April 2010

Top Senate Democrat Questions Obama Foreclosure Program’s Effectiveness

April 29, 2010

The second-ranking Democrat in the Senate expressed concern Thursday over the ultimate effectiveness of the Obama administration’s signature foreclosure-prevention effort, becoming the highest-ranking member of the president’s party to publicly question the administration’s efforts to help struggling families. The administration announced in March that its initiative, the Home Affordable Modification Program, will begin in several months to help unemployed homeowners and those who owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth. The unemployed are eligible for temporary relief from monthly payments; underwater homeowners are eligible for reductions in mortgage principal. In a Senate hearing, Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin told Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that he’s “concerned that these changes don’t go far enough to help unemployed and underwater homeowners.” “Under the current plan, servicers may still have more incentive to foreclose rather than to modify mortgages, and many borrowers will still find that default may be easier than staying underwater,” the Illinois Democrat said. “These changes won’t be implemented until the fall, and may be too little, too late.” Research shows that underwater homeowners are much more likely to default on their mortgages than similar borrowers who have positive equity. In fact, the more underwater homeowners are, the more likely they are to fall behind on payments, default, or to walk away from their mortgage debt completely. That’s why so many groups — consumer advocates, homeowners, members of Congress and mortgage bond investors — have called for a more robust principal reduction effort by Treasury. “[W]e have heard from servicers that whenever principal reduction is included as a component of the modification, even at the same debt-to-income ratio, the outcome is more sustainable,” said Richard H. Neiman, New York state’s chief bank regulator and a member of the Congressional Oversight Panel, a federal bailout watchdog. “This highlights the importance of incorporating broad principal forgiveness into foreclosure mitigation programs.” HAMP is part of the administration’s $75 billion effort to stem the rising tide of foreclosures. An April 14 report by COP found that more than three-quarters of homeowners who have had their monthly mortgage payments reduced under HAMP owe more on their mortgage than their house is worth. Citing data through February, over half of the roughly 170,000 distressed borrowers who had gone through the program were seriously underwater, meaning they had negative equity of at least 25 percent, the report notes. In other words, for every $1.00 their home was worth, they owed at least $1.25. The average homeowner who’s received a five-year modified mortgage under the administration’s plan had negative equity of about 35 percent prior to the program, according to the report. After modification, that burden actually increased for the average homeowner, who is now underwater by more than 43 percent. Durbin asked Geithner about that. Geithner dodged the question. The Treasury Secretary did note, though, that the modifications lead to lower interest rates for borrowers, which results in lower payments. Still, that doesn’t address negative equity, which is what Durbin asked about. Yet the watchdog’s report actually understates the problem, the report notes. Its figures are for first-lien home mortgages only. Debt owed on junior liens, like second liens and home equity lines, isn’t part of that calculation. The Obama administration estimated last April that “up to 50 percent of at-risk mortgages currently have second liens.” “If junior liens were to be included, the percentage would be significantly higher,” the report notes. “The continuing deep level of negative equity for many HAMP permanent modification recipients makes the modifications’ sustainability questionable; even with more affordable payments, deeply underwater borrowers may remain tempted to strategically default or may be compelled to because core life events, such as death, divorce, disability, marriage, child birth, job loss, or job opportunities necessitate a move.” Geithner pointed to the roughly 230,000 homeowners who now have lower monthly payments as a result of the program, and the 1.4 million homeowners who have been offered the opportunity to have lower monthly payments. By comparison, last year lenders foreclosed on more than 2.8 million homes, a record, according to real estate research firm RealtyTrac. The firm estimates three million homes will get foreclosure notices this year; more than one million of them will be repossessed by lenders. Kevin R. Puvalowski, deputy Special Inspector General in the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, another federal bailout watchdog, said Treasury has fallen short in its promise to help struggling homeowners. “[U]ntil Treasury fulfills its commitment to provide a thoughtfully designed, consistently administered, and fully transparent program, HAMP risks being remembered not for catalyzing a recovery from our current housing crisis, but rather for bold announcements, modest goals, and meager results,” he told Durbin’s subcommittee. Neiman said that “the stories we hear point to a clear need for a Homeowner’s Advocate, or ombudsman, within Treasury. Treasury’s currently offered email address is not doing the job.” Geithner predicted “a lot of hardship and pain still ahead” for homeowners. “Foreclosure prevention is not just the right thing [to] do for suffering Americans,” Neiman said, “but it is the linchpin around which all other efforts to achieve financial stability revolve. We cannot solve the financial crisis without dealing with the root of the problem: the millions of American families who are at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure.”

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Jerry Chautin: Let’s Dump The Rating Agencies

April 29, 2010

I’ve had it up to my nostrils with the rating agencies. They got it wrong with the real estate industry and do not have enough credibility left to play a role in Europe’s financial problems. Yet, they still have the hubris to squash the investment rating of Greece, and warn us about Portugal, Spain. It is wreaking havoc with the with the Euro the financial markets. The time has come for investors to make their own decisions and stop abdicating financial responsibilities. The time has come to recognize that rating agencies are research firms, and they are not deities endowed with inalienable rights to dictate the quality of investments. Moreover, the agencies being paid by the debt issuers that they rate, brings into question their impartiality and fiduciary role. “We are lowering our ratings on Greece to ‘BB+/B’ from ‘BBB+/A-2′ and assigning a negative outlook,” Standard & Poor’s wrote on April 27, when it downgraded the investment quality of the country’s debt to “junk.” As if S&P’s analysts receive its inspiration from more heavenly hosts than the analysts of institutional investors, it went on to pontificate about Greece’s impending disaster. “The negative outlook reflects the possibility of a further downgrade if the Greek government’s ability to implement its fiscal and structural reform program materially weakens in our view, undermined by domestic political opposition at home or by even weaker economic conditions than we currently assume.” The Dow tanked by over 200 points as a knee-jerk reaction to S&P’s rhetorical pronouncement and rating downgrade. But upon saner review of the relevant facts and other economic news, stocks are rebounding. Wall Street likes to tout third-party evidence as “proof” that its offering is investment grade. That is the role played by the rating agencies. So when Goldman Sachs, or Citigroup pitched subprime-based derivatives to investors, it was Fitch, Moody’s or S&P that rated the securities “triple A.” In turn, the nations largest pension funds and institutional investors believed the ratings. Given that they have their own analysts on staff, was it because of laziness? Or was it stupidity? Or was it because using the third-party ratings shifted the responsibility of choosing investments from themselves? Whatever the reason for individual or institutional investors’ ineptness, Congress is struggling with legislation to prevent another financial meltdown. That is okay. Better regulation can help. More transparency is imperative. But the requirement for investors to become more responsible for their own investment decisions cannot be legislated. And the proposed Consumer Protection Agency will not help consumers take less investment risk. Investors need to arm themselves with the best research they can do or buy. Then, if they don’t understand the quality of the investment, they should not buy it. Furthermore, the marketplace of buyers and sellers should determine how much to pay — not the rating agencies. We do not need rating agencies. They are research firms and should not be hired to place a nebulous letter-grade on investments. What is more, the disgraced agencies have some serious re-branding to do if they expect to remain as going concerns — even for research assignments. Jerry Chautin is a volunteer SCORE business counselor, business columnist and SBA’s 2006 national “Journalist of the Year” award winner. He is a former entrepreneur, commercial mortgage banker, commercial real estate dealmaker and business lender. You can follow him at www.Twitter.com/JerryChautin

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Marty Robins: Goldman Hearings: More Meddling and Grandstanding By Congress

April 29, 2010

One wonders about the real purpose for this week’s Congressional hearings about the alleged misdeeds of Goldman Sachs. Taken at their worst, they amount to claims that the firm failed to disclose to buyers (all in the securities business) of mortgage-backed securities issued by it, all material information concerning their origin and character. Whether or not this is true, the national implications – i.e. rationale for Congressional involvement – are doubtful. The same can be said for the SEC civil suit. If anything, this is a private matter between Goldman and its customers, for which customary civil claims under the securities laws would suffice. Securities law experts are divided as to whether disclosure of the involvement of John Paulson – a noted bear regarding the housing market – in the structuring of the securities was legally required. While the author, a corporate attorney having some experience in securities law, would have advised Goldman to disclose such information to avoid this sort of second-guessing, this is beside the point. The point is that if these investors believe that they were defrauded, they can sue or arbitrate under existing law for recission of the transaction (refund) or other damages. Such claims by the sort of indisputably sophisticated investors who are involved here, are commonplace, and the firm is obviously capable of satisfying any judgment which is awarded. This is not a Madoff situation where victims of a fraud have no redress and involvement of the SEC or Congress is needed. The spectacle of Senators and commentators so vehemently denouncing Goldman’s business practices, as though they caused the Great Recession, is unseemly and absurd. Whatever it thinks of the business practices of Goldman or any other private company, Congress should not be involved in private disputes, absent some broad-based implications for Americans in general. That is, whether the practices at issue are causing loss to consumers in general. Despite the superficial attempts in the Senate to tie Goldman and other investment banks to the economic downturn, this is simply not the case. They had little or nothing to do with the ultimate cause, namely the origination of low quality mortgage and other debt which could not be repaid. Once such debt had been incurred, losses were inevitable and the only question was how such losses would be allocated. Whether they were to be borne by Goldman, John Paulson, Goldman investors or someone else, had nothing to do with macroeconomic consequences. These investors have the resources, incentives and knowledge to fend for themselves. This is also not a case where proposed legal reforms are at issue. All agree that existing securities law bars material misstatements and omissions of material facts. The issues in this case are strictly factual – i.e. was the information about the manner in which the securities were structured genuinely material to the investors. As Goldman points out, such materiality must be judged by reference to all of the circumstances which existed at the time of the transaction, including its role as a market-maker, which inherently means that a transaction requires parties to have opposite views about the valuation of the securities. These hearings and the SEC action are nothing more than a naked political ploy to rally support for the Administration’s so-called “financial reform” efforts by demonizing Wall Street and big business. This is not a case of Congress and the SEC looking out for the “little guy” who can not look out for himself. It is simply a cynical effort to cause the unsophisticated public to look for bogeymen to blame for all of our economic dislocation. Even assuming the worst about Goldman’s business practices vis a vis its clients, they are not the cause of our problems. They are strictly a private matter. We would be much better served if rather than take sides in private disputes, Congress and the SEC would look in the proverbial mirror and consider their own actions in cases such as extreme, unwarranted encouragement of homeownership through Fannie and Freddie (and their campaign contributions) and the Community Reinvestment Act and ignoring express warnings about Madoff and Stanford. The author is a (small) securityholder in Goldman Sachs.

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Bob Fisher: Climate Change, Blue Jeans, and Jobs

April 29, 2010

Why would an apparel company care about climate policy? When you think about it, a changing climate actually has a direct impact on business. The apparel sector is fundamentally dependent on cotton, a crop that relies heavily on water and favorable growing conditions. Our changing climate is causing unprecedented drought in some regions and flooding in others. These extreme and variable weather patterns threaten our global supply chain and the cost of producing goods. Although the cost and consequences of climate change impact much more than business results, I believe companies can make a difference. As an individual, I’m personally passionate about this subject, but as a Director on the Boards of Gap Inc. as well as the Natural Resources Defense Council and Conservation International, I see the powerful role business can play in the effort to pass comprehensive climate and energy legislation. Together with leading companies such as Nike, The North Face, eBay, Best Buy, Starbucks, and many others, Gap Inc. understands that placing limits on greenhouse gas emissions and building a new clean energy economy is good for business and great for American workers. Increasingly, we have come to understand that climate change is a matter of social and human rights and not “just” an environmental issue. In truth, industrialized countries have placed the burden of climate disruption on billions of people who have not contributed to the problem. Gap Inc.’s longstanding commitment to the workers and communities where we source our raw materials is more than a fundamental value; it’s a competitive advantage. As a member of BICEP, Gap shares with other participating organizations a commitment to a sustainable planet. We believe in leading by example. Energy efficiency and waste reduction throughout our manufacturing process has helped the environment, improved our bottom line, and been a source of pride for our employees. But voluntary, piece-meal action by a strong cadre of consumer companies is no substitute for a national policy that levels the business playing field by imposing a uniform cost on carbon emissions across all sectors of the economy. Our economic future depends upon a strong national climate change policy that will restore America’s leadership, spur innovation in clean energy technology and put hundreds of thousands of people back to work in the process. Consider this: Clean energy will be a dominant job creation industry of the 21st century and the countries that get this right will be rewarded with millions of jobs and trillions of dollars worth of exports for years to come. America’s greatest economic strength has always been innovation. But we have yet to unleash the full potential of our ingenuity when it comes to lowering carbon emissions, reducing our dependence on foreign oil and creating the clean energy technologies to make it happen. A smart national climate change policy that caps emissions and provides economic and tax incentives for energy efficiency and renewable power would turn the U.S. into the world leader in new clean energy technologies. We are at a critical crossroads on climate change–the U.S. can lead the world and jumpstart our economy by spearheading the transition to a low-carbon global economy; or we can delay and fall further behind nations that already have cleaner, more efficient cars, and more established wind and solar power industries. The choice is clear: now is the time for dramatic action by Congress to not only stimulate investment in renewable energy sources and clean technology–but to put a limit and price on carbon pollution. Our future–and our blue jeans–depends on it. Bob Fisher currently sits on Gap Inc.’s Board of Directors and is former CEO of the global apparel retailer. He also serves as a Director on the Boards of the NRDC and Conservation International. Gap Inc. is a leading global specialty retailer and a member of Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy (BICEP), a network of 17 leading consumer and technology companies coordinated by Ceres.

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Clare J. Morgan: College Students Must Make Real Change as Economic Literacy at All-Time Low

April 29, 2010

As National Financial Literacy Month comes to a close, young adults remain vulnerable to the traps of poor financial management in record numbers with 45 percent of college students with more than $3,000 in credit card debt. The number of college students who drop out due to financial pressure is at 8.5 percent and continues to soar. People in the 18 to 24 age bracket spend nearly 30 percent of their monthly income just on debt repayment as a result of living beyond their means – double the percentage spent in 1992. Some know better and get into trouble anyway because they’re immature and used to having adults bail them out. But, many simply don’t understand the basics and spiral out of control financially before they realize the long-term damage they’re doing to their lives. Sixty-five percent of college students tested on basic personal finance principals failed, according to a recent study by the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy which has been promoting April as financial literacy month since 2000. Congress added it endorsement three years later and officially named the month National Financial Literacy Month in 2004. The following tips will help students better understand how to manage their finances: Create a budget. It’s surprising that so few students – and adults – don’t know their total monthly expenses. In fact, only 39 percent of Americans have and follow a budget. Making a budget – a list of all expenses, including rent, utilities, books, auto insurance, etc., offset by income – lets people know what the shortfall might be and allows them to take action. Live within your means. The concept of supply and demand isn’t complicated – it means living off what’s in your wallet. However, more than 40 percent of Americans today live beyond their means, and on average, 32 percent of students graduate from college with four or more credit cards. Reloadable prepaid cards help young adults learn how to live within their means, as the money they load onto the card is all they have available to spend. Prepaid cards can be used like any credit or debit card but don’t require having a bank account, they’re inexpensive and they eliminate the possibilities of overspending, falling into debt and potentially having to drop out of school. Choose wisely by applying a cost/benefit analysis to everyday decisions. It may make you popular to buy all your friends pizza one night, but does that benefit outweigh your need for groceries that week? College students are not the only ones at fault. In addition to being poor at budgeting, the average household carries approximately $12,000 in total revolving debt that zaps spending power as interest and fees eat up a large portion of monthly paychecks. That’s a trend we don’t need to see the next generation of wage earners continue. Although it’s true plastic is required in today’s world for in-store and online electronic payments, there are newer and smarter options that don’t let college students – or anyone else – spend money they don’t have. National Financial Literacy Month is a good time to access our understanding of our own personal spending and move to more rational behavior each month moving forward. It’s the only way we can all change and arm students with the facts so that they can stay in school and become wise stewards of their financial future. Morgan is vice president of nFinanSe, a financial services company and provider of stored value and prepaid card solutions headquartered in Tampa, Fla.

