Economist Roubini: Portugal should consider rescue
AP - 53 mins ago
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Economist Nouriel Roubini says Portugal should consider asking for a bailout before its financial plight worsens.

Roubini, a professor of economics at New York University who predicted the financial crisis, told daily paper Diario Economico it is "increasingly likely" Portugal will require international assistance.

He said in an interview published Monday there are ample funds to shore up Portugal, one of the eurozone's smaller countries which contributes less than 2 percent to the 16-nation bloc's gross domestic product.

Roubini said Portugal is approaching "a critical point" due to it high debt load and weak growth.

But he said neighboring Spain, Europe's fourth-largest economy, is "too big to bail out."

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Glaxo to increase Theravance shareholding
AP - 36 mins ago
Related Stocks
GSK - Glaxosmithkline Plc

Sym Last Chg Pct
GSK 39.42 +0.33 +0.84%
GSK.LS 1,260.500 +17.500 +1.41%
THRX 22.85 -0.10 -0.44%
LONDON (AP) — British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC says it plans to increase its shareholding in U.S. biotech company Theravance Inc.

London-based Glaxo said Monday that the two companies have agreed for Glaxo to purchase 5.75 million shares of Theravance common stock at a price of $22.50 per share. That's a total investment of $129.4 million.

Glaxo says the deal is an indication of its confidence in the pair's joint work on developing a lung disease and asthma drug. Glaxo hopes the new drug — Relovair — will be a successor to its big-selling Advair treatment. The two companies said in September that Relovair had met its goals in a mid-stage safety study.

Glaxo shares are down 0.6 percent at 1,252.5 pence ($19.53) in London trade.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

UN agency pushes new rules on air cargo security
CHRIS HAWLEY - AP - 9 mins ago


FILE - In this Oct. 29, 2010 file frame grab taken from WABC-TV video, airport personnel wait for passengers to disembark near an Emirates airliner at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New...

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.N. agency that oversees aviation is pushing new guidelines for cargo security to counter al-Qaida's new mail-bomb strategy, but is stopping short of calling for 100 percent screening of packages, as pilots and some U.S. lawmakers have urged.

The proposed changes by the International Civil Aviation Organization concentrate on "supply-chain security," or checking outbound shipments before they even reach the airport. A draft of new guidelines will go out to all 190 member countries in the next few weeks, the agency says.

Governments are increasingly worried about cargo security as the holiday season swells the number of packages moving around the world.

In October, militants based in Yemen tried to blow up cargo jets with 38 bombs hidden in printer cartridges. The bombs were stopped only because of a tip from Saudi intelligence officials, Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole told Congress.

Since August, the United States has been screening all cargo loaded onto passenger planes that take off from U.S. airports. But there is no such requirement for cargo-only planes, or for flights coming from abroad.

Last week, a magazine published by al-Qaida urged members to launch more mail bomb attacks, calling them a "good bargain."

"An attack is an attack, whether it's large or small, and we're trying to defeat all of those," said Jim Marriott, head of ICAO's security branch.

The Montreal-based ICAO writes the standards that allow planes to fly easily from one country to another, from the frequencies used by navigation systems to the phrasing pilots use on the radio.

While not binding, the agency's recommendations carry tremendous weight, and member countries usually incorporate them into their aviation laws.

A panel of two dozen ICAO experts had been working on the cargo security measures for several years, and they were approved by the organization's governing council Nov. 17, Marriott said.

The text is not public until member governments submit their comments, but most of the changes focus on inspecting cargo before it leaves for the airport, then protecting it from tampering until it reaches the plane, Marriott said.

The amendment also urges countries to introduce inspection machinery, an important change in poor countries where airports still rely on searches by hand and see little reason to introduce high-tech sensors, he said.

Other parts of the amendment urge countries to secure air-traffic control sites and protect their computers against viruses and digital attacks.

ICAO is preparing to send a draft to member countries for their comments in the next few weeks; the final guidelines will be incorporated into the 1944 Chicago Treaty on international aviation sometime next year, he said.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration praised the proposal, saying it "exemplifies global collaboration."

"Due to the evolving nature of the threat, this is an ongoing effort for the entire international community," the agency said in a written statement.

However, the ICAO amendment does not set a target for how much cargo must be inspected before being loaded on planes, Marriott said.

That has been a matter of furious debate within the aviation industry, with pilots calling for 100 percent screening of cargo on all planes and shipping companies saying it would cause massive backups.

"Cargo security is the biggest hole in the net," said Gideon Ewers, a spokesman for the Chertsey, Britain-based International Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations. "All cargo aircraft should be treated exactly the same as a passenger aircraft, because they will cause exactly the same amount of damage if they come down."

Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., introduced a bill this month that would require screening of all cargo on all commercial planes in the United States, regardless of whether they carry passengers. Markey wrote the original 2007 law regarding passenger planes that took effect in August.

Cargo companies, meanwhile, say inspectors' time would be better spent using intelligence information and computerized criteria to identify suspicious packages. Inspecting every package is impossible, they say.

"You're going to create bottlenecks, slow down commerce and you might even put lives in peril because a lot of cargo that the industry moves is life-saving drugs, biodmedical, pharma, that kind of stuff," said Brandon Fried, executive director of the Washington-based Airforwarders Association. He estimated that 100 percent inspection would cost companies hundreds of millions of dollars.

On Wednesday, Germany revoked the licenses of three companies for failing to meet cargo security standards and issued warnings to 20 others. It did not identify the companies or say whether they were shipping firms or manufacturers sending exports abroad.

ICAO has also been moving to tighten international laws against terrorist attacks on planes. In September, it approved two treaties criminalizing attacks on aviation-related computers and the transport of weapons of mass destruction.

Other changes anticipate exotic new ways of hijacking planes, said Denys Wibaux, director of the agency's legal division. One measure makes it a crime to take control of a plane by remote control or to use hostages on the ground to force pilots in the air to obey terrorists' orders.

"It's a remote scenario, but it's the kind of thing we want to make absolutely sure is covered in the international laws," Wibaux said. "Sometimes the reality is even worse than our imagination."

Those two treaties must now be ratified by member countries, a process that could take months or years, he said.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Laura Schlessinger shifts to satellite radio
DAVID BAUDER - AP - 27 mins ago
Related Stocks
SIRI - Sirius Xm Radio Inc.

Sym Last Chg Pct
SIRI 1.40 +0.02 +1.45%
NEW YORK (AP) — Talk-show host Laura Schlessinger won't stay away from radio very long — only a weekend, in fact.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. said Monday it has a multiyear deal with Schlessinger to bring her "Dr. Laura" advice program to satellite radio in January. Specific terms were not revealed.

Schlessinger had said in August she was quitting her syndicated radio program, a week after she apologized for using the N-word on the air 11 times while talking to a black woman, and activists demanded her ouster.

She ends her traditional radio program on Friday, Dec. 31. The following Monday, she starts at Sirius.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Cathay jet makes emergency landing in Kazakhstan
AP - 20 mins ago
HONG KONG (AP) — Cathay Pacific says one of its jets made an emergency landing in Kazakhstan after the cabin lost pressure.

Hong Kong's main airline says the Boeing 747-400 landed at Karaganda airport in central Kazakhstan early Monday, six hours after the Hong Kong-bound flight left Amsterdam.

The airline said oxygen masks were deployed but the plane landed safely and the 306 passengers and 20 crew were unhurt.

Cathay said it has informed Hong Kong's Civil Aviation Department about the incident.

The airline has sent another jet to pick up the stranded passengers and bring them to Hong Kong.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Laura Schlessinger shifts to satellite radio
DAVID BAUDER - AP - 18 mins ago
Related Stocks
SIRI - Sirius Xm Radio Inc.

Sym Last Chg Pct
SIRI 1.40 +0.02 +1.45%
NEW YORK (AP) — Talk-show host Laura Schlessinger won't stay away from radio very long — only a weekend, in fact.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. said Monday it has a multiyear deal with Schlessinger to bring her "Dr. Laura" advice program to satellite radio in January. Specific terms were not revealed.

Schlessinger had said in August that she was quitting her syndicated radio program, a week after she apologized for using the N-word on the air 11 times while talking to a black woman, and activists demanded her ouster.

She ends her traditional radio program on Friday, Dec. 31. The following Monday, her "Dr. Laura" show will begin live at 2 p.m. on Sirius XM. It will air for three hours a day on Monday through Friday.

Schlessinger announced on CNN's "Larry King Live" on Aug. 17 that she was walking away from her radio show when her contract ended. The next day Sirius talk programming chief Jeremy Coleman called her to discuss a switch, she said.

"The first and most important thing that appealed to me was the freedom to speak my mind without advertisers and affiliates being attacked by activist groups that just love to censor anything they don't agree with," she said. "That just about made my heart and head explode."

The liberal watchdog Media Matters for America was a persistent critic. Its leadership didn't accept her apology and sought to encourage advertisers to drop her show. She was reading the Media Matters website when she decided, "that's it, I'm done with this," Schlessinger said.

In the radio incident that prompted her to quit, Schlessinger said to the woman involved, who was married to a white man, that "if you're that hypersensitive about color and don't have a sense of humor, don't marry out of your race."

Schlessinger said she'll have some new segments on her show, including interviews with people about situations "that are relevant to the morals, values, principles and ethics that I nag about every day."

She said she's sure she'll say things that will offend someone.

"When I talk about married couples staying together for the sake of the children, somebody's offended," she said. "When I talk about mothers staying home with their babies, feminists are offended. When I talk about how wives should have more sex with their husbands, women are offended."

Schlessinger will be the biggest radio star to jump from traditional to satellite radio since Howard Stern, who had also tired of controversies over things he said and found the opportunity for a big payday.

She's likely to sacrifice some viewers. It's estimated her show is currently heard by about 8 million people a day. Sirius XM has 20 million subscribers, but it's not certain how many of them will be interested in Schlessinger. The service does not release figures estimating listeners for their shows.

Her show will also be available online and through apps on many smart phones, Sirius said; shows will be repeated on radio over the weekend.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

BA shareholders approve Iberia merger
AP - 14 mins ago
Related Stocks
BAY.LS - British Airways Plc

Sym Last Chg Pct
BAY.LS 271.900 -3.400 -1.24%
BAIRY 21.0500 -0.3700 -1.73%
LONDON (AP) — Shareholders in British Airways PLC have approved a 5.7 billion-pound ($8.9 billion) merger with Spanish carrier Iberia SA.

The positive vote from BA's investors — announced at a shareholders' meeting in London on Monday — was widely anticipated.

A reciprocal meeting of Iberia's shareholders in Madrid is expected to confirm the deal.

The merger will create Europe's third-largest airline with a market value of around $7.5 billion.

The two loss-making airlines are among many struggling to survive after a fall in demand from both business and leisure travelers in the wake of the global credit squeeze.

The pair also plan to expand their oneworld alliance with American Airlines.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Starbucks accuses Kraft of hurting grocer sales

By Lisa Baertlein and Martinne Geller

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp has accused Kraft Foods Inc of mismanaging sales of its packaged coffee in grocery stores and wants to end their 12-year partnership due to Kraft's "material breaches" of their contract.

According to documents obtained by Reuters, Kraft has disputed Starbucks' claims, adding fuel to a fight that is sure to take center stage when Starbucks hosts its biennial investor conference in New York on Wednesday.

The Seattle-based coffee giant charged, among other things, that Kraft mismanaged store displays and marketing and failed to take "commercially reasonable measures to address the erosion of Starbucks market share," according to an October 5 letter from Starbucks' attorney Aaron Panner to Deanie Elsner, president of North American beverages at Kraft.

Unless Kraft fixed the breaches within 30 days, the letter said, their deal -- whereby Kraft sells Starbucks and Seattle's Best bagged coffees at grocery stores and other chains like Target Corp and Costco Wholesale Corp -- would end on March 1, 2011.

A second letter from Panner, dated November 5, said Kraft disputed Starbucks' claims and had "made no effort" to cure the breaches. So, it said, the deal would end, along with another one governing Starbucks' supply of coffee disks for Kraft's Tassimo one-cup coffee brewer.

Meanwhile Colleen Flaherty, Kraft's vice president of sales planning, said in an undated letter to retailers that its deal with Starbucks to sell Tazo tea would conclude at year end.

Kraft, which has overseen the growth of the bagged coffee business from $50 million to $500 million a year in sales, said in a statement that "the success of the business and its performance over the last 12 years are clear."

"If Starbucks wants to terminate in order to pursue an alternative arrangement, it needs to give Kraft sufficient time to execute an orderly transition and compensate Kraft for the fair market value of the business, plus a premium," Kraft said.

Under terms of the contract, that premium could be as much as 35 percent, according to a source familiar with the agreement, who declined to be identified because the source was not authorized to talk to the media.

Starbucks declined comment. Panner, at the Washington law firm Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, did not return calls seeking comment.

PUBLIC DIVORCE

Up until several weeks ago, Starbucks had never raised the issue of a breach, according to another source familiar, even though some of Starbucks' allegations date back years.

Starbucks has made no secret of its desire to have more control over its packaged goods business, which also includes bottled drinks sold by PepsiCo Inc. That is because it has few opportunities to open new coffee shops in the U.S. but still wants to increase sales and profits.

Shareholders of Starbucks and Kraft first learned of the battle brewing on November 4, when Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz dropped the break-up bomb during a quarterly conference call.

Kraft's Chief Financial Officer Tim McLevish said then that it was too early to quantify any impact from losing the business, which it has had since 1998.

Over the years, Starbucks has cited its business with Kraft as letting it extend its reach beyond the walls of its stores.

At an investor meeting in April, Starbucks CFO Troy Alstead said the partnership let it "leverage the world-class capabilities they have in manufacturing, research and development and marketing distribution." In a September article in Advertising Age, another Starbucks executive said sales of its Natural Fusions bagged coffee met company standards.

Still, Starbucks' lawyer Panner charged that Kraft made a series of material breaches, from not devoting sufficient personnel and resources to not involving Starbucks in sales planning calls.

He said the breaches resulted in the loss of Starbucks' position as the undisputed leader in super-premium bagged coffee sold in licensed channels and damaged Starbucks "brand positioning" and "brand equity".

UBS analyst David Palmer said in a recent report that Starbucks' grocery coffee sales had suffered three straight years of sales declines in measured channels. The fall came at a time when the U.S. recession and continuing high unemployment boosted demand as people brewed more coffee at home and cut back on going out.

Starbucks cafe business also floundered during that period as customers reeled in spending. The chain's closely watched sales at established restaurants, a key gauge of performance, fell in fiscal 2008 and 2009 before rebounding in the 2010 fiscal year ended October 3.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and Martinne Geller in New York, editing by Matthew Lewis and Marguerita Choy)

Copyright 2010 Reuters. Click for restrictions.

