GUARDIAN Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:05:35 GMT
PC, Deep Silver, cert 7, out now
Amid the frenzy of big-name year-end games releases, the non-download, retail version of World of Tanks slipped under the radar. And yet, despite its modest marketing, this free-to-play tank battle sim has attracted over 5m registrations, a huge success for the online multiplayer shooter.
And with good reason. The controls are a doddle to pick up and there are numerous mod options, either earned or bought with real-world money, offering advantages such as superior firepower or camouflage.
The 500-plus vehicles, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, look tremendous and the team battles, with 30 vehicles trundling around the various open maps, are evenly matched to ensure that even newbies aren't obliterated within seconds. Simple, destructive and fun.
Games
PC
MMORPG
Role playing games
Shoot 'em ups
Felix Atkin
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content...
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GOOGLE Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:05:52 PST
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop shows off the Lumia 900 at CES 2012. (Credit: Lori Grunin/CNET)
Every January, CES sets the tone for the year with a bonanza of new, thrilling smartphones touting the best and brightest technology. 2012 proved no different, with over 21 new smartphones to behold.
More than a few were instant hits, like the Motorola Droid 4, a 4G LTE handset with Verizon, which has a sleek design and a keyboard that's reminiscent of a MacBook in miniature. There's also the Sony Xperia S, which won our admiration for its slick, cutting-edge design and its reality display; and the HTC Titan II's, an LTE Windows Phone sequel for AT&T that wowed us so far with a 16-megapixel camera (16!) that actually appears capable of delivering high-quality shots.
Most impressive of all, and winner of our Best of CES award in the smartphone category is the Nokia Lumia 900. The Finnish phone-maker has poure... [Read more]Related Links:Dialed In No. 205: CES 2012 PreviewDeal-making frenzy..
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GOOGLE Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:00:00 GMT
As earnings season starts, attention is shifting from the macro to the micro. Lots of company news today.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: 12,462.4, +69.8, +0.6%
S&P 500: 1,292.1, +11.4, +0.9%
NASDAQ: 2,702.5, +25.9, +1.0%
And now, the top stories:
Overall it was a pretty quiet day in the global markets. Imports to China slowed substantially in December, stoking fears of an economic hard landing. However, the Shanghai Composite surged 2.7% over night. Perhaps the bad economic data will encourage policymakers to be more aggressive in their promised pro-growth policies.
Ratings agency Fitch reiterated its warning that it would likely downgrade a bunch of eurozone countries. However, France is likely to be spared from the ratings rampage.
We saw a widespread risk-on rally in the markets today. Silver led the metals up. Mining stocks like Freeport-McMoran and Rio Tinto benefited. The financials also staged a major rally with Bank of America and Morgan Stanley leading the..
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GOOGLE Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:00:05 PST
Laptops are about to change...later this year: Intel at CES (Credit: James Martin/CNET)
The message of CES 2012 for laptops thus far: wait.
I'd love to tell you that one of the laptops of CES 2012 is absolutely wonderful, a must-buy. However, I can't. I have a strong feeling that whatever we see at this show is only a half-step forward. Worse, there's a very good chance that it'll be out of date by mid-year.
The reasons are utterly simple, and made even clearer by this morning's Intel keynote. (Credit: James Martin/CNET)
Ivy Bridge: Intel's next-gen processors for laptops aren't going to hit till later this year, probably April or May. There will be several strong advantages to Ivy Bridge: faster performance, obviously, but also native support for the high-speed and versatile Thunderbolt port, and better integrated graphics.
You may not care about any of this. You might only want an affordable, good-looking, good-feeling laptop. Alas, it still makes very much sense to...
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GOOGLE Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:00:00 GMT
After three up days, the markets sold off. The markets weren't too crazy about today's great jobs data. Strange. But this also described yesterday's trading activity.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: 12,359.9, -55.8, -0.5%
S&P 500: 1,277.8, -3.3, -0.3%
NASDAQ: 2,674.2, +4.4, 0.2%
And now, the top stories:
Europe didn't get any better this morning. European retail sales fell 0.7% in November. German factory orders plunged 4.8% in November, which was much worse than the 1.8% decline expected. This is concerning since Germany, the largest economy in Europe, is also considered to be in the best economic shape in the eurozone. Also, Fitch joined its counterparts--S&P and Moody's--in downgrading Hungary to junk status. European markets actually closed mostly higher, but the euro extended its epic plunge.
The always anticipated monthly jobs number blew away expectations. At least the headline numbers did. In December, companies added 200k nonfarm payrolls, and the........
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GOOGLE Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:02:00 GMT
Most people have heard of the Google Flu Trends, where the search giant uses searches for cold medicine to show where and how many people are getting sick.
Now, the New York Federal Reserve has applied this concept to economic data. Using Google Insight, the Fed shows how trends in certain search terms show highly significant correlation with housing data, dollar-renminbi exchange rates, and German unemployment.
One amazing graph shows how searching for "mortgage refinance" in real-time corresponds with refinancing application data published weeks later:
The Fed also found research showing how one percentage-point increase in housing searches correlated with additional sales of 67,220 homes in the following quarter.
Unfortunately, Google failed to predict European sovereign spreads, interbank lending rates or, alas, gold prices, the Fed said.
You can read the whole study at NewYorkFed.org >
Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook.
Join the conversation......
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GOOGLE Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:36:00 GMT
Eastman Kodak shares have slumped 28% this afternoon as the company readies to file for bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Kodak is working to secure $1 billion in financing to continue operations, but faces insolvency if it is unable to find a lender this or next month.
During the last fiscal quarter, Kodak reported cash on hand fell to $862 million from $1.4 billion in September 2010. The firm had hoped seasonal sales would boost liquidity headed into the holidays.
However, the company continues to bleed money. Kodak reported a loss of $222 million, or -$0.83 a share, in November, while revenue fell 5% year-on-year to $1.5 billion.
Yesterday, the Rochester, New York, company announced that the New York Stock Exchange had issued a warning because shares were below required levels.
The company's stock currently trades around $0.50, and will be delisted if it does not trade higher than $1.00 over the coming half year.
"It is a 30 trading day average that......
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GOOGLE Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:00:00 GMT
Sure, stocks gained less than a percent. But this was on the tail of yesterday's big gains. Also, some bad reads from Europe and a gloomy note from PIMCO's Bill Gross couldn't keep the stock markets down for too long.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: 12,418.4, +21.0, +0.2%
S&P 500: 1,277.3, +0.2, +0.0%
NASDAQ: 2,648.4, -0.4, -0.0%
And now, the top stories:
It's not news that Europe's troubles are still unresolved. On one hand, Germany had a very successful debt auction this morning. The country boasts a 10-year yield, which is on par with US Treasuries. Elsewhere in Europe, things got worse. Spain's borrowing costs rose on speculation that the debt-laden country would seek financial aid from the IMF and European Union. Hungary's currency fell to new lows as the country runs low on cash, which could ultimately turn into a major problem for neighboring Austria. Italian bank UniCredit saw its shares plummet after it raised a massive amount of capital at a huge discount..
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GOOGLE Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:02:00 GMT
Construction spending topped analyst expectations for November, accelerating 1.2% against predictions for growth of 0.4%.
The headline figure came in at an annualized rate of $807.1 billion, above a revised October estimate of $797.4 billion.
Private construction gained 1.0% on the month, to an annual rate of $522.3 billion.
