Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Taxpayer Burden Lightened to $8.2 Trillion as Obama Spending Supplants Fed Congress and the Obama administration are taking a bigger role in the rescue of the economy from the Federal Reserve, shifting the strategy to stimulus spending from central bank lending.


• Flaherty Says Russia, China May Buy Canadian Dollars to Diversify Reserves Canada’s Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said China, with the world’s largest currency reserves of $2.3 trillion, may be poised to buy Canadian dollars as it seeks to shield its reserves against the U.S. dollar’s decline.


• ArcelorMittal May Acquire Mines in 2010 to Boost Its Supply of Iron Ore ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, may buy more mines in 2010 to increase its supply of iron ore as prices for the raw material used to make the metal are expected to rebound.


• Dubai World Said to Intend to Present `Standstill' Deal in Early January Dubai World will present a standstill offer to banks in early January as the state-owned company aims to restructure $22 billion of debt, said three bankers who attended a presentation on the matter yesterday.


• Pot-Laced Tour Bus Becomes Property of FDIC as U.S. Banks Go Up In Smoke The financial crisis that popped the real estate bubble and pushed U.S. bank failures to a 17-year high landed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. a rapper’s tour bus that reeked of marijuana.


• New Jersey Ranks First in Municipal Bond Downgrades as State Aid Dwindles Bond ratings of New Jersey towns and cities are being reduced faster than in any other state as property values slide 11 percent and Governor Jon Corzine lowers municipal aid to cope with a $1 billion budget deficit.


• China's Accelerating Bullet-Train Plan May Apply Brakes to Economic Growth Train C2019 covers the 120 kilometers between Beijing and Tianjin in 30 minutes, passing peasants in fields burning corn stalks and warrens of shacks occupied by people who aren’t sharing in China’s economic boom.


• AIG Said to Halt Chartis Stock Sale as CEO Benmosche Deems It Core Asset American International Group Inc., the insurer rescued by the U.S. government, halted preparations for an initial public offering of its Chartis property-casualty unit, people familiar with the matter said.


• Liddell's `Catch-the-Wave' Style May Presage Ascent to General Motors Helm Chris Liddell’s to-do list as General Motors Co.’s chief financial officer includes repaying $6.9 billion in government debt and leading an initial public offering. He also may end up running the biggest U.S. automaker.


• 3M's Buckley Drives Company Back to R&D Roots in `Prosperity of Fittest' 3M Co. will increase spending on research, product lines and acquisitions next year in an effort to emerge from the recession farther ahead of weaker competitors, Chief Executive Officer George Buckley said.


• Brazil Has No Reason to Keep Increasing Currency Reserves, Freitas Says Brazil should stop increasing international reserves as the local currency stabilizes and economic growth quickens, former central bank director Carlos Eduardo de Freitas said.


• Pao de Acucar Plans Brazilian Internet IPO After June 2010, Pestana Says Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao Grupo Pao de Acucar, Brazil’s biggest retailer, plans to take an Internet unit public and sell shares of its appliance business after June next year, Chief Operating Officer Eneas Pestana said.


• Panasonic Said to Have Developed Rechargeable Battery With 10% More Power Panasonic Corp. has made a lithium- ion battery with 10 percent more capacity than its current model, said people familiar with the product, responding to consumer demand for longer-lasting power sources.


• Taxpayers Helping Goldman Sachs Reach Height of Profit With New Skyscraper In the first six months of 2010, about 6,000 employees of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will take a break from their spreadsheets and move across the southern tip of Manhattan to a new 43-story, steel-and-glass skyscraper.

Bloomberg Daily News 23rd December 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• China's Accelerating Bullet-Train Plan May Apply Brakes to Economic Growth Train C2019 covers the 120 kilometers between Beijing and Tianjin in 30 minutes, passing peasants in fields burning corn stalks and warrens of shacks occupied by people who aren’t sharing in China’s economic boom.


• New Jersey Ranks First in Municipal Bond Downgrades as State Aid Dwindles Bond ratings of New Jersey towns and cities are being reduced faster than in any other state as property values slide 11 percent and Governor Jon Corzine lowers municipal aid to cope with a $1 billion budget deficit.


• AIG Said to Halt Chartis Stock Sale as CEO Benmosche Deems It Core Asset American International Group Inc., the insurer rescued by the U.S. government, halted preparations for an initial public offering of its Chartis property-casualty unit, people familiar with the matter said.


• Liddell's `Catch-the-Wave' Style May Presage Ascent to General Motors Helm Chris Liddell’s to-do list as General Motors Co.’s chief financial officer includes repaying $6.9 billion in government debt and leading an initial public offering. He also may end up running the biggest U.S. automaker.


