Now..You need to pay $1 per message, if you want to contact someone non-friend on Facebook. Will it be good for Facebook? Will it help the Facebook stock to go even higher? It seems like Facebook is trying to restrict the people from interaction..which might help another start up to take advantage and promote their own social network.
Launched in 2011, the "other" folder is where Facebook routes messages it deems less relevant. Not quite spam, these include messages from people you most likely don't know, based on Facebook's reading of your social connections. Many users ignore this folder.
Now, users will be able to pay $1 to route their messages to non-friends. Facebook said on Thursday that it is testing the service with a small percentage of individuals - not businesses - in the US.
Facebook said it is testing the service with a small percentage of individuals in the US.
"For example, if you want to send a message to someone you heard speak at an event but are not friends with, or if you want to message someone about a job opportunity, you can use this feature to reach their Inbox," Facebook said in an online post. "For the receiver, this test allows them to hear from people who have an important message to send them."
The company says charging for messages could help discourage spammers.
In October, Facebook unveiled another feature that lets users pay if they want more people to read their updates. For $7, users can promote a post to their friends, just as advertisers do.
Imagine getting email and data over the radio. A 22-year-old has developed a software that lets one do just that. Radio reaches every corner of India. Small transistors are cheap and easily available. Vinny Lohan has found a way to send computer data over normal radio waves. He believes that the idea could get all India online in a jiffy.
"Computers are all about zeros and ones. Be it video or text or music, to a computer, it is all zeros and ones. Since that's so, we asked ourselves, can we take a book or a video and convert it into music. And then send it over the airwaves. Turns out the answer was yes," Vinny said.
All it needs is OneBeep, the special software that Vinny and his friends wrote together. To send a file, be it video or text, the broadcaster simply selects and drags it into the software. OneBeep converts that data into an audio file, which is then transmitted over the airwaves.
Listeners can plug in their radio to a laptop or a cheap tablet computer, using a normal headphone jack. OneBeep software installed on their machines, will automatically convert the audio files back into data. It's like getting email over the radio.
OneBeep CEO Vinny says, "It's a bit like bit-torrent. When you are downloading something, the software is intelligent enough to know when something is paused and when it is restarted. We break digital data into packets. The software is converting audio into packets of data on the computer. Say your signal is weak or your battery died. When it restarts, it starts from the place it left off."
OneBeep needs absolutely no changes to the existing radio stations. And so, it's got attention. In 2010, Vinny and his team bagged the third prize in Microsoft's Imagine Cup - a worldwide contest for tech innovators. But their idea does have a few drawbacks.
First off, it's slow. Sending just 2 MB of data can take upto 40 minutes. Second, the idea itself isn't new. HAM radio operators have used a somewhat similar software since the 1970's. Third, it could be misused by terrorists. But Vinny thinks he's got that base covered.
"Each radio frequency transmission needs a government licence. Most amateur transmitters have a range of 20-30 metres. Anything stronger than that can easily be traced. If any unauthorised frequency transmissions take place, the army will be privy to that," Vinny says.
But because it's so simple and easily adaptable, Vinny's idea still has potential. Rural school kids can use OneBeep to download assignments overnight. Community radio stations in villages can also use it to transfer panchayat related files.
India will soon adopt Digital Radio Mondiale, a new technology which besides great sound, offers file transfers on the radio. But that is still a few years away. OneBeep already works and Vinny wants to offer it for free on the web. He wants to kick off a tiny revolution and give rural India a taste of the internet over the radio.
( IBN Live )
"Computers are all about zeros and ones. Be it video or text or music, to a computer, it is all zeros and ones. Since that's so, we asked ourselves, can we take a book or a video and convert it into music. And then send it over the airwaves. Turns out the answer was yes," Vinny said.
All it needs is OneBeep, the special software that Vinny and his friends wrote together. To send a file, be it video or text, the broadcaster simply selects and drags it into the software. OneBeep converts that data into an audio file, which is then transmitted over the airwaves.
Listeners can plug in their radio to a laptop or a cheap tablet computer, using a normal headphone jack. OneBeep software installed on their machines, will automatically convert the audio files back into data. It's like getting email over the radio.
OneBeep CEO Vinny says, "It's a bit like bit-torrent. When you are downloading something, the software is intelligent enough to know when something is paused and when it is restarted. We break digital data into packets. The software is converting audio into packets of data on the computer. Say your signal is weak or your battery died. When it restarts, it starts from the place it left off."
OneBeep needs absolutely no changes to the existing radio stations. And so, it's got attention. In 2010, Vinny and his team bagged the third prize in Microsoft's Imagine Cup - a worldwide contest for tech innovators. But their idea does have a few drawbacks.
First off, it's slow. Sending just 2 MB of data can take upto 40 minutes. Second, the idea itself isn't new. HAM radio operators have used a somewhat similar software since the 1970's. Third, it could be misused by terrorists. But Vinny thinks he's got that base covered.
"Each radio frequency transmission needs a government licence. Most amateur transmitters have a range of 20-30 metres. Anything stronger than that can easily be traced. If any unauthorised frequency transmissions take place, the army will be privy to that," Vinny says.
But because it's so simple and easily adaptable, Vinny's idea still has potential. Rural school kids can use OneBeep to download assignments overnight. Community radio stations in villages can also use it to transfer panchayat related files.
India will soon adopt Digital Radio Mondiale, a new technology which besides great sound, offers file transfers on the radio. But that is still a few years away. OneBeep already works and Vinny wants to offer it for free on the web. He wants to kick off a tiny revolution and give rural India a taste of the internet over the radio.
( IBN Live )
The Mexico City-based court handed down the ruling last Thursday, Eduardo Gallastegui said. "It's the third time Apple has lost," Gallastegui said, adding that "iFone is fully entitled to the use of its brand name."
In 2009, Apple filed a complaint against iFone with the Mexican Industrial Property Institute, or IMPI, demanding that firm stop using its brand name because the phonetic similarities could confuse users.
iFone - a provider of software for call centers - had registered its trade name in Mexico in 2003.
But the petition was denied after authorities found that iFone - a provider of software for call centers - had registered its trade name in Mexico in 2003, four years before Apple did.
The Mexican firm later filed a countersuit for damages and to block Apple from selling its flagship smartphone product in Mexico. Major telecom companies in Mexico could also be affected by the court ruling.
Leading Mexican cellphone provider Telcel began marketing the iPhone in 2007, offering a plan that included unlimited Internet access. Telcel and No.2 wireless operator Movistar, a unit of Spain's Telefonica, announced that they would begin selling the much-awaited iPhone 5 Friday.
( IANS )
RxCues "The Permanent Address for Every Medicine"
A new online listing platform exclusively designed for promotion of Pharmaceutical and other Licensed Medical Products. It's unique for listing of medicines.
