Oren Etzioni writes articles about artificial intelligence for scholarly journals, is a renowned expert on data mining and gained fame when Microsoft paid $115 million for Farecast, an airline-ticket price predictor he founded.
Now, Professor Etzioni, who teaches computer science at the University of Washington, has directed his considerable intellect at the American ritual of shopping for bargains on Black Friday. After examining billions of prices of consumer electronics, he has decided to spend the busiest shopping day of the year scuba-diving in Bali.
Why? It is not until early December, Professor Etzioni’s research shows, that prices are likely to be the lowest for electronics, products that are among the biggest sellers on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
“The bottom line is, Black Friday is for the retailers to go from the red into the black,” he said. “It’s not really for people to get great deals on the most popular products.”
What the professor has determined with a complex computer algorithm for consumer electronics, others have found through less scientifically rigorous means for other products, including clothing and toys: despite all the ads that suggest otherwise, the lowest prices tend to come at other times of the year.
In the case of toys, stores actually offer the steepest discounts in the weeks immediately following Thanksgiving because they want to unload the inventory not swept up on Black Friday, said Dan de Grandpre, who has tracked deals for 15 years at Dealnews.com.
“Toys have a very short shelf life,” he said.
“On Dec. 26, they’re not really useful to retailers anymore, so they have to get rid of it and start slashing prices early in December.”
And it is a precise window of opportunity. In the week or so before Christmas, toy prices shoot back up, Mr. de Grandpre’s tracking shows, as last-minute shoppers come stampeding for Barbies and Lego sets and stores are less desperate “because they’ve been able to reduce their inventory.”
The added value Professor Etzioni brings to price discussions is the computer crunching of the trove of data provided by online prices—and specific recommendations about when to make a purchase.
Following the approach of Farecast, now part of Microsoft’s Bing search engine, the professor’s start-up company, Decide.com, studies current and historical prices, information about new models and rumors about new product introductions to figure out the best time to buy.
Type in the name of a product—a Soundcast SurroundCast speaker system, for instance. Decide.com will pull prices from around the Web, and tell you to buy or wait. In the SurroundCast case, it showed this week that prices were at $150 in early September and had now gone up to $160.
The verdict: wait. Decide.com said it was 96 percent confident that prices for the speaker system would drop within two weeks.
Introduced this summer, the Web site predicts prices for consumer electronics only, though Professor Etzioni says there are plans to expand to categories like cars and potentially even clothing in a couple of years. In the meantime, others are making educated guesses about when it is best to spend money on variety of products.
James C. Bieri, who heads a Detroit-based real estate firm that leases to retailers, has determined there are far better times than the Friday after Thanksgiving to make most apparel purchases. Many stores offer steep discounts on products other than clothing, he said, to get shoppers into their stores.
“They’re going to use apparel to get some of the margins back on the stuff they’re giving away,” he said. Better times to make apparel purchases include back-to-school and post-holiday clearance sales, and it is an area where coupons, friends-and-family discounts and the like are big money-savers.
Assuming fruitcake and candy canes still sound good after the holidays, sales of gourmet food and candy should be postponed until then, advised Brad Wilson, of BradsDeals.com, because prices drop drastically.
As for appliances, major retailers like Sears tend to discount those at the end of their fiscal quarters (Sears’s next quarter ends Jan. 31.) But Mr. de Grandpre said that this year, the deals in the weeks before Thanksgiving had been as good as he could remember, especially from retailers like Lowe’s and Home Depot, and brands like LG and Samsung.
Retailers do discount smaller appliances on the Friday after Thanksgiving. “You’ll see small kitchen electronics under $20, sometimes under $10—blenders, toasters,” he said. “But it’s low-end, cheap Chinese knockoffs that are heavily discounted—often there’s a mail-in rebate hassle that goes with it—but it’s a very, very low price.”
That is true of most of the biggest deals on that Friday, he said. Because retailers want to impress shoppers with very low prices, the quality of the discounted items can be low.
For higher-end electronics, Mr. de Grandpre’s trends show, shoppers should wait until the week after Thanksgiving.
“Black Friday is about cheap stuff at cheap prices, and I mean cheap in every connotation of the word,” Mr. de Grandpre said. Manufacturers like Dell or HP will allow their cheap laptops to be discounted via retailers on that Friday, but they will reserve markdowns through their own sites for later.
“Their best promotions happen during Cyber Monday week,” he said, referring to the marketing name drummed up by online retailers for the Monday after Thanksgiving.
