Market briefing---Matt (slow)
Tokyo market---Catherine (slow)
Interview:
guidelinelaw.com---McCown, Davis---lawyer
>> welcome back to “world financial report.” i’m matt nesto. ly recap the day, week and month that was on wall street. the closing numbers for the day, really almost no change whatsoever for the dow jones industrials, the s&p 500, really, statistically no change. i’m honest. and the nasdaq, folks, the laggard of the three, down a full .1%. checking on u.s. treasuries now, higher here today, the 10-year and five-year notes, the prices up and yields down. yield noticeably below 4% and 3% on the 10-year and five-year notes respectively. dollar weakness across the board, buying less yen for the dollar today and euro and pound both cost more. for a look at next week’s pacific rim market action, we bring in catherine yang from tokyo.
>> there are two warnings reports out from hong kong. hsbc may post a 51% rise in second-half net income. analysts surveyed by bloomberg say the world’s second biggest bank by market value benefited from the purchase of household international. the $15.5 billion purchase gave the lender 50 million u.s. customers. analysts say hang seng bank may report first-half growth. the 62%-owned unit of hsbc holdings may report net income of $5 billion hong kong or $643 u.s. merrill lynch says the lender is benefiting from improvements in wealth management business. in australia, the government may say wednesday that the economy expanded at the fastest pace in two years in the fourth quarter. economists surveyed say gross domestic product grew over 1%. the nation’s central bank meets on tuesday to review the overnight cash rate target. economists surveyed by bloomberg expect interest rates to remain unchanged. the r.b.a. raised the rate in november and december fo5. 25%. spending by households headed by a salaried worker rose a seasonally adjusted 4.2% in december from january. in korea, exports probably grew this month at their fastest pace in more than eight years. companies boosted by rising spending in china, u.s. and japan. economists surveyed by bloomberg say overseas sales probably rose 36% from the year earlier, the biggest gain since august 1995. south korea is counting on rising exports to achieve its target of doubling economic growth to more than 6% this year from an estimated 3% in 2003. exports account for 60% of south korea’s economy. and that’s a look at the upcoming week in the asia-pacific. back to you.
>> moving on, here, the judge in the martha stewart trial acquitted her of the most serious charge against her and joining us now is a former state prosecutor who advises law firms about federal sentencing guidelines and stands by in dallas, texas. thank you for joining us. if martha stewart is found guilty, what’s her outlook?
>> based on the evidence that’s been introduced at the trial, i’d say she’s looking at 2 1/2 to three years in federal prison.
>> in a federal prison?
>> yes. federal prisons do not have a parole system so they’ll have to serve her sentence.
>> you think that’s a high probability? all along people have said she’s given money to charities and she’s notable and has no previous criminal record, they’ll argue like heck that why would we put a productive member of society behind bars? but you’re saying if the jury finds her guilty, you think she will do time?
>> yes, the judge is required to sentence her in accordance with the federal sentencing guidelines and there are no provisions to reduce the sentence based on those factors but look at the offensive conduct and based on what’s introduced so far, that’s the anticipated range.
>> as far as her co-defendant, peter bacanovic, if found guilty, what might be facing?
>> it should be argued it should be higher because he abused a position of trust but potentially that same argument could be made for ms. stewart so i think it’s in the same range of 2 1/2 to three years.
>> and considering douglas faneuil, what do you think will become of him?
>> generally a witness that cooperates in the nature that he has and had the role that he had, i want anticipate probation and he would not serve time.
>> when you advise law firms about federal sentencing guidelines, if you were advising martha stewart’s attorneys right now, what you would advise them?
>> i think there’s arguments they could make to reduce the score but i think they pretty much have control of the situation, knocking out that last count probably significantly decreased the amount of time she could get. if convicted of securities fraud, she could have been looking at eight to 10 years easily.
>> is it too late to cut any deals or change a plea now?
>> at this point, i don’t believe it would change her sentence at all. the judge might go to 2 1/2 instead of three but if she entered a guilty plea today, it would not change the sentence.
>> her adamants of her innocence, will that work against her if found guilty?
>> the judge could take into consideration the fact that if she’s convicted, he doesn’t believe she’s shown remorse and could change the range to the higher end of the range, but would not change the range of the sentence.
>> thank you very much. well, who’s going to be the winner in this year’s oscar’s and what effect will that statuette have on media companies? we’ll talk movie coming up.