End users ( Consumers ) can easily search the available medical products from all different companies ( as the listing grows ) and sort them based on quality and cost. They can have alternative list of products with similar contents and sort them as per requirement and availability.
It is useful for the promotion of unique branded products especially for small research firms with small marketing budgets. Manufacturers can list down their product catalogue at free of cost.
The criteria for search is based on either brand name or content with its strength. One can easily find the detailed listing of products with similar contents by just single click.
A new online listing platform exclusively designed for promotion of Pharmaceutical and other Licensed Medical Products. It's unique for listing of medicines.
End users ( Consumers ) can easily search the available medical products from all different companies ( as the listing grows ) and sort them based on quality and cost. They can have alternative list of products with similar contents and sort them as per requirement and availability.It is useful for the promotion of unique branded products especially for small research firms with small marketing budgets. Manufacturers can list down their product catalogue at free of cost.
The criteria for search is based on either brand name or content with its strength. One can easily find the detailed listing of products with similar contents by just single click.
The summer this year has so far provided some level of respite (though not from the unusually hot weather!) against uncertain markets, with the S&P index ranging in a 10% band compared to 15% in 2010 and 20% in 2011. The relatively low volatility in markets has occurred despite a host of negative factors prevalent as in the previous two years– with the current factors being continued turmoil in Europe, the fiscal cliff in the US, the China slow-down to name a few. Why the relative calm? It is the commitment to provide adequate monetary support by both the Fed and the ECB (and the PBOC) which has effectively taken out the downside tail risk in markets and provided support for the "risk on" trade. Global central bank behaviour (in form of both commitments as well as actions) will be the critical factor over the coming weeks and months in providing further impetus to a cyclical bull market phase which could last twelve to eighteen months - albeit with continued volatility as some of the risk factors outlined above are likely to remain.
The Chicago Fed's National Activity Index, is based on 85 economic indicators drawn from four broad categories of data, and is produced monthly. The four categories are:
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As always, the famed value investor Jeremy Grantham did not disappoint with his latest quarterly newsletter - with this one focussed on the critical long-term issue of rapidly declining natural resources. This is likely to be the most important theme to play out over the next several decades and will have broad implications on every aspect of our lives going forward. So I would urge you to read the attached (long!) piece carefully - a brief summary to whet the appetite follows below:
-The world is five years into a severe global food crisis which is threatening global stability and growth, but is unfortunately underestimated by almost everybody.
-As analysed in a note last year, we are currently 10 years into a paradigm shift from a century long phase of falling prices to rapidly increasing real prices.
-We need to increase food production by 60% to 100% by 2050 to feed a projected population of 9 billion, with more meat to cater to the needs of the fast growing middle class in the developing world.
-However, we are unlikely to reach the lower end of the above estimate (unless under a very optimistic scenario) as there are many factors which are providing a headwind as outlined below:
1)Grain productivity has fallen from 3.5% in 1970 to 1.5% today. Even the most efficient producers are reaching a limit, as increases in productivity per acre reaches zero for various grain species.
2)Shortages of underground water and increased soil salination will offset the gain in production due to increased irrigation.
3)Continued bad farming practices causing land degradation is reducing our sustainable productive capacity.
4)Fertilizer use has increased five times over the last 50 years and is unlikely to provide the same impetus to increased production as in previous years.
5)Increased weather instability causing floods and droughts and increased heat, as we have see over the last three years, will negatively impact agricultural production.
6)Rapidly increasing cost of fertilizers and fuel will also have a severe negative impact on production.
-Even if we are able to raise food production to a level to feed the increased population, the significant rise in the cost of inputs will make it unaffordable to an increasing segment of the population.
-On a positive side, scientists now are optimistic that they will be able to introduce more efficient photosynthesizing genes into vital plants such as wheat and rice, in 20 to 30 years. This would increase production by 50% and buy some time.
-The rapid increase in food prices in 2008 and 2011 reflected these difficulties, but the rise in food prices over the last six weeks is more problematic as it occurred despite a significant increase in plantations. This has been caused by rapidly rising global demand which has made agriculture more prone to price shocks.
-Several countries dependent on foreign food grain imports have still not recovered from the 2008 food price shock, with food rising to 40% of households budgets in some cases. These high levels put immense social pressures and may have contributed to the Arab Spring. Any price increases from these levels would be catastrophic and could cause social collapse and unprecedented mass immigration.
-Strong countermeasures taken by the rich countries would be effective in curtailing the developing crisis but are unlikely to be taken as the they are not yet adversely affected by the crisis and is therefore not a top priority.
-Continued food pressures, exacerbated by fuel price increases, dramatically increase the risk of international confrontations - China is particularly concerned about resource scarcity, in particular food.
-Increased supply of natural gas will buy (mainly for the US) some time but also create more complacency and dependency on hydrocarbons. While the energy problem is less critical in the short-term than the food crisis, with sufficient supply causing only a slow and erratic increase in prices, it does make the food problem worse by increasing cost pressures on poorer countries.
-However, in the long term, increasing energy costs (particularly oil) and shortages are second only to the food problem and will result in very high prices which will negatively impact global growth and the viability of current economic models.
-Theoretically though, the energy problem can be contained through large investments in renewable and smart grids. The countries which are able to do this will emerge stronger with advantages in lower costs and energy security – most countries (including the US) will be unable to muster the political will and courage to implement this programme and counter the enormous political power of energy interests.
-Metals are a relatively minor problem in the next few decades with only steadily increasing prices. However, in the long run they are the most intractable problem as there are no research-intensive solutions like for agriculture or capital-intensive and technology-intensive solutions like for energy. We will slowly run out of metals eventually leading to dramatic price rises.
-We are currently ill-equipped to address the above problems in an effective manner – being ill-informed, manipulated, full of inertia and corruptible. The global stakes are very high and we must try harder.
-The portfolio implications of all this , for a personal portfolio without career risk, and a time horizon of 10 years and beyond, are:
1)expect resource stocks (with resources in the ground) to outperform over the next several decades as resource prices continue to rise.
2)farming and forestry are on top of the list .
3)long term investors should have at least a 30% weighting in a resources package.
4)a relative beneficiary would be high quality companies which have a smaller exposure to resources in terms of final sales and high profit margins.
5) More importantly, the resource squeeze combined with other growth-reducing factors(to be covered in the next quarterly) is likely to reduce returns from the rest of the investment portfolio.
Fascinating piece with serious implications for investment portfolios and quality of life in general! I have repeatedly emphasised the importance of having a high allocation to natural resources, and gradually accumulating a position which would reach 30% of your portfolio over the course of this decade (starting now if you haven't already got some exposure) would provide a reasonable level of protection against rising resource prices. In addition, having a high weighting in countries like China which are taking the natural resource issue more seriously than other countries would make sense. Exposure to resource stocks and underlying commodities via funds, etfs and single stocks would be appropriate, while farmland and forestry could be accessed via some funds and direct purchases.