Spending across all categories gained, with residential and highway construction up 2.0% and 1.9%, respectively.
However, for the first 11 months of the year, spending was 2.5% below 2010 levels. For the period, $724.8 billion has been spent on construction, compared to $743.6 billion for the same period one year ago. The hardest hit categories included lodging, religious, and conservation developments, all down more than 19.0%.
Construction firms are rallying on the news. Below are a handful of companies up more than 3% in the first hour of trading:
KBR, Inc. (NYSE: KBR): Up 3.4%
Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR): Up 4.3%
The Shaw Group (NYSE:......
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GOOGLE Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:00:00 GMT
Stocks posted a big rally early, and traded tightly afterwards to hold on to major gains. But first, the scoreboard:
Dow: 12,397.4, +179.82, +1.47%
S&P 500: 1,277.1, +19.46, +1.55%
NASDAQ: 2,648.7, +43.57, +1.67%
Here are your top stories:
The first big data releases of the year—ISM manufacturing and construction spending—smashed expectations when they came out this morning. ISM manufacturing rose more than a point for December to 53.9, beating expectations of 53.4. Construction spending posted an even bigger gain—growing 1.2% versus an expected 0.4%.
Blackstone Vice Chairman Byron Wien came out with his highly anticipated 10 predictions for 2012 today. Among his forecasts: the price of oil falls below $85 per barrel, U.S. GDP growth exceeds 3%, and EU leaders get their act together to develop a long-lasting plan for the eurozone. See all 10 of Byron Wien's predictions >
The Financial Post reported that Research In Motion's executive board could strip CEOs Mike...
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ARSTECHNICA Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:30:43 GMT
Mixed martial arts is a sport with an increasingly wide audience, and Microsoft's move to show UFC events on the Xbox 360 through a special app sounded brilliant at last year's E3. The app not only lets you purchase and watch pay-per-view events in standard or high definition, but you can also pick the winners of each fight, compare your picks with friends, and watch video of the weigh-in. Microsoft wanted to make last week's UFC 141 fight a big event, and the company gave away tens of thousands of free codes to watch it. As a member of the press, I got access to the fight to write a story about how well, or poorly, the app worked.
I told my buddies to cancel their plans at the sports bar we usually visit, my wife made large amounts of food, and I invited friends over to watch the fight and enjoy the interactive features Microsoft was offering. Well, that was the plan. The reality was that Microsoft learned the hard way what happens when a show that's treated as an event is used..
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GOOGLE Sat, 31 Dec 2011 11:45:38 GMT
2011 was a busy year for the markets, even if they ended roughly where they started twelve months ago. News outlets are out with the top news of the year, and it all roughly reads the same: Europe was in crisis, MF Global went under, Steve Job's passed away, and Occupy Wall Street took control of downtown New York.
However, some huge stories snubbed.
We compiled a list of the biggest stories that rocked investors. Then we compared those lists to what the editors at CNNMoney, CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg BusinessWeek chose as their top picks.The return of the American automaker
2012 was Valhalla for the Detroit three. After stomaching years of losses, GM and Chrysler roared back to life. The latter with the help of Italian Fiat proved it could sell small automobiles with the success of an all new Chrysler 300 and 200. Meanwhile, GM has posted an impressive 15% year-on-year sales improvement, selling 2.27 million vehicles in the U.S. during the first 11.....
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GOOGLE Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:00:00 GMT
The S&P started and ended the year at around 1,257. So, stocks go nowhere for the year. Did nothing happen?
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: 12,217.6, -69.5, -0.6%
S&P 500: 1,257.6, -5.4, -0.4%
NASDAQ: 2,605.2, -8.6, -0.3%
And now, the top stories:
The last trading day of the year couldn't have been more uneventful. No economic data. No earnings announcements. There weren't even any rumors floating about a eurozone bazooka or anything along those lines. On top of this, traders who weren't already on vacation went home early, and trading volumes dried up.
Despite a jump in corporate profits this year, stocks ended exactly where they started: 1,257. All day, Bloomberg has been reporting that Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley nailed their 2011 stock market calls, which essentially called for a flat market. Click here to see what Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and 14 other Wall Street firms predict for the S&P 500 in 2012 >
The U.S. economy has been gaining some steam in the..
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GOOGLE Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:57:00 GMT
The S&P is back in positive territory for the year. But some sectors did better than others.
The financial sector in particular took a beating and rightfully so. Banks face increased regulations, the loss of revenue driving fees, and compressed net interest margins thanks to a flattening yield curve, which was the aim of the Fed's Operation Twist. On top of this, many banks are exposed, directly or indirectly, to risky European sovereign debt. And worst of all, they face a slowing global economy.
The hardest-hit big bank is Lloyd's Banking Group, which has seen shares decline more than 61% on depressed investment banking revenue amid a weak United Kingdom macro-picture. Bank of America trails only slightly, down 59.5% year-to-date. Reuters recently reported that the bank may have to sell additional assets to buffer itself.
Take a look at how some of the biggest financial institutions in the world stack up:
Here's a quick rundown of the declines through trading this....
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GOOGLE Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:00:00 GMT
It was another low volume trading session. The big news of the day came out of the housing market.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: 12,287.0, +135.6, +1.1%
S&P 500: 1,263.0, +13.4, +1.1%
NASDAQ: 2,613.7, +23.8, +0.9%
And now, the top stories:
The highly anticipated Italian long-term bond auction this morning didn't go as badly as it could have. Ten-year bonds sold at a yield of 6.98%, which is down from the +7% level we've been seeing over the last few days. However, demand was a little light. Also, the Hungarian 3-year bond auction was pretty horrific. These 10 Dates Are Crucial For The Future Of Europe >
The euro extended its plunge against the dollar earlier this morning before rebounding slightly. Also, gold dipped. The yellow metal is looking less like a safe haven everyday. Reformed Broker Joshua Brown argues it's more like a momentum asset that's lost its steam. Here's What Will Happen To Commodity Prices Next Year >
Initial jobless claims came rose to 381k,....
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GOOGLE Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:00:00 GMT
Low volume. Little news. But we did see a notable sell-off in stocks and the euro.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: 12,151.4, -139.9, -1.1%
S&P 500: 1,249.6, -15.8, -1.3%
NASDAQ: 2,589.9, -35.2, -1.3%
And now, the top stories:
The good news out of Europe today was that an Italian short-term bond auction went very well. Specifically, the Italian government issued €9 billion of 6-month bills at a yield of 3.251%. This is down from the 6.504% yield we saw as recently as November 25. However, all eyes will be on tomorrow's auction: €8.5 billion worth of 10-year bonds. The 10-year yield continues to be north of 7%.
We also learned this morning that the European Central Bank's (ECB) overnight deposits swelled to a record high of €455 billion. It appears banks would rather park their money at the ECB and get 0.25% than take a little more risk for a higher return.
Out of nowhere, the euro and the pound both plunged against the dollar. The move was breathtaking. Yet, it's........
