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India’s Rajasthan State Delays Solar Power Contracts Till August | By Natalie Obiko Pearson | 2012-04-25T06:42:42Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/india-s-rajasthan-state-delays-solar-power-contracts-till-august.html | 4 | 25 | 2aca7294765d91cbe53a8a5d69b9e641cb7d89db | India ’s Rajasthan state will delay
awarding contracts to companies to build 200 megawatts of solar
capacity by about two months to August. The last day to submit expressions of interest is May 18,
M.M. Vijayvergia, executive director of the state-run Rajasthan
Renewable Energy Corp., which is overseeing the process, said
today in an interview in Jodhpur. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to submit bids and
the process should be finished around August, he said, without
giving a reason for the delay. Companies that have said they plan to participate in the
bidding include Welspun Group, India’s largest solar
photovoltaic developer backed by Apollo Global Management LLC (APO)
co-founder Leon Black , and Mumbai-based Visual Percept Solar
Projects Pvt., owned by the Enam Group. To contact the reporter on this story:
Natalie Obiko Pearson in Mumbai at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
[email protected] | 2012 | india-s-rajasthan-state-delays-solar-power-contracts-till-augus |
Naira Advances 1st Time in 3 Days as Probe Slows Dollar Demand | By Editors: Ash Kumar | 2012-04-25T15:55:15Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/naira-advances-to-highest-in-a-week-as-probe-slows-dollar-demand.html | 4 | 25 | 16b8943d955d8c2efc7eb826f9890847267dd725 | The naira strengthened for the
first time in three days after policy makers recommended oil
importers refund subsidy payments they consider to have been
illegal, prompting a pull-back in gasoline demand. The Nigerian currency appreciated 0.1 percent to 157.15 per
dollar in interbank trading by 4:51 p.m. in Lagos, the most
since April 19. Nigeria has regulated fuel prices since 2006, paying
importers the difference between the cost of imported fuel and
pump prices. A House of Representatives committee investigating
possible fraud in subsidy payments recommended on April 19
gasoline importers, including the state oil company Nigerian
National Petroleum Corp., refund 1 trillion naira ($6.4
billion). Payments totaling 2.5 trillion naira in fuel subsidies
were made in 2011 through a fraudulent process, the committee
said in a report. “Dollar demand may have further declined today after
parliament insisted yesterday that oil companies must refund the
overpayment,” Sewa Wusu, currency analyst at Lagos-based
Sterling Capital Ltd., said by phone interview today. “The oil
importers need to get clear direction on subsidy payments to
resume imports fully.” Nigeria sold $110.5 million at a foreign-currency auction
today, less than the $120 million on offer, with the naira
gaining 0.1 percent to 155.65 per dollar, the strongest since
the Nov. 21 sale, the Abuja-based Central Bank of Nigeria said
in an e-mailed statement. The national inflation rate rose to 12.1 percent in March
from 11.9 percent a month earlier, the National Bureau of
Statistics said today. The central bank kept the benchmark
interest rate unchanged in March at a record of 12 percent. The yield on the country’s $500 million of dollar bonds due
2021 fell one basis point at 5.453 percent in London . On
domestic bonds due 2015, it fell two basis points to 15.18
percent, according to the April 24 data on the Financial Markets
Dealers Association website . Ghana ’s cedi was unchanged 1.8525 per dollar in Accra after
weakening for three trading sessions. | 2012 | naira-advances-to-highest-in-a-week-as-probe-slows-dollar-demand |
Air Liquide First-Quarter Sales Rises 6.7%, Led by China, U.S. | By Francois de Beaupuy | 2012-04-25T05:27:28Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/air-liquide-first-quarter-sales-rises-6-7-led-by-china-u-s-.html | 4 | 25 | 084630180e62ad6bda1bc351b1d53d3c63506351 | Air Liquide SA (AI) , the world’s biggest
producer of industrial gases, reported first-quarter sales that
met analysts’ estimates, led by growing demand in North America
and developing economies such as China. Revenue climbed 6.7 percent to 3.78 billion euros ($5
billion), the Paris-based company said today in a statement. The
average estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts was 3.77
billion euros. Like-for-like sales of gas and services rose 4
percent in the quarter. “This first quarter is characterized by a progressive
rebound in activity, particularly in the month of March,” Chief
Executive Officer Benoit Potier said in the statement. “Barring
a major economic downturn, Air Liquide continues to aim for
growth in net profit in 2012” Potier predicted in 2010 that sales may rise 8 percent to
10 percent on average from 2011 through 2015 on demand for
oxygen, hydrogen and other gases used by the oil-and-gas
industry, steelmakers and in health care from China , Russia, the
Middle East and other fast-growing regions. To contact the reporter on this story:
Francois de Beaupuy in Paris at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Benedikt Kammel at
[email protected] | 2012 | air-liquide-first-quarter-sales-rises-6-7-led-by-china-u-s- |
California’s Chiang to Dock Lawmaker Pay, Judge Rules | By Michael B. Marois | 2012-04-25T04:01:00Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/california-s-chiang-to-dock-lawmaker-pay-judge-rules.html
California Controller John Chiang’s
decision to withhold lawmakers’ pay in a budget dispute last
year overstepped his constitutional authority, a judge said in a
tentative ruling. Chiang doesn’t have the power under a state constitutional
amendment passed by voters in 2010 to determine if a budget
approved by the Legislature is legally balanced, Sacramento
County Superior Court Judge David Brown said in the ruling. The
amendment, known as Proposition 25, bars lawmakers from getting
paid if they fail to pass a balanced budget on time. Chiang docked the pay of the entire Legislature on June 21,
concluding that an $86.6 billion general-fund spending plan it
had passed on time six days earlier was incomplete and built on
faulty assumptions. He said he was acting under Proposition 25.
Governor Jerry Brown , a Democrat, vetoed the budget and a
compromise was passed by Democratic lawmakers before the start
of the fiscal year July 1. “Voters passed Proposition 25 because they’re tired of the
Legislature’s chronic inability to pass a balanced budget by the
June 15 constitutional deadline,” Chiang, a Democrat, said in a
statement yesterday. “The initiative was clear | 4 | 25 | fb94fef42064249b29709208c331ffc400b612cd | on-time budget, no pay for lawmakers.” Chiang said the tentative ruling would allow lawmakers “to
keep their salaries flowing by simply slapping the title ‘budget
act’ on a sheet of paper by June 15.” State Assembly Speaker John Perez and Senate President Pro
Tem Darrell Steinberg, both Democrats, sued Chiang in January,
asking a judge to determine whether the elected controller can
impose his judgment on when a budget is balanced. The case is Steinberg v. Chiang, 2012-00117584, California
Superior Court ( Sacramento ). To contact the reporter on this story:
Michael B. Marois in Sacramento at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Merelman at
[email protected] | 2012 | california-s-chiang-to-dock-lawmaker-pay-judge-rules |
Rand Rises to 3-Week High Against Dollar Before Fed Ends Meeting | By Robert Brand and Stephen Gunnion | 2012-04-25T14:35:05Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/rand-gains-for-second-day-on-u-s-earnings-europe-debt-auctions.html | 4 | 25 | 1514967808155dbcac7b6c64c8b9f4aa6463aa5d | The rand advanced to a three-week
high on speculation Federal Reserve officials meeting today will
signal they remain open to a further round of asset purchases to
spur growth, fueling demand for riskier assets. South Africa’s currency gained as much as 0.6 percent to
7.7510 per dollar, the strongest level since April 4. It traded
0.5 percent up at 7.7607 as of 4:06 p.m. in Johannesburg. The
yield on the nation’s 6.75 percent bonds due 2021 climbed one
basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 7.68 percent. The Dollar Index, which measures the greenback’s
performance against a basket of major currencies, dropped as
U.S. durable-goods orders fell last month by the most in three
years, a sign the world’s largest economy is slowing. The
Federal Open Market Committee will publish its forecasts for
interest rates , growth and inflation and Chairman Ben S.
Bernanke will hold a press conference. A further round of asset
purchases would boost demand for higher-yielding assets
including South African stocks and bonds. “Much of the focus will rest with the outcome of the FOMC
decision and statement this evening,” George Glynos , an
economist at Johannesburg-based ETM Analytics, wrote in e-mailed
comments today. “Supportive comments from Fed Chairman Bernanke
will go some way to alleviating the pressure on risk assets.” The rand also strengthened after Apple Inc., Boeing Co. and
Electrolux AB posted earnings that beat estimates. An index of
global emerging-market stocks climbed for a second day and South
Africa’s benchmark stock index advanced. The yield on South Africa ’s $1.5 billion of 4.665 bonds due
2024 dropped 28 basis points to 4.175 percent. To contact the reporter on this story:
Stephen Gunnion in Johannesburg at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Gavin Serkin at
[email protected] | 2012 | rand-gains-for-second-day-on-u-s-earnings-europe-debt-auctions |
Cattle Futures Rebound, Oil Falls: Commodities at Close | By John Deane | 2012-04-25T16:26:36Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/cattle-futures-rebound-oil-falls-commodities-at-close.html | 4 | 25 | db7253d99dc74ebdbda0687fc4a28c7e | The Standard & Poor’s GSCI gauge of
24 commodities fell 0.1 percent to 673.97 at 5 p.m. in London.
The UBS Bloomberg CMCI index of 26 raw materials was up 0.1
percent at 1,564.235. LIVESTOCK: Cattle futures rebounded from a nine-month low as countries
from Canada to Japan said they’ll continue to import U.S. beef
after a case of mad cow disease was reported in California , the
first in six years. Live-cattle futures for June delivery climbed 1 percent to
$1.12675 a pound on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The price
yesterday tumbled the exchange’s 3-cent limit to settle at
$1.11575 a pound, the lowest for a most-active contract since
July 1. GRAINS, OILSEEDS Soybeans rose to the highest price since July 2008 on
speculation that reduced output in South America will force
China to increase purchases from the U.S., the world’s largest
grower and exporter last year. Corn fell. Soybean futures for July delivery jumped 1.1 percent to
$14.81 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, after touching
$14.9675, the highest for a most-active contract since July 18,
2008. Soybean-meal futures for July delivery gained 1.2 percent
to $420.60 for 2,000 pounds of the animal feed on the CBOT. Corn futures for July delivery fell 0.3 percent to $6.0625
a bushel in Chicago, erasing an earlier gain of 1.5 percent. CRUDE OIL Oil fell from a one-week high after Iran ’s envoy in Moscow
said his country is considering a Russian proposal to halt the
expansion of its atomic program to avert new sanctions and as
U.S. inventories climbed. Crude oil for June delivery fell 24 cents to $103.31 a
barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange . Brent oil for June settlement dropped 28 cents to $117.88 a
barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. BASE METALS: Copper climbed to the highest in almost two weeks in New
York as companies including Apple Inc. posted better-than-
expected earnings, easing economic growth concerns and pushing
equities and commodities higher. Copper futures for July delivery gained 0.7 percent to
$3.7055 a pound on the Comex in New York. The metal touched
$3.723, the highest for a most-active contract since April 12. On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three
months advanced 0.6 percent to $8,200 a metric ton ($3.69 a
pound). Zinc, lead, nickel and tin rose in London . Aluminum fell. PRECIOUS METALS Gold fell for the second time in three days as investors
refrained from making purchases before the Federal Reserve
completes a two-day policy meeting. Gold futures for June delivery slid 0.3 percent to
$1,638.90 an ounce at on the Comex in New York. OIL PRODUCTS Gasoline extended a decline after the Energy Department
reported crude-oil inventories advancedand gasoline demand fell
last week. May-delivery gasoline declined 2.52 cents, or 0.8 percent,
to $3.1341 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Heating oil for May delivery rose 0.52 cent to $3.1347 a
gallon. The price was $3.1355 before the report was released. NATURAL GAS Natural gas futures in New York rose for the third time in
four days on speculation that decade-low prices will prompt
production cuts and spur higher demand from power plants . Natural gas for May delivery increased 2.7 cents, or 1.4
percent, to $2.002 per million British thermal units on the New
York Mercantile Exchange. European Union carbon permits fell to their lowest level in
more than a week as German power for next year dropped to its
cheapest since Jan. 19. EU allowances for December decreased as much as 2 percent
to 7.05 euros ($9.30) a ton and were at 7.08 euros a ton
recently on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London. SOFT COMMODITIES Sugar futures rose, heading for the biggest gain in more
than a week, on speculation that demand will pick up before the
Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Raw sugar for July delivery rose 0.9 percent to 21.8 cents
a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Orange-juice futures for July delivery rose 1.9 percent to
$1.446 a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. To contact the reporter on this story:
John Deane in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
John Deane at
[email protected] | 2012 | cattle-futures-rebound-oil-falls-commodities-at-close |
MQ May Expand to 50 Norway Stores From Four, CEO Gardsell Says | By Janina Pfalzer | 2012-04-25T09:31:27Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/mq-may-expand-to-50-norway-stores-from-four-ceo-gardsell-says.html | 4 | 25 | 0b3b69e4adde6de2ba9c7d1b144838a594c29750 | MQ AB (MQ) , a Swedish fashion retailer
which sells both proprietary and external brands, sees potential
for as many as 50 stores in Norway from today’s four, said Chief
Executive Officer Mats Gardsell. MQ’s “vision” is to cover the entire Nordic region of
Norway, Sweden , Finland, Denmark and Iceland, Gardsell said in a
interview. The chain has 111 outlets in Sweden while it lacks
presence in the three other countries. Gardsell said MQ may
expand in those markets by opening stores or starting online
sales. Before moving forward, however, MQ wants to establish
itself properly in Norway, he said. The company started sales online in its home market Sweden
in the second half of 2010 and still sees some room for
additional stores in the country, Gardsell said. “It’s all about finding the right location, the right
city, street and mall,” he said. “You still have to work to
get the right location, it hasn’t become much easier in the past
year.” The Gothenburg, Sweden-based company aims for sales growth
of at least 10 percent over a business cycle. MQ’s sales dropped
8.9 percent in the fiscal year 2008/2009, and have been growing
at an annual pace of just over 3.5 percent since, according to
annual reports . For the financial year 2010/2011, ended Aug. 31,
its first entire year as a listed company, MQ had sales of 1.49
billion kronor ($221 million.) MQ last year hired a new head of design, Lotta Lindsten and
is now better focused on the right products that “feel
relevant” to the company’s customers, Gardsell said. So far
this year the stock is up 21 percent. Sales in the second quarter of the current financial year
increased 1.9 percent to 422 million kronor the company said
March 23. MQ, whose external brands include Calvin Klein , Scotch
& Soda and Peak Performance, added five new brands in the period
of which all are external. To contact the reporter on this story:
Janina Pfalzer in Stockholm at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christian Wienberg at [email protected] . | 2012 | q-may-expand-to-50-norway-stores-from-four-ceo-gardsell-says |
JBS Rises Most in Week as Mad Cow Concern Eases: Sao Paulo Mover | By Ney Hayashi | 2012-04-25T20:26:28Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/jbs-rises-most-in-week-as-mad-cow-concern-eases-sao-paulo-mover.html | 4 | 25 | 647275bf81e93dc0c69f1ca19ed42e5f6a9b0ee9 | JBS SA (JBSS3) , the world’s biggest beef
producer, advanced the most in a week as concern eased that a
case of mad-cow disease reported in the U.S. may hurt the
company’s units in North America . JBS gained 4.2 percent to 7.46 reais at the close in Sao
Paulo, the most since April 18. The Bovespa index rose 0.4
percent. The beef producer’s shares fell as much as 5.2 percent
yesterday after the U.S. Agriculture Department confirmed the
illness in a dairy cow in central California before it could
enter the human food chain. “At first, when people hear ‘mad cow,’ there’s panic,”
Caue Pinheiro, an analyst at SLW Corretora brokerage, said by
phone from Sao Paulo . “What so far is just one isolated case
won’t affect the company. It’s an alert, but, if no other cases
are found, it shouldn’t be a big issue.” JBS, which produces more than a third of its beef in the
U.S., said in a regulatory filing today that the case won’t
affect its business. Mexico’s Agriculture Ministry expects its cattle trade with
the U.S. to remain unchanged, and European Union spokesman
Frederic Vincent said the EU plans no measures in response to
the case. To contact the reporter on this story:
Ney Hayashi in Sao Paulo at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Papadopoulos in New York at
[email protected] | 2012 | jbs-rises-most-in-week-as-mad-cow-concern-eases-sao-paulo-mover |
Telmex Profit Falls on Phone Fees, Pension Expenses | By Crayton Harrison | 2012-04-25T04:01:00Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/telmex-profit-falls-on-phone-fees-pension-expenses.html | 4 | 25 | 2479ed6acea777af58d89aec78e73fdc5ecf749d | Telefonos de Mexico SAB, the fixed-
line unit of America Movil SAB (AMXL) , reported a 7.3 percent decline
in first-quarter profit after cutting fees for calls to mobile
phones and spending more on its pension fund. Net income dropped to 3.48 billion pesos ($264 million), or
19 centavos a share, from 3.76 billion pesos, or 21 centavos, a
year earlier. Sales slid 3.5 percent to 26.6 billion pesos. Telmex, as the Mexico City-based company is known, cut
prices for calls to mobile lines after Mexican regulators forced
wireless carriers last year to reduce their fees. The reduction
cut Telmex’s revenue from interconnection charges by 42 percent
to 1.83 billion pesos. Pension-fund contributions and higher labor costs helped
push expenses up 2 percent to 17 billion pesos. Telmex closed
the quarter with 14.6 million phone lines, down 6.3 percent from
a year earlier, and 8.1 million high-speed Internet connections,
up 6.8 percent. Telmex rose 0.2 percent to 10.13 pesos yesterday in Mexico
City before the results were announced. America Movil ,
controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim , gained 1 percent to 16.64
pesos. To contact the reporter on this story:
Crayton Harrison in Mexico City at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Nick Turner at
[email protected] | 2012 | elmex-profit-falls-on-phone-fees-pension-expenses |
Russia’s Grain Sowing Advances by 77%, SovEcon Says | By Marina Sysoyeva | 2012-04-25T13:38:57Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/russia-s-grain-sowing-advances-by-77-sovecon-says.html | 4 | 25 | b06991c10c5db6283863ea3b839b1f5b813ef170 | Russia’s grain sowing increased by
77 percent year-on-year to about 2.7 million hectares (6.7
million acres) to date, Moscow-based researcher SovEcon said on
its website, citing agriculture ministry data. Farmers in the Volga area started planting earlier this
season due to favorable weather, SovEcon said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Marina Sysoyeva in Moscow at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
John Deane at
[email protected] | 2012 | russia-s-grain-sowing-advances-by-77-sovecon-says |
Watson to Acquire Actavis Group for Eur4.25 Billion | By Will Daley | 2012-04-25T20:07:09Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/watson-to-acquire-actavis-group-for-eur4-25-billion.html | 4 | 25 | 1a93f7eacfadf2b1676ee2eac53994235297bad8 | Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. (WPI) said it
agreed to acquire privately held Actavis Group for EUR4.25
billion ($5.6 billion). This acquisition will make Watson the third largest global
generics company with 2012 anticipated pro forma revenue of
about $8 billion, the Parsippany, New Jersy-based compay said
today in a statement. To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Will Daley at
[email protected] | 2012 | watson-to-acquire-actavis-group-for-eur4-25-billion |
Consumer Stocks Climb as Wen Bolsters Outlook: China Overnight | By Belinda Cao and Leon Lazaroff | 2012-04-25T20:41:17Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/consumer-stocks-climb-as-wen-bolsters-outlook-china-overnight.html
Chinese equities in the U.S. rose
for the first time in four days, led by consumer stocks, on
prospects the world’s second-largest economy will maintain
growth as domestic demand climbs. Air carriers China Eastern Airlines Corp. (CEA) and China
Southern Airlines Co. (ZNH) rallied in New York, while online travel
agency Elong Inc. (LONG) rose the most in three weeks. The Bloomberg
China-US Equity Index (CH55BN) of the most-traded Chinese shares in the
U.S. added 1.1 percent to 101.74 in New York. Macau casino
operator Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (MPEL) traded at a premium over
its Hong Kong stock for the first time in four days. The world’s biggest exporter will sustain “steady and
robust” economic growth, Premier Wen Jiabao told reporters in
Stockholm on April 24, more than a month after releasing the
lowest annual target for expansion since 2004. While demand
outside of China is waning, growth in the domestic market will
bolster industrial output in this quarter, after the pace picked
up in the first three months of 2012 from the least in two
years, Zhu Hongren , spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology, said yesterday in Beijing. “A lot of consumer stocks are on a rebound as there’s been
a lot of data recently supporting the views of the soft landing
crowd,” Erik Lam, director of Asian equity sales at Auerbach
Grayson & Co. in New York, said by a phone yesterday. “Growth
is already coming from domestic demand, and as a result, stocks
viewed as benefiting from increased consumption, Internet,
airlines, casino, are getting a boost.” China ETF Rises The IShares FTSE China 25 Index Fund (FXI) , the biggest Chinese
exchange-traded fund in the U.S., climbed 0.9 percent to $37.53
in its second day of gains. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX)
jumped 1.4 percent to 1,390.69 yesterday, after Apple Inc. (AAPL) said
quarterly earnings almost doubled and Federal Reserve Chairman
Ben S. Bernanke said he remains prepared to do more to stimulate
growth if needed. E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. (DANG) , the nation’s biggest
Internet bookseller, surged 9.7 percent to $8.23 in New York
yesterday, extending its advance this year to 87 percent. American depositary receipts of Shanghai-based China
Eastern , the nation’s second-largest carrier by passenger
numbers, rose 3.5 percent to $15.96 in New York, the highest
close since April 9. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) reiterated its buy rating on China
Eastern on April 23, saying it expects the airline to make a
“small profit” in the first quarter. China Eastern is due to
report results for the period tomorrow. Guangzhou-based China Southern, Asia’s biggest air carrier
by passenger numbers, advanced 2.4 percent to $21.25 in New
York, the biggest one-day rally in two weeks. The company’s ADRs
traded 0.6 percent above its Hong Kong stock, which climbed 1.9
percent to HK$3.28 yesterday, the equivalent of 43 U.S. cents.
The premium in the ADRs, each representing 50 Hong Kong shares,
was the highest since April 12. Acquity IPO Acquity Group Ltd. (AQ) , a Hong Kong-based digital marketing
firm, will push ahead with its U.S. initial public offering,
even as the second Chinese company to try and sell shares in New
York this year postponed its IPO. Acquity plans to raise as much as $55.6 million today,
selling American depositary receipts in the company in a price
range of $8 to $10 apiece, according to an April 23 filing.
Beijing-based China Auto Rental Holdings Inc. delayed its IPO on
April 24 because of “the current capital market conditions”
according to an e-mailed statement from the car rental company’s
public relations firm. “We are still on schedule,” Audrey Ling, Acquity’s
investor relations manager, said by phone yesterday in New York,
after China Auto’s announcement. The IPO will be priced today
and the shares will start trading on the New York Stock Exchange
tomorrow, she said. Low Valuations Chinese companies listed in the U.S. on the Bloomberg gauge
are trading at 18.9 times analysts earnings estimates, near the
lowest valuation in nine months. The Bloomberg Russia-US Equity
Index (RUS14BN) of the most-traded Russian companies in the U.S. has a
price to earnings ratio of 6.5 times estimates, near the lowest
in 12 weeks. “China is a really cheap market in search of a catalyst,
which is going to be improvement in non-inflationary growth, but
it will come slowly,” Nicholas Smithie, a New York-based
emerging market strategist at UBS AG, said in a phone interview.
“For the moment, investors want exposure to Chinese consumer
stocks because that’s an area of growth, and also a sector that
is very scarcely represented in the indices.” Beijing-based Elong, whose biggest shareholder is U.S.
online travel agency Expedia Inc. (EXPE) , increased 1.4 percent to
$14.37, the biggest one-day jump since April 5. Melco Crown | 4 | 25 | 0696735b7ebc4af58dc6154e1fceefe0 | $15.78 in New York, trading 2.1 percent above its Hong Kong
stock, the widest premium in four days. The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) advanced 0.8 percent to
2,406.81 yesterday, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI)
of Chinese companies traded in Hong Kong was little changed at
10,812.79. To contact the reporters on this story:
Belinda Cao in New York at
[email protected] ;
Leon Lazaroff in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Emma O’Brien at
[email protected] | 2012 | consumer-stocks-climb-as-wen-bolsters-outlook-china-overnig |
BP Oil Spill Judge ‘Leaning’ Toward Pact Approval | By Allen Johnson Jr. and Margaret Cronin Fisk | 2012-04-26T04:01:01Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/bp-oil-spill-judge-leaning-toward-pact-approval.html | 4 | 25 | 92732dc8365b46a48f9971556473ce3a | The U.S. judge presiding over
lawsuits tied to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill said he is
“leaning” toward approving BP Plc (BP/) 's multibillion dollar
settlement with private plaintiffs. BP in March agreed to pay an estimated $7.8 billion to
resolve most private plaintiffs’ claims for economic loss,
property damage and spill and cleanup-related injuries. Lawyers
for BP and the plaintiffs filed the accord April 18 with U.S.
District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans, seeking preliminary
approval. The settlement establishes two separate classes, one
for economic loss and the other for any physical injuries
related to the spill or the cleanup. Barbier said at a hearing yesterday that he is “leaning”
toward preliminary approval because “without it there can be no
due process.” This includes sending out notices to potential
class members, he said. “But again I remind people, this is
just a starting point, not an ending point,” Barbier said. Barbier said he would issue a ruling “within the next
several days or a week or so.” The blowout and explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling
rig killed 11 workers and caused the worst offshore oil spill in
U.S. history. The accident prompted hundreds of lawsuits against
London-based BP; Transocean Ltd. (RIG) , the Vernier, Switzerland-based
owner and operator of the rig; and Halliburton Co. (HAL) , which
provided cementing services. Other Claims The proposed settlement, reached March 2, days before a
scheduled trial on liability for the 2010 spill, doesn’t cover
federal government claims and those of Gulf Coast states
Louisiana and Alabama . It also excludes claims of financial institutions, casinos,
private plaintiffs in parts of Florida and Texas , and residents
and businesses claiming harm from the Obama administration’s
moratorium on deep-water drilling prompted by the spill. Lawyers for BP and the plaintiffs argued yesterday before
Barbier for preliminary approval of the settlement. Barbier
didn’t hear from objectors to the settlement, including
Halliburton. Barbier said he would review all objections. “This is not a final approval of anything,” Barbier said
as the hearing began. The proceeding is meant only to consider
the request by BP and plaintiffs’ attorneys for preliminary
approval, he said. “The earliest we could get final approval on
this scheduled would be early November,” he said. “Preliminary approval of both settlements is warranted,”
BP lawyer Richard Godfrey told Barbier. The agreement is
“comprehensive” and far-reaching, he said. ‘Full and Fair’ Unlike lawsuits over the Exxon Valdez oil spill or other
class actions, “this is full and fair compensation offered
now,” not after years of litigation, Godfrey said. “BP made a
commitment to paying now,” he said. “We tried to achieve the greatest good for the greatest
amount of people,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Robin Greenwald,
who described the medical benefits section of the settlement to
the court. BP and the Plaintiffs Steering Committee, a group of
lawyers appointed by Barbier to handle the lawsuits, asked the
judge to hold a Nov. 8 fairness hearing before final approval of
the accord and to postpone any trial on liability until after
the hearing. BP has agreed to pay claimants before final
approval of the settlement, plaintiffs’ attorney Steve Herman
told Barbier yesterday. Macondo Well The plaintiffs’ and government claims against BP’s
contractors on the doomed Macondo well remain, and no new trial
date has been set. A trial would cover federal and state
government pollution claims, as well as cross-claims between BP
and its partner companies in the Macondo site and rig. Under the settlement, BP has assigned to the plaintiffs the
company’s right to seek cleanup costs and the value of the lost
oil from Transocean and Halliburton. The proposed settlement between BP and the Plaintiffs
Steering Committee will be paid out of a $20 billion trust set
up to compensate spill victims. The trust has about $14 billion
remaining. BP has estimated the cost at $7.8 billion. All sides agree
the amount may increase depending on the number of claims paid.
The amount also may be lower than the estimate. If the trust is
exhausted, the company will pay additional funds directly,
lawyers for the plaintiffs said last month. ‘No Cap’ “There is no cap on the settlement,” plaintiffs’ attorney
Joe Rice told Barbier at the hearing. Rice, an attorney with
Motley Rice LLC in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina , was one of
the PSC’s lead negotiators for the BP settlement. “No attorney
fees will be deducted” from individual settlements, Rice said. BP will pay attorneys fees and costs on top of the
settlement amount, Rice said. Administration of the settlement
will also be paid by BP, he said. Halliburton is opposing the settlement, according to a
court filing. The Houston-based company “objects to the limited
amount of time available to analyze the settlement agreements
and files these preliminary objections,” Donald E. Godwin, a
lawyer for the Houston-based company, said in court papers filed
April 24. Halliburton also objects to the agreement because it
assigns BP’s claims against the company to the plaintiffs
lawyers and attempts to make Halliburton “liable in part for
settlement payments,” Godwin said. The settlement also
restricts Halliburton’s ability to settle claims, he said. Quick-Pay Claims Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood said in a court
filing yesterday that the spill victims who previously agreed to
accept so-called quick-pay settlements should be allowed to
participate in the settlement process. Individuals received
$5,000 and businesses got $25,000 through the quick-pay claim
system, regardless of the magnitude of damages they suffered. Many of the 200,000 spill victims who gave up their right
to sue for actual and future damages did so “as a result of
economic duress,” because they didn’t have the economic staying
power to wait for a court resolution of their claims, Hood said. The American Shrimp Processors Association asked Barbier
this week to delay preliminary approval of the settlement,
calling it biased against some members of the shrimp industry.
The accord treats shrimp harvesters and boat captains better
than owners of docks and plants that receive the catch and
prepare it for market, the organization said in court papers
April 23. The deal will allow victims who aren’t satisfied with it to
opt out and pursue lawsuits against BP. Plaintiffs not covered
in the overall settlement, such as those claiming harm from the
drilling moratorium that followed the spill, can continue to
pursue their claims, according to the April 18 filing of the
proposed agreement. The case is In re Oil Spill by the Oil Rig Deepwater
Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, MDL-2179, U.S.
