Bloomberg:
- Confidence among U.S. consumers unexpectedly fell for a second month in October, reinforcing the views of Federal Reserve policy makers who say household spending will be restrained by rising unemployment. The Conference Board’s confidence index dropped to 47.7, trailing the lowest economist forecast, from a revised 53.4 in September, a report from the New York-based private research group showed today. A measure of employment availability slid to a 26-year low. The share of consumers who said jobs are plentiful dropped to 3.4 percent from 3.6 percent, according to today’s report from the Conference Board. The proportion of people who said jobs are hard to get increased to 49.6 percent, the highest level since May 1983, from 47 percent. Buying plans for automobiles, homes and major appliances within the next six months all decreased this month, today’s report showed. Consumers “remain quite pessimistic about their future earnings, a sentiment that will likely constrain spending during the holidays,” Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said in a statement.
- American International Group Inc.(AIG), the insurer bailed out by the US, is among companies that may have the ratings of mortgage-guaranty units cut by Standard & Poor’s on the prospect of further losses. “Conditions may have become more difficult for the mortgage insurers since we last conducted an extensive review of the sector in April,” analysts led by Ron Joas said today in a statement. “Mortgage insurers are experiencing a sharper and more rapid transition of delinquencies into prime books of business than we expected.” Old Republic International Corp., PMI Group Inc., Radian Group, Genworth Financial Inc. have units facing downgrades as does NY-based AIG’s United Guaranty, Joas said.
- Steel inventories held by large Chinese companies jumped 10 percent in the first nine months of the year, adding to evidence of rising oversupply in the world’s largest producer of the metal. Inventories held by the companies rose 660,000 metric tons to 7.2 million tons as of the end of September, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said today on its Web site, without identifying the companies. Traders at 24 major cities held 11.2 million tons of steel at the end of last month, up 290,000 tons from a month earlier, it said.
- The dollar and yen rose against most of their major counterparts after a report showed consumer confidence fell this month in the U.S., reducing demand for higher yields in other countries. The greenback advanced versus the euro for a third day in the longest stretch of gains since August on concern global growth will fail to justify the valuations assigned to stocks and commodities.
- Climate change legislation proposed in the U.S. Senate has revived a fight over the cost of combating global warming between coal-dependent states and those that get energy from cleaner sources. In a draft of a letter to the climate legislation’s sponsors, Senator Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, said the House and Senate bills put coal at a disadvantage and that he wants to revise how free pollution permits would be distributed.
- The euro will decline to the lowest level in three weeks versus the dollar after breaching a support level at $1.4845, according to Citigroup Inc. “A firm breach” of the level, where buy orders are clustered, would “open the way for a move down” to the 55-day moving average at $1.4578, technical analysts Tom Fitzpatrick and Shyam Devani wrote today.
- The stabilization in U.S. home prices won’t last, according to economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in New York. Their counterparts at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research see a “treat” rather than a retreat. “The risk of renewed home price declines remains significant,” Alec Phillips, an economist based in Goldman’s Washington office, said in an Oct. 23 note to clients. “Our working assumption is a further 5 percent to 10 percent decline by mid-2010.” “We should expect subdued home price appreciation over the next few years,” wrote Merrill Lynch’s Ethan Harris and Drew Matus on the same day.
Wall Street Journal:
- House lawmakers will propose a $20 billion fee on medical device makers, while Senate leaders have whittled down their plans to tax the industry to pay for the health overhaul. The Senate bill assembled by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) is expected to levy a fee of between $15 billion and $20 billion over a decade on device makers, according to an individual familiar with the plan. The plan passed by the Senate Finance Committee earlier this month called for a $40 billion tax over that time, based on the companies' market share. Details were still being worked out Monday. "They're in a complete panic," said one House aide. The House version of the fee doesn't remove the sting entirely, but it would whittle down and delay a financial hit the industry says will hurt product innovation.
- Technology companies are launching big advertising campaigns as they wager on a pickup in business spending and jockey to have their products stand apart in an environment where new customers are hard to find and competition is intensifying. Companies such as Google(GOOG) Inc. have recently embarked on major ad pushes. This month, Google rolled out globally an ad campaign to flag its Gmail service and Google Docs word processing and spreadsheets. It's an unusual move for the Internet giant, which has done little traditional advertising. On Thursday, Juniper Networks Inc., a maker of networking gear, is starting its first-ever global campaign to raise awareness of its brand. Its bigger rival Cisco Systems Inc. last week launched new radio, print and online campaigns promoting a line of products for small businesses and a new system for corporate computer rooms. The moves come as businesses and consumers start buying technology again, after cutting back on such purchases for most of the year.
