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An excerpt from physicist Lawrence M. Krauss?s new book explains why we are not the center of the universe
By Lawrence M. Krauss
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February 10, 2012?|
Image: COURTESY OF SIMON & SCHUSTER
[Editors' note: [...]
Whether you live in New York City or you are just visiting, quite possibly this is the most suitable time for you to feel like a million dollars. The skill of Licensed Masseuse, Eugene Woods, will be to eliminate the anxiety from your muscle groups so that you can feel health and wellness. Anxiety and [...]
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Enlarge Daniel S. Burnstein On the Prospect Park West bike lane, in Brooklyn. Daniel S. Burnstein On the Prospect Park West bike lane, in Brooklyn. When the weather?s good, Aaron Naparstek likes to pedal his two young kids to Hebrew school on a special Dutch-made bicycle. It has a big wooden box in the front [...]
The ?Occupy Wall Street? protesters ? also known as the ?99 percent? ? have struck a chord with at least a few members of an unexpected audience: America?s rich and privileged.
United under the banner ?We are the 1 percent: We stand with the 99 percent,? a band of entrepreneurs, trust fund babies, professionals [...]
Source: http://societyoffriendsglossary.jeremypinc.com/360/reversing-mother-nature-part-two-reference-education-center/
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LONDON ? The governor of the Bank of England says that Britain’s economy is likely to grow slowly this year in a “zigzag” pattern of quarterly gains and setbacks in output.
Introducing the Bank’s latest quarterly Inflation Report, Mervyn King said Wednesday that spending cuts and tight credit conditions at home and the weakness of major trading partners abroad is holding back growth.
The Inflation Report forecast growth of 1 percent in 2012 and 1.8 percent in 2013.
King added that inflation, currently 3.6 percent, is likely to fall to the official 2 percent target by the end of the year, and be below target for much of the following two years.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
LONDON (AP) ? Britain’s unemployment rate edged up to 8.4 percent in the last quarter of 2011, official figures showed Wednesday, as 48,000 people lost their jobs compared with the previous three-month period.
The Office for National Statistics said the unemployment rate has not been higher since 1995. It rose from 8.3 percent in the three months through September and was unchanged from the three months through November.
Wages excluding bonuses were up 2 percent, compared with 1.9 percent in the three months through November. Total pay including bonuses was up 2 percent, unchanged from the previous report.
Pay has increased slowly during a period when inflation shot as high as 5.2 percent in September. The latest data show inflation has dropped to 3.6 percent, and some analysts think it might drop to around 1 percent by the end of the year.
“The latest figures show some encouraging signs of stability despite the challenging economic climate,” said David Freud, the minister for welfare reform.
“However, we are not complacent. With more people in the labor market we know that competition for those jobs is tough and we will continue to make it our priority to find people work,” Freud added.
Vicky Redwood, chief U.K. economist at Capital Economics, noted that total employment rose by 60,000 in the last quarter of the year but that just kept pace with the growth of the work force.
“We continue to expect unemployment to rise much further in response to the weakness in the wider economy,” Redwood said.
Britain’s economy shrank by 0.2 percent in the last quarter of 2011, according to the statistics agency’s first estimate.
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120215/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_britain_economy
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BRUSSELS (Reuters) ? Consumer prices in the euro zone fell more than previously expected in December, the start of a retreat from a November peak that should give the European Central Bank more room to cut interest rates as the economy heads for recession.
Inflation in the 17 countries sharing the euro was 2.7 percent in December on an annual basis, revised down from an earlier estimate of 2.8 percent for the month, the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat said.
“The pressure is abating although the risks from energy are still there,” said Fabio Fois, an economist at Barclay’s Capital. “We think the ECB could bring rates as low as 0.5 percent in March,” he said.
The bank made two 25 basis points cuts after Mario Draghi took over as president in November before holding fire this month.
Many economists expect it to take rates below 1 percent for the first time ever in the coming months but comments by Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny published on Tuesday hinted that the bank was in no hurry to move again.
“We are all agreed that now the point is to allow these measures to take full effect. Only then will we take further decisions,” he told the Wall Street Journal’s German website.
