Truth in Labeling Gone: Food Fraud Up 60%
“So what is food fraud anyway? Well, it’s sort of what you would expect. It’s when companies label food one way, but the truth turns out to be completely different. I have been predicting an escalation in this trend for years, since it was obvious that as inflation led to increases in food prices, companies would resort to this type of behavior to keep margins inflated.
So in their latest study, the non-profit food fraud detectives at the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) show us the extent of this extremely dangerous trend. From ABC News:
Comments »It’s what we expect as shoppers—what’s in the food will be displayed on the label….”
$FB and $INTC Team Up to Create Open Source Collaborations
“Facebook announced today at the Open Compute Summit that it is open-sourcing more of its data center designs for storing pictures, high availability and power consumption in data centers.
The news couples with a series of announcements at the event here today:
- Silicon photonics: Intel is contributing designs for its forthcoming silicon photonics technology, enabling 100 Gbps interconnects (enough to last multiple processor generations).
- “Group Hug” board: Facebook is contributing a new common slot architecture specification for motherboards (nicknamed “Group Hug”); this can produce boards that are completely vendor-neutral and can accommodate up to 10 SOCs.
- New SOCS: AMD, Applied Micro, Calxeda and Intel have all announced support for the Group Hug board; Applied Micro has built a mechanical demo of the new design.
- New members: More than a dozen organizations have joined, including storage-oriented companies like EMC, Fusion-io, Hitachi, Applied Micro, ARM and Sandisk.
Facebook stores 300 million pictures per day. They needed ways to store the pictures but not archive them so people could access them if needed.
Facebook used the OpenCompute “Open Rack” to create a cold storage rack for photos. The specs are now available for anyone to use.
The company is also contributing DragonStone — a design spec for a low-power database server, one CPU board and redundant power, for “cold data” storage. DragonStone has been integrated into Facebook’s data center in Lulea, Sweden, and is seeing 40 percent more efficiency.
Finally, Facebook is contributing Winterfell, a new web server design for fitting more servers on a rack.
Facebook needs the innovation that comes with opening data center designs…”
Comments »$SAP Challenges $ORCL by Boosting Flagship Software Speed
“SAP AG (SAP) unveiled the biggest overhaul to its mainstay enterprise software in two decades, in a move to cement its dominance in that market while springing an attack on Oracle Corp. (ORCL)’s database business.
At an event in Palo Alto, California, the German company showed a much faster version of its Business Suite software running on top of its Hana database. By speeding up business tasks from pricing airline tickets to predicting weather, SAP is pushing to replace database softwarefrom Oracle, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) that customers use to process and analyze information, SAP executives said….”
Comments »$AIG Decides Not to Sue The U.S. Over Bailout Terms
$AMR’s Kreeger to Become Virgin Atlantic CEO
“LONDON—Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd., which last month linked with Delta Air LinesInc., DAL +0.69% deepened its ties to the U.S. aviation market by selecting American Airlines veteran Craig Kreeger as its new chief executive.
Mr. Kreeger, 53, succeeds current CEO Steve Ridgway who is retiring from the airline next month after 23 years, the last 11 as chief executive. Mr. Ridgway will work alongside Mr. Kreeger until then.
The announcement comes just a month after U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines Inc. agreed to buy Singapore Airlines Ltd.’s C6L.SG +0.55% 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. for $360 million. The deal boosts the position of Delta, the No. 2 U.S. carrier by traffic, at London’s congested Heathrow Airport. The move continued a run of cut-price deals to expand Delta’s global network.
With the partnership, Delta and Virgin Atlantic will have 36% of the business on the imporant New York-London route, coming much closer to the 51% controlled by a joint venture of British Airways IAG.MC +0.21% and American, a unit of AMR Corp.AAMRQ -1.12% United Continental Holdings Inc. UAL -0.35% would fall to third place with 13% of the market, according to Buckingham Research Group.
