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Can’t Get in at Best Restaurant? Try Adria’s Tapas Bar

“Where to eat in Barcelona ?” I ask Ferran Adria, whose Tickets tapas bar is besieged with diners. “Try my brother’s new place, Pakta,” the former El Bulli chef says as we finish a dinner at Das Stue hotel in Berlin. Pakta means together, or union, in the Quechua language of indigenous Peruvians, according to the website. Albert Adria has brought together two head chefs: Kyoko Li from Japan and Jorge Munoz from Peru. This is the first place I’ve been where the names and nationalities of all the chefs and waiters are listed on the menu. The decor is simple, with looms of thread adorning the walls and ceilings. The clean lines are Japanese, the colors Latin. It’s like a sushi bar that’s taken a holiday in Latin America. Staff members, by contrast, are dressed in Khmer Rouge-chic black. Getting in can be tricky if you don’t have a connection. The website suggests Sept. 3 for a booking for two at 7:30 p.m. The choice is between two menus, the Fujiyama (90 euros) and the longer Machu-Picchu, which is 120 euros for about 20 courses, depending on which snacks you classify as a course. Matching sakes add another 48 euros, taking my bill to $224. The food comes in waves. First is a platter of five dishes: soy-milk yuba (curd) with caviar and dashi-shoyu (soy sauce); tiger’s eye pickles with salmon and sumiso (miso) sauce; avocado tofu with salmon roe and wasabi; charcoal-grilled aubergine with kimizu (sour) sauce; and ocopa of potato with olluco (a root vegetable) and mentaiko (pollock roe.) Nobu Taste Many diners have had a light taste of Peruvian-Japanese (Nikkei) cuisine at Nobu, where some of chef Nobu Matsuhisa’s dishes are born out of years he spent in Lima. At Pakta, the menus provide a range of ingredients -- many of them unfamiliar

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Aluar, Continental, Cosan, Gerdau, Isagen: Latin America Equity Preview

The following companies may have unusual price changes in Latin American trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses and share prices reflect the previous close. The MSCI Latin America Index fell 0.1 percent to 4,447.31. In Brazil, preferred shares usually are the most-traded class of stock. Morgan Stanley cut Latin America’s rating to “underweight” in the brokerage’s global emerging markets model portfolio and raised Asia to “overweight.” Morgan Stanley lowered its recommended weighting for Brazil to “equal-weight” from “overweight” and Mexico to “underweight” from “equal-weight,” while Chile was upgraded to “equal-weight.” Argentina Aluar Aluminio Argentino SAIC (ALUA AF): Argentine industrial output rose 10.1 percent in September from a year earlier, the national statistics institute said. The nation’s largest aluminum producer added 0.2 percent to 4.21 pesos. Brazil Cosan SA Industria & Comercio (CSAN3 BZ): The world’s biggest sugar-cane processor said its net sales rose 32 percent to 4.7 billion reais in the second fiscal quarter, according to a regulatory filing. Sugar traders in New York increased their bets that the commodity will rise, according to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. Speculative long positions, or bets prices will rise, outnumbered short positions by 160,660 contracts on ICE Futures. The stock fell 1.6 percent to 26.1 reais. Gerdau SA (GGBR4 BS): Brazil’s tax agency said it will reduce imports of steel that may have been priced below the cost of raw materials. Latin America’s largest steelmaker rose 0.5 percent to 20.61 reais. Colombia Isagen SA (ISAGEN CB): The state-controlled power producer plans to sell 400 billion pesos ($218.7 million) of bonds in Colombia next month, the company said in a regulatory filing. The company plans to use the money to finance Sogamoso hydroelectric project. The shares were unchanged at 2,670 pesos. Peru Banco Continental SA (CONTINC1 PE): The next president of Peru is unlikely to change the nation’s currency economic policies after elections in April, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said. The shares of the local unit of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA rose 1.2 percent to 8.65 soles. To contact the reporter on this story: Andres R. Martinez in Mexico City at amartinez28@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Papadopoulos at dpapadopoulos@bloomberg.net

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Time Warner Cable, Viacom Agree to Halt Lawsuits, Seek Accord, Court Told

Viacom Inc. (VIA/B) and Time Warner Cable Inc. told a judge that they’re trying to settle litigation over broadcast rights on portable electronic devices including Apple Inc. (AAPL) ’s iPad. The two companies, which sued each other in Manhattan federal court in April, told U.S. District Judge Leonard B. Sand that they’ve reached a so-called standstill agreement “in an attempt to resolve this and other litigation and potential litigation.” Their lawsuits are now on hold, they said in court papers filed yesterday. In its suit, New York-based Time Warner Cable, the second- largest cable television operator in the U.S., sought a ruling that its contract with Viacom allows it to deliver Viacom’s programming to customers’ iPads and other devices. Time Warner Cable, also based in New York , provides video, high-speed data and telephone services to more than 14 million subscribers, according to its website. In a separate suit, Viacom asked for damages and an order blocking Time Warner Cable from distributing its programming, including Black Entertainment Television, Comedy Central , CMT, MTV, Nickelodeon, Spike and VH1, via broadband without its permission. Time Warner Cable released a computer application for the iPad on March 15 that allows customers to stream Viacom’s copyrighted entertainment programs directly to iPad tablets. Viacom spokeswoman Kelly McAndrew declined to comment on the status of negotiations between the companies. Time Warner Cable spokeswoman Maureen Huff also declined to comment. The cases are Time Warner Cable Inc. v. Viacom International, 11-cv-002376, and Viacom International Inc. v. Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) , 11-cv-02387, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Van Voris in New York at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net

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CBA Sells First Australian Senior Bank Bonds in Two Months

Commonwealth Bank of Australia sold A$1.25 billion ($1.15 billion) of four-year floating-rate notes, a person familiar with the matter said, the first senior bank bond issue in the lender’s home country in almost two months. CBA sold the July 2017 paper to yield 85 basis points more than the bank bill swap rate, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the terms are private. Bond issuance in Australia last month slowed to the least in a year and a half as the prospect the U.S. central bank may pare record stimulus caused a global blowout in benchmark yields and credit spreads. The last sale of senior bank debt in Australia was on May 23, when Bank of Queensland issued A$325 million of bonds. National Australia Bank Ltd. (NAB) ’s A$1.2 billion sale of five-year notes on May 16 was the most recent senior transaction by one of country’s four biggest lenders. That deal, which included both fixed- and floating-rate notes, was priced to yield 78 basis points more than swaps. Issuers abandoned the market after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke ’s comments about a possible reduction in asset purchases sent borrowing costs soaring. Financial company bond yields in Australia rose to 4.55 percent on June 24 from 3.90 percent on May 8, Bank of America Merrill Lynch data show. Widening Spreads The average yield premium for Australian bank paper over the swap rate climbed to 130 basis points on July 2 from 102 at the end of May, the least since February 2008. It has since fallen back to 122. While CBA is the first bank to venture back into the senior market, there has been activity in the domestic hybrid market. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. last week allocated A$1 billion of subordinated hybrid notes, while Westpac Banking Corp. is also offering subordinated debt, according to statements from the lenders. Sale opportunities for non-bank borrowers are also showing signs of growth, with Perth Airport Pty selling A$150 million of seven-year notes at 205 basis points more than the swap rate, according to an e-mailed statement from joint sale manager Westpac. The transaction is the local market’s first from a non-financial company since before Bernanke’s news conference on June 19, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. To contact the reporter on this story: Benjamin Purvis in Sydney at bpurvis@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Katrina Nicholas at knicholas2@bloomberg.net

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Strong Yen Threatens Japan’s ‘Galapagos Effect’

Billionaire Masayoshi Son has a stark message for Japan's policy makers: I'm through waiting for you gents to revive the economy. That's the upshot of the move by Softbank Corp. -- where Son is chairman and chief executive officer -- to buy a 70 percent stake in Sprint Nextel Corp. for $20 billion. Investors are obsessing over whether it's a good bet by the wireless carrier. Foreigners don't tend to make much money on forays into U.S. phone companies. But we're missing the bigger point: Japan's second-richest man is turning at least part of his back on his aging and shrinking population and his face toward overseas markets that offer growth opportunities. The issue here is the strong yen. Japan failed once again last week to convince the Group of Seven nations that an overvalued currency is gutting its economy. Koriki Jojima was recently named Japan's fifth finance minister in three years and, like the others, sees a weaker yen as job No. 1. That's not going to happen when the dollar and the euro face worse fundamentals than the yen. The head-in-the-sand dynamic pervading the Ministry of Finance leaves Son no choice but to venture abroad. The firm yen has its benefits, making overseas acquisitions more affordable than ever for cash-rich Japanese companies. Fast Retailing Co. , Kirin Holdings Co., Lawson Inc. and Rakuten Inc. are turning to faster-growing markets amid deflation and ugly demographics at home. Yet Son's move grabbed the most headlines. Son is a gambler who bet well earlier on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Yahoo Japan Corp. Whether Sprint will be a repeat performer is anyone's guess. Yet here's one additional plus that comes from this latest wager: addressing the "Galapagos syndrome'' that undermines Japan Inc. Japan's mobile-phone producers are the market equivalent of the endemic species that Charles Darwin found on the remote islands off Ecuador's coast. Their products are highly evolved and distinct from anything found elsewhere, but not particularly suited to thriving beyond the water's edge. Son's Sprint deal will test that phenomenon at the perfect moment. It also challenges the dogma that a strong yen is always bad for Japan. (William Pesek is a Bloomberg View columnist. Follow him on Twitter.) Read more breaking commentary from Bloomberg View columnists and editors at the Ticker .

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Barclay Brothers Win Appeal in Lawsuit Over Luxury London Hotels

Irish businessman Patrick McKillen lost an appeal in his lawsuit against David and Frederick Barclay , billionaire owners of The Daily Telegraph , over the ownership of three luxury London hotels. Judge Mary Arden confirmed the Barclays’ companies had acted properly in taking control of Coroin Ltd., which owns Claridge’s, the Berkeley and the Connaught. McKillen argued in the lawsuit that the Barclay brothers illegally gained control of Coroin, in which he has a 36 percent stake. The Barclay brothers’ companies bought 800 million euros ($1 billion) of the hotel company’s debt from Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency in 2011. “This is complete and total defeat for Mr. McKillen,” Richard Faber, a spokesman for the Barclays’ interests, said in a statement. McKillen said the ruling gives him the right to bid for a majority of Coroin. “I will continue to fight the Barclay brothers by any legal means to protect our staff, guests and our rights,” McKillen said in a statement. The case is: McKillen v Misland (Cyprus) Investments Ltd. & Ors., U.K. Court of Appeal, Civil Division, case no. A3/2012/2515 To contact the reporter on this story: Kit Chellel in London at cchellel@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net

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Whitebox Advisors Largest Holdings in 4th Quarter: 13F Alert

The following are Whitebox Advisors LLC top 10 holdings by market value as of December 31, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on 02/14/2011. To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Cappucci in Princeton at ccappucci1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rodney Yap at ryap@bloomberg.net .

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BP, Merrill, Monsanto, Google, Apple in Court News

BP Plc (BP/) and plaintiffs suing over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill are discussing a $14 billion accord that would be funded with money originally set aside by the company for out-of-court settlements, according to three people familiar with the talks. BP would agree to close down its $20 billion Gulf Coast Claims Facility and shift the remaining $14 billion to plaintiffs who contend the spill harmed their businesses and properties, the people said. A deal with the plaintiffs wouldn’t include potential pollution fines. BP set up the GCCF in August 2010 to allow spill victims to receive compensation more quickly than by pursuing lawsuits. The fund has paid out about $6 billion so far, according to its website. The April 2010 Macondo well blowout sent more than 4 million barrels of oil spewing into the gulf over 87 days, making it the largest offshore spill in U.S. history. The disaster spawned hundreds of lawsuits against BP and its partners, including Transocean Ltd. (RIG) , the Vernier, Switzerland- based owner and operator of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, and Houston-based Halliburton Co. (HAL) , which provided cementing services at the facility. The progress in settlement discussions allowed BP to persuade a federal judge in New Orleans yesterday to delay a multibillion-dollar liability trial over the spill that was set to begin today. They asked for extra time to allow talks to continue, the company and plaintiffs said in a joint statement. They didn’t make reference to the $14 billion proposal. Ellen Moskowitz , a spokeswoman for BP, declined to comment on the proposed accord beyond the earlier joint statement. David Falkenstein, a spokesman for the lead plaintiffs’ lawyers in the case, didn’t return calls seeking comment yesterday. For more, click here. Trials/Appeals Merrill Lynch Advisers Can Sue as a Group, Court Rules Black Merrill Lynch financial advisers suing for discrimination can pursue their case as a group, an appeals court ruled on Feb. 24, reversing a lower-court decision. The U.S. Appeals Court panel in Chicago, in a unanimous decision written by Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner, said allowing class treatment will prevent courts from having to decide in individual trials whether the challenged practices by Merrill Lynch, now part of Bank of America Corp. , were illegal. Broker George McReynolds of Nashville, Tennessee, sued in 2005, alleging Merrill Lynch’s practices and procedures favored white financial advisers over their black counterparts, impairing their ability to make comparable incomes. He, along with other plaintiffs who joined the case, sought to represent about 700 advisers and trainees who worked in the firm’s Global Private Client unit since January 2001. “We disagree with the ruling and we are still evaluating the decision but believe that the ruling does not fundamentally change our views that the allegations lack merit,” Shirley Norton , a spokeswoman for Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America, said in an e-mail. The case is McReynolds v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc., 11-3639, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (Chicago), and 05-cv-6583, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (Chicago). Vulcan, Martin Marietta to Face Off in Trial Over Takeover Bid Vulcan Materials Co. (VMC) and hostile suitor Martin Marietta Materials Inc. (MLM) face off in Delaware Chancery Court tomorrow in a trial over a $4.7 billion takeover that would create the world’s largest producer of sand, gravel and crushed stone. The court’s chief judge, Leo Strine Jr., must decide whether a 2010 agreement between the companies prohibits Martin Marietta from offering to buy Vulcan’s public shares and soliciting votes for five nominees for its board, according to court papers. Strine also has to say whether the agreement limits litigation to courts in Delaware. Martin Marietta filed the case, asking the court to declare that it hasn’t violated any agreement with Vulcan. Martin Marietta, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, offered on Dec. 12 to exchange half a share for each share of Vulcan and pay a quarterly dividend equal to 20 cents a Vulcan share to partly restore the dividend cut to 1 cent last year. Vulcan Chairman Don James has said Martin Marietta is trying to take advantage of a construction recession to buy Vulcan with a “very low-ball” offer. Vulcan has been saddled with debt and losses after it paid $4.2 billion for Florida Rock Industries Inc. in 2007 just before the industry slumped. The case is Martin Marietta Materials v. Vulcan Materials, CA7102, Delaware Chancery Court (Wilmington). For more, click here. For the latest trial and appeals news, click here. Lawsuits/Pretrial MF Global Judge Urges Plaintiffs’ Lawyers to Get Organized The judge who may oversee investor lawsuits against Jon Corzine, MF Global Holdings Ltd.’s former chief executive officer, and separate cases filed by customers of the firm suggested that plaintiffs’ lawyers organize themselves to push the suits forward. “Something big happened at MF Global last December,” U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said at an initial conference on Friday in Manhattan federal court, where dozens of lawyers in at least three set of lawsuits gathered. “Whether the case is in New York or Chicago or somewhere else, you’re going to need a leadership structure.” A panel of judges from federal judicial districts across the country will hear arguments on March 29 on where lawsuits stemming from the collapse of MF Global will be heard. The suits name Corzine and other executives. Separate bankruptcy litigation is proceeding in New York. At least three sets of cases are pending: a class action, or group, suit by holders of MF Global securities; a group of suits claiming violations of commodities laws by customers of brokerage MF Global Inc.; and another customer case by Sapere CTA Fund LP, which says it lost $90 million at the brokerage. Law firms Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman LLP (142230L) and Labaton Sucharow LLP are taking the lead in the securities cases on behalf of investors. Attorneys for clients who lost money at the brokerage are still negotiating over leadership. Marrero said he wouldn’t issue orders until the multidistrict litigation panel determines where the cases will proceed. The main case is DeAngelis v. Corzine, 11-cv-7866, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). Privacy Group Can’t Force FTC Google Action, Judge Rules A legal challenge to Google Inc. (GOOG) ’s privacy policy was dismissed by a judge who said she lacked authority to order the Federal Trade Commission to take action against the world’s most popular search engine. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in a ruling on Friday in Washington said Congress didn’t give federal courts jurisdiction to monitor FTC enforcement of consent decrees. The Electronic Privacy Information Center, or EPIC, sued Feb. 8, claiming Google’s planned changes to its privacy policy violate a consent order requiring the company to protect consumer data. “EPIC -- along with many other individuals and organizations -- has advanced serious concerns that may well be legitimate,” Jackson wrote in her ruling. “The FTC, which has advised the court that the matter is under review, may ultimately decide to institute an enforcement action.” Google, based in Mountain View, California , announced plans on Jan. 24 to unify privacy policies for 60 services and products including YouTube videos and Android software for mobile phones. The move, set to take effect March 1, would simplify conditions for user agreements, the company said. “The judge did not reach the merits of the EPIC complaint,” Marc Rotenberg , EPIC’s executive director, said in an e-mail. The group filed a notice of appeal with the court Friday. “We take our settlement orders very seriously, but only the FTC and not outside parties should be able to enforce them,” Claudia Bourne Farrell, a commission spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. Chris Gaither , a Google spokesman, said in an e- mailed statement that the new policy will make the company’s privacy practices easier to understand and reflects the company’s desire to create a “seamless experience” for its signed-in users. The case is Electronic Privacy Information Center v. Federal Trade Commission, 12-00206, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington). For more, click here. U.S. Attorney Seeks Jerry Sandusky Records From Penn State The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, subpoenaed records in the sexual-abuse case of former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. Penn State received the request around Feb. 2 from U.S. Attorney Peter J. Smith, said Lisa Powers, a spokeswoman for the university. Prosecutors are seeking information about Sandusky and The Second Mile charity he founded in 1977, the university, former Penn State President Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley and former senior vice president Gary Schultz. “The university is fully cooperating with this request for information,” Powers said in an e-mail Feb. 24. The subpoena requested information from 1998 to the present, as well as records of any payments by board members to the university or to third parties on the university’s behalf, Powers said in another e-mail. The subpoena also seeks reporting requirements of employers and staff relating to allegations of misconduct by staff or individuals associated with the university, Powers said. Nils Frederiksen, a spokesman for state Attorney General Linda Kelly, declined to comment on whether the subpoena is part of a joint investigation. Heidi Havens, a spokeswoman for Smith in Harrisburg, also declined to comment. Joseph Amendola, Sandusky’s attorney, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment. The Sandusky case is Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Sandusky, CP-14-2422-2011, Court of Common Pleas, Centre County, Pennsylvania (Bellefonte). New York Schools Can Be Used for Worship, U.S. Judge Says New York City said it will immediately appeal a Manhattan federal judge’s refusal to unblock the city’s ban of worship inside public school facilities. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska on Feb. 24 granted a request from the Bronx Household of Faith that will allow its members to continue meeting in a city public school on Sundays despite the city’s ban on the use of public schools for worship services. The legal battle dates to 1995, when the church sued the city. The church argued the city was violating the First Amendment by denying it use of a school while allowing other community groups access to campuses for their activities. Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan, overturning Preska’s 2007 decision in favor of the church, ruled that the city may prohibit religious groups from using school facilities outside of regular school hours for worship services. Preska has since issued orders allowing churches to worship at public schools, finding on other legal grounds that they have a right to do so. The latest ruling came Feb. 24 in a 51-page opinion. The case is Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of the City of New York, 01-cv-08598, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). For the latest lawsuits news, click here. Verdicts, Settlements and Pleas Monsanto Settles West Virginia Lawsuits Over Nitro Plant Monsanto Co. (MON) , the world’s biggest seed company, agreed to settle all pending litigation relating to dioxin contamination from a plant in Nitro, West Virginia, that produced Agent Orange herbicide decades ago. The settlements to the litigation, which include class- action lawsuits filed in the state, provide as much as $9 million to have 4,500 homes professionally cleaned, St. Louis- based Monsanto said Feb. 24 in a statement. Monsanto also will provide as much as $84 million over 30 years for medical monitoring of current and former residents, workers and students, and it will pay the community’s legal fees and court costs over the past seven years. The plant, which operated from 1929 to 2004 under various owners, produced Agent Orange, used during the Vietnam War to defoliate jungle vegetation. The process to make Agent Orange was found to produce dioxins , which are linked to cancer and other ailments. Monsanto hasn’t made Agent Orange since 1969. “We are please to resolve this matter and end any concerns about historic operations at the Nitro plant,” Scott Partridge, Monsanto counsel, said in the statement. “The settlements provide needed medical benefits and remediation services to the people of Nitro and broader community,” Stuart Caldwell, class counsel, said in the statement. California Investor Pleads Guilty in Bid-Rigging Scheme A California real estate investor admitted that he conspired to rig bids at foreclosure auctions, becoming the 10th person to plead guilty in a U.S. probe of the practice, authorities said. Wiley Chandler pleaded guilty in federal court in Sacramento, California, to conspiring with other real estate investors to rig bids at real estate foreclosure auctions in San Joaquin County, according to a Feb. 24 statement by the U.S. Justice Department and federal prosecutors in Sacramento. A defense attorney, Claudia Quiroz, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment on the plea. Nine others have pleaded guilty in a scheme that ran from September 2008 to at least October 2009, prosecutors said. The case is U.S. v. Chandler, 11-cr-00511, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California (Sacramento). Glaxo Has Right to Sell Generic Paxil CR, U.S. Judge Rules GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) has the right to sell an authorized copy of its Paxil CR antidepressant to Apotex Inc., a U.S. judge ruled, denying a bid by Mylan (MYL) Inc. to block such sales. Mylan (MYL) , the generic-drug company which signed a two-year licensing agreement in 2008 to market a copy of Paxil CR, claimed that Glaxo breached that contract by working with Toronto-based Apotex to sell a copy of the drug. U.S. District Judge Joel Pisano ruled that the agreement allowed Glaxo to sell generic Paxil CR to Apotex. The license was “clear and unambiguous” and that let London-based Glaxo choose whomever it wanted to work with, Pisano ruled Feb. 23 in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey. “The language plainly states that GSK may commence marketing and selling of authorized generic Paxil CR after Mylan’s two-year period of exclusivity,” Pisano ruled. “GSK did exactly that. It marketed and sold authorized generic Paxil CR to Apotex.” The case is Mylan Inc. v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., 10- cv-4809, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey (Trenton). Fairey Pleads Guilty to Criminal Count Involving Obama Image Shepard Fairey, the artist who created an iconic 2008 election poster of Barack Obama based on an Associated Press photo, pleaded guilty to criminal counts of destroying documents and manufacturing evidence. Fairey, 42, of Los Angeles , entered his plea Feb. 24 before Magistrate Judge Frank Maas in federal court in Manhattan, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in an e-mailed statement. Fairey faces as long as six months in prison. The criminal plea stems from a civil copyright case Fairey and AP settled last year, Geoffrey Stewart, Fairey’s lawyer in that case, said in an interview. Friday’s plea doesn’t jeopardize the settlement, Stewart said. Fairey “went to extreme lengths to obtain an unfair and illegal advantage in his civil litigation, creating fake documents and destroying others in an effort to subvert the civil discovery process,” Bharara said in the statement. Dan Gitner, Fairey’s lawyer in the criminal case, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment on the plea. In support of Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, Fairey made posters using a stylized likeness of the candidate with the words “Hope” and “Progress” below the images, relying on a photograph copyrighted by AP, according to the statement. The criminal case is U.S. v. Fairey, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). The civil case is Fairey v. Associated Press, 09-cv-01123, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). Ex-Flextronics Manager Walter Shimoon Settles Case With SEC Walter Shimoon, a former Flextronics International Ltd. (FLEX) executive who pleaded guilty last year to insider trading, has settled a related civil case with the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to court records. Shimoon won’t pay a civil penalty because he is cooperating with the agency’s investigation of insider trading, according to a filing Feb. 24 in federal court in Manhattan. He agreed to be “precluded from arguing” in the future that he didn’t violate federal securities laws. Shimoon pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy and securities fraud. At the time, Shimoon told a judge that he passed illegal tips to John Kinnucan, founder of Broadband Research LLC, while working as a consultant for Primary Global Research LLC and Broadband Research. Shimoon is also cooperating with prosecutors. Kinnucan, whose Portland, Oregon-based firm provides research on technology companies to hedge funds and mutual funds, was arrested on insider-trading charges last week. Henry Mazurek , Shimoon’s lawyer, declined to comment on the settlement. The case is U.S. v. Shimoon, 11-cv-753, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). For the latest verdict and settlement news, click here. New Suits Proview Sues Apple in U.S. Court Over 2009 IPAD Trademark Deal Proview International Holdings Ltd. (334) , seeking to block shipments of Apple Inc. (AAPL) ’s iPad tablet computer in and out of China , separately asked a court in California to stop the U.S. company from using IPAD trademarks. A December 2009 agreement in which a Proview unit agreed to sell IPAD trademarks to Apple’s IP Application Development Ltd. should be canceled, Proview said in a Feb. 17 filing to the California Superior Court in Santa Clara. IP Application made “false” statements to Proview in correspondence before the agreement, the filing said. Apple acquired Proview’s worldwide rights to the iPad trademark in 10 countries, including China, the Cupertino, California-based company said Feb. 14. Proview is refusing to honor an agreement with Apple in China, Apple said. Carolyn Wu, a Beijing-based spokeswoman at Apple, declined to comment on Proview’s U.S. lawsuit beyond the statement last week. Graham Robinson, an agent for IP Application, used the name Jonathan Hargreaves in correspondence with Proview before the Dec. 23, 2009 agreement to acquire all of Proview’s IPAD-related trademarks for 35,000 pounds ($55,267), the court filing said. Proview applied to China’s Customs Bureau to block exports as well as imports of the iPad tablet computer, Roger Xie, a lawyer for Proview, said last week. The case is Proview Electronics Co. v. Apple Inc. and IP Application Development, 12-cv-219219, California Superior Court, Santa Clara County. Kenneth Cole Sued Over Founder’s Bid to Take Company Private Kenneth Cole Productions Inc. (KCP) and its namesake founder were sued by a shareholder seeking to block a bid to take the shoe and clothing maker private. Astor BK Realty Trust accused the company, founder Kenneth D. Cole, Chief Executive Officer Paul Blum and four board members of breaching their fiduciary duties in the lawsuit filed Feb. 24 in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan. “The buyout is designed to unlawfully divest KCP’s stockholders of a large portion of the valuable assets of the company for inadequate consideration,” Astor said in the complaint. “Cole knows that the company possesses numerous assets that will continue to produce substantial revenue and earnings, which he wishes to keep for himself.” Kenneth Cole, who holds 47 percent of the New York-based company’s outstanding shares, offered to buy the remaining stake Feb. 24 in a deal that valued the business at $280 million. The bid of $15 a share is 15 percent more than the closing price on Feb. 23. A telephone message left at Kenneth Cole Productions headquarters seeking comment on the lawsuit wasn’t immediately returned. The case is Astor BK Realty Trust v. Cole, 650521/2012, New York State Supreme Court (Manhattan). For the latest new suits news, click here. For copies of recent civil complaints, click here. Court Filings The bankruptcy of Eastman Kodak Co. (EK) was the most-read docket on the Bloomberg Law system last week. On Feb. 15, the photography pioneer won a judge’s approval to borrow the full amount of a $950 million debt financing commitment that the company will use to support operations while it restructures. The company has also ended its sponsorship of the theater in Los Angeles where last night’s Oscars took place. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper in Manhattan approved a request to end the sponsorship agreement to save money as the company restructures. Kodak pays $3.6 million a year and had $38 million in payments left on the contract, Pauline Morgan, a Kodak lawyer, said in court. The case is In re Eastman Kodak Co., 12-10202, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan) To contact the reporter on this story: Ellen Rosen in New York at erosen14@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net .

