朗读练习作业

Action in Europe --- Mike (slow)
Asia Pacific --- Gene (slow)

>> we turn our attention overseas beginning with a preview of next week’s action in europe.
>> let’s look at the agenda for europe on monday. president jean-claude trichet and other european economic policymakers may add to the debate of the effect of the plunging dollar at the euro zone. the euro’s gains may have affected german factory in other words october, they probably fell for the second time in three months as ongoing job cuts and rising oil prices prompted consumers to keep spending plans on hold. we’ll see manufacturing data in the u.k. economists say this may be a higher number, adding to evidence that the british economy is accelerating. the retail sector takes centerstage heading into the half of the christmas holiday shopping season. the bloomberg retail p.m.i. out on monday will provide clues on whether investors in european retailers have a reason to be cherry and we’ll have november retail sales from the b.r.k. in the u.k. on the corporate agenda, investors will be looking for an update from hsbc on the situation at its household international unit in the united states. last month, shares plunged after hsbc said the unit posted a 32% drop in third-quarter profits, about a quarter of hsbc’s profits come from household. other company news to look for includes full-year earnings at aberdeen asset management and news as to whether goldfields shareholders will approve the company’s plan to take over canada’s iamgold and bloomberg will be live at the business weak european leadership forum in paris, interviewing top names in the world of business, including the secretary general of the oecd, for his outlook of the european and global economy. i’m mark barton.

>> we turn to the asia-pacific region. gene otani begins by looking at expectations for growth.

>> japan’s economy may end five quarters of expansion as consumers cut spending because of a weakening job market . japan on wednesday reports revised third-quarter gross domestic product. the initial report showed growth unexpectedly slowed to .3%. companies slashed investment and overseas demand cooled in the three months through september. the recovery showed signs of faltering in october. employment, factory output and consumer spending fell short of expectations that month. thailand reports third-quarter growth figures next week. economists we surveyed expect g.d.p. expanded 5.9% for the slowest pace in a year. high fuel prices, regional unrest and bird flu affected the figures in thailand. south korea may cut interest rates for the third time this year which may allow policymakers to lower policy costs to a record to revive consumer spending in south korea. three other asian central banks meet to set interest rates. australian policymakers gather tuesday. new zealand meets thursday and the philippines meet thursday, as well. analysts expect strong demand for the $2.7 billion real estate investment trust i.p.o. figures may show china’s efforts to slow its economy are working. the nation’s industrial output growth, overseas sales and inflation all probably slowed last month. china raised interest rates and imposed lending curbs to cool growth in their economy. october exports on monday and taiwan releases november overseas sales figures on tuesday. australian consumer confidence figures wednesday followed by south korea consumer confidence on thursday and india on friday reports october industrial production. back to you.

>> crude oil fell to a three-month low on expectations that u.s. heating oil inventories will rise in coming weeks because of warm weather in the northeast. crude at the close of trading at $42.54 a barrel, down 1.64% on the session. oil plunged 14% in new york. the biggest weekly decline since start of the u.s. invasion of iraq in 2003. 31 of 59 traders and analysts we surveyed expect prices to fall next week. only 11 are looking for them to turn around and rise. among the other energy movers, red arrows with gasoline, unleaded, wholesale basis down 1.6%. when we come back, could next week bring an end to the 78-day nhl player lockout? and a 16-year-old takes the spotlight on espn2. we’ll have “money & sports” after the break.

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Listen Interview: Anthony Santomero --- Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank
>> you’re watching ’s “world financial report.” i’m bob bowden, recapping the day on wall street. stocks didn’t go very far on the day with the digating jobs number, the dow and s&p 500 both up .07%. the nasdaq up .2%. philadelphia federal reserve bank president anthony santomero sees more measured interest rate increases by the fed in 2005. santomero becomes a voting member of the fomc in january. he spoke with matt nesto who asked him about the jobs number.

>> i’ve been on the record a few times indicating a range of 150,000 to 200. 1,000 jobs per month and this is low from those numbers but it indicates we’re moving forward.

>> if you look at the strength in the broader economy and the less numbers we’re seeing than economists want, how do you explain the disconnect?

>> well, as you know, productivity has been strong. most economists expect productivity to return to long-term trends. and while productivity has, in fact, come down, it’s not come down to the long-term trend yet so we’re really getting more output with less new labor.

>> if we talk about inflation, would you say you are―your concerns about inflation accelerating now are the same, more or less?

>> i think at the moment inflation is contained but i do hear from businessmen that there is pressure on margins and wholesale price pressure is showing up. we must be watchful because it’s important, as the economy proceeds, that we keep that inflation well contained. so i guess i would say i’m more vigilant.

>> interesting that you brought up the word vigilant. that’s the second time we’ve heard that today. you said the fed has to be vigilant when it comes to the dollar and inflation. what do you mean by vigilant?

>> as you look at the process of price movements and you ask people in our area, in the third district, i try to get some sense of what they hear going on. what i’m hearing is pressure on raw material prices and some pressures on margins. but in general, the c.e.o.’s that i speak to indicated it’s hard to pass that on. so even though there is some pressure on cost, so far it’s not translating to inflation at the retail level.

>> what about rising energy prices? is that going to become an increasing inflationary factor?

>> clearly that caused pressure on margeens―margins, as well. the movement down from the highs has taken some of the pressure off but it’s higher than it was at the beginning of the year.

>> if we can discuss the dollar, it sems to make more headlines every day, the 10th or 12th new high in the past month versus the―new low versus the euro. can you imagine a circumstance in the near future that would make the fed adjust rates because of currency movement?

>> well, the objective of the federal reserve, as you know, is an environment of sustained optimal growth with a stable price environment. that’s a domestic focus. clearly, as the exchange rates change and trade balances shift, we will take that into consideration but i think we have to keep focus on the u.s. economy and get it to grow at its potential with stable prices.

>> to summarize, a currency-spurred move by the fed is not out of the question?

>> oh, i clearly didn’t say that. i think the issue before us is trying to maintain our eye on the ball, which is price stability and an environment of sustained growth and as things around us change, whether they’re international policy, domestic policy or fiscal policy, we take that into account when we make our decision.

>> also, quasi related to the dollar would be the effect that the weak dollar has on trade deficits, typically positive. those trade deficits, though, both the current account deficit and u.s. total trade deficit, do you see those narrowing in the coming year?

>> as you know, the value of the exchange rate has an effect on the tad balance but it takes quite some time. we are starting to see the implications of earlier changes in the exchange rate on our trade balance. in addition, as economies around the globe grow more quickly, that will aid our trade position. but it is a long, long line between our domestic economy and these movements.

>> what, in your opinion right now, is the greatest threat to continued economic expansion?

>> well, i guess i could list a whole bunch of things people talk about, but the reality is we are on a path and have been on a path, moderate sustained growth, for a while. and i think that’s what the data is showing us. at times we flip one way or the other, a little weaker on the monthly labor numbers, a little more concern on higher labor numbers, sometimes concern about prices, sometimes not. i think we are in a position of moderate growth and that’s what the data’s telling us.

>> anthony santomero, president of the philadelphia federal reserve bank. when we come back, crude oil plunges this week with its biggest decline since the war in iraq. we’ll tell you if economists expect the drop in prices to continue. we’ll turn our attention overseas ahead of the trading week in europe and asia. are

Interview: John Snow --- Treasury Secretary
>> the dollar hit a low against the euro as u.s. jobs numbers disappointed investors. michael mckee spoke with john snow.

>> i felt for a long time, mike, that we’d see good job pickup because it follows naturally from having strong g.d.p. growth and we’ve had good g.d.p. growth, basically since the president’s jobs and growth bill took effect.

>> can you explain, though, the caution we’re seeing from employment offices around the country? if g.d.p. is growing around 4% as most economists think, 112,000 jobs created doesn’t seem to connect with that kind of expansion.

>> well, productivity is still very high, of course and this month’s numbers come on top of numbers from last month of 300,000 so we’re averaging about 200,000 jobs a month for the year and at that rate, we’re -- jobs are growing at a rate above the entry participation rate of new workers. so i want put―wouldn’t put too much weight on one month. i’d look at the averages and they’re pretty good.

>> you were in new york yesterday meeting on wall street to talk about the president’s deficit reduction plans. there are fears that unless you follow through, we’ll see higher interest rates and lower dollar. what did you tell them and how did they response?

>> i told them that we are committed, the president’s committed to bringing the deficit down. it’s essential that we do it. and there are only two ways to do it, one is to continue to see growth, because a growing economy, creating jobs and profitable businesses means the government revenue stream goes up. but that’s not enough, i also said. we have to get tougher, more tough-minded and we will, on spending controls.

>> if you’re going to do that and you’re committed to following through and the economy is as strong as you say, why are foreigners fleeing u.s. assets? why is the dollar weak right now?

>> you’re asking a broad question about currency levels and i don’t ever directly address the question of relative values of currency. i will say that, having just returned from the g-20 meetings, we had a good opportunity to talk with my g-20 colleagues about the larger issue of the current account deficit and what can be done about it. i think there’s a sense that it’s a shareholder responsibility. it’s important that our trading partners grow faster, particularly in europe. it’s important that we get the deficit under control, get our net savings rate up, encourage household savings, deal with the deficit. it’s also important, though, that where currencies aren’t flexible, that countries move to more flexible currency regime. all of that will help to deal with the current account deficit.

>> speak of that meeting, recently, jean-claude trichet, the president of the european central bank, said that interventions in currency markets are always a tool for policymakers yet you’ve said they have an unrewarding and checkered history, which people took as the u.s. ruling out intervention in markets . is there a common position among the g-8?

>> that’s one of those things, mike, that if i did discuss it with my claegs in the g-8, we would never make public. so whether i did or i didn’t, it’s a matter i couldn’t talk about.

>> can you tell us your position? are you firm in the idea that there is no way, at no time, the u.s. would intervene?

>> well, i’ll go back to the boca raton g-7 finance ministers’ statement where we said we favor flexible exchange rates, that in open, competitive markets with currencies that aren’t flexible, moving to flexibility, but also recognize that exchange rates movements should be orderly.

>> let me ask you one last series of questions here, and that is the treasury department is going to have a full plate of issues next year―social security reform, tax code overhaul goes through your department. the question people are asking is whether you’re going to be around to oversee those or whether you’ll be leaving the administration when the second term begins?

>> that’s a question for me and the president to resolve. but i will say i’ve been honored to serve in this administration and i’m delighted to have played a part under the president’s leadership in seeing the american economy turn around and get on a good path.

>> that was treasury secretary john snow. after building solid customer rosters and market capitalization of $17 billion, sirius and x.m. are ready for the big leagues.

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Listen Unemployment rate --- Peter (medium)
The slowdown in hiring --- Su (fast)
NYSE --- Julie (slow)
Nasdaq --- June (slow)
the unemployment rate dropped from 5.5% to 5.4% according to the labor department. weakness in manufacturing month with the third straight monthly drop. manufacturing was down 5,000 jobs in november following a drop of 2,000 in october. the head of a staffing company says companies are still figuring out employment needs.

