Bizness Lounge: April 2015

Thursday, 30 April 2015

The world’s hottest luxury real estate market is…

Alice Tidey | @AliceTidey

The Canadian city of Toronto was the hottest luxury real estate market in 2014, bucking a slowing trend in the world's top property hubs, according to a new report from Christie's International Real Estate.
In 2014, year-on-year luxury real estate sales slowed in the nine of the world's top 10 property markets, which top-end international realtor Christie's ranked by sales prices, average prices per square foot and number of luxury sales. Homes priced at $1 million or more were classed as "luxury."
While sales slowed in all of Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Paris, San Francisco and Sydney, sales grew in Canada's commercial capital of Toronto by a hearty 37 percent.

Read More Rich Chinese spending most on homes here
"2014 was the Toronto's market's second best year on record," said Justine Deluce of Chestnut Park Real Estate in the Christie's "Luxury defined" report, out on Thursday.
"If there had been more inventory (in Toronto), the record would easily have been shattered," she added.
Christie's said that "extremely low" supply of houses in

Microsoft courts iOS, Android app makers for Windows

Arjun Kharpal | @ArjunKharpal

Microsoft has released tools to make it easier for Google Android and Apple iOS developers to make their apps available for Windows phones as well, in a bid to turn around its struggling smartphone unit.
Windows phones have struggled to gain any significant market share, resulting in a lack of developer support and available apps. Now, Microsoft hopes to change this, announcing the news at its developer conference Build in San Francisco.
Normally, developers would have to write separate codes for iOS, Android and Windows Apps. However, the toolkit released by Microsoft on Thursday should allow developers on rival platforms to create a Windows version of their app with "minimal code modifications."
The apps would then be distributed through Windows' own app store.

<p>Microsoft kicks off Build conference</p> <p>Shares of Microsoft are trading lower as the company kicks off its annual Build Developer&#039;s Conference. Heather Bellini, Goldman Sachs equity analyst, shares her outlook for Microsoft. </p>

For instance, if a developer were to make a Windows' version of an Android app, it would use Microsoft's own services for search, such as Bing, rather than Google's search function.

'Sign of weakness'?

Microsoft has traditionally kept its platforms fairly closed, but the change of tack is an attempt to catch up in the fiercely competitive smartphone market.
"It is a sign of weakness from Microsoft that they have to take the step and put their resources into developer tools that allows developers to port apps to Windows, rather than spending that on adding new features on Windows itself," Ian Fogg, head of mobile at research company IHS, told CNBC.
"Microsoft is now in exactly the same kind of position as

Why did the US pay this former Swiss banker $104M?

Eamon Javers | @EamonJavers

Bradley Birkenfeld was released from federal prison in August 2012 after serving 2½ years for his role as a Swiss banker hiding millions of dollars for wealthy American clients.
Five weeks later, he found himself in the kitchen of a small rental house in Raymond, New Hampshire. At that moment, Birkenfeld was an ex-con. He was out of work, infamous in a famously discreet profession, and probably unemployable as a private banker anywhere.

Bradley Birkenfeld, a former UBS AG banker, speaks during an interview at Schuylkill County Federal Correctional Institution in Minersville, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, April 27, 2009.

But then his lawyer walked into the room, carrying a check from the U.S. Treasury to Birkenfeld for $104 million—minus taxes. On the face was a picture of the Statue of Liberty.
It was Birkenfeld's cut as a whistleblower of the massive settlement his former employer—the Swiss bank UBS—had paid to the United States government in a settlement for helping Americans dodge taxes. As Birkenfeld signed the check, he was transformed from convicted felon to government-made multimillionaire.
"It was vindication," Birkenfeld said. "I am glowing. I love it."
Today, Birkenfeld has a new rental house by the ocean in New Hampshire, two Porsches, and a collection of pricy vintage hockey gear to display in his own Boston

People wearing balaclavas are silhouetted as they pose with a laptops in front of a screen projected with the word 'cyber' and binary code, in this picture illustration taken in Zenica, Oct. 29, 2014. Reuters/Dado Ruvic

