IMF wants central banks to oversee markets with gov't supervision

Blanchard said he was concerned that European countries would drag their feet on structural reforms as confidence grew that the worst was over in the euro zone sovereign debt crisis."You hear it more and more: 'we have reformed enough, now we are seeing results. Spare us new demands'. That worries me," he said. "We need further structural reforms if we want to reach an acceptable level of employment. Even Germany,Fashion Dresses which is not going through a jobs crisis, is not exactly growing impressively."He said Germany, the euro zone's largest economy, should see Europe more as an insurance scheme than a transfer system and many wished Germany would take a stronger role in Europe."Sometimes the fire is at your neighbour's house, sometimes it's in your own house. I wish the focus was more on the question: how can we strengthen the euro?" Blanchard said, adding that meant banking union should be completed.

Blanchard did not rule out further debt relief for Greece, the country where the euro zone crisis first broke out."The IMF has agreed with the Europeans that the debt level will be below 110 percent of GDP in 2022," he said. "We will have to see how we will get there."IMF chief Christine Lagarde,Fashion Dresses speaking at the IMF and World Bank's autumn meeting on Thursday, said she had "no doubt" European authorities would stick by their commitments to give Greece additional debt relief if it meets fiscal targets set under its bailout programme.The co-founder of the world's biggest social network bought the properties after hearing rumors that a developer wanted to purchase one of them and market it as being near Zuckerberg's house, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the details aren't public. The 29-year-old billionaire spent about $30 million on the purchases since December, the San Jose Mercury News reported earlier today.

Zuckerberg's house cost $7 million in March 2011, and was purchased in the name of a limited liability company, according to a deed filed with the Santa Clara County Clerk-Recorder. Palo Alto, where Facebook was founded before its move to nearby Menlo Park starting in late 2011,Fashion Dresses counts Google Inc.'s Larry Page among its residents and was the longtime home of Steve Jobs, the Apple Inc. co-founder who died in 2011.Zuckerberg's home is modest in relation to his wealth and isn't located in Palo Alto's best neighborhood, said Steve TenBroeck,Fashion Dresses an agent at Alain Pinel Realtors who said he was aware of the purchases through industry contacts. Zuckerberg doesn't have to worry about nearby homeowners tearing down and rebuilding because Palo Alto limits residential construction to about a third of lot size, TenBroeck said in a phone interview.

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Score another one for the Apple doom-and-gloom crowd

Score another one for the Apple doom-and-gloom crowd. "Apple's Mac Shipments Decline In US PC Market Fashion Dresses In Q3 As Tablets Continue To Erode Worldwide PC Sales," declared the International Business Times. Why the focus on the U.S. you might ask? Because the "data" such as it is comes from reports by IDC and Gartner, which themselves are nothing but surveys. Apple will release actual sales results on October 28, where it will tell the world precisely how many computers it sold in the quarter. While it's quite probable the total will be down versus a year ago,Fashion Dresses here's an equally accurate headline: "Apple On Verge Of Becoming Top 5 Global PC Maker For The First Time Since 1996."

To clarify, neither Gartner nor IDC believes Apple is in that top 5 though it's possible they're wrong. And however close Apple is, the only reason it's on the cusp is because sales at Asus are collapsing, down at least 22% and perhaps 34%, depending on which of the two firms' numbers you believe. Things are scarcely better for fourth place Acer, which has seen similar sales declines in the past year. The good news for the market overall, though,Fashion Dresses is that the top three: Lenovo, HP and Dell, have each eked out small gains. Unfortunately, they're becoming bigger in a market that's still becoming smaller: Total PC shipments are down 8% versus 2012 and IDC doesn't like the immediate future: "Despite being a little ahead of forecast, and the work that's being done on new designs and integration of features like touch, the third quarter results suggest that there's still a high probability that we will see another decline in worldwide shipments in 2014."

Gartner notes this time of year is often strong: "The third quarter is often referred to as the 'back-to-school' quarter for PC sales, and sales this quarter dropped to their lowest volume since 2008," said Mikako Kitagawa,Fashion Dresses principal analyst at Gartner. That's Great Recession-level volumes. Not surprisingly it puts the blame on increasing use of tablets. ""Consumers' shift from PCs to tablets for daily content consumption continued to decrease the installed base of PCs both in mature as well as in emerging markets." But the continued myopic look at tablets as consumption devices misses the disruptive impact both they and smartphones have had. Consider the chart from Asymco.

