Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Dubai May Forfeit Status as Financial Hub to Get Abu Dhabi Rescue Package Dubai, the debt-laden Gulf city- state, may lose its status as the region’s financial hub in return for a rescue package from its oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi, economists and analysts said.


• Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Is Said to Be Owed $1.9 Billion by Dubai World Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC may be owed $1.9 billion by Dubai World, making it the largest creditor outside the emirate to the state company seeking to reschedule debt, said two people familiar with the companies.


• Dubai Shows Limits of Government Bailouts for Markets, Roubini's Das Says The worldwide decline in equities spurred by Dubai’s efforts to reschedule its debt is a sign that government spending alone won’t be enough to protect financial markets, according to Arnab Das of Roubini Global Economics.


• Mark Pittman, Bloomberg Reporter Who Predicted Subprime Crisis, Dies at 52 Mark Pittman, the award-winning investigative reporter whose fight to open the Federal Reserve to more scrutiny led Bloomberg News to sue the central bank and win, died Nov. 25 in Yonkers, New York. He was 52.


• Credit-Default Swap Reforms Roiled as Aiful, Cemex, Thomson Test Payments Wall Street’s system for determining payments on derivatives linked to the debt of defaulted companies is showing cracks less than a year after securities firms changed practices to avoid “Draconian” regulation.


• Spanish Bullrings, Fake Eiffel Towers Can't Prevent 20% Unemployment Rate Bullrings and fake Eiffel Towers may not be enough to hold back the tide of surging unemployment in Spain, Europe’s one-time engine of job growth.


• Germany's Top Nazi-Hunter Finds `Best Break' in Years in Brazilian Archive German investigators trying to track down Nazi criminals before they die may have had their “best break” in years after discovering a trove of Brazilian immigration files more than half a century old.


• Beijing Auto, Merbanco, Renco Said to Make Approaches About GM's Saab Unit Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., Merbanco Inc. and Renco Group Inc. have made approaches about General Motors Co.’s Saab unit after a sale to Koenigsegg Group collapsed, two people familiar with the situation said.


• Siemens Hearing Aids Unit Said to Attract Interest From KKR, BC Partners Siemens AG’s hearing aid business, valued at as much as 3 billion euros ($4.5 billion), is drawing interest from private-equity firms including KKR & Co. L.P. and BC Partners Ltd., two people familiar with the matter said.


• Feinberg's Stumping Helps Obama White House Skirt Public Outcry Over Pay Kenneth Feinberg’s decision to slash executive pay at taxpayer-rescued companies was “sheer stupidity,” says Home Depot Inc. co-founder Kenneth Langone. Not so, says compensation analyst Paul Hodgson: If anything, Feinberg is a “pay kitten” soft on Wall Street.

Bloomberg Daily News 30th November 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Dubai World's Nakheel May Need Further $2 Billion to Finish Developments Nakheel PJSC, the Dubai-owned developer whose parent is seeking to delay debt payments, may need $2 billion to finish residential developments, according to an analyst based in the sheikhdom.


• Hitachi Bullet Train to Challenge France's Record-Setting TGV on Home Turf Hitachi Ltd., maker of the 186 mile per hour (300 kph) Bullet Train, will bid against the French- built TGV on its home soil as the Japanese company targets a European rail market that’s the biggest in the world.


• Vale, Alcoa Consider Building Colombia Aluminum Smelters on Price Rebound Vale SA and Alcoa Inc. may build aluminum smelters in Colombia, requiring investments of more than $2 billion per plant, once prices for the lightweight metal rebound, Energy and Mining Minister Hernan Martinez said.


• Patron's Tequila to Push Autos and Beers Off `Blockbuster' U.S. Billboards Patron Spirits International, which outspent all other U.S. liquor brands on marketing last year, plans to grab more “blockbuster” billboards, ousting auto, phone and beer ads to catch up with tequila rival Jose Cuervo.


• Black Market Signals Vietnam's Dong Devaluation Is Just Start of Weakening Vietnam, struggling to control accelerating inflation and a widening trade deficit, will keep weakening the dong after devaluing the currency for the first time since December, black-market rates and forwards show.


• Greece Set for EU Rebuke on `Insufficient' Budget Reduction, Draft Shows European Union finance ministers will reprimand Greece next week for failing to take “credible and sustainable” measures to reduce its budget deficit toward the EU limit of 3 percent of output, a draft document shows.


• BASF Said to Consider Styrene Joint Venture en Route to Exiting the Market BASF SE, the world’s biggest chemical company, is in talks to form a styrene joint venture as a prelude to exiting the market, a company official with knowledge of the situation said.


• Wacom Plans to Raise Touch-Screen Panel Output as Windows 7 Drives Demand Wacom Co., the world’s biggest maker of electronic pens, aims to increase production of computer touch-screen panels fivefold next year as the release of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 7 boosts demand from computer makers.

Bloomberg Daily News 27th November 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• K. Retailers Avoid Christmas `Armageddon' Repeat With Fewer Discounts A year after swaths of panic price cuts led to a Christmas “Armageddon” for U.K. retailers, Britons may find it harder to get a bargain before the holiday.


• Hitachi Bullet Train to Challenge France's Record-Setting TGV on Home Turf Hitachi Ltd., maker of the 186 mile per hour (300 kph) Bullet Train, will bid against the French- built TGV on its home soil as the Japanese company targets a European rail market that’s the biggest in the world.


• Vale, Alcoa Consider Building Colombia Aluminum Smelters on Price Rebound Vale SA and Alcoa Inc. may build aluminum smelters in Colombia, requiring investments of more than $2 billion per plant, once prices for the metal rebound, Energy and Mining Minister Hernan Martinez said.


• Black Market Signals Vietnam's Dong Devaluation Is Just Start of Weakening Vietnam, struggling to control accelerating inflation and a widening trade deficit, will keep weakening the dong after devaluing the currency for the first time since December, black-market rates and forwards show.


• Patron's Tequila to Push Autos and Beers Off `Blockbuster' U.S. Billboards Patron Spirits International, which outspent all other U.S. liquor brands on marketing last year, plans to grab more “blockbuster” billboards, ousting auto, phone and beer ads to catch up with tequila rival Jose Cuervo.


• UBS, Ernst & Young Facing Luxembourg Test Cases Over Madoff-Linked Funds UBS AG and Ernst & Young LLP may face hundreds of damages claims if investors who lost millions of dollars in mutual funds linked to Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme win a group of Luxembourg test cases.


