Datasets:

genloop

/

bloomberg_financial_news_120k-alpaca

like 0

Follow

Genloop AI 5

Cheung Kong’s 2010 Profit Rises 35% on Contribution From Hutchison Whampoa

Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd., the developer controlled by Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing , said 2010 net income climbed 35 percent after the contribution from its unit Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. (13) rose and it booked profits from property sales. Net income increased to HK$26.5 billion ($3.4 billion), or HK$11.43 a share, from a restated HK$19.6 billion, or HK$8.47 a share, a year earlier, the world’s second-biggest builder by market value said in a statement today. That beat the average HK$20.2 billion estimate of 12 analysts compiled by Bloomberg. Li, nicknamed “superman” by the local media for his investing prowess, is seeking growth from Hutchison’s industries ranging from utilities and mobile phone networks to oil in 52 countries after Hong Kong stepped up property measures in November to ease speculation in a city where housing prices have risen more than 65 percent since the start of 2009. Cheung Kong last year also made HK$2.2 billion from the sale of a stake in a Singapore downtown property, it said in today’s statement. “Excluding the one-off item to the Singapore REIT, the net income figure is actually lower than my expectation,” said Adrian Ngan, a Hong Kong-based analyst at MF Global Holdings Ltd. “Other than that, there is actually no surprise in Cheung Kong’s earnings performance. Their profit from apartment sales is lower than expected.” Excluding earnings from its 49.97 percent stake in Hutchison Whampoa, profit advanced 29 percent to HK$16.5 billion from HK$12.8 billion a year earlier, the company said. Hutchison Hutchison Whampoa, Li’s biggest company, said full-year profit rose 47 percent, after boosting sales from mobile-phone services, ports, and cosmetics in Europe , the Americas and China. “Among developers we prefer Cheung Kong because Hutchison’s contribution can help it cushion the impact from the property market,” said David Ng , a Hong Kong-based analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland Plc. “It’s taking a longer time these days for developers to sell their new units.” Net income climbed to HK$20 billion, or HK$4.70 a share, from a restated HK$13.6 billion, or HK$3.20, a year earlier, Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa said in a statement today. This exceeded the HK$16.4 billion average of nine analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Shares Rise Cheung Kong’s shares rose 0.5 percent to HK$122.50 at the 4 p.m. market close in Hong Kong , before earnings were announced. The stock has risen 2.2 percent this year and is the second-best performer in the seven-member Hang Seng Property Index, which has fallen 3.1 percent. It’s the world’s largest developer after Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd., also based in Hong Kong. Hutchison fell 2.1 percent to HK$88.80. Cheung Kong, which completed and booked profit from projects including Festival City Phase I in 2010, said earnings from property sales rose to HK$5.6 billion from HK$5.5 billion a year earlier. Rental profit from properties including the Center was little changed at HK$1.1 billion. Profits from hotel and serviced suites rose to HK$617 million from HK$360 million, the company said. Cheung Kong will pay a final dividend of HK$2.45, compared with HK$2.20 a year earlier. Li, who opened a plastic flower factory after World War II, began investing in Hong Kong real estate in 1967 after riots from China ’s Cultural Revolution depressed prices to build Cheung Kong into a company with a market value of $36 billion. Inflation Rising Hong Kong’s government in November announced it would impose additional stamp duties on home transactions and increase land supply, its toughest price curbs to date. The number of home transactions declined year-on-year in January and February in Hong Kong. While the government measures will affect the property market in Hong Kong, it will remain “healthy, barring unforeseen adverse changes,” Li said. “Homebuyers will be okay if they’re buying homes for self- use as inflation is getting more serious,” Li told reporters at a briefing in Hong Kong today. Loose monetary policy in the U.S. “is good for their economy but is causing problems in other countries.” The Hong Kong Monetary Authority expects continued “upward pressure” on home prices in the city and inflationary pressure will increase, the city’s de facto central bank said in its half-yearly report today. The chances of interest rates rising in the U.S. are strengthening and the outlook for global growth is “uncertain,” said the central bank, which is unable to conduct an independent monetary policy because of the Hong Kong dollar’s peg to the U.S. dollar. Mortgage Loans Fall Hong Kong’s newly drawn down mortgage loans fell to the lowest level in a year in February, the HKMA said on March 25. The government measures probably affected sales of Cheung Kong’s Festival City Phase II, a project in Hong Kong Tai Wai district, which began a day after the government’s November announcement, Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch & Co. unit analysts led by Karl Choi wrote in a Feb. 8 report. The Hong Kong government is seeking a “healthy” property market , Victor Li, Li’s son and deputy chairman of Cheung Kong, said at the briefing today. Li, who arrived in Hong Kong as a refugee from China in 1940, is ranked the city’s richest man by Forbes magazine this month after his net worth increased $5 billion to $26 billion, and the world’s 11th richest. Li forecast in 2007 that China’s stock-market bubble would burst and in 2009 predicted the rally in Hong Kong home prices. The Shanghai Composite Index lost 65 percent in 2008, the most among the world’s 10 biggest stock markets. To contact the reporters on this story: Kelvin Wong in Hong Kong at kwong40@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.

Cricketer Warner Says He’ll Keep Speaking His Mind After Fine

Australia cricketer David Warner said he will continue to speak his mind after being fined for posting abusive comments to journalists on Twitter last weekend. Cricket Australia fined Warner A$5,750 ($5,544) last night for posting the expletive-laden messages on the social networking site. Warner, who has apologized to the journalists involved, said he took to Twitter after his photo was used to illustrate an article questioning the integrity of the Indian Premier League, where he plays for the Delhi Daredevils. “I’ve got to be a bit more professional with the choice of words that I use next time,” Warner told reporters in Sydney today. “I’ll keep speaking my mind and always have my opinion and I’ll always continue to try to defend myself in the right choice of words.” Warner said he was “extremely annoyed” that his photo was used in conjunction with the story, adding that having his name or image linked to an article detailing corruption “is the worst thing that can possibly be brought to a cricket player.” Three IPL cricketers from India are being investigated by local police for alleged spot fixing, where players manipulate specific actions in a game, such as the number of no-balls bowled or the number of runs a batsman makes, rather than the result of a match. Melbourne-based Cricket Australia said in a statement yesterday that Senior Code of Behavior Commissioner Gordon Lewis ruled Warner was guilty of “unbecoming behavior” at a disciplinary hearing. His fine is the maximum allowed for a first offense under the governing body’s behavior code. Opening batsman Warner, a member of Australia’s squad for the Ashes series in England starting July 10, has played 19 Tests for his country. He’s scored 1,263 runs, including three centuries, at an average of 39.46. “We all know as professional athletes what’s appropriate and what’s not appropriate,” Warner added. “At the end of the day it was my fault. I take full blame for what’s happened and apologize to anyone I offended out there with my language. I want to put a line under all this and move forward.” 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

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

HOTRON PRECISION April Sales Fall 62.94% (Table) : 3092 TT

HOTRON PRECISION said unconsolidated sales in April fell 62.94% to NT$32,288,000 from NT$87,128,000, according to a statement filed to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. (Figures are in thousands of New Taiwan dollars) ================================================================= 4/2012 4/2011 Sales 32,288 87,128 YOY% -62.94% -----------------Year-to-date----------------- Sales 137,552 401,317 YOY% -65.72% =================================================================

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

Zambian Trade Surplus Narrows to $89 Million in July From a Month Earlier

Zambia’s trade surplus narrowed to 440.7 billion kwacha ($89 million) in July compared with a month earlier, said John Kalumbi, acting director of the country’s statistics agency. The surplus declined from 527.3 billion kwacha in June, Kalumbi told reporters today in Lusaka, the capital. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gordon Bell at gbell16@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.

Chola Finance Ltd. and Tata Capital Ltd. CP:India Money Markets

Following is a table showing commercial paper reported by Companies. The data has been provided by SPA Securities Ltd. & Trust Financial Consultancy Services. Contributed via: Bloomberg Publisher WEB Service Provider ID: ce58b0353fcf428390cf78c207a4a5fa

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

Florida Foreclosure Lawyer Stern Sued by DJSP Enterprises

David Stern , the Florida foreclosure lawyer who profited off the state’s housing bust before losing his biggest clients, was sued by a partner company that claims it was damaged by Stern’s foreclosure practices. DJSP Enterprises Inc. (DJSP) , which took on the non-legal foreclosure-processing services of Stern’s law firm and depended on his referrals, said in a copy of a complaint included in a regulatory filing dated Jan. 3 that Stern concealed his business was “systematically engaging in unlawful and fraudulent conduct” in foreclosures. Those practices jeopardized Stern’s relationships with his biggest clients, including banks and government mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , and the viability of his law firm and DJSP, according to the complaint. DJSP said the complaint was filed yesterday in Broward County, Florida. The filing of the suit couldn’t be immediately confirmed with the court. Jeffrey Tew, a lawyer for Stern, said his client would fight the claims. Stern’s law firm has stopped handling foreclosure cases, according to Tew. “We don’t think the allegations are well founded,” he said in a phone interview. To contact the reporter on this story: David McLaughlin in New York at dmclaughlin9@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.

Listening to Hurricane Sandy: Climate Change is Here

Hurricane Sandy was a massive and deadly storm , extending more than 1,000 miles, bringing huge waves and more than 13 feet of water to parts of New York City. In Manhattan, floods swept away cars and overflowed subway stations. Along the Jersey shore , homes, property, and businesses were washed away in just a few hours. More than 8 million people in the northeastern United States lost power. Tens of millions more have been affected. And, tragically at least 160 people lost their lives in total. Outside of the United States, six Caribbean countries were battered by the storm, taking lives and destroying property as it struck. Some early estimates say the storm will cost $50 billion ; others say it will be more. Sadly, science tells us that this type of event will become much more common as our climate continues to change. Climate change is here and its impacts are being felt today. As Governor Cuomo said earlier this week, “Anyone who says there is not a dramatic change in weather patterns is denying reality.” Here’s what we know: an overwhelming majority of scientists tell us that the Earth’s climate is heating largely due to rising greenhouse gas emissions, which, in turn, is driving more extreme weather and climate events. The underlying changes--warmer oceans, more intense precipitation events, and rising sea levels--are significant contributors to storms like Sandy. Around the world, we’re seeing heavier rainfall and record-breaking high temperatures, and many areas are experiencing more severe droughts and more wildfires. These patterns are precisely what climate scientists have said we should expect in a warming world ( pdf ). Further, these extreme weather and climate events are taking a serious toll as they disrupt people’s lives and our economy.  This should not be a partisan issue. Two Republicans (Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon) topped a recent poll of the most environmentally supportive U.S. presidents. Moreover, it was just a few years ago when politicians from both parties were taking climate change seriously. Republicans Senators John McCain, John Warner, and Lindsay Graham, as well as a number of House members, have shown leadership Congress on these issues in recent years. EPA administrators, including William Ruckelshaus and Christine Todd Whitman, who served under Republican Presidents Nixon and George W. Bush respectively, share similar views. Nowhere in the world is the issue of climate change as polarizing as it is here in the United States. In the United Kingdom, the conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has embraced the challenge of climate change, and announced ambitious emissions targets. Meanwhile, governments in Australia, China, South Korea, Mexico, the EU, and elsewhere have enacted policies to effectively put a price on carbon.  U.S. politicians’ silence on climate change is not only out of step with the rest of the world, but also with the American people, the vast majority of whom are concerned about climate change. Why should we act? The human and economic costs of Hurricane Sandy and other extreme weather events are abundantly clear. In 2011, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , there were 14 extreme weather and climate events of more than $1 billion in the United States, totaling approximately $55 billion. Looking at the bigger picture, a recent report found that the failure to act on climate change is likely to cost the world economy 1.7 percent of GDP, approximately $1.2 trillion per year in the near term, with the figure expected to double by 2030. Shifting to clean energy opens new economic opportunities, including taking advantage of the $2.3 trillion global clean energy market expected to emerge in the next decade ( pdf ). The United States is lagging while other countries, like China and Germany, surge ahead. There is some good news. Many U.S. city and state-level officials are recognizing the need to address this crisis. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, for one, has worked with his counterparts in the U.S. and around the world to cut city-level emissions, which account for around 70 percent of global carbon pollution. As he wrote yesterday, the risk of climate change should “ compel all elected leaders to take immediate action .” New York has a robust climate strategy, including actions to reduce emissions and prepare for climate change impacts through PlaNYC. Other cities, from Chicago to Tokyo to Sao Paulo, are likewise investing in strategies to reduce emissions and enhance people’s resilience for an increasingly volatile world. Now we need this kind of leadership at the national level. So, let’s make sure to learn the lessons from this storm by putting in place a national strategy to cut emissions and prepare for the impacts of our changing climate. If the winners of next Tuesday’s election in the White House and Congress want to deliver progress for the citizens of this country, and to the world, they should immediately get to work on preparing and implementing smart actions to address climate change. Let’s all face up to the issue, talk about it directly, and act as if our future depends on it -- because it does.   Steer is president of the World Resources Institute .  Visit  www.bloomberg.com/sustainability  for the latest from Bloomberg News about energy, natural resources and global business.

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

Gasoline Rises to Nine-Month High on Jobs Report, Iran Tension

Gasoline rose to a nine-month high as first-time jobless claims matched a four-year low from two weeks ago, and as crude oil rose after the U.S. escalated warnings to Iran about its nuclear program. Futures surged 2.9 percent as applications for unemployment insurance decreased 2,000 in the week ended Feb. 25 to 351,000, Labor Department figures showed today. The Standard and Poor’s 500 stock index rose as much as 0.8 percent in New York. Brent crude oil gained 2.9 percent in London to the highest level since July 2008. “We continue to have bullish economic data and the stock market seems to be saying all is well,” said Peter Beutel , president of trading advisory company Cameronhanover.com in New Canaan , Connecticut. “And Iran is moving ominously in the background, casting a shadow on the oil market.” Gasoline for April delivery rose 9.45 cents to settle at $3.3517 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices extended gains after the 2:30 p.m. close of floor trading in New York, touching $3.3868 as Brent jumped to a 10- month high of $128.40 a barrel on a report of an oil pipeline fire in Saudi Arabia. Brent oil for April settlement climbed $3.54 to settle at $126.20 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe Exchange. “The fear factor is still out there and there’s a very strong Brent market right now,” said Fred Rigolini, vice president of Paramount Options Inc. in New York. Obama administration officials are escalating warnings that the U.S. could join Israel in attacking Iran if the Islamic republic doesn’t dispel concerns that its nuclear-research program is aimed at producing weapons. Military Options Four days before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to arrive in Washington, Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz told reporters the Joint Chiefs of Staff have prepared military options to strike Iranian nuclear sites in the event of a conflict. “Geopolitics is still the No. 1 driver of prices,” said Dominick Chirichella, senior partner at the Energy Management Institute in New York. “Who knows how this upcoming meeting in Washington is going to come out. There’s a lot of skittishness in the market.” April-delivery heating oil gained 6.94 cents, or 2.2 percent, to settle at $3.2753 a gallon on the exchange. Regular gasoline at the pump, averaged nationwide, rose 0.7 cent to $3.738 a gallon yesterday, according to AAA data. Prices have increased 14 percent this year. To contact the reporter on this story: Barbara J Powell in Dallas at bpowell4@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@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.

Germans Increase Their Foreign Bank Deposits by 47%, FTD Says

German savers increased the amount they have deposited in foreign-based banks by almost half in the past year, Financial Times Deutschland reported in a preview of an article to be published tomorrow, citing its own calculations. In the 12 months from April last year, Germans increased their deposits in non-German banks by 21.6 billion euros ($28 billion) to 67 billion euros, FTD said. German savings banks, or Sparkassen, meanwhile, took in 17.8 billion euros, according to the newspaper. More than 5 billion euros was deposited with Bank of Scotland Plc , close to 2 billion with ABN Amro Bank NV, and just since last autumn, Russia’s VTB Direktbank has received close to 1 billion euros, FTD said. To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Webb in Frankfurt at awebb25@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.

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Office Targeted Hispanics, U.S. Report Says

An Arizona sheriff’s department with a reputation for being tough on crime discriminated against Latinos through a pattern of unlawful stops, arrests and biased jail practices, the U.S. Justice Department said. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office engaged in a “pattern and practice of violating the Constitution” and federal law, Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general in charge of the civil rights division, said today in a telephone news briefing. The continuing investigation also revealed “serious concerns” that Sheriff Joe Arpaio, 79, and deputies didn’t investigate crimes adequately or provide police protection to the Latino community. “MCSO is broken in a number of critical respects,” Perez said, referring to the sheriff’s office. “The problems are deeply rooted in MCSO’s culture and are compounded by MCSO’s penchant for retaliation against individuals who speak out.” Arpaio, a Republican first elected to the job in 1992, and top deputies said Perez’s statements were politically motivated and denied systemic problems in the office, based in Phoenix. Arpaio said he’d cooperate with federal officials while not changing police procedures, at news briefing later today. “We are going to keep doing our jobs,” Arpaio said. Homeland Security The U.S. Homeland Security Department ended its cooperation with the sheriff’s office today by terminating an agreement that helped screen jail inmates for immigration violations, citing the Justice Department’s findings. “Discrimination undermines law enforcement and erodes the public trust,” Homeland Security Secretary and former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano said in a statement. Her agency “will not be a party to such practices,” she said. Arpaio’s department covers the state’s biggest county by population, with 3.8 million residents. His methods -- which have included “crime suppression” sweeps in predominantly Latino areas in and around Phoenix -- have made him a hero to groups seeking a crackdown on illegal entrants to the U.S. and a target of advocates for immigrants’ rights. Arizona has taken center stage in a national debate on enforcing federal law and the role of state and local authorities. The Supreme Court said this week it will review a 2010 Arizona law requiring local police to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect is in the country illegally. The statute, which led to a national boycott and became a model for Georgia , Alabama and other states, faces a Justice Department challenge. An earlier ruling kept key parts from taking effect. Civil-Rights Probe The unrelated three-year civil-rights investigation of Arpaio’s office found that Hispanic drivers in Maricopa County are four to nine times more likely to be stopped, the Justice Department said. One expert told investigators that the cases represent “the most egregious racial profiling,” Perez said in a letter sent today to Bill Montgomery, the county prosecutor. Sheriff’s deputies and detention officers “routinely” punish Latino inmates who speak little English for failing to understand commands and deny them “critical services” provided to others, Perez said in the letter. People who oppose Arpaio’s policies have been arrested and jailed “for no reason” or forced to defend against “specious” civil complaints, Perez said on the call. Investigators also found “troubling incidents” involving the excessive use of force, sexual-assault allegations that weren’t properly handled and a “failure to provide adequate” police services in Latino communities, Perez said. Lawsuit Threatened The Justice Department will sue if Arpaio doesn’t take “clear steps” toward a voluntary compliance agreement within 60 days, Perez said on the call. In his letter to Montgomery, he asked for a response by Jan. 4. “I’d much rather collaborate and solve the problem that way,” Perez said on the call. He said that the department may seek to cut off millions of dollars in federal funding to the sheriff’s office if changes aren’t made. Arpaio, who repeatedly brought up an unrelated scandal involving the Justice Department’s handling of a gun-trafficking investigation known as “Fast and Furious” that put thousands of weapons into the hands of smugglers, told reporters that he didn’t believe changes were needed in his office. “I’d be glad to see them in court,” he said of the federal agency. ‘Witch Hunt’ The Justice Department made “false allegations,” said Jack MacIntyre, Arpaio’s deputy chief, who referred to the report as a “sneak attack” and a “witch hunt.” While there may have been mistakes by deputies, those don’t amount to a systemic problem, he said. “I think it was a foregone conclusion what they were going to find, and they ended up finding it,” MacIntyre said at the briefing with Arpaio. The office was “targeted” by federal authorities to generate votes for Democrats next year, MacIntyre said. “That is the only purpose of it,” he said. Initially, Arpaio refused to cooperate with the investigation, which began in June 2008, prompting the Justice Department to sue for access to relevant information and facilities in September 2010, Perez said in his letter. The suit was settled in June after Arpaio agreed to give the department the access it sought. Investigators conducted 400 interviews of staff and jail inmates, toured facilities and reviewed tens of thousands of pages of documents, Perez said. Separate Investigation A separate criminal probe led by the U.S. Attorney for Arizona “remains ongoing,” Perez said. That investigation relates to claims that the sheriff used his office to target his political opponents, including other elected county officials. In recent weeks, Arpaio has been criticized following reports that hundreds of sexual-assault cases weren’t thoroughly investigated or were botched by deputies. U.S. Representative Raul Grijalva, a Democrat, three Democratic state lawmakers and dozens of activists have called for Arpaio’s resignation. The Justice Department is continuing to review the sex- assault cases, in which many of the victims may have been Hispanic, Perez said. Briefing reporters in Phoenix, Perez said he believed Arpaio’s policies had constructed a “wall of distrust” between deputies and the Latino community, leading to a “public-safety crisis.” “It is clear to me that this community is divided and it is time to heal,” Perez said. “It is time to bring the community together around the shared vision of a department that is effective in reducing crime, respects the rule of law and enjoys the confidence of everyone.” Right Step The letter from Perez is “a step in the right direction,” said Randy Parraz, president of Phoenix-based Citizens for a Better Arizona, a nonprofit advocacy group that led the successful recall in November of Arpaio ally and former Senate President Russell Pearce, a Mesa Republican. It validates activists’ complaints about abuses and violations that have long been known to them, he said by telephone. Parraz was arrested after a public meeting in 2008, and said that was an instance of retaliation by Arpaio. “He needs to resign,” said Parraz. “He needs to step down for us to get a fresh start.” Arpaio has announced plans to run for another term next year. As for resigning, “that is never going to happen,” he said today. He said he was courted by several Republican presidential candidates seeking his endorsement, including Michele Bachmann , Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. He backs Perry, the Texas governor. “They called me because they appreciate what I am doing on the immigration problem and they want my support and ideas,” he said today. Arpaio, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration manager, has attracted media attention for his procedures since he took office as sheriff. He keeps jail inmates in tents, requires them to wear pink underwear and provides only two meals a day, according to the sheriff’s office website. In summer months, temperatures in Phoenix often top 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). To contact the reporters on this story: Amanda J. Crawford in Phoenix at acrawford24@bloomberg.net ; Seth Stern in Washington at sstern14@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net ; Mark Silva at msilva34@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.

Ailing Spanish Soccer Teams Need a ‘Diet’ From Debt, Tebas Says

It was a rough time for Javier Tebas to take over as president of the Spanish Professional Soccer League. Real Madrid and Barcelona lost to German rivals in the Champions League semifinals last week, fueling speculation that Spanish dominance of global soccer is slipping. Behind the disappointing performance of Spain’s two star teams is a league whose clubs carried a combined 752 million euros ($985 million) of debt last year. With the country’s economy mired in recession, fewer Spaniards can afford the higher ticket prices and more expensive broadcast rates that Tebas attributed to a value-added tax, which last year rose to 21 percent from 18 percent. “We’ve put into place a goal for 2020 that the league will have paid off its taxes to the state,” Tebas, who took office April 26, said in an interview in Miami. “We’ve eaten a lot of cake, we’re fat, and if we try to do a diet in 24 hours we’ll die. We’ve put on 55 kilos and we’re running a marathon in 2020, so now we have to lose some weight.” Tebas said the economic plan, especially for smaller teams overshadowed by Real Madrid and Barcelona, is to reduce debt and interest payments so that clubs can invest in talent on the field. In November, Spain’s tax agency confiscated income from several soccer clubs as it chased almost $1 billion of debts from teams in the country’s top two divisions. A tax agency official said at the time it recouped 132.9 million euros of debt from teams since the start of 2012. Debt Reduction In April 2012, the European Commission said it was examining whether Spanish clubs are improperly receiving state aid under agreements that delay tax payments. Atletico Madrid is paying 15 million euros a year of a 115 million-euro tax debt, Chief Executive Officer Miguel Angel Gil said in an interview at the time. Tebas said the league hasn’t received any government assistance in two seasons and that teams have reduced their debt by almost 10 percent. Tebas said he looking to the English Premier League and the German Bundesliga for ways to improve stadium attendance, global appeal and broadcasting agreements. Unlike the Premier League, which shares its television rights among its teams, Spanish clubs sell their broadcast rights on an individual basis. The Premier League next season begins a 3.02 billion-pound ($4.7 billion) three-year domestic rights deal that will be split among its 20 teams. In Spain , Barcelona and Real Madrid get about half of the country’s annual television income. The U.K.’s Guardian newspaper reported last month that Real Madrid made 140 million euros from television last year, while smaller club Granada earned just 12 million euros. “What is true is that at the global level the Bundesliga and the Premier League are doing great work, and not just from a sports perspective,” Tebas said. “That’s what we’re reflecting on in our league, and it’s moving very quickly and we’re paying attention to what’s going on.” To contact the reporters on this story: Anna Edgerton in Miami at aedgerton@bloomberg.net ; Bob Bensch in London at bbensch@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.