• Pot-Laced Tour Bus Becomes Property of FDIC as U.S. Banks Go Up In Smoke The financial crisis that popped the real estate bubble and pushed U.S. bank failures to a 17-year high landed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. a rapper’s tour bus that reeked of marijuana.


• Taxpayers Helping Goldman Sachs Reach Height of Profit With New Skyscraper In the first six months of 2010, about 6,000 employees of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will take a break from their spreadsheets and move across the southern tip of Manhattan to a new 43-story, steel-and-glass skyscraper.


• Twitter Is Said to Be Profitable After Gaining $25 Million in Search Deals Twitter Inc. will make about $25 million from Internet-search deals with Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. announced in October, enough to push the site into profitability, people familiar with the matter said.


• U.S. Law Firms Slash Junior-Lawyer Year-End Bonuses by as Much as 71% Law firms including Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP cut year-end bonuses for first-year lawyers by as much as 71 percent, part of a bid to keep client costs down and ride out a recession that has forced structural changes in the industry.


• Citigroup `Lottery Ticket' Warrants May Provide Lowest Return to Treasury Warrants the U.S. holds in Citigroup Inc., once the most valuable bank in the nation, may provide the lowest return for taxpayers who stepped in with $45 billion to save the company when no one else would.


• Carbon Permit Prices Tumble After Copenhagen Accord Misses `Modest' Goals European and United Nations carbon prices fell the most since February after the Copenhagen climate accord didn’t set targets that would boost demand for permits.


• Tishman Group's $5 Billion Property Boomerang Costly Lesson for Rob Speyer Rob Speyer showed little interest in his family’s real estate business until his father began talking about buying Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center.

Bloomberg Daily News 22nd December 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• London Banker Exodus to Geneva Runs Into Housing Shortage, 44% Income Tax Geneva, touted as a haven for London bankers facing heavier U.K. taxes, may lure fewer than predicted thanks to a housing shortage, crowded schools and a 44 percent income-tax rate.


• UBS, Credit Suisse Said to Face Tougher Rules on Holdings of Liquid Assets UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group AG may have to almost triple the amount of cash they hold in relation to customer deposits under new proposals from Swiss regulators, two people familiar with the matter said.


• CO2 Prices May Fall After Copenhagen Misses `Modest' Goals, Barclays Says European and United Nations carbon prices may fall this week because the Copenhagen climate deal didn’t set targets to boost demand for permits, a Barclays Capital analyst said in an interview.


• GE-Mitsubishi Wind-Turbine Battle Threatens Arkansas `Silicon Valley' Plan General Electric Co.’s effort to keep wind turbines made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. out of the U.S. may hinder Arkansas’s plan to become the “Silicon Valley of wind manufacturing.”


• News Corp. Said to Be at Impasse in Talks on Possible Bid for MGM Studio News Corp., owner of the Twentieth Century Fox film studio, is at an impasse in talks on a possible bid for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., according to a person with knowledge of the situation.


• `Final Fantasy' Fans Bolster Sony PlayStation Sales With Japan Pilgrimage Matthias Mann couldn’t wait three months for the European launch of “Final Fantasy XIII,” the latest edition of the game that’s sold more than 92 million copies since 1987. So he flew 5,500 miles to Tokyo from Germany to buy one in a language he doesn’t understand.


• Harvard's Interest-Rate `Swaps' So Toxic Even Summers Won't Explain Them Anne Phillips Ogilby, a bond attorney at one of Boston’s oldest law firms, on Oct. 31 last year relayed an urgent message from Harvard University, her client and alma mater, to the head of a Massachusetts state agency that sells bonds. The oldest and richest academic institution in America needed help getting a loan right away.


• Darling's Tax on Banker Bonuses May Turn Into British Election Trump Card Alistair Darling began planning to tax banker bonuses on the flight home from a global summit in September. The U.K. finance chief reckoned that the leaders’ call for banks to defer bonuses and make more payouts in stock would fail to restrain compensation he considered excessive.


• Cadbury's Chief Said to Stress Earnings Benefit of Hershey Deal Over Kraft Cadbury Plc Chief Executive Officer Todd Stitzer told investors that Hershey Co. may get a bigger boost to earnings than Kraft Foods Inc. by buying the U.K. confectioner, according to three people who heard the statement.

Bloomberg Daily News 21st December 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Harvard's Interest-Rate `Swaps' So Toxic Even Summers Won't Explain Them Anne Phillips Ogilby, a bond attorney at one of Boston’s oldest law firms, on Oct. 31 last year relayed an urgent message from Harvard University, her client and alma mater, to the head of a Massachusetts state agency that sells bonds. The oldest and richest academic institution in America needed help getting a loan right away.


• Guy Hands Turns on `The Worm,' Citigroup as EMI Explodes into Court Brawl It was around midnight and British financier Guy Hands was on the phone again with “the Worm,” his long-time dealmaker at Citigroup Inc., David Wormsley.


