Bloomberg:
- Germany Snubs Peas to Boost Aid, Sell Joint Bonds. Germany rejected calls to increase the European Union’s 750 billion-euro ($1 trillion) aid fund or introduce joint bond sales, signaling its refusal to bear extra costs to stamp out the debt crisis. With European finance ministers gathered in Brussels today for their monthly meeting, German Chancellor Angela Merkel rebuffed pleas from Belgium and central bankers to boost the emergency fund to save countries such as Portugal and Spain from falling prey to speculation. “Right now I see no need to expand the fund,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin. She said EU treaties bar joint bond sales, which might force up Germany’s borrowing costs, the lowest in the euro area.
- Biggs Says Technology at Start of Bullish Cycle on Asian Demand: Tom Keene. Demand from Asia is spurring a bull market for computer and software makers, according to Barton Biggs, manager of the Traxis Partners LLC hedge fund. “The big capital spending cycle, the last one, was from 1995 to 2000, and it was a transforming cycle,” Biggs, the managing partner of New York-based Traxis and former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asset Management, said in an interview today on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene. “The developments in terms of the cloud, storage and a whole series of new devices is the beginning of a new technology cycle.” While the peak season for spending by technology companies was once Christmas, the cycle for semiconductor makers and companies such as Apple Inc. has changed to revolve more around the Chinese New Year in January or February, Biggs said. “I feel really good about the markets here,” Biggs said. “Everything’s not perfect. The Case-Shiller, in terms of U.S. housing, and the European problems haven’t been solved. But nevertheless, it’s pretty clear the world is emerging from the soft spot it was in and we’re getting poised for pretty decent growth.”
- Russia Poised to Control 50% of U.S. Uranium Output. ARMZ, the uranium-mining unit of Rosatom Corp., Russia's state-owned nuclear-energy company, may soon control as much as half of U.S. uranium production, after U.S. authorities approved its purchase of 51% of Canada's Uranium One Inc.. The purchase of the stake in Uranium One, which owns mines in Wyoming, was approved in Octobe4r by the Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S. and last month by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
- Radware(RDWR) Jumps 20% After Calcalist Reports Riverbed(RVBD) May Seek to Acquire It. Radware Ltd., the maker of technology that helps Internet networks run more efficiently, jumped as much as 20 percent after Israeli newspaper Calcalist reported Riverbed Technology Inc. may seek to acquire it. Radware, based in Tel Aviv, gained $6.22, or 19 percent, to $38.98 at 9:59 a.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, after earlier rising to as high as $39.45. The shares had more than doubled this year before today.
- Peter Thiel's Clarium Hedge Fund Falls 23% This Year. Clarium LP, the hedge fund run by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, lost 23 percent this year, according to a note sent to clients. The $321 million fund declined 7.8 percent last month, according to the Dec. 3 note. Armel Leslie, a spokesman for Thiel’s San Francisco-based Clarium Capital Management LLC, declined to comment.
- Carlyle to Buy Majority Stake in Credit Hedge Fund Claren Road. Carlyle Group, the world’s second- largest private-equity firm, agreed to buy a 55 percent stake in Claren Road Asset Management, a $4.5 billion long-short hedge fund focused on liquid credit assets. Citigroup Inc., which invested in Claren Road in 2006, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Petershill Fund, which bought a minority stake in 2008, will sell their holdings, according to an e-mailed statement by Washington-based Carlyle. Claren Road founders Brian Riano, John Eckerson, Sean Fahey and Albert Marino will continue to manage the day-to-day operations and make all investment decisions.
- Italy, Spain Lead Increase in European Sovereign Credit Risk. Italy and Spain led an increase in the cost of insuring bonds sold by Europe’s peripheral nations, according to CMA prices for credit-default swaps. Swaps on Italy rose 8 basis points to 217 while Spain increased 9 basis points to 306. Contracts on Ireland were 11.5 baais points higher at 553 and Portugal was up 6 to 434. The Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe Index of swaps linked to 15 governments rose 3 basis points to 179.5.
- UN Climate Negotiators Considering Two-Year Deadline for New Emission Cuts. Diplomats at United Nations climate talks this week will consider a two-year deadline for industrial nations to sign up for further cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions after Kyoto Protocol limits expire in December 2012.
- Moody's Cuts Hungary Credit Rating Two Steps on 'Temporary' Deficit Cuts. Hungary’s sovereign credit rating was cut two levels by Moody’s Investors Service on concern that the government’s policy of plugging budget holes with “temporary measures” won’t be sustainable.
- Rogoff Says Europe's 'Denial' Won't Avert Greek, Irish Bond Restructuring. Europe’s debt crisis will probably result in bond restructurings in Greece, Ireland and Portugal even as policy makers say they have the weapons to avert default, Harvard University Professor Kenneth Rogoff said. “They can’t just be in a state of denial,” Rogoff said in a Bloomberg Television interview today. “They’ve tried to guarantee everything, to say, ‘Well, Germany is behind it and the IMF is behind it, it’s inconceivable for a euro-zone country to restructure.’” “We’ll be very lucky to avoid restructuring” in countries such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal, he said.
- Fed's $600 Billion Credit Easing May Complicate Stimulus Exit, Lacker Says. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker said the purchases of $600 billion in U.S. Treasuries risk spurring inflation in a few years and may make it harder for the Fed to eventually withdraw the stimulus. “Further balance sheet expansion now could require more rapid balance sheet reduction later on, complicating the withdrawal of monetary stimulus when it becomes necessary to maintain price stability,” Lacker said today in a speech in Charlotte, North Carolina. “It is appropriate” to regularly review the purchases, he said.
Wall Street Journal:
- Recruiters Expect Pickup In Hiring of Top Managers. Recruiters expect companies' executive-hiring plans to brighten, with business-development and sales executives most in demand, according to a November survey by Norwalk, Conn.-based ExecuNet Inc., an online networking site and job board. About 26% of search firms expected their clients to add executive jobs over the next six months, compared with about 5% that expected their clients to cut or not fill open positions. ExecuNet subtracts the second number from the first to calculate a hiring-index score. The 21-percentage-point difference between optimistic and pessimistic search firms in November was nearly 12 points greater than it was in October.
- US Housing Market to Rebound in 2011 - Freddie Mac Economist. Macroeconomic factors suggest the U.S. housing market will improve in 2011, Freddie Mac's chief economist said in a note Monday. Accelerating economic recovery, low mortgage rates, a bottoming of home prices and increased affordability of homes at current low prices will be behind the improvement, said Frank Nothaft, the chief economist at the mortgage finance company.
- Apple(AAPL), Sprint(S): Einhorn's Favorite Picks(After Gold). “I still like Apple. Apple is a very interesting company. You buy one Apple device, you want to buy more Apple devices. Your kids buy Apple devices, you buy them, now all of a sudden you have to get your employer to support it. Before you know it, they’re using iPhones and iPads and all kinds of things. This is not the early stage, ’cause gosh knows, the stock has done great for a long time. But, net out the cash, it’s a market multiple, which is extraordinary for a company doing as well as this.”
- Goldman Sachs(GS) 2011 Forecast: Stocks, Gold, Oil Higher. Goldman Sachs is bullish on the U.S. economy for 2011, and forecasts U.S. stocks will see their third straight year of gains. The investment banking powerhouse sees the S&P 500 gaining nearly 25 percent to a level of 1450 in the next 12 months, fueled by strong corporate profits, easy monetary policies and an improving U.S. economy. Goldman sees stocks gaining as the U.S. economic growth accelerating from 2.5 to 4 percent by the end of 2012, but says investors will continue to have doubt.
- Google(GOOG) Unveils Web Bookstore in Challenge to Amazon(AMZN).
- Here It Is: The Justice Dept. Announces The Details of Wall Street Crackdown. The big announcement we've all been waiting for is a bit of a letdown because its almost all ponzi schemes and the biggest we've read about is a $880 million scheme - nothing compared to the billions Madoff scammed from investors.
- Harry Reid Is Pushing Bill To Legalize Online Poker.
- Arnold Schwarzenenegger Is Going to Announce a Fiscal State of Emergency in California Today.
- Check Out Bill Ackman's Awesome Presentation On Why The Time Is Now To Invest In Housing.