Did Decide.com agree with the laptop advice?
It did. A low-end Dell laptop had dropped to $249 at Amazon this week, and Decide said to buy it now. But for a more feature-heavy laptop, priced at $1,528 at Sears and $1,541 at PCNation, Decide said to wait, as it expected prices to stay flat or decline by up to $339 within two weeks.
On Friday, “there will be big sales, but are they big sale on the items you want?” Professor Etzioni said, over his remarkably clear cellphone connection from Bali. “Look at all the amazing volatility, and wait for the price drops.”
If some consumers insist on shopping on Friday, Professor Etzioni and Mr. de Grandpre have some suggestions. Movies, music and books are among the few categories that reach their lowest prices starting the week of Thanksgiving, Mr. de Grandpre said. And for online shoppers, the professor’s Decide.com could spot a good deal in a holiday special of smartphones for 1 cent from Amazon.
“Buy,” the Web site advised, “before prices rise.”
This story originally appeared in The New York Times
Ever heard of the phrase six degrees of separation?
The theory refers to the idea that every person is only six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on Earth. In 1967, psychologist Stanley Milgram published his findings on 'six degrees' after conducting an experiment where 296 volunteers were asked to send a message via postcard through friends, and then friends of friends to a specific person in Boston. Well Facebook is making the degree of separation even smaller. The social media site has taken the concept and reduced it to just 4.74 degrees of separation. Over a one month period, researchers at Facebook and The University of Milan used algorithms that measured the connections between 721 of its users. According to a New York Times article, the algorithms calculate the average distance between any two people by computing a vast number of sample paths among Facebook users. They found that the average number of links from one arbitrarily selected person to another was 4.74. In the United States, where more than half of people over 13 are on Facebook, it was just 4.37. Therefore, the results confirmed that given any other person on Earth, a friend of your friend probably knows a friend of their friend. Of course, this depends on your definition of the word 'friend.' Some people say these connections between other people simply support the idea that Facebook's definition of 'friendship' is not the same as it is in the real world. At any rate, with the help of Facebook and social media in general, it has become a lot easier to reach people and make connections. Looks like the world just got a little bit smaller.
A nuclear-powered rover as big as a compact car is set to begin a nine-month journey to Mars this weekend to learn if the planet is or ever was suitable for life.
The launch of NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory aboard an unmanned United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket is set for 10:02 a.m. EST (1502 GMT) on Saturday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, located just south of the Kennedy Space Center.
The mission is the first since NASA's 1970s-era Viking program to directly tackle the age-old question of whether there is life in the universe beyond Earth.
"This is the most complicated mission we have attempted on the surface of Mars," Peter Theisinger, Mars Science Lab project manager with NASA prime contractor Lockheed Martin, told reporters at a pre-launch press conference on Wednesday.
The consensus of scientists after experiments by the twin Viking landers was that life did not exist on Mars. Two decades later, NASA embarked on a new strategy to find signs of past water on Mars, realizing the question of life could not be examined without a better understanding of the planet's environment.
"Everything we know about life and what makes a livable environment is peculiar to Earth," said astrobiologist Pamela Conrad of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and a deputy lead scientist for the mission.
"What things look like on Mars are a function of not only the initial set of ingredients that Mars had when it was made, but the processes that have affected Mars," she said.
NEW MARS ROVER
Without a large enough moon to stabilize its tilt, Mars has undergone dramatic climate changes over the eons as its spin axis wobbled closer or farther from the sun.
The history of what happened on Mars during those times is chemically locked in its rocks, including whether liquid water and other ingredients believed necessary for life existed on the planet's surface, and if so, for how long.
In 2004, the golf cart-sized rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed on opposite sides of Mars' equator to tackle the question of water.
Their three-month missions grew to seven years, with Spirit succumbing to the harsh winter in the past year and Opportunity beginning a search in a new area filled with water-formed clays. Both rovers found signs that water mingled with rocks during Mars' past.
The new rover, nicknamed Curiosity, shifts the hunt to other elements key to life, particularly organics.
"One of the ingredients of life is water," said Mary Voytek, director of NASA's astrobiology program. "We're now looking to see if we can find other conditions that are necessary for life by defining habitability or what does it take in the environment to support life."
The spacecraft, which is designed to last two years, is outfitted with 10 tools to analyze one particularly alluring site on Mars called Gale Crater. The site is a 96-mile (154-kilometer) wide basin that has a layered mountain of deposits stretching 3 miles above its floor, twice as tall as the layers of rock in the Grand Canyon.
