A Domain Yahoo Name is very similar to an address forwarding service. The Domain is the address people type in their web browser to get to your web site.The Domain Yahoo Name then points to the "real" address that contains your web site.
How to I choose a domain name?
Your Yahoo domain name is your address on the Web. It's the vehicle that helps friends, associates or customers find you or your business online. When you pick your Yahoo domain name, keep the following tips in mind: Yahoo Domain names can only use letters, numbers, and hyphens ("-"). Spaces and other symbols, like underscores, are not allowed, and domains cannot begin or end with a hyphen. Yahoo Domain names are not case sensitive. They can be between 2 and 63 total characters, not including the domain extension.
Below, you can find keyword to find Yahoo domainyahoo domain nameyahoo domain registeryahoo domain searchyahoo domain name registrationregister domain name with yahooyahoo web domainyahoo buy domainyahoo domain control paneldomain yahoo web business emaildomain free name yahoodomain name transfer yahoodomain name with yahoo web hosting
"According to PC Magazine "domain registration through Yahoo! Small Business is the easiest."
Yahoo! Domains allows you to register a domain name for up to 5 years and offers all of the major domain name extensions at affordable prices. Here is a complete list of available extensions and their requirements.
Yahoo! Domains FeaturesThe most popular domain name extensions(.com, ,net, .org, .biz, .info, .us)24-hour toll-free customer supportDomain name registration terms from 1-5 yearsEasy-to-use control panel with DNS managementDomain forwarding so you can point to an existing siteEmail forwarding to a free Yahoo! email addressBonus starter web page to post online until you are ready for a web site
duminică, 25 noiembrie 2007
sâmbătă, 24 noiembrie 2007
Yahoo 'Domain Keys'
Yahoo this week announced they're working on an open-source software that uses public key cryptography to digitally sign e-mail and verify its origins. Dubbed "DomainKeys", the project is getting some air-time - the launch date is vague, sometime in 2004, and the software will be compatible with Sendmail, qmail and postfix. E-mail passing through blessed servers will be tagged with a cryptographic signature as it passes through the mail server. Email clients or en-route mail servers can then check the e-mail's header, and compare it to a public key shared via DNS zonefiles to confirm authenticity, presumably dropping the message if something is wrong.
Brad Garlinghouse, VP of communication products at Yahoo, says the project is part of a larger push. He argues that once "we actually have credibility and confidence that the E-mail that said it came from Yahoo.com actually did come from Yahoo.com, we then can use other intelligence and filters ... so that an individual user can, with confidence and effectiveness, determine what actually ends up in his or her in-box." "What we're proposing here is to re-engineer the way the internet works with regard to the authentication of e-mail," said Garlinghouse to Reuters."So What?" came the response from technology websites and bloggers in unison for much of the week. Cryptonomicon wonders if there's more meat to the idea hidden somewhere in the wings: "By itself, this will do nothing to authenticate users or cut down on spam. It will simply increase the average entropy of messages being transmitted across the Internet.".I'm not sure about the criticism that this initiative will do "nothing" to reduce spam: once you have a system for tagging messages and checking authenticity upon receipt, the next step (blessed lists of domains allowed to send one email) becomes possible. The worldwide email system slowly morphs to become like a huge VPN, with checkpoints to get on. Even though hijacked PCs could still be used to inject spam ostensibly under the identity of the hijacked user, such a standard would force ALL such spam to be directed into the network this way. Moreover, the spammers would have to use on-ramps from blessed servers from big domain names, rather than "somebody's hacked server in china". The isolation of spam in such a way, if such a key system was widely adopted, would encourage providers to do more to shut-out compromised subscribers PCs.Google's Shuman Ghosemajumder, wonders that if the idea is to create momentum for an identity verification standard, why does Yahoo seem to be traveling the road alone up to this point? Yahoo programmer (though not working on the DomainKeys project) Jeremy Zawodny agrees, noting via his blog that "it seems a lot more like another lone cowboy going after the bandits.".Yahoo themselves used the King-Maker remark in the title of this news story, in a clear reference to possible future initiatives by a certain large company to lay down possibly more tightly held infrastructure based around passport (word © 2003 microsoft), that could one day lead to everyone paying a penny to an MS authentication network if they wish to send a message. By making this thing open-source from the start, Yahoo escapes criticism that they may be trying to own it all.But without Yahoo's recently announced anti-spam partners AOL and MSN on board along for the ride, does the authentication system stand a chance? I think they deserve to be heard out.
Brad Garlinghouse, VP of communication products at Yahoo, says the project is part of a larger push. He argues that once "we actually have credibility and confidence that the E-mail that said it came from Yahoo.com actually did come from Yahoo.com, we then can use other intelligence and filters ... so that an individual user can, with confidence and effectiveness, determine what actually ends up in his or her in-box." "What we're proposing here is to re-engineer the way the internet works with regard to the authentication of e-mail," said Garlinghouse to Reuters."So What?" came the response from technology websites and bloggers in unison for much of the week. Cryptonomicon wonders if there's more meat to the idea hidden somewhere in the wings: "By itself, this will do nothing to authenticate users or cut down on spam. It will simply increase the average entropy of messages being transmitted across the Internet.".I'm not sure about the criticism that this initiative will do "nothing" to reduce spam: once you have a system for tagging messages and checking authenticity upon receipt, the next step (blessed lists of domains allowed to send one email) becomes possible. The worldwide email system slowly morphs to become like a huge VPN, with checkpoints to get on. Even though hijacked PCs could still be used to inject spam ostensibly under the identity of the hijacked user, such a standard would force ALL such spam to be directed into the network this way. Moreover, the spammers would have to use on-ramps from blessed servers from big domain names, rather than "somebody's hacked server in china". The isolation of spam in such a way, if such a key system was widely adopted, would encourage providers to do more to shut-out compromised subscribers PCs.Google's Shuman Ghosemajumder, wonders that if the idea is to create momentum for an identity verification standard, why does Yahoo seem to be traveling the road alone up to this point? Yahoo programmer (though not working on the DomainKeys project) Jeremy Zawodny agrees, noting via his blog that "it seems a lot more like another lone cowboy going after the bandits.".Yahoo themselves used the King-Maker remark in the title of this news story, in a clear reference to possible future initiatives by a certain large company to lay down possibly more tightly held infrastructure based around passport (word © 2003 microsoft), that could one day lead to everyone paying a penny to an MS authentication network if they wish to send a message. By making this thing open-source from the start, Yahoo escapes criticism that they may be trying to own it all.But without Yahoo's recently announced anti-spam partners AOL and MSN on board along for the ride, does the authentication system stand a chance? I think they deserve to be heard out.
vineri, 23 noiembrie 2007
Fuel Freedom International
The number one topic that people are discussing around the world is the high price for gasoline and diesel. A primary factor affecting the economy of a nation, a state, a city, or even a family, is the price of fuel. Families cut back on shopping for new products because their budgets are impacted by the rising gas prices. It costs more to fly because a “fuel surcharge” is added to the ticket cost, thereby causing some people to postpone their trip to grandma’s, or delay their vacation. Businesses are also impacted because the cost of sales rises with the cost of fuel… Municipalities are adversely affected as well. These actions are not limited to the United States, but are global in scope.
marți, 20 noiembrie 2007
Freddie Mac shares dive after posting loss
Freddie Mac ,the second-largest U.S. mortgage finance company, on Tuesday posted a wider third-quarter loss and said it may slash its dividend and raise new capital as it works through what it called an "extremely difficult year" for housing and credit markets.
Freddie shares plummeted 23 percent to an 11-year low after reporting a net loss of $2 billion as falling home prices and tighter credit conditions increased the number of borrowers defaulting on their mortgages.
Freddie said it has hired Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers to help it study raising capital in the "very near term" as its soaring losses force it to raise cash to ensure it has enough capital to meet regulatory requirements. It may also cut its fourth quarter dividend by 50 percent.
If its capital fell below required levels, the company may be forced to reduce the size of its mortgage portfolio.
The gloomy housing market is likely to continue to be a drag on Freddie in the near-term, said Charles Lieberman, chief investment officer of Advisors Capital Management LLC in Paramus, New Jersey, which owns Freddie shares.
"I suspect it will continue to worsen in terms of actual defaults," he said.
Freddie's dismal report dragged shares of larger rival Fannie Mae down about 20 percent.
Buddy Piszel, Freddie's chief financial officer, said the housing market will hurt the company's bottom line for some time even though the company mostly deals in low-risk home loans offered to strong borrowers. "Certainly, when housing markets deteriorate, that has an impact. We clearly will incur higher costs with markets being what they are," said Piszel.
The $2 billion loss, or $3.29 a share, compared with a loss of $715 million, or $1.17 a share, in the year-ago period. Wall Street analysts, on average, had expected Freddie Mac to report a third quarter loss of $2.16 per share.
More of Freddie Mac's home loans are heading into foreclosure, which has forced the company to increase its provisions for failing loans. Freddie said Tuesday it had put aside $1.2 billion for credit losses and had begun to increase fees for guaranteeing the payment on home loans.
Freddie also said the value of its net assets decreased by about $8.1 billion in the third quarter.
The cost to insure Freddie's bonds against default rose to a record 65 basis points after its earnings, according to data from Markit which dates from 2004. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are chartered by Congress and investors treat them as if they have an implied government guarantee.
Piszel said that fresh capital would be used to maintain a cushion against losses. Freddie also wants the capital to leave it with some flexibility to increase its mortgage investment holdings, he said.
"Given where credit is heading, given how we performed in 2007, we believe that we need to raise capital," Piszel said.
The company said in a statement that it might sell preferred stock to increase its capital. Fitch Ratings, however, said it may cut Freddie's AA- preferred stock rating following news it was looking at raising additional capital.
Partly to increase its capital reserves, Freddie sharply shrank its holdings of mortgage securities in October and pushed them further below a growth limit set by the regulator, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. Freddie Mac's retained mortgage portfolio dropped by an annualized 16.9 percent rate in October to $703.1 billion, after decreasing significantly the previous month.
Freddie shares hit an 11-year low while Fannie Mae shares reached a 12-year trough in early trading. Freddie shares are down 58 percent year-to-date, compared with a 48 percent drop in the KBW Mortgage Finance Index over the same period.
Freddie shares plummeted 23 percent to an 11-year low after reporting a net loss of $2 billion as falling home prices and tighter credit conditions increased the number of borrowers defaulting on their mortgages.
Freddie said it has hired Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers to help it study raising capital in the "very near term" as its soaring losses force it to raise cash to ensure it has enough capital to meet regulatory requirements. It may also cut its fourth quarter dividend by 50 percent.
If its capital fell below required levels, the company may be forced to reduce the size of its mortgage portfolio.