• ECB Said to Debate Putting Adjustable Interest Rate on 12-Month Loans European Central Bank officials are debating whether to put an adjustable interest rate on December’s 12-month loans, with some saying it risks being interpreted as a signal they will tighten monetary policy in 2010, according to people familiar with the discussions.


• Ambani's $12 Billion LyondellBasell Bid Mimics Valero, Tosco Expansions Reliance Industries Ltd.’s bid for bankrupt LyondellBasell Industries AF would give India’s biggest company a low-priced U.S. refinery, mimicking successful strategies by Valero Energy Corp. and the former Tosco Corp.


• It's Time to Buy Commercial Property in Britain, Edinburgh Strategists Say First it was corporate bonds, then stocks. Now it’s time to buy commercial real estate in the U.K., according to strategists in Edinburgh advising on about 400 billion pounds ($663 billion) of assets.

Bloomberg Daily News 26th November 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• UBS, Ernst & Young Facing Luxembourg Test Cases Over Madoff-Linked Funds UBS AG and Ernst & Young LLP may face hundreds of damages claims if investors who lost millions of dollars in mutual funds linked to Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme win a group of Luxembourg test cases.


• Sinopec, TPG Said to Have Weighed Joint Offer for Bankrupt LyondellBasell China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., the nation’s biggest oil refiner, and U.S. buyout firm TPG have weighed a bid for bankrupt chemicals company LyondellBasell Industries AF that could challenge Reliance Industries Ltd.’s offer of about $12 billion, said two people familiar with the matter.


• ECB Said to Debate Putting Adjustable Interest Rate on 12-Month Loans European Central Bank officials are debating whether to put an adjustable interest rate on December’s 12-month loans, with some saying it risks being interpreted as a signal they will tighten monetary policy in 2010, according to people familiar with the discussions.


• Mixed-Sex Saudi University Championed by Abdullah Hits Clerical Opposition Saudi Arabia, the only country in the world that forbids women from driving, isn’t ready to alter that, said Ali Suwaiyel, a 28-year-old Saudi banker.


• Stanley Fischer Speaking Means Ben Bernanke Listening When Rates Fluctuate When U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner landed in Istanbul for a global economic summit on Oct. 2, his first meeting among the finance ministers and central bankers invited from more than 150 countries was with a man who controls an economy smaller than Missouri’s.


• McCormick Bad Dollars Derive From Economist Deficits Model Beating Quants James McCormick was home with his family in London on the evening of Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008, when he found out that Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., his employer of seven years, was filing for bankruptcy. The news, relayed on a conference call, derailed a two-year project building an analytical model that would predict currency movements based on economic data.


• Dubai Surrenders Autonomy as Crisis Bolsters Oil-Rich Emirate of Abu Dhabi Until last month, a billboard at one of Dubai’s busiest roundabouts featured one photo, of Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The new billboard says “Long live our Emirates union” and also shows United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.


• News Corp. Joined By Rivals Considering Pulling Their Stories From Google Publishers of the Denver Post and the Dallas Morning News may pull some of their stories from Google Inc.’s news site, a move that would emulate News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch.


• Wells Fargo Takes Back Sea Island's Frederica Community Project in Georgia Wells Fargo & Co. took the deed to Sea Island Co.’s 3,000-acre Frederica community in Georgia, adding to the list of developments caught in the commercial property crunch.

Bllomberg Daily News 25th November 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Dollar Slump Persisting as Most Accurate Forecasters See No Bottom in 2010 The most accurate dollar forecasters predict the world’s reserve currency will continue sliding even when the Federal Reserve begins to raise interest rates, which policy makers say is an “extended period” away.


• Bank of America May Name Stopgap CEO to Allow Board More Time for Search Bank of America Corp.’s board may extend its search for a permanent new chief executive officer into 2010 if directors can’t settle on a candidate in the next three days, according to people familiar with the matter.


• Deripaska Is in Talks on Selling Interests in Construction, Airport Units Russian Billionaire Oleg Deripaska, whose United Co. Rusal is seeking to restructure more than $14 billion of debt, is in talks with potential investors in his construction, airport and financial-services businesses.


• Zynga May Be Valued at $1 Billion as Game Maker Feeds Off Facebook Craze Zynga Inc., maker of the “Mafia Wars” and “FarmVille” games played on Facebook, may be valued at $1 billion based on the sale price of a smaller rival.


• Cuomo Took Campaign Donations From Lawyers With Matters Before His Office New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s campaign fund took tens of thousands of dollars from law firms representing clients his office investigated or accused of wrongdoing, state records show.


• Woman Who Sank Galleon Was Beauty-Queen-Turned-Analyst Allegedly With Tips Danielle Chiesi spent a lot of time in hotel ballrooms and bars during the past decade.


• Pakistanis Pay Economic Toll as Regrouping Taliban Threaten to Widen War Taliban fleeing a Pakistani offensive are regrouping in the country’s northwest, threatening to spread and prolong a conflict that has strained the nation’s economy and may hamper efforts to attract foreign investment.


• British Would-Be Borrowers Resist Approved Bank Credit as Loan Demand Dips A year ago, as Britain’s property market began to collapse, housebuilder Persimmon Plc owed 960 million pounds ($1.6 billion). Today, Chief Financial Officer Michael Killoran has slashed that debt by 58 percent.


• China Risks Japan 1980s-Style Bubble With Loose Monetary Policy, BNP Says China is risking a Japan-style bubble unless the country’s regulators start to rein a record lending boom, BNP Paribas said.

Bloomberg Daily News 24th November 2009

In search for high income

As the year comes to a close, investors can look back on a highly successful year with returns from all major sectors – energy, commodities, equities and bonds all showing very healthy profits. Sadly, those that have kept their money under the mattress have had a less successful year with bank interest rates hitting rock bottom in March and never moving since. In this low interest rate environment that we find ourselves in, the end of the year is an opportune time to consider how best to invest for income and also to take a projected view on where interest rates are likely to head during next year.

Interest rates & Inflation

There are no immediate concerns with inflation but during the second half of 2010, we expect inflation to start to rise. At the same, we fully expect interest rates in the UK and the Eurozone to remain at their present level for at least the next six months. Thereafter, we may see some moderate increases but no more than 0.5 per cent by the end of the year.