• RBS Christmas Party Cash Buys `Two Pints of Beer and a Packet of Crisps' Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, recipient of the world’s biggest banking bailout, is contributing 10 pounds ($16) a head toward employee Christmas parties this year, enough to buy two pints of lager and a packet of potato chips.


• Flying Carp Threaten Bond Ratings, Fishing Industry of Great Lakes Region William Contos has piloted barges on the Chicago canal connecting the Mississippi River to the Great Lakes for a quarter century, hauling salt that melts ice off the city’s roads and coal that feeds its power plants.


• BHP Billiton's Nasser Must Avoid M&A `Ego' for Expansion, Investors Say Jacques Nasser, chairman-elect of BHP Billiton Ltd., will begin his job next year at the world’s biggest mining company with a potential $40 billion war chest and a message from investors to be wary of mega acquisitions.


• `Sizzling' Shanghai Home Prices Defy Sales Tax as Bubble Concern Increases Gloria Gu paid $483,000 for an apartment near Shanghai’s financial district so her 3-year-old son could attend one of the city’s best kindergartens. Six months later, a similar place in her building sold for $615,000.


• California's Bonds Fail on Wall Street Advice Bill Lockyer Couldn't Refuse For California Treasurer Bill Lockyer, the offer from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. was too good to refuse.


• Tudor Jones Turns Away Investors as Hedge-Fund Industry Outflows Persist In a year when investors pulled an estimated $118 billion from hedge funds through November, Paul Tudor Jones was one of at least six managers who decided it was time to turn away cash.


• ECB Said to Start Consulting Banks, Investors on Collateral Transparency European Central Bank officials are moving closer to forcing banks to provide more information about the collateral they give the ECB in return for loans.


• Spyker's Chief Muller Says EIB Is Biggest Obstacle to Reaching Saab Deal Spyker Cars NV’s plan to buy General Motors Co.’s Saab unit hinges on the European Investment Bank approving a loan before the end of December, the Dutch luxury-car maker’s chief executive officer said.

Bloomberg Daily News 18th December 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• California's Bonds Fail on Wall Street Advice Bill Lockyer Couldn't Refuse For California Treasurer Bill Lockyer, the offer from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. was too good to refuse.


• Tudor Jones Turns Away Investors as Hedge-Fund Industry Outflows Persist In a year when investors pulled an estimated $118 billion from hedge funds through November, Paul Tudor Jones was one of at least six managers who decided it was time to turn away cash.


• ECB Said to Start Consulting Banks, Investors on Collateral Transparency European Central Bank officials are moving closer to forcing banks to provide more information about the collateral they give the ECB in return for loans.


• Temasek's Hopu Said to Buy at Least $400 Million in China Pacific Stock Hopu Investment Management Co., the China-focused fund backed by Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte, bought at least $400 million of stock in China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co., said three people familiar with the matter.


• Thailand Finds No Taepodong-2 Missile Parts in Seized North Korean Plane Thai authorities have found no sign of components for Taepodong-2 long-range missiles in a plane carrying weapons from North Korea seized in Bangkok five days ago, government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said.


• Pope Reaches Out to Youth With Religious Cyber Talk on YouTube, Podcasts Pope Benedict XVI, who at 82 still handwrites his speeches rather than use a computer, is tapping YouTube, MySpace and podcasts to lure disenchanted youth into the Church’s fold.


• Gold Buying by Central Banks Sends Sell Signal as Past Haunts Future Price Some of the biggest buyers of gold may be sending the strongest signal to sell it, if past performance is indicative of future results.


• Israeli Billionaire Leviev's Global Ambition Mired in U.S. Property Market Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev told a roomful of reporters in August at the beachside Tel Aviv Crowne Plaza hotel he owns that his Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. would seek to restructure about $2 billion of debt.


• Bank of America Board Factions Said to Prompt Kelly Exit as CEO Contender Bank of America Corp.’s board was so split over whom to hire as chief executive officer that the top external candidate, Robert Kelly, withdrew instead of trying to unite the factions, people familiar with his thinking said.


• Tiger Woods-Designed Dubai Golf Course Will Be Completed, Developer Says Tiger Woods Dubai, part of Dubai Properties Group, said it is committed to completing its Al Ruwaya golf course and continues to make progress on the first course created by Woods’s design firm.

Bloomberg Daily News 17th December 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Las Vegas Sands’s Adelson Predicts Convention Booking Recovery Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chief Executive Officer Sheldon Adelson said Las Vegas convention bookings will recover in 2011 after collapsing during the recession.


• Asia Stocks Rise on Bank Agreement Report; Dollar Strengthens Asian stocks rose, led by Japanese financial institutions, after a report that agreement had been reached to allow banks up to 10 years to shore up their capital. The dollar rose as traders speculated the Federal Reserve will signal it is preparing to drain money from the financial system.