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Central Florida Gets Postseason Ban, $50,000 Fine From NCAA

The University of Central Florida was banned from the football and men’s basketball postseason this year and is on probation through 2017 because it knowingly allowed third parties to recruit and make cash payments to athletes, college sports’ governing body said. Two representatives provided more than $16,000 to three recruits and two current student in cash, tuition, a laptop computer and free travel, according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association. One person had so much contact with recruits that the parents thought he was a coach for the university, the NCAA said in a statement. The Orlando , Florida-based school was cited for a lack of institutional control , fined $50,000, stripped of five football scholarships and two men’s basketball scholarships for three years, had recruiting days reduced and some men’s basketball victories wiped out. The NCAA’s said former Athletic Director Keith Tribble “claimed that he was not aware of recruiting rules and did not know he was engaging in impermissible activity.” “As the leader of the athletics department, it is incumbent upon the director of athletics to know basic rules governing the Association,” according to the NCAA’s Division I Committee on Infractions, which heard the case. The NCAA said men’s basketball coach Donnie Jones didn’t monitor, discourage or ask questions about the activities of the third parties. He was already suspended for three conference games without pay by the university. He’s been barred from off- campus recruiting during the July evaluation periods in 2013 and received a three-year show-cause order, which means the university has to show the NCAA why he shouldn’t be restricted from recruiting. Coaches’ Duties “A head coach is not required to investigate wrongdoing, but is expected to recognize potential NCAA violations, address them and report them to the athletics administration,” the NCAA said in a statement. Tribble and assistant football coach David Kelly tried to deceive investigators, according to the NCAA. Both have resigned. To contact the reporter on this story: Curtis Eichelberger in Wilmington, Delaware at ceichelberge@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Schroders Falls Most Since 2009 on Analyst Estimate Miss

Schroders Plc (SDR) , the U.K.’s biggest publicly traded fund manager, fell the most since January 2009 in London trading after missing some analysts’ earnings and revenue estimates for the first quarter. Pretax profit rose 11 percent to 103.8 million pounds ($171.1 million) from a year earlier. Revenue increased 5.9 percent to 292 million pounds, London-based Schroders said in a statement today. The money manager lured net inflows of 2.8 billion pounds from institutions and 200 million pounds from individual investors in the period, 68 percent less than in the year-earlier quarter. Uncertainty over European sovereign debt crisis, rising inflation, the prospect of higher interest rates and concern that the strength of the global economic recovery is prompting individual investors to hang onto cash until market trends become clearer. “The cause of the weakness is lower-than-expected revenue margins at the asset-management operations,” Barclays Capital analyst Daniel Garrod, who rates the shares “underweight,” said in a note to clients. “A negative product-mix effect is what we expected at Schroders, but the impact this quarter is more dramatic than expected.” Shares Decline The shares fell 9.2 percent, or 172 pence, to 1,700 pence, the biggest decline since Jan. 14, 2009, and the lowest since March 17 this year. The stock was the worst performer in the FTSE 100 Index (UKX) today. The shares have fallen 8.4 percent this year, giving the company a market value of 4.68 billion pounds. Pretax profit was 7 million pounds lower than estimated, Garrod said. Revenue was 7 percent lower than he had estimated, while fee margins of 55 basis points were two basis points lower than he had expected. One basis point is 0.01 percentage point. “Retail investors are sitting on quite a lot of cash,” Schroders Chief Executive Officer Michael Dobson said in an interview. “They will move back into the market once a bit of a trend establishes itself.” Funds under management rose 2.4 percent in the quarter to 201.4 billion pounds, the first time they have topped 200 billion pounds. To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Woodifield in Edinburgh at pwoodifield@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Colin Keatinge at ckeatinge@bloomberg.net .

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

M&A Isn’t Likely to Stage ‘Major’ Recovery Yet, Shafir Says

Mergers and acquisitions probably aren’t at the start of a “major” recovery because of economic uncertainty, even amid the planned takeovers of companies such as Dell Inc. (DELL) and H.J. Heinz Co., said Mark Shafir, global co- head of M&A at Citigroup Inc. (C) While the strong start to the year raised expectations, economic and geopolitical concerns persist, according to a presentation by Shafir at Tulane University’s Corporate Law Institute Conference in New Orleans. U.S. spending cuts, leadership changes in China, and sovereign debt problems in Europe have made corporations skittish about big deals, he said. “We are not getting the feeling we are in a sustained upturn,” Shafir said. “March is a bit disconcerting.” Still, M&A performance in the fourth and first quarters show that the right circumstances are in place for dealmaking to accelerate, he said. Shafir, 57, was among the bankers who counseled Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) on its agreement last year to sell a 70 percent stake to Japan’s Softbank Corp. (9984) for more than $20 billion. There have been more than $420 billion in deals announced so far this quarter, including the Dell acquisition and Warren Buffett ’s proposal to buy ketchup maker Heinz with 3G Capital, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The previous quarter yielded $713.6 billion, the strongest period for M&A in more than four years. ‘Underwhelming’ Confidence Based on prior M&A cycles, there should be more deal activity, Shafir said, citing corporate and political uncertainty and “underwhelming” confidence due to macroeconomic and geopolitical concerns. “Are we going to see more mega LBOs? I am still skeptical,” he said. “Dell is an unusual situation. There is a strong desire to do it, but I am not convinced we are going back to seeing mega LBOs.” Separately, an unexpected increase in interest rates could pose another threat to mergers, he said. Central banks have pumped some $9.3 trillion of credit into the market place. When rates increased in 1994, fixed income investors suffered. This is because when interest rates increase, bond prices decline. “How do you clean up this liquidity without massive disruption in the bond markets?” he said. To contact the reporters on this story: Matthew Monks in New York at mmonks1@bloomberg.net ; Jeffrey McCracken in New York at jmccracken3@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jeffrey McCracken at jmccracken3@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Astrazeneca Said to Pay $2 Million in First Settlements of Seroquel Suits

AstraZeneca Plc agreed to pay $2 million to settle more than 200 cases over its antipsychotic drug Seroquel in the first resolution of lawsuits alleging the medicine causes diabetes, people familiar with the accords said. The settlement, which provides an average payout of more than $10,000 per case, came as the result of a U.S. court- ordered mediation involving 26,000 cases filed against London- based AstraZeneca over Seroquel, the people said. “It should come as no surprise to investors and we’ve seen Eli Lilly settle on the very same issue with their competitor product, Zyprexa,” Gbola Amusa , an analyst at UBS AG, said yesterday in an interview. “The amount of the settlement implies a very low liability, much lower than the $1 billion to $2 billion range we expected a couple years ago.” AstraZeneca’s decision to begin settling Seroquel claims comes as the U.K.’s second-largest drugmaker’s London shares surged to a three-year high last month after a judge upheld a patent on the company’s Crestor cholesterol pill. U.S. District Judge Joseph Farnan in Delaware concluded June 30 the patent on Crestor’s active ingredient is valid and enforceable until 2016. AstraZeneca officials declined to comment on the settlement of the 200 Seroquel cases or the mediation ordered by a federal judge in Florida who was overseeing all federal-court litigation over the antipsychotic drug. ‘In Good Faith’ “AstraZeneca continues to participate in good faith in the court-ordered mediation process,” Tony Jewell , a company spokesman, said in an interview. “The mediator has asked the parties to maintain the confidentiality of those discussions. AstraZeneca will honor the mediator’s request.” Lawrence J. Gornick , a San Francisco lawyer who represented the more than 200 former Seroquel users whose cases are being settled, didn’t return calls for comment on the accords. AstraZeneca’s American depositary receipts, each representing one ordinary share, rose 98 cents, or 2 percent, to $49.21 at 12:32 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The company’s London share rose 37.5 pence, or 1.2 percent to 3,223 pence today. Some of Gornick’s cases were filed in state courts in New Jersey and Delaware while others had been consolidated with other federal suits before U.S. District Judge Anne Conway in Orlando, Florida, the people familiar with the settlements said. Case Consolidation Since 2006, Conway has overseen the federal cases during pre-trial evidence gathering, part of the Multi-District Litigation program intended to save money by streamlining document exchanges and avoiding duplication. In November, Conway said she would recommend that the panel of judges who oversaw case consolidations return the suits to their home courts. The panel has issued several orders over the past two months to send the cases back, according to court filings. AstraZeneca won the first Seroquel case to go to trial after a New Jersey jury ruled in March that the drugmaker properly warned a Vietnam veteran’s doctors about the diabetes risk posed by the antipsychotic drug. A Delaware judge also has thrown out three Seroquel cases that were set for trial, saying plaintiffs can’t produce enough credible evidence that Seroquel causes diabetes to present their claims to a jury. Conway also ordered lawyers for AstraZeneca and former Seroquel users in November to meet with Stephen Saltzburg , a George Washington University Law School professor, who is serving as a mediator in the case. ‘Magic Wand’ Saltzburg noted in a February court filing AstraZeneca faces as many as 26,000 lawsuits over the antipsychotic drug and that a global settlement of the claims wasn’t in the cards. “I wish there were a magic wand that could be waved to settle all Seroquel cases instantly,” Saltzburg said in the filing. “Such wand does not exist.” Gornick met with Saltzburg earlier this month to discuss settling cases and agreed to resolve them for an average of more than $10,000 apiece, the people said. The settlement indicates some plaintiffs’ lawyers are questioning the strength of their Seroquel claims, Carl Tobias , a professor at University of Richmond Law School who teaches classes on mass-tort law, said in an interview. “It also may be a reflection of the difficulty the plaintiffs are having in getting these cases to trial,” Tobias said. “The plaintiffs have to be asking themselves after the New Jersey trial whether they can win one of these.” ‘Seeking More Cases’ Lawyers for former Seroquel users counter studies show the drug causes diabetes and the progression of the disease increases the potential damages in the cases. “We are actively seeking more cases and will be litigating these cases for years to come,” Paul Pennock , a Manhattan-based lawyer who represented the Vietnam veteran whose claims were rejected in the first Seroquel trial earlier this year, said in an e-mailed statement. The average recoveries in other product-liability settlements have been much more lucrative, Tobias noted. Lawyers representing families claiming GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s Paxil antidepressant caused birth defects in children recovered more than $1 billion in settlements for more than 800 cases, people familiar with those accords said earlier this week. Off-Label Settlements That generated an average recovery of more than $1.2 million per family, the people said. Lilly, who makes the competing antipsychotic drug Zyprexa, has paid more $2.9 billion so far to settle more than 30,000 suits alleging the medicine causes diabetes and government allegations that Lilly illegally marketed the pills for off- label uses and downplayed side effects. In April, AstraZeneca agreed to pay $520 million to resolve federal regulators claims the company illegally marketed Seroquel for off-label uses. Under U.S. law, a doctor can prescribe a medicine for any condition so long as it’s approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for one ailment. Drug companies, however, aren’t allowed to promote a drug for uses other than those specified by regulators. The consolidated Seroquel case is In Re Seroquel Products Litigation, 06-MD- 01769, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida (Orlando). To contact the reporter on this story: Jef Feeley in Wilmington, Delaware, at jfeeley@bloomberg.net. AstraZeneca Plc is said to have agreed to pay $2 million to settle more than 200 cases over its drug Seroquel. Photographer: JB Reed/Bloomberg //<![CDATA[ $(document).ready(function () { $(".view_story #story_content .attachments img.small_img").each(function(){ var self = $(this); if (self.width() != 190){ self.width(190); } }); }); //]]>

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Meningitis-Linked Co. Didn’t Have Prescriptions, Reuters Says

New England Compounding Center, a pharmacy linked to a fatal, 12-state meningitis outbreak, sold medication without gaining individual proof of prescriptions, Reuters reported, citing e-mails it obtained. More than a dozen e-mails also showed the Framingham, Massachusetts-based company sought to win bulk orders from physicians, the news service said. Both actions seem to support regulators’ statements that rules were violated, Reuters said. The e-mails also show that NECC referred business between it and a neurosurgery clinic in Mississippi to a sister company, Ameridose LLC, Reuters said. Ameridose earlier this week said the two companies operated separately, Reuters said. There have been 185 confirmed cases of meningitis caused by fungal contamination traced to vials from NECC that mixed a steroid shot and sold it to 75 hospitals and clinics in 23 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today. Fourteen people have died from the infection, the CDC said. The drug, used to treat neck and back pain, was contaminated during the mixing process. New England Compounding Center didn’t immediately respond to a voicemail message left by Bloomberg News seeking comment, and calls to Ameridose went unanswered. A representative for both companies declined to comment to Reuters. To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Hart in Washington at dahart@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Sylvia Wier at swier@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Fortress's Levinson to Lead Asia Expansion in Buyout Firm's Singapore Move

Fortress Investment Group LLC ’s Adam Levinson , co-chief investment officer of global macro funds, will move to Singapore to lead the New York-based buyout and hedge-fund firm’s expansion in Asia. Fortress will have an investment team of about 10 people in its new office in the city-state, Levinson, 40, said in an Oct. 1 interview from New York. He will start working in Singapore early next year. The firm, whose stock has dropped 81 percent since it went public in 2007 before the buyout market froze, will consider launching an Asia-focused macro fund as early as next year, according to Levinson. The shares were up 25 percent in the third quarter. Macro funds seek to profit from broad economic trends by trading currencies, bonds, stocks and commodities. Global managers such as New York-based Soros Fund Management LLC, founded by billionaire George Soros , and London’s Algebris Investments LLP are establishing presences in Asia for the first time or, like Fortress, returning as the region’s economic growth outpaces the rest of the world. Government of Singapore Investment Corp., which oversees more than $100 billion of reserves, said Sept. 29 that Asia will contribute half of global economic expansion this year. “The opening of our Singapore office underscores our long- term commitment to the Asia markets and our pursuit of disciplined strategic growth in the region,” Fortress Chief Executive Officer Daniel Mudd said in the same interview. Buyout Targets Fortress closed its Hong Kong office, which was headed by Stanley Ku , at the end of 2008, as the global financial crisis forced investment firms and banks to cut back Asian operations. Fortress, which managed $41.7 billion as of June 30, is considering making more private-equity investments in the region, said Mudd, 52. It also plans to seek more assets from Asian investors as the fund-raising environment has improved, he said. The Singapore office will be a “key hub of the firm’s investment and business development activities in Asia,” Fortress said in a statement. The firm also has offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Rome and Sydney. Levinson will lead Fortress’s Asia-specific macro-trading activities from the Singapore office, according to the firm. Michael Novogratz , co-chief investment officer of macro funds and a Fortress principal, will still be based in New York. The macro funds had assets of $3.1 billion as of June 30. The Fortress Macro Offshore Fund LP returned 2.3 percent after fees in the first half, while the Drawbridge Global Macro Fund Ltd. gained 2.1 percent. Fortress plans to trade more Asian securities, Levinson said. ‘Real Time’ Opportunities “The Asia region has long been a major focus of our liquid-markets business, and we believe the region will continue to present attractive opportunities for us to leverage our global-macro capabilities,” Levinson said. Hedge funds are drawn to the high economic growth in Asia and “pricing inefficiencies” that offer arbitrage trading opportunities in the region’s equity, bond and derivative markets, said Frank Brochin , managing director at New York-based StoneWater Capital LLC, which invests in Asian hedge funds. “There’s something to be said for being there in real time,” Levinson said. “It makes our existing business better and it presents an opportunity to create an Asia-focused business.” Levinson, who joined Fortress in 2002, serves on the firm’s operating and management committees. He was previously a fund manager at Paul Tudor Jones ’s Tudor Investment Corp. and a proprietary trader at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., spending nine years in the bank’s Hong Kong, Tokyo and London offices managing portfolios focused on Group-of-10 and emerging-market risk, according to the statement. New Plan Ku was the firm’s only manager in Hong Kong when that office was closed two years ago. The decision “didn’t represent any long-term view around the region,” Levinson said. The plan with the Singapore office is “substantively different,” Mudd said. “It’s building an office around a core set of Fortress capabilities, with the leadership of a senior person in the middle of it.” The firm hasn’t reported a profit under generally accepted accounting principles since March 2007, shortly after its initial public offering. Fortress’s pretax distributable earnings, which exclude some compensation costs and other items, rose 24 percent to $73 million in the second quarter as the stock-market recovery boosted assets and fees. To diversify revenue and add traditional assets, Mudd agreed in February to buy Logan Circle Partners LP for about $21 million. The purchase of the fixed-income manager from Guggenheim Partners LLC added $11.5 billion in assets. Fortress is “cautious” about making any acquisitions in Asia as it will focus on building its Singapore operation, Mudd said. “If there’s any other strategy that comes further down the road, we’ll know that better in a year,” he said. To contact the reporter on this story: Netty Ismail in Singapore nismail3@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andreea Papuc at apapuc1@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Dubai Oil Rises to Three-Year High; SK Sells to Mercuria, Shell

Dubai (PGCRDUBA) crude rose for a fourth day to the highest price since August 2008. The Middle East benchmark increased 61 cents to $122.01, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. That is the highest since Aug. 4, 2008. The rise comes as South Korea ’s SK Innovation Co. (096770) sold 175,000 barrels of Dubai crude in the Platts pricing window, bringing its total sales in February to 925,000 barrels, according to a survey of traders who monitor the market. SK sold seven 25,000 barrel Dubai partial cargoes. Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) bought three for $122.50 a barrel each. Mercuria Energy Trading SA paid $122.50 for two and $122.55 for a third. Vitol Group purchased one for $122.40 a barrel. Dubai crude’s backwardation, when the price for prompt deliveries is greater than for later shipments, rose 2 cents. Swaps for March were $1.92 cents a barrel more than in May, according to data from PVM Oil Associates Ltd., a London-based broker. The price difference, known as a timespread, has more than doubled since the start of the month, a sign of stronger short-term refiner demand for oil. The April Brent-Dubai (PVMMDBSP) exchange for swaps, which measures the European benchmark contract against the Persian Gulf grade, fell 5 cents to $3.72 a barrel, the third day of declines, according to PVM data. The May contract was down 4 cents to $3.67. Oman futures for April fell rose 84 cents to $122.56 a barrel on the Dubai Mercantile Exchange at 6:53 p.m. Singapore time, with 1,490 contracts traded. The settlement price was $123.13 at 12:30 p.m. in Dubai. To contact the reporter on this story: Ramsey Al-Rikabi in Singapore at ralrikabi@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

InterContinental Greater China Sales to Grow Strongly, Region Chief Says

InterContinental Hotels Group Plc , owner of the Holiday Inn brand, said revenue in the greater China region will grow “significantly” in the next five years as the company doubles its number of rooms. InterContinental, the world’s largest hotelier by rooms, plans to add about 50,000 rooms in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan in the next three to five years, Keith Barr , managing director for the region, said in a phone interview from Hong Kong today. The Denham, England-based company gets about $1 billion in annual revenue from the region, he said. He didn’t specify how much sales will increase. Asia-Pacific will probably surpass North America in hotel sales by 2014 with China expected to grow the most, according to London-based market research firm Euromonitor. InterContinental, greater China’s largest hotel operator, has 15 percent of the region’s branded room market and 28 percent of its “pipeline,” Barr said. Greater China was InterContinental’s strongest performing region in the first half, with revenue per available room, or revpar, growing 29 percent, the company said Aug. 10. Expansion gained momentum in 2005 and has been helped by government urbanization plans and rising prosperity, Barr said. Availability of capital to fund new hotel openings is less of a problem in the region than in western markets, Barr said. InterContinental, which franchises, leases and manages hotels, owns fewer than 20 sites throughout the world. InterContinental, which owns the Hotel Indigo and Crown Plaza brands, has 132 hotels in greater China with 148 in development, Barr said. The company is evaluating whether to add a new brand in the region. The company signed contracts yesterday to open four hotels, or 700 rooms, in Xiamen, China, Taipei and Hong Kong. To contact the reporter on this story: Armorel Kenna in Milan at akenna@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Celeste Perri at cperri@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Opt-Out Possibility on Airline Battery-Fire Rule Offered

Regulators are considering an about- face that would exempt U.S. cargo airlines from new international restrictions on shipping lithium batteries , which have been linked to three fires that destroyed aircraft. Groups representing airlines, pilots and electronic-device makers said they were surprised by the notice , which will be filed Jan. 7 in the Federal Register. They didn’t oppose the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s proposal last year to harmonize U.S. rules with the international standard. “We thought everything was set for a final rule at the end of December,” George Kerchner, executive director of the Rechargeable Battery Association, said in an interview. The organization is a Washington-based trade group representing companies such as Panasonic Corp. (6752) and General Motors Co. (GM) “We are a little disappointed that this is the direction they are going because it slows down the whole harmonization process,” Kerchner said. In 2010, the U.S. regulator proposed rules more restrictive than the United Nations ’ International Civil Aviation Organization ’s standards, which took effect Jan. 1. No Opposition Congress blocked the proposed rules, inserting a provision in a bill to prohibit standards stricter than the UN’s, after they were opposed by industry trade groups and firms such as Apple Inc. The agency then proposed in April 2012 to adopt the international rules and received no opposition, according to government records. Battery shippers and airlines can voluntarily adopt the international standards, Jeannie Layson, a spokeswoman for the hazardous materials regulator, said in an e-mail statement. The agency determined it needed additional feedback before acting, Layson said. In its notice, PHMSA posed a series of questions, such as whether keeping existing requirements would cause confusion. Lithium batteries, which power electronic devices including laptop computers and smartphones, can be shipped on U.S. cargo planes with few restrictions today. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has barred passenger planes from transporting non-rechargeable lithium batteries since 2004 because, if they catch fire, flames can’t be stopped by cargo-compartment extinguishers. The UN rules adopted Jan. 1 require all but the smallest lithium shipments to be labeled as hazardous and that cargo haulers, such as FedEx Corp. (FDX) and United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) , train employees on handling the batteries. Current U.S. regulations don’t have such requirements. Higher Risk American carriers would be at higher risk than foreign cargo carriers if allowed to follow U.S. rules, said Mark Rogers, who leads hazardous-materials-handling issues for the Air Line Pilots Association union. “We would have a situation where domestically we could fly around with thousands of lithium batteries on board without the pilots even being aware of their presence,” Rogers said in an interview. “They are backing off without any reasonable opposition” to the international standards. ALPA represents more than 50,000 pilots in North America. The agency’s notice undercuts cargo safety, Robert Travis, president of the Independent Pilots Association, which represents UPS’s pilots, said in an e-mailed statement. “Its new plan to allow air carriers to pick and choose their own regulation on the domestic carriage of lithium cells and batteries is a bad idea,” he said. Tougher Standard Cargo carriers also favor adopting the tougher standard so they don’t have to train their staffs to adhere to different rules around the world, Stephen Alterman, president of the Cargo Airline Association, said in an interview. In addition to FedEx and UPS, the Washington-based group represents Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc. (AAWW) and Air Transport Services Group Inc. (ATSG) ’s ABX Air. While ALPA was disappointed that ICAO’s rules didn’t go further, it views the international standards as better than the current U.S. regulations, Rogers said. ALPA represents pilots at FedEx. Three pilots on a UPS Boeing Co. (BA) DC-8 were forced to land with a fire burning on Feb. 7, 2006, in Philadelphia, a U.S. National Transportation Safety Board investigation found. The jet contained “numerous” lithium batteries in computers and other devices, according to the NTSB. The investigation, which focused on batteries, was unable to determine the cause of the fire. Aircraft Fires A UPS Boeing 747-400 caught fire 22 minutes after it left Dubai on Sept. 3, 2010, and crashed as pilots attempted to return. Both pilots died. The jet was was carrying more than 81,000 lithium batteries, according to a preliminary report by the General Civil Aviation Authority of the United Arab Emirates. An Asiana Airlines Inc. (020560) 747-400 went down into the China Sea on July 28, 2011, after pilots reported a cargo fire. Both pilots died. It also was carrying a large quantity of batteries, according to an NTSB recommendation Nov. 28 calling for enhanced fire protections. To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Levin in Washington at alevin24@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Bernard Kohn at bkohn2@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

U.S. Home Entertainment Spending Dips 1.5% on Falling DVD Sales

U.S. consumers trimmed their spending on home entertainment by 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter, cutting outlays on DVDs for rental and purchase. Spending totaled $5.66 billion in the final three months of 2012, down from $5.74 billion a year earlier, the Hollywood- backed Digital Entertainment Group said today in a statement. For the year, spending rose 0.2 percent to $18 billion, the Los Angeles-based group said. Studios have been counting on growth in digital sales, streaming services and Blu-ray discs to counter faltering purchases and rentals of traditional DVDs. For the quarter, consumer outlays on downloads, video on demand and subscription services increased 25 percent to $1.49 billion, the group said. They rose 28 percent for the year. Subscription DVD services shrank by 31 percent for the quarter and 28 percent for the year, while store rentals fell 5.1 percent and 24 percent in the periods, respectively. Kiosk rentals grew at a slower pace of 7.8 percent in the final three months, compared with 16 percent for the year. Spending on DVDs continued to tumble. While Blu-ray purchases increased almost 10 percent for the year, total spending on packaged media slumped 5.5 percent, the group said. To contact the reporter on this story: Rob Golum in Los Angeles at rgolum@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

MICROTIPS TECHNO June Sales Fall 18.66% (Table) : 3285 TT

MICROTIPS TECHNO said unconsolidated sales in June fell 18.66% to NT$85,788,000 from NT$105,472,000, according to a statement filed to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. (Figures are in thousands of New Taiwan dollars) ================================================================= 6/2012 6/2011 Sales 85,788 105,472 YOY% -18.66% -----------------Year-to-date----------------- Sales 507,977 526,346 YOY% -3.49% =================================================================

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Formosa Petrochemical Buys 75,000 Tons of Naphtha for February

Formosa Petrochemical Corp. (6505) bought 75,000 metric tons of naphtha for delivery from the end of February to March 10 to Mailiao, Taiwan , according to three traders who participate in the market and declined to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak to the media. Details are as follow: To contact the reporter on this story: Ann Koh in Singapore at akoh15@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Geithner Vows to Press for Writedowns for Underwater Home Loans

