Wal-Mart vice chairman to retire (Reuters)

(Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) is losing two top e-commerce executives at a time the world's largest retailer is trying to step up online competition with the likes of Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O).

Wal-Mart said on Tuesday that Vice Chairman Eduardo Castro-Wright, head of the e-commerce and sourcing business at Wal-Mart, will retire on July 1 to spend more time with his family.

In separate news, Nestle (NESN.VX) named Wal-Mart's executive vice president of global e-commerce for emerging markets as its new chief financial officer. Wang Ling Martello, who has also worked with Kraft Foods Inc (KFT.N), will join Nestle on April 1.

The departures comes some six weeks after Wal-Mart said it was shaking up its e-commerce structure as it aims to build up its online business. Wal-Mart has had a Web presence for years, but still lags behind competitors in terms of recognition.

Online sales are an important growth strategy for Wal-Mart, which has seen sales at its U.S. discount stores open at least a year fall for two years.

In August the company changed its e-commerce structure, putting the people who run stores in developed markets such as the United States in charge of the websites in those countries. That change included the departure of two other e-commerce executives.

Wal-Mart said on Tuesday it aims to name new leadership for the e-commerce and sourcing businesses by the end of January, after which Castro-Wright will assist in the transition.

Castro-Wright moved to California last year from Wal-Mart's home town of Bentonville, Arkansas to be with his wife, who had a heart transplant.

Castro-Wright joined Wal-Mart in 2001 as chief operating officer of its business in Mexico. He was named president and chief executive of Walmart U.S. in 2005 and took on his current position in August 2010.

Wal-Mart shares closed up 20 cents, or 0.4 percent, at $52.03 on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Martinne Geller; Editing by Richard Chang, Bernard Orr, Phil Berlowitz)

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Businesses beat market blues, boost spending (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. businesses stepped up investment spending in August despite the upheaval caused by bitter political fighting in Washington, and some economists raised their forecast for economic growth for this quarter.

The Commerce Department said on Wednesday that non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending, increased 1.1 percent after falling 0.2 percent in July.

That was well above economists' expectations for a 0.3 percent rise and suggested that businesses, sitting on about $2 trillion in cash, had not responded to the recent financial market volatility by curtailing investment.

"If we were in a recession we would expect to see business orders for capital goods plummeting and they are not," said Richard DeKaser, an economist at Parthenon Group in Boston.

The solid rise in investment spending, which was accompanied by a 2.8 percent rise in shipments of capital goods, prompted some economists to raise forecasts for third-quarter economic growth.

JPMorgan lifted its GDP growth forecast to an annual rate of 1.5 percent from 1.0 percent, while forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers raised their projection to 2.1 percent from 1.7 percent.

Shipments of civilian capital goods orders excluding aircraft go into the calculation of gross domestic product.

"While we don't yet know the split between how much went to domestic versus foreign buyers, this almost certainly implies another solid quarter for capital equipment spending," said Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan in New York.

Stocks on Wall Street initially rose on the data, but gave up gains to trade flat ahead of an audit of Greece's finances to decide whether the nation gets more aid to avoid bankruptcy. Prices for Treasury debt fell, while the dollar rose broadly.

Extreme volatility in financial markets, as politicians in Washington fought over budget policy and Europe struggled to come to grips with its debt crisis, has knocked confidence and raised the risk of a new U.S. recession.

But businesses are showing some confidence in the recovery.

Tech companies, including Intel Corp, International Business Machines Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, this week said they would collectively invest $4.4 billion in facilities developing a new generation of computer chips in New York State.

And last week General Motors Co, the largest U.S. automaker, announced it would invest $2.5 billion in its domestic plants after reaching a labor contract accord.

While businesses are investing in machinery, they have been cautious on hiring. Nonfarm employment failed to grow in September for the first time in a year.

"Poisonous political dialogue and the attacks on business led people to be predictably very cautious, not investing, not wanting to hire," said Blackstone Group chief Stephen Schwarzman at the Lincoln Center Dialogue breakfast series. "The general uncertainty has basically frozen the economy."

MANUFACTURING RESILIENT

Although business spending plans point to continued growth, the report also confirmed a slowing trend in manufacturing.

Overall orders for durable goods -- items ranging from toasters to aircraft meant to last three years or more -- dipped 0.1 percent after a 4.1 percent jump in July.

Orders were held back by an 8.5 percent drop in bookings for motor vehicles -- the largest decline since February last year. Economists, however, blamed the fall on the seasonal adjustment to account for the rollout of new models, which normally happens in August.

The drop in orders, which are quite volatile from month to month, came despite a 23.5 percent rise in orders for civilian aircraft.

Boeing received 127 orders for aircraft, according to the plane maker's web site, up from 115 in July, with Delta Airlines placing an order for 100 planes.

Excluding transportation, orders also slipped 0.1 percent after rising 0.7 percent in July.

But outside of transportation and primary metals, which fell 0.8 percent because of weak commodity prices, details of the report were relatively strong.

Orders for machinery edged up 0.1 percent, while computers and electronic products, capital goods and electrical equipment and appliances rose solidly.

Other details of the report were also supportive of growth, with unfilled orders posting a healthy increase -- indicating factories will keep busy for a while.

In addition, inventories advanced to a record high of $365.3 billion. While that should support third-quarter growth, analysts worried businesses might find themselves with too much stock and could cut back on orders, hurting the fragile economy.

"Unwanted inventory growth is the stuff that turns business expansions into recessions and we are seeing total inventories build at a pace relative to new orders that seems not to be by design," said Steve Blitz, a senior economist at ITG Investment Research in New York.

(Additional reporting by Scott Malone in Boston and Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Neil Stempleman)

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Crude oil supplies rise by 1.9 million barrels (AP)

NEW YORK – The nation's crude oil and gasoline supplies rose last week, the government said Wednesday.

Crude supplies increased by 1.9 million barrels, or 0.8 percent, to 341 million barrels, which is 4.7 percent below year-ago levels, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.

Analysts expected supplies to be unchanged for the week ended Sept. 23, according to Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

Gasoline supplies rose by 800,000 barrels, or 0.4 percent, to 214.9 million barrels. That was less than analysts expected and 3.5 percent below year-ago levels.

Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended Sept. 23 was 2.4 percent lower than a year earlier, averaging 8.9 million barrels a day.

Refineries ran at 87.8 percent of total capacity on average, a decline of 0.5 percentage point from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity to fall to 87.3 percent.

Supplies of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 100,000 barrels to 157.7 million barrels. Analysts expected distillate stocks to increase by 1 million barrels.

Crude oil fell $1.42 to $83.03 per barrel in morning trading in New York.

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A look at economic developments around the globe (AP)

A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Tuesday:

___

BERLIN — Greece will receive its next batch of bailout loans in time to avoid a disastrous default, the country's finance minister said, as stock markets rallied on hopes that policymakers around Europe were preparing a comprehensive solution to the debt crisis.

___

LONDON — Hopes that policymakers are preparing a grand plan to finally contain Europe's debt crisis bolstered stocks ahead of a meeting between the leaders of Greece and Germany.

Germany's DAX closed 5.3 percent higher while the CAC-40 in France jumped 5.7 percent. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares ended 4.0 percent higher.

___

TOKYO — In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 shot up 2.8 percent, a day after shedding more than 2 percent and ending at its lowest level since April 2009. South Korea's Kospi rallied 5 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 4.2 percent. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index ended 3.4 percent higher.

___

MILAN — Italy raised $19.6 billion in short-term government debt but there were signs the country is finding it more expensive to raise the money it needs.

___

MADRID — Spain's treasury has sold $4.3 billion in two short-term debt auctions but has had to pay higher interest rates as investors continue to worry over the level of the country's borrowings.

___

MOSCOW — The influential Russian finance minister who was ousted by President Dmitry Medvedev warned that Russia's budget is overextended because of increased spending on defense and social needs.

___

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia — Slovenia's parliament voted in favor of boosting the powers of Europe's rescue fund, part of an effort by eurozone nations to fight the debt crisis that threatens their currency union.