• Berlusconi Set to Leave Hospital Today; Under Orders to Rest Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is set to check out today from the Milan hospital where he was treated for a fractured nose and two broken teeth after being assaulted at a Dec. 13 political rally.


• Japanese Banks Jump on Nikkei Report on Capital Rules (Update4) Mizuho Financial Group Inc. jumped the most in more than a year, leading Japanese bank shares to their largest gain since May, after a report lenders will be given at least 10 years to comply with stricter capital rules.


• Kerala Plans 1st Islamic Bond as Dubai May Curb Funds (Update1) Kerala, the communist-ruled Indian state that relies on Middle East remittances for a quarter of its economy, plans to sell the nation’s first Islamic bonds next year to help pay for infrastructure projects.


• Foreign Investment in China Jumps 32% on Year Earlier (Update2) Foreign direct investment in China climbed at the fastest pace in 16 months in November, lured by a strengthening recovery in the world’s third-largest economy.


• Vietnam Banks May Gain Next Year on Higher Rates, Manulife Says Vietnamese banking stocks are set for a “good year” in 2010 as higher interest rates increase profits, according to Mark Canizares, head of equities at Manulife Vietnam Fund Management.


• Gold Buying by Central Banks May Send Signal to Sell (Update1) Some of the biggest buyers of gold may be sending the strongest signal to sell it, if past performance is indicative of future results.


• Citigroup Says Abu Dhabi Seeks to End Share Purchase (Update3) Citigroup Inc. said the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is seeking to end an agreement to buy the bank’s stock for more than eight times its current price, or to receive more than $4 billion in damages if the deal is upheld.


• Philippines Plans More Evacuations as Volcano Eruption Builds Authorities in the Philippines plan to evacuate thousands more people today from villages around Mount Mayon in the country’s east, as lava streamed down the volcano’s sides and ash plumes shot into the air.


• Letterman Extortion Threat Was ‘Crystal Clear,’ Prosecutors Say Robert “Joe” Halderman, the CBS Corp. television producer charged with trying to extort $2 million from David Letterman, was “crystal clear” in his threat to ruin the talk show host’s career and personal life, New York prosecutors said in court papers.

Bloomberg Daily News 16th December 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Soldier Can't Remember Lessons at For-Profit College Funded by Taxpayers Marine Corps Corporal James Long knows he’s enrolled at Ashford University, one of at least a dozen for-profit colleges making money off active-duty military with subsidies from American taxpayers. He just can’t remember what course he’s taking.


• Regulators Resist Volcker Wandering World Warning of Too-Big-to-Fail Again Paul A. Volcker visited nine cities in five countries in the past eight weeks to warn that bankers and regulators “have not come anywhere close to responding with necessary vigor” to the worst economic crisis in 70 years.


• Abu Dhabi May Demand Control After $10 Billion Lifeline to Sheikh Mohammed Four days before Dubai World sought to delay $26 billion of debt repayments last month, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum set out to race his horse, Al Ayed, across 120 kilometers (75 miles) of Persian Gulf desert. He had to withdraw when the mount became fatigued.


• Lloyd's of London, the `RBS of 15 Years Ago,' Has Lessons for U.K.'s Banks Lloyd’s of London, the 321-year-old insurance market almost destroyed by a speculative boom and bust two decades ago, is thriving, offering lessons to lenders such as Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in how to survive a crisis.


• Taiwan `King of Instant Noodles' Plans for Expansion in China, Retirement Taiwanese billionaire Wei Ing-chou, whose “Master Kong” brand built Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp. into the world’s largest producer of instant noodles, said he may buy mainland food companies and expand his real-estate holdings before retiring in four years.


• Egypt Drives Christians Into Hiding Even as Muslims Hit Swiss Minaret Ban On a side street in the far northeast Cairo suburb of Ain Shams, the door of a five-story former underwear factory is padlocked.


• Eurosclerosis Is America's Diagnosis After Dodging Japanese Liquidity Trap The U.S. may have avoided the Japanese disease of prolonged stagnation only to end up with a dose of eurosclerosis: chronically high unemployment in a growing economy.


• Not Losing Is New Winning for Wall Street Watering Down Laws From Congress Four Wall Street lobbyists and about a dozen lawmakers huddled over eggs and bacon at Tortilla Coast restaurant on Capitol Hill on Dec. 2 to discuss legislation aimed at strengthening bank regulation.


• `Disaster' Health Plan Breaks Obama's Vow to Reduce Costs in View of CEOs President Barack Obama’s $1 trillion health-care overhaul won’t buy corporate America relief from medical costs that more than doubled in the last decade, chief executive officers of more than a dozen U.S. companies said.


• Colony Capital's `Fearless' Bazin Shakes Establishment at Accor, Carrefour Everywhere Sebastien Bazin goes, people lose their jobs.


