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Kojima Iron Wor Parent Announces Planned FY Dividend of 0.00 Yen.Kojima Iron Works (6112) announced full-year parent dividend estimates for the period to Nov. 30. Figures are in yen. ================================================================================ Forecast Previous Dividend ================================================================================ Full-Year Dividend 0.00 0.00 2nd-Half Dividend 0.00 0.00 ================================================================================ To contact the editor responsible for this story: Teo Chian Wei at +81-3-3201-3623 or [email protected]

Putin Says Russia to Cut State’s Role in Economy, Keep Stability.Prime Minister Vladimir Putin , who is seeking to return to the presidency next year, pledged to pursue plans to reduce the state’s role in the economy without undermining political stability. “Our strategic goal is that the state should, over time, reduce its direct presence in the economy, so we will gradually exit the capital of state corporations,” Putin said today at VTB Capital’s annual investment forum in Moscow. “Changes, of course, are needed and they will happen, but we have to act carefully. We don’t need huge upheavals, we need a great Russia.” The prime minister, who has been in power since 2000 and may serve as president for another 12 years, pledged to work closely with business to cut red tape and combat graft. The state’s “mission is to offer a shoulder to business and remove barriers that hinder it,” he said. Putin, 58, said Sept. 24 he’ll seek to return to the presidency in March elections, pushing aside his protégé, Dmitry Medvedev , who replaced him in the Kremlin for four years because of a constitutional ban on three consecutive terms. Medvedev, a 46-year-old former corporate lawyer, has promised to fight corruption and attract foreign investment to cut Russia’s dependence on energy exports. ‘Liberal Experiments’ Putin would take the country’s top job again just as the global slowdown threatens to throttle demand for oil, the mainstay of the Russian economy. The risk is that Putin, an officer in the Soviet-era KGB who says policy makers must avoid “liberal experiments,” will struggle to combat challenges that threaten the country’s long-term growth prospects, former Economy Minister Yevgeny Yasin said in a Sept. 25 interview. Foreign investors could pull out of Russia after Putin’s return as president, Jochen Wermuth, who helps manage about $350 million as chief investment officer at his Russia-focused Wermuth Asset Management GmBH, said earlier this year. Concern over the global economy and Europe ’s sovereign-debt crisis has roiled markets in Russia, which saw its economy contract 7.8 percent in 2009, its worst recession on record. Russia is vulnerable to swings in oil prices and will have to cut spending, including pensions, to bring its budget into line and its dependency on commodity exports, the International Monetary Fund said on Sept. 21. Outflows of capital reached an estimated $18.7 billion in the third quarter, bringing this year’s total to $49.3 billion, the central bank said Oct. 4. Better Prepared Putin said Russia, whose $516.8 billion of international reserves are the world’s third-largest, is better prepared than it was in 2008 to withstand global economic turbulence. The country, which has a debt of below 10 percent of gross domestic product, may run a balanced budget this year and in 2012 after two years of deficits, Putin said. The government won’t borrow on the domestic or international markets for the rest of the year, which will keep it from withdrawing about 350 billion rubles ($10.8 billion) from the economy, he said. Financial discipline is a “keystone” of the Russian government, said Putin. Russia aims to raise a total of about 1 trillion rubles from state asset sales between 2012 and 2014. To contact the reporters on this story: Scott Rose in Moscow at [email protected] ; Henry Meyer in Moscow at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at [email protected]

BOE’s King Says He Doesn’t Think Stimulus to Fuel Currency Wars.Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said he doesn’t think there’ll be so-called global currency wars as a result of stimulus measures in advanced economies. “I don’t think that’s right,” King said in a television interview on Sky News today. “Movements in exchange rates are a safety valve that let the imbalances out.” To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Hamilton in London at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Svenja O’Donnell at [email protected]

Nigeria’s Naira Weakens to Lowest on Record Against the Dollar.Nigeria ’s naira fell to the weakest on record in the interbank market after the currency declined at a central-bank dollar auction and Governor Lamido Sanusi said the naira won’t be defended “at all costs.” The currency of sub-Saharan Africa ’s second-biggest economy lost as much as 1.8 percent to 164.425 per dollar and traded down 1.1 percent to 163.15 by 12:18 p.m. in Lagos, the commercial capital, the weakest since at least 1994, when Bloomberg began compiling the data. The marginal rate at yesterday’s auction, which is also used as the prevailing exchange rate, weakened to 155.40 naira, the lowest on record. Sanusi made the comment on the currency in an interview on CNBC Africa television yesterday. “Sanusi’s latest views somewhat represent a break with previous comments surrounding the naira and point to the increased possibility that the central bank is effectively starting to consider a controlled currency devaluation ,” Matthew Pearson, the head of African equity products at Standard Bank Plc, wrote in an e-mailed research note today. The central bank has been using foreign-currency reserves to keep the naira within a 3 percentage-point band above or below 150 per dollar at its twice-weekly auctions. It broke that band the first time on Sept. 26. The West African nation will estimate its revenue using a crude-oil price of $75 a barrel and an exchange rate of 153 naira per dollar, weaker than the current 150 naira, according to the government’s budget proposal submitted to lawmakers on Oct. 4. If the 3 percent range is applied to the new 153 target rate, the upper band rises to 157.6, which is still above the present auction rate, Pearson wrote. To prevent the dollar-naira rate becoming “a one-way and disorderly bet higher, the central bank will have to further tighten liquidity conditions and still provide ample foreign- currency supply at the auctions,” he said. The central bank sold $400 million at yesterday’s auction, compared with $685.4 million demanded by lenders. To contact the reporter on this story: Vincent Nwanma in Lagos on at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at [email protected]

German Two-Year Notes Decline as Traders Pare ECB Interest-Rate Cut Bets.German two-year notes slumped, pushing yields up to a three-week high, as traders pared back bets for an interest-rate cut from the European Central Bank after it kept its benchmark rate on hold at 1.50 percent. Ten-year bunds also declined as ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet outlined policy tools to stem the debt crisis, including one-year loans for banks. Italian and Spanish government bonds rose as European banking stocks advanced for a second day amid optimism regional policy makers will take additional steps to shore up the region’s lenders. The Governing Council discussed the possibility of cutting interest rates, Trichet told reporters in Berlin. “There is some disappointment that no rate cut materialized and the short end of the curve is suffering,” said David Schnautz , a fixed-income strategist at Commerzbank AG in London. “Also by emphasizing the difference between the non- standard measures and the interest rate, Trichet is not really leaving the door open for a rate cut as soon as next month.” Two-year German note yields were 12 basis points higher at 0.62 percent at 4:23 p.m. in London after rising as much as 15 basis points to 0.65 percent, the biggest gain since Aug. 8. The 0.75 percent security due in September 2013 fell 0.235, or 2.35 euros per 1,000-euro face amount, to 100.25. Ten-year bund yields were 10 basis points higher at 1.94 percent. Euribor Futures Spanish 10-year yields fell nine basis points to 5.00 percent, while equivalent-maturity Italian yields dropped seven basis points, to 5.46 percent. “There has been a discussion on the pros and cons of decreasing rates,” Trichet said. “We have decided by consensus to maintain rates.” Euribor futures fell, pushing the implied yield on the contract expiring in December up by 11 basis points to 1.350 percent, signaling that investors reduced wagers on lower interest rates. The median estimate of 52 economists in a Bloomberg survey was for the central bank to keep rates unchanged. Five predicted the central bank would cut borrowing costs to 1.25 percent, and six said it would lower the rate to 1 percent to boost growth. ECB policy makers, who have raised borrowing costs twice this year, resisted calls for a rate cut. Instead, Trichet said the central bank will offer banks one 12-month loan, starting in October, and a 13-month loan in December. Both will be operated as fixed rate, full allotment operations. It will also start buying 40 billion euros of covered bonds in November. Full Allotment The Bank of England earlier increased the size of its bond- purchase program by 75 billion pounds ($115 billion) to 275 billion pounds and kept its key interest rate at a record low 0.5 percent. “The 12-month full allotment and the covered-bond purchases were largely already priced in” to the market, said John Davies , a fixed-income strategist at WestLB AG in London. “There’s still risk momentum in the market on the likelihood of a European bank recapitalization program.” The Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index increased 3.3 percent as European Commission President Jose Barroso said officials are proposing coordinated action to recapitalize banks. Bank Recapitalization German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday she supports recapitalizing European lenders “if there is a joint assessment that the banks aren’t adequately capitalized” and finance officials develop “uniform criteria.” The yield on 10-year Belgian bonds was seven basis points higher 4.07 percent. Trading in shares of Belgian-based Dexia SA was suspended as of 3:55 p.m. in Brussels after the lender’s stock slumped 17 percent and De Tijd reported on its website that the government will nationalize Dexia Bank Belgium pending a sale. Spanish three-year note yields fell 11 basis points to 3.63 percent after the Treasury sold bonds due in April 2014 at an average yield of 3.589 percent, compared with 4.813 percent the previous time Spain sold 2014 debt, on Aug. 4. “This is encouraging for Spain in particular and for other peripherals in general,” Luca Jellinek , head of European interest-rate strategy at Credit Agricole SA in London, said in an e-mailed note. Bunds have handed investors 8 percent this year, while U.S. Treasuries have returned 9.3 percent, according to indexes compiled by Bloomberg and the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies. Spain’s bonds have returned 5.3 percent while Italy’s have lost 2.7 percent. To contact the reporters on this story: Paul Dobson in London at [email protected] ; Emma Charlton in London at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at [email protected]

Brazil’s Use of Capacity Rose to 82.2% in August, CNI Says.Brazil ’s manufacturers increased use of installed capacity to 82.2 percent in August, the National Industrial Confederation said. The use of installed capacity in August rose from a revised 82 percent in July, the confederation said in a report distributed today in Brasilia. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected 82.1 percent, according to the median forecast from six analysts. To contact the reporter on this story: Arnaldo Galvao in Brasilia at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at [email protected]

Hurricane Philippe Forms in Atlantic Ocean Southeast of Bermuda, U.S. Says.Hurricane Philippe formed in the Atlantic southeast of Bermuda while Tropical Storm Irwin developed in the Pacific off the southwestern coast of Mexico , according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Philippe’s top winds reached 80 miles (129 kilometers) per hour 425 miles southeast of the islands on a course to the north-northeast that will keep it away from land, the hurricane center said. “After 49 previous advisories, over 12 days, Philippe has finally become a hurricane,” the center said in a forecast analysis. “This peak will likely be short-lived.” Philippe is the 16th named storm of the June-to-November Atlantic season and the fifth to grow to hurricane strength with winds of at least 74 mph. An average Atlantic season produces 11 storms, according to the center. Tropical Storm Irwin, the ninth named storm of the eastern Pacific season, is located 855 miles south-southwest of the tip of Baja California and is forecast to move in a circular pattern without threatening land through the next five days. Irwin’s top winds are 40 mph, just above the 39-mph threshold a storm needs to receive a name from the Miami-based hurricane center. Following Irwin is Tropical Depression 10, 540 miles south- southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico, with winds of 35 mph. The depression is expected to become Tropical Storm Jova today, the hurricane center said. According to the center’s forecast track , Jova may grow into a hurricane next week and strike Mexico’s Pacific coast near Puerto Vallarta. To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at [email protected]

Judge’s Murder Shows Rio’s ‘Problem of the Decade’: Dom Phillips.Even in a city as murderous as Rio de Janeiro , the killing of Judge Patricia Acioli on Aug. 12 was a shock. According to police she was ambushed by two motorbikes and at least one car as she returned to her condominium that morning, and killed in a hail of 21 bullets. She left behind three children. The assassination continues to reverberate in the local media almost two months later, not only for its brutality, but because it was apparently carried out by corrupt police -- highlighting a growing menace as Brazil tries to get its crime-ridden favelas under control. Acioli was a judge in the municipality of Sao Goncalo, in Niteroi, a city across the bay from Rio. She was particularly fearless in acting against what are known as militias -- criminal mafias made up of former and serving police officers. Hours before her death, she had ordered the arrest of eight officers from the Sao Goncalo Tactical Action Group (or GAT, a SWAT team) in connection with the death of an 18-year-old in a police operation. Several of those officers are believed to have killed Acioli under orders from their commander. All the accused officers are now in custody. On Oct. 2, "Fantastico," a hugely popular Sunday-night television show, broadcast CCTV images of two of the GAT officers outside Acioli's condominium on the afternoon before the shooting. "Exclusive images obtained by `Fantastico' show that police suspected of taking part in the assassination of Judge Patricia Acioli passed by the condominium where she lived and studied the entrance and exit routes they would use a few hours later," the report said. "Fantastico" also broadcast an interview with Cpl. Sergio Costa Jr., one of the officers in the images, in which he confessed to his involvement in the murder in the hope of reducing his sentence. He sat in shadow, his face hidden, saying he feared for the safety of his wife and daughter. Costa was asked how he felt. "Regretting a lot. A lot. Regretting a lot," he said. He was then asked if he regretted his actions immediately, or only when he was imprisoned. "Some minutes afterward I was already regretting," he replied. The sinister backdrop to this case is the increasing power of Rio's militias, run by corrupt police with political connections. The squad suspected of Acioli's murder was also allegedly involved in collecting arms, drugs and money from traffickers -- rewards that they called "the spoils of war" -- and in covering up police crimes. Acioli's pursuit of the battalion apparently sealed her fate. Rio's government has made much of its policy of installing armed police bases -- called Police Pacification Units, or UPPs -- in its most dangerous neighborhoods. UPPs have forced drug gangs out of high-profile favelas such as Mangueira, near the Maracana soccer stadium. But critics say the policy is focused only on favelas near the sites of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. And that as drug gangs are forced out, militias like the one that allegedly killed Acioli have moved into the power vacuum. On Sept. 8, the website Rio Radar posted a video interview with Paulo Storani, an academic and former captain in the elite BOPE squad of Rio's military police. Storani was, the site said, one of the inspirations for Roberto Nascimento, the hero of the hit Brazilian movie "Elite Squad: The Enemy Within," about a BOPE officer battling the expanding power of militias. Storani said: Others argue that Acioli's murder is an isolated case. On Oct. 3, TV Globo's security commentator Rodrigo Pimentel said : "The case is worrying because it involves a colonel and weakens the intelligence service. But Patricia Acioli was the first judge from a criminal court to be assassinated in Brazil. She was an exception." Writing on the site of O Globo newspaper, Lindberg Farias, a senator for Rio de Janeiro state from the ruling Workers' Party, argued that the judge's life and death should motivate wide-ranging reforms to the police force. "Judge Patricia demonstrated, until the end, full confidence in the possibility of the construction of a just social order," Farias wrote. "If the Brazilian police are devalued professionally, receive unworthy salaries and inadequate training, work in precarious and risky conditions, act in organizational structures that inhibit instead of capitalize on their capabilities, we have to offer alternatives and the perspectives of change." He added: "I hope that the sacrifice of Patricia Acioli inspires us to mobilize. It's the minimum we should do to honor her memory." (Dom Phillips is the Sao Paulo correspondent for World View. The opinions expressed are his own.) To contact the writer of this blog post: Dom Phillips at [email protected]. To contact the editor responsible for this blog post: Timothy Lavin at [email protected].

