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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
mshenk1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at
dstets@bloomberg.net | ||||||
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
clarkin4@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Adriel Bettelheim at
abettelheim@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
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
kjenkins3@bloomberg.net ;
Emma Charlton in London at
echarlton1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Daniel Tilles at
dtilles@bloomberg.net | ||||||
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
aclark27@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net | ||||||
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
aroberts36@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Celeste Perri at cperri@bloomberg.net .. | ||||||
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
mcohen21@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrew J. Barden at
barden@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
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
kandrusz@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Balazs Penz at
bpenz@bloomberg.net | ||||||
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
kchamonikola@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Douglas Lytle at dlytle@bloomberg.net | ||||||
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
jlaghmari@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Mahmoud Kassem at mkassem1@bloomberg.net | ||||||
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 hson1@bloomberg.net ;
Cristina Alesci in New York at
calesci2@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story:
David Scheer at dscheer@bloomberg.net ;
Rick Green at rgreen18@bloomberg.net | ||||||
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
aharris16@bloomberg.net ; and
Linda Sandler in New York at
lsandler@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
John Pickering at jpickering@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
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
rbrand9@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net | ||||||
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
ckay5@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Gavin Serkin at
gserkin@bloomberg.net | ||||||
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
ynohara1@bloomberg.net ;
Candice Zachariahs in Sydney at
czachariahs2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Rocky Swift at
rswift5@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Sprint Agrees to Pay Clearwire $1 Billion for Use of Network | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/sprint-clearwire-report-amendments-to-long-term-agreement.html
| B y G r e g B e n s i n g e r a n d A m y T h o m s o n | Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) , the third-
largest U.S. wireless provider, agreed to pay Clearwire Corp. (CLWR) at
least $1 billion for the use of its so-called fourth-generation
network over the next two years. Clearwire will get $300 million this year, $550 million in
2012, as well as pre-payments of $175 million over at least the
next two years, according to a statement from the companies
today. The agreement, which amends an existing deal, is good
through November 2013. Sprint, which is based in Overland Park , Kansas , can keep
offering wireless service that allows speedier Web browsing and
video streaming than its own network, according to the
agreement. For unprofitable Clearwire, the accord may provide
less funding than some investors had expected, said Michael Nelson , a Mizuho Securities analyst in New York . “Clearwire investors would like to see Clearwire receive
enough capital to resume full expansion of its network, and to
do that, they need roughly $2 billion,” Nelson, who rates both
Sprint and Clearwire shares “buy,” said in an interview.
“Clearwire investors were hoping for a discrete equity
investment from Sprint into Clearwire.” Clearwire, based in Kirkland, Washington , fell 25 cents, or
4.3 percent, to $5.53 at 4 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq
Stock Market. Sprint added 4 cents to $4.74 in New York Stock
Exchange composite trading. ‘Positive Step’ Sprint also agreed to new terms for prices based on usage
of handsets, such as the Evo 4G. The carrier will be allowed to
resell the 4G service, operating on a technology known as WiMax,
to other carriers, the companies said. The deal resolves a disagreement over how much Clearwire
could charge Sprint for use of its service, a dispute that
emerged after Sprint began selling smartphones for the fourth-
generation network in 2010. That disagreement may have
discouraged some potential investors in Clearwire, Chief
Financial Officer Erik Prusch said in March. “This is an enormous positive step towards achieving
positive cash flow ” during 2012, said Clearwire interim Chief
Executive Officer John Stanton in an interview. “Anything that
would bring us closer to Sprint is a good thing.” Stanton said Sprint’s agreement to use Clearwire’s WiMax
service is set to be automatically extended for another five
year period after November 2013, though the terms may change
through further negotiation. Financing Needs Clearwire is conducting a search for a new CEO after Bill Morrow stepped down from the post last month. Stanton said he
had no interest in remaining as full-time CEO and would like to
continue as non-executive chairman. In February, Clearwire predicted improving earnings that
could eliminate the need for additional financing. The company
had struggled to meet its funding needs, telling investors in
November it could run out of cash by midyear before raising $1.3
billion in bonds in December. The company, which reported a $487.4 million net loss last
year, has also slowed down its network expansion, cut sales and
marketing spending and fired employees to save money. Sprint trails Verizon Wireless , the largest U.S. wireless
provider, and AT&T Inc. (T) , the No. 2. To contact the reporters on this story:
Greg Bensinger in New York at
gbensinger1@bloomberg.net ;
Amy Thomson in New York at
athomson6@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Peter Elstrom at
pelstrom@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Saudi Airlines Passengers Numbers Rise 8.9% as Fleet Expands | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/saudi-airlines-passengers-numbers-rise-8-9-as-fleet-expands.html
| B y W a e l M a h d i | Saudi Arabian Airlines said
passenger numbers rose 8.9 percent in the first quarter after
increasing the size of its fleet and adding more flights. The kingdom’s national carrier, based in Jeddah, Saudi
Arabia , said in a statement today that it carried 4.54 million
passengers in the first quarter compared with 4.17 million for
the same period a year earlier. The airline is planning to add more than the 70 planes it
already has on order from Boeing Co. (BA) and Airbus SAS as it seeks
to replace older Boeing models to reduce maintenance costs,
Khalid al-Molhem, the airline’s director general, said in an
interview last May. The carrier said yesterday that 44 new airplanes entered
service in the last 17 months with another five due by the end
of this year. SAA will keep adding planes until the end of 2014
when it should have acquired all 70 of the new airplanes on
order, al-Molhem added. To contact the reporter on this story:
Wael Mahdi in Jeddah wmahdi@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Shaji Mathew at
shajimathew@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | French Rapeseed Crop Lacks Water in Central Region, Cetiom Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/french-rapeseed-crop-lacks-water-in-central-region-cetiom-says.html
| B y R u d y R u i t e n b e r g | French rapeseed in the country’s
central growing region, which accounts for about a fifth of
national production, is lacking water, France ’s technical center
for oilseed crops said. Near the city of Tours in France’s Centre region, water
requirements of the rapeseed crop surpassed the available
moisture in the first 10 days of April, the Paris-based center,
known as Cetiom, said in a report on its website today. Northern France has built up an “important” water-supply
deficit since the end of January, while maximum temperatures
have been at the “upper limit” of the normal range for the
season, the European Union’s Monitoring Agricultural Resources
unit said in a report dated April 12. “The season is relatively early compared with other years
due to the high temperatures,” Cetiom said. “The dry
conditions persist and there’s no change announced for the
coming days. The soils therefore are dry.” Rapeseed in the Centre and Ile-de-France regions and the
Eure department in Haute-Normandie has “mostly” entered the
growing stage in which plants start to drop their flower petals,
the center said. The Centre region accounts for about 15 percent of France’s
rapeseed production, while the Ile-de-France region produces
another 4 percent of the country’s crop, according to data from
the U.S. Department of Agriculture . To contact the reporter on this story:
Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris at
rruitenberg@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Claudia Carpenter at
ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | HSBC Hires Economist Delgado From Roubini Global | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/hsbc-hires-roubini-global-s-delgado-as-emerging-market-cross-asset-analyst.html
| B y Y e X i e | HSBC Holdings Plc. (HSBA) , Europe’s
largest bank by market value, hired Bertrand Delgado as an
emerging-markets strategist, luring him away from Roubini Global
Economics LLC. Delgado, 43, is working in New York as a cross-asset
strategist for emerging markets, said Rob Sherman, an HSBC
spokesman. Delgado, who started at HSBC on April 11, reports to
Pablo Goldberg, head of global emerging markets research for
HSBC Global Banking and Markets. Roubini Global Economics, a consulting firm founded by
Nouriel Roubini, the New York University economist who predicted
the global financial crisis, hired Delgado in 2009 as a senior
economist covering emerging markets. Delgado previously served as an economist and currency
strategist at the research firm IDEAglobal for three years. He
holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from University of
Wisconsin and a master’s degree in international finance and
economics from Columbia University. Emerging markets from Asia to Latin America accounted for
most of HSBC’s net income last year. Pretax profit in Asia
jumped 26 percent to $11.6 billion in 2010, compared with the
7.3 percent increase to $4.3 billion in Europe, HSBC said in
February. To contact the reporter on this story:
Ye Xie in New York at
yxie6@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Papadopoulos at
papadopoulos@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Novolipetsk Jumps Most in 2 Months as 1st-Quarter Sales Gain | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/novolipetsk-jumps-most-in-2-months-as-1st-quarter-sales-gain-1-.html
| B y J a c k J o r d a n | OAO Novolipetsk Steel, owned by
Russian billionaire Vladimir Lisin , rose the most in almost two
months in Moscow after saying its preliminary results show an
advance in first-quarter sales. The shares climbed 3.2 percent to 109.48 rubles at the 6:45
p.m. close in Moscow, the biggest jump since Feb. 25. Sales are expected at $2.4 billion for the first quarter,
up 41 percent from $1.7 billion a year earlier, the company said
in a statement today. “We expect sequential growth in second-quarter sales
volumes as market conditions improve,” the company said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Jack Jordan in London at
jjordan22@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Gavin Serkin at
gserkin@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Capmark Financial Group Files Plan to Exit Bankruptcy as Smaller Company | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/capmark-financial-group-files-plan-to-exit-bankruptcy-as-smaller-company.html
| B y S t e v e n C h u r c h | Capmark Financial Group Inc., the
bankrupt commercial lender, filed a plan to reorganize around a
group of 14 units, including its bank, and exit bankruptcy as a
smaller company. Capmark Bank, based in Midvale, Utah , had $6.2 billion in
deposits and $3.1 billion in cash as of Dec. 31, according to
court documents the company filed April 15 in U.S. Bankruptcy
Court in Wilmington, Delaware, as part of its reorganization
plan. The reorganized company will issue $1.25 billion in notes
to general unsecured creditors who are owed about $7 billion.
Creditors will also be given stock in the new company and some
cash. After the assets have been given out, the biggest group of
creditors, those who hold unsecured loans and notes not
guaranteed by collateral, will recover about $3.89 billion, or
56.1 percent of what they are owed, according to the plan. Capmark Financial, based in Horsham, Pennsylvania , urged
creditors to support the plan. “Any alternative to confirmation of the plan would result
in significant delays, litigation, lost value and additional
costs,” the company said in a disclosure statement describing
how the plan will affect creditors. The company asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi
to approve the disclosure statement, so it can be sent to
creditors to help them vote on the plan. Once creditors vote,
Sontchi will decide whether to approve the reorganization and
allow Capmark to leave court protection. Capmark filed bankruptcy on Oct. 25, 2009, blaming falling
property values and a drop in lending. While in bankruptcy, the company sold its loan-servicing
unit to Warren Buffett ’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Leucadia
National Corp. (LUK) in a deal valued at $468 million. The case is In re Capmark Financial Group Inc., 09-13684,
U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington). To contact the reporter on this story:
Steven Church in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware,
at schurch3@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
John Pickering at
jpickering@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Stocks Gain on Earnings as Gold Futures Rise Above $1,500 on Weaker Dollar | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/asian-stocks-decline-as-won-kiwi-drop-after-s-p-cuts-u-s-rating-outlook.html
| B y S t e p h e n K i r k l a n d a n d R i t a N a z a r e t h | Stocks rebounded from the biggest
drop in a month after companies from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) to
Burberry Group Plc. (BRBY) reported results that beat analyst
estimates. Gold futures touched $1,500 an ounce for the first
time as the dollar weakened. Treasuries rose. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 0.6 percent to
1,312.62 at 4 p.m. in New York as higher-than-forecast housing
starts also drove gains. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased
0.5 percent as Burberry rallied 6 percent. The euro climbed 0.7
percent to $1.4332. Canada’s dollar strengthened versus 14 of 16
major peers as accelerating inflation triggered bets the central
bank will boost interest rates . Johnson & Johnson, the world’s second-biggest seller of
health-care products, led gains in the Dow Jones Industrial
Average after increasing its full-year forecast. Burberry,
Britain’s biggest luxury retailer, said quarterly sales jumped
32 percent and SKF AB (SKFB) , the world’s largest maker of ball
bearings, posted record profit. Stocks slid yesterday as S&P cut
the long-term U.S. credit outlook to negative. “This market has been very resilient,” said Burt White,
who helps oversee $284 billion as chief investment officer at
LPL Financial Corp. in Boston. “Things are better than people
think as far as the economy goes. Today’s housing numbers were
pretty good. You’ve got a bellwether such as Johnson & Johnson
coming out with good news. The market is excited to see that.” Earnings Season The S&P 500 rebounded after yesterday dropping 1.1 percent,
the most since March 16. J&J climbed 3.7 percent after new drugs
and a weaker dollar boosted results. Steel Dynamics Inc. added
5.7 percent as its profit also beat projections. Newmont Mining
Corp. helped pace gains in raw-material producers, rising 1.3
percent as gold and copper prices increased. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) rallied as much as 1.5 percent
after earnings topped estimates, before erasing gains and
retreating 1.3 percent after Rochdale Securities LLC reduced its
rating to “neutral” from “buy.” About 6.6 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges,
15 percent less than the three-month average as trading slowed
on the Passover holiday. A gauge of homebuilders in S&P indexes gained 2.2 percent
as all 12 of its stocks advanced. A report today showed building
permits, a proxy for future construction, rose 11 percent to a
594,000 pace. They were projected to rise 1.1 percent to a
540,000 annual pace. Housing starts increased 7.2 percent to
549,000, exceeding the 520,000 median forecast of economists
surveyed by Bloomberg News. About three shares gained for each that fell in the Stoxx
600. SKF rallied 6.4 percent. LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton
SA (MC) , the world’s largest luxury-goods maker, advanced 4.7 percent
as sales beat analysts’ estimates. Novartis AG (NOVN) , the third-
biggest stock in the index, gained 3.5 percent after the
drugmaker’s sales and profit surpassed projections. AAA Rating The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note slipped two
basis points to 3.36 percent and the 30-year yield lost three
basis points to 4.43 percent. President Barack Obama began a tour promoting his proposal
to cut long-term budget deficits with a new urgency after S&P
said yesterday that the nation’s AAA credit rating is in peril.
The divide between Republicans and Democrats in Congress over
combating the nation’s debt was spotlighted by S&P’s lowering of
the long-term U.S. credit outlook to “negative,” with each
side saying the alert bolsters their competing arguments. 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. ‘Strong Targets’ “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. Gold for June delivery settled up 0.1 percent at $1.495.10
after earlier reaching $1,500.50. The dollar weakened against 12 of 16 major peers, losing at
least 1 percent versus Norway’s krone and Sweden’s krona. The
euro appreciated against 11 of its 16 major counterparts amid
speculation the European Central Bank will raise interest rates
further. The loonie, as the Canadian currency is nicknamed,
strengthened 0.8 percent to $1.0455 after the consumer price
index advanced 3.3 percent in March from a year earlier,
compared with a 2.2 percent pace of increase in the previous
month, Statistics Canada reported. The median forecast of 25
economists was for a 2.8 percent annual rate. Commodities Gain Crude oil for May delivery increased for the fourth time in
five days, rallying 1 percent to $108.15 a barrel as the weaker
dollar lifted commodities. Oil traders have turned $80 crude into the second-biggest
bet in the options market as a surge in futures to the highest
level since 2008 spurred concern that demand may tumble. Open interest, the number of contracts held by traders, has
more than doubled since January for $80 put options for December
2011 and 2012 as New York futures last week touched a 30-month
high of $113.46 a barrel. The two puts, bets that prices will
fall, account for 21 percent of the open interest among the top
10 contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Commodities, Emerging Markets The S&P GSCI index of 24 commodities gained 0.3 percent,
recouping some of yesterday’s 1.2 percent slide. Cotton
retreated 3.9 percent. Wheat futures rose 1.3 percent, a third
straight gain, as weather conditions in the U.S. worsened and
Germany ’s crop estimate was lowered amid a dry spell. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index increased 0.6 percent as
benchmark gauges in Russia , Turkey, South Africa , Egypt and
Hungary rallied more than 1 percent. The Shanghai Composite
Index led declines in Asia , sliding 1.9 percent, on concern the
U.S. debt outlook may deteriorate further and speculation that
China will further tighten monetary policy. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 1 percent to the lowest
level this month as S&P’s downgrade of the U.S. credit outlook
fueled concern that a recovery in the global economy may slow. Greece’s two-year yields jumped as much as 39 basis points
to a record 20.73 percent as the government sold 1.625 billion
euros ($2.33 billion) of bills. To contact the reporters on this story:
Stephen Kirkland in London at
skirkland@bloomberg.net ;
Rita Nazareth in Sao Paulo at
rnazareth@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Regan at
mregan12@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Singapore to Hold Elections on May 7 as Premier Lee Dissolves Parliament | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/singapore-to-hold-elections-on-may-7-as-premier-lee-dissolves-parliament.html
| B y S h a m i m A d a m | Singapore will hold its
parliamentary election on May 7, according to a statement from
the Prime Minister’s Office. To contact the reporter on this story:
Shamim Adam in Singapore at
sadam2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Linus Chua at
lchua@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Fed Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Rule on Mortgage Lending | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/fed-seeks-public-comment-on-proposed-rule-on-mortgage-lending.html
| B y C h r i s t o p h e r W e l l i s z | The Federal Reserve today requested
public comment on a proposed rule that would require lenders to
determine a consumer’s ability to repay a mortgage before making
the loan. The rule would also establish minimum mortgage underwriting
standards, the central bank said in a statement in Washington
today. The Fed said it will accept comments until July 22. To contact the reporter on this story:
Christopher Wellisz at
cwellisz@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christopher Wellisz at
cwellisz@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Fekter To Be Named Austrian Finance Minister Today, ORF Reports | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/fekter-to-be-named-austrian-finance-minister-today-orf-reports.html
| B y B o r i s G r o e n d a h l | April 19 (Bloomberg) Maria Fekter will be named as
Austria ’s new finance minister after a meeting of the co-
governing People’s Party today, Austria’s state broadcaster ORF
reported, without saying where it got the information. New party chairmanMichael Spindeleggerwill also name
Beatrix Karl justice minister and Johanna Mikl-Leitner interior
minister at a news conference following the meeting, ORF said. To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Boris Groendahl at
bgroendahl@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Marathon Reports Unit Upset at Robinson, Illinois, Refinery | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/marathon-reports-unit-upset-at-robinson-illinois-refinery-1-.html
| B y A a r o n C l a r k | Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) reported a unit
upset at its Robinson refinery in Illinois yesterday, according
to a filing with state regulators. The upset was caused by an incorrect setting on a pressure
controller for a wet gas compressor at the fluid catalytic
cracker, according to the filing with the Illinois Emergency
Management Agency. Shane Pochard, a spokesman for Marathon, declined to
comment. The 215,000-barrel-a-day refinery, which is located in
southeastern Illinois, processes sweet and sour crudes,
according to a company filing. The plant delivers refined
products to terminals in Chicago via the Wabash pipeline system. To contact the reporter on this story:
Aaron Clark in New York at
aclark27@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Malaysia Stocks: CapitaMalls, Ken Holdings, Karambunai, Zhulian | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/malaysia-stocks-capitamalls-ep-manufacturing-ken-zhulian.html
| B y C h a n T i e n H i n | Shares of the following companies
had unusual moves in Malaysia trading. Stock symbols are in
parentheses and prices are as of the 5 p.m. close in Kuala
Lumpur. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBMKLCI) Index fell 6.39, or 0.4
percent, to 1,521.53, its lowest close since March 29. CapitaMalls Malaysia Trust (CMMT) , a retail property
trust, added 0.9 percent to 1.13 ringgit, the most since April
11, after reporting a profit of 31.4 million ringgit ($10.4
million) in the first quarter ended March 31. The company
achieved a distributable income of 26 million ringgit, it said
in a statement. There were no comparable year-earlier figures as
the company was established in June 2010, it said. EP Manufacturing Bhd. (EPMB) jumped 10 percent to 74.5
sen, the highest close since March 2006. Horizon Growth Fund NV
has emerged as a substantial shareholder of the Malaysian auto-
parts maker after buying 8.7 million shares, or a 5.4 percent
stake, an exchange filing showed. Karambunai Corp. (KRBN MK), a property and hotel group,
surged 21 percent to 25.5 sen, the most since Jan. 4, after
Malaysia’s government said the company is part of a group that
will undertake a 9.6 billion-ringgit integrated resort
development in Sabah state. Ken Holdings Bhd. (KEN) , a property developer, surged 13
percent to 1.35 ringgit, its highest close since July 31, 2007.
The company’s first-quarter profit surged fourfold from a year
earlier to 5.08 million ringgit on higher sales, according to a
stock exchange filing. Zhulian Corp. (ZHCB MK), a multi-level marketing company ,
lost 1.7 percent to 1.75 ringgit, its lowest close since April
12. First-quarter net income fell 14 percent from a year earlier
to 21.3 million ringgit because of lower profit margins, Zhulian
said in a statement. To contact the reporters on this story:
Chan Tien Hin in Kuala Lumpur at
thchan@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Darren Boey at dboey@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Manchester United Misses Chance to Take Nine-Point Lead in Premier League | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/manchester-united-draws-0-0-at-newcastle-leads-premier-league-by-7-points.html
| B y D a n B a y n e s | Manchester United missed the chance
to take a nine-point lead atop English soccer’s Premier League
with a 0-0 draw at mid-table Newcastle. Ryan Giggs twice shot wide for the Red Devils in the second
half at St. James’ Park last night, while both teams had appeals
for penalty kicks rejected. The draw leaves United, seeking a record 19th English
league title, seven points ahead of second-place Arsenal with
five matches remaining. Arsenal has played one game fewer and
can cut the gap to four by beating London rival Tottenham today. “I’m confident we’ll be fine now as that was a hard one to
get over,” United manager Alex Ferguson told Sky Sports .
