朗读练习作业

Asia-Pacific Region markets
>> president bush is heading to the annual 21-nation summit of pacific rim leaders in santiago, chile. the two-day asia pacific economic cooperation forum kicks off saturday. companies like fedex and new york life insurance have been pleading with the president to start talks on a pacific rim free trade block to keep u.s. companies from being frozen out. time, now, for a preview of next week’s market action in the asia-pacific region, from our tokyo bureau.

>> japanese banks reporting earnings in the coming week may say profit will fall in coming quarters. banks like mizuho financial group are struggling to find new revenue sources as a slump in lending continues. competition continues the battle with u.f.j. holdings, set to join with mitsubishi tokyo group to create the world’s biggest bank by assets. mizuho reports on monday, sumitomo reports on wednesday. hong kong is benefitting from chinese reexports. gross domestic product probably expanded in the third quarter. the city is handling more trade from gang deng―guandong province. japan is shipping more with the trade surplus widening in october. the association of southeast asian nations meets in laos a week from now. leaders are set to sign an agreement to remove barriers to $78.2 billion of goods. the nations are expected to agree to cut trade barriers within the region, helping automakers, electronics companies and airlines. those are the business news highlights to look for in the coming week in asia. back to you.

>> turning to europe, we get a preview of likely market -moving events from london.

>> on the economic front, the dominant theme for the week will be investor and consumer confidence. reports in europe should bring us insight into whether the recent drop in oil prices and whether or not the re-election of president george bush is sparking a rebound in optimism about the economy. a lack of improvement on the employment side may be weighing on how consumers generally feel. on tuesday, we get belgium business confidence for november.%  this index is considered a good barometer for the euro zone because 3/4 of the country’s exports go to e.u. countries. on thursday, we get german business confidence figures. also out in the week to come, consumer and business confidence figures from italy, too. paying attention to currently news on the earnings front, the world’s biggest interdealer broker releases its results. profits may provide proof that an uptick in equity markets has been accompanied by an increase in turnover and volume. we’ll be getting airline figures in the backdrop of surging fuel prices and cut-throat competition. look out for earnings from easyjet out on tuesday. air franceklm updates investors on wednesday. barclays bank is releasing its trading statement on tuesday. and the european i.p.o. market will spring to life with the share sale of the company. finally, shareholders voting on a plan to sell 500 million worth of shares at karstadtquelle.

>> shares of novell closed lower today. the seller of network consulting and software services said sales came in lower than wall street expected. the stock was down 7.5% in the friday session. new software license revenue dropped for the third straight quarter.the per-share profit was a penny ahead of expectations. six cents against five. chief executive jack messman says investors will be rewarded for patience.

>> this will be the second year of our transition. we’re making large investments for the future. not only are we maintaining our existing products, we’re creating new products and taking our legacy products and rearchitecting them so they will appeal outside of our netware install base.

>> novell said expenses will increase next year as the company spends more on research and development of linux products. who was the most generous person in the u.s.? according to “business week,” it’s bill gates, heading the list of top 50 u.s. philanthropists, donating more than $3 billion to their foundation this year. intel founder and his wife are second and warren buffett jumped to third this year. oprah winfrey is the first african-american to make the list. wal-mart tops the list of corporate givers. it’s a big weekend for college football fans. when we come back, while the teams may be top-ranked, some of the athletic departments are in debt.

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Listen Market briefing --- Bob (fast)
Vineyard--- Adrian (slow)
>> welcome back to “world financial report,” i’m bob bowden, recapping the day on wall street. stocks lower on the day. we began with the dow down 1%, s&p down a little over 1% and the nasdaq down 1.6% on the day. all three indexes, on a weekly basis, snapping a three-week winning streak this week. checking u.s. treasuries, the 10-year down 24/32 -- it’s just a week away, the official start to the holiday shopping season. electronic boutique hopes it will be a very merry christmas. the company sells video games at nearly 1,900 stores in the u.s. and abroad. the company is gaining momentum. c.e.o. jeffrey griffiths says revenue is coming in above expectations and demand is particularly strong for higher priced games like “halo two” made by microsoft.

>> margins on new games are about 20% so a $50 game, we make about $10 before all expenses. margins on preplayed games, a big part of our business, are significantly higher than that.

>> strong margins helped the bottom line. electronic boutique earned 36 cents a share in the third quarter, up from six cents last year. shares finished down 7.5%. u.b.s., j.p. morganchase and citigroup are hiring experts in art, coin and sports banking and now vineyards for wealthy clients as the world’s rich get richer. financial assets of millionaires rose nearly 8% last year. investors are branching out from stocks and banks want to attract more clients worth at least $50 million. we bring in bloomberg news reporter adrian cox for more on the story. i guess the idea is people may be tired of stocks and bonds, say, how about a vineyard. is that the case?

>> absolutely. a lot of investors were burnt by the three-year bear market in stocks and felt, why don’t i do something different? u.b.s. realizes that here are some great vineyards you can buy in burgundy or bordeaux and that’s something investors find very appealing. if they can bring out a team of coin or art bankers, that can tell you how to build up a collection or purchase a picasso. that’s an interesting way to invest alternatively.

>> and these customers may purchase other assets through these firms, as well, once they develop the relationship.

>> absolutely. several bankers who deal with these issues say that when you talk about someone’s bond portfolio, but when you talk about the possibility of them having their own bottles with their own label and their own logo, then suddenly they’re interested even though it may only be a small portion of their total portfolio.%

>> what are they recommending to clients who want to buy vineyards. if someone decides they want a vineyard, what do the u.b.s. guys tell them?

>> first they warn them that wine is an easy way to lose a lot of money. i think the same impression is used as is used for theatrical impresarios is that the easy way to become a millionaire is to start as a billionaire in the business. you need to invest for 10 years before you see any return and once you have that you may get a 10% yield every year but every time there’s a nasty harvest, you can come in a cropper. the first thing they do is warn them about that. then, actually, if they’re looking at the kind of vineyards that might be appealing, they’d point to burgundy and bordeaux where they’ve had a lousy harvest the last three years so prices of vineyards have fallen 30%.

>> i wonder how liquid this market is. if you want to sell your vineyard, you may have a limited population to market that to. i guess i want to ask you how the wine bankers are different from an ordinary banker.

>> if you’re an ordinary banker you obviously warn your client about the risks of investing in a high-yield bond but if you’re a wine banker, you really need to be giving some instructions in how to run this productive unit. so, for example, you’ll be telling them the kind of people they need to get in touch with who are going to be able to give them advice on how you lay out the rows of vines on the vineyard, how you buy containers to be able to process the grapes and how you then go about marketing it once it’s produced.

>> i guess the question of liquidity is an issue, though, right?

>> that’s right. if you have a look at vineyards in burgundy or bordeaux where the prices can go up to about 4.5 million euros a hector, there aren’t really many of these vineyards going up for sale at one time. there are small parcels up for sale at any time. another area they’re looking at is a place with cheaper, smaller vineyards available.

>> thank you. when we return, we’ll get a head start on next week’s market action across the globe with reports from london and tokyo.

Textile business
Interview: Wilbur Ross
>> welcome back to the “world financial report.” the attorney general of ohio, jim petro, is accusing fannie mae of earnings manipulation and filed a securities fraud suit against the company as the department of housing and urban development releases a report saying fannie mae’s federal agency is divided using leaks to the media about the company for its own gain. the report says armando falcone, director of the office of federal enterprise housing oversight, redirected the agency toward a combative approach amid disclosure of accounting errors at fannie mae. the bush administration is pushing for stronger regulation of fannie mae and freddie mac. famed investor wig burr ross -- wilbur ross is bullish on textiles. carol massure spoke with wilbur ross about the textile business.

>> we have a joint venture in india in the denim area and a joint venture in turkey. we’re planning to announce within the next few weeks several more joint ventures in china.

>> will they be with publiclyoff owned―publicly-owned companies?

>> in general, the companies there are state owned at least partially.

>> you’re close to announcing something?

>> we’ve been out there for months and months. it takes a while because you have to be sure to get quotas for patent, you have to be sure you have a guaranteed source of electricity and water.

>> there are a lot of logistical issues and as you know, a lot of quotas, 2,500 on different textile products, specifically from china, set to expire next year. is your new venture dependent on the expiration of those quotas?

>> the quotas are expiring upon there undoubtedly will continue to be safeguard applications filed with our government because under the w.t.o. agreement with china, president bush has the ability to limit their growth from now through 2008. our best guess, though, is that the administration is very free trade oriented and probably won’t honor very many of the quota requests.

>> safe to say that your ventures in china are dependent on the quotas expiring, staying that way?

>> no, one of our ventures is to sell into the chinese market , independent of whether quotas to the u.s. come off or don’t. we would never make a business out there just based on one political decision.

>> we said in the lead to you, whether or not you become a free trader and you smiled. you used a similar tariff to boost the value of steel assets. some might call it hypocritical.

>> not really. in steel, president bush put on the tariffs temporarily for a one-year period specifically to give the industry a chance to restructure and as you know, we did a lot of restructuring there. we bought quite a few bankrupt companies, turned them around. they’re now the low-cost u.s. producers so it ratified the temporary protections the president put on.

>> they’re different from textiles?%

 >> for 10 years people have known the quotas were due to come off. what’s shocking is that many people in the industry did nothing to get ready for that. very few of the companies we’re bidding on in china have any other american company bidding on them.

>> what are your expectations for the textile business, wilbur? are you expected to do with textiles what you with steel?

>> i certainly hope so.

>> but in terms of your plans?

>> we have made them low-cost producers here. we took about $40 million out of direct operating expenses, another $30 million out of the general and administrative expenses by combining and rationalizing the u.s. activity. they had been quite profitable in and of themselves so far.

>> i think there was concern among analysts, watching what you’re doing, that you couldn’t get the same cost savings you got in the steel industry as you could in the textile industry.

>> we did take costs out of those products, particularly the denim side, the home furnishing side, out oft jackard and dyeing and finishing. but we felt we would be international? in steel and in textiles that’s more than mandatory.

>> that was wilbur ross, chairman of the w.l. ross group, head of the international textile group, speaking with carol massar. intel may fail to deliver on c.e.o. craig barrett’s promise to make its communications division profitable next year. the unit that makes chips for cell phones widened its loss in the third quarter from the second. intel said in a regulatory filing that those results make it more challenging to be profitable in 2005. after $9 billion in acquisitions since 1999, the unit has yet to be the driver of sales growth mr. barrett anticipate. when we come back, the dollar has hit five record lows against the euro in the past two weeks. alan greenspan’s remarks didn’t help anything. the outlook for the dollar when we come back.

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Listen Market briefing --- Bob (fast)
NYSE--- Julie (slow)
Vioxx --- Su (fast)
asdaq --- June (slow)
welcome to “world financial report.” i’m bob bowden. mr. greenspan speaks and the markets fall.

>> given the signs of the u.s. current account deficit, a diminished appetite for adding to dollar balances must occur at some point.

>> the federal reserve chairman said investors may diversify into other currencies or demand higher u.s. interest rates. that, and spiking oil prices, weighed on the stock market . the dow fell for only the second time in seven sessions, down around 1% on the day. also, the s&p down around 1%. moving on, stocks were hit today by both the rising price of oil and comments from mr. greenspan. here’s a report from our julie hyman at the new york stock exchange.