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The U.S. boom in solar installations

The U.S. boom in solar installations has disrupted revenue, workflow, and forecasting at large utilities, according to utility consultants, partners and affiliates who gathered this morning in Chicago.Solar power installations grew by 76 percent in 2012, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, and the U.S.Fashion Dresses is expected to add as much as 5 gigawatts to its 10 GW of solar capacity this year."The solar market is growing year over year at a pretty incredible clip," said Bradley Klein, an attorney with the Environmental Law and Policy Center in Chicago. "At the same time the cost of solar—both panels and installations—is falling rapidly."

Solar power is becoming much more cost effective because of technology improvements, growth in manufacturing capacity, greater experience in the industry, and more competition,Fashion Dresses Klein told about 60 people gathered at the Illinois Institute of Technology for the Great Lakes Symposium on Smart Grid and the New Energy Economy."This represents kind of a game changing scenario from the utilities' perspective," added Jeff Smith of West Monroe Partners, a consulting firm that serves utilities.Utilites are grappling with the following major disruptions, according to the symposium panelists:

Lost revenue: "Large utilites are seeing erosion in their revenues due to a couple of things: distributed generation Fashion Dresses (in which) customers have decided to put in generation at their own locations; and also in deregulated markets, a lot of their revenues are flowing out the door to retail energy suppliers," said Jeremy Jones, the chief technology officer for SoCore, a commercial solar installation company.Utilities have responded largely in two ways, Jones said:Fashion Dresses by beginning to shift from variable electricity rates to fixed rates that will cover their cost for delivering electricity. And by buying up the solar companies that are eating into their revenues. For example, Edison International purchased SoCore this year, and NextEra and George Power have recently purchased solar companies.

Increased Paperwork: "Another factor is the sheer volume of applications for solar that arrive at the front door of both cities and utilities as demand ramps up for these kinds of technologies," said Jeff Smith of West Monroe Partners. When residents install solar panels at home, they typically have to submit applications to the local utility and the local government. Residential systems represent 20 percent of the nation's solar capacity, Smith said, but well over 90 percent of the applications that cities and utilities see.

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Siemens, Intesa Sanpaolo, Rosneft

Siemens is set to be in focus Monday after announcing over the weekend that it will have cut a total of about 15,000 jobs world-wide by the end of the next business year.Sunday's disclosure marked the first major cost-cutting announcement by Siemens's freshly appointed chief executive, Joe Kaeser. Mr. Kaeser's predecessor, Peter L?scher, lost his job in July after failing to meet the company's profit targets.Siemens,Fashion Dresses which makes products ranging from high-speed trains to wind mills and gas turbines to medical equipment, employs about 370,000 people world-wide. Its dozens of subsectors are grouped into four main divisions: industry, energy, infrastructure and cities, and health care.Shares in Siemens are down 1% at €88.96  ($120.10) early Monday, but this is line with losses on the DAX index. The stock is trading just off the €90.33 high seen on Sept. 19, and this was the highest level seen since the summer of 2011.

Morgan Stanley keeps Siemens at overweight in its investment analysis, saying the stock offers one of its best ideas in terms of favorable risk/reward profiles, and clear catalysts.Italian banks are also in the spotlight,Fashion Dresses weighed down by political worries as Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta launched a last-ditch effort over the weekend to rescue his government from collapse.This has resulted in Italian sovereign debt being hit hard, pushing the country's 10-year bond yield 0.26 percentage point higher to 4.68%, the highest since late June,Fashion Dresses and has weighed on Italian banking shares given their exposure to Italian government debt.Also weighing is the resignation Sunday of Intesa Sanpaolo's chief executive Enrico Cucchiani, following clashes with board members and executives over his management style and the bank's strategy.

Shares in Intesa Sanpaolo have dropped 3.7%, while UniCredit trades 3.6% lower.Russian state oil firm Rosneft is in the news Monday,Fashion Dresses after offering a buyout to minority shareholders in its TNK-BP Holding subsidiary at a premium to the current market price.Rosneft's board approved an offer at the average price for the last six months of 67 rubles ($2) per ordinary share and 55 rubles per preferred share, the company said in a statement.Rosneft gained control over TNK-BP in March, buying stakes from Russian consortium Alfa-Access-Renova and British oil company BP following a corporate conflict.However, this is unlikely to be the end of the saga. Raiffeisen doubts the minority shareholders will accept this offer "as the price of the buyout is significantly below the market valuation of TNK-BP Holding before the acquisition of TNK-BP International by Rosneft."