___

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya's currency is in a free fall against the dollar, dropping 30 percent this year to an all-time low. That has increased prices of food and fuel across the country and has pushed more Kenyans closer to poverty.

___

WARSAW, Poland — Poland's government has approved the 2012 budget that foresees debt of $11 billion — 53 percent of GDP — and predicts growth of 4 percent despite the economic turmoil in Europe.

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Download Someone Like You - Adele

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Commodity rout pulls Wall Street lower (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks fell on Wednesday as sharp declines in metals and energy prices weighed on commodity-related stocks and underscored concerns about the global economy and Europe's festering debt crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 77.99 points, or 0.70 percent, to 11,112.70. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 12.46 points, or 1.06 percent, to 1,162.92. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 27.44 points, or 1.08 percent, to 2,519.39.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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EU pushes for global financial trading tax (AP)

LONDON – Taxing financial trades has been touted as a panacea for all kinds of global ills, a cash source to fight poverty and global warming. But the latest European attempt to introduce a worldwide standard 40 years after it was first conceived is facing stiff opposition from the U.S. and Britain.

Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the EU's executive arm, on Wednesday threw his weight behind the tax that his office estimated could raise euro57 billion ($77 billion) a year in Europe to help combat a debt crisis that is threatening the euro currency.

"In the last three years, member states have granted aid and provided guarantees of euro4.6 trillion to the financial sector," Barroso said. "It is time for the financial sector to make a contribution back to society."

The tax would be a tiny percentage of the value of a trade in assets like stocks and bonds. Although some countries already have a minimal duty on share trading, the new proposal would not only increase the scope and size of the tax but also siphon off some revenue to Brussels.

The European Commission has formally backed the tax to take effect from January 2014.

As a result of the financial crisis in 2008 and the ensuing recession, debt levels across Europe, and not just in the bailed out countries of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, have risen sharply. Across the 27-nation EU, debt as a percentage of national income has spiked from below 60 percent in 2007 to 80 percent this year.

Though the tax could dent growth and employment, it has won a fair degree of support across the 17-country eurozone, including France and Germany, the EU's two biggest economies.

Britain, however, has been adamantly against it unless it is used on a global basis. Its opinion carries weight in the debate because London is the continent's biggest financial center.

The argument made by the likes of George Osborne, Britain's finance chief, and echoed last week by his counterpart in the U.S. Timothy Geithner is that the tax just won't work if it's not introduced globally. If it's not, investors can move money quickly to where the tax doesn't need to be paid, saving themselves potentially large sums of money in financial trades.

Howard Wheeldon, a senior strategist at BGC Partners, said it's a bad idea to have a trades tax now, especially since many banks are still trying to meet new requirements to beef up capital buffers.

"The timing is inappropriate; it's something to look at in a few years time," Wheeldon said.

Even if Britain and the U.S. decide to opt out, it is possible that the eurozone countries, or at least some of them, may go it alone.

"I think the eurozone or number of member states would go ahead and do it, and would start it at a low enough level to answer political objections," said Sony Kapoor, managing director of Re-Define, an economic think tank.

Some activists campaigning for the tax worry the money may be used solely to fix the world's financial difficulties. They say a large chunk of the revenues should be used for other important issues, such as reducing poverty or fighting global warming.

Oxfam International, a long-time proponent of the tax, lauded the European Commission's support ahead of the October 17-18 summit of EU leaders and the Group of 20 meeting of the leaders from the top industrial and developing nations.

"The financial transaction tax is moving from rhetoric to reality but a significant part of the revenues should be used as Bill Gates suggested, to help poor countries facing chilling reductions in aid, trade, and investment — not just shore up the EU budget," said Nicolas Mombrial, Oxfam International's EU policy advisor. The multibillionaire Microsoft founder has been commissioned by the G-20 to produce a report on development financing and is considering the potential of the tax.

Oxfam's Mombrial also argues that the rate of the tax should be higher than the 0.1 percent levy on shares and bonds proposed by the EU.

"It's clear that higher rates are perfectly feasible and would raise more money to tackle poverty," Mombrial said, noting that a 0.5 percent tax already applies to share trades in the U.K.

The motivations behind the tax are a long way from the designs of Nobel Prize laureate James Tobin, who first made his proposal for the flat tax on currency transactions in the early 1970s when U.S. President Richard Nixon ended the dollar's convertibility to gold and effectively brought an end to the global currency system that had prevailed since World War II.

Tobin said at the time that the tax would help limit instability arising from a world of floating exchange rates.

"Financial transaction taxes, appropriately designed, can not only raise substantial revenue but also enhance stability by discouraging destabilizing trading that serves little economic purpose," Re-Define's Kapoor said.

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A Hidden Reason to Buy These 3 Stocks (The Motley Fool)

Twenty-five years ago, British newsweekly The Economist invented "the Big Mac index." It was meant to be a fun, easy way to measure purchasing-power parity by comparing the price of a McDonald's Big Mac in different countries. It turned out to be not only fun and easy, but also quite accurate in predicting long-run movements in currency exchange rates.

Quirky economic indicators of all sorts have since propagated. Today, we'll examine one of the better known ones, "the lipstick index," and see what it tells us about three of the world's leading cosmetics companies.

When the going gets tough, the tough wear lipstick
The lipstick index posits that in uncertain economic times, a consumer will turn from more expensive indulgences, like a $500 handbag from Coach (NYSE: COH - News), or $100 yoga pants from lululemon athletica (Nasdaq: LULU - News), to cheaper ones, like $20 lipstick. The term was coined in the early 2000s by Leonard Lauder, then chairman of Estee Lauder (NYSE: EL - News), who found that during tough economic times his lipstick sales went up.

Since lipstick sales aren't broken out individually for any of the companies we're going to look at, we'll instead examine overall company performance. To do so requires a corollary to the existing lipstick theory, i.e., if it's not lipstick consumers are buying, then it's foundation, eyeliner, lip gloss, etc.

If our modified theory holds, in this epic economic downturn, cosmetics companies should be going gangbusters, and therefore be good places to park your money. Let's start by going right to the source of the lipstick index, Estee Lauder.

1. Estee Lauder
Over the past three years, sales at Estee Lauder are up a shiny-red 20%, gross margin has increased from 74% to 78%, and profits have increased an iridescent 208%. Clearly, Estee Lauder is doing its bit to uphold the index.

2. Revlon
If Revlon (NYSE: REV - News) isn't experiencing quite the booming economic downturn Estee Lauder is, the company's performance is solid and keeping our index real. Sales are healthy, if a bit flat, hovering for the past three years in the $1.3 billion range.

Gross margins are strong and have increased, from 63.5% to 65.5%. But most importantly, operating profits have grown from $155 million to $199 million, for a glossy 29% uptick.

3. Cover Girl
Cover Girl is part of Procter & Gamble's (NYSE: PG - News) vast stable of consumer brands. While P&G doesn't break out numbers specifically for Cover Girl, it breaks numbers out for beauty. There, net sales growth was 3% for fiscal 2011, not exactly booming, but healthy, and in line with P&G's other business segments.

Estee Lauder, leading economist?
So all three of our cosmetics companies are doing well through this toughest of economic times. Does this prove the lipstick index infallible and absolute? No. These quirky economic indicators are meant to be guides, signposts that those of us without a doctorate in economics can read and possibly glean some useful information from.

But in the end, amid the fun and bad puns, you're left with three potential investments, companies that are currently holding their own, and more.

Fool contributor Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Procter & Gamble. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has an absolutely scintillating disclosure policy.

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Accenture sees strong 2012, lifts gloom (Reuters)

(Reuters) – Accenture Plc (ACN.N) reported market-beating quarterly results, and the technology outsourcing and consulting company forecast a strong 2012, allaying fears of an industry-wide slowdown triggered by a slowing U.S. economy and debt crisis in Europe.

Accenture said though the global economy has turned more volatile and uncertain, increased regulations and the need to adapt to globalization will drive spending for its services.

"Our clients continue to take steps to adjust to this new environment and this continues to drive demand for our services," Chief Executive Pierre Nanterme said on a conference call with analysts.

