plunged down to below 5800 points.

Intel's market share rises on AMD's problems

2009-02-05T12:14:00.001-08:00

Intel gained back some chip market share on the heels of Advanced Micro Devices' abysmal first quarter.

JP Morgan released a research note Tuesday containing market share data compiled by Mercury Research. Dean McCarron of Mercury confirmed the basic numbers, which had Intel's share soaring to 80.5 percent in the first quarter, from 74.4 percent in the previous quarter. AMD's share fell in similar proportions to 18.7 percent, compared with an all-time high of 25.7 percent in the fourth quarter.

But the numbers look worse than usual because AMD was forced to get rid of excess inventory in the fourth quarter, which provided plenty of chips for its customers in the first quarter that they would have otherwise had to buy directly from AMD during the quarter, McCarron said. Throw out the inventory problems and AMD's market share still declined, but probably only by 2 percentage points or so, he said.

That's not much comfort for AMD, however. The company is reeling from an awful quarter in which it posted a $611 million loss. AMD made huge strides against its much larger competitor from 2003 until last year, picking up share and winning new customers on the strength of its Opteron and Athlon 64 processors. But Intel is much more competitive these days with its Core 2 Duo processors, and has a significant lead in manufacturing technology as well.

AMD lost share in all the categories measured by Mercury's report: desktop, notebook and server processors based on the x86 instruction set. McCarron declined to confirm the exact numbers, but JP Morgan said that AMD lost eight points of desktop market share, seven points of server market share, and four points of notebook share. Mercury usually only provides that level of detail for its private subscribers, and its numbers reflect the number of processors sold into the distribution channel, not necessarily the number of systems sold using Intel or AMD chips.

The market as a whole declined a bit more from the fourth quarter to the first than the industry would normally expect, McCarron said. There's almost always a dip in shipments coming off the fourth quarter, which is the busiest period of the year. But this year it looks like server and PC sales are slowing down from the rapid growth posted over the last couple of years.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/Intels-market-share-rises-on-AMDs-problems/2100-1006_3-6178921.html

Ghar Bhete Internet pe Earning Kijeye. . . . . . .

2009-01-30T12:09:00.000-08:00

Every aspect of human life including the way of earning is revolutionized by Internet. Now Internet is a great source of opportunities to earn decent additional income without requiring any investment. Jobs advertisements from corporate bodies, which were otherwise going to media like news papers, television channels, publications etc., is now given directly to famous websites to advertise on Internet.

Corporate bodies hire people to work Online. No matters where do you live in the world. They simply give you an identification number with user name and password, you will login to their website and will get the task depending upon your profession. You will be connected to internet and receiving some text, images, audio, video, etc. to process. Or you may receive some survey to answer questions or emails to read and comment on them. In Online Jobs you will work at your home.

Most of the website which provide jobs service are not free, they charge money to give jobs services. Keep on visiting USASM.blogspot.com, we will give you a rich treasure of Online job, without any huge investment learn and earn by yourself, we teach you the method, and you will become the part of world's famous community which is Google........................

Equities open lower, Sensex down 187 points

2008-12-05T11:57:00.000-08:00

Mumbai (IANS): Indian equities markets opened marginally lower on Friday and then slid into negative territory on weak global cues with a key index down 187 points some two hours into trading.

Two hours into trading, the 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was ruling at 9,042.61, down 187.14 points or 2.03 per cent from its previous close on Thursday at 9,229.75 points.

The Sensex opened some 25 points lower at 9,204.69 points, hit a high of 9,340.69 before slipping to its current value.

The broader-based 50-share S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), also showed a similar trend and was ruling at 2740.50, down 47.5 points or 1.70 per cent from its previous close Thursday at 2788.00 points.

The BSE midcap index was ruling at 2,909.65, down 13.15 points or 0.45 per cent from its previous close Thursday at 2,922.80 points.

The BSE smallcap index was, however, still in the green and was ruling at 3,333.27, up 1.47 points or 0.04 per cent from its previous close Thursday at 3,331.80 points.

Overnight U.S. markets closed in the red with a key index of the New York Stock Exchange finishing 3.21 per cent lower. The Nasdaq index closed 3.14 per cent lower than its previous close Wednesday.

Asian markets were mixed with the Nikkei, key index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange ruling 0.08 per cent lower but the Hang Seng, key index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was showing gains of 1.93 per cent.

The underlying sentiment is still very much negative and so despite the surge Thursday, markets are again in a bear grip, analysts said.

SOurce: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/006200812051213.htm

Global Stocks Slide On Jobs Data; Oil Slides

2008-12-05T11:53:00.000-08:00

Investors in Europe dumped stocks and dove into less risky fixed income securities, pushing a pan-European stock index down 4 percent.

U.S. and European stocks fell on Friday after steep losses in the U.S. labor market sent bond prices higher in Europe and pushed the price of crude below $41 a barrel as the outlook for the global economy darkened.
Investors in Europe dumped stocks and dove into less risky fixed income securities, pushing a pan-European stock index down 4 percent, as investors reeled from data showing 533,000 Americans lost jobs in November, the biggest drop in 34 years.

Oil prices slid more than 5 percent to a four-year low while the dollar climbed against European currencies and the yen rallied on another flight to quality in the face of a U.S. recession that looms as the deepest since 1981.

"Just when you thought that the U.S. economic outlook couldn't get any uglier, it goes ahead and does," said Meny Grauman, an economist at CIBC World Markets in Toronto.

Stocks sold off broadly as investors feared the job losses will cause consumers to cut back spending and sharply reduce corporate earnings.

The energy sector was the biggest casualty on both sides of the Atlantic. Exxon Mobil fell 3.8 percent and Chevron dropped 2.4 percent, the Nos 1 and 3 drags on the Dow. Total slumped 8.9 percent and BP 6.6 percent, the biggest drags on the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index.

Banks also were among the biggest drags in Europe, with BNP Paribas falling 7.5 percent and Credit Suisse dropping 5.5 percent.

"When you see such a shocking employment number, you realize the devastating effect that can have on household demand," said Henk Potts, equity strategist at Barclays Stockbrokers in London.

In early afternoon New York trade, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 88.01 points, or 1.05 percent, at 8,288.23. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was down 7.67 points, or 0.91 percent, at 837.55. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was down 7.36 points, or 0.51 percent, at 1,438.20.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index closed down 4 percent at 793.94 points, and has lost about half its value so far this year.

Euro zone government bond futures rose, pushing the 10-year cash yield below 3 percent and near Thursday's trough of 2.939 percent, the lowest in over 30 years.

The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent in November -- dramatic news that would normally touch off a flurry of safe-haven buying of debt.

But with 10-year euro zone and U.S. yields -- which move in the opposite direction to their prices -- near historic lows, analysts said the near term risk was for market momentum to run out of steam, as a fall in U.S. bonds would suggest.

Investors are reluctant to buy U.S. government debt with yields hovering off their the lowest level in over 50 years.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 11/32 in price to yield 2.59 percent. The 2-year U.S. Treasury note was off 4/32 to yield 0.87 percent.

"We're already at (yield) levels we've never seen before. It's just difficult to continue buying Treasuries at these prices," said Kim Rupert, managing director of global fixed income analysis at Action Economics in San Francisco.

November's job losses were the steepest since December 1974, when 602,000 jobs were shed, Labor Department data showed, and were much worse than forecast by analysts polled by Reuters who had predicted a reduction of 340,000 jobs.

The dollar rose against a basket of major currencies, with the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY> up 0.77 percent at 87.282. Against the yen, the dollar fell 0.05 percent to 92.12.

The euro fell 0.80 percent at $1.2668.

U.S. light sweet crude oil fell $1.96 to $41.71 a barrel.

Many dealers and analysts expect oil prices to soon test the psychologically important $40 level as evidence mounts of a significant decline in oil demand in developed economies.

Spot gold prices fell $15.15 to $750.50 an ounce.

Asian shares edged higher overnight, with the MSCI index of Asian shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> rising 0.2 percent, but trimmed gains to trade lower after the U.S. employment report. The Nikkei average <.N225> fell 0.1 percent.

Source: http://www.javno.com/en/economy/clanak.php?id=211595

Closing Stock Market Indices Outside The U.S.

2008-12-05T11:51:00.000-08:00

Here is how major stock markets outside the United States ended on Friday.

LONDON - Britain's top share index closed 2.7 percent lower, with energy stocks and miners the heaviest losers as the sharpest monthly jobs fall in the U.S. since 1974 highlighted the bleak demand outlook for commodities.

The FTSE 100 closed 114.24 points lower at 4,049.37. The index is down 238.64 points or 5.6 percent this week, and 37.3 percent this year.

EUROPE - European stocks slid more than 4 percent, as investors on both sides of the Atlantic reeled at grim U.S. unemployment data, and with oils and bank stocks leading the decline.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index closed down 3.96 percent at 793.94 points, dropping 68.13 points in the week.

FRANKFURT - The DAX index ended at 4381.47 points, down 182.76 or 4.00 percent on the day, and dropping 287.97 over the week.

PARIS - The CAC-40 index closed at 2988.01 points, down 173.15 or 5.48 percent, shedding 274.67 points since last week.

ZURICH - The Swiss market index closed at 5530.84 points, down 118.3 or 2.09 percent, dumping 285.76 points since Monday.

MILAN - The All Share Mibtel index closed at 14123 points, down 702 or 4.74 percent, losing 1,401 points in the week.

TOKYO - Japan's Nikkei average edged down 0.1 percent as Mizuho Financial and other banks fell on fears about the potential fallout if big U.S. automakers file for bankruptcy, while investors were cautious before key U.S. jobs data.

The Nikkei fell 7 percent, or 594.76 points, on the week and has lost some 48 percent on the year. It shed 6.73 points to close at 7,917.51.

HONG KONG - Hong Kong shares rose 2.5 percent, as Chinese property and financial stocks rallied on talk Beijing may further ease key interest rates and cut reserve requirements on bank deposits to spur the economy.

The Hang Seng Index closed up 336.31 points at 13,846.09. For the week, the index was down 0.3 percent, or 42.15 points.

SYDNEY - Australian shares fell 1.2 percent as sharp falls in oil and metals prices weighed down on commodity stocks such as BHP Billiton, but coal miner Felix Resources jumped on a possible takeover offer.

The S&P/ASX 200 index lost 42.5 points to close at 3,489.9, The index lost 6.8 percent, or 252.6 points, over the week, after logging its biggest weekly gain ever last week.

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's rand weakened against the dollar as negative U.S. jobs data raised risk aversion and local stocks also took hammering, shaken by weaker mining shares and lower global equities.

The All-share index fell 2.63 percent to 19,279.79 points, shedding 521.14 points on the day and a total of 1,929.70 over the week. The All Gold index closed at 1951.11 points, down 31.26 or 1.58 percent, and worse off by 40.72 points since last weekend. The Industrial index closed at 15387.33 points, down 323.64 or 2.06 percent, and 911.15 points down on the week.

Source: http://www.javno.com/en/economy/clanak.php?id=211579

For IRA Investors, a Stock-Market Alternative: High-Yielding Notes Secured by Real Estate

2008-11-19T11:48:00.000-08:00

DENVER, CO, Nov 19, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- Real estate investing in Individual Retirement Accounts will be the focus of a friendly, live Web event, open to all, as two Colorado companies collaborate to shed light on a safe and high-yielding alternative to the rollercoaster ride of financial markets.
The IRA-Real Estate Investing Webinar is set for Nov. 20 from 4-5 p.m. MST. Individual questions will be answered. Register in advance at www.newdirectionira.com or www.cmyatescapital.com.
Denver real estate entrepreneur Christopher Yates, president of CM Yates, Inc., will explain how to invest in notes secured by the deeds of trust of income properties throughout Denver. Credit partners in the firm's Private Lender program get an initial upfront bonus of 1 to 4 percent, followed by expected annual gains ranging from 12 to 15 percent. The minimum investment is $10,000.
Real estate represents a way for people to invest safely in their self-directed IRAs and diversify their holdings, said Bill Humphrey, principal officer at Entrust New Direction IRA. The Lafayette, Colo.-based firm will co-host and record the Nov. 20 Web event with Yates. An Entrust expert will outline a wide range of legally permissible IRA investing options that go beyond traditional stocks and bonds.
"It surprises a lot of people, but we have IRA clients who invest in all kinds of real estate including golf courses, motels, and marinas," said Humphrey. Also common are financial instruments secured by real estate such as those offered by CM Yates.
Entrust New Direction IRA is one of 30 affiliates of The Entrust Group, founded by tax expert and author Hubert Bromma. The firm assists clients in establishing self-directed IRAs and company-wide 401(k) plans. It provides education in investment alternatives but it does not sell specific investments or investment advice.
CM Yates, led by Christopher Yates, offers investments not only in high-yielding notes, but in individual residential properties. The company buys about 10 Denver properties per month. It specializes in acquiring foreclosure homes at steep discounts to prevailing market values. While some are offered for sale, most become part of the company's growing, incoming-producing portfolio.
Yates has been featured in national and international media. Personal Real Estate Investor magazine (November/December 2008 issue) praises his creative financing strategies in a feature titled "Assured Returns by the Numbers." A recent interview at MSNBC.com reports his views on the U.S. real estate market ( www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27518326). His expertise was sought and recently published by a prominent Russian real estate journal ( www.prodevelopment.ru/news/2321).
"Home values seem to have stabilized in certain parts of the country including Denver," said Yates. "But investing in individual properties is too tricky and time-consuming for most people. Our Private Lender program gives them a way to participate in the upside of an improving market with none of the hassles."
"That program offers exceptional out-of-the-box simplicity," said Humphrey, who has handled hundreds of real estate transactions in his Entrust office. Others are often much more complicated. To avoid losing the tax advantages of an IRA, investors must do a lot of things by the book. For example, a purchase offer must be submitted formally by the IRA, not personally by the account owner.
A self-directed IRA must be opened and administered properly by an IRS-approved custodian such as Entrust New Direction IRA. The company strives to simplify a process fraught with perilous legal and tax consequences, according to Humphrey. Like its Webinar co-sponsor, CM Yates, Inc., he said, Entrust aims ultimately to empower individual investors to succeed.
The IRA-Real Estate Investing Webinar is set for Nov. 20 from 4-5 p.m. MST. Individual questions will be answered. Register in advance at www.newdirectionIRA.com or www.cmyatescapital.com.
Disclaimer: This investment is not a security. Information provided herein is not for the purpose of soliciting a security under State or Federal regulations. This information is intended to provide alternatives to stock market investments to private investors, but it is not intended to be a solicitation of a security under SEC rules and definitions. This is intended to be a private borrowing transaction.
CONTACTS:

Bill Humphrey
Entrust New Direction IRA, Inc.
303-546-7930

Christopher Yates
CM Yates, Inc.
720-279-1260

SOURCE: CM Yates, Inc.
Copyright 2008 Market Wire, All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/For-IRA-Investors-a-Stock/story.aspx?guid=%7BC6B3B132-70EA-4102-B5E2-4089A6F42B00%7D

MARKET SNAPSHOT: U.S. Stocks Fall Steeply As Financial Sector Weighs

2008-11-19T11:46:00.000-08:00

U.S. stocks declined Wednesday after the biggest-ever drop in consumer prices and another gloomy housing report offered little cheer to investors already fretting about the fate of the Big Three automakers.

After climbing in and out of positive and negative turf, the major stock indexes fell decisively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) slid 210.43 points, or 2.5%, to 8,214.32, with 28 of its 30 components trading lower.

Shares of General Motors Corp. (GM) paced the blue chips' decline, down 17.5%.

The chief executives of GM, Ford Motor Co. (F) and Chrysler returned to Capitol Hill for a second day to make their case for the government extending a bridge loan to their ailing industry.

"If one or more of the auto manufacturers were allowed to fail, it would likely bring additional volatility to credit, equity and foreign-exchange markets," said Alex Meister, currency analyst at Wachovia Corp.

The S&P 500 (SPX) fell 28.99 points, or 3.4%, to 830.13, and the Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) dropped 50.88 points, or 3.4%, to 1,432.39.

Financial shares fronted the losses, with shares of some of the nation's top life insurers shedding value on worries about their capital conditions as well as the status of their applications for investment from the federal government. .

Rivals Lincoln National Corp. (LNC) and Hartford Financial Services (HIG) were both slammed, with Lincoln National off 34.5% and Hartford Financial off 28.6%.

Both insurers have applied to the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision to acquire individual S&Ls as a way of getting large capital infusions from the Treasury Department's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange topped 557 million, and for every stock on the rise, nine were declining. On the Nasdaq, nearly 390 million shares traded, and decliners topped advancers more than 5 to 1.

The dollar gained, with an index (DXY) comparing the greenback against other major currencies up to 87.38 from 87.114 in late Tuesday trade. .

Oil dropped as U.S. inventory supplies increased, with crude for December delivery falling 37 cents to $54.02 a barrel. .

In other trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures climbed, with the contract for December up $3.2 to $735.9 an ounce. .

Demand for gold coins and bars increased in recent months, even as gold futures fell far from record highs above $1,000 an ounce hit in March, according to a industry report. .

Data clouds

Earlier in the day, the Labor Department reported consumer prices dipped a record 1% in October, driven by an 8.6% drop in energy costs. .

"There's no relief in the beleaguered housing market," analysts at Action Economics said of the Commerce Department's estimate that new home construction fell to a record low in October.

And in a related report, the Mortgage Bankers Association said mortgage applications fell a seasonally adjusted 6.2% last week from the prior one, as lower interest rates on fixed-rate mortgages failed to stir prospective home buyers.

In comments early Wednesday, Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn said regulation is the best means of preventing another financial crisis.

At 2 p.m. EST, the Fed is slated to release the minutes from its last meeting at which the central bank cut rates by half a percentage point, with futures pricing in another cut of this size in December.

European stocks also fell, with banks getting hit for a third straight session.

In Asia, stocks closed mostly lower. .

On Tuesday, U.S. stocks ended higher after a run-up in the final hour of trade, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average striking its third advance in 10 sessions.

At Tuesday's close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 9.65% in November, according to a preliminary report from the Dow Jones Indexes. Year-to- date, the blue-chip index was down 36.49%.

Source: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djhighlights/200811191245DOWJONESDJONLINE000750.htm

Oil falls below $54 a barrel

2008-11-19T11:43:00.000-08:00

VIENNA, Austria (AP) — Oil prices slipped further Wednesday, dipping below $54 on fears of global economic weakness that have sent crude down more than 60 percent in four months.

