The following are the day's top business stories:
1. Dollar Rallies on Optimism Over Stronger Job Market; Oil, Stocks Retreat 2. Hedge Funds Return 1.7% in December to Reach Two-Year Peak on Stock Rally 3. North Korean Shells May Boost Woori Samurai Borrowing Costs: Japan Credit 4. Japanese Stocks Fluctuate; Trading Companies Retreat, Automakers Advance 5. Resona Said to Sell $7.2 Billion Shares This Month to Help Repay Bailout 6. Samsung Profit Falls More Than Estimated After Television Prices Decline 7. Goldman Questioned by SEC Over Private Offer of Facebook Stock, NYT Says 8. Australia's Central Bank May Extend Rate Pause as Floods Restrain Growth 9. India Phone Call Prices Crash as Potential License Losses Fuel Desperation 10.HSBC Global Picks Chinese, Korean Stocks as Asia's `Nowhere Near' a Bubble 11.Atheros CEO Barratt Outlasts Intel's Barrett in Prelude to Qualcomm Deal 12.Pentagon's Paul Brinkley Plays Matchmaker in Afghanistan for IBM, JPMorgan
1. Dollar Rallies on Optimism Over Stronger Job Market; Oil, Stocks Retreat
The dollar rallied, sending U.S. equities and oil lower, amid speculation an improving American labor market will fuel demand for the American currency. Bonds slid in Spain, Portugal and Belgium on concern Europe´s most- indebted nations will struggle to fund deficits. The dollar strengthened to a one-month high against the European shared currency, rising 1 percent to $1.3016 per euro at 4 p.m. in New York. Oil sank below $89 a barrel and copper slid 1.8 percent. Ten-year Treasury yields lost six basis points to 3.41 percent. The Standard & Poor´s 500 Index fell from its highest level since September 2008, losing 0.2 percent to 1,273.85. Brazil´s real weakened after the central bank introduced reserve requirements to stem the currency´s gain. The Dollar Index, a gauge of the currency against six major peers, advanced to the highest level on a closing basis since November as a decrease in jobless claims over the past month added to signs the labor market is strengthening. Economists raised forecasts for U.S. jobs growth this week, with the median estimate calling for tomorrow´s report to show a gain of 150,000 in December and a drop in the unemployment rate to 9.7 percent. "The dollar is really in demand," said Kathy Lien, director of currency research with online trader GFT Forex in New York. "Non-farm payrolls are still going to be very good and the risk of an upside surprise is much more significant than a shortfall. A lot of people are positioning for a stronger number."
2. Hedge Funds Return 1.7% in December to Reach Two-Year Peak on Stock Rally
Hedge funds returned 1.7 percent in December, bouncing back from a November loss and ending 2010 at the highest level in more than two years as global equity markets rallied, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Bloomberg aggregate hedge-fund index rose to 120.34, the loftiest point since August 2008, amid optimism for economic growth. The gauge tracking the $1.8 trillion industry peaked at 130.38 in July 2007. The December gain brought last year´s return to 7 percent on average, compared with a 7.4 percent rally in global stocks, as measured by the MSCI World Index, with dividends. The Standard & Poor´s 500 Index climbed 6.7 percent, the most for the U.S. benchmark in December since 1991. Long-short equity funds, whose managers can bet on rising and falling stocks, increased 2 percent last month and 9.3 percent in 2010. "December was a strong month for hedge funds, fueled by positive economic news," said Don Steinbrugge, managing partner of Agecroft Partners LLC, a Richmond, Virginia-based consulting firm that advises hedge funds and investors.
3. North Korean Shells May Boost Woori Samurai Borrowing Costs: Japan Credit
South Korean borrowers may be forced to pay higher relative yields than last year when they return to Japan´s Samurai bond market this month after North Korean artillery attacks brought record sales to a halt in November. Woori Bank, KT Corp. and Busan Bank plan to sell yen- denominated notes in Japan, according to people familiar with the transactions. The gap between yields on two-year Japanese government debt and similar-maturity notes sold by Industrial Bank of Korea in July, last year´s biggest Korean Samurai offering, widened 21 basis points since the shelling to 121 basis points, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc prices show. "If Woori or KT are selling bonds now they need to pay persuasive spreads," Toshiaki Takahashi, who manages 370 billion yen ($4.44 billion) at Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. in Tokyo, said in a telephone interview. "We´ve stopped buying Korean debt until the situation calms down." Sales of Samurai bonds by South Korean borrowers tripled to 171 billion yen last year, the biggest increase since Bloomberg began collecting the data in 1999. South Korean companies´ share of the Samurai market more than doubled to 9.8 percent in 2010, making them the fourth-biggest sellers behind the U.K., Australia and the Netherlands, the data show. The yen was second only to the dollar for Korean companies borrowing abroad.