District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana ( New Orleans ). To contact the reporter on this story:
Margaret Cronin Fisk in Detroit at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Hytha at
[email protected] | 2012 | bp-oil-spill-judge-leaning-toward-pact-approva |
BofA Offers to Repurchase $1.75 Billion of Its Own Debt | By Hugh Son | 2012-04-25T21:15:40Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/bofa-offers-to-repurchase-1-75-billion-of-its-own-debt-1-.html | 4 | 25 | bddd029cd3df9c12ff865c6003dfe863a6f77d1f | Bank of America Corp. , the second-
largest U.S. bank, offered to buy back $1.75 billion of trust-
preferred securities and subordinated notes to cut debt. The offers expire midnight in New York on May 22, unless
extended, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank said today in
a pair of statements. The company, which announced plans last
year to retire debt, said it reserves the right to repurchase
more securities. Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan, 52, is reducing
his firm’s long-term debt while raising capital to meet demands
from regulators for a larger cushion against losses. Trust-
preferred securities won’t count as Tier 1 common equity under
coming rules set by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. “It’s part of the continuing effort we have to strengthen
our balance sheet and improve the quality of our capital,” said
Jerry Dubrowski, a Bank of America spokesman. Bank of America retired $4.2 billion of debt for cash and
exchanged $730 million of trust-preferred securities for cash
and shares in the first quarter, the firm said this month. Those
actions helped improve Tier 1 common equity by $1.7 billion in
the quarter. To contact the reporter on this story:
Hugh Son in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Kraut at [email protected] | 2012 | bofa-offers-to-repurchase-1-75-billion-of-its-own-debt-1- |
Nokia Delays U.K. Start of Flagship Lumia on U.S. Demand | By Jonathan Browning | 2012-04-25T16:18:56Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/nokia-delays-u-k-start-of-flagship-lumia-on-u-s-demand.html | 4 | 25 | 829389958fbade6e50c46170b8ecd25d63157e3c | Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) said it is delaying the
introduction of its Lumia 900 smartphone in the U.K. by more
than two weeks because of demand for the handset in the U.S. The “overwhelming demand” for the flagship device in the
U.S. with operator AT&T Inc. (T) had a “knock-on effect on product
availability in the U.K.,” Nokia spokesman Hans Tranberg said
in a statement to Bloomberg. The device will now be available
from British retailer Phones4U on May 14, compared with an
initial target date of April 27. AT&T started selling the device, Nokia’s first phone for
fourth-generation networks, on April 8 for $99.99 and U.S. rival
Verizon Wireless is also preparing to add a new Nokia model. The
handset, running Microsoft Corp. Windows Phone software, was
initially hit by a glitch in the data software, with Nokia
giving customers $100 credit on their phone bills. Nokia reported sales of about 2 million Lumia phones in the
first quarter. The Espoo, Finland-based company plans to
increase advertising spending on the product this quarter, Chief
Executive Officer Stephen Elop said last week. AT&T and Verizon Wireless are counting on the Lumia and
forthcoming Windows models to provide an alternative to Apple
Inc.’s iPhone and Google Inc. Android handsets. While AT&T and Verizon sell millions of those devices, the
products can be more costly than other phones to subsidize,
especially the iPhone. The companies also face the risk that an
Apple-Google duopoly will erode carriers’ ability to distinguish
themselves and will further squeeze their profit margins. Once dominant in the mobile-phone industry, Nokia’s market
capitalization has fallen by about 70 billion euros since Apple
introduced the iPhone in 2007. Last quarter, Nokia’s shipments
slid 24 percent to 83 million phones, the lowest level in almost
six years. To contact the reporter on this story:
Jonathan Browning in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Kenneth Wong at
[email protected] | 2012 | nokia-delays-u-k-start-of-flagship-lumia-on-u-s-demand |
Asian Currencies Advance as U.S. Data Improves Export Outlook | By Yumi Teso and Liau Y-Sing | 2012-04-25T08:46:50Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/asian-currencies-advance-as-u-s-data-improves-export-outlook.html | 4 | 25 | f1fe9f3e212642ccb4ea171fe7c772b1 | Asian currencies strengthened, led
by India ’s rupee, as signs the U.S. economic recovery is gaining
momentum brightened the region’s export outlook. The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index (MXAP) rose for a second
day after a report yesterday showed new homes in the U.S. were
sold at a 328,000 annual rate in March, more than the 319,000
projection in a Bloomberg survey. South Korea ’s consumer
confidence was at 104 in April, the highest in 11 months, a
central bank report showed today, while Thai exports gained for
a second month in March after three months of declines,
according to a Bloomberg survey before data due tomorrow. “The U.S. recovery is adding to confidence that export-
oriented Asian countries will benefit from firmer growth,” said
Yeah Kim Leng, chief economist at RAM Holdings Bhd. in Kuala
Lumpur. “That has helped to shore up Asian currencies.” The rupee rose 0.2 percent to 52.6150 per dollar as of 2:15
p.m. in Mumbai, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Malaysia’s ringgit climbed 0.1 percent to 3.0607, the Philippine
peso advanced 0.1 percent to 42.665 and China ’s yuan
strengthened 0.05 percent to 6.3041. The Asia Dollar Index,
which tracks the region’s 10 most-active currencies excluding
the yen, was up 0.05 percent at 116.52. The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index of shares rose, snapping a
four-day loss, after yields on Spanish and Dutch bonds fell
following auctions. The Federal Reserve will release its
forecasts for interest rates , economic growth and inflation in
the world’s largest economy today. India’s rupee appreciated after U.S. corporate earnings
improved the outlook for the global economy, spurring demand for
emerging-market assets. U.S. Corporate Earnings The rupee pared this month’s loss to 3.3 percent after
earnings for companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose
12 percent in the first quarter and results beat analysts’
estimates by 9.4 percent, according to the 145 corporates listed
in the gauge that have released results since April 10. Apple
Inc. reported earnings yesterday that almost doubled last
quarter. Wipro Ltd., India’s third-largest software exporter,
reported today that fourth-quarter net income increased 7.2
percent, matching analysts’ estimates. “Risk appetite looks pretty supported,” said Goh Puay Yeong, a Singapore-based foreign-exchange strategist at Credit
Suisse Group AG. Faster Inflation Taiwan’s dollar snapped two days of losses amid speculation
the central bank will tolerate faster appreciation to tame
inflation. Taiwan Power Co., the island’s only electricity
retailer, said on April 12 it will increase prices for the first
time in more than three years after posting losses on rising
fuel costs. Consumer prices rose 1.21 percent in March from a
year earlier after climbing 0.23 percent in February, official
data show. “Gains in the Taiwan dollar will help ease imported
inflation,” said Eric Hsing, a fixed-income trader at First
Securities Inc. in Taipei. The local dollar closed at NT$29.514 against the greenback
from NT$29.526 yesterday, after appreciating as much as 0.4
percent earlier to NT$29.40. Elsewhere, Thailand’s baht added 0.1 percent to 30.94 per
dollar, while Indonesia’s rupiah was little changed at 9,192.
South Korea’s won fell 0.1 percent to 1,141.35 and Vietnam’s
dong slumped 0.4 percent to 20,853. To contact the reporters on this story:
Yumi Teso in Bangkok at
[email protected] ;
Liau Y-Sing in Kuala Lumpur at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Sandy Hendry at
[email protected] . | 2012 | asian-currencies-advance-as-u-s-data-improves-export-outlook |
North American Bancard’s $150 Million Term Loan Rises in Trading | By Michael Amato | 2012-04-25T20:48:57Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/north-american-bancard-s-150-million-term-loan-rises-in-trading.html | 4 | 25 | b920eaa33bbe8134c6f6ec3d80788860397bf1a6 | North American Bancard LLC’s $150
million term loan to refinance debt and to fund a dividend
payment rose in its first day of trading, according to Markit
Group Ltd. The debt for the provider of credit-card processing
services began trading yesterday at par, Markit prices show.
That’s up from the issue price of 98.5 cents on the dollar,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Credit Suisse Group AG arranged the financing for the Troy,
Michigan-based company, the data show. The loan pays interest at 5.5 percentage points more than
the London interbank offered rate, with a 1.5 percent floor for
the benchmark, Bloomberg data show. Libor, the rate at which
banks say they can borrow in dollars from each other, serves as
a reference for about $360 trillion of financial instruments
worldwide. Lenders will receive one-year soft-call protection of 101
cents, meaning the company would have to pay 1 cent more than
face value to refinance the debt during the first year. In a revolving credit facility, money can be borrowed again
once it’s repaid; in a term loan it can’t. To contact the reporter on this story:
Michael Amato in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Faris Khan at
[email protected] | 2012 | north-american-bancard-s-150-million-term-loan-rises-in-trading |
Gas Stockpiles May Show Below-Average Increase, Analysts Say | By Naureen S. Malik | 2012-04-25T18:17:53Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/gas-stockpiles-may-show-below-average-increase-analysts-say.html | 4 | 25 | d197b806c72c579ea7ec4419fbca0dc40cc21b7b | U.S. natural-gas stockpiles
increased by 1.8 percent last week as mild weather kept fuel
demand near seasonal norms, according to analyst estimates
compiled by Bloomberg. Inventories rose by 45 billion cubic feet to 2.557 trillion
in the week ended April 20, based on the median of 21 estimates.
The five-year average change for the week is an increase of 47
billion, according to the Energy Department, which is scheduled
to release its weekly supply report tomorrow. “You had a demand decrease on the heating side because
temperatures got warmer, but the decrease was not as big,” said
Anthony Yuen, a natural-gas strategist at Citigroup Inc. in New
York . “I think the excess gas will shrink and that will help
the gas prices rise.” Warm weather early last week in the Northeast and mid-
Atlantic states increased gas use at power plants to run air
conditioners, Yuen said. The high temperature in New York City ’s Central Park on
April 16 was 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31 Celsius), 26 above
normal, the National Weather Service said. U.S. cooling demand
was 46 percent above normal that day while demand for heat was
49 percent below normal for the week ended April 21, according
to Weather Derivatives of Belton, Missouri . Possible Cooling A brief cold snap could lift heating demand to 4 percent
above normal in the Northeast and north-central states for the
seven days ending May 2 while national cooling use may be 27
percent above normal, Weather Derivatives said. Gas has dropped 32 percent this year on a supply surplus
that widened after the fourth-warmest winter on record in the
U.S. curbed demand while production rose to record levels. U.S. gas use typically slumps after the winter, which is
the peak period for the heating fuel, and before heat spurs
demand from power plants to run air conditioners. Power plants
consumed about 31 percent of U.S. gas supplies in 2011,
according to the Energy Department. The analyst stockpile estimates ranged from gains of 40
billion to 69 billion cubic feet. U.S. stockpiles were 58 percent above the five-year average
for the week ended April 13, down from six-year high surplus of
61 percent at the end of March, department data show. Natural gas futures last week dropped 5.4 cents, or 2.7
percent, to $1.927 per million British thermal units on the New
York Mercantile Exchange , after sliding on April 19 to $1.902,
the lowest intraday price since Jan. 28, 2002. Gas today rose
6.3 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $2.038 at 2:04 p.m. To contact the reporter on this story:
Naureen S. Malik in New York at
[email protected] ; To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at
[email protected] | 2012 | gas-stockpiles-may-show-below-average-increase-analysts-say |
China Unicom, Canon, Fanuc, KDDI, ZTE: Asian Stocks Preview | By Yoshiaki Nohara | 2012-04-25T13:20:17Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/china-unicom-canon-fanuc-kddi-zte-asian-stocks-preview.html | 4 | 25 | 1230f998cbb643b0bd8951669d71c141 | The following companies may have
unusual price changes in Asian trading tomorrow. Stock symbols
are in parentheses and share prices are as of the latest close.
The information in each item was released after markets shut
unless stated otherwise. China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. (762) (762 HK): The nation’s
second-largest mobile phone company said first-quarter net
income rose to 1 billion yuan ($159 million) from a restated 145
million yuan a year earlier. That compared with the 1.1 billion
yuan median of six analysts’ estimates in a Bloomberg News
survey. The stock increased 0.2 percent to HK$13.02. Canon Inc. (7751) (7751 JT): The world’s biggest camera maker
raised its profit forecast for the year ending Dec. 31 after the
yen weakened. Net income may be 290 billion yen ($3.57 billion),
compared with 250 billion-yen forecast in January, the company
said in a statement. The stock added 1.5 percent to 3,800 yen. Chikuho Bank Ltd. (8398) (8398 JF): The regional bank operating in
Fukuoka prefecture reported net income of 360 million yen for
the year ended March 31, according to a preliminary earnings
report, citing security valuations. That compared with its
forecast of 260 million yen. The stock was unchanged at 216 yen. Fanuc Corp. (6954) (6954 JT): The maker of factory automation
systems forecast its operating profit will fall 3.1 percent to
113 billion yen for the six months ending September, according
to a statement. The fiscal year ending March 2013 has started
“with a downward risk in the economy,” the company said. The
stock rose 2.7 percent to 14,800 yen. JCL Bioassay Corp. (2190) (2190 JQ): The trial service provider
for pharmaceutical companies reported a net loss of 186 million
yen lower than its forecast of 392 million yen for the year
ended March, according to a preliminary earnings statement,
citing a weaker yen and cost cuts. The stock added 1.3 percent
to 320 yen. KDDI Corp. (9433) (9433 JT): Japan ’s second-largest mobile-phone
operator, said net income will rise 4.8 percent this fiscal
year, lower than analyst estimates, as competition intensifies
in its main wireless business. Net income will probably increase
to 250 billion yen in the year through March 31, 2013, the
Tokyo-based carrier said in a statement. The shares rose 0.6
percent to 524,000 yen. Maruwn Corp. (9067) (9067 JT): The provider of heavyweight
transportation services reported net income of 560 million yen
for the year ended March, according to a preliminary earnings
statement, citing an increase in corporate taxes. That compared
with its forecast of 580 million yen. The stock slid 0.5 percent
to 206 yen. Nihon Housing Co. (4781) (4781 JT): The manager of residential and
office buildings reported net income of 1.83 billion for the
year ended March, up from its forecast of 1.78 billion yen, the
company said in a preliminary earning statement, citing
streamlining and cost-cutting measures. The stock fell 0.1
percent to 2,089 yen. Nippon Steel Corp. (5401) (5401 JT): Japan’s largest steelmaker,
said it sued Posco in Tokyo District Court seeking 100 billion
yen in damages from the South Korean company for allegedly using
trade secrets acquired illegally by a former employee. The stock
gained 0.5 percent to 201 yen. Nestle India Ltd. (NEST) : The food-and-milk products
maker posted first-quarter profit that rose 8 percent from a
year ago to 2.76 billion rupees, missing the median estimate of
2.99 billion rupees in a Bloomberg News survey of 20 analysts.
The stock advanced 1.1 percent to 4,935.7 rupees. Oki Electric Cable Co. (5815) (5815 JT): The cable maker said its
net income for the year ended March was 95 million yen, down
from 308 million yen a year earlier, according to a preliminary
statement, as the Japanese economy dealt with last year’s
earthquake and a strong yen. The stock added 1.3 percent to 159
yen. Syswave Holdings (6636 JQ): The system developer reported a
net loss of 295 million yen for the year ended March, according
to a preliminary earnings statement, citing last year’s natural
disasters, Thailand floods, a strong yen and Europe ’s financial
crisis. That’s bigger than its forecast of a 63 million yen net
loss. The stock gained 0.8 percent to 6,380 yen. Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. (STLT) : The nation’s
biggest copper producer posted a worse-than-estimated 34 percent
drop in fourth-quarter group profit to 12.8 billion rupees. The
median profit estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 24 analysts was
13.3 billion rupees. The stock closed 2.1 percent
higher at 107.95 rupees. Zhaojin Mining Industry Co. (1818) (1818 HK): The gold producer
reported net income for the first quarter was 216 million yuan,
compared with 224 million yuan a year earlier. The stock fell
1.7 percent to HK$11.44. ZTE Corp. (000063) (763 HK): The Chinese maker of mobile-phone
equipment said profit for the three months ended March 31 rose
19 percent to 151 million yuan from a year earlier. The stock
gained 2 percent to HK$19.60. To contact the reporter on this story:
Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
John McCluskey at
[email protected] | 2012 | china-unicom-canon-fanuc-kddi-zte-asian-stocks-preview |
European Banks Remain Vulnerable, Estonia Central Bank Says | By Ott Ummelas | 2012-04-25T08:00:05Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/european-banks-remain-vulnerable-estonia-central-bank-says.html | 4 | 25 | 98e09df93895d48dbb9e03586b5e48f1a50daa61 | European banks remain vulnerable
and the region’s governments need to continue with austerity
measures to overcome their debt crisis, the Estonian central
bank said. The causes of the debt crisis haven’t disappeared, even as
the long-term refinancing operations of the European Central
Bank have “somewhat” eased the tensions in financial markets
at the beginning of the year, the Tallinn-based Eesti Pank said
in an e-mailed statement today. “The partly fragile European banking sector and a weak
economic growth outlook show that Europe ’s financial system
remains vulnerable and the debt crisis isn’t over,” the bank
said. “Thus the governments in the euro area need to continue
reforms and budget consolidation necessary for solving the
crisis as the long-term loans offered to banks by the euro
system is a temporary measure.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Ott Ummelas in Tallinn at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Balazs Penz at
[email protected] | 2012 | european-banks-remain-vulnerable-estonia-central-bank-says |
Polish Stocks: Bogdanka, Polskie Gornictwo Shares Move in Warsaw | By Piotr Bujnicki | 2012-04-25T16:12:07Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/polish-stocks-bogdanka-polskie-gornictwo-shares-move-in-warsaw.html | 4 | 25 | 33864e3f1c30bdf23cff692589199b97f26c28ee | Poland’s WIG20 Index (WIG20) advanced 0.3
percent to 2,185.89 at the close in Warsaw, climbing for the
second day. The following are among the most active stocks on the
Warsaw Stock Exchange today. Stock symbols follow company names. Lubelski Wegiel Bogdanka SA (LWB) , jumped 4.7 percent to
125.2 zloty, the most since November, after the country’s
second-largest publicly traded coal producer had its price
estimate raised to 181 zloty from 154 zloty at Credit Suisse
Group AG. The stock’s outperform rating was maintained. Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo SA (PGN PW),
Poland’s biggest gas company, lost 1.5 percent to 4 zloty, the
lowest level since March 29 after saying gas production at its
Skarv field off Norway has been delayed to the fourth quarter
from the second quarter. To contact the reporter on this story:
Piotr Bujnicki in Warsaw
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Gavin Serkin at
[email protected] | 2012 | polish-stocks-bogdanka-polskie-gornictwo-shares-move-in-warsaw |
Stocks Advance on Earnings, Fed as Treasuries Trim Drop | By Michael Shanahan and Rita Nazareth | 2012-04-25T20:15:30Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/asian-stocks-gain-on-earnings-cattle-futures-rebound.html | 4 | 25 | 9a1dd1a1d58343a6a66f88e18eeff4a4 | Stocks (MXWD) rose for a second day as
earnings beat estimates at companies from Apple Inc. (AAPL) to Boeing
Co. (BA) , while Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said he
remains prepared to do more to stimulate growth if needed.
Treasuries pared earlier losses and the dollar weakened. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index jumped 1.4 percent to close
at 1,390.69 at 4 p.m. in New York . The Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) rallied
2.7 percent, the most in 2012, with Apple surging 8.9 percent
for its best gain in more than three years. Ten-year Treasury
note yields added one basis point to 1.99 percent after gaining
six points earlier. The dollar fell versus 13 of 16 major peers.
Cattle rebounded after tumbling yesterday following the first
U.S. case of mad-cow disease in six years. Apple late yesterday posted earnings that almost doubled,
reflecting growing demand for the iPhone in China and helping
the most-valuable company rebound following a 12 percent slide
from its record on April 9. The Fed said policy makers expect
the economy to accelerate gradually, increasing forecasts for
2012 growth and reducing projections for the jobless rate.
Bernanke said the central bank remains prepared to take
additional action if needed to boost the economy. “The Fed is providing an insurance policy to the
economy,” Ann Miletti, senior portfolio manager for Wells Fargo
Advantage Funds in Menomonee Falls , Wisconsin, said in a
telephone interview. Her firm manages $213 billion. “There’s a
sense that things are improving, yet there’s some instability.
The Fed is saying that it will be there to help keep things
going. Earnings have been strong. The market likes it.” Fed Projections Fed policy makers repeated the view that borrowing costs
are likely to remain “exceptionally low” at least through
2014. Fed officials forecast the unemployment rate would average
7.8 percent to 8 percent in the final three months of this year
versus a forecast of 8.2 percent to 8.5 percent in January,
according to central tendency estimates. The economy is forecast
to expand at a 2.4 percent to 2.9 percent rate this year,
compared with a previous forecast for 2.2 percent to 2.7
percent. “We remain prepared to do more as needed to make sure that
this recovery continues and that inflation stays close to
target,” Bernanke said at a press conference today following a
meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee . Officials raised
forecasts for the inflation rate this year, as measured by the
personal consumption expenditures index (MXEF) , to 1.9 percent to 2
percent, from 1.4 percent to 1.8 percent. The forecasts reflect
the so-called central tendency, which excludes the three highest
and three lowest projections of 17 policy makers. Earnings Season Quarterly earnings-per-share have risen 11 percent for the
174 companies in the S&P 500 that reported since April 10, with
per-share results beating analysts’ forecasts by 9.7 percent,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Before the start of the
earnings season, analysts had predicted earnings growth of 0.8
percent. Boeing Co. rallied 5.3 percent to lead the Dow Jones
Industrial Average up 89.16 points to 13,090.72. Earnings beat
estimates as the world’s largest aerospace company delivered
more commercial jets while pushing production to record levels.
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) had the biggest drop in the Dow, tumbling 4.6
percent, as a gain in quarterly revenue trailed analysts’
estimates after sales of construction equipment fell in China
and Brazil. Corning Inc. (GLW) , the largest maker of glass for flat-panel
television sets, and Harley-Davidson Inc., the biggest U.S.
motorcycle maker, also jumped at least 6.2 percent after
releasing results that beat estimates. “The earnings season is shaping up to be quite a bit
better than expected,” said Mike Ryan , the New York-based chief
investment strategist at UBS Wealth Management Americas, which
oversees $844 billion. “Remember that the bar was set
incredibly low. Overall however, it is supportive for markets.
What this tells us is that we are in a more sustainable and
durable expansion.” Durable Goods Equities advanced even as Commerce Department data showed
bookings for durable goods dropped 4.2 percent, the biggest
decrease since January 2009. Economists forecast a 1.7 percent
decline, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News
survey. Shipments of non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft,
used in calculating gross domestic product, increased 2.6
percent. The bigger-than-forecast gain in shipments in that
category may prompt some economists to boost estimates for
growth in the first quarter, while the drop in orders means
projections for GDP this quarter may be cut. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index (SXXP) rose 1 percent, extending
yesterday’s 1 percent gain. Electrolux AB climbed 6.5 percent as
the world’s second-biggest appliance maker reported first-
quarter earnings that beat analysts’ estimates after raising
prices in North America . Swedbank AB (SWEDA) rallied 3.5 percent and
Temenos Group AG, a Swiss maker of banking software, jumped 19
percent after the companies also reported results. U.K. Contracts Benchmark indexes in Germany, Italy and France rose at
least 1.7 percent. The FTSE-100 Index lagged, rising 0.2
percent, after U.K. gross domestic product contracted 0.2
percent from the fourth quarter of 2011, when it shrank 0.3
percent, the Office for National Statistics said. The median
economist estimate in a survey was for an increase of 0.1
percent. A technical recession is defined as two straight
quarters of contraction. Cattle futures rebounded 0.6 percent to $1.12275 a pound
after falling by the 3-cent exchange limit yesterday. Japan, the
European Union and Taiwan said they’ll continue to import U.S.
beef after a case of mad cow disease was reported in California,
the first in six years. The disease, known as bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, was found in a dairy cow in central California,
John Clifford, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief
veterinarian, said yesterday. Meat from the animal didn’t enter
the food chain, he said. Oil Supplies Oil rose 0.6 percent to $104.12 a barrel as the Fed’s
statement overshadowed a U.S. Energy Department report showing
supplies increased 3.98 million barrels to 373 million, the
report showed. They were forecast to grow 2.8 million barrels,
according to the median of 11 analyst estimates in a Bloomberg
survey. Oil, which rallied as much as 0.9 percent earlier today,
also retreated from its high of the session after Iran’s envoy
in Moscow said his country is considering a Russian proposal to
halt the expansion of its atomic program to avert new sanctions. Thirty-year Treasury bonds also declined, sending yields up
two basis points to 3.15 percent. Two-year yields were little
changed at 0.27 percent. Treasury Auction The U.S. sold $35 billion in five-year notes at higher-
than-average demand. The notes drew a yield of 0.887 percent,
compared with a forecast of 0.905 percent in a Bloomberg News
survey of 11 of the Fed’s primary dealers. The bid-to-cover
ratio, which gauges demand by comparing total bids with the
amount of securities offered, was 3.09, compared with an average
of 2.88 for the previous 10 sales. Among European bond markets, Germany’s 10-year rate
increased four basis points to 1.74 percent and U.K. gilt yields
rose 4.5 points to 2.14 percent. Rates on Spanish, Italian and
Portuguese debt decreased. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index added 0.1 percent as the
Shanghai Composite gauge jumped 0.8 percent and Taiwan TWSE (TWSE)
added 0.9 percent. Among eastern European markets, Hungary’s BUX
index rallied 4.2 percent to lead gains and the forint rose
against all 16 major peers after the nation won the go-ahead to
pursue a financial aid package. To contact the reporter on this story:
Michael Shanahan in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Nick Baker at
[email protected] | 2012 | asian-stocks-gain-on-earnings-cattle-futures-rebound |
Fernandez Taps YPF Nostalgia as Takeover Bid Boosts Support | By Eliana Raszewski | 2012-04-25T13:53:24Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/fernandez-taps-ypf-nostalgia-as-takeover-boosts-flagging-support.html | 4 | 25 | 6b74f9e953c04f08a1e98c3cb52bfdd3 | President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s surprise takeover of YPF SA (YPFD) is likely to boost her
flagging popularity as Argentines rally behind the re-
nationalization of the country’s biggest oil producer. Fernandez’s support tumbled 18 percentage points to 44
percent in March after her October re-election as she limited
imports and tightened exchange controls, said Mariel Fornoni,
director of Buenos Aires pollster Management & Fit. Her decision
to take control of YPF from Spain ’s Repsol YPF SA (REP) , which is up
for a vote in the Senate today, tapped into support among 90
percent of Argentines who think energy and utility services
should be government-controlled, Fornoni said. “This is a society that supports state management and the
decision on YPF has strong backing,” Fornoni said in an
interview yesterday. “The government knew this decision would
touch people’s emotions.” Frustration over fuel shortages at gas stations and what
Fernandez said was a lack of investment and falling oil
production has helped unify support in both chambers of Congress
for the government’s plan to take a 51 percent stake in YPF.
Even Senator Carlos Menem, who sold YPF to investors in 1993
when he was president, said he’ll back the plan. For decades a symbol of the open road, YPF is Argentina ’s
flagship company, once offering fuel to drivers directly in
front of the presidential palace. The company, whose blue and
white logo matches the colors of the Argentine flag, produces
maps of the country’s highways and has 1,600 fuel stations
stretching from the Bolivian border to Tierra del Fuego. Popular Support About 62 percent of the public backs Fernandez’s move to
reclaim YPF, according to an April 19-20 survey by Poliarquia
Consultores that was published in newspaper La Nacion. The poll
of 1,115 people had a margin of error of 3 percentage points. “Argentina is once again going to take control of a
strategic resource that no other nation in the world has given
up,” Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo said in a statement
yesterday, citing Chile , Uruguay and Venezuela as examples of
countries with state-run energy companies. Premium auto fuel costs about 6 pesos ($1.36) per liter in
Buenos Aires, compared to about $1.76 in Chile and $1.60 in
Brazil . Senate debate on the YPF bill started at 10:30 a.m. in
Buenos Aires. Fernandez’s Peronist party and its allies control
both houses of Congress. Approval by the Senate will send the
legislation to the lower house. Sovereign Control “We need to have sovereign control of our resources,”
Fernandez, 59, said in a speech yesterday, adding that she has
never been more nervous than before her announcement about the
takeover. “I am absolutely certain that this is the only road
possible for us.” Argentine officials haven’t said how the government intends
to pay for the takeover. Economy Minister Hernan Lorenzino said
April 20 that the government needs to wait for a valuation of
the shares by a legal tribunal before taking further steps. Officials at the presidential palace didn’t respond to
messages left by Bloomberg. Repsol’s shares have declined 19 percent since Fernandez’s
announcement, which came four days after Jujuy province Governor
Eduardo Fellner left a meeting with the president saying there
was no prepared takeover plan. Repsol’s credit rating was cut by
Standard & Poor’s last week to BBB- from BBB with a negative
outlook. The outlook means the rating could be reduced further
if the company doesn’t lower its debt, S&P said. Credit Rating Repsol will do “whatever it takes” to defend its
investment grade credit rating, spokesman Kristian Rix said
yesterday. While Congress debates the takeover, Fernandez had YPF
executives expelled from their offices within hours of
announcing her plan, appointing Planning Minister Julio De Vido
and Deputy Economy Minister Axel Kicillof to run the company. Kicillof, in a two-hour presentation to the Senate on April
17, said the “state is the solution” to boosting demand and
production and that the YPF takeover would help the government
sustain annual economic growth that has averaged 7.7 percent
since 2003. Yet signs of a slowdown have emerged. Shopping center sales
rose 2.7 percent in March from a year earlier, the least in
three years. Vehicle sales tumbled 3.6 percent in March from a
year earlier. Consumer confidence fell 12.7 percent in April
from March, the biggest decline since 2002. Argentines forecast
consumer prices will rise 30 percent over the next 12 months,
according to a poll by Buenos Aires-based Torcuato Di Tella
University. Slower Growth Growth may slow to 3 percent this year, according to the
median estimate of seven economists surveyed by Bloomberg. De Vido and Kicillof have met with officials from Petroleo
Brasileiro SA (PETR4) , Chevron Corp. (CVX) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) to discuss
future investments. South America ’s second-biggest economy has
lagged smaller economies including Peru and Colombia in recent
years in attracting foreign investment. Foreign direct investment fell 30 percent in the first six
months of 2011, the biggest drop among major economies in the
region, according to an October report by the United Nations
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. FDI
fell to $2.4 billion through June 2011, compared with $44.1
billion in Brazil, $10.6 billion in Mexico and $7 billion in
Colombia. That decline could worsen with the takeover. Business Risk “Locally-based manufacturers might decide that the risks
to doing business in Argentina are too great and relocate to
another part of the region,” Michael Henderson, an emerging
markets economist at Capital Economics in London wrote in a
report yesterday. A doubling of fuel imports last year, which shrunk the
trade balance the government depends on to bring dollars into
the economy, may have led Fernandez to speed up her decision to
take over the company regardless of the impact, said Camilo Tiscornia , a former central bank economist who now runs research
company C&T Asesores in Buenos Aires . “Energy is essential because it hits growth, it hits the
fiscal balance because of subsidies and it hits trade, because
YPF had to import a lot of energy,” said Tiscornia. “It’s
logical that the government got itself entangled with the energy
sector because it was disrupting the country’s macro-economy.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Eliana Raszewski in Buenos Aires at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Joshua Goodman at
[email protected] | 2012 | fernandez-taps-ypf-nostalgia-as-takeover-boosts-flagging-suppor |
U.K. Succumbs to First Double-Dip Recession Since 1970s: Economy | By Jennifer Ryan | 2012-04-25T12:26:57Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/u-k-returns-to-recession-in-first-quarter-on-building-slump.html | 4 | 25 | 46d05803debc49ca84cb99dbf1f63596 | The U.K. economy shrank in the
first quarter as Britain slid into its first double-dip
recession since the 1970s, forcing Prime Minister David Cameron
to defend his spending cuts in Parliament. Gross domestic product fell 0.2 percent from the fourth
quarter of 2011, when it declined 0.3 percent, the Office for
National Statistics said today in London . The median of 40
estimates in a Bloomberg News survey was for an increase of 0.1
percent. A technical recession is defined as two straight
quarters of contraction. As an anti-austerity backlash gains ground in Europe ,
Cameron described the data as “disappointing” and pledged to
support growth without backtracking on the U.K.’s biggest fiscal
squeeze since World War II. The Bank of England is in the final
month of its latest round of economic stimulus and the drop in
output comes as prospects dim in the euro region, Britain’s
biggest export market. “This isn’t supportive of the fiscal consolidation
program, so the government is likely to be concerned about
that,” said Philip Rush, an economist at Nomura International
in London. “The data were bad, and that supports the view that
the Bank of England will do a final 25 billion pounds of
quantitative easing in May.” Bank of England policy maker David Miles had signaled
yesterday that today’s result was possible, saying in an
interview with Bloomberg News that a negative number “wouldn’t
be a great surprise.” U.K. 10-year gilts advanced immediately after the data were
published before easing again. The yield rose 3 basis points to
2.123 percent as of 1:12 p.m. in London. The pound fell as much
as 0.4 percent, then pared its decline to $1.6116. Construction Slump From a year earlier , the economy was unchanged in the first
quarter. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 31
economists was for 0.3 percent growth from a year earlier. The quarterly drop in GDP was due to a 3 percent slump in
construction, the most since the first quarter of 2009, and a
0.4 decline in industrial production . Manufacturing contracted
0.1 percent and services, the largest part of the economy,
expanded by 0.1 percent, boosted by transport, storage and
communication. The data contrasts with a report today showing confidence
among manufacturers rose to the highest level in two years this
month. The Confederation of British Industry’s quarterly gauge
of factory optimism surged to 22 from minus 25 in January. Separate surveys this month showed that growth in services,
manufacturing and construction accelerated in March. The British
Chambers of Commerce said the GDP data is likely to be revised
higher by the statistics office. ‘Underlying Trend’ Surveys “have shown a more positive picture, and we
believe these give a more accurate indication of the underlying
trends,” Chief Economist David Kern said in a statement today.
“We think it is likely that the preliminary estimate will be
revised upwards when more information is available.” The FTSE 100 index rose 0.1 percent today. Still, its 2.6
percent advance this year trails the 4.9 percent increase by
Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index. Rising energy prices, government spending cuts and anemic
wage growth are squeezing U.K. consumers, creating a drag on the
recovery. Pay growth slowed to 1.1 percent in the three months
through February, less than a third of the inflation rate . An
extra public holiday in June to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s 60
years on the throne may also depress economic output in the
second quarter. Thatcher Elected Britain, the first Group of Seven country to report output
for the first quarter, was hit hard by the financial crisis that
erupted in 2007 and GDP is still 4.3 percent below its pre-
recession peak in early 2008. Only Japan and Italy are further
behind among G-7 nations. The last time Britain experienced a double-dip recession,
defined as consecutive quarterly drops in GDP before the economy
had recovered output lost in the previous recession, was 1975.
That year, Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson was in office and
Margaret Thatcher was elected leader of the opposition
Conservatives. U.K. Treasury forecasters and the International
Monetary Fund predict the economy will grow 0.8 percent this
year, the same as last year. The data are “very, very disappointing,” Cameron said in
Parliament today, adding that “I don’t seek to try and excuse
them. There is no complacency at all.” He pledged to stick to
his deficit-cutting plans, saying “the solution to a debt
crisis cannot be more debt.” ‘Very Tough’ Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said the U.K.’s
economic situation is “very tough” and the government
shouldn’t waver on its fiscal plans, which are aimed at
eliminating most of the deficit by 2017. “The one thing that would make the situation even worse
would be to abandon our credible plan and deliberately add more
borrowing and even more debt,” he said in a statement. Their Conservative Party has lost public support over last
month’s budget, which voters say helped the rich at the expense
of pensioners and charities, and the handling of a threatened
strike by tanker-truck drivers. The Labour opposition led the
Tories by 41 percent to 33 percent in an ICM Ltd. poll published
yesterday. In addition to the domestic budget squeeze, Britain’s
recovery is being hampered by unfavorable export conditions. Euro-area services and manufacturing output declined for a
third month in April as the economy struggled to rebound from a
fourth-quarter contraction, according to a report on April 23.
