Posts for 'Others' Category

As it was highly anticipated, the Reserve Bank  of Australia left the target cash rate unchanged at 4.5% at its Tuesday meeting. The statement by the Governor Glenn Stevens cites the uneven global growth, European sovereign debt issues, moderate growth in China and strains in US labor market as few of the reasons behind the decision.

While it points out that higher terms of trade will increase domestic income and demand, and the housing market keeps growing modestly, the language is still very cautious, and it seems that RBA will leave the cash rate unchanged at August meeting as well.

The report also states that the CPI is expected to be a little above 3% in the near term because of higher tobacco taxes and utility prices. Investors will now watch closely the CPI number before the next RBA meeting, as a significantly higher than forecasted inflation number could still result in an immediate rate hike.

Read the complete story

The yen traded near a five-week high against the dollar as signs the global economic recovery is slowing boosted demand for Japan’s currency as a refuge. The yen was also close to a two-week high against the euro as reports showed Japan’s industrial production fell while.

Its jobless rate rose. A report due today is forecast to show U.S. consumer confidence declined. The euro traded near the lowest level since November 2008 against the pound on speculation European banks will have to borrow at higher interest rates when they roll over loans that expire this week.

“As economic data worsens I’m not sure if policymakers will be able to strike a balance between economic growth and austerity,” said Kazuyuki Kato, treasury department manager in Tokyo at Mizuho Trust & Banking Co., a unit of Japan’s second- largest publicly traded lender by assets. “The bias is for the yen to advance.”

Read the complete story

Stocks to watch on the Australian stock exchange at close: BEN - BENDIGO AND ADELAIDE BANK LTD - up nine cents to $9.87 Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has followed the major banks and increased its variable home and business loans by 25 basis points. RIO - RIO TINTO LTD - up 53 cents to $74.40 BHP - BHP BILLTION LTD - up 61 cents to $42.28

Australian miners are set to benefit from a sharp jump in benchmark prices for iron ore as Chinese steel mills are reportedly ready to accept the increase. CTO - CITIGOLD CORPORATION LTD - up 0.7 cents to 9.8 cents Citigold Corporation's aim of hugely increasing production at its flagship project have been boosted, after it signed a non-binding development deal with a Chinese company.

Gold climbed to a record for a third day and crude oil advanced in New York as the dollar’s drop toward a two week-low prompted investors to buy commodities as a hedge against potential inflation.

Bullion is heading for a ninth annual gain as the Dollar Index, a six-currency gauge of the dollar’s value, has shed 6.5 percent this year.

Oil has gained 58 percent since the start of the year on concern that record government spending to combat the global recession will devalue currencies, spurring inflation.

Read the complete story

Two mornings a week, three Gastonia friends make a 50-mile round trip to a Charlotte plasma donation center to earn an extra $50 a week.“It makes a difference in income,” said Terry Stewart, a 49-year-old Gastonia man who was recently laid off. “I need the money.”

He and his friends Joanna Costner, 36, and Dana Rayfield, 37, pile into the car at 6:30 a.m. and grab breakfast to fortify themselves before donating at Talecris Plasma Resources. They arrive before 8 a.m. and join the 50 or so other donors waiting in a line. Donating blood plasma has long been popular among cash-strapped college students, but as the economy has soured, the practice has gained steam among folks who have lost jobs or income.

Read the complete story

Spanish bank Santander (NYSE: STD) has announced that it plans to offer a 15% stake in its publicly traded Brazilian unit - its largest operation in Latin America - and will be incorporating its insurance, brokerage and other subsidiaries.

Santander, which controls 97.9% of Santander Brasil's shares trading on São Paulo stock exchange Bovespa, will offer up to a 15% stake in new shares, CEO Alfredo Sáenz said during the bank's second quarter earnings presentation.

The CEO also upped the bank's estimate of Santander Brasil's synergies for 2009 -the "first year" in the merger of the unit with Banco Real, the former ABN Amro subsidiary that it got in an October 2007 deal - to 1.30bn reais (US$688mn) from a previous estimate of 800mn reais.

Read the complete story

Following in the footsteps of Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle, another e-book reader is set to get a wireless connection from a cellular carrier, letting it access books anywhere there's a signal.

AT&T Inc. planned to announce Wednesday that it will support an electronic book reading device due early next year from Plastic Logic Ltd., a Mountain View, Calif.-based startup based on British display technology.

It marks the second significant announcement of the week for Plastic Logic, which said Monday that Barnes & Noble Inc. will supply digital versions of books for its device.

Read the complete story

Few business customers look to Apple’s iPhone as the solution for the enterprise. Perhaps it’s the device’s popularity with teenagers. Perhaps it’s the device’s pedigree as a media player. Perhaps it’s because RIM exerts such power over the business community with its BlackBerry lineup, and the iPhone seems like it has more flash than substance.

Whatever the reason, the new Palm Pre smartphone (available now on Sprint) is seen as the strongest challenger yet to the iPhone crown. But make no mistake: it’s not the iPhone Palm executives want to dethrone.

Read the complete story

“As part of their agreement, every dime of new taxpayer money will be repaid before Fiat can take a majority ownership stake in Chrysler,” Obama said. The president called the company an “icon” of American auto industry, but said it had been too slow to adapt to future needs for efficiency. He said the bankruptcy would be “surgical” and hopefully conclude in 30 to 60 days.

"We simply cannot keep this company or any company afloat on an endless supply of tax dollars," Obama said. Obama applauded the United Auto Workers union and several big investment banks that agreed to sacrifices for the bankruptcy filing. But, he chastised a group of investment and hedge funds that “demanded twice the return” others were getting from the arrangement.

"They were hoping that everybody else would make sacrifices, and they would have to make none," Obama said. "Some demanded twice the return that other lenders were getting. I don't stand with them." Whether all of the agreements survive a short bankruptcy process remains to be seen, said Tom Lehman, a bankruptcy attorney with Tew Cardenas in Miami.

Read the complete story

As e-commerce matures, it's no longer enough to offer customers free shipping or the world's largest selection. More and more, Web retailers are looking to add a little razzle-dazzle to their sites. And they're using a range of new tools to help them spruce up online shopping with features like video, product customization and visual search.

One of the simplest ways to get shoppers to spend more time on a site is to add streaming video. As the costs of producing video drop, some 43% of U.S. online retailers plan to add it to their site over the coming year, according to a January survey conducted by Knowledge Marketing.

Web buyers increasingly expect it, too: Over the past holiday shopping season, the number of U.S. shoppers who watched retail videos increased by 40% over the year earlier, according to comScore Inc. Simon & Schuster Inc. decided to invest heavily in video when it relaunched its Web site in January.

Read the complete story