As highlighted in the first paragraph, central bank monetary policy actions and commitments are going to be critical over the next few weeks and months in terms of reinforcing the bullish momentum for stock markets and other risk assets. This becomes even more important given the inability to provide more fiscal stimulus (outside of China) making economic growth anaemic. The chart below highlights clearly what ails the US economy:
| 1)Production and Income 2)Employment, Unemployment, and Hours 3)Personal Consumption and Housing 4) Sales, Orders, and Inventories |
It is the third category which has been holding back the economic recovery and is likely to do so for a while longer. So failing further fiscal stimulus, we can expect continued monetary stimulus (and commitments to that effect) to keep the markets and the economy afloat until consumer demand and housing recover to trend levels.
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The software can even build up a 3D model of your house, from which the hackers can inspect your rooms, potentially gleaning information about valuables in your home, calendar entries as well as spying on you.
The app 'PlaiceRaider' was created by US military experts at Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Indiana, to show how cybercriminals could operate in the future, the Daily Mail reported.
The creators even demonstrated how they could read the numbers of a cheque book when they tested the Android software on 20 volunteers.
As long as the app could be installed on the users phone, it can instantly begin beaming back images from the phone when it senses the right conditions, and software on the other end can then re-construct maps of the visited room.
The team gave their infected phone to 20 individuals, who did not know about the malicious app, and asked them to continue operating in their normal office environment.
The team said they could glean vital information from all 20 users, and that the 3D reconstruction made it much easier to steal information than by just using the images alone.
Researcher Robert Templeman said their app can run in the background of any smartphone using the Android 2.3 operating system.
Through completely opportunistic use of the phone's camera and other sensors, PlaceRaider constructs rich, three dimensional models of indoor environments.
"Remote burglars can thus "download" the physical space, study the environment carefully, and steal virtual objects from the environment (such as financial documents, information on computer monitors, and personally identifiable information)," researchers said.
PlaiceRaider will silently take photographs, recording the time, location and orientation due to the sensors within most modern smartphones.
It will then delete any blurred or dark shots, before sending the rest back to a central server, which can reconstruct the user's room, based on information such as phone orientation.
Then the hacker can explore the user's property at will - for instance, scanning the room for calendars, private details on computer screens, and cheque-books or card details.
"We implemented on Android for practical reasons, but we expect such malware to generalise to other platforms such as iOS and Windows Phone," Templeman said.
( PTI )
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How to find a porn sites over the internet? A question which had no straight forward answer till now. But a new search called Search.xxx exclusively search the porn sites over the internet. It will help to find the porn content from the internet pool.
Search.xxx, which bills itself as "The Search Engine For Porn," searches for sites with the suffix .xxx, which, as one may have posited, are adult-themed.
ICM Registry, a Florida-based company that oversees all .xxx domains, launched the site on Thursday.
Aside from searching exclusively for porn, Search.xxx differs from other search engines like Google and Bing by allowing users to filter results by sexual orientation. Queries in Search.xxx aren't recorded in users' Google search history, so worries about potentially embarrassing previously-searched terms showing up at inopportune times are alleviated.
"It's the same dirty porn that you'd get in [sites ending with] .com, but in a safe, more controlled environment," Stuart Lawley, the CEO of ICM Registry, told The Huffington Post in an interview.
The company argued that its search engine returns better results because it knows that users are already looking for porn, rather than, for example, information about a sexual position.
As of Thursday afternoon, Lawley said the site had 100,000 unique visitors and 500,000 search queries.
There's no direct revenue model with Search.xxx. Rather, the goal is to drive traffic to the search engine so more porn providers purchase .xxx domain names, which is how his company makes money.
"Our long-term game plan is to increase that market share," Lawley said. "The more customers we get searching Search.xxx, the more providers we will have registering."
Lawley said that most .xxx domain names, available from retailers like Go Daddy and Domain.com, are sold for about $75. The company reserved about 1,000 high-value addresses to sell for substantially more. Gay.xxx, for example, fetched $500,000, while Fetish.xxx sold for $300,000. (Read More:Are .XXX Domains the Next Porn Battleground?)
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Lawley's company could make $200 million per year off the domain names.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the organization responsible for approving domain suffixes, approved the .xxx designation for ICM Registry last year.
Until this year, only a handful of what are called top-level domains, like .com, .net and .edu, existed.
About 13 percent of Internet searches were for "erotic content" in the year that ended July 2010, Forbes reported last year. About 4 percent of the 1 million websites with the highest traffic were devoted to the subject.
Search.xxx, which bills itself as "The Search Engine For Porn," searches for sites with the suffix .xxx, which, as one may have posited, are adult-themed.
ICM Registry, a Florida-based company that oversees all .xxx domains, launched the site on Thursday.
"It's the same dirty porn that you'd get in [sites ending with] .com, but in a safe, more controlled environment," Stuart Lawley, the CEO of ICM Registry, told The Huffington Post in an interview.
The company argued that its search engine returns better results because it knows that users are already looking for porn, rather than, for example, information about a sexual position.
As of Thursday afternoon, Lawley said the site had 100,000 unique visitors and 500,000 search queries.
There's no direct revenue model with Search.xxx. Rather, the goal is to drive traffic to the search engine so more porn providers purchase .xxx domain names, which is how his company makes money.
"Our long-term game plan is to increase that market share," Lawley said. "The more customers we get searching Search.xxx, the more providers we will have registering."
Lawley said that most .xxx domain names, available from retailers like Go Daddy and Domain.com, are sold for about $75. The company reserved about 1,000 high-value addresses to sell for substantially more. Gay.xxx, for example, fetched $500,000, while Fetish.xxx sold for $300,000. (Read More:Are .XXX Domains the Next Porn Battleground?)
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Lawley's company could make $200 million per year off the domain names.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the organization responsible for approving domain suffixes, approved the .xxx designation for ICM Registry last year.
Until this year, only a handful of what are called top-level domains, like .com, .net and .edu, existed.
About 13 percent of Internet searches were for "erotic content" in the year that ended July 2010, Forbes reported last year. About 4 percent of the 1 million websites with the highest traffic were devoted to the subject.
The book, 'No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden', is set to hit shelves on September 11, later this year.
It is penned under the pseudonym "Mark Owen," according to the publisher, but multiple sources were quoted by Fox News as saying that his name is in fact Matt Bissonnette of Wrangell, Alaska.
Bissonnette could be exposing himself to legal trouble, as the Pentagon has not vetted the account.
The tell-all book also has apparently upset a large population of former and current SEAL members who worry about releasing information that could compromise future missions.
One Navy SEAL was quoted by the Fox News as saying, "How do we tell our guys to stay quiet when this guy won't?" Other SEALs are expressing anger, with some going so far as to call him a "traitor."
