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2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Wimbledon Tennis Chief Wants U.K. to Relax Tax on Player Sponsorships | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/wimbledon-tennis-chief-wants-u-k-to-relax-tax-on-player-sponsorships.html
| B y D a n i e l l e R o s s i n g h | The ATP World Tour Finals and other
British tennis tournaments may lose access to players unless the
U.K. stops taxing foreign athletes’ endorsement income,
Wimbledon officials said today. Athletes are taxed on a per diem rate by the U.K. on such
income, even if the sponsor is located outside the country. The taxation “will inevitably concern players,” Ian Ritchie, chief executive officer of Wimbledon, said in a press
conference at the All England Club in southwest London. “We
don’t believe it is a problem for Wimbledon in terms of people
coming here. We want to encourage people to come for other
events and in the discussions we’ve had with players and agents,
it is on their radar.” Former Wimbledon champion Andre Agassi in 2006 lost a
27,500-pound ($44,860) tax dispute at Britain’s highest court,
which blocked other sports and entertainment figures from
claiming millions from British tax authorities. Agassi, an eight-time grand slam winner who earned more
than $31 million in career prize money, had challenged the U.K.
taxation of sponsorship payments made by some of his endorsers
including Nike Inc. (NKE) and other non-British companies to his own
company, Agassi Enterprises Inc., while he played at U.K.
tournaments such as Wimbledon. Ritchie added it seems unfair individual athletes such as
professional golfers, tennis players and athletics stars are
subject to the taxation, while stars in team sports such as
soccer are not. “If Lionel Messi comes here for a Champions League final,
he does not get taxed, but Roger Federer does,” Ritchie said. Wimbledon has spoken to Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One
Management Ltd. CEO, about the issue, Ritchie said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Danielle Rossingh at the All England Club through the
London sports desk at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christopher Elser at
[email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Nigeria’s Inflation Rate Rising on Higher Energy, Food Costs, Sanusi Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/nigeria-s-inflation-rate-rising-on-higher-energy-food-costs-sanusi-says.html
| B y E m e l e O n u | Inflation in Nigeria , sub-Saharan
Africa ’s second-biggest economy, is accelerating amid rising
global costs for food and energy, said Lamido Sanusi, the
governor the country’s central bank. Increasing costs of building materials and household items
are adding pressure to the inflation rate, Sanusi said in a
phone interview late yesterday. Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to an annual 12.8 percent in
March from 11.1 percent a month earlier, the Abuja-based
National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday. The Central Bank
of Nigeria raised its benchmark interest rate by one percentage
point, the second increase this year, on March 22 in an effort
to slow the rate of inflation. “We had anticipated, in the light of rising global food
and energy prices, that structural pressures would impact on
inflation,” said Sanusi. Fuel costs, specifically for kerosene
and diesel that are not covered by government subsidy, are
particularly “susceptible to rising prices,” he said. Nigeria ’s government guarantees a price per liter of
gasoline at 65 naira ($0.42) and pays the difference when oil
costs climb. Kerosene is commonly used for cooking and diesel is
used in generators that are needed to combat the country’s
frequent power cuts. Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, boosted spending
ahead of this year’s elections, adding to pressure on inflation.
The parliament approved a 4.97 trillion-naira expenditure plan
for the 2011 fiscal year, which is “unduly expansionary,”
Sanusi said on March 22. To contact the reporter on this story:
Emele Onu in Lagos at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Antony Sguazzin at [email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Rajaratnam, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Madoff in Court News | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/citigroup-morgan-stanley-rajaratnam-madoff-in-court-news.html
| B y E l i z a b e t h A m o n | Galleon Group LLC co-founder Raj
Rajaratnam, at the center of largest crackdown on hedge-fund
insider trading in U.S. history, didn’t take the witness stand
as jurors heard one last wiretapped recording in his trial. Prosecutors’ brief rebuttal of Rajaratnam’s weeklong
defense included playing a recording of a phone call between
Rajaratnam and former New Castle Funds LLC analyst Danielle
Chiesi . During the Sept. 30, 2008, call, Chiesi asked Rajaratnam
if he had bought 1 million shares of Advanced Micro Devices
Inc. (AMD) , calling the purchase “a very bold move unless you know
what we know.” Prosecutors, who are scheduled to begin their closing
arguments to the jury today, have said Rajaratnam got a tip from
Anil Kumar, a former McKinsey & Co. director, that Sunnyvale,
California-based AMD was about to announce the sale of a
manufacturing entity to Mubadala Development Co., a sovereign
wealth company operated by Abu Dhabi. The close of evidence yesterday came six weeks into a trial
that might send Rajaratnam to prison for 20 years. Rajaratnam,
53, is accused of gaining $63.8 million from tips leaked by
corporate insiders and hedge-fund traders about a dozen stocks,
including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) , Intel Corp. (INTC) , Clearwire Corp.
and Akamai Technologies Inc. The Sri Lankan-born money manager denies wrongdoing, saying
he based his trades on research. After prosecutors and Rajaratnam’s lawyers complete their
closing arguments, the jury will begin its deliberations. The defense case focused on the testimony of former Galleon
U.S. President Richard Schutte and of Gregg Jarrell, the top
economist for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from
1984 to 1987. They told jurors that stock trading trends, analyst reports
and news accounts circulating in the marketplace gave Rajaratnam
a lawful basis to make the stock trades that prosecutors say
were corrupt. The case is U.S. v. Rajaratnam, 1:09-cr-01184, U.S.
District Court, Southern District of New York ( Manhattan ). For more, click here. U.S. Makes Final Arguments to Jury in Taylor Bean Fraud Case The case against Lee Farkas , the ex-chairman of Taylor,
Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. and accused mastermind in a $1.9
billion fraud, ended with U.S. prosecutors saying he stole
millions of dollars out of greed and his lawyer saying Farkas is
innocent while others made mistakes. Farkas and the government made final arguments to the jury
yesterday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia . U.S.
District Judge Leonie Brinkema gave the jurors instructions on
the law yesterday and had them begin deliberations on whether
Farkas is guilty of 14 counts of conspiracy and bank, wire and
securities fraud. Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Connolly told the jury that
Farkas used his employees, Taylor Bean and the defunct Colonial
Bank to carry out “one of the largest and longest-running bank
fraud schemes in the country.” “He did it out of greed,” said Connolly, adding that
Farkas took more than $30 million from Taylor Bean for his own
use. “Without TBW, Lee Farkas couldn’t live the lifestyle he
wanted.” Farkas, 58, is charged with orchestrating a fraud involving
fake mortgage assets that duped some of the country’s largest
financial institutions, targeted the federal bank bailout
program and contributed to the failure of Montgomery, Alabama-
based Colonial Bank. If convicted of the single conspiracy charge, Farkas faces
as many as 30 years in prison. Bruce Rogow, one of Farkas’s lawyers, said in his closing
argument that those who pleaded guilty “believed in their heart
of hearts that they didn’t do anything wrong” and were under
pressure from the government to plead. “When you take a look, the only common sense conclusion is
that all of these people were working together, not on a
criminal conspiracy, but working together with Colonial Bank to
have Taylor Bean succeed,” Rogow said. The case is U.S. v. Farkas, 10-cr-00200, U.S. District
Court, Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria). For more, click here. J&J Asks Risperdal Judge for ‘Small Penalty,’ Not ‘Billions’ Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) lawyers urged a South Carolina judge to
impose a “small penalty” after jurors found the company
violated consumer-protection laws, not the “billions of
dollars” sought by the state. The judge heard arguments yesterday over what penalties he
should impose after a state court jury in Spartanburg ruled
March 22 that J&J sent doctors a misleading letter in 2003 on
the safety and effectiveness of its antipsychotic drug
Risperdal. Lawyers for Attorney General Alan Wilson urged Circuit
Judge Roger Couch to impose penalties of $5,000 for each of
hundreds of thousands of violations of the South Carolina Unfair
Trade Practices Act, potentially billions of dollars. J&J said
the state vastly overstated the impact of the violations. “We have a case here where nobody has been deceived and
nobody has been harmed,” attorney Edward Posner argued on
behalf of New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J, in the Court of
Common Pleas. “At most a small penalty should be imposed.” Lawyers representing Wilson, John White and Donald Coggins,
argued J&J should be penalized for the 2003 letter that its
Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit sent to 7,194 doctors
in South Carolina. The letter went to 700,000 doctors across the
U.S. J&J corrected the missive after the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration sent a warning letter saying J&J made false and
misleading claims that minimized the potentially fatal risks of
diabetes and overstated the drug’s superiority to competitors. White and Coggins said J&J should pay $5,000 for each of as
many as 722,000 Risperdal prescriptions written, 183,144 calls
on doctors by J&J sales representatives, and 496,565 sample
boxes distributed. Most of those violations, they argued,
spanned 1998 to 2008. Coggins said they chose not to request a
specific dollar amount, preferring to let Couch decide. The case is State of South Carolina v. Janssen
Pharmaceuticals, 2007-CP-42-1438, Circuit Court for Spartanburg
County, South Carolina (Spartanburg). For more, click here. Winklevoss Twins Seek Again to Re-Open Facebook Settlement Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are seeking review of an April
11 court ruling they lost enforcing a $65 million settlement
with Facebook Inc. over their claims that company founder Mark
Zuckerberg stole the idea for the social networking site. A three-judge appeals court panel in San Francisco erred
when it rejected the Winklevoss brothers’ claims that the 2008
settlement should be voided because it was procured with fraud,
the twins’ attorney said in a court filing yesterday. The
brothers want a rehearing before a larger panel of the U.S.
Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The Winkelvosses, former Harvard University classmates of
Zuckerberg’s, allege that Facebook didn’t disclose an accurate
valuation of its shares before they agreed to the cash and stock
settlement. The appeals court ruled that the accord, now worth
$100 million more than its original amount, barred any future
lawsuits and was “quite favorable” to the twins. Whether the Winklevosses “would be better off financially
keeping the proceeds of the settlement rather than rescinding
and proceeding with their lawsuit against Facebook is a personal
judgment for them not an appellate court to make,” Jerome
Falk, their attorney, said in the court filing. The twins hired Zuckerberg to help build dating website
ConnectU Inc. while they were students at Harvard in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, in 2003. The Winklevosses and a partner, Divya
Narendra, originally accused Zuckerberg in a lawsuit of stealing
their idea and delaying the ConnectU project while secretly
building Facebook. The case is The Facebook Inc. v. ConnectU Inc., 08-16745,
9th U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (San Francisco). For more, click here. U.S. High Court Defers Action on Virginia Health-Care Bid The U.S. Supreme Court deferred taking action on a bid by
Virginia’s attorney general for fast-track consideration of the
state’s challenge to President Barack Obama’s health-care
overhaul. Virginia, one of 27 states that say the measure is
unconstitutional, is urging the justices to take the unusual
step of scheduling arguments without waiting for rulings by the
four appeals courts that are poised to consider the law. The case was on a list of petitions for review the justices
were scheduled to consider at a private conference last week.
The justices resolved most of those cases in a list of orders
released yesterday in Washington . They will release more orders
a week from yesterday. Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli of Virginia said in an
interview last week that the petition was a long shot. He argued
in court papers that the dispute “is of imperative national
importance requiring immediate determination in this court.” The states say Congress overstepped its authority by
requiring Americans to either obtain insurance or pay a penalty. The step sought by Virginia, known as certiorari before
judgment, is one the court has taken only a handful of times,
including its 1974 decision ordering President Richard Nixon to
turn over Oval Office tape recordings and its 1952 ruling
blocking President Harry S Truman from seizing the nation’s
steel mills. The Obama administration argued that the health-care
dispute doesn’t rise to that level of urgency, in part because
the disputed provision doesn’t take effect until 2014. “The constitutionality of the minimum coverage provision
is undoubtedly an issue of great public importance,” acting
U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal argued in court papers.
“This case is not, however, one of the rare cases that
justifies deviation from normal appellate practice and requires
immediate determination in this court.” Another appeals court, based in Cincinnati, will consider
the issue June 1, and a third, based in Atlanta, will hear
arguments June 8 in a case involving the other 26 states
challenging the law. An appeals court in Washington will
consider the matter later this year. The Supreme Court case is Virginia ex rel. Cuccinelli v.
Sebelius, 10-1014. For more, click here. Deutsche Bank Said to Reject $1.1 Billion Kirch Settlement Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) rejected a 775 million-euro ($1.1 billion)
settlement proposed last month by a Munich court that may have
ended a nine-year dispute with Leo Kirch over the collapse of
his media group, two people familiar with the case said. The March 24 proposal by the Munich appeals court was made
a day before Kirch testified in the case, said the people, who
declined to be identified because the negotiations were private.
The bank spurned the offer because the amount was too high, one
of the people said. Kirch has filed suits against the Frankfurt-based bank over
a 2002 Bloomberg television interview by Rolf Breuer , the bank’s
chief executive officer at the time. In the interview, Breuer
said “everything that you can read and hear” is that “the
financial sector isn’t prepared to provide further” loans or
equity to Kirch. Four months later Kirch Holding GmbH filed the
country’s biggest bankruptcy since World War II. The settlement would have ended all the litigation. Kirch
has filed two separate damages suits against the lender and
Breuer seeking a total of 3.3 billion euros. He has also filed
criminal complaints and civil suits challenging votes at
shareholder meetings. The bank and Breuer deny wrongdoing. Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann is scheduled to
testify May 19 at the Munich court in a hearing over one of the
lawsuits, court spokesman Wilhelm Schneider said in an interview
yesterday. The bank’s chairman, Clemens Boersig, and management-
board members Juergen Fitschen and Hermann-Josef Lamberti are
also testifying. The court summoned the men at Deutsche Bank’s
request. In the case, Kirch is seeking 2 billion euros, claiming
Deutsche Bank had a secret plan to cause difficulties for his
media company and then force him to hire the bank to help
restructure the firm. The Munich appeals case is OLG Muenchen, 5 U 2472/09. For more, click here. For the latest trial and appeals news, click here. Verdicts/Settlements Citigroup, Morgan Stanley Cleared in Parmalat Case Citigroup Inc. (C) , Deutsche Bank AG, Morgan Stanley, Bank of
America Corp. (BAC) and bankers at the firms were acquitted by a Milan
court in a market-abuse case relating to the 2003 collapse of
Parmalat Finanziaria SpA, Italy’s biggest dairy company. “The detailed examination of evidence in court brought a
clear view of the facts,” Francesco Isolabella, a lawyer for
Deutsche Bank, said after Judge Gabriella Manfrin read out the
ruling in Milan yesterday. Milan prosecutors had claimed the banks knew Parmalat’s
true financial situation when they sold bonds and carried out
transactions on behalf of the food maker. The company, now
called Parmalat SpA (PLT) , failed in Italy’s biggest bankruptcy and
its founder Calisto Tanzi has been convicted of misleading
investors. Parmalat’s collapse left the maker of juices and
long-life milk with 14 billion euros ($20 billion) in debt,
about eight times the amount reported to investors. The bankers didn’t commit the alleged crimes, the court
ruled. The three judges will publish the reasoning behind
yesterday’s ruling within 90 days. Citigroup, the third-biggest U.S. bank, said in a statement
that the ruling confirms the bank and its employees had no
involvement. Deutsche Bank said its employees acted
professionally and abided by Italian law, according to a
statement. Morgan Stanley (MS) in a statement said the firm was
“pleased” with the court’s decision. Parmalat was brought down by “some of its executives and
some of its auditors,” Bank of America said in a statement. The
ruling confirms that “none of Bank of America’s employees were
aware of Parmalat’s fraud.” For the latest verdict and settlement news, click here. New Suits Investment Funds Allege Banks Conspired to Manipulate Libor Three investment funds accused banks including Bank of
America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) , HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) , Barclays
Bank Plc and Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) of conspiring to manipulate
the London interbank offered rate. The lawsuit was filed April
15 in New York federal court. The banks allegedly sold Libor-based futures, options,
swaps and derivative instruments “at artificial prices that
defendants caused,” thereby harming investors, FTC Capital GmbH
of Vienna, FTC Futures Fund SICAV of Luxembourg and FTC Futures
Fund PCC Ltd. of Gibraltar contend in the complaint. Between 2006 and 2009, the banks “collectively agreed to
artificially suppress the Libor rate and, in early 2008,
‘‘during the most significant financial crisis since the great
depression,’’ the rate remained steady when it ‘‘should have
increased significantly,’’ the funds contend in court papers. Last month a person close to an investigation on possible
Libor manipulation said regulators in the U.S. and U.K. were
cooperating in the probe. The U.S. Justice Department,
Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading
Commission are working together with the U.K.’s Financial
Services Authority on the probe, according to two people
familiar with developments. ‘‘We believe the suit is without merit,’’ said Danielle
Romero-Apsilos, a spokeswoman for Citigroup. Lawrence Grayson, a spokesman for Bank of America, declined
to comment. Deutsche Bank spokesman Ronald Weichert said he couldn’t
immediately comment. Eberhard Roll and Walter Hillebrand-Droste,
spokesmen for defendant WestLB AG in Dusseldorf, weren’t
immediately reachable for a comment. Officials at Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LLOY) and HSBC Holdings Plc
weren’t immediately available to comment. A spokeswoman at
Barclays Plc (BARC) in London declined to comment. Counts in the civil complaint include fraudulent
concealment, violation of the U.S. Commodity Exchange Act,
antitrust violations, and unjust enrichment. Jennifer Zuccarelli , a JPMorgan spokeswoman, declined to
comment. A spokeswoman for Credit Suisse in London declined to
comment. The case is FTC Capital v. Credit Suisse, U.S. District
Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). American Indian Tribe Sues BP for Oil Spill Damages BP Plc (BP/) was sued by the Pointe Au Chien tribe over claims
the Indian group’s ancestral lands and fishing grounds in
southern Louisiana were devastated by the 2010 oil spill. The tribe ‘‘has suffered loss of use of its historical and
cultural lands, including tribal cemeteries, Indian mounds,
shell middens and traditional fisheries,” according to the
complaint, filed in federal court in New Orleans on April 15. “Use of these lands has been lost from April 20, 2010, to
the present,” the complaint alleged, citing the date the
Deepwater Horizon rig blew up while drilling an offshore well
for BP. The tribe said it has an “an aboriginal land title
claim” to the damaged areas. The Pointe Au Chien case is the first oil-spill damages
suit filed by any of Louisiana’s American Indian tribes. BP
faces thousands of claims and more than 350 lawsuits seeking
damages from individuals and businesses harmed by oil that
gushed from its damaged subsea well last year. The Pointe Au Chien tribe numbers roughly 680 members and
isn’t one of four federally recognized tribal nations in
Louisiana, according to its lawyer in the case, Joel Waltzer.
The Pointe Au Chien, which has settled the reedy coastal
marshlands for centuries, are recognized by the state of
Louisiana. The tribe seeks compensation for lost tax revenue and
income, decline in property values, spill cleanup costs,
restoration of its damaged natural resources, and punitive
damages. BP spokesman Daren Beaudo didn’t immediately respond to a
request for comment on the tribe’s lawsuit. The case is In Re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig “Deepwater
Horizon” Local Government Entities, 2:10-cv-09999, U.S.
District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans). For more, click here. For the latest new suits news, click here. For copies of recent
civil complaints, click here. Lawsuits/Pretrial Cameron Says Gulf Blast Wasn’t Caused by Faulty Blowout Device Cameron International Corp. (CAM) said the Deepwater Horizon
explosion wasn’t its fault because oil and gas were already
surging toward the rig when workers tried to activate blowout-
prevention equipment the company made. “Time does not go in reverse,” Cameron said in an April
15 filing in New Orleans federal court. “The simple chronology
of events” detailed in a post-accident report undercuts claims
that Cameron’s blowout preventer, or BOP, malfunctioned and
failed to prevent the explosion, the company said. Cameron, along with BP Plc and other companies involved in
the Deepwater Horizon drilling disaster, faces hundreds of
spill-related lawsuits over personal and economic injuries
caused by the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Eleven
workers were killed by the April 20, 2010, rig explosion. Plaintiffs suing the companies over the spill have claimed
Houston-based Cameron’s BOP wasn’t designed to handle the
extreme environment and thicker drill pipes found in ultra-deep
wells like the one the Deepwater Horizon was drilling for BP in
the Gulf of Mexico . Government forensic examiners who studied the Deepwater
Horizon’s recovered BOP determined that its pincers failed to
completely sever and seal a slightly off-center drill pipe that
got jammed in the preventer by the uncontrolled flow of oil and
gas in the well. Cameron cited findings by a U.S. presidential commission
that investigated the Deepwater Horizon blowout, as well as a
court filing by spill victims, that it says support Cameron’s
claim the BOP didn’t cause the explosion. 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). For more, click here. Apple Asks Judge to Dismiss Case Claiming ITunes Monopoly Apple Inc. (AAPL) asked a federal judge to dismiss a consumer
antitrust lawsuit claiming the company limited choice by linking
iPod music downloading to its iTunes music store. Robert Mittelstaedt, an attorney for the Cupertino,
California-based company, yesterday told U.S. District Judge
James Ware in San Jose, California , that blocking iPod music
downloads that used competitors’ software was intended to
improve downloading quality for iTunes customers. Changes that Apple made in 2004, just days after Internet
music software company RealNetworks Inc. (RNWK) announced a technology
allowing songs from its online store to be played on iPods,
weren’t anticompetitive, he said. “Apple’s view is that iPods work better when consumers use
the iTunes jukebox rather than third party software that can
cause corruption or other problems,” Mittelstaedt said at a
hearing. Apple co-founder and chief executive officer Steve Jobs,
ordered by a separate judge to answer questions in the case, met
with plaintiff attorneys for a deposition on April 12, Bonny
Sweeney, a lawyer representing iTunes customers who sued, said
yesterday. She declined to comment further. Jobs took a medical leave from the company starting Jan.
17. The CEO, who has battled a rare form of cancer, has taken
time off for medical reasons three times in the past seven
years. The case is Apple iPod, iTunes Antitrust Litigation ,
C05-0037JW, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
(San Jose). U.S. Attorney Seeks Dismissal of Madoff Investor’s Claim U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan seeks to dismiss a
claim by an investor in Bernard Madoff’s defunct investment
company to part of a $7.2 billion settlement. U.S. prosecutors and the trustee liquidating Madoff’s firm
settled a suit against the estate of billionaire Jeffry Picower
for $7.2 billion in December. Asking a Manhattan judge to
dismiss the investor’s claim, Bharara said he was seeking a
final order of forfeiture to close the case. The investor holding up closure of the case, Adele Fox, has
no “property interest” in the Picower funds and hasn’t yet
proved her “victimhood,” Bharara said in the April 15 filing
in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. “Her attempt to have the court mandate the allocation of
forfeited funds among victims in advance of that determination
is a naked end-run around” legal limitations, he said in the
filing. Investors seeking to recoup money from the Madoff fraud
unsuccessfully challenged a $220 million settlement between
trustee Irving Picard and the family of Norman F. Levy. A
bankruptcy judge ruled on March 30 that the deal will stand. The main case is Securities Investor Protection Corp. v.
Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, 08-01789, U.S.
Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). Foreclosure Probe Talks Said to Yield Agreements With Banks Attorneys general negotiating a settlement of a 50-state
investigation of foreclosure practices have reached agreements
with lenders on some terms while failing so far to reach an
accord on potential monetary payments by the banks, said a
person familiar with the talks. The probe was triggered by claims of faulty foreclosure
practices following the housing collapse which law enforcement
officials said may violate state law. Significant progress has
been made on a deal with lenders, which include Bank of America
Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., with agreements in principle
reached on several issues, said the person, who didn’t specify
the areas of accord as they may change as talks proceed. It may take at least two months to reach a final agreement,
said the person, who declined to be identified because the talks
are private. An accord remains out of reach because states want
principal reductions for borrowers, which is more than banks
agreed to in deals reached with U.S. regulators last week, said
Allison Schoenthal, a lawyer at Hogan Lovells in New York. “Principal reductions I don’t think are going to be agreed
to by banks, and I don’t think the banks see a need for a
penalty when, in their view, they haven’t done anything wrong,”
said Schoenthal, who represents lenders and servicers and isn’t
involved in the talks. Geoff Greenwood, a spokesman for Iowa Attorney General Tom
Miller, who leads the negotiations for the states, declined to
comment. Dan Frahm , a spokesman for Charlotte, North Carolina-
based Bank of America, and Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for New
York-based JPMorgan, didn’t respond to e-mails seeking comment. For more, click here. For the latest lawsuits news, click here. On the Docket Rambus Antitrust Trial Against Micron, Hynix Set for June 7 A trial over Rambus Inc. (RMBS) ’s antitrust lawsuit against Micron
Technology Inc. (MU) and Hynix Semiconductor Inc. (000660) claiming $4.3
billion in alleged damages was scheduled for June 7. The trial date was posted yesterday on the electronic
docket for the case in state court in San Francisco. Rambus, based in Sunnyvale, California, alleges that Micron
and Hynix artificially inflated the price of Rambus-designed
dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips to drive Rambus
technology out of the computer memory market. Samsung
Electronics Co. agreed to pay $900 million in a settlement that
removed it from the case. A May 2 trial date for a separate patent-infringement
lawsuit by Rambus against Hynix and two other chipmakers in
federal court in San Jose, California, was vacated last month.
The judge in that case said March 25 that the trial should wait
until after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in
Washington has decided related cases. Linda Ashmore, a Rambus spokeswoman, didn’t return a
message seeking comment. The case is Rambus Inc. v. Micron Technology Inc.,
04-431105, Superior Court of California (San Francisco County). To contact the reporter on this story:
Elizabeth Amon in Brooklyn, New York, at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Hytha at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | USDA Montana Spot Grain Closing Prices for April 19 | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/usda-montana-spot-grain-closing-prices-for-april-19-table-.html
| B y M i c h a e l C a r o n e | April 19 (Bloomberg) This table displays the latest daily
spot or bid prices for durum wheat. Prices are in dollars a bushel
Information is supplied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture . *Montana cash prices* US 1 Hard Red Winter Wheat US 1 Durum Ordinary 11 pct 12 pct 13 pct 13pct
Billings Area 6.63-7.84 7.53-8.34 8.26-8.84 8.88-9.14
Golden Triangle 7.04-7.31 7.84-8.11 8.59-8.81 9.29-9.56 8.75
Great Falls Area 7.15-7.33 7.95-8.13 8.70-8.88 9.40-9.58
Northcentral Mt 7.41-7.57 8.11-8.27 8.46-9.02 9.27-9.36
Northeast Mt 6.76-6.96 7.56-7.76 8.25-8.46 8.86-9.06 8.55-9.00
Southeast Mt 6.71-6.96 7.46-7.76 7.61-8.46 7.91-9.06
Southwest Mt na na na na US 1 Dark Northern Spring Wheat US 1 Soft White 13 pct 14 pct 15 pct Wheat
Billings Area 8.70-9.71 10.30-11.51 11.70-13.11
Golden Triangle 8.94-9.21 10.76-11.01 12.36-12.68
Great Falls Area 9.10-9.23 10.90-11.03 12.30-12.62
Northcentral Mt 9.18-9.69 11.18-11.49 12.58-13.09
Northeast Mt 8.49-8.95 10.29-10.75 11.89-12.35
Southeast Mt 8.58-8.74 10.34-10.49 11.34-12.09
Southwest Mt na na na US 1 Malt Barley US 2 Feed US 2 Harr/cwt Barley/cwt Oats/cwt
Billings Area na na na
Golden Triangle 11.00 10.00
Great Falls Area 11.00 10.00
Northcentral Mt nb 9.00
Northeast Mt 11.00 9.75
Southeast Mt na
Southwest Mt na *Prices not necessarily representative of all terminals within MT.
nb û no bid
na û not available Prices are determined by a USDA survey of grain purchasers
with elevators located in seven regions of Montana . Prices are
displayed as a "low-high" range, or as a "single" price
depending upon the degree of consensus among the purchasers. Durum wheat is the hardest wheat. The test weight is at least
60 pounds a bushel. Durum averages 15 percent protein and is
mainly used in the making of pasta. | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Rosneft Plans to Buy Back as Much as $200 Million in Shares | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/rosneft-announces-plan-to-buy-back-200-million-of-own-shares.html
| B y A l e x N i c h o l s o n | OAO Rosneft will buy back as much
as $200 million of its shares in the “coming months,” the
company said in an e-mailed statement today. Rosneft said its RN-Development unit bought $104 million of
shares on April 13. The shares Rosneft is acquiring will probably be used for
its management compensation program, Luis Saenz , the London-
based director of international sales at Otkritie Securities
Ltd., which has a "buy" recommendation on Rosneft stock, said in
an e-mail. Rosneft increased its holding of own shares to 9.5 percent
from 9.4 percent on April 13, it said today in a regulatory
filing. That was a a day before it extended the deadline on a
stalled share swap with BP Plc to May 16. The Moscow-based oil
producer agreed in January to swap 9.5 percent of its stock for
5 percent of BP stock. To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Alexander Nicholson at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Madoff Trustee Says He's Recovered $7.6 Billion, for $175 Million in Fees | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/madoff-trustee-says-he-recovered-7-6-billion-in-losses-not-10-billion.html
| B y L i n d a S a n d l e r | The trustee liquidating Bernard L. Madoff’s defunct investment firm said he has recovered more than
$7.6 billion for investors in the Ponzi scheme against fees of
$175.5 million requested since Madoff’s arrest. Irving Picard , who has filed more than 1,000 suits seeking
money for the con man’s investors, said in February he was
halfway to recovering the $20 billion in principal lost when
Madoff was arrested in 2008. In a court filing April 18, he put
the recovery $2.4 billion lower, at about 44 percent of
principal lost. Most of the difference is the amount of
forfeited funds held by the U.S. Attorney, which has been
disputed in court. Picard gave the new numbers as part of a fee request to a
bankruptcy judge, seeking approval for $43.2 million for four
months’ work by himself and his law firm, Baker & Hostetler LLP.
Amanda Remus, a spokeswoman for Picard, declined to comment. Picard’s biggest recovery was a $7.2 billion settlement he
and U.S. prosecutors reached in December with the estate of
Jeffry Picower, a Madoff investor who died in 2009. Of that
amount, about $5 billion went to Picard, and $2.2 billion to the
U.S., he said in the filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in
Manhattan . Picard said in March he had recovered $2.6 billion for
Madoff customers, with $5 billion to be added from his share of
the Picower settlement as well as the money forfeited to the
government, pending the outcome of court challenges to both
agreements. Unpaid Money “We anticipate that our position will ultimately
prevail,” Picard said. Counting all those amounts, he said he
had recovered “approximately one-half of the monies that we
estimate were stolen in the Madoff fraud and remain unpaid.” Recoveries could rise if Picard’s suits against feeder
funds succeed, the trustee said in March. A settlement with Boston philanthropist Carl Shapiro
brought in $550 million, and a deal with Switzerland ’s Union
Bancaire Privee fetched $470 million. Picard’s law firm said it spent 7,086 hours on
investigations at a cost of $3.1 million from Oct. 1 to Jan. 31.
Administration consumed 7,033 hours, and cost $2.1 million. The
trustee’s case against JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) took 1,971 hours,
while a case against the owners of the New York Mets required
1,660 hours and customer claims took 4,837 hours, according to
the filing. In all, the Madoff case took almost 955 hours of Picard’s
time during the period, charged at $748 an hour, and 116,399
hours of his firm’s time at $371 an hour, according to the
filing. The main case is Securities Investor Protection Corp. v.
Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, 08-ap-1789, U.S.
Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). To contact the reporter on this story:
Linda Sandler in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
John Pickering at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Japan’s Exports Slump a More-Than-Expected 2.2% After March 11 Earthquake | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/japan-s-exports-slump-a-more-than-expected-2-2-after-march-11-earthquake.html
| B y K e i k o U j i k a n e | Japan ’s exports fell more than
economists expected in March as shipments of automobiles tumbled,
declines analysts said may worsen as companies struggle to
restore facilities and output in the wake of a record earthquake. Overseas shipments declined 2.2 percent from a year earlier,
the first drop since November 2009, the Finance Ministry said in
Tokyo today. The median estimate of 19 economists surveyed by
Bloomberg News was for a 1.1 percent drop. Car exports fell 28 percent from a year earlier and
shipments for electronic devices also slid as the disaster
prevented companies from transporting goods. Automakers
including Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. were forced to
reduce production after the March 11 disaster. “We’ll definitely see a deeper drop in exports this month
given that the damage to the supply chain will become more
apparent,” said Yoshiki Shinke , a senior economist at Dai-Ichi
Life Research Institute in Tokyo. “Overseas demand is still
solid but overcoming the supply constraints hinges on how
quickly companies can restore facilities.” The Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average rose for the first time in
four days as investors focused on signs of a rebound in the U.S.
economy , Japan’s second-largest overseas customer, rather than
the trade figures. The Nikkei gained 1.5 percent and the yen
traded at 82.77 per dollar as of 10:13 a.m. in Tokyo. Disaster Damage The earthquake and tsunami killed or left missing more than
27,000 people. The government estimated the damage from the
disaster may swell to as much as 25 trillion yen ($302 billion). Toyota President Akio Toyoda said on April 1 that all
vehicles at Sendai port in the stricken northern region were
swallowed by last month’s tsunami. The catastrophe also damaged
a nuclear plant northeast of Tokyo and disrupted supply chains
and power supply. Honda Motor will need two to three months to
restore its production at Japan auto plants back to normal
levels, Chief Executive Officer Takanobu Ito said on April 8. Reports since the temblor have shown consumer and corporate
sentiment have slumped and economists forecast the economy will
shrink this quarter. The drop in overseas shipments, the driver
of the nation’s expansion, will accelerate, according to
economist Yoshimasa Maruyama . “The year-on-year drop will be a double-digit figure” in
April, said Maruyama, a senior economist at Itochu Corp. in
Tokyo. “The plunge in exports is going to depress the economy
considerably.” ‘Downward Pressure’ Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said on April 11
that the economy will face “strong downward pressure” after
the quake because of a slowdown in corporate output. His board
this month unveiled a 1 trillion yen, one-year loan program to
banks aimed at getting funds to companies hit by the quake. A report yesterday showed consumer confidence fell by the
most since comparable figures were made available in 2007, an
indication that households may start paring back spending
following the earthquake. Prime Minister Naoto Kan plans to unveil what he says may
be the first of multiple supplementary budgets this month. While
Kan has yet to detail how the spending will be paid for, Chief
Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano indicated yesterday the government
may consider using taxes to fund projects. Even if Japan’s economy contracts in the second quarter, it
may start bouncing back from the third quarter, supported by
reconstruction demand and overseas demand, economists say. Today’s report showed shipments to China rose 3.8 percent
despite the disaster, an indication of resilient demand in
Japan’s largest market. Shipments to Europe rose 4.3 percent.
Shipments to the U.S. slid 3.4 percent and those to Asia were
unchanged. “A recovery in production and exports may get underway
faster than a rebound in consumer spending , as long as overseas
demand is strong and supply constraints are resolved,” said
Junko Nishioka , chief Japan economist at RBS in Tokyo . To contact the reporter on this story:
Keiko Ujikane in Tokyo at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Paul Panckhurst at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | U.S. Supreme Court Signals Rejection of State Climate-Emissions Lawsuits | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/u-s-supreme-court-signals-rejection-of-state-climate-emissions-lawsuits.html
| B y G r e g S t o h r a n d W i l l i a m M c Q u i l l e n | The U.S. Supreme Court signaled
skepticism about a lawsuit by six states seeking to force five
companies including American Electric Power Co. to cut their
emissions of the gases that contribute to climate change. Hearing arguments today in Washington, justices across the
ideological spectrum said the Environmental Protection Agency
was better equipped than a federal court to sort through the
costs and benefits of reducing carbon emissions. “Congress set up the EPA to promulgate standards for
emissions,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told the lawyer
representing the six suing states. “The relief you’re seeking
seems to me to set up a district judge, who does not have the
resources, the expertise, as a kind of super EPA.” The Obama administration joined the power industry in
urging rejection of the suit, along with a related one being
pressed by three land trusts. The other defendants include Xcel
Energy Inc. (XEL) , Duke Energy Corp. (DUK) and Southern Co. (SO) , and the
government-owned Tennessee Valley Authority. A ruling against the states would be a boost to companies
beyond the power industry. Trade groups representing automakers,
oil companies , farmers, mining companies, chemical companies and
manufacturers all are urging the court to dismiss the suits, in
some cases saying their members might face similar claims. EPA Rules The states, whose ranks include New York and California ,
sued in 2004, invoking both state and federal law. The Supreme
Court case focuses on the federal law claim. The states say the EPA still hasn’t taken action to reduce
carbon emissions from the plants that are the subject of the
suit. The EPA began regulating greenhouse gases from vehicles
and industrial polluters in January. So far its rules affect
only new and modified plants, not the existing ones targeted by
the states. “There is no federal statute or regulation that currently
regulates the emission of greenhouse gases by existing
unmodified power plants,” said Barbara Underwood, New York’s
solicitor general. She said the suit “rests on the longstanding, fundamental
authority of the states to protect their land, their natural
resources and their citizens from air pollution emitted in other
states.” Without Sotomayor None of the eight justices hearing the case Justice
Sonia Sotomayor isn’t taking part today gave any indication
they agreed with her. Ginsburg said the EPA could reasonably address climate
change “incrementally.” Justice Elena Kagan said regulating
emissions “sounds like the paradigmatic thing that
administrative agencies do rather than courts.” Several justices joined Ginsburg in questioning whether a
trial judge would have the expertise to fashion an order
addressing climate change. “You have to determine how much you want to readjust the
world economy to address global warming, and I think that’s a
pretty big burden to impose on a district judge,” Chief Justice
John Roberts said. The Obama administration and the companies urged the court
to reject the suit on a potentially broader ground that the
states and land trusts lack the legal right, or standing, to
sue. Acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal said the states
can’t show enough of a connection between their interests and
the actions of the five defendants. Potential Victims “There are billions of emitters of greenhouse gases on the
planet and billions of potential victims as well,” Katyal said. The companies’ lawyer, Peter Keisler, said the courts “are
being asked to perform a legislative and regulatory function.” Justice Antonin Scalia pointed to other possible
contributors to global warming including cows, mobile
telephones and people and asked Underwood whether they too
would be subject to climate-change suits. “Suppose you lump together all the cows in the country,”
he said. “Would that allow you to sue all those farmers?” When Underwood responded that courts often consider claims
involving multiple polluters, Scalia then asked whether people
could be sued for emitting carbon dioxide when they breathe. The case marks the Supreme Court’s second foray into the
debate over climate change. In a 2007 case decided 5-4, the
court ordered the EPA to consider regulating greenhouse-gas
emissions. Public Nuisance The states and land trusts contend that carbon emissions
are a “public nuisance,” a legal theory more typically used in
cases of localized pollution. In letting the suits proceed, a
federal appeals court in New York overturned a judge who
concluded the dispute belonged in the political arena, not the
courts. Should the Supreme Court side with the power companies,
states and environmental advocates will press ahead with claims
under state law, said David Doniger, a lawyer at the Natural
Resources Defense Council , which is representing the three land
trusts. He said global warming is “eating away at the coastal
property” and “destroying our snow packs.” The suits are part of a multifaceted battle over climate
change. Opponents including businesses, Republicans and some
Democrats say the EPA’s new carbon emission limits will
destroy jobs and increase electricity bills without any
environmental benefit. The case is American Electric Power v. Connecticut , 10-174. To contact the reporters on this story:
Greg Stohr in Washington at
[email protected] ;
William McQuillen in Washington at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Mark Silva at
[email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | South Africa's Zuma Condemns Police's Killing of Protester, Star Reports | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/south-africa-s-zuma-condemns-police-s-killing-of-protester-star-reports.html
| B y A n t o n y S g u a z z i n | South Africa ’s President Jacob Zuma
condemned the killing of a protestor, Andries Tatane, by police
in the town of Ficksburg, Johannesburg’s Star newspaper
reported. “The fact that they even kill the person, so many of them
beating one person, it indicates a very strange mentality in
terms of the police force,” Zuma said in an interview, the Star
reported. Residents of Ficksburg demonstrated yesterday as six police
officers appeared in court for the killing of the protestor, the
Star said. Tatane’s death was filmed and broadcast on national
television, stoking condemnation from groups incluluding
opposition parties. To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Antony Sguazzin at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Peabody Quarterly Profit Rises 32% on Higher Coal Prices | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/peabody-quarterly-profit-rises-32-on-higher-coal-prices-1-.html
| B y M a r i o P a r k e r | Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) , the largest
U.S. coal producer, said first-quarter profit rose 32 percent on
higher prices for the utility-plant fuel and steelmaking
component. Net income climbed to $176.5 million, or 65 cents a share,
from $133.7 million, or 50 cents, a year earlier, St. Louis-
based Peabody said today in a statement. The company was
expected to earn 61 cents a share, according to the median of
seven analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales rose 15
percent to $1.74 billion from $1.52 billion. Peabody, led by Chief Executive Officer Gregory Boyce, 56,
benefitted from rising metallurgical coal prices and an increase
in shipments. The company’s Australia operations were helped by
higher prices that partly offset the effects of record rains. Metallurgical prices surged 74 percent to $225 a ton from a
year earlier, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “Everyone’s got some impact from the floods, but the flip-
side is that on a year-over-year basis, pricing is still
better,” said Jim Rollyson, an analyst in Houston at Raymond
James Financial Inc. Peabody fell $1.65, or 2.5 percent, to $63.92 yesterday in
New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have
fallen 0.1 percent this year. Metallurgical coal is used to produce steel, while the
thermal form of the fuel is consumed by utilities to generate
electricity. Earnings Forecast Peabody expects to ship between 245 million and 265 million
tons of coal, 28 million to 30 million of which will come from
Australia , and 195 million to 205 million tons from its U.S.
mines, it said. The remainder will come from its trading and
brokerage operation. The company said it encountered “difficult geology” at
its Twentymile operation in Colorado that reduced output and
that it’s working with the U.S. Mine Safety and Health
Administration to develop a new operating plan. “The range of options could lead to significantly reduced
longwall production from the mine in the quarter,” Peabody
said. Second-quarter Ebitda will be in a range of $525 million to
$625 million, and adjusted diluted earnings per share may range
between 85 cents and $1.10, according to the statement. For the full year, Peabody said it expects Ebitda to be
$2.1 billion to $2.5 billion, with adjusted diluted earnings per
share of $3.50 to $4.50. (Peabody scheduled a conference call with analysts and
investors to discuss results at 11 a.m. in New York . To listen,
go to the company’s Web site at http://www.peabodyenergy.com .) To contact the reporters on this story:
Mario Parker in Chicago at
[email protected] ; To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Japan, China, Malaysia, India, Thailand: Asia Bonds and Currency Preview | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/japan-china-malaysia-india-thailand-asia-bonds-and-currency-preview.html
| B y A n d r e a W o n g | The following events and economic
reports may influence trading in Asia ’s bonds and currencies
today. Bond yields and exchange rates are from the previous
trading session unless stated otherwise. Japan: Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano will hold media
briefings at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. in Tokyo . The Ministry of Finance will release at 8:50 a.m. in Tokyo
the merchandise trade balance data for March. The trade surplus
was 645.4 billion yen ($7.8 billion) last month, according to
economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Trade Ministry is forecast to report that Japan’s tertiary
industry advanced 0.1 percent in February from January, when it
gained 2.1 percent, according to the median estimate of
economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The report is due at 8:50
a.m. The yield on the 1.3 percent government bond due March 2021
was 1.24 percent, according to Japan Bond Trading Co., the
nation’s largest interdealer debt broker. The yen traded at
82.59 per dollar as of 6:41 a.m. in Tokyo. Thailand : Exports increased 18 percent in March from a year
earlier, compared with a 31 percent gain in February, according
to a Bloomberg survey of economists before the data due today.
Imports rose 20 percent from a year ago, the slowest pace in
three months, according to another Bloomberg survey before a
report due today. The yield on the 3.125 percent debt due December 2015 was
3.21 percent. The baht was at 30.09. Taiwan: Export orders gained 4.7 percent from a year
earlier last month, the smallest increase since October 2009,
economists forecast in a Bloomberg survey before data due today. The yield on the 1.375 percent bond due March 2021 was 1.36
percent, according to Gretai Securities Market. The Taiwan
dollar was at NT$29.125. Malaysia: Inflation accelerated to 3.1 percent last month
from a year ago, the fastest pace since April 2009, according to
the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg survey before a
report today. The central bank will sell 1 billion ringgit ($330 million)
of 126-day Islamic notes. The yield on the 4.16 percent bond due July 2021 was at
4.09 percent. The ringgit was at 3.0265 per dollar. India : The government will sell a combined 80 billion
rupees ($1.8 billion) of 91- and 364-day bills. The yield on the 7.8 percent bond due May 2020 was 8.08
percent. The rupee was at 44.539 per dollar. China : China Development Bank will sell 10 billion yuan
($1.5 billion) of 10-year bonds and the same amount of 10-year
floaters. The government will sell 30 billion yuan of three-year
bonds. The yield on the 3.83 percent bond due March 2021 was 3.87
percent, according to Chinabond, the nation’s biggest debt-
clearing house. The yuan was at 6.5305. To contact the reporter on this story:
Andrea Wong in Taipei at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Sandy Hendry at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Halliburton, Cameron Unlikely to Face Spill Fines, Moody’s Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/halliburton-cameron-unlikely-to-face-spill-fines-moody-s-says.html
| B y B r i a n S w i n t | Halliburton Co. (HAL) and Cameron
International Corp. (CAM) , which provided cement work and equipment
involved in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, are less likely to
face fines than other companies, Moody’s Investors Service said. BP Plc (BP/) and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) , stake-owners in the
blown-out Macondo well, as well as Transocean Ltd. (RIG) , which owned
the drilling rig, may face “severe monetary penalties,” the
ratings agency said today in a report. The legal cases
surrounding the spill will last at least another year, it said. The credit implications from the spill are still
“uncertain” a year after the explosion on the Deepwater
Horizon rig killed 11 workers and started the worst U.S. spill,
Moody’s said. BP, the operator of the well, has provisioned $41
billion for the spill and has yet to receive payment from its
partners for clean-up costs. “Authorities have yet to determine and apportion blame or
impose legal and financial penalties,” said Steven Wood ,
managing director for oil and gas at Moody’s. “Our analysis
suggests that the accident may result in financial penalties of
between $40 and $60 billion.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Brian Swint in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Will Kennedy at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Euro Rises Versus Yen on Rate Bets Before Germany's Producer-Price Report | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/euro-rises-versus-yen-on-rate-bets-before-germany-s-producer-price-report.html
| B y N a o t o H o s o d a | The euro gained verus the yen
before data forecast to show German producer prices rose,
fueling speculation the European Central Bank will raise
interest rates. The euro advanced to 118.72 yen at 8:37 a.m. in
Tokyo from 118.39 in New York yesterday. To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Naoto Hosoda at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Crude Oil Advances as Speculation on ECB Rate Increase Weakens Dollar | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/oil-falls-for-a-second-day-as-economic-outlook-prompts-fuel-demand-concern.html
| B y M a r g o t H a b i b y | Oil increased for the fourth time
in five days as speculation that the European Central Bank will
further raise interest rates strengthened the euro against the
dollar, boosting commodities’ appeal as an alternate investment. Oil rose 1 percent as the dollar tumbled a day after S&P
Ratings Service cut the nation’s long-term credit outlook to
negative. The Energy Department will probably report tomorrow
that U.S. oil supplies jumped for a seventh week. Crude and
equities fell yesterday on the ratings cut and after Saudi
Arabia said the market was oversupplied. “We’re seeing a bit of a rebound on the weaker dollar and
a little bit of confidence because the stock market isn’t
falling apart and because of the ongoing risk in the Middle
East, which is still strong,” said Phil Flynn , vice president
of research at PFGBest in Chicago . Crude oil for May delivery gained $1.03 to settle at
$108.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange . Futures
have risen 33 percent in the past year. The May contract expired
at the close of Nymex floor trading. The more actively traded
June futures rose 59 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $108.28. June prices were little changed from the settlement after
the American Petroleum Institute reported at 4:30 p.m. that U.S.
crude-oil stockpiles increased 667,000 barrels to 356.1 million.
June oil rose 64 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $108.33 a barrel in
electronic trading at 4:33 p.m. ’Fishing for Stops’ Prices extended their advance after the June contract broke
through $108 and $108.20 a barrel, said Carl Larry, president of
Oil Outlook & Opinions LLC in Houston. The market is “just fishing for stops,” he said,
referring to standing orders to buy or sell when a specified
price is reached. Oil is volatile because of expiration and
since many traders are off for Passover or before Easter, he
said. “It’s weeks like this when people can go ahead and fish
for levels to trigger more buying and more selling.” ECB governing council member Nout Wellink said in Toronto
late yesterday that the central bank’s April 7 interest-rate
increase sent an “extremely important” signal to investors
aimed at preventing expectations of higher inflation. The dollar fell 0.8 percent to $1.4343 per euro at 3:25
p.m. in New York. It reached $1.452 in intraday trading on April
12 and April 13, the lowest levels since January 2010. Standard & Poor’s said yesterday that the U.S. government
may lose its AAA credit rating unless policy makers agree on a
plan to cut budget deficits and the national debt. Equities Edge Up U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said the
administration and Congress need to work together over the
“next couple months” to agree on a framework for cutting
budget deficits with “enforceable limits” on accumulating
debt. He told Bloomberg Television there is an emerging
consensus on “how much we have to do.” The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.6 percent to
1,312.62. The benchmark gauge for American equities dropped 1.1
percent yesterday, the most since March 16, on the S&P ratings
cut. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 65.16 points, or 0.5
percent, to 12,266.75. The foreign minister of Bahrain, an island nation off the
eastern coast of Saudi Arabia , said today that troops from
Persian Gulf countries will remain in Bahrain as a counter to
Iran. The country declared a three-month state of emergency
March 15 after troops from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states
arrived to help quell protests led by majority Shiite Muslims. “They are there for a mission protecting our vital
institutions against foreign threat,” Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed
Al-Khalifa told reporters yesterday in Dubai. His remarks about
the troops staying were made in a posting on Twitter. Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil exporter. Reversing Early Decline Earlier, oil tumbled 1.5 percent amid signals that prices
at their highest levels since 2008 may hurt fuel demand. OPEC Secretary General Abdalla el-Badri said there is “no
shortage of oil anywhere in the world,” even after supply
curtailments in Libya . Iran ’s OPEC Governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi
said the group is unlikely to alter output targets when it meets
in June. “The bears appear to have been checked after a big day
yesterday,” said Peter Beutel , president of Cameron Hanover
Inc., an energy-advisory company in New Canaan , Connecticut .
“If we get a big crude oil drop tomorrow that could give the
bears some leverage to move the market yet lower.” U.S. oil inventories increased 1.3 million barrels in the
seven days ended April 15 from 359.3 million a week earlier,
according to the median of 13 analyst estimates before an Energy
Department report tomorrow. Brent crude oil for June settlement slipped 28 cents, or
0.2 percent, to $121.33 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe
exchange in London . Oil volume in electronic trading on the Nymex was 517,320
contracts as of 4:38 p.m. in New York . Volume totaled 574,331
contracts yesterday, 27 percent below the average of the past
three months. Open interest was 1.55 million contracts. To contact the reporter on this story:
Margot Habiby in Dallas at [email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Bill Banker at [email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Fire Forces 1,500 Tourists Out of Sagrada Familia, Pais Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/fire-forces-1-500-tourists-out-of-sagrada-familia-pais-says.html
| B y M a n u e l B a i g o r r i | A fire at the crypt of Barcelona’s
Sagrada Familia church prompted the evacuation of 1,500 tourists
today, El Pais reported. A man started the fire in the sacristy of the crypt,
forcing the tourists out of the church designed by Catalan
architect Antoni Gaudi, the newspaper said. No one was injured,
according to the report. To contact the reporter on this story:
Manuel Baigorri in Madrid at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Angela Cullen at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | U.S. FAA Suspends Two Controllers Over Movie-Watching, WSJ Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/u-s-faa-suspends-two-controllers-over-movie-watching-wsj-says.html
| B y C h r i s P e t e r s o n | The U.S. Federal Aviation
Administration suspended an air traffic controller and his
supervisor after the controller broke contact with aircraft by
inadvertently playing the soundtrack of a movie he was watching
while on duty, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing the FAA. The controller, based in Cleveland, was using a portable
DVD player to watch the film and the soundtrack went out over
the airwaves after he mistakenly activated his microphone,
blocking radio transmissions from aircraft on his frequency for
more than two minutes, the newspaper reported. To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Chris Peterson at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Data Theft From Computer Security Breaches Declines, Report Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/data-theft-from-computer-security-breaches-declines-report-says.html
| B y C o r n e l i u s R a h n | The number of compromised data
records in computer security breaches declined last year as
thieves shifted their sights to smaller, non-financial
businesses, according to a report by Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) The research, conducted with the U.S. Secret Service and
the Dutch National High Tech Crime unit, analyzed 761 security
breaches and found 4 million accessed data records, Wade Baker,
director of risk intelligence at Verizon Communications, said in
an interview. That compares with 144 million compromised data
records stemming from 141 examined data breaches in 2009. The report showed a higher proportion of breaches affecting
hotels, restaurants and retailers, with the highest number at
enterprises employing 100 workers or fewer. A reason may be that
many smaller companies don’t have the resources to defend
themselves and can often be hit by non-selective, broad attacks,
Baker said. “The huge reduction in the amount of data stolen doesn’t
mean a green light for the financial sector, because it’s still
a targeted industry,” Baker said. “Nothing that I’ve seen
tells me that financials have done so much that they’re now
immune. It’s less that than a case of the criminals changing
direction.” Cybercrime costs large U.S. companies an average of $3.8
million each annually, and about 9 million Americans have their
identities stolen each year, a group of U.S. senators said Jan.
26 after introducing a bill aimed at tightening Web security. Last year, a Miami computer hacker was sentenced to 20
years in prison for leading the largest U.S. identity-theft
ring, stealing 130 million credit- and debit-card records from
Heartland Payment Systems Inc. (HPY) and other companies. Low-Risk Targets “If you look at the largest breaches in recent years, the
perpetrators are in jail or on the run now,” said Baker, who’s
based in Ashburn, Virginia. “Key arrests of the kingpins may
have taken some skill out of the scene, and could have acted as
a deterrent and made the rest of the community shift to more
low-risk targets.” The report, which was released today and mostly captured
security breaches in the U.S. and in Europe , showed the highest
incidence of records compromised in 2008, when 361 million
pieces of data were compromised. Verizon, the second-largest
U.S. phone company, used data captured by security services that
it provides to third parties. A separate report by TrustWave Corp. said that 57 percent
of evaluated breaches affected the food and beverage industry in
2010, with retail and hospitality following at 18 percent and 10
percent respectively. About 85 percent of data compromised
related to payment cards, according to that study, with
sensitive company data and trade secrets following in second and
third places with 8 percent and 3 percent. Fraud Schemes The U.S. Justice Department said April 14 that it disabled
a “massive fraud scheme” that infected more than 2 million
computers worldwide with malicious software called Coreflood.
The program gathers passwords and financial information that was
used by criminals, spreading from one vulnerable computer to
another and creating a so-called botnet. In a case of targeting governments, WikiLeaks.org last year
released 75,000 records from the Afghan war, 400,000 Army field
reports from Iraq and 250,000 cables from U.S. embassies around
the world. The website, whose stated goal is to make government
more open, prompted the Pentagon and the U.S. State Department
to reduce internal information sharing. To contact the reporter on this story:
Cornelius Rahn in Frankfurt at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Kenneth Wong in Berlin at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Gold Futures Top $1,500 on Outlook for Escalating U.S. Debt, Dollar Slump | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/gold-futures-top-1-500-on-outlook-for-escalating-u-s-debt-dollar-slump.html
| B y P h a m - D u y N g u y e n | Gold futures rose to a record
$1,500.50 an ounce as U.S. debt concerns weighed on the dollar,
boosting demand for the precious metal as an alternative
investment. Silver surged to a 1980 high. The greenback dropped against the euro on speculation that
the European Central Bank will continue to raise borrowing costs
as some nations struggle to contain sovereign debt. Standard &
Poor’s yesterday revised its long-term outlook on U.S. debt to
negative from stable. Gold has climbed 32 percent in the past
year, and silver prices have more than doubled. “The U.S. credit rating will undoubtedly be lowered in
the next few years,” said Michael Pento , a senior economist at
Euro Pacific Capital in New York. “This will mean much higher
borrowing costs and a much lower currency. International
investors have been using gold and silver as an alternative
currency and an alternative to the dollar, and this will only
exacerbate and accelerate that process.” Gold futures for June delivery rose $2.20, or 0.1 percent,
to settle at $1,495.10 at 1:38 p.m. on the Comex in New York .
Earlier, the price climbed as much as 0.5 percent to the record. Gold for immediately delivery rose $1.97 to $1,497.27 at
3:49 p.m. New York time. Earlier, the price gained as much as
0.3 percent to an all-time high of $1,499.32. Silver Climbs Silver climbed as much as 2.8 percent to $44.175 in after-
hours trading. The most-active contract settled up 95.7 cents,
or 2.2 percent, to close at $43.913 an ounce. “Silver is like gold on steroids,” said Jon Nadler, an
analyst at Kitco Inc. in Montreal . Euro Pacific’s Pento, who correctly predicted gold’s rally
in the past three years, said the metal will reach $1,600 in
2011. The commodity has gained every year since 2001 on
increased investment demand for raw materials. “The bullish trend becomes pronounced as more and more
people get out of the dollar to buy hard assets,” said Lim Chae
Myung, a Seoul-based trader with Hyundai Futures Co. The Treasury Department projected that the government may
reach the $14.3 trillion debt-ceiling limit as soon as mid-May
and run out of options for avoiding default by early July. The Federal Reserve has kept its benchmark interest rate at
zero percent to 0.25 percent since December 2008 and has pledged
to buy $600 billion in Treasuries through June to stimulate
growth. The ECB this month raised its main rate to 1.25 percent
from a record 1 percent to stem inflation. The Fed probably won’t risk damping economic growth by
raising borrowing costs rapidly, Pento said. S&P changed its long-term rating, citing “material risk”
that policy makers won’t reach an accord on “medium- and long-
term budgetary challenges.” “There certainly has always been that lingering concern
over U.S. debt and the S&P people are finally identifying the
threat,” said Stephen Platt, an analyst at Archer Financial in
Chicago . “The world is awash in liquidity. Gold’s slow,
grinding action upward shows the deterioration in the dollar,
excess liquidity and deficit problems are still in force.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Pham-Duy Nguyen in Seattle at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Steve Stroth at
[email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Goldman Sachs First-Quarter Profit Tops Analysts’ Estimates | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/goldman-sachs-net-income-beats-analysts-estimates-on-trading-revenue.html
| B y C h r i s t i n e H a r p e r | Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) , the
fifth-biggest U.S. bank , posted a 21 percent drop in first-
quarter profit, a smaller decline than analysts estimated, as
fixed-income trading revenue more than doubled from a weak
fourth quarter. Net income fell to $2.74 billion from $3.46 billion a year
earlier, the New York-based firm said today in a statement.
Earnings per share, which includes the cost of preferred
dividend payments to Warren Buffett ’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.,
dropped to $1.56 from $5.59. The average estimate of 16 analysts
surveyed by Bloomberg was for 81 cents. Under Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lloyd C. Blankfein, 56, Goldman Sachs has relied on fixed-income,
currencies and commodities trading for the biggest piece of its
revenue. After reaching a record in 2009, earnings failed to
attain their year-earlier mark in the last four quarters as
competition and regulation increased. Wall Street’s fixed-income
trading revenue in the fourth quarter dropped to the lowest
level since the financial crisis. “Trading was good this quarter, not bad,” Brad Hintz, an
analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. who recommends buying
Goldman Sachs shares, said before the earnings were reported.
