House prices up sharply this month

LONDON (Reuters) - House prices jumped in September, the Nationwide Building Society said on Thursday, evidence that August's interest rate rise had done little to cool the property market.

The Nationwide said the cost of an average home rose 1.3 percent, bringing the annual rate of house price inflation to 8.2 percent -- its fastest rate since February 2005.

An average home cost 169,413 pounds in September, almost 13,000 pounds more than at the same time last year. Over the year, the typical home has risen in value by more than 35 pounds a day.


Full article from Reuters

EMI shares up on report of Warner bid

LONDON (Reuters) - Shares in EMI Group gained as much as 7.1 percent on Wednesday following a report that Warner Music Group was preparing a new bid to buy the world's third largest music company.

The Times, citing unnamed investors, said Warner Music's Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman had targeted the British group's shareholders and emphasised the benefits of a future tie-up during a visit to London earlier this month.

"He is not thought to have discussed a specific future bid for EMI," the report said.
Full article from Reuters

Quote from Forbes

"Character is destiny."
-Heraclitus

Dovish Blanchflower pushes sterling to 1-wk lows

LONDON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Sterling fell to a one-week low versus the dollar and slid from recent peaks against the euro on Wednesday, after Bank of England policymaker David Blanchflower sounded a cautious note on the economy.

Sterling's losses were accentuated by downward revisions to second quarter economic growth and the GDP deflator.

Blanchflower said inflationary expectations had levelled off, the labour market looked set to weaken further and the economy may have more capacity than data have indicated.

BoE's Deputy Governor Sir John Gieve also sounded less hawkish than earlier in the week, warning on Tuesday that a November rate hike could not be taken for granted as any move would depend on how the economy developed.
Full article from Reuters

William Hill ends U.S. gaming on legal issues

LONDON (Reuters) - Bookmaker William Hill said on Wednesday it had stopped its gaming business in the United States, pending clarification of the scope and enforceability of state and federal gaming laws.

William Hill said it had taken steps to stop accepting casino and poker business from clients with a U.S. address or U.S.-issued credit card, the same as steps already in place to prevent Internet betting on sports events by U.S. residents.

This year has seen the arrests in the United States of Sportingbet's chairman on charges of "gambling by computer" and BETonSPORTS's then chief executive on racketeering charges.
Full article from Reuters

Growth turning point means crunch time for investors

LONDON (Reuters) - Investors who have been profiting from the most robust global economic growth in decades are suddenly being forced to decide whether it is all about to come to an end and if so how severely.

One result: Volatility has been, well, volatile.

The VIX and VDAX indexes -- which are measures of expected equity price swings over a period of time -- have been on a yo-yo string throughout September, indicating unusual strong uncertainty among investors.


What is happening is that investors have decided that they are at a turning point. But they are not sure whether it is a mid-cycle slowdown or a more robust end of cycle altogether
Full article from Reuters

Quote

Facts without theory are useless, but theory without facts is unsupported assertion

Inequality in wealth distribution: the causes

The principal causes of rising inequality, in America and much of the rest of the world, are rapid technological innovation and globalisation. These structural shifts, which have spawned enormous prosperity, are boosting the earnings of the most skilled and well-educated far faster than the rest.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index Posted a Gain in September

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which decreased sharply in August, posted a gain in September. The Index now stands at 104.5 (1985=100), up from 100.2 in August. The Present Situation Index increased to 127.7 from 123.9. The Expectations Index rose to 89.0 from 84.4 last month.
Full text on Conference-Board

Dollar getting stronger against majors

The greenback edged up higher against the majors in the Tuesday session, albeit within the confines of the recent ranges. The dollar pushed the euro beneath the 1.27-level to a one-week low at 1.2663, while shooting up past the 117-mark versus the yen. Propping the currency higher was a respite in the stream of soft US economic data, following the release of an upbeat consumer confidence survey and Richmond Fed manufacturing survey.
More on Forexnews.com

Another Billanthropy

The Economist's article about Bill Clinton taking part in charitable giving.

The dark side of debt

The Economist's article about tendencies in modern debt markets and their concequences for the financial system as a whole

Tiger Woods - the giant of marketing ROI

Article from AdAge uncovering the phenomena of golf superstar as the most effecitve product spokesperson in history.

Old Adage

A banker is someone who lends you an umbrella when it is sunny and asks for it back when it starts to rain

Quote from Forbes

"The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials."
-Chinese proverb

Donald Rumsfeld on US policy on the war on terror, 3/07/2003

"There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know and there things that we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know."
-- Donald Rumsfeld, clarifying U.S. policy on the war on terror at a Pentagon briefing.

Oil slips to six-months low in Monday trade

Oil falls below U$60 per barrel.