The gloomy housing market is likely to continue to be a drag on Freddie in the near-term, said Charles Lieberman, chief investment officer of Advisors Capital Management LLC in Paramus, New Jersey, which owns Freddie shares.
"I suspect it will continue to worsen in terms of actual defaults," he said.
Freddie's dismal report dragged shares of larger rival Fannie Mae down about 20 percent.
Buddy Piszel, Freddie's chief financial officer, said the housing market will hurt the company's bottom line for some time even though the company mostly deals in low-risk home loans offered to strong borrowers. "Certainly, when housing markets deteriorate, that has an impact. We clearly will incur higher costs with markets being what they are," said Piszel.
The $2 billion loss, or $3.29 a share, compared with a loss of $715 million, or $1.17 a share, in the year-ago period. Wall Street analysts, on average, had expected Freddie Mac to report a third quarter loss of $2.16 per share.
More of Freddie Mac's home loans are heading into foreclosure, which has forced the company to increase its provisions for failing loans. Freddie said Tuesday it had put aside $1.2 billion for credit losses and had begun to increase fees for guaranteeing the payment on home loans.
Freddie also said the value of its net assets decreased by about $8.1 billion in the third quarter.
The cost to insure Freddie's bonds against default rose to a record 65 basis points after its earnings, according to data from Markit which dates from 2004. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are chartered by Congress and investors treat them as if they have an implied government guarantee.
Piszel said that fresh capital would be used to maintain a cushion against losses. Freddie also wants the capital to leave it with some flexibility to increase its mortgage investment holdings, he said.
"Given where credit is heading, given how we performed in 2007, we believe that we need to raise capital," Piszel said.
The company said in a statement that it might sell preferred stock to increase its capital. Fitch Ratings, however, said it may cut Freddie's AA- preferred stock rating following news it was looking at raising additional capital.
Partly to increase its capital reserves, Freddie sharply shrank its holdings of mortgage securities in October and pushed them further below a growth limit set by the regulator, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. Freddie Mac's retained mortgage portfolio dropped by an annualized 16.9 percent rate in October to $703.1 billion, after decreasing significantly the previous month.
Freddie shares hit an 11-year low while Fannie Mae shares reached a 12-year trough in early trading. Freddie shares are down 58 percent year-to-date, compared with a 48 percent drop in the KBW Mortgage Finance Index over the same period.
duminică, 4 noiembrie 2007
Wall St Week Ahead: For stocks, Fed chief in the spotlight
Investors banking on more interest-rate cuts may get some clues about what comes next from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who testifies before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress on Thursday.
"Clearly anything that he says has the potential to move the markets," said Matt Kaufler, portfolio manager at Clover Capital Management Inc., in Rochester, New York.
After the Fed cut interest rates for the second time this year on Wednesday, stocks rallied. But one day later, the gains were erased as the view took hold that further cuts were not in the cards.
With concerns about a credit crunch and losses in subprime mortgages refusing to go away, brokerage downgrades knocked several financial stocks lower.
Investors will be anxiously awaiting the quarterly results of American International Group Inc , due after the market close on Wednesday. The insurer's stock has been hitting 52-week lows on rumors that the results will include losses in subprime securities.
For the past week, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 1.53 percent and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> declined 1.67 percent. But the Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> rose 0.22 percent.
Despite the turmoil, stocks are still higher for the year, with the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite leading the way. For the year so far, the blue-chip Dow average is up 9.08 percent, while the S&P 500 is up 6.44 percent and the Nasdaq is up 16.36 percent.
TECHS PROP UP THE MARKET
One of the key technology bellwethers, Cisco Systems Inc , the largest U.S. communications equipment maker, will report earnings on Wednesday.
Scott Neuendorf, an analyst at Hester Capital Management in Austin, Texas, said he expects Cisco to report higher earnings of 36 cents per share, in line with the consensus forecast.
He said Cisco and other tech companies have benefited from diversification of revenues, including revenues derived from overseas sources.
"The tech sector has been kind of pulling up the whole market," said John Praveen, chief investment strategist for Prudential International Investments Advisers LLC in Newark, New Jersey.
Praveen noted that Microsoft Corp helped lift the market after it reported better-than-expected earnings last month. Intel Corp and Apple Inc have also reported earnings that beat consensus forecasts.
Other companies due to report earnings this week include Sun Microsystems Inc on Monday, News Corp on Wednesday and Walt Disney Co on Thursday. After Thursday's sharp decline in stocks, the three major U.S. stock indexes rebounded Friday morning following news that October nonfarm payrolls grew by 166,000 -- more than twice as much as the consensus forecast. But the gains evaporated on new concerns about financial companies exposed to subprime losses.
"I think we're going to continue to have volatility as the market reacts to certain data points," said Jim Fehrenbach, head of Nasdaq trading at Piper Jaffray in Minneapolis.
He said the market is searching for a general theme that can be the catalyst for further gains.
CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE
"You have a crisis of confidence right now with Merrill Lynch and Citigroup," Kaufler said. "Both firms have a leadership void to fill."
Merrill Lynch is searching for a new chief executive after the sudden retirement of E. Stanley O'Neal following a huge write-off, and Citi's Charles Prince has been under pressure from shareholders unhappy with a falling stock price.
The week's schedule of economic news is on the thin side, but there are still some significant reports on tap.
On Monday, the Institute for Supply Management reports on the service sector of the economy. The group's index of October activity is expected to fall to 54.0 from 54.8 in September, according to the median forecast of economists polled by Reuters.
On Friday, the Commerce Department reports on international trade for September. The monthly deficit is expected to rise to $58.5 billion from $57.6 billion in August.
The week will see data on productivity and unit labor costs, wholesale inventories, consumer credit, import and export prices, and the first November reading from the Reuters/University of Michigan Survey of Consumers. The consensus forecast is for the consumer sentiment index to decline to 80.0 from 80.9 in the final October survey.
"Clearly anything that he says has the potential to move the markets," said Matt Kaufler, portfolio manager at Clover Capital Management Inc., in Rochester, New York.
After the Fed cut interest rates for the second time this year on Wednesday, stocks rallied. But one day later, the gains were erased as the view took hold that further cuts were not in the cards.
With concerns about a credit crunch and losses in subprime mortgages refusing to go away, brokerage downgrades knocked several financial stocks lower.
Investors will be anxiously awaiting the quarterly results of American International Group Inc , due after the market close on Wednesday. The insurer's stock has been hitting 52-week lows on rumors that the results will include losses in subprime securities.
For the past week, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 1.53 percent and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> declined 1.67 percent. But the Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> rose 0.22 percent.
Despite the turmoil, stocks are still higher for the year, with the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite leading the way. For the year so far, the blue-chip Dow average is up 9.08 percent, while the S&P 500 is up 6.44 percent and the Nasdaq is up 16.36 percent.
TECHS PROP UP THE MARKET
One of the key technology bellwethers, Cisco Systems Inc , the largest U.S. communications equipment maker, will report earnings on Wednesday.
Scott Neuendorf, an analyst at Hester Capital Management in Austin, Texas, said he expects Cisco to report higher earnings of 36 cents per share, in line with the consensus forecast.
He said Cisco and other tech companies have benefited from diversification of revenues, including revenues derived from overseas sources.
"The tech sector has been kind of pulling up the whole market," said John Praveen, chief investment strategist for Prudential International Investments Advisers LLC in Newark, New Jersey.
Praveen noted that Microsoft Corp helped lift the market after it reported better-than-expected earnings last month. Intel Corp and Apple Inc have also reported earnings that beat consensus forecasts.
Other companies due to report earnings this week include Sun Microsystems Inc on Monday, News Corp on Wednesday and Walt Disney Co on Thursday. After Thursday's sharp decline in stocks, the three major U.S. stock indexes rebounded Friday morning following news that October nonfarm payrolls grew by 166,000 -- more than twice as much as the consensus forecast. But the gains evaporated on new concerns about financial companies exposed to subprime losses.
"I think we're going to continue to have volatility as the market reacts to certain data points," said Jim Fehrenbach, head of Nasdaq trading at Piper Jaffray in Minneapolis.
He said the market is searching for a general theme that can be the catalyst for further gains.
CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE
"You have a crisis of confidence right now with Merrill Lynch and Citigroup," Kaufler said. "Both firms have a leadership void to fill."
Merrill Lynch is searching for a new chief executive after the sudden retirement of E. Stanley O'Neal following a huge write-off, and Citi's Charles Prince has been under pressure from shareholders unhappy with a falling stock price.
The week's schedule of economic news is on the thin side, but there are still some significant reports on tap.
On Monday, the Institute for Supply Management reports on the service sector of the economy. The group's index of October activity is expected to fall to 54.0 from 54.8 in September, according to the median forecast of economists polled by Reuters.
On Friday, the Commerce Department reports on international trade for September. The monthly deficit is expected to rise to $58.5 billion from $57.6 billion in August.
The week will see data on productivity and unit labor costs, wholesale inventories, consumer credit, import and export prices, and the first November reading from the Reuters/University of Michigan Survey of Consumers. The consensus forecast is for the consumer sentiment index to decline to 80.0 from 80.9 in the final October survey.
miercuri, 10 octombrie 2007
Google tools to power virtual worlds
Get ready for online games set in your favorite Google Earth locations.
Virtual-worlds platform developer Multiverse Network is set to announce a partnership Tuesday that will allow anyone to create a new online interactive 3D environment with just about any model from Google's online repository of 3D models, its 3D Warehouse, as well as terrain from Google Earth.
The idea is simple: Multiverse's technology--which gives game developers tools to design custom virtual worlds--will let those designers pick and choose from most of the millions of 3D models created using Google's 3D software tool SketchUp, and to import pieces of terrain, as defined by entering specific longitude and latitude data, from Google Earth.
If you want to build a virtual world centered on, say, downtown San Francisco, you could use the new technology to create the area itself and populate it with the digital versions of real-world buildings that have been created and uploaded to the 3D Warehouse.
"The goal is to grab things from the 3D Warehouse when looking at things in Google Earth and then make an instant multiverse world," said Multiverse co-founder Corey Bridges. "What we've done is provide a more streamlined interface for using (Google's technology) as a virtual-world production tool."
Until now, incorporating this kind of information from Google has mostly been the province of fantasy. For some time, Multiverse has made it possible to upload some SketchUp models into a virtual world created using its platform. But the technology the company plans to announce Tuesday, informally called "Architectural Wonders," brings the concept to much more well-rounded fruition, and answers what some people have been crying out for as obvious and necessary technology integration.
"Google's mission statement is to make all the world's information universally available and useful," said Jerry Paffendorf, co-author of the Metaverse Roadmap and co-founder of a stealth start-up called Wello Horld. "So I would say this (is about) making all the world universally available and useful, and that's why this is so fascinating."