“There’s been a lot of concern in the marketplace about whether
what we saw in the fourth quarter was an early warning of a
continuing slowdown in fixed income.” Share Performance Goldman Sachs rose to $155.80 at 8:15 a.m. in New York
trading, from $153.78 at the close yesterday. The stock has
performed worse this year than rivals including New York-based
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Morgan Stanley (MS) and Zurich-based Credit
Suisse Group AG. (CSGN) Net revenue fell 7 percent to $11.9 billion, the statement
showed. Compared with last year’s fourth quarter, revenue
increased 38 percent. Annualized return on average common
shareholders’ equity , a measure of how well the firm reinvests
earnings, decreased to 12.2 percent from 20.1 percent in the
first quarter of 2010. First-quarter revenue from trading fixed-income, currencies
and commodities dropped 28 percent to $4.33 billion from $6.02
billion a year earlier, and jumped 164 percent from $1.64
billion in the fourth quarter. “Looking ahead, we continue to see encouraging indications
for economic activity globally,” Blankfein said in the
statement. JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan, the second-biggest U.S. bank by assets, reported
last week that its fixed-income trading revenue fell 4 percent
to $5.24 billion from a year earlier, and was up 82 percent from
the fourth quarter. Equities-trading revenue at Goldman Sachs fell 7 percent to
$2.32 billion from $2.49 billion a year earlier and was up from
$2 billion in the fourth quarter. Revenue from investing and lending, the firm’s second-
biggest segment after trading last year, climbed 37 percent to
$2.71 billion from $1.97 billion a year earlier and compared
with $1.99 billion in the fourth quarter. Investing and lending
includes Goldman Sachs’s holding in Industrial & Commercial Bank
of China (1398) Ltd. as well as stakes in companies and other assets
held by units like the Special Situations Group or Principal
Investment Area . Compensation and benefits, the company’s largest expense,
fell 5 percent to $5.23 billion from $5.49 billion a year
earlier and accounted for 44 percent of revenue. Litton Business Non-compensation expenses rose 23 percent to $2.62 billion,
driven in part by an impairment charge of about $220 million on
assets held for sale, the firm said. The primary cost related to
the firm’s Litton Loan Servicing LP unit, a residential
mortgage-servicing company that the firm has said it is trying
to sell. Investment-banking revenue increased 5 percent to
$1.27 billion from $1.2 billion. Advisory revenue, which
includes fees for takeover advice, declined 23 percent to $357
million from $464 million a year earlier, while fees from debt
underwriting climbed 32 percent to $486 million and equity
underwriting revenue advanced 15 percent to $426 million. The firm ranks third this year among advisers on announced
mergers, down from the top spot at the same point last year,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Goldman Sachs tops underwriters of equity and equity-linked
offerings globally so far this year and is fifth among managers
of high-yield debt sales worldwide, up from seventh at the same
point last year, Bloomberg data show. Backlog Grows Goldman Sachs’s backlog of investment-banking transactions
increased compared with the end of 2010, the company said. Revenue from investment management rose 16 percent to $1.27
billion from $1.1 billion a year earlier. Assets under
management were unchanged at $840 billion. Blankfein, who is approaching his fifth anniversary as
Goldman Sachs’s chairman and CEO, is grappling with new capital
requirements drawn up by the Basel Committee on Banking
Supervision along with limits on the firm’s proprietary trading
and investments in hedge funds and private-equity funds imposed
by the U.S.’s Dodd-Frank financial-overhaul law. In a filing on March 1, Goldman Sachs estimated its
“reasonably possible” losses from legal claims could reach
$3.4 billion as the firm faces suits related to its activities
before, during and after the financial crisis. Last week, Senator Carl M. Levin, the Michigan Democrat who
leads the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, issued a
report based on two years of investigation into the financial
crisis and accused Goldman Sachs of misleading clients and
Congress. Goldman Sachs has denied that it misled anyone. To contact the reporter on this story:
Christine Harper in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Scheer at [email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Basci Says Price, Financial Stability Remain Turkish Goals | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/basci-says-price-financial-stability-remain-turkish-goals-1-.html
| B y A l i B e r a t M e r i c a n d S t e v e B r y a n t | Erdem Basci, Turkey ’s new central
bank governor, said he shared the goals of securing price and
financial stability with his predecessor. “Your vision is our vision,” Basci told outgoing Governor
Durmus Yilmaz during a handover ceremony today in Ankara. Basci
said he aimed to make the bank a leading monetary authority
globally. Basci, a 44-year-old school friend of Deputy Prime
Minister Ali Babacan , is trying to arrest a boom in lending and
domestic demand without increases in the benchmark interest
rate, which the central bank has held steady since cutting it to
a record low of 6.25 percent in January. Bank lending is fueling
demand for imports, which may push the current-account deficit
to 8 percent of economic output this year, according to an
International Monetary Fund estimate. Central bank governors are appointed by governments and
need to “do our work without letting gratitude turn to
subservience,” Yilmaz said at the ceremony. “Otherwise we
damage the aims of those who appointed us.” The bank’s rate-setting committee meets under Basci on
April 21 and is likely to keep the benchmark one-week repo rate
unchanged, according to all 11 economists in a Bloomberg survey. To slow loan growth, the bank has increased the reserve
requirements banks must set aside against their liabilities to
as much as 15 percent from 6 percent for short-term deposits. It
has also stopped paying interest on the reserves to banks. The policy is starting to work, Basci said last week in
Washington , according to a paper posted on the bank’s website at
the weekend. To contact the reporters on this story:
Steve Bryant in Ankara at
[email protected] ;
Ali Berat Meric in Ankara at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrew J. Barden at
[email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Belle Delays Opening of Manila Casino to Second Quarter 2012, Ocier Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/belle-delays-opening-of-manila-casino-to-second-quarter-2012-ocier-says.html
| B y I a n S a y s o n | Belle Corp. (BEL) has delayed the opening
of its casino in Manila because it decided to increase the
gaming center’s floor area by 35 percent and to build more
facilities, Vice Chairman Willy Ocier said. “We decided to upgrade our plans in light of positive
performance levels” of casinos in Singapore and “its tourism
industry,” Ocier said in a mobile phone text message. The new
target is the second quarter of 2012 instead of the fourth
quarter this year, he said. Belle shares fell 1.4 percent to 5.52 pesos, set for the
lowest close since April 5. Leisure & Resorts World Corp. (LR) , which
will operate the casino, decreased 1.8 percent to 10.82 pesos,
bound for the lowest close since April 8. The delay in the opening of the casino was reported earlier
by BusinessWorld, ManilaStandardToday and BusinessMirror. To contact the reporter on this story:
Ian Sayson in Manila at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reinie Booysen at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Indonesia May Increase Wheat Imports, Cut Corn, USDA Agency Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/indonesia-may-increase-wheat-imports-cut-corn-usda-agency-says.html
| B y J e f f W i l s o n | Indonesia may increase wheat
imports to 6.3 million metric tons in the year that begins July
1, up from an estimated 5.9 million this season, a unit of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a report today. Corn imports may fall to 1.5 million tons in the year that
begins Oct. 1, down from an estimated 2.5 million a year
earlier, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said in a
report. To contact the reporter on this story:
Jeff Wilson in Chicago at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Steve Stroth at [email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Japanese Consumer Confidence Plunges on Record Earthquake | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/japanese-consumer-confidence-plunges-on-record-earthquake-1-.html
| B y A k i I t o a n d T o r u F u j i o k a | Japan’s consumer confidence tumbled
last month after a record earthquake, adding to signs the
world’s third-largest economy may contract this quarter. The household sentiment index dropped to 38.6 in March from
41.2 in February, according to seasonally adjusted figures
released by the Cabinet Office today in Tokyo. Retailers including Seven & I Holdings Co. forecast a slump
in profits as the nation reels in the aftermath of the
magnitude-9 temblor and tsunami, which crimped power supply and
led to a nuclear crisis on par with Chernobyl. The risk is that
a slump in sentiment precipitates a “downward spiral” where
spending cuts weigh on the economy, in turn reducing incomes and
jobs, according to economist David Rea. “It is important not to overlook the intangible effects of
the disaster on ‘animal spirits,’” Rea, Japan economist at
Capital Economics Ltd. in London , said before the report. “The
bias towards austerity will not lift any time soon.” Today’s report echoes the result of the merchant sentiment
report from April 8, which showed confidence slumped at the
fastest pace on record since the Cabinet Office began that
survey in 2000. Seven & I, owner of the 7-Eleven convenience-store brand,
said net income may drop 22 percent because of the March 11
temblor. Fast Retailing Co., Asia ’s biggest apparel chain, said
sales at its Uniqlo stores in Japan fell 12 percent last month. Respect for Victims Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Kaoru Yosano urged
households outside the disaster regions to return to their
normal lives, warning that cutting back out of respect for the
quake’s victims would damage the economy. That reluctance to spend, in addition to supply disruptions
that may crimp exports, is prompting economists to downgrade
their projections for Japanese gross domestic product. The
economy may shrink at an annual 3 percent pace in the three
months ending June, according to the median estimate of 18
analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. The Cabinet Office today started releasing monthly
seasonally adjusted figures for the confidence index. Previously,
adjusted figures were provided only every quarter. To contact the reporter on this story:
Aki Ito in Tokyo at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Paul Panckhurst at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Acer Names Jim Wong as President to Replace Lanci Who Quit | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/acer-names-jim-wong-as-president-to-replace-lanci-who-quit-1-.html
| B y J a n e t O n g | Acer Inc. (2353) appointed Jim Wong as
president with immediate effect, replacing Gianfranco Lanci, who
quit as chief executive officer and president last month after
clashing with board members over the company’s strategy. The 52-year-old Wong, who headed the company’s information
technology products division, will also lead a new group that
includes the tablet personal computer and smartphone teams, the
company said in an e-mailed statement. Chairman J.T. Wang will
continue as CEO. Lanci resigned on March 31, less than a week after the
world’s second-largest notebook maker lowered its sales forecast
that led to a four-day, 18 percent rout of the stock. The
Taipei-based company said today it estimates PC shipments to
decline 10 percent in the second quarter from the previous three
months because of the company’s reorganization, inventory
adjustment and a seasonal slowdown in the PC industry. “The IT industry is encountering a profound change,”
Wong, who joined Acer in 1986 at the company’s Latin American
region’s sales division, said in the statement. “We are ready
with a clear set of goals and action plans,” said the
executive, who was president of the company’s IT Products Global
Operations from 2001. As part of the reshuffle, Campbell Kan, former vice
president of the company’s smart handheld business, will lead a
new group that includes the main PC products business. Acer’s shares have slumped 42 percent this year on the
Taiwan Stock Exchange , compared with a 3.7 percent decline in
the benchmark Taiex index. “A shipment decline is bad news,” said Calvin Lu, an
analyst at Mega Securities Co. in Taipei, who has a “neutral”
rating on the shares. “It’s a tough time for Acer now, and the
stock will see more correction in the near future.” The operating margin for the current quarter is expected to
be similar to the first quarter, Acer said today. To contact the reporters on this story:
Janet Ong at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Young-Sam Cho at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | U.K. Coal Slumps Most Since July After Reporting Third Loss | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/u-k-coal-slumps-most-since-july-after-reporting-third-loss.html
| B y A m a n d a J o r d a n | U.K. Coal Plc, Britain’s biggest
producer of the fuel, fell the most in nine months in London
trading after reporting a third full-year loss in a row. U.K. Coal slumped 11 percent, the most since July 19, to
34.5 pence at the 4:30 p.m. close of trade. The stock led
declines in the 624-company FTSE All-Share Index. (ASX) The net loss for the year ended Dec. 25 came to 125.1
million pounds, compared with a year-earlier loss of 127.5
million pounds, Doncaster, England-based U.K. Coal said today in
a statement. “The board is in the course of a strategic recovery review
to tackle the deep-rooted problems in U.K. Coal,” Chairman
Jonson Cox said in the statement. “Success for U.K. Coal will
need difficult changes.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Amanda Jordan in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Amanda Jordan at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Farmers Get Rich as Wheat Drives Deere Profits: Freight Markets | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/farmers-get-rich-as-wheat-trade-gives-deere-record-profit-freight-markets.html
| B y W h i t n e y M c F e r r o n | The biggest U.S. wheat shipments in
a generation mean record income for farmers, the most profit
ever for Deere & Co. (DE) and the nation’s lowest jobless rate in
North Dakota, the largest grower. The U.S. will control 28 percent of global wheat exports
this year, up from 18 percent in 2010, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture says. With prices averaging about $8 a bushel this
quarter and the next, the most in three years, farms will earn
$94.7 billion, according to analysts’ forecasts compiled by
Bloomberg and a USDA estimate. North Dakota’s jobless rate was
3.6 percent in March, compared with 8.8 percent nationally. The surge in income is spurring lawmakers to propose farm-
subsidy cuts and aiding President Barack Obama in his goal of
doubling exports in five years. It also means Deere, the largest
farm-equipment maker, will report a 42 percent rise in profit
this year, and Monsanto Co. (MON) , the biggest seed producer, will
earn 38 percent more. Shipping lines may benefit the least
because the U.S. is replacing lost supply from Russia and
Ukraine, and global exports will drop 8.6 percent in 2011, the
USDA says. “We’re the supplier of last resort,” said Jerry Fruin, an
agricultural economist at the University of Minnesota in St.
Paul, specializing in logistics. “The U.S. generally has stuff
in the bins, and we have the logistics system to get it to you,
since we face both oceans.” Wheat rose 71 percent in the past 12 months to $8.21 on the
Chicago Board of Trade, as flooding from Canada to Australia
last year hurt crops. Russia , once the second-biggest exporter,
banned shipments in August and Ukraine followed with curbs in
October. That gave the U.S. an opportunity to expand in markets
across northern Africa and the Middle East, traditional buyers
of grain from the Black Sea region. Middle East Protests U.S. shipments to Egypt , the world’s biggest wheat buyer,
reached 3.27 million metric tons in the marketing year that
began in June, seven times more than a year earlier, USDA data
show. Countries including Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia , Oman,
Libya and Syria have purchased U.S. wheat this year, after
buying none at the same time last year, the data show. Buyers in the Middle East and northern Africa accelerated
purchases this year to bolster stockpiles and damp prices that
contributed to protests across the region. “Russia has hurt its image of reliability as a supplier,”
said Dan Manternach, a wheat economist with Doane Advisory
Services, an agricultural research company in St. Louis. “The
countries that had been dependent on Black Sea-region wheat will
no longer allow themselves to stay dependent, so they’ll
diversify sources. Even if Russia has a monster crop this year,
I expect we’ll lose some market share, but not all of it.” Ban on Sales The U.S. will ship 34.7 million tons of wheat in the crop
year ending May 31, compared with almost 24 million tons a year
earlier and the most since 1993, USDA estimates show. Russian
exports slumped to 4 million tons, from 18.6 million tons, and
the government said March 25 it would maintain the ban on sales
until after the harvest that begins in September. That means more opportunities for U.S. growers. Agriculture
accounted for 8.3 percent of North Dakota ’s economy in 2009,
more than any other state, the most recent government data show.
Agriculture employs more than 29,000 people, compared with about
7,000 in natural resources such as oil and gas production,
according to the state Commerce Department. Wheat generated almost $7 billion for North Dakota last
year, according to Erica Olson, a marketing specialist with the
Bismarck-based North Dakota Wheat Commission. About half of the
state’s wheat crop is exported, with 25 percent of that going by
rail to ports in the Pacific Northwest, where it’s loaded onto
vessels bound mostly for Asia , she said. Equipment Dealers “The farm economy has been strong, and equipment dealers
are having a good year because producers are updating
equipment,” said Harlan Klein, who farms 15,000 acres of wheat,
canola, sunflowers and corn in Elgin, North Dakota. “Probably
the biggest place we’re seeing competition is in labor. It’s to
the point where it’s difficult to find people to work.” Cargill, the Minneapolis-based grain exporter that’s the
largest closely held U.S. company, reported a 30 percent jump in
third-quarter profit April 13. Deere, based in Moline, Illinois ,
will report record earnings of $6.21 a share in its fiscal year
ending in October, compared with $4.35 a year earlier, according
to the mean of 10 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Monsanto, based in St. Louis, will make $2.83 a share in the
year ending in August, up from $2.01, the mean of six estimates
shows. Growing profit for agricultural producers contrasts with
slumping earnings for the shippers companies that haul the
wheat. Grains are most commonly carried on panamaxes, the
largest vessels able to transit the Panama Canal. Daily Rates Returns on the carriers fell 21 percent this year to
$11,666 a day because of a glut of vessels, according to data
from the Baltic Exchange in London , which publishes daily rates
for more than 50 maritime routes. Rates are volatile, moving 34
percent or more in 10 of the last 11 years. The surge in U.S. wheat exports “helps a bit, but if you
look into what’s driving the bus, it’s iron ore , then coal,”
said Steve Rodley, co-managing director of M2M Management Ltd.,
a hedge fund that operates vessels and trades freight
derivatives used to bet on or hedge future transport costs. Global grain and soybean shipments will advance 3.5 percent
to a record 355 million tons this year, according to Clarkson
Plc (CKN) , the world’s largest shipbroker. Iron-ore cargoes will rise
7.4 percent to 1.06 billion tons, with coal gaining 6 percent to
954 million tons, the London-based company estimates. About 90
percent of global trade moves by sea, according to the Round
Table of International Shipping Associations. Shipping Shares The 12-member Bloomberg Dry Ships Index, in which Seoul-
based STX Pan Ocean Co. has the biggest weighting, fell 9.8
percent this year. That compares with a 6.6 percent advance in
the Bloomberg World Agriculture Index of 32 companies. Almost 40 percent of last year’s U.S. wheat shipments moved
through ports on the Columbia River, including the Port of
Portland , Oregon , which handled the most grain since 1995, USDA
data show. The Port of South Louisiana, located in LaPlace,
ships grains and soybeans carried from the Midwest on the
Mississippi River. In North Dakota, the state government is forecasting a $122
million budget surplus for the two-year cycle ending in June,
more than the $79.6 million anticipated in November. The
Congressional Budget Office is projecting a federal budget
deficit of $1.5 trillion for this year. Higher commodity prices “really extend all throughout the
state,” said the North Dakota Wheat Commission’s Olson. “The
local elevator companies work directly with exports, so the
increase is beneficial for them, and that creates jobs. Even
with the trade part aside, the farm economy is going to produce
a lot of jobs.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Whitney McFerron in Chicago at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Steve Stroth at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Mexican Stocks: America Movil, Bolsa Mexicana, Grupo Mexico Drop | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/mexican-stocks-america-movil-bolsa-mexicana-grupo-mexico-drop.html
| B y J o n a t h a n J . L e v i n | The following companies are having
unusual price changes in Mexico trading. Stock symbols are in
parentheses and prices are as of 12:36 p.m. New York time. The IPC index fell 0.4 percent to 36,194.66. America Movil SAB (AMXL MM): The wireless carrier
controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim declined 1.4 percent to
32.88 pesos, extending its 2-day loss to 3.3 percent after
Mexico’s antitrust agency levied a fine of 12 billion pesos
($1.02 billion) for anticompetitive practices. Bolsa Mexicana de Valores SAB (BOLSAA MM) slipped 0.1
percent to 23.80 pesos. The operator of Mexico’s securities
exchange had its recommendation cut to “neutral” from “buy”
at UBS AG by analyst Alcir Freitas, who cited lower earnings per
share projections. Grupo Mexico SAB (GMEXICOB MM), the country’s largest
mining company, declined 1.2 percent to 37.47 pesos. The company
posted 6.2 billion pesos in first-quarter profit. 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] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Ghana Central Bank to Sell $212 Million in 3-Year Bonds for Debt Payment | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/ghana-central-bank-to-sell-212-million-in-3-year-bonds-for-debt-payment.html
| B y M o s e s M o z a r t D z a w u | Ghana ’s central bank will sell its
second three-year bond of 2011 as it seeks to raise funds to pay
off maturing debt, said Collins Antwi, assistant director at the
Bank of Ghana ’s treasury department. The Accra-based bank will offer 320 million cedis ($212
million) in an auction April 27, according to a statement
published on its website. “As much as 200 million cedis worth of existing bonds will
mature in the early week of May,” Antwi said by phone today.
“The excess will be used for government payments.” Sales of the cedi-denominated bond, the shortest duration
of domestic-currency issues open to investors outside the
world’s second-biggest cocoa producer, will settle on May 2, the
central bank said on its website. The last sale of the same duration, on Feb. 16, sold 401.2
million cedis at a 13.45 percent yield and was oversubscribed by
88 percent, the Bank of Ghana said. The cedi strengthened for the first day in three, trading
at 1.5090 per dollar at 4:36 p.m. local time, from a close
yesterday of 1.5150, as foreign investors brought dollars into
the country to convert to cedis before the bond sale, according
to Chris Nettey, a currency trader at Stanbic Bank Ghana Ltd. To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Antony Sguazzin at
[email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Mining Firms Meet on Australia Carbon Plan amid Voter Backlash | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/mining-firms-meet-on-australia-carbon-plan-amid-voter-backlash.html
| B y G e m m a D a l e y | Australia ’s government said a group
of mining companies including BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) and Rio Tinto
Group will meet today to suggest changes to Prime Minister Julia Gillard ’s plan to introduce carbon trading. The discussions come amid industry and voter opposition to
the proposal to begin an emissions trading system next July.
Support for the ruling Labor party fell to a 15-year low in a
Nielsen opinion survey published in the Age newspaper yesterday,
which showed 59 percent of voters oppose carbon trading. Under the system, companies would be charged a fixed cost
per ton of carbon for the first three to five years before
trading begins. The government, which is yet to announce the
starting price, has said more than 50 percent of the carbon
revenue would be used to assist households, with the rest to
help companies adjust and to fund clean energy projects. A Multiparty Climate Change Committee, proposed by the
Australian Greens, will also meet today in Canberra as Gillard
tries to get support for climate laws. The committee includes
Greens leader Bob Brown and his deputy Christine Milne along
with government lawmakers and independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott. The government needs support from four non-party lawmakers,
including the independents and Greens, to pass laws in
parliament. Windsor told Sky News today he still needed to be
convinced to support the plan. To contact the reporter on this story:
Gemma Daley in Canberra at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Peter Hirschberg at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | South Africa’s Jacob Zuma Says May Take Action on Shiceka, Star Reports | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/south-africa-s-jacob-zuma-says-may-take-action-on-shiceka-star-reports.html
| B y A n t o n y S g u a z z i n a n d C a r l i L o u r e n s | South Africa ’s President Jacob Zuma
said allegations reported in the media that Sicelo Shiceka,
minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs,
misused public funds are “too serious,” Johannesburg’s Star
newspaper reported. “There will be no hesitation if these things that are
being said are true,” he said in an interview with the
newspaper. “Here there is going to be action.” Vuyelwa Qinga, a spokeswoman for Shiceka, didn’t immediately
respond to a message left on her mobile phone by Bloomberg. To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Antony Sguazzin at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Vanke’s First-Quarter Profit Rises 7% on More Home Sales in Smaller Cities | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/china-vanke-posts-7-gain-in-profit-on-sales-in-smaller-cities.html
| B y B l o o m b e r g N e w s | China Vanke Co., the country’s
biggest developer by market value, posted a 7 percent increase
in first-quarter profit as it sold more homes in smaller cities
that were shielded from the effects of government curbs. Net income climbed to 1.21 billion yuan ($185 million), or
0.11 yuan a share, in the three months ended March 31, from 1.13
billion yuan, or 0.1 yuan, a year earlier, the company said in a
Shenzhen stock exchange filing yesterday. Revenue gained 6
percent to 7.97 billion yuan. “I’m not worried about big companies such as Vanke, even
if the government measures continued,” said Danny Bao, a Hong
Kong-based analyst for Daiwa Securities Capital Markets Ltd.,
who rates the stock “outperform.” “The company may get more
market share if it cuts prices.” Vanke, which said it will adopt a “flexible” sales
strategy, recorded higher earnings as China’s property curbs
were aimed at speculators who mainly invest in larger cities
such as Beijing and Shanghai . In the past three months, the
government intensified its measures to rein in prices, raising
the minimum down payment for second-home purchases and levied
taxes on residences in Shanghai and Chongqing. Beijing and
Guangzhou imposed restrictions on housing purchases in February,
while the central bank raised interest rates twice this year. “Vanke will focus on new home sales and keep up the sales
pace,” Board Secretary Tan Huajie said in an e-mailed statement
late yesterday. “The impact from the property curbs is clear in
the market as transactions have slowed down.” Shares Fall Vanke fell 1.7 to 8.63 yuan at the close of Shenzhen
trading, the lowest since March 24. The stock gained 5 percent
this year, compared with a 5.4 percent advance in the broader
CSI 300 Index (SHSZ300) and a 13 percent increase in the gauge of property
stocks on the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index. “The current market changes haven’t yet exceeded the
company’s expectations,” Tan said. “We will keep a quick and
flexible sales strategy.” Vanke entered smaller cities such as the central cities of
Qinhuangdao and Taiyuan in the first quarter, it said. Premier Wen Jiabao said last week in a cabinet meeting that
the country faces challenges including rising property prices in
many cities even as real estate transactions shrink. Slowing Price Gains China’s new home price growth slowed in Beijing and
Shanghai in March as the government intensified property curbs.
New home prices in the capital of Beijing rose 4.9 percent in
March from a year earlier, easing from a 6.8 percent gain in
February, the statistics bureau said on its website on April 18.
In Shanghai, the country’s financial hub, prices climbed 1.7
percent last month, down from 2.3 percent growth in February. Of
the 70 cities monitored by the government, 67 cities posted
gains, down from 68 in the first two months, the data showed. “Against the background of property curbs, the whole
sector will be affected, but Vanke will do better than other
competitors because they have better exposure in third-tier
cities,” said Du Jinsong , a Hong Kong-based analyst for Credit
Suisse Group AG. Vanke’s contracted sales, based on bookings of apartments
before they are built, more than doubled to 35.5 billion yuan in
the first three months from a year earlier. Developers typically
sell their homes before construction begins and book earnings
from the sales progressively. Vanke has no plans to lower its
annual construction target, Tan said. Bonnie Cao. Editors: Linus Chua, Janet Ong To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story:
Bonnie Cao in Shanghai at +86-21-6104-3035 or
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andreea Papuc at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | European April Consumer Confidence Weakens More Than Forecast | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/european-april-consumer-confidence-weakens-more-than-forecast.html
| B y S i m o n e M e i e r | European consumer confidence
weakened more than economists forecast in April as surging
energy costs sapped households’ spending power and countries
from Ireland to Spain cut spending to lower budget deficits. An index of household sentiment in the 17-nation euro area
fell for a second month to minus 11.4 from minus 10.6 in March,
the Brussels-based European Commission said in an initial
estimate today. That’s the lowest since August. Economists
forecast a drop to minus 11, the median of 22 estimates in a
Bloomberg News survey showed. The commission is scheduled to publish its monthly report
on euro-area economic confidence, which includes the consumer-
confidence gauge, on April 29. To contact the reporter on this story:
Simone Meier in Zurich at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Craig Stirling at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Valero Corpus Christi West Restarting After Power Outage | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/valero-corpus-christi-west-restarting-after-power-outage-1-.html
| B y L e e l a L a n d r e s s a n d P a u l B u r k h a r d t | Valero Energy Corp. (VLO) said it’s
restarting units after a power outage at the Corpus Christi West
refinery in Texas. “Units have power again and are restarting, so there
should be no material impact on production,” Steve Lee, a San
Antonio-based spokesman for the company, said in an e-mail
today. The outage was caused by a problem with an off-site
electrical provider, he said. Flaring associated with the restart was expected to start
today at 4 p.m. local time and last for 24 hours, the company
said in a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality. Flaring associated with the outage began at 2:30 p.m.,
according to a separate filing. The refinery consists of east and west plants a mile apart,
which have a combined capacity of about 315,000 barrels a day,
according to the company’s website . To contact the reporters on this story:
Paul Burkhardt in New York at
[email protected] ;
Leela Landress in Houston at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Bill Banker at [email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Bank Zachodni’s Bujak Says Polish Rate Decision Is ‘Close Call’ | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/bank-zachodni-s-bujak-says-polish-rate-decision-is-close-call-.html
| B y K a t y a A n d r u s z | Piotr Bujak, an economist at Bank
Zachodni WBK in Warsaw, comments on Polish industrial output and
production price data, released today in Warsaw. Industrial output rose an annual 7 percent in March, the
slowest since October 2009 and below the median estimate of 22
economists surveyed by Bloomberg for an increase of 9.6 percent.
Producer prices increased by percent from the year-earlier
period, compared with a median estimate of 8.3 percent. “This is a pretty significant slowdown and we’ll have
to expect further weakening in the output figures as the
economies of our main trading partners slow. German growth is
likely to be weaker, for example, which will hurt our exports. “The disappointing output figures will be an argument for
Monetary Policy Council members who want to wait with the next
rate increase. “On the other hand, PPI was very strong, which could raise
fears this will transfer to retail prices. The price pressures
are an argument for the hawks in the central bank. “The May rate-setting meeting could be a very close call.
I don’t expect a rate hike next month, though. The central bank
won’t want to give the impression that it’s just reacting to
current data.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Katya Andrusz in Warsaw at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Balazs Penz at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Kingdom First-Quarter Profit Rises 20% on Investment Gains | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/kingdom-first-quarter-profit-rises-20-on-investment-gains-1-.html
| B y M o u r a d H a r o u t u n i a n | Kingdom Holding Co. (KINGDOM) , the investment
company controlled by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin
Talal, said first-quarter profit advanced 20 percent because of
investment gains and a decline in expenses. Net income rose to 90.6 million riyals ($24 million), from
75.2 million riyals a year earlier, the Riyadh-based company
said in a statement to the Saudi bourse today. Profit gained as the company “sold Swissotel Kunshan in
China and a piece of land in Riyadh,” Kingdom said. On April 10
Kingdom completed the sale of Kunshan for $60.6 million. Net
income rose also because of “a drop in general and
administrative expenses,” the company said. Performance worsened at some affiliated companies and
international hotel managing companies because of unrest in the
Middle East, Kingdom said. More than four months of protests
have rocked the Middle East and North Africa as citizens demand
civil rights, better living standards and the ouster of
entrenched autocratic regimes. Operational profit rose 59 percent to 103.9 million riyals.
Earnings per share were 0.02 riyals, unchanged from the year-
earlier period, the company said. “I’m confident that the outlook for the company’s
continuing profitability is very promising,” especially in real
estate in Saudi Arabia , Shadi Sanbar, Chief Financial Officer,
said in a separate e-mailed statement. On March 18, Saudi King Abdullah announced a plan to spend
$67 billion to build 500,000 homes and turned the country’s
housing authority into a ministry with a budget of 15 billion
riyals. Three weeks earlier, he pledged to increase funding for
housing by $15 billion. Kingdom’s shares dropped 1.8 percent to 8.35 riyals before
the earnings were released, giving the company a market value of
30.9 billion riyals. The stock has gained 1.8 percent this year. To contact the reporter on this story:
Mourad Haroutunian in Riyadh at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Shaji Mathew at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | EnBW to Spend $11 Billion on Renewable Energy Amid Germany's Nuclear Exit | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/enbw-to-spend-11-billion-on-renewable-energy-amid-germany-s-nuclear-exit.html
| B y N i c h o l a s C o m f o r t | EnBW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG (EBK)
plans to spend about 8 billion euros ($11 billion) on renewable
energy by 2020 to help plug a shortfall as Germany phases out
nuclear power. The country’s third-largest utility will add about 3
gigawatts of renewable capacity to its 3.1 gigawatts in the next
10 years, Chief Executive Officer Hans-Peter Villis said today
in a copy of speech handed to reporters in Karlsruhe, Germany,
where shareholders are attending their annual meeting. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on April 15 that the
country plans to exit nuclear power as quickly as possible after
explosions at Japanese reactors stoked safety concerns. EnBW
faces added incentives to invest in alternative energy after the
anti-nuclear Green party won an election in the state of Baden-
Wuerttemberg, which holds 46.5 percent of the utility. “We recognize that after the events in Japan , the majority
of Germans oppose nuclear power,” Villis said in the statement.
“The coming weeks will show until when and in what form nuclear
power will be politically desired. Naturally, a new framework
for the overhaul of Germany’s energy supply can’t be politically
decided today, just five weeks after the events in Japan.” EnBW plans to partner with local utilities, municipalities
and mid-sized companies on decentralized renewable energy
projects, Villis said. The company may also cooperate with
municipal utilities on its Baltic 2 offshore wind park, he said. Investment Plans While EnBW plans to cut costs to boost earnings by a figure
in the “mid-three-digit million-euro range” starting in 2013,
changes to the target are “likely given the current energy
policy debate,” the company said. Last month, Merkel ordered the idling of the country’s
seven oldest reactors, including two operated by EnBW, for a
three-month safety review after the partial meltdown at Japan’s
Fukushima plant. The company has a total of four reactors. Neckarpri GmbH, Baden-Wuerttemberg’s investment vehicle,
and OEW, a group of municipalities, each own 46.5 percent of
EnBW. The southwest German state bought an initial 45 percent
stake from Electricite de France SA for 4.7 billion euros in
February. The Greens are poised to enter the regional government in
Baden-Wuerttemberg after March 27 state elections conducted
after the Fukushima accident. The party is set to lead its first
state administration, ejecting Merkel’s Christian Democrats ,
who’ve held power in Stuttgart for 58 years. To contact the reporter on this story:
Nicholas Comfort in Frankfurt at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Will Kennedy at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Galleon Ex-Trader Zvi Goffer, Brother Plead Not Guilty to New Indictment | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/former-galleon-trader-goffer-pleads-not-guilty-to-latest-insider-charges.html
| B y P a t r i c i a H u r t a d o | Galleon Group LLC trader Zvi Goffer , accused of leading one of three insider-trading rings
that are the subject of a U.S. probe, pleaded not guilty to new
federal charges in an amended indictment. Goffer and his brother Emanuel Goffer, along with Craig Drimal and Michael Kimelman, today entered not guilty pleas to
the new indictment filed by the U.S. on April 7. U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan in New York granted
defense lawyers’ request for a one-week delay in the trial,
which was originally set to begin May 9. The attorneys said they
needed time to review evidence because of the new charges. “I’m not persuaded that a lengthy adjournment is
appropriate,” Sullivan told the lawyers, some whom asked for a
two-month delay. “It seems an awful lot of what happens in
trial preparation happens in the month before trial.” Prosecutors filed a superseding indictment against five
defendants. All the defendants were traders, except for Jason
Goldfarb, who is a lawyer. Sullivan said Goldfarb wasn’t in
court today because of a religious observance. New Charges The indictment added new charges of securities fraud
against Zvi Goffer, who now faces two counts of conspiracy and
12 counts of securities fraud. It also removed as defendants
David Plate , a former trader at Schottenfeld Group LLC, and
Arthur Cutillo, who was a lawyer at the firm Ropes & Gray LLP.
Plate pleaded guilty in July while Cutillo pleaded guilty
Jan. 14. Sullivan today rejected a bid by defense lawyers to dismiss
the new indictment. “I don’t think that the superseding indictment, no matter
how much people don’t like it, there’s virtually no
authorization to do that,” the judge said. Prosecutors said the Goffer ring traded on stock tips
originating from lawyers at Ropes & Gray in New York and from
Gautham Shankar, an ex-trader at New York-based Schottenfeld. Zvi Goffer, the founder of Incremental Capital LLC, was
part of the second wave of cases made by the FBI and Manhattan
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in 2009 after Galleon co-founder Raj Rajaratnam’s arrest on insider-trading charges. The U.S. placed
Zvi Goffer at the center of the scheme and claimed his
accomplices called him “Octopussy,” a reference to the 1983
James Bond movie, because of his many sources of information. Zvi Goffer’s lawyers dispute the characterization. Attended Trial Zvi Goffer has frequently attended the Manhattan Federal
Court trial of Galleon’s Rajaratnam. Closing arguments are
scheduled to begin in that case tomorrow. Rajaratnam has pleaded
not guilty, claiming his stock purchases were the result of
legitimate research. The case is U.S. v. Goffer, 10-cr-00056, U.S. District
Court, Southern District of New York ( Manhattan ). To contact the reporter on this story:
Patricia Hurtado in New York at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Hytha at [email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | India Equity Movers: Cairn India, HDFC Bank, Himachal Futuristic | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/india-equity-movers-cairn-india-hdfc-bank-himachal-futuristic.html
| B y A m e y a K a r v e | The following companies had unusual
price changes in India trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses
and share levels are as of 9:46 a.m. in Mumbai. The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index, or Sensex, was
little changed at 19,079.37. The BSE 200 Index was also little
changed at 2,362.15. Cairn India Ltd. (CAIR) added 2.3 percent to 343.85
rupees. About 282.3 million shares, or 14.8 percent of its
equity, changed hands in three block deals on the Bombay Stock
Exchange, according to Bloomberg data. The buyers and sellers
weren’t immediately known. HDFC Bank Ltd. (HDFCB) gained 1.5 percent to 2,346.95
rupees. India’s third-largest lender by market value reported a
net income of 11.1 billion rupees for the quarter ended March
31. The bank’s board also approved a plan to split each share
into five. The earnings were announced yesterday after the
market closed. Himachal Futuristic Communications (HMFC) Ltd jumped
6.9 percent to 16.14 rupees. The telephone equipment maker
replaced Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd. (IBREL) in the BSE 500 Index of the
Bombay Stock Exchange, according to a statement from the bourse
yesterday. Indiabulls Real Estate, replaced by Coal India Ltd.
in the index, fell 1.3 percent to 142.75 rupees. Sunflag Iron & Steel Co. (SUNF) rose 3.3 percent to
30.95 rupees, set for its highest closing level since Oct. 28.