TF1, Canal Plus Are Close to Agreement on LCI Channel, Le Figaro Reports.Societe Television Francaise 1 (TFI) and Vivendi SA (VIV) ’s Canal Plus pay-television unit are close to an agreement over the future of the LCI television channel, Le Figaro reported, without citing anyone. To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Whitehouse at [email protected]

Thai Flood Death Toll Rises as Waters Threaten Honda, Sony.The death toll in Thailand ’s worst floods in five decades rose to 244 and threatened to disrupt operations of automobile and electronics makers that use the Southeast Asian country as a production base. Heavy rain since July 25 has caused flooding in 59 of the country’s 77 provinces, and 28 of them remain submerged, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said on its website today. Industrial parks in Ayutthaya province home to factories from Honda Motor Co. and Sony Corp. are at risk after floods caused nearby plants to shut down. “The situation in Ayutthaya is quite worrisome,” Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who surveyed the damage by helicopter today, told reporters after landing in Bangkok. “In some areas water has reached levels we have never seen before.” The deluge has affected more than six million people in the region and claimed a further 224 lives in Cambodia , Vietnam and the Philippines , according to the United Nations. Thailand has seen the most fatalities as typhoons and above-average rainfall damage crops, destroy businesses and uproot families across Southeast Asia. “The situation is getting worse and it may lead to big damages in the industrial sector,” Tanit Sorat, vice president of the Federation of Thai Industries , said by phone. “There are many big plants in Ayutthaya that produce raw materials for textiles and also produce auto parts. If they are flooded, the impact will be massive.” Pressure on Rates The waters have caused 25 billion baht ($805 million) of damage in factories based in Ayutthaya, Industry Minister Wannarat Charnnukul told reporters today. Nationwide losses from the disaster may reach 50 billion baht ($1.6 billion), the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce estimates, complicating government efforts to boost the minimum wage. Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong called on the Bank of Thailand to lower interest rates to help businesses cope with impact from the flooding after meeting with industry leaders, who requested loans with low interest rates to cope with the disaster. “The first thing we should do is the central bank should cut interest rates,” Kittiratt said. “This is the message I want to convey to them.” More than a hundred factories producing auto parts, food and electronics have temporarily closed because of floodwaters, according to the Federation of Thai Industries. Plants operated by Danish shoemaker ECCO Sko A/S and Japanese food and beverage producer Ajinomoto Co. are among 40 factories in Ayutthaya that have shut down, according to Narapote Thewtanom, deputy governor of the Industrial Estate Authority Thailand. Canon Closes Factory Canon Inc. halted operations at its inkjet printer plant in Ayutthaya because of flooding and will keep the factory closed tomorrow as a precautionary measure, Hirotomo Fujimori, a Tokyo- based spokesman for the company, said by phone today. Indorama Ventures Pcl (IVL) , which says it’s the world’s largest producer of polyester, shut factories in Lopburi province that make wool yarns and polymers, the company said on Sept. 27. Sony Corp.’s factory in Ayutthaya, which produces digital cameras and lenses, hasn’t suffered major damage from flooding and is operating as normal, Yasuhiro Okada, a Tokyo-based spokesman for the electronics maker, said by phone today. Honda Worried Honda, Japan ’s third-largest automaker, faces a “worrisome” situation at a plant in Ayutthaya, Pitak Pruittisarikorn, executive vice president of its Thai unit, said by phone. The company yesterday halted production at the plant, which can produce 240,000 vehicles a year, on supply shortages, he said. Honda’s plant is located in Rojana Industrial Park, which is mostly a base for companies making automotive and electronics parts. Nikon Corp., Hitachi Metals Ltd. and Siam Cement Pcl are among companies with operations in the estate, according to Rojana’s website. The deluge has displaced 2.6 million people in Thailand since late July and damaged almost 10 percent of rice farms in the biggest exporter of the grain, data from the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives show. Economic losses from the floods and weakening overseas demand for Thailand’s electronics, textiles and agricultural goods may complicate Yingluck’s efforts to meet a pledge to raise the minimum wage. Her two-month-old government has deployed about 10,000 soldiers to aid flood victims and extended rice-price guarantees to shield incomes. ‘Routine Work’ Yingluck “has to be seen as taking charge,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of Chulalongkorn University’s Institute for Strategic and International Studies in Bangkok. “So far that’s not the case. It’s more like routine work. There has to be more thrust behind her leadership.” The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, a private institution founded by the chamber, said the impact of flooding, including an earlier deluge, may total as much as 130 billion baht and reduce economic growth by as much as 1.3 percentage points, it said today. The government estimates the most recent floods may cause as much as 30 billion baht of damage, Kittiratt said yesterday. Costs so far amount to about 20 billion baht, central bank Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul said. To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok at [email protected] ; Suttinee Yuvejwattana in Bangkok at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg at [email protected]

Russia Weekly Oil Products Output: Summary.Following is a table of Russia weekly oil products output, according to the report of the Federal Service of State Statistics of Russia in Moscow: To contact the reporter on this story: Zoya Shilova in Moscow at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Marco Babic at [email protected]

Prosegur to Pay Second Dividend Oct. 17.Prosegur Compania de Seguridad SA will pay a second dividend of 21.29 euro cents per share on Oct. 17, the company said in a filing to regulators. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Charles Penty at [email protected]

Arabtec Holding, DP World, QNB: Persian Gulf Equity Preview.The following companies may be active in Persian Gulf stock markets. Symbols are in parentheses and prices are from the last close. Dubai’s DFM General Index (DFMGI) slipped for a sixth day, retreating 0.2 percent to the lowest since March 7. Qatar’s QE Index (DSM) was little changed and Saudi Arabia’s market is closed for the weekend. Arabtec Holding CO. (ARTC) : The United Arab Emirates’ biggest construction company said its joint venture in India won a contract valued at about 750 million dirhams ($204 million). The shares were unchanged at 1.30 dirhams. DP World Ltd. (DPW) : Dubai’s state-controlled port operator agreed to a 20-year financing with a group of international banks to fund its London Gateway deep-sea port. The shares advanced 1.6 percent to $10.16. National Leasing (NLCS) Holding Co. (NLCS QD): The Qatari investment company said nine-month profit rose 5 percent to 156.8 million riyals ($43 million). The shares slipped 0.8 percent to 42.05 riyals. Qatar National Bank SAQ (QNBK) : The Persian Gulf country’s biggest bank by assets said third-quarter profit rose to 1.9 billion riyals from 1.45 billion riyals in the year- earlier period, beating analyst estimates. The shares were unchanged at 139.5 riyals. To contact the reporters on this story: Zahra Hankir in Dubai at [email protected] ; Alaa Shahine in Dubai at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Maedler at [email protected]

Cardinals Beat Phillies 5-3 to Force Decisive Game 5 in NL Division Series.David Freese drove in four runs with a two-run homer and a two-run double and the St. Louis Cardinals forced a decisive Game 5 in their National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Cardinals’ 5-3 win today at Busch Stadium in St. Louis means the best-of-five Major League Baseball series will come down to a game Oct. 7 in Philadelphia. In the other NL first-round series, the Milwaukee Brewers take a 2-1 lead into Game 4 tonight at the Arizona Diamondbacks. In the American League, the Texas Rangers won their series 3-1 against the Tampa Bay Rays and await the winner of tomorrow night’s decisive Game 5 in New York between the Yankees and the Detroit Tigers. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rob Gloster at [email protected]

Roche’s RoActemra Wins U.K. Backing for More Arthritis Patients.Roche Holding AG (ROG) won the backing of the U.K. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence for the RoActemra rheumatoid arthritis drug after agreeing to provide a discount to the state-run medical system. RoActemra may be used at additional stages of treating the disease under new draft treatment guidelines, according to an e- mailed statement from the agency, known as NICE. Roche, based in Basel, Switzerland , must provide a discount on the medicine, which costs 9,295 pounds ($14,225) a year for a patient weighing about 70 kilograms (154 pounds). The level of the discount will remain confidential, NICE said. The agency last year recommended RoActemra as an option for rheumatoid arthritis patients who either hadn’t had an adequate response to one or more medicines or couldn’t take Roche’s Rituxan. NICE advises the National Health Service on which therapies represent value for money. To contact the reporter on this story: Kristen Hallam in London at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Phil Serafino at [email protected]

Chile Student March Turns Violent as Government Talks Stall.Chilean students marched in downtown Santiago today, clashing with police and blocking traffic for much of the day, after negotiations with the government over education reforms broke down last night. “This has been one of the most violent marches” after four months of demonstrations, newspaper La Tercera quoted Santiago Mayor Pablo Zalaquett as saying. At least 28 people were arrested and six police officers injured during the protests, Cecilia Perez, government administrator for the Metropolitan Region, said in images transmitted on national TV. Police used water cannons and doused the area with tear gas as they attempted to block the unauthorized march, Perez said. The student federation, known as Confech, will vote Oct. 8 whether to continue talks with the government after its leaders yesterday disagreed with Education Minister Felipe Bulnes on ways to cut the cost of education for households, protest leader Camila Vallejo said last night. Students, who have held 37 marches in Santiago since the protest movement started, want the government to do more than increase scholarships for poor students, calling for higher taxes on the wealthy to fund free education, Vallejo said in images transmitted on CNN Chile. “I’ve told students on numerous occasions that working under the logic of all or nothing won’t lead to progress,” Bulnes said in images transmitted on state television. “They can’t base structural reform on free education for all students.” To contact the reporter on this story: Randall Woods in Santiago at [email protected]. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at [email protected] .

Philippe Close to Hurricane Strength in Atlantic, Storm Forms Off Mexico.Tropical Storm Philippe is nearing hurricane status in the Atlantic southeast of Bermuda though it poses no threat to land, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm, about 455 miles (735 kilometers) from Bermuda, is moving north-northeast at 8 miles per hour with 70 mph winds, the Miami-based center said in a 5 a.m. East coast time advisory. A storm becomes a hurricane when winds reach 74 mph. Philippe is expected to become a hurricane later today before “slow weakening starts” tomorrow, the NHC said. Its forecast path shows the storm may be a hurricane for two to three days, then dissipate over cooler North Atlantic waters. In the Pacific off Mexico ’s west coast, a tropical depression formed with 35 mph winds that’s about 885 miles south-southwest of Baja California. The system may become a tropical storm later today or tomorrow, the NHC said. To contact the reporter on this story: Sherry Su in London at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at [email protected]

David Beckham’s Endorsement Income Rises as Galaxy Contract Approaches End.David Beckham ’s earning power is climbing in his soccer career’s twilight. The 36-year-old former England captain paid himself an extra 2.6 million pounds ($4 million) last year from new endorsement deals, according to a filing today by his London- based company, Footwork Productions Ltd. He endorses Adidas AG (ADS) and PepsiCo Inc. among other companies. Beckham’s total 2010 earnings from the company, which doesn’t include his Los Angeles Galaxy salary, rose 31 percent to 14.9 million pounds, the filing shows. Forbes magazine in May put his total earnings at $40 million. It’s the highest revenue for Beckham’s company since 2005, when he played for Real Madrid. His five-year contract with the Galaxy ends in November and, according to L’Equipe newspaper, Paris Saint-Germain is among teams that want to sign him. Beckham is also in-demand among companies seeking to promote their brand at next year’s London Olympics. In May, he agreed to become Samsung Electronics Co.’s global brand ambassador for the Games. To contact the reporters on this story: Alex Duff in Madrid at [email protected]. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at at [email protected]

EPA Eases Off Cross-State Air Pollution Rules for Power Utilities.The Environmental Protection Agency proposed amending cross-state emissions rules for power companies today, easing off on pollution caps for Texas and nine other states. Texas, which sued to block the measure set to take effect next year, would be allowed to have power plants emit 29 percent more sulfur dioxide than initially proposed, according to Rob Barnett, an energy analyst for Bloomberg Government. The proposed changes would also affect power plants in New York and New Jersey by giving those states greater leeway to trade pollution allowances among power producers. The modifications to a rule issued in July are based on changes in data received from states and utilities, according to the EPA. “While individual state adjustments vary, overall, the budget increases are slight -- about one percent -- when compared to the millions of tons of pollution reductions secured,” the agency said in a statement on its website. The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule imposes caps on sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide that drift across borders. It applies to Texas and 26 eastern states. The Texas cap was adjusted because seven plants in the state weren’t using pollution-control equipment as the EPA had assumed, meaning they were polluting more than had been assumed in the initial analysis, according to the proposal today. ‘More Manageable System’ The change “makes it a much more manageable system,” David Knox, a spokesman for NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) , said in a telephone interview. “It means the costs of achieving these reductions will be less.” NRG Energy, the largest U.S. independent power producer, said in August that the company planned to spend about $720 million to comply with expected environmental rules. Michigan , Nebraska , New York and Wisconsin received the biggest increase in their budget for nitrogen oxide, according to Marc De Croisset, a utilities analyst for FBR Capital Markets & Co. in New York. Sulfur dioxide can lead to acid rain and soot emissions harmful to humans and ecosystems, and nitrogen oxide is a component of ground-level ozone, a main ingredient of smog. Coal accounts for 98 percent of sulfur dioxide and 92 percent of nitrogen oxides released into the air by power plants, according to the EPA. Texas consumes more electricity and uses more coal than any other state, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Statewide Budgets The standard replaces Bush-era regulations rejected in 2008 by a federal court that said trading provisions wouldn’t protect communities against pollution from nearby states. The regulation sets statewide emissions budgets, which are then divided among power generators, providing opportunities for those companies to trade credits. The changes announced today will allow greater scope for trading, the EPA said. Texas wasn’t part of the initial proposal and was added in July, prompting complaints from lawmakers such as U.S. Republican Senator John Cornyn. “The only fair way to move forward at this point is through a total reconsideration of the rule,” Cornyn said in a statement today. The largest Texas grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, said Sept. 1 that the regulation may lead to power blackouts. The company is studying the impact of today’s changes, spokeswoman Dottie Roark said in an e-mail. Texas sued the EPA Sept. 20 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia seeking a delay in the rule. To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Drajem in Washington at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Larry Liebert at [email protected]

U.K. Second Quarter Productivity Statistics: Summary.Following is a summary of second quarter productivity measures from National Statistics in London: To contact the reporter on this story: Harumi Ichikura in London at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Marco Babic at [email protected]

BOE Bond Program Boost a ‘ Bearish’ Signal: Analyst Comment.Foreign-exchange strategists comment on the Bank of England ’s decision to expand bond purchases to 275 billion pounds ($421 million) from 200 billion pounds, the first increase in the so-called quantitative easing program since 2009. Twenty-one of 32 economists in a Bloomberg News survey forecast no change, and the rest predicted increases ranging from 50 billion pounds to 100 billion pounds. The analysts commented by telephone and e-mail today. Elizabeth Gregory, a market strategist in Geneva at Swissquote Bank SA, a unit of financial and trading-services company Swissquote Group: “It’s an incredibly bearish signal from the Bank of England. They must have significant concerns about the growth outlook.” “What’s really surprising is the magnitude.” “One of the unfortunate consequences of this injection is that it’s going to stoke inflation.” “It’s very likely the pound will fall to $1.50 levels and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it fall to below $1.50.” “This action from the U.K. means other central banks will find it a lot easier to consider more quantitative easing themselves.” John Hydeskov, chief analyst at Danske Bank A/S in London: “It’s slightly bigger than we thought -- I went for 50 billion like the majority of forecasters.” “It’s definitely not good for the pound. We’re seeing a big weakening at the moment. I would say that this can continue to 87.50 pence.” Neil Jones , London-based head of European hedge-fund sales at Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd. The move is a “proactive surprise.” “I expect the pound to fall and become more competitive, whilst sending U.K. stocks, property assets and both producer and consumer confidence higher. We would expect further QE measures in the pipeline.” To contact the reporter on this story: Garth Theunissen in London [email protected] ; Lucy Meakin in London at o [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at [email protected]