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner , twice rebuffed, is vowing to try a third time to persuade the Federal Housing Finance Agency to allow principal forgiveness on mortgages backed by Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac. (FMCC) “I urge you to reconsider this decision,” Geithner wrote to FHFA Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco, who yesterday announced that Treasury Department financial incentives would not be enough to make it financially worthwhile for the two taxpayer-owned companies to write down debt on troubled loans. DeMarco’s decision came three months after an April speech in which he signaled that he believed the technique would not work and could encourage additional defaults. Geithner yesterday offered technical assistance should DeMarco change his mind. “Treasury stands ready to provide any additional analytical support to make a targeted principal reduction program at the GSEs successful,” he wrote to DeMarco. DeMarco yesterday made it clear that he doesn’t plan to change his mind, a decision hailed by housing analysts as good for the market. “This should be positive for housing by taking off the table the threat of a wave of defaults by borrowers looking to get principal reduction,” Jaret Seiberg , senior policy analyst at Guggenheim Partners, wrote in a note to investors. Months of analysis showed there would be no clear benefit to taxpayers if the Federal Housing Finance Agency changed its policy barring the government-owned mortgage-finance companies from loan modifications including debt writedowns, DeMarco said at a briefing with reporters in Washington yesterday. “We concluded the potential benefit was too small and uncertain relative to unknown costs and risks,” DeMarco said. Under Pressure The decision follows months of pressure to reverse the policy from activist groups and congressional Democrats, who touted it as a way to keep more families from losing their homes to foreclosure. FHFA has been in talks since January with Treasury officials, who offered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as much as 63 cents for each dollar of principal reduction, using unspent funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. DeMarco released a detailed analysis showing that under most scenarios, even while there might be a net benefit to the government-sponsored enterprises, taxpayers would lose money because they would be funding the program through the Treasury. DeMarco’s stand and Geithner’s response reflect tension between FHFA, an independent agency, and President Barack Obama ’s Democratic administration, which has pushed to expand aid for more than 11 million borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth in the wake of the 2008 credit crisis. Limited Success The administration has had limited success in spurring loan modifications through an overlapping set of programs. Although the administration originally sought to assist about 9 million borrowers, the two main federal programs have reached by 2.2 million. In his letter, Geithner argued that writedowns would extend relief to more homeowners. “I do not believe it is the best decision for the country,” Geithner wrote. “The use of targeted principal reductions by the GSEs would provide much-needed help to a significant number of troubled homeowners.” Republican lawmakers praised DeMarco for resisting such pressure. “The administration put incredible political pressure on Director DeMarco, and he deserves praise for standing up for the best interests of the American people,” said Representative Spencer Bachus , an Alabama Republican and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. “The administration’s foreclosure mitigation plans have not and do not work.” Yesterday’s announcement underscored DeMarco’s reputation for independence, said Tim Rood, managing director of the Collingwood Group, a Washington-based consulting firm. “You’ve got to give the guy credit for being a steward of the taxpayer dollars, and he should be a shining example for other politicians,” Rood said in a telephone interview. “The best decision is not always the easiest decision.” Investors Pleased DeMarco drew praise from investor and banking groups, who said debt writedowns would make lenders more reluctant to provide credit to borrowers who show default risk , and scorn from homeowner advocates, some of whom called for his firing. “It is incomprehensible that Mr. DeMarco would reject the chance to save up to a billion dollars in taxpayer funds while helping nearly half a million homeowners,” said Representative Elijah E. Cummings, a Maryland Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “He should immediately withdraw this reckless and misguided letter.” Julian Mann, who helps oversee $5.94 billion in bonds as a vice president at Los Angeles-based First Pacific Advisors LLC, said he was pleased. “DeMarco is doing the right thing, looking after the taxpayer and recognizing that these measures don’t perceptibly move the needle when trying to floor the housing market,” Mann said. “It’s a relief both as an investor and as a homeowner.” Gaining Popularity Principal writedowns are gaining popularity in modifications of loans backed by lenders and private investors. About 10 percent of such modifications now involve writedowns, according to data from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The technique may work better for private investors because they can choose which loans are eligible, an almost impossible task for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who are dealing with more than 1,000 different loan servicers, DeMarco said. Fannie Mae, based in Washington, and Freddie Mac of McLean, Virginia , have drawn almost $190 billion in Treasury aid since they were taken under U.S. conservatorship in 2008 amid loan losses that pushed them to the brink of insolvency. The analysis, which builds on a study FHFA released in April, looked at the costs and benefits of reducing principal on troubled loans under different scenarios, including how many eligible borrowers would participate and the ratio of their debt to income. In addition, DeMarco said, the administrative costs of the program could reach $90 million. Encouraging Defaults Like previous FHFA analyses, the most recent data predicted that loan forgiveness would create new costs for the taxpayer- funded firms by encouraging defaults among borrowers who have kept making payments even though they owe more than their homes are worth. Three out of every four so-called underwater borrowers with GSE loans are current. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have completed 1.1 million loan modifications since the end of 2008 and have engaged in more than 1 million other transactions to avert foreclosures, including short sales or repayment plans. Fannie Mae’s 3 percent, 30-year securities rose 0.18 percent to 104.09 cents on the dollar as of 4:46 p.m. in New York , according to data compiled by Bloomberg. To contact the reporter on this story: Clea Benson in Washington at cbenson20@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Maura Reynolds at mreynolds34@bloomberg.net

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MERIDA INDUSTRY June Sales Rise 34.47% (Table) : 9914 TT

MERIDA INDUSTRY said unconsolidated sales in June rose 34.47% to NT$945,157,000 from NT$702,881,000, according to a statement filed to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. (Figures are in thousands of New Taiwan dollars) ================================================================= 6/2011 6/2010 Sales 945,157 702,881 YOY% 34.47% -----------------Year-to-date----------------- Sales 5,796,177 5,047,925 YOY% 14.82% =================================================================

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U.S. Stocks Rise as ECB Cuts Rate, Jobless Claims Fall

U.S. stocks rose, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a record high, as the European Central Bank cut its key interest rate and American jobless claims unexpectedly fell. Chevron Corp. and Caterpillar Inc. rallied more than 1.4 percent to pace gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Facebook Inc. (FB) added 5.6 percent as the operator of the world’s largest social network reported sales that topped projections. General Motors Co. (GM) rose 3.3 percent as it narrowed its loss in Europe. MetLife Inc. and Prudential Financial Inc. climbed more than 4.1 percent after the insurers’ earnings beat forecasts. The S&P 500 rose 0.9 percent to 1,597.59 in New York , erasing yesterday’s drop. The Dow gained 130.63 points, or 0.9 percent, to 14,831.58. About 6 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges today, 4.7 percent below the three-month average. “The ECB did the minimum it needed to do,” Michael Strauss , who helps oversee about $25 billion of assets as chief investment strategist at Commonfund Group in Wilton, Connecticut , said by telephone. “Are they way behind the curve? Yes, but it at least showed that they’re recognizing the economic deterioration in the euro zone. The announcement was widely expected but on the margin it provided some help and the jobless claims data provided some help.” ECB policy makers meeting in Bratislava lowered the main refinancing rate to 0.5 percent from 0.75 percent, a move predicted by 45 of 70 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. “Our monetary policy will remain accommodative for as long as needed” and officials “will monitor very closely all incoming information” in the months ahead, ECB President Mario Draghi said at a press conference. He said the ECB will continue to lend banks as much money as they need at least until mid-2014. Stock futures pared gains early in the day after Draghi said policy makers had an open mind on a negative deposit rate. Bull Market The S&P 500 lost 0.9 percent yesterday, the biggest drop in two weeks, as U.S. payrolls and manufacturing grew less than forecast. The bull market has entered its fifth year as the S&P 500 surged 136 percent from a 12-year low in 2009, driven by better-than-expected corporate earnings and three rounds of bond purchases by the Federal Reserve. The Fed said yesterday it will keep buying bonds at a monthly pace of $85 billion while standing ready to raise or lower purchases as the economy changes. The number of Americans filing claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly dropped to the lowest level in more than five years, according to Labor Department figures. Other data today showed the productivity of U.S. workers rose in the first quarter as companies focused on containing labor expenses. Jobs Report A report tomorrow is projected to show U.S. unemployment stayed at 7.6 percent in April, while payrolls rose 145,000, compared with an increase of 88,000 the prior month, according to the median estimates of economists in a Bloomberg survey. “The key thing that you need to make people feel OK is to simply add jobs and ideally lower the unemployment rate ,” Ethan Anderson, senior portfolio manager for Rehmann Financial in Grand Rapids , Michigan , said by phone. His firm manages about $2 billion. “It’s looking like the goldilocks type of scenario where the economy grows, but not too fast for the Fed to stop helping, but not too slow to impede earnings growth.” Earnings Season Of the 384 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results so far, 73 percent exceeded analysts’ earnings predictions while 53 percent missed on sales, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Profit at S&P 500 companies rose 1.1 percent in the first three months of the year, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Nine out of the 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 advanced today as technology, energy and industrial companies rose the most, climbing at least 1.2 percent. The Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index added 0.9 percent and the Dow Jones Transportation Average increased 1 percent. An S&P gauge of homebuilders jumped 3.5 percent. Chevron, the second-largest U.S. energy company, gained 1.5 percent to $122.04. Caterpillar, the biggest maker of mining machinery, climbed 1.4 percent to $84.26. Facebook advanced 5.6 percent to $28.97. First-quarter sales surged 38 percent to $1.46 billion, a sign that Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg is making headway in a drive to make more money from mobile advertising. Profit excluding certain items was 12 cents a share, compared with an average analyst prediction of 13 cents. GM Gains General Motors (GM) gained 3.3 percent to $31.16. The automaker, after losing more than $18 billion in Europe since 1999, narrowed its first-quarter loss in the region, outpacing Ford Motor Co. and helping it beat analysts’ earnings estimates. MetLife added 4.1 percent to $39.97. The largest U.S. life insurer reported a first-quarter profit compared with a year- earlier loss as Chief Executive Officer Steven Kandarian expands outside the U.S. Kandarian is searching for customers in faster- growing economies and reducing expenses as slow expansion in the company’s main markets weighs on results. Prudential rose 7 percent to $63.41. The No. 2 U.S. life insurer also posted results that exceeded analysts’ estimates. Visa (V) Inc. climbed 5.7 percent to a record $175.40. The biggest payments network posted a quarterly profit that beat analysts’ estimates as spending on credit and debit cards rose. Gilead Sciences Inc. rose 4.1 percent to $52.18. The company is moving its experimental drug combination against hepatitis C into a late-stage trial after it cured 95 percent of patients who used the medicine for eight weeks. ‘Touching Ground’ Expeditors (EXPD) International of Washington Inc. climbed 4.8 percent to $37.03. The manager of cargo ships posted a second consecutive quarterly increase in airfreight tonnage during the first three months of the year and said the company had “a strong finish” in March. “After having swum in deep waters for so long, it’s somewhat invigorating to feel that your feet might actually be touching ground,” Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Peter J. Rose said in a statement. Seagate (STX) Technology Plc gained 7.3 percent to a record $39.63. The maker of computer disk drives reported fiscal third- quarter profit and sales that exceeded analysts’ forecasts. International Paper (IP) Co. slipped 3.5 percent to $44.27. The world’s largest maker of office paper reported operating profit of 65 cents a share in the first quarter. That trailed the average analyst estimate of 74 cents in a Bloomberg survey. Speculators, Hedgers The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (VIX) , or VIX, slid 6.2 percent to 13.59 as investors cut demand for protection against losses in the S&P 500. Historical relationships between U.S. equity and options prices have come under increasing strain in the past week, with the rally in the S&P 500 awakening demand among both speculators and hedgers. The VIX moved in the same direction as the S&P 500 (SPX) for four straight days through April 29, including three advances and one drop. That’s the longest stretch of lockstep moves since February 2007, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The indexes swing in the opposite direction about 80 percent of the time. Options prices usually fall when equities gain because the optimism driving share prices reduces the demand for protection against losses. That relationship is wavering as traders become less certain about the direction of stocks after a four-year, 134 percent advance, according to Andrew Greeley, a senior managing director at Stamford , Connecticut-based Acorn Derivatives Management Corp. Dealers are charging bears more for insurance and bulls more to speculate on gains. “Normally we would expect to see the VIX continue to slide lower as the S&P 500 grinds up,” Greeley, who helps manage more than $450 million in volatility assets, said yesterday in an interview. “But as we get more extended in the recent trend and approach significant economic reports and central bank meetings, the VIX is capturing greater interest in out-of-the-money options, both calls and puts, as people bet on more stock gains as well as buy hedges.” To contact the reporters on this story: Lu Wang in New York at lwang8@bloomberg.net ; Inyoung Hwang in New York at ihwang7@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net

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Dollar-Funding Stress Unchanged, Money-Market Indicators Show

Forward money-market indicators signaled short-term dollar funding conditions were mixed as the rate banks say it would cost to borrow from one another for three months held at the lowest in almost two years. Three-month London interbank offered rate, or Libor (US0003M) , was unchanged at 0.2647 percent, holding for a second day at the lowest since Aug. 2, 2011, according to the British Bankers’ Association. The Libor-OIS spread, a gauge of banks reluctance to lend, narrowed to 16 basis points from 16.2 basis points on July 19. Overnight index swaps, or OIS, give traders predictions on where the Fed’s effective funds rate will average for the term of the swap. The central bank’s target rate is set in a range of zero to 0.25 percent. Predictions in the forward market for Libor-OIS, known as the FRA/OIS spread, rose to 20 basis points from 19.3 basis points, according to the second rolling three-month contracts. The difference between the two-year swap rate and the comparable-maturity Treasury note yield, known as the swap spread, widened 0.45 basis point to 17.8 basis points. The gap is a gauge of investors’ perceptions of U.S. banking sector credit risk as swap rates are derived from expectations for dollar Libor. Swap rates serve as benchmarks for investors in many types of debt, including mortgage-backed and auto-loan securities. The seasonally adjusted amount of U.S. commercial paper rose $8.8 billion to $999.2 billion in the week ended July 17, according to Federal Reserve data. Euribor-OIS Spread The cost for European banks to convert euro-denominated payment streams into dollars-based funding via the cross currency swaps market increased after reaching on July 19 its least since May 2011. The three-month cross-currency basis swap was 9.35 basis points below Euribor, from 9.1 basis points below. Foreign-exchange swaps are typically for periods of less than a year, while cross-currency basis swaps usually range from one to 30 years. The latter are agreements in which a person borrows in one currency and simultaneously lends in a different currency. The trade involves the exchange of two different floating-rate payments, each denominated in a different currency and based on a different index. The Euribor-OIS spread, the difference between the euro interbank offered rate and overnight indexed swaps, edged wider. The measure of banks’ reluctance to lend to one another was 11.5 basis points compared with 11.1 basis points on July 19. Repo Rates The overnight Treasury general collateral repurchase agreement rate opened today at 0.05 percent, according to ICAP Plc, the world’s largest inter-dealer broker. The average rate for borrowing and lending Treasuries for one day in the repo market was 0.033 percent on July 19, according to index data provided on a one-day lag by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. Securities dealers use repos to finance holdings and increase leverage. Securities that can be borrowed at interest rates close to the Fed’s target rate are called general collateral. Those in highest demand have lower rates and are called “special.” The average rate for overnight federal funds, known as the fed effective rate, was 0.09 percent on July 19. The rate opened today at 0.1 percent. The effective rate is a volume-weighted average of trades between major brokers for overnight funds, reported on a day lag by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. To contact the reporter on this story: Liz Capo McCormick in New York at emccormick7@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at

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Gazprom’s April Exports to Europe Exceed Planned Volumes by 6%

OAO Gazprom (GAZP) ’s natural-gas deliveries to Europe have exceeded plan by 6 percent this month, the Moscow-based company said in a website statement, without providing export numbers. In the first quarter, Gazprom reduced exports to Europe by 12 percent from a year earlier as warmer-than-usual weather curbed demand, two people with knowledge of the preliminary data said April 12. To contact the reporter on this story: Anna Shiryaevskaya in Moscow at ashiryaevska@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net

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Laxman Guides India to One-Wicket Win Over Australia in First Cricket Test

India beat Australia by one wicket in the series-opening cricket Test in Mohali to go 1-0 up in the two-match contest. It was India’s narrowest-ever win in terms of wickets. VVS Laxman , batting with a back injury, was top scorer, with 73 not out, to guide India to 216-9 on the final day after Australia set the home team 216 to win. It was the fourth- highest successful run chase in Tests in India. Laxman came together with Ishant Sharma after the hosts, who resumed at 55-4, slumped to 124-8. Laxman reached his total off 79 balls and added 81 off 131 balls for the ninth-wicket with Sharma (31) after Australia closed to within two wickets of victory. When Sharma was dismissed, India still required 11 to win, though Laxman and last man Pragyan Ojha held on to guide their team to victory. The previous closest win was a two-wicket defeat of Australia in 1964 and 2001. “He’s a remarkable batsman,” India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said of Laxman at the presentation ceremony. “If he’s at the crease, no matter what field you set, he’s going to score runs. It’s a very emotional victory.” India was on 210-9 in the final over when Ojha survived a loud leg-before-wicket appeal and the Australians gave up four overthrows when an attempted run-out narrowly missed the stumps and ran to the boundary. Television replays appeared to show that Ojha was in front of the stumps when the ball struck his pads. ‘One of the Best’ “It’s one of the best and one of the most exciting Test matches I’ve ever played in, and I’ve played almost 150,” Australia captain Ricky Ponting said. “Full credit to India for fighting out the win. They outplayed us today, we weren’t quite good enough.” Australia was all out for 428 in its first innings, India replying with 405. The visitors totaled 192 in their second innings. The victory guaranteed that India, the No. 1-ranked Test team, will retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy contested by the two countries because it can’t lose the series. The second Test starts Oct. 9 in Bangalore. If Australia loses the two-match contest, it will fall one place to fifth in the International Cricket Council’s rankings and begin the Ashes series ranked lower than England. To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Baynes in Sydney at dbaynes@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net .

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U.S. Feedlots Reduce Cattle Purchases on Shrinking Supply

Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) --U.S. feedlots bought 11 percent fewer cattle in August than a year earlier, a bigger than expected decline, on signs that the number available for sale shrank and higher corn costs curbed profitability. Feedlots bought 2.002 million head of cattle last month, down from 2.246 million in August 2011, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today in a report. Thirteen analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a 5.6 percent drop, on average. The figure was the lowest for the month since the USDA began tracking the statistic in 1996. The feedlot herd totaled 10.637 million as of Sept. 1, down 0.6 percent from a year earlier. Analysts expected the inventory on feed to be little changed. The price of corn, the main ingredient in livestock feed, has surged 48 percent since June 15 as the worst U.S. drought in 56 years eroded the harvest potential. The strong feed costs “curtailed interest in new calves and feeders,” Rich Nelson , the chief strategist at Allendale Inc. in McHenry, Illinois , said in an e-mailed report. The overall U.S. cattle herd on July 1 was the smallest since at least 1973 after a drought in the Southern Plains last year spurred ranchers to cull herds. “Last August, we had just really heavy placements because of the drought in Texas , Oklahoma , and New Mexico ,” Troy Vetterkind, the owner of Vetterkind Cattle Brokerage LLC, said in a telephone interview. “Overall cattle numbers are down compared to a year ago, and certainly there’s overall less cattle to place.” Feedlot operators buy year-old animals that weigh 500 pounds (227 kilograms) to 800 pounds, called feeders. The cattle are fattened on corn for about four to five months until they weigh about 1,200 pounds, when they are sold to meatpackers. Feedlots sold about 1.96 million animals to meatpackers last month, down 4.5 percent from a year earlier, the USDA said. Analysts expected a 1.6 percent decline, on average. Fattened cattle futures for December delivery were little changed at $1.281 a pound at 12:50 p.m. on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The price climbed 5.5 percent this year through yesterday. Feeder-cattle futures for October settlement gained 0.2 percent to $1.4695 a pound, and the commodity was down 1.4 percent in 2012 before today. To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Campbell in Chicago at ecampbell14@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net

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ECB Says Borrowing Costs Still ‘Vary Greatly’ Across Euro Area

The European Central bank said that while borrowing costs have dropped, they continue to vary greatly across the euro area and banks remain hesitant to lend to the private sector. “The cost of short-term bank lending to euro area non- financial corporations has declined since early 2012, mainly reflecting the pass-through of reductions in key ECB interest rates and market interest rates,” the Frankfurt-based ECB said in its monthly bulletin today. “Still, borrowing costs continue to vary greatly across euro area countries, reflecting differences in banks’ funding conditions and country-specific economic developments affecting the creditworthiness of borrowers,” it said. Lending to the non-financial private sector “remains weak.” ECB President Mario Draghi in September announced an unlimited bond-buying program, saying the bank’s record-low interest rates aren’t reaching borrowers because of unjustified fears of a euro breakup. Since then, bond yields in countries like Spain and Italy have fallen. “In autumn 2012, net issuance of long-term debt securities by banks resident in the euro area was significantly less negative than it had been in previous months,” the central bank said today. “At the same time, interbank trading volumes remain low and concentrated in the shortest maturities.” To contact the reporter on this story: Stefan Riecher in Frankfurt at sriecher@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net

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Ahmadinejad Defends Iran Nuclear Progress, Condemns Israel, U.S.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran will keep its right to scientific progress and proceed with its nuclear program, while he attacked Israel and its allies for having atomic weapons and threatening his country. “Certain countries in the region not only possess nuclear technology but also have the atomic bomb,” Ahmadinejad said today on the occasion of Iran’s nuclear technology day, addressing industry officials. “However there is no mention of them and no one is bothering them.” None of the three nuclear powers in Iran’s neighborhood -- Israel, Pakistan , and India -- has signed the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. Iran, which doesn’t consider Israel a legitimate state, condemns the “double standard” and what it sees as unconditional U.S. backing of Israel. “Many of these very countries that are seeking to stop the progress of the Islamic Republic themselves have atomic weapons and they have also created the Zionist regime and equipped it with the atomic bomb,” Ahmadinejad said. “Then, every day they are saying that all options are on the table against Iran,” he said, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency. Ahmadinejad comments were a reference to western nations and Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied it has nuclear weapons. Israel has threatened military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities to forestall that development and U.S. officials have refused to rule out the use of force against it. Increasing Sanction Pressure Ahmadinejad spoke days before nuclear talks between his country and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany planned for April 13-14 in Istanbul. The negotiations would be the first since a January 2011 meeting between Iran and the so-called 5+1 group, which broke down without agreements or commitments for further rounds. Since then, Iran has come under increasing pressure with the piling up of trade, financial and energy sanctions from the U.S. and the European Union to force the Persian Gulf country to abandon its uranium enrichment. Iran, a signatory to the nuclear NPT, says its nuclear program is aimed at securing electricity for a growing population and fro medical research. The U.S. and its allies accuse the Iranian government of seeking to build nuclear weapons. “Iran wants to use its natural right to use science and its path is clear. The nation will continue its course on which it is advancing and in which it has invested with force,” Ahmadinejad said. To contact the reporter on this story: Ladane Nasseri in Dubai at lnasseri@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net

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Spot Gold, Futures Pare Advance After China Manufacturing Data

Gold for immediate delivery was little changed at $1,651.75 an ounce at 10:35 a.m. Singapore time, paring an earlier advance of 0.4 percent, after a report showed China ’s manufacturing data may contract for a fifth straight month in March. April-delivery metal was also little changed at $1,650.60 an ounce, trimming a 0.4 percent gain. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Glenys Sim at gsim4@bloomberg.net

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Sub-Saharan African Stocks Report: Guinness Gains, Tropical Paradise Falls

Mauritius’s SEMDEX Index fell for a fourth day, retreating 0.3 percent to 1,913.75 by the 1:30 p.m. close in Port Louis. Kenya’s All-Share Index snapped two days of gains, retreating 0.4 percent to 62.67 by the 3 p.m. close in Nairobi, the capital. The Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index slid for a second day, declining 0.8 percent to 22,547.62 by the 2:30 p.m. close in Lagos, according to a statement on the bourse’s website. Namibia’s FTSE/ Namibia Overall Index (FTN098) advanced for a second day, adding 1.4 percent to 765.50 by the 4 p.m. close in Windhoek. The Ghana Stock Exchange Composite Index dropped 0.6 percent to 1,177.67 by the 3 p.m. close in Accra. The following shares rose or fell in sub-Saharan Africa , excluding South Africa. Stock symbols are in parentheses. Guinness Nigeria Plc (GUINNESS) advanced for the first time in three weeks, gaining 2 naira, or 0.9 percent, to 215 naira. Renaissance Capital reinitiated coverage of the nation’s second-biggest brewer by market value with a “buy” rating and a price estimate of 303 naira. Standard Group Ltd. (STNG) , Kenya’s second-biggest media company, rose for a fifth day, adding 2.5 shillings, or 8.1 percent, to 33.5 shillings. The group said first-half profit climbed 6.5 percent as revenue increased. Tropical Paradise Ltd. (TPL MP), a Mauritian leisure operator, fell to its lowest in more than a month, declining 0.45 rupees, or 6.6 percent, to 6.35 rupees. The group plans to sell stock to existing shareholders to help finance its acquisition of The Link Hotel at Ebene. To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Gunnion in Johannesburg at sgunnion@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net

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Four Dead, Three Injured in China Truck Pileup, Xinhua Says

A truck pileup in eastern China killed four people, injured three and stranded about 1,000 vehicles for several hours this morning, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing local firefighters. The 6 a.m. accident in Shandong province was caused by heavy fog, which cut visibility to as low as 50 meters, Xinhua said. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nicholas Wadhams at nwadhams@bloomberg.net

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Acciona Mulling Writedown on Spain Cities Debt, Economista Says

Acciona SA (ANA) , Spain ’s second-biggest wind farm operator, is contemplating a writedown on town halls’ debts, El Economista reported, citing comments made by Chairman Jose Manuel Entrecanales. Acciona is owed around 700 million euros ($941 million) by Spanish administrations, including town halls, and half of the debts are overdue, El Economista said. To contact the reporter on this story: Angeline Benoit in Madrid at abenoit4@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net

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KUNG SING ENGINE May Sales Fall 38.21% (Table) : 5521 TT

KUNG SING ENGINE said unconsolidated sales in May fell 38.21% to NT$369,308,000 from NT$597,656,000, according to a statement filed to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. (Figures are in thousands of New Taiwan dollars) ================================================================= 5/2011 5/2010 Sales 369,308 597,656 YOY% -38.21% -----------------Year-to-date----------------- Sales 1,900,029 5,125,417 YOY% -62.93% =================================================================

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Saudi Basic May Purchase Local Companies, al-Eqtisadiah Reports

Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) , the world’s biggest petrochemicals maker, may buy local companies, al-Eqtisadiah reported, citing Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Al-Mady. To contact the reporter on this story: Mourad Haroutunian in Riyadh at mharoutunian@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Shaji Mathew at shajimathew@bloomberg.net

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Sony’s ‘Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2’ Is No. 1 Movie