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GOOGLE Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:00:00 GMT
Low trading volume was the story again. Everyone's still on vacation.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: 12,291.4, -2.7, -0.0%
S&P 500: 1,265.4, +0.1, +0.0%
NASDAQ: 2,625.2, +6.6, +0.3%
And now, the top stories:
Europe made some noise this morning when the yield on the Italian 10-year note went north of 7.12% this morning, before coming down to 6.99%. This is ahead of a big bond sale on Thursday. European markets closed mixed with Italy's FTSE-MIB closing down 1% and London's FTSE 100 closing up 1% German, French, and Spanish stocks basically closed flat. Here Are The 11 Best Performing Stock Markets Of The Year >
The Case-Shiller 20-city home price index fell 3.4% year-over-year, which was worse than the 3.2% decline economists had expected. Only two cities posted gains during that period: Detroit and Washington. Month-over-month, the 20-city index fell 0.7% on a seasonally-adjusted basis.
Consumer confidence jumped to 64.5, up from 55.2 a month ago. Economists were.....
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 How The 13 Most Interesting ETFs Performed This Year (BJK, COW, UVXY, PTO, GRN, UPRO, BAL, CGW, UUP, LIT, SZR, NIB, XEN)
GOOGLE Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:27:00 GMT
ETFs have gained substantial exposure as retail investors move further and further into the instruments that offer mutual fund like access into a variety of asset classes.
Earlier this year we profiled the most interesting of the 1,100 plus ETFs you can currently trade. They were obscure and included betting in the South African money markets and investing in corporate good-doers.
But their returns are not always consistent with the broader markets, which, in the U.S., have been roughly break-even.PowerShares DB US Dollar Bullish Fund
Ticker: UUP
YTD Performance: -1.4%
Concept: PowerShares offers a way for U.S. consumers to go long on the dollar. Well, another way. Instead of simply holding the bills in a money market or bank account, this fund trades in the underlying currency to generate returns.
Source: Morningstar iPath Dow Jones-UBS Livestock Subindex Total Return
Ticker: COW
YTD Performance: -4.3%
Concept: Peter Luger might need to take stock in the.....
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GOOGLE Thu, 22 Dec 2011 21:00:00 GMT
Some encouraging reads on the U.S. labor market.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: 12,169.6, +61.8, +0.5%
S&P 500: 1,254.0, +10.3, +0.8%
NASDAQ: 2,599.5, +21.5, +0.8%
And now, the top stories:
Europe was pretty quiet today.
The U.S. saw a healthy market rally fueled by some good economic data. First, initial jobless claims fell to 364k, the lowest reading since April 2008. This is down from last week's reading of 368k, and it was also much better than economists' average expectation for 380k. The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index jumped to 69.9, beating the expectation for 68.0.
However, the final reading on Q3 GDP was revised down to 1.8% from 2.0%. The new figure was marked by a steep downward revision to personal consumption expenditures. If you remember, Q3 GDP growth had already been revised down to 2.0% from 2.5% a month ago. But Q3 was three months ago. And the November leading economic indicators increased 0.5%, beating the estimate of 0.3%. So,...
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STOCKS MAKE BIG COMEBACK ON DAY OF BIG ECB ACTION: Here's What You Need To Know (SPY, DIA, QQQ, USO, ORCL, IBM, CSCO, HPQ, RIMM, AMZN, MSFT, NOK, BAC)
GOOGLE Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:00:00 GMT
Oracle dragged down the Nasdaq and LTRO was trending on Twitter.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: 12,107.7, +4.2, +0.0%
S&P 500: 1,243.7, +2.4, +0.2%
NASDAQ: 2,577.9, -25.7, -1.0%
And now, the top stories:
So, the European Central Bank (ECB) published the results of its Long Term Refinancing Operations (LTRO), a massive funding plan aimed at boosting liquidity for banks through cheap 3-year loans. And it turns out banks borrowed like crazy. 523 banks requested €489 billion ($640 billion). The market reaction, however, was unfavorable. European stocks sank, the euro dived, bond yields jumped, and U.S. futures fell. Click here for a comprehensive analysis of the LTRO.
In other Europe news, S&P warned EFSF capacity would likely shrink if France were to lose its AAA credit rating. In other ratings news, S&P cut Hungary's debt rating to junk status.
November existing home sales came in at 4.42 million at an annualized rate, up from 4.25 million in October. Economists were....
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STOCKS EXPLODE HIGHER AFTER MOUNTAIN OF GOOD NEWS: Here's What You Need To Know (SPY, DIA, QQQ, PHM, KBH, DHI, LEN, TOL, JEF, GS, MS, T, S, VZ, RHT, ORCL)
GOOGLE Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:00:00 GMT
Good news out of Europe and the U.S. had investors feeling pretty good ahead of the holidays.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: 12,103.6, +337.3, +2.9%
S&P 500: 1,241.3, +36.0, +3.0%
NASDAQ: 2,603.7, +80.6, +3.2%
And now, the top stories:
The good news kicked off in Europe. German business confidence, as measured by the Ifo institute, unexpectedly increased to 107.2 from 106.6 a month ago. Welcome news for Europe's biggest economy. Also, the Spanish government had a pretty good debt auction. See Also: Everything You Need To Know About Tomorrow's Big ECB Operation That Everyone's Watching >
We also got some good news from the all-important housing sector before the bell. November housing starts jumped 9.3% month-over-month to 685k, crushing the expectation of 635k. The figure is at a 19-month high. Homebuilder stocks surged on the news led by 10% gains in PulteGroup and KB Home. DR Horton, Lennar, and Toll Brothers each posted gains of around 6%.
Crude oil prices jumped..
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GUARDIAN Tue, 20 Dec 2011 12:26:00 GMT
The second part of our ill-advised romp through the best of the year's gaming
Welcome back to our festive round-up of the games that got us all through the chaos of 2011. Once again, we should point out that this is a highly subjective line-up – based not on the games we chin-strokingly believe are the finest interactive entertainment creations of the year, but on the ones we actually played to death and are in most cases still playing (often despite ourselves, and at the expense of relationships and jobs).
So, mix yourself a snowball (Advocaat and lemonade, and a dash of lime if you're feeling saucy), stick a Christmas album on your stereo iPod player and take a walk with us through the Winter Wonderland of bitter nostalgic dispute...
15. Bastion (Warner, PC, Xbox 360)
The RPG genre tends to evolve at a geological rate, with developers slowly iterating on miniscule gameplay components over many years. But in 2011, Bastion injected itself into the scene like some powerful......
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GOOGLE Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:00:00 GMT
As if problems in Europe weren't enough, we now have to deal with some uncertainty in North Korea.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: 11,766.3, -100.1, -0.8%
S&P 500: 1,205.4, -14.3, -1.2%
NASDAQ: 2,523.1, -32.2, -1.3%
And now, the top stories:
By now, you've heard that North Korea's Kim Jong-Il died last night. Any internal instability would probably have a negligible effect on the global economy as North Korea is isolated and is almost completely shut off from the rest of the world. However, experts are concerned that North Korea may now take some sort of aggressive military action in a show of strength. Nomura is calling it a black swan risk. Political risk expert Ian Bremmer warns "This is a very dangerous time." The economy most at risk is neighboring South Korea, whose stock market plummeted in today's trading. SEE ALSO: This Is What South Korea's Economy Will Be Like In 2012 And 2013 >
Speaking to European Parliament today, ECB president Mario Draghi said that.......
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BOINGBOING Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:30:05 PST
Welcome to the Gweek podcast, episode 31! Gweek is where the editors and friends of Boing Boing talk about comic books, science fiction and fantasy, video games, board games, tools, gadgets, apps, and other neat stuff. In this episode I am joined by Boing Boing's technology and coding maestro, Dean Putney, and cartoonist Ruben Bolling, [...]