Grand Canal Harbour, Ireland-based Accenture said its new bookings -- a key indicator of future sales -- of $8.4 billion in the fourth quarter was the company's highest quarterly bookings ever.

The company said bookings will remain strong based on strength in outsourcing.

"The visibility that we have right now (on budgets) is very good based on the first few months ...," Chief Financial Officer Pamela Craig said on the conference call.

Accenture's FY guidance of $27-$28 billion indicates their visibility that capital budgets would not seem cut too much, said Morningstar Inc analyst Swami Shanmugasundaram.

Craig, however, added that the current strengthening of the U.S. dollar could end up as a headwind to actual dollar growth in the fiscal year.

OUTLOOK BEATS

Accenture forecast full-year earnings of $3.80-$3.88 per share, above analysts' average expectations of $3.76 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

It forecast full-year revenue growth of 7-10 percent, which implies a range of $27.3-$28.05 billion, according to Reuters calculations. This was on the higher end of analysts' average expectations of $27.43 billion.

"We have seen this with Oracle and this (forecast) seems to affirm that IT enterprise spending remains strong," Josh Olson, technology analyst for Edward Jones said by phone.

"It looks like their core growth strategy has good momentum in both geographies and segments," the analyst said.

Oracle Corp (ORCL.O) last week gave a strong second-quarter outlook, fueled by robust software sales.

For the first quarter, Accenture forecast revenue to be in the range of $6.8-$7.0 billion, ahead of analysts' average estimates of $6.7 billion.

The company also increased its semi-annual cash dividend 50 percent, to 67.5 cents per share, and approved $5 billion of additional share repurchase authority.

Shares of the company were up 3 percent in trading after the bell. They closed at $53.65 on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Bijoy Koyitty and Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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UAW OKs GM deal (Reuters)

DETROIT (Reuters) – Workers represented by the United Auto Workers union approved a four-year labor contract with General Motors Co on Wednesday, the first such deal for the top U.S. automaker since its 2009 bankruptcy.

Ratification of the GM deal, which covers 48,500 hourly workers, clears the way for the union to complete talks with the automaker's crosstown rival, Ford Motor Co.

The deal adds or saves more than 6,000 U.S. factory jobs, raises wages for entry-level employees and pays each worker at least $11,500 in bonuses over the four years, the union said. The union also estimated the deal would create another 57,600 jobs at suppliers and other auto-related businesses.

"When GM was struggling, UAW members shared deeply in the sacrifice," UAW President Bob King said in a statement. "The UAW has shown that we are totally committed to helping the U.S. auto companies succeed. GM is prosperous today because of its workers."

The UAW and Ford could reach a deal on a proposed contract as soon as this week. Workers at Ford have pressed for a richer deal because of the No. 2 U.S. automaker's faster turnaround and ability to have avoided the bailouts needed at GM and Chrysler.

The UAW said 65 percent of production workers voted in favor of the deal, while 63 percent of skilled trades workers also backed it.

GM executives have set a conference call with Wall Street analysts for Wednesday afternoon to explain the financial implications of the contract for the first time.

The new UAW contract leaves GM's break-even point unchanged and allows the automaker to tackle the risk of its underfunded pension plan, one of the few issues left unaddressed by the restructuring directed by the Obama administration.

"When we went into this labor negotiation, we were very focused on that," GM Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson told a conference in New York on Tuesday. "We could not do anything to negatively bias our break-even point."

King joined the Ford talks this week, and the focus shifted to the tough issues of compensation and additional jobs.

The union began an intense focus on Ford last week, a day after failing to finalize a deal with Chrysler Group LLC. It has extended its contract with the Fiat SpA-controlled automaker until October 19.

CHRYSLER TALKS

While UAW officials in the Ford talks said on Monday they expected "to have good news for our membership by the end of the week," discussions at Chrysler, the smallest and most fragile of the Detroit automakers, are progressing much more slowly. Those talks continued on Wednesday, a Chrysler spokeswoman said.

Chrysler, which nearly collapsed two years ago, is still executing its own financial turnaround and trying to change public perceptions of its vehicle lineup. The company emerged from bankruptcy protection with a debt load that included $7.6 billion in government loans.

In May, Chrysler repaid those loans through a refinancing that helped cut its interest payments, but effectively swapped government loans with private ones.

As a result, Chrysler is eager to hold down its fixed costs beyond the 2015 expiration of the deal now being negotiated.

Last week, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne told reporters in Italy that workers should not expect the package proposed at GM, calling it a "completely different" entity from his company.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman and Bernie Woodall in Detroit; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Phil Berlowitz)

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Download Cobra Starship - You Make Me Feel ft. Sabi

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Walgreen profit jumps, shares fall on deal concern (AP)

INDIANAPOLIS – Shares of Walgreen Co. tumbled Tuesday, as investor concerns over the fate of a multibillion-dollar contract outweighed a jump in the drugstore operator's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings.

The Deerfield, Ill., company said Tuesday morning there has been no substantive progress in contract renewal negotiations with Express Scripts Inc., and company officials later told analysts the two sides remain "miles apart."

Walgreen said in June that it was ending a $5.3-billion-per-year relationship with Express Scripts Inc. Walgreen said that the St. Louis company was not paying it enough money to fill prescriptions. It also complained that Express Scripts was trying to dictate terms of the partnership.

Pharmacy benefits managers, or PBMs, like Express Scripts pay Walgreen to fill prescriptions. The PBMs make money by reducing the costs in prescription drug plans. Walgreen had a similar contract fight last year with CVS Caremark Corp. that was eventually resolved.

But the Express Scripts conflict intensified earlier this month. Walgreen said it plans to stop filling prescriptions managed by Express Scripts Inc. on Jan. 1. Express Scripts then announced that it was suing Walgreen.

Walgreen CEO Greg Wasson said Tuesday his company believes it deserves fair value, and "we don't see any reason to give any PBM a substantially better deal than all the others without having done something to warrant it." He said Walgreen is prepared to move forward in negotiations if Express Scripts wants to provide fair compensation.

"But if not, it's not really a productive place for us to be in our business," he said.

The CEO also said the drugstore chain is talking with companies that pay for benefits about potentially forming a direct relationship with Walgreen instead of going through Express Scripts.

Walgreen shares fell 6.3 percent, or $2.26, to close at $33.77 Tuesday while the Dow Jones industrial average climbed more than 1 percent. The price of Walgreen shares has fallen more than 20 percent since the company announced its split with Express Scripts.

Gabelli & Co. analyst Jeff Jonas said Walgreen sounded "very bearish again" on the Express Scripts deal, and he thinks that's the main reason shares fell Tuesday.

"I think they're still talking and both sides are really digging in their heels and negotiating publicly," he said.

Jonas forecasts 2012 earnings of $2.90 per share for Walgreen. He said a failure to reach an agreement with Express Scripts will knock 20 cents off that estimate. Walgreen could lose another 20 cents per share if Express Scripts completes its acquisition of competitor Medco Health Solutions Inc.

In the fiscal fourth quarter, Walgreen earned $792 million, or 87 cents per share. That compares with net income of $470 million, or 49 cents per share, in last year's quarter. Adjusted earnings were 57 cents per share, and that topped Wall Street expectations.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected, on average, earnings per share of 55 cents for the quarter.

Revenue climbed more than 6 percent in the quarter to $17.97 billion.

The company recorded an after-tax gain in the quarter of 30 cents per share after completing the sale of its Walgreens Health Initiatives Inc. business.

Sales at stores open at least a year rose 4.4 percent. That's a key indicator of a retailer's long-term health because it excludes stores that recently opened or closed.

Walgreen is the largest drugstore chain in the United States with more than 7,700 stores. For the full fiscal year, the company earned $2.71 billion, or $2.94 per share, on $72.18 billion in revenue.

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Amazon unveils Kindle Fire tablet, priced at $199 (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc introduced its eagerly awaited tablet computer on Wednesday with a price tag that could make it the first strong competitor in a tablet market that has been dominated by Apple Inc's iPad.