>> we see, if you look at last month, it was euphoria. the month before that, depression, and the month before that, euphoria so we see a market that is more measured and clawing its way back up the hill in the labor market .

>> digging down deeper in the report, the fed will not find many signs of inflation in the report. workers earned a penny more an hour in november than a month earlier, the smallest increase this year, at a time when they were paying for more fuel. overall employment in service industries rose 104,000 down from the prior month and retail employment decreased more than 16,000, suggesting holiday hiring may not be as strong as first thought. construction jobs rose by 11,000 last month, after rising 64,000 in october, that october gain due, in part, to rebuilding after the hurricane.

>> we look at this over the longer term and the trend. since the beginning of this year, the economy has created north of two million jobs. the president’s policies are working and we have a strong economy, neither too hot nor too cold.

>> with the report, average monthly job creation since the beginning of the year stands at 180,000.

>> today’s lower-than-expected job growth is one of the last major pieces of economic data before the federal reserve neets mid december. su keenan joins me to look at how the slowdown in hiring affects that debate.

>> michael mora says the latest number throws cold water on the idea that the labor market has recovered. other evidence demonstrates lower confidence about the economy and lower expectations the fed will make up the pace of interest rate increases.

>> the fed is showing vigilance. everything they say and do seems to be consistent with the idea that they will stamp out any inflation pressures. that’s a good thing for the long end but it’s not the best time to own treasuries.

>> today, philadelphia federal reserve president anthony santomero says the fed should continue to raise rates at a “measured pace” and he is concerned about inflation.

>> i am hearing from businessmen that there is pressure on margins and wholesale price pressure is showing up. we must be watchful because it’s important as the economy proceeds that we keep that inflation well contained so i guess i would say that i’m a bit more vigilant.

>> that’s twice, now, on the word “vigilant.” the futures market is forecasting that fed fund policymakers raise the benchmark overnight bank lending rate a quarter point to 2.75% on december 14. lark man―lakshman achuthan says the jobs number does not point to a downturn this is consistent with the leading indicators of the job market and i suspect they’ll show more of the same when they’re updated, a slight disconnect between the numbers of jobs and the economy and we’ll see more weakness in manufacturing and strength in services.

>> analysts surveyed by bloomberg expect a quarter point increase later this month. >> treasuries tumbled and the dollar hits new lows after the employment report. treasuries had a huge rally, up on the 10-year, down to 4.25% yield.

>> stocks ended the day slightly higher after intel raised its sales forecast and oil prices fell. for more on the day and the week of trading activity, here’s a from the julie hyman at the new york stock exchange.

>> a choppy session on wall street but we ended the day quite little changed. a lot of different pressures pulling the market in different directions. let’s talk about the big movers―semiconductors creating a lot of the gain in today’s market after that positive news from intel. you can see the stocks traded here at the nyse that gained the most within that particular group. also wanted to point out the move in texas instruments, in particular. the news came from intel’s mid quarter update. t.i. is scheduled to give its own update on tuesday. today, we heard from a smith barney analyst on that update who says that’s the next catalyst for the industry and he expects an upbeat announcement from t.i. this morning, we had the jobs report. the positive effect was that with treasuries higher, bonds were lower. so interest-rate-sensitive stocks were doing well today, including real estate investment trust, some of the biggest advancers within that group. homebuilder also doing well today after falling yesterday. also looking at some of the big gainers there, k.b. homes and toll brothers among them. on the downside, the drag on the s&p 500 coming from the banks. this is after fifth third had negative news, saying its fourth quarter would not be as good as analysts’ estimates. it dragged down other banks with it. since banks are heavily weighted within the markets , this created much of the drag today. a couple of important dow stocks falling today, procter & gamble falling after an f.d.a. advisory panel said it would not recommend approval of the company’s catch to treaty is mail sexual dysfunction. alcoa downgraded by u.b.s., the analyst concerned about rising costs at the company. i’m julie hyman, bloomberg news, at the new york stock exchange.

>> the nasdaq finished the day and the week higher. our june grasso has details from the nasdaq marketsite in this taped report from that center in times square.%

>> shares of intel rose as much as 7.9% this morning, the biggest gain in more than two years, after a surprise pick up in demand for computer chips prompted the company to raise its fourth quarter revenue forecast. the chief executive says revenue was greater than expected in all products and geographies. intel led the nasdaq higher, the best performing stock by percentage in the nasdaq 100 and led the philadelphia semiconductor index higher, as well. kla-tencor and novellus were also leaders on the semiconductor index and top performers on the nasdaq 100. intel led the computer index higher and the computer index led the economic groups at the nasdaq all day. microsoft leading that higher, applied material and electronic arts. dragging the index dunn, apple xuret which―apple computer which declined after needham and company downgraded their rating to hold from buy. the worst performing group at the nasdaq, the biggest drag was the banking index. fifth third bancorp led that index lower. it’s the 10th largest bank in the u.s. and the largest on the nasdaq. it said it would earn 28 to 30 cents in the fourth quarter, well below the 82-cent average estimate of analysts. the company is selling debt and

Interview: Citigroup --- Chief executive
NYSE --- Julie (slow)

>> 9:12 a.m. in sydney. expect cloudy periods throughout the day with isolated showers mainly in the morning as well as at night with a high temperature of 22 degrees celsius. ukraine moves a step closer to holding new presidential elections. paul gordon has more on that and other world news from hong kong. good morning.

>> very good morning to you. ukrainian prime minister viktor yanukovich loses a confidence vote in parliament. 229 of the 235 lawmakers present opposed yanukovich. around half the legislators failed to attend the vote. the supreme court has failed to rule on whether to rerun the presidential elections. opposition supporters said this was widespread voter fraud. leonid kuchma says it is possible that two new candidates should run in a new election. the jailed leader of yasser arafat’s fatah faction registers to run for the palestinian presidency. barghouti was registered boy his wife. he is serving a life sentence in connection with the killings of five will people. u.s. secretary of state colin powell called barghouti’s candidacy problematic. israel’s parliament rejects the budget and may force ariel sharon into early elections. shanoy opposed the deal. the u.s. military says it’s boosting troop levels in iraq in preparation for next january’s election there is. a military spokesperson says the u.s. army will send 800 extra troops to iraq and lengthen the strengths of 1,000 more. the interim iraqi government is scheduled elections for january 30, the first national poll since the u.s.-led coalition ousted saddam hussein in march of 2003. cathy, that is world news. back to you.
>> thanks, paul. america’s top executives say they are upbeat about the economy’s prospects next year. a survey of corporate leaders shows the second highest reading in two years when it comes to confidence about growth and spending. su keenan tells us there are changes in sentiment from the last quarter. what changes are these?

>> just more conservative view. the latest business roundtable survey shows they’re pulling back optimism when it comes to economic growth and consumer spending, more so than we saw in the third quarter. the biggest change in outlook, one in five c.e.o.’s expect a decline in hiring here in the u.s. for early 2005. the lobbying group’s fourth-quarter outlook index at 99, demonstrating close to record confidence about the u.s. economic outlook, the second highest reading since the survey began in late 2002 and roughly two points below the third quarter when c.e.o. confidence was at its highest. while readings over 50 represent an improving economy, this latest survey represents the first decline we’ve seen after six straight quarters of rising confidence. on average, the c.e.o.’s trimmed their forecast of economic expansion by .1% from last quarter. wilwhile that is below the consensus forecasts of economists, the business council’s spokesman says the companies he surveys are realistic.

>> we’re past the period where we needed the kind of economic stimulus that came in 2001 and 2003 that we called for and now business investment can keep the economy going, the consumer stays in there if we don’t have things thaticide side track in the future.

>> 80% expect hiring to increase or remain the same in the next six months. 20% predict a decline, almost double the 12% of executives who were bearish on hiring last quarter. you also have the fact that executives polled are predicting sales would increase in the next six months. 85% say that will happen compared to 89% in november. the executives are bullish when it comes to capital spending plans. 50% said they plan increases. c.e.o.’s are expressing three concerns―healthcare costs and litigation, and the last issue is rising energy costs.

>> thanks for that, su. coming up, the dollar falls to a record low against the euro and its weakest since 1992 against the pound. we’ll ask a strategist in new york where why investors are staying away from the dollar.

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Listen Market briefing --- Cathy (medium)
Asia pacific regions --- David (medium)

welcome to “ live” from singapore. i’m catherine yang. china’s top bank regulator tells bloomberg it might be a while before some state banks are cleaned up and ready to go public.
>> for design, effective and efficient tailor-made reform package for icbc and bank of china, it takes a long time.

>> our exclusive interview with liu mingkang is coming your way in 30 minutes. also coming up, as the dollar reaches new lows against the euro, a currency strategist will tell you how he’s playing the market . learn how shareholders are reacting to china’s aviation oil trading scandal. as gold heads higher, we’ll hear from the managing director of an australian gold mining firm. our reporters are standing by in sydney and tokyo, ready to set the agenda for the day ahead in asia. oil drops almost 7.5%, the biggest fall in three years. u.s. government reports showed an increase in fuel inventories last week. the energy department said supplies of distillate fuels climbed 2% last week to almost 118 million barrels, the biggest increase in four months. refineries have been operating at 94% of their capacity since september. on wall street, stocks rallied on that news. this is the s&p’s highest close since august 2001. and the nasdaq rose 2%. consumer spending rose more than economists expected. spending increased 7.1% in october. personal income had its biggest rise in five months, up .6%. more factories reported an increase in orders and hiring in november. u.s. treasuries fell after the federal reserve said the economy continued to expand from mid october through mid november with growth accompanied by numerous reports of hiring and increased cost proficiency. on friday in the u.s., investors will be focused on the employment report. another day, another record low for the dollar. the dollar fell to 1.3336 versus the euro and hit a 12-year low versus the british pound, getting close to $2 against the u.k. currency. the dollar is falling on continued speculation the bush administration favors a weak dollar policy to boost exports and cut the account deficit. san francisco federal reserve bank president janet yellen said the trade gap is holding back u.s. growth. she did drop a hint on interest rates, saying inflation is well contained and suggested the fed does not need to be aggressive in raising interest rates. commodity priced in dollars sometimes gain when the dollar falls. asian stocks rise in u.s. trading. japanese carmakers, toyota and honda gained. toyota reported a jump in u.s. car sales. bank of new york a.d.r. index rose as well as the nikkei futures. we go to david tweed in sydney. what stocks will react to the drop in crude prices.

>> the biggest drop in crude prices in three years. you have to look at the airlines which are fuel-cost dependent and mining companies like b.h.p. as metal has gone up and crude oil has dropped on speculation that economic growth in the united states will be sustained, that means sustained demand for metals. also, in asia retail stocks have been falling and consumer discretionary stocks have fallen as consumer confidence in the u.s. dropped according to the report this week. why did consumer confidence drop? because people weren’t spending as much due to higher oil costs. fuel costs go down, consumer confidence may rise. look at the department stores in japan that have fallen this week, marui, hankyu department stores also has fallen and harvey norman has fallen 4.4% this week as retail spending in australia dropped for the reason of higher oil prices so we might see that reverse.