(Reuters) - China's Defence Ministry expressed concern on Thursday at the Pentagon's updated cyber strategy that stresses the U.S. military's ability to retaliate with cyber weapons, saying this would only worsen tension over Internet security.
The strategy presents a potentially far more muscular role for the U.S. military's cyber warriors than the Pentagon was willing to acknowledge in its last strategy rollouts in 2011 and singles out threats from Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.
China is frequently accused by the United States and its allies of engaged in widespread hacking attacks, charges Beijing always vociferously denies.
Defence Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said that as the

Chris Brown is trying to help his friend Tyga to get back to his girlfriend Kylie Jenner by asking Blac Chyna to stay away from them. Tyga's former girlfriend is reportedly the reason behind the rapper and Kylie's split. Reuters/Carlo Allegri

Chris Brown, a close friend of rapper Tyga, has urged Blac Chyna not to create any more trouble between Tyga and Kylie Jenner, a source said, according to Hollywood Life. Kylie and Tyga have reportedly split after the latter’s former girlfriend, Chyna, slammed the “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” star on social media.
Chyna posted personal messages of her conversation with Tyga on social media, giving rise to speculation that the father of Chyna's 2-year-old son King Cairo wants her back. Brown, who has known Chyna for several years, came to Tyga’s defense by asking the 26-year-old

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told attendees at the Build 2015 conference in San Francisco that the company is poised for big growth in cloud sales. Paul McDougall/International Business Times

SAN FRANCISCO -- Microsoft officials said Wednesday that they are aiming for $20 billion in revenue from cloud services by the end of the fiscal year ending in June 2018. It’s an aggressive target given that the company’s cloud sales are on pace for just $6 billion in the current fiscal year.
Microsoft shares (MSFT:NASD) were off .33 percent in pre-market trading Thursday.
Microsoft’s cloud offerings include Office 365, CRM Online and Azure, a hosted platform on which developers and IT organizations can run applications and other software.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced the goal at

Researchers and pharmaceutical companies are pursuing ways to ward off death by cancer, heart disease and other common causes through precision medicine, gene editing, stem cell replacement therapy and 3-D bio printing. Though current patients shouldn’t expect to reach an average lifespan of 120 -- experts say these novel technologies could make it a reality for the next generation. Young-Joon Seol of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine demonstrates 3-D printing of muscle tissue. US Army Material Command

Verne Wheelwright is 79, but he says he feels like he's 60. He takes fish oil pills and a vitamin called Biotin that stops his fingernails from splitting and may preserve bone mass. The Harlingen, Texas, health enthusiast eats mostly fruits and vegetables, goes "light on meat," and exercises for at least a few minutes a day. Also, he uses a standing desk.
"Each of these things is a little tiny thing, but you add them all up and they work, in my opinion," he says.
Wheelwright wants to live as long as he can, and says

Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) on Thursday reported a 46 percent fall in first-quarter earnings as a steep decline in oil prices continued to eat into the energy sector's profits. Reuters

Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) saw its earnings fall 46 percent in the first quarter as a drastic drop in oil prices continued to eat into the energy sector’s profits. The Irving, Texas, company on Thursday reported quarterly profits of $4.9 billion, or $1.17 a share, compared with $9.1 billion, or $2.10, in the same period last year.
Revenues in the first quarter totaled $67.6 billion, a drop of about 36 percent from first-quarter revenues in 2014 ($106.3 billion).
Exxon Mobil continued to scale back capital and exploration expenditures as part of a multiyear plan to reduce raw material, service and construction costs. The world’s largest publicly traded oil company spent $7.7 billion in the first quarter, a 9 percent drop from a year earlier. Rex Tillerson, Exxon Mobil’s chairman and CEO, said in March that the company would cut its capital budget every year through 2017, with spending for 2015 reduced to $34 billion, or 12 percent less than 2014 spending.
Global oil prices have plunged by about half since last summer, when Brent crude, an international benchmark, fell from $115 a barrel in June 2014 to below

Shares, euro sag after euro zone PMIs disappoint

LONDON | By Marc Jones

(Reuters) - World shares weathered soft readings on Chinese and Japanese manufacturing on Thursday that merely drove expectations of more policy stimulus there, though lacklustre euro zone data was less well received.
European stock markets opened higher, spurred by multi-year highs in Asia, but the mood soured after sluggish euro zone and German purchasing manager data followed another dire set of numbers from France.
It meant that, overall, euro zone private sector business growth was weaker than forecast, despite a big fall in the euro that could support exports and the launch in March of a much-awaited sovereign bond buying programme from the European Central Bank.
"There was very little positive to take away from the French numbers," said Timo Del Carpio a European economist at RBC in London. "We will have to wait