The new device, priced at $199, may have the biggest impact on other makers of tablets and e-readers, such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Barnes & Noble Inc, maker of the Nook.

"It's a Nook killer," said Scot Wingo, chief executive of ChannelAdvisor, which helps merchants sell more on websites including Amazon.com. "And it's a very compelling offering if you're not in the Apple ecosystem already."

The Kindle Fire tablet has a 7-inch screen, free data storage over the Internet and a new browser called Amazon Silk. Amazon expects shipments to start on November 15.

Amazon also introduced the Kindle Touch, an e-reader with no buttons and a touch screen starting at $99. And it cut the price of its basic Kindle e-reader to $79 from $99.

"These are premium products at non-premium prices," Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said. "We are going to sell millions of these."

Amazon shares rose 4.7 percent to $234.72 in midday trading, while Barnes & Noble dropped 9.8 percent to $11.92. Apple shares edged up 0.3 percent to $400.55.

HIT

Tim Stevens, editor in chief of gadget review website Engadget, said the Kindle Fire will be a hit.

"People have been waiting for a tablet for 200 bucks for a long time and this is the best one I've seen so far," Stevens told Reuters.

Amazon's cloud computing service, known as EC2, supports Internet browsing on the Kindle Fire, a feature that will speed loading of websites and isn't available with rival tablets, Stevens noted.

Still, the Fire has only one button and no volume controls, which may be "a bit annoying" for consumers, he added.

"If I'm listening to music, I'll have to turn on the screen to change the volume; same for movies," Stevens said.

'BLOOD BATH'

Analysts had expected Amazon's tablet to be priced around $250, roughly half the price of Apple's dominant iPad, which starts at $499. The Nook Color e-reader costs $249.

"Expect a blood bath as pricing will have to get extremely aggressive," said Mark Gerber, an analyst at Detwiler Fenton & Co. He expects Amazon to sell at least 3 million Kindle Fires this holiday season, taking the No. 2 spot in the tablet market.

Having its own tablet is important for Amazon because the company has amassed a mountain of digital goods and services that could be sold through such a device.

The tablet might also encourage customers of Amazon, the world's largest Internet retailer, to shop online for physical products more often. (http://link.reuters.com/xab24s)

Breaking into the tablet market will be difficult. Companies including Hewlett Packard Co, Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc, Samsung and Research in Motion Ltd have launched tablets, but none has taken a big bite out of Apple's lead.

Apple dominates the North American tablet market, with 80 percent of the 7.5 million units shipped during the second quarter of 2011, according to Strategy Analytics.

(Additional reporting by Liana Balinsky-Baker in New York; Writing by Alistair Barr in San Francisco; Editing by Derek Caney and Gerald E. McCormick)

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Analysis: Auditor defense may have holes in Deloitte case (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A favorite defense of auditors against securities lawsuits may have some holes when applied to a massive case against Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd stemming from the subprime mortgage crisis.

The world's largest accounting and consulting firm, Deloitte on Monday was accused of failing to detect fraud during its audits of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp, one of the biggest private mortgage firms to collapse during the U.S. housing crash.

The complaints were brought by a trustee overseeing Taylor Bean's bankruptcy and one of the company's subsidiaries in a Miami Circuit Court, claiming a combined $7.6 billion in losses.

"It's always difficult to believe that an auditor that's been auditing for seven years or more during an alleged ongoing fraud had no red flags," said Andrea Kim, a partner at Diamond McCarthy LLP in Houston.

The lawsuit is just the latest of a spate of troubles for Deloitte and the other big four auditors -- Ernst & Young, KPMG and PwC. They also face a threat to their business model as the European Commission mulls a plan to force them to split off their consulting business and rotate clients.

Auditors have been favorite targets of plaintiffs trying to recoup money lost on alleged frauds during the global financial meltdown, though such cases have run up against an array of legal hurdles, with many being dismissed or settled for relatively small amounts.

Plaintiffs' lawyers have argued that as gatekeepers, auditors have a duty to be vigilant at rooting out fraud.

RED FLAGS BRING LEGAL DUTY

"If they see something they need to report it," said Jacob Zamansky, founder of Zamansky & Associates, a law firm specializing in securities fraud. "If they consciously ignore red flags, they could be held responsible as an aider or abettor to the fraud."

A key defense is the so-called "in pari delicto," or equal fault principle, used when a company being audited was equally to blame for wrongdoing.

"It is very fast becoming a law of this nation, which is a tremendous protection for the Big Four," said Kim of Diamond McCarthy.

However, Steven Thomas, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said his case rests on solid legal ground. He said that a key bankruptcy decision holds that under Florida law, the in pari delicto defense does not apply in cases in which the auditor has a duty to detect fraud and in which there were innocent board members who could have been alerted about the fraud.

"They (Deloitte) had a public duty to detect the fraud," Thomas said. "They didn't do their job, and that's what we're going to prove."

Jonathan Gandal, a spokesman for Deloitte, said on Monday the plaintiffs in the case were "companies through which convicted felon Lee Farkas and his co-conspirators committed their crimes."

Lee Farkas, the former chairman of Taylor, Bean and Whitaker, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in April for his role in the bank fraud.

"The bizarre notion that his engines of theft are entitled to complain of injury from their own crimes and to sue the outside auditors they lied to defies common sense, not to mention the law," he said in a statement.

The in pari delicto principle, which has led to dismissals of some big auditor lawsuits in New York, "is alive and well in Florida," said Thomas Tew, a defense lawyer at the law firm Tew Cardenas in Miami.

In cases involving fraud, "I personally believe that it's almost impossible to say that an accounting firm, for instance, should be held liable for audits that were manipulated by crooks," he said.

DELOITTE NAMED IN OTHER SUITS

One complication for trustees is that when they bring a lawsuit, they "step into the shoes of the allegedly wrongdoing corporation," said Michael Young, a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher who specializes in accounting-related cases.

"So a trustee lawsuit against an auditor boils down to the contention that the auditor didn't tell the wrongdoing company that it was doing something wrong," Young said.

A key issue will be whether the Taylor Bean trustee can present itself as separate from the company, said Jeffrey Davis, a bankruptcy professor at the University of Florida's law school.

"It may be that the trustee can re-characterize their claim to get around the in pari delicto defense," said Davis. "That's the game that's afoot right now."

The EU's proposal to force the Big Four to split off their consulting business and rotate clients would affect all of the Big Four firms, but would be especially harsh for Deloitte, which just edged ahead of PwC as the biggest of the Big Four on the strength of its consulting revenues.

Deloitte has also been named in other big lawsuits stemming from the credit crisis, including one involving its audits of Bear Stearns, which collapsed after suffering enormous mortgage losses, and another involving Washington Mutual, the biggest bank to fail during the credit crisis.

Deloitte spokesman Gandal said the firm intends to defend the Bear Stearns case vigorously.

"These hindsight claims asserting that the independent auditors should have predicted the dramatic and unprecedented decline in the housing market that shocked the entire industry are meritless and illogical," Gandal said.

The Washington Mutual case has been settled in principle, he said.

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Howard Goller)

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How Nevada Became the Go-To State to Evade Taxes (Time.com)

Nevada rolled out the welcome mat in the 1940s for mobsters who transformed the sleepy town of Las Vegas into Sin City. Now, the Silver State appears to be welcoming a new generation of entrepreneurs looking for a legal haven for otherwise dubious practices.

According to Reuters, Nevada has become the go-to state for people looking to create shell companies, which are firms set up with few assets that are sometimes used to evade taxes. Aaron Young, Wayne McMiniment and Richard Neiswonger are each convicted felons that have set up a "thriving business" helping set up those sorts of companies, Reuters says.

(LIST: 15 Financial Moves to Make Right Now)

Nevada officials decided a few years ago to loosen corporate disclosure requirements and offer generous legal protections not found in most states in the hopes of improving one of the worst economies in the country. Though many shell companies were legitimate, many were not.

"On average, in each year between 2000 and 2008, 14.5 percent of public Nevada companies restated their accounting; 12.6 percent lowered reported net income; and 1.3 percent were the subject of fraud allegations or investigations by regulators," Reuters notes, citing a study published by two University of Virginia professors. Nationally, 8.5 percent of companies restated their accounts, 7.3 percent reduced their reported net income and 0.9 percent were subject to fraud allegations or probes."