>> before you go, what else will investors be looking for in today’s trading?

>> you referenced the car stocks so we might see those rising but that could be shifted by the fact that yesterday we came out with good numbers. nissan and toyota led u.ss sales gains of asian stocks in november. nissan sales rose 26% in november compared with a year ago and toyota was up 4.4% and the south korean carmakers, as well. hyundai motors and one of its affiliates, kia, all of the five big south korean carmakers had an increase in sales in november, up about 26%. you also would be looking in australia once again at w.m.c. resources. this, of course, is a company under takeover bid from xstrata. xstrata bid is 6.35. the stock is currently trading at 7.20 so clearly people expect another bid to come in and today there are reports that rio tinto is talking with legal counsel and engineering consults as it prepares a bid so we’ll watch rio tinto stock today.

>> australian housing prices probably had their biggest drop on record in the latest quarter as the property market slows. economists we surveyed expect house prices fell 2% in the third quarter. australia’s treasurer, peter costello, said he would welcome a decline in the market .

>> the increase in the housing market is slowing. something that i have been pointing to for a long time now and something that the government would, in fact, welcome, because we believe that in the last 12 months to 18 months, the level of increase in housing prices was very strong and would not, should not continue at that level for a long period of time.

>> australia reports third-quarter housing prices at 11:30 today in sydney. nissan and toyota motor lead u.s. sales gains for asian automakers in november, maintaining a pace that may give regional companies almost 35% of the worldwide market this year. nissan and toyota are benefiting from new models such as nissan’s sport utility vehicle. november gains for the 10 asian automakers that compete in the u.s. probably will push the asian market share above the record 34.4%. sales at general motors and ford motor tumbled. after the break, ukrainian prime minister viktor yanukovich loses a confidence vote in parliament.

Interview: Citigroup --- Chief executive
NYSE --- Julie (slow)
>> 9:12 a.m. in sydney, a hot and rainy wednesday in sydney, a fire warning has been issued for fire danger. clouds increasing in the afternoon with a chance of a thunderstorm with high temperature at 39 degrees celsius. china’s banking regulator may talk about plans to help the nation’s lenders fend off overseas competition. the regulator speaks at a finance conference today in beijing before addressing the media and may help china’s banks to compete with citigroup. they can start taking yuan deposits from chinese individuals in two years. stephen engle is at the beijing conference and will bring us a report. citigroup says it will review all past transactions with individuals in japan. the country ordered citigroup to close its private banking business after it failed to make proper checks against money laundering. citigroup japan chief executive chiefer appeared before the financial committee of japan’s upper house.

>> we acknowledge there were fundamental flaws in the organization, in the private bank in particular. we experienced a weak culture of compliance and internal controls due to a lack of awareness and lack of training.

>> peterson says the bank will work with customers to ensure they were treated fairly.

>> i wish to assure you that citibank banks these matters seriously. as the new c.e.o. of citibank japan, it is my mandate to fix these problems.

>> peterson said he has signed 100 employees to conduct checks and past transactions and will file a report to regulators next year. he may offer customers compensation. u.s. consumer confidence fell in november to its lowest level in eight months. high energy prices hurt optimism among low income americans. the government said spending helped the economy expand at a faster-than-expected 3.9% annual rate.

>> energy prices rose 54% this year and put that together with slower-than-expected job growth and you have a recipe for a drop in consumer confidence. the conference board’s confidence index fell to 90.5 for november, the lowest since march and a surprise to economists who expected it to go up.

>> it is due to the energy prices and nerveness about energy prices and energy prices, obviously gas but heating and natural gas are involved in this, too, as winter comes. and so people are worried about it.

>> that concern was felt by most people at the low end of the wage scale. americans said they would spend less in coming months. as for previous months, specifically july through september, the economy grew faster than many people thought. according to numbers released today, the gross domestic product or so-called g.d.p. grew at a 3.9% rate in the third quarter, faster than the initial estimate and more robust than the second quarter.

>> third quarter, we had strong contributions from the consumer side and also from the business capital spending side. we look for those themes to continue in the fourth quarter and expect construction to add significantly to the fourth quarter.

>> today’s report also gives us our first look at corporate profits in the third quarter and they’re 2.4% lower than the second. earnings were hurt by the four hurricanes that sweat through the southeast. back to you.

>> u.s. retailers declined for a second day on growing worries about the holiday shopping season. looking at how the benchmarks closed on wall street, the s&p 500 losing about .4% along with the dow jones and nasdaq down nearly .5%. julie hyman reports from the new york stock exchange.

>> retail stocks were hit once again in today’s session, really a couple of reasons contributing to the drop. we had, first of all, that worse-than-expected consumer confidence number, mainly because of the higher price of gasoline. that hurting consumer confidence and hurting retail stocks, as well, leading, again, to concerns about the holiday shopping season. also today, we had the international council of shopping centers saying it expects a gain in november same-store sales of no more than 2.5%, lower than the previous forecast. as you can see, the decliners within the retail group, radioshack, circuit city, big lots as well as dillard’s. we also saw wal-mart decline for the second day in a row, the biggest two-day drop in more than a year’s time. yesterday, wal-mart said its november sales were also coming in below expectations. semiconductor stocks also hit in today’s session. yesterday, they gained on optimism about sales of consumer electronics over the holiday season. today, declining because that optimism seemed to be going away with the consumer confidence report. teradyne, l.s.i. logic, intel and national semiconductor among the decliners there. although it was a losing day for the dow and s&p, it was a winning month. the s&p 500 up 3.9% on the month, the biggest gain this year, sixth winning month in seven. on the dow, a gain of 4% for the month, snapping a two-month losing streak. looking at the internals to see the best and worst performers on the month, individually within the s&p 500, shares of calpine were up over 50%. they had news today that they will be building a power plant with g.e., that helped shares in today’s session. novell was the worst performer on the month, down 15%, though, not as much as calpine’s 50% gain. material stocks were the best performers in terms of groups and pharmaceuticals the worst performers, down 1%.

在线播报
Listen Market briefing --- Cathy (medium)
Asia pacific regions --- David (medium)
welcome to “ live” from% hong kong, i’m catherine yang. we’ll learn how shares of asian exporters may react to u.s. consumer confidence numbers. also, we’ll be talking to a currency strategist in 20 minutes who will explain why the dollar is setting new lows against the euro while recovering a bit versus the yen also, beijing city government cancelled a contract with microsoft 10 days after awarding the deal. we’ll have the story in 10 minutes and speak with a technology analyst in the following hour. south korea releases inflation numbers and australia puts out g.d.p. figures this morning. we’ll have the reports as they break, as well as reaction from seoul and sydney. learn what china’s bank has in store. the dollar resumes its descent against the euro, falling to a new low. comments from european central bank president jean-claude trichet sent the dollar lower on speculation trichet won’t take steps to halt the euro’s rise. he said financial conditions are favorable in the euro zone. that’s a reversal from the previous remarks that the currency market fluctuations could be brutal. the dollar traded as low as 1.3336 against the euro in new york before bouncing back somewhat. the dollar gained against the yen after japanese economic numbers for industrial output, unemployment and consumer spending came in weaker than expected. it’s still trading in the 102 range. the bank of japan refrains from selling the currency. on wall street, stocks fell after the u.s. consumer confidence report dropped in november to its lowest since february. the index consumer confidence report dropped to 90.5. economists surveyed by bloomberg expected the index to rise to 96. the dow, s&p and nasdaq fell .5%. retailers like wal-mart, target and home depot fell. the conference board says low income earners are not buying much this christmas season and discounters are hurting. u.s. treasuries fell after the government reported better-than-expected g.d.p. figures for the july to september period. the u.s. economy expanded 3.9% in the third quarter, forecaster than predictions. german bunds rose after jean-claude trichet said the bank will probably cut its forecast for economic growth. oil futures fall with milder weather and rising inventories, which mean there may be enough supply of oil and natural gas for the winter. the national weather forecast is forecasting higher-than-normal temperatures in the northeast next week. a u.s. energy report is expected to show supplies of distillate fuel rose 1.5 million barrels last week. asian stocks fell in u.s. trading. japanese exporters, including toyota and kyocera led declines. the bank of new york’s index tracking asian a.d.r.’s fell. nikkei futures point to a lower start when the tokyo stock exchange opens in less than two hours. four asian stock market benchmarks begin the session at record highs. major stock indexes in india, indonesia, new zealand and australia reached records tuesday. we’ll go to our stock market editor in sydney, david tweed. what will likely are the focus of early trading across asia today?

>> good morning. you’ve stolen my thunder. i wanted to talk about the records of markets in australia, india and indonesia. new zealand just off its record, trading .2% lower although it seems to be inching toward the benchmark 3,000 mark or the mark we think will be a benchmark. across asia, it will be retailers back in focus. you’ve mentioned exporters but when you think about the reason why the conference board said that retailing, retail spending dropped was because they’re looking at the higher fuel costs and the fact that some lower income earners, earning $35,000 or less, are feeling the pinch because of higher fuel costs. we’re seeing the discount companies in the u.s. falling by wal-mart and also watch out in japan, for example, watch out for ito-yokada shares and 7-eleven. it was a similar reason we saw a pullback in household spending and retailing fell in australia when it was expected to rise.

>> staying with australia, i gather that csfb downgraded b.h.p. billiton. what are the reasons?

>> that’s right. csfb cut b.h.p. billiton to underperform from neutral. they’re looking at the recent share price gains. if you look at a graph of b.h.p., it’s up about 9% since november 22% a 2.6% rise for the rest of the market . we’re look at the fact that there is money coming into the market from the b.h.p., 2.2 billion dollar buyback, the money to be deposited into the accounts of investors today. also, watch out for telstra, the country’s biggest telecommunications company. the “australian financial review” reports its c.e.o., zigy switkowski may resign today.

>> south korea consumer prices probably fell last month because the rising currency made exports cheaper. that would be the first month to month drop since may. the south korean won is up 13.7% against the dollar this year. that’s cut the cost of imports for asia’s number three economy. c.p.i. figures are due in 30 minutes. also in south korea, exports probably rose at their fastest pace in three months. companies including hyundai motor and samsung electronics sold more goods overseas. economists surveyed by bloomberg expect south korea’s experts rose 26% in november from a year ago. the figures are due at 10:00 a.m. today in seoul. australia’s economic growth probably slowed in the third quarter because higher fuel prices hurt consumer spending. economists we surveyed expect australia’s economy expanded half a percent, down from .6% growth in the previous quarter. in news outside the business world, u.s. homeland security secretary tom ridge resigned after two years in the job. paul gordon has more on that story from the hong kong newsroom.

