Stocks slump after rally

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks retreated Tuesday, led by financial, retail and transportation shares as investors bailed out of a variety of stocks after the recent retreat.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) slumped 240 points or 2.7%. The Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index lost 2.3% and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) lost 1.6%. Stocks had been on both sides of unchanged through the session as investors digested the day's batch of negative corporate news and kept an eye on the latest news on a potential automaker loan package. But stocks turned decidedly negative in the afternoon. An agreement on a loan package for the auto industry had been expected late Monday. But lawmakers were still debating the details Tuesday, with a package now expected later today or Wednesday. The back-and-forth was perhaps causing some of the stock weakness Tuesday, with investors eager to see a resolution, said Ron Kiddoo, chief investment officer at Cozad Asset Management.

N.Z. seeks explorers for Raukumara, Northland Basins

New Zealand’s government is seeking exploration proposals for 66,000 square kilometers (25,500 square miles) of ocean off the east coast and Northland peninsula of the country’s North Island.
The government is offering two exploration permits over the Raukumara basin northeast of East Cape and six blocks west of the Northland peninsula, Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee said in a statement on Wednesday. The two regions have considerable potential for oil and gas and have already attracted interest from domestic and international explorers, he said. New Zealand government scientists have been studying the country’s deepwater basins as part of a campaign to lure global explorers and expand the nation’s oil and gas output beyond the Taranaki region. Deep sediments and on and offshore oil seeps make Raukumara one of New Zealand’s “most prospective” frontier basins, according to GNS Science geologists.

Ex-officer faults mortgage giants for ‘orgy’ of nonprime loans

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac engaged in “an orgy of junk mortgage development” that turned the two mortgage-finance giants into vast repositories of subprime and similarly risky loans, a former Fannie executive testified on Tuesday.
The mortgage development, which began in 2005 and lasted until at least last year, happened as senior executives at the two government-sponsored enterprises ignored repeated warnings from internal risk officers that they were delving too deeply into dangerous territory, according to internal documents released at a Congressional hearing in Washington. The two companies have been taken over by the government.

VW asks for state guarantees for financial services unit

FRANKFURT (AFP) -- Volkswagen said Tuesday it had sought loan guarantees for its financial services unit as part of government aid for the banking sector, the first German automaker to ask for such help.
""We have filed two requests,"" one for the financial services division itself and another for the Volkswagen bank that is a sub-unit of the division, a VW spokesman told AFP. He declined to give the amount requested and the date the request was made. ""It is a question of obtaining public guarantees. It is not a request for recapitalization,"" the spokesman said. VW had said several weeks ago that is was considering such a move after encountering problems with refinancing for its auto credit operations. The German government's bank support plan provides a total of 480 billion euros (620 billion dollars) in aid, with the vast majority representing guarantees for loans. Berlin is also ready to inject cash into troubled German banks in exchange for stakes in them, but relatively few banks have applied for the cash.

Middle East airlines could see losses mounting to $200m in 2009

Geneva: Airlines in the Middle East will see their losses double to $200 million (Dh735 million) in 2009 as the global aviation industry faces falling revenues due to the economic slowdown, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said yesterday.
The Geneva-based industry group said the challenge for the region will be to match capacity to demand as fleets expand and traffic slows, particularly for long-haul connections.
It said the global aviation industry will lose $2.5 billion in 2009 on top of the $5 billion it is forecast to lose this year.
The sharp fall in fuel prices, which could have placed the industry in a positive financial position, will be offset by the excessive loss of revenues.
This fall in revenues will be the highest the industry has suffered in 50 years

Gulf remittances could decline 9%

Dubai: Remittances from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are expected to fall nine per cent next year compared to an increase of 38 per cent in 2008, according to a report by the World Bank.
Money from the GCC accounted for 63 per cent of total foreign remittances received by Bangladesh this year, and the percentage was 52 per cent for Pakistan.
UAE-based money transfer companies told Gulf News they expect a slowdown in funds being sent by expatriate workers to their home countries, but ruled out a dramatic reduction.
A combination of falling oil prices and the impact of the global financial crisis on the GCC economies is expected to hit the labour market.