Cost of Galaxy's battle against iPhone on the rise

SEOUL, | By Se Young Lee

(Reuters) - Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) has pulled out all the stops on its new Galaxy smartphones, but their modest prices compared to the latest iPhones throw an uneasy spotlight on the long-term cost of fighting Apple's (AAPL.O) premium branding.
The 64-gigabyte model of the Galaxy S6 edge costs $290.45 to make, according to IHS Technology. That's more expensive than any Galaxy S model and iPhone analysed by the U.S. research company. For the price of producing 100 sets of this S6 edge model, Apple can make 121 sets of 64-GB iPhone 6 Plus, calculations by Reuters show. In 2010, when Samsung launched the Galaxy series and Apple unveiled the iPhone 4, their production costs were almost on par.
Samsung's flagship devices since the Galaxy S II in 2011 have consistently cost more to build but sold at similar prices of comparable iPhones - sometimes those with even smaller storage. Consumers paid similar amounts for the 32-GB versions of the Galaxy S4 and S5 as Apple's 16-GB models for the iPhone 5 and 5S, according to IHS. In the case of

AT&T profit beats Street estimates, fewer subscribers defect

By Malathi Nayak

(Reuters) - AT&T Inc on Wednesday reported better-than expected earnings and said fewer wireless customers switched to other networks at a rate not seen in any first quarter.
The company, awaiting regulatory approval for its $48.5 billion proposal to buy DirecTV, sees additional cost savings of more than double than it previously forecast from the deal. It still expects it to close in the current second quarter.
AT&T also said it added 441,000 postpaid or contract subscribers and 1.2 million new wireless customers in the quarter. However, the average revenue per contract phone user fell 9.6 percent from a year earlier.
Shares of AT&T rose about 1.3 percent in after-hours trading. They ended at $32.86 on the New York Stock Exchange.
The second-largest U.S. wireless carrier posted net

Facebook revenue growth slows, costs weigh on profit

(Reuters) - Facebook Inc posted its slowest growth in quarterly revenue in two years and higher spending on research and development ate into profits.
Shares of the world's largest Internet social network fell 2 percent in after-market trading on Wednesday.
Facebook has warned of heavy investments in 2015 as it steps up efforts to expand a collection of products that include messaging service WhatsApp, photo-sharing service Instagram and virtual reality headset maker Oculus Rift.
As a result, Facebook's operating expenses rose 83 percent in the first quarter as R&D costs jumped 133 percent and marketing and sales spending nearly doubled.
However, Facebook said monthly active users grew 13 percent over a year ago to 1.44 billion, with 87 percent of them accessing its service on smartphones and other mobile devices.
"It's a generally solid quarter. The trends are all going in the right direction. The cost rise is one thing that can derail this story," said Macquarie Research analyst Ben Schachter.
"The question is, can they keep costs under control and what will be the new revenue streams around video, Instagram and virtual reality around Oculus?" he said.
The company offered assurances that it has a handle on

China April flash HSBC PMI contracts to one-year low

SHANGHAI | By Nathaniel Taplin

(Reuters) - China's factory activity contracted at its fastest pace in a year in April, a private survey showed, suggesting that economic conditions are still deteriorating despite increasingly aggressive policy easing by the central bank.
The flash HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 49.2 in April, below the 50-point level that separates growth in activity from a contraction on a monthly basis.
After a brief rebound in February, the index has now been back in negative territory for two consecutive months.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a reading of 49.6, equal to March's final reading.
The sharp decline in employment witnessed in March moderated somewhat and export orders rose for the first time in three months, but most of the news was bad.
New orders declined further to a one-year low of 49.2 from March's 49.8, pointing to softer domestic demand.
Meanwhile, declines in input and output prices, which