OBC and PNB CDs Deals: Indian Money Market

Following is a table showing certificate of deposits issued by Indian banks. The data has been provided by Central Bank of India ,Derivium Tradition Securities Pvt Ltd., LKP Securities, NVS Brokerage Ltd., SPA Securities Ltd.and Trust Financial Consultancy Services. Contributed via: Bloomberg Publisher WEB Service Provider ID: d99255ce97424b59ba52ab0fb043aabd

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

Brazil Consumer Default Rate Falls First Time Since March

Brazil ’s consumer-loan default rate fell in June for the first time in three months, as the government’s drive to lower borrowing costs provides relief to indebted families. The consumer default rate declined to 7.8 percent from a revised 7.9 percent in May, the central bank said in a report distributed today in Brasilia. The company loan default rate slid to 4 percent from 4.1 percent over the same period. Lower interest rates , higher income levels and a more conservative selection process by banks have caused default rates to fall, the central bank’s head of economic research, Tulio Maciel, told reporters in Brasilia today. Since August, Brazil has cut the benchmark Selic rate 450 basis points to the record low 8 percent and pressured banks to lower rates on loans to accelerate a sluggish economic recovery. Easier credit access, a drop in delinquency rates and record-low unemployment will help drive consumption in the world’s second- largest emerging market, central bank President Alexandre Tombini told reporters July 23. Policy makers have also implemented growth measures such as tax breaks on automobiles and consumer goods. “Private credit is still growing robustly,” John Welch , macro strategist at CIBC World Markets , said in a telephone interview from Toronto. “Brazil is not suffering from a lack of demand.” Loan Rates Brazil’s average interest rate on loans rose 0.2 percentage point to 31.3 percent in July 1-16, Maciel said. Average rates on consumer loans climbed 1.3 percentage points to 37.8 percent, while rates on corporate loans fell 0.4 percentage point to 23.4 percent, Maciel told reporters in Brasilia. Some of the country’s largest banks said this week that profits have been hit by consumers’ difficulties in paying their debts. Banco Bradesco SA (BBDC4) , Latin America’s second-largest bank by market value, said on July 23 that second-quarter provisions against bad loans rose 40 percent. Itau Unibanco Holding SA (ITUB4) said July 24 that the average default rate for payments at least 90 days overdue rose to 5.2 percent in June from 4.5 percent a year earlier, and provisions rose 17 percent from 2011. Consumer confidence in Brazil fell in July for the third month in a row, according to data released from the Getulio Vargas Foundation yesterday. Credit Growth Outstanding credit rose 17.9 percent in June from the same month last year to 2.2 trillion reais ($1.1 billion), the central bank said today. Credit increased 1.5 percent from the previous month. Swap rates on the contract maturing in January 2014, the most traded in Sao Paulo today, rose one basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 7.68 percent at 11:01 a.m. local time. The real strengthened 0.3 percent to 2.0264 per dollar. Brazil’s gross domestic product expanded at a 0.8 percent annualized rate during the first quarter. The central bank forecasts 2012 growth will reach 2.5 percent, while economists surveyed weekly by the central bank expect an increase of 1.9 percent. To contact the reporters on this story: Matthew Malinowski in Santiago at mmalinowski@bloomberg.net ; Raymond Colitt in Brasilia Newsroom at rcolitt@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at jgoodman19@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 0.13% to 0.17%, ICAP Says

Fed funds, the U.S. overnight inter-bank lending rate , is projected to open in a range of 0.13 percent to 0.17 percent, within the Federal Reserve ’s target of zero to 0.25 percent. Fed funds closed at 0.1 percent yesterday after trading from 0.1 percent to 0.13 percent and averaging 0.12 percent, ICAP Plc, the world’s largest inter-dealer broker, said in an e- mailed statement. ICAP’s monthly average is 0.139 percent. No temporary open market operations, which add or drain reserves to the banking system, are expected, according to Wrightson ICAP, a research unit of ICAP specializing in U.S. government finance. The Fed has no Treasury purchases or sales scheduled for today, which are permanent open market operations. In repos, the Fed buys U.S. Treasury , mortgage-backed and agency debt from its primary dealers for a set period, temporarily raising the amount of money available in the banking system. At maturity, the securities are returned to the dealers, and the cash to the Fed. In reverse repos, temporary funds are drained from the system. 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.

IPR-GDF Suez Buys British Columbia Wind Project From Sea Breeze

IPR- GDF Suez (GSZ) North America, a partnership between Britain’s International Power Plc (IPR) and France’s GDF Suez, bought a 99-megawatt wind farm in Canada from Sea Breeze Power Corp. (SBX) IPR-GDF Suez North America will pay C$12 million ($12.2 million) for the Knob Hill project, which it renamed Cape Scott Wind Farm, Vancouver-based Sea Breeze said today in a statement. Sea Breeze received an initial payment of C$1.9 million and will receive the balance through similar payments by the time the wind farm goes into operation in British Columbia. It will also receive a percentage of the revenue from Cape Scott’s 20- year power-sales contract with British Columbia Hydro & Power Authority. To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Herndon in San Francisco at aherndon2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Wade at wwade4@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.

‘Wimpy Kid’ Is Top Weekend Film With Sales of $23.8 Million

“Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules” opened in first place in its debut weekend, taking in ticket sales of $23.8 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters for News Corp. (NWSA) ’s Fox Studio. “Sucker Punch,” the special-effects fantasy film from Time Warner Inc. (TWX) ’s Warner Bros., was second with $19.1 million, researcher Hollywood.com Box-Office said today in an e-mailed statement. Ticket sales declined for a fifth week compared with a year earlier, when audiences flocked to see such movies as “Alice in Wonderland” and “How to Train Your Dragon” in the three- dimensional format. Those two films accounted for $61.4 million of $128.7 million taken in at theaters in the year-ago period, according to researcher Box Office Mojo. “It’s a lackluster first quarter that we’re finishing, and looking at next weekend it seems as if the second quarter is going to start off with a whimper,” Gitesh Pandya, editor of Box Office Guru, said yesterday in an interview. “The continued product flow is not as commercial as it was a year ago.” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules” is the second film in a series based on the books by Greg Heffley. The first movie, released a year ago, cost about $15 million to make and generated $75.7 million in worldwide ticket sales for Twentieth Century Fox, according to Box Office Mojo. The new film cost $21 million, according to the Sherman Oaks , California-based researcher. ‘Sucker Punch’ In the latest installment, Greg must deal with his mother’s attempt to make him bond with his older brother. Zachary Gordon stars as Greg and Devon Bostick plays older brother Rodrick. “The goodwill that the first movie generated helped this one,” said Pandya. “Sucker Punch,” from “300” director Zack Snyder, tells the story of a girl who is scheduled to undergo a lobotomy after being locked in an asylum. She retreats into an imaginary world where she and fellow inmates fight an array of warriors and strange creatures. Emily Browning stars as the young woman. Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish and Scott Glenn co-star. “Usually when Zack Snyder and Warner Bros. put out a film you get grosses akin to summer blockbusters,” said Jeff Bock , a box-office analyst for Exhibitor Relations Co. “This was just too strange for audiences to digest.” ‘Lincoln Lawyer’ “Limitless” dropped to third from first with $15.1 million. The film stars Bradley Cooper as an aspiring author whose mental capacity is expanded by an experimental drug. Robert De Niro co-stars as a business mogul who wants to use the writer’s new intellect to increase his fortune. The film is from Relativity Media LLC. “The Lincoln Lawyer” remained in fourth place with $10.8 million for distributor Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (LGF) The movies stars Matthew McConaughey as a lawyer whose life takes a dangerous turn after he is hired to defend a Beverly Hills man accused of rape. “Rango,” the animated comedy from Viacom Inc. (VIA/B) ’s Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon, fell to fifth place from second with $9.8 million. The movie features the voice of Johnny Depp as a chameleon who tries to clean up the Wild West town of Dirt. The film reunites the actor and director Gore Verbinski, who oversaw Depp in Disney’s successful “Pirates of the Caribbean” series. Revenue for the weekend’s top 12 films fell 7.2 percent to $108.6 million from a year ago, Hollywood.com said. Domestic box-office sales this year have declined 19 percent to $2.18 billion. Attendance is down 20 percent. The amounts below are based on actual ticket sales for March 25 to March 27. To contact the reporters on this story: Michael White in Los Angeles at mwhite8@bloomberg.net ; Beth Jinks in New York at bjinks1@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.

East Coast’s Record-Breaking Heat Will Fade by Next Week

The heat that may topple temperature records in New York City and the East Coast for a second day isn’t expected to last much longer. An all-time high for the date of 98 degrees Fahrenheit (37 Celsius) may be set in Central Park today, breaking the old mark of 97 set in 1953 and again in 1988, said Lauren Nash, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Upton, New York. “We could tie and break a few records today,” Nash said. Daily record highs were set in Newark , New Jersey, at New York’s LaGuardia Airport and in Hartford, Connecticut , yesterday and more may fall today. High heat warnings and air quality alerts have been issued from Quebec to Virginia as hundreds lost power and more were asked to conserve, according to utilities. The weather on the first full day of calendar summer probably won’t be a preview of how things will be for the rest of the season. “Today’s heat could rank as one of the summer’s hottest for the East Coast cities,” said Matt Rogers , president of Commodity Weather Group LLC in Bethesda, Maryland. “I don’t expect this to be a precursor to another summer like last summer.” Rogers said there may be a few more heat spikes later in the season. He doesn’t expect weeks of above-average temperatures across the region through the season because an El Nino is forecast to develop in the Pacific Ocean later this year. El Nino That weather pattern often means that heat increases that drive electricity usage are balanced by more seasonal temperatures, he said. The result is that natural gas prices won’t get much support from the weather. “In terms of the gas market, there is always another cooling right around the corner,” Rogers said. Nash said temperatures in New York are expected to be much cooler by the start of next week. A high of 76 is forecast for June 25, according to the Weather Service. By next week, temperatures from Ontario and Quebec to the U.S. mid-Atlantic states are expected to be 3 to 4 degrees below normal, according to MDA EarthSat Weather’s 6- to 10-day outlook for June 26 to June 30. The heat has already broken in Chicago , where temperatures reached 94 to 95 for the past three days. Today’s high is expected to be 83, according to the Weather Service. Heat Shift Above-normal temperatures will shift to the southern U.S. from New Mexico to Louisiana, according to MDA in Gaithersburg, Maryland. For today, New York will keep 455 cooling centers open, according to a city statement. In Washington , the elderly and people with respiratory problems were urged to stay inside, according to a city statement. Residents were also cautioned to limit their exposure to the sun “especially between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. when it is strongest.” The combination of high temperatures and humidity make the air feel even hotter, which is called the heat index. Today’s values in New York and northern New Jersey will range from 100 to 104, according to the Weather Service. The high at LaGuardia and in Philadelphia is expected to be 100, according to the weather service. Boston and Richmond, Virginia, may reach 98 and Washington, Baltimore and Trenton, New Jersey, may see 99, the agency said. The high in Toronto yesterday was 94 and is expected to reach 91 today, according to Environment Canada. In Montreal yesterday’s high was 90.8 and it’s expected to reach 91 today, according to the Canadian weather service. To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@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.

YAO SHENG ELECTR January Sales Fall 51.49% (Table) : 3207 TT

YAO SHENG ELECTR said unconsolidated sales in January fell 51.49% to NT$18,222,000 from NT$37,561,000, according to a statement filed to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. (Figures are in thousands of New Taiwan dollars) ================================================================= 1/2012 1/2011 Sales 18,222 37,561 YOY% -51.49% -----------------Year-to-date----------------- Sales 18,222 37,561 YOY% -51.49% =================================================================

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

Jeter Hurts Thigh in Return to Majors as Yankees Beat Royals 8-4

Derek Jeter awaited the results of an MRI on a right thigh strain sustained during his first Major League Baseball appearance in nine months in which he batted 1-for-4 as his New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 8-4. Jeter, the 39-year-old team captain, was New York’s designated hitter yesterday at Yankee Stadium after being promoted from a four-game minor-league rehabilitation assignment that followed two left ankle fractures. He was pinch-hit for in the eighth inning and will have an exam done on his leg, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said at a televised post-game news conference. “His right quad tightened up a little bit and so he said something and I said, ‘You’re done,’” Girardi said. No update on the results of the MRI was available last night, Yankee spokesman Michael Margolis said in an e-mail. “I felt good up until that point,” Jeter told reporters yesterday. “We’ll see.” Jeter had an infield single in his first at-bat, hitting a ground ball weakly down the third-base line that the Royals’ Miguel Tejada was unable to field cleanly. It was his 3,305th career hit, moving him within 10 of tying Eddie Collins for 10th in MLB history. After grounding out to third base in the second inning, Jeter came to the plate in the fifth with the Yankees trailing 4-3. He advanced a runner with a grounder to second before Kansas City pitcher Ervin Santana issued consecutive walks, one intentionally, to load the bases. Lyle Overbay then hit a two-run single and Zoilo Almonte and Eduardo Nunez followed with run-scoring singles to give New York a 7-4 advantage. Jeter added a run-scoring groundout in the sixth. “I was nervous going into the game,” Jeter said. “It’s almost like it’s opening day. What is it, July now? I’ve lost track of the months.” Pettitte’s Performance Andy Pettitte , who gave up all the Royals’ runs in the first two innings, lasted 5 2/3 innings, allowing eight hits with a strikeout and a walk. Santana allowed eight earned runs in five-plus innings, giving up 10 hits while striking out four and walking three. David Robertson struck out the side in the eighth inning for the Yankees and Boone Logan worked a perfect ninth. Jeter’s appearance meant that he and relief pitcher Mariano Rivera now have played 19 major league seasons on the same team, tying the record held by Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell of the Detroit Tigers. Jeter broke his ankle during the 2012 playoffs in October, underwent surgery and then attempted to come back during spring training, only to be shut down after a small crack was found in the area of his initial injury. Yankees Injuries In April, Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman said he expected Jeter to return to the Yankees after the All-Star break, which is next week. The team has been hampered by injuries all season, including two days ago to Travis Hafner and Brett Gardner. “Our original plan wasn’t really to bring him back today, but we’ve been in kind of a tough situation all year and you get a couple of guys who get beat up yesterday,” Girardi said. “We just felt if he was going to play down in Triple-A he could play up here today.” To contact the reporter on this story: Mason Levinson in New York at mlevinson@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.

SEC Hires U.S. Capitol Police Inspector General as Head Watchdog

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today named the inspector general of the U.S. Capitol Police as its top internal watchdog. Carl W. Hoecker is a certified public accountant who began his career as an Army military policeman, according to an SEC announcement. He served as deputy assistant inspector general for the Treasury Department from 2003 to 2006. The Capitol Police provide security on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol. Hoecker replaces H. David Kotz , who quit a year ago. Kotz had faced criticism of his investigations and possible conflicts of interest, including his decision to accept tickets to a Philadelphia Eagles football game from a radio broadcaster. The office has been run temporarily by the inspector general of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. “I am deeply honored to have been selected for this position,” Hoecker said in a statement. “The SEC has an extremely important mission and I look forward to working with the Commissioners, the SEC staff, and the SEC stakeholders as I carry out my responsibilities under the Inspectors General Act.” To contact the reporter on this story: Dave Michaels in Washington at dmichaels5@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Maura Reynolds at mreynolds34@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.

Employment Index in U.S. Rises for First Time in Three Months

A measure of job prospects in the U.S. climbed in May for the first time in three months, indicating bigger job gains will be slow to develop in the second half of the year. The Conference Board’s Employment Trends Index rose 0.6 percent to 111.76, the highest reading since June 2008, the New York-based research group said today. The measure was up 3 percent from May 2012. The index “is suggesting that a significant improvement in employment growth is unlikely this summer,” Gad Levanon , director of macroeconomic research at the Conference Board, said in a statement. “Growth in the ETI has remained weak.” Today’s report follows Labor Department data last week that showed U.S. employers added more workers than forecast in May. Payrolls rose by 175,000 workers after a 149,000 increase in April. The unemployment rate climbed to 7.6 percent from 7.5 percent as the number of people entering the workforce swamped the number of positions available. Improvements in seven of the Conference Board index’s eight components contributed to the gain, today’s report showed. These included a jump in hiring of temporary workers, more job openings and an increase in the share of employers saying jobs were difficult to fill. To contact the reporter on this story: Lorraine Woellert in Washington at lwoellert@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz at cwellisz@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.

QR National Initial Sale Pricing Is `Too High,' 2MG Asset Management Says

The Queensland government’s pricing is too high for the sale of shares in its coal-train operator QR National Ltd., Mike Mangan, a fund manager at 2MG Asset Management, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. in an interview broadcast today. The high end of the government’s proposed pricing is “dreamland” and the low end is more expensive than almost any other comparable stock, Mangan told the ABC’s Inside Business program. To contact the reporter on this story: Jacob Greber in Sydney at jgreber@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Keith Gosman at kgosman@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 Unemployment Rose Less Than Forecast in December

German unemployment increased less than economists forecast in December even as Europe ’s debt crisis curbed company investment and economic growth. The number of people out of work rose a seasonally adjusted 3,000 to 2.942 million, the Nuremberg-based Federal Labor Agency said today. Economists predicted an increase of 10,000, the median of 19 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed. The adjusted jobless rate held steady at 6.9 percent, close to a two-decade low. Germany ’s economy, Europe’s largest, may have contracted markedly in the fourth quarter after the euro area’s succumbed to recession, the Bundesbank said on Dec. 17. Still, business confidence increased for a second month in December after demand from outside the region boosted factory orders and exports. “The German labor market is showing signs of cooling, which isn’t that surprising given the economic slowdown in the course of 2012, said Thilo Heidrich, an economist at Deutsche Postbank AG (DPB) in Bonn. ‘‘If the economy stabilizes and recovers in 2013, the labor market could end its weak phase already at the end of the year.’’ The euro was little changed after the report and traded at $1.3139 at 11:04 a.m. in Frankfurt. The benchmark DAX index dropped 0.2 percent to 7760.88, while the Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.2 percent to 286.0. House Prices Spain ’s registered unemployment fell for the first time in five months in December as service industries boosted hiring over the holiday season. In the U.K., house price s declined in December and may fall ‘‘modestly’’ over 2013 because of a weak economic recovery, Nationwide Building Society said. A gauge of construction activity dropped more than economists forecast. At the same time, U.K. lenders increased the availability of mortgages and company loans ‘‘significantly’’ in the fourth quarter, the Bank of England said. In the euro area, lending to households and companies contracted for a seventh month in November as the recession damped demand for credit. Switzerland ’s KOF economic indicator weakened for a third month in December, while manufacturing output contracted less than economists forecast. The Bundesbank predicts the German economy to expand 0.4 percent this year even as the euro area fights its second recession in four years. The European Central Bank lowered its forecast on Dec. 6 and now predicts an economic contraction of 0.3 percent in the 17-nation region in 2013. ‘Difficult Year’ ‘‘We expect a difficult year for the German labor market,’’ Frank-Juergen Weise, President of the Federal Labor Agency, said in a press conference. ‘‘But we don’t think there’ll be any dramatic shocks and there is good reason to believe in an improvement after 2013.” Schaeffler AG, the roller-bearing maker that is the biggest investor in car-parts manufacturer Continental AG (CON) , last month lowered its 2012 sales forecast because of weaker demand in Europe and Asia. Siemens AG (SIE) said on Dec. 19 it is eliminating 1,100 jobs at two energy units in Germany, preparing for years of subdued demand for gas-fired turbines made at its Berlin plant as competition increases and utilities hesitate to invest. Outside Europe Some German companies are selling more to faster-growing regions, offsetting weaker demand from the euro area, its largest export market. Shipments to countries outside the European Union increased 9.9 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the Federal Statistics Office said on Dec. 4, with those to the U.S. surging 25.7 percent. That’s helping to boost optimism among German manufacturers, according to a report released today by state- owned development bank KfW Group. “German companies, large and small, are already looking beyond the current weak phase and are expecting a recovery in the spring,” Joerg Zeuner, KfW chief economist, said in an e- mailed statement. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the world’s biggest maker of luxury cars, said on Dec. 7 it is targeting higher sales and profit in 2013, boosted by growth in the U.S. and China. China today reported an increase in a services-industry gauge, adding to signs that the world’s second-biggest economy is rebounding after seven-quarter slowdown. The non- manufacturing purchasing managers’ index was at 56.1 in December after a 55.6 reading the previous month, the National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing said in Beijing today. Mortgage Applications The U.S. will report mortgage applications and initial jobless claims today and the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index is set to give the latest reading on sentiment in the world’s biggest economy. In Germany, small and medium-sized companies plan to add employees this year even as most of them expect the economy to stagnate, a poll of more than 3,000 businesses by the BVMW lobby of medium-sized firms showed on Dec. 27. The economic environment will be more difficult this year than in 2012, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Dec. 31. Europe’s sovereign debt crisis is “far from over,” though progress has been made and the “reforms that we’ve agreed on are starting to take effect.” Still, the euro region’s jobless rate rose to a record 11.7 percent in October, the highest since the data series started in 1995. Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, will publish November data on Jan. 8. “Compared with other countries, the German job market is solid,” said Alexander Koch , an economist at UniCredit Research in Munich. “We have seen some months with rising unemployment, but I think the numbers will turn for the better again soon.” 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

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

Ex-CME Software Engineer Yang Indicted for Theft of Trade Secrets

A former senior software engineer for CME Group Inc. (CME) was charged with allegedly stealing source code from the Chicago company while at the same time pursuing plans to improve an electronic-trading exchange in China. Chunlai Yang, who was arrested in July, was charged with two counts of theft of trade secrets in an indictment by a federal grand jury returned today, the U.S. Justice Department said. Yang 48, is free on a $500,000 bond, the U.S. said. No arraignment date has been set. The U.S. claims Yang downloaded more than 1,000 computer files containing CME computer source code from December 8, 2010, to June 30, 2011, related to the company’s Globex electronic trading platform. The U.S. alleged Yang transferred the files to his home computer via a flash drive and negotiated to provide source code to the Zhangjiagang, China , chemical electronic trading exchange. “CME Group brought this matter to the attention of federal authorities and fully cooperated with the investigation,” Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney in Chicago, said in a statement. “This case is an excellent example of how law enforcement and corporations can work together to protect trade secrets.” Two Partners Yang will plead not guilty, his attorney, Edward Genson, said in a telephone interview today. “He was not involved in downloading any documents other than for work use,” Genson said. The U.S. claims that Yang was involved in developing with two partners a business called Gateway, which would increase the trading volume at the Zhangjiagang exchange. “Defendant Yang expected that Gateway would provide the Zhangjiagang Exchange with technology to allow for high trading volume, high trading speeds, and multiple trading functions,” according to the indictment. “Yang was to become Gateway’s president.” These claims are “specious,” Genson said. “There was a business but it involved real estate.” The source codes at CME were “incompatible for use in China,” he said. Each count of theft of trade secrets carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, the U.S. said. The case is U.S. v. Yang, 11-CR-458, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (Chicago). To contact the reporter on this story: Margaret Cronin Fisk in Southfield, Michigan , at mcfisk@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.

Pelosi Climate Panel Dies in Republican Sweep of House

Republicans will eliminate the House committee created by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to highlight the threat of climate change, Representative James Sensenbrenner , the top Republican on the panel, said today. In one of her first acts as speaker in 2007, Pelosi, a California Democrat, created the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming to draw attention to climate-change science and showcase how a cap on carbon dioxide needn’t be a threat to economic growth. Republicans, who won control of the House in the Nov. 2 election, have opposed legislative efforts to regulate carbon emissions as a tax on energy. When the panel convened today, Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, said that the hearing “will be the last of the select committee.” Sensenbrenner had advocated extending the panel as a forum to scrutinize Obama administration actions. In an opinion column on Nov. 8 in the Washington newspaper Roll Call, he wrote that the committee was “more qualified than any other” to challenge Obama environmental initiatives that he said may threaten the economy. He acknowledged that other Republicans thought the panel should be eliminated to save money. “We are going to get rid of waste and duplication in terms of how we run the Congress,” House Republican Leader John Boehner , who is slated to become speaker in January, told reporters today. “We believe the Science Committee is more than capable of handling this issue and in the process save several million dollars.” ‘Very Disappointing’ Drew Hammill , a spokesman for Pelosi, said it’s “very disappointing” that House Republicans will shut the committee and won’t make energy independence and climate change a priority in the next Congress. “Disbanding the select committee does not diminish the urgent need to act on these very critical issues,” Hammill said in an e-mailed statement. The election increased the ranks of Republican climate- change skeptics in both the House and Senate, according to ThinkProgress, an arm of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a Washington research group allied with Democrats. Committee Chairman Edward Markey , a Massachusetts Democrat, criticized the attitude among many Republican lawmakers. “While members of Congress may question the science of global warming, the rest of the world does not,” he said in his final statement as chairman. The panel held 75 hearings, creating a record of evidence showing that humans are causing the planet to warm and that the United States is in danger of falling behind in the race for clean-energy technologies, Markey said. China plans to invest $738 billion on clean-energy technologies, he said. “The politics may change but the problem isn’t going away,” Markey said. To contact the reporter on this story: Jim Snyder in Washington at jsnyder24@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Larry Liebert at lliebert@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.

Rare Pink Diamond Bought by Graff for Record $46 Million at Geneva Auction

Laurence Graff , a London jewelry dealer, last night bought a diamond in a Swiss sale for 45.4 million francs ($45.6 million), a record for any gem at auction. Graff’s telephone bid for the pink stone beat an estimate of 27 million francs to 38 million francs at Sotheby’s , Geneva. “It is the most fabulous diamond I’ve seen in my career,” Graff said in a statement issued by Sotheby’s. He named the gem “the Graff Pink,” the auction house said. The jewelry auction raised a record 103 million francs, Sotheby’s said. Demand for rare gems as a portable form of wealth has pushed up prices. The 24.78-carat emerald-cut stone was graded “Fancy Intense Pink” by the Gemological Institute of America. It was sold by a private collector and hadn’t been seen on the open market since being bought from Harry Winston about 60 years ago, the New York-based auction house said. “What makes it so immensely rare is the combination of its exceptional color and purity with the classic emerald-cut,” David Bennett , chairman of Sotheby’s European and the Middle Eastern jewelry departments, said in a statement. “It’s a style of cutting normally associated with white diamonds and one that is so highly sought-after when found in rare colors such as pink and blue.” Graff previously paid 16.4 million pounds ($24.3 million) for the 35.56-carat grayish-blue “Wittelsbach Diamond” at Christie’s International in London in December 2008, then the highest for a gem at auction. Geneva Wine Record Earlier in the day at a Christie’s wine sale, also in Geneva, a 6-liter imperial of Chateau Cheval Blanc’s 1947 vintage sold for 298,500 francs. The price , paid by an unidentified collector, was an auction record for a large-format bottle of wine. An imperial bottle is the size of eight standard bottles. Described by Christie’s wine specialist, Michael Ganne, as “probably the only known existing ‘imperial’” of the red Bordeaux, it had been estimated to fetch between 150,000 francs and 250,000 francs. Cheval Blanc’s famously port-like 1947 vintage is regarded by some connoisseurs as the greatest wine of the 20th century. The auction record for a standard-sized 75-centiliter bottle of wine was set at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong on Oct. 29 when three bottles of Chateau Lafite’s 1869 vintage each sold for HK$1.8 million ($230,000). All three were bought by the same Asian telephone bidder, said Sotheby’s. ( Scott Reyburn writes for Muse, the arts and culture section of Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own.) To contact the writer on the story: Scott Reyburn at sreyburn@hotmail.com. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Beech at mbeech@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.