France, Germany say euro saved but investors skeptical

By Erik Kirschbaum and Daniel Flynn
BERLIN/PARIS | Mon Nov 29, 2010 5:41am EST
(Reuters) - Germany and France declared on Monday that Europe had taken decisive action to save the euro by rescuing Ireland and laying the foundations of a permanent debt resolution system, but investors were not convinced.

Under pressure to arrest the threat to the currency before markets opened and prevent contagion engulfing Portugal and Spain, EU finance ministers endorsed an 85 billion-euro ($115 billion) loan package on Sunday to help Dublin cover bad bank debts and bridge a huge budget deficit.

They also approved the outlines of a long-term European Stability Mechanism (ESM), based on a Franco-German proposal, that will create a permanent bailout facility and make the private sector gradually share the burden of any future default.

"This is a measure which is not simply a single shot taken in response to an important crisis, it forms part of the absolute determination of Europe -- of France and Germany -- to save the euro zone," French government spokesman Francois Baroin told Europe 1 radio.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said now that clarity had been achieved, "we are hoping for calming and reality in the financial markets," where he said speculation against euro zone countries was "hardly rational."

And French Economy Christine Lagarde said "irrational," "sheep-like" markets were not pricing sovereign debt risk in Europe correctly.

The euro hovered near two-month lows against the dollar as investors looked past the Ireland rescue to the debt woes of other peripheral euro zone economies.

And the risk premium investors charge to hold Irish, Spanish and Portuguese bonds rather than safe-haven German bunds fell only slightly in early London trade.

"There are still lingering worries about the rest of the countries, including Portugal and Spain," said Lorraine Tan, director of Asian equity research at ratings agency Standard & Poor's. "It does raise risk worries and there are less people willing to take risk at this stage."

Nouriel Roubini, the U.S. economist who warned of an impending credit crisis before 2007, told the Diario Economico business daily that Portugal was increasingly likely to need an international bailout.

"Like it or not, Portugal is reaching the critical point. Perhaps it could be a good idea to ask for a bailout in a preventative fashion," he said.

Adding to the gloom, Portuguese business confidence dipped in November for the second straight month, on poor prospects for the economy due to austerity measures designed to calm investor concerns about its creditworthiness.

Troubles in Portugal, widely seen as the next euro zone "domino" at risk, could spread quickly to its neighbor Spain because of their close economic ties.

Interest rate strategists expect Spain will have to pay more to lure investors to Thursday's offering of three-year bonds, but five-year credit default swaps on BBVA and Santander tightened on Monday after widening aggressively last week.

The new European Stability Mechanism could make private bondholders share the cost restructuring a euro zone country's debt issued after mid-2013 on a case-by-case basis.

The lack of detail in an earlier Franco-German deal on a crisis mechanism, agreed last month, and talk of private investors having to take losses, or "haircuts," on the value of sovereign bonds, helped drive Ireland over the cliff.

NO SILVER BULLET

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen, who for weeks denied Dublin needed a bailout, expressed satisfaction with the deal despite the interest rate of close to 6 percent which Ireland will have to pay on the loans.

"This agreement is necessary for our country and our people. The final agreed program represents the best available deal for Ireland," Cowen said.

Ireland was given an extra year, until 2015, to get its budget deficit down below the EU limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product in an acknowledgment that austerity measures will hit economic growth in the next four years.

But initial reactions from market analysts to the EU moves ranged from skeptical to bleak.

"I don't think this is going to be a silver bullet. I think there are still going to be some question marks on Portugal and Spain," said Peter Westaway, chief economist at brokers Nomura.

"I think it is almost impossible now to stop the contagion," said Mark Grant, managing director of corporate syndicate and structured debt products at Southwest Securities in Florida.

International Monetary Fund procedures would apply in the ESM. The IMF's "lending into arrears" policy stipulates that the Fund will lend to a country that is making good-faith efforts to come to an agreement with bondholders.

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said the important points were that the IMF's doctrine would apply, the European Union would not get involved in debt restructuring itself and existing bondholders would not be hit retroactively.

Debt worries have driven the crisis for the past year, severely denting confidence in the 12-year-old euro currency and producing what amounts to a showdown between European politicians and financial markets.

The proposed permanent crisis resolution mechanism, to be finalized in the coming weeks, is intended to prevent Europe having to rush like a fireman from one blaze to another.

But it breaks several longstanding taboos:

- it effectively tears up the "no bailout" clause in the EU treaty, to which a exception had already been made for Greece;

- it creates a permanent rescue mechanism to replace the temporary three-year facility established in May;

- it accepts for the first time the possibility of a sovereign default in the euro zone;

- and it allows for the possibility of making private bondholders share the cost with taxpayers after mid-2013.

(Additional reporting by the Dublin and Brussels bureaux; writing by Andrew Roche and Paul Taylor; editing by Jon Boyle/Mike Peacock)

Saudi king urged U.S. to attack Iran: WikiLeaks

By Arshad Mohammed and Ross Colvin
WASHINGTON | Mon Nov 29, 2010 6:01am EST
(Reuters) - Saudi King Abdullah has repeatedly urged the United States to attack Iran's nuclear program and China directed cyberattacks on the United States, according to a vast cache of diplomatic cables released on Sunday in an embarrassing leak that undermines U.S. diplomacy.

The more than 250,000 documents, given to five media groups by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, provide candid and at times critical views of foreign leaders as well as sensitive information on terrorism and nuclear proliferation filed by U.S. diplomats, according to The New York Times.

The White House condemned the release by WikiLeaks and said the disclosures may endanger U.S. informants abroad. WikiLeaks said its website was under attack and none of the underlying cables was visible there Sunday night, though some were posted by news organizations.

Among the revelations in Britain's Guardian newspaper, which also received an advance look at the documents along with France's Le Monde, Germany's Der Spiegel and Spain's El Pais, King Abdullah is reported to have "frequently exhorted the U.S. to attack Iran to put an end to its nuclear weapons program."

"Cut off the head of the snake," the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir, quotes the king as saying during a meeting with General David Petraeus in April 2008.

The leaked documents, the majority of which are from 2007 or later, also disclose U.S. allegations that China's Politburo directed an intrusion into Google's computer systems, part of a broader coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by Chinese government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws, the Times reported.

MEDVEDEV "PLAYS ROBIN TO PUTIN'S BATMAN"

As described by German news weekly Der Spiegel, the cables contain tart comments such as a U.S. diplomat's description of German Chancellor Angela Merkel as someone who "avoids risk and is seldom creative."

Another document described by The New York Times cites a U.S. embassy cable raising the possibility that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi may have had a romantic relationship with his Ukranian nurse, who is described as a "voluptuous blonde."

The newspaper said many of the cables name diplomats' confidential sources, from foreign lawmakers and military officers to human rights activists and journalists, often with a warning: "Please protect" or "Strictly protect."

Comments such a description of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's head of state, as playing "Robin to (Prime Minister Vladimir) Putin's Batman," are sure to embarrass the Obama administration and to complicate its diplomacy.

The White House said the release of the documents could endanger the lives of people who live under "oppressive regimes" and "deeply impact" the foreign policy interests of the United States, its allies and partners around the world.

"To be clear -- such disclosures put at risk our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people around the world who come to the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open government," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

"By releasing stolen and classified documents, WikiLeaks has put at risk not only the cause of human rights but also the lives and work of these individuals," he said.

"DEVASTATING"

Security analysts tended to agree that the release of the documents was a severe blow to U.S. diplomacy, undermining the confidentiality that is vital for foreign leaders and activists to talk candidly to U.S. officials.

"This is pretty devastating," Roger Cressey, a partner at Goodharbor Consulting and a former U.S. cyber security and counter-terrorism official, said in an e-mailed comment.

The U.S. government, which was informed in advance of the leaked cables' contents, contacted governments including Russia, and in Europe and the Middle East, to try to limit damage.

The White House also warned readers that the field reporting in the documents is often incomplete and does not necessarily reflect, or even shape, U.S. policy decisions.

Emile Hokayem, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the dramatic revelation that Saudi King Abdullah counseled a U.S. strike on Iran may have been exaggerated for diplomatic effect.

"It's very possible that the Gulf states have in private adopted very aggressive rhetoric just to stress the urgency of the issue," Hokayem said. "But I personally doubt that there is an appetite for war as such."

Among the disclosures reported by The New York Times were:

-- suspicions Iran has obtained sophisticated missiles from North Korea capable of hitting western Europe, and the United States is concerned Iran is using those rockets as "building blocks" to build longer-range missiles;

-- allegations that Chinese operatives have broken into American government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002;

-- talks between U.S. and South Korean officials about the prospects for a unified Korea should the North's economic troubles and a political transition lead the state to implode;

-- the South Koreans considered commercial inducements to China to "help salve" Chinese concerns about living with a reunified Korea that is in a "benign alliance" with Washington, according to the American ambassador to Seoul;

-- reporting that Saudi donors remain chief financiers of Sunni militant groups like al Qaeda, and the tiny Persian Gulf state of Qatar, a generous host to the American military for years, was the "worst in the region" in counterterrorism efforts, according to a State Department cable last December;

-- Since 2007, the United States has mounted a secret and so far unsuccessful effort to remove highly enriched uranium from a Pakistani research reactor out of fear it could be diverted for use in an illicit nuclear device.

(Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball, Missy Ryan, Phil Stewart and John Whitesides in Washington; William Maclean in London and Brian Rohan in Berlin; Writing by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Philip Barbara and Jackie Frank)

The Next Home Buyers: Ozzie & Harriet
As Americans cease looking at homes as ATMs, new buyers are better off taking a more traditional approach

It's an unsettling time to be shopping for a home. Home values have yet to stabilize in three-quarters of U.S. metropolitan areas. Alarm about so-called robo-signing of foreclosure paperwork has raised fundamental questions about who owns a property's title. And, while unlikely, two bipartisan commissions have suggested capping or killing the previously sacrosanct tax deductibility of mortgage interest.

As a result, home shoppers are being forced to accept a more traditional view of a real estate purchase: seeing their new home more as a savings account than as an investment. That represents a switch from how many owners thought during the go-go years of surging home prices and easy money, says Stan Humphries, chief economist of real estate information and listings website Zillow. "It's essentially a forced savings plan, putting aside a percentage of your income into a savings account that is a non-depreciating asset in typical times," he says.

Of course, that's not necessarily a bad thing. From the 1950s through the mid-1990s, home values appreciated 2 percent to 4 percent a year, on average, just beating the rate of inflation. The challenge is that Humphries also thinks home values won't bottom nationally until June 2011 at the earliest. Even when home values bottom out, Humphries expects an L-shaped bottom. His grim outlook is based on the fact that 23.2 percent of single-family homes across the U.S. had negative equity in the third quarter—which means high foreclosure rates will likely persist, while underlying demand for housing remains weaker due to high unemployment. The Obama Administration doesn't expect unemployment to return to a normal range, below 6 percent, until 2015, according to the Office of Management and Budget's mid-session review released in July.

FAREWELL TO THE FLIPPERS
Certainly, few now expect to sit on a property for a couple years and then get rich off the equity. Real estate agents complain that even record-low mortgage rates—which hit 4.07 percent on Nov. 9 for a 30-year fixed-rate loan, according to Zillow—won't budge many potential buyers, given the tough outlook for price appreciation. "If prices are falling, and rates are falling, and the news is more of the same, why would you buy a home right now?" says Alicia Trevino, a broker in Dallas.

Even some professional real estate "flippers," or the people who work with them to buy and rapidly sell property, are having second thoughts. "I tell clients, 'Don't buy this as an investment,'" says Sheldon F. Margolis, a real estate lawyer in Jersey City, N.J. "It will increase in value, but it will take a lot longer than it did in the past." Large inventories of unsold units have made it no longer possible to buy an apartment in a high-rise on Jersey City's high-priced waterfront in the construction stage and make a quick $30,000 to $50,000 by flipping it, he says. Similar new developments throughout the U.S. are sitting mostly empty, with values, in many cases, under water. That has left their developers stuck. Flippers are akin to day traders in the stock market—high risk, high return, but in a challenging market, most wind up losing money.

A few markets showed renewed life earlier this year, but mostly due to the federal first-time home buyer tax credit, which finally expired in September. First-time home buyers accounted for a record 50 percent of all home sales in a 2009 study from the National Association of Realtors, up from 47 percent the prior year. (The data go back as far as 1981.) Home values in five major California markets, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, turned negative again in the third quarter after climbing for five consecutive quarters, according to Zillow. Despite an average 3.6 percent year-over-year gain in single-family home prices nationally in the second quarter, prices fell in 70 percent of the 384 metro areas, and many markets experienced double-digit drops, compared with the 2009 second quarter, Fiserv-Case Shiller said in its November home price insights report. Fiserv-Case Shiller expects double-digit declines to continue until the end of the summer of 2011.

It's an unsettling time to be shopping for a home. Home values have yet to stabilize in three-quarters of U.S. metropolitan areas. Alarm about so-called robo-signing of foreclosure paperwork has raised fundamental questions about who owns a property's title. And, while unlikely, two bipartisan commissions have suggested capping or killing the previously sacrosanct tax deductibility of mortgage interest.

As a result, home shoppers are being forced to accept a more traditional view of a real estate purchase: seeing their new home more as a savings account than as an investment. That represents a switch from how many owners thought during the go-go years of surging home prices and easy money, says Stan Humphries, chief economist of real estate information and listings website Zillow. "It's essentially a forced savings plan, putting aside a percentage of your income into a savings account that is a non-depreciating asset in typical times," he says.

Of course, that's not necessarily a bad thing. From the 1950s through the mid-1990s, home values appreciated 2 percent to 4 percent a year, on average, just beating the rate of inflation. The challenge is that Humphries also thinks home values won't bottom nationally until June 2011 at the earliest. Even when home values bottom out, Humphries expects an L-shaped bottom. His grim outlook is based on the fact that 23.2 percent of single-family homes across the U.S. had negative equity in the third quarter—which means high foreclosure rates will likely persist, while underlying demand for housing remains weaker due to high unemployment. The Obama Administration doesn't expect unemployment to return to a normal range, below 6 percent, until 2015, according to the Office of Management and Budget's mid-session review released in July.

FAREWELL TO THE FLIPPERS
Certainly, few now expect to sit on a property for a couple years and then get rich off the equity. Real estate agents complain that even record-low mortgage rates—which hit 4.07 percent on Nov. 9 for a 30-year fixed-rate loan, according to Zillow—won't budge many potential buyers, given the tough outlook for price appreciation. "If prices are falling, and rates are falling, and the news is more of the same, why would you buy a home right now?" says Alicia Trevino, a broker in Dallas.