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ENGADGET Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:47:00 EDT
Yeah, the NFL's really great and everything, but you know what would make it even greater? More. Money. Fortunately for Roger Goodell & Co., that's exactly what the league is due to receive, thanks to a slate of TV deals signed last week. The agreements, set to go into effect at the end of the 2013 season, effectively renew the NFL's current agreements with CBS, Fox and NBC, extending the league's TV contracts for a "record-setting" nine extra years. Not surprisingly, the deals will also funnel some extra pocket change through the NFL's coffers -- which will of course be coming from you, if you're subscribing to cable or satellite TV. Currently, the three networks pay a combined $1.94 billion in annual rights fees, but according to the LA Times, the league will now receive an average of $3.1 billion per year, as stipulated under its renewed agreements. In a statement, Commissioner Goodell said the deals underscore his league's "unique commitment to broadcast television," with CBS..
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GOOGLE Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:56:00 GMT
Despite politicians ganging up on it, the performance of tobacco has just been... breathtaking.
Some perspective from SocGen on what's worked this year, over the past 5 years, and over the past 10 years...
The Pharmaceuticals sector is also among only two global sectors to remain in positive territory, with a year-to-date gain of 3.9%, though this is some way behind Tobacco which has gained 21.8%. Incidentally, the Global Tobacco is the strongest performing sector during the last five years in totalreturns terms and only second to Mining on a ten year view. It has achieved this with far less volatility and a greater proportion of the return being generated by the dividend stream.
Wild that around around the world only two global sectors managed gains this year, and that the 2nd place one, pharma, only gained 3.9%.
Click here to see 17 remarkable facts about today's smokers >
Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook.
Join the conversation about this story »
See..
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GOOGLE Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:53:00 GMT
Merry Christmas, Wall Street, here's your lump of coal.
The Federal Reserve could announce its acceptance of regulations laid out in Basel, Switzerland, as early as this week, says the Wall Street Journal.
Of course, we know that this means higher capital requirements for banks across the board — something that people on Wall Street have been very vocal about opposing (see: Jamie Dimon, remember when he flipped out about a 3% surcharge on big banks?).
The official numbers for each regulation won't be phased in until 2016, so though insider have a close idea, we're still not completely sure what those numbers will be. That said, it looks like the capital requirements won't get as high Dimon's feared 3%, though big banks that handle a lot of short-term transactions will still get hit with higher capital requirements than anyone else.
JP Morgan and Citigroup, specifically, will have to hold the most — 2.5% of extra capital as a percentage of risk-weighted assets, on top of...
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GOOGLE Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:25:00 GMT
Some interesting observations from the latest John Hussman letter regarding the economic data and its tendency to "surprise" in one direction or another.
In order to properly understand economic "surprises," it's important to recognize that unlike actual economic data, where fluctuations have to do with, well, the actual economy, economic surprises are - by definition - measured relative to the subjective expectations of economists and Wall Street analysts. Unfortunately, analysts tend to be all-or-none. Instead of allowing for a normal ebb-and-flow of data, they form expectations that overshoot both on the pessimistic side and on the optimistic side. As a result, once the economy experiences an initial softening, expectations turn lower, often very aggressively. Over the following weeks, economic data can continue to be fairly soft, but because expectations have collapsed, the new data is interpreted as being "above expectations." After a while, that experience of positive.....
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GUARDIAN Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:02:00 GMT
An interactive website based on Carol Morley's haunting feature film, Dreams of a Life, seeks to put us at the centre of the movie's question
In 2003 a woman named Joyce Vincent died in her small flat above a shopping mall in Wood Green, North London. She was surrounded by the Christmas presents, she'd just wrapped. The TV was on. There was washing up in the sink. She was not found for three years.
Last week saw the release of Carol Morley's sad and compassionate movie, Dreams of a Life, which uses fictionalised moments from Vincent's life as well as interviews with those who knew her, to ask how this death went seemingly unnoticed, and what this means about life in London, and cities, and the 21st century.
To accompany the movie, producer Film4, also sought to commission an interactive experience that would give particpants another angle on the story, and its ramifications. Hide&Seek, a unique London studio that has worked on live urban gaming experiences as well as games and..
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GUARDIAN Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:17:00 GMT
Shares lose momentum after initial surge, as games firm behind Words with Friends goes public on Nasdaq stock exchange
After months of hype and speculation, Zynga, the 4-year-old games company behind FarmVille and Words with Friends, has had a disappointing debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Many tech firms enjoy spectacular first-day "pops", with stratospheric rises in their share price in the early hours of trading. Zynga's shares, priced at $10, rose 11% initially, before closing out the day at $9.45. Wall Street, it seems, isn't playing Zynga's game. At least not yet.
The company, which claims 60 million people a day play its games, raised about $1bn from the share sale, and is worth a total of $7bn, far less than the $20bn that had been expected earlier this year.
Founder Mark Pincus, who named the company after his pet bulldog, now owns a stake worth over $1bn. He cashed in some of his shares ahead of the sale, selling a small portion of his holding for more than $109m..
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GUARDIAN Sun, 18 Dec 2011 00:05:34 GMT
Apps may offer plenty of excellent, graphically impressive games, but they still can't match a console for processing power. OnLive (free, android/kindle/iOS) changes that. The service, which streams games to PCs, Macs and TVs, is now available for tablets (although the iPad version is still awaiting Apple's approval at time of going to press).
Download the app (which for now comes with the excellent Lego Batman free), and there's access to a plethora of new and old releases that would otherwise be beyond the device, streamed directly into it, in much the same way as BBC's iPlayer operates. Games can be bought, rented or accessed through the PlayPack bundle (free for three months to BT Broadband customers). Some adapt for touchscreens (such as the upcoming LA Noire), others use the default onscreen pad, but all work with the Bluetooth OnLive controller (£39.99). It's dependent on a solid wifi connection, but offers unparalleled mobile gaming; full-sized consoles may be living on...
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GOOGLE Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:41:19 GMT
Brazilian federal prosecutors are they are seeking $10.6 billion in damages from US-based Chevron Corporation because of environmental harm caused by an offshore oil leak.
The prosecutors are also asking a judge to order Chevron and Transocean Ltd, the drilling contractor for the well where the leak occurred in November, to halt all activities in Brazilian territory for an indefinite period.
“During an investigation, the attorney general’s office found that Chevron and Transocean were not capable of controlling the damage caused by the spill of nearly 3,000 barrels of oil, proof of a lack of environmental planning and management by the companies,” the statement read.
Chevron, in an emailed statement, said that it had received no notice of the action by the federal prosecutors and that Brazilian oil regulators had not contacted it about the issue.
“From the outset, Chevron responded responsibly to the incident at its Frade Field and has dealt transparently with all........
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GOOGLE Tue, 13 Dec 2011 04:00:00 PST
Using mobile tagging to fight tagging. The bottom image appears on a smartphone when the real-world QR code is scanned. (Credit: Wooster Collective)
It seems a mural sponsored by the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, as a deterrent to graffiti, wound up attracting a little instead. But someone came up with an interesting temporary fix for the defacement.
A tipster named Jason informed street-art site Wooster Collective that a giant QR code had been placed over the offending, spray-painted tag.
And when passersby scan the code with their smartphones, they're served up an image of the original, undamaged mural, along with information about its origins.
That's a nice idea. But in describing the fix as "temporary" a few paragraphs back, I was expressing my hope that this approach (or something like it) won't somehow catch on and replace the actual restoration of murals.