“For the ECB ‘We never precommit’ always applies, but there are no plans whatsoever at the moment.”
Reuters’ latest polling of some 66 economists before the ECB met earlier this month suggested the bank will cut interest rates to a new record low of 0.75 percent in February or March.
Economists had expected euro zone inflation to remain at 2.8 percent in December.
IRAN EFFECT
Stripping out volatile energy prices, the main driver behind a 3 percent peak in the headline number in September, October and November, inflation was 1.9 percent.
Without energy and food, it was 1.6 percent.
That sits better with the ECB’s target of below, but close to 2 percent, which the Frankfurt-based bank judges to be right for price stability and a healthy economy.
The euro zone’s economy, however, is anything but. The bloc’s gross domestic product probably contracted in the fourth quarter of 2011 and is expected to do so again in the first quarter of 2012 – showing it has fallen into a recession.
The weakening economy and rising unemployment across the bloc are cutting demand for goods and with it pressuring retailers to reduce prices. That has offset continuing high prices for crude oil globally due to concerns about a supply disruption in Iran.
Oil futures rose on Monday after Saudi Arabia told its Gulf Arab neighbors not to make up any shortfall caused by an embargo on Iranian crude oil exports.
In the euro zone in December, fuels for transport, heating oil, gas and electricity had the biggest impact on inflation in December. Energy inflation was a massive 9.7 percent in the month, compared to December 2010, Eurostat said.
(Reporting by Robin Emmott; editing by Patrick Graham)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120117/bs_nm/us_eurozone_economy
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U.S. stock indexes rose in early trading Friday after 26 European nations agreed to consider tying their economies together more closely in hopes of preventing another debt crisis.
All 17 nations that use the euro will sign a treaty that allows a central European authority closer oversight of their budgets. Nine other EU nations are considering it. Britain is the sole holdout.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 79 points, or 0.7 percent, to 12,076 in the first 15 minutes of trading. DuPont limited the Dow’s gains, falling more than 6.6 percent after the company said it expects earnings this year will fall well short of Wall Street’s expectations.
Bank stocks led the market higher. Morgan Stanley jumped 5.4 percent, Citigroup Inc. rose 2.8 percent.
The S&P 500 rose 9 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,243. The Nasdaq rose 13, or 0.5 percent to 2,609.
The gains were broad. Of the S&P’s 10 industry groups, only materials companies fell.
Earlier, stocks rose in Europe, though they were off their daily peaks. Germany’s DAX rose 1.29 percent, France’s CAC 40 1.4 percent.
Germany and France, the two biggest economies in the euro zone, had hoped to persuade all 27 members of the European Union to change an EU treaty and impose tight fiscal rules on its members. Britain refused to join in because it wanted to be exempt from proposed financial rules.
Many think the only path out of the debt crisis is a more active role by the European Central Bank, which could buy up more government debt to keep nations’ borrowing costs down. It currently buys bonds in the markets, but only reluctantly, and in small quantities.
On Thursday the European Central Bank’s president Mario Draghi suggested he had no intention of increasing bond purchases after the bank delivered on market expectations to reduce its main interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 1 percent.
Draghi said he was surprised by some interpretations of his comments last week that “additional steps” would be taken if the 17 countries that use the euro agreed to closer budget controls. Germany and France have proposed a plan on closer fiscal unity that will dominate debate at the EU summit of leaders, which starts later Thursday.
Earlier in Asia, stocks declined as traders responded to the deal with caution. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down 1.5 percent, South Korea’s Kospi sank 2 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.7 percent.
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Daniel Wagner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/wagnerreports
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111209/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/us_wall_street
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ROME (Reuters) ? Prime Minister Mario Monti faces a testing week seeking to shore up Italy’s strained public finances, with an IMF mission expected in Rome and market pressure building to a point where outside help may be needed to stem a full-scale debt emergency.
Monti is expected to unveil measures on December 5 that could include a revamped housing tax, a rise in sales tax and accelerated increases in the pension age. But pressure from the markets could force him to act more quickly.
One source with knowledge of the matter said contacts between the International Monetary Fund and Rome had intensified in recent days as concern has grown that German opposition to an expanded role for the European Central Bank could leave Italy without a financial backstop if one were needed.