Scientists do not know how the mound formed but suspect it is the eroded remains of sediment that once completely filled the crater.
SKY CRANE DELIVERY
Curiosity's toolkit includes a robotic arm with a drill, onboard chemistry labs to analyze powdered samples and a laser that can pulverize rock and soil samples from a distance of 20 feet away.
If all goes as planned, Curiosity will be lowered to the floor of Gale Crater in August 2012 by a new landing system called a sky crane. Previously, NASA used airbags or thruster jets to cushion a probe's touchdown on Mars but the 1,980-pound (900-kilogram) Curiosity needed a beefier system.
"There are a lot of people who look at that and say, 'What are you thinking?'" Theisinger said. "We put together a test program that successfully validated that from a design standpoint it will work. If something decides to break at that point in time, we're in trouble but we've done everything we can think of to do."
The rover, which is twice as long and about three times heavier than the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, also needed more power for driving at night and operating its science instruments.
Instead of solar power, Curiosity is equipped with a plutonium battery that generates electricity from the heat of radioactive decay.
Similar systems have been used since the earliest days of the space program, including the Apollo moon missions, the Voyager and Viking probes and more recently in the Cassini spacecraft now circling Saturn and NASA's Pluto-bound New Horizons mission.
Radiation monitors have been installed through the area around the Cape Canaveral launch site in case of an accident, though the device has been designed to withstand impacts and explosions, said Randall Scott, director of NASA's radiological control center at the Kennedy Space Center.
Meteorologists were predicting good weather for Saturday's launch. Earth and Mars will be favorably aligned for launch until December 18.
The launch of NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory aboard an unmanned United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket is set for 10:02 a.m. EST (1502 GMT) on Saturday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, located just south of the Kennedy Space Center.
The mission is the first since NASA's 1970s-era Viking program to directly tackle the age-old question of whether there is life in the universe beyond Earth.
"This is the most complicated mission we have attempted on the surface of Mars," Peter Theisinger, Mars Science Lab project manager with NASA prime contractor Lockheed Martin, told reporters at a pre-launch press conference on Wednesday.
The consensus of scientists after experiments by the twin Viking landers was that life did not exist on Mars. Two decades later, NASA embarked on a new strategy to find signs of past water on Mars, realizing the question of life could not be examined without a better understanding of the planet's environment.
"Everything we know about life and what makes a livable environment is peculiar to Earth," said astrobiologist Pamela Conrad of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and a deputy lead scientist for the mission.
"What things look like on Mars are a function of not only the initial set of ingredients that Mars had when it was made, but the processes that have affected Mars," she said.
NEW MARS ROVER
Without a large enough moon to stabilize its tilt, Mars has undergone dramatic climate changes over the eons as its spin axis wobbled closer or farther from the sun.
The history of what happened on Mars during those times is chemically locked in its rocks, including whether liquid water and other ingredients believed necessary for life existed on the planet's surface, and if so, for how long.
In 2004, the golf cart-sized rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed on opposite sides of Mars' equator to tackle the question of water.
Their three-month missions grew to seven years, with Spirit succumbing to the harsh winter in the past year and Opportunity beginning a search in a new area filled with water-formed clays. Both rovers found signs that water mingled with rocks during Mars' past.
The new rover, nicknamed Curiosity, shifts the hunt to other elements key to life, particularly organics.
"One of the ingredients of life is water," said Mary Voytek, director of NASA's astrobiology program. "We're now looking to see if we can find other conditions that are necessary for life by defining habitability or what does it take in the environment to support life."
The spacecraft, which is designed to last two years, is outfitted with 10 tools to analyze one particularly alluring site on Mars called Gale Crater. The site is a 96-mile (154-kilometer) wide basin that has a layered mountain of deposits stretching 3 miles above its floor, twice as tall as the layers of rock in the Grand Canyon.
Scientists do not know how the mound formed but suspect it is the eroded remains of sediment that once completely filled the crater.
SKY CRANE DELIVERY
Curiosity's toolkit includes a robotic arm with a drill, onboard chemistry labs to analyze powdered samples and a laser that can pulverize rock and soil samples from a distance of 20 feet away.