Vilsack to Reconsider Ouster of Black USDA Official Over Racial Remarks

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said today that he will reconsider the ouster of a black USDA official in Georgia over comments she made that she didn’t use the “full force” of what she could do to help a white farmer. “I am of course willing and will conduct a thorough review and consider additional facts to ensure to the American people we are providing services in a fair and equitable manner,” Vilsack said in a written statement. Vilsack asked for Shirley Sherrod ’s resignation after a clip from a video surfaced showing her comments, made as part of a speech she gave in March at an NAACP banquet in Georgia. The video was highlighted by the Web site biggovernment.com and posted on YouTube. “There is zero tolerance for discrimination at USDA and we strongly condemn any act of discrimination against any person,” Vilsack had said in a statement. “We have been working to turn the page on the sordid civil rights record at USDA, and this controversy could make it more difficult to move forward on correcting injustices.” Sherrod said today on NBC’s “Today” show that she wasn’t sure whether she would return to USDA were she offered a job. “No one would listen” at the department when she tried to explain the context of her remarks, she said. “I am just not sure of how I would be treated there now.” NAACP ‘Snookered’ The NAACP , the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, originally condemned her remarks as the release of the video clip coincided with their call to leaders of the Tea Party movement to “repudiate those in their ranks who use racist language in their signs and speeches.” However, after viewing the full video and speaking to Sherrod and the white farmers she mentioned in her remarks, NAACP President and Chief Executive Officer Benjamin Todd Jealous said in a statement that he believes the organization was “snookered” by those who circulated the edited clip. “The fact is Ms. Sherrod did help the white farmers mentioned in her speech,” Jealous said. “They personally credit her with helping to save their family farm.” Jealous said Sherrod was “sharing this account as part of a story of transformation and redemption.” According to Jealous, in the unedited video, Sherrod said the dislocation of farmers is about “haves and have nots.” “It’s not just about black people, it’s about poor people,” Sherrod said in the rest of her remarks, according to the statement. To contact the reporter on this story: Catherine Dodge in Washington at cdodge1@bloomberg.net Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. 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.

Tiger Woods Returns to Golf No. 1 With Win at Florida Tournament

Tiger Woods reclaimed the No. 1 spot in golf’s world rankings after a 2 1/2-year absence with a record-tying eighth win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Florida. The final round of the tournament at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge was completed today after heavy rain and winds of 50-60 miles per hour (80-95 kilometers per hour) halted play yesterday. Woods, 37, won his third title this season by posting a 2- under-par 70 today for a four-round total of 13 under and a two- shot victory over Justin Rose. It is Woods’s sixth victory in his last 20 events on the U.S. PGA Tour. It’s his eighth win at the tournament, tying Sam Snead for the most titles at a single PGA Tour event. Woods now has 77 PGA Tour wins, five behind Snead for the career mark. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rob Gloster at rgloster@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.

Hamleys ‘Optimistic’ for Christmas After 4-Month Toy Sales Rise

Hamleys Plc, the U.K. toy retailer whose London store is a tourist attraction, said it’s “optimistic” about Christmas after sales in the first four months of its fiscal year rose. Revenue from stores open at least a year in the U.K. and Ireland rose 15 percent, while comparable sales at franchises outside those two countries rose 28 percent during the 17 weeks through July 23, the privately held retailer said in a statement today. That compares to growth of 1 percent in the year ended March 26 for the entire business. Sales have picked up in the U.K. as shoppers spend more each shopping trip, such as the 100-pound ($163) Rock on Elmo toy at its Regent Street store, Chief Executive Officer Gudjon Reynisson said in an interview. Landsbanki Islands Hf., an Icelandic bank that’s the retailer’s biggest shareholder, rejected a 60 million-pound bid from Global Banking Corp. for Hamleys, Sky News said in February. “We are allowing ourselves to be a little bit optimistic for Christmas this year,” Reynisson said. On a possible sale, the CEO said “nothing has been decided and our shareholders are very supportive of us and happy with our progress.” The 250-year-old toy store chain plans four new franchised outlets this year in Riyadh, Kuwait, Bangalore and Delhi. The retailer’s owned outlets in Dublin, Glasgow and several British airports have performed well in a “tough” market, the CEO also said. Online Toy Sales U.K. retail sales fell 0.6 percent on a same-store basis in June, according to the British Retail Consortium , following a 2.1 percent decline in May. The international business, which now makes up 23 percent of total sales and includes 8 stores, is run with franchise partners. Reynisson said he is looking at opening outlets in south-east Asia , Russia and Turkey and has a partner lined up in Vietnam. Hamleys is also considering extending its online delivery beyond 20 countries in Europe , he said. Landsbanki Islands, the failed Icelandic bank, owns 64 percent of the business, a company owned by investor David Rowland’s family has 34 percent, and management owns the remaining 2 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Shannon in London at sshannon4@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.

Polish Industrial Output Slowed in May in Boost to Rate-Cut Case

Polish industrial-output fell for a third month in four, boosting the case for an interest-rate cut at the central bank’s July meeting. Production declined 1.8 percent from a year earlier in May, after increasing 2.7 percent the previous month, the Central Statistical Office in Warsaw said today. That’s in line with the median estimate for a 1.9 percent contraction in a Bloomberg survey (POISCYOY) of 30 economists. The data follows a report showing inflation at a seven-year low of 0.5 percent and comes two weeks before policy makers gather to decide whether they should cut the benchmark interest rate for an eighth time in less than a year. The economic slowdown is “deeper and more sustained” than policy makers had expected, Governor Marek Belka said June 5. “Industrial output remains weak, showing no signs of a clear rebound,” Piotr Bielski , an economist at Bank Zachodni WBK, said by phone before the figures were released. “Along with data on consumer and producer prices, the industrial-output figures support expectations for a cut in July.” In a separate report, the office said producer prices fell 2.5 percent from a year earlier, also in line with the 2.4 percent median contraction predicted by 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Prices rose 0.1 percent from the previous month. The Narodowy Bank Polski trimmed its benchmark rate to a record 2.75 percent on June 5 as policy makers seek to counter the worst economic slowdown in a decade. The European Union’s largest eastern economy will expand 1.5 percent this year, the government forecasts. The 10-member Monetary Policy Council will hold its rate meeting July 2-3. It will pause in August and resume meetings in September. To contact the reporters on this story: Dorota Bartyzel in Warsaw at dbartyzel@bloomberg.net Piotr Skolimowski in Warsaw at pskolimowski@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@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.

Ryan on Ticket Focuses Both Campaigns on Turnout

The selection of Paul Ryan to be the Republican vice-presidential candidate has galvanized both parties’ bases. The Wisconsin congressman is Velcro for his side and Teflon for Democrats. That enthusiasm is critical in an election that will be awash in cash from the well-heeled campaigns and the outside groups unleashed by court and political decisions. Voters in Columbus, Ohio , or Orlando , Florida, will be carpet-bombed with television commercials. The volume of ads will be overwhelming - - it’ll be like underlining every paragraph in a book -- and many are likely to tune out. Another aspect of this U.S. presidential election is a closely divided electorate with a smaller-than-usual bloc of uncommitted or persuadable voters, maybe in the high single digits. That suggests both sides will place a premium on turnout. That’s what has been known as the ground game, old-fashioned shoe leather to identify and enlist supporters, except this time it’s lubricated by cutting-edge technology: social media, databases, micro-targeting and micro-listening. Michael Whouley, the storied Democratic ground-game guru, and Curt Anderson, who helped mastermind President George W. Bush ’s successful voter mobilization in 2004, say getting voters to the polls will be even more critical this time. Obama’s Infrastructure President Barack Obama ’s forces have started with an advantage: an extensive infrastructure built on the foundation of the 2008 effort. They say they’ve been further aided by the selection of Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman, whose policies are anathema to most core Democratic constituencies. Republicans counter that Ryan energizes their base to turn out heavily in November. In addition, outside groups, funded by fat cats such as the Koch brothers, are also working to turn out conservatives. Contrasting the demographic vote in linchpin states in 2008, when Obama was victorious, and those where Republicans triumphed in the 2010 congressional elections , underscores the importance of turnout. The figures are from the national exit polls. In the last presidential race, 18 percent of the turnout consisted of voters ages 18 to 29 who went for Obama by better than two to one. Senior citizens -- 65 and older -- were a slightly smaller bloc and backed the Republican candidate, Senator John McCain of Arizona. By contrast, in 2010, the senior vote dwarfed the youth vote in Ohio, Florida, Iowa , Pennsylvania and Colorado , among other states. The Obama campaign’s biggest challenge probably will be to come close to the 2008 result with the youth vote. The environment is tougher -- Obama captured the imagination of many young voters last time and that will be hard to replicate with an economy that is now punishing that age group. The campaign says its efforts this time are more extensive and sophisticated -- targeting 16 million potential first-time young voters. “We’re making far more use of social media,” says Buffy Wicks, the Obama campaign’s national director of Operation Vote. “Last time, we sent out only a handful of tweets; now this is a major vehicle to communicate with voters, especially young voters.” Another question is whether Democrats can muster the same intensity among the president’s most loyal constituencies, African-Americans and Latinos. Black Vote Four years ago, Obama carried Florida by less than 240,000 votes of 8.4 million cast; he got 96 percent of the votes of African-Americans, who represent 13 percent of the state’s electorate, and won handily among Latinos, one out of seven Florida voters. In 2010, turnout among both blacks and Latinos was 2 percentage points lower than in 2008. If all else stays the same and minority turnout is like 2010, Obama loses Florida. Most Democrats are optimistic that black voters will turn out to re-elect Obama. They are more worried about a drop-off among Hispanics. The flipside for Republicans is the white evangelical vote, about a quarter of the electorate in 2008 and one-third two years later. In Virginia , white evangelicals accounted for 28 percent of the vote in 2008 and went 4 to 1 for McCain. In the gubernatorial race a year later they were 34 percent of the electorate. That would have virtually wiped out the Democrats’ 235,000-vote victory margin in the state in 2008. Republicans are focusing heavily on this core constituency. The Faith and Freedom Coalition, run by Ralph Reed with the backing of wealthy conservative donors, is budgeting $10 million to turn out religious conservatives. Reed, a legendary political operative in the evangelical community, says they expect to reach 18 million religious social conservatives, about a quarter of them Catholics. Via the Internet, e-mail and mobile phones, Faith and Freedom plans to make 121 million contacts with these overwhelmingly Republican voters. With $1 billion of television advertising saturating major markets in battleground states, Reed thinks there will be a return of sorts “to how elections used to be determined. You got lists of voters and turned out your vote.” Richard Nixon said the way to win the presidency was to mobilize the base, or the true believers, in the primary. Then rush to the center, where most voters are, in the general election. This election may be more about which side better mobilizes those true believers. ( Albert R. Hunt is Washington editor at Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.) Read more opinion online from Bloomberg View. Subscribe to receive a daily e-mail highlighting new View editorials, columns and op-ed articles. To contact the writer of this column: Albert Hunt in Washington at ahunt1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this column: Max Berley at mberley@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.

Astellas, Isuzu, NTN, Sony, Yamaha Motor: Japan Equity Preview

The following companies may have unusual price changes in Japanese trading today. Stock symbols are in parentheses, and share prices are as of the latest close. The information in each item was released after markets shut unless stated otherwise. Astellas Pharma Inc. (4503 JT): The drugmaker may report operating profit fell 38 percent to 115 billion yen ($1.42 billion) in the fiscal year ending in March 2011, Nikkei English News reported. The operating profit would be about 20 billion yen below the company’s previous forecast, the newspaper said. The stock fell 0.3 percent to 3,060 yen. Canon Marketing Japan Inc. (8060 JT): The distributor for Canon Inc. (7751 JT) products in Japan said nine-month operating profit fell 48 percent to 2.12 billion yen, while net income totaled 296 million yen in the period compared with a year- earlier loss. Canon Marketing rose 1.1 percent to 1,088 yen. Central Japan Railway Co. (9022 JT): The rail operator may begin test runs in fiscal 2013 of its magnetic-levitation train line, scheduled to start operating in 2027, Nikkei English News reported. The stock gained 0.5 percent to 617,000 yen. Dowa Holdings Co. (5714 JT): The metal-products smelter may post pretax profit of 15 billion yen for the half year, beating a forecast of 13 billion yen, Nikkei English News said. The stock fell 0.2 percent to 522 yen. Dydo Drinco Inc. (2590 JT): The company said drink sales in the month ended Oct. 20 gained 4.2 percent from a year earlier on a parent basis, buoyed by fruit juice and functional drinks. The stock lost 0.7 percent to 2,729 yen. Fuji Electronics Co. (9883 JT): The trader of electronic components said it will repurchase up to 9.2 percent of its shares. The stock dropped 0.1 percent to 937 yen. Fukuoka Financial Group Inc. (8354 JT): The lender said in a preliminary earnings statement that first-half net income beat its forecast by 55 percent after a decline in bankruptcies among Japanese companies helped reduce credit costs. The stock sank 1.2 percent to 324 yen. GS Yuasa Corp. (6674 JT): The battery maker’s first-half net income was 2.5 billion yen, or two-thirds better than forecast. The stock fell 0.9 percent to 578 yen. Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc. (6756 JT): The maker of chip- manufacturing equipment boosted its full-year net income projection by 26 percent to 5.4 billion yen. The stock rose 0.6 percent to 672 yen. IHI Corp. (7013 JT): The heavy machinery maker’s first-half net income was 13 billion yen, beating its forecast by 63 percent, according to a preliminary earnings statement. The stock retreated 2 percent to 149 yen. Isuzu Motors Ltd. (7202 JT) and Hino Motors Ltd. (7205 JT): The automakers may have returned to profit on an operating basis and beat their forecasts for the April-to-September half because of rising truck sales, Nikkei English News reported. Isuzu lost 0.7 percent to 307 yen. Hino rose 1.1 percent to 385 yen. JS Group Corp. (5938 JT): The building material maker may pay about 3 billion yen for a 49 percent stake in the holding company of Shanghai Meite Curtain Wall System Co., Nikkei English News said. JS Group fell 1.2 percent to 1,548 yen. Keihan Electric Railway Co. (9045 JO): The rail and bus transportation company had a first-half net income of 4 billion yen, 38 percent more than its outlook, according to a preliminary earnings release. The stock was unchanged at 356 yen. Kose Corp. (4922 JT): The cosmetics maker said in a preliminary earnings statement its first-half net income was 2.4 billion yen, beating its forecast by 41 percent, as it delayed booking sales costs. The stock slid 1 percent to 1,901 yen. Matsui Securities Co. (8628 JT): The online brokerage said first-half net income fell 19 percent to 3.31 billion yen on an 18 percent drop in revenue. The stock advanced 1.7 percent to 490 yen. Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp. (4188 JT): The chemicals maker plans to invest 5 billion yen to make lithium-ion battery materials in the U.S. and U.K. The company will spend 2.5 billion yen in Billingham, U.K. and begin production in the fall of 2011, according to a statement on its website. The stock slid 0.9 percent to 420 yen. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (7011 JT): Japan’s third- largest publicly traded shipbuilder had a return to first-half net income of 17.3 billion yen from a year-earlier loss, according to a preliminary earnings statement. The stock slipped 1 percent to 295 yen. Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. (7003 JT): The ship engine maker’s first-half net income amounted to 11.5 billion yen, beating its outlook by 53 percent, according to a preliminary earnings statement. The stock was unchanged at 181 yen. Nitto Denko Corp. (6988 JT): The electronics parts maker’s operating profit may increase 34 percent to about 75 billion yen for the year ending March 2011, Nikkei English News reported. That would exceed a previous forecast of a 12 percent increase to 63 billion yen, Nikkei said. The stock rose 0.8 percent to 3,190 yen. NTN Corp. (6472 JT): The bearing maker may post a 10.5 billion yen operating profit for the half year ended Sept. 30, exceeding a forecast by about 500 million yen, Nikkei English News said. The stock fell 0.5 percent to 372 yen. Osaka Gas Co. (9532 JT): Japan’s second-biggest distributor of natural gas said in a preliminary earning statement it had 19 billion yen in first-half net income, beating its forecast by 23 percent as the yen strengthened more than expected. The stock fell 1.7 percent to 293 yen. Riken Technos Corp. (4220 JT): The maker of synthetic resin said it will buy back as much as 1.6 percent of its shares. The stock sank 1.4 percent to 215 yen. Sony Corp. (6758 JT): The electronics maker cut the price of its PlayStation Portable Go handheld game player by 10,000 yen to 16,800 yen in Japan. The stock slid 0.4 percent to 2,724 yen. Terumo Corp. (4543 JT): The medical device maker may report a operating profit of about 33 billion yen for the April-to- September period, about the same amount as one year earlier, Nikkei English News reported. The stock fell 0.1 percent to 4,330 yen. Toho Zinc Co. (5707 JT): The smelter of nonferrous metals said in a preliminary earnings statement first-half net income was 6 billion yen, beating its 1.5 billion yen outlook, with higher-than-expected sales. The stock rose 0.9 percent to 353 yen. Toyo Electric Manufacturing Co. (6505 JT): The maker of electrical equipment said it will raise 714 million yen in a share sale to Hitachi Ltd. (6501 JT). Toyo Electric fell 1.2 percent to 336 yen. Hitachi slid 0.8 percent to 354 yen. Toyota Motor Corp. (7203 JT) and Toyota Tsusho Corp. (8015 JT): The companies will form a venture in Egypt to oversee the assembly of Fortuner sport-utility vehicles. Toyota Motor lost 1.1 percent to 2,893 yen. Toyota Tsusho rose advanced 0.7 percent to 1,300 yen. Yamaha Motor Co. (7272 JT): The world’s second-largest motorcycle maker recalled 136,378 motorcycles made by its Brazilian unit. The recall will cost the company 2.35 billion yen. The stock rose 0.7 percent to 1,224 yen. To contact the reporter on this story: Norie Kuboyama in Tokyo at nkuboyama@bloomberg.net. 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.

Qaddafi Captured by Libya’s NTC Forces, State TV Reports

Former Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi was captured today by forces loyal to the country’s National Transitional Council, state television said. “We have captured the criminal who destroyed this country,” according to a statement aired by the channel. “Libya is joyous, Libya is celebrating.” There were conflicting reports that Qaddafi was wounded and may have died from his injuries, the BBC and Al Jazeera television said, citing unidentified NTC officials. The NTC will issue a statement later today on Qaddafi’s fate, Mahmoud Shammam, the council’s information minister, told the BBC in a live interview from the capital, Tripoli. He said he couldn’t confirm that Qaddafi was captured while leaving Sirte. The Misrata Military Council, which is leading operations in Sirte, said in an e-mail that it couldn’t comment on the former leader’s fate for security reasons. Qaddafi has been in hiding for most of the eight months of fighting that erupted in February after he quashed protests, issuing statements that he preferred to die a martyr. He lost control of Tripoli in August, and his loyalists massed in his hometown of Sirte, strategic for its airport and seaport, and Bani Walid. Libya ’s new leaders cautioned that is was too early to declare complete victory over the Qaddafi forces. The start of NTC control of Sirte would begin the countdown to elections for a national council within eight months. ‘Pockets of Resistance’ “Technically speaking, Sirte is under our control but there are still some pockets of resistance and some Qaddafi fighters are trying to escape,” Jalal El-Galal, a spokesman for the NTC, said earlier today in a phone interview in Benghazi. “The declaration of liberation won’t happen yet.” Anti-Qaddafi forces in the eastern city of Benghazi joined the Sirte fighters in celebrating their advances. The scenes in Sirte, where the fighters fired their weapons into the air, were televised live by broadcasters including Al Jazeera. Thousands of civilians fled the Mediterranean town, a major Qaddafi stronghold, during lulls in fighting, which erupted early last month after talks on its surrender broke down. The NTC had attributed the tenacity of Qaddafi loyalists in Sirte to the presence of his senior aides, including one of his sons, Mutassim, and to their fear of revenge attacks. To contact the reporters on this story: Caroline Alexander in London at calexander1@bloomberg.net ; Ola Galal in Benghazi at ogalal@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@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.

Syrian Deaths Mount; Yemenis Protest Killings; Libya’s Rebels Enter Brega

Syrian forces killed one and wounded five yesterday in protests seeking to oust President Bashar al- Assad, Al Jazeera reported, citing activists. In Yemen, thousands rallied in Taiz to condemn violence a day earlier against pro-democracy demonstrators, and Libyan rebels attacked pro-government forces in the oil city of Brega. Syrian protesters set fire to a police station and court building in the border town of Albu Kamal, news agency SANA reported. Government forces fired on them, killing one and wounding others, Arabiya said, citing a local sheikh. Two police officers were also shot dead, Syrian television said. “Patrols of the Syrian forces stormed the square of Albu Kamal and opened fire randomly,” Adel Othman, an activist, told Al Jazeera via telephone. “Hospitals in Albu Kamal are in need of blood donors.” More than 1.7 million people rallied July 14 in the largest Syrian protest since mid-March, Arabiya reported, citing activists. Deaths that day totaled 41, including 21 in Damascus, the National Organization for Human Rights said. “We’re encouraged by what we see the Syrian people doing for themselves,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a news conference in Istanbul. Syrians are “trying to form an opposition that can provide a pathway, hopefully, in peaceful cooperation with the government.” Accord Unlikely An accord with the government is becoming unlikely, Razan Zaitoneh, a Syrian activist, told the Kuwaiti Alrai newspaper yesterday. She said 1,970 protesters have been killed and 15,000 detained since the uprising began four months ago. “We wouldn’t accept less than toppling the regime, which recognized that it is too late to start any kind of political reforms,” she said. The opposition needs outside support, Ali Sadr-al-Din al- Bayanuni, a leader of Syria ’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, said on Al Jazeera television. “What is required of the international community and Arab countries is to withdraw support from this regime, which has lost its legitimacy, and to boycott it on both the international and diplomatic levels,” he said. In Yemen, protests yesterday seeking to end the 33-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh were centered in the southern city of Taiz, Ammar al-Kinani, an activist, said in a telephone interview. A security official was ambushed and killed and four of his guards wounded, SABA reported, citing a military spokesman. Seven civilians were killed July 14 and 30 were wounded in shelling of Taiz by Yemeni forces, witnesses said. Workers Blocked In Aden, four people demanding jobs were injured when police fired to disperse a crowd blocking workers from entering the Aden Refinery Co. , Fawaz Sharabi, a witness, said. Hundreds in Yemen have died since January in clashes between government forces and activists. The discord is part of revolts sweeping the Arab world this year that toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt. The Organizing Committee of Popular Youth Revolution said yesterday it had established a transitional presidential council for Yemen with 17 members. Major General Abdullah Ali Olaiwah, a former defense minister, was named commander of the armed forces, the group said at a news conference in the capital, Sana’a. Brega Fighting In Libya , rebel forces entered Brega and confronted forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi , Arabiya said. A Libyan medical official, Mohammed Idris, said 10 rebel fighters had been killed and 172 wounded, Al Jazeera reported. NATO headquarters in Naples, Italy , said it conducted 115 air strikes in Libya July 14 in which a tank, five armored vehicles and a rocket launcher were destroyed near Brega. Libyan television reported NATO aircraft raiding Tajoura, an eastern suburb of the capital, Tripoli, early today, the Associated Press said. The television report said civilian and military targets were hit, according to AP. Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf accepted the resignation of Foreign Minister Mohammed El-Orabi, the Cabinet announced yesterday. Sharaf named two new deputies and will reshuffle cabinet posts today, said Mohammed Hegaz, a government spokesman. To contact the reporters on this story: Zaid Sabah in Washington at zalhamid@bloomberg.net Nicole Gaouette in Istanbul at ngaouette@bloomberg.net Mohammed Hatem in Sana’a, Yemen, at mhatem1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net ; Mark Silva at msilva34@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. SEC Sues Insurance Executive Over Insider Trading Claims

Michael Van Gilder, the chief executive officer of Van Gilder Insurance Co., was sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which claims he traded on confidential information related to Tracinda’s planned purchase of a 35 percent stake in Delta Petroleum Corp. Van Gilder was informed of Tracinda’s plan to buy a $684 million stake by a Delta insider and relayed the information to others, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said today in an e-mailed statement. Van Gilder and others he tipped made more than $161,000 in illegal profits from the trades, the commission said. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jeran Wittenstein at jwittenstei1@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.