But analysts suggested that prices might be bottoming out as they moved closer to the psychologically significant $50 mark.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery was down 77 cents at $53.62 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by the afternoon in Europe. The contract Tuesday fell 56 cents to settle at $54.39, the lowest since January 2007.

"Market sentiment is still bearish, but not as bearish as a week ago," said Clarence Chu, a trader with market maker Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore. "Volatility has come down and the market is consolidating a bit."

Stock markets have served for the past few months as a barometer of investor perceptions about the health of the global economy. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.8 percent Tuesday as Hewlett-Packard Co. said fourth quarter and 2009 results will exceed analyst expectations.

Most Asian stocks, however, fell Wednesday. Japan's benchmark Nikkei index fell 0.7 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 0.5 percent and the Korea Composite Stock Price Index slid 1.9 percent. European markets also opened lower.

Oil investors have already priced in a recession in developed countries and only evidence of an especially severe or prolonged slowdown may push prices down further, Chu said.

Prices have fallen 63 percent since reaching a record $147.27 a barrel in mid-July.

"I don't see oil falling below $50," Chu said. "It should be above $60 in a couple weeks."

Investors will be watching for signs of slowing U.S. demand in the weekly oil inventories report to be released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration.

The report is expected to show that oil stocks rose 1.2 million barrels last week, according to the average of estimates in a survey of analysts by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

The Platts survey also projects that gasoline inventories rose 700,000 million barrels and distillates increased 900,000 barrels last week.

Trader and analyst Stephen Schork noted that past report patterns reflected supply outstripping demand.

"Over the last six reports stocks have bounced back by 7 1/2 percent," he wrote in his Schork Report. "Meanwhile, year-on-year demand for total oil products fell for the 41st week (out of 45) this year, i.e. 10 out of every 11 weeks."

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is holding an informal meeting later this month ahead of an official meeting next month. OPEC President Chakib Khelil has signaled the group may announce production cuts at the December meeting, but some members, such as Iran, have called for earlier cuts.

"Expect crude to nudge near $50 with moves below sure to inspire strong statements and calls for an early meeting by the hawkish OPEC members," brokerage Kim Eng said in a report.

In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures were slipped 1.51 cents to $1.1217 a gallon. Heating oil was unchanged at $1.7579, a gallon while natural gas for December delivery rose 2.8 cents to $6.544 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, January Brent crude fell 56 cents to $51.28 on the ICE Futures exchange.

Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i5TtajgUpSm7KY5jf-lCJGHBB-tAD94I20M00

Suzuki to buy back GM's 3 percent stake for $230 million

2008-11-17T12:14:00.000-08:00

TOKYO, Nov 17, 2008 (Kyodo News International - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- SZKMF | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Suzuki Motor Corp. said Monday it has agreed to buy back General Motors Corp.'s 3.02 percent stake in the Japanese automaker for 22.37 billion yen ($230 million) as the struggling U.S. auto giant is seeking to raise cash.

With the sale, GM, which used to own shares in Isuzu Motors Ltd.

and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. in addition to Suzuki, will break all of its capital ties with Japanese automakers.

GM will sell the whole stake, equivalent to 16.41 million shares, on the stock market Tuesday and the Shizuoka Prefecture-based automaker will buy back all of the shares the same day, Suzuki said.

Suzuki's purchase, to be made through the Tokyo Stock Exchange's ToSTNeT-2 system for purchasing treasury stock, will be implemented at 1,363 yen per share, the closing quote for Suzuki stock on the TSE's First Section on Monday, it said.

Suzuki Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Osamu Suzuki said in a press release that the automaker decided to agree to GM's request because "this particular step to sell the shares it owns as a step toward strengthening its balance sheet is very understandable." Suzuki said he agreed in a telephone conversation with GM Chairman Rick Wagoner that the two automakers will continue a range of joint projects they have been implementing.

Suzuki said he and Wagoner confirmed "that all individual initiatives will be pursued as they are today." On Nov. 7, GM said in a statement that it had suffered a net loss of $2,542 million (250 billion yen) in the July-September quarter, attributing the poor performance to the impact of the "unprecedented economic and credit market turmoil." A Suzuki official said that "all individual initiatives" that the automaker's president referred to include joint development of hybrid vehicles and fuel cells as well as development of power trains.

Suzuki and GM have been cooperating under tie-up arrangements entered in 1981.

The Japanese automaker said the planned sale by GM of the Suzuki shares has been approved by the carmakers' respective boards.

Major U.S. automakers including GM and Ford Motor Co. have reported huge net losses, prompting President-elect Barack Obama to pledge to do all he can to turn around the ailing U.S. auto industry.

Obama, in his first media appearance in Chicago since the presidential election, said the auto industry's hardship "goes far beyond individual auto companies to the countless suppliers, small businesses and communities throughout our nation who depend on a vibrant American auto industry." Wagoner said in the Nov. 7 statement, "Consumer spending, which represents close to 70 percent of the U.S. economy, fell dramatically, and the abrupt closure of credit markets created a downward spiral in vehicle sales." U.S. congressional efforts to enact legislation to reinvigorate the automakers will shift to top gear in the coming months, industry watchers said.

To see more of Kyodo News International, go to http://www.kyodonews.com Copyright (c) 2008, Kyodo News International, Tokyo Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Source: http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2029693/

US Market Update

2008-11-17T12:03:00.000-08:00

US indices opened weaker this morning, weighed down by confirmed large job cuts at Citigroup, a gloomy outlook from the Philly Fed and soft Empire manufacturing data. Traders are fretting over the Philly Fed survey is particular, as it indicates a Q4 GDP figure of -2.9%, well below its prior view of +0.7%. The survey noted that the US recession began last April and was expected to last about 14 months. The dark outlook has kept the pressure on Treasury yields. The 10-year note future has rallied half a point sending the cash yield back below 3.7%. Front-month NYMEX crude traded up towards $59 after reports that a Saudi oil tanker was hijacked off Somalia, but has since drifted back into negative territory. Adding to the uncertainty this morning, Senate Democrats plan to introduce legislation today to direct part of the TARP to help prop up the Big Three automakers.

- Citigroup fulfilled expectations for big job cuts at its company-wide town hall meeting this morning, while rumors are circulating that the board is discussing a plan to break the group into several companies. Reports on Friday and over the weekend anticipating cuts of around 10,000 jobs, while just ahead of the meeting CNBC's Charlie Gasparino bid this figure up to around 50,000 jobs, or 14% of the banking giant's global workforce. In the event, CEO Pandit said that the bank's near-term headcount target is about 300K, down from 352K employees on Sept 30. Pandit reiterated the usual boilerplate, noting that "revenues are strong, the underlying business remains solid" and that Citi has a "very strong capital position." Rival Goldman Sachs's seven top executives, including the CEO, pledged to give up their bonuses for 2008. In the meantime, a Sanford Bernstein analyst lowers his FY08 EPS target for Goldman to $8.92 from $11.65. CIT launched its exchange offers for notes and equity units in connection with its application to become a bank holding company. Citgroup, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America are all trading down 5-6%.

- Retail powerhouses Lowe's and Target released their third-quarter results before the open. LOW came in ahead of earnings and revenue estimates, and guided earnings for the full year in line with consensus. Lowe's CEO expects pressure on the home improvement retailing sector to continue into 2009, although he believes that housing turnover seems to be bottoming. TGT met consensus EPS targets, missed revenue estimates by a hair and suspended its stock buyback program. The company's credit card profitability fell 83% to $35M v $202M y/y, due to a decline in overall portfolio performance, reduced investment in the portfolio, and a decrease in interest rates. LOW+9% is surging while TGT is well off its best levels in negative territory. In other equity news, price targets for smartphone rivals AAPL and RIMM were both cut at Barclays, while Merrill cut its FY09 and FY10 earnings estimates for AAPL on declining Mac and iPod sales growth. Las Vegas Sands said that it believes it has resolved the “substantial doubt about its ability to run as going concern” via its recent $2.1B capital raise.

- It appears that European governments are looking to aid the struggling auto manufacturing industry, including GM, after the White House stressed again that it opposes drawing funds from TARP for US automakers. A German government spokesperson said that Germany would do “everything in its power” to aid GM's European subsidiary Opel. The German state of Hesse raised its OPEL guarantee to €500M. Automakers with operations in the UK said they would ask the government for assistance. Back in the USA, the president of the UAW said the auto industry cannot survive at current sales levels and warned that the bankruptcy of one automaker could bring down others. Speaking of bankruptcy, the New York Times reported overnight that it believes foreign automakers would pick up the slack if a US car maker goes into bankruptcy, noting that if one or more of Detroit's Big Three declared Chapter 11 it would put a huge initial dent in American manufacturing but in time foreign car companies would pick up the slack by stepping up production at plants in the US. All this comes after Nikkei reported that it expects Japanese domestic car production to decline for the first time since 2003 and Toyota told a local Japanese paper that it is set to announce 2009 production cuts of around 7%.

- The greenback was weaker against the European pairs on a combination of recent- profit taking and higher crude prices. GBP/USD rose over 350+ pips as dealers noted good interest from far eastern names from the start of the European session. GBP/JPY is firmer by 400+ pips above 145.00. EUR/GBP surrendered its all-time highs of 0.8660 from last week to move back toward the 0.84 handle. The profit-taking theme was reinforced after ECB's hawk Weber noted that Euro Zone CPI provided leeway for monetary policy easing and added that he did not rule out further interest rate cuts. Other ECB members reiterated that view today, but noted the final decision would not be made until after the receipt of the new ECB staff projection figures. Commodity related currencies firmed up on higher energy prices.

Source: http://forexdistrict.com/node/4570

U.S. Stocks Rise on Rate Speculation; Exxon, Alcoa Shares Rally

2008-11-08T01:22:00.001-08:00

Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks rose for the first time in three days as investors speculated the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates after unemployment surged, General Motors Corp. warned it is running out of cash and pending home sales dropped.

Exxon Mobil Corp., the biggest oil company, climbed 6.3 percent and Alcoa Inc., the nation's largest aluminum producer, rallied 9.1 percent as traders bet the Fed will cut the benchmark rate to 0.5 percent at its meeting on Dec. 16. GM, the biggest automaker, lost 9.2 percent. U.S. stock indexes briefly pared gains in the final hour of trading after Barack Obama said there is no quick fix for the economy.

``It's definitely to the point where bad news is good news,'' said Robert Morgan, equity strategist for Clermont Wealth Strategies, which oversees $4 billion in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. ``Investors are starting to realize this can't go on forever. From a technical standpoint, stocks have been building a base for several weeks now.''

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 26.11 points, or 2.9 percent, to 930.99. The gauge trimmed its weekly decline to 3.9 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 248.02, or 2.9 percent, to 8,943.81 after losing almost 10 percent in the previous two days. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 2.4 percent to 1,647.4. Three stocks advanced for each that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Dow and S&P 500 recovered after the steepest two-day declines since 1987 wiped out more than half of the market's rebound from a five-year low on Oct. 27. The S&P 500 slumped 37 percent this year on concern almost $700 billion in credit losses and writedowns at financial firms worldwide will push the global economy into recession.

Rising Unemployment

The U.S. jobless rate climbed in October to 6.5 percent, the highest level since 1994, and payrolls dropped by 240,000 workers, signaling the economic slump inherited by Barack Obama will last well into his first year as president.

``I've seen estimates as high as a loss of 300,000, so anywhere between 200,000 and 300,000'' met projections, Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co in New York, said in a Bloomberg Television interview.

Futures on the Chicago Board of Trade showed an 95 percent chance the Fed will cut its 1 percent target rate for overnight lending between banks in half at its Dec. 16 meeting, compared with 55 percent odds a week ago.

Energy, Utility Gains

Further action is needed to boost the economy because there is no quick fix to restore growth, said Obama, the president elect. Obama said a stimulus package will ``be the first thing I get done'' in office if Congress doesn't act by year end.

``He is speaking practically,'' said Peter Kenny, a managing director for institutional sales at Knight Equity Markets in Jersey City, New Jersey. ``But the buildup around his personality is so great and the expectations are so unreasonable that his biggest issue is going to get people to understand that he not a superhero.''

Energy companies and utilities led the S&P 500's advance, gaining more than 4.8 percent. Oil, which climbed as much as 3.4 percent today, closed 0.4 percent higher at $61.04 a barrel in New York. It had fallen 13 percent in the previous two days.

Exxon added $4.39 to $73.95. Chevron Corp. rallied 4.8 percent to $73.46. Consol Energy Inc., the No. 3 U.S. coal producer, advanced 10 percent for the biggest gain among S&P 500 energy producers.

AES Corp. jumped 28 percent to $8.48, the most in the benchmark stock index. Merrill Lynch & Co. analysts said shares of the U.S. power producer are cheap and raised their rating to ``neutral'' from ``underperform.''

Alcoa, Nvidia Advance

Alcoa added 93 cents to $11.19, helping lead S&P 500 raw- materials producers to 3.6 percent gain.

Nvidia Corp. increased 14 percent to $8.72. The company reported third-quarter profit and revenue that beat analysts' estimates after job cuts and a new contract with Apple Inc. helped cushion the impact of the economic slowdown.

Fluor Corp. climbed 21 percent to $41.03, the steepest advance in at least eight years. The largest publicly traded U.S. engineering firm reported quarterly profit above the average analyst estimate as it won contracts for work on a solar panel plant in Singapore and refinery in Indiana.

GM sank 9.2 percent to $4.36. The largest U.S. automaker, seeking federal aid to avoid collapse, said it may not have enough cash to keep operating this year and will fall ``significantly short'' of the amount needed by the end of June unless the auto market improves or it raises more capital.

Recession Official

The leader of a National Bureau of Economic Research panel that dates economic cycles said there is now no doubt that a recession is under way following today's jobs report. Robert Hall, a Stanford University economist, said the committee is waiting to determine the exact start date of a contraction. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based bureau is the official arbiter of when U.S. expansions begin and end.

The U.S. economy shrank for the first time since 2001 a year ago and contracted again last quarter after the drop in housing prices froze credit markets globally. President George W. Bush authorized more than $1 trillion in spending to bail out banks.

Fewer Americans signed contracts to buy previously owned homes in September, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors today. The index of signed purchase agreements, or pending home resales, fell 4.6 percent, more than forecast, to 89.2, the industry group said in Washington.

`Priced In'

``A fair amount of the negativity from the economic backdrop has been priced in to the market,'' Michael James, managing director at Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles, said in a Bloomberg Television interview.

About $6.9 trillion has been erased from U.S. equity markets this year. Banks led the S&P 500's drop, losing 51 percent as a group, followed by commodities producers and computer companies.

Analysts expect full-year profits at companies in the S&P 500 to drop 8.5 percent, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Wells Fargo & Co. fell 2.5 percent to $29.50 as the biggest bank on the U.S. West Coast raised $11 billion in a stock sale to help pay for its purchase of Wachovia Corp. and signaled banks may be able to tap the public markets for cash.

Yahoo! Inc. lost 13 percent to $12.20 after Microsoft Corp. said it has no interest in buying the search engine operator.

Sprint Nextel Corp. declined 8.4 percent to $3.37. The wireless carrier, whose shares fell 74 percent this year, reported quarterly results below analysts' estimates as customer losses accelerated to the highest level since at least 2005.

The Russell 2000 Index of small U.S. companies rose 2 percent to 505.79. The MSCI World Index of 23 developed markets increased 1.3 percent to 937.47.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a2ty08BahcZQ&refer=home

Stocks Higher after Jobs, Inventory Data

2008-11-08T01:19:00.000-08:00

Investors weighed news that the U.S. economy lost 240,000 jobs and the unemployment rate jumped to 6.5% in October, and that wholesale inventories fell 0.1% in September .

US stocks moved solidly higher Friday as a weak jobs report failed to prevent a rebound from steep declines earlier in the week.

Some observers argue that Friday's release of the U.S. employment report for October, which showed nonfarm payrolls falling by a greater than expected 240,000 on the month, suggests the U.S. economy is headed toward a deep recession and will force the Federal Reserve to cut rates again.

Traders also eyed a report on September wholesale inventories, which fell 0.1%.

President-elect Barack Obama met with economic transition team members Friday morning and held a news conference.

Regarding the economic crisis, Obama said, "I do not underestimate the enormity of the task that lies ahead." He added: "Immediately after I become president I will confront this economic crisis head-on by taking all necessary steps to ease the credit crisis, help hardworking families, and restore growth and prosperity."

Obama, who takes office Jan. 20, made clear that "the United States has only one government and one president at a time."

European stocks were higher, with major indexes in London, Frankfurt, and Paris each posting gains. Asian markets finished mixed, with Tokyo stocks down 3.55%, Hong Kong up 3.29%, and Shanghai higher by 1.75%.

On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average finished higher by 248.02 points, or 2.85%, to 8,943.81. The broader S&P 500 index added 26.11 points, or 2.89%, to 930.99. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 38.7 points, or 2.41%, to 1,647.40.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 21 stocks were higher for every nine that declined. The ratio on the Nasdaq was 17-10 positive. Trading was slow, which "suggests Wall Street [is] not convinced the market has reached bottom," says S&P MarketScope.

Friday's gains followed two steep declines on Wednesday and Thursday. The Dow shed 4.85% Thursday after a 5.05% loss Wednesday. The broader S&P 500 index lost 5.03% Thursday following Wednesday's 5.27% decline. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 5.53% and 4.34% on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls plunged 240,000 in October. The headline figure was below market expectations for a 190,000 drop. However, Wednesday's ADP private payrolls report added downside risk. Moreover, this comes after a big downward net revision of -179,000 the two months prior (September was revised to -284,000 from -159,000, and August was revised to -127,000 from -73,000). The unemployment rate jumped to 6.5% in October from 6.1% in September, which is the highest since March 1994. Average hourly earnings rose 0.2%, the same as in September. The workweek held at 33.6 hours. Goods producing jobs were down 132,000, with construction down 49,000, and manufacturing down 90,000. Service providing jobs lost 108,000. Only health services, mining and the government posted gains.

U.S. wholesale sales fell 1.5% in September, after a revised 1.6% decline in August (-1.0% previously). Inventories dipped 0.1% after rising 0.6% in August (0.8% previously). Petroleum sales declined 3.6%; excluding petroleum, sales were still down 1.1%. Inventories excluding petroleum rose 0.1%. The inventory-sales ratio inched up to 1.12 from 1.10 in August; it was a lean 1.06 in June.