Deutsche Boerse, NYSE May Need to Give Ground to EU on Deal.Deutsche Boerse AG (DB1) and NYSE Euronext may need to offer concessions to quell formal European Union concerns over their plan to create the world’s largest exchange, lawyers said. Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext yesterday received a statement of objections listing the European Commission’s “provisional position” on the combination, the companies said. The statement lays out possible competition problems. Joaquin Almunia , the EU’s antitrust commissioner, said last month that he’s “concerned” the deal maymonopolize the derivatives market. Regulators have also cited fears of reduced innovation in derivatives products and technology and less competition for post-trade clearing services. The EU’s “concerns are sufficiently real that the parties are going to want to offer something,” said Dennis Oswell, a lawyer at Oswell & Vahida in Brussels. It’s “pretty darn rare” for a deal to win EU approval without conditions after the EU has opened an in-depth “phase 2” investigation. Eurex, Europe ’s largest derivatives exchange, which is controlled by Deutsche Boerse , lists derivatives contracts based on the benchmark Euro Stoxx 50 Index of the euro area’s biggest companies. “NYSE and Deutsche Boerse won’t want to lose the Euro Stoxx or their flagship derivatives contracts but there are others, on the side, that aren’t highly revenue generating, that can be offered as a sacrifice to the gods,” said Hirander Misra, who helped found Chi-X Europe, the biggest alternative trading system, and now runs a U.K.-based consulting firm that advises on market structure. Vertical Silo Robert Rendine, a spokesman for NYSE in New York declined to comment as did Frank Herkenhoff , a spokesman for Deutsche Boerse. Almunia also declined to comment on the details of the EU’s complaint today. Deutsche Boerse shares rose 0.04 percent to 38.66 euros today in Frankfurt and NYSE stock dropped 0.6 percent to $24.11 at 12:44 p.m. in New York. Deutsche Boerse’s “vertical silo,” which routes all trade clearing through its own services, was targeted by Almunia in March. He said he preferred a “more open business model” for markets. Clearinghouses -- such as Deutsche Boerse’s Eurex Clearing unit and London’s LCH.Clearnet Ltd. -- operate as central counterparties for every buy and sell order executed by their members, who post collateral, reducing the risk that a trader defaults on a deal. Third Parties Almunia’s comments suggest that the EU may seek remedies such as “product licenses to third parties, allowing third parties to use the Deutsche Boerse clearinghouse and fees concessions,” said Suzanne Rab, a lawyer at King & Spalding in London. The EU can require companies to change their behavior or to sell off units to eliminate possible competition concerns. It currently has a deadline of Dec. 13 to rule on the deal, which it can extend if required. “The commission is going to have to receive some sort of satisfaction that clients are not going to be forced into the vertical silo,” said Oswell. Regulators often don’t favor such behavioral remedies “because it requires a lot of monitoring on their part.” Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext (NYX) have resisted any suggestion that they would sell derivatives exchanges Eurex or Liffe, saying in a February statement that they “complement each other ideally on interest rate products, with Eurex specializing in the long end of the interest rate curve and NYSE Liffe the short end.” The companies may also try to counter the commission’s arguments against deal, said Emanuela Lecchi, a London-based lawyer at Watson, Farley & Williams LLP. The exchanges may “consider whether the evidence really supports the concerns expressed” and whether they are able to rebut the EU’s reasoning, said Lecchi. To contact the reporters on this story: Aoife White in Brussels at [email protected]. Nandini Sukumar in London at [email protected]

Grassley Asks Falcone for Records of FCC, White House Contacts.The Senate Judiciary Committee’s top Republican asked Philip Falcone and his LightSquared wireless venture for records of contacts with the White House and U.S. regulators to put “questions of improper influence” to rest. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa made the request in letters to Falcone and LightSquared Chief Executive Officer Sanjiv Ahuja yesterday, requesting information about contacts with the Federal Communications Commission, White House, and Commerce Department. Seven House Republicans last month asked the White House for details of contacts with Falcone, citing concerns about possible political pressure on U.S. agencies over the billionaire’s wireless venture. LightSquared, backed by $3 billion from Falcone’s Harbinger Capital Partners hedge fund, wants to offer wholesale service through a network of base stations using airwaves previously reserved mainly for satellites. Makers and users of global- positioning system devices say LightSquared’s signals will disrupt navigation by planes, boats, tractors and automobiles. “If Harbinger has nothing to hide and would like to put questions of improper influence at the FCC, Department of Commerce , and White House to rest, the public release of these communications would allow Congress and the American people to fully examine the facts and decide for themselves,” Grassley wrote in the letter to Falcone. “LightSquared has received the letter and it is reviewing it,” Chris Stern, a company spokesman, said in an interview. Scott Tagliarino, a spokesman for New York-based Harbinger Capital Partners, said in an interview the firm is reviewing the letter and declined to comment further. Grassley and Representative Thomas Petri, a Wisconsin Republican, said in a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski last month that U.S. regulators should “resist political pressures” to approve LightSquared. The Reston, Virginia-based company needs FCC clearance to begin service. To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Engleman in Washington at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Shepard at [email protected]

Japan Aug. All Households High-Value Product Spending.Following is the detailed table for Japan ’s all household spending for high-value products and services from the government’s statistics bureau in Tokyo. NOTE1: Figures are not seasonally adjusted. Total spending figures are calculated by Bloomberg News. NOTE2: Includes agricultural, forestry, and fisheries households. SOURCE: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications To contact the reporter on this story: Minh Bui in Tokyo at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Marco Babic at [email protected]

Romania Extends Romgaz Licenses, Approves 7 Concession Accords.Romania ’s government approved a five- year extension for exploration licenses for eight blocks of natural-gas producer Romgaz SA, which committed to invest at least $520 million in the eastern European country. The government also approved seven oil and gas concession agreements with companies, including Ireland-based Moesia Oil and Gas Plc and Blackstairs Energy, the Bucharest-based administration said late yesterday in an e-mailed statement. The production licenses had been previously held by Romgaz and oil company OMV Petrom SA (SNP) , which gave them up because the block resources are depleting. To contact the reporter on this story: Irina Savu in Bucharest at [email protected]. To contact the editor responsible for this story: James M. Gomez at [email protected]

Brain Injuries in U.S. Youth Athletes Surge 60% Over Nine Years, CDC Says.Emergency room visits for head injuries among U.S. youth athletes surged 60 percent in nine years, led by bicycling, football and playground accidents. Traumatic brain injuries rose to 248,418 cases in 2009 from 153,375 in 2001, according to a report by the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accidents from soccer and basketball also contributed to the increase. The increase probably stems from a heightened awareness among coaches and parents that children need to be seen by a doctor after a head injury, said Linda C. Degutis, director of the CDC’s injury prevention center, in a statement from the agency. That’s supported by a relatively stable number of hospitalizations, suggesting that children with less-serious injuries are also seeking care, the report said. That’s important because even mild brain injury can lead to life-long impairment, the report said. “While some research shows a child’s developing brain can be resilient, it is also known to be more vulnerable to the chemical changes that occur” after a brain injury, said Richard C. Hunt, head of the CDC’s injury response division. About 71 percent of all the visits recorded were among boys, according to the data. Most of those in the emergency room, about 71 percent, were 10 to 19 years old. Children under 9 years mostly sustained injuries from bicycling or playground activities. Older boys were mostly injured in football; older girls, mostly from bicycling and soccer, the data showed. Head injuries contributed to football accounting for 57 percent of trauma-related sports deaths among youths from 1980 to 2009, according to an analysis published in the journal Pediatrics in June. Twelve percent of the 138 football deaths caused by neck or head injuries involved youths who returned to a game after a concussion, the researchers said, who warned that coaches, trainers, parents and students needed to be more aware of the dangers of head trauma. At least 21 states have laws that pull student athletes from football games after a head injury and set procedures for allowing a safe return, the CDC said in June. To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Lopatto in New York at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at [email protected]

UBS Said to Hire Four Bankers From Credit Agricole in Dubai.UBS AG (UBSN) , Switzerland’s biggest bank, is hiring four bankers from Credit Agricole SA (ACA) ’s investment banking unit for its corporate advisory group in Dubai, two people familiar with the matter said. UBS is recruiting Kanhaiya Rathi, Kawtar Benkhraba, Pravin Chelluri and Rami Barazi from Credit Agricole, France’s third- largest bank by market value, one of the people said. A secretary from Credit Agricole will also join UBS, the person said. The bankers will report to Albert Momdjian, previously head of Credit Agricole’s investment banking for the Middle East and North Africa, one of the people said. Momdjian joined UBS in August as head of its ultra-high net-worth business and head of corporate advisory group for the MENA region. A UBS spokeswoman, declining to be identified because of company policy, confirmed the moves. A spokesperson for Credit Agricole wasn’t immediately available to comment. Credit Agricole CIB, the bank’s corporate-and investment- unit said Sept. 27 that it will guide Gulf-region clients on mergers and acquisitions from Paris because it doesn’t plan to keep an advisory team in the area. Reuters yesterday reported UBS had hired five investment bankers from Credit Agricole, without giving further details. To contact the reporter on this story: Stefania Bianchi in Dubai at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Edward Evans at [email protected]

Tunisia July Tourists Arrivals: Statistical Summary.Following is a summary of July tourist arrivals from the Tunisia National Institute of Statistics in Tunis Cedex, Tunisia: To contact the reporter on this story: Giovanni Salzano in Rome at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Marco Babic at [email protected]

Rallye Says Total Stake in Grupo Pao De Acucar Now 48.1%.Rallye SA (RAL) said that it has increased its stake in Cia. Brasileira de Distribuicao Grupo Pao de Acucar to 48.1 percent. The figure includes preferred shares, American depositary receipts and call options, Rallye said in an emailed statement. To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Whitehouse at [email protected]

Rand to Lag Lira on Turkey Dollar Sales, Societe Generale Says.The rand is poised to weaken against the lira as Turkey ’s central bank sells more dollars to curb the currency’s drop and South Africa ’s Reserve Bank refrains from stemming the rand’s decline, Societe General SA said. Investors should sell the rand for the lira at 4.33 on anticipation the South African currency will weaken to 4.60, Guillaume Salomon, a London-based emerging-markets fixed-income and currency strategist, wrote in an e-mailed note today. Turkish policy makers offered to sell as much as $1.35 billion for liras today, matching yesterday’s offer, the biggest since daily auctions started on Aug. 5. The lira sank 16 percent against the dollar this year, the second-worst performance among more than 20 emerging-market currencies after the rand’s 17 percent decline. South Africa’s central bank doesn’t target a level for the rand and won’t intervene to weaken or strengthen the exchange rate , Governor Gill Marcus said Sept. 22. “The Turkish central bank has ‘re-engaged’ itself in a battle with the market to try and stem the lira’s depreciation and that it stands ready to use additional tools,” Salomon wrote. “Concerns about foreign bond holdings of rand- denominated bonds and a central bank generally happy with an orderly depreciation of the rand make the rand vulnerable, making a long lira-short rand an interesting offer.” Investors who sell short hope to profit by borrowing assets, selling them and then repurchasing them at a lower price before returning them to the holder. To contact the reporter on this story: Ana Monteiro in Johannesburg at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at [email protected]

Oracle to Pay U.S. $199.5 Million to Settle False Claim Act Investigation.Oracle Corp. (ORCL) , the world’s second- biggest software maker, agreed to pay more than $199.5 million to settle allegations it overbilled the U.S. government for nine years. The accord resolves a lawsuit claiming Oracle induced the General Services Administration to buy $1.08 billion in software from 1998 to 2006 by falsely promising the same discounts offered to favored commercial customers. The Justice Department , which pursued the case after joining a whistleblower lawsuit, and Oracle announced the settlement yesterday. The payout is the largest ever obtained by the GSA under the False Claims Act, which lets citizens sue on behalf of the government and share in any recovery. Former Oracle employee Paul Frascella , who filed the case in 2007, will get $40 million. “Companies that engage in unlawful or fraudulent practices to secure government business undermine the integrity of the procurement process and create an unfair advantage,” Tony West , assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s civil division, said in a statement. The U.S. joined Frascella’s case in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, and filed its own complaint last year. It claimed Oracle gave companies discounts of as much as 92 percent, while the government’s cuts ranged from 25 to 40 percent. ‘Taxpayer Dollars’ “It’s more important now than ever before to make sure that taxpayer dollars are not wasted on higher prices,” GSA Inspector General Brian Miller said in the statement. “We will not let contractors victimize the taxpayers by hiding their best prices.” Deborah Hellinger , a spokeswoman for Redwood City , California-based Oracle, said in a statement that the company “denies that it did not scrupulously adhere to the pricing requirements of that contract.” Oracle has “strong controls in place to insure that the government agencies who purchased from the GSA schedule received fair pricing,” she said. “Oracle never committed any fraud whatsoever.” Given that the events “took place so long ago, not surprisingly many of the witnesses are no longer available or do not clearly recall these events,” she said. “Oracle has therefore decided to avoid the distraction and high cost of litigating this case by settling.” Earlier Settlement Oracle also paid $98.5 million in 2006 to settle a case over GSA pricing at PeopleSoft Inc., a software maker Oracle bought the previous year for $10.3 billion. In the Frascella case, Oracle was defended by the law firms of Arnold & Porter LLP and Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, whose founding partner David Boies entered the case in July. “I congratulate the Department of Justice and thank them for the time and resources they spent on the case,” said Christopher Mead, an attorney for Frascella. “The DOJ had to take on two superb law firms representing Oracle and had to devote a lot of resources to the case.” He declined further comment about his client. Frascella started working at Oracle in 1997 as a contract specialist in the commercial sales department and was still at the company when he filed his complaint in May 2007, according to his lawsuit. The GSA is responsible for federal facilities management, as well as design, construction, telecommunications and technology procurement. The case is United States of America v. Oracle Corp., 07-cv- 00529, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria). To contact the reporters on this story: {Andrew Harris} in Chicago at [email protected] ; David Voreacos in Newark , New Jersey , at [email protected]. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at [email protected]

Cvs Bay Area Inc Announces Planned FY Group Dividend of 4.00 Yen.Cvs Bay Area Inc (2687) (2687) announced full-year group dividend estimates for the period to Feb. 29. Figures are in yen. ================================================================================ Forecast Previous Dividend ================================================================================ Full-Year Dividend 4.00 4.00 1st-Half Dividend N/A 2.00 2nd-Half Dividend 2.00 2.00 ================================================================================ To contact the editor responsible for this story: Teo Chian Wei at +81-3-3201-3623 or [email protected]

Trichet Says Banks Should Take Full Advantage of State Support.European Central Bank President Jean- Claude Trichet said banks should take full advantage of state support. “Where necessary, they should take full advantage of government support measures, which should be made totally operational, including the possibility in future for the European Financial Stability Facility to lend to governments in order to recapitalise banks,” Trichet said at a press conference in Berlin today. To contact the reporter on this story: Gabi Thesing in London at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Atkinson at [email protected]

NYSE ‘Threshold’ Securities for Oct. 5.The following is a list of “threshold securities” from the New York Stock Exchange, published daily in compliance with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Regulation SHO. The list consists of stocks for which sellers failed to deliver 10,000 shares or more in the past five trading days and the level of “fails” is a minimum of 0.5 percent of the shares outstanding. Securities are listed alphabetically by ticker. To contact the reporter on this story: Michael J. Munoz in Hong Kong at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alex Tanzi at [email protected]

Jobs Waged Eight-Year Health Fight After Rare Cancer Diagnosis.Apple Inc. (AAPL) co-founder Steve Jobs ’s death yesterday at age 56 follows years of health struggles that began in 2003, when he was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer. Jobs had a neuroendocrine tumor , which is less aggressive than some other types of pancreatic malignancies. He eventually resigned as chief executive officer on Aug. 24, saying he could “no longer meet my duties and expectations.” Neuroendocrine tumors can grow slowly and be treated successfully with early removal. Those that spread to other organs, such as the liver, can be life-threatening. Without specifying a reason, Jobs had a liver transplant in 2009, a treatment that can prolong the lives of patients with his type of cancer. Not all doctors endorse the approach. No more than 60 percent of patients who had transplants for this purpose survived five years after surgery, according to an analysis published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology in 2005. The author, David Metz, is associate chief of gastroenterology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia. He has said that his data was of varying quality and that survival odds may be better today. Jobs had been on medical leave since Jan. 17. It was his third leave since 2004, when he first announced he had a tumor removed. Both he and Apple closely guarded his medical information. Complications A patient who had a liver transplant after a neuroendocrine tumor might suffer from a number of complications, Simon Lo , director of endoscopy at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles , said after Jobs resigned in August. Among the possibilities was a return of the original cancer, leading to pain, fatigue, and disruption of digestion, Lo said then. Transplant patients also take immune-suppressing drugs that can raise the risk of infections and new cancers, Lo had said. Two new drugs won U.S. clearance as neuroendocrine tumor treatments this year: Pfizer Inc. (PFE) ’s Sutent and Novartis AG’s Afinitor. Doctors in Europe are also using new radiation treatments for the disease. Neuroendocrine tumors are uncommon, with new cases occurring in no more than five people in every 100,000 each year, according to Rodney Hicks, professor of medicine and radiology at the University of Melbourne. Doctors are still trying to understand these rare tumors, which in August Hicks said range from benign to very aggressive. To contact the reporter on this story: John Lauerman in Boston at [email protected]. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jonathan Kaufman at [email protected] ; Tom Giles at [email protected]