Even some professional real estate "flippers," or the people who work with them to buy and rapidly sell property, are having second thoughts. "I tell clients, 'Don't buy this as an investment,'" says Sheldon F. Margolis, a real estate lawyer in Jersey City, N.J. "It will increase in value, but it will take a lot longer than it did in the past." Large inventories of unsold units have made it no longer possible to buy an apartment in a high-rise on Jersey City's high-priced waterfront in the construction stage and make a quick $30,000 to $50,000 by flipping it, he says. Similar new developments throughout the U.S. are sitting mostly empty, with values, in many cases, under water. That has left their developers stuck. Flippers are akin to day traders in the stock market—high risk, high return, but in a challenging market, most wind up losing money.

A few markets showed renewed life earlier this year, but mostly due to the federal first-time home buyer tax credit, which finally expired in September. First-time home buyers accounted for a record 50 percent of all home sales in a 2009 study from the National Association of Realtors, up from 47 percent the prior year. (The data go back as far as 1981.) Home values in five major California markets, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, turned negative again in the third quarter after climbing for five consecutive quarters, according to Zillow. Despite an average 3.6 percent year-over-year gain in single-family home prices nationally in the second quarter, prices fell in 70 percent of the 384 metro areas, and many markets experienced double-digit drops, compared with the 2009 second quarter, Fiserv-Case Shiller said in its November home price insights report. Fiserv-Case Shiller expects double-digit declines to continue until the end of the summer of 2011.

Congress Returns to Work with Long To-Do List

U.S. lawmakers face a lengthy to-do list, topped by a dispute over expiring tax cuts, when they return to work Monday in a session that offers an early gauge of the chances for bipartisanship when the new Congress convenes in January.


AP

The first test of the post-election relationship between President Barack Obama and newly powerful Republican congressional leaders will come at a White House meeting on Tuesday, which is likely to focus on the tax-cut debate.

Republicans have demanded all the Bush-era tax cuts, which expire at the end of the year, be permanently extended.

Obama and many Democrats want to make the cuts for families making less than $250,000 a year permanent, but would let taxes increase for wealthier Americans.

The tax clash promises to be an early test for Obama and Republicans, who take control of the House of Representatives in January after gaining 63 seats in November's elections.

Republicans also gained strength in the Senate, where Democrats will retain a majority in the new Congress.

Some Democrats have floated various compromises on taxes, including temporary extensions or raising the high-earner threshold to $1 million.

Other Democrats have urged Obama to stand strong against extending the tax cuts for the wealthy, citing the cost of $700 billion over 10 years.

"What's likely to happen is there will be an extension of the tax cuts for everybody for a period of time. I don't know what that might be, but it's the wrong remedy for the country," Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan told CNN's "State of the Union."

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham also predicted the tax cuts would be extended temporarily.

"There will be bipartisan support ... to extend all the tax cuts for two or three years, and I think that vote will be had before the end of the year," he said on Fox News Sunday.

The jammed legislative agenda for the session also includes ratification of the START nuclear treaty with Russia, repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy banning gays from the military, an extension of long-term unemployment benefits and a spending bill to keep the government running.

Lawmakers, who took last week off for the Thanksgiving holiday, will have just four work weeks before the Christmas holiday and the end of the old Congress to finish their work.

New members of the House and Senate take office in January.

"My issue is you can't do everything. I was stating it as a matter of reality, not a matter of policy," Republican Senator Jon Kyl said on NBC's "Meet the Press" when asked about his opposition to taking up the new START treaty with Russia.

Kyl said there was no time for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and the Senate to consider the treaty, which would cut the two countries' deployed nuclear weapons by about 30 percent within seven years.

"How can Harry Reid do all the things we're talking about, deal with expiring tax provisions and in addition to that dealing with the START treaty, which by itself could last two weeks?" Kyl asked.

Congress must also approve a spending bill to keep the government running, and is expected to debate a repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bans gays from openly serving in the military.

Graham said there was no chance a repeal would pass the Senate.

"Don't ask, don't tell is not going anywhere," he said on Fox New Sunday.

Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Investors hope for a Black Friday bounce

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Black Friday, the first major shopping day of the holiday retail period, has come and gone.

Now stock investors searching for clues about consumer spending will look closely at how the big stores fared.

The holiday period accounts for about 35% of an average retailer's revenue, and 10% of holiday buying takes place on Black Friday alone, said Chip Brian, founder or SmarTrend. Last year, the major indexes gained an average of 5% from Nov. 1 to Dec. 1.

Of course, domestic consumer spending isn't the only factor driving the markets.

Europe's new contagion worries
Fears that the debt problems of the hardest hit European economies will spread throughout the euro zone have taken the spotlight in recent weeks. Greece and Ireland have accepted bailouts, and investors are worried that Portugal and Spain may be next.

In fact, concern about Europe overshadowed the flurry of Black Friday shoppers hitting the stores: Stocks ended sharply lower after a rollercoaster week.

But barring any new developments overseas, investors are likely to turn their attention back to the United States this week, which will bring a full plate of new economic data.

And they will "take cues" from Black Friday, said Matt Kaufler, equity market strategist and portfolio manager at Federated Clover Investment Advisors.

"If there's a strong showing from the retail community getting out of the gates for the holiday shopping season, that will only reinforce the data we've seen that has shown consumer spending ticking up, unemployment ticking down and consumer confidence remaining at a higher level," Kaufler said.

Along with retail performance, investors will be looking closely for improvement in jobs. Several key readings are due out in the coming week, culminating in the government's widely-anticipated monthly employment report on Friday.

The U.S. is not falling behind
Tuesday: The November reading of Chicago PMI, a regional manufacturing index, is due shortly after the start of trading. Economists expect that it fell to 59.8 from 60.6 in October. Any index reading over 50 indicates expansion.

The Case-Shiller index of September home prices in 20 major metropolitan areas is also due after the opening bell. Analysts forecast a 1% rise after the previous month's 1.7% gain.

At 10 a.m. ET, the Conference Board will release a reading on consumer confidence for November. The index is expected to have ticked up to 52 from 50.2 in October.

Wednesday: The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index for November will be released in the morning and is expected to have edged down to 56.4 from 56.9 in October. Any number above 50 indicates growth in the sector.

Construction spending is forecast to have ticked down 0.5% in October, following a rise of 0.5% in September.

A report from payroll services firm ADP is expected to show that employers in the private sector added 58,000 workers in November after boosting payrolls by 43,000 in the previous month.

Separately, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas issues its report on planned job cuts in November.

In the afternoon, the Federal Reserve will release its Beige Book report on economic conditions across the central bank's 12 districts.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government's weekly crude oil inventories report and readings on mortgage applications, unit labor costs and third-quarter business productivity are also on tap. Auto and truck sales are due throughout the day.

Thursday: The government's weekly jobless claims report comes out before the start of trading, with 423,000 Americans expected to file new claims for unemployment, after 407,000 were filed in the previous week.

After the bell, the National Association of Realtors releases its pending home sales index, a measure of sales contracts for existing homes. The index is expected to be unchanged in October after slipping 1.8% in September.

Friday: The week's most closely-watched reading on employment is due Friday. Employers are expected to have added 130,000 jobs in November after adding 151,000 jobs in October. The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 9.6%.

Factory orders are due from the Commerce Department after the start of trading. Orders are forecast to have declined 1.2% in October after increasing 2.1% in September.

The ISM services sector index for November is expected to have edged up slightly to 54.5 from 54.3 in October.

Stocks Sleep Off Turkey, Casinos Look Gift-Wrapped For December

The Dow Jones Industrial Average's post-election slump continued, with the blue chip barometer slipping below 11,100 at the end of the holiday-shortened week, which got off to a decidedly downbeat start Monday with FBI raids on several major hedge funds in connection with a major insider trading investigation. On Tuesday, the more than 60-year-old conflict between the two Koreas heated up again Tuesday when North Korea shelled a South Korean island and the South returned fire. There's nothing like a shooting war between Cold War proxies to take the starch out of Wall Street.

The geopolitical tensions overshadowed an upbeat gross domestic product report, which showed the economy grew 2.5% during the third quarter, up from the initial estimate of 2%. The minutes from the early-November Federal Open Market Committee meeting also weighed on traders. Fed officials lowered their expectations for economic growth and warned that a return to normal unemployment levels could be years away. The Dow sank 1.27%.

First-time jobless claims came in at 407,000 early Wednesday, far lower than expected and the lowest level in more than two years, and the bulls were off to the races. The University of Michigan reported that its consumer sentiment index was 71.6, another better-than-expected reading as the holiday approached. The Dow soared 150 points, or 1.37%, erasing Tuesday's losses.

Special Offer: Is it time to get short on Priceline.com? What about solar stocks? Click here to try Schaeffer's Option Advisor for money-making options trading ideas right now.

Wall Street took Thanksgiving Day off, of course, but returned from the feasting in a sour mood. Renewed worries about sovereign debt in Portugal and Spain were not assuaged by those countries' tough new budgetary measures. For the week, the Dow fell about 1% and the S&P 500 Index slipped 0.8%. The Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile was in positive territory last week, gaining 0.6%. Furthermore, although the Dow is down for the month to date, the SPX and Nasdaq are still on track for gains in November.

Week's Key Events: November Jobless Data on Tap Friday


Rate This Story
Your Rating
Overall Rating
Reader Comments
Post a Comment
Monday: There are no major economic reports scheduled for Monday. Inergy, L.P. ( NRGP -earnings.

Tuesday: The Case-Shiller 20-city index for September will be released, along with the Chicago purchasing managers' index for November. The Conference Board, meanwhile, will publish its survey on consumer confidence in November. Barnes & Noble ( BKS - news - people ), Trina Solar ( TSL - news - people ) and OmniVision Technologies ( OVTI - news - people ) are scheduled to issue their quarterly reports.

Wednesday: Wednesday will be busy. ADP and Challenger, Gray & Christmas will kick off three successive days of jobs data, with the former reporting on private sector growth in November, and the latter releasing data on layoffs. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) will publish its November manufacturing index, and the Commerce Department will report on construction spending in October and auto sales in November. The Fed will issue its Beige Book for December, and we'll get the usual weekly report on crude inventories. Scheduled to report earnings are Charming Shoppes ( CHRS - news - people ), Aeropostale ( ARO - news - people ), Collective Brands, Jo-Ann Stores ( JASA - news - people ), Krispy Kreme ( KKD - news - people ) and Zumiez ( ZUMZ - news - people ).

Thursday: The Labor Department will give us its weekly look at jobless claims. Del Monte Foods Company ( DLM - news - people ), Kroger ( KR - news - people ), Toll Brothers ( TOL - news - people ), Coldwater Creek ( CWTR - news - people ), Novell ( NOVL - news - people ) and VeriFone Systems plan to report earnings.

Cyber Monday Gains Clout Among Bargain Hunters

Attention online shoppers: you really can save money on Cyber Monday.

Although some have criticized the shopping-day concept as being completely contrived—after all, the term was coined by Shop.org, the industry’s trade group—Cyber Monday has evolved into quite the sales event.

And that's what consumers are looking for this year.

"Part of it is a real need for consumers to stretch their dollars, and part of it is a carrying over the frugal behavior of the past two years," said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD Group. "That behavior doesn't go away quickly."

Never the busiest—or most profitable—day of the e-commerce calendar, the Monday after Thanksgiving has become cloaked in a mythology, complete with tales of office workers rushing to their desks, leftover turkey sandwich in hand, to shop on their employers' computers.

The truth: recession-hardened consumers are unlikely to do their holiday shopping in the office. In a survey conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs, one in three workers said the biggest mistake you can make this holiday season is to shop for gifts at work.

Instead, the second Monday or Tuesday of December will likely wear the crown as the busiest—and most profitable—online shopping day of the holiday season.

“It usually has to do with when free shipping deals cut off,” said David Fry, founder of e-commerce services company Fry Inc.


But Cyber Monday can be the most profitable one for consumers, according to Brad Wilson, editor-in-chief of BlackFriday2010.com, a coupon and price comparison Web site. His research shows the day provided some of the deepest discounts available online last year.

This year, more consumers are expected to shift online, with e-commerce sales expected to rise between 7 percent and 9 percent this holiday season, according to a preliminary forecast from data tracker ComScore.

On Cyber Monday, sales are projected to increase 13.2 percent, according to industry researcher IBISWorld.

"The appeal of e-commerce is that it allows for easier bargain hunting and price comparisons than brick-and-mortar stores," said Nikoleta Panteva, a retail analyst at IBISWorld.

Cyber Monday Every Day

But Cyber Monday won't be the only day to get a good deal.

"Every day can be Cyber Monday online," said Steven Boal, CEO of Coupons.com, a leading coupon Web site. He said savvy shoppers can find deals throughout the holiday season; they only need to know where to look.

In response to competition from private online sale sites such as Groupon, Rue La La, Woot and Haute Look, more retailers are hosting their own limited-time or limited-supply sales throughout the season. These events create buzz and excitement about the retailer, and make shoppers feel as though they are part of an elite group.

Some shoppers are finding out about these deals through alerts they set up on Google [GOOG 590.00 -4.97 (-0.84%) ], Boal said. He's seen increased Web traffic to his site from these alerts.

But others learn of them on Facebook and Twitter, where fans and followers often get clued in on special deals.

In fact, Fry said, the rise of Facebook as a way to direct shoppers to Web sites is becoming a "diminishment of Google."

"I think we are starting to see a maturation of the online process," he said.

Smartphone applications also are helping some consumers to sort through the deals and compare prices, but shopping via smartphones is unlikely to sway holiday sales significantly this year, analysts said.

Congress returns to work with long to-do list

By John Whitesides
WASHINGTON | Mon Nov 29, 2010 1:45am EST
(Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers face a lengthy to-do list, topped by a dispute over expiring tax cuts, when they return to work on Monday in a session that offers an early gauge of the chances for bipartisanship when the new Congress convenes in January.

The first test of the post-election relationship between President Barack Obama and newly powerful Republican congressional leaders will come at a White House meeting on Tuesday, which is likely to focus on the tax-cut debate.

Republicans have demanded all the Bush-era tax cuts, which expire at the end of the year, be permanently extended. Obama and many Democrats want to make the cuts for families making less than $250,000 a year permanent, but would let taxes increase for wealthier Americans.

The tax clash promises to be an early test for Obama and Republicans, who take control of the House of Representatives in January after gaining 63 seats in November's elections. Republicans also gained strength in the Senate, where Democrats will retain a majority in the new Congress.