“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2,” the animated sequel from Sony Corp. (6758) , took first place at the U.S. and Canadian box office in its debut, collecting $35 million in sales. “Rush,” Ron Howard’s Formula 1 racing movie, rose to third with $10.3 million in its second week, expanding broadly after a limited debut, Hollywood.com Box-Office said yesterday in a statement. “Prisoners,” starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, was second with $11.3 million. “Cloudy 2,” the follow-up to Sony’s 2009 hit, marks the fourth No. 1 debut this year for the studio, which has seen its U.S. ticket sales slide 32 percent, leaving it ranked fifth, according to researcher Box Office Mojo. Sony Pictures removed its head of marketing last week following criticism of the performance of its entertainment division. The latest “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” was made for $78 million, less than the original’s $100 million cost, according to Box Office Mojo. It was projected to collect $45 million by Boxoffice.com in its debut. “It’s still a fairly solid opening,” Paul Sweeney, a media analyst at Bloomberg Industries, said in a telephone interview. “It’ll probably play well for the next several weeks until more kids’ films and animation films are released for the holidays.” The first “Cloudy” garnered $243 million total at the global box office. Disastrous Storm The PG-rated films’ central character is an inventor named Flint Lockwood, who in the first movie concocts a machine that turns rain into food, culminating in a disastrous storm. In the latest version, Lockwood is forced to leave his job when he finds that the machine is still operational and is churning out menacing food-animal hybrids. The movie, featuring the voices of Bill Hader, Anna Faris and Will Forte, was well received in reviews for the quality of its animation and its visual humor. “At times it felt as if this film might challenge Pixar’s decade-long reign, but that promise wanes,” wrote Miriam Bale in the New York Times. “Instead, the movie is sometimes so strange, colorful and wildly cute that it may end up becoming a ‘Yellow Submarine’ for a new generation.” Sony earlier scored three No. 1 debuts this year, with the horror reboot “Evil Dead,” Matt Damon’s science-fiction film “Elysium,” and “One Direction: This Is Us.” Racing Rivalry Ron Howard’s “Rush” returned in wide release after its debut in a handful of cinemas. Starring Chris Hemsworth, it recounts the 1970s Formula 1 racing rivalry between the late James Hunt and Niki Lauda. Director Howard, who won the Oscar for 2001’s “A Beautiful Mind,” conveys the intensity of the racing and the contrasting personalities of the British playboy Hunt and the studious Austrian Lauda. “Prisoners,” the suspense thriller from Warner Bros. which finished second, has been buoyed by reviews praising the force of the performances of its lead actors. It features Jackman as a father who reacts to his daughter’s kidnapping by turning vigilante after police, lacking evidence, let the chief suspect go. Gyllenhaal plays the detective keeping tabs on Jackman while investigating the case. The movie’s receipts total $39 million in two weeks of release. ‘Don Jon’ “Baggage Claim,” from Fox Searchlight also made its debut in fourth place, collecting $9.3 million, against a projected $8 million. The romantic comedy features Paula Patton as a woman who vows to get married by embarking on a 30-day, 30,000-mile expedition to charm a potential suitor into becoming her fiance. “Don Jon,” a dramatic comedy from Relativity Media LLC, was fifth with $9 million in its opening weekend. Directed and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the movie follows Jon Martello, who arranges his life around family, church, gym and sex and hooked on pornography, making him unable to deal with the women he seduces. The film, which also stars Scarlett Johansson, was praised for Gordon-Levitt’s direction. It was projected to collect $11.5 million by Boxoffice.com “Johansson is wonderfully awful and Gordon-Levitt is electric,” wrote Bloomberg News critic Craig Seligman. Weekend revenue for the top 12 films fell 8.1 percent to $98.1 million from the year-earlier period, Hollywood.com said. Attendance year-to-date is down 2 percent, while revenue is up 1 percent to $8.15 billion. The following table has U.S. movie box-office figures provided by studios to Hollywood.com Box-Office. The amounts are based on gross ticket sales for Sept. 27 and Sept. 28 and estimates for yesterday. To contact the reporters on this story: Ben Livesey in San Francisco at blivesey@bloomberg.net Christine Idzelis in New York at cidzelis@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Ruble Set for Biggest Daily Drop Versus Dollar in Two Months on Oil Price

The ruble tumbled the most in almost two months against the dollar after oil fell below $100 a barrel on concern fuel demand will slow after reports showed economic weakness in the U.S. and Europe. The Russian currency depreciated 1.3 percent, its biggest daily drop since March 15, to 27.7650 per dollar by 12:11 p.m. in Moscow, adding to a 0.9 percent slide yesterday. Against the euro the ruble weakened 0.2 percent to 40.36. Crude for June delivery lost $9.44 yesterday after trading ended in Moscow, closing at $99.80 a barrel, the biggest percentage drop since April 20, 2009. The contract lost 4.3 percent to $95.55 a barrel in New York today. Moves against the dollar and the euro left the ruble 0.6 percent weaker at 33.4158 against the central bank’s target currency basket, the lowest since April 28. Bank Rossii uses the basket to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters. It is calculated by multiplying the dollar’s rate to the ruble by 0.55, the euro to ruble rate by 0.45, then adding them together. -- Editors: Alexander Nicholson, Ana Monteiro To contact the reporter on this story: Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovsky@bloomberg.net ; To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

European Goldfields, G4S, Henderson: U.K., Irish Equity Preview

The following is a list of companies whose shares may have unusual price changes in U.K. and Irish markets. Stock symbols are in parentheses and prices are from the last market close. The benchmark FTSE 100 Index (UKX) retreated 53.43 points, or 0.9 percent, to 5,775.24. The FTSE All-Share Index (ASX) fell 0.9 percent while Ireland’s ISEQ Index dropped 0.9 percent. BG Group Plc (BG/) : The U.K.’s third-largest natural-gas producer said it plans to bid for the rights to explore for oil in upcoming auctions in Brazil , which won’t include blocks in the so-called pre-salt area. The shares climbed 3.7 percent to 1,514 pence. Close Brothers Group Plc (CBG) : The British investment bank founded in 1878 is scheduled to report first-half net income. The stock declined 0.2 percent to 860.5 pence. European Goldfields Ltd. (EGU) : The gold and lead producer may report a full-year loss of $29.9 million according to the average of three estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The shares rose 1.3 percent to 770 pence. G4S Plc (GFS) : The world’s largest security company may report full-year net income of 225.8 million pounds ($316 million) according to the average of eight estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The shares fell 1.9 percent to 256.9 pence. Henderson Group Plc (HGG) : Henderson U.K. Finance Plc plans to issue five-year bonds in exchange for 175 million pounds of outstanding 6.5 percent notes due 2012, the company said in a Regulatory News Service statement. The new securities will be priced to yield at least 445 basis points more than 2016 U.K. Gilts, Henderson said. The stock declined 0.3 percent to 160.5 pence. NBNK Investments (NBNK LN): NBNK Investments is in talks with National Australia Bank about a joint bid for more than 600 branches being sold by Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Sky News reported on its website. The shares were unchanged at 115.5 pence. To contact the reporter on this story: Blanche Gatt in London at bgatt@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Colin Keatinge at ckeatinge@bloomberg.net .

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Fifteen People Feared Killed in North Philippines Hotel Fire, Police Say

Fifteen people were feared dead and 12 injured after fire broke out at a hotel in the northern Philippine city of Tuguegarao at about 1:00 a.m. today, police said. Authorities are investigating the incident, Senior Superintendent Mao Aplasca, chief of the Cagayan police province, said in a mobile-phone message. To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Karl Lester M. Yap at kyap@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jim McDonald at jmcdonald8@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

VW Braces for First-Quarter Proift Drop on Europe Market

Volkswagen AG (VOW) , Europe’s largest carmaker, is preparing for a drop in first-quarter earnings as the region’s auto market enters its sixth year of declines. Profit in the first three months “will be clearly below” the first quarter of 2012, Chief Financial Officer Hans Dieter Poetsch said in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, without providing additional details. Christine Ritz , a VW spokeswoman, confirmed his remarks. Sales growth in China, North America and Russia helped the Wolfsburg, Germany-based company to more than offset the market drop in Europe last year. The region’s downturn is expected to deepen in 2013, though, with auto executives forecasting new-car sales will shrink as much as 5 percent. “The situation in Europe won’t get easier this year,” Fairesearch analyst Hans-Peter Wodniok said via telephone. VW’s footprint in emerging markets and growth in the U.S. should help it to cope with increasing headwinds in region, he said, adding that the share price slump of 7.1 percent on Friday was “a bit exaggerated.” The stock climbed as much as 3.95 euros, or 2.6 percent, to 168 euros and was up 2.5 percent as of 10:08 a.m. in Frankfurt. The shares have dropped 2.5 percent this year, valuing the German company at 75.3 billion euros. Volkswagen said Feb. 22 that 2013 operating profit will match last year’s level, falling short of analysts’ estimates. Earnings before interest and taxes, which rose 2.1 percent to 11.5 billion euros ($15.2 billion) in 2012, probably won’t increase this year as the shrinking car market in its home region weighs on earnings, it said then. Europe Sinks Moody’s last week lowered its estimate for European light vehicle sales this year to a 5 percent decline from a 3 percent decrease previously. “This is mainly due to weaker-than-expected demand in northern European countries, especially Germany and the U.K., and the absence of a recovery in southern Europe,” Moody’s analyst Falk Frey said in a report. New-car registrations in the region last month were the least for a January since records began in 1990, following a drop to a 17-year low for all of 2012, according to the ACEA auto-industry association. To contact the reporter on this story: Christoph Rauwald in Frankfurt at crauwald@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

MTS, Sistema Gain on Weighting Increase in MSCI 10/40 Index

OAO Mobile TeleSystems and AFK Sistema rose after their weightings in MSCI Inc. (MSCI) ’s Russia 10/40 index increased, according to Troika Dialog, which cited MSCI data. MTS gained 4.6 percent to 228.79 rubles, the biggest jump since Jan. 6. Sistema climbed 3 percent to 23.492 rubles, the highest level since May 12. MTS’s weighting was lifted to 7.3 percent from 3.3 percent and Sistema’s was raised to 1.7 percent from 0.9 percent, Troika said in an e-mail today. About $550 million may be invested in MTS’s shares and about $150 million into Sistema’s as a result of the changes, which come into effect May 31, according to Troika. To contact the reporter on this story: Ksenia Galouchko in Moscow at kgalouchko1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Corn Cash Premium Drops as Harvesting Boosts Supply; Soy Falls

Cash premiums for U.S. corn shipped in July to export terminals near New Orleans fell relative to Chicago futures as harvesting across the South boosted supplies. The soybean basis narrowed. The spot-basis bid, or premium, for corn delivered this month was 80 cents to 86 cents a bushel above September futures, compared with $1.02 to $1.03 yesterday, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. The soybean premium declined to 74 cents to 84 cents a bushel above August futures from 75 cents to 84 cents. “The southern harvest is just beginning to flow into the supply pipeline” for corn, Dave Marshall , a farm-marketing adviser at Toay Commodity Futures Group LLC in Nashville, Illinois , said in a telephone interview. “Exports have been slowing, and commercial buyers can wait for cheaper cash supplies.” Corn futures for September delivery rose 10.75 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $6.90 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. The price fell 1.6 percent this week. Soybean futures for August delivery were unchanged at $13.8025 a bushel. The price fell 0.4 percent this week. To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Wilson in Chicago at jwilson29@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net .

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Blackstone Profit Triples on Gains in Value of Buyout, Property Holdings

Blackstone Group LP (BX) , the world’s largest private-equity company, said second-quarter profit more than tripled on gains in the value of its buyout and real estate investments. Profit, excluding some costs tied to the firm’s initial public offering, increased to $703 million, or 63 cents a share, from $205 million, or 18 cents, a year earlier, New York-based Blackstone said today. That beat the 33-cent average estimate of 10 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Earnings were helped by an accounting measure requiring Blackstone to recognize a larger share of profit in its real estate business. Rising global markets have helped Blackstone, led by Chairman Stephen Schwarzman , distribute profits to investors by selling some of the companies it owns and taking others public. The firm has raised about $16.1 billion for a new leveraged- buyout fund and is seeking about $10 billion to make real estate deals. “The real estate segment continues to benefit from improving fundamentals,” Daniel Fannon, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. in San Francisco , said in a note to clients. Blackstone gained 80 cents, or 4.9 percent to $17.06 at 1:20 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has gained 20 percent this year. Blackstone still trades at just above half its 2007 IPO price of $31 a share. Performance fees in real estate increased to $450.3 million from $37.4 million a year earlier, helped by the accounting provision. That drove profit in real estate to $453.5 million from $121.4 million during the period, Blackstone said. ‘Catch-Up’ Provisions “A material portion of the increase in revenues was due to the impact of the ‘catch-up’ provisions of the real estate funds’ profit allocations,” Blackstone said in the statement. The provisions “specify that once a fund’s preferred return hurdle has been reached, Blackstone is entitled to a disproportionately greater share of the profits until it effectively reaches its full share of performance fees.” The value of Blackstone’s real estate holdings gained 6.7 percent in the quarter. Private-equity investments on the whole increased by 9 percent. During the second quarter, Blackstone-backed companies including Kosmos Energy Ltd. went public and the firm announced that it would sell its stake in Universal Orlando for about $1 billion. Schwarzman told investors today on a conference call that most of Blackstone’s efforts in real estate are aimed at bankruptcies, recapitalizations and debt purchases. Advising Dodgers Schwarzman, who founded Blackstone in 1985 with Peter G. Peterson , has expanded the firm’s non-LBO businesses such as fund-of-hedge funds and publicly traded debt vehicles. The firm’s restructuring unit, part of the advisory business, was hired this month to advise the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team during its bankruptcy. Fee-earning assets under management rose 27 percent to $129 billion. Blackstone’s hedge-fund business accounted for the largest portion of investments on that basis, with $37.2 billion, 29 percent more than a year earlier. Private-equity fee-earning assets rose 42 percent to $35.8 billion as Blackstone invested its latest buyout fund. Real estate assets increased by 17 percent to $27.9 billion. Blackstone President Tony James told reporters on a conference call that it’s “difficult to find value” in many private-equity deals as prices remain high and credit is cheap. He said the firm is focusing in the U.S. on energy deals and is raising a fund for investments in that industry. To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Kelly in New York at jkelly14@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christian Baumgaertel at cbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

European Stocks Gain for Second Day on China Support Speculation

European stocks rose for a second day amid speculation China may still buy the region’s government bonds even after Premier Wen Jiabao said indebted countries must not rely on bailouts. Finmeccanica SpA (FNC) soared the most in 13 years on a report that Italy’s biggest arms company may sell railway units to General Electric Co. Next Plc (NXT) rallied to a record as earnings increased. Societe Generale (GLE) SA slid 2.9 percent after Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the French bank’s credit rating. The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 1.5 percent to 224.17 at the 4:30 p.m. close in London. The gauge erased an earlier loss of as much as 1 percent after Caijing magazine reported that China is still willing to buy bonds of nations hit by the debt crisis, citing Zhang Xiaoqiang , a vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission. The comments from Zhang “may have eased worries about the European debt crisis,” said Alexander Kraemer, a cross-asset strategist at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. “We may also see short covering ahead of the triple witching on Friday” when futures and options on European equity indexes expire. National indexes rose in 16 of the 18 western European countries. Germany’s DAX advanced 3.4 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 gained 1 percent and France’s CAC 40 climbed 1.9 percent. European stocks almost erased their gains in afternoon trading as Austria delayed a parliamentary vote on an overhaul of the European bailout fund, causing confusion among investors. They later rebounded. Debt Crisis The Stoxx 600 has plunged 23 percent from this year’s peak in February as the debt crisis spread from Greece to the larger economies of Italy , Spain and France. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is holding a conference call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy today amid increasing speculation that Greece will default. Spain is scheduled to sell debt tomorrow, after demand fell at an auction by Italy yesterday. “A Greek default is not going to ripple the same way and in the same magnitude that we saw in 2008,” Paul Chew, head of investments at Brown Advisory in Baltimore, said in an interview in London. “We got into the current situation in a much better state than in 2007. That makes us confident that any crisis in Greece is not going to snowball.” Wen, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Dalian, China , signaled that developed nations should cut deficits and create jobs rather than relying on China to bail out the world economy. Stocks gained in the U.S. on Sept. 12 after the Financial Times reported that Italy aims to sell “significant” quantities of bonds and stakes in strategic companies to China. ‘Houses in Order’ “Countries must first put their own houses in order,” Wen said. “Developed countries must take responsible fiscal and monetary policies. What is most important now is to prevent the further spread of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe.” Finance ministers from Brazil, Russia, India and China will meet on Sept. 22 to discuss ways to help Europe overcome its debt crisis, R. Gopalan, secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs in the finance ministry , said in New Delhi. A Commerce Department report today showed U.S. retail sales unexpectedly stagnated in August, falling short of an average forecast for a 0.2 percent increase in a Bloomberg survey of 83 economists. Finmeccanica Jumps Finmeccanica soared 17 percent to 5.26 euros, the biggest gain since January 1998. The company may be close to an agreement to sell its AnsaldoBreda train-making division to General Electric, il Tirreno reported, citing a city of Pistoia politician, Alessio Bartolomei. Ansaldo STS SpA (STS) jumped 20 percent to 6.62 euros as the newspaper said GE may also be interested in the railway-technology unit, citing no one. Finmeccanica said it’s still reviewing its strategy for the transportation business and it plans to communicate with the market after a review has been completed. Next rallied 6.3 percent to 2,483 pence, the highest price since at least 1988, as the U.K.’s second-largest clothing retailer reported a jump in first-half earnings and said next year may not be as challenging for the industry. Debenhams Plc (DEB) , the U.K.’s biggest department-store retailer, rose 7 percent to 56.1 pence. BP Plc (BP/) climbed 3.5 percent to 395.1 pence after a U.S. investigation into last year’s explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico spread the blame between the company and contractors. Transocean Ltd. (RIG) , which owned the rig, rose 2 percent to 50 Swiss francs in Zurich. Sonova Soars Sonova Holding AG (SOON) , Europe’s biggest hearing aid-maker, surged 14 percent to 75.90 francs after receiving approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to resume sales of the HiRes 90K cochlear implant following a recall. Automakers had the biggest gain of 19 industry groups in the Stoxx 600, soaring 5.1 percent as a group. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG rose 6 percent to 55.07 euros and Volkswagen AG rallied 5.1 percent to 108.50 euros. Societe Generale, France’s third-largest bank by assets, fell 2.9 percent to 17.39 euros after Moody’s Investors Service cut its long-term debt rating by one level. BNP Paribas (BNP) SA, which was kept on review for a possible cut, lost 3.9 percent to 26.90 euros. Swedbank AB (SWEDA) , the third-largest Swedish lender and the biggest bank in the Baltic countries, declined 5.6 percent to 73.15 kronor after halting share buybacks due to the “intensified financial anxiety in Europe.” “We see today no altered risk in our portfolio but the perception of our buyback program is not supporting Swedbank’s brand in the current market situation,” Chief Executive Officer Michael Wolf said in a statement today. “On my recommendation. the board have decided to halt further repurchases until the market situation becomes clearer.” To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Levring in Copenhagen at plevring1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Chinese Stocks Rise for Fourth Day, Led by Developers, Solar-Power Shares

China ’s stocks rose for a fourth day on speculation fresh earthquakes in Japan will boost demand for non-nuclear energy and local governments will set targets for housing prices that are higher than analysts’ estimates. A gauge of real-estate companies jumped the most in two weeks, led by China Vanke Co., the nation’s biggest listed developer. TBEA Co., a manufacturer of electrical transformers, and solar cell maker Zhejiang Sunflower Light Energy Science & Technology Co. jumped more than 3 percent after a series of temblors struck near Japan’s crippled nuclear power station. “In general, stocks’ valuations are low and that’s enough to attract buying interest for bargains,” said Luo Bin, general manager at Shanghai Mingyu Xiaoyang Investment Management Co., which manages the equivalent of $60 million. “Japan’s earthquake wouldn’t pose too big a problem to China’s economy .” The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks the bigger of China’s stock exchanges, gained the most in a week, rising 29.3, or 1 percent, to 2,948.48 at the 3 p.m. close. The measure trades at 13.8 times estimated earnings, near the record low of 11.9 set in January 2006, according to weekly data compiled by Bloomberg. The CSI 300 Index (SHSZ300) rose 1.3 percent to 3,264.93 today. The Shanghai Composite has climbed 5 percent this year on optimism the world’s second-biggest economy will withstand tighter monetary policies. The central bank has raised interest rates three times since October to cool inflation that reached 4.9 percent in February, exceeding the government’s 4 percent annual target. It has boosted banks’ reserve requirements nine times since the start of 2010, including an increase on March 18. New Temblors A gauge of 34 real estate stocks on the Shanghai Comosite jumped 2.7 percent, the most since March 4 and the biggest gain among the five industry groups. Vanke rose 2.4 percent to 8.50 yuan. Poly Real Estate Group Co., the second largest, advanced 3.9 percent to 13.29 yuan. “There’s market speculation that local governments will set a target of limiting housing price gains to between zero percent and the GDP growth rate,” said Wang Weijun, a strategist at Zheshang Securities Co. in Shanghai. “That’s much better than the target of below zero percent anticipated by the market.” Local governments may announce their price control targets next week, Wang said. China’s State Council, or the cabinet, ordered local governments in January to set pricing control targets for newly built houses while raising the minimum down payment for second- home purchases. Japan’s Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average slumped 1.7 percent today. A series of earthquakes struck near a crippled Fukushima nuclear plant this morning, starting with a magnitude 6.0 temblor this morning. Quakes of magnitude 4.1, 5.8, 4.9 and 4.3 followed, according to Japan’s Meteorological Agency. China has suspended approvals of new nuclear projects after the March 11 temblor and ensuing tsunami caused damage to the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, stoking speculation demand for thermal and solar power will increase. Alternative Energy TBEA jumped 4.6 percent to 21.79 yuan. XJ Electric Co., a manufacturer of power transmission equipment, advanced 5 percent to 38.13 yuan. Zhejiang Sunflower added 3.4 percent to 28.18 yuan. Haitong Food Group Co., through which Changzhou Eging Photovoltaic Technology Co. plans a backdoor listing, climbed 1 percent to 54.86 yuan. Changzhou Eging makes solar panels. China Shenhua Energy Co., the nation’s largest coal producer, rose 2 percent to 28.75 yuan. Yanzhou Coal Mining Co., the listed unit of China’s fourth-biggest coal miner, climbed 4.7 percent to 33 yuan. Crude for May delivery dropped as much as 59 cents to $104.38 a barrel in electronic trading in New York. It was at $104.47 at 2:10 p.m. Singapore time. Oil advanced earlier today as a U.S.-led alliance prepared to direct more attacks in Libya , the holder of Africa ’s largest crude reserves. Rate Outlook China may increase its benchmark interest rates within weeks as unrest in the Middle East drives up oil prices and reconstruction in Japan threatens to boost raw-material costs. Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd., Citigroup Inc., and UBS AG predict the nation’s fourth increase in six months before the end of April. All 20 economists in a Bloomberg News survey forecast a move by the end of the second quarter. Emerging-market stocks may start outperforming developed- world equities as the economic slowdown policy makers engineered from countries such as China paves the way for sustainable growth, according to Wells Capital Management. A ratio of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index to the Standard & Poor’s 500 reaches so-called consolidation in the aftermath of global recession before rallying, according to James Paulsen , chief investment strategist at Wells. In such a period, emerging markets match or underperform the broader market. Cross-border EFTs Bosera Asset Management Co. and Hua An Fund Management Co. plan to introduce exchange-traded funds in China that track U.S. and U.K. stocks, a move that may improve investment returns and slow Chinese currency gains. Bosera, which oversees $28 billion, proposed an ETF linked to the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index, Jim Wang, chief investment officer of ETF and Quantitative Investment, said in an interview at a conference in Shanghai yesterday. Hua An plans to introduce an ETF linked to the FTSE 100 Index (UKX) , said David Xu, whose company oversees $12.6 billion. The ETF may be introduced later this year or in the first half of 2012. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Darren Boey at dboey@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Rand Slips to Week-Low on Slowing Manufacturing Growth, Zuma State Address

The rand slipped to its lowest in a week against the dollar after manufacturing output in Africa ’s biggest economy slowed and before President Jacob Zuma ’s state- of-the-nation speech to lawmakers in Cape Town. South Africa’s currency retreated as much as 1.4 percent to 7.6542 per dollar, the weakest level since Feb. 2. It pared declines after Greek politicians were said to have reached an accord on austerity measures, trading 0.6 percent down at 7.5951 as of 4:04 p.m. in Johannesburg. Against the euro, it slipped 0.7 percent to 10.0866. Manufacturing (SFPMNSAY) growth slowed in December as Europe ’s debt crisis curbed demand for exports to one of the country’s main trading partners, South Africa’s statistics agency reported today. Zuma, 69, will address lawmakers as the government prepares to cut its growth forecast for a second time in four months to below 3 percent and struggles to rein in a budget deficit of 5.5 percent of gross domestic product. He is scheduled to speak in Parliament at 7 p.m. “The news out of South Africa today was mediocre, to say the least,” Ian Cruickshanks, head of treasury strategic research at Johannesburg-based Nedbank Group Ltd., said by phone. “The manufacturing data was terrible, and then there is nervousness ahead of the state-of-the-nation address.” Manufacturing accounts for about 15 percent of South Africa’s economy, according to government data. The euro region, which buys about 30 percent of South Africa’s manufactured exports, faces “downside risks” to its economic outlook, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said today after the central bank left its benchmark interest rate at 1 percent. Factory Output South Africa’s factory output rose 2.4 percent from a year earlier, down from a revised 2.8 percent in November. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of six economists was for production to increase 2.6 percent. Zuma is under pressure from his labor union allies and the youth wing of the ruling African National Congress , who want him to nationalize mines and spend more on projects to create jobs. “He has to confirm that nationalization is not on the agenda, that infrastructure investment is going to be a top priority, that Eskom and Transnet,” the electricity and transport utilities, “are going to be a priority,” Cruickshanks said. “There is a lot riding on this speech.” The rand pared its decline after an unidentified government official said Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos ’s office is set to announce a deal on fiscal measures required for a 130 billion-euro financing package. South Africa’s 6.75 percent bonds due 2021 declined for a fifth day, driving the yield up four basis points, or 0.04 percentage point, to 7.85 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Brand in Cape Town at rbrand9@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Russian Ministries Oppose Tax Cut After Fuel Price Cap, RBC Says

Three Russian ministries oppose a cut in the export duty on diesel and fuel oil as compensation for crude producers and refiners that held down fuel prices before the March 4 presidential election, RBC Daily said. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ’s deputy for the energy industry , Igor Sechin , ordered the Energy, Finance and Economic Development ministries to devise a method for paying back the companies, which held fuel prices little changed even as international crude prices have climbed, the Moscow newspaper said today, citing unidentified people in the ministries. Changing the export tax would undermine the 60-66 system, introduced in October, which lowered the crude duty using a coefficient of 60 percent instead of 65 percent and unified the duty on most refined products at 66 percent of that levy, the people said, according to RBC Daily. To contact the reporter on this story: Jake Rudnitsky in Moscow at jrudnitsky@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Teva Rises to Three-Week High on Outlook for Second-Half of Year