Tianjin Says `Wait a Minute!' to Wen as China Property Slumps

Three dozen cranes tower over the Tianjin West Railway Station, part of a 501-billion yuan ($74- billion) government-funded building boom in this city of 9.8 million southeast of Beijing. Like hundreds of other local Chinese projects, Tianjin’s construction is financed in part by land sales that are dropping as China’s real-estate slump takes hold. Property sales slid at an annual 8 percent rate in June. Selling land produced 41 percent of Tianjin’s income last year, according to China Index Academy, a Beijing real-estate research firm. A cascading collapse in local finances could force the central government to shore up banks that lent to local government entities, said Jim Walker , chief economist at Hong Kong-based Asianomics Ltd., in a June 7 interview. Banks could “easily” be saddled with bad loans of more than $400 billion over the next two years, he said. “These local-government vehicles probably hope their projects will be able to service their debts,” Walker said. “If they don’t I doubt they’ll worry about repaying the loans; they will just assume that somewhere else in government will have to take on the bad debt.” After their success in propelling growth, local authorities are now faced with the consequences of Premier Wen Jiabao ’s crackdown on the real-estate bubble. Falling property sales risk an erosion of revenue accounting for as much as 30 percent of local budgets, according to Standard Chartered Bank. Must Do Something The China Se Shang Property Index has tumbled 42 percent in the past year, underperforming the 23 percent drop in the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index. “Local governments were encouraged to invest in these projects and now they’re feeling like, ‘Hey, wait a minute!’” said Barry Naughton , author of the 2007 book “The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth” and a China specialist at the University of California San Diego. “They will be taking their funding platforms to Beijing and saying: ‘We’re going to go bankrupt. You have to do something about it.’” China has more than 1,000 county-level governments and hundreds of city and municipal councils that get revenue from local taxes, land sales and central-government transfers. Authorities sold or allocated 319,000 hectares (788,266 acres) of property last year, up 44 percent from 2008, netting a record 1.6 trillion yuan, Ministry of Land and Resources data show. Economic Engine Wen’s government aims to make Tianjin’s Binhai New Area an economic engine akin to Hong Kong neighbor Shenzhen and Shanghai’s Pudong. Tianjin reported 180.5 billion yuan in revenue last year. While the data don’t detail land sales, China Index Academy estimates the receipts at 73.2 billion yuan, a 67 percent surge over 2008. A Tianjin Bureau of Land Resources and Housing Administration spokesman who identified himself as Mr. Duan said by telephone in response to questions about the city’s land sales: “Healthy, stable and in good order,” declining to comment further. Duan’s assessment contrasts with National Bureau of Statistics figures last week that showed real-estate sales across the country fell for a second straight month in June compared with a year earlier. The reversal comes amid a slowdown across the world’s third-largest economy. China’s expansion cooled to an annual pace of 10.3 percent in the second quarter, according to data released last week, from 11.9 percent in January to March. More Slowing? The growth rate for industrial production in June dropped the most since 2008, excluding distortions from the Lunar New Year holiday, signaling a further deceleration in the economy in the second half of the year. Policy makers are seeking to cushion the decline in property by promoting low-cost housing, a strategy that itself is complicated by newly falling prices. “What we’re likely to see is that local governments will hold onto the land and wait until prices are reasonable before supplying it,” said Ren Zhiqiang , chairman of Beijing-based developer Huayuan Property Co. Ltd., at a forum in Beijing on July 12. Sales of land for residential use in 103 cities in China dropped 28 percent in June from May, China Index Academy said in a statement on July 13. Shenzhen-based developer Gemdale Corp. saw first-half contracted sales fall 37 percent to 5.4 billion yuan and 43 percent by area to 482,900 square meters, according to a July 10 statement. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut its profit estimates for China’s property developers by an average 9 percent in 2010 and 11 percent in 2011 due to a “substantial slowdown” in transactions, analysts led by Raymond Ngai wrote last month. State-Owned Banks Beijing-based hedge fund manager Jenny Tian is avoiding state-owned banks, including China Construction Bank Corp ., Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and Bank of China Ltd. , because of concern over the credit they’ve extended to local authorities. The Springs China Opportunities Fund she helps manage has bought bank stocks that include China Merchants Bank Co. and China Minsheng Banking Corp. , which have smaller amounts of such lending, she said. Lending by China Merchants to local governments makes up about 5 to 6 percent of its total outstanding loans, while China Minsheng’s total is 6 percent to 7 percent, Tian said. Big state banks’ lending is between 15 to 20 percent, she calculates. Barclays Capital forecasts China’s property prices may fall as much as 30 percent in the next 12 months. Kenneth Rogoff , the Harvard University professor and former International Monetary Fund chief economist, said in a Bloomberg Television interview July 6 that a “collapse” in real estate is beginning. More Than India The threat facing China’s local governments is another shock wave stemming from the global financial crisis and policy makers’ response to it. As credit froze in the wake of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s collapse in late 2008, China encouraged a lending spree to cushion the economy. A record 9.6 trillion yuan of loans was issued in China in 2009, more than India’s gross domestic product. Some local governments set up vehicles to circumvent rules that prevent them borrowing directly. Total local government outstanding debt last year rose to a record 11.4 trillion yuan, according to calculations by Victor Shih , a political economist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, who has spent months researching local government finances. The borrowing has effectively pushed China’s overall debt to 71 percent of GDP, Shih said. By comparison, the IMF sees Spain’s ratio this year at 66.9 percent, the U.S. at 93 percent, and Greece at 133 percent. Its estimate for China excluding local-government liabilities is 20 percent. Overstated Crisis? Talk of a local debt crisis in China is “overstated,” said Ha Jiming , Hong Kong-based chief economist at China International Capital Corp. He tallies the nation’s total debt- to-GDP ratio as 43 percent, “still one of the world’s soundest.” Home prices are set to fall as much as 20 percent in a “healthy” correction, Michael Klibaner , head of China research at property broker Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. in Shanghai, said July 7. The property boom has been driven by cash rather than debt, meaning there’s little chance of the forced selling that exacerbated the U.S. housing-market collapse, he said. Shih said that some local governments are so stretched that “if they don’t sell land within a few months they may have to choose between paying salaries and pension benefits and paying interest payments to the bank.” He identified Tianjin, Chongqing and Wuhan as cities “with higher levels of leverage.” Special Vehicles In Tianjin, credit to special financing vehicles last year reached more than 700 billion yuan, according to Shih. Tianjin’s units have also lined up an additional 840 billion yuan in credit lines with banks, he said. Construction of the 180,000-square-meter Tianjin West Railway Station and transport hub, which will include a 1.3 billion yuan underground link to nearby Tianjin Railway Station, helped propel the city’s economy to a 16.5 percent growth pace last year. The challenge for local leaders will be to sustain that without the bump from land-sales financing. “To imagine a situation where eventually Tianjin is able to repay all of its debt, you have to believe that it will grow at a phenomenal rate,” said Shih. “There are aspirations and there’s reality.” -- Kevin Hamlin. With assistance from Li Yanping , Vincent Ni and Dingmin Zhang in Beijing and Malcolm Scott in Sydney. Editors: Chris Anstey , Anne Swardson To contact the Bloomberg News staff on this story: Kevin Hamlin in Beijing on khamlin@bloomberg.net People ride past a construction site in Tianjin. Photographer: Doug Kanter/Bloomberg Enlarge image Tianjin West train station Doug Kanter/Bloomberg Construction work continues at the Tianjin West train station in Tianjin. Construction work continues at the Tianjin West train station in Tianjin. Photographer: Doug Kanter/Bloomberg Men walk on pipes past a residential site in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin. Photographer: Doug Kanter/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.

Geithner Says Leverage, Real Estate Make U.S. Recovery Harder

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said excessive borrowing by banks and investment in real estate leading up to the recession make the U.S. economic recovery slow and difficult. “You had this huge growth in leverage in the financial system, huge overinvestment in real estate in parts of the country, and those things made the crisis much more acute. But more relevant for us now, they make the recovery harder,” Geithner said at a U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce conference in Dallas today. “They make it slower, longer, more uneven, and that’s the challenge we’re dealing with today.” Parts of the economy, including exports and private investment, are “really quite strong” even if “it is a very tough economy still,” Geithner said. Orders for U.S. capital equipment rebounded in August, signaling a slowdown in business investment may be less severe than some economists projected. Bookings for goods such as computers and communications gear climbed 4.1 percent after a 5.3 percent decline in July that was smaller than previously estimated, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. Total orders dropped 1.3 percent, depressed by volatile demand for aircraft, and bookings excluding transportation equipment rose more than forecast. To contact the reporters on this story: Ian Katz in Washington at ikatz2@bloomberg.net ; Margot Habiby in Dallas at mhabiby@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz at cwellisz@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.

Iraq to Probe Kuwait Port Building, Warns May Take Case to UN

Iraq will send a committee to Kuwait today to probe the construction of a port there after threatening to take the case to the United Nations if the harbor violates its maritime rights, Al-Iraqiya television said. The committee will conduct a field study for the Iraqi Cabinet on the potential effects of the Mubarak al-Kabir Port which Kuwait is building on Boubyan Island in the Persian Gulf, it said, citing the head of the panel, Thamir Ghadhban. Iraq may resort to the UN and prosecute Kuwait if the new port threatens to harm Iraqi maritime activities, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in an interview with Al Sumeria television Aug. 12. Iraq has officially requested that its neighbor halts construction until the end of the investigation, he said. Kuwait has still not issued an official response, al-Maliki said. The Mubarak al-Kabir port has exacerbated tensions which persist since Iraq under former President Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. Iraq still pays 5 percent of its oil revenue to Kuwait as compensation, and Kuwait continues to demand payments on debt and more reparations. Iraq sent a delegation to Kuwait in May to try to dissuade it from building the port, saying the project may threaten the operations of its own planned harbor in the southern region of Basra. Iraq has said the additional traffic may hamper access to its ports for the largest vessels. Kuwait said it welcomes any further Iraqi visits and can show the port won’t violate Iraq’s rights or obstruct its maritime activity. Iraq has yet to implement plans announced a few years ago to build the Basra port, which is intended to spur economic activity and become a gateway for Gulf products going to Turkey and Europe. Iraq is eager to boost energy exports to pay for reconstruction after decades of conflict and sanctions that left much of the country’s infrastructure destroyed. To contact the reporter on this story: Nayla Razzouk in Amman, Jordan, at nrazzouk2@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Riad Hamade at rhamade@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.

Hellenic Telecom Offers to Pay Record Coupon on 5-Year Bond

Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA (HTO) is offering its highest interest rate to lure buyers to the lowest-rated offering from a European peripheral company in at least seven years. Greece’s largest phone company, known as OTE, will issue 700 million euros ($948 million) of five-year bonds paying a 7.875 percent coupon, according to a person with knowledge of the deal. The rate compares with the 7.25 percent that the Athens-based company pays holders of bonds it sold in 2011 that come due next year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. OTE, which is 40 percent owned by Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE) , is selling bonds to redeem more than 1 billion euros of notes due this year and next, the person familiar with the deal said. The new issue is the first benchmark-sized offering from a Greek company since OTE’s sale in 2011, and follows Titan Cement Co. SA’s 200 million-euro issue of 8.75 percent 2017 bonds last month, data compiled by Bloomberg show. “The coupon seems to be pricing in about a 60 percent probability of a Greek default, which seems too high,” said Stuart Stanley, a fund manager at Invesco Asset Management Ltd. in London, who oversees $3 billion of high-yield bonds. “Its rating doesn’t help bond investors who like the company but fear the sovereign risk.” The bonds are being sold at a discount to yield 8 percent, the person said. Bonds of companies in the euro area’s peripheral countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy yield 2.9 percent on average, Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Euro Periphery Non-Financial index shows. That’s down from as much as 5.48 percent in June. OTE, which is 10 percent owned by the Greek government, is rated Caa1 at Moody’s Investors Service, seven steps below investment grade. Speculative-grade, or junk, debt is rated below Baa3 by Moody’s Investors Service and BBB-by Fitch and Standard & Poor’s. For Related News and Information: To contact the reporter on this story: Hannah Benjamin in London at hbenjamin1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Armstrong at parmstrong10@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.

Ex-Citic Pacific Executive Chui Jailed for 15 Months

Citic Pacific Ltd. (267) ’s former deputy head of finance Chui Wing Nin was jailed for 15 months and fined HK$1 million ($129,030) by a Hong Kong court for insider trading. Magistrate Li Kwok-wai sentenced Chui yesterday to 18 months in prison, less one month in recognition of his personal character and two months for the delay of the trial. He also ordered Chui to pay about HK$229,000 in costs. Chui, who left Citic Pacific for Agile Property Holdings Ltd. (3383) in 2010, was convicted on Oct. 26 of two counts of selling shares in the Chinese steelmaker in 2008 before the company issued a public statement disclosing potential losses of as much as HK$15.5 billion from wrong-way currency bets. He left Agile on the day of his conviction, according to a statement from the company’s representatives. Citic Pacific, controlled by China ’s biggest state-owned investment company, fell 55 percent on Oct. 22, 2008 after its announcement. Chui sold a total of 81,000 shares on Sept. 9 and Sept. 12 and avoided losses of as much as HK$1.36 million, according to Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission. Chui’s lawyer Joseph Tse said his client had not decided if he will appeal the sentence. Chui worked at Citic Pacific until June 30, 2010, according to the SFC. He joined Agile in July 2010 to handle accounting, corporate finance, and investor relations. Agile CFO Agile has no immediate plans to appoint a new chief financial officer to replace Chui, according to the e-mailed statement from iPR Ogilvy, which handles public relations for the Hong Kong-listed developer. Financial controller Janus Lui is filling in the role, according to the statement. Citic Pacific’s bets on the Australian dollar prompted a bailout from its parent Citic Group, which is backed by China’s cabinet, and the resignation of its then chairman Larry Yung. Hong Kong’s Department of Justice said last year, during a court hearing over disputed documents, that there was “clear evidence” Citic Pacific defrauded four banks before Oct. 20, 2008, when it sought financing without disclosing the losses. Citic Pacific directors acted properly, a lawyer for the company has said. The company declined to comment yesterday, according to Elizabeth Xu, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman at Brunswick Group, which handles media relations for Citic Pacific. Citic Pacific entered into the currency contracts to hedge its exposure to the Australian dollar as it was developing an iron ore mine in Australia ’s Pilbara region. The case is Securities and Futures Commission and Chui Wing Nin, ESS27729/2011 in Hong Kong’s Eastern Magistrates’ Court. To contact the reporter on this story: Aibing Guo in Hong Kong at aguo10@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Douglas Wong at dwong19@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.

Lakers Boost NBA Playoff Chances as Mavericks Are Eliminated

Kobe Bryant scored a season-high 47 points as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Portland Trail Blazers 113-106 to boost their chances of reaching the National Basketball Association playoffs. The Dallas Mavericks (38-40) will miss the postseason for the first time since 2000 after a 102-91 home loss to the Phoenix Suns (24-55) eliminated them from playoff contention. The Lakers (42-37) are eighth in the Western Conference, one game ahead of the Utah Jazz (41-38) with three regular- season games remaining for each team. Los Angeles hosts the Golden State Warriors (45-33) and Utah is at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves (29-49), both on April 12. Pau Gasol scored 23 points and Dwight Howard had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers last night at the Rose Garden in Portland. Damian Lillard had 38 points for the Trail Blazers and LaMarcus Aldridge added 17 points and 16 rebounds. 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.

SYSTEMS & TECHNO April Sales Fall 13.17% (Table) : 3674 TT

SYSTEMS & TECHNO said unconsolidated sales in April fell 13.17% to NT$19,451,000 from NT$22,402,000, according to a statement filed to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. (Figures are in thousands of New Taiwan dollars) ================================================================= 4/2012 4/2011 Sales 19,451 22,402 YOY% -13.17% -----------------Year-to-date----------------- Sales 91,401 92,541 YOY% -1.23% =================================================================

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

Romanian Interior Minister Quits as Strikes Test Cabinet's Deficit Pledge

Romania’s Interior Minister resigned as protests over pay cuts for public employees test Prime Minister Emil Boc ’s will to continue austerity measures in the face of efforts to topple his Cabinet. As many as 10,000 state employees are expected to take to the streets tomorrow and all public worker unions are in talks over calling a general strike. The government reduced wages for civil servants by 25 percent to narrow the budget deficit and comply with terms of an International Monetary Fund-led bailout. The opposition Social Democrats and Liberals say they will try to oust the government in the second half of October as the IMF forecasts the economy will shrink 1.9 percent this year, extending Romania’s worst recession since the end of communism. Boc’s coalition, with 258 seats in the 471-member parliament, survived a June no-confidence vote by eight votes. “The current government is really close to losing its majority, and this is the beginning of the end,” said Adrian Moraru, an analyst at the Institute for Public Policies in Bucharest, in a phone interview. “It’s a difficult situation because it seems a new political crisis is emerging on top of the current economic crisis.” Minister Resigns Vasile Blaga quit today as Interior Minister after police officers who report to his ministry staged an illegal demonstration on Sept. 24 and will be replaced by Traian Igas, 42, a senator and head of the ruling Liberal Democrats’ group in the Senate. President Traian Basescu later signed off on the nomination. Romania, which joined the European Union in 2007, is relying on 20 billion euros ($27 billion) of loans from the IMF, European Union and others to fuel an economic recovery. To qualify for the loans, Boc’s government has cut state wages, increased the value-added tax by 5 points to 24 percent and boosted the retirement age for men and women to 65. The Cabinet has also announced plans to eliminate 74,000 jobs. The police strike was condemned by Boc and Basescu, who both gave up their police security escorts for what they called an “unauthorized” protest. ‘Honor’ Resignation “This is a resignation of honor,” Blaga said today at a news conference in Bucharest. “Police have the right to protest just like any other citizen, but they have to do it legally. They and all the other workers from the Interior Ministry have to understand that they are as important as doctors and teachers, so they can’t make an exception.” Anger over the government’s program has boosted support for the opposition. The Social Democrats were supported by 37.1 percent of voters, compared with 14.6 percent for Boc’s Liberal Democrats in a survey of 1,093 people conducted Sept. 9-13 by GSS 2000. The poll, commissioned by the opposition Liberals, had a margin of error of 3 percent. “If the unions manage to get many people out into the streets this may create pressure on government lawmakers,” said Cristian Parvulescu, a political analyst at Asociatia Pro Democratia, a Bucharest-based group that promotes democracy. Boc’s Liberal Democrat party includes “former union leaders who may feel extra pressure to vote against the government.” Raffaella Tenconi , an economist at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch in London, said she expects Boc’s government will survive the confidence vote, though further fiscal consolidation will be “very challenging” given the depth of the recession. “We are not surprised to see growing popular discontent given the recently announced austerity measures,” she said. “We expect this trend to continue in coming months, accentuating the low popular support for the ruling party PDL.” European Discontent Workers across eastern Europe are taking to the streets to protest budget cuts after the global financial crisis slashed tax revenue and investment flows. The EU is demanding that all of its members bring their budget deficits in line with the bloc’s limit of 3 percent of GDP after Greece’s ballooning debt undermined confidence in the euro. Tens of thousands Czech firemen, policemen and other state workers rallied Sept. 21 in Prague to protest planned wage cuts, while Slovak unions plan demonstrations against proposed tax increases. Slovenian civil servants went on strike today to protest plans to cut or freeze their salaries. Some 80,000 workers, or half the public workforce joined the strike, according to the Ljubljana-based newspaper Delo. “It’s an experience from all over Europe that austerity measures, which very often include budget cuts, are leading to similar demonstrations,” Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas said at the rally against his government’s plans. The moves “are quite naturally unpopular.” ‘Delicate Situation’ The decline of Romania’s economy, which contracted a 7.1 percent last year, slowed in the second quarter as demand for goods such as cars, chemicals, steel and textiles increased in western Europe. GDP shrank 0.5 percent from a year earlier, after a 2.6 percent decline in the previous three months, according to the National Statistics Institute in Bucharest. Parliament approved Boc’s government in December, ending a stalemate that had left Romania without leadership for more than two months and delayed payments from international lenders. Boc replaced six members of his Cabinet, including the finance and economy ministers, on Sept. 2 in an effort to shore up support for his program in the face of increasing protests. Romania’s political squabbles have helped weaken the country’s currency. The leu has dropped 1 percent against the euro during the past 12 months, the second-worst performance among 25 emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The Romanian leu weakened 0.1 percent to 4.2465 per euro as of 4:23 p.m. in Bucharest, while the Bucharest Stock Exchange’s benchmark BET index rose 1.3 percent to 5,279.64. “Boc’s Cabinet is already facing an extremely delicate situation, and it will lead a hard life if it survives the planned confidence motion,” said Alexandru Cumpanasu, political analyst and deputy head of the Association for Implementing Democracy, in a phone interview. “If we see more protests on a bigger scale in October, then the pressure on lawmakers to vote for the motion will be huge.” To contact the reporters on this story: Irina Savu in Bucharest at isavu@bloomberg.net ; Andra Timu in Bucharest at atimu@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: James M. Gomez in Prague at jagomez@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.

Morgan Stanley’s Kelleher Faces Profit Task Solo as Taubman Goes

Colm Kelleher, who will take over as sole head of Morgan Stanley’s (MS) investment bank as his counterpart and past rival Paul J. Taubman exits, now faces the challenge of improving returns at the firm’s biggest business. Taubman will retire at the end of the year, the New York- based bank said yesterday in a statement. The move concludes an almost three-year dual-leadership role marked by enmity between Kelleher, 55, a gregarious former fixed-income salesman, and Taubman, 51, a reserved investment banker. Chief Executive Officer James Gorman is relying on Kelleher to help improve earnings as the stock has traded below book value for most of Gorman’s tenure. Morgan Stanley’s investment bank has posted a return on equity, a measure of profitability, of less than 4 percent in the first nine months of the year, trailing competitor JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) ’s 17 percent. In 2006, ROE at Morgan Stanley’s investment bank was 30 percent. “We must continue our intense focus on improving ROE,” Gorman, 54, said in an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg News. “Aligning sales trading more closely with investment banking and capital markets will allow us to explore and extract new revenue opportunities within institutional securities and better manage our costs.” Kelleher and Taubman disagreed over how aggressively to push clients for additional business on the back of capital- markets deals, three former colleagues told Bloomberg News in 2011. Gorman, who met with the executives last year to settle tensions, recently decided that the division would win more of those deals with Kelleher running the entire unit, a person briefed on the decision said. Pushing Products While Kelleher won out over Taubman, he may face more obstacles in seeking to persuade bankers to push more products. “I understand the motivation of a head of trading to encourage investment bankers to attempt to use their contacts with corporate treasurers to originate trades and hedging,” Brad Hintz, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. and a former Morgan Stanley treasurer, said in an e-mail. “But if faced with the tradeoff between asking for an M&A engagement and a swap, the M&A pitch will win every time.” Investment banks sometimes pitch clients to win derivatives business related to a stock or bond sale, such as an interest- rate or currency swap. While the secondary deal can boost trading revenue, it can also make the bank a counterparty to a client it had just advised. Alienating Clients With Kelleher looking to secure more deals to increase trading revenue and Taubman seeking to avoid alienating clients, Morgan Stanley, the sixth-largest U.S. bank by assets, has lagged behind rivals, the former colleagues said last year. The interaction between trading and banking may become more of a focus as Morgan Stanley and competitors seek to produce more revenue with fewer people and using less capital. The firm has said it intends to pare 4,000 positions this year through job cuts and unit sales. In September, Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat laid out a plan to reduce the fixed-income trading unit’s risk-weighted assets under Basel III rules by at least 35 percent from the third quarter of 2011 through the end of 2014. One area of collaboration will be corporate lending, which is likely to expand once Morgan Stanley purchases Citigroup Inc.’s remaining stake in a brokerage joint venture and gains control of more than $50 billion in deposits. Goldman’s Success Investors may struggle to gauge progress as firms don’t disclose the amount of trading revenue derived from investment- banking relationships. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) sought to demonstrate its success on that front in its 2009 annual report , telling shareholders that revenue in “risk- management solutions” offered to investment-banking clients climbed 32 percent annually from 2005 through 2009. “Our advisory business serves as our primary point of contact with our clients and is often the genesis for sourcing other opportunities to serve them,” Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein, 58, wrote in the report. Gorman told both men about the decision more than a week ago and the announcement was delayed because of Hurricane Sandy , according to the person who was briefed. After being informed of Gorman’s decision to have Kelleher take over as sole head, Taubman decided to retire from the firm, according to the person, who declined to be identified because the discussions were private. The pair have been seen by colleagues as potential successors to the CEO. Taubman didn’t return a phone call seeking comment. ‘Collective Talent’ “It’s unfortunate that Morgan Stanley couldn’t derive the benefits of the collective talent of Colm and Paul,” said Jay Dweck, 57, who led Morgan Stanley’s strats and modeling group until 2011. “Paul brought an enlightened client-focused view to the institutional-sales division, which will be sorely missed.” Mark Eichorn and Franck Petitgas were named global co-heads of investment banking , the area that Taubman oversaw, the firm said in yesterday’s statement. The pair will report to Kelleher, who has overseen trading. While Kelleher ran the larger trading businesses, the investment-banking unit that Taubman led performed better. Morgan Stanley ranked fourth in investment-banking revenue among its largest global rivals in the first nine months of this year, the same place it held in 2011 and 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The firm is seventh in trading revenue this year, compared with sixth in 2011 and eighth in 2010. Facebook IPO Morgan Stanley ranks second among advisers on global mergers and acquisitions so far this year and first among managers of global equity issues, the data show. Both of those businesses were under Taubman’s leadership. The firm, which has 57,726 employees, has also faced investor complaints over its handling of Facebook Inc. (FB) ’s initial public offering in May, after shares of the social-network operator slid. Kelleher, who was the firm’s CFO during the financial crisis, has worked in the investment-banking and trading divisions during more than 20 years at Morgan Stanley. Taubman has only been an investment banker since joining the company in 1982. Kelleher had made progress in reaching Gorman’s goal of an 8 percent market share for Morgan Stanley’s fixed-income unit. The firm had a 7 percent share last year, up from as low as 5 percent in previous years, Kelleher said in March. That progress slowed this year as the bank’s share fell to about 6.5 percent. The decline was driven by a drop in revenue in the second quarter as clients stepped back from trading with Morgan Stanley amid a credit-rating review by Moody’s Investors Service. Moody’s cut the firm’s grade two levels in June. The next month, Gorman announced that he was shrinking the fixed- income unit. ‘Warmed Up’ Kelleher’s promotion also sets up a management structure similar to when Gorman ran wealth and asset management and Walid Chammah headed institutional securities under then-CEO John Mack. Gorman beat out his fellow co-president for the top job in 2009, while Chammah became chairman of the international business before retiring this year. Greg Fleming , 49, who runs the brokerage and asset- management units, and Kelleher now both oversee businesses that have contributed half of the bank’s revenue this year. Gorman, who is also chairman, said in March that he’s “just getting warmed up” and plans to be in the job for “a bunch of years.” He has no plans to name a president in the near term, according to a person briefed on his thinking, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. Fleming and Kelleher each face challenges in improving returns. Fleming has promised a 15 percent pretax margin in the brokerage business by the middle of 2013, up from 10 percent this year. Public Jokes Eichorn and Petitgas, 51, will have responsibilities for global client coverage, mergers and acquisitions and capital markets. Eichorn will join the bank’s management committee along with Jeff Holzschuh, 52, who was named chairman of institutional securities and will focus on client relationships. Petitgas is already a member of the committee. Taubman and Kelleher’s relationship had shown signs of improving after Gorman met with the pair together and separately after last year’s Bloomberg News article, according to two people who work with them. Enmity between Kelleher and Taubman had become a source of public jokes. “So how’s that co-head thing going?” mergers chief Robert Kindler asked at a 2010 meeting of more than 100 managing directors at the Ritz-Carlton Battery Park hotel in New York , drawing laughter as he gestured at Kelleher and Taubman. Neither responded. To contact the reporter on this story: Michael J. Moore in New York at mmoore55@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Scheer at dscheer@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.

Indonesia December Crude Price Falls 2% on Higher Supply

Indonesia ’s average oil export price fell 2 percent in December from the previous month after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to increase quotas and Libyan output rose. The Indonesian Crude Price fell to $110.70 a barrel in December from $112.94 a barrel in November, the directorate general of oil and gas at the energy ministry said in a statement today in Jakarta. “A stronger U.S. dollar against the euro has made crude expensive, reducing demand from Europe ,” the ministry said in the statement posted on its website. Indonesia (OLRSINDO) ’s Minas grade fell 3 percent to $112.52 a barrel in December from $116.04 a barrel in November, the ministry said. The nation’s oil export price averaged $111.55 a barrel in 2011, compared to $109.94 in 2010, it said. To contact the reporter on this story: Fitri Wulandari in Jakarta at fwulandari@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Greg Ahlstrand at gahlstrand@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.