Atlanta Fed President Lockhart spoke on the U.S. economy Friday, warning of trouble ahead. "I foresee substantial weakness at least through the first half of 2009. This weakness will exacerbate the employment picture, he said. Market conditions may have eased recently, but it's too early to declare the financial crisis over, he said.

Reuters reported European leaders will propose a new global financial framework after the IMF warned the world's richest economies face their first year of contraction since World War II. South Korea lowered interest rates by 25 basis points, its third cut in a month, after a deep rate cut by Britain and one by the European Central Bank on Thursday. Central banks around the world have stopped worrying about inflation and are reducing borrowing costs to try to prevent the global financial crisis from turning into a deep downturn.

There was more troubling news from the U.S. auto sector Friday. General Motors (GM) reported a third quarter loss of $7.43 a share, with a $2.8 billion loss for the automotive unit and a $1.7 billion loss for GMAC. GM anticipates weakness through 2009 as the slowdown spreads around the globe, with liquidity also in jeopardy, draining cash at a rate which will approach the minimum to sustain the business even if preventative actions on its liquidity are implemented.

Ford Motor Co. (F) posted a deeper-than-expected $2.98 billion quarterly operating loss and told investors it would take aggressive actions to further cut costs as it faces a severe slump in demand. Weak demand for autos is being felt around the world. Ford said it depleted its cash by $7.7 billion -- almost 30% -- during the quarter as it had to pay costs related to production cuts and make upfront payments to Ford Credit in an effort to spur consumers to buy automobiles. Ford told investors that it would look to cut salary expenses by 10%, a move that follows a 15% cut earlier this year.

Dire problems in the auto sector are landing squarely in the lap of the President-elect, with remedies mulled from cash infusions from TARP and government stakeholding to outright bankruptcy filings and/or mergers, says Action Economics.

According to a newswire report, Microsoft (MSFT) dismissed speculation that it might still be interested in a takeover of Yahoo (YHOO). "We made an offer, we made another offer... We have moved on," Micfrosoft CEO Steve Balmer reportedly said.

Walt Disney Co. (DIS) posted lower-than-expected fiscal fourth quarter EPS of 43 cents, vs. 42 cents one year earlier (both excluding items), on a 6% revenue rise. The company noted the higher cost of labor and other items. Wall Street Street was looking for EPS of 49 cents.

Genworth Financial (GNW) reported third quarter net operating EPS of 51 cents, vs. 83 cents one year earlier, on a 25% total revenue decline. The company suspended its quarterly dividend. It also suspends 2008 earnings guidance. Genworth says it is evaluating several additional capital flexibility alternatives, including potential asset sales.

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/nov2008/pi2008117_295307.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_investing

Asian stock markets rebound from early lows

2008-11-08T01:18:00.000-08:00

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stock markets turned in a mixed performance Friday, but most recoiled from their lows despite a grim profit forecast from Toyota and sluggish U.S. economic data. European markets opened higher.

Many of Asia's bourses showed surprising resilience — notably in Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore — given the overnight drop on Wall Street, as lower-priced shares attracted buyers and lending markets showed more signs of mending.

"The expectation was to open much lower following the trouncing in the U.S.," said Benjamin Collett, head of hedge fund sales trading Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index, down over 3 percent early in the session, came back to end 3.3 percent higher at 14,243.43. Analysts pointed to an interest rate cut by leading bank HSBC Holdings Inc. — the result of recent softening in interbank rates amid persistent liquidity injections from central bankers — as a major catalyst.

South Korea's main stock index rebounded from a 4.9 percent fall to close 3.9 percent higher after the country's central bank cut interest rates by a quarter of a point — the third cut in less than a month — in a bid to boost an economy hammered by the global financial crisis.

The move followed interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank and the Bank of England overnight.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 stock average pared its early 7 percent loss to close down 316.14 points, or 3.6 percent, to 8,583. Investor sentiment took a hit after Japan's top automaker Toyota slashed its annual forecast to a third of what it was a year ago. Its shares plunged 9.2 percent.

Early in Europe, benchmarks in Germany, France and Britain were up 1 percent or more in early trading.

In New York on Thursday, Wall Street's stock indexes plunged more than 4 percent on widespread anxiety about the economy after computer gear maker Cisco Systems warned of easing demand and retailers reported weak sales for October. A jump in unemployment benefits aggravated concerns.

"We're seeing data every day that looks really bad," said Nicole Sze, Singapore-based investment analyst at Bank Julius Baer & Co., which manages about $300 billion in assets. "The question is, has all the bad news been factored in? That's what investors are asking themselves."

Markets were likely to see more volatility as along as bad news forced investors to readjust their expectations about the scope of a recession and its impact on company profits, analysts said.

Weakening prices for metals and oil pressured Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index, down 2.4 percent, as resource giants like BHP Billiton Ltd. slumped.

Singapore's index gained 1 percent, recovering from steep early losses trigged in part by worse-than-expected quarterly results from DBS Group Holdings Ltd. The Singapore-based bank, Southeast Asia's largest, also said it would cut some 900 jobs.

In Japan, Toyota Motor Corp. shares sank to 3,460 yen after the company on Thursday afternoon cut its net profit forecast for the fiscal year through March 2009 to 550 billion yen ($5.5 billion). That's half of its earlier projection of 1.25 trillion yen ($12.6 billion), and about a third of the previous year's profit of 1.72 trillion yen. If that projection holds, it would be the smallest annual profit in eight years.

Japan's leading automaker blamed a contracting U.S. auto market, strong yen and higher materials prices. Executive Vice President Mitsuo Kinoshita went so far as to call it "an unprecedented situation."

In Europe on Thursday, the Bank of England slashed its key interest rate by 1.5 percentage points to its lowest in more than 50 years in a dramatic bid to cushion its economy, while the European Central Bank, which sets rate for the 15-nation zone that uses the euro, settled for a more conservative half-point trim.

Overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 443.48, or 4.85 percent. The losses combined with another decline Wednesday represent the Dow's worst two-day percentage decline since the October 1987 crash.

U.S. stock index futures were up, suggesting Wall Street would rebound Friday morning. Dow futures were up 167, or 1.9 percent, to 8,868, while S&P futures were up 20.9, or 2.3 percent, to 925.5.

Oil prices rebounded modestly after plummeting overnight, with a barrel of light, sweet crude for December delivery up $1.03to $61.80 in Asian trade. The contract fell 7 percent to settle at $60.77 overnight.

In currencies, the dollar was trading at 97.34 yen from 97.30 late Thursday in New York. The euro rose to $1.2722 from $1.2681 the day before.

In Hong Kong, the interbank lending rate, known as Hibor, for three-month loans ratcheted down to 2.24 percent from 2.44.

Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h3kgMAkbLwyfxBdjzw8Pc4KZ7DhQD94A0J3O0

FACTBOX: President-elect Obama to face distressed economy

2008-11-08T01:17:00.000-08:00

(Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama will take office at a time when the U.S. economy is struggling, with many analysts warning of the potential for a deep, long recession.

The following is a look at recent economic data that underscore the economy's fragile condition:

* U.S. employers have cut a total 1.2 jobs million this year and the jobless rate hit a 14-1/2-year high of 6.5 percent in October 2008. In the August-October period alone, the economy shed 651,000 jobs, showing labor markets are crumbling faster and heightening the chances of a deep recession. A report on November 5 showed private-sector employers cut 157,000 jobs in October, the deepest in six years.

* U.S. gross domestic product shrank at a 0.3 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the sharpest contraction in seven years. A Reuters poll last month found that economists expect GDP to shrink for three straight quarters, which would be the longest period of contraction since 1974-75.

* The U.S. Treasury, which is ramping up government borrowing to fund efforts to rescue the financial system, said on Monday that a survey of 18 primary bond dealers showed a consensus for a $988 billion federal budget deficit for fiscal 2009, more than doubling the record $455 billion deficit in fiscal 2008, which ended September 30.

* U.S. stock markets tumbled in October. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index had its worst month since the October 1987 stock market crash, while the Dow Jones industrial average logged its biggest monthly drop in a decade.

* Mass layoffs -- involving 50 or more people -- hit their highest level in eight years in September.

* Consumer spending, which fuels two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, fell by 0.3 percent in September, the first drop in two years. U.S. consumer confidence in October suffered its steepest monthly drop on records dating to 1952.

* Existing home prices fell 9 percent from a year ago in September to the lowest level since April 2004. Prices of new homes were down 9.1 percent to their lowest since September 2004.

* U.S. industrial production tumbled by 2.8 percent in September, the biggest drop since December 1974. A report on Monday showed factory activity fell last month to its lowest level in 26 years. U.S. auto sales plunged 32 percent in October to a 25-year low.

* An index gauging activity in the service sector, which accounts for about 80 percent of U.S. output, fell sharply in October, into contractionary territory.

* About 85 percent of domestic banks tightened lending standards on commercial and industrial loans to large and middle-market firms over the past quarter, showing the credit crunch that set in a year ago is worsening.

* The Federal Reserve has cut benchmark interest rates to 1 percent from 5.25 percent in the last 13 months, and has pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into financial markets to try to get credit flowing again. So far, those efforts have had only limited success.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed2/idUSTRE4A673I20081107

Oil prices rise to US$70 mirrors as global stock markets strengthen, dollar

2008-11-05T10:19:00.000-08:00

Light, sweet crude for December delivery rose by almost six dollars to US$69.88 on the New York Mercantile Exchange after rising as high as US$71.77.
As the US Presidential Campaign and elections draw to a close, oil prices have risen to US$70 a barrel. This price surge reflects strengthening of stock markets globally and a weakening dollar. Commodities such as oil are used as a hedge against inflation and a weak dollar. Investors flood the crude futures market when the dollar weakens. A weak dollar also makes oil less expensive to buyers dealing in other currencies.
Outlook seems to be brighter in USA as the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 200 points despite a new Commerce Department report that factory orders fell more than estimated in one month - by 2.5% in September.
An extraordinary change in the way Americans use fuel has been witnessed over the past few months amid collapsing home prices, a shaky job market and gasoline priced about US$4/gallon. Recent dips in fuel prices have not managed to considerably lift buying as market enthusiasm has been lost amid macro economic fears. Analysts had believed that booming economies of India and China would pick up any slackening of demand if Western nations went into recession. That view has weakened in recent months, as the economic crisis in the United States spread across the globe.

source: http://www.plastemart.com/plasticnews_desc.asp?news_id=13488&P=P

warsaw stock market

2008-11-05T10:18:00.000-08:00

The Warsaw Stock Exchange welcomed with satisfaction the October statistics published by the Federation of European Stock Exchanges (FESE) which indicate that the WSE steadily improves its position in Central and Eastern Europe. The WSE is ahead of all other exchanges in CEE and SEE (Central and Eastern Europe and Southern and Eastern Europe) by capitalisation (value of listed companies).

source: http://www.mondovisione.com/index.cfm?section=news&action=detail&id=78626

Obama rides wind of change to historic US victory

2008-11-05T10:13:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Barack Obama rode a wave of voter discontent to an historic White House victory, promising change as the first black U.S. president but facing enormous challenges from a deep economic crisis and two lingering wars.

Obama led Democrats to a sweeping victory that expanded their majorities in both houses of Congress as Americans emphatically rejected Republican President George W. Bush's eight years of leadership.

Raucous street celebrations erupted across the country, but Obama will have little time to enjoy the victory. He was expected to start work on Wednesday, planning his formal takeover on Jan. 20 and assembling a team to tackle the financial crisis and other challenges.

Democrats gained at least five Senate seats and about 25 seats in the House of Representatives, giving them a commanding majority in Congress and strengthening Obama's hand. Four Senate seats remained undecided.

The son of a black father from Kenya and white mother from Kansas, Obama was born when black Americans were still battling segregationist policies in the South. His triumph over Republican rival John McCain on Tuesday is a milestone that could help the United States get beyond its long, brutal history of racism.

"It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, at this defining moment, change has come to America," Obama, 47, told some 240,000 ecstatic supporters gathered in Chicago's Grant Park.

Many world leaders welcomed Obama's victory and some hailed it as an opportunity to restore a tarnished U.S. image.

"Your election has raised enormous hope in France, in Europe and beyond," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said.

Newspaper headlines captured the momentous nature of the result. A New York Times banner headline said simply "OBAMA", while the Washington Post declared "Obama Makes History" and USA Today: "America makes history; Obama wins".

Initial market reaction was muted. Analysts said Obama's victory had been largely priced in and concerns about the global economy were paramount, leading major U.S. stock index futures lower. The dollar moved higher, recovering some of the previous session's heavy losses.

OBAMA FACES BIG PRESSURES

Obama won at least 349 Electoral College votes, based on state voting, far more than the 270 he needed. With 96 percent of the popular vote counted, he led McCain by 52 percent to 46 percent.

He will face intense pressure to deliver on his campaign promises. He has vowed to restore U.S. leadership in the world by working closely with foreign allies, to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq in the first 16 months of his term and to bolster U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan.

But his immediate task will be tackling the U.S. financial crisis, the worst since the Great Depression. Obama has proposed another stimulus package that could cost about $175 billion and include funding for infrastructure and another round of rebate checks.

World leaders will gather in Washington on Nov. 15 for a summit on the global financial meltdown. The White House has said it did not expect the president-elect to attend, but Obama has not yet stated his plans.

A first-term Illinois senator who will now be the 44th U.S. president, Obama said he would work to ease the country's sharp political divisions and listen to those who voted against him.

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there," he said in Chicago.

McCain, a 72-year-old Arizona senator and former Vietnam War prisoner, called Obama to congratulate him and praised his inspirational and precedent-shattering campaign.

"I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him but offering our next president our goodwill," McCain said.

ELATION IN THE STREETS

Blacks and whites celebrated together in front of the White House to mark Obama's win and Bush's imminent departure. Cars jammed downtown Washington streets, with drivers honking their horns and leaning out their windows to cheer.

Thousands more joined street celebrations in New York's Times Square and in cities and towns across the country.

"This is the most significant political event of my generation," said Brett Schneider, 23, who was in the crowd for Obama's victory speech in Chicago.

"This is a great night. This is an unbelievable night," said U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, who was brutally beaten by police in Selma, Alabama, during a civil rights march in the 1960s.

Lewis was at a celebration in Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the home church of Martin Luther King, who led the civil rights movement and was murdered in 1968.

Allied governments said they hoped for closer cooperation with Washington, while critics of the United States, ranging from officials in Russia and Iran to Islamist groups in the Middle East, called for changes.

"We hope that ... he adopts a just policy that restores to America its natural position of respect for humankind and democracy," said Mohamed Mahdi Akef, leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Middle East's largest Islamist groups.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev spoke of hopes for stronger U.S.-Russian relations, but at the same time vowed retaliation for a U.S missile-defense plan. (Additional reporting by Randall Mikkelsen and Ross Colvin) (Editing by Kristin Roberts and David Storey)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed7/idUSN05502158

Jabil Announces Quarterly Dividend

2008-10-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Oct 24, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) ----Jabil Circuit, Inc. (NYSE:JBL), a global electronic product solutions company, today announced that its Board of Directors has approved payment of a quarterly dividend to shareholders of record as of November 17, 2008. The dividend of $0.07 per share is payable on December 1, 2008.

The Company intends to continue to pay regular quarterly dividends; however the declaration and payment of future dividends are discretionary and will be subject to determination by the Board of Directors each quarter following its review of the Company's financial performance.

About Jabil

Jabil is an electronic product solutions company providing comprehensive electronics design, manufacturing and product management services to global electronics and technology companies. Jabil helps bring electronics products to the market faster and more cost effectively by providing complete product supply chain management around the world. With more than 75,000 employees and facilities in 20 countries, Jabil provides comprehensive, individualized-focused solutions to customers in a broad range of industries. Jabil common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol, "JBL". Further information is available on the company's website: jabil.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements, including those regarding the potential future issuance of dividends. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions involving risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: fluctuations in operating results and generation of cash flow; changes in technology; competition; anticipated growth for us and our industry that may not occur; managing rapid growth; managing any rapid declines in customer demand that may occur; our ability to successfully consummate acquisitions; managing the integration of businesses we acquire; risks associated with international sales and operations; retaining key personnel; our dependence on a limited number of customers; business and competitive factors generally affecting the electronic manufacturing services industry, our customers and our business; other factors that we may not have currently identified or quantified; and other risks, relevant factors and uncertainties identified in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August31, 2007, subsequent Reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K and our other securities filings. Jabil disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE: Jabil Circuit, Inc.

Link: http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/industrials/jabil-announces-quarterly-dividend-451977645/

U.S. Stocks Drop on Concern Over Fallout From Credit Crisis

2008-10-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks dropped, capping a five- week slide that dragged the Standard & Poor's 500 Index down 30 percent, as concern grew that the credit crisis has infected the broader economy.

Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. led declines in all 40 energy companies in the S&P 500 as oil tumbled to a 16-month low. General Motors Corp. slid 13 percent after Toyota Motor Corp., the world's second-largest automaker, reported its first sales decline in seven years. Losses were worse in overseas markets, with Europe's benchmark index sinking 4.7 percent and Asia's down 5.7 percent.

``It's a bear market on steroids,'' David King, a money manager at Putnam Investments, who helps oversee about $137 billion, told Bloomberg Television. ``It's very accelerated by the pace of financial markets today.''

The S&P 500 slid 34.35 points, or 3.8 percent, to 873.76 at 1:10 p.m. in New York, a level it first attained in June 1997. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 310.39 points, or 3.6 percent, to 8,380.86. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 46.74, or 2.9 percent, to 1,557.17. About 15 stocks fell for every two that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.

The global tumble in stocks sent the benchmark index for developed markets to the lowest level since June 2003. Yields on 30-year Treasuries dropped to a three-decade low as investors sought the safety of government debt. The yen climbed to a 13- year high against the dollar.

The S&P 500 has lost about 7 percent this week and the Dow average has dropped more than 5 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index is down more than 9 percent.

$10 Trillion Month

More than $10 trillion has been erased from the market value of equities so far this month, accounting for about one- third of the total value wiped off stocks this year. MSCI's index of developed and emerging stock markets plunged 48 percent in 2008 and is heading for its worst year on record as credit- related losses topped $660 billion in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

U.S. stock-index futures plunged by their daily limits in trading before the open of U.S. exchanges, with contracts on the Dow average expiring in December dropping 550 points and S&P futures tumbling 60 points.