Confidence among executives and consumers in the economic
outlook in the region fell this month, economists in a Bloomberg
survey said before data tomorrow. BOE Stimulus The economy may get little further help from the Bank of
England, whose officials have suggested inflation may retreat
less quickly than they forecast two months ago. Only Miles on
the nine-member Monetary Policy Committee sought an expansion in
emergency stimulus this month. He said yesterday in an interview
with Bloomberg News that voting for more bond purchases was
“still the right strategy.” In Asia , all 14 economists in a Bloomberg News survey
predict additional easing when the Bank of Japan (8301) releases new
inflation forecasts on April 27. Most expect an increase ranging
from 5 trillion yen ($62 billion) to 10 trillion yen. The U.S. Federal Reserve will release its policy statement
at around 12:30 p.m. today in Washington , and its forecasts for
interest rates , growth, inflation and unemployment at 2 p.m.
Policy makers will probably repeat their plan to keep the
benchmark rate low at least through late 2014, economists say. To contact the reporter on this story:
Jennifer Ryan in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Craig Stirling at
[email protected] | 2012 | u-k-returns-to-recession-in-first-quarter-on-building-slump |
U.K. Nationwide Consumer Confidence Increases to Nine-Month High | By Scott Hamilton | 2012-04-25T23:01:00Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/u-k-nationwide-consumer-confidence-increases-to-nine-month-high.html | 4 | 25 | b82203f331c768b7b0b6a7b5d5c261887affc8b7 | U.K. consumer confidence rose to a
nine-month high in March, according to Nationwide Building
Society , which said the improvement may not be sustained as the
economy shrinks. An index of sentiment climbed to 53, the highest since
June, from 44 in February, the Swindon, England-based customer-
owned lender said in an e-mailed report today. A gauge of
consumers’ expectations for the economy jumped 13 points to 73. The increase in confidence may be temporary after data
yesterday showed the U.K. economy unexpectedly contracted 0.2
percent in the first quarter, pushing Britain into its first
double-dip recession since the 1970s. Rising energy prices,
government spending cuts and anemic wage growth are squeezing
U.K. consumers, creating a drag on the recovery. “With the economy expected to gather pace only slowly, the
improvement in confidence may prove short-lived,” Nationwide
Chief Economist Robert Gardner said. “The sharp falls in
inflation seen at the start of the year are unlikely to be
repeated in the near-term. As a result, the easing price
pressures will be less visible to households.” A gauge of Britons’ assessment of current economic and
employment conditions rose to 24 in March from 19 in February.
An index of shoppers’ views on whether it’s a good time to make
a major purchase , such as a house or car, jumped to 86 from 78. Nationwide also said that the recent increase in the
headline sentiment index “should be kept in perspective” as
the index remains more than 20 points below its long-run
average. The first-quarter GDP drop was largely due to a slump in
construction, and business surveys this month have pointed to
some strengthening in services and manufacturing activity at the
end of the period. Retail sales rose at the fastest pace in more
than a year last month as the warmest March for half a century
boosted purchases of clothing and gardening products and panic
buying lifted auto-fuel demand. Sales including auto fuel gained 1.8 percent from February,
when they fell 0.8 percent, the Office for National Statistics
said on April 20. To contact the reporter on this story:
Scott Hamilton in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Craig Stirling at
[email protected] | 2012 | u-k-nationwide-consumer-confidence-increases-to-nine-month-hig |
Rangers’ Tickets Climb to $500 as Team Hosts Decisive NHL Game 7 | By Erik Matuszewski | 2012-04-26T04:00:55Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/rangers-tickets-climb-to-500-as-team-hosts-decisive-nhl-game-7.html
New York Rangers fans will have to
dig a bit deeper in their pockets to see their team host Game 7
of a National Hockey League playoff series for the first time
since winning the Stanley Cup in 1994. The average price for tickets for tonight’s game against
the Ottawa Senators at New York’s Madison Square Garden has
climbed to $493, according to TiqIQ , an aggregator of the online
resale ticket market. The price is up 44 percent from four days
ago, after the Rangers fell behind three games to two in the
best-of-seven first-round playoff series. Face value ranges from $110 to $440 for Game 7 tickets. At
TiqIQ, the seats are listed at $223 to $2,088. “It’s definitely a premium and since the Rangers haven’t
been here in 18 years, it’s almost like a novelty in a sense,”
TiqIQ spokesman Chris Matcovich said in a telephone interview.
“Sometimes fans become nostalgic and will pay to see their team
in a big game.” The Rangers are the top seed in the Eastern Conference for
the first time since the 1993-94 season and have already kept
their postseason run alive once, with a 3-2 victory in Game 6 in
Ottawa two days ago. Now they’re one victory away from their
first playoff series win since 2008. “Our backs were against the wall and we showed some
desperation,” Rangers defenseman Marc Staal told reporters
after the Game 6 win. The last time New York hosted a decisive seventh game of an
NHL playoff series was June 14, 1994, when the Rangers beat the
Vancouver Canucks 3-2 to win the Stanley Cup. The Rangers that
year also beat the New Jersey Devils at home in Game 7 of the
Eastern Conference finals. Florida ‘Apathetic’ Market The Rangers’ average ticket prices for tonight’s game
against the eighth-seeded Senators are the highest for Game 7 of
any first-round series in the past three years, TiqIQ said. The
price dwarfs that for the Devils’ seventh game against the
Florida Panthers tonight outside Miami, where the average ticket
price is $166 at TiqIQ. “Florida tends to be an apathetic sports market,
especially for first-round games,” said Joellen Ferrer,
spokeswoman for online ticket reseller StubHub.com . Even with the rarity of a Game 7 in New York, ticket prices
aren’t coming close to last year’s deciding game in the Stanley
Cup finals. When the Vancouver Canucks hosted | 4 | 25 | 80c85ef4a962ac7e8c4ca9b0443528683d032999 | secondary market, exceeding the cost for Super Bowl seats and
for tickets to the 2010 Olympic gold medal hockey game between
Canada and the U.S. in Vancouver. To contact the reporter on this story:
Erik Matuszewski in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Sillup at
[email protected] | 2012 | rangers-tickets-climb-to-500-as-team-hosts-decisive-nhl-game-7 |
Nokia, HTC Get IPCom 3G Wireless Network Patent Revoked | By Karin Matussek | 2012-04-25T13:06:24Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/nokia-htc-get-ipcom-3g-wireless-network-patent-revoked.html | 4 | 25 | 1a937d9e412b5110ea493aa826622535bef6c969 | Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) and HTC Corp. (2498) won a
ruling revoking a patent that IPCom GmbH relied on to get
injunctions in Germany against the sales of some third-
generation wireless phones. The European Patent Office revoked the intellectual
property protection today, the agency’s spokesman Rainer
Osterwalder said by telephone. IPCom said it will appeal. A Dusseldorf court yesterday banned Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE) and
Vodafone Group Plc (VOD) from selling HTC and Nokia devices using the
technology in a case brought by IPCom. The phone companies and
manufacturers can appeal the ruling. The patent, called “100A” by its owner, is a central
piece of the portfolio IPCom used in its effort to make Nokia
and HTC pay royalties for mobile technology it acquired from
Robert Bosch GmbH in 2007. The companies are entangled in patent
litigation across Europe. The patent was filed for methods used
to connect devices to 3G wireless networks and prioritize them. Thomas Empt, a spokesman for Pullach, Germany-based IPCom,
said in an e-mail the patent remains valid during these
proceedings and thus today’s ruling won’t influence cases the
company won in Germany and the U.K.. Nokia and HTC took the opposing view. The EPO’s decision
means that the Dusseldorf court’s ruling yesterday isn’t
expected to stop the sales of their products in Germany, the two
companies said in separate e-mailed statements. “IPCom needs to recognize its position and end its
unrealistic demands for what remains of this significantly
diminished portfolio,” said Paul Melin, vice president for
intellectual property at Nokia. HTC called the EPO decision a “grave setback” for IPCom
and said it is hoping that the “cost driving” patent
litigation will now end. To contact the reporter on this story:
Karin Matussek in Berlin at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Anthony Aarons at
[email protected] | 2012 | nokia-htc-get-ipcom-3g-wireless-network-patent-revoked |
Animal Abusers Would Be Named Under Bills in 26 States | By Chris Christoff | 2012-04-25T04:01:00Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/animal-abusers-would-be-named-under-bills-in-26-states.html
Those who batter, abuse or kill
dogs and cats would get the same public scorn as sex offenders
in bills introduced in legislatures throughout the U.S. Online registries for convicted animal abusers already have
been approved in three New York counties, including Suffolk,
where the nation’s first takes effect May 7. Twenty-five states
have considered such laws since 2010, according to the Animal
Legal Defense Fund , which is leading the campaign. Backers say the bills recognize a growing awareness of
animal rights | 4 | 25 | afb163ce560d4b95b702ee63725501b5 | abusers, who studies show often go on to harm humans. “There’s a mountain of evidence that says we need
something like this,” said Michigan Representative Harvey Santana, a Detroit Democrat who’s proposed a registry there.
“There is a strong correlation between people who abuse animals
and graduate to abusing people.” Other states where legislatures are considering similar
bills include New York, New Jersey , Connecticut , California ,
Texas , Pennsylvania , Florida and Maryland , according to the
Cotati, California-based Legal Defense Fund. The case of National Football League quarterback Michael Vick shows why the drive has momentum, said Stephen Wells,
executive director of the fund, which says it has 100,000
members. Vick was sent to prison in 2007 on charges of
conspiracy to break dog-fighting laws, not animal cruelty, Wells
said. ‘Common Sense’ “It’s frustrating to see repeat offenders commit these
crimes and get away with it in people’s eyes,” said Wells, 47,
in a telephone interview. “The registries appeal to people’s
common sense.” Public shame has a long history in the U.S., dating to the
Puritans’ use of stocks to punish colonial criminals. Some
cities have combated prostitution by publishing photos of their
clients in newspapers and, in Minneapolis , on an electronic
billboard. The animal-abuse idea is an outgrowth of registries for sex
offenders begun by states in 1996 under order of Congress. The
initiative isn’t uniformly supported by animal-rights
organizations. Tracking abuse in FBI data would do more to prevent it,
Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the
U.S., wrote in a December 2010 blog post. Many people convicted
of neglect are mentally ill, he said. Driving Them Away “Shaming them with a public Internet profile is unlikely
to affect their future behavior,” Pacelle wrote, “except
perhaps to isolate them further from society and promote
increased distrust of authority figures trying to help them.” People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals supports
registries, said Stephanie Bell, associate director of cruelty
investigations. “Community members have a right to know when a convicted
animal abuser is in their midst,” Bell said. “People who abuse
animals rarely do so only once.” Suffolk County’s registry is administered by its Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Its head, Roy Gross,
said studies show those who abuse animals often hurt people. “If you had a convicted animal abuser next to you,
wouldn’t you want to know?” he said. Boston Strangler A person who abuses or kills animals is five times more
likely to commit violence against people and four times more
likely to commit property crimes, according to a 1997 study by
Northeastern University and the Massachusetts SPCA. Serial
killers who abused or killed animals include Boston strangler
Albert Desalvo, “Son of Sam” David Berkowitz and Carroll
Edward Cole. Gross said Suffolk County, with 1.5 million people in
eastern Long Island , investigates about 3,000 animal-abuse cases
a year. He estimated a dozen or so will be prosecuted. Rockland and Albany counties in New York last year enacted
similar registries. Without national standards, communities will create a
patchwork of laws, said Alison Gianotto, 36, president of Pet-
Abuse.com, an international database of more than 19,000 cases.
Abusers can move easily across jurisdictions to buy or adopt
animals, foiling local or state registries, Gianotto said, “Legislators want voters to feel good,” she said. “They
just haven’t thought it out well enough.” Michigan legislator Santana is working with Republican
state Senator Rick Jones on the registry legislation. Santana
said he’s received many e-mails from supporters in both parties. “There are no Republican dogs or Democratic cats,” he
said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Chris Christoff in Lansing, MI
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Steve Merelman at | 2012 | animal-abusers-would-be-named-under-bills-in-26-states |
Compartamos Profit Beats Estimates as Loan Portfolio Expands | By Jonathan J. Levin | 2012-04-25T20:00:00Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/compartamos-profit-beats-estimates-as-loan-portfolio-expands.html | 4 | 25 | 9119ff36e9ce40b734a586c2b495c87d0741aece | Compartamos SAB (COMPARC*) , the operator of
microfinance companies in Mexico and Peru , posted first-quarter
profit that beat analyst expectations. Net income climbed 14.3 percent to 497 million pesos ($37.8
million) in the first three months of the year, the Mexico City-
based company said today in an e-mailed statement. Banco
Santander SA had projected profit would total 475.2 million
pesos, according to an April 24 research note. Outstanding loans rose 40 percent to 14.9 billion pesos,
the company said. Compartamos shares fell 2.1 percent to 15.35 pesos in
Mexico City trading before release of the report. To contact the reporter on this story:
Jonathan J. Levin at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Papadopoulos at
[email protected] | 2012 | compartamos-profit-beats-estimates-as-loan-portfolio-expands |
Bayern Munich Wins Shootout to Reach Champions League Final | By Bob Bensch | 2012-04-25T22:07:33Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/bayern-munich-beats-real-madrid-in-champions-league-shootout.html | 4 | 25 | 19e9b83b1bd9ecef2df5c30f7533c14b7639e7cb | Bayern Munich beat Real Madrid 3-1
in a penalty shootout to advance to the Champions League soccer
final against Chelsea. Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer made two saves and David Alaba,
Mario Gomez and Bastian Schweinsteiger converted their penalty
kicks at Madrid’s Bernabeu Stadium last night to send Bayern to
the final for the second time in three seasons. Real forced extra time and the shootout with a 2-1 victory
that left the teams tied 3-3 over two games. Cristiano Ronaldo
scored twice for Real and Arjen Robben had the Bayern goal. Bayern has won Europe’s elite club competition four times
and will be making its ninth appearance in the final. Real was
trying to reach the title game for the first time since winning
the last of its record nine European titles in 2002. “It was a big blow for us,” Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas
said on the UEFA website. “Penalties are always a lottery. We
played well, but Bayern are a great team.” Bayern will face Chelsea, which eliminated defending
champion Barcelona two nights ago, in the May 19 game at
Munich’s Allianz Arena. Bayern is the first team to play a
Champions League final in its home stadium. Alaba and Gomez scored with Bayern’s first two attempts in
the shootout, while Neuer made saves against Ronaldo and Kaka.
Real’s Casillas stopped the next two shots by the German team,
while Xabi Alonso converted for the home side. Real’s Sergio Ramos then sent his shot over the goal,
leaving Schweinsteiger to score and clinch Bayern’s victory. Trailing 2-1 from last week’s first game in Germany, Real
took the lead in the sixth minute on Ronaldo’s penalty kick
after a handball against Alaba. Ronaldo added his second goal
eight minutes later to give Real the lead in the series. Robben then scored with a penalty kick in the 27th minute,
after Gomez was taken down by Pepe, to leave the teams tied 3-3
on aggregate. The loss denies Real manager Jose Mourinho a chance to face
former club Chelsea. Mourinho was attempting to take his third
team to the final, after winning the tournament with Porto in
2004 and Inter Milan in 2010. To contact the reporter on this story:
Bob Bensch in London at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christopher Elser at [email protected] . | 2012 | bayern-munich-beats-real-madrid-in-champions-league-shootou |
Credit Suisse Chief Says April Market Conditions Less Favorable | By Elena Logutenkova | 2012-04-25T12:06:10Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/credit-suisse-chief-says-april-market-conditions-less-favorable.html | 4 | 25 | 629938c9ceea4dd381ce4cc01b50a0b1 | Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) Chief
Executive Officer Brady Dougan said market conditions worsened
in April from the first quarter, when its investment bank
returned to profit after a 2011 loss. “So far in April market conditions haven’t been as
favorable as they were in the first quarter,” Dougan said in an
interview with Bloomberg Television in Zurich today. “We’re
pretty constructive about what we hope we’ll see for the rest of
the year. We certainly have to be prepared for volatility in the
markets.” Dougan said the bank benefited from an “improved
environment” in the first quarter and cut risk-weighted assets
at the investment bank by more than previously targeted. Credit
Suisse decided to scale down its securities unit last year as
the European sovereign-debt crisis led to losses. The division
reported a pretax profit of 993 million francs ($1.09 billion)
for the quarter after a loss of 428 million francs in 2011. “I’m relatively impressed with what they’ve achieved in
the first quarter,” Dirk Becker , a Frankfurt-based analyst at
Kepler Capital Markets who rates the bank “reduce,” said in an
interview. Still, “the challenges are really huge for Credit
Suisse” going forward, in both investment banking and in wealth
management, he said. First-quarter net income fell to 44 million francs from
1.14 billion francs in the year-earlier period after accounting
charges related to Credit Suisse’s own debt and costs for 2011
bonuses. Nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg on average
estimated a 297.9 million-franc loss for the quarter. Fixed-Income Rebound Credit Suisse fell 1.6 percent to 23.18 francs by 1:48 p.m.
in Zurich trading. The stock has gained 5 percent this year,
compared with a 4.1 percent increase in the 43-company Bloomberg
Europe Banks and Financial Services Index and a 1.5 percent
advance in UBS AG, its larger Swiss competitor. Pretax profit at the investment bank fell 33 percent in the
quarter from 1.48 billion francs a year earlier, while earnings
from private banking dropped 27 percent to 625 million francs.
The asset management division had a 43 percent increase in
profit to 250 million francs, driven by a 178 million-franc gain
from the sale of part of the bank’s stake in Aberdeen Asset
Management Plc. The firm benefited less from the rebound in debt markets in
the quarter than U.S. competitors. Revenue from fixed-income
sales and trading fell 21 percent to 2 billion francs from a
year earlier, compared with the average 12 percent increase
excluding valuation adjustments reported by Citigroup Inc. (C) ,
JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) , Bank of America
Corp. and Morgan Stanley, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg. Equities Trading The bank’s deleveraging efforts contributed to the decline
in revenue, Dougan said in the interview, adding that he’s
“happy” with the diversity of revenue. The bank cut risk-weighted assets in the quarter by 45
billion francs to 294 billion francs on a Basel III basis,
exceeding the accelerated targets announced in February. Equities sales and trading fell 12 percent to 1.4 billion
francs, compared with the average 9 percent decline reported by
the U.S. companies. Revenues from underwriting debt and equity
sales and advising clients on mergers fell 18 percent to 761
million francs, compared with the average 15 percent drop
reported by U.S. competitors, the data show. The bank restated some figures for the division after it
decided to record valuation adjustments on structured notes in
the corporate center instead of the investment bank. Job Cuts Credit Suisse booked a 1.55 billion-franc charge related to
an increase in the price of its own debt in the first quarter.
The accounting charge stems from a rule tied to the theoretical
cost of buying back the bank’s debt as market prices fluctuate.
The bank also had 534 million francs in costs related to bonds
linked to derivatives, which were awarded as part of 2011
bonuses to more than 5,500 bankers. The firm, which announced 3,500 job cuts last year, said
it’s on track to save about 2 billion francs in annual costs by
the end of 2013. Dougan said the bank doesn’t have “any plans
for any other major reductions in headcount beyond that.” Credit Suisse intends to boost the private bank’s pretax
profit by 800 million francs by 2014 as sluggish client activity
squeezes margins. The gross margin at the wealth management
business, which shows how much the bank earns on assets under
management, remained unchanged from the fourth quarter at 109
basis points - a level Dougan called a “cyclical low.” A basis
point is one hundredth of a percentage point. Inflows Shrink Credit Suisse reported net new money of 5.8 billion francs
in wealth management in the quarter. That compared with 15.7
billion francs a year ago, after an outflow of 4.1 billion
francs from Clariden Leu clients as the company integrated the
private bank with the rest of its business. The bank is a target of a criminal probe by the U.S.
Department of Justice over former cross-border private-banking
services to American customers, the company said in July. Eight
bankers, including Credit Suisse’s former head of North America
offshore banking, were charged with conspiring to help American
clients evade taxes through secret bank accounts. Credit Suisse
continues to “work hard” to resolve the U.S. probe, Dougan
said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Elena Logutenkova in Zurich at
[email protected] ; To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Frank Connelly at [email protected] | 2012 | credit-suisse-chief-says-april-market-conditions-less-favorable |
Eletropaulo Plans Brazil Smart-Grid Program to Boost Reliability | By Stephan Nielsen | 2012-04-25T19:34:27Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/eletropaulo-plans-brazil-smart-grid-program-to-boost-reliability.html | 4 | 25 | 2d1776de2762ef29cca9a622eee843ad7ed8244c | Eletropaulo Metropolitana
Electricidade de Sao Paulo SA , the Brazilian utility unit of AES
Corp. (AES) , is planning to install smart meters that will monitor
electricity usage for as many as 80,000 customers to improve the
reliability of its power grid and curb theft. The three-year program may include other systems that will
help the Sao Paulo-based utility keep track of power consumption
as well as recharge points for electric vehicles, Paulo
Pimentel, manager of automation services, said in an e-mail
yesterday interview. A growing number of South American utilities are using
smart meters, which may transmit data wirelessly and provide
utilities with information on blackouts and identify customers
who may be illegally tapping power lines . Eletropaulo has
installed about 60,000 smart meters to date, making this its
biggest smart-grid project, Pimentel said. “The main focus here is to improve the quality of our
service” and reduce power theft, he said in a telephone
interview. He said it’s too early to discuss costs. The meters will comply with national standards that are
expected to be issued this year by the country’s electricity
regulator Agencia Nacional de Energia Eletrica, he said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Stephan Nielsen in Sao Paulo at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
[email protected] | 2012 | eletropaulo-plans-brazil-smart-grid-program-to-boost-reliability |
Obama Threatens Veto on House Cybersecurity Bill | By Eric Engleman | 2012-04-25T21:28:56Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/obama-threatens-veto-on-house-cybersecurity-bill.html | 4 | 25 | 2c904e22a0c37400116734313133dfeae8dc2d73 | President Barack Obama ’s
administration threatened to veto a cybersecurity bill set for a
House vote this week, saying it would erode privacy safeguards
and not do enough to protect critical U.S. systems. The administration “strongly opposes” the Cyber
Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act in its current form and
Obama’s senior advisers would recommend that he veto the
measure, according to a policy statement from the Office of
Management and Budget today. The bill, introduced by Representative Mike Rogers, a
Michigan Republican who’s chairman of the House Intelligence
Committee, would encourage the government and companies to
voluntarily share information on cyber threats. It would give
companies immunity from civil and criminal actions arising from
the exchange of such data. The bill is endorsed by House
Republican leaders and scheduled for a House vote on April 27. “H.R. 3523 fails to provide authorities to ensure that the
nation’s core critical infrastructure is protected while
repealing important provisions of electronic surveillance law
without instituting corresponding privacy, confidentiality and
civil liberties safeguards,” the administration said in the
statement. Civil liberties groups have said the Rogers bill would give
the government too much access to people’s personal data and
doesn’t limit uses of that information. Rogers Concern Obama advisers including Howard Schmidt , the White House
cybersecurity coordinator, have said information-sharing alone
cannot provide adequate protection against hackers and spies.
The White House supports a bill from Senator Joseph Lieberman , a
Connecticut Independent, that would put the Department of
Homeland Security in charge of regulating cybersecurity of the
nation’s vital systems and networks such as power grids. “The basis for the administration’s view is mostly based
on the lack of critical-infrastructure regulation, something
outside of our jurisdiction,” Rogers and the House Intelligence
Committee’s senior Democrat, C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger of
Maryland , said in an e-mailed statement. The lawmakers said the bill’s sponsors agreed yesterday to
amendments that “address nearly every single one of the
criticisms leveled by the administration, particularly those
regarding privacy and civil liberties of Americans.” Ruppersberger is a co-sponsor of the legislation along with
more than 100 other House members from both parties. ‘Bridge Too Far’ The American Civil Liberties Union , which took part in a
Web protest last week against the Rogers bill, known as CISPA,
said it agreed with the Obama administration. “The White House is right: CISPA threatens fundamental
notions of privacy and without a substantial rewrite should be
voted down,” Michelle Richardson, the ACLU’s legislative
counsel, said in an e-mail. “The Obama administration has
endorsed the Patriot Act and other wiretapping laws. It speaks
volumes that even they oppose this bill as a bridge too far.” Asked about Obama’s veto threat, House Speaker John Boehner , an Ohio Republican, told reporters today that the
president wants to put “the government in charge of the
Internet.” The Rogers information-sharing bill is one of four
cybersecurity measures scheduled for House votes this week. The
chamber is set to vote tomorrow on bills on updating federal
information-security controls and coordinating government
research and development on cybersecurity. The Rogers measure
may be voted on April 27. Lieberman and three other sponsors of his proposed
legislation said in an e-mailed statement they “are
disappointed that none of the House bills addresses the most
glaring vulnerability in our cyber defenses: adequately
protecting our most critical, privately-owned infrastructure.” Lieberman, Republican Susan Collins of Maine and Democrats
Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Dianne Feinstein of
California also said that “the Senate is committed to passing
comprehensive cybersecurity legislation because the threat we
face to our economic and national security demands it.” The Lieberman bill is S. 2105. To contact the reporter on this story:
Eric Engleman in Washington at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Bernard Kohn at
[email protected] | 2012 | obama-threatens-veto-on-house-cybersecurity-bi |
Tanzania Plans Bulk Petroleum-Handling Facility in Dar es Salaam | By David Malingha Doya | 2012-04-25T08:09:05Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/tanzania-plans-bulk-petroleum-handling-facility-in-dar-es-salaam.html | 4 | 25 | 81b729b4323718fa3487d5b2e6eae7d7b410acf3 | Tanzania plans to establish a bulk
petroleum-handling and storage facility at the Port of Dar es
Salaam , according to the country’s port authority. The Tanzania Ports Authority is seeking contractors to
build the facility, it said in a statement published in the Dar
es Salaam-based Daily News newspaper today. The project will
involve the construction of custody transfer tanks, a piping
system, manifolds and related facilities for bulk-fuel handling,
it said. The Petroleum Importation Coordinator Ltd., a company
formed by oil marketers to manage the bulk procurement of
petroleum products, said it intends to pre-qualify more
companies to handle fuel purchases. PIC Ltd., as the company is known, called for applications
from companies that want to be pre-qualified to be eligible to
bid for tenders to procure petroleum products under the bulk
procurement system, it said in a separate statement today in the
Daily News. Companies will be pre-qualified mainly on their ability to
procure 150,000 metric tons of petroleum products per month,
according to the statement. Tanzania began the bulk procurement system last year. To contact the reporter on this story:
David Malingha Doya in Dar es Salaam via Nairobi at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Paul Richardson at
[email protected] . | 2012 | anzania-plans-bulk-petroleum-handling-facility-in-dar-es-salaa |
Cameroon Cocoa Farmgate Price Dropped 0.4% in Week to April 24 | By Pius Lukong | 2012-04-25T17:25:19Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/cameroon-cocoa-farmgate-price-dropped-0-4-in-week-to-april-24.html | 4 | 25 | 2dd612c91c5ad00d90d8acc8e62af4894ce6789c | Cameroon’s average national
farmgate cocoa price fell 0.4 percent to 1,097 CFA francs
($2.20) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) in the week to yesterday,
according to Bloomberg calculations made using data from the
Cameroon National Association of Cocoa and Coffee Producers. The following is a table of regional farmgate rates, with
prices per kilogram in CFA francs. To contact the reporter on this story:
Pius Lukong in Yaounde via Accra at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Emily Bowers at
[email protected] | 2012 | cameroon-cocoa-farmgate-price-dropped-0-4-in-week-to-april-24 |
Mexico Stocks: Wal-Mart de Mexico, Cemex Shares Were Active | By Jonathan J. Levin | 2012-04-25T20:56:43Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/mexico-stocks-wal-mart-de-mexico-cemex-shares-were-active.html | 4 | 25 | 34c9a53d51106b136930194388231f6788846978 | The following companies had unusual
price changes in Mexico trading. Stock symbols are in
parentheses, and prices are as of the close of trading. The IPC index rose 0.6 percent to 39,066.01. Cemex SAB (CEMEXCPO) , the largest cement maker in the
Americas, climbed 6.1 percent to 9.46 pesos before its first-
quarter earnings due tomorrow and after Federal Reserve Chairman
Ben S. Bernanke said he’s prepared to do more to stimulate
growth. Wal-Mart de Mexico SAB (WALMEXV MM), the retailer facing
U.S. government scrutiny amid allegations of bribing officials,
rose 5.3 percent to 37.55 pesos. The shares fell yesterday to
28.84 times trailing 12-month earnings, the cheapest since Oct.
20. To contact the reporter on this story:
Jonathan J. Levin in Mexico City at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Papadopoulos at
[email protected] | 2012 | exico-stocks-wal-mart-de-mexico-cemex-shares-were-active |
PetroEcuador to Auction 720,000 Barrels of Naphtha Tomorrow | By Nathan Gill | 2012-04-25T15:07:38Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/petroecuador-to-auction-720-000-barrels-of-naphtha-tomorrow.html | 4 | 25 | 842746c2f93e6cebe5bccc13ba9277d13fd8892a | PetroEcuador, the South American
country’s state-owned oil company, said it will auction 720,000
barrels of naphtha fuel tomorrow. The results of the auction will be announced at an event in
Quito at 12 p.m. local time, PetroEcuador said today in an e-
mailed statement. To contact the reporter on this story:
Nathan Gill in Quito at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dale Crofts at [email protected] | 2012 | petroecuador-to-auction-720-000-barrels-of-naphtha-tomorrow |
Iran Weighs Halting Nuclear Expansion to Avert EU Oil Ban | By Stepan Kravchenko and Henry Meyer | 2012-04-25T19:32:11Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/iran-considers-halting-nuclear-expansion-to-avert-eu-oil-embargo.html
Iran is considering a Russian
proposal to halt the expansion of its nuclear program in order
to avert new sanctions, the country’s envoy in Moscow said. “We need to study this proposal and to establish on what
basis it has been made,” Ambassador Mahmoud-Reza Sajjadi said
in an interview at the Iranian embassy in Moscow today. The
Russian plan, announced by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov last week, would let Iran avoid a European Union ban on
its crude that is scheduled to come into force in July. Iran will ensure it maintains its right to produce nuclear
energy, Sajjadi said. The U.S. and European Union allege Iran is
seeking to build a bomb, not just make fuel for electricity
production and medical research, as the country maintains. The EU is planning on July 1 to impose an embargo on crude
from Iran, which accounts for about 4 percent of the world’s
supply, as it works with the U.S. to ratchet up pressure on the
Persian Gulf state. Oil prices retreated from a one-week high,
dropping more than $1 today on the report. In Washington , State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland
dismissed Sajjadi’s remarks, saying the Iranian is “not a
central player” in international talks over Iran’s nuclear
program . “Frankly, what’s most important is what Iran says and
does at the negotiating table,” Nuland said at briefing with
journalists. The U.S. and EU have imposed financial sanctions on Iran
and are pressuring nations including China to buy less of its
oil as they seek to curtail its nuclear activities. Mutual Concessions Ryabkov, who leads Prime Minister and President-elect
Vladimir Putin’s delegation to the Iran talks, said the Russian
proposal would be the first in a series of mutual concessions
designed to end in an accord that would remove suspicions about
Iranian intent regarding atomic weapons. Iran might also be willing to ratify the so-called
Additional Protocol, a step urged by the United Nations Security
Council that includes more thorough inspections of Iranian
facilities, as part of a wider settlement, Sajjadi said. Under the Russian proposal, Iran would stop building
centrifuges, machines used to enrich uranium, and mothball ones
that haven’t been put into use yet. “At that stage, as part of the step-by-step approach, the
other side could announce that it will refrain from introducing
new sanctions,” Ryabkov said April 17 after the latest round of
talks in Istanbul between Iran and the five permanent Security
Council members | 4 | 25 | 9b7ddd5d522145c4a93bff3ce0d0d58b | called 5+1 group in 15 months. The next round, in Baghdad , is
scheduled for May 23. The EU will complicate efforts to resolve the feud if the
27-nation bloc goes ahead with the oil ban, Sajjadi said. ‘Not Serious’ “If they actually impose the embargo, it will mean that
they’re not serious about resolving the nuclear issue,” the
Iranian ambassador said. “How can they want to pursue nuclear
talks on the one hand and introduce sanctions on the other? What
meaning will these talks have then?” The UN’s nuclear watchdog said in February that the number
of centrifuges at Iran’s underground Natanz facility had grown
14 percent to 9,156 from 8,000 in November, of which 8,808 were
operating. Iran began enriching uranium with more than 300
centrifuges at a different underground site, Fordo, the
International Agency for Atomic Energy said in a Feb. 24 report. The IAEA report said Iran had tripled monthly output of
enriched uranium from November to 31 pounds (14 kilograms). The
country may be able to produce bomb-grade uranium in a matter of
months, Olli Heinonen , the IAEA’s former top inspector for Iran,
said on April 12. ‘A Big Step’ “The proposed plan will keep the capacity to enrich
uranium at the current level,” said Elena Sokova, executive
director at the Center for Disarmament & Non-Proliferation in
Vienna, by e-mail. “Thus it helps to avoid the expansion of
enrichment but not to scale it back. In other words, no buildup
of the program in exchange for no new sanctions.” If Iran then ratified the Additional Protocol to the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty it would be “a big step
forward as it would allow for much better transparency of the
Iranian nuclear program and for the IAEA to carry out rather
intrusive inspections,” Sokova said. The Iranian nuclear program is an “imaginary threat,”
Sajjadi said, adding that he was astonished by comments made by
Nikolai Makarov, head of the Russian military’s General Staff,
warning about the risk of a nuclear-armed Iran in an interview
with state broadcaster RT. Won’t Benefit Russia won’t benefit by cooperating with the U.S. and
Europe , and the threatened EU oil embargo will damage the world
economy by squeezing global supplies, the ambassador said. Iran’s oil production, currently about 3.4 million barrels
a day, may decline by as much as 950,000 barrels a day by the
middle of this year as EU and U.S. embargoes take effect, the
International Energy Agency said in its monthly Oil Market
Report on April 12. Crude oil for June delivery slipped 22 cents to $103.33 a
barrel at 11:27 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange . The
contract earlier touched $104.49, the highest intraday level
since April 18. Brent oil traded 31 cents lower at $117.83 in
London after reaching $119.25. Tensions over the Iranian program, including Israel and the
U.S. leaving open the possibility of a military attack, helped
drive Brent crude prices to about $125 a barrel last month, the
highest level in more than 3 1/2 years. Prices fell more than 2
percent on the next trading day after the April 14 talks in
Istanbul, which the U.S. and EU said made progress. “There are two ways we can proceed after the Istanbul
talks,” said Sajjadi. “Either the West understands that it’s
pointless to use the language of force with Iran or their
flexibility is a temporary phenomenon. I hope the first is true
as we would like to see a resolution.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Stepan Kravchenko in Moscow at
[email protected]
Henry Meyer in Moscow at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Balazs Penz at
[email protected] | 2012 | iran-considers-halting-nuclear-expansion-to-avert-eu-oil-embargo |
Asian Stocks Snap Four-Day Loss on U.S. Data, Earnings | By Jonathan Burgos and Norie Kuboyama | 2012-04-25T08:54:26Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/asian-stocks-snap-four-day-loss-on-u-s-homes-sales.html | 4 | 25 | 10fa4d97a7094f29ac403e78ee57a011 | Asian stocks rose, with the
regional benchmark index headed for its first advance in five
days, as corporate profits beat estimates and U.S. housing data
added to signs the world’s biggest economy is improving Samsung Electronics Co., Asia’s largest consumer
electronics maker, rose 1.7 percent in Seoul. Hon Hai Precision
Industry Co. (2317) , a maker of Apple Inc. products, added 2.4 percent
in Taipei after the U.S. company’s profit almost doubled. Nomura
Holdings Inc., Japan ’s largest brokerage, rose 2.4 percent on
speculation it may post higher net income. Yoshinoya Holdings
Co., a restaurant chain that imports beef, fell 2.4 percent in
Tokyo after a case of mad-cow disease was reported in the U.S. “A recovery trend on earnings is being seen,” said
Hiroichi Nishi , an equities manager in Tokyo at SMBC Nikko
Securities Inc. “The U.S. economy is still in mild recovery.” The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) gained 0.3 percent to 123.61 as
of 5:11 p.m. in Tokyo, with almost three shares rising for every
two that fell. Trading volumes in Tokyo and Hong Kong were at
least 28 percent lower than the 30-day average, while those in
Shanghai were 41 percent higher. The gauge declined the past
four days as political instability in Europe deepened concern
governments will struggle to contain the region’s debt crisis
and amid signs China ’s economy is slowing. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average (NKY) advanced 1 percent and
Taiwan’s Taiex Index added 0.9 percent. China’s Shanghai
Composite Index rose 0.8 percent, reversing losses of as much as
0.5 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 0.2 percent. South
Korea’s Kospi Index lost 0.1 percent. Markets in Australia and
New Zealand were closed for holidays. India Credit Outlook India’s Sensitive Index dropped 1 percent, heading for its
lowest close since Jan. 30, after the nation’s credit outlook
was cut to negative by Standard & Poor’s , which cited risks from
slower economic growth and a widening current-account deficit.