Geography Mixup Costs Spanish Fans Soccer Cup Final, Index Says

Some 400 supporters of Spanish soccer club Athletic Bilbao missed the Europa League cup final after mistakenly flying to the Hungarian capital, Budapest, instead of the Romanian capital, Bucharest, news website Index.hu reported, without saying where it got the information. In their absence, their team suffered a 3-0 defeat against Atletico Madrid during the final game of the continent’s second- tier competition on May 9, the website reported today. The announcer at Bucharest’s National Arena greeted the crowd by saying “Welcome to Budapest,” drawing jeers, Index reported. To contact the reporter on this story: Edith Balazs in Budapest at ebalazs1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James M. Gomez at jagomez@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.

Wheat Rises as Livestock-Feed Demand May Increase on Corn Rally

Wheat futures rebounded from a one- week low on speculation that demand will increase from U.S. livestock producers for a feed substitute as corn costs gain. Corn, the main feed ingredient, climbed as much as 1.9 percent today as adverse weather threatened yields in the Midwest. Wheat and corn futures for September delivery traded near parity. On average, wheat has been $1.93 a bushel above corn in the past year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture expects wheat feed and residual use to jump 63 percent this year to 220 million bushels. “The only positive thing for wheat is corn,” Tomm Pfitzenmaier , a partner at Summit Commodity Brokerage in Des Moines , Iowa , said in a telephone interview. “If the corn market starts to head up, that will pull wheat along with it.” Wheat futures for September delivery rose 15 cents, or 2.2 percent, to settle at $6.9225 a bushel at 1:15 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade, after touching $6.6925, the lowest since July 13. The most-active contract is up 16 percent in the past year, while corn has jumped 76 percent. Wheat still fell 0.4 percent this week, snapping two straight weeks of gains. The U.S. is the world’s leading wheat exporter. The grain is the nation’s fourth-largest crop, valued at $13 billion in 2010, behind corn, soybeans and hay, government data show. To contact the reporter on this story: Whitney McFerron in Chicago at wmcferron1@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.

Manroland Plant Attracts Interest From Germany, Augsburger Says

Manroland AG (MRDCF) ’s Augsburg factory has attracted a buyer that shows “strong interest,” Augsburger Allgemeine reported, citing the printing-press maker’s insolvency administrator, Werner Schneider. Negotiations are at a “relatively advanced stage” with the unidentified suitor, even though there are still several candidates to take over the plant in Augsburg, the German newspaper said. The main candidate comes from Germany , Augsburger Allgemeine reported, citing unidentified people in the industry. To contact the reporter on this story: Sheenagh Matthews in Frankfurt at smatthews6@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at bkammel@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.

Solar Stocks Fall as Analysts Predict Oversupply, Falling Prices

Solar energy stocks fell today as analysts said that cuts to incentive programs in Europe may drive down prices and demand for panels that convert sunlight into electricity. Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (ENER) fell as much as 29 percent, the most in almost two years, in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The Auburn Hills , Michigan-based company announced yesterday that it would cut production to 25 megawatts in the current quarter following changes to incentive programs in France and Italy. The company received more than half of its sales in Europe in the fiscal year that ended in June. JA Solar Holdings Co., a Shanghai-based solar panel maker, fell 28 cents, or 4.3 percent, to $6.30 at 2:36 p.m. Xinyu, China-based LDK Solar Co. dropped 35 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $10.60, and Wuxi, China-based Suntech Power Holdings Co. declined 5 percent to $8.05. Christopher Blansett, an analyst in San Francisco with JP Morgan Securities LLC, said in a research note today that Energy Conversion’s announcement is “likely to become a recurring theme for solar stocks.” He maintained his “underweight” recommendation on the company’s shares. Blansett downgraded Evergreen Solar Inc. (ESLR) to “underweight” from “neutral.” The Marlboro, Massachusetts-based solar company is moving its manufacturing to China , and he said it won’t “be able to reach a sufficient level of profitability before depleting its current cash position,” in part because the photovoltaic solar market will be “significantly oversupplied” in 2011. Evergreen fell as much as 11 percent today to $1.65, its largest intraday decline since Jan. 3. More Preannouncements Satya Kumar, an analyst with Credit Suisse Holdings USA Inc., said in a research note today that the reasons behind Energy Conversion’s cutbacks “make us believe the incident is not isolated, and there could well be more negative preannouncements to come from other companies.” Kumar said solar supplies are “growing sharply” and “2011 will see significant panel price declines.” Gabelli & Co. fund manager John Segrich said he shorted JA Solar and Power-One Inc. (PWER) , anticipating that the changing incentives in Europe will lead to a glut of solar panels. Camarillo, California-based Power One makes inverters for solar systems. It fell 7.8 percent to $7.20. Sanjay Shrestha, an analyst with Lazard Capital Markets, downgraded both JA Solar and LDK Solar to “hold” from “buy” today, and said that solar panel prices will fall this year. JA Solar announced yesterday plans to build a factory that will have annual production capacity of 3 gigawatts. To contact the reporter on this story: Ehren Goossens in New York at egoossens1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@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.

Canon Shares Rise After Profit Quadruples, JPMorgan Raises Recommendation

Canon Inc. rose the most in five months in Tokyo trading after reporting profit that beat analyst estimates. The shares rose 4 percent to 3,655 yen as of 9:06 a.m. on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the stock’s biggest gain since Feb. 17. Net income more than quadrupled to 67.6 billion yen ($779 million) in the three months ended June 30 from a year earlier, the Tokyo-based company said yesterday after the market closes. That exceeded the 58 billion yen median of three analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg News. “Canon’s result was a positive surprise,” Hisashi Moriyama, a Tokyo-based analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co., wrote in a report today. “Strong earnings had already been expected but Canon showed an even bigger gain.” He raised the stock’s rating to “overweight” from “neutral”. -- Editor: Jonathan Annells To contact the reporter on this story: Mariko Yasu in Tokyo at myasu@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.

Obamacare Will Survive Its Botched Rollout

The HealthCare.gov debacle, and the cover-up and blame game that followed it, have reinvigorated Obamacare's critics, who argue anew that the law represents expensive government overreach. So it's worth stepping back from the website mess to remember the deeper problems that made this law necessary in the first place -- and, by extension, why the issues with HealthCare.gov, which seem so important today, pale in comparison. The first problem with the status quo can't be repeated often enough: The U.S. spent 17.7 percent of its gross domestic product on health care in 2011, 50 percent more than the next highest among countries in the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development. The average for developed countries is less than 10 percent. Yet unlike every other developed country, a big chunk of Americans didn't have insurance -- almost one in six Americans last year. And that money is spent badly. U.S. government health-care spending alone reached $4,066 per person last year -- more than any other OECD country save for Norway. But it mostly went to Medicare and Medicaid. In other words, it costs the federal and state governments more money to cover the elderly and the poor than foreign governments spend to cover their entire populations. It's hard to think of a better signal that the system before Obamacare didn't work. Of course, for those with access to care, the U.S. is a good place to be sick. Americans received 103 MRI exams per 1,000 people in 2011, more than any other rich country, including Belgium (77), Spain (66) and Canada (50). The discrepancy was even higher for CT scans. And deaths from cancer are lower in any given year than for many rich countries -- 194 for every 100,000 people in 2010, which was better than the U.K., Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark. Yet Americans on average get less care and die younger, despite spending more as a country. As Eduardo Porter noted in the New York Times last week, the U.S. has an alarmingly high infant mortality rate -- higher than any OECD nation, with the exception of Mexico and Turkey. And not just a little bit higher. In 2011, 6.1 infants died for every 1,000 live births. The corresponding figures were 2.3 in Japan; in Sweden, 2.1; and in Iceland, 0.9. The U.S. is also lagging at the opposite end of life. An American born in 2011 can expect to live 78.7 years -- less than somebody born in almost any European country, and 26th out of 36 in the OECD. Put another way, American men lose almost twice as many potential years of life as the Swiss, Dutch, Swedes or Italians, and U.S. women aren't far behind. The part in between isn't great either. Fully 70 percent of American men and 56 percent of American women reported being overweight or obese in 2011. That's 15 to 20 percentage points higher than their counterparts in Canada or Europe. You could look at that as the product of lifestyle, or you could look at it as the sign of a country that's failing to protect its citizens' health. What's made U.S. outcomes so bad? Partly it's that Americans have built a system that makes them less likely on average to see doctors than their rich-world counterparts. In 2009, the latest year for which the OECD has published data, there were 4.1 doctor consultations for each American; only Sweden was lower, while the numbers in Germany, Spain and Canada were about twice as high. Fewer doctor's visits mean fewer chances to diagnose problems, manage treatments, or even take simple preventive measures -- such as talking about the importance of diet and exercise. Another consequence of less access is lower immunization levels. Ninety-five percent of U.S. children were immunized against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis last year. If that sounds high, the rate was 99 percent in Belgium, France and Greece, as well as the Czech Republic, Poland and even Mexico. The U.S. does even worse on immunizations for measles -- 92 percent in 2012, compared with 99 percent in Hungary, Slovakia and Korea. You could also measure the inadequacy of American health care through the amount of health-care resources that are available to the population as a whole. The U.S. has fewer hospital beds per person than most developed nations; a fraction as many psychiatric care beds; and trails every European nation in medical graduates, at 6.6 per 100,000 people. (Germany and the UK have almost twice as many.) Obamacare won't fix all of this. The U.S. will probably keep spending more than its peer countries on health care. But expanding government-subsidized insurance and standardizing what it means to be covered, along with removing co-pays for preventive care, should start to close the gap in health outcomes between the U.S. and other countries. And while the mayhem around HealthCare.gov might slow that process, it's unlikely to prove fatal to the law. That doesn't mean we should stop talking about the website's problems. It just means we should keep reminding ourselves why it's so important they get fixed. (Christopher Flavelle is a member of Bloomberg View's editorial board. Follow him on Twitter.)

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

Greenhill Falls After Profit Misses Estimates: New York Mover

Greenhill & Co. (GHL) , the investment bank founded by Robert Greenhill, fell the most since July after reporting third-quarter profit that missed analysts’ estimates as advisory revenue fell. Greenhill slid 7.8 percent to $47.07 at 9:50 a.m. in New York. The shares had gained 40 percent this year through yesterday. Net income increased to $8.59 million, or 28 cents a share, from $8.56 million, or 28 cents, a year earlier, the New York- based firm said yesterday in a statement after the close of U.S. markets. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was for profit of 36 cents a share. Advisory revenue fell 13 percent to $72.7 million. To contact the reporter on this story: Laura Marcinek in New York at lmarcinek3@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Scheer at dscheer@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.

Blasts Hit Syrian Government Targets as UN Agreement Falters

Attacks on the Syrian central bank in Damascus and three blasts in the northern city of Idlib killed at least eight people and injured many more, state television reported. Syrian state television broadcast images of residential buildings and cars damaged by two Idlib explosions and a woman carrying a wounded boy. The blasts injured 100 people, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported, without saying where it got the information. A third blast struck near the office of the Popular Army in Idlib, Al Jazeera television reported, citing an unidentified activist. Most of those killed in today’s attack in Idlib were members of the security forces, the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in an e-mailed statement. It put the death toll at 20 and said the attack targeted a security headquarters. Gunmen attacked the Syrian central bank in Damascus with rocket-propelled grenades, state television reported. “There has been a shift in tactics targeting Damascus with suicide bombers and an increase of assassinations of intelligence officers,” Theodore Karasik , director of research at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, said today in a phone interview. “We are continuing to move in a direction of a slow deterioration.” Saudi Cabinet The start of the April 12 cease-fire brokered by UN special envoy Kofi Annan has failed to halt more than a year of violence that started when peaceful protesters sought political change from President Bashar al-Assad’s government. More than 500 people have died since the cease-fire started, according to the website of the Local Coordination Committees, an opposition group. Saudi Arabia ’s cabinet said the international community shouldn’t allow the Syrian authorities to “evade their obligations” under the UN peace agreement, the official Saudi Press Agency reported today, citing a government statement. The international community is giving the Syrian government time and that’s costing lives, the news service aid. At least 28 people were killed by the security forces yesterday, the human rights observatory said. Nine more died today, Al Arabiya television reported. Government forces continue to conduct raids and shell opposition forces in urban areas, while rebels have escalated their attacks against targets associated with the Assad administration. An explosion struck a pipeline transporting crude oil in the Syrian province of Deir Ezzour yesterday, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported, citing oil ministry officials. Heavy Weapons The head of the UN monitoring force arrived in Damascus yesterday, Al Arabiya said, without saying how it got the information. The advance team of 15 UN observers has reported that the security forces are still deploying heavy weapons in populated areas, a violation of the UN agreement, Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon told reporters on April 27. If violence continues, the U.S. and its allies anticipate raising pressure on the government through travel bans, additional financial sanctions and an arms embargo at the UN Security Council, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said last week in Washington. Nuland blamed Assad for the plan’s lack of success, citing attacks by government forces on civilians and the military’s failure to withdraw heavy weapons. She said it was essential to deploy as many as 300 unarmed UN cease-fire observers in the effort to limit the violence. To contact the reporter on this story: Glen Carey in Riyadh at gcarey8@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@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.

Why Obama Can’t Be Swift-Boated

May 2 (Bloomberg) -- The first weeks of the general election campaign have seen Republicans go after two of President Barack Obama ’s strongest points: his personality and his national security credentials. On the first, Karl Rove ’s group, American Crossroads, has posted a video online called “ Cool ,” which puts together clips of Obama wearing 3-D glasses, dancing on “Ellen,” singing Al Green, drinking a beer, catching a fly buzzing around during an on-camera interview, and slow-jamming the news with Jimmy Fallon. Up to that point, you’re thinking what a good sport the president is -- and a good dancer to boot. Then a question appears on-screen: “After 4 years of a celebrity president, is your life any better?” You know how that ad ends. The second line of attack on Obama is that the Osama bin Laden raid was no big deal, and even mentioning it is akin to spiking the football, like George W. Bush crowing “ Mission Accomplished ” when the mission was unaccomplished. There’s a problem at the heart of this strategy: Obama -- against the advice of two trusted advisers, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Vice President Joe Biden -- actually called for the kill. Romney did not, and might not have, given his views. In 2007 Romney said it was “not worth moving heaven and earth and spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.” Romney criticized Obama for pledging in 2008 to go into Pakistan to get bin Laden if necessary, saying he would do no such thing. On Monday Romney said the decision to go after bin Laden was so simple that “ even Jimmy Carter would have given that order.” Then on Tuesday he tweeted , “I applaud President Obama for approving the mission.” Romney’s views may be famously malleable, but if there’s one thing consistent about him, it’s his boardroom approach to management. If his Defense secretary and vice president urged a more cautious course, he probably would have taken it. The two issues fused Saturday night, when Obama took the stage at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner for the annual inside-Washington comedy night and was expected to make light of life and himself. “Last year at this time, in fact on this very weekend, we finally delivered justice to one of the world’s most notorious individuals,” Obama began. It was the anniversary of the killing of bin Laden, but Obama was referring to someone else: As the president broke into a high-wattage smile, the image of a bloated, orange-skinned, pouffed-hair Donald Trump appeared on-screen in the Hilton ballroom. Later in the evening Obama addressed whether he was too cool for school, noting that Romney’s campaign had “criticized me for slow-jamming the news with Jimmy Fallon. In fact, I understand Governor Romney was so incensed he asked his staff if he could get some equal time on ’The Merv Griffin Show.’” It’s not inconceivable that a worthy opponent could spin a positive into a negative and vice versa: that is, give Romney a personality and denigrate Obama’s. After all, in 2004 Republicans did the near impossible, turning Senator John Kerry ’s military service into a minus. The Swift-Boaters found a disgruntled veteran to question whether Kerry deserved his three Purple Hearts and Silver Star for valor in Vietnam. By the time a book called “Unfit for Command” was published in August 2004, Bush’s spotty service in the National Guard protecting Texas against Oklahoma didn’t look so bad. Don’t be surprised when some Navy SEAL turns up on a website near you to give a stinging rebuke to Obama. Already, a columnist in Britain’s Daily Mail, Toby Harnden, is selectively quoting former and current Navy SEALs who largely praise the president but say, in effect, that any president would have made a similar call. The column quotes a former SEAL, Brandon Webb, as saying that the Obama administration should not be releasing any information that concerns the highly classified SEAL Team Six, which Harnden writes is being “paraded around a global audience like a show dog.” But it might not work. Obama’s belief system -- in that hopey-changey business and the post-partisanship thing -- has been altered by reality. He doesn’t seem as inclined to turn the other cheek, as he did in the debate about the debt ceiling. Bring it on, as Bush would say. In an ad for the Obama campaign, Bill Clinton makes the strongest case for the “decider-in-chief,” who would be dog meat if the mission had failed. “Suppose the Navy SEALs had gone in there, and it hadn’t been bin Laden. Suppose they’d been captured or killed. The downside would have been horrible for him.” Kerry may have been Swift-Boated, but Obama is not going to be SEALed. Republicans are used to calling Democrats cowards and worse. Not this time. Republicans have the squishy, soft, cosseted, consensus-building candidate, while Democrats have the fighter. Finally. (Margaret Carlson is a Bloomberg View columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.) Read more opinion online from Bloomberg View. Today’s highlights: the View editors on the upside of Greek dysfunction and the U.S. Senate ’s attempt to reform the Postal Service ; William Pesek on China’s slowing growth ; Peter Orszag on flawed economic forecasting ; and Clive Crook on the dogma of inequality. To contact the writer of this article: Margaret Carlson at mcarlson3@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this article: Michael Newman at mnewman43@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.

New York Gasoline Gains as Hess Plans to Shut Catalytic Cracker

Gasoline in New York Harbor strengthened as Hess Corp. scheduled the shutdown of a catalytic cracker tomorrow for maintenance at its Port Reading refinery in New Jersey. The duration of repairs at the 70,000-barrel-a-day plant won’t be known until after the unit is halted, the company said in an e-mailed statement today. The premium for conventional, 87-octane gasoline in New York Harbor (MOSNY87P) strengthened 0.25 cent to 1.88 cents a gallon versus futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:46 p.m., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Prompt delivery fell 4.56 cents to $2.8629 a gallon. The premium for ultra-low-sulfur diesel at the hub weakened 0.5 cent to 1.75 cents a gallon versus heating oil futures as European gasoil inventories rose. Prompt delivery slipped 1.7 cents to $3.051 a gallon. Gasoil stockpiles, including heating oil and diesel, in independent storage in Europe ’s oil-trading hub gained for a third week to the highest level in more than five months, according to PJK International BV. Gasoil inventories in Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp increased 4.8 percent to 2.54 million metric tons in the week to today, according to PJK, a researcher in the Netherlands. That’s the most since July 14. The Netherlands was the biggest importer of distillate fuel from the U.S. in 2010, taking in 115,000 barrels a day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency. To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Burkhardt in New York at pburkhardt@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@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. Treasuries Decline With 10-Year Note Yield Rising to 2.50%

U.S. Treasuries declined, with the 10-year yield rising two basis points, or 0.02 percentage point, to 2.50 percent at 9:40 a.m. London time. Two-year yields were little changed at 0.31 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Anchalee Worrachate in London at aworrachate@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Dobson at pdobson2@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.

Rate-Cut Bets at Seven-Week Low as RBA Talks Up Economy: Australia Credit

Traders slashed bets on an interest-rate cut in Australia next month to the lowest level in seven weeks after the central bank showed optimism the nation will weather Europe’s debt crisis and a slowdown in the U.S. Reserve Bank of Australia Deputy Governor Ric Battellino signaled Sept. 21 the economy should extend a two-decade expansion and that market pricing of rate cuts was “pessimistic.” Australia’s economy grew 1.2 percent last quarter, the fastest pace in four years, while an 11 percent decline in the currency against the U.S. dollar since July 31 may aid struggling industries such as manufacturing and tourism. “The RBA would rather err on the hawkish than the dovish side as there are still pockets of strength in the economy, particularly if you look at the mining investment boom and growth in household disposable income,” said Pieter Van Der Schaft, head of Asian rates research at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong. “With the decline in the Aussie dollar, financial conditions are easing somewhat so that is another reason for them to delay” any cuts. The yield on October cash rate futures rose 16 basis points this month to 4.65 percent, compared with the 4.75 percent benchmark, the highest since Aug. 1 and on course for the biggest monthly increase since September last year. The cost to lock in fixed rates for three months in Australia rose 4 basis points since Sept. 19, the most in the Group of 10 currencies. Consumer Spending Australia’s gross domestic product expanded more than economists forecast last quarter, driven by rising consumer spending and a rebound in exports after natural disasters disrupted coal mining at the start of the year. Strategists expect growth of 1.84 percent this year and 4.25 percent in 2012, according to surveys by Bloomberg News. The U.S., where employment growth unexpectedly stagnated in August, will expand 1.6 percent this year and 2.2 percent next year, while GDP in China , Australia’s biggest trading partner, will surge 9.3 percent and 8.7 percent, separate surveys show. There are “reasonable grounds for optimism” that Australia’s economy won’t stall due to the slump in the U.S., Battellino said in a speech in New York. Markets appear to have reached “a pessimistic assessment” based on the assumption U.S. and European economic problems will “flow through” to Australia, he told the Euromoney Australian and New Zealand Debt Capital Markets Forum. “The bank’s approach will be to keep an open mind.” The RBA said in minutes of its Sept. 6 meeting released this week that it’s too early to gauge any effects of a U.S. slowdown and Europe ’s debt crisis on other regions. Mining Boom The central bank raised interest rates seven times beginning in October 2009 to help control inflation amid the nation’s biggest mining boom in more than a century. Chinese demand for Australian iron ore and coal help spur the Australian dollar to $1.1081 on July 27, the strongest since it was freely floated in 1983. The currency’s 58 percent surge since the end of 2008 to its record curbed profits for companies in manufacturing and tourism with BlueScope Steel Ltd. and Qantas Airways Ltd. announcing plans last month to trim their workforces. The government will hold a conference Oct. 6 focusing on job creation , the future of manufacturing and “adapting to the high dollar,” Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Treasurer Wayne Swan said Sept. 11. The so-called Aussie fell below parity yesterday for the first time in more than six weeks after a preliminary index of purchasing managers signaled Chinese manufacturing may shrink for a third month in September. It traded at 98.06 U.S. cents as of 12:55 p.m. in Sydney today. Financial Turmoil Clouding Australia’s outlook is concern the world’s largest economy is slowing and the global financial turmoil spurred by speculation Greece will default. The Markit iTraxx Australia index of credit-default swaps on corporate debt climbed 23 basis points to 217.1 basis points yesterday, the biggest one-day jump since March 6, 2009 and the highest level since July 13 of that year, according to data provider CMA. The risk benchmark fell 3 basis points to 214 basis points as of 10:55 a.m. in Sydney today, according to Credit Agricole SA prices. The extra yield investors demand to own the nation’s corporate bonds instead of similar-maturity government debt has increased 52 basis points this quarter to 229 basis points on Sept. 21, the highest since November 2009, Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Australian Corporate and Collateralized Index shows. The spread was last at 228 basis points. Investors are estimating Australian consumer prices will rise at an annual 2.46 percent pace over the coming five years, down from this year’s high of 3.14 percent on May 6, according to the gap between indexed government debt and bonds that aren’t linked to inflation. Benchmark Yields The 10-year benchmark government bond yield has tumbled 36 basis points this month to 4.01 percent at 1:02 p.m. in Sydney today. Yields on all Australian bonds, including the longest- dated security maturing April 2023, have been lower than the cash rate since Aug. 9. The chance of the RBA lowering rates when it next meets on Oct. 4 fell to 46 percent today from 80 percent a week ago, according to a Credit Suisse Group AG index based on swaps trading. Traders are wagering the central bank will cut rates to 4.01 percent by December, up from a low of 3.47 percent Aug. 9. Morgan Stanley recommends paying the overnight indexed swap rate on expectations that the RBA won’t reduce rates at least till year end. The central bank may cut 50 basis points in the first half of 2012, Van Der Schaft forecasts. “The key for them now is the employment outlook, particularly private-sector wage growth, and the fact that so far China’s economy remains strong and commodity prices are relatively firm,” he said. The RBA will hold its key rate at 4.75 percent, according to 23 of 24 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News on Sept. 13. Sixteen expect the rate to be higher by the end of 2012, five expect it to be lower and three say it will remain unchanged. “We still think the next move in the cash rate will be up,” said Helen Kevans , an economist in Sydney at JPMorgan Chase & Co. “The RBA’s made it pretty clear that they’re still worried about the medium-term inflation outlook, and provided things don’t deteriorate a lot more offshore, that will remain their focus.” To contact the reporters on this story: Sarah McDonald in Sydney at smcdonald23@bloomberg.net ; Candice Zachariahs in Sydney at czachariahs2@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shelley Smith at ssmith118@bloomberg.net ; Rocky Swift at rswift5@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.

Syria Rebels Execute 20 Army Soldiers, Rights Group Says

Syrian rebels in the city of Aleppo have killed 20 army soldiers execution-style, the Observatory for Human Rights in Syria said in an e-mailed statement. An amateur video of the incident, posted on YouTube, showed dead soldiers in military uniforms, handcuffed and blindfolded laying on a sidewalk and surrounded by armed men shouting “God is Great” and “these are the dogs of Assad.” Another voice can be heard identifying the location as the Hanano area in Aleppo. Activists told Al Jazeera television that the dead soldiers were defectors and were killed by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. The authenticity of the video couldn’t be verified. In response to the video, Colonel Abdel Jabbar al-Ageidi, head of the rebels’ military council in Aleppo and its suburbs told Al Jazeera, “We totally condemn such action.” He said he didn’t know the soldiers were killed by rebels or the Army. To contact the reporter on this story: Zaid Sabah Abd Alhamid in Washington at zalhamid@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.