The alternatives

If interest rates do remain at historic lows then those in retirement seeking to live off their savings and investments must look to alternatives to cash to produce any real rate of return. This can be achieved in a variety of ways and I would always advise to include a minimum of three or four different investments as opposed to relying on one single investment to produce the desired level of income or interest. There is a lot of truth in the fact that there is ‘no such thing as the ideal single investment’. That being said, below I have listed a few ideas of where a good level of income can be achieved without exposing your capital to much (or any) risk :

UK Corporate Bonds : 2008 was a very bad year for bonds with yields hitting dizzy heights as capital values fell in the region of 20 per cent. Most of that has now been reversed with many bonds settling back into a sensibly pricing range. Rather than opting for single corporate bonds, it is advisable to look to invest into a fund which may hold in the region of 200 different bonds. Our preferred bond funds have been providing a monthly income equivalent to 6-7 per cent during this year with yields expected to remain at a similar level during next year.

Capital Protected Income Notes : These have been our favourite this year as investors have enjoyed fixed income in the region of 8-9 per cent in both euro and sterling. These offer a fixed and guaranteed income paid quarterly and normally for three years. At the end of the term, the notes mature with the original capital returned to investors. The full return of capital can be linked to almost anything. We have used these notes in the commodity sector mainly – including gold and oil.

Autocall Notes : These provide a set rate of income in the event that a particular event is triggered within a set timeframe. An example is with a product we launched in August which was linked to the price of gold, oil and wheat. If all three commodities were higher in value at the end of three months then the product matured and investors received a fixed income payment of 3.5 per cent for the three month period. Very pleasingly this did happen and investors received their capital back plus the 3.5 per cent.

As you can see, there are good alternatives and by creating a portfolio of income producing investments, you can sensibly achieve returns in the region of 6-9 per cent per annum. We shall be launching a series of new income and autocall notes in January so be sure to contact us for further information.

Finally, I would like to thank all those readers that have expressed an interest in my articles during 2008 and to those who have accepted our advice and that have become clients. May I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year.

Mark Hollingsworth, Director, Hollingsworth International Financial Services Ltd
Tel: +357 99066840, +356 21316298
e-mail: info@hollingsworth-int.com
Website: www.hollingsworth.eu.com
Authorised by the Malta Financial Services Authority to provide investment services, license IS/32457

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Pakistanis Pay Economic Toll as Regrouping Taliban Threaten to Widen War Taliban fleeing a Pakistani offensive are regrouping in the country’s northwest, threatening to spread and prolong a conflict that has strained the nation’s economy and may hamper efforts to attract foreign investment.


• Playboy Wants Partners to Make Brand Bigger Over Next Decade, Hefner Says Playboy Enterprises Inc. needs to make strategic decisions to expand the men’s magazine publisher in the coming decade, according to former Chief Executive Officer Christie Hefner.


• Kindle, Sony Electronic Readers May Get Biggest Payoff From Textbook Sale As Sony Corp.’s e-book devices vie with the Kindle to win over readers, the real showdown may come later: when a shift to electronic textbooks at schools threatens to eclipse the current market for the products.


• Murdoch Targets Sulzberger as Newspaper Ad Slump Shifts Fight to Readers The New York Times and Wall Street Journal are pursuing readers from regional U.S. newspapers in their fight to survive the worst advertising declines in the industry’s history.


• Cadbury's Carr Stared Down Goldman and RWE as Preparation for Kraft Duel Roger Carr, Cadbury Plc’s chairman, once thwarted Goldman Sachs Group Inc., then led by former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, from bidding for pub chain Mitchells & Butlers Plc in 2006.


• China Banks Filling Syndicated Loan Void as Royal Bank, Citigroup Retreat Foster’s Group Ltd., Australia’s biggest brewer, never borrowed from China until this year, when Bank of China Ltd. helped arrange $500 million in loans to refinance debt.


• Lithuanian Chernobyl-Type Reactor's Closure May Produce Economic Fallout In a cavernous hall in northeast Lithuania, workers tear apart the first of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant’s four two-story turbines. The growing piles of steel parts, tubes and cowlings will soon fill nearby storage buildings the size of aircraft hangars.


• Carney Shows How Canada Controls Risk So Central Banks Worldwide Can Too Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, the former investment banker who helped the country avert the worst of the financial crisis, says Canada’s experience provides lessons for the world.


• Whitney Says Goldman Sachs Lost `Tremendous' Talent to Hedge Funds Meredith Whitney, the analyst who cut her rating on Goldman Sachs Group Inc. last month, said the bank has lost some of its top-performing employees as executives left to start their own investment companies.

Bloomberg Daily News 23rd November 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Malone Doesn't Rule Out DirecTV Takeover by AT&T or Verizon Communications DirecTV Group Inc. Chairman John Malone won’t rule out a possible takeover by AT&T Inc. or Verizon Communications Inc., saying they will likely have closer ties to his company as they develop packages of phone and television service.


• Facebook Common Stock Value Jumps 42% to $9.5 Billion on Private Market The price of Facebook Inc. stock on exchanges for private companies has jumped as much as 42 percent in the past four months as membership of the site topped 300 million users and the company turned cash flow positive.


• AOL Will Eliminate 2,300 Jobs as It Seeks to Lower Costs by $300 Million AOL, the Internet unit being spun off from Time Warner Inc. in December, plans to cut about one- third of its workforce over the next several months.


• Elizabeth Warren Winning Means Banks Won't Sell When They Can't Explain It In Elizabeth Warren’s world, credit card contracts would be so simple a teenager could read and understand them in four minutes. Loans would be as easy to compare as toasters, and online credit scores would be free.


• Electric Cars Push `Old-Guard' Japanese Engine Parts Makers to Crisis Mode Auto supplier NTN Corp. knew its gasoline engine parts wouldn’t be needed in Nissan Motor Co.’s Leaf electric car. So the component maker’s engineers built a mock model to test a motor-and-brake system it developed for electric vehicles.


• L.A. Mayor Pitches Obama for $9 Billion to Prevent 7 Mile-an-Hour Gridlock Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said his goal to speed up construction of 12 transit projects and ease congestion in the second-biggest U.S. city requires “creative” funding help from Washington.


• Boeing May Lose $7.5 Billion Sale to Brazil as Senate Blocks Obama's Envoy Boeing Co. may lose a $7.5 billion jet fighter sale to Brazil unless the U.S. Senate lifts a four- month delay in confirming President Barack Obama’s nominee for ambassador to Latin America’s biggest country, a former top U.S. diplomat to the region said.


