Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Banker-Pay Guidelines May Put Citigroup, Bank of America at Disadvantage Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and smaller banks seeking to attract talent and regain ground on stronger peers may face a new obstacle from the global push to rein in executive pay.


• Chinese 103-Year-Old Wall Street Emigrant Expecting Communism to Fade Away Zhou Youguang was a child of 6 when a revolution toppled China’s last emperor in 1912. He was 43 when he says he left a Wall Street banker’s job to help Mao Zedong’s Communists create what he thought would be a democracy after decades of warlord rule, occupation and civil war.


• Egyptian Swine-Flu Slaughter Leaves Cairo Without Pigs to Devour Garbage Egypt’s pigs are getting their revenge.


• PAI's `Coup d'Etat' Shows Buyout Firms' Feuds Over Power, Money, Strategy Dominique Megret, chief executive officer of PAI Partners, France’s biggest private-equity firm, was in his office, a 10-minute walk from Paris’s Louvre museum, on July 21 when there was a knock on the door.


• Sigurdardottir Says Iceland Wanted More European Union Support in Crisis Iceland’s economic woes can “in part” be blamed on the European Union’s lack of support as the island struggled to stay afloat following the collapse of its banks a year ago, Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir said.


• Finding a Job May Be Getting Easier Than It Looks: Chart of the Day Employment in the U.S. is rebounding at a “significantly faster” pace than seasonally adjusted data on jobless claims would suggest, according to Oscar Gruss & Son Inc.


• Microsoft Says Ford, Continental, Starwood, Intel to Upgrade to Windows 7 Microsoft Corp. said Ford Motor Co., Continental Airlines Inc., Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. and Intel Corp. will help introduce its Windows 7 operating system by upgrading to the new program.


• China, Korea `Good Fight' for Shipyards May Cause Glut, Damp Freight Rates China and South Korea’s support for shipbuilders may add to a glut of capacity, slowing a recovery in freight rates and vessel prices.


• Brown Slumps to Third in U.K. Poll as Timetable Points to May 6 Election Gordon Brown pledged to wrest power from Britain’s banks and give the state a greater role in financing business, part of the Labour government’s effort to bolster its popularity after the recession and credit crisis.

Bloomberg News 30th September 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Unemployment Confronts Obama Rhetoric With Threatened Chronic Joblessness Full employment ain’t what it used to be.


• Unilever's First Outsider Taps P&G Playbook as Sara Lee Heralds Purchases Unilever’s Paul Polman, who helped build Nestle SA and Procter & Gamble Co. with acquisitions, is taking a page from his old playbooks in his new job.


• State Housing Agencies Said Slated to Get U.S. Treasury Help for Borrowers State housing agencies in the U.S. that provide mortgages to low-income borrowers would get as much as $35 billion in federal aid under a new U.S. Treasury Department program, people familiar with the matter said.


• Smartest Currency Traders Juggle Krone, Krona, Kiwi in Central Banking Bet Just as the Group of 20 warns against ending stimulus efforts, investors are betting interest- rate increases from Oslo to Stockholm to Wellington will provide the biggest boost to this quarter’s strongest currencies.


• CVS, Medco Profits May Narrow on $10 Billion U.S. Contract Facing Overhaul CVS Caremark Corp. and Medco Health Systems Inc. may generate less profit from a shared $10 billion contract for federal-employee drug benefits after a study found the plan costs more than other government prescription programs.


• China's $586 Billion Stimulus May Prompt Local Overheating, HSBC's Qu Says China’s government stimulus may risk overheating some parts of the economy as local authorities rush to expand fixed-asset investment, said Qu Hongbin, chief China economist at HSBC Holdings Plc in Hong Kong.


• Nikon Earnings From Cameras Likely to Beat Forecast, Division Head Says Nikon Corp., the second-biggest maker of cameras used by professionals, will probably earn more from its photography unit than the company had forecast, led by higher-than-expected exports, an executive said.