>> the s&p 500 had its biggest drop in two months today while the dow had its biggest loss in about a month. the markets hit by two elements. the price of oil was higher today and we’ve seen the equity markets track closely to the price of oil, putting a damper across the board. one bright spot it did cause was in the oil group. we saw exxon-mobil, one of only two stocks gaining in the dow jones today. conocophillips, schlumberger and halliburton also benefitting from the rise in oil. putting negative pressure on the markets were the comments from alan greenspan, pressuring the dollar, as well, and raised concerns about foreign investment in u.s. assets, including stocks. because of that as well as comments from greenspan, we also saw financial stocks under pressure today on continuing concern that the fed will be relatively aggressive with its interest rate rise. citigroup leading the declines within that group. retailers not doing well today. nike declining today after it announced it was getting a new c.e.o., william perez, certainly the c.e.o. of s.c. johnson. phil knight will retire at the end of next month. other retailers declining after goldman sachs downgraded a number of them. the analyst believes the holiday season will be lackluster so we saw ann taylor, limited brands, talbot’s and urban outfitters lower today. another bright spot was unumprovident, shares soaring after the company settled with state and federal regulators that were investigating as to whether the company stopped paying benefits to clients, not related to eliot spitzer’s investigation of the insurance industry. i’m julie hyman, bloomberg news at the new york stock exchange.

>> crude oil surged 5.8% on friday. cold temperatures in europe may divert supplies there, and oil shipments from iraq were disrupted. checking oil at the close, $48.44. moving on to other commodity movers in the energy world, unleaded gas in new york delivery on the wholesale basis to $1.31 a gallon, heating oil up over 1.5%. shares of pfizer helped lead the broader market lower after a federal regulator questioned the safety risk of its painkiller bextra and products of our other drugmakers. while all of the companies, including astrazeneca and smithkline despite the claims of higher health risks, there is greater scrutiny.

>> investors are concerned scrutiny could lead to delays for new drugs and hurt profit. fifth third analyst believes drug stocks will continue to face pressure. “until the dogs are called off, it will be tough for this group,” he says. the latest safety questions come from a veteran food and drug administration official who has charged the agency with suppressing his research about vioxx. the merck painkiller has been recalled and linked to more than 27,000 heart attacks and deaths. the f.d.a.’s david graham told a senate panel that his agency should scrutinize astrazeneca’s cholesterol fighter crestor for its links to potentially fatal muscle fatigue. other concerns including abbott laboratories meridia with cardiovascular side effects, accutane can cause birth defects, pfizer’s painkiller carries risks similar to vioxx. such questions are likely to continue to overshadow the industry.

>> i think we’ll continue to see, for a while, concern over individual products. i would say look more to the facility stocks. look for some of the suppliers in the industry, companies like abbott laboratories, maybe select a drug or oregon―here or there.

>> while all five drugs have been deemed safe and effective according to the f.d.a., its officials also say a discussion of risks associated with astrazeneca’s crestor is underway. yet, the british drugmaker in a statement says they were assured today by the f.d.a. that there is no concern over crestor’s safety. take a look at the drug. astrazeneca’s a.d.r.’s fell more than 2%. as for glaxo’s drug, the agency has suggested prominent warnings be displayed.

>> june grasso has a report from the nasdaq marketsite in times square, new york.

>> all the economic groups at the nasdaq closed lower today but semiconductors began to lead the nasdaq lower even before the market opened this morning after goldman sachs downgraded the semiconductor space. goldman analyst said, “we expect the stocks to make new cycle lows driven by continued disappointing fundamentals.” he lowered the ratings on advanced micro devices, a.t.i. technologies. applied materials, world’s biggest maker of semiconductor equipment was reduced to underperform from in line. amazon.com dragged the nasdaq 100 lower. it dropped as bank of america rated the company sell in new coverage, with a price target of $26. analyst aaron rubinson wrote that the appropriate conclusion to draw is not that the amazon model doesn’t work, but rather that they don’t expect as much growth or operating leverage as the market expects. sirius satellite radio, after they hired mel karmazin as chief executive officer, the 10-year-old company’s market value rose to $7 billion from $6 billion. satellite radio, sirius satellite radio is the second largest pay radio company. it has never posted an annual profit in its 10 months. blockbuster has competition to buy hollywood entertainment. movie gallery has offered to buy hollywood entertainment, challenging bids from blockbuster and a los angeles byte buyout firm. if the deal closes, the combined company would be the second largest north american video rental company.

>> shares of mylan labs rallied after financier carl icahn offered to buy the generic drugmaker for $20 a share. the offer is a 17% premium to yesterday’s closing price. icahn is trying to block mylan’s plan to buy drugmaker king pharmaceuticals. when we return after the break, wilbur ross is expecting to do for textiles what he did with steel. we’ll hear from the famed financier.

NYSE --- Julie (slow)
Asia Pacific markets --- Shobi (slow)

>> 9:12 a.m. in sydney. hot, sunny with high temperatures reaching 32 degrees sulsuous. you’re watching “live” from hong kong. s.b.c. communications will pay microsoft $400 million for software to deliver of it over the internet to hope to fight competition. s.b.c. is building a fiber optic network capable of providing 18 million customers with video and high-speed internet access. for microsoft, it’s the first major contract for the software. u.s. stocks resume their rally. retail and technology shares lead the indexes higher. the s&p, dow and nasdaq have all rallied. julie hyman reports from the new york stock exchange.

>> stocks were spurred higher today by sears and kmart and shares of hewlett-packard affecting the industry. starting with sears and kmart. kmart announced it was buying sears for $11 billion and both of those companies are soaring in the session. sears rising to higher than its acquisition price. the price on a per-share basis is 11% higher than its previous close. other retailers and types of companies that could benefit from the deal gaining today. danaher, which makes sears craftsman tools, whirlpool and martha stewart living omnimedia, in partnership with kmart, doing well today. other retailers gaining today, accounting for strength in the markets today. also nordstrom gaining today. the company said third-quarter profit was up 71%, ahead of analysts’ estimates and its own forecasts, boosting its annual profit forecast. as for hewlett-packard, that company said fourth-quarter profit came in ahead of forecasts and c.e.o. carly fiorina said she had taken steps to correct mistakes at the company’s server and storage businesses. those shares up better than 2.5% and affecting the technology group. tech hardware and semiconductors doing well today. contract electronics makers like selectron, jabil circuits gaining today. the semiconductors, across the board gains in stocks like l.s.i. logic, national semiconductor, micron as well as teradyne. i’m julie hyman, bloomberg news at the new york stock exchange.

>> asia stocks rise in u.s. trading. hewlett-packard’s better-than-expected earnings lifted technology shares. shares of japan’s n.e.c., taiwan’s a.u. opteronics and l.g. philips all rallied. shobi pereira joins us from tokyo with a look at the stocks to watch in japan.
>> the “nihon keizai” says that mitsubishi corporation plans to buy about 27 billion yen of isuzu motors preferred shares. the report says mitsubishi will acquire a portion of the preferred shares that isuzu sold to banks as part of a bailout in 2002. the preferred shares were issued with a provision that they could be converted to common stock. isuzu’s biggest shareholder is general motors. mitsubishi corporation already owns 15% of mitsubishi truck and bus corporation. “nikkei news” saying that the insurance company plans to seek approval from china’s government to open a new branch office in china. the aim is to sell fire and cargo coverage to japanese companies doing business in the region. the new branch would allow aioi to increase marketing of its products. the report says japanese life insurance companies are increasing business in china as the domestic non-life insurance market slows and more companies set up chinese operations. the “asahi newspaper” website reports that seibu railway may make kokudo a subsidiary. the tokyo stock exchange decided to remove shares after the company said it misstated financial documents. earnings came out for pioneer, japan’s largest maker of car navigation systems cutting its sales forecast for the fiscal year starting april 1 from 900 billion yen to one trillion yen.

>> thank you, shobi. china’s central bank raises its rate on u.s. dollar deposits. by offering higher dollar returns, the move may discourage purchases of the yuan. yuan purchases have hurt government efforts to hurt -- slow the economy. china raised the rate by a little more than 3%. the new rate takes effect today. the dollar dropped against the yen and euro, sean callow will join me and i’ll ask him if he thinks the dollar will keep falling.

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Listen Market briefing --- Cathy (fast)
Kmart --- Bob (fast)
good morning, and welcome to “ live” from hong kong. i’m catherine yang. you’ll be able to hear what john snow said in a moment. in 20 minutes, the currency strategist will tell you where he sees the dollar headed. also coming up on the show, reports on today’s new york market action and previews of what’s in store for asian trading and richard branson’s virgin blue challenges qantas as it becomes the second largest airline three years after its launch. we’ll hear from the airline’s chief executive to explain why first-half profit dropped. maybe you stayed at a motel six. how about a new hotel next to the great wall of china? we’ll learn about the expansion plan. treasury secretary john snow helped send the u.s. dollar to a record low against the euro by signaling he won’t back measures to support the dollar.

>> nobody’s devalued their way to prosperity, can’t be done. currencies ought to reflect the fundamentals of the marketplace, you have to use the marketplace.

>> the dollar fell as far as 1.3048 against the euro in new york trading on wednesday. the dollar came in within less than half a yen of a 4 1/2 year low. there is concern the record u.s. trade and budget deficits will get bigger during president bush’s second term.

>> we know the deficit has to come down and it will come down. the president’s policies will cut the deficit in half over the course of the next few years, bringing it to a level which is low, low by historical standards.

>> the falling dollar boosted gold to a 16-year high of $445.10 in new york. gold tends to rise when the dollar drons as it becomes cheaper for international investors to buy the precious metal. oil prices and a string of five straight declines. crude gains after the u.s. energy department reported heating oil and diesel supplies fell. inventories of heating oil and other distillate fuels are down 11% from a year ago. u.s. industrial production and consumer prices rise, suggesting the economy may be growing at a rate that threatens to push up inflation. the concern for investors is that may mean the federal reserve will continue raising interest rates. industrial production for october increased .7%, the most in three months. on wall street, u.s. stocks rose on omentimism about the economy. the dow and s&p rose .5%. kmart announced it is buying sears for $11 billion. hewlett-packard shares rose more than 2.5% boosted by better-than-expected earnings. asian stocks traded in the u.s. rose on hewlett-packard’s profit report which lifted optimism on the technology industry. the bank of new york a.d.r. index rose 1.6%. treasuries rose on speculation japan may sell the yen and buy u.s. debt. applied materials shares reverse ed earlier gains. splinter blames weaker demand from china, higher inventories from chipmakers. the conference call came after they said fourth-quarter profit rose to the highest in four years. net income came in 30 times bigger than last year. that’s $455 million. sales rose 80%. amat plans to buy back up to $500 million in stock in the first quarter. kmart buys sears in the largest retail merger ever. shares of both companies soared on the news. the $11 billion deal will create the nation’s third biggest retailer. the cash offer is 11% above sears’ clothe price yesterday. for more on that story, we’re joined by bob bowden, back from the company’s press conference in new york city. what’s the latest, bob?