• Tufts President Says Wealthy College Endowments Should Take Much Less Risk American colleges and universities with the largest endowments should abandon an investment strategy that has contributed as much as 49 percent to their annual operating budgets because such risk-taking resulted in disruptive cost-cutting in the aftermath of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Tufts University President Lawrence Bacow said.


• Azeris May Send Natural Gas to Asia as EU Caspian Pipeline Plans Languish Azerbaijan, Europe’s closest energy ally in the Caspian basin, is threatening to sell its gas to Asian markets, pressuring the European Union to complete pipeline accords to boost its own deliveries from the region.

Bloomberg Daily News 20th November 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Lender That Really Does God's Work Is Slowed as Mortgage Funding Dries Up Mark Holbrook helped fuel a church construction boom by originating more than $3 billion of mortgages in the past decade, transforming a $2 million credit union he joined after Bible college into the largest U.S. evangelical lender.


• KDB Financial's Min Rues `Very Good Opportunity' He Missed to Buy Lehman KDB Financial Group Inc. Chairman Min Euoo Sung said his failed attempt to buy Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. last year was a missed opportunity for the Korean bank and the global financial system.


• Suitmakers in London Signal Swing to U.K. Conservatives as Brown Stumbles Accountants, management consultants and custom tailors are donating increasing time and expertise to Britain’s Conservative opposition, anticipating the party will beat Prime Minister Gordon Brown in next year’s election.


• General Motors Said to Narrow Search for Finance Chief to Two Outsiders General Motors Co. narrowed the field to replace Chief Financial Officer Ray Young to two executives from outside the auto industry and may make a choice by year’s end, two people close to the matter said.


• Qiagen Poised for More Purchases After Spending $2 Billion in Last 5 Years Qiagen NV, the Dutch biotechnology company that has spent about $2 billion on acquisitions since 2004, is armed for yet more takeovers as it seeks additional gene-based tools to predict disease.


• Mattel's Barbie Store in Shanghai Misses `Astronomical' Revenue Targets Mattel Inc., the world’s biggest toymaker, lowered the sales target for its Barbie store in Shanghai by at least 30 percent after deciding the original marketing concept didn’t work.


• GE Enlightening China Regions Embracing Emissions Plants to Curb Pollution The Ordos region of Inner Mongolia, home to one of China’s biggest deserts, is being transformed into the site of a pine forest that will stretch across its low hills as far as the eye can see.


• Griffin Picking `Juggernaut' Edsparr to Run Bank Means Do-Over at Citadel Patrik Edsparr spent 12 years making hedge fund-like bets at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Now he’s been tapped to run an investment bank at a hedge-fund firm.


• Japan's Deflation Concern Mounts Even as Economy Expands Most in Two Years The acceleration of Japan’s economy to the fastest growth pace in more than two years masked a slide in prices of goods and services that threatens to temper the nation’s recovery.


• Terrorist Attacks Roil Businesses in Pakistan's Punjabi Economic Heartland A spate of attacks in Pakistan’s Punjab as Islamic militants work more closely with the Taliban has raised business concern in the province that generates more than half of the country’s economic growth.


• Nomura Extends Lead in Managing Asian Share Sales With Hitachi, MUFG Deals Nomura Holdings Inc. widened its lead in arranging Asia-Pacific stock sales this year after winning mandates from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and Hitachi Corp. valued at a combined $14.5 billion.

Bloomberg Daily News 18th November 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Deutsche Bank Is Drowning in Las Vegas With Wall Street's Costliest Casino Deutsche Bank AG’s Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino complex in Las Vegas, already the most expensive debacle in the city for a single lender, is now two years behind schedule, $2 billion over budget and under water -- literally.


• Bernanke Lunches With Wall Street as Jobless Prosperity Buoys Stock Market Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has succeeded in returning the U.S. economy to growth after the longest contraction in more than six decades. So far Wall Street, not Main Street, has been the primary beneficiary.


• Vivendi's Levy Trumps Telefonica for `Underdog's Revenge' in GVT Takeover Vivendi SA Chief Executive Officer Jean-Bernard Levy, who snatched Brazil’s GVT (Holding) SA away from Telefonica SA late last week, got what he earlier this year said he enjoys: “the revenge of the underdog.”


• London's `New Era' of Air Pollution From Diesel Threatens Olympics in 2012 London, which has some of Europe’s worst air pollution, may have to ban cars and reschedule events during the 2012 Olympics to ensure optimum conditions for athletes, a leading air-quality scientist said.


• Unilever's R&D Chief Berger Seeks Swiffer Repeat for P&G Veteran Polman Unilever is set to unveil “big innovations” as soon as next year as Chief Executive Officer Paul Polman seeks to replicate the success Procter & Gamble Co. had with products like the Swiffer.


• Yuan Bets Boost Dollar Lending, Cut Deposits in China: Chart of the Day Demand for dollar loans in China is climbing and deposits of the greenback are sliding, reflecting increasing speculation that the yuan will resume appreciation against the U.S. currency, Bank of China Ltd. said.


• U.S. Demand May Take Until 2010 to `Regenerate,' Li & Fung Chairman Says U.S. consumer demand may take until the middle of 2010 to “regenerate,” and it’s unlikely China can fill the gap as the global economy recovers, said Victor Fung, chairman of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. supplier Li & Fung Ltd.


• Marvell Technology Investigates Employee Named in Galleon Hedge Fund Probe Marvell Technology Group Ltd. is conducting an internal investigation after employee Sam Miri was named as a recipient of payoffs for inside information by a hedge fund manager who pleaded guilty in the investigation of Galleon Group, company spokeswoman Diane Vanasse said.


• China's Yuan `Straitjacket' Risks Inflating Asset Bubbles as Growth Surges China is facing the biggest challenge to its currency policy since the start of the global recession as economists warn the peg to the dollar risks causing an asset bubble.


• Obama in China Can't Avoid Immovable Renminbi as Weak Dollar Sinks Asians President Barack Obama may find on his Asian visit that began today that discontent about China’s currency peg to the dollar isn’t confined to Washington’s lawmakers and business lobbyists.

Bloomberg Daily News 17th November 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• China's Yuan `Straitjacket' Risks Inflating Asset Bubbles as Growth Surges China is facing the biggest challenge to its currency policy since the start of the global recession as economists warn the peg to the dollar risks causing an asset bubble.


