Hollingsworth Daily Post

Gold Heads for Second Monthly Drop as Dollar’s Gain Cuts Demand
Gold, little changed in London today and set for a second monthly drop, may decline as a stronger dollar curbs the metal’s appeal as an alternative investment.
The U.S. Dollar Index, a six-currency gauge of the strength of the greenback, was little changed near a five-month high. The dollar has strengthened on concern Greece’s fiscal problems will spread, damping demand for European assets. Gold, down 1.2 percent this month, typically moves inversely to the dollar.
Source Bloomberg - by Nicholas Larkin and Jae Hur

Oil Rises With Equities, Capping First Monthly Drop Since July
Crude oil rose, limiting its first monthly drop since July, as advancing equity markets reaffirmed confidence in the economic recovery.
The U.S. Senate yesterday unanimously passed sanctions on foreign companies that sell refined petroleum to Iran, holder of the world’s second-largest crude reserves. Oil has lost 6.7 percent this month on concern the U.S. government will limit trading by banks and that China will take further steps to cool its economy.
Source Bloomberg - by Grant Smith and Yee Kai Pin

Toyota U.S. Dealers May Lose $2.47 Billion a Month
U.S. dealers who sell Toyota Motor Corp.’s namesake brand could lose as much as $2.47 billion in combined monthly revenue because of the halt of sales of eight models, including the popular Camry and Corolla sedans.
Source Bloomberg - by Mike Ramsey and Doron Levin

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Suicides Inside France Telecom Prompt Sarkozy to Demand Testing for Stress Francis Le Bras discovered he’d become a corporate nobody when his name disappeared from the organizational chart on the wall of his Paris office. In 2008, Le Bras’s employer, France Telecom SA, cut his job as a writer of software applications for Minitel, a pre-Internet information service for telephone users. While Le Bras, 56, stayed on the payroll, he had no job title, and he says he was shunned by his colleagues.


• Mitsubishi Heavy Targets First European Reactor Sale in Challenge to Areva Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., which has developed the world’s biggest atomic reactor, expects to win its first nuclear power plant order in Europe next year, challenging Areva SA in its own backyard.


• Platinum Overtaking Gold as Metal of Choice With Rebounding Sales of Cars Even after a record 57 percent rally last year, platinum is cheap relative to gold, signaling more gains as demand grows from carmakers and exchange-traded funds.


• Bank of Japan Said to Be Open to Expanding Emergency Loans, Bond Purchases Bank of Japan policy makers are prepared to consider expanding an emergency-loan program for banks and increasing purchases of government debt should the recovery falter, people with knowledge of the matter said.


• UBS Decision by Swiss Court on Tax Fraud May Prompt Negative U.S. Response A Swiss court ruling that impedes the Internal Revenue Service’s ability to collect data on 4,450 UBS AG accounts may prompt the U.S. to revive a lawsuit that shaped the IRS crackdown on offshore tax evasion.


• India Hit by Record Low `Buys' as Subbarao Poised to Raise Interest Rates Investment strategists are cutting recommendations on India at a record pace after the country’s stocks surpassed China as the most expensive major emerging market for the first time since 2006.


• Obama Bank Restrictions May Fail to Shield U.S. Financial System From Risk President Barack Obama’s proposal to impose limits on commercial banks may win him support on Main Street and shake up Wall Street without doing much to make the financial system safer overall.


• Obama Bank Plan Impact Hinges on How Regulators Define Proprietary Trades President Obama’s plan to curb risk- taking by banks hinges on how rigidly regulators define proprietary trading at firms such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.


• Apple Said to Talk With McGraw-Hill, Hachette on Textbooks Plan for Tablet Apple Inc. has held talks with Hearst Corp., McGraw-Hill Cos. and Hachette Book Group about putting their publications on its tablet computer, according to people familiar with the discussions.


• Princeton Surge Beats Harvard, Yale as Applications Soar During Recession Harvard University and Princeton University received a record number of freshman applications as the recession drove more students to boost future job prospects by seeking admission to the top-ranked educational institutions in the U.S.