“We are thrilled to welcome Craig to Virgin Atlantic—he is the right person to succeed Steve Ridgway at this dynamic and challenging time for our airline,” said Virgin Atlantic’s president and founder, Richard Branson….”
Comments »$GME Reports Lower Holiday Same Store Sales
“GameStop Corp. GME -6.06% forecast a steeper decline in 2012 same-store sales as total holiday sales decreased from a year earlier due to weaker customer traffic.
The videogame retailer said total sales for the nine-week holiday period ended Dec. 29 fell 4.6% to $2.88 billion.
The company said its now expects a 7.5% to 9% drop in same-store sales for the year, compared with its November forecast of a 6% to 9% decrease. GameStop also expects fourth-quarter same-store sales to fall 4% to 7%.
The company said new hardware sales declined 2.7% during the holiday period while sales of new videogame software decreased 5.1%.
Sales of preowned merchandise sank 16% as the release of fewer new titles throughout 2012 and less promotional activity limited inventory in that category.
GameStop has previously attributed its recent same-store sales declines to a weak offering of new game titles and has signaled it expects the slowdown of new console and software sales to continue. In response, the retailer has been focusing on new initiatives, such as offering digital download codes to customers, refurbishing AppleInc. AAPL +0.28% mobile devices and selling tablets that run on Google Inc.’sGOOG -0.66% Android software…”
Comments »SEC Drops Case Against Ex-Berkshire Exec Sokol
“(Reuters) – The U.S. securities regulator has decided not to take action against David Sokol, once considered a possible candidate for the top job at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc, Sokol’s lawyer told Reuters.
In 2011, Buffett said Sokol violated the company’s insider trading rules to score a $3 million windfall profit on shares of U.S. chemicals maker Lubrizol, which rose by nearly a third after Berkshire Hathaway announced it would buy the company.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began investigating Sokol’s investment in Lubrizol shortly after Sokol resigned from Berkshire Hathaway.
Sokol’s lawyer Barry Wm. Levine told Reuters late on Thursday that he was informed that the SEC had wrapped up its probe and decided not to take action against Sokol.
“SEC has terminated its investigation and has concluded not to bring any proceedings against Sokol,” said Levine, a lawyer at legal firm Dickstein Shapiro.
Sokol has been “completely cleared” as there was no evidence against his client, Levine said.
Berkshire Hathaway and SEC could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters outside of regular U.S. business hours….”
Comments »Geithner Said to Plan Departure Before Debt Ceiling Reckoning
“Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner plans to leave the administration at the end of January, even if President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans haven’t reached an agreement to raise the debt ceiling, according to two people familiar with the matter.
After giving in to Obama’s previous entreaties to stay as long as needed, Geithner has indicated to White House officials and Wall Street executives that he is unlikely to change his departure plans this time, increasing pressure on the president to name his successor at Treasury, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss the private discussions.
Geithner, 51, is the only remaining member of Obama’s original economic team and was a key figure in the taxpayer- funded bailouts during the 2008 financial crisis. He’s also had a principal role in negotiations with Congress on the budget deal and in past deliberations over the debt ceiling.
White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew remains the leading contender for the Treasury job, the people said. Because Lew’s experience in financial markets is thin, Obama may seek to name a Wall Street executive as the deputy treasury secretary, they said….”
Comments »Retailers Report a Mixed Bag
“(Reuters) – Some major U.S. retailers had a tough December, with chains like Target and Family Dollar feeling the pinch as consumers were cautious in their holiday spending.
The economy took a toll on shoppers in the most important quarter of the year for retailers. The holiday season was never expected to be stellar, but even the single-digit growth anticipated by chains and analysts came under pressure as Superstorm Sandy, the ever-present headlines about the “fiscal cliff” and the Connecticut school shootings affected consumers’ moods.
“The consumers’ confidence is off a bit, and I don’t think you can point to a single individual thing. It’s a culmination of things that hit their psyche,” said Madison Riley, managing director of retail consulting firm Kurt Salmon.