>> he took their name. eddie lampert will be chairman of the newly created sears holdings.

>> we’re trying to blend this into one great culture. while we will be operating the stores under two name plates, the cultures we’d like to be as similar as possible.

>> management gave a number of reasons a combined sears, kmart would outperform the brands on their own. first, the brands, including kenmore, craftsman, lands’ end and diehard. the combined company plans to sell over $200 more a year because of the cross selling. the chairman of the combined company said, if you have the greatest store in the world and that’s not where the customers are, you have a problem. and a typical sears sells $80 more per square foot than a kmart. they say moving the better sears brands into the better kmart locations will produce synergies. management said that several hundred kmarts will become sears. analyst gary balloter for u.b.s.

>> the deal makes sense for sears shareholders to give them the opportunity to expand the brands into the kmart stores. whether this is what kmart shareholders were looking for, we’ll see over time.

>> the credit rating services are taking a dim view of the ferger. standard, pores said it would probably cut the rating below investment grade. moody’s cut the rating one level. on the day, kmart up 7.69% in the wednesday session. sears shares up 17.23% in what was a large retail rally. back to you in hong kong.

>> more choices for consumers at one shop. in world news, the u.s. military says about 75% of mosul’s police stations are secured. u.s. and iraqi forces stepped up operations in mosul. a flare up in violence saw rebels raid police buildings. mortar shells hit two areas near the main government building and city center, killing three civilians, wounding 25. in western iraq, 31 police officers are kidnapped. associated press reports the policemen were ambushed by gunman as the officers returned from training in jordan. there’s no claim of responsibility for the kidnappings. in the past, insurgents have targeted members of iraqi security forces for cooperating with u.s.-led coalition. the terrorists group led by abu musab al-zarqawi claimed responsibility for previous killings. there are reports that the palestinian prime minister has ordered an investigation into yasser arafat’s death. the associated press reports that a statement from the office says a commission will take testimony from the palestinian and other arab doctors. arafat’s urologist called forautopsy. the hospital refuses to reveal his cause of death or hand over medical records to anyone but arafat’s minister, and she has remained silent. back to business, hong kong’s unemployment rate probably fell to its lowest level in nearly three years last month, retailers, hotels and restaurants hired workers to cope with influx of tourists from china. economists surveyed by bloomberg expect hong kong’s jobless rate dropped to 6.7%. the jobs fixture robbery released at 5:15 local time. central banks in japan and the philippines will probably leave interest rates unchanged to encourage economic growth. you’re watching “ live.”

Asia Pacific markets --- Shobi (slow)
>> a busy harbor at 8:12 a.m. in sydney. expect light to moderate north to northeast winds with high temperatures reaching 26 degrees celsius. this is “ live” from hong kong. merck loses its triple-a credit rating. merck withdrew its vioxx painkiller drug after a study found side effects of taking that drug included increased risk of heart attack, stroke. s&p says merck may face lawsuits, revenue suffering. merck’s secured be debt was cut three levels. its shares plunged after the vioxx withdrawal and are down 41% so far this year. peoplesoft’s top shareholders are polit over whether―split over whether to back the takeover bid from oracle. oracle says peoplesoft’s number three shareholder will tender its 5.9% stake, putting pressure on peoplesoft to open talks with oracle. oracle last week made its fifth bid for peoplesoft, offering $24 a share. the offer, a 5.3% premium to tuesday’s premium, expires in four days. michael eisner says the board was informed of the pay package given to michael ovitz. eisner is defending himself against disney shareholders who claim eisner and former board members failed to do their duty in approving ovitz’s pay.

>> i wanted to make sure that while we were all in the same room everybody had all the information and any questions that people had―because there was a lot of press, speculation -- was this the heir apparent, what’s happening with sandy? i mean, we read the press documents but i wanted to give the facts to the board.

>> ovitz was fired after 14 months as disney president. investors want his $140 million compensation package returned to disney. eisner returns to court tomorrow. singapore’s economy probably shrank 3% in the third quarter because of slowing overseas demand for the island’s trips. economists surveyed by bloomberg expect the g.d.p. contracted .3% the bank of japan will probably leave interest rates near zero and pump more cash into the economy. all economists surveyed by bloomberg agree that the central bank will not alter monetary policy. junichiro koizumi’s cabinet grew more pessimistic about the state of the economy for the first time in 17 months. the cabinet said, while the economy recovers, it is seeing weak movements. japan’s g.d.p. accelerated at a slower-than-anticipated rate in the third quarter. shobi pereira has a look at stocks to watch this morning in japan. good morning.

>> good morning, a report that mitsubishi motors may receive additional help from mitsubishi group companies, and the report that mitsubishi heavy industries , mitsubishi financial group are considering providing assistance to the struggling automaker. mitsubishi may sell a portion of land to mitsubishi corporation for $189.8 million gain. these and other steps will be included in mitsubishi motors’ new management plan. citizen watch, maker of watches, electronic instruments and machine tools has raised its annual net income forecast to 24 billion yen after first-half profit rose. the company cut its full-year forecast. also keeping an eye out for vodafone, the unit for vodafone group in japan, saying first-half operating profit fell 13%, attracting fewer new subscribers while existing customers spent less. vodafone is japan’s number three provider of cell phone services, lags rivals in attracting 3g users. a senior analyst with dresdner kline wart said the key issue is the launch of 3g this month. the company announced first-half results after the close of equity markets in japan. that’s how it’s looking for now, cathy, back to you.

>> how about surfing the web through your mobile phone? thank you, shobi . up next, greg gibbs will join me with his opinion regarding the euro’s rise.

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Listen Market briefing --- Cathy (fast)
NYSE --- Bob (fast)
welcome to “live” from hong kong. i’m catherine yang. there’s plenty in store for you in this edition of “ live.” we’ll wrap up the action―set the daily events for asia. we’ll have reports from the new york stock exchange and nasdaq -- also coming up, the next generation of telephone service struggling in the u.s. and europe, mobile phone companies setting their sights on asia for what the industry calls 3g. we’ll have interviews with executives from sprint, ericsson -- some of the biggest names in vegas aiming to set up a new strip in macau. crude oil falls to a two-month low on speculation u.s. supplies will increase. crude oil for december delivery fell 1.6% in new york trading. traders expect the u.s. report to show inventories rose 1.5 million barrels last week. threats to supplies remain. associated press reports iraqi insurgents blew up a pipeline, cutting off exports. growth in the developing world is said to remain strong. in the annual economic report, the world bank says global growth will slow to―grow to 3.2%.

>> our forecast in 2005, 2006, are predicated on oil falling to the mid to high 30’s. and the problem becomes if there is an oil price surge that goes beyond that and is sustained for some period of time. at that point, that could cut into consumer demand and could slow growth and growth of developing countries, europe and japan.

>> the world bank says a slowdown in the u.s. investment cycle, higher interest rates and slowing chinese economy contributed to forecasts. inflation suggested to be on the rise as the p.p.i. rose 1.7%, far more than expectations of .6% increase, make something investors worry the federal reserve may raise rates at a faster pace than previously thought. financial shares like citigroup declined as well as homebuilders. retailers were not spared, either. wal-mart led decliners after reporting disappointing numbers. the bank of new york a.d.r. index lost .8%. signs of faster inflation hurt the value of the bonds fixed payments. the euro rises to near another record against the dollar. the gains come after european finance ministers failed to encourage the european central bank to sell currency. the ministers met in brussels on monday. the euro has risen 4% this month, leading some finance ministers to publicly complain the yen may hurt growth. the u.s. currency dropped to a seven-month low of 105.17 yen. hewlett-packard released fiscal fourth-quarter profits moments ago. bob bowden has the numbers from new york.

>> thank you. i’ll tell you the fact the company exceeded expectations on earnings and revenue―first, the headline number. operating earnings reported at 41 cents a share, ahead of both the 36-cent figure a year ago and 37 cents that analysts expected. revenue coming in 8% above the same quarter a year ago and $300 million higher than analysts’ estimates. the highlight being record quarterly revenue in software, up 25% on the bottom line on the screen. h.p. reporting operating margin by unit. not surprisingly, imaging and printing the star with 16.6% operating margin. personal systems, 1.2% operating margin and enterprise servers, 2.6% for the group. software approaches breakeven, they said. enough of the past, what of the future? h.p.’s forecast was for the first half of 2005, 72 to 74 cents a share predicted. the low end of the range matches the analysts’ number. same with h.p.’s revenue forecast of $41.8 to $22.3 billion. about fiscal 2005, which we’re already in according to h.p.’s calendar, carly fiorina said this -- checking other p.c.-related stocks, a mixed page reacting to h.p. actually, i’m going to check those numbers on those reaction stocks. those may be the closing prices rather than after-hours’ prices but nevertheless, a big rally in h.p. shares after their earnings. back to you in hong kong.

>> thank you, bob. rising gasoline prices bite into sales at wal-mart, j.c. penney awjd and saks. revenue at wal-mart rose 9.9% to $69.3 billion. lower merchandise costs boosted profit 13% to $2.3 billion. j.c. penney reported the slowest gain in a year. saks reported a loss, hurt by hurricanes that struck in the southeast. the chief executive says sales will improve as the holidays approach. u.s. retailers get 1/4 of their sales during the year-end holidays. shares of china netcom may rise in the hong kong debut after surging in new york. its shares begin trading today on the hong kong stock exchange after the company’s i.p.o. raised $1.14 billion last week. virgin blue reports first-half results today―analysts surveyed by bloomberg expect net income fell 7% because of increased competition and higher fuel costs. asia’s second largest steel maker reports today. j.f.e. holdings will probably say first-half profit nearly doubled due to rising steel prices. in world news, u.s. president george w. bush tapped condoleeza rice to replace colin powell as secretary of state. rice has been a confidant of president bush since he was governor of texas, the first woman to serve as national white house security adviser, the first black woman to head the state house department. rice said she was honored to serve again.

>> i look forward with the consent of the senate to pursuing your hopeful -- ambitious agenda as secretary of state. mr. president, it is an honor to be asked to serve your administration and my country once again and it is humbling to imagine succeeding my dear friend and mentor, colin powell.

>> a confirmation hearing may be held as early as next month -- rice’s deputy will replace her. on the heels of the resignation of colin powell, richard armitage resigns as deputy secretary of state. armitage was also a deputy assistant secretary of defense from 1981 until 1983. after the break, asian stocks fall in u.s. trading―our tokyo stocks reporter is here next.

Asia Pacific markets --- Shobi (slow)
>> 9:12 a.m. in sydney.% weather there is partly cloudy with temperatures of 18 degrees celsius, expecting highs of 23 and low of 17. asian stocks traded in the u.s. rise. a drop in oil prices eases concern that higher fuel costs will cut economic growth. energy stocks fell. the bank of new york asia a.d.r. index rose nearly 1%. nikkei futures traded in chicago climbed, as well. shobi pereira is in tokyo with a look at the stocks to watch in japan. good morning, shobi.