The source said it was unclear what form of support could be offered, such as a traditional standby arrangement or a precautionary credit line, if a market selloff Monday forced immediate action.
The IMF inspection team is expected to visit Rome in the coming days but no date has been announced.
An unsourced report in Italian daily La Stampa said up to 600 billion euros could be made available at a rate of between 4-5 percent to give Italy breathing space for 18 months.
Such a sum would be beyond the IMF’s current capacity and would need new measures such as the issue of new special drawing rights (SDRs) or intervention by the ECB, it said.
The Fund’s total lending capacity is currently around $400 billion.
The IMF declined to comment on any moves to provide financial support, and official sources in Rome said they were unaware of any request for assistance from Italy, which has over 185 billion euros of bonds falling due between December and the end of April.
Italy’s borrowing costs have returned to the dangerous levels that triggered the collapse of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right government, with yields on 10 year bonds ending last week at more than 7.3 percent.
Italian yields are now in the territory that forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek international bailouts and an auction Tuesday of up to 8 billion euros of BTP bonds will be a crucial test.
Friday, Italy paid a euro lifetime high yield of 6.5 percent to sell new six-month paper, a level which analysts said cannot be maintained for long without pushing a public debt amounting to 120 percent of gross domestic product out of control.
Italy, the euro zone’s third biggest economy, would be far too big for existing bailout mechanisms and default on its 1.8 trillion euro debt would cause a banking and financial crisis that would probably destroy the single currency.
Monti outlined the broad thrust of his reform plans earlier this month, promising a mix of budget rigour and reforms to stimulate economic growth, and has stuck to Berlusconi’s pledge to balance the budget by 2013.
But with growing signs that Italy’s chronically sluggish economy could be entering recession, he has come under pressure to provide concrete details quickly.
PRESSURE
The measures outlined so far are broadly in line with directions previously given by the ECB, but there have been no detailed discussions with international bodies on the kinds of conditions normally attached to IMF assistance programs.
As well as loosening job protection measures, privatising local services and opening up professions to more competition, additional budget measures estimated by Italian media at up to 15 billion euros could be announced.
Monti can take some comfort from surveys showing broad popular support for his technocrat government, but austerity measures have yet to bite deeply and surveys also show a mixed picture on individual austerity measures.
On pensions, the government is expected to bring forward an already-planned increase in retirement ages, with a wider reform possible in the coming weeks.
Monti may reintroduce a housing tax that was scrapped by Berlusconi in a last-minute campaign pledge before the 2008 election. The move cost the Treasury an estimated 3.5 billion euros a year.
Other ideas under consideration include raising the value-added tax band in bars and restaurants, which currently stands at 10 percent.
(Additional reporting by Gavin Jones and Steve Scherer and Lesley Wroughton in Washington; Editing by David Stamp and Alessandra Rizzo)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111127/bs_nm/us_italy
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Metals prices fell sharply Thursday on fears that Europe’s spreading financial crisis will slow the fragile U.S economic recovery.
Traders were worried that a spiraling financial crisis in Italy, Spain and France could hurt U.S. banks. If that happens, it could slow growth and cut demand for industrial metals like copper and palladium. It would also slow inflation, which undermines demand for precious metals like gold and silver.
December palladium fell nearly 8 percent Thursday to close at $603.70 an ounce. January platinum fell 3 percent, to $1,581.10 an ounce. Copper for December delivery dropped 3 percent to close at $3.3825 per pound.
Gold for December delivery lost 3 percent, to settle at $1,720.20 per ounce. December silver fell nearly 7 percent to close at $31.497 an ounce
Traders began selling metals after Fitch Ratings warned late Wednesday that large U.S. banks could be hit hard if Europe’s debt crisis spreads. If that happens, it could the fragile U.S. economic recovery.
A weak economic recovery would mean that inflation won’t be very severe. That undermines demand for gold, said George Gero, vice president at RBC Global Futures in New York. Traders buy gold as a way to hedge against a weaker dollar.
Slow economic growth also cuts demand for industrial metals like copper and palladium, which are used as raw materials in the world’s factories.