Writing on future-trends blog i09, Cyriaque Lamar says he can "see urban beautification taking shape"...
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PRWEB
Complete AEON SWTOR guide offers detailed leveling, builds, skills, quests, PvE & PvP information for jedi knight, smuggler, bounty hunter, jedi consular, imperial agent, trooper, sith warrior and...
(PRWeb December 13, 2011)
Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/12/prweb9032472.htm
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STOCKS TANK AND EUROPE IS STILL IN CRISIS: Here's What You Need To Know (SPY, DIA, QQQ, MS, C, INTC, TXN, DMND, NFLX, VZ, VMC, MLM)
GOOGLE Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:00:00 GMT
The world had all weekend to digest last week's EU summit. From the looks of it, the markets agree with us that EU leaders solved nothing. Stocks returned most of Friday's unexpected gains.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: -162.9 pts, -1.3%
S&P 500: -18.7 pts, -1.5%
NASDAQ: -34.6 pts, -1.3%
And now, the top stories:
Last Friday's post-EU summit stock market rally surprised a lot of people given how little the EU leaders actually accomplished. Specifically, the summit offered no solutions to the near-term crisis, which continues to push the eurozone to the brink.
Moody's splashed some cold water on the markets early this morning, warning that the EU sovereign debt ratings were still at risk of a downgrade as early as the first quarter of 2012. "Overall, Moody's believes that the announced measures reflect the continuing tension between euro area leaders' recognition of the need to increase support for fiscally weaker countries and the significant opposition within........
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ARSTECHNICA Mon, 12 Dec 2011
Spike TV doesn't seem to care about giving video games awards, as many of the 2011 awards given out at the misleadingly-titled Video Game Awards were given off-screen, or before the show actually began. The broadcast itself was filled with terrible jokes, B-list celebrities, and embarrassing moments. I'm curious to find out if anyone was able to get through it with their sanity intact, and I'm not exactly sure why Charlie Sheen was there at all. At one point, a grown man was tea-bagged for an extended period of time. To pick an even geekier nit, someone else drank a blue potion to restore health. They don't make a face big enough for that palm.
I'm probably being too hard on the show, though, as the crass bits were clearly written by someone who seems to hold games and the people who play them in contempt. The show's real purpose is to market new games, and the new trailers, announcements, and content on display was often exciting. Let's take a look at the best trailers and......
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STOCKS BOOM AFTER EUROPE SOLVES NOTHING: Here's What You Need To Know (SPY, DIA, QQQ, C, BAC, JPM, MS, TXN, DD, BA, BRKA)
GOOGLE Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:00:00 GMT
Day five of Europe's hell week came with stocks recovering most of yesterday's losses.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: +186.6 pts, +1.6%
S&P 500: +20.8 pts, +1.7%
NASDAQ: +50.5 pts, +1.9%
And now, the top stories:
Last night, we learned that all 27 EU countries would not support a treaty change, thanks to the U.K. This seemed to cause some tension between French President Nicholas Sarkozy and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron.
Markets nevertheless responded positively to developments out of the EU summit. Some of the decisions: accelerate the ESM to March 2012 and and cap it at €500 billion; lend up to €200 billion in additional funding to the IMF; limit annual sovereign structural deficits to 0.5%. ECB President Mario Draghi applauded the results of the summit, calling it "a very good outcome."
The risk trade was back on. The 10-year Treasury yield rose back above 2%, and as usual financials showed strength. Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan all climbed by more.....
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STOCKS GET SLAMMED AFTER BIG ECB DISAPPOINTMENT: Here's What You Need To Know (SPY, DIA, QQQ, MS, C, GS, JPM, BAC, F, HAL, HP, TSLA, AAPL)
GOOGLE Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:00:00 GMT
Day four of Europe's hell week came with some volatility as investors moved on Mario Draghi's every last word.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: -198.7 pts, -1.6%
S&P 500: -26.7 pts, -2.1%
NASDAQ: -52.8 pts, -2.0%
And now, the top stories:
The European Central Bank (ECB) cut rates by 25 basis points to 1.00% this morning. ECB President Mario Draghi said the bank would extend the maturities of its refinancing operations to three years and also ease collateral requirements. Markets spiked instantly on those words. But, they quickly turned after Draghi said he made no commitment to do more bond buying. For some commentary, read: FACE THE FACTS: There's Only One Solution To The Eurozone Crisis That Can Work Right Now >
The European Banking Authority released the results of the EU bank stress tests. In total, banks will be forced to raise €114.7 billion, or around $153.8 billion.
Also this morning, the Bank of England held rates at 0.5% and kept its asset purchase program.......
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GUARDIAN Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:30:56 GMT
What's new on the app stores on Thursday 8 December 2011
A selection of 32 new apps for you today:OnLive
Cloud gaming service OnLive has launched an app for tablets and smartphones, with the Android version live – an iOS version remains in approvals with Apple. The app enables OnLive users to play games on their mobile devices using touchscreen controls or a wireless joypad. For more on the launch, read our full news story.
AndroidXbox Companion
On a busy day for Xbox-related apps, Microsoft has released its official Xbox Companion for Windows Phone, which lets people control their console from their smartphone – including films, TV shows, music and Bing searches.
Windows PhoneMy Xbox LIVE
Microsoft isn't letting gamers control their Xbox 360s with an iPhone or iPad yet, but the company has released an official Xbox Live app for iOS. It enables people to track their achievements, connect to friends and edit their avatar, while also reading news about new Xbox Live........
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ENGADGET Wed, 07 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EDT
Look, games like Fruit Ninja can be addicting and all, but we've many times pondered what playing a proper title -- the kind intended for the latest consoles and PCs -- would be like on a tablet or smartphone. Of course, we've seen some fantastic results from Tegra 3 and been notably impressed by Infinity Blade 2 on iOS, but starting today, OnLive is set to one-up the limitations of locally run mobile games with its new app. Whether you're using an Android, iOS device or even a Kindle Fire, you'll now be able to play games from the OnLive ecosystem while you're on the move over 3G, LTE or WiFi, rather than merely spectating in OnLive Viewer. Better yet, the OnLive app itself is completely free and any games purchased can be used across devices, and currently, 25 titles have been optimized for touch-based controls, including a tweaked version of L.A. Noire. HOwever, if you're more inclined to use tactile controls you'll be pleased to know that the company also has a soon to be......
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GOOGLE Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:43:00 GMT
Apple's price to earnings ratio is at a relatively paltry 14 right now, and it's driving Apple bulls crazy.
The chart below, which shows Apple's shrinking PE, from Apple analyst Andy Zaky has been passed around for the last week. (At the time Apple's PE was 13.3.)
What's wrong with this chart?
Zaky explains: "Now even though Apple’s growth has far and outpaced the growth of Oracle (16.35 P/E), Amazon (96.15 P/E), Google (19.19 P/E), Cisco (15.11), Qualcomm Inc. (20.62), Amgen, Inc (13.53), Comcast (15.11 P/E), IBM (13.95 P/E), Chevron (13.50), Johnson & Johnson (14.94 P/E), Procter & Gamble (15.49 P/E), and AT&T (13.91 P/E), the stock trades at a far lower valuation relative to these top holdings on the NASDAQ-100 and S&P 500. Some of these companies have actually contracted in 2011. Yet, the market values the earnings out of these companies on the order of 4-5 times more in some cases than they value the earnings out of Apple."
