WIKILEAKS LAUNCH SPYFILES

Yesterday marked the launch of Wikileaks’ newest project, the Spyfiles, following an announcement from Julian Assange while speaking on a panel at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism at the City University of London. Addressing the audience, Assange casually dropped the bomb that a new batch of files uncover the “international mass-surveillance industry.” From the conference:

The Wikileaks release also explains that citizens involved in overthrowing their respective dictators during the Arab Spring this year discovered listening rooms “where devices from Gamma corporation of the UK, Amesys of France, VASTech of South Africa and ZTE Corp of China monitored their every move online and on the phone.” Further, the Spyfiles announcement details how surveillance entities in the U.S., Italy and France have manufactured viruses to infiltrate private computers and smart phones – they’re looking at you, iPhone, Blackberry, and Gmail users – in order to essentially hijack the device and record its every movement.

FACEBOOK AROUND 100 BILLION

Facebook may be getting very close to filing for its IPO if a new report is accurate. But take this for what it is. It’s still just a rumor at this point.

Nicholas Carlson at Business Insider says the publication received an email from a source “close to Facebook employees,” saying “that the rumor flitting from employee to employee is that ‘a Facebook S1 filing is coming really soon. Possibly as soon as next month.”

Still, he says another source says Facebook hasn’t even decided what banks will underwrite.

Two months ago, the Financial Times reported that Facebook is aiming for a late 2012 IPO launch.

Earlier this month, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Charlie Rose “It’’s not something I spend a lot of time on a day-to-day basis thinking about.”

Recent valuations of the company have exceeded $80 billion. That’s reportedly up from about $4 billion in 2008. That’s just amazing. Jolie O’Dell at VentureBeat recently shared this graph depicting the company’s valuation escalation:We’re not going to hold our breath for the Facebook IPO. Why start now? But we can’t help but be a little curious as to how soon this thing really is going to happen, after years of waiting.

Apple: Amazon Is Guilty Of False Advertising Too

Apple has been involved in a beef with Amazon over the use of the term “App Store” since March of this year. Apple’s original trademark lawsuit claimed that they owned the term “App Store,” having applied for the trademark in 2008 after launching the store for their iPhone

Amazon battled back saying that the term “App Store” was simply too generic to be trademarked – that it just describes a store that sells apps. The Amazon App Store for Android launched anyways, much to the chagrin of Apple. In July, a judge denied the injunction and allowed Amazon’s store to remain active.

Apple says that Amazon purposefully started “de-emphasizing” the “for Android” part of the “Amazon App Store for Android” in order to bank of the popularity of the Apple App Store.The brief even provides screenshots to back up their point. In this one, you can see the Kindle Fire being promoted as having the “Amazon Appstore.”

Source:webpronews

IT'S TIME TO BUY!!

Centuries of natural selection have hardwired human beings to find patterns and imagine relationships. This wiring is the basis of such things as lucky charms, special pre-game meals, ominous black cats and the idea that rising global temperatures are caused by, rather than correlated with, industrialization.

Given our superstitious nature, it could be tempting to dismiss the work of the Stock Trader"s Almanac Now in its 45th year, the Almanac culls market data from over a half-century to uncover seasonal trends and behaviors, outlining patterns that can improve a trader's odds of success. Scoff though you may, the Almanac is a mainstay of trading desks around the world and has uncovered such now conventional wisdom as Sell in May, the Santa Claus Rally, the January effect, and more.

The money question for 2011 is whether this year's horrific news flow will trump the trends, obviating any historical seasonal influences. Despite a U.S. credit rating downgrade in August, or the European crisis that reemerged as a headline story in September, Jeff Hirsch, who replaced his father Yale as the editor of the almanac says "no." He points to stocks suffering through a terrible September and bottoming in October, two events the Almanac accurately foretold. "Historical trends have held true," says Hirsch.

If seasonal patterns stay in place, November marks the beginning of stocks' strongest three-month period. With last month having been the 4th best October on record, history suggests even stronger gains than the norm. Of the 20 strongest Octobers since 1950, the period from November 1st to January 31st has been positive 17 times, with average gains over 6%.

Hirsch is looking for the trend to continue, regardless of the headlines. "The Europe crisis, though scary and serious, is noise," he says. "The market seems to be calloused and has baked it in at this point."

The pattern isn't perfect of course, nothing is. Scary and serious news that's not already baked into the market can trump historical patterns, Hirsch says, citing rising tensions in Iran specifically.

Regardless of the ever present risk of outside shocks, Hirsch is positioning for a rally by going long stocks. He's looking at dips towards the support levels as chances to add to his positions. He uses the Dow Jones Industrial Average to set his levels at 11,500 to 11,700. Given the atypically defined trading range of last summer, support is relatively easy to find no matter what index you choose. Simply find the top of the summer range, draw a line across the stock tops and, viola', you've found support.

Call it voodoo if you like. The fact of incremental moves in the market is this: If enough traders believe something to be true, and act on it, the prophecy becomes self-fulfilling.