And Colonel Tim Nye, a Special Operations Command spokesman, said the author "put himself in danger" by writing the book.
"This individual came forward. He started the process. He had to have known where this would lead," Nye said. "He's the one who started this so he bears the ultimate responsibility for this," he added.
According to a press release from his publisher, Penguin Group, "Owen (Bissonnette) was one of the first men through the door on the third floor of the terrorist leader's hideout and was present at his death."
In the book, Bissonnette writes "it is time to set the record straight about one of the most important missions in US military history."
A unilateral US military raid killed Laden in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011.
An experienced member of the elite Navy SEAL special operators, Bissonnette also participated in the highly publicised rescue of Captain Richard Phillips in the Indian Ocean in 2009.
That mission involved a daring rescue that ended when SEAL snipers shot and killed three Somali pirates with direct shots to the head.
Bissonnette received the rank of chief before he retired. The book is co-authored with Kevin Maurer, author of four books, many of which were based on Special Operations.
Along with using the pseudonym "Mark Owen," Bissonette protected his fellow SEAL Team 6 members by changing their names in the book.
Both the Pentagon and CIA said on Wednesday that the book was not in any way vetted by either department to prevent unwanted classified information from being released.
( PTI )
The 50-year-old visited the restaurant with a group of friends and insisted on paying the bill but couldn't as the eatery didn't accept his American Express card and Cruise was only carrying US dollars, reported Daily Mail.
"It was a big shock for us when he walked in. He said we had been recommended to him, but he would not say by whom. At the end of the meal he wanted to pay, but we could not accept American Express.
"He said his whole group only had dollars, then a lady came forward and paid in 50 pound notes," said Darshit Hora, the restaurant manager. Darshit says if the actor, who left with a generous tip, wouldn't have been able to pay the bill, the restaurant would have been more than happy to put on the house.
The bill was 220.85 pounds so they left almost an 80 pound tip. It was very generous. If they did not have any money, it would have been on the house," he added.
Cruise is reportedly enjoyed curry meals, specially chicken tikka at the restaurant. The 50-year-old actor, who recently divorced his wife Katie Holmes, was seen gorging on chicken tikka at the Indian restaurant Veer Dhara in St Peter's Street, reported Contactmusic.
The staff at the restaurant was surprised when the actor turned up with his entourage and ordered a huge list of dishes. The group also ordered fish and chicken starters, two lobsters, two Lamb dishes, rice, bread which totalled up to a bill of 220.85 pounds. The actor is currently busy shooting for his upcoming film, 'All You Need Is Kill'.
( PTI)
In an attempt to maintain its strict currency peg to the euro, the Danish central bank lowered its main deposit rate for banks—the certificate of deposit or CD rate—to -0.2 percent last month.
The Nationalbanken felt it had little choice. Investors flocked to Denmark in search of a haven outside the euro zone—one that has no currency risk with the euro and offers cheap protection against a break-up of the single currency.
The move to negative rates is being watched closely by central banks around the world. “We have never been so popular,” laughs one Danish policy maker.
Apart from a brief move by Sweden in 2009-10, negative official rates are something of a novelty. But others may soon follow suit, with the European Central Bank recently cutting its deposit rate to zero and warning that it could go negative.
Policy makers in the UK and elsewhere in Europe have expressed interest in the idea as a potential way of forcing banks that are currently hoarding cash to start lending again.
“The Danish central bank is the first one in a small experiment of what happens when you impose negative interest rates,” says Thomas Kressin, head of the European foreign exchange desk at Pimco, one of the world’s largest bond investors.
“The popularity of the Danish krone is because of the unpopularity of the euro. Investors all over the world are looking for safe investments and are even willing to face negative interest rates for the security of knowing their money will still be there.”
So far, the economic impact of the move is largely unknown. Scandinavians take their summer holidays in July, so the central bank has little normal data to rely on. But officials acknowledge there has been a negative impact on banks, which they estimate to amount to about DKr300 million ($50.5 million).
Danish banks have about DKr200 billion on deposit at the central bank. While Nationalbanken has increased the amount banks can hold on current account—where the interest rate is zero—from DKr23 billion to DKr70 billion, this still leaves a sizeable chunk where banks will, in effect, have to pay the central bank to look after their money.
Bank executives, as well as central bankers, are clear that lenders have to increase their loan prices to compensate for the loss, as they are unable to impose negative rates on customers.
“When we are at zero [for customers’ deposits], we can’t go any lower. We have to recover that money in other ways, so we do that by increasing our margins on loans,” Eivind Kolding, chief executive of Danske Bank, the country’s biggest lender, said this month.
Government bond yields have followed suit, complicating a normal way for banks to make money. Denmark’s two-year bond yields, which had never previously been negative, were -0.22 percent on Thursday.
The danger is that this hurts the economy by reducing lending. But, in Denmark, this has been offset by a huge fall in mortgage rates as the official lending figure—the central bank’s headline interest rate—has also dropped, although it remains just in positive territory at 0.2 percent.
One-year mortgage bonds being auctioned this month are expected to yield only about 0.25 percent, according to analysts, down from the 1 percent they fetched last year.
Mr. Kolding notes that, for consumers, the cost of a mortgage in Denmark is exceptionally low. But outsiders still think the overall impact on the economy is more negative than positive.
“It is almost quantum physics,” says Mr. Kressin. “All the way down to zero, monetary policy is ultra loose. But below zero, to some extent you tighten policy, because you impose a cost on the banking system.”
Nationalbanken officials are also keeping a close eye on the circulation of coins and notes. So far, as commercial banks still offer zero for current accounts rather than negative rates, there has been no move from the public to hoard cash. But central bankers concede that if the CD rate fell to, say, -1 percent, banks might feel under more pressure to charge customers.
Denmark’s fierce defense of its currency peg means that a further move into negative territory cannot be ruled out, especially if the ECB were to cut rates further. But the small relative size of the Danish economy and the existence of the peg have led some to question how much other central banks can learn from its experiment.
“Can the ECB draw any lessons? It’s too much of a stretch from my perspective,” says Mr. Kressin.
( FT.com)
The author, who uses a pseudonym, "was one of the first men through the door on the third floor of the terrorist leader's hideout and was present at his death," The Washington Post quoted a statement from Dutton, the New York-based publisher.
The book, 'No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama bin Laden', will be released on September 11.
If what the author says is true, the book would pull off the secrecy maintained by members of the team of Navy SEALs involved in the raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
It could also raise legal and political issues for the Obama administration, which has carried out an aggressive crackdown on leaks even while it has also been accused of offering access to journalists and moviemakers to exploit the success of the bin Laden operation, the Post said. It added that the Pentagon and CIA officials appeared to be caught off-guard by Dutton's announcement of the forthcoming book.