• Fastest Food Inflation Since '08 Riots Means Milk Costs 39% More Next Year Falling production in commodities from rice to milk is bad news for just about everyone except investors.


• Google Mobile-Phone Push Defies Sales Slump, Growing Rivalry: Chart of Day Google Inc. may face at least two obstacles to selling a mobile phone under its own brand name: sales of handsets are dropping and competition in so-called smart phones is increasing.


• Why Japanese Government Bonds Yielding 1.3% Offer World's Highest Returns Nowhere are yields as low as in Japan’s debt market and nowhere are returns higher as Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s government fails to stop deflation.

Bloomberg Daily News 15th December 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Eurosclerosis Is America's Diagnosis After Dodging Japanese Liquidity Trap The U.S. may have avoided the Japanese disease of prolonged stagnation only to end up with a dose of eurosclerosis: chronically high unemployment in a growing economy.


• Not Losing Is New Winning for Wall Street Watering Down Laws From Congress Four Wall Street lobbyists and about a dozen lawmakers huddled over eggs and bacon at Tortilla Coast restaurant on Capitol Hill on Dec. 2 to discuss legislation aimed at strengthening bank regulation.


• `Disaster' Health Plan Breaks Obama's Vow to Reduce Costs in View of CEOs President Barack Obama’s $1 trillion health-care overhaul won’t buy corporate America relief from medical costs that more than doubled in the last decade, chief executive officers of more than a dozen U.S. companies said.


• Fastest Food Inflation Since '08 Riots Means Milk Costs 39% More Next Year Falling production in commodities from rice to milk is bad news for just about everyone except investors.


• Henderson's Mattock Sells China Shippers as Exports Won't Be `Flying Back' Henderson Global Investors’s Horizon China Fund is buying consumer and property stocks while selling shipping companies because exports won’t rebound quickly, said fund manager Andrew Mattock.


• Ackermann Sees `Comparative Advantage' for Germany Without Tax on Bonuses Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann said Germany has a “comparative advantage” over other financial hubs because it doesn’t plan to tax bonuses like Britain and France.


• Bonderman Using Socratic Method in GM Boardroom Raises Executive Hackles General Motors Corp. directors once drew criticism for accepting the losses that sent the automaker into bankruptcy. The revamped General Motors Co. board charts a more activist course.


• Greece's Papaconstantinou Under Siege as Deficit Woes Hurt Ratings, Bonds Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou began the week with his office protected by baton-wielding riot police taming student protests. Now, investors have him under siege as the country’s bonds tumble.


• Spain Says Adios to Christmas as 19% Joblessness Prompts Spending Tailspin For the first time in their lives, Consuelo Serrano’s kids won’t get a visit from Santa Claus.

Bloomberg Daily News 14th December 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Bonderman Using Socratic Method in GM Boardroom Raises Executive Hackles General Motors Corp. directors once drew criticism for accepting the losses that sent the automaker into bankruptcy. The revamped General Motors Co. board charts a more activist course.


• Greece's Papaconstantinou Under Siege as Deficit Woes Hurt Ratings, Bonds Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou began the week with his office protected by baton-wielding riot police taming student protests. Now, investors have him under siege as the country’s bonds tumble.


• Gordon Ramsay Flees the Kitchen as TV Fame Helps Rescue Restaurant Empire On a gray morning in October, Gordon Ramsay bursts into the kitchen of his south London house, pop music blaring from the radio. At the heart of the room stands a 67,000-pound ($109,000) French cooking range that weighs 2.5 tons and had to be lowered by crane into the celebrity chef’s home.


• San Marino May Have to Sell Bonds to Weather Exodus of Deposits From Town San Marino, a country the size of Manhattan, may sell international bonds for the first time to help its banks withstand an exodus of deposits amid a global crackdown on tax havens.


• EU Mission Against Somali Pirates May Need to Extend Range, Commander Says The European Union’s anti-piracy operation may expand the area it patrols because Somali pirates have begun to threaten ships as much as 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) from shore, according to the mission’s commander.


• Hatoyama Means Stocks Plummeting as Yen Rises With Unfilled Japan Mandate Japanese Prime Minister Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama swept into power 10 weeks ago with a pledge to revive the economy and stand up to the U.S. He has governed as if his mandate were to tread water instead.


• Gundlach Turmoil May Delay Societe Generale's Plans for TCW Spinoff or IPO Societe Generale SA spent the year exploring a possible spinoff of TCW Group Inc., the Paris-based bank’s U.S. fund unit. Its plans may be set back by turmoil at TCW, where clients yanked $1.7 billion after Jeffrey Gundlach, the chief investment officer, was fired last week.