“We’re in a better position than we were on Saturday one
less game and the same position we were with Arsenal with five
games left.” Defending champion Chelsea trails United by nine points and
can reduce the deficit with a win against Birmingham in today’s
other Premier League match, the first of three straight at home
for the Blues. Ferguson’s team visits Arsenal on May 1 and hosts
Chelsea a week later. “You have got to look at Chelsea also and how they respond
with the three home games in a row,” Ferguson said. “There are
two important games coming up, obviously, and that’s the Arsenal
game away and the Chelsea game at home.” Arsenal’s draw with Liverpool three days ago gave United
the chance to go nine points clear with a win last night. The
Red Devils failed to convert any of their eight chances on
target. Early Chance Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul made a point-blank save from
Javier Hernandez in the second minute and Wayne Rooney shot over
the crossbar after being sent clear by Hernandez’s flick. Jose
Enrique denied Hernandez with a block on the stroke of halftime. Referee Lee Probert waved away Newcastle’s appeals for a
penalty kick in the 60th minute when United midfielder Anderson
appeared to catch Peter Lovenkrands in the area. Giggs twice skewed shots wide from goal-scoring positions
before United had a claim for a penalty kick of its own rejected
in the second minute of injury time. Hernandez went down under
Danny Simpson’s challenge and Probert showed the Mexican striker
a yellow card for diving instead of awarding a spot kick. “If it’s not a penalty, fine, but to book him is an
insult,” Ferguson said. “There is definitely contact, no doubt
about that.” Newcastle manager Alan Pardew, whose team moved up one
place to ninth, said his “heart sank” as the referee blew his
whistle because he’d assumed that a penalty had been given. “The history of Manchester United last-minute goals,
the club that they are, the manager that they have, I honestly
thought the referee had given it,” Pardew told Sky Sports.
“The referee got the decision right and we got, in my opinion,
a deserved draw.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Dan Baynes in Sydney at
dbaynes@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christopher Elser at at
celser@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Steel Dynamics Rises as First-Quarter Profit Tops Estimates | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/steel-dynamics-climbs-after-first-quarter-profit-beats-estimates.html
| B y S o n j a E l m q u i s t | Steel Dynamics Inc. (STLD) , a recycler of
steel scrap, climbed to the highest level in 10 months in Nasdaq
trading after reporting first-quarter profit that topped
analysts’ estimates. Net income rose 59 percent to 46 cents a share from 29
cents a year earlier, the Fort Wayne , Indiana-based company said
in a statement after the close of regular trading yesterday.
That beat the 41-cent average of eight analyst estimates in a
Bloomberg survey. Steel shipments climbed 4 percent to 1.5
million tons. Steel Dynamics is “optimistic” about 2011 and expects
higher steel use in industries including energy and
transportation, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Keith Busse
said in the statement. Margins at the company’s steel division
increased to $132 a ton, said Michelle Applebaum , managing
partner at Steel Market Intelligence, a Chicago-based industry
consultant. “Steel Dynamics remains our top pick in the sector,”
Applebaum said in a note. Net income climbed 63 percent to $105.9 million from $65
million and sales gained 30 percent to $2.02 billion. The shares rose $1, or 5.7 percent, to $18.46 at 4 p.m. New
York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, the biggest intraday
gain since June 2. To contact the reporter on this story:
Sonja Elmquist in New York at
selmquist1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Simon Casey at
scasey4@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | J&J Raises Full-Year Profit Forecast After Weaker Dollar Boosts Sales | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/johnson-johnson-profit-falls-23-amid-recalls-of-drugs-artificial-hips.html
| B y A l e x N u s s b a u m | Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) , the world’s
second-biggest seller of health products, increased its annual
earnings forecast after quarterly profit beat estimates on drug
sales and a weak dollar. The shares rose the most since 2008. Earnings in 2011 will be $4.90 to $5 a share, above a
January forecast of $4.80 to $4.90, New Brunswick , New Jersey-
based J&J said in a statement today. Chief Financial Officer
Dominic Caruso said he saw signs that a drop-off in medical
procedures that hurt sales last year may be easing. Revenue concerns are part of the motivation behind J&J’s
takeover talks with Synthes Inc. (SYST) , a Swiss medical-device maker,
said Jeff Jonas , a Gabelli & Co. analyst in Rye, New York . While
consumer-product sales fell after the company pulled more than
40 brands, prescription drugs beat estimates for the quarter, he
said. A stronger flu season helped, as did new medicines for
psoriasis and arthritis, Jonas said. “The story’s been delayed for a year and half because of
all the consumer recalls, but they do have a good drug
pipeline,” Jonas said in a telephone interview. “You could
potentially see accelerating revenue as they launch their new
drugs and recover on the consumer line.” Shares Rise Johnson & Johnson gained $2.23, or 3.7 percent, to $62.69
at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, making
it the best performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average . It
was the biggest one-day increase since November 2008 for J&J,
which has fallen 5.1 percent in the past 12 months. Quarterly profit excluding one-time items of $1.35 topped
by 10 cents the average estimate of 16 analysts. Net income
dropped 23 percent to $3.48 billion, or $1.25 a share, hurt by
withdrawals of over-the-counter drugs and artificial hips. Revenue rose 3.5 percent to $16.2 billion. About half of
the increase came from translating foreign currencies into
dollars, the company said. “The market will probably like this, although currency was
49 percent of their growth so it’s not as rosy as the first read
will make it look,” said David Maris, a Credit Agricole analyst
in New York, in a telephone interview. J&J’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit pulled Tylenol,
Motrin and other consumer medicines last year because of
incorrect ingredients or a musty smell that sickened some
customers. The company doesn’t expect to get all of the products
back to the market until 2012, CFO Caruso said on a conference
call with analysts. Recall Costs Caruso said fixing the quality problems will cut earnings
this year by 12 cents a share, double January’s estimate, after
J&J signed a consent decree in March giving U.S. regulators
expanded oversight of three manufacturing plants. First-quarter
sales of J&J’s over-the-counter drugs fell 6.5 percent, led by a
27 percent drop in the U.S., because of the recalls. Investors “are concerned about this damaging the
reputation of J&J,” said Linda Bannister , an analyst at Edward
Jones & Co. in St. Louis . “The company needs to make it right,
to get these things fixed.” Synthes, which leads the $5.5 billion global market for
tools to treat broken bones, said in a statement yesterday that
it was in talks about being acquired by J&J. With a market value
of $19.5 billion, the West Chester , Pennsylvania-based device
maker would be J&J’s biggest takeover ever. Caruso declined to comment on any potential deal. J&J’s
priority for using its approximately $27 billion in cash and
near-term investments remains raising the dividend, he said.
After that, the company wants “to grow the business.” Increasing Scale “We’re the largest med-tech business in the world, so we
believe that having a broad base of med-tech businesses, of
scale, is important,” Caruso said. “And obviously where we
don’t have sufficient scale, we’d love to increase the scale
over time in the appropriate manner.” Pharmaceutical division sales climbed 7.5 percent to $6.06
billion, J&J said. Revenue for psoriasis drug Stelara rose 91
percent to $166 million, while arthritis treatment Simponi’s
sales climbed 36 percent to $53 million. Sales of Levaquin, an
antibiotic, jumped 17 percent to $434 million because of a
higher incidence of flu and respiratory illness, the company
said. Pfizer Inc. (PFE) , based in New York, is the largest health
products maker by annual sales. To contact the reporter on this story:
Alex Nussbaum in New York
anussbaum1@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reg Gale at Rgale5@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Oil, Gas Shipments Rose 9% Last Quarter at French Marseille Port | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/oil-gas-shipments-rose-9-last-quarter-at-french-marseille-port.html
| B y N i d a a B a k h s h | Crude, oil-product and natural-gas
cargoes handled by Marseille port , France ’s largest, increased 9
percent in the first quarter from a year earlier. Volumes rose to 15.3 million metric tons compared with 14.1
million tons a year ago, the port authority said today in an e-
mailed statement. Shipments of liquefied natural gas climbed 46
percent to 1.9 million tons, it said. In March, hydrocarbon shipments fell 3.7 percent from a
year earlier to 4.9 million tons because of lower crude imports
from Libya , according to the port. “The 20 percent drop in crude oil traffic with Libya, the
number one client of the port in 2010, was apparently filled by
diversification of supply sources by importers,” the port said. Crude imports destined for Europe climbed by 6 percent, led
by Petroplus Holdings AG’s Cressier refinery in Switzerland,
which increased volumes by 17 percent in the quarter versus a
year earlier, the port said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Nidaa Bakhsh in London at
nbakhsh@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at
sev@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Vietnam Bond Yields Surge to 12-Month High on Inflation Concern | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/vietnam-bond-yields-surge-to-12-month-high-on-inflation-concern.html
| B y B l o o m b e r g N e w s | Vietnam ’s five-year bonds dropped,
pushing yields to more than a 12-month high, on concern
inflation accelerated in April. The dong gained. Consumer prices increased 13.9 percent in March from a year
earlier, the most since February 2009, official figures show.
The General Statistics Office is due to report the April numbers
next week. The yield on the government’s benchmark five-year bond rose
11 basis points to 12.23 percent, the highest level since April
26, 2010, according to a daily fixing price from banks compiled
by Bloomberg. “Demand is very weak because investors are expecting
yields will reach 13 percent to 14 percent,” said Tran Thi Ngoc
Thanh, deputy manager of the investment banking division at
Sacombank Securities Joint-Stock Co. “There are forecasts in
the market that consumer prices will rise as much as 1.8 percent
this month.” The dong gained 0.03 percent to 20,923 per dollar as of
2:58 p.m. in Hanoi, Bloomberg data show. The State Bank of Vietnam fixed the reference rate at
20,733, compared with 20,728 yesterday, its website showed. The
currency is allowed to trade up to 1 percent on either side of
that rate. Nguyen Kieu Giang in Hanoi. Editor: Simon Harvey To contact the Bloomberg News Staff on this story:
Nguyen Kieu Giang in Hanoi at
giang1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Sandy Hendry at
shendry@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | AT&T Says It ‘Just’ Received RIM’s Bridge E-Mail App For Testing | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/at-t-says-it-just-received-rim-s-bridge-e-mail-app-for-playbook-testing.html
| B y G r e g B e n s i n g e r a n d H u g o M i l l e r | AT&T Inc. (T) said it has “only just”
received a test version of software that enables e-mail on the
Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) BlackBerry PlayBook that was released
today. “We’ve only just received the app for testing, and we want
to make sure it will deliver a quality experience before we make
it available to our customers,” Mark Siegel, a spokesman for
Dallas-based AT&T, said in an e-mail message. To contact the reporter on this story:
Greg Bensinger in New York at
gbensinger1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Thomas Giles at
tgiles5@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Indian Weddings Face Curbs as Minister Targets Food Waste | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/indian-weddings-face-menu-curbs-as-minister-targets-food-waste.html
| B y A n d r e w M a c A s k i l l a n d P r a b h u d a t t a M i s h r a | Indians planning lavish wedding
parties may face pressure to slim down their menus, as the
government considers curbing celebrations that highlight a
growing gulf between rich and poor. Food Minister K.V. Thomas said April 18 that a panel will
consider limiting the number of guests who can be invited to
weddings and other social events, as well as the dishes they can
be served. Neighboring Pakistan restricts such revelers to one
plate of food, he said, something India could emulate. While India’s government is reacting after soaring food
prices dented the popularity of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ,
leading to nationwide protests, wedding planners and policy
experts said the proposals would be impossible to enforce and
fail to address the root cause of food insecurity in India, home
to 42 percent of the world’s undernourished children, according
to the International Food Policy Research Institute . “It’s absolutely ridiculous, it’s a reactionary, poorly
thought through, populist measure which I don’t think is
implementable,” said Ashish Abrol , a former Deutsche Bank AG
wealth manager and employee of International Business Machines
Corp., who started the wedding planning firm Big Indian Wedding
last year. Consumer-price inflation at 9 percent is the highest in the
Group of 20 nations after Argentina and Russia . Thomas says up
to 30 percent of food is wasted at weddings in India. About 40
percent of India’s fruit and vegetables rot before they can be
sold because of a lack of cold storage facilities and poor
transport infrastructure, according to government figures. Wal-Mart, Carrefour “To think that it is going to have an impact on the food
crisis is completely foolish,” Biraj Patnaik, a campaigner for
securing food rights for the poor and an adviser to the Supreme
Court , said of Thomas’s plan by phone yesterday. Foreign retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) and
Carrefour SA, barred from selling goods directly to Indian
consumers, argue they can improve the quality of the supply
chain if restrictions are relaxed. Regional political parties within Singh’s ruling alliance
oppose such a move, saying that it would threaten the
livelihoods of millions of small shopkeepers and drive down
farmers’ incomes. India ranked 67 out of 84 nations, below
Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Pakistan , on the food policy institute’s
Global Hunger Index compiled last year. Indian middle-class weddings are renowned for their over
indulgence and growing wealth in the country, fuelled by
economic expansion that may reach 9.25 percent this fiscal year,
has led to ever more extravagant celebrations. Helicopter Gift Kanwar Singh Tanwar, a businessman and a member of Singh’s
Congress party, invited about 30,000 people to celebrate his
son’s marriage to a fellow politician’s daughter, the Indian
Express reported in March. Tanwar’s son received a Bell 429 helicopter from his
parents-in-law and the reception had over 500 counters serving
food, the newspaper said. Responding to criticism the wedding
was excessive, Tanwar said that the celebration was a “simple”
affair, the Express said. Prakash Javadekar, a spokesman for India’s main opposition
Bharatiya Janata Party , vowed to support government plans to
crack down on excessive spending at weddings, which, he said,
risks increasing social unrest in a country where so many people
are hungry. “Lavish parties create a divide between the rich and the
poor,” said Javadekar, who sits in parliament’s upper house,
the Rajya Sabha. “We need simpler marriages.” Food Subsidies In India, about 80 percent of the population controls only
30 percent of the nation’s wealth, according to a study in 2006
by the University of Western Ontario , Canada . Singh’s government
will spend about $13.6 billion this fiscal year on food
subsidies for the poor. Thomas said the panel that will consider measures to rein
in parties will meet in the middle of May and then discuss the
matter with representatives of state government in June. Its
members have not yet been named, he said. Food-price inflation averaged 16 percent in the last fiscal
year after the late arrival of rains caused disruption in the
supply of fruits and vegetables including onions, a staple in
the local cuisine. Prices of milk, eggs and meat have also
gained as rising incomes spur consumer demand. Then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1997 imposed
curbs on the amount of food that could be served at weddings as
part of austerity measures. Sharif’s brother, Shahbaz Sharif,
imposed similar curbs in Pakistan’s Punjab province when he was
elected chief minister in 2008. Curry, Rice Hosts can serve a curry, rice and a sweet dish, according
to Siddiq-ul-Farooq, a spokesman for the Sharifs’ Pakistan
Muslim League. Parties must end by 11 p.m. “This law is working in Punjab and people are benefitting
from it,” Farooq said by phone from Islamabad. “Poor people
now have a very good reason to avoid overspending on these
occasions. In the past, they were forced to follow the rich
under social pressure.” Congress President Sonia Gandhi has periodically called on
party colleagues to avoid displays of wealth, including telling
officials to fly economy class, cut down on phone bills and
restrict their use of government-provided vehicles. To contact the reporters on this story:
Andrew Macaskill in New Delhi at
amacaskill@bloomberg.net ;
Prabhudatta Mishra at
pmishra8@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Peter Hirschberg at
phirschberg@bloomberg.net ;
Sam Nagarajan at
samnagarajan@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Karstadt’s Sales Decline in First Half, FT Deutschland Reports | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/karstadt-s-sales-decline-in-first-half-ft-deutschland-reports.html
| B y O l i v e r S u e s s | Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH’s sales
fell in the first half of the company’s business year by almost
4 percent to 1.78 billion euros ($2.6 billion), Financial Times
Deutschland reported, citing documents it obtained. The figures are not adjusted for the closure of 13
department stores, and a Karstadt spokesman said the results had
been expected, and the company had planned accordingly, the
newspaper said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Oliver Suess in Munich at
osuess@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Frank Connelly at fconnelly@bloomberg.net
Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Russian Railways to Auction Off Stakes in Units, Zhukov Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/russian-railways-to-sell-stakes-in-units-zhukov-says-correct-.html
| B y E k a t e r i n a S h a t a l o v a | OAO Russian Railways approved plans
to sell 75 percent minus two shares of its OAO Freight One unit
and 25 percent plus one share of OAO TransContainer, said Deputy
Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, the state-owned company’s
chairman. The rail monopoly seeks at least 115.5 billion rubles
($4.1 billion) and 10.7 billion rubles for the stakes in Freight
One and TransContainer, respectively, Zhukov told reporters
today in Moscow, adding that Freight One will be auctioned off
in the third quarter. The company’s board approved the plans
today. It would keep about 25 percent in each unit after the
sales. In October, Russian Railways CEO Vladimir Yakunin said in
an interview with Vedomosti newspaper that Globaltrans
Investment Plc and companies affiliated with billionaires
Vladimir Lisin and Gennady Timchenko were potential buyers. To contact the reporter on this story:
Ekaterina Shatalova in Moscow at
eshatalova@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Paul Abelsky at
pabelsky@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Greek Government Condemns Attack on Corfu Synagogue as Vandalism | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/greek-government-condemns-attack-on-corfu-synagogue-as-vandalism.html
| B y E l e n i C h r e p a | The Greek government said it
condemned as an act of vandalism an attack today on a synagogue
on the island of Corfu. “The break-in and the destruction of ceremonial books in
the Jewish Synagogue of Corfu is an immoral and appalling act”
spokesman George Petalotis said in an e-mailed statement from
the Athens-based press ministry today. “Anti-Semitism is
incompatible with Greek culture.” An unknown group broke into the synagogue early this
morning and set religious books on fire, according to a
statement by the Greek police today. Police said they are
investigating the incident, according to the statement . To contact the reporter on this story:
Eleni Chrepa in Athens at
echrepa@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Angela Cullen at
acullen@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Serbia Seeks International Probe on Kosovo Organ Trafficking | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/serbia-seeks-international-probe-on-kosovo-organ-trafficking.html
| B y G o r d a n a F i l i p o v i c | Serbia will ask the United Nations
Security Council to start an international probe into
allegations of organ trafficking in Kosovo in the 1990s, Foreign
Minister Vuk Jeremic said. The Balkan nation is seeking the investigation after a
December report by Dick Marty, a Swiss member of the 47-member
Council of Europe and its lead investigator, that implicated
Kosovo Premier Hashim Thaci in organ trafficking and drug
smuggling, Jeremic told reporters in Belgrade today. Kosovo, a nation of 2 million, mostly ethnic-Albanians,
declared independence from Serbia in February 2008, a move
Serbia has vowed never to accept. Most Western powers have
recognized Kosovo as a state, including 22 out of 27 members of
the European Union and the U.S. The Kosovo government, led by Thaci who was a guerrilla
leader of Kosovo’s separatist ethnic Albanians in the 1990s, has
dismissed Marty’s report. To contact the reporter on this story:
Gordana Filipovic in Belgrade at
gfilipovic@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James M. Gomez at
jagomez@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Deutsche Bank, LGT Group Ended BHF Sale on BaFin Fears, FTD Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/deutsche-bank-lgt-group-ended-bhf-sale-on-bafin-fears-ftd-says.html
| B y E v a v o n S c h a p e r | Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) and
Liechtenstein’s LGT Group ended talks on the sale of BHF-Bank AG
because LGT feared that BaFin, Germany ’s financial services
regulator, would veto the transaction, the Financial Times
Deutschland reported, citing finance circles. LGT took insufficient action in the Liechtenstein tax
affair and gave BaFin false information on its use of
foundations to help clients profit from tax advantages, the
newspaper said. In December, LGT, which is owned by Liechtenstein’s
princely family, and about 45 of its employees settled criminal
proceedings by German prosecutors over charges of abetting tax
evasion . To contact the reporter on this story:
Eva von Schaper in Munich Bureau at
evonschaper@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Phil Serafino at
pserafino@bloomberg.net Edward Evans at
eevans3@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | South Korea Buys 30,000 Tons of Chinese, Canadian Soybeans | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/south-korea-buys-30-000-tons-of-chinese-canadian-soybeans-1-.html
| B y S u n g w o o P a r k | Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corp., a
South Korean state-run food importer, said it purchased 30,000
metric tons of non-genetically modified Chinese and Canadian
soybeans for food use in a tender today. The food agency paid $685.51 a ton on a cost-and-freight
basis for 25,000 tons of Chinese soybeans due for delivery by
June 30, according to a notice on the importer’s website today. The company bought 5,000 tons of Canadian soybeans due for
arrival in June and July for $684.50 a ton on a cost-and-freight
basis, it said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Sungwoo Park in Seoul at
spark47@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Poole at
jpoole4@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Foreign Direct Investment in China Rises 33% on Fast Growth | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/foreign-direct-investment-in-china-surges-33-as-zhou-eyes-excess-of-cash.html
| B y B l o o m b e r g N e w s | Foreign direct investment surged 33
percent in March from a year earlier as rising inflation and
interest rates failed to damp overseas confidence in the world’s
fastest-growing major economy. Foreign investments added $12.5 billion to China’s economy,
the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement in Beijing today.