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ZBB Energy Announces Appointment of New VP Business Development and Marketing

April 29, 2010

MILWAUKEE, WI–(Marketwire – April 29, 2010) –  ZBB Energy Corporation ( NYSE Amex : ZBB ) announced today the appointment of Daniel Nordloh as Vice President Business Development and Marketing.

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March On Wall Street: Unions Grab The Bull By The Horn

April 29, 2010

Thousands of people marched on Wall Street on Thursday afternoon in a major protest of financial sector greed and lending practices by big banks. ( Scroll down for PHOTOS from the protest. ) Taking to the streets of downtown Manhattan, an expected gathering of 10,000 AFL-CIO union members shouted and jeered at the offices surrounding them, demanding three major changes to Wall Street culture. The first is to call off the lobbyists fighting regulatory reform. The second is to stop the incessant focus on market speculation over business lending. The third is to chip in money for job creation initiatives. “Our history and our heritage teach us that America is about more than making easy money and looking out for number one. Our lives and our livelihoods are all bound together. And we are all paying the price for those who knew no limits on their greed,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka was to say, according to advance remarks. “Eight and a half million lost jobs — that’s the price of greed — that’s the real cost of bankers’ bonuses and private jets and cute tricks like the one that got Goldman Sachs in trouble last week.” The remarks were far more condemning in tone than those offered by President Obama last week during a speech at Cooper Union, in which he urged financial industry titans to join him in passing reform. But the underlying message was largely the same: the mess made by Wall Street still needs cleaning. The rally, one of the largest in recent memory to take place at the epicenter of the financial world, was timed to begin at 4:00 p.m. on the dot, the same hour when the trading bells close. Dozens of individual unions were expected to be in attendance, with a slow march planned down a six-block route followed by Trumka’s speech at the iconic bull at the corner of Wall Street and Broad. “He’s going to grab the bull by the horns, figuratively speaking,” said AFL-CIO spokesman Eddie Vale. It is, for the union, ideal timing. Back in D.C. — where the AFL-CIO is headquartered — regulatory reform finds itself on the cusp of passing through the Senate after Democrats broke a three-day long filibuster and brought legislation to the floor. The legislation still comes up short of many of the AFL-CIO’s loftier goals, in some respects underscoring the frustrations that labor has had with Democratically-led Congress. But Trumka has been supportive of the bill nonetheless and is likely to cheer progress in the Senate as a sign of where the political winds are blowing. Indeed, the conventional wisdom holds that Republicans dropped their opposition because they sensed they were on the losing side of a divisive argument. The conservative base, after all, is just as livid as the unions with the favoritism Wall Street enjoys in Washington D.C. On Thursday, however, the AFL-CIO was out-tea partying the Tea Partiers: demanding tougher rules for the financial industry from the belly of the beast. The Huffington Post reached out to two official Tea Party organizations to see if they would send individuals to the Wall Street march. Neither Tea New York nor the Tea Party Express would be in attendance, said officials.

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Mark Miller: The trouble with retirement planning calculators

April 29, 2010

How much do you need to save for retirement? You can get an idea by using any of the dozens of retirement calculator tools offered for free on the Internet. But a recent study by actuarial experts on retirement forecasting shows that many popular calculators have serious flaws. These problems could lead to serious miscalculations when you’re plotting your retirement. The report by the Society of Actuaries analyzed 12 retirement calculators created by financial services firms, software companies, nonprofits, and government for consumers and financial planning pros. All but one of the six consumer calculators were free–and they had a host of problems. “These tools take a project that is fairly complex and boil it down to something simple,” says John Turner, an economist and co-author of the report. “They don’t ask you to consider a lot of important variables.” So it’s buyer beware when it comes to online retirement calculators. Here’s a rundown of the key things to look out for; you can find a more detailed analysis in an article I wrote recently for CBS MoneyWatch.com . 1. Social Security Projections. Most retirees get a third or more of retirement income from Social Security. Yet many retirement calculators don’t gather the detailed information needed to project these benefits accurately, Turner says. “They often project Social Security income using a bare minimum of information: typically your current earnings, your age, and the year you expect to retire,” he says. The Social Security Administration offers the best projection tool , customized to your actual earnings history. 2. Rate-of-Return Assumptions. Three of the free calculators used pre-set future investment rate-of-return assumptions that you can’t change, and their percentages varied widely. One, created by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, assumed a 5 percent average annual return from 401(k)s; several others assumed 10 percent. If a calculator won’t let you choose your anticipated rate of return, either be sure you’re comfortable with its assumption or walk away. 3. Life Expectancy. It’s impossible to know how long you’ll live, of course. On average, 65-year-old men can expect to live another 17 years, and women another 20 years. Some calculators, the study found, automatically input life expectancy figures. But they fail to account for differences by race, income, and gender. And they also don’t take into consideration that you or your spouse might live longer than the averages. If a calculator forces you to make a longevity prediction, base it on your family history and your health. If you’re married, use different life expectancy numbers for you and your spouse, since women tend to live several years longer than men. 4. Housing. The calculators make very different assumptions about what you’ll do with your house at retirement. “Some assume you won’t liquidate your home; others assume you will sell and downsize,” Turner says. Very few of the tools analyze the impact on your finances of carrying a mortgage into retirement. Among the free calculators reviewed, only the U.S. Department of Labor calculator lets you plug in home equity when calculating your retirement assets. 5. Inflation. None of the free calculators — and few of the professional tools — listed inflation as a retirement-planning risk. Some of the tools let you plug in just one percentage forecast, even though inflation can fluctuate widely over time. Others put in their own default inflation rate, ranging from 2.3 to 4.6 percent. That spread can make a huge difference in how much the purchasing power of your assets will shrink over a 25-year retirement. 6. Spouses. Few of the free calculators helped couples forecast retirement income for a surviving spouse. They rarely let users enter separate information for both spouses and run numbers with differing life expectancies for them, for example. When the calculators recommended annuities for retirement income (most didn’t), none suggested buying one with a survivor’s benefit. Some of the calculators allow for separate entry of data for each spouse, but even these typically assume that both people retire at the same time. Spousal issues regarding Social Security benefit claims can be complex — beyond the capability of any online calculator. If you’re married, calculate retirement income needs for you and your spouse together and separately, using different life expectancy scenarios. This will help ensure that the one who lives longer won’t run out of cash. “Doing the ‘what-ifs’ can help you see just how differently things can turn out,” says Turner.

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Bloomberg The Poet? Mayor Pens Poem

April 29, 2010

If you thought Mike Bloomberg’s talents stopped at business, politics, and golf, apparently you’d be wrong. The mayor flexed his poetry muscles in honor of ” Poem in Your Pocket Day ” and “The Envelope Project.” Inspired by the first line of Emily Dickinson’s “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers, Bloomberg could be the city’s next Walt Whitman! Or not. See for yourself: “Hope” NYC By Mike Bloomberg “Hope” is the thing with feathers That makes our City soar It will take us to the future As it’s carried us before Hope is the thing with feathers That travels all our streets It sings in every language It sometimes even tweets And though we may not see it It perches everywhere In new shops and small businesses In every schoolroom chair It could be our famous pigeon Or fabled red-tailed hawk Hope is the thing with feathers That flies throughout New YAWK

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Europe Economic Confidence Improves to Two-Year High

April 29, 2010

By Simone Meier April 29 (Bloomberg) — European confidence in the economic outlook improved to the highest in more than two years and German unemployment plunged amid signs the euro-area recovery is strengthening even as Greece’s fiscal crisis spreads across the region. An index of executive and consumer sentiment in the 16 euro nations rose to 100.6 in April from a revised 97.9 in March, the European Commission in Brussels said today. That exceeded the 99.4 median estimate of 24 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. In Germany, the region’s largest economy, unemployment fell 68,000 to 3.29 million in April, almost seven times more than economists had forecast . Accelerating global economic growth is bolstering confidence and boosting sales at European companies including Siemens AG, Europe’s largest engineering company. Still, Greece’s budget crisis is already threatening to undermine the recovery. Stocks and bonds in Europe plunged this week after Standard & Poor’s downgraded Spain and Portugal. The increase in sentiment “contrasts sharply with growing concern that the Greek crisis may be spreading,” said Martin van Vliet , an economist at ING Group in Amsterdam. Second- quarter economic “growth may turn out to be quite flattering, but with the Greek debt crisis showing signs of spreading, recovery prospects thereafter look increasingly uncertain.” ‘Multi-Year Headache’ Investor concern about a European fiscal crisis has pushed the euro down about 11 percent against the dollar in the past six months, making it the worst performer among its 16 most- traded peers. The single currency traded at $1.3274 at 11:06 a.m. in London, up 0.4 percent on the day. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index reversed losses after the confidence report, increasing 1 percent. Greece will be a “multi-year headache for the euro region,” said Marco Annunziata , chief economist at UniCredit Group in London. “If contagion became systemic, it would deal a potentially crippling blow to the euro-region growth outlook.” S&P this week downgraded Greece’s credit rating to junk, days after the nation called for activation of a financial lifeline of as much as 45 billion euros ($59.7 billion) following a surge in its borrowing costs. S&P cut Spain’s credit rating to AA yesterday, a day after paring Portugal’s to A-. Aid Package The Greek aid package “doesn’t ease my fears,” said Rossa White , chief economist at Davy Stockbrokers in Dublin. “I’d certainly like to see a much clearer plan how they’re going to tackle their finances. I’d like to see concrete measures.” The extra yield that investors demand to hold Greek 10-year bonds over German bunds was at 586 basis points today, after surpassing 800 basis points yesterday. The premium on Portuguese bonds rose to 277 points this week, the most since 1997. The spread on Spanish debt widened to the most in more than a year. An index of confidence in Greece fell to the lowest in 11 months, the commission report showed, while a gauge for Portugal slipped after improving for five straight months. Sentiment in Spain improved for a seventh month. The commission’s survey was conducted before the April 11 agreement by euro-area nations to offer the support mechanism for Greece. Manufacturers The commission’s gauge measuring confidence among manufacturers rose to minus 7 in April from minus 10 in the previous month and an indicator for consumer optimism increased to minus 15 from minus 17. European companies may rely on an export-led recovery to help bolster sales this year as consumers hold back spending. Global economic growth will probably accelerate to 4.2 percent this year, the fastest pace since 2007, the Washington-based International Monetary Fund forecast on April 21. Emerging economies including China and India will lead the recovery, expanding 6.3 percent in 2010, the fund said. Munich-based Siemens today raised its full-year earnings forecast as cost cuts and improving demand helps profit. Norbert Reithofer , chief executive officer of Bayerische Motoren Werke AG , said on April 23 that the company expects full-year sales in China to beat its previous forecast. Manufacturers’ capacity utilization rose to 75.5 percent in the second quarter from 72.3 percent in the previous three months, the commission said today. That’s the highest since the fourth quarter of 2008. Companies also grew more optimistic about the order outlook and employment prospects . Capacity Utilization The decline in German jobless in April lowered the country’s unemployment rate to 7.8 percent from 8 percent in March. European unemployment probably remained at 10 percent in March, according to a Bloomberg survey. That’s the highest since August 1998. The European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg will release the jobless report tomorrow at 11 a.m. Consumers are already growing less optimistic that a recovery will feed into the labor market. A gauge measuring households’ expectations of euro-region unemployment over the next 12 months fell to 36 from 46 in March. An indicator of consumers’ price expectations over the next 12 months rose to 8 from 4 in March, today’s report showed. “Challenges remain great,” said Volker Kronseder , CEO of Krones AG , a German maker of bottling and packaging equipment, on April 27. “We are doing everything we can to further strengthen the company, including cost-cutting measures.” To contact the reporter on this story: Simone Meier in Dublin at smeier@bloombert.net

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Senate Opens Debate on Financial-Overhaul Bill, Including Derivative Rules

April 29, 2010

By Alison Vekshin and Phil Mattingly April 29 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Senate began debate on Democrats’ financial-overhaul bill today, including a provision to create the first formal regulatory structure for the $605 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market. Senate Republicans agreed yesterday to let debate begin on the legislation, which is based on a proposal from President Barack Obama and is aimed at strengthening oversight of Wall Street in response to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. “The status quo, as we all know, is unacceptable,” Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd , a Connecticut Democrat who offered the legislation, said today as debate began. “We cannot leave the American people vulnerable to the present construct of our financial regulatory system.” Republicans decided to allow debate after Democrats agreed to change a section of the bill aimed at preventing future bailouts of Wall Street banks similar to the $700 billion bailout Congress approved in 2008 for firms including Citigroup Inc. and American International Group Inc. Earlier this week, Republicans blocked Democrats from starting debate on the measure in three procedural votes. At issue is a provision that would give the government new power to take apart failing financial firms whose collapse would shake the economy. It would create a $50 billion industry- supported fund that regulators would use to pay the cost of dissolving a firm. Republicans say the language contains loopholes that wouldn’t end bailouts. No Taxpayer Funds Dodd acknowledged the concern and said the Senate would consider an amendment offered by Senator Barbara Boxer , a California Democrat, to require that no taxpayer funds be used to disassemble a failed company. “My goal during consideration of this legislation will be to reshape this bill so that it actually ends bailouts, protects consumers without jeopardizing our small-community banks and brings transparency to the world of derivatives,” said Alabama Senator Richard Shelby , the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, which approved the bill last month on a party-line vote. Shelby, who yesterday broke off talks with Dodd that had been aimed at crafting a bipartisan compromise, said he would “seek to remove dozens of provisions that unnecessarily expand the reach of the federal government into the private affairs of Americans.” Consumer Protection The legislation would create a consumer financial protection bureau at the Federal Reserve and a council of regulators to monitor the economy for systemic risk. It would strengthen oversight of hedge funds and ban proprietary trading at U.S. banks. Democratic Senators Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Ted Kaufman of Delaware introduced an amendment aimed at keeping banks from becoming so big that their collapse could harm the financial system. The amendment would limit the size of banks by imposing a 10 percent cap on a bank holding company’s share of U.S. insured deposits and set a 6 percent leverage limit for those firms and some nonbank financial firms. To contact the reporters on this story: Alison Vekshin in Washington at avekshin@bloomberg.net ; Phil Mattingly in Washington at pmattingly@bloomberg.net

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Coast Guard Partly Limits Mississippi River Vessel Traffic Amid Gulf Spill

April 29, 2010

By Moming Zhou and Leela Landress April 29 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Coast Guard has partly restricted traffic in and out of the Mississippi River following the massive BP Plc oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, though the main entrance to the river is still open. Ships were ordered to slow down in three of the four lanes connecting to the river to prevent disturbance of a boomed-off safety area around the oil spill, according to a bulletin issued by the Coast Guard yesterday. Traffic through the main deepwater channel, the Southwest Pass, is not restricted. “We hope the slick will stay to the east of the pass and we are hopeful that they can contain it,” said Pat Gallwey, chief operating officer of the Port of New Orleans, which handles as many as 2,000 vessels a year. The boomed-off safety area is in the vicinity of the river’s three entrances, the South Pass, the Southeast Pass, and the Pass a Loutre. “Vessels shall transit this area at a slow bell to assist in maintaining a no wake zone,” according to the bulletin. “The Coast Guard is not currently anticipating placing restrictions on traffic coming into or out of the Mississippi River through Southwest Pass.” Coast Guard Captain Edward Stanton, the captain of the port, has the “sole authority” to open and close the river, Thomas Blue, a Coast Guard spokesman, said by phone today. As of this morning, ships were moving normally through the Southeast Pass, said Brian McMichael, a Venice, Louisiana-based dispatcher at the Associated Branch Pilots, which guides ships at the mouth of the river. 5,000 Barrels The Coast Guard said today the damaged BP oil well is leaking about 5,000 barrels a day, five times more than previously estimated. The leak would fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool in about three days. The growing slick is drifting toward the U.S. coastline and may reach the Mississippi delta area by tomorrow. The Coast Guard has plans to stop the slick from reaching Port Fourchon, a facility about 50 miles west of the mouth of the Mississippi, said Jon Callais, chief of police at the port. “If the oil were to come and block the entrance of the port, you cannot run ships through it,” he said in a telephone interview. In that case, “the port will essentially be shut down.” U.S. grain exports are shipped via the Mississippi and tankers take oil to and from refineries next to the river. The largest U.S. crude oil import facility, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, or LOOP, hasn’t been affected, said Barb Hesterman n, a spokeswoman for the facility. To contact the reporters on this story: Moming Zhou in New York at mzhou29@bloomberg.net ; Leela Landress in Houston at llandress@bloomberg.net