On Thursday, traders moved money into cash and other safe investments. Kitco Metals Inc. analyst Jon Nadler summarized the bleak mood in note to clients:
“Sell everything. Run to cash. Hide. Take cover,” he wrote.
Even grain and soybean prices fell steeply as hedge funds and other investors sold. A tepid economy would cut demand for food and crop-based fuels like ethanol.
Corn for December delivery fell 28.25 cents, or 4 percent, to settle at $6.145 per bushel. December soybeans lost 19.5 cents, or nearly 2 percent, to $11.6825 a bushel. December wheat fell 24.25 cents, or nearly 4 percent, to finish at $5.925 per bushel.
In energy trading, oil prices fell below the $100 per barrel mark after hitting it Wednesday for the first time since July.
Benchmark crude oil plunged $3.77, or nearly 4 percent, to end at $98.82 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Heating oil lost 5.14 cents to finish at $3.0832 per gallon. Gasoline futures fell 12.02 cents, or nearly 5 percent, to close at $2.5071 per gallon and natural gas rose 6.3 cents to close at $3.546 per 1,000 cubic feet.
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Find Christopher Leonard on Twitter at http://twitter.com/cleonardnews
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111117/ap_on_bi_ge/us_commodities_review
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NEW YORK ? The stock market fell Monday after a jump in Italy’s borrowing costs reminded investors of how much work remains to be done to contain Europe’s debt problems.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost nearly 75 points. Bank stocks fell the most. European markets also fell and the euro weakened against the dollar.
Major indexes closed higher last week as Greece and Italy moved to form new governments and took other decisive steps to get their debt troubles under control. However worrisome signs re-emerged Monday.
The Italian government had to pay 6.29 percent at an auction of five-year bonds, the highest rate since since 1997. Italy paid a much lower rate of 5.32 percent at a similar auction last month. That’s a sign investors are still concerned about Italy’s ability to repay its debts. Stocks tanked last Wednesday after key Italian borrowing rates jumped above 7 percent, a level widely seen as unsustainable.
Also Italy’s biggest bank, Unicredit, reported a $14.4 billion loss.
“The problems these countries are dealing with go well beyond their prime ministers,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at the brokerage BTIG. “Italy didn’t get where it is in five minutes. And it’s not going to get out of where it is in five minutes. This is going to take months.”
The Dow fell 74.70 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 12,078.98. Bank of America Corp. fell 2.6 percent and JPMorgan Chase & Co. fell 2.2 percent, the largest drops among the 30 large companies in the Dow.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 12.06 points, or 1 percent, to 1,251.79. The Nasdaq composite index fell 21.53, or 0.8 percent, to 2,657.22.
Three stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was very light at 3 billion shares.
Stocks have risen since early October on encouraging signs of progress in containing Europe’s debt crisis, stronger U.S. corporate earnings and better news on the U.S. economy. The S&P 500 has soared 13.7 percent since hitting its low for the year on Oct. 3.
That surge has drawn big investors back into the stock market and opened the door to a long line of companies waiting to go public. The flow of money from institutions into U.S. stock funds hit $7.3 billion last week, the third largest tally this year, according to fund tracker EPFR Global.
Angie’s List, a customer review website, Delphi Automotive and seven other companies are scheduled to go public this week. If they all wind up going through, it would be the biggest week for IPOs in four years, according to Renaissance Capital, an IPO advisory firm.
In corporate news, the airline Emirates placed an order for 50 Boeing 777s, one of the largest orders ever placed with the aircraft maker. Boeing Co. also picked up a new customer, Oman Air, which ordered six 787s. Boeing rose 1.5 percent.
J.C. Penney Co. fell 2.8 percent after reporting a quarterly loss. The department store operator said its results were weighed down by restructuring costs. The company also lowered its earnings outlook for the rest of the year.
Lowe’s Cos. rose 1.7 percent after the country’s second-largest home-improvement retailer reported revenue and earnings that beat analysts’ expectations.
The Dow has made gains in six of the past seven weeks, and is still up 1 percent for the month. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are slightly lower.
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111114/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/us_wall_street
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BANGKOK ? Asian stocks rose sharply Monday after Japan’s economy grew for the first time in four quarters and Europe moved closer to resolving a debt crisis that threatens to hurl the region into recession.