>> good morning. the “nihon keizai” newspaper says international steel group seeks to acquire 52% of mitsui mining from the government’s corporate rehabilitation agency. the agency, the ircj, last year bought 52% of the stock of mitsui mining, or $192 million. the paper says international steel probably offered $10 billion yen or so. the report says there still may be other bidders. sgating to the railway, the “asahi” newspaper says that seibu railway shares may be delisted from the tokyo stock exchange as early as today because the company misrepresented the ratio of share ownership by its biggest stockholders. the report says the stock will be traded a month after the decision is made. looking at the pharmaceutical companies, acei will get exclusive rights to make and sell a hepatitis treatment from seoul and japan’s drugmaker, eisai, says they gain exclusive rights to make and develop the drug and market the product in 10 asian country, excludeing south korea. isai did not disclose the terms of the financial contract. nikon says profits rose. sales of equipment to etch computer chip circuits gained in japan and other parts of asia and the company cut its digital camera shipment target. nikon is the world’s number one maker of silicon circuits on to wafers. the company cut its digital camera shipments target for this year by 15%. similar cuts are made by alimp olympus, canon and fuji foto film as prices fall.

>> microsoft and dell say they will develop a computer program to allow business clients to update their own network servers, including a one click update for servers. the new software is scheduled to be available in january of next year as a free download for existing customers. microsoft plans to higher several hundred next year at its newly opened software development center in india. microsoft’s chief executive is visiting india this week and says they will expand their work force in india and called india a country of incredible talent, saying it’s schmidted to hiring the most capable people as fast they can. microsoft says the new hiring won’t lead to a loss of u.s. jobs. india cuts the price of gasoline after crude oil prices fall to nearly a two-month low. the drop may ease inflation after prices in india accelerated to a 3 1/2 year high in august. the price cut takes effect today general motors’ chief economist mahathir mohammad says american consumers are attracted to the technology of hybrid vehicles, rather than the fuel efficiency.

>> clearly, the demand for more fuel efficient vehicles has increased in the u.s. but i would not say the demand for hybrids is necessarily related to the change in energy prices but related to the change in technology, that toyota creates in particular, the prius has attracted many more customers but more for the technology than because it leads to lower costs.

>> the securities and exchange commission sues former hollinger international chairman conrad black, be accused of looting the company he created of more than $85 million from the sale of newspaper publishers. in a civil fraud suit, the s.e.c. names david radler and hollinger’s canadian company that black uses to control chicago-based hollinger international. the lawsuit seeks to bar black black and radler from serving as officers in other public companies. the euro falls against the dollar, pulling away from record highs. our next guest says it’s only a matter of time before the european currency starts climbing again.

在线播报
Listen Market briefing --- Mike (fast)
Walmart --- Robert (slow)
Powell --- Ron (slow)
good morning.welcome to live” from hong kong. i’m catherine yang. we’ll have more on colin powell’s decision to quit and other bush administration resignations in a few minutes. also, coming up in the next half hour, full reports from the new york stock exchange and nasdaq.% -we’ll look at the dollar’s latest moves, including comments from u.s. treasury secretary john snow and the head of a currency firm in the u.s. we’ll also hear from the man who has demonized currency traders, mahathir muhammad. and the move by iran cuts the chances that the u.s. will impose sanctions. crude oil is currently trading at $46.76 a barrel in extented trading. oil is down 16% since reaching a record on october 25. the dollar recovers losses experienced in new york trading. the dollar has lost more than 3.5% versus the euro in the past month. traders say the u.s. currency is taking a breather after falling to a record low last week. the dollar is falling on concern record u.s. trade and budget deficits will get bigger in president bush’s second term. investors also speculate the bush administration has no interest in maintaining a strong dollar policy. u.s. treasury secretary john snow failed to provide support for the dollar on monday.

>> we’ve embraced the notion that the global trading system works best when it’s built on the principles of free trade, free capital flows, open capital flows and the currency market setting the exchange value of currency.

>> the dollar, however, fell further against the yen, hitting a seven-month low. the yen resumed its advance on speculation global oil prices will bolster japan’s economy. energy stocks fell following the drop in oil prices. the dow closed up .1% and s&p was slightly lower. microsoft fell almost 9% as the company accounted for a dividend of $32 billion. investors had until last friday to buy snars and receive the payout. the dividend will be paid out to shareholders in december. the bank of new york asian a.d.r.’s fell. investors will be watching inflation data due out tomorrow for signs of whether the u.s. federal reserve will raise rates again in december. and lehman brothers raised its year-end forecast on the yield of the 10-year jgp―jgb. and wal-mart is trying to lure more customers into stores by selling higher profit items like women’s apparel. analysts say the company has to prove the strategy can work. robert gra as that story from new york. robert?

>> cathy, wal-mart chief executive lee scott is making it a priority to improve its higher margin clothing line on boost profits. analysts and investors say the company’s efforts are so far disappointing.

>> i’d like to see them do a better job of bringing in the consumer that has more disposable income and can spend a little more and get the higher average ticket price up.

>> the discount chain said this month it may have missed out on sales in the third quarter because it stocked less fall clothing as it tried to avoid marking down items. wal-mart said that move, combined with higher gasoline prices, contributed to lower sales than expected in the quarter. analysts say wal-mart’s competitors are getting consumers to buy more expensive clothing items by offering high quality brands and trendier fashions. to reverse that, wal-mart wants to improve its private brands, such as george. analysts say these brands could have profits as high as 45%. one analyst says she’s starting to see improvements.

>> one of the things they’re improving upon is the george apparel line. last year, they put it in the stores but it was kind of choppy, only a couple of racks here and there. i think they’ve taken more substantial approach with the george apparel and in putting more racks together and giving it a better exposure of the product to the consumer.

>> to better track trends, wal-mart recently opened an office in new york. analysts say if the company boosts sales in the apparel line, it will offset lower margin items such as groceries and housewares. wal-mart said on saturday same-store sales for november are rising within the forecast and says women’s wear helped boost the sales.

>> thank you, robert. one market where wal-mart is looking to gain ground is china. among companies that help boost foreign investment in the country by 23% in the first 10 months of the year. scbalt matsushita electric may be encourageed by a report showing investment pouring in. china attracted a record last year, surpassing the u.s. as the destination for investment capital. u.s. secretary of state colin powell and three other department chiefs resigned from u.s. president george w. bush’s cabinet. ron madison has that and more in world news.

>> powell is the highest ranking official, now, to leave the administration since president george w. bush won re-election. his departure was expected, though. he was often at odds with administration hawks. in a letter to president bush dated friday, powell says it’s time for him to return to private life. the other three whose resignation letters have been releaseed including ann veneman, education secretary rod paige and energy secretary spencer abraham, bringing the number of cabinet chiefs leaving to six. in iraq, u.s. forces resumed heavy air strikes and artillery fire in fallujah on monday. u.s.-led forces say they’ve captured most of the sunni muslim city from insurgents now. the pentagon says coalition forces are targeting the last resistance. senior interior minister declared victory, telling reporters fallujah is no longer a safe haven for terrorists and killers. at least 38 american troops and six iraqi soldiers have been left dead in the last week in fallujah. and saddam hussein may have taken more than double from the united nations oil-for-food program than previously expected. a report says he may have raked in as much as $21.3 billion in illegal revenue under the u.n. program. the program allowed iraq to sell oil to feed its population. the revised estimates were based on documents captured after the u.s.-led invasion. that’s the latest look at world news. i’ll see you again at the bottom of the hour.

>> thank you, ron. back to business. de novo’s first-half profit probably rose 21% as they sold more p.c.’s and ended losses at the handset unit. analysts surveyed expect profit declined to $42.2 million u.s. lenovo reports today, as well as macquarie bank. they earned more fees from merger advice. also today, expect results from japan’s oil refiner cosmo oil. jollibee also reports revenue figures. after the break, shobi pereira has a preview of the tokyo trading action.

European stocks --- Jeremy (slow)
Asia Pacific markets --- Gene (slow)

>> european stocks finish the week higher. insurance stocks leading the way after allianz had better than expected third quarter profits. what can investor expect next week? here’s a preview from our london bureau.
>> time to look at week ahead in europe. vodafone’s first half earnings are published on tuesday. the world’s largest mobile phone company last week gave a target of more than 10 million 3-g phones by 2006. mm 02 may not now be paying a dividend for 2005 because of capital reconstruction. u.k.’s third largest supermarket chain, j. sainsbury, reports this week. they say the recent takeover speculation surrounding the company is silly. this week in the u.k., sabmiller h.m.v., g.u.s., and b.o.c. all reporting. vivendi universal’s third quarter numbers come in this week. third quarter earnings also in on monday from the steel giant, arcelor. world’s biggest steel maker. expecting a four-fold increase after raising steel prices for four consecutive quarters. zurich financial reports its third quarter numbers as well. news on friday that the company suspended some of its u.s. work force following a review of its business with insurance brokers including marsh & mclennan. a look at what we have in terms of economics this week. the bank of epg land releases the minutes of its last meeting. inflation report last week gave insight saying the economy has lost some momentum in the last month or so. we have consumer prices, unemployment and retail sales data for october as well as a snapshot of growth in the third quarter. a look at week ahead here in europe. stay tuned to bloomberg television.

>> jeremy naylor in london. the setup for london. we preview the asian markets next week. this report filed from our tokyo bureau.

>> grow domestic profit is out this week. shows slowing exports are hurting asian economies. taiwan’s economy probably grew at slowest pace in nine months in the third quarter. high oil prices mean customers in its major export markets have been buying less. figures out on friday. the same day, south korea will probably say third quarter growth slowed along with weaker exports. rising credit card debts mean koreans are spending less at home. overseas sales for companies including the semiconducter means singapore’s economy probably shrank more than expected. they may say g.d.p. fell further than the first estimate of a 2.3% contraction. the biggest perform computer maker will probably report higher first half profits. lenovo cut losses at its hand set unit. it reports tuesday. asia’s second largest steel maker, j.f.e., may say profits nearly doubled in the first half. higher prices may mean the japanese steel maker raises its forecast above september’s $1.1 billion estimate. expect that out on wednesday. surpbling steel prices are forcing up costs at korean’s dock yard. hyundai may report lower third quarter profit on monday. korean air may say profits rose monday. world’s second biggest air carrier has benefited from rising shipments of electronics and korean computer chips. several stock markets in the region are closed monday and tuesday. those are some of the week’s business highlights in asia. back to you.

>> bar khraeus unveiled a new instrument for americans to invest in china. it’s a fund which tracks 25 of china’s largest and most liquid companies.

>> most investors are taking a long-term view on china. it’s the world’s most populous country. short term you might have an opinion long or short. you could express that. long-term audit people believe china is an important part of any basket of foreign equities.

>> barclays fund trades in the u.s. it’s an exchange-traded fund meaning it’s like a mutual fund but reprices throughout the day like a stock. investors can go short as well as long if they think the chinese stocks will fall. up next, the business of sports. baby boomers reliving their college days. more and more 40 and 50- somethings are buying homes in football-crazed areas. we’ll tell you where and why on the other side of this break.