China wants to put $10b in Brazil oil: official

BRASILIA (AP) — China wants to loan Brazil’s state oil company $10 billion to help develop massive new oil fields in deep water off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s top energy official said in comments published Monday.
Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobao also told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that the United Arab Emirates has offered to finance field development, but he did not specify a price tag. Lobao said Chinese officials contacted his ministry to propose a loan and Petrobras then negotiated directly with the Chinese. He gave no details on the status of talks, and any deal would have to be approved by his ministry. Petrobras, in an e-mailed statement to The Associated Press, didn’t confirm a China deal, but said the company has historically searched for “varied sources of financing” and that recent deals will be included in its new investment plan, expected in the coming weeks

Oil little changed after falling on signs recession may deepen

SINGAPORE (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil was little changed in New York, after falling on signs the global recession may be deeper than anticipated, limiting demand for fuels.
The economy in Japan, the world’s second-largest oil importer, contracted 1.8 percent in the third quarter, more than the government originally estimated, the Cabinet Office said on Tuesday. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, controller of 40 percent of global oil supplies, is due to meet next week. “As the economic downturn persists, demand for oil deteriorates on what appears like a daily basis,” said Rob Laughlin, senior broker at MF Global Ltd. in London. “OPEC will have to make a significant cut next week.” Crude oil for January delivery was at $43.66 a barrel, down 5 cents, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 9:56 a.m. London time.

Dow Chemical to cut 5,000 jobs, close 20 facilities

WASHINGTON (AFP) -– The Dow Chemical Company announced Monday it would cut about 5,000 full-time jobs, close 20 facilities and divest non-strategic businesses in an aggressive move to cope with dire economic times.
The diversified chemical giant also will suspend operations in 180 plants and significantly reduce its contractor workforce worldwide by 6,000 as it joins other American companies in axing staff amid a deepening recession. ""Today's restructuring is designed to support the Dow of tomorrow,"" said Dow chairman and chief executive Andrew Liveris. ""However, we are accelerating the implementation of these measures as the current world economy has deteriorated sharply, and we must adjust ourselves to the severity of this downturn,"" he said in a statement. The full-time job cuts represent a reduction of about 11 percent of Dow's global workforce.

Stocks rally for a second day

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks rallied Monday as investors welcomed President-elect Barack Obama's plan to create jobs and revive the economy, and reports that government help for the automakers is on the way.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) jumped 298 points, or 3.5%. During the session, the Dow gained as much as 391 points and topped 9,000 for the first time in a month. The Dow has risen in nine of the last 11 sessions. The Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index added 3.8% and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) gained 4.1%. ""We're in a very unsettled period where people's opinions swing between hope and fear on very little news,"" said Ken Kam, portfolio manager of the Masters 100 (MOFQX) Fund. ""Right now we are seeing the impact of the hope that maybe the worst is over.""

Global economic growth in 2008 shrinks to 2.5 pc

NEW YORK: As major economies remain plagued with the worst financial crisis, global economic system slow down impacts have further unfolded, as the volume of trade shrank since 1982 for the first time.World Development Bank’s Global Economic Prospects said that the global economic growth in 2008 remained at 2.5 percent, while it was expected to further drop to 0.9 percent in 2009. It further said that the developing countries’ economic growth rate in 2009 was likely to reel down by 3.5 percent to peg at 4.5 percent. Developing countries were facing the jolts most caused by the slow down of major economies, as they were being forced to buy the fuel and grains at hiked global prices and inflicted with lesser employment opportunities besides high rate of unemployment