• Treasury's No. 2 Wolin Says Financial Rules Overhaul Is Likely This Year Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin, the department’s No. 2 official, said he expects Congress to revamp financial regulations for Wall Street this year.


• Fed Rescue Strategy for Economy Lowers U.S. Bailout Tab to $11.6 Trillion The Federal Reserve decided to keep pumping $1.25 trillion of new money into the mortgage market to focus on rescuing the U.S. economy as the financial system revives and banks ask for less help.

Bloomberg News 29/09/2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Treasury's No. 2 Wolin Says Financial Rules Overhaul Is Likely This Year Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin, the department’s No. 2 official, said he expects Congress to revamp financial regulations for Wall Street this year.


• Fed Rescue Strategy for Economy Lowers U.S. Bailout Tab to $11.6 Trillion The Federal Reserve decided to keep pumping $1.25 trillion of new money into the mortgage market to focus on rescuing the U.S. economy as the financial system revives and banks ask for less help.


• Arctic Oil Tempts Norway to Push Its Drilling Frontier to `Gates of Hell' Norway started a push to explore for oil and natural gas in more remote regions like its Arctic volcanic island of Jan Mayen, as the country seeks to reverse almost a decade of dwindling North Sea output.


• Shell Poised to Overtake BP Output With $40 Billion Spent in Qatar, Brazil Royal Dutch Shell Plc, held back by almost seven years of falling production, is set to overtake BP Plc after about $40 billion of investment from Qatar to Brazil.


• Liu He as China's Larry Summers Makes Politburo Appreciate Meaning of U.S. Two days after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. a year ago, an adviser sent by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with a group of Harvard University scholars to help shape his country’s response.


• Japan's Exporters Confront Fujii's `Romantic Longing' for a Stronger Yen Japan’s exporters are in danger of being left behind by a global trade recovery as the nation’s change in government ushers in a tolerance for exchange-rate gains that threaten to erode their profits.


• BRIC Economic Growth Forces Group of Eight to Cede Power: Chart of the Day With China poised to surpass Japan as the second-largest economy, the decision by world leaders to make the Group of 20 nations the main forum for global economic coordination instead of the G-8 reflects the increasing power of emerging markets.


• Glaxo's `Desperate' Rivals Slow Witty's Hunt for Drug Pipeline Candidates GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s search outside its own laboratories for new drugs is getting more difficult because of increased competition from rivals “desperate” for novel treatments, according to the company’s head of research and development.


• McDonald's Reins In Chicago Pride to Keep Rio Olympics Fans Eating Burgers Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics puts McDonald’s Corp. in a pickle.


• Lithuania's Economy May Start to Grow in 2010, Central Bank Governor Says Lithuania’s recession, the deepest in the European Union, is close to bottoming out and the economy may start growing next year if trade demand continues to gain strength, central bank Governor Reinoldijus Sarkinas said.


• Luxury Hotels in U.S. Risk Default as Recession Leaves $850 Rooms Empty Luxury hotel owners risk defaulting on their debt as the recession cuts occupancies and the credit crunch constrains refinancing.


• Caterpillar, Deere, Missouri Stymied by Delay in New U.S. Highway Funding Missouri wants to widen Interstate 70 between St. Louis and Kansas City to get traffic, and jobs, moving again. Construction-equipment makers Caterpillar Inc. and Deere & Co. stand ready to help.