• Marvell Technology Investigates Employee Named in Galleon Hedge Fund Probe Marvell Technology Group Ltd. is conducting an internal investigation after employee Sam Miri was named as a recipient of payoffs for inside information by a hedge fund manager who pleaded guilty in the investigation of Galleon Group, company spokeswoman Diane Vanasse said.


• Tweets Steer Venezuelans Through Caracas Traffic in BlackBerry Revolution Venezuelans’ BlackBerrys buzz with urgent news on Twitter: an accident in La Trinidad industrial zone, a tie-up at the old toll booth on the mountain, a mudslide onto the Prados del Este highway.


• Hated Investment Bank `Oligarchs' Scupper Moves to Split Lenders, Kay Says Investment bankers are wielding their political influence to override popular support for legislation to break up lenders’ trading and retail operations, economist John Kay said.


• Mayfly May Thwart $3 Billion in Coal Mined by Blowing Up U.S. Mountaintops Mayflies may seal the fate of mountaintop mining in the Appalachian hills of the eastern U.S.


• Thanksgiving Dinner Costs Less to Make This Year: Chart of the Day Families can anticipate the biggest decline in the cost of preparing Thanksgiving dinner since 2000, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.


• Food Strike, Fatal Riots Hobble India's Push to Sell Car Parts to GM, Ford Prem Kumar’s demand for higher pay and better food at the cafeteria at the auto-parts factory where he works near New Delhi forced General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. to shut three plants on the other side of the world.


• Rajaratnam Arrest Jolts Sri Lanka From Stock Exchange to Tsunami Survivors About 60 Muslim fishermen and their families congregated in a community hall on Sri Lanka’s east coast to pray for Raj Rajaratnam after he was arrested for alleged insider trading at his New York hedge fund.


• Robin Hood Says `Hell Yeah' to Wall Street Recovery Led by Goldman Bonuses David Saltzman, executive director of the Robin Hood Foundation, may be one of the few people who refuses to demonize a Wall Street recovering from record losses with earnings that may include record bonuses.


• Playboy Said to Be in Talks on Sale to Iconix Brand Group; Shares Advance Playboy Enterprises Inc., the men’s magazine publisher, is in talks to sell itself to Iconix Brand Group Inc., according to two people close to the situation. Playboy’s stock jumped 42 percent.


• Wall Street Faces `Live Ammo' as Congress Tries to Dismantle Biggest Banks Seven Wall Street lobbyists trooped to Capitol Hill on Nov. 9, hoping to convince Representative Paul Kanjorski’s staff that his plan to dismantle large financial firms was a bad idea.


• 3Com Option Trades May Have Been More Than `Luck' Before $2.7 Billion Bid Analysts say good timing alone doesn’t account for trading in bullish 3Com Corp. options yesterday, which gained as much as 315 percent today.

Bloomberg Daily News 16th November 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• China's Yuan `Straitjacket' Risks Inflating Asset Bubbles as Growth Surges China is facing the biggest challenge to its currency policy since the start of the global recession as economists warn the peg to the dollar risks causing an asset bubble.


• Rajaratnam Arrest Jolts Sri Lanka From Stock Exchange to Tsunami Survivors About 60 Muslim fishermen and their families congregated in a community hall on Sri Lanka’s east coast to pray for Raj Rajaratnam after he was arrested for alleged insider trading at his New York hedge fund.


• Food Strike, Fatal Riots Hobble India's Push to Sell Car Parts to GM, Ford Prem Kumar’s demand for higher pay and better food at the cafeteria at the auto-parts factory where he works near New Delhi forced General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. to shut three plants on the other side of the world.


• Hated Investment Bank `Oligarchs' Scupper Moves to Split Lenders, Kay Says Investment bankers are wielding their political influence to override popular support for legislation to break up lenders’ trading and retail operations, economist John Kay said.


• Mayfly May Thwart $3 Billion in Coal Mined by Blowing Up U.S. Mountaintops Mayflies may seal the fate of mountaintop mining in the Appalachian hills of the eastern U.S.


• Playboy Said to Be in Talks on Sale to Iconix Brand Group; Shares Advance Playboy Enterprises Inc., the men’s magazine publisher, is in talks to sell itself to Iconix Brand Group Inc., according to two people close to the situation. Playboy’s stock jumped 42 percent.


• Wall Street Faces `Live Ammo' as Congress Tries to Dismantle Biggest Banks Seven Wall Street lobbyists trooped to Capitol Hill on Nov. 9, hoping to convince Representative Paul Kanjorski’s staff that his plan to dismantle large financial firms was a bad idea.


• 3Com Option Trades May Have Been More Than `Luck' Before $2.7 Billion Bid Analysts say good timing alone doesn’t account for trading in bullish 3Com Corp. options yesterday, which gained as much as 315 percent today.


• BAE Vies With Lockheed as Iran Threats Spark Weapons Spending by Neighbors Most of the world looks at Iran and perceives a growing nuclear threat. Its Persian Gulf neighbors are also focusing on what they call a dangerous conventional weapons buildup.

Bloomberg Daily News 13th November 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Defaults as Prepackaged Bankruptcies Signal New Normal for U.S. Bondholder When Euramax International Inc. was struggling in 2008 amid the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, lenders to the building-materials maker reorganized its debt to prevent a collapse.


• Fed Faces Biggest Blow to Authority, Independence in Dodd Banking Measure The Federal Reserve faces the biggest blows to its authority and independence in five decades under legislation championed by its lead overseer in the U.S. Senate.


• Bear Stearns Managers' Acquittal May Hamper Other U.S. Fraud Prosecutions The acquittal of two Bear Stearns Cos. hedge-fund managers in a subprime-mortgage fraud case that relied heavily on e-mail evidence may make it more difficult for the government to win related cases based on similar facts.


• Santander's Madoff Losses Trigger Criminal Charges for Ex-Boss of Optimal Manuel Echeverria, the former head of Banco Santander SA’s Optimal Investment Services unit in Geneva, has been charged with criminal mismanagement over his handling of client funds invested with Bernard Madoff.


• Google Made `Strategic' AdMob Purchase to Expand IPhone Ads, Schmidt Says Google Inc. Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt said his company’s $750 million purchase of AdMob Inc. will expand sales of ads that appear in applications on smart phones such as the iPhone.


• Commercial Real Estate Crisis Looming for U.S., Zisler Says: Chart of Day “A crisis of unprecedented proportions is approaching” in the U.S. commercial real-estate market, according to Randall Zisler, chief executive officer of Zisler Capital Partners LLC.