Officials indicated yesterday that neither the author nor the publisher had cleared the book's contents with the Defence Department or the CIA, a step ordinarily required by former service members or spies seeking to write about classified operations.
"As far as we can determine, this book was not submitted for pre-publication review," said CIA spokesman Preston Golson.
Pentagon spokesman George Little said he was "unaware that anyone in the department has reviewed it". White House officials said they knew nothing of the book. "We learned about this book today from press reports, said Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the National Security Council. "We haven't reviewed it and don t know what it says".
The author's name is listed as Mark Owen, which Dutton acknowledges is a pseudonym.
( PTI )
A nearly 22 minute-long documentary titled 'In Search of Destiny (Coin Divers)' by Aakash Arun attempts to throw light into the lives of coin divers numbering around 400-500 and living near the much polluted but equally, if not more, revered Yamuna that flows through here.
The film begins with a train chugging on a bridge and people 'offering' coins to the Yamuna and subsequently praying for their wishes. It is followed by a shot where a child is seen hurling a dumbbell-shaped greasy object into the river and tugging the rope. The camera zooms into the dumbbell-shaped object and you see one shining coin stuck to it. Later on the scene focuses on two men who narrate how they receive sustenance from the Yamuna in the form of coins.
"The men are part of the marginalised section which is not only homeless and helpless but also are susceptible to the hills of addiction, says Arun. Nearly 60 per cent of these coin drivers in the national capital are in the grip of some form of addiction. These people are not to difficult to find out. Most of them are present in a radius of 4-6 km of the bridge over Yamuna that can be reached from Kashmere Gate, according to the film's narration.
"Coin divers on an average find coins worth Rs 100 daily," says Arun adding that earning goes up on few occasions when luck smiles upon them in the form of trinkets, heavy metallic objects that fetch decent prices. The documentary was shot entirely using a DSLR camera which, he said, could be brought out in the open only after he could gain confidence of the coin divers.
The fact that Yamuna plays a pivotal role in these people's lives can be easily grasped by viewers. "Yamuna is all encompassing. She gives shelter to all who comes to her. We sleep under the sky and sustain ourselves from her largesse (read coins)," says an elderly man in the documentary.
( PTI )
The Hindu's Business Line unleashes the position of Two Wheeler domestic makers of India who are geared up for production cuts owing to demand dip,reducing growth,piling up of inventories and competition. Their research shows that how players like Bajaj & TVS are going to be hurt the most with the two wheeler auto sector starting to face the downfall.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/article3765331.ece?homepage=true
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/article3765331.ece?homepage=true
The app called 'StressSense' is first trained to recognise a person's unstressed voice. For that, users must relax and read a 3-minute passage from a book into their phones.
The system then compares this recording to its pre-programmed knowledge of the physiological changes that stress induces like speaking at a faster rate and a clipped frequency spectrum.
The application then takes note of any instances of stress it detects in the voice.
"Our stress model also adapts to different background noise environments," New Scientist quoted Hong Lu of Intel in Santa Clara, California, who developed the system, as saying.
In tests that included putting volunteers through mock job interviews, the researchers found their prototype's stress-recognition accuracy to be 81 per cent indoors and 76 per cent outdoors, where sound quality wasn't as good.
The team plans to make the system a plug-in to an Android application called BeWell, which uses a phone's accelerometers and Global Positioning System (GPS) sensors to record users' activity and sleep levels.
Smartphone users will be able to set StressSense to either listen to their voice throughout the day, or only to activate when they are having a phone conversation.
The app will be presented at the Ubicomp conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, next month.
A male performer in the Los Angeles porn community was reportedly diagnosed with syphilis last month, but apparently hid the fact from producers, prompting fears of a spread among other actors and actresses. Several big studios have voluntarily suspended production for an unspecified period, while the Free Speech Coalition (a trade group that represents the adult entertainment industry) has called for a moratorium on filming until all performers have been re-tested for the disease.
Generally, the porn industry doesn't shut down unless there is a confirmed case of HIV (which happened in both 2010 and 2011). Syphilis, of course, is a curable disease, but can be fatal if left untreated. And since the performer worked several times with a doctored sexually transmitted infection (STI) test before coming forward, there are fears about the disease spreading.
While the porn industry is under significant financial pressure due to piracy and the rise of “amateur” Web sites, insiders say this shutdown should not have a noticeable effect on revenues at major studios. Big players in the porn industry typically have a large stockpile of films awaiting release and can ride out a shutdown.
The porn industry shoots roughly 20,000 scenes per year. Bigger companies tend to produce four or five films per month – with costs reaching upwards to $300,000 – allowing them to stockpile releases.
The porn industry, as a whole, is thought to generate roughly $14 billion in revenue per year, but revenue from porn films has been shrinking, due to piracy and an abundance of free content on the Internet.
"The nature of the industry is we don’t make nearly as many products as we did once," says Scott Taylor, president and founder of New Sensations.
The $14 billion figure is an estimate, since porn companies generally guard their financials carefully – especially these days. Porn giant Manwin is on a buying spree and no one wants to divulge revenue figures, since they fear it could hurt their asking price if Manwin turns its attention their way.
One insider, who asked not to be named, said he believes current revenue figures are vastly underreported, since online revenue is growing exponentially. Manwin's Fabian Thylmann seemed to back this up in a keynote speech at a conference in January, saying "I've looked at many books to see if something is interesting to buy. I know of many companies today that are making more than the big ones did in '98, '99 and 2000."
(Manwin, which was the first company to announce a halt in production until performers were retested, says its current growth rate – without accounting for acquisitions – is currently about 15 percent each year.)
While the health concerns for performers are certainly real, the notion that a performer doctored his test results is likely to add to the porn industry's woes as it faces new legislation from the state of California. (The performer reportedly obscured the syphilis portion of the paper test results he presented to directors, according to Xbiz, a trade news outlet for the adult entertainment industry. When one director noticed this and began making inquiries, the performer ultimately admitted to the action.)
The Los Angeles City Council, in January, voted to make condom use mandatory in porn shoots that are filmed inside the city limits. A similar measure for Los Angeles County will be on the ballot in November, which would require studios to pay a permit fee to cover the cost of enforcement. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health estimates those will cost producers between $12,000 and $60,000 per permit per year.
L.A. City officials have not yet begun enforcing the ordinance, as officials have spent seven months figuring out how best to do so. Many industry insiders say they don't expect the city to begin inspections until early next year.
While several porn companies have threatened to leave Los Angeles because of the legislation, none have yet done so and the gestures are now largely viewed as empty threats.
( CNBC )
The video features a gentleman as the Vice President, iPhone Product Design, who says, "Before designing the iPhone 5, we studied how customers use their iPhones and we discovered something pretty interesting. People only use iPhones to take photos of their food. They are sad and alone, so they take pictures of food to create the illusion of a fulfilling life."
