In Play ,

On the Wires 

In Play ,

On the Wires

In Play ,

On the Wires 

“WASHINGTON: The National Transportation Safety Board is “probably weeks away” from completing its probe into battery problems on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and will share its latest information about the jet on Thursday, NTSB chairman Deborah Hersmansaid.

“We will talk about special conditions that were put into effect at the time when the Dreamliner was certified,” Hersman told reporters at a Wednesday breakfast briefing hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

All 50 Dreamliners in service have been grounded since Jan. 16 while the NTSB, U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and other aviation regulators around the world investigate the battery failures that included one fire. No root cause has been identified.

Fire risk on planes has always been a major concern, especially given the amount of fuel they carry and the heat generated by jet engines. U.S. aviation standards require planes to have numerous on-board fire-suppression systems.

The FAA in 2007 granted the Dreamliner special conditions and said its contain-and-vent system was sufficient to control the build-up of explosive or toxic gases, except in situations considered “extremely remote.”

That decision has come under scrutiny after the lithium-ion batteries in two 787 planes failed within days of each other, sparking a fire in one jet in Boston and generating warnings and an acrid smell that prompted the pilots of the second plane to make an emergency landing in Japan.

The NTSB is conducting the U.S. probe with help from Boeing, battery maker GS Yuasa Corp of Japan, the FAA and battery experts from other U.S. federal agencies, but none of the agencies have yet identified what caused the battery failures on the 250-passenger airliner.

Boeing this week asked the FAA for permission to conduct test flights of the 787, suggesting it is making progress in finding a solution to the battery problems, but the government agency has not yet announced a decision…”

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“The Federal Reserve said on Tuesday that one of its internal websites had been briefly breached by hackers, though no critical functions of the U.S. central bank were affected by the intrusion.

The admission, which raises questions about cyber security at the Fed, follows a claim that hackers linked to the activist group Anonymous had struck the Fed on Sunday, accessing personal information of more than 4,000 U.S. bank executives, which it published on the Web.

“The Federal Reserve system is aware that information was obtained by exploiting a temporary vulnerability in a website vendor product,” a Fed spokeswoman said.

“Exposure was fixed shortly after discovery and is no longer an issue. This incident did not affect critical operations of the Federal Reserve system,” the spokeswoman said, adding that all individuals effected by the breach had been contacted.

Technology news site ZDNet separately reported that Anonymous appeared to have published information allegedly containing the log-in information, credentials, internet protocol addresses and contact information of more than 4,000 U.S. bankers on Sunday night.

The claim was made via Twitter over an account registered to OpLastResort, which is linked to Anonymous, a loosely organized group of hacker activists who have claimed responsibility for scores of attacks on government and corporate sites over the past several years….”

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In Play ,

On the Wires 

For the record, emails are slowly showing the RICO Act was broken. What we need is e-mails between various parties to show collective conspiracy. Then we can put everyone in jail!

“In March 2007, as the subprime mortgage market was collapsing, an analyst at the bond rating agency Standard and Poor’s decided to lighten the mood around his office: According to a federal lawsuit filed against the company late Monday, he went from cubicle to cubicle singing an ode to American real estate.

“Housing market went softer/Cooling down/Strong market is now much weaker/Subprime is boi-ling o-ver/Bringing down the house,” the analyst sang to the tune of Talking Heads song “Burning Down The House,” according to the 128-page complaint filed by the Justice Department. The impromptu show played out “before an audience of laughing S&P co-workers,” the lawsuit says.

That moment of levity stands out as a sign of the differing perspectives on American housing offered by S&P’s bond analysts, depending upon their audience, as described by the federal lawsuit: To the public at large — and especially to buyers of securities constructed of mortgages — all was supposedly wonderful in housing, making mortgage-backed securities rock-solid. But inside S&P, gallows humor reigned — along with the fat profits derived from allegedly looking the other way.

The federal lawsuit, which accuses S&P of misrepresenting the quality of its ratings “knowingly and with intent to defraud,” is seeking $5 billion from S&P parent company McGraw Hill to compensate investors and taxpayers who were hurt when securities that the company had rated highly later defaulted.

