(BN) Mobius Says Dubai Pledge Is ‘Giant Step,’ Worst Over

Mobius Says Dubai Pledge Is 'Giant Step,' Worst Over 
2009-12-14 17:08:33.945 GMT


    (Updates today's trading in final paragraph.)

By Michael Patterson
    Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Dubai's pledge to adopt global
standards on transparency and creditor protection is a "giant
step in the right direction" and the worst of the emirate's
debt crisis is over, investor Mark Mobius said.
    "They said that going forward they wanted to become more
transparent and keep people fully informed," Mobius, who
oversees more than $30 billion as chairman of Templeton Asset
Management Ltd., said in a phone interview from Riyadh today.
"That is a very giant step in the right direction. By making
that statement, Dubai will be able to have a foremost position
here in the Middle East."
    The emirate said it's committed to "transparency, good
governance and market principles" in a statement today that
announced a new bankruptcy law and a $10 billion bailout of
state-owned company Dubai World. Dubai's benchmark equity index
surged the most in 14 months, while the $3.52 billion bond of
state-controlled Nakheel PJSC more than doubled to 109.5 cents
on the dollar after the statement.
    Prices for Nakheel's Islamic bond maturing today had
tumbled to as low as 42 cents after Dubai's Nov. 25 announcement
that Dubai World, the parent of Nakheel, would seek to delay
repayments. Investors' reaction was "blind panic" because of
uncertainty about the size of the restructuring and the
government's role, Abdulrahman Al Saleh, director general of
Dubai's Department of Finance, said on Dec. 10.

                     Dubai Transformation

    "In Dubai we are not good in publicizing what we are doing
as much as we are good in doing it," Al Saleh said during a
conference at the Dubai School of Government.
    Dubai World said on Dec. 1 it was in talks to restructure
less than half of its $59 billion of liabilities, spurring a
rally in global equities and a plunge in prices of credit-
default swaps that insure the debt of Dubai's government.
    "Some of these debts still have to be restructured," said
Mobius. "But the worst is over. To the degree that Dubai really
emphasizes transparency and good corporate governance, they can
really become a big leader, not only in the Middle East but
globally."
    Dubai, which borrowed about $80 billion in a four-year
construction boom to transform its economy into a regional
tourism and financial hub, suffered the world's steepest
property slump in the first global recession since World War II.

                     'Good Opportunities'

    Dubai World will use the bailout money from Abu Dhabi, the
wealthiest of the seven sheikdoms that comprise the United Arab
Emirates, to repay the Nakheel debt that comes due today. The
rest will cover Dubai World's interest and operating costs until
the company reaches a standstill agreement with its creditors,
Dubai's government said in the statement.
    Mobius said he's traveling to Dubai tomorrow to meet with
companies and that there are "very good opportunities" in the
emirate's stock market for long-term investors. Templeton owns
shares of Emaar Properties PJSC, the developer of the world's
tallest tower in Dubai, and DP World Ltd., the Middle East's
biggest port operator, Mobius said.
    Shares of Emaar and DP World jumped 15 percent today,
leading a 10 percent rally in the Dubai Financial Market General
Index. Abu Dhabi's ADX General Index added 7.9 percent for the
steepest rally since May 2006. The MSCI AC World Index of shares
in advanced and developing nations increased 0.7 percent at
11:58 a.m. in New York.

--With assistance from Camilla Hall and Arif Sharif in Dubai.
Editors: Gavin Serkin, Tim Farrand

To contact the reporters on this story:
Michael Patterson in London at +44-20-7073-3102 or
mpatterson10@bloomberg.net;

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Gavin Serkin at +44-20-7673-2467 or gserkin@bloomberg.net.

China output, exports improve as inflation returns - MarketWatch

China output, exports improve as inflation returns - MarketWatch

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China output, exports improve as inflation returns - MarketWatch

China output, exports improve as inflation returns - MarketWatch

Posted using ShareThis

(BN) Obama Accepts Nobel, Says He Understands Cost of War

Obama Accepts Nobel, Says He Understands Cost of War (Update3)
2009-12-10 15:22:40.62 GMT


    (Adds Obama remarks on climate in 19th, 20th paragraphs.)