Investments increased at an annual rate of 29 percent in the
first quarter. China’s central bank said April 17 it would ratchet up
lenders’ reserve requirements for the fourth time this year,
aiming to prevent excess cash from fueling inflation that
accelerated to the fastest pace in almost three years in March.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) said last month it may buy more land to
build shops in the world’s most populous nation, which it
predicts will be the largest grocery market by 2014. “ China outpaces the growth of other major economies in the
world, consequently, the investment flows are continuing,” said
David Cohen , a Singapore-based economist at Action Economics who
formerly worked for the U.S. Federal Reserve. “The PBOC will
need to raise reserve requirement further during the upcoming
months to absorb the inflows, so that it doesn’t trigger a surge
in inflation.” Cohen expects China to raise the banks’ reserve requirement
ratios by 50 basis points by June, and another two to three
times in the second half this year. Record Ratio The latest increase in reserve ratios will take effect on
April 21, pushing the requirement to a record 20.5 percent for
the biggest lenders. China increased interest rates four times since October, to
curb inflation that accelerated to a 5.4 percent annual pace in
March. Liquidity remains “excessive,” Governor Zhou Xiaochuan
said in Beijing last night, a day after the People’s Bank of
China announced the fourth increase in lenders’ reserve ratios
this year. The investment surge will lead to “more political pressure
for Beijing to continue to allow the appreciation of the yuan,”
Cohen said. Gradual appreciation of the yuan’s nominal exchange rate
against the U.S. dollar will help the country overcome
inflation, PBOC Deputy Governor Yi Gang said April 15. Former
Chinese central bank adviser Yu Yongding said this month that
China should allow its currency to strengthen against the dollar
to keep a lid on consumer prices. $3 Trillion Reserves The fastest-growing major economy is attracting money from
investors betting on the strength of its expansion and prospects
for gains in the yuan. China’s foreign-exchange reserves jumped
to a world-record $3 trillion in March, a level that exceeds the
nation’s needs, Zhou said after a speech at Tsinghua University
in Beijing last night. Gross domestic product expanded 9.7 percent in the first
quarter from a year earlier, exceeding economists’ estimate of
9.4 percent, supporting the case for more monetary tightening. “China is not yet done with tightening,” Qu Hongbin ,
chief China economist at HSBC Holdings Plc in Hong Kong , said
before today’s release. “Inflation is likely to accelerate
further before a cool-down begins,” he said, predicting a half
percentage point of reserve-ratio increases in coming months and
a quarter-point boost to benchmark interest rates. Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) , the world’s largest coffee-shop operator,
said it aims to increase their presence in China by boosting the
number of outlets in China to 1,500 by 2015. Victoria Ruan, Zhang Dingmin, Chinmei Sung, Sophie Leung. With
assistance from Jay Wang. Editors: Lily Nonomiya, Cherian Thomas To contact the reporter on this story:
Chinmei Sung in Taipei at
csung4@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Paul Panckhurst in Hong Kong at
ppanckhurst@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Natural Gas Rises First Time in Three Days on Cooling Demand in U.S. South | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/natural-gas-rises-first-day-in-three-in-n-y-on-cooling-demand-in-south.html
| B y M o m i n g Z h o u | Natural gas futures gained the most
in more than three weeks as forecasts showed hotter-than-normal
weather in southern states, lifting demand for gas-fired
electricity for air-conditioning. Gas rose for the first time in three days as forecasters
including Commodity Weather Group LLC in Bethesda, Maryland ,
said temperatures may be 14 degrees above normal in the South
through April 28. Scheduled gas deliveries to U.S. power plants
rose to the highest level in almost 10 weeks, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg. “It’s very hot in Florida and Texas, unseasonably hot, and
that should lift power demand,” said Phil Flynn , an analyst
with PFGBest in Chicago . “We’re hanging around the 200-day
moving average. I don’t see anything that’s going to
dramatically move gas south in the short-term.” Natural gas for May delivery gained 12.4 cents, or 3
percent, to settle at $4.262 per million British thermal units
on the New York Mercantile Exchange , the biggest percentage gain
since March 25. The 200-day moving average was $4.1298. The
futures have risen 8.1 percent from a year ago. The warm weather across the South will spread along the
East Coast into New York and New England by the end of the
month, according to Commodity Weather Group. Houston will have a high of 91 degrees Fahrenheit (33
Celsius) on April 27, 10 degrees above normal, according to
AccuWeather Inc. in State College , Pennsylvania. The high
temperatures in Jacksonville, Florida, will stay above 80
degrees this month. Hottest April “The South is expected to experience one of the hottest
Aprils in history, which should generate incremental increases
in power loads,” Shiyang Wang, an analyst at Barclays Capital
in New York, said in a note to clients today. Scheduled gas deliveries to power plants increased 4.2
percent today to 14.4 million dekatherms (14.1 billion cubic
feet), the highest level since Feb. 10, according to Bloomberg
data based on a sampling of gas pipeline nominations. Deliveries to Texas for power generation were set to rise
8.4 percent to 2.33 million dekatherms, and planned deliveries
to Florida’s power plants gained 0.9 percent to 2.86 million
dekatherms, the data showed. Global output of liquefied natural gas reached a record in
March after Qatar increased shipments, Societe Generale (GLE) SA said
in a report today. Production of the fuel climbed to 21.8 million metric tons
last month, Thierry Bros, a Paris-based analyst for the bank,
said in the report. LNG imports to the U.S. will fall to the equivalent of 1.05
billion cubic feet a day of gas, down from 1.18 billion a year
ago, according to Energy Department estimates. Gas futures volume in electronic trading on the Nymex was
254,610 as of 2:37 p.m., compared with the three-month average
of 324,000. Volume was 320,315 yesterday. Open interest was a
record 983,802 contracts, according to the exchange. The three-
month average open interest is 913,000. The exchange has a one-business-day delay in reporting open
interest and full volume data. To contact the reporter on this story:
Moming Zhou in New York at
Mzhou29@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at
dstets@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Oil Volatility Slips as Futures Rise Fourth Time in Five Days | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/oil-volatility-slips-as-futures-rise-fourth-time-in-five-days.html
| B y M a r g o t H a b i b y | Oil options volatility slipped on
the fourth front-month futures increase in five days as
speculation that the European Central Bank will further raise
interest rates strengthened the euro against the dollar. Implied volatility for at-the-money options expiring in
June, a measure of expected price swings in futures and a gauge
of options prices, was 26.8 percent as of 4 p.m. in New York ,
down from 27.7 percent yesterday. Oil for May delivery rose $1.03, or 1 percent, to expire at
$108.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange . Prices are
up 33 percent from a year ago. June futures increased 59 cents,
or 0.6 percent, to $108.28. The May contract expired at the
close of floor trading today. The most active contracts in electronic trading were June
$90 puts with 2,381 lots changing hands. They fell 3 cents to 8
cents a barrel. December $200 calls, the next most active
contract, slipped 2 cents to 41 cents a barrel with 2,114
contracts trading. One contract is for 1,000 barrels of oil. May options expired April 14. Nymex distributes real-time data for electronic trading and
releases information on floor trading, where the bulk of options
trading occurs, the next business day. June $100 puts were the most active options traded in the
previous session, with 9,959 lots changing hands. They rose 25
cents to 79 cents a barrel. The next most active option, June
$105 puts, gained 63 cents to $2.13 a barrel on 5,452 lots. Open interest was highest for June $150 calls with 44,086
contracts. Next were December 2012 $80 puts with 43,312 and
December $120 calls with 38,611. To contact the reporter on this story:
Margot Habiby in Dallas at
mhabiby@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Bill Banker at bbanker@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Ford to Make Compact SUVs in China, Boost Marketing Spend | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/ford-to-make-compact-suvs-in-china-boost-marketing-spend-1-.html
| B y B l o o m b e r g N e w s | April 19 (Bloomberg) Ford Motor Co. (F) said it will make
the next generation of its Kuga compact sport-utility vehicle in
China and boost marketing spending to help win sales in the
world’s largest auto market. “We have to make sure our advertising spend is high enough
as a percentage of our revenue,” Jim Farley , the company’s
group vice president for global marketing, sales and service,
said today at the Shanghai auto show. He didn’t elaborate on how
much the company planned to spend. The addition of the Kuga, a C-segment or compact vehicle,
is part of Ford’s plans to introduce 15 models in China by 2015.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based company also intends to double its
number of dealerships to 680 to help challenge market leaders
General Motors Co. and Volkswagen AG. “To be a volume player in China , you have to execute the
C-segment flawlessly,” Farley said. The automaker didn’t say
when China production of the Kuga may start. Ford, which sells the Focus compact and Fiesta subcompact
in China, has a market share of 2.4 percent, according to
industry researcher J.D. Power & Associates. The automaker
expects China’s car market to grow as much as 10 percent this
year, with its own sales outpacing the industry. Last year, Ford’s China deliveries rose 40 percent to
582,467, surpassing the 32 percent industry average. The company is banking on emerging markets to help it
maintain profits after posting $6.56 billion in net income last
year, the most since 1999. It is building a new vehicle plant
through its China venture in Chongqing and it has plans for a
new engine plant in the southwestern city. Liza Lin. Editors: Neil Denslow, Jamie Butters To contact the Bloomberg News staff on this story:
Liza Lin in Shanghai at
llin15@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Kae Inoue at
kinoue@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | TeliaSonera First-Quarter Net Declines to $740 Million, Missing Estimates | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/teliasonera-first-quarter-net-declines-to-740-million-missing-estimates.html
| B y D i a n a b e n - A a r o n | TeliaSonera AB (TLSN) reported first-
quarter sales and profit that missed estimates and lowered its
full-year revenue forecast as European markets lagged behind
growth in central Asia. Net income fell 1.6 percent to 4.65 billion kronor ($736
million), from 4.72 billion kronor a year earlier, Stockholm-
based TeliaSonera said in a statement today. Revenue slipped 5.6
percent to 24.7 billion kronor. The average estimates of
analysts surveyed by Bloomberg were for profit of 4.81 billion
kronor and sales of 25.4 billion kronor. TeliaSonera is encountering tougher competition in its home
Nordic markets as rivals including Tele2 AB and Elisa Oyj step
up sales of smartphones and data packages. Lower handset revenue
and higher regulatory charges contributed to slippage in the
region, the company said. Central Asia sales gained 9.2 percent,
driven by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. “Revenue weakness extended across all units with the
exception of Norway and Eurasia, which was merely in line,”
Ulrich Rathe, a London-based analyst at Jefferies International
Ltd., wrote in a note. “The major contributors to the group
revenue shortfall were fixed wholesale and ‘other,’ both
contributing 81 percent to the miss. Both units are areas of low
visibility and minor contributors to value.” Shares Fall TeliaSonera shares declined as much as 2.8 percent to
48.36 kronor, and traded 1.4 percent lower at 49.07 kronor as of
1:26 p.m. in Stockholm . TeliaSonera said it expects net sales growth in local
currencies and without acquisitions to be about 3 percent this
year, down from an earlier forecast of 4 percent. The company has said it is willing to expand by
consolidating in its markets and has bid for Polkomtel SA, the
second-largest mobile company in Poland , which adjoins its
Baltic operations. Five companies or groups were bidding,
Polkomtel Deputy Chief Executive Officer Krzysztof Kilian said
on April 6. Polkomtel may go for more than $5 billion, based on
the valuation of a 2008 stake sale by Denmark ’s TDC A/S. “There are many bidders, which means the price is probably
going to be not cheap,” Chief Executive Officer Lars Nyberg
said in an interview. “I don’t think Polkomtel is strategically
necessary for us but if we can get it for a decent price and we
believe that we can improve that business then maybe we have a
case. But we are not there yet, not at all.” Turkcell Plans TeliaSonera aims to stick with Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri
AS, the Turkish operator in which it holds a 38 percent stake
and is now trying to get more independent directors appointed to
the board, Nyberg said. “If you as the biggest owner consider leaving because a
company is going through some difficulties, you are then more of
short-term investor,” Nyberg said. “TeliaSonera is a telecom
operator, we love this asset and we intend to keep it.” TeliaSonera never planned to merge Turkcell with Russian
operator OAO MegaFon, in which it also holds a stake, Nyberg
added. A 2009 plan to combine TeliaSonera’s holdings in the two
companies with those Russia ’s Alfa Group to simplify governance,
without combining operations, has been delayed by conflicts over
shares in Turkcell. Nyberg wouldn’t speculate on the outcome of
Turkcell’s annual investor meeting scheduled for April 21. To contact the reporter on this story:
Diana ben-Aaron in Helsinki at
dbenaaron1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Vidya Root in Paris at vroot@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Yahoo's First-Quarter Sales Beats Estimates as Online-Ad Demand Increases | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/yahoo-s-first-quarter-sales-beat-estimates-as-advertising-demand-increases.html
| B y B r i a n W o m a c k | Yahoo! Inc., the most-visited U.S.
Web portal, reported first-quarter sales that topped estimates
as companies stepped up their use of Internet advertising . The
shares rose as much as 5.5 percent in late trading. Excluding sales passed on to partner sites, revenue was
$1.06 billion, Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo said today in a
statement. Analysts had estimated $1.05 billion, according to
data compiled by Bloomberg. Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz is benefiting from
buoyant demand for display advertising, such as banners and
videos, as Yahoo sites attract more visitors. U.S. users grew 15
percent to 179.5 million in March from the year-earlier period,
putting Yahoo ahead of No. 2 Google Inc. (GOOG) ’s 176.8 million,
according to ComScore Inc. Yahoo’s results eased concern that
arose in January after its forecast disappointed investors. “This certainly gives her some breathing room,” said
Kerry Rice, an analyst with Wedbush Securities Inc. in Los
Angeles . He rates the stock “underperform” and doesn’t own it.
“This keeps investors on the line.” Yahoo rose as much as 88 cents to $17 in extended trading.
The shares, down 3.1 percent this year, had closed at $16.12
earlier on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Quarter Forecast Sales will be $1.08 billion to $1.13 billion in the second
quarter, the company said. The midpoint of that range matched
the $1.1 billion projected by analysts. First-quarter net income attributable to the company fell
to $223 million, or 17 cents a share, from $310.2 million, or 22
cents, Yahoo said. One-time benefits a year earlier accounted
for some of the decrease. Excluding some items, Yahoo had
earnings of 19 cents a share, topping the average estimate of 16
cents. Yahoo’s sales have been shrinking as the company offloads
businesses, farms out much of its search operations and
refocuses on its best-performing websites. At the same time,
it’s selling more display ads. Excluding revenue shared with
partner sites, display-advertising sales climbed 10 percent last
quarter to $471 million. “Our turnaround is proceeding right on schedule,” Tim Morse, chief financial officer, said in an interview. “We’re
confident that we’re heading in the right direction.” Improvements Seen During the quarter, Web visitors’ engagement on the site
showed some improvements. Page views on Yahoo’s media
properties, including the home page, were up 8 percent during
the quarter after declining in previous months, the company
said. Time spent on those properties rose 17 percent. Still,
page views on communications and communities, including Yahoo e-
mail and its “Groups” messaging service, fell 6 percent and time
spent fell 10 percent. Yahoo is trying to maintain its role as a top Internet
portal at a time when more users are heading to social-
networking sites, such as Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. Under
Bartz, who became CEO in January 2009, the company has pared
down its workforce in a bid to make Yahoo more efficient.
Earlier this year it announced plans to cut about 1 percent of
its staff, following a decision to eliminate about 4 percent, or
about 600 jobs, in December. Bartz also struck a deal with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) to use its
search technology on Yahoo’s sites. As part of the agreement,
Yahoo shifted its search-marketing platform for advertisers to
Microsoft’s system, called AdCenter. The companies began the
shift in October with Canada and the U.S. AdCenter Pause The company will hold off on further implementation of the
search-advertising part of the agreement until Microsoft
improves the performance of its AdCenter platform, which has
been a disappointment thus far, said Bartz, who met personally
with Microsoft officials. Bartz said she is confident Microsoft, which is
guaranteeing revenue for Yahoo during the transition, will
address “issues” with the platform. Overall, she said the
quarter’s results show her efforts to turnaround the company. “We continue to make headway on our plan to increase
profitability and grow revenue,” Bartz said. “We are growing
engagement and monetizing it.” Microsoft has expanded its share of the U.S. search market
for eight straight months, reaching 13.9 percent in March, while
Yahoo’s declined last month to 15.7 percent from 16.1 percent
the previous month, according to Reston, Virginia-based
ComScore. Still, Google holds more than twice the market share
of both companies combined, with 65.7 percent. Yahoo also has held talks to dispose of its stake in Yahoo
Japan , an Internet portal company, two people familiar with the
matter said last month. Yahoo co-owns the Tokyo-based joint
venture with Softbank Corp. To contact the reporter on this story:
Brian Womack in San Francisco at
bwomack1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Nokia Profit May Fall 49% as Pressure Grows on Elop's Symbian Handset Goal | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/nokia-net-may-fall-49-as-pressure-grows-on-elop-s-handset-goal.html
| B y D i a n a b e n - A a r o n | Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) may tomorrow report a 49
percent decline in profit and forecast further erosion before
the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones introduces its first
smartphones using Microsoft Corp.’s operating system. First-quarter net income at Espoo, Finland-based Nokia may
drop to 177 million euros ($253 million) from 349 million euros
a year earlier, according to the average of 19 analyst estimates
compiled by Bloomberg. The operating margin for devices and
services adjusted for some items probably fell 3.6 percentage
points to 8.5 percent, the average of 23 estimates shows. Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop, a former Microsoft
executive, said in February Nokia will adopt Microsoft’s Windows
Phone 7 as its main smartphone operating system, replacing the
Symbian platform it has used for more than a decade. Investors
want to know how long it will take to reach a goal of selling
150 million more handsets on the last versions of Symbian. “I’ll be looking at the slope of the decline whether or
not the second quarter ends up being weaker than the first
quarter and therefore by implication how deep the trough might
be before we get a new product-driven recovery,” said Stuart Jeffrey, an analyst at Nomura International Plc in London who
has a “reduce” rating on the stock. Operating Margin Nokia hasn’t provided a full-year forecast, citing
uncertainty caused during the transition to Microsoft’s
software. On Feb. 11, the day it announced the agreement, Elop
set a long-term target to increase handset sales faster than the
market with an adjusted operating margin of 10 percent or more
after the shift to Windows Phone, which he expects to take place
during 2011 and 2012. The shares added 7.5 cents, or 1.3 percent, to 5.86 euros
at 10:30 a.m. in Helsinki, valuing the company at 21.9 billion
euros. Before today, Nokia had lost 29 percent since announcing
the Microsoft partnership. Investors will look for guidance on how long handset
margins will stay below last year’s 10.9 percent level , and how
big the reorganized company will be. Elop has predicted “substantial reductions” in jobs from
cuts that analysts say may slash a third of the 3 billion-euro
annual research and development budget. Job Cuts? “As the current Symbian portfolio matures and actually
starts to expire without any new Windows devices coming out in
the near future, I think the second half and specifically the
third quarter might be very, very difficult,” said Mikko Ervasti, a Helsinki-based analyst at Evli Bank. Symbian’s market share, at 37.6 percent in 2010, will fall
to 19.2 percent this year and 5.2 percent in 2012, according to
forecasts by researcher Gartner Inc., which measures sales to
consumers. In the fourth quarter, Nokia had a smartphone share
of 30.8 percent, down 20 percentage points since Apple Inc. (AAPL)
shipped its first iPhone in 2007, according to Gartner. Apple, which reports results today, may say profit rose 64
percent to $5.03 billion on sales of about $23.4 billion.
Nokia’s own first-quarter forecast for devices and services
sales is 6.8 billion euros to 7.3 billion euros, with an
operating margin in devices, adjusted for restructuring charges
and amortization of acquired assets, of 7 percent to 10 percent. Apple, Sony Ericsson Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd., which shifted to
Android from Symbian last year, yesterday reported a surprise
profit of 11 million euros after the company sold more higher-
priced handsets. Nokia will report earnings at about 1 p.m. local time
tomorrow, with a conference call at 3 p.m. that can be monitored
through the company’s website. “My sense is that the temptation will be quite strong for
Elop to kitchen-sink this quarter try to set a clear canvas
by saying it’s possible we could be down 20 percent year on year
in unit shipments,” said Lee Simpson , an analyst at Jefferies
International Ltd. in London. Nokia device shipments in the first quarter, typically the
company’s weakest, probably slipped 1.6 percent from a year
earlier to 106.1 million units, according to analysts surveyed
by Bloomberg. The company’s portfolio in the quarter included
the N8 touchscreen phone that it used to release an improved
Symbian in September, along with three related models including
the C7, which T-Mobile USA is selling as the Astound. Android, IPhone5 First-quarter revenue probably rose 6.5 percent to 10.14
billion euros, the average of 39 estimates, as Nokia rolled out
the new models to more operators and markets. Nokia last week unveiled a further update to Symbian and
two smartphones to ship in summer, when they’re likely to
compete with Apple’s iPhone 5 and the latest models running
Google Inc. (GOOG) ’s Android system from vendors including Samsung
Electronics Co., the world’s second-largest handset vendor, and
HTC Corp. (2498) , the Taiwanese manufacturer that passed Nokia in
market value this month. Gartner predicts Android will run on 38.5 percent of
smartphones sold this year. The Google software is moving into
cheaper hardware and starting to compete with the high-volume,
low-margin phones business that made up half of Nokia’s handset
revenues and 78 percent of its unit sales last year. “Investors will want to get a sense of how long a tail
Symbian will have, how quickly it’ll ramp down,” said Stephen Patel, a San Francisco-based analyst at Gleacher & Co. “ It’ll
depend on consumer reaction to Nokia going end-of-life with
Symbian. Some don’t care and others don’t want to buy a product
that isn’t going to be around in a few years.” Japan Effect Investors will also look for guidance on whether
disruptions following the earthquake in Japan last month will
affect shipments in the second and third quarters, Patel said,
adding that it could offset the usual seasonal increase. “I’ll be looking at the potential impact of Japan
especially in terms of supply chain, potential bottlenecks, and
the margins whether or not the deterioration we’ve seen
during the last year will continue,” said Leon Cappaert, a fund
manager at KBC Asset Management in Brussels with 330 million
euros under management, including Nokia shares in a general fund
for weighting purposes. To contact the reporter on this story:
Diana ben-Aaron in Helsinki at
dbenaaron1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Kenneth Wong in Berlin at
kwong11@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Gulf Stocks: Al Meera, Doha Bank, Sabic, Savola, Sorouh | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/gulf-stocks-al-meera-doha-bank-sabic-savola-sorouh.html
| B y Z a h r a H a n k i r | Dubai’s DFM General Index (DFMGI) advanced
0.1 percent, according to the bourse’s website. Abu Dhabi’s ADX
General Index (ADSMI) dropped 0.2 percent and Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All
Share Index (SASEIDX) retreated 0.1 percent. The following stocks rose or fell in the Persian Gulf
region. Symbols are in parentheses. Al Meera Consumer Goods Co. (MERS QD) advanced the most in
almost a week, rising 1.1 percent to 86.9 riyals. The shares
were trading ex-dividend today. The company that operates a
chain of stores in Qatar said first-quarter profit rose to 12.6
million riyals ($3.5 million) from 9.2 million riyals a year
earlier. Doha Bank QSC (DHBK) rose the most in a month, advancing
2.1 percent to 52.6 riyals. Qatar’s fourth-biggest bank by
assets said first-quarter profit rose 15 percent to 363 million
riyals. Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) increased the most
since March 20, rising 2.6 percent to 109 riyals. The world’s
biggest petrochemicals maker said first-quarter profit surged 42
percent to 7.69 billion riyals ($2 billion) from a year ago. Savola (SAVOLA) Azizia United Co. (SAVOLA AB) dropped the most since
March 15, falling 2.2 percent to 26.7 riyals. The Saudi Arabian
food producer said first-quarter profit declined 58 percent to
165.2 million riyals after a 2010 capital gain wasn’t repeated
and global commodity prices hurt margins. Sorouh Real Estate Co. (SOROUH) surged to the highest
since Jan. 23, increasing 3.5 percent to 1.5 dirhams. Abu
Dhabi’s Urban Planning Council signed housing contracts valued
at 13.5 billion dirhams ($3.7 billion) including a 2.89 billion-
dirham deal with Sorouh to build 7,500 houses for United Arab
Emirates ’ nationals. To contact the reporter on this story:
Zahra Hankir in Dubai at
zhankir@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Claudia Maedler at
cmaedler@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | European Construction Output Dropped in February, Led by France | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/european-construction-output-dropped-in-february-led-by-france.html
| B y S i m o n e M e i e r | European construction output fell
in February, led by declines in France and Slovenia. Construction in the 17-member euro region slipped 0.7
percent from January, when it advanced a revised 3.6 percent,
the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today.