If all goes as planned, Curiosity will be lowered to the floor of Gale Crater in August 2012 by a new landing system called a sky crane. Previously, NASA used airbags or thruster jets to cushion a probe's touchdown on Mars but the 1,980-pound (900-kilogram) Curiosity needed a beefier system.
"There are a lot of people who look at that and say, 'What are you thinking?'" Theisinger said. "We put together a test program that successfully validated that from a design standpoint it will work. If something decides to break at that point in time, we're in trouble but we've done everything we can think of to do."
The rover, which is twice as long and about three times heavier than the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, also needed more power for driving at night and operating its science instruments.
Instead of solar power, Curiosity is equipped with a plutonium battery that generates electricity from the heat of radioactive decay.
Similar systems have been used since the earliest days of the space program, including the Apollo moon missions, the Voyager and Viking probes and more recently in the Cassini spacecraft now circling Saturn and NASA's Pluto-bound New Horizons mission.
Radiation monitors have been installed through the area around the Cape Canaveral launch site in case of an accident, though the device has been designed to withstand impacts and explosions, said Randall Scott, director of NASA's radiological control center at the Kennedy Space Center.
Meteorologists were predicting good weather for Saturday's launch. Earth and Mars will be favorably aligned for launch until December 18.
While Black Friday is not necessarily the best day of the year to shop, it is still the most ritualistic shopping "holiday" with several stores opening at 12 a.m. Friday (or even earlier) with limited-time deals. An estimated 152 million Americans will be taking part in the retail festivities Friday and during the weekend, up from 138 million last year. If you're thinking of hitting the mall -- instead of watching various TV show marathons like me -- here's a handy list of the who's who of Black Fridayand their featured door-busters. Keep in mind that on Black Friday, it's first-come, first-served, so some of these deals will go away once the item is sold out. (Also keep in mind that stores want you to feel pressure to buy. But it's not a good deal if you purchase something you don't need just because the price looks good.)
Walmart
For the first time, Walmart will be kicking off its in-store specials at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving and plans to scatter its offers. The following deals will kick off the event:
Xbox360 4GB with Kinect Console: $199.96 plus a $50 Walmart gift card
DVDs starting at $1.96
6V or 12V Ride-Ons (e.g., Jeep Wrangler, X Games ATV or Barbie Jeep): $99 each
Barbie, Disney Princess or Bratz branded Fashion Dolls: $5 each
Paula Deen 20-Piece Cookware Set: $86.44
Starting at midnight:
Emerson 32" LCD TV (31.5" diagonal screen size): $188
LG Blu-ray Player: $49
Kodak C1450 14 MP Camera: $49
8GB iPod Touch: $195
Samsung 51" Plasma TV (50.7" diagonal screen size): $498
Starting at 8 a.m. Friday:
Goodyear Tires starting at $59
Vizio 42" 3D LED Wi-Fi HDTV (42.0" diagonal screen size 1080p): $598
Buy any smartphone (except Apple iPhone) with a contract and get a $100 Walmart gift card
Macy's
For the first time, stores will open at midnight Thanksgiving. Deals include:
50% off Sharper Image iPhone/iPod docking stations
$19.99 Rampage boots
Justin Beiber limited-edition holiday fragrance set (includes eau de parfum spray and Bieber's holiday CD)
With any $65 fragrance purchase, get a free digital camera
Best Buy
The following deals start at midnight Thanksgiving:
Sharp 42" Class LCD 1080p HDTV $199.99
Samsung laptop with Intel Pentium Processor 15.6" Display, 4GB memory $299.99
Toshiba Wi-Fi Ready Blu-Ray Player $39.99
Seasons 1-3 of Mad Men on BluRay - $9 each
250GB Xbox 360 console with Fable III and Halo Reach -$200
MacBook Pros and iMacs - $60 to $200 off
H&M
H&M stores open at 5 a.m. on Black Friday. Deals include:
Dresses and sweaters from $5
Pants and kids' jackets from $10
Outerwear from $20
Toys R Us
The toy giant plans to open its doors earlier than competitors, at 9 p.m. Thanksgiving.
Sylvania 7-inch tablet PC for $79
40% off Optimus Prime Transformer for $47.99
50% off Leap Pad Leapster systems
$50 gift card with iPod Touch purchase
Target
All Black Friday deals start at midnight on Thanksgiving.