Trade bill key to Pacific pact clears Senate panel

WASHINGTON | By Krista Hughes

(Reuters) - Legislation to give the White House "fast track" authority to

Family of black Ferguson teen killed by police to sue city

(Reuters) - The family of Michael Brown, a black 18-year-old killed in Ferguson last summer by a white police officer, will file a wrongful death lawsuit against the city, attorneys for the family said on Wednesday.
Brown's shooting by officer Darren Wilson last August sparked a wave of angry demonstrations and unrest over police violence, particularly against minorities.
The lawsuit will be filed on Thursday morning, lawyers Benjamin Crump and Daryl Parks said in a brief statement.
"Legal counsel will speak with members of the media immediately following" the filing, the lawyers said, but gave no further details, including the amount of damages to be sought.
The filing has been expected since the family said last month it would file the civil case.
That announcement came a day after the U.S. Justice Department cleared Wilson of any civil rights violations in the shooting of Brown last August. But the

Asia shares notch new peaks, weather China news

SYDNEY | By Wayne Cole

(Reuters) - Asian shares weathered a soft reading on Chinese manufacturing on Thursday as it only whetted expectations for more policy stimulus there, while a sharp rise in British and German bond yields rippled through global debt markets.
Among the milestones were a 15-year peak for Japan, seven years for both China and Taiwan and a near four-year top for South Korea. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS added 0.5 percent to reach ground last trod in early 2008.
The gains came despite a dip in the HSBC China manufacturing PMI to a one-year trough of 49.2 in April, when the consensus had been for it to hold steady at 49.6.
Neither was the news bright from Japan where the Markit/JMMA flash PMI fell to 49.7 in April from a final 50.3 in March.
Yet markets took it with equanimity as it added to speculation that further easing would be required from central banks in both countries.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 was up 0.3 percent while

A ‘Grexit’ will send gold to $1,400 by year’s end

Markets/commodities reporter

The gold market isn’t getting much of a safe-haven boost from the turmoil in Greece right now, but that may soon change.
The risk of a Greek exit from the eurozone will help lift gold prices to $1,400 an ounce by the end of the year, according to Capital Economics.
Even so, prices for the metal traded on Comex GCM5, -0.37% fell $9.40, or 0.8%, to settle at $1,193.70 an ounce on Monday.
“The markets still appear to be anticipating some sort of last-minute deal or accounting tricks to rescue Greece,” Julian Jessop, head of commodities research at Capital Economics, wrote in a research note dated Monday. And even if Greece does default on its debt, that wouldn't necessarily lead to an exit from the eurozone, he said.(12:46)

Simon Constable and Ellie Ismailidou discuss the latest news on

McDonald’s will serve its latest quarterly figures on Wednesday.

CarlaMozee

Markets Reporter

SaraSjolin

Markets reporter

U.S. stock-market index futures fell Wednesday as investors zoom in on quarterly figures from three Dow components, including McDonald’s Corp., as well as an economic report on the housing market.
Futures for Dow Jones Industrial Average YMM5, -0.18% lost 49 points, or 0.3%, to 17,835, and those for the S&P 500 ESM5, -0.06% swung down by 3.50 points, or 0.2%, to 2,087.50. Futures for the Nasdaq Composite NQM5, +0.03% fell 4.75 points, or 0.1%, to 4,423.75.
Investors are keyed into corporate earnings as a guide to the health of the U.S. economy amid one of the busiest weeks for companies to roll out quarterly results.
Ahead of the bell, McDonald’s MCD, +2.56% will update its investors, following better-than-expected earnings from peer Dow companies Coca-Cola KO, +2.31% and Boeing BA, -1.06%
Stock-index futures were seeing “consolidation ahead of

LG Display books four-year-high profit, downplays supply glut fear

SEOUL | By Se Young Lee

(Reuters) - South Korea's LG Display Co Ltd (034220.KS) downplayed risks of a supply glut in the global panel market after reporting its best quarterly profit in more than four years, seeking to assuage fear about a sharp profit decline later this year.
Deteriorating economic conditions in Western Europe and weaker currencies of key emerging markets like Brazil and Russia are hurting television makers. Investors and analysts worry that TV makers will cut orders and hurt panel sales, while factories of Chinese panel manufacturers scheduled to begin production later this year could weigh on prices.
Data from researcher DisplaySearch showed that prices of panels for devices such as TVs, laptops and monitors as of April 20 were broadly weaker than April 7. This pushed LG Display stock to a near two-week low on Tuesday, and the shares ended unchanged on Wednesday before the firm reported healthy profit.
Chief Financial Officer Don Kim said during a post-earnings conference with analysts that the weak share performance reflected market worries about the firm's earnings outlook. He said business conditions would be challenging in the second quarter, but