The video further goes on saying: "With a maximum ISO of 6400, the iPhone 5 takes stunning photos in whatever dimly lit, exposed brick, no reservation, basement restaurant your friends care about more than each other."
The commercial mentions that the iPhone is good enough to turn your life into a "seemingly enjoyable lie."
Check out the iPhone 5 hilarious parody commercial below.
( IBNLive )
"It's great to be acting in and co-producing 'Chauranga' with Onir. The story is about a 14-year-old Dalit boy who falls in love with a 16-year-old upper-caste girl from Jharkhand," Suri told PTI.
"I have an important role in the film, in which you will also see Radhika Apte (of 'I Am', 'Antaheen' fame)."
The producers have taken the crowd funding route as they want the audience to be a part of the filmmaking process. A target of Rs 50 lakh from public audience has been set and people can contribute via the film's website.
"Apart from raising funds from general public, we have support of the National Films Development Corporation of India (NFDC). We've also received grant from Goteborg International Film Festival, Sweden and are in discussion with international co-producers," says director Bikas Ranjan Mishra.
Inspired by a true event, 'Chauranga' is a fictional account of six days in a dark corner of India. It's a story of the violence of class oppression that still exists in rural India.
The Dalit boy is growing up in an unnamed corner of India. His dream is to go to a town school like his elder brother and his reality is to look after the pig that his family owns.
His only escape is to sit atop a jamun tree and adore his beloved passing by on her scooter. His unspoken love is as true as his mother's helplessness who cleans the cowsheds of the local strongman's mansion, with whom she also has a secret liaison.
When the boy's elder brother comes on a vacation to the village, he soon finds out about his younger brother's infatuation. He tries to makes him realize the need to express his love. The film is at an advanced pre-production stage right now.
"Our cast is a fair mix of actors and non-actors. We've chosen to work with non-actors for our lead roles that happen to be kids. It's fun to work with children - you learn so much," says Mishra.
( IANS )
"Apart from raising funds from general public, we have support of the National Films Development Corporation of India (NFDC). We've also received grant from Goteborg International Film Festival, Sweden and are in discussion with international co-producers," says director Bikas Ranjan Mishra.
Inspired by a true event, 'Chauranga' is a fictional account of six days in a dark corner of India. It's a story of the violence of class oppression that still exists in rural India.
The Dalit boy is growing up in an unnamed corner of India. His dream is to go to a town school like his elder brother and his reality is to look after the pig that his family owns.
His only escape is to sit atop a jamun tree and adore his beloved passing by on her scooter. His unspoken love is as true as his mother's helplessness who cleans the cowsheds of the local strongman's mansion, with whom she also has a secret liaison.
When the boy's elder brother comes on a vacation to the village, he soon finds out about his younger brother's infatuation. He tries to makes him realize the need to express his love. The film is at an advanced pre-production stage right now.
"Our cast is a fair mix of actors and non-actors. We've chosen to work with non-actors for our lead roles that happen to be kids. It's fun to work with children - you learn so much," says Mishra.
( IANS )
A 21-year-old Indian-origin woman has created something of a record by pulling a double-decker bus in Leicester by a rope tied to her hair.
The feat, performed by Asha Rani on Saturday in front of a large gathering of admiring crowds in the Leicester city centre, will now be verified before it is declared as a record.
She, pulled the 12-tonne bus 17m and 20cm on Humberstone Gate in Leicester.
To break the current record, she had to pull it more than five metres. The attempt must now be verified.
To break the current record, she had to pull the bus more than 5 metres. Known locally as the Iron Queen, Asha Rani managed the 12-tonne bus to pull it 17 metres and 20 cm, according to reports from Leicester.
Asha Rani is mentored by Manjit Singh, 62, the Hoshiarpur-born strongman who has several records against his name, including pulling an airplane at the East Midlands airport bu a rope tied to his ears.
Manjit Singh said after Asha Rani's feat: "There is no specific training for this, it is mind over matter whether it be breaking glass with your head or lifting things with your ears. Rani started learning three or four years ago and now she's better than me."
Leicester-based Manjit Singh, who has amazed many with his strength and endurance skills by setting several Guinness World Records, moved to Britain in 1977 after a short tenure as a policeman in Punjab.
Manjit Singh and Asha Rani are raising money for a charity organisation which raises awareness about prostate cancer.
The feat, performed by Asha Rani on Saturday in front of a large gathering of admiring crowds in the Leicester city centre, will now be verified before it is declared as a record.
She, pulled the 12-tonne bus 17m and 20cm on Humberstone Gate in Leicester.To break the current record, she had to pull it more than five metres. The attempt must now be verified.
To break the current record, she had to pull the bus more than 5 metres. Known locally as the Iron Queen, Asha Rani managed the 12-tonne bus to pull it 17 metres and 20 cm, according to reports from Leicester.
Asha Rani is mentored by Manjit Singh, 62, the Hoshiarpur-born strongman who has several records against his name, including pulling an airplane at the East Midlands airport bu a rope tied to his ears.
Manjit Singh said after Asha Rani's feat: "There is no specific training for this, it is mind over matter whether it be breaking glass with your head or lifting things with your ears. Rani started learning three or four years ago and now she's better than me."
Leicester-based Manjit Singh, who has amazed many with his strength and endurance skills by setting several Guinness World Records, moved to Britain in 1977 after a short tenure as a policeman in Punjab.
Manjit Singh and Asha Rani are raising money for a charity organisation which raises awareness about prostate cancer.
( PTI )
A new IOC regulation, called Rule 40, prohibits athletes from appearing in ads for non-Olympic sponsors from July 18 to Aug. 15. According to the IOC’s 19 page explainer, Rule 40 is designed to prevent ambush marketing, defined as non-Olympic sponsors trying to associate themselves with the Olympic brand.
Yet two photos of the Olympic swimmer, shot by the photographer Annie Leibovitz, began circulating during the time period in which athletes are prohibited from appearing in advertisements. A website in Barcelona called elperiodico.com printed the bathtub photo on Aug. 7 and announced that Phelps was the new face of Louis Vuitton. Then the Daily Mail in Britain followed up on Monday, Aug. 13, with two photos and the headline “Let the fashion endorsements begin, Michael Phelps announced as latest face of Louis Vuitton core values campaign.”
The second photo shows Phelps in a three-piece suit sitting on a couch next to Larisa Latynina of Russia, 77, who is the previous holder of the title “most-decorated Olympic athlete.” In both photos, there is a strategically placed Louis Vuitton bag.
A quick Google search shows the photos went viral and appeared on dozens if not hundreds of websites on Aug. 13 and 14.
An agent for Leibovitz confirmed to CNBC that she shot the photos, and that a Louis Vuitton campaign with Phelps was supposed to begin sometime this week.