For Paffendorf, one of the most vocal proponents of a 3D massively multiplayer environment based on Google Earth and SketchUp information, Multiverse's innovation is nothing short of groundbreaking.
He said he's particularly excited and hopeful that the Architectural Wonders project will allow virtual-world designers to incorporate not just models and terrain from Google Earth, but also much of the metadata that makes it so powerful: the personal notations and photographs that millions of users have added to it.
Of course, Multiverse's project is not the only one that has sprung up to make use of this data. Google is rumored to be working on a prototype virtual world, a beta test of which may or may not be under way at Arizona State University.
Another project is SceneCaster, a new technology unveiled at last week's Demo conference that allows anyone to make 3D "scenes" incorporating models from the 3D Warehouse that can then be attached to blogs or Facebook pages or even to Flickr.
Both SceneCaster and Multiverse's Architectural Wonders projects will be shown at the Virtual Worlds conference, which starts Wednesday in San Jose, Calif.
But because not much is known about Google's stealth project and since SceneCaster does not appear to be a massively multiplayer experience, Multiverse's Architectural Wonders efforts may well prove to be the first publicly available attempt to bring vast amounts of data and models Google is making freely accessible into a working virtual world.
For now, the technology is in its very early iterations. A demonstration seen exclusively last week by CNET News.com revealed what is still fairly rudimentary technology, featuring a single avatar wandering around a largely barren terrain. However, as the avatar moved, it eventually arrived in an area where it was able to move easily among models of structures like the Empire State Building, the St. Louis arch and Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Twin Towers.
Now on News.com
For Google, many irons in the fire Photos: Home appliances, Japanese style Photos: Trial by fire for the Osprey Extra: OnStar: Big Brother or big help?
Multiverse also showed News.com its tool for selecting terrain grabbed from Google Earth. It appears to be a simple design that will make it easy for designers creating virtual worlds using Multiverse's platform to quickly enter geographic data and then to import whatever territory is defined directly into their new 3D environment.
Multiverse's technology has reached the point where it can support as many as 1,000 users per server, meaning any virtual world built using its platform and incorporating the Google Earth and 3D Warehouse models could see hundreds or even thousands of users running around inside it.
And while some might wonder why anyone would want to spend time in a virtual New York when they could be in the real place, Paffendorf, who lives in Brooklyn, has an answer.
"Simply put, if you're not there, you don't have that option," he said. "I would go exploring Brooklyn like that, for sure, to see what I'm missing."
Virtual-worlds platform developer Multiverse Network is set to announce a partnership Tuesday that will allow anyone to create a new online interactive 3D environment with just about any model from Google's online repository of 3D models, its 3D Warehouse, as well as terrain from Google Earth.
The idea is simple: Multiverse's technology--which gives game developers tools to design custom virtual worlds--will let those designers pick and choose from most of the millions of 3D models created using Google's 3D software tool SketchUp, and to import pieces of terrain, as defined by entering specific longitude and latitude data, from Google Earth.
If you want to build a virtual world centered on, say, downtown San Francisco, you could use the new technology to create the area itself and populate it with the digital versions of real-world buildings that have been created and uploaded to the 3D Warehouse.
"The goal is to grab things from the 3D Warehouse when looking at things in Google Earth and then make an instant multiverse world," said Multiverse co-founder Corey Bridges. "What we've done is provide a more streamlined interface for using (Google's technology) as a virtual-world production tool."
Until now, incorporating this kind of information from Google has mostly been the province of fantasy. For some time, Multiverse has made it possible to upload some SketchUp models into a virtual world created using its platform. But the technology the company plans to announce Tuesday, informally called "Architectural Wonders," brings the concept to much more well-rounded fruition, and answers what some people have been crying out for as obvious and necessary technology integration.
"Google's mission statement is to make all the world's information universally available and useful," said Jerry Paffendorf, co-author of the Metaverse Roadmap and co-founder of a stealth start-up called Wello Horld. "So I would say this (is about) making all the world universally available and useful, and that's why this is so fascinating."
For Paffendorf, one of the most vocal proponents of a 3D massively multiplayer environment based on Google Earth and SketchUp information, Multiverse's innovation is nothing short of groundbreaking.
He said he's particularly excited and hopeful that the Architectural Wonders project will allow virtual-world designers to incorporate not just models and terrain from Google Earth, but also much of the metadata that makes it so powerful: the personal notations and photographs that millions of users have added to it.
Of course, Multiverse's project is not the only one that has sprung up to make use of this data. Google is rumored to be working on a prototype virtual world, a beta test of which may or may not be under way at Arizona State University.
Another project is SceneCaster, a new technology unveiled at last week's Demo conference that allows anyone to make 3D "scenes" incorporating models from the 3D Warehouse that can then be attached to blogs or Facebook pages or even to Flickr.
Both SceneCaster and Multiverse's Architectural Wonders projects will be shown at the Virtual Worlds conference, which starts Wednesday in San Jose, Calif.
But because not much is known about Google's stealth project and since SceneCaster does not appear to be a massively multiplayer experience, Multiverse's Architectural Wonders efforts may well prove to be the first publicly available attempt to bring vast amounts of data and models Google is making freely accessible into a working virtual world.
For now, the technology is in its very early iterations. A demonstration seen exclusively last week by CNET News.com revealed what is still fairly rudimentary technology, featuring a single avatar wandering around a largely barren terrain. However, as the avatar moved, it eventually arrived in an area where it was able to move easily among models of structures like the Empire State Building, the St. Louis arch and Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Twin Towers.
Now on News.com
For Google, many irons in the fire Photos: Home appliances, Japanese style Photos: Trial by fire for the Osprey Extra: OnStar: Big Brother or big help?
Multiverse also showed News.com its tool for selecting terrain grabbed from Google Earth. It appears to be a simple design that will make it easy for designers creating virtual worlds using Multiverse's platform to quickly enter geographic data and then to import whatever territory is defined directly into their new 3D environment.
Multiverse's technology has reached the point where it can support as many as 1,000 users per server, meaning any virtual world built using its platform and incorporating the Google Earth and 3D Warehouse models could see hundreds or even thousands of users running around inside it.
And while some might wonder why anyone would want to spend time in a virtual New York when they could be in the real place, Paffendorf, who lives in Brooklyn, has an answer.
"Simply put, if you're not there, you don't have that option," he said. "I would go exploring Brooklyn like that, for sure, to see what I'm missing."
duminică, 30 septembrie 2007
Web-Address Theft Is Everyday Event
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luni, 30 iulie 2007
Investors take break from credit worries
Financial markets took a breather from worries about a credit crunch on Monday with European equities rising and currency markets stabilizing.
Signs of the recent bout of risk aversion, however, were not far away. MSCI's main world stock index was 6 percent off its all-time high just 10 days ago and Wall Street volatility was at highs not seen since April 2003."Clearly credit worries are still very much at the fore of investors' minds," said Nick Stamenkovic, bond strategist at RIA Capital Markets.
Markets have been shaken over the past two weeks as concerns about trouble with riskier -- subprime -- U.S. mortgages have spilled over into credit markets generally, forcing a rethink on some corporate borrowing and raising credit costs.
For example, the iTraxx Crossover index, the most widely watched indicator of European credit markets, is more than 250 basis points wider since mid-June.
But Monday was proving a calmer day than recently.
European stocks rose in early trade on Monday as gains in miners and chemicals group ICI offset fears over the impact of a credit crunch on liquidity and mergers and acquisitions.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 0.4 percent at 1,523.53.
ICI jumped more than 7 percent after it rejected an improved 7.8 billion-pound ($15.9 billion) takeover proposal from Dutch rival Akzo Nobel ,saying the sweetened bid was not enough. Earlier, Japan's Nikkei average finished almost flat after hitting its lowest in nearly four months, largely brushing aside the defeat of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling camp in Sunday's upper house elections.
The Nikkei ended up 0.03 percent, or 5.49 points, at 17,289.30. The broader TOPIX index added 0.35 percent or 6 points to end at 1,705.71.
CURRENCIES, BONDS
The dollar slipped modestly against a basket of major currencies, giving back some of last week's gains.
"All eyes are on credit and equity markets today to see whether or not the risk-reduction moves will continue this week," said Niels From, currency strategist at Dresdner Kleinwort in Frankfurt.
"From an FX perspective, we'll be looking at how the risk perception develops and how the carry trade develops."
Under the carry trade, investors borrow in low-yielding currencies such as the Japanese yen to buy higher-yielding assets. When risk aversion hits, such trades can unwind.
The dollar was down 0.2 percent on the day against a basket of six major currencies at 80.990, having gained around 1 percent last week, its biggest weekly gain in six months.
The dollar was up 0.3 percent against the yen at 119.02 yen. The euro was up 0.2 percent against the dollar at $1.3660.Yields on euro zone government bonds were flat. Such bonds have been a safe-haven play for investors.
Ten-year cash yields were 4.332 percent while the interest rate-sensitive two-year Schatz yield was at 4.268 percent.
Signs of the recent bout of risk aversion, however, were not far away. MSCI's main world stock index was 6 percent off its all-time high just 10 days ago and Wall Street volatility was at highs not seen since April 2003."Clearly credit worries are still very much at the fore of investors' minds," said Nick Stamenkovic, bond strategist at RIA Capital Markets.
Markets have been shaken over the past two weeks as concerns about trouble with riskier -- subprime -- U.S. mortgages have spilled over into credit markets generally, forcing a rethink on some corporate borrowing and raising credit costs.
For example, the iTraxx Crossover index, the most widely watched indicator of European credit markets, is more than 250 basis points wider since mid-June.
But Monday was proving a calmer day than recently.
European stocks rose in early trade on Monday as gains in miners and chemicals group ICI offset fears over the impact of a credit crunch on liquidity and mergers and acquisitions.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 0.4 percent at 1,523.53.
ICI jumped more than 7 percent after it rejected an improved 7.8 billion-pound ($15.9 billion) takeover proposal from Dutch rival Akzo Nobel ,saying the sweetened bid was not enough. Earlier, Japan's Nikkei average finished almost flat after hitting its lowest in nearly four months, largely brushing aside the defeat of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling camp in Sunday's upper house elections.
The Nikkei ended up 0.03 percent, or 5.49 points, at 17,289.30. The broader TOPIX index added 0.35 percent or 6 points to end at 1,705.71.
CURRENCIES, BONDS
The dollar slipped modestly against a basket of major currencies, giving back some of last week's gains.
"All eyes are on credit and equity markets today to see whether or not the risk-reduction moves will continue this week," said Niels From, currency strategist at Dresdner Kleinwort in Frankfurt.
"From an FX perspective, we'll be looking at how the risk perception develops and how the carry trade develops."
Under the carry trade, investors borrow in low-yielding currencies such as the Japanese yen to buy higher-yielding assets. When risk aversion hits, such trades can unwind.