Philips 9" Dual-Screen DVD Player $99
Amazon Kindle 3G $85
Acer 10.1 Netbook for $157
Various movies and TV shows on DVD for $3.99
Element 40" 60HZ 1080p LCD HDTV for $265
$40 Target gift card with purchase of 8GB iPod Touch for $195
$15 Target gift card with purchase of 8GB iPod Nano for $129
Sam's Club
These prices will be valid for members in stores November 25 starting at 5 a.m.
Microsoft Xbox 360 250GB Holiday Bundle for $199
Sony PlayStation 3 160GB Entertainment Bundle for $239
LG 42" 120Hz 1080p LED-Backlit LCD HDTV for $578
Lowe's
The home improvement giant is advertising its Black Friday offers via its "Black Friday Throwdown" on Facebook.
allen + roth Ladder Shelf for $65
Skil 10" Miter Saw for $69
Kobalt 227-Piece Socket Wrench Set for $99.98
Char-Griller Duo Gas and Charcoal Grill for $199
Walmart
For the first time, Walmart will be kicking off its in-store specials at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving and plans to scatter its offers. The following deals will kick off the event:
Xbox360 4GB with Kinect Console: $199.96 plus a $50 Walmart gift card
DVDs starting at $1.96
6V or 12V Ride-Ons (e.g., Jeep Wrangler, X Games ATV or Barbie Jeep): $99 each
Barbie, Disney Princess or Bratz branded Fashion Dolls: $5 each
Paula Deen 20-Piece Cookware Set: $86.44
Starting at midnight:
Emerson 32" LCD TV (31.5" diagonal screen size): $188
LG Blu-ray Player: $49
Kodak C1450 14 MP Camera: $49
8GB iPod Touch: $195
Samsung 51" Plasma TV (50.7" diagonal screen size): $498
Starting at 8 a.m. Friday:
Goodyear Tires starting at $59
Vizio 42" 3D LED Wi-Fi HDTV (42.0" diagonal screen size 1080p): $598
Buy any smartphone (except Apple iPhone) with a contract and get a $100 Walmart gift card
Macy's
For the first time, stores will open at midnight Thanksgiving. Deals include:
50% off Sharper Image iPhone/iPod docking stations
$19.99 Rampage boots
Justin Beiber limited-edition holiday fragrance set (includes eau de parfum spray and Bieber's holiday CD)
With any $65 fragrance purchase, get a free digital camera
Best Buy
The following deals start at midnight Thanksgiving:
Sharp 42" Class LCD 1080p HDTV $199.99
Samsung laptop with Intel Pentium Processor 15.6" Display, 4GB memory $299.99
Toshiba Wi-Fi Ready Blu-Ray Player $39.99
Seasons 1-3 of Mad Men on BluRay - $9 each
250GB Xbox 360 console with Fable III and Halo Reach -$200
MacBook Pros and iMacs - $60 to $200 off
H&M
H&M stores open at 5 a.m. on Black Friday. Deals include:
Dresses and sweaters from $5
Pants and kids' jackets from $10
Outerwear from $20
Toys R Us
The toy giant plans to open its doors earlier than competitors, at 9 p.m. Thanksgiving.
Sylvania 7-inch tablet PC for $79
40% off Optimus Prime Transformer for $47.99
50% off Leap Pad Leapster systems
$50 gift card with iPod Touch purchase
Target
All Black Friday deals start at midnight on Thanksgiving.
Philips 9" Dual-Screen DVD Player $99
Amazon Kindle 3G $85
Acer 10.1 Netbook for $157
Various movies and TV shows on DVD for $3.99
Element 40" 60HZ 1080p LCD HDTV for $265
$40 Target gift card with purchase of 8GB iPod Touch for $195
$15 Target gift card with purchase of 8GB iPod Nano for $129
Sam's Club
These prices will be valid for members in stores November 25 starting at 5 a.m.
Microsoft Xbox 360 250GB Holiday Bundle for $199
Sony PlayStation 3 160GB Entertainment Bundle for $239
LG 42" 120Hz 1080p LED-Backlit LCD HDTV for $578
Lowe's
The home improvement giant is advertising its Black Friday offers via its "Black Friday Throwdown" on Facebook.
allen + roth Ladder Shelf for $65
Skil 10" Miter Saw for $69
Kobalt 227-Piece Socket Wrench Set for $99.98
Char-Griller Duo Gas and Charcoal Grill for $199
"Indian Walmart" A dream will become reality soon after government approved biggest retail reforms.
India threw open its $450 billion retail market to global supermarket giants on Thursday, approving its biggest reform in years that may boost sorely needed investment in Asia's third-largest economy.