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Buyout Firms Return to Market on Stock Rally as Select Medical Readies IPO The owners of Select Medical Holdings Inc. may almost double their money when the hospital operator goes public tomorrow as leveraged buyout firms take advantage of the steepest stock market rally in 70 years.
• Gucci Considers Long-Term Acquisitions, Will Focus on Asia for `Long Time' Gucci Group, the luxury-goods company owned by PPR SA, said acquisitions are part of its long-term strategy and will focus on Asian expansion for a “long time to come” as U.S. sales remain subdued, Chief Executive Officer Robert Polet said.
• Fed Policy Justified by Plant Use, Employment, Yardeni Says: Chart of Day Federal Reserve policy is keeping prices from falling at a time when there are plenty of factories and workers to spare, according to Edward Yardeni, president and chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research Inc.
• FDIC Watched as `Hot Money' Boomed at Colorado's Defunct New Frontier Bank New Frontier Bank, the largest lender in northern Colorado, had a lot to be proud of in early 2007. Assets had grown by 66 percent the previous year and profits by 53 percent. American Banker rated the bank the ninth- most efficient in the country.
• Utility Snubbed by Wall Street Shows Why States Pay More Than Shareholders East Bay Municipal Utility District in Oakland, California, which hasn’t missed a bond payment in 86 years, is being told by banks that its credit isn’t as good as companies that Moody’s Investors Service says are 90 times more likely to default.
• AstraZeneca Denied Drug's Diabetes Link After Warning Japanese Physicians An AstraZeneca Plc saleswoman told a U.S. doctor the antipsychotic Seroquel didn’t cause diabetes almost four years after the company warned Japanese physicians about the drug’s links to the disease, internal documents show.
• German Nuclear Plants' Future at Stake in Merkel-Steinmeier Election Fight Angela Seidler, a 41-year-old tour guide at E.ON AG’s Grafenrheinfeld nuclear-power plant in southern Germany, may have to find a new career before she retires.
• Bernanke Effort to Accelerate Growth May Be Undermined by Loan Contraction Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s efforts to stoke a U.S. economic recovery may be undermined by the central bank’s other goal of restoring the banking system to health.
• Former Pariah Qaddafi's U.S. Trip Seals Courtship of Libya Over Oil Deals The families of Americans killed in the bombing of a jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 will protest Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s visit to New York this week. His United Nations counterparts may be more welcoming.
• Pittsburgh Rising From Urban Decay May Offer Some Lessons for G-20 Leaders Pittsburgh’s journey from a symbol of urban decay to a high-tech and health-services center may offer some lessons to the Group of 20 finance ministers meeting there this week. So, too, may its stubborn financial problems.
• Exxon Mobil Plans Chemicals Expansion in Bet Chinese Demand Will Increase Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s biggest maker of chemicals used in plastic bottles, is boosting investment in Asian plants on expectations Chinese demand will increase faster than sales of gasoline and diesel.

• FDIC Watched as `Hot Money' Boomed at Colorado's Defunct New Frontier Bank New Frontier Bank, the largest lender in northern Colorado, had a lot to be proud of in early 2007. Assets had grown by 66 percent the previous year and profits by 53 percent. American Banker rated the bank the ninth- most efficient in the country.


• Dell's Offer to Perot Over Breakfast `Just Evolved' Into $3.9 Billion Deal H. Ross Perot Jr. said he began talking “chairman to chairman” with Michael Dell two years ago, relying on an old family friendship, before agreeing to Dell Inc.’s $3.9 billion buyout offer for Perot Systems Corp.


• Passport-Waving Socialist Challenges London's Financial Power Over Europe European Socialist Party President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen waved his red passport at hundreds of hedge-fund and private-equity managers in London’s 600-year-old Guildhall to assert his challenge to the city’s financial power.


• AstraZeneca Denied Drug's Diabetes Link After Warning Japanese Physicians An AstraZeneca Plc saleswoman told a U.S. doctor the antipsychotic Seroquel didn’t cause diabetes almost four years after the company warned Japanese physicians about the drug’s links to the disease, internal documents show.


• French Market Poised to Deliver Jackpot for Britain's Gambling Companies PartyGaming Plc, William Hill Plc and 888 Holdings Plc, U.K. gambling companies facing a slowing market at home, may get a boost as neighboring France opens its online-betting market to foreign operators next year.


• Bernanke Effort to Accelerate Growth May Be Undermined by Loan Contraction Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s efforts to stoke a U.S. economic recovery may be undermined by the central bank’s other goal of restoring the banking system to health.