In a statement, S&P said it “will vigorously defend” itself against the lawsuit. The company said that its ratings have always “reflected our current best judgments,” a statement it has declared repeatedly since the housing market collapsed, turning the piles of debt it had once branded safe into worthless mounds of paper.

But the picture of S&P painted in the lawsuit — one constructed with a bevy of internal emails — sharply challenges that assertion….”

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“Insurance companies are charging many safe drivers more than those who have had an accident, according to research by the Consumer Federation of America. CFA Director of Insurance Bob Hunter tells MarketWatch Radio’s Adrienne Mitchell they are using factors that have nothing to do with driving to determine customers’ rates…”

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“The company formerly known as RIM is holding its first developer event in Europe since launching its new BlackBerry 10 platform last Wednesday. Speaking at the BlackBerry Jam event in Amsterdam, UK MD Stephen Bates said the launch of the first BB10 device —the full touch Z10 — has exceeded expectations, with some U.K. retailers selling out a few days after launch. Bates did not, however, put any concrete figures on early sales. The U.K. was the first market to get the Z10 but the device will launch in Canadian today, and additional European markets this week, including France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and the Netherlands.

“The response we’ve seen exceeded all of our launch partners’ expectations. Customers are choosing to buy the BlackBerry Z10 in large numbers,” said Bates. “In fact some of our partners have told us that they sold out over the weekend in some of their key retail locations.

“The partners’ call centres are also flooded with calls, as people phone to ask for more information about the device, and also where and how to buy it.”

Yesterday, AllthingsD reported on channel checks conducted by Jefferies & Co. –  quoting Jefferies analyst Peter Misek reporting lines outside a number of U.K. retailers selling the device, and describing sell-outs of the white Z10 as widespread.

Asked about early Z10 sales, U.K. carrier EE also declined to share specific figures but told TechCrunch: “We’re really happy with the interest so far.”

Historically, the U.K. has been a strong market for BlackBerry — especially with the youth sector. Orange commissioned research last November suggested close to half of U.K. teens still owned a BlackBerry. But of course the company needs to win over more than just the youth market with BB10 if it is to turn the platform into a sustainable mobile ecosystem and keep developers working for it generating the apps that are, in turn, needed to attract and grow the user-base….”

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In Play ,

On the Wires 

In Play ,

On the Wires 

In Play ,

On the Wires 

3 down….thousands to go !

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“Today the USPTO published an Apple patent application (spotted by UnwiredView) that ventures a little farther afield than most, and describes a mobile banking concept that is truly innovative, which could essentially turn iTunes into a micro-lending bank. The patent outlines a system whereby a user would post requests for small amounts of cash using their iPhone, which other nearby users could respond to to provide some quick funds when there’s no ATM nearby.

The lending party would be paid the full amount from an account (which, while not named specifically, could easily be an iTunes account), which would first deduct that total, plus a small service fee, from the iTunes account of the person making the cash request. So, in a real world example, I could open this “Cash Transfer Application,” type that I need $20 and that I’m at the Starbucks at 4th and Main, enter a search range and send it out. Then, anyone within that radius also using the app would get the request, and be able to volunteer to walk over to my location and provide me with the amount requested on the spot….”

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“San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos plans to request a hearing today to examine whether city investments were harmed by manipulation of a key lending rate, his aide said.

The lawmaker will ask the city’s financial team to examine the effect on its investments of efforts to rig the benchmark London interbank offered rate, or Libor, and whether any losses can be recovered, said the aide, Jeremy Pollock.

“We know the banks colluded to rig interest rates resulting in significant losses to taxpayers across the nation,” Avalos said in a statement. “We owe it to our city residents to find out how much this type of bank fraud cost San Francisco.”

Barclays Plc (BARC), Britain’s second-biggest lender, paid a record 290 million-pound ($470 million) fine in June for manipulating Libor, used to set rates for more than $300 trillion of securities. Some interest-rate derivatives known as swaps, used by municipalities to hedge against losses, were tied to Libor.