>> homeland security secretary tom ridge was first person to hold the post created three years ago by president george w. bush in response to the terror attacks of september 11, 2001. ridge integrated 20 federal agencies with 180,000 employees. he also set up the color-coded terror alert system and started fingerprinting foreign visitors to the u.s. the president of the largest civil rights organization in the u.s. is also stepping down. quasy mfume led the national association for the advancement of colored people for eight years and denied speculation he’s quitting to run for a maryland senate seat. mfume says policy differences with president bush forced him out. ukraine’s parliament may try to pass a no-confidence street on―vote on prime minister viktor yanukovich. lawmakers last week rejected the results of ukraine’s presidential election which showed yanukovich winning. international observers say there was evidence of widespread voter fraud. opposition candidate viktor yushchenko says there is a crisis forming and it’s now only a matter of time before it explodes. yushchenko supporters say talks with yanukovich over a compromise have broken down. the supporters say they’ll resume blocking government buildings. poland’s president leads the european delegation to ukraine today. ukraine handles 1/4 of the gas exported by russia to central and western europe. in iraq, two attacks north of baghdad killed four civilians and injured 20 others, including lee u.s. soldiers. the military says the attacks took place north of the down town of beiji. a rocket attack injured one u.s. soldier further south. back to you.

>> after the break, citigroup’s top japan executive tells lawmakers he will fix the problems that hurt the company as private banking widens in that country.

Interview: Walmart --- Su
>> 9:12 a.m. in sydney. expect a dry and hot day, moderate winds strong and knaest in the afternoon. gusty in the afternoon. high of 32 degrees celsius. holiday shoppers in the u.s. are off and spending. sales for the first weekend in the holiday season were ahead of last year’s pace. it’s a different story for the world’s largest retail. su keenan has more on why wal-mart is slashing its sales forecast. su?%

>> this had a big impact on the entire retailing industry stock group. this was a holiday shopping weekend kicked off by discounts and massive sales and wal-mart says it took a more balance approach. that strategy combined with higher energy prices led to sluggish sales. the stock chart shows shares tumbled as wal-mart cut its november sales forecast by more than half. the company now predicts the sales gain of .7% for november. this is the second time in four months that sales have failed to rise more than 1%. overall, analysts say the holiday retail sales season began well. credit card transactions for the two days after thanksgiving rose more than 6%. retail sales on friday, the day after thanksgiving, were 11% higher than this time last year. the national retail federation’s scott krugman says the luxury retailers, rather than discounters, continued showing strength.

>> that seemed to go gangbusters and we’re pleased but we have to put it in perspective. this is not a sprint but a marathon. the bulk of the holiday shopping is still to come and the most important period is the week leading into and the week after christmas.

>> even so, wal-mart’s sluggish sales are fueling investor concern that holiday sales may fall short. the index of major retailers was one of the weakest indexes in today’s trading. you add to that concern deutsche bank’s retail analyst downgrading federated department stores to hold from buy and also nieman market shares to hold, nieman-marcus’s shares tumbling almost 4%. higher energy prices will continue to hurt consumers’ appetite for spending.

>> you get back to the question of how high gasoline prices have begun to hurt the consumer and in particular, when you see the average consumer losing an extra $7 or $8 a week, that will come out of primarily the discounters first and potentially to broader consumer buying habits but it’s high gasoline and high heating oil prices.

>> we are just about to enter the colder winter months where home heating oil prices will have an impact. retail stocks, as you know, have been among the best performers year to date in the u.s. many analysts say there was profit-taking going on here with investors trying to lock in gains heading into the end of the year, also pressuring stocks. back to you.

>> good holiday cheer for u.s. retailers. thank you. india’s biggest software maker plans to higher as many as 600 people in north america. tata consultancy chief executive says he’s increasing the work force.

>> the demand is due to a number of reasons. one is the existing i.t. spends and getting more out of it. that’s one opportunity. again, is consolidation as they do mergers and acquisitions and reengineer systems so there are efficient systems themselves.

>> the company has 8,500 employees in north america. he’s optimistic about the outlook for his company and india’s information technology industry.

>> growth is the way we are looking at the future. instead of going into the future, the opportunities for growth are very much there.

>> tata’s customers include general electric and general motors. copper prices rise to a six-week high in u.s. rising u.s. and demand from china are cutting into stockpiles. more than half of the copper producers, traders and analysts surveyed by bloomberg expect prices will rise this week. copper futures are up 12% since june. a chinese investment bank prepares to handle the nation’s first share sale without an overseas partner. china international is helping the nation’s i.p.o. it’s handling it without half partners, which may mean more fees for beijing international. irrk, are i, doctoro―irico plans to list shares on december 20. southeast nations paving a way for the free trade zone. the 12-nation group is called to begin cutting tariffs by next year. asean nations need to remove trade barriers to spur growth after losing investment to india and china. china had more than double the foreign investment compared to asean’s. we’ll speak to a currency trader next about the dollar’s slide.

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Listen Market briefing --- Cathy (medium)
Asia pacific regions

good morning and welcome to “ live” from hong kong. i’m catherine yang. in addition to our breaking news and live market report, we’ll have in-depth analysis of the two-day asean summit in laos. plus, china and japan are set to hold their own meeting in laos as the two-day summit continues. we’ll hear from china’s premier wen jiabao as well as the head of the u.s.-asean council. we’ll hear from tero honda motor’s chief. also, a currency trader will weigh the latest market action in 20 minutes. also, the chairman of the south korean steel association will comment on a possible shortage. the dollar slide comes to a halt in new york trading after dropping to a record 1.3330 on friday. traders expect the dollar to resume its decline unless the country cut its record account deficit. japan’s finance minister warned the government may sell yen to weaken the currency and help exporters. china’s prime minister wen jiabao warned against the speculation, saying it’s not possible to change the currency peg. we’ll have more on his visit to the asean summit. wal-mart fell on wall street. the dow and s&p closed lower by .4%. and the nasdaq rose .25s. retailers were among the worst performing sectors. wal-mart says november sales were hurt by high energy prices. deutsche bank securities cut the ratings of federated department stores and nieman-marcus group. spider-man made a special appearance on wall street, joining sony executives to ring the closing bell, celebrating the release of “spider-man 2” on d.v.d. the 10-year treasury note fell pushing the yield to a three-month high on speculation foreign central banks and investors will cut holdings of u.s. debt as the dollar declines. bill gross with pacific investment management says investors should be careful with treasuries. in his december report, he recommends buying german bund instead of u.s. treasury. we’ll go to our stock market editor in sydney to learn more. how will the drop in u.s. and european retail stocks likely affect markets in asia?

>> we saw the decline in wal-mart, that was a 4% drop in wal-mart shares in the u.s., spill over. it could spill over into trading here in asia. you want to be looking out for the big exporters like toyota, nissan and honda. she’s companies selling into the u.s. markets particularly when people are saying high energy costs are one of the reasons why consumers didn’t spend. the halt in the dollar may help offset concern about retail sales in the u.s. as that would spell good news for the profits of those companies. another to watch for is samsung electronics which is also extremely dependent on the state of the u.s. economy and demand amongst consumers there.

>> talk a bit about malaysian airlines. how did that company manage to increase second-quarter profit when fuel prices have been rising?
>> quite an interesting result. second-quarter profit up 31% even as fuel prices have been soaring around the world. they managed to hedge their fuel costs. also, at the same time, they’ve added flights to china and will add one to stockholm and europe. they’ve added to their fares and started an upgrade of business and first-class seating. so malaysian airlines is one to look out for. the stock is down 10% so far this year.

>> what is likely to dominate trading in australia today?

>> well, i might remark to you quickly that the new zealand market is at a record, only 10 points from 3,000 points and could reach that later today or this week. australia’s asx 200 had its fourth consecutive record yesterday. today, watch out for retail stocks. they have been dominating the market lately, coles myer, woolworth. we have retail sales for october coming out at 11:30 sydney time in australia so those stocks could be the ones in the focus of investors.

>> thank you. japanese industrial production probably held near a six-month low in october. economists surveyed by bloomberg estimate factory output rose .1% following a drop in september. japanese companies are shedding inventories on concern demand for japanese exports is slowing. figures are due at 8:50 a.m. in tokyo. japan releases october employment and household spending numbers today. japan’s unemployment rate probably remained at 4.6%. both indicators are due at 8:30 a.m. in tokyo. malaysia’s economic growth probably slowed from its fastest pace in four years. economists surveyed by bloomberg estimate malaysia’s economy expanded 7% compared to a year ago, the slowest pace of the year. malaysia’s exports are slowing. record oil prices cut global demand. southeast asia’s number three economy reports third-quarter g.d.p. this afternoon in kuala lumpur. in news outside the business world, ukrainian president leonid kuchma backs a recount for the election of his successor.

>> very good morning to you. leonid kuchma favors either a recount or rerun of ukraine’s presidential election in the country’s two eastern regions. these two regions supported prime minister viktor yanukovich whom kuchma met with yesterday. kuchma warned of economic collapse, saying the country may fold up like a house of cards. protestors supporting yushchenko shut keiv, closed businesses, government buildings and blocked roads. lawmakers may consider a vote of no confidence in yanukovich today. the united nations secretary general kofi annan says he’s disappointed to learn his son was paid by a company being investigated for its role in iraq’s oil-for-food program. the 29-year-old received $125,000 from the geneva-based company. the payments ran for four years until february of this year. kofi annan said he thought his son stopped receiving pay in 1998 and says there’s a perception problem for the u.n. for conflict of interest. the u.n. program ran until a year ago. u.s. investigators believe saddam hussein stole $121 billion from the scheme. osama bin laden’s top lieutenant, al-zawahri, vows to carry on his war against the u.s. and will continue fighting the u.s. until its policies towards muslims change. the al qaeda leader made the comments on a videotape aired by al jazeera. the associated press said the video did not specify what policies should be altered and it wasn’t clear if the video was made before or after the november 2 u.s. presidential election. that’s world news.

>> thank you. back to business. exxon-mobil starts work on a oil refinery in china in the southern if you gene province. the official said aramco and exxon expect the plant to process nearly a quarter billion barrels of oil a day. china consumes 6.2 million barrelss of oil a day. after the break, shares of wal-mart suffered their biggest drop in a year. learn what’s happening at the world’s largest retailer, next on “ live.”

Interview: Doug Duncan --- Fedex

steel markers keep rolling along. allegheny technologies up over 10%. nucor up 5.67%. gains were fueled by comment made by nissan motors who said it does not have enough steel so nissan will cut production at plants for the next five days. steel makers have benefited from global trends with demand globally soaring. back to our top story, the state of the holiday shopping season. you heard from the c.e.o. of federated department stores in the last segment, terry lundgren talked about the hot selling items. let’s take it a step further and look at the shippers, companies like fedex freight that haul packages to your home and office. ellen braitman spoke to chief executive doug duncan. he expects to be busy this season.
>> retailers a big part of your business. how busy were you welling into―leading into the holiday season as retailers stocked shelves?

>> we have such a broad group of transportation services. we start seeing christmas merchandise in the heavy shipments probably mid to late summer and we believe we’re seeing the building of a very strong retail season.