The nation’s sovereign-debt rating is one step above junk status. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 0.7
percent today. The index gained 0.4 percent in New York
yesterday amid better-than-estimated earnings at companies from
AT&T Inc. to 3M Co. Apple earnings, which also beat analysts’
estimates, were released after the market closed. Asian exporters advanced after a report showed the U.S.
housing market is stabilizing, with home prices in 20 cities
dropping in February at the slowest pace in 12 months and
stronger-than-expected sales of new homes in March. Samsung Electronics (005930) , which gets 20 percent of sales from
the U.S., advanced 1.7 percent to 1.305 million won in Seoul.
Canon Inc., the world’s biggest camera maker, gained 1.5 percent
to 3,800 yen in Tokyo. Li & Fung Ltd., a supplier of toys and
clothes to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., added 0.9 percent to HK$16.16
in Hong Kong. Apple Boost Technology companies posted the biggest advance among the
10 industry groups in MSCI Asia Pacific Index. Apple suppliers
gained after results from the Cupertino, California-based
company reflected robust demand for iPhones in China and sales
of the new iPad. Net income in the fiscal second quarter climbed 94 percent
to $11.6 billion from a year earlier as sales rose 59 percent to
$39.2 billion, Apple said in a statement. Hon Hai, which gets about 37 percent of its revenue from
Apple, increased 2.4 percent to NT$106 in Taipei. Foxconn
Technology Co. (2354) , a unit of Hon Hai that supplies casings to the
U.S. company, rose 2.5 percent to NT$103.50. LG Display Co., a maker of liquid-crystal displays that
counts Apple as a customer, gained 1.9 percent to 26,850 won in
Seoul as it predicted a return to profit in the three months
ending June after three quarters of losses. Nomura Speculation Nomura Holdings climbed 2.4 percent to 344 yen in Tokyo on
speculation Japan’s biggest brokerage may report an increase in
quarterly profit trading gains outweighed declines in investment
banking, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Net income climbed to about 18 billion yen ($221 million)
for the three months ended March 31 from 11.9 billion yen a year
earlier, the people said, declining to be identified before
earnings are announced on April 27. The average estimate of nine
analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was for profit of 14.4 billion
yen. Among stocks that dropped, Yoshinoya slid 2.4 percent to
102,800 yen on concern a mad-cow case in the U.S. may hurt sales
at the restaurant chain, which imports meat for its beef bowls.
“There is no problem with our beef,” Haruhiko Kizu, a
Yoshinoya spokesman said by telephone today. He declined to
comment on the drop in the company’s shares. Wipro Ltd. (WPRO) slumped 6.9 percent to 411.50 rupees in Mumbai
after India’s third-largest software exporter posted fourth-
quarter sales that missed estimates. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 8.3 percent this year
through yesterday, compared with a 9.1 percent advance by the
S&P 500 and a 4 percent increase by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index.
Stocks in the Asian benchmark were valued at 12.6 times
estimated earnings on average, compared with multiples of 13.1
for the S&P 500 and 10.6 times for the Stoxx 600. To contact the reporters on this story:
Jonathan Burgos in Singapore at
[email protected] ;
Norie Kuboyama in Tokyo at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
John McCluskey at
[email protected] | 2012 | asian-stocks-snap-four-day-loss-on-u-s-homes-sales |
VTB Group Profit Advanced 54% Last Year, Missing Estimates | By Jason Corcoran | 2012-04-25T07:56:57Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/vtb-group-profit-advanced-54-last-year-missing-estimates-1-.html | 4 | 25 | 2a7378e975bd9c90d2dcc8bc2a25c565bd17eb6e | VTB Group, Russia ’s second-biggest
lender, said profit grew 54 percent last year, missing analyst
estimates, as Europe ’s debt crisis roiled the banking industry. Net income attributable to shareholders advanced to 89.4
billion rubles ($3.1 billion), from 58.2 billion rubles a year
earlier, the Moscow-based bank said in a statement today. That
missed the 92.5 billion-ruble average of 19 investment banks
polled by VTB on April 23. The group swung to a net loss of 26.7
billion rubles from “financial instruments” last year,
compared with a gain of 14.7 billion rubles in 2010. “We achieved a great deal in 2011, with a record net
profit despite challenging conditions in the global capital
markets ,” VTB Chief Executive Officer Andrey Kostin said in the
statement. “While global economic uncertainty remains, we are
well positioned to improve further our performance as the
recovery takes hold in Russia and confidence returns to the
markets worldwide.” Prime Minister and President-elect Vladimir Putin has said
Russia should target expansion of at least 6 percent a year to
become a top-five economy in terms of purchasing power. Gross
domestic product may expand 3.4 percent this year, less than the
3.7 percent the government initially forecast, Economy Minister
Elvira Nabiullina said this month. Lending Growth VTB said gross loans surged 50 percent last year to 4.6
trillion rubles. The share of non-performing loans shrank to 5.4
percent of the total on Dec. 31, from 8.6 percent a year
earlier. The net interest margin, which measures the profit
margin on lending, for the year was at 5 percent, little changed
from 5.1 percent in 2010. VTB shares jumped as much as 1.1 percent and were trading
0.9 percent higher at 64 kopeks as of 11:07 a.m. in Moscow. The
Micex Index (VTBMICX) climbed 0.7 percent. Kostin said last week the bank has enough capital to
continue growing and called on the government to speed up its
planned sale of a stake in OAO Sberbank (SBER) , the nation’s biggest
lender. VTB is buying back 11.4 billion rubles of shares at
their initial public offering price from investors who lost
money after participating in the 2007 share sale. President-elect Vladimir Putin announced the buyback before
the nation’s March 4 presidential vote, earning him the
criticism of asset managers including Charlemagne Capital Ltd. (CCAP)
and Van Eck Associates, who called it a political maneuver that
will dilute the value of their holdings. “Risks remain for VTB with downbeat sentiment toward the
stock generated by the buyback and comments on the likelihood of
recapitalization,” Leonid Slipchenko, banking analyst at
UralSib Financial Corp, wrote in an e-mailed report. To contact the reporter on this story:
Jason Corcoran in Moscow at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Frank Connelly at
[email protected] | 2012 | vtb-group-profit-advanced-54-last-year-missing-estimates-1- |
Money Won’t Win Presidency but It Might Buy Congress | By Ezra Klein | 2012-04-25T23:00:58Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/money-won-t-win-presidency-but-it-might-buy-congress.html
President Barack Obama ’s re-
election campaign is likely to have more money than any
presidential campaign in history. Republican Mitt Romney’s
campaign, when you factor in the super-PACs supporting him,
could have even more money than that. Both candidates will, in other words, have more than enough
money to get out their message, attack their opponent and
support their ground game. Even as they’re spending all this
money on paid media , the campaigns will receive an almost
infinite amount of free media from newspapers, television,
magazines and blogs that will spend the next seven months doing
nothing but covering the presidential campaign. Yet, at the presidential level, money isn’t everything. In
fact, sometimes it’s not even the main thing. Note that Rick Santorum , who was outspent many times over by Romney,
nevertheless bested him in a number of Republican primaries. Just as youth is wasted on the young, money is wasted on
the rich. Money is least useful in contests where news coverage
is most intense and opinions are most entrenched. How many
people do you know who still aren’t sure what they think of
Obama? Or are undecided about Romney? Probably not many. But how many people do you know with a strong opinion on
their congressman? Or on his or her challenger? Do you even have
a strong opinion on your congressman? That’s the kind of “low-
information” race where money can have a big impact. Negative Airdrop Although the effect of super-PACs on the presidential race
will probably be limited, I worry when I read that casino mogul
Sheldon Adelson plans to pump millions into a super-PAC
dedicated to influencing the outcome of congressional elections.
That’s where an airdrop of a million dollars in negative ads in
the waning weeks of a campaign can completely change the result. In a recent episode of the public radio program “This
American Life,” Ben Calhoun tells the story of Ami Bera, a
long-shot Democratic candidate who ran against Republican
Representative Dan Lungren of California in 2010. Lungren has
been a fixture of California politics for 30 years. Bera, a
newcomer, wasn’t supposed to have a chance. He began the race 30
points behind, but he kept closing the gap. And closing the gap.
Soon, he was trailing Lungren by single digits. Then American Crossroads, the Republican super-PAC founded
by Karl Rove , jumped into the campaign in the final two weeks.
It dumped $680,000 into negative ads against Bera. An unknown
quantity to many in the district, Bera had no time or money to
respond to the attacks. He just took the hit. And lost. Without American Crossroads, would Bera have won? Perhaps
not. But it didn’t help. “It clearly had impact and moved us
backwards,” he told Calhoun. “It went from a single-digit race
to 14 points down. That’s a lot to make up in a single week.” A similar barrage leveled against a presidential candidate
would be far less effective. Romney knows a lot of rich people.
So does Obama. If in the final days of the presidential campaign
some hedge fund billionaire begins a multimillion-dollar assault
on Obama, some Hollywood billionaire will probably help the
president out. Either way, the ads would have a limited effect.
By the end of the presidential campaign, most voters will have
made up their minds. They’re not waiting for one more black-and-
white clip narrated by another grim voice to push them over the
edge. In contrast, even at the end of the campaign, many
potential voters will know very little about their congressional
candidates. They will be susceptible to ads telling them
terrible things. Some of those candidates won’t have the
resources to fight back. Pays To Listen No one knows that better than the candidates themselves.
Both incumbents and potential challengers realize that a deep-
pocketed PAC could decide their race. So when they get a call
from that PAC’s director urging them to support this or that,
they’re that much likelier to listen. The result, then, isn’t
just that moneyed interests can throw congressional elections.
It’s that they wield more influence after the election | 4 | 25 | 57b271160a93472e8d593812d02a2f59 | legislation on the horizon, makes it known that it will spend
$500,000 or more against candidates who support limiting the
deductibility of corporate debt. That’s a small enough issue
that most Americans don’t follow candidate positions on it. It’s
an issue where there isn’t an organized set of interests on the
other side. And it’s an issue where most politicians themselves
don’t have very strong or even developed opinions. My guess is
United for Economic Growth would get its way in Congress without
having to spend much money at all. ( Ezra Klein is a Bloomberg View columnist. The opinions
expressed are his own.) Read more opinion online from Bloomberg View . Today’s highlights: the View editors on saving Social Security
and dealing with China ; Noah Feldman on Arizona immigration
arguments ; Caroline Baum on the fiscal future ; Susan Crawford on
cyber protection ; Steven Neil Kaplan on inequality and
unemployment ; Jared Diamond on the roots of Japan’s economic
malaise . To contact the writer on this article:
Ezra Klein in Washington at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this article:
Francis Wilkinson at
[email protected] . | 2012 | oney-won-t-win-presidency-but-it-might-buy-congress |
India ADRs Gain as S&P Cuts Nation’s Outlook; Wipro Sinks | By Leon Lazaroff | 2012-04-25T13:43:14Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/india-adrs-gain-as-s-p-cuts-nation-s-outlook-wipro-sinks.html | 4 | 25 | b1ab528dd3cdc069644149867a3d628afdc72327 | An index of American depositary
receipts of Indian companies jumped at the start of trading in
New York after Standard & Poor’s lowered the nation’s credit
outlook to negative from stable. The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK) India ADR Index rose 0.5
percent to 1,008.16 by 9:40 a.m. in New York. ADRs of Wipro Ltd. (WPRO) , India’s third-largest software exporter
which also had its outlook reduced to negative by S&P today,
dropped 4.9 percent to $9.82, poised for their biggest one-day
drop since April 13. To contact the reporter on this story:
Leon Lazaroff in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Emma O’Brien at
[email protected] | 2012 | india-adrs-gain-as-s-p-cuts-nation-s-outlook-wipro-sinks |
When We Wage Cyberwar, the Whole Web Suffers | By Susan P. Crawford | 2012-04-25T23:00:07Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/when-we-wage-cyberwar-the-whole-web-suffers.html
Responding to concerns voiced by
privacy advocates , conservative groups and hundreds of thousands
of Americans, the House Intelligence Committee has revised parts
of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, also known
as CISPA . Those provisions would have allowed companies to disclose
sensitive information to the government without being
accountable to U.S. privacy laws. There will be more amendments
offered when the bill reaches the House floor, probably Thursday
or Friday. But the real problem with CISPA and similar bills now
pending in the Senate ( one introduced by Connecticut independent
Joe Lieberman gives broad spying powers to Homeland Security ;
one introduced by Arizona Republican John McCain gives broad
spying powers to the Defense Department) is much deeper: This
flurry of legislation signals that elements of our government
want to wage unconstrained war on other nations in cyberspace,
no matter what the consequences may be to humanity. The arms
race being driven by this desire is threatening Internet freedom
here and abroad. In 2009, Defense Secretary Robert Gates designated
cyberspace as the “fifth domain” for military action. Deputy
Defense Secretary William Lynn said in 2010, “Like air, sea,
land and space, we’re going to have to treat cyberspace as an
arena where we need to defend our networks and to be able to
operate freely.” The U.S. Cyber Command is up and running,
enabling cyber “offensive capabilities” for regional commanders.
In January, Congress approved the Pentagon’s ability to wage
cyberwar. As terrestrial wars wind down, military contractors are
looking for new revenue streams. They have become cyberwar
doomsayers , banging the drums of fear and claiming that
cybersecurity must be our highest priority. They are also buying
tools and code that our government can use to attack other
countries online. The result: a market for so-called zero day exploits | 4 | 25 | 67476e64a94d441aa055cd93d1515790 | particularly when our own citizens will otherwise be deeply
harmed. We don’t have enough guns to direct at everyone around
the world. We might as well communicate. (Susan P. Crawford is a Bloomberg View columnist and a
visiting professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government
and Harvard Law School . She is a former special assistant to
President Barack Obama for science, technology and innovation
policy. The opinions expressed are her own.) Read more opinion online from Bloomberg View . Today’s highlights: the View editors on saving Social Security
and dealing with China ; Noah Feldman on Arizona immigration
arguments ; Caroline Baum on the fiscal future ; Ezra Klein on
money and politics ; Steven Neil Kaplan on inequality and
unemployment ; Jared Diamond on the roots of Japan’s economic
malaise . To contact the writer of this article:
Susan P. Crawford at [email protected] or @scrawford on
Twitter. To contact the editor responsible for this article:
Michael Newman at [email protected] . | 2012 | when-we-wage-cyberwar-the-whole-web-suffers |
AMR Likely to Consider Merger in Bankruptcy, Adviser Says | By David McLaughlin | 2012-04-26T17:03:47Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/amr-will-likely-consider-merger-in-bankruptcy-adviser-says.html | 4 | 25 | 9a2cf1cd8bcdf17427d4086bbd09f10fa19e4f08 | American Airlines , as part of its
bankruptcy reorganization, will probably consider a merger as it
seeks to get the best deal for stakeholders, an investment
banker for the airline said in court. David Resnick, chairman of global financing advisory at
Rothschild Inc., was asked yesterday at a court hearing whether
a merger would be considered before exiting bankruptcy. He said
it’s likely because American is obliged to get the highest value
for stakeholders. “Stakeholders would want to ensure they are getting the
highest possible value so they would want the debtor to look at
alternatives to a stand-alone plan,” he said during testimony
in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan . Resnick’s comments come as US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) seeks to
build support for a possible takeover of American parent AMR
Corp. (AAMRQ) Tempe, Arizona-based US Airways is targeting AMR’s
unsecured creditors committee after winning the backing of the
carrier’s biggest unions. US Airways Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker said
yesterday on a conference call with analysts and investors that
agreements with the labor groups were a “big step” as the
company progresses from the unions to the creditor panel and
eventually to AMR’s board. Labor Contracts Resnick was testifying as part of American’s effort to win
court approval to void labor contracts with unions. The Fort
Worth , Texas-based airline is seeking to cut $1.25 billion in
annual labor costs in its restructuring. Jeffrey Brundage,
senior vice president of human resources at the company, is
scheduled to testify today. When the hearing on the union contracts began April 23, AMR
Chief Executive Officer Tom Horton said in a letter to employees
that any decision to pursue a merger is “the charge” of the
board of directors and the company’s leadership “in close
collaboration with the creditors committee.” “Everyone should understand that what’s best for our
company, our people and our financial stakeholders will be
determined by the facts in a disciplined manner and process,”
Horton wrote. “And this includes whether American will choose
to pursue any combination down the road.” Resnick testified yesterday about a presentation to the
creditor’s committee that discussed consolidation opportunities. ‘Our Focus’ During his testimony, when asked when AMR should consider
strategic alternatives, Resnick said the airline should develop
a stand-alone plan and use it as a basis for comparing
alternatives such as a merger. A stand-alone reorganization
would pay unsecured creditors with equity in the reorganized
company, he said. “Our focus to date has been on the stand-alone plan,” he
said. Alexander Dichter, an AMR adviser who works at consulting
firm McKinsey & Co., also argued in favor of first developing a
business plan during his testimony today. The power a company
brings to merger negotiations is linked to its business plan, he
said. “We believe strongly it is very important to have a viable
stand-alone plan before you consider such alternatives, not just
on paper but in actuality,” Dichter said. The case is In re AMR Corp., 11-15463, U.S. Bankruptcy
Court , Southern District of New York (Manhattan). To contact the reporter on this story:
David McLaughlin in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
John Pickering at
[email protected] | 2012 | amr-will-likely-consider-merger-in-bankruptcy-adviser-says |
CFPB-Arbitration Clauses, Swap Rules, Bonus Bonds: Compliance | By Carla Main | 2012-04-25T04:01:01Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/cfpb-arbitration-clauses-swap-rules-bonus-bonds-compliance.html
The U.S. Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau is seeking comment on the use of clauses that
require consumers to resolve disputes with companies through
arbitration rather than through the court system. CFPB Director Richard Cordray said yesterday in an e-mail
statement announcing the request that the bureau wants to assess
whether rules are needed with respect to arbitration clauses.
Comments are due to the agency by June 23. Mandatory arbitration clauses are used for products
including credit cards, checking accounts and payday loans. The bureau didn’t say when it would complete its study,
which is required under the Dodd-Frank Act. Under the 2010 law,
the consumer bureau can ban or condition the use of mandatory
arbitration in financial-services contracts, consistent with the
results of the study. Compliance Policy CFTC May Vote on Swap Rule Delay Provision Through December The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission may vote to
delay some Dodd-Frank Act derivatives regulations from taking
effect until as late as the end of the year, a person briefed on
the matter said. The agency’s commissioners may consider an order providing
temporary relief from provisions scheduled to take effect July
16, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because the process is private. The order would be open to
public comment before completion. The agency has previously provided relief from provisions
that were set to take effect in July 2011 to give commissioners
more time to consider rules. The new order may provide relief
from the provisions through December unless the provisions are
effective earlier, the person said. The CFTC is preparing to complete regulations governing
capital and margin requirements in non-cleared trades as well as
the international reach of regulations. Commissioners may decide
to limit the reach of Dodd-Frank swap rules to allow U.S.
regulators more time to determine the comparability of overseas
regulations, the person said. The Washington-based agency that is writing derivatives
regulations is also considering a proposal that would include a
phased-in compliance system. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) , Goldman Sachs
Group Inc. (GS) and other banks have said U.S. regulators will hurt
their ability to compete with overseas rivals if the rules apply
to foreign-based subsidiaries. Compliance Action Wal-Mart Bribery Probe Seen as Examining Coverup Claims Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) may spend hundreds of millions of
dollars investigating $24 million in alleged Mexican bribes as
the U.S. government weighs whether the company or executives
also broke the law by covering up an internal probe, former
federal prosecutors said. The company said it’s aiding U.S. probes of payments
detailed April 21 in the New York Times. The newspaper said Wal-
Mart de Mexico failed to fully investigate the bribe claims as
well as well as $16 million in “donations” to Mexican local
governments to fuel store expansion in the country up to 2005. Wal-Mart disclosed the payments to the Justice Department
and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a
December 2011 regulatory filing, and said its outside advisers
are briefing the agencies on its own probe. Prosecutors will
want to know why Wal-Mart didn’t fully examine claims in 2005 by
a company lawyer that he funneled bribes to Mexican officials,
said Paul Pelletier , a former federal prosecutor. The Justice Department is investigating potential criminal
charges under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, according
to a person familiar with the probe who wasn’t authorized to
speak publicly. The FCPA bans payments by companies or their
agents to foreign governments to obtain or retain business. The company said it created a new position to monitor
global compliance with the FCPA. For more, click here. Credit Suisse Bonus Bonds Lead Embrace of ‘Capital Relief’ Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) ’s $750 million in bonuses given this
year in the form of bonds, while compensating employees, also
played a role in shifting risk in derivatives trading. The securities shielded the Zurich-based bank from
potential losses on $16 billion of derivatives trades | 4 | 25 | 6da4d11c2be94f0c9936e18abf0d71e5 | employees, people with knowledge of the matter said. Instead of
the company bearing the full brunt of any trades where customers
failed to pay up, bonus recipients will share the cost. The bonds are part of a resurgence in “regulatory capital
relief transactions,” created by bankers looking to cut risk
and build cushions against losses without diluting shareholders,
selling assets or scaling back trades and loans. Some of
Europe’s biggest banks including Barclays Plc (BARC) , Standard
Chartered Plc (STAN) and Commerzbank AG are paying investors and
employees interest rates as high as 15 percent in return for
agreeing to share losses on at least $30 billion of assets. Using techniques similar to the ones that packaged
mortgages into bonds, lenders are turning holdings of corporate
loans, export-import credit or derivatives-trading gains into
triple-A securities. The practice has drawn scrutiny from regulators in the U.K. For more, click here. Courts Indian Court Delays Cancellation of Phone Licenses by 3 Months India’s Supreme Court postponed by three months the
deadline for cancellation of 122 mobile-phone licenses to Sept.
7 and said the government must complete its auction of the
wireless airwaves within that time. Supreme Court Judge G.S. Singhvi rejected the government’s
request for a 400-day window to complete the auction of the
canceled airwaves permits. The court had earlier set a four-
month deadline for the completion of the auction. Companies including Norway’s Telenor ASA (TEL) , Russia’s AFK
Sistema (AFKS) and Emirates Telecommunications Corp. (ETISALAT) , or Etisalat, will
now gain an extra three months to continue providing services to
their Indian subscribers, while considering their options.
Yesterday’s decision comes almost a month before the Supreme
Court’s June 2 auction deadline, set in February. Telenor spokesman Glenn Mandelid didn’t answer two calls to
his mobile phone. Goldman Sachs Wins Dismissal of Claim in ACA Financial Suit Goldman Sachs Group Inc. won the dismissal of a claim in a
lawsuit brought by ACA Financial Guaranty Corp. over a mortgage-
based investment that led to a settlement with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission. ACA Financial sued Goldman Sachs in New York State Supreme
Court in January 2011 in connection with a collateralized debt
obligation known as Abacus. Justice Barbara Kapnick threw out one of the claims in an
order dated yesterday, saying that the plaintiffs failed to
establish that Goldman Sachs was unjustly enriched at ACA
Financial’s expense. Kapnick declined to dismiss the other two
claims in the complaint, which allege fraudulent concealment and
fraudulent concealment. Goldman Sachs, based in New York, agreed in July 2010 to
pay $550 million, the largest penalty ever assessed by the
agency against a Wall Street firm, to settle allegations against
it involving Abacus. The case is ACA Financial v. Goldman Sachs & Co.,
650027/2011, New York state Supreme Court (Manhattan). Interviews/Hearings MF Global Executives Will Not Receive Bonus Money, Trustee Says Senior MF Global Holdings Ltd. (MFGLQ) executives still working at
the bankrupt firm will not receive bonuses, the company’s
trustee told lawmakers at a hearing on Capitol Hill . Louis Freeh , the former Federal Bureau of Investigation
director serving as trustee for the New York-based firm,
committed to lawmakers that he wouldn’t award bonuses to current
or former employees in the wake of reports that compensation
packages for Chief Operating Officer Bradley Abelow, General
Counsel Laurie Ferber and Chief Financial Officer Henri J.
Steenkamp were being prepared. “It was never my intention” to pay out bonus money to
executives from the firm, Freeh told members of the Senate
Banking Committee at a hearing today. Freeh committed to
lawmakers that he would not distribute bonus money to current or
former MF Global employees. MF Global Holdings, once run by Jon S. Corzine, a Democrat
who served in the Senate before serving as New Jersey’s
governor, filed the eighth-largest U.S. bankruptcy on Oct. 31
after getting margin calls and bank demands for money at its
brokerage unit, MF Global Inc. While the holding company is
returning funds to creditors under Freeh in a Chapter 11
bankruptcy, the brokerage unit is returning funds to customers. U.S. lawmakers seized on the bonus issue last month. The
Senate adopted a non-binding resolution objecting to the
distribution of bonus money. Rewrite Dated U.S. Telecommunications Law, Diller Urges Senate IAC/Interactive Corp. (IACI) Chairman Barry Diller, who’s
distributing television channels online, urged U.S. legislators
to rewrite communications laws to reflect blurring lines between
Internet, cable and broadcast providers. “You’ve got to rewrite the communications act” of 1996,
Diller, whose company has invested in a service that lets users
watch broadcast TV on mobile devices, said at a hearing
yesterday before the Senate Commerce Committee. “It’s overdue
given the Internet.” Diller was among witnesses called to a hearing to examine
how new Internet-driven technology is changing television
viewing. Also asked to appear were executives from Microsoft
Corp. (MSFT) , whose Xbox gaming platform can be used to watch movies
and TV shows, and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) , which offers online video for
purchase or rent. Jay Rockefeller , the West Virginia Democrat who is chairman
of the committee, told reporters after the hearing that the
rapidly evolving communications landscape “will require
legislation.” No telecommunications update will pass this year,
Rockefeller said, because it is “not a simple business” and it
“raises a lot of questions” that can’t be answered
legislatively at this point. To contact the reporter on this story:
Carla Main in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Hytha at
[email protected] | 2012 | cfpb-arbitration-clauses-swap-rules-bonus-bonds-compliance |
Sun Co-Founder Scott McNealy Set to Testify at Oracle IP Trial | By Karen Gullo | 2012-04-26T04:01:01Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/scott-mcnealy-sun-co-founder-to-testify-at-oracle-ip-trial-1-.html | 4 | 25 | da691cec675b542e436e6753b8688708327f7a60 | Sun Microsystems Inc. co-founder
Scott McNealy will be called by Oracle Corp. (ORCL) today as a witness
in a trial over claims that Google Inc. infringed intellectual
property to develop Android software. Fred Norton, an Oracle attorney, told U.S. District Judge
William Alsup in San Francisco yesterday that McNealy will
testify for the database maker, which alleges that Google
infringed copyrights and patents for the Java programming
language to build the Android operating system for mobile
devices. Sun created the language, which is now Oracle’s
property after its 2010 takeover of Sun. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt testified April 24 that Google
wasn’t required to license the parts of Java that it used in
Android and Sun made no demand for a license to use Java when
the search engine company announced Android in 2007. Sun and Google discussed a partnership in 2005 and 2006 to
co-develop Android that would have required Google to license
Java source code, Google executives have testified during the
trial, which began April 16. Sun sought as much as $50 million
from Google to use Java, Schmidt said. “I’m worried how we are going to replace the revenue this
is likely to submarine,” McNealy said in a February 2006 e-mail
about the proposed partnership shown to the jury. ‘Risk With Java’ He supported taking a “risk with Java” to develop open
source smartphone software, according to the e-mail. “I just
need to understand the economics,” McNealy wrote. The Sun co-founder saw the Android partnership with Google
as a way to boost revenue, Schmidt told the jury. “He understood the benefit of having a billion users,”
Schmidt testified. “I took that to mean he wanted money.” The partnership never materialized and Jonathan Schwartz,
Sun’s chief executive officer when Android was introduced in
2007, congratulated Google on the software, Schmidt testified.