• ING's Breakup Offers `Rare' Chance for Insurers to Buy in Emerging Markets ING Groep NV’s decision to split off 12 billion euros ($18 billion) of insurance businesses is likely to have competitors jostling for its units in emerging markets on three continents, analysts said.


• Volkswagen Board Is Said to Consider Buying Component-Maker Karmann Assets Volkswagen AG will consider the purchase of assets from insolvent automaker Wilhelm Karmann GmbH at a board meeting today, three people familiar with the situation said.


• Colombia Isn't Considering Capital Controls, Finance Minister Zuluaga Says Colombia isn’t considering implementing capital controls to stem gains in the peso, Finance Minister Oscar Ivan Zuluaga said.


• Renault Targets U.S. Partner Better Place for French Electric-Car Network Renault SA plans to bring in U.S. partner Better Place to run its future electric-car charging network in its home market of France, Chief Operating Officer Patrick Pelata said.


• FDIC's 20% Shorter `Merit' Examinations Preceded Failures of Three Banks At least three U.S. banks failed in the past year after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. deemed them healthy enough to qualify for a program that reduced the time examiners spent on reviews by at least 20 percent.


• Monsanto Faces `Distrust' as New Seeds Seek to Blunt DuPont's Sales Gains Monsanto Co., reeling from its first market-share losses to DuPont Co. in a decade, may be losing the confidence of some investors based on early results from the new modified seeds it’s counting on to beat competitors.

Bloomberg Daily News 12th November 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• FDIC's 20% Shorter `Merit' Examinations Preceded Failures of Three Banks At least three U.S. banks failed in the past year after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. deemed them healthy enough to qualify for a program that reduced the time examiners spent on reviews by at least 20 percent.


• Monsanto Faces `Distrust' as New Seeds Seek to Blunt DuPont's Sales Gains Monsanto Co., reeling from its first market-share losses to DuPont Co. in a decade, may be losing the confidence of some investors based on early results from the new modified seeds it’s counting on to beat competitors.


• Barclays, Bank of America, JPMorgan Vie to Manage Indian Share Offerings Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Plc and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are competing to sell shares for state-run companies in India as the government plans the biggest sell-off in at least five years.


• Spherix Sought Investments, `Information Edge' From Technology Executives When Richard Choo-Beng Lee and Ali Far set up Spherix Capital LLC last year, they counted on former bosses, Silicon Valley executives, Wall Street analysts and hedge-fund managers to be their first investors, according to the firm’s marketing documents.


• Dancing Bin Laden Doll, Terrorist-Headband Kitsch Chronicle Gaza's History “I can offer you a discount on the headbands,” said Tareq Abu Dayyeh, souvenir-store owner. “They’re just like the kind used by suicide bombers.”


• Biggest S&P 500 Gains Enhanced in '09 by Dollar Collapse: Chart of the Day Shares of U.S. companies getting a majority of their sales overseas are doing the best this year on speculation the dollar’s decline to an almost 15-month low is boosting earnings.


• DAX World-Beating Gain Since Wall Crumbled Led by Carl Zeiss Unity Exports In the 44 years that Carl Zeiss AG was forced to operate as two companies, separated by a Cold War dividing East and West Germany, the stock market in Europe’s biggest economy was about as exciting as sausage and sauerkraut.


• SAC Said to Tell Investors an Internal Review Found No Suspicious Trading SAC Capital Advisors LLC, the hedge- fund firm run by Steven Cohen, reviewed its buying and selling of stocks cited in the Galleon Group LLC insider-trading cases and found nothing suspicious, according to one of its investors.

Bloomberg Daily News 11th November 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Pfizer Broke Law by Promoting Drugs for Wrong Uses In Violation of Pledge Prosecutor Michael Loucks remembers clearly when lawyers for Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drug company, looked across the table and promised it wouldn’t break the law again.


• Record Bonuses Return to Wall Street as Big Three May Award $29.7 Billion Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s investment bank, survivors of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, are set to pay record bonuses this year.


• Leipzig Becomes Most Modern Making BMWs in Back to Future Since Wall Fell Leipzig was the scene of protests that spread to Berlin and toppled communist East Germany in 1989. Since then, it has added jobs faster than any German city, east or west, as governments and companies led by Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, Amazon.com Inc. and Deutsche Post AG invested more than $17.8 billion.


• Tishman BlackRock Near Restructuring or Sale of New York's Stuyvesant Town Tishman Speyer Properties LP and BlackRock Realty, the owners of Manhattan’s Stuyvesant Town- Peter Cooper Village, moved closer to restructuring $3 billion in debt on the apartment complex as the property verges on default, Fitch Ratings said.


• Olympics Sponsors Beat S&P 500, MSCI World Before Vancouver: Chart of Day Stocks of Olympics sponsors are winning medals for investors even before the Vancouver Winter Games begin.


• Value Line Settlement May Prompt Split as Jean Bernhard Buttner Reign Ends Jean Bernhard Buttner never had much tolerance for people who broke her rules, says Jack Dempsey, who worked for her investment advisory firm Value Line Inc. until 2005.


• NBC Loss With Jay Leno Nobody's Gain as 1.7 Million 10 p.m. Viewers Vanish NBC’s exit from scripted series to air “The Jay Leno Show” weeknights at 10 p.m. has left 1.82 million young viewers up for grabs, and CBS and ABC have let most of them slip away six weeks into the television season.

Bllomberg Daily News 10th November 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Pfizer Broke Law by Promoting Drugs for Wrong Uses In Violation of Pledge Prosecutor Michael Loucks remembers clearly when lawyers for Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drug company, looked across the table and promised it wouldn’t break the law again.


• Record Bonuses Return to Wall Street as Big Three May Award $29.7 Billion Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s investment bank, survivors of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, are set to pay record bonuses this year.


• Cristiano Ronaldo Fails to Match Beckham Soccer Sales Boom for Real Madrid Cristiano Ronaldo, soccer’s most expensive player, can’t match the sales boom David Beckham triggered at Real Madrid.


• Disney's Shanghai Theme Park Won't Help Access to China's Media Industry Walt Disney Co.’s planned theme park in Shanghai will do little to help open China’s media industry to overseas companies as the communist government restricts films, television and the Internet, analysts said.


• Buffett's `Wake-Up Call' to Berkshire Managers May Signal More Cost Cuts Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s managers may deliver more cost cuts to Chief Executive Officer Warren Buffett after the billionaire replaced Richard Santulli as the head of a money-losing plane-leasing unit.