>> can you give us a sense how it compares with last year? one of the issues this year is that the pace of growth seems to be slowing down.

>> well, that’s not what we see in our business. our business and our chief economist sees a good expansion in the overall economy led by the industrial sector. we’re seeing retailers are building now. this year we have three extra shopping days so we’re gearing up for a strong retail season. to give you an idea, we’re forecasting on december 13 will be our biggest day. we believe we’ll handle about 7.7 million packages that day, which is a 40% increase over our normal daily volume. that’s on top of the 70 million pound of freight we handle every day in the freight network.

>> that december 13 activity, that’s not the freight business but individual packages going from and to individuals?

>> that’s the package business. the week of december 13 for fedex ground is our biggest week. that’s where we’ll hit our peak and for fedex express, the air express network, somewhere around december 20 will be the peak day for them.

>> give us a sense across the business in terms of retail, what kinds of goods, what area of goods are the most popular?

>> well, at this point we’re seeing growth in all segments of retail but i think we’re especially seeing―expecting luxury goods to be really strong this christmas. that’s the sense we’re getting from talking to our major retail customers.

>> give us a sense, also, geographically. any sense there?%

>> i don’t think so, ellen. i can’t break out difference in geographics. i think we are seeing an expanding economy and i think it’s broad based all over the country.

>> and one interesting thing with retailers is certainly a real sense they’re trying to keep inventories lean so as not to have to do too many sales. any sense about reorders, whether you’re bringing more back to stores that perhaps didn’t order enough ahead of the holidays?

>> that’s an area where we do see a big change in the freight business. years ago, the freight business used to be basically over for the retail season around thanksgiving. but the retailers are doing a much better job on fast-cycle logistics and just-in-time inventories and we’re handling freight shipments do restockings literally right up to christmas.

>> what about the recent price increase you put into place? any slowdown yet in your business because of that price increase?

>> no, ellen. we provide a great degree of certainty, which customers need to exercise just-in-time inventories and fast-sinel logistics so they use the certainty of our network to help them reduce inventory costs which is a much bigger part of the puzzle than the transportation costs. so i think we’re bringing a real value-added service to these retailers that are doing such a great job on fast-cycle logistics.

>> that was ellen braitman with fedex freight chief executive doug duncan. shares of parent company, fedex, ended friday unchanged but for the year the stock supnearly 42%. oracle has taken the next step in the takeover battle for peoplesoft, planning a proxy battle for control of its rival. oracle has nominated four new directors to peoplesoft’s board. if elected, the board would likely drop peoplesoft’s poison pill defense against oracle, opening the door for oracle to complete its $8ant 8 billion takeover of -- $8.8 billion takeover of peoplesoft. oracle shares down 1% on the day and peoplesoft shares little changed. we’ll bring you a preview of the week ahead in europe and latest from the pacific rim when we come back.

在线播报
Listen Market briefing --- Bob (medium)
Interview: Holiday Shopping Seasona ---Mr Lundgren
>> welcome back to “world financial report.” i’m bob bowden, recapping the day on wall street. the major indexes did not move much -- concern foreign central banks may trim holdings in u.s. government debt. the dollar fell for the seventh straight week versus the euro, the longest losing streak in 10 months. a mixed market on the yen, the dollar up against the yen but down against the euro, the euro finishing at 1.32 91. martha stewart living omnimedia, former chairman and largest outside holder, jeffrey ubben, sold more than half his stake in the company this month as shares reached their highest price in more than two years. you see in the three-year chart, up 37%. regulatory filings show ubben’s holding company sold the shares. investors drove up optimism that martha stewart’s return to the company and kmart’s purchase of sears will boost shares. shares of martha stewart living omnimedia have risen 121% since march and doubling since stewart said she wanted to start serving her prison term. new york mercantile exchange floor trading reopens on monday. crude oil at $49.44 a barrel on the nymex in the three-day week that ended wednesday. russia’s biggest oil exporter may be liquidated. the fate of yukos will be decided next month. shareholders will vote on whether to liquidate the assets or declare bankruptcy. the board considered an anti-crisis program to help pay back taxes owed. but that plan is unlikely to work now as the government is auctioning off yukos’s biggest production unit. the vote on possible liquidation takes place december 20. you snooze, you lose, that’s what many americans seem to think as they got up early and went shopping looking for bargains. it’s known as black friday, the official start of the holiday shopping season. mike schneider spoke with terry lundgren, chief executive of federated department stores, which owns macy’s and bloomingdale’s. mr. lundgren talked about holiday shopping season expectations.

>> what do you expect this year to look like?

>> we expect november to be flat to 2% up, december to be 1 to 3% up. for the quarter, 1.5% to 3% for the fourth quarter for federated.

>> you feel comfortable with those numbers?

>> yes.

>> we mentioned before about you may have heard this previously about the e-commerce. describe how that impacts your operation?

>> we have macys.com and it is growing quickly. it’s still a small base for our size but it is positive and this year we’re introducing watch and shop and you can go to the website and click on the merchandise that is on the commercials and order it from there. we’re growing along with this business and feel good about it.

>> you have direct mail catalogs. does e-commerce supplement that?

>> we have direct mail intended to buy from only for bloomingdale’s and we think there is a catalog shopper but clearly the growth is from the online shopper.

>> give me a sense of―we’ve seen people in the video earlier this morning banging through doors to get into stores but is there one hot item out there this year drawing people in or not? it doesn’t seem like there’s any specific item people are going crazy for.

>> in our case there are several. our case is different than other stores. fragrance is a big business and celebrity fragrance is hot this year. we have a great read on that this morning. britney spears, beyonce and donald trump have fragrances sold at our stores off the shelves.

>> tell me about luxury items. do you have any specific -- cashmere sweaters or something like that―where you’re projecting how things will be this year compared to last year?
　

>> cashmere is a strong seller for us. we almost sold out last year. it sold so well late that we did not think it was going to sell as well and we marked it down. this year we bought the amount of inventory that is selling better this year than last year so we think the affordable luxury is important for us.

>> you’re in the process of changing names in stores around the country. having lived and worked in south florida, the burdines name is one i’m familiar with. why was that necessary ownd how do you think that will impact business going forward?

>> burdines, a great name in florida. rich’s, great name in atlanta but you can’t expand those names when you think about it. you can’t take burdines to new york or other states. but the macy’s brand and the bloomingdale’s brand are two of the best names in all of retailing and so why not expand them? we tested it with consumers, hyphenated the name in florida, burdines-macy’s all year long and we’re having one of the best years in history so we made the decision. the go-forward plan is all stores will be either macy’s or plads starting―bloomingdale’s starting march of next year.

>> shares of federated on the day up .6%. 34-cent gain on the day. up next, the shopping rush is on but what about shipping? you’ll hear from the c.e.o. of fedex freight to see what kind of volume will be done this year.

Interview: Energy Secretary --- Spencer Abraham
>> energy secretary spencer abraham is one of six members of president bush’s cabinet announcing resignations this month. the secretary sat down with peter cook this week to talk about the last four years and his decision to leave the administration.

>> thank you for your time today. you decided to step down from your position. why is this the right time to resign?

>> i’m almost the long longest serving energy secretary in history and it’s been a great experience. i’ve very much enjoyed working for the president but i’m the only member of the current cabinet that has three elementary aged children so there are other family issues that have been balanced against the work we do in this job and we decided this was the right time to move on to something new but clearly it’s been a great privilege for me and look forward to continuing to be involved in politics and public affairs but from a different vantage point in the future.

>> you’ve had a busy time at the energy department. you had the blackout of 2003, the california power crisis just as you came into office. you pushed the recommendation for the president to move forward with the yucca mountain project. just a few of the things you’ve had to handle. what’s been the biggest challenge?

>> as a country, america’s energy security challenges have been dominating in the last few years and i predict they’ll be even more so in the future. we’re a country that keeps growing, our economy keeps growing and we need to meet that demand for energy consistent with a clean environment so trying to address those technologies and moving ahead with a way to address the nuclear waste industry, that’s been a big part of the job. it’s also, because of the nature of the department, we’ve done a lot of focus on issues related to national security, nuclear nonproliferation challenges also being a dominant issue during my years as secretary.

>> let me ask you about something that hasn’t happened during your time as secretary, an energy bill. to what extent are you frustrated that as you prepare to leave the job that you have not seen successfully an energy bill come out of congress?

>> when we announced the president’s energy plan, it had 105 recommendations, 95 of which we’ve been able to implement with executive action so it’s important for america to know we haven’t stood still. the remaining provisions, of which there are about 10, still need to be passed by congress. i’d love to have seen congress finish that job but the composition of the next congress will be such that we will pass an energy bill and i think we also will eliminate restrictions on developing alaska oil for america’s energy security needs so i’m optimistic it will happen soon and it doesn’t better me very much that i won’t be in this job when it happens.

>> you have no doubt that the next congress will pass legislation opening the arctic national wildlife refuge to%  energy development?

>> i believe they will. i’d be very disappointed if they didn’t. i think the votes are there now and congressional leadership and the administration will work together to accomplish it. in my judgment, it should happen. you could never, of course, totally predict the future. but certainly the votes are there now for this to happen so my expectations are high and my view of this is positive.

>> i want to ask you about oil. here we are in the year 2004, we have energy, oil prices near $50 with a record high over $55 a barrel. nobody being have anticipated this when you first took office but is this something now that you think american companies and businesses need to prep for prices, say, above $40 a barrel for the foreseeable future?

>> our own projections are that we’ll see prices high into 2005. we have a tight market . we have a lot of worldwide demand increases we’re trying to demand including demand in asia that is rising. that’s a good sign of a strong, positive growing economy but i think you’ll see tight markets well into the future. what this argues for is not only developing anwr but also developing new energy technologies that allow for better extraction capability that allow for us to develop alternative fuels like hydrogen. we have to go back to the president’s energy plan and make sure it’s fully implemented on a long-term basis. otherwise, these periodic price surges will continue to afflict us.

>> are you convinced the opec members have done everything they can to boost supply?

>> i don’t think anybody doubt they’re producing at near full throttle. the problem is there has not been sufficient investment either in those countries or other parts of the world in terms of new production for the future. one of the top priorities, i think, for the world in the next few years is to try to make sure that sufficient investment in new energy projects, new oil and gas development projects, takes place. that―hopefully, the high prices we’re experiencing now will prompt that type of investment but it really is something that has to be a top priority item.

>> mr. secretary, thanks for the time.%

>> good to be with you.

>> energy secretary spencer abraham, former u.s. senator from michigan, does not rule out another run for office, he said. up next, positioning your portfolio for the new year. should you invest in financial stocks at a time when the fed is raising interest rates? you’ll hear from the experts when we come back.