• Billionaire Nilekani Makes Biometric Bet to Spread Growth to India's Poor Corrupt officials in the Indian state of Bihar steal a third of laborer Balram Singh’s $2.20 daily wage, withdrawing money from his post office account without providing proof of identity.

Bloomberg Daily News 25th January 2010

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Obama Bank Restrictions May Fail to Shield U.S. Financial System From Risk President Barack Obama’s proposal to impose limits on commercial banks may win him support on Main Street and shake up Wall Street without doing much to make the financial system safer overall.


• Obama Bank Plan Impact Hinges on How Regulators Define Proprietary Trades President Obama’s plan to curb risk- taking by banks hinges on how rigidly regulators define proprietary trading at firms such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.


• Billionaire Nilekani Makes Biometric Bet to Spread Growth to India's Poor Corrupt officials in the Indian state of Bihar steal a third of laborer Balram Singh’s $2.20 daily wage, withdrawing money from his post office account without providing proof of identity.


• Homebuilders Turn to Private Equity for Financing as Bank Lending Dries Up More than 40 U.S. homebuilders have teamed up with private equity firms to acquire and complete unfinished subdivisions as banks cut construction lending.


• Buffett Rewards Flowers, Berkowitz Pricing Symetra Financial at a Premium Billionaire Warren Buffett is helping two of the world’s most successful investors increase their profits by forgoing instant earnings for himself in the first initial public offering of a U.S. life insurer since 2004.


• Hershey Said to Abandon Plan for Cadbury Bid After Kraft's Offer Accepted Hershey Co. abandoned a plan to bid for Cadbury Plc after the U.K. confectioner accepted Kraft Foods Inc.’s 11.9 billion-pound ($19.3 billion) offer, according to people familiar with the matter.


• NBC Said to Tell Comcast of Jay Leno Rating Troubles Before Reaching Deal NBC told Comcast Corp. in November that Jay Leno’s ratings had hurt local stations, one of the factors that weighed on the value of the entertainment company, according to people with knowledge of the situation.


• Pinera's 101% Axxion Rally `Smells Bad' After Chile Election, Sparks Probe The four-day rally that sent shares of Chilean holding company Axxion SA up more than 100 percent since billionaire owner Sebastian Pinera’s presidential election has sparked a regulator’s probe and reignited criticism of his refusal to sell his investment before the vote.


• `Tommy Supreme' Is Real-Life Poker-Playing Lawyer in High Court TV Drama Tom Goldstein has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of shoppers who overpaid for vitamins, fellow lawyers facing court sanctions and disabled passengers unhappy with their treatment on cruises.

Bloomberg Daily News 22nd January 2010

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Hedge Funds Hold $77 Billion of Cash `Hostage' After Best Year in a Decade Hedge funds’ best year in a decade is giving little comfort to Jason D. Papastavrou.


• Rosenfeld's Cadbury Purchase May Top Nabisco in Kraft's Dealmaking Legacy Irene Rosenfeld’s almost five-month fight to acquire Cadbury Plc may be a more important victory for Kraft Foods Inc. than the merger with Nabisco Holdings Corp. that helped form the U.S. foodmaker.


• Apple Said to Talk With Microsoft About Replacing Google Search on IPhone Apple Inc. is in talks with Microsoft Corp. to replace Google Inc. as the default search engine on the iPhone, according to two people familiar with the matter.


• Billionaire Wildcatter Moncrief Taps Latest Gusher Beneath Old Gulf Fields William “Tex” Moncrief, the billionaire wildcatter and scion of one of the founding families of the Texas oil industry, is betting the key to finding new gushers is to go deeper than anyone has gone before.


• FARC Terrorists' Cocaine Sales to Mexico Cartels Prove Too Rich to Subdue Mexican drug cartels are getting cocaine from Colombia’s biggest guerrilla group in a deal that increases the security threat to both nations, according to a document captured by Colombian military intelligence and to a government official in that country.


• Ivy Leaguers' Class for Poor Becomes `Platinum' U.S. Charter School Brand In 1993, Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin were recent Ivy League graduates teaching fifth graders in Houston’s inner city. The students were as much as two academic years behind their middle-class peers.


