His purchase was made this week…

SOURCE

U.S. car makers have to step it up…

AT&T and Deustch telecom are discussing details.

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CLWR has some money troubles, but today’s payment of interest put the company in a better light. Also stiking a deal with Sprint helps a lot .

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Strong pick up and compact car sales help to boost sales in November.

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Aeropostale (ARO: 15.51, +0.77, +5.22%) revealed late Wednesday much weaker profit and sales over last year and a grim fourth-quarter outlook, sending its shares nearly 2% lower afterhours.

The teen-apparel company reported net income of $24.11 million, or 30 cents a share, compared with $58.5 million, or 64 cents, a year ago. The results were ahead of average analyst estimates polled by Thomson Reuters of 28 cents.

Revenue for the three months ended Oct. 29 was $596.5 million, down from $602.7 million a year ago, beating the Street’s view of $581 million. Same store sales declined 9%

Total net sales in the company’s e-commerce business increased 19% to $45.7 million from $38.3 million in the year-earlier period.

However, looking toward the fourth quarter, the company predicted earnings in the range of 35 cents to 38 cents a share, which is far below Wall Street’s view of 44 cents, and a sharp drop from 95 cents in the year-earlier period.

“We are not satisfied with our overall performance, and we remain cautious in our outlook,” Aeropostale CEO Thomas Johnson said.

The company is making incremental progress on its strategic initiatives by brining “more color and fashion” to its merchandise assortment, while managing inventories and controlling expenses, he said.

Despite persistent unemployment and shaky global markets, the retailer said its near-term focus will be to focus on executing holiday initiatives.
Read more: http://trade.cc/mciixzz1fFAQuwyR

​Times are tough, so many people are searching for hotels with free continental breakfasts.

Problem is, some of those eating aren’t guests, says Hampton Inn manager front desk clerk Alfonso Tobenas. That’s right. Folks walk into tourist hotels and pose as guests to gain access to morning chow. Who would do such a thing? Lots of people, according to local hotel insiders.

“It is what it is, bro, times are tough and they’re hungry,” Tobenas says. “They’re just trying to beat the system and save a buck. The first time you’re going to get away with it, the second and third time I’m going to ask you to leave.”

So how does Tobenas, who has worked five years at the hotel tucked away behind Dadeland Mall, spot the freeloaders? By the way they talk — they can’t hide that Miami accent — and by the way they dress. Tobenas can spot a real tourist from across the room.

Tobenas says some people even regularly rotate hotels for their free breakfasts, but he recognizes their faces after a while. When he spots them, he lets them eat free-of-charge so they let their guard down. Then he confronts them and asks for their room number. At that moment, they realize they’ve been found out and generally leave without incident.

If they keep coming back, he either charges $7.50 — the estimated cost of the breakfast per person for the hotel — or calls the cops and have them charged with trespassing, though not usually with theft.

STORY HERE 

Asian shares joined in a global rally Thursday, soaring early as investors welcomed central banks’ coordinated moves to ease dollar credit costs in Europe, as well as monetary easing in China.

Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average JP:NIK +2.21%  climbed 2.4%, while South Korea’s KospiKR:0100 +3.77%  climbed 3.4% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index AU:XJO +2.48%  jumped 2.4%.

U.S. and European stocks ended Wednesday with strong gains, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +4.24%  rising by the largest margin since 2009. Read more on U.S. stock market action.

The U.S. Federal Reserve and the central banks of the euro area, Canada, the U.K., Japan and Switzerland announced Wednesday that they had agreed to reduce the cost of offering dollar financing through swap arrangements.

“As Europe dithered, monetary policy makers acted, even if their ‘actions’ have more symbolism than significance,” said strategists at RBC.

“Markets breathed a huge sigh of relief,” they said.

As the risks to global funding markets diminished, banks moved higher, with Westpac Banking Corp. AU:WBC +2.67%   WEBNF +7.65%  up 2.4%, and National Australia Bank Ltd.AU:NAB +2.61%   NAUBF +4.59%  up 2.1%.

In Japan, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. JP:8306 +3.35%   MTU +3.60%  jumped 4%, and Nomura Holdings Inc. JP:8604 +3.23%   NMR -0.89%  climbed 4.8%.

Meanwhile, commodity futures surged in New York after the People’s Bank of China cut its reserve requirement ratio for large banks by 50 basis points, to 21%, effective Dec. 5.

Commodity-linked stocks climbed sharply, with Rio Tinto Ltd. AU:RIO +4.53%   RIO +0.58% up 4.7%, BHP Billiton Ltd. AU:BHP +4.12%   BHP -1.56%  climbing 4.2% and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. AU:FMG +5.51%   FSUMY +3.80%  jumping 4.1% in Australia.

Steel makers surged in Japan, with JFE Holdings Inc. JP:5411 +6.05%  [ JFEEF +4.41% , up 6.1%, and Nippon Steel Corp. JP:5401 +4.92%   NISTF +6.12% adding 4.9%.

China’s move marked the first time the central bank had cut the reserve ratio for such lenders since December 2008, and followed a modest easing for small rural lenders last month.

“The move will ease constraints on bank lending — the level of excess reserves had dropped very low. Specifically, the cut has the same impact on banks’ ability to lend as the injection of $63 billion of base money,” said Mark Williams, chief Asia economist, at Capital Economics.

Hong Kong-based economists at Nomura said that the fact the central bank eased policy wasn’t surprising, but added that the timing was unexpected, with Nomura having expected such a cut in January.

“The need for coordinated policy action with other central banks may have triggered the reserve requirement ratio cut. We believe the fact that the [required reserve ratio] cut occurred [Wednesday], together with actions from other major central banks, did not happen by chance,” they said.

Adding to the positive tone for Asian markets, data out from the U.S. continued its recent strong run, with a private-sector employment report showing a rise of 206,000 jobs in November, the biggest jump since last December last year.  See report on private-sector employment data.

SOURCE 

Term were not disclosed 

Pfizer’s Lipitor goes generic; how will this effect the company ?

The offer is lower than a recent bid by TPG Capital

This is to help out repo markets that have become dysfunctional….

The Story so far

As the crisis ensues the ability to loan has become tougher; thus cutting back on market share.

Full article

I like no taxes…

EFSF to enter short term market,

Providing 20-30% of credit protection for sovereign debt

A co-investment fund will assist in support

Euro up slightly

The plan behind the plan

The 6th ever cyber Monday seems to have done better than expected when it comes to online sales.

Companies like IBM reported a 33% increase in online sales yoy.

Full article/video

Vienna’s excellent infrastructure, safe streets and good public health service make it the nicest place to live in the world, consulting group Mercer said in a global survey which put Baghdad firmly in last place.

German and Swiss cities also performed especially well in the quality of living rankings, with Zurich, Munich, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva and Bern in the top 10.

The Austrian capital, with its ornate buildings, public parks and extensive bicycle network recently reduced the cost of its annual public transport ticket to 1 euro a day.

Serious crime is rare and the city of around 1.7 million inhabitants regularly tops global quality of life surveys.

But Mercer warned that top-ranking European cities could not take their position for granted in the survey, which assessed more than 200 cities.

“They are not immune to any decrease of living standards should this (economic) turmoil persist,” Mercer’s senior researcher Slagin Parakatil said on the company’s website.

Mercer, which also ranked cities according to personal safety, gave Athens a poor score because of clashes between demonstrators and police and political instability.

“In 2011 Athens is ranked in Europe among the lowest in the personal safety ranking,” Parakatil said.

Oslo also fell to 24th place in the separate safety survey because of Anders Breivik’s mass killings in July. It would usually be in the top 15, Mercer said.

Baghdad’s political turmoil, poor security enforcement and attacks on local people and foreigners made it the worst place to live in 2011, both in terms of life quality and safety, Mercer said.

Political and economic unrest in Africa and the Middle East also pushed down scores in those regions.

“Many countries such as Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen have seen their quality of living levels drop considerably,” Parakatil said.

“Political and economic reconstruction in these countries, combined with funding to serve basic human needs, will undoubtedly boost the region.”

He said that while the outlook is uncertain for most of the world because of economic and political turmoil, cities in Asia-Pacific look set to benefit thanks to political stability and solid growth.

Auckland, Sydney, Wellington, Melbourne and Perth made it into the top 20 for quality of life in 2011 while Singapore was the highest-ranking Asian city in 25th place.

Top 10 in Mercer Quality of Living survey

1 Vienna Austria

2 Zurich Switzerland

3 Auckland New Zealand

4 Munich Germany

5 Dusseldorf Germany

5 Vancouver Canada

7 Frankfurt Germany

8 Geneva Switzerland

9 Bern Switzerland

9 Copenhagen Denmark

Full city rankings: bit.ly/syDUPF

(Reporting by Sylvia Westall)

SOURCE

BP will put up just under $500k to secure $240 million in resolving EPA drinking water violations.

Full article

From the makers of safety-system-less high speed rail cars and lead laden children’s toy products, I give you the latest health hazard to be mass produced from the Asian world. Safety will, of course, be a top priority.

Read here:

BEIJING (AP) — The world should get ready for a new Made in China product — vaccines.

China’s vaccine makers are gearing up over the next few years to push exports in a move that should lower costs of lifesaving immunizations for the world’s poor and provide major new competition for the big Western pharmaceutical companies.

However, it may take some time before some parts of the world are ready to embrace Chinese products when safety is as sensitive an issue as it is with vaccines — especially given the food, drug and other scandals the country has seen.

Still, China’s entry into this market will be a “game changer,” said Nina Schwalbe, head of policy at the GAVI Alliance, which buys vaccines for 50 million children a year worldwide.

“We are really enthusiastic about the potential entry of Chinese vaccine manufacturers,” she said.