Nevada's desire to attract more jobs is understandable given how the Great Recession decimated its economy. Unemployment is nearly 13% in the state, well above the 9.1% national average. Making matters worse is the state's awful housing market. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, new-home sales have plunged 38% and are on pace to post their lowest total since housing market researcher Home Builders Research began tracking the market in 1988.

(MORE: Poverty Rates Soar in Suburbia)

When it comes to jobs, states are in an increasingly untenable situation. If they don't offer huge tax breaks to companies, they will go to another state that will give them even bigger breaks. Meanwhile, a state's existing businesses become angry because their competitors can wind up paying almost no local taxes. Taxpayers often wind up the losers in these deals. For instance, Electrolux is set to break ground on a new $190 million factory in Memphis, most of which is being footed by taxpayers, according to The Commercial Appeal. Governments are borrowing more than $76 million to fund the project that local residents will be paying off through 2036. Electrolux was even exempted from diversity requirements that had been required of companies receiving local property tax breaks.

As of June, 42 states and the District of Columbia have closed, or are working to close, $103 billion in budget gaps, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

PHOTOS: Hard Times Hit Las Vegas

Why Did a Las Vegas Casino Open and Close in the Same Day?

View this article on Time.com

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Greece to face inspectors, Merkel hints at bailout (Reuters)

ATHENS (Reuters) – EU and IMF inspectors will return to Greece on Thursday to decide whether Athens has done enough to secure a new batch of aid vital to avoid bankruptcy, while Germany suggested a new bailout may have to be renegotiated.

Facing a wave of strikes and protests, Greece's Socialist government is accelerating budget measures to meet the terms of an International Monetary Fund and European Union rescue deal so it can receive a new loan next month.

The "troika" team of inspectors, which had threatened to cut off aid if Athens did not move faster, will hold talks on a plan to deepen budget cuts and raise taxes which has driven protesters back onto the streets for the first time since June.

"I can confirm the Eurogroup (of euro zone ministers) will hold an additional meeting as soon as possible, still in October, to discuss the situation of Greece and consider the disbursement of the next tranche," a European Commission spokesman said in Brussels, announcing the troika's return.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested that parts of a planned new 109-billion-euro ($148.6 billion) rescue for the debt-laden country could be reopened, depending on the outcome of the troika's audit.

"We have to wait and see what the troika ... finds and what it will tell us (whether) we will have to renegotiate or not," she told Greek state television NET, without elaborating.

Several hundred activists affiliated with the Greek Communists converged on the finance ministry on Wednesday waving a banner saying "We won't pay!." They burned bills for a new one-off income tax introduced this summer, while Athens and other parts of the country were hit by transport strikes.

If deemed adequate by the inspectors, the new austerity drive will secure an 8-billion-euro loan Greece needs to pay bills and salaries in October and bring it closer to moving on to a second bailout agreed in July.

As a condition of the visit and to resolve the row with the lenders, the Greek government had promised to send a written assurance outlining its new plan to meet its bailout targets. Its contents have not been made public.

"Instead of coming and going, the troika should spend a month with a pensioner, a family-man and then tell us whether these measures are human," said 50-year-old aviation worker, Costas Papalambros, a father of two.

"The next tranche will just be an aspirin, it won't cure the patient. What we need is growth and I don't see it happening They need to change policies," he told Reuters.

Even Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos, who said he faced selling real estate to pay a new property tax, admitted Greeks' pain threshold was being tested.

"I think that the tax-paying limits of Greek society have been exhausted. I would say they have been exhausted for some time now," he told Mega TV. "But I think that we should act on the other side of the problem which is spending."

Germany has repeatedly said negotiations about the details of the second rescue deal can begin only when the troika says Greece has qualified to receive the tranche expected in October, the sixth under a first bailout agreed in 2010.

At the same time, leaders from around the world have urged euro zone capitals to end a tortuous debate and create a safety net big enough to prevent Greece's problems from spreading to other euro members and triggering a fresh global downturn.

DEBT SWAP DEBATE DEEPENS

The second bailout aims to ease Greece's debt burden by imposing a 21 percent loss on private Greek bondholders.

After intensifying debate among economists and policymakers that only a 50 percent loss would make the country's debt viable, more investors have signed up to the bond exchange plan, Greek financial daily Naftemporiki reported.

Citing an unidentified finance ministry official, it said Greece's weeks-long struggle to lure private bondholders into the rescue plan had ended with it reaching the 90 percent participation target.

The finance ministry declined to comment on the report.

There is no agreement yet among euro zone governments on whether a renegotiation is needed, including more pain for Greece's bank creditors, or on a U.S.-sponsored plan to leverage the bloc's rescue fund to give it more firepower.

Germany's Bundestag (lower house) will vote on Thursday on widening the scope of the European Financial Stability Facility bailout fund, as agreed by the EU leaders on July 21.

Merkel faces a revolt within her conservative camp and may have to rely on support from the opposition Social Democrats and Greens to get the measure approved, damaging her authority.

STRIKES GRIP GREECE

Late on Tuesday, police dispersed about 1,000 anti-austerity protesters with tear gas in Athens' Syntagma Square, the epicentre of anti-austerity protests.

Taxi drivers, bus and tram operators staged strikes on Wednesday, causing long traffic jams leading into the ancient city center and forcing luggage-hauling tourists scrambling to find rides to the airport.

Other trades ranging from craftsmen, printers and tax officials also staged stoppages and activists planned marches on

parliament and the port of Piraeus later in the day.

"I've been trying to find a job for a year now and it's impossible," said Maria Kappa, a graduate of the School of Philosophy in Athens. "I don't see the rich people hurt by this austerity, it's always the poor who have to pay."

Lawmakers opened the way to the troika visit on Tuesday by passing a property tax bill. That piles the pressure on Greeks suffering from several waves of belt-tightening and deepens an economic downturn heading into its fourth year.

Prime Minister George Papandreou's 154 Socialist deputies forced the measure through in the 300-seat parliament.

In the accelerated strategy, the government will cut the 730,000 public workforce by a fifth, reduce the public wage bill by 20 percent, as well as lower overall pensions by 4 percent in addition to a 10 percent cut already agreed in previous plans.

It will also now extend the new real estate tax until 2014, two years longer than originally planned, after the troika judged Greece's estimate that it would raise 2 billion euros a year to be too high.

(Writing by Michael Winfrey; Editing by Peter Millership/Mike Peacock)

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Infiniti adds first gas-electric hybrid (AP)

Luxury brand Infiniti finally joins the gasoline-electric hybrid car market with the 2012 M35h that's rated 38 percent more fuel efficient overall than its non-hybrid, V-6-powered M35 sibling.

Drivers can get 9 more miles from a gallon of gas in city traffic and 6 more miles a gallon on the highway by driving the M35h rather than the regular M35, according to federal government estimates. And the M35h helps prod the driver to meter gasoline via an accelerator pedal that feels like it has a brick behind it whenever a computer in the car determines that the driver isn't being fuel-conscious.

This noticeably firm resistance as the accelerator is being pushed down comes only when the driver has engaged the car's eco mode. And, it's easily overcome with a bit more pushing on the pedal. But a driver can't ignore that some nagging is going on.

Starting manufacturer's suggested retail price, including destination charge, for the 2012 M35h with V-6 and electric motor is $53,595. The government fuel economy rating is 27/32 mpg. That compares with the $48,595 starting retail price for a non-hybrid, V-6 powered, 2012 M35 that's rated at 18/26 mpg.

But the M35h isn't the highest priced M sedan. The 2012 M56 with 420-horsepower V-8 has a $59,995 starting retail price and is not offered in a hybrid version.

Competitors to the M35h include the 210-horsepower Mercedes-Benz E350 Bluetec sedan, which has a starting MSRP, including destination charge, of $51,775 as a 2011 model and has a government fuel economy rating of 22/33 mpg as it runs on diesel fuel. Lexus' 2012 HS 250h, which is a luxury gas-electric hybrid sedan, has a starting retail price of $37,030 and had a 2011 rating of 35/34 mpg.