Crop Death Shrinks Sugar Stockpiles to 37-Year Low: Commodities.U.S. sugar stockpiles are shrinking to the lowest in 37 years after rain and freezing weather damaged the beet crop, potentially reversing a price slump and forcing the government to ease import limits. Farmers in Minnesota , the biggest beet grower, will reap 19 percent less than last year and output will drop in four more of the 10 biggest producing states, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates. Domestic prices may rise 10 percent to 41 cents a pound by year end, said Frank Jenkins, the president of Jenkins Sugar Group Inc., the largest U.S. raw-sugar broker. Sugar is the only major agricultural commodity produced in the U.S. that is subject to import quotas, and the USDA increased the limit by 45 percent this year as futures surged 21 percent in the three months through August. Retail prices have gained 9 percent since the start of January, twice the rate of food inflation. Rising costs are squeezing margins for Kraft Foods Inc. and Hormel Foods Corp. “If you’re a candy or pop maker, you’re going to have a headache,” said Sterling Smith, an analyst at Country Hedging Inc. in St. Paul , Minnesota. A smaller beet harvest “is going to increase the costs of sweeteners in general,” he said. The price of the No. 16 contract for domestic sugar, which ICE Futures U.S. introduced in 2008, dropped 8.9 percent in New York since the end of August to 37.13 cents a pound yesterday, as the government increased import quotas. The contract, which touched a record 42.5 cents on Feb. 11, 2010, covers deliveries to five U.S. ports with sugar refineries. Futures for January delivery rose 0.3 percent to 37.25 cents as of 9:27 a.m. today. Import Quotas The quotas mean No. 16 futures trade at a premium to ICE’s more actively traded No. 11 contract, which covers deliveries to ports in 29 countries. The No. 11 contract fell 17 percent since Aug. 31 to 24.74 cents a pound. Stockpiles in the U.S., the world’s fourth-largest consumer, will drop more than 35 percent in the year through August 2012 to almost 1.13 million short tons (1.02 million metric tons), the lowest since 1975, the USDA estimates. Inventories will equal 9.8 percent of consumption this year, the least in 38 years. India, China and Brazil are the world’s biggest consuming nations. Consumers are still paying more. Retail sugar averaged 70.1 cents a pound in U.S. cities in August, 16 percent more than a year earlier and the highest since at least 1980, Bureau of Labor Statistics data show. Food-price inflation is running at 3 percent to 4 percent this year, the USDA estimates. Rising Costs “Supplies have been very tight for our members,” said Susan Smith, a senior vice president of public affairs at the National Confectioners Association , whose members include Kraft and Hershey Co. “The price that our companies are paying is higher than it would be on the world market.” The premium for the No. 16 domestic-sugar contract over raw-sugar for international markets has almost doubled to 12.5 cents a pound since mid-July. Kraft, based in Northfield, Illinois , raised prices this year. Costs will probably increase in the “low teens” compared with 2010, Chief Financial Officer Dave Brearton said on a conference call in August. Sugar “is a big one because of what we make,” said John Simley, a spokesman for the company, which makes Oreo cookies and Cadbury chocolate. Operating profit at Austin, Minnesota-based Hormel’s specialty food unit, which makes ingredients for food manufacturers, fell 8 percent in the quarter ended July 31, as “steep” cost increases for sugar and dairy helped erase the benefit of rising sales, Chief Executive Officer Jeff Ettinger said on a Sept. 7 conference call. Smaller Crops Beets supplied about 42 percent of the sugar consumed by Americans last year, with imports and domestic cane accounting for the rest, government data show. The USDA has cut its crop forecast twice in as many months and will probably do so again in its next report on Oct. 12, said Jimmy Tintle , an analyst at Transworld Futures in Tampa, Florida. As many as 10,000 acres of beets were lost to disease or floods in May and June, equal to 2.3 percent of Minnesota’s harvested area last year, according to Mohamed Khan, a sugar- beet specialist from North Dakota State University and the University of Minnesota. More wet weather that followed delayed planting and made the crop more vulnerable to disease, he said. Temperatures in mid-September in areas from eastern North Dakota into Minnesota averaged 28 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 2 Celsius) to 33 degrees, according to World Weather Inc., based in Overland Park , Kansas. The cold snap came three weeks earlier than normal, damaging crops, the forecaster said. More Acres Planted The U.S. harvest started last month. Losses may not be as large as the USDA expects because expanded plantings will compensate for damage, said Luther Markwart, the executive vice president of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association in Washington. A smaller U.S. crop may not mean higher prices, which will depend more on economic growth in the U.S. and Europe , said Claudio Oliveira, the head of trading at Castlestone Management LLC in New York , which manages about $500 million of assets. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Index of 24 raw materials plunged 12 percent in the third quarter, the most since 2008, led by cotton, lead, copper and crude oil. The U.S. economy will expand 1.4 percent next year, compared with 1.7 percent in 2011, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a report Oct. 3. The bank had previously expected growth of 2 percent in 2012. Six Months The USDA can only change sugar quotas in the second half of the marketing year that began Oct. 1. The country will need 750,000 to 900,000 short tons more imports in those six months, said Jenkins of Wilton, Connecticut-based Jenkins Sugar. The government agency raised limits on refined sugar by 150,000 short tons on Sept. 30 and on specialty sugar by 10,000 on Aug. 1, adding to 109,251 short tons of existing quotas in that category. The USDA increased raw-sugar quotas twice, allowing an extra 445,000 short tons to the 1.23 million short tons already allocated. “When you have to write a letter to the government pleading for more sugar, don’t you think that’s a problem?” said Mitchell Goetze, the owner of Baltimore-based Goetze’s Candy Co., founded more than a century ago. “The increase is appreciated, but not enough and too late to fix the damage already done to domestic manufacturers that use sugar.” To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Richter in Washington at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at [email protected]

Apple Security Officials Talked to City Police Days Before Jobs’s Death.Apple Inc. (AAPL) security officials met with police in Palo Alto , California , this week to notify them that Steve Jobs was close to death, a spokeswoman with the police department said. Following the meeting, the police devised a plan to put patrols in the area around the former Apple chief executive officer’s Palo Alto home once they heard from the company that he had died, according to Sandra Brown, the spokeswoman. The Apple representatives told the police department there was “a possibility that it could happen this week,” Brown said in a phone interview. “It’s common sense for us to work together. If you think about who he was and his contribution to the world, people might come out in masses.” Jobs, who resigned as Apple’s CEO on Aug. 24, died Oct. 5, the Cupertino, California-based company said. Jobs, 56, had been diagnosed in 2003 with a neuroendocrine tumor, a rare form of pancreatic cancer, and underwent a liver transplant in 2009. Apple unveiled the latest version of its iPhone, the product that accounts for almost half of the company’s sales, on Oct. 4, the day before his death. Steve Dowling, an Apple spokesman, declined to comment about the police meeting. Jobs lived in a home that was modest, for a person of his means, on a public street open to pedestrians and traffic. The extra patrols were necessary for safety reasons, Brown said. ‘Compounds and Walls’ “There are other people here in town, they have compounds and walls,” said Brown. “He didn’t want to have security around.” Apple was supposed to inform the police of Jobs’s death before making a public announcement so the department could prepare, said Brown. Instead, police learned he had died when the company issued a press release at about 4:30 p.m. local time on Oct. 5. As it turned out, Brown said, only about 40 people showed up around Jobs’s home that day. “Here’s a guy who’s a billionaire and lives in a regular neighborhood, not behind a gated estate with all the security guards,” said Bruce Gee, a former Apple employee who drove up from his home a couple miles away. “On Halloween, people go trick or treating there like everyone else.” Mourners gathered at Apple stores around the world and took to the Internet and social media to express their grief. At the San Francisco Apple store near Union Square, Steve Streza, 24, stood holding an iPad displaying Apple’s homepage image of Jobs and the words “Steve Jobs: 1955-2011.” “Macs were the reason I got into product development,” said Streza, a developer at readitlater.com who grew up with Mac computers. “If it weren’t for Steve Jobs and Macs, my life would probably be in a completely different place right now.” To contact the reporter on this story: Karen Gullo in San Francisco at [email protected]. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at [email protected] .

Open Range, Rural Wireless Provider, Files for Bankruptcy.Open Range Communications Inc., formed to provide high-speed wireless Internet service to rural communities in 17 states, sought bankruptcy protection from creditors after failing to retain funding and bandwidth. The Greenwood Village, Colorado-based company won approval in 2009 for a $267 million U.S. Department of Agriculture loan for rural utilities development. An arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) also invested $100 million in the company, Open Range said. “The company’s momentum was, however, substantially adversely affected” by a contractor’s wireless-spectrum problems and the USDA loan was withdrawn, Chief Financial Officer Chris Edwards said in a filing today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. Open Range said it will either sell its network or shut down and liquidate. The company listed assets of about $114 million and liabilities of about $110 million in today’s Chapter 11 filing. Open Range had an operating loss of $50.4 million last year on sales of $1.7 million. The company’s largest unsecured creditors include Adesta LLC of Omaha, Nebraska, owed $7.57 million, and Velocitel Inc. of Cary, North Carolina , owed $5.59 million, both in trade debt. JPMorgan Chase’s One Equity Partners, based in New York , has a claim for $2.78 million in management fees. The case is In re Open Range Communications Inc., 11-13188, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington). To contact the reporter on this story: Phil Milford in Wilmington, Delaware, at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at [email protected] .

Zambia’s Lubinda Says New Minimum Wage to Be Announced.Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) --Zambia’s labor minister will soon announce a new minimum wage, Given Lubinda, the country’s information minister, told reporters in Lusaka, the capital, today. He called for an end to a number of strikes that are taking place in the country. To contact the reporter on this story: Anthony Mukwita at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at [email protected]

SJM, Sands China Lead Casino Stock Rally on Growth Outlook.SJM Holdings Ltd. (880) , Asia ’s biggest casino operator, and Sands China Ltd. (1928) led gains in Hong Kong- listed gambling stocks on speculation the plunge earlier this week went too far given growth prospects. SJM climbed as much as 23 percent, the biggest intraday gain in almost three years, to HK$13.14 before closing at HK$12.44 at 4 p.m. Sands China , controlled by billionaire Sheldon Adelson , surged a record 26 percent to HK$18.98. Today’s gains pared losses from earlier this week, when Macau casinos plunged amid concern slowing growth in China and slumping stock markets may damp demand. Gambling revenue in the former Portuguese colony grew 39 percent last month, data published Oct. 4 by the city’s government showed. “The casinos are still quite resilient as shown by gaming revenue in September,” Teng Yee Tan, an analyst at CIMB Securities HK Ltd., said in an e-mail reply to Bloomberg News today. “The market is expecting positive surprises to happen every month, but that’s not realistic. Growth normalization will come at some point in time.” Both Wynn Macau Ltd. and MGM China Holdings Ltd. jumped 20 percent. Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. (27) rose 18 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Billy Chan in Hong Kong at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stanley James at [email protected]

Dominant Dollar May Give Way to ‘Multipolar’ System, Merkel Says.The dollar’s dominance may give way to a “multipolar” currency system as power shifts in the world economy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. “We all know that the international currency system is a system in transition, that it will probably move in the future from a currency system that’s very strongly concentrated in one currency, that is the dollar, to a multipolar currency system,” Merkel said in Berlin today after talks on global currencies with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde, World Bank President Robert Zoellick and Angel Gurria, the head of of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The future of the global monetary system, including monitoring of capital flows, will form part of the discussion at next month’s Group of 20 summit in Cannes, France, she said. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tony Czuczka at [email protected]

Oil-Sands CO2 to Match Conventional in Decade, Suncor CEO Says.Carbon-dioxide emissions per barrel of oil produced from Alberta’s oil sands will probably fall to levels of conventional drilling in as little as a decade, Suncor Energy Inc. (SU) ’s Chief Executive Officer Rick George said. “With these new technologies, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we can actually get to conventional kind of levels in the next 10 to 15 years,” George said last night at an industry event in Calgary. “It’s not tomorrow. But I wouldn’t underestimate this industry’s resolve or ability to drive change.” Oil-sands crude results in emissions from production and consumption in vehicles that are about 20 percent higher than the average emissions of conventional oil production in the U.S., according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Total emissions from the oil sands will likely increase eightfold from 1990 levels by 2020, Canada ’s Pembina Institute says. Canada holds the world’s third-largest crude reserves, behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, according to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers , which represents oil and gas companies. Those deposits are spurring investments that will be worth C$20 billion ($19.2 billion) annually, George said. The industry is looking for ways to reduce the amount of energy, including natural gas, that is consumed to process bitumen and turn it into oil. Some companies are using chemicals and solvents to help reduce carbon emissions. Companies including Total SA (FP) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) have invested in projects to separate bitumen, a thick form of oil, from sandy deposits in Alberta. Output from oil-sands projects is expected to more than double to 3.5 million barrels in 2025, from 1.4 million last year, according to the industry association. Suncor rose C$2.07, or 8.1 percent, to C$27.50 on the Toronto Stock Exchange yesterday. The stock has lost 28 percent this year. To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy van Loon in Calgary at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Susan Warren at [email protected]

Accor’s Hennequin Sees Slowing Growth.Accor SA (AC) Chief Executive Officer Denis Hennequin forecast slowing growth at Europe ’s largest hotel company as consumers and businesses reduce spending on lodging next year. “In 2012 we expect a slowdown but still positive growth,” the CEO said in an interview yesterday in London. “I’m cautious, not pessimistic.” The owner of Novotel and Sofitel brands may report a 3.6 percent increase in 2011 sales and 2.5 percent in 2012, according to 16 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Paris-based Accor gets about 73 percent of revenue in Europe. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its 2012 growth forecast for the euro-area economy to 0.1 percent from an earlier prediction of 1.3 percent this week and said France and Germany may enter a recession. Next year won’t be a repeat of 2009, when Accor reported a loss of 282 million euros ($378 million), Hennequin said, as the London Olympics and trade fairs in Germany boost demand. Corporations have cleaned up their balance sheets and Accor will end this year with almost no debt, he said. “There’s a disconnect between market fear and the real robustness of the economy,” the CEO said. “We have seen no reaction from consumers. People always want to take a break.” Since joining Accor from McDonald’s Corp. in January, Hennequin has sold catering and casino businesses to focus on hotels and is combining three brands under the Ibis umbrella. Hennequin repeated he wants to reduce exposure in the U.S., where Accor owns the Motel 6 chain, and would consider selling individual properties or groups of hotels. “It is premature to say we will definitely sell the whole thing at once,” he said. “In the mid-term we will not keep capital invested in the U.S. with Motel 6.” Accor may target “limited acquisitions” and would consider buying some of Groupe du Louvre’s luxury hotels if they could be converted to Accor brands, Hennequin said. To contact the reporter on this story: Armorel Kenna in Milan at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Celeste Perri at [email protected]

Wells Fargo Hires UBS’s Sila, Leerink’s Berger for M&A Roles.Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) , the lender that’s expanding investment-banking operations as rivals scale back, hired two mergers-and-acquisitions bankers. Bora Sila, previously with UBS AG (UBSN) , will head consumer and retail M&A, and Adam Berger will lead health-care M&A, San Francisco-based Wells Fargo said today in a statement. Berger, 44, ran M&A for Boston-based Leerink Swann & Co. from 2008 until earlier this year and has worked on almost $400 billion in deals during his 22-year career, according to the statement. “As we continue to strategically expand our capabilities and add depth to our team, their extensive relationships and industry knowledge will greatly enhance our ability,” John Laughlin, Wells Fargo’s head of M&A, said in the statement. Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf , 58, is bolstering the investment-banking unit acquired as part of Wells Fargo’s 2008 takeover of Wachovia Corp. The lender hired a team of 25 bankers and analysts from Citadel LLC in August, when the Chicago-based hedge fund opted to exit the securities business. Sila, 50, led Americas retail investment banking at UBS, Switzerland’s largest lender, which has lost at least 50 dealmakers from its U.S. investment bank since 2009. He has advised Andrew Puzder, 61, the CEO of Carpinteria, California- based CKE Restaurants Inc., which owns Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s hamburger chains, according to a 2008 interview. Sila and Berger are based in New York and report to Laughlin. Wells Fargo rose 87 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $25.37 at 4:15 p.m. in New York trading. The shares have dropped 18 percent this year, compared with a 29 percent decline for the 24-company KBW Bank Index. To contact the reporter on this story: Dakin Campbell in San Francisco at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Scheer at [email protected] .