在线播报
Listen Market briefing --- Bob (medium)
NYSE--- Julie (slow)
Nasdaq --- June (slow)
Holiday shopping season --- Su (fast)
welcome to “world financial report.” i’m bob bowden. stocks ended the friday session little changed. all three indexes could be described as little changed. virtually no motion in the dow, s&p and nasdaq on the shorened friday trading session. some conflicts reports out of china affecting the currency markets today. a chinese newspaper said the government moved money out of u.s. t bills to avoid losses from the weakening dollar. an official from china central bank denied knowledge of any action taken against the dollar. there’s speculation the european central bank will not step in to stop the euro’s rise, leading some banks to cut their forecasts for the dollar. when all was does and―said and done, this is the response on the mixed currency market for the day. that china story affecting the bond market , as well. investors are concerned china and other central banks will sell bonds because of the weakening dollar. according to the latest figure, china is the second biggest holder of u.s. debt after japan with about 174 billion dollars in holding. on wall street, the s&p and dow rose for the third week in four and steel makers led gains in the session. for more on the day’s trading action, here’s a report from julie hyman at the new york stock exchange.

>> even though stocks were little changed in today’s session, both the dow and s&p ended higher. the s&p, earlier in the shortened trading day, hit its highest since august 2001. it hit that level about two weeks ago and hit it again today. helped today from an unusual or unexpected industry, the steel makers, very strong today after a report that nissan would halt production at three plants due to lack of raw material, in this case steel. we saw steel makers rising, allegheny technology, u.s. steel, nucor and alcoa supporting the dow on that report. another metal doing well, gold trading near a 16-year high as the dollar declines. gold producing stocks doing well today with the gold and silver index higher. newmont mining, anglogold and goldcorp gaining. drug stocks gaining today. it looks like folks were buying up pharmaceutical stocks which have been beat up for the year to date, down just about 12% as a group for the year, the second worst performing industry group after semiconductors. some of the gainers in the session, merck, forest labs as well as pfizer. we talked to folks about whether they thought the rally would continue throughout the year. so far this quarter, the s&p 500 is up 6%. we talked to jeff saut, chief investment strategist with raymond james. he thinks there is more room for growth before year’s end. peter boockvar, equity strategist with miller tabak thinks we’ll stall from here until the end of the year because we have gained so much thus far and he thinks a lid will be put on growth in the markets because of the decline in the dollar and gains in interest rates. i’m julie hyman.

>> the nasdaq closed unchanged for the day and for the week added 1.5%. june grasso has details on today’s trading from the nasdaq marketsite.

>> shares of semiconductors were a drag on the nasdaq today. take a look at the philadelphia semiconductor index. industry group says global sales of semiconductors rose 22% in october from a year earlier. the semiconductor industry association said worldwide chip sales climbed 1.5% from september, a moderate degree of growth reflecting high inventories. fourth-quarter sales are expected to be essentially flat from the third quarter. leading the semiconductors lower we had intel, linear technology, kla-tencor, xilinx and we have hear many chip companies concerned about high inventories.apple computer advancing. analysts expect the company to announce in january that quarterly profit increased over the same period last year with the ipod digital music player surging in popularity and sales. shares have been climbing since monday when piper jaffray analyst gene munster said the stock may reach $100 within a year citing a survey that the ipod is boosting sales of other apple products. google shares rallied after a goldman sachs note suggesting shares may reach $215. anthony naoto rated the stock outperform in new coverage citing the prospect of 25% per-share earnings growth from 2006 to fort. overstock.com reached an all-time high today. taser share, biggest maker of stun guns, decline after a “new york times” report that a u.s. government study found the weapons could be dangerous. a company said that a study found the stun guns had no adverse effects and the company stands by that statement. i’m june grasso, bloomberg news.

>> taser shares have more than tripled year to date. this is the day the retailing industry waits all year for, black friday marking the official kickoff to the holiday shopping season when some retailers become profitable for the first time in the year. su keenan has more.

>> a lot of shopping going on out there. last year, the day after thanksgiving, proved to be the busiest shopping day of the year. analysts say this holiday season higher energy and medical costs may cause consumers to hold back at the cash registers. sales are expected to rise 4.5%, slightly less than last year’s record gain of 5%. nationwide, consumers are expected to spend $220 billion during this month and next. federated c.e.o. terry lundgren cautiously optimistic.

>> we expect november to be flat to 2% up and november 1% to 3% up.

>> toys ‘r’ us says the shopping season is off to a strong start with people lining up around the block as they opened stores at 5:00 a.m. this morning. >> people spend up to their budget in many cases. when they look to cut back, rarely do they cut back in toys. you have the regular big gifts and then stocking stuffer gifts, as well.

>> good year for the economy, he says. as for online retailers, sales forecasts are more optimistic. some sites, like radioshack dot com, began promotions yesterday. jupiter research believes easier to use sites and faster internet access are fueling sales.

>> we’ll have 83 million people shopping online this year versus 75 last year so it’s a big increase.%  that’s where the sales increase in online shop suggest coming from, new shoppers.

>> as for the most popular gifts this season --

>> the whole sweater and outerwear business could represent 15% to 20% of some company’s sales and the sweater business has gone through a cycle with boredom and there’s innovative new product in the marketplace and vests have been popular and ponchos working well in the fall season so we’re headed for a solid overall sweater, outerwear business this year.

>> despite the sweater boredom issue. another hot item on the wish list, holiday gift cards, more than half consumers want them, the cards with the money in them.

>> innovation in the outerwear industry, according to that last guest.

>> good to know.

>> yeah. up next, conversation with outgoing energy secretary spencer abraham, he talks about his four years in the bush administration, the prospect of higher oil prices and much more.

Crude oil --- Su (fast)

>> expect a cloudy morning with areas of drizzle in sydney, chiefly around the coast, warmer and sunny in the afternoon. the high temperature, 24 degrees celsius. cattle prices rise to a 16-week high in chicago as a suspected case of mad cow disease turned out to be a false alarm. the test result may help u.s. efforts to revive beef exports, which sales collapsed 11 months ago after a cow was found to have the disease. there have been three false alarms since then. cattle prices for february delivery rose 2.4% to their highest since july 28. shares of the biggest u.s. beef producer, tyson foods, rose more than 3%. mcdonald’s shares rose .6%. crude oil rises in new york for the fourth session. the energy department reports u.s. stockpiles of natural gas fell for the second week. su keenan has more details.
>> fimat’s john kilduff predicted the bulls would sweat more than turkeys today as temperatures in new york rose almost 20 degrees above normal. analysts say this is the time of year where weather is more likely to drive oil prices than supply. today’s latest government report on crude oil and home heating oil supplies was seen as bearish.

>> the crude oil is coming on strong, another week of 10 million barrel-a-day plus imports can only spell lower prices.

>> initially in the trading, we did see lower prices. the numbers, the nation’s crude stockpiles rose by 85,000 barrels. the big surprise came in the one million barrel gain in supplies of distillate fuel, including home heating oil and diesel, the first gain in 10 weeks. the report initially caused crude oil to tumble from their highest prices in two weeks before rebounding on concern over the drop in natural gas supplies. in the words of marshall steeves, a serious supply reduction or drop in temperature could put oil back above $50 a barrel in a heartbeat.

>> if we have a cold december, that could be very problematic and bullish for prices and if we get an arctic blast in the northeast, where a lot of home heating oil is consumed, in december, i think we could revisit the highs in heating oil we saw in october.

>> heating oil futures have rallied 76% in the past year and crude oil has rallied 65% in new york trading. back to you.

>> su keenan in new york. a.i.g. agrees to pay $126 million to settle allegations it helped clients inflate profits. the world’s largest insurer says it’s paying an $80 million fine to u.s. regulators. a.i.g. will return $46 million it earned helping p.n.c. financial services remove bad loans from its books. a separate probe by new york attorney general eliot spitzer looks into whether a.i.g. colluded with insurers to win business. a.i.g. shares fell as much as 24% when spitzer announced the probe. time warner may pay as much as half a billed to settle―half a billion dollar to settle probes whether it improperly booked sales to the america online unit. the world’s biggest media company may agree to settlement next month. time warner and regulators still disagree on whether any employees may be accused of wrongdoing. oracle has to return to court with peoplesoft. a judge―delaware chancery court told lawyers representing the companies to prepare for additional trial dates on december 13 and 14. the ruling will determine whether oracle’s chief executive, larry ellison, will be able to proceed with the offer to peoplesoft. peoplesoft has rejected oracle’s offer five somes since june 2003, saying it wants more money. a.i.g. and eight other investors will buy an 18% stake in hong kong’s first real estate investment trust. the city’s government says the nine institutional investors will buy $572 million in shares. hong kong will raise money selling shares in what would be the world’s biggest property trust. the city’s property market has rebounded after an extended slump. air inia plans to buy 50 aircraft from airbus and boeing to expand capacity and fly to more cities. the state-owned airline says it will ask the aircraft makers to make bids. indian carriers are buying planes as rising income and expanding economy is increasing demand for air travel in india. coming up, the dollar falls to a record against the euro for the seventh time this month. we’ll ask a currency strategist in boston whether he thinks the e.c.b. will move to stem the currency depreciation.

在线播报
Listen Market briefing --- Cathy (medium)
Tokyo market--- Shobi (slow)
Ukrainian --- Paul (slow)