Some Democrats have floated various compromises on taxes, including temporary extensions or raising the high-earner threshold to $1 million. Other Democrats have urged Obama to stand strong against extending the tax cuts for the wealthy, citing the cost of $700 billion over 10 years.

"What's likely to happen is there will be an extension of the tax cuts for everybody for a period of time. I don't know what that might be, but it's the wrong remedy for the country," Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan told CNN's "State of the Union."

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham also predicted the tax cuts would be extended temporarily.

"There will be bipartisan support ... to extend all the tax cuts for two or three years, and I think that vote will be had before the end of the year," he said on Fox News Sunday.

The jammed legislative agenda for the session also includes ratification of the START nuclear treaty with Russia, repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy banning gays from the military, an extension of long-term unemployment benefits and a spending bill to keep the government running.

Lawmakers, who took last week off for the Thanksgiving holiday, will have just four work weeks before the Christmas holiday and the end of the old Congress to finish their work. New members of the House and Senate take office in January.

"My issue is you can't do everything. I was stating it as a matter of reality, not a matter of policy," Republican Senator Jon Kyl said on NBC's "Meet the Press" when asked about his opposition to taking up the new START treaty with Russia.

Kyl said there was no time for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and the Senate to consider the treaty, which would cut the two countries' deployed nuclear weapons by about 30 percent within seven years.

"How can Harry Reid do all the things we're talking about, deal with expiring tax provisions and in addition to that dealing with the START treaty, which by itself could last two weeks?" Kyl asked.

Congress must also approve a spending bill to keep the government running, and is expected to debate a repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bans gays from openly serving in the military.

Graham said there was no chance a repeal would pass the Senate. "Don't ask, don't tell is not going anywhere," he said on Fox News Sunday.

(Additional reporting by Kim Dixon; editing by Todd Eastham)

South Korea vows retaliation against any further attack

By Lee Jae-won
MALLIPO BEACH, South Korea | Mon Nov 29, 2010 6:02am EST
(Reuters) - South Korean President Lee Myung-bak vowed retaliation against any further provocation by the North after it attacked an island last week as anger grew at the government's weak response.

Lee made his first address to the nation since Tuesday's attack as U.S. and South Korean warships took part in military maneuvers, prompting concern in regional power China and threats of all-out war from North Korea.

He also visited U.S. forces in Korea to thank them for the show of force.

"North Korea will pay the price in the event of further provocations," Lee said. "Attacking civilians militarily is an inhumane crime that is strictly forbidden in a time of war... Now is the time to show action, not a hundred words."

Clashes in disputed waters off the west coast are not uncommon, with dozens of sailors killed and warships sunk over the past 11 years, but Tuesday's attack on Yeonpyeong was the first time a residential area had suffered a direct hit. Of the four killed, two were civilians.

The attack raised tensions on the peninsula to their highest level in at least two decades, but experts say they are unlikely to tip over into war.

Anger at the attack is growing in South Korea, putting pressure on the conservative government to get tough. In Seoul, about 500 former soldiers and police burned North Korean flags and effigies of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

Moody's Investors Service said uncertainty over confrontations have already been factored into South Korean credit ratings. But the agency said it was still determining whether the recent attack marked a fundamentally more reckless stance by North Korea.

Markets in Seoul mirrored the broader region on Monday, as players judged the latest spat as being no worse than previous between the Koreas, who are still technically at war having only signed a truce to stop fighting in the 1950-53 war.

China has proposed emergency talks amid global pressure on Beijing to be more aggressive in helping resolve the standoff between the rival Koreas and try to rein in ally Pyongyang which depends on China for aid.

Washington and Tokyo were non-committal, saying they would consult with Seoul, which was skeptical of the proposal to sit down with North Korea, effectively rewarding it for bad behavior.

The reclusive North was previously offered massive aid in return for disarmament pledges that went unmet.

A senior North Korean official also expressed skepticism about the Chinese call, Japan's Kyodo news agency said. North Korea has yet to issue an official response but the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said countries "responsible for (the latest standoff)" should first hold talks.

Beijing is wary of the collapse of North Korea, which could send millions of refugees across its border and strengthen the U.S.-South Korea alliance in a possibly combined Korea.

The whistle-blowing WikiLeaks website, revealing a cache of U.S. diplomatic cables, said there had been talks between U.S. and South Korean officials about the prospects of a unified Korea, according to the New York Times.

Wiki Leak World Map

Everyone seems to be going batty over the big Wikileak data dump.

• How media is visualizing the ‘Cablegate’

• Reuters sums up early reactions from pundits.

• Editorials:

-Le Monde’s
-New York Times
-The Guardian

• British think tank believes the really secret stuff hasn’t and probably won’t get leaked. (Millions of people already had access to these cables).

Head and Shoulders chart pattern for 2010-11-29

Head and Shoulders chart found for the following stocks:
Malaysian Ringgit / Swiss Franc (MYRCHF) over a 7 day period with about a 93% match.
US Dollar / Rial Omani (USDOMR) over a 7 day period with about a 92% match.
US Dollar / Yemeni Rial (USDYER) over a 7 day period with about a 88% match.
US Dollar / Papua New Guinea Kina (USDPGK) over a 7 day period with about a 88% match.
Kwacha / Pound Sterling (MWKGBP) over a 7 day period with about a 86% match.
US Dollar / UAE Dirham (USDAED) over a 7 day period with about a 86% match.
Canadian Dollar / New Israeli Sheqel (CADILS) over a 30 day period with about a 85% match.
US Dollar / Mauritius Rupee (USDMUR) over a 7 day period with about a 85% match.
US Dollar / Jordanian Dinar (USDJOD) over a 7 day period with about a 85% match.
Seychelles Rupee / Pound Sterling (SCRGBP) over a 7 day period with about a 84% match.
Gold / US Dollar (XAUUSD) over a 36 day period with about a 84% match.

Inverted Head and Shoulders chart pattern for 2010-11-29

Inverted Head and Shoulders chart found for the following stocks:
Swiss Franc / Malaysian Ringgit (CHFMYR) over a 7 day period with about a 91% match.
Swiss Franc / Danish Krone (CHFDKK) over a 54 day period with about a 85% match.
New Israeli Sheqel / Canadian Dollar (ILSCAD) over a 30 day period with about a 85% match.
Swiss Franc / Latvian Lats (CHFLVL) over a 54 day period with about a 84% match.

Enova Systems - A Pretty Good Gamble

The origin of the saying good food, good whiskey, good gamble is not entirely certain. Many attribute it to Las Vegas casino operator Benny Binion, but for our part, we simply have no idea.

Regardless of its origin, the term gamble and the term investing, certainly don't seem to go hand in hand. Yet, when given equal consideration, often times, all investors are actually doing is gambling.

Several years ago, we stumbled on Maxwell Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: MXWL). We understood the technology the company was developing, but try as we might we simply couldn't get our collective heads around what the market for an ultracapacitor might be.

Our reasoning at the time was, why would anyone have a need to charge a battery that fast?

But we thought that at $7, it seemed like a pretty good gamble, so we took a position and today at $16, it appears that our gamble is paying off.

Enter Enova Systems, Inc. (AMEX: ENA), another of those companies that at first made us wonder, and then made us ask why not?

Basis

Financial information for Enova Systems, Inc., is based on the company's most recent SEC Form 10-K filing, for year ending December 31, 2009 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 26, 2010.

What They Do

The company believes it is a leader in the development, design and production of proprietary, power train systems and related components for electric and hybrid electric buses and medium and heavy duty commercial vehicles and stationary power generation systems.

Its focus is on powertrain systems, including digital power conversion, power management and system integration, focusing chiefly on vehicle power generation.

Specifically, the company develops, designs, and produces drive systems and related components for electric, hybrid electric and fuel cell powered vehicles in both the new and retrofit markets.

Company management believes medium and heavy-duty drive system sales offer it the greatest return on investment in both the short and long term.

In addition, management believes the medium and heavy-duty hybrid market’s best chances of significant growth lie in identifying and pooling the largest possible numbers of early adopters in high-volume applications.

By aligning the company with key customers and integrating with original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”) in its target markets, management believes that alliances will result in the latest technology being implemented and customer requirements being met, with an optimized level of additional time and expense.

During 2009, the company continued to develop and produce electric and hybrid electric drive systems and components for First Auto Works of China, Navistar Corporation (NAV), Tanfield Engineering Plc, and the United Stares military.

The company was also successful in introducing its technology to Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation in 2009.

Short-Term Investment

The stock closed recently at $1.06 with Resistance at $1.09, a 3% increase from its recent close, and Support at $0.83, a 22% decline for its recent close.

The Stochastic indicator is currently showing the stock to be oversold with the 13 day moving average starting to trend downward and the 50 day moving average seeming to plateau, indicating to us that the stock price may be close to a bit of downtrend.

All in all, there doesn’t seem to be any short-term advantage to a position at this time.

Long-Term (5-Year Hold) Investment

While we think the company’s Current Ratio at 8.5, Quick Ratio at 6, and Cash Ratio at 5.5 are all what we consider investment quality, we cannot say the say about the company’s Cash Conversion Cycle at 522 days.

Granted, the company is operating in an emerging industry that hasn’t quite caught on, but in the end, this metric needs improvement. Holding inventory for a year, while perhaps necessary, certainly doesn’t help.

One of the downsides to hanging on to inventory for so long is that it often times requires the holder to process its Accounts Payable well in advance of collecting its Accounts Receivable.

Such is the case with Enova, with Accounts Payable outstanding an average 33 days, while Accounts Receivable are outstanding an average of 91 days. In effect, the company is providing its suppliers 60 day interest free loans.

The company ended FY09 with debt of $1.4 million, paying an average annual interest rate of 14%. While not uncommon for an emerging market company, to us it is something that investors should keep a watchful eye on.

Valuations

Based on our review of the company’s latest annual financial information, we think the company currently has a Reasonable Value of about $4, with a Buy Target of $2.50, a First Sell Target of $4.75, and a Close Target of $5.25.

The company has a Market Cap of about $33 million, with an Equity Value of about $1.50 and Tangible Book Value of about $0.55, and negative Free Cash Flow.

Final Thoughts

As we said at the outset, sometimes things just seem like a good gamble. We think that is true of Enova Systems. Certainly none of the company’s financial metrics are that glowing. Still, we can’t help but ask ourselves, what if?

The company has recently partnered with Smith Electric Vehicles to provide drive systems for Smith’s Newton truck, part of a Department of Energy initiative, and back in May, the company announced an order for Navistar's hybrid school buses, part of a large scale deployment of federal stimulus dollars.

Granted, these recent company announcements don’t mean the company will ever become profitable. Nor do these announcements mean that the company will even remain an on-going concern.

But at a 75% discount to our reasonable value estimate, we happen to think taking a long-term position in the stock is a pretty good gamble; besides, what else are we gonna do with a buck, buy a lottery ticket?

A Digital Holiday Like No Other; Are Mid-Caps Set to Lead the Market Higher?

Stocks struggled over the past week as investors managed to shrug off an escalating conflict in Korea only to have renewed sovereign debt troubles in Europe slug them in the face. The Dow Jones Industrials and S&P 500 both closed half a percent lower while the Nasdaq closed half a percent higher. The European exchanges all closed 3% to 5% lower.

Yet some sectors thrived. Best groups for the week were retailers, semiconductor makers and Internet software and hardware makers, all up 3% to 5%. Major damages were mostly in large-cap banks and materials producers.

Despite the trouble, some positive patterns emerged in the United States. In my reports two weeks ago, I mentioned that the S&P 500 Index had a shot at making a "cup with handle" continuation pattern if the decline stopped immediately at 1,080. It actually did, then fell back and tested the 1,080 level again this week.



Well now the S&P 500 has not quite completed a cup with handle pattern because it will need a close above the November 5 high. But the S&P 400 Midcap Index [AMEX: MID] actually accomplished that at the close on Wednesday, as shown in the chart above.

Mid-caps, or medium-sized companies -- around $2 billion to $10 billion in market capitalization -- are almost always the best stocks to own because they've got most of the spunk of the small-caps with the financial heft and longevity of the big-caps. They're small enough to be nimble yet big enough to take advantage of opportunities.

The cup with handle pattern was first described in detail by William O'Neill, a pioneering technical analyst and founder of Investor's Business Daily. He wrote about the pattern in his seminal book, which I highly recommend, called "How to Make Money in Stocks." The cup forms after an advance and looks like a bowl or rounding bottom. As the cup is completed, a trading range emerges on the right-hand side, and the handle forms. A breakout from the handle's trading range signals a continuation of the prior advance. The pullback is a pennant, or "bull flag," which is itself a classic continuation pattern.

What has to happen next to validate this pattern is a high-volume upside breakout above the top of the handle. If that occurs -- still a big if, let's not kid ourselves -- you can start to talk about a measurement. Although there is a lot of debate in technical circles about whether measurements are valid, they at least help us get a rough idea of the magnitude of the next move.

The projected advance following the breakout is estimated by measuring the distance from the right peak of the cup to the bottom of the cup. In the case of the Midcap 400, that's roughly 860 minus 700, or 160. Then you add 160 to 860 and come up with the target of 1,020. As you can see in the chart above, that would take the Midcap 400 to a new all-time high by 95 points.

The S&P 500 is 40 points away from closing above its Nov. 5 high, which is a lot. However if it continues the trek and breaks out to validate its own cup-with-handle pattern, the move would project 210 points to 1,435, which would take the index back to its January 2008 level.



Before moving on, let me note that if the Midcap 400 closes November at the current level, it will amount to a breakout over the four-year downtrend marked by the red downtrend line in the chart. That would be a great step forward, since there would be much less "gravitational pull" or resistance on the index and it would have a great shot at busting out to a new all-time high.

Before you scoff, keep in mind that this is what quantitative easing, or a liquidity flood, is all about. This is the type of breakout on liquidity that occurred in the mid-1980s, the early 1990s as well as the mid-2000s. It's not unusual. It's normal.



And this all makes a lot more sense if you look at the charts of individual stocks rather than the broad indexes. As you know from my charts over the past year, 2007 highs have long since been surpassed by major mid-cap stocks I have recommended in the past few months such as Ross Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: ROST), Hasbro Inc. (NYSE: HAS), F5 Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), Perrigo Co. (NASDAQ: PRGO) and Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE: FDO). The charts above start at the beginning of the bear market on October 10, 2007. All of these stocks, and many more, have pushed past that old high and are on into their own private secular bull markets.

So the idea that the Midcap 400-- shown at the bottom of the clip-- should follow is not exactly a radical or outrageous concept. The midcaps on our list are the leaders, and the troops will eventually follow. That's about as clear as I can make it. Make sure you are prepared.