在线播报
Listen Market briefing --- Mike (fast)
Nasdaq --- June (slow)
>> welcome back to “world financial report.” i’m michael mckee. recapping the day on wall street stocks finishing with a flurry closing the day at session highs. dow jones industrials on the day up by about .6%. right now 69 points at 10,539 for your close. the seven-month high for the dow not quite matched by the s&p 500 it’s up three weeks in a row. finishing at about 10 points higher, 1,184. nasdaq up by 24 points on the day. your close, 2,085. the federal reserve has released the minutes of its september 21 meeting and here are the headlines. officials agreeing the economy had strengthened somewhat after going through a soft patch in spring and early summer. data suggesting solid growth ahead. labor markets had improved but they didn’t see october jobs spurt coming. members expected gradual improvement in labor market conditions as the economy expanded. there was also concern expressed about the large and growing u.s. trade and current account deficits. bottom line, policymakers and rate decisions would be increasingly keyed to incoming data. market participants expect them to pause in raising rates. faking a look at how the markets viewed the economic and other data today, the benchmark 10- year treasury notarizing for the first time this week as yields neared a three-month high. now it is down by seven basis points to 4.18%. on the shorter end of the curve, two-year falling 1/16. yield 2.81%. as for currencies, the dollar was lower across the board. yen posting its biggest gain in five weeks. euro and british pound also higher against the dollar as investors speculate the u.s. may tolerate a weaker dollar hoping the trade deficit will get smaller. gold futures surged to a new high as the dollar fell. up 2.90 to $438.30 an ounce. gold has risen four weeks in a row. back on wall street, talk about a nice winning streak, the nasdaq up for a fourth week in a row. dell pacing today’s gains. internet stocks also rallying. june grasso has the story from the nasdaq market site in times square.

>> dell, the world’s number one personal computer maker led gains in technology stocks. its shares rose after chief executive kevin rollins said demand for computers and printers is quite healthy, keeping the company ahead of schedule on a plan to reach $60 billion in sales by 2007. world’s largest maker of personal computers announced third quarter results yesterday and said low component prices and growing demand for p.c.’s and printers will fuel profit and lift sales 17% in the january period. pixar was one of the leading movers by percentage on the nasdaq 100. the maker of animated films including last weekend’s “the incredibles” said third quarter profit jumped 70% as the companies sold more home video copies from its library, particularly “finding nemo.” shares rose to 38 cents a share from 23 cents a year earlier and much higher than the 24-cent average analyst estimate. the company also listed its 2004 forecast based on the strong performance of “the incredibles.” look at sirius satellite radio and competitor x.m. howard stern, host of the top- rated radio show for young men in new york and los angeles, may leave viacom’s liberty broadcasting sooner than expected to move to sirius according to the “wall street journal.” it’s a little more than a year before he can legally move from -- to sirius. he is negotiating contracts to get the new show started earlier. internet shares are higher. a rise in october retail sales, better than expected jump in consumer confidence index and oil falling indicating a boost in consumer spending. if you look at amazon, one of the leaders by a percentage in the nasdaq 100. aim june grasso of bloomberg news at the nasdaq market site in times square.

>> other stocks gaining today, merck, after they said enough is enough. chief executive ray gilmartin took out full-page newspaper ads defending their handling of vioxx. he says merck acted quickly when it decided to pull vioxx off the shelves worldwide in september. the painkiller linked to heart problems and strokes. gilmartin said critic vs. used misleading information to question merck’s integrity. this afternoon, he agreed to testify to a senate committee looking into the vioxx affair. the hearing is thursday. separately, merck says its dividend is safe even with the higher legal costs associated with the vioxx recall. merck investors are still going to get $1.52 a share. friday’s session for merck up more than 1%. down more than 40% this year. novell has filed an anti-trust suit against microsoft claiming the world’s largest software maker tried to eliminate competition to keep rival products from getting out into the marketplace. microsoft allegedly withheld technical information about the windows operating system. it is difficult for novell to come up with new versions of its word processing software known as word perfect. novell paid a billion dollars for word perfect in 1994 and sold it two years later at a loss. word perfect lost market share to microsoft word. earlier this week novell settled another anti-trust suit with microsoft. word perfect is not included in the settlement. shares of novell staying down. microsoft shares lower. still to come, asian stocks rallied. the nikkei 225 posts its biggest gain in three months. european stocks also finishing in the plus column. we’ll recan’t numbers and look ahead to next week. that and more when we return.

Interview: the outlook for the telecom industry

>> signs of life in the telecommunications industry. verizon and s.b.c. increased their capital spending. they want to provide more lucrative services, things like high speed internet access and video on demand. that bodes well for the telecom equipment makers. j.d.s. uniphase is the largeest maker of fiber optic equipment. earlier today brian sullivan spoke with kevin kennedy. he started out asking about the outlook for j.d.s. uniphase and the telecom industry.

>> the telecom products range anything from devices that go into enterprises such as storage area networks to things that go into metro and long haul systems. we have had pretty good success on the telecom side. revenues last quarter, in fact, grew 20% quarter on quarter. i don’t expect that to repeat quite subversery again. the growth in general in the last four quarters have been very strong. and that particular market i have tried to use the sense that the market is healing, meaning that any one customer could turn off or on but in general across the world, there seems to be an updraft of that market . the consumer and commercial products we have three major areas. one is ink and pigments, one of which we have inks and pigments that go into our currencies, 92 currencies in the world including the u.s. currency. we serve the options and display markets . the move to high definition tv is a major positive force for that particular business. these are speciality optics that are built around ultraviolet light in some cases, polarized light. then we have a small laser business which goes into medical products. that really roughs out to the commercial and consumer products business is driving it single digit quarter on quarter growth and communications business has been moving at about a double digit quarter on quarter growth.

>> last quarter there was a slight uptick in long haul optics. you didn’t sound that bullish about the near term shift for long haul. what do you think is holding that back?

>> i wouldn’t say anything is holding it back. it turns out we had tremendous growth both long haul as well as metro. and so both were working good. as we mentioned, 24% quarter on quarter growth is almost unexpected. so i think this quarter we’ll settle down due to the phenomenal growth for the last quarter.

>> let’s talk about metro because i know verizon rolled out directly in the suburb of dallas. how do you get these providers to use more of j.d.s. uniphase’s products.

>> we provide our components through our systems providers. anything like ciena, alcatel, lucent, nortel. so first it’s to make sure we get our products into the reference designs for those particular customers. the metro buildout has been going strong for a long time. as we stated on the conference call, we probably have in the metro area for every design when we have a long haul, we have two designs in metro. very, very significant. it uses less optical component content than fiber to the curb or fiber to the home. we still think that that rollout in terms of a significant uplift is perhaps three to four quarters off.

>> before we get into consumer product aspects for retail, i want to ask you about outsourcing. you have been doing more outsourcing making things like circuit packs. do you expect this to increase quarter over quarter for the foreseeable future?

>> we do. the way the telecom market systems providers are, there are 13 providers or systems guys that share some place between zero and 14% market share. as they try to improve their r&d productivity, they’re outsourcing things they get less value for. two components providers and actually to contract manufacturers. so i do expect that trend to continue over the next two years.

>> quickly, consumer products like this one i’m looking at right here, a big television. you are in rear projection tv products. could be demand over the holiday season. what early demand are you seeing right now, kevin?

>> we saw pretty good demand last quarter. but number one, i think the great part of hdtv is we’re early and there are many more quarters or years ahead of it. we saw a lot of demand last quarter for specific comparable components. we’re seeing some seasonality at moment. i’m―i don’t know exactly how the quarter will turn out on that set of products. but in general i think the wave will continue the next several years so we’re well positioned there.

>> that was j.d.s. uniphase c.e.o., kevin kennedy, with our brian sullivan. a look at how the shares finished the day. down two cents at $3.15 a share. up next, a new target in the insurance industry. new york attorney general eliot spitzer has filed another lawsuit. details when we return. so keep it here
在线播报
Listen Market briefing --- Mike (fast)
Bears and bulls--- Su (fast)
NYSE --- Julie (slow)
welcome to “world financial report” from our washington studios tonight. i’m michael mckee. the benchmark stock indexes finished the friday session with gains across the board. the dow jones industrials finishing up by 69 points to the highest close in seven months since april 6. 10,539. over the past three weeks, the dow up 8%. so is the s&p. it finished up by 11 points today at 1,184. nasdaq hit ago nine-month high closing up 24 points at 2,085. volume on the new york stock exchange today was 1.5 billion shares traded. that’s about 200 million more than the six-month average. trading also heavy today on the nasdaq. almost 500 million shares above the six-month average. over two billion shares traded. taking a look at broader market index, also a good day there. new york stock exchange composite higher on the day by 63 points. the amex up by 15. the russell small caps finishing six points higher. that’s an all time high at 6,21  621.98. wilshire 5000 for its highest close since june of 2001. for a closer look at market now and how investors and market strategists view this year end rally, with the broader market trading at its highest in more than three years, bears and bulls adjust their outlook. su keenan with more on what they see now. su?

>> mike, there is concern in both camps, the bulls and bears that share prices may have risen too far given the prospect of profit growth. some strategists such as ozan oczin say this was not an exceptional earnings season.

>> not bad results. here we are done with the reporting season and you are looking at 60%, 62% of the s&p 500 beating analyst expectations and 20% or so missing. that’s in keeping with the long- run average. i think the markets are used to the fact that companies tend to beat analyst forecasts anyway.

>> pwaoegt the forecast is one catalyst for the rally. another is the drop in oil prices which has happened during the s&p 500’s three-week rally. crude oil futures plunged 14% during that time. that’s the longest weekly decline since june. while technology has been a big gainer, the pace of the rally is slowing. the nasdaq posted four weeks of gains as mike mentioned, rising 9%. longest winning streak since the start of the year. >> we are seeing laggards to start to perform better and technology pick up. we have seen a pickup in the consumer space and the high flyer for the year, whether the utilities or some of transports, you know, in as much as they’re making new highs, the level to which they’re moving has slowed down a little bit.

>> brett gallaher, head of u.s. equities at julius baer asset management, says profit concerns keep him in the bear camp.

>> but if you look out a little further, i think the expectations embedded in the market right now are a bit high. you have margins at all time record levels. just a return toward more average positions would result in earnings falling short.

>> falling short. robert morgan says he is a strong bull for 2005 but like so many strategists he is becoming a bit more cautious between now and year’s end.

>> i think where we are now the market is pricing in $50 oil well into next year. the fed funds rate going on a rocket ride from 1% to 4%. and i would definitely agree with bret that profitability is decelerating. but it’s from 20% to 10 plus%.

>> not bad. he’ll take it. to recap, the broader market ‘s 8% gain over the past three weeks, mike, is the largeest such gain in roughly two years. getting a lot of attention.

>> it certainly is. su keenan. also getting a lot of attention, dell shares posting their biggest gain in almost two years today following a release of the company’s latest results and outlook. stock up more than 8.5%. call it 9% closing in at its highest level since september of 2000. a $3 gain. dell c.e.o. kevin rollins says demand for the company’s products are quite healthy. rising sales of printers, p.c.’s and other products boosting profits and sales aid by lower component costs. dell shipped eight million servers, laptop and desktop p.c that’s a 22% rise from last year. the company also succeeded in boosting sales to large corporations.