Bloomberg Daily News 11th December 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Gross Headed for Record Book as Manager of Biggest Mutual Fund in History Pimco Total Return Fund, run by Bill Gross since its inception in 1987, is set to become the biggest mutual fund in the industry’s history as individual investors mostly sit out the 2009 stock rally for the safety of bonds.


• Ron Paul's Fed-Bashing Resonates With Lawmakers Grown Wary of Bank's Power For U.S. Representative Ron Paul, the ninth time may be the charm.


• Hildebrand Sets Sights on `Sacred Cows' of Swiss Banking as SNB Job Looms Philipp Hildebrand, hedge fund manager turned central banker, is setting his sights on the dangers posed by UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group AG to the Swiss economy.


• Pfizer Faces Life After Lipitor by Embracing Bio-Generics to Spur Growth Pfizer Inc., which became the biggest drugmaker selling widely prescribed pills such as the Lipitor heart medicine, is preparing to enter the business of making cheaper copies of pricey, injectable drugs from biotechnology.


• British Homebuyers Reject `Little Box' Apartments as Houses Make Comeback Houses are making a comeback in the U.K. as buyers reject “little box” apartments and investor demand for rentals evaporates.


• Tiger Woods's Corporate Sponsors Avoid Stock-Market Swoon: Chart of Day Tiger Woods’s corporate sponsors, who are playing down their ties with the top-ranked golfer amid reports that he had extramarital affairs, are holding up relatively well in the stock market.


• Oi Negotiates `Very Cheap' Bank of China Loan to Expand Brazilian Network Telemar Norte Leste SA, Brazil’s biggest phone company, is talking with Bank of China Ltd. about a 10-year funding accord to help it free up cash and lure more customers, the finance chief of Telemar’s holding company said.


• Tiger Woods Vanishes From Prime-Time Television Ads After `Transgressions' Advertisements featuring Tiger Woods have disappeared from prime-time broadcast television and many cable channels following reports of his extramarital affairs, according to data from Nielsen Co.


• Insider Loans Distrusted by FDIC's Bair as Georgia Bank Failures Lead U.S. James H. Blanchard and A.W. “Bill” Jones III played golf and hunted turkey, quail and deer together. They were passionate about servant leadership, the idea that corporate executives should emulate Jesus Christ as stewards for their workers, customers and communities.


• Peter Hambro Eyes Place in Family Pantheon With Bet on Russian Gold Mining Peter Hambro, chairman of gold miner Petropavlovsk Plc, says even his 94-year-old mother keeps a close watch on the company’s stock price, which has tripled in 2009.

Bloombers Daily News 10th December 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Gross Headed for Record Book as Manager of Biggest Mutual Fund in History Pimco Total Return Fund, run by Bill Gross since its inception in 1987, is set to become the biggest mutual fund in the industry’s history as individual investors mostly sit out the 2009 stock rally for the safety of bonds.


• Hildebrand Sets Sights on `Sacred Cows' of Swiss Banking as SNB Job Looms Philipp Hildebrand, hedge fund manager turned central banker, is setting his sights on the dangers posed by UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group AG to the Swiss economy.


• Insider Loans Distrusted by FDIC's Bair as Georgia Bank Failures Lead U.S. James H. Blanchard and A.W. “Bill” Jones III played golf and hunted turkey, quail and deer together. They were passionate about servant leadership, the idea that corporate executives should emulate Jesus Christ as stewards for their workers, customers and communities.


• All Tiger Woods Ads Are Withdrawn by Marketers From Prime-Time Television Advertisements featuring Tiger Woods have disappeared from prime-time broadcast television and many cable channels following reports of his extramarital affairs, according to data from Nielsen Co.


• Hedge Funds Win Instant Profit From Chicago Sewer Debt at Taxpayer Expense The “fair and reasonable” price financial advisers recommended to the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago for the biggest borrowing in its history cost taxpayers $8 million in unnecessary interest and resulted in a bonanza for bankers, according to documents initially withheld from the public.


• Peter Hambro Eyes Place in Family Pantheon With Bet on Russian Gold Mining Peter Hambro, chairman of gold miner Petropavlovsk Plc, says even his 94-year-old mother keeps a close watch on the company’s stock price, which has tripled in 2009.


• TCW May Face Client Outflows as 14 Employees Follow Gundlach Out the Door Two clients of TCW Group Inc. said they plan to pull money from the Los Angeles-based fund manager, a sign that the departure of one-fifth of the fixed-income department may spur redemptions.


• Deterioration Slows in U.S. States' Tax Collections: Chart of the Day A slowdown in the deterioration of tax collections may make it easier for U.S. states to close $350 billion in budget deficits forecast in the next two years.


• Ivory Coast Cocoa Committee Proposes Industry Be Controlled by Government A government committee set up to reorganize the cocoa business in Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest producer of the chocolate ingredient, recommended that private companies have a reduced role in the industry, said an official with knowledge of the proposals.