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) climbed to the highest level in three weeks after the world’ largest maker of generic drugs reassured investors that second- half results will improve. The shares increased 3.7 percent to 169.60 shekels, the highest since April 17 at 11:41 a.m. in Tel Aviv. The stock closed 3.2 percent higher in the U.S. yesterday, after falling earlier. Growth will probably perk up in the second half of the year and the drop in generic-drug sales in the U.S. should not be viewed as a trend, Chief Executive Officer Shlomo Yanai said yesterday. Teva said first-quarter revenue increased 12 percent to $4.1 billion, missing the average estimate of $4.29 billion. “The company’s conference call strongly reassured that it is on track to meet its 2011-2012 targets and is becoming more and more diversified which should help it meet its 2015 targets,” Uriel Goren, the head of equities sales at Tel Aviv- based DS Brokerage Ltd. in an emailed note today. The Petah Tikva , Israel-based company repeated its forecast of sales between $18.5 billion and $19 billion this year, with earnings excluding some costs in the range of $4.90 to $5.20 per share. “We continue to expect the second half of 2011 to be significantly stronger than the first half,” Yanai said in a conference call with analysts. To contact the reporter on this story: Ronit Goodman in Tel Aviv at rgoodman9@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Maedler at cmaedler@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Iran Rejects U.S. Accusations of Sept. 11 Role, Ministry Says

Iran ’s Foreign Ministry said a default judgment by a U.S. federal judge finding Iran, in addition to the Taliban and al-Qaeda, liable in the Sept. 11 attacks, is “baseless,” the Islamic Republic News Agency said. “With the repetition of such claims to back its political aims the U.S. is putting the peace and security of the world in jeopardy,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said, the official IRNA news agency reported on its website. The claim that Iran “had a hand in planning the attacks and that one of al-Qaeda’s members was present inside the country is baseless,” Mehmanparast said. Judge George Daniels in Manhattan on Dec. 22 signed the judgment, which came in a $100 billion lawsuit brought by family members of victims of the attacks, the Associated Press said. To contact the reporter on this story: Ladane Nasseri in Dubai at lnasseri@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Louis Meixler at lmeixler@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Sabathia Takes Loss, Chen Gets 4th Win as Orioles Beat Yankees

Rookie pitcher Wei-Yin Chen won his fourth game and Jim Johnson picked up his 12th save as the host Baltimore Orioles beat the New York Yankees 5-2. CC Sabathia (5-1) took the loss, allowing four runs on eight hits in six innings while striking out six. Chen (4-0) allowed two runs on four hits and struck out four in seven innings at Oriole Park at Camden Yards last night. Johnson has converted 20 consecutive saves going back to last season for the longest active streak in Major League Baseball. The teams split their two-game series in Baltimore, with the Yankees winning the opener 8-5. Adam Jones gave the Orioles the lead with a solo home run in the second inning. Steve Tolleson scored in the third when J.J. Hardy grounded into a double play. Xavier Avery scored on Hardy’s double in the fifth and Bill Hall added a run on Hardy’s infield single in the sixth to make it 4-0. Curtis Granderson hit a two-run homer in the seventh for the Yankees’ only runs. The Orioles’ final run scored on a passed ball by New York catcher Chris Stewart. To contact the reporter on this story: Nancy Kercheval in Washington at nkercheval@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Aguas Andinas Falls in Chile as BofA Cuts to Neutral

Aguas Andinas SA (AGUAS/A) fell the most in three weeks after Bank of America Corp. cut its recommendation on Chile ’s largest water utility to the equivalent of hold, saying the stock was overvalued compared with peers. Aguas Andinas dropped 1.5 percent to 396.47 pesos, its biggest decline since March 25 on a closing basis and ending a four-day streak of gains. The stock was the worst performer today on Chile’s benchmark Ipsa index , which rose 0.6 percent. Bank of America cut the rating to neutral from buy and maintained its price target at 420 pesos per share, according to an e-mailed note to clients yesterday. The stock’s gains will be limited after rising 17 percent this year, the bank said. “Outlook remains positive, but with limited upside,” Bank of America analysts Diego Moreno, Felipe Leal and Luiz Antonio Leite wrote. “In our view the share price has run ahead of its fundamentals.” Aguas Andinas, based in Santiago, is still the best performer on the Ipsa this year after retailer Forus SA (FORUS) , which has increased 18 percent. Inversiones Aguas Metropolitanas SA (IAM) , Aguas Andinas’s controller, has advanced 7.8 percent in 2013. Brazilian water company Cia. de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo , or Sabesp, is Bank of America’s top pick in the water-utilities sector, the analysts wrote in yesterday’s note. Aguas Andinas must return about $5 million to customers as compensation for cuts in service in January and February, according to a statement posted yesterday on the company’s website. To contact the reporter on this story: Eduardo Thomson in Santiago at ethomson1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Papadopoulos at papadopoulos@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Jets’ Goodson Suspended Four Games for Substance-Abuse Violation

New York Jets running back Mike Goodson was suspended without pay for the first four games of the regular season for violating the National Football League’s substance-abuse policy. Goodson, 26, signed a three-year, $6.9 million contract with the Jets in March, two days after the team lost Shonn Greene as a free agent. Two months later, Goodson and a friend were arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and a handgun after a traffic stop in which Goodson was a passenger, CBS Sports reported , citing the New Jersey State Police. Goodson hasn’t practiced with the Jets since the incident and rejoined the team yesterday. He’ll be eligible to return to the Jets’ active roster on Sept. 30, the day after their Week 4 game against the Tennessee Titans. “I’ve been away from the team to take care of some important personal things,” Goodson said in a statement. “The time was helpful to me and, now that I am back, I am going to do everything I can to contribute to the team.” The Jets said in a statement that Goodson will be permitted to attend meetings and do conditioning on an individual basis at their practice facility during the suspension, though he won’t be allowed to practice or play. “While we welcome Mike back to the organization, we have had direct conversations to make our expectations very clear as we work together to help him move forward in a positive manner, both on and off the field,” the Jets said in an e-mailed statement. Goodson is entering his fifth year in the NFL after playing for the Carolina Panthers for three seasons and the Oakland Raiders in 2012. He has gained 772 yards on 160 carries and caught 59 passes for 524 yards in his career. Also yesterday, the NFL suspended Minnesota Vikings fullback Jerome Felton for the first three games of the regular season for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. Felton made the Pro Bowl last season after helping Adrian Peterson rush for a league-leading 2,097 yards. He’ll be eligible to return ahead of the Vikings’ Sept. 29 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in London. To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Matuszewski in New York at matuszewski@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Liz Cheney Says Party Chief Steele Should Quit After Afghanistan Remarks

Liz Cheney joined some fellow Republicans in calling on Michael Steele to resign as chairman of the Republican National Committee over remarks suggesting that the U.S. cannot win the war in Afghanistan. “It is time for Chairman Steele to step down,” Cheney , daughter of former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and head of a group called Keep America Safe, said yesterday in a statement. She said his comments were “deeply disappointing and wrong.” Speaking at a Republican fundraising event in Connecticut on July 1, Steele said the conflict in Afghanistan “was a war of Obama’s choosing” and “is not something that the United States has actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in.” The U.S. will reassess its Afghanistan strategy in December and is trying to train enough Afghan soldiers and police to allow a withdrawal of U.S. troops there beginning in July 2011. President Barack Obama last year authorized the deployment of 30,000 additional troops in an effort to halt a resurgence of the Taliban that has increased U.S. and allied combat deaths to the fastest pace of the nine-year war, the longest in American history. Conservative commentator Bill Kristol , editor of the Weekly Standard, yesterday published an open letter to Steele. “I ask you to consider, over this July 4 weekend, doing an act of service for the country you love: Resign as chairman of the Republican Party,” Kristol wrote. “There are, of course, those who think we should pull out of Afghanistan, and they’re certainly entitled to make their case. But one of them shouldn’t be the chairman of the Republican Party.” Afghan Timetable Some Republican lawmakers, including Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, oppose the troop drawdown slated to begin next July. McCain last week said a timetable leaves “our troops on the ground in some ways confused about what the long-term strategy will be,” and the Taliban insurgents “think we’re going to leave.” Steele also drew Democratic criticism for his comments. “Michael Steele would do well to remember that we are not in Afghanistan by our own choosing, that we were attacked and that his words have consequences,” Brad Woodhouse , communications director for the Democratic National Committee, said yesterday in a statement. Steele on July 1 said, referring to Obama, “if he’s such a student of history, has he not understood that, you know, that’s the one thing you don’t do is engage in land war in Afghanistan? Because everyone who has tried, over a thousand years of history, has failed. And there are reasons for that.” Steele clarified his July 1 remarks yesterday by saying, “The stakes are too high for us to accept anything but success in Afghanistan.” In the same statement he said that “for the sake of the security of the free world, our country must give our troops the support necessary to win this war.” The U.S.-led war in Afghanistan began after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S. by al-Qaeda, which had been given a safe haven by the militant Islamic Taliban that then controlled the country. To contact the reporter on this story: Timothy R. Homan in Washington at thoman1@bloomberg.net Enlarge image Republican Steele’s Afghanistan Remarks Freddie Lee/Fox News Sunday via Bloomberg Michael Steele, Republican National Committee chairman. Michael Steele, Republican National Committee chairman. Photographer: Freddie Lee/Fox News Sunday via Bloomberg //<![CDATA[ $(document).ready(function () { $(".view_story #story_content .attachments img.small_img").each(function(){ var self = $(this); if (self.width() != 190){ self.width(190); } }); }); //]]>

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Pound Extends Advance After Third-Quarter GDP Exceeds Analysts' Estimates

The pound extended gains against the dollar and the euro after data showed gross domestic product in the three months through September rose twice as much as economists estimated. The U.K. currency rose as much as 0.8 percent to $1.5842 and was at $1.5841 as of 9:34 a.m. in London. Against the euro, sterling appreciated 0.8 percent to 88.12 pence. Gross domestic product rose 0.8 percent in the third quarter after increasing 1.2 percent in the previous quarter, the Office for National Statistics said today. Economists forecast a 0.4 percent gain, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Dobson in London at pdobson2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Most Swiss Stocks Advance on China Industrial Output Data

Most Swiss stocks advanced days as Chinese industrial production exceeded economists’ forecasts. Transocean Ltd. (RIG) , the world’s largest offshore-rig contractor, increased 2.5 percent as S&P Capital IQ upgraded the shares. Swisscom AG (SCMN) rose 1 percent. The Swiss Market Index (SMI) added 0.2 percent to 7,967.98 at 10:49 a.m. in Zurich, as two shares advanced for each one that fell. Gains were limited as a report showed French industrial production unexpectedly dropped in June and Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher told the Handelsblatt newspaper that the U.S. central bank should start tapering its bond purchases next month if economic data doesn’t deteriorate. “Chinese data is counterbalanced this morning by weak manufacturing data from France and talk of further tapering from Fed President Richard Fisher ,” Ion-Marc Valahu, co-founder and fund manager at Clairinvest in Geneva, wrote in an e-mail. “So far this morning, the markets are brushing these warning signs aside.” The SMI is little changed this week, bringing its 2013 rally to 17 percent. The broader Swiss Performance Index gained 0.2 percent today. China’s industrial output rose 9.7 percent last month from a year earlier, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, topping the 8.9 percent median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey. The nation’s retail sales advanced 13.2 percent. Transocean jumped 2.5 percent to 45.16 Swiss francs, snapping a three-day decline, as S&P Capital IQ upgraded the stock to buy from hold. Swisscom Gains Swisscom, Switzerland’s biggest phone company, advanced 1 percent to 428.20 francs. Addex Therapeutics Ltd. (ADXN) gained 2.3 percent to 3.14 francs after the biotechnology company raised 3.2 million francs selling shares to institutional investors. “These funds have extended our cash runway through 2014, taking us beyond our next significant clinical event, the reporting of Phase 2 ADX71149 anxious depression data which is expected in the first half of the year,” Chief Executive Officer Tim Dyer wrote in a a statement today. The volume of shares changing hands in SMI-listed companies was 17 percent greater than the average of the last 30 days, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Morgan in Frankfurt at jmorgan157@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

FTSE 100 Index Falls as U.S. Consumer Confidence Unexpectedly Decreases

U.K. stocks declined as a slump at Old Mutual Plc and weaker-than-estimated consumer confidence data in the U.S. overshadowed Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke ’s comments that he may provide more stimulus measures. Old Mutual tumbled 4.8 percent after HSBC Holdings Plc abandoned a bid to buy the insurer’s stake in Nedbank Group Ltd. Xstrata Plc and Kazakhmys Plc led a retreat among mining shares. BT Group Plc, Britain’s largest phone company, climbed the most since July after reaching an agreement over contracts with the U.K. government. The benchmark FTSE 100 Index fell 23.84, or 0.4 percent, to 5,703.37 at the 4:30 p.m. close in London, paring this week’s gain to 0.8 percent. The gauge has rallied 19 percent since July 1 as investors speculated that the Federal Reserve will announce plans to stimulate economic growth in November as the recovery wanes. The FTSE All-Share Index dropped 0.4 percent today and Ireland’s ISEQ Index lost 0.5 percent. “Investors are right to be concerned about the fragile labor market in the U.S.,” said Camille Viros, an economist at Barclays Wealth in London, which manages about $211 billion. “A double-dip should be avoided. However, we expect growth to remain sluggish.” U.S. Economy Confidence among U.S. consumers unexpectedly declined in October, with Americans more pessimistic about current economic conditions. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment decreased to 67.9, the lowest since July, from 68.2 in September. Economists estimated an October reading of 68.9, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. Bernanke today said additional monetary stimulus may be warranted as inflation is too low and unemployment is too high. “There would appear -- all else being equal -- to be a case for further action,” Bernanke said in the text of remarks given at a Boston Fed conference. He said the central bank could expand asset purchases or change the language in its statement. Old Mutual, Africa’s biggest insurer, sank 4.8 percent to 138.3 pence, the most in almost six months. HSBC, Europe’s largest bank, abandoned a bid to buy a $7.3 billion controlling stake in South Africa’s Nedbank after eight weeks of talks. The London-based lender had been in negotiations to purchase as much as 70 percent of Nedbank, including a 52 percent stake owned by Old Mutual. HSBC , the biggest stock in the FTSE 100 by weighting, fell 1.4 percent to 653.3 pence. Xstrata, Kazakhmys Xstrata lost 2.3 percent to 1,311.5 pence. Kazakhmys declined 2.3 percent to 1,384 pence. BT gained 2.9 percent to 147.4 pence after saying its government contracts remain in place and there is no change to the company’s overall outlook. The U.K. government accounts for about 10 percent of BT’s business. “This statement should serve to alleviate recent concerns regarding government spending in the near term,” said Mark James , a London-based analyst at Liberum Capital. “It’s a case of: the government wins, BT doesn’t lose.” Rolls-Royce Group Plc increased 1.1 percent to 635 pence, for a six-day rally. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its recommendation to “buy” from “neutral” and added the world’s second-biggest engine maker to its “conviction buy” list. “We believe the A&D sector has again entered a phase where the key to outperformance is to select stocks that can deliver sustained, superior returns versus peers,” the broker wrote in a note today. Computacenter Plc climbed 2.6 percent to 346.5 pence, the highest price since 2006. The supplier of computer services said trading in the third quarter strengthened after an “already positive position” in the first half. To contact the reporters on this story: Adam Ewing in Stockholm at aewing5@bloomberg.net ; Adam Haigh in London at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Merritt at dmerritt1@bloomberg.net .

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Dow `Super Boom' to Drive Average to 38,820 by 2025, Hirsch Says

The Dow Jones Industrial Average will surge to 38,820 in an eight-year “super boom” beginning in 2017, according to Jeffrey A. Hirsch , editor in chief of the “Stock Trader’s Almanac.” “All previous major economic booms and secular bull markets were driven by peace, inflation from war and crisis spending, and ubiquitous enabling technologies that created major cultural paradigm shifts and sustained prosperity,” he wrote in a press release sent with the 44th edition of the book. Hirsch’s forecast comes more than a decade after James K. Glassman and Kevin A. Hassett predicted the Dow would rise to 36,000 by 2005 in “Dow 36,000,” a New York Times bestseller. The 114-year-old average ended 1999 at 11,497.12 and sank as low as 7,286.27 in 2002 following the Internet bubble. The Dow then jumped to a record 14,164.53 in 2007 and fell to 6,547.05 in March 2009 after the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. “He’s got some crazy number on there,” said Frank Ingarra , a Stamford, Connecticut-based money manager at Hennessy Advisors Inc., which oversees about $900 million. “We’ve had probably one of the worst 10-year periods in history, and I think there’s just too much overhang with the government for it to get to those numbers.” 259% Surge The Dow closed today at 10,812.04, meaning it must gain 259 percent, or about 8.9 percent annually in 15 years, to reach Hirsch’s projection. It has lost an average of about 1.3 percent a year since the end of 1999. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 0.9 percent a year including dividends between 1999 and 2009, the first negative return for a decade since data began in 1927, according to S&P. The withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and inflation caused by the wars and spending to end the financial crisis will help push the Dow higher, Jeffrey Hirsch said in the statement. Advances in energy technology or biotechnology may also help spur the rally between 2017 and 2025, he said. “I can’t throw a dart that far,” said Liam Dalton , president of Axiom Capital Management Inc. in New York, which oversees $1.4 billion. “It’s too unknowable with regard to the things that would set up that kind of move.” The “Stock Trader’s Almanac,” first published by Hirsch’s father Yale Hirsch in 1967, is known for revealing seasonal patterns in equity market returns. The “Best Six Months” strategy shows that since 1950, investors made the most money owning shares of Dow companies between Nov. 1 and April 30 and avoiding them the rest of the year. The book includes data showing the third year of U.S. presidents’ terms -- such as 2011

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Le Pin 2002 Sells for Record $18,900 on London’s Liv-Ex Market

Wine from the 2002 vintage of Chateau Le Pin, a Pomerol estate whose prices rival those of close neighbour Chateau Petrus , sold for a record 12,000 pounds ($18,900) a case on London ’s Liv-ex wine market today. The price was 6 percent up from 11,300 pounds a case paid last August and 18 percent above the 10,200 pounds fetched in November 2011, according to data on Liv-ex’s Cellar Watch website. Since the vineyard only produces about 6,000 bottles a year from its two hectares (five acres), the wine rarely trades. The Liv-ex Fine Wine 50 Index has risen almost 6 percent this year, buoyed by demand for rarer Pomerols and Burgundies, with an 8 percent gain in the 10 weeks to mid-March pared by a 2 percent decline since then as the sales campaign for Bordeaux 2012 futures weighed on prices. The 2002 Le Pins are the fourth most-expensive of the latest 10 vintages trading, lagging only the 2005, 2009 and 2010 wines, according to merchant prices surveyed by Liv-ex. Its 2009 and 2010 wines received perfect 100 scores from U.S. critic Robert Parker , while the 2002 was rated 93. Le Pin was bought by Belgian merchant Jacques Thienpont in 1979 and was one of the first of Pomerol’s niche producers whose prices were driven in part by scarcity value. Editors: Peter Torday, Sheldon Reback To contact the reporter on this story: Guy Collins in London at guycollins@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Sillitoe in London at psillitoe@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

German Stocks Retreat; Siemens Drops as Earnings Miss Estimates

German stocks declined as Siemens AG (SIE) reported earnings that missed estimates and a meeting of euro- area finance ministers finished without making progress on a debt-swap deal for Greece’s private creditors. Siemens fell 1.3 percent after Europe’s largest engineering company said achieving its full-year goals has become harder as the sovereign-debt crisis weighs on the economy. Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) and Commerzbank AG (CBK) slid more than 1.5 percent. EON AG and RWE AG (RWE) , Germany’s biggest utilities, rose. The DAX Index (DAX) dropped 0.3 percent to 6,419.22 at the close in Frankfurt, paring an earlier decline of as much as 1.5 percent. The broader HDAX Index fell 0.4 percent today. “It’s a little bit of profit taking, combined with a little bit of disappointment,” Neil Smith , an analyst at WestLB AG (WESTLB) in Dusseldorf, said. Euro-area policy makers have no deadline for Greece to conclude its talks with private bondholders on a debt swap that both the parties broadly agreed to in October, two euro-region officials said last night. Finance ministers balked at putting up more taxpayer funds. The debt swap aims to cut 100 billion euros ($130 billion) from the 205 billion euros of privately owned Greek debt, said the officials, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private. Greece’s Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said today that the government intends to wrap up debt-swap talks with private investors by Feb. 1. Siemens, Deutsche Bank Siemens slid 1.3 percent to 77.39 euros. Net income from continuing operations in the fiscal first quarter fell 27 percent to 1.36 billion euros, the company said. That missed the average estimate of 1.47 billion euros in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. New orders also declined, making this year’s targets harder to reach, Chief Executive Officer Peter Loescher said. Deutsche Bank dropped 1.8 percent to 32.90 euros, while Commerzbank fell 2.8 percent to 1.89 euros. A gauge of banking shares was among the worst performers of the 19 industry groups on the Stoxx Europe 600 Index , falling 1 percent. Societe Generale SA, France’s second-largest lender, and Credit Agricole SA had their ratings downgraded to A from A+, with a stable outlook, Standard & Poor’s said yesterday. EON and RWE rose 0.6 percent to 15.97 euros and 2 percent to 26.82 euros, respectively. To contact the reporter on this story: Konstantin Riffler in Frankfurt at kriffler@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Angela Cullen at acullen8@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Fed Funds Projected to Open at 0.06% to 0.09%, ICAP Says

Fed funds, the U.S. overnight inter- bank lending rate , is projected to open in a range of 0.06 percent to 0.09 percent, within the Federal Reserve ’s target of zero to 0.25 percent. Fed funds closed at 0.28 percent yesterday after trading from 0.03 percent to 0.28 percent and averaging 0.08 percent, ICAP Plc, the world’s largest inter-dealer broker, said in an e- mailed statement. ICAP’s monthly average is 0.064 percent. The central bank will acquire $2.25 billion to $2.75 billion of Treasuries maturing from February 2036 to November 2041. The purchases are part of the Fed’s program to replace $400 billion of short-term debt in its portfolio with longer- term Treasuries to reduce borrowing costs further and counter risks of a recession. To contact the reporter on this story: Liz Capo McCormick in New York at emccormick7@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

BMW Hires Temporary Workers, May Expand Working Hours, Handelsblatt Says

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is hiring temporary workers and may expand working hours to meet growing demand for luxury cars, Handelsblatt reported, citing personnel chief Harald Krueger. Munich-based BMW is also mulling shorter holiday closures as capacity utilization at some of its factories is “very good,” the newspaper cited Krueger as saying. To contact the reporters on this story: Andreas Cremer in Berlin at acremer@bloomberg.net .

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Thomson Reuters to Suspend Early Data Survey Release

Thomson Reuters Corp. (TRI) will suspend the early release of a consumer survey to select traders as part of an agreement with the New York Attorney General’s office, which is probing the matter. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is investigating the release of the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment to high-frequency traders two seconds ahead of other Thomson Reuters subscribers, the state said today. The two-second advantage is enough time for traders to take “unfair advantage” of access to the information, the attorney general’s office said in a statement. “The securities markets should be a level playing field for all investors, and the early release of market-moving survey data undermines fair play in the markets,” Schneiderman said. Thomson Reuters is fully cooperating with the review and at the request of the attorney general will simultaneously distribute the survey to clients at 9:55 a.m. effective July 12, Lemuel Brewster, a company spokesman, said in a statement. Voluntary Change Thomson Reuters made the change voluntarily at the request of the attorney general, Brewster said. “Thomson Reuters strongly believes that news and information companies can legally distribute non-governmental data and exclusive news through services provided to fee-paying subscribers,” Brewster said in his statement. Thomson Reuters’s agreement to discontinue the release two seconds early removes a “prior distortion in the markets,” the attorney general’s office said. It will remain in effect while the state investigates, Schneiderman spokeswoman Melissa Grace said. Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, competes with New York-based Thomson Reuters in providing financial news and information. Bloomberg publishes a Consumer Comfort Index. The University of Michigan data had been released bimonthly in three tiers, according to a lawsuit filed by a former Thomson Reuters employee. The first release to some subscribers occurred at 9:54:58 a.m., followed by the release at 9:55 a.m. to what the company calls desktop subscribers and then the release to the public at 10 a.m., according to the complaint. Head Start The first release gives those subscribers a head start to trade on the information, according to the former employee, Mark Rosenblum. Rosenblum said in the complaint that he believed the tiered distribution violated insider-trading laws, and in June 2012, he contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Thomson Reuters executives. He said in his complaint that he was fired in August that year. When the lawsuit was filed, Thomson Reuters said the accusations were “unsubstantiated and without merit.” The Rosenblum case is Rosenblum v. Thomson Reuters (Markets) LLC, 13-cv-02219, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York ( Manhattan ). To contact the reporter on this story: David McLaughlin in New York at dmclaughlin9@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Pickering at jpickering@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport March Cargo by Region

The following table shows cargo volumes at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport for March by region from data provided by the source. Source: Amsterdam Airport Schiphol http://www.schiphol.nl/SchipholGroup/Company1.htm To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Evans in London at mevans8@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Marco Babic at mbabic@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Lenovo to Offer New Phone, Tablets to Boost China Cloud Service

Lenovo Group Ltd. (992) , the world’s second-biggest maker of personal-computers, will offer upgraded versions of its smartphone and tablet computer in China, where the company is starting a cloud-computing service for consumers. The new “Lenovo Cloud” service allows users to store and download data on remote computer servers with devices including phones and tablets, the company said in an e-mailed statement today. Lenovo is aiming to make new devices that offer better integration with cloud-computing technology, it said. The computer maker follows Chinese Web companies including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Baidu Inc. in offering cloud services in China, the world’s biggest Internet market by users. Internationally, Apple Inc. (AAPL) aims to add users to its iCloud service, which allows online sharing of music, photographs and documents for iPhone and iPad users, and compete against rival cloud technology by Google Inc. (GOOG) Lenovo will offer new versions of its LePhone and LePad products, and introduce LeTV, a television device, according to the statement. LeTV will start selling in the first quarter of next year, the company said, without indicating when it will introduce the upgraded smartphone and tablet computer models. The Chinese company, which acquired the PC unit of International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) in 2005 to expand overseas, will also upgrade its online applications store. Lenovo shares rose 3.8 percent to HK$5.42 at close in Hong Kong , compared with a 1.2 percent gain in the city’s benchmark Hang Seng Index. Alibaba Group, part-owned by Yahoo! Inc. , in July unveiled an operating system for mobile devices that lets users access applications using cloud computing technology. In September, Baidu said it will offer a new cloud technology aimed at mobile- phone users. Lenovo accounted for 13.5 percent of the global PC market by shipments last quarter, increasing from 11.1 percent a year earlier, overtaking Dell Inc. (DELL) , according to researcher Gartner Inc. The Chinese company trailed only Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) , whose market share rose to 17.7 percent from 17.3 percent, Gartner said. To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Lee in Hong Kong at wlee37@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Tighe at mtighe4@bloomberg.net

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Carrefour, Vinci, Latecoere, Zodiac: French Equity Preview