Benchmark oil hovered near $99 per barrel while the dollar gained against the euro but fell against the yen.
The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo added 1.1 percent to 8,603.70. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 2.2 percent to 19,564.67 and South Korea’s Kospi climbed 2.1 percent to 1,902.81
Benchmarks in Singapore, Australia, and mainland China were also higher.
Hopeful signs emerged over the weekend from Europe after Silvio Berlusconi reluctantly bowed to market pressure and resigned as Italy’s premier. His successor, economist Mario Monti, faces the monumental task of enacting profound reforms aimed at preventing Italy from defaulting on its huge debts.
Unlike Greece, Portugal and Ireland ? which have received emergency financial help from international lenders ? Italy is considered much too big to bail out. Its next government must push through austerity measures to deal with euro1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion) in debt.
“There is a silver lining from the past two weeks of political uncertainties in Greece and Italy,” analysts at DBS Bank Ltd. in Singapore said in a report. “Both countries now have leaders who are not only closer to the European Union, but are also moving towards forming technocratic governments better suited to implement much needed reforms.”
Investment confidence was also boosted after Japan released data showing its economy ? sent into recession by a record earthquake ? had surged in the latest quarter. The economy jumped 6 percent, the first expansion for the world’s No. 3 economy in four quarters.
The surge comes as Japan claws its way out of a crisis stemming from an earthquake and tsunami that decimated factories across the country’s northeast on March 11.
Since then, the country has steadily restored its factories, helping the economy rebound despite the threats of a financial crisis in Europe, slowing global economy and a strong yen.
In Greece, there was good news Friday, as former central banker Lucas Papademos was sworn in as interim prime minister following a political crisis that jeopardized the country’s ability to continue receiving emergency loans.
Papademos must now get his government to agree to a debt deal that will net the country billions of euros in acutely needed rescue money ? provided that it enacts painful austerity measures including tax hikes and sharp cuts in public spending.
Without the rescue money, Greece’s faces insolvency and a massive default on its debts ? an event that experts believe could set off a banking crisis and eventually blow up into an all-out European recession.
But some analysts suggested Europe’s crisis was already beyond repair and that no realistic amount of budget-cutting or aid could revive Greece’s comatose economy or relieve Italy of the mountain of IOUs that it is sitting on.
“I am not very optimistic. All those who think the euro has stabilized or that Europe has stability, I think they are wrong,” said Tom Kaan of Louis Capital Markets in Hong Kong. “The risk is still very much out there.”
Rising energy prices helped lift resource shares. Hong Kong-listed China Coal Energy Co. rose 4 percent. China National Offshore Oil Corp. gained 3.3 percent.
High-tech shares also advanced. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing rose 3.3 percent and South Korea’s Hynix Semiconductor, the world’s second-largest memory chip maker, added 3.9 percent.
A resumption of service by bullet trains that had been recalled following a deadly crash in July sent Chinese rail shares bounding. Hong Kong-listed China Railway Group soared 7 percent and China Railway Construction Co. jumped 7.1 percent.
State-owned Xinhua news Agency quoted a Ministry of Railways official as saying that the trains have been repaired and would start entering service on Wednesday.
Still, plenty of uncertainty hangs over financial markets as traders await U.S. economic data. Reports on October retail sales, inflation and housing data are due this week, starting Tuesday.
Despite its 2.5 percent growth rate last quarter, the U.S. economy remains fragile. The Federal Reserve recently lowered its economic outlook for 2012. The central bank predicted that the economy will grow at a rate of about 2.7 percent next year. That is a full percentage point below a forecast from June, and below the 3 to 5 percent annual growth rate that is considered healthy.
On Wall Street, stocks surged Friday after Italy and Greece moved closer to getting their financial crises under control.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped or 2.2 percent to 12,153.68. The S&P 500 rose 1.9 percent to 1,263.85. The Nasdaq composite rose or 2 percent to 2,678.75.
Benchmark crude for December delivery was down 1 cent at $98.98 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.21 to settle at $98.99 in New York on Friday.
In currency trading, the euro rose to $1.3755 from $1.3747 late Friday in New York. The dollar fell to 77.14 yen from 77.17 yen.
