Euro surges to 14-month high, Fed decision awaited

LONDON (Reuters) - The euro hit its highest level in over a year on Wednesday and shares, oil and metals were also on the rise, as confidence in the global economic outlook strengthened ahead of European data and the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest policy decision.

The Fed is expected to maintain asset buying at $85 billion a month when it concludes its meeting later and retain its commitment to hold interest rates near zero until unemployment falls to at least 6.5 percent.

European economic confidence data for January at 1000 GMT, ECB crisis loan repayments and Italy's sale of five and 10-year bonds will absorb most of investors' attention before then, as they look for further evidence of a pick-up in the region.

Share markets in London, Paris and Frankfurt opened little changed ahead of the data, leaving all eyes on a rally by the euro as it broke above $1.35 for the first time since December 2011.

Alongside the recent rebound in confidence in the euro zone, one of the drivers behind the recent spike has been the eagerness of banks to repay the crisis loans they took from the European Central Bank just over a year ago.

"It (the euro rise) is just a carry on with the current trend, risk is pretty healthy and equities are doing well," said Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi strategist Derek Halpenny.

"The danger is European policymakers allow a spike (in euro and market rates) as a result of a removal of one of the principle support measures ... With the Fed and the BOJ still easing the euro is clearly the path of least resistance."

An earlier rise in Asian equities meant the MSCI world share index was up 0.2 percent at a new 21-month high as European trading gathered pace. U.S. stock futures suggested a cautious start on Wall Street.

Strong U.S. housing data on Tuesday and China's promising economic growth forecast for 2013 also supported the upbeat mood and raised expectations for robust demand for fuel and industrial commodities, underpinning oil prices and lifting copper.

In the bond market, German Bund futures opened lower as investors made room for a sale of long-dated German paper and braced for solid demand at an Italian debt auction.

Italy will offer up to 6.5 billion euros of bonds maturing in 2017 and 2022. Traders expect the sale to benefit from yield-hungry investors but flagged the risk of indigestion after a bout of buying in recent months that triggered a sharp rally.

"(The auction) probably (goes) alright but I don't think it trades well afterwards," one trader said.

(Additional reporting by Ana Nicolaci da Costa; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Read More..

India Ink: Delhi Gang Rape Trial Will Be Held in Delhi, Supreme Court Rules

NEW DELHI —India’s Supreme Court dismissed on procedural grounds a plea on Tuesday to transfer the New Delhi gang rape trial outside the city.

Advocate M.L. Sharma filed the petition on behalf of Mukesh Singh, one of the five men accused of the fatal gang rape of a young woman on a moving bus last month. The petition claimed that press coverage of the trial and continued agitations had created bias against the accused.

The petition also said that “personal interest shown by the chief minister as well as various cabinet ministers” in the case would cause the judiciary to be “under pressure to work against the petitioner.” Since the crime occurred, the chief minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit, and other government figures have pledged to make the city safer for women.

The plea to move the trial out of Delhi was dismissed because of questions raised about Mr. Sharma’s authority to represent the accused, rather than on the substance of the plea.

The Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir, said in dismissing the plea, “Your authority to appear in this matter has been totally denied by the accused.”

Mr. Sharma and a second lawyer, V.K. Anand, have both claimed to be representing Mr. Singh. The Supreme Court rejected the plea following an investigation that determined that Mr. Singh was actually represented by advocate V.K. Anand.

The five men accused in the Dec. 16 fatal gang rape are being tried in a fast track court in the Saket District Court Complex in New Delhi. They could face the death penalty if convicted of murder. On Monday, the Indian Juvenile Justice Board declared that a sixth person accused in the case was officially a juvenile, meaning the maximum sentence he could receive is three years in a detention facility.

Read More..

Yahoo sees revenue climb this year, but long road ahead

(Reuters) – Yahoo Inc forecast a modest uptick in revenue for the current year as it revamps its family of websites but Chief Executive Marissa Mayer warned it would be a long journey to revive the Internet company‘s fortunes.