Top German, U.S. stock exchanges plan merger: report

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -– German stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse and New York counterpart NYSE Euronext plan to merge into what would be the world's biggest exchange group, according to a German magazine report.
The report in weekly Der Spiegel, made available ahead of Monday's publication, comes two days before the German exchange group's supervisory board is scheduled to meet. A combined entity would become the world's top securities and derivatives trading company, at a time of unprecedented turmoil for providers and users of financial market services. NYSE Euronext runs the New York Stock Exchange -- the world's biggest by market cap of listed companies -- as well as the Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon bourses and derivatives platform Liffe. Analysts said a merger could bring cost savings that would insulate the mammoth exchange operator from an expected drop in trading volume next year, and better position it to act as a central counterparty for over-the-counter products such as credit default swaps. ""A merger would make sense. They could trade more globally with more liquidity,"" said industry analyst Wolfgang Gerke. HOLDING COMPANY

Meltdown weakens NYC as global financial capital

NEW YORK (AP) -- For the hundreds of camera-toting tourists who visit Wall Street every day, the New York Stock Exchange presents an imposing sight.
The building-sized American flag draped over the exchange's towering Corinthian columns. The sculptures on the facade that symbolize the prosperity of a capitalist nation. The stern-looking statue of George Washington across the street. These icons of national pride mark Wall Street as both a site of business and a symbol of the risk-taking and financial success that have spurred American global dominance and helped shape this country's identity. But with the nation's top investment houses shuttered, sold or changing into staid commercial operations, doubts have emerged about whether the city that for generations has been known as the world's financial capital can retain that title — or the daredevil swagger that has defined Wall Street for so long

Yen rises to five-week high, dollar gains on demand for haven

NEW YORK (Bloomberg) -- The yen climbed to a five-week high against the euro while the dollar rose against an index of the currencies of six U.S. trading partners as the deepening global recession increased the haven appeal of the currencies.
Japan’s yen rose for a fifth week versus the dollar, its longest rally since December 2004, as the U.S. payrolls report showed the biggest job losses in 34 years. The pound touched a 6 1/2-year low after the Bank of England reduced its main interest rate to the lowest level since 1951. “Risk aversion will give bids to the dollar and the yen,” said Win Thin, a senior currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in New York. “People just don’t know how bad the recession is.”

Investors sue Countrywide to force loans purchase

NEW YORK (Reuters) -– A group of bond investors sued Bank of America (BAC.N)-owned Countrywide Financial on Monday demanding that Countrywide buy every mortgage loan for which it agrees to reduce payments under a predatory lending settlement deal.
Countrywide and its Bank of America parent would be liable to pay hundreds of trusts a total of about $80 billion for loans it modifies, said lawyers for the plaintiffs who filed the complaint in New York State Supreme Court. Countrywide, ensnared by the subprime mortgage crisis, was the largest U.S. mortgage lender before Bank of America bought it for $2.5 billion on July 1. Under an agreement announced in October with 15 state attorneys general, Countrywide will modify mortgages for about 400,000 homeowners to settle allegations of predatory lending.

Down we go again: Fourth-worst drop ever for Dow

NEW YORK (AP) -- The stock market suffered one of its worst days since the financial meltdown Monday, slicing 680 points off the Dow Jones industrial average as Wall Street snapped out of its daydream of a rally and once again faced the harsh reality of a recession.
Not only did stocks end their five-day winning streak, they erased more than half the gains. The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index, one of the broadest market gauges, lost nearly 9 percent. Erasing any lingering doubts, there was also finally an officially declared recession — in progress in the United States since December 2007, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the nonprofit group of economists that classifies business cycles. ""This is just another episode in a long story and the story is all about recession and the question is how long and how deep,"" said Chuck Widger, chief executive and chairman of investment management firm Brinker Capital. ""We're going to have continuing volatility until investors have better visibility."" ""All the data is being filtered to answer the two questions of how deep and how long the recession will be,"" he added. The selling was broad and deep. All 30 of the stocks in the Dow Jones industrial average finished lower.