• Dimon's Dad Quits Merrill to Work for Son's Brokerage, Brings Along Team If Jamie Dimon ever needs fatherly advice, he can turn to his newest employee: Dad.


• Banks Thwarting Feinberg Pay Reductions by Changing Their Bonus Formulas Global leaders and regulators trying to rein in banker pay are proposing everything from clamping down on guaranteed bonuses to recouping compensation from prior years if losses mount. Largely unaddressed is the topic that stirs the most public ire: How much money is too much?

Bllomberg Daily News 9th November 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Banks Thwarting Feinberg Pay Reductions by Changing Their Bonus Formulas Global leaders and regulators trying to rein in banker pay are proposing everything from clamping down on guaranteed bonuses to recouping compensation from prior years if losses mount. Largely unaddressed is the topic that stirs the most public ire: How much money is too much?


• McDonald's Shaves Seconds Off Big Mac Orders to Hold On to Market Share At a McDonald’s Corp. test kitchen in an unmarked Illinois warehouse, next year’s menu plan for the U.K. has hit a snag. When the visiting British team adds wrap sandwiches, service slows.


• Latvia Spares Currency, Devalues Economy to Save Path to Euro Membership Electronics and clothing stores at the Galerijas Centrs in Riga’s old town fly banners offering discounts of as much as 50 percent.


• Shanghai Farmers Lose Fields as Disney Kingdom Creates `Crazy' Home Prices Walt Disney Co.’s newest castle may rise from the Shanghai fields where retired farmer Jin Xinmei and her husband grow Chinese cabbage, potatoes and strawberries to supplement their $103 monthly pension.


• Ropes & Gray's Cutillo, Patent Lawyer, Accused of Fueling Insider Trading When Bain Capital LLC said it would buy 3Com Corp. for 44 percent more than the stock price, one unexpected beneficiary was Arthur Cutillo, an associate at the Ropes & Gray LLP law firm advising the private-equity company, according to the FBI.


• Energy-Trading Group Proposes Disclosures to Improve EU Electricity Market The European Federation of Energy Traders, the lobby group with members including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and E.ON AG, proposed rules for power-plant data to make buying and selling wholesale electricity more fair.


• Tyranny of Distance Curbs Australian Hedge Fund Revival in Post-Madoff Era After a decade running Sydney-based hedge fund Commodity Strategies Ltd., founder Rob Holroyd is planning a move to New York or Switzerland in search of cash.


• Buffett's Burlington Buy Includes CEO Who Engineered Top Railroad in U.S. Warren Buffett didn’t just buy a railroad when he announced his purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. He hired the engineer, too.


• Sarkozy's `Grand Loan' Pits EADS Against Peugeot, Safran in Fight for Cash President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to spend between 25 billion euros ($37.3 billion) and 50 billion euros to reverse France’s declining industrial index.

Bloomberg Daily News 6th November 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Buffett's Burlington Buy Includes CEO Who Engineered Top Railroad in U.S. Warren Buffett didn’t just buy a railroad when he announced his purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. He hired the engineer, too.


• Sarkozy's `Grand Loan' Pits EADS Against Peugeot, Safran in Fight for Cash President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to spend at least 30 billion euros ($44 billion) to reverse France’s declining industrial competitiveness has triggered a scramble for a piece of the pie.


• Reclamation, Zimbabwe Plan to Mine Diamonds at Site of Human Rights Abuses New Reclamation Group Ltd. plans to form a venture with Zimbabwe to mine diamonds from a deposit that human rights groups have said has been the site of military atrocities, a copy of the agreement shows.


• Tyranny of Distance Curbs Australian Hedge Fund Revival in Post-Madoff Era After a decade running Sydney-based hedge fund Commodity Strategies Ltd., founder Rob Holroyd is planning a move to New York or Switzerland in search of cash.


• Spain Beating Europe in Stock Market With 40% of Profit From Latin America Spain, suffering from the highest unemployment rate in Europe, is producing the best stock returns among countries in the region with shrinking economies as sales to Latin America grow.


• Rogoff, Johnson, Rajan Say G-20 and IMF May Fail to Curb Global Imbalances The Group of 20’s effort to shift the global economy away from dependence on U.S. spending and Chinese savings may fail because the International Monetary Fund lacks the power to enforce its policy prescriptions, the IMF’s past three chief economists said.


• Marsh & McLennan Chances for Deals Rise in Weak Economy, Duperreault Says Marsh & McLennan Cos., the second- biggest insurance broker, is capitalizing on the recession by buying companies that would have been out of reach in better times, Chief Executive Officer Brian Duperreault said.


• Allstate Sells Munis as CEO Wilson Says Governments `Not in Great Shape' Allstate Corp., the largest publicly traded U.S. home and auto insurer, is paring its municipal-bond holdings because state and local governments are “not in great shape,” Chief Executive Officer Thomas Wilson said.


• JPMorgan Deal Arranging Alabama Swap Supplied Rolex, Shoes to Politicians JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Charles LeCroy explained to a colleague in 2003 how he planned to keep his job as the chief bond banker to Jefferson County, Alabama.


• Two Days of Talks Said to Sway General Motors Board, Chief on Opel's Value General Motors Co.’s board began a meeting poised to sell most of Opel to Magna International Inc. and scrapped the deal after concluding that the money-losing unit could be saved, people familiar with the matter said.

Bloomberg Daily News 5th November 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Standard Chartered 79% Return Overtakes HSBC With Asian Investment Rebound Standard Chartered Plc, the third- largest bank in the United Kingdom by market value, wants to do business almost exclusively in Asia and emerging markets. Any executive of the lender who dares to depart from that strategy risks the wrath of Mike Rees, the chief executive officer for corporate banking.


• Profit `Not Satanic' Barclays Chief Says After Goldman Sachs Invokes Jesus Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer John Varley stood at the wooden lectern in St. Martin-in-the- Fields on London’s Trafalgar Square last night and told the packed pews of the church that “profit is not satanic.”


• IPOs Unravel as Aviv Follows AEI in Pulling Sales Amid Record Low Returns Aviv REIT Inc. became the second company in less than a week to postpone its U.S. initial public offering as the busiest period for new listings in two years leaves investors with the worst returns on record.


• Nokia Siemens Said to Be Mulling Bid for Nortel Assets, Challenging Ciena Nokia Siemens Networks may bid for Nortel Networks Corp.’s optical-networking business, challenging Ciena Corp. for the unit of the insolvent communications equipment maker, said two people familiar with the matter.