• Former Pariah Qaddafi's U.S. Trip Seals Courtship of Libya Over Oil Deals The families of Americans killed in the bombing of a jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 will protest Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s visit to New York this week. His United Nations counterparts may be more welcoming.


• Exxon Mobil Plans Chemicals Expansion in Bet Chinese Demand Will Increase Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s biggest maker of chemicals used in plastic bottles, is boosting investment in Asian plants on expectations Chinese demand will increase faster than sales of gasoline and diesel.


• Fed Rejects Geithner Request for Public Study of Its Governance, Structure The Federal Reserve Board has rejected a request by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for a public review of the central bank’s structure and governance, three people familiar with the matter said.


• M&A Boom Coming to S&P 500 as Record Cash Combines With Dropping Yields Never before have U.S. companies piled up cash faster compared with interest costs than they are now, setting the stage for a surge in mergers and acquisitions.

Bloomberg News 24th September 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Bernanke Effort to Accelerate Growth May Be Undermined by Loan Contraction Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s efforts to stoke a U.S. economic recovery may be undermined by the central bank’s other goal of restoring the banking system to health.


• Russia to Resume State Asset Sales as Budget Revenue Slides, Shuvalov Says Russia will resume asset sales as the government struggles with its first budget deficit in a decade, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said.


• Stocks Likely to `Catch Up' With Corporate Bond Rally: Chart of the Day Stocks offer greater value than bonds and are poised to “catch up” with a rally in corporate debt, according to Rod Smyth, chief investment strategist at Riverfront Investment Group LLC.


• Fed Rejects Geithner Request for Public Study of Its Governance, Structure The Federal Reserve Board has rejected a request by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for a public review of the central bank’s structure and governance, three people familiar with the matter said.


• China Can't Get Enough Treasuries as Dollar No Deterrent to Foreign Buyers International investors are increasing purchases of Treasuries on a bet U.S. inflation will remain subdued, even as the dollar falls to the lowest levels of the year and the budget deficit tops $1 trillion.


• Oil Options Hitting Record High as Verleger Predicts 44% Plunge on Supply Oil traders are paying more than ever in the options market to protect against a plunge in crude prices.


• Schapiro's Bid to Speed SEC Probes, Win Esteem Stumbles on Bank of America Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro, overhauling an agency faulted for botching investigations of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, is facing the first major setback of her own making.


• Thain Says He Should Have Picked Ikea's Furniture for Merrill Renovations John Thain, the former chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch & Co. who was accused of overspending on an office renovation as the broker teetered, said he should have bought less-expensive furniture at Ikea.


• Clinton Says Obama May Prevail on Health Care With Some Republican Backing Former U.S. President Bill Clinton predicted that Barack Obama would prevail in his bid to win passage of his health-care initiative and that some Republican senators likely would support the legislation.

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Construction Companies Fined $210 Million for Rigging Bidding Contracts Kier Group Plc and Interserve Plc received the heaviest penalties handed down to 103 U.K. construction companies by the U.K. Office of Fair Trading in its biggest ever bid-rigging probe into the industry.


• Brown Says World Economy Has Yet to Feel the Biggest Impact from Stimulus U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the global economy has yet to feel the biggest impact of government-led spending programs to stimulate demand and reiterated concerns about removing them too early.


• BG, Cadbury, RBS, Rio Tinto, WPP May Move: U.K., Irish Equity Preview The following is a list of companies whose shares may have unusual price changes in U.K. and Irish markets today. Stock symbols are in parentheses and prices are from the last market close.


• European, U.S. Index Futures Advance; Asian Shares Rise, Carnival May Gain European stock-index futures rose, indicating the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index may resume a six-month rally after two days of declines. Asian shares and U.S. futures advanced.


• Rents in the World's Most Expensive Shopping Streets Fall Most Since 1985 The global recession is taking its toll on even the priciest shopping streets, where rents have plunged the most in at least 24 years, according to Cushman & Wakefield Inc., the largest closely held real estate broker.