As I said, the Stock Trader's Almanac is on the desk of traders all over the world. You can dismiss things like support levels and October bottoms all you want, but if you bet against them you've had some tough years. Or decades, as the case may be

Source:AP

GOOGLE +

Google+ hasn’t even been around 6 months yet, and it’s considered a major player in the social media realm. It regularly draws comparisons to both Facebook and Twitter. But, Google+ does have one thing going for it that currently Facebook and Twitter doesn’t: it’s good for rankings… in Google. Imagine that.

At the BlogWorld Expo in L.A., Alltops, Guy Kawasaki and Human Business Works President Chris Brogan had a very interesting discussion about all things Google+.

During the session, a question was raised “Is there now connections between google plus and search rankings?” Brogan stated that:

“Google doesn’t index all of Facebook right now. It’s a lost cause for SEO, they’re also no longer indexing Twitter. Google does index anything publicly for Google+”

It should be noted that Facebook doesn’t allow it. Kawasaki chimed in that this is probably a direct result of the relationship between Facebook and Bing.

If you Google Chris Brogan’s name, you’ll see his Google+ stuff shooting up the rankings. The same holds true for anyone. When you post something publicly it’ll begin working for you, he states “It’s a Google thing”.

Brogan would go on to say:

“Google has such advantages, I don’t see how they can’t be a success with Google+ … I’m amazed that people are so skeptical, especially those in the tech press”.

It’ll be interesting to follow this and see if Google+ does reach the level that both Brogan and Kawasaki think it can.

Brazil, China and other emerging markets trail US

Developing countries from Brazil to China are expanding much faster than aging economies in the U.S. and Europe, where borrowing during the boom years has been a drag on growth. So the smart money bought stocks in emerging markets, expecting that rapid economic expansion there would provide better rewards. This year, that bet hasn't worked out.

The broadest measure of U.S. stocks, the Standard & Poor's 500 index, is down just 0.4 percent this year. Markets in Brazil, China and the like have lagged far behind, even though their economies are still growing faster than the U.S.

"If you were anywhere in the world other than in the S&P 500 this year, you got crushed," said Greg Peterson, director of research at Ballentine Partners, an investment advisory firm.

The main reason emerging market stocks have suffered deeper losses isn't because their economies are suddenly sluggish. Analysts say it's because people have been worried about the European debt crisis and a possible recession in the U.S. It may seem unfair, but when fear of another financial crisis strikes money managers, they tend to flee emerging markets and stay closer to home.

This summer, panicked money managers dropped the most risky investments first. That meant bonds from deeply indebted countries like Italy and Portugal, small companies in the U.S and emerging market stocks got hit the hardest. Even gold, an asset normally considered safe, dropped as traders shifted money into dollars.

"There was a globalization of fear," says Nathalie Wallace, a senior portfolio manager at Batterymarch Financial Management.

The same thing happened when the U.S. financial crisis hit in 2008. The S&P 500 fell 38.5 percent for the year. But the MSCI Emerging Market index, made up of countries where the banks didn't peddle subprime mortgage bonds, plummeted 47.3 percent.

"Anytime you see risk and fear coming, you see emerging markets get hit a bit more," Wallace says. "It doesn't mean the underlying fundamentals of the economy have changed."

Consider the collection of emerging-market rising stars known as the BRICs, which stands for Brazil, Russia, India and China. All have economies whose growth exceeds the U.S.

-- Brazil: The economy has expanded 3.1 percent over the past year. The benchmark Bovespa has lost 15.3 percent.

-- Russia: Economic growth of 5.1 percent. The Micex has dropped 11.1 percent this year even after a 10 percent rebound in the past month.

-- India: Economic growth of 7.7 percent. The BSE Sensex index is down 14.4 percent.

-- China: Economic growth of 9.1 percent. The Shanghai Composite has slumped 10 percent this year.

By contrast, the U.S. economy has expanded 1.6 percent over the past 12 months. That's sluggish compared to the developing world's stars. And worries that the U.S. could slip into a recession, or that Europe's debt crisis could tip it into one, have weighed on investors for months. Even after those fears dragged down stocks nearly 20 percent in a month, the S&P 500 outshines indexes in nearly all of the world's fastest growing economies.

In fact, if you rank the U.S. against emerging markets this year, it places ahead of 20 countries and behind just one, Indonesia.

China and other emerging markets long relied on shipping toys, timber and other goods to consumers in the U.S. and Europe. Trade helped them grow. But that has a downside, says Tim Morris, a portfolio manager at J.P. Morgan's asset management unit. When a small country hitches its fortunes to U.S. shoppers, it's bound to suffer when the U.S. economy slows down.

A related problem for many emerging market countries is that they're dominated by energy and material producers, the type of companies most vulnerable to a global slowdown. Todd Henry, an emerging markets equity specialist at T. Rowe Price, points to Brazil, a country that isn't as dependent on exports for growth. "It's a relatively closed economy," Henry says. "But commodity and energy companies make up a large part of their stock market. So if the world is slowing down, that gets priced in."