Australian central bank slashes interest rates by 100 basis points

SYDNEY (AFP) — Australia’s central bank slashed interest rates by 100 basis points to a six-year low Tuesday in an aggressive move against threats to growth posed by the global financial crisis.
The bigger-than-expected cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) dropped the official cash rate to 4.25 percent, its lowest level since May 2002. It was the fourth consecutive monthly cut by the RBA, which has sliced a total of 300 basis points off the official rate since September, as inflation fears give way to concern about the impact of slower world economic growth. Most financial market economists had expected a 75 basis point reduction, although with the bank having opted for a big one percentage point cut in October a repeat was not totally unexpected. The cut failed to boost the Australian stock market in the face of a major fall on Wall Street overnight, and share prices closed down 4.2 percent with major miners and financials leading the slide. “Recent actions by governments and central banks to stabilize their respective financial systems have begun to take effect,” RBA governor Glenn Stevens said in a statement. “Nonetheless, financial market sentiment remains fragile, as evidence accumulates of weak economic conditions in the major countries and a significant slowing in many emerging countries.

OPEC chief says cartel may decide ‘major’ output cut

TEHRAN (AFP) — OPEC will decide on a “major” output cut next month if the oil market is deemed to be deteriorating, the cartel’s secretary general Abdalla Salem El-Badri said on Monday.
“If we see the market is deteriorating we will make a major action in Algeria and anywhere if necessary,” he told reporters in Iran. El-Badri, who is attending an oil and gas seminar in Tehran, said earlier that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries will cut production by a “good amount” when it meets in December to tackle tumbling prices. “If there is an action that OPEC can take, it will not hesitate to stabilize the market,” he said in English. “We can’t say how much the output cut will be in December but for sure there will be an action because we’re seeing that stocks are high,” he said. “I cannot tell you (the size of the cut) but it will be a good amount.” OPEC, which pumps 40 percent of the world’s crude, met in Cairo on Saturday to assess the state of the oil market, but held off from making any decision on cutting production

Asian stocks decline on signs global recession is deepening

TOKYO (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks dropped as falling commodity prices dragged mining shares lower and the failure of homebuilder Morimoto Co. drove bankruptcies by listed companies to a postwar record in Japan.
BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, lost 3.6 percent in Sydney, while Mitsubishi Estate Co., Japan’s second-biggest property developer, declined 5.6 percent. Sime Darby Bhd., which sells luxury cars in Hong Kong, motorcycles in China and homes across Malaysia, tumbled 12 percent in Kuala Lumpur after slashing its profit forecast. Sichuan Changhong Electric Co. rose 9.9 percent in Shanghai as government plans to boost growth overshadowed a record contraction in manufacturing. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 0.5 percent to 82.27 as of 4:02 p.m. in Tokyo, ending a four-day, 7.6 percent advance. The gauge has tumbled 48 percent this year during the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The index is valued at 12 times estimated profit, down from 17 at the start of 2008.

U.S. auto sales likely fell on weak economy, bankruptcy concern

U.S. auto sales probably fell in November when buyers shunned showrooms as the economy weakened and pleas for federal aid by General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC stirred concern of an automaker collapse.
“The negative news has spread,” said Tom Libby, a Troy, Michigan-based analyst at market research firm J.D. Power & Associates. Sales at all the major automakers will fall at least 10 percent, he said. The U.S. companies will report results tomorrow as they deliver plans to Congress showing how they would use federal loans to return to profitability. GM Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner told lawmakers two weeks ago that automakers need help before Barack Obama becomes president as a global credit crunch weighs on U.S. sales. New vehicles probably sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 11 million in November, down 32 percent from a year earlier, based on a Bloomberg News survey of 26 analysts and economists.

Eurozone jobless total soars to a two-year high

Eurozone unemployment has seen its biggest monthly jump in 15 years, mirroring a sharp drop in inflation and strengthening the case for another big cut in European Central Bank interest rates next week.
Joblessness in the 15-country region soared by 225,000 in October, adding to evidence that the recent oil price shock, which sent inflation soaring, has given way to a deep and protracted recession. At 7.7 per cent, October's eurozone unemployment rate was the highest for almost two years. Eurozone annual inflation, meanwhile, slumped from 3.2 per cent in October to 2.1 per cent this month, the lowest since August 2007, according to separate figures released on Sunday by Eurostat, the European Union's statistical office. It was the biggest monthly fall in inflation since the launch of the euro almost a decade ago. Eurozone inflation peaked at 4 per cent in July, the same month as the ECB raised its main interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 4.25 per cent. Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in mid-September the central bank has hurriedly reversed its strategy, slashing official borrowing costs by half a percentage point in early October and again this month.