>> dell’s largely driven by the corporate upgrade cycle. that is really why you saw strength this quarter in their business. a lot of that did come from the corporate side of the company.

>> rollins forecast strong growth for the current fourth quarter saying dell will post earnings of 36 cents a share on a 17% rise in sales. $13.5 billion. dell says it will shift five million―ship five million printer this is year generating $1 billion in revenue. for your cocktail chatter party this weekend, michael dell’s stock holdings rose by $887 million.

>> dell was a big story. let’s look at other industry stories. groups moving the markets today. julie hyman has this report from the new york stock exchange.

>> the s&p 500 once again closing at a more than three- year high in today’s session. also winning on the week, that 8% gain for the three-week period for which it has been gaining. the biggest in two years’ time. incidently, the beginning of that three-week rally is also a record high close we reached in oil. since oil has been declining, equities have been gaining. for the dow, it posted a seven- month high in today’s session. also gained just about 8% over the past three weeks or so. also gained four consecutive three-week periods. in today’s session, really the gains we saw were on optimism about the u.s. economy. we had a couple of things that supported that. the september minutes from the september fed meeting that came out talking about more economic growth. we had the consumer confidence figure better than expected as well as retail sales better than expected. the trio of information encouraging investors that the economy is indeed on track. that is what they were telling me throughout the day. in terms of the groups we saw gaining the most in today’s session, really across the board energy dog well, even after crude closed lower. technology hardware strong. semiconducters strong as well as consumer durables. really across the board. the effect in technology lard ware in particular fell because of dell. we saw cisco systems rallying for a second day. apple and hewlett not up as much. definitely contributing to gains we saw in that group. also the retailers in today’s session because they were gaining on that advanced retail sales report. really starting to see bigger stocks gaining. wal-mart, target doing well. kohl’s declined after third quarter earnings were up 19% but sales missed estimates. downgraded at prudential as well as deutsche bank. also want to touch on the s&p 500 homebuilders index because that closed with a record high in today’s session as did stocks within that index including toll brothers. i’m julie hyman, bloomberg news at the new york stock exchange.

>> speak of the economy, two economic reports for investors to consider. both of them focusing on the consumer. first up the university of michigan’s preliminary index of consumer sentiment rising for the first time in four months to a reading of 95.5 in early november. economists say the increase is due to higher stock prices, lower oil prices and bush’s uncontested re-election. the commerce department says retail sales rose more than expected climbing .2% in october. september’s figures also revised higher. if you exclude auto sales, sales jump .9% in october, biggest increase since may. consumers buying more clothes, gas and general merchandise. taking a look now at u.s. treasuries and how they responded to all of today’s news the benchmark 10-year rising for the first day this week as its yield neared a three-month high. right now it has fallen seven basis points to 4.18%. on the shorter end of the curve, two-year finishing up the week with its yield down three basis points to 2.81%. the dollar trading lower across the board with the yen posting its biggest gain in five weeks. euro and british pound also rising on the day. investors speculating that the u.s. may tolerate a weaker dollar so the trade deficit. stay with us on the “world financial report.” back in just a moment with more news on the state of the telecom% -pindustry.

NYSE--- Julie (fast)
Asia pacific markets--- Shoby (fast)
>> peoplesoft rejects oracle’s hostile takeover attempt for a fifth time. the company’s board called the latest $8.8 billion offer inadequate saying it substantially undervalues peoplesoft. oracle issued a statement just before peoplesoft announcement saying the current $24 a share offer will be the best and final offer. and it will expire november 19. peoplesoft also announced today it expects fourth-quarter earnings will beat current thomson financial estimate, but revenue might come in below the expectations. shares of banks and insurers gave a boost to stocks today, but markets were pushed down by technology shares. taking a look at the benchmark and how they closed. the s&p 500 down .21%. the dow jones little changed. nasdaq down by .4%. bloomberg’s julie hyman reports from the new york stock exchange.

>> stocks closed mixed after today’s federal reserve decision, even though it was widely expected. we did see a bounce up in the markets right after the decision came out, but really then they came down to close mixed. traders were saying that was partly because oil closed higher and the recent runup we have had in the s&p 500. interestingly enough, however, interest rate-sensitive stocks did do well in today’s session. insurers climbing after allstate announced a stock buyback. banking stocks doing well and real estate stocks strong in today’s session. we earlier spoke to bob altsberg, chief economist with amsouth bank, who said the hike in the fed funds rate will caused increased borrowing by customer, consumer, and businesses as folks rush in to get loans before interest rates actually rise more. so that could be some of the reason we saw those stocks gain today. also, bank of america closing in a record high today. incidentally, after it released earnings on october 14 t c.f.o. said the company would be positioning its balance sheet so interest rate increases would not be a negative factor. it looks like some of these companies are trying to hedge against the eventualty of higher interest rates. motorola also a big gainer in today’s session. of course, not related to interest rate increases. the company said it expects very strong handset sales in the the current quarter, so getting a bump off that. also a split trade in a couple of drug makers today. merck gaining in today’s session, 1.6%. traders were telling me it was rebounding. still down 46% since it pulled vioxx off the market . pfizer declining after a story in the “new york times” pointed to a study that highlighted risks in the beckstra painkiller. pfizer for its part says that study on bextra draws unsubstantiated conclusion on the affects. semiconductors falling today after cisco said sells were slowing in the current quarter. semiconductor makers provide cisco with many of the supplies. i’m julie hyman, bloomberg news, at the new york stock exchange.

>> bloomberg’s shobi periera is in tokyo. soft jbjoon bank is attracting new subscribers to yahoo and one way is offering video games and television program access through the internet. a manager of $2.1 billion in tokyo says the business expansion strategy has really paid off and is headed in the right direction. that’s going to be a threat to n.t.t. and n.t.t. also announced earnings after the market closed-here is how it is dealing with the competition. japan’s largest phone company cut annual forecast for spending and sales as they try to reduce costs to fend off competition from kddi and softbank. a drop in spending may hinder the plan to upgrade fixed line services and boost revenue from more profitable broadband internet connections. first half profit more than doubled as it sold more plastic injection molding machines at sumitomo. they raised the profit forecast by 33%. so far it’s up 32%, outperforming the machinery indexes 9% for the same period. the earnings were bolstered by stronger demand nor plastic injection molding machines used to make d.v.d.’s and cellular phones as the market for digital consumer products grows. among technology stocks, like at the world’s largest makerer of videoset recorders said net income rose 28% more than forecast. and for the full year, they expect net income to come in less than its own forecast. that’s all for now, cathy. back to you.

>> more earnings coming your way. thanks for that, shoby. the european union plan to impose tariff of more than $135 million on american exports. they are retaliating against a u.s. law that has violation of rules. the world trade organization ruled in august that the e.u., japan, and six other countries can slap levys on u.s. imports after the u.s. congress failed to repeal the law to distribute import duties to the companies which is known as the bird amendment. coming up l the fed go for another rate insbrees in december? we’ll ask a custodian of $1.1 trillion in assets next.

在线播报
Listen Market briefing --- Catherine (fast)
Crude oil--- Su (fast)
>> good morning and welcome to “ live” from hong kong. i’m catherine yang. full coverage of the fed’s meeting is coming your way. we’ll have live reaction. plus a currency strategist will tell us what it means for the dollar. and also today, starbucks boosted the quarterly profit 49%. the coffee chain stock closed at a 52-week high. we will be talking to the c.e.o. in about 45 minutes. later, more of the interview from the c.e.o. foreman of beijing. among our guest who is makes ryobi power drills in china. and we will discuss china’s technology industry. the dollar posted the biggest gain against the yen in six months and rebounds from a record low against the dollar. the dollar surged early versus the yen on speculation the bank of japan might sell the yen to weaken the currency. it added to the gains after the federal reserve’s decision to lift interest rate and leave the door open to more rate increases. the yen also weakened against the euro, trading 138 yen to the euro for the first time in eight months. the dollar plunged against the euro, surpassing $1.30 per euro. the dollar rebounded from a new low and strengthened further after the fed’s statement of plans to move interest rates higher at a measured pace. the u.s. raises the benchmark by a quarter point. not united in what the fed might say in the policy statement. they kept to the reconsistent plan saying the pace of future rate increase will be “measured.” former atlanta president bill ford says there is a high possibility the fed will increase rates again at the next meeting.

>> i still feel in light of that statement, wills a better than even chance they go again in december assuming that the next employment report which comes december 3 is reasonably robust one, and that we don’t see any price pressures changing dramatically or a dramatic change in oil prices.

>> this is the fed’s fourth increase this year which would suggest central bankers are confident the u.s. economy will continue growing despite higher oil prices. u.s. stocks didn’t react much of the fed decision to increase interest rates. the dow and the s&p 500 were unchanged and the nasdaq rose almost half a percent. the 3% rise in oil prices weighing on wall street. cisco shares fell after the chief executive said sales growth will slow this quarter. the bank of asia’s a.d.r. index fell 1.37%. and u.s. treasuries fell after the fed raised the benchmark interest rate. the results, though, of a government auction selling $14 billion of new 10-year notes. the treasury department delays next week’s auction of four-week bills as it waits for congress to raise the nation’s ceiling. the total national debt reached a record $38.7 billion and allows an act of congress to allow more borough. the news came as the government reported the budget deficit narrowed last month, down 17% from the same time last year. the u.s. trade deficit narrowed as well, drop 3g.7% in september. declining prices of oil in september helped shrink the trade gap. still t trade deficit with china grew .8% to a record $15.5 billion. the new york crude oil futures rallied for the first time this week on concern that the supplies won’t meet winter demand. a government showed the eighth straight weekly drop including heating oil and diesel. this raises concerns that supplies will not be enough to meet winter demand. su keenan has detail.

>> cathy, analysts and investors expected to see the latest u.s. energy department report on nation’s oil supplies ease winter supply concerns. it did the opposite. the distillate fuels number was the focus of the report and stockpiles of distillate fuels fell by 137,000 barrels. analysts surveyed by bloomberg had predicted we would see the first gains in eight weeks for home heating oil and diesel fuels.

>> the all-important winter fuels aren’t building. we’re seeing pressure and increases in demand on jet fuel and obviously this time of year we’re seing the first bit of cold weather, so seeing some pressure on heating oil in terms of demand as well. so the market got disappointed. we see the inventories build and we are seing a bit of a reaction. i think it will be temporary.

>> well t market ‘s disappointment was played in a 3% gain for crude oil which is the biggest one-day gain in eight weeks. killduff, a former bull turned bear, says oil futures may drop to between $40 and $42 a barrel by year’s end and this confirms his view, he says, because it shows u.s. stockpiles of crude jumped 1.9 million barrels last week. that is shy of analysts expectations and refineries boosted the utility i willization to more than 90% of capacity. that is first time that’s happened since hurricane ivan hit the gulf of mexico. that said, a.g. edwards bill o’grady predicts oil and home heating prices continue to rise.

>> the heating oil situation is really n my opinion, pretty critical. and really at this point t only thing you have keeping you from significantly higher heating oil prices would be weather. so again f the weather is mild, we might dodge this bullet.