4. Japanese Stocks Fluctuate; Trading Companies Retreat, Automakers Advance
Japanese stocks fluctuated as trading houses declined after prices for oil and metals dropped while carmakers gained on the outlook for U.S. demand. Mitsubishi Corp., Japan´s biggest commodities trader, lost 0.8 percent and Inpex Corp., the nation´s largest oil and gas explorer, sank 1 percent after crude and metal prices fell. Toyota Motor Corp., the world´s biggest carmaker, jumped 1.2 percent after an analyst said car assembly in North America may increase 5 percent this year. "Investors will likely be in a wait-and-see stance ahead of the jobs data," said Juichi Wako, a senior strategist at Tokyo-based Nomura Holdings Inc. "Investors are getting concerned about overheating in the short-term." Economists expect a U.S. Labor Department report today to show employment improved in December in the world´s largest economy.
5. Resona Said to Sell $7.2 Billion Shares This Month to Help Repay Bailout
Resona Holdings Inc., Japan´s fourth largest bank, will sell about 600 billion yen ($7.2 billion) of shares in a public offering this month to help repay government bailout funds, a person familiar with the situation said. Resona will approve the plan at a board member meeting and announce the details for the share sale today, the person said. Nomura Holdings Inc. and Bank of America Corp.´s Merrill Lynch Japan Securities Co. unit will underwrite the offering, the bank said in November when it registered to sell the shares. Resona is planning to raise as much as 600 billion yen in the sale and to use its cash reserves to repay 900 billion yen in government debt, the bank said in November. Resona rose 14 percent to 545 yen yesterday on the Tokyo Stock Exchange amid speculation that short sellers are buying the stock. The shares were untraded as of 9:03 a.m. today. "Nothing has been decided," on the share sale, the bank said in a statement filed to the Tokyo Stock Exchange today. The Nikkei newspaper reported the share sale plan earlier today.
6. Samsung Profit Falls More Than Estimated After Television Prices Decline
Samsung Electronics Co., the world´s largest maker of televisions and flat screens, posted a steeper profit decline than analysts estimated after TV prices dropped during the year-end shopping season. Operating income fell 13 percent to 3 trillion won ($2.7 billion) from 3.44 trillion won a year ago, the Suwon, South Korea-based company said in a statement today. The preliminary results lagged behind the 3.3 trillion won average of 13 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg in the past 28 days. Sales rose 4.5 percent to 41 trillion won. Samsung´s TV division probably posted a loss and the display unit´s profit fell 60 percent on weaker demand from U.S. and European consumers, analysts said. The world´s second- largest maker of mobile phones and semiconductors aims to revive earnings growth on demand for flash memory chips and the Galaxy mobile phone and tablet, which competes against Apple Inc.´s iPad. "Chip and communication units will drive overall earnings" this year, Shin Hyun Joon, a Seoul-based analyst at Tong Yang Securities Inc. said before today´s announcement.
7. Goldman Questioned by SEC Over Private Offer of Facebook Stock, NYT Says
Breaking news, story to follow
8. Australia's Central Bank May Extend Rate Pause as Floods Restrain Growth
Northeastern Australia´s worst floods in half a century are likely to slow the nation´s economy and prompt the central bank to refrain from raising interest rates as inundated coal mines reduce export income. Disruption to mining and damage to crops in Queensland will damp national growth by 0.2 percentage point this quarter, according to the median of eight estimates in a Bloomberg survey. The Reserve Bank of Australia, which meets Feb. 1, may discuss what could prove to be a "significant impact" on the economy, board member Donald McGauchie said this week. "The RBA is likely to tread more carefully than it otherwise might have," said Stephen Walters, chief economist for Australia at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Sydney, who abandoned his call for a February rate increase and now sees no move until May. "It´s tough to hike when one of your states is suffering a natural disaster." A delay in increasing borrowing costs may restrain the Australian dollar, which last year surpassed parity with its U.S. counterpart and on Dec. 31 touched the highest level since being floated in 1983. Dennis Gartman, an economist and editor of the Gartman Letter in Suffolk, Virginia, recommended selling the local currency against the euro as the hit to it will be "as real as the damage wrought by the flooding."