The world's largest retail group, Wal-Mart Stores, and its rivals see India's retail sector as one of the last frontier markets, where a burgeoning middle-class still shops at local, family-owned merchants.
Allowing foreign retailers to take stakes of up to 51 percent in supermarkets would attract much needed capital from abroad and ultimately help unclog supply bottlenecks that have kept inflation stubbornly close to a double-digit clip.
Wal-Mart hailed the decision, but said it would take a close look at the fine print to see what the decision entails for its ability to do business in India.
"We believe this is an important first step," said Scott Price, president and chief executive of Walmart Asia in a statement.
Raj Jain, who heads Wal-Mart India, told CNBC TV18 the decision will "redefine the way consumers shop in India, but more importantly, the way supply chains in India run."
Under fire for a slow pace of reform, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's embattled government appears to be slowly shaking off a string of corruption scandals to focus on policy changes long desired by investors.
"This is a very bold move and the economic reforms process is back on track." Rajan Mittal, vice chairman of India's Bharti Enterprises, which is Wal-Mart's partner in that market, told reporters.
Millions of small retail traders vigorously oppose competing with foreign giants, potentially providing a lightning rod for criticism of the ruling Congress party ahead of crucial state elections next year.
Food Minister K.V. Thomas said the government will allow foreign direct investment of up to 51 percent in multi-brand retail — as supermarkets are known in India. It will also raise the cap on foreign investment in single-brand retailing to 100 percent from 51 percent, he added.
The new rules may commit supermarkets to strict local sourcing requirements and minimum investment levels aimed at protecting jobs, according to local media.
A heavyweight member of Singh's coalition government warned on Thursday it unequivocally opposed opening the sector.
The move is politically risky.
Fears of potential job losses could heighten popular anger at the Congress party ahead of key state polls next year that will set the stage for the 2014 general election.
But slowing growth and investment in India, with the rupee currency around historical lows and government finances worsening, may have spurred the government into action.
"Manmohan Singh, after all the scams and the impression of government paralysis, has realized it's time to take some bold steps. This is a very bold step that will please the middle class," said political analyst Amulya Ganguli.
Political Opposition
India previously allowed 51 percent foreign investment in single-brand retailers and 100 percent for wholesale operations, a policy Wal-Mart and rival Carrefour, among others, had long lobbied to free up further.
"For international retailers, it will open up a $1.6 trillion market growing at 8-9 percent so it's a big business opportunity for all of them," said Thomas Varghese, CEO of Aditya Birla Retail, an Indian supermarket chain.
For Wal-Mart, it's a very big opportunity to reach further abroad, said Moody's senior retail analyst Charles O'Shea.
"There are 1.2 billion people and if you're Wal-Mart, it's a place you need to be," O'Shea said.
Indian retailers have operated supermarket chains in India for years, but their expansion has been hampered by a lack of funding and expertise as well as poor infrastructure, which makes the cold storage of food transported around the country practically impossible.
Political opponents of the proposal, with an eye to the ballot box, argue an influx of foreign players — which could include France's Carrefour and Britain'sTesco will throw millions of small traders out of work in a sector that is the largest source of employment in India after agriculture.
India's biggest listed company, Reliance Industries, was forced to backtrack on plans in 2007 to open Western-style supermarkets in the state of Uttar Pradesh after huge protests from small traders and political parties.
The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opposes opening up the retail sector, arguing that letting in "foreign players with deep pockets" would bring job losses in both the manufacturing and service sectors.
"Fragmented markets give larger options to the consumers. Consolidated markets make the consumer captive," the BJP's leaders of the upper and lower houses of parliament said in a statement before the decision. "International retail does not create additional markets, it merely displaces (the) existing market."
Global - Economy and Market
ECB mulls ultra-long loans to help banks
BRUSSELS - The European Central Bank is looking at extending the term of loans it offers banks to 2 or even 3 years to try to prevent the euro zone crisis precipitating a credit crunch that chokes the bloc's economy, people familiar with the matter say.
S&P cuts Egypt credit ratings after violence
Standard & Poor's lowered Egypt's credit rating on Thursday to B+ from BB- with a negative outlook. It affirmed the B short-term rating, saying the political and economic outlook had deteriorated following violence that has killed 39 people in five days.
Asian shares, euro fall on Europe deadlock,European shares fall on Merkel comments
TOKYO - Asian shares and the euro both hovered near seven-week lows on Friday as European officials failed to soothe investor fears that the euro zone's debt crisis could trigger a credit crunch if funding costs run out of control.