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Dendreon Advances the Most in Year After Winning Approval for Cancer Drug

April 29, 2010

By Catherine Larkin April 29 (Bloomberg) — Dendreon Corp. won approval for its first product, a vaccine to fight prostate cancer, after a three-year battle with U.S. regulators. The Food and Drug Administration cleared sales of the medicine, called Provenge, Shelly Burgess, a spokeswoman for the agency, said today in a telephone interview. Dendreon, of Seattle, submitted its application with the FDA in November 2006 and, after winning the backing of an advisory panel in 2007, was required to conduct another study to prove the drug worked. Provenge will be the first medicine to train the body’s immune system to attack cancer cells like a virus. More than 27,000 men die of prostate cancer each year in the U.S., according to American Cancer Society . Provenge may bring in $4.3 billion in annual sales by 2020, according George Farmer , an analyst with Canaccord Adams Inc. in New York. “Demand will be very high given the simplicity and convenience of administration combined with the extremely benign safety profile,” Farmer said in a research report today before the FDA’s decision was announced. Katherine Stueland , a spokeswoman for Dendreon, didn’t immediately return a telephone call for comment. Dendreon gained $5.88, or 15 percent, to $45.50 in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading before shares were halted. Before today, the shares had gained 51 percent so far this year as investors looked ahead to the FDA decision, scheduled for May 1. Stock Volatility The historic volatility of the stock attracts traders and short sellers who seek short-term profits. Hedge funds own 27 percent of Dendreon shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Provenge helped men whose prostate cancer had spread to other organs live four months longer in the 512-patient study released by the company in April 2009. The company had initially applied for approval based on an earlier study of 127 men that showed the drug improved survival and a second study of 98 men that failed to show a statistically significant benefit. The therapy involves extracting white blood cells from a patient, mixing them with vaccine components and injecting the combination back into the person. It is designed to be given earlier in treatment of the cancer and pose fewer side effects than chemotherapy. The FDA’s refusal to approve the drug in May 2007 based on the original data — even after the agency’s outside advisers voted 13-4 that it was “substantially effective” — sparked protests by patients and threats of a congressional probe. Sales Plans Dendreon Chief Executive Officer Mitchell Gold said Feb. 9 that the company will have three plants to make Provenge by mid- 2011 and 125 sales representatives. Production will be at full capacity within one year of approval, he said. Questions about manufacturing logistics and Dendreon’s ability to meet demand for Provenge have resulted in varying estimates for potential sales of the product. The drug will generate $1.2 billion by 2014, according to the average estimate of four estimates surveyed by Bloomberg. That year, Farmer projected Provenge would cost about $94,000 for each patient treated with a full course of the medicine. Provenge can generate $3.1 billion in 2014, he said. At least a dozen additional products that harness the immune system to battle tumors are in late-stage development and Provenge approval “would be an important validation to the field,” said Janice Reichert , a senior research fellow at the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development in Boston. “Provenge will certainly be a pioneer in that area,” Reichert said in an April 21 phone interview. “The experience will definitely inform the clinical development programs of other companies and other products.” The most advanced of these vaccines include Stimuvax from Merck KGaA in Darmstadt, Germany, and Oncothyreon Inc. in Seattle; ipilimumab from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in New York; and TroVax from Oxford BioMedica Plc in Oxford, United Kingdom. To contact the reporter on this story: Catherine Larkin in Washington at clarkin4@bloomberg.net .

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BP, Halliburton, Transocean Slump on Concern Gulf Spill Costs to Escalate

April 29, 2010

By Rita Nazareth and David Wethe April 29 (Bloomberg) — BP Plc , Halliburton Co. and Transocean Ltd. slumped on investor concern about the costs of containing a worsening oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. U.S. shares of BP, which vies with Royal Dutch Shell Plc for the title of Europe’s biggest oil company, fell as much as 9.4 percent, the biggest drop since December 2008. BP slumped 8.4 percent to $52.55 at 2:07 p.m. in New York. Halliburton , the world’s second-largest oilfield contractor, sank 6 percent to $31.35. Transocean, world’s largest offshore oil driller, declined 6 percent to $80.10. “The shares are taking a big hit because there’s no clarity about what’s going to happen,” said Frank Ingarra , a Stamford, Connecticut-based money manager at Hennessy Advisors Inc., which oversees about $1 billion. “We have no idea about how big the impact on earnings is going to be. In addition to that, the big picture issue is — how will all that affect President Obama’s wanting to go forward with offshore drilling? Does that affect our energy policy? We don’t know.” The U.S. Coast Guard said today a damaged BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico is leaking about 5,000 barrels a day, five times more than previously estimated. At that rate the spill will exceed the Alaska’s Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989 by the third week of June. The growing slick is drifting toward the U.S. coastline. $6 Million a Day BP said today it is spending $6 million a day to contain the spill and secure the well. It told analysts April 27 on a conference call the relief well it’s drilling will cost about $100 million. The spill may cost the insurance industry as much as $1.5 billion in claims, according to Transatlantic Holdings Inc . Transatlantic, the reinsurer divested by American International Group Inc., said its own costs from the spill may be less than $15 million, according to the company’s earnings conference call held earlier today. BP, responsible under U.S. law for the costs of stopping and cleaning up the spill, hasn’t been able to shut the well, which started spewing crude last week after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and sank off Louisiana. The Deepwater was drilling in about 5,000 feet of water to a total depth of about 18,000 feet. BP will bear the costs associated with an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that the government has declared an event of “national significance,” the Obama administration said today. Halliburton, the world’s largest oilfield-services provider behind Schlumberger Ltd., said it provided a variety of oilfield services to the rig that sank. The company is assisting in the investigation, Cathy Mann , a Halliburton spokeswoman, said today in an e-mail. Cameron International Corp. , the second-largest U.S. maker of oilfield equipment, tumbled 12 percent to $39, and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. dropped 2.8 percent to $68.21. Cameron’s gear has been used on the Deepwater Horizon rig, which was built in 2001 to operate in seas as deep as 8,000 feet, since the vessel was commissioned, Scott Amann , a company spokesman, said yesterday in a telephone interview. Anadarko is a 25 percent non-operating partner in the well. A company representative couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. To contact the reporters on this story: Rita Nazareth in New York at rnazareth@bloomberg.net ; David Wethe in Houston at dwethe@bloomberg.net .

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Papandreou Makes Austerity Pitch as Unions Slam Cuts Tied to Bailout Plan

April 29, 2010

By Maria Petrakis and Natalie Weeks April 29 (Bloomberg) — Prime Minister George Papandreou is starting his sales pitch to the Greek people as unions denounce as “unjust” budget cuts linked to a potential $159 billion European Union bailout. “We find ourselves before the most savage, unprovoked and unjust attack,” said Spyros Papaspyros , head of the ADEDY civil servants union, after meeting Papandreou in Athens today. “The answer will be given in the street.” Greek officials will conclude talks with the EU and the International Monetary Fund in the next days as signs of agreement ended a bond market selloff that cascaded through the euro region this week. Measures may include a three-year wage freeze for public workers and cutting two of the 14 salary payments that they receive annually, the ADEDY union said. Greece’s NET Radio said cuts may amount to 10 percentage points of gross domestic product, equivalent to around 24 billion euros ($32 billion). The deficit was 13.6 percent of GDP in 2009. Retailers said today they’ll shut their stores on May 5, joining a strike organized by the GSEE union, the country’s largest. “It’s a tall order to assume that Greeks will be convinced because for years they have been used to getting a different type of treatment from their governments,” said Michael Massourakis , chief economist at Alpha Bank, the country’s third largest, in a telephone interview. “Papandreou doesn’t have the luxury of choosing the context or pace of the adjustment.” Breathing Space Other proposals include increasing sales tax and raising the cap on the number of workers who can be fired to 4 percent from 2 percent, Kathimerini newspaper said today, without citing anyone. “We will do what is needed for the salvation of the country,” Papandreou said, according to the e-mailed transcript of his comments to union and business representatives today. It didn’t give details of the austeriry measures. The yield on the Greek 10-year government bond, which surged to 11.406 percent yesterday after Standard & Poor’s cut its credit rating to junk, fell 91 basis points to 9.04 percent today as officials speed up efforts to finalize a rescue package. The ASE benchmark general index , which has lost nearly a fifth of its value this year, jumped 7 percent today, the most since December. National Bank of Greece SA soared 18 percent. “The financial support will give Greece sufficient breathing space from pressures of financial markets,” EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn told reporters in Brussels today. ‘Tough Package’ Papandreou is stuck between investors, who want faster deficit cuts, and voters and unions, who are already chafing from existing austerity measures. Elected in October on pledges to raise wages for public workers, Papandreou has been forced to cut salaries, curb spending and raise taxes to reduce a deficit that was more than four times the EU’s limit last year. “We were and are the champions of change,” Papandreou said yesterday. “We know we must put our economy in order if we are to survive.” The time has come to move on from “watching the spreads go up and down, usually more up than down.” “I got a taste of a very tough package,’’ Yannis Panagopoulos, head of the GSEE union, said after meeting Papandreou. He described it as “arbitrary and unjust.” Voters’ anger has been partly focused on the IMF and the political risks facing Papandreou are highlighted by the IMF’s most recent involvement in Europe. Pension Cuts In Hungary, the first EU member to turn to the Washington- based lender, voters this month ousted the ruling Socialist party two years after they accepted a bailout. Fiscal conditions attached to the $27 billion loan exacerbated the country’s recession as unemployment soared to a record, souring support for the government. Sixty-five percent of Greek voters polled by researcher Alco for the Proto Thema newspaper last week said Papandreou must reject any measures that lead to more wage and pension cuts. Europe’s fiscal crisis worsened this week after Germany’s reluctance to approve emergency funds sparked a drop in Greek bonds and S&P followed its Greek downgrade with cuts of Portugal and Spain. Papandreou, who said last week that his country faces a “new Odyssey,” will now have to convince to voters that they don’t have a choice, said Alpha Bank’s Massourakis. Even after today’s bond market rally, Greece must pay 12.57 percent to borrow for two years. Germany pays 0.79 percent. “It’ll be difficult, but at end of the day people will realize that these are necessary because the country doesn’t have access to borrowing any more,” he said. To contact the reporters on this story: Maria Petrakis in Athens at mpetrakis@bloomberg.net Natalie Weeks in Athens at nweeks2@bloomberg.net .

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U.S. Stocks Rally Most in Two Months on Earnings; Motorola, Starwood Gain

April 29, 2010

By Elizabeth Stanton April 29 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rallied, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to its biggest gain in almost two months, as better-than-estimated earnings at companies from Motorola Inc. to Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. showed the economy is strengthening. Motorola, the largest U.S. mobile-phone maker, advanced 3.2 percent after reporting an unexpected profit, and Starwood rose 5.4 percent. Palm Inc. surged 25 percent as Hewlett-Packard Co. agreed to buy the maker of Pre phones for about $1.2 billion. BP Plc, Transocean Ltd. and Cameron International Corp. plunged after the U.S. Coast Guard said an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico is leaking five times faster than previous estimates. The S&P 500 gained 1.2 percent to 1,205.27 at 3:25 p.m. in New York, its biggest advance since March 5. The main benchmark for American equities is within 1 percent of its 19-month high last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 120.24 points, or 1.1 percent, to 11,165.51. The gauges fell the most since February on April 27 as credit-rating downgrades of Greece and Portugal triggered a flight from risky assets. “Earnings season has been spectacular,” said Eric Green , senior money manager at Penn Capital Management in Philadelphia, which oversees about $5 billion. “The recovery has been stronger than most have expected.” Earnings Season Profit at companies in the S&P 500 surged 176 percent during the final three months of 2009, the most in Bloomberg data going back to 1998, and analysts estimate a 44 percent increase for the first quarter of 2010. Earnings estimates for companies in the index rose 9.1 percent on average in April, the largest monthly increase since at least 2006. Income for the first three months of this year is beating estimates at nearly the fastest rate ever, with 78.4 percent of the companies that have reported topping projections. That compares with 79.5 percent in the third quarter and 72.3 percent in the period before that. Companies reporting better-than-estimated results since yesterday’s close include Akamai Technologies Inc., Aetna Inc. and International Paper Co. The S&P 500 has rallied 78 percent from a 12-year low in March 2009 as earnings grew following a record nine-quarter slump and the Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate at a record low to safeguard the recovery from recession. The Fed yesterday reiterated its pledge to keep its benchmark rate near zero for an “extended period” even as the labor market shows signs of improvement. Jobless Benefits A Labor Department released before exchanges opened today showed the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits declined last week to a one-month low, a sign the economic rebound is lifting the labor market. European stocks also advanced, lifting the Stoxx Europe 600 Index from a six-week low, as the region’s leaders moved closer to approving a rescue plan for Greece. European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn today told reporters in Brussels that he is confident discussions on the aid package for Greece will conclude “in the next days.” Motorola gained 3.2 percent to $7.14 after posting first- quarter profit, excluding some items, of 2 cents a share. Analysts predicted a loss of 1 cent on average. The company’s forecast for second-quarter earnings beat analysts’ estimates, signaling demand for models like the Droid is helping to reverse a three-year sales slump. Starwood, Palm Starwood climbed 5.4 percent to $56.15. The owner of the St. Regis and W hotel brands said first-quarter profit surged fivefold as revenue exceeded the average analyst projection. Palm rallied 25 percent to $5.80 after agreeing to be bought by Hewlett-Packard for $5.70 a share. The deal puts Hewlett-Packard back in contention with the biggest smartphone makers, including Nokia Oyj, Apple Inc. and Research In Motion Ltd. Acquisitions are rebounding after takeovers of U.S. companies tumbled 83 percent from their 2007 peak to a six-year low of $89.2 billion in last year’s fourth quarter, according to Bloomberg data. Volume totaled $179.1 billion during the first quarter, and $71.1 billion of deals have been announced this month. BP, based in London, plunged 8.4 percent to $52.54 in U.S. trading. The company will have to pay the costs associated with an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after last week’s explosion of a well that is leaking as much as 5,000 barrels of crude a day, the Obama administration said today. Shrimpers Sue Transocean, which owns the oil rig, lost 6.9 percent to $79.01. Halliburton Co. retreated 7.2 percent to $30.96. Louisiana fishermen and shrimpers sued BP, Transocean and Halliburton on claims the oil spill will destroy the state’s fishing industry. Halliburton was responsible for capping the well, according to the lawsuit. Cameron International lost 13 percent to $38.67. Its gear has been used on the Deepwater Horizon rig since the vessel was commissioned, Scott Amann , a company spokesman, said in an interview. Baidu Inc., the operator of China’s biggest Internet search engine, rallied 14 percent to $711.23. First-quarter net income rose to 480.5 million yuan ($70.4 million) from 181.1 million yuan a year earlier. That exceeded the 364.6 million-yuan average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Akamai, the largest supplier of software and services to make Web sites load faster, rose 19 percent to $39.42. Aetna, the third-biggest U.S. health insurer, climbed 2.8 percent to $31.35. International Paper, the world’s largest maker of white paper used in offices, increased 4.1 percent to $28.30. ‘Exceptional Condition’ “Corporations are in exceptional condition,” said Carmine Grigoli , chief investment strategist at Mizuho Securities USA Inc. in New York. “Profitability is approaching levels last seen in 2007 at the peak of the profit cycle.” Education companies retreated following a report that Robert Shireman , the U.S. undersecretary for education, criticized the panels that evaluate for-profit colleges. Apollo Group Inc. fell 6 percent, Corinthian Colleges Inc. declined 5.4 percent and ITT Educational Services dropped 7.1 percent. Inside Higher Ed reported that Shireman compared the agencies that handle accreditation of for-profit colleges to credit-ratings firms, which he said played a role in the “flawed” regulatory process that allowed Wall Street firms to contribute to the financial crisis that began in 2007. To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Stanton in New York at estanton@bloomberg.net

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First California Names Chief Auditor and Risk Officer

April 29, 2010

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA–(Marketwire – April 29, 2010) –  First California Financial Group, Inc. ( NASDAQ : FCAL ) today announced the appointment of Bradley R. Brown as executive vice president, chief audit executive and chief risk officer of its wholly-owned subsidiary, First California Bank. Brown, 45, will oversee the audit, compliance, risk management and Bank Secrecy Act departments.