Secretary-General calls for $30b to restructure world agriculture, create long-term food security

As the Financing for Development Conference continued in Doha, Qatar, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Monday for an infusion of $30 billion to help restructure world agriculture and create long-term food security.
“This is not charity,” Mr. Ban stressed at a side event themed “Tackling the Food and Hunger Crisis, Investing in Food Security, Safety Nets and Small Holder Agriculture”. “It is an investment in our collective future. Ending hunger is critical to global stability and prosperity.” He noted that in 2007, an additional 75 million people had become undernourished, a number higher than the entire population of Turkey. Food prices were still twice as high as they had been in 2002 and the situation was expected to get worse as global population grew, climate change accelerated, prices fluctuated and the financial crisis continued to unfold. The most vulnerable people needed food today, he said, emphasizing that, for that purpose, Governments must avoid export bans. For medium-term needs, smallholder farmers must get fertilizers and seeds, and for the longer term, the underlying structural problems plaguing the food system must be solved.

Persian Gulf shares advance on global bailouts; Arabtec, Omantel gain

DUBAI (Bloomberg) -- Persian Gulf shares gained, tracking the global markets, on speculation government bailouts will shore up the global economy, bringing overseas investors into the region.
Arabtec Holding Co., the construction company building the world’s tallest tower in Dubai, rose to the highest in three weeks after it offered one bonus share for each existing share. Emirates Telecommunications Corp., the United Arab Emirates’ biggest telephone company, gained for a second day, while Oman Telecommunications Co., the biggest phone operator in the Persian Gulf country, climbed to the highest in a week. The Dubai Financial Market General Index gained 5 percent to 2025.01 at 12:23 p.m. local time, for a 12 percent advance over the past four sessions. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index advanced 2.7 percent to 2,793.62, while the Kuwait Stock Exchange Index rose 1 percent. “We’re seeing some shifts in sentiments globally,” said Chamel Fahmy, senior regional sales trader at Beltone Securities Brokerage in Dubai. “Our markets are following that trend. I think there is still 200 points upside in Dubai market.”

Saudi market closes up 9.5%

RIYADH (AFP) – The Saudi stock market closed up 9.51 percent on Saturday, its largest gain this year, after King Abdullah said the economy of the oil powerhouse remained solid despite the global economic crisis.
The Tadawul All-Shares Index (TASI) closed at 4.845,11 points on the first day of the trading week in the oil-rich kingdom. All sectors made gains of nearly 10 percent, with the leading petrochemicals sector up at 9.48 percent, banks 9.12 percent and telecoms 9.76 percent King Abdullah said in an interview published in the Kuwaiti newspaper As-Sieyasah that the Saudi economy was solid, adding that he considered 75 dollars to be a “fair” price for a barrel of oil.

Citigroup to sell trust banking unit in Japan: reports

TOKYO, (AFP) – U.S. banking giant Citigroup, beset by the global financial turmoil, has decided to sell its Japanese trust banking unit NikkoCiti Trust and Banking, reports said Sunday.
The bidding will likely take place next week, with major domestic trust banks, including Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking and Sumitomo Trust & Banking, expected to make bids for the firm, the business daily Nikkei and Kyodo News reported, citing unnamed sources. Kyodo News reported that the sale could amount to “tens of billions” of yen. Nikkociti’s total net assets stood at 18 billion yen (190 million dollars) as of the end of September. The reports came after the U.S. government in late November stepped in to guarantee over 300 billion dollars in potential losses at Citigroup and pump 20 billion more into the financial giant. Nikko Cordial Securities, a major Japanese securities house also under the umbrella of Citigroup, has also decided to trim jobs through calls for early retirements, the reports said. Despite the subprime housing loan crisis which emerged earlier this year, Citigroup has pressed ahead with expansion into the Japanese market, this year taking full control of brokerage house Nikko Cordial Corp. in a 4.8 billion-dollar share swap. But in February it announced it was selling its Tokyo headquarters to its rival Morgan Stanley in a deal reported to be worth 48 billion yen (455 million dollars). In June it said it was closing down its remaining consumer lending outlets in Japan in part of its restructuring efforts.