• China Investment Buys 15% Noble Stake for $850 Million to Gain Commodities China Investment Corp., the nation’s sovereign wealth fund, bought a 15 percent stake in Noble Group Ltd. as the Hong Kong-based commodity supplier benefits from China’s demand for coal, iron ore and soybeans.


• Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Gets Rival Financing Offer From Hedge Funds Royal Bank of Scotland Plc is managing an offer by a group of hedge funds to refinance debt held by Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group Ltd., an energy and transport investor whose shares tumbled 97 percent in two years.


• BP, GE Join Demands From Industry for Regulations to Cut Carbon Emissions General Electric Co. and BP Plc are demanding governments enact regulations to cut emissions blamed for global warming and create a worldwide carbon market to ensure developing nations slow pollution growth.


• Poland Is `Unlikely' to Meet EU Deficit Target in 2012, IMF's Allen Says Poland, the largest of the European Union’s eastern members, is “unlikely” to make its 2012 goal of cutting the budget deficit to within the EU limit, the head of the International Monetary Fund’s mission to Poland said.


• Saudi Aramco Sees Idle Oil Fields Through 2010 as Demand Fails to Recover Saudi Aramco, the state-run oil monopoly, sees little chance of pumping crude from idle fields next year because a recovery.

Bloomberg News 22nd September 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• The pound weakened for a second day against the dollar on renewed concern the financial crisis in Europe will be prolonged, damping demand for the region’s assets.
• Lloyds Banking Group Plc, the U.K.’s biggest mortgage lender, said for the first time it may exit the government program to insure 260 billion pounds ($424 billion) of its risky assets.
• European and Asian shares declined and U.S. stock-index futures retreated on speculation that a six-month rally in global equity markets has outpaced the prospects for earnings.
  Lonmin Plc decreased 2.1 percent as metal prices fell. Lloyds Banking Group Plc dropped 1.4 percent after the lender said it’s considering alternatives to a government asset protection program. Super de Boer surged 19 percent after receiving a takeover offer from Jumbo Groep Holding BV.
• Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. and Bats Global Markets’ decision to prohibit flash stock orders was affirmed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which proposed banning the practice yesterday.
• Britain posted the biggest budget deficit for any August since modern records began in 1993 as the recession destroyed tax revenue and welfare costs soared.
  The 16.1 billion-pound ($26.3 billion) shortfall compared with a deficit of 9.9 billion pounds a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said in London today. The median of 16 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey was 17.6 billion pounds.

Bloomberg 18 September 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Metals, oil surge on improving economy; crops down.



• Dollar slump spurs global stocks.



• Natural gas ends up 13 pct despite weather and storage issues.

Reuters 17th September 2009.

• Venezuela has announced a $16bn (£10bn) investment deal with China for oil exploration in the Orinoco river.



• European Union leaders meeting later are to urge the threat of "sanctions" for banks that pay excessive bonuses.



• Shares worldwide have risen strongly after the latest signs of an economic recovery in the US.

BBC Business News 17th September 2009.

• Both Arsenal and Liverpool both win their first matches in the Champions League Group stages.



• Team boss Briatore quits Renault over race fixing claims.



• Andy Murray to lead team GB in their David Cup relegation match against Poland.
  
  

• Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, who yesterday said the U.S. recession probably has ended, may have to accept a slow recovery and high unemployment as the price for defending his inflation-fighting credentials.
• Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said he’s worried that lawmakers will hamper U.S. central bank efforts to rein in its monetary stimulus, and that inflation might “swamp” the bond market.
• Stocks in Europe and Asia advanced as billionaire investor Warren Buffett said his company is buying equities and higher commodity prices lifted raw-material producers. U.S. futures gained.
  BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest mining company, increased 2.7 percent as copper, lead and nickel climbed on the London Metal Exchange. KBC Group NV surged 5.5 percent after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. advised buying shares of the Belgian bank. Inditex SA gained 2.7 percent after earnings at Europe’s largest clothing retailer beat analysts’ estimates.
• Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. said Barclays Plc got a $5 billion discount when it bought the North American brokerage business and some real estate days after Lehman’s bankruptcy filing a year ago, and wants assets back.
• Inditex SA, Europe’s largest clothing retailer, reported a 7.6 percent decline in first-half profit as Spaniards pared spending on fashion in the country’s worst recession for 60 years.