Trichet Keeps Banks Afloat as Governments Confront Risk of Greek Default.The European Central Bank ’s move to keep euro-area banks afloat is buying governments more time to recapitalize them as Greece edges closer to default. The ECB said yesterday it will reintroduce yearlong loans, giving banks access to unlimited cash through January 2013, and resume purchases of covered bonds to encourage lending. At the same time, the European Commission is pushing for a coordinated capital injection into banks and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said policy makers “shouldn’t hesitate” if it turns out financial institutions are undercapitalized. “Politicians, including Angela Merkel, have finally realized the urgency in protecting banks as a Greek default can no longer be ruled out and no-one wants a Lehman in Europe ,” said Christoph Kind, head of asset allocation at Frankfurt Trust, which manages $24 billion. “From its side, the ECB is making sure that banks won’t face funding issues throughout that period.” Financial shares advanced yesterday after Merkel fed speculation that policy makers are working on plans to boost bank capital to stem the spread of the sovereign debt crisis. Europe’s rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, could be relied upon as a last resort to bolster banks if needed, she said, adding that Germany is ready to discuss possible bank aid at this month’s European Union summit. Euro, Stocks The euro headed for a weekly advance after two weeks of losses, trading at $1.3448 at 10:36 a.m. in Frankfurt. Stocks gained for a third day in Europe after the overnight advance in Asia , with the Stoxx 600 up 0.7 percent to 231.8 at 9:00 a.m. in London. European leaders are under pressure from global counterparts to find a solution to the debt crisis as it threatens to tip the world economy back into recession. EU leaders hold a summit on Oct. 18 followed by a meeting of the Group of 20 on Nov. 3-4. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said today he will discuss banks with Merkel when he visits Berlin on Oct. 9. Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG on Oct. 4 scrapped its profit forecast and announced 500 job cuts and further writedowns on Greek bond holdings, while Belgium’s Dexia SA is facing its second bailout in three years. The ECB’s measures buy banks “a lot of time as Europe is basically moving toward recapitalizing the sector,” said Silvio Peruzzo , an economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in London. “Where the ECB can and does contribute very aggressively is to breaking the nexus between the sovereigns and the banks.” ECB Purchases The ECB will spend 40 billion euros ($53 billion) on covered bonds from next month and offer banks two additional unlimited loans of 12 and 13-month durations, President Trichet said at a press conference in Berlin yesterday after leaving the benchmark interest rate at 1.5 percent. The ECB will continue to lend banks as much money as they need in its regular refinancing operations at least until July 2012. The ECB used the same measures during the global financial crisis to avert a credit crunch. The 2.5 trillion-euro market for covered bonds -- assets backed by mortgages or public-sector loans -- underpins much of Europe’s real estate lending, which almost ground to a halt in the wake of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s collapse in September 2008. Fear Factor Banks’ overnight deposits with the ECB jumped to the most in more than a year this week as concern about other institutions’ sovereign debt holdings discouraged them from lending to each other. “For the banking sector the focus is more on liquidity rather than capital,” UniCredit SpA Chief Executive Officer Federico Ghizzoni said in an interview published yesterday. Policy makers are “determined to do everything necessary to ensure that Europe’s banks are able to play their essential role in lending,” commission President Jose Barroso told reporters in Brussels yesterday. “Close coordination at European level is essential.” Chairing his final rate-setting meeting before handing the reins to Italy’s Mario Draghi at the end of the month, Trichet resisted calls to reverse two rate increases earlier this year even as the debt crisis threatens to tip Europe back into recession. Klaus Baader, co-chief economist at Societe Generale SA in London, said the ECB’s decision to focus on greasing the banking sector rather than cutting rates “is a completely appropriate reaction to the current conditions” as “the problem in the euro area is not an excessively high level of short term interest rates.” Risk to Growth Still, the crisis has “started to infect the real economy,” said Joerg Kraemer , chief economist at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. The ECB in September cut its growth forecasts to 1.6 percent from 1.9 percent for 2011 and to 1.3 percent from 1.7 percent for 2012. Euro-area service and manufacturing industries last month contracted for the first time in more than two years. Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann blamed the slowdown in Europe for his bank’s troubles. About 42 percent of revenue from the bank’s sales and trading operations came from Europe last year, Ackermann said on Oct 4. The bank will write down its Greek sovereign debt holdings by about 250 million euros for the third quarter after a 155- million-euro value reduction at the end of the second quarter. Banks Gain France ’s Natixis (KN) and BNP Paribas (BNP) SA were among the biggest gainers on the 46-member Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index yesterday. Natixis climbed as much as 13 percent, while Paribas was up as much as 7.8 percent. Trichet yesterday said European banks and supervisors including the European Banking Authority should do everything they can to address the need for recapitalization and banks shouldn’t be reluctant to accept state help when needed. “There finally seems to be a plan in Europe and what the ECB did yesterday certainly complemented that,” said Gilles Moec , co-chief European economist at Deutsche Bank in London. “The ECB has always been ready to step up to the plate if governments show a willingness to shoulder responsibility. It wasn’t always the case in the past, but it looks like it’s coming together now.” To contact the reporters on this story: Gabi Thesing in London at [email protected] ; Jeff Black in Frankfurt at [email protected]. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at [email protected]

Singapore Stocks: Biosensors, Jardine Cycle, Noble, Wilmar.Singapore’s Straits Times Index advanced 2.9 percent to 2,603.12 at the close. Thirteen stocks rose for each that fell in the index of 30 companies. The following shares were among the most active in the market. Stock symbols are in parentheses after the company names. Commodity suppliers: The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index, which tracks prices of 19 commodities ranging from copper to corn, rose 1.9 percent in New York yesterday, snapping three days of losses. Noble Group Ltd. (NOBL) , a Hong Kong-based commodities supplier, jumped 8.2 percent to S$1.38. Olam International Ltd. (OLAM) , a Singapore-based supplier of agricultural commodities, gained 2.3 percent to S$2.26. Biosensors International Group Ltd. (BIG) , a maker of drug-coated stents used to treat blocked arteries, increased 4.9 percent to S$1.18. DBS Group Holdings Ltd. raised its rating on the stock to “buy” from “hold,” saying contributions from recently-acquired JW Medical Systems will boost the company’s earnings. The brokerage lifted its share-price forecast to S$1.71 from S$1.40. Jardine Cycle & Carriage Ltd. (JCNC) , a motor distributor that gets about 89 percent of its sales from Indonesia , surged 5.3 percent to S$39.98. Its unit PT Astra International plans to spend $1.5 billion on capital expenditures next year to help finance business expansion, Kontan reported, citing Director Gunawan Geniusahardja. United Overseas Bank Ltd. (UOB) , Singapore’s third- biggest lender by market value, rose 3.5 percent to S$16.60. The company said it plans to double cross-border business lending within the next three years and has set up a Foreign Direct Investment advisory unit to service mid-sized foreign companies expanding into Singapore and Asia. Wilmar International Ltd. (WIL) , the world’s biggest palm oil processor by sales, advanced 4.9 percent to S$4.67. The stock slumped 16 percent in the past three days on concern sugar prices will continue to drop amid increased industry production. The “selldown is overdone” since sugar only contributes between 5 percent and 10 percent of the company’s operating profit, UOB-Kay Hian Holdings Ltd. wrote in a note to clients. To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Burgos in Singapore at [email protected]. To contact the editor responsible for this story: John McCluskey at [email protected] .

Greggs Rises After Saying Third-Quarter Sales Increased.Greggs Plc (GRG) , the U.K.’s biggest bakery chain, advanced the most in almost seven months after saying that sales growth accelerated in the fiscal third quarter as it sold more meal deals and breakfast items. Greggs rose 4.8 percent, the most since March, to close at 483.2 pence at 4:30 p.m. in London. Revenue climbed 5.4 percent in the 13 weeks ended Oct. 1, the Newcastle Upon Tyne , England- based company said today in a statement. Sales in shops open at least a year rose 0.8 percent over the same period. Sales on that basis increased 0.6 percent in the 39 weeks to Oct. 1. Britain’s largest supermarket chain Tesco Plc (TSCO) and Mothercare Plc (MTC) reported weaker sales yesterday as consumer spending contracts, while inflation accelerates and wages remain stagnant. U.K. economic growth in the second quarter slowed more than initially estimated, as consumer spending fell 0.8 percent, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday. “Our performance has been resilient in a tough market,” Chief Executive Officer Ken McMeikan said in a telephone interview today. “Most items at Greggs tend to be low-priced.” Consumers are shifting into lower priced baked food such as sausage rolls which are performing well, he said. The company will increase investment in promotional activities, including meal deals and discounts, McMeikan said. Greggs said it plans to open 80 net new stores this year. The baker has added a net 53 shops in the year to date, taking the total number of outlets to 1,540 as of Oct. 1. To contact the reporter on this story: Namitha Jagadeesh at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Colin Keatinge at [email protected]

News Corp. Hacking Victims Lose U.K. Ruling Over Police Alert.London ’s Metropolitan Police, which is probing phone hacking at News Corp. (NWSA) ’s News of the World tabloid, won a U.K. court ruling to avoid informing hundreds of victims about a judicial review of police handling of evidence. Lawyers for U.K. Labour party lawmaker Chris Bryant and four other public figures had sought to force Scotland Yard to tell 452 possible phone-hacking victims that they can join the case. Judge John Laws denied the request at a hearing today in London. Many of the victims are “likely already to know about the proceedings,” Laws said. Some people who were contacted earlier by police “do not wish to be contacted again” and may not want the publicity associated with the case, he said. The judicial review runs parallel to more than 60 civil lawsuits filed against Rupert Murdoch’s British unit since evidence in one case revealed phone-hacking was more widespread than the company admitted. The scandal forced News Corp. to close the 168-year-old tabloid and drop its bid for full control of British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc. (BSY) Bryant and the other claimants in the judicial review, including former U.K. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott , seek court declaration that the police should have started an investigation sooner and alerted people whose phones may have been hacked. Bryant has said police colluded with the News of the World to mislead lawmakers. Notes seized from former News of the World private investigator Glenn Mulcaire in 2006 contained the names of as many as 6,500 people whose phones may have been hacked or were associated with potential targets. Police didn’t start alerting the people systematically until this year. News Corp. faces a trial in January, when the court will decide how much the company should pay in damages to five victims in a so-called test case, including actor Jude Law. News Corp. has agreed to pay about 100,000 pounds ($153,000) to actor Sienna Miller and another 20,000 pounds to sports commentator Andy Gray. To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in London at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at [email protected]

Thailand Stocks: Central Pattana, Sri Trang, Siam Commercial.Shares of the following companies had unusual moves in Thailand trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses and prices are as of the 4:30 p.m. close in Bangkok. The SET Index surged 51.07 points, or 5.9 percent, to 913.72, the largest gain since Jan. 5, 2009. Oil companies : PTT Pcl (PTT) , Thailand’s biggest energy company, jumped 10 percent to 275 baht, the steepest increase since Nov. 3, 2008. PTT Exploration & Production Pcl (PTTEP) , the nation’s only publicly traded oil explorer, climbed 4.9 percent to 149 baht. Crude oil rose for a second day in New York as shrinking U.S. crude supplies, better-than-expected economic data and signs Europe can control its debt crisis allayed concerns that fuel consumption will suffer. Rubber producers: Sri Trang Agro-Industry Pcl (STA) , the country’s biggest publicly traded rubber producer, increased 9.7 percent to 15.8 baht, the most since Dec. 1. Thai Rubber Latex Corp. (Thailand) Pcl (TRUBB TB) advanced 7.1 percent to 3 baht. Rubber in Tokyo advanced for a third day as better-than- expected U.S. economic data buoyed the outlook for demand, and Malaysia supported Thailand’s move to set a minimum price for the commodity used in tires. Central Pattana Pcl (CPN) , the nation’s largest shopping mall operator, rose 7.1 percent to 33.75 baht, the steepest advance since July 22. The company sold 2 billion baht ($64 million) of bonds yesterday, a person familiar with the deal said. Siam Commercial Bank Pcl (SCB) , the country’s fourth- biggest lender by assets, climbed 5.9 percent to 103 baht. The bank maintained its full-year target for lending growth at between 15 percent and 18 percent, President Kannikar Chalitaporn told reporters. The Bangkok-based lender’s loan portfolio expanded about 22 percent in the first eight months of this year from the same period last year. Thai Vegetable Oil Pcl (TVO) , the nation’s largest soybean supplier, jumped 5.6 percent to 17 baht, the most since March 3. The company was upgraded to “buy” from “hold” at Bualuang Securities Pcl, which cited the expected increase in soy bean prices. To contact the reporter on this story: Anuchit Nguyen in Bangkok at [email protected]. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Darren Boey at [email protected]

U.K. July Index of Services: Statistical Summary.Following is a summary of the July index of services report from the Office for National Statistics in London: To contact the reporter on this story: Harumi Ichikura in London at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Marco Babic at [email protected]

Lehman Brothers Unit Sues Goldman Sachs Unit for Failed Deal.A unit of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEHMQ) , the bankrupt investment bank, sued a unit of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) over a failed $1.25 billion real estate deal. Rosslyn LB Syndication Partner LLC, a Lehman unit not in bankruptcy, accused USREO/Rosslyn Investors LLC, a Goldman Sachs unit, of terminating a transaction related to an office building portfolio in Arlington, Virginia, according to a filing today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. The Goldman unit’s “obligations (which it failed to perform) are absolute,” according to the filing. Rosslyn LB is seeking more than $100 million in damages. Michael DuVally , a spokesman for New York-based Goldman Sachs, declined to comment on the lawsuit. Lehman Brothers filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history on Sept. 15, 2008. The U.S. brokerage went into liquidation four days later. The judge overseeing Lehman’s bankruptcy approved the proposed sale of its 78.5 percent interest in the 3 million- square-foot commercial real estate project on Aug. 17, court papers show. Two days before the scheduled closing date USREO/Rosslyn terminated the agreement based on “pretextual reasons,” Lehman lawyers said in court papers. Goldman’s “unilateral” termination of the agreement wrongfully prevented the Lehman unit from exercising its right to extend the closing date, court papers show. Fees and Relief Lehman lawyers characterized Goldman’s action as “unjustified repudiation,” and also asked a judge to award legal fees and “further relief” deemed appropriate, according to the complaint. Rosslyn LB is a non-debtor unit of New York-based Lehman Brothers Holdings and its Lehman Commercial Paper unit, according to the filing. USREO/Rosslyn Investors LLC is a unit of U.S. Real Estate Opportunities LP, a joint venture in which Goldman Sachs is the general partner. Shares of Lehman were unchanged at 3 cents in over-the- counter trading in New York today. Goldman Sachs rose $3.64 or 3.8 percent to $97.93 in NYSE trading. The case is Rosslyn LB Syndication Partner LLC v. USREO/Rosslyn Investors, LLC, 11-02764, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). To contact the reporter on this story: Dawn McCarty in Wilmington at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Pickering at [email protected]