By Julianna Goldman
    Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said he was
humbled to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and used his
acceptance speech to defend the concept of a "just war" that
is necessary to further the cause of freedom and human rights.
    "Compared to some of the giants of history who have
received this prize -- Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela
-- my accomplishments are slight," he said during the Nobel
ceremony in Oslo. "But perhaps the most profound issue
surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the
commander-in-chief of a nation in the midst of two wars."
    Obama said he has an "acute sense" of the price of
military conflict at a time when he is deploying thousands of
troops into battle. "Some will kill. Some will be killed," he
said.
    The Nobel ceremony in Oslo comes a little more than a week
after the president announced deployment of 30,000 more U.S.
troops to Afghanistan. He also is winding down the U.S. military
commitment in Iraq even as terrorist violence continues.
    "I do not bring with me today a definitive solution to the
problems of war," Obama said. "We must begin by acknowledging
the hard truth that we will not eradicate violent conflict in
our lifetimes."
    While expressing appreciation for the non-violent creed
preached by Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, Obama
said that as U.S. leader he can't "be guided by their examples
alone."

                       Necessary Force

    "I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the
face of threats to the American people," Obama said.
Negotiations didn't stop Adolf Hitler and won't stop al-Qaeda,
he said. "To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a
call to cynicism -- it is a recognition of history; the
imperfections of man and the limits of reason."
    There are times and events where the use of military force
is "not only necessary but morally justified," he said.
    Among recent conflicts, Obama cited the military
intervention in the Balkans, the first Gulf War to drive Iraqi
armed forces under Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait and the U.S.-led
overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11
attacks. He didn't mention the 2003 invasion of Iraq to topple
Hussein that was undertaken by his predecessor, former President
George W. Bush.
    When war is waged, it must be done under universal
standards of conduct, even when the enemy doesn't follow the
same code, Obama said.

                    Standards for Conflict

    "I, like any head of state, reserve the right to act
unilaterally if necessary to defend my nation," he said.
"Nevertheless, I am convinced that adhering to standards
strengthens those who do, and isolates -- and weakens -- those
who don't."
    Obama told his audience there are three ways to "build a
just and lasting peace." They include sanctions that "exact a
real price;" the promotion of human rights; diplomacy and
engagement; and economic security and opportunity.
    Security doesn't exist, he said, "where human beings do
not have access to enough food, or clean water, or the medicine
they need to survive. "The absence of hope can rot a society
from within."
    Obama also said the world must come together to confront
climate change.
   "There is little scientific dispute that if we do nothing,
we will face more drought, famine and mass displacement that
will fuel more conflict for decades," Obama said.

                     'Cooperative Climate'

    While Obama is the third sitting U.S. president to win the
prize, he's the first to win it so early in his term. Former
presidents Theodore Roosevelt won in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson won
in 1919. Former President Jimmy Carter won in 2002 and former
Vice President Al Gore received it in 2007, both after leaving
office.
    Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the five-member Nobel
committee, said the awarding of the Peace Prize this year "must
be viewed in the light of the prevailing situation in the world,
with great tension, numerous wars, unresolved conflicts and
confrontations on many fronts."
    Obama "has been trying to create a more cooperative
climate which can help reverse the present trend," Jagland said
in the text of his remarks at the ceremony. "It is now, today,
that we have the opportunity to support President Obama's ideas.
This year's prize is indeed a call for action to all of us."
    The president arrived in Oslo early today and went directly
to the Nobel Institute where he signed a guest book in a room
with walls covered with photographs of former laureates
including slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
    The president said he and first lady Michelle Obama were
touched by the wall of pictures.
    "When Dr. King won his prize, it had a galvanizing effect
around the world, but also lifted his stature in the United
States in a way that allowed him to be more effective," Obama
said.

For Related News and Information:
For TOP news TOP <GO>
For Nobel news NI NOBEL <GO>

--With assistance from Marianne Stigset in Oslo and Roger
Runningen in Washington. Editors: Joe Sobczyk, Brigitte
Greenberg.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Julianna Goldman in Washington at +1-202-654-4304 or
jgoldman6@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jim Kirk at +1-202-654-4315 or
jkirk12@bloomberg.net;

--
-----

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http://trendsniffer.blogspot.com
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Ted Turner  - "Sports is like a war without the killing."

O vilão : Crude Oil

(BN) Gold Isn’t the Best Protection Against Inflation:

It's an option of diversification.

Brains, managing funds are a better inflation hedge...

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Gold Isn't the Best Protection Against Inflation: Matthew Lynn
2009-12-08 00:01:00.9 GMT


Commentary by Matthew Lynn
    Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Economic chaos? The dollar crumbling?
Central banks printing money like crazy? Probably the only real
surprise about the surge in gold prices over the last few months
is that it took so long to arrive.
    Last week gold touched an all-time high of $1,227.50. Back
in September it was still less than $1,000. Chalk that up as a
victory for the gold bugs.
    This week, the price is heading down, dropping below
$1,200. Chalk that up as a victory for the gold skeptics, who
regularly point out that the metal's value is just a sentimental
memory from a long-buried era.
    In reality, while investors are right to be nervous about
inflation, maybe they are catching on that it's wrong to see
gold as the best hedge against a general rise in prices. There
are plenty of alternatives: equities, property, oil, luxuries or
private-equity funds should prove just as effective a way of
shielding yourself.
    It isn't hard to figure out why investors had been getting
interested in gold again. Central banks are pumping freshly
minted money into the system. A few hundred years of economic
history says that eventually this will lead to inflation. It
might be next year, or the year after. It doesn't make much
difference -- it will arrive sooner or later, and you'll need to
get your portfolio in shape before it does.