The dollar was down 0.2 percent on the day against a basket of six major currencies at 80.990, having gained around 1 percent last week, its biggest weekly gain in six months.
The dollar was up 0.3 percent against the yen at 119.02 yen. The euro was up 0.2 percent against the dollar at $1.3660.Yields on euro zone government bonds were flat. Such bonds have been a safe-haven play for investors.
Ten-year cash yields were 4.332 percent while the interest rate-sensitive two-year Schatz yield was at 4.268 percent.
marți, 24 iulie 2007
Energizer profit rises, surprising Wall Street
Energizer Holdings Inc. posted a surprising increase in quarterly profit on Tuesday as a favorable tax adjustment offset increased costs.
The company, known for its namesake batteries and Schick razors, is working on broadening its consumer products lineup with the planned $1.16 billion purchase of Playtex Products Inc. announced earlier this month.
Earnings rose to $62.5 million, or $1.06 per share, in the fiscal third quarter ended June 30, from $51.3 million, or 83 cents per share, a year earlier.
Energizer said in April that earnings should fall as it spent more to advertise and promote its products. Analysts on average expected a profit of just 81 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.
The company benefited from a favorable adjustment of $7.8 million, or 13 cents per share, related to previously unrecognized tax benefits. Higher battery prices, put in place in January, also helped to offset significant increases in costs for materials such as zinc.
Sales rose 8.9 percent to $800 million.
Sales of men's razors and blades slowed down compared to recent quarters, when Energizer launched more new products, Chief Executive Ward Klein said in a statement.
The company is also feeling pressure from larger rival Procter & Gamble Co.'s Fusion razor brand.
Still, Klein said disposable products, such as the Quattro razor that debuted in the second quarter, led to razor and blade sales growth. He expects the shaving business to show a strong end to the fiscal year.
Energizer said it expects $20 million to $22 million in additional product costs in the fourth quarter versus a year earlier but said price increases in place in most markets should offset most of those higher costs. Shares of Energizer trade at nearly 18.7 times next year's expected earnings, while P&G trades at a multiple of 18.2, according to Reuters data.
Energizer and P&G currently compete in razors and batteries. If Energizer buys Playtex, they will also compete in the feminine care category, where Playtex tampons go against P&G's Tampax brand.
The company, known for its namesake batteries and Schick razors, is working on broadening its consumer products lineup with the planned $1.16 billion purchase of Playtex Products Inc. announced earlier this month.
Earnings rose to $62.5 million, or $1.06 per share, in the fiscal third quarter ended June 30, from $51.3 million, or 83 cents per share, a year earlier.
Energizer said in April that earnings should fall as it spent more to advertise and promote its products. Analysts on average expected a profit of just 81 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.
The company benefited from a favorable adjustment of $7.8 million, or 13 cents per share, related to previously unrecognized tax benefits. Higher battery prices, put in place in January, also helped to offset significant increases in costs for materials such as zinc.
Sales rose 8.9 percent to $800 million.
Sales of men's razors and blades slowed down compared to recent quarters, when Energizer launched more new products, Chief Executive Ward Klein said in a statement.
The company is also feeling pressure from larger rival Procter & Gamble Co.'s Fusion razor brand.
Still, Klein said disposable products, such as the Quattro razor that debuted in the second quarter, led to razor and blade sales growth. He expects the shaving business to show a strong end to the fiscal year.
Energizer said it expects $20 million to $22 million in additional product costs in the fourth quarter versus a year earlier but said price increases in place in most markets should offset most of those higher costs. Shares of Energizer trade at nearly 18.7 times next year's expected earnings, while P&G trades at a multiple of 18.2, according to Reuters data.
Energizer and P&G currently compete in razors and batteries. If Energizer buys Playtex, they will also compete in the feminine care category, where Playtex tampons go against P&G's Tampax brand.
sâmbătă, 14 iulie 2007
Robust earnings to keep stocks charged
Stock market bulls are betting strong second-quarter profits will send equities even higher with the earnings reporting season in full swing next week.
Rising energy and food prices coupled with uneven retail sales are not likely to slow down investors as they test the market's limits. At the same time, the financial sector is expected to avoid major losses from the subprime sector.
After a week where the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index reached record highs on mergers and acquisitions activity and multibillion-dollar blue-chip buyback plans, investors will eye profits, inflation data and the Federal Reserve for signs of further good news.
Earnings will be headlined by Microsoft Corp. , Intel Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. among an exhaustive list of major companies.
Amid the flood of results, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will give two days of semiannual testimony on U.S. monetary policy before Congress.
"Earnings are not going to be a problem," said Michael Metz, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer & Co., in New York. "The speculators are very excited. Unless it is a major surprise, the external (factors) won't matter. The markets are feeding on themselves.
"I don't think Ben Bernanke has anything new to say at the moment about inflation, and the Federal Reserve does not think the subprime problem will derail growth," Metz added.
On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average ended at a record 13,907.25, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index set a new lifetime high at 1,555.10 and ended at 1,552.50, also a record. For the week, the blue-chip Dow average rose 2.2 percent, the S&P 500 added 1.4 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.5 percent.
CPI AND HOUSING STARTS AHEAD
In what will be one of the busiest weeks for corporate earnings, Wall Street also will get some fresh economic numbers to crunch.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the U.S. Producer Price Index for June on Tuesday and the Consumer Price Index for June on Wednesday.
Economists surveyed by Reuters forecast that overall PPI, a measure of wholesale prices at the farm and factory gate, will rise 0.2 percent in June. They also see core PPI, excluding volatile food and energy prices, up 0.2 percent.
CPI is expected to rise 0.1 percent in June, while core CPI is seen up 0.2 percent, the Reuters poll showed.
The Census Bureau's housing starts and building permits report for June is likely to show continued slowdowns, keeping the chance of a hike in the fed funds rate unlikely.
On Thursday, investors will scrutinize the minutes from the Federal Open Markets Committee's most recent meeting in late June for any further hints about monetary policy.
EVERYONE LOVES TECH
But most of the buzz next week will come from the torrent of profit reports. Among the quarterly results ahead, particular confidence is expected to come from the technology sector.
"People are just in love with technology right now," said Rick Meckler, president of LibertyView Capital Management, in Jersey City, New Jersey. "We are in the midst of a replacement cycle, plus a new technology cycle, which the iPhone represents."
Intel Corp. and Yahoo! Inc. will release earnings on Tuesday. Intel forecast a strong second-quarter profit last week, and Yahoo is expected to show a slim profit. Google Inc. , which has been beating Yahoo in the Internet search business, is expected to post double-digit profit growth over the year-ago period.
Motorola Inc. and Microsoft may dampen the excitement on Thursday with the second-quarter losses seen for Motorola, and Microsoft, the world's biggest software company, likely to finish the quarter flat on flaws in the Xbox video console.
BANKS, BROKERS AND SUBPRIME
Investors may be holding their breath, however, when it comes to the financial sector to see if it regained its footing in the wake of the subprime credit markets' turmoil. This week, Standard & Poor's and rival ratings agency Moody's Investors Service downgraded billions of dollars of bonds in the increasingly unsteady subprime sector.
Merrill Lynch & Co Inc. is expected to bring solid double-digit earnings growth with expanding fees from wealth-management and banking services after its acquisition of First Republic Bank. JPMorgan Chase & Co. , a Dow component, will follow on Wednesday, with Bank of America Corp., an S&P 500 stalwart, rounding out the week with its quarterly report card on Thursday.
SMOKESTACKS, BAND-AIDS AND COKE
Industrial sector stocks are also likely to show profits, as United Technologies Corp., industrial supplies manufacturer Honeywell International Inc. and toolmaker Danaher Corp., could also deliver some happy tidings to Wall Street with earnings reports on Thursday.
"In my own investments, I am overweighted in industrials, like Honeywell," said Al Kugel, chief investment strategist at Atlantic Trust in Chicago. "This is a global cyclical play and a continued defense play."
Retail sales fell unexpectedly for June on the heels of a housing sector slump and due to rising food and energy prices, the Commerce Department reported on Friday.
But Kugel said blue-chip consumer staples like Coca-Cola Co. and Johnson & Johnson may have avoided the overall sluggishness.
However, the likes of $3-a-gallon gasoline and $4-a-gallon milk as well as other constraints on disposable income appear to be pushing consumers to discount stores like Target Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. . This trend looks like it may hurt iconic motorcycle manufacturer Harley Davidson Inc. , which releases results on Thursday.
Rising energy and food prices coupled with uneven retail sales are not likely to slow down investors as they test the market's limits. At the same time, the financial sector is expected to avoid major losses from the subprime sector.
After a week where the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index reached record highs on mergers and acquisitions activity and multibillion-dollar blue-chip buyback plans, investors will eye profits, inflation data and the Federal Reserve for signs of further good news.
Earnings will be headlined by Microsoft Corp. , Intel Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. among an exhaustive list of major companies.
Amid the flood of results, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will give two days of semiannual testimony on U.S. monetary policy before Congress.
"Earnings are not going to be a problem," said Michael Metz, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer & Co., in New York. "The speculators are very excited. Unless it is a major surprise, the external (factors) won't matter. The markets are feeding on themselves.
"I don't think Ben Bernanke has anything new to say at the moment about inflation, and the Federal Reserve does not think the subprime problem will derail growth," Metz added.
On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average ended at a record 13,907.25, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index set a new lifetime high at 1,555.10 and ended at 1,552.50, also a record. For the week, the blue-chip Dow average rose 2.2 percent, the S&P 500 added 1.4 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.5 percent.
CPI AND HOUSING STARTS AHEAD
In what will be one of the busiest weeks for corporate earnings, Wall Street also will get some fresh economic numbers to crunch.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the U.S. Producer Price Index for June on Tuesday and the Consumer Price Index for June on Wednesday.
Economists surveyed by Reuters forecast that overall PPI, a measure of wholesale prices at the farm and factory gate, will rise 0.2 percent in June. They also see core PPI, excluding volatile food and energy prices, up 0.2 percent.
CPI is expected to rise 0.1 percent in June, while core CPI is seen up 0.2 percent, the Reuters poll showed.
The Census Bureau's housing starts and building permits report for June is likely to show continued slowdowns, keeping the chance of a hike in the fed funds rate unlikely.
On Thursday, investors will scrutinize the minutes from the Federal Open Markets Committee's most recent meeting in late June for any further hints about monetary policy.
EVERYONE LOVES TECH
But most of the buzz next week will come from the torrent of profit reports. Among the quarterly results ahead, particular confidence is expected to come from the technology sector.
"People are just in love with technology right now," said Rick Meckler, president of LibertyView Capital Management, in Jersey City, New Jersey. "We are in the midst of a replacement cycle, plus a new technology cycle, which the iPhone represents."
