Dubai triggers ‘overdue correction’ in stocks
November 30, 2009
Rising fears of a possible debt default at a Dubai state-owned conglomerate is the catalyst for an “overdue correction” in equities and risk assets, the chief executive of top bond fund manager Pimco said in an interview on Friday.
“Dubai is serving as a catalyst for an overdue correction in risk assets that have been supported by liquidity rather than fundamentals,” CEO Mohamed El-Erian told Reuters. “While many have acknowledged in the last few weeks the growing wedge between market valuations and economic and corporate realities, few have been willing to take their equity exposure down. Dubai is changing all of this.”
El-Erian oversees more than $940 billion in assets under management at Pimco.
Equity markets came under severe pressure on Thursday after news that Dubai World, the government investment company burdened by $59 billion in liabilities, sought to delay repayment of some debt.
U.S. stock markets, which were closed Thursday for the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday, fell on Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 154.48 points, or 1.48 percent, at 10,309.92, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 19.14 points, or 1.72 percent, at 1,091.49.
“We had taken down risk exposures in the last few weeks through sales of credit and spread products and, correspondingly, increased our holdings of Treasuries and other high quality names,” El-Erian said.
Other investors were playing defense as well. The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was up 16/32, with the yield at 3.207 percent, while the two-year U.S. Treasury note was up 3/32, with the yield at 0.687 percent. At the longer end of the yield curve, the 30-year U.S. Treasury bond was up 12/32, with the yield at 4.2116 percent.
Overall, the underlying characteristics of the Dubai announcement are similar to those facing commercial real estate in other countries, including the United States and Britain, he said.
“There will be contagion to many markets, especially in the emerging world where we are witnessing broad-based sell-offs among names with very different financial characteristics.”
This is especially evident in the Middle East where risk spreads have widened for all names in the Gulf even though they share none of Dubai’s vulnerable debt characteristics, El-Erian explained. “With time, this will provide interesting opportunities for investors,” he added.
Crude oil prices tumble on Dubai news
November 29, 2009
Crude oil prices per barrel ended lower Friday, closing out the short week at $76.05, down $1.91, or 2.4 percent, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The drop was attributed in part to nervous traders reacting to news of a possible $60 billion default by a Dubai conglomerate, MarketWatch.com reported. The per-barrel price tumbled more than 7 percent in intraday trading, but rallied to finish at a 2.2 percent loss.
“Obviously, the markets are being roiled by the Dubai news,” said Mike Fitzpatrick, an analyst at MF Global. “It shakes confidence in financial markets and raises the specter of contagion, which could trigger a second wave in the credit crisis.”
Natural gas ended up 3 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $5.192 per million British thermal units.
Gasoline lost 3.6 percent to $1.9262 a gallon while December heating oil fell 1.4 percent to $1.9622 a gallon.
At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline was $2.632 per gallon Friday, down from Thursday’s $2.633, AAA said.
Dubai Debt Crisis will not have Earth Shaking Impact, no need to Press Panic Button: Pranab
November 29, 2009
Asserting that there is no need to press the panic button, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said the Dubai debt crisis will not have “earth shaking” impact on the country’s economy.
“The full impact of the Dubai debt crisis is yet to be assessed, but there is no need to press the panic button,” Mukherjee told reporters.
To draw his point, he pointed out: “First of all, the amount is small and secondly, the exposure of our banking systems to the Dubai financial systems is limited.” He, however, added “some adverse effect” will be there on the stock markets initially, as was felt on Friday.
The finance minister has also said the crisis will not have much impact on the country’s exports to the region.
Mukherjee, however, added the debacle will impact the repatriation of foreign exchange from there and joblessness in the Gulf city-state.
On the issue of the large number of Indians working in that city, he said: “It will have to be seen how this will affect Indians working in Dubai,” though he sounded confident when saying it will not have much effect on the Indian workers in that country.
Indians constitute as high as 42.3 per cent of the population of Dubai.
The minister said the situation after the Dubai debt crisis is “manageable” and added that the government would keep a watch on the situation.
On the issue of climate change, he said: “There should be a common and differential approach towards climate change depending on each country.” Earlier delivering the Haksar Memorial Lecture on ‘Asian economy after the financial crisis’, he said it may be too early to speak about Asia after the crisis, though green-shoots of growth have certainly started to appear. “It is difficult to definitively say that the crisis is firmly and surely behind us.”
With the growth decelerating from 5.1 per cent in 2007 to 3.1 per cent in 2008, the world economic output got severely affected by the outbreak of the global financial crisis, he said.
Developing Asia’s growth, which had decelerated from 9.5 per cent in 2007 to 6.1 per cent in 2008, is expected to decline further to 3.4 per cent in 2009, he added.