Google will call Schwartz as a witness today, said Jim Prosser,
a company spokesman, in an e-mail. Oracle, based in Redwood City , California , is seeking
$1 billion in damages and a court order blocking sales of
Android, now running on more than 300 million smartphones,
unless Mountain View , California-based Google pays for a
license. The case is Oracle America Inc. v. Google Inc. (GOOG) , 10-03561,
U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San
Francisco). To contact the reporter on this story:
Karen Gullo in San Francisco at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Hytha at
[email protected] | 2012 | scott-mcnealy-sun-co-founder-to-testify-at-oracle-ip-trial-1- |
U.K. Rules Risk $32 Billion of Future Market Value, RBS CEO Says | By Gavin Finch | 2012-04-25T23:01:00Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/rbs-may-face-32-billion-value-cost-from-regulation-hester-says.html | 4 | 25 | a3b6205cfe3e11437bcb7adb7a91a01275ae87ac | Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc
may lose as much as 20 billion pounds ($32 billion) from its
future market value because of planned U.K. regulatory changes,
Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hester said. The “regulatory environment has changed even more
dramatically than we bargained for,” Hester said in the text of
a speech at the Manchester Business School yesterday. “U.K.
regulatory reforms on their own have probably cost 10 to 20
billion pounds from our future market value.” The government-sponsored Independent Commission on Banking
recommended in September the U.K.’s biggest banks should boost
capital, implement plans for an orderly bankruptcy and erect
fire breaks around their consumer units to boost the stability
of the financial system. The proposals also mean that banks will
no longer be allowed to use their consumer units to provide
cheap funding for investment-banking units. Greater regulation is adding to a slower-than-expected
economic recovery and turbulent markets, said Hester, 51. The
British economy shrank in the first quarter as Britain slid into
its first double-dip recession since the 1970s, figures from the
Office for National Statistics showed yesterday. “We can cope with these extra challenges, but they use up
the outperformance we have achieved and they mean that our
shareholders, indeed all bank shareholders, will see value
recover less well than hoped,” he said. Two More Years The government was forced to rescue RBS at the height of
the financial crisis, injecting 45.5 billion pounds of taxpayer
money into the lender, making it the costliest bailout of any
bank in the world. Hester said in the speech that the cost of
cleaning up the lender he inherited from former CEO Fred Goodwin
totals 43 billion pounds so far. RBS still has two more years of “heavy lifting,
significant clean-up costs and vulnerability to outside events”
as it restructures its business, Hester said. RBS fell 0.3 percent to 23.2 pence at the close of London
trading yesterday. The shares have rallied 15 percent this year,
boosting the Edinburgh-based lender’s market value to about 26
billion pounds. The U.K., which owns 82 percent of the lender,
paid an average of 50.2 pence a share for its holding. To contact the reporter on this story:
Gavin Finch in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Edward Evans at [email protected] | 2012 | rbs-may-face-32-billion-value-cost-from-regulation-hester-says |
Boeing Jumps as Profit Beats Estimates, Outlook Raised | By Tim Catts | 2012-04-25T20:50:18Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/boeing-profit-beats-estimates-as-jetliner-deliveries-accelerate.html | 4 | 25 | a2e1aa800c25456c8be3e8faf8d82089 | Boeing Co. (BA) climbed the most in
eight months after the world’s largest aerospace company posted
a first-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates and raised
its 2012 forecast. Net income rose 58 percent to $923 million, or $1.22 a
share, buoyed by increased deliveries of commercial jets, Boeing
said today in a statement. The shares jumped 5.3 percent to
$77.08 at the close in New York, leading the advance in the Dow
Jones Industrial Average . Quarterly shipments of 137 jetliners topped Airbus SAS’s
131 as Chicago-based Boeing bids to retake the global
commercial-sales title it lost in 2003. Boeing is boosting
production by more than 60 percent in the four years through
2014 to pare a record order backlog. “The results look terrific, led by the commercial aircraft
side of the company,” Rick Whittington, a Drexel Hamilton LLC
analyst in New York , said in a telephone interview. “Boeing has
this monstrous commercial backlog and the question has been if
they can get them out the door profitably, and while the jury
still isn’t completely in there, the signs are looking
positive.” The first-quarter profit exceeded the 93-cent average
estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 26 analysts. Sales rose 30
percent to $19.4 billion, beating the average estimate of $18.3
billion among 22 analysts. Profit Forecast Full-year profit will be $4.15 to $4.35 a share, after a
litigation-related reserve was reduced, up from the $4.05 to
$4.25 projected in January. Shrinking that reserve contributed 11 cents a share to
Boeing’s earnings, according to the statement. Even without that
benefit, profit still would have been “well above consensus”
estimates, Douglas Harned , a Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst
in New York, said in a note. Boeing reiterated its plan to deliver from 70 to 85 wide-
body 787 and 747 jets this year, with the composite-plastic
Dreamliner accounting for “approximately half” of the total.
The company handed over five 787s in the first quarter. Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA) took delivery today of a 747-8
Intercontinental, the latest passenger version of the four-
engine jumbo jet. The German carrier is the first airline to get
the new plane, after Boeing handed one over to an unidentified
private customer on Feb. 28. Segment Revenue Revenue at the commercial airplane unit climbed 54 percent
to $10.9 billion last quarter, while profit more than doubled to
$1.08 billion. Boeing’s defense, space and security division
increased profit by 11 percent to $742 million on $8.2 billion
of sales. The results marked a “very good start to 2012 by Boeing,
with better-than-expected operating performance in both
divisions,” Robert Stallard, an RBC Capital Markets analyst in
New York, wrote in a note to clients. “If Boeing can continue to execute, then we think there is
the potential” for further increases in the full-year forecast,
wrote Stallard, who rates the shares as outperform. Harned has a
market perform rating on the stock, while Drexel Hamilton’s
Whittington recommends Boeing as a buy. Boeing’s commercial backlog rose 4.1 percent to $305.3
billion as of March 31 from the end of 2011. Demand for new jetliners is “strong,” as passenger air
traffic “remains resilient,” Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney said on a conference call. To contact the reporter on this story:
Tim Catts in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Ed Dufner at
[email protected] | 2012 | boeing-profit-beats-estimates-as-jetliner-deliveries-accelerate |
Argentine Stocks: Aluar Aluminio, Petrobras Argentina, Tenaris | By Eduardo Thomson | 2012-04-25T20:52:26Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/argentine-stocks-aluar-aluminio-petrobras-argentina-tenaris.html | 4 | 25 | 1fa4ea96e2987b987ac14cef284f5a6bd6ed6e45 | The following companies had unusual
price changes in Argentine trading. Stock symbols are in
parentheses, and share prices are as of the close in Buenos
Aires . The Merval (MERVAL) index fell 1.5 percent to 2,277.08. Aluar Aluminio (ALUA) Argentino SA (ALUA AF), the country’s
largest aluminum producer, fell 3 percent to 2.26 pesos, its
lowest on a closing basis since September 2009. Industrial
stocks dropped after consulting firm FIEL reported yesterday
that industrial production in the country contracted, Carlos Aszpis, an equity strategist at Buenos Aires-based brokerage
Schweber & Cia., said in a phone interview. Petrobras Argentina SA (PESA) , the local unit of
Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR) ,
dropped 4.6 percent to 6.25 pesos, the biggest fall in more than
two weeks. Petrobras is in “quite heated” discussions with
Argentina about the cancellation of a concession in the Neuquen
province, Chief Executive Officer Maria das Gracas Foster said
today in Brasilia. Tenaris SA (TEN) advanced 1.9 percent to 99.50 pesos, its
second day of gains. The world’s largest producer of seamless
steel tubes used in the oil industry increased in line with the
price of crude. To contact the reporter on this story:
Eduardo Thomson in Santiago at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Papadopoulos at
[email protected] | 2012 | argentine-stocks-aluar-aluminio-petrobras-argentina-tenaris |
Bank of America Confirms Hire of UBS Banker Wilmot-Sitwell | By Ambereen Choudhury | 2012-04-25T08:40:29Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/bank-of-america-confirms-hire-of-ubs-banker-wilmot-sitwell.html | 4 | 25 | 0a6fa22c7c4eff6ffd6afe26900446e3dcff2e90 | Bank of America Corp. (BAC) said it hired
Alex Wilmot-Sitwell as president, Europe and Emerging markets
excluding Asia, the bank said in a memo to staff confirmed by a
spokesman. Wilmot-Sitwell joins from UBS AG. (UBSN) He will be based in
London and will join in the coming months, the memo said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Ambereen Choudhury in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Gavin Finch at
[email protected] | 2012 | bank-of-america-confirms-hire-of-ubs-banker-wilmot-sitwe |
Canon Raises Full-Year Profit Forecast 16% as Yen Weakens | By Mariko Yasu | 2012-04-25T08:22:01Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/canon-raises-full-year-profit-forecast-16-to-290-billion-yen.html | 4 | 25 | bd70cdba1843405494bf1cdc05d3c338 | Canon Inc. (7751) , the world’s biggest
camera maker, increased its full-year profit forecast by 16
percent to the highest in four years after the yen weakened. Net income in the year ending Dec. 31 may be 290 billion
yen ($3.6 billion), compared with the 250 billion-yen forecast
in January, the company said in a statement today. That was less
than the 296 billion-yen average of 22 analyst estimates
compiled by Bloomberg. Tokyo-based Canon also raised its
operating profit and sales forecast for the year. The maker of Ixus and PowerShot digital cameras is raising
its forecast after the Bank of Japan’s monetary stimulus led the
yen to decline 9.9 percent against the euro and 7.2 percent
against the dollar in the first quarter. The weaker yen is
helping the company, whose earnings were hurt by Thai floods and
Japan ’s earthquake last year. “The yen went up too quickly,” Edwin Merner, president of
Tokyo-based Atlantis Investment Research, which manages $300
million, said today by e-mail. “A weaker yen will help. But the
success will depend on coming out with new, better products.” Canon rose as much as 2.9 percent to 36 euros in German
trading. The shares advanced 1.5 percent to close at 3,800 yen
in Tokyo before the announcement. The stock has gained 11
percent this year, compared with a 37 percent increase for Nikon
Corp. (7731) and a 4.3 percent decline for Sony Corp. (6758) , the maker of
Cyber-shot cameras. Operating Profit Canon, the maker of the EOS range of cameras, said
operating profit this year may be 450 billion yen, an increase
from the 390 billion yen predicted earlier. Canon raised its
sales estimate to 3.9 trillion yen from 3.75 trillion yen
predicted in January. The net income forecast for the year will be the highest
since the company’s 309.15 billion-yen profit in 2008, according
to data compiled by Bloomberg. Canon based its profit forecasts on exchange-rate estimates
of 79.94 yen to the U.S. dollar , compared with 75 yen
previously, and 104.91 yen per euro, revised from 100 yen. The
yen’s future gains against the dollar will be limited because of
the improving U.S. economic outlook, Chief Financial Officer
Toshizo Tanaka said. Camera Sales The company generates 80 percent of its revenue outside
Japan. A depreciation of the currency boosts the repatriated
value of overseas sales. “The yen is good news,” said Takashi Aoki, a senior fund
manager at Mizuho Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. “The outlook
is still conservative.” The world’s second-largest printer maker loses about 9.2
billion yen of annual operating profit for every 1 yen decline
in the value of the dollar and 5.4 billion yen of income for
each 1 yen decline by the euro, the company said in January. “The global economy is expected to take considerable time
before realizing a full recovery,” Canon said in the statement .
“The U.S. economy faces such downward risks as high
unemployment and falling housing prices, whereas the European
economy is projected to remain stagnant for the time being.” Income at the office-equipment division, Canon’s biggest
business, fell 16 percent from a year earlier to 52.8 billion
yen in the first quarter, while the company’s consumer unit,
which handles cameras, gained 17 percent to 46.7 billion yen. Canon maintained its target of selling 22 million compact
cameras and 9.2 million single-lens reflex models this year. Global shipments of digital cameras rose 5 percent to 14
million units during the first two months in 2012 from a year
earlier, according to the Camera & Imaging Products Association
in Tokyo . Shipments in Europe and Asia each gained 18 percent,
while those in U.S. fell 10 percent, the industry group said
earlier this month. To contact the reporter on this story:
Mariko Yazoo in Tokyo at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Tighe at
[email protected] | 2012 | canon-raises-full-year-profit-forecast-16-to-290-billion-yen |
Canadian Dollar Reaches 7-Month High on Global Stocks | By Chris Fournier | 2012-04-25T21:16:44Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/canadian-dollar-touches-highest-since-march-on-stocks.html | 4 | 25 | ceb504abf49c409397b1193ab291502e | Canada ’s dollar strengthened to a
seven-month high against its U.S, counterpart on speculation
equities gains signal the global economic growth outlook is
improving, bolstering prospects for the nation’s exports. The Canadian dollar rallied against most of its major peers
and is headed for a 1.5 percent gain this month versus the
greenback, trailing only the yen. It remained higher after the
Federal Reserve refrained from additional stimulus measures
including further asset purchases as policy makers said they
expect economic growth to gradually accelerate. “Risk assets will fade a bit if there is little or no hint
of additional easing measures,” said Shaun Osborne , chief
currency strategist at Toronto-Dominion Bank’s TD Securities
unit, via e-mail. “The statement was not greatly changed from
last time around and gave no indication of any change in FOMC
thinking.” Canada’s currency, nicknamed the loonie, touched 98.23
cents per U.S. dollar , the strongest since Sept. 19, before
trading 0.4 percent higher at 98.33 cents at 5 p.m. in Toronto.
One Canadian dollar buys $1.0170. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 1.4 percent. The MSCI
World Index advanced 1.1 percent. Currency Forecast The loonie will strengthen to 98 cents per U.S. dollar by
year end, according to the median of 40 forecasts compiled by
Bloomberg. Canada has the second-fastest gross domestic product growth
after Germany among Group of Seven nations and may be the first
to raise interest rates later this year, swaps trading shows. “The Canadian dollar, which is already being coveted on a
relative-value basis, is attracting more bids,” said Jack Spitz , managing director of foreign exchange at National Bank of
Canada in Toronto, in a telephone interview. “We like Canada,
both against the U.S. dollar and selectively on the crosses.”
Cross-trades are currency transactions that don’t involve the
U.S. dollar. Fed policy makers led by Chairman Ben S. Bernanke are
holding off on additional steps to boost the economy amid signs
the more than two-year expansion is gaining strength. Still, the
jobless rate isn’t declining fast enough to satisfy central
bankers, who repeated their view today that U.S. borrowing costs
are likely to remain “exceptionally low” at least through late
2014. Bonds Fall Canadian 10-year government bonds fell, pushing the yield
to 2.11 percent, up three basis points. The 3.25 percent
securities maturing in June 2021 fell 27 cents to C$109.49. Federal government bonds have lost 0.9 percent this year,
according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Canadian
Governments index. Canada sold C$2.9 billion ($3 billion) of three-year bonds
at an average yield of 1.598 percent. The debt matures in August
2015. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty’s agreement to secure
support of the opposition New Democratic Party for his budget
boosted the province’s bonds on expectations higher revenue will
help narrow its deficit. McGuinty won approval from lawmakers on a key budget vote
yesterday after agreeing to a 2 percent surtax on people earning
more than C$500,000 a year, meeting a key demand of NDP Leader
Andrea Horwath . To contact the reporter on this story:
Chris Fournier in Halifax at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dave Liedtka at
[email protected] | 2012 | canadian-dollar-touches-highest-since-march-on-stocks |
Edinburgh Money Man Showing World Japan Companies Best Bargains | By Rodney Jefferson | 2012-04-25T23:01:00Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/edinburgh-money-man-showing-world-japan-companies-best-bargains.html | 4 | 25 | b24e6358ff114446b1a12d1d41916d16 | A search for cheaper stocks has led
a Scottish disciple of U.S. mutual fund pioneer John Templeton
to bet a bigger chunk of his firm on Japan. (NKY) Sandy Nairn, who founded Edinburgh Partners Ltd. in 2003
after a decade working with Templeton, increased the proportion
of his global stock fund invested in the world’s third-largest
economy to 22 percent from 13 percent at the end of 2009. The
division is now roughly in line with Europe and the U.S., where
he has been reducing investments, Nairn said. “There seems to be this view that the Japanese are
congenitally uncompetitive and that wouldn’t be mine,” Nairn
said in an interview at his office in the Scottish capital.
“Just as in the early 1990s they were taking over the world,
both of those views are completely wrong.” That thinking from the heart of Edinburgh’s 500 billion-
pound ($805 billion) fund industry jibes with predictions
elsewhere that once people realize the value of Japanese stocks,
prices will take off. David Herro, chief investment officer at
Harris Associates LP in Chicago and Morningstar Inc.’s
international manager of the decade, bought them last year and
still calls Japan the cheapest developed market in the world. Nairn, 50, whose firm oversaw 8.7 billion pounds at the end
of 2011, is banking on being right to boost performance that has
lagged behind rivals. His 100 million-pound EP Global
Opportunities Fund (EPG) ranked 26th of 33 comparable funds in the
three years ended April 16, gaining 38 percent versus an average
83 percent for its peers, data compiled by Morningstar show. Motorbikes, Smoking “Our performance over the past couple of years hasn’t been
that great because this hasn’t happened yet,” said Nairn, who
started his career in the 1980s investing in Japan . Nairn cut the proportion of his investments in the U.S. to
18.4 percent at the end of 2011 from 23 percent two years
earlier, according to annual statements from the global fund.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has rallied 9 percent this year
on optimism the economy will recover more quickly. Holdings in Japan include Shizuoka-based motorcycle maker
Yamaha Motor Co. and Japan Tobacco Inc. (2914) , the world’s fourth-
largest cigarette producer, Nairn said in an April 23 e-mail.
Yamaha has gained 7.7 percent this year and Tokyo-based Japan
Tobacco has advanced 28 percent. The average price-to-book value for companies in the Topix
Index (TPX) , a broad benchmark of Japanese stocks, is about one,
compared with a ratio of 2.2 for the S&P 500 (SPX) , according to data
compiled by Bloomberg. Yamaha’s is at 1.3 times book value and
Japan Tobacco is at 2.7, the data show. ‘Huge Strides’ That means Japanese companies on average trade in line with
what their assets might be worth, while in the U.S., they are
valued at more than twice their assets. They also trade at 13.9
times estimated earnings, compared with a ratio of 13 for U.S.
companies, the figures show. “If you look at corporate earnings in Japan from 1990 till
today, they look terrible, but if you look from 2000, they look
better than most developed markets,” said Nairn. “All it’s
based on is that margins are very low and we think they’ll go up
a bit because they’ve made huge strides in productivity.” Nairn worked for Templeton Investment Management throughout
the 1990s and was director of equity research. He became chief
investment officer at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership,
part of Lloyds Banking Group, in 2000. The Scot, who co-wrote
the book “ Templeton’s Way with Money ” published this year,
left to found Edinburgh Partners three years later. Stifled Growth Rival money managers in Edinburgh are less optimistic about
Japan. The strain on the economy of more people retiring will
continue to stifle growth, Mike Turner , head of global strategy
at Aberdeen Asset Management. Japan’s $5.5 trillion economy shrank 0.7 percent last year
after the March earthquake and tsunami and will expand 2 percent
this year before growth slows to 1.7 percent in 2013, the
International Monetary Fund said in its latest report . About 23
percent of its 127 million people are older than 65, compared
with 8.9 percent in China , according to the CIA Factbook , which
cited figures from last year. “We’re not dismissing it from a shorter-term
perspective,” Turner said at his office in Edinburgh on March
29. “But from a longer-term perspective I don’t think you’ll
ever see us get very excited to have this huge overweight in
Japan because you’re swimming against the tide.” The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index lost 21 percent in dollar
terms over the past five years, almost three times the amount of
the S&P 500 , Bloomberg data show. This year, the Nikkei is up
6.8 percent, while yen has lost almost 6 percent. The best-performing stocks in the Nikkei this year are
Tokyo-based Oki Electric Industry Co. (6703) , up 87 percent in U.S.
dollar terms, and Advantest Corp. (6857) , up 55 percent. “If you want to buy one, get in line, even for the big
ones, because it’s been depressed for so long,” Nairn said in
his Georgian meeting room. “I also think the rest of the world
has very little knowledge of Japan now.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Rodney Jefferson at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Tim Quinson at [email protected] | 2012 | edinburgh-money-man-showing-world-japan-companies-best-bargains |
Wal-Mart Mexico Probe Threatening Global Growth Success: Retail | By David Welch | 2012-04-25T04:00:01Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/wal-mart-mexico-probe-threatening-global-growth-success-retail.html
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s (WMT) global
operations were designed to help it become less reliant on its
mature U.S. business. Now Wal-Mart is grappling with possible
bribery in Mexico, its second-largest foreign market,
potentially putting the global strategy in peril. On April 21, the world’s largest retailer confirmed it had
started a probe into its Mexican operations in response to
allegations that executives bribed officials to fast-forward
expansion. The U.S. Justice Department is also investigating,
according to a person familiar with the matter. Wal-Mart’s house-cleaning is seen to threaten growth in
Mexico, which last year generated about 21 percent of foreign
sales growth. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart is losing market share in
Brazil and China. It has no retail stores in India . And in
Canada Wal-Mart is about to clash with Target Corp. (TGT) , which next
year will open the first of as many as 150 locations there. “They will probably have to cool international growth,”
said Brian Sozzi , chief equity analyst at independent research
firm NBG Inc. in New York . “The international business has not
lived up to expectations. It’s not what it needs to be to offset
what’s happening in the U.S.” Since opening its first international store in Mexico in
1991, Wal-Mart has had plenty of overseas travails. The company
exited Germany in 2006 after being shunned by many consumers.
Japan slumped for several years until rebounding in 2008. Emerging Markets Wal-Mart confronts some of its steepest challenges in
emerging markets , where much of the future growth lies. Last
October, the Chongqing city government in China shut down 13
Wal-Mart stores for two weeks for mislabeling pork. Before that,
the city cited Wal-Mart for selling some perishable items after
their expiration dates. Meanwhile, the Indian government caved
to populist pressure to keep Wal-Mart out of the retail business
and protect local stores. Now the company has created a new executive position to
ensure that Wal-Mart employees around the world are complying
with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Doing so will add a
layer of bureaucracy to the company’s overseas efforts. Kevin Gardner , a spokesman, said Wal-Mart is strong in
Mexico, Canada and the U.K. Wal-Mart International is the
company’s fastest-growing unit, he said in a phone interview. On April 23, Wal-Mart de Mexico SAB said in a statement
that the company doesn’t believe the bribery probe will have
adverse effects on its business, results or cash flow. It’s not hard to see why Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke
is looking beyond the U.S. for growth. At home, online retailers
such as Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and dollar stores are stealing Wal-
Mart’s traditional customers by offering low prices and
convenience. In the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, Wal-Mart’s U.S.
sales rose 1.5 percent; international sales surged 11 percent. Star Performer Wal-Mart de Mexico has been the star performer; operating
margin was 7.9 percent last year, compared with an average of
4.9 percent for the global operations as a whole. While the U.K. is Wal-Mart’s largest foreign market, sales
growth there is comparatively tepid: 8 percent on average from
2000 to 2010, compared with 12 percent in Mexico, according to
Planet Retail , a London-based research firm. The U.K. is a
mature market with limited room for growth. Elsewhere, the road gets rockier. In China, while sales are
growing, they aren’t keeping pace with the market. In part,
that’s because a host of local rivals are undercutting Wal-Mart
on price even as the retailer’s reputation suffered following
the revelations over tainted and expired food. Wal-Mart DNA In Brazil, consumers are used to sales and promotional
events, which aren’t part of Wal-Mart’s DNA. Selling fresh food
also is important, and Wal-Mart is still trying to perfect that
business. Plus, French rival Carrefour SA (CA) is a formidable foe,
according to Bryan Gildenberg, an analyst with London-based
Kantar Retail. To boost sales in Brazil, the company is gearing up to roll
out its Everyday Low Price strategy | 4 | 25 | 46880cc0de1c44c1be3f2eb8ed6b99f6 | Featuring the same low prices every day, as opposed to luring
buyers with deals on select items, EDLP is core to Wal-Mart’s
brand in the U.S. and a key to its success. In Brazil it faces two hurdles, according to Natalie Berg,
a Planet Retail analyst. Wal-Mart is the third-largest retailer
in Brazil and as a result, lacks the pricing power it does in
the U.S., she said. Second, Wal-Mart has contracts with
suppliers with set pricing and will have to renegotiate them to
get some items to Everyday Low Prices, she said. “In markets where they aren’t number one, it’s very hard
to transition to EDLP,” Berg said in a phone interview. “It’s
not as rosy in Brazil as Wal-Mart makes it out to be.” China Execution Doug McMillon, CEO of the international unit, wants to do
the same in China next year and get that business to execute
better overall, he said at an analyst conference this month. There, too, EDLP will be a challenge, Berg said. Wal-Mart’s
China business doesn’t have the purchasing scale it has in the
U.S. and the company has struggled to strike a chord with
consumers. Recently, Wal-Mart shut down a small-store experiment
in China called Smart Choice, she said. Facing challenges in all these key markets, Wal-Mart had
bet big on Mexico , where it has demonstrated some of its most
effective retail innovations. Of Wal-Mart’s 2,138 Mexican
stores, 1,250 are relatively small Bodegas Aurrera stores, which
appeal to Mexican shoppers because they are low-priced and
convenient places to get food and basic consumables. Their
success prompted Wal-Mart to use them as the inspiration for its
new, small-format locations in the U.S. and Latin America . In Mexico, Wal-Mart also successfully put several retail
concepts on one patch of real estate. Configurations include a
large discount store, Sam’s Club, Suburbia apparel store and a
Vips restaurant all facing one parking lot. “Mexico is a cornerstone of their international presence
and it has been very successful,” Gildenberg said. “It would
be unfortunate if the single biggest memory of Wal-Mart de
Mexico is this issue.” To contact the reporter on this story:
David Welch in Detroit at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Robin Ajello at
[email protected] | 2012 | wal-mart-mexico-probe-threatening-global-growth-success-retai |
Ace ‘On the Hunt’ in Japan as Greenberg Calls Rivals Naive | By Zachary Tracer | 2012-04-26T01:47:10Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/ace-on-the-hunt-in-japan-as-greenberg-says-rivals-were-naive.html | 4 | 25 | 56e40b6bcd2b049e55b7baa71d07daec076b0e68 | Ace Ltd. (ACE) , the Swiss insurer with
operations in more than 50 countries, is seeking expansion in
Japan after the country’s insurers took on too much risk, Chief
Executive Officer Evan Greenberg said. “We have an operation in Japan, and we’re on the hunt
there,” Greenberg said on a conference call yesterday. Reinsurance rates rose as much as 60 percent for earthquake
coverage in Japan, and less for other risks, after the country’s
temblor and tsunami in March 2011, Swiss Re Ltd. said in June.
Greenberg said local companies may have charged too little in an
attempt to maintain contracts in their home country. Japanese insurers were “naïve in their underwriting,”
Greenberg said on the call with analysts. “We’re seeing some
opportunity and that may accelerate.” Ace’s expansion plan comes as Japanese insurers are turning
to foreign markets and cutting costs locally to counter
declining demand because of the nation’s stagnant economy and
shrinking population. MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings Inc. (8725) ,
Japan’s biggest casualty insurer, is buying a stake in India ’s
Max New York Life Insurance Co., while Tokio Marine Holdings
Inc. (8766) , the second largest, agreed to buy Delphi Financial Group
Inc. in its biggest acquisition in three years in December. Earthquakes, Floods Reinsurance rates rose in April 1 renewals, which focus on
the Asia-Pacific region, after last year’s losses from
earthquakes and floods in Japan, Thailand and New Zealand ,
reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter & Co. said on April 5. About
two-thirds of annual property and casualty reinsurance contracts
typically come up for renewal in January, with the remainder
renewed in April and July. Ace, which sells both primary coverage and reinsurance, has
expanded through acquisitions in Hong Kong , Korea and Malaysia ,
including the purchase of some Asian units of New York Life
Insurance Co. for $425 million. U.S. policy sales increased 0.6
percent in the first quarter, compared with an 8.4 percent jump
overseas, the insurer said April 24. Net income more than tripled to $973 million in the first
quarter as catastrophe costs fell, the Zurich-based insurer said.
Operating income, which excludes some investment results, was
$2.05 a share, beating by 18 cents the average estimate of
analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The insurer advanced 0.9 percent to $75.95 in New York
yesterday and has gained 8.3 percent this year. The 77-company
Bloomberg World Insurance Index gained 12 percent since Dec. 31. To contact the reporter on this story:
Zachary Tracer in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Kraut at [email protected] | 2012 | ace-on-the-hunt-in-japan-as-greenberg-says-rivals-were-naive |
FTC Loses Appeal in Androgel ‘Pay-for-Delay’ Patent Case | By Sara Forden | 2012-04-25T23:46:30Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/ftc-loses-appeal-in-androgel-pay-for-delay-patent-case-1-.html | 4 | 25 | 3a46dff532e9101d3073b841b2d89463cd8f0d3a | A U.S. appeals court handed the
Federal Trade Commission a defeat in its campaign to block so-
called pay-for-delay arrangements between brand-name and generic
drug makers, ruling a settlement involving a patent on Androgel
didn’t violate antitrust laws. The appeals judges in Atlanta upheld a lower court ruling
in favor of Brussels-based Solvay SA (SOLB) , which sold Androgel, a
treatment for low testosterone in men, and three other companies
including Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. A settlement among the
four delaying generic versions until 2015 prompted the FTC’s
lawsuit. The decision is a setback for FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz,
who estimates such deals cost consumers about $3.5 billion a
year in higher prescription drug prices. The agency has failed
to successfully challenge such agreements in court or to
persuade Congress to outlaw them. “We continue to believe this conduct violates the
antitrust laws,” Leibowitz said in a statement, calling the
situation a “lose-lose” for consumers. He said the FTC “will
consider all our options going forward.” David Balto , a Washington-based attorney who represents
consumer groups on the issue, said Congress may have to find a
solution. ‘Extremely Dogged’ “The FTC has been extremely dogged in pursuing these
settlements, but you can’t expect antitrust litigation to solve
these problems,” Balto said. “We really need legislation.” David Belian, a spokesman for the Generic Pharmaceutical
Association, welcomed the ruling. “This decision, along with several other prior court
decisions in similar suits brought by the FTC, reaffirms the
pro-competitive and pro-consumer nature of patent settlements,”
Belian said in an e-mail. Kate Connors, a spokeswoman for the Pharmaceutical Research
and Manufacturers of America , a Washington-based trade
association, said the group doesn’t comment on specific rulings.
The association has opposed restrictions of patent settlements. Two similar cases are still pending, including one in a
trial court involving Cephalon Inc.’s Provigil, a drug to
improve wakefulness. The other, at the U.S. Appeals Court in
Philadelphia, involves K-Dur, a drug used to treat low blood
levels of potassium, by Schering-Plough Corp. USA, which was
acquired by Merk & Co. in 2009. U.S. courts, including federal appeals panels in New York ,
Atlanta and Washington, have upheld settlement agreements as
long as they don’t delay generics beyond the expiration of
patents. The case is Federal Trade Commission v. Watson
Pharmaceuticals Inc., U.S Court of Appeals, 10-12729, 11th
Circuit (Atlanta). To contact the reporter on this story:
Sara Forden in Washington at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Hytha at [email protected] | 2012 | ftc-loses-appeal-in-androgel-pay-for-delay-patent-case-1- |
U.S. Companies Reporting Earnings on April 25 | By Wendy Soong | 2012-04-25T22:15:56Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/u-s-companies-reporting-earnings-on-april-25.html | 4 | 25 | acb816af6b1cf22a33887507e2ea02e806a81dd9 | The following table lists the 179 U.S.
companies
that reported quarterly earnings today (end date of the quarter is noted in
the last column). Companies are sorted alphabetically by ticker symbol. Earnings estimates provided by Bloomberg.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Wendy Soong in New York at at [email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Alex Tanzi at at
[email protected] | 2012 | u-s-companies-reporting-earnings-on-april-25 |
Saudi Ministry Faults Agencies on Budget Compliance, Watan Says | By Glen Carey | 2012-04-25T06:54:31Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/saudi-ministry-faults-agencies-on-budget-compliance-watan-says.html | 4 | 25 | 9a5f9bdc037b11e991e769c13b46e8234e06d6a8 | Saudi Arabia ’s Ministry of Finance
criticized government agencies for lacking plans to comply with
their annual budget allocations, al-Watan reported, citing
unidentified ministry officials at a Shoura Council committee
meeting. To contact the reporter on this story:
Glen Carey in Riyadh at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrew J. Barden at
[email protected] | 2012 | saudi-ministry-faults-agencies-on-budget-compliance-watan-says |
Village Roadshow Cinema Unit Hires ANZ for A$100 Million Loan | By Katrina Nicholas | 2012-04-25T03:18:20Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/village-roadshow-cinema-unit-hires-anz-for-a-100-million-loan.html | 4 | 25 | ea10065be57d7dc368dcef3d3997b4a5f9783b5e | Village Cinemas Australia Pty,
owned by Village Roadshow Ltd. (VRL) , hired Australia & New Zealand
Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) to arrange a A$100 million three-year loan,
according to an e-mailed media release from the bank. Proceeds from the facility will be used to refinance debt
and for general corporate purposes. ANZ is marketing the
facility to other lenders in syndication and the loan will
comprise a A$60 million term facility and a A$40 million
revolving facility, according to the release. To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Katrina Nicholas at
[email protected] | 2012 | village-roadshow-cinema-unit-hires-anz-for-a-100-million-loan |
LBBW’s First-Quarter Pretax Declines to 150 Million Euros | By Oliver Suess | 2012-04-25T11:51:00Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/lbbw-says-first-quarter-pretax-profit-declines-to-eu150-million.html | 4 | 25 | 613b46ee6c08ddd86730cc1868e7684b2317cc04 | Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg,
Germany’s biggest state-owned lender, posted a 67 percent fall
in first-quarter pretax profit after one-time gains on
investments weren’t repeated. Pretax profit fell to 150 million euros ($198 million) from
about 455 million euros a year earlier, the Stuttgart-based
company said in a statement today. Last year the bank was helped
by about 200 million euros of valuation gains . The lender had a “satisfactory” start this year and
sticks to its target to increase its earnings this year if there
are no “dramatic dislocations” in capital markets , Chief
Executive Officer Hans-Joerg Vetter said at a press conference
in Stuttgart today. LBBW said last month it returned to an annual profit of 87
million euros in 2011 as reduced provisions for risky loans
helped snap three years of losses. LBBW booked charges of about
940 million euros related to the sovereign-debt crisis last
year. Earnings of more than 500 million euros could be realistic
for LBBW once the restructuring is completed, Vetter said. Job Cuts As part of a restructuring agreement reached with the
European Commission , the lender is cutting about 2,500 jobs by
2013 and agreed this year to sell its LBBW Immobilien real
estate unit to a group led by Patrizia Immobilien AG (P1Z) for 1.44
billion euros. “We aim to complete the job reduction by a large extent
this year,” Vetter said today. The lender has cut 2,000
positions so far. Of planned cost reductions of about 700
million euros by 2016, 380 million euros have already been
achieved, Vetter said. Talks with LBBW’s owners about a conversion of capital
instruments to make them compliant with Basel III rules for
banks are ongoing and are expected to be resolved in summer,
Vetter said, adding that “he doesn’t see a need to raise
additional capital.” Bayerische Landesbank , Germany’s second-biggest state-owned
lender, said last month that net income declined 84 percent to
104 million euros in 2011 because of a loss at its Hungarian MKB
Bank subsidiary. BayernLB is the last of Germany ’s so-called
Landesbanken to await a verdict from European Commission on
conditions for its 2008 bailout by the German state of Bavaria. “We want to expand our corporate banking business in
Bavaria and North-Rhine Westfalia and our business relationships
with selected large corporations in German speaking countries,”
Vetter said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Oliver Suess in Munich at
[email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Frank Connelly at [email protected]
Edward Evans at [email protected] | 2012 | bbw-says-first-quarter-pretax-profit-declines-to-eu150-million |
Soybeans Advance on Supply Concern Over Argentina Freeze | By Whitney McFerron and Supunnabul Suwannakij | 2012-04-25T13:18:54Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/soybeans-advance-on-supply-concern-over-argentina-freeze.html | 4 | 25 | f7de714875025c80ae480e84b79daf1313515012 | Soybeans rose to a three-year high
in Chicago and rapeseed reached the highest in 15 months in
Paris on mounting concern that a freeze in South America and
rain in Europe will curb oilseed supplies. Areas of Argentina saw “a light to hard freeze”
yesterday, leaving soybeans at risk of damage, Telvent DTN said
in a report. Oil World, a research company based in Hamburg, cut
its forecast for the country’s crop yesterday, saying production
may drop as much as 15 percent from a year earlier. In the
European Union, the world’s biggest rapeseed producer, cool,
rainy conditions have slowed crop development, Telvent DTN said. “It looks like there’s going to be a bit of a shortage in
the supply of oilseeds in the next 12 months,” said Dave
Norris , an independent grain broker in Harrogate, England . “The
market is gearing up to have a very, very scary ride across the
summertime.” Soybeans for July delivery rose 2 percent to $14.9375 a
bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade by 1:14 p.m. in London .