>> well, o’grady is predicting oil will return to record prices above $55 a barrel. in other words, not dodging the bullet. in his view, a short-term bet on oil prices is now a bet on the weather here in the u.s. a cold blast of air is already hitting the north eastern part of the country, which uses 80% of the nation’s home heating oil. according to current forecasts, demand will be 15% above normal during the next seven days. heating oil for december delivery rose 4% to just under $140 a gallon. cathy, back to you.

>> a big variable. thankses for that, su. iraqi and u.s. forces say they are now in control of at least 70% of insurgent stronghold of fallujah. the u.s.-led force pushed into the center of fallujah capturing strategic positions, conducting searches, and fending off fire from insurgents. military officials say the mayor’s office and the main east-west road are now in their hands. but they say there is still areas of resistance and even in places already captured by the coalition. iraqi prime minister allawi gave the authorization for the military operation on november 8 to bring faurge under government control before national elections set for january. the prime minister’s office sayings several insurgent groups in fallujah have approached a government in the past day to cooperate and surrender. elsewhere in iraq a spokesman for prime minister allawi says two of his relatives have been kidnapped from their baghdad home. the spokesman said the kidnapped victims are a 75-year-old cousin and an aunt’s daughter-in-law. the group is threatening to kill them in 48 hours if the iraqi government doesn’t release all prisoners jailed in iraq and halt the u.s.-led assault against fallujah. islamic extremists may be threatening attacks in japan. extremists are threatening japan because of the support for the u.s. in iraq. kyodo says it’s written an islamic website of known terrorist. it says they are there for humanitarian purposes. australia’s economy probably added jobs for a second month in october as rising profits encouraged companies to hire workers. economists we surveyed estimate employment rose by 20,000. they report payroll figures at 11:30 a.m. today in sydney. the unemployment rate in asia’s number three economy probably rose as weak customer spending made companies reluctant to hire. they hold the policy meeting as well today. economists we surveyed suspect the bank of career ya will leave rates steady for the third straight month at the bank of korea. economists we polled forecast production rose 8% from a year ago with a slower demand for motorbike, car, and homes. the figures are due at 2:30 in new delhi. and expect those figures at 2:00 p.m. today in tokyo. after the break, peoplesoft shares decline after the software maker rejects oracle’s $8.8 billion takeover bid. you’re watching “ live.”

Nasdaq--- Julie (fast)
Asia pacific markets--- Sheby (fast)
>> a live shot of the sydney opera house. it’s 9:12 a.m. in that city. a mix of clouds for the day for dwellers and visitors in the air. high temperatures to reach 21 degrees sell yuss. you are watching “ live” in hong kong. u.s. stocks fall on thoughts of what the federal reserve may say about the increase in interest rates. a gain in basic materials and auto stocks was offset by a drop in energy shares. looking a t the indexes t s&p 500 closed lower by about .1%, along with the dow jones. the nasdaq up nearly .25%. bloomberg’s julie hyman reports from the new york stock exchange.

>> a lackluster session today in terms of both price action and in terms of trading volume. the dow today and the s&p both having gains of just 0.4% at one time or another, and losses of no more than .2%. pretty tight trading range. volume this week, by the way, is down 20% compared to average volume last week. a couple of themes in today’s session. people looking forward to the fed meeting tomorrow. not taking a lot of action ahead of that. also, oil declining to a seven-week low. because of that, we saw groups gaining. the materials and the auto groups and the energy index, on the other hand, was the big decliner in today’s session, creating a lot of pressure. some of the big decliners within that were rowing company, amerada hess, burlington, and apache. also today helping stocks is a big merger in the health insurance industry between wellpoint health and anthem. this merger has been already announced. it got the final barrier to i a prufle from the racra insurance commissioner with a $64 billion acquisition there. and as psych, wellpoint and anthem gaining in today’s session and the health care group as a whole gaining as the other health insurers doing well. aetna closing at a high. cigna gaining because of a recommend dation boost at j.p. morgan. cardinal and humana also on the downside. infineon predicted an industry slowdown because of higher inventory and declining prices, certainly not something new we have heard from the industry. the u.s. shares of the german company down 1.33%. health care did well today, but merck certainly did not. drug makers fell today. merck was cut by moody’s. the debt was cut by moody’s after newsed about the vioxx painkiller. an investigation by the justice department. i’m julie hyman, bloomberg news, at the new york stock exchange.

>> chief financial officer at mazda says the profit growth will be driven by continuing strong overseas sales.

>> momentum in europe is just outstanding. we see that continuing. as far as the united states is concerned, we’re putting absolutely the right measures into place. stronger session substantially and i believe in asia pacific we can see growth including in china.

>> first quarter profit grew 68%. earnings releases continue in japan. we have more from tokyo with a preview of today’s trading.

>> you are right. with the mazda story as well, we see it’s a story about earnings in a japan. starting with the technology stocks, murata used to regulate electricity in mobile phones and computers. the company cut the full-year net income forecast to a% to 48.5 billion yen and cited the communication equipment inventory adjustment in china. the company is also saying in a statement that inventory adjustments of telecommunication equipment and related products in china is taking longer than we’d expected. and it’s also saying that weakening demand growth has made the future more difficult to predict. so far the stock is down 13% compared to the electronics index. that index is down 3.5% for the same period. take a look at daikin industries. japan’s biggest maker of air conditioners raised the full-year forecast to 38.5 billion yen. the company is citing expanding sales and cost cuts. among the auto maker, news of honda and the plans in the u.s. honda motor will spend $270 million to build an auto parts plant in georgia and expand to other u.s. plants to boost profit by countering currency fluctuations. asia’s largest car maker including toyota, nissan, honda, they are adding or expanding production in north america t largest auto market . they’re doing that in order to increase sales and reduce the affect of currency shifts on profit. the vice president of equity research at national city corporation in cleveland says honda’s decision is consistent with a trend of supplying local products to meet local needs and he says it’s usually best to build vehicles and parts where products are sold. honda’s a.d.r.’s rose in u.s. trading and you can see that it’s traded higher by about .7%. and that’s how it’s looking right now, cathy. those are some of the stocks i’m looking at. back to you.

>> thanks, shoby. the euro falls against the dollar from a record high. i’ll talk with a strategist about what he predicts for later today.

在线播报
Listen Market briefing --- Catherine (fast)
Cisco--- Bob (fast)
>> good morning and welcome to “ live” from hong kong. i’m catherine yank. we have plenty in store on “ live.” we have reporters ready to break down cisco’s numbers. reports from the new york stock exchange and nasdaq are also headed your way. also coming up, chief executives gather from beijing. bloomberg’s steve angle is there where we spoke with the head symantec. we’ll also hear from the head of the world trade organization who issued a warning to the united states and other industrialized nations. oil falls to a seven-week low. traders say a u.s. report out later today may show an increase in oil inventories. oil dropped 3.5% in new york trading. the price you see on the screen is after-hours trading. oil is down about 15% since reaching a record on october 25. cisco system shares are lower in extended hours nasdaq trading after the company reported fiscal first quarter earnings out. we go to bob bowdon now in our new york office for details on that company. what’s the latest, bob?

>> thanks to that, cathy. let us get to the numbers. cisco meeting expectations reporting 21 cents a share. that is better than the 17 cents a share from a year ago. and that met the 21 cent expectation for cisco. revenue for the company coming in at $5.97 billion exceeding the $6.02 billion―excuse me, falling just short of the $6.02 billion thomson financial estimate. there were a couple of other issues related to the share repurchase program. cisco saying it will allocate $10 billion in additional share repurchases. it had $ 5 billion which had not been use sod far, bringing the total to $15 billion for share repurchase. no time line on when that must be exercised. but the current total is $15 billion for additional share repurchases. also, the company reporting the head count in the first quarter rises by 715 to a total of 35,686 employees. cisco shares down in extended hours trading. the stock closed at $7.95 in the regular session. the latest trade is $19.17. again, down from $19.75 at the close of trading. there you see the operating earnings as i reported a minute ago. 21 cents a share up from the 17 cents a year ago. and here we have the revenue. there you have it there, $5.97 up 17% from the $5.1 and the same quart err year ago. fiscal first quarter 2004. and we’ll round out the rest of the graphic there is for you by showing you also the once again $10 billion in share repurchases. there you have the fiscal first quarter gross margin at 67.2%, down from 68.7, but nevertheless, still at 67% gross margin. that number is quite high. that is the latest on the cisco news. cathy, back to you in hong kong.

>> thanks for that, bob. the fall in the oil prices didn’t do much for stocks. the dow and the s&p 500 both closed slightly lower, but the nasdaq gained .2%. microsoft shares rose 1.5% after shareholders approved plan farce $32 billion special dividend. health insurance companies also did well after anthem received clearance from state regulators to buy wellpoint in a takeover. the bank of new york a.d.r. index slipped .2%. in the treasuries market , high yields drew investors to the 10-year note. demand for treasuries increased because of the $51 billion debt auction this week. the dollar continues to gain against the euro after more criticism from the european central bank that further gains in the euro will be undesirable. the federal reserve meets today in the u.s. all economists we surveyed expect the raise will raise short-term rates by a quarter point to 2%. marsh and mclennan plans to cut 3.5% of the work force as it plunged to a seven-year low. third quarter net income fell 94% after marsh set aside $232 million for a possible settlement with new york attorney general elliot spitzer. spitzer sued marsh last month, accusing the broker of rigging bids and taking kickbacks. the suit resulted in the ouster of the company’s chief executive and wiped out 42% of marsh’s market value. national australia bank profit falls 20%. the country’s largest vendor says revenue fell as customers switch to rival, while costs increased as it invested in the businesses. net income fell to $3.18 billion or $2.4 billion u.s. asia pacific’s biggest bank excluding japan is spending more on marketing and selling cheaper loans and offering higher interest on deposits. it wants to keep customers after a currency trading scandal damaged the reputation. higher fuel costs probably hurt australia’s consumer confidence in november. the sentiment figures are due at 10:30 a.m. in sydney. also today, economic data from china may show industrial production growth slowed in october and that china’s import growth probably held near a two-year low. japan’s current account surplus probably narrowed in september as higher oil prices boosted the cost of imports. economists we surveyed estimate the adjusted surplus shrank to 10% to $1.5 trillion yen. japan reports current account figures at 8:50 a.m. today in tokyo. first half profit fell 37% at n.t.t. after competition hurt sales at japan’s largest phone company. analysts we surveyed estimate n.t.t. earned $2.3 billion in the six months through september. and n.t.t. reports the results today along with rival south bank. south bank are probably say the first half loss narrowed as they challenge n.t.t. in the high-speed internet market . taiwan semiconductor manufacturing and united microelectronics dropped after sales growth slowed last month. the bank of new york’s indexes closed low we are the asian a.d.r. index down .2%. japanese a.d.r. index losing nearly .5%. china a.d.r. index up .7%. and among the japanese shares, cannon fell after rival hewlett-packard introduced a new low cost copier. taking a look at the differentials, seeing nikkei futures at 10,98 5 compared with the stock closed 10,980 at osaka and singapore’s 10,970. in news, u.s. troop and iraqi troops bat toll gain control of the 2/3 of fallujah that is not under their control. they are in the second day of wry trying to wrest control from insurgents. the military spokesman reports house to house and room to room fighting. dubbed operation phantom fury, it is the biggest ground assault since march 2003 in iraq. the commander of multinational forces says about a dozen u.s. soldiers have been killed in the operation. elsewhere in the country, the u.s. military reports forces coming under attack in the town of ramadi west of fallujah. they are report nothing casualties in that incident. french official stays prognosis for palestinian leader yasser arafat is doubtful. doctors say arafat has slipped deep sbeer a coma in the french military hospital where he is being treated for a blood disorder. news of his failing health comes as palestinian officials say they have reconciled with arafat’s wife. they had been in public disagreement over access to the ailing president. she had earlier told al jazeera television that they wanted to bury arafat alive. palestinian authority prime minister cariya said arafat’s wife received the palestinian leadership and embraced them. and they were allowed to visit the 75-year-old palestinian leader. u.s. health officials say they are distributing 11 million doses of flu vaccine to end a supply shortage. the centers for disease control says it aims to supply the doses to high risk groups. a vaccine shortage arose after drug maker chrion was unable to deliver shots because of contamination concerns. the flu causes about 36,000 u.s. deaths each year. columbia and opec member venezuela may build a pipeline to run from the west coast in the pacific ocean to allow venezuelan oil to be shipped to asia without using the panama canal. venezuela is the fifth biggest exporter of crude. after the break, investors are concerned about the fed’s decision tomorrow on interest rates and the outlook for further increases. the s&p 500 index dropped for a second day. ke tails up next.