From a year earlier, output rose 3.5 percent. In France, the region’s second-largest economy, output fell
0.1 percent from January, when it surged 14 percent, today’s
report showed. Slovenian output fell 7.9 percent. German
production advanced 3.4 percent after jumping 35 percent in
January. In the 27-member European Union, construction rose 0.7
percent from January. The statistics office didn’t provide monthly data for
countries including Spain , Ireland, Belgium and Greece. To contact the reporter on this story:
Simone Meier in Zurich at
smeier@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Craig Stirling at
cstirling1@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Canacol Drops for 11th Day on Delayed Results for Guyana Field | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/canacol-drops-for-11th-day-on-delayed-results-for-guyana-field.html
| B y B l a k e S c h m i d t | Canacol Energy Ltd. (CNE) , the Calgary-
based oil company that operates fields in South America , headed
toward the lowest closing price in seven months on delayed
results of drilling at an exploratory well in Guyana. The shares fell for the 11th consecutive day, sinking 1.7
percent to 2,320 pesos in Bogota trading at 12:40 p.m. New York
time. A close at that level would be the lowest since Sept. 30. The company continues to drill and test the Apoteri K-2
well in Guyana, Kevin Flick, head of investor relations for the
company, said in a phone interview. Exploration began in
December and was interrupted in January because of the late
arrival of some equipment, according to a statement March 7.
Canacol hasn’t given further details on plans for a second well
in the Takutu block, which had been slated for next month. “The stock is probably being hit due to a lack of
information about that project,” said Santiago Melo, an analyst
at brokerage Alianza Valores SA in Bogota. “The Colombian
market has also been weak in general, but Canacol is out of the
ordinary.” Flick said Canacol will release information about the well
as soon as possible. “Until drilling and testing is done, I’ve been instructed
to stay quiet,” he said. “I realize the market is skittish
with the stock.” To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Papadopoulos at
papadopoulos@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | World Monuments Leader Morphs Into Painter, Has Show: Interview | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/world-monuments-leader-morphs-into-painter-opens-chelsea-show-interview.html
| B y Z i n t a L u n d b o r g | High up in the historic Ansonia favored home of singers, artists, eccentrics on Manhattan ’s
west side, Marilyn Perry is wondering which of her many
paintings she likes the most. “Maybe that one?” She ponders, pointing to a vibrant
green work bursting with life. “But I’d sell it anyway.” For decades Perry, 71, made her mark as the president of
the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and chairman of the World
Monuments Fund , which she built into architecture’s version of
the World Wildlife Fund . Crumbling landmarks, from temples at Angkor, Cambodia to
the ancient Maya city of Naranjo, Guatemala , have benefited from
Perry’s zealous fundraising and strategic alliances. Carlos Slim , James Wolfensohn, the Prince of Wales , Brooke Astor, Paul Mellon and Eugene Thaw are only some of the global
personalities who were happy to receive preservation’s highest
recognition, the Hadrian Award of the WMF. Retiring in 2007, Perry has been painting obsessively ever
since. Tonight, tomorrow and Thursday, see a show of her new
work at the Rogue Space in Chelsea, a gallery artists can rent
for short periods. View the paintings beginning at 2 p.m., and have a drink
with the artist from 5 to 8 p.m. We continued speaking as her curator, Chris Watson, packed
the pictures onto luggage racks and into a waiting van. Lundborg: What was it like to put a brush to canvas for the
first time? Sky’s the Limit Perry: It felt like a liberation. I love the excitement of
creating something that’s separate from yourself, but that’s
come out of your existence. Lundborg: When did it get really interesting? Perry: I started by taking a little workshop in the country
with a local artist, and then I started ordering how-to books. It got interesting when I realized the sky’s the limit,
that with painting, you can do anything. Lundborg: Did being an art historian help? Perry: Spending so much time in the company of the artists
I love gave me a sense of proportion and color. Lundborg: How has your relation to painting changed? Perry: I’m less possessive. When I sold my first painting,
it was like giving away a child. Now, I know I’ll do other
things I like. Lundborg: But selling must also be a validation? Perry: The most gratifying moment was when I sold my first
canvas to a stranger. Somebody bought it off the wall in a group
show, and I wasn’t even there. It went for $450. Lundborg: Is that when you started feeling like a
professional painter? Who Was I? Perry: It was gradual. It didn’t come from selling work,
but from the pattern of my life, how my day was structured and
what I thought about. It was a very big transition from one role to another: You
are no longer who you were. One of my friends was a CEO and
after he sold his company, he told me that he got up, put on a
suit and went to the library. Lundborg: How do you put a price on your work? Perry: That’s difficult. So many things come into play: who
your audience is, what the value of a new (old!) painter is,
what you love. Someone bought a painting of trees because it made her feel
happy, as though she were a child again about to go play in the
woods. Lundborg: Historically, what painters would you most like
to meet? Perry: Titian for color, Velazquez for the brush stroke,
though I don’t dare to do portraits, except dogs under duress. And Turner, whose space-dissolving pictures broke into new
realms. Forgotten Emperor Lundborg: You made preservation chic and important. How did
you come to realize that you could help save some of the great
endangered places? Perry: When I lived in Italy , I met Colonel James Gray, who
raised funds for particular sites, and I actually saw him
successfully saving monuments. When he wanted to retire, there was no succession. He came
to me, and we decided to invent a brand-new kind of nonprofit
organization. Lundborg: What are the biggest threats? Perry: Neglect, active destruction, natural disasters and
then there are buildings that are financially beyond the local
community to help. Lundborg: What’s your most satisfying save? Perry: The Qianlong Garden in the Forbidden City. In 1771,
the fifth emperor of China ’s Qian dynasty started building a
two-acre retreat with four courtyards, five rockeries and 27
pavilions and structures. It was largely abandoned in 1924. We got the Chinese to
recognize something that they didn’t know they had. There’s currently a show at the Met Museum with treasures
that were recovered from the Emperor’s private paradise. Marilyn Perry’s work can be seen at Rogue Space Gallery,
508 W. 26th St. until April 21 and at
http://www.marilynperryart.com . Prices range from about $500 to $3,000 for large seascapes. (Zinta Lundborg is an editor for Muse, the arts and leisure
section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.
This interview was adapted from a longer conversation.) To contact the reporter on this story:
Zinta Lundborg at
zlundborg@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jeffrey Burke at jburke21@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | EU Carbon Advances After Reaching 6-Day Low; Gas Little Changed | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/european-union-carbon-drops-to-a-six-day-low-as-gas-falls-weather-warms.html
| B y M a t h e w C a r r | European Union carbon permits
advanced after reaching their lowest price in six days as
natural gas erased losses. Carbon futures for December rose 0.9 percent to 16.82 euros
($24.10) a metric ton on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in
London as of 5:40 p.m. They declined earlier as low as 16.53
euros. U.K. gas for the six months through September next year,
the summer contract, was little changed after yesterday’s 1.7
percent decline. Carbon fell 2.6 percent yesterday, its biggest drop in a
month, after Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service revised its long-
term sovereign credit rating outlook for the U.S., the world’s
largest economy, to negative from stable. Power utilities are
buying emission permits as they sell power forward through 2014. A decision by Germany to phase out nuclear power may add
some upside pressure to emission permits this week, said
Emmanuel Fages and Carine Hemery, Paris-based analysts for
Orbeo, the carbon venture of Rhodia SA and Societe Generale SA. “Downside risks will cap the increase of carbon prices,”
which probably won’t move beyond 17.25 euros a ton this week,
they said yesterday in an e-mailed research note. This week’s
minimum should be 16.50 euros, according to Orbeo. Warmer weather will curb energy demand for heating, Fages
and Hemery said. High temperatures in Frankfurt are forecast at
23 degrees Celsius (73 Fahrenheit) tomorrow, compared with a 30-
year median maximum of 14 degrees, according to weather data on
Bloomberg. They will rise as high as 26 degrees on April 21.
London temperatures may be as low as 7 degrees tomorrow,
compared with a median minimum of 5 degrees. To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at
m.carr@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at
sev@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Tesco Full-Year Profit Rises Less Than Estimated as Quarterly Sales Drop | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/tesco-full-year-profit-gains-7-8-as-overseas-growth-offsets-u-k-weakness.html
| B y S a r a h S h a n n o n | Tesco Plc (TSCO) , the U.K.’s largest
supermarket company, reported full-year earnings that missed
analysts’ estimates and said it expects the domestic market to
remain “challenging” after a drop in fourth-quarter sales. So-called trading profit rose 7.8 percent to 3.68 billion
pounds ($6 billion) in the year ended Feb. 26, the Cheshunt,
England-based retailer said today. The average estimate of 15
analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was 3.74 billion pounds. Asia and
Europe contributed almost 70 percent of the profit growth, while
losses widened at the U.S. Fresh & Easy chain, Tesco said. Chief Executive Officer Philip Clarke , who took over from
Terry Leahy in March, faces a stagnant grocery market in the
U.K., the retailer’s largest by revenue, where growth is being
driven mostly by inflation. Tesco said it plans to give more
space to non-food items and add new general-merchandise ranges.
More than three-quarters of store openings in the coming year
will be in international markets such as China . “The headline numbers are slightly disappointing,
particularly in the U.K., where Tesco’s non-food offer clearly
needs some work,” Philip Dorgan, an analyst at Panmure Gordon,
said by e-mail. “The shares are too cheap if Tesco can execute
better in the U.K., drive higher international returns and
generate cash.” Dorgan has a “buy” rating on the shares. Shares Drop Tesco fell 4.35 pence, or 1.1 percent, to 395.65 pence at
8:21 a.m. in London trading. The stock has fallen 6.8 percent
this year, compared with rival J Sainsbury Plc (SBRY) ’s 9.9 percent
decline and a 1.9 percent fall at Carrefour SA. (CA) Sales at U.K. stores open at least a year fell 0.7 percent
in the fourth quarter, excluding value-added tax and gasoline,
said Tesco, whose domestic market share has hovered around 30
percent for more than five years. “Customers are looking for value, they’re eating out less,
they’re using their car less,” CEO Clarke said on a conference
call. “That’s why we’re saying specific steps include a greater
level of innovation, much more effort on food, and a big push to
reallocate space and bring new ranges in general merchandise,
into home, into non-food.” The retailer said Asia, Europe and the U.S. should benefit
from the improvements in the global economy. Tesco will add 11
million square feet (1.02 million square meters) of new space
this year, a similar level to last year, Finance Director Laurie McIlwee said on the call. About 8.4 million square feet of that
will be outside the U.K. 5,000 Stores Tesco, which has more than 5,000 stores in 14 countries,
plans to sell and lease back up to 1 billion pounds of property
including assets in U.S. and China annually to fund expansion. “This could be an opportunity for Philip Clarke to make
his mark,” Execution Noble analyst Caroline Gulliver said
before the release. “We do not think Tesco’s performance has
been significantly worse than its competitors in the U.K. and we
think the international growth opportunity is excellent.”
Gulliver has a “buy” recommendation on the shares. The trading loss at the U.S. Fresh & Easy chain widened to
186 million pounds in the year as the unit bought two suppliers. Trading profit in Asia climbed 30 percent to 570 million
pounds, boosted by sales in Thailand and South Korea . China,
where the retailer is opening five-storey shopping malls, failed
to make a profit in the second half, weighed down by “slower
consumer demand growth” and fewer store openings than planned. Total revenue for the year rose 7.1 percent to 60.9 billion
pounds, excluding value-added taxes. Tesco plans to pay a total dividend for the year of 14.46
pence a share, a 10.8 percent increase on the previous year. Net income for the year rose to 2.66 billion pounds, or
32.94 pence a share, from 2.33 billion pounds, or 29.19 pence, a
year earlier, the retailer said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Sarah Shannon in London at
sshannon4@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Celeste Perri at cperri@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Man Group Will Close GLG Fund Once Assets Exceed $1 Billion | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/man-group-will-close-glg-fund-once-assets-exceed-1-billion.html
| B y J e s s e W e s t b r o o k | Man Group Plc (EMG) , the world’s biggest
publicly traded hedge fund, plans to close its GLG Market
Neutral Fund to new investors after concluding producing good
returns will be easier if assets are capped at about $1 billion. GLG portfolio manager Steve Roth decided that limiting the
size of the fund will make it easier to get in and out of
trading positions, Man Group spokesman David Waller said today.
The market neutral fund invests in convertible-arbitrage
strategies, which involves purchasing bonds that can be swapped
for equity when shares of an issuer reach a preset level. Hedge fund managers and investors have become increasingly
focused on size since 2008, when industry losses and a global
credit crunch triggered a rush by clients to withdraw money.
Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP last year closed its $25
billion master fund and Paul Jones ’s Tudor Investment Corp.
restricted investments into its $9.5 billion BVI Global Fund. GLG suspended client redemptions from the market neutral
fund in 2008. The fund’s investment performance was down 54
percent that year and assets under management fell from a peak
of about $3 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Market Neutral fund has since rebounded, gaining 82
percent in 2009 and 34 percent last year. The fund oversaw about
$920 million at the end of February, the data show. London-based
Man Group acquired GLG last year. The decision to close the fund was reported earlier today
by the Financial Times. To contact the reporter on this story:
in London at
jwestbrook1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Athens Bus Driver Suspended After Taking Unscheduled Break | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/athens-bus-driver-suspended-after-taking-unscheduled-break.html
| B y T o m S t o u k a s | An Athens city bus driver was
suspended after he took an unscheduled break yesterday forcing
passengers to disembark. “Such behavior is incomprehensible particularly at a time
when passengers need public transport to overcome the long
crisis that has plagued them,” according to an e-mailed
statement from Greece’s Transport Ministry . Greece’s economy contracted 4.5 percent in 2010 and
unemployment hit a record 15.1 percent in January as the
government cut wages and raised taxes in exchange for a 110
billion-euro ($157.5 billion) bailout last year from the
European Union and International Monetary Fund . To contact the reporter on this story:
Tom Stoukas in Athens at
astoukas@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Angela Cullen at
acullen8@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Vedanta May Use $1.5 Billion Cairn India Stake as Offer Hedge | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/vedanta-may-use-1-5-billion-cairn-india-deal-as-hedge-for-offer.html
| B y R a k t e e m K a t a k e y a n d R u t h D a v i d | Vedanta Resources Plc (VED) ’s $1.5
billion purchase of a stake in Cairn India Ltd. (CAIR) from Petroliam
Nasional Bhd. may provide a hedge against any shortfall in take-
up for a broader offer for the oil explorer, investors said. Vedanta’s Sesa Goa Ltd. (SESA) unit bought 10.4 percent of Cairn
India for 331 rupees a share, the London-based parent said in a
statement yesterday. That’s 6.8 percent lower than the price
proposed by Sesa Goa in an open offer for as much as 20 percent
of Cairn India, and 3.8 percent below yesterday’s closing price. Vedanta’s purchase from the Malaysian company known as
Petronas, on top of the open offer, may result in it holding 51
percent to 70.4 percent of Cairn India , according to the
statement. Sesa Goa’s offer is part of Vedanta’s $9.6 billion
bid announced in August for the operator of India’s largest
onshore oilfield. The government is yet to approve the takeover. “With this 10.4 percent stake now secured below the offer
price, Vedanta could acquire a 51 percent stake for up to $318
million less, marking a 4 percent discount,” Liberum Capital
Ltd. wrote in a note to investors today. The transaction may
encourage other minority shareholders, who were previously
undecided, to sell their stakes, Liberum said. Cairn India rose 1.4 percent to 348.85 rupees at the close
of trade in Mumbai, while Sesa Goa gained 0.4 percent to 308.45
rupees. Vedanta advanced 3.1 percent to 2,338 pence at the close
in London . Shareholder Uncertainty “Probably the reason for the Petronas deal is to make up
for the shortfall from the open offer,” D.K. Aggarwal, chairman
of SMC Wealth Management Services Ltd., said by phone from New
Delhi. “There’s a lot of uncertainty about the deal still, and
shareholders may not be willing to tender their shares. If the
deal fails, the value of the shares will fall significantly.” The Petronas deal increases the minimum acceptance ratio in
the open offer to 75 percent from 53 percent, Harshad Katkar and
Amit Murarka, analysts at Deutsche Bank AG, said in a report.
“This underscores Vedanta’s seriousness in acquiring a majority
shareholding in Cairn India,” they said. Sesa Goa hasn’t
disclosed how many shares have been tendered so far. Sesa Goa was forced to delay its offer to Cairn India’s
minority investors this month and extend a deadline to complete
the transaction to May 20 from April 15 after India’s cabinet
asked ministers to study the proposal. Oil Minister Jaipal Reddy said yesterday the panel of
ministers hasn’t fixed a date to meet. “I am not in a position
to give a timeframe for a decision,” Reddy told reporters in
New Delhi . Win Control “Petronas’s exit is probably part of the overall strategy
for Vedanta to get control of Cairn India,” said Walter Rossini, who manages a 250 million-euro ($358 million) equity
fund at Aletti Gestielle SGR SpA in Milan and doesn’t plan to
sell Cairn India shares in the open offer. “The open offer
price is okay at $90 crude. At above $100, it is not so
interesting.” Crude oil has gained more than 45 percent since Vedanta’s
Aug. 16 announcement to buy a majority stake in Cairn India. Oil
futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange traded at an average
$94.60 a barrel last quarter, and touched $113.46 on April 11. Vedanta, controlled by billionaire Chairman Anil Agarwal ,
is offering Cairn India’s majority shareholder Cairn Energy Plc (CNE)
405 rupees a share, including a non-compete fee of 50 rupees.