Of course, there's more than one way to......
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ARSTECHNICA Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:38:00 GMT
Rockstar games is releasing Grand Theft Auto III: 10 Year Anniversary Edition for both iOS and Android devices next week, and the game will cost $5. This is good news, as Grand Theft Auto III remains a fun game, and the price is more than fair. Here is the list of supported devices that you can use to play when it launches on December 15.
Apple iOS Devices: iPad 1 & 2, iPhone 4 & 4S, iPod touch 4th Generation
Android Phones: HTC Rezound, LG Optimus 2x, Motorola Atrix 4G, Motorola Droid X2, Motorola Photon 4G, Samsung Galaxy R, T-Mobile G2x
Android Tablets: Acer Iconia, Asus Eee Pad Transformer, Dell Streak 7, LG Optimus Pad, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1, Sony Tablet S, Toshiba Thrive
So why does the game look like it could be frustrating? Take a look at the screenshot included in this story. Just look at it. The virtual buttons added to touchscreen devices when traditional games are ported tend to be hard to use and easy to miss, and the mess that's on the..
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GOOGLE Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:13:52 GMT
Analysts are doing a lot of worrying lately about all the bad things that could happen in the global economy, despite positive economic data and occasional market rallies.
Looking ahead to 2012, Deutsche Bank analysts Tom Joyce and Ram Nayak lay out 10 of the biggest worries investors have to look out for in the coming year in a massive investor note about what we should be looking forward to in the coming 12 months. What's more, they tell you how to hedge for the worst case scenario.
Ironically enough, analysts remains so bearish that one of the biggest risks is that the economy does well.#1 A Greek exit rom the euro
Probability: A Greek euro exit and return to the Drachma is not DB's base case, but then again it's not inconceivable.
What would happen: Big haircuts on private sector assets, capital controls, collapse of Greek banking system, run on peripheral European banks
Hedges: Switch from European assets to gold or U.S. Treasuries, long yen or sterling, and......
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GOOGLE Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:49:00 GMT
GMO's Jeremy Grantham is out with his latest quarterly letter, which he cleverly titles The Shortest Quarterly Letter Ever.
His thoughts are pithy and, as always, interesting.
Of particularly interest is his take on what the US market could look like based on past bubbles:
“No Market for Young Men.” Historians would notice that all major equity bubbles (like those in the U.S. in 1929 and 1965 and in Japan in 1989) broke way below trend line values and stayed there for years. Greenspan, neurotic about slight economic declines while at the same time coasting on Volcker’s good work, introduced an era of effective overstimulation of markets that resulted in 20 years of overpriced markets and abnormally high profit margins. In this, Greenspan has been aided by Bernanke, his acolyte, who has continued his dangerous policy. The first of the two great bubbles that broke on their watch did not reach trend at all in 2002, and the second, in 2009 – known by us as the first truly........
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GOOGLE Mon, 05 Dec 2011 21:00:00 GMT
Europe's hell week begins with new EU treaty proposals and reports of an S&P ratings action bombshell.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: +78.4 pts, +0.7%
S&P 500: +12.8 pts, +1.0%
NASDAQ: +28.8 pts, +1.1%
And now, the top stories:
Over the weekend, Italy's new prime minister Mario Monti unveiled a 30 billion euro austerity package, which included spending cuts and tax hikes. Discussion of pension reforms reduced one Italian politician to tears. This morning, however, Italy saw its 10-year yield dip below 6%.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy met today and announced their plans for a new European Union treaty. Under the new rules, the EU could place restrictions on the size of government deficits and spending programs. A final treaty outline is expected by March 2012.
Optimism in Europe sparked a rally in the U.S. stock markets, which as usual was led by the financials sector. Morgan Stanley jumped 6.8%. Citigroup increased 5.9%........
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GOOGLE Mon, 05 Dec 2011 21:39:00 GMT
Bombshell news that Standard & Poor's ratings service was about to place all 17 countries of the eurozone on downgrade review—including the AAA-rated Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, and Luxembourg—stunned markets today.
In total, 15 countries from the European Economic and Monetary Union were put on downgrade review. That added to Cyprus, which already under fire for a possible downgrade. Greece avoided today's downgrade watch carnage, but that's not saying much for the troubled Hellenic nation.
According to the report, they'll try to wrap up the review as soon as possible after the EU summit concludes on December 8-9.
The ratings agency threatened a one-notch downgrade for Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, and Luxembourg, but said that other countries—including France—could all drop two notches if they don't make progress to fix their fiscal positions.
S&P cited five reasons for the action in a press release (full version below):
(1)..
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GOOGLE Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:26:00 GMT
Oppenheimer's Chief Investment Strategist Brian Belski thinks the S&P 500 will end 2012 at 1,400.
In a recently published report titled US Strategy Special Report - 2012 US Market Outlook, Belski elaborates, warning that 2012 probably won't be a smooth ride for stocks:
According to our models, the S&P 500 will likely achieve a price target of 1,400 in 2012 with earnings of $101. While single-digit returns are admittedly not exciting, we continue to believe the relative stability of US fundamentals and economic conditions will provide an attractive alternative compared to other more volatile assets around the world in 2012. However, the path to positive returns in the US will not likely take a smooth route. In other words, we continue to believe US stocks are mired within a transitional market phase, somewhere between a secular bear and bull market. Nevertheless, considering the amount of negativity and doubt surrounding investments, coupled with the excess volatility and......
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GUARDIAN Sun, 04 Dec 2011 00:05:54 GMT
Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, THQ, cert: 12, out now
THQ's pro-wrestling game, in all its theatrical, chest-slapping, Lycra-clad glory enters the ring again, this time with a more sophisticated repertoire for each fighter. Trademark grappling, take-downs and strikes (and an assortment of objects such as ladders and chairs) deliver increasingly damaging attacks as players bring the pain in full WWE-style, but locking-in submissions and pins have also been overhauled, allowing more opportunities to escape and gain the upper hand. With a roster of 60-plus superstars to choose from and plenty of customisable features and downloadable content, WWE '12 feels like a real move forward in quality. While the AI is still inconsistent at times, with difficulty levels ranging from pathetically easy to being on the receiving end of a severe duffing-up, and the single-player Road to Wrestlemania mode pedestrian at best, the 40-man Royal Rumble is awesome fun and the online multiplayer remains a blast,.....
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GUARDIAN Sun, 04 Dec 2011 00:05:56 GMT
The latest apps for Nokia's Lumia 800 on Windows Mobile
So dominant is Apple's handset that it's hard for anyone else to get a word in when it comes to apps. Their latest rival, Windows Mobile (WM), is still lacking in numbers and having embraced the platform, Nokia has felt obliged to provide a number of proprietary apps to fill that void. With the Lumia 800 they may just have a phone that can compete. Nokia Drive provides a GPS, with turn-by-turn directions, that can't be matched for free by any competitors, while the similarly exclusive Nokia Maps is superior to the Bing navigation available on other WM phones. However, the killer app could well be Nokia Mix Radio. It provides 15 million tracks, dividing playlists by genre or generating them based on taste – and can be downloaded to listen to offline. You can only skip six tracks an hour, meaning it isn't quite up there with Spotify's premium service, but for free it's hard to fault.
Apps
Nokia
Games
Mobile........
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GOOGLE Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:55:00 GMT
It's supposed to be like shooting fish in a barrel.