Nasdaq--- Julie (fast)
Japan market--- Sheby (fast)
>> live shot of the sydney opera house on tuesday morning. you’re watching live in hong kong. news corp. takes steps to head off a potential takeover by liberty media. they said last week they plan to increase the rupert murdoch news corp. to 17%. news corp. said it will offer half pryce shares to stockholders. the poison pill that makes it more difficult for outsiders to take control of news corp. away from the murdoch family that it has 30% of the voting rights. it show that is news corp. is widening trade. they’re trying pressure murdoches of selling some cable assets. the nasdaq fell ending the longest winning streak since 1997. take ago look at how the index is closed―the s&p 500 down .10%. the nasdaq closed up .10% from the nasdaq unchanged. julie hyman reports.

>> the s&p 500 snapped its advance in today’s session. it had been on the longest winning streak in seven years. it did decline slightly in today’s session. the dow, however, held on to the gains just barely up almost four points. putting pressure on stocks today, we had some concerns that the fed may raise rates, not only at wednesday’s meeting but again in december when it meets t. price of oil falling today. along with it, energy stocks were on the decline. the biggest drag within the s&p 500. some of the movers there, we saw the valero energy declining in particular. baker hughes and b.j. service and nay boris industries some of the big decliners. natural gas declined today with the declining price of natural gas. the basket of energy stocks falling in today’s session. the biggest decliner, the eoc resource and apache among those movers. pfizer leading those downward after the company said the discussion with regulators about whether to add a stronger warning to the investor pain killing package about a skin reaction that can occur. separately attorney general elliott spitzer asked information about the unapproved drugs for the use. we did have defense stocks performing well in today’s session after a story in “the wall street journal” this morning highlighted that industry saying that defense spending is the fastest growing portion of the u.s. budget under the bush administration. ice up 55% since 2000. lockheed martin, general dynamics, hexcell and precision castparts closing with a high. that’s one of the strong reasons we saw mixed markets because of the oil stocks on one side and the defense on the other. i’m julie hyman, bloomberg news at the new york stock exchange.

>> we’re in tokyo with a look at some of the stocks to watch in japan. good morning, shelby.

>> good morning, we’ll start off with toshiba with news. they say toshiba sued semiconductor for violating patents for flash memory chips. these store consumer electronics like mobile phones and digital cameras. the paper reports that toshiba is seeking damages and a suspension of chip sales by south korea-based hynix. in terms of earnings news -- watch out for three of japan’s biggest shipping companies. they can expect record operating profits in the current fiscal year because of freight charges as a result of the global economic growth t. three companies we’re talking about here, mitsui o.s.k. lines, cause sakai kissen. some of the particular companies olympus said profit more than halfed in the fiscal first half because prices for the devices fell more than expected. oh limp pus said the average price for digital cameras fell 18% in the second half. among call makers, there’s mazda to look out for. earnings during trading at 10:00 a.m. japan time. mazda will say fiscal first half profit rose 79% on produced costs and increased sales in europe. now the car maker is deepening cooperation with ford. mazda is sharing parts and design for vehicles including the axcela compact car and ford focus. they’re opening an exclusive dealership in the u.s. to raise brand image. the tokyo electron, the maker of semiconductor equipment. cisco’s first half profit fell short of the expectations because of an accounting change. net income totals 1.3 billion yen for the six months ended september 30. that amount is 48% less than the 2.5 billion forecast compared with a net loss of 9.8 billion yen a yore. those are some of the companies i’ll be looking at when we do have trading going here -- starting here at tokyo at 9:00 a.m. for now, it’s back to you.

>> thanks for that, shelby. john culture shea breaks the central bank’s silence about the euro’s rise against the dollar. next―strategists at the bank tell us if that’s enough to convince investors the euro is ready to reverse course.

在线播报
Listen Market briefing --- Catherine (fast)
Crude oil--- Su (fast)

>> welcome to live in hong kong, i’m catherine yang. plenty for you. the full wrapup of today’s market action, including reports for the u.s. market exchange and the nasdaq. a current strategist will tell you where he sees the dollar heading next. also coming up on the show, we’ll hear from the head of one of the parties of india’s ruling coalition. find fout the communist party chief planned to block state asset sales. web site banking will comment on earnings and the housing market . world news, he was an iraqi forces launched a long-awaited attack on the militant stronghold of fallujah t. military spokesman said the marines and the army launched an attack in the northwestern and northeastern districts of the city a. barrage from artillery positions and from the air helped set the stage for the results. the pentagon defense secretary donald rumsfeld tell reporter that is the battle for fallujah is, in his words, a tough business that’s going take time. however, rumsfeld said he wouldn’t call the battle of fallujah a final showdown against the insurgents there. he calls it a step in the right direction.
>> if you think of what the terrorists will lose when iraq is a free specialized stable country providing for the security it’s clear that the --

>> secretary rumsfeld added that the u.s. troops have seized more foreign fighters in fallujah but it’s too early to speculate on more prisoners or casualties t. dollar back to a record low against the euro. three days of decline after the european central bank president. he called the dollar-suisse fall against the euro brutal and not welcome. that reverses softer comments he made last week. his words echo a statement he made earlier this year. while he tried to talk down the euro earlier this year, the e.c.b. did not follow up with any market action such as selling euro or cutting interest rates. the dollar fell to a seven-month low against the yen trading in the range for the second straight session t. dollar will fall even further unless central banks step into the market .

>> the real question is foreign center bank intervention. last year through the first quarter of this year, we talk intervention by the bank of japan. they’ve heezed off. they have not intervened. if they come back in or the european central bank decides to come back in, that could support the dollar for a while longer.

>> the dallas is falling among speculation the trade and u.s. budget deficits will rise next year. on wall street t s&p snapped the longest winning streak since 1997. they’re concerned the fed will raise rates twice before the end of the year t. dow and the nasdaq are slightly higher. energy stocks fell the most. the a.d.x. index lost 1%. u.s. bond markets fell pushing the 10-year note to a one-month high. the government is selling $51 billion in debt to fund the record deficit n. a late development, u.s. treasury undersecretary brian roseboro said he would not join the second bush administration. he’s the treasury second finance chief and analysts considered the main liaison officer to wall street’s bond markets . the japanese bond slipped slower on stronger job growth. japan will be able to rely on the export recovery. five-year notes fell on speculation. traders will sell them to raise money to the government’s $2 trillion yen bond auction today. crude oil falls bringing the decline to 12%. they expect the demand will be enough. crude oil for december fell 1.1% in the new york day trading. and in extended trading, get your prices later on. u.s. energy reports show inventories rising for six to eight weeks. the crude oil future is at $49 flat. demand for heating oil fell because of warmer than usual weather the northeastern u.s. the combination of warmer weather pushes futures to 1% lower to little more than $49 a barrel. that compares to a record-breaking price of more than $55 a barrel two weeks ago. sioux sioux tells some investors are questioning. what can you tell us, su?

>> we’ve seen crude oil fall 12% from the price you mentioned. two prior pullbacks of 15% led to a new recovery of new highs in oil, mike fitzpatrick says there’s a lot of difference this is time around. one crucial change in his view the past six weeks of buildup in the nation’s crude oil splice. cathy, u.s. supplies served 7.5% in that time according to government data. analysts showing that bloomberg expect this is week’s data to show heating oil supplies rose for the first time in eight weeks.

>> once you get past november 1, you have a fairly good idea of what inventories are and what your needs are going be for the winter. so, again, we’ve had a fairly good drop since november 1. we’re in for a downperiod of consolidation where we trade sideways for the next little while until the larger picture becomes clear.

>> the warmer weather is also affecting pricing―this weekend brought springlike temperatures to the northeast in the u.s.―the northeastern u.s. which makes up to 80% of home heating oil demand. meanwhile, marshall steve shows the latest trade dag that shows fewer professional investors are betting crude futures head higher.

>> that started to indicate a change in position among the hedge funds and among other smaller speculators that they’ not as bullish on oil prices going forward. and if that trend continues, i think that will mark an important change in sentiment which could lead to a more significant downfall in prices.

>> well, on the topic of lower prices, j.p. morgan’s economists james glassman is predicting oil fall into the $30 a barrel range in the coming months.

>> we’re expecting oil prices to drift back down to the mid 30’s. and the opec is certainly working aggressively to make that happen. and we’re starting―we’re going be seing in the next half year or so there’s more production coming out, people are conserving a little bit more. and so i think that we’re going see these prices come back off -- come back down.

>> and, cathy, one of the catalyst prices to come lower, this week’s u.s. inventory report, it is due out wednesday. should be an interesting trading day. back to you.

>> thanks for that, su. now boeing may lose out to airbus for an order of planes worth nearly $5 billion. people familiar with the situation say air asia nay buy as many as 80 aircraft from airbus. the asian discount carrier has 20.437. they may buy 40 airbus a-320’s. “the wall street journal” is reporting airbus got the order because it’s offering a lower price than boeing. beauing is accusing airbus of undercutting prices from the european government. david wang joins the show at the time seen on your screen. find out how the company plans to fight back against this from airbus. production growth slowed last month after the government ordered banked to restrict lending. economists we surveyed expects factory output to rise in october follow ago 16.1% gape in the previous month. china may report on figures today. analysts we surveyed expect frozen dep man of a two-year low of 22.4% last month t. world’s fastest growing major economy is stepping up efforts to cool expansion. china raised interest rates last month for the first time in nine years. moscow may say first half profit rose 79% after they cut cost and built more vehicles in europe. mazda built 20 million yen or 189 million in september. the profit figures from national australia bank. analysts we surveyed expect that the income fell 18%. out of telecom―south korea’s internet provider gives results today. for a preview of today’s trading action in asia, we’re standing by. you’re watching bloomberg live.