Stocks face dour jobs and retail data

NEW YORK (Reuters) -– Wall Street may struggle to build on its best week in almost 30 years next week, as investors grapple with a raft of economic data, including the November jobs report, that will likely provide more evidence of a deep economic downturn.
Investors will also watch reports on the weekend's retail sales to see if consumers opened their wallets and began buying gifts on Black Friday, as the day after Thanksgiving is known. It's the traditional start of the holiday shopping season and usually one of the biggest shopping days of the year. But this time, holiday sales forecasts are grim as the end of easy credit and rising unemployment have made consumers more frugal. Wall Street ended the holiday-shortened week in the black, snapping a weeks-long losing streak as investors were encouraged by the government's bailout of Citigroup (C.N). The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) scored its best week since at least 1980 -- jumping 12 percent. That marked a turnaround from the previous week, when the S&P booked its lowest close since 1997. For the four-day week, the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) rose 9.7 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) surged 10.9 percent. The U.S. stock market was closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday. Still, steep losses among financial and automaker stocks have made this among the worst months for Wall Street since the October 1987 stock market crash. For November, the Dow fell 5.3 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 7.5 percent and the Nasdaq lost 10.8 percent. In the coming week, the most crucial indicator will be the November non-farm payrolls report on Friday.

Chinese leader says China losing competitive edge

BEIJING (AP) – Chinese President Hu Jintao warned that China has started to lose its competitive edge in trade amid the global financial crisis, as he told Communist Party leaders the challenge posed a test to the government’s ability to rule, state media reported.
China’s economic growth is expected to fall to about 9 percent this year, down from last year’s 11.9 percent. That would be the fastest of any major economy, but Chinese leaders worry about possible unrest as unemployment rises, especially in export industries where factories are shutting down as global demand plummets. “External demand has obviously weakened and China’s traditional competitive advantage is being gradually weakened,” Hu said, according to the Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper.

Eurozone ready for rapid-fire triple rate cut: analysts

FRANKFURT, (AFP) – The eurozone is set for an unprecedented third interest rate cut in less than two months when European Central Bank governors meet this week in Brussels, with the key question being, by how much?
With the eurozone in a full-blown recession and inflation in a free-fall, analysts say the ECB has plenty of leeway to reduce the cost of borrowing in what will be 16 nations when Slovakia joins in January. “The case for a rate cut of more than the customary 50 basis points (0.50 percentage points) has never been stronger,” said Bank of America economist Holger Schmieding last week. “In fact, we find it difficult to see any convincing argument against cutting rates by at least 75 basis points,” he added, an amount the ECB has never chosen before, though it was discussed last month. “Leading economic indicators are plunging at a record pace, inflation is tumbling and unemployment is soaring in the eurozone,” Schmeiding noted.

Iran seeks to enhance economic ties with Malaysia

TEHRAN – Tehran wants to enhance its economic relations with Kuala Lumpur, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said here on Sunday.
He made the remarks in a meeting with Mahathir Mohamed, the former Malaysian prime minister, the Mehr News agency reported. Mahathir, Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister, called for expansion of bilateral ties. During his term in office, Mahathir was credited for engineering Malaysia’s rapid modernization. He is also known for his criticisms of western and developed countries. The cooperation in oil, gas, and joint projects were discussed in the meet. Iran has invested 940 million dollars in Malaysia’s industrial sector in 2007, ranking the third after Japan and Germany, the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) has reported

Poland adopts 24b euro aid package

WARSAW (AFP) – Poland adopted on Sunday an economic stabilization and development package for 2009-2010 valued at 24 billion euros (30 billion dollars) to help weather the global financial crisis, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
At the same time, Polish Finance Minister Jan Rostowski said his department was lowering its economic growth forecast for 2009 to 3.7 percent, compared with the previous outlook of 4.8 percent. “It is a stabilization and development program, because Poland is in the situation of a country that is still developing,” Tusk told reporters, adding, “Happily, the consequences of the global crisis for Poland are not so grave.”