In Yahoo‘s first financial outlook since Mayer became CEO in July, the company outlined a plan to trigger a “chain reaction of growth” by overhauling a dozen of its online services to increase the amount of time users spent on its websites.

It also pointed to strength in its search advertising business and progress made in improving its internal operations.

Yahoo’s shares were 3 percent higher in after hours trade after the revenue projection was disclosed during an analysts conference call, shedding some ground after earlier rising as much as 4.5 percent.

But weakness in Yahoo’s display ad business, which accounts for roughly 40 percent of the company’s total revenue, caught some analysts by surprise.

“While the road to growth is certain, it will not be immediate,” said Mayer, a former Google Inc executive and Yahoo’s third full-time CEO since September 2011.

Yahoo said that revenue, excluding fees it pays to partner websites, will range between $ 4.5 billion and $ 4.6 billion in 2013, implying an annual growth rate of 0.7 percent to 3 percent.

Finance Chief Ken Goldman also warned investors to expect “an investment phase” in the first half of the year, which he said would impact profit margins.

“What was clear from the call is that this is a long-term turnaround story,” said Macquarie Research analyst Ben Schachter. “We shouldn’t expect anything to just snap back and correct itself.”

During the fourth quarter, Yahoo’s net revenue increased 4 percent year-on-year to $ 1.22 billion, as search advertising sales offset a 10 percent decline in the number of display ads sold on Yahoo’s core properties.

Mayer said the decline was the result of less activity by visitors to its popular websites, such as its Web email service, and to a lesser extent due to users accessing the Web on smartphones, where Yahoo’s ad business is not as strong.

Efforts to revamp its mobile properties, begun last year with a redesign of the photo-sharing service Flickr, remain on track, said Mayer, noting that Yahoo now has 200 million monthly mobile users.

“From a monetization perspective this is still a very nascent source of revenue for us. With any platform shift, revenue always followed users and mobile will be no different,” she said.

Mayer took over after a tumultuous period at Yahoo in which former CEO Scott Thompson resigned after less than 6 months on the job over a controversy about his academic credentials and in which Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang resigned from the board and cut his ties with the company.

Yahoo’s stock has risen roughly 30 percent since Mayer took the helm, reaching its highest levels since 2008.

Part of the stock’s rise has been driven by significant stock buybacks, using proceeds from a $ 7.6 billion deal to sell half of its 40 percent stake in Chinese Internet company Alibaba Group, said Sameet Sinha, an analyst with B. Riley Caris.

Yahoo said it repurchased $ 1.5 billion worth of shares during the fourth quarter.

The company’s fourth-quarter net income was $ 272.3 million, or 23 cents per share, versus $ 295.6 million, or 24 cents per share in the year-ago period.

Excluding certain items, Yahoo said it had earnings per share of 32 cents, versus the average analyst expectation of 28 cents according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

For the first quarter, Yahoo said it expects revenue, excluding partner website fees, of $ 1.07 billion to $ 1.1 billion, trailing the $ 1.1 billion that Wall Street analysts expect on average.

Shares of Yahoo were up 59 cents at $ 20.90 in after-hours trading on Monday.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Edwina Gibbs)

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Yahoo sees revenue climb this year, but long road ahead
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/yahoo-sees-revenue-climb-this-year-but-long-road-ahead/
Link To Post : Yahoo sees revenue climb this year, but long road ahead
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Soldier talks about his new arms after transplant

BALTIMORE (AP) — A soldier who lost all four limbs in an Iraq roadside bombing has two new arms following a double transplant at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Twenty-six-year-old Brendan Marrocco along with the surgeons who treated him will be at the Baltimore hospital on Tuesday to discuss the new limbs.

The transplants are only the seventh double-hand or double-arm transplant ever conducted in the United States.

The infantryman was injured by a roadside bomb in 2009. The New York City man also received bone marrow from the same dead donor. The approach is aimed at helping his body accept the new arms with minimal medication to prevent rejection.