Cairn Energy will sell 40 percent to 51 percent of its holding
to Vedanta, depending on the result of Sesa Goa’s open offer. ‘Upbeat’ Oil “As the hangover of the open offer goes off we expect
Cairn India stock to normalize and move beyond the 370-rupee
levels if crude prices continue to remain upbeat,” said Yogesh Radke, head of quantitative research at Edelweiss Securities. Cairn India produces about 125,000 barrels a day from the
Mangala field in the Rajasthan block, the nation’s biggest oil
deposit on land. The company may start Rajasthan’s Bhagyam field
in the second half and reach peak output of 40,000 barrels a day
by the end of the year, according to a Feb. 10 statement. Petronas sold its entire 14.9 percent holding in Cairn
India for $2.1 billion, Malaysia ’s state oil and gas producer
said in a statement yesterday, without identifying the buyers. Bank of America Corp. (BAC) helped sell the shares, said two
people with knowledge of the transaction, who declined to be
identified because the information is private. Mona Kwatra, a
spokeswoman for Bank of America, and Manu Kapoor, a spokesman
for Cairn India, declined to comment. Pavan Kaushik, a spokesman for Vedanta in India, didn’t
answer six calls to his mobile phone. Emily Dimmock, a
spokeswoman for the company in London, declined to comment. Bank Rankings Bank of America is ranked sixth in managing domestic share
sales by Indian companies this year, with SBI Capital Markets
Ltd. ranked first, followed by HSBC Bank Plc, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg. Indian companies have raised 83 billion
rupees ($1.87 billion) in local share sales in 2011, a fifth of
the amount in the same period last year, the data show. Petronas acquired 10 percent of Cairn India at 176.48
rupees a share before the explorer’s December 2006 initial
public offering. The Kuala Lumpur-based company bought more
shares at 224.30 rupees each in a preferential allotment in
March 2008 and paid about $240 million for a further 2.3 percent
stake in October 2009, taking its total holding to 14.9 percent. Shamsul Azhar Abbas ordered a review of Petronas’s global
investment portfolio after taking over as chief executive
officer in February 2010 as he sought to invest more at home to
boost the country’s oil and gas reserves, he said in November. To contact the reporters on this story:
Rakteem Katakey in New Delhi at
rkatakey@bloomberg.net ;
Ruth David in Mumbai Serviced at
rdavid9@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Amit Prakash at
aprakash1@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Andy Murray Withdraws From This Week's Barcelona Event With Elbow Injury | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/andy-murray-withdraws-from-this-week-s-barcelona-event-with-elbow-injury.html
| B y D a n i e l l e R o s s i n g h | Andy Murray , the fourth-ranked
men’s tennis player, withdrew from this week’s clay-court
tournament in Barcelona because of an elbow injury, he said on
his website. The Scot was given a cortisone injection during his
semifinal loss against top-ranked Rafael Nadal at the Monte
Carlo Rolex Masters three days ago. He will now take four to
five days’ rest following advice from medical experts. Murray had reached the last four on the clay courts of
Monte Carlo following a slump in form after losing to second-
ranked Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the final of the Australian
Open in January. The 23-year-old lost his opening rounds in tournaments in
Rotterdam, Indian Wells , California , and Miami, all to lower-
ranked players. His form improved in Monte Carlo, where Murray
took a set off eventual seven-time champion Nadal. To contact the reporter on this story:
Danielle Rossingh in London at
drossingh@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christopher Elser in London at
celser@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Brazil’s OGX Rebounds From Its Biggest Decline in Two Years | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/brazil-s-ogx-rebounds-from-its-biggest-decline-in-two-years-1-.html
| B y N e y H a y a s h i | OGX Petroleo & Gas Participacoes
SA, the oil company controlled by billionaire Eike Batista ,
advanced today in Sao Paulo on speculation that yesterday’s 17
percent plunge was overdone. OGX gained 4.8 percent to 17.05 reais at the close of Sao
Paulo trading at 4:15 p.m. New York time, the most since March
22. Yesterday’s losses, which wiped out $6.9 billion in market
value and were the biggest in two years, followed a report
showing the company’s oil reserves trailed estimates. “The market overshot on OGX,” Max Bueno, an analyst at
Spinelli SA in Sao Paulo, said in an interview. “The report
takes into account the data collected through 2010. It doesn’t
take into account the production tests carried out this year.” The company reported April 15 it had contingent resources
of 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent and prospective resources
of 6.5 billion barrels. Deutsche Bank AG, Banco BTG Pactual SA,
Banco Santander SA and Citigroup Inc. each cut their
recommendations on OGX to “hold” from “buy” yesterday. BTG analysts led by Gustavo Gattass said in a note to
clients they expected OGX to report contingent resources of
about 4 billion barrels. Merrill Lynch analysts led by Frank McGann said the estimate came in “at the low end” of their
expectations. To contact the reporter on this story:
Ney Hayashi in Sao Paulo at
ncruz4@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Papadopoulos in New York at
papadopoulous@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | EDF Acquires Two Mexico Wind Projects Amounting to 324 Megawatts | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/edf-acquires-two-mexico-wind-projects-amounting-to-324-megawatts.html
| B y S t e p h a n N i e l s e n | EDF Energies Nouvelles SA (EEN) , a French
renewable energy developer, has agreed to buy two wind projects
totaling 324 megawatts in the south of Mexico as it seeks to
expand into the Americas. The first project, Eoliatec del Istmo, will have a capacity
of 164 megawatts, and the second, Eoliatec del Pacifico, will
have a capacity of 160 megawatts, the Paris-based company said
in a statement distributed by Business Wire today. The purchase
price wasn’t disclosed. EDF Energies Nouvelles generated 34 percent of its revenue
from power plants in the Americas and 66 percent from Europe in
2010, according to information compiled by Bloomberg. “This operation strengthens EDF EN Group’s position in
North America and accelerates its development in Mexico , a
country with abundant wind resources and promising future for
solar,” according to the statement. The company already operates a 67.5-megawatt wind farm in
Oaxaca, the same state where the projects will be built, EDF
Energies Nouvelles said. Bought from Madrid, Spain-based wind and solar developer
Eolia Renovables de Inversiones through EDF’s Mexican unit, the
projects are expected to start generating power by 2013,
according to the statement. To contact the reporter on this story:
Stephan Nielsen in Sao Paulo at
snielsen8@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Hungary to Raise Tax on Drugmakers to 20%, Vilaggazdasag Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/hungary-to-raise-tax-on-drugmakers-to-20-vilaggazdasag-says.html
| B y E d i t h B a l a z s | Hungary plans to raise a special
tax on drugmakers to 20 percent from 12 percent, Vilaggazdasag
reported, without saying how it obtained the information. Economy Minister Gyorgy Matolcsy said last week the levy
would be increased to 18 percent from next year, the newspaper
reported. The higher tax is needed to cover gaps in the drug budget,
Vilaggazdasag said. To contact the reporters on this story:
Edith Balazs in Budapest at
ebalazs1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Gomez at jagomez@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | EU Sees Possible Restart of Turkish Talks After One-Year Pause | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/eu-sees-possible-restart-of-turkish-talks-after-one-year-pause.html
| B y J a m e s G . N e u g e r | The European Union said Turkey ’s
entry talks may restart in June after a one-year pause, as
Turkey faulted the EU’s dominant governments for putting the
brakes on the process. Turkey has a chance to start negotiations on adopting
European antitrust and state-aid policies in June, EU
Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule said. “If Turkey takes the few remaining steps in time, the
competition chapter can hopefully still be opened,” Fule told
reporters after an EU-Turkey meeting in Brussels today. “It is
in everybody’s interest to give the negotiations a new
momentum.” Turkey and Croatia started the EU entry marathon on the
same day, in October 2005. Croatia today moved closer to
wrapping up its talks, while opposition by leaders including
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy has held Turkey back. “Nobody can blame Turkey” for the deadlock, Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. “There is a need for
strategic political will by all member countries of the EU.” While Turkey has started negotiations in 13 of 35 EU policy
areas, it has completed them in only one. On merits, Turkey
should have been allowed to open 29 and complete 13, said Egemen Bagis, Turkey’s EU entry negotiator. With elections set for June 12, the Turkish officials also
faulted the EU for not moving fast enough to grant Turkish
citizens visa-free access to European countries. Fule said Turkey must guarantee “genuine, substantive
debate” during the election campaign, while declining to
intervene in an uproar over the ineligibility of 12 pro-Kurdish
candidates. To contact the reporter on this story:
James G. Neuger in Brussels at
jneuger@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | U.S. Stock-Index Futures Extend Gains After Housing Starts Top Estimates | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/u-s-stock-index-futures-extend-gains-after-housing-starts-top-estimates.html
| B y M i c h a e l P . R e g a n | U.S. stock-index futures extended
gains after housing starts exceeded estimates, building on an
earlier advance spurred by higher-than-estimated earnings at
companies from Johnson & Johnson to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures expiring in June rose
0.3 percent to 1,304.4 at 8:44 a.m. in New York , after the
benchmark gauge dropped 1.1 percent yesterday. Dow Jones
Industrial Average futures advanced 0.3 percent to 12,179 today
and Nasdaq-100 Index futures gained 0.2 percent to 2,295.25. 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, figures from
the Commerce Department showed today in Washington . Starts fell
19 percent in February to the lowest level in almost two years.
Building permits, a proxy for future construction, rose 11
percent to a 594,000 pace. They were projected to rise 1.1
percent to a 540,000 annual pace. U.S. stocks tumbled yesterday after Standard & Poor’s cut
the nation’s long-term sovereign credit outlook to negative from
stable, citing rising budget deficits and debt. The S&P 500 had
rallied 4.9 percent from the start of this year through April
15, boosted by higher-than-estimated corporate earnings and
government stimulus measures. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke may keep
reinvesting the proceeds of maturing debt into Treasuries to
maintain record stimulus even after pledging to complete $600
billion in bond purchases by the end of June. Bernanke’s top two lieutenants said this month that the
economy and inflation are too weak to start reversing monetary
policy. 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. To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Regan at
mregan12@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Indonesia Must Change Anti-Terror Strategies, Crisis Group Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/indonesia-must-change-anti-terror-strategies-crisis-group-says.html
| B y F e m i A d i | Indonesia ’s government must adopt
new strategies to target terrorist acts carried out by
individuals after authorities dismantled or disrupted larger
organizations, the International Crisis Group said. The country’s National Anti-Terrorism Agency should
“immediately” take measures such as creating a database of
schools and mosques whose attendees have been arrested for
terrorism, the Brussels-based group said in a report released
today. Authorities should also compile examples of communities
that have rejected extremist preachings, the report said. “A database is critical because if you look at the pattern
of radicalization and recruitment, it tends to concentrate in
certain areas,” Sidney Jones, a senior adviser with Crisis
Group in Jakarta, said by e-mail today. “One mosque in Laweyan,
Solo, Central Java, for example, has been producing extremists
for the last decade.” The actions are necessary as individuals without clear ties
to larger groups have carried out bombings over the last two
years in isolated acts of religious intolerance, the group said.
Examples include a suicide attack in a mosque in Cirebon, West
Java that killed the bomber and wounded 30 people on April 15
and bombs concealed in books delivered in Jakarta in March. “With 800,000 mosques across the country, it would be a
huge waste of time and money to try and reach them all. You have
to target the programs where the problem is,” Jones said. The formation of small groups acting independently of
larger jihadist organizations is in part the result of the
weakening of the Jemaah Islamiyah, Jama’ah Anshorut Tauhid and
other groups, the report said. The October 2002 attacks on a
Bali nightclub that killed 202 people including 88 Australians
are blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaeda linked group. To contact the reporter on this story:
Femi Adi in Jakarta at
fadi1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Peter Hirschberg at
phirschberg@bloomberg.net ;
Greg Ahlstrand at
gahlstrand@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Japan Domestic Steel Demand to Fall as Carmakers Cut Operations | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/japan-domestic-steel-demand-to-fall-as-carmakers-cut-operations.html
| B y M a s u m i S u g a | Demand for steel in Japan , the
world’s second-largest producer, will likely fall this fiscal
year as customers including carmakers slash production following
the nation’s worst earthquake, an industry chief said. “The earthquake has had a serious impact on Japanese
manufacturers,” Japan Iron and Steel Federation Chairman Eiji Hayashida told reporters in Tokyo today. “Even if there’s
demand for restoration and reconstruction, domestic demand will
likely fall.” The 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan
on March 11 prompted automakers and electronics companies to
shut plants, delaying steel sales to customers. New car sales in
Japan decreased 37 percent in March from a year earlier, the
biggest drop for the month, according to the Japan Automobile
Dealers Association. The industry has yet to give an updated forecast for steel
production after the quake, Hayashida said today. In December,
the federation said domestic steelmakers will produce about 110
million metric tons of crude steel for the financial year
through March 2012, little changed from the year earlier. While the disaster created an emergency demand for steel
used in temporary houses for evacuees, the amount is not
significant, Hayashida said. Steelmakers expect demand for steel used in reconstruction
of areas affected by the earthquake and tsunami will increase
after the summer, the industry group chief said. He is also the
president of JFE Holdings Inc. (5411) ’s steel unit, Japan’s largest
mill after Nippon Steel Corp. (5401) Steelmakers will also unveil a plan by the end of this
month on how the industry can save electricity, Hayashida said.
The earthquake prompted Tokyo Electric Power Co. to shut power
plants including the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear
facility. The government wants companies to reduce power use by as
much as 25 percent this summer to avoid large-scale blackouts. To contact the reporter on this story:
Masumi Suga in Tokyo at
msuga@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrew Hobbs at
ahobbs4@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Turkish Doctors Stage Two-Day Healthcare Protest, Milliyet Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/turkish-doctors-stage-two-day-healthcare-protest-milliyet-says.html
| B y S t e v e B r y a n t | Turkish doctors will work reduced
hours today and tomorrow to protest against the changes the
government is making in the country’s healthcare system,
Milliyet newspaper reported. The Turkish Medical Association, the biggest group of
doctors, will cover emergency services and no more, reducing
their level of service to that of a public holiday, the
Istanbul-based newspaper said, citing association head Eris
Bilaloglu. The government’s new health system deprives doctors of job
and wage security, sufficient training, and professional
independence, Bilaloglu said, according to the newspaper.
Doctors aren’t given enough protection against violence at work,
he said. Click here for web link To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Steve Bryant at
sbryant5@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Continental Reinsurance Nigeria Rises to 9-Week High | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/continental-reinsurance-nigeria-rises-to-9-week-high-on-profit.html
| B y V i n c e n t N w a n m a | Continental Reinsurance Plc (CONTINSU) , a
Nigerian company, rose to a nine-week high after saying full-
year profit surged 36 percent and that it plans to pay a
dividend of 7.5 kobo per share. The stock gained 2 kobo, or 1.8 percent, to 1.12 naira, its
highest since Feb. 14, by the 2:30 p.m. close in Lagos. Net income climbed to 1.23 billion naira ($7.95 million) in
the year through December from 905.2 million naira, the company
said in a statement on the Lagos-based Nigerian Stock Exchange’s
website today. Revenue increased to 10.3 billion naira from 6.5
billion naira. Continental Reinsurance shares have risen 12 percent this
year, compared with a 3 percent increase in the Nigerian Stock
Exchange All-Share Index over the same period. To contact the reporter on this story:
Vincent Nwanma in Lagos at
vnwanma@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Antony Sguazzin at
asguazzin@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Polish Stocks: KGHM Polska Miedz, PBG Were Active in Warsaw | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/polish-stocks-kghm-polska-miedz-orlen-shares-move-in-warsaw.html
| B y P a w e l K o z l o w s k i | Poland ’s WIG20 Index increased
15.39, or 0.5 percent, to 2,888.09 in Warsaw, extending this
month’s gain to 2.5 percent. The following were among the most active stocks on the
Warsaw Stock Exchange today. Stock symbols follow company names. KGHM Polska Miedz SA (KGH) , the copper producer with the
biggest European mine output, advanced 1.8 zloty, or 1 percent,
to 190 zloty, climbing from an almost two-week low. Copper rose
after Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. halted underground
mining at an Indonesian site, adding to concern supplies will be
hurt. PBG SA (PBG) dropped 3 zloty, or 1.7 percent, to 169
zloty, closing at the lowest level since September 2006. Erste
Group Bank AG cut its share-price estimate for Poland’s third-
largest construction company to 167 zloty and maintained its
“reduce” recommendation. To contact the reporter on this story:
Pawel Kozlowski in Warsaw
pkozlowski@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Gavin Serkin at
gserkin@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Connect Group, Euronav, Heineken: Benelux Equity Market Preview | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/connect-group-euronav-heineken-benelux-equity-market-preview.html
| B y J o h n M a r t e n s a n d M a r t i j n v a n d e r S t a r r e | The following companies may have
unusual price changes in Benelux markets. Stock symbols are in
parentheses, and prices are from the previous close. The AEX-Index (AEX) in Amsterdam advanced 0.49, or 0.1 percent,
to 353.17. Belgium ’s Bel20 Index added 17.15, or 0.6 percent, to
2,692.45. Luxembourg’s LuxX Index rose 0.9 percent to 1,413.13. Dutch stocks: Heineken NV (HEIA) : The world’s third-biggest brewer may
say quarterly sales rose to 3.6 billion euros ($5.2 billion),
the average of 12 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg, from
2.94 billion euros in the same period a year earlier. Heineken
gained 1.2 percent to 40.21 euros. Nederlandsche Apparatenfabriek Nedap NV (NEDAP NA): The
Dutch maker of surveillance and security systems said profit
increased “markedly” during the first months of 2011, without
giving figures. Nedap advanced 0.2 percent to 23.92 euros. Royal Wessanen NV (WES NA): Investors in the Dutch maker of
Beckers croquettes rejected a motion at the annual meeting to
extend the executive board’s designation as competent body to
issue shares. Wessanen rose 0.5 percent to 2.75 euros. Belgian stocks: Connect Group (CONN) NV: The Belgian contract maker of
electronics for customers including Barco NV said QuaeroQ CVBA
exchanged 2.9 million euros of convertible notes for stock at a
rate of 1.49 euros a share. Connect Group dropped 0.5 percent to
1.95 euros. Euronav NV (EURN) : The Belgian oil-tanker owner reported
first-quarter profit declined to $19.2 million, which included a
$22.1 million gain from the sale of a supertanker, and said its
very large crude carriers operating in the single-voyage market
earned an average $31,700 a day in the current quarter. Euronav
retreated 0.3 percent to 11.14 euros. To contact the reporters on this story:
John Martens in Brussels at
jmartens1@bloomberg.net ;
Martijn van der Starre in Amsterdam at
vanderstarre@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Angela Cullen at acullen8@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | ECB Raising Rates May Turn Into Mistake Weakening Euro, Standard Life Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/ecb-raising-rates-may-turn-into-mistake-weakening-euro-standard-life-says.html
| B y L u k a n y o M n y a n d a | The European Central Bank ’s policy
of raising interest rates may not be “appropriate” and could
drive the euro down 16 percent or more as the region’s fiscal
crisis persists, according to Standard Life Investments. The currency may weaken below its “fair value” of $1.20
to $1.25, said Ken Dickson, investment director for currencies
at the Edinburgh-based company, which oversees about 157 billion
pounds ($256 billion). “The euro is a particularly risky currency at these levels
because the increasingly restrictive policy and the financial
conditions are not really appropriate,” Dickson said in an
interview. A series of rate increases “is not appropriate for
the conditions or economics of Europe as a whole,” he said. Investment strategists at Standard Life, Aberdeen Asset
Management Plc and Scottish Widows Investment Partnership said
last month that the biggest risk to markets was the possibility
of policy makers getting decisions wrong. While ECB President
Jean-Claude Trichet said this month’s quarter-percentage-point
increase in the main refinancing rate wasn’t necessarily the
start of a series, colleagues signaled more are to come. Ewald Nowotny, an ECB governing council member and governor
of Austria’s central bank, told Bloomberg News in Washington on
April 16 that investor expectations that the rate will rise an
extra 50 basis points in 2011 are “well-founded.” Belgian
counterpart Luc Coene said on April 17 that monetary
“conditions are still too accommodative.” Yo-Yo Rates Dickson said at his office on April 18 it was “feasible”
the ECB may raise the cost of borrowing by more than is
justified by the outlook for the economy and inflation, and then
be forced to cut rates again. The ECB in Frankfurt lifted its main rate to 1.25 percent
on April 7, the first increase since July 2008, as it sought to
contain an inflation rate that exceeded its 2 percent target. The central bank is trying to balance the need for tighter
policy in countries including Germany , whose economy is booming,
against the risk of exacerbating the debt crisis afflicting
Greece, Ireland and Portugal . Inflation accelerated to 2.7
percent in March, the fastest since October 2008. The euro has declined 0.2 percent against its nine most-
actively traded peers since April 7, trimming this year’s gains
to 3.4 percent, Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted indexes show. The
euro traded at $1.4507 as of 11:43 a.m. in London , up 8.3
percent against the dollar since Dec. 31. Policy ‘Fear’ Strategists in Scotland said at a discussion in Bloomberg’s
Edinburgh office on March 23 that the timing of rate increases
in developed economies, China ’s accelerating inflation, the
European debt crisis and the U.S. fiscal deficit all posed
bigger threats to markets than higher oil prices . “Our fear is that tightening policy, both from interest
rates and through further appreciation in the euro is not the
right economic formula for Europe at this time,” Dickson said.
“We expect the euro to move to an undervalued position. It’s
feasible that it could take longer than this year but we think
the end of this year the clear direction of travel would be for
the euro to weaken.” Dickson advises Standard Life money managers on currency
investments. The company boosted assets under management by 13
percent last year, while Aberdeen Asset Management Plc, the
largest fund company in Scotland , increased its funds 27 percent
to 183.3 billion pounds. Scottish Widows Investment Partnership
lifted assets 3.2 percent to 146 billion pounds. To contact the reporters on this story:
Lukanyo Mnyanda in Edinburgh at at
lmnyanda@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Rodney Jefferson at at
r.jefferson@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Goldman Sachs Shares Fall on Concern Profits Rely on Unpredictable Revenue | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/goldman-sachs-shares-decline-on-concern-earnings-growth-can-t-be-sustained.html
| B y C h r i s t i n e H a r p e r | Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) declined
in New York trading after first-quarter profit fell 21 percent
and analysts said the fifth-biggest U.S. bank relied on
unpredictable investment gains to beat estimates. Goldman Sachs dropped $1.92, or 1.3 percent, to $151.86 in
New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the lowest closing
price since Oct. 15. Net income slid to $2.74 billion, the New
York-based company said today in a statement. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lloyd C. Blankfein,
56, depended on trading and investments with the firm’s own
money to generate 79 percent of first-quarter revenue. The
investing and lending segment, which accounted for 23 percent of
revenue, is unreliable because results are tied to market moves
and because regulators might add restrictions to the business,
said some analysts and investors. “A large part of that beat was driven by larger-than-
expected investment gains, which are volatile and could easily
fall sharply into the next quarter,” said Richard Staite, an
analyst at Atlantic Equities LLP in London who rates the stock
“neutral.” “It is still unclear under the new regulations
just how much proprietary trading and investing Goldman can
do.” Earnings per common share, which includes the cost of
preferred dividend payments to Warren Buffett ’s Berkshire
Hathaway Inc., dropped to $1.56 from $5.59, beating the 81-cent
average estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Basel, Dodd-Frank Goldman Sachs’s biggest businesses, trading and investing,
are the ones most affected by new capital requirements drawn up
by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and by 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. Results from the other main businesses, investment banking
and asset management, were disappointing, according to analysts
including Glenn Schorr at Nomura Holdings Inc. and Richard Bove
at Rochdale Securities LLC. The results show “solid trading, better-than-expected
Investing & Lending, and some softness in investment banking and
asset management,” Schorr, who rates the company’s shares a
buy, said in a note to investors. “Some may question the
sustainability of some of the gains in Investing & Lending.” Bove cut his rating on Goldman Sachs stock to “neutral”
from “buy” even as he raised his earnings estimates. ‘Particularly Disappointing’ “Particularly disappointing were the advisory results,”
Bove wrote in a note to investors, referring to Goldman Sachs’s
revenue from providing takeover advice. “ Investment management
activity was weak.” Goldman Sachs’s overall net revenue fell 7 percent to $11.9
billion, the company said. 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, the firm’s biggest source of revenue, dropped
28 percent to $4.33 billion from $6.02 billion a year earlier,
and more than doubled 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 Chase & Co. (JPM) , 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. The business 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 . David A. Viniar, Goldman Sachs’s chief financial officer,
told analysts on a conference call that about 20 percent to 25
percent of the investing and lending segment’s revenue is from
interest on loans. “So that is going to be recurring, but that’s a small part
of it,” he said. Trading, Investing Without the better-than-expected trading and investing
lines, Goldman Sachs wouldn’t have been able to exceed
estimates, said Benjamin Wallace, analyst at Grimes & Co. in
Westborough, Massachusetts . “The beat that was delivered was from things people look
at as less predictable,” said Wallace, whose firm manages about
$1 billion and doesn’t own Goldman Sachs stock. “It goes back
to the grand point that Goldman still relies on its trading
operations.” 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. 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. Advisory Revenue 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’s
advisory revenue fell short of JPMorgan’s $429 million in the
quarter. 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 as clients withdrew
$12 billion from Goldman Sachs’s funds and market gains
increased the value of the assets by an identical amount, the
firm said. “That’s going to be a business where they don’t have the
kind of competitive advantage that they do in the others,” said
David Trone , head of U.S. banks and brokerage research for JMP
Securities LLC in New York , who recommends buying Goldman Sachs
shares. “You’re as good as your last performance, not your
brand name.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Christine Harper in New York at
charper@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Scheer at dscheer@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Denmark to Sell Amagerbanken Assets for Under DK1b, Borsen Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/denmark-to-sell-amagerbanken-assets-for-under-dk1b-borsen-says.html
| B y P e t e r L e v r i n g | Denmark plans to sell the best-
placed branches and a 6 billion kroner ($1.14 billion) portfolio
of healthy loans from failed lender Amagerbanken A/S for less
than 1 billion kroner, Borsen reported on Tuesday. Amagerbanken will not be able to sell a 12 billion kroner
loan portfolio in which all loans are either in default or have
owners unable to make payments, Chairman Niels Heering said,
according to Copenhagen-based Borsen. Several Danish banks, foreign banks and private equity
funds are interested in buying parts of Amagerbanken, Heering
said, according to Borsen. Click here for web link To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Gelu Sulugiuc at
gsulugiuc@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | U.S. Crude Oil Supplies Rose Last Week, API Report Shows | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/u-s-crude-oil-supplies-increased-last-week-api-report-shows.html
| B y M a r g o t H a b i b y | Crude oil inventories rose 4.91
million barrels last week to 361 million, the American Petroleum
Institute said today. Gasoline stockpiles fell 2.09 million barrels to 210.6
million, the report showed. The Energy Department is scheduled to release its inventory
report tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. in Washington . Analysts expect the government report to show stockpiles of
crude oil increased over the period. Supplies probably advanced
1.7 million barrels, according to the median of 13 responses in
a Bloomberg News survey. Gasoline inventories fell 1 million
barrels, the survey showed. API collects stockpile information on a voluntary basis
from operators of refineries, bulk terminals and pipelines. The
government requires that reports be filed with the Energy
Department for its weekly survey. Crude oil for June delivery fell 50 cents, or 0.5 percent,
to $111.78 a barrel at 4:33 p.m. in electronic trading on the
New York Mercantile Exchange . The contract traded at $112.10
before release of the report at 4:30 p.m. To contact the reporter on this story:
Margot Habiby in Dallas at mhabiby@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at
dstets@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Gold May Climb to Record $1,520, Barclays's Sarin Says: Technical Analysis | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/gold-may-reach-record-1-520-sarin-of-barclays-says-technical-analysis.html
| B y R a n j e e t h a P a k i a m | Gold may climb 1.6 percent to a
record $1,520 an ounce in two to four weeks, according to
technical analysis from Barclays Capital . The level is an initial resistance area and prices may
pause there before extending gains to $1,560 to $1,600 an ounce
in three to six months, Dhiren Sarin, an analyst with Barclays,
said by phone from Singapore today. “If you look across different markets right now, investor
sentiment is such that they are a little bit risk-averse, so in
that environment gold catches a safe-haven bid,” Sarin said.