Bloomberg 16 September 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• The U.S. Treasury Department and Citigroup Inc. have begun discussing how to sell the 34 percent stake that the government acquired in the rescue of the bank, people familiar with the matter said.


• President Barack Obama said job losses are “bottoming out” and the U.S. economy looks to be growing again even as he warned against cutting off government aid “so soon that the recovery doesn’t take flight.”
  Obama, speaking to Bloomberg News one year after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. crippled the economy, voiced confidence that his plan to overhaul regulation to forestall another crisis would pass Congress this year.


• European stock-index futures rose, indicating the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index may resume its six- month rally, before a report that might show German investor confidence increased to the highest level in three years. Asian shares fluctuated and U.S. futures were little changed a year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.


• Europe’s economies are rebounding at different speeds, complicating the European Central Bank’s efforts to put the region back on a more stable footing.
  Even as the global economy recovers and Germany and France return to growth, the European Commission yesterday cut its forecasts for Spain and Italy. Deutsche Bank AG says some of the economies that were once motors of growth and job creation across the 16-nation bloc may stay mired in recession next year.

15 September 2009 www.Bloomberg.com

Natural Gas – the next opportunity?

At Hollingsworth, we are continually striving to find new investment opportunities for our clients and this month, I would like to share with you one such new idea - Natural Gas.
In 2008, the price of natural gas reached a record all time high of $12 as oil also reached an all time high of $147 a barrel during the year. By taking 2006 and 2007 prices as a benchmark, natural gas prices traded at a normal range of between $5-$7 per Thousand Cubic Feet (TCF). By comparison, today's spot price for natural gas is only $2.70 (TCF) at time of writing.

(Source: NYMEX)

Fact 1 : Suppliers have a minimum production cost for natural gas of $4 (TCF) to breakeven.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) which gathers the official energy statistics for the USA has stated that due to the low price of natural gas, working natural gas drilling rigs have declined by 58% since September 2008. That means that half of all production of natural gas has been stopped in the USA. As a consequence of this lower drilling, the EIA has stated that US imports of liquefied natural gas during 2009 will increase to about 500 Billion Cubic Feet from importation of 352 Billion Cubic Feet in 2008 and imports are expected to rise to 740 Billion Cubic Feet during 2010 to make up the shortfall. Therefore, US imports of natural gas from 2008 should more than double by next year.
The EIA has also stated that it expects natural gas prices to average $5.48 (TCF) during 2010 because of the current decline in drilling activity.

(Source: The Energy Information Administration - US Government)

Fact 2: Industries are securing natural gas supplies at much higher prices over the next two years.
From December 2009 to September 2011, natural gas delivery prices vary from a minimum of $5.04 (TCF) to a maximum of $6.95 (TCF). The USA's largest natural gas provider, Chesapeake Energy and another major USA natural gas producer Quicksilver Resources have both stated that prices are below their costs to produce and supply natural gas and confirm that this is unsustainable.
(Source: Clifford Krauss, The New York Times 20th August 2009).

The present natural gas spot price of $2.70 (TCF) clearly will not be weak for long and should appreciate as we head into the winter season when consumption of natural gas accelerates due to heating demand by households.

Fact 3 : Oil and Gas Prices Disconnect
Six Thousand Cubic Feet have roughly the same energy content of one barrel of oil. Therefore, if the fuels were perfect substitutes, oil prices would tend to be about six times natural gas prices. The historical norm shows that oil has usually traded between 5 and 12 times the price of natural gas. The historical average is actually 8 times. Presently oil is at $71 a barrel and natural gas at $2.70 (TCF). Therefore today the ratio is 26 to 1. This gap will eventually narrow through a combination of oil prices falling and natural gas prices rising. (Source: Donald Marron, Wallstreet Pit Global market Insight 21st August 2009).
Our research I believe shows that Natural Gas should be considered as part of a diversified portfolio. For further information as to how you invest in this and other commodities, please contact us for a no-obligation meeting.