good morning and welcome to “ live” from hong kong. i’m catherine yang. there’s plenty in store for you in this edition of “ live.” we’ll go live into the top story, the dollar’s tumble. coming up, the holiday shopping season kicks off in the u.s. some say it will be the strongest year of christmas sales in four years. we’ll speak with the head of a u.s. firm that specializes in retail forecasting. australia predicts a smaller wheat harvest this year. we’ll hear from the man in charge of the nation’s wheat monopoly. we’ll wrap up u.s. stock market action with reports from the nyse and nasdaq and set the agenda for asia with live market reports. the dollar fell as far as 1.3184 against the euro, its seventh record low this month. traders say the lack of action from the european central bank continues to push the euro higher against the u.s. currency. one portfolio manager says the e.c.b. remains silent since the bank’s president called the move brutal. the dollar fell against the yen as the bank of japan failed to step into the market . the bank of japan has not sold yen in the market since last month. the falling dollar boosts gold prices. gold futures rose for the third session in the past four, hitting a 16-year high in new york on wednesday. the falling dollar makes the precious metal cheaper for investors who can buy gold with non-dollar currency. on wall street, a government report showed an unexpected fall in the jobless rate last week and the markets rose. jobless claims fell by 12,000 last week to 323,000, the lowest in almost three months. one analyst said that profited the labor market . durable goods orders unexpectedly fell to $196 billion on slowing demand for car and computers. rising cost of oil, fuel and other raw materials may have caused manufacturers to cut orders. u.s. markets will be closed on thursday and reopen on friday for a shortened trading day. asian stocks traded in the u.s. rose led by commodity stocks like cnooc and b.h.p. billiton. the bank of new york a.d.r. index rose .4%. the benchmark two-year note yield rose above 3% for the first time since june 2002. an improved labor market may mean the fed will continue to raise interest rates at a measured pace, which may hold down bond prices. natural gas prices jumped 17% as u.s. supplies dropped more than expected. that raises concerns about possible shortages of the fuel for the winter. it was the biggest rise in gas prices in 21 months. falling prices may increase be demand for oil. earlier in the session, prices declined after reports showed growing stockpiles of crude and heating oil. crude closed at $49.45 in regular trade. japan’s trading surplus probably widened at a slower rate last month as exports cooled. economists surveyed by bloomberg expect japan’s surplus expanded 2.8% in october, less than 1/5 the average rate of expansion. the rising cost of oil makes imports more expensive. japan imports almost all of its oil. japan releases october trade figures this morning. japan stocks start trading 10 minutes after the trade report. shobi pereira is in tokyo with a look at the stocks to watch in japan.
>> u.f.j., let’s start with banks, u.f.j. widened its loss forecast to 750 billion yen or $7.3 billion. the bank is trying to clear bad loans before merging with mitsubishi tokyo next year. u.f.j. has not posted an annual profit since it was formed in 2001. the bank is also the subject of a criminal investigation for hiding bad loans. mitsubishi tokyo yesterday reported a 43% decline in first-half net income and said its bad loans rose by more than 1/4 in three months. both banks announce earnings after the markets close. mitsubishi tokyo’s a.d.r.’s fell .6% overnight in new york. the equity% at societe general asset management says mitsubishi tokyo has to explain how it’s going to improve profitability going forward on the basis of the merger with u.f.j. mitsubishi tokyo wants to buy u.f.j. to expand in osaka, cities outside of tokyo, and reducing bad loans at u.f.j. would allow merger partners to boost its more profitable consumer banking business. the “nihon keizai” says shinsei bank and rakuten securities will ally on online brokerage services. the report says that in january shinsei will allow visitors on its website to open brokerages accounts with rakuten. turning to nissan, amongst the automakers, the “nihon keizai” newspaper reporting that nissan will suspend three of its four domestic factories because the company has difficulty obtaining steel materials. the closure is for five days over the next two weeks and the report says that nippon steel and its other main supplier are unable to increase output. what this means in terms of cars produced is a delay in the production of 25,000 popular vehicles. the report says that nissan will make up the lost production by operating the factories for extra hours after january. that’s how it’s looking for now, cathy. back to you in hong kong.

>> may be worth buying a second-hand car for now. asian commodity stocks rise in u.s. trade. korea’s biggest steel maker, posco, advanced after chinese rival increased steel sheet prices. china’s biggest offshore oil producer, cnooc, also advanced. ukraine’s opposition leader calls for a national strike after the company’s disputed presidential election. paul gordon has more on that in world news. good morning, paul.

>> very good morning to you. viktor yushchenko and supporters say rail lines and airports should be blocked and universities closed in the u.k., alleging fraud in the election board’s decision that prime minister viktor yanukovich won the presidential election. the united states and germany also rejected the results. u.s. secretary of state colin powell warned there would be consequences for u.s.-ukrainian relations if the vote count is not renewed. the election standoff as u.s. president george w. bush in opposition to russian president vladimir putin. putin spoke out in favor of yanukovich and said the official election results are valid. former central bank governor yushchenko wants closer ties with the european union and prime minister yanukovich wants closer ties with russia. he was picked as the candidate by the former president, kuchma. iran has asked the united nations nuclear watch dog to partially exempt it. iran wants to operate 24 centrifuges for research. iran agreed to suspend all uranium enrichment programs. the international atomic energy agency meets to review the country’s compliance. syria says its ready to―it’s ready to reopen talks with israel over the goal golan heights. the u.n. envoy reiterated he has an outstretched hand to israeli counterparts and is willing to go to the table. syrian peace negotiations with israel collapsed in 2000. that’s it for world news. back to you? the studio.

>> thank you, paul. after the break, cattle prices rise to a 16-week high after the u.s. finds no evidence to support suspicions of the case of mad cow disease. details to come.

Asia-Pacific Region markets

>> 9:12 a.m. in sydney. a shower or two this morning in the city chiefly along the coast followed by a dry, partly cloudy afternoon. the high temperature, 22 degrees celsius. asian export stocks like canon decline on concern the dollar will continue to weaken. a weak dollar reduces the dollar of u.s. earnings. the bank of new york index of japanese a.d.r.’s fell .4%. shobi pereira is in tokyo with a look at the stocks to watch this morning in japan. good morning, shobi.
>> the “nihon keizai” is reporting that mitsui trust holdings is to borrow money to repay taxpayer funds. the report says mitsui trust holdings will raise about 100 billion yen through subordinated loans and bonds. mitsui trust plans to raise about 50 billion yen from subordinated loans through japanese investors and sell about 50 billion abroad. the newspaper says this is the first time in 20 years the bank will raise money from capital markets . so far, the stock is up 30%. the company had 630 billion yen in public funds as of late september. it borrowed money from the government. in terms of electronic stocks, watch sanyo electric, world’s biggest maker of digital cameras. “nikkei news” says sanyo has increased its stake in a refrigerator making venture in thailand as part of a bid to overhaul production in southeast asia. moving on to keek min―kiko min’s plans, to build a thai plant to make del monte products. the report says that kikoman will set up a joint venture with two thai companies to operate the factory. so far this year, shares of kikkoman have been trading up 25%. the company produces and markets soy sauce, alcoholic beverages and other food products. yamanouchi pharmaceuticals said on monday after the market closed that it received approval from the u.s. food and drug administration to sell its urinary treatment. as you know, yamanouchi will buy rival pharmaceutical in april next year.

>> shares of mcdonald’s rallied more than 2% today as james skinner is chosen to lead the restaurant chain. former chief executive charles bell has resigned to concentrate on fighting cancer.

>> the change in the top executive job comes as the company pushes to revive sales in europe. vice chairman james skinner who replaces bell as c.e.o. is an insider, starting at mcdonald’s 33 years ago as a management trainee. analysts including jack russo broadly applaud the company’s choice for succession. his quote, “i think the big issue is charlie, i hope his health gets better.” charles bell who is leaving the company to focus on his fight against cancer has been running the company only since april when former chief james cantalupo died of an apparent heart attack. skinner worked closely with his predecessors in developing a strategy to expand sales by expanding the menu and adding salads. mcdonald’s is trying to repeat the success in europe. skinner, who is 60 years old, has been responsible for the chain’s 30,000 restaurants worldwide. as president and chief executive officer. prior to that, he was mcdonald’s european president. in july, bell put skinner in charge of restaurants in asia, middle east, africa and latin america. mcdonald stock has gained more than 21% this year. janice sampson says europe is where they need the turnaround now. he says skinner needs to reassure employees they will stay the course. morgan stanley analyst said in a note he does not expect the change to alter mcdonald’s strategy or growth goals. piper jaffray’s analyst expects stores open more than a year to continue prosperity. charlie bell pushed mcdonald’s into the $17 billion-a-year market for deli sandwiches, the fastest growing segment of the fast food industry.

>> su keenan in new york. mcdonald’s targets health conscious eaters in china. mcdonald’s unveiled the strategy on the same day its chief executive retired. mcdonald’s says it will sell rice-filled tory itias in china later today.

>> we do believe that in the long term we will be hitting and gating our goals―achieving our goals of driving more customers into the restaurant and having a fun, enjoyable experience.

>> mcdonald’s is broadening its menu in china as it prepares to open more than 100 restaurants there next year. k.f.c. already has 1,000 restaurant in china. a former advocate for balanced budget, retiring from the bush administration.

在线播报
Listen Market briefing --- Cathy (fast)

good morning, welcome to “ live” from hong kong. we’ll focus on the dollar in the next half hour of “ live” and hear from former treasury secretary robert rubin. in 20 minutes, we’ll speak with a currency strategist who will tell you where he sees the dollar headed next. also, cingular’s decision to cut jobs, wal-mart’s decision to use workers in china and mcdonald’s strategy for the european market . protestors in the ukraine step up demands to annul the country’s presidential election. paul gordon has that story and more.
>> the protests in keiv come as viktor yushchenko declares himself president before hundreds of thousands of his supporters. the organization for security and cooperation in europe which monitored the vote says there is evidence that last weekend’s election was rigged. russian president vladimir putin criticized the observers, saying it’s too soon to pass judgment as official results have yet to be announced. a television station says yushchenko’s opponent, prime minister viktor yanukovich, is also preparing to declare himself president. dan rather is stepping down as “cbs evening news” lead anchor, to leave in march 2005 after 24 years in the job. in september, rather apologized for a report questioning president george w. bush’s national guard service, saying the report was based on false documents. 73-year-old rather is the longest serving lead u.s. television news anchor. cbs says he will continue to work as a coordinate for “60 minutes.” u.s. and iraqi troops pursue insurgents who led the ground assault on fallujah. one military officer said 32 suspected insurgents were captured in his area of% operation.% he said, “we’re going to keep them reeling, not let them breathe and pursue them wherever we find them.” the u.s.-led coalition is fighting in central and northern iraq to subdue armed rebels before the january elections. tony blair to be the first british prime minister in 156 years to face a call for impeachment. 23 lawmakers will introduce a motion seeking an investigation into whether blair haduld be impeached over the iraq invasion as blair said before the war that iraq had concealed weapons of mass destruction. lawmakers will vote on the measure on december 1. the last british prime minister to face calls for impeachment was in 1848.

>> thank you, paul. back to business. euro rises to a record against the dollar for the sixth time this month, reaching as high as 1.3103 in the session. there’s concern about the record trade and budget deficits in the u.s. president george bush says he backs a strong dollar. former treasury secretary robert rubin says bush needs to act on his promises.

>> our fiscal policies at the present time are not sound but i think that that can be reestablished. it’s a question of political will and i think that having a strong currency is very much in our interest.

>> the dollar gains against the yen on speculation japan will sell its currency to slow its rise. the yen rose to a 4 1/2 year high against the dollar on friday, prompting japan to say it’s monitoring foreign exchange markets closely.

>> it’s clear at the 103,103.5 area, we’ve seen stepping up of verbal intervention and historically, the specific warnings of intervention.

>> japan’s not the only country concerned the dollar’s decline will hurt its exports. traders say south korea’s won declined after the bank of korea sold the currency to stem the high. crude oil rises to $50 in the day’s trade.

>> so far, we’ve benefited from unseasonable warmth here, which has kept demand off but that’s really what the market is nervous about. if an early cold snap comes through next month when stocks aren’t at the level we’d hoped to see by now, you could see real spikes in heating oil prize.