Prices reached $14.9675 earlier, the highest since July 2008. Argentina’s government said last week that the soybean
harvest was 41 percent complete, compared with 52 percent a year
earlier. The country is the world’s third-biggest soybean
exporter after Brazil and the U.S. Rapeseed for May delivery rose 1.2 percent to 513.50 euros
($678.49) a ton on NYSE Liffe in Paris, after touching 514
euros, the highest since January 2011. The EU’s Monitoring
Agricultural Resources unit cut its estimate for the 27-nation
bloc’s yields on April 23, citing cold weather in February. Corn for delivery in July rose 1 percent to $6.14 a bushel.
Wheat for July delivery climbed 0.9 percent to $6.38 a bushel in
Chicago . In Paris, November-delivery milling wheat rose 0.3
percent to 202.5 euros a ton. Corn dropped and cattle futures plunged yesterday on
speculation demand for feed will weaken after a case of Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy, also known as mad-cow disease, was
found in California . Cattle rebounded today after Japan and
Taiwan said they wouldn’t alter import controls on U.S. beef. To contact the reporter on this story:
Whitney McFerron in London at
[email protected] ;
Supunnabul Suwannakij in Bangkok at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
John Deane at
[email protected] | 2012 | soybeans-advance-on-supply-concern-over-argentina-freeze |
Aviva’s Russia CEO Dubinin Quits for UBS Wealth Management | By Jason Corcoran and Kevin Crowley | 2012-04-25T15:19:53Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/aviva-s-russia-ceo-dubinin-quits-for-ubs-wealth-management-1-.html | 4 | 25 | c9966f2c37e0db7b06545bbef202f043c9e4f270 | Aviva Plc (AV/) , the U.K.’s second-
biggest insurer by market value, said the chief executive
officer of its Russian unit will leave next month, the fourth
senior executive departure to be announced in the past week. Andrey Dubinin will leave Aviva Russia to work from Geneva
for UBS AG (UBSN) ’s Zurich-based wealth management division, he said
today in a telephone interview. His departure, scheduled for May
31, will be followed by the appointment of Chief Operating
Officer Dmitry Maksimov as interim CEO, spokesman Jon Bunn said
today by telephone. Dubinin’s exit follows the departure of Aviva Europe CEO
Igal Mayer, who stepped down from the company’s board last week.
Richard Hoskins, CEO of North America , and Alain Dromer, CEO of
Aviva Investors, will also leave the company, which is
reorganizing itself into development markets and higher growth
markets under group CEO Andrew Moss. Aviva is the worst performing member of the FTSE ASX Life
Insurance Index (FALIFE) over the past 12 months as its investments in
European sovereign debt weigh on the shares. The company gets
about a third of its revenue from continental Europe. The stock climbed 1.8 percent to 317.2 pence at 3:53 p.m.
in London today, valuing the firm at about 9.2 billion pounds
($15 billion). To contact the reporter on this story:
Kevin Crowley in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Edward Evans at
[email protected] ; | 2012 | aviva-s-russia-ceo-dubinin-quits-for-ubs-wealth-management-1- |
ECB May Allow Banks Direct Access to ESM Rescue Fund, SZ Reports | By James Kraus | 2012-04-25T23:00:01Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/ecb-may-allow-banks-direct-access-to-esm-rescue-fund-sz-reports.html | 4 | 25 | 78941ab98a64c4d4202577f8b99228050da16649 | The European Central Bank and
countries that use the euro are working on an initiative to
allow cash-strapped banks direct acccess to funding from the
European Stability Mechanism, Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported in a
preview of that will appear today. The working group will examine how banks can directly
access the funding within the next two weeks, the newspaper
said. The move comes amid growing concern that Spanish banks are
increasingly unable to lend to companies and that the crisis may
spread to other euro countries, SZ reported. To contact the reporter on this story:
James Kraus in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Colin Keatinge at
[email protected] | 2012 | ecb-may-allow-banks-direct-access-to-esm-rescue-fund-sz-reports |
China’s CNOOC Raises $2 Billion in First Sale Since January 2011 | By Sarika Gangar and Rachel Evans | 2012-04-25T20:29:02Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/china-s-cnooc-raises-2-billion-in-first-sale-since-january-2011.html | 4 | 25 | 36b189b95da1eb9397de727b265f99f02c9cf034 | Cnooc Ltd. (883) sold $2 billion of bonds
denominated in U.S. dollars in its first offering in more than a
year. China ’s biggest offshore oil and gas explorer issued $1.5
billion of 3.875 percent, 10-year notes and $500 million of 5
percent, 30-year bonds, both at a relative yield of 190 basis
points more than similar-maturity Treasuries, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg. Cnooc’s success in discovering new fields will help the
company achieve its goal of increasing annual production by as
much as 10 percent, it said in a statement. Spending increased
58 percent in the first quarter, helping the Beijing-based
company make five new discoveries, it said. Proceeds from the
bond sale will be used for general corporate purposes, according
to a company announcement to the Hong Kong stock exchange dated
April 25. Moody’s Investors Service ranked the notes at Aa3, its
fourth-highest level of investment grade. Barclays Plc, BOCI
Asia Ltd., and Citigroup Inc. are managing the 144A/Reg S sale,
the company said in the statement to the exchange. CNOOC last sold bonds in January 2011, issuing $1.5 billion
of 4.25 percent, 10-year notes at a spread of 100 basis points
and $500 million of 5.75 percent, 30-year debt at 120 basis
points. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point. To contact the reporters on this story:
Sarika Gangar in New York at
[email protected] ;
Rachel Evans in Hong Kong at
[email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Alan Goldstein at
[email protected] ;
Shelley Smith at
[email protected] | 2012 | china-s-cnooc-raises-2-billion-in-first-sale-since-january-2011 |
Peugeot Quarterly Revenue Drops 7.3% on European Market | By Mathieu Rosemain | 2012-04-25T08:12:24Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/peugeot-quarterly-revenue-drops-7-3-on-european-market.html | 4 | 25 | bbdda81466d9428ebc6c1b59b3380fa6 | PSA Peugeot Citroen (UG) , Europe’s
second-biggest carmaker, said first-quarter revenue fell 7.3
percent as the company cut prices in response to a contraction
in the region’s vehicle market. Sales dropped to 14.3 billion euros ($18.9 billion) from
15.4 billion euros a year earlier, Paris-based Peugeot said
today in a statement . That compared with a 14 billion-euro
average of three estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Deliveries
fell 15 percent to 691,500 vehicles. Peugeot set up a vehicle-development alliance in February
with General Motors Co. (GM) , the world’s largest automaker, to
address overcapacity and shrinking profitability. A 0.9 percent
decline in new-car prices contributed to the sales drop, Peugeot
said today. The French company said it will probably cut net
debt “significantly” after achieving about half of a 1.5
billion-euro asset-sale plan. “The results are bad, but there’re not worse than
expected, so that’s a relief,” Kristina Church, an analyst at
Barclays Bank Plc in London , said in an interview. “The market
had been assuming that the pricing would be worse. Management
said that they were more confident for the rest of the year, and
they sounded on top of the crisis.” Peugeot rose as much as 5 percent to 9.37 euros and was
trading up 3.3 percent at 10:09 a.m. in Paris. That pared the
stock’s decline this year to 13 percent. Regional Performance Industrywide first-quarter car sales in Europe dropped 7.3
percent to 3.43 million vehicles, according to the region’s
automakers association. Peugeot was the third-worst performer
among the region’s major carmakers, with registrations falling
17 percent to 407,792 cars. That contrasted with Volkswagen AG (VOW) ,
Europe’s largest auto manufacturer, which posted a sales
increase of 0.5 percent to 813,522 vehicles. “The competitive environment remained difficult during the
quarter, with pricing pressure similar to the last quarter of
2011, and markets in southern Europe worsened considerably,”
Peugeot said. “This environment should last throughout the
first half of the year.” Declines in Europe and Latin America led Peugeot’s drop in
first-quarter deliveries. The company’s Chinese car and light
commercial-vehicle sales increased 6.3 percent to 109,100 units,
while Russian deliveries jumped 22 percent to 19,100.
Inventories at the end of March amounted to 70 days’ supply,
compared with 58 days a year earlier. No Recovery Seen The company reiterated forecasts that the European market
will shrink by 5 percent this year, including a 10 percent drop
in France . Industrywide car sales will probably rise 7 percent
in China , 6 percent in Latin America and 5 percent in Russia . Europe’s auto market probably won’t recover for years,
Chief Financial Officer Jean-Baptiste de Chatillon said today on
a conference call. A ban on exports to Iran amid trade sanctions
against the country has hurt earnings by 10 million euros a
month, he said. Peugeot outlined a plan in February to cut costs this year
by 1 billion euros. A goal of reducing procurement spending by
400 million euros has been 80 percent completed, the company
said today in a presentation. Another 600 million euros in
fixed-cost reductions is targeted, with 300 million euros in
administration and marketing, 100 million euros in research and
development and 200 million euros in manufacturing, it said. ‘Too Dependent’ “Peugeot is too dependent on the European market,” Hans- Peter Wodniok, an analyst at Fairesearch GmbH in Kronberg,
Germany , said. “What it desperately needs is to close at
least one factory in Europe in order to reach its cost
reduction target.” Asset disposals have included the Citer vehicle-rental unit
that the carmaker sold to Enterprise Holdings Inc. on Feb. 1 for
440 million euros and an agreement announced April 2 to sell
Peugeot’s 48-year-old headquarters building in Paris to Ivanhoe
Cambridge for 245.5 million euros. Peugeot is having “very open” talks with private-equity
firms and hedge funds as possible buyers of its Gefco trucking
unit, Chatillon said. The division has a “very good market
value,” and Peugeot has yet to decide on the size of the stake
in Gefco to be sold. To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathieu Rosemain in Paris at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Chad Thomas at
[email protected] | 2012 | peugeot-quarterly-revenue-drops-7-3-on-european-marke |
Serbian Central Bank Sells 30 Million Euros to Prop Up Dinar | By Gordana Filipovic | 2012-04-25T15:59:38Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/serbian-central-bank-sells-30-million-euros-to-prop-up-dinar-1-.html | 4 | 25 | 91c7a3040108b40e7b1b0b54a2ae0548e683d0d4 | The Serbian central bank sold euros
to support the dinar, as it tries to curb its declines 10 days
ahead of May 6 general elections. The Belgrade-based Narodna Banka Srbije said it sold 30
million euros ($39.5 million) to “enable the smooth
functioning” of the market. The National Bank of Serbia has
sold 638.5 million euros since the start of 2012 to prop up the
dinar. To contact the reporter on this story:
Gordana Filipovic in Belgrade at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Alan Crosby at
[email protected] | 2012 | serbian-central-bank-sells-30-million-euros-to-prop-up-dinar-1- |
Sovcomflot Sees Profit in Putin’s Billions for LNG, Offshore Oil | By Jake Rudnitsky and Ekaterina Shatalova | 2012-04-25T11:27:18Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/sovcomflot-sees-profit-in-putin-s-billions-for-lng-offshore-oil.html | 4 | 25 | 8a3df77dc81a1d0b12fdc51021bf2d6cc08f5ddd | OAO Sovcomflot, owner of the
world’s largest tanker fleet, is expanding offshore services and
liquefied natural gas transportation to benefit from Russian
President-elect Vladimir Putin ’s call for more than $500 billion
of investments on the continental shelf. The Russian state-owned shipper plans to double the share
of revenue from LNG and offshore services by 2017 as it seeks
long-term contracts to reduce the cyclical nature of the tanker
business, the St. Petersburg-based operator’s Chief Financial
Officer Nikolay Kolesnikov said. LNG will account for 20 percent
and offshore services 40 percent of the total, he said. “We see potential growth and have aggressive expansion
plans,” Kolesnikov said in an interview in Moscow. Partners in
the Arctic may include OAO Gazprom’s Shtokman project, OAO
Novatek’s Yamal LNG project and a joint venture between OAO
Rosneft and Exxon Mobil Corp. to explore the Kara Sea, he said. Russia , the world’s biggest energy exporter, aims to create
new production centers offshore and in remote Arctic regions as
output falls in mature regions. Putin this month proposed tax
breaks for new offshore projects that he said will help attract
$500 billion of spending. Sovcomflot has been developing the so-
called Northern Sea Route, sending test cargoes of gas
condensate to Asian markets since 2010. Yamal LNG plans to start production in 2016 and produce 16
million metric tons of the fuel by 2018. Rosneft and Exxon may
start drilling in the Kara Sea in 2014, with first output as
early as 2018. Profit During Crisis Sovcomflot had net income of $53.7 million last year even
as the global market suffered from oversupply and low rates. Its
largest international peers, including Teekay Tankers Ltd.,
Frontline Ltd., Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. and Tsakos
Energy Navigation Ltd., posted losses last year. The tanker market will remain depressed this year before
rates recover by 10 percent to 15 percent in 2013, Kolesnikov
said. Growth in the international tanker fleet, driven by ships
commissioned before the downturn began in 2009, will balance
with rising demand, he said. “We expect better results in 2013 even if rates are
stagnant as we have new long-term contracts that we will begin
to service next year,” Kolesnikov said. Earnings before
interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization will double to $1
billion by 2017 from $461 million last year, he said. Sovcomflot has $1.4 billion of outstanding shipbuilding
contracts, including four LNG tankers, four Aframax tankers for
use on the Baltic Sea and two very large crude carriers that
were commissioned by PetroChina Co., Kolesnikov said. Aframaxes
can haul about 600,000 barrels of crude and VLCCs can carry some
2 million barrels. The government may delay the sale of part of Sovcomflot
from this year because of the slump in global shipping markets,
Economy Minister Elvira Nabiullina said in March. To contact the reporters on this story:
Jake Rudnitsky in Moscow at
[email protected] ;
Ekaterina Shatalova in Moscow at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at
[email protected] | 2012 | sovcomflot-sees-profit-in-putin-s-billions-for-lng-offshore-oi |
Astra Agro Sells 9,000 Tons of Palm Oil in Auction | By Greg Ahlstrand | 2012-04-25T11:14:29Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/astra-agro-sells-9-000-tons-of-palm-oil-in-auction-table-.html | 4 | 25 | f4f38c309f88029f276cf02228d6c370eb813340 | PT Astra Agro Lestari , Indonesia ’s
biggest listed plantation company by market value, accepted bids
for all of the 9,000 tons of palm oil it offered at an auction
in Jakarta. The following table lists the results of the sale today,
based on an e-mailed statement. The volumes are given in metric
tons, while prices are in rupiah per kilogram including 10
percent for value-added taxes, unless stated otherwise. Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of the commodity. To contact the reporter on this story:
Greg Ahlstrand in Jakarta at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Poole at
[email protected] | 2012 | astra-agro-sells-9-000-tons-of-palm-oil-in-auction-table- |
Amgen to Acquire Mustafa Nevzat to Tap Growth in Turkey | By Marthe Fourcade | 2012-04-25T20:26:07Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/amgen-to-acquire-mustafa-nevzat-to-tap-growth-in-turkey-3-.html
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) , the world’s largest
biotechnology company, agreed to buy closely held Mustafa Nevzat
Pharmaceuticals for almost $700 million to expand in Turkey,
where economic growth is boosting demand for medicines. Amgen will pay cash to get 95.6 percent of Mustafa Nevzat,
or MN Pharmaceuticals as the Istanbul-based generic-drug maker
is known, the companies said in a joint statement. The
transaction will boost Amgen’s presence in a region that has
“large, fast-growing, priority markets,” they said. Amgen is seeking to shore up revenue as its former core
anemia franchise declines. In the past few months, the Thousand
Oaks , California-based company has acquired Micromet Inc. for
$1.16 billion to add an experimental leukemia drug, signed a
development deal with AstraZeneca Plc and boosted its presence
in the cancer market through sales of the bone drug Xgeva. “Amgen’s focus on Turkey and the surrounding region is
part of a broad international expansion strategy,” the company
said in the statement. Amgen rose 2.3 percent to $70.19 at 4 p.m. New York time,
its highest amount since January 2007. The shares have gained
9.1 percent this year. Turkey has been a popular target for deals in recent years,
with companies seeking to tap its $772 billion economy, which
grew 8.5 percent last year, the third-fastest rate among the
Group of 20 countries after China and Argentina . Zentiva NV, a
Czech drugmaker bought by Sanofi in 2009, acquired 75 percent of
the generic-drug unit of Turkey’s Eczacibasi in 2007 and later
purchased the remaining 25 percent stake. FDA License MN is the leading supplier of pharmaceuticals to hospitals
in Turkey and garnered sales of about $200 million last year,
according to the statement. It was the first Turkish
pharmaceutical company to win a license from the Food and Drug
Administration to sell products in the U.S., according to the
company’s website . The company’s owners, the children and grandchildren of the
founder Mustafa Nevzat Pisak, hired bankers last year to sell a
stake, people with direct knowledge of the situation said Jan.
31. Bank of America Merrill Lynch advised them and JPMorgan
Chase & Co. worked with Amgen. Amgen’s lawyers were Cleary
Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in London and Paksoy in Istanbul,
a spokeswoman said. Two other Turkish pharmaceutical companies | 4 | 25 | f22307264af6f620a251d0644cf30bf7c1f14243 | stakes over the past two years. To contact the reporter on this story:
Marthe Fourcade in Paris at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Phil Serafino at
[email protected] | 2012 | amgen-to-acquire-mustafa-nevzat-to-tap-growth-in-turkey-3- |
Physiotherapy Associates $100 Million LBO Loan Rises in Trading | By Michael Amato | 2012-04-25T21:14:10Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/physiotherapy-associates-100-million-lbo-loan-rises-in-trading.html | 4 | 25 | cb782290d749064d7451582ecfe457f7b34235bd | Physiotherapy Associates Inc.’s $100
million term loan B to back the company’s buyout by Court Square
Capital Partners rose in its first day of trading, according to
Markit Group Ltd. The debt for the provider of outpatient rehabilitation
services first changed hands today at 98.5 cents on the dollar,
according to Markit. That’s up from an issue price of 98 cents,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Jefferies Group Inc.
arranging the financing for the Exton, Pennsylvania-based
company, the data show. The loan pays interest at 4.75 percentage points more than
the London interbank offered rate, with a 1.25 percent floor for
the benchmark, Bloomberg data show. Libor, the rate at which
banks say they can borrow in dollars from each other, serves as
a reference for about $360 trillion of financial instruments
worldwide. Lenders will receive one-year soft-call protection of 101
cents, meaning the company would have to pay 1 cent more than
face value to refinance the debt during the first year. In a revolving credit facility, money can be borrowed again
once it’s repaid; in a term loan it can’t. To contact the reporter on this story:
Michael Amato in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Faris Khan at
[email protected] | 2012 | physiotherapy-associates-100-million-lbo-loan-rises-in-trading |
Ingersoll Goes Against Trend to Pay Down Debt: Corporate Finance | By Mary Childs and Lisa Abramowicz | 2012-04-25T04:00:58Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/ingersoll-goes-against-trend-to-pay-down-debt-corporate-finance.html | 4 | 25 | 109386d5cfac45b0b81bd096718d6e1d | At a time when companies are
increasingly favoring shareholders, Ingersoll-Rand Plc (IR) is
keeping bondholders happy by cutting $1 billion of its $3.6
billion of debt. The maker of security systems and Trane air conditioners,
rated Baa1 by Moody’s Investors Service and BBB+ at Standard &
Poor’s , retired $345 million of notes this month and plans to
repay $600 million of debt due in 2013. That would trim leverage
to a level qualifying Swords, Ireland-based Ingersoll-Rand for A
ratings, according to debt researcher CreditSights Inc. The company is going against the shareholder-friendly trend
as investment-grade yields hover at record lows, pushing many
firms to fund stock repurchases with bonds. Net U.S. corporate
debt rose every quarter in 2010 and 2011 to $7.8 trillion from
$7.05 trillion, Federal Reserve data show. U.S. corporations
executed $489 billion in stock buybacks last year, the most
since the record $762 billion in 2007, according to data
compiled by Westport, Connecticut-based Birinyi Associates Inc. Ingersoll-Rand is paying down obligations “to eventually
get a single-A rating,” said Anthony Valeri, a market
strategist at LPL Financial in San Diego , which oversees $330
billion of assets. “That way they can refinance their debt. A
quick look at their debt profile shows a lot of 6 percent-plus
coupon bonds. That’s way above the current market.” ‘Balanced Approach’ The difference between A and BBB rated yields reached 1.02
percentage points in February, the most since 2009, Bank of
America Merrill Lynch index data show. Ingersoll-Rand bonds
trade at an average 151 basis-point premium to similar-maturity
Treasuries, closer to the 179 basis-point spread on A rated debt
than the 255 basis points of BBB securities, the data show. “Our balanced approach continues to strengthen our balance
sheet and is important for long term stability and shareholder
value,” Misty Zelent, a spokeswoman for the company, wrote in
an e-mail. “This capital allocation strategy enables the
company to evaluate alternatives, including moving toward an
increased rating.” Ingersoll-Rand’s ratio of debt to earnings before interest,
taxes, depreciation and amortization could fall to 1.2 times
around the end of 2013 from the current leverage of 1.9,
according to an April 22 note from Kristina Regan, an analyst
for New York-based CreditSights. That would be “touching on A
credit metrics” and would put the firm “in a more favorable
position to refinance its 2014 debt maturity,” she wrote. Credit Crisis The company has $655 million of 9.5 percent notes that come
due in April 2014, Bloomberg data show. The debt traded April 17
at 115.2 cents on the dollar to yield 1.67 percent, according to
Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry
Regulatory Authority. Ingersoll-Rand lost A rankings in 2008 during the financial
crisis. When Moody’s cut its rating, it cited $4 billion of debt
taken on in the $9.6 billion acquisition of Trane Inc. that
June. Company executives told analysts in March that in 2008
“they were sitting with $4 billion of short-term debt and
dealing with refinancing needs during the credit crisis,” and
stronger-rated companies “were able to navigate that period
more gracefully and even perform acquisitions,” Regan said. “Management conveyed at their analyst meeting that they
never want to take liquidity for granted,” Regan said in a
telephone interview. “Ingersoll-Rand seems to be focusing on
debt reduction to move up the credit spectrum so they don’t have
an issue when it comes to refinancing needs or if there was some
other unforeseen crisis down the road.” CreditSights raised its rating on Ingersoll-Rand debt to
the equivalent of “hold” in its report, saying “deleveraging
the company’s balance sheet to single A metrics has taken a
priority to larger shareholder rewards like we have seen in the
past.” ‘Best Choice’ Ingersoll-Rand had $1.16 billion of cash and near cash
items at the end of 2011, up from $1.01 billion a year earlier,
Bloomberg data show . The company repurchased 36 million shares
in 2011 and now has 298.7 million outstanding, and it plans to
buy as much as $400 million more in this year’s second half. Free cash flow , money that can be used for stock buybacks
and dividends and for debt repurchases, is expected to be $1.1
billion this year, according to the CreditSights report. “Their first priority has been buying back debt,” said
Edward Wheeler, a New York-based analyst with the Buckingham
Research Group, who rates the shares a “buy.” “Right now
that’s been their best choice,” he said in a telephone
interview. Good Risk Shares of the company rallied to $41.46 yesterday from
$26.48 in October, when the European debt crisis roiled global
markets. The stock dropped as low as $11.84 in March 2009 as the
S&P 500 Index bottomed during the worst financial crisis since
the Great Depression. Ingersoll-Rand has a good risk profile “because of its
good market and geographic diversity, a variety of segments with
strong or major market positions, and products and services
where we foresee meaningful recurring revenues,” S&P said in a
Feb. 13 note by analysts John Sico and Dan Picciotto in New
York . S&P “believes they have the capacity and the cash on hand
for debt repayment,” Sico said in a telephone interview
yesterday. The main consideration for an S&P upgrade is “we want to
see them not only attain the ratios but sustain them,” he said. “From our perspective, they have the flexibility to either
repay or refinance the upcoming maturities,” he said. “They do
generate good free cash flow . What we expect is a balanced
approach to capital allocation.” To contact the reporters on this story:
Mary Childs in New York at
[email protected] ;
Lisa Abramowicz in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Alan Goldstein at
[email protected] | 2012 | ingersoll-goes-against-trend-to-pay-down-debt-corporate-finance |
Nexans Stock Declines on Submarine-Cable Production Delay | By Francois de Beaupuy | 2012-04-25T09:42:32Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/nexans-stock-declines-on-submarine-cable-production-delay.html | 4 | 25 | cb7ad4a3e6024f42d7729cf7a8de7ab69a9a315d | Nexans SA (NEX) , the world’s second-
biggest cable maker, fell the most in more than three years
after predicting a drop in first-half earnings because of
production delays at its submarine-cable plant in Norway . Nexans fell as much as 15 percent to 37.24 euros, the
steepest intraday decline since February 2009, and was trading
down 13 percent at 11:40 a.m. in Paris. “We’ve lost about 50 million euros ($66 million) in sales,
which have been pushed back for two to three months” because of
the late production in Norway, Chief Executive Officer Frederic Vincent said in a telephone interview today. “For the full
year, we’re not providing guidance because we’re facing quite a
volatile situation,” and the company is being “particularly
vigilant” about the European economy. The invoice delay in high-voltage submarine cables,
combined with lingering competitive pressure in high-voltage
underground cables, will lead the Paris-based company’s
operating margin to fall to about 3.5 percent of sales in the
first half, Nexans said in a statement. That compares with 5.1
percent a year earlier. Sales excluding acquisitions or
disposals rose 0.6 percent in the first quarter, and were up 6.4
percent when excluding high-voltage activities. “In land power transmission, there’s a pressure coming
from capacities built in 2007 and 2008 in South Korea and the
Middle East essentially, and in Europe to a lesser extent, and
from attrition in the market” Vincent said. “The margin in our
backlog is declining.” Margin Growth Forecast Excluding high-voltage cables, the operating margin will
rise from a year earlier during the first half, the CEO said. Repairs of production tools at the Norwegian plant are
proceeding, and operational difficulties “should be
progressively be absorbed in the second half,” Chief Financial
Officer Nicolas Badre said on a call with journalists today. In
submarine cables, Nexans may return to an operating margin of 10
percent to 15 percent “toward 2013,” the CEO said. Nexans is also hoping to resume work in Libya in the second
half to complete a contract for power-transmission cables worth
tens of millions of euros, and it will announce an order “in
coming days” from a Libyan utility valued at more than 100
million euros, Vincent said. Rising copper and aluminum prices had a “small negative
impact” on the working-capital requirement in the first
quarter, the CFO said. Rising plastic costs since the end of
last year are “not positive,” and are forcing Nexans to try to
raise prices, he said. “We’re particularly vigilant on the European backdrop,
especially for building cables and the industrial sector like
machine tools , robotics, special cables for bridges,” Vincent
said. “We’ll resume restructuring in 2013,” which may affect
Europe . To contact the reporter on this story:
Francois de Beaupuy in Paris at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrew Noel at
[email protected] | 2012 | nexans-stock-declines-on-submarine-cable-production-delay |
Avega Group Shares Decline on Expansion Costs: Stockholm Mover | By Janina Pfalzer | 2012-04-25T09:41:15Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/avega-group-shares-decline-on-expansion-costs-stockholm-mover.html | 4 | 25 | dcff201c7e603485e226f1b1fd9b7a80c058b6cf | Avega Group AB (AVEGB) , a Swedish
information technology consulting company, fell the most in
almost two years in Stockholm trading after expansion costs hurt
first-quarter net income. The shares fell 14 percent to 27.60 kronor at 11:11 a.m. in
the Swedish capital, where Avega is based, for the biggest
intraday drop since May 2010. The stock was the biggest decliner
on the Stockholm All Share index. First-quarter staff costs rose 19 percent from a year
earlier to 87.4 million kronor ($13 million), while sales
climbed 9.6 percent to 106.4 million kronor, Avega said today in
a statement. Demand was “somewhat subdued” in the quarter,
with a rebound toward the end, the company said. Avega last year
added business for Oracle Corp. applications and system
integration and increased its focus on the Gothenburg area. “Our main focus now is creating growth and profitability
in the new units and a majority are well on their way,” Chief
Executive Officer Jan Rosenholm said in the statement. “The
focus we have placed on the business in western Sweden will
hopefully result in a positive operating profit there before the
end of this year.” Net income declined to 5.7 million kronor from 8.4 million
kronor a year earlier. To contact the reporter on this story:
Janina Pfalzer in Stockholm at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christian Wienberg at [email protected] . | 2012 | avega-group-shares-decline-on-expansion-costs-stockholm-mover |
RBNZ Signals Rate Pause May Be Extended on Currency Strength | By Tracy Withers | 2012-04-26T00:04:01Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/rbnz-signals-rate-pause-may-be-extended-on-currency-strength-1-.html | 4 | 25 | b1d8f4c15c4e4c5b956fd09226693b45 | New Zealand ’s central bank left
interest rates at a record low, citing benign inflation, and
signaled that the rising currency may delay an increase in
borrowing costs. “The New Zealand dollar has stayed elevated despite recent
falls in commodity prices,” Governor Alan Bollard said in a
statement in Wellington today. “For now, it is appropriate for
the official cash rate to remain at 2.5 percent. Should the
exchange rate remain strong without anything else changing, the
bank would need to reassess the outlook for monetary policy
settings.” Investors are betting the central bank won’t raise rates
until next year because annual inflation is slower than the
midpoint of its 1 percent to 3 percent target range. The local
dollar’s 4.9 percent gain this year, the second-best performer
of 16 currencies tracked by Bloomberg, is making imports cheaper
while returns from commodity exports are declining as prices
fall. “A persistently higher exchange rate with all other things
constant would imply interest rates either on hold for longer or
even lower for the same inflation outcome,” said Nick Tuffley ,
chief economist at ASB Bank Ltd. in Auckland. He expects no
change in rates until March. New Zealand’s dollar rose after Bollard’s comments. It
bought 81.47 U.S. cents at 11:25 a.m. in Wellington from 81.34
cents immediately before the statement. Traders interpreted the
phrase “for now” as suggesting the cash rate may rise sooner,
said Annette Beacher, the Singapore-based head of Asia-Pacific
research at TD Securities Inc. Inflation ‘Restrained’ The chance of a quarter-point rate cut by September rose to
44 percent today from 12 percent on April 24, according to swaps
prices from Westpac Banking Corp. (WBC) New Zealand markets were
closed yesterday. “Inflation is restrained and is expected to stay near the
middle of the bank’s target range,” Bollard said. Consumer
prices rose 1.6 percent in the year through March, less than
Bollard forecast last month. Bollard has left the cash rate unchanged since March last
year to allow the economy to recover after the nation’s
deadliest earthquake in 80 years in Christchurch, its second-
largest city, and the surrounding Canterbury province. Today’s decision was forecast by all 16 economists in a
Bloomberg News survey. Two economists forecast a rate increase
before Sept. 30 and 11 pick an increase by the end of the year.