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Apple bumps Coca-Cola to become world's top brand

For the first time in its 13-year history, Interbrand has a new leader of its annual study of the most valuable brand names: Apple.The iPhone maker bumped Coca-Cola, which had led the study since it began in 2000, with a brand value Interbrand assessed at $98.3 billion. And reflecting the rising importance of technology in global business and consumer consciousness, Google came in at second place with a brand value of $93.3 billion,Fashion Dresses well ahead of the soft drink maker's $79.2 billion value. Not everyone fared as well in the tech world. As Samsung rose from ninth to eight place with a 20 percent brand value in increase, it traded positions with Intel, which dropped 5 percent.


Interbrand bases its assessment on a combination of the company's financial performance, its role influencing consumer choices, and how well the brand lets a company charge premium prices and deliver profits."Every so often, a company changes our lives -- not just with its products, but with its ethos. This is why...Apple now ranks No. 1," said Jez Frampton, Interbrand's global chief executive officer in a statement Monday. The report added a cautionary note amid paragraphs of lavish praise: "The focus for the future is clear:Fashion Dresses Apple must succeed in slowing Samsung's momentum and capture the booming Chinese mobile market." Next among top risers were Italian fashion company Prada, with a 30 percent increase; Apple, at 28 percent, and Amazon, which rose 27 percent to take 19th place on the list. Its strength stemmed not just from its e-commerce stronghold, but also from Kindle readers, streaming video service, and original programming.


Samsung, which has gained prominence through consumer electronics and Android phones, rose from ninth to eight place with a 20 percent brand value in increase. That let it trade positions with Intel, which dropped 5 percent from the 2012 list.Interbrand also calls out the companies whose brand value is rising fastest. There,Fashion Dresses Facebook came out on top, with a 43 percent increase in brand value over the last year. It ranks 52 on the overall 2013 list, up from 69th place in 2012. Facebook's ascent stemmed from its growth in users, including mobile users and people in Asia,Fashion Dresses and financial results that bested Wall Street's expectations. "Facebook's growth is likely to continue for years to come," Interbrand's report said.


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Can your cell phone bring down a plane?

Maybe it was accidental, or maybe it was out of sheer contempt for a rule you believe is unnecessary.Almost one-third of airplane passengers reported that they left on a portable electronic device during the previous year, according to a survey by the Consumer Electronics Association.This month, a government industry group studying the safety of personal electronic devices on planes will deliver its findings and recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration. The report may lead to looser rules on e-readers and similar devices on planes.

"The FAA recognizes consumers are intensely interested in the use of personal electronics aboard aircraft,' said an FAA spokesperson. "That is why we tasked a government-industry group to examine the safety issues and the feasibility of changing the current restrictions. The group is meeting again this week and is expected to complete a report to the FAA by the end of the month. We will wait for the group to finish its work before we determine next steps."But it raises a big question: Can cell phones bring down planes? Are e-books really that dangerous below 10,000 feet? Can Bluetooth kill?

In a search for answers, we traveled from coast to coast, talking to experts and reviewing recent reports. Here's what we found.We can find no instance in which electromagnetic interference from a portable electronic device brought down a commercial plane or was a contributing factor in an accident. And the National Transportation Safety Board says it has never issued a recommendation about such devices on planes.But those who flatly say there's no evidence that electronic devices have caused interference on planes are wrong.

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In the trading chain

Trading on information gleaned from a subsidiary like TransMontaigne would be illegal in the stock market, but there are no rules against it in commodities. Morgan Stanley also holds a stake Heidmar Holdings, of Norwalk, Conn., which owns a fleet of oil tankers.Saule T. Omarova, an associate professor of law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said Morgan Stanley's overlapping activities illustrate how large financial institutions have become deeply entwined in every aspect of the commodities markets.

"In the trading chain between the oil well and the gas station," Ms. Omarova said, "Morgan Stanley is clearly accumulating as many stakes along the way as possible because that is what gives them the most flexibility of control." Officials at the E.P.A., which oversees the market, say they have seen no evidence of improper trading, like hoarding, in the market. But they do not police the RIN market as a financial regulator would. "If there were any evidence now or in the future that that was happening, we have the ability to amend the regulation to constrain that," said Christopher Grundler, director of E.P.A.'s office of transportation and air quality, which oversees the renewable fuels program.