The Nikkei share average held near a two-and-a-half-year low on Friday as statements by German and French officials convinced markets that leaders were no closer to a consensus on how to contain the region's debt crisis.
European shares fell for the sixth consecutive session in low volume on Thursday after German Chancellor Angela Merkel restated her position against changing the role of the European Central Bank to ease the euro zone debt crisis.
Oil climbs on stock draws, France moots Iran import ban
LONDON - Oil prices rose modestly in holiday-thinned trading on Thursday after France said it was pushing for a Europe-wide ban on crude imports from Iran, ratcheting up geopolitical risk in a tightening market.
India - Economy and Market
FDI in retail: Farmers gain, but SMEs & kiranas complain
With the entry of foreign supermarket players, farmers across India's six lakh villages stand to gain from greater market access, higher profits, better technology and direct linkage with consumers.
Food inflation slips to four-month low of 9.01%
Food inflation fell to nearly four-month low of 9.01% for the week ended November 12, prompting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to express the hope that the overall price situation will improve in the coming weeks.
Food inflation, measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), was 10.63% in the previous week. It was 11.38% in the corresponding period in 2010.
Sept-qtr GDP growth seen slowest in over 2 years
REUTERS FORECAST - The Indian economy probably grew an annual 6.9 percent in the quarter through September, at its weakest pace in more than two years, the median forecast from a poll of 22 economists showed.
India's industrial output grew by a meagre 1.9 percent in September from a year earlier, the slowest pace in two years.
The Indian services sector contracted at its fastest pace in over two years during October, knocked by a slump in global demand and tight monetary policy.
The partially convertible rupee hit a record low of 52.73 against the U.S. dollar on Nov. 22, as investors fled risky assets and its recent weakness is expected to spike India's import bill and in turn, push up prices.
The Reserve Bank of India may hold rates in its December policy review as growth risks from a slowing economy and a fragile global economic environment take centre stage. It had said in the October review that further rate increases may not be needed, if inflation starts to ease from December.
Indian exports in October probably slowed to just over 10 percent from a high of 82 percent in July, reflecting risks to growth coming from the euro zone beset with sovereign debt woes.
2,000 Crore bonanza for NHAI: Amid slowdown, highways are going for premium
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has got over Rs 2,000 crore as premium from awarding highway projects during the current financial year and to the authority's surprise some of the nondescriptive stretches have gone for premium. Highways sector is emerging as a sunrise one amid Indian economy is coming under slowdown grip.
Technology News –
TCS targeting 1000 customers in SMB segment this year
KOCHI: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which launched a first of its kind fully integrated information technology solution for Small and Medium Business (SMB) segment recently, today said it was targeting to reach over 1000 customers in the segment nationally this year, a top official today said.
iON, TCS's strategic unit for small and medium business, presently has over 250 customers who are experiencing the benefits of increased efficiencies, predictability of technology, talent on call and an expanded customer based following the end-to-end integrated suite of cloud based business solutions, V Ramaswamy Global Head iON told reporters here. The third generation service model allows SMBs to capture growth through seamless technology deployment.
To provide its customers with seamless service, iON has created an eco-system of over 100 Cloud Service Partners across India. iON's industry solutions are currently available for Manufacturing, Textile, Education, Retail, Restaurant, Wellness and Professional services.
AT&T braces for T-Mobile deal collapse
LONDON/FRANKFURT - AT&T said it would take a $4 billion charge in case its takeover of T-Mobile USA fails, a tacit recognition of the dwindling chances that the deal will get through U.S. regulators who say it would destroy jobs and curb competition.
Alibaba.com posts slowest quarterly growth in almost 2 yrs
SHANGHAI - Alibaba.com, China's largest e-commerce firm, posted an 11.9 percent rise in quarterly net profit, its slowest growth in nearly two years, with the company raising concerns due to a weak trade outlook stemming from debt woes in Europe and the United States.
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Standard and Poor's said Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's administration hasn't made progress in tackling the public debt burden, an indication it may be preparing to lower the nation's sovereign grade.
"Japan's finances are getting worse and worse every day, every second," Takahira Ogawa, Singapore-based director of sovereign ratings at S&P, said in an interview today. Asked if this means he's closer to cutting Japan, he said it "may be right in saying that we're closer to a downgrade. But the deterioration has been gradual so far, and it's not like we're going to move today."