• Cisco Looks at 100 Companies for Every One It Buys, Executive Carmel Says Cisco Systems Inc. plans to keep up the pace of acquisitions in 2010 and looks at 100 companies for every purchase it decides to make, said Charles Carmel, vice president of corporate development.


• Airlines May Face Higher Security Fee as U.S. Responds to Terror Attempt Added safety measures after last month’s failed attempt to blow up a jetliner may make it harder for U.S. airlines to thwart a security-fee increase the Obama administration has been seeking.


• Brazil IPO Filings May Surge to 10 This Quarter, Shearman & Sterling Says Brazil companies may file as many as 10 requests for initial public offerings this quarter, according to Shearman & Sterling LLP, a New York-based law firm involved in about half the IPOs in Latin America’s biggest stock market.

Bloomberg Daily News 21st January 2010

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• No Pimco New Normal on Wall Street as Economists Dismiss El-Erian Forecast “New normal” may not be the new norm after all.


• Henry Ford Raising Wages May Give China Tips on Creating Worker Prosperity “Little” Xie says he wants to own one of the autos he helps build at Ford Motor Co.’s assembly plant in the Yangtze River city of Chongqing. With his mortgage payment taking about 60 percent of his 2,000 yuan monthly pay, that won’t happen soon.


• Pinera Eschews Pinochet Terror While Embracing Chile Dictator's Economists On June 18, Chilean billionaire Sebastian Pinera became convinced he’d win the presidency of the South American country.


• Apollo Shares Suffering New York Snub Amid SEC Probe of For-Profit Phoenix Apollo Group Inc., whose for-profit University of Phoenix is among the largest colleges in the U.S. with campuses in 29 of the 30 most populous states, faces one long-standing obstacle to staking its claim as the future of higher education: New York.


• `Massively' Cheap Mexican Peso Spurs Aberdeen, Pimco to Forecast Increases Mexico’s peso is winning over the world’s largest foreign-exchange traders as the economic recovery in the neighboring U.S. boosts the value of one of the cheapest currencies in emerging markets.


• Boeing Has $10 Billion of Orders From Japan Airlines, More Than Disclosed Kraft Foods Inc.’s takeover of Cadbury Plc seals the legacy of Bruce Wasserstein, the veteran dealmaker who died a month after Kraft Chief Executive Officer Irene Rosenfeld made her first bid in September.


• NATO to Rebuff Russia Proposal for Separate Security Treaty, Officials Say NATO is likely to rebuff a Russian proposal for a bilateral security treaty, seeing it as a ploy to regain lost influence over eastern Europe, four allied officials said.


• Nestle Targets Malnutrition in Elderly to Fight Danone's Nutrition Gains Nestle SA will begin selling drinks to fight malnutrition among the elderly in an effort to revive its nutrition business, which has trailed sales and profit forecasts every year since they were set in 2006.


• Iceland Credit Risk Rises `Considerably' If Bailout Loan Shelved, S&P Says Iceland’s credit risk may rise “considerably” as the island faces the threat of a shelved emergency bailout and a government collapse, Standard & Poor’s said.


• Vale Grabbing Market Share From BHP, Rio Tinto as Chinese Ore Demand Rises Vale SA, the world’s biggest iron- ore miner, may win back market share from rivals BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group because it can boost exports faster as demand for the steelmaking raw material surges to a record.


• Portugal Debates Knocking Down Soccer Stadiums to Reduce Public Expenses Portuguese cities are under pressure to demolish stadiums built for the 2004 European soccer championships as the government prepares to rein in a widening deficit.


• Aozora's Prince Says Fixing Shinsei Merger `Disagreements' Trumps Deadline Aozora Bank Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Brian Prince said “areas of disagreement” have arisen in merger talks with Shinsei Bank Ltd. and getting the right deal trumps an October deadline for completing the transaction.