The following is a list of companies whose stocks may have unusual changes in Paris. Symbols are in parentheses after company names and prices are from the last close. France’s benchmark CAC 40 Index (CAC) fell 0.4 percent to 3,792.31. The broader SBF 120 Index dropped 0.5 percent to 2,866.44. Carrefour SA (CA) : The world’s second-largest retailer named Noël Prioux as executive director of its French operations and tasked him with turning around the unit after first-half results were below management expectations. The shares fell 3.5 percent to 27.75 euros. Vinci SA (DG) : Europe’s biggest builder said it signed a 7.8 billion-euro ($11 billion) contract to build and maintain a rail link between Tours and Bordeaux in southern France. The shares fell 0.6 percent to 42.01 euros. Zodiac Aerospace (ZC) SA: The aeronautical equipment maker said its sales rose 31 percent to 2.02 billion euros for the first nine months of its fiscal year, and raised its full- year revenue growth forecast to at least 20 percent. The shares fell 2.4 percent to 54.51 euros. Latecoere SA (LAT FP): The world’s largest independent aircraft-door supplier said it plans to hire 400 people this year, including 150 in France. The shares were down 1.1 percent to 10.88 euros. To contact the reporter on this story: Carol Matlack in Paris at cmatlack@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Rhinds in Paris at srhinds@bloomberg.net

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Natural Rubber Supply May Beat Forecast on Indonesia, Producer Group Says

Natural rubber supply this year may be more than forecast last month as growers in Indonesia boost output to benefit from record prices, a producers’ group said. Production may increase 6.6 percent to 9.5 million metric tons, more than the 9.4 million tons forecast on Oct. 27, the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries said in an e- mailed statement today. Supply may drop 3.8 percent in the three months to Dec. 31 as rain disrupts tapping in Thailand, the biggest producer and exporter, the group said. Rubber in Tokyo has climbed 30 percent this year as rain in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, the top three growers, interrupted tapping and lowered production. Futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange reached a 30-year high of 383 yen on Nov. 11. Total supply would be more than earlier predicted because Indonesia’s estimates for the third and fourth quarter have “undergone major revisions to the higher side” against a downward adjustment for Thailand and Malaysia, Jom Jacob, the group’s senior economist, said in the statement. Thailand’s rubber supply this year may drop 1.4 percent to 3.12 million tons and rebound 4.1 percent to 3.25 million tons next year, the group said. Indonesia’s output may jump 16.9 percent to 2.85 million tons this year and climb further to 2.94 million tons in 2011, it said. The price boom appears “to have prompted the dominant smallholders in Indonesia to exploit the maximum possible yield from their trees,” Jacob said. Indonesia’s production gained 33.1 percent in the three months to Sept. 30 and may increase 18.6 percent in the October to December period, he said. China Drop China’s consumption of natural rubber, including compound rubber, may drop 2 percent in the fourth quarter as the government takes steps to cool commodity prices, the group said. Imports of all forms of natural rubber may climb 7.1 percent to 3.26 million tons this year and increase by 6 percent to 3.45 million tons in 2011, the group said. “Natural rubber markets do not appear to have received any notable support from the demand side,” Jacob said. “Concerns over China’s new policy measures clouded demand expectations.” April-delivery rubber on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange gained as much as 2.6 percent to 368.7 yen per kilogram ($4,419 a ton) before settling at 362.6 yen today. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s government has raised interest rates, increased the reserve requirement for banks and pledged to use price controls if needed as part of efforts to rein in inflation that reached 4.4 percent last month. Analysts at nine banks surveyed by Bloomberg News last week predicted the PBOC will boost borrowing costs a second time by the end of the year. China’s recent moves to crack down on speculation in commodities have worked, and prices of goods from cotton to copper have all declined, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement on its website today. To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Kutty Abraham in Mumbai at tabraham4@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net

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Copper Pares Monthly Gain as Freeport Can Start Some Mining

Copper fell, paring its first monthly gain in four months as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) said it can start open-pit production at Indonesia ’s Grasberg mine after an accident halted operations. The metal for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange retreated as much as 0.6 percent to $7,276.75 a metric ton and was at $7,311.75 at 10:46 a.m. in Tokyo. The price has risen 3.6 percent this month. Futures for delivery in July on the Comex were little changed at $3.3135 per pound. Freeport can start open-pit work, though it has yet to receive permission to start underground mining at its Grasberg mine complex, Daisy Primayanti, a spokeswoman for the Phoenix-based miner’s Indonesian unit, said yesterday. Production hasn’t restarted yet at second-largest copper mine, where 28 workers were killed when an underground tunnel collapsed May 14. “The Freeport news has eased concern over mine supply disruption,” said Tetsu Emori , the chief fund manager at Astmax Asset Management Inc. in Tokyo. While metals were also under downward pressure from the dollar’s strength, a decline in LME stockpiles and improving U.S. economic data would limit further losses, he said. The Dollar Index, which tracks the currency against those of six major U.S. trade partners, rose for a second day, adding as much as 0.3 percent. It reached 84.498 on May 23, the most since 2010. A rise in the dollar curbs demand from buyers holding other currencies. U.S. consumer confidence climbed in May to the highest level in more than five years, a Conference Board report showed yesterday. Separate data showed U.S. house prices rose in the 12 months through March by the most in seven years as the recovery in residential real estate gained momentum. Copper stockpiles monitored by the LME fell for a third day to 619,650 tons. Orders to remove the metal from warehouses climbed 0.5 percent to 223,150 tons, the first gain after three declines from the record on May 21. The contract for September delivery was little changed at 52,690 yuan ($8,588) a ton on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. On the LME, zinc and lead declined, while tin climbed. Aluminum and nickel were little changed. To contact the reporter on this story: Jae Hur in Tokyo at jhur1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Brett Miller at bmiller30@bloomberg.net

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Malaysian Stocks: Berjaya, Cypark, Integrated Rubber, Trinity

Shares of the following companies had unusual (FBMKLCI) moves in Malaysia trading. (FBMKLCI) Stock symbols are in parentheses and prices are as of the 12:30 p.m. trading break in Kuala Lumpur. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index rose 0.5 percent to 1,514.01, on course for its highest close since Aug. 5. The benchmark gauge is headed for its seventh day of gains, the longest winning streak since an eight-day rally through Aug. 24, 2010. The index has fallen 0.3 percent this year, set for its first annual loss in three years. Berjaya Corp. (BC) , a property, insurance and gaming group, dropped 1.1 percent to 94.5 sen, set for its lowest close since Sept. 26. Second-quarter net income fell 73 percent from a year earlier to 23 million ringgit ($7.2 million), according to a stock exchange filing. Cypark Resources Bhd. (CYP) , an environmental and landscaping services provider, climbed 4.3 percent to 1.47 ringgit, bound for its largest gain since Nov. 14. The company won a 14.7 million-ringgit landfill upgrading contract, it said in a statement. Integrated Rubber Corp. (IRCB) , a manufacturer of examination gloves, fell 3 percent to 16 sen, headed for its steepest decline since Dec. 21. The company had a third-quarter net loss of 5.3 million ringgit, compared with a profit of 2.9 million ringgit a year earlier, according to a statement to the stock exchange. Trinity Corp. (TRBH) (TRBH MK), a property developer formerly known as Talam Corp., fell 7.7 percent to 6 sen. Trinity had a net loss of 29.3 million ringgit in the third quarter, compared with a profit of 1.2 million ringgit in the second quarter, according to a stock exchange filing. It posted a net loss of 83.3 million ringgit a year earlier, it said. To contact the reporter on this story: Gan Yen Kuan in Kuala Lumpur at ykgan@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Darren Boey at dboey@bloomberg.net

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Goldman ‘Never Seriously’ Looked at Selling Commodities Unit

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) , the fifth- biggest U.S. bank by assets, “never seriously” looked at selling its commodities unit as lenders consider their options amid new rules on proprietary trading. “While we constantly evaluate all our businesses, senior management never seriously looked at spinning out all or part of our commodity business,” Sophie Bullock, a spokeswoman for the bank in London, said in a statement today. The Volcker rule may cut profit at the biggest U.S. banks twice as much as earlier estimates if regulators take a strict stance on limiting proprietary trading, Standard & Poor’s said yesterday. Qatar is weighing a potential stake in Morgan Stanley’s commodities unit, Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani said last week. “It seems banks are restructuring or in some cases curtailing their activities in light of the Volcker rule while others haven’t made any changes,” said Robert Finney, a partner at Holman Fenwick Willan LLP in London who specializes in financial services and regulation. “The extra-territorial application that would extend the rule to non-U.S. institutions as well as non-U.S. branches and affiliates of U.S. banks remains uncertain, as does the interaction with new capital and liquidity rules under Basel III. Many institutions hope the rule will be watered down after the U.S. elections.” Hedging Impaired The Volcker rule would impair banks’ ability to provide commodity-related hedging and financing services as currently written, Simon Greenshields , co-head of Morgan Stanley’s commodities, said in a comment letter to regulators in February. Revenue generated by the 10 largest banks’ commodity units slumped 20 percent in the first six months this year to $3.5 billion from $4.4 billion a year earlier, according to Coalition, a London-based research company. Their overall fixed income revenue dropped 1.1 percent to $51.49 billion, it said. Goldman’s revenue from fixed-income, currency and commodity trading climbed 28 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier to $2.22 billion, it said on Oct. 16. Its value-at-risk, a measure of the company’s potential daily trading losses, fell to $81 million, the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2005. “Commodities and currencies were both negatively impacted by continued low levels of volatility and volumes,” Harvey Schwartz, who will become chief financial officer at the end of January, said on a conference call with analysts that day. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI gauge of 24 commodities erased gains for the year today, after climbing the past three years. The Wall Street Journal today reported that Goldman Sachs held preliminary talks on splitting off its commodities trading unit in recent years. To contact the reporters on this story: Claudia Carpenter in London at ccarpenter2@abloomberg.net ; Chanyaporn Chanjaroen in Singapore at cchanjaroen@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter@bloomberg.net

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Kenya Power's First-Half Profit Climbs by 16% on Increased Sales of Power

Kenya Power and Lighting Ltd., the East African nation’s monopoly electricity distributor, said first-half profit rose 16 percent as power sales increased. Net income for the six months through December advanced to 2.2 billion shillings ($27 million), or 2.2 shillings a share, from 1.9 billion shillings, or 1.97 shillings a share, the Nairobi-based company said in an e-mailed statement today. Electricity sales jumped 8 percent to 20.6 billion shillings in the period. Total revenue declined 17 percent to 31.1 billion shillings as the company reduced collection of the fuel cost-recovery charge after two-year drought ended in 2010. The charge allows the company to retrieve the increasing cost of using emergency diesel-power generators, when levels at hydroelectric dams, the country’s main source of installed capacity, are reduced because of low rainfall. The company declared a dividend of 35 cents for the period, down from 38 cents a year earlier, the statement said. The stock erased an earlier gain of as much as 2.2 percent, or 50 cents, and closed unchanged at 22.5 shillings. To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah McGregor in Nairobi at smcgregor5@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net .

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Alex Jones Sells Gold on Sirius With Bombing Conspiracies

Heda Umarova first encountered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones while scouring the Internet to understand how her friend Dzhokhar Tsarnaev went from free-wheeling student to terrorism suspect. Umarova, a 21-year-old Chechen native from Chelsea, Massachusetts , found logic and comfort in Jones, who uses his 17 hours of weekly radio broadcasts and a sprawling online empire to advance the idea that the U.S. government played a part in the April 15 explosions that killed three and injured more than 260 at the Boston Marathon. “A lot of it is ‘Oh my god, he is crazy,’ but a lot of stuff he says make sense,” said Umarova, who grew up knowing the Tsarnaev family. “He brings up a lot of valid points.” She and others obsessed by the violence have coalesced around Jones, 39, expanding the reach of a man who exemplifies the Internet conspiracy industry. Sponsored by Midas Resources Inc., a closely held company that sells gold, his show is broadcast by Sirius XM Radio Inc. (SIRI) on a channel programmed by Clear Channel Communications Inc. (CCMO) and on roughly 80 terrestrial stations. The ideas espoused by Jones, who says he brings in $7 million a year, have prompted groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama , to accuse him of fomenting hate. His guests of note include both extremes of the political spectrum -- from U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky on the right to former U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich on the left. Boston Windfall “Alex Jones is probably the most important conspiracist in terms of influence in the U.S. now that Glenn Beck has lost his chair on network news,” said Chip Berlet, former senior analyst at Political Research Associates, a Somerville, Massachusetts, nonprofit that says it advances social justice. Views of Jones’s website, Infowars.com, spiked about sevenfold during mid-April as the world focused on the bombings, according to Alexa.com, a San Francisco company that tracks Internet analytics. By comparison, views to competing websites run by Rush Limbaugh and Beck were flat, the data show. Bilderberg Spectacle Jones says governments have a history of staging terror attacks and cites the 1933 Reichstag fire in Germany that preceded the Nazi rise to power. From there he zips to present-day U.S. politics, the Boston attacks and the arrest of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. “We have a criminal government at many levels and so nothing they say can be trusted or believed,” Jones said in a telephone interview from Austin. “And now they supposedly have this guy saying he did it all. I’m sure after they torture the hell out of him, he’ll say what ever they want him to say.” Jones took his ideas to Britain last week to protest the annual Bilderberg organization meeting, a group of global leaders who gather behind closed doors that this year included U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde. Jones garnered attention during a BBC television interview where he yelled “You will not stop freedom” and “Humanity is awakening” as host Andrew Neil made hand gestures indicating Jones was crazy. Fertile Market Every weekday, Jones hosts a three-hour program from a 20,000-square-foot studio in Austin, Texas. He does a two-hour live version Sundays, assisted by a staff of 50. The program, or portions of it, is carried on stations including Clear Channel’s KTCN in Minneapolis , KLBJ in Austin and WVNJ which broadcasts into New York City. Talkers Magazine, a trade publication, rates Jones as the 66th most influential radio host in the U.S. The measure understates his reach because it doesn’t include audiences on satellite or online, said Michael Harrison, editor and publisher. Jones’s YouTube channel, for example, has more than 300 million views. “Alex Jones has one of the largest general radio listenerships in America,” Harrison said in a telephone interview from Springfield, Massachusetts. “There is a huge audience in the world for that type of rebellious, anti-power, anti-establishment take.” Wrestling Reporter The Boston bombings presented a platform for Jones to spread his view that the U.S. government benefits from terrorism

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Glencore Sees Chinese Bidders Competing for $5 Billion Mine

Glencore Xstrata Plc (GLEN) , the global commodity trader and metals producer run by Ivan Glasenberg, expects as many as four Chinese bidders for a Peruvian copper mine that may be valued at more than $5 billion. “There are groups forming together and combining,” the billionaire chief executive officer told reporters yesterday in London. “We see there will be at least three to four groups bidding. There is some other outside interest besides the Chinese consortiums.” A first round of bids is due next week, he said. Chinese companies including Chinalco Mining Corp. International (3668) , MMG Ltd. (1208) and Citic Resources Holdings Ltd (1205) are among those studying offers for Las Bambas, people with knowledge of the process have said. Glencore, based in Baar, Switzerland , is selling the mine as part of an agreement to win Chinese regulatory approval for its $29 billion takeover of Xstrata Plc this year. The National Development and Reform Commission, China ’s top economic planning agency that approves all major overseas acquisitions, usually restricts state-owned companies from making rival offers. “We understand the NDRC sometimes doesn’t allow them to compete, but I think the interest that we’ve seen in China is very robust,” Glasenberg said. “There is very strong interest from some big major groups and they are not in the consortium, so it seems that they are going to compete.” BMO Capital Markets Ltd. and Credit Suisse Group AG are advising Glencore on the sale. Las Bambas could be valued at more than $5 billion, a person familiar with the matter said this month. Shareholder Payout Proceeds from the sale may be returned to shareholders, Chief Financial Officer Steve Kalmin told reporters. About $3 billion has been spent on the project so far. It’s estimated to cost about $5.9 billion to complete, he said. The Las Bambas mine is scheduled to produce 400,000 metric tons of copper a year starting in 2015 for at least the first five years. Xstrata said in January it was building the project at a cost of $5.2 billion. Glencore, the biggest publicly traded raw-materials supplier, hopes to close the sale by year-end, Glasenberg said on an Aug. 20 conference call. The deal may not be completed until the first half of next year, Kalmin said yesterday. The agreement with China struck in April that gave Glasenberg approval to buy Xstrata requires Glencore to pursue the sale to a buyer approved by the country’s Commerce Ministry by Sept. 30 next year. Sale Price The sale price will be the higher of two scenarios -- either an evaluation by two independent investment banks, or the total costs incurred by Glencore and Xstrata at the project, according to Glencore. Magris Resources Inc., the investment company founded by former Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) CEO Aaron Regent, is considering a bid for the mine, people familiar with the matter said last month. Jiangxi Copper Co. (358) , China’s largest producer of the metal, is also interested in Las Bambas, company secretary Pan Qifang said the same day. Glencore yesterday raised its estimate of savings from the takeover of Xstrata to at least four times the initial projection. The acquisition Glencore completed in May will generate a minimum of $2 billion in synergies next year, the Baar, Switzerland-based company said. Closing 33 Xstrata offices, firing workers and cutting costs at existing operations has saved $1.4 billion, it said. The purchase created the world’s fourth-biggest mining company, adding coal, nickel, zinc and copper mines to Glencore’s trading empire. Cost Savings The deal was expected to generate annual cost savings “well above” the stated $500 million plan, Glasenberg, 56, said in May. Morgan Stanley estimated $800 million of savings, it said in a Sept. 9 report. Glencore has reviewed 88 projects acquired from Xstrata and decided to suspend 44 of them, it said. The company also raised the cost estimate for the Koniambo nickel project, inherited from Xstrata, by $1 billion to $6.3 billion. The cost of expanding the operation was also increased by about $800 million from an earlier estimate. Glencore last month wrote down the value of assets acquired in the takeover by $7.7 billion to reflect “the broader negative mining industry environment.” The company, the world’s biggest exporter of power-station coal, reported a first-half net loss of $8.9 billion on the writedowns. Peter Grauer, the chairman of Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News , is a non-executive director of Glencore Xstrata. To contact the reporter on this story: Jesse Riseborough in London at jriseborough@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Viljoen at jviljoen@bloomberg.net

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IRC Seeks $160 Million Bank Loans to Complete Mine Expansion

IRC Ltd. (1029) , an iron ore miner in Russia ’s Far East, wants to raise as much as $162 million by 2015 after agreeing to sell about $238 million of shares to two Chinese traders to expand its K&S mine. IRC, a unit of gold miner Petropavlovsk Plc (POG) , will quadruple annual production of iron ore to more than 4 million tons once its K&S mine in southeast Russia starts in the first half of 2014. IRC last month agreed to sell a 31.4 percent stake to General Nice Development Ltd. and 4.5 percent to a unit of China Minmetals Corp. “The money we have from the Chinese investors gives us the chance to double the size of K&S from 3.2 million to about 6.2 million tons,” IRC Chairman Jay Hambro said. “The total built cost for K&S is $400 million, so we have ongoing conversations with Chinese and Russian banks to give us some debt.” IRC doesn’t need the extra cash until the end of next year, when it plans to start the expansion, and the banks include Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., he said. Chinese steel production will rise about 4 percent this year as economic growth picks up, boosting demand for iron ore, according to the China Metallurgical Industry Planning & Research Institute. Iron ore prices will range from $120 to $170 a ton in the long term to average about $140 a ton, Hambro said. Demand for the steelmaking raw material will continue to rise while supply growth will be slow because of project delays and cost increases, he said. Writedown Anglo American Plc on Jan. 29 said it would write down $4 billion from the value of its Minas-Rio iron-ore project in Brazil and raise spending for a sixth time after prior blowouts forced Chief Executive Officer Cynthia Carroll to quit. Rio Tinto Group CEO Tom Albanese also quit Jan. 17 after unveiling $14 billion of writedowns, partly after its $38 billion purchase of Alcan Inc. in 2007. Shareholders in mining companies such as Anglo, which lost almost half its value in the past two years, have fallen victim to a rush of acquisitions as commodity prices rallied in 2008 and 2011, and then asset prices slumped. “Banks like to fund things that generate cash and are liquid,” Hambro said. “You fund a mine and mining equipment but you don’t fund a railway because you can’t pick it up and sell it, so shareholders won’t fund it, the banks won’t fund it, so it’s very difficult for many companies to bring new supplies on.” IRC is confident of getting the approval of its shareholders for the deal with the Chinese traders when they vote it next month, Hambro said. “Everyone we met expressed positive feedback about the deal.” To contact the reporter on this story: Firat Kayakiran in London at fkayakiran@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Viljoen at jviljoen@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Kenya Shilling Snaps 3-Day Drop as Central Bank Curbs Liquidity

Kenya ’s shilling snapped three days of losses as the central bank accepted more bids for repurchase agreements than it had offered. The currency of East Africa ’s biggest economy appreciated 0.3 percent to 83.25 per dollar as of 1:44 p.m. in Nairobi. Kenya’s central bank accepted all 9.3 billion shillings of bids received for seven-day repurchase agreements after originally offering 5 billion shillings, said Godfrey Putunoi, a dealer at the bank’s money-market department. The central bank had stayed out of the money market the last three days. The weighted average rate for the repos was 16.073 percent, Putunoi said by phone today from Nairobi, the capital. The bank has mopped up a total of 26 billion shillings through repurchase agreement from April 27 through May 7, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Tanzania’s shilling strengthened the first time in three days, appreciating 0.5 percent to 1,574 per dollar, while the Ugandan shilling was unchanged at 2,465 to the dollar. To contact the reporter on this story: Johnstone Ole Turana in Nairobi at jturana@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Baseball Playoffs to Expand to 10 Teams by Adding Two Wildcards, Fox Says

Major League Baseball ’s playoffs will expand to 10 teams from eight starting this season, Fox Sports reported citing unidentified baseball officials. An announcement on the expanded playoffs may come today, though there are a few details to resolve, Fox Sports said. Under the new format, five teams from each league would make the postseason instead of four. An extra tier of playoffs had been agreed on as part of baseball’s labor contract approved in December. This season’s schedule was already set when the new collective bargaining agreement was completed and adjustments probably would be needed to incorporate the extra playoff games, Fox Sports said. It also hasn’t been determined which networks would televise the games, Fox Sports said. The three division winners in each league would get a first-round bye, while the two non-division winners with the best records would meet in a one-game playoff to decide the wild card. That team would advance to play the division winner with the best record, unless the teams are in the same division. To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Matuszewski in New York at matuszewski@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Pennsylvania Judge Urged by ACLU to Bar Voter ID Law

The Pennsylvania judge who last month upheld a law requiring voters to have photo identification was urged by the American Civil Liberties Union to bar enforcement of the statute without further review. The state Supreme Court this week returned the case to Commonwealth Judge Richard E. Simpson, ordering a further assessment of whether all eligible voters will be able to obtain acceptable ID if the law is upheld. Simpson ruled Aug. 15 after a trial that plaintiffs including the ACLU didn’t prove the law would disenfranchise voters. “The Supreme Court has set a high standard for avoiding a preliminary injunction that respondents have no possibility of meeting,” the ACLU and advocacy groups said in a filing yesterday in state court in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A majority of the state Supreme Court said Sept. 18 that the state wasn’t living up to the law’s requirement that it provide “liberal access” to alternate forms of ID. The four- justice majority asked Simpson to submit a supplemental opinion on the availability of alternate IDs by Oct. 2 and to block enforcement of the law if there is a chance of voter disenfranchisement. Simpson has scheduled additional arguments for Sept. 25. ‘Predictive Judgment’ The Pennsylvania case is among multiple court battles over voting rules, particularly in swing states, including Florida , Ohio and Wisconsin , where Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns see the possibility of victory. Voter cases are also under way in Alabama , South Carolina and Tennessee. Lawsuits filed over Florida voting rules include at least two challenging a law ostensibly designed to purge noncitizens from voter lists, which opponents say would disenfranchise new citizens as well. A federal judge last month blocked enforcement of a new Florida law restricting voter-registration activities. A different federal judge in Florida on Sept. 19 heard arguments challenging the state’s 2011 law cutting back early voting days as biased against blacks. Texas officials on Sept 19 were temporarily barred by a state judge from ordering county election officials to purge presumably dead voters from registration rolls because the initiative may violate the election code. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by four voters who were told they would be purged from voter-registration lists as deceased. They asked state court Judge Tim Sulak in Austin to stop the state from striking about 77,000 names, arguing the plan violates state and federal law. Democratic Voters Enacted in March, the Pennsylvania law requires voters to present a state-issued ID, or an acceptable alternative such as a military ID, to cast a ballot. Opponents of the law said probable Democratic voters, such as the elderly and the poor, are those least likely to have a valid ID by election day. The Pennsylvania Department of State on Aug. 27 began offering new ID cards on last month as a last resort for those unable to obtain a valid substitute. The state has issued only 9 percent of the minimum number of IDs it estimates are needed, the ACLU said this week. Simpson should issue a preliminary injunction even if state officials assure the court that the procedures put in place since last month will be “liberalized,” the ACLU said. “The Supreme Court was not satisfied that ‘a mere predictive judgment based primarily on the assurances of government officials’ would be enough to avoid the entry of a preliminary injunction,” the ACLU said. The case is Applewhite v. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , 330 MD 2012, Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania (Harrisburg) To contact the reporter on this story: Sophia Pearson in Philadelphia at spearson3@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Japan’s No. 2 Equity Strategist Kitano to Quit JPMorgan

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) ’s chief equity strategist in Tokyo, Hajime Kitano, will resign the investment bank, he wrote in an e-mail to clients today. Kitano was ranked Japan’s No. 2 equity researcher for 2012 by Institutional Investor magazine, falling from the top spot he held the previous year. JPMorgan spokeswoman Yukako Yoshino declined to comment. Kitano was not immediately available when called. “Kitano had deep insights, and he was popular with his analysis,” said Koji Toda, chief fund manager at Tokyo-based Resona Bank Ltd., which oversees about $174 billion. “He was helpful in analyzing past events for future investments. I’m surprised to know he is leaving.” Kitano, who topped Institutional Investor’s survey in 2011 and 2007, said in his e-mail that conveying information on the financial markets is his calling, and he hopes to send out reports again. To contact the reporters on this story: Toshiro Hasegawa in 東京 at thasegawa6@bloomberg.net ; Kana Nishizawa in Hong Kong at knishizawa5@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net

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Poland to Keep Debt Below 55% Limit Through 2013, Final Fiscal Plan Shows

The Polish government’s four-year fiscal plan will keep public debt below 55 percent of economic production, the threshold triggering mandatory spending cuts and tax increases, according to the final document released today. The plan forecasts that public debt will rise to 54.7 percent of gross domestic product this year, before declining to 53.7 percent by 2013. The estimates are based on assumptions that economic growth will accelerate to 4.8 percent by 2012, then slow to 4.1 percent in 2013. Poland, which ships 80 percent of its exports to other European Union countries, is betting on a recovery in western Europe and its role as co-host of the 2012 European soccer championships to drive growth. Consumer and investment demand will weaken after the tournament, resulting in a “strong reduction” of consumption as the government cuts spending to reduce the budget deficit, according to the document. “The assumptions are based on expectations that the euro- zone economy will accelerate to about 2 percent in 2012 and stabilize and that level the year after,” the government said in the plan. “This means continuation of economic growth in 2011, with an additional boost in 2012, mainly in relation to EURO 2012.” Poland was the only EU member to avoid a recession last year, though growth slowed to 1.8 percent, the worst in almost a decade. As a result, the budget deficit widened to 7.1 percent of GDP. Prime Minister Donald Tusk ’s government, which had pledged to bring the gap in line with the EU limit of 3 percent by 2012, now says meeting the goal may take another year. According to the government’s plan, the fiscal deficit will be 80 billion zloty ($26.7 billion) this year, then fall to 75.8 billion zloty in 2011, 47.8 billion zloty in 2012 and 23.4 billion zloty in 2013. To contact the reporter on this story: Dorota Bartyzel in Warsaw at dbartyzel@bloomberg.net Monika Rozlal in Warsaw at mrozlal@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