The M35h is a mixed personality.

It's designed to be a luxury car like the other M sedans and so is swathed in leather inside and has many standard convenience features such as power moonroof, 10-way adjustable front seats, intelligent key access, push button start, Bluetooth phone connectivity and rearview monitor.

The test car even had optional deluxe touring package with genuine silver powder accents and Japanese white ash tree trim inside.

But the M35h can be much more resource conscious when it comes to fuel. I managed to get nearly the 29-mpg rating for combined city/highway driving that the federal government puts on the window sticker, and I wasn't in eco mode all the time and didn't try hard to maximize fuel.

Then, I switched to the sporty, shift-it-yourself mode, which doesn't use a clutch pedal but has a sporty shift gate in the center console for up and down shifts, and the mileage in city-only driving came to just 15.8 mpg.

In similar conflicted fashion, the M35h actually has significantly more horsepower than the non-hybrid M35: a maximum 360 horsepower from the combined working of the gas engine and electric motor compared with 333 horses with the traditional M35 V-6 shouldering the load by itself.

The electric motor gives impressive "oomph" quickly at low speed via its 199 foot-pounds of torque available at 1,770 rpm. It was enough to chirp the 18-inch tires on the test car.

The V-6 is a 3.5-liter double overhead cam, Atkinson cycle unit that can produce a maximum 302 horses by itself. Torque from this engine peaks at 258 foot-pounds at 5,000 rpm.

But even this hybrid Infiniti has premium gas as the recommended fuel to help achieve peak power performance.

To conserve fuel, the car can turn off at stoplights and when you're idling at the side of the road. But the test car didn't turn off all the time and even had a bit of a roughness at times when the engine automatically started up.

Compared with more common hybrids such as the Toyota Prius, the test car felt substantial and even a bit heavy as it traveled. It weighed some 4,200 pounds, while a non-hybrid, base M35 weighs 3,858 pounds, and a Toyota Prius mid-size five-door has a posted weight of only 3,000 or so pounds.

Thus, the sprightly nature of other, less pricey hybrids didn't exist in the M35h tester, and while I didn't dislike the heavier feel to the ride, it wasn't what I expected.

Also not expected was the seven-speed automatic transmission with manual shift mode sans clutch pedal.

Typical hybrids usually have a continuously variable transmission (CVT) that maximizes fuel economy, and Infiniti's parent company, Nissan, has been a big user of CVTs. But no CVT is in this hybrid, and I liked that the M35h had fixed shift points that engaged smoothly in regular fashion, rather than the droning of a CVT.

Controls and knobs were within easy reach inside this hybrid, and the black, web-like design for the outer circles of the speedometer and tachometer is an intriguing and attractive touch.

My passengers and I slid across the seats with ease, and while I scraped the face of my watch every time I reached down between the driver door and the driver seat to adjust the seat recline or height, I had enough height adjustment to have decent views out.

The front passenger, however, looks at and over what appears to be a design that looks like a pushed-in bump at the front of the dashboard.

Standard safety equipment on the 2012 M35h includes six air bags, electronic stability control, antilock brakes and traction control, plus the rearview monitor. Other safety equipment is optional and includes lane departure warning and prevention system, managed, intelligent cruise control and blind spot warning.

Consumer Reports puts M car reliability at above average.

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Flaherty mum after meeting on economy (Reuters)

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Finance Minister Jim Flaherty discussed the global economy with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the head of the Bank of Canada for 45 minutes on Tuesday but did not comment afterward.

Flaherty and Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney were in Washington for a meeting of the Group of 20 leading and emerging nations last week. Harper was in New York on a separate trip.

"I think we're all finding that people are pretty positive about what we're doing here, but we're in a world picture that is not so positive, and that clearly is going to demand that we spend a little bit of time looking at it," Harper said in remarks before the meeting started in his office.

Speaking to legislators earlier in the day, Harper dismissed opposition calls for more stimulus measures to help the economy. The government says it will trim spending to wipe out a budget deficit by 2014-15.

"We are running a very expansionary fiscal policy right now. We are obviously undertaking good management, and some modest savings to ensure, that as the economy recovers, that we will in fact balance our budget and retain our fiscal advantage," he said.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Rob Wilson)

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How To Make Money Blogging

Blogging is the best thing you can do in your spare time, but in modern times to make money with blogs is the latest. 

I'll show you how to make money blogging annd also show a few tips to make money online blogs in your blog. Follow me this fantastic opportunity to make money online blog with AdSense, Amazon, Clickbank and other things you can do with your blog.
Increasingly recognize that blogging is one of the best ways to start your own business online. A minimum start-up costs, you can know an impressive and loyal audience over time and if you like your blog a fair income flowing even if you can make more money, update your blog.
There are several ways to create an online blog. You may WordPress, Blogger or other free site that hosts the blog for you, or alternatively you can configure your own blog under your own domain name.
If you want to make money from blogging, you have complete control over your blog - and this is something that free blogging accounts will not be. You will be bound and usually have no way to actively promote any of their terms. There are many people who have a blog without warning a few weeks or months later were removed to create.
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It costs a few dollars to buy your domain name and configure a web server that hosts your blog, but the benefits far outweigh the costs. It can literally be as little as $ 20 per year, we are talking about - and invites you to total freedom.
When you are ready to configure your blog so that you have a good theme and layout to choose for them. You can find one that your choice of theme (further details in a moment) or does it could be the one you like the look. But there are thousands of models available - a simple Google search shows that the best your topic.
An important thing to know about your blog, what I write in very importanat Thios if wiyth successfully make money with your blog or a niche adsense.Look good comes from your blog.
Okay - if you have the problem. Now you need to start writing your blog. If you see some of the articles are already online, you will find that the length of the posts is very different. Some people write a paragraph or two at a time, but better results if you go for something more than. Over 400 to 500 words, it is a good place with lots of information about them, some people write very long posts, the thousands of words and could serve as an e-book under a different name.
But you can also take the form of this blog by posting a short blog entry that leads to a longer article. This has the advantage that you can click on a series of blog entries on the homepage, and the people and read more like it.
However, you must not forget that there are no real rules for blogs. Over time, of course, find out what works for you and your blog away in a beautiful style that will appreciate you and your readers. You find your character and personality come through his writing, and not fight because it is a feature of blogs. He is after all a personal account of individual life and experience and to the people what you're made of Show! They have more loyal - audience like this - and more.
Then you have your blog and you're posting it on a regular basis. The next step is to meet as many interested eyeballs as possible.
sets a good way, this is there are so many social bookmarking sites as possible. You can also join social networking sites and create a profile with a link to your blog. Others are not cost-effective ways to generate traffic to, including writing articles for article directories for free with a link to your blog at the end, and the creation of signatures to send a message that internet forums and in all e-mail. If you really start to think about not really need to spend something in order to generate much traffic.
All we need now is to earn money on the blog itself. You want some money for all visitors, as you will begin to produce, and there are many ways to make this easy. Google Adsense is perhaps the best known - the program can attend free of charge and are interested in display-related ads that visitors to maximize your clickthrough rate.
There are also a handful of sites that pays you the opportunity for each blog entry you make on a given topic. Pay Per Post, I review two examples of this kind, and they will pay a certain sum of money to check a website or a product to the owner. Similarly, also evaluate and recommend other products through affiliate links inserted into your blog and make money in commissions through purchases people make.
And once established, it can offer advertising space on his blog, and a fee for the two displays and screen, if you wish. What better way to define their own price?
But there is one last step you can take your blog if you want a change of scenery from time to time. You can sell your blog! Once set up and has a lot of revenue and traffic, you can usually sell for ten times their monthly income.
And then you can start with a whole new topic!
I'd like your opinion on what I need for you to do is implement the tactics I mentioned above and your blog is well prepared and readyto hit the top  generating for you lots of income from various sources like clickbank, adsense, amazon etc
If you like this post or if you need more advice or suggestions please contact a few comments on this blog I would like to contact me leave you.