Bloomberg Daily News 20th January 2010

Hollingsworth Daily Post

JPMorgan Profit Rises on Investment-Banking Fees

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the second- largest U.S. bank, said fourth-quarter profit more than quadrupled on higher revenue from investment-banking fees. Shares of the company fell as the retail bank posted a loss and credit provisions increased.

Wall Street May Reduce Compensation Costs to Avoid More Outcry

Wall Street firms, facing pressure from lawmakers and shareholders to rein in pay, may report smaller bonus pools because of lower fourth-quarter revenue and mounting public outrage, analysts say.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s investment bank may hand out $27.6 billion in bonuses, according to analysts’ estimates. While that’s 49 percent higher than a year ago and more than the previous high of $26.8 billion in 2007, it’s less than some analysts expected in October.

Haiti’s Airport Overwhelmed Amid Fears for Quake Survivors

Rescuers from around the world overwhelmed Haiti’s only international airport amid fears aid isn’t reaching survivors of the Jan. 12 earthquake that the country’s Red Cross says may have killed 50,000 people.
With little time left to find those still buried in the rubble, rescue teams were stuck at the Port-au-Prince airport and civilian relief flights couldn’t land after its ramps filled with craft, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said in a notice. The airport also lacked fuel for planes to fly home.

January 15 (Bloomberg) - Source

Daily Post

Haiti quake survivors spend second night in streets

Twenty-four hours after the earthquake, and we flew into Port-au-Prince. Just along the tarmac we found some aid trickling in. The airport buildings here have been damaged but not, it seems, the runway.
Many of those who can, are leaving. Millions, though, are left behind in a country that can barely function, even without a disaster.
Many of the UN peacekeepers stationed here are among the dead. This country - so often forgotten by the world - now needs its help more than ever.

Source - BBC - News 14/01/2010

Financial News

Emerging Markets

Emerging-Market Stock Rally May Match 40% Increase in Profits, Fortis Says Emerging-market corporate profits may rise as much as 40 percent this year, and it’s “reasonable” for stocks to post similar gains, according to Fortis Investments said.

India Overtakes China as Biggest Palm Oil Buyer on Rising Incomes, Demand India surpassed China as the world’s biggest buyer of palm oil as rising incomes increased demand for fried and processed foods and drought reduced domestic cooking oil production, according to a processor group.

China's Stock Declines Offer `Buying Opportunities,' Goldman Sachs Says Chinese stock declines spurred by tighter lending restrictions may be “short-lived” and offer investors buying opportunities in the world’s fastest growing major economy, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said.

Brazil's Tax Ministry Said to Probe Hyundai Car Imports Over Tax Evasion Brazil’s tax agency is investigating Hyundai Motor Co. imports to determine whether the South Korean automaker’s distributor in the country is evading taxes, a government official familiar with the inquiry said.

Philippine Stock Exchange's Longest-Serving CEO Lim Quits on Health Advice Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Francis Lim said he will step down next month as doctors had advised him to “lay low” since treatment on coronary arteries in 2006.