Intel Corp. and Yahoo! Inc. will release earnings on Tuesday. Intel forecast a strong second-quarter profit last week, and Yahoo is expected to show a slim profit. Google Inc. , which has been beating Yahoo in the Internet search business, is expected to post double-digit profit growth over the year-ago period.
Motorola Inc. and Microsoft may dampen the excitement on Thursday with the second-quarter losses seen for Motorola, and Microsoft, the world's biggest software company, likely to finish the quarter flat on flaws in the Xbox video console.
BANKS, BROKERS AND SUBPRIME
Investors may be holding their breath, however, when it comes to the financial sector to see if it regained its footing in the wake of the subprime credit markets' turmoil. This week, Standard & Poor's and rival ratings agency Moody's Investors Service downgraded billions of dollars of bonds in the increasingly unsteady subprime sector.
Merrill Lynch & Co Inc. is expected to bring solid double-digit earnings growth with expanding fees from wealth-management and banking services after its acquisition of First Republic Bank. JPMorgan Chase & Co. , a Dow component, will follow on Wednesday, with Bank of America Corp., an S&P 500 stalwart, rounding out the week with its quarterly report card on Thursday.
SMOKESTACKS, BAND-AIDS AND COKE
Industrial sector stocks are also likely to show profits, as United Technologies Corp., industrial supplies manufacturer Honeywell International Inc. and toolmaker Danaher Corp., could also deliver some happy tidings to Wall Street with earnings reports on Thursday.
"In my own investments, I am overweighted in industrials, like Honeywell," said Al Kugel, chief investment strategist at Atlantic Trust in Chicago. "This is a global cyclical play and a continued defense play."
Retail sales fell unexpectedly for June on the heels of a housing sector slump and due to rising food and energy prices, the Commerce Department reported on Friday.
But Kugel said blue-chip consumer staples like Coca-Cola Co. and Johnson & Johnson may have avoided the overall sluggishness.
However, the likes of $3-a-gallon gasoline and $4-a-gallon milk as well as other constraints on disposable income appear to be pushing consumers to discount stores like Target Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. . This trend looks like it may hurt iconic motorcycle manufacturer Harley Davidson Inc. , which releases results on Thursday.
joi, 12 iulie 2007
FOREX-Dollar slides on subprime worries, yen down
The dollar sank to a record low against the euro and a 26-year trough versus sterling on Wednesday for the second consecutive day, undermined by problems in the U.S. subprime mortgage market.
The yen, on the other hand, fell against most currencies except the New Zealand dollar, as risk appetite recovered after U.S. equities rebounded on Wednesday.
"Essentially, the equity market has been dictating what's happening with the dollar. U.S. stocks got a little bit of a boost even though the subprime news is all bad," said John McCarthy, director of foreign exchange at ING Bank in New York.
U.S. stocks rallied on Wednesday, which one analyst attributed to news from the U.S. Treasury urging caution about raising taxes on hedge funds and private equity.
"The recovery in stocks drove people into selling yen again, unwinding what we did yesterday. But in the broadest terms, the mindset is still to sell the dollar, because of the subprime issue, and the yen because of low interest rates," he added.
Midday in New York, the euro was up 0.1 percent on the day at $1.3764, having earlier set a record high of around $1.3787, according to electronic trading platform EBS.
Against the yen, the euro rose 0.5 percent to 168.08.
The euro also drew support from comments by European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, who signaled more interest rates hikes. He said the ECB's monetary policy remained on the accommodative side and the bank will monitor developments closely. For details, see
Sterling was up 0.3 percent at $2.0323, after hitting a 26-year peak of $2.0363 .The dollar recovered from a one-month low of 120.99 yen to trade up 0.3 percent at 122.09 yen.
While the greenback recovered from its lowest levels, it failed to gather enough momentum to reverse its losses.
Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at TD Securities in Toronto believes there was more two-way action in the dollar on Wednesday after the currency took a pounding the previous day. He cited the slight widening in the interest rate spread between U.S. and euro zone two-year bonds in the dollar's favor.
The dollar's sell-off on Tuesday was exacerbated by reports from Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service that warned of ratings cuts on $17 billion of debt related to risky mortgages, much of it subprime. Subprime loans are extended to borrowers with poor credit.
U.S. subprime worries prompted markets to price in a greater risk of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut this year or next.
In contrast, other central banks around the globe are expected to continue tightening monetary policy, with yield differentials thus set to move to the detriment of the dollar.
The Bank of Japan is widely expected to hold interest rates steady on Thursday, although some of the more hawkish members of the board may vote for a hike to 0.75 percent.
The yen, on the other hand, fell against most currencies except the New Zealand dollar, as risk appetite recovered after U.S. equities rebounded on Wednesday.
"Essentially, the equity market has been dictating what's happening with the dollar. U.S. stocks got a little bit of a boost even though the subprime news is all bad," said John McCarthy, director of foreign exchange at ING Bank in New York.
U.S. stocks rallied on Wednesday, which one analyst attributed to news from the U.S. Treasury urging caution about raising taxes on hedge funds and private equity.
"The recovery in stocks drove people into selling yen again, unwinding what we did yesterday. But in the broadest terms, the mindset is still to sell the dollar, because of the subprime issue, and the yen because of low interest rates," he added.
Midday in New York, the euro was up 0.1 percent on the day at $1.3764
Against the yen, the euro rose 0.5 percent to 168.08
The euro also drew support from comments by European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, who signaled more interest rates hikes. He said the ECB's monetary policy remained on the accommodative side and the bank will monitor developments closely. For details, see
Sterling was up 0.3 percent at $2.0323, after hitting a 26-year peak of $2.0363 .
While the greenback recovered from its lowest levels, it failed to gather enough momentum to reverse its losses.
Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at TD Securities in Toronto believes there was more two-way action in the dollar on Wednesday after the currency took a pounding the previous day. He cited the slight widening in the interest rate spread between U.S. and euro zone two-year bonds in the dollar's favor.
The dollar's sell-off on Tuesday was exacerbated by reports from Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service that warned of ratings cuts on $17 billion of debt related to risky mortgages, much of it subprime. Subprime loans are extended to borrowers with poor credit.
U.S. subprime worries prompted markets to price in a greater risk of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut this year or next.
In contrast, other central banks around the globe are expected to continue tightening monetary policy, with yield differentials thus set to move to the detriment of the dollar.
The Bank of Japan is widely expected to hold interest rates steady on Thursday, although some of the more hawkish members of the board may vote for a hike to 0.75 percent.
miercuri, 11 iulie 2007
Dow Jones meets investors on alternate bid:source
Dow Jones & Co. , in talks for a takeover by News Corp. , met with supermarket magnate Ron Burkle and Internet entrepreneur Brad Greenspan on Tuesday in an effort to find an alternative offer, a source familiar with the situation said.
Burkle and Greenspan met with members of an ad hoc committee of Dow Jones' board members in New York in the late afternoon on Tuesday to jointly discuss ideas for a rival bid.
"They came and presented at least one idea for a possible transaction," the source said.
Further details of what occurred during the meeting were not immediately available, nor was it clear how Dow Jones board members responded to the ideas. Dow Jones declined comment. Burkle and Greenspan could not immediately be reached.
News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch has offered $5 billion, or $60 a share, for Dow Jones, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, as he plans to build a new business cable television channel.
The two sides had reached a basic agreement over protecting editorial independence at the Journal and other news operations in the event they are controlled by News Corp., but were still discussing several issues including price.
But while a deal with Murdoch appeared close, Dow Jones has still pushed to find other potential buyers to appease some members of its controlling Bancroft family, which owns 64 percent of the company's voting shares.
Media and investment executives have said a rival bid that could really challenge Murdoch was unlikely, particularly as the media tycoon was willing to pay a 65 percent premium to Dow Jones shares at their level before the bid was made public.
Burkle had been exploring a structure for Dow Jones that would incorporate an employee stock ownership plan, sources previously told Reuters.
Greenspan had separately made an offer to buy a 25 percent stake in Dow Jones at $60 per share in what he described as a partial buyout. Greenspan founded Intermix, home to the MySpace social network that was bought by News Corp. in 2005.
According to a report in the Journal, Greenspan sought to purchase up to half the stock in Dow Jones with the help of satellite provider EchoStar Communications and Intel Corp.'s investment arm.
Burkle and Greenspan met with members of an ad hoc committee of Dow Jones' board members in New York in the late afternoon on Tuesday to jointly discuss ideas for a rival bid.
"They came and presented at least one idea for a possible transaction," the source said.
Further details of what occurred during the meeting were not immediately available, nor was it clear how Dow Jones board members responded to the ideas. Dow Jones declined comment. Burkle and Greenspan could not immediately be reached.
News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch has offered $5 billion, or $60 a share, for Dow Jones, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, as he plans to build a new business cable television channel.
The two sides had reached a basic agreement over protecting editorial independence at the Journal and other news operations in the event they are controlled by News Corp., but were still discussing several issues including price.
But while a deal with Murdoch appeared close, Dow Jones has still pushed to find other potential buyers to appease some members of its controlling Bancroft family, which owns 64 percent of the company's voting shares.
Media and investment executives have said a rival bid that could really challenge Murdoch was unlikely, particularly as the media tycoon was willing to pay a 65 percent premium to Dow Jones shares at their level before the bid was made public.
Burkle had been exploring a structure for Dow Jones that would incorporate an employee stock ownership plan, sources previously told Reuters.
Greenspan had separately made an offer to buy a 25 percent stake in Dow Jones at $60 per share in what he described as a partial buyout. Greenspan founded Intermix, home to the MySpace social network that was bought by News Corp. in 2005.
According to a report in the Journal, Greenspan sought to purchase up to half the stock in Dow Jones with the help of satellite provider EchoStar Communications and Intel Corp.'s investment arm.
sâmbătă, 30 iunie 2007
Commercial real estate investors tap on brakes
Spooked by higher interest rates and troubles in the subprime residential mortgage market, commercial real estate investors and lenders are rethinking some deals that would have sailed through just six months ago.
"There has definitely been a readjustment," said Marc Schnitzer, chief executive of Centerline Capital Group, a subsidiary of Centerline Holding Co.
"The investors who are buying a lot of the CDOs (collateralized debt obligations), investors that are buying a lot of the CMBS (commercial mortgage-backed securities), have started to push back on some of the more aggressive deal terms," he said this week at the Reuters Global Real Estate Summit in New York.
The meteoric rise of real estate prices over the past few years allowed investors to finance, in some cases, more than 90 percent of their acquisitions using borrowed money, such as mortgages, mezzanine debt and bridge loans.
Much of that debt was then used by investment banks and others to back securities sold to pension funds, university endowments and other institutional investors. The money raised was then recycled back to make more loans.
Such loans would fund purchases of individual properties and large real estate portfolios, such as Blackstone Group LP's $23 billion acquisition in February of Equity Office.