Five project no change until 2013. Economic Growth New Zealand’s economic growth slowed more than economists
predicted in the fourth quarter, expanding 0.3 percent after a
0.7 percent advance in the July-September period, a government
report showed March 22. That was half the 0.6 percent median
projection for growth in a Bloomberg survey of 16 economists. Growth in the 12 months through Dec. 31 was 1.8 percent,
matching the third-quarter pace, the report showed. Bollard
last month forecast the economy will grow 3.1 percent in the
year ending March 31, 2013. “The domestic economy is showing signs of recovery,”
Bollard said today. “Housing market activity continues to
increase and a recovery in building activity appears to be under
way as forecast. That recovery will strengthen as repairs and
reconstruction in Canterbury pick up later in the year.” New Zealand’s recovery has been slow amid concerns over
weak global demand for exports, which make up 30 percent of the
economy. Milk powder prices fell to their lowest level since
2009 at an auction last week, according to Auckland-based
Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd., the world’s biggest dairy
exporter. Milk Payments Fonterra last month lowered its forecast milk payment to
farmer suppliers, citing falling prices and currency gains. Still, business confidence rose to a seven-month high in
March, according to a survey of 421 firms by ANZ National Bank
Ltd. Confidence was led higher by the construction industry ,
which rose to a 23-month high, ANZ said. House sales in March recorded the best monthly result since
November 2007, the Real Estate Institute said April 16. Prices
rose 1.9 percent from February, the report showed. Unlike counterparts in Australia and elsewhere in Asia ,
Bollard hasn’t responded to weak global demand by cutting
borrowing costs because he expects earthquake rebuilding will
stoke inflation in coming years. India ’s central bank on April 17 cut rates for the first
time since 2009 to bolster growth. Investors this week raised
bets the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut its benchmark
interest rate from 4.25 percent next month after a gauge of core
consumer prices rose at the slowest pace since 1998. The Federal Reserve is ready to take additional action if
needed to boost the U.S. economy , Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said
yesterday. “The global outlook remains of concern,” Bollard said
today. “Near-term indicators have moderated and financial
market sentiment is still fragile.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Tracy Withers in Wellington at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephanie Phang at [email protected] | 2012 | rbnz-signals-rate-pause-may-be-extended-on-currency-strength-1- |
Yankees’ Pineda to Miss 2012 Season After Right Shoulder Surgery | By Erik Matuszewski | 2012-04-26T04:01:01Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/yankees-pineda-is-out-for-season-with-shoulder-injury-cbs-says.html | 4 | 25 | aca1b8ae6dea90694fea9b3a08f4446726e99bd3 | New York Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda will have surgery next week on a torn labrum in his right
shoulder and will miss the entire 2012 season, General Manager
Brian Cashman said. Pineda, acquired in a trade with the Seattle Mariners
during the offseason for catcher Jesus Montero , started this
season on the disabled list because of discomfort in his
pitching shoulder. He was diagnosed with tendinitis last month. Cashman said yesterday he was “devastated” by the news
and that Pineda could return to the mound by May 2013. The
general manager said a scan on Pineda’s shoulder before the
trade did not reveal any damage. “We got a healthy player to the best of everybody’s
knowledge,” Cashman told reporters before last night’s game at
Texas . “In no way do I or the New York Yankees believe the
Mariners knew about this injury.” The 23-year-old Pineda was an All-Star as a rookie last
season, posting a 9-10 record with a 3.74 earned run average in
28 starts for the Mariners. The Yankees sent Montero, one of
their top prospects, and pitcher Hector Noesi to Seattle to
acquire Pineda and pitcher Jose Campos. To contact the reporter on this story:
Erik Matuszewski in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Sillup at
[email protected] | 2012 | yankees-pineda-is-out-for-season-with-shoulder-injury-cbs-says |
Merkel’s Cabinet Backs Swiss Tax Accord as Best Deal Possible | By Brian Parkin | 2012-04-25T08:56:50Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/merkel-s-cabinet-backs-swiss-tax-accord-as-best-deal-possible.html | 4 | 25 | 01779493f27e6d791ceb21b173a9645a0aab9fb6 | German Chancellor Angela Merkel ’s
government said it gained the best result possible in
renegotiating an accord with Switzerland to curb tax evasion ,
rebuffing opposition critics who said they will block the deal. German officials pushed hard to win new concessions from
the Swiss for the agreement, signed on April 5 and approved by
Merkel’s Cabinet today, Deputy Finance Minister Hartmut Koschyk
said. Germany secured advance payments of tax revenue that the
U.K. and Austria failed to gain in their respective treaties
with the Swiss, he said in an April 23 interview in Berlin. “We won’t get a better accord,” said Koschyk, a member of
the Bavarian CSU sister party to Merkel’s Christian Democrats .
Opposition parties that claim the deal leaves too many loopholes
open for tax dodgers are misguided to think they could win
further concessions, he said. “The opposition-run states need
to ask themselves whether they can forego the tax revenue that
will be generated by the agreement,” he said. The tax accord has become a political football in Germany
as the opposition Social Democrats try to translate their
regional power, won after inflicting blows on Merkel’s CDU at
state elections over the past two years, into a national defeat. Germans held as much as 210 billion francs ($231 billion)
in Swiss accounts in 2010, according to estimates from last year
from consultants Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. (BAH) Those
account-holders may withdraw 36 billion francs from the country
ahead of new tax evasion rules, said the company. Upper House Vote The accord now goes to parliament’s lower house, where
Merkel’s coalition has a majority, and the upper house, where
states are represented and she’s dependent on opposition support
to pass legislation. Germany ’s Social Democrats and Greens, who
dominate the upper house, have said they’ll block the treaty
because it still supports tax evasion by relying on voluntary
account disclosures and limited Swiss support in tax probes. Merkel finds it “utterly incomprehensible” that any
German region should consider blocking the tax deal because
states such as North Rhine-Westphalia stand to gain “not
inconsiderable sums” of money as a result of it, deputy
government spokesman Georg Streiter told reporters April 13. The agreement , amended after the original terms agreed last
year were deemed too lax by the German opposition, aims to set
new upper and lower tax rates of 41 percent and 21 percent for
Germans who anonymously volunteer details of their accounts,
instead of previously proposed rates of 34 percent and 19
percent. German tax officials will be permitted to make a
maximum 1,300 requests for information on bank accounts, up from
999 allowed at present, while “fishing,” or clandestine
methods to gain information, are barred. Inherited Wealth The new rules also apply a tax rate of as much as 50
percent on undisclosed inherited wealth that passes between
Germans’ bank accounts in Switzerland . The countries’ banks will
transfer 2 billion francs in advance revenue payments, Koschyk
said. Switzerland “went far” in meeting Germany’s demands in
the tax amendment, the country’s banking association said on
April 5. The group approved the changes as the “key elements”
of Switzerland’s banking strategy including anonymity and
appropriate tax rates “remained untouched.” The group estimates that as much as 10 percent of
Switzerland’s gross domestic product is generated by its finance
industry, which employs 340,000. To contact the reporter on this story:
Brian Parkin in Berlin at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Hertling at [email protected] | 2012 | erkel-s-cabinet-backs-swiss-tax-accord-as-best-deal-possible |
Disability-Rights Advocates Worry Politics Delays Workplace Rule | By Jim Efstathiou Jr. and William McQuillen | 2012-04-25T18:05:18Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/disability-rights-advocates-worry-politics-delays-workplace-rule.html | 4 | 25 | ad6424a64288977a9364c66ba7974373402b14f5 | Advocates for employees with
disabilities said new guidelines on discrimination in the
workplace from the U.S. Equal Employment Commission are being
delayed by political opposition from business. The agency abruptly deleted the proposal today from the
agenda for a meeting, a week after business groups led by the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce pressed the Obama administration to
block the guidelines. Employers are required to provide “reasonable
accommodation” for people with disabilities, such as extended
unpaid leave for necessary treatment. The Chamber said it was
concerned that the guidelines, which weren’t released, would
make it harder for employers to deal with requests for leave. “It just does worry me that political opposition from one
side, sort of in the middle of the process, generates a
political response of delay,” Brian East, senior attorney with
Austin, Texas-based Disability Rights Texas , said in an
interview. “It reminds me of the early days of agency
regulation and how we went years without regulations and clear
enforceable mandates.” Commissioners Victoria Lipnic and Chai Feldblum, both
appointed by President Barack Obama , declined to specify a
reason for the delay, though said they plan to deal with the
guidelines in the coming weeks. The two commissioners said they
are aware that the business community appealed to the Obama
administration. “We all always listen to outside voices,” Lipnic said. Chamber Protest The Chamber, in an April 19 letter to Cass Sunstein,
administrator of the White House Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs, said it has “significant concerns that the
guidance under consideration by the EEOC will not interpret the
ADA in the balanced manner which Congress directed.” The letter
was co-signed by the Alexandria, Virginia-based Society for
Human Resource Management and the HR Policy Association based in
Washington . “Additional time will allow the full commission to engage
with these important questions and to develop the most
effective, credible, the most workable guidance because that is
what people with disabilities in this country deserve and that’s
what employers in this country deserve,” Feldblum said at the
meeting. At a conference in March, Feldblum said her preference
would be for the commission to update its guidance on reasonable
accommodation, followed later by publishing a separate document
on granting leave. ‘Reasonable Accommodation’ When drafting the Americans with Disabilities Act, Congress
declined to define “reasonable accommodation,” Feldblum said
at the conference. The law’s history suggests that “unpaid
leave” can be a reasonable accommodation for an individual with
disabilities, Feldblum said at the time. When Congress passed the Family and Medical Leave Act in
1993, it didn’t resolve differences with the disabilities law,
Feldblum said. That created uncertainty for employers about what
happens after a disabled individual exhausts the maximum 12
weeks of family leave and whatever additional leave an employer
might provide under the disabilities law, she said. The Chamber said it’s concerned the commission might use
the disabilities law to require employers to give more than 12
weeks of family leave. Issues surrounding implementation of the
disabilities law were discussed at a June 8 commission meeting. “I know that as of yesterday afternoon, they were still
furiously editing the draft,” Michael Eastman , the Chamber’s
executive director for labor law policy, said in an e-mail. “I
suspect they ran out of time to finish it.” The agency in recent weeks also delayed guidance to how to
assure that disabled people have access to swimming pools that
could require the installation of lifts, East said. “This is the delay of some guidance to enforce a law that
was passed in 1990,” East said. “It is troubling and a lot of
what I heard in response to that was inaccurate.” To contact the reporters on this story:
Jim Efstathiou Jr. in New York at
[email protected] ;
William McQuillen in Washington at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jon Morgan at
[email protected] | 2012 | disability-rights-advocates-worry-politics-delays-workplace-rule |
Nabors Rises After Beating Estimates in Alaska: Dallas Mover | By David Wethe | 2012-04-25T20:09:19Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/nabors-rises-after-beating-estimates-in-alaska-dallas-mover.html | 4 | 25 | 9a63ec03989b2917c69cf3e126d1c1c2eb9886ba | Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) , the world’s
largest land-rig drilling contractor, rose the most in more than
two months after announcing new asset sales and beating
analysts’ estimates on better performance in Alaska . Shares climbed 6.3 percent to $16.96 at the close in New
York , the most since Feb. 22. First-quarter adjusted per-share
earnings from continuing operations of 65 cents were 15 cents
higher than the average of 27 analysts’ estimates compiled by
Bloomberg. Revenue climbed 31 percent to $1.84 billion, the
Hamilton, Bermuda-based company said in a statement yesterday. Nabors said it wanted to sell as much as $800 million of
oil and natural-gas assets and business units this year and
focus on drilling and production services after former Chief
Operating Officer Tony Petrello took over as the top executive
in October. The new CEO’s restructuring plan is working, Scott Gruber ,
an analyst at Sanford Bernstein & Co., said in a note to
investors today. “The beat was fairly broad-based with
particular strength in U.S. land, U.S. offshore and Alaska.” Nabors signed long-term contracts for nine new-build rigs,
according to the statement. The contracts “should support
future income generation even as rates soften,” Gruber wrote. Nabors closed sales of exploration and production assets in
Colombia and several minor working interests in the U.S. for $77
million. The company sold parts of its rig-moving business in
the the U.S. for about $13.5 million, according to the
statement. To contact the reporter on this story:
David Wethe in Houston at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Susan Warren at
[email protected] | 2012 | nabors-rises-after-beating-estimates-in-alaska-dallas-mover |
Euro Needs Firewall to Protect Its Stability, Cyprus Says | By Stelios Orphanides | 2012-04-25T15:22:34Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/euro-needs-firewall-to-protect-its-stability-cyprus-says-1-.html
Cypriot finance minister Vassos Shiarly said the euro-area countries agree on the need for a
financial firewall to ensure stability in the region. “Our current position in the euro group on firewalls is
that we believe in this principle because we believe in the
institution of stability,” Shiarly said in Nicosia today.
Cyprus assumes the European Union’s presidency on July 1. Shiarly, a former executive of the island’s largest lender,
Bank of Cyprus, said two days ago that the euro-area’s third-
smallest economy may need to support one of its lenders with as
much as 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion). Andreas Charalambous, director of economic research and
European Union affairs, said there is consensus among euro-area
members to turn the temporary support mechanism into a permanent
one and increase the funds and tools it has available to support
countries or banks. The Cypriot EU presidency’s agenda will include overseeing
initiatives aimed at strengthening the EU’s stability and growth
pact as well as addressing excessive deficits and economic
imbalances, according to the ministry of finance official. Cyprus will also have to oversee preparation of the EU’s
2013 budget and the issue of a financial transaction tax,
Charalambous added. “There are countries strongly supporting
this initiative while there are other countries expressing
strong opposition,” he said. | 4 | 25 | a020915bb98e3f7c72dfe4c4f68b05b0398fb318 | Stelios Orphanides in Nicosia at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Craig Stirling at [email protected] | 2012 | euro-needs-firewall-to-protect-its-stability-cyprus-says-1- |
PPR Confident of Growth as First-Quarter Sales Beat Estimates | By Andrew Roberts | 2012-04-25T15:44:52Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/ppr-confident-of-growth-as-first-quarter-sales-beat-estimates.html | 4 | 25 | 66d35d4ed272f2e8b07e27badc72156215d5aee4 | PPR SA (PP) , the French owner of the
Gucci luxury brand and Puma sporting-goods maker, reported
first-quarter sales that exceeded analysts’ estimates and said
it’s confident of achieving sales and earnings growth in 2012. Revenue from continuing operations climbed 15 percent to
3.26 billion euros ($4.3 billion), the Paris-based company said
today in a statement. The average of six analysts’ estimates
compiled by Bloomberg was 3.15 billion euros. Excluding
acquisitions and currency swings, the growth was 7.9 percent. Sales were boosted by an 18 percent increase at the luxury
unit on a so-called comparable basis, though the pace of growth
slowed from 22 percent in the previous three months. PPR is
aiming for total revenue of 24 billion euros by 2020, with 10
billion euros coming from Asia , as it focuses on luxury goods
and so-called sports and lifestyle brands. The quarterly performance “reinforces our confidence in
PPR’s ability to deliver another year of brisk revenue growth,
combined with gains in operating and financial performance in
2012,” PPR Chief Executive Officer Francois-Henri Pinault said
in the statement. The stock advanced 3.2 percent to 119.7 euros in Paris
trading today, giving the maker of 3,950-euro Balenciaga
sleeveless dresses a market value of 15.1 billion euros. To contact the reporter on this story:
Andrew Roberts in Paris at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Sara Marley at [email protected] | 2012 | ppr-confident-of-growth-as-first-quarter-sales-beat-estimates |
Caterpillar Revenue Misses Estimates as China Sales Slow | By Shruti Date Singh | 2012-04-25T20:33:48Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/caterpillar-raises-forecast-as-construction-sales-rise.html | 4 | 25 | 0f431bc9d4a146b491c391516e7ccccc | Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) , the world’s
largest maker of construction equipment, reported a gain in
first-quarter revenue that was less than analysts estimated
after sales fell in China and Brazil . Revenue climbed 23 percent to $16 billion, the Peoria,
Illinois-based company said in a statement today. The average of
13 estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for $16.1 billion. Net
income rose to $2.37 a share, beating the $2.13 average of 21
estimates. Caterpillar raised its full-year profit forecast
while maintaining its projected 2012 sales. The shares fell the
most in seven months. “They still reported a big number but lower than expected
on near-term softness in China and Brazil,” Larry De Maria, a
New York-based analyst for William Blair & Co. who recommends
buying the shares, said in an interview. “There was no change
to the top-line guidance. People want to see the whole thing.” Caterpillar says sales in developing nations this year will
be lower than anticipated, a reversal after 2011 growth in Latin
America and the Asia-Pacific region outpaced North America ,
helping to drive record revenue and profit. The company is the
latest manufacturer to report sales in China have been curbed.
United Technologies Corp. yesterday posted a drop in Chinese
orders while 3M Co. forecast below-trend growth in the country. U.S. Sales Caterpillar fell 4.6 percent to $103.44 at the close in New
York , the biggest decline since Sept. 22. China accounted for 3 percent of first-quarter sales,
Michael DeWalt, Caterpillar’s director of investor relations ,
said today on a conference call. Chinese sales fell by $250
million to $300 million, the company said. The company’s sales of excavators in China fell 51 percent
in March from a year earlier, Jefferies said in an April 11
report that cited China Construction Machinery Association data.
The industry has “too much inventory” in the country and
Caterpillar plans to move some excavators to other regions,
DeWalt said. China’s effect on Caterpillar goes beyond just the sales of
machinery in the country because its consumption of commodities
drives mining globally, Chief Financial Officer Ed Rapp said in
a telephone interview today. China represents almost 40 percent of global base-metals
use and a sustained slowdown may impact mining-equipment demand,
according to Karen Ubelhart, a New York-based analyst at
Bloomberg Industries. Mining Deals Caterpillar Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Doug Oberhelman has bet on growth in mining with the $8.8 billion
purchase in July of Bucyrus International Inc. and the proposed
acquisition of Hong Kong-based ERA Mining Machinery Ltd. (8043) Caterpillar isn’t seeing signs that China’s cooling economy
is slowing global mining-equipment demand, Rapp said. “If you look at it from a demand on commodities
perspective, China is continuing to grow,” he said. Caterpillar maintained its full-year sales forecast of $68
billion to $72 billion and raised the full-year profit outlook
to about $9.50 a share. That compares with the previous
projection of $9.25 and the average estimate of $9.57 from 22
analysts. Caterpillar’s ability to increase profit from new sales has
improved, said Joel Levington , managing director of corporate
credit at Brookfield Investment Management Inc. in New York. Process Improvement “The operating leverage Caterpillar achieved was better
than we expected, and demonstrates improvement in their
processes, which can help the company sustain earnings
momentum,” Levington said in an e-mail. The company is still selling more excavators, dozers and
dump trucks as the U.S. building industry recovers. Construction
spending was 6 percent higher in February compared with a year
earlier, U.S. Census Bureau data show. . Caterpillar said that while the North American construction
equipment rental fleet has increased slightly in size from post-
recession lows, the average age of the machines is still close
to a historical high. The average age of the fleet is about 52 months, close to
the peak of about 53 months, Barclays Plc said in an April 16
report. An estimated 200,000 units need to be bought annually to
maintain that age, Barclays said. Increasing demand and a record backlog of orders have
spurred Caterpillar to increase its workforce to build more
excavators and wheel loaders. U.S. headcount rose by more than
6,500 in the last year, excluding acquisitions, and is up about
7,200 in other countries. The company’s capital expenditure this year will be $4
billion, unchanged from the prior estimates, with about half of
that in the U.S. To contact the reporter on this story:
Shruti Date Singh in Chicago at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Simon Casey at [email protected] . | 2012 | caterpillar-raises-forecast-as-construction-sales-rise |
Germany Asks Weidmann to Explain IMF Role, Sueddeutsche Says | By Cornelius Rahn | 2012-04-25T01:15:01Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/germany-asks-weidmann-to-explain-imf-role-sueddeutsche-says.html | 4 | 25 | e2c1518718918b25ea37daab061c8514d8148aba | The budgetary committee of
Germany ’s parliament asked Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann to
explain the role of his institute in the International Monetary
Fund’s planned trillion-dollar rescue fund, Sueddeutsche Zeitung
reported, citing an invitation letter. It’s not clear whether Weidmann will personally attend the
session today or whether he will send a representative, the
newspaper said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Cornelius Rahn in Frankfurt at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Kenneth Wong at
[email protected] | 2012 | germany-asks-weidmann-to-explain-imf-role-sueddeutsche-says |
Green Wind Energy to Sell Unit to Danish Buyer, Trustee Says | By Sally Bakewell | 2012-04-25T15:00:07Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/green-wind-energy-to-sell-unit-to-danish-buyer-trustee-says.html | 4 | 25 | ea4478e729ead2ede01f3d5a27dc7a3f9b0e52cd | Green Wind Energy A/S is finalizing
the sale of one of its units to a Danish investor in renewables
to reduce debt, the law firm acting as trustee for the
Copenhagen-based wind company said. The GW Energi A/S unit is expected to be sold within days,
John Schmidt, a partner at the Danish law firm Gorrissen
Federspiel and a Green Wind Energy trustee, said by phone. He
declined to name the buyer as the sale is not yet final. Green Wind Energy, in liquidation, is disposing of assets
after accruing too much debt, Schmidt said. Poor wind conditions
in Germany, where the company has all its wind assets, in 2009
and 2010 failed to generate enough revenue to repay debts of
about a quarter-billion Danish kroner ($44 million), Schmidt
said. The company already sold a 28-megawatt wind park in east
Germany to a wind developer held by an Impax Asset Management
Ltd. fund. The GW Energi unit operates four wind parks in Germany,
with the Prignitz facility the largest at 25.5 megawatts,
Schmidt said. The unit is expected to undergo a “debt restructuring” in
the coming weeks as parent Green Wind is in liquidation, Schmidt
said. The parent went into liquidation on April 4, and Green
Wind’s listing on Nasdaq OMX Copenhagen was deleted April 11,
the exchange said in a statement at the time. Schmidt was appointed trustee by the bankruptcy court .
Green Wind still has a few small wind parks and “single”
windmills to be sold as part of the liquidation, he said. To contact the reporter responsible for this story:
Sally Bakewell in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
[email protected] | 2012 | green-wind-energy-to-sell-unit-to-danish-buyer-trustee-says |
Kenya Leaves Marathon Record Holder Makau Out of Olympic Squad | By Danielle Rossingh | 2012-04-25T13:01:33Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/kenya-leaves-marathon-record-holder-makau-out-of-olympic-squad.html | 4 | 25 | 0b8143b6f373f231ef4d5853bf5e6d5225e53cd7 | Kenya has left marathon world
record holder Patrick Makau out of its squad for the 2012
Olympics after he failed to finish last week’s London
marathon, the Association of Athletics Federations said. Makau last year retained his Berlin marathon title by
winning the 26-mile race in a world-record time of 2 hours, 3
minutes and 38 seconds. He shaved 21 seconds off the mark set by
Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie in Berlin in 2008. Makau didn’t
finish last weekend’s London Marathon. London winners Wilson Kipsang and Mary Keitany made the
team, as well as double world champion Abel Kirui, who finished
sixth in London. Chicago Marathon title holder Moses Mosop also
made the men’s team, while reigning women’s world champion Edna
Kiplagat and silver medalist Priscah Jeptoo were selected for
the women’s team, according to the IAAF website. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Samuel Wanjiru became the
first Kenyan to win the gold medal in the event, setting a new
Olympic record. He died a year ago after falling from a balcony
at his home in Kenya ’s Rift Valley. To contact the reporter on this story:
Danielle Rossingh at the London sports
desk on [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Christopher Elser at [email protected] . | 2012 | kenya-leaves-marathon-record-holder-makau-out-of-olympic-squad |
Japanese Stock Futures Gain on U.S. Home Sales, Earnings | By Norie Kuboyama and Masaaki Iwamoto | 2012-04-25T06:35:22Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/japanese-stock-futures-gain-on-u-s-home-sales-earnings.html | 4 | 25 | 029c580a61864e7d926971f60104f21a | Japanese stocks rose for the first
time in five days as signs the U.S. housing market is
stabilizing boosted exporters and on better-than-estimated
earnings. Apple Inc.’s profit soared, lifting its suppliers. Canon Inc. (7751) , the world’s biggest camera maker, rose 1.5
percent. Fanuc Corp. (6954) , which produces machine tools used to
manufacture the iPhone, climbed 2.7 percent after Apple’s profit
almost doubled. Nomura Holdings Inc. (8604) gained 2.4 percent on
speculation the brokerage may post higher net income. Yoshinoya
Holdings Co., which imports meat for its beef bowls, fell the
most in a year after a report of mad-cow disease in California. “A recovery trend on earnings is being seen both in Japan
and the U.S. at the moment, boosting markets,” said Hiroichi Nishi, an equities manager in Tokyo at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc.
“The U.S. economy is still in mild recovery.” The Nikkei 225 Stock Average (NKY) gained 1 percent to 9,561.01
at the 3 p.m. close in Tokyo. The broader Topix Index rose 0.7
percent to 809.49, with more than three times as many shares
advancing as falling. Volume on the Nikkei 225 was about 30 percent less than the
30-day average before the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee
begins a two-day meeting today and the Bank of Japan meeting on
April 27, when it’s expected to announce additional easing. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) rose 0.4 percent
today. The gauge gained 0.4 percent in New York yesterday as
sales of new U.S. homes were stronger than projected in March,
indicating cheaper borrowing costs are stabilizing the market. Apple (AAPL) , the world’s largest company by market value, posted
profit that almost doubled last quarter, reflecting robust
demand for the iPhone in China. The results were posted after
the close of U.S. markets. Fanuc gained 2.7 percent to 14,800 yen. Foster Electric Co. (6794) ,
a maker of headphones for Apple’s iPod portable music player,
climbed 4.6 percent to 1,156 yen. Earnings Beat Estimates Earnings beat forecasts at 82 percent of S&P 500 companies
that reported results since April 10, according to data compiled
by Bloomberg. In Japan, almost a fifth of the Topix’s 1,665 companies are
scheduled to report earnings this week. Net income grew more
than 60 percent in the first quarter at companies that reported
results since April 10, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Nomura gained 2.4 percent to 344 yen after two people with
knowledge of the matter said it will report an increase in
quarterly profit as gains from trading outweighed declines in
investment banking . Japan’s biggest brokerage is scheduled to
announce earnings on April 27, according to Bloomberg data. Bicycle-parts manufacturer Shimano Inc. soared 5.4 percent
to 5,260 yen after its profit more than tripled to 7 billion yen
($86 million) in the quarter ended March 31 on growing sales. Exporters advanced after the yen fell versus all of its 16
most-traded counterparts on speculation Bank of Japan officials
will add to stimulus measures at this week’s policy meeting. Exporters Climb Canon climbed 1.5 percent to 3,800 yen. Nissan Motor Co. (7201) , a
carmaker that gets about 80 percent of its revenue overseas,
rose 1.1 percent to 840 yen. The Japanese currency depreciated to as low as 81.56
against the dollar today in Tokyo, compared with 80.91 at the
close of stock trading yesterday. The yen weakened to 107.65
against the euro from 106.45. A weaker yen boosts the value of
overseas income at Japanese companies when repatriated. Yoshinoya lost 2.4 percent to 102,800 yen, the biggest drop
since April 2011, after reports of the first U.S. case of mad-
cow disease in six years. The company serves bowls of rice
topped with beef, a dish it stopped serving from February 2004
to September 2006 after the brain-wasting illness was detected
in some imported beef. To contact the reporters on this story:
Norie Kuboyama in Tokyo at
[email protected] ;
Masaaki Iwamoto in Tokyo at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
John McCluskey at
[email protected] | 2012 | japanese-stock-futures-gain-on-u-s-home-sales-earnings |
Chile Peso Gains as Copper and Emerging Currencies Rise on Fed | By Sebastian Boyd | 2012-04-25T18:15:00Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/chile-peso-gains-as-copper-and-emerging-currencies-rise-on-fed.html | 4 | 25 | 254ff95712c62f3d2b4a0b2062bc28c199e4cbf8 | Chile’s peso gained for a second
day after reaching a four-week low as copper rose and emerging-
market currencies rallied ahead of comments from Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben S. Bernanke . The peso gained 0.3 percent to 486.45 per U.S. dollar .
Copper, Chile’s biggest export, rose as much as 1.1 percent to
$3.723 a pound in New York . Stocks (SPX) in the U.S. climbed the most in a week after Apple
Inc., the world’s most valuable company, said demand for iPhones
drove a 94 percent jump in quarterly profit. The dollar weakened
against major trading counterparts and 15 of 25 leading
emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg appreciated as
traders waited for a speech in which the Fed chairman may
reiterate a pledge to keep interest rates low in the world’s
biggest economy. “This is a continuation of the retracement from 490,”
said Katia Diaz, an economist at 4Cast Inc. in New York. Stocks
“got a boost from Apple earnings and the weak durable goods
data in the U.S. doesn’t seem to have had much impact.” Orders for U.S. durable goods fell by the most in three
years in March, according to data published today by the U.S.
Commerce Department in Washington . Chilean industrial holding company Sigdo Koppers SA (SK) sold
$93 million of inflation-linked bonds due in 21 years at a yield
of 3.98 percent, according to data from the Santiago stock
exchange. Celulosa Arauco & Constitucion SA, Chile’s biggest forestry
company, plans to sell as much as $232 million of inflation-
linked bonds, according to a prospectus published on the website
of the country’s securities regulator. Arauco is a unit of
Empresas Copec SA. Empresas CMPC The second-largest forestry company, Empresas CMPC SA last
week sold $500 million of inflation-linked bonds. Wood pulp was
Chile’s third-biggest export after gold and copper last year,
according to central bank data. Chilean exporters selling inflation bonds domestically and
swapping the liabilities into dollars may affect the inflation-
linked swap market, according to economists at Banco de Credito
e Inversiones in Santiago. The gap between five-year inflation-
linked swaps and five-year inflation-linked government bonds
could widen by 20 basis points, they wrote. That spread was at
30 basis points as of 2:00 p.m. today. The five-year inflation-linked swap rate rose two basis
points to 2.17 percent today. To contact the reporter on this story:
Sebastian Boyd in Santiago at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Papadopoulos at
[email protected] | 2012 | chile-peso-gains-as-copper-and-emerging-currencies-rise-on-fed |
Japan Finance Sells 95 Billion Yen of 2-, 5- And 10-Year Bonds | By Yusuke Miyazawa | 2012-04-25T00:52:06Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/japan-finance-sells-95-billion-yen-of-2-5-and-10-year-bonds.html | 4 | 25 | 22a24d2f882fb6995e1c88298ed1c4f246f196f1 | Japan Finance Corp. sold 95 billion
yen of bonds, according to an e-mailed statement from Nomura
Holdings Inc. The government-backed lender sold 15 billion yen of 0.997
percent 10-year bonds, 30 billion yen of 0.368 percent five-year
notes and 50 billion yen of 0.201 percent two-year debt, Nomura
said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Yusuke Miyazawa in Tokyo at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Pavel Alpeyev at
[email protected] | 2012 | japan-finance-sells-95-billion-yen-of-2-5-and-10-year-bonds |
Fed Funds Projected to Open at 0.13% to 0.17%, ICAP Says | By Liz Capo McCormick | 2012-04-25T11:16:39Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/fed-funds-projected-to-open-at-0-13-to-0-17-icap-says.html | 4 | 25 | 3cd02e3916ea341c41673903ce69d7f5bd7a376c | Fed funds, the U.S. overnight
inter-bank lending rate , is projected to open in a range of 0.13
percent to 0.17 percent, within the Federal Reserve ’s target of
zero to 0.25 percent. Fed funds closed at 0.1 percent yesterday after trading
from 0.1 percent to 0.13 percent and averaging 0.12 percent,
ICAP Plc, the world’s largest inter-dealer broker, said in an e-
mailed statement. ICAP’s monthly average is 0.139 percent. No temporary open market operations, which add or drain
reserves to the banking system, are expected, according to
Wrightson ICAP, a research unit of ICAP specializing in U.S.
government finance. The Fed has no Treasury purchases or sales
scheduled for today, which are permanent open market operations. In repos, the Fed buys U.S. Treasury , mortgage-backed and
agency debt from its primary dealers for a set period,
temporarily raising the amount of money available in the banking
system. At maturity, the securities are returned to the dealers,
and the cash to the Fed. In reverse repos, temporary funds are
drained from the system. To contact the reporter on this story:
Liz Capo McCormick in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dave Liedtka at [email protected] | 2012 | fed-funds-projected-to-open-at-0-13-to-0-17-icap-says |
Wal-Mart Executives, Directors Sued Over Bribery Probe | By Phil Milford | 2012-04-25T17:45:03Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/wal-mart-executives-directors-sued-over-bribery-probe-1-.html | 4 | 25 | 0cb9f09f1ee64923c619b8a0f992bd659ddb488a | Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) was sued by a
shareholder claiming its executives and directors mismanaged the
company, leading to alleged bribery of officials in Mexico and
coverup of an internal probe. Company officers and directors responsible for the
wrongdoing should reimburse Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart
for damages related to the investigation and the alleged
bribery, lawyers for investor Henrietta Klein said in a Delaware
Chancery Court complaint filed today in Wilmington. Officials “are required to use their utmost ability” to
manage Wal-Mart fairly, and have shown “a reckless disregard
for their duties” and “should have been aware” of “a risk of
serious injury to the company,” Klein said in the suit. The U.S. government investigation into $24 million in
alleged Mexican bribes as the company expanded south of the U.S.
border could cost Wal-Mart hundreds of millions of dollars,
according to former federal prosecutors. Wal-Mart de Mexico ’s growth in the last 10 years gave
the company about 20 percent of its stores in Mexico, out of
more than 10,000 worldwide. Greg Rossiter, a Wal-Mart spokesman, couldn’t immediately
comment on the lawsuit. The case is Klein v. Walton, CA7455, Delaware Chancery
Court (Wilmington). To contact the reporter on this story:
Phil Milford in Wilmington, Delaware, at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Hytha at [email protected] . | 2012 | wal-mart-executives-directors-sued-over-bribery-probe-1- |
Budapest Bourse Shareholders Approve Switch to Xetra System | By Edith Balazs | 2012-04-25T10:42:49Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/budapest-bourse-shareholders-approve-switch-to-xetra-system.html | 4 | 25 | ab2618ead5a6677e49eee308627d36b347b4d344 | Shareholders of the Budapest Stock
Exchange approved a proposal to switch the trading system to
Deutsche Boerse AG (DB1) ’s Xetra platform and the introduction of a
market-making system. “Through connecting to the Xetra network the Hungarian
market will be more accessible for international investors while
the new market-maker model will help create additional liquidity
and enhance the quality of the market,” the bourse said in an
e-mailed statement today. The new market-making system will used only for trading
shares , according to the statement. The aim of the system is to
ensure continuous liquidity for listed instruments that can be
the basis of a future turnover increase and enhance the price
transparency of the market, it said. Budapest bourse’s majority owner is the CEE Stock Exchange
Group, which also controls the exchanges in Vienna, Ljubljana
and Prague and wants to expand Xetra to all four locations.