Saudi Arabia wants oil price at $75 a barrel

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Saudi Arabia said Saturday that it hoped to raise oil prices to $75 a barrel, but indicated that no measures would probably be taken until an OPEC meeting next month in Algeria.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi said that OPEC will “do what needs to be done” to shore up falling oil prices when the cartel meets next month in Algeria, even as his king told a Kuwaiti newspaper that $75 a barrel was a fair price for oil. Naimi did not entirely rule out the chance that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would slash output at the hastily convened meeting Saturday, but he did say the bloc needed to wait until the meeting in Oran, Algeria on Dec. 17 to assess the impact of two previous rounds of cuts. His comments came after Saudi King Abdullah told the Kuwaiti daily Al-Seyassah that oil should be priced at $75 a barrel, far above its current rate.

Chief Yahoo’ Yang may make new CEO’s task difficult

Yahoo! Inc., whose shares fell 60 percent since spurning Microsoft Corp.’s $44.5 billion takeover bid, may find hiring a replacement chief executive officer more difficult while “Chief Yahoo” Jerry Yang works down the hall.
Yang, 40, agreed to step down as CEO and resume his former advisory role on Nov. 17 after rejecting Microsoft’s bid. The prospect of succeeding the Yahoo co-founder may not appeal to candidates fearful of second-guessing, said John A. Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a Chicago executive- placement firm. “There’s certainly the potential for trouble,” said Heath Terry, an analyst at Arlington, Virginia-based FBR Capital Markets Corp. who has an “underperform” rating on the shares. “In the minds of Jerry, most of the board and employees, this is still Jerry’s company.” Taiwan-born Yang will serve as CEO until a new one is hired, said Kim Rubey, a company spokeswoman. He wasn’t available for comment, she said. Yang’s full-time job as Chief Yahoo focuses on global strategy, products and technology, according to a company blog. He’ll also continue as a Yahoo board member. Mozilla Corp.’s Mitchell Baker, Quiznos Corp.’s Gregory Brenneman and Hasbro Inc.’s Alfred Verrecchia are among 216 CEOs stepping down this year and remaining with their companies in another capacity, according to a survey this month by challenger firm

Citigroup shares jump, more than double this week

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Citigroup shares soared on Friday, and more than doubled this week, as investors expressed relief that the second-largest U.S. bank by assets won a government bailout, and separately might not have to suffer big losses from helping to fund a giant leveraged bailout.
Shares of the bank closed up $1.24, or 17.6 percent, at $8.29, after last week reaching their lowest level in 18 years on fears about its exposure due to bad bets on toxic assets. The shares nevertheless remain 12.9 percent below where they closed two weeks ago. Late on Sunday the U.S. government announced a $20 billion capital injection into Citigroup, and agreed to shoulder most losses on a $306 billion portfolio of potentially troubled assets, in exchange for preferred shares and warrants. The fresh capital came after a $25 billion injection last month. ""The government action did not result in a severe dilution of shareholders equity and provided some relief about the toxic assets,"" said Marshall Front, chairman of Front Barnett Associates in Chicago, who said his firm bought Citigroup shares last Friday.