The issue of risk, and investors who assume it by purchasing the loans and securities, came under scrutiny in the winter as residential mortgage defaults spiked.
While commercial real estate has not seen the sort of rise in foreclosures the residential market has, lenders and CMBS investors have demanded either to be paid more for risk or that issuers get rid of some of the riskier loans they are selling.
In one deal in April that Schnitzer termed "notorious," issuers of a CMBS -- GE Commercial Mortgage Trust 2007-C1 -- reconstituted it after investors balked at some of the loans. The deal, initially announced at $4.23 billion, closed at $3.95 billion.
"Some loans had to be taken out," Schnitzer said. "Investors tapped on the brakes and pushed back, saying we need higher returns. Makers of CMBS are less certain of how to price things these days."
Colin Dyer, CEO of leading real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. , said the market shift gave potential bidders a chance "to pause or to find the math doesn't work any more, and so in some cases we've seen just a reduction in the number of bidders interested in parcels or individual assets."
However, real estate prices remain healthy, experts said, with rents strong and the supply of new buildings for the most part restrained in the United States.
"We continue to believe in the fundamentals of U.S. real estate -- increasing rents and increasing occupancy," said Joseph Parsons, president of GE Real Estate North American Equity.
GE Real Estate, a unit of General Electric Co. has about $60 billion invested in global real estate either through debt or ownership. In North America, it has $14 billion of equity invested and $17.5 billion in real estate lending.
"This irresistible force, which is the amount of money trying to get into real estate, is still present," Jones Lang's Dyer said. "For every $1 that gets done there are $5 trying to do the deal."
What is expected to change are some of the players. As the debt-heavy buyers leave the market or become less active, those, such as pension funds and foreign buyers who do not use as much debt, are expected to pick up the slack.
"Those groups have been pleased with the fact that there is less competition for assets," Dyer said. "They're able to get an easier run at assets."
"There has definitely been a readjustment," said Marc Schnitzer, chief executive of Centerline Capital Group, a subsidiary of Centerline Holding Co.
"The investors who are buying a lot of the CDOs (collateralized debt obligations), investors that are buying a lot of the CMBS (commercial mortgage-backed securities), have started to push back on some of the more aggressive deal terms," he said this week at the Reuters Global Real Estate Summit in New York.
The meteoric rise of real estate prices over the past few years allowed investors to finance, in some cases, more than 90 percent of their acquisitions using borrowed money, such as mortgages, mezzanine debt and bridge loans.
Much of that debt was then used by investment banks and others to back securities sold to pension funds, university endowments and other institutional investors. The money raised was then recycled back to make more loans.
Such loans would fund purchases of individual properties and large real estate portfolios, such as Blackstone Group LP's $23 billion acquisition in February of Equity Office.
The issue of risk, and investors who assume it by purchasing the loans and securities, came under scrutiny in the winter as residential mortgage defaults spiked.
While commercial real estate has not seen the sort of rise in foreclosures the residential market has, lenders and CMBS investors have demanded either to be paid more for risk or that issuers get rid of some of the riskier loans they are selling.
In one deal in April that Schnitzer termed "notorious," issuers of a CMBS -- GE Commercial Mortgage Trust 2007-C1 -- reconstituted it after investors balked at some of the loans. The deal, initially announced at $4.23 billion, closed at $3.95 billion.
"Some loans had to be taken out," Schnitzer said. "Investors tapped on the brakes and pushed back, saying we need higher returns. Makers of CMBS are less certain of how to price things these days."
Colin Dyer, CEO of leading real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. , said the market shift gave potential bidders a chance "to pause or to find the math doesn't work any more, and so in some cases we've seen just a reduction in the number of bidders interested in parcels or individual assets."
However, real estate prices remain healthy, experts said, with rents strong and the supply of new buildings for the most part restrained in the United States.
"We continue to believe in the fundamentals of U.S. real estate -- increasing rents and increasing occupancy," said Joseph Parsons, president of GE Real Estate North American Equity.
GE Real Estate, a unit of General Electric Co. has about $60 billion invested in global real estate either through debt or ownership. In North America, it has $14 billion of equity invested and $17.5 billion in real estate lending.
"This irresistible force, which is the amount of money trying to get into real estate, is still present," Jones Lang's Dyer said. "For every $1 that gets done there are $5 trying to do the deal."
What is expected to change are some of the players. As the debt-heavy buyers leave the market or become less active, those, such as pension funds and foreign buyers who do not use as much debt, are expected to pick up the slack.
"Those groups have been pleased with the fact that there is less competition for assets," Dyer said. "They're able to get an easier run at assets."
joi, 28 iunie 2007
Oil steadies above $70 after stock drop
Oil steadied above $70 a barrel on Thursday after a surprisingly steep decline in U.S. gasoline stocks revived supply worries during the height of the summer driving season.
London Brent crude ,now a better gauge of global prices than U.S. oil, was up 3 cents at $70.56 a barrel by 0902 GMT, after rising 35 cents on Wednesday.
U.S. crude gained 13 cents to $69.10 a barrel, following an overnight spike of $1.20.
Gasoline inventories in the world's top consumer fell by 700,000 barrels last week, against an expected rise of 1.2 million barrels, government data showed on Wednesday.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil, fell by 2.3 million barrels, deepening a year-on-year deficit.
Price gains were tempered by rising stockpiles of crude oil -- which hit a fresh nine-year high -- and higher operating rates at U.S. refiners.
"The fall in gasoline stocks is due mainly to a lack of imports, not domestic production, which has been ramping up," said Tobin Gorey, commodities strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
"With the refineries coming back online, it seems unlikely that the inventories will keep falling."
Longer-term supplies could be affected by the exits of U.S. majors Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips from Venezuela after the government decided to nationalize the companies' multi-billion dollar oil projects.
Analysts said the move might lead to falling production in the OPEC member, which is the fourth-largest supplier to the United States, due to a loss of foreign capital and expertise.
London Brent crude ,now a better gauge of global prices than U.S. oil, was up 3 cents at $70.56 a barrel by 0902 GMT, after rising 35 cents on Wednesday.
U.S. crude gained 13 cents to $69.10 a barrel, following an overnight spike of $1.20.
Gasoline inventories in the world's top consumer fell by 700,000 barrels last week, against an expected rise of 1.2 million barrels, government data showed on Wednesday.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil, fell by 2.3 million barrels, deepening a year-on-year deficit.
Price gains were tempered by rising stockpiles of crude oil -- which hit a fresh nine-year high -- and higher operating rates at U.S. refiners.
"The fall in gasoline stocks is due mainly to a lack of imports, not domestic production, which has been ramping up," said Tobin Gorey, commodities strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
"With the refineries coming back online, it seems unlikely that the inventories will keep falling."
Longer-term supplies could be affected by the exits of U.S. majors Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips from Venezuela after the government decided to nationalize the companies' multi-billion dollar oil projects.
Analysts said the move might lead to falling production in the OPEC member, which is the fourth-largest supplier to the United States, due to a loss of foreign capital and expertise.
vineri, 22 iunie 2007
Senate approves new auto fuel standards
The Senate approved a proposal on Thursday that would for the first time in 30 years force sharp increases in auto fuel standards and impose other measures to make vehicles more efficient and cut dependence on imported oil.
In a surprise voice vote, senators approved a compromise amendment that would require an improvement in the average efficiency of the new U.S. vehicle fleet from 25 miles per gallon now to 35 mpg by 2020, about a 4 percent annual increase.
"If we're really smart, we'll find a way to make this new approach to fuel efficiency work -- to make it work for domestic auto companies, their shareholders, their employees and our nation to reduce our dependence on foreign oil," said Sen. Thomas Carper, a Delaware Democrat and co-sponsor of the compromise plan.
Industry officials bristled privately at the description of the final Senate initiative as a compromise, but major auto companies had no immediate comment on the proposed change in Corporate Average Fuel Economy and other mandates, which would also reduce carbon emissions if it is enacted into law.
The energy bill cleared the chamber late on Thursday night.
Auto companies have said a strict efficiency requirement could financially devastate struggling Detroit manufacturers, including General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group.
But lawmakers said provisions in the fuel amendment were achievable.
"It will not do damage to the industry. It will not take away your pickup truck," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat.
Joan Claybrook, president of Consumer Group Public Citizen and a former head of the agency that administers CAFE rules, called the measure a "step backward" because it would give regulators and industry too much discretion on how to achieve mileage targets. The Consumer Federation of America praised the bill, saying it will cut oil imports by 15 percent and reduce tailpipe emissions by 1 billion tons.
Key Democrats, including Dianne Feinstein of California, Carper, and John Kerry of Massachusetts, negotiated with key Republicans, such as Ted Stevens of Alaska and Olympia Snowe of Maine, to craft several changes from their original fuels proposal, which was stricter.
Under their compromise, lawmakers would leave it up to transportation regulators to determine the maximum feasible standards under the federal CAFE program, beginning with model year 2011 vehicles.
Automakers lobbied against a specific CAFE target but proponents of tougher rules, including some environmentalists, say there are few near-term alternatives to the 1970s-era program for gasoline engines to achieve meaningful fuel savings.
The Senate plan also puts sharper focus on accelerated development of gasoline-electric hybrids, electric vehicles or those that run on a mix of gasoline and alternative fuels, such as ethanol, to help industry achieve the 2020 target.
To that end, the Senate compromise would require the Transportation Department to develop a plan to ensure that 50 percent of vehicles sold in the United States are capable of running on gasoline alternatives by 2015, but only if those products are available and affordable.
The original Senate bill would have required the industry to achieve an additional 4 percent in annual fuel economy gains after 2020, but the compromise permits regulators to determine what additional targets would be feasible.
The Senate bill would require a fleetwide average of 35 mpg by 2020 but some vehicles, like sedans, would continue to perform more efficiently than larger sports utilities, pickups and vans.
Annual goals would be set for each vehicle class -- cars and light trucks, which include sport utilities and pickups -- based on size and weight.
The change could force manufacturers to make uncomfortable decisions about their products, a particularly troubling prospect for U.S.-based manufacturers that have relied on sales of bigger, less-efficient light trucks.
An energy bill in the House of Representatives is moving forward without vehicle fuel economy changes.
In a surprise voice vote, senators approved a compromise amendment that would require an improvement in the average efficiency of the new U.S. vehicle fleet from 25 miles per gallon now to 35 mpg by 2020, about a 4 percent annual increase.
"If we're really smart, we'll find a way to make this new approach to fuel efficiency work -- to make it work for domestic auto companies, their shareholders, their employees and our nation to reduce our dependence on foreign oil," said Sen. Thomas Carper, a Delaware Democrat and co-sponsor of the compromise plan.
Industry officials bristled privately at the description of the final Senate initiative as a compromise, but major auto companies had no immediate comment on the proposed change in Corporate Average Fuel Economy and other mandates, which would also reduce carbon emissions if it is enacted into law.