Local brokerages, including Concorde Ertekpapir Zrt., said last
year they were opposed to the change in trading systems and
former bourse Chairman Mihaly Patai resigned, citing increased
duties during a “tense situation.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Edith Balazs in Budapest at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James M. Gomez at
[email protected] | 2012 | budapest-bourse-shareholders-approve-switch-to-xetra-syste |
US Airways Said to Approach AMR Bondholders on Merger | By Mary Schlangenstein | 2012-04-25T20:59:17Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/us-airways-said-to-approach-amr-bondholders-on-merger.html | 4 | 25 | 32c888f9b33d40f9b04561e7a8c25610 | US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) is targeting
AMR Corp. (AAMRQ) ’s unsecured creditors committee to build support for a
possible takeover bid for bankrupt American Airlines after
winning the backing of the carrier’s biggest unions. Agreements with the labor groups were a “big step” as US
Airways progresses from the unions to the creditor panel and
eventually to AMR’s board, Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker
said today on a conference call with analysts and investors. “We are eager to demonstrate to the creditors of AMR that
our plan would result in higher returns than the AMR stand-alone
strategy,” Parker said. “We’re highly confident the value
created by our two companies is very large relative to the value
of a stand-alone AMR.” While formal meetings haven’t been held, talks began last
week with bondholders of Fort Worth , Texas-based AMR, two people
familiar with the matter said. US Airways rose 3.1 percent to
$9.60 at the close in New York, as a rally after Parker spoke
sent the shares to a sixth gain in eight trading days. Parker didn’t say when Tempe, Arizona-based US Airways
might make an approach to AMR, which has said it prefers to
remain an independent airline while in court protection. CEO Tom Horton has said the third-biggest U.S. carrier would prefer to
exit Chapter 11 and then consider possible combinations. Creditors Committee US Airways’ merger efforts were backed last week by three
unions at American, representing pilots, flight attendants, and
mechanics and bag handlers. Each group is on AMR’s nine-seat
creditors committee, so support from two more members would give
US Airways a majority. “If they can line up support from unions, bondholders and
unsecured creditors, I think they can get themselves awfully
close to what would amount to a hostile takeover,” Max Newman,
a bankruptcy attorney at Butzel Long in Bloomfield Hills ,
Michigan , said in an interview. “They’re certainly being very
strategic and creative about how they’re going about it.” The panel has a voice in any major decisions made while a
company restructures in bankruptcy. Bondholders are represented
on the committee by Manufacturers & Traders Trust, M&T Bank
Corp. (MTB) ’s Wilmington Trust and Bank of New York Mellon Corp.
Spokesmen for the banks declined yesterday to discuss US
Airways’ initial overtures or didn’t return calls seeking
comment. Boeing’s View Boeing Co. (BA) , which also sits on the panel, supports American
“emerging from this thing as a stronger airline,” CEO Jim McNerney said on a conference call today. If the carrier and a
merger partner eventually decide on a tie-up, “we’ll support
that as well.” AMR’s 9.75 percent notes due August 2021 jumped 21.5 cents
to 45 cents on the dollar at 9:51 a.m. in New York , according to
Trace, the bond-price reporting service of the Financial
Industry Regulatory Authority. US Airways’ 7.1 percent notes due
April 2021 rose 0.5 cent to 103.75 cents on the dollar. The
yield fell to 6.54 percent. AMR probably will consider a merger as part of its
bankruptcy case because stakeholders will want to ensure they
are getting the highest possible value, according to a financial
adviser for the airline, Rothschild Inc.’s David Resnick. “They would want the debtor to look at alternatives to a
stand-alone plan,” Resnick, Rothschild’s chairman of global
financing advisory, said today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in
Manhattan , where AMR was urging Judge Sean Lane to grant
permission to void union contracts in its restructuring. Reorganization Rights AMR holds the sole right to file a reorganization plan
through Sept. 28, although the creditors committee can ask the
court to end that privilege if the panel concludes there is a
viable alternative. The company filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 29. A combined airline would produce savings and new revenue of
$1.2 billion a year, excluding the increased labor costs, US
Airways President Scott Kirby said on the conference call,
calling that a conservative estimate. “There’s a tremendous amount of value created by merging
US Airways and AMR,” he said. “We can and should use a portion
of that to give employees more than AMR can on stand-alone
basis.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Ed Dufner at
[email protected] | 2012 | us-airways-said-to-approach-amr-bondholders-on-merger |
J&J CEO Gorsky Says Company Will Grow While Rivals Shrink | By Shannon Pettypiece and Michelle Fay Cortez | 2012-04-26T13:57:49Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/j-j-ceo-gorsky-says-company-will-grow-while-rivals-shrink.html | 4 | 25 | 5c340cb7268a40e0a5a3d7096a6fcca1 | When Alex Gorsky takes over as
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) ’s chief executive officer today, he won’t be
shedding operations like his peers at Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and Abbott
Laboratories. (ABT) He’s looking to get bigger. Gorsky sees value in being a large, diversified company and
said he has no plans to sell any of J&J’s businesses. He expects
to use some of company’s $14 billion in cash to do deals,
focusing on medical devices such as heart valves and
acquisitions that will expand sales in China and other emerging
markets , he said. “When there are large opportunities that we think can give
us some strategic advantage, we will obviously take a look,”
Gorsky, 51, said in a telephone interview. “We are committed to
being diversified across the whole health-care continuum.” Gorsky will officially takes over as CEO today of the
world’s second-largest seller of health-care products during the
New Brunswick , New Jersey-based company’s annual meeting. He
steps into the role as J&J’s image has been tarnished by recalls
of artificial hips and over-the-counter drugs; safety concerns
over its vaginal mesh products that spurred hundreds of
lawsuits; and more than $1.1 billion in fines over the marketing
of schizophrenia treatment Risperdal. The interview yesterday represents Gorsky’s first public
comments since he was named CEO in February, replacing William Weldon, who ran the company since 2002. ‘Disappointed’ With Quality A former army captain and endurance athlete, Gorsky said he
is “disappointed” with the quality issues that led to the
recall of hundreds of millions of packets of Tylenol, Motrin,
Benadryl and other over-the-counter consumer products. His focus is on getting those products back on market
shelves this year and next, he said. J&J has made organizational
changes that put new systems in place to prevent future recalls,
he said without going into further detail. “We realize we have a lot of work to do, but the most
important thing we think we can do is get the products back on
the shelf,” Gorsky said. “We know we are going to have to win
the hearts and minds and pocketbooks of the consumer.” On Feb. 13, just before Gorsky was named to his new role,
J&J was knocked from one of the top two spots in Harris
Interactive’s annual consumer poll of corporate images for the
first time in 13 years, falling to seventh. This month, the
drugmaker said it is taking longer than anticipated to correct
problems at the plant where the recalled drugs were
manufactured. It doesn’t expect to have all the pulled products
back on the market until 2013, the company said. Not ‘So Broken’ “I don’t think the company is so broken that it needs to
be completely repaired,” said David Heupel, a portfolio manager
with Thrivant Financial for Lutherans. “A lot of the elements you need for improvement are there.
It’s just an execution issue” that Gorsky will have to make
work to get the company on the right track, Heupel said in a
telephone interview. For Gorsky, the challenge will be organizational and
financial. J&J shares have been little changed for the past 12
months, compared with a 7.6 percent gain in the Standard and
Poor’s 500 Health Care Index . The company rose less than 1
percent to $64.46 at 9:54 a.m. New York time. J&J got 40 percent of its revenue from medical devices, 37
percent from pharmaceuticals and 23 percent from over-the-
counter products in 2011. The company generated $65 billion in
2011 sales selling everything from Band-Aids to cancer drugs. Rivals’ Plans Pfizer is the world’s top seller of health-care products
with $67.4 billion in 2011 revenue. Pfizer CEO Ian Read has said
he wants to reduce the New York-based drugmaker’s size and on
April 23 the company announced it would sell its infant-
nutrition business to Nestle SA (NESN) for about $11.9 billion. Abbott, with $38.9 billion in 2011 revenue, said it would
split the company into a drugmaker and diversified health-care
business by year’s end. Along with organizational issues, Gorsky and J&J also face
mounting legal challenges. An Arkansas judge ruled on April 12 that J&J must pay $1.1
billion in fines, after a jury found the company misled doctors
about the antipsychotic medication Risperdal. J&J said the fine
is “excessive” and that it would appeal the ruling if its
motion for a dismissal fails. Gorsky History Gorsky was vice president of sales and later president of
J&J’s Janssen Pharmaceutical unit, which sold Risperal. Lawyers
for the U.S. Justice Department are trying to compel Gorsky to
testify in a lawsuit claiming J&J paid kickbacks to boost sales
of the antipsychotic drug. The U.S. sued J&J in January 2010,
saying the company paid millions of dollars to induce Omnicare
Inc. (OCR) to buy J&J drugs including Risperdal. Gorsky said he couldn’t comment on the litigation. J&J says
the payments to Omnicare were allowable rebates, not illegal
kickbacks. More than 550 lawsuits have also been filed against J&J’s
Ethicon unit by women who blame the company’s vaginal mesh
implants for internal injuries. The company similarly faces more
than 6,000 lawsuits from patients who received faulty artificial
hips that were recalled in 2010. Gorsky, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West
Point , joined J&J’s Janssen unit in 1988 as a sales
representative, according to a company biography. He left the
company in 2004 to join Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis AG,
where he headed North American pharmaceuticals. Four years later, he returned to J&J, and he was named
global chairman of the devices and diagnostics groups in 2009.
He’ll be paid $1.2 million as CEO, the company said in a filing. “Going forward we really believe that health care is
probably going to be the biggest problem we face as a
generation,” said Gorsky. “We are going to have to be bold in
this new health care environment.” To contact the reporters on this story:
Shannon Pettypiece in New York at
[email protected] ;
Michelle Fay Cortez in Minneapolis at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reg Gale at
[email protected] | 2012 | j-j-ceo-gorsky-says-company-will-grow-while-rivals-shrink |
Cameron Urges ‘Financially Sustainanable’ Clean Energy | By Alex Morales and Reed Landberg | 2012-04-26T14:02:27Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/cameron-sees-clean-energy-supporting-15-000-jobs-in-u-k-.html | 4 | 25 | eaa7330e48394b359c089d50793ae56d | U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron
said wind and solar companies need to cut costs and develop the
most suitable sites to win citizens over to the technology. Clean energy projects brought in 4.7 billion pounds ($7.6
billion) of investment to the U.K. in the last year, supporting
15,000 jobs, Cameron told energy ministers from 23 nations today
as the government announced a series of contracts worth 350
million pounds for companies including utility EON AG. (EOAN) “Our commitment and investment in renewable energy has
helped to make renewable energy possible,” Cameron said at the
event in London overseen by U.K. Energy Secretary Ed Davey and
his U.S. counterpart Steven Chu. “Now we have a different
challenge. We need to make it financially sustainable.” Under Cameron, who has said he wants to make his government
the “greenest ever,” the U.K. cut subsidies for solar power as
a surge in installations risked driving up electricity costs. At
the same time, it raised targets for offshore wind installations
amid the country’s first double-dip recession since the 1970s. “The government seems to forget it needs to be affordable
for consumers who are the ones left picking up the bill,” said
Richard Lloyd, executive director for the Which? organization
that publishes consumer advice magazines. “People tell us that
soaring fuel bills are their No. 1 financial concern.” Ministers Meeting Delegates at the Clean Energy Ministerial meeting hosted by
Britain represent nations making up 80 percent of greenhouse-gas
emissions and 90 percent of global clean-energy investment.
They’re working on policies that boost renewable power and
energy efficiency while cutting carbon emissions . Chu, speaking to reporters after Cameron’s speech, said
ministers are sharing findings on energy efficiency standards
for more than 60 domestic appliances that have the potential to
reduce electricity demand by about 600 terawatt-hours. That’s “the equivalent of roughly 200 mid-size power
plants ” that may not have to be built, Chu said. “The
acceleration of green technologies can save consumers’ money and
create growth.” Ministers agreed on six new programs, including one to
bring lighting to two million people in India by the end of 2015
and an atlas of global wind and solar resources to assist in
development of renewables, Davey said. U.S. Wind Support The U.K. yesterday pledged 60 million pounds to help
develop carbon capture and storage projects in emerging markets ,
and on April 23 announced a program with the U.S. to develop
floating wind turbines . The U.S. offered $180 million for four
demonstration projects, while Britain pledged 25 million pounds
for contractors to demonstrate the technology. Asked about a U.S. tax credit benefitting wind power that
expires this year, Chu declined to predict whether Congress will
extend it, saying only that the credit is “an important part of
helping renewable technologies move forward.” Cameron’s government has supported investment in offshore
wind capacity, a technology in which Britain leads the world in
terms of deployment. A third of the most favorable sites in
Europe are in its waters. Britain’s economy shrank 0.2 percent in the first quarter
after a 0.3 percent contraction in the final three months of
last year, defying analysts’ predictions that growth had resumed
following the recession in 2008 and 2009. ‘Huge Challenges’ Today, the prime minister said renewable-energy sources are
needed to drive economic growth and that the power they provide
must be affordable. “There are huge challenges facing governments across the
world today, and one of the most important of all is how we meet
our growing energy demands,” Cameron said. “We urgently need a
more diverse, cleaner mix of energy sources that will give us
security without causing irreparable damage to the planet.” The government is also encouraging wider use of biomass,
geothermal and heat-pump technology. EON, JDR Cable Systems
Holdings Ltd. and Helius Energy Plc (HEGY) are among the companies
announcing investments in the U.K. alongside the ministerial
meeting, the Department of Energy and Climate Change said today. More than 20 companies are joining the Norstec group that
plans to develop renewable infrastructure around the North Sea.
Supporters include Scottish Power Ltd., Dong Energy A/S,
Mainstream Renewable Power Ltd., Statoil ASA (STL) , Statkraft AS,
Siemens AG (SIE) , Gamesa Corp. Tecnologica SA (GAM) , Alstom SA (ALO) , Areva SA (AREVA) and
David Brown Gear Systems Ltd., the prime minister’s office said. U.K. Contracts Energy investments confirmed today include: To contact the reporters on this story:
Alex Morales in London at
[email protected] ;
Reed Landberg in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
[email protected] | 2012 | cameron-sees-clean-energy-supporting-15-000-jobs-in-u-k- |
BlackRock Said to Plan Asia Investment Fund With CIC | By Alexis Leondis and Bei Hu | 2012-04-27T13:44:24Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/blackrock-said-to-plan-asia-investment-fund-with-cic.html | 4 | 25 | 7850fb40bb0d4d0d9a2f771ebe819783 | (Corrects announcement date of warehouse deal in 11th
paragraph, in story originally published April 26.) BlackRock Inc. (BLK) , the world’s largest
money manager, plans to start a fund with China Investment
Corp., according to a person familiar with the matter. CIC, the nation’s sovereign-wealth fund, and BlackRock will
initially provide capital for the investments, which would be in
Chinese companies and businesses that sell products in China,
said the person, who asked not to be identified because the
details aren’t public. The joint venture will be managed by Liu Erh-fei, who will leave his position as chairman of Bank of
America Corp.’s brokerage operations in China, the person said. Laurence D. Fink, chairman and chief executive officer of
BlackRock, said during a conference call with analysts and
investors last year that the firm is interested in expanding in
Asia and investor deposits there are “slower than we would
like.” BlackRock, based in New York, had $3.68 trillion in
assets under management as of March 31. “BlackRock is partnering up with one of the biggest
sovereign wealth funds, a big name with big connections, someone
who will open doors and raise their profile,” said Fraser
Howie , a Singapore-based managing director at CLSA Asia-Pacific
Markets, a unit of Credit Agricole SA, and co-author of the book
“Red Capitalism” on China’s financial system. “CIC is looking
to diversify the way it invests, basically tying up with an
established partner to try to do more things.” CIC Assets Bobbie Collins, a spokeswoman for BlackRock, declined to
comment. Two calls to CIC’s public-affairs office in Beijing
weren’t answered. Selena Morris, a spokeswoman for Charlotte ,
North Carolina-based Bank of America, didn’t immediately return
calls. CIC, which was set up in 2007 with $200 billion from
China’s Ministry of Finance, had $410 billion of assets at the
end of 2010, according to its latest annual report. The fund
posted an 11.7 percent return on its overseas investments in
2010, it said in July, comparing with the 9.6 percent gain of
the MSCI World Index. News of the fund was reported earlier by the Financial
Times, quoting Hu Bing, a senior CIC official who spoke of the
fund at a conference in Beijing, and unidentified people with
knowledge of the matter. The primary focus of the fund would be on companies outside
of China which have technologies or resources useful to the
country, the unidentified people told the FT. It could, for
example, co-invest with Chinese companies in their international
acquisitions or take stakes in the Chinese operations of
multinational companies, they added. BlackRock Stake In its first quarterly disclosure of U.S. stock holdings in
February 2010, CIC revealed a $714 million stake in BlackRock. CIC has been ramping up international investments to help
boost returns on the country’s foreign exchange reserves and
meet the nation’s thirst for resources. In January, it bought an 8.68 percent stake in Thames Water
Utilities Ltd., the biggest U.K. water and sewerage company. It
will buy 25 percent of former South African politician Cyril
Ramaphosa’s Shanduka Group for 2 billion rand ($252 million),
the company said on Dec. 22. It also agreed to tie up with
Singapore ’s Global Logistic Properties Ltd. to buy 15 warehouses
in Japan in December. It had about 60 percent of its assets in the U.S., Jin Liqun , chairman of its supervisory board, told CNBC in December. Russia Fund GDF Suez SA and CIC signed an agreement covering a 2.3
billion euro ($3 billion) minority investment in GDF Suez’s
exploration and production division and CIC’s purchase of a 10
percent stake in a LNG liquefaction plant. Last year, CIC committed $1 billion toward a Russian
private-equity fund championed by President Dmitry Medvedev . CIC began investing in the U.S. amid the credit crunch in
2007, buying stakes in Blackstone Group LP and Morgan Stanley
that year. CIC and Blackstone were teaming up to buy real estate-
related non-performing loans being sold by Royal Bank of
Scotland Group Plc, China’s 21st Century Business Herald
reported in October. The sovereign wealth manager has also invested billions in
hedge- and private-equity funds, Chairman Lou Jiwei said in
August 2009. To contact the reporter on this story:
Alexis Leondis in New York
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christian Baumgaertel at
[email protected] | 2012 | blackrock-said-to-plan-asia-investment-fund-with-cic |
Accretive Put Debt Collectors in Hospitals, State AG Says | By Alex Wayne | 2012-04-25T21:54:40Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/accretive-placed-debt-collectors-in-hospitals-minnesota-ag-says.html | 4 | 25 | 10b3229443a499f8a24dc2b4c781f986eb5a3727 | Accretive Health Inc. (AH) tumbled by
the most ever after Minnesota ’s attorney general alleged that
the company improperly posted debt collectors in hospital
emergency rooms and at the bedsides of patients. Accretive dropped 42 percent to $10.75 in New York today,
the most since the debt-collection company first sold shares to
the public in 2010. Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson is suing Chicago-
based Accretive for violations of U.S. and state patient-privacy
and debt-collection laws. She said patients at Fairview Health
Services, a Minnesota hospital chain, were pressured for payment
before they received care in some cases and that Accretive’s
debt collectors didn’t properly disclose their role. Employees of Fairview, a nonprofit chain of seven hospitals
based in Minneapolis , were required to use a computer system
derisively called “Blue Balls” to track whether patients paid
their bills and push for payment before they received care,
Swanson said yesterday. The payment system began after Fairview
hired Accretive in May 2010, Swanson said in a report describing
the companies’ relationship. Accretive’s tactics as “a high-pressure boiler-room-style
sales atmosphere,” are “in conflict with the purpose of a
charitable health-care organization,” according to the report
based on internal documents and interviews with employees. Swanson said Fairview may have jeopardized its tax-exempt
status by partnering with the debt-collection company. “It is critical that our business practices align with our
values and comply with applicable laws and industry standards,”
Fairview said in a statement. Payment Scripts Ryan Davenport, a spokesman for the hospital group, said in
an e-mail that he couldn’t “address specific issues raised” in
Swanson’s report. Actions that Accretive used at Fairview included issuing
emergency room employees “scripts” for conversations with
patients that “can lead a patient or her family to believe the
patient will not receive treatment until payment is made,”
Swanson said in her report. Federal law prohibits hospitals from refusing emergency
treatment to anyone, regardless of ability to pay. Employees were instructed to ask for credit card payments,
tell patients they’d wait for them to retrieve their checkbooks
from their cars, or if the patients said they couldn’t pay,
remind them that debt-collection activities “can affect your
credit score,” according to the scripts. ‘Accountable Care’ Fairview’s board of directors voted to end part of its
contract with Accretive last month, a decision that may cost the
collection company as much as $68 million this year, Accretive
said in a March 29 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission. “We have a great track record of helping hospitals enhance
their quality of care,” Francesca Luthi, a spokeswoman for
Accretive, said yesterday in a statement. “For example, we have
helped over 250,000 patients get insurance coverage.” Luthi’s statement was issued by Rhonda Barnat , a managing
director of the Abernathy MacGregor Group in New York. Fairview is one of 32 large hospital systems and physician
groups around the country participating in an experiment with
Medicare to try to coordinate patient care more efficiently TO
reduce costs. Fairview gets to split any savings with the
government if the arrangement, called an “accountable care
organization,” is successful. A spokesman for Medicare, Brian Cook , didn’t immediately
respond to an e-mail yesterday after business hours seeking
comment on Fairview’s participation in the program. To contact the reporter on this story:
Alex Wayne in Washington at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reg Gale at
[email protected] | 2012 | accretive-placed-debt-collectors-in-hospitals-minnesota-ag-says |
U.S. 2012 Food Inflation Seen Unchanged at 2.5%-3.5%, USDA Says | By Alan Bjerga | 2012-04-25T14:08:37Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/u-s-2012-food-inflation-seen-unchanged-at-2-5-3-5-usda-says.html | 4 | 25 | 4c15ef25220f3eb444c906df6e73e804451cad38 | U.S. consumers will pay 2.5 percent
to 3.5 percent more for food in 2012, the Department of
Agriculture said, holding to a forecast made in July. Beef and seafood will post the biggest gains of any food
category, each climbing as much as 5 percent, the USDA said
today in a monthly report on its website. The department reduced
its estimate for price increases for fruits and vegetables to 2
percent to 3 percent, down a half-percentage point from March. The Bureau of Labor Statistics this month said expenses
rose 0.1 percent in March. Food costs rose 3.7 percent last
year, according to the USDA. To contact the reporter on this story:
Alan Bjerga in Washington at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jon Morgan at
[email protected] | 2012 | u-s-2012-food-inflation-seen-unchanged-at-2-5-3-5-usda-says |
Norway Banks Don’t See Tighter Credit Standards This Quarter | By Josiane Kremer | 2012-04-25T08:12:41Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/norway-banks-don-t-see-tighter-credit-standards-this-quarter-1-.html | 4 | 25 | d297dde8025edfe1360c7404ec8ba8601e50fcb5 | Norwegian banks don’t expect to
tighten credit standards further in the second quarter for
households or enterprises, a central bank survey showed. At the same time, “banks do not expect any change in
credit demand in the second quarter,” the Oslo-based bank said
in a statement on its website today. Credit demand from
households and enterprises was “approximately unchanged,” last
quarter, the survey showed. Banks tightened credit standards for households in the
three months through March, while keeping access to lending
“approximately unchanged” for enterprises, the central bank
said. “The tightening of credit standards for households is
explained by the Financial Supervisory Authority’s new
guidelines and is reflected in stricter loan conditions,” the
bank said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Josiane Kremer in Brussels at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Tasneem Brogger at
[email protected] | 2012 | norway-banks-don-t-see-tighter-credit-standards-this-quarter-1- |
Immigration Fight Echoes Health-Care Case at High Court | By Greg Stohr | 2012-04-25T04:01:00Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/immigration-fight-echoes-health-care-case-at-high-court.html
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear
echoes of its health-care arguments as it reviews Arizona ’s
illegal-immigrant crackdown, a law that inspired similar moves
across the country and sparked a confrontation with President
Barack Obama . Like last month’s debate over health care, the immigration
case set for argument today pits the federal government against
the states over their respective spheres of power. Politics
envelops the case, with Republican-controlled states backing
Arizona against the Obama administration. The case “has all the ingredients of important law,
important federalism principles and hot politics,” said Steven
Schwinn, a constitutional law professor at John Marshall Law
School in Chicago . The case will define states’ role on an issue some of them
say has become a crisis: the presence of more than 10 million
unauthorized aliens in this country. Arizona’s law, the first of
its kind, would require police to check the status of people
they suspect are in the U.S. illegally, and to arrest those they
believe are eligible to be deported. The case may affect laws in
Alabama , South Carolina , Georgia , Utah and Indiana . Unlike health care, the administration is on offense in the
immigration case, challenging four provisions in the Arizona
law. Government lawyers say S.B. 1070, as the law is known,
encroaches on the exclusive federal right to set immigration
policy. Lawyers Duel Again The federal government “has the ultimate authority to
regulate the treatment of aliens while on American soil because
it is the nation as a whole | 4 | 25 | 8689c4c27a68446894449bb5aa0eaa42 | respond to the international consequences of such treatment,”
U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli argued in court papers. Verrilli will be making his first appearance before the
justices since he argued the health-care case in March. He again
will square off against Paul Clement , a Washington lawyer who
represented 26 states challenging the health-care law and will
be defending the Arizona immigration measure today. Arizona’s law would require police officers to check
immigration status when they arrest or stop someone and have
“reasonable suspicion” that the person is in the U.S.
illegally. It would authorize officers to arrest anyone they
have “probable cause” to believe is eligible to be deported. The law also would bar aliens without the proper papers
from seeking or performing work. It would be a state criminal
offense for a foreigner to be in Arizona without correct
documentation, subjecting violators to as much as 30 days in
prison. Cost to Arizona The parts of Arizona’s law being challenged have never
taken effect. A divided federal appeals court blocked them. Arizona says its 370-mile border with Mexico is the
crossing point for half the nation’s illegal immigrants, giving
it the right to tackle a problem the national government has
failed to address. “Arizona could no longer afford the cost of all this
illegal immigration into the state of Arizona, into our
education system, our hospital system and prisons,” Arizona
Governor Jan Brewer, a Republican who signed the measure in
2010, said in an interview. “The cost was just overwhelming.” Arizona had 360,000 unauthorized immigrants in 2011,
according to the U.S. Homeland Security Department. During the
last four decades, 12 million immigrants came to the U.S. from
Mexico, most illegally, according to a report released yesterday
by the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research group in
Washington . Net Mexican migration to the U.S. has now stopped
and may have reversed, the report said. Beyond Cooperation The central question for the justices is whether the U.S.
Immigration and Nationality Act pre-empts the Arizona
provisions. That statute says states may cooperate in enforcing
federal law. The administration contends Arizona has gone beyond
cooperation and is trying to implement its own immigration
policy. Verrilli says the state measure would undermine the
federal government’s effort to give highest priority to illegal
aliens who threaten public safety and those who belong to gangs
that smuggle other aliens, drugs and weapons. The mandatory nature of the Arizona law means that police
officers will be asking federal officials to verify the
immigration status of jaywalkers, Verrilli said in court papers. The law “changed Arizona’s policy from one of cooperation
to one of confrontation,” Verrilli argued. Clement, arguing for Arizona, countered that local police
officers “have inherent authority to enforce the immigration
laws, both criminal and civil.” Question of Deference He added that states don’t have to defer to the federal
government’s priorities, as Verrilli had suggested. “While this domineering arrangement might reflect an
efficient relationship between dance partners, it is an odd
notion of cooperation between sovereigns,” argued Clement, who
served as solicitor general under President George W. Bush . As with the health care argument, the immigration case
might split the court along ideological and party-based lines.
That happened last year, when the court’s five Republican-
appointed members voted to uphold a separate Arizona law that
threatens companies with loss of their corporate charters if
they hire illegal immigrants. The 5-3 ruling said a federal law governing immigrant
hiring leaves room for states to impose their own penalties for
non-compliance. Kagan Not Participating Justice Elena Kagan didn’t take part in that ruling and
isn’t participating in today’s case either. She played a role in
the litigation as Obama’s top Supreme Court lawyer before her
2010 appointment to the court. One issue not directly before the justices is the
contention that the law will lead to racial profiling by police
officers. That claim is part of a separate lawsuit being waged
by civil rights advocates against the Arizona measure. The high court might strike down some aspects of the law
while leaving the rest intact, said John E. Eastman, a professor
at Chapman University School of Law in Orange, California . The “most vulnerable” provisions are those making it a
crime not to carry registration documents and barring illegal
aliens from working in Arizona, said Eastman, who filed a brief
supporting the law. “Even if those two provisions are struck
down, I think the rest stands.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Greg Stohr in Washington at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Steven Komarow at
[email protected] | 2012 | immigration-fight-echoes-health-care-case-at-high-cour |
Gulf Aluminum Output to Rise 50% by 2015, Daylami Says | By Bloomberg News | 2012-04-25T04:57:28Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/gulf-aluminum-output-to-rise-50-by-2015-daylami-says-1-.html | 4 | 25 | c4065afecad80aefb89c0fccb8c01b6f11d667b2 | Aluminum output at the member
nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council will climb to 5.21
million metric tons in 2015 from 3.48 million tons last year,
said Mahmood Daylami, Gulf Aluminum Council secretary general. Output at the United Arab Emirates will continue to account
for half of the total production in the region, climbing to 2.6
million tons from 1.75 million tons last year, he said in a
speech at a Metal Bulletin conference in Shanghai. “The challenge of the expansion in the region will be the
availability of gas and the raw material supply - alumina,” he
said. “The industry will remain export-oriented to meet the
demand of declining output elsewhere in the world.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Helen Sun in Shanghai at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Richard Dobson at
[email protected] | 2012 | gulf-aluminum-output-to-rise-50-by-2015-daylami-says-1- |
Money Market Indicators Signals Banking Sector Stress Stable | By Liz Capo McCormick | 2012-04-25T13:25:30Z | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/money-market-indicators-signals-banking-sector-stress-stable.html | 4 | 25 | 2d150840bbb045ebaeda263f7ab1205f | Money-market indicators signaled
little change in the ability of banks to borrow and lend short
term funds with the gap between the London interbank offered
rate and the Federal funds rate held stable. Three-month London interbank offered rate, or Libor, which
represents the rate at which banks say it would cost to borrow
from another, was 0.4659 percent, unchanged from yesterday,
according to the British Bankers’ Association. The Libor-OIS spread, a gauge of banks reluctance to lend,
was little changed at 32.7 basis points. The gap was as high as
51 basis points this year on Jan. 6. Overnight index swaps, or
OIS, give traders predictions on where the Fed’s effective funds
rate will average for the term of the swap. The central bank’s
target rate is set in a range of zero to 0.25 percent. Predictions in the forward market for Libor-OIS, known as
the FRA/OIS spread, narrowed to 32.75 basis points for June,
compared to 33.5 basis points late yesterday, according to UBS
AG data. The spread is up from 30 basis points on March 1. The cost for European banks to convert euro-denominated
payment streams into dollars-based funding via the cross
currency swaps market fell. The three-month cross-currency basis
swap was 44.38 basis points below Euribor, compared to 44.88
basis points yesterday. The basis swap rate was minus 162.5
basis points on Nov. 30. The difference between the two-year swap rate and the
comparable-maturity Treasury note yield, known as the swap
spread, narrowed to 28.96 basis points from 30.63 basis points.
The gap is a gauge of investors’ perceptions of U.S. banking
sector credit risk as swap rates are derived from expectations
for dollar Libor. Swap rates serve as benchmarks for investors
in many types of debt, including mortgage-backed and auto-loan
securities. Euribor-OIS Spread The seasonally adjusted amount of U.S. commercial paper
rose $4.2 billion to $932.6 billion outstanding in the week
ended April 18, according to Fed data. Corporations sell
commercial paper, typically maturing in 270 days or less, to
fund everyday activities such as paying rent and salaries. The Euribor-OIS spread, the difference between the euro
interbank offered rate and overnight indexed swaps, narrowed.
The measure of banks’ reluctance to lend to one another was 39
basis points from 40 basis points yesterday. The price on one-year cross-currency basis swaps between
yen and U.S. dollars was minus 29.6 basis points, compared to
minus 30.9 yesterday. A negative swap price indicates investors
are willing to receive reduced interest payments on the yen they
lend in order to obtain the needed financing in dollars. Foreign-exchange swaps are typically for periods of less
than a year, while cross-currency basis swaps usually range from
one to 30 years. The latter are agreements in which a person
borrows in one currency and simultaneously lends in a different
currency. The trade involves the exchange of two different
floating-rate payments, each denominated in a different currency
and based on a different index. To contact the reporter on this story:
Liz Capo McCormick in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Liedtka at [email protected] | 2012 | oney-market-indicators-signals-banking-sector-stress-stable |