S&P rates Japan at AA- and has had a negative outlook on the rating since April. Ogawa said Japan needs a "comprehensive approach" to containing its debt burden, which the government projects will exceed 1 quadrillion yen ($13 trillion) in the year through March as the nation pays for reconstruction costs from March's record earthquake.
The yen pared gains after Ogawa's remarks and traded at 77.09 against the dollar as of 2:43 p.m. in Tokyo. Yields on Japan's benchmark 10-year government bond rose to as high as 0.98 percent today from the previous close of 0.965 percent before the nation's markets shut yesterday for a holiday. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 1.8 percent to 8,167.28 as of 2:49 p.m. Tokyo time.
Tax Measure
Japan's lower house of parliament today approved legislation that would add an additional 2.1 percent levy to an individual's annual payment. Lawmakers revised the government's proposal to extend the period of the measure to 25 years, from 10 years, to help pay for earthquake rebuilding. The measure takes effect in 2013.
"Just because this passes doesn't mean that it's positive for public finances," Ogawa said. "Politicians are squabbling over the minute details, while avoiding what's most important."
While Japan's policy makers have signaled they will double the nation's sales tax from 5 percent by around 2015, a bill has yet to be enacted.
Moody's Investors Service cut the nation's debt rating by one step to Aa3 on Aug. 24. S&P lowered Japan to AA- in January. Fitch Ratings also has Japan at AA- with a negative outlook.
Inflation at 9.08%
24 November 2011
Wholesale Price Indices for Primary Articles and Fuel & Power in India (Base: 2004-05 = 100) Review for the week ended 12th November, 2011 (21 Kartika, 1933 Saka)
The WPI for the week ended 12th November, 2011 in respect of 'Primary Articles' and 'Fuel & Power' is given below:
PRIMARY ARTICLES (Weight 20.12%)
The index for this major group declined by 0.5 percent to 201.9 (Provisional) from 203.0 (Provisional) for the previous week.
The annual rate of inflation, calculated on point to point basis, stood at 9.08 percent (Provisional) for the week ended 12/11/2011 (over 13/11/2010) as compared to 10.39 percent (Provisional) for the previous week (ended 05/11/2011).
The groups and items for which the index showed variations during the week are as follows:-
The index for 'Food Articles' group declined by 0.7 percent to 198.5 (Provisional) from 199.8 (Provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of poultry chicken (6%), bajra and fruits & vegetables (2% each) and condiments & spices, urad, fish-inland, maize and moong (1% each). However, the prices of masur and coffee (4% each), tea (2%) and barley, ragi, fish-marine, wheat and gram (1% each) moved up.
The index for 'Non-Food Articles' group declined by 0.7 percent to 174.7 (Provisional) from 175.9 (Provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of raw rubber (9%), gaur seed (3%), sunflower, groundnut seed and raw cotton (2% each) and mesta, copra, coir fibre and castor seed (1% each). However, the prices of flowers (9%), fodder and gingelly seed (3% each), linseed and raw silk (2% each) and raw jute and rape & mustard seed (1% each) moved up.
The index for 'Minerals' group rose by 0.4 percent to 310.5 (Provisional) from 309.2 (Provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of crude petroleum (1%).
FUEL & POWER (Weight 14.91%)
The index and annual rate of inflation calculated on point to point basis remained unchanged at their previous week's level of 171.5 (Provisional) and 15.49 percent (Provisional) for the week ended 12/11/2011 (over 13/11/2010).
Build up inflation over the week, financial year end and over the year is given in Annexure-I for some important items. Trend of rate of inflation during last six weeks is also given for some important items in Annexure II.
"Weekly" options on shares of LinkedIn started trading Wednesday for the very first time.
The ticker was included on the list of "weeklys" distributed by the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and available for trading on both the CBOE and the International Securities Exchange (ISE) as of November 23rd for expiration December 2nd, 2011.
Trading in the newly listed "weekly" was very light ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday with just about 1,400 contracts changing hands.
Strikes available for trading covered a nearly $50 range from $47.50 on the downside to $95 on the upside. $60 puts was the most actively traded strike.
Shares of LinkedIn have had a rough run this week, dropping nearly 12 percent since close of business November 18th as the so-called lock-up period for investors that bought on the IPO came to an end.
LinkedIn, a professional networking site with more than 90 million members went public in May, 2011 at $45 per share. The company has already announced plans for a secondary offering of stock.