TERA AUTOTECH CO June Sales Rise 12.05% (Table) : 6234 TT

TERA AUTOTECH CO said unconsolidated sales in June rose 12.05% to NT$112,434,000 from NT$100,344,000, according to a statement filed to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. (Figures are in thousands of New Taiwan dollars) ================================================================= 6/2011 6/2010 Sales 112,434 100,344 YOY% 12.05% -----------------Year-to-date----------------- Sales 579,943 431,012 YOY% 34.55% =================================================================

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Budget Vote Win Can't Hide `Fragility' of India's Congress Party Coalition

India’s Congress party-led government needed the backing of a regional powerbroker to win a key budget vote, underlining how dependent Prime Minister Manmohan Singh remains on smaller parties to govern. “The victory gives us greater confidence,” Salman Khurshid, corporate affairs minister said after lawmakers cast their votes late yesterday. “The agendas of the coalition remain intact and we will pursue those.” Hours before the ballot, Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee obtained the backing of Mayawati, leader of a party that draws support from those at the bottom of the Hindu caste hierarchy and has 21 members in the lower house of Parliament. Congress and its allies defeated motions sponsored by the opposition that sought to roll back measures imposed in February’s budget by 88 votes. A year after Congress achieved its biggest election win in two decades the reliance on minority partners has stalled legislation that would allow Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to open retail outlets and Prudential Plc to sell more insurance. Mayawati in 2007 ordered the closure of Reliance Industries Ltd.’s retail branches in two cities in Uttar Pradesh, where she is chief minister, after protests by owners of small shops. Yesterday’s victory was a rare bright spot for a government that in recent weeks has been buffeted by allegations of corruption in cricket and secret taps on the mobile phones of senior politicians, claims that have stalled parliament debate. The opposition has derailed plans to reserve seats for women in the legislature and pass a liability bill that would open India’s nuclear energy industry to foreign equipment providers. ‘Fragile Coalition’ The government’s attempt to force through the women’s bill over the protests of regional parties that argued the move would simply entrench powerful families has made the United Progressive Alliance more “fragile,” political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan said in a phone interview. Congress can’t “behave like a single-party government,” he said. “Allies have to be taken into account.” The “government needs to change its economic and strategic policies” which are responsible for rising consumer prices, Mayawati said in a televised press conference yesterday. Her party would not support the opposition in the vote as it’s opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s “communal” politics, she said in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh. The ruling alliance is nine seats short of a majority in the 545- member lower house. Fuel Duty Mukherjee pulled out of the G-20 summit in Washington to ensure victory in the vote because an administration that is defeated on a budget-related issue is considered to have lost its majority in Parliament. Opposition parties, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Samajwadi Party have been demanding changes to import duties and excise taxes imposed on crude oil and refined products by Mukherjee in the Feb. 26 budget. The levies are fueling inflation and hurting the poor, they said. India’s consumer prices are rising among the fastest in the Asia-Pacific. Inflation is a sensitive issue in India, where the World Bank estimates three-quarters of the 1.2 billion people live on less than $2 a day. Singh won re-election last May as Congress rode back to power with the help of policies that provided guaranteed employment to the poorest families and raised rural incomes. About two-thirds of India’s population lives in villages. ‘Absolute Majority’ Even with its success, Mukherjee said in March he lacks the support to allow more foreign investment in retail and insurance. The government needs the “absolute majority of a single party” to make key policy changes, he said. Higher commodity and food prices pushed the benchmark wholesale-price inflation rate to 9.9 percent in March, the highest in 17 months, while the consumer prices paid by industrial workers rose 14.86 percent in February, the highest in the region, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Food-price inflation has stayed above 15 percent since November, contributing to two interest rate increases in a month by the Reserve Bank of India. The bank April 20 raised all three policy rates by a quarter point, saying “there is a need to ensure that demand-side inflation does not become entrenched.” Indian Oil Corp., the nation’s biggest state-owned refiner, Bharat Petroleum Corp. and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. are among companies that raised prices of fuels after Mukherjee increased import taxes and excise duty on crude oil, gasoline and diesel. Cricket Scandal Parliament proceedings were paralyzed last week by a cricket scandal that forced India’s junior foreign minister, Shashi Tharoor, to resign and the suspension of the commissioner of the world’s most lucrative competition for the sport, the Indian Premier League. Opposition lawmakers blocked all debates yesterday as they demanded the government respond to a report in the Outlook news magazine that senior politicians have had telephone calls intercepted and recorded. Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram denied the government had authorized the tapping. To contact the reporter on this story: Kartik Goyal in New Delhi at kgoyal@bloomberg.net ; Bibhudatta Pradhan in New Delhi at bpradhan@bloomberg.net Enlarge image Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, poses for a group photo with the heads of delegations attending the Nuclear Security Summit at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, on April 13, 2010. Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, poses for a group photo with the heads of delegations attending the Nuclear Security Summit at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, on April 13, 2010. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg //<![CDATA[ $(document).ready(function () { $(".view_story #story_content .attachments img.small_img").each(function(){ var self = $(this); if (self.width() != 190){ self.width(190); } }); }); //]]>

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Sorry, Libertarians, History Shows Bitcoin Isn't the Future

As we consider the digital-currency phenomenon that is Bitcoin, bear in mind that there are, broadly speaking, two accounts of the origin and history of money. One is elegant, intuitive and taught in many introductory economics textbooks. The other is true.  The financial economist Charles Goodhart, a former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, laid out the two views in a 1998 paper , “The Two Concepts of Money: Implications for the Analysis of Optimal Currency Areas.” The first view, the “M View,” is named after the Austrian 19th century economist and historian Karl Menger, whose 1882 essay “On the Origins of Money” is the canonical statement of an argument that goes back to Aristotle: As subsistence farming gives way to more complex economies, individuals want to trade. Simple barter (eight bushels of wheat for one barrel of wine) quickly becomes inefficient, because a buyer’s desires won’t always match up with a seller’s inventory. If a merchant comes through the village with wine and all a farmer has to offer is wheat, but the merchant wants nuts, there’s no trade and both parties walk away unfulfilled. Or the farmer has to incur the costs of finding another merchant who will exchange wheat for nuts and then hope that the first merchant hasn’t moved on to the next village. But if the merchant and the farmer can exchange some other medium, then the trade can happen. This medium of exchange has to be what Menger calls “saleable,” meaning that it’s easily portable, doesn’t spoil over time and can be divided. Denominated coins work, shells and beads also fit the bill. So do cigarettes in POW camps and jails and Tide laundry detergent for drug dealers . This process, Menger argues, happens without the intervention of the state: “Money has not been generated by law. In its origin it is a social, and not a state institution.”  Goodhart points out, however, that Menger is just wrong about the actual history of physical money, especially metal coins. Goodhart writes that coins don’t follow Menger’s account at all. Normal people, after all, can’t judge the quality of hunks of metal the same way they can count cigarettes or shells. They can, however, count coins. Coins need to be minted, and governments are the ideal body to do so. Precious metals that become coins are, well, precious, and stores of them need to be protected from theft. Also, a private mint will always have the incentive to say its coins contain more high-value stuff than they actually do. Governments can last a long time and make multi-generational commitments to their currencies that your local blacksmith can’t. But why oversee money creation in the first place? This brings us to the second theory of money, which Goodhart calls the "C View," standing for “cartalist” (chartalist is a more common spelling). To simplify radically, it starts with the idea that states minted money to pay soldiers, and then made that money the only acceptable currency for paying taxes. With a standard currency, tax assessment and collection became easier, and the state could make a small profit from seiginorage. The state-coin connection has far more historical support than Menger’s organic account. As Goodheart points out, strong, state-building rulers (Charlemagne, Edward I of England) tend to be currency innovators, and he could have easily added Franklin D. Roosevelt's taking the U.S. off the gold standard in 1933 or Abraham Lincoln financing the Civil War with newly issued greenbacks. The inverse is true too: When states collapse, they usually take their currencies with them. When Japan stopped minting coins in 958, the economy reverted to barter within 50 years.  When the Roman Empire collapsed in Western Europe, money creation splintered along new political borders. If money came about independent of states, as according to the M View, one would think it would outlast transient political structures. Historically, however, this tends not to be the case, a strong argument in favor of the C View.  How does this relate to Bitcoins? The electronic currency, introduced in early 2009 and popular with libertarian geeks, online gamblers and Internet-based drug dealers, is having its moment. Perhaps influenced by the banking crisis and deposit haircuts in Cyprus, Bitcoins have seen their value skyrocket in the past month, from around $33 a Bitcoin on March 3 to just over $140 today, and more than doubling in the past two weeks. Although the creators and heavy users of Bitcoins tend to be skeptical of the security and value of state-issued fiat currency, the state-centered account for how money came about actually helps explain why Bitcoins have been fairly popular. Only with powerful computers and sophisticated digital cryptology can a private currency come close to working along side traditional monies. If the requirement for money, whether it be metallic coins, paper backed by coins or paper backed by government promises, is that it has to be portable, durable and divisible, then Bitcoin fits the bill. An open-source program run by computers all over the world creates Bitcoins at a predetermined rate. Each “network node” -- a group of networked computers -- solves a complicated math problem requiring a fairly large amount of computer power and is rewarded with 25 Bitcoins. The program is set up so that there will be  21 million mined Bitcoins by 2140, and then it stops (there are about 11 million Bitcoins in circulation today). Each transaction has a unique digital signature so that everyone in the network can keep track of every Bitcoin and prevent counterfeiting or double-counting. Because the number of new Bitcoins is set to grow at predetermined rate, their value can’t be diluted or inflated away, they are far more portable than normal currency for use in online transactions, and they can be denominated down to 0.00000001, a “Satoshi” (named after Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto). This has all the properties of a medieval mint -- security, limited supplies, and trustworthy denominations -- but is entirely decentralized. It's a remarkable success, but it won't be the future of money.  Even putting aside security problems -- not surprisingly, a digital currency is a favorite target of hackers  -- there’s the potential that Bitcoin will turn from a way of doing anonymous, simple digital transactions and into a speculative-asset investment item, especially if it continues to soar in price. That might promote hoarding of Bitcoins by early adopters and choke off the marketplace. Although transactions haven’t fallen off a cliff yet, a currency whose value is distinctly bubble-tastic  is not something that even digital libertarians will readily spend. Here’s where a state could easily step in by just … printing more money, so that economic activity is not choked off by scarcity or hoarding. This would be totally consistent with the C View, where money is created by states to facilitate economic activity. But since Bitcoins can only be produced at a predetermined rate, deflation is a constant possibility, or that Bitcoins turn more into a commodity people buy than a currency people use. Even if Bitcoin remains a niche item for online libertarians, it is still a potent lesson in monetary economics. Call it the B View. (Matthew Zeitlin is a contributor to the Ticker.  Follow him  on Twitter.)

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Thorntons Says Chairman Spreckelsen to Retire Within 12 Months

Thorntons Plc (THT) said Chairman John von Spreckelsen will retire within 12 months. “Accordingly, the search for a suitable successor is being initiated,” the company said. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dara Doyle at ddoyle1@bloomberg.net

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Freddie Mac to Redeem Step-Coupon Notes Due 2015

The following issue is being redeemed via the company's call option: Issuer: Freddie Mac Coupon: Step-Coupon Maturity: Oct. 15, 2015 Redemption Amount: $50 million Redemption Price: 100 percent Amount Remaining: Fully Retired Security ID: 3134G1VQ4 Effective Date: Oct. 15, 2011

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Tariffs ‘Distort’ Renewable Energy Market, Alberta Minister Says

Feed-in tariffs, incentives that have helped drive renewable energy development in Germany , the U.K. and more than 40 other nations, “distort” markets and there are no plans to use them in Alberta, the Canadian province’s energy minister said. “We do not support feed-in tariffs,” which offer above- market rates for power generated from renewable sources, Ronald Liepert said in an interview in Calgary. “It’s clear that when you start going the route of feed-in tariffs, you start to distort the market.” Feed-in tariffs have been used for more than a decade in much of Europe to promote the development of renewable energy and have helped make Germany the world’s largest producer of solar power. Electricity and heat generated from sunshine, wind and biofuels must compete on price with fossil fuels, without government incentives, Liepert said. “It just isn’t economic yet,” he said yesterday. “It has to get to the point to where it can compete. But if someone wants to come into Alberta and put up the capital for solar, wind, whatever, they’re welcome to do that.” A feed-in tariff program “can cost a lot or a little, relative to the underlying cost of generation from any technology,” said Nathaniel Bullard , a policy analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance in San Francisco. “In recent years, Germany has successfully drawn down the levels of its feed-in tariffs in line with decreasing fundamental costs for systems,” he said. “The biggest challenge in setting feed-in tariff rates is that rates are set on a legislative timeline, while fundamental costs change on the market’s timeline.” National Energy Policy Alberta is home to the world’s third-largest reserves of crude in addition to coal and natural gas, and has almost 1 gigawatt of installed wind-power capacity, the most in Canada. The western province is also working with other Canadian regions and the federal government to craft a national energy policy. Ontario, the nation’s most populous province, is the only one that has a large-scale feed-in tariff policy. Canada’s energy plan will involve coordinating policies on energy consumption, transmission and eventually carbon emissions , Liepert said. Canada has committed to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels, in line with a target set by U.S. climate change negotiators at United Nations talks. “There is no way you can develop energy policy without environment being intertwined,” Liepert said. “Maybe even a year from now or two years from now I can envision this being a joint energy and environment initiative.” Cap-and-Trade A system of cap-and-trade, which limits the total emissions of greenhouse gases and allows emitters to trade permits to pollute, has “fallen off the back burner” in the U.S. A tax on carbon has “worked well” in Alberta, where large emitters are charged C$15 ($15.58) a ton. The money goes into a fund to support clean energy technology. Taxes on carbon may be a solution for a federal energy strategy, Liepert said. “There’s no reason why we can’t pursue that at a national level.” To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy van Loon in Calgary at jvanloon@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net

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Musk Says Fourth Tesla Vehicle to Be Small, Electric SUV

Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) , which has almost tripled in market value this year, plans to expand its line of electric vehicles to at least four with a compact sport-utility vehicle, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said. After expanding production and deliveries of its $69,900 Model S sedan this year and adding the battery-powered Model X SUV in late 2014, the carmaker will begin adding lower-priced vehicles, Musk said in a CNBC interview today. “In about three to four years, that’s when we aspire to bring into production a sedan that’s about half the price of the Model S, and then shortly thereafter a small SUV as well,” said Musk, who is also Palo Alto , California-based Tesla’s biggest shareholder. “These should be quite affordable. The price would be on the order of $35,000.” The carmaker, named for inventor Nikola Tesla , this month established its best financial footing since its founding a decade ago. Tesla’s first quarterly profit was followed by a top rating from Consumer Reports for the Model S and a share-price surge. Investor demand created an opportunity to raise $1 billion from selling equity and debt and to retire its U.S. Energy Department loan nine years early. Musk yesterday announced an expansion of the company’s supercharger stations that rapidly repower its all-electric cars to let customers drive across the U.S. from coast to coast by the end of the year. Musk has said the lower-priced sedan Tesla is developing will be about 20 percent smaller than the Model S and compete with entry-level premium cars such as Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s BMW 3 Series and Audi AG’s A4. ‘Hyperloop’ Proposal Tesla has a “meaningful” announcement set for June 20, Musk told CNBC today. He made a similar comment on yesterday’s conference call to discuss the charge-network expansion. Following that, Musk said, he’ll begin discussing details of a rapid transportation proposal called the “hyperloop.” “It will be a really great way to travel between cities and it will be a good mode of transport,” he told CNBC. “It’s not a mode of transport that currently exists.” Such a system would be “better than a high-speed rail or plane between the right cities, like San Francisco or LA or New York-Boston, that kind of thing.” A hyperloop system could be done at “probably a tenth of the cost” of California ’s planned high-speed rail system, which he said may have a price tag as high as $100 billion. Musk didn’t elaborate on how the system would work or who might fund it. Tesla fell 6.9 percent to $97.76 at the close in New York , its first closing price under $100 since May 24. The shares gained 189 percent this year, compared with a 15 percent increase for the Russell 1000 Index. To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at aohnsman@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jamie Butters at jbutters@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Beer Buyer Is Smarter Than Goldman Banker: Scott Soshnick

If anyone in the wake of the National Football League ’s Super Bowl seating fiasco can reaffirm a sports fans belief that the paying customers matter, it’s Mike Rupp of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Rupp isn’t a SportsCenter staple, though he should be. Every fan in every sport would be lucky to have a player like Rupp on their favorite team. Every owner would be lucky to have him, too. Great players win games. Players like Rupp win hearts and minds. Rupp might not possess the uncommon scoring touch of, say, teammate and former Most Valuable Player Sidney Crosby. He has, however, showcased something even more rare: an everyman’s appreciation for those who pay to sit and cheer. It’s a lesson that still hasn’t reached the executive suites at the NFL, where Commissioner Roger Goodell and Executive Vice President Eric Grubman, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. investment banker, ought to telephone Rupp for a little conversation about their duds and his suds, which we’ll get to in a minute. “It’s just a matter of every once in a while it’s good to put yourself in someone else’s shoes,” Rupp, who will make about $800,000 this season, said over the telephone the other day. Had Goodell or Grubman lived that mantra on Super Bowl Sunday there’s no way that Green Bay fan Kim Beiser would have labeled the day the Packers won the Super Bowl the worst experience of her life. ‘Never Forget’ “I’ll never forget the look of disappointment on my 16- year-old son’s face,” she said. “I don’t want any million- dollar lawsuit. I wanted to see the Packers beat the Steelers with my son.” Just to recap, the NFL in an attempt to set a Super Bowl attendance record added temporary seats inside Cowboys Stadium. Only the fire marshal deemed them unsafe, leaving about 400 fans without an assigned seat. The NFL’s solution was to stick the displaced fans in a field-level club where they could watch on television. Even worse, once there, Beiser ordered a vodka tonic for herself and a Coke for her son. “Not only did my drink come in a Dixie Cup, but the woman said she had to charge me. It was $21.” Let’s contrast the NFL’s behavior with that of Rupp, whose pre-game routine includes a whirl around the goal and a leap into the boards as a means of testing how forgiving the glass is on that particular night. Beer Bust Only this time Rupp at the last second noticed a fan had placed his beer on the lip on the other side of the glass. The beer didn’t survive. “Aw, man,” Rupp recalled saying to himself. “I felt pretty bad.” Feeling wasn’t enough for Rupp, who learned the value and necessity of catering to the customer as a 15-year-old working as a produce clerk in a Cleveland-area supermarket. Rupp skated to the Penguins bench, where he asked the trainer to retrieve a puck, a piece of paper, a pen and a $10 bill from his wallet. Rupp wrote, “Here’s for your beer. Sorry,” on the paper, which he wrapped around the money and taped to the puck. The 31-year-old returned to the scene of the spill, tapped on the glass, got the soggy fan’s attention and tossed the puck to him. The fan read the note, smiled and offered a two-thumbs- up response. Digital Age The NFL obviously forgot that it’s doing business in a digital age, when an unhappy customer with only a few clicks of a computer mouse can tell not only 10 or 100 friends but the world. Rupp chuckled at the NFL’s initial response, which was to offer a refund of up to three times the ticket’s face value and a trip to next season’s Super Bowl. The league subsequently sweetened the offer, saying affected fans could choose any Super Bowl. No after-the-fact tokens of apology can make up for not treating displaced fans like they mattered on game day. “The beer probably didn’t mean as much to the fan as the gesture of my being sincerely sorry,” Rupp said. “If you’re a father, and you got your kid tickets to the Super Bowl, how do you explain that one?” What Rupp understood, and Goodell didn’t, is that memories, not money, are what matter to die-hard sports fans. Beiser said she spent $15,000 on what was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime. NFL executives, including Goodell, have taken to Twitter with messages of how much the paying customers matter. Getting It And then a league that generates more than $8 billion a year in revenue thinks nothing of telling its most loyal fans -- the ones who pay ungodly sums and travel for the chance to see their team win it all -- to watch on TV. Beiser isn’t familiar with the Pittsburgh Penguins. And she’d never heard of Rupp until told of what he did. “This guy gets it,” she said over the telephone from Appleton, Wisconsin. “It gives me hope.” Hope. Still. Now there’s something for every sports league, especially the NFL, to think about when it’s time to pick an MVP. Scott Soshnick is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.) To contact the writer of this column: Scott Soshnick in New York at ssoshnick@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Greiff at jgreiff@bloomberg.net

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Universal Says Robinsons Talks on Casino Put on Hold

Universal (6425) Entertainment Corp. said talks with Philippine billionaire John Gokongwei’s Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) to jointly build a casino in Manila were put on hold. Universal, controlled by Japanese pachinko billionaire Kazuo Okada, will consider developing a casino in the Philippines on its own or with other partners, the Tokyo-based company said today in a statement. Robinsons Land, the Manila-based developer, said in December that it had signed a preliminary agreement with Universal for the project. Okada faces a U.S. criminal investigation related to his Philippine casino project, with the U.S. asking to intervene in a lawsuit by Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) accusing Okada of making improper payments to Philippine gambling regulators. “We put the talks with Robinsons Land on hold,” said Nobuyuki Horiuchi, Universal spokesman. “We will continue to work on the casino project in the Philippines with other partners or by ourselves.” Robinsons fell as much as 3.9 percent before paring the decline to 1.8 percent, the biggest drop in almost two weeks, to 24 pesos at the close in Manila trading. Universal fell 0.6 percent to 2,032 yen at the close in Tokyo. The two companies “have decided not to pursue discussions between them concerning the proposed development,” Robinsons Land President Frederick Go said today in a mobile phone message. Okada, who amassed a fortune selling machines for Japanese pachinko parlors, won one of four provisional gaming licenses awarded for the Manila casino hub in 2008. He has sought to expand in the Southeast Asian nation, where the government is setting up a casino center that would compete with Macau, the world’s biggest gaming hub, to draw gamblers and tourists from China. Okada has denied the Wynn allegations of improper payments to Philippine gambling regulators. To contact the reporter on this story: Yuki Yamaguchi in Tokyo at yyamaguchi10@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Darren Boey at dboey@bloomberg.net

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Los Angeles Dodgers Would Command a Record $1 Billion as Iconic Franchise

The Los Angeles Dodgers , who filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday, would command a Major League Baseball-record $1 billion in a sale, sports bankers said. The team filed for protection from creditors after baseball Commissioner Bud Selig rejected what Dodgers owner Frank McCourt says is a $3 billion television contract with News Corp. (NWS) ’s Fox Sports that would’ve allowed the club to satisfy existing claims, pay debts as they become due and generate a substantial return. The value of the proposed TV contract, the number of bidders that would be attracted to a sale of a trophy property and the club’s status as an iconic franchise are among the factors that might make the Dodgers the first baseball team to sell for that much. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it was $1 billion,” said Gordon Saint-Denis, president of Katonah, New York-based Major League Sports Consulting LLC, adding that a sale probably would attract six to eight serious bidders. “It is the Dodgers. It is L.A., where they could put together some serious consortiums of wealthy people in the entertainment industry.” Forbes magazine values the team at $800 million, third- highest in baseball after the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Potential Buyers Charles Baker, a partner with DLA Piper’s Global Sports Media and Entertainment Practice, said he’s been approached by two parties interested in buying the Dodgers. He declined further comment. Former Dodgers All-Star Orel Hershiser and his ex-teammate Steve Garvey said they would be interested in forming an investment group if the team were for sale; Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who bid on the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers , told TMZ.com that he might not be interested because it may take too long to untangle the franchise’s finances. Selig said he rejected the proposed 17-year television contract because provisions in the agreement allowed McCourt to divert funds from the team for his personal use, including his high-profile divorce, harming the franchise in the long term. The bankruptcy is the most recent development in the saga of McCourt and the Dodgers, who, while based in Brooklyn , New York , became the first major league team with a black player when Jackie Robinson took the field in 1947. Bankruptcy Filing The team listed assets of as much as $1 billion and debt of as much as $500 million in a Chapter 11 petition filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. Manny Ramirez, who last played for the Dodgers in 2010, is listed as the largest unsecured creditor with a claim of about $21 million in deferred compensation. Others creditors include Andruw Jones, who plays for the Yankees and is owed about $11 million and longtime Dodgers announcer Vin Scully, who is owed about $152,000. Under terms of McCourt’s ownership agreement, Selig could seize control of the team and order its sale. Even with the legal entanglements, former Madison Square Garden President Bob Gutkowski said the Dodgers would attract the interest of anyone wishing to own a professional sports franchise. “It’s beachfront property,” said Gutkowski, a partner in the New York-based sports consulting firm Innovative Strategic Management. Fans May Return David Carter , executive director of the Sports Business Institute at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, said sports fans in the U.S.’s second- biggest media market would re-engage with the Dodgers if McCourt didn’t own the club. “Folks aren’t interested in spending their money,” Carter said, declining to offer a valuation on the club. “They don’t know if it’s going to payroll or a divorce attorney.” Selig issued a statement after the bankruptcy filing that said the Dodgers are in bankruptcy because of McCourt’s “excessive debt and his diversion of club assets for his own personal needs.” As for the franchise’s financial future, Carter said a change in ownership would invigorate fans and sponsors. ‘Room for Growth’ “There’s room for growth at the turnstile, TV, sponsorship, merchandise,” he said. “The valuation of this team is not going to be based on the compromised revenue streams of today. No one is going to buy this team at a bargain-basement price.” The Dodgers’ bankruptcy follows the Chapter 11 filing last year of the Texas Rangers, who were sold at auction to a group that included Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan. The Dodgers have won six World Series , tied for fifth most in baseball. Five of them came in Los Angeles , where Duke Snider, Sandy Koufax, Fernando Valenzuela and Kirk Gibson played key roles on title teams. The Dodgers were a model of stability under the stewardship of the O’Malley family from 1950-98, fielding just two managers

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Korea Election May Hang on Youth as Park Seeks Women Votes