“Inflationary expectations” helped push gold higher since the
third quarter of last year, he said. Gold futures climbed to a record $1,498.60 an ounce
yesterday as Standard & Poor’s revised its U.S. credit-rating
outlook to negative, boosting the metal’s lure as an alternative
to the dollar. Gold jumped 32 percent in the past year and
silver has more than doubled on concern that global inflation
will accelerate and Europe ’s sovereign-debt crisis worsen. Bullion for June delivery gained 0.2 percent to $1,495.8 an
ounce at 6 p.m. Singapore time today on the Comex in New York .
Support levels are at $1,430 and $1,440 an ounce, Sarin said. In technical analysis, investors and analysts study charts
of trading patterns and prices to predict changes in a security,
commodity, currency or index. A resistance level is where sell
orders may be clustered. To contact the reporter on this story:
Ranjeetha Pakiam in Kuala Lumpur at
rpakiam@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Poole at
jpoole4@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | DRDGold of South Africa Says Plans to Sell its Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mine | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/drdgold-of-south-africa-says-plans-to-sell-its-blyvooruitzicht-gold-mine.html
| B y C a r l i L o u r e n s | DRDGold Ltd. (DRD) , a producer of the
metal in South Africa , said it plans to sell its Blyvooruitzicht
mine near Johannesburg after a review of operations. “Blyvoor no longer fits the core strategic focus of the
company,” Johannesburg-based DRDGold said in a statement today.
“It has therefore resolved to sell the mine and has appointed
Royal Bank of Canada as well as Beijing Axis to advise on the
transaction.” Blyvooruitzicht accounted for about half of DRD’s total
production in the quarter ended March 31, yielding 30,511 ounces
of the total output of 67,387 ounces, DRD said today. DRD snapped three days of gains, falling 6 cents, or 1.6
percent, to 3.60 rand in Johannesburg yesterday. To contact the reporter on this story:
Carli Lourens in Johannesburg at
clourens@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Amanda Jordan at
ajordan11@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Kurdish Protests Turn Violent in Turkey as Politicians Barred | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/kurdish-protests-turn-violent-in-turkey-as-politicians-barred.html
| B y B e n j a m i n H a r v e y | Kurdish protesters clashed with
police in Turkey ’s southeast and thousands gathered in Istanbul
and Ankara after 12 pro-Kurdish politicians were banned from
running in elections in two months time. Kurds threw Molotov cocktails at police in the southeastern
cities of Van and Hakkari, television footage published by news
channels including NTV showed. Police fought back with tear gas
and water cannons. In Istanbul, riot police were sent to the
central Taksim Square, where protesters had gathered. Turkey’s High Election Board ruled yesterday that the 12
Kurdish candidates were ineligible to run in the June 12
election due to previous criminal convictions. The ruling meant
the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party may boycott the vote,
party official Selahattin Demirtas said, according to the state-
run Anatolia news agency. A boycott would raise the probability that Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan ’s Justice and Development Party may win a
two-thirds majority in parliament at the election, allowing it
to pass legislation including constitutional amendments
unopposed, Inan Demir , chief economist at Istanbul-based
Finansbank AS, said in an e-mailed report today. ‘Tensions’ The election board’s decision “will lead to heightened
tensions in the long-troubled southeastern region, with a likely
end to a ceasefire” by militant Kurdish separatists affiliated
with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, Demir said. Peace and Democracy is the only serious challenger to the
governing party in the mainly-Kurdish southeast, Erdogan said in
an interview, Milliyet newspaper reported yesterday. Parliament speaker and ruling party member Mehmet Ali Sahin
said today that the election board’s ruling “weakens
parliament’s mission” and should be reviewed, Anatolia
reported. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition
Republican People’s Party , called for an emergency session in
parliament to find a solution and to debate the 10 percent vote
threshold for parties to win seats in parliament, according to
televised comments from Ankara. The banned politicians, who are allied to Peace and
Democracy, were running as independent candidates to circumvent
the 10 percent threshold. The politicians won’t be able to name substitutes, Hasan Gerceker, head of Turkey’s Supreme Court , told Anatolia. “If they were running for a party, then maybe they could
run a new candidate,” he said. “Because they’re running as
independents, I don’t think that’s possible.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Benjamin Harvey in Istanbul at
bharvey11@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrew J. Barden at
barden@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Kenyan Shilling Gains After Central Bank Withdraws Liquidity | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/kenyan-shilling-gains-after-central-bank-withdraws-liquidity.html
| B y P a u l R i c h a r d s o n | Kenya ’s shilling gained against the
dollar after the central bank drained excess liquidity from the
market by selling repurchase agreements. The currency of East Africa’s biggest economy strengthened
to 83.80 shillings at 2:23 p.m. in Nairobi, the capital, from
83.85 at the close yesterday. The shilling initially weakened as
much as 0.3 percent today amid “a bit of demand” from oil
importers purchasing dollars, said Joel Mbuvi, head of Treasury
at African Banking Corp. “On the supply side, people have created short positions
on the dollar because of the tight liquidity in the market,”
Mbuvi said. A short position is a bet a currency will
depreciate. “We expect the shilling to remain steady, but more
skewed toward a strengthening on the back of the tight
liquidity. By the close of the week, we expect it to be at
around 83.50.” The Central Bank of Kenya yesterday accepted 1 billion
shillings ($12 million) of bids for eight-day repurchase
agreements after offering 8 billion shillings. In these
transactions, Kenya’s central bank sells securities to banks to
withdraw excess funds from the financial system. To contact the reporter on this story:
Paul Richardson in Nairobi at
pmrichardson@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Antony Sguazzin at
asguazzin@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Canadian Dollar Rallies the Most in Two Months After Inflation Increases | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/canadian-dollar-rises-as-consumer-prices-gain-in-march-more-than-forecast.html
| B y J o h n D e t r i x h e a n d C a t a r i n a S a r a i v a | Canada ’s dollar advanced the most
against its U.S. counterpart in two months and its debt declined
as inflation accelerated the most since September 2008, spurring
bets the Bank of Canada may resume raising borrowing costs. The loonie, as the currency is nicknamed, strengthened
against most of its major peers after the consumer price index
advanced 3.3 percent in March from a year earlier and compares
2.2 percent the previous month, Statistics Canada reported. The
median forecast of 25 economists in a Bloomberg News survey was
for a 2.8 percent annual rate. “The market’s going to be behind the Bank of Canada
potentially raising rates this summer,” said Shane Enright ,
executive director at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s CIBC
World Markets unit in Toronto. “There was some of that priced
in already, but this is only going to solidify things.” The Canadian dollar appreciated 0.8 percent to 95.61 cents
versus the U.S. dollar at 5:00 p.m. in Toronto, from 96.42
yesterday. The Canadian currency had the biggest intraday gain
since Feb. 1. One Canadian dollar buys $1.0459. The loonie reached 95.27 cent on April 8, the strongest
since November 2007. Canadian government bonds due in two years fell, snapping a
five day rally. Yields on the 1.75 percent securities due in
March 2013 rose eight basis points, or 0.08 percentage point,
the biggest increase since March 21, to 1.77 percent. Shorter-
maturity securities are typically the most sensitive to changes
in interest rates . The central bank has held its benchmark interest rate at 1
percent since September, when it increased it for the third time
last year. The Bank of Canada will hold the target rate for
overnight loans between commercial banks at 1 percent during the
second quarter and boost it to 1.5 percent during the third
quarter, according to a Bloomberg News survey. BOC Views The one-year overnight index swap rate, a measure of the
average overnight rate expected by investors during that period,
climbed to 1.38 percent after touching 1.4 percent, the biggest
jump since September. “Recent economic activity in Canada has been stronger than
the Bank had anticipated,” BOC Governor Mark Carney and his
five deputies said in a statement from Ottawa April 12. “Any
further reduction in monetary policy stimulus would need to be
carefully considered,” the bank said, echoing the language used
in the last two decisions. The next BOC policy meeting is May 31. “There is still quite a bit of strength in the Canadian
dollar,” said C.J. Gavsie, managing director for foreign-
exchange trading at Bank of Montreal’s BMO Capital Markets unit
in Toronto. “This CPI number is going to add fuel to that
fire.” Credit Notice Standard & Poor’s put the U.S. on notice yesterday that it
risks losing its AAA credit rating unless policy makers agree on
a plan by 2013 to reduce budget deficits and the national debt.
The U.S. is Canada’s biggest trading partner. “People are looking for quality currencies, so they head
back to the Canadian dollar and Australian dollar,” said John Curran , a senior vice president in Toronto at CanadianForex
Ltd., an online foreign-exchange dealer. Australia ’s dollar gain 0.2 percent against its U.S.
counterpart to 1.0526, almost the record high of 1.0584 per U.S.
dollar reached April 8. The loonie is little changed this year, according to
Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Currency Indexes, a measure of 10
developed-nation currencies. That compares with losses of 1.5
percent for the Australian dollar and 4.6 percent for the U.S.
dollar. To contact the reporters for this story:
Catarina Saraiva in New York at
asaraiva5@bloomberg.net ;
John Detrixhe in New York at
jdetrixhe1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Robert Burgess at bburgess@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | EDF Advances After France Sets Nuclear Power Price at Level Utility Wanted | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/edf-advances-after-france-sets-nuclear-power-price-at-level-utility-wanted.html
| B y T a r a P a t e l a n d K a r i L u n d g r e n | Electricite de France SA shares
jumped after the French government matched the price requested
by the utility for the sale of its nuclear power to competitors. EDF climbed 1.03 cents, or 3.9 percent, to 27.66 euros in
Paris. The stock has fallen 11 percent this year, valuing the
company at 51.1 billion euros ($73.2 billion). The company will be able to sell nuclear power to
competitors at a wholesale price of 42 euros a megawatt-hour
starting Jan. 1, 2012, Industry Minister Eric Besson said in a
statement today. The price, fixed by the government under a law
aimed at overhauling the French power market, Europe ’s biggest
after Germany , is higher than a rate of 35 euros a megawatt-hour
wanted by GDF Suez (GSZ) SA, the atomic utility’s biggest rival. “This is not about favoring EDF or penalizing GDF,”
Besson said in an interview on Europe 1 radio. “It’s about
securing supplies for the French and easing things for EDF,
which is a major company for French electricity, and takes into
account preemptively the work EDF will need to undertake
following Fukushima.” The law, known as Nome and passed by parliament last year,
aims to open up the power market by forcing EDF, operator of the
country’s 58 reactors and the dominant power supplier, to sell
as much as a quarter of its output to competitors such as GDF
Suez. The wholesale price will determine whether rivals can
compete in France’s regulated market. Not Competitive The new prices “won’t permit, contrary to the commitments
France made to the European Commission, the establishment of
efficient competition on electricity supply in France,” GDF
said in an e-mailed statement today. “We expect EDF’s share price to react fairly positively on
the back of this news,” UniCredit analyst Vincent Ayral said in
a note to investors today. “The market has been concerned about
the possibility of a postponement or cancellation of the Nome
reform.” The law is due to take effect July 1, when EDF can charge
rivals 40 euros a megawatt-hour, before it’s raised to 42 euros.
The legislation was aimed at avoiding European Commission
sanctions that could have resulted in fines for EDF. The French government asked for a report by Paul Champsaur,
architect of the overhaul, to determine how to set the wholesale
price. The Champsaur report had recommended a range of between
38 euros and 40 euros a megawatt-hour. Production Costs EDF Chief Executive Officer Henri Proglio has said the
company’s production costs are 45 euros a megawatt-hour and the
utility based 2011 financial targets on obtaining government
approval to sell wholesale nuclear power at 42 euros a megawatt-
hour. The country’s energy regulator said at the start of the
year the price could range from 38.50 euros a megawatt-hour to
more than 42 euros. Proglio has repeatedly warned that a price lower than 42
euros a megawatt-hour would amount to a “fire sale” and the
“pillage” of EDF. GDF Suez Chief Executive Officer Gerard Mestrallet has said this level would open France up to sanctions
from the European Commission. EDF’s share price fell to a two-year low this month
following a government announcement to cap electricity price
increases and uncertainty about the planned market overhaul. The
utility’s shares have also been hurt by the possibility that the
Japanese nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant will
curtail atomic expansion worldwide and force EDF to make
expensive safety modifications to existing reactors. To contact the reporters on this story:
Tara Patel in Paris at
tpatel2@bloomberg.net ;
Kari Lundgren in London at
klundgren2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Will Kennedy at
wkennedy3@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | TNK-BP Doesn’t Seek Failure of BP, Rosneft Deal, Director Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/tnk-bp-doesn-t-seek-failure-of-bp-rosneft-deal-director-says.html
| B y A n t o n D o r o s h e v | TNK-BP, BP Plc (BP/) ’s Russian oil
venture, sees the collapse of the U.K. company’s Arctic
exploration deal with state-run OAO Rosneft as the “least
interesting outcome,” said Alexander Shokhin, an independent
director on TNK-BP’s board. TNK-BP, equally owned by BP and a Russian group of
billionaires, wants an opportunity to expand into the Arctic
offshore, Shokhin said today in an interview in Moscow. TNK-BP
has little chance of developing such a project on its own
because it lacks the technology, he said. The billionaire partners have held up BP’s plan to swap 5
percent of its stock for about 9.5 percent in Rosneft and to
explore for resources in the Kara Sea, claiming TNK-BP has
exclusive rights to pursue opportunities in Russia for BP. BP asked arbitrators to allow it to carry out the share
swap on its own, and Rosneft extended the deadline by a month to
May 16. TNK-BP wants to either join the alliance or seek as much as
$10 billion in compensation from BP, Shokhin said. No resolution
to the dispute has been found yet, he said. AAR rejected a $27 billion buyout offer from BP last week,
a person with knowledge of the proposal said at the time. To contact the reporter on this story:
Anton Doroshev in Moscow at
adoroshev@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Mark Sweetman at
msweetman@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | AB InBev’s Long-Term Ratings Raised One Step to A- at S&P | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/ab-inbev-s-long-term-ratings-raised-one-step-to-a-at-s-p-1-.html
| B y J o h n M a r t e n s | Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ABI) , the
world’s largest brewer, had its long-term debt ratings raised
one step to A- at Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, which
cited the company’s cash generation and debt reduction. AB InBev’s corporate credit and senior unsecured debt
ratings were increased to A-, the fourth-lowest investment
grade, from BBB+ and the outlook on the rating is stable, S&P
said today in a statement. Moody’s Investors Service rates the
senior unsecured debt of Leuven, Belgium-based AB InBev at Baa1,
the third-lowest investment grade. The brewer of Bud Light and Stella Artois cut net debt by
$5.47 billion to $39.7 billion last year, or about three times
earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization
based on S&P metrics. The brewer last year also refinanced
the final portion of the $54.8 billion in bank loans it obtained
in 2008 to fund its purchase of Anheuser-Busch Cos. for $52.5
billion in cash. “The stable outlook reflects our view that ABI will
continue to use its strong earnings to moderate its debt
leverage over the short to medium term,” Anna Overton, a credit
analyst at S&P in London , said in the statement. “Further
rating upside is conditional, in our view, on the group’s
willingness to maintain a ratio of fully adjusted debt to Ebitda
of close to two times.” AB InBev’s 750 million euros ($1.07 billion) of 4 percent
notes due in April 2018 fell 0.29 cent to 100.41 cents on the
euro as of 1:46 p.m. in Brussels. The bonds traded as high as
106.92 cents on the euro on Aug. 30, 2010. To contact the reporter on this story:
John Martens in Brussels at
jmartens1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Angela Cullen at acullen8@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Bahrain Minister Says Gulf Troops to Stay as Counter to Iran | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/bahrain-minister-says-gulf-troops-to-stay-as-counter-to-iran-1-.html
| B y V i v i a n S a l a m a a n d C a m i l l a H a l l | Troops from Persian Gulf nations
will remain in Bahrain as a counter to Iran, the Bahraini
foreign minister, Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa, said in a
posting on Twitter. Bahrain declared a three-month state of emergency on March
15 after troops from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states arrived
to help quell protests led by majority Shiite Muslims, who are
calling for more democracy and civil rights. “They are there for a mission protecting our vital
institutions against foreign threat,” Sheikh Khalid told
reporters yesterday in Dubai when asked about how long the Gulf
troops would stay. “I cannot give you a timetable but
indefinite is not in the picture now.” Some groups have escalated their demands since protests
began two months ago to include the overthrow of the Sunni
Muslim rulers, the Al-Khalifa family, and the creation of a
republic. “The situation is developing positively, that may not
require an extension,” the minister said yesterday when asked
whether a state of emergency would continue. The law stands for
three months before an extension is needed. The minister also said yesterday that he has sent a letter
to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon regarding Iran ’s
involvement in the country’s unrest. Iran is ruled by Shiite
Muslims. To contact the reporters on this story:
Vivian Salama in Abu Dhabi at
vsalama@bloomberg.net ;
Camilla Hall in Dubai at
chall24@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrew J. Barden at
barden@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Areva to Deliver Water-Treatment Unit to Tepco's Crippled Fukushima Plant | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/areva-to-deliver-water-treatment-unit-to-tepco-s-crippled-fukushima-plant.html
| B y Y u j i O k a d a , M i c h i o N a k a y a m a a n d T s u y o s h i I n a j i m a | Areva SA (CEI) will deliver a
decontamination unit to Japan ’s crippled nuclear power plant,
where Tokyo Electric Power Co. is removing radioactive water so
it can start repairing cooling pumps and power systems. Areva will set up the water treatment plant, which
separates and recovers radioactive particles, at the Fukushima
site, the French nuclear operator said today in a statement.