Among the chains reporting December sales at stores open at least a year on Thursday, Costco Wholesale Corp stood out with growth that topped expectations. Limited Brands Inc’s sales rose less than anticipated, marking a rare miss for the owner of the Victoria’s Secret chain.
Target Corp’s same-store sales were essentially flat, while analysts anticipated a 0.8 percent increase, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Target said fourth-quarter earnings should meet or somewhat exceed the low end of its forecast. It said the number of transactions at existing stores slipped in the quarter, while the average transaction size increased. Food was its best seller.
Overall, analysts looked for 3.3 percent same-store sales growth for December across 17 chains, down from 4.2 percent growth in December 2011, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Chains also had a somewhat rough November, with same-store sales up a disappointing 1.6 percent.
Still, Kurt Salmon’s Riley predicted that if the upcoming debt ceiling debate goes better than the Washington wrangling to avoid the cliff, there could be a bigger uptick in consumer spending in 2013.
HITS AND MISSES…”
Comments »The Latest Update on the Fiscal Cliff Talks
“The Democrats made several key concessions yesterday in the Fiscal Cliff negotiations.
As a result, the two sides are absurdly close together. If we don’t get a deal at this point, the entire country will be justified in being outraged.
Here’s the Democrats’ latest offer, as reported by Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane of the Washington Post:
* The Democrats agreed to raise the income threshold for tax increases to $450,000 a year (couples) from the prior $250,000. The Republicans are insisting on $550,000 threshold. This is a massive tax cut for almost the entire country relative to the rates that will otherwise take effect on January 1. (So agree on $500,000 already and call it a day.)
* However, to the Republicans’ chagrin, the Democrats insist on raise capital gains and dividend taxes to 20% on households over $250,000 and reducing some of the allowable deductions. Importantly, this, too, is a massive tax cut relative to the scheduled changes, which would boost dividend taxes to 40% on incomes over $250,000.
* The Democrats conceded on the estate tax: They’ll keep the threshold for taxable estates at $5 million, with a 35% rate over that level. This, again, is a massive tax cut over current law, in which the threshold will drop to $1 million with a much higher rate.
* The Democrats’ offer would permanently protect middle-class households from the Alternative Minimum Tax. No details on how this would work.
* On the spending side, the Democrats’ offer would delay the “sequester” (automatic spending cuts) until 2015. This would cost an estimated $200 billion. But it would avoid the cuts to the military budget that the Republicans are so desperate to avoid.
* The Democrats would also extend unemployment benefits for a year, extend farm subsidies for a year, and avoid a 27% cut in Medicare payments to doctors. The Republicans say they want offsets to these spending cuts.”
Comments »The EU Puts the ECB in Charge Over All EU Lenders
“European Union finance ministers agreed to put the European Central Bank in charge of all euro- area lenders in a deal that paves the way for the currency bloc’s firewall fund to provide direct bailouts to banks.
The accord marks a step toward tightening integration of the monetary union to stem the financial crisis that emerged in Greece in 2009. The policy makers’ goal was to break a vicious circle that undermined confidence in Europe’s banks.
While the agreement marks a breakthrough, “there are still some thorny issues,” Julian Callow, London-based chief international economist at Barclays Plc, said today on Bloomberg Television. “What about the financing, bank resolution, what about deposit insurance,” he said.
The new supervisor should be ready by March 1, 2014, with about 200 banks automatically qualifying for direct ECB oversight, EU Financial Services Commissioner Michel Barniersaid at 4:30 a.m. today in Brussels after 14 hours of talks. In the interim, the 500 billion-euro ($654 billion) European Stability Mechanism could aid banks directly using its own procedures and asking ECB supervisors to step in, he said.
EU leaders sought common bank oversight to rejuvenate their crisis-management effort. The heads of state and government, who gather in Brussels today for a regular summit, will be looking beyond ECB supervision to other measures needed to break the links between banking woes and sovereign-debt struggles, such as who should pay to stabilize failing banks.”