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Wall Street edges higher in seesaw session (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks edged higher on Friday on talk the European Central Bank could add liquidity to stabilize the region's banking system, but continued fears about a global recession kept markets choppy.

Concerns about the sovereign debt crisis worsening in Europe have contributed to recent equity losses, with both the Dow and S&P off nearly 7 percent, and the Nasdaq down almost 6 percent this week.

Earlier stocks seesawed between gains and losses on any indication from policymakers suggesting additional steps to support Europe's financial system.

One such comment came from Ewald Nowotny, European Central Bank Governing Council member, who said it might be advisable for the ECB to add more liquidity into the banking system.

"The European issue is pretty significant," said Nick Kalivas, vice president of financial research & senior equity index analyst at MF Global in Chicago.

"It suggests some of the money could go to the bondholders of countries with troubled debt. People see that as maybe a sign of some capital for banks or maybe mitigating loss, so that is certainly a factor.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) gained 2.68 points, or 0.02 percent, to 10,736.51. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) rose 4.53 points, or 0.40 percent, to 1,134.09. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) added 20.59 points, or 0.84 percent, to 2,476.26.

Even with the heavy declines this week, the S&P was able to hold above the August 8 low of 1,119, viewed as a key support level.

Gains in the Nasdaq were helped by strength in semiconductor stocks, with the PHLX index (.SOX) up 1.7 percent. Texas Instruments (TXN.N) gained 2.4 percent to $26.87 after Caris boosted its rating on the stock.

Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) was down 4.3 percent to $21.83 a day after Meg Whitman, the former head of EBay Inc (EBAY.O), was named to run the computer and printer maker. The move was met with criticism of the company's board, which has been blamed for a series of recent missteps.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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Williams raises questions on Fed's latest moves (Reuters)

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Just days after the Federal Reserve launched a new round of unconventional monetary policy easing, a top Fed official with a record of supporting such moves questioned how well they can boost the recovery.

Large-scale bond purchases and pledges to keep short-term rates low for a set period like those the Fed has made are effective at lowering long-term borrowing costs, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams told the Swiss National Bank Research Conference on Friday.

"Specifically, does lowering Treasury yields through large-scale asset purchases have the same effect on the economy as an equivalent movement in the federal funds rate?" Williams said in the speech calibrated to spark debate rather than provide answers. "To what extent is it the size or the composition of the central bank's balance sheet that matters?"

The question of the effectiveness of unconventional monetary policy tools is critical to the U.S. central bank, which has increasingly relied on such tools to try to kick-start a recovery from the worst recession in decades.

After cutting short-term interest rates to near zero in December 2008, the Fed turned to large-scale asset purchases, buying a total of $2.3 trillion in Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities through June of this year.

Those programs, along with the Fed's pledge to keep rates low for an extended period, were effective in reducing both short-term and long-term borrowing costs, Williams said.

Dogged by a persistently high unemployment rate that stood in August at 9.1 percent, the Fed last month said the economy was so weak it was likely to need the support offered by near-zero short-term rates until at least mid-2013.

Williams, who is not a voter this year on the Fed's policy-setting panel, supported that move, and earlier this month suggested there was room for further easing.

On Wednesday the Fed moved to counter what it called "significant downside risks" to the economy, embarking on a new $400 billion program to weight its $2.85 trillion balance sheet more heavily toward longer-term securities.

World stocks fell after the announcement, on worries that such policies may not be enough to stop the U.S., and other countries from tipping into a new recession.

ANEMIC RECOVERY

Speaking in Washington, another Fed official, New York Fed President William Dudley, blamed the build-up of debt before the financial crisis for an "unusually anemic recovery," and said regulators need to profoundly overhaul the financial system to prevent the advent of new crises.

He did not comment on the Fed's recent action, which drew three dissents from Fed policy-panel members who opposed further easing.

Neither did Williams, but his comments provided some insight into the debate raging behind the Fed's closed-door policy-setting meeting this past Tuesday and Wednesday.

"What are the advantages of targeting a specific quantity of large-scale asset purchases as opposed to targeting a level of ceiling on interest rates at a particular point on the yield curve?" he asked. "How do these policies change our thinking about the optimal rate of inflation?"

Williams said he had no answers, but noted that finding them will be critical to future monetary policy success.

(Reporting by Catherine Bosley; additional reporting by Mark Felsenthal and David Clarke in Washington. Writing by Ann Saphir in Chicago)

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Europe, under fire, seeks to get ahead of crisis (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – European policymakers showed signs they were preparing new steps to cope with the region's debt crisis even as talk of a possible Greek default gained pace on Friday.

World stock markets, which had plunged to a 14-month low on fears the euro zone crisis was not under control, steadied after European Central Bank officials said they would use their firepower to help the banking system through the crisis.

Finance ministers and central bankers from around the world, in Washington for semi-annual policy discussions, have turned up the heat on Europe to do more to prevent Greece's debt crisis from infecting the world economy.

"They have six weeks to resolve this crisis," said British finance minister George Osborne. Euro zone leaders needed to have the situation under control by the time leaders of the Group of 20 economies meet in France in November, he said.

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel told a meeting of her political party members that a Greek default was not an option for her because it might trigger a domino effect in other struggling economies.

"The damage would be impossible to predict," she warned.

Pressure is growing on European governments for a recapitalization of the region's vulnerable banks -- perhaps to strengthen them in preparation for a Greek default.

Policymakers in Europe also seemed to be warming to the idea of giving more firepower to their bailout fund.

"Europe is running against time," Brazilian Financial Minister Guido Mantega said. "I hope Europe does not wait for the first countries to break before putting new instruments in place because then the bill will be higher."

In a statement on Thursday, leaders from seven big economies underlined the gravity of the situation now facing Europe after months in which it had seemed unsure of how to tame a crisis that threatens to spread from one economy to the next.

"The barriers to action are now political as much as economic," they said. "We must send a clear signal that we are ready to take the actions necessary to maintain growth and stability for all for the future."

Politicians in northern Europe, especially in Germany, have opposed dedicating more money to fight a crisis that they see as caused by the profligacy of countries such as Greece.

The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, said Europe and the grim economic outlook in the United States required a new collective effort or "we run the risk of losing the battle for growth."

PUZZLE PIECES

As European policymakers looked to piece together a bolder crisis-fighting strategy, the ECB provided some relief to investors as three officials said banks could be primed with one-year liquidity to help shore them up.

"During the time of the (2007-2009) financial crisis, one of the instruments we had was ... one-year tenders. I think it might be advisable to think about reintroducing this approach," ECB governing council member Ewald Nowotny said.

The IMF, which has been pressing aggressively for a recapitalization of Europe's banks, reckons the debt crisis has increased their risk exposure by 300 billion euros.

In a sign Europe was coming to terms with the idea of a recapitalization, France's top market regulator said 15 to 20 banks needed extra capital, although no French ones "at this stage."

The prospect of a Greek default appeared to grow when Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos was quoted by two newspapers as saying an orderly default with a 50 percent haircut for bondholders was one way the heavily indebted euro zone nation's cash crunch could be resolved.

Officials played down the reports and Venizelos described them as an unhelpful distraction from the central task of sticking to Greece's EU/IMF bailout program.

ECB governing council member Klaas Knot told a Dutch daily a Greek default could no longer be ruled out, the first ECB policymaker to speak openly of the prospect.

"It is one of the scenarios," Dutch daily Het Financieele Dagblad quoted him as saying. "All efforts are aimed at preventing this, but I am now less certain in excluding a bankruptcy than I was a few months ago."

MARKET HOPES

Hopes the ECB would take further steps to ease the stress of the region's banks, some of which hold a large amount of souring sovereign debt, fueled a late rally in European shares, although U.S. stocks were mixed in afternoon trade.

G20 finance ministers and central bankers had pledged on Thursday to "take all necessary actions to preserve the stability of the banking system and financial markets as required," a statement that failed to placate investors.

The G20 statement, issued after talks in Washington, said the 17-nation euro zone would implement actions to "maximize" the impact of the region's bailout fund by mid-October.