9. India Phone Call Prices Crash as Potential License Losses Fuel Desperation
A mobile-phone licensing scandal that may have cost India´s government $31 billion has become a boon for people buying SIM cards at Vijay Singh´s Mumbai storefront. Two companies that may lose their licenses for second- generation airwaves -- Videocon Telecommunications Ltd. and Telenor ASA´s India unit -- now offer domestic long-distance rates of a half-cent a minute. That´s half the prevailing rate in the world´s fastest-growing major mobile-phone market, where the number of subscribers surged 45 percent in 12 months, according to the latest government data. Prices are dropping as the government considers forcing companies to surrender at least 69 licenses that it says were sold for as little as a tenth of their value. The regulatory uncertainty is discouraging consolidation and curbing foreign investment in the industry, forcing companies to emphasize pricing to gain subscribers, according to Kunal Bajaj, head of Analysys Mason India Pvt. in New Delhi. "As desperation increases, we´ll see some last salvos," Bajaj said. "The only thing that´s going to slow down competition is when consolidation actually starts happening, and that´s now, unfortunately, further delayed."
10.HSBC Global Picks Chinese, Korean Stocks as Asia's `Nowhere Near' a Bubble
HSBC Global Asset Management is betting that stocks in China, South Korea and Taiwan will outperform as earnings increase and central banks globally keep interest rates low. Asian valuations are "nowhere near bubble territory," while corporate profits are poised to rise about 14 percent this year, said Ayaz Ebrahim, Asia Pacific chief investment officer for HSBC Global. He favors emerging markets to developed counterparts, citing the pace of economic growth. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has climbed 0.2 percent since the start of the year, following a two-year, 54 percent rebound from a record slump in 2008. The gauge is valued at 14 times estimated earnings, lower than its five-year average of 18 times. Benchmark indexes tracking Hong Kong-traded Chinese shares and equities in Korea are valued at 11 times while the Taiex index for Taiwan has a multiple of 13 times. "We certainly have become more positive on the cheaper markets of Korea, Taiwan and China," Ebrahim said in an interview in Singapore yesterday. "Given that you´ve got the earnings growth, valuations and low interest rates, that´s all positive for asset prices."
11.Atheros CEO Barratt Outlasts Intel's Barrett in Prelude to Qualcomm Deal
If conventional wisdom had its way, Atheros Communications Inc. would have ended up as yet another mound of chip startup roadkill. Not only did it seek to do something new, risky and expensive with its wireless chip offerings, it brushed up against Intel Corp. and its near-endless coffers. Far from going on life support, Atheros and Chief Executive Officer Craig H. Barratt survived -- and did well enough to tempt Qualcomm Inc. into acquiring it for $3.1 billion in cash, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its Jan. 10 issue. After a day of rumors, Qualcomm confirmed the purchase on Jan. 5. It paid $45 a share, a 29 percent premium over Atheros´s average trading price during the last month. The deal is San Diego-based Qualcomm´s biggest ever and gives the mobile technology giant a direct path to expansion in a number of growing markets, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and systems that let Internet data flow through home electrical networks, known as powerline networking.
12.Pentagon's Paul Brinkley Plays Matchmaker in Afghanistan for IBM, JPMorgan
The skyline of the city of Herat, in the westernmost corner of Afghanistan, is dominated by the Qala Ikhtyaruddin, a 700-year-old stone citadel. On a chilly December afternoon, as the sun begins to dip, the citadel´s grounds are largely unoccupied. The general public isn´t allowed in until renovations to the time-ravaged site are finished. Paid for in part by a $725,000 grant from the U.S. government, the project is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2011. Paul A. Brinkley isn´t the general public. As a U.S. Defense Department deputy undersecretary, he moves freely behind the barricades, ushering a handful of American visitors, including Silicon Valley executives Atul Vashistha of Neo Group Inc. and Mike Faith of Headsets.com Inc., through dark corridors and up steep stairways to the highest reaches of the fortress, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its Jan. 10 edition. The tour comes after a morning of meetings with the provincial governor and the local university´s chancellor and students, all of them pushing, along with Brinkley, for the executives to consider a noble and dangerous proposition: opening up shop in Afghanistan. "I´ve never regretted taking a businessperson to the theater," Brinkley says. "This is about getting their eyes on the problem."
-0- Jan/07/2011 00:35 GMT
View the original article here
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario