Bloomberg:- Corus Group Plc CEO Varin said European steel demand will stagnate this year and producers should cut production to shore up prices.
- Millionaires in the US increased their number by 9.9% to 2.5 million people last year, excluding home values, as the stock market rallied and the economy improved. Today, almost 1 in every 110 Americans has more than $1 million of shares, bonds and other financial assets, according to a report by Capgemini and Merrill Lynch.
- KKR Financial, the real estate investment unit of buyout firm KKR, may raise $838.6 million in an IPO by selling shares at as much as $25 each.
- The US economy is still growing at a decent clip and the Fed can keep raising interest rates at a “measured” pace, Fed Chairman Greenspan said.
- The US dollar traded near the highest in a week against the euro after Greenspan said the US economy is on a “reasonably firm footing” and policy makers can keep raising interest rates.
- Crude oil is riding for the first day in four as investors said any promise of higher output from OPEC would be hollow because the group has little additional production capacity.
Wall Street Journal:- World corporations should boycott Myanmar, formerly called Burma, to avoid supporting a government that kills, tortures and displaces its residents, said Paul Fireman, chairman and CEO of Reebok International.
- Hedge funds that trade convertible bonds continued to lose ground last month.
- Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Lopez and other celebrities are increasingly influencing the world of high-fashion once dominated by elite designers in New York and Europe.
- A growing number of companies are being created to help Internet advertisers detect malicious advertisement clicks that drive up their costs.
- Apple Computer’s adoption of Intel chips will strengthen Apple’s Mac computer, giving the Mac more options than IBM products could.
- The US Financial Accounting Standards Board may require issuers of financial guarantees to accept uniform standards for how they book revenue and claims reserves.
- Support for vouchers, tax credits and other measures that seek to boost parental choice in education as well as student achievement continues to increase, Milton Friedman, a Nobel laureate in economics wrote.
NY Times:- Some Saudi Arabian writers, professors and theologians risk being labeled heretics or given prison sentences by supporting reforms with writings and teachings.
- Computer Associates International agreed to purchase Niku for $350 million in cash to expand its line of software-management products.
Washington Post:- Science Applications International, one of the largest employee-owned companies in the US, may sell shares to the public to raise money to expand in defense contracting.
- Water bottling companies are building plants in economically depressed US rural towns to meet an increase in bottled-water demand.
Boston Globe:- MIT plans to double energy-related research over the next five years to address demand and consumption issues.
Beijing Morning Post:- Growth in China’s fixed-asset investment may slow by the end of this quarter, reducing demand for cement and steel, citing a forecast from the National Development and Reform Commission.