Source - Bloomberg - 14/01/2001

Hollingsworth Daily Post

Dubai's First Foreclosure Opens Floodgates in World's Worst Housing Market Dubai’s housing rout sent prices down 52 percent in the past year, prompting some homeowners to abandon their cars and mortgage payments and flee the country. Not one received a foreclosure notice.Daimler's Smart Car Proves Not So Clever as BMW Mini in Size-Obsessed U.S. Daimler AG’s two-year effort to win over U.S. drivers with a thrifty, plastic-clad minicar is running out of steam, adding urgency to the German automaker’s effort to find a partner for the Smart brand.Census May Jump-Start U.S. Jobs Rebound With 1.2 Million Temporary Workers The 2010 census couldn’t have come at a better time for the U.S. economy.London's Investment Banks Double Pay to Lure Back Talent From Small Firms London’s investment banks are luring back traders and analysts they lost to brokerage firms during the credit crisis, compensating for lower bonuses by as much as doubling base salaries.Kraft-Cadbury Takeover's Failure Would Test the Future of Contending CEOs Kraft Foods Inc. Chief Executive Officer Irene Rosenfeld and Cadbury Plc CEO Todd Stitzer disagree on the merits of merging their companies. They’ll both need to prove themselves if the deal falls through.Turner's Plan to Curb `Socially Useless' Trades Makes U.K. Bankers See Red Sitting in his London office, Adair Turner is a study in gray eminence. A charcoal wool suit complements his silver fringe of hair, and he’s framed by a window that looks out to a leaden winter sky punctured by steely skyscrapers. The towers are home to Barclays Plc, HSBC Holdings Plc and other lenders Turner watches over as chairman of the U.K. Financial Services Authority, Britain’s financial regulator.Yahoo's Bartz Gives Herself a B-Minus After Not Moving Fast Enough as CEO Carol Bartz gives herself a B-minus in her first year as chief executive officer of Yahoo! Inc., saying she could have moved faster to reorganize the company and strike a Web-search agreement with Microsoft Corp.GM Meeting Whitacre Profit Goal Means Boosting Sales of `Critical' Sedans General Motors Co. is cutting prices and reworking ads to revive sales of two sedans that executives consider vital to meeting Chairman Ed Whitacre’s goal for a 2010 profit.British Election Pits Brown's Rhododendrons Against Cameron's Wellington While Prime Minister Gordon Brown and opposition leader David Cameron clash on how to revive the economy, the first overhaul after this year’s British election may be more about fine art than finance.Spending Bonus Cash Becomes Risky for Executives as Clawback Rules Spread Many U.S. executives opening their 2009 bonus envelopes will find something extra this year: more conditions on whether they can keep their money or stock.Iceland President Grimsson Attacks Fitch for Cutting Credit Rating to Junk Iceland President Olafur R. Grimsson struck out at Fitch Ratings after the service cut the nation’s sovereign grade to junk following his decision to block a U.K. and Dutch depositor bill.

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Greece Faces Budget Credibility Test as EU's Officials Swoop Into Athens Greece’s plan to cut the European Union’s widest budget deficit faces a first credibility test today when EU officials arrive in Athens to scrutinize the government’s taxing and spending proposals.


• Asian Stocks Rise, Led by Carmakers, Banks; Copper Gains, Bond Risk Falls Asian stocks advanced, the risk of defaults in the region fell and copper rose to the highest level in more than 16 months on signs the global economy is improving. The euro weakened on concerns about support for Greece.


• Sumitomo Mitsui Financial to Raise $9.6 Billion Through Sale of New Shares Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., Japan’s second-biggest bank by market value, said it may raise as much as 889 billion yen ($9.6 billion) in its second share sale since July to bolster capital.


• Hershey Board Members Are Said to Be Divided on Cadbury Bid to Rival Kraft Hershey Co.’s executives and board members are divided on whether to make a bid for Cadbury Plc and have yet to arrange financing for an offer, according to people with knowledge of the matter.


• Palm's Biggest Investor Stays on `Marathon' Course as Apple Rivalry Mounts Palm Inc.’s biggest shareholder, Elevation Partners LP, plans to hang on to its stake, saying the maker of the Pre can challenge Apple Inc. and Google Inc. in the smartphone market.


• GMAC May Post $10 Billion Annual Loss After Taxpayers Take Majority Stake GMAC Inc., the auto and home lender that became majority-owned by the U.S. government last week after a third bailout, may post a loss of more than $10 billion for 2009 as more borrowers defaulted on mortgages.


• Hatoyama Urges Japan Finance Minister Fujii Not to Quit on Health Grounds Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama urged ailing Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii to stay in his post, declining to confirm reports Fujii will step down because of deteriorating health.


• Winter Weather Delays Flights, Threatens Crops From Florida to North China Crude oil traded near its highest level in 14 months, citrus growers in Florida fought to protect their crops and Beijing had its coldest morning for almost four decades as winter weather gripped China, Europe and the U.S.


• Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd Said to Not Seek Re-election in Fall Senator Christopher Dodd, a five-term Connecticut Democrat trailing in the polls, will not run for re-election in November, according to a Congressional aide familiar with the matter.