About 5 million shares, or 3.1 percent of the iron and steel
products maker’s equity, changed hands in two transactions on
the National Stock Exchange, according to Bloomberg data. The
buyers and sellers weren’t immediately known. To contact the reporter on this story:
Ameya Karve in Mumbai at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Darren Boey at
[email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Cut Diamonds Outpacing Gold Still `Grossly Undervalued': Chart of the Day | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/-grossly-undervalued-diamonds-outpacing-gold-chart-of-the-day.html
| B y M a r i a K o l e s n i k o v a | Polished diamonds, beating gold
this year, remain “grossly undervalued” relative to uncut
gems and will extend gains on booming demand in India and
China, WWW International Diamond Consultants Ltd. said. The CHART OF THE DAY shows polished gems trailing rough
diamonds, which rose to an all-time high this year, according to
data compiled by polishedprices.com, as supply from mine
operators fails to keep up with Asian demand. Cut stones, up 9.6
percent so far in 2011, have still outperformed gold, which
climbed to a record $1,497.90 an ounce on April 18. “Rough has just gone ballistic,” said Charles Wyndham,
founder of WWW International and formerly a director at the
sales operations of De Beers . “Polished is grossly undervalued.
If people are pushing rough skywards because of an anticipated
shortage, at the very least the same should apply to polished.” China recently surpassed Japan as the second-biggest buyer
of diamonds, behind the U.S., which consumed 38 percent of
production in 2010, according to De Beers. Demand in India grew
31 percent last year, while in China it jumped 25 percent and
the U.S. market expanded 7 percent, it said in February. While rough prices advanced to a record this year, polished
gems are below their 1979 all-time high, polishedprices.com data
show. Cut stones have risen above levels reached in 2008 before
a slump in demand spurred by the global financial crisis. Rough prices may gain an annual 15 percent to 20 percent in
the next two to three years, according to Namakwa Diamonds Ltd. (NAD)
Chief Executive Officer Nico Kruger. “Prices are overheated,”
he said yesterday. “There is just no supply, so what else must
the big cutters and polishers do? They must buy.” To contact the reporter responsible for this story:
Maria Kolesnikova at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Claudia Carpenter at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Novartis Withdraws Joicela Marketing Application in Europe | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/novartis-withdraws-joicela-marketing-application-in-europe-1-.html
| B y E v a v o n S c h a p e r | Novartis AG (NOVN) withdrew its
application to market the Joicela pain pill in the European
Union because the Swiss company wasn’t able to provide
information to regulators in the time allowed. Joicela was intended to be used to relieve pain in patients
with osteoarthritis of the knee and hip who don’t carry a
specific genetic marker, the European Medicines Agency said in a
statement today. The withdrawal won’t bias the regulator against
a subsequent application for the product, the agency said. The EU filing was the second attempt by Novartis, Europe ’s
second-largest drugmaker by sales, at re-introducing the drug.
The Basel-based company planned to re-submit the treatment,
which belongs to a group of painkillers known as COX-2
inhibitors, to U.S. regulators in 2009 along with a genetic test
to detect patients prone to liver damage, Novartis said at the
time. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in September
2007 that it couldn’t approve the treatment, also known as
lumiracoxib or Prexige, for patients suffering from
osteoarthritis because studies showed too high a rate of liver
damage. European regulators halted sales of the drug months
later. The application withdrawal “has nothing to do with
biomarkers or genetic tests,” Eric Althoff , a spokesman for
Novartis, said in a telephone interview. “COX-2s remain a
challenging environment.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Eva von Schaper in Munich at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Phil Serafino at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Wheat Advances for a Third Day on Deteriorating Crop Conditions in U.S. | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/wheat-futures-gain-a-third-day-as-u-s-crop-condition-worsens-corn-rises.html
| B y L u z i A n n J a v i e r a n d T o n y C . D r e i b u s | Wheat rose for a third day in
Chicago as worsening winter-crop conditions in the U.S., the
largest exporter, and delayed spring-crop plantings fueled
supply concerns amid strengthening demand. About 38 percent of the winter-wheat crop was in poor or
very poor condition as of April 17, up from 36 percent a week
earlier and 6 percent a year earlier, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture said yesterday. Dry weather in the past week from
central Kansas to Texas hurt crops. About 5 percent of the
spring-wheat crop was sown , against 18 percent a year earlier
and the prior five-year average of 12 percent, the USDA said. “Wheat prices rose sharply on the news of the slow spring-
wheat planting and on the further news that the condition of the
current winter-wheat crop is really quite bad,” economist
Dennis Gartman said in his daily Gartman Letter. Wheat for July delivery gained 12.75 cents, or 1.6 percent,
to $8.235 a bushel by 10:54 a.m. London time on the Chicago
Board of Trade. Prices reached a one-week high of $8.2475 after
jumping 3.9 percent yesterday. Milling wheat for May delivery
traded on NYSE Liffe in Paris climbed 6.25 euros, or 2.5
percent, to 252.25 euros ($360.01) a metric ton. Wheat output in Texas, the fifth-largest U.S. grower, may
plunge 61 percent to 50 million bushels as the dry spell damages
plants and farmers abandon fields, said Mark Welch, a grain-
marketing economist at Texas A&M University . About 68 percent of
the Texas winter-wheat crop was in poor to very poor condition,
the USDA said yesterday. Lowest Since 2006 Yields in the U.S. may drop to 38 or 39 bushels an acre,
the lowest since 2006, without improved weather conditions, said
Dennis Delaughter, owner of Progressive Farm Marketing Inc. in
Edna, Texas. The national yield has been below 40 bushels only
twice in the past 13 years, USDA data show. Wheat inspected for export at U.S. ports rose 24 percent
from a week earlier to 35.7 million bushels in the week to April
14, the USDA said yesterday. Corn for July delivery rose for a second day in Chicago ,
advancing 1.75 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $7.6125 a bushel.
Sowing of the grain in the U.S., the largest grower and
exporter, fell behind last year’s pace. About 7 percent of the corn crop was planted as of April
17, down from 16 percent a year earlier , the USDA said
yesterday. At least a third of the crop should be sown by May 1
or yield potential may be diminished, said Greg Grow, director
of agribusiness for Archer Financial Services Inc. in Chicago. Soybeans for July delivery fell 2.5 cents, or 0.2 percent,
to $13.5325 a bushel after two advances in a row. China’s
soybean crushers canceled more than 10 cargoes of the oilseed
this month to cut growing losses for processing, state-
affiliated researcher Grain.gov.cn said in a report today. Crushers have also delayed shipments of more than 20
cargoes, it said. The cancellations and delays will likely lower
China ’s imports in the year through Sept. 30 to about 53 million
tons, compared with 57 million tons estimated by the USDA, the
researcher said. The Asian country is the world’s biggest
soybean importer. To contact the reporters on this story:
Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at
[email protected] ;
Tony C. Dreibus in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Claudia Carpenter at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Telefonica Job-Cut Cost Should Rise to Limit Price to State, Ministers Say | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/telefonica-job-cut-cost-should-rise-to-limit-price-to-state-ministers-say.html
| B y M a n u e l B a i g o r r i a n d C h a r l e s P e n t y | Telefonica SA (TEF) and other profitable
Spanish companies should pay more costs when they eliminate
jobs, reducing the burden on state benefits, Finance Minister
Elena Salgado said. “Any profitable company will have the right to reorganize
itself but that same company must bear the cost,” Salgado said
in a radio interview with Cadena Ser today. She was responding
to a question about Madrid-based Telefonica, which has said it
plans to cut about 20 percent of its workforce in Spain within
the next three years as it targets growth in Latin America to
make up for declining sales at home. Profitable companies such as Telefonica, Spain’s former
phone monopoly, should contribute to the costs borne by the
state unemployment-protection system, Labor Minister Valeriano Gomez said yesterday in an interview with state-owned radio
station RNE . Telefonica’s job cuts aren’t appropriate for a
socially responsible company as it also announced a
multimillion-euro bonus plan for senior executives, Gomez said. “When a company of a sufficient size has a sufficiently
high level of profit and carries out job cuts that include
firings with the use of unemployment benefits , the company
should contribute to reducing the cost to the unemployment-
protection system, with the company itself paying the cost of
the unemployment benefit,” Gomez said. with assistante from Emma Ross-Thomas. Editors: Robert Valpuesta, David Risser. To contact the reporters on this story:
Manuel Baigorri in Madrid at
[email protected] ;
Charles Penty in Madrid at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Angela Cullen at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Ameriprise, Investors Seek Court Approval of Lawsuit Accord | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/ameriprise-securities-america-agree-to-end-investor-suit-for-80-million.html
| B y A n d r e w H a r r i s a n d T o m K o r o s e c | Ameriprise Financial Inc. (AMP) , two of
its Securities America units and a group of investors who sued
them asked a U.S. judge to approve a proposed $80 million cash
settlement. The investors had bought stock and partnership interests in
Provident Royalties LLC, an owner of working interests in oil
and natural gas properties, through Securities America from
September 2006 through January 2009. They also bought notes
issued by so-called special purpose entities affiliated with
Medical Capital Holdings Inc., a company that bought accounts
receivable, according to papers filed yesterday with U.S.
District Judge W. Royal Furgeson in Dallas . Those who invested in Medical Capital, which was later sued
by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for
misappropriation of investor funds, lost about $284 million on
the special purpose notes. Securities America sold about 37
percent of those notes, according to the investors’ filing.
Provident investors lost $46 million when that company went
bankrupt. “The class action settlement will allow investors to
recover a meaningful percentage of their losses,” their
attorneys told the court. Ameriprise, a Minneapolis-based company spun off from
American Express Co. in 2005, and its Securities America units
have also agreed to pay $70 million to investors who filed
claims for arbitration and rather than in the courts. The lead case is case is Billitteri v. Securities America
Inc., 09cv1568, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas
(Dallas). To contact the reporters on this story:
Andrew Harris in Chicago at
[email protected] ;
Tom Korosec in Dallas at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Hytha at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Chinese Stocks Slump on Inflation, U.S. Credit Rating Concerns | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/china-stocks-drop-most-in-2-months-on-s-p-cut-inflation-concern.html
| B y B l o o m b e r g N e w s | China ’s stocks fell the most in two
months on concern inflation will spur the government to keep
tightening monetary policy and as Standard & Poor’s Ratings
Service cut its outlook on U.S. credit, fueling concern that a
recovery in the global economy may slow. Jiangxi Copper Co., China’s biggest producer of the metal,
dropped 3.4 percent after copper prices slid for a sixth day in
New York . China Vanke Co. paced losses for developers after
Credit Suisse Group AG said the government may boost measures to
curb property investment. Henan Shuanghui Investment &
Development Co., the biggest publicly traded food producer,
plunged by the 10 percent daily limit amid an investigation into
illegal additives. “The U.S credit outlook cut will have short-term negative
effects on investors’ confidence,” said Mei Luwu, a Shenzhen-
based fund manager of Lion Fund Management Co., which oversees
more than $7.8 billion. “The risks have been there and the
market is plunging now that they are exposed.” The Shanghai Composite Index slid 58.3 points, or 1.9
percent, to 2,999.04 at the 3 p.m. close, the biggest slump
since Feb. 22. The CSI 300 Index (SHSZ300) declined 1.9 percent to
3,295.81. The Shanghai Composite has climbed 6.8 percent this year,
the best performer among the biggest Asian markets, as optimism
about growth in the world’s second-largest economy and corporate
earnings outweighed measures to cool inflation. The central bank
has announced 10 reserve-requirement ratio increases since the
start of 2010 and raised interest rates four times. U.S. Outlook In New York, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 1.1
percent yesterday, its biggest retreat since March, after S&P
lowered its outlook on U.S. debt to “negative.” The ratings
agency said that more than two years after the beginning of the
financial crisis, U.S. policy makers haven’t agreed on a
strategy to reverse recent fiscal deterioration or address
longer-term fiscal pressures. Jiangxi Copper slid for a seventh day, losing 3.4 percent
to 37.71 yuan. Yunnan Copper Industry Co. (000878) fell 3.5 percent to
25.09 yuan. PetroChina Co., the nation’s biggest oil producer,
slipped 2.1 percent to 11.86 yuan. China Shenhua Energy Co., the
listed unit of China’s biggest coal producer, dropped 4.6
percent to 29.32 yuan. July-delivery copper on the Comex in New York lost 0.2
percent to $4.2085 a pound, erasing gains of as much as 0.8
percent earlier. June-delivery futures in Shanghai declined as
much as 2 percent to 69,630 yuan a ton, the lowest level since
March 17. Reserve Ratio U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled a plan on April 13 to
cut $4 trillion in cumulative deficits within 12 years through a
combination of spending cuts and tax increases. The U.S. House
passed a Republican budget on April 15 that would cut spending
by more than $6 trillion over a decade. The People’s Bank of China said on April 17 it will lift
lenders’ reserve requirements following government reports
showing inflation rose 5.4 percent last month. That exceeded the
median forecast in Bloomberg News surveys of economists for 5.2
percent. “We expect to see fluctuations around 3,000 for the index
as the March inflation data boosted concerns over tightening
measures,” said Mei. China Vanke, the largest developer, declined 2 percent to
8.78 yuan. Gemdale Corp. (600383) sank 2.5 percent to 6.76 yuan. Data
showing 50 of 70 cities recorded a month-on-month increase in
property prices invites more tightening policies, Credit Suisse
said. Investment Increase Foreign direct investment surged 33 percent in March,
adding $12.5 billion to China’s economy , the Ministry of
Commerce said today. The People’s Bank of China will raise interest rates twice
more in the next 12 months as capital inflows complicate efforts
to tame inflation, according to the cost to fix borrowing costs
in the swap market. Two-year contracts indicate the one-year deposit rate will
be boosted 58 basis points in the next 12 months to 3.83 percent
after four increases the past year, data compiled by Bloomberg
show. On April 6, they projected a rate of 3.71 percent. Foreign
reserves jumped $197 billion in the first quarter to a record $3
trillion. Barton Biggs , a former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asset
Management, said the move by China’s central bank, which
indicates the country is going to do whatever it takes to cool
inflation, makes him nervous about his bullish position on Asia
and global equities. ’Nervous’ About Stocks “China is the world’s locomotive,” he said. “It’s making
me nervous about my commitment to Asia, making me nervous about
my commitment to stocks in general, not just China.” The longest rally in developing-nation stocks since 1997
may be ending as higher interest rates in Brazil , Russia , India
and China curb earnings growth. For the first time in two years, emerging-market analysts
are cutting profit estimates more than they’re raising them,
consumer stocks are trailing energy producers and shares of
smaller companies are losing to larger equities, data compiled
by Bloomberg and Morgan Stanley show. Henan Shuanghui fell 10 percent to 70.15 yuan on their
first day of trading since a monthlong suspension. The company
yesterday confirmed a China Central Television report that an
affiliate purchased pigs fed with a banned additive that induces
the growth of lean meat. “The incident will affect Shuanghui’s sales by between 2
billion yuan and 4 billion yuan ($612 million) in 2011,” Tong
Xun and Man Zhen, Shanghai-based analysts at Shenyin & Wanguo
Securities Co., wrote in a report today. Lion Fund’s Mei is cautious on small-cap food producers and
health-care companies, while favoring banks, developers, coal
producers and chemical companies. “Overall, we are positive on the A-share market for the
second quarter given the undeterred economic growth,” Mei said.
“Valuations and the earnings outlook make some A-share
companies very attractive investments globally.” Irene Shen. Editors: Richard Frost, Allen Wan To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story:
Irene Shen in Shanghai at +86-21-6104-3049 or
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Darren Boey at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Indonesia's Regulator Says 21 Extra LNG Cargoes May Go to Quake-Hit Japan | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/indonesia-s-regulator-says-21-extra-lng-cargoes-may-go-to-quake-hit-japan.html
| B y B a m b a n g D j a n u a r t o a n d Y o g a R u s m a n a | Indonesia , the world’s third-
largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, may send as many as
21 additional cargoes of the fuel to Japan this year, an
official at the nation’s energy regulator said. PT Pertamina, Indonesia’s state oil and gas company, has
agreed to ship seven cargoes from its Bontang plant in East
Kalimantan province to Tohoku Electric Power Co. in April and
May, said an official at BPMigas , asking not to be identified as
the sales haven’t been made public. Three cargoes for May to
June delivery are under negotiation with buyers and 11 are
available for June to December, the official said. Nanang Untung, senior vice president of gas at Jakarta-
based Pertamina, said the plan is being discussed by the
government, declining to give further details. Gde Pradnyana, a
spokesman for BPMigas, said the shipments will come from cargoes
slated for the spot markets. Japan, which relies on fuel imports for most of its energy
needs, is seeking to expand supply of alternative sources after
the nation’s biggest earthquake recorded on March 11 forced the
shutdown of 20 percent of the country’s nuclear output. The
nation consumed 35 percent of the world’s LNG in 2009, more than
any other country, according to BP Plc’s Statistical Review. Indonesia may divert cargoes to Japan from BP’s Tangguh LNG
plant in West Papua province that were originally to be shipped
to Sempra Energy (SRE) ’s terminal in Mexico ’s Baja California , Energy
and Mineral Resources Minister Darwin Saleh said March 23. LNG is natural gas chilled to liquid form for
transportation by ships to places not connected by pipelines.
Qatar and Malaysia are the world’s largest and second-biggest
exporters of the fuel, respectively. To contact the reporters on this story:
Bambang Djanuarto in Jakarta at
[email protected] ;
Yoga Rusmana in Jakarta at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Clyde Russell at
[email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Ethanol Declines as Corn, Gasoline Slide on Demand Concerns | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/ethanol-declines-as-corn-gasoline-slide-on-demand-concerns.html
| B y M a r i o P a r k e r | Ethanol futures declined in Chicago
as corn and gasoline fell on concern that higher prices will
reduce demand. The biofuel slid 0.4 percent on speculation that gasoline
pump prices, which averaged $3.835 a gallon yesterday according
to AAA, will crimp demand and that corn prices, which have
gained 19 percent this year, will curtail export. Ethanol is
made from corn in the U.S. and blended with gasoline. “Gasoline and corn were both lower and ethanol just
followed along,” said Matt Janney, a broker at Citigroup Global
Markets Inc. in Chicago. “People are trying to talk waning
demand right now.” Denatured ethanol for May delivery slipped 1 cent to $2.621
a gallon on the Chicago Board of Trade. Prices have risen 10
percent this year. In cash market trading, ethanol was unchanged in the U.S.
Gulf at $2.735 a gallon, and in New York the additive rose 1
cent, or 0.4 percent, to $2.70, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg. Ethanol on the West Coast dropped 1.5 cents, or 0.6
percent, to $2.71 a gallon and in Chicago the alternative fuel
increased 1.5 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $2.615. Corn futures for July delivery decreased 2.5 cents, or 0.3
percent, to close at $7.57 a bushel in Chicago. One bushel
distills into at least 2.75 gallons of the fuel. Gasoline for May delivery fell 1.97 cents, or 0.6 percent,
to settle at $3.2331 a gallon on the New York Mercantile
Exchange . The contract covers reformulated gasoline, or RBOB,
which is made to be blended with ethanol before delivery to
filling stations. Average ethanol mills in Iowa are losing 2 cents on every
gallon produced, while plants in Illinois are breaking even on a
spot basis, according to Ag Trader Talk, an online grains
information service in Clive, Iowa. To contact the reporter on this story:
Mario Parker in Chicago at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at [email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Automaker CEOs Court Customers in Shanghai Instead of New York | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/automaker-ceos-follow-customers-to-shanghai-instead-of-new-york.html
| B y B l o o m b e r g N e w s | To see how Shanghai’s auto show has
grown with the nation’s now world-leading vehicle market, just
watch the bosses. While General Motors Co. (GM) Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson spoke in New York yesterday on the eve of that city’s
international auto show, his peers were on the other side of the
world. Volkswagen AG (VOW) ’s Martin Winterkorn , Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) ’s
Akio Toyoda , and Carlos Ghosn, who runs both Renault SA (RNO) and
Nissan Motor Co., all went to the Shanghai show. Akerson visited
China in February. The choices made by the chief executives reflect the
growing significance of the world’s most populous nation. With
about 17.2 million vehicles sold last year, China is about 50
percent bigger than the U.S. market, even while car ownership is
14 times more common in the U.S. than in China. “That’s it, isn’t it: Where are the CEOs?” said Michael Dunne, president of Dunne & Co. in Hong Kong . “People know that
China is the world’s biggest market, but now it’s starting to
sink in.” Jim Farley, Ford Motor Co. (F) ’s marketing chief, called this
year’s Shanghai event “the most important auto show I’ve ever
been to in my career.” China’s rise on the global auto scene
will rank with the electrification of the automobile among the
career highlights he said he hopes to be able to tell his
grandchildren about some day. Ford CEO Alan Mulally isn’t scheduled to attend either show. Beetle Reveal Volkswagen revealed the redesign of its iconic Beetle in
Shanghai, New York and Berlin, and Winterkorn was present for
the ceremony in China. The world’s most profitable automaker in 2010 sent four
executive board members to the Shanghai show and none to New
York, said Peter Schwarzenbauer , sales chief for the automaker’s
Audi AG unit. “We’re concentrating on Shanghai ,” he said. “The Q3 SUV
is premiered to the world here that’s where we should be
too.” Volvo Cars CEO Stefan Jacoby said in an interview in
Shanghai that the growth of China’s passenger-car market was
inconceivable a decade ago. “I remember times when I worked for VW and had been in
charge of the Asia Pacific and China business that we could
not imagine that the market would have the size of the German
car market: 3 to 3.5 million,” he said. “Today it’s 13
million” passenger cars, and more than 17 million including
commercial vehicles. China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. bought Volvo Cars
from Ford in August. ‘More Popular’ “The Shanghai show is getting bigger and more and more
popular each year,” said Chen Hong, president of SAIC Motor
Corp., which has partnerships with GM and VW that are the
nation’s top manufacturers. “This shows the fast expansion and
development of the China car market.” While vehicle sales growth slowed in China in February and
March and the government has sought to discourage “lavish
lifestyles,” the popularity of luxury vehicles has continued. Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler AG (DAI) , which makes Mercedes-
Benz and Maybach cars, attended the show. “Top management of a lot of major automakers are here,”
said Klaus Maier, president and chief executive officer of
Mercedes-Benz’s business in China. “It is getting very
competitive” to get space for advertisement in newspapers such
as China Daily, in which the German brand ran a glossy insert. Toyota’s Toyoda hadn’t committed to come to Shanghai in
advance and eventually decided to attend. He said he appreciated
the “support and encouragement of everyone here in China,” and
that attending the show is fundamental to his role as CEO. “I feel it is my mission to work to provide ever-better
cars to people around the world,” Toyoda said. “On this belief,
I made this trip to China .” Tian Ying, Liza Lin, Andreas Cremer, Makiko Kitamura, Yuki Hagiwara and Jamie Butters in Shanghai. Editors: Kevin Orland,
James Callan. To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story:
Liza Lin in Shanghai at +86-21-6104-3047 or
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Kae Inoue at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Sinopec Halts Fuel Exports to Ensure Domestic Supply Amid Refining Losses | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/sinopec-halts-fuel-exports-on-shortage-as-refiners-make-loss-1-.html
| B y B l o o m b e r g N e w s | China Petrochemical Corp., Asia ’s
biggest oil refiner, halted fuel exports to ensure domestic
supply as high crude costs and retail price caps cause private
refiners to cut back on production. Sinopec Group, as the company is known, “stopped exporting
to other regions apart from sustaining the basic resource needs
of Hong Kong and Macau,” it said in its online newsletter
today. The Beijing-based company will run its refineries at full
capacity and cut petrochemical production to boost output of
gasoline and diesel for domestic use, it said. China’s fuel inventories fell last month as consumption
rose to a record on demand for travel, manufacturing and spring
planting. Retail fuel prices increased an average 10 percent
this year, according to Bloomberg calculations, while global
crude oil climbed 17 percent. “The private refineries aren’t making money because of
controlled fuel prices and high crude costs, so they have to
reduce production,” Qiu Xiaofeng , an analyst at Beijing-based
Galaxy Securities Co., said by telephone. “The state refiners
have to step in to fill the output loss.” Private refineries
produce more than 10 percent of China’s fuel, he said. China, the world’s biggest energy consumer, exported
403,442 metric tons of gasoline and 163,380 tons of diesel in
February, according to customs data. Naphtha for Gasoline Sinopec Group plans to increase fuel production by 4
percent in April to 10.54 million metric tons, according to the
newsletter. Output rose 6.2 percent to 31.55 million tons in the
first quarter, it said. Crude processing volume climbed 7.4
percent to 54.72 million tons during the period. The parent of Hong Kong-listed China Petroleum & Chemical
Corp. (600028) said it will reduce petrochemical output and use
alternative raw materials including liquefied petroleum gas to
divert more naphtha to the production of gasoline. “The wholesale market actually isn’t that tight now,
suggesting that they could be doing this as advance preparation
for peak demand during summer,” Jay Chi, chief analyst at
Guangzhou Twinace Petroleum & Chemical Corp., the nation’s
largest private fuel-oil importer, said by telephone from
Guangzhou. “Growing Pressure” China has “a shortage of resources and growing pressure on
fuel supply,” Sinopec Group said, without elaborating. The
nation has had shortages in the past year, including a diesel
shortfall in the fourth quarter when electricity constraints
caused factories to use the fuel to generate their own power. China controls retail fuel tariffs to curb consumer price
inflation, which was 5.4 percent last month, the highest since
2008. Refineries still make a loss of $2 a barrel after fuel-
price increases on April 7 and Feb. 20, according to JPMorgan
Chase & Co. Based on a mechanism introduced in December 2008,
the government can adjust retail fuel prices when crude costs
change more than 4 percent over 22 working days. “Shortages were worse when the government didn’t adjust
fuel prices based on the new mechanism,” Deng Yusong, a
director at the market economy research department of the State
Council Research Center, said at a conference in Shanghai today.
“If the fuel pricing mechanism isn’t strictly implemented, then
we can’t exclude the possibility of shortages again.” Crude rose above $111 in New York for the first time in 30
months on April 8 as fighting in Libya and unrest in the Middle
East spurred supply concerns. Crude was at $106.32 a barrel in
electronic trading at 4:08 p.m. Singapore time. China Petroleum, or Sinopec, fell 0.6 percent to HK$7.88 at
the 4:00 p.m. close of trading in Hong Kong while the benchmark
Hang Seng index slid 1.3 percent. Rival PetroChina Co., the unit
of China’s second-biggest refiner, fell 1.6 percent. To contact the reporter on this story:
Baizhen Chua in Beijing at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Clyde Russell at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | TPG Capital to Invest Up to $150 Million for 21% of China’s Comtec Solar | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/tpg-capital-to-invest-up-to-150-million-for-21-of-china-s-comtec-solar.html
| B y C a t h y C h a n | TPG Capital, the U.S. private-
equity firm that manages $48 billion, said it plans to invest as
much as HK$1.17 billion ($150 million) for a 21 percent stake in
Hong Kong-listed Comtec Solar Systems Group Ltd. (712) TPG will buy five-year convertible bonds and warrants in
the Shanghai-based solar wafer maker for HK$780 million and may
invest an additional HK$390 million if the warrants are fully
exercised, according to a statement from the companies today. Comtec Solar marks TPG’s second acquisition of a China-
focused energy company since October. China, the world’s largest
power consumer, should double its solar targets for 2015 after
the nuclear crisis in Japan , Li Junfeng, deputy director general
of the Beijing-based Energy Research Institute at the National
Development and Reform Commission, said last week. Fort Worth , Texas-based TPG agreed in October to buy HK$195
million preferred shares of Hong Kong Energy Holdings Ltd. (987) with
an option to buy a further 260 million preferred shares. The U.S.
fund also bought a stake in China International Capital Corp. in
December with KKR & Co., and a stake in Wumart Stores Inc.,
Beijing’s biggest supermarket chain, in 2009. The unsecured, zero-interest convertible bonds can be
converted at HK$3.90 a share in 2016, according to the statement.
TPG will also receive 95 million warrants that give it the right
to additional stock at HK$4.10. Comtec Solar shares fell 2.2
percent to HK$4.06 at 3:04 p.m. local time today. TPG will own 295 million Comtec shares if the bonds are
fully converted and all warrants exercised, equivalent to 21
percent of the enlarged share capital, according to the
statement. Comtec will use the proceeds from the convertible
bond sale to expand production capacity, it said in the release. Comtec Solar plans to use the proceeds to boost wafer
production to 1,400 megawatts this year from 1,000 megawatts as
it previously targeted, Chief Executive John Zhang said in a
press conference today. To contact the reporter on this story:
Cathy Chan in Hong Kong at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Philip Lagerkranser at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Azeri State Oil Fund Grew 13% to $25.8 Billion on April 1 | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/azeri-state-oil-fund-expanded-13-to-32-6-billion-as-of-april-1.html
| B y Z u l f u g a r A g a y e v | Azerbaijan’s State Oil Fund, known
as Sofaz, increased 13 percent in the first quarter as fuel
prices rose. Assets rose to $25.8 billion as of April 1 from $22.8
billion at the start of the year, Sofaz said today in an e-
mailed statement. Sales of oil and natural gas from the ACG and Shah Deniz
projects in the Caspian Sea , led by BP Plc (BP/) , provided the bulk of
the fund’s wealth, Shahmar Movsumov, the head of the fund, told
reporters today in Baku, the capital. Sofaz said about 55.3 percent of its investment portfolio
is in U.S. dollars, 39.7 percent is in euros, and almost 5.1
percent is in pounds, according to the statement. To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Torrey Clark at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Vermont Ski-Town Population Slides on ‘Bad Times’ | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/vermont-ski-town-population-slides-on-bad-times-census-shows.html
| B y F r a n k B a s s | Business leaders in Vermont ’s
Deerfield Valley promote the area with the slogan “It’s More
Vermont Here.” Trouble is, there are fewer Vermonters. Dover,
the heart of the valley and home to one of the closest ski
resorts to New York and Boston , lost a fifth of its population
over the last decade. Battered by a collapse in the second-home market and a slow
tourist economy, residents fled southern Vermont’s ski region
from 2000 to 2010, census figures show. Three other resort towns Killington, Ludlow and Wilmington collectively lost 1,119
residents, or 19.4 percent of their population, even as the
state gained 2.8 percent to 625,741. “I’ve had good times, and I’ve had bad times,” said
Richard Moore, owner of a Killington-based construction company.
“Right now, I’m having really bad times.” Killington, which has the state’s largest ski resort, lost
25.9 percent of its population, falling to 811 full-time
residents. Census figures show the number of new housing permits
dropped from 20 in 2000 to three in 2009. The town now has 2,609
housing units, or more than three for every resident. Dover, home to Mount Snow and one of five towns in
Deerfield Valley, lost 20.3 percent of its population over the
decade, falling to 1,124 residents from 1,410, the census shows.
The five towns combined lost 9 percent. Caribbean Looks Cheaper Art Woolf , a University of Vermont economist, said the
population declines may have long-term consequences. “Full-time residents are leaving, which is going to make
it harder for the ski industry in those areas (the mountain,
inns, restaurants, etc.) to find workers,” he said in an e-
mail. “That will drive up wages, which will drive up costs.