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111114/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets
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BANGKOK ? World stock markets were mostly higher Friday following signs of progress in debt-plagued Europe ? a successful bond sale in Italy and the naming of a new leader in Greece.
Benchmark oil rose to $98 per barrel while the dollar slipped against the euro and the yen.
European shares posted gains in early trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.6 percent at 5,472.80. Germany’s DAX rose 0.9 percent at 5,919.99 while France’s CAC-40 added 0.8 percent to 3,087.77.
Wall Street was also poised for gains, with Dow Jones industrial futures 0.1 percent higher at 11,869 and S&P 500 futures rising 0.2 percent to 1,239.30.
The gains in Europe were in line with trading earlier in the day in Asia.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.2 percent to 8,514.47, a day after the index fell to a five-week closing low of 8,500.80.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.9 percent to 19,137.17 and South Korea’s Kospi added 2.8 percent to 1,863.45. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.2 percent to 4,296.50. Mainland China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose marginally to 2,481.08.
Investors were calmed by news that Greece ? which is struggling to pull back from the brink of bankruptcy ? had named Lucas Papademos, a respected economist, as its new prime minister on Thursday.
Another sign of stability came after Italy was able to borrow $6.8 billion at lower interest rates than analysts expected. On Wednesday, Italy’s 10-year bond yields shot up alarmingly, stoking panic in financial markets that the country was heading toward a Greece-style debt crisis.
Confidence was also boosted by the prospect of economist Mario Monti replacing Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, who has been viewed as an obstacle to meaningful economic reform.
“Europe still dominates and there are still huge concerns, but Greece has a new prime minister and Italy has a new prime minister in the wings, and everyone is much more aware of the seriousness of the nature of what is confronting Europe,” said Andrew Sullivan, principal sales trader at Piper Jaffray in Hong Kong.
Traders have fretted that debt troubles in Italy and Greece could blow up into a massive liquidity crisis and lead to a global financial meltdown.
The European Union warned Thursday that the grouping of 17 nations that use the euro common currency could slip back into recession next year. The European Commission predicted the euro countries will grow a barely perceptible 0.5 percent in 2012 ? much less than its earlier forecast of 1.8 percent.
Europe has already bailed out Greece, Portugal and Ireland ? but Italy is a much larger economy and its mountain of debt ? $2.6 trillion (euro1.9 trillion) ? is far too massive for the continent to cover.
Sullivan said economic data next week on the world’s No. 1 economy will be closely watched.
“If any of that data comes out bad, it’s probably going to put Asia into more of a downturn. If there’s bad data out of the U.S. and more out of Europe, we can see Asia taking another step down,” Sullivan said.
Hong Kong-based ERA Mining Machinery Ltd. shot up 19.7 percent after U.S.-based Caterpillar Inc. said it was seeking to buy the Chinese maker of mining machinery for as much as $886 million. ERA designs, builds, sells and supports equipment for underground coal mining in China.
In Seoul, technology shares jumped. LG Electronics gained 6.4 percent and Samsung Electronics was up 5.1 percent. Shares of SK Telecom Co., South Korea’s top mobile carrier, rose 3.1 percent after the company offered to buy a controlling stake in Hynix Semiconductor, Yonhap News Agency reported.
India’s privately owned Kingfisher Airlines dropped 12.7 percent after the carrier was forced to cancel dozens of flights as pilots and crew called in sick after their October salaries were delayed.
In New York on Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 1 percent to close at 11,893.86. It plunged 389 points Wednesday after Italy’s borrowing rates soared and talks in Greece to name a new prime minister broke down.
Positive economic data from the U.S. also boosted hopes that the world’s No. 1 economy would avoid a new recession.
The Labor Department reported that the number of people applying for unemployment benefits in the U.S. fell to 390,000 last week ? the fewest since April. The data suggested layoffs are easing and that the economy grew slightly better over the summer than estimated.
The S&P 500 index gained 0.9 percent to 1,239.70. The Nasdaq rose 0.1 percent to 2,625.15.
In currency trading, the euro rose to $1.3653 from $1.3581 late Thursday in New York. The dollar fell to 77.34 yen from 77.66 yen.