- With critical-care specialists in short supply, remote monitoring offers a high-tech solution. Bleeding heavily after an emergency C-section last year, Jennifer Gale ended up in the intensive-care unit at Holmes Hospital in Melbourne, Fla. Throughout the night, the critical-care specialist on duty closely watched her vital signs, ordering additional units of blood until her condition stabilized. But the doctor wasn't at her bedside—or even in the hospital. Working from a command center in a nearby office building, he was remotely monitoring her and other patients in six intensive-care units in three different hospitals operated by Rockledge, Fla.-based health system Health First. The monitoring system, known as an eICU, uses two-way video cameras and software that tracks patients' vital signs and instantly registers any changes in lab test results or physical condition. That enables doctors in the command center to spot early warning signs that a patient is taking a turn for the worse, advise bedside staff on giving medications and treatments, and point out potential errors or oversights.
- Hedgies and other large speculators covered their short positions in copper last week. A good sign for the economy? Writing in BofA Merrill’s “Hedge Fund Monitor” research note, Mary Ann Bartels notes that “large speculators covered copper last week to a net long [positions of about $200 million in notional value] from a net short [position of about $100 million in notional value] previously.
MarketWatch.com:
- 7 hidden economic indicators to watch.
CNBC:
- The latest Consumer Reports survey of people who have bought more than 1.4 million vehicles, is further proof of the gulf between Ford(F) and its fellow Big 3 auto makers, GM and Chrysler. While Consumer Reports now lists Ford as being on par with Asian automakers, GM and Chrysler continue to struggle. Just compare the Consumer Reports numbers:
- Five Reasons US Retailers May Have Jollier Holiday This Year.
NY Times:
- Maurice R. Greenberg, who built the American International Group into an insurance behemoth with an impenetrable maze of on- and offshore companies, is at it again. Even as he has been lambasting the government for its handling of A.I.G. after its near collapse, Mr. Greenberg has been quietly building up a family of insurance companies that could compete with A.I.G. To fill the ranks of his venture, C.V. Starr & Company, he has been hiring some people he once employed.
zerohedge:
Washington Post:
- The nation's preeminent seniors group, AARP, has put the weight of its 40 million members behind health-care reform, saying many of the proposals will lower costs and increase the quality of care for older Americans. But not advertised in this lobbying campaign have been the group's substantial earnings from insurance royalties and the potential benefits that could come its way from many of the reform proposals. The group and its subsidiaries collected more than $650 million in royalties and other fees last year from the sale of insurance policies, credit cards and other products that carry the AARP name, accounting for the majority of its $1.14 billion in revenue, according to federal tax records. It does not directly sell insurance policies but lends its name to plans in exchange for a tax-exempt cut of the premiums. The organization, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons, also heavily markets the policies on its Web site, in mailings to its members and through ubiquitous advertising targeted at seniors. The group's dual role as an insurance reformer and a broker has come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks from congressional Republicans, who accuse it of having a conflict of interest in taking sides in the fierce debate over health insurance. Three House Republicans sent a letter to AARP on Monday complaining that the group was putting its "political self-interests" ahead of seniors.
- Republican Robert F. McDonnell carries a double-digit lead over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds in the final week of the campaign for Virginia governor, according to a new Washington Post poll. The Republican, briefly buffeted in the polls by voters' initial reaction to the publication of his 1989 graduate school thesis, has rebounded to big advantages on the top issues, particularly taxes, and is now seen as the more effective leader, more honest and more empathetic. McDonnell is also buoyed by support outside Northern Virginia, where he is outperforming all other top-of-the-ticket Republican candidates this decade. Statewide, McDonnell leads Deeds among likely voters by 55 to 44 percent.
LA Times:
Rassmussen:
Politico:
- It’s time for your close-up, Mr. President. Now that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has announced he’ll try to push through a health care reform bill with a public option, liberals are turning their focus — and their frustrations — on Barack Obama, the man who brought them to the outskirts of the progressive promise land. Even before Reid announced Monday that he would back a public option plan that would allow individual states to opt out of the controversial plan, progressives had begun to shift from pressuring legislative leaders to stiffening Obama’s spine on the issue. Democratic senators and House members didn’t need to shift their attention to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.: They have been grumbling for weeks that Obama needs to step up. “I hope the president speaks out strongly for the public option — this health care bill really becomes his at this point,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), one of about 30 Democrats who have pressured Reid to back the controversial option.
- Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday that he’d back a GOP filibuster of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s health care reform bill. Lieberman, who caucuses with Democrats and is positioning himself as a fiscal hawk on the issue, said he opposes any health care bill that includes a government-run insurance program — even if it includes a provision allowing states to opt out of the program, as Reid’s has said the Senate bill will. "We're trying to do too much at once," Lieberman said. “To put this government-created insurance company on top of everything else is just asking for trouble for the taxpayers, for the premium payers and for the national debt. I don’t think we need it now." Lieberman added that he’d vote against a public option plan “even with an opt-out because it still creates a whole new government entitlement program for which taxpayers will be on the line."