Mark Hollingsworth, Director, Hollingsworth International Financial Services Ltd
Tel Cyprus: +357 99066840,

Tel Malta: +356 21316298 / +35699842614

e-mail: info@hollingsworth-int.com
Website: http://www.hollingsworth.eu.com/
Authorised by the Malta Financial Services Authority to provide investment services, license IS/32457

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• China announced dumping and subsidy probes of chicken and auto products from the U.S., two days after President Barack Obama imposed tariffs on tires from the Asian nation.


• President Barack Obama's decision to place tariffs on tires from China may be the opening move in a campaign for fewer trade barriers, based on the strategy used by his four predecessors.


• Asian stocks fell, dragging the MSCI Asia Pacific Index from a one-year high, amid concern a six-month rally had overvalued prospects for an earnings recovery in the region.


• European and U.S. stock-index futures dropped and Asian shares declined on speculation the six-month rally in equities has outpaced the prospects for earnings and economic growth.


• President Barack Obama, speaking a year after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s collapse, heads to Wall Street today to outline his plan for unwinding government involvement in the financial sector and to argue that new regime of rules to prevent a market crisis is needed more than ever.

September 14

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• John Mack, who struggled to return Morgan Stanley to profitability after surviving the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, will turn over his chief executive officer title to Co-President James Gorman.
• China’s industrial production rose at a faster pace than forecast in August and new lending unexpectedly climbed, indicating growth in the world’s third- biggest economy is likely to accelerate.
• Istithmar World, the Dubai sovereign wealth fund, is halting investments as part of a restructuring effort after spending more than $25 billion this decade on stakes ranging from a yacht marina to luxury retailer Barneys New York, according to people familiar with the plan.
• Japan’s economy unexpectedly grew less than initially estimated in the second quarter as companies cut spending and stockpiles fell.
• The U.S. Treasury Department’s auctions this week of $70 billion in notes and bonds shows the unprecedented amount of debt being sold to finance the record budget deficit is failing to curb investor demand.
• Suntory Holdings Ltd. is in talks to buy European drinkmaker Orangina, which may be sold for 750 million euros ($1.1 billion) more than owners Blackstone Group LP and Lion Capital LLP. paid three years ago.

Bloomberg 11 September 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

President Barack Obama, attempting to reignite his campaign to overhaul the U.S. health-care system, exhorted Congress to end its “bickering” and pass legislation, calling the status quo unacceptable.

Asian stocks climbed, sending the MSCI Asia Pacific Index to a one-year high, as profit from China Yurun Food Group and a higher forecast from Texas Instruments Inc. fueled confidence the global economy is recovering.

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. left his suite at Manhattan’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel last Sept. 15 after a sleepless night, feeling he’d done all he could to minimize the damage from that morning’s collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., aides said.

Google Inc. founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page conquered the U.S. Internet industry by forming a triumvirate with Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt. Sharing power may not work in the world’s biggest market: China.

September 9th (Bloomberg)

Mike Bongiorno dies

Well known Italian television presenter and quiz master Mike Bongiorno has died aged 85.
Born in New York to an Italian mother and an Italian-American father, Bongiorno moved to Italy when still a child and became an institution in the Italian broadcasting scene.
He was one of the first high profile presenters to defect from Rai to privately-owned Canale 5 and continued to present programmes well into old age.
Among his best known programmes were Lascia o raddoppia.
Many will remember him for his trademark Allegria! at the start of his shows.
Mr Bongiorno died suddenly of a heart attack in Monte Carlo.

Global Overview

US

• The US economic indicators point to the recession coming to an end, however, little encouragement from the consumer sector as retail sales disappoint amid a weal labour market.