• Bin Laden's Money Welcome as Desperate Independent Filmmakers Seek Funding Todd Solondz, the U.S. director whose movie “Happiness” was nominated for a Golden Globe award in 1999, knows how desperate raising funds for a film has become.


• Poland Mulls Lifting Debt Rules, Skrzypek Says, Raising Investor Concerns Polish central bank Governor Slawomir Skrzypek said a temporary lifting of rules capping public debt may be warranted even as the government scrambles for ways of containing the swelling budget deficit.


• DSG to Deliver Washing Machines Free to Fight Back Against Supermarkets DSG International Plc, Europe’s second-largest electronics retailer, will start free delivery of televisions and washing machines as part of a service-led counterattack against supermarkets and online retailers.


• Banks Find Consumer Protection Too Big to Fail as Congress Writes New Law During one of his first meetings about overhauling U.S. financial regulations in February, President Barack Obama had a question for his economic advisers, who included Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers.


• Bank of America's Next Chief May Call New York Home Instead of Charlotte Bank of America Corp. broadened its search for a chief executive officer to include candidates who want to live in New York, acknowledging the bank’s biggest units are no longer based in its home of Charlotte, North Carolina, people familiar with the matter said.


• Mulally Adds $2,700 More Revenue Per New Vehicle to Drive Ford's Growth Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally, after cutting nearly half the automaker’s North American employees, is commanding $2,700 more revenue per vehicle as he looks to put the company on a path to growth.

Bloomberg Daily News 4th November 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Secret Atlanta Bond Deal Led IRS to Middleman Rubin Financing in the Dark At the end of a March 6, 2000, conference call with the financial adviser David Rubin, city of Atlanta officials disqualified the winning bid for a $453.3 million investment-management contract.


• Smiley Doing Financing in Dark Focus of IRS Probe of New Mexico Tax Abuses Vincent “Smiley” Gallegos, who ran a state housing agency out of an office next to a used-car lot in Albuquerque, New Mexico, should have known better when he borrowed $27.7 million, the Internal Revenue Service said.


• West Bank Peace Signaling 7% Growth as Israel Increases Roadblock Removals Nablus Soap & Detergents Co. says its revenue has grown as much as 20 percent since Israel removed three major roadblocks in the area, making it easier for merchants from other parts of the West Bank to visit.


• Diageo Chief Walsh Sees a `Slow' Recovery as U.S., Europe Sales Trail Asia Diageo Plc Chief Executive Officer Paul Walsh said the world’s largest liquor maker will see a “long and slow” recovery from recession in its biggest markets, and plans to compensate by expanding in emerging economies.


• Private Equity IPOs Slump as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Can't Sell AEI Shares Investors suffering the worst returns on initial public offerings in at least 14 years are shunning companies laden with debt, forcing bankers to pull one sale and cut the price of others.


• K1's Kiener Said to Seek $23 Million for Six-Bedroom Florida Beach Home Helmut Kiener, the K1 Group hedge- fund founder under arrest in Germany on suspicion of fraud, is seeking to sell his oceanfront home in Delray Beach, Florida, for $23 million to repay investors, people briefed on the matter said.


• Ticketmaster Client AEG Said to Explore Switch in Fallout From Music Deal Anschutz Entertainment Group, owner of Staples Center in Los Angeles and London’s O2 arena, is exploring ticket partners to replace Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc., which is merging with competing promoter Live Nation Inc.


• Wilbur Ross Sees `Huge' Commercial Property Crash Ahead for U.S. Assets Billionaire investor Wilbur L. Ross Jr., said today the U.S. is in the beginning of a “huge crash in commercial real estate.”


• Fed Summons CEOs of Biggest Banks to Meet With Regulators on Pay Practices The chief executive officers of 28 of the largest U.S. banks have been summoned to meet with supervisors at Federal Reserve banks to discuss new rules on compensation, said a person familiar with the matter.


• New York Eclipses London as Best Financial Center in Global Bloomberg Poll New York has withstood the worst economic crisis in seven decades and remains the leading global financial center, followed by Singapore, which topped London as investors’ preferred place for doing business, according to Bloomberg Global Poll.

Bloomberg Daily News

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Secret Atlanta Bond Deal Led IRS to Middleman Rubin Financing in the Dark At the end of a March 6, 2000, conference call with the financial adviser David Rubin, city of Atlanta officials disqualified the winning bid for a $453.3 million investment-management contract.


• West Bank Peace Signaling 7% Growth as Israel Increases Roadblock Removals Nablus Soap and Detergents Company says its revenue has grown as much as 20 percent since Israel removed three major roadblocks in the area, making it easier for merchants from other parts of the West Bank to visit.


• Diageo Chief Walsh Sees a `Slow' Recovery as U.S., Europe Sales Trail Asia Diageo Plc Chief Executive Officer Paul Walsh said the world’s largest liquor maker will see a “long and slow” recovery from recession in its biggest markets, and plans to compensate by expanding in emerging economies.


• Kate Moss No Guarantee Topshop Billionaire Beats U.S. Hex on U.K. Chains Philip Green has a problem with four purple crushed-velvet dresses hanging from a display stand.


• Private Equity IPOs Slump as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Can't Sell AEI Shares Investors suffering the worst returns on initial public offerings in at least 14 years are shunning companies laden with debt, forcing bankers to pull one sale and cut the price of others.


• K1's Kiener Said to Seek $23 Million for Six-Bedroom Florida Beach Home Helmut Kiener, the K1 Group hedge- fund founder under arrest in Germany on suspicion of fraud, is seeking to sell his oceanfront home in Delray Beach, Florida, for $23 million to repay investors, people briefed on the matter said.


• Wilbur Ross Sees `Huge' Commercial Property Crash Ahead for U.S. Assets Billionaire investor Wilbur L. Ross Jr., said today the U.S. is in the beginning of a “huge crash in commercial real estate.”


• Fed Summons CEOs of Biggest Banks to Meet With Regulators on Pay Practices The chief executive officers of 28 of the largest U.S. banks have been summoned to meet with supervisors at Federal Reserve banks to discuss new rules on compensation, said a person familiar with the matter.


• New York Eclipses London as Best Financial Center in Global Bloomberg Poll New York has withstood the worst economic crisis in seven decades and remains the leading global financial center, followed by Singapore, which topped London as investors’ preferred place for doing business, according to Bloomberg Global Poll.

Bloomberg Daily News 2nd November 2009