                         Alloyed Record

    But gold? Whether it's a hedge against inflation depends on
where you want to start drawing the graph. Back in 2002, gold
was less than $300. If you bought it then, you'd certainly have
protected yourself against rising prices -- and made a fat
profit as well. The 1990s were a different story. Gold started
that decade at around $400, and ended it below $300. Not so
great. As for the 1980s, forget it: gold lost almost half its
value during that decade.
    In reality, gold has a mixed record. Nor should you be
surprised about that. A few industrial uses, and jewelry, aside,
gold is valuable only insofar as other investors think it is
valuable. By itself it isn't necessarily worth anything. Nor
does it generate interest or dividends. If the price doesn't
rise, you don't get anything.
    There isn't much chance, either, of the world's central
banks making their currencies convertible into gold once again.
They would bankrupt their governments in the process. It may
secure itself a greater role as a reserve asset. But the gold
standard isn't about to be re-imposed.
    In truth, while gold may have a role in protecting against
inflation, there are plenty of alternatives. Here are five you
should be thinking about -- particularly when you bear in mind
that gold is already close to an all-time high.

                      Real-Estate Rebound

    One, property. The price of real estate won't always move
exactly in line with inflation. And you might want to steer
clear of the markets where there has yet to be much of a retreat
from the exuberant prices of 2006 and 2007. Even so, if there is
more money chasing a static amount of land and buildings, prices
are going to rise.
    Two, oil. They used to call it black gold and maybe they
should again. It has already stopped being just stuff we put in
our cars, and use to heat houses, and become an investment asset
in itself. How else can we explain the fact that oil has ticked
up past $70 a barrel even while we're living through the worst
global recession since World War II? Oil is already, in effect,
an alternative to gold. The one difference is that you can put
it in your car and drive somewhere -- making it far more useful
than stuff good for little more than dental fillings and
trinkets to wear around your neck.

                         Stock Picking

    Three, equities. Moderate, persistent inflation in the 3
percent range is good for the kind of big, blue-chip companies
that dominate the major global stock markets. They can edge up
prices along with everyone else. And they can usually get away
with increasing wages just a bit less than inflation, so cutting
labor costs as well -- particularly as unions are far less
powerful than they used to be. In those circumstances, the
shareholders should do fine -- and their equities will more than
keep up with rising prices.
    Four, luxury goods and collectibles. Once inflation takes
off, it is only real assets that will hold their value --
everything else is just paper, and that will be of dwindling
use. Assets don't get much more real than historic art, valuable
antiques, vintage automobiles or fine wines. They should start
to soar in price as the mega-rich realize they are among the few
ways to protect wealth. And, heck, if you get it wrong, you can
always hang them on the wall, or drink them.
    Five, private-equity funds. This one might not be obvious.
But a leveraged buyout firm buys well-established companies, in
basic industries, and then loads them up with lots of debt,
while hanging on to a little bit of equity. Inflation will
effectively wipe out all that debt. The result? The equity that
is left over will be worth far more.

                         Rate Squeeze

    Of course, none of these will necessarily work in the long-
term. The only real way to control inflation once it gets
started is to raise interest rates high enough to create a deep
recession, and so choke off rising prices. That's what central
bankers did in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and may do again
sometime around 2015 or 2020. Once that happens, you'll need to
think again -- you might not want to be in property or equities.
    That, however, is some way off. As we move into the early
stages of an inflationary era, those five assets should do at
least as well as gold, if not better.

     (Matthew Lynn is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions
expressed are his own.)

    Click on "Send Comment" in the sidebar display to send a
letter to the editor.

For Related News and Information:
To read more columns by Matthew Lynn: NI LYNN <GO>
More commentaries: OPED <GO>
For top commodities news: CTOP <GO>
For news on gold: NI GLD <GO>

--Editors: James Greiff, Laurence Arnold.

To contact the writer of this column:
Matthew Lynn in London at +44-20-330-7171 or
matthewlynn@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this column:
James Greiff at +1-212-617-5801 or jgreiff@bloomberg.net

beira o espatafurdio

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Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach  - "Even a stopped clock is right twice a day."

Excelente

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