Pennsylvania Unemployment rate remains at 8.8% in October
November 29, 2009
Pennsylvania added 10,100 jobs last month, the largest single-month increase since July 2007, but the state’s unemployment rate didn’t budge from 8.8 percent.
The educational and health services sector led the state in job gains last month with 11,600, according to the seasonally adjusted figures released by the state Department of Labor & Industry on Thursday. Jobs were also added in the state’s leisure and hospitality (2,400), government (1,700), financial activities (800), other services (400), and professional and business services (300) sectors.
The largest over-the-month job losses were in the state’s manufacturing (3,800) and construction (1,400) sectors. Trade, transportation and utilities lost 900 jobs, and information, 700 jobs.
Last month’s job gain pushed the state’s seasonally adjusted total nonfarm job count up to 5,613,800. The state’s seasonally adjusted civilian labor force — the number of people working or looking for work — declined by 27,000 to 6,340,000 last month. Resident employment fell 29,000 last month, while resident employment increased by 2,000 over the month.
The national unemployment rate was 10.2 percent.
10 Best Cyber Monday 2009 Deals
November 29, 2009
LAPR is your source for the Best Cyber Monday 2009 deals. We’ve been carefully watching for the Cyber Monday 2009’s best deals, and we’ve found them. Dell is offering huge online discounts for Cyber Monday 2009, and may well be one of the best Cyber Monday 2009 deals. Even Dell’s signature XPS line will be discounted, with some discounts already active on dell.com, and others still to come at midnight on Cyber Monday 2009.
Amazon.com also is offering aggressive Cyber Monday 2009 deals on a wide range of products. Based on our research, we think about half of Amazon’s Cyber Monday 2009 deals are already up, with more to come soon. Amazon is also running free shipping deals, and to compound the discounts being offered at Amazon.com for Cyber Monday 2009, we reccomend consumers look for Cyber Monday 2009 coupon codes online.
Tiger Direct is also offering huge discounts, and is definitely a Cyber Monday 2009 deal! Tiger has a wide variety of electronic items for sale.
Best Buy is also offering great Cyber Monday 2009 deals from their website, www.bestbuy.com, and if what they have up already is any indication of what is to come tomorrow, consumers are in for a terrific day tomorrow on Cyber Monday 2009.
Bed Bath Beyond is also offering Cyber Monday 2009 deals on its website, with highly competitive prices on various housewares.
Lakewood Police Shooting, Four Police Officers Killed Pic
November 29, 2009
Lakewood Police Shooting Victims Include 3 Men and a Woman
The Lakewood police shooting killed 4 police officers this morning at a Lakewood, WA coffeehouse. A suspect entered the coffeehouse and shot 4 police officers, and left the employees and patrons unscathed. The Lakewood
Four off-duty police officers were fatally shot in a Sunday ambush near Tacoma, Wash., officials said.
The three male officers and one female officer were in a coffee shop discussing cases and checking their laptops when a gunman entered and shot all four, CNN reported.
“This was a targeted, selected ambush,” Sheriff’s Department spokesman Ed Troyer said.
Two employees and other customers were unharmed, Troyer said. “Just the law enforcement officers were targeted.”
Police are searching for a suspect in the 8 a.m. shooting, described as an African-American male wearing a black coat and blue jeans. He is believed to have fled the scene on foot, police said.
A $10,000 reward has been offered for information resulting in an arrest, they announced.
The shooting happened in Lakewood, Washington, 40 miles south of Seattle and about 10 miles from Tacoma, CNN reported.
The identities of the officers, all from the Lakewood police department, have not been released, CNN said.
The suspect in the Lakewood police shooting is still at large. He is described as an African-American male between the heights of 5′ 7″ and 5′ 10″. He is said to be wearing a black coat and blue jeans and also is described as having a scraggly appearance.
Military officials from the McChord Air Force Base have offered their assistance to the Lakewood police department. However, they have not taken up the military on the offer at this time. The Lakewood police shooting comes less than a month after the Fort Hood massacre, which left 13 civilians and military personnel dead and injured several more. A civilian police officer is credited with stopping the suspect in the Fort Hood shooting, and at this time the suspect is still in the hospital.
According to CNN, the suspect may have been shot by one of the police officers before fleeing on foot. Authorities are checking local and area hospitals to see if the Lakewood police shooting suspect has sought medical treatment.
Rachel Uchitel, Tigers Alleged Mistress More Photo
November 28, 2009
Here are some new, previously unseen photos of Rachel Uchitel (photos), the woman who allegedly had an extramarital affair with Tiger Woods.You can see more photos of her here and here.
Today we found out that Woods and wife Elin Nordegren are refusing a police request for an interview until tomorrow.