Djokovic Advances at ATP Finals as Federer Retains Title Chance

Novak Djokovic reached the semifinals of tennis’s season finale after record six-time champion Roger Federer kept alive his bid to reach the knockout stage for the 11th time in 12 appearances. Djokovic, the No. 2 seed from Serbia , beat Argentina ’s Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 last night in the ATP World Tour Finals at London ’s O2 arena, where Federer earlier defeated France ’s Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-3. Federer and del Potro will meet tomorrow to decide the other qualifier from Group B. Djokovic, 26, joins top-ranked Rafael Nadal of Spain in qualifying for the semifinals after two round-robin matches at the event for the top eight men. The defending champion from Serbia has won his last three tournaments, beating Nadal, del Potro and David Ferrer in the finals, and has now extended his winning streak to 19 matches. “I’m playing the best tennis I think I played throughout the whole season,” Djokovic told reporters. “That’s something that I take as a positive for this moment and for obviously next season. I’m definitely feeling confident, more confident than I was a few months ago.” Djokovic, who beat Switzerland ’s Federer in his London opener, will end the first stage tomorrow by taking on Gasquet, who was eliminated with yesterday’s loss. The semifinals are scheduled for Nov. 10, with the final the following day. Djokovic’s match against No. 4 seed del Potro saw both players miss early break-point opportunities. The Serb converted his fifth chance to go up 4-2 and served out the opening set. Lucky Break In the next set, the break again came in game six, this time on a piece of good fortune for del Potro when his attempted winner hit the top of the net and dribbled over. The Argentine won 80 percent of the points on his first service in the set, enabling him to even the match. Del Potro squandered two break-point opportunities to gain the upper hand early in the final set, where Djokovic again secured the only break in the sixth game and served out the victory in one hour, 54 minutes. Djokovic hit 34 winners to del Potro’s 24 in the match, and won 70 percent of the points on his second serve, compared to 48 percent for his opponent. Federer, the record 17-time men’s Grand Slam singles champion, took 81 minutes to beat Gasquet, winning 68 percent of the points on his first serve and breaking four times. Should Federer fail to beat del Potro tomorrow, he’ll end 2013 with only one tournament win, his worst season since 2001. The sixth seed has lost three of his four most-recent matches against del Potro, though holds a 14-5 career advantage, including a quarterfinal win at the Paris Masters last week. “That win for me in Paris psychologically was very important,” Federer told reporters yesterday. “I truly believe my confidence is higher, and that’s what I need to beat the best, and Juan Martin is part of that group.” Nadal secured his semifinal berth two days ago and finishes group play today against Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic. Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka , who like Berdych has a 1-1 record and can also qualify from Group A, faces the already eliminated Ferrer of Spain. To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Priechenfried in London at bprie@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.

RIM CEO Considers Operator Compensation to Restore Trust

Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM) will this week consider offering compensation to network operators following one of its worst BlackBerry service disruptions, co- Chief Executive Officer Jim Balsillie said today. RIM will focus on compensation alongside the offer of one month of free technical support to companies and free online applications, Balsillie said in a telephone interview. “We’re very focused on these carriers and making sure they’re satisfied with the service operation and making sure we comply with all of our agreements with them and making sure we have their trust for the service going forward,” Balsillie said. RIM, based in Waterloo, Ontario, may face claims following the disruption after some wireless carriers including Vodafone Group Plc (VOD) , the world’s biggest mobile-phone operator, offered refunds to some BlackBerry users. Subscribers across most parts of the world, including U.S. and Canada , last week lost data services after a network failure in the U.K. halted messaging and Web browsing. RIM will give subscribers free access to online applications in games, radio and translation with a face value of up to $100, the company said in an e-mailed statement today. “This is our offer and we worked systemically over the last three days to make that,” Balsillie said. “That was a pretty comprehensive set of efforts.” RIM fell 6.6 percent to $22.40 at the close in New York. The stock has declined 61 percent this year. Confidence Woes The news comes as billionaire Carl Icahn said in a television interview today that RIM is not in his sights as an investment. In an interview on CNBC Icahn said the smartphone maker is “not on our radar screen” right now. RIM shares rose last month on speculation that the investor activist was interested in buying a stake in the BlackBerry maker. RIM will roll out further applications to cover all regions of the world as part of the offer, Balsillie said. “We have apologized to our customers and we will work tirelessly to restore their confidence,” co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said earlier today in a statement. “We are taking immediate and aggressive steps to help prevent something like this from happening again.” RIM will face “defections” to Apple Inc. (AAPL) after the U.S. company started selling its new iPhone, Matt Thornton , an analyst at Avian Securities LLC in Boston said last week. Apple sold more than 4 million iPhone 4S devices in the first three days, setting a record as customers lined up at stores from Sydney to San Francisco to be first with the device. RIM, which holds its developer conference in San Francisco tomorrow, will show how the whole BlackBerry platform is “transitioning,” Balsillie said in the interview today. The company, which is trying to revive enthusiasm for its PlayBook tablet after shipments dropped by more than half, will focus its announcements on the device, he said. To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan Browning in London at jbrowning9@bloomberg.net ; Scott Moritz in New York at smoritz6@bloomberg.net ; To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@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.

China Coal Swaps Drop Along With First-Quarter Indonesian Prices

Swaps fell for thermal coal delivered to South China , according to Ginga Petroleum Singapore Pte. The swap for coal with a heating value of 5,500 kilocalories a kilogram for shipments to South China in next year’s first quarter declined 60 cents to $85.15 a ton on a net- as-received basis yesterday, Ginga said in an e-mail today. The November contract was 5 cents lower at $82.95 a ton. Three parcels of October API-8 CFR China swaps for 5,000 tons each were traded at $82.65 a ton, $82.75 and $82.80, according to Ginga. The energy broker started offering the contract for API-8 CFR China swaps on its electronic trading system on June 1. The contract for sub-bituminous coal with a calorific value of 4,900 kilocalories a kilogram for loading from Indonesia in the first quarter of 2013 fell 5 cents to $62.55 a metric ton on a net-as-received basis, the energy broker said. The swap for November rose 20 cents to $60.60 a ton. Indonesia is the world’s largest exporter of the fuel for electricity generation. A commodity swap is a financial agreement whereby a floating price is exchanged for a fixed rate over a specified contract period. About 60 percent of Indonesia’s coal is classified as sub- bituminous. Higher moisture levels and a lower carbon content reduce the heating value compared with grades with a better quality stock. Sub-bit coal has kilocalories of less than 6,100 per kilogram, according to the Indonesian energy ministry. To contact the reporter on this story: Fitri Wulandari in Jakarta at fwulandari@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.

Pakistan’s D.G. Khan Swings to Profit on Higher Cement Prices

D.G. Khan Cement Co. (DGKC) , Pakistan’s second-biggest producer, swung to a third-quarter profit after prices of the building material increased. Net income in the three months ended March 31 was 754.6 million rupees ($8.3 million), compared with a loss of 5.32 million rupees in the same period a year ago, according to a statement to the Karachi Stock Exchange. Sales rose 21 percent to 6.23 billion rupees. “The price increase turned it around, despite volumetric decline in sales,” said Muhammad Rehan Khan, research analyst at First Capital Equities Ltd. in Karachi, who rates the stock a hold. “The company’s financial cost also eased with a decline in payments and interest rates .” D.G. Khan’s interest costs declined 17 percent to 462.7 million rupees in the period. Pakistan ’s central bank cut rates by 2 percentage points last year to support. Cement prices increased 21 percent to 425 rupees for a 50 kilogram (110 pound) bag during the quarter, compared with 350 rupees a year ago, according to First Capital Equities Ltd. D.G. Khan’s shares rose 2.7 percent to 40.60 rupees as of 1:01 p.m. on the Karachi Stock Exchange. The stock has doubled this year, compared with a 24 percent gain in the benchmark KSE100 index. To contact the reporter on this story: Farhan Sharif in Karachi at fsharif2@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.

Canada February Employment Insurance Report (Text)

The following is the text of Canada’s employment insurance report for Feb. released by Statistics Canada. Following three consecutive months of decline, the number of people receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits was virtually unchanged in February, at 528,900. Compared with a year earlier, the number of beneficiaries was down 7.4%. A number of provinces had fewer beneficiaries in February, with the largest percentage decreases in Prince Edward Island, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and New Brunswick all saw smaller declines. There was little change in the other provinces. Provincial focus The number of EI regular beneficiaries in Prince Edward Island declined 2.8% in February. This was the fourth consecutive monthly decrease for the province. In Manitoba, the number of people receiving benefits fell 2.4% in February, the fourth monthly decrease in a row. In Winnipeg, the number of beneficiaries was down 2.2% from the previous month. In Saskatchewan, the number of beneficiaries decreased for the third consecutive month, down 1.7% in February. In Regina and Saskatoon, there was little change from the previous month. The number of people receiving benefits in British Columbia declined 1.4% in February, continuing a six-month downward trend. Both Kelowna (-1.5%) and Abbotsford-Mission (-1.3%) had fewer beneficiaries than the previous month, while there was little change in Vancouver and Victoria. There were 1.3% fewer beneficiaries in Newfoundland and Labrador, the third consecutive monthly decline in the province. In St. John’s , the number was down 1.7%. In New Brunswick , the number of beneficiaries fell for the fourth month in a row, down 1.0% in February. Both Moncton (-2.1%) and Saint John (-1.3%) posted declines from the previous month. The number of beneficiaries in Quebec was little changed in February, after three months of decline. Montréal also saw little change, following three consecutive monthly declines. The number of beneficiaries in Ontario was little changed in February, after three months of decline. In Toronto, 62,800 people received benefits in February, up 1.5% from January. Employment Insurance beneficiaries by occupation Among all major occupation groups, two posted notable declines in the number of beneficiaries in February compared with the previous month: occupations in social science, education, government service and religion (-2.6%) and occupations unique to primary industry (-1.3%). For both of these occupation groups, the decline in February was the fourth in a row. There was little or no change in the other occupation groups. Compared with February 2012, the number of beneficiaries fell markedly in all but one of the major occupation groups. The largest decline occurred in occupations unique to processing, manufacturing and utilities (-12.2%), followed by business, finance and administrative occupations. There was little change in occupations in art, culture, recreation and sport. Employment Insurance beneficiaries in major demographic groups The number of EI regular beneficiaries among young men aged 15 to 24 declined 2.0% in February. This was the fourth consecutive monthly decrease for this group, and brought their year-over-year rate of decline to 12.8%, the largest of all demographic groups. For all the other groups, the number of beneficiaries was little changed in February. On a year-over-year basis, the slowest rate of decline was among people aged 55 and over (-1.6%). Claims decline markedly in February To receive EI benefits, individuals must first submit a claim. The number of claims provides an indication of the number of people who could become beneficiaries. The number of initial and renewal claims fell by 15,200 (-6.3%) to 223,900 in February, more than offsetting the increase recorded the previous month. Quebec (-7.9%) showed the largest percentage decline in claims in February, followed by Ontario (-7.4%) and New Brunswick (-6.8%). Smaller declines occurred in Alberta (-5.5%), British Columbia (-4.2%) and Saskatchewan (-3.2%). At the same time, claims fell slightly in Nova Scotia (-2.8%) and Manitoba (-1.8%), while there was little or no change in Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island. Note to readers Employment Insurance (EI) regular benefits are available to eligible individuals who lose their jobs and who are available for and able to work, but can’t find a job. The change in the number of regular beneficiaries reflects various situations, including people becoming beneficiaries, people going back to work, and people exhausting their regular benefits. There is always a certain proportion of unemployed people who do not qualify for benefits. Some unemployed people have not contributed to the program because they have not worked in the past 12 months or their employment is not insured. Other unemployed people have contributed to the program but do not meet the eligibility criteria, such as workers who left their job voluntarily or those who did not accumulate enough hours of work to receive benefits. New content and historical revision (released in March 2013) Data on people who receive regular EI benefits are now available by detailed age and for 140 occupation groups. New seasonally adjusted data by sex, age, census metropolitan area, census agglomeration and occupation are also available. The definition of regular beneficiaries has been expanded to include those receiving regular benefits while participating in employment benefit programs, such as training. Furthermore, self-employed people receiving special benefits are now included in the special benefits category. Geography boundaries have been updated from the 2001 to the 2006 Standard Geographical Classification, which mainly affects boundaries of census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations. To preserve consistencies across time despite all of the above changes, all EI data series have been the subject of an historical revision going back to January 1997. All data are available on CANSIM. All data in this release are seasonally adjusted. For more information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonal adjustment and identifying economic trends ( http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/colc-cel?catno=11-010 - X201000311141&amp;lang=fra). EI statistics are produced from administrative data sources provided by Service Canada and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. These statistics may, from time to time, be affected by changes to the Employment Insurance Act or administrative procedures. Recent examples are the pilot project entitled “Working While on Claim,” introduced on August 5, 2012, and the regulation on search for suitable employment, that came into effect on January 6, 2013. The number of regular beneficiaries and the number of claims received for the current and previous month are subject to revision. The number of beneficiaries is a measure of all people who received EI benefits from February 10 to 16. This period coincides with the reference week of the Labour Force Survey (LFS). EI statistics indicate the number of people who received EI benefits, and should not be confused with LFS data, which provide information on the total number of unemployed people.

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

Murray & Roberts Says Soccer Deal Collusion Fine Is Too High

Murray & Roberts Holdings Ltd. (MUR) , South Africa’s second-biggest builder, apologized for colluding on contracts for work including 2010 soccer World Cup stadiums and said a $31 million fine is too harsh. “Of the projects we successfully tendered on, our gross profit was far less than the 309 million-rand ($31 million) penalty,” Murray & Roberts Chief Executive Officer Henry Laas said in a letter published by the Sunday Times. “This penalty would be severe in normal times, and given the difficult market conditions, it is all the more acute.” The Competition Tribunal today confirmed fines for 13 of 15 companies. Decisions for the remaining two, Aveng Ltd. (AEG) , South Africa’s biggest builder by market value, and Giuricich Bros Construction (Pty) Ltd, are still pending awaiting more information, the Pretoria-based tribunal said in an e-mailed statement. Murray & Roberts, Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon Ltd. (WBO) and 12 other construction companies faced record collective fees of 1.46 billion rand for contract rigging. Documents from the Competition Commission show that seven companies colluded to rig a profit margin of 17.5 percent on six stadiums for the 2010 soccer World Cup. They met twice, in 2006 or thereabouts, according to the documents. The seven-member FTSE/JSE Africa Construction and Building Materials Index has declined 1.2 percent this year, compared with a 4.2 percent gain in the 166-member FTSE/JSE Africa All-Share Index. Murray & Roberts shares rose 2 percent to 25.76 rand at the close in Johannesburg, the highest since July 16, valuing the company at 11.5 billion rand. To contact the reporter on this story: Kamlesh Bhuckory in Johannesburg at kbhuckory@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Simon Thiel at sthiel1@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.

Uranium Drops 4.7% After U.S. Approves Fuel Transfers, UxC Says

Uranium prices fell 4.7 percent after the U.S. authorized transfers of the nuclear fuel to fund accelerated cleanup operations at a former enrichment plant owned by the government, according to Ux Consulting Co. Uranium-oxide concentrate for immediate delivery traded at $66.50 a pound in the seven days ended yesterday, down from $69.75 the week before, UxC said in an e-mailed report today, based on the most competitive offer tracked by the Roswell, Georgia-based company. The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio , owned by the Department of Energy , ceased uranium enrichment production in 2001. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said March 2 the department had found the proposed transfers through the third quarter of 2013 would have no adverse material impact on the domestic uranium, conversion and enrichment industries. “Most of the uranium market’s attention over the past week has centered on the Department of Energy’s announcement of no adverse impact from its sales/transfers of uranium inventory during the 2011-2013 time period,” UxC said. “Volatility seems to be the watchword today, as seen not only in the stock and oil markets but the uranium market as well.” Uranium prices, which rose to a record $136 a pound in 2007 before falling to about $40, have gained since mid-2010 as China increased the use of nuclear power to curb emissions from burning coal. More than 150 new reactors are planned worldwide by 2030, with China expected to add 50 units, according to data compiled by the World Nuclear Association. Prices of uranium climbed 17 percent in January and fell 4.5 percent last month. Selling from China contributed to the February decline, according to UxC. Nuclear-power utilities buy the bulk of their uranium for processing into fuel from mining companies, with the contracts mostly extending beyond a year. The immediate delivery, or spot market , allows trading for delivery within a year and includes financial investors. The U.S. government also periodically conducts auctions to reduce stocks. To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Scott in Perth at Jscott14@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Clyde Russell at crussell7@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.

Ethanol Advances Amid Lower Production, Higher Export Demand

Ethanol futures advanced in Chicago amid lower production and higher demand for U.S. exports. Futures rose after a Sept. 29 Energy Department report showed exports of the biofuel averaged 98,000 barrels a day in July, the highest amount since the U.S. began tracking the data in 2010. That comes as production averaged 841,000 barrels a day in the most recent report, the lowest level in a year. “Word on the street is that supply is tight in a couple key areas,” said Justin Dirico, senior ethanol trader at SCB & Associates LLC in Chicago. “Production’s down a little bit. It’s a short-term situation.” Denatured ethanol for October delivery climbed 1.5 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $2.50 a gallon on the Chicago Board of Trade. Prices have gained 31 percent in the past year. In cash market trading, ethanol on the West Coast plummeted 14 cents, or 5.1 percent, to $2.61 a gallon and in New York the biofuel sank 13 cents, or 4.8 percent, to $2.585, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Ethanol in the U.S. Gulf declined 10 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $2.505 a gallon and in Chicago the additive fell 7 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $2.48. To contact the reporter on this story: Mario Parker in Chicago at mparker22@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@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.

LEE CHANGE YUNG April Sales Rise 5.50% (Table) : 4989 TT

LEE CHANGE YUNG said unconsolidated sales in April rose 5.50% to NT$251,417,000 from NT$238,321,000, according to a statement filed to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. (Figures are in thousands of New Taiwan dollars) ================================================================= 4/2012 4/2011 Sales 251,417 238,321 YOY% 5.50% -----------------Year-to-date----------------- Sales 1,146,098 941,918 YOY% 21.68% =================================================================

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

Ecopetrol to Create Unit to Manage Pipeline Infrastructure

Ecopetrol SA (ECOPETL) , Colombia ’s largest oil company, will create an infrastructure unit to meet rising demand for pipeline capacity as oil production climbs. The unit, called Cenit SAS, will oversee management and expansion of the company’s pipeline holdings, Ecopetrol Chief Executive Officer Javier Gutierrez said at a news conference today in Bogota. Ecopetrol is investing in pipeline infrastructure as capacity lags oil production increases in Colombia, South America ’s third-largest crude producer. Oil exports rose to $28 billion last year, from $16.5 billion in 2010, accounting for 49 percent of the Andean nation’s exports. “This change will favor other companies more than it favors Ecopetrol, since they will have greater access to these pipelines,” said Juan David Pineros, an oil and gas analyst at Colombian brokerage Interbolsa SA, in a telephone interview from Medellin. The new unit will be wholly owned by Ecopetrol, and will let other energy companies use its transport system under “clear and transparent” rules, according to the the statement. The plan will help Ecopetrol meet its production targets, Gutierrez said. The Bogota-based company aims to produce 1.3 million barrels a day in 2020. The Colombian government owns 88.5 percent of Ecopetrol, which has a higher market capitalization than the rest of the Colcap Index combined. To contact the reporter on this story: Heather Walsh in Bogota at hlwalsh@bloomberg.net Matthew Bristow in Bogota at mbristow5@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Robin Saponar at rsaponar@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.

Clearwire to Take $80 Million in Financing Under Sprint Accord

Clearwire Corp. (CLWR) is taking $80 million in financing from potential acquirer Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) for a second straight month, even as it continues to weigh a competing offer from Dish Network Corp. (DISH) The financing, part of a prearranged agreement with Sprint, can be exchanged for Clearwire stock at $1.50 a share under certain conditions, the Bellevue, Washington-based wireless Internet provider said today in a statement. The company said it also remains in talks with Sprint about its $2.97-a-share offer to acquire full control of Clearwire. The move helps Sprint tighten its grip on Clearwire, which has struggled to profit from its Internet service. Sprint, the third-biggest U.S. mobile-phone company, already owns slightly more than 50 percent of Clearwire, making it difficult for Dish to gain control even with its higher $3.30-a-share offer. Clearwire was little changed yesterday in New York at $3.25. That price, a 12 percent increase for the year, shows investors expect the company to sell for a higher price than Sprint’s offer. To contact the reporter on this story: Crayton Harrison in New York at tharrison5@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@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.

Nippon Telegraph Plans Dollar Debt Sale as BTMU Markets Notes

Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. are marketing U.S. dollar- denominated notes after Japanese corporate debt risk fell to a 1 1/2-year low. NTT Telegraph & Telephone, which owns Japan’s largest mobile phone company, is offering seven-year bonds at about 90 basis points more than similar-maturity Treasuries, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the terms aren’t set. Bank of Tokyo- Mitsubishi plans to sell three-, five-and 10-year securities, a separate person said. The cost of insuring an index of Japanese corporate bonds from non-payment reached 117 basis points on Feb. 13, the least since July 2011, according to traders of credit-default swaps. Companies from the East Asian country pay an average 2 percent to sell dollar debt, 1.02 percentage points less than a year ago, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes. “The funding position is favorable,” said Manabu Tamaru , a fund manager at Baring Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. Borrowers “might suspect that a U.S. interest rate increase is in progress and want to fund the money while the rate is very attractive. They will also diversify their funding base.” Benchmark U.S. 10-year government yields will rise to 2.32 percent by Dec. 31 from 2.01 percent today, according to Bloomberg surveys, with the most recent predictions given the heaviest weightings. The forecast has climbed from 2.14 percent in the first week of January. Dollar Offerings Japanese borrowers raised $46.3 billion selling U.S. currency bonds last year, the most in Bloomberg data going back to 1999. Sales have totaled $6.8 billion so far in 2013, the data show. Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi is considering selling five-year bonds at about 85 basis points more than Treasuries and 10-year debt at about a 125 basis-point spread, the person familiar with the matter said. The lender will also sell three-year notes, which may be fixed- or floating-rate, at about 65 basis points more than U.S. government debt and an equivalent spread over the three-month London interbank offered rate, the person said. Korea Housing Finance Corp. meanwhile plans to meet investors in Hong Kong and Singapore this week to discuss a sale of dollar-denominated covered bonds, a separate person with knowledge of the matter said. The Markit iTraxx Japan index climbed 1.5 basis points to 124 basis points as of 9:08 a.m. in Tokyo, Deutsche Bank AG prices show. The measure is set to pare its drop this month to 11 basis points, according to data provider CMA. Australia Risk The Markit iTraxx Australia index increased 1 basis point to 113 as of 11:07 a.m. in Sydney, according to National Australia Bank Ltd. prices. The gauge is headed for its third straight daily rise after falling to the lowest in more than a month at 112.5 on Feb. 14, according to CMA, which is owned by McGraw-Hill Cos. and compiles prices quoted by dealers in the privately negotiated market. The Markit iTraxx Asia index of 40 investment-grade borrowers outside Japan fell 0.5 of a basis point to 110 basis points as of 8:13 a.m. in Hong Kong, according to Credit Agricole SA prices. The benchmark is set to close at the lowest level since Jan. 29, CMA data show. Credit-default swap indexes are benchmarks for insuring bonds against default and traders use them to speculate on credit quality. A drop signals improving perceptions of creditworthiness, while an increase suggests the opposite. The swap contracts pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities if a borrower fails to meet its debt agreements. To contact the reporter on this story: Rachel Evans in Hong Kong at revans43@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Shelley Smith at ssmith118@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.

Romney Rips Perry for ‘Heart’ Debate Comment on Aid to Illegal Immigrants

Rick Perry was chastised yesterday by his top rival in the Republican presidential race for his support of allowing illegal-immigrant students in Texas to pay in-state tuition at public universities, an issue posing a political vulnerability for the Texas governor. The day after a nationally televised debate in which Perry’s immigration stance sparked sustained criticism and his defense of it drew audience boos, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney spotlighted the issue at a gathering of conservatives in Orlando, Florida. “My friend Governor Perry said that if you don’t agree with his position on giving that in-state tuition to illegals, then you don’t have a heart,” Romney said. “I think if you’re opposed to illegal immigration, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have a heart; it means that you have a heart and a brain.” Romney, who is Perry’s closest competitor in polls on the Republican race, was reprising Perry’s defense of the tuition program at the Sept. 22 debate in Orlando. “If you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they’ve been brought there by no fault of their own, I don’t think you have a heart,” Perry said at the forum that featured nine presidential contenders. Perry’s Challenge For Perry, the immigration issue could present a unique challenge. His stance fits the profile of his state, which has a large and growing Hispanic population. Yet it threatens to alienate many of the fiscal and social conservatives outside of Texas who hold sway in Republican nominating contests and oppose government aid to illegal immigrants. Perry, speaking to the same audience as Romney yesterday, didn’t address the immigration matter, although he suggested a poor debate performance shouldn’t be held against him. “It’s not who is the slickest candidate or the smoothest debater that we need to elect,” he said. “We need to elect the candidate with the best record and the best vision for this country.” Perry criticized Romney on health care, equating a plan enacted during his governor’s term in Massachusetts with “socialized medicine,” and calling it “misguided.” Perry’s immigration position drew sharp opposition from other rivals at the debate, including Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann. She also came back to the issue during her appearance yesterday before the conservative activists, saying, “We will not have taxpayer-subsidized benefits for illegal immigrants or their children.” Border Fence Bachmann reiterated her debate vow to build a border fence the length of the U.S. border with Mexico , which Perry has denounced as impractical and ineffective. Bachmann said at the debate: “I would build a fence on America’s southern border -- on every mile, on every yard, on every foot on every inch of the southern border.” Romney said yesterday that what he “still can’t get over is the idea that a state would decide to give a $100,000 discount to illegals to go to school in their state.” His comment referred to the estimate he had used at the debate of how much more a four-year degree would cost an illegal immigrant student at a Texas college who paid out-of-state tuition. Florida Republican leaders and activists are meeting in Orlando for a three-day conference that culminates in a non- binding straw poll of the presidential candidates today. Romney earlier this year said he wouldn’t actively campaign in any straw polls. In Florida, Perry was favored among 28 percent of the Republicans surveyed by Quinnipiac University Sept. 14-19, and Romney was favored among 22 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Julie Hirschfeld Davis in Orlando, Florida at   or Jdavis159@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva@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.