Nasdaq ‘Threshold’ Securities for Oct. 5.The following is a list of “threshold securities” from the Nasdaq Stock Market, published daily in compliance with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Regulation SHO. The list consists of stocks for which sellers failed to deliver 10,000 shares or more in the past five trading days and the level of “fails” is a minimum of 0.5 percent of the shares outstanding. Securities are listed alphabetically by ticker. To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Petrie in Sydney at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alex Tanzi at [email protected]

Coffee Rises Most in Seven Weeks on U.S. Outlook; Sugar Drops.Coffee futures jumped the most in seven weeks on signs that weakness in the U.S. labor market eased, bolstering demand for most commodities. Sugar fell. Claims for unemployment benefits increased less than forecast last week, government data showed. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said this week that the central bank was ready to take more steps to support the economy. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI index of 24 raw materials climbed for the second straight day. Coffee prices rose to a one-week high. “There’s follow-through buying from the Bernanke comments, and a lot of fear has come out of the market,” Fain Shaffer, the president of Infinity Trading Corp. in Medford, Oregon , said in a telephone interview. “Money is starting to flow back into commodities, and funds are coming back to coffee.” Arabica coffee for December delivery advanced 6.7 cents, or 2.9 percent, to settle at $2.344 a pound at 2 p.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. The gain was the biggest for a most- active contract since Aug. 17. Earlier, the commodity reached $2.361, the highest since Sept. 28. Raw-sugar futures for March delivery fell 0.16 cent, or 0.6 percent, to 24.64 cents a pound in New York. It was the fourth decline in five sessions. In London futures trading, robusta coffee and cocoa rose, while refined sugar dropped on NYSE Liffe. To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Richter in Washington at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at [email protected]

Dollar Index Extends Its Advance, Climbs 0.6% to 79.447.The Dollar Index, which tracks the U.S. currency against those of six trading partners, extended gains, climbing 0.6 percent to 79.447 as of 1:24 p.m. in London. To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Dobson in London at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at [email protected]

Steve Jobs’s Death Struck Like John Lennon, JFK Getting Shot, Wozniak Says.Steve Wozniak , who started Apple Inc. (AAPL) with high-school friend Steve Jobs in a California garage more than three decades ago, said news of his partner’s death struck him just like the shootings of John Lennon and John F. Kennedy. “I’m just totally awestruck, a bit shocked, a bit surprised,” Wozniak, 61, said in an interview today with Bloomberg Television’s Susan Li on the “Asia Edge” program. “I did not expect it. It felt a lot like you just heard that, you know, John Lennon got shot, or JFK, or Martin Luther King .” Jobs, 56, who resigned as Apple’s chief executive officer in August, died yesterday, the Cupertino, California-based company said. He was diagnosed in 2003 with a neuroendocrine tumor, a rare form of pancreatic cancer, and had a liver transplant in 2009. Wozniak teamed up with Jobs, whom he met in the early 1970s, and the two started working together on projects, with Wozniak being the tech genius and Jobs the brash idea man. The pair demonstrated the Apple I and Apple II personal computers at gatherings of the informal Homebrew Computer Club in 1975. ‘Strong Friendship’ “He was one of those cool guys,” Wozniak said. “He knew technology, he understood it. We talked about the philosophies of the day -- the counterculture was strong, the hippie movement, words in songs -- and went to concerts together. ‘‘It was a strong friendship. The technology was happening on the side.’’ They founded Apple Computer on April 1, 1976. The company’s first investor, Mike Markkula, bought a 33 percent stake for $250,000 and later served as president and chairman. Twelve months later, the company introduced the Apple II. It was a hit and became the first widely used home computer. Company sales reached $117 million in fiscal 1980, the year Apple went public at $22 a share. Jobs left the company in 1985 after a dispute with the board and Chief Executive Officer John Sculley before returning in 1996. Five years later, Apple introduced the iPod. ‘‘I got to watch the whole growth in him,’’ Wozniak said. ‘‘Coming from a young kid to starting a company and having success and trying to find ways to manage things and have his own control and power. Going off from the company, coming back very learned, knowledgeable about how to watch the operations.’’ ‘Normal Self Again’ The company dropped the word ‘‘computer’’ from its name in 2007 after entering the smartphone market with the iPhone. More success came with the introduction of the iPad, which dominates the global tablet-computer market with almost 75 percent market share. Burgeoning profits and record sales of phones, computers and tablets helped Apple become the world’s most valuable company for a time earlier this year. It remains the world’s most valuable technology company, trumping long-time rival Microsoft Corp. ‘‘Steve, the last few times he talked to me, was having all these strong reflections of those early days and how much they meant and how much fun,” Wozniak said. “He would even say things like, ‘Did you ever think this would happen?’ ‘‘‘Look how great, big Apple got as a technology company.’ He was really getting excited about these things. He was kind of like his normal, young self again.’’ ‘Hard to Sleep’ Wozniak said his last conversation with Jobs scared him because he could tell that his friend’s health wasn’t good. ‘‘He sounded a little weak in the character and the voice and the motivation,” Wozniak said. “I was a little bit scared on the phone. He didn’t sound as strong as he did the conversation before.” Wozniak said he had “so many memories” of Jobs, who was fired by Apple’s board in 1985 after a power struggle. Apple’s purchase of NeXT software in 1997 brought Jobs back to the company and he became a “confident manager” knowing what he needed to do to make a profit, Wozniak said. “And that’s what led to the great products,” he said. “Most people are going to miss the great products. And they’ll just see Steve in them forever. ‘‘That’s why we’re stunned so much. It’s going to be hard to sleep tonight.” To contact the reporters on the story: Anand Krishnamoorthy in Singapore at [email protected] ; Susan Li in Hong Kong at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at [email protected] .

ESPN Drops Hank Williams Jr.’s Song From Monday Football on Hitler Remark.ESPN said it has permanently removed Hank Williams Jr.’s opening song to its “Monday Night Football” telecasts, three days after the country singer compared President Barack Obama to Hitler. “We appreciate his contributions over the past years,” the Walt Disney Co (DIS) .-owned network said in a statement. “The success of ‘Monday Night Football’ has always been about the games, and that will continue.” ESPN had yanked the song, which contains the lyrics “Are you ready for some football?” from this past Monday’s game between the Indianapolis Colts and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Williams in a statement on his w ebsite said it was his decision to pull the song for the remainder of the season. “After reading hundreds of e-mails, I have MY decision. By pulling my opening Oct 3rd, You (ESPN) stepped on the Toes of The First Amendment,” the statement said. “Freedom of Speech, so therefore Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE. It’s been a great run.” The controversy began Oct. 3 when the entertainer appeared on the Fox News Channel. While criticizing Obama and House Speaker John Boehner for playing a round of golf together during the summer, Williams said it would be like “Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu,” referring to Benjamin Netanyahu , the prime minister of Israel. Williams later issued a statement, saying the comparison was “extreme.” “I was simply trying to explain how stupid it seemed to me, how ludicrous that pairing was. I have always respected the office of the president.” ESPN said former Lions running back Barry Sanders will narrate the opening to its Oct. 10 game between the Bears and Lions. It’s the first Monday night game in Detroit in a decade, the network said. To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Scott Soshnick in New York at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at [email protected]

ICE Orange-Juice Stockpiles by Location for Oct. 5.Following is a table detailing orange-juice stockpiles held at tank facilities monitored by the ICE Futures U.S. exchange: To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Rose in Washington at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alex Tanzi at [email protected]

Consumer Bureau Nomination Goes to Senate.Richard Cordray ’s selection to lead the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was approved by the Senate Banking Committee in a move that sets up a showdown with Republicans vowing to block any nominee for the post. Today’s 12-10 vote sends the nomination to the full Senate, where 44 Republicans have pledged to deny confirmation for anyone to serve as director until changes are made in the structure and funding of the new agency created by the Dodd- Frank Act. That opposition would block confirmation by the 100- member Senate, which would require at least 60 votes. “My colleagues and I stand by our pledge that no nominee to head the CFPB will be confirmed by the U.S. Senate -- regardless of party affiliation -- without basic changes to the Bureau’s structure,” Senator Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, said in a statement today. Cordray, the former Ohio attorney general now serving as the consumer bureau’s enforcement chief, was nominated by President Barack Obama in July. Republican lawmakers are seeking changes including replacing the director position with a five- member board and making the bureau’s budget subject to the congressional appropriations process. If the Senate fails to confirm a consumer bureau director, it will “leave a vast array of non-bank financial institutions, consumer finance companies, outside the scope of consumer financial protection, which was exactly the same mistake that left us vulnerable to the financial crisis that we went through,” Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner told the Senate panel in a hearing after the vote on Cordray. ‘Every Inch’ The consumer bureau, which officially began work on July 21, won’t assume full supervisory powers over non-bank financial firms until a director is in place. Republicans “want to roll back the whole notion of having a consumer watchdog,” Obama said today at a news conference. “I’m going to be fighting every inch of the way here in Washington to make sure that we have a consumer watchdog,” he said. Obama tied the need for a strong consumer agency to the recent decision by Bank of America Corp. (BAC) to impose a $5 monthly fee on some customers for debit-card use. The fee came shortly after rules took effect limiting the “swipe” fees banks can charge retailers when customers use debit cards. “People have been using financial regulation as an excuse to charge consumers more,” Obama said. The president said that while the bureau’s role is not to dictate profitability it is “entirely appropriate for the government to have some oversight role” on behalf of consumers. “My main goal is to make sure that we’ve got a consumer watchdog in place who is letting consumers know what fair practices are, making sure that transactions are transparent, and making sure that banks have to compete for customers based on the quality of their service and good prices,” Obama said. To contact the reporter on this story: Carter Dougherty in Washington at [email protected]. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Lawrence Roberts at [email protected] .

Thailand’s Central Pattana Said to Sell 2 Billion Baht of Bonds.Central Pattana Pcl (CPN) , Thailand ’s biggest shopping mall developer, sold 2 billion baht of bonds ($64 million) yesterday, according to a person familiar with the deal. The sale was split into 1.2 billion baht of five-year notes paying a yield of 4.52 percent, 500 million baht of seven-year notes paying a yield of 4.79 percent and 300 million baht of 10- year notes paying 5 percent, the person said, asking not to be identified as details are private. Siam Commercial Bank Pcl and TMB Bank Pcl arranged the sale, the person said. To contact the reporter on this story: Tanya Angerer in Singapore at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Shelley Smith at [email protected]

Turkey Working on New Competition Legislation, Hurriyet Reports.Turkey ’s government is preparing legislation to address problems in the operations of the country’s anti-trust authority, Hurriyet newspaper said. Industry Minister Nihat Ergun made the comments in a private meeting with executives, the Istanbul-based newspaper reported, without saying how it got the information. Click here for web link To contact the reporter on this story: Steve Bryant in Ankara at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Bryant at [email protected]

Venezuela’s Caracas September Consumer Price Index.Following are the details of the Sept. Caracas Consumer Price Index from the Venezuela Central Bank in Caracas: To contact the reporter on this story: Dominic Carey in Sao Paulo at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Marco Babic at [email protected]

Medium-Sized South African House Prices Increase Average 5.2% in September.Absa Group Ltd. (ASA) said the price of a medium-sized house in South Africa rose an average 5.2 percent in September froma year earlier. The average nominal price of small houses fell 1.8 percent and the price for large house increased by 0.5 percent, the Johannesburg-based lender said in an e-mailed statement today. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gordon Bell at [email protected]

DuPont Calls at Two-Year High as Traders See Rebound: Options.DuPont Co. options traders are more bullish than any time in two years, betting the stock will rebound from a five-month decline as investors favor companies with the highest dividends. The ratio of outstanding puts to sell versus calls to buy has dropped to 0.8, the lowest since April 2009. Ownership of contracts to buy the shares through Oct. 21 for $44, or 6.8 percent above the stock price, surged almost 27-fold in the past month, the most among options on Wilmington, Delaware-based DuPont, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The shares have fallen 27 percent to $41.21 since peaking this year on April 29. Concern policy makers may be running out of tools to keep the global slowdown from worsening has boosted demand for companies with the highest payouts. DuPont shares yield 3.98 percent, fifth-most in the S&P 500 Materials Index. It has a quarterly dividend of 41 cents a share, last raised in the final three months of 2007. Since the market peaked April 29, the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index has lost 9.7 percent, compared with the S&P 500’s loss of 15 percent including payouts. “People like large-cap, dividend-paying stocks like DuPont particularly in this environment where there’s a lot of uncertainty,” Jake Dollarhide, who helps manage $70 million including DuPont shares at Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma , said in a telephone interview yesterday. “The fears about Europe aren’t helping, but short of Greek default I’d look for things to get back to normal in next two or three months.” Calls Rise DuPont had 199,697 outstanding calls and 160,246 puts as of Oct. 4, according to Bloomberg data. The ratio of calls to puts dropped 31 percent since Aug. 19, the biggest slide among all 30 Dow Jones Industrial Average companies. Call open interest on Sept. 15, before options expired last month, was 204,788, the most since August 1999. Michael Hanretta , a DuPont spokesman, declined to comment. The VIX, as the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index is known, jumped a record 160 percent during the third quarter as concern grew the global economy was slowing and the sovereign debt crisis in Europe was worsening. The volatility gauge fell 4.1 percent to 36.27 today. In Europe, the VStoxx Index, which measures the cost of protecting against Euro Stoxx 50 Index losses, dropped 6.5 percent to 42.63. All 10 DuPont contracts with the biggest increase in ownership in the past two weeks were calls. Open interest for October $44 calls rose to 9,303 contracts from 487 contracts, the largest gain. January $50 calls had the biggest open interest among all DuPont options. ‘Stands Out’ “It stands out as an area of interest for traders,” Henry Schwartz , president of Trade Alert LLC, a New York-based provider of options-market data and analytics, said in a telephone interview yesterday. “Traders appear to consider ownership of these upside calls to be a good risk/reward.” DuPont has bought four companies in the past year, Bloomberg data show, including Copenhagen-based Danisco A/S, the biggest producer of food additives. It’s expanding by opening new facilities and adding jobs. Ellen Kullman , the chief executive officer, said in an Oct. 4 interview with Carol Massar on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart” that “agriculture around the world is still doing really well,” and “automotive is growing.” DuPont, the world’s largest maker of titanium dioxide, is investing in agriculture, electronics and safety and protection units to boost per-share earnings about 12 percent a year through 2015. The company paid 41 billion kroner ($7.3 billion) in June for Danisco. This year, DuPont is opening at least two plants in the U.S., Kullman said in the interview. Cars, Food Prices Industrywide light-vehicle sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 13.1 million in September, the highest since April, according to Autodata Corp. Global food prices will probably stay at high levels this year because of a lack of stockpiles, the United Nations said last month. DuPont could extend declines if the global economy continues to deteriorate. The International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for worldwide growth next year to 4 percent from 4.5 percent on Sept. 20, predicting “severe” repercussions if Europe fails to contain its debt crisis or U.S. policy makers deadlock over a fiscal plan. The company raised its full-year earnings forecast to between $3.90 and $4.05 a share on July 28, up from $3.65 to $3.85, excluding its acquisition of Danisco. That compared with the average analyst estimate of $3.98. DuPont has exceeded estimates in each of the 10 quarters since Kullman became CEO. Contrasts With Rivals Greater bullishness about DuPont contrasts with the company’s rivals. The put-to-call ratio for St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. (MON) , the world’s largest seed company, rose 22 percent to 0.79 between Aug. 19 and Oct. 4, Bloomberg data show. The ratio for Midland, Michigan-based Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) , the largest U.S. chemical maker, gained 25 percent since Sept. 15 to 1.04. “With record profits and zero cost for capital, with low interest rates and cheaper energy costs, there are a number of bullish factors lining up,” Alan Knuckman, chief market strategist at OneStopOption.com, a Chicago-based provider of options market analysis, said in a telephone interview yesterday. “The companies that are going to benefit from that are large conglomerates like this one as a default, because investment money has to move somewhere.” To contact the reporters on this story: Cecile Vannucci in Amsterdam at [email protected] ; Jeff Kearns in New York at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Baker at [email protected] ; Andrew Rummer at [email protected]