Sony raises profit view as higher sensors, videogame sales herald turnaround

TOKYO

(Reuters) - Japanese consumer electronics firm Sony Corp (6758.T) on Wednesday raised its earnings estimates for the second time in three months, citing higher-than-expected sales of camera sensors and videogames.
Sony said it probably made an operating profit of 68 billion yen ($569 million) in the year ended March 31, compared with 26.5 billion yen a year earlier. That compares with its previous estimated operating profit of 20 billion yen.
The Tokyo-based firm is finally reaping the benefit of long-haul restructuring efforts after weak TV and smartphone sales brought years of heavy losses. After massive cost cuts, it has sought targeted expansion under Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai in lucrative areas such as sensors for smartphone cameras.
Sony is set to make its official earnings statement for the year on April 30. Before Wednesday's move, following an upward revision in February, the average

Japan PM Abe meets China's Xi, says to work for better ties

TOKYO/JAKARTA | By Linda Sieg and Kanupriya Kapoor

(Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a summit in Indonesia on Wednesday, the latest sign of a thaw between the Asian rivals that came despite an awkward diplomatic backdrop.
Abe told reporters after the meeting that the two leaders agreed to work for better relations and contribute to regional stability by promoting "mutually beneficial strategic ties".
Noting that Sino-Japanese ties had begun to improve when he met Xi late last year, Abe said: "We want to make the improving trend in the bilateral relations solid."
The meeting took place despite a speech at the Asian-African summit by Abe in which he warned powerful nations against imposing on the weak, an implicit reference to China. He also made an allusion to Tokyo's remorse in the past over World War Two without

Berlin lifts growth forecasts as economy creates jobs, benefits from cheap oil

BERLIN | By Michelle Martin

(Reuters) - The German government raised its economic growth forecasts to 1.8 percent for this year and next on Wednesday as Germany rides high on a tide of strong private consumption thanks to rising employment, bigger paychecks and cheap oil.
Back in January Berlin had estimated that Europe's biggest economy would expand by 1.5 percent in 2015 and by 1.6 percent in 2016.
But Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said the government now felt more upbeat about the economy as recent data has shown output climbed sharply late last year, while cheap oil and the weak euro are also helping the major exporter.
"The low euro exchange rate and low oil price is giving German exporters and in particular Mittelstand (small and medium-sized) companies considerably better prospects and also leads to the fact that we will continue to have sustainable growth in employment," he said at a news conference in Berlin.
The government lifted its export forecast for 2015 but said imports would climb even more sharply, meaning net trade will hardly contribute to growth in gross domestic product.
However, private consumption should boost growth as

China to open bank card clearing market to foreign firms from June

BEIJING

(Reuters) - China has announced it will open up its market for clearing domestic bank card transactions, a move that should allow foreign players such as Visa Inc (V.N) and MasterCard Inc (MA.N) direct access to a market valued at $6.84 trillion last year.
Foreign firms will be able to set up their own clearing companies in China and apply to the central bank for licenses for bank card clearing businesses from June 1, the State Council said on its website on Wednesday.
The measure is set to end a near monopoly held by domestic champion China UnionPay Co Ltd, and allow Visa and MasterCard, the world's two largest credit and debit card suppliers, to challenge the state behemoth.
Bank card consumer transactions for both credit and debt stood at 42.38 trillion yuan ($6.84 trillion) last year, China's central bank said, representing annual growth of 33 percent.
The move is also set to resolve a longstanding trade

Euro steadies, Aussie up after core inflation

LONDON | By Patrick Graham

(Reuters) - The euro recovered some ground against the dollar on Wednesday in the absence of major news on Greece, while the Australian dollar rose after inflation data suggested an interest rate cut was not imminent.
In a subdued session for most major currencies, sterling gained around half a percent against a basket of its peers =GBP after Bank of England minutes that emphasized hopes for a further improvement in the UK economy over the next year.
The threat that Greece could fall out of the euro in a disagreement over the terms of financial aid from the rest of Europe has yet to show up to any great extent in the price of the single currency.
Many analysts and investors say a Greek exit from the euro prompted by Athens running out of funds in May or June could knock the euro swiftly below parity with the dollar. But for the moment the market still believes the ability of European policymakers to avert that scenario.
"Greece is certainly something that is continuing to be in focus given that we still don't have a bailout deal," said Phyllis Papadavid, Senior Global FX Strategist with BNP Paribas in London.
"The euro has really been stuck in a range for the past