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Topaz Resources Announces Appointment of Industry Veterans as Senior Management

April 29, 2010

DENTON, TX–(Marketwire – April 29, 2010) – Topaz Resources, Inc. ( OTCBB : TOPZ ), an independent oil and gas company (“Topaz” or the “Company”), today announced that the Company’s Board of Directors has named Edward J. Munden, 59, as President and Chief Executive Officer and Robert P. Lindsay, 67, as Chief Operating Officer.

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InXpo Assembles Team of Industry Innovators to Prepare for Exponential Growth and Technology Innovation

April 29, 2010

Virtual Events Pioneer Experiences Over 30% Growth Year Over Year

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Send Word Now Announces Hiring of Two Regional Sales Managers, Adding Decades of Experience to West Coast Office

April 29, 2010

NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwire – April 29, 2010) –  Send Word Now, a worldwide provider of emergency notification and incident management services, announced today the hire of Kymberli Fieux and Jennifer Dunn McCrea as Regional Sales Managers. Fieux and McCrea will work to increase sales and growth for Send Word Now on the West Coast of the United States.

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More Than a Million May Lose Jobless Aid As Congress Seeks Spending Curbs

April 29, 2010

By Brian Faler April 29 (Bloomberg) — Since the U.S. recession began in December 2007, Congress has extended the duration of weekly unemployment benefits for the jobless three times. Now, the lawmakers may have reached their limit. They are quietly drawing the line at 99 weeks of aid, a mark that hundreds of thousands of Americans have already reached. In coming months, the number of those who will receive their final government check is projected to top 1 million. It’s a deadline that has rarely been mentioned in recent debates over jobless benefits , in which Republicans have delayed aid because of cost concerns. The deadline hasn’t been lost on Teauna Stephney, a 39-year-old single mother from Bothell, Washington, who said she could become homeless once her $407 weekly checks stop in June. “What are people like me supposed to do?” said Stephney, who said almost two years of benefits haven’t proved long enough for her to find work after she lost her last job in August 2008. Referring to lawmakers, she said, “I would like them to come and talk to me and spend a day in my shoes.” Democrats who have pushed through the past extensions agree there’s insufficient backing to go beyond 99 weeks, largely because of mounting concern over the federal deficit , projected to reach $1.5 trillion this year. “You can’t go on forever,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus , of Montana, whose panel oversees the benefits program. “I think 99 weeks is sufficient,” he said. “There’s just been no discussion to go beyond that,” said Senator Byron Dorgan , a North Dakota Democrat. ‘Damned If They Do’ Allowing the ranks of those who lose their aid to swell carries risks for Democrats in November’s elections. “They’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t,” said Stuart Rothenberg , publisher of the Rothenberg Political Report. Voters are “sensitive these days to spending and deficit issues and yet there are going to be people who need help, and if the administration ignores them, they’ll look rather callous.” Baucus said extension legislation would fail in the Senate because of both the deficit and the negative “atmospherics” of lengthening the weeks of aid into triple digits. “The best thing to do is get this economy turned around” to create jobs, said Baucus. Unemployment aid has become one of the federal budget’s fastest-growing components, with costs this year likely to reach $200 billion. That’s six times what was typically spent before the recession. Previous Extensions Since the recession began, aid extensions added 53 weeks of assistance to the 46 weeks that had been in place. About 11 million Americans, roughly 70 percent of the nation’s jobless, in March received unemployment checks averaging $320 per week. The challenge for lawmakers is that while benefits have reached record lengths, so has long-term unemployment. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , 44 percent of the jobless have been out of work for at least six months, the biggest share since the government began keeping track in 1948. About 3.4 million Americans have been out of work for more than a year, according to a study by the Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative . The states, not the federal government, track how many exhaust their unemployment benefits, said U.S. Labor Department spokesman Matthew Wald. State Figures Interviews with state officials found that in New York, 57,000 people have received their last check. In Florida, 130,000 are no longer eligible as are about 30,000 Ohioans. Those numbers will grow, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc ., which projects that more than 400,000 may soon begin losing benefits every month. “The political climate is not as conducive to additional expansions as it had been last year,” a Goldman analysis said. “The result is likely to be a greater share of unemployed workers not receiving unemployment compensation.” Democrats have struggled to pass legislation just to maintain current benefits over Republican objections about adding to the deficit. Benefits have been interrupted twice because of efforts by Republican Senators Jim Bunning , of Kentucky, and Tom Coburn , of Oklahoma. Some Republicans say cutting off aid will spur people to find work. “We have study after study that shows people are more anxious to get a job after they run out of benefits,” said Representative John Linder of Georgia, the top Republican on the Ways and Means subcommittee with jurisdiction over the unemployment program. “Continuing to extend this isn’t helping them or us.” Eligibility Issue President Barack Obama signed into law this month a measure extending until June the date by which individuals can qualify for 99 weeks of aid, a move designed to buy lawmakers time while negotiating a bill that would continue such eligibility through year’s end. That won’t help people like Stephney. And Representative Jim McDermott , a Washington Democrat who supports another extension of benefits, said there’s so little support for the idea that he hasn’t bothered to introduce legislation. “What happens to these families when they have no money for food, no money for their rent and no money for their health care?” said McDermott. “It’s a problem that nobody around here wants to talk about.” To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Faler in Washington at bfaler@bloomberg.net

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Health Insurers Say They’ll End Rescission Policy Dropping Sick Patients

April 29, 2010

By Drew Armstrong April 29 (Bloomberg) — Health-insurance customers won’t risk losing their coverage when they become sick under an industrywide ban beginning in May on the practice known as “rescissions.” WellPoint Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc. , the biggest U.S. health insurer by sales, said earlier this week they would no longer cancel customer policies without evidence of fraud or intentional misrepresentation. Companies will end the practice beginning in May, Karen Ignagni , chief executive officer of America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry’s lobbying group, said yesterday in a letter. The health law signed by President Obama in March would have required insurers to stop all rescissions in September. “Our community is committed to implementing the new standard in May 2010 to ensure that individuals and families will have greater peace of mind when purchasing coverage on their own,” Ignagni said. This is the second time in a month that health-insurance companies have opted to act before the law’s requirements and implement new regulations from the health care overhaul. Earlier in April, insurers announced that they would immediately begin a policy letting dependents under the age of 26 stay on their parents’ plans. White House Push The companies have done so partly at the prodding of Democrats in Congress and the Obama administration. On April 27, Democratic chairmen of three House health committees wrote a letter asking the insurers “to end any such abusive practices immediately.” The letter went to WellPoint, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, UnitedHealth Group, based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, Kaiser Permanente, based in Oakland, California, Assurant Inc. , based in New York, Humana Inc. , based in Louisville, Kentucky, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, based in Chicago, and Aetna Inc. , based in Hartford, Connecticut. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin , a Michigan Democrat, was one of the lawmakers who urged insurers to stop rescissions early. “There is a lesson to be learned here. These companies have seen the writing on the wall and decided to align their practices with the law of the land even before they are required to do so,” Levin said in a statement responding to insurers’ announcement. The White House applauded the move, as well. “It’s heartening to see that the insurance companies who employed these terrible practices — and fought reform — are coming around doing the right thing by instituting the ban right away,” Nancy-Ann DeParle , director of the White House Office of Health Reform, said in an e-mailed statement. “We’ll be watching closely and holding them to their word.” To contact the reporter on this story: Drew Armstrong in Washington at darmstrong17@bloomberg.net .

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Ford, Billionaire From S&L Crisis, Invests $500 Million in Pacific Capital

April 29, 2010

By Nikolaj Gammeltoft April 29 (Bloomberg) — Gerald J. Ford , who became a billionaire by purchasing distressed lenders during the savings and loan crisis, will inject $500 million into Pacific Capital Bancorp as the California company struggles to stanch losses. Ford’s affiliates will pay 20 cents each for shares of Pacific Capital, whose stock closed at $4.11 yesterday in Nasdaq Stock Market trading and plunged 57 percent today. Ford will control a 91 percent stake, the bank said in a statement. The offer was “the best alternative available to us to assure the company’s future,” Chairman Edward Birch said in the statement. The sale gives Ford, 65, a chance to increase the fortune he built during the 1980s and 1990s by acquiring distressed banks and turning them around. Ford led investors who transformed Golden State Bancorp Inc. into the second-largest U.S. thrift, which he sold to Citigroup Inc. in 2002 for $5.3 billion. Ford’s Future “We are pleased to have this opportunity to invest in a financial services franchise with such deep roots in attractive markets in California,” Ford said in the statement. His previous investments, including Golden State, have been concentrated in that state. The bank’s stock fell $1.98 to $2.13 at 9:59 a.m. New York time and sold for as little as $1.75. The shares topped $37 in January 2006. Ford will join Pacific Capital’s board of directors with Carl B. Webb , the former president of Golden State. Pacific Capital turned to Ford after the Santa Barbara, California-based bank hired investment bankers to explore “strategic alternatives. The company hasn’t posted a profit since the first quarter of 2008, and said today that it posted a $79.9 million first- quarter loss, or $1.71 a share, tied to residential and commercial real estate and construction loans. Terms of the deal call for Ford to buy 225 million shares at 20 cents each, and pay $1,000 each for 455,000 preferred shares that can convert to common. The U.S. Treasury Department would also have to agree to take a loss by swapping a stake valued at $180.6 million held by the Troubled Asset Relief Program for common shares at 20 cents each. Common shareholders would get a chance to buy more shares at that price in a rights offering. The Treasury would be left with a 7 percent stake and common shareholders with 2 percent, not counting the rights offering. Ford also demanded that investors in trust preferred securities and subordinated debt instruments swap some of their holdings for as little as 20 cents on the dollar. Earlier this week, Sterling Financial Corp., the Spokane, Washington-based lender that posted more than $1 billion of losses in two years, said that private-equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners LP agreed to inject $134.7 million. Lee also demanded that the Treasury swap its TARP stake. Andrew Williams , a spokesman for the Treasury, and Ford didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Ford’s History Ford, who isn’t related to the former U.S. president or founders of the U.S. auto-making empire, entered the banking business in 1975. He made his name in the last banking shakeout during the 1980s when he and billionaire Ronald Perelman acquired five debt-ridden thrifts, creating First Gibraltar Bank, and sold the franchise in 1992. With part of the proceeds, they purchased San Francisco-based First Nationwide Bank from Ford Motor Co. in 1994. Ford and Perelman transformed First Nationwide from a money-losing lender plagued by bad real estate loans into a profitable statewide thrift. They merged it with Golden State Bancorp in 1998, keeping the Golden State name to form the second-biggest U.S. savings and loan. Citigroup bought Golden State in 2002 for $5.3 billion, giving Ford more than 20 million Citigroup shares, which soared past $1 billion in value while climbing 38 percent the next year. Ford was spared much of Citigroup’s wreckage because of a plan to divest his stake if the shares fell below a certain price. Ford has said he was mostly out at $45 a share; Citigroup now sells at about $4.55. To contact the reporter on this story: Nikolaj Gammeltoft in New York at ngammeltoft@bloomberg.net

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Stocks, Oil Rise on Economy; Emerging Market Currencies Gain

April 29, 2010

By Rita Nazareth and Gavin Serkin April 29 (Bloomberg) — Stocks rallied the most in almost two months as companies from Motorola Inc. to Unilever NV posted better-than-estimated profit and European leaders moved closer to rescuing Greece. Higher-yielding currencies gained after the Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates at a record low. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 1.3 percent and the MSCI World Index of stocks in 23 developed nations gained 1.2 percent at 11 a.m. in New York, the most since March 5 for both. The ASE Index jumped 7.1 percent in Athens, the biggest rally this year, as the European Union said it’s close to agreeing on a bailout to prevent a Greek default. The extra yield investors demand to hold Greek 10-year bonds instead of benchmark German bunds narrowed 97 basis points to 596 basis points. South Africa’s rand rose 0.9 percent against the dollar, while oil and tin led gains in commodities. Investor confidence is recovering after almost three- quarters of companies in the MSCI World Index and S&P 500 that reported earnings topped analysts’ estimates. European confidence in the economic outlook improved to the highest in more than two years, while U.S. jobless claims fell to a one- month low and German unemployment plunged. Fed policy makers restated a pledge yesterday to keep interest rates near zero for an extended period even as the labor market begins to improve. ‘Great So Far’ “The earnings season has been great so far,” said Hayes Miller , a Boston-based money manager at Baring Asset Management Inc., which oversees $46.1 billion. “That’s a good indication for the economy. 2010 looks pretty solid right now. In Europe, things are still on the table.” The S&P 500 has recovered three-quarters of its 2.3 percent plunge on April 27 when S&P cut Greece’s credit rating to junk and lowered Portugal by two steps. With the first-quarter earnings season past the half-way point, S&P 500 companies have beaten analysts’ estimates by an average of 17 percent on a per- share basis, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Motorola, the largest U.S. mobile-phone maker, rallied 4.3 percent after forecasting second-quarter earnings that topped analysts’ estimates amid growing demand for models like the Droid. Aetna Inc. and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. were also among companies that climbed after reporting better- than-estimated earnings. Initial jobless claims fell by 11,000 to 448,000 in the week ended April 24, in line with the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and the lowest level in a month, Labor Department figures showed. The number of people receiving unemployment insurance and those getting extended payments decreased. Global Advance The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rallied 1.5 percent, with food and beverage companies leading gains. Unilever, the world’s second-largest food and detergent company, rallied 3.7 percent in Amsterdam after saying profit rose 33 percent. Pernod Ricard SA , the maker of Absolut vodka, climbed 2.9 percent in Paris after raising its forecast for full-year earnings. Siemens AG, Europe’s largest engineering company, advanced 1.7 percent in Frankfurt after profit topped estimates. The rand and Brazilian real rose at least 0.9 percent to lead gains among 14 of 16 major currencies against the dollar as investors bought currencies in countries with higher interest rates. Only the yen and Taiwanese dollar retreated. Brighter economic prospects in Asia and widening interest-rate differentials are likely to attract more capital, while bets for exchange-rate appreciation in the region may boost so-called carry trades, the IMF said in a report today. Euro Rebounds The euro strengthened 0.2 percent to $1.3249, after trading at $1.3115 yesterday, the lowest level in a year. Investors demanded an extra 5.96 percentage points in yield to buy Greece’s 10-year bonds rather than benchmark German bunds, after the difference in yield, or spread, widened to more than 8 percentage points yesterday. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou began trying to persuade labor unions to accept further austerity measures as the nation tried to qualify for a rescue package worth as much as 120 billion euros ($159 billion). German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday that the “stability of the euro zone” was at stake if a loan package for Greece can’t be delivered quickly. President Nicolas Sarkozy said France is “determined” to support the euro and Greece, while European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn today told reporters in Brussels that he is confident discussions on the aid package for Greece will conclude “in the next days.” Default Swaps The cost of insuring against default on European corporate bonds fell for the first time in four days. The Markit iTraxx Crossover Index of credit-default swaps on 50 mostly high-yield companies fell 18 basis points to 438 as of 3:02 p.m. in London, after yesterday climbing to the highest level since March 22, according to Markit Group Ltd. Contracts tied to Greece’s government debt dropped 97.5 basis points to 657, CMA DataVision prices show. Germany’s DAX Index jumped 1 percent as unemployment declined at the fastest pace in more than two years in April, the Nuremberg-based Federal Labor Agency said today. An index of executive and consumer sentiment in the 16 euro nations rose to 100.6 in April from a revised 97.9 in March, the European Commission in Brussels said today. Spanish 10-year bonds rose, cutting the yield by 6 basis points to 4.05 percent. The Italian 10-year bond yield fell 4 basis points to 4.06 percent even as the nation sold 8 billion euros ($11 billion) of securities due in 2012, 2017 and 2020. Tin for delivery in three months added 2.3 percent to $18,415 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange, the steepest advance since February. Aluminum gained 1 percent, while gold fluctuated and crude oil added 2.6 percent to $85.38 a barrel in New York. To contact the reporters for this story: Rita Nazareth in New York at rnazareth@bloomberg.net ; Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net .