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Jimmy Hoffa: “We’re Going to Have a Civil War” (video)
[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2trIypROnSw 450 300]
Comments »$MCP CEO Resigns
Italy’s Monti Ready to Quit Over Political Crisis
“Premier Mario Monti told the Italian president Saturday he is resigning soon, saying he can no longer govern after Silvio Berlusconi’s party withdrew crucial support. It paves the way for early elections a year after the unelected economist helped pull the country back from the brink of financial disaster.”
8 Scams Designed to Get Your Holiday Cash
“CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — ‘Tis the season for scammers to shop too, and the bad guys are stepping up their game, taking advantage of consumers through traditional rip-off methods — and some new schemes too.
“Most of these scams we see all year, but they become much more prominent this time of year because of all the holiday hustle and bustle,” says Robert Siciliano, a security expert for McAfee, the online security technology firm. In the flurry of store-hopping and cyber shopping, we tend to forget stuff, like credit cards and packages at cash registers. We leave exposed gifts in the front seat of a car and purchase products on websites we’ve never visited (or worse yet, have never heard of).
The fraudsters are out there, ready to pounce on the vulnerability — due to the overall exhaustion and anxiety — that the happy holidays can bring on. Keep your guard up and consider this your scam alert tip sheet: “
Comments »$CHU & MSFT Team Up to Boost Sales in China
“The world’s third largest wireless operator, China Unicom, has today announced an alliance with Microsoft’s Windows Phone to help boost sales and provide more innovative Windows Phone devices in the Chinese market, reports the China Daily.
According to Analysys International, a Beijing-based research firm, Windows Phone holds less than 3 percent of the market in China, whereas Android came away with a 72 percent share in the third quarter of this year.
This comes at a big time for China Unicom, who seems to be racking up orders for the iPhone 5. This also allows Windows Phone a competitive foothold alongside such a strong Chinese carrier, which boasts over 70 million subscribers.
Here’s what Microsoft’s Chief Operating Officer Steven Turner had to say about it at a news briefing in Beijing:
Comments »China is the No 1 market worldwide in terms of PC, tablet, mobile and Internet users. It is a very exciting place. We believe there is a great opportunity across the country to provide new business models to partners, new technologies to developers and best services to customers….”
FLASH: Washington State Becomes the New Head Quarters for #OWS
Washington becomes the first state to legalize the consumption of trees.
[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABc8ciT5QLs 450 300] Comments »SEC Charges China Affiliates of Top Accounting Firms
“WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Regulators on Monday charged the Chinese arms of five top accounting firms with securities violations over their refusal to produce certain audit papers, raising questions about whether talks between the United States and China to resolve the issue have stalled.
The Securities and Exchange Commission began proceedings against the Chinese affiliates ofDeloitte, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, BDO and Ernst & Young.
It was the SEC’s widest enforcement effort yet to procure documents in connection with probes of possible accounting fraud of U.S.-listed Chinese companies.
The SEC has been seeking documents related to investigations of possible wrongdoing at nine China-based companies, the agency said. Chinese secrecy laws have stymied efforts to obtain audit documents that investigators need to determine whether there were accounting irregularities.
An administrative law judge will schedule a hearing to determine potential sanctions against the Chinese arms of the accounting firms, the SEC said….”
Comments »A Judge Ruling Says $GOOG Can Not Block $MSFT Sales
“Google Inc. (GOOG), which bought Motorola Mobility to gain leverage in the global legal battle over smartphone and tablet computer inventions, can’t use some of its patents to block sales of Microsoft Corp. products, a federal judge ruled.
U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle said in a Nov. 30 opinion that, because Motorola Mobility pledged to license some patents on fair and reasonable terms, it can’t seek a court order to halt sales of products that use those inventions. The ruling applies to a group of Motorola Mobility patents that are deemed essential to industry standards for video decoding and Wi-Fi technologies.”
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