The largest company in Brazil's stock index is the oil giant Petrobras. When the U.S. economy looks weak, the price of oil falls and the companies that sell oil fall, too. That pushes down Petrobras, which tugs on the Bovespa. In other words, when the U.S. has the sniffles, Brazil's stock market still catches a cold.

SOURCE: Associated Press

Oil above $94 amid signs of US economy improving

Oil prices hovered below $94 a barrel Friday in Asia amid signs the U.S. economy may be improving.

Benchmark crude for December delivery was up 5 cents at $94.12 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.56 to settle at $94.07 in New York on Thursday.

Brent crude was down 33 cents at $110.50 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London.

Crude has jumped about 25 percent from $75 on Oct. 4 amid growing investor optimism that the U.S. economy will avoid a recession.

On Thursday, the Labor Department reported that the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits dipped slightly last week to the lowest level in five weeks. And the Commerce Department said factory orders had the biggest jump in six months in September.

"The general global economic outlook inched away from the edge of collapse," energy trader and consultant The Schork Group said in a report.

Investors will be closely watching the latest unemployment figures for October due to be released later Friday.

Doubts that a plan announced by European leaders last week will contain Greece's debt crisis weighed on oil prices.

After meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy earlier this week, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou backed off earlier pledges to call a referendum on his country's bailout package. But traders are still worried the plan will not be fully implemented or enough to stanch Europe rising debt levels.

"Markets are skeptical of the latest final agreement to stave off European contagion," Schork said.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil rose 0.7 cent to $3.05 per gallon and gasoline futures slid 1 cent at $2.65 per gallon. Natural gas added 1.9 cents at $3.80 per 1,000 cubic feet.

SOURCE: AP

ADSESNSE ADS

Google announced that it has updated all text AdSense ads to allow for the title color of ads to be changed when the user moves their mouse over a link.

The company says after a period of testing, it found that this actually results in higher earnings for publishers, while also “increasing user and advertising value.”

“As you can imagine, there are numerous combinations of link and background color across the ad units on all publisher pages says Stephen Yuan with Google’s AdSense engineering team. “After extensive testing, we have found that the color of the change itself can make a big difference: the wrong shade can even be detrimental to clickthrough rate (CTR). To determine the color that the title link will change to when a user places their mouse cursor over it, we’ll take your chosen title color and find a nearly complementary color on the color wheel. For example, a blue title would change to red. These colors outperformed all the others we tested.”

“We’ll continue to keep studying the effects of color on CTR and ad performance to bring you more enhancements in the future,” adds Yuan.

IN TAX

The Internet sales tax issue has been debated for a number of years, but the issue grew to a new level of intensity after the state of California signed into law a bill that required all online retailing sites to pay taxes on their affiliate advertising. This, of course, sparked a big dispute since many online retailers such as Amazon cut off their affiliate programs in the state.

As a result, a lot of the affiliates in the state lost most, if not all, of their revenue.Nick Loper who was among the affiliate victims, spoke to WebProNews back in August and told us that he lost 70 percent of his revenue almost immediately after the law went into effect. He ended up moving to Nevada and starting completely over.

The motive for California’s law was driven primarily by its struggling financial situation. Because many other states are facing similar scenarios with large budget deficits, they too are contemplating related actions. It’s understandable why states want to impose these taxes, but does that make it right?

“The debate about Internet taxation is really an interesting debate, because the sales tax only being a state and local tax is not something that can be easily applied to something that’s interstate in nature, which the Internet and Internet sales clearly are,” he said.

Even before Internet taxes became an issue, states have wanted to impose taxes on interstate companies that provide catalog and mail order services. However, they have not been able to do so because of their constitutional restraints. According to Theirer, the Supreme Court has provided limitations in this area because the states can’t put “discriminatory or unfair burdens” on companies that they don’t have any authority over.

Congress is now trying to get these limitations reversed with new legislation. In August, the "Main Street Fairness Act" was introduced to the Senate. It, in essence, calls for a set of federal guidelines that would dictate how states could collect sales taxes from online retailers.

A second bill, called the "Market Equity Act of 2011 and was introduced to the House last week. It is similar to the one introduced in the Senate but is a little different since it would give states the authority to require retailers, both on and offline, to collect sales taxes even when customers are located in states where the companies have no physical presence.

“What both these measures try to do is find a way to, essentially, authorize a state-based system of taxation for the Internet,” said Thierer.

“The reason, again, that the courts have not thus far allowed it is because, really, the complexity question. It’s not just that the states don’t have authority over interstate vendors; it’s that if they went to actually impose these taxes, it would create a huge burden on interstate sales and trade.”

Google Q3 Earnings Released, $9.72 Billion in Revenue

Google has released its earnings report for the third quarter, beating expectations.

This includes $9.72 billion for the quarter, a 33% year-over-year increase. Larry Page also included a Google+ stat update.

“We had a great quarter,” said Larry Page, CEO of Google. “Revenue was up 33% year on year and our quarterly revenue was just short of $10 billion. Google+ is now open to everyone and we just passed the 40 million user mark. People are flocking into Google+ at an incredible rate and we are just getting started!”