• Warsaw Exchange Plans Initial Share Offer in 2010, Treasury Minister Says Warsaw Stock Exchange plans an initial public offering next year, Poland’s Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad said after talks on a share sale to Deutsche Boerse AG collapsed last week.


• CVS Faces Scrutiny From Texas Fund in $1 Billion Drug-Benefit Contract Bid A Texas pension fund will decide this week whether to award CVS Caremark Corp. a new pharmacy-benefits contract valued at almost $1 billion after the state’s attorney general sued the company for alleged Medicaid fraud.

Bloomberg Daily News 9th December 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Lithium Reserves for 4.8 Billion Electric Cars Let Bolivia Disrupt Markets The wind whips across a 3,900-square- mile expanse of salt on a desert plateau in Bolivia’s Andes Mountains. Plastic washtubs filled with an emerald-colored liquid rich in lithium dot the Uyuni Salt Flat, all the way to the volcanoes on the horizon.


• Reilly at Opel Gets Chance to Showcase Skill as Dark Horse for GM Top Job Nick Reilly took over at Adam Opel GmbH in Germany five days after 10,000 people demonstrated against General Motors Co.’s ownership of the unit. It wasn’t the first time GM had asked him to win over protesters.


• No Escape From TARP for U.S. Banks Choking on Commercial Real Estate Loans As the U.S. economy pulls out of a recession and the biggest banks return to profitability, mounting defaults on commercial property may keep regional lenders from repaying bailout funds until at least 2011.


• Yen's Biggest Decline in Decade No Anomaly as Options Trades Fade on Bulls Options traders are growing less bullish on the yen after efforts by Japanese officials to boost the world’s second-biggest economy and a U.S. jobs report led to the currency’s biggest weekly decline in a decade.


• China Gas LPG Sales May Rise Sixfold by 2012 as Network of Cities Expands China Gas Holdings Ltd., the Hong Kong-listed supplier of the fuel to homes and businesses on the mainland, expects liquefied petroleum gas sales to surge sixfold as the company expands its distribution network to 300 cities.


• Hollywood Bid to Expand Oscars May Help `Precious' Instead of `Star Trek' Hollywood’s expansion of the Academy Awards best-picture nominations to 10 has opened the door wider for independents, creating even more competition for big-budget films that have been squeezed out in recent years.


• Economists Who Foresaw November's Better Labor Market Now Expect Job Gains Some of the economists who anticipated the U.S. job market would see marked improvement in November now project job gains are around the corner, and possibly in the rearview mirror.


• Geithner Slams Wall Street Bonuses, Says All Big Banks Could Have Failed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner disputed claims by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives that the bank could have survived the financial crisis without government help and said it and other Wall Street firms should show some restraint in handing out bonuses this year.


• Hershey, Nestle Said to Have Been in Contact About Possible Cadbury Offer Hershey Co., exploring its options for a possible bid for Cadbury Plc, has been in contact with Nestle SA, said two people familiar with the talks.

Bloomberg Daily News 7th December 2009

Positive Forecasts for Germany

The Bundesbank raised its growth forecasts for Germany, Europe’s largest economy, saying the outlook for the next two years has “brightened perceptibly.”
Gross domestic product will rise 1.6 percent next year and 1.2 percent in 2011 after dropping 4.9 percent this year, the Frankfurt-based Bundesbank said in its bi-annual economic outlook today. In June, it predicted the economy would stagnate in 2010 after contracting 6.2 percent in 2009.
“The outlook for the German economy has brightened perceptibly in recent months,” the Bundesbank said. The recovery is being driven by “extensive” monetary and fiscal stimulus,” it said, adding that exports, business investment and private consumption will gain in importance as those measures wane.
The economic revival in Germany is helping the 16-nation euro region shake off its worst recession since World War II, giving the European Central Bank room to scale back its emergency stimulus measures. The ECB yesterday said it will reduce its long-term lending to banks next year in an exit strategy that some economists say paves the way for eventual interest-rate increases in the second half of 2010.

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Bank of America to Repay $45 Billion Bailout, Easing Effort to Replace CEO Bank of America Corp., the nation’s biggest lender, will repay $45 billion of U.S. government bailout funds, helping free the bank from curbs on executive pay that have hampered its search for a new leader.


• Asian Stocks Rise, Led by Japanese Exporters as Yen Declines for Third Day Shares of Japanese exporters soared, driving Asian stocks toward the biggest four-day rally since May, after the yen slid for the third day against the dollar and euro, and consumer spending lifted regional economies in the U.S.


• Trichet May Unveil ECB's Exit Plan While Keeping Key Rate at 1% Record Low The European Central Bank may today announce plans to scale back its emergency lending while keeping interest rates at a record low to foster an economic recovery.