Shin So Yoon had wanted to spend tomorrow’s national holiday in Seoul indulging her appreciation of “Edward Scissorhands” director Tim Burton ’s works. Instead, she’ll be skipping the exhibition and voting. How many of the 29-year-old high school nutritionist’s generation join her in South Korean voting booths tomorrow may determine whether Park Geun Hye, daughter of the nation’s 1970s military dictator, or Moon Jae In, a former human-rights lawyer, becomes president. In the last election, when Park’s party won, voters in their late 20s made up the lowest share of votes. Shin said she will vote for Moon, countering the Park vote from her mother, who at age 64 exemplifies the appreciation of some older voters for the rapid growth under Park Chung Hee four decades ago. At issue for Asia ’s fourth-largest economy is how concerted an effort will be made under the incoming government to rein in the role of chaebols, the conglomerates that Park senior embraced to propel exports and development. “The support from those above age 50 is strong but it’s not enough to guarantee a win for Park,” said Kim Ji Yoon, director of the Public Opinion Studies Center at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. “Moon hasn’t been in the lead but he has shown a steady rise, especially a steep one toward the end,” she said, referring to opinion polls that closed on Dec. 12. Voter Turnout Shin is among the more than 60 percent of swing voters below 50 years old who will decide tomorrow’s outcome. “Every president eventually ends up being the same and rarely does anything change fundamentally for the better,” Shin said in an interview last week, demonstrating the skepticism of many in her age group toward voting. The winner will inherit an economy forecast by the central bank to grow 2.4 percent in 2012, the weakest since 2009. At the same time, the nation’s exchange rate has climbed 7.5 percent against the dollar this year, an advance that risks undermining export competitiveness. Stocks have gained, with the benchmark Kospi Index up 8.9 percent in the same period. In 2007, voter turnout was 63 percent, with voters in their 50s recording the highest participation rate of all age groups. A turnout of more than 70 percent this time may give Moon, 59, a win, according to Kim. The victor takes office in February, replacing Lee Myung Bak , who has seen support slide during his term as economic growth weakened and an income-gap widened. While Shin’s mother is pushing her to the voting station, she doesn’t share her parent’s desire to help Park, 60, become South Korea’s first woman president. ‘Very Uncomfortable’ “I don’t know why my mom supports the daughter of a dictator, which I find very uncomfortable,” Shin said. South Korea’s development coincided with a spate of violent crackdowns under Park Chung Hee, the country’s longest-serving military dictator. Support for Park stood at 48 percent, 0.5 percentage point ahead of Moon, according to a Dec. 12 poll by the Seoul-based Realmeter and JTBC, a cable television affiliate of the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper. The survey of 2,000 respondents had a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points. South Korea by law bans public opinion surveys from being published six days ahead of election day until voting ends. The biggest bloc of voters is in their 40s, accounting for 21.8 percent of 40.5 million registered voters, according to the National Election Commission. Another 15.5 million voters are from age 19 through their 30s, while 16.2 million are over 50. Distant Connection Younger voters have a more distant connection to Park Geun Hye’s background, rooted in the country’s postwar turmoil. Her father took power in a military coup in 1961 and ruled until 1979, when he was shot dead by his security chief. Park served in her father’s government for five years from the age of 22, acting as first lady after her mother was killed in a North Korean attempt to assassinate the president. Park senior oversaw South Korea’s economic rise through the growth of automaking, steel and shipping, promoting chaebols, including Samsung Group , whose flagship unit Samsung Electronics Co. is the world’s biggest maker of smartphones and a rival and supplier to Apple Inc. (AAPL) Now, the top 10 chaebols account for more than half of the total market capitalization of the Korea Stock Exchange. “Some sacrifices had to be made and Park senior took the bullet, literally, to lead the country toward progress and development,” said Han Sook Ja, the nutritionist’s mother. “Times have changed and you do have to evolve, just as Park has had to. But she does so based on reason. She doesn’t make blind promises like Moon.” Disparity Widening income disparity -- the nation’s richest 20 percent last year earned 7.86 times more than the bottom 20 percent -- has shown the flip-side of the strength of the chaebols, prompting both candidates to pledge reining in their influence. While they dominate the nation’s exports, the 30 largest chaebols employed just 6 percent of the nation’s workforce. Both Park and Moon have pledged stronger support for small- and medium-sized businesses to help them compete with the conglomerates. While Moon calls for chaebols’ existing and new cross-shareholdings to be banned to reduce the risk of monopolies, Park says that existing shareholdings should be left exempt to avoid a negative impact on the economy. On North Korea , both candidates say they will unconditionally resume dialogue with Kim Jong Un’s regime. Moon said he will invite North Korean officials to his inauguration and hold summit talks with Kim by the end of next year. Park, while also willing to meet the country’s leader, is more cautious with promises of re-engagement, emphasizing the importance of national security and “dialogue based on trust.” Jailed A former human-rights lawyer, Moon was jailed in 1975 for leading street protests against the government of Park’s father, and was then assigned to a front-line position in a special operations unit during his military service. He later served as chief of staff to President Roh Moo Hyun, who was in office from 2003 to 2008. Tomorrow’s forecast is for crisp, partly cloudy winter weather. Shin said she’d rather be out meeting friends than waiting in line to vote. “I don’t care for politics but I think there at least needs to be some momentum for change,” Shin said. “Park is anything but change with her father’s legacy and coming from the same ruling party as Lee Myung Bak.” Should Park win, she’ll need to heed Shin’s skepticism, said Lee Nae Young, a political science professor at Korea University in Seoul. “To be a successful president, Park must answer to the wants of young people, regardless of whether they’re ideologically moderate or progressive and didn’t support her,” Lee said. To contact the reporter on this story: Sangwon Yoon in Seoul at syoon32@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg at phirschberg@bloomberg.net

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IOC CP deal:India Money Markets

Following is a table showing commercial papers dealt by Indian companies. The data has been provided by Trust Financial Consultancy Services. Contributed via: Bloomberg Publisher WEB Service Provider ID: 5ae1f283cf0f4fb5a88a513c00f2a8d5

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Durban-Johannebsurg Fuel Pipeline to be Commissioned During Third Quarter

South Africa plans to commission a new fuel pipeline between the commercial hub of Johannesburg and the east coast city of Durban during the third quarter, according to Malusi Gigaba, the minister for public enterprises. The cost of the pipeline, which is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2013, is currently being reviewed, he told lawmakers in Cape Town today. To contact the reporter on this story: Mike Cohen in Cape Town at mcohen21@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alastair Reed at areed12@bloomberg.net

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Berlusconi Prepares a New Italian Drama

A political storm brewing in Italy has the potential to disrupt the calm that has prevailed in the euro area. Europe’s leaders can only hope that markets will somehow prevent the currency union’s third-largest economy from backsliding too far on efforts to keep its debts under control. Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi initiated the latest drama on Sept. 27, when he withdrew his support for the country’s coalition government. Five ministers from his People of Liberty, or PDL, party then resigned, prompting Prime Minister Enrico Letta to suggest a vote of confidence will be held this week. As a result, there’s a significant chance that Italy will find itself without a government at a time when it should be passing a budget for next year. Berlusconi’s stated rationale was that the coalition failed to scrap an increase in the value-added tax planned by the previous technocratic government. In reality , Berlusconi demanded his ministers resign to pre-empt his probable ouster from Parliament following his tax-fraud conviction. If we can count on one thing in Italy, it is for Berlusconi to always look out for Numero Uno. Whatever Berlusconi’s motivation, his demarche is almost certain to lead to new elections -- the only real question is when. Letta has been scurrying to secure the support of enough PDL members to survive a confidence vote and keep his government going into next year. As of this evening, he appeared to be having some success: Senior PDL members were saying they didn’t want to topple the government. Saving Grace So far, the market reaction to Berlusconi’s antics has been fairly muted, with Italian government bond yields inching up only slightly. If there were a snap election, however, it’s hard to imagine that the reaction would be positive. Investors would rightly wonder whether Italy will be able to pass a budget for 2014. This, in turn, would cast doubt on Italy’s one saving grace: its ability to maintain a small enough budget deficit to keep its extremely large debt burden from spiraling out of control, despite chronically low economic growth. The country is already set to overshoot the 2013 budget-deficit target it agreed to with the European Union. The market’s concerns could be exacerbated by credit-rating companies, which are all poised to lower Italy’s rating owing to political instability. Investors whose mandates limit them to holding debt with certain ratings could be forced to sell Italian government bonds. Italian banks could face tougher limits on the amount of cash they can borrow against the collateral of government bonds, complicating their efforts to improve their balance sheets ahead of a new round of European Central Bank stress tests next year. A snap election could also plunge Italy into a procedural mess. On Dec. 3, the Constitutional Court is due to rule on the legality of Italy’s electoral system, a decision that could require the government to amend electoral law. Depending on the timing of the vote, Italy might end up with no government in place to make the changes needed for an election to be legitimate. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Letta yesterday and highlighted the importance of political stability in Italy for Europe. If sufficient pressure is put on Italian politicians by other European countries and the markets, snap elections can be avoided. Delaying Inevitability Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, who is in charge of dissolving Parliament and calling new elections, is determined to explore all alternatives before allowing a snap vote. The best option would be for dissenting members of the PDL and the anti-austerity Five Star Movement to side with the current government (albeit with cabinet changes). Failing that, Letta could still head a minority government if members of the PDL and Five Star Movement lend their support to passing the 2014 budget and the new electoral law. Berlusconi himself has suggested he might support such a government on the budget if it includes measures with which he agrees. Another option would be to install a temporary, technocratic government, just as was done in 2011 when Mario Monti was put at the helm of the country. To be sure, avoiding a snap election now is just delaying the inevitable. Berlusconi has already demonstrated that he is willing to pull his support as soon as he doesn’t get his way. The government would still be hugely unstable and unable to implement the kinds of changes to Italy’s spending, labor and product markets that investors and the EU demand. The EU should keep the pressure on Italy to hold its government together until after the 2014 budget and electoral law are passed. With a bit of breathing space, Europe’s leaders should then get to work on establishing the banking, political, economic and fiscal union needed for Italy to return to a sustainable debt trajectory over the longer term. (Megan Greene is a Bloomberg View columnist and chief economist at Maverick Intelligence. She is also a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington .) To contact the writer of this article: Megan Greene at megan@maverickintelligence.com. To contact the editor responsible for this article: Mark Whitehouse at mwhitehouse1@bloomberg.net .

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OGX Can Keep Oil Blocks Under Bankruptcy With Funds, Brazil Says

OGX Petroleo & Gas Participacoes SA (OGXP3) , former billionaire Eike Batista ’s oil company, would be allowed to keep its blocks if it files for bankruptcy protection provided it has the funds to operate them, Brazil’s oil regulator said. If OGX fails to meet obligations including exploration, development and production investments and the financial capability to deal with spills or accidents, the Rio de Janeiro-based company would be stripped of its concession licenses the regulator, known as ANP, said today. OGX would be the first producer to seek bankruptcy protection in Brazil since ANP was formed in 1998 if the company requests that option, the regulator said in an e-mailed reply to questions. OGX said today it failed to reach an agreement with holders of dollar-denominated bonds as the venture that once helped Batista become the world’s eighth-richest person heads toward Latin America ’s biggest corporate debt default. Earlier this month, two people with direct knowledge said OGX was considering filing for bankruptcy protection late October or early November. If the company files it would have 60 days to submit a restructuring plan after a judge accepts its filing. “OGX, like other concessionaires acting in Brazil, can only continue with its current exploration and production programs if they demonstrate that they have the financial qualification to exercise the activity,” the ANP said. Officials at OGX have declined to comment on a possible bankruptcy filing. Unchartered Territory The regulator would probably allow OGX to keep operating its concessions as Brazil is trying to increase oil production, Leonardo Theon de Moraes, a bankruptcy lawyer at Sao Paulo-based Mussi, Sandri & Pimenta Advogados, said by telephone. This is unchartered territory for Brazil ’s oil regulators, said Nelson Narciso Filho, who was an ANP director for four years through 2010. “As a regulator, I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said in a telephone interview from Rio. “This is something totally new. Certainly it’s not business as usual.” Shares of OGX, which Batista founded in 2007, lost 95 percent in the past 12 months, the worst-performing stock among 73 members of the Brazilian benchmark Ibovespa Index, after a series of missed output targets. The stock dropped 21 percent to 23 centavos at the close in Sao Paulo today, the most since Sept. 30. To contact the reporters on this story: Peter Millard in Rio de Janeiro at pmillard1@bloomberg.net ; Juan Pablo Spinetto in Rio de Janeiro at jspinetto@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Attwood at jattwood3@bloomberg.net

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Malaysia Finds 13 Dead Insurgents as Muslim Clan Vows to Fight

Malaysian security forces found the bodies of 13 Philippine Muslims who invaded the eastern state of Sabah last month as they continued searching for more than 200 insurgents following an aerial and ground assault. Home Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein gave the death toll on Malaysia ’s TV3, which broadcast pictures of some of the bodies in graves. Earlier yesterday, Fatima Kiram, the wife of self-proclaimed Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram, said his 214 followers in Sabah survived the barrage and are receiving support from Filipinos who live in the state. “The mopping-up and search operation will take some time,” Hussein said, adding that no Malaysian security forces had died in the latest operation. “The area is quite big.” The battle to regain control of territory on Borneo Island that the sultanate lost more than a century ago erupted weeks before elections in both countries. It also comes as Philippine President Benigno Aquino aims to conclude a peace deal with a Muslim separatist group that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak helped to broker. Aquino, on a visit to nearby Mindanao island yesterday, said the incident was starting to hurt relations with Malaysia. The Kirams had “dragged” the nation into the dispute, he said. “Our relationship was getting better and better and then this came along,” Aquino said, referring to Malaysia. “It could be a wasted opportunity.” Najib said the March 5 assault came after negotiations with the Kirams failed. Three F-18 and five Hawk fighter aircraft were used in the attack, state-run Bernama reported. Clan Credibility Aquino’s administration in a statement yesterday accused the Kirams of deceiving the media by releasing a photograph purportedly of Malaysian security forces that actually showed Thai military casualties in 2007. “It has called into question the credibility of Jamalul Kiram III’s branch of the family and their deadly misadventure,” Aquino’s office said. “We must all now wonder: what other assertions made by the Kiram party are false?” Speaking later in Davao City, Aquino said “it will be impossible” for the insurgents to achieve their goal. Jamalul Kiram, who has a home in Manila and is receiving dialysis treatment for kidney failure, called yesterday for direct talks with Aquino to end the incursion. His brother Agbimuddin Kiram, who is leading operations for the family in Sabah, is “ready to die,” Jamalul Kiram told DZMM radio. Non-Malaysians About 800,000 Filipinos live in Sabah, Malaysia’s second- biggest state by land area that has about 3.1 million people, according to Malaysia government statistics. In Tawau district, where the fighting is centered, about half of the population is considered “non-Malaysian citizens,” the data show. Kiram’s group is starting to blend in with local Sabahans, Malaysia’s TV3 news channel reported, citing police. Security forces yesterday detained four people with Malaysian passports in Semporna, a town in Sabah, suspected of helping Kiram’s group. Eight Malaysian police officers and more than 30 Kiram loyalists have been killed in shootouts since March 1. Malaysia Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said after meeting Philippine counterpart Albert del Rosario that his government considers Kiram’s group “terrorists.” Del Rosario disagreed with the label, while acknowledging that “acts of terrorism” may have taken place. “We’ll continue to explore avenues that will possibly lead to a peaceful resolution despite what has happened,” Abigail Valte, a spokeswoman for Aquino, told reporters in Manila yesterday. Palm Oil Developments in Sabah aren’t significant enough to affect the supply-demand balance in the palm oil industry, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Bernard Dompok said at a conference in Kuala Lumpur March 5. Indonesia evacuated more than 600 workers from palm-oil plantations in Sabah, the Jakarta Post reported yesterday. Malaysia’s benchmark stock index , the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBMKLCI) Index, rose 0.6 percent to its highest close since Jan. 18. The Philippines will hold elections for its 285-member House of Representatives and half of its 24 Senate seats on May 13. Najib must dissolve parliament by April 28 and hold elections within 60 days as his ruling coalition seeks to maintain a 55-year grip on power. The Sulu Sultanate, which dates back to the 14th century, says it leased Sabah to the British North Borneo Company in 1878, an agreement that Malaysia views as a secession of the region. Sabah fell under British control after World War II and joined Malaysia in 1963, shortly after the sultanate ceded sovereignty to the Philippines. Peace Deal The incident comes several months after Najib’s government helped Aquino reach a peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a Muslim separatist group in the southern Philippines. The Moro National Liberation Front, a splinter rebel group, called the accord -- which will expand the country’s autonomous Muslim region -- a conspiracy between Aquino and Najib for Malaysia to retain sovereignty of Sabah. Aquino risks putting the country in “total chaos” if he orders the arrest of Jamalul Kiram, said Nur Misuari, chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front. “It’s unbecoming for a head of state to be siding with the enemy of his people,” Misuari said March 5. “What kind of leader are you if you abandon your own people for the sake of his friendship with colonial troublemaker Malaysia?” To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok at dtenkate@bloomberg.net ; Norman P. Aquino in Manila at naquino1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg at phirschberg@bloomberg.net

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Tea Producers Advance After Agency Says Lower Production May Boost Prices

McLeod Russel India Ltd., India’s biggest tea plantation company, and rivals gained in Mumbai trading after the Tea Board of India said a decline in production will due to pest attacks will boost prices.

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Yacht Builder to the Stars Ferretti Bought by China Bulldozer Manufacturer

Ferretti Group (FER) was sold to the state-owned parent of China ’s biggest bulldozer-maker, putting the Communist nation in control of the world’s largest luxury- yacht builder. Creditors will sell 75 percent of Ferretti (FER) for 178 million euros ($228 million) to Shandong Heavy Industry Group -Weichai Group, according to a statement handed to reporters today in Jinan, China. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Strategic Value Partners LLC will also own 12.5 percent stakes in the Forli, Italy-based boatmaker. State-controlled Shandong Heavy plans to add superyachts to its construction and farming products after surging economic growth boosted China’s number of millionaire households 31 percent in 2010. The deal may help Ferretti, whose Riva unit made boats for Brigitte Bardot and Sean Connery , to expand in the world’s most-populous nation after a slump in sales after the 2008 financial crisis left it near bankruptcy. “ China (CNGDPYOY) ’s super-rich are looking at yachts and jets because the country has so much money now,” said Richard Tai, luxury- goods analyst at Shanghai-based research firm China Research & Intelligence. “It just shows China’s phenomenal economic development over the past 30 years.” Ferretti, which also makes Ferretti , Pershing and Betram brand yachts, will retain its existing management as well as its headquarters and production facilities in Italy , according to a statement. The company’s yachts can cost more than $100 million. Olympic Regatta The deal, which requires approval from Italian regulators, will take three to six months to complete, Tan Xuguang, Shandong Heavy’s chairman, told reporters today. Shandong province, which controls the company, contains the city of Qingdao, a major naval base and host of the 2008 Olympic sailing regatta. Ferretti will get 198 million euros of debt financing from Shandong Heavy, whose units include bulldozer-maker Shantui Construction Machinery Co. (000680) and Hong Kong-listed engine-maker Weichai Power Co. (2338) The deal also includes 100 million euros of new equity and a reduction in Ferretti’s debt to about 100 million euros. The yachtmaker may be listed in Hong Kong within five years of the deal, said Tan. Ferretti sold about 17 vessels in China last year, he said. The country had about 1.11 million millionaire households in 2010, according to Boston Consulting Group. “Ferretti is a high-end brand and Chinese consumers have not yet evolved to such high-end consumption,” Tan said. “Over the next five to ten years there will be great potential for yachts in china.” China Yacht Demand While there were as many as 400 dollar billionaires in China, the country only had about 100 Chinese-owned yachts longer than 60 feet as of May, according to Rupert Hoogewerf , who compiles the Hurun Report of wealthy Chinese. There were more than 7,000 yachts that size in the U.S. in 2006. “If the Chinese can use the labor force in an intelligent way, the opportunity is spectacular,” said Marco Elser, a partner at AdviCorp Plc., a London-based investment banking firm. Still, it may take until 2020 to turn Ferretti around because of Italian labor laws , he said. Shandong Heavy received financial advice on the deal from Citigroup Inc. (C) , Houlihan Lokey and ICBC International Holdings Ltd., according to the statement. King & Wood, Bonelli Erede Pappalardo and Akerman Senterfitt (1267L) acted as legal advisers. Edinburgh-based RBS and Strategic Value were assisted by Rothschild and Ernst & Young LLP and by the law firms Ashurst and Clifford Chance. Sunseeker, Brunswick The potential demand for yachts in China has lured overseas boat-builders such as Azimut Yachts, Sunseeker International Ltd. and Brunswick Corp. (BC) Domestic companies, including Xiamen Hangsheng Yacht Building Co., have also begun building superyachts Other luxury-goods makers are targeting China as growth of less than 2 percent in Europe and the U.S. stifles demand in their traditional markets. Supercar-maker Automobili Lamborghini SpA expected to sell more vehicles in China than in the U.S. for the first time last year. Coach Inc., the biggest maker of luxury handbags in the U.S., has predicted that China will surpass Japan as its biggest overseas market within a few years. Ferretti ceded control to lenders in 2009 when it missed a loan payment on debt used to finance its leveraged buyout. It went from planning an initial public offering in 2008 to reorganizing its debt in a matter of months as it customer base collapsed in the credit crisis. In the 2009 debt-restructuring, a group of 100 creditors led by RBS agreed to convert some of their 1.2 billion euros of debt to equity to avert a Ferretti bankruptcy. Candover Investments Plc, which bought majority control of the yachtmaker in a 2007 leveraged buyout that valued Ferretti at about 1.5 billion euros, ceded its stake in the deal. To contact the reporters on this story: Tian Ying in Beijing at ytian@bloomberg.net ; Jasmine Wang in Hong Kong at jwang513@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Neil Denslow at ndenslow@bloomberg.net

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Panetta Counters Critics on Israel With Missile Defense Pledge

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta , countering criticism the U.S. is cutting funding for Israel ’s missile defenses as the threat from Iran grows, told Jewish leaders the Obama administration has doubled such spending. President Barack Obama has pledged more than $650 million in funding since 2009 for Israel’s missile defenses, twice the level planned during the administration of President George W. Bush , Panetta told about 14,000 members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington today. Rockets from the Gaza Strip and the potential for Iranian missile attacks pose “one of the most immediate threats to the security of Israel,” Panetta said. “We are actively working with Israel at all levels” on missile defense, he said. Promoting missile defense aid is one way the Obama administration is seeking to show it is committed to maintaining Israel’s military superiority as the allies debate how long to wait before a potential military strike against Iran’s nuclear program. U.S. lawmakers have questioned why the Pentagon’s fiscal 2013 budget seeks $99.8 million for Israel’s missile defenses, a reduction from the $106 million the administration requested last year and the $216 million that Congress provided. Republican Representatives Howard McKeon of California, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Ileana Ros- Lehtinen of Florida, head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote Obama Feb. 14 that they were “deeply concerned” about the administration’s request “at a time of rising threats to our strongest ally.” Boeing, Israel Aerospace Boeing Co. (BA) , Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. and Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. are among the top Israel missile- defense contractors. Panetta said in a Feb. 17 letter to McKeon and Ros-Lehtinen that Obama “will continue to support Israel’s defense needs with robust financial assistance and extensive military cooperation.” He repeated that argument when he testified before the House Budget Committee on Feb. 29. The adequacy of the missile- defense aid was questioned there by Republican Representative Tom Price of Georgia and Democratic Representatives Bill Pascrell of New Jersey and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida. The Pentagon plans to request $502.2 million for Israeli missile defense through 2017, with spending dropping to $95.7 million in fiscal 2014 and then increasing to $96.8 million in 2015 and $103.9 million in 2016 before hitting $106 million in fiscal 2017, according to Missile Defense Agency budget documents that detail “Israeli Cooperative Programs.” The biggest spending item through 2017 is $270 million for the Israeli Upper Tier program intended to field a new Arrow 3 missile that can cover four times the area of the current version. A goal is to start initial production in 2014. Israel Aerospace Industries is the prime contractor for the program and will subcontract with U.S. companies such as Boeing, according to Missile Defense Agency budget documents. To contact the reporters on this story: Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net ; Viola Gienger in Washington at vgienger@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Walcott at jwalcott9@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

U.K. February Retail Sales Rise Most Since 2009, BRC Says

U.K. retail sales rose at the fastest pace in more than three years in February as demand for clothes and home furnishings increased, the British Retail Consortium said. Sales at stores open at least 12 months, measured by value, increased 2.7 percent from a year earlier, the London-based trade group said in an e-mailed report today. Excluding distortions caused by the timing of the Easter holidays, that’s the biggest increase since December 2009. The report follows a survey by GfK last week that showed U.K. consumer confidence held steady in February as optimism about personal finances rose to the highest in almost two years. While the Bank of England has forecast a “slow but sustained” recovery for the economy, consumer-spending growth may be restrained by rising energy bills and accelerating inflation. “There are certainly highly welcome signs here of gradual improvement and customers feeling a bit more positive,” said BRC Director-General Helen Dickinson. “But it’s too soon to assume this represents the permanent turnaround we need.” Retail-sales growth in January was partly held back by snow across most of the country. In February, “relatively dry, if cold, weather” helped to lift clothing sales, the BRC said. The retail group also said there was a decline in frozen burger sales after tests found horse DNA in some meat products. BOE Meeting With the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee preparing for its monthly meeting this week, further information on the strength of the economy will be published at 9:30 a.m. today when Markit Economics releases its index of services activity for February. Economists in a Bloomberg News survey forecast that the gauge will fall to 51 from 51.5, indicating cooling growth. A separate Markit index last week showed manufacturing unexpectedly shrank in February, reviving concerns the economy could contract again this quarter. The BRC report showed that in the quarter through February, same-store retail sales rose 1.5 percent from a year earlier. Food sales gained 1 percent, with demand for non-food increasing 1.9 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Fergal O’Brien in London at fobrien@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Mourinho Targets Jovetic, Dzeko for Chelsea: Soccer Roundup

The following is a roundup of soccer stories from U.K. newspapers, with clickable Internet links. Mourinho Signings New Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has five main targets as he arrives for a second stint at Stamford Bridge, the Daily Mail reported. He’s interested in Fiorentina forward Stevan Jovetic, Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko and Porto defender Eliaquim Mangala. Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi and Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho of Shakhtar Donetsk are also on his list, the newspaper added. Galatasaray playmaker Wesley Sneijder is a potential target for Mourinho, according to the Sun. The pair were together at Inter Milan when the Italian team won the Champions League in 2010. Since arriving at Galatasaray five months ago, Sneijder has struggled under coach Fatih Terim and the Turkish team will consider a “reasonable” offer, the Sun added. Liverpool Target Liverpool has identified Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan as a top transfer target and isn’t put off by his 22 million-pound ($34 million) price tag, the Guardian reported. The Armenian national team player, an attacking midfielder, scored 25 goals in the Ukrainian Premier League last season, the newspaper added. Gunner Michu? Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is interested in signing Swansea forward Michu, who scored 22 goals last season, the Daily Mail reported. He’s also indicated he’d want to sign Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney if he leaves Old Trafford this offseason, the Mail added. Martinez Deal Roberto Martinez will take over as Everton manager today after agreeing terms in principle on a three-year contract, the Daily Mirror reported. He’s impressed Chairman Bill Kenwright with his record and style of play at Wigan, the Mirror added. To contact the reporter on this story: Peter-Joseph Hegarty in London at phegarty@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.

Collahuasi Copper Mine Workers Begin Strike Today, Official Says

Workers at Xstrata Plc (XTA) and Anglo American Plc (AAL) ‘s Collahuasi copper mine in Chile began a strike today over production bonuses, joining action taken by workers at the Escondida mine, union official Jacqueline Cerda said today by telephone. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net

Generate a suitable headline for the given input of a financial news article. Only output the headline, not the instruction and input article.