The military is sponsoring operations like these to help wounded troops. About 300 have lost arms or hands in the wars.

Read More..

Stock index futures point to slightly lower start

LONDON (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a slightly lower open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.1 percent.

Futures for the Dow Jones were flat, while contracts on the Nasdaq 100 shed 0.2 percent at 04.47 a.m. EST.

European shares edged up to hover near two-year highs, with strong earnings reports and a brightening economic outlook lifting sentiment, although technical factors could limit gains in the near term.

Yahoo Inc said it forecasts a modest uptick in revenue for the current year, sending shares in the Internet group 3 percent higher in after hours trade.

The second-largest U.S. automaker, Ford, is expected to report earnings per share of $0.26, up from $0.20 one year earlier, when it unveils fourth-quarter results at 1200 GMT. Ford, which is heavily reliant on its pickup trucks for profits, is bound to benefit from an uptick in construction this year.

Drugmaker Pfizer is expected to report EPS of $0.44, down from $0.50 in the previous year, on plunging U.S. sales of its Lipitor cholesterol drug - which is facing generic competition since November 2011 - and disappointing demand for its Prevnar vaccine against childhood infections.

Online retailer Amazon.com reports results for the holiday quarter. They were expected to show strong sales growth, tempered by little to no profit as the world's largest Internet retailer spent heavily on its Kindle mobile gadget platform, cloud computing service and its rapidly expanding chain of shipping warehouses.

Standard & Poor's releases its S&P Case/Shiller Home Price Index for November at 1400 GMT. Prices are expected to have continued their recovery, up 0.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, pointing to a housing market that is mending.

The Conference Board releases January consumer confidence figures at 1500 GMT, expected to have fallen to 64 from 65.1. The market will be looking for any impact from the "fiscal cliff" debate or the payroll tax increases at the beginning of the year.

The Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee begins two days of meetings on interest rates. Traders speculated more solid U.S. growth indicators might see the Fed pull back on its aggressive easing stimulus, which has played a key role in fuelling an equity market rally since the second half of last year.

Elon Musk has long considered Tesla Motors Inc the bold, nimble answer to the auto industry's cautious culture. Now the electric car maker's top executive has extended his help to another industrial giant: Boeing Co .

Pentagon and industry officials said on Monday a manufacturing problem was the most likely cause of an engine failure that led to the grounding of all 25 Marine Corps versions of the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jet 10 days ago.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> closed down 14.05 points, or 0.10 percent, at 13,881.93 on Monday. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 2.78 points, or 0.18 percent, at 1,500.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 4.59 points, or 0.15 percent, at 3,154.30.

(Reporting By Francesco Canepa; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Read More..

Letter From Washington: Changing the Path to the Presidency

WASHINGTON — Imagine if the 2012 election had turned out this way: President Barack Obama won the popular vote by five million votes and almost 4 percentage points, taking seven of the eight largest states, as he did, yet the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, took the oath of office last week.

Such a scenario might not be far-fetched if some Republican politicians in statehouses around the country get their way.

U.S. presidential elections are decided by the Electoral College. Each state gets one elector for each senator, or two apiece, plus additional electors based on the number of congressional districts it has. With the exception of two states, Maine and Nebraska, electors are awarded on a winner-take-all basis; 270 of a total of 538 are necessary to become president.

Individual states set the rules for these electors; the current system, by most accounts, has worked well. Three times — twice in the 19th century and then in 2000 — the Electoral College victor lost the popular vote.

Now, Republican state legislators in as many as a half-dozen states where they control the governmental machinery even though their state was carried by the Democratic candidate in the past couple of presidential elections want to change the system and tilt it decidedly in their party’s favor. They would do this by scrapping the winner-take-all rule and awarding electors by congressional districts.

“This would amount to a legal subversion of democracy to game the system for political advantage,” says the legal scholar Walter Dellinger, who served as U.S. solicitor general under President Bill Clinton.