That Caribbean cruise will look cheaper than the Vermont ski
vacation.” The exodus hasn’t yet affected local ski operations, said
Sarah Thorson, a spokeswoman for Killington Resort . She said
the mountain relies heavily upon workers from nearby Rutland, a
city of 16,495 that lost 4.6 percent of its population over the
decade. The resort, which has about 1,500 workers during peak
winter ski season, also uses exchange students from Peru ,
Jamaica and South Africa . Vermont’s government has been aggressive in pushing the
state as a four-season destination for tourists, who made 13.4
million visits in 2007, the last figures available. Economic Pillars Tourism and real estate are economic pillars because
Vermont’s industry is limited: Its biggest brands include Green
Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR) , King Arthur Flour Co. and Ben &
Jerry’s, a subsidiary of London-based Unilever. Housing construction permits fell statewide to 1,367 in
2009, the lowest since 1966, from a 2004 peak of 3,588, census
figures show. Taxable receipts on hotel rooms dropped in January
2010 to $32.1 million, down 4.5 percent from January 2008,
according to the Vermont Department of Taxes. Tourism accounted for 12 percent of the state’s jobs in
2007, according to the Vermont Department of Tourism. People are attracted to Vermont by its natural beauty and
quality of life. Pedestrians have the right of way. Billboards
are outlawed. Mobile-phone service is sporadic. There are just
four Starbucks stores in the state, all around Burlington. Families Head Out Still, families are leading the exodus from many towns. Dover’s elementary school, which sits on a hilltop with a
view of the Green Mountains, has seen enrollment drop to 88 this
year from 125 in 1990-91. School officials said they expect to
honor eight sixth-grade graduates on the town common at a June
graduation ceremony. Census figures show the number of Dover residents younger
than 18 plunged 40.3 percent, falling to 187 from 313. The population loss is masked every winter, when thousands
of people come to stay at condominiums and hotels that dot the
slopes around Mount Snow. Dover records show 87 percent of
property tax bills are mailed to out-of-state residents. The loss of people doesn’t trouble everyone. Bill McKibben ,
a writer, climate-change activist and scholar-in-residence at
Middlebury College, said he’d “rather have quality than
quantity.” The population gains Vermont did have were driven by
Burlington, the state’s largest city, and its suburbs.
Burlington grew 9.1 percent to 42,417 people. Essex, home to an
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) plant, gained 5.2 percent
to 19,587. Rockwell’s Town Loses Other towns near tourist destinations lost residents or had
flat growth. Arlington, a town on the west side of the Green
Mountains and a former home to the artist Norman Rockwell, fell
to 2,317 people from 2,397. Woodstock, once named “The
Prettiest Small Town in America” by Ladies’ Home Journal, saw
its population drop 5.5 percent to 3,048. The number of people
in Brattleboro, a clothing-optional, small-town doppelganger for
Berkeley, California , rose to 12,046 a gain of 41 residents
over a 10-year period. Unemployment has remained low, relative to the rest of the
country. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in February
that 5.6 percent of Vermont residents were unemployed, compared
with 8.9 percent nationwide that month. Philip K. Dodd , a Montpelier lawyer who publishes the
bimonthly Vermont Property Owners Report, said things could be
worse. The state added 28,157 homes over the decade. “We went less overboard than other places,” he said.
“But some sold, and some didn’t.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Frank Bass in Washington at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Mark Tannenbaum at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Seagate to Buy Samsung’s Hard-Disk Unit for $1.38 Billion, Build Alliance | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/samsung-electronics-seagate-to-combine-computer-hard-disk-drive-business.html
| B y J u n Y a n g | Seagate Technology Plc (STX) agreed to
buy Samsung Electronics Co.’s computer hard-disk drive business
for $1.38 billion in cash and stock as shrinking sales
accelerates consolidation in the industry. Seagate offered 45.2 million shares valued at $687.5
million and the remainder in cash, the companies said today in a
joint statement. They also agreed to supply each other with
electronic- storage devices as part of a strategic partnership. The deal will help the industry’s second-largest producer
narrow the lead Western Digital Corp. (WDC) took last month when it
agreed to buy Hitachi Ltd. (6501) ’s storage business, while giving
Samsung funds to invest in new businesses such as health care.
Mechanical drive makers have slashed prices to compete against
faster and smaller flash-memory chips used in Apple Inc. (AAPL) ’s iPad
and some laptop computers . “This can’t be bad for Samsung,” Han Seung Hoon, an
analyst at Korea Investment & Securities in Seoul . “Samsung’s
hard-disk business hasn’t really been making money, so with this
deal, they can be more competitive.” After the transaction, Samsung will become the second-
largest shareholder of Seagate with a 9.6 percent stake and will
be entitled to nominate a director, the companies said. They
said they expect to complete the deal by the end of the year. Biggest Deal Samsung rose 0.9 percent to close at 875,000 won in Seoul
trading before the announcement. Dublin-based Seagate fell 13
cents to $17.71 on the Nasdaq Stock Market at 9:41 a.m. New York
time. It had added 19 percent this year before today. The deal is subject to a review by the U.S. and
international regulators, Samsung said in a separate statement.
The sale is the biggest ever by the Suwon, South Korea-based
company, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Samsung also agreed to supply Seagate with NAND flash
memory to be used in storage devices made by Seagate, according
to the statement. Seagate will supply disk drives to Samsung for
personal computers and notebooks. Samsung began making hard-disk drives in 1989 and the
business is part of the company’s semiconductor unit. After
selling the division, Samsung will focus on its chip operations,
while Seagate will be able to secure “a strategic status” in
the global market, Samsung said. Tablet Computers Hard-disk drive shipments will probably drop about 4
percent this quarter from the fourth quarter amid competition
from smaller and faster storage products, according to IHS
ISuppli. Samsung and Toshiba Corp. (6502) are the biggest makers of so-
called flash memory used to store data in some laptops and
tablets such as the iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab. Western Digital accounted for 31 percent of global hard
drive shipments in the fourth quarter, followed by Seagate’s 30
percent, Hitachi’s 18 percent, Toshiba’s 11 percent and
Samsung’s 10 percent, according to IHS ISuppli estimates last
month. Since then, Western Digital agreed to buy Hitachi’s
storage business for $4.3 billion. Apple and other electronics makers will generate $49
billion in sales of tablet computers by 2015, a sign of booming
demand for devices that bridge the gap between smartphones and
laptops, according to research firm Strategy Analytics . Last year, Western Digital tried to buy Seagate, two people
familiar with the matter said in December. The offer was refused
on concern the deal would have faced antitrust obstacles, the
people said. Seagate also spurned an offer from TPG Capital. Morgan Stanley served as financial adviser to Seagate while
Allen & Co. advised Samsung, according to the statement. To contact the reporter on this story:
Jun Yang in Seoul at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Young-Sam Cho at
[email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Pick n Pay’s Credit Rating Outlook Cut by Fitch After Annual Profit Slumps | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/pick-n-pay-s-credit-rating-outlook-cut-by-fitch-after-annual-profit-slumps.html
| B y N a s r e e n S e r i a | Fitch Ratings cut its outlook on
the credit rating for Pick n Pay Stores Ltd. (PIK) , South Africa ’s
second-largest grocer, to negative from stable following a drop
in annual earnings. The national long-term rating was affirmed at A+, Fitch
said in a statement today. To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Nasreen Seria at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Taiwan to Raise Interest Rates on Reserves Starting April 20 | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/taiwan-to-raise-interest-rates-on-reserves-starting-april-20-1-.html
| B y J a n e t O n g | Taiwan ’s central bank said it will
increase the interest rates it pays banks for money held in
reserve starting April 20 to reflect higher funding costs. The interest the central bank pays on lenders’ reserves
that come from demand deposits will rise to 0.233 percent from
0.203 percent, while the rate for funds from time deposits will
climb to 1.043 percent from 0.986 percent, the Central Bank of
the Republic of China (Taiwan) said in an e-mailed statement. The interest is paid on 55 percent of the lenders’ reserves,
the central bank said in today’s statement. The central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by
0.125 percentage point to 1.75 percent in March, adding to
increases of the same amount each in June, September and
December from a record low. The monetary authority today reiterated that it won’t pay
lenders interest on reserves held for Taiwan-dollar deposits
from foreigners. The measure came into effect on Jan. 1. The central bank on Dec. 30 increased the reserve
requirement on some local-currency deposits by foreigners to as
much as 90 percent, also effective Jan. 1. To contact the reporter on this story:
Janet Ong at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephanie Phang at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | BHP’s Coking Coal Output Curbed by Rain in Third Quarter | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/bhp-s-iron-ore-coal-output-curbed-by-rain-in-third-quarter-1-.html
| B y S o r a y a P e r m a t a s a r i | BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) , the world’s
largest mining company, said third-quarter output of coking coal
declined 14 percent as heavy rain flooded mines in Australia and
disrupted deliveries. Production of coking coal, used to make steel, was 6.67
million tons in the three months ended March 31, Melbourne-based
BHP said today in a statement. That compares with Credit Suisse
Group AG’s estimate of 8 million tons. Iron ore output dropped 1
percent to 33.2 million tons. Heavy rain in the eastern state of Queensland and cyclones
in Western Australia disrupted mining and BHP said today coal
sales may be affected for the rest of the calendar year.
Wesfarmers Ltd., which also mines coal in Queensland, today
reported a 42 percent decline in coking coal output in the
period because of flooding. “We had assumed BHP’s metallurgical coal production was
back at full production by the end of the September 2011 quarter,
so this is a three month delay to our forecasts,” UBS AG said
in a report after the announcement. UBS had estimated BHP’s
output of coking coal at 6.5 million in the quarter. BHP rose 1.2 percent to A$47.23 at the 4:10 p.m. Sydney
time close. The benchmark index gained 1.4 percent. Force Majeure Coking coal output dropped 18 percent from a year earlier,
BHP said. Coking coal was BHP’s largest income earner after iron
ore , base metals and petroleum last year, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg. “Force majeure remains in place for the majority of our
Bowen Basin products with production, sales and unit costs
likely to be impacted, to some extent, for the remainder of the
2011 calendar year,” BHP said. Force majeure is a legal clause
that allows a company to miss deliveries due to circumstances
beyond its control. Wesfarmers said today coal output declined 38 percent to
1.49 million tons, led by a 42 percent drop in coking coal
because of the flooding in Queensland. Two months of torrential rains and the worst floods in
Queensland since 1974 in January killed 36 people, shut mines
and cut rail lines. The state produces 80 percent of the coking
coal exported from Australia , the world’s largest shipper. Profit, Spending Iron ore production rose 7 percent from the same period
last year, according to the statement. Output for the nine
months ended March 31 was a record, BHP said. Iron ore sales accounted for 21 percent of the company’s
total last year. Almost all of BHP’s iron ore is mined in
Western Australia, while a smaller quantity is produced through
a joint venture in Brazil with Vale SA, the world’s largest
producer. BHP, which reported a record first-half profit of $10.5
billion in February, plans to spend $80 billion by the end of
the 2015 financial year to expand and develop its mines and oil
fields, it said Feb. 16. It approved $7.4 billion in spending on
the Pilbara operations last month to boost capacity to 220
million tons a year by 2014. It’s considering further expansions to increase capacity to
more than 300 million tons by 2020. The company may spend $25
billion on the expansions, Citigroup Inc. said in a report in
February. “We’re going to see further increases in volume coming
through there and that should support iron ore growth,” Chris Weston , an institutional dealer at IG Markets in Melbourne, said
by phone today. BHP’s energy coal output rose 7 percent to 17.5 million
tons in the third quarter from a year earlier. Copper production
gained 19 percent to 273,600 tons. Petroleum To Decline Petroleum, the company’s third-biggest earner last year,
fell 4 percent in the quarter to 35.8 million barrels of oil
equivalent. BHP is Australia’s largest oil and natural-gas
producer. Output may fall next year because of drilling delays
in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico following the disaster at BP Plc’s
Macondo well, it said today. BHP in February agreed to buy Chesapeake’s Arkansas shale
gas assets for $4.75 billion, making its first move into U.S.
shale gas. The transaction, completed on March 31, expands BHP’s
oil and gas reserves by 45 percent. BHP may report annual profit of $22.1 billion this
financial year, according to the median estimate of 16 analysts
compiled by Bloomberg. That would be a 74 percent increase from
last year as metal prices gained 42 percent since June 30,
according to the London Metals Exchange Index. Iron ore prices
have gained 29 percent in the same period. To contact the reporter on this story:
Soraya Permatasari in Melbourne at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrew Hobbs at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Toyota May Miss 2011 China Goal on Lack of Parts From Japan | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/toyota-says-it-may-miss-2011-china-target-of-over-900-000-units.html
| B y M a k i k o K i t a m u r a , Y u k i H a g i w a r a a n d A n n a M u k a i | Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) , the automaker
most affected by Japan’s record earthquake last month, may not
be able to meet its China sales target of over 900,000 vehicles
this year due to the impact of the disaster. Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker, may have problems
with parts stemming from the March 11 earthquake, and
industrywide supply may fall short of demand in China, Masayoshi
Hori, executive coordinator for the automaker’s China unit, said
at the Shanghai auto show today. The carmaker’s China operation
is monitoring the component situation, he said. The company based in Aichi, Japan, lost production of
260,000 units in Japan from March 14 to April 8. It has resumed
operations at all of its domestic plants, with output at 50
percent of normal levels. Manufacturing has been reduced at
overseas plants, including those in North America , Europe and
Australia. “Toyota is the most vulnerable, as it is more exposed to
suppliers in Japan,” said Ashvin Chotai , managing director of
Intelligence Asia Automotive. About 150 components are currently in short supply,
compared with 500 two weeks ago, spokesman Masami Doi said
today. As a result, factories in China are not operating on
weekends, holidays or on overtime, Hori said. Double China Sales Separately, Hori said the automaker plans to double China
sales in 2015 from the 846,000 vehicles it sold in 2010. Toyota fell 3.1 percent to 3,125 yen at the 3 p.m. close of
trading in Tokyo . The stock has declined 14 percent since March
10, the day before the temblor. The maker of Prius hybrid cars is studying whether to
produce hybrid parts such as motors, batteries and inverters in
China, Hori said. Toyota will test electric cars in the country
this year, he said. The Toyota City based company expects the Chinese auto
industry to grow by 10 percent to 15 percent this year, Managing
Officer Shinji Kitada said today in Shanghai. Chinese demand is strongest for compact cars and sports
utility vehicles, he said, adding that Toyota is “able to
secure solid profitability.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Makiko Kitamura in Tokyo at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Kae Inoue at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Mauritius’s Trade Deficit Widens 18% in February on Fuel | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/mauritius-s-trade-deficit-widens-18-in-february-on-fuel-1-.html
| B y K a m l e s h B h u c k o r y | Mauritius’s trade deficit widened
18 percent to 5.69 billion rupees ($205 million) in February
from a year earlier as fuel imports rose, the Central Statistics
Office said. The trade gap increased from 4.81 billion rupees in
February 2010 and was at 4.91 billion rupees in January this
year, the Port Louis-based agency said in a statement on its
website today. Imports to the Indian Ocean island nation jumped 19 percent
to 11 billion rupees on a 33 percent increase in the cost of
fuel shipments to 2.4 billion rupees, the agency said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Kamlesh Bhuckory in Port Louis at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Antony Sguazzin at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Comcast Extends U.S. NHL Rights; 10-Year Deal Said to Reach $2 Billion | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/comcast-said-to-agree-to-10-year-2-billion-television-contract-with-nhl.html
| B y M a s o n L e v i n s o n a n d M i c h e l e S t e e l e | Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) ’s NBC and Versus
networks said they had retained U.S. broadcast rights for
National Hockey League games in a 10-year contract that people
familiar with the agreement said was worth $2 billion. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, joined by NBC Sports Group
Chairman Dick Ebersol on a conference call with reporters, said
the accord will expire after the 2020-21. Bettman and Ebersol declined to disclose specifics of the
rights fee. The $2 billion price tag was confirmed earlier today
by two people who were granted anonymity because the deal hadn’t
been officially announced. “We are looking at the most significant media deal that
this league has ever been able to participate in,” Bettman
said. NBC and Versus had the right to match any bid as part of
their previous agreement with the NHL. NHL television ratings in the U.S. have increased 84
percent over the last four years, and the league is in line to
set a revenue record this season, topping $2.9 billion, the NHL
said in a news release announcing today’s agreement. The agreement calls for the networks to televise 100
regular-season games each season and air a national NBC
broadcast on the day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday in late
November. It also includes national distribution of all NHL
playoff games and exclusive coverage starting with the
conference semifinal round. Other Bidders Time Warner Inc. (TWX) ’s Turner Sports said in a statement
yesterday that it was pulling out of the NHL rights bidding. Comcast, which owns Versus, in January completed the
purchase of a majority stake in NBCUniversal from General
Electric Co., which included the NBC network. Comcast and NBC have aired NHL games as separate companies
since the league returned from a work stoppage that led to the
cancellation of the 2004-05 season. The original Comcast deal
was for $207.5 million over three years, while NBC had a
revenue-sharing agreement with the NHL and hasn’t paid a rights
fee for hockey in six seasons. ESPN, which previously had the U.S. cable rights for the
NHL, declined to pick up its $60 million option for the 2005-06
season, saying at the time that the sport wasn’t worth half that
price. NBC ‘Minority’ “Our wonderful, for us, run of not paying anything for a
number of years is over with this deal,” Ebersol said, adding
that a “substantial” minority portion of the new fees come
from the national NBC broadcasts. Bettman said he didn’t have any regrets about the previous
deals with NBC. “They have been extraordinary partners, they stood by us
through a difficult time and they are deserving of tremendous
credit for the positioning that we find ourselves in today as a
sport and media property,” Bettman said. Versus will be renamed within 90 days to some way utilize
the NBC name, Ebersol said. “You are the final impetus,” Ebersol said, speaking to
Bettman about the name change. “I hope that’s as meaningful to
you, your teams, your players, that based on this incredible
deal we are going to rename ourself.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Mason Levinson in New York at
[email protected] ;
Michele Steele in New York at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Sillup at [email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | CANADA DAYBOOK: Ontario Committee Reports on TMX Group Sale | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/canada-daybook-ontario-committee-reports-on-tmx-group-sale.html
| B y D a v i d S c a n l a n | The Ontario legislative committee
reviewing the proposed sale of TMX Group Inc. to the London
Stock Exchange Group Plc releases its recommendation today. WHAT TO WATCH:
*Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal Leader
Michael Ignatieff campaign for the May 2 federal election.
Harper will be in Thunder Bay, Ontario and Val d’Or, Quebec
while Ignatieff goes to Winnipeg, Manitoba and Brampton,
Ontario. ECONOMY:
*Statistics Canada is scheduled to release reports on inflation
at 7 a.m. and on wholesale sales and the index of leading
economic indicators in Ottawa at 8:30 a.m.
*The province of Newfoundland presents its budget at about 11:30
New York time in St. John’s. EVENTS:
* Research In Motion Ltd.’s (RIM) BlackBerry PlayBook goes on sale
today at 20,000 stores across Canada and the U.S. at retailers
including Best Buy Co., Staples Inc., RadioShack Corp. and
Office Depot Inc.
*An Ontario select committee is expected to submit its report to
the provincial legislature on the C$3.2 billion ($3.3 billion)
takeover of TMX Group Inc. (X) by London Stock Exchange Group Plc.
* Teck Resources Ltd. (TCK/B) , Canada’s largest base-metals and coal
producer, is scheduled to hold a conference call to discuss
first-quarter financial results at 8 a.m. in Vancouver.
*Largo Resources Ltd., which is developing base-metals projects
in Canada and Brazil, holds a business-update conference call at
11 a.m. in Toronto.
*Melcor Development Ltd., which develops real estate in western
Canada, is scheduled to hold its annual meeting at 11 a.m. in
Edmonton, Alberta. MARKETS:
*The S&P/TSX (SPTSX) index fell 0.7 percent to a one-month low of
13,702.33.
*Yields on two-year Government of Canada bonds fell 6 basis
points to 1.69 percent at 4 p.m. in Toronto.
*The Canadian dollar fell to 96.42 cents per U.S. dollar
yesterday. One Canadian dollar bought $1.0371. To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Scanlan at [email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Intel Forecasts Second-Quarter Sales That May Top Estimates; Stock Surges | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/intel-forecasts-second-quarter-sales-that-may-top-estimates-shares-climb.html
| B y O l g a K h a r i f a n d I a n K i n g | Intel Corp. (INTC) , the world’s biggest
chipmaker, forecast second-quarter sales that may top analysts’
estimates, evidence of booming demand for machines that deliver
computing over the Internet. Revenue will be $12.8 billion, plus or minus $500 million,
Intel said today in a statement. That compares with $11.9
billion, the average of analysts’ projections compiled by
Bloomberg. Shares surged as much as 6.7 percent in late trading. The company is benefiting as mobile devices including Apple
Inc. (AAPL) ’s iPad drive demand for online services provided by Intel-
powered servers. Even as PC sales came under pressure last
quarter, Intel’s 80 percent share of the microprocessor market
boosts sales when companies upgrade their server and PC fleets. “This is the strength of a new product cycle,” Hans Mosesmann, an analyst at Raymond James & Associates Inc., said
in an interview. “There’s a refresh cycle occurring in the
servers space, and they are probably gaining share.” Intel, based in Santa Clara , California , rose as high as
$21.19 in extended trading after the report. The shares had
gained 24 cents to $19.86 at 4 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq
Stock Market. The stock has lost 5.6 percent this year. First-quarter net income rose 29 percent to $3.16 billion,
or 56 cents a share, from $2.44 billion, or 43 cents, a year
earlier. Analysts on average had estimated profit of 46 cents.
Sales increased 25 percent to $12.8 billion, compared with an
average prediction of $11.6 billion. Cloud Demand Customers are snapping up the machines needed to deliver
computing, software and storage over the Internet via the so-
called cloud. Sales of servers used to deliver cloud computing
may rise to $6.4 billion in 2014, representing 1.3 million
units, from $3.8 billion, or 600,000 units, last year, according
to researcher IDC. “The server business exceeded our expectations as strong
demand from the data-center segment continued,” Intel Chief
Financial Officer Stacy Smith said in a statement posted on
Intel’s website. Gross margin, the only indicator of profitability that
Intel forecasts, will be 61 percent, plus or minus a couple
percentage points, this quarter, the company said. Gross margin the percentage of sales remaining after deducting production
costs was 61 percent in the first quarter. Server Sales The company’s sales of chips for servers, storage and
networking devices should reach $10 billion this year, Chief
Executive Officer Paul Otellini said on a conference call to
discuss earnings. “What we are witnessing is an explosion of computing
devices that connect to the Internet, and Intel is a big part of
this trend,” Otellini said. The chipmaker also expects more companies to buy computers
based on its microprocessors as they continue to refresh their
PCs. Intel estimates that 75 percent of corporate computers
still run Microsoft Corp.’s Windows XP software. PC sales should
grow at a percentage in the low double digits in 2011, Otellini
said. Intel also faced challenges in the first quarter. The
company said in January that one of the support chips it makes
for its microprocessors had a flaw that would cost it $300
million in sales in the first quarter. It predicted having to
spend $700 million on replacing faulty chips and systems. On April 13, IDC said global personal-computer shipments
unexpectedly fell 3.2 percent in the first quarter as businesses
and consumers held off on purchasing new PCs. The market-
research firm also said the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in
Japan and unrest in the Middle East may have disrupted PC sales. Mobile, Tablet Laggard The results may help quell investors’ concerns that the
company has yet to parlay its dominance in PCs into market share
for mobile-phone and tablet chips. Apple’s iPad tablet works on a mobile-phone processor based
on technology from ARM Holdings Plc. (ARM) Some makers of rival
tablets have opted for less power-hungry chip designs than Intel
now offers. The popularity of tablets is cutting into sales of
cheaper laptop computers , said Christopher Danely, an analyst at
JPMorgan Chase & Co. On April 11, Intel announced a new product, called Oak
Trail and sold under its Atom brand, that is 60 percent smaller
than its predecessor and will provide “all-day” battery life
in touch-screen computers. And the company has designed a
handset that may be manufactured by China ’s ZTE Corp., according
to two people with knowledge of the plan. On the call today, the company touched on how it plans to
gain ground in mobile devices, particularly chips for phones, a
market dominated by rivals like Qualcomm Inc. Some 35 tablets based on Intel’s chips should come out this
year, the bulk of them based on Google Inc.’s Android operating
system, Otellini said. He said he would be “very disappointed”
if there’s not a phone based on Intel’s chips available for sale
in 12 months. To contact the reporters on this story:
Olga Kharif in Portland , Oregon , at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Tom Giles at [email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Grupo Mexico First-Quarter Profit Rises on Copper Prices | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/grupo-mexico-first-quarter-profit-rises-on-copper-prices-1-.html
| B y C a r l o s M a n u e l R o d r i g u e z | Grupo Mexico SAB, the country’s
largest mining company, said first-quarter profit rose 47
percent on increased copper prices and production. Net income gained to $531.7 million, from $361.9 million in
the year-earlier period, the Mexico City-based company said
today in a statement to the Stock Exchange. Sales climbed 26
percent to $2.5 billion. No per-share figure was given. Copper futures averaged $4.377 a pound in the quarter, 33
percent higher than in the year-earlier period. Output rose 5.2
percent after the company resumed production at its Buenavista
and Cananea copper mines. Still, the mining group, controlled by
billionaire German Larrea, is grappling with higher electricity
and fuel costs, and the appreciation of the Mexican peso. Grupo Mexico fell 54 centavos, or 1.4 percent, to 37.4
pesos as of 11:01 a.m. on the Mexico Stock Exchange. The stock
has dropped 11 percent in the past five trading days. To contact the reporter on this story:
Carlos Manuel Rodriguez in Mexico City at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dale Crofts at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Barcelona Appeals Proposed UEFA Ban for Midfielder Iniesta, Club Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/barcelona-appeals-proposed-uefa-ban-for-midfielder-iniesta-club-says.html
| B y B o b B e n s c h | Barcelona has appealed a proposed
suspension for Andres Iniesta after the midfielder allegedly got
a yellow card on purpose during a recent Champions League match
against Shakhtar Donetsk . UEFA’s disciplinary committee will rule on the matter
tomorrow, Barcelona said on its website . A ban would keep
Iniesta out of next week’s first semifinal game against
archrival Real Madrid. Iniesta was booked in the first half of the 5-1 opening
quarterfinal game on April 6, earning him a mandatory one-game
ban for the return match, which Barcelona won 1-0. The
midfielder’s disciplinary slate was then wiped clean for the
next game. “The proposed sanction comes as a result of a report from
UEFA match officials at the game, who have alleged that the
yellow card was deliberately incurred so that the player would
be suspended for the return leg,” Barcelona said on the
website. “FC Barcelona believe that the arguments outlined in
their appeal, based on the good faith of the player and the
disproportionate nature of the proposed sanction, will be
sufficient to rebut these allegations.” Real Madrid hosts the first semifinal game April 27, with
the return match six days later at the Nou Camp Stadium. The
winner will meet Manchester United or Schalke in the final May
28 at London’s Wembley Stadium. 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] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Hartford Financial May Need to Bolster Japan Unit, S&P Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/hartford-financial-may-need-to-bolster-japan-business-s-p-says.html
| B y A n d r e w F r y e | Hartford Financial Services Group
Inc. (HIG) , the insurer that repaid a $3.4 billion bailout, may have
to bolster its Japan unit as last month’s earthquake cuts the
value of securities tied to client guarantees. “The company may need to increase the capital it holds to
support its Japanese annuity business, but we believe it
maintains appropriate capital redundancy to withstand this,”
Standard & Poor’s said today in a statement on Hartford, based
in the Connecticut city of the same name. S&P raised its outlook
on Hartford’s BBB credit rating to “stable” from “negative”
last month. Hartford’s obligations in Japan stem from guarantees made
to clients that bought variable annuities, the equity-based
retirement products. In 2009, the company halted new sales in
Japan while retaining liabilities tied to annuities sold before
the financial crisis. When Japanese stocks fall, those
liabilities may increase. The Nikkei 225 (NKY) Index has dropped 9.5 percent since March
10, the day before the earthquake. To contact the reporter on this story:
Andrew Frye in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Kraut at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Bowe Bell & Howell Seeks Bankruptcy, Sells Itself to Versa to Pay Debts | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/bowe-bell-howell-seeks-bankruptcy-sells-itself-to-versa-to-pay-debts.html
| B y J o e S c h n e i d e r a n d P h i l M i l f o r d | Bowe Bell & Howell, a maker of
high-speed mail-sorting equipment and software developer, sought
bankruptcy court protection and agreed to sell itself to
creditor Versa Capital Management Inc. to pay off debt. The company, based in Wheeling, Illinois, and related to
the Bell & Howell movie-projector maker, listed as much as
$500 million each of debt and assets in yesterday’s Chapter 11
filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. Versa holds a majority of the debt, which will be resolved
through the sale, the company said in a statement distributed by
Business Wire . A hearing is tentatively scheduled for May 4 to
set auction procedures. Its BBH Canada unit will ask an Ontario Superior Court
judge to recognize the U.S. bankruptcy proceedings, the company
said. That would prevent creditors in Canada from suing to
recoup their debts. “While the past few years have been challenging for most
businesses, they have been especially so for BBH due to a
variety of legacy factors,” Chief Executive Officer George Marton said in the statement. “We have also received
commitments from Versa to provide new financing.” Among the company’s largest unsecured creditors listed in
court papers are Boewe Systec GmbH of Augsburg, Germany , owed
$12.7 million; and the company’s pension plan, owed
$10.9 million. The closely held firm, also known as Boewe Bell & Howell,
employs about 1,600 people. Bell & Howell started making film
projectors in the early 20th century in Chicago and later sold
movie cameras. Bowe Systec bought a 50 percent stake in Bell &
Howell in 2002 and now owns 100 percent, according to court
papers. The case is In re Bowe Bell & Howell Holdings Inc., 11-
11186. U.S. Bankruptcy Court , District of Delaware (Wilmington). To contact the reporters on this story:
Joe Schneider in Sydney at
[email protected] ;
Phil Milford in Wilmington, Delaware
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Douglas Wong at [email protected] ;
John Pickering at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | China’s Mobile Ads Will Double to $1.16 Billion in 2014, EMarketer Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/china-s-mobile-ads-will-top-1-billion-in-2014-emarketer-says.html
| B y D o u g l a s M a c M i l l a n | Advertising on mobile devices in
China will more than double to $1.16 billion in the next three
years, growing faster than the U.S. market, according to a
report by EMarketer Inc. Mobile advertising in China will grow 158 percent by 2014,
EMarketer predicted in a report to be published today. In the
U.S., mobile ad sales will grow 131 percent to $2.55 billion
over the same period, the report said. Advertisers are boosting spending on text and graphic
display ads for handheld devices in China as portions of the
world’s largest Web market increasingly migrate to mobile
phones. The country will add almost 200 million mobile Internet
users over the next three years, bringing the total to 568
million in 2014, according to EMarketer. “Because mobile devices are often the primary way that
consumers access digital content” in China and other emerging
markets, advertisers enjoy a “heightened appeal relative to a
more mature market, where you have higher PC penetration
rates,” said Noah Elkin, principal analyst at EMarketer in New
York . Emerging markets for mobile advertising such as India,
Brazil and Russia are growing at even faster rates than China.
India’s mobile ad spending will total $190 million in 2014, up
more than threefold from this year. Brazil’s mobile ads will
grow almost fivefold to $117 million in the same period. Mobile
advertising in Russia will more than triple to $72 million in
2014. In the U.S., competition for mobile ad dollars has drawn
large technology companies to make acquisitions in the industry.
Google Inc. (GOOG) purchased mobile ad provider AdMob last year for
about $700 million. The same year, Apple Inc. (AAPL) acquired Quattro
Wireless, another startup selling ads placed on mobile devices. To contact the reporter on this story:
Douglas MacMillan in San Francisco at
[email protected] . To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Tom Giles at [email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | U.S. Bancorp Profit Rises 56% on Lower Credit-Loss Provision | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/u-s-bancorp-profit-rises-56-to-1-05-billion-on-lower-credit-provisions.html
| B y L a u r a M a r c i n e k | U.S. Bancorp, Minnesota ’s largest
bank, reported first-quarter profit rose 56 percent to the
highest in three years on lower credit costs. Net income increased to $1.05 billion, or 52 cents a share,
from $669 million, or 34 cents, in the same period a year
earlier, the Minneapolis-based bank said in a statement today.