Spain's Santander raises 7.2 billion euros in new capital: company

MADRID (AFP) -- Santander, Spain's largest bank which has undertaken a string of acquisitions this year, announced on Friday that a 7.2-billion-euro (9.2-billion-dollar) rights issue has been fully subscribed.
The bank announced on November 10 it had offered almost 1.6 billion new shares at 4.5 euros each in a bid to raise capital. ""The increase in capital announced on November 10 ... has been fully subscribed during the preferential period,"" the bank said in a statement

Stocks end short session with 5th straight gain

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street climbed again Friday, wrapping up its biggest five-day rally in more than 75 years, even as investors digested signs of a bleak holiday season for retailers and fears that a flurry of reports next week will show more economic distress.
On the short trading day, investors snapped up the battered shares of blue-chip stalwarts Citigroup Inc., General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., fueling a rally that has surprised many market experts whipsawed by wild swings during the past three months. The market got big boosts over the past week from President-elect Barack Obama naming his economic team, the government propping up Citigroup, and the Federal Reserve deciding to buy massive amounts of mortgage-backed securities. These efforts sent mortgage rates plunging, and reassured the market that broad efforts are still being made to fight the financial crisis that intensified in September with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Just last week, the S&P 500 index fell to its lowest point since 1997 while Citigroup and GM were trading at 15-year and 70-year lows, respectively — touching off worries about how far the market would slide.

International call for action to aid poorer nations

DOHA (AFP) – International bodies called on Saturday for concerted action to help developing nations confront the global economic crisis, but the absence of major leaders at a UN aid conference dampened hopes of concrete initiatives.
“The financial crisis is not the only crisis we face. We also confront a development emergency and accelerating climate change,” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said at the opening of a four-day conference on Financing for Development in Doha. “These threats are inextricably linked. They must be dealt with as one,” he told journalists. “We need a truly global stimulus plan that meets the needs of emerging economies and developing countries.” Ban hosted a “retreat” for world leaders on Friday with the aim of converting intentions expressed at a Group of 20 summit in Washington this month into “concrete recommendations” ahead of the next G-20 meeting in London in April. However, he admitted that only 10 national leaders were among the 34 or 35 high-level delegates who turned up, and no conclusions were announced. Ban said he still hopes the Doha conference can come up with concrete plans as well as updating a 2002 Monterrey Consensus on aid to developing countries. “Global crises call for global solutions,” European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso told the conference. “A global answer requires the presence of all regions in the world, representing the voice of the rich, the emerging and the poorest.” He said a climate change conference next month in Poland, and a summit on global warming in Copenhagen next year will fail unless emerging and poor countries are helped to adapt. “Climate change is going to be crucial for developing countries. Doha and Poznan have to move forward together, hand in hand. Indeed, Copenhagen will not succeed without a serious solution on adaptation,” Barroso said. For developing countries, the challenges of climate change come on top of threats to food and energy security and an uncertain impact from the recession in major economies, “while hundreds of millions of people cannot afford basic foodstuffs and risk falling deeper into poverty,” he said. The multiple crises mean it is “all the more necessary” to achieve the UN’s Millennium Development Goals and other targets, Barroso said, noting that 1.4 billion people live in extreme poverty, on less than 1.25 dollars a day. “It is more important than ever that donors honor their aid volume and aid effectiveness packages,” he said, also calling for aid commitments to be “further enhanced to respond to new challenges.” The World Bank also urged industrialized nations to maintain aid flows to developing countries

EU blocks French bank capital plan: report

PARIS (Reuters) – The European Commission is blocking a French plan to shore up the capital positions of big retail banks, insisting they must reduce their lending in return for state support, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.
France announced last month that it would lend 10.5 billion euros (13.6 billion dollars) to the country’s six top lenders before year-end to prop up their capital reserves. Paris has argued that without state support, lenders would have shored up their capital positions by reducing loans in the face of malfunctioning interbank lending markets, a move that would deal a fresh blow to an already troubled economy. The Financial Times said French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde spoke with European Union Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes on Friday to persuade her to lift her veto on France’s bank support package. But Kroes was sticking to her view that banks cannot use state aid to increase their lending books, the paper said. “We have to apply the same criteria to everyone...support should be sufficient to offset the negative impact of the current financial crisis and no more,” the paper quoted one anonymous official as saying. The French government had reacted furiously to the commission’s argument, the paper said, adding that one senior official had described it as “ridiculous” and “stupid” because it would exacerbate the credit crunch.