``It's a pathetic moral victory, but the fact that we're not down 1,000 is telling me the market's sensing value,'' said John Lynch, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based chief market analyst at Evergreen Investments, which manages $245 billion.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index surged as much as 32 percent to 89.53, the highest in its 18-year history. The VIX measures the cost of using options as insurance against S&P 500 declines.

`Forced Selling'

Some investors speculated that today's declines were being exacerbated by hedge funds facing margin calls, or demands to repay borrowed money used to buy shares whose value has dropped.

``This must be forced selling, probably hedge funds,'' said Nick Sargen, chief officer at Fort Washington Investment Advisors, which oversees $30 billion in Cincinnati. ``A rational investor, and I emphasize rational, wouldn't be selling now.''

Exxon, the biggest U.S. oil company, declined $2.62 to $67.77. Chevron Corp., the second-largest, lost $4.06 to $62.71.

Crude oil lost 4.6 percent to $64.69 a barrel, while metals and crops also retreated. An S&P GSCI index of 24 raw materials has dropped more than 30 percent since September, poised for a record quarterly decline.

`Throwing Everything Out'

``It's the spillover of the banking crisis into real economies around the world,'' said Michael Mullaney, a Boston- based money manager at Fiduciary Trust Co., which oversees $10 billion. ``Everything's going down hard. Diversification is not working right now, that's what it amounts to. We're throwing everything out.''

GM, the biggest U.S. automaker, dropped 51 cents to $5.59 today and Ford, the second-largest, declined to $1.91.

U.S. auto sales this month may fall to their lowest rate in at least 25 years as tighter credit and falling home values cripple demand, according to Deutsche Bank AG.

GM reiterated today that bankruptcy is ``not an option'' for the company. Speculation regarding GM's financial stability is unfounded, spokesman Tony Cervone said in an interview.

Toyota slid 6.4 percent in Tokyo after it about 2.236 million vehicles worldwide in the three months ended Sept. 30, down 4.3 percent from 2.336 million a year earlier. GM will release its third-quarter sales figure on Oct. 29.

Volvo AB, the world's second-largest maker of heavy trucks, cut its industry growth outlook for this year, and PSA Peugeot Citroen, Europe's second-biggest carmaker, reduced its full-year targets.

Wide Rout

All of the 10 main industry groups in the S&P 500 fell at least 1.9 percent as only 47 of the index's companies advanced. The main benchmark for U.S. stocks is trading at the lowest since April 2003.

Intel Corp. fell as much as 7.9 percent as Samsung Electronics Co., Asia's biggest maker of chips, had its worst profit drop in more than three years. Apple Inc., the maker of iPhones and iPods, dropped $2.80 to $95.43.

Earnings at S&P 500 companies that have reported third- quarter results so far dropped by an average of 23 percent, trailing analysts' projections by 1.6 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Earnings Slump

S&P 500 profits declined from the year-earlier period in each of the past four quarters. For the fourth-quarter, analysts estimate a 19.2 percent increase. For fiscal 2009, they project growth of 15.2 percent, according to estimates gathered by Bloomberg.

General Electric Co., the economic bellwether whose products range from power-plant turbines to locomotives, dropped 6 percent to $17.67. The company said it plans to use the Federal Reserve's short-term funding facility when it starts next week.

American International Group Inc. declined 14 percent to $1.80. The insurer said it has used $90.3 billion of a U.S. government credit line since it was bailed out last month, an amount that exceeds the size of the original loan meant to save the company.

National City Corp. slumped 21 percent to $2.17. PNC Financial Services Group Inc., Pennsylvania's largest bank, plans to buy National City, Ohio's largest bank, for about $5.2 billion in stock with funds from the U.S. Treasury. PNC's offer of $2.23 a share is 19 percent less than National City's closing price yesterday.

Fifth Third Bancorp, Ohio's second-biggest bank, slid 15 percent to $9.66 after being downgraded to ``sell'' from ``neutral'' at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index tumbled 5 percent after the nation's economy shrank for the first time since 1992. South Korea's Kospi Index sank 11 percent as the country's economy grew at the slowest pace in four years. Russia's Micex Stock Exchange suspended trading until next week.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Stanton in New York at estanton@bloomberg.net

source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a2nMuz__R8Vo&refer=home

US STOCKS-Dow, S&P slip; Nasdaq climbs with Yahoo

2008-10-16T12:05:00.000-07:00

* Recession fears pressure Dow, S&P 500

* Economic data points to worsening in economy

* Yahoo rallies on Microsoft comments

* Dow off 0.4 pct, S&P off 0.9 pct, Nasdaq up 0.5 pct (Updates to early afternoon, changes byline)

By Leah Schnurr

NEW YORK, Oct 16 (Reuters) - The Dow and the S&P 500 slipped in a choppy session on Thursday, pressured by nervousness that the economy might be sliding into a recession.

But the Nasdaq pushed higher after Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said a Web search deal with Yahoo (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) makes economic sense, though the two sides are not in any discussions. For details, see [ID:nN16398342].

Shares of Yahoo shot up 10.3 percent to $12.96.

Worrying news on the economic front came from a report that showed an index of factory activity in the Mid-Atlantic region fell to an 18-year low this month, according to the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank.

The data fueled worries that even if recent moves to pump liquidity into financial markets begins to ease the credit crunch, recessionary fears remain.

"Even if the bailout works, I think the Street's figured out it's going to take time (and) it's going to get worse before it gets better," said Warren Simpson, managing director at Stephens Capital Management in Little Rock, Arkansas.

"I think everybody knows that we're going into a humdinger of a recession here," Simpson said.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI slipped 32.89 points, or 0.38 percent, to 8,545.02. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was down 7.97 points, or 0.88 percent, at 899.87. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC gained 8.26 points, or 0.51 percent, to 1,636.59.

Financial shares weighed, including Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which fell 7.2 percent after it reported its fourth straight quarterly loss due to loan losses and write-downs for complex and risky debt. The bank was down at $15.07.

Merrill Lynch (MER.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) , which is being bought by Bank of America (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), was down 3.1 percent at $17.67 after the securities firm posted a steeper-than-expected $7.5 billion third-quarter loss.

Oil companies were pulled down as U.S. crude futures fell below $70 a barrel for the first time since August 2007 after data showed larger-than-expected increases in inventories and weaker demand.

Chevron (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) lost 4.7 percent to $57.16. (Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/usMktRpt/idUSN1640581920081016?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

Oil at $70 still historically high: IEA

2008-10-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

By Muriel Boselli

PARIS (Reuters) - Crude oil prices remain high, despite a steady decline since the summer, and the oil market is still tight, the International Energy Agency's executive director told Reuters on Thursday.

"$70 a barrel is still historically high," Nobuo Tanaka said in an interview. "Price volatility shows the market is still tight," he said.

World crude prices have dropped more than 50 percent from a July peak above $147 a barrel, as fears of a global recession prompt waves of selling across stock markets and commodities.

Oil fell for a third straight session on Thursday to touch a new 13-month low around $71 a barrel.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said earlier it had brought forward an emergency meeting to discuss the impact of the global recession to October 24 from November 18.

But Tanaka said that it was preferable for the OPEC to maintain its current production levels.

"There is still robust demand from Russia, China and the Middle East," Tanaka said, adding there was evidence that demand in those countries was still growing.

However, demand in rich nations was falling and continued economic woes would likely push the IEA to cut its oil demand forecast in OECD countries in its next monthly oil report.

He also said it was vital for non-OECD countries to invest more in energy projects as the OPEC share in oil supplies was growing.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-Oil/idUSTRE49F6UE20081016

Dow dives 733 points as retail sales show steep drop

2008-10-16T11:56:00.000-07:00

September sales slumped a worse-than-feared 1.2%, raising recession concerns. The sell-off worsened even as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted at further interest rate cuts.
By Josh Friedman and Walter Hamilton, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
October 16, 2008
Remember that 936-point gain in the Dow Jones industrial average Monday? It's now mostly gone.

On Wednesday, fear that the U.S. and other nations are sliding into a severe recession trumped investor relief over the banking system bailout, sending the Dow down 733 points. The sell-off came after grim retail-sales data stoked worries that the economy might be contracting, threatening to crush corporate earnings.

The nearly 8% plunge pushed the Dow back below the 9,000 level, leaving only a 126-point gain in the index for the week. It also damped hopes that the government's plan to inject capital directly into the faltering banking system would brake the brutal stock selling on Wall Street, where the Dow suffered its worst week ever last week.

"The stock market had already priced in a recession, but now we're seeing fears of a deep, long-lasting recession or even a depression," said Gary Wedbush, head of capital markets at Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles.

There are already signs that the slumping economy is taking a bite out of corporate earnings. That could foretell further declines in the stock market, which is hypersensitive to corporate profit reports.

We're seeing an across-the-board collapse in earnings expectations," said Dirk van Dijk, director of research at Zacks Investment Research in Chicago.

In the last four weeks, he noted, analysts covering companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index have issued more than five downward earnings revisions for 2008 or 2009 for every upward revision. Analysts, who as of last Thursday had expected this year's overall profits to slide 2.7% from 2007, now predict a 4.1% drop.

"It's clear that we're in for a good old-fashioned, long-lasting, nasty recession that's going to put a lot of people out of work and inflict a lot of pain," Van Dijk said. "This is going to be like the mid-1970s or the early '80s -- not like the early '90s or 2000-2002."

Stocks began to slide after the government reported early in the day that retail sales slumped 1.2% in September -- far worse than the 0.7% decline that economists had expected.

The downswing accelerated as the session wore on despite Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke's hints during a luncheon speech to the Economic Club of New York that further interest rate cuts could be in the offing. Investors may have been focusing more on Bernanke's comment that even with the massive financial rescue plan launched by governments around the world, a "broader economic recovery will not happen right away."

In addition, the Fed's latest "beige book" snapshot of business conditions around the nation -- released shortly after Bernanke's speech -- showed the economy continued to lose traction in the early fall, reflecting mounting damage as financial and credit problems deepened. Economic activity weakened across all of the Fed's 12 regional districts.

Some analysts said more than economic concerns were driving down stocks. Don Hodges, who runs the Hodges mutual fund in Dallas, said that "forced liquidations" by fund managers were hurting the market even more than the public's reaction to the bad economic news.

Heavy redemptions from beleaguered investors at hedge funds and mutual funds, he said, have forced money managers to raise cash by dumping stocks that were already selling at depressed prices.

"It's like being in a movie house when someone hollers 'Fire!' " Hodges said. "Everyone is just trying to get out that door, and investment managers are having to sell stocks they don't want to."

The Dow closed at 8,577.91, down 733.08 points, or 7.9% -- its 12th-largest one-day percentage drop and the biggest since Oct. 26, 1987. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fared even worse, losing 90.17 points, or 9%, to 907.84. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index slumped 150.68 points, or 8.5%, to 1,628.33.

Losing stocks led winners 9 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was relatively moderate, however.

The Dow has risen only one day this month, and is down 39.4% from the all-time high of 14,164.53 that it hit last October. The Nasdaq is at a five-year low after falling below last week's nadir, and the Dow and S&P 500 are closing in on the same dismal milestone. Analysts said that if the Dow and S&P 500 pierce last week's lows, spooked investors could send the market on another downward spiral.

All 10 industry sectors of the S&P 500 were down for the day, led by energy stocks, which were hit by another decline in oil prices. Crude fell $4.09 to $74.54 a barrel. Oil giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron fell 14% and 12%, respectively.

Retail stocks were hit hard, with Macy's tumbling 17.5% and Target falling 10%.

Credit card firms also retreated on fears of reduced consumer spending. Visa lost 14% and American Express dropped 13%.

Profit warnings or dismal earnings reports walloped stocks across a range of industries, including Jones Apparel Group, which dived 30%; chip maker Linear Technology, which skidded 15%; brokerage Piper Jaffray, which sagged 20%; and Callaway Golf, which dropped 20%.

The yield on three-month loans between banks eased to 4.55%, from 4.64% on Tuesday, the fourth straight daily drop and an indication that the credit markets may be thawing a bit. However, the yield on the three-month Treasury bill fell, a sign that investors were still hoarding cash.

Wednesday's dive in New York was preceded by sell-offs in most major world markets. Stocks were down 5% in Hong Kong, 6.5% in Germany, 7.2% in Britain and 14.4% in Brazil.

Discover, Visa, MasterCard settle antitrust suit

2008-10-14T10:56:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Discover Financial Services Inc (DFS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the fourth-biggest U.S. credit card company, and card networks Visa Inc (V.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and MasterCard Inc (MA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) have settled an antitrust lawsuit, a court official and MasterCard said on Tuesday, sending Discover's shares up over 16 percent.

In 2004, Discover had filed a lawsuit against MasterCard and Visa seeking roughly $6 billion in damages, as it contended the card networks had harmed its business by preventing their member banks from issuing credit cards for Discover's network.

Visa and MasterCard had already agreed to settle a similar lawsuit with American Express Co (AXP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for about $3.9 billion.

A clerk for Judge Barbara Jones in U.S. District Court in Manhattan said she had no details other than that the parties had reached a settlement. Jury selection starting on Tuesday for a trial before Jones had been canceled.

"MasterCard Inc today confirmed that it has reached an agreement in principle to settle its outstanding litigation with Discover Financial Services Inc," said MasterCard's spokeswoman Sharon Gamsin. "The parties are working on settlement documentation; details of the terms of the settlement will follow."

Representatives for Visa and Discover could not immediately be reached for comment.

U.S. courts have ruled that efforts by Visa and MasterCard, the world's two biggest credit card companies, to restrict banks from working with rivals was anti-competitive and broke antitrust law.

Shares of Discover jumped 16.7 percent to $12.37, while Visa stock was down 2.9 percent to $57.14 and MasterCard was off 0.2 percent to $173.19 in late morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Grant McCool, additional reporting by Martha Graybow and Juan Lagorio; editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

source:. http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1432271920081014

Short-selling "vital" to markets - new WFE head

2008-10-14T10:53:00.000-07:00

MILAN, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Short-selling is a "vital" tool for markets and should not be demonised, the incoming chairman of the group representing the world's exchanges said on Tuesday.

"Short-selling is recognised as a viable and vital (instrument) of the market," William Brodsky, who is also chief executive of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), told a news conference.

Speaking after a two-day meeting of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), Brodksy cited panic and confusion sown by the global financial crisis for the recent bans on the short-selling of certain stocks in a number of countries.

"We must be very careful not to demonise short-selling," he said. "It is a very important part of a complicated market structure."

Investors short sell a company's shares by selling borrowed shares in the hope their price will fall. They then buy back those shares more cheaply to make a profit.

Bank and financial stocks have been among those that have suffered the most from short-selling in recent months and bans have been imposed to stop their free-fall in several countries.

In the United States, the ban on more than 950 companies with business in financial services expired last week.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nasdaq (NDAQ.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) markets are considering a temporary ban on short-selling a particular stock if it falls by more than a certain percentage, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters on Oct. 10.

The WFE's outgoing chairman, Massimo Capuano, head of Borsa Italiana, told the news conference he understood the need for the ban for exceptional situations.

Ahead of its meeting in Milan on Sunday, the WFE, whose members account for more than 97 percent of world stock market capitalization, issued a statement saying market trading must not be suspended as a way to cope with the crisis.

It later welcomed the coordinated effort by industrialised countries to recapitalise banks and implement other measures to safeguard the stability of the global financial system.

"The WFE wants to be a strong contributor in the solution for the crisis," Brodksy said.

(Reporting by Gilles Castonguay and Sabina Suzzi; Editing by Andrew Macdonald)

source:. http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFinancialServicesAndRealEstateNews/idUSLE35629120081014?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

Op-Classic, 1990: Gloom at the Stock Exchange

2008-10-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

By HENRY KAUFMAN
Published: October 11, 2008
Every week, the Opinion section presents an essay from The Times’s archive by a columnist or contributor that we hope sheds light on current news or provides a window on the past.

In 1990, in the wake of the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert and the failure of savings and loan associations, the economist Henry Kaufman foresaw an unhappy new era in which we would have to pay for Wall Street's recklessness.

February 23, 1990

Wall Street Heads For Darker Days

Henry Kaufman is president of Henry Kaufman & Company, money managers and financial consultants.

By Henry Kaufman

The demise of Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. has been portrayed as the end of an era, and in many ways it is. But it also marks the beginning of a new, darker era in which Wall Street and the nation will pay a heavy price for the excesses of the last decade.

Drexel Burnham's collapse is symptomatic of a deeper problem: the abuse of the American credit system. The consequences of this abuse now abound.

Hundreds of savings and loan associations will have to be closed down, costing taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. Many other financial institutions have been significantly weakened by poor-quality loans and investments. The credit quality of American corporations is at its lowest point since the Great Depression, despite seven years of economic expansion.

The abuse of the credit system began more than a decade ago, through a series of events and developments that loosened the structure of the financial system. That fostered a highly aggressive financial entrepreneurship that severely impaired the remaining code of prudent financial conduct.

The credit system suffered further from the Government's willingness to allow deregulation to proceed in the absence of adequate new safeguards, improved official financial supervision and stricter rules of financial conduct. Instead, from Main Street to Wall Street, excesses multiplied through the employment of novel financial techniques and liberalized credit standards that were unthinkable even two decades ago.

Hardly anyone in authority stopped to question the implications for the financial system. The facile rhetoric was that the ''marketplace'' would discipline the wrongdoers in our financial system.

But relying on the market to discipline financial institutions is generally unacceptable. It is too blunt a weapon for financial institutions, which are thinly capitalized and closely linked through myriads of transactions with other institutions.

Financial institutions are the holders and, therefore, the guardians of our savings and temporary funds, a unique public responsibility. Truly letting the marketplace discipline the financial system would mean acquiescing in an avalanche of potential failures - including many salvageable financial institutions and many of their customers.

The excesses of financial entrepreneurship have been abetted by a kind of ''hollowing out'' of the financial regulatory system. Because of piecemeal legislation, official supervision and regulation is highly fragmented. That has meant heavy and inefficient overlapping authority in some areas and enormous regulatory gaps in other areas.

Specifically, the two agencies with responsibility for the securities industry, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve Board, hold opposite - and probably irreconcilable - theories of financial regulation and supervision.

In a nutshell, the Fed believes that the holding-company parent and all affiliates of a bank or securities firm ought to be supervised on a consolidated basis. The S.E.C.'s legal authority is narrowly focused on the broker/ dealer operation of a securities firm.

Thus, under the terms of its mandate from the S.E.C., the New York Stock Exchange must concentrate its surveillance on the broker/dealer. It has little authority to go into other affiliates of the broker/dealer's parent, even if they are involved in financial activities.