• Democrats Open to Raising Medicare Tax on High Earners to Fund Health Bill The U.S. House may accept a plan to increase Medicare payroll taxes on high-salary earners as a compromise to help get a health-care overhaul through Congress, top Democratic lawmakers said.

Bloomberg Daily News 6th January 2010

Hollingsworth Daily Post

• Tepper Turns Panic Into Profits With $6.5 Billion Gain Leading Hedge Funds David Tepper often throws a $20 bill on the floor when he’s weighing a big investment with analysts at Appaloosa Management LP.


• Silicon Valley's Worst Office Glut in 5 Years Means Real-Estate Bloodbath Silicon Valley is beset by the biggest office property glut since the dot-com bust, leaving the U.S. technology hub with empty high-rises and office parks that make it impossible for landlords to sustain average rents.


• Credit Suisse Courts Indonesia's Rich as Yudhoyono Economy Trumps Karaoke Sandiaga Uno, the second-youngest man on Forbes’s Indonesia rich list, says private bankers inundate him with investment pitches and have offered everything from wine-tasting and concerts to karaoke evenings and gambling trips to Macau to solicit his business.


• Palm's Pre, Pixi Are Said to Be Debuting on Verizon's Network This Month Palm Inc.’s Pre and Pixi will be offered this month by Verizon Wireless, the second U.S. wireless carrier to sell the devices, according to a person familiar with the matter.


• Brevan Howard Founding Partner Blochet Will Join Moore Capital as Manager Moore Capital Management LP, the $14 billion hedge-fund firm run by Louis Moore Bacon, hired Jean- Philippe Blochet, a founding partner of Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP, as a senior portfolio manager based in London.


• George Jiang Digs In Heels to Produce Asia's Best-Performing Hedge Fund It has been a roller-coaster two years for the Golden China fund, a hedge fund run by Shanghai- based Greenwoods Asset Management Ltd.


• Geithner Finds No Good Deed Unpunished as Banks Seek Profits From Bailouts To understand the meaning of no good deed goes unpunished, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner can look no further than Wall Street where the banks that received the biggest taxpayer bailouts are seeking to reap trading profits from securities rescued by the government.


• Cornering Rajaratnam Rekindles Dennis Levine in Taking Down Drexel Burnham Days after he was arrested in an insider-trading probe in 1986, investment banker Dennis Levine sequestered himself at his lawyer’s New York office to read the government’s evidence. As he finished, he gazed out a window some 30 floors up, silently urging himself to open it and jump. He didn’t.


• Housing Animal Spirits Set to Be Banished as U.S. Prime Foreclosures Mount Homeowners with the best credit are the next big risk for the U.S. housing market.


• Believing Barclays Means Minimum 8% in Dollar-Yen Trade as Japan Retreats For clues to why the dollar is gaining strength after its worst year since 2007, look no further than Japan.


• Commodities Back to Economic Euphoria as Top Gurus Eschew Financial Assets Raw materials may return more than financial assets for the first time in three years as the global economy rebounds, according to Bloomberg surveys and 2009’s most accurate commodity forecasters.


• Stocks Beat 30-Year Treasuries in Record Win on Economy: Chart of the Day Blackstone Group LP’s Byron Wien, who correctly predicted rallies in equities, gold and oil last year, said U.S. gross domestic product will expand almost twice as fast as economists forecast in 2010 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index ends the year unchanged.


• China Regulator Said to Plan to Introduce Index Futures as Early as March China’s securities regulator may introduce futures contracts on the country’s stock indexes as early as March, an official with knowledge of the matter said.


• Japan Return to 1991 GDP Gives Credit Markets Hatoyama's Mega Risk Crisis Japan’s Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, swept to power by a public seeking an end to economic and political stagnation, is failing to arrest the nation’s decline.


• China's Property Bubble May Foreshadow a U.S.-Style Slump in Real Estate Li Nan has real estate fever. A 27- year-old steel trader at China Minmetals, a state-owned commodities company, Li lives with his parents in a cramped 700- square-foot apartment in west Beijing.

Bloomberg Daily News 5th January 2010