>> new york crude touched $50 before closing near $49 a barrel. u.s. stocks erase earlier losses after oil prices retreated from $50 a barrel. the dow, s&p and nasdaq finished close to where they started. intel was the market ‘s worst performer after it was cut by csfb, the analyst saying it faces a few years of excess capacity. mcdonald’s gained after the fast-food chain named james skinner to replace charles bell as c.e.o. gains in chinese a.d.r.’s overcame losses of japanese shares. u.s. treasuries failed to hold earlier gains. the government is selling $24 billion of two-year notes. american international group agrees to settle probes from the securities and exchange commission and department of justice. the agencies have been investigating a.i.g.’s transactions, including products a.i.g. designed to help p.n.c. financial services group remove bad loans from its books. investigators are looking into an insurance policy they sold to bright point. a.i.g. didn’t disclose the terms of the settlement. new york attorney general eliot spitzer is probing a.i.g., as well, as he investigates collusion between insurers and brokers. viacom agrees to pay a record fine to settle indecency violations over remarks made by howard stern. the federal communications committee says the number three u.s. media company admitted some of its material was indecent. viacom owns cbs and mtv as well as the infinity broadcasting chain. viacom’s cbs unit is appealing a separate $550,000 fine after janet jackson exposed her breasts during this year’s super bowl halftime show on the network. cingular wireless plans to eliminate 7,000 jobs after the $41 billion acquisition of at&t wireless. the chief executive aims to cut $2 billion in costs by 2007. cingular overtook verizon wireless to become the largest mobile phone operator in the u.s. shares of the parent company, s.b.c. communications and bellsouth, slipped in extended trading. mitsubishi tokyo and u.f.j. holdings may report weaker first-half results today because of a slowdown in lending. mitsubishi tokyo plans to merge with u.f.j. holdings next october to create the world’s biggest lender by assets. profit at mitsubishi tokyo probably fell during the six months through september. as for u.f.j., japan’s number four bank may state it lost money in the first half writing off bad loans. japan’s stock market reopens today following a holiday tuesday. chinese telecom equipment maker z.t.e. will use most of its money from the planned i.p.o. to expand overseas. z.t.e. says it will focus on growing in emerging markets such as brazil and russia. z.t.e. plans to raise as much as $399 million u.s. from the i.p.o. next month. 60% of the money will go on international expansion and 40% into product development. wal-mart says it will allow employees in china to join unions. the world’s biggest retailer opposes unions in the u.s. and canada but says it would allow a union in china if employees request one. the company said in a statement that there are no unions in china because associates have not requested one be formed. wal-mart plans to have a total of 58 isores in china by next year. after the break, mcdonald’s chief executive boosting sales in japan. learn why the company is taking a healthy approach to increasing sales in china.

NYSE --- Julie (slow)
Asia markets --- Cathy (fast)

>> a view of the sydney opera house, showers from morning to night, high temperature at 21 degrees celsius. american airlines there as plans to purchase 54 boeing planes. the world’s largest carrier aims to save $2.7 billion by delaying delivery of the planes up to seven years. american is trying to cut costs to stem losses and compete with low-cost carriers. a.m.r. has lost $6.9 billion since the end of 2000. american plans to buy only boeing jets during that time period. credit suisse first boston banker frank quattrone is permanently barred from the securities industry by the nasdaq, sentenced to 18 months in prison for urging employees to destroy documents during a probe. the nasd says it barred quattrone because of his behavior and in its words, described as egregious. the organization says his refulve to testify in the investigation undermined the nasd’s ability to carry out its mandatory responsibilities. energy and utility stocks led gains on wall street monday. shares of krispy kreme dropped as much as 16% on lower earnings. julie hyman reports from the new york stock exchange.

>> the s&p 500 today rose for the third session in four. we were tracking closely to the price of oil as oil closed lower at the end of the day, stocks going higher. not a huge gain for either the dow or s&p, but a gain nonetheless. wins groups today included insurers, utilities as well as tech hardware stocks. just a general positive tone we had in the market today. also, energy stocks gaining a little bit of a paradox here since the price of oil declined. record highs in many of these stocks, including exxon-mobil, once again, getting 1% to reach a record high, as well as occidental, e.o.g. and valero energy within the group at record highs. campbell’s soup closing at its highest since march of 2002. the company says first-quarter profits and sales up 9%, beating analysts’ estimates, offering discounts and new products. we saw shares of pulitzer rising to a record after the company said was exploring strategic options, including potentially offering itself up for share. also, shares of krispy kreme donuts remarkable today for their drop, their biggest decline in about six months, trading at their lowest since the initial public offering in april of 2000. the company said it had a third-quarter loss because of the cost of closing stores. same-store sales declined. excluding those costs, the company had profit of four cents a share while analysts were looking for 13 cents a share. also shares of forest labs declining today after a downgrade at banc of america securities. analyst there is worried about generic competition to their lexipro antidepressant.

>> asia stocks fell in u.s. trade. taiwan semiconductor and other computer-related companies led declines. merrill lynch said personal computer sales will slow over the next two years. the bank of new york asia a.d.r. index fell for the third day. sony’s credit rating is cut for the first time in more than a decade by standard & poor’s. the rating company says competition is eroding sony’s earnings. s&p lowered sony’s long-term credit rating a level to the sixth highest, a, from a-plus. the outlook for the rating is negative. s&p said it is likely to lower it. the move may raise borrowing costs at a time when the company needs to invest more to develop new products. earnings at sony have slumped as the company loses share to apple computer and sharp. mizuho financial group says profit may rise because of lower costs to write off bad loans. it previously said it would probably post a decline. net income is forecast to rise to 440 billion yen. mizuho cut bad loans below a government target before the deadline. six quarters of economic recovery is helping companies pay debt. mizuho said monday its first-half profit fell 8% . the lender failed to earn sufficient fee incomes to make up for reduced gains from stock investment. sumitomo mitsui financial says first-half profit fell, booking higher losses to eliminate debt. the bank says full-year profit will probably fall 46% to 180 billion yen for the year. coming up, the dollar trades near a record low against the euro at a time when the bush administration backs a strong dollar policy. we’ll talk to a currency strategist about strengthening the dollar.

在线播报
Listen Market briefing --- Cathy (fast)
Peoplesoft --- Su (fast)
Iran--- Ron (slow)

good morning, welcome to “ live.” in 20 minutes, a currency strategist will tell you where he sees the dollar headed next. can asia handle another discount airline? learn how nok air plans to compete in this crowded field. also, we’ll have more on the oracle-peoplesoft battle in a full market report from the new york stock exchange. sony’s latest setback and japanese bank earnings. international policymakers failed to stop the dollar’s slide against the euro. the dollar came within half a cent of its record low against the euro in trading. president bush said his government has a strong dollar policy, but currency strategists doubt the president’s word.

>> i look at the last lee or four days, it seems pretty clear that u.s. policymakers have opted on toward a policy of letting the dollar weaken as long as the weakness is orderly.

>> mccormick said the dollar will continue falling until policymakers step in.

>> our expectations are that the euro will peak somewhere around midyear 2005 near the 1.40 level. i think once you get there -- and you’re starting to see it at the $1.30 level―markets recognize it could have pain on the euro zone economy.

>> the dollar rebounded from a 4 1/2 year low against the yen after the yen was said to be climbing too rapidly.

>> at this point, it’s anyone’s guess but the closer we get to 100 i would think there would be increased pressure for them to step into the market .

>> the yen rose into the 102 range friday for the first time since march 2000. the international monetary fund cut its forecast for world economic growth next year, saying near record oil prices and the u.s. budget deficit may limit global growth to 4% next year. the i.m.f.’s managing director made the comments at a news conference in warsaw, polan. the u.s. economy is growing at a slower-than-expected percentage. gerhard schroeder encouraged the u.s. to trim its deficit, which he singled out as a reason behind the euro’s gain. the i.m.f. projected the world economy will grow 5% this year. oil prices fall on speculation the mild weather in the u.s. northeast means heating oil splice may be adequate for winter demand. another reason for the price drop is slower economic growth may lower demand for oil. on wall street, u.s. stocks rise as oil prices retreat. the dow climbs .3%, the s&p and nasdaq up more than .5%. citigroup sells its unit to general electric for $4.4 billion in cash. apple computer shares surged to a four-year high. an analyst from piper jaffray says apple shares may reach $100. he made the prediction after surveying 200 ipod users who said they already own a mcintosh or plan to within a year. shares of microsoft and other technology companies closed lower after merrill lynch says growth in personal computers will slow in the next two years. the bank of new york a.d.r. index falls almost .5%. treasuries rise on hopes an increase in the fed’s target interest rate will keep inflation under control. futures contract show a 90% chance policymakers will raise rates to 2.25%. japanese 10-year bonds climb to their highest in 10 months on speculation the dollar’s decline will hurt exports and slow growth. exports make up a 10th of the japanese economy. japan’s markets are closed today for a holiday. oracle shares closed lower after peoplesoft directors said they would not discuss a purchase unless oracle raises its bid. this is the latest in the 17-month takeover battle between the two companies. su keenan has details on that story.
>> this is a standoff that focuses attention on a delaware judge’s decision later this week and raises concerns that this struggle between the two software companies could be an equally lengthy proxy fight. as of friday, 60% of peoplesoft shareholders voted to support oracle’s bid. steve cohen says that should make it hard for peoplesoft’s board to block discussions.

>> well more than a majority of the shareholders found this bid to be acceptable. as a matter of fact, if you exclude the stock that’s critical affiliated with the management, the percentage that tendered is considerably higher.

>> oracle is calling the situation an impasse and sent peoplesoft’s board a letter today saying it continues to believe $21 a share is a fair price for peoplesoft, that analysts’ price targets were not incredible. the next step is to go to a delaware courtroom. one attorney says oracle may not get what it wants from the judge.

>> generally reluct reluctant to step into the day-to-day operations of the company, especially to overrule something as significant as a poison pill. so i don’t think oracle has high hopes of winning at the delaware court level.

>> analysts are saying it’s highly highly unlikely the judge will remove the poison pill clause which would allow oracle to release extra shares on the market . the stalemate is likely to extend the 17-month fight until peoplesoft’s annual meeting next april.

>> thank you, su. inflation in hong kong and singapore probably accelerated last month. in hong kong, retailers saying the property market rebounded. singapore consumers are paying more because of higher prices in oil and food. also today, taiwan will probably say order for exports slowed in october. taiwan sells most of its goods to the u.s. and china. expect export figures at 5:00 p.m. today in taipei. outside the business world, the u.s. pressured iran on its nuclear program. ron madison has more from tokyo.

>> good morning. u.s. president george w. bush says iran must prove it won’t seek nuclear weapons. bush made the comments after visiting columbia’s president, columbia president―alvaro uribe. the press cited a u.n. official as saying iran has produced about 50% of a uranium compound needed to make a nuclear bomb. in u.s.―a u.s. military spokesperson saying soldiers entered three homes in afghanistan, detaining three people. here you’re seeing the video taken of the hostages shortly after the capture. the group holding the u.n. workers is demanding the release of taliban workers. in the ukraine, tens of thousands of demonstrators packed the streets in keiv, protesting what many are calling a fraudulent presidential election. the prime minister took the lead with 49% after the tally. the opponent had 46% despite exit polls showing him grabbing 54% of the vote. the european union has called for a review of the results. that’s the latest look at world news. i’ll have another update coming up at the bottom of the hour i..

>> after the break, american airlines suffers a flight delay of a different kind, delaying the delivery of 54 boeing planes.