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Gulf Coast Fishing, Tourism Imperiled as Oil Spill Approaches Coastline

April 29, 2010

By Aaron Kuriloff and Jim Polson April 29 (Bloomberg) — Billions of dollars generated by outdoor sports, commercial fishing and beach tourism along the Gulf of Mexico coast is at risk if crude oil leaking from a damaged offshore well washes aground. The oil spill off Louisiana’s coast from a well owned by BP Plc may threaten wildlife, and seafood production in a state known as “Sportsman’s Paradise,” as well as in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida or Texas, said Robert Shipp, chairman of the department of marine sciences at the University of South Alabama. “If this thing really gets to the coast, to those sugar- white beaches from Gulf Shores, Alabama to Panama City, Florida, that would be just a horrible disaster,” Shipp said in an interview. The magnitude of the problem for fish and wildlife depends on how long the well continues to leak oil and where and when it touches land, said Karen Foote, marine fisheries division administrator for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Yesterday, the U.S. Coast Guard said the well was leaking five times faster than it previously thought, spewing 5,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf. Shifting winds were expected to begin pushing oil ashore in Louisiana as soon as tomorrow evening, bringing tar balls and mousse-like globs of emulsified oil, Charlie Henry, the U.S. government’s lead forecaster for the spill, said April 27. The spill at that time was 16 miles off shore and 600 miles in circumference, or roughly twice the land area of Maryland. Foote said marshes may suffer long-term damage from the oil spill. The Louisiana coast includes 3 million acres of wetlands that serve as a nursery for game fish such as speckled trout and red drum, and are currently nurturing the brown shrimp crop to be harvested by the state’s fishing fleet. Biggest Producer Louisiana is the largest seafood producer in the lower 48 states, with annual retail sales of about $1.8 billion, according to state data. Recreational fishing generates about $1 billion in retail sales a year, according to the state. “Our marshes are nurseries and if those marshes are impacted, those juveniles that are dependent on feeding in those marshes will be affected too,” Foote said in an interview. “Ninety percent of the species you find in our waters are dependent on those marshes.” Those species include shrimp, oysters, crab, menhaden and gamefish that have made Louisiana a destination for seafood lovers, commercial harvesters and anglers, said Mark Schexnayder, regional coastal adviser for Louisiana State University’s Agricultural Center. The marshes also are home to 5 million migratory birds, along with alligators, turtles and other species. 15,000-Mile Coast “Depending on what happens in the next few days, this could have a relatively small impact on coastal Louisiana or significant long-term effects, including closed fishing areas, oiled wildlife and worse,” Schexnayder said. Louisiana’s marshy coastline extends 15,000 miles, according to its Department of Natural Resources. BP is trying to protect areas most sensitive to oiling, from the delta to Mobile Bay, Alabama, Doug Suttles , chief operating officer for exploration and production, said yesterday at a press conference. BP expanded placement of floating boom designed to block oil slicks to 100,000 feet (30 kilometers) today and has another 500,000 feet available, Suttles said. The company expects to clean some oil off the shore, he said. “It’s probably not possible to collect all the oil offshore,” Suttles said. Mike Voisin, who owns Motivatit Seafood in Houma, said significant quantities of oil reaching shore might force closures of oyster beds in some areas or hurt the shrimp harvest, which generates about $962 million in annual retail sales, according to the state. Coming Ashore With winds expected to blow the oil ashore in the next few days, “It’s beginning to be more of a concern,” Voisin said in a telephone interview. The well began leaking oil after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, owned by Geneva-based Transocean Ltd. , exploded and sank last week, killing 11 of the 126-member crew. The U.S. Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service and the Coast Guard are investigating the cause as they guide the cleanup. Louis Skrmetta, 54, captain of a ferry boat that carries tourists to Ship Island off the coast of Mississippi, fears a disaster. “This will be worse than hurricane Katrina,” he said. “Our business will be ruined.” Dwindling Anglers Damon McKnight, a fishing guide who operates three 30-foot boats in Venice near the mouth of the Mississippi River, said bookings are already down at his Super Strike Charters LLC. Since the spill, fewer anglers want to travel from Venice, Louisiana at the Mississippi River’s mouth to the Gulf of Mexico in pursuit of marlin or tuna. Saltwater sport fishing generates about $757 million in annual economic impact in Louisiana, while sustaining more than 7,700 jobs, according to the state. People already think the area is covered in oil, McKnight, who sits on the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, said in an interview. “Potential customers just aren’t going to call right this minute when they see what’s going on.” To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Kuriloff in New York at akuriloff@bloomberg.net ; Jim Polson in New York at 5293 or jpolson@bloomberg.net .

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BP Must Pay Costs of Oil Spill as U.S. Agencies Mobilize, White House Says

April 29, 2010

By Julianna Goldman April 29 (Bloomberg) — BP Plc will have to pay the costs associated with an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after last week’s explosion of a well that is leaking as much as 5,000 barrels of crude a day, the Obama administration said today. President Barack Obama has received several updates on the spill from the damaged BP well, which is now leaking at a rate five times more than previously estimated, White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said. Obama was updated at the beginning of his daily intelligence briefing this morning as well as last night aboard Air Force One. “As they’ve said since the incident occurred, BP as the responsible party is required to fund the cost of the response and cleanup operations and they are doing that,” Shapiro said. BP is required to cover the spill by law, according to the 1990 Oil Pollution Act, drafted after the Exxon Valdez spilled 260,000 barrels of oil in Alaska’s Prince William Sound in 1989. BP and federal officials have identified a third leak from the well and related piping, said Erik Swanson, a Coast Guard spokesman. The edge of the spill was 16 miles (26 kilometers) from Louisiana at 8 p.m. local time yesterday, David Mosley, a spokesman for the spill response command, said today. Shapiro said the administration is putting government resources into helping stem pollution and has asked BP to consult with the Department of Defense to determine whether it has technology for containing the spill that may “surpass the capabilities” of the private sector. Pollution The administration has activated the National Response Team and various government agencies to minimize the environmental impact. “The Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service and the Coast Guard continue to support the efforts of the responsible parties to secure the sources of pollution,” Shapiro said. “Until we are absolutely confident that there is no longer a threat of a continued release, we will carry on with fully mobilizing response resources and personnel to stop the flow of oil from the well and protect the environment.” BP shares fell as much as 4.1 percent in London, the lowest level in almost three months. BP dropped 25.3 pence to 599.7 pence at 3:12 p.m. local time. The stock has declined 8.5 percent since the April 20 explosion, valuing the London-based company at 112.5 billion pounds ($171.6 billion). To contact the reporter on this story: Julianna Goldman in Washington at jgoldman6@bloomberg.net

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Apple’s Jobs Deepens Adobe Rift With Letter on Flash Software `Drawbacks’

April 29, 2010

By Ville Heiskanen April 29 (Bloomberg) — Apple Inc.’s Steve Jobs wrote a rare, 29-paragraph open letter today, panning Adobe Systems Inc.’s Flash video software as having “major technical drawbacks” and deepening a rift between the companies. Apple has “few joint interests” with Adobe, the chief executive officer said in a post on Apple’s Web page today, citing six reasons he doesn’t want Flash for mobile devices. He called the program closed and proprietary, saying the decision to bar it from Apple’s devices is based on technology. Apple’s efforts to convince programmers to adopt other ways to get video to work on Web sites threatens Flash’s dominance. San Jose, California-based Adobe is fighting for the hearts of Web-site developers, many of whom view Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch and newly released iPad tablet as platforms they can’t ignore. HTML5, a standard Apple uses instead of Flash, is a “completely open” technology, said Jobs, 55. HTML5 lets Web developers create graphics and animations without relying on third-party browser plug-ins, such as Flash, he said. “Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind,” Jobs said. Representatives for Adobe didn’t immediately respond to a call seeking comment. Adobe highlighted the risks of exclusion from Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices for the first time in a regulatory filing this month, signaling the snub could hurt sales. More than 75 percent of online videos run on Flash, and the software is installed on about 98 percent of personal computers connected to the Internet, according to Adobe. Flash also runs on more than 800 million mobile phones, manufactured by 19 of the top 20 handset makers — all except Apple. Adobe shares dropped 58 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $34.89 at 10:34 a.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Apple rose $5.52 to $267.12. To contact the reporter on this story: Ville Heiskanen in New York at vheiskanen@bloomberg.net

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`Strategic’ Home-Mortgage Defaults in U.S. Reach 12%, Morgan Stanley Says

April 29, 2010

By Jody Shenn April 29 (Bloomberg) — Decisions by homeowners to walk away from mortgages they can afford are accounting for more defaults, according to Morgan Stanley. About 12 percent of all mortgage defaults in February were “strategic,” up from about 4 percent in the middle of 2007, New York-based Morgan Stanley analysts led by Vishwanath Tirupattur wrote in a report today. Borrowers with higher credit scores and larger loans are more likely to stop paying their mortgages even while staying current on other consumer debt of at least $10,000, the analysts wrote, based on analysis of data from Transunion LLC. Strategic defaults also increase based on how much more borrowers owe in housing debt than their homes are worth, they said. To contact the reporters on this story: Jody Shenn in New York at jshenn@bloomberg.net

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Stocks Rise Most in Two Months on Earnings; Dollar Declines on Fed Outlook

April 29, 2010

By Adam Haigh and Elizabeth Stanton April 29 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose for a second day after better-than-estimated earnings at companies from Motorola Inc. to Baidu Inc. showed the economic recovery is strengthening. Palm Inc. surged 25 percent after Hewlett-Packard Co. agreed to buy the maker of the Pre and Pixi phones for about $1.2 billion. Motorola Inc., the largest U.S. mobile-phone maker, gained 7.8 percent after reporting an unexpected profit. Baidu Inc. soared 15 percent as the operator of China’s most- popular search engine said profit more than doubled. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.7 percent to 1,199.44 as of 9:32 a.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.5 percent to 11,105.05. “Earnings season has been spectacular,” said Eric Green , senior portfolio manager at Penn Capital Management in Philadelphia, which oversees about $5 billion. “The recovery has been stronger than most have expected.” Profit for companies in the S&P 500 surged 176 percent during the final three months of 2009, the most in Bloomberg data going back to 1998, and analysts estimate a 44 percent increase for the first quarter of 2010. Earnings estimates for companies in the index rose 9.1 percent on average in April, the largest monthly increase since at least 2006. Beating Estimates Income for the first three months of this year is beating estimates at nearly the fastest rate ever, with 79.4 percent of the companies that have reported topping projections. That compares with 79.5 percent in the third quarter and 72.3 percent in the period before that. The S&P 500 has rallied 77 percent from a 12-year low in March 2009 as earnings returned to growth following a record nine-quarter slump and the Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate at a record low to safeguard the recovery from recession. Stock futures remained higher before trading opened after a report from the Labor Department showed the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits declined last week to a one-month low, a sign the economic rebound is lifting the labor market. Palm surged 25 percent to $5.77 after agreeing to be bought by Hewlett-Packard for $5.70 a share. The deal puts Hewlett- Packard back in contention with the biggest smartphone makers, including Nokia Oyj, Apple Inc. and Research In Motion Ltd. Motorola gained 7.8 percent to $7.46 after posting first- quarter profit, excluding some items, of 2 cents a share. Analysts had predicted a loss of 1 cent on average. The company’s forecast for second-quarter earnings beat analysts’ estimates, signaling demand for models like the Droid is helping to reverse a three-year sales slump. Baidu Gains Baidu rallied 15 percent to $714. First-quarter net income rose to 480.5 million yuan ($70.4 million) from 181.1 million yuan a year earlier. That exceeded the 364.6 million-yuan average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Illumina Inc. gained 9.4 percent to $41.18. The maker of DNA analysis equipment reported first-quarter profit of 21 cents a share excluding some items, topping the 19-cent average analyst estimate compiled by Bloomberg. First Solar Inc. advanced 14 percent to $145.54 after the largest manufacturer of thin-film solar power modules said first-quarter profit rose 4.7 percent on stronger demand and increased production. The company also raised its full-year profit forecast. To contact the reporters on this story: Adam Haigh in London at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net Elizabeth Stanton in New York at estanton@bloomberg.net

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Steve Christini Appointed to Electric Moto Corporation Advisory Board

April 29, 2010

NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwire – April 29, 2010) –  Electric Moto Corporation ( PINKSHEETS : EMOT ) announced today that it signed Steve Christini, of Christini Technologies, Philadelphia, PA to its Advisory Board. Mr. Christini has over 10 years of engineering and product design experience in the motorcycle industry and will assist Electric Moto in technology, product development, testing, marketing, sales, and serial manufacturing.