Step up and make a huge investment in a hot tech company at a sweetheart price just before the IPO...and then cash in as all those mom 'n pop suckers bid the stock up to crazy prices in the public market.
This practice--late-stage private equity in soon-to-be-public-companies--has become popular among big mutual fund companies like Fidelity and T. Rowe Price. It's a way to gain an edge when competing against other big mutual-fund competitors in an increasingly efficient public market.
Sadly, it doesn't always work.
In February, Kleiner Perkins, T. Rowe Price, Morgan Stanley, Fidelity, and other investors pumped $490 million into Zynga at $14 a share in exchange for preferred stock that would ordinarily protect their downside.
The idea, presumably, was that Zynga would go public and trade at something north of $20 a share, giving the late-stage players a nice profit.
But Zynga's growth has since flatlined.
And now...
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GOOGLE Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:00:00 GMT
A monster morning rally disappeared.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: -0.6 pts, -0.0%
S&P 500: -0.3 pts, -0.0%
NASDAQ: +0.7 pts, +0.0%
And now, the top stories:
We got the November jobs report this morning, and analysts are still trying to decide whether it was good or bad. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.6% in November, which compares to economists' expectations for it remain unchanged at 9%. However, much of this decline is attributable to the drop in the labor force participation rate, which fell to 64.0% from 64.2%. U.S. companies added 120k nonfarm payrolls, missing the expectation for +125k. However, the good news is that nonfarm payrolls in the last two months were revised up. October payrolls was revised higher by 20K and September was revised higher by 52K.
When you take a step back, the U.S. labor market is still looking pretty bad. For one, the average duration of unemployment is historically high at 40.9 weeks. Also, the U.S. economy tends to recover most..
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GOOGLE Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:48:00 GMT
U.S. November auto sales data will roll through over the next few hours, but the early announcers have been incredibly positive. Analysts are predicting seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales could top 13 million during this period, the third consecutive month it would break that barrier this year.
Sales increases were led by sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks. Ford said SUVs grew more than 43% as sales of its Explorer jumped 217% to 12,888 vehicles. General Motors saw sales of its Silverado pickup increase 34% for the month to 34,251 units.
On the electric front, the Chevrolet Volt continued on its roll-out ramp up. The company delivered 1,139 of the eco-vehicles, up 39 units from October. GM had hoped to deliver 10,000 of the cars by year's end, but is on track to fall short of that number — year-to-date it has produced 6,142 Volts.
The Detroit Three:
Chrysler: Total Sales: 107,172 units, Sales Growth: +45%, Expected Growth: +37%
Ford: Total Sales: 166,865......
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GOOGLE Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:00:00 GMT
Well, we got retail sales, auto sales, job data, and manufacturing data. But nothing really blew anyone's minds.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: -25.7 pts, -0.2%
S&P 500: -2.4 pts, -0.2%
NASDAQ: +5.9 pts, +0.2%
And now, the top stories:
Change may be coming to euro zone. "What I believe our economic and monetary union needs is a new fiscal compact," said ECB president Mario Draghi this morning. "Other elements might follow, but the sequencing matters." All of this seems to jibe with recent reports out of Germany and France regarding a "stability pact" that could pave the way for more ECB intervention. This Is What The World Will Be Like In 2012 And 2013 >
Initial jobless claims unexpectedly rose to 402k, from 393k last week. Economists were expecting a modest decline to 390k. All eyes will be on tomorrow's November BLS jobs number. The average estimate by economists calls for +131k private payrolls.
The November ISM manufacturing index increased to 52.7, beating the..
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GOOGLE Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:00:00 GMT
Central banks around the world to the rescue?
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: +490.1 pts, +4.2%
S&P 500: +51.7 pts, +4.3%
NASDAQ: +104.8 pts, +4.2%
And now, the top stories:
Global coordinated intervention. The Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Canada, and the Swiss National Bank announced they would lower the cost of swapping dollars. Specifically, they are cutting the U.S. dollar liquidity swap rate by 50 basis points. This is an effort to boost liquidity in the European bank funding markets. The announcement, which came before the markets opened, caused futures to roar higher.
In case that wasn't enough, the Fed also reminded us that it could still do much more: "[W]ere conditions to deteriorate, the Federal Reserve has a range of tools available to provide an effective liquidity backstop for such institutions and is prepared to use these tools as needed to support financial stability and to promote the.......
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GOOGLE Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:17:48 PST
Cut the Rope, one of the hottest games on smartphones, just got a free stand-alone version for both the iPhone and iPad (Universal) featuring new challenges and holiday themed levels.
Each level features the Christmas tree background, and adds new stockings that teleport candy. (Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)
Certain apps have staying power on the top ten list at the iTunes App Store and Cut The Rope offers just the right mix of challenging physics-based gameplay, family friendly graphics, and tons of levels to explore to keep it near the top.
Just like last year's Cut the Rope: Holiday Gift, the 2011 version helps you get into the holiday spirit. Developed by ZeptoLab, the game comes with 25 new levels, holiday-themed obstacles, and a new Rocket level at the end to add to the fun. There's also a bonus feature that lets you make greeting cards by adding the game's mascot, Om Nom, to images from your iPhone image library.
Cut the Rope: Holiday Gift (Free) comes.....
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GOOGLE Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:54:46 GMT
There's a lot of buzz about this post up at Forbes, which starts with this...
It appears that a big European bank got close to failure last night. European banks, especially French banks, rely heavily on funding in the wholesale money markets. It appears that a major bank was having difficulty funding its immediate liquidity needs.
The basis for this? Nothing, except the news today of the big central bank intervention.
Unless the author knows something he's not telling people, it appears the author has purely surmised this failure scenario from the fact that all the banks got in there to ease liquidity.
Now, obviously liquidity is an issue for banks -- hence the action -- but it doesn't necessarily follow that last night a bank nearly failed.
So, salt, grain, etc.
Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook.
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
WSJ: EU Leaders Have Reached An Agreement On A Debt Guarantee Plan
A Bullish Development Regarding.....
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GOOGLE Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:27:00 GMT
This morning, a group of central banks, including the Fed, announced coordinated action to ease the cost of currency swap lines in Europe.
Essentially, these are facilities that allow local banks to borrow in dollars or yen or what have you from their central bank, with the ECB getting the money from the central bank that controls the currency in question.
While this is billed as a coordinated global action, this is really about dollars, and the Fed. No other currency is seeing that much excess demand.
This is a band-aid. It's a good band-aid. But making it easier for local banks to borrow in dollars does not, in the end, fix any of the problems with the euro-zone. It just delays the rate at which the current sovereign crisis turns into a banking crisis. RBC analyst Mark Cloherty sums it up in a research note this morning:
Note that it is now cheaper for foreign banks to borrow dollars from their local banks than it is for US banks to borrow dollars from the Fed,....
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GOOGLE Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:38:00 GMT
Jim O'Neill, Chairman of Global Asset Management for Goldman Sachs, coined the term "BRIC" (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) ten years ago today.
He appeared on CNBC this morning to reassess the validity of the term.
Notably, O'Neill said the status of the BRICs—as well as Turkey, South Korea, Indonesia, and Mexico—as emerging market economies has changed. "To think of them as emerging markets is ridiculous, frankly."
He elaborated, "[They] should not be regarded as emerging economies because collectively those eight will deliver twice the GDP change this decade that the U.S. and Europe will be doing put together."