Mortgage applications rose in latest week: MBA

NEW YORK

(Reuters) - Applications for U.S. home mortgages rose last week as interest rates declined, an industry group said on Wednesday.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, rose 2.3 percent in the week ended April 17.
The MBA's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications rose 0.6 percent, while the gauge of loan requests for home purchases, a leading indicator of home sales, rose 5.0 percent to its highest level since June 2013.
The refinance share of total mortgage activity fell to 56 percent of applications, its lowest level since October, from 58 percent the week before.
Fixed 30-year mortgage rates averaged 3.83 percent in the

Futures fall with eyes on earnings, dollar

By Tanya Agrawal

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell on Wednesday with investors wary of the effect of a strong U.S. dollar on earnings and ahead of housing sector data.
* Chipotle (CMG.N) shares fell 5.3 percent to $656 in premarket trading after the burrito chain on Tuesday reported the slowest same-restaurant sales growth in five quarters.
* EMC Corp (EMC.N) dropped 2.2 percent to $25.75 as the data storage equipment maker cut its full-year forecast, citing the strong dollar.
* First-quarter earnings of S&P 500 companies are expected to dip 2.2 percent, while revenues are seen declining 3.1 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data which includes companies that already reported.
* The dollar .DXY gained about 23 percent against a basket of major currencies over the financial year ended March 31, hurting companies with large overseas operations.
* Yahoo (YHOO.O) shares were up 1.3 percent at

Yahoo's profit, revenue miss Street forecasts as costs rise

By Bill Rigby and Lehar Maan

(Reuters) - Yahoo Inc missed Wall Street's revenue and profit forecasts as slight growth in its online advertising businesses was outweighed by higher payments to partners and websites which send readers to Yahoo.
But Yahoo shares rose about 1.4 percent to $45.10 in extended trading after Chief Executive Marissa Mayer said the company had hired advisers to determine the "most promising opportunities" for its stake in Yahoo Japan.
Investors have been urging Mayer to cash in the stake, after Yahoo announced plans to spin off its position in Chinese internet retailer Alibaba Group Holding.
The moves follow unsuccessful efforts by Mayer to revive meaningful revenue growth with a string of acquisitions and product revamps.
For the first quarter, Yahoo said display advertising revenue rose 2.3 percent to $463.7 million, accounting for roughly 40 percent of its total revenue. Search business revenue was

UK trader accused of 'flash crash' role opposes extradition to U.S.

LONDON

(Reuters) - Navinder Singh Sarao, a trader accused by U.S. authorities of an illegal role in the "flash crash" that briefly wiped out nearly $1 trillion in market value in May 2010, told a London court on Wednesday he opposed being extradited to the United States.
The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday it had criminally charged Sarao, 36, of west London, with wire fraud, commodities fraud and manipulation.
Sarao, who was arrested by British police on Tuesday, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court, where District Judge Quentin Purdy said a full extradition hearing would take place in August.
"This has come as a bolt from the blue for Mr Sarao," his lawyer Joel Smith told the court.
Wearing a yellow sweatshirt and white tracksuit bottoms, Sarao spoke in a quiet voice to confirm his name, address and date of birth. He appeared calm as he sat in the

Oil prices dip below $62 on U.S. stock build

LONDON | By Himanshu Ojha

(Reuters) - Oil prices dipped under $62 a barrel on Wednesday after industry data showed a build in U.S. crude inventories for the 15th straight week, adding to concerns of a global supply glut.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) said on Tuesday that U.S. crude stocks rose by 5.5 million barrels last week, higher than the 2.9-million-barrel build expected by analysts in a Reuters survey, to 480.2 million barrels. [EIA/S] [API/S]
Stocks at the key delivery point of Cushing, Oklahoma rose by 572,000 barrels, the API said. Energy markets intelligence firm Genscape said tanks at Cushing were nearly 80 percent full.
Brent crude for June delivery LCOc1 was down 45 cents at $61.63 a barrel by 1015 GMT, while U.S. crude for June delivery CLc1 fell 51 cents to $56.10 a barrel.
"You have a considerable build in the U.S.," said Olivier Jakob, chief analyst at Swiss-based consultancy Petromatrix.
"There has been a lot of waiting and hoping for