Vietnam Stock Movers: Dien Quang, Hoa Binh, Tay Ninh Rubber.Shares of the following companies had unusual moves in Vietnam trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses and prices are as of the 11 a.m. local-time close. The VN Index, the benchmark measure of the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, rose 1 percent to 421.32, the biggest gain since Sept. 19. Dien Quang Joint-Stock Co. (DQC VN), a light-bulb maker, jumped 4.5 percent to 16,300 dong, the largest increase since Sept. 26. The Ho Chi Minh City-based company will buy back 1.21 million shares from Oct. 10 to Dec. 31, according to a statement on the bourse’s website. Hoa Binh Construction & Real Estate Corp. (HBC VN), which offers construction services, climbed 3.5 percent to 26,800 dong, the steepest advance since June 22. The company will pay a 2010 dividend of 600 dong a share on Oct. 28, according to an exchange filing. Tay Ninh Rubber Joint-Stock Co. (TRC VN) increased 1 percent to 39,900 dong. Rubber advanced for a third day as better-than-expected economic data from the U.S., the fourth- largest user, buoyed the outlook for demand. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Darren Boey at [email protected]

Freddie Mac to Redeem 1.875% Notes Due 2014.The following issue is being redeemed via the company's call option: Issuer: Freddie Mac Coupon: 1.875 percent Maturity: Oct. 14, 2014 Redemption Amount: $50 million Redemption Price: 100 percent Amount Remaining: Fully Retired Security ID: 3134G2ER9 Effective Date: Oct. 14, 2011

Media Capital’s TVI to Broadcast Champions League Soccer Through 2015.Media Capital SGPS SA’s TV station TVI will broadcast games of UEFA ’s Champions League from next year through 2015 on free-to-air television, the company said in a regulatory filing. To contact the reporter on this story: Anabela Reis in Lisbon at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joao Lima at [email protected]

Vietnam’s Jan-July Current Account Surplus at $1.3 Billion.Vietnam ’s posted a current account surplus in the January through July period of $1.3 billion, according to a statement on the country’s central bank website dated yesterday. Vietnam had a current account deficit of $3.2 billion in the same period last year, the statement said. To contact the editor responsible for this story: K. Oanh Ha at [email protected]

Mexican Senate Asks Pemex to Testify on Repsol, Universal Says.The Mexican Senate asked Petroleos Mexicanos to supply information about its relationship with Repsol YPF SA (REP) , El Universal reported. The body’s energy committee requested Pemex provide the information within ten days and plans to call Pemex director Juan Jose Suarez Coppel to testify once the data has been analysed, the newspaper said, citing comments made in yesterday’s committee session. Click here for web link To contact the editor responsible for this story: Ben Sills at [email protected]

Air China, Asia Cement, StanChart: Hong Kong Equities Preview.The following companies may have significant price changes in Hong Kong trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses. Share prices are as of the last close. The market was closed yesterday for a holiday. The Hang Seng Index (HSI) fell 3.4 percent to 16,250.27. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks so-called H shares of Chinese companies, declined 3.6 percent to 8,102.58. Hong Kong developers: Hong Kong’s September home sales fall 44 percent on year to HK$23 billion ($2.95 billion), while the number of deals dropped 54 percent to 4,823, according to a statement on the government website. Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. (16) (16 HK), the world’s biggest developer by market value, fell 3.5 percent to HK$85.80. Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd. (1 HK), controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing , retreated 1.7 percent to HK$79.55. Air China Ltd. (753) (753 HK), China Eastern Airlines Corp. (670 HK): The airlines cut passenger fuel surcharges for flights of under 800 kilometers to 70 yuan from 80 yuan, China News Service reported. Air China, the world’s biggest carrier by market value, retreated 6.2 percent to HK$4.86. China Eastern Airlines, Asia ’s second-largest carrier by passenger numbers, sank 5.8 percent to HK$2.11. Asia Cement China Holdings Corp. (743) (743 HK): The cement manufacturer said it expects nine-month profit to surge more than 450 percent from a year earlier on higher prices and increased capacity. The stock declined 3.1 percent to HK$2.83. Fosun International (656 HK): The company, which has operations in the real estate, pharmaceutical and mining industries, said 11 workers died, one was injured and another missing after molten iron spilled at its unit’s plant in China’s eastern city of Nanjing. Production at Nanjing Iron & Steel Co. is in “normal order” and the incident is under investigation, it said. The stock retreated 6 percent to HK$3.31. Standard Chartered Plc (STAN) (2888 HK): Chief Executive Officer of U.K.’s second-biggest lender by market value Peter Sands said the bank will see “double-digit income growth” for the full year. The “second half has started well,” he said. The stock declined 5.3 percent to HK$140.60. To contact the reporter on this story: Kana Nishizawa in Hong Kong at [email protected]. To contact the editor responsible for this story: John McCluskey at [email protected] .

UBS Said to Lend on New York Mall in Commercial Mortgage Push Amid Turmoil.UBS AG has committed to making a $176 million loan for a shopping mall in New York , persisting with efforts to boost its commercial-real estate financing even as credit market gyrations prompt other lenders to retreat. The bank originated the debt this week on the Poughkeepsie Galleria, a 1.2 million square-foot shopping center, according to a person familiar with the deal. The Zurich-based firm plans on packaging the debt with other loans as securities this year, said the person, who declined to be identified because the negotiations are private. UBS hired Ken Cohen, the former head of commercial-mortgage bonds at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., in May to bolster its team as sales surged and lenders crowded the $600 billion market. The debt has since been whipsawed as investors shun all but the safest securities on concern that the global economic recovery is faltering. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut its forecast for issuance this year by as much as $15 billion from $45 billion. Torie von Alt, a spokeswoman for UBS, couldn’t immediately provide comment. The extra yield investors demand to hold top ranked commercial-mortgage bonds instead of Treasuries jumped to 323 basis points, or 3.23 percentage points on Oct. 4, the most since February 2010, according to Barclays Capital index data. Spreads on the Barclays Capital CMBS AAA Super Duper Index have widened from 178 on April 26, the index data show. “We haven’t seen stabilization yet,” Julia Tcherkassova, a commercial-mortgage debt analyst based in New York at Barclays Capital said yesterday in a telephone interview. “Originators need to see that stability.” Wall Street has arranged about $25 billion in commercial- mortgage backed securities this year, compared with about $11.5 billion in all of 2010, Bloomberg data show. Sales plummeted to $3.4 billion in 2009 compared with a record $234 billion in 2007, the data show. The number of firms looking to originate commercial mortgages for sale as bonds quintupled to 25 from a year earlier by December 2010, according to Standard & Poor’s report at the time. To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Mulholland in New York at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alan Goldstein at [email protected]

Gannett Names Martore CEO as Dubow Resigns Citing Disability.Gannett Co., publisher of newspapers including USA Today , promoted Gracia Martore to chief executive officer after Craig Dubow resigned for medical reasons. Martore, 60, has been president and chief operating officer at the company, and had overseen Dubow’s duties during his recent leave of absence, which was announced on Sept. 15. Dubow, 56, in recent years had hip and back surgery and has continued to experience chronic related issues, according to Robin Pence, a company spokeswoman. Dubow, who had been the company’s CEO since 2005, took a four-month leave of absence in 2009 following back surgery. As the newspaper industry has struggled and advertising has dropped amid the economic decline, Dubow cut costs at McLean, Virginia-based Gannett, which owns 23 television stations and 82 newspapers including USA Today. Revenue declined in each of the past four years, for a 32 percent drop to $5.44 billion in 2010. In June, the company cut 700 jobs at its community-newspaper group. Marjorie Magner, 62, a managing director at New York-based private-equity firm Brysam Global Partners and an independent director on the company’s board since 2006, was named to replace Dubow as chairman of the board. Gannett fell 1 cent to $10.45 on the New York Stock Exchange. Dubow’s resignation was announced after the market had closed. The stock has dropped 31 percent this year. To contact the reporter on this story: Brett Pulley in New York at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at [email protected]

Eurozone October Monetary Policy Communicator: Summary.Following is a summary of the October eurozone monetary policy communicator from the KOF institute in Zurich: To contact the reporter on this story: Harumi Ichikura in London at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Marco Babic at [email protected]

Swiss Official Says Cap Brought Stability, T-A Says.(Corrects to remove statement that the official advocated a higher franc cap.) The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, part of the Economy Ministry , said capping the Swiss franc against the euro at 1.20 has brought stability, even if an exchange rate of 1.30 or 1.40 would be preferable, because this it would better represent purchasing power, Tages- Anzeiger reported, citing an interview with Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch, who heads the secretariat. To contact the reporter on this story: Carolyn Bandel in Zurich at [email protected]. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at [email protected] .

Ghana’s Pension Fund to Sell First Atlantic Stake to Investors.Ghana ’s state pension fund will sell its 62 percent stake in First Atlantic Merchant Bank Ltd., a closely held lender based in Accra, to Kedari Nominees Ltd. of Nigeria for 42 million cedis ($26 million). Kedari Nominees, which is backed by a group of investment bankers in Nigeria, has paid 40 percent of the amount and is expected to pay the rest by the end of the month, Jerome Eshun, general manager for investment and development at Ghana’s Social Security and National Insurance Trust, said in an interview at his office Oct. 4. He declined to identify any of the Nigerian investors involved, citing the confidential nature of the deal. The sale is “in line with our policy of rationalizing our investments in the banking industry,” Eshun said. “The proceeds will be put into other equally viable ventures.” The central bank has been informed about the transaction and it will give its approval when the company pays the money in full, Eshun said. E-mailed questions sent to the central bank’s banking- supervision department yesterday were not answered. Akofa Avorkliyah, director for the governor’s secretariat, did not answer calls made to her mobile phone yesterday and today. The sale of the shares by the fund known by its acronym, SSNIT, is not related to a directive from the Bank of Ghana to boost capital for lenders said Eustace Annan, First Atlantic’s executive director for legal affairs, in an interview Oct. 4. The bank currently has a stated capital of 25 million cedis, said Annan. The central bank told lenders to increase that to 60 million cedis by December 2012. “We are making contacts to recapitalize through private placement,” he said. “I want to believe SSNIT is doing this based on its own strategies to reap the best out of its investments.” SSNIT supports ongoing talks between Ecobank Ghana Ltd. (EBG) , a subsidiary of Lome-based Ecobank Transnational Inc. (ETI) , to buy the fund’s 61 percent stake in Ghanaian-owned The Trust Bank Ltd. , said Eshun. SSNIT is also third-largest shareholder in Ecobank Ghana with 0.9 percent, according to the bank’s annual report for 2010. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at [email protected] .

Power Companies Borrow Record in Loans as Cost of Fuel Jumps: Japan Credit.Japan ’s top five electric utilities, shut out of the bond market following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, are borrowing a record 4 trillion yen ($52 billion) in loans at a premium to pay for the surging cost of fuel. Tohoku Electric Power Co., based in the tsunami-damaged northeast, will pay 1.4 percent interest on the 50 billion yen, 15-year loan it clinched on Sept. 30, or a 45.5 basis points spread over the similar-maturity government notes, according to Bloomberg calculations based on company data. Borrowing at that rate, the Japanese utilities would pay an extra 2.6 billion yen in loan interest this fiscal year than they would selling bonds, the calculations show. Tokyo Electric Power Co., Japan’s largest utility, and its peers are facing lower profit margins as the shutdown of Japan’s atomic plants after the world’s worst accident since Chernobyl has forced the utilities to burn more natural gas and coal to meet demand. The companies are scrambling for alternative sources of financing to replace a net 1.25 trillion yen worth of bonds retired since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami caused uncertainty over the future of atomic energy in the country. “Reactor shutdowns and the burning of fossil fuel is pushing utilities into the red and forcing the industry to rely on bank loans and short-term financing,” said Kenji Okamoto, a Tokyo-based senior analyst at the corporate finance group of Moody’s Japan K.K. “With so much left to be resolved it’s hard for them to sell bonds.” Fuel Costs Japan’s liquefied natural gas and coal imports in the five months to August 31 rose to a record, boosting the country’s import bill for the two main power fuels by 31 percent to 2.45 trillion yen from the same period a year earlier, according to the most recent data compiled by the Ministry of Finance. There were no bond sales announced by nuclear plant operators in Japan since the quake, Bloomberg data show. The extra yield investors demand to own power company debt instead of similar-maturity government notes soared to a peak of 202 basis points on June 29, from 12 basis points a day before the disaster, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch data. The spread narrowed to 39 basis points on Oct. 5, following Tokyo Electric’s win of state support to help compensate Fukushima victims on July 28. Relative spreads on global utilities climbed to 158 basis points, from 111 the day before magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami slammed the Tohoku regions coastline, damaging the Fukushima plant, Bank of America Merrill Lynch data show. Chubu Loan Tokyo Electric’s shares rose as much as 10 percent to 232 yen and traded at 220 yen at the 11 a.m. trading break, leading gains of the country’s utilities stocks today, with Chubu Electric Power Co. climbing as much as 2.7 percent to 1,528 yen. Chubu Electric, forced to shut its Hamaoka atomic plant, borrowed about 450 billion yen in loans from lenders including state-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation and the Development Bank of Japan, said spokesman Naohiro Uchikawa. That’s the biggest annual loan amount for the utility in at least 23 years, Uchikawa said. The nation’s third-largest utility, based in Nagoya in central Japan, raised estimates of its financing needs this year to 550 billion yen from the original 300 billion yen, Uchikawa said, citing an increase in costs for fuel procurement and operation of gas-fired generators. The 1.09 percent interest rate on the utility’s 100 billion yen 10-year loan inked on Jun 30 carry a spread of 45.93 basis points above government debt, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data provided by the utility. “A bond sale still is one option for us,” Uchikawa said. “We are making efforts to strengthen our financial stability,” he said. Reactor Shutdown The March 11 disaster triggered explosions at the Fukushima plant operated by Tokyo Electric, contaminating soil, waters and forests with radiation. Since then, reactors that were stopped for maintenance remain shut amid government- mandated tests to assess whether the plants can withstand strong quakes, tsunamis or a loss of power to cooling systems. As of Oct. 6, only 10 of the country’s 54 nuclear reactors were generating power, according to Japan Nuclear Technology Institute data. “No one can foresee how the existence of Japanese power utilities will change after the Fukushima crisis. This uncertainty would give a certain premium to costs of power bond issuance,” said Hiroshi Nakamura, who helps oversee 3.5 trillion yen in assets as general manager of fixed-income investment in Tokyo at Mizuho Asset Management Co. Sale Scrapped Kansai Electric Power Co. in June postponed indefinitely a sale of 20 billion yen of 10-year bonds scheduled for that month. The country’s second-largest power company, based in Osaka , delayed the sale due to “market conditions that changed rapidly,” according to an e-mailed statement at the time from Nomura Securities Co., which was arranging the transaction with four other banks. The cost of protecting the debt of Tokyo Electric, Kyushu Electric Power Co. and Chubu Electric against default ranked among the country’s six worst-performing credit default swaps over the month to Oct. 5, Bloomberg data show. Kansai Electric ranked ninth. Five-year contracts on Tokyo Electric’s debt have surged 984.7 basis points since March 10 to 1,025 basis points on Oct. 5, according to data provider CMA. Contracts on Chubu Electric rose 322 basis points to 360. Credit Risk The Markit iTraxx Japan index of credit-default swaps fell 6 basis point to 225 basis points as of 1:19 p.m. in Tokyo, Deutsche Bank AG prices show. The risk benchmark is on course for its first decline since Sept. 30, according to CMA, which is owned by CME Group Inc. and compiles prices quoted by dealers in the privately negotiated market. Contracts to insure Japanese government debt against default for five years fell 10 to 149 yesterday. Credit-default swap indexes are benchmarks for protecting bonds against default and traders use them to speculate on credit quality. A drop signals improving perceptions of creditworthiness, while an increase suggests the opposite. The contracts pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities if a borrower fails to meet its debt agreements. The yield on Japan’s 10-year government bond was at 0.97 percent on Oct. 5, the second lowest of 32 developed markets tracked by Bloomberg after Switzerland ’s. Ten-year debt yields 1.84 percent in Germany and 1.89 percent in the U.S. Funding Shortfall The yen is the best performer this year so far among the 10 developed-nation peers tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Currency Indexes. The yen traded at 76.68 per dollar in Tokyo yesterday, after reaching a post-World War II high of 75.95 on Aug. 19. The Japanese currency was at 102.60 per euro. Tepco, as Tokyo Electric is known, may have a funding shortfall of 8.6 trillion yen during the next decade if reactors are kept closed and the company fails to raise electricity rates, according to a government panel investigating the utility’s finances. The panel, formed after the nuclear accident and headed by lawyer Kazuhiko Shimokobe, also estimated Tepco is exposed to at least 5.7 trillion yen in compensation payments and decommissioning costs for Fukushima reactors. Kyushu Electric, which powers the most southern of Japan’s four main islands, expected to incur a 16 billion yen net loss in six months ended Sept. 30, the company said last month. The utility cited deferred restart of reactors and climbing fuel costs as reasons for the loss. Turning to Loans The company sought a 450 billion yen loan from banks including Mizuho Financial Group Inc. (8411) ’s corporate bank unit and the Development Bank of Japan, two people familiar with the talks said on Sept. 15. Eiji Yamamoto, a spokesman for Kyushu Electric, declined to comment as his company is negotiating with lenders. On Sept. 8, 17 regional banks, including Nishi-Nippon City Bank Ltd. (8327) lent 104.5 billion yen in loans to Kyushu Electric, Yamamoto said. In Japan’s western region, Osaka-based Kansai Electric said on Sept. 22 that its net income tumbled 69 percent to 24 billion yen in the fiscal fist half. The company plans to borrow 500 billion yen in loans in the year to March 31 from local banks, in part to cover fuel costs, the Nikkei reported on Sept. 27. Yusuke Inoue, a spokesman for Kansai Electric, declined to comment on its bank loan needs. Tohoku Electric, the utility based in Sendai City near the epicenter of the quake, signed a commitment line for 400 billion yen syndicated loans with local lenders, said spokesman Masumi Nakatsuyama. “As long as this uncertainty over restart of reactors persists, utilities may have to hinge on bank loans in the next business year,” said Hiroki Shibata, Tokyo-based associate director of the corporate and government ratings division at Standard & Poor’s. “And if this persist for two to three years, their funding may be in trouble.” To contact the reporters on this story: Shigeru Sato in Tokyo at [email protected] ; Emi Urabe in Tokyo at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chitra Somayaji at [email protected] ; Shelley Smith at [email protected]