Google-owned sites generated revenues of $6.74 billion. Google’s AdSense partners generated $2.60 billion (27% of total revenues). Revenues from outside of the U.S. totaled $5.3 billion (55% of total revenues).

Paid clicks increased about 28% year-over-year and 13% quarter-over-quarter. Average cost-per-click increased about 5% year-over-year and decreased by 5% quarter-over-quarter.

As of September 30, cash, cash equivalents, and short-term marketable securities totaled $42.6 billion.

Google had 31,353 full-time employees as of the same date. That’s up from 28,768 June 30.

Here is the release in its entirety:

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – October 13, 2011 – Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2011.

“We had a great quarter,” said Larry Page, CEO of Google. “Revenue was up 33% year on year and our quarterly revenue was just short of $10 billion. Google+ is now open to everyone and we just passed the 40 million user mark. People are flocking into Google+ at an incredible rate and we are just getting started!”

Q3 Financial Summary

Google reported revenues of $9.72 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2011, an increase of 33% compared to the third quarter of 2010. Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting traffic acquisition costs (TAC). In the third quarter of 2011, TAC totaled $2.21 billion, or 24% of advertising revenues.

Google reports operating income, operating margin, net income, and earnings per share (EPS) on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis. The non-GAAP measures, as well as free cash flow, an alternative non-GAAP measure of liquidity, are described below and are reconciled to the corresponding GAAP measures at the end of this release.

APPLE FOUNDER STEVE JOBS DIES

Steve Jobs the mastermind behind Apples iPhone, iPad, iPod, iMac and iTunes, has died, Apple said. Jobs was 56.

"We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today," read a statement by Apple's board of directors. "Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve. His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts."

The homepage of Apple's website this evening switched to a full-page image of Jobs with the text, "Steve Jobs 1955-2011."

Clicking on the image revealed the additional text: "Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple."

Jobs co-founded Apple Computer in 1976 and, with his childhood friend Steve Wozniak, marketed what was considered the world's first personal computer, the Apple II.

Shortly after learning of Jobs' death, Wozniak told ABC News, "I'm shocked and disturbed."

Industry watchers called him a master innovator -- perhaps on a par with Thomas Edison -- changing the worlds of computing, recorded music and communications.

In 2004, he beat back an unusual form of pancreatic cancer, and in 2009 he was forced to get a liver transplant. After several years of failing health, Jobs announced on Aug. 24, 2011 that he was stepping down as Apple's chief executive.

"I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know," Jobs wrote in his letter of resignation. "Unfortunately, that day has come."

Germany keeps alive hopes for euro's future

Germany kept alive hopes that the 17-nation euro currency can survive the sprawling debt crisis when lawmakers in Europe's largest economy voted overwhelmingly on Thursday in favor of expanding the powers of the eurozone's bailout fund.

The vote strengthened Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right coalition, which had struggled to win support from a bloc of rebellious members, and could bolster her ability to negotiate new European crisis measures.

While many investors and experts believe new steps will be required in Europe, such as letting Greece write off more of its debt pile, Germany's approval of the fund's new powers and scope was necessary to avoid a new bout of massive market turmoil.

"The support of the Bundestag is an important step for stabilizing the eurozone," Michael Kemmer, head of Germany's Bank Federation, told the news agency dapd. "With that, they have set a course that leads out of the debt crisis."

The euro440 billion ($600 billion) fund will be able to buy government bonds and lend money to banks and governments before they are in a full-blown crisis, making Europe's response to market jitters more rapid and pre-emptive.

Germany, which pays the lion's share of European bailouts, became the 13th member of the eurozone to support the expansion of the rescue fund, the so-called European Financial Stability Facility, or EFSF. Cyprus and Estonia also passed the proposed expansion on Thursday.

Austria's parliament is widely expected to pass the measure on Friday, the same day Germany's upper house of parliament is set to finalize Thursday's vote, while the Netherlands is expected to approve it in the first week of October.

The biggest remaining hurdle is the final country to vote -- Slovakia -- where the government will not have enough support to pass it if the leader of the junior coalition Freedom and Solidarity party follows through with threats to vote against the fund's expansion. Its parliament is to vote later in October.

In Berlin, 523 lawmakers in parliament, the Bundestag, voted in favor of expanding German participation to guarantee loans of up to euro211 billion, compared with euro123 billion so far. Eighty-five voted against it and three abstained.

"It was a strong statement of Angela Merkel's position. She has the backing and the support of the coalition and she is able to negotiate on the European level," Peter Altmeier, the parliamentary whip for Merkel's Christian Democrats, said after the tally was announced.

Markets appeared calmer even before Thursday's votes, following weeks of turbulence triggered by uncertainty over Germany's position on the fund. The euro also traded slightly higher.

"The overwhelming majority in the Bundestag is a good sign and will hopefully mark a step change in German commitment to bringing the spiraling crisis under control," said Sony Kapoor of the Re-Define economic policy think tank.