ON THE JOB
Moods were brightened over the past week by some positive news on the economic calendar, particularly concerning consumers. Key to the improvement are renewed signs of traction in the labor market, as initial claims fell 34,000 to 407,000, from 443,500 last week. Moreover personal spending was reported up 0.4% month over month and 3.6% year over year, while income surprisingly rose 0.5% month over month and 4.1% year over year. No wonder Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW), the premier online jobs website, jumped almost 4% on the week.

Just a quick word now about retail stocks. We only have two of them on our list, ROST in StrataGem and FDO in StrataGem XR. They were each up around 2.5%, which shows that a rejuvenated consumer was certainly on investors' minds. Across the whole market on Wednesday, I noticed that several high-end retailers such as Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) were on the move as well.

Putting that together with recent news about fewer home sales, maybe we are witnessing a scenario where people are putting more of their money into clothes and cars as they are spending less on mortgages and home furnishings. If that's true, then the holiday season could be strong.

A long time ago, a great retail analyst told me that the back-to-school season is almost always the best predictor of the holiday season. If back-to-school is good, then the holidays should be good. Well, back-to-school started slow this year but ended strong. I'll be surprised if shopping over the next month fails to provide at least a modest upside surprise.

INTERNET STOCKS AGAIN
Put your 1990s songs on your iPod -- it's time for investing in the web again.. What's working in technology lately is the mobile Internet stocks. They have been the most successful part of the Nasdaq universe, and trends tend to accelerate into year-end as fund managers pile into winners. Herd activity, maybe, but then this is where the growth is happening.

Over the past week, while most other stocks were sliding, Santa's elves were buying shares of Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), F5 Networks, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) and Riverbed Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD), among others.

I'm telling you, this mobile Internet thing might be big one day. Do you know anyone who has a "dumb phone" on their holiday list? Like, ''Hey mom, I want a clamshell Nokia (NYSE ADR: NOK)?'' No, that is just not happening, and never will happen again. It is going to be iPhones and iPads and Netflix subscriptions and iTunes cards and Android phones and, well, you get the picture. The technology is useful, it is entertaining, it is easy to use, and it is not ridiculously expensive. My research suggests that this is going to be a digital holiday like none other. Apple stopped out of StrataGem last week unfortunately, but if you hung onto it keep holding as it should reach a new high this year.



Of course, an application delivery controller from F5 Networks is not something you will give your kids in a box. But if your kids want to press a button on their iPad and watch a Netflix movie and have it appear almost instantly, you can bet there is an IT professional somewhere who has bought a slew of F5 devices to make that happen cleanly and smoothly. That's why we love its shares, and why it was up another 7.5% for us today in the StrataGem XR list. It's not as cheap as it was a year ago, but it is gaining a reputation and status as one of the premier growth stocks of our era, and that means it will be pushed to higher valuations. Put it on your shopping list during dips like last week if you don't own it already.

FAR AND AWAY
Every so often over the past two years of recovery investors have been thrown off by bad news from faraway places like Dubai, Greece, Spain, Thailand, Indonesia and China. Most of it has turned out to be troublesome for the country involved, but not so bad for the best U.S. and global stocks.

Political turmoil is just not one of the criteria that amplifies or detracts from stock returns. I have had to learn this lesson a few times, and I probably will have to learn it again at some point. But the main reason it doesn't matter is very simple: Companies see the same trouble that we do, but much sooner, and they adjust.

Great example is International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM). Ten months ago news that European governments would need to cut fiscal budgets to bring deficits under control made me think that most large U.S., European and Indian companies that sold information technology services to the United Kingdom, Italy, France and other governments would suffer this year.



But executives at these companies foresaw these moves and adjusted: They cut overhead, retooled pricing and terms, and basically found innovative ways to adapt. Now IBM is pressing on new all-time highs, and among our stocks to perform well under similar pressure are Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ: CTSH), Infosys Technologies Ltd. NASDAQ ADR: INFY) and Mettler Toledo International Inc. (NYSE: MTD)

The key elements influencing stock prices are easy credit, low inflation and legislated fiscal stimulus that is still working its way through the global financial system. Stay focused on individual companies' achievements, and not the missteps of governments.

We ought to be in the strong part of the cycle now. Stocks should get the benefit of the doubt over bonds and cash. If they fail this week and in December, expect a weak 2011.

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
At the beginning of the week, economic news will be dominated by retail sales reports and a speech by Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke. At the end of the week comes the big look at progress in employment: the nonfarm payrolls report.

Monday: 1-month, 3-month and 6-month Treasury bill auctions. ... St. Louis Fed chief James Bullard to speak at bank regulatory reform conference.

Tuesday: Joint report of shopping mall industry and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) to report same-store retail sales; Redbook weekly measure of sales at chain stores, discounters and department stores. ... Chicago Purchasing Managers Index to be reported ... Consumer confidence reported ... Fed chief Ben Bernanke to speak with Cleveland Fed chief Sandra Pianalto with global and regional business leaders. ...

Wednesday: Motor vehicle sales to be reported; MBA mortgage purchase reported; Challenger job cuts; ADP employment report; productivity report; construction spending; EIA petroleum inventory. ... Earnings: Charming Shoppes Inc. (NASDAQ: CHRS), Collective Brands Inc. (NYSE: PSS), Jo-Ann Stores Inc. (NYSE: JAS), Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ).

Thursday: Monthly sales at chain stores to be reported; jobless claims from the government; pending home sales index reported; EIA natural gas report. ... Earnings: Coldwater Creek Inc. (NASDAQ: CWTR), Fifth Street Finance Corp. (NYSE: FSC), The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL).

Friday: Non-farm payrolls report and factory orders. Earnings: Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG), Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE: BNS).

Why Dividend Aristocrat Pepsico Is a Better Investment Than a Money Market Account

Linked here is a detailed quantitative analysis of Pepsico, Inc. (PEP). Below are some highlights from the above linked analysis:

Company Description: PepsiCo, Inc. is a major international producer of branded beverage and snack food products.

Fair Value: I consider four calculations of fair value, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:

Avg. High Yield Price

20-Year DCF Price

Avg. P/E Price

Graham Number

PEP is trading at a discount to 1.) and 3.) above. The stock is trading at a slight discount to its calculated fair value of $64.84. PEP earned a Star in this section since it is trading at a fair value.

Dividend Analytical Data: In this section there are three possible Stars and three key metrics, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:

Free Cash Flow Payout

Debt To Total Capital

Key Metrics

Dividend Growth Rate

Years of Div. Growth

Rolling 4-yr Div. > 15%

PEP earned two Stars in this section for 1.) and 3.) above. A Star was earned since the Free Cash Flow payout ratio was less than 60% and there were no negative Free Cash Flows over the last 10 years. PEP earned a Star for having an acceptable score in at least two of the four Key Metrics measured. The company has paid a cash dividend to shareholders every year since 1952 and has increased its dividend payments for 38 consecutive years.

Dividend Income vs. MMA: Why would you assume the equity risk and invest in a dividend stock if you could earn a better return in a much less risky money market account (MMA)? This section compares the earning ability of this stock with a high yield MMA. Two items are considered in this section, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:

NPV MMA Diff.

Years to > MMA

PEP earned a Star in this section for its NPV MMA Diff. of the $605. This amount is in excess of the $500 target I look for in a stock that has increased dividends as long as PEP has. If PEP grows its dividend at 6.5% per year, it will take 3 years to equal a MMA yielding an estimated 20-year average rate of 3.4%. PEP earned a check for the Key Metric ‘Years to >MMA’ since its 3 years is less than the 5 year target.

Memberships and Peers: PEP is a member of the S&P 500, a Dividend Aristocrat and a member of the Broad Dividend Achievers™ Index. The company’s peer group includes: The Coca-Cola Company (KO) with a 2.8% yield, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc (DPS) with a 2.7% yield and Fomento Econ (FMX) with a 1.2% yield.

Conclusion: PEP earned one Star in the Fair Value section, earned two Stars in the Dividend Analytical Data section and earned one Star in the Dividend Income vs. MMA section for a total of four Stars. This quantitatively ranks PEP as a 4 Star-Buy.

Using my D4L-PreScreen.xls model, I determined the share price would need to increase to $68.49 before PEP’s NPV MMA Differential decreased to the $500 minimum that I look for in a stock with 38 years of consecutive dividend increases. At that price the stock would yield 2.76%.

Resetting the D4L-PreScreen.xls model and solving for the dividend growth rate needed to generate the target $500 NPV MMA Differential, the calculated rate is 5.9%. This dividend growth rate is below the 6.5% used in this analysis, thus providing a margin of safety. PEP has a risk rating of 1.25 which classifies it as a low risk stock.

PEP enjoys stable end markets, strong cash flows and leading global market positions. Unlike KO, the majority of PEP’s revenues come from non-carbonated soft drinks with beverages accounting for less than 50% of total revenue. Additionally, over 60% of the company’s beverage sales come from non-carbonated brands like Gatorade and Tropicana. PEP’s diverse portfolio can mitigate the impact of poor conditions in any one of its markets. In addition, its exposure to strong international markets should offset to any domestic short-falls. I will continue to add to my PEP position when it is trading below my fair value price of $64.84 and as my allocation allows. For additional information, including the stock’s dividend history, please refer to its data page.

Disclaimer: Material presented here is for informational purposes only. The above quantitative stock analysis, including the Star rating, is mechanically calculated and is based on historical information. The analysis assumes the stock will perform in the future as it has in the past. This is generally never true. Before buying or selling any stock you should do your own research and reach your own conclusion. See my Disclaimer for more information.

Full Disclosure: At the time of this writing, I was long in PEP (1.7% of my Income Portfolio), and also long in KO. See a list of all my income holdings here.

This article originally appeared on The DIV-Net November 22, 2010.

We Can Fix America If We Focus on What ALL Americans – Liberals AND Conservatives – Want

While there are some things that liberals and conservatives will never agree about, there are many things that we already all agree on.

Knowing the many things we agree to empowers us, because it helps get us away from the distractions so that we can realize that there is much common ground among all Americans, and that if we work together, we hold a very strong position. If we shelve our irreconcilable differences for a little while and join our voices together on the issues we agree on, the sound will be so loud that it will shake down the walls which are holding us back.

While the mainstream political parties try to sell us on their brand, the truth is that “poll after poll shows that both national parties are deeply unpopular with an electorate looking for something new and different”. This essay focuses on what people want.

Break Up the Unholy Alliance Between Big Government and Big Banks

Conservatives tend to view big government with suspicion, and think that government should be held accountable and reined in.

Liberals tend to view big corporations with suspicion, and think that they should be held accountable and reined in.

Irreconcilable difference?

Not really.

Specifically, a Rassmussen poll conducted in February found:

70% [of all voters] believe that the government and big business typically work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors.

(and see this).

Remember that the government helped and encouraged the giant banks to get even bigger, and then has hidden their insolvency and shielded them from the free market, and helped them grow even during the severe downturn.

In return, the big banks and giant corporations have literally bought and paid for the politicians.

Conservatives might call it “socialism” and liberals might call it “fascism” – they are the same thing economically.

But all Americans – conservatives and liberals alike – can agree that it is not capitalism, and it is not American.

As just one example, the list of prominent economists and financial experts calling for the too big to fails to be broken up is wholly bipartisan:

Nobel prize-winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz
Nobel prize-winning economist, Ed Prescott
Nobel prize-winning economist, Paul Krugman
Former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan
Former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker
Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich
Dean and professor of finance and economics at Columbia Business School, and chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush, R. Glenn Hubbard
Simon Johnson (and see this)
President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Thomas Hoenig (and see this)
President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Richard Fisher (and see this)
President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Thomas Bullard
Deputy Treasury Secretary, Neal S. Wolin
The President of the Independent Community Bankers of America, a Washington-based trade group with about 5,000 members, Camden R. Fine
The Congressional panel overseeing the bailout (and see this)
The head of the FDIC, Sheila Bair
The head of the Bank of England, Mervyn King
The leading monetary economist and co-author with Milton Friedman of the leading treatise on the Great Depression, Anna Schwartz
Economics professor and senior regulator during the S & L crisis, William K. Black
Economics professor, Nouriel Roubini
Economist, Marc Faber
Professor of entrepreneurship and finance at the Chicago Booth School of Business, Luigi Zingales
Economics professor, Thomas F. Cooley
Economist Dean Baker
Economist Arnold Kling
Former investment banker, Philip Augar
Chairman of the Commons Treasury, John McFall
Throw the Criminals In Jail

Liberals tend to believe that the public should be protected against harm, while conservatives tend to believe that people should be left free to buy what they want.

Too far apart to ever agree?

No. Conservatives believe that people must be held responsible for their actions and punished for their transgressions. Indeed, some 82% of the American public wants tougher regulation of Wall Street.

Moreover, even for those who don’t like the government sticking its nose in our business, liberals and conservatives agree that if a company chooses to make a representation about something, it can be sued if it is a lie. In other words, all Americans agree that fraud laws should be enforced against everyone from the homeowner who fills out a mortgage application on a small house to the head of a giant bank who makes false statements about the bank’s balance sheets and the quality of it’s investments.

Everyone agrees that financial scammers must be tried and put in prison.

(And whether people believe in liberal Keynesianism or conservative Austrian economics, we should all be able to agree that a free market without bubbles is not possible without strong laws allowing prosecution of criminal fraud).

Audit the Fed

Both liberals and conservatives agree that the Federal Reserve should be audited. The bill to audit the Fed passed in a bipartisan landslide, and the overwhelming majority of Americans favor a full and complete audit. Given that the Fed has such a powerful influence on the economy, credit, unemployment, and which sectors and even which individual companies win or lose, the audit – and indeed whether or not the Fed should continue to exist – is a very important issue.

Safe and Healthy Food and Water

Americans want to be free to live our lives without being poisoned. We agree on safe food, clean water and a healthy environment.

For example, polls show:

A large majority of Americans want strong food safety rules, and want genetically modified foods to be labeled
Most Americans are worried about water pollution
Americans don’t want to be exposed to toxic pollutants
Freedom and Fair Elections

All Americans agree that personal liberty and freedoms are vital.

We all agree that our own government should not murder us and then falsely blame others for it.

And we all agree that there should be free and fair elections. That is why – according to ABC News and the Washington Post – 80 percent of all Americans oppose the Supreme Court’s recent decision allowing unlimited campaign contributions. Americans understand that – unless we take the flood of money out of elections – Washington will represent special interests, and not us.

And we all agree on publicly verifiable, automatically audited paper ballot elections with reasonable ID requirements, so that we assured that no party can manipulate electronic voting results.