This regulatory fragmentation, and the loopholes it provides, has not been lost on Wall Street. The leading securities houses have all sought to increase their financial leverage by forming elaborate holding companies. To this end, they use creative, though permissible, accounting techniques to hide from public view their gross asset and liability structures.

Thus, the end of Drexel Burnham does not mean the end of the unwinding of the financial recklessness of the past decade. Continued slow economic growth or a business recession will bring forth failures that are still hidden in the financial fabric.

For many firms in the securities industry, the franchise that they once had will not be recaptured. Wall Street's special role as adviser and investment banker to business and to other financial institutions is waning rapidly. The foundations of this role were based on trust. That trust has been shattered by conflicts of interest that were created when many securities firms rushed to participate in hostile takeovers and direct acquisitions of nonfinancial businesses.

In the wake of the Drexel failure, the task of rebuilding a strong financial base for our corporations and financial institutions will require tax inducements, the strengthening and centralization of official financial supervision and the establishment of standards to hold corporate directors accountable for objective evaluations of corporate management performance.

Under such a stiffened regulatory approach, Wall Street firms would probably be confronted with more stringent capital requirements and closer supervision of all the activities under their holding companies. With the loss of much of their franchise, the number and size of securities firms will eventually shrink. Many will become parts of banks or other financial institutions.

Already, there are voices here and there in the securities industry calling for an end to Glass-Steagall, the Depression-era law that required banking and securities to remain separate businesses. This may signal that a merger with a commercial bank might be a preferred way out of the troubled position that many Wall Street firms now face.

Outside Wall Street, few will mourn this outcome, especially in view of the excesses of the recent past. But however understandable that reaction may be, there will be an indirect economic consequence that we all will have to shoulder.

In the more concentrated U.S. financial structure of tomorrow, conflicts of interest will flourish. This will invite governmental intrusion, less innovation and, ultimately, a more inefficient allocation of capital.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/opinion/12opclassic.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2&oref=slogin

Market collapse has frozen presidential contest in place

2008-10-12T11:02:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON — America's economic crisis is shaping its presidential election in ways seldom — if ever — seen before. In past elections, candidates have run with one eye on employment and inflation figures. But this year, it is the tanking stock market that has the rapt attention not only of the candidates but also of the voters as well.

Pollsters have no clear way of calibrating the drop in the stock market with the political fortunes of Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain. "Honestly, there are no simple formulas," pollster John Zogby said. "There are so many variables — age, race, gender, trust and so on."

Still, the stock market decline over the last couple of weeks seems to have frozen the presidential contest in place, to the advantage of Obama. As Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of the Gallup Poll, put it in his most recent report, the economic crisis and its dramatic effect on the world's financial markets "to some degree drowns out the typical campaign back and forth that characterizes the presidential race at this point."

In Gallup's daily national tracking poll, there has been no change in the last 15 days, with Obama currently the choice of 51 percent of registered voters, and McCain trailing at 41 percent.

'Worried about money'
About half of those polled indicated that "they personally had worried about money the day before they were interviewed," Newport said, "underscoring the major impact the economy is having on Americans' lives and the degree to which their presidential choice may be filtered through the prism of economic angst."

Even so, Obama has pulled ahead in key battleground states, especially in the industrial Midwest in areas whose economic slide began long before the financial markets experienced their current difficulties. The McCain campaign, in fact, has all but written off Michigan, which has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, 8.9 percent, and trails Obama in Ohio, where the jobless rate is 7.4 percent, well above the national rate of 6.1 percent.

In the past, "electoral fortunes have been linked to job losses and inflation, not the stock market," said Darrell West, a senior political analyst at the Brookings Institution. "However, if big stock losses translate into big headlines every day, they will scare voters into believing the economy is headed into the tank." And that favors "the party not controlling the presidency," meaning Obama, West added.

As the stock market on Friday ended one of its worst weeks in history, McCain focused his attacks as much on Obama's character and questions about his association with former 1960s radical William Ayers as on his latest economic proposal — to suspend a requirement that investors age 70 1/2 begin to draw down their retirement accounts, which could force them to sell stocks at low prices.

But, as conservative columnist George F. Will wrote, the attacks about Ayers "have come just as the Obama campaign is benefiting from a mass mailing it is not paying for" — the envelopes containing third-quarter reports on their 401(k) retirement accounts "telling each household its portion of the nearly $2 trillion that Americans' accounts have recently shed."

Broad economic problems
"Obviously, the economic crisis has helped Obama considerably, but there is no obvious way to correlate the two," Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said in an interview. "I think Obama's gain is due to economic problems much broader than the stock market — gas, food, mortgages, inflation, stagflation."

It is the stock market, though, that is dominating the presidential campaign and the debates so far. It is likely to be the most talked about issue in the third and final presidential debate Wednesday in New York.

Unable to shift attention away from the economic meltdown, some conservatives are trying to make the case that the prospect of an Obama presidency is what is driving down the market — an argument that John Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College, says is "silly."

"The relationship works the other way," Pitney said in an interview. "Bad economic news is good political news for the party not holding the presidency. There is no precise formula. The most you can say is that the stock market plunge has made McCain even more of a longshot."

Consequently, in recent days, Obama has been playing it safe. He has taken to reading his speeches, reducing the chance of gaffes. He has stuck to mostly general criticisms of McCain's economic proposals. And he has not taken questions from traveling reporters in two weeks, a period in which the savings of millions of Americans have vanished and the global economy has come to teeter on the brink of collapse.

Source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6052528.html

No relief yet for local stocks from US crash

2008-10-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

LOCAL share prices will continue their dismal tone this week, as they continue to absorb developments in US financial market, analysts said.

"For [this] week, we expect the market to remain jittery as the ripple effects of the US financial turmoil are just starting to trickle into the global economy," DBP-Daiwa Securities, Inc. said.

The same sentiment is shared by Maria Arlysa E. Narciso of AB Capital Securities, Inc. who said there is still no assurance of market recovery in the near term for the Philippines as the local index will still continue its reliance on the reaction of the foreign markets in the coming days.

The Dow Jones industrial average on Friday has again lost 1.49% or 128 points to 8,451.19, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index shed 1.18% or 10.70 points to 899.22. The Nasdaq Composite index meanwhile managed to gain 0.27% or 4.39 points to 1,649.51.

"A relatively ’quiet’ opening is expected at the start of the week, as players digest Wall Street’s volatile swing last Friday. Most [investors] might check for prospective sell-offs from foreign houses, to gauge if this stance has already ebbed for the market’s blue-chip stocks," 2TradeAsia.com said.

The online brokerage firm said bargain lookers might bid for more time before they enter the market again, although the huge drop in the crude’s future on Friday might provide some incentive for them to gradually position on oversold shares.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery plunged to its 13-month low, losing as much as $9.50 to close at $77.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Nevertheless, 2TradeAsia.com said predicting an end to the "global portfolio liquidation" process will be the toughest challenge for investors, as anxieties to an acceptable solution to the global financial crisis persist.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index last week posted its largest drop since August of the Asian Financial Crisis, crashing for five consecutive days by 18.3% or 468 points to 2,097.80 week-on-week. No stock was spared from the sell-off.

All six subindices also suffered a double-digit drop week-on-week — industrial stocks tumbled by 20.72% to 2,379.19; property companies plummeted by 19.77% to 689.74; holding firms went down by 18.53% to 1,087.79; the services sector shed 15.79% to 1,270.42; financial stocks lost 15.17% to 546.52; and mining and oil companies slipped by 14.86% to 4,985.26.

Foreign investors last week were also seen unloading their stocks, posting a net foreign selling of P3.20 billion for the entire week. That has brought the year-to-date net foreign selling to P30.38 billion.

Despite the continuous downward spiral in the market and foreign investors’ exit from risky markets, DBP Daiwa Securities said the local market still has a long way to go before it dries up.

"We believe investors will become wary of the companies’ bottom line to contract in the coming months due to the global economic slowdown. Moreover, we feel that the market is slugging it out to maintain at current levels while investors remain bearish," DBP Daiwa Securities said.

The local brokerage firm, however, said that long-term investors could opt to start building up their portfolio while share prices are beaten down and are at discount levels.

This week, DBP-Daiwa Securities said the main index is seen to trade within the range of 2,200 to 1,800 levels.

Toronto stock exchange hit hard as energy stocks fall

2008-10-10T09:34:00.000-07:00

The Toronto stock exchange was down more than 300 points late Friday morning as markets around the world saw panicky investors engage in massive stock selloffs.

The main S&P/TSX composite index was down 364.44 points to 9,235.74, well off an earlier decline of almost 600 points.

The index was particularly hit hard by energy stocks, which have lost value as oil prices continue to retreat.

The November crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange pulled back $6.31 to US$80.28 a barrel Friday.

Meanwhile, New York's Dow Jones industrials were off 356.59 points to 8,222.6, following up on a 679-point retreat yesterday.

New York's Nasdaq composite index lost 55 points to 1,590.12 while the S&P 500 index lost 41.17 points to 868.75.

"Momentum is running against the market and you don't want to get hit by a train," Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in New York, told The Associated Press.

"This is now about market psychology. There's extreme fear and panic out there."

Overseas, Asian and European markets slumped sharply on Friday as investors there also continued to sell hard.

London's FTSE 100 index slumped 5.24 per cent while the German DAX was down 6.9 per cent and the Paris CAC-40 fell 9.8 per cent.

In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index in Japan lost 881.06 points, or 9.6 per cent, to 8,276.43 -- the lowest closing level since May 2003.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell more than 8 per cent while the Kospi index in South Korea lost 7.4 per cent. Shanghai's index fell 4.1 per cent and Singapore's Straits Times index lost 7 per cent.

In Australia, observers called the slump "Black Friday" after the key S&P/ASX200 dropped 8.34 per cent, or 360.2 points -- its sharpest one-day percentage loss ever.

The freefall was largely in response to the massive sell-off on Wall Street on Thursday and rising global economic uncertainty.

"Selling is unstoppable in New York and Tokyo," said Yutaka Miura, senior strategist at Shinko Securities Co. Ltd. in Tokyo told The Associated Press.

"Investors were gripped by fear."

Also Friday, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced that the government will buy $25 billion in mortgage-backed securities from Canadian banks in a bid to maintain the availability of credit.

With files from The Associated Press

Source: http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20081010/dollar_markets_081010/20081010/?hub=TorontoNewHome

Toronto stock exchange hit hard as energy stocks fall

2008-10-10T09:32:00.000-07:00

Updated: Fri Oct. 10 2008 12:04:37 PM

CTV.ca News Staff

The Toronto stock exchange was down more than 300 points late Friday morning as markets around the world saw panicky investors engage in massive stock selloffs.

The main S&P/TSX composite index was down 364.44 points to 9,235.74, well off an earlier decline of almost 600 points.

The index was particularly hit hard by energy stocks, which have lost value as oil prices continue to retreat.

The November crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange pulled back $6.31 to US$80.28 a barrel Friday.

Meanwhile, New York's Dow Jones industrials were off 356.59 points to 8,222.6, following up on a 679-point retreat yesterday.

New York's Nasdaq composite index lost 55 points to 1,590.12 while the S&P 500 index lost 41.17 points to 868.75.

"Momentum is running against the market and you don't want to get hit by a train," Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in New York, told The Associated Press.

"This is now about market psychology. There's extreme fear and panic out there."

Overseas, Asian and European markets slumped sharply on Friday as investors there also continued to sell hard.

London's FTSE 100 index slumped 5.24 per cent while the German DAX was down 6.9 per cent and the Paris CAC-40 fell 9.8 per cent.

In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index in Japan lost 881.06 points, or 9.6 per cent, to 8,276.43 -- the lowest closing level since May 2003.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell more than 8 per cent while the Kospi index in South Korea lost 7.4 per cent. Shanghai's index fell 4.1 per cent and Singapore's Straits Times index lost 7 per cent.

In Australia, observers called the slump "Black Friday" after the key S&P/ASX200 dropped 8.34 per cent, or 360.2 points -- its sharpest one-day percentage loss ever.

The freefall was largely in response to the massive sell-off on Wall Street on Thursday and rising global economic uncertainty.

"Selling is unstoppable in New York and Tokyo," said Yutaka Miura, senior strategist at Shinko Securities Co. Ltd. in Tokyo told The Associated Press.

"Investors were gripped by fear."

Also Friday, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced that the government will buy $25 billion in mortgage-backed securities from Canadian banks in a bid to maintain the availability of credit.

With files from The Associated Press

Source: http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20081010/dollar_markets_081010/20081010/?hub=TorontoNewHome

Brief rally fades after U.S. stocks plunge at open

2008-10-10T09:29:00.000-07:00

By Jeffrey Stinson and Paul Wiseman, USA TODAY
A brief rally in U.S. stocks faded as fast as it appeared Friday, with major indexes heading lower again.
Stocks opened sharply lower, then turned on a dime, briefly erasing their losses, as traders at the New York Stock Exchange cheered. But the joy didn't last long.

The Dow Jones industrial average, already down 2,271 points in seven sessions, fell almost 700 points Friday before buying sent the index briefly into positive territory as traders at the New York Stock exchange cheered.

But the joy didn't last long. The major indexes fluctuated sharply as computer-driven "buy" orders kicked in, but investors sold heavily as markets around the world panicked because credit markets remain mostly frozen, still posing a threat to the global economy.

The selling had taken the Dow below the 8,000 level and the Standard & Poor's 500 index below 900.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: United States | Washington | George W. Bush | Europe | Japan | Russia | Britain | Wall Street | Asia | General Motors | Moscow | New York Stock Exchange | Ukraine | Singapore | Austria | Seoul | Romania | Nikkei | Prime Minister Gordon Brown | Iceland | Times of London | T-bills | Dow Jones Wilshire | Composite Index | Concerns | BGC Partners | Howard Wheeldon
Following the Dow's modest retracement, the FTSE was trading 282.94 points, or 6.6%, lower at 4,030.86 in afternoon trading London time, while the DAX was down 401.92 points, or 8.2%, at 4,485.08. France's CAC-40 was 284.43 points, or 8.3%, lower at 3,158.27.

ON DEADLINE: Recordings of Treasury conference call offer 'rare inside look,'

Trading on exchanges in Austria, Iceland, Romania and Ukraine was halted when losses mounted quickly. Russian regulators ordered Moscow exchanges, where trading has been suspended for two days, not to open as scheduled.

Frozen credit markets and a loss of confidence in the world's financial system have caused the Dow Jones industrials to drop 21% in just 10 trading days. The blue chip index plunged 678 points Thursday, and is heading to its worst weekly point drop, and one of its biggest weekly percentage drops, since being created 112 years ago.

Going into Friday's session, losses for the year add up to a staggering $8.3 trillion, according to preliminary figures measured by the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Composite Index, which tracks 5,000 U.S.-based companies representing almost all stocks traded in the U.S.

President Bush is scheduled to make a statement Friday morning about the financial turmoil. But, words are unlikely to stave off another brutal day, with futures pointing to another volatile session.

Investors continue to shift money into safer investments, most of it going into the government bond market. The yield on the three-month Treasury bill slipped to 0.50% from 0.58% late Thursday. That suggests that demand for T-bills, regarded by investors as the safest assets around, remains high.

Longer-term Treasury yields were also in favor. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note fell to 3.73% from 3.76% late Thursday.

Sell-offs in Europe followed huge plunges on exchanges in the United States and across Asia. Stock markets plunged from Seoul to Singapore, and then across Europe, after an overnight sell-off in New York. A key Japan index swan-dived 9.6%.

In Europe, although bank stocks were leading the freefall, shares in nearly every sector of the economy were being sold off.

Driving the plunge: Concerns that a global financial crisis that has frozen lending between banks has now seeped across all sectors signaling a worldwide recession.

"We're not talking about fears of recession — recession is here," said Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Partners, a London brokerage house. "The question's now how deep, how protracted it's going to be."

The trigger, Wheeldon said, was word Thursday that the credit rating of General Motors (GM) could be cut.

That led a massive, 7.4% plunge on Wall Street's Dow Jones industrial average Thursday, with Asian and European investors quickly following suit as markets opened Friday.

"GM is a household name everywhere," Wheeldon said. "If GM is perceived to be in even worse trouble than it was, that's telling the markets this recession is going to be pretty awful."

Gloom from the markets here preceded a meeting by finance ministers and central bankers from the G-7 group of industrialized nations later today in Washington. They gather to try to address the global meltdown in the world's banking systems.

Many nations — including the United States, Britain and Russia — have jumped in in the last two weeks to bail out or prop up their major banks. Many nations haven't, however. And the efforts that have been taken haven't unfrozen lending between banks across the globe. Nor have they opened lending to industry and other businesses.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Friday called on other governments to follow Britain's lead and come to the rescue of their struggling banks. Britain this week offered banks a $848 billion bailout. That came on top of a $700 billion U.S. plan signed last week by Bush.

Writing in The Times of London, Brown called for "a global solution" to the financial crisis and said world leaders should gather to devise a plan to restructure financial markets."Because this is a global problem, it requires a global solution," he said.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index plummeted more than 9.6% and finished the week down 24%, twice what it lost during the week of the October 1987 stock market crash. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 7.2%, Seoul's Kospi index nearly 4%, Singapore's Straits Times index more than 8%.

"There's too much uncertainty in the market," said Sherman Chan, economist with Moodys Economy.com in Sydney, Australia. "Confidence is really weak."

The Asian markets took their lead from Wall Street, where to Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 7.3% Thursday to close below 9,000 for the first time in five years. The Dow has now dropped 2,271 points in the last seven trading days — worst 7-day performance ever.

"The U.S. and advanced economies' financial systems are now headed toward a near-term systemic financial meltdown...Day after day, stock markets are in free fall," New York University economist Nouriel Roubini wrote on his website. "We have a severe recession, a severe financial crisis and a severe banking crisis in advanced economies."

Morgan Stanley on Friday cut its estimate for Japan's economic growth this year by half to 0.4% and predicted that the Japanese economy would contract by 1% in 2009.

Stocks are collapsing despite a coordinated effort by central banks around the world to cut interest rates this week and flood markets with liquidity. "People have been speculating for weeks about a coordinated rate cut," Moodys Chan said. "Finally it comes, but too late."

The good news, Chan says: The rate cuts show that central bankers are finally committed to jump-starting stalled economies, instead of tightening credit to fight inflation. But panicked investors are looking for bold movies from policymakers in Europe and the United States, where the crisis began with a meltdown in the U.S. housing market, she said.