The average estimate of 27 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was
for 49 cents. Credit-loss provisions declined 42 percent to $755
million from $1.31 billion. U.S. Bancorp, run by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Richard Davis, last month boosted its quarterly dividend 150
percent to 12.5 cents a share after the Federal Reserve didn’t
object to its proposed capital plan. The company also approved
an authorization to repurchase as many as 50 million common
shares. “The economy is slowly recovering,” Davis said in the
statement. “We can see it in our customers’ actions from
growth in small business lending to higher payment processing
transaction volumes to improving credit metrics and,
importantly, in our customers’ outlook.” U.S. Bancorp fell 31 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $25.25 at
4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The
shares have declined 6.4 percent this year. The bank’s average total loan growth of 0.7 percent in the
first quarter from the fourth quarter was “wholly
insufficient” and fell short of his expectation of 1.5 percent
to 2 percent, Davis said in a conference call after earnings
were announced. Credit Not Used “We have people we continue to bank that are ready to use
the line but demonstrating when they have the availability of
credit they are not using it,” he said. The results included a $46 million gain related to the
January acquisition of First Community Bank of New Mexico , a
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.-assisted transaction, U.S.
Bancorp said in the statement. “We will certainly look at opportunities that are
presented to us, but right now nothing is being presented, so
there aren’t a lot of opportunities in the market place,” Chief
Financial Officer Andrew Cecere said in an interview today. Net charge-offs fell 29 percent to $805 million in the
first quarter from $1.14 billion a year earlier. The decrease
was attributable to improvement in U.S. Bancorp’s commercial
real estate, credit-card and other retail portfolios, according
to the statement. Net interest income increased 4.3 percent to $2.51 billion
from $2.4 billion in the first quarter last year, the bank said.
Net interest margin, the difference between what a bank pays on
deposits and charges for loans, narrowed to 3.7 percent from 3.9
percent last year. To contact the reporter on this story:
Laura Marcinek in New York at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Scheer at
[email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Mitsui’s Moex, Anadarko Sue BP Over Gulf Blowout, Oil Spill | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/bp-partner-moex-claims-breach-of-contract-over-gulf-well.html
| B y M a r g a r e t C r o n i n F i s k a n d L a u r e l B r u b a k e r C a l k i n s | BP Plc (BP/) was sued by Mitsui & Co.’s
Moex Offshore LLC unit and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) over
economic losses from the blown-out Macondo well and the Gulf of
Mexico oil spill that followed. Moex and Anadarko, both minority partners in the well,
claim BP broke its partnership agreement and have asked a
federal judge in New Orleans to declare they aren’t responsible
for damages and cleanup costs created by the worst offshore oil
spill in U.S. history. The companies said BP was responsible for
the blowout and the spill. “BP’s conduct was the proximate cause of foreseeable
damage suffered by Moex Offshore, including claims made against
it for liability for death, personal injury, cleanup costs,
economic loss, loss of investment, lost profits and any damages
or fines assessed in pending or future proceedings involving the
spill,” Moex said in a court filing yesterday. The Macondo well blew up one year ago today, setting off
the spill and leading to hundreds of lawsuits against BP and its
partners and contractors. Moex and Anadarko, saying they had no
fault in the blow-out and spill, also accused Transocean Ltd. (RIG) ,
the owner of the rig that drilled the well, of gross negligence.
Switzerland-based Transocean was responsible along with BP for
the damages, according to Moex and Anadarko. ‘No Evidence’ BP, based in London , has said it expects its minority
partners in the damaged well to pay their share of billions of
dollars in cleanup costs, oil-spill damages and pollution fines.
Moex, which had a 10 percent stake in the well, and The
Woodlands, Texas-based Anadarko, with a 25 percent stake, deny
having any decision-making role or prior knowledge of the way BP
operated the drilling project. “No evidence exists to support a claim of gross negligence
against Transocean,” Brian Kennedy, a spokesman for the
drilling company, said in an e-mail. “Moex’s filing contains a number of specific allegations
against BP that are not supported by fact or by law,” Daren Beaudo , a BP spokesman, said in an e-mail yesterday before
Anadarko made its filing. “BP will respond to the complaint in
a timely manner.” ‘Lacking in Merit’ Anadarko’s filing is “an attempt to avoid honoring its
obligations under the Macondo operating agreement,” Scott Dean ,
another BP spokesman, said in an e-mail today. “This lawsuit is
completely lacking in merit, and BP firmly believes that it did
not act in a grossly negligent manner.” BP plans to file a motion sending Anadarko’s claims to
arbitration, Dean said. “From the outset, BP, alone, has committed to paying all
legitimate claims and fulfilling its obligations to the Gulf
communities” under the Oil Pollution Act, he said. “BP has
already paid out more than $5 billion.” Moex said in its filing yesterday that it “suffered
economic losses as a result of BP’s negligence, including the
loss to the reservoir, the loss of its investments, lost profits
and defense costs, including attorneys’ fees.” Anadarko is also seeking damages for the loss of the oil in
the exploration area, loss of its investments and lost profit,
contending BP “breached its duties to Anadarko by committing
acts of gross negligence and willful misconduct in reckless
disregard of the rights and safety of others,” according to its
claim filed yesterday. BP “recklessly made multiple decisions” before the
explosion to save time and money, Anadarko said. The case is part of 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 Southfield, Michigan, at [email protected] ;
Laurel Brubaker Calkins in Houston at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Hytha at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Egypt Banking System Outlook Revised to Negative at Moody’s | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/egypt-banking-system-outlook-revised-to-negative-at-moody-s-1-.html
| B y M a h m o u d K a s s e m | Moody’s Investors Service revised
the outlook for the Egyptian banking service in the next 12 to
18 months to “negative” from “stable.” The change reflects the “elevated political uncertainty”
in Egypt following an uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in February and the weakened macroeconomic outlook,
Nondas Nicolaides and Yves Lemay, wrote in a statement today. “Even though Egypt’s ruling military regime has committed
to holding democratic elections in order to meet people’s
demands, Moody’s believes that there are still elevated risks
involved in an orderly transition toward democratic rule,”
Limassol, Cyprus-based Nicolaides was cited as saying. Moody’s expects the country’s economy to slow, growing
around 2 percent in the next 12 to 18 months due to a decline in
tourism, and direct foreign investment. To contact the reporter responsible for this story:
Mahmoud Kassem at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Geithner Sees Progress Toward Accord to Reduce Record U.S. Budget Deficits | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/geithner-sees-progress-toward-accord-to-reduce-record-u-s-budget-deficits.html
| B y I a n K a t z a n d P e t e r C o o k | Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said he’s confident U.S. political leaders will bridge
their differences and move toward a long-term plan to narrow
record budget deficits and reduce the debt. “We have an opportunity now over the next two months to
make some real progress,” Geithner said in an interview on
Bloomberg Television today. “What we agree on is putting in
place strong targets for savings, deficit reduction over a
specific time frame with enforceable limits,” he said. Geithner also said he “absolutely” didn’t have to
reassure overseas buyers of U.S. debt after Standard & Poor’s
lowered the outlook on the nation’s AAA rating to “negative”
yesterday. President Barack Obama today begins a tour promoting
his proposal to cut long-term budget deficits as Democrats and
Republicans use the S&P decision to bolster their competing
arguments on the best way to reduce gaps. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell one
basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 3.37 percent at 5 p.m.
in New York today. The yield is down from 3.80 percent a year
ago and below the average of 5.21 percent over the last two
decades, even with the U.S. projected to post a deficit in
excess of $1 trillion for a third consecutive year. “There’s a lot of confidence in the capacity of this
economy to grow, to make sure that we can meet our commitments
or obligations,” Geithner said. “You can see that in the price
at which we borrow every day.” In a separate interview with Fox
Business Network today, he said the U.S. will “absolutely”
keep its AAA credit rating. Top Rating S&P said the government risks losing its top rating unless
policy makers agree on a plan by 2013 to reduce deficits and the
national debt. The company maintained the rating on U.S. long-
term debt while lowering its outlook for the first time. Geithner also said today that so-called entitlement
programs “have to be” part of the discussion on deficit
reduction. “The only way to do this in a way that’s responsible is to
do a balanced, comprehensive package,” he said. The
administration and Congress need to work together in coming
months to agree on a framework for cutting deficits, he said. Turning to Europe , Geithner said leaders are following
through on pledges to help Greece and Ireland weather the
sovereign-debt crisis. “If you look at what the governments of Greece, of Ireland
and many others are doing, they are doing incredibly difficult
reforms to help make sure they bring their deficits down, their
economies are restructured, financial systems stronger,” he
said. European leaders “have the capacity to do this” and
“have said they will do whatever is necessary to make sure they
can help those countries manage those challenges, get through
this problem,” Geithner said. “They’re making some progress.” To contact the reporters on this story:
Ian Katz in Washington at
[email protected] ;
Peter Cook in Washington at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christopher Wellisz at
[email protected] ; | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | British Olympic Bodies Settle 2012 Games Dispute Over Funding Distribution | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/british-olympic-bodies-settle-2012-games-dispute-over-funding-distribution.html
| B y C h r i s E l s e r | The British Olympic Association and
the organizers of the 2012 London Games settled a dispute over
funding of the national teams that was headed for arbitration. The BOA and the local organizing committee ended their
disagreement after several days of negotiations, they said today
in an e-mailed statement. Under the terms, the local organizing committee, once it
has a “sufficient surplus,” will share funds with the BOA and
the British Paralympic Association after the event, while
distributing 60 percent of a surplus for the benefit of sport in
the U.K., 20 percent to the International Olympic Committee and
20 percent to the BOA, the statement said. To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Chris Elser at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | England Cricket Offers Flower New Deal to Fend Off India, Telegraph Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/england-cricket-offers-flower-new-deal-to-fend-off-india-telegraph-says.html
| B y D a n B a y n e s | England cricket coach Andy Flower
has been offered a new three-year contract in an attempt to
stave off any moves from India to hire him, the Daily Telegraph
reported. India has Flower on its shortlist to replace coach Gary Kirsten, who left after the April 2 World Cup final win over Sri
Lanka, the newspaper said. Flower is scheduled to meet Hugh
Morris, the managing director of the England team, at the end of
this month to discuss his future and the direction of the
England setup, the newspaper added. Flower, 42, guided England to two Ashes series wins and the
2010 ICC World Twenty20 title since being appointed in April
2009. The team is currently ranked No. 3 in elite Tests and
fifth in one-day internationals. To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Baynes at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Wolin Says Treasury Will Resist Efforts to Slow Dodd-Frank | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/wolin-says-treasury-will-resist-efforts-to-slow-dodd-frank-rules.html
| B y R e b e c c a C h r i s t i e | Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin said the Obama administration will resist efforts by
lobbyists and Republican lawmakers to slow the changes required
by the Dodd-Frank overhaul of U.S. financial regulations. “We must move forward with implementing this law,” Wolin
said today in a speech at the Pew Charitable Trusts in
Washington . “We are doing so quickly, carefully and
responsibly. We will continue to do so in the face of these
criticisms. And we will continue to oppose efforts to slow down,
weaken, or repeal these essential reforms .” Dodd-Frank, the sweeping rules overhaul enacted last year,
created a council of regulators to expand oversight of the
country’s biggest financial firms in response to the 2008 credit
crisis that led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
The law also bolsters supervision of derivatives trading as well
as consumer lending and proprietary trading by banks. Republican lawmakers, including House Financial Services
Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus , wrote to regulators in March,
urging them to slow implementation to ensure there is sufficient
time to gather public comment and to ensure the new rules don’t
inhibit economic growth. ‘Speed Kills’ “All of us know that on the highway ‘speed kills,’”
Bachus of Alabama said today in a statement responding to
Wolin’s remarks. “Speed can also kill jobs when Washington
rushes sweeping regulations into place without giving the public
adequate time to comment.” The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association,
Wall Street’s biggest lobbying group, said Dodd-Frank shouldn’t
be rushed “for the sake of meeting arbitrary deadlines,”
according to a statement released after Wolin’s speech. “Rushing to meet deadlines without proper thought,
analysis and coordination amongst regulators will only result in
a fragmented regulatory structure, regulatory arbitrage, and
uncertainty in the market place,” Tim Ryan, Sifma’s president
and chief executive officer, said in the statement. Moving too
hastily “would lead investors to withhold capital desperately
needed to fuel economic growth,” he said. Regulators are taking steps to make derivatives markets
more resilient and transparent to reduce the risk and costs of a
potential crisis, Wolin said. Proposed rules take into account
the lower risk posed by commercial end-users who use derivatives
contracts to hedge operations rather than to speculate, he said. ‘Further Clarified’ “The statute does not allow capital requirements to be
imposed on commercial end-users of derivatives,” Wolin said.
“Recently, the regulators have further clarified in the
proposed rules that when these end-users operate within
established risk limits, they will not have to post margin on
their contracts leaving that capital free for job creation
and investment.” Regulators have proposed two sets of rules for margin
requirements in swap transactions that may force commercial end-
users such as airlines and large manufacturers to set aside
money to reduce risk in certain trades. End-users would escape margin requirements in swaps with
non-bank dealers or major swap participants under a proposal by
the Commodity Futures Trading Commission . A joint proposal
released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. , the Federal
Reserve and three other regulators could force end-users to post
margin in swaps with banks. Wolin also said the Office of Financial Research, created
by the law to help agencies collect and coordinate information,
is “hard at work” even though it doesn’t have a director. He
said he expects a voting member who specializes in insurance
oversight to be named “quite soon” to the Financial Stability
Oversight Council. To contact the reporter on this story:
Rebecca Christie in Washington at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christopher Wellisz at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Pop. Milano to Raise Up to 1.2 Billion Euros to Boost Capital | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/pop-milano-to-raise-up-to-1-2-billion-euros-to-boost-capital.html
| B y S o n i a S i r l e t t i | Banca Popolare di Milano Scarl (PMI)
plans to raise as much as 1.2 billion euros ($1.7 million) by
selling new shares after the Bank of Italy asked the country’s
oldest cooperative bank to strengthen capital. The Milan-based lender will ask shareholders at a meeting
in June to approve the plan, it said in a statement today. Popolare di Milano joins other Italian lenders including
Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, Unione di banche Italiane SCPA, Banco
Popolare SC and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, that this
year asked investors for a total of 11.5 billion euros through
capital-raising plans. Pop. Milano, which has to reimburse a 500 million-euro
government bond by 2013, received a letter from the Bank of
Italy asking it to reinforce its capital, two people familiar
with the situation said April 14. The central bank also
expressed concern about the lender’s governance because of the
presence of labor unions on the board, the people said. The bank expects to have a core Tier 1 capital ratio of 9.8
percent in 2013 following the capital increase. It also plans
to sell “non-strategic minority interests,” to further boost
capital, it said today. Banca Akros SpA and Mediobanca SpA will manage the share
sale. To contact the reporter on this story:
Sonia Sirletti in Milan at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Frank Connelly at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Kazakhs to Manage Stakes in Failed Lenders Via New Vehicle | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/kazakhs-to-manage-stakes-in-failed-lenders-via-new-vehicle-1-.html
| B y N a r i m a n G i z i t d i n o v | Kazakhstan will consolidate state
stakes in BTA Bank, Temirbank and Alliance Bank, three of the
four Kazakh lenders that defaulted in 2009, in a new management
company, central bank Chairman Grigori Marchenko said. Yelena Bakhmutova, former chief of the disbanded Agency for
Financial Supervision, will head the new company, which will be
under management of the National Wellbeing Fund Samruk-Kazyna,
Marchenko told reporters in Almaty today. The state-owned Samruk-Kazyna bought a stake in BTA in
early 2009 and the government later took over Temirbank and
Alliance after credit markets froze and the country’s property
bubble burst. BTA, Temirbank and Alliance Bank have reached restructuring
deals with creditors, allowing them to write off about $11
billion of debt. The government owns 81.48 percent of ordinary
shares in BTA, 67 percent in Alliance and 79.9 percent in
Temirbank, according to the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange website . Kuat Kozhakhmetov, former deputy chief of the Agency for
Financial Supervision, was appointed acting head of a new
financial supervision committee in the central bank, Marchenko
said. The regulator was disbanded, with its functions
transferred to the central bank, according to Marchenko. To contact the reporter on this story:
Nariman Gizitdinov in Almaty at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Steve Voss at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Richest Polish Banker Bets on Mortgages for 10% Growth | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/poland-s-richest-banker-czarnecki-sees-home-loans-pushing-growth-above-10-.html
| B y P a w e l K o z l o w s k i a n d M a r t a W a l d o c h | Leszek Czarnecki, the Polish
banking billionaire who owns Getin Holding SA (GTN) , says rising
demand for mortgages and corporate banking services will keep
his group’s annual asset growth over 10 percent in coming years. Getin, Poland’s best-performing financial stock this year,
is considering more takeovers to spur growth after buying banks
from Allianz SE (ALV) and Ally Financial Inc. in 2010 as foreign
investors sold assets amid the global credit crisis, Czarnecki
said in an interview in his Warsaw office. Its biggest
competitors are units of UniCredit SpA (UCG) , Commerzbank AG (CBK) and ING
Groep NV (INGA) as well as Poland’s PKO Bank Polski SA. “Most of the Polish banking sector is owned by huge global
players, whose appetite for growth, new portfolio and new credit
was reduced significantly,” Czarnecki said. “This is actually
our window for growth” either by acquisitions or by expanding
current operations. Shares of Getin, which owns Getin Noble Bank SA, insurer
Europa SA and financial-services broker Open Finance SA, fell
0.5 percent to 14.82 zloty at 12:21 p.m. in Warsaw, trimming
this year’s gain to 30 percent to value the group at $3.8
billion. Czarnecki owns 56 percent of Getin, whose assets more
than doubled in the last three years to 47 billion zloty. “After the 2009 slowdown we have a rebound, and this year
and 2012 should be really good” for the banking industry,
Marcin Materna, an analyst at Bank Millennium SA, said by
telephone. “Revenue and fees keep rising, and Getin has the
fastest growth pace in the sector.” Profits Surge In Poland , the largest central European country and the
only economy to avoid recession in 2009, banking profits surged
41 percent in 2010 from a year earlier. Gross domestic product
is expected to grow by about 4 percent this year and next,
according to government estimates, compared with forecasts for
the euro region of 1.6 percent this year and 1.8 percent in
2012, according to the International Monetary Fund . The projections for growth in central and eastern Europe
are of 3.7 percent this year and 4 percent in 2012. “My feeling is really very positive, at least for the next
three to five years,” said Czarnecki, 48, the third-wealthiest
Pole after Jan Kulczyk , who owns brewing, automotive and
infrastructure assets and Zygmunt Solorz-Zak, a media investor,
according to the local edition of Forbes. “I strongly believe
that we will reach double-digit growth while the whole Polish
banking sector may grow about five or eight percent” a year. Ukraine, Belarus, Russia Getin was the second-largest mortgage lender in Poland last
year and started Idea Bank SA, a lender for small and medium-
sized enterprises. It’s also expanding banks in neighboring
Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. “In consumer finance, I would expect double-digit growth
as the level of retail loans in Poland is far below that in
developed countries,” said Czarnecki. “Corporate banking will
probably be the most rapidly growing segment in Poland, in all
kinds of forms, including credits, leasing, factoring and
corporate finance.” Polish banks awarded 48.6 billion zloty in home loans last
year, up 26 percent from a year earlier, according to data on
the banking association’s website . The industry group expects
this year mortgages will be close to the 2010 level. Czarnecki, who holds the world’s record for the longest
passage in cave-diving , in 2001 sold Europejski Fundusz
Leasingowy SA, Poland’s first leasing company, to Credit
Agricole SA (ACA) for 412 million euros and a 25 percent stake in the
French bank’s Polish unit, and reinvested the money into the
Getin group. Underwater Engineering The leasing company was founded in 1991 after Czarnecki
sold the underwater engineering company he started five years
earlier. Czarnecki, a graduate in sanitation engineering who holds a
Ph.D. in economics has no plans to sell his stake in Getin even
as valuations are more than twice the European average. Banks
listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on average trade at 2 times
book value, compared with the 0.9 times average for banks in the
Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index. Getin
trades at 2.4 times book value, Bloomberg data showed. “We have no plans to sell Getin but on the other hand I
must say I’m a very pragmatic man,” Czarnecki said. “We’re in
no talks and no one has approached us to buy the group.” Poland is also one of the few markets where bank assets are
for sale as some Western lenders pull out to repair balance
sheets or comply with European Union conditions for state aid. Basel Requirements Because western banks will also need to prepare for higher
capital requirements under the Basel III regulations, Czarnecki
expects fewer foreign investors to bid for Polish financial
assets than a decade ago. “Nevertheless, some players will still seek to expand in
Europe and will come to Poland,” he said. Banco Santander SA (SAN) of Spain in March completed a 4 billion-
euro ($5.8 billion) purchase of Poland’s Bank Zachodni WBK SA (BZW)
from Allied Irish Banks Plc, and Raiffeisen Bank International
AG (RBI) of Austria in February agreed to buy EFG Eurobank Ergasias
SA’s Polish business in a 490 million-euro transaction that will
allow it to almost double assets in the country. “Poland is a European Union member, expands quite rapidly
and is a very interesting market for everybody,” Czarnecki
said. “I believe that a few more players will still want to
throw their weight around in Europe and will come to Poland.” For Related News and Information: To contact the reporters on this story:
Pawel Kozlowski in Warsaw at
[email protected] ;
Marta Waldoch in Warsaw at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Gavin Serkin at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Brazil to Approve BP, Devon Deal Soon, Regulator Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/brazil-regulator-to-approve-bp-devon-deal-soon-chambriard-says.html
| B y P e t e r M i l l a r d | BP Plc (BP/) , whose stock lost a third
since the biggest U.S. oil spill, will get Brazil’s approval to
buy Devon Energy Corp.’s assets in the country shortly, a
government official said. The Brazilian oil regulator has authorized BP to operate in
the country and there should be “no problem” approving the
$3.2 billion purchase of Devon’s exploration blocks, including
areas in deep waters of the Campos Basin, Magda Chambriard, a
director at the agency, told reporters in Rio de Janeiro today. BP has signed exploration agreements in Australia, Russia
and India this year as it expands in emerging markets. Brazil is
a “critical” country for BP because U.S. exploration has
slowed after the spill at the offshore Macondo well last year,
said Gianna Bern , president of Brookshire Advisory and Research,
a Chicago-based adviser to oil producers. “Reducing exposure to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico is going to
be increasingly important to BP,” said Bern in a telephone
interview. “The permitting process is going to be very slow in
the Gulf of Mexico.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Peter Millard in Rio de Janeiro at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dale Crofts at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Scangroup of Kenya Climbs Most in 6 Months as Profit Surges | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/scangroup-of-kenya-full-year-profit-surges-as-advertising-spending-jumps.html
| B y E r i c O m b o k | Scangroup Ltd., East Africa’s
biggest marketing company by sales, climbed the most in six
months after saying full-year profit rose 60 percent as revenue
surged on “significant growth” in advertising spending. Net income advanced to 640.6 million shillings ($7.64
million) in the 12 months through December from 401.2 million
shillings a year earlier, the Nairobi-based company said in a
statement distributed by the city’s stock exchange today.
Billings more than doubled to 11.4 billion shillings, it said. The “increase in advertising spend benefited the company
and its Ogilvy subsidiary,” Sterling Investment Bank Ltd., a
Nairobi-based brokerage, said in an e-mailed note to clients.
Scangroup acquired 50 percent of Ogilvy East Africa and 51
percent of Ogilvy Africa in October in a cash and stock
transaction worth 418 million shillings. Advertising spending is accelerating in Kenya amid
expectations that growth in East Africa’s largest economy may
accelerate to 5.7 percent this year from 5.2 percent last year.
Scangroup’s clients include Kenya Airways Ltd. (KNAL) , the national
airline, Kenya Commercial Bank , the nation’s biggest lender by
outlets, and Serena Hotels. Scangroup shares jumped 7.7 percent to 56 shillings by the
3 p.m. close in Nairobi, the biggest increase since Oct. 7. The
stock has declined 8.9 percent this year, compared with a 9.4
percent drop in the benchmark NSE 20 index over the same period. The company’s directors proposed a bonus share for every
five held and a dividend of 70 cents each, according to the
company statement. To contact the reporter on this story:
Eric Ombok in Nairobi at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Shaji Mathew at
[email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Crude Oil Rises for Second Day on Improving Outlook for Global Fuel Demand | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/oil-near-two-day-high-after-u-s-housing-starts-beat-economist-forecasts.html
| B y B e n S h a r p l e s | Oil advanced for a second day in
New York , climbing more than $1 a barrel, as signs of an
improving economy in the U.S., the world’s biggest consumer of
crude, stoked speculation demand for fuel may increase. Futures for June delivery gained as much as 1.2 percent,
extending yesterday’s 0.6 percent increase, before a report
forecast to show an improving U.S. housing market. Oil also rose
as earnings at companies from Intel Corp . to South Korea ’s LG
Chem Ltd. bolstered confidence in the economic recovery. “We could expect more of an upbeat reporting season, and
that may feed through to optimism,” said Jonathan Barratt ,
managing director of Commodity Broking Services Pty in Sydney. Crude oil for June delivery rose as much as $1.32 to
$109.60 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York
Mercantile Exchange . It was at $109.55 at 9:38 a.m. London time.
Yesterday, it added 59 cents to $108.28, the highest since April
15. The May contract, which expired yesterday, gained $1.03 to
settle at $108.15. Brent crude for June settlement climbed
$1.37, or 1.1 percent, to $122.70 a barrel on the London-based
ICE Futures Europe exchange. Yesterday, it slipped 28 cents, or
0.2 percent, to $121.33. Purchases of existing U.S. homes climbed 2.5 percent in
March after dropping 9.6 percent in February, according to a
Bloomberg News survey before the National Association of
Realtors report today. A Commerce Department report yesterday
showed work began on 549,000 houses at an annual pace, up 7.2
percent from the prior month and exceeding the 520,000 median
forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Weaker Dollar The Dollar Index, a measure of the currency versus those of
six U.S. trading partners, slid for a second day to 74.69,
Bloomberg data showed. It is down 5.5 percent since the start of
the year. A decline in the dollar makes commodities priced in
the U.S. currency more attractive for investors. “The weaker U.S. dollar and stronger equities offset
concerns over European sovereign debt and slowing demand from
high oil prices ,” Mark Pervan , head of commodity research at
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Melbourne, said in
a note today. U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose 667,000 barrels last week to
356.1 million, according to the industry-funded American
Petroleum Institute. An Energy Department report today may show
supplies increased 1.3 million barrels from 359.3 million,
according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts. Gasoline supplies fell 1.8 million barrels to 212.7 million
and distillate fuels, including diesel, declined 3.4 million
barrels to 146.8 million, the API said. Housing Starts The Commerce Department said work began on 549,000 houses
at an annual pace, up 7.2 percent from the prior month and
exceeding the 520,000 median estimate of economists surveyed by
Bloomberg News. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.6
percent to 1,312.62 at the 4 p.m. close in New York. Oil traded at the highest since 2008 last week as fighting
in Libya threatened to prolong supply cuts from Africa ’s third
largest producer. Unrest in the Middle East and North Africa has toppled
leaders in Egypt and Tunisia and spread to Libya, Algeria,
Bahrain, Iran, Oman, Syria and Yemen. Libyan crude output, which
averaged 1.6 million barrels a day last year, shrank to 390,000
barrels a day in March, according to a Bloomberg News survey of
producers, analysts and companies. Syrian activists said at least 18 protesters have died in
clashes in the three days since President Bashar al-Assad
ordered the Cabinet to make changes aimed at calming dissent.
The government blamed terrorists for the violence, saying a
general and three relatives were killed. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan suspended his interior
minister after protests against his election victory killed at
least six people in Africa’s biggest oil producer. Clashes
between Christians and Muslims broke out for a second day in the
northern city of Kaduna, Shehu Sani, head of the Civil Rights
Congress, said April 18. To contact the reporter on this story:
Ben Sharples in Melbourne at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Alexander Kwiatkowski at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Sinopec’s Cut in Chemical Output to Lift Prices, Analyst Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/sinopec-s-cut-in-chemical-output-to-lift-prices-analyst-says.html
| B y J a c k K a s k e y | Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) and other ethylene
producers will obtain higher prices as China Petrochemical Corp.
cuts chemical output to bolster domestic fuel supplies, said an
analyst at Alembic Global Advisors. Sinopec Group, as Asia ’s biggest oil refiner is known, is
halting fuel exports and cutting petrochemical production to
boost output of gasoline and diesel for domestic use, the
Beijing-based company said in its online newsletter today. It
has about 6.5 percent of global supply of ethylene, used to make
plastics, Hassan Ahmed , an Alembic analyst, said today. Sinopec’s cut will make ethylene markets tighter and help
price increases exceed 1.25 cents per pound in April and 2 cents
in May, the current forecast from Houston-based Chemical Market
Associates Inc., New York-based Ahmed said in a note. Ethylene
is currently about 54 cents a pound, he said. Beneficiaries include Dow Chemical, LyondellBasell
Industries NV (LYB) , Westlake Chemical Co., Industries Qatar and Saudi
Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) , he said. Sinopec may reduce ethylene output by 10 percent in May,
ICIS News reported yesterday, citing an unnamed person close to
the company. To contact the reporter on this story:
Jack Kaskey in Houston at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Simon Casey at [email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Brazil Real Climbs as Growth Optimism Overshadows Debt Concern | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/brazil-real-climbs-as-growth-optimism-overshadows-debt-concern.html
| B y J o s u e L e o n e l a n d G a b r i e l l e C o p p o l a | Brazil ’s real gained as corporate
earnings and economic data in the U.S. and Europe beat analysts’
estimates, boosting risk appetite and overshadowing sovereign
debt concern. The real advanced 0.5 percent to 1.5828 per dollar at 11:15
a.m. New York time, from 1.5900 yesterday. Stocks in Europe rebounded from the biggest drop in a month
and U.S. index futures advanced after Burberry Group Plc,
Britain’s biggest luxury retailer, said sales jumped 32 percent
in the most recent quarter, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the
fifth-biggest U.S. bank by assets, reported earnings per share
that were almost double analysts’ estimates. European services
and manufacturing growth unexpectedly accelerated in April,
suggesting the region’s economy is weathering surging energy
costs and tougher austerity measures. “There’s less risk aversion with the stocks recovering
from yesterday’s plunge,” said Luciano Rostagno , chief
strategist at CM Capital Markets Ltda., the fourth-biggest
currency broker on the BM&FBovespa exchange. “The European data
came better than expected,” he said in a telephone interview
from Sao Paulo. Standard & Poor’s yesterday lowered its outlook to negative
on the AAA credit rating of the U.S. Yields on interest-rate futures contracts due in January
fell 1 basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 12.26 percent.