The release of these photos before Aug. 16 raises the thorny question of whether the world’s most decorated athlete is in violation of rule with sanctions that could include fines and the stripping of medals.
Thus far, answers are not forthcoming from either the U.S. Olympic Committee, the International Olympic Committee or the London Olympic Committee. None of the organizations responded to attempts for comment. In fairness, many people involved in the Olympics have gone on vacation or are still traveling back from London.
Louis Vuitton representatives will say only that they did not release the photos. Leibovitz’s press agent says her office did not release the photos. Yet, the Daily Mail contained a quote from a Vuitton representative about the campaign. (That page has since been removed from the newspaper’s website.)
Regardless, if the photos were leaked, they may still fall into the category of ambush marketing and thus be a violation of Rule 40.
The imposition of Rule 40 for London 2012 angered many athletes because it prevented them from monetizing their brand at the precise moment when it was most valuable. Most Olympic athletes are not household names like Phelps and are far less likely to garner lucrative sponsorship deals.
The U.S. Track and Field team began a Twitter campaign to end the regulation, with two hash tags: #rule40 & #wedemandchange. Gold medalist Dawn Harper tweeted out two photos mocking Rule 40. One was a self-portrait with a white tape covering her mouth; the words “rule 40” written on the tape. Olympic runner Nick Symmonds, who specializes in the 800m, was especially vociferous on Twitter. In a conversation with me Wednesday, he expressed frustration that he was unable to thank his sponsors, Nike and the Orgeon Track Club, during the Olympics. “It’s about being able to give them a return on their investment.”
His agent Chris Layne told CNBC if the IOC is going to continue with Rule 40, the athletes should be compensated monetarily for their participation in the Games. An example he cites is the Track and Field World Championships, where the top performers receive prize money. Layne said he believes Rule 40 emanates from antiquated thinking about the Games—that the athletes are amateurs but not professionals. But “the Olympics have changed,” and now, “It is truly a professional, commercial event from start to finish.”
Neither he, nor his client Symmonds, thinks Phelps should be sanctioned for the photos because it is unlikely that Phelps himself released them. Layne points out that, if anything, the situation highlights the difficulties of enforcement. “If this photo shoot were prior to Rule 40, how you can enforce that?”
Sanctions can range from removal of accreditation (not relevant once an athlete is finished competing), financial penalties, disqualification from the games, and according to the Olympic charter “a competitor or a team may lose the benefit of any ranking obtained in relation to other events at the Olympic Games at which he or it was disqualified or excluded; in such case the medals and diplomas won by him or it shall be returned to the IOC.”
Sports law attorney Joe Baghat thinks the Olympic Committee will do nothing to Phelps because “it would be a public relations nightmare to come on him because he is so well loved.”
Emails to Phelps' agent were not returned.
( CNBC )
The Swedish company plans to commercialize a color-changing disposable wristband that changes from yellow to pink based on increasing exposure to UV rays. You’ll know that it’s time to get out of the sun, in other words, when the yellow wristband turns pink. The wristband, developed by researchers at the University of Strathclyde, features an acid release agent that picks up UV rays along with a dye that changes in response to pH levels--so when the rays increase, acid is released and the dye changes the wristband’s color.You’ll know that it’s time to get out of the sun when the yellow wristband turns pink.
Intellego is working on an array of wristbands that work for different skin types. The Daily Mail reports that there will be one wristband for people with fair skin and lighter hair, another for people with dark skin and dark hair, so that your wrist alert signals you at the exact right time.
We’d suggest adding in wristbands that also take into account sunscreen use--a person with fair skin and light hair won’t absorb as many UV rays if they’re wearing high SPF sunscreen. Another caveat: The kind of person who would wear a wristband like this is probably already cautious about sun exposure.
The wristband is expected to go on sale in Spring 2013.
Last week two incidents were widely reported in the Australian media whereby male passengers seated next to unaccompanied minors were asked to swap seats with a female.
The first involved a Sydney firefighter who was traveling aboard a Virgin Australia flight. He was assigned a window seat next to two boys he estimated to be between eight and 10 years old, he told journalists at the Sydney Morning Herald. He took the aisle seat, though, so the boys could look out the window.
A flight attendant approached the man asking him to move shortly before the plane pushed back from the gate, according to the report. When he asked why, the flight attendant reportedly told him, "Well, you can't sit next to two unaccompanied minors." Getting looks from other passengers, the embarrassed man complied.
When the story broke, social media channels came alive with criticism over the policy, even spawning a new Twitter hashtag #VirginDiscrimination. On Facebook, users posted comments including "disgracefully discriminatory" and "stupid load of nonsense."
Virgin Australia later tweeted and posted a response on its blog saying, "We understand the concerns raised around our policy for children travelling alone, a long-standing policy initially based on customer feedback."
"In light of recent feedback, we're now reviewing this policy," the post continues. "Our intention is certainly not to discriminate in any way."
The second incident involved a man flying on Qantas. He, too, was asked to swap seats with a female passenger.
"After the plane had taken off, the air hostess thanked the woman that had moved but not me, which kind of hurt me or pissed me off a bit more because it appeared I was in the wrong, because it seemed I had this sign I couldn't see above my head that said 'child molester' or 'kiddie fiddler' whereas she did the gracious thing and moved to protect the greater good of the child," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
A Qantas spokesman confirmed the policy with the newspaper further clarifying, "Qantas's policy is consistent with other airlines around the world and is designed to minimize risk."
What About U.S. Airlines?
CNBC reached out to several airlines in the U.S. to see if a similar policy applied to passengers seated next to children traveling alone.
American Airlines spokesman Ed Martelle told CNBC.com in an email, "We have no such policy."
Andrew Christie, spokesman for US Airways, sent a reply saying, "US Airways does not have a formal policy on whom to, or not to, seat next to unaccompanied minors, rather we defer to the expertise of our trained gate agents and crew members who are tasked with ensuring the safety and security of all our passengers. We also intentionally do not announce the boarding of unaccompanied minors so as not to draw unwanted attention to children traveling alone."
"We do not have any rules regarding seat mates for unaccompanied minors aboard Virgin America," said spokeswoman Jennifer Thomas.
Requests for more information were not immediately returned from Delta or United.
Protecting children from predators — male or female — is paramount in any society. But is an overt policy necessary onboard an airliner filled with passengers? Tell us what you think.
( CNBC )
"WEALTH MANTRA"
If you "RISK" Nothing, You "RISK" Everything...
"WEALTH CREATION" is an "ART", approach a "WEALTH CREATOR" for better "RETURNS"...
3 of 3 Photo(s)
If you "RISK" Nothing, You "RISK" Everything...
"WEALTH CREATION" is an "ART", approach a "WEALTH CREATOR" for better "RETURNS"...