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Number of U.S. Unemployment Claims Declines to the Lowest Level in a Month

April 29, 2010

By Shobhana Chandra April 29 (Bloomberg) — Fewer Americans filed claims for unemployment benefits last week, a sign the economic rebound is lifting the labor market. Initial jobless claims fell by 11,000 to 448,000 in the week ended April 24, in line with the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and the lowest level in a month, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The number of people receiving unemployment insurance and those getting extended payments decreased. Firings are easing, and companies such as Caterpillar Inc. are adding staff, as sales improve from the U.S. to China. Gains in employment, by supporting consumer spending , make it more likely the economic expansion that began in the middle of last year will be sustained. “The labor market continues to heal slowly,” said Sal Guatieri , a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto, who had forecast claims would fall to 445,000. “We should see another gain in private-sector payrolls for April. Renewed hiring will help sustain consumer spending this year.” Stocks climbed as better-than-estimated earnings at companies from Motorola Inc. to Baidu Inc. showed the economic recovery was strengthening. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.9 percent to 1,201.68 at 9:46 a.m. in New York Median Forecast Jobless claims were projected to drop to 445,000 from 456,000 initially reported for the prior week, according to the median forecast of 47 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Estimates ranged from 430,000 to 460,000. The four-week moving average of initial claims, a less volatile measure than the weekly figures, rose to 462,500 last week from 461,000. The inability of claims to drop much more is disappointing some economists projecting payrolls in world’s largest economy will accelerate. “We ultimately need to see claims break 400,000 to the downside to be comfortable that the large job gains we are forecasting are sustainable,” Joseph LaVorgna , chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank Securities in New York, said in an e- mail to clients. The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits dropped by 18,000 in the week ended April 17 to 4.65 million. They were forecast to drop to 4.62 million. Benefit Rolls The continuing claims figure does not include the number of Americans receiving extended benefits under federal programs. Those who’ve used up their traditional benefits and are now collecting emergency and extended payments decreased by 91,000 to 5.4 million in the week ended April 10. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits, which tends to track the jobless rate , held at 3.6 percent in the week ended April 17. Ten states and territories reported an increase in claims, while 43 reported a decrease, led by New York and California, which reported fewer firings among service industries. These data are reported with a one-week lag. Initial jobless claims reflect weekly firings and tend to fall as job growth — measured by the monthly non-farm payrolls report — accelerates. Federal Reserve officials yesterday restated their intention to keep the benchmark interest rate near zero for an “extended period” and saw signs of life in the labor market. Fed Statement “The labor market is beginning to improve,” policy makers said in a statement. “Growth in household spending has picked up recently but remains constrained by high unemployment, modest income growth, lower housing wealth, and tight credit.” Factory managers foresee payrolls increasing 5.2 percent for the rest of the year, more than previously estimated, according to the Institute for Supply Management’s semiannual survey issued this week. Services providers, which account for almost 90 percent of the economy, project a 0.1 percent reduction in staff. Payrolls probably rose again in April following a gain of 162,000 in March that was the biggest in three years, according to the Bloomberg survey median. The unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent for a fourth month, economists in the survey projected. The Labor Department figures are due May 7. Caterpillar, the world’s largest maker of construction equipment, had its first earnings increase in seven quarters as demand rose, and said it will bring back at least 9,000 jobs this year of the 19,000 it cut globally in 2009. The Peoria, Illinois-based company has added about 1,500 workers since year- end because of higher production, including 600 in the U.S. “We enjoy hiring people and growing our business, and we’re delighted to see that opportunity coming back,” Chief Executive Officer Jim Owens said in a Bloomberg Television interview on April 26. To contact the reporters on this story: Shobhana Chandra in Washington schandra1@bloomberg.net

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BlackRock Joins Blackstone in Loan Fund Frenzy: Credit Markets

April 29, 2010

By Kristen Haunss April 29 (Bloomberg) — BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, and Blackstone Group LP’s GSO Capital Partners LP are forming mutual funds to invest in loans as the London interbank offered rate rises to the highest level since August. The firms have joined Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in announcing funds investing in leveraged loans pegged to short- term interest rates. Investors poured more than $2.5 billion into bank-loan mutual funds in March and the first three weeks of April, more than triple the amount for March and April last year, according to Lipper FMI data. The Federal Reserve will likely raise its target rate for overnight loans between banks to 0.75 percent by the end of this year, up from 0.25 percent, according to the median estimate of 67 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The S&P/LSTA U.S. Leveraged Loan 100 Index has returned 5.68 percent this year, building on last year’s record 52 percent as lending continues to open up. New money “will provide financing, which will help” mergers and acquisitions, said Tom Ewald , a New York-based money manager who runs the Invesco Floating Rate Fund at Invesco Ltd., which has about $11 billion of leveraged loans under management. “That is a positive for all markets and the economy.” Leveraged loans total $91.6 billion this year, more than four times the amount underwritten in the same period of 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The interest charge on leveraged loans is typically tied to Libor and as rates rise, the overall coupon increases. Three-month Libor reached 0.338 percent yesterday, the highest since Aug. 28, and up from a low of 0.249 percent on Feb. 4, according to Bloomberg data. ‘Natural Hedges’ “This is one asset class that should perform well when short-term rates start to rise,” said Jeff Bakalar , co-head of the senior loan group at ING Investment Management. “It is one of a few natural hedges available to retail investors.” Elsewhere in credit markets, the extra yield investors demand to own company debt instead of Treasuries rose 2 basis points to 149 basis points, or 1.49 percentage points, down from 176 at the end of 2009, Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Global Broad Market Corporate Index shows. Average yields rose 5.4 basis points to 3.95 percent. Ratings downgrades in Spain, Greece and Portugal led companies to pull European bond sales, while the Czech government said it was delaying its planned issue of euro- denominated notes. “We are waiting for better conditions,” Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Fuksa said in an interview in Prague yesterday. Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA , the biggest supermarket owner in Paris, withdrew initial yield guidance for its sale of 8 1/2- year euro-denominated notes for about a week, while U.K. rail and bus operator National Express Group Plc postponed its debut offering indefinitely, according to people familiar with the transactions. Sovereign Crisis “Concerns around Greece have spilled over into credit and brought issuance to next to nothing,” said Jeroen van den Broek , head of developed markets credit strategy at ING Groep NV in Amsterdam. Greece’s credit rating was slashed three steps to BB+ by Standard & Poor’s April 27, the first time a euro member has lost its investment-grade ranking. The agency downgraded Portugal two notches to A-, four steps above junk, the same day and yesterday cut Spain one level to AA, the third-highest rating. The cost of insuring the three countries’ debt fell from the record levels reached two days ago, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the International Monetary Fund pledged to step up efforts to overcome Greece’s fiscal crisis. Bondholder Protection Credit-default swaps on Greece dropped 89.5 basis points to 665 today, while contracts on Portugal declined 31 basis points to 302, according to CMA DataVision prices. Swaps on Spain fell 5 basis points to 182. In London, the Markit iTraxx Europe Index of 125 companies with investment-grade ratings fell 6 basis points to 92, according to Markit Group Ltd. The index typically rises as investor confidence deteriorates and falls as it improves. The Markit iTraxx Asia index of 50 investment-grade borrowers outside Japan dropped 6 basis points to 104.5, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc prices show. In the U.S., the Markit CDX North America Investment Grade Index, declined 4.6 basis points to a mid-price of 94 basis points yesterday. Credit-default swaps pay the buyer face value if a borrower fails to meet its obligations, less the value of the defaulted debt. A basis point equals $1,000 annually on a contract protecting $10 million of debt. Dubai International Dubai International Capital LLC got backing for a $685 million debt refinancing, boosting efforts to keep its Almatis alumina-making unit. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are preparing final term sheets and underwritten commitments for $350 million of senior secured notes and a $50 million revolving credit, Dubai International said in a letter yesterday to the company’s senior lenders. Blackstone’s GSO has agreed to arrange $185 million of senior subordinated securities and plans to manage the sale of another $100 million of senior secured debt for Frankfurt-based Almatis, the company said. Dubai International is challenging a plan by Oaktree Capital Management LLC, the biggest of Almatis’s senior lenders, to seize control of the German unit, which violated loan terms last year. The extra yield investors demand to own developing nations’ sovereign bonds over U.S. Treasuries declined 0.07 percentage point to 2.56 percentage points, according to JPMorgan’s EMBI+ Index. Brazil’s Borrowing Costs Brazil’s central bank became the first in Latin America in more than a year to raise borrowing costs, increasing its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points to 9.5 percent. Economists surveyed by the central bank expect the $1.6 trillion economy to grow 6 percent this year, the second-fastest pace in more than two decades, with inflation above the government’s 4.5 percent target in 2010 and 2011. Argentine bonds climbed a day after regulators in Italy, home to about a third of the $20 billion in defaulted bonds held out of a 2005 settlement, approved the South American nation’s plans to restructure the debt. The extra yield investors demand to own junk bonds instead of Treasuries fell to 5.51 percentage points yesterday from a peak of 21.82 percentage points in December 2008, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s U.S. High-Yield Master II index. Companies failing to exploit the recovery in bond and equity markets to pay down debt are making a mistake, Michael Milken , the junk-bond billionaire turned philanthropist, told an audience at the Milken Global Institute conference yesterday in Beverly Hills, California. Default Risks “Defaults were exaggerated, the risks were exaggerated,” Milken said of the recovery in high-yield bonds. “Those risks existed in mortgage-backed securities, but they didn’t exist in industrial companies, and that’s what the market is saying.” High-yield, or junk, bonds are ranked lower than Baa3 by Moody’s Investors Service and BBB- by S&P. Wall Street banks began taking bets on pools of jumbo- mortgage bonds as trading started yesterday on four new credit- default-swaps indexes. The PrimeX jumbo-mortgage bond indexes, administered by Markit, are similar to the ABX indexes tied to subprime debt that began in early 2006. Two of the PrimeX indexes are tied to fixed-rate loans and two track adjustable-rate mortgages. GSO is marketing a floating-rate fund, the firm’s first product for individual investors, in which 80 percent of its managed assets are senior loans rated below investment grade, according a prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 8. Heather Lucania , a Blackstone spokeswoman, declined to comment. BlackRock’s Fund BlackRock’s fund will most likely invest 80 percent of its assets in a mix of senior secured floating-rate loans and debt, second lien or other subordinated or unsecured floating-rate loans and fixed-rate loans, or debt in which the fund has entered into a derivatives contract to convert them into floating-rate payments, according to an April 14 regulatory filing. Goldman Sachs Asset Management LP has also filed a prospectus to be the investment adviser on a new loan mutual fund. Lauren Trengrove , a BlackRock spokeswoman, and Melissa Daly , of Goldman Sachs, declined to comment. New funds will “bring normal liquidity back to the market,” said ING’s Bakalar, whose group has more than $10 billion of loans under management, with about 25 percent of that in mutual funds. That will create demand for new loans from issuers that are strategic or private-equity driven, he said. “We’ll likely see more LBO and more M&A activity take place as a result.” To contact the reporter on this story: Kristen Haunss in New York at khaunss@bloomberg.net

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Roubini Says Rising Sovereign Debt Leads to Defaults

April 29, 2010

By Vivien Lou Chen and Gabrielle Coppola April 29 (Bloomberg) — Nouriel Roubini , the New York University professor who forecast the U.S. recession more than a year before it began, said sovereign debt from the U.S. to Japan and Greece will lead to higher inflation or government defaults. Almost $1 trillion of worldwide equity value was erased April 27 on concern that debt will spur defaults, derailing the global economy, data compiled by Bloomberg show. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the International Monetary Fund pledged to step up efforts to overcome the Greek fiscal crisis, after bonds and stocks fell across Europe in the past week. “The bond vigilantes are walking out on Greece, Spain, Portugal, the U.K. and Iceland,” Roubini, 52, said yesterday during a panel discussion on financial markets at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California. “Unfortunately in the U.S., the bond-market vigilantes are not walking out.” Credit-rating cuts on Greece, Portugal and Spain this week are spurring investors’ concern that the European deficit crisis is spreading and intensifying pressure on policy makers to widen a bailout package. Roubini’s remarks underscore statements by officials such as Dominique Strauss-Kahn , managing director of the IMF, that the global economy still faces risks. Sovereign Debt “The thing I worry about is the buildup of sovereign debt,” said Roubini, a former adviser to the U.S. Treasury and IMF consultant, who in August 2006 predicted a “painful” U.S. recession that came to fruition in December 2007. If the problem isn’t addressed, he said, nations will either fail to meet obligations or se faster inflation as officials “monetize” their debts, or print money to tackle the shortfalls. Roubini, who teaches at NYU’s Stern School of Business, told attendees at the Beverly Hilton hotel that “Greece is just the tip of the iceberg, or the canary in the coal mine for a much broader range of fiscal problems.” European bonds have plunged on concern about Greece’s ability to pay its debt, with Harvard University Professor Martin Feldstein and Templeton Asset Management Ltd.’s Mark Mobius saying a default may be needed. The yield on the Greek two-year bond rose close to 23 percent yesterday before slipping 153 basis points today. The euro, which dropped to the lowest in a year yesterday, rose 0.3 percent to $1.3255 at 11:01 a.m. in London. Plugging the Leak Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou will today meet the heads of the largest private and public-sector unions as well as representatives from the biggest employer group as Greek, EU and IMF officials put the final touches on a package that will allow the country to tap emergency loans. Greece’s budget deficit was 13.6 percent of gross domestic product in 2009, more than four times the limit allowed under European Union rules. “A default will help to plug the leak,” said Mobius , who oversees about $34 billion in emerging-market assets as executive chairman of Templeton Asset Management, in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Singapore today. “A bailout at this stage does not make sense to me.” Feldstein wrote in an article published on the Public Syndicate Web Site that the euro region and Greek bond holders will eventually have to accept that “the country is insolvent and cannot service its existing debt.” Greece “could eventually be forced to get out” of the 16- nation euro region, said Roubini in a Bloomberg Television interview yesterday. That would lead to a decline in the euro and make it “less of a liquid currency,” he said. While a smaller euro zone “makes sense,” he said, “it could be very messy.” Rebound The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.8 percent to 260.37 points today, rebounding from a six-week low yesterday after Standard & Poor’s downgraded Spain’s debt by one step to AA. Roubini, chairman and co-founder of Roubini Global Economics LLC in New York, said the U.S. probably will need a combination of increased tax revenue and lower government spending, while Europe needs to curb spending. “Eventually, the fiscal problems of the U.S. will also come to the fore,” Roubini said during the panel discussion. “The risk of something serious happening in the U.S. in the next two or three years is going to be significant” because there’s “no willingness in Washington to do anything” unless forced by the bond markets. Both he and Michael Milken , the founder of the Milken Institute, supported a carbon tax on gasoline, with Roubini saying it would reduce American dependence on oil from overseas, shrink the trade deficit and carbon emissions, and help pay down the U.S. budget deficit. Slimming Down Milken compared the excess debt of U.S. consumers, companies and government to the nation’s obesity problem, saying the “best solution” is to become more efficient instead of raising taxes or unnecessarily cutting expenditures. “If we could just get Americans to reduce their weight to the same as they weighed in 1991, we could save $1 trillion and the U.S. could create $1 trillion of value,” the junk-bond billionaire-turned-philanthropist said on the panel, moderated by Matt Winkler , editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News. Roubini, who predicted a bubble in U.S. housing prices months before the market peaked in 2006, said the U.S. invested too heavily in housing during the past 20 to 30 years, and that spending on education and technology would be more beneficial in the long run. Mixed Record Roubini’s forecasts haven’t all been accurate. When the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell to a 12-year low on March 9, 2009, he said it probably would drop to 600 or lower by the end of that year. Instead, the U.S. equity benchmark gained 65 percent. On Feb. 5, he said the index, then at 1,066, would be little changed for the rest of the year. The S&P 500 has gained 12 percent since then. Milken, 63, is the former high-yield bond chief from Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. who was indicted on 98 counts of racketeering and securities fraud in 1989, ultimately serving about two years after a plea bargain and sentence reduction. For the past decade, he has focused on philanthropy and running the research institute, which seeks ways to generate capital for people around the world. To contact the reporters on this story: Vivien Lou Chen in Los Angeles at vchen1@bloomberg.net ; Gabrielle Coppola in Los Angeles at gcoppola@bloomberg.net

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Siemens, GE Lured to Hydro Hub by Singapore’s Push to End Water Dependency