Tepco, as the Japanese company is called, wants to start using
the unit by June, Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager, said at
a press briefing in Tokyo. The Fukushima plant was damaged by explosions in the days
after a magnitude-9 quake and tsunami on March 11 knocked out
cooling equipment, sparking the worst nuclear disaster since
Chernobyl in 1986. Tepco today started pumping contaminated
water out of trenches near one of the reactor buildings that
were damaged by the blasts. “The contaminated water must be treated rapidly as it is
preventing Tepco from repairing the power plant’s power supply
and cooling systems,” Areva said in the statement. The unit
“will sharply reduce the radioactivity levels of the treated
water, which could be reused in the power plant’s cooling
systems.” The treatment unit, which will be provided by Veolia Water,
can process 50,000 liters (13,200 gallons) of water per hour,
Areva Chief Executive Officer Anne Lauvergeon said today at a
briefing in Tokyo. She said Areva hasn’t proposed a plan for decommissioning
the reactors, which have been spewing radiation into the air and
sea for more than five weeks Pouring Water The Fukushima plant, 220 kilometers (137 miles) north of
Tokyo, has six reactors, three of which were shut for
maintenance when the earthquake and tsunami struck, leaving
almost 28,000 people dead or missing. Tepco has been pouring millions of liters of water to cool
the reactors and spent fuel after the accident, which has
flooded basements and trenches near the reactors. Some highly
contaminated water leaked into the sea and the utility has
dumped less toxic fluids into the ocean. Tepco started draining highly radioactive water from
trenches around the No. 2 reactor at about 10 a.m. today,
spokesman Osamu Yokokura said. The power utility aims to move 10 million liters (2.6
million gallons) of the contaminated water to a waste treatment
unit and expects to complete the transfer in 26 days, Matsumoto
told reporters at an earlier briefing today. Filling Vessels In the next three months, Tepco plans to fill the reactor
containment vessels at the No. 1 and No. 3 units with water, the
company said in its statement on April 17 outlining its plan for
bringing the situation under control. The utility will seal the
vessel of the No. 2 reactor, which is likely damaged, before
flooding it. “If we flood the damaged vessel, the leak of contaminated
water will increase,” Tepco Vice President Sakae Muto told
reporters. “We will continue injecting water with care and
monitor the volume of water leaked.” Two iRobot Corp. (IRBT) robots sent into reactor buildings on
April 17 to check whether humans can reenter them found
radiation levels as high as 49 millisieverts per hour inside the
No. 1 unit, and up to 57 millisieverts in the No. 3 unit, the
Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said. The cumulative maximum level for nuclear workers was raised
to 250 millisieverts from 100 millisieverts by Japan’s health
ministry on March 15. Exposure totaling 100 millisieverts over a
year is the lowest level at which any increase in cancer is
evident, according to the World Nuclear Association in London . Judging Limits Another robot was sent into the reactor No. 2 building
yesterday and recorded levels of 4.1 millisieverts per hour,
spokesman Tetsuya Terasawa told reporters today. That level
wouldn’t prevent workers going into the building, another
spokesman said. “We judge the radiation limit by the amount, importance
and hours of the work, as well as accumulated exposure of each
worker,” spokesman Shogo Fukuda said. “We wouldn’t hesitate to
send workers in at a level of 4.1 millisieverts per hour.” Fuel pellets in the No. 1, 2 and 3 reactors may have melted
at the plant, the nuclear safety agency said today, in the first
official confirmation of damage to the cores. “It is believed that the fuel pellets in the reactors have
melted,” the agency said in a report. “The extent of the
melting cannot be confirmed until the fuel rods have been
removed.” A sustained drop in radiation at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi
station may be achieved within three months, Tokyo Electric
Power Co. said in the statement laying out its plans. Cold Shutdown Following that, a cold shutdown, where core reactor
temperatures fall below 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees
Fahrenheit), may be achieved within six months, it said. “Tepco needs to be faster than it has outlined on two
particular areas: circulating the radioactive water back into
the pressure vessels and covering the reactor buildings to
prevent radiation releases,” Tadashi Narabayashi, a professor
of nuclear engineering at Hokkaido University , said today. Shares of Tepco fell 4.3 percent to 447 yen today in Tokyo.
The stock is down about 80 percent since the quake and tsunami. Three to six months after the initial phase of its plan,
Tepco will attempt a cold shutdown of reactors No. 1, 2 and 3,
the company said. Reactors 4, 5 and 6 were shut at the time of
the disaster. The utility will also cover the No. 1, 3 and 4 reactor
buildings as a temporary measure to reduce radiation emissions
after the structures were damaged by hydrogen blasts last month,
according to the statement. To contact the reporters on this story:
Yuji Okada in Tokyo at
yokada6@bloomberg.net ;
Michio Nakayama in Tokyo at
mnakayama4@bloomberg.net ;
Tsuyoshi Inajima in Tokyo at
tinajima@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Amit Prakash at
aprakash1@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Hedge-Fund Gods Meet Sexpot Killer in Vonnegut Thriller: Books | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/hedge-fund-gods-meet-sexpot-killer-in-thriller-by-morgan-s-vonnegut-books.html
| B y J a m e s P r e s s l e y | It’s December 2007, markets are
dancing into a Grand Canyon, and Jimmy Cusack’s lead investor
has just uttered the four scariest words in Hedgistan: “I want my money,” he says. Norb Vonnegut’s second thriller, “The Gods of Greenwich,”
is off to a thumping start. The demand amounts to financial defenestration for Jimmy,
who’s locked into a lease in the Empire State Building and a $3
million mortgage on a condo in Manhattan ’s Meatpacking District.
There goes $120 million 85 percent of the money managed by
the Irish Catholic kid who left Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) to
start his own fund. Jimmy’s troubles are just beginning. As markets flip from
mean to life-threatening, he folds the fund, puts on his crooked
grin and lands a job with Cyrus Leeser of LeeWell Capital in
hedgehog heaven, Greenwich, Connecticut . With his winning
streak, hush-hush hedges and shoulder-length black hair, Cy is a
legend in the making. What Jimmy doesn’t know is that Cy has placed a pair of
massive wagers one betting that shares in an Icelandic bank
will plunge, the other assuming that alternative energy company
Bentwing (ticker: BEG) will fly. What neither knows is that the
Icelanders have wealthy friends in Qatar . Seductress With Syringe As the book opens, everyone is hiding something, not least
Rachel Whittier, a sultry 27-year-old nurse to a Park Avenue
plastic surgeon. She has a mysterious scar on one hand, a Texas
twang and a taste for murder a seductress with a syringe and
no scruples. Has Vonnegut, a former Morgan Stanley (MS) wealth
manager, written himself into a corner? No chance: The pieces of
this plot mesh as smoothly as a well executed trade. Vonnegut, a distant relation to Kurt Vonnegut Jr., has
matured since his debut novel, “Top Producer.” His characters
have become less cartoonish not as realistic as I would like,
yet convincing enough to make me suspend my disbelief and enjoy
the ride. They arrive in Dickensian quantities, too. There’s Siggi Stefansson, a Reykjavik art dealer with a
craggy face. And Cy’s trophy wife, Bianca Santiago, a best-
selling romance novelist with “latte-cream skin.” Jimmy’s
daddy-in-law, Caleb Digby Phelps III, is a Harvard man (and
Porcellian Club member) who has become a big wheel in New
England business. Alpha Dogs As in “Top Producer,” Vonnegut uses alpha-dog patter to
good effect, as in this warning from LeeWell’s head trader:
“Just remember, Cusack. There are two kinds of people in the
world. The ones who make money.” “And?” “Oxygen thieves.” Vonnegut also displays his penchant for over-the-top
similes. Sometimes this works, as with the trader who, pigging
out a cheeseburger, makes guttural sounds that could be
“mistaken for walrus sex.” Elsewhere, you wish his editor had
taken a firmer hand. Can Jimmy’s wife Emi, a herpetologist,
really “hibernate through heavy metal concerts”? Emi isn’t deaf, though she does suffer from a disorder that
screams “plot point.” She has prosopagnosia, meaning her
ability to recognize faces is impaired. Though the foreshadowing lacks subtlety, the plot keeps you
going. In “Top Producer,” the solution became obvious after a
few chapters. This time around, the biggest piece of the puzzle
remains hidden even as Jimmy hurtles toward the final showdown
in a decrepit BMW belching smoke. “The Gods of Greenwich” is from Minotaur (322 pages,
$24.99). To buy this book in North America , click here . (James Pressley is a book critic for Muse, the arts and
leisure section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are
his own.) To contact the writer on the story:
James Pressley in Brussels at
jpressley@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Mark Beech at mbeech@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Bankrupt Satmex Bonds to Yield Above 10% in Restructuring: Mexico Credit | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/bankrupt-satmex-bonds-to-yield-above-10-in-restructuring-mexico-credit.html
| B y A n d r e s R . M a r t i n e z a n d J o n a t h a n J . L e v i n | Satelites Mexicanos SA may pay the
highest yield on a dollar bond offering by a Mexican company in
almost two years as the satellite operator seeks to emerge from
bankruptcy protection for the second time since 2006. Investors will demand a yield as high as 12 percent on the
overseas bonds, said Roberto Sanchez-Dahl, who oversees $1
billion of emerging-market debt at Federated Investment
Management Co. in Pittsburgh. The yield, which would be the
highest for a Mexican company since Servicios Corporativos Javer
SAPI paid 13 percent in July 2009, compares with average
corporate dollar borrowing costs of 6.29 percent, according to
data compiled by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bloomberg. Satmex, as the Mexico City-based company is known, is
seeking to persuade investors to buy the bonds after its failure
to sell itself to EchoStar Corp. (SATS) and difficulty adding customers
that pushed the company into bankruptcy in April. The company,
which also filed for bankruptcy protection in 2006, plans to
sell $325 million of five-year bonds abroad, according to
Moody’s Investors Service. Similar-maturity dollar notes from
Intelsat Jackson Holding, a Luxembourg-based satellite operator,
yield 8.17 percent. “The short-term problems can be reduced, but the operating
outlook continues to be a problem and there are too many
unresolved questions,” Sanchez-Dahl said in a telephone
interview. “A yield that compensates investors for all their
risk is negative for the company.” 9% - 9.5% Satmex is seeking a yield of 9 percent to 9.5 percent, said
a person familiar with the terms of the sale who asked not to be
named because the discussions are private. The company plans to
use proceeds to repay creditors as part of a U.S. bankruptcy
court-approved restructuring plan and to launch a new satellite. The company’s 10.125 percent dollar bonds due in 2013 fell
1 cent on the dollar to 49 cents when it last traded on April
13, according to Bloomberg data. The bonds have returned 24
percent this year. The Mexican government sold its stake in Satmex earlier
this year and said it may hire Boeing Co. (BA) , Loral Space &
Communications Inc. or Thales SA to build two satellites for its
new space agency. Satmex sells video and data transmission
capacity to phone and Internet companies and satellite network
capacity to government security agencies. Satmex may struggle to generate cash to boost solvency
after customers migrated to competitors, said Jose Otero, an
analyst at Signals Telecom Consulting in Montevideo, Uruguay. Annual Profits “All they have left of value are the orbits, and if they
don’t meet their obligations, they could lose them too,” Otero
said in a telephone interview, referring to the company’s
license to position its satellites. “If you don’t use your
orbits, it’s easy for them to take them away.” Satmex Chief Financial Officer Luis Stein was traveling
yesterday and couldn’t be reached for comment. Chief Executive
Officer Patricio Northland didn’t return a phone message left
with an assistant. Satmex has failed to turn an annual profit since emerging
from bankruptcy in 2006, hampered by an inability to boost sales
enough to cover its interest expenses. Creditors approved the company’s debt sale and an equity
offering of the reorganized equity of about $96.25 million as
part of the pre-approved restructuring. Satmex also filed bankruptcy in August 2006 in New York and
exited that December after it won approval from the court to
repay creditors that were owed about $743 million with new debt
and equity. The extra yield investors demand to own Mexican government
dollar bonds instead of U.S. Treasuries narrowed 2 basis points
today to 138, according to JPMorgan. Ratings Outlook The cost to protect Mexican debt against non-payment for
five years fell 1 basis point to 102, according to CMA. Credit-
default swaps pay the buyer face value in exchange for the
underlying securities or cash equivalent if the issuer fails to
comply with debt agreements. The peso rose 0.6 percent to 11.6792 per U.S. dollar at 5
p.m. New York time. Yields on the interbank rate futures contract due in
September rose 2 basis points to 5.03 percent, indicating
traders expect a rate increase that month. In the past five
years, the gap between the 28-day TIIE and the overnight rate
has averaged 36 basis points. The central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged
at a record low of 4.5 percent on April 15. Moody’s may boost Satmex’s credit ratings if the company
gains new customers amid rising demand for satellite services,
according to analyst Nymia Almeida. Satmex is rated B3, six
levels below investment grade. Chapter 11 “The demand is there for satellites,” Almeida said in a
telephone interview from Mexico City. “If everything goes well
in the next two or three years, there could even be a possible
upgrade.” Satmex has $441.6 million in assets and $531.6 million of
debt as of March 23, according to Chapter 11 documents filed in
U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware . The company will
use proceeds of the bond sale to repay first-priority note
holders, who have $238.2 million in debt, and fund completion of
a satellite set to launch in 2012. “Right now they can’t generate enough revenue or Ebitda to
cover this,” Federated Investment’s Sanchez-Dahl said. “We got
out of the bonds because the situation is just too
complicated.” To contact the reporters on this story:
Andres R. Martinez in Mexico City at
amartinez28@bloomberg.net ;
Jonathan J. Levin in Mexico City at
jlevin20@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Papadopoulos at
papadopoulos@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Ukraine Raises $790 Million to Seal Chernobyl, Below Its $1 Billion Target | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/ukraine-raises-820-million-to-seal-chernobyl-below-its-1-billion-target.html
| B y J a m e s M . G o m e z a n d K a t e r y n a C h o u r s i n a | Ukraine failed to raise the $1
billion to seal Chernobyl , the site of the world’s worst nuclear
disaster, as budget concerns and the accident at Fukushima in
Japan caused some governments to balk at further spending. The former Soviet republic, which hosted a donor conference
in Kiev today, raised about 550 million euros ($790 million)
from countries including the U.S., the U.K., France, Russia and
Germany , the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
said today in Kiev. Japan declined to offer a donation, as did
Spain, Italy and Saudi Arabia. Japan’s battle to contain leaks at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi
plant reignited the debate about nuclear safety 25 years after
Chernobyl’s No. 4 reactor exploded and spewed radiation across
Europe . Even so, cash-strapped governments, still recovering
from the global crisis, were wary of new expenditures to make
Chernobyl safe, President Viktor Yanukovych said. “We all realize the resources are far beyond the limits
that any individual country can potentially provide,”
Yanukovych told reporters today. The conference was held as part
of commemorations for the accident on April 26, 1986. “Without
overstating, the successful solution to Chernobyl’s problems has
a global dimension,” he said. EBRD, EU Pledges Of the sum pledged today, the European Commission promised
110 million euros and the EBRD pledged at least 120 million
euros. The EBRD and the commission will work to get more
funding, European Commission President Jose Barroso said. “Chernobyl is a stark reminder that nuclear risks do not
stop at our borders,” Barroso said. “Our responsibility and
solidarity should not stop at our borders either.” Barroso said he hopes to other countries will donate later
on. Italy , Brazil , Bulgaria, Canada and Mexico may announce
donations at another time, Yanukovych said. The U.S. delegation, led by Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former
national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter , donated
$123 million, the most by any one country. Brzezinski said
nations need to work together to help improve nuclear safety in
Ukraine and “stands shoulder to shoulder” with Japan. “Twenty-five years after that terrible day, the U.S., in
concert with our G-8 partners and the international community,
remains committed to helping the Ukrainian people clean up
Chernobyl,” Brzezinski said. Measure of Cooperation The outcome of the conference will be a measure of
willingness to improve safety and keep the accidents in Ukraine
and Japan under control, Vince Novak, the EBRD’s director of
nuclear safety, said in an interview before the event. The
London-based EBRD is the broker for the fundraising effort. Tokyo Electric Power Co. is the operator of the Fukushima
plant, which was damaged by the March earthquake and tsunami.
Workers are still struggling to contain radiation at Fukushima
and prevent further damage to the plant’s four reactors. The 1986 meltdown killed at least 31 plant workers and
firefighters in three months and forced the evacuation of a
quarter of a million people. The Chernobyl project involves a 105-meter high arched roof
that, once assembled on a field next to the damaged reactor,
will be rolled into place and sealed for 100 years. After that,
workers will be able to dismantle the old structure from inside
the protective cowl. Novarka, a joint venture of units of French
engineering companies Vinci SA (DG) and Bouygues SA (EN) , has already
begun work on pouring the concrete base. Makeshift Sarcophagus The new shelter can proceed because it won’t be completed
until 2015 and the Ukrainian government has three years to find
the remainder of the financing, Novak said. The current concrete-and-steel cover was built in a rush as
emergency personnel scrambled to clean up deadly radioactive
debris that killed the adjacent forest and forced dozens of
villages in the area to be abandoned forever. The western wall
started collapsing, requiring Chernobyl workers to erect two
scaffolding towers in 2008 to prop the unstable structure. To contact the reporters on this story
James M. Gomez in Prague at
jagomez@bloomberg.net
Daryna Krasnolutska in Kiev at
dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Hellmuth Tromm at htromm@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Russian Sugar-Beet Sowing Plunges 49% on Rainfall, IKAR Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/russian-sugar-beet-sowing-plunges-49-on-rainfall-ikar-says.html
| B y M a r i n a S y s o y e v a | Russia sugar-beet planting fell 49
percent from a year earlier after rainfall complicated sowing in
2011, the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies said. Beets were planted on 194,700 hectares (481,114 acres) as
of yesterday, IKAR, as the Moscow-based institute is known, said
in an e-mailed statement today. That compares with 378,700
hectares as of April 18, 2010, it said, citing data from
Russia’s Sugar Producers’ Union. To contact the reporter on this story:
Marina Sysoyeva in Moscow
msysoyeva@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Claudia Carpenter at
ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | UN Aid Arrives in Western Libya After Accord With Regime | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/un-food-aid-arrives-in-western-libya-after-accord-with-regime.html
| B y B i l l V a r n e r | The World Food Program has moved
wheat, flour and other food aid into western Libya for the first
time since conflict erupted in the nation in February. The Rome-based United Nations agency said eight trucks
crossed into Libya from Tunisia yesterday and that the Libyan
Red Crescent would deliver the supplies to the “crisis-affected
population, particularly women and children,” in Tripoli,
Zintan, Yefrin, Nalut, Mezda, Al Reiba and Al Zawia. The trucks carried enough food to feed 50,000 people for 30
days, the WFP said today. The opening of what the agency called a “humanitarian
corridor” into western Libya was made possible by the agreement
on April 17 between the UN and the regime of Muammar Qaddafi to
allow access to Tripoli and other areas under government
control. “Securing this humanitarian corridor is a first vital step
in reaching thousands of hungry people affected by the conflict,
in particular women, children and elderly people, whose food
supplies are running alarmingly short,” WFP Executive Director
Josette Sheeran said in a statement. Unicef, the UN Children’s Fund, said a ship carrying first
aid kits, drinking water and hygiene material for up to 25,000
people would arrive in Misrata tomorrow. “Fifty days into the fighting in Misrata, the full picture
of the toll on children was emerging,” the UN said in a summary
of a briefing to reporters in Geneva. “It was far worse than
Unicef had feared and certain to get worse unless there was a
cease-fire.” The World Health Organization said Misrata Hospital was
“overwhelmed” with patients needing emergency surgery and that
120 require immediate evacuation. To contact the reporter on this story:
Bill Varner at the United Nations at
wvarner@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Mark Silva in Washington at
msilva34@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Toyota Extends N. American, China Output Cuts to June | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/toyota-plans-to-adjust-production-in-may-due-to-parts-available.html
| B y A l a n O h n s m a n a n d B i l l K o e n i g | (Corrects the date of production in fourth paragraph of
story originally published on April 20.) Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) , the world’s
largest automaker, extended production cuts at its North
American and Chinese plants because of a shortage of parts after
Japan’s record earthquake and tsunami last month. The company’s North American unit said today that plants in
the region will continue to be closed on Mondays and Fridays and
run at 50 percent on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays through
June 3. Toyota will also shut U.S. plants for one week starting
May 30 and in Canada from May 23. In China , the utilization rate
at factories will generally be 50 percent of normal levels and
may fall as low as 30 percent from April 21 to June 3, it said
in a statement. “This is not going to be over soon,” said Jesse Toprak ,
an analyst for Truecar.com, an automotive pricing and data
website based in Santa Monica , California. “The impact of
reduced production could mean that Toyota’s sales in the U.S.
are impacted as much as 10 percent this year.” Toyota lost production of 150,000 units in North America
and 80,000 units in China from March 11 to June 3, said Paul Nolasco , a spokesman for the carmaker. In 2010, Toyota made
1,458,000 units at its plants in North America and 770,000 in
China. Toyota, Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. are working to
restore full plant operations in Japan and at factories abroad
that are running short of parts. Toyota estimates it lost
production of 260,000 units in Japan from March 14 to April 8
and 35,000 units of North American auto production this month
due to quake-related shutdowns. Shares in Toyota rose 1.4 percent to 3,170 yen in Tokyo.
The stock has dropped 12 percent since the March 11 temblor. ‘Plant Improvement’ Employees at Toyota’s North American plants won’t be laid
off because of the production cutbacks, the company said.