San Francisco’s general fund “has no swaps in its portfolio,” said Nadia Sesay, the city’s director of public finance…”

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“The U.S. signed an agreement Monday with the West African country of Niger that clears the way for a stepped-up American military presence on the edges of the conflict in neighboring Mali.

The U.S. and France are moving to create an intelligence hub in Niger that could include a base, near Mali’s border, for American drones that could monitor al Qaeda-linked militants in Mali’s vast desert north, U.S. officials said.

The moves show the extent to which the U.S. and France are girding for what could be an open-ended campaign against the militants in North and West Africa.

U.S. and French officials said they see Niger as a logical hub for intelligence-collection operations nearby in Mali, where France has deployed warplanes and ground troops to drive Islamist militants from cities and towns they have held for months. War planners say small air strips in Niger could be used as launching pads for spy missions and strikes.

The signing of the so-called status-of-forces agreement with Niger was a necessary precursor for American military operations there, officials said. U.S. officials said discussions with Niger on a drone base were at an early stage….”

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As reported yesterday, sources confirmed a new iPad with 128 gigs of memory space…

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“LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s accounting watchdog said it won’t take any action against Ernst & Young (E&Y) over the way it checked the books of Lehman Brothers, the U.S. bank whose failure triggered a near meltdown in global markets in 2008.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) probe focused on how E&Y, one of the world’s “Big Four”accounting firms, audited the London-based European arm of Lehman.

“Following the conclusion of the investigation, the FRC’s executive counsel, Gareth Rees, has decided that no action should be taken against E&Y or any individuals in connection with their conduct in this matter,” the FRC said in a statement.

E&Y had no immediate comment.

Lehman’s collapse, along with bank rescues by taxpayers across Europe and in the United States, prompted policymakers to question why lenders had been given clean bills of health by their auditors in the run up to the 2007-09 financial crisis.

The FRC’s decision not to take action against E&Y was agreed despite its finding that administrators had identified a “significant shortfall in the pool of money held on trust for clients” after Lehman failed in September 2008.

UK rules in force at the time of the Lehman collapse already required banks to segregate funds that could be handed back to customers in the event of their failure and the watchdog said E&Y had signed off to the effect that Lehman had complied with these rules….”

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“Starting in 2014, the Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare) will prohibit insurance companies from discriminating against people with pre-existing health conditions. Although ACA guarantees access to the chronically unwell, including those who are overweight, or have a condition like diabetes, it will allow insurers to charge up to 50% higher rates to smokers, because smoking is considered an optional behavior, not an illness. As a result, millions of smokers may find that health insurance is just too expensive.

To be clear, under present law insurance companies already charge smokers more and are even allowed to deny them coverage altogether because of their higher rates of serious illness like cancer and heart disease. The premium, which rises with a smoker’s age, was in part the result of a lobbying campaign by anti-smoking health advocates, and constituted a compromise solution.

Now, however, some are questioning whether the ACA is too burdensome on smokers, especially since smokers tend to be lower-income and to work in jobs without insurance benefits. For example, a 55-year-old smoker could pay a smoking premium of as much as $4,250 a year, while a 60-year-old could pay up to $5,100….”

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“The risk of owning sovereign bonds has fallen to a two-year low, setting the stage for more gains by the riskiest government securities as the investors look to a healing world economy.

The amount of risk priced into government issues is the least since 2011, lifting the average implied ratings for more than 80 debt markets to Baa2 from Baa3, or one step above junk, according to Moody’s Analytics. Credit-default swaps show the securities to be safer after more than $5 trillion in stimulus by the world’s central banks since 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Bianco Research LLC.

Even after returning 18.5 percent last year, bonds of Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain may produce more gains for investors. Their debt yields average 2.57 percentage points more than Treasuries, double the average gap of 1.26 percentage points of the past 10 years, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes. Investors from Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC to Prudential Financial Inc. are turning to government securities.

“There is still risk out there, but the wave of accommodation has set the stage for the reflation of the global economy,” Jack McIntyre, who manages $44.5 billion in assets for Brandywine, said by phone from Philadelphia on Jan. 22. He is buying debt in Brazil, Portugal, Italy and Ireland.

Divining Line

Concern that major economies will default has all but disappeared….”

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