Woods may be deliberately delaying talking to the police to avoid them seeing his injuries. If they are not consistent with his car crash, his wife could be charged with assaulting him. But if Woods does not speak to police before the 911 call is released tomorrow, he may not be able to spin how the call comes off to the public.
I still think Woods will show up to his golf tournament next week, to keep up appearances and satisfy the concerns of his sponsors. Hundreds of millions of dollars hang in the balance for the golfer, who makes his living on his trustworthy image.
TMZ has previously reported that Nordegren attacked Woods, scratching his face then smashing Woods’ SUV with a golf club. TMZ followed that with news that Nordegren then changed her story about the incident to police.
Watch Michaele Salahi & Tareq Salahi couple meeting President Obama
November 28, 2009
President Barack Obama did in fact meet Michaele and Tareq Salahi, as seen in this photo on the right that was released by the White House.
And the below YouTube.com video of the Michaele Salahi wedding has gotten over 50,000 views in light of their recent antics.
Michaele Salahi’s Facebook.com photos also show the reality-star wannabe in photos from the White House State Dinner hosted by Obama with other famous folks like Katie Couric, Robin Roberts — and even White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Vice President Joe Biden.
The Salahis looked like they belonged, said Katie Couric in the below video from CBS, saying the couple seemed lively and gregarious instead of sneaking away in a corner at the dinner held for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
But the Salahi White House night out in Washington on Tuesday, November 24, 2009, has “embarrassed” the Secret Service.
And despite the high-life lived in the Salahi below wedding video from YouTube.com, CBS’ Early Show reported the Salahi owe several people for services rendered to the couple.
Watch Salahi wedding YouTube.com video:
Watch CBS News video with Katie Couric about Salahi couple meeting President Obama:
Shilpa-Raj to honeymoon with family!
November 28, 2009
If you thought honeymoon was about a couple enjoying their privacy, Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra are all set to redefine it. Believe it or not Shilpa and Raj will honeymoon in lovers’ paradise Bahahmas after which their families will join them. According to sources close to the couple the Shettys and the Kundra are tired after a hectic week of marriage and reception and want to relax their nerves.
Raj has booked the Regal Suite at the Atlantis resort in the Paradise Islands at the Bahamas. Raj has zeroed in on Bahamas as Shilpa has not been there so far. The couple want to relax and enjoy the spectacular marine life before they attend parties and social events in Mumbai and London on their return. The Shettys and the Kundras will join Shilpa and Raj on a Christmas Mediterranean cruise.
Smita Thackeray Joins Congress Party
November 28, 2009
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” I Cannot stand the suffocation any more and have decided to join the Congress, which has a national and global vision. I now feel most comfortable.” These are the wordings of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray’s Bahu (daughter in law) as she decides to join Congress.
She told TOI (Times of India) on Friday, 28th November 2009 that “I have become a big admirer of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and want to be part of the good work being done by them for the country,”
The reasons for Smita’s decision are two. One, she feels the Shiv Sena is being unfair to Maharashtrians with its parochial and divisive politics and two, she was being systematically marginalised by powerful elements in the Thackeray household.
Smita said she was in touch with senior leaders of the Congress in New Delhi, and it was only a question of time before she formally stepped into the party. She is likely to call on Sonia Gandhi and Rahul in the capital soon. For the Congress it will be a prize catch, and indications are that Smita will be given an important post in the organisation.
Smita said that her father-in-law, who was earlier very supportive, himself failed to keep his promises to her. “I was promised a berth in the Rajya Sabha, but I was shocked when I learnt that my seat had been given to journalist Bharat Kumar Raut. In the assembly election too, I was promised a ticket, but it was denied to me for no apparent reason. One of my articles was published in the Sena mouthpiece, Saamna. But when I took the second article to Balasaheb, who is the editor, he refused to publish it. I got the message that I was not wanted any more, and tore up the article on the spot. It is painful to politically dissociate myself from the Sena, but I have no choice,” she said.
Smita, who is the estranged wife of Bal Thackeray’s son Jaidev, said she never considered the MNS an alternative since she did not agree with Raj Thackeray’s politics. “I am extremely proud to be a Maharashtrian,” she said. “I speak only in Marathi with my two sons at home. In fact the first film being produced by my son Rahul, who has trained in film-making in Toronto, is in Marathi. But I want Maharashtrians to change with the changing times. English is today a powerful tool of communication. Even the Chinese are realising this. I want Maharashtrians to be exposed to the literature of not only P L Deshpande, but also of Premchand and other great writers in other languages. I am against attacks on fellow Indians and the damaging of public property.”
Even though she lives in a spacious bungalow in Juhu, Smita retains her room in Matoshree, the Thackeray home in Bandra East. Since she is the first Thackeray to join the Congress, does she fear the consequences? “I have an identity of my own and am old enough to take decisions for myself. I do not fear anyone,” she answered firmly.