Whether the above list of common positions seems modest or ambitious, the fact that we can all – liberals and conservatives – agree on them is very powerful.

Because once we realize that we agree on them, and decide to rally behind them to restore prosperity to America, we will have a much better chance of turning our country around.

You still might think that the people across the aisle are fanatics, nutjobs, flakes, sinners or scoundrels on some issues. But remember that – to the extent that they are working for the same goals you are on the issues mentioned above – they are your valuable allies.

Inverted Head and Shoulders chart pattern for 2010-11-26

Inverted Head and Shoulders chart found for the following stocks:
Document Capture Tec (DCMT) over a 7 day period with about a 96% match.
Acadia Pharmaceuticals (ACAD) over a 7 day period with about a 95% match.
Harleysville Svngs Fincl (HARL) over a 7 day period with about a 94% match.
PANTHEON INTERNAT PARTICIPATIO RED SHS GBP0.01 (PINR) over a 7 day period with about a 91% match.
Psm Holdings Inc (PSMH) over a 7 day period with about a 91% match.
Lehman ABS Corporation (HYL) over a 7 day period with about a 91% match.
work group ORD GBP0.02 (WORK) over a 7 day period with about a 91% match.
ETFS COMMODITY SECURITIES LEVERAGED SOYBEAN OIL (LSYO) over a 7 day period with about a 90% match.
SANDFORD PLC ORD GBP0.001 (TSEG) over a 7 day period with about a 90% match.
DB X-TRACKERS MSCI AC ASIA EX JAPAN TRN `1C`USD(GBP) (XAXJ) over a 7 day period with about a 90% match.
Yule Catto (YULC) over a 7 day period with about a 90% match.
BB&T Corporation (PMB.P) over a 7 day period with about a 90% match.
Nuveen Cn Div Adv Muni Fd 3 (NGO) over a 12 day period with about a 90% match.
hsbc infrastructure co ord gbp0.0001 (HICL) over a 7 day period with about a 90% match.
Bankers It (BNKR) over a 7 day period with about a 89% match.
ISHARES III PLC MSCI AUSTRALIA (USD)GBX (SAUS) over a 7 day period with about a 89% match.
Hong Kong Dollar / Indian Rupiah (HKDIDR) over a 12 day period with about a 89% match.
Singapore Dollar / Malaysian Ringgit (SGDMYR) over a 7 day period with about a 89% match.
filtrona ord gbp0 (FLTR) over a 18 day period with about a 88% match.
Marathon Oil Group (MRO) over a 7 day period with about a 88% match.
aberdeen asian income fund ord npv (AAIF) over a 7 day period with about a 88% match.
Yale Resources Ltd (YRLLF) over a 7 day period with about a 88% match.
TREASURY 2.75% GILT 22/01/15 GBP`WI` (TR15) over a 12 day period with about a 88% match.
Wits Basin Precious (WITM) over a 7 day period with about a 88% match.
(0603) over a 7 day period with about a 88% match.
Ivax Diagnostics (IVD) over a 7 day period with about a 88% match.
Inchcape (INCH) over a 7 day period with about a 87% match.
Canadian Dollar / Thai Baht (CADTHB) over a 60 day period with about a 87% match.
TREASURY 4.75% TREASURY GILT 07/12/30 GBP (TR30) over a 12 day period with about a 87% match.
(0526) over a 12 day period with about a 87% match.
Jayhawk Energy Inc (JYHW) over a 7 day period with about a 87% match.
Grupo Casa Saba` S.A. De C.V. (SAB) over a 7 day period with about a 87% match.
3-Month Sterling {Sep 13} (LU13) over a 12 day period with about a 87% match.
URALKALI JSC GDR EACH REPR 5 ORD `REGS` (URKA) over a 7 day period with about a 87% match.
Banca Emilia (EMII) over a 7 day period with about a 87% match.
(0745) over a 7 day period with about a 87% match.
NEW CST ORD GBP7 WI (TLPR) over a 7 day period with about a 87% match.
Biocentric Energy Ho (BEHL) over a 7 day period with about a 86% match.
DB X-TRACKERS DB HEDGE FUND INDEX ETF – `3C` GBP (XHFG) over a 7 day period with about a 86% match.
Hotel Royal Ltd (H12) over a 7 day period with about a 86% match.
Euro Dollar / Latvian Lats (EURLVL) over a 7 day period with about a 86% match.
ISHARES II PLC MSCI AC FAR EAST EX-JPN SMLLCAP USD(GBP) (ISFE) over a 7 day period with about a 86% match.
3-Month EuriBor {Jun 13} (IMM13) over a 12 day period with about a 86% match.
Chesser Resources Ltd (CHZ) over a 7 day period with about a 86% match.
Kobe Steel Spons Adr (KBSTY) over a 24 day period with about a 86% match.
Japanese Yen / Indian Rupiah (JPYIDR) over a 12 day period with about a 86% match.
Manhattan Resources Limited (L02) over a 18 day period with about a 86% match.
Envestnet` Inc. (ENV) over a 7 day period with about a 86% match.
Management Energy (MMEX) over a 7 day period with about a 86% match.
Wichford (WICH) over a 42 day period with about a 85% match.
IP Group (IPO) over a 7 day period with about a 85% match.
Pacific Andes Res Dev W110722 (IU3W) over a 7 day period with about a 85% match.
Smrt Corporation Ltd (S53) over a 7 day period with about a 85% match.
Sunpower Group Ltd. (5GD) over a 7 day period with about a 85% match.
TREASURY 3.75% GILT 07/09/19 GBP0.01 (TR19) over a 12 day period with about a 85% match.
Steel {Apr 11} (HVJ11) over a 60 day period with about a 85% match.
TREASURY 4 3/4% STK 2015 (T4T) over a 12 day period with about a 85% match.
3-Month Sterling {Dec 13} (LZ13) over a 12 day period with about a 84% match.
Lippo-mapletreeindoretailtrust (D5IU) over a 7 day period with about a 84% match.
Davis Service Grp (DVSG) over a 7 day period with about a 84% match.
Steel {Mar 11} (HVH11) over a 60 day period with about a 84% match.
Danish Krone / Latvian Lats (DKKLVL) over a 7 day period with about a 84% match.
3-Month Sterling {Mar 14} (LH14) over a 12 day period with about a 84% match.
TREASURY 2.25% TSY GILT 07/03/14 GBP0.01 (TR14) over a 12 day period with about a 84% match.
Medclean Technologs (MCLN) over a 12 day period with about a 84% match.
FIBERWEB PLC ORD GBP0.05 (FWEB) over a 18 day period with about a 84% match.
Old National Bancorp In (ONB) over a 42 day period with about a 84% match.
Li & Fung Ltd (LFUGF) over a 7 day period with about a 84% match.
New Taiwan Dollar / Indian Rupiah (TWDIDR) over a 12 day period with about a 84% match.
(0148) over a 7 day period with about a 84% match.
Animal Health Intl Inc (AHII) over a 7 day period with about a 84% match.
Thestreet.Com (TSCM) over a 7 day period with about a 84% match.
3-Month Sterling {Jun 13} (LM13) over a 12 day period with about a 84% match.
Mtr Gaming Group Inc (MNTG) over a 66 day period with about a 84% match.
TREASURY 5% STK 2014 (T514) over a 12 day period with about a 84% match.
Mediatechnics Corp (MEDT) over a 12 day period with about a 84% match.
Royce Micro-Cap Trust Inc. (RMT-A) over a 7 day period with about a 84% match.
TREASURY 8% STK 2015 (TY8) over a 12 day period with about a 84% match.
Orchid Capital Ltd (ORC) over a 84 day period with about a 84% match.
Nuveen Nc Div Adv Fd (NRB) over a 12 day period with about a 84% match.
GreenHunter Energy` Inc (GRH) over a 12 day period with about a 84% match.
Thai Baht / Indian Rupiah (THBIDR) over a 12 day period with about a 84% match.
dELiA*s Inc (DLIA) over a 42 day period with about a 84% match.
(0129) over a 18 day period with about a 84% match.
3-Month EuriBor {Mar 13} (IMH13) over a 12 day period with about a 84% match.
Playfair Mining Ltd (PLYFF) over a 7 day period with about a 84% match.
Vanguard Short Term Bond ETF (BSV) over a 7 day period with about a 84% match.

Euro steadies in wake of Irish bailout
Contagion fears persist; rising U.S. yields bolster dolla

By William L. Watts and Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) —The euro regained its footing versus the U.S. dollar on Monday, but price action remained choppy a day after the European Union approved an 85-billion-euro ($112.5 billion) bailout plan for Ireland and watered down a proposal to make bondholders share the cost of future sovereign rescues.

The single currency (EURUSD 1.3191, -0.0093, -0.7000%) traded at $1.3257, up from around $1.3222 in North American trade on Friday.

The size of the bailout was in line with market expectations, but concerns remain over the ability of Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen to pass the teetering coalition government’s 2011 budget plan on Dec. 7, said Stephan Maier, currency strategist at UniCredit Bank in Milan.

While the government, which has a razor-thin majority in the lower house of parliament, is likely to succeed in winning passage, nervousness will likely prevail in the run-up to the vote, he said.

Meanwhile, concerns about Portugal and Spain haven’t been dispelled and may continue to weigh on the single currency, Maier said.

The Irish rescue package includes €10 billion for banking recapitalization, €25 billion to support the banking system on a contingency basis and €50 billion for government budget needs. Read more on Ireland's bailout


Protests in Ireland over bailout
Thousands take to the streets in Dublin in a mass protest against drastic spending cuts and the international bailout. Video courtesy of Reuters.

The average interest rate on the funds is 5.8%. Ireland also gets an extra year — until 2015 — to bring its budget deficit down to the EU’s cap of 3% of gross domestic product.

Excluding the cost of bailing out its banking sector, Ireland’s deficit is seen at more than 11% of GDP this year.

“News that Ireland is to receive emergency financing from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund has not relieved market tension,” noted currency strategists at Nomura.

“Indeed, because of continuing uncertainty over political coordination and over the package’s details, fears of contagion have been exacerbated. It is almost taken for granted that Portugal will need external support, so investors have focused on Spain,” added the Nomura strategists.

The yield premium demanded by investors to hold Spanish and Portuguese government bonds narrowed slightly on Monday.

The dollar index (DXY 80.55, +0.19, +0.23%) , a measure of the U.S. unit against a basket of major rivals, traded at 80.240, down slightly from 80.378 on Friday.

Against the yen, the dollar (USDYEN 84.1000, +0.0500, +0.0595%) bought ¥83.99, little changed from ¥84.02 Friday.

USDSEK 6.9917, +0.0174, +0.2496%

9876
10FMAMJJASON
The British pound (GBPUSD 1.5576, -0.0013, -0.0834%) rose 0.2% versus the dollar to change hands at $1.5617.

The Swedish krona was holding strong gains versus the euro and the dollar after the government’s statistics agency said third-quarter gross domestic product expanded by a seasonally-adjusted 2.1% on a quarterly basis and grew 6.9% on an annual measure.

The krona traded at 9.2107 per euro, up 0.6% from Friday. The currency (USDSEK 6.9917, +0.0174, +0.2496%) traded at a rate of 6.9406 per dollar, a rise of 0.8%.

“In terms of monetary policy, our central scenario is for the next rate hike to be delivered in February, although today’s stronger-than-expected report indicates that the probability of a December move has increased significantly,” said Nick Verdi, economist at Barclays Capital, in a research note.

William L. Watts is a reporter for MarketWatch in London.
Sarah Turner is MarketWatch's bureau chief in Sydney.

Most Expensive Suburbs 2010

Suburbs generally provide a respite for young families and spacious dwellings for city professionals who prefer a quieter home life. Despite these broad similarities, a survey of high-end suburbs around the country shows they are not created equal -- in cost, that is, as expenditures vary greatly by state. Take Maumelle, Ark., for example, the most expensive suburb outside of Little Rock, where the median home price is $191,000 and the average household spends $12,510 on transportation per year, according to data from real estate researcher Onboard Informatics. Compare that with Scarsdale, N.Y., a suburb of Manhattan where the average home sells for nearly $1.2 million and household transportation costs can add up to about $32,000 per year. Businessweek.com worked with Onboard Informatics to identify the most expensive suburbs outside the largest cities -- those with populations over 250,000, or the most populous city in the state if none are so large. The ranking is based on costs from housing and other nonretail expenditures to taxes and transportation costs. We define "suburb" as a Census place within 40 miles of city borders, including incorporated cities, towns, villages, and unincorporated areas. There are more than 25,000 places identified by the U.S. Census Bureau nationwide. We only surveyed places with populations larger than the state median.

Click here to see the most expensive suburb in each state.

Editor's Note: Businessweek.com's list of the Most Expensive Suburbs 2010 was calculated by weighing several factors: cost of living, nonretail expenditures (mortgage and utility payments), median home price, and median property tax.

The result was reached by taking a weighted average of nonretail expenditures (50 percent), cost of living (30 percent), median home price (10 percent), and median property tax (10 percent). In some states, property tax and median home sale information was not available, in which case we gave nonretail expenditures a 60 percent weight and cost of living a 40 percent weight (home prices may be provided from other sources as a reference, but did not factor into the ranking). If either the median property tax or median home price was unavailable, we gave the other measure a 20 percent weight.

The nonretail expenditures index factors in expenses such as mortgage payments and utility payments and compares it to the state average. The cost-of-living index factors in spending on such expenses as education, entertainment, food and beverage, health care, insurance, and clothing and compares it to the state average. All indexes are 2010 estimates based on an end-of-2009 Bureau of Labor Statistics survey.

As Montana and Wyoming have wealthy subdivisions but few suburbs, Businessweek.com called local realtors in the states' major cities to identify the most expensive neighborhoods in their area.

Between Poland and a hard place
Jeronimo Martins and investors bet on a strategy outside of Portugal

By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) — As markets gamble on whether Portugal will be next to go hat in hand to international lenders for a bailout, one home-based food retailer has had no shortage of investors willing to take bets on its future success.

Shares of Jeronimo Martins SGPS SA (PT:JMT 11.76, -0.17, -1.42%) (JRONY 30.95, -0.67, -2.12%) are not only an anomaly on the battered Portugal PSI 20 index (XX:PSI20 7,525, -57.15, -0.75%) , but rank among the best performers on the Stoxx Europe 600 index (ST:STOXX600 265.23, -1.37, -0.51%) with a nearly 60% year-to-date gain, after a 76% rally in 2009.