"It all goes back to the U.S. and Europe," Chan said. "If they slow, the rest of Asia will suffer... More needs to be done to kick-start the recovery process. We expect more turbulence."

In Japan, Kenji Akasaka, 69, president of a printing company, said he had never seen it this bad in the 40 years he has traded stocks. He said he invests mainly in blue-chips including Toyota and Nintendo — both of which have lost about half their value over the last year.

"I pray before I go to bed that the Dow will recover," said Akasaka, 69, as he scanned a monitor displaying the latest market levels. "I get sleepless, thinking about losses."

Stinson reported from London, Wiseman reported from Hong Kong. Contributing: wire reports

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/2008-10-10-stocks-friday_N.htm

Wall Street Braced For Turbulence

2008-10-07T11:22:00.000-07:00

Wall Street is braced for more turbulence as the financial world searches desperately for a way out of the economic meltdown.

Markets in New York plunged on another extraordinary and traumatic 24 hours on Monday.

The Dow Jones fell as much as 800 points before closing with a loss of 350.

The frantic selling was sparked by the growing realisation that the credit crisis is likely to take a heavy toll around the world.

Interactive Map: Credit crunch hits Europe

And there are increasing worries that the Bush administration's $700bn financial rescue plan might not be enough to stop the rot.

On Wall Street itself, tourists buttonhole traders for the latest news as they leave the New York Stock Exchange at the end of the day. There is little to encourage optimism.

Few of those traders speak openly to the media crowded around Wall Street these days. One told me: "We just don't know where it's going to end."

A poll has revealed that nearly six out of 10 Americans believe another economic depression is likely.

Seth Glickenhaus believes a repeat of the 1930s 'Depression' is unlikely. He should know - he was working on Wall Street during the crash of 1929.

Now 94 years old, he is still working as chief investment officer for his family firm.

He said: "You have one conspicuous difference between this and the 1929 break.

"Then the president and the treasury secretary believed it wasn't the role of the government to get involved."

The alarm bells continue to ring in the US. One of the country's most familiar television financial broadcasters has told investors they should get their money out of the stock market.

Speaking on a network daytime show, Jim Cramer said: "Whatever money you may need for the next five years, please take it out of the stock market right now, this week. I do not believe that you should risk those assets in the stock market right now."

US officials have called for a "forceful and co-ordinated" global reaction to the crisis. It is seen a response to the fragmented approach in Europe.

Source:: . http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/Credit-Crunch-Wall-Street-Braces-For-More-Turbulent-Trading/Article/200810115114607?lpos=Business_Third_Home_Page_Feature_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15114607_Credit_Crunch%3A_Wall_Street_Braces_For_More_Turbulent_Trading

World stock markets fall as U.S. ills spread

2008-10-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

By David J. Lynch, USA TODAY
No place to run. No place to hide.

As the sun moved west Monday, it shone on one market bloodbath after another. First Tokyo, then Hong Kong and Bombay. Later, Moscow, Frankfurt, Paris and London joined the casualty list. Market indexes in every important capital ran red.

"It's a scary time in markets worldwide. This is turning into a crisis of confidence around the world," said Eswar Prasad, former chief of the International Monetary Fund's financial studies division.

If the rest of the world once hoped it might decouple from the sputtering U.S. economic engine, those hopes have been shredded. Monday's comprehensive market rout was both a verdict of "not good enough" on the United States $700 billion financial rescue plan and a stark expression of the investor fear that is spreading without regard to borders.

"This is global, and this is the downside of globalization," said Stephen Wood, senior portfolio strategist with Russell Investments.

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/2008-10-06-world-markets-us-link_N.htm

Stock markets soar on signs of US financial bailout

2008-09-25T23:59:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (AFP) — Stock markets surged globally Thursday on signs a deal was near on the US government's massive bailout plan for ailing financial firms.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 196.89 points (1.82 percent) to close at 11,022.06 and the Nasdaq composite jumped 30.89 points (1.43 percent) to 2,186.57.

The Standard & Poor's broad-market index increased 23.31 points (1.97 percent) to 1,209.18.

Investors cheered news that reluctant US lawmakers were getting close to compromise on the Treasury Department's 700-billion-dollar plan to buy toxic mortgage-related assets from financial firms at the heart of the global credit crisis.

US President George W. Bush, in a televised address late Wednesday, appealed to Congress to pass the plan quickly to avert economic collapse.

"My hope is that we can reach an agreement very shortly," the president said Thursday as he met with top lawmakers as well as White House rivals John McCain and Barack Obama in his cabinet room.

"We are in a serious economic crisis in the country, if we don't pass a piece of legislation," said the president.

"We've reached a fundamental agreement on a set of principles," Senator Christopher Dodd told reporters in Congress, after nearly three hours of talks among Democratic and Republican leaders on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's rescue package.

Fred Dickson at DA Davidson & Co. said the plan could provide a major boost to the economic and market outlook.

"Quick implementation of the rescue program will probably trigger a significant positive reaction in the stock market," he said.

"However, investors will probably quickly settle down and realize we still have to deal with a very slow growth economy ... We believe this will be a very slow process which may extend for two to three years or more," he said.

In Paris, analysts at brokers Aurel wrote that while upbeat comment from officials and lawmakers in Washington had bolstered sentiment, "uncertainties on details of the Paulson plan remain strong, notably on just how the toxic assets will be bought."

Earlier gains on US markets lifted spirits in Europe, where London's FTSE index rose 1.99 percent to close at 5,197.02.

In Paris, the CAC 40 advanced 2.73 percent to 4,226.81 while in Frankfurt the Dax added 1.99 percent at 6,173.03.

In South America, Brazil's Ibovespa leapt 3.98 percent, Argentina's La Bolsa de Buenos Aires jumped 3.15 percent. In Mexico City La Bolsa de Valores de Mexico climbed 2.81 percent.

Canada's S&P/TSX index inched up 0.26 percent.

Asian markets earlier had closed mostly lower, when the prospects for the bailout plan appeared less positive.

Tokyo closed down 0.90 percent Thursday, Hong Kong slid 0.20 percent, Sydney shed 1.0 percent and Taipei lost 1.17. Seoul managed a gain of 0.38 percent and Bangkok won 0.11 percent.

Chinese shares shot up 3.64 percent, led by securities firms amid hopes that Beijing would introduce margin trading soon, dealers said.

Source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5idnO1RibSG6fHduGkak7Ayncd8QA

Ex-Chief of A.I.G. May Sell Some Shares, Filing Says

2008-09-25T23:57:00.000-07:00

Maurice R. Greenberg, the former chief executive of the American International Group insurance company, may “materially decrease” his holdings in the company, whose shares have declined more than 90 percent this year, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday.

Mr. Greenberg plans to sell shares “for liquidity,” according to the filing, which did not say how much stock might be sold.

Mr. Greenberg and companies he runs owned about 11 percent of A.I.G. before it averted collapse last week by agreeing to a federal takeover.

Mr. Greenberg, 83, known as Hank, was among the investors who met Monday to discuss raising money to reduce federal involvement with the insurer. A.I.G. said the next day that it had signed a deal for an $85 billion credit line, reducing the options left for shareholders.

A.I.G., which is based in New York, dropped 29 cents, or 8.8 percent, to close at $3.02 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.

“If I see my biggest advocate, and the guy with the most access out of shareholders, is essentially throwing in the towel, that’s not a good sign,” said Robert Bolton, managing director for trading at Mendon Capital Advisors.

“People are reading the smoke signals, and if he’s willing to take three bucks, maybe we should take three bucks” a share.

Mr. Greenberg still supports efforts to reduce the government dilution of A.I.G. stakeholders, said his lawyer, David Boies.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/business/26aig.html?ref=business

Stocks rise on bailout hopes; credit remains tight

2008-09-25T23:55:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (AP) — Financial markets grew more upbeat Thursday as political leaders said they struck an agreement in principle on a massive spending plan to revive the crippled financial system. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped about 200 points on optimism about the bailout, and demand for safe-haven assets remained high but eased slightly as some investors placed bets that a deal would help unclog credit markets.

Stock market investors got a lift when key lawmakers said they would present the $700 billion plan to the Bush administration and hoped for a vote by both houses of Congress within days. Still, some resistance remained from House Republicans as the closing bell on Wall Street rang ahead of a meeting of congressional leaders at the White House.

And after the close of trading, it was clear that plan could still face some obstacles. Stock futures weakened, signaling a lower open Friday, after Sen. Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the Banking Committee, left the White House meeting and said the announced deal "is, obviously, no agreement."

Trading that has been difficult for more than a week is likely to remain so in the coming days.

"The market's going to experience volatility as the terms become known," said Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist at Channel Capital Research.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged lawmakers Tuesday and Wednesday to quickly sign off on the plan, which they said would help prop up the economy by removing billions of dollars in risky mortgage-related assets from financial firms' balance sheets. Fear of heavy losses on these assets has made banks hesitant to extend credit, which in turn threatens the overall economy by making it harder and more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow money.

President Bush highlighted what he sees as the urgency in a national address Wednesday night. Major elements are still being worked out, including how to phase in the mammoth cost of the package and whether the government will get an ownership stake in troubled companies.

Alan Lancz, director at investment research group LanczGlobal, said stock market investors were encouraged that the rescue looked more likely than it had earlier in the week. He said the move could help unclog credit markets by allowing banks and investors to place values on assets tied to mortgages.

"How do you establish a floor? Well, this is the bazooka. This is how you establish a floor," he said of the plan's goal of buying up the toxic debt.

Still, some investors had their doubts. Demand eased but remained high for the 3-month Treasury bill, considered the safest short-term investment. Its yield rose to 0.72 percent from 0.49 percent late Wednesday. That means investors are still willing to earn the slimmest of returns in exchange for a safe place to put their money. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.84 percent from 3.81 late Wednesday.

The Dow rose 196.89, or 1.82 percent, to 11,022.06. The gain helped erase some of the losses from heavy selling earlier in the week, though the blue chips still remain down by more than 360 points, or 3.2 percent.

Broader stock indicators also rose Thursday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 23.31, or 1.97 percent, to 1,209.18 and the Nasdaq composite index rose 30.89, or 1.43 percent, to 2,186.57.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by nearly 3 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 5.73 billion shares, compared with 4.66 billion traded Wednesday.

Roberts noted that the market's back-and-forth moves of late might be unnerving for investors but ultimately can leave stocks with little to show for all the volatility.

"Most of this is just oscillating around a straight line," he said, noting that last week's huge daily moves, which also included triple-digit moves in the Dow, left stocks largely unchanged for the week.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies Thursday, while gold prices fell.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery rose $2.29 to settle at $108.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Meanwhile, disappointing readings on employment, housing and demand for big-ticket manufactured goods, as well as a sobering forecast from General Electric Co., underscored the difficulties facing the economy.

The Labor Department said the number of people seeking unemployment benefits increased by 32,000 to a seasonally adjusted 493,000 last week — the highest level in seven years and well above analysts' expectations of 445,000. Hurricanes Ike and Gustav added about 50,000 new claims in Louisiana and Texas, the department said.

The Commerce Department said sales of new homes fell sharply in August to the slowest pace in 17 years. The average sales price also fell by the largest amount on record. New homes sales dropped by 11.5 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 460,000 units, the slowest sales pace since January 1991.

The department also said orders for expensive manufactured goods sank in August by the largest amount in seven months as demand for both airplanes and cars sank. Durable goods orders fell by 4.5 percent last month, far worse than the 1.6 percent decline that economists expected and the biggest drop since a 4.7 percent fall in January.

GE lowered its forecast for third-quarter and full-year earnings, citing unprecedented weakness and volatility in the financial services markets. The stock, which had declined in the early going, finished up $1.09, or 4.4 percent, to $25.68 alongside the gains in the broader market.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 7.97, or 1.14 percent, to 705.74.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.90 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.99 percent, Germany's DAX index added 1.99 percent, and France's CAC-40 jumped 2.73 percent.

On the Net:
New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com
Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gHs5OM3gFG_DytQQZFbWfgPT08MAD93E0M902

Technical Analysis: Another Sign of a Bottom

2008-09-21T13:01:00.000-07:00

We've had back-to-back 80% upside days on the NYSE, which could well mark a major bottom, per the award-winning work of Paul Desmond of Lowry Research.

It's worth noting that the 2002 bottom formed the same way — except that this one could turn out to be stronger because it was preceded by a half-dozen 90% downside days, the most since 1974.

Coming as it does off a very important support level, the longer-term implications for the economy are better than they might otherwise be.

So where from here? We've rallied 1,000 points in two days on the Dow (first chart below), so some manner of pause or pullback seems almost a given here. 11,250-11,282 is first support; much below that and we could fill today's gap at 11,019. To the upside, clearing 11,750-11,867 is essential to get back above the 2000 peak and to break the pattern of lower highs. 11,483-11,550 is first resistance.

The S&P (second chart) faces resistance at 1265, 1280, 1304 and 1313, and first support is 1233-1237.

The Nasdaq (third chart) faces resistance at 2313, 2347-2450 and 2386, and support is 2239.

Paul Shread is a Chartered Market Technician (CMT) and member of the Market Technicians Association.

Source: http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3772916/Technical+Analysis+Another+Sign+of+a+Bottom.htm

Pride International's shares rise on analyst note

2008-09-14T04:38:00.000-07:00

DENVER -
Pride International Inc.'s shares rose Friday after an analyst initiated coverage of the contract drilling services provider, citing strong global demand and ongoing potential for mergers and acquisitions.

Citi Investment Research analyst Robin Shoemaker put a "Hold" rating on Houston-based Pride International, which sells contract drilling and related services to oil and gas companies worldwide.

On Thursday, Pride International announced a two-year contract with OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes SA for a second-generation semi-submersible rig that will begin work next summer off the coast of Brazil. The deal is expected to generate $244 million in revenue, excluding amounts for mobilization, demobilization and client reimbursables.

In a research note, Shoemaker noted there has been an increase in offshore rig construction that will boost the worldwide jack-up fleet by 20 percent and the floater fleet by roughly 50 percent by the end of 2012.

"We share growing concerns that a jack-up oversupply could impact day rates by late 2009, but we expect deepwater market conditions to tighten further and deepwater day rates to rise," Shoemaker wrote in a research note published Friday.

The analyst also noted that the tightening of the global credit markets has not slowed the pace of mergers and acquisitions in the sector.

"The sharp drop in the public market values of the offshore drilling contractors since June could lead to more M&A deals soon," Shoemaker said.

Shares of Pride International rose $1.67, or 4.9 percent, to close at $35.53 Friday. In the past year, the stock price has ranged from $28.35 to $48.86.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Source: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/09/12/ap5419355.html

British Pound Ends The Month 1600 Points Lower

2008-08-31T04:39:00.000-07:00

Written by Antonio Sousa, Chief Strategist and John Kicklighter, Currency Strategist
What a day, week and month for the British pound. For Friday’s close, GBPUSD ended with a fresh 13-month low. On the week, the pair dropped below a major 38.2 percent retracement of a 7-year trend. But, to really get the feeling for the health of the currency, a chart of the 1600-point plunge through August really reflects the position of the sterling. Is this a reasonable decline? Has it reached a point of exhaustion?

• Dollar Benefits With An Outlook Just Better Than Its Peers
• Euro Ends The Week With Another Reason For The ECB To Consider Cuts
• British Pound Ends The Month 1600 Points Lower
• Rate Decisions And Oil Prices Promise A Volatile Week For The Comm Bloc
• Japanese Yen Fights The Dollar Trend

Dollar Benefits With An Outlook Just Better Than Its Peers
The U.S. dollar was relatively strong on Friday during a very volatile session where most traders decided to take profits ahead of the Labor Day holiday. To some extent, a rapid weakening of economic growth outside the United States continues to benefit the U.S. dollar against higher yielding currencies like the Australian dollar and against commodity currencies like the Canadian dollar. Indeed, the rapid deterioration of the Australian economy has prompted many investors to exit the so called carry trades and with the world economy slowing down is reasonable to think that the demand for Australia’s main commodities will also begin to dry up. Yet, although the U.S. economy looks in better shape than most of the world’s largest economies, one cannot say that everything goes well. In fact, consumer spending which accounts for more than two thirds of the U.S. economy, grew only 0.2 percent in July from 0.6 percent in June, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. This number comes without surprising since yesterday the U.S. Labor Department said that 425,000 people filed initial claims for unemployment during the previous week and its becoming clear that Americans continue to worry more about job security and falling house prices than about the need for items like automobiles or furniture. Nonetheless, the recent sell off in commodities continues to alleviate some downward pressure in the US economy. For instance, the National Association of Purchasing Management in Chicago said today that its index of business activity advanced in August to 57.9 from 50.8 in July. Moreover, the University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment was at 63 this month, from 61.2 in July. Looking ahead, there is a 90% change the Federal Reserve will keep rates unchanged during its next monetary policy meeting, according to Fed Funds futures. However, the U.S. dollar is likely to rise further on speculation that other central banks could have to cut interest rates to prevent their country’s economies from falling into a recession.

Euro Ends The Week With Another Reason For The ECB To Consider Cuts
Though it is highly unlikely to happen during their meeting next week, the European Central Bank will move to rate cuts some time in the not-so-distant future. Though overnight index swaps are suggesting there is only one quarter point cut due over the next 12 months, the future of economic activity could easily make speculation for easing jump as long as recent trends hold up. Friday saw the release of the Euro Zone unemployment rate for July – one of the last bastions for a positive outlook; but ultimately doomed to follow broader economic trends. For a more realistic look into the health of the euro, this past week we had: a 2Q GDP reading from Germany confirming the beginning of a recession; business confidence at a 3 year low; consumer optimism at 5 year lows; and even German inflation that has pulled back from 12 year highs to 3.1 percent. Today we saw that the EZ’s CPI estimate for August finally pulled back from a 16 year high to 3.8 percent. Realistically, this figure is still miles beyond the ECB’s target rate; but they have already started to shift away from an inflation only outlook even when price growth was still pushing new highs. Now we look ahead to next week’s rate decision. The policy board is widely expected to hold the benchmark steady though there is always the public address to measure the shades of gray. Though the shifts in Trichet’s commentary is subtle, you can bet the market will pick up on each one and will be more than ready to base speculation on those nuances.