That’s not a frivolous alarm. Republican legislators, with tacit support from their governors, in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin are advocating this. The party’s national chairman, Reince Priebus, is keeping a low profile and signaling encouragement.

To gauge the potential effect, consider what would have happened if these states, along with Virginia, Florida and Ohio, where Republicans also control the statehouses, had divided electoral votes this way in the most recent presidential election.

Mr. Obama carried all these states, sweeping 106 electoral votes. But Mr. Romney won two-thirds of the congressional districts; if all else had been equal, the Republican would have carried the Electoral College, becoming the first president who was trounced in the popular vote.

Scratching your head? Some of this maneuvering is a result of redistricting or gerrymandering of congressional districts, a process largely controlled by Republicans after their big victories in 2010. Also, Democrats tend to congregate in the same districts, while Republicans are more diffuse.

Two examples: Mr. Obama won Pennsylvania by five points and Michigan by nine points, clear-cut by any standard. Yet Mr. Romney carried 13 of the 18 congressional districts in Pennsylvania and 10 of the 14 in Michigan and would have won a substantial majority of delegates in both states that he lost decisively.

Allotting presidential electors by congressional district would increase the incentives for partisan gerrymandering, already a factor in congressional dysfunction.

There is a longstanding and substantive debate over whether presidents should be decided by the Electoral College or the popular vote. That flared anew when George W. Bush won the presidency 12 years ago even though Al Gore won the popular vote.

Supporters of a change say it would create a genuine national election. Last autumn, Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney focused almost all their resources and time in eight states, all carried by the president. In a general election, voters in places like San Diego, Houston, New Orleans and Buffalo, New York, only lay eyes on candidates who are in town for a quick-hit fund-raiser.

Defenders of the Electoral College dismiss this argument, claiming the present system strikes a political balance between states and regions that the Founding Fathers envisioned. A direct popular election, they contend, would depersonalize the campaign, turning into nothing more than incessant money-grabbing and television advertising. The focus last time was on a handful of states; Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama had to spend considerable time meeting real voters in Columbus, Ohio, or the Washington and Denver suburbs.

Either the current Electoral College or a decision by popular vote, if the prolonged ballot counting in some states could be remedied, would produce a winner with legitimacy. The controversy over Mr. Bush’s election in 2000 wasn’t related to the system but whether he really won Florida, which gave him the Electoral College victory.

Still, changing to a popular vote probably would require a constitutional amendment with approval by two-thirds of both houses of Congress and three-quarters of the states. It’s not going to happen.

What might stop these attempts is if smart Republicans realize how manipulative it looks, and that it could come back to bite them; that’s the view of the former party chairman and ex-governor of Mississippi, Haley Barbour. And such a system would dilute the clout of the states that adopt it, which is why Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia is opposing any change.

If this sort of political coup had been pulled off earlier, instead of celebrations on the streets of Washington during the presidential inauguration last week, there would have been protests.

Read More..

Pentagon to boost cybersecurity force

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon plans to assign significantly more personnel in coming years to counter increasing threats against U.S. government computer networks and conduct offensive operations against foreign foes, a U.S. defense official said on Sunday.

The plan, which would increase both military and civilian staffing at U.S. Cyber Command, comes as the Pentagon moves toward elevating the new command and putting it on the same level as the major combatant commands.

The official said no formal decisions had been made on the expanding staffing levels or changing Cyber Command into a “unified” command like U.S. Strategic Command, which currently oversees cyber command and the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal.

Any changes to the combatant command structure would be made based on strategic and operational needs, and take into account the need for efficient use of taxpayer dollars, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

The Pentagon was working closely with U.S. Cyber Command and the major military commands to develop “the optimum force structure for successfully operating in cyberspace,” the official said.

The Washington Post, quoting senior defense officials, reported late Sunday that the Pentagon had decided to expand Cyber Command’s current staffing level of 900 to 4,900 in coming years.