However, the gains have little do with Portugal, where the company’s roots stretch back more than 200 years. The food distribution and manufacturing group has a market-leading position in Poland through its Biedronka supermarket chain, which accounted for 54.5% of third-quarter revenue. Hypermarkets and supermarkets in mainland Portugal represented 34.5% of sales in the period.

For fund managers and analysts, the rollout in Poland is the selling point of Jeronimo Martins, allowing them to look beyond difficulties in its home country. In Poland, where it has been operating since 1995, the company reportedly expects to double the number of stores to 3,000 by 2015. Many analysts also believe it will eventually expand further in Eastern Europe.

“We’re growth investors trying to find growth companies in regions that will be able to sidestep all the noise occurring at the sovereign-debt levels,” said Martin Schulz, senior portfolio manager at PNC Capital Advisors. Jeronimo Martins is one of his few Iberian holdings.

“Poland is an under-penetrated market. The big box players like Metro haven’t had that success,” he said. “The risk is if Portugal drops out of the euro and everything they own in Portugal gets marked down overnight, but people continue to have to eat and again these guys are great operators.”

Still, the high valuation of Jeronimo Martins’ shares makes it a hard sell for investors. And its coveted Polish operations are not completely risk-free. Last Thursday, Fitch Ratings warned that Poland needs to cut its debt, which hammered bonds and the zloty.

Austerity here and there

Indeed, Poland’s problems could pile onto Jeronimo Martins, whose consumers will grapple with government austerity measures in its home market where it operates over 300 Pingo Doce supermarkets, Feira Nova mini-hyper and hypermarkets and Recheio cash-and-carry’s.

Jeronimo Martins did not respond to interview requests for this story.

“The risk is that you’re basically investing in one concept which is the rollout of discount stores in Poland. If anything didn’t work you’d be less protected than with something like Tesco PLC,” said Philip Dicken, manager of the Threadneedle Pan European Smaller Companies fund.

Shares of U.K.-based Tesco (UK:TSCO 427.20, -2.80, -0.65%) , which is present in places such as Hungary, China and the U.S., are little changed year to date. Germany’s Metro AG (DE:MEO 56.46, -1.14, -1.98%) and French-based Carrefour SA (FR:CA 36.31, -0.11, -0.30%) have taken a broader sweep to their own Eastern European expansion. Those shares are up 33% and 9% year-to-date, respectively.

Dicken, who owns Jeronimo Martins in his fund, says the group is a hold for him as shares trade at 20 times 2011 price/earnings and 10-11 times 2011 earnings before interest, depreciation and taxation. “That’s expensive and more than competitors,” he said.

As for Polish worries, he said they must be kept in mind. “There could be some negative impact for Jeronimo Martins if things get significantly worse in Poland, but food retail is a defensive sector and the hard discount sector should be a winner in difficult times,” he said.

Joao Flores, an analyst with Millennium BCP in Lisbon, said the market in Poland is still not very mature, a plus for Jeronimo Martins.

“In Poland, the traditional retailer still has 50% of the market share, so there is still room to grow in Poland,” said Flores, who has a hold rating on Jeronimo Martins with a 11.25 euro price target. Shares of Jeronimo Martins are currently trading near 11.80 euros.

Flores said Jeronimo Martins’ strategy of focusing on Poland has been viewed positively by the market. He said more or less 75% of the capital expenditure for the company for the next three years will go into Poland.

“You could argue that the Polish economy could go down, but even two years ago when Europe was declining, they still grew 5% to 6%,” he said. “As long as the economy keeps growing (in Poland), I’m not worried.”

Barbara Kollmeyer is an editor for MarketWatch in Madrid.

Emtec swings to loss of USD0.513m in fiscal 2010
Nov. 29, 2010 (M2 Communications Ltd.) --

Emtec Inc (OTCBB:ETEC.ob) on Friday reported a net loss of USD 0.513m for fiscal 2010 ended 31 August 2010.

This was a decline over net income of USD 1.72m in fiscal 2009.

Revenues for the fiscal year were up to USD 224.6m as compared with USD 223.8m in fiscal 2009, representing a 0.3% increase.

Emtec provides information technology services and products to the federal, state and local government, education and commercial markets.

(Comments on this story may be sent to tww.feedback@m2.com)

Source: M2 Presswire (November 29, 2010 - 5:00 AM EST)

News by QuoteMedia
www.quotemedia.com

Nanostart-held BioMers Launches New Flagship Product SimpliClear(TM) Full
World's only provider of translucent braces

Next-generation dental braces covering full range of orthodontic

treatment

International launches in planning for other Asian countries, U.S. and

Eur

Nov. 29, 2010 (Business Wire) -- BioMers Pte Ltd, a portfolio company of Nanostart AG, has announced the initial market launch of its new flagship product line, the SimpliClear™ Full orthodontic system. These completely translucent dental braces may be used to treat patients even with severe misalignment of teeth which has, until now, only been possible with unsightly metal braces.

“Earlier this year, we launched SimpliClear™ Express, which was suitable for limited cases, such as orthodontic relapses or mild misalignments involving the front anterior teeth. Now we are launching SimpliClear™ Full, which is the only translucent orthodontic system in the world that can treat the full range of teeth misalignments. We are seeing much excitement from the orthodontic community with the SimpliClearTM Full solution,” said Dr. Mervyn Fathianathan, CEO of BioMers.

The SimpliClear™ Full braces solution is based on the same principles as metal braces, a proven treatment procedure, and can thus be used the full range of orthodontic treatments, from mild to severe cases. The unique benefit lies in the translucency of the proprietary materials used by BioMers, which makes SimpliClear™ braces practically invisible. Within the global orthodontics market, BioMers is the only provider to offer clear archwires.

“I am very impressed with the effectiveness of SimpliClear™ Full. The results that I have seen so far on the pioneering batch of patients have been excellent, in terms of the speed of treatment and effectiveness of results. Furthermore, the patients are very happy with the aesthetic appeal and feel of the braces. I expect that this orthodontic treatment option will be received well by the Singapore community,” said Dr. Kenneth Lew, an orthodontist with Tanglin Dental Surgeons.

Having launched SimpliClear™ Full in Singapore, BioMers now plans to bring the new product line to other Asian countries, Europe and the U.S.

The target market for SimpliClear™ Full dental braces includes not only the countless patients around the world who are dissatisfied with the unsightly nature of traditional metal braces but also individual cases where patients cannot tolerate metallic braces because of allergies or other conditions.

The SimpliClear™ orthodontic solution from BioMers is based on composite polymer wires made extremely strong through the use of groundbreaking nanotechnology. This patented technology gives SimpliClear™ braces mechanical properties similar to traditional metal braces, with the added benefits of high biocompatibility and non-allergenic characteristics. The polymer composite is formed into translucent archwires, which have the tensile strength needed to move teeth into their correct positions.

About Nanostart:

Nanostart AG (OTCQX: NASRY), headquartered in the German financial capital of Frankfurt, is the world’s leading nanotechnology investment company, with portfolio companies spanning the globe from Silicon Valley to Singapore. The company provides venture capital financing for nanotechnology companies in various growth phases with a focus on innovation-driven industries of the future such as cleantech, life sciences and IT/electronics. Through its subsidiary and venture capital fund in Singapore, Nanostart is proud to be the investment partner of the Singaporean government. For further information, please visit www.nanostart.de.

About BioMers:

BioMers is a medical device company that has developed novel polymer composite products for numerous biomedical applications. The company’s flagship product is the SimpliClear™ braces system, which is the world’s first and only aesthetic solution for all types of orthodontic treatments. This translucent, almost invisible braces system is customized to each patient, providing faster and better results. Established in 2005, BioMers is a spin-off company from the National University of Singapore, where the technology was invented. BioMers has received seed funding from NUS Enterprise, venture capital funding from the Nanostart Singapore Early Stage Venture Fund, and grants from government agencies, including SPRING Singapore and the Economic Development Board. For more information, visit www.biomersbraces.com

Disclaimer:

This notice constitutes neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of offers to purchase or subscribe to securities. There will be no public offering of securities of Nanostart AG in conjunction with the existing listing of its shares in the “Entry Standard” segment of the regulated unofficial market (Freiverkehr) on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. This notice does not constitute a securities prospectus. Neither this notice nor the information contained within is intended for direct or indirect distribution within Canada, Australia or Japan.



Nanostart AG

Public Relations

Dr. Hans Joachim Dürr

phone: +49 (0)69-21 93 96 111

fax: +49 (0)69-21 93 96 122

e-mail: presse@nanostart.de



Source: Business Wire (November 29, 2010 - 4:06 AM EST)

News by QuoteMedia
www.quotemedia.com

Pan American Goldfields Ltd Announces Cieneguita Gold-Silver Project Pre-Concentrate/Concentrate Shipments On Target
- Producing Gold, Silver and Lead in Concentrates

BROOMFIELD, Colorado, Nov. 29, 2010 (PR Newswire Europe) --

/PRNewswire/ -- Further to its press release of November 9, 2010, Pan American Goldfields Ltd (the "Company") is pleased to announce that the company's partner Minera Rio Tinto (MRT) continues to increase production and optimize operations at the Cieneguita project mill in Chihuahua, Mexico as projected previously. Pre-concentrate produced at the Cieneguita mill is shipped for further processing at MRT's mill at Choix, Mexico, where final concentrates are produced and shipped to the Trafigura warehouse in Manzanillo for sale under a contract with Trafigura.

Prior to the recent installation and commissioning of the ball mill and additional flotation cells, bulk sulfide pre-concentrate production included 380 tonnes in July, 462 tonnes in August, and 499 tonnes in September of 2010. In October, over 1,000 tonnes were produced, although only 702 tonnes were shipped due to the installation schedule associated with the filtration/drying equipment, which is now fully installed and operating. It is estimated that over 1,500 tonnes will be shipped in November, including the unshipped October production.

Following further treatment at Choix, final lead and zinc concentrates are shipped for sale to Trafigura in Manzanillo, Mexico. Final concentrates produced and shipped to Trafigura during October and the first 10 days of November are summarized in the table below::

FINAL CONCENTRATE SHIPMENTS SENT FOR SALE TO TRAFIGURA Date of Shipment Tonnes Gold grams/tonne Silver grams/tonne Lead Content % October 10 59.6 62 4,445 24 October 22 36.0 54 4,220 23 November 4 30.3 61 4,630 27 November 10 33.2 54 3,450 23

Another 100 tonnes is being readied for shipment as of the date of this press release.

"We are very pleased with progress to date as the initial production following the installation of the ball mill is as forecast," said Mario Ayub Chairman, Pan American Goldfields.

MRT, the company's partner, has advised the Company that it expects to continue increasing pre-concentrate production at Cieneguita along with improved metal recoveries as the ball mill grinding process is fine-tuned. The amount of ore material mined and processed at Cieneguita is currently about 500 tons per day and it is intended to increase this amount to 600 tons per day by year end. This amount of ore production would relate to the production of approximately 260 tons of concentrate per month with metal contents similar to current concentrate shipments.

About Cieneguita

The Cieneguita mill makes a bulk sulfide flotation concentrate that is sent to the MRT owned mill at Choix where it is then reground and separate lead and zinc concentrates produced. These concentrates are then shipped to the port at Manzanillo where they are sold under contract to the trading company Trafigura. Most of the gold and silver report to the lead concentrate. The anticipated increase in the production capacity at Cieneguita will not require any modifications to the plant at Choix. Pan American currently has a joint venture agreement with MRT under which MRT can earn 60% of the project by successfully initiating production on a small scale, followed by the funding of an additional $4 million toward the completion of a bankable feasibility study. With the completion of the construction start-up phase at Cieneguita, the focus will now be the acceleration of the feasibility study. This study will evaluate a full-scale operation which will target a production rate of about 5,000 tonnes of material processed per day along with saleable metal production directly from the Cieneguita site.

The technical information in this release has been prepared by Gary A. Parkison, CPG, a Director of the Company and a Qualified Person as defined by NI43-101.

About Pan American Goldfields/MexoroMinerals

Pan American Goldfields is a Chihuahua, Mexico based precious metal producer and exploration company. It is a specialist in exploration, mine development and production in Mexico's booming Sierra Madre Gold-Silver Belt. The company's most advanced project is its now producing Cieneguita Gold Mine where a feasibility study to significantly increase the mine's already growing production profile is underway.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Mario Ayub, Chairman

Safe Harbor Disclosure

The information in this press release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the Company. Please note that any statements that may be considered forward-looking are based on projections; that any projections involve judgment, and that individual judgments may vary. Moreover, these projections are based only on limited information available to us now, which is subject to change. Although those projections and the factors influencing them will likely change, we are under no obligation to inform you if they do. Actual results may differ substantially from any such forward looking statements as a result of various factors, many of which are beyond our control, including, among others, the timing and outcome of our feasibility study on our Cieneguita Project; the costs and results of our initial production activities on our Cieneguita Project; the future financial and operating performances of our projects; the timing and amount of funds received from the sale of our Guazapares Project the estimation of mineral resources and the realization of mineral reserves, if any, on our existing and any future projects; the timing of exploration, development, and production activities and estimated future production, if any; estimates related to costs of production, capital, operating and exploration expenditures; requirements for additional capital and our ability to raise additional capital on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; government regulation of mining operations, environmental risks, reclamation and rehabilitation expenses; title disputes or claims against our existing and any future projects; and the future price of gold, silver, or other minerals. These and other factors can be found in our filings with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances following the date of this release.

For further information:

Christopher R Anderson, Investor Relations, +1-604-628-7065 , +44(0)20-3-371-7844 , UK, London, info@PanAmericanGoldFields.com http://twitter.com/PanAmGoldFields

CONTACT: For further information: Christopher R Anderson, Investor
Relations, +1-604-628-7065 , +44(0)20-3-371-7844 , UK, London,
info@PanAmericanGoldFields.com


Source: PR Newswire (November 29, 2010 - 3:01 AM EST)

News by QuoteMedia
www.quotemedia.com

Vena Files NI 43-101 Report for Macusani Uranium Project in Peru
Indicated Resources Increased to 8.32 Million Pounds of U308 and Inferred Resources Increased to 14.21 Million Pounds of U308

Nov. 29, 2010 (Marketwire) --

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 11/29/10 -- Vena Resources Inc. (TSX: VEM)(LIMA: VEM)(FRANKFURT: V1R)(OTCBB: VNARF), a Company with strong partnerships with some of the world's largest mining companies, is pleased to announce that an independent National Instrument ("NI") 43-101 compliant resource estimate for its Macusani Uranium Project, located in Peru will be filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and on the Company's website today. Henkle and Associates ("Henkle") has completed its first resource estimate for Minergia S.A.C., a uranium exploration company owned by Vena (75%) and Cameco Corporation (25%). It should be noted that the NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate only encompasses five of the nine properties in the Macusani region. Minergia also owns uranium properties in the Munani region where work is continuing.