Benchmark oil was up 30 cents at $98.08 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $2.04, or 2.1 percent, to finish at $97.78 on Thursday.
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111111/ap_on_re_as/world_markets
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DUBAI (Reuters) ? Some of the over-large cash component of Libya’s $65-billion sovereign wealth fund will be put to work financing post-Gaddafi reconstruction, leaving time for a full review of its less liquid investments.
“I expect an immediate shrinkage of the size of the fund,” Rafik Nayed, acting chief executive of the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.
“My feeling is that there will be large investments required in the near future and international reserves will be used to do that, especially as the oil production has not fully recovered.”
He gave no details of how much of the fund would be used for infrastructure, education, health and rehabilitation projects. To access the cash — about $29.5 billion of the fund — Libya will need sanctions on its total foreign assets of $170 billion to be lifted.
“Cash and equities and fixed income products…make up about 77 percent of the total assets under management,” said the 43-year-old Nayed, who is leading a team of Libyan financial experts tasked by the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) with a review of the fund’s investments made under the Gaddafi regime.
“As at the end of June 2011, (the fund) was $64.9 billion,” he said. “We will come up with recommendations after our work with the World Bank and the IMF on the most ideal size for a Libyan sovereign wealth fund.”
According to end of June unaudited figures shown to Reuters by Nayed and his team, 45.5 percent of the fund is in cash.
The fund also includes, according to a document obtained by Reuters, $10.8 billion in equities, $9.7 billion in bonds, $8.3 billion in strategic shareholdings, $4 billion in hedge funds, structured products and derivatives, and the remainder in other investments.
This is the first time the LIA released detailed figures on its investments, in what Nayed described as a transparency drive by the new Libyan leaders to handle public funds.
Nayed said since the fund was created in 2006 to manage the country’s oil revenues, it has received $62.9 billion from the government.
“It is hard to imagine how you could make much more with half of your portfolio in cash, generating the lowest type of returns,” he said.
No investment decisions are expected to be made before a new management takes over. The fund’s board of directors and chairman would be appointed by the new cabinet, which has yet to be named.
Among LIA’s assets are stakes in Italian bank Unicredit, British publisher Pearson and Juventus Football Club in Italy.
AFRICA PORTFOLIO
There has been speculation that Libya will sell off its assets in the rest of Africa to help fund reconstruction but Nayed said no decision on divestment would be made until his team has finished their valuation exercise.
Nayed said that of $8.3 billion invested in strategic shareholdings, $5 billion sit in a fund known as Libyan African Investment Portfolio (LAP).
LAP Green Network, a telecom company operating in six African countries, is the fund’s weakest link, he said. Hit by UN sanctions, the nearly $1 billion investment is in default with some creditors and its assets are frozen by some countries, including Zambia.
“This one company is right now the top priority in terms of concern,” he said. “We do expect a haircut on it and we hope it can be minimized…I expect a loss here of at least 20 percent.”
Other Africa investments are doing better.
Nayed expected the Libya Africa Investment Company (LAFICO), which owns hotels in North Africa and Europe, to gain at least 50 percent of its $2 billion book value.
Another company in the fund he said was in good shape is Libya Oil, an African fuel retail company operating in 23 African countries.
“In totality, I expect this number ($8.3 billion) to remain pretty much the same,” he said.
ALTERNATIVES, EQUITIES
Almost 45 percent of the fund’s alternative investments are in structured products, 36 percent in hedge funds, 12 percent in private equity and 7 percent in derivatives, documents show.
“Between hedge funds and private equity it looks fine,” Nayed said. “But the structured products and the derivatives I believe are mostly not appropriate for a sovereign wealth fund with a long term horizon.”
Nayed said the fund’s equities holdings — around 20 percent in the energy sector — should be more diversified.
“The future management will probably rebalance the equities portfolio away from energy and away from Libya for diversification purposes.”
About 18 percent of equities are currently invested in the financial sector, and 15 percent in the industrial sector.
Nayed said he was working with the IMF and World Bank to ensure the fund is run in a transparent way.
(Editing by Sitaraman Shankar)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111110/wl_nm/us_libya_swf
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