April 29, 2010

By Frederik Balfour April 29 (Bloomberg) — Singaporeans splash their way through 2 meters (6.5 feet) of rain each year on average, three times as much as Londoners. Yet the island nation’s economy depends on water imports from its rival, Malaysia. That reliance will ease May 3 when the country opens its newest of five water recycling facilities. The 50-million- gallon-a-day plant is a showcase for the expertise Singapore is using to tap a global market in water management — from treating sewage to desalination — that market consultants Frost & Sullivan say will more than triple to $1.38 trillion by 2020. General Electric Co. and Siemens AG are among companies that have invested in Singapore, lured by the government’s commitment to water treatment technology in the world’s fastest- growing region. Water companies are seeking to supply countries such as China and India, where increasing wealth means consumers each use more and compete for resources with the chip factories, refineries and farms needed to sustain economic growth. “A lot of our knowhow in water technology comes from our drive to be self-sufficient,” said Beh Swan Gin , chief executive officer of the Economic Development Board of Singapore, a government agency. While Paris-based Veolia Environnement and Compagnie de Suez and London’s Thames Water Holdings have worked on water technologies for decades, it is government support that gives Singapore’s industry an edge, said Melvin Leong, a Kuala Lumpur- based consultant at Frost & Sullivan. In the past three years, the city-state’s companies have won over 100 projects in more than 15 countries, valued at $5.6 billion, according to the Public Utilities Board of Singapore. Founding Father When Singapore was ejected from the Federation of Malaya in 1965, founding father Lee Kuan Yew set water self sufficiency as a national goal. The country cut Malaysian imports to 50 percent of its needs from 80 percent by building reservoirs, recycling waste and constructing desalination plants. Singapore will be able to recycle 30 percent of its water once the new plant is opened, the most among the world’s major cities, according to the International Water Association , an industry body. With no natural resources, the country of five million people evolved from low-wage manufacturer to Asia’s only economy whose debt is rated triple-A by Standard & Poor’s. It is home to the world’s largest container port and oil refining hub, and the region’s biggest bio-tech and private banking centers. To woo global water companies, the government is investing $240 million in research. Last year, the water division of GE opened a joint $108 million research lab with Singapore National University . It expects to double the number of scientists there to 70 by next year, said Kevin Cassidy, who heads the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company’s water business in the region. Talent Pool “We are taking advantage of the talent here and Singapore’s willingness to test technologies,” he said. Siemens opened a $33 million lab in 2007 that will be the Munich-based company’s biggest water research facility within two years. Almost $15 million in grants to help build the plant and find better desalination processes was instrumental in the choice of Singapore, said Ruediger Knauf, the facility’s chief. One company that may gain most from Singapore’s ambitions is Hyflux Ltd ., a maker of filtration membranes, which was founded on the island in 1989. Hyflux opened its own desalination plant, designed and built in 2005. In 2008, Hyflux outbid GE and others to win a $468 million contract to build and operate the world’s largest filter-based desalination plant in Mactaan, Algeria. Track Record “We have a track record in Singapore we can take everywhere else,” said Sam Ong, deputy chief executive officer. Hyflux’s net income rose 21 percent last year to S$75 million ($54 million). Its shares doubled to S$3.55, outpacing the 64 percent advance by the benchmark Straits Times Index. “Because of the experience Hyflux got in their home market they manage to export and have pretty strong results abroad,” said Arnaud Bisschop , who holds Hyflux stock among the $3.32 billion he manages at Pictet & Cie’s water fund in Geneva. The growing expertise is helping other local companies win contracts abroad. Keppel Corp., a government-linked company with interests ranging from shipbuilding to real estate, will open next year a $1.1 billion plant in Doha, Qatar, to treat municipal waste water that will be recycled for irrigation. Sembcorp Industries Ltd., also partly state-owned, is building a $1.7 billion water desalination facility in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. It is also building a $1 billion combined desalination and power plant in Oman, and is investing $206 million in water treatment projects in China. The company’s new $130 million water recycling plant in Singapore, Asia’s biggest, is built 200 feet underground so waste water can flow from 20 miles away without pumping. Inside the central hub, waste is fed into a labyrinth of pipes that can turn sewage into drinking water. “Singapore is the closest to the city of the future in terms of water sustainability,” said David Garman , president of the London-based International Water Association. To contact the reporter on this story: Frederik Balfour in Hong Kong at fbalfour@bloomberg.net

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Siemens, GE Lured to Hydro Hub by Singapore’s Push to End Water Dependency

April 29, 2010

By Frederik Balfour April 29 (Bloomberg) — Singaporeans splash their way through 2 meters (6.5 feet) of rain each year on average, three times as much as Londoners. Yet the island nation’s economy depends on water imports from its rival, Malaysia. That reliance will ease May 3 when the country opens its newest of five water recycling facilities. The 50-million- gallon-a-day plant is a showcase for the expertise Singapore is using to tap a global market in water management — from treating sewage to desalination — that market consultants Frost & Sullivan say will more than triple to $1.38 trillion by 2020. General Electric Co. and Siemens AG are among companies that have invested in Singapore, lured by the government’s commitment to water treatment technology in the world’s fastest- growing region. Water companies are seeking to supply countries such as China and India, where increasing wealth means consumers each use more and compete for resources with the chip factories, refineries and farms needed to sustain economic growth. “A lot of our knowhow in water technology comes from our drive to be self-sufficient,” said Beh Swan Gin , chief executive officer of the Economic Development Board of Singapore, a government agency. While Paris-based Veolia Environnement and Compagnie de Suez and London’s Thames Water Holdings have worked on water technologies for decades, it is government support that gives Singapore’s industry an edge, said Melvin Leong, a Kuala Lumpur- based consultant at Frost & Sullivan. In the past three years, the city-state’s companies have won over 100 projects in more than 15 countries, valued at $5.6 billion, according to the Public Utilities Board of Singapore. Founding Father When Singapore was ejected from the Federation of Malaya in 1965, founding father Lee Kuan Yew set water self sufficiency as a national goal. The country cut Malaysian imports to 50 percent of its needs from 80 percent by building reservoirs, recycling waste and constructing desalination plants. Singapore will be able to recycle 30 percent of its water once the new plant is opened, the most among the world’s major cities, according to the International Water Association , an industry body. With no natural resources, the country of five million people evolved from low-wage manufacturer to Asia’s only economy whose debt is rated triple-A by Standard & Poor’s. It is home to the world’s largest container port and oil refining hub, and the region’s biggest bio-tech and private banking centers. To woo global water companies, the government is investing $240 million in research. Last year, the water division of GE opened a joint $108 million research lab with Singapore National University . It expects to double the number of scientists there to 70 by next year, said Kevin Cassidy, who heads the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company’s water business in the region. Talent Pool “We are taking advantage of the talent here and Singapore’s willingness to test technologies,” he said. Siemens opened a $33 million lab in 2007 that will be the Munich-based company’s biggest water research facility within two years. Almost $15 million in grants to help build the plant and find better desalination processes was instrumental in the choice of Singapore, said Ruediger Knauf, the facility’s chief. One company that may gain most from Singapore’s ambitions is Hyflux Ltd ., a maker of filtration membranes, which was founded on the island in 1989. Hyflux opened its own desalination plant, designed and built in 2005. In 2008, Hyflux outbid GE and others to win a $468 million contract to build and operate the world’s largest filter-based desalination plant in Mactaan, Algeria. Track Record “We have a track record in Singapore we can take everywhere else,” said Sam Ong, deputy chief executive officer. Hyflux’s net income rose 21 percent last year to S$75 million ($54 million). Its shares doubled to S$3.55, outpacing the 64 percent advance by the benchmark Straits Times Index. “Because of the experience Hyflux got in their home market they manage to export and have pretty strong results abroad,” said Arnaud Bisschop , who holds Hyflux stock among the $3.32 billion he manages at Pictet & Cie’s water fund in Geneva. The growing expertise is helping other local companies win contracts abroad. Keppel Corp., a government-linked company with interests ranging from shipbuilding to real estate, will open next year a $1.1 billion plant in Doha, Qatar, to treat municipal waste water that will be recycled for irrigation. Sembcorp Industries Ltd., also partly state-owned, is building a $1.7 billion water desalination facility in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. It is also building a $1 billion combined desalination and power plant in Oman, and is investing $206 million in water treatment projects in China. The company’s new $130 million water recycling plant in Singapore, Asia’s biggest, is built 200 feet underground so waste water can flow from 20 miles away without pumping. Inside the central hub, waste is fed into a labyrinth of pipes that can turn sewage into drinking water. “Singapore is the closest to the city of the future in terms of water sustainability,” said David Garman , president of the London-based International Water Association. To contact the reporter on this story: Frederik Balfour in Hong Kong at fbalfour@bloomberg.net

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European Economic Confidence Rises to Highest Level in More Than Two Years

April 29, 2010

By Simone Meier April 29 (Bloomberg) — European confidence in the economic outlook improved to the highest in more than two years and German unemployment plunged amid signs the euro-area recovery is strengthening even as Greece’s fiscal crisis spreads across the region. An index of executive and consumer sentiment in the 16 euro nations rose to 100.6 in April from a revised 97.9 in March, the European Commission in Brussels said today. That exceeded the 99.4 median estimate of 24 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. In Germany, the region’s largest economy, unemployment fell 68,000 to 3.29 million in April, almost seven times more than economists had forecast . Accelerating global economic growth is bolstering confidence and boosting sales at European companies including Siemens AG, Europe’s largest engineering company. Still, Greece’s budget crisis is already threatening to undermine the recovery. Stocks and bonds in Europe plunged this week after Standard & Poor’s downgraded Spain and Portugal. The increase in sentiment “contrasts sharply with growing concern that the Greek crisis may be spreading,” said Martin van Vliet , an economist at ING Group in Amsterdam. Second- quarter economic “growth may turn out to be quite flattering, but with the Greek debt crisis showing signs of spreading, recovery prospects thereafter look increasingly uncertain.” ‘Multi-Year Headache’ Investor concern about a European fiscal crisis has pushed the euro down about 11 percent against the dollar in the past six months, making it the worst performer among its 16 most- traded peers. The single currency traded at $1.3274 at 11:06 a.m. in London, up 0.4 percent on the day. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index reversed losses after the confidence report, increasing 1 percent. Greece will be a “multi-year headache for the euro region,” said Marco Annunziata , chief economist at UniCredit Group in London. “If contagion became systemic, it would deal a potentially crippling blow to the euro-region growth outlook.” S&P this week downgraded Greece’s credit rating to junk, days after the nation called for activation of a financial lifeline of as much as 45 billion euros ($59.7 billion) following a surge in its borrowing costs. S&P cut Spain’s credit rating to AA yesterday, a day after paring Portugal’s to A-. Aid Package The Greek aid package “doesn’t ease my fears,” said Rossa White , chief economist at Davy Stockbrokers in Dublin. “I’d certainly like to see a much clearer plan how they’re going to tackle their finances. I’d like to see concrete measures.” The extra yield that investors demand to hold Greek 10-year bonds over German bunds was at 586 basis points today, after surpassing 800 basis points yesterday. The premium on Portuguese bonds rose to 277 points this week, the most since 1997. The spread on Spanish debt widened to the most in more than a year. An index of confidence in Greece fell to the lowest in 11 months, the commission report showed, while a gauge for Portugal slipped after improving for five straight months. Sentiment in Spain improved for a seventh month. The commission’s survey was conducted before the April 11 agreement by euro-area nations to offer the support mechanism for Greece. Manufacturers The commission’s gauge measuring confidence among manufacturers rose to minus 7 in April from minus 10 in the previous month and an indicator for consumer optimism increased to minus 15 from minus 17. European companies may rely on an export-led recovery to help bolster sales this year as consumers hold back spending. Global economic growth will probably accelerate to 4.2 percent this year, the fastest pace since 2007, the Washington-based International Monetary Fund forecast on April 21. Emerging economies including China and India will lead the recovery, expanding 6.3 percent in 2010, the fund said. Munich-based Siemens today raised its full-year earnings forecast as cost cuts and improving demand helps profit. Norbert Reithofer , chief executive officer of Bayerische Motoren Werke AG , said on April 23 that the company expects full-year sales in China to beat its previous forecast. Manufacturers’ capacity utilization rose to 75.5 percent in the second quarter from 72.3 percent in the previous three months, the commission said today. That’s the highest since the fourth quarter of 2008. Companies also grew more optimistic about the order outlook and employment prospects . Capacity Utilization The decline in German jobless in April lowered the country’s unemployment rate to 7.8 percent from 8 percent in March. European unemployment probably remained at 10 percent in March, according to a Bloomberg survey. That’s the highest since August 1998. The European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg will release the jobless report tomorrow at 11 a.m. Consumers are already growing less optimistic that a recovery will feed into the labor market. A gauge measuring households’ expectations of euro-region unemployment over the next 12 months fell to 36 from 46 in March. An indicator of consumers’ price expectations over the next 12 months rose to 8 from 4 in March, today’s report showed. “Challenges remain great,” said Volker Kronseder , CEO of Krones AG , a German maker of bottling and packaging equipment, on April 27. “We are doing everything we can to further strengthen the company, including cost-cutting measures.” To contact the reporter on this story: Simone Meier in Dublin at smeier@bloombert.net

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Exxon Profit Rises Less Than Estimated as Health Overhaul Increases Costs

April 29, 2010

By Joe Carroll April 29 (Bloomberg) — Exxon Mobil Corp. , the world’s largest company, posted a smaller gain in first-quarter profit than analysts estimated as health-care legislation increased costs and U.S. refineries operated at a loss. Net income rose 38 percent to $6.3 billion, or $1.33 a share, from $4.55 billion, or 92 cents, a year earlier, Irving, Texas-based Exxon said today in a statement. Per-share profit was 8 cents below the average of 16 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Exxon recorded a $200 million charge to reflect an increase in health-care costs driven by legislation that President Barack Obama signed into law last month. The company’s U.S. refineries lost more than $600,000 a day as gains in gasoline and diesel prices failed to keep pace with crude-oil costs. “The costs of health-care legislation are a hit every company is going to take in one shape or another,” said Gianna Bern , president of Brookshire Advisory & Research in Flossmoor, Illinois. “In refining, they’re taking it on the chin because crude is so expensive and demand for fuel is lackluster.” Exxon fell 70 cents, or 1 percent, to $68.49 at 9:33 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has 10 buy ratings from analysts, 10 holds and 1 sell. The profit increase was Exxon ’s first since the 2008 third quarter. The company benefited from a jump in oil prices and its biggest gain in first-quarter crude and natural-gas production since 2000. Revenue climbed 41 percent to $90.3 billion. Cash Stockpile Grows The company spent $2 billion on share buybacks during the first three months of the year and intends to maintain that pace of purchases during the current quarter, according to the statement. Exxon’s cash and cash equivalents rose by $3 billion during the January-to-March period, to $13.7 billion. Profit from oil and gas sales climbed 66 percent to $5.81 billion. Exxon was paid an average of $74.21 per barrel of crude sold outside the U.S., a 77 percent increase from a year earlier, according to data on the company’s Web site. Exxon increased production 4.5 percent to the equivalent of 4.36 million barrels of crude a day, led by higher gas output in the U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Gas from Exxon’s U.S. wells sold for $5.32 per thousand cubic feet, a 15 percent increase. Global oil demand increased enough to fill 83 supertankers after economies around the world emerged from recession, according to the International Energy Agency in Paris. Refining Margins Narrow Exxon’s worldwide refining profit tumbled 97 percent to $37 million as margins from processing crude into fuels such as gasoline and jet fuel in the U.S. evaporated. Chemicals earnings more than tripled to $1.25 billion. Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson plans $28 billion in capital spending this year to boost production with new wells from California to the Middle East and to upgrade refineries. Exxon also agreed in December to buy XTO Energy Inc., the largest U.S. gas producer, for more than $29 billion. Exxon plans to close the purchase of Fort Worth, Texas- based XTO by the end of June. The acquisition, Exxon’s largest since it bought the former Mobil Corp. in 1999, will give the company access to XTO’s gas reserves and its expertise in tapping rock formations impervious to conventional drilling techniques. Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, yesterday said its net income climbed 57 percent to $5.48 billion. BP Plc of London said April 27 that its first-quarter profit more than doubled to $6.08 billion. Earnings also more than doubled at ConocoPhillips and Occidental Petroleum Corp., the third- and fourth-largest U.S. oil companies by market value, which released their reports today. Chevron Corp. , the second-largest U.S. energy company, is scheduled to report earnings tomorrow. To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Carroll in Houston at jcarroll8@bloomberg.net .