The lingering problem, however, is that investors are resigned to the fact that Greece will have to default -- that is, impose tougher losses on its bondholders.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou in Paris on Friday to discuss the debt crisis, the president's office said.

Papandreou met Germany's Merkel for similar talks Tuesday. Germany and France combined represent about half of the 17-nation eurozone's economic output.

Greece was saved from default by an initial euro110 billion ($150 billion) bailout in May last year before the EFSF was established to help any other countries in trouble. A planned second rescue package for Greece this year includes a voluntary participation by private bondholders, who agreed to write off about 20 percent on their Greek debt holdings.

Many experts say those writedowns should be closer to 50 percent. The debate among European leaders now is whether to allow such a move under controlled conditions, providing help to banks that may take heavy losses on Greek bonds they hold.

Germany and the Netherlands are open to the option, with Merkel suggesting this week that Greece's second bailout deal might have to be renegotiated. France and the European Central Bank, however, oppose the idea.

Greece's international debt inspectors returned to Athens on Thursday to complete a review. Merkel has said that any new decisions would depend upon the results of the inspectors' report, which is not due for days.

Forging consensus over new measures -- particularly something as delicate as imposing more severe losses on Greece's creditors -- will likely be very difficult, however.

Indeed, the parliamentary debate on the EFSF in Berlin on Thursday was a feisty three-hour long affair, reflecting how high tensions in Merkel's coalition were running over the idea of providing more backing to the eurozone's weakest members.

Frank Schaeffler, a dissenter from the junior coalition partner, argued that bailout measures have worsened Greece's economic situation.

"Despite all arguments, the first bailout did not make the situation for Greece better, but worse," said Schaeffler, a Free Democrat. "Expanding the fund will make the situation even worse."

Schaeffler and others had long expressed their concerns, and opposition leaders had said going in to the vote that if Merkel's coalition had to rely on their votes, it would be a sign that her strife-prone and increasingly unpopular government is finished.

Yet after a night of intense lobbying, Merkel's camp was able to secure a majority of 315 -- enough to have passed the measure even without support from the opposition parties.

"This shows the clear determination of the coalition on this issue," Rainer Bruederle, the Free Democrats' parliamentary leader. "We have made an important decision for Europe."

Any future changes to the current fund will also require parliamentary approval and maintaining that determination will be crucial to making swift, effective decisions to combat the crisis.


Source:Associated Press

Markets slump amid Bernanke warning

Global markets have taken a fresh hammering after bleak comments from US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke stoked recession fears.

There was also a lukewarm response to measures announced by the Fed under which it will launch a 400 billion US dollars (£253 billion) programme to try to reduce borrowing costs for firms and individuals by buying long-term bonds.

With Mr Bernanke warning that there are "significant" risks to the US economy, the FTSE 100 Index slumped more than 4%, or 233.4 points, to 5054.3. Markets across Europe followed suit as investors braced themselves for more turbulence when Wall Street opens later in the session.

Mining stocks led the rout in London as investors feared a slump in demand for mineral resources. Fallers included Kazakhmys, which lost 10% of its value with a drop of 96.75p to 869.25p, while Antofagasta was down by 105.5p to 1008.5p and Rio Tinto dipped 326.5p to 3062p.
Financial stocks were also battered after Moody's downgraded the credit ratings on three big US banks and argued that the US government is more likely to allow a major institution to fail because contagion could be contained.

Barclays was down 7%, or 10.4p, to 142.8p, Lloyds Banking Group slumped 2.4p to 33.8p and Royal Bank of Scotland dropped 0.8p to 22.6p. Among the insurers, Prudential was hardest hit after shares fell 44.5p to 552.5p, off 7%. Even luxury goods group Burberry suffered in its sell off, with its shares nearly 10% lower, off 149.5p at 1358.5p.

There were no risers in the FTSE 100 Index but in the second-tier easyJet made impressive progress after it announced plans for a shares windfall.

In a move set to placate founder and major shareholder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the airline announced a £150 million special dividend, on top of a £40 million maiden dividend for the year to September 30.

It added that cost cuts and good demand on city routes used by business and weekend break travellers meant profits for the year are likely to be between £240 million and £250 million, up from previous expectations. Shares rose 7% despite the wider market turbulence, up 20.85p to 332.85p.

The only other notable gain in the FTSE 250 Index came from JD Sports Fashion, which added 13.75p to 844.25p in the wake of half-year results on Wednesday.

Tax the rich - says billionaire Buffett

The mega-rich are not paying enough tax, government should stop "coddling" them and end their "extraordinary tax breaks". That's the view of Warren Buffett, right, whose net wealth of $80bn makes him the third wealthiest man in the world.
Buffett's opinion piece in this morning's New York Times is headlined "Stop Coddling the Super Rich" and it pulls no punches about "legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species".

And Buffett is particularly scathing of the "shared sacrifice" US politicians have asked for. "When they did the asking, they spared me," he says, going on "I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched."