Greek cash seen lasting into June, no EU deal imminent

ATHENS/BRUSSELS | By Angeliki Koutantou and Jan Strupczewski

(Reuters) - Greece can scrape together enough cash to meet its payment obligations until June, euro zone and Greek officials said on Wednesday, playing down fears of an imminent default as hopes receded of a deal with its creditors to release fresh aid.
Sources familiar with European Central Bank policy meanwhile denied a report that the ECB had tightened the screws on Greek banks by slashing the value of the collateral they present to receive emergency funding to keep themselves afloat.
Greece has received two international bailouts worth 240 billion euros since 2010 but its economy has shrunk by some 25 percent, unemployment has soared and a leftist-led government elected in January has refused to complete a reform program that includes measures it says worsen the economic slump.
The head of the Eurogroup Working Group, which prepares decisions for euro zone finance ministers, said Athens would not present a new list of economic reforms required to unlock further EU funds when the ministers meet in Latvia on Friday, but Greece should be

Earnings, Greece weigh on European stocks

LONDON | By Jamie McGeever

(Reuters) - European stocks fell on Wednesday, failing to extend an overnight rally in Asia as investors looked to Greece's debt crisis and lurch towards possible default as an excuse to cash in gains chalked up earlier in the week.
Europe's EuroFirst 300 index of leading shares was down 0.2 percent .FTEU3, Germany's DAX .GDAXI was down 0.1 percent and Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE down a half of one percent.
Earnings also weighed on European shares. Richemont (CFR.VX) warned its net profit for the year would drop by 36 percent and (PRTP.PA) Kering posted a bigger-than-expected drop in sales, and both luxury groups were among the worst performers.
Tesco (TSCO.L) was not to blame for the drop, however. Its shares rose as much as 2.5 percent in early trade after a record 6.4 billion pound that the market bet would mark an end to a run of bad news from Britain's largest retailer.
"The stock is up as investors are thinking that the worst is

ECB staff have proposal to tighten Greek use of emergency funding: Bloomber

FRANKFURT

(Reuters) - European Central Bank staff have prepared a proposal to increase the haircut on the security that Greek banks offer in return for emergency liquidity, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the discussions.

By increasing this haircut, it would effectively reduce the value of security that Greek banks can offer and consequently the amount of Emergency Liquidity Assistance they can draw down.

Bloomberg reported that the measure had not been formally discussed by the ECB's policy-setting Governing Council. The ECB declined to comment.

(Reporting by John O'Donnell; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

BNP executive tipped as front-runner to head Bank of France

PARIS | BY LEIGH THOMAS

(Reuters) - Top BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) banker Francois Villeroy de Galhau emerged as a possible candidate to replace the retiring governor of the Bank of France on Tuesday as he was named to lead a new state-sponsored investment drive.

The naming of Villeroy de Galhau to a French public service role could help allay any domestic political objections further down the line to the Socialist government picking a commercial banker to replace Christian Noyer when he retires this year.

Yet daily Les Echos reported ECB President Mario Draghi had been surprised to learn in recent days that a BNP banker could get the

Aberdeen, Blackrock flag risks in frothy Chinese stock markets

SINGAPORE | BY SAEED AZHAR AND ANSHUMAN DAGA

(Reuters) - Aberdeen Asset Management's head of Asian operations warned on Tuesday that Chinese money was moving "a bit like a CASINO

" in domestic stock markets, while BlackRock called on China to reform its CAPITAL MARKETS

further to avert boom and bust scenarios.

China stocks .SSEC have jumped nearly 80 percent since November to trade near seven-year highs. On Monday, Shanghai STOCK EXCHANGE

trade surpassed 1 trillion yuan ($161 billion) for the first time, making the bourse the world's biggest in terms of turnover ahead of the New York Stock Exchange.

Recent strong gains have come despite stretched valuations, prompting a warning from the official Xinhua news agency late on Monday against "irrational exuberance".

Aberdeen's managing director for Asia, Hugh Young, said

Thursday, 30 April 2015

'Sign of weakness'?

Thursday, 23 April 2015

Wednesday, 22 April 2015

CarlaMozee

SaraSjolin

Tuesday, 21 April 2015