The energy bill cleared the chamber late on Thursday night.
Auto companies have said a strict efficiency requirement could financially devastate struggling Detroit manufacturers, including General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group.
But lawmakers said provisions in the fuel amendment were achievable.
"It will not do damage to the industry. It will not take away your pickup truck," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat.
Joan Claybrook, president of Consumer Group Public Citizen and a former head of the agency that administers CAFE rules, called the measure a "step backward" because it would give regulators and industry too much discretion on how to achieve mileage targets. The Consumer Federation of America praised the bill, saying it will cut oil imports by 15 percent and reduce tailpipe emissions by 1 billion tons.
Key Democrats, including Dianne Feinstein of California, Carper, and John Kerry of Massachusetts, negotiated with key Republicans, such as Ted Stevens of Alaska and Olympia Snowe of Maine, to craft several changes from their original fuels proposal, which was stricter.
Under their compromise, lawmakers would leave it up to transportation regulators to determine the maximum feasible standards under the federal CAFE program, beginning with model year 2011 vehicles.
Automakers lobbied against a specific CAFE target but proponents of tougher rules, including some environmentalists, say there are few near-term alternatives to the 1970s-era program for gasoline engines to achieve meaningful fuel savings.
The Senate plan also puts sharper focus on accelerated development of gasoline-electric hybrids, electric vehicles or those that run on a mix of gasoline and alternative fuels, such as ethanol, to help industry achieve the 2020 target.
To that end, the Senate compromise would require the Transportation Department to develop a plan to ensure that 50 percent of vehicles sold in the United States are capable of running on gasoline alternatives by 2015, but only if those products are available and affordable.
The original Senate bill would have required the industry to achieve an additional 4 percent in annual fuel economy gains after 2020, but the compromise permits regulators to determine what additional targets would be feasible.
The Senate bill would require a fleetwide average of 35 mpg by 2020 but some vehicles, like sedans, would continue to perform more efficiently than larger sports utilities, pickups and vans.
Annual goals would be set for each vehicle class -- cars and light trucks, which include sport utilities and pickups -- based on size and weight.
The change could force manufacturers to make uncomfortable decisions about their products, a particularly troubling prospect for U.S.-based manufacturers that have relied on sales of bigger, less-efficient light trucks.
An energy bill in the House of Representatives is moving forward without vehicle fuel economy changes.
marți, 19 iunie 2007
The dollar slipped against most major currencies on Tuesday as U.S. bond yields continued to retreat from five-year highs hit last week, eroding their appeal to foreign investors.
At the same time, the euro retreated from a record peak against the yen and treaded water against the dollar after a surprise decline in German business confidence in June.
In recent weeks, the dollar has closely tracked Treasury yields, hitching a ride higher as strong U.S. economic data boosted the benchmark 10-year yield to 5.33 percent and sent the euro to a near-three-month trough against the greenback.
But with little major U.S. economic data on tap this week to guide traders, an ongoing bond market retracement has curbed dollar gains and weakened the case for the Federal Reserve to boost interest rates in 2007.
"We have a light calendar this week and there's no real catalyst providing a fresh reason to buy dollars," said Bank of New York strategist Michael Woolfolk. That leaves "significant gyrations in bond prices" to lead some of the price action, he said.
Higher U.S. Treasury yields imply higher interest rates and tend to attract return-hungry investors into U.S. assets.
But in recent days, the spread of the implied U.S. interest rate in December 2008 over the euro zone's has narrowed to around 60 basis points from 70 basis points last week, according to the futures market.
On Tuesday, the dollar fell 0.2 percent to 123.40 yen and also fell 0.3 against sterling to $1.9885 per pound.
The euro was among the few currencies unable to gain on the greenback, trading flat at $1.3415 after Germany's ZEW business sentiment index unexpectedly fell in June.
The euro also fell 0.2 percent to 165.52 yen after earlier hitting a record peak above 166 yen.
Traders said price action was mostly centered on cross rates in which investors sold the euro against sterling and yen.
Markets are still expecting at least two more interest rate hikes from the European Central Bank this year, while the Fed is seen leaving rates steady at 5.25 percent for 2007.
"The euro wants to trade higher but can't because of selling pressure in euro/yen," said Brian Dolan, head of research at Forex.com in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Despite the yen's mild rise on Tuesday, market sentiment remained positioned against the currency as investors continued to borrow it at low Japanese interest rates in order to buy higher-yielding currencies.
Hiroshi Watanabe, Japan's vice finance minister, said Tuesday he was watching speculative yen carry trades carefully but said they do not as yet pose a risk to Japan's economy.
BOND BREAKDOWN AHEAD?
Bank of New York's Woolfolk, however, said it would be a mistake to expect yields and the dollar to march in lock-step indefinitely and said there are other reasons for dollar weakness as well, including a push higher in oil prices.
Indeed, commodity currencies such as the Canadian and New Zealand dollars have been among the biggest gainers on the day.
"We should not confuse correlation with causation," he said.
At the same time, the euro retreated from a record peak against the yen and treaded water against the dollar after a surprise decline in German business confidence in June.
In recent weeks, the dollar has closely tracked Treasury yields, hitching a ride higher as strong U.S. economic data boosted the benchmark 10-year yield to 5.33 percent and sent the euro to a near-three-month trough against the greenback.
But with little major U.S. economic data on tap this week to guide traders, an ongoing bond market retracement has curbed dollar gains and weakened the case for the Federal Reserve to boost interest rates in 2007.
"We have a light calendar this week and there's no real catalyst providing a fresh reason to buy dollars," said Bank of New York strategist Michael Woolfolk. That leaves "significant gyrations in bond prices" to lead some of the price action, he said.
Higher U.S. Treasury yields imply higher interest rates and tend to attract return-hungry investors into U.S. assets.
But in recent days, the spread of the implied U.S. interest rate in December 2008 over the euro zone's has narrowed to around 60 basis points from 70 basis points last week, according to the futures market.
On Tuesday, the dollar fell 0.2 percent to 123.40 yen
The euro was among the few currencies unable to gain on the greenback, trading flat at $1.3415
The euro also fell 0.2 percent to 165.52 yen
Traders said price action was mostly centered on cross rates in which investors sold the euro against sterling and yen.
Markets are still expecting at least two more interest rate hikes from the European Central Bank this year, while the Fed is seen leaving rates steady at 5.25 percent for 2007.
"The euro wants to trade higher but can't because of selling pressure in euro/yen," said Brian Dolan, head of research at Forex.com in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Despite the yen's mild rise on Tuesday, market sentiment remained positioned against the currency as investors continued to borrow it at low Japanese interest rates in order to buy higher-yielding currencies.
Hiroshi Watanabe, Japan's vice finance minister, said Tuesday he was watching speculative yen carry trades carefully but said they do not as yet pose a risk to Japan's economy.
BOND BREAKDOWN AHEAD?
Bank of New York's Woolfolk, however, said it would be a mistake to expect yields and the dollar to march in lock-step indefinitely and said there are other reasons for dollar weakness as well, including a push higher in oil prices.
Indeed, commodity currencies such as the Canadian
"We should not confuse correlation with causation," he said.
duminică, 17 iunie 2007
Retailers, consumer companies search for growth
Bigger is becoming better.
After years of operating in their comfort zones, retailers and consumer product makers are branching out to find faster pockets of growth. Some are beefing up through acquisitions, while others dive deeper into developing markets, where growth outpaces that of the mature markets of North America.
Meanwhile U.S. consumers face rising costs for everything from gasoline to milk which, along with a tough housing market, is curbing their spending and putting pressure on the manufacturers and retailers vying for shoppers' attention during the upcoming back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons.
Industry executives set to attend the Reuters Consumer and Retail Summit next week have grappled with issues such as higher gasoline prices for some time. But these days, pressure is fierce and being heightened by higher costs for labor and key commodities like corn, making food and other goods more expensive. Retail and consumer stocks have paid the price.
The Standard & Poor's Retailing Industry Group Index gained nearly 15 percent over the past year, while the S&P Consumer Staples Sector Index gained 16 percent. By contrast, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index added about 22 percent.
"The countryside is littered with the bodies of economists who predicted the demise of the American consumer -- it hasn't happened yet," Ritholtz Research and Analytics' chief market strategist Barry Ritholtz said in an interview with Reuters Television. But "we see signs that they are starting to tire."
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. , the world's largest retailer, has said it saw shopper worries about gas prices increase in the beginning of the year and is cautious about June sales. Wal-Mart's sales at U.S. stores open at least a year rose just 1.1 percent last month, excluding fuel.
On the other side of the spectrum Saks Inc. , which caters to wealthy consumers, posted a 37.5 percent jump in May same-store sales, driven by items such as women's designer sportswear, handbags and shoes. Still, some of the gains at Saks stemmed from a shift in its promotional calendar, so same-store sales are expected to fall in June.
LOOKING ABROAD
As U.S. companies work through such issues at home they are expanding their international operations. Consumer products makers like leader Procter & Gamble Co. have seen rapid growth in areas such as Eastern Europe and Latin America. But it can be harder to expand in such markets since companies must often sell through distributors to reach multiple stores, rather than selling directly to a retailer like Wal-Mart.
"In terms of global retailing, the importance of emerging markets is kind of the big thing at this moment," said Matthew Stych, director of retail research for Euromonitor International, stressing the BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China.
"(BRIC countries) are where the growth is going to be," said Ritholtz. "You have well over a billion people in India and over a billion-and-a-half people in China and a lot of these people for the first time in history (are) moving into the middle class. That means things like computers and laptops and cell phones and even iPods."
Stych also said as retailers try to expand into new markets, nonfood retailers like Ikea, Best Buy Co. Inc. and Home Depot Inc. might have a good chance, because it is easier to copy their stores from one market to another.
"Food and drink are local tastes. Non-grocery can replicate the model" in another market.
But Tesco Plc. , Britain's largest food retailer, is getting ready to test that theory as it prepares to bring a fresh convenience store concept to the United States later this year, adding pressure to traditional U.S. food sellers.
Tesco's small Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets will focus on ready-to-eat meals and fresh and environmentally friendly products, hoping to capitalize on consumers' desire for what is new, convenient and higher-end. Manufacturers including Playtex Products Inc. , Whirlpool Corp. and Jarden Corp. are hoping to do the same.
Other European retailers, from France's PPR to Germany's KarstadtQuelle and Britain's DSG International are also pushing the boundaries of traditional retailing, linking the Internet, catalogs, mobile phones and stores as they strive to satisfy consumers' desire to shop where they want, whenever they want.
Meanwhile, the green agenda is forcing all retailers into new spaces from rethinking their distribution to whether they should stop giving away plastic bags.