British Pound Ends The Month 1600 Points Lower
What a day, week and month for the British pound. For Friday’s close, GBPUSD ended with a fresh 13-month low. On the week, the pair dropped below a major 38.2 percent retracement of a 7-year trend. But, to really get the feeling for the health of the currency, a chart of the 1600-point plunge through August really reflects the position of the sterling. Is this a reasonable decline? Has it reached a point of exhaustion? The answer to the first question is: yes. For the past six months or so, the UK economy has eroded from beneath the currency as the housing sector fell into recession, consumer spending and confidence dried up, and trade ground to a halt. Despite this economic malaise, the sterling’s exchange rate with the US dollar held up – whether through a worst US outlook, technicals or trade interests we can’t tell. What we do know is that the pressure eventually won out. Now for the more important question: is the sterling oversold. It is hard to tell how over valued the pound was before prices collapsed. What is more obvious is that the outlook for economic activity is worsening. What truly matters if the outlook is worse for the UK than it is for the US. Another consideration is the rate forecast. Next week, the BoE will meet for what is expected to be a pass on the benchmark rate. Usually, when there is no change to rates, there are no comments. Nonetheless, speculation will follow.

Rate Decisions And Oil Prices Promise A Volatile Week For The Comm Bloc
The Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars ended the week mixed against their primary counterpart – the greenback. Taking the top seat for event risk on the day, the Canadian currency saw a steep 130 point drop Friday despite a rebound in oil prices. The impetus for the move was a weaker than expected 2Q GDP report and worrisome revision to the previous number. Growth in the 8th largest economy in the world grew at a mere 0.3 percent annualized pace through June as capital expenditures and exports failed. As for the revision, a 0.8 percent contraction marked the worst performance since 1991. This will give the BoC something to think about for their rate decision next week. On the topic of monetary policy, the RBA is the only central bank expected to deliver a change. A 25bp cut is forecasted and priced in; and the market is waiting. And, should central bank activity not be enough for volatility, Tropical Storm Gustav is threatening turmoil for oil prices.

Japanese Yen Fights The Dollar Trend
Though the Japanese currency couldn’t win a major breakout against the dollar before the week ended, it was able to push the pair to boundaries of its range. Data played a small role in this strengthening. Housing activity posted a sharp rebound, household spending cooled less than expected, retail trade averted a contraction, factory activity rose and core inflation surged. However, Japanese data has little impact on its currency; because a recession will be ushered in through trade lines rather than domestic trends. More important here is the failing carry trade. With global growth fading fast, rate differentials contracting and banking crisis looming; the carry is under constant threat.

Program Trading Averaged 21.2 Percent of NYSE Volume during Aug. 18-22

2008-08-30T05:18:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK, Aug. 28, 2008 -- The New York Stock Exchange, a subsidiary of NYSE Euronext (NYX), today released its weekly program-trading data submitted by its member firms. The report includes trading in all markets as reported to the NYSE for Aug. 18-22.
The data indicated that during Aug. 18-22, program trading amounted to 21.2 percent of NYSE average daily volume of 3,363.6 million shares1, or 713.9 million program shares traded per day.

Program trading encompasses a wide range of portfolio-trading strategies involving the purchase or sale of a basket of at least 15 stocks.

In all markets, program trading by member firms averaged 2,289.6 million shares a day during Aug. 18-22. About 31.2 percent of program trading took place on the NYSE, 0.9 percent in non-U.S. markets and 67.9 percent in other domestic markets, including Nasdaq, the American Stock Exchange and regional markets.

Source: http://www.nyse.com/press/1219918586513.html

New York Stock Exchange Remains Most Popular Market for Investment World.

2008-08-26T07:21:00.000-07:00

Nov. 2--Something special happened for Ada-based Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc. when the bell clanged May 13, 1999, at the New York Stock Exchange.

The bell signaled the start of trading in Pre-Paid's stock on the "Big Board" of the New York Stock Exchange. Pre-Paid Chief Executive Officer Harland C. Stonecipher even served as official bell ringer for the opening of the trading day.

The day was, Stonecipher told The Oklahoman at ...

Source: : http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-119654388.html

Dollar Rises on Speculation Oil Decline to Support U.S. Economy

2008-08-24T23:37:00.000-07:00

Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar rose for a second day against the euro on speculation a drop in oil prices will support growth in the world's largest energy consumer.

The currency also traded near a seven-month high versus the yen following the biggest decline in crude costs in more than three years. The euro fell against the yen before a survey tomorrow that may show business confidence in Germany slid to the lowest since 2005.

``Oil prices have come off the boil and that has done quite a lot to help the dollar,'' said Akio Shimizu, chief manager of foreign exchange trading at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp. in Tokyo. ``It does relieve some concern that the economic outlook will deteriorate.''

The dollar climbed to $1.4721 per euro at 6:51 a.m. in London from $1.4793 late in New York on Aug. 22, when crude oil tumbled 5.4 percent, the most since December 2004. It may advance to $1.47 per euro today, Shimizu forecast.

The U.S. currency traded at 110.08 yen from 110.07 at the end of last week. It rose to 110.66 yen on Aug. 15, the highest since Jan. 2. The euro declined to 162.01 yen from 162.83.

The greenback also rallied against other Asian currencies. The South Korean won fell to 1,074.90 per dollar from 1,062.20 on speculation overseas investors will cut holdings of local shares. The Malaysian ringgit slumped to an eight-month low of 3.3715 versus the dollar on speculation the country's central bank will refrain from raising interest rates today.

Crude oil for October delivery was at $114.79 a barrel in New York after earlier falling to $114.03, the lowest since Aug. 20. The euro-dollar exchange rate and oil had a correlation of 0.9 in the past year, according to Bloomberg calculations. A reading of 1 would mean they moved in lockstep.

Ifo Survey

The euro weakened against the dollar and the yen on speculation declines in German business confidence will discourage the European Central Bank from raising interest rates.

The Ifo institute's confidence index probably fell to 97.2 in August, the lowest since September 2005, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before the release of the report tomorrow.

``The euro has downside risks before the Ifo data,'' said Motonari Ogawa, director of currency trading in Tokyo at Barclays Capital Inc., a unit of the U.K.'s third-biggest bank. ``European growth isn't looking that good, so people are likely to react more to data that support that view.''

Futures traders increased their bets that the euro will decline against the U.S. dollar, figures from the Washington- based Commodity Futures Trading Commission show. The difference in the number of wagers by hedge funds and other large speculators on a decline in the euro compared with those on a gain -- so-called net shorts -- was 20,364 on Aug. 19, compared with net shorts of 19,427 a week earlier.

Trading Recommendation

``We put up a recommendation to go short the euro at $1.4858 and targeting $1.4350,'' Nizam Idris, a currency strategist in Singapore at UBS AG, wrote in a research note today. ``Going forward, we expect a trend of deteriorating growth conditions to remain intact, and this will most likely keep the euro in a broad downtrend.''

UBS forecasts the ECB will cut its 4.25 percent benchmark rate by 75 basis points, or 0.75 percentage point, over the next one to two months, Nizam wrote.

Gains in the dollar may be limited by speculation data this week will show U.S. home sales were near the lowest in a decade and consumer spending growth slowed as the economy grapples with rising credit losses after the subprime mortgage collapse.

U.S. Housing Market

Resales of existing homes, reported by the National Association of Realtors today, gained 1 percent to a 4.91 million annual rate, staying near June's 10-year low, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists. U.S. personal spending grew 0.3 percent in July, compared with 0.6 percent the previous month, according to a separate survey before the Commerce Department report on Aug. 29.

``Weak economic data are likely to pull the dollar lower,'' said Masanobu Ishikawa, general manager of foreign exchange at Tokyo Forex & Ueda Harlow Ltd., Japan's largest currency broker. ``We can't be optimistic about the outlook for growth. The subprime problem will also weigh on dollar sentiment well into the future.''

The U.S. currency may fall to 109.50 yen and $1.4820 per euro today, he said.

The pound slid to a two-year low of $1.8406 before data tomorrow that may show U.K. home prices fell 9.6 percent in August from a year earlier, according to a Bloomberg survey.

The currency may extend declines to $1.8300 in the next two weeks after the currency closed below so-called support at $1.8620 on Aug. 22, said Pak Lai Ng, a technical analyst at Forecast Pte Ltd. in Singapore.

Support at $1.8620 was a 61.8 percent retracement of the pound's rise from the November 2005 low of $1.7049 to the November 2007 high of $2.1161, based on a series of numbers known as the Fibonacci sequence. Support is where buy orders may be clustered.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aQpZmBm2fcLc&refer=home

American Community Newspapers Receives American Stock Exchange Notice

2008-08-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

DALLAS, Aug 22, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- American Community Newspapers Inc. (ANE:american cmnty newspapers in com
News, chart, profile, more
Last: 0.20+0.04+28.14%

3:59pm 08/22/2008

Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio
Analyst
Create alertInsider
Discuss
Financials
Sponsored by:
ANE 0.20, +0.04, +28.1%) ("ACN") today announced the Company has received notification from the American Stock Exchange ("Amex"), dated August 21, 2008, that as a result of the Company's failure to timely file with the Securities and Exchange Commission the Company's Quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the second quarter ended June 29, 2008, the Company is not in compliance with Amex's continued listing standards as provided in Sections 134 and 1101 of the Amex Company Guide.
In order to maintain its Amex listing, the Company must submit a plan to Amex by September 4, 2008 advising Amex of the action the Company has taken, or will take, to bring the Company into compliance by no later than November 19, 2008. If the plan is accepted by Amex, the Company will remain listed and be subject to periodic review to determine whether it is making progress consistent with the plan.
If the Company does not submit a plan to Amex, or submits a plan that is not accepted, it will be subject to delisting proceedings. Furthermore, if the plan is accepted but the Company is not in compliance with the continued listing standards by November 19, 2008, or does not make progress consistent with the plan during this period, the Amex staff will initiate delisting proceeding as appropriate. The Company may appeal a staff determination to initiate delisting proceedings.
As announced on August 21, 2008, until uncertainties related to impairment of the value of ACN's intangible assets, including goodwill have been resolved, ACN is unable to complete the preparation of its interim financial statements to be included in its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended June 29, 2008. ACN plans to file its quarterly report promptly after it becomes possible to measure and recognize the impact of such uncertainties on its financial statements.
About American Community Newspapers Inc.
ACN is a community newspaper publisher in the United States, operating within four major U.S. markets: Minneapolis - St. Paul, Dallas, Northern Virginia (suburban Washington, D.C.) and Columbus, Ohio. These markets are some of the most affluent, high growth markets in the United States, with ACN strategically positioned in many of the wealthiest counties within each market. ACN's goal is to be the preeminent provider of local content and advertising in any market its serves. In these markets, ACN publishes three daily and 83 weekly newspapers, each serving a specific community, and 14 niche publications, with a combined circulation of approximately 1.4 million households. In addition, ACN's locally focused Web sites have average monthly page views and visitors of approximately 6.1 million and 1.2 million, respectively, extending the reach and frequency of its products beyond their geographic print distribution area.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, with respect to ACN's future financial or business performance, strategies and expectations. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words or phrases such as "trend," "potential," "opportunity," "pipeline," "believe," "comfortable," "expect," "anticipate," "current," "intention," "estimate," "position," "assume," "outlook," "continue," "remain," "maintain," "sustain," " seek, " "achieve," and similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "would," "should," "could," "may" and similar expressions.
SOURCE American Community Newspapers Inc.

Realty Income Declares Preferred Stock Monthly Dividend

2008-08-21T00:02:00.000-07:00

ESCONDIDO, Calif., Aug 20, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Realty Income Corporation (Realty Income), The Monthly Dividend Company(R), (O:realty income corp com
News, chart, profile, more
Last: 25.31+0.20+0.80%

4:01pm 08/20/2008

Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio
Analyst
Create alertInsider
Discuss
Financials
Sponsored by:
O 25.31, +0.20, +0.8%) today announced that its Board of Directors declared dividends on the Company's Monthly Income Class D and Class E preferred stock. The monthly dividends on the Class D and Class E preferred stocks are payable on September 15, 2008 to shareholders of record as of September 1, 2008. The monthly dividend amount on the Class D preferred stock is $0.1536459 per share, for an annualized amount of $1.84375 per share. The monthly dividend amount on the Class E preferred stock is $0.140625 per share, for an annualized amount of $1.6875 per share.
Realty Income, The Monthly Dividend Company(R), is a New York Stock Exchange real estate company dedicated to providing shareholders with dependable monthly income. To date the Company has declared 458 consecutive monthly dividends throughout its 39-year operating history and increased the dividend 50 times since Realty Income's listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 1994. The monthly income is supported by the cash flow from over 2,350 retail properties owned under long-term lease agreements with leading regional and national retail chains. The Company is an active buyer of net-leased retail properties nationwide.
Note to Editors:
Realty Income press releases are available at no charge by calling our toll-free investor hotline number: 888-811-2001, or through the Internet at http://www.realtyincome.com.
SOURCE: Realty Income Corporation

New York Stock Exchange

2008-08-20T23:58:00.000-07:00

Tuesday's closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices:

Stock Last Chg

AMR 10.08 -1.35

AT&T Inc 30.80 -.60

Alcoa 31.11

Altria 20.98 -.36

AEP 38.43 -.35

AmIntlGp 20.32 -1.28

Anheusr 67.77 -.05

ApldIndlT 29.61 -.88

Avon 43.16 -.07

BJ Svcs 26.20 +.52

BP PLC 57.44 -.08

BakrHu 78.64 +2.01

BkofAm 28.08 -1.22

Boeing 62.95 -.69

BrMySq 21.48 -.27

Brunswick 13.37 -.85

BurlNSF 98.02 -.22

Caterpillar 68.69 -.53

Chevron 84.71 +1.52

Citigrp 17.19 -.43

CocaCl 54.33

ColgPal 77.33 -.42

ConocPhil 79.25 +2.25

ConEd 41.01 -.24

CurtisWrt 52.73 -1.29

Daimler 58.44 -1.11

Deere 65.50 -1.12

Disney 31.75 -.33

DowChm 34.18 -.52

DuPont 44.23 -.51

EKodak 15.72 -.44

Eaton 71.58 -.95

EdisonInt 45.11 +.04

EDS 24.81 +.02

ExxonMbl 77.95 +1.42

FMC Cp 73.42 -.37

FootLockr 14.79 -.16

FordM 4.72 -.17

Gannett 18.65 -.89

GenCorp 8.07 -.27

GenDynam 91.99 -.25

GenElec 28.71 -.64

GenMills 65.84 -.52

GnMotr 9.95 -.41

Goodrich 52.26 -.96

Goodyear 20.18 -.70

Hallibrtn 44.04 +1.07

HeclaM 7.11 +.07

Hess 98.45 +3.72

HewlettP 43.69 -.91

HonwllIntl 49.06 -1.00

Idacorp 30.95 -.02

IBM 122.56 -2.03

IntPap 27.78 -.58

JohnJn 71.15 +.06

LockhdM 115.74 +.49

Loews 40.94 -.63

LaPac 9.22 -.46

MDU Res 31.58 +.11

MarathonO 44.60 +.35

McDnlds 62.46 -.83

McKesson 56.54 +.08

Merck 35.25 -.46

NCR Cp 26.68 -.12

NatSemi 21.93 -1.04

NorflkSo 67.96 -1.49

NorthropG 69.69 -.97

OcciPet 77.73 +2.11

OfficeMax 13.72 -.51

Olin 27.41 -.50

PG&E Cp 40.00 -.25

Penney 37.46 -1.40

PepsiCo 70.10 +.29

Pfizer 19.34 -.30

Potlatch 45.57 -.53

Praxair 88.36 -.24

ProctGam 70.72 -.55

PugetEngy 28.00 -.10

Questar 50.45 +1.85

RockwlAut 47.47 -.87

SaraLee 13.81 -.26

SempraEn 56.77 -.58

SouthnCo 37.46 -.15

TexInst 24.81 -.43

Textron 40.03 -1.46

3M Co 71.31 -1.14

TimeWarn 15.72 -.27

Timken 32.69

ToddShp 13.60 -.34

TriContl 16.74 -.17

UnionPac 76.63 -.01

Unisys 3.93 -.01

USSteel 136.12 +4.68

VarianMed 64.05 +.09

VerizonCm 34.20 -.54

ViadCorp 31.97 -.94

Vodafone 25.44 -.46

WalMart 58.20 -.63

WellsFargo 27.79 -1.01

Weyerh 50.75 -2.22

Wyeth 42.60 -.34

Xerox 13.98 -.34

YumBrnds 35.82 -.58

Source:: http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080820/BIZ/66954

Oil's down, stocks are up, but uncertainty remains By MADLEN READ

2008-08-18T10:49:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (AP) — The past four weeks on Wall Street have been quite a welcome contrast. Stocks have risen, the dollar has strengthened and oil prices have plummeted.

Investors are not sure yet, however, if it's a turnaround with staying power or just a temporary reversal.

Market bears would argue that economic readings are still weak, particularly for the average U.S. consumer. Other countries' economies are declining, too, and the credit markets that companies rely on to borrow and lend remain tight.

But on the more positive side, prices for commodities including oil are much lower than they were a month ago. The housing market, though probably not due for recovery anytime soon, is showing signs of bottoming. And the stock market tends to rebound before the economy does.

It's easy to argue both sides; it's harder for an investor to decide where to put his money. That's why many market analysts are predicting that stocks are going to stay volatile for a while longer.

Back-and-forth movements are typical when the market is trying to put in a bottom, said Scott Wren, equity strategist for Wachovia Securities. Plus, he said, "you're getting a lot of mixed news."

Last week, after seesawing, the Dow Jones industrial average finished down 0.63. The Standard & Poor's 500 index ended the week up 0.15 percent, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 1.59 percent.

This week, investors will keep monitoring the energy markets, and also see how the housing industry is faring in the National Association of Home Builder's index on Monday and the Commerce Department's Tuesday report on July new home construction.

At the same time, Wall Street will be gauging the financial health of consumers in the earnings reports of retailers including Home Depot Inc., Target Corp., Gap Inc. and BJ's Wholesale Club.

Consumers have been buying fewer items, in general, because prices have been rising. Last week, the Labor Department reported a hefty 0.8 percent increase in consumer prices for July.

Wall Street's hope is that the pullback in oil will alleviate some of these pressures — but some economists believe that even if commodities stay down from their recent highs, it won't be enough to shield consumers from unmanageable prices.

"It's too early to be overly confident about the economy," said Dan Laufenberg, chief economist for Ameriprise Financial. "I still think inflation is the greatest risk to the economy."