Europe

• The summer rally in equities extended for another month as stocks reacted from the economic data and the positive earnings. European equities registered the strongest gains due to France and Germany emerging from the recession. Although unemployment still rises.

UK

• The UK equities has had another positive month. Cyclical sectors outperformed, while defensive areas of the market lagged.

Asia Pacific

• The Japanese economy has returned to growth, expanding at an annualised rate of 3.7% in the second quarter, although some disappointment in Chinese economic data prompts profit taking.

Emerging Markets

• Latin America also advances, benefiting from upbeat US economic data.

Monthly Market Roundup August 2009

Mark Hollingsworth, Director, Hollingsworth International Financial Services Ltd

Tel: +357 99066840 (Cyprus Mobile), +356 21316298 (Malta Office)

e-mail: info@hollingsworth-int.com Website: http://www.hollingsworth.eu.com/

Authorised by the Malta Financial Services Authority to provide investment services, license IS/32457

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Crude edges higher above $68 ahead of economic data.


• Gold sets sight on $1,000; soybeans slide.


• U.S. stocks rise on data, gold gains as hedge.

Reuters 4th September 2009.

• Finance officials from the Group of 20 richest nations are set to outline a commitment to boosting the global economy when they meet in London later.


• The UK scrappage scheme continued to help new car sales in August with sales up 6% from a year ago, the second consecutive month of growth.


• Microsoft has overturned a ban on it selling its flagship Word software, imposed after a patent dispute.

BBC Business News 4th September 2009.

• Dementieva and Jankovic both crash out at the US Open but Andy Roddick wins.


• Arsenal set to fight European ban.


• Fisichella makes switch to Ferrari.

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Crude edges up above $68/bbl on weaker dollar.


• Gold surges on safe-haven hunt, sugar rally pauses.


• Asset prices meander absent strong economy trend.

Reuters 3rd September 2009.

• Oil giant BP says it has made a "giant" new oil discovery in its fields in the Gulf of Mexico.


• US Federal Reserve policymakers are increasingly confident the downturn in the US economy is ending, minutes from their latest meeting show.


• The US financial watchdog mishandled a string of probes into the business of convicted fraudster Bernard Madoff, an investigation has found.

BBC Business News 3rd September 2009.

• Federer and Nadal both have easy wins at the US Open.


• New Zealand hit back to beat Sri Lanka in their Twenty 20 International.


• Portsmouth chief executive admits the club was close to administration in the past few months.
  

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Stocks tumble on bank failure fears, bonds gain.


• Economic worries send prices lower on commodities.


• Oil above $68 on US stockdraw, awaits EIA, econ data.

Reuters 2nd September 2009.

• The Australian economy grew by more than expected in the second quarter of 2009, boosted by increases in household consumption and business investment.


• EU plans to regulate hedge funds are a "blatant attack" on London's role as an international financial centre, the mayor of the city has said.


• Online auction site eBay has agreed to sell the majority of internet phone company Skype for about $2bn (£1.2bn).

BBC Business News 2nd September 2009.

• Andy Murray starts with a convincing win at the US Open however womens top seed Darina Safina made to struggle before winning.


• Eduardo given two match euro ban for diving against Celtic.


• Ferrari count on Massa return fro the 2010 season.

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Crude edges further below $70, after fall on China.


• Markets plummet on China; sugar bucks trend.


• Libya denies Megrahi release linked to oil deals.

Reuters 1st September 2009.

• Entertainment giant Walt Disney is to buy Marvel Entertainment in a shares and cash deal valued at $4bn (£2.5bn).


• Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said that the culture of bank bonuses should be geared towards long-term success.


• PetroChina has agreed to buy a 60% stake in two planned Canadian oil sands projects for $1.7bn (£1bn).

BBC Business News 1st September 2009

• John Terry signs new 5 year deal to stay at Chelsea as the transfer window closes today.


• In Formula 1 , Fisichella closes in on move to Ferrari from Force India.


• Venus Williams 3 points from defeat before winning at the US Open.