• American, TPG Offer $1.1 Billion Japan Air Investment, Double Delta Offer American Airlines and TPG offered to invest as much as $1.1 billion in Japan Airlines Corp., double the size of a bid led by Delta Air Lines Inc.


• Yen Surge Exacerbated by Confusing Remarks From Government, Tanigaki Says The yen’s surge to a 14-year high was exacerbated by confusing comments from Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s government as to whether it would take action to halt the advance, opposition leader Sadakazu Tanigaki said.


• Ireland's Biggest Fund Manager Defends Returns With Lockheed, BAE Stocks Irish Life Investment Managers, Ireland’s biggest fund company, is defending its top-ranked returns by investing in makers of military equipment.


• Gates Says Afghan Pullout to Be Gradual as Republicans Criticize Timeline U.S. forces will leave Afghanistan gradually based on security in local areas, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told lawmakers as he sought to deflect Republican criticism of a target July 2011 troop-drawdown date.


• Democrats Threaten to Bypass Republican Changes to Speed Health-Care Bill Senate Democrats threatened to bypass Republican amendments to hasten debate over U.S. health-care legislation as delays jeopardized the goal of passage this year.


• Israel Army Unit Wages Online Battle to Improve Image After Gaza Criticism Israel’s army is recruiting soldiers for a new unit that is waging a virtual public relations battle on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to improve the military’s image.

Bloomberg Daily News 3rd December 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Europe's Biggest Banks Grow Even Bigger, `Sowing the Seeds' of Next Crisis European banks are emerging from the credit crisis bigger than before, posing more risk to their national economies.


• Dubai Selloff Makes Etisalat `Star' Gulf Stock as Aramex Poised to Rally The worst plunge in Dubai stocks in more than a year and record retreat for Abu Dhabi are luring investors to telephone companies, airlines and port operators they say have become bargains.


• Blackstone Builds City of London Tower for Students Rather Than Bankers The tallest tower in London’s main financial district to open next year won’t house bankers or office workers -- it’ll be a student dormitory.


• AIG's `Tainted Brand' in U.K. Means 87% Sales Plunge at Life Insurer Unit American International Group Inc. suffered an 87 percent quarterly sales decline at its European life business as U.K. clients abandoned the firm, draining value from operations the insurer is selling to repay a U.S. bailout.


• Scotch Whisky Makers Spend $800 Million to Age Drams for Emerging Markets Ninety years after Johnnie Walker stopped making Scotch in Annandale, David Thomson wants to put the distillery back on the whisky map of the world.

Bloomberg Daily News 2nd December 2009

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Math Drills Made Child-Father-of-Man Orszag Deficit Hawk Using Health Care When Senate leaders gathered around a polished wooden table off the chamber’s floor in October to begin health-care negotiations, Peter Orszag was in a familiar place: at the elbow of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, helping determine the fate of a critical piece of President Barack Obama’s agenda.


• World's Most Expensive Office Markets Get Cheaper as Job Cuts Pare Demand The world’s most expensive office markets got a little cheaper this year.


• GM May Sell Some Saab Unit Assets to Beijing Automotive, Discontinue Brand General Motors Co. may sell parts of its Saab unit to Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. and shutter the brand, two people familiar with the talks said.


• Iceland's Government Pledges to Pass U.K., Dutch Depositor Bill This Month Iceland won’t seek amendments to an accord with the U.K. and Netherlands obliging the island to cover depositor guarantees, paving the way for lawmakers to pass the bill this month, Finance Minister Steingrimur Sigfusson said.


• Surging Yen Cuts Prices for Hawaii Holidays, Tiffany Necklaces in Japan Mika Ueda, a 27-year-old clerical worker in Tokyo, and her friends had planned on spending the holidays in Japan. After the yen hit a 14-year high against the dollar last week, they set their sights on Guam or Hawaii.


• Japan Mulls Relaxing Chinese Tourist Visa Rules to Boost Visitors Ninefold Japan may relax visa regulations for Chinese travelers to help boost mainland visitor numbers ninefold as the nation’s tourism industry seeks to ease its reliance on a shrinking domestic population.


• Galleon Said to End Singapore Operations at Year-End; Two Firms in Talks Galleon Group LLC, the U.S. hedge- fund firm that’s liquidating after its founder was charged with insider trading, will stop operating in Singapore on Dec. 31, said two people familiar with the matter.


• Taxing Wall Street Transactions Today Wins Support for Keynes Idea of 1936 John Maynard Keynes proposed a tax on financial transactions in the middle of the Great Depression, and another economist, James Tobin, revived the idea in the 1970s as a way to counter currency market speculation. Neither effort gained much acceptance. Now, a growing number of economists and politicians argue that it’s time for a levy on trading stocks, bonds, currencies and derivatives.

Bloomberg Daily News 1st December 2009