The May contract indicated traders are splitting on whether
policy makers will raise the Selic rate by 25 basis points or 50
basis points from 11.75 percent at a meeting tomorrow. To contact the reporters on this story:
Josue Leonel in Sao Paulo at
[email protected] ;
Gabrielle Coppola in Sao Paulo at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Papadopoulos at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | S&P Tells Biggest Debtor Don’t Blow Final Act: Caroline Baum | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/s-p-tells-biggest-debtor-don-t-blow-final-act-commentary-by-caroline-baum.html
| B y C a r o l i n e B a u m | Rarely has a credit rating company
made such an astute observation of the human condition. “We believe there is a material risk that U.S. policy
makers might not reach an agreement on how to address medium-
and long-term budgetary challenges by 2013,” Standard & Poor’s
said on assigning a negative outlook to the U.S. AAA-credit
rating Monday. Any observer of the budget debate in Washington would have
to believe there’s a material risk, too. The U.S. Treasury , aware that any rise in interest rates
from increased credit risk would further damage its fiscal
position, was quick to counter S&P’s shot across the bow. The
negative outlook “underestimates the ability of America’s
leaders to come together” to solve the debt problem, Assistant
Secretary for Financial Markets Mary Miller said. Come together? Miller must be watching a different
theatrical production than I am. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner
was shuttled off to TV business channels yesterday to tell us
that, unlike S&P, his outlook on the U.S. fiscal situation isn’t
negative. Take a look at the first four acts of this drama, and you
decide who’s right. Act I: Dec. 1, 2010. Moment of Truth. President Barack Obama ’s National Commission on Fiscal
Responsibility and Reform releases its report . The commission’s
plan relies on tax simplification and spending cuts to increase
revenue. It aims to save $4 trillion over 10 years, reducing
projected budget deficits to 2.3 percent of gross domestic
product by 2015 from an estimated 10.9 percent this year. It
includes a rise in the Social Security retirement age, lower
federal entitlement benefits, a three-year freeze on federal
workers’ pay and the elimination of “tax expenditures,” or the
estimated $1.1 trillion of revenue lost each year to tax
exemptions and loopholes. Small-government conservatives are
unhappy that outlays as a share of GDP would increase to 21
percent, above the long-term average. Most everyone else sees
the commission’s report as a fine start. Act II: Feb. 14, 2011. La-La Land. Obama ignores the recommendations of the commission and
submits his $3.7 trillion budget request for fiscal 2012 to
Congress. The blueprint is long on generalities and short on
specifics. It purports to return annual deficits to a
“sustainable” level by mid-decade but fails to address
entitlement spending on programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and
Social Security. Obama’s budget looks a lot like the
Congressional Budget Office ’s baseline, or auto-pilot
projection, over the next 10 years and is sustainable only to
the extent that the current trajectory of spending and revenue
is sustainable. Act III: April 5, 2011. “Path to Prosperity.” House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan , Republican of
Wisconsin , offers his plan to cut spending and simplify the tax
code , lowering the rates and broadening the base. Ryan is
applauded for his bold vision and reviled (by Democrats) for his
bold vision. Ryan’s plan slashes government spending to below 20
percent of GDP and lowers the top tax rate for households and
business to 25 percent from its current 35 percent. He claims to
find cost savings by harnessing competition, allowing future
retirees to choose a Medicare plan from private insurers while
providing assistance for lower-income beneficiaries with greater
health risks. Act IV: April 13, 2011. Get Serious. Obama tells an audience at George Washington University the
U.S. has to live within its means and pay down its debt. Any
serious plan to tackle the deficit has to address entitlements,
he says. (See Act II for his unserious plan.) The president
spends more time explaining how we got here (Bush’s fault) and
trashing the Ryan budget than advocating for his own. His role
in the debt binge is limited to emergency spending in response
to the financial crisis he inherited. Obama proposes to reduce
the deficit by $4 trillion in 12 years by cutting discretionary
spending, finding savings in the defense budget , reducing the
cost of health care via Obamacare and eliminating tax breaks.
The president will protect seniors, the middle class and
investments in education, medical research and clean energy by
taxing the rich. Act V: Sometime in the future. “Pray for the Gang of
Six.” In the final act of a Shakespearean tragedy, the conflict
is resolved. In real life, the two political parties are on
opposite sides of the stage separated by what President George H.W. Bush called the “vision thing.” Former Senator Alan Simpson , co-chair of the president’s
deficit commission, summed up the impasse after listening to
Obama’s partisan speech last week, telling reporters to “Pray
for the Gang of Six.” The Senate’s bipartisan “Gang of Six” has yet to complete
or release its deficit-reduction proposal. The fact that the
three Democrats and three Republicans can be in the same room
together offers the best hope for some kind of compromise. Obama
has yet to invite Ryan to the White House even though the
congressman has been teeing up budget ideas for a couple of
years. Some analysts viewed S&P’s surprise shift to a negative
outlook for the U.S.’s long-term credit rating as a timely kick
in the pants. If the warning of higher borrowing costs Treasuries rallied Monday creates some urgency to address
these problems now, then it was a good thing. Of course, there’s bad news too. As with earlier downgrades
to companies about to go under, S&P may already be late. ( Caroline Baum , author of “Just What I Said,” is a
Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.) To contact the writer of this column:
Caroline Baum in New York at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this column:
James Greiff at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Bernanke May Reinvest Maturing Debt to Avoid ‘Cold Turkey’ End to Stimulus | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/bernanke-may-reinvest-maturing-debt-to-avoid-cold-turkey-end-to-stimulus.html
| B y S c o t t L a n m a n | Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke may keep reinvesting maturing debt into Treasuries to
maintain record stimulus even after making good on a pledge to
complete $600 billion in bond purchases by the end of June. The Fed chief’s top two lieutenants said this month the
economy and inflation are too weak to warrant the start of a
monetary-policy reversal. Investors and economists including
David Kelly at JPMorgan Funds see that as a signal the Fed will
keep its balance sheet at current levels by replacing about $17
billion a month in maturing mortgage debt with Treasuries. Ending the reinvestment policy and the $600 billion program
at the same time would be like quitting stimulus “cold
turkey,” said Kelly, who is based in New York and helps oversee
$400 billion as chief market strategist at JPMorgan. “It does
make sense to reinvest for a while,” he said. “Then they could
watch how bond yields react to that.” Yields on 10-year Treasuries declined to 2.49 percent from
2.76 percent in the two weeks following the Fed’s Aug. 10
decision to begin reinvesting payments on assets purchased
during the first round of bond buying from December 2008 until
March 2010. An end to the reinvestment policy should be seen by
investors as the first step in a tightening of credit by the
Fed, said Neal Soss, chief economist at Credit Suisse Group AG. Soss is among economists who say the Federal Open Market
Committee at the end of its April 26-27 meeting will probably
affirm its plan to halt Treasury purchases on schedule. Debate Starts Fed officials are starting to debate what steps to take
after completing the purchases, a program dubbed QE2 for the
second round of quantitative easing. Policy makers were divided
at their last meeting on March 15, with a “few” officials
saying tighter credit may be warranted this year, while a “few
others noted that exceptional policy accommodation could be
appropriate beyond 2011.” Janet Yellen , the Fed’s vice chairman, said April 11 that
surging commodity costs over the past year are “unlikely to
have persistent effects on consumer inflation or to derail the
economic recovery and hence do not, in my view, warrant any
substantial shift in the stance of monetary policy.” William C. Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of
New York and the FOMC’s vice chairman, said April 1 that the
recovery is “still tenuous,” while Bernanke said April 4 that
higher commodity prices may have just a “transitory” effect on
inflation. Bernanke last month identified ending the reinvestment
policy as one of the Fed’s tools for exiting stimulus and
draining reserves from the financial system. ‘Tone’ of Indicators The Fed chief may be asked how long the reinvestment policy
will be maintained in a press conference April 27, and “he’ll
probably say that will depend upon the tone of the economic
indicators in the months ahead,” said James Kochan , who helps
manage $231 billion as chief fixed-income strategist at Wells
Fargo Fund Management LLC in Menomonee Falls , Wisconsin . “The first step is to end QE2,” Kochan said. “The next
step will be to stop reinvesting the proceeds from the
portfolio. I don’t know when that’s going to happen, but maybe
around the turn of the year.” The FOMC decision in August to start the reinvestment
program initially fanned investor anxiety that the recovery
would falter. Bernanke said later that month the policy was
aimed at keeping borrowing costs low and that the Fed was
weighing more securities purchases, a move announced on Nov. 3. Yields Rise Since then, yields on 10-year Treasuries increased to 3.38
percent as of yesterday from 2.57 percent. The Standard & Poor’s
500 Index gained 9 percent, while the dollar weakened by 1.3
percent against an index of six currencies. Ten-year yields touched the lowest level in three weeks
even after Standard & Poor’s yesterday lowered the outlook on
its AAA rating for long-term U.S. debt to negative. Most of the 50 analysts in a Bloomberg News survey last
month expected the Fed to keep its bond portfolio stable for
some time after the purchases end, with a plurality of 16
betting on a period of four to six months. Five economists said
the Fed would halt the policy once QE2 ends; 11 said it would
keep reinvesting for one to three months; 14 said seven to nine
months, and four said more than nine months. “If necessary, the Federal Reserve can also drain reserves
by ceasing the reinvestment of principal payments on the
securities it holds or by selling some of those securities in
the open market,” Bernanke said in semiannual monetary-policy
testimony before the House and Senate on March 1 and March 2. Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser , part of a minority of policy makers who favor a tougher
approach to controlling inflation, said in a March 25 speech
that ending reinvestment is one of the first steps in his
preferred exit method. ‘Headwinds’ to Growth “Headwinds” against U.S. growth, including higher
gasoline prices, reduced spending by state and local governments
and a housing industry that’s “flat on its back” make it
difficult for Fed officials to end the reinvestment policy,
former Fed Governor Lyle Gramley said. “The economy has a lot of problems,” said Gramley, now
senior economic adviser with Potomac Research Group in
Washington . “If I had to call the shots today, I would say
continuing to reinvest the proceeds from maturing issues is
better than a 50-50 chance.” Extending the policy in the coming months would mean that a
later decision to end it would signal the Fed’s broader exit
from near-zero interest rates , said Soss, based in New York. “It wasn’t a package deal at the beginning, and I don’t
think that it’s a package deal at this juncture,” said Soss,
who worked as an aide to former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker . “An
announcement about not reinvesting would be a new policy
innovation and undoubtedly should be viewed as the first move in
a tightening program.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Scott Lanman in Washington at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christopher Wellisz at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Thailand’s Inflation to Be Below Forecast on Oil Tax Cut | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/thailand-s-inflation-to-be-below-forecast-on-oil-tax-cut-1-.html
| B y S u t t i n e e Y u v e j w a t t a n a | Thailand ’s inflation rate this year
will be lower than initially forecast because of the
government’s plan to reduce taxes on fuel, central bank Governor
Prasarn Trairatvorakul said. Inflation will be 0.7 percentage point lower than the
current forecast of 3 percent to 5 percent, and core inflation
will be 0.3 percentage point lower than the existing forecast of
2 percent to 3 percent, Prasarn said in Bangkok. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday the
government planned to cut taxes on diesel to help cap the retail
price at less than 30 baht per liter and ease the burden on the
state oil fund, which is used to subsidize fuel. The measure,
which the government expects will last until September, will
cost about 45 billion baht ($1.5 billion). “The tax cut can suppress inflation only in the short term
as it can’t stay forever,” Deputy Governor Atchana Waiquamdee
said at the same event today. “Once the program ends, inflation
will spike up. This will distort oil prices and also distort the
behavior of oil users. The government should use this money to
develop infrastructure projects.” Oil prices will remain high this year, before easing next
year, Prasarn said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Suttinee Yuvejwattana in Bangkok at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Tony Jordan at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Adidas Retains Bayern Munich Uniform-Supply Deal Through 2020 | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/adidas-retains-bayern-munich-uniform-supply-deal-through-2020.html
| B y H o l g e r E l f e s | Adidas AG (ADS) , the world’s second-
largest sporting goods maker, will keep the right to supply
uniforms to Germany ’s Bayern Munich through 2020, extending a
50-year partnership. Bayern, Germany’s most successful soccer club, will sell
its new home jerseys beginning May 13, Adidas said in a
statement today. Adidas owns 9.4 percent of FC Bayern Muenchen
AG, the club-controlled company which operates the commercial
soccer department. To contact the reporter on this story:
Holger Elfes in Dusseldorf at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Celeste Perri at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | S. Africa’s Eastern Cape Plans Crops for Employment, Business Day Reports | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/s-africa-s-eastern-cape-plans-crops-for-employment-business-day-reports.html
| B y L a u r e n v a n d e r W e s t h u i z e n | Officials in South Africa’s Eastern
Cape province identified four plants that may revive agriculture
and create employment in the region, Business Day reported,
citing Sitembele Mase, Chief Executive Officer of the Eastern
Cape Development Corp. Pineapple, flax, hemp and agave americana have been singled
out for their ability to produce fibre, which can be used in the
textile and construction industries, the Johannesburg-based
newspaper reported. The company plans plants to process
pineapple waste in East London and Bathurst by 2014, while an
Agave factory is planned in the town of Graaff Reinet, Business
Day said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Lauren van der Westhuizen in Cape Town at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Ana Monteiro at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | U.S. Crude Oil Supplies Rose a Seventh Week, Survey Shows | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/u-s-crude-oil-supplies-rose-a-seventh-week-survey-shows-1-.html
| B y M a r k S h e n k | U.S. crude-oil inventories probably
increased for a seventh week as imports rebounded from a one-
month low, a Bloomberg News survey showed. Supplies climbed 1.3 million barrels in the seven days
ended April 15 from 359.3 million a week earlier, according to
the median of 13 analyst estimates before an Energy Department
report tomorrow. Eleven respondents forecast a gain, one
projected a decline and one said there was no change. Crude-oil imports slipped 4.2 percent to 8.57 million
barrels a day in the week ended April 8, the lowest level since
the seven days ended March 4, according to the department.
Imports arrived at an average rate of 9.1 million barrels a day
over the past year. “It looks like imports should increase,” said Peter Beutel , president of Cameron Hanover Inc., an energy-advisory
company in New Canaan , Connecticut . “Imports have been very low
and we’ve still seen inventories increase. If imports climb, we
could get a surprisingly big gain.” Refineries probably operated at 82.3 percent of capacity,
up 0.9 percentage point from the prior week, according to the
Bloomberg News survey. Units are often idled in February and
March as their owners prepare for the switch from the peak-
demand period for heating oil to the summer months when gasoline
consumption surges. Gasoline inventories declined 1.5 million barrels from
209.7 million last week, the survey showed. Nine of the
respondents projected a drop and four anticipated a gain. Supplies of distillate fuel, a category that includes
heating oil and diesel, probably rose 300,000 barrels from 150.8
million. Seven of the analysts anticipated an increase, five
said there was a decline and one projected no change. The department is scheduled to release its weekly report at
10:30 a.m. tomorrow in Washington . To contact the reporter on this story:
Mark Shenk in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Pfizer, J&J Must Train U.S. Doctors on Safe Use of Painkillers | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/pfizer-j-j-must-train-u-s-doctors-on-safe-use-of-painkillers.html
| B y C a t h e r i n e L a r k i n | Pfizer Inc. (PFE) , Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and
Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc. (ENDP) will have to train doctors
before they can give patients extended-release painkillers under
a U.S. plan aimed at reducing prescription drug abuse. Sixteen companies that make 25 pain patches and pills must
create a program to teach medical professionals when these drugs
should be used to combat pain and how to recognize signs that
the treatments are being misused, the Food and Drug
Administration said today. The Obama administration is urging
Congress to mandate the training as part of licensing required
by the Drug Enforcement Administration every three years. The FDA began discussing in February 2009 how best to
prevent deaths and side effects from overdose or tampering of
long-acting painkillers to get high. While the agency has
stopped short of restricting drug distribution, tougher controls
may follow if abuse isn’t curbed, said Janet Woodcock , director
of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “There’s an epidemic of prescription drug abuse that is
beginning to rival that of illegal drug abuse,” Woodcock said
in a telephone interview. “It’s either the kids who get it out
of their medicine cabinet or someone who gets multiple
prescriptions.” The medicines cited by the FDA include New York-based
Pfizer’s Avinza and Embeda morphine capsules; Duragesic, a
fentanyl patch made by New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J and
generic competitors; Chadds Ford , Pennsylvania-based Endo’s
Opana oxymorphone tablets; and OxyContin, an oxycodone tablet
made by closely held Purdue Pharma LP of Stamford , Connecticut . High-Dose Painkillers The drugs are sustained-release, high-dose painkillers
derived from the opium poppy, also known as opioids. Doctors
considered these medicines to be a major breakthrough for cancer
and chronic pain when they were introduced in the mid-1990s,
though it became clear the drugs were easy to manipulate. Purdue
agreed in 2007 to pay $634.5 million to settle claims that
promotions for OxyContin from 1996 to 2001 misled doctors about
the drug’s risks. The risk-minimization program is the largest ever imposed
by FDA, Woodcock said. The agency gained the authority to
require these types of plans as a condition for marketing under
2007 legislation. An estimated 23 million prescriptions for
extended-release opioid drugs are written annually, representing
about one-tenth of prescription painkillers, according to the
FDA. Pfizer’s King Pharma division, acquired last month, has
been developing drugs with physical and chemical properties to
resist tampering. Embeda, the first of these medicines, is
included in the training program because it hasn’t been proven
to be safer than the older medicines, Woodcock said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Larkin in Washington at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Adriel Bettelheim at
[email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Greek Two-Year Yields Reach Record as Demand Wanes at Auction; Bunds Slide | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/greek-10-year-government-bond-yields-reach-record-before-auction-of-bills.html
| B y K e i t h J e n k i n s a n d E m m a C h a r l t o n | Greek note yields reached euro-era
records amid growing speculation the country will need to
restructure its debt as financing costs mount. German debt slid as data showed European services and
manufacturing growth unexpectedly accelerated in April,
bolstering the case for higher interest rates . Greece sold 1.625
billion euros ($2.3 billion) of 13-week bills at a higher
interest rate amid lower demand than the previous auction of
similar debt. Greek two-year note yields breached 20 percent for
the first time yesterday. Portuguese two-year yields rose to the
highest in at least 15 years today. “The fact that Greece was able to overcome this particular
hurdle will provide some relief,” said Orlando Green , assistant
director of capital-markets strategy at Credit Agricole
Corporate & Investment Bank in London. “There’s still a concern
over liquidity. There hasn’t been a shift to positive sentiment,
and they’re not out of the woods yet.” Greek two-year yields rose 29 basis points to 20.62
percent, after touching 20.67 percent, the highest since at
least 1998, when Bloomberg began collecting the data. The 4.6
percent security due 2013 fell 0.22, or 2.2 euros per 1,000-euro
face amount, to 75.03 as of 4:16 p.m. in London . The Greek 10-
year yield fell seven basis points to 14.48 percent after rising
as high as 14.66 percent, a euro-era record, before the auction. Wider Spread Today’s Greek sale was priced at a yield of 4.10 percent,
up from 3.85 percent at an auction of similar debt on Feb. 15.
Investors bid for 3.45 times the amount of securities offered,
down from the previous bid-to-cover ratio of 5.08. The yield difference, or spread, between the nation’s 10-
year bonds and German securities of a similar maturity, earlier
reached 1,138 basis points. That’s the most since at least 1998. Portugal ’s two-year note declined for a fifth consecutive
day, pushing the yield to 10.26 percent, the highest since at
least 1996. Greek government spokesman George Petalotis today
“categorically” denied reports in newspapers that said Greece
has asked to extend maturities of the country’s debt. The cost of insuring Greek government debt increased seven
basis points to 1,260 basis points, surpassing yesterday’s
record closing level, according to CMA prices for credit default
swaps. Contracts on Portugal dropped from a record, falling
three basis points to 618. More Problems German bunds fell for the first time in six days. A
composite index based on a survey of euro-area purchasing
managers in services and manufacturing industries rose to 57.8
in April from 57.6 in March, London-based Markit Economics said
today. Economists had projected a drop to 57. A reading above 50
indicates expansion. The 10-year bund yield was three basis points higher at
3.28 percent, after reaching 3.225 percent, the lowest since
March 24. Yields on two-year notes were six basis points higher
at 1.79 percent. They earlier touched 1.716 percent, the lowest
since March 25. European Central Bank Executive Board member Juergen Stark
said any country seeking to renegotiate its debt obligations
would find it creates more problems than it solves. “It might be perceived at some point by some policy makers
as an easy way out, but it would not solve the problem,” Stark
said, according to an interview published today. “On the
contrary. It is extremely costly to the respective countries. If
they really considered restructuring debt, they would have to
pay in the future a higher risk premium .” Rate Outlook Some ECB governing council members have signaled they favor
raising rates further after increasing the benchmark rate 25
basis points to 1.25 percent on April 7. Policy makers are
balancing the need for higher borrowing costs in countries like
Germany , where the economy is booming, against soaring bond
yields in the region’s heavily indebted nations. Germany plans to auction 6 billion euros in new five-year
2.75 percent notes tomorrow, while Spain is due to sell up to
3.5 billion euros of bonds maturing in 2021 and 2024. The yield difference between Spain’s 10-year bonds and
similar-maturity German bunds narrowed to 223 basis points after
reaching 232 basis points earlier, the most since Jan. 28. “With Spanish yields close to the highest levels we’ve
seen over the past months, there should be enough concession for
the auction,” said Norbert Aul, a strategist at Royal Bank of
Canada in London. “There is still a clear risk scenario with
respect to the recent underperformance of Spanish paper as well,
given the fact that this auction is before the Easter break.” Spanish 10-year bond yields fell four basis points to 5.51
percent. They reached 5.60 percent yesterday, the highest since
Jan. 11. Two-year yields slipped five basis points to 3.52
percent, after earlier rising to 3.64 percent, also the most
since Jan. 11. German government bonds have handed investors a loss of 1.8
percent this year, according to indexes compiled by the European
Federation of Financial Analysts Societies and Bloomberg, while
Treasuries have returned 0.6 percent. Greek debt has lost 7.4
percent, the indexes show, while Spain’s has gained 1 percent. To contact the reporters on this story:
Keith Jenkins in London at
[email protected] ;
Emma Charlton in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Daniel Tilles at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Sunoco Said to Start Reformer Tomorrow at Philadelphia Refinery | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/sunoco-said-to-start-reformer-tomorrow-at-philadelphia-refinery.html
| B y A a r o n C l a r k | Sunoco Inc. (SUN) is scheduled to begin
restarting a reformer at its Philadelphia refinery tomorrow
after maintenance, according to a person with knowledge of the
work. Repairs have also been completed on a joint associated with
a fluid catalytic cracker that was damaged during a flange fire
April 13 at the plant, according to the person, who declined to
be identified because the information isn’t public. The unit
hasn’t returned to service yet, the person said. The reformer and associated units were shut in mid-March
for work, according to the person. Joe McGinn, a spokesman for the company, declined to
comment on operations. The Sunoco refinery has a capacity of 355,000 barrels a
day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. To contact the reporter on this story:
Aaron Clark in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Burberry Fiscal Fourth-Quarter Sales Beat Estimates on China | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/burberry-fiscal-fourth-quarter-sales-beat-estimates-on-china.html
| B y A n d r e w R o b e r t s | Burberry Group Plc (BRBY) , the U.K.’s
largest luxury retailer, reported fiscal fourth-quarter sales
that beat analysts’ estimates and confirmed that adjusted full-
year profit will be near the top end of market expectations. Excluding Spain, revenue in the quarter ended March 31 rose
32 percent to 390 million pounds ($633 million) from 295 million
pounds a year earlier, the London-based company said today in a
statement. The average estimate of three analysts compiled by
Bloomberg was for sales of 351.3 million pounds. “While the luxury industry faces global challenges in the
year ahead, we remain confident in our team’s ability to
outperform,” Chief Executive Officer Angela Ahrendts said in
the statement. Burberry said in January that full-year adjusted pretax
profit would be near the top end of a forecast of between 250
million pounds and 290 million pounds. The quarterly revenue
growth was driven by retail sales in China , the trench-coat
maker said today. “Another quarter of industry outperformance,” Thomas Chauvet , an analyst at Citigroup Inc. in London, wrote in an
April 14 note. He has a “hold” recommendation on Burberry. Burberry closed a warehouse and stopped making a local
collection in Spain last year. To contact the reporter on this story:
Andrew Roberts in Milan at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Celeste Perri at [email protected] .. | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Rand Undermining South Africa’s Competiveness, Trade Minister Davies Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/rand-undermining-south-africa-s-competiveness-trade-minister-davies-says.html
| B y M i k e C o h e n | South African Trade and Industry
Minister Rob Davies said the strength of the rand is undermining
the nation’s competitiveness and that the government needs to
decide whether to act on the issue. “There is a consensus that at this level where the rand is
now, the rand is uncompetitive and is having a detrimental
effect, not only on exporters but also on local producers who
are suffering unfair competition from imports,” Davies told
reporters in Cape Town today. “There is a huge debate in South
Africa about whether we should try some new things or not. We
have to work on this particular issue.” The rand has gained 39 percent against the dollar since the
beginning of 2009, as near-zero interest rates in developed
nations encouraged investors to borrow cheaply and invest in
higher-yielding markets including South Africa, where the
benchmark rate is 5.5 percent. The rand traded at 6.8291 at 1:46 p.m. in Johannesburg, up
from 6.8643 late yesterday. To contact the reporter on this story:
Mike Cohen in Cape Town at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrew J. Barden at
[email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Hong Kong Short Selling Turnover Recorded 04/19/2011 | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/hong-kong-short-selling-turnover-recorded-04-19-2011-table-.html
| B y | Hong Kong , 04/19/2011 (Bloomberg) - Short selling was recorded on the
Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for the following
companies as of 01:00 today. Number Short Percent of shares selling Total of short
Tkr sold short turnover turnover to total
Sym Company Name (thousand) (HK$ mln) (HK$ mln) turnover 2827 X WISECSI300ETF 192.80 7.32 11.61 63.0
3383 AGILE PROPERTY 5742 75.70 129.10 58.6
960 LONGFOR PPT 668 8.43 14.88 56.6
2314 LEE & MAN PAPER 1593 8.90 17.65 50.4
83 SINO LAND 1806 24.97 54.72 45.6
1109 CHINA RES LAND 2132 29.88 70.80 42.2
700 TENCENT 716.30 141.20 370.25 38.1
23 BANK OF E ASIA 305.80 9.94 27.28 36.5
2600 CHALCO 4308 31.26 90.52 34.5
12 HENDERSON LAND 799 43.15 128.63 33.5
44 HAECO 0.40 0.04 0.13 33.3
3377 SINO-OCEAN LAND 995.50 4.60 14.03 32.8
11 HANG SENG BANK 262.30 31.93 105.05 30.4
1044 HENGAN INT'L 644.50 40.73 136.09 29.9