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Texas Billionaire Gerald Ford Will Invest $500 Million in Pacific Capital

April 29, 2010

By Nikolaj Gammeltoft April 29 (Bloomberg) — Texas billionaire Gerald J. Ford agreed to invest $500 million in Pacific Capital Bancorp to help the Santa Barbara, California-based bank recapitalize. Ford’s SB Acquisition Company LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford Financial Fund LP, reached a deal with the bank to give existing shareholders the right to buy common stock in Pacific Capital at 20 cents a share, the same price as Ford’s investment, Pacific Capital said in a statement today. The shares closed at $4.11 yesterday on the Nasdaq Stock Market, and dropped to $1.44 today after the announcement. Ford, the 65-year-old former chairman and chief executive officer of Golden State Bancorp Inc., will join Pacific Capital’s board of directors with Carl B. Webb , a senior principal at Ford Financial and the former president of Golden State. Ford will own 91 percent of the company’s common stock after the transaction is completed, according to the statement. “We determined that the Ford investment is in the best interests of the company and its stakeholders, and represents the most attractive alternative available,” George Leis , the bank’s president and chief executive officer, said in the statement. Pacific Capital received $180.6 million from the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program to help it survive the worldwide credit crunch. The company said last July it was exploring “strategic alternatives.” Sterling Financial Corp., the Spokane, Washington-based lender that posted more than $1 billion of losses in two years, said earlier this week that private-equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners LP agreed to inject $134.7 million. To contact the reporter on this story: Nikolaj Gammeltoft in New York at ngammeltoft@bloomberg.net

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Pimco’s El-Erian Will Avoid Greek Debt Until Sustainable Solution Is Found

April 29, 2010

By Dave Liedtka April 29 (Bloomberg) — Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive and co-chief investment officer at Pacific Investment Management Co., said the firm wouldn’t buy Greece debt until there is a sustainable solution to the economic situation in the nation. El-Erian commented on Bloomberg Radio. The euro rose from near a one-year low against the dollar as the European Union neared the conclusion of talks to aid Greece and reports stoked optimism the region’s economy is improving. European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said the outcome of talks with Greece will be “a multi-annual program that will lead to major fiscal and structural adjustment,” with more details coming “soon.” Standard & Poor’s P this week downgraded Greece’s credit rating to junk, days after the nation called for activation of a financial rescue package of as much as 45 billion euros ($59.7 billion) following a surge in its borrowing costs. S&P cut Spain’s credit rating to AA yesterday, a day after paring Portugal’s rating to A-.

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Papandreou Starts Austerity Pitch to Greeks as EU Says Bailout Almost Done

April 29, 2010

By Maria Petrakis and Paul Tugwell April 29 (Bloomberg) — Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou began trying to persuade labor unions to accept further austerity measures as the European Union said it’s close to agreeing on a bailout that will stave off a default. As Papandreou started his pitch, Greek bonds jumped on optimism a package amounting to 120 billion euros ($159 billion) will help the government meet debt obligations over the next three years. “I got a taste of a very tough package,’’ Yannis Panagopoulos, head of Greece’s biggest union, said in comments broadcast on state-run NET Radio after meeting Papandreou. Panagopoulos, whose union will hold a general strike on May 5, described the measures as “arbitrary and unjust.” He didn’t give details on what they entail. Greek officials will conclude talks with the EU and International Monetary Fund in the next few days after a bond market rout pushed the country’s two-year borrowing costs to 24 percent. The crisis worsened this week after Standard & Poor’s cut Greece’s rating to junk and investors started to shun the bonds of other countries struggling to cut their deficits. As part of the agreement hammered out with the EU and the IMF, the government may cut two of the 14 monthly salaries paid to civil servants and increase value-added tax rates, Kathimerini newspaper reported, without citing anyone. Other plans include raising the cap on the number of workers who can be fired to 4 percent from 2 percent. Stock Rally Papandreou’s government was told to cut the budget deficit, which may have topped 14 percent last year, by 10 percentage points in 2010 and 2011, NET Radio said. The station didn’t say how it got the information. Bonds and stocks rallied after EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said he is confident aid discussions will conclude in a few days. Greek 10-year bond yields fell to as low as 8.9 percent from 9.8 percent. The ASE benchmark general index jumped 7 percent, the most since December. National Bank of Greece SA soared 16 percent. “The financial support will give Greece sufficient breathing space from pressures of financial markets,” Rehn told reporters in Brussels today. “This is done not only because of Greece but for every euro member state and its citizens to safeguard financial stability in Europe and globally.” Merkel Pledge German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday pledged to step up efforts to overcome the crisis after the euro fell to the lowest in a year and S&P followed its Greek cut with downgrades of Spain and Portugal. Officials from the EU, the European Central Bank and the IMF, dubbed the “troika” by the Greek press, are in Athens working out details of the loan package that would provide about 45 billion euros this year. IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told German parliamentary leaders yesterday that Greece may need as much as 120 billion euros over the three-year horizon of the deficit plan, German Green Party lawmaker Juergen Trittin said yesterday. Dimitris Daskalopoulos , the head of the Federation of Greek Industries, said the biggest employer group is prepared to support the government’s plans. “Our will is a given,” he said today after meeting with Papandreou. “Businesses can and will contribute. We can see better days.” Platform Papandreou is stuck between investors who want faster deficit cuts and voters and unions who are uncomfortable with further austerity measures. Elected in October on pledges to raise wages for public workers, Papandreou has been forced to cut salaries, curb spending and raise taxes to reduce a deficit that was more than four times the EU’s limit last year. That’s not enough for some investors. Borrowing costs for Greece, which has the second-highest debt ratio in the EU, have soared amid market concern that the country may default on its debt. The extra yield that investors demand to hold Greek 10- year bonds over German bunds exceeded 800 basis points this week. To contact the reporter on this story: Maria Petrakis in Athens at mpetrakis@bloomberg.net .

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Stocks Worldwide, Oil Rise on Earnings as Dollar Falls on Fed Rate Pledge

April 29, 2010

By Rita Nazareth and Gavin Serkin April 29 (Bloomberg) — Stocks rose as companies from Motorola Inc. to Unilever NV reported better-than-estimated earnings and European leaders moved closer to helping Greece. Higher-yielding currencies strengthened after the Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates at a record low. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.7 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 1.2 percent at 9:35 a.m. in New York. The ASE Index jumped 7.6 percent in Athens, the most since October 2008, as French President Nicolas Sarkozy said his nation is determined to help Greece. The extra yield investors demand to hold Greek 10-year bonds instead of benchmark German bunds narrowed 92 basis points to 601 basis points. South Africa’s rand rallied 0.9 percent against the dollar and crude oil and tin led gains in commodities. Investor confidence is recovering after almost three- quarters of companies in the MSCI World Index and S&P 500 that reported earnings topped analysts’ estimates. European confidence in the economic outlook improved to the highest in more than two years, while U.S. jobless claims fell to a one- month low and German unemployment plunged. Fed policy makers restated a pledge yesterday to keep interest rates near zero for an extended period even as the labor market begins to improve. “The Fed statement reassured people and nullified the impact of euro-area concerns,” said Brian Jackson , a senior emerging-markets strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Hong Kong. “It’s a case of the FOMC trumping Greece and Spain.” Earnings Season The S&P 500 has recovered more than half of its 2.3 percent plunge on April 27 when S&P cut Greece’s credit rating to junk and lowered Portugal by two steps. With the first-quarter earnings season past the half-way point, S&P 500 companies have beaten analysts’ estimates by an average of 20 percent on a per- share basis, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Motorola, the largest U.S. mobile-phone maker, rallied 4.1 percent after forecasting second-quarter earnings that topped analysts’ estimates amid growing demand for models like the Droid. Aetna Inc. and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. were also among companies that climbed after reporting better- than-estimated earnings. Initial jobless claims fell by 11,000 to 448,000 in the week ended April 24, in line with the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and the lowest level in a month, Labor Department figures showed. The number of people receiving unemployment insurance and those getting extended payments decreased. Global Advance The MSCI World Index of 23 developed nations’ stocks rose 0.59 percent. Food and beverage stocks led gains in Europe as Unilever, the world’s second-largest food and detergent company, rallied 3.9 percent in Amsterdam after saying profit rose 33 percent. Pernod Ricard SA , the maker of Absolut vodka, rallied 3.2 percent in Paris after raising its forecast for full-year earnings. Siemens AG, Europe’s largest engineering company, advanced 0.4 percent in Frankfurt after profit topped estimates. The rand and Brazilian real rose at least 0.6 percent to lead gains among 14 of 16 major currencies against the dollar as investors bought currencies in countries with higher interest rates. Brighter economic prospects in Asia and widening interest-rate differentials are likely to attract more capital, while bets for exchange-rate appreciation in the region may boost so-called carry trades, the IMF said in a report today. The euro strengthened 0.1 percent to $1.3229, after trading at $1.3115 yesterday, the lowest level in a year. Investors demanded an extra 6 percentage points in yield to buy Greece’s 10-year bonds rather than benchmark German bunds, after the difference in yield, or spread, widened to more than 8 percentage points yesterday. Fastest Pace German unemployment declined at the fastest pace in more than two years in April, the Nuremberg-based Federal Labor Agency said today. An index of executive and consumer sentiment in the 16 euro nations rose to 100.6 in April from a revised 97.9 in March, the European Commission in Brussels said today. Spanish 10-year bonds rose, cutting the yield by 7 basis points to 4.04 percent. The Italian 10-year bond yield fell 3 basis points to 4.07 percent even as the nation sold 8 billion euros ($11 billion) of securities due in 2012, 2017 and 2020. Tin for delivery in three months added 2.1 percent to $18,375 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange, the steepest advance since February. Aluminum also gained. Gold slipped 0.2 percent to $1,163.45 an ounce in London and crude oil added 1.8 percent to $84.68 a barrel in New York. To contact the reporters for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net .

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Stocks Worldwide, Oil Rise on Earnings as Dollar Falls on Fed Rate Pledge

April 29, 2010

By Rita Nazareth and Gavin Serkin April 29 (Bloomberg) — Stocks rose as companies from Motorola Inc. to Unilever NV reported better-than-estimated earnings and European leaders moved closer to helping Greece. Higher-yielding currencies strengthened after the Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates at a record low. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.7 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 1.2 percent at 9:35 a.m. in New York. The ASE Index jumped 7.6 percent in Athens, the most since October 2008, as French President Nicolas Sarkozy said his nation is determined to help Greece. The extra yield investors demand to hold Greek 10-year bonds instead of benchmark German bunds narrowed 92 basis points to 601 basis points. South Africa’s rand rallied 0.9 percent against the dollar and crude oil and tin led gains in commodities. Investor confidence is recovering after almost three- quarters of companies in the MSCI World Index and S&P 500 that reported earnings topped analysts’ estimates. European confidence in the economic outlook improved to the highest in more than two years, while U.S. jobless claims fell to a one- month low and German unemployment plunged. Fed policy makers restated a pledge yesterday to keep interest rates near zero for an extended period even as the labor market begins to improve. “The Fed statement reassured people and nullified the impact of euro-area concerns,” said Brian Jackson , a senior emerging-markets strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Hong Kong. “It’s a case of the FOMC trumping Greece and Spain.” Earnings Season The S&P 500 has recovered more than half of its 2.3 percent plunge on April 27 when S&P cut Greece’s credit rating to junk and lowered Portugal by two steps. With the first-quarter earnings season past the half-way point, S&P 500 companies have beaten analysts’ estimates by an average of 20 percent on a per- share basis, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Motorola, the largest U.S. mobile-phone maker, rallied 4.1 percent after forecasting second-quarter earnings that topped analysts’ estimates amid growing demand for models like the Droid. Aetna Inc. and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. were also among companies that climbed after reporting better- than-estimated earnings. Initial jobless claims fell by 11,000 to 448,000 in the week ended April 24, in line with the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and the lowest level in a month, Labor Department figures showed. The number of people receiving unemployment insurance and those getting extended payments decreased. Global Advance The MSCI World Index of 23 developed nations’ stocks rose 0.59 percent. Food and beverage stocks led gains in Europe as Unilever, the world’s second-largest food and detergent company, rallied 3.9 percent in Amsterdam after saying profit rose 33 percent. Pernod Ricard SA , the maker of Absolut vodka, rallied 3.2 percent in Paris after raising its forecast for full-year earnings. Siemens AG, Europe’s largest engineering company, advanced 0.4 percent in Frankfurt after profit topped estimates. The rand and Brazilian real rose at least 0.6 percent to lead gains among 14 of 16 major currencies against the dollar as investors bought currencies in countries with higher interest rates. Brighter economic prospects in Asia and widening interest-rate differentials are likely to attract more capital, while bets for exchange-rate appreciation in the region may boost so-called carry trades, the IMF said in a report today. The euro strengthened 0.1 percent to $1.3229, after trading at $1.3115 yesterday, the lowest level in a year. Investors demanded an extra 6 percentage points in yield to buy Greece’s 10-year bonds rather than benchmark German bunds, after the difference in yield, or spread, widened to more than 8 percentage points yesterday. Fastest Pace German unemployment declined at the fastest pace in more than two years in April, the Nuremberg-based Federal Labor Agency said today. An index of executive and consumer sentiment in the 16 euro nations rose to 100.6 in April from a revised 97.9 in March, the European Commission in Brussels said today. Spanish 10-year bonds rose, cutting the yield by 7 basis points to 4.04 percent. The Italian 10-year bond yield fell 3 basis points to 4.07 percent even as the nation sold 8 billion euros ($11 billion) of securities due in 2012, 2017 and 2020. Tin for delivery in three months added 2.1 percent to $18,375 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange, the steepest advance since February. Aluminum also gained. Gold slipped 0.2 percent to $1,163.45 an ounce in London and crude oil added 1.8 percent to $84.68 a barrel in New York. To contact the reporters for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net .

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Silver Peak Systems Appoints Arturo Cazares as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales

April 29, 2010

SANTA CLARA, CA–(Marketwire – April 29, 2010) –   Silver Peak Systems, Inc. , the leader in data center class Wide Area Network (WAN) optimization, today announced that Arturo Cazares has joined the company as senior vice president of sales.

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H. Cabot Lodge, III Appointed President of W. P. Carey & Co. Ltd. and Head of European Investments

April 29, 2010

NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwire – April 29, 2010) –  Investment firm W. P. Carey & Co. LLC ( NYSE : WPC ) announced today that H. Cabot Lodge, III has been appointed President of its UK subsidiary, W. P. Carey & Co. Ltd. Mr. Lodge will serve as head of European Investments and is based out of W. P. Carey’s London office.

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BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment Banking Names Vasilis Koutsaftis Director in FX & IR Structuring Group

April 29, 2010

NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwire – April 29, 2010) –  BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment Banking is pleased to announce the appointment of Vasilis Koutsaftis to the position of director in the Foreign Exchange & Interest Rate Structuring group in New York. Vasilis will focus on Hedge Fund, Real Money and Corporate clients in the Americas. He is reporting to George Nunn, Head of FX & IR Structuring in the US.

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Stellar Biotechnologies Appoints Daniel E. Morse, Ph. D., Director and VP

April 29, 2010

VANCOUVER, BC–(Marketwire – April 29, 2010) –   Stellar Biotechnologies, Inc. ( TSX-V : KLH ) has appointed eminent scientist Daniel E. Morse, Ph. D. as Director and Executive VP: Science & Technology effective April 19, 2010.

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DigitalGlobe Appoints New Executive Vice President, Strategy & Product

April 29, 2010

John Oechsle Joins DigitalGlobe, Discusses the Need for Insight, Not Just Information

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Australian Power and Gas customer accounts hit 130,000

April 29, 2010

Australian Power and Gas customer accounts hit 130,000

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Australian Power and Gas customer accounts hit 130,000

April 29, 2010

Australian Power and Gas customer accounts hit 130,000

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Australian Market Report of April 29

April 29, 2010

Australian Market Report of April 29

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