Tax bill

He says his last federal tax bill was $6,938,744 – just 17.4% of his taxable income. And he points out "If you make money with money, as some of my super-rich friends do, your percentage may be a bit lower than mine." And he identifies the difference in taxes faced by the rich and the middle classes.

"The mega-rich pay income taxes at a rate of 15% on most of their earnings but pay practically nothing in payroll taxes. It's a different story for the middle class: typically, they fall into the 15% and 25% income tax brackets, and then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot."

He highlights the fact that in 1992 the top 400 highest-earning Americans had aggregate taxable income of $16.9bn, on which they paid taxes of 29.2%. By 2008 the top 400 earned $90.9bn – an average of $227.4m – but the rate of tax they paid had fallen to 21.5%.

Investment

Buffett suggests a tax rise on all those earning over $1m a year, with a further rise on all those earning $10m or more. And he's pretty dismissive of the argument that says this will lead to a drop in investment, reminding readers of when tax rates for the rich were "far higher" in the 1980s and 1990s.

"According to a theory I sometimes hear, I should have thrown a fit and refused to invest because of the elevated tax rates on capital gains and dividends," he says. "I didn't refuse. Nor did others. I have yet to see anyone shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain."

Buffett's comments that the US government should "get serious about shared sacrifice" will resonate on this side of the Atlantic too as David Cameron continues to peddle that "we're all in this together" line. But this writer is not entirely convinced we'll be hearing from, say, Sir Philip Green any time soon.

Personal pension contributions fall

The number of people paying in to personal pensions dropped sharply last year in the wake of the recession, official figures suggest.

Total contributions dropped by £2 billion from £20.9 billion in 2007/08 to £18.7 billion in 2009/10.

A report on pension trends by the Office for National Statistics suggested that the drop in the number of people contributing to personal and stakeholder pensions was due to financial pressures during the recession.

Similarly, the number of people who paid into personal and stakeholder pensions decreased from 7.6 million in 2007/08 to 6.4 million to 2008/09, because many people who had been making small contributions stopped doing so as their income shrank.

However, total contributions to private (non-state) pensions rose to £85.6 billion in 2009 from £83.2 billion the previous year, fuelled by a recovery in employer contributions during that time.

This summer insurer Scottish Widows warned that only half of those aged between 30 and the state pension age were saving enough for retirement, and that one in five were failing to save anything at all.

And last week a government study showed that only 15% of young workers were paying into a pension scheme at work, compared to 58% of the 45-54 age group.

Pensions minister Steve Webb said there was a need to "inspire a culture of saving" as an estimated seven million people are failing to put aside enough for retirement.

Next year employers will be obliged to automatically enrol staff into a workplace scheme.

OIL PRICE DOWN NEARLY 3 PERCENT

Oil prices fell Friday along with the prospects for global economic growth as the government reported the economy added no jobs last month.

Benchmark crude fell $2.48, or 2.8 percent, to finish at $86.45 after the Labor Department said employers stopped adding jobs in July. The unemployment rate remained at 9.1 percent.

The U.S. jobs report follows a weak manufacturing report from China and concerns that the lingering debt crisis in Europe continues to hold back economic growth there.

Put together, concerns are growing that the global economy is weakening. A weak economy reduces demand for oil and oil products such as diesel, jet fuel, and gasoline because fewer goods are shipped and people travel and commute less.

"We were doomy and gloomy before the jobs report and then the jobs number became the crescendo of all the bad news," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at PFGBest. "The big story is the global economic slowdown."

Brent crude, used to price oil in many international markets, fell $1.96 to end at $112.33 per barrel In London.

Gasoline prices remained high, however. The average retail price for gasoline in the U.S. rose about 2 cents on Friday to $3.647 per gallon according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. That's the second highest level ever for this time of year. It was a little higher in 2008.

Oil was also pushed down as the dollar rose against the euro and some other currencies. Oil is priced in dollars and becomes more expensive to buyers with foreign currency -- and less attractive -- as the dollar get stronger.

Also, a Libyan official said Friday that five foreign oil and gas companies have returned to Libya to resuscitate production choked off by civil war and sanctions.

This encouraged traders that Libyan oil might begin flowing sooner than hoped, though most expect it to be several months before significant exports resume.

Concerns about the economy, the dollar and increased supply from Libya overwhelmed worries that the interruptions of oil and gas production caused by Tropical Storm Lee in the Gulf of Mexico might squeeze supplies and push prices higher.

The storm has forced several oil companies to evacuate personnel from production platforms and drilling rigs in the region. Nearly half of the Gulf's oil production has been cut off, as well as one-third of the region's natural gas production, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.

Forecasters expect the storm to dump a foot or more of rain on parts of Louisiana starting this weekend.

"Several days of decreased oil and gas production and major inland flooding are clear concerns with this system," said Bob Haas, Weather Operations Manager and Meteorologist at MDA EarthSat in a report.

The storm is not expected to damage rigs in the region, however. Oil production should resume shortly after the storm has cleared and companies can return workers to production platforms.