It is difficult for outside groups, or even other regulators and law enforcement agencies, to keep tabs on the market, because the E.P.A. declines to disclose who actively trades the credits, or how much they trade, citing the confidentiality of refiners and other participants.Trading is a private affair, usually conducted by phone, and just about anyone can participate. In creating the market, the E.P.A. says it did not limit the market for RINs to refiners and other energy companies because it wanted to encourage a free market.

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Initial Jobless Claims Slump as Two States Underreport

First-time claims for unemployment insurance fell by 31,000 to 292,000 in the week ended Sept. 7, which also included the Labor Day holiday, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for 330,000 applications.The decrease in filings doesn't signal a change in job-market conditions because most of it was caused by computer-network conversions in the two states, according to a Labor Department spokesman. The pace of job cuts has waned since the end of last year, setting the stage for faster payroll and income growth that would help propel consumer spending.

"Stronger job growth may be on the horizon," said Millan Mulraine, director of U.S. rates research at TD Securities in New York. "When we start seeing improvement in the labor market, I think that will provide another tailwind for confidence, and spending, going forward."Stocks were little changed as investors weighed the prospect for cuts in Federal Reserve stimulus and watched developments on Syria. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell less than 0.1 percent to 1,688.54 at 11:01 a.m. in New York.

Estimates for jobless claims in the Bloomberg survey of 50 economists ranged from 315,000 to 350,000. The four-week moving average of claims, a less volatile measure than the weekly figures, fell to 321,250 last week, the lowest since October 2007, from 328,750.
Computer SystemsThe Labor Department spokesman said one large and one small state retooled their computers and reported fewer applications than usual. The spokesman didn't name the two states.

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Barclays to pay $36.1 mln in Massachusetts subprime settlement

The British bank is the fourth big bank to settle probes by Massachusetts into securitization practices, according to state Attorney General Martha Coakley, who announced the settlement.Earlier settlements included $60 million by Goldman Sachs Group Inc in May 2009, $102 million by Morgan Stanley in June 2010 and $52 million by Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in November 2011, Coakley said.The securitization of home loans that quickly soured amid the U.S. housing downturn was a factor that contributed to the 2008 global financial crisis. While much of the subsequent regulatory scrutiny has occurred at the national level, many U.S. states have pursued their own probes as well.

Massachusetts said that from late 2005 through 2007, Barclays financed and packaged adjustable-rate mortgages made by subprime lenders such as Fremont, New Century, Option One and WMC Mortgage that were "presumptively unfair" under state law.The state said these loans were unfair because the lenders did not reasonably believe that borrowers could afford them. It said the loans saddled borrowers with too much debt, teased them with low initial rates that would quickly rise, and imposed substantial penalties for necessary refinancings.

"The troubling practices of these Wall Street securitization firms greatly contributed to the economic crisis that harmed Massachusetts residents," Coakley said in a statement.Barclays did not admit or deny the charges, and a spokesman said the bank is pleased to resolve the matter.Roughly $26.2 million of the settlement funds will help borrowers reduce principal and obtain other relief, while the rest will go to the state, municipalities, and non-profit organizations that assist with foreclosure relief.

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The concern for everyone is that a rise

"The concern for everyone is that a rise in oil prices would pose a risk to economic recovery," Capital Economics Ltd. economist Julian Jessop, said by phone from London yesterday. "It remains to be seen if the current rate of growth will continue if oil prices stay at today's levels or even rise."BRICS nations discussed the risk posed by a Syrian strike on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. They agreed that it would lead to an "extraordinary negative influence on the economy," he said.

Capital Economics' Jessop calculates that in the worst-case scenario, a jump to $150 a barrel, would threaten "stagnation" by knocking 1 percentage point off international expansion.China's Zhu said his country is in consultations with the IMF on the fallout from Syria and cited the Washington-based lender's forecasts that a $10 per barrel increase in oil would wipe a quarter percentage point off global growth."The emerging economies are slowing down and the tapering of advanced economies' central banks certainly isn't helping them," Domenico Lombardi, the director of the Global Economy program at the Waterloo, Ontario-based Centre for International Governance Innovation, said in St.

Emerging-market stocks rose to a two-week high, led by Indian lenders, and the rupee rallied after the nation's new central bank governor outlined plans to bolster the financial industry. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index climbed 1 percent to 946.20 yesterday.Growth RecoveryEmerging-market economic growth recovered in August from the first contraction since 2009 as business conditions improved in China and Russia, offsetting declines in Brazil and India, HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) said yesterday, citing a survey of purchasing managers.

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