The current resource numbers are based on 25,187 meters of diamond drilling in 158 drill holes performed over four years covering a small portion of the prospective target areas and indicates an overall resource estimate for the Macusani region of 8,316,818 pounds of indicated resources and 14,211,857 pounds of inferred resources at 0.18 pounds per ton cutoff and 7,618,216 pounds of indicated resources and 13,172,202 pounds of inferred resources at 0.36 pounds per ton cutoff as outlined in the table below. A new drill program is expected to begin mid-January 2011 intended to increase resources at Tantamaco and Isivilla.


INDICATED RESOURCES
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prospect 0.18 Lb/Ton (90.72 ppm) U3O8 CUTOFF
Tons Lbs U3O8 Lb/Ton U3O8 ppm U3O8 % U3O8
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tantamaco 15,018,504 7,598,193 0.506 253.1 0.025
Nuevo Corani 3,530,769 706,660 0.200 100.7 0.010
Isivilla 59,432 12,016 0.202 101.15 0.010
Tuturumani 0 0 0.00 0.000
Calvario
Real 0 0 0.00 0.000
Totals 18,608,705 8,316,868 0.447 223.62 0.022
------------------------------------------------------------------------

INDICATED RESOURCES
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prospect 0.36 Lb/Ton (181.44 ppm) U3O8 CUTOFF
Tons Lbs U3O8 Lb/Ton U3O8 ppm U3O8 % U3O8
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tantamaco 11,648,037 7,089,536 0.609 304.36 0.030
Nuevo Corani 1,524,868 528,681 0.347 173.27 0.017
Isivilla 0 0 0.00 0.000
Tuturumani 0 0 0.00 0.000
Calvario
Real 0 0 0.00 0.000
Totals 13,172,905 7,618,216 0.578 289.39 0.029
------------------------------------------------------------------------


INFERRED RESOURCES
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prospect 0.18 Lb/Ton (90.72 ppm) U3O8 CUTOFF
Tons Lbs U3O8 Lb/Ton U3O8 ppm U3O8 % U3O8
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tantamaco 14,997,623 7,369,497 0.491 245.85 0.025
Nuevo Corani 8,088,525 3,437,884 0.425 212.73 0.021
Isivilla 4,672,106 1,474,393 0.316 157.85 0.016
Tuturumani 6,031,431 1,159,868 0.192 96.16 0.010
Calvario
Real 1,413,372 770,215 0.545 272.61 0.027
Totals 35,203,067 14,211,857 0.404 201.85 0.020
------------------------------------------------------------------------

INFERRED RESOURCES
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prospect 0.36 Lb/Ton (181.44 ppm) U3O8 CUTOFF
Tons Lbs U3O8 Lb/Ton U3O8 ppm U3O8 % U3O8
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tantamaco 12,376,120 6,996,922 0.565 282.59 0.028
Nuevo Corani 5,011,462 3,099,041 0.618 309.35 0.031
Isivilla 3,699,196 1,426,146 0.386 192.78 0.019
Tuturumani 2,248,497 879,877 0.391 195.50 0.020
Calvario
Real 1,413,372 770,215 0.545 272.61 0.027
Totals 24,748,647 13,172,202 0.532 266.56 0.027
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: Based on Short Ton = 2,000 Lb

About Vena Resources

Vena Resources Inc. is a Canadian mining company focused on the exploration and development of Peru's mineral potential. Employing a model of diversification across metals and regions in Peru to mitigate investment risk, the Company consists of four divisions: Mining, Clean Energy, Precious Metals and Base Metals. Together with the Company's strategic partners, Cameco, Gold Fields and Trafigura, Vena will advance its significant portfolio of almost 73,000 hectares this year. Through its board of directors and advisors, Vena Resources possesses a unique quality of skills and experience in management, mining and finance globally.

Statements in this press release regarding the Company's business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties, such as estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature, they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results in each case could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

Shares Outstanding: 97,304,965

Fully-Diluted: 120,227,477

The TSX does not accept the responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:
Vena Resources Inc.
Juan Vegarra
Chairman & CEO
(416) 364-7739 , ext. 120
jvegarra@venaresources.com
www.venaresources.com



Source: Marketwire (November 29, 2010 - 2:00 AM EST)

News by QuoteMedia
www.quotemedia.com

Black Hawk Enters Cowley County, Kansas Oil Venture With Tiger Oil and Energy
Nov. 29, 2010 (PR Newswire) --

FOX ISLAND, Wash., Nov. 29, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Black Hawk Exploration (OTC Bulletin Board: BHWX) is pleased to announce the purchase of oil and gas leases covering approximately 2,553 acres of land in Cowley County, Kansas. BHWX owns 100% of the leases within the Prospect Area and has an undivided 81.5% working interest in and to the oil and gas leases and their previous 10 shut-in oil and gas wells.

The lease acquisition includes a 100% interest in one shut-in oil/gas well, the #1 Baker, located on the Keith Baker lease. Also acquired is a 100% interest in 9 other oil wells previously shut- in. Black Hawk's Oil 2011 Program calls for re-working all 10 locations directly or in joint venture with Tiger Oil and Energy, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: TGRO) and returning all of them to cash flow production. "We hope to start re-work on the #1 Baker, Oil and Gas Well in December, 2010 and have it in production January 2011. We also hope to have some exciting news on our future lithium plans and definitive assay results from the November Dun Glen gold and silver drilling, with-in the next 2 to 3 weeks," stated Kevin M Murphy, CEO of Black Hawk Exploration.

On October 27th, 2010 Black Hawk entered into a co-development agreement with TGRO in which, after an investment of $400,000 by TGRO in a new well in Black Hawk's Cowley County lease, TGRO will earn a 40% working interest in the # 1 Baker well, BHWX will receive a 50% interest in the new well and TGRO will have the right to participate in the 9 well rework program at the Cowley Prospect. BHWX will receive a 20% interest in any other new well TGRO drills on Black Hawk's current or future Cowley County, Kansas leases and has the option to invest in each additional new well drilled by TGRO on a prorated basis up to an additional 30%.

In addition to the acquisition, Black Hawk Exploration entered into an agreement with TIGER OIL & GAS LLC, a Kansas limited liability company ( "Tiger LLC"). In the agreement BHWX purchased oil and gas leases within Cowley County (the "Prospect Area") and Tiger LLC agreed to operate and participate in the development and exploration of additional oil and gas leases on behalf of BHWX.

About Black Hawk Exploration

Black Hawk is a diversified metals and energy exploration company and currently has expanded its current exploration program focus on lithium, gold and silver discovery with the addition of oil and gas leases in Kansas. Continuing its aggressive program of value added property acquisition, project generation, asset diversity and building shareholder value, Black Hawk will continue to develop its Clayton Valley lithium and Dun Glen gold and silver holdings and add a third focus with the acquisition of our Cowley County, Kansas oil and gas leases and the 10 in-active oil and gas wells that we plan on putting back into production.

Visit www.BlackHawkExploration.com and review all our current Press Releases and our CEO BLOG.

All investors and current shareholders interested in receiving information on Black Hawk Exploration are encouraged to call our Investor Relations Firm, Equiti-trend, toll-free at (800) 953-3350 to speak with an Investor Communication Representative:

Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements," as that term is defined in Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities exchange Act of 1934. Statements in this press release which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, the Oil 2011 Program, Joint Venture and rework program.

Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with mineral exploration. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that the beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our annual report on Form 10-K for the most recent fiscal year, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE Black Hawk Exploration


Source: PR Newswire (November 29, 2010 - 1:48 AM EST)

News by QuoteMedia
www.quotemedia.com

Current/Recent Stock Promotions


Yesterday
Stock Promoters
CSEY Penny Pay Day
EEGI Penny to Buck, PennyOmega, Stock PR
EXBX PSRumors
FDEI BuzzStocks, Whisper from Wall Street
FLPCE Too Nice Stocks
FXPT OTC Market Bulls
HNSS Our Hot Stock Picks
IMDS Xtreme Picks
KRMC HotOTC, Stock Egg
MCVE Stock Guru News
MFTH OTC Tip Reporter
OTGI Chart Poppers, Wall Streets Hottest Stocks
SILA Stock Stars
SPPH WSHustler
11/27/2010
Stock Promoters
TOPZ Wall Street Grand
ASTC Wise Alerts
FLPC Wall Streets Hottest Stocks
GRHU Doubling Stocks, Penny to Buck, PennyOmega
GRYO The Bull Report
ORFG Stock PR
SKVI Stock Guru News

Recent Penny Stock Newsletters

Earn $1,000s a Week By Becoming a ST Affiliate Today!
Today 5:07 AMby StockTwiter.com
StockEgg.com - Could KRMC be the next to Rally?
Yesterday 11:49 PMby Stock Egg
KRMC hasn`t started to move yet, so read report fast
Yesterday 11:49 PMby HotOTC
PennyStockRumors - Thanksgiving Update + KING
Yesterday 11:29 PMby PSRumors
SR&R would like to CONGRATULATE all members that PROFIT...
Yesterday 9:34 PMby Stock Rock and Roll
We are bringing back First Liberty Power Corp. (FLPCE) ...
Yesterday 9:17 PMby Too Nice Stocks
OTCPicks.com Stocks to Watch for Monday, November 29th
Yesterday 8:29 PMby OTC Picks
PPD Profiles Casey Container Corp (CSEY)
Yesterday 8:29 PMby Penny Pay Day
MFTH - More Information
Yesterday 8:15 PMby OTC Tip Reporter
FXPT blasts off 42.73% on Friday - stay tuned for more!
Yesterday 8:07 PMby OTC Market Bulls
Lebed.biz Alert - Major gold announcement in morning!
Yesterday 8:00 PMby Lebed
WSG Club Alert: TOPZ has HUGE track record w/ 3 Billion...
Yesterday 8:00 PMby Wall Street Grand
FDEI could rally again this week
Yesterday 7:34 PMby BuzzStocks
OTGI - A Stocking Stuffer !
Yesterday 7:34 PMby Wall Streets Hottest Stocks
Ourhotstockpicks.com: HNSS, IMDS - Gearing up for an ex...
Yesterday 7:29 PMby Our Hot Stock Picks
New Major Trade Alert Coming Tomorrow Night After The C...
Yesterday 7:00 PMby WSHustler
Xtremepicks.com: IMDS, HNSS - Getting back to business ...
Yesterday 7:00 PMby Xtreme Picks
Eline Entertainment Group, Inc. and Hiru Corporation! C...
Yesterday 6:34 PMby CRWE Select
KRMC setting up national media campaign, my last alert ...
Yesterday 6:15 PMby HotOTC
StockStars.net - SILA to Experience Great Margins on Go...
Yesterday 6:07 PMby Stock Stars
MFTH - New Monster Alert!
Yesterday 5:49 PMby OTC Tip Reporter
KRMC Launches National U.S. Media Campaign, my last ale...
Yesterday 5:07 PMby Stock Egg
WSG Club Alert: New Oil & Natural Gas Play *TOPZ* $0.04
Yesterday 3:49 PMby Wall Street Grand
An Actual Week Ahead
Yesterday 3:15 PMby ActualGains
WhisperfromWallStreet FDEI Alert 300%, 600%, 1300% Pric...
Yesterday 3:07 PMby Whisper from Wall Street


Read more: http://stockreads.com/Stock-Newsletters-Browse.aspx#ixzz16fQ3rFw1

Top Penny Stock Newsletter Picks

OTCQB in 10 Newsletters
SILA in 10 Newsletters
HEME in 9 Newsletters
HIRU in 8 Newsletters
FDEI in 7 Newsletters
MONT in 7 Newsletters
PWRM in 7 Newsletters
GRHU in 6 Newsletters
GRYO in 6 Newsletters
HHWW in 6 Newsletters
INIX in 6 Newsletters
MSLP in 6 Newsletters
ORFG in 6 Newsletters
PTSH in 6 Newsletters
SAVW in 6 Newsletters

Top Stock Picks From The Stock Boards
EXBX (7) SPPH (6) SAEI (4) PYBX (4) WTCT (3) SPFM (3) LOCN (3) EYSM (3) CWRN (3) VTRO (2) UVFT (2)

Board Buzz from OTCBB Alerts

Symbol # Picks Authors
PYBX 3 imagator , Stock_rocket101 , aliangel
SPPH 2 cherrob , cyclone101
NXCO 2 mathew633 , hlsh
MSLP 2 pennyjet , cherrob
FLTT 2 Nilbud , Mr Stacks
EXBX 2 paramount , SmartDayTrader
TPCS 1 Rawnoc
TIVU 1 [-geezy-]
SAEI 1 paramount
REPR 1 Rawnoc
PFMS 1 cyclone101
NEGS 1 cyclone101
MTSL 1 mathew633
GTGP 1 Kurupt
GLGT 1 ash111
EYSM 1 Big Stones
ETNL 1 RJ Trotts
EPGL 1 Le2dynasty
CYCC 1 mathew633
CPIX 1 mathew633
BSOM 1 mathew633
BSHF 1 humblehawk
BORN 1 mathew633
AWYI 1 stockfalcon
ATPT 1 raysupinhere
ASRG 1 Rawnoc

Board Buzz from Yahoo Shakerzandmoverz

Symbol # Picks Authors
VTRO 2 KingOf , Otc Informer
LFBG 2 Ben , Alvin Koffman
EXBX 2 Mike , mikee20
USAEE 1 KingOf
SAEI 1 Mike
EYSM 1 John S

Board Buzz from BB’s Stock Haven

Symbol # Picks Authors
SPPH 4 Liquid Spider , Quik18holes , Dream , nacholiteysu22
WTCT 3 PennyChaser408 , nacholiteysu22 , Liquid Spider
LOCN 3 altruism , Rainer_80 , killertiger
EXBX 3 paramount , TOUCAN , danrpoints
SPFM 2 MASTERTRADER , slow and steady
SAEI 2 paramount , Regulus60
UVFT 1 MRCapital
TSNP 1 pero_gonz
TRDY 1 Jobrano
SREH 1 dinogoesroar
SNSS 1 shrudeinvesta
SBRH 1 benistock123
PYBX 1 shrudeinvesta
PPBL 1 PIZZABUSTER1
NEGS 1 Carlito
IWDM 1 tracker144
HSHL 1 valley-view0
GDHI 1 trdwatch
DMPD 1 jimmybob
CYCA 1 roheex
CSCE 1 Finra
AVEW 1 mojobaal
AQUM 1 BlueChip
AMHD 1 ahdioyoda