Friday, January 26, 2007

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- US Federal Reserve officials on Wednesday may restate an inclination to raise interest rates rather than to lower them because they may be worried about inflation.
- Alan Greenspan’s book, “The Age of Turbulence,” will be published Sept. 17 and the promotional tour may include an appearance with television host Jay Leno.
- John Thain plans to bring the world’s biggest stock exchange back into the market for corporate bonds.
- MH Alshaya, a Kuwaiti retailer, plans to open Starbucks Corp.’s(SBUX) first 10 Russian stores this year as the US coffee-shop chain starts expansion into an economy entering its ninth consecutive year of growth.
- The International Energy Agency’s chief economist, Fatih Birol, said current oil prices of more than $50 a barrel are too high, at about five times the average cost of production.
- Gold prices in NY are falling the most in a week as a rally in the value of the US dollar against the euro eroded the appeal of the metal as an alternative investment.
- Crude oil is rising .90/bbl. increasing speculation by investment funds after recent weather trends have turned colder.
- Copper prices in NY are falling 1% on speculation rising inventories will outpace demand for the metal.

Wall Street Journal:
- Hedge funds are borrowing shares increasingly often to determine the outcomes of company votes, and may thus be undermining efforts to strengthen corporate governance.
- President Bush’s proposed alternative energy agenda may lead to more government subsidies for converting coal into diesel fuel, setting off a battle with environmentalists.
- US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the Bush administration’s budget for fiscal 2008 will include proposals aimed at slowing the rate of growth in Medicare spending.
- Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych said he’s working to build a pipeline to transport oil from the Caspian Sea area directly to the European Union.

Washington Post:
- Google Inc.(GOOG), Yahoo! Inc.(YHOO) and other search engines are looking to improve the incomplete search results people typically encounter when they comb the Internet for videos.

Financial Times:
- A coalition of leading pension funds wants US regulators and lawmakers to give them the right to vote “no confidence” on executive pay packages.

Nikkei English News:
- Toshiba Corp. is considering delaying construction of a flash-memory plant unit at least next year because of declining prices for the devices.

Cyprus Weekly:
- Exxon Mobil Corp.(XOM) and BP Plc(BP) are among companies that may bid for oil exploration offshore Cyprus, citing Commerce and Industry Minister Antonis Michaelides.

Napi Gazdasag:
- An Australian energy company is planning to construct a $161 million bio-diesel production facility in southern Hungary.

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