G20 participants did not say how the 440 billion-euro European Financial Stability Facility might be altered although French Finance Minister Francois Baroin used the word "leverage' in comments to reporters.

The United States has called on Europe to leverage up the EFSF to give it more firepower.

Antonio Borges, head of the IMF's European department, told a news conference that euro zone members need to quickly approve changes to the fund that they agreed to in July to make it more flexible. But he said it was too early to talk about leveraging the fund's resources.

The IMF's Lagarde said it might be wise for the ECB to continue buying government bonds even after Europe's bailout fund is given the power to do so. Tensions have flared within the ECB over its decision to buy bonds of struggling states.

(Additional reporting by IMF reporting team in Washington, Sakari Suoninen in Frankfurt, Natsuko Waki and Ana Nicolai da Costa in London, Lefteris Papadimas and Ingrid Melander in Athens; Writing by Glenn Somerville, William Schomberg and Paul Taylor; Editing by Neil Stempleman)

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UBS board considers investment bank's fate (Reuters)

SINGAPORE/ZURICH (Reuters) – The board of UBS (UBSN.VX)(UBS.N) extended on Friday its meeting amid the glamour of Singapore's Grand Prix event to decide the future of its scandal-hit investment bank and CEO Oswald Gruebel, on whose watch it lost $2.3 billion in alleged rogue trading.

Top executives at the Swiss bank, which has staggered from crisis to crisis over the past three years, are under pressure to downsize or fence off risky trading activities and protect its core business of managing private investors' wealth.

"The meeting is not yet over. The board has only ended its meeting for the day," a UBS spokesman said.

UBS's board meeting, one of four regular meetings per year, had originally been due to end on Friday ahead of the UBS-sponsored Singapore Formula One motor racing Grand Prix on Sunday, when executives will be trying to reassure big clients.

"It's a sign that there's still big decisions on the agenda that haven't been made yet," said Sarasin analyst Rainer Skierka of the decision to extend the meeting.

UBS shares, which had touched their lowest level since March 2009 earlier in the session as stocks tumbled worldwide, were trading up 2.2 percent at 9.87 francs at 1412 GMT as markets turned positive on talk of European Central Bank action.

After the meeting a casually-dressed Gruebel -- a big motor racing fan himself -- declined to comment on his future.

Wearing a black polo shirt and khaki trousers as he crossed the lobby of Singapore's Ritz-Carlton hotel -- where the bank's top brass are staying -- Gruebel shook his head when asked by a reporter whether he could say anything.

Clients pulled nearly 400 billion Swiss francs ($442 billion) -- almost 20 percent of total client assets -- from UBS during the financial crisis as the bank was battered by subprime losses, a prolonged dispute with the U.S. tax authorities and the biggest annual corporate loss in Swiss history.

Under Gruebel's leadership, the bank's inflows have since turned positive but other private banks are now circling again to nab clients worried about reputational risk in the wake of the rogue trader affair.

The $2.3 billion loss allegedly caused by UBS trader Kweku Adoboli in unauthorized trades compares to the 4.9 billion euros

($6.6 billion) lost by rogue trader Jerome Kerviel at Societe Generale just three years ago, an event which prompted calls for tighter rules and felled that bank's then-chairman and CEO Daniel Bouton.

With his job now on the line, Gruebel, a former trader himself, was expected to urge the board to keep him and his 'integrated banking' strategy -- maintaining the investment bank which he placed at the heart of UBS' recovery when he took over in 2009.

A UBS source said the board meeting -- held in UBS offices at the exclusive Raffles Quay location -- would be given an update on its internal investigation into the trading debacle -- potentially helping it decide where the buck should stop.

Former UBS CEO Peter Wuffli was ousted unceremoniously at a board meeting in Spain in 2007 to coincide with the America's Cup yachting event there, in which UBS was sponsoring a team.

RISK CONTROL

The crisis has left Gruebel facing not only strategic issues, such as whether the bank should stick to its safer core wealth management business, but also concern about his management team and lax risk supervision.

The 67-year-old German delivered "a consistent message" throughout the week that the investment bank is a key part of UBS's future, despite twin British and Swiss investigations into how Adoboli evaded UBS's compliance department, sources said.

UBS's largest shareholder, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, met the bank's management earlier this week and in a rare public statement expressed its disappointment. It urged them to take firm action to restore confidence and wanted details of how the bank would tighten risk controls.

Gruebel is expected to scale back proprietary trading and fixed income, but not do away with them completely.

"They need to complete the internal investigations first. It's not necessary to call for heads to roll yet, we need more detail for that -- and it's not clear who could take over anyway," said Florian Esterer, senior portfolio manager at Swisscanto, which manages some 57 billion Swiss francs and holds around $170 million in UBS shares.

"The board is in a bind because it is not sure anyone could realistically take over from Gruebel at present."

UBS lacks many heavyweight internal candidates after a series of management shakeups during the financial crisis, although it has been grooming Sergio Ermotti, former deputy CEO of Italy's UniCredit (CRDI.MI), since he joined in April.

Other names touted as possible successors -- include Hugo Baenziger and Axel Lehmann, chief risk officers respectively at Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) and Zurich Financial (ZURN.VX).

As Gruebel presented his plan to the UBS board, the bank has this week been fulfilling previous promises of cutting jobs and costs, losing between 5 and 10 percent of the jobs within the advisory arm in the investment banking division.

The move is part of 3,500 job cuts previously announced in August from which UBS had hoped to make an annual saving of around 2 billion francs -- most of which will have been canceled out by the $2.3 billion loss it unveiled last week.

Adoboli, meanwhile, was "sorry beyond words" and "appalled at the scale of the consequences of his disastrous miscalculations," his lawyer said at a brief court appearance in London on Thursday.

(With additional reporting by Charmian Kok and Rachel Armstrong in Singapore and Silke Koltrowitz, Catherine Bosley and Martin de Sa'Pinto in Zurich; Writing by Sophie Walker; Editing by David Cowell and Mike Nesbit)

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Mortgages at risk if U.S. flood program expires (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The federal program that insures homes against flood damage expires next Friday and is at risk of not being renewed, even as an early fall storm threatens to inundate much of the northeastern United States yet again.

Industry executives say that if the National Flood Insurance Program lapses, it would become all but impossible to get a mortgage in flood zones across the country until the program is revived.

Insurers and lobbyists are due to meet Friday to strategize on getting an extension passed by next week, though there is little optimism something would happen in time.

The NFIP has 5.57 million policies in force nationwide, insuring $1.25 trillion in property, which would remain in place even if the program is not extended.

Yet the program is also struggling with an unsustainable debt load. A bill to reform the NFIP overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives this summer, but a competing reform bill has made little headway in the Senate.

In the meantime, the program has continued on a series of annual extensions, the last of which expires September 30. A short-term extension is part of the broader government funding bill the House passed early Friday, but Democrats have said the bill has no chance in the Senate.

"I would have thought surely we wouldn't be going down this path again," said Patty Templeton-Jones, vice president of operations and principal NFIP coordinator at Fidelity National Indemnity Insurance Co., which is the largest writer of flood insurance policies in the United States. The NFIP uses private insurance companies to write and administer policies on its behalf, paying them a fee for the service.

"This is absolutely getting ridiculous," she said. "We are at this point preparing for a lapse."

In certain designated flood areas, flood insurance is mandatory as a condition of mortgages and other loans. According to informal guidance issued by the Federal Reserve in early 2010, during a lapse period lenders can still make loans on properties that are required to have flood insurance, even if that insurance is not available.

But Templeton-Jones said that is almost certain not to happen, notwithstanding the Fed's permission.

"They won't take the risk at all," she said. "There may be some small ones that may be willing to do that but the vast majority won't put themselves at risk like that."

The debate comes as the northeastern United States, which is just now drying out and starting to recover from Hurricane Irene last month, prepares to be slammed again.

The National Weather Service said Friday that areas from North Carolina to Massachusetts were at risk of flooding this weekend, and AccuWeather reported that the storm was already dropping more than 2 inches of rain an hour in spots.

(Editing by Doina Chiacu)

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