2823 X ISHARES A50 15940.30 217.27 734.80 29.6
2880 DALIAN PORT 108 0.34 1.17 28.9
2000 SIM TECH 676 1.08 3.83 28.2
917 NEW WORLD CHINA 452 1.31 4.65 28.1
688 CHINA OVERSEAS 2738 43.22 155.13 27.9
762 CHINA UNICOM 6772 99.04 374.42 26.5
486 RUSAL 220 2.84 11.57 24.5
1138 CHINA SHIP DEV 514 4.59 18.76 24.4
2038 FIH 576 2.69 11.08 24.3
598 SINOTRANS 186 0.35 1.47 24.0
1055 CHINA SOUTH AIR 2476 9.69 40.64 23.8
3311 CHINA STATE CON 1126 8.23 34.98 23.5
2866 CSCL 3142 10.46 45.06 23.2
658 C TRANSMISSION 582 6.60 28.42 23.2
10 HANG LUNG GROUP 97 5.05 21.77 23.2
2688 ENN ENERGY 76 2.01 8.85 22.7
916 CHINA LONGYUAN 932 7.45 33.23 22.4
604 SHENZHEN INVEST 274 0.69 3.14 22.0
2018 AAC ACOUSTIC 72 1.40 6.37 21.9
992 LENOVO GROUP 2060 9.10 41.71 21.8
358 JIANGXI COPPER 2038 52.21 242.35 21.5
2810 X LYXORETF IND 6.70 0.88 4.14 21.1
2877 SHINEWAY PHARM 648 11.85 56.70 20.9
3808 SINOTRUK 215 1.47 7.05 20.8
1 CHEUNG KONG 496 61.68 299.46 20.6
2020 ANTA SPORTS 411 5.03 24.43 20.6
923 FOOK WOO GROUP 424 1.06 5.16 20.6
2343 PACIFIC BASIN 897 4.40 21.73 20.3
392 BEIJING ENT 112.50 4.69 23.51 20.0
322 TINGYI 136 2.72 13.67 19.9
2009 BBMG 368.50 4.41 22.32 19.7
682 CHAODA MODERN 836 4.19 21.39 19.6
1900 CHINA ITS 169 0.71 3.63 19.5
323 MAANSHAN IRON 1902 8.17 42.35 19.3
817 FRANSHION PPT 194 0.46 2.44 19.0
5 HSBC HOLDINGS 2162.80 176.45 952.28 18.5
1128 WYNN MACAU 738.80 19.93 107.94 18.5
16 SHK PPT 435 52.99 288.52 18.4
1813 KWG PROPERTY 710 4.03 22.01 18.3
2313 SHENZHOU INTL 35 0.31 1.77 17.8
291 CHINA RESOURCES 268 8.78 50.31 17.5
1387 RENHE COMM 3036 4.26 25.27 16.8
267 CITIC PACIFIC 247 5.70 34.13 16.7
27 GALAXY ENT 1144 14.45 88.53 16.3
2380 CHINA POWER 544 0.95 5.83 16.2
2828 HS H-SHARE ETF 110.20 14.60 91.13 16.0
2010 RUINIAN INT'L 114 0.63 3.98 15.9
998 CITIC BANK 3306 18.29 116.16 15.7
2388 BOC HONG KONG 925 22.59 144.82 15.6
589 PORTS 42.50 0.86 5.50 15.6
754 HOPSON DEV HOLD 122 0.99 6.38 15.5
272 SHUI ON LAND 924 3.32 21.58 15.4
522 ASM PACIFIC 65.90 6.29 40.96 15.4
2007 COUNTRY GARDEN 925 3.05 20.37 15.0
1171 YANZHOU COAL 808 22.86 153.57 14.9
308 CHINA TRAVEL HK 330 0.55 3.72 14.8
3323 CNBM 1070 30.95 210.65 14.7
142 FIRST PACIFIC 116 0.80 5.47 14.6
270 GUANGDONG INV 302 1.20 8.22 14.6
119 POLY HK INV 731 4.91 33.76 14.6
302 WING HANG BANK 21.50 1.92 13.21 14.5
1888 KB LAMINATES 172.50 1.24 8.56 14.5
983 SHUI ON CONS 26 0.28 1.91 14.5
3333 EVERGRANDE 2352 12.12 83.87 14.5
709 GIORDANO INT'L 190 1.03 7.15 14.4
127 CHINESE EST H 33.50 0.48 3.43 14.1
2338 WEICHAI POWER 199 10.75 76.84 14.0
1200 MIDLAND HOLDING 232 1.38 10.19 13.5
883 CNOOC 5571 105.04 785.91 13.4
151 WANT WANT CHINA 403 2.77 20.82 13.3
904 CHINA GREEN 144 0.86 6.48 13.3
763 ZTE 252.60 7.10 53.62 13.2
1288 ABC 8964 40.07 306.21 13.1
825 NWDS CHINA 262 1.72 13.21 13.0
914 ANHUI CONCH 580 30.74 241.62 12.7
728 CHINA TELECOM 2936 13.71 110.05 12.5
1066 WEIGAO GROUP 16 0.34 2.77 12.3
2831 X LYXORETF RUS 3.50 0.14 1.16 12.0
1898 CHINA COAL 993 10.31 86.48 11.9
330 ESPRIT HOLDINGS 323.80 10.99 93.48 11.8
347 ANGANG STEEL 432 4.51 38.42 11.7
1114 BRILLIANCE CHI 370 2.96 25.33 11.7
1800 CHINA COMM CONS 1733 12.78 111.21 11.5
1072 DONGFANG ELEC 76 2.00 18.08 11.0
1099 SINOPHARM 79.60 2.16 19.67 11.0
148 KINGBOARD CHEM 17 0.74 6.79 10.9
1818 ZHAOJIN MINING 71.50 2.70 24.82 10.9
697 SHOUGANG INT'L 1428 1.52 14.02 10.8
14 HYSAN DEV 46 1.57 14.56 10.8
3368 PARKSON GROUP 139 1.61 15.00 10.7
116 CHOW SANG SANG 132 2.66 25.21 10.6
3968 CM BANK 617.50 12.95 123.13 10.5
2238 GAC GROUP 456 4.31 41.31 10.4
656 FOSUN INTL 188 1.11 10.61 10.4
551 YUE YUEN IND 107.50 2.81 27.03 10.4
1368 XTEP INT'L 171 0.98 9.54 10.3
1393 HIDILI INDUSTRY 554 4.33 42.27 10.2
144 CHINA MER HOLD 286 10.02 97.97 10.2
336 HUABAO INTL 275 3.36 33.73 10.0
669 TECHTRONIC IND 105 1.12 11.25 9.9
881 ZHONGSHENG HLDG 71.50 1.04 10.51 9.9
1133 HARBIN POWER 240 1.92 19.86 9.6
1299 AIA 3248.60 83.61 875.97 9.5
1088 CHINA SHENHUA 880.50 31.22 332.73 9.4
2005 LIJUN INT'L 315 0.66 7.13 9.3
3993 CMOC 167 1.17 13.13 8.9
903 TPV TECHNOLOGY 26 0.13 1.42 8.9
179 JOHNSON ELEC H 180 0.88 10.18 8.7
683 KERRY PPT 97 3.78 44.63 8.5
440 DAH SING 1.60 0.08 0.94 8.3
4 WHARF HOLDINGS 182 10.22 122.84 8.3
168 TSINGTAO BREW 58 2.37 28.58 8.3
123 YUEXIU PROPERTY 950 1.56 18.91 8.2
45 HK&S HOTELS 2.50 0.03 0.41 8.2
1919 CHINA COSCO 633 4.99 61.07 8.2
1886 HUIYUAN JUICE 58.50 0.31 3.75 8.2
2331 LI NING 263 3.63 44.51 8.2
1928 SANDS CHINA LTD 518.80 11.07 136.40 8.1
2333 GREATWALL MOTOR 89 1.26 15.79 8.0
101 HANG LUNG PPT 295 10.12 127.36 7.9
386 SINOPEC CORP 2018 15.79 199.54 7.9
1038 CKI HOLDINGS 12 0.45 5.65 7.9
173 K. WAH INT'L 210 0.66 8.44 7.9
1068 YURUN FOOD 437 12.48 159.44 7.8
41 GREAT EAGLE H 18 0.48 6.22 7.8
2777 R&F PROPERTIES 229.20 2.61 33.65 7.8
135 KUNLUN ENERGY 590 7.92 103.23 7.7
1883 CITIC TELECOM 39 0.09 1.23 7.7
489 DONGFENG GROUP 948 12.34 161.67 7.6
2628 CHINA LIFE 727 21.07 279.79 7.5
828 DYNASTY WINES 426 1.29 17.32 7.5
87 SWIRE PACIFIC B 32.50 0.72 9.80 7.4
670 CHINA EAST AIR 696 2.36 32.68 7.2
3898 CSR TIMES ELEC 75 2.29 32.13 7.1
2319 MENGNIU DAIRY 156 3.82 53.60 7.1
1224 C C LAND 266 0.80 11.38 7.1
3393 WASION GROUP 30 0.12 1.76 7.0
69 SHANGRI-LA ASIA 346 7.31 106.28 6.9
3328 BANKCOMM 576 4.77 69.84 6.8
2689 ND PAPER 226 2.06 30.22 6.8
926 BESUNYEN 31 0.09 1.32 6.7
2328 PICC P&C 570 5.90 87.64 6.7
410 SOHO CHINA 371 2.50 37.35 6.7
1382 PACIFICTEXTILES 16 0.08 1.17 6.7
966 CHINA TAIPING 102 2.21 33.64 6.6
853 MICROPORT 90 0.53 8.35 6.3
316 OOIL 56 4.82 76.27 6.3
388 HKEX 317.20 56.57 899.98 6.3
631 SANY INT'L 60 0.88 14.14 6.3
546 FUFENG GROUP 297 1.95 31.48 6.2
867 CMS 8 0.07 1.12 6.1
363 SHANGHAI IND H 40 1.27 20.90 6.1
2601 CPIC 133 4.48 74.06 6.0
128 ENM HOLDINGS 36 0.03 0.44 6.0
732 TRULY INT'L 120 0.20 3.33 6.0
569 CH AUTOMATION 17 0.11 1.85 6.0
3 HK & CHINA GAS 81 1.54 27.13 5.7
19 SWIRE PACIFIC A 31 3.65 65.86 5.5
1899 XINGDA INT'L 36 0.31 5.68 5.4
3389 HENGDELI 140 0.67 12.37 5.4
941 CHINA MOBILE 348 25.12 473.33 5.3
813 SHIMAO PROPERTY 292 3.28 62.07 5.3
3308 GOLDEN EAGLE 145 3.03 57.68 5.3
1234 CHINA LILANG 14 0.16 3.00 5.3
506 CHINA FOODS 118 0.69 13.29 5.2
175 GEELY AUTO 1600 5.09 99.11 5.1
3800 GCL-POLY ENERGY 1527 7.29 143.00 5.1
525 GUANGSHEN RAIL 174 0.54 10.78 5.0
2362 JINCHUAN INTL 82 0.25 5.13 4.9
1833 INTIME 48 0.58 11.85 4.9
1880 BELLE INT'L 175 2.69 54.78 4.9
1136 TCC INT'L HOLD 130 0.56 11.39 4.9
1093 CHINA PHARMA 128 0.62 12.62 4.9
200 MELCO INT'L DEV 579 3.56 74.31 4.8
970 SPARKLE ROLL 96 0.14 2.96 4.7
297 SINOFERT 280 0.94 20.10 4.7
587 HUA HAN 96 0.24 5.23 4.6
1766 CSR 1253 11.18 242.79 4.6
494 LI & FUNG 182 7.10 154.35 4.6
857 PETROCHINA 2252 25.66 568.79 4.5
1988 MINSHENG BANK 600.50 4.46 100.67 4.4
590 LUK FOOK HOLD 56 1.59 36.01 4.4
694 BEIJING AIRPORT 170 0.67 15.60 4.3
3331 VINDA INT'L 15 0.13 3.01 4.3
285 BYD ELECTRONIC 37.50 0.18 4.32 4.1
1101 CH RONGSHENG 131.50 0.89 21.63 4.1
2868 BJ CAPITAL LAND 76 0.23 5.56 4.1
866 CHINA QINFA 70 0.32 7.81 4.0
20 WHEELOCK 32 1.00 24.89 4.0
902 HUANENG POWER 358 1.63 41.34 3.9
1788 GUOTAI JUNAN I 23 0.09 2.19 3.9
991 DATANG POWER 332 0.94 24.19 3.9
2899 ZIJIN MINING 262 1.65 43.18 3.8
1338 BAWANG GROUP 38 0.09 2.24 3.8
1211 BYD COMPANY 55.50 1.56 42.25 3.7
3818 CHINA DONGXIANG 171 0.43 11.72 3.7
303 VTECH HOLDINGS 0.90 0.08 2.15 3.7
2168 YINGDE GASES 46 0.32 8.71 3.7
448 HANG TEN GROUP 146 0.31 8.56 3.6
2342 COMBA 17.50 0.17 4.88 3.4
809 GLOBAL BIO-CHEM 1172 2.15 63.44 3.4
1838 CHINAPROPERTIES 6 0.01 0.43 3.4
2228 COSTIN NEW MAT 23 0.13 3.81 3.3
753 AIR CHINA 316 2.52 75.57 3.3
315 SMARTONE TELE 17.50 0.21 6.54 3.2
2318 PING AN 115 9.76 303.41 3.2
242 SHUN TAK HOLD 124 0.59 18.57 3.2
1863 SIJIA GROUP 78 0.30 9.79 3.1
17 NEW WORLD DEV 105 1.45 48.77 3.0
321 TEXWINCA HOLD 42 0.36 12.23 3.0
493 GOME 772 2.15 72.83 2.9
3888 KINGSOFT 56 0.27 9.19 2.9
743 ASIA CEMENT CH 65 0.37 12.99 2.8
2128 CHINA LIANSU 467 3.46 123.63 2.8
538 AJISEN (CHINA) 51 0.77 27.56 2.8
868 XINYI GLASS 212 1.79 64.58 2.8
210 DAPHNE INT'L 102 0.64 24.09 2.7
220 U-PRESID CHINA 4 0.02 0.66 2.6
893 CHINAVTM MINING 217 0.77 29.79 2.6
1052 GZI TRANSPORT 10 0.04 1.70 2.6
860 MING FUNG JEWEL 270 0.26 10.40 2.5
178 SA SA INT'L 76 0.35 14.05 2.5
746 L & M HOLDING 8 0.08 3.24 2.5
1698 BOSHIWA INT'L 65 0.38 15.64 2.4
171 SILVER GRANT 38 0.11 4.65 2.4
1122 QINGLING MOTORS 52 0.14 5.94 2.3
241 CITIC 21CN 36 0.04 1.58 2.3
1212 LIFESTYLE INT'L 16 0.33 14.25 2.3
1333 CHINA ZHONGWANG 128.80 0.52 22.64 2.3
995 ANHUIEXPRESSWAY 14 0.09 4.01 2.3
858 EXTRAWELL PHAR 40 0.03 1.18 2.2
981 SMIC 4171 2.65 119.23 2.2
2357 AVICHINA 852 4.00 181.31 2.2
1192 TITAN PETROCHEM 60 0.04 1.82 2.2
13 HUTCHISON 105 9.38 428.82 2.2
1053 CHONGQING IRON 12 0.02 1.11 2.2
1157 ZOOMLION 228.20 5.10 235.35 2.2
1777 FANTASIA 25.50 0.03 1.56 2.2
2356 DAHSING BANKING 10.80 0.13 6.23 2.1
3336 JU TENG INTL 80 0.22 10.11 2.1
1836 STELLA HOLDINGS 3 0.05 2.53 2.1
855 CHINA WATER 32 0.09 4.43 2.1
3339 LONKING 234 1.33 65.38 2.0
939 CCB 2725 19.64 976.14 2.0
751 SKYWORTHDIGITAL 198 0.99 50.26 2.0
906 COFCO PACKAGING 5 0.03 1.32 2.0
2727 SH ELECTRIC 102 0.43 22.11 1.9
54 HOPEWELL HOLD 4.50 0.10 5.47 1.9
34 KOWLOON DEV 7 0.07 3.98 1.8
3988 BANK OF CHINA 2586 11.10 618.31 1.8
1893 SINOMA 44 0.35 20.21 1.7
874 GUANGZHOU PHAR 10 0.10 5.81 1.7
384 CHINA GAS HOLD 362 1.24 77.06 1.6
555 REXLOT HOLDINGS 75 0.06 3.93 1.6
980 LIANHUA 2 0.07 4.37 1.6
2383 TOM GROUP 2 0.00 0.12 1.6
152 SHENZHEN INT'L 277.50 0.19 12.38 1.5
1313 CHINARES CEMENT 86 0.67 44.00 1.5
2778 CHAMPION REIT 30 0.14 9.29 1.5
6 POWER ASSETS 18 0.97 67.92 1.4
1021 MIDAS HOLDINGS 1 0.00 0.35 1.4
1398 ICBC 1517 9.79 732.98 1.3
976 CHIHO-TIANDE 60 0.40 29.91 1.3
517 COSCO INTL HOLD 30 0.15 12.37 1.2
2722 CHONGQING M&E 114 0.34 28.55 1.2
702 SINO OIL & GAS 685 0.25 21.20 1.2
848 MAOYE INT'L 9 0.04 3.00 1.2
2468 TRONY SOLAR 32 0.15 13.18 1.2
806 VALUE PARTNERS 6 0.05 4.08 1.1
2883 CHINA OILFIELD 92 1.47 132.88 1.1
1199 COSCO PACIFIC 48 0.77 70.03 1.1
3833 XINXIN MINING 7 0.03 3.09 1.1
3618 CQRC BANK 110 0.57 53.11 1.1
818 HI SUN TECH 27 0.07 6.68 1.0
626 PUBLIC FIN HOLD 2 0.01 0.94 1.0
846 MINGFA GROUP 4 0.01 1.02 1.0
999 I.T 40 0.26 26.28 1.0
1031 GOLDRESORTS-NEW 52 0.06 6.46 0.9
552 CHINACOMSERVICE 34 0.16 17.62 0.9
67 LUMENA 330 1.15 134.74 0.9
591 C HIGHPRECISION 10 0.06 6.58 0.9
183 RICHFIELD GP 24 0.02 2.31 0.8
1683 IMM 24.50 0.19 25.23 0.8
293 CATHAY PAC AIR 14 0.27 35.27 0.8
823 LINK REIT 10.50 0.25 33.53 0.8
268 KINGDEE INT'L 60 0.28 40.04 0.7
3983 CHINA BLUECHEM 34 0.22 34.30 0.7
257 CHINA EB INT'L 12 0.04 6.94 0.6
228 CHINA ENERGY 46 0.02 2.40 0.6
74 GREAT WALL TECH 6 0.02 4.29 0.6
850 PETROASIAN 32 0.01 2.56 0.6
3933 UNITED LAB 4 0.06 10.68 0.5
1618 MCC 16 0.05 10.41 0.5
1033 YIZHENG CHEM 46 0.16 31.68 0.5
724 SINO-TECH INT'L 270 0.05 9.83 0.5
886 SILVER BASE 11 0.07 14.74 0.5
182 CHINA WINDPOWER 30 0.02 5.11 0.5
449 CHIGO HOLDING 52 0.04 7.75 0.5
2233 WESTCHINACEMENT 92 0.33 72.78 0.5
606 CHINA AGRI 18 0.16 35.23 0.5
819 TIANNENG POWER 10 0.04 9.27 0.4
653 BONJOUR HOLD 28 0.04 9.19 0.4
1020 SINOREF HLDGS 60 0.10 24.89 0.4
1308 SITC 2 0.01 2.49 0.4
390 CHINA RAILWAY 41 0.18 49.83 0.4
1999 MAN WAH HLDGS 1.20 0.01 3.71 0.4
197 HENG TAI 135 0.14 42.94 0.3
1194 C PRECIOUSMETAL 6 0.01 3.00 0.3
338 SHANGHAI PECHEM 40 0.16 48.82 0.3
882 TIANJIN DEV 2 0.01 3.87 0.3
639 FUSHAN ENERGY 44 0.25 80.70 0.3
2800 TRACKER FUND 26 0.62 260.39 0.2
2626 HNC 14 0.05 20.36 0.2
757 SOLARGIGA 6 0.01 5.98 0.2
1878 SOUTHGOBI 0.10 0.01 4.57 0.2
691 SHANSHUI CEMENT 6 0.05 23.02 0.2
945 MANULIFE 0.70 0.09 45.59 0.2
769 CHINA RAREEARTH 16 0.05 29.69 0.2
548 SHENZHENEXPRESS 6 0.03 19.08 0.2
845 GLORIOUS PPT H 18 0.04 24.02 0.2
1205 CITIC RESOURCES 14 0.03 17.19 0.2
505 XINGYE COPPER 1 0.00 1.05 0.2
43 C.P. POKPHAND 2 0.00 1.38 0.1
82 VODONE 10 0.02 16.29 0.1
3998 BOSIDENG 16 0.04 29.11 0.1
233 MY MEDICARE 20 0.01 10.62 0.1
8 PCCW 10 0.03 24.14 0.1
931 ARTEL GROUP 5 0.00 1.11 0.1
1177 SINO BIOPHARM 8 0.02 17.65 0.1
389 TONTINE WINES 6 0.01 7.80 0.1
689 EPI (HOLDINGS) 100 0.01 4.81 0.1
910 CH GRAND FOREST 234 0.05 48.09 0.1
64 GET NICE 4 0.00 1.89 0.1
2888 STANCHART 0.15 0.03 30.60 0.1
1169 HAIER ELEC 4 0.04 41.16 0.1
1688 ALIBABA 5 0.07 75.72 0.1
877 O-NET COMM GP 2 0.01 11.41 0.1
633 CH ALL ACCESS 2 0.00 5.94 0.1
230 MINMETALS LAND 2 0.00 3.75 0.1
331 PCD STORES 4 0.01 11.13 0.1
368 SINOTRANS SHIP 0.50 0.00 2.18 0.1
2208 GOLDWIND 1 0.01 29.01 0.0
1828 DCH HOLDINGS 1 0.01 21.62 0.0
488 LAI SUN DEV 14 0.00 9.59 0.0
1186 CHINA RAIL CONS 0.50 0.00 32.39 0.0 Total No. of Securities recording Short Selling : 359
Total No. of Designated Securities recording Short Selling : 359
Short Selling Turnover Total Shares (SH) : 171,240,550
Short Selling Turnover Total Value ($) : HKD 2,386,820,425
*Total No. of non-Designated Securities recording Short Selling : 0
Short Selling Turnover Total Shares (SH) : 0
Short Selling Turnover Total Value ($) : HKD 0
Note: Figures are preliminary and subject to revision. Cheryl Yiu in Hong Kong 852-2977-6726 -0- Apr/19/2011 5:00 GMT | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Bank Zachodni Says Polish May Rate Decision May Be ‘Close Call’ | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/bank-zachodni-says-polish-may-rate-decision-may-be-close-call-.html
| B y K a t y a A n d r u s z | Piotr Bujak, an economist at Bank
Zachodni WBK in Warsaw, comments on Polish industrial output and
producer price data, which were released today in Warsaw. Industrial output rose an annual 7 percent in March, the
slowest rate since October 2009 and below the median estimate of
22 economists surveyed by Bloomberg for an increase of 9.6
percent. Producer prices increased by 9.3 percent in March from the
year-earlier period, compared with a median estimate of 8.3
percent in a survey of 19 economists. “This is a pretty significant slowdown and we’ll have to
expect further weakening in the output figures as the economies
of our main trading partners slow. German growth is likely to be
weaker, for example, which will hurt our exports. “The disappointing output figures will be an argument for
Monetary Policy Council members who want to wait with the next
rate increase. On the other hand, the producer price index was very
strong, which could raise fears this will transfer to retail
prices. The price pressures are an argument for the hawks in the
central bank. “The May rate-setting meeting could be a very close call.
I don’t expect a rate increase next month, though. The central
bank won’t want to give the impression that it’s just reacting
to current data.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Katya Andrusz in Warsaw at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Balazs Penz at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Czech Parties Agree to Preserve Deficit-Cutting Government | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/czech-parties-agree-to-preserve-deficit-cutting-government-1-.html
| B y K r y s t o f C h a m o n i k o l a s | The Czech three-party coalition
agreed on cabinet changes to resolve disputes that threatened to
bring down the government and hamper planned deficit cuts. Radek John, interior minister and head of junior coalition
partner Public Affairs, will become deputy premier for fighting
corruption and will be replaced by Jan Kubice, Prime Minister
Petr Necas told Czech public television today after a five-hour
coalition meeting. The cabinet will send laws overhauling public
spending to parliament by the end of June and will tie them to a
confidence vote, said Necas, leader of the Civic Democrats. “We’ve reached a genuine agreement,” Foreign Minister
Karel Schwarzenberg, the leader of Top09, told the broadcaster.
“The prime minister and this agreement have a 100 percent
support from Top09 and we are very happy that our government can
continue in its reform efforts.” Coalition tensions increased earlier this month after Necas
said he wanted to fire John and Education Minister Josef Dobes,
also from Public Affairs, over their ties to a private detective
agency. Necas’s pledge to overhaul the money-losing pension system
and trim the fiscal gap below the European Union’s limit of 3
percent of economic output by 2013 has helped the koruna gain
7.2 percent against the euro since May 2010 elections. The koruna today gained as much as 0.4 percent to 24.091
per euro, its strongest intraday level in more than two months,
and traded 0.3 percent firmer at 24.120 as of 2 p.m. in Prague. Necas said today he has changed his mind on Dobes and will
let him keep his post. A parliamentary no-confidence motion
proposed by the opposition Social Democrats last week has little
chance of passing after the agreement, the prime minister said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Krystof Chamonikolas in Prague at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Douglas Lytle at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Tunisian Court Acquits in Case Linked to Unrest, Lawyer Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/tunisian-court-acquits-in-case-linked-to-unrest-lawyer-says.html
| B y J i h e n L a g h m a r i | A Tunisian court acquitted a
policewoman accused of attacking Mohamed Bouazizi, the street
trader whose self-immolation inspired a revolution that toppled
the country’s president, the woman’s lawyer said. Fadia Hamdi was accused of slapping and humiliating
Bouazizi before he set himself on fire outside the governor’s
office on Dec. 17. She denied the charges, her lawyer, Basma
Mnassri, said. “I was convinced that my client is innocent and I asked
for a fair trial,” Mnassri said today in a phone interview from
Sidi Bouzid. “Fadia Hamdi is a living martyr.” TAP, the state-
run news agency, said that the court threw out the charges after
Bouazizi’s family dropped their complaint. Bouazizi, 26, who sold fruit and vegetables on a street in
Sidi Bouzid, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the
capital, Tunis, was harassed and heckled by local police for not
having a permit and his cart was confiscated. The protests triggered by his death culminated in Tunisian
President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s Jan. 14 flight to Saudi
Arabia and inspired a revolt in Egypt that led to the toppling
of President Hosni Mubarak . The ruling comes as unrest inspired by the Tunisian
uprising spreads throughout the Arab world, with protests
rocking Yemen and Syria and armed conflict in Tunisia’s eastern
neighbor, Libya . To contact the reporter on this story:
Jihen Laghmari via the Cairo newsroom at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Mahmoud Kassem at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Bank of America Said to Plan Spinoff of $5 Billion Private-Equity Business | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/bofa-said-to-plan-spinoff-of-5-billion-private-equity-unit.html
| B y H u g h S o n a n d C r i s t i n a A l e s c i | Bank of America Corp. (BAC) , the biggest
U.S. lender by assets, plans to wind down its flagship
$5 billion buyout fund as it seeks to preserve capital, said a
person with knowledge of the plan. The bank has made a “strategic decision” to sell most of
the Capital Partners fund’s remaining investments over time, the
person said, citing an internal memo sent late yesterday at the
Charlotte , North Carolina-based company. The team managing those
assets will become an independent firm, said the person, who
declined to be identified because the plan isn’t public. Regulators are pressuring banks to build capital and reduce
riskier assets ahead of new international regulations requiring
greater reserves. The Federal Reserve rejected Bank of America’s
request to increase its dividend last month, making it the only
lender among the largest four that didn’t win approval. JPMorgan
Chase & Co. (JPM) , the second-biggest U.S. bank by assets, has said it
may continue making private equity investments. “Businesses in which they don’t have a leading market
share are on the chopping block,” said Tony Plath , a finance
professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
“I’ll bet the private equity investments require an extra layer
of capital under the new rules, so the returns probably don’t
justify their use of capital.” The fund returned $2 billion to investors in the first
quarter, and about $5 billion last year, the person said. Bank
of America, which won’t fund new private equity investments
through Capital Partners, still owns the assets and will pay
fees to the spinoff firm, the person said. Most of the capital
invested in the fund came from Bank of America, the person said. Strategically Critical The memo was sent from Jim Forbes, head of the bank’s
global principal investments unit which includes the Capital
Partners fund, said Jerry Dubrowski , a Bank of America spokesman
who confirmed the contents of the letter. It is unclear if
Forbes will remain, said the person. “We recently determined that private-equity investments
were not strategically critical to our business going forward,”
Dubrowski said. “With limited investment activity, it made
sense for BAML Capital Partners to spin off from the bank.” The new firm will seek to raise funds, Dubrowski said. Most
of Capital Partner’s assets were originally owned by Merrill
Lynch, he said. To contact the reporters on this story:
Hugh Son in New York at [email protected] ;
Cristina Alesci in New York at
[email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story:
David Scheer at [email protected] ;
Rick Green at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Madoff Investors’ Suit Claiming SEC Was Negligent in Oversight Dismissed | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/madoff-investors-suit-claiming-sec-was-negligent-in-oversight-dismissed.html
| B y A n d r e w H a r r i s a n d L i n d a S a n d l e r | Two of Bernard L. Madoff’s
investors lost their bid to bring a $2.5 million suit against
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly gross
negligent oversight in failing to uncover his fraudulent scheme. U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain in New York today
threw out the 2009 lawsuit by investors Phyllis Molchatsky and
Steven Schneider which blamed the SEC for failing to detect and
end the scheme. “Plaintiffs have identified no statutory or regulatory
provision that suggests the existence of prescriptive rules for
the conduct of SEC investigations,” Swain said in a 28-page
ruling, adding “there is no reason to believe that information
concerning any such duties would not be publicly available.” Swain has 27 similar cases, according to the court docket. “These lawsuits are not going to survive,” said Peter Henning , a professor at Wayne State University in Detroit and a
former SEC lawyer. “The SEC did not cover itself in glory in
the Madoff investigation, but it has discretion conducting its
investigations.” Madoff, 72, is serving a 150-year sentence for running the
fraud through his New York-based Bernard L. Madoff Investment
Securities LLC. Investors lost about $17 billion of principal in
the Ponzi scheme , according to the latest calculations of the
trustee liquidating the Madoff firm, who reported the number in
a court filing yesterday. Disappointed “We are disappointed with the judge’s opinion and continue
to believe that the court is well-suited to oversee the SEC’s
actions and inactions, which were inarguably negligent,”
plaintiffs’ lawyer Howard Elisofon of New York-based Herrick
Feinstein LLP said in an e-mailed statement. “We are reviewing this opinion and conferring with our
clients before announcing our next step,” Elisofon said. Kevin Callahan , a spokesman for the SEC, declined to
comment on the court’s ruling. “Scandalous and outrageous as plaintiffs’ allegations (and
findings of the OIG Report on which they are based) are,
plaintiffs fail to identify any specific mandatory duty that the
SEC violated in its numerous instances of sloppy, uninformed,
irresponsible behavior,” the judge wrote. Swain issued a separate order addressing plaintiffs and
their lawyers in the 27 similar suits, directing them to file
with the court by May 31 a statement outlining their positions
“as to what further proceedings are appropriate,” in light of
her ruling in the Molchatsky-Schneider case. Conference Scheduled The judge also scheduled a June 7 conference to discuss the
issue with all sides. Proceedings in each of the cases are now
stayed. Molchatsky, a disabled retiree and single mother who claims
she lost $1.7 million in the fraud, and Schneider, a doctor who
said he lost almost $753,000, filed the lawsuit under the
Federal Tort Claims Act in October 2009 after the SEC denied
their administrative claims. Their complaint relied for its underpinnings upon an August
2009 report by the SEC’s Office of the Inspector General which
said the agency had received “numerous, detailed, credible
complaints regarding Madoff” between 1992 and 2008, and
“flawed” investigations, Swain said. The U.S. asked the court to dismiss the case, claiming the
government is immune from suits and the SEC has discretion in
deciding who to investigate and how to conduct its queries. The case is Molchatsky vs. U.S., 1:09-cv-08697, U.S.
District Court, Southern District of New York ( Manhattan ). To contact the reporters on this story:
Andrew Harris in Chicago at
[email protected] ; and
Linda Sandler in New York at
[email protected] . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
John Pickering at [email protected] . | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Rand Strengthens Versus Dollar on Speculation Borrowing Costs May Increase | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/rand-gains-versus-dollar-euro-after-bank-says-food-poses-inflation-risks.html
| B y R o b e r t B r a n d | The rand strengthened against the
dollar after a central bank official said food prices posed
“significant upside risks” for inflation, fuelling speculation
the bank may raise borrowing costs as soon as July. The currency advanced as much as 0.8 percent to 6.8084 per
dollar, and traded 0.5 percent stronger at 6.8284 as of 3:43
p.m. in Johannesburg. It was little changed at 9.7749 per euro
after advancing as much as 0.6 percent to 9.7135 in earlier
trading. Data show an “accelerating trend” in food prices, Reserve
Bank Deputy Governor Daniel Mminele said in a speech in
Washington on April 16, published on the Pretoria-based central
bank’s website today. Second-round inflation, where increases in
fuel and commodity prices drive up prices of other goods, would
“need to be monitored very closely,” he said. The bank has
left its benchmark repurchase rate at 5.5 percent, a 30-year
low, since November. “The bank will not be soft on signs of second-round
pressures, and will start a process of normalizing the repo rate
in the third quarter,” Johannesburg-based Citibank NA analysts
Leon Myburgh and Coura Fall wrote in a research note. The Pretoria-based government statistics agency will report
tomorrow that the consumer price index in Africa ’s biggest
economy probably rose 4 percent in March from a year earlier,
compared with 3.7 percent in February, according to the median
estimate of 21 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The rate may
increase to close to the upper limit of the central bank’s 3 to
6 percent target range, Myburgh and Fall wrote. Higher interest rates would increase the carry-trade appeal
of rand assets. In the carry trade, investors borrow in the
currency of nations with relatively low interest rates, and
invest the proceeds in high-yielding assets. The rand pared earlier gains against the euro after a
report showed German manufacturing growth unexpectedly
accelerated, adding to speculation that the European Central
bank will raise interest rates further. The euro gained against
the dollar and yen after the report. Bonds rallied. The 13.5 percent notes due 2015 added 15
cents to 121.25 rand, cutting the yield five basis points, or
0.05 percentage point, to 7.69 percent. The 6.75 percent bonds
due 2021 gained 24 cents to 88.22 rand, driving the yield 4
basis points lower to 8.53 percent. To contact the reporter on this story:
Robert Brand in Cape Town at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Gavin Serkin at [email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Nigeria Elections, Crude Price Savings ‘Promising’ for Rating, Fitch Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/nigeria-elections-crude-price-savings-promising-for-rating-fitch-says.html
| B y C h r i s K a y | Nigeria ’s presidential elections
and an increase in oil savings are “promising” for the credit
profile of Africa’s biggest oil producer, according to Fitch
Ratings . “The credible elections are a real positive for Nigeria,
their news about the excess crude account building up is
encouraging,” Veronica Kalema , a London-based director in
Fitch’s sovereign group, said in a phone interview today. “We
would now need to see what the new government would do in
implementing some reforms, which would shield the excess crude
account from election cycles and would reform the sovereign-
wealth fund.” Fitch lowered its outlook on Nigeria’s BB- rating to
“negative” from “stable” on Oct. 22, due to concerns that
the nation was making withdrawals from the excess crude account,
a windfall saved when the price of crude goes above the
benchmark used for the country’s budget, and foreign-currency
reserves dropped. The nation’s oil account rose to $6.9 billion
in March from $3 billion in December, ThisDay newspaper reported
April 12, citing acting Accountant-General Aderemi Ogunsanya.
The West African nation depends on oil exports for 95 percent of
foreign-exchange income, which provided $59 billion of revenue
last year. Incumbent leader Goodluck Jonathan won presidential
elections in Africa ’s most populous country this weekend,
described as “credible” by observers from the Commonwealth
group of nations. The last elections, in 2007, were seen by
international and local monitors as flawed by intimidation of
voters and ballot fraud. Rating Visit “We’re due to do a ratings visit around August, by then
they will have had enough time to start implementing reforms,”
said Kalema. “Then we will see what to do.” Nigeria’s Eurobonds due 2021, rated three levels below
investment grade by Fitch, rose for a third day, gaining 0.3
percent to 103.19 cents on the dollar as of 11:34 a.m. in
London, the highest level since the debt was issued in January,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The yield fell four
basis points, or 0.04 percentage point, to 6.31 percent. The
$500 million of bonds are Nigeria’s only international notes. To contact the reporter on this story:
Chris Kay in London at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Gavin Serkin at
[email protected] | |||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Yen Erases Advance on Speculation Importers Sold Currency; Aussie Declines | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/yen-erases-advance-on-speculation-importers-sold-currency-aussie-declines.html
| B y Y o s h i a k i N o h a r a a n d C a n d i c e Z a c h a r i a h s | The yen erased gains versus the
dollar and the euro on speculation Japanese importers sold their
nation’s currency after it rose for the past three days. The yen lost its earlier advance when it strengthened
toward 82 per dollar, a level the currency reached after the
Group of Seven nations jointly intervened in the foreign-
exchange market last month. The Australian and New Zealand
dollars weakened as losses in commodities and stocks damped
demand for higher-yielding assets. “Importers were probably glad to see the yen climb back
to this level,” said Takashi Kudo, senior manager of the
foreign-exchange division support center in Tokyo at NTT
SmartTrade Inc., a unit of Japan’s biggest telephone company.
“Traders are paying attention to 82 yen” due to the G-7
intervention, he said. The yen traded at 82.56 per dollar as of 10:05 a.m. in
Tokyo from 82.66 in New York yesterday, when it rose to 82.19,
the strongest since March 29. The yen weakened to 81.99 per
dollar when the intervention took place on March 18 from a
postwar high of 76.25 the previous day. Japan ’s currency was at
117.56 per euro from 117.66. The dollar bought $1.4242 per euro
from $1.4235. Australia ’s dollar fell 0.2 percent to $1.0489, and New
Zealand’s dollar fell 0.4 percent to 78.78 U.S. cents. To contact the reporters on this story:
Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at
[email protected] ;
Candice Zachariahs in Sydney at
[email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Rocky Swift at
[email protected] |