3 of 3 Photo(s)
The recent blackout in India highlights problems in the electricity sector, including ineffective distribution networks, loss-making providers and low capacity utilization of utilities. Despite improvements in recent years, as supply generation capacity has risen relative to demand, distribution losses have fallen, and the supply shortfall has shrunk, the Indian government’s production targets for the coming five years appear overly ambitious. The electricity shortfall is likely to remain due to coal shortages and lack of incentives for loss-making providers. Read More..
Latest indicators point to flat U.S. economy
Initial jobless applications in the U.S. rose slightly last week, a gain that was in line with expectations and, overall, a still-positive indicator of a weak U.S. recovery. But mixed signals in housing and a drop in a key factory activity gauge for mid-Atlantic region suggested an economy treading water. "For the Fed, the issue was whether the economy was sliding toward the abyss, and it doesn't seem to be, but it's certainly not improving," observed Pierre Ellis, an economist at Decision Economics in New York.
FDI in China slows as outbound investment surges
Foreign direct investment in China was down 8.7% in July from a year before, and U.S. investment in the first seven months was down 3.6%, the Ministry of Commerce reported. The ministry said investment may continue to decline somewhat in the near term but is likely to be replaced eventually by higher-quality inflows. Separately, the ministry reported that China's outbound direct investment surged by more than half in the first seven months of 2012.
EU's struggles hurt China's exports, but stable growth is still expected
China's exports to the recession-racked European Union are down 3.6% through the first seven months of the year, the Ministry of Finance reported. "Unpromising exports to the EU has been expected, yet escalating while worsening euro debt crisis, as well as a sharp drop in import demand from European countries, has gone beyond many experts' forecasts," a ministry spokesman said. Meanwhile, global accounting firm KPMG predicted stable growth for the Chinese economy in the second half of this year.
Merkel sides with ECB on conditions for aid to struggling euro countries
Germany is "in line" with the European Central Bank's demands for measures to reduce borrowing costs in indebted countries, Chancellor Angela Merkel said. It was Merkel's first comment on the crisis in a month and pitched Germany back into the debate over defending the euro as pressure mounted for easier terms and a sharing of debt.
U.K. economists who backed fiscal restraint now call for stimulus
U.K. economists who had endorsed Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne's fiscal stringency ahead of the country's last election have backed off and are now urging fiscal stimulus. Only one of the original 20 economists calls for staying the course.
U.K. retail sales post July increase
Retail sales in the U.K. defied forecasts of a slight decline and rose 0.3% in July. In addition, new factory and construction numbers now suggest that gross domestic product may have declined less than the 0.7% reported for the second quarter.
Market Activities
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS OVERVIEW
Mixed to favorable economic data in Europe and the U.S. lifted shares Thursday on both sides of the Atlantic. In New York, the S&P 500 was up 0.71% to close at 1415.51, and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.3% to 271.22. Here is a continuously updated list of global stock indexes.
Japanese shares make strong gains; other Asia markets end mixed
Asian stock markets were mixed Thursday, with Japan the outstanding gainer due to export hopes as the U.S. dollar rose against the yen. The Nikkei ended the day with a 1.9% advance, closing at 9092.76, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.1% to 4330.20. The Hang Seng was off 0.45%, closing at 19962.95, and the Kospi was basically unchanged at 1957.91, up 0.1%.
Economic Trends & Outlook
Japan expects to end long run of deflation
Japan's long bout of deflation, stretching over 16 years, will come to end in the next fiscal year, the Cabinet Office is reportedly preparing to forecast. Among the upbeat trends contributing to the swing to inflation are an improving job market, higher consumer spending and rebuilding after 2011's tsunami and nuclear disaster.
India's central bank may consider rate action
Even though inflation remains above the Indian central bank's target range of 5% to 6%, the bank now says it is preparing to assess whether a downward trend will persist and make a decision about rates on that basis. A bank review of monetary policy is scheduled for Sept. 17. Pressure has been growing for bank stimulus as industrial growth weakens.
Worries grow even as South Korea jobless rates falls
Self-employment and the service sector are credited with an unexpected easing of South Korea's unemployment rate to 3.1% in July. Even so, "Europe's fiscal crisis is taking a toll on company hiring. The quality of the job market is deteriorating with more people taking nonsalaried work," said Sun Yoo, an economist at Woori Investment & Securities. In a bid to boost lagging exports, the government introduced several measures Thursday to help exporters secure funding.
Bank of Japan government holdings top those in circulation
Because of a special asset purchase program, holdings of Japanese government bonds by the Bank of Japan now exceed banknotes in circulation in the country for the first time. The bank's normal policy is to keep its government bond holdings at or less than the balance in circulation as a sign it won't indefinitely support government shortfalls. But the special program was instituted to address prolonged deflation.
Singapore retail sales decline in June
Singapore's retail sales were down 0.9% in June, pulled lower by slow vehicle sales and a number of other consumer sectors. However, continued softness could help moderate price increases, analysts said. "If retail sales remain soft in [the second half], this could constrain retailers' pricing power, compelling them to absorb higher costs in their margins, providing some modest relief for core inflation," said Citi analyst Kit Wei Zheng.
Taiwan is seen in danger of recession
Taiwan's economy is in danger of slipping into recession if the world economy worsens and electronics exports don't pick up, Moody's forecasts. Separately, the Council for Economic Planning and Development said the outlook for the global economy in the current quarter declined after two quarters of increases.
Capital Markets & Financial Products
China offers 14th issue of T-bonds this year
China's Ministry of Finance has begun offering 30.06 billion yuan in five-year book-entry treasury bonds with an annual interest rate of 2.95%. The bonds, the 14th issue this year, will become tradable Aug. 22.
Iran says it may close key South Korean accounts
Iran is demanding higher deposit rates at two South Korean banks where it has currency-based transaction settlement accounts estimated at $4.4 billion and is threatening to close the accounts, sources said. Such a move could affect as many as 2,700 Korean exporters.
Islets dispute may impinge on Japan-South Korean currency-swap deal
A dispute over islets between Japan and South Korea has led Japan to hint that a currency-swap deal between the two nations may be in jeopardy. Japan's chief Cabinet secretary, Fujimura Osamu, said many options are open to Tokyo and did not rule out withdrawal.
India regulator moves to build country's base of retail investors
In a move to bolster India's capital markets, the Securities and Exchange Board of India moved to broaden openings for retail investors in initial public offerings and mutual funds and extend the reach of mutual funds to smaller localities. The board also opened the door to electronic IPOs.
Industry & Regulatory Update
Standard Chartered switched tune quickly to seek settlement
Standard Chartered's initial denials and sharp defiance of New York regulators over charges of illegal dealings with Iran quickly switched to an outreach for settlement as the bank's shares took a hit. StanChart is now said to be pursuing a package deal with other U.S. regulators to finally set the matter aside.