He noted that while oil prices are down sharply from their mid-July record, they are still about 50 percent higher than a year ago. Moreover, he said, "inflation is starting to spill over into other goods and services."

And because the job market tends to influence consumer spending even more than home, fuel or food prices, Wall Street has been nervous that the job market has shown few indications that it is improving.

The Labor Department disappointed the market last week when it reported a smaller-than-anticipated decline in the prior week's claims for unemployment. Another downbeat reading on unemployment this week could worry investors even more.

And lastly — though certainly at the front of investors' minds — is the situation with the still-stumbling global banking system. Banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and UBS AG last week augured further credit losses, while banking industry analysts reduced their earnings estimates again in anticipation of more dismal profits in the third quarter.

"A year from today, we'll still be talking about financial problems. It's not going away," said Alexander Paris, economist and market analyst for Chicago-based Barrington Research. "You're going to have a lot more bank failures."

But, he added, the stocks of financial services companies have fallen so much already, and the banks themselves have written down the value of their investments by more than $300 billion and racked up a heap of credit losses.

"At some point," he said, "bad news is all discounted."

BOND REPORT: Treasury Bonds Gain As U.S. Stocks Fall By Polya Lesova

2008-08-18T10:44:00.000-07:00

Treasury prices gained Monday, sending yields lower, as falling U.S. stocks whetted appetite for government bonds.

Ten-year Treasury note yields (UST10Y), which move inversely to prices, fell 2 basis points to $3.820%.

Two-year note yields (UST2YR) dropped 4 basis points to $2.345%.

"Treasury yields are back down at lows, while stocks remain in the red and the dollar index below highs," said analysts at Action Economics.

On Wall Street, U.S. stocks fell, with worries about ailing financials rekindled by several media reports, while a turn lower in crude-oil prices failed to provide much momentum.

Thirty-year note yields (UST30Y) dropped 3 basis points to $4.435%.

"Market activity seems to be saying that the Fed is on hold and the U.S. economy is in pretty bad shape," said Kevin Giddis, managing director of fixed income at Morgan Keegan & Co., in a research note.

"The proof is in the numbers and it is not just a domestic problem either," Giddis said. "We are in the midst of a global slowdown which is actually working in our favor. It strengthens the dollar and lowers oil prices."

On Friday, Treasurys rose, sending yields sharply lower, as tumbling commodity prices eased worries about inflation and boosted expectations that the Federal Reserve will not raise interest rates this year.

Housing data on tap

The U.S. economic calendar is fairly light Monday. At 1 p.m. EDT, the National Association of House Builders will issue its August index.

Economists at Merrill Lynch expect the index to rise to 17 from 16 in July.

"This is still a level that suggests depressed activity in the housing market and reflects little change," the Merrill economists noted.

"Inventory levels remain elevated in the new home market and buyers continue to be scarce, as marked by the 'traffic of prospective home buyers' index,'" they said.

Housing starts data will be released on Tuesday and leading indicators data are due for release on Thursday.

NYSE CEO REPORT 2009

2008-08-14T23:50:00.000-07:00

The fourth annual NYSE Euronext CEO report is the product of input from CEOs representing more than 250 NYSE Euronext member companies. Questions included: Where does corporate growth lie? What risks and stumbling blocks could threaten revenues and profits? How do you perceive the U.S. economy going forward? And, in this election year, what advice would you offer the next U.S. president? Answers formed the basis for the report’s theme: “Managing During Economic Turbulence.”

This year’s respondents share a view that the economy has changed radically; just 10 percent of U.S. CEOs call the domestic economy good (none say it is excellent), compared with 84 percent who labeled it good or excellent a year ago. The CEO view mirrors that of the public at large, with 83 percent of U.S. adults calling the economy fair or poor, in an Opinion Research Corp./Caravan poll conducted in mid-March. The collective CEO views translate to a return to basics as respondents say they are focusing on strong balance sheets, sensible acquisitions and efforts to attract and keep the best workforce.

Source: http://www.nyse.com

Foreign Exchange

2008-08-13T00:44:00.000-07:00

Currency Buy Sell Date

United Arab Emirates (AED) 20.05 20.25 Aug 12, 2008
Canada (CAD) 68.75 69.15 Aug 12, 2008
Europe (EUR) 110.20 111.20 Aug 12, 2008
United Kingdom (GBP) 141.20 142.20 Aug 12, 2008
Saudi Arabia (SR) 19.61 19.71 Aug 12, 2008
United States (USD) 74.20 74.50 Aug 12, 2008
Japan (Yuan) 10.40 10.70 Aug 12, 2008

China is setting up a state investment agency to more actively manage its forex reserves

2008-08-13T00:17:00.000-07:00

February trade figures released not long ago may upset China, as the surging trade surplus, reaching $23.76 billion in February, not only frustrates China's efforts in curbing it, but also expands the country's already huge foreign exchange (forex) reserve.

China has become the world's largest holder of of forex reserve, which had reached $1.066 trillion by the end of 2006, and is still swelling by about $20 billion monthly mainly fueled by the trade surplus.

"The proper use of such a huge amount of foreign exchange reserve has become a new problem to us," said Premier Wen Jiabao at a press conference on March 16 to close the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC).

During this year's NPC, several top financial officials acknowledged that a new state investment agency would soon come into being to manage a portion of the $1.066 billion in forex reserve.

At the press conference, Premier Wen reconfirmed that "China is preparing for the establishment of a foreign exchange investment company, which will not be affiliated to any government department or institution. The company, which will be subject to supervision, is aimed at operating the investment in line with state laws to preserve and increase the value of foreign exchange reserve."

With such hefty reserves, China's decision on setting up a company to pursue higher investment return on a part of the reserves calls worldwide close attention.

A brand-new agency

This state investment company should be born soon, but the government hasn't yet shed light on the timetable of its birth, its structure, the proportion of the reserves under its management, and in what and where it should invest.

During the NPC session, Finance Minister Jin Renqing said the State Council had decided to divide the country's forex reserves into two parts----"normal" reserves and money to be used for investment seeking "more profits."

Economists estimate that 20-25 percent of the reserves may be managed by the company.

Jin also mentioned that the agency will draw on international experience, such as Temasek Holdings owned by the Singaporean Government. Temasek has made strategic investments in a number of local and foreign companies in the telecommunications, property, financial services and pharmaceutical industries.

According to a report of Shanghai Securities News, authoritative sources said the new investment agency would issue yuan-denominated bonds worth $200 billion to $250 billion. Money to be raised will be firstly used as strategic investment for energy enterprises like China National Offshore Oil Corp.

Zhong Wei, Director of Finance Research Center of Beijing Normal University, also suggested China's new agency invest in the overseas market, but not solely in financial assets. In Zhong's view, as reserves in the State Administration of Foreign Exchange are mainly invested in financial assets, the new investment company should invest in non-financial assets. Thus, the impact on the international financial market won't be as great as some believe.

UPDATE 1-Corinthian shares up on Washington Post stock buy

2008-08-11T11:19:00.000-07:00

(Rewrites lead paragraph; adds analyst comment, byline)

By Chelsea Emery

NEW YORK, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Shares of Corinthian Colleges Inc (COCO.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) jumped 13 percent Tuesday on speculation that Washington Post Co's (WPO.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) recent purchase of an 8.1 percent stake in the for-profit education company signals plans by the media group to buy Corinthian.

In a regulatory filing on Feb. 15, Washington Post said it had acquired 6.89 million Corinthian shares because they represented "an attractive investment opportunity."

"We believe Washington Post will use this holding to enter talks with Corinthian," wrote Deutsche Bank analyst Paul Ginocchio in a note to clients.

Washington Post representative Jay Morse said in response to speculation that "it's an investment," adding the company was not commenting further.

Washington Post operates post-secondary schools through its Kaplan Higher Education division, which serves more than 75,000 students at about 70 schools in the United States and Europe.

Washington Post, which also owns The Washington Post newspaper as well as cable television systems, made a series of share purchases from Jan. 22 through Feb. 14, according to the filing.

Corinthian shares rose $1.06, or 13.73 percent, to close at $8.78 on Nasdaq. Through Friday, the shares had tumbled 50 percent this year on worries that the U.S. credit crunch will make it tough for students to get education loans, hurting enrollment and profits at education companies.

Washington Post shares slipped 0.39 percent to $736.00 on the New York Stock Exchange.

"We think (the) 8.1 stake in Corinthian Colleges likely goes higher," Ginocchio wrote. "Washington Post holding a minority position does not make sense to us." (Reporting by Chelsea Emery; editing by John Wallace, Richard Chang)

Source: http://www.reuters.com

AgFeed Earnings Soar, Berkshire Earnings Fall

2008-08-11T11:11:00.000-07:00

11:30AM New York – Berkshire Hathaway reported its quarterly profit decline in a row. AgFeed quarterly earnings surged.

AgFeed Industries, Inc, a Chinese animal feed maker and pork producer reported second quarter revenues increased 417% to $35.64 million from $6.09 million a year ago. Net income in the quarter rose 62% to $3.9 million or 12 cents per diluted share compared to net income of $1.5 million or 6 cents per share, a year ago.

AgFeed Industries, Inc (FEED: chart) in the last one year traded as high as $21.31 in May 2008 and as low as $6.40 in September 2007. Based on the Friday’s trading closing price the company has a market cap of $454.40 million.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc, a holding company reported second quarter net income in the quarter dropped 7.6% to $2.88 billion compared to net income of $3.12 billion, a year ago.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc ((BRK.A)) in the last one year traded as high as $151,650 in December 2007 and as low as $109,800 in August 2007. Based on the Friday’s trading closing price the company has a market cap of $181.21 billion.

Calpine Corporation, power producer reported second quarter revenues jumped 37% to $2.83 billion from $2.06 billion a year ago. Net income in the quarter was $197 million or 41 cents per diluted share compared to net loss of $500 million or $1.04 per share, a year ago.

Calpine Corporation (CPN: chart) in the last one year traded as high as $23.36 in June 2008 and as low as $15.38 in August 2008. Based on the Friday’s trading closing price the company has a market cap of $6.92 billion.

StockWatch © quotemedia.com

Symbol Last Tick Chg % Chg Open High Low Volume
FEED 13.78 1.22 9.71% 14.99 15.00 13.56 1.4 m
BRK.A 117950.01 2200.01 1.90% 115400.00 118350.00 115110.00 949
CPN 16.5101 0.5201 3.25% 17.05 17.25 16.40 4.08 m

Fully automated click & deal trading, with instantaneous fills

2008-08-06T12:28:00.000-07:00

At FOREX.com, we've always automated processing for all click & deal forex trades. When you click BUY or SELL, our systems perform a real time margin check and, if accepted, immediately respond with a trade confirmation.

Why is this important to you? First, you benefit from an unbiased trading environment that is not subject to human intervention. Second, automated trade processing improves our efficiency, which lowers our overhead and allows us to pass along the saving to you in the form of tighter spreads.

World’s Only Currency Pair Charting Service

2008-08-06T12:21:00.000-07:00

As we can see from the above chart Aussie prices were very low, and oversold, around March 30,2006. Notice the green ellipse on the 18th. A green ellipse denotes a buy signal, a red ellipse denotes a sell signal. But also notice that the green buy signal occurs when Aussie prices are slight above the -2 Sigma level. This is the important difference between Trading Signals and other buy/sell systems being marketed on the Internet. With Trading Signals you also can judge the QUALITY of the buy or sell signal. Ask yourself the question: "Would I want to buy the Australian Dollar if the buy signal occurred when the green ellipse was above +2 Sigma instead of being close to the -2 Sigma level. In other words would I want to buy when prices were overbought or oversold? Most traders would feel much more comfortable if prices were oversold. Clearly Trading Signals can help you answer that question.

In addition to buy or sell signals being shown on the chart notice that there are also notational and warning messages printed on the chart. These messages are designed to assist the trader in deciding on the quality of the signals. To our knowledge no other service provides you with signals, the location of those signals with relationship to Sigma Bands, and notational messages concerning the quality of those signals. TRM provides a first here.

Making a Profit in the Currency Trading Market

2008-08-04T11:40:00.000-07:00

The most important consideration in making money in the currency trading market is learning enough about the trends that you know when to buy and sell. The market is based upon buying currency when it is at the lowest price and selling when it is at the highest price, and to do that, you need to know what those fluctuations in the market are. This is especially important for new traders, but seasoned traders must continue to follow the trends in the markets in which they are trading in order to continue making a profit.

Do people actually make a living as a currency trader? Yes indeed, they do. You have to remember, however, that it takes a lot of training and practice to reach the point where you are a full-time trader. You must make the commitment to do a great deal of reading and follow the trends more precisely than you would if you were just looking to make a little bit of extra cash with a few trades during the week or month.

Making a business out of currency trading is not difficult, but it does take a substantial amount of research and dedication. The trader must know what the trends her in all the markets of his interest, and he must continually keep track of those trends. Most full-time traders invest in charting software that gives them results in real time, including the exchange rate on various currencies throughout the world. The career if financially rewarding as long as you are willing to spend at least as much time on it as you would if you were going to work in an office or other place of business daily. Dedicating oneself to mastering the trends in currency exchange rates is the key to successful currency trading ventures—without being able to spot patterns or the rise and fall of currency prices accurately, you could find yourself losing out on many money making opportunities.

Source: http://articles.directorym.com/Currency_Trading_Washington-r448-Washington.html#64145

How Does Currency Trading Work?

2008-08-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

Currency trading, or the foreign currency exchange market (FOREX) involves the buying and selling of various currencies such as the U.S. dollar, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, United Kingdom pound, Euros, and various other currency. The key to making a profit in the FOREX market is knowing when to buy and sell currency that you own. Knowing how to do this requires following the trends for several months before you make your first trade in the FOREX market so that you are educated enough in the trends of the market to make an informed decision.

The reason that it’s so important to follow the trends before you venture into trading is because of the basis of the market. Making a profit in the currency trading market involves buying currency when it is at its lowest offering and selling it at the highest. In order to know at a given time whether the current pricings are the best that are likely to be offered, you have to know what prices have been over the past several months, and sometimes even up to a year. Although a seasoned trader may only follow the trends of the market in which he is interested, a new trader should follow all the currencies in order to see the trends and know where he should invest when he makes that first trade. Though less volatile than trading stocks and bonds, there are still risks involved if you don’t know what you are doing. Once you effectively learn how to note the rise and fall of currency trading, you can begin making money.

Most currency trading is completed over the Internet: which is the reason why the popularity of the Internet and increase in the number of people using it has increased the traders in the currency trading market. The Internet offers an easy way for people to get in on currency trading opportunities and the interest in currency trading has increased because of its Internet accessibility.

Today's Top Declining Stocks

2008-08-03T23:05:00.000-07:00

Symbol Stock Name Price Change Volume
JLIEBDEM Joe Lieberman Rejoins the Democratic Party W$0.29 W$0.00 (0.00%) 0 Trade
DEMPRES Democrat Elected President in 2008 W$0.30 W$0.00 (0.00%) 0 Trade
P2BAOB08 Barack Obama 2008 Democratic Nominee W$99.67 W$0.00 (0.00%) 0 Trade
22AMEND 22nd Amendment Repealed or Amended by Jan 08 W$32.08 W$0.00 (0.00%) 0 Trade
VPOFFICE VP Dick Cheney in Office on Jan. 1 2008 W$2.41 W$0.00 (0.00%) 0 Trade
GOPPRES Republican Elected President in 2008 W$51.25 W$0.00 (0.00%) 0 Trade
IRNKUSTK US Bilateral Talks with North Korea before 2008 W$0.21 W$0.00 (0.00%) 0 Trade
P3JOMC08 John McCain Elected President in 2008 W$97.21 W$0.00 (0.00%) 0 Trade
P1CORI08 Condoleezza Rice Announces 08 Campaign W$0.24 W$0.00 (0.00%) 0 Trade
P1ALGO08 Al Gore Announces 08 Campaign W$0.29 W$0.00 (0.00%) 0 Trade

Elan Corporation Plc.

2008-08-03T23:00:00.000-07:00

Symbol Last Trade
16:11 01 Aug
NYSE
Only Close
01 Aug 08
Change Volume
ELN $ 9.93 9.93 -10.12 (-50.47%) 137,615,689

Website: http://www.elan.com/
Specialist: Bear Wagner Specialists LLC

NYSE Info ToolsTM
ReTrac
Retail Trading
Date
01 Aug 08
Buy Shares
691,279
Sell Shares
406,202

ProTrac
Program Trading
Date
01 Aug 08
Index Arbitrage
0
Non-Index Arbitrage
700

Source: NYSE Info ToolsTM
1 Day (1 mins)1 Day (5 mins)1 Week (Daily)Month1 Quarter (Daily)1 Year (Daily)

Today's
Open High Low
11.03 12.01 9.55

Previous Day's
Close NYSE Only Close
20.05 20.05
52 Week
High Low
37.45 9.55
10 Jul 2008 01 Aug 2008

New York Stock Exchange Today Launches NYSE Realtime Stock Prices

2008-08-03T13:26:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK, June 24, 2008 – The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), a subsidiary of NYSE Euronext (NYX), today will introduce NYSE Realtime Stock Prices, a new data product that enables Internet and media organizations to buy real-time, last-trade market data from the NYSE and provide it broadly and free of charge to the public. Google and CNBC are the first organizations to make the product available to the public, effective today.

“NYSE Realtime Stock Prices will provide investors with free, immediate and easily accessible information, without requiring them to complete any administrative forms or contracts. We are excited to partner with Google and CNBC, two great names in the information space, to offer this useful data to the public,” said Ronald Jordan, Executive Vice President, Market Data.

"Providing real-time market data on Google Finance is an important step towards helping investors make more informed and timely investment decisions," said Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Products and User Experience. "Access to real-time financial information has traditionally been limited to investors with brokerage accounts and other users via subscription fees. We are pleased to be making this information freely available to all of our users on Google Finance, Google.com and other Google search properties."

"This service will enable any CNBC viewer or user the ability to make better investing decisions, no matter what platform they use or where they are in the world," said Scott Drake, Vice President, CNBC Digital.

The NYSE first proposed the idea for NYSE Realtime Stock Prices in January 2007, with an innovative approach: information providers disseminating the data do not have to count and report the number of users to the Exchange, nor contract with each user. Instead, the providers purchase the data from the NYSE for a flat monthly fee. The Securities and Exchange Commission last week approved NYSE Realtime Stock Prices for a four-month pilot period.

source: http://www.nyse.com/press/1214302996534.html