He also made a number of predictions:
Except for Germany, "continental Europe might already be in a recession." He added that he'll be watching the EU summit on December 9 very closely.
"As I've said since '08 and the past year, China's growth going forward has got to depend increasingly on themselves. In many ways, I think it's not a bad thing for China..
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GOOGLE Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:21:00 GMT
If there was ever a time to buy, the time is NOW.
Housing hasn't been this affordable since 1991, according to the Housing Opportunity Index Index, which means families earning a median income of $64,000 can afford slightly over 70 percent of the nation's homes.
Five years ago before the recession, that number was 40 percent.
The main reason for the rise in affordability is that home values have plummeted while incomes have stayed relatively flat. A median house price in 2006, for example, cost $248,000, whereas today that number dropped by $72,000.
The most affordable metro region in the nation is Fairbanks, Ala., where the median income is $91,700 and the average family can afford almost 98 percent of the homes on the market.
The second most affordable region is Kokomo, Ind. and of course, the least affordable metro area is New York City. There, only 23 percent of the homes that get sold are affordable for a family with a median income of $67,400.
The least........
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GOOGLE Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:40:00 GMT
The Federal Reserve Beige Book for October just came out, showing that 11 of 12 economic regions across the country grew at least modestly last month.
The big exception? St. Louis.
The Eighth Federal Reserve District (overseen by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) includes Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi.
According to the report, poor manufacturing, retail sales, and real estate conditions appeared to drive the rest of the economy down. The Fed reported numerous manufacturing plant closings, and construction and home prices have continued tanking since last year.
Even so, however, six out of the seven states in the district saw their coincident indices rise in October, indicating that unemployment, manufacturing hours, and wages have grown in the past month.
Here's the summary of what the Fed's summary about conditions in the St. Louis district:
The economy of the Eighth District has slowed since our previous report.......
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GOOGLE Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:59:00 GMT
Europe was somewhat quiet and U.S. economic data was mixed. There was also a ton of corporate news.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: +32.6 pts, +0.3%
S&P 500: +2.7 pts, +0.2%
NASDAQ: -11.8 pts, -0.5%
And now, the top stories:
A quick update on Europe: things are still awful. Italy had another horrible bond auction this morning where demand was weak and yields shot north of 7%. A French newspaper (via Reuters) said S&P could make a negative rating action on France within ten days. This Is What The Euro Economy Will Do In 2012 And 2013 >
On the domestic front, last night Fitch lowered its U.S. credit outlook to negative, blaming the Super Committee's failure to agree on a plan to reduce the budget deficit by $1.2 trillion. The negative outlook implies a 50% chance of a downgrade within two years. This Is What Will Happen To Government Deficits Over The Next Two Years >
After months of speculation, AMR Corp, the parent of American Airlines, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy....
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ENGADGET Tue, 29 Nov 2011 09:00:00 EDT
Now that we're officially in the throes of holiday shopping season, NVIDIA's rolling out a promotion of its own, though sadly it doesn't involve any steep discounts. The outfit just announced a special edition GPU: the GTX 560 Ti with 448 CUDA cores, running at 1.46GHz, a 732MHz graphics clock and 1.25GB of GDDR5 memory charging ahead at an effective rate of 3.8GHz. Other features include support for three-way SLI, DisplayPort, HDMI and DVI. Those specs place it snugly between the current GTX 560 Ti with 384 CUDA cores, and the higher-end GTX 570, which packs 480. If this seems like a puzzling move, it is indeed the first time NVIDIA's bothered with a limited holiday edition card, though in conversations with reporters the company made it clear its new hardware is meant to dovetail with the arrival of games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Battlefield 3 and Batman: Arkham City. If you're shopping for a gamer (or, you know, yourself), it's available now for $289 in the US, Canada, UK..
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STOCKS SURGE, RETAILERS SOAR AMID FLURRY OF EUROPEAN RUMORS: Here's What You Need To Know (SPY, DIA, QQQ, M, WMT, KSS, COH, TIF, AAPL, AMZN, C)
GOOGLE Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:00:00 GMT
The European rumor mill was cranking while American consumers were shopping like mad.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: +291.1 pts, +2.6%
S&P 500: +33.9 pts, +2.9%
NASDAQ: +85.8 pts, +3.5%
And now, the top stories:
As the European debt crisis picture became increasingly dire following last week's disastrous German bond auction and slew of sovereign debt downgrades across Europe, rumors flew of new drastic eurozone rescue measures. Among the rumors was an IMF-led 600 billion euro bailout package for Italy, which was quickly denied. France and Germany were rumored to soon announce a "stability pact" that could pave the way for more dramatic intervention by the ECB. Earlier today, the Wall Street Journal reported that the European Commission was considering a plan that would involve bank debt guarantees. Ultimately, investors seem optimistic that leaders will act quickly and effectively as Europe comes closer to the brink.
After meeting with European Council President Herman..
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GOOGLE Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:40:47 GMT
Talk about a lucky investment. Gregg Skidmore, Brandon Lacoff and Tim Davidson from Belpointe Asset Management in Greenwich, Connecticut claimed the $254 million Powerball Jackpot.
Already, the trio formed a new trust, Putnam Avenue Family Trust, after the winning.
Odds of picking the five white balls and red Powerball are one in 195,249,054. The authority picks the five white balls out of a drum of 59, and the red ball out of a drum with 38 others. The order of the picks does not matter, and numbers are not replaced once chosen.
Tickets sell for $1, with no taxes on the purchase. This pick, paid off handsomely, with an internal rate of return of 440,614,904% for the annuity, taking into account taxes, inflation, and just a single ticket buy in. Had they been playing bi-weekly over the past decade, sans win, they'd still turn out with a 400,000%+ rate of return on the annuity.
The net present value of the $254 million annuity is closer to $113.2 million, when adjusting....
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GOOGLE Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:28:43 GMT
As we all know, the key to successful investing is very simple:
"Buy low, sell high."
However, you enter a chaotic, fun-house world of uncertainty once you ponder the logical follow-up question:
"When?"
Investors desperate to solve this riddle have come up with solutions as varied as Fibonacci Analysis or the length of women's hemlines. At some point, most exasperated investors have even considered the strategy articulated by Seinfeld character George Costanza: "If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right" (see video clip).
Luckily, there is a technical indicator that answers the "When?" question with a high degree of specificity and predictive value: the percentage of S&P 100 stocks above their 200 day moving average. This article will discuss that indicator, its historical track record and fine points of its practical application for trade timing.
Figure 1 below illustrates the indicator, referred to on the StockCharts.com graphic....
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GOOGLE Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:29:59 GMT
Black Friday is known for amazing deals and frequently, for the crazy things people do for those deals.
A record 226 million shoppers visited stores and websites this Black Friday, with the average shopper spending $389.62 this weekend, up from 212 million shoppers last year spending an average $365.34 last year, according to the National Retail Federation.
Citi analysts Kate McShane and Ivan Holman decided to brave the shopping frenzy this year, and here's what they came away with:
The biggest change this Black Friday was earlier store openings. Some retailers opened doors 9 PM on Thursday evening and others like Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Toys-R-Us, Kohl's, Target opened doors at midnight.
To boost online shopping, retailers (on average) reduced the minimum free shipping threshold to $50, from $75 the previous year.
Black Friday was also warmer and drier this year, compared to last year which increased traffic to stores. Warmer weather could benefit sales of non-seasonal..
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