Morgan Stanley Buys Europe Jet Fuel; Gasoil Rises: Oil Products

Morgan Stanley bought barge lots of jet fuel in northwest Europe for a third day. Gasoil gained for the first time in nine days on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange. Gasoline’s crack, or premium to Brent crude , the region’s benchmark, narrowed. LyondellBasell Industries NV shut a gasoline unit at its Berre refinery in the south of France after an “incident” on Aug. 7. Light Products Eurobob gasoline for loading in Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp traded at $934 to $960 a metric ton, according to a survey of traders and brokers monitoring the Argus Bulletin Board. That compares with deals from $925 to $954 a ton yesterday. Gunvor International BV bought 4,000 tons of the 7,000 tons that changed hands. BP Plc and Total SA were the main sellers. Ethanol is added to the Eurobob grade to make finished motor fuel. The trades are typically for 1,000 or 2,000 tons. Gasoline’s crack shrank to $5.92 a barrel from $6.36 yesterday, according to PVM Oil Associates Ltd., a crude and refined products broker in London. Naphtha’s discount to Brent narrowed to $5.76 a barrel from $5.99 yesterday, according to PVM data. Middle Distillates Morgan Stanley purchased 4,000 tons of jet fuel from Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Statoil ASA at a premium of $71 a ton to September ICE gasoil, according to a survey of traders and brokers monitoring the Platts pricing window which ends at 4:30 p.m. London time. That compares with yesterday’s deals at $71 and $72 more than August gasoil. Gasoil for August gained 0.7 percent to $892.75 a ton as of 5:11 p.m. London time on the ICE exchange. The contract will expire tomorrow. The more-actively traded September contract advanced 0.5 percent to $890.25 a ton. Brent for September surged 2.1 percent to $104.74 a barrel. Gasoil’s crack, a measure of refining profitability, expanded to $14.83 a barrel at 4:30 p.m. London time from $14.57 yesterday, according to ICE data. Diesel traded at premiums of $26 and $27 a ton to September gasoil, according to the survey. Deals were also done at $26 more than August gasoil. Yesterday, the fuel changed hands at premiums of $23.50 to $26 to August futures. Residues High sulfur fuel oil barges traded from $588 to $594 a ton, according to the survey of Platts. That compares with deals yesterday from $595 to $599 a ton. Refineries LyondellBasell halted a catalytic cracker at its Berre refinery after the Aug. 7 incident that caused “visible smoke from the refinery,” the company said. Berre can process 105,000 barrels of crude a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Saras SpA will idle crude unit RT2 and desulfurization plants U700 and U500 at its Sarroch refinery in Sardinia for maintenance in the third quarter, the company said. “Minor activities” at a catalytic reforming facility and a visbreaker are planned in the fourth quarter, it said. To contact the reporter on this story: Nidaa Bakhsh in London at nbakhsh@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.

Conergy Says Fortis Bank Voting Rights Rose to 6.73% on July 21

Conergy AG said Fortis Bank SA/NV’s voting rights rose above the 3 percent and 5 percent thresholds on July 21 and amounted to 6.73 percent on that day. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mariajose Vera at mvera1@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.

TAIWAN FERTILIZE November Sales Rise 16.46% (Table) : 1722 TT

TAIWAN FERTILIZE said unconsolidated sales in November rose 16.46% to NT$1,491,055,000 from NT$1,280,368,000, according to a statement filed to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. (Figures are in thousands of New Taiwan dollars) ================================================================= 11/2011 11/2010 Sales 1,491,055 1,280,368 YOY% 16.46% -----------------Year-to-date----------------- Sales 15,299,001 12,985,704 YOY% 17.81% =================================================================

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

Poland Starts Marketing in Japan for Sale of 3-Year, 5-Year Samurai Bonds

Poland will sell three-year and five-year Samurai bonds this month to cap its biggest year for international debt offerings since 2005. The government filed with Japan’s finance ministry today and started marketing its first sale of yen-denominated bonds in a year, according to a person with direct knowledge of the transaction. Daiwa Securities Capital Markets Co., Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. and Mizuho Securities Co. are helping Poland sell the bonds, said the person. The ministry told investors it plans to price three-year bonds to yield between 70 basis points to 90 basis points more than yen swaps, said the person, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Poland is seeking to price five-year bonds at a spread of between 85 basis points and 105 basis points. Poland may sell about $500 million worth of the yen- denominated bonds, Piotr Marczak , the head of the Finance Ministry’s public debt department, said on Oct. 29. The country has raised the equivalent of $9.44 billion from the sale of bonds in euros, dollars and Swiss francs this year as higher lending rates than in developed markets and one of the European Union’s fastest economic growth rates lured investors. The government sold $11.9 billion in foreign currency bonds in 2005, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Poland last sold Samurai bonds in November 2009, when it raised 44.8 billion yen ($539 million), including 23.3 billion yen of 1.92 percent, three-year bonds priced to yield 120 basis points more than the yen swap rate, and 21.5 billion yen of 2.34 percent, five-year notes with a 140 basis point-spread, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Samurai bonds are yen-denominated notes sold in Japan by overseas borrowers. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point. To contact the reporters on this story: Yusuke Miyazawa in Tokyo at ymiyazawa3@bloomberg.net ; Emi Urabe in Tokyo at eurabe@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will McSheehy at wmcsheehy@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.

Ibovespa Futures Advance as China GDP Growth Boosts Commodities

Ibovespa futures rose as higher commodity prices boosted the outlook for Brazilian raw-material exporters after data showed faster growth in China. Homebuilder MRV Engenharia e Participacoes SA (MRVE3) may move after saying third-quarter sales increased 35 percent from a year earlier. Petrochemicals producer Braskem SA (BRKM5) may be active after HSBC Holdings Plc raised its recommendation to the equivalent of buy. Ibovespa futures contracts expiring in December climbed 0.4 percent to 54,775 at 9:15 a.m. in Sao Paulo. The real strengthened 0.1 percent to 2.1503 per U.S. dollar. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI index of 24 raw materials added 0.8 percent. China’s third-quarter gross domestic product expanded 7.8 percent from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said, which compared with 7.5 percent in the prior period. In Brazil, consumer prices rose 0.48 percent in the month through mid-October, according to the national statistics agency. That was more than the forecasts of all 33 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The Ibovespa entered a bull market Sept. 9 after rising 20 percent from this year’s low on July 3 through that day. The gauge is still down 13 percent in dollar terms this year, compared with a decline of 1.3 percent for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index of 21 developing nations’ equities. Trading volume of stocks in Sao Paulo yesterday was 7.74 billion reais, compared with a daily average of 7.61 billion reais this year through Oct. 16, according to data compiled by the exchange. To contact the reporter on this story: Ney Hayashi in Sao Paulo at ncruz4@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.

Corn Seen Opening Higher on Rising Demand; Wheat May Fall; Soybeans Steady

What follows are opening calls for U.S. grain and oilseed markets. -- Corn futures are called to open 3 cents to 5 cents a bushel higher on the Chicago Board of Trade on speculation that adverse weather this month reduced output in South America, Don Roose , the president of U.S. Commodities Inc. in West Des Moines , Iowa , said in telephone interview. Farmers withheld inventories, boosting premiums that grain companies are paying to acquire prompt supplies. -- Wheat futures may open 1 cent to 2 cents a bushel lower on the CBOT, the Kansas City Board of Trade and the Minneapolis Grain Exchange on speculation that protective snow cover and moderating temperatures next week will limit damage to crops in parts of Russia and Ukraine, Roose said. -- Soybean futures may open 1 cent a bushel lower to 1 cent higher in Chicago amid forecasts for beneficial rain in the next two weeks in South America and speculation that China will increase purchases next week, Roose said. Soybean-oil futures are expected to open 0.1 cent to 0.15 cent a pound lower, and soybean-meal futures may open 50 cents to $1 lower per 2,000 pounds. To contact the reporters on this story: Jeff Wilson in Chicago at jwilson29@bloomberg.net ; Whitney McFerron in Chicago at wmcferron1@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.

Barnier Says Spain Reforms in ‘Right Direction’, Expansion Says

European Union Financial Services Commissioner Michel Barnier said reforms undertaken by Spain are heading in the “right direction” to enable the country to emerge from crisis, Expansion said, citing an interview. To contact the reporter on this story: Sharon Smyth in Madrid at ssmyth2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Blackman at ablackman@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.

President Obama Re-Election Coverage Draws Fewer Viewers

Television coverage of U.S. President Barack Obama ’s re-election drew 66.8 million viewers last night, down 6.5 percent from his historic 2008 win, Nielsen said on its website. Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) ’s NBC network led 13 broadcast and cable networks in prime time, averaging 12.1 million viewers, according to data released separately by the networks. News Corp.’s Fox News cable channel was second with an audience of 11.5 million in that time period. The ratings cap an election cycle in which candidates, political parties and interest groups were forecast to spend $2.7 billion on television commercials, up 53 percent from four years ago, according to the advertising firm Magna Global SA. In 2008, 71.5 million viewers watched election night coverage on 14 networks, Nielsen said on its website. Walt Disney Co. (DIS) ’s ABC attracted 10.5 million, while Time Warner Inc.’s CNN averaged 9.25 million viewers. CBS Corp. (CBS) ’s network drew 7.92 million viewers and News Corp.’s Fox broadcast network averaged 4.93 million. Comcast Corp., based in Philadelphia, fell 1.6 percent to $36.58 at the close in New York, while Disney, based in Burbank, California, declined 0.8 percent to $50.08. News Corp. gained 1.6 percent to $24.67 after posting better-than-expected earnings after markets closed yesterday. CBS Corp., owner of the most-watched network, fell 1.3 percent to $34. Of the major newscasts, Fox News increased its audience by 27 percent. CBS and NBC both rose about 1 percent, while the others registered declines. To contact the reporter on this story: Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at afixmer@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.

Hard Rock, Aabar Properties to Build Five-Star Abu Dhabi Hotel

Hard Rock International Inc. and Aabar Properties, a unit of Aabar Investments PJSC, agreed to build a five-star hotel in Abu Dhabi. The 378-room Hard Rock Hotel Abu Dhabi will overlook the Arabian Gulf and include, restaurants, a sky bar and a spa, the companies said today in a statement. It will be the first Hard Rock hotel in the Middle East. To contact the reporter on this story: Zainab Fattah in Dubai on zfattah@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Blackman at ablackman@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.

Singapore Stocks: Fraser & Neave, Keppel Corp., OKP Holdings

Singapore ’s Straits Times Index dropped 0.8 percent to 2,740.74 as of 11:47 a.m. local time. Four stocks fell for each that rose in the benchmark gauge of 30 companies. The following shares were among the most active in the market. Stock symbols are in parentheses after the company names. Oil-rig builders: The world’s biggest makers of offshore oil platforms dropped after crude oil futures headed for second day of decline. Keppel Corp. (KEP) slipped 1.2 percent to S$9.40. Sembcorp Marine Ltd. (SMM) declined 1.5 percent to S$3.87. CCM Group Ltd. (CCM) , a construction company, climbed 6.2 percent to 10.3 Singapore cents. The company won a contract, valued at S$5.9 million ($4.6 million), for the restoration of a temple in Singapore. Fraser & Neave Ltd. (FNN) , a property developer and beverage maker, rose 0.8 percent to S$6.34. Nomura Holdings Inc. reiterated its “buy” rating on the stock with a share-price forecast of S$7.29, citing steady growth in its brewery business and improving profit margins at its softdrinks operations. OKP Holdings Ltd. (OKP) , a road builder, increased 1.9 percent to 54.5 Singapore cents. OCBC Investment Research reiterated its “buy” rating on the stock. OKP may win more government contracts, further boosting its current order book of more than S$400 million, analyst Benjamin Lim wrote in a note to clients yesterday. SMRT Corp. (MRT) , Singapore’s biggest commuter-train operator, gained 0.9 percent to S$1.785. UOB-Kay Hian Holdings Ltd. raised its rating on the stock to “hold” from “sell,” saying the opening of the Bayfront station next month near the Marina Bay Sands integrated casino-resort will boost ridership. To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Burgos in Singapore at jburgos4@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@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.

Secretary of State Kerry Expresses Concern Over Libya Violence

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed concern about clashes in Libya between government-affiliated militias and protesters that the Associated Press reported to have killed at least 47 people since yesterday. Soldiers and the militias today attacked a military base occupied by gunmen in Tripoli, killing four in addition to the 43 protesters who were killed the day before when militias fired on a crowd urging the breakup of armed groups, the AP said. The political unrest and clashes in Libya may curtail oil production in the North African country and push prices higher next year, the International Energy Agency said Nov. 14. ``If a free people are going to succeed in forging a peaceful, secure, and prosperous country with a government based on the rule of law and respect for human rights, then there can be no place for this kind of violence in the new Libya,’’ Kerry said in a statement today. Libya enjoyed a burst of unity after the 2011 NATO-backed war that ousted Muammar Qaddafi and during the first fully democratic vote in more than 50 years a year later. Since then, militias from Benghazi, Misrata and Zintan, who led fighting against Qaddafi, have been using force to exact political concessions and seek a looser federation. Radical Islamists have meanwhile been attempting to carve out a base in the east. To contact the reporter on this story: Silla Brush in Washington at sbrush@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steven Komarow at skomarow1@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.

Samarco Names Ricardo Vescovi De Aragao as New CEO From Jan. 1

Samarco Mineracao SA, a joint venture between Vale SA (VALE3) and BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) , said it named Ricardo Vescovi de Aragao as Chief Executive Officer starting on Jan. 1. Vescovi de Aragao, currently Samarco’s operations director, will replace Jose Tadeu de Moraes, the Belo Horizonte, Brazil-based company said today in an e-mailed statement sent by an external public relations company. 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.

Lira Gains for Second Day as Central Bank Extends Tighter Policy

The lira strengthened for a second day after the Turkish central bank continued to refrain from lending at its lowest policy rate to slow the currency’s depreciation. The lira gained 0.3 percent to 1.8427 per dollar at 5:30 p.m. in Istanbul, paring this week’s decline to 0.4 percent in the third week of losses. While the lira weakened 4.6 percent this month against the dollar, it has fared better than all the other currencies in the Europe , Middle East and Africa region after the Israeli shekel and the Icelandic koruna. Central bank Governor Erdem Basci has forecast inflation will fall to 6.5 percent by the end of this year from the current pace of 11.1 percent. “The lira has been a good trade and the central bank’s stance is a factor in this,” Bulent Topbas, a fund manager at Strateji Menkul Degerler AS in Istanbul, said in e-mailed comments. The central bank refrained from lending at its lowest 5.75 percent policy rate for a fifth day. It lent 6 billion liras ($3.24 billion) in its one-week repurchase auction at 10.8 percent today. The bank varies its policy rates daily between 5.75 percent and 11.5 percent within the so-called interest rate corridor to support the currency. The yield on two-year benchmark debt gained 1 basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 9.53 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Yields increased two basis points this week, paring this year’s drop to 148 basis points. To contact the reporter on this story: Selcuk Gokoluk in Istanbul at sgokoluk@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.

Barclays Capital Profit Drops by 33% in ‘Challenging’ Market

Barclays Plc (BARC) , the U.K.’s third- largest bank by assets, said pretax profit at its Barclays Capital investment banking unit declined by 33 percent after revenue from fixed income, currencies and commodities trading fell in a “challenging” market. The unit, run by Jerry Del Missier and Rich Ricci , reported a 15 percent drop in revenue to 3.28 billion pounds ($5.43 billion) in the three months to March 31 against the same period last year, while pretax profit fell by a third to 982 million pounds, the London-based company said in a statement today. The shares dropped the most in eight months in London trading. “Barclays Capital was clearly disappointing,” in terms of top-line revenue, said Cormac Leech, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity Ltd. in London, who has a “buy” rating on the stock. “Expect Barclays to underperform today.” Barclays cut its return-on-equity target in February to 13 percent as higher capital requirements from regulators eroded profitability, and warned today that costs may rise as a result of proposals from the U.K. banking commission. UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) , Switzerland ’s largest banks, this week posted declines in net income for the first quarter as investment banking revenue slowed. Barclays Capital had accounting losses of 351 million pounds on the value of its own debt compared with 102 million pounds in the year-earlier period. Revenue from fixed income, currency and commodities trading fell 22 percent to 2.11 billion pounds. Equities and prime services revenue rose 11 percent to 545 million pounds, the bank said. Compensation costs were 44 percent of revenue, compared with 43 percent for 2010. Operations Review Barclays declined 5.1 percent to 286.6 pence at 12:13 p.m., the biggest decline in the 48-member Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index. “With modest disappointment on Barcap revenues, today’s numbers will underwhelm,” wrote Ian Gordon , an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas in a note to investors today. Net income for the entire bank was 5 percent lower at 1.01 billion pounds than the 1.07 billion pounds posted in the same period of 2010. Analysts estimated the lender would post a profit of 1.21 billion pounds, according to four surveyed by Bloomberg. The bank made a good start this year “in a challenging external environment,” Chief Executive Officer Robert Diamond said in the statement. “We remain content with the current consensus for 2011,” the bank said. Protium Consolidated Barclays will consolidate $10.2 billion of debt managed by Protium Finance LP into its accounts. Barclays sold the debt in 2009 to Protium, a fund run by former Barclays executives, to reduce losses linked to credit market volatility. The bank today posted a 190 million-pound write-back on a loan to Protium. Analysts estimate pretax profit of 6.94 billion pounds for 2011, according to the Barclays website. Diamond is reviewing the bank’s operations and may sell or close some of the third of its operations that don’t generate sufficient returns. Loan impairment provisions fell 39 percent to 921 million pounds compared with the same period a year earlier. Pretax profit from Barclays’s consumer and business banking unit rose 21 percent to 692 million pounds as earnings from Barclaycard more than doubled and bad debt provisions fell. Changes that may be introduced by the U.K.’s Independent Commission on Banking may increase costs for shareholders, Diamond told shareholders at the bank’ annual meeting in London today. ‘Fuller Picture’ “When we have a fuller picture, we will be able to assess their proposals in relation to the costs they add,” he said. The government-sponsored commission recommended this month that the U.K.’s biggest banks should boost capital, implement plans for an orderly bankruptcy and erect fire breaks around their consumer units to boost the stability of the financial system. RBS CEO Stephen Hester said last week that creating fire breaks around lenders’ retail units won’t make them safer. Libor Confirmation Barclays also confirmed it is being investigated by U.K. and U.S. regulators into the setting of the daily London interbank offered rate. Regulators “are conducting investigations relating to certain past submissions made by Barclays to the British Bankers’ Association, which sets Libor rates,” Barclays said in the statement. “We are cooperating with the investigations.” To contact the reporters on this story: Gavin Finch at gfinch@bloomberg.net ; Jon Menon in London at jmenon1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Edward Evans at eevans3@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.

Toronto-Dominion Bank’s Clark Says Housing Boom Is a ’Concern’

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) Chief Executive Officer Edmund Clark said Canada ’s banks have a “genuine concern” about the country’s housing boom and rising debt levels among consumers. “Household debt numbers are coming up to U.S. levels, so that is causing us a concern,” Clark, 64, said today in an interview on Bloomberg Television. Canada’s situation is different from what happened in the U.S. that led to a housing correction, according to Clark. Canadian household debt rose to a record 153 percent of disposable income in the third quarter of 2011 as borrowing increased, Statistics Canada said Dec. 13. That compares to 146 percent in the U.S. “There’s nothing going on in Canada like what happened in the United States because the banks own the mortgages, we put them on our own balance sheet,” Clark said. “But it doesn’t mean we couldn’t have a problem where we grew too fast the household debt and housing prices rose.” The Canadian government prefers that banks “tweak” their own lending standards rather than it imposing “major tightening” of mortgage-lending rules, Clark said. “They’re worried that the Canadian economy is slowing down right now and that’s taking out a bazooka,” Clark said. Toronto-Dominion, the country’s second-largest bank, has raised borrowing costs for higher-risk borrowers while offsetting that by cutting rates for people with good credit, Clark said. To contact the reporters on this story: Doug Alexander in Toronto at dalexander3@bloomberg.net ; Trish Regan in New York at tregan8@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Scheer at dscheer@bloomberg.net ; David Scanlan at dscanlan@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.

China Money Rate Drops for 10th Day, Longest Streak in 14 Months

China ’s benchmark money-market rate dropped for a 10th day, the longest stretch in almost 14 months, as the central bank refrained from draining funds from the financial system in the wake of the worst cash crunch on record. The People’s Bank of China hadn’t conducted repurchase-agreement operations as of 9:20 a.m. in Shanghai, according to a trader at a primary dealer required to bid at the auctions. The PBOC has also not sold bills since June 20, when both the overnight and seven-day repo rates climbed to all-time highs. “The market is reassured that the central bank will come to the rescue if liquidity gets tight,” said Song Qiuhong, a bond analyst at Foshan Shunde Rural Commercial Bank Co. in Foshan, a city in the southern province of Guangdong. The seven-day repo rate fell 32 basis points, or 0.32 percentage point, to 3.91 percent as of 10:06 a.m. in Shanghai, according to a weighted average compiled by the National Interbank Funding Center. A daily fixing averaged 6.81 percent last month, the highest in data going back to the start of 2004, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The PBOC signaled June 25 that any liquidity support during the cash squeeze would be focused on banks that lend to help the economy. China may have difficulty realizing its 7.5 percent growth target this year, 21st Century Business Herald reported today, citing Fan Jianping, chief economist at the State Information Center. The one-day repurchase rate climbed six basis points to 3.37 percent, according to the National Interbank Funding Center. The one-year interest-rate swap contract, the fixed cost needed to receive the floating seven-day repurchase rate, rose one basis point to 3.82 percent, data compiled by Bloomberg show. --Judy Chen. Editors: Simon Harvey, Andrew Janes To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Judy Chen in Shanghai at xchen45@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Regan at jregan19@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.

Singapore Extends Contract to Host Formula One Race Until 2017

Singapore extended its contract to host a Formula One race for five years till 2017, providing a continued boost to the economy from visitor arrivals and tourism receipts. The agreement to renew the contract was reached yesterday, said S. Iswaran, Singapore’s second trade minister, who oversees the tourism industry. The Singapore Grand Prix has attracted more than 150,000 international visitors over the past four years and generated about S$140 million ($114 million) to S$150 million in tourism revenue annually, with benefits to the economy expected to remain “at least at this level” for the extended period, he said. “F-1 has been good for Singapore,” Iswaran said as the city stages the night race for the fifth time today. “Negotiations have taken some time because all parties had specific objectives.” Singapore is seeking to encourage tourists to spend more by offering marquee events such as Formula One and other attractions as a faltering global recovery threatens to curtail growth in visitor arrivals. Tourism spending is expected to increase as much as 8 percent to S$24 billion this year, according to government estimates. McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton holds pole position for today’s race at the Marina Bay street circuit with Pastor Maldonado of Williams second and two-time defending world champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull starting third. The race begins at 8 p.m. in Singapore. Co-Funding The grand prix costs S$150 million to organize, with the Singapore government co-funding 60 percent, Iswaran said. “We expect to achieve a further reduction in the net cost to government through a combination of factors including optimization of infrastructure, operational efficiencies in race organization and revised terms with the race promoter and Formula One administration,” he said. Singapore forecast arrivals to rise to 17 million and tourism spending to S$30 billion by 2015. The opening of two casino resorts that include a downtown convention center and a Universal Studios theme park spurred a 13 percent increase in visitors last year after a 20 percent climb in 2010. The country expects tourist arrivals to rise as much as 9.8 percent to 14.5 million in 2012. To contact the reporter on this story: Shamim Adam in Singapore at sadam2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Tighe at ptighe@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.

Vonn Wins Second Straight World Cup Downhill Race in Canada

Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn beat fellow American Stacey Cook to complete a sweep of the women’s World Cup downhill ski races in Canada this weekend. Vonn, 28, posted a time of 1 minute, 52.90 seconds to win her sixth straight downhill at Lake Louise, Alberta. Vonn, who was hospitalized last month in Colorado for severe intestinal pain, got the 28th World Cup downhill win of her career. Vonn trailed Cook by about a half second after taking a wide turn midway through her run. She rebounded over the second part of the course to win by 0.52 seconds. “I almost went into the fence and somehow kept it going,” Vonn said on the U.S. Ski Team’s website. “It was definitely interesting but I didn’t give up. I haven’t won with that big of a mistake before.” Vonn has 55 World Cup victory to tie Switzerland’s Vreni Schneider for second all-time. Austria ’s Annemarie Moser-Proell holds the record with 62 wins. Vonn, the four-time overall World Cup champion, won the downhill Nov. 30 and will try to duplicate last year’s three- race sweep in Canada in today’s super-G. Cook’s best World Cup finish before this weekend was a fourth place in Lake Louise six years ago. Switzerland’s Marianne Kaufmann-Abderhalden was 0.62 seconds back in third place. Leads Standings Vonn leads the season downhill standings with 200 points, 40 more than Cook. Slovenia’s Tina Maze , who finished 10th today, continues to lead the overall standings with 347 points, with Vonn moving up to fourth with 210 points. Italy’s Matteo Marsaglia won his first World Cup title by taking the men’s super-G on the Birds of Prey slope in Beaver Creek, Colorado. “I had been close to the podium last year so I knew I could do it, especially in super-G,” Marsaglia, 27, said on the World Cup website. “I have always loved this slope.” Marsaglia had a time of 1:14.68, 0.27 seconds faster than Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal. Hannes Reichelt of Austria finished 0.70 seconds behind in third. Svindal leads the overall standings with 360 points, 140 more than American Ted Ligety, heading into tomorrow’s giant slalom. The Norwegian also has a 51-point lead over Marsaglia in the super-G standings. To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Bensch in London at bbensch@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.