Funds brush off Shell's Russia problems

Article from Reuters infroming about Russification of Russia's energy assets

Forbes 400 ricchest Americans

For the first time wealth of each participant in the list is at least 1 000 000 000 US dollars

Like Moths To A Flame

An article from Forbes.com about Amaranth Advisor's misfortune and how energy traders reacted

US dollar dips on dovish Fed statement

US dollar drifts against all major currencies after Federal Open Market Committee meeting. As was expected by the experts, the Fed kept US interest rates on hold at 5.25 per cent.
FT.com on Yahoo! Finance

For how long Kiwi will be in demand?

The New Zealand Dollar, also known as Kiwi has appreciated 10% against US dollar. Analytics suppose this upward trand caused by yeld policy. Forex traders attracted by higher yelds thus drive the demand for Kiwi. Teh points, for how long this trend will last?
Full article Forex Bolg

London slides as Philly Fed spooks Street

Stocks in London slides after weaker than expected Philly Fed data
Source FT.com on Yahoo! Finance

74th United States Secretary of the Treasury

Henry "Hank" Merritt Paulson, Jr., 74th United States Secretary of the Treasury official bio

Chatting With China

China has long wanted to move discussions with the U.S. over the broad range of contentious trade and economic issues the U.S. has with it beyond the broad range of contentious trade and economic issues the U.S. has with it.
Full article from Forbes.com

Wal-Mart:Quantity of Employees

Wal Mart is the biggest employer in the US, currently employing about 1.3 million workers, according to Forbes.com

Interesting fact: Dow's all-time high

Dow's all-time high of 11,722.98 reached in January 2000

Stocks Slide After Philly Fed Report

Stocks retreated Thursday after the Philadelphia Federal Reserve surprised Wall Street by announcing that its broadest measure of manufacturing activity fell to a negative reading for the first time since April 2003, renewing investor fears that the economy could be cooling too quickly.
Full article from Forbes

MPC decision to hold rates this month was unanimous

Monetary Policy Committee voted 8-0 for keeping the cost of pound sterling borrowing in unchanged after after the surprise quarter percentage point hike the month before. Current rate is 4.75%
Source FT.com on Yahoo! Finance

John Laing agrees takeover

Construction company John Laing agrees takeover. Its shares rose by 7% signalling that investors believe that offer can increase. Reuters

How To Manage A Virtual Workforce

22.2 million Americans worked from home or another out-of-office location at least one day per week in 2005.How to manage them? How leaders should act in conditions of remote teammates? Article from Forbes shed some light on the question under discussion

Wall Street lower as investors mull housing data

Wall Street opened lower on Tuesday as a report showing a sharp fall in new housing starts offset lower-than-expected inflation data.

By mid-morning, the S&P 500 (news) was down 0.1 per cent or 0.96 points at 1,320.22, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQ: news) was flat, down 0.71 points at 2,235.04.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.2 per cent or 17.53 points to 11,537.47.
Source FT.com on Yahoo! Finance

Amaranth Won't Scare The Markets

Hedge funds betting on energy - are they worth to invest? Forbes article

Quote from Forbes

"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right."
-Isaac Asimov

Yen hits five-month low after G7 meeting

The yen slumped to a five-month low against the US dollar in European morning trade on Monday, shrugging off an apparently concerted attempt by central bankers to talk up the ailing Japanese currency.

Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, said in the aftermath of a G7 meeting in Singapore at the weekend that: “We noted that [Japan] had exited its zero rate policy, that its recovery is now broad based.

We agreed that the yen will reflect these developments.” Sadakazu Tanigaki, the Japanese finance minister, also argued that the value of the yen should reflect Japan’s recovering economy, adding that the recent fall in the currency had been a “little rough”.

The yen has tumbled 6.1 per cent against the euro since mid-May, hitting an all-time low against the single currency on 16 separate occasions.

However, after an initial jump higher when trading re-opened, the yen more than surrendered these gains to sit weaker than on Friday.

The yen initially spiked to Y148.10 against the euro, but fell back to Y149.59, Y0.7 weaker than Friday’s close.

Similarly the yen sat Y0.6 weaker at Y118.17 to the US dollar, its weakest level since April, having peaked at Y117.15.

The yen was also Y0.3 weaker at Y88.76 to the Australian dollar and Y0.6 lighter at Y221.62 against sterling.

Source FT.com on Yahoo! Finance

VOD2-new era of video

Two big on-line sellers (Apple and Amazon) both introduced VOD2 (Video On Download) service to their customers. Apple bets on speed of download, Amazon on quality. Who is wrong, who is right? Time will show.
Full article Does Big Beat Fast?

Quote from Forbes

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal."
-Hannah More

Ford deepens cuts

Full article from Forbes

Quote from Forbes

"Experience and enthusiasm are two fine business attributes seldom found in one individual."
-William Feather

Quote

Nothing is sometimes the right thing to say;
-Malcolm Forbes

Thought of day

"Act with a determination not to be turned aside by thoughts of the past and fears of the future."
-Robert E. Lee