Workers will use the “non-production time for training and
plant-improvement activities,” Toyota said. “We are trying to continue production as much as possible
and keep our workforce intact in order to facilitate a smooth
transition back to full production when all parts are
available,” Steve St. Angelo, executive vice president for
North American production, said in a statement today. Toyota, which canceled five days of North American output,
from April 15 through April 25, said its production plans after
June 3 will be decided later. The company’s U.S. sales unit is
based in Torrance, California . “No one knows how long production will remain at about 30
to 40 percent of the usual level,” said Koji Endo , an analyst
at Advanced Research Japan in Tokyo. “Customers who are not
willing to wait for Japanese vehicles may switch to buying
American, Korean and European cars instead.” To contact the reporters on this story:
Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at
aohnsman@bloomberg.net ;
Bill Koenig in Detroit at
wkoenig@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Kae Inoue at
kinoue@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Tesco to Create 24,000 Jobs Globally This Year, CEO Tells Sky | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/tesco-to-create-24-000-jobs-globally-this-year-ceo-tells-sky.html
| B y B l a n c h e G a t t | Tesco Plc (TSCO) Chief Executive Officer
Philip Clarke told Sky News in an interview he expects the
retailer will create 24,000 jobs globally this year, about one-
third of which will be in the U.K. The U.K. jobs will be created across the company’s
operations in the country, Clarke said, adding that 8,000 is a
realistic prediction because it includes “banking services,
online businesses and our stores, and we’re opening new stores
that will create new jobs.” To contact the reporter on this story:
Blanche Gatt in London at
bgatt@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Colin Keatinge at
ckeatinge@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Disney to Supply Films for Lovefilm Online Service in U.K. | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/disney-to-supply-films-for-lovefilm-online-service-in-u-k-.html
| B y R o n a l d G r o v e r | Walt Disney Co. (DIS) agreed to supply
films online to U.K. customers of Lovefilm, the Amazon.com Inc (AMZN) .-
owned company that operates a subscription-based movie-rental
service in Europe . Lovefilm will add more than 50 Disney titles including
“Bedknobs and Broomsticks” and “Dead Poets Society” to
movies it offers online to U.K. subscribers paying 5.99 pounds
($9.74) and up per month, according to a statement today. The
company, which claims 1.6 million customers, also offers DVDs by
mail, like Netflix Inc. (NFLX) in the U.S., as well as video games. The Disney agreement also provides Lovefilm with newer
movies like “Tron: Legacy” to offer for a pay-per-view fee,
the company said. Seattle-based Amazon, which acquired Lovefilm
in January, started a U.S. service to compete with Netflix in
February with 5,000 movies and TV shows. The subscription
service is an add-on to Amazon Instant Video, which offers more
than 90,000 movies and TV shows to buy or rent. Lovefilm’s U.K. subscribers pay as much as 19.39 pounds a
month for unlimited mail and streaming viewing of films, TV
shows and games. The company also operates in Germany, Sweden,
Denmark and Norway. Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, fell $1.67 to
$178.34 yesterday in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares
have lost less than 1 percent this year. Disney, based in
Burbank, California, declined 32 cents to $41.20 on the New York
Stock Exchange and has added 9.8 percent in 2011. To contact the reporter on this story:
Ronald Grover in Los Angeles at
rgrover5@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Anthony Palazzo at
apalazzo@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Vale Names Government Official to Board After CEO Ouster | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/vale-names-government-official-to-board-after-ceo-ouster-1-.html
| B y J u a n P a b l o S p i n e t t o | Vale SA (VALE5) , the world’s largest iron-
ore producer, named Brazil’s Deputy Finance Minister Nelson Barbosa as a member of its board after announcing earlier this
month the replacement of its chief executive officer. Barbosa, 41, will be one of four new members joining Vale ’s
board, the Rio de Janeiro-based company said in a regulatory
filing after a shareholders meeting today. Seven other board
members had their mandates renewed until 2013, Vale said. The announcement comes two weeks after Murilo Ferreira was
nominated to replace Chief Executive Officer Roger Agnelli
following two years of government calls for the company to
invest more in domestic steel output and fertilizers. Ferreira,
who was president of Vale’s Canadian operations until 2008, will
take over May 22 after Angelli’s mandate expires, Vale said
April 4. Barbosa, an economist trained at the New School for Social
Research in New York , occupied several positions at Brazil’s
Finance Ministry since 2006 until being named deputy finance
minister by President Dilma Rousseff . Barbosa is also chairman
of state-controlled Banco do Brasil, Latin America’s biggest
bank by assets, and a director at insurance company
Brasilveiculos Cia de Seguros SA, according to an earlier
regulatory filing by Vale. Vale gained 53 centavos, or 1.2 percent, to 45.73 reais in
Sao Paulo trading today. Before today, Vale shares lost 6.8
since since the start of the year, more than the 5.6 percent
decline for the benchmark Bovespa index. To contact the reporter on this story:
Juan Pablo Spinetto in Rio De Janeiro at
jspinetto@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dale Crofts at
dcrofts@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Deutsche Bahn Aims for Four-Fold Growth in Five Years, FT Says | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/deutsche-bahn-aims-for-four-fold-growth-in-five-years-ft-says.html
| B y B l a n c h e G a t t | Deutsche Bahn AG, which bought
Arriva Plc for 1.5 billion pounds a year ago, may spend 2
billion pounds ($3.3 billion) on acquisitions and contracts in
the next three years and aims to grow to “three or four times”
its present size in five years, the Financial Times reported,
citing Arriva Chief Executive Officer David Martin . The group may be interested in bidding for five U.K. rail
franchises in the next 18 months, including the state-owned East
Coast service, as well as for contracts in Europe and the Middle
East, the FT said, citing Martin, who is responsible for the
combined group’s expansion outside Germany. To contact the reporter on this story:
Blanche Gatt in London at
bgatt@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Colin Keatinge at
ckeatinge@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Poker ‘World Series’ to Air in July as Scheduled After Sponsors Indicted | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/poker-world-series-to-air-in-july-after-sponsors-indicted.html
| B y A n d y F i x m e r | The “ World Series of Poker ” on
ESPN and “World Poker Tour” on Fox Sports Net will air as
scheduled following the indictments of gambling websites that
spent almost $27 million on TV ads last year. Walt Disney Co. (DIS) ’s ESPN will carry the “World Series of
Poker” in July, Chris LaPlaca, a spokesman, said today in an e-
mail. The network pre-empted last night’s “North American Poker
Tour Presented by PokerStars.net.” News Corp.’s Fox Sports Net
has pulled PokerStars.net ads from “World Poker Tour,” said
Lou D’Ermilio, a New York-based spokesman. “There is no direct sponsorship connection between the
indicted websites and ‘World Poker Tour,’” D'Ermilio said in an
e-mail. “But PokerStars had purchased advertising time, which
has been pulled as a result of the indictments. At present we
have no plans to change policy as it relates to promotional
clothing players choose to wear.” ESPN, based in Bristol, Connecticut , won’t air the 10 hours
of “PokerStars,” the network said. FullTiltPoker.net and
PokerStars.net, two sites charged with fraud and money-
laundering by the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, spent $26.8
million in 2010 on TV advertising, researcher Kantar Media said.
PokerStars spent another $8.3 million on Web and magazine ads. Many of poker’s best-known players have endorsement
agreements with the indicted companies. They don hats and shirts
displaying the logos on the programs to promote the websites. Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) ’s NBC airs the “ National Heads Up
Championship ” and “Poker After Dark,” while the Game Show
Network, owned by DirecTV (DTV) and Sony Corp. (6758) , broadcasts “ High
Stakes Poker .” ‘High Stakes Poker’ Chris McCloskey, a spokesman for NBC Sports in New York ,
didn’t respond to requests for comment. Sean Jennings, a
spokesman for Santa Monica , California-based Game Show Network,
couldn’t comment. The seventh season of “High Stakes Poker,”
hosted by comedian Norm MacDonald, started Feb. 26, the channel
said on its website . Disney, based in Burbank , California , gained 15 cents to
$41.35 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite
trading. The shares have climbed 10 percent this year. News
Corp. (NWSA) , located in New York, fell 11 cents to $16.88 in Nasdaq
Stock Market trading and the Class A stock has increased 16
percent this year. Caesars Entertainment Corp., the closely held casino
company, owns the World Series of Poker. The U.S. froze bank accounts in 14 countries and seized
websites, sidelining PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker major
sponsors of televised tournaments. ESPN, NBC, Fox Sports and the
Game Show Network have made poker a TV staple, with 47 programs,
including reruns, scheduled this week, Cardplayer.com said. U.S. Indictments U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan announced on April
15 a revised indictment against the founders of PokerStars, Full
Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker. PokerStars , based on the Isle of
Man, Ireland’s Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker of Costa Rica
are the leading online poker sites doing business with U.S.
customers, according to prosecutors. Five sites displayed
notices yesterday that the FBI had seized the domain names. The indictment names two principals from each company and
others who allegedly worked with them to illegally process
payments. Five domains were seized, according to Carly Sullivan,
a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan . They are:
Pokerstars.com, Fulltiltpoker.com, Absolutepoker.com,
Ultimatebet.com and UB.com. About 76 bank accounts have been frozen, preventing players
from accessing balances held by the online betting companies,
said Kelly Langmesser , an FBI spokeswoman in New York. Out in the Cold T.C. Sun, 27, who works for Princess Cruises in Valencia ,
California, was among the players who couldn’t get his money
from PokerStars.net last weekend. “When I first heard about black Friday, I wasn’t too
worried about it, and then on Saturday night I tried to withdraw
my funds,” Sun said in an interview. “It let me process the
withdrawal. Right now it shows I have zero money in my account,
but I’m checking my bank account daily to see if it comes
through. As of last night, no it has not.” Players who use the sites can’t be prosecuted under federal
law and U.S. states that have laws against making bets rarely
use them against “mere customers,” said I. Nelson Rose, an
Encino, California-based consultant to governments and industry
on gambling laws. “I’d say there’s probably a better chance that they’ll win
the World Series of Poker than that they will be arrested,”
Rose, who doesn’t work for any of the companies named in the
indictment, said today in a phone interview. The case is U.S. v. Scheinberg, 10-cr00336, U.S. District
Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). To contact the reporter on this story:
Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at
afixmer@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Anthony Palazzo at
apalazzo@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Exxon Joliet, Illinois, Refinery Has Catalytic Cracker Upset | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/exxon-reports-unit-goes-offline-at-joliet-refinery.html
| B y A a r o n C l a r k | Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) reported that a
fluid catalytic cracker at its Joliet refinery in Illinois had
an upset yesterday. A mechanical failure caused the unit to trip, according to
a filing with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. Workers
were investigating what caused the incident at the time of the
filing, late yesterday. Kevin Allexon, an Exxon spokesman, said in an e-mail that
in a filing to the National Response Center the company
identified the unit as a fluid catalytic cracker and that the
unit was involved in an operational upset. “There is no impact
on production,” he said. The discount for conventional, 87-octane gasoline in
Chicago narrowed 1.5 cents to 3.75 cents a gallon versus futures
traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:50 p.m.,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Prompt delivery fell
1.39 cents to $3.1864 a gallon. The 248,000-barrel-a-day refinery processes Canadian crude
delivered by pipeline by Enbridge Energy Partners LP. The
refinery produces gasoline, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas and
asphalt among other products, according to Exxon Mobil. The Joliet refinery is 42 miles (68 kilometers) southwest
of Chicago on the Des Plaines River. To contact the reporter on this story:
Aaron Clark in New York at
aclark27@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Japan Voices Support for Treasuries After S&P Cuts U.S.'s Credit Outlook | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/japan-voices-support-for-treasuries-after-s-p-cuts-u-s-s-credit-outlook.html
| B y T o r u F u j i o k a a n d M a y u m i O t s u m a | Japanese policy makers signaled
their commitment to holding Treasuries after Standard & Poor’s
lowered its outlook for the U.S.’s AAA credit rating to
“negative” for the first time yesterday. “We continue to see U.S. debt as an attractive
investment,” Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said at a press
conference in Tokyo today. Treasuries would still be “extremely
good-quality securities” even if the grade was lowered,
Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Kaoru Yosano said. Japan is the world’s second-largest holder of U.S.
Treasuries after China , with $890.3 billion investment as of
February, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. S&P yesterday
said the outlook change indicates that there’s a one-in-three
chance that the rating might be cut within two years. The Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average slid 1.5 percent to 9,417.28
as of 12:39 p.m. in Tokyo , and the yen rose against the dollar
as investors flocked to safer assets after the S&P announcement.
Japan’s currency traded at 82.50 per dollar. Japan, which has the largest debt burden in the
industrialized world, had its own sovereign rating lowered to
AA- by S&P in January. It lost the AAA grade in 2001. Debt constraints in the aftermath of a record March 11
earthquake prompted Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano to
signal today the government may consider raising taxes to pay
for rebuilding efforts. ‘Including’ Taxes The ruling Democratic Party of Japan “is considering
various measures including this,” Edano told reporters today in
Tokyo. “The government hasn’t reached the stage where we’re
considering specific means for revenue.” Prime Minister Naoto Kan may raise the 5 percent
consumption tax to 8 percent for three years starting in 2012 to
help finance rebuilding, the Yomiuri newspaper reported today,
without citing anyone. When asked about a possible tax increase,
Noda said the government is focusing on rolling out its first
stimulus package by the end of this month. Between 58 percent and 69 percent of voters favor higher
taxes to help pay for reconstruction, according to polls
released yesterday by the Nikkei, Asahi and Mainichi newspapers.
Asked how Japan should finance the effort, 38 percent said tax
increases, 13 percent chose bond sales, and 31 percent said a
combination of both, according to the Nikkei. To contact the reporter on this story:
Toru Fujioka in Tokyo at
tfujioka1@bloomberg.net ;
Mayumi Otsuma in Tokyo at
motsuma@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Paul Panckhurst at
ppanckhurst@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Pirelli, Premuda, Pop. Milano, UniCredit: Italian Equity Preview | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/pirelli-premuda-popolare-milano-italian-equity-preview.html
| B y M a r c o B e r t a c c h e a n d F r a n c e s c a C i n e l l i | The following companies may be
active in Italian trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses and
share prices are from the previous close. Italy ’s benchmark FTSE MIB Index (FTSEMIB) dropped 636.59, or 2.9
percent, to 21,184.67 in Milan. Amplifon SpA (AMP) : The world’s largest hearing-aid
distributor had its price estimate increased to 4.5 euros from
4.4 euros at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The shares dropped 2.7
percent to 3.98 euros. Banca Popolare di Milano Scarl (PMI) : The country’s
oldest cooperative bank plans to hold a board meeting to
evaluate a possible share sale. Citigroup Inc. said in a note it cannot rule out the
possibility that other Italian banks may raise capital. The
brokerage calculates a possible capital need for the other banks
of up to 10 billion euros ($14.2 billion) about 8.5 billion
euros for UniCredit SpA (UCG) , about 600 million euros for
Popolare di Milano and about 500 million euros for Banco
Popolare SC (BP) in a worst-case scenario. UniCredit does not need to raise capital to prepare for
bank stress tests and still plans to sell some assets, Chief
Executive Officer Federico Ghizzoni said in an interview with
newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. Popolare di Milano fell 4.5 percent to 2.53 euros.
UniCredit dropped 4.2 percent to 1.64 euros. Banco Popolare slid
4.8 percent to 1.96 euros. Dada SpA (DA) : Dada said in a statement today that it
agreed to sell its Dada.Net unit to Buongiorno SpA for 28.5
million euros. The shares lost 2.8 percent to 3.91 euros. Enel Green Power SpA (EGPW) : The operator of facilities
that generate electricity from renewable resources is developing
a plant for solar-energy panels in Catania, Italy, Chief
Executive Officer Francesco Starace said. The shares lost 3.9
percent to 1.94 euros. Fiat SpA (F) : European new-car registrations fell 4.7
percent in March to 1.6 million vehicles, the ACEA industry
group said in an e-mailed statement today. The shares lost 2.6
percent to 6.18 euros. Pirelli & C. SpA (PC IM): Chairman Marco Tronchetti
Provera is scheduled to speak in Parliament. The stock retreated
1.9 percent to 6.36 euros. Premuda SpA (PR) : The shipping company reported 2010 net
income of 10.7 million euros compared with a loss a year
earlier. The company proposed a dividend of 3 euro cents for
ordinary shares. The stock was unchanged at 70.8 cents. Yoox SpA (YOOX) : Goldman Sachs lifted its price estimate
on the Italian online retailer to 15 euros from 12.5 euros. The
shares fell 0.7 percent to 10.81 euros. To contact the reporters on this story:
Marco Bertacche in Milan at
mbertacche@bloomberg.net .
Francesca Cinelli in Milan at
fcinelli@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Angela Cullen at acullen8@bloomberg.net
Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | South African Central Bank Watching for Second-Round Inflationary Effects | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/south-african-central-bank-watching-for-second-round-inflationary-effects.html
| B y G o r d o n B e l l | South Africa ’s central bank will
watch for second-round inflationary pressures with food and
administered prices remaining “significant upside risks” to
the outlook, Deputy Governor Daniel Mminele said. While food prices are relatively low due to good corn
harvests and exchange rate developments, recent data show an
“accelerating trend” at both producer and consumer levels,
Mminele said in a speech in Washington on April 16 and published
on the Pretoria-based South African Reserve Bank’s website. “While the risks to the inflation outlook are tilted to
the upside, they are predominantly of a cost-push nature, but
need to be monitored very closely for any second-round
effects,” he said. The central bank kept its benchmark rate at 5.5 percent for
a second consecutive meeting in March as rising food and oil
prices led to an increase in estimated inflation for the next
two years. The consumer rate is expected to stay within the
bank’s 3 percent to 6 percent target for the bank’s forecast
period. Inflation was unchanged at 3.7 percent in February. The economic recovery in Africa ’s biggest economy is
progressing and indicators show output is expected to rise,
Mminele said. Growth is still insufficient to “meaningfully
address unemployment” and consumption spending is unlikely to
accelerate to “excessive levels.” The economy is expected to expand 3.7 percent this year and
3.9 percent in 2012, he said. Capital Inflows South Africa studied measures imposed by other emerging-
market economies to limit capital inflows that boosted their
currencies, and it is doubtful that they would be appropriate
for South Africa, given a low savings level and dependence on
inflows to finance the current account, Mminele said. The rand’s 37 percent gain against the dollar since the
beginning of 2009, the third-biggest advance among 16 major
currencies, helped contain imported price increases. The
currency has lost 3.2 percent against the U.S. currency this
year, trading at 6.8505 by 8:51 a.m. in Johannesburg. To contact the reporter on this story:
Gordon Bell in Johannesburg at
gbell16@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Shaji Mathew at
shajimathew@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Colombia Stocks: BVC, Ecopetrol, Rubiales Rise; Coltejer Drops | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/colombia-stocks-bvc-ecopetrol-rubiales-rise-coltejer-drops.html
| B y B l a k e S c h m i d t | The following companies are having
unusual price changes in Bogota trading. Stock symbols are in
parentheses and prices are as of 4 p.m. New York time. The IGBC Index rose 0.8 percent to 14,052.65, while the
Colcap Index gained 0.5 percent to 1,661.23, its biggest gain in
two weeks. Bolsa de Valores de Colombia (BVC) SA, the operator of
the country’s main securities exchange, rose 0.8 percent to 40
pesos. Colombia’s Finance Minister Juan Carlos Echeverry said in
an interview yesterday that a victory by Peruvian presidential
candidate Ollanta Humala is unlikely to threaten Colombian
assets or a planned merger of the two nations’ stock exchanges. Coltejer SA (COLTEJ) , the Medellin-based clothing maker
and exporter, fell 1.2 percent to 86 centavos as Colombia’s peso
climbed to an almost three-year high on increased foreign direct
investment flows, reducing revenue for exporters. Ecopetrol SA (ECOPETL CB) and Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp (PRE)
, the two most weighted stocks on the Colombian bourse,
gained as 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. Ecopetrol, Colombia’s largest oil producer, rose 1.8
percent to 3,670 pesos, its largest increase in three weeks.
Pacific Rubiales, the Toronto-based oil company with fields in
Colombia, rose 2.1 percent to 52,440 pesos, its biggest jump in
two weeks. To contact the reporter on this story:
Blake Schmidt in Bogota at
bschmidt16@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Papadopoulos at
papadopoulos@bloomberg.net | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | Google Shares' Downward Momentum Takes Time to Run Out: Chart of the Day | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/google-downward-momentum-takes-time-to-run-out-chart-of-the-day.html
| B y W h i t n e y K i s l i n g | The slide in Google Inc. (GOOG) that began
after it reported first-quarter earnings may not end until the
middle of next month, if history is any guide. The CHART OF THE DAY shows the average decline in Google’s
shares starting two days after a profit report is 8.2 percent
over 30 days, and it’s another 44 days before it climbs back to
the old level, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and
Birinyi Associates Inc. Birinyi tracked instances when Google
fell the day after releasing results. “Buying right after that initial fall, at least
historically, hasn’t been the best entry point,” said Kevin
Pleines, an analyst at Birinyi, who conducted the study. “When
the market reacts negatively to its earnings, it generally
continues down a bit.” Google’s price-to-earnings ratio has averaged 45.9 since
its initial public offering in August 2004, compared with 16.6
for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, data compiled by Bloomberg
show. The owner of the most-used Internet search engine fell 8.3
percent on April 15, the first session after Google posted
earnings that missed the average analyst estimate on the biggest
jump in operating expenses in three years. Google’s stock declined 0.7 percent to $526.84 yesterday in
New York . The shares would fall to about $487 next month,
according to Birinyi’s average. The analysis was based on the
average of 10 periods when the stock fell after earnings. To contact the reporter on this story:
Whitney Kisling in New York at
wkisling@bloomberg.net ; To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Nick Baker at nbaker7@bloomberg.net . | ||||||
2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC | SKF Posts Record Profit as Industries Recover Globally | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/skf-posts-record-profit-as-industries-recover-globally-1-.html
| B y O l a K i n n a n d e r | SKF AB (SKFB) , the world’s largest maker
of ball bearings, reported record quarterly profit that beat
analysts’ estimates as sales to industries in all regions grew. SKF rose as much as 6.1 percent, the biggest jump in six
months. First-quarter net income rose to 1.57 billion kronor
($249 million), or 3.44 kronor per share, from 1.03 billion
kronor, or 2.27 kronor a year ago, Gothenburg, Sweden-based SKF
said in a statement today. Profit beat the 1.43 billion-krona
average estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 17 analysts. “It’s a good set of numbers,” said Michael Hagmann, an
analyst at Nomura International in London . “Volume was much
better than expected, compensating for slightly worse currency
impact.” Hagmann has a “reduce” rating on the stock. SKF is considered an industry bellwether because its
bearings are used in products such as construction cranes and
cars. The company has rebounded from a slump that started in
2008 and forced it to cut 6,500 jobs. SKF is the first major
Nordic manufacturer to report earnings, and today’s report
lifted shares of companies from Atlas Copco AB (ATCOA) to Sandvik AB. (SAND) SKF rose as much as 10.7 kronor to 186.3 kronor, and traded
at 185.1 kronor as of 9:47 a.m. in Stockholm. Atlas Copco, the
world’s largest maker air compressors, rose as much as 4.1
percent, while Sandvik, the biggest maker of metal-cutting
tools, gained as much as 4 percent. Sales climbed 16 percent to 16.7 billion kronor in the
quarter. The ball-bearing maker said demand and supply weren’t
affected by last month’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan . Sales
to the car industry may decline in the second quarter due to the
quake, the company said today. SKF “had a strong start to the year with records in sales,
operating profit and operating margin and a good cash flow ,”
Chief Executive Officer Tom Johnstone said in the release. “We
saw a very positive sales development in all regions and
divisions with a similar demand pattern as at the end of last
year.” In November, the company said it planned to hire about
1,000 additional employees a year in Asia , boosting its ranks of
engineers and sales people. To contact the reporter on this story:
Ola Kinnander in Stockholm at
okinnander@bloomberg.net . To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net |
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