In other energy trading, heating oil fell 5.44 cents to finish at $2.9974 per gallon and gasoline futures lost 5.31 cents to finish at $2.8396 a gallon. Natural gas fell 17.8 cents, or 4.4 percent, to end the day at $3.872 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Source:Associated Press

GOLD HITS NEW RECORD 1800 $

The price of gold surpassed $1,800 an ounce Wednesday for the first time as investors pulled their money out of stocks and snapped up precious metals contracts.

Gold is fast becoming a favorite port in a storm of uncertainty. Investors are clinging to what they see as a hedge against volatile stock and currency markets.

December gold contracts backed off their highs, and traded around $1,785 an ounce during midday trading after reaching a record $1,801 an ounce earlier in the day on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Gold prices have shot past a series of milestones over the past two years on an uninterrupted climb. Gold was trading at about $900 in the summer of 2008, before the financial crisis unfolded that year.

Resulting turmoil in currency and stock markets has burnished gold's luster.

U.S. Stocks Post Biggest Gain Since March 2009 on Fed Statement

U.S. stocks rose, capping the biggest rally in more than two years for benchmark indexes, as the Federal Reserve said it was prepared to use a range of tools to bolster the economy following yesterday’s rout in equities.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index swung between gains and losses following the Fed’s statement and closed near the highest level of the trading day. Financial stocks in the S&P 500, which paced a slide that erased $1 trillion in market value yesterday, rallied 8.2 percent. Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. jumped at least 13 percent. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. gained 7.5 percent as gold advanced to a record.

The S&P 500 jumped 4.7 percent to 1,172.53 at 4 p.m. in New York, after falling as much as 1.6 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 429.92 points, or 4 percent, to 11,239.77 today. Both gauges had the biggest gain since March 23, 2009. About 16.8 billion shares changed hands at 4:56 p.m., more than twice the three-month average, Bloomberg data show.

“The Fed is on top of the game,” Michael Holland, chairman and founder of New York-based Holland & Co., said in a telephone interview. His firm oversees more than $4 billion. “For people who are serious about the business and about the economy, I believe that the Fed fulfilled what they wanted to hear. It’s premature to say that they are prepared for an imminent stimulus, but it’s not early to say that they are becoming more likely to do something of significance.”

Biggest Slump

Benchmark indexes had their biggest slump since December 2008 yesterday amid concern that a reduction of the U.S. credit rating by S&P could worsen an economic slowdown. The S&P 500 was down 14 percent from this year’s high on April 29 through today.

Treasuries rose, pushing 10 and two-year note yields to all-time lows, after Federal Reserve officials promised to keep benchmark interest rates at record lows at least through mid-2013 in a bid to revive economic growth. The Federal Open Market Committee also discussed a range of policy tools to bolster the economy and said it is “prepared to employ these tools as appropriate,” it said in a statement. Three members of the FOMC dissented, preferring to maintain the pledge to keep rates low for an “extended period” without a specific timeframe.

“What the market is trying to digest here is that low interest rates are typically good, but the reason interest rates are low is that the economy is bad,” Brad Sorensen, director of market and sector analysis at San Francisco-based Charles Schwab Corp., which has $1.66 trillion in client assets, said in a telephone interview. “Stock valuations are better than they were a week ago and we find them relatively attractive in a low interest-rate environment. The economy is still growing, albeit slowly.”

Valuation Level

The S&P 500 has wiped out almost $3 trillion in market value since July 22, as a political battle over the U.S. debt ceiling prompted S&P to cut the country’s debt rating. The benchmark gauge for American equities dropped 6.7 percent yesterday and traded at 12.3 times reported earnings, the lowest valuation since March 2009.

Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross said he’s buying assets as the losses in global markets are being driven by fear rather than economic reality.

“Has the world really gotten 10, 12, 15 percent worse in the last 48 hours? I don’t think so,” Ross, who leads WL Ross & Co., said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “Buying stocks at today’s prices over a couple of years’ time period will prove to be a uniquely rewarding experience.”

Volatility Tumbles

The benchmark index for U.S. stock options tumbled, following yesterday’s biggest surge since February 2007. The VIX, as the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index is known, slumped 27 percent to 35.06. The index measures the cost of using options as insurance against declines in the S&P 500.

Financial and raw-material companies, which paced the declines in the S&P 500 yesterday, were the best performers today, rising at least 5.9 percent. Companies which are least- tied to the economy, including consumer staples providers and utilities, rose less than the S&P 500 today.

The KBW Bank Index rallied 7 percent as all of its 24 stocks rose. Bank of America, the largest U.S. lender by assets, gained 17 percent to $7.60, after erasing 20 percent yesterday. Citigroup added 14 percent to $31.82.

The two banks led yesterday’s 11 percent decline in the KBW index after S&P’s downgrade cast doubt on federal backing for U.S. lenders. Bank of America’s $33 billion plunge in market value over the past week has stoked concern that Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan needs to raise capital even as his options for finding it narrow by the day.