Esprit CFO Resigns Amid Rebuilding Efforts

Esprit Holdings Ltd. (330) Chief Financial Officer Chew Fook Aun quit for personal reasons as the largest Hong Kong-listed apparel company seeks to revive earnings after profit plunged 98 percent last fiscal year. Chew’s resignation will take effect by June 1 as he is “unable to spend the required time in Europe,” Esprit said in a statement yesterday. The Hong Kong-based company, which on Sept. 15 said its brand had “lost its soul,” faces declining sales on the continent, where it made 79 percent of revenue in the 12 months through June. Chief Executive Officer Ronald Van der Vis has said he plans to turn the retailer around by improving fashion designs to revive earnings in Europe while doubling China sales in four years. Esprit is looking in and out of the company for Chew’s replacement, Van der Vis said on a conference call yesterday. “It’s going to raise a lot of questions as to why a member of the senior management resigns so suddenly,” Francis Lun, managing director at Lyncean Holdings Ltd. said. “It’s going to be a blow to investor confidence, especially as the company is undergoing some strategic changes and re-branding.” Esprit rose the most in almost two months on Hong Kong’s stock exchange yesterday, after saying it would would a hold conference call at 5 p.m. local time. It climbed 8.7 percent, the biggest gain since Oct. 13, to HK$11.98 at the 4 p.m. close of trading, making it the biggest gainer on the benchmark Hang Seng Index. Transformation Plan The stock has plunged 91 percent from its highest close of HK$127.744 on Oct. 30, 2007 as rivals including Hennes & Mauritz AB and Inditex SA’s Zara lured customers away. It has slumped more than 34 percent since Sept. 15, when it reported full-year earnings. The casual clothing chain has begun “grouping various strategic functions in its business headquarters in Ratingen, Germany ,” the company said in the statement. “This would also require the group chief financial officer to travel extensively to Europe to supervise the implementation of the transformation plan.” It has no plans to move its financial headquarters out of Hong Kong, Van der Vis said on the conference call. Same-store sales in Europe fell 9.2 percent in local currency terms in the three months through September. Esprit on Oct. 31 said it faced ’’an increasingly challenging business environment’’ in its biggest market. Closing Stores Chew was appointed chief financial officer in February 2009. He held the same position at The Link Management Ltd., manager of the Link Real Estate Investment Trust. He was also CFO at Kerry Properties Ltd. from 1996 to 2004. Chew, who boosted his stake in Esprit last month by buying 100,000 shares, will pursue a career “outside the company,” according to the statement. The company posted a 98 percent drop in net income last fiscal year because of the cost of closing stores in Europe and selling its U.S. and Canada operations. Sales in the year through June increased less than 1 percent after declining in the previous two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The retailer that started in California more than 40 years ago hired the brand director of Hennes & Mauritz in 2010 to rejuvenate its fashions, which Van der Vis said in September “became too safe and boring.” Esprit hired Holly Li, Adidas AG’s general manager for north China, to be its CEO in the country starting Feb. 1, it said last month. Gisele Bundchen Van der Vis plans HK$7 billion in capital spending over four years, mostly to expand or refurbish stores. A further HK$11.5 billion will be allocated to operational spending, of which HK$6.8 billion is for branding, Van der Vis said in September at his earnings presentation, made in front of a backdrop featuring supermodel Gisele Bundchen. A marketing campaign has already increased “consumer consideration” in both Germany and China, according to an investor presentation last month. Esprit made 42 percent of last fiscal year’s HK$33.8 billion sales in Germany, with 7.9 percent coming from China, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Esprit, with a market value of about $2 billion as of yesterday, traded at 46 cents per dollar of revenue, the second lowest of clothing companies valued at more than $1 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The only company that ranked lower, at 43 cents, was Aoyama Trading Co. , a Japanese menswear chain that has reported five consecutive years of declining profit, the data show. H&M traded at 3.25 times its sales yesterday, while Inditex was at 3.02. Esprit is “on track” with its plan to close 80 stores worldwide, including 24 in Germany, according to the investor presentation. It had more than 1,100 directly managed retail stores, of which 300 were in China, as of June. Esprit also had more than 11,700 wholesale outlets, which include franchises and shops in stores. To contact the reporter on this story: Vinicy Chan in Hong Kong at vchan91@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Frank Longid at flongid@bloomberg.net ; Stephanie Wong at swong139@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.

SeaWorld Tumbles After Cutting 2013 Sales Forecast

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. (SEAS) , the operator of theme parks featuring killer whales, fell as much as 14 percent after cutting its forecast for 2013 sales as attendance fell in the second quarter. The stock dropped as low as $31.40 in extended trading yesterday after declining 0.4 percent to $36.31 at the close in New York. The company went public in April at $27 a share. SeaWorld, controlled by Blackstone Group LP (BX) , forecast full-year revenue of $1.45 billion to $1.48 billion, according to a statement yesterday. In May, it projected sales of $1.46 billion to $1.49 billion. Analysts on average had estimated $1.5 billion for the year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. SeaWorld, which operates 11 parks, said attendance fell 9 percent to about 6.6 million guests in the second quarter, from a year earlier, in part because it raised ticket prices and the Easter holiday fell in the previous quarter. The company, which opened its Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin attraction in Orlando in May, has increased investment under Blackstone, adding 11 attractions last year. Visitors in Florida and Virginia were also discouraged by heavier than usual rainfall, Chief Executive Officer Jim Atchison said in a conference call with investors. “We’ve dealt with different weather patterns before,” Atchison said. “The fundamentals of our business we’re quite pleased with and are very strong.” Lower Attendance Sales for the three months ending in June fell 3.4 percent to $411.3 million, reflecting the lower park attendance. Analysts had forecast $436.7 million. Profit of 41 cents a share, excluding items, exceeded the 39-cent average of nine analysts’ estimates. The company, based in Orlando, Florida, said higher ticket prices and increased spending by guests at parks helped boost revenue per visitor by 7 percent in the quarter. SeaWorld is the focus of a critical documentary now in theaters called “Blackfish,” which chronicles the life of a killer whale. Fred Jacobs, a spokesman for the company, said visitor attendance and its sales forecast were unaffected by the film. The company’s forecast for full-year profit, measured as adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, was unchanged at $430 million to $440 million. Blackstone, the world’s largest private-equity firm, bought SeaWorld from Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ABI) in 2009 and has a 63 percent stake in the company. To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Palmeri in Los Angeles at cpalmeri1@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.

Sinovel Says Company Is Under Investigation by Chinese Regulator

Sinovel Wind Group Co. (601558) , China’s third-biggest maker of wind turbines, said it’s being investigated for suspected violations of securities laws and regulations. The company received a notice from China Securities Regulatory Commission on the decision to start the probe, and will cooperate, according to a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday. The statement didn’t provide more details. Sinovel, based in Beijing, in March revised down 2011 profit by 22 percent to 607.4 million yuan ($99.1 million) due to an accounting error. The turbine company also is embroiled in a legal dispute with Devens, Massachusetts-based American Superconductor Corp. (AMSC) , which is seeking more than $1.2 billion in damages in Chinese courts from its former largest customer. AMSC accused Sinovel of stealing its technology and violating sales contracts. To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Zhang Dingmin in Beijing at dzhang14@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.

Asian Stocks Swing Between Gains and Losses on Greek Bonds; Toyota Climbs

Asian stocks swung between gains and losses after European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet indicated his willingness to sanction bond rollovers in Greece, helping tame concern the global economic recovery is faltering. Mazda Motor Corp. (7261) , the Japanese automaker that gets about 18 percent of sales from Europe, added 1 percent. Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) climbed 2.2 percent as the company plants announce earnings forecasts this week, boosting confidence that the world’s No. 1 carmaker is recovering after production was disrupted after the March earthquake. Macquarie Group Ltd. (MQG) , Australia’s biggest investment bank, sank 2.1 percent after Citigroup Inc. recommended investors sell the stock. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.1 percent to 133.70 as of 7:32 p.m. in Tokyo , erasing a loss of as much as 0.4 percent. Five stocks climbed for every four that retreated in the gauge. About $320 billion has been erased from the market value of the measure since the year’s peak on May 2 amid disappointing economic data, capped by last week’s U.S. jobs report. “We seem to be seeing a global synchronized slowdown,” Daphne Roth , Singapore-based head of Asian equity research ABN- Amro Private Bank, said on Bloomberg Television. “Asian markets are pretty cheap now. We may wait for a couple months until we can see some direction and that will be a good entry point.” The MSCI Asia Pacific gauge slid 3 percent this year through yesterday, compared with a gain of 2.3 percent by the S&P 500 and a drop of 1.3 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 13.5 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 13 times for the S&P 500 and 11 times for the Stoxx 600. Regional Indexes Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index slid 0.1 percent, paring losses of as much as 0.8 percent. The Reserve Bank of Australia left its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a sixth straight meeting as signs of moderating employment growth indicate inflation will stay contained. The nation’s currency declined. South Korea’s Kospi Index (KOSPI) dropped 0.7 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index decreased 0.4 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite Index added 0.6 percent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average climbed 0.7 percent after swinging between gains and losses at least 10 times. Tokyo Electric Co., the owner of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant crippled by the March earthquake and tsunami, rebounded from a record low after the Japanese government said liquidating the utility would cause problems and must be avoided. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index last week capped its longest streak of weekly losses since the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008 as reports showed manufacturing growth from China, the U.S. and Europe slowed in May, adding to signs that momentum is weakening in a global economy facing headwinds from rising commodity costs and financial shocks. ‘Emerge Stronger’ ECB’s Trichet gave his first signal endorsing measures to encourage investors to buy new Greek bonds to replace maturing securities as officials seek to stem the nation’s debt crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel told President Barack Obama the euro region will overcome its debt crisis and “emerge strengthened,” Steffen Seibert, Merkel’s chief spokesman, said after the two leaders met in Washington. Mazda Corp., the Japanese carmaker that relies on Europe the most, increased 1 percent to 198 yen in Tokyo. HTC Corp. (2498) , the Taiwanese maker of smartphones that counts Europe as its second-biggest source of revenue, climbed 3.6 percent to NT$1,285 in Taipei. Billabong International Ltd., the world’s biggest surfwear maker that gets 23 percent of sales from Europe, added 0.7 percent to A$6.12 in Sydney. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 0.6 percent today. In New York yesterday, the index retreated 1.1 percent to the lowest level since March 18, falling for a fourth day amid concern economic growth is slowing and the Federal Reserve will boost capital requirements for the nation’s largest banks. Toyota, Tepco Rallies Toyota climbed 2.2 percent to 3,285 yen in Tokyo. The company said it will announce full-year earnings forecasts for the year ending in March 2012 on June 10 in Tokyo. The carmaker has delayed the announcement because supply chain disruptions from the quake have made it difficult to predict production levels. Tokyo Electric gained 4.4 percent to 216 yen, after plunging 28 percent to a record low yesterday. Tepco, as the utility company is known, rebounded Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the power company’s liquidation should be avoided to protect victims of the disaster entitled to compensation. Edano was responding to comments yesterday by Tokyo Stock Exchange President Atsushi Saito , who said Tokyo Electric should be put into bankruptcy protection. Hacker Attacks Sony Corp. (6758) , the maker of PlayStation gaming consoles and Bravia televisions, dropped 1.5 percent to 2,031 yen in Tokyo, heading for its fourth day of decline. Sony said its Brazilian website was attacked by cyber intruders two days after hackers broke in to its European site. Hacker attacks since April that had compromised more than 100 million customer accounts may cost the company 14 billion yen ($175 million). Canon Inc. (7751) , the world’s largest maker of cameras, slumped 2.6 percent to 3,745 yen after announcing it completed a 50 billion yen stock buyback. Macquarie sank 2.1 percent to A$32 in Sydney after Citigroup lowered its rating to “sell” from “hold,” saying, Australia’s biggest investment bank is falling behind rivals in generating fees for mergers and acquisitions. To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan Burgos in Singapore at jburgos4@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@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.

Frieze Scene: Damien Hirst, Billionaire Pinchuk, Saatchi

Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk launched his third $100,000 Future Generation Art Prize (for young talent) at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery , the new scene-shaper by Zaha Hadid. Pinchuk’s guests included Marc Quinn and Damien Hirst. When a guest noted 52-year-old Pinchuk’s relative youth (by billionaire standards), the Ukrainian shared a hug with Hirst and cried, “Young British artist -- young Ukrainian collector!” Hirst, 48, in a suit jacket and jeans, recalled how, in his younger days, artists just wanted to be in five galleries. “Now artists question everything, so they’re not just taking the gallery system as it exists,” he said. “They’re inventing their own futures.” Also attending was Olafur Eliasson , the Danish-Icelandic artist whose artificial sun at Tate Modern was one of the most-loved lobby installations. Slideshow: The Frieze London Art Fair Eliasson said he’s working on “Little Sun” -- an environmental project that markets little solar-powered, sun-shaped lamps for 20 euros ($27) via www.littlesun.com and uses the cash to bring electricity to communities without it. He handed over a unit powered by the sunlight in Berlin. “It’s a small power plant that you can hold in your hand,” he explained. “It also gives you personal energy, meaning that it makes you stronger.” Rubell’s Womb Jennifer Rubell presented her new interactive work at the Frieze London fair this week. It’s a large white reclining sculpture of her recently pregnant self with a belly-area cavity viewers can crawl into. During the preview, more than one grown man curled up inside. After posing for photographers inside the womb, Rubell took time out to talk at the Stephen Friedman Gallery booth. She said her body was scanned when she was eight months pregnant, and the belly digitally carved out, “creating the void.” Friedman announced he’d sold one of the sculptures (from an edition of three) for $200,000. Video: The Art of Selling Art at London's Frieze Art Fair The night before collector Charles Saatchi sold artworks in a Christie’s sale, the auction house threw a huge party in a factory-sized former postal depot in London. There to be inspected were Kader Attia’s “Ghost” (2007) -- 264 foil sculptures of Muslim women kneeling for prayer -- and Jake and Dinos Chapman’s “Tragic Anatomies” (1996), a forest of mutant, mating nudes. Tracey Emin’s “To Meet My Past” bed looked so cozy, a guard had to stand by and stop any couples from lying down. It sold last night for 481,875 pounds ($778,854). Tracey Emin's Bed Sells for Record $778,900 in London (Farah Nayeri writes for Muse, the arts & leisure section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.) Muse highlights include the New York and London weekend guides , Scott Reyburn on the art market, Lewis Lapham on history, Jeremy Gerard on U.S. theater and Amanda Gordon’s Scene Last Night. To contact the writer on the story: Farah Nayeri in London at Farahn@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoff@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 Slide as Salzgitter, Continental Drop

German stocks fell for a second day amid speculation the Federal Reserve will ease its bond-buying program as soon as next month. Salzgitter AG (SZG) slid 3.8 percent as Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Inc. cut their recommendations on the steelmaker. Continental AG (CON) retreated 1.3 percent after MainFirst Bank AG downgraded the tiremaker’s shares. GSW Immobilien AG (GIB) surged by a record after Deutsche Wohnen AG (DWNI) offered to buy Berlin’s biggest publicly traded residential landlord in an all-share transaction. Deutsche Wohnen lost 4.7 percent. The DAX Index (DAX) sank 0.8 percent to 8,300.03 at the close of trading in Frankfurt. The benchmark gauge has fallen 2.7 percent from its all-time high on May 22 as Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the U.S. central bank could pare stimulus measures if the world’s largest economy improves in line with forecasts. The broader HDAX Index also declined 0.8 percent today. “Momentum is fading on stocks today as tapering in the U.S., growth concerns in Asia and a stagnant economy in Europe are on the minds of equity investors,” Daniel Weston, a portfolio manager at Aimed Capital GmbH in Munich, wrote in an e-mail. Minutes of the Fed’s July 30-31 meeting to be released tomorrow may indicate when central bankers plan to trim purchases of $85 billion of debt a month. Officials will probably begin to reduce the buying next month, according to 65 percent of economists surveyed by Bloomberg on Aug. 9-13. Salzgitter Downgrade Salzgitter, Germany’s second-biggest steelmaker, lost 3.8 percent to 28.34 euros. Citigroup downgraded the shares to neutral from buy, citing overcapacity that may limit price increases. Morgan Stanley cut the stock to underweight, similar to a sell rating, from equal weight, saying the shares have “run materially ahead of fundamentals.” Continental, Europe’s second-largest auto-parts maker, lost 1.3 percent to 117.65 euros as MainFirst downgraded the shares to underperform from outperform. Preferred shares of Volkswagen AG led automakers lower, falling 1.8 percent to 180.70 euros. Porsche SE slid 2.3 percent to 66.16 euros. Daimler AG (DAI) , the world’s third-biggest luxury-vehicle maker, declined 1 percent to 54.59 euros. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG slid 1.3 percent to 74.05 euros. HeidelbergCement AG (HEI) , the third-largest maker of cement, lost 2.5 percent to 54.42 euros. Industry peer CRH Plc pared its second-half earnings guidance, citing weak demand from the euro region. HeidelbergCement slid 4 percent yesterday as UBS AG downgraded Swiss rival Holcim Ltd. GSW Gains GSW Immobilien surged 6.3 percent to 33.45 euros, the biggest gain since its initial public offering in April 2011. Deutsche Wohnen will offer 51 new shares for every 20 GSW shares, valuing GSW’s equity at about 1.75 billion euros ($2.3 billion), according to a statement today. Deutsche Wohnen said GSW will own about 43 percent of the combined company if all shareholders accept the offer. Shares in Deutsche Wohnen, which has 90,000 apartments across Germany , tumbled 4.7 percent to 13.49 euros, its biggest decline since May 2012. To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Stoukas in Athens at astoukas@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.

Egypt Islamists Call for Protest Over Army’s Power Move

Egypt ’s ruling generals warned they are willing to use force to prevent chaos as protesters led by the Muslim Brotherhood gathered in Cairo to condemn the expansion of army powers. The military council said on state television that orders issued “in the name of the people” must be respected, defending a decree last week that widened its authority at the expense of the presidency, and a court ruling dissolving parliament. The council said it’s “not justified” to claim victory in the presidential election before official results. The Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi, who declared himself the winner over former premier Ahmed Shafik hours after polls closed on June 17, told reporters in Cairo today that he rejected the army’s orders. Shafik has also said he expects to win. Official results, initially due yesterday, haven’t been announced. The army’s statement comes as thousands gathered in the capital’s Tahrir Square , waving Egyptian flags, after Friday prayers to denounce the army’s new powers, as well as the dissolution of parliament and measures allowing the military to arrest civilians. Al Jazeera television said there were similar demonstrations across the country. ‘Peaceful Protests’ Mursi said peaceful protests will continue and the military’s decree expanding its powers would require approval in a referendum. Mursi said he accepts the court ruling that some of the laws under which parliament was elected are invalid, but rejects the right of the military to dissolve the elected assembly. The Brotherhood and other Islamist and secular groups say the army’s acts amount to a coup and have derailed the transition to democracy after the revolt against Hosni Mubarak last year. The delay in election results has added to the concern, which the generals have sought to allay by reiterating a pledge to cede power this month. Egypt’s benchmark dollar bonds tumbled today, heading for their biggest loss this year. The military’s decrees “are the latest indication yet that there won’t be a meaningful handover to civilian rule,” Human Rights Watch ’s deputy Middle East director, Joe Stork , said in an e-mailed statement. He said the army’s newly issued authority to arrest civilians goes “far beyond their powers under Hosni Mubarak.” Fraud Allegations Egypt’s election commission said on its website that it is examining allegations of fraud by both campaigns. They have filed more than 400 complaints, such as voters casting multiple ballots or using the names of dead people, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported. The results may be released on June 23 or 24, said the commission’s secretary-general, Hatem Bagato, according to the state-run Ahram Gate website. The U.S.-based Carter Center , which monitored the vote, said in an e-mailed statement that its observers didn’t find “evidence of major or systematic flaws in the voting and counting processes.” Egypt’s economy has struggled to recover since the revolt last year, as tourists and investors stayed away. Political tensions have stalled efforts to negotiate a $3.2 billion loan accord with the International Monetary Fund. The past week’s turmoil has left the country in a “no-win situation” which is “the worst scenario for investors,” said Said Hirsh, an economist at Capital Economics in London. ‘Major Social Unrest’ Egypt’s dollar bonds maturing in 2020 extended their slide today, pushing yields up 44 basis points to 7.8 percent at 3:45 p.m. in London. Credit default risk rose to the highest since 2008 yesterday. “A win for Shafik will most probably lead to major social unrest and perhaps a second revolution as the pro-revolutionary forces are unlikely to accept the result,” Hirsh said in an e- mailed response to questions. If Mursi wins, he will “have very little power” and “it is unlikely that any new economic policy will transpire.” Shafik, a former air force commander who briefly served as premier in the last weeks of Mubarak’s rule, ran on a law-and- order platform, highlighting the deterioration of security since the revolt last year. He told a press conference late yesterday that he is confident of winning, and accused the Brotherhood of pre-empting the count and trying to pressure the election committee through protests. Christian Deputy Mursi portrayed himself as the “revolutionary” candidate. He won backing from some secular activist groups, such as the April 6 youth movement, which played a prominent role in the revolt against Mubarak and have been critical of Islamist tactics since then. He met with April 6 and other activists before today’s announcement. Mursi said today that he may appoint an independent premier and nominate vice-presidents from outside the Brotherhood’s party. They may include a woman and a Christian, he said. The army decree, issued shortly after ballot counting began, was part of a wider push to “militarize the state,” according to Ghozlan. The measure keeps the military budget exempt from civilian scrutiny, strips the president of his title of supreme commander of the armed forces, and gives the generals control over the writing of a new constitution. To contact the reporter on this story: Mariam Fam at mfam1@bloomberg.net ; Nayla Razzouk in Dubai at nrazzouk2@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@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.

Rice May Rally to $18 as U.S. Crop Is `in Trouble,' Firstgrain Forecasts

Rice futures may surge as much as 36 percent on concern that U.S. crop may be lower than earlier forecast, Milo Hamilton, president of rice market advisory service Firstgrain.com, said today. The price of rough-rice futures may peak at $18 per 100 pounds on the Chicago Board of Trade, Hamilton said at a conference in Singapore today. The most-active contract gained 1.6 percent to $13.465 per 100 pounds at 12:37 p.m. Singapore time, extending a five-day winning streak to 10 percent. “We’ve just begun to rally,” Hamilton said at a conference in Singapore. “What you have out there is a crop that’s in trouble,” he said, referring to the U.S. harvest. Smaller output from the U.S. may limit supplies available to importers after recent flooding slashed harvests in Pakistan, the world’s third-largest shipper last year. The Philippines, the world’s biggest importer, may buy between 500,000 tons to 600,000 tons in mid-December, said Tom Slayton, former publisher of Rice Trader, said in a video address to the same conference today. Indonesia may buy 850,000 tons in the 2010-2011 marketing year, he said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture lowered on Oct. 8 its estimate of the U.S. crop to 7.567 million metric tons, from 7.975 million tons a month earlier, on reduced yields. The nation was forecast by the USDA to overtake Pakistan as the world’s third-largest shipper this year. To contact the reporter on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Richard Dobson at rdobson4@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.

Corporate Cash in State Elections Gets U.S. High Court Scrutiny

The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to reopen the debate over a 2010 ruling that unleashed super-PACs and left federal elections awash in money from big spenders. The justices may say as soon as next week whether they will review, or even overturn, a century-old Montana ban on corporate campaign spending, a law enacted to stop copper moguls from buying influence over the state’s politicians. The court two years ago altered the national political landscape with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which gave companies and unions the right to spend unlimited sums on elections. Outside spending on federal races is more than double what it was four years ago. The Montana Supreme Court ruled that Citizens United didn’t apply to its state-level restrictions. The Supreme Court put a hold on the Montana law in February and now will decide whether to reverse the state court’s decision immediately or schedule arguments in the case for later this year. “The stay is evidence of some appetite of the court to overturn the Montana ruling, or at least revisit Citizens United,” said Paul Ryan , a lawyer for the Campaign Legal Center in Washington, which backs stricter campaign-finance rules. The court is scheduled to consider taking up the Montana case at a private conference today, and the justices may say as early as June 18 how they will handle it. Court Barometer The Montana case will be a barometer of how expansive the Supreme Court intended its 5-4 ruling on Citizens United in January 2010 to be. The case enabled unlimited spending by corporations and organized labor on federal elections as long there is no direct coordination with candidates. At the time of the Citizens United ruling, 22 states had laws banning or restricting spending by corporations and unions, according to a report this month by the Corporate Reform Coalition, made up of 75 organizations and individuals from good-governance groups, environmental groups and organized labor. Those states either repealed their limits or declared that their laws are unenforceable, according to the report. The exception was Montana, which chose to continue enforcing its corporate money ban. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in February that the Montana case provides the court a chance to reconsider Citizens United “in light of the huge sums of money deployed to buy candidates’ allegiance” in the two election cycles since the case was decided. Ginsburg dissented in the Citizens United case. She nonetheless voted to block the Montana law, saying, “Lower courts are bound to follow this court’s decisions until they are withdrawn or modified.” Spending Doubles Outside organizations -- including nonprofits, which don’t have to disclose donors, and super political action committees, which do -- have spent almost $144 million on 2012 federal elections. That’s more than twice what outside groups had spent in the 2008 campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington , which tracks spending. Sheila Krumholz , executive director of the center, estimates that all federal campaigns in 2012 will cost at least $6 billion, about $700 million more than four years ago. Among the notable donors, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson , chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., and his family gave $21.5 million to a super-PAC supporting the failed Republican presidential candidacy of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Bill Maher , the comedian and television personality, gave $1 million to a similar group backing Obama. Horror Stories “The horror stories have simply not come true,” said Bradley Smith, a co-founder of the Center for Competitive Politics , an Alexandria, Virginia-based group that opposes campaign-finance limits. “We thought there would be more spending, and there is. Spending increases voter awareness and interest.” Such spending on state and local races -- which include judgeships, ballot measures and gubernatorial and mayoral posts

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

SUAL Partners May Sell Rusal Stake Over Conflict, Vedomosti Says

SUAL Partners, led by billionaires Viktor Vekselberg and Leonard Blavatnik, is seeking to sell its 15.8 percent stake in United Co. Rusal, Vedomosti reported , citing unidentified people. The move is driven by a dispute with Rusal billionaire Chief Executive Officer Oleg Deripaska, who is declining to sell the company’s stake in OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel with a premium to market, while SUAL favours the sale, the Moscow-based newspaper said. To contact the reporters on this story: Ilya Khrennikov in Moscow at ikhrennikov@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Amanda Jordan at ajordan11@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.

Venezuela Bridge Collapses on Highway From Caracas to East

A bridge on the main highway connecting Venezuela ’s capital Caracas to the eastern part of the oil-producing country collapsed yesterday, restricting transit to cities including Puerto La Cruz. Five vehicles, including a cargo truck were on the bridge when it fell into a river due to an excess of weight at the town of Cupira in Miranda state, 85 miles east of Caracas, the Transport Ministry said in a statement. The government is working to establish temporary bridges and alternative routes, Vice President Elias Jaua said. “We have so-called war bridges to at least establish the transit of light vehicles in the next three days,” Jaua said in comments broadcast on state television, adding that a provisional bridge that can carry heavy loads will be established within 10 to 15 days. “We’re taking measures to guarantee provisions of food and gasoline to the people.” Highway 9 connects Caracas with the oil refining complexes of Jose and Puerto La Cruz. Oil exports won’t be affected by the fallen bridge as crude is loaded onto tankers along the coast. The maintenance of highways has turned into a political issue after President Hugo Chavez handed responsibility to the central government from governorships in 2009, some of which are in the hands of the opposition. ‘Weeks, Months’ “It’s going to take days, weeks, even months to re- establish the bridge,” Adriana D’Elia, who took over as governor of Miranda state when Henrique Capriles Radonski stood down to face Chavez in Oct. 7 presidential elections, said on Globovision. “It’s true that the responsibility for the bridge belongs to the ministry but seeing as we’re in Miranda state the logical thing would be to coordinate.” An alternative route to reach the eastern part of the country via the central Guarico state is in bad condition and will add at least three hours to the journey, Victor Lira, director of the emergency response team in Miranda, said in an interview on Globovision. To contact the reporter on this story: Charlie Devereux in Caracas at cdevereux3@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Philip Sanders at psanders@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.