After years of operating in their comfort zones, retailers and consumer product makers are branching out to find faster pockets of growth. Some are beefing up through acquisitions, while others dive deeper into developing markets, where growth outpaces that of the mature markets of North America.
Meanwhile U.S. consumers face rising costs for everything from gasoline to milk which, along with a tough housing market, is curbing their spending and putting pressure on the manufacturers and retailers vying for shoppers' attention during the upcoming back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons.
Industry executives set to attend the Reuters Consumer and Retail Summit next week have grappled with issues such as higher gasoline prices for some time. But these days, pressure is fierce and being heightened by higher costs for labor and key commodities like corn, making food and other goods more expensive. Retail and consumer stocks have paid the price.
The Standard & Poor's Retailing Industry Group Index gained nearly 15 percent over the past year, while the S&P Consumer Staples Sector Index gained 16 percent. By contrast, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index added about 22 percent.
"The countryside is littered with the bodies of economists who predicted the demise of the American consumer -- it hasn't happened yet," Ritholtz Research and Analytics' chief market strategist Barry Ritholtz said in an interview with Reuters Television. But "we see signs that they are starting to tire."
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. , the world's largest retailer, has said it saw shopper worries about gas prices increase in the beginning of the year and is cautious about June sales. Wal-Mart's sales at U.S. stores open at least a year rose just 1.1 percent last month, excluding fuel.
On the other side of the spectrum Saks Inc. , which caters to wealthy consumers, posted a 37.5 percent jump in May same-store sales, driven by items such as women's designer sportswear, handbags and shoes. Still, some of the gains at Saks stemmed from a shift in its promotional calendar, so same-store sales are expected to fall in June.
LOOKING ABROAD
As U.S. companies work through such issues at home they are expanding their international operations. Consumer products makers like leader Procter & Gamble Co. have seen rapid growth in areas such as Eastern Europe and Latin America. But it can be harder to expand in such markets since companies must often sell through distributors to reach multiple stores, rather than selling directly to a retailer like Wal-Mart.
"In terms of global retailing, the importance of emerging markets is kind of the big thing at this moment," said Matthew Stych, director of retail research for Euromonitor International, stressing the BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China.
"(BRIC countries) are where the growth is going to be," said Ritholtz. "You have well over a billion people in India and over a billion-and-a-half people in China and a lot of these people for the first time in history (are) moving into the middle class. That means things like computers and laptops and cell phones and even iPods."
Stych also said as retailers try to expand into new markets, nonfood retailers like Ikea, Best Buy Co. Inc. and Home Depot Inc. might have a good chance, because it is easier to copy their stores from one market to another.
"Food and drink are local tastes. Non-grocery can replicate the model" in another market.
But Tesco Plc. , Britain's largest food retailer, is getting ready to test that theory as it prepares to bring a fresh convenience store concept to the United States later this year, adding pressure to traditional U.S. food sellers.
Tesco's small Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets will focus on ready-to-eat meals and fresh and environmentally friendly products, hoping to capitalize on consumers' desire for what is new, convenient and higher-end. Manufacturers including Playtex Products Inc. , Whirlpool Corp. and Jarden Corp. are hoping to do the same.
Other European retailers, from France's PPR to Germany's KarstadtQuelle and Britain's DSG International are also pushing the boundaries of traditional retailing, linking the Internet, catalogs, mobile phones and stores as they strive to satisfy consumers' desire to shop where they want, whenever they want.
Meanwhile, the green agenda is forcing all retailers into new spaces from rethinking their distribution to whether they should stop giving away plastic bags.
sâmbătă, 16 iunie 2007
Stronger earnings outlook may lift stocks
Signs of an improving economy may have dashed hopes for an interest-rate cut, but the potential for better profits may whet the appetite of stock market investors.
If corporations signal that business conditions are looking better for the rest of the year, analysts probably will ratchet up earnings forecasts for the second half.
"Those earnings are going to come in better than we thought, we just don't know by how much," said Carol R. Miller, senior vice president and senior portfolio manager at Federated Investors in Pittsburgh.
The latest data from Reuters Estimates has analysts forecasting a rise of 4.6 percent year-over-year for Standard & Poor's 500 earnings in the third quarter, and 8.4 percent in the fourth quarter.
With the end of the second quarter just two weeks away, earnings may well be on the minds of stock market investors in a week that is very light on economic data.
While stocks have been bouncing back from their recent drubbing, bond yields have remained above 5 percent. Bond yields and bond prices move in the opposite direction.
Bonds were spooked by concerns about inflation heating up, but two reports this week showed core producer prices and core consumer prices behaving well. In fact, the core Consumer Price Index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was up by a less-than-expected 0.1 percent in May.
While bond yields have remained above 5.1 percent, stocks have been on the rebound.
For the week, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.6 percent, the broad Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.7 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 2.1 percent. Stocks scored big gains on Wednesday after the government reported unexpectedly strong retail sales for May.
For the year so far, the Dow is up 9.44 percent, the S&P 500 is up 8.08 percent and the Nasdaq is up 8.75 percent.
HOUSING DATA LOOMS
Data in the coming week includes a couple of reports on housing, certainly an area that has been a major concern to Wall Street as activity remains depressed and stocks of home builders suffer.
On Monday, the National Association of Home Builders is set to report its NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market index, which measures confidence of home builders. The June reading is expected to come in at 30, unchanged from May, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Reuters.
On Tuesday, the Commerce Department issues data on home construction and building permits for May. The survey shows housing starts falling to an annual pace of 1.480 million units from 1.528 million in April.
Building permits are expected to pick up a bit to an annual pace of 1.471 million units from a revised 1.457 million for April.
Miller said weak housing numbers are already factored into analysts' economic models.
"They're not going to be good and we all know that," she said.
Thursday brings a report on leading economic indicators and another on regional manufacturing activity, as well as weekly jobless claims. The Conference Board, a private research group, is expected to report a 0.3 percent increase in the index of leading U.S. economic indicators for May, after a drop of 0.5 percent in April.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank will report on its index of factory activity in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region. The index is expected to rise to 7.0 in June from 4.2 in May.
Readings above zero indicate growth in the manufacturing sector. The index has been above zero for five consecutive months.
CIRCUIT CITY, BEST BUY EARNINGS DUE
The week's calendar of corporate earnings remains light until the second quarter ends on June 30. Highlights this week include a couple of reports from big electronics retailers. Best Buy Co. Inc. is scheduled to report results on Tuesday and the quarterly numbers from Circuit City Stores Inc. are due on Wednesday.
Best Buy is expected to report higher earnings compared with a year earlier, while Circuit City is expected to report a loss. Circuit City, in the midst of a turnaround effort, recently announced a reduction in its headquarters staff and the redeployment of store managers.
FedEx Corp. , the parent of FedEx Express Corp., the world's largest express delivery business, and investment bank Morgan Stanley are set to report earnings on Wednesday as well.
In addition to the usual menu of economic statistics and corporate announcements, investors will be watching for deal activity, particularly those where the buyers are the private equity firms that have emerged as big players.
J.J. Burns, president and founder of wealth management firm J.J. Burns & Co. LLC in Melville, New York, notes that an effort is under way in the U.S. Senate to raise the tax rate for private equity firms that go public.
"We could see some pauses in the market" if anything happens to slow down the number of deals, Burns said.
If corporations signal that business conditions are looking better for the rest of the year, analysts probably will ratchet up earnings forecasts for the second half.
"Those earnings are going to come in better than we thought, we just don't know by how much," said Carol R. Miller, senior vice president and senior portfolio manager at Federated Investors in Pittsburgh.
The latest data from Reuters Estimates has analysts forecasting a rise of 4.6 percent year-over-year for Standard & Poor's 500 earnings in the third quarter, and 8.4 percent in the fourth quarter.
With the end of the second quarter just two weeks away, earnings may well be on the minds of stock market investors in a week that is very light on economic data.
While stocks have been bouncing back from their recent drubbing, bond yields have remained above 5 percent. Bond yields and bond prices move in the opposite direction.
Bonds were spooked by concerns about inflation heating up, but two reports this week showed core producer prices and core consumer prices behaving well. In fact, the core Consumer Price Index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was up by a less-than-expected 0.1 percent in May.
While bond yields have remained above 5.1 percent, stocks have been on the rebound.
For the week, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.6 percent, the broad Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.7 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 2.1 percent. Stocks scored big gains on Wednesday after the government reported unexpectedly strong retail sales for May.
For the year so far, the Dow is up 9.44 percent, the S&P 500 is up 8.08 percent and the Nasdaq is up 8.75 percent.
HOUSING DATA LOOMS
Data in the coming week includes a couple of reports on housing, certainly an area that has been a major concern to Wall Street as activity remains depressed and stocks of home builders suffer.
On Monday, the National Association of Home Builders is set to report its NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market index, which measures confidence of home builders. The June reading is expected to come in at 30, unchanged from May, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Reuters.
On Tuesday, the Commerce Department issues data on home construction and building permits for May. The survey shows housing starts falling to an annual pace of 1.480 million units from 1.528 million in April.
Building permits are expected to pick up a bit to an annual pace of 1.471 million units from a revised 1.457 million for April.
Miller said weak housing numbers are already factored into analysts' economic models.
"They're not going to be good and we all know that," she said.
Thursday brings a report on leading economic indicators and another on regional manufacturing activity, as well as weekly jobless claims. The Conference Board, a private research group, is expected to report a 0.3 percent increase in the index of leading U.S. economic indicators for May, after a drop of 0.5 percent in April.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank will report on its index of factory activity in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region. The index is expected to rise to 7.0 in June from 4.2 in May.
Readings above zero indicate growth in the manufacturing sector. The index has been above zero for five consecutive months.
CIRCUIT CITY, BEST BUY EARNINGS DUE
The week's calendar of corporate earnings remains light until the second quarter ends on June 30. Highlights this week include a couple of reports from big electronics retailers. Best Buy Co. Inc. is scheduled to report results on Tuesday and the quarterly numbers from Circuit City Stores Inc. are due on Wednesday.
Best Buy is expected to report higher earnings compared with a year earlier, while Circuit City is expected to report a loss. Circuit City, in the midst of a turnaround effort, recently announced a reduction in its headquarters staff and the redeployment of store managers.
FedEx Corp. , the parent of FedEx Express Corp., the world's largest express delivery business, and investment bank Morgan Stanley are set to report earnings on Wednesday as well.
In addition to the usual menu of economic statistics and corporate announcements, investors will be watching for deal activity, particularly those where the buyers are the private equity firms that have emerged as big players.
J.J. Burns, president and founder of wealth management firm J.J. Burns & Co. LLC in Melville, New York, notes that an effort is under way in the U.S. Senate to raise the tax rate for private equity firms that go public.
"We could see some pauses in the market" if anything happens to slow down the number of deals, Burns said.
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