Freeport, Alcoa

Raw-material producers in the S&P 500 jumped as gold advanced to a record and copper rebounded from an eight-month low. Freeport-McMoRan, the world’s largest publicly traded copper producer, climbed 7.5 percent to $45.05. Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, added 8 percent to $12.24.

Ford Motor Co. gained 9.9 percent to $10.91 after Bank of America added the automaker to its “U.S. 1” list, which represents a collection of the firm’s “best investment ideas.”

Pfizer Inc. advanced 5.6 percent to $17.60. The world’s biggest drugmaker was also added to Bank of America’s “U.S. 1” list. Separately, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. added Pfizer to its “Conviction Buy” list.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. was raised to “overweight” from “equal weight,” by Barclays Plc after the company’s stock fell yesterday to its lowest since January 2010. Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares added 9.4 percent to $72.93.

AOL Drops

AOL Inc., the Internet company that purchased the Huffington Post in March, tumbled 26 percent to $11.19, its lowest level since its spinoff from Time Warner Inc. in 2009. AOL reported a second-quarter loss as rising global advertising sales failed to overcome the continuing decline in subscriptions to Web access.

Laszlo Birinyi, one of the first investors to recommend buying when the bull market began in 2009, said the S&P 500 will continue its ascent, though possibly not to the level he had predicted. Birinyi said there’s no fundamental reason for the slide, and equities will continue the rally that took the S&P 500 Index 73 percent higher since March 2009.

“The bull market is intact, and while our ‘target’ of 1,450 in mid-2012 is admittedly a bit shaky, our more important conclusion that a rational, disciplined portfolio can attain a 10 percent plus return in 2011 is not,” Birinyi, of Westport, Connecticut-based research firm Birinyi Associates Inc., wrote in a note today.
Source:Bloomberg

Buffett's Berkshire bids $3.25B for Transatlantic

A unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has bid $3.25 billion for insurer Transatlantic Holdings.

Berkshire's National Indemnity Co. is offering $52 per share in cash for Transatlantic. That tops the price the company would get in its agreement to be bought by Allied World Assurance Co.

In a letter released by Transatlantic on Sunday, National Indemnity said its offer isn't subject to due diligence or financing conditions. The company said it wants a formal response from Transatlantic no later than the close of business Monday.

If the offer is accepted, National Indemnity would want a $75 million break-up fee if the transaction did not close by the end of the year.

Transatlantic's board said it would carefully weigh the offer by National Indemnity and asked its shareholders to wait until it has a chance to judge it before taking action. But the company also reaffirmed its recommendation of the deal with Allied World Assurance, which is based in Switzerland.

Allied also backed its commitment to the deal in a statement issued Sunday and said it hopes to close the deal in the fourth quarter.

Under that agreement, Transatlantic and Allied World would combine in what the companies are calling a merger of equals. Shareholders of Transatlantic would receive 0.88 of an Allied World share for each share they hold of Transatlantic.

The companies say the deal, which calls for Transatlantic shareholders to receive a 58 percent stake in the combined company and for Transatlantic to name 6 of the 11 board members, will put them on better competitive footing because of the combined company's larger size.

Allied World CEO Scott Carmliani would head the combined company and Transatlantic CEO Robert Orlich would retire.

Last month, Transatlantic rejected a hostile takeover bid from fellow insurer Validus Holdings Ltd. The board also adopted a one-year stockholder rights plan, commonly called a "poison pill," a move used to avoid hostile takeovers.

In light of the latest offer from National Indemnity, Validus also issued a statement Sunday calling on Transatlantic to "remove the obstacles" it said were preventing shareholders from receiving the greatest value for their stock.

Source:Associates Press

OIL FALLS TO NEAR 97 $

Oil prices fell to near $97 a barrel Thursday in Asia as the release of U.S. emergency crude reserves boosted commercial inventories.

Benchmark oil for September delivery was down 25 cents to $97.15 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude lost $2.19 to settle at $97.40 on Wednesday.

In London, Brent crude dropped 2 cents to $117.41 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that U.S. commercial oil supplies grew by 2.3 million barrels last week, roughly the amount the U.S. released from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos., had predicted a drop of 2.3 million barrels.

The International Energy Agency said last month it would release 60 million barrels -- half from the U.S. -- in a bid to lower prices and make up for the shut down of Libyan oil since civil conflict began the OPEC nation in February. The U.S. will eventually release 30 million barrels from the strategic reserve as part of that.

Failure by U.S. leaders to agree to lift the government's debt limit also weighed on crude prices. While most analysts expect a last-minute deal will be struck, uncertainty ahead of the Aug. 2 deadline has begun to spook markets.

The Dow Jones industrial index dropped 1.6 percent Wednesday and most Asian stock markets fell Friday.

"Few believe that the crisis will continue without some resolution before August 2, but it is now starting to look increasingly likely that the U.S. credit rating will be lowered," energy analyst Cameron Hanover said in a report.

"Equities could drop even more urgently if this crisis is not resolved soon. It would be especially bad to let it fester over the weekend."

In other Nymex trading in September contracts, heating oil gained 1.3 cent at $3.11 a gallon while gasoline
Source:AP