The official confirmed that Cyber Command planned to expand its force significantly, but said the specific numbers cited by the Post were “pre-decisional.”

The newspaper said senior Pentagon officials had agreed to increase the force late last year amid a string of attacks, including one that wiped out more than 30,000 computers at a Saudi Arabian state oil company. it said

The plan calls for creating three types of force under the Cyber Command, said the defense official.

“National mission forces,” would protect computer systems that undergird electrical grids and other kinds of infrastructure. “Combat mission forces,” would help commanders abroad execute attacks or other offensive operations, while “cyber protection forces,” would focus on protecting the Defense Department’s own systems.

Details were still being worked out, the official said.

(Reporting by Sarah Lynch and Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Pentagon to boost cybersecurity force
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/pentagon-to-boost-cybersecurity-force/
Link To Post : Pentagon to boost cybersecurity force
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Funniest Quotes We're Still Talking About from the SAG Awards

Tina gives a shout-out to Girls' baby mama Amy, Jennifer Lawrence's super sweet 16 win and more LOL one-liners

Credit: Michael Buckner/WireImage

Updated: Monday Jan 28, 2013 | 12:20 AM EST

Subscribe Now

Read More..

CDC: Flu seems to level off except in the West

New government figures show that flu cases seem to be leveling off nationwide. Flu activity is declining in most regions although still rising in the West.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hospitalizations and deaths spiked again last week, especially among the elderly. The CDC says quick treatment with antiviral medicines is important, in particular for the very young or old. The season's first flu case resistant to treatment with Tamiflu was reported Friday.

Eight more children have died from the flu, bringing this season's total pediatric deaths to 37. About 100 children die in an average flu season.

There is still vaccine available although it may be hard to find. The CDC has a website that can help.

___

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/

Read More..

Euro, shares stall as investors turn cautious

LONDON (Reuters) - Rallies in European shares and the single currency stalled on Monday after strong gains last week as investors awaited confirmation that financial market conditions and the outlook for the euro area have improved.

Investor sentiment rose strongly on Friday after data showed European banks would repay more than expected of the emergency loans they borrowed from the European Central Bank (ECB) and that business sentiment in Germany was improving sharply.

A solid start to the corporate earnings season has also helped send many equity indexes to pre-financial crisis highs, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index closing last week at its highest level in over five years.

In the equity markets Europe's FTSEurofirst 300 index <.fteu3> shed 0.1 percent in early trade to 1,173.87 points, leveling off near its highest level for almost two years, though traders said there was still strong underlying demand.

"All European benchmarks are at their 2012-2013 highs. Every time there's even a slight pull-back, the buying pressure comes in," Aurel BGC chartist Gerard Sagnier said.

The market's cautious mood on Monday also followed a weaker session in Asia, where falls in technology companies saw the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> drop 0.4 percent.

The euro held near an 11-month high against the dollar $1.3440

Meanwhile, German government bond futures, a key gauge of investor sentiment, continued to ease, slipping a further 7 ticks to 142.40 on Monday, and gold is languishing near a two-week low as hopes for an economic recovery worldwide dampen the metal's appeal as a safe haven.

Investors are keenly awaiting the ECB's monthly data on bank lending to companies and consumers, due later, for confirmation that growth is returning to the economy. Italy will also provide a test of investor sentiment when it auctions almost 7 billion euros ($9.4 billion) of 2-year and 5-year bonds.

However, the main focus for investors this week will be on the U.S., where the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee meets on Tuesday and Wednesday, and where the nonfarm payrolls report is due out on Friday.

Oil prices were being held in check by the events coming up in the U.S., with Brent crude unchanged at $113.28 a barrel, while U.S. crude rose 17 cents to $96.05 after seven straight weekly gains - the longest such streak since early 2009.

($1 = 0.7421 euros)

(Reporting by Richard Hubbard; Editing by Will Waterman)

Read More..