- GE(GE) and JPMorgan(JPM) Got Lots of Fed Help in '08. Newly disclosed records show that during the 2008 financial crisis, the essentially lent $16.1 billion to by buying short-term corporate i.o.u.’s from the company at a time when the public market for such debt had nearly frozen. And on Sept. 15, 2008, the day filed for bankruptcy protection, received a $3 billion loan from the Fed. The loan was extended under one of several Fed programs tapped by the Wall Street bank, one of the more robust financial institutions to weather the crisis. The two companies received help even as their chief executives, of G.E. and of JPMorgan, sat on the nine-member board of the . “In my view, it is an obvious conflict of interest for C.E.O.’s of banks and large corporations who serve on the Fed’s board of directors to have received cheap loans from the Fed,” Senator , a Vermont independent who wrote the legal provision requiring the Fed to make the disclosures, said in a statement on Sunday. “While they got a huge amount of government support, small businesses are going bankrupt because they can’t receive affordable credit, workers are losing their homes to foreclosure, and consumers are being charged 25 percent to 30 percent interest rates on their credit cards by the very same banks that were bailed out,” he added. G.E. was one of the largest beneficiaries of the Fed program to buy , or short-term i.o.u.’s. A few institutions — among them , , and — sold even more to the Fed. In contrast, JPMorgan got far less help under the program for investment banks than some of its Wall Street rivals, like Citigroup, and , which each tapped the program on more than 100 occasions. Goldman(GS), previously an investment bank, became a Fed-regulated bank holding company during the crisis. It tapped the Fed program to help investment banks 52 times, owing $18 billion to the Fed at one point — receiving far greater support than JPMorgan. The chairman of the New York Fed at the time, Stephen Friedman, was a Goldman director and former chairman of Goldman. The Fed granted Mr. Friedman a waiver so he could continue serving as chairman of the New York Fed. While awaiting the waiver, Mr. Friedman bought shares of Goldman around the time the bank received Fed support.
- U.S. Online Advertising Expected to Grow 14% in 2010. Online ad spending is expected to grow nearly 14 percent this year in the U.S. to $25.8 billion, according to a revised forecast by eMarketer. Its last forecast in May projected about 11 percent growth to $25.1 billion. The market research firm also expects U.S. online advertising to keep growing at double-digit rates through 2014, when it estimates the total will reach $40.5 billion.
- WikiLeaks Publishes List of Worldwide Infrastructure 'Critical' to Security of U.S. A list drawn up by U.S. officials of companies and installations around the world regarded as "critical" to the security of the United States has been published online by controversial website WikiLeaks. The list includes factories, ports, fuel companies, drug manufacturers, undersea cables, pipelines, communication hubs and a host of other "key resources." Its publication was denounced as "irresponsible" by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley, amid fears it could be used as a list of targets by terrorists, Britain's Times newspaper reported. "This is the kind of information terrorists are interested in knowing," added Rifkind, who now serves as chairman of the British parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee.
- Most Say Continuing Offshore Drilling Ban Will Hurt Economy. The Obama administration announced last week that it is continuing the ban on offshore oil and gas drilling along the Eastern seaboard and in the eastern portion of the Gulf of Mexico. Most voters expect that decision to drive up gas prices and hurt the economy. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 54% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the new seven-year ban will increase gas prices, while just 11% think it will make gas prices go down. Twenty-five percent (25%) expect the ban to have no impact on prices at the pump. Similarly, only 15% of voters feel the ban is good for the economy. Fifty-four percent (54%) predict that it will be bad for the economy, but 20% say it will have no impact.
Politico:
- Obama Signals Yield on Tax Cuts. President Barack Obama conceded Monday that he’ll probably have to let the Bush tax cuts for the rich be extended as part of a deal with Republicans, arguing that such an agreement was necessary to ensure that taxes for the middle class don’t increase on Jan. 1.
- Spain May Extend State of Emergency After Strike. Spain will extend a state of emergency if needed to prevent further travel disruption, its prime minister said on Monday, after a wildcat strike by air traffic controllers grounded flights last week. Controllers only returned to work after the Socialist government sent in the army to take over control towers and threatened controllers with jail.
- WikiLeaks: Top Chinese Official Doesn't Believe GDP Figures. China's economic figures are unreliable and not to be trusted, according to Li Keqiang, one of the country's most senior officials. The 55-year-old is widely tipped to become China's next prime minister and is currently the country's executive vice premier, with responsibility for macro-economic management. However, in private talks with the US ambassador in 2007, when he was still just the head of the Chinese province of Liaoning, Mr Li cast doubt on China's much-vaunted economic statistics. A diplomatic cable leaked by Wikileaks, the whistle-blowing website, reveals that Mr Li described China's gross domestic product figure as "man-made" and "therefore unreliable". Chinese officials have repeatedly been found to have artificially inflated their local GDP figures in order to win face and hit their targets. Mr Li said he used three ways of evaluating Liaoning's economic activity, focusing on electricity consumption, the volume of rail cargo and the amount of bank loans disbursed. "By looking at these three figures, Li said he can measure with relative accuracy the speed of economic growth," the cable said. "All other figures, especially GDP statistics, are 'for reference only,' he said smiling," it added.
- Spain's financial system needs more capital, according to Jose Maria Azner, the former Spanish prime minister. "The system needs more capital and without it, it won't be able to emerge from the brutal crisis it finds itself in," citing Aznar.
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