Japan’s Aug. Survey of Household Economy: Summary.Japan ’s household spending for high-value products and services fell 5.9 percent in Aug. from the previous year, according to the figures release by the government’s statistics bureau in Tokyo. NOTE1: Figures are not seasonally adjusted. Total spending figures are calculated by Bloomberg News. NOTE2: Includes agricultural, forestry, and fisheries households. NOTE3: Three-month percentage changes are calculated as the three-month average change from the prior three-month average. NOTE4: Source changed some items from January 2008. SOURCE: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications To contact the reporter on this story: Minh Bui in Tokyo at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Marco Babic at [email protected]

Sri Lanka’s Central Bank Lowers 2011 GDP Growth Estimate to 8.3%.Sri Lanka ’s economy may grow about 8.3 percent in 2011, Dharma Dheerasinghe, deputy governor of the island’s central bank, said in Colombo today, lowering a projection of 8.5 percent made earlier this year. The construction industry will help drive expansion, he said. He didn’t elaborate on why the central bank cut its forecast. To contact the reporter on this story: Anusha Ondaatjie in Colombo at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Sunil Jagtiani at [email protected]

Oman International in Talks to Merge HSBC’s Oman Operations.HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) is in talks to merge its operations in Oman with Oman International Bank SAOG (OIBB) , the Gulf country’s fifth-biggest bank by assets. “These discussions are at a preliminary stage,” HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, said today in a statement. HSBC in August said it would eliminate 30,000 jobs by the end of 2013, pulling back from some countries, to help control costs. The London-based bank agreed in July to sell its upstate New York branch network, comprising almost half its U.S. outlets, to First Niagara Financial Group Inc. and said it will close its 10 branches in Poland. HSBC offers retail and corporate banking services in Oman. Its Middle East unit plans to cut 200 jobs in six countries in the region, according to a memo sent to employees on Sept. 8. To contact the reporters on this story: Arif Sharif in Dubai at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Maedler at [email protected]

EnBW Deal Guarantees Violated State Constitution, Court Says.The government of Baden-Wuerttemberg violated the state constitution when it authorized 4.7 billion euros in guarantees as part of the purchase of a 45 percent stake in EnBW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG (EBK) , a court ruled. The Baden-Wuerttemberg constitutional court ruled the government shouldn’t have authorized the guarantees without asking the state legislature for approval beforehand. The case was brought by the Green party and the Social Democrats , the court said in an e-mailed statement today. Both parties formed the opposition when they filed the suit and are now the ruling coalition in the German state. “Using an emergency authorization in cases where there is enough time to ask parliament isn’t backed by the state constitution,” the court said today. “Volatility in the capital markets doesn’t justify waiving parliament’s vote which has the primary say on budgetary issues.” Electricite de France SA, Europe ’s biggest power generator, sold the stake in the utility on Dec. 6. The state of Baden- Wurttemberg offered 41.50 euros a share, representing a 19 percent premium on the share price at the time. Former state prime minister Stefan Mappus justified the emergency approval with regulatory constraints and the need to keep the deal secret, the court said. To contact the reporter on this story: Karin Matussek in Berlin at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at [email protected] .

Cyprus September National Consumer Price Index: Summary.Following is a table for the September consumer price index report from the Statistical Service Office in Nicosia: To contact the reporter on this story: Ainhoa Goyeneche in Madrid at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Marco Babic at [email protected]

Citic Securities Falls in Hong Kong Debut.Citic Securities Co., China ’s biggest brokerage by market value, declined in its Hong Kong trading debut as the depressed valuations of rivals lured investors. Citic Securities fell as much as 11 percent to HK$11.90 and traded at HK$12.2 as of 11:01 a.m. The company, which is also listed in Shanghai , sold 995.3 million shares at HK$13.30 apiece last week, raising HK$13.2 billion ($1.7 billion) in Hong Kong’s biggest public stock offering in more than three months. Companies including Sany Heavy Industry Co. canceled or postponed $8.9 billion in initial public offerings globally in the third quarter as equity markets plunged. Since Citic Securities priced its shares, the Hang Seng China H-Financials Index, which tracks large Chinese financial stocks listed in the city, has dropped nearly 16 percent before today amid Europe ’s escalating sovereign debt crisis. “The secondary shares of some blue-chip companies are trading at very low valuations,” Ronald Wan, a Hong Kong-based managing director at China Merchants Securities (Hong Kong) Co., said by phone. “Why should investors subscribe for IPO if the IPO valuation is not cheaper and the risk is actually higher?” Citic Securities’ price-to-book value is about 1.65 times, based on the company’s Shanghai traded stock, that compared with the 3.96 times of the country’s second-largest brokerage GF Securities Co. and the 1.4 times of Haitong Securities Co., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Shanghai Composite Index slid 0.3 percent as of 11:01 a.m. local time. “Investor demand was quite good especially in such market conditions,” Wang Dongming, chairman of Citic Securities, said today at the listing ceremony. “It’s good that we could complete the sale.” The trading debut comes after Citic Securities closed the biggest share sale in Hong Kong since Italian fashion retailer Prada SpA raised $2.5 billion in June. The value of initial public offerings in the city dropped 65 percent in the three months through September, from the previous quarter, as stocks tumbled. To contact the reporter on this story: Stephanie Tong in Hong Kong at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chitra Somayaji at [email protected]

XP Power Says 3rd-Quarter Revenue Rises 20%, to Pay 11p Dividend.XP Power Ltd. (XPP) , a U.K. maker of parts that regulate power in electrical equipment, said third-quarter revenue rose 20 percent and it will pay a dividend of 11 pence a share for the quarter. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alan Purkiss at [email protected]

ICE Daily Certified Cotton Stockpiles for Oct. 5.Following is a table detailing cotton stockpiles held at warehouses monitored by the ICE Futures U.S. exchange by delivery point: To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Rose in Washington at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alex Tanzi at [email protected]

U.S. Cost of Hunger Was $167.5 Billion in 2010, Researchers Say.The cost of hunger in the U.S., the world’s largest economy, was $167.5 billion last year as the recession in 2008 and a slow economic recovery pushed more American households into food insecurity, researchers said. The number of food-insecure and hungry Americans in 2010 rose 30 percent from 2007, Waltham, Massachusetts-based Brandeis University said in an online statement yesterday, citing a study led by university professor Donald Shepard. Hunger’s cost to society includes lost productivity, poor education, additional healthcare costs and charity donations to keep families fed, the researchers said. A 2007 report by Shepard estimated the U.S. hunger bill in 2005 at $90 billion, the university said. “This increase in food insecurity and America’s hunger bill over these three years demonstrates the breadth of suffering associated with this recession,” Shepard said in the statement. “All Americans bear a part of these costs.” The number of hungry and food-insecure Americans in 2010 increased to 48.8 million, up by 12 million from 2007, according to the report. Hungry Americans are ill more often than others, resulting in estimated additional health care costs of $130.5 billion in 2010, according to the study. Poor education outcomes due to hunger cost society $19.2 billion, while private donations of food money and volunteer time to meet emergency food needs amounted to $17.8 billion, the researchers said. Consequences “Hunger may not be obvious in America but this less visible consequence of rising unemployment, flat wages and growing poverty is becoming a real cost for every American household,” Donna Cooper, a senior fellow with the Center for American Progress who co-wrote the report, said in a statement. The cost of hunger for every U.S. citizen was $542 in 2010, according to the study. Because the $167.5 billion estimate is based on “cautious methodology,” the actual cost of hunger and food insecurity to the nation is probably higher, according to the university. Last year, almost half of U.S. families seeking emergency food assistance reported they had to choose between paying for utilities or heating oil and food, 40 percent indicated they had to pick between paying rent or a mortgage and food, while more than a third had to choose between paying for medical bills and food, the university said. Florida Surge On a state level, Florida, California and Maryland had the biggest jump in their hunger bill during the recession, the study showed. The costs related to hunger and food insecurity surged 62 percent in Florida, 47 percent in California and 44 percent in Maryland last year, the researchers estimated. The U.S. hunger bill calculated in the study doesn’t include the cost of federal nutrition programs of about $94 billion a year, Brandeis University said. Sustained hunger reduction might be achieved through a mix of policies to boost the pay of lowest-wage earners, increase access to full-time employment and “modestly” expand government nutrition programs, the university said. “Expanding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to all food-insecure households could cost about $83 billion a year,” the researchers wrote. “While we do not recommend this approach, we note that nonetheless it would cost the nation much less than the most recent hunger bill.” To contact the reporter on this story: Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris at [email protected]. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at [email protected] .

Canon Halts Operations at Thai Inkjet Plant After Flood.Canon Inc. (7751) halted operations at its inkjet printer plant in Ayutthaya, Thailand , because of flooding and will keep the factory closed tomorrow as a precautionary measure. Hirotomo Fujimori, a Tokyo-based spokesman for the company, made the remarks by phone today. To contact the reporter on this story: Takashi Amano in Tokyo at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gearoid Reidy at [email protected]

Hong Kong Sells Two Sites for HK$176.1 Million by Tender.Hong Kong sold two plots of residential land for HK$176.1 million by tender, the government said in a statment on its website today. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Marco Lui at [email protected]

EU’s Barroso Rules Out Publicly Funded EU Credit-Rating Agency.European Commission President Jose Barroso ruled out proposing a publicly funded European credit- ratings company as part of plans to increase diversity in the industry. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jones Hayden at [email protected]

Merkel Says European Bank Capitalization Needs Review.German Chancellor Angela Merkel said policy makers need to “look again” at whether European banks need additional capital. Experts who say the banks are undercapitalized must be taken “very seriously” and if it turns out that banks need more capital “then it’s money well-invested,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin today. “At that point, we shouldn’t hesitate.” In the first instance, it’s up to banks themselves to make sure they are sufficiently capitalized, she said. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tony Czuczka at [email protected]

ARGENTINA DAYBOOK: Moody’s Holds Seminar in Buenos Aires.Moody’s Investors Services holds a seminar today in Buenos Aires to discuss Argentina’s economic and rating outlook. South America’s second-biggest economy is rated B3 by Moody’s, six levels below investment grade. WHAT TO WATCH: * Moody’s analyst Gabriel Torres will have a press conference on Argentina’s economy. ECONOMY/COMMODITIES: * The Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange releases its weekly crop report in the afternoon. EQUITIES: * The Merval Index rose 1 percent to 2,309.43 yesterday. MARKETS: * The peso fell 0.1 percent to 4.2075 per dollar. The currency has declined 5.4 percent against the dollar this year. To contact the reporter on this story: Eliana Raszewski in Buenos Aires at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at [email protected]

BofA, Morgan Stanley Gain as Geithner Says Banks Stronger.Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and Morgan Stanley led U.S. banks higher in New York trading after Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said the nation’s financial firms have strengthened and there is “absolutely” no chance of another collapsing like Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008. Bank of America climbed 8.8 percent to $6.28 and Morgan Stanley rose 4.8 percent to $15.18 at the 4 p.m. close of New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The KBW Bank Index (BKX) of 24 financial stocks advanced 4.6 percent. The cost to protect debt of Bank of America, Citigroup Inc. (C) and Morgan Stanley also dropped. U.S. banking stocks pared losses as optimism grew that Europe’s leaders may be able to prevent a sovereign debt crisis, curbing concerns that the lenders’ balance sheets would weaken. Geithner, testifying today before the Senate Banking Committee in Washington , didn’t mention any banks by name when responding to a question about Morgan Stanley. “The direct exposure of the U.S. financial system to the countries under the most pressure in Europe is very modest,” he said. “Our firms, and this is true across the largest institutions in the United States, again are in a much stronger position if you look at their capital levels, levels of leverage, how they’re funded.” Morgan Stanley, based in New York, is down 44 percent this year in New York trading. Bank of America, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, has dropped 53 percent, while New York-based Citigroup lost 45 percent. Credit-default swaps on the biggest U.S. lender declined 12.6 basis points to 404.6 and those on Morgan Stanley (MS) , the world’s largest retail brokerage, dropped 22 basis points to 472.6, according to data provider CMA. Citigroup prices shed 11 basis points to 306.4, the data show. To contact the reporter on this story: Michael J. Moore in New York at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Scheer at [email protected]

Germany Sept. Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index.Construction activity in Germany picked up in September, according to Markit Economics The research group’s index of German construction activity rose to 50.5 compared with 49.8 in August. An index above 50 means the number of construction firms who said business expanded was greater than the number saying it contracted. To contact the reporter on this story: Kristian Siedenburg in Vienna at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Marco Babic at [email protected]

Canada September Home Sales May Have Fallen, Data Show.Canadian home sales may have fallen in September from August as home buyers in British Columbia and Alberta slow purchases, regional housing data show. September sales reported by nine major regional real estate boards show a 4.3 percent decline from August, while last year, sales at the same boards rose 1.1 percent on the month. From a year earlier, September sales in those markets were up 15 percent, down from a 21 percent increase recorded in August. A surge in household debt prompted Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to tighten mortgage rules earlier this year. Household debt as a share of personal disposable income rose to a record 150.8 percent at the end of June from 149.5 percent in the previous quarter, according to Statistics Canada data. Canadian policy makers may need to consider additional measures to slow the country’s housing market if households continue to take on more debt, the International Monetary Fund said in a report. Flaherty said yesterday he would consider further actions if there was “clear evidence of a bubble in the housing market in Canada , which we have not seen.” British Columbia, Alberta Homes sales in