Reuters:
- U.S. regulators looking into high-frequency trading have asked the industry if
institutions are flocking to so-called dark pools and increasing market volatility, sources familiar with the SEC's line of questioning said on Monday. The Securities and Exchange Commission is not expected to release a discussion paper on high-frequency trading and other market developments being scrutinized by some lawmakers at least until December, the sources said. High-frequency trading now accounts for an estimated 50 percent to 70 percent of all U.S. equity trading and is growing fast in other regions and asset classes. In it, banks, hedge funds, and independent shops use ultra-quick algorithms to make markets and capitalize on tiny spreads and market imbalances. Some politicians and investors have raised concerns the practice, which effectively replaced traditional market-makers
over the last decade, creates a two-tiered market favoring the most sophisticated players.
- Chevron's(CVX) crude oil production in Angola will rise by a quarter in the next two years and it expects new discoveries to boost the country's oil production further, Ali Moshiri, Chevron's president for Africa and Latin America said. Chevron is one of Angola's largest oil producers, responsible for operating oilfields with an output of over 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil in 2008, of which 145,000 bpd was its own equity oil. Two new oilfields, Mafumeira Norte and Tombua-Landana, came onstream in 2009 with peak production for both fields expected to be reached in 2011, totalling an extra 130,000 bpd. "We see great potential in Angola and our investment is sustainable. It is one of the most active areas in Africa for us at the moment," Moshiri told Reuters.
- IBM (IBM) said its board approved an additional $5.0 billion in share repurchases, bringing the company's total stock buyback program to $9.2 billion in a reflection of its strong cash flow. The buyback would add to around $4.2 billion remaining at the end of September from a previously approved plan, with the total amount representing around 5.9 percent of IBM's $157 billion market capitalization.
Financial Times:
- We must overturn the status quo in derivatives by Ken Griffin.
- George Soros, the fund manager, has pledged $50m to back a new think-tank with the mission of reconceiving the field of economics, which he describes as “a dogma whose time has passed”. The group, to be called the Institute of New Economic Thinking, will gather luminaries in the field of economics to reflect on the ideas that allowed the latest economic crisis to transpire and to bring new ideas to a profession that some argue has become too deeply entrenched in free-market ideology. The group’s advisory board will be studded with economists such as Jeffrey Sachs, George Akerlof, Kenneth Rogoff and Joseph Stiglitz as well as public commentators such as Anatole Kaletsky and John Kay, a Financial Times columnist. Mr Soros is pledging $5m a year for 10 years. Through INET, he will be indirectly funding his philosophy of “reflexivity” – that markets tend to influence perceptions of reality, which in turn feed back into markets.“The ideologists in the free markets are still in command and I think they’ll be very difficult to remove because they have tenure,” Mr Soros said in an interview with the Financial Times. INET will fund research, fellowships and workshops aimed at explaining the flaws in the current financial system.
TimesOnline:
Sydney Morning Herald:
- Apple(AAPL) is preparing to release a groundbreaking tablet computer in Australia and around the world early next year and has been in discussions with media companies about including their content on the device. The tablet is tipped to be a larger version of the iPhone. It is small enough to carry in a handbag but too big to fit in a pocket. It will have a touch screen and be targeted at users who mainly want to surf the web, read books and newspapers or watch movies.
Digitimes:
- OmniVision Technologies(OVTI) has notified clients to expect upcoming limited supply of CMOS image sensors (CIS) due to strong iPhone 3GS demand for the end-year holiday season, according to market sources. Tight supply is not expected to ease until late November 2009, the sources pointed out. Apple has increased fourth-quarter orders for the iPhone 3GS to its Taiwan-based manufacturing partners Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) and Primax Electronics by 17-20%, noted the sources. Notebook vendors are gearing up to introduce new models following the launch of Windows 7 which will also tighten the supply of CIS, the sources added.
- September 2009 shipments of large-area TFT-LCD panels reached 52 million units, up 2% sequentially and 25% on year, setting a new record for monthly large-area TFT-LCD shipments, according to DisplaySearch. Large-size TFT-LCD revenues reached US$6.8 billion, up 6% sequentially and 15% on year.
Xinhua:
- China will likely reduce its energy intensity by 5% this year, citing Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission. The government’s goal of paring by one-fifth the amount of energy consumed for each unit of GDP in the five years ending 2010 is “within reach,” Xie said.
Indiatimes:
- Mobile chip maker Qualcomm Inc(QCOM) said it hopes to launch its Rs 10,000 (around $210) personal computer alternative 'Kayak' in India in the second half of next year. The San-Diego-based wireless technology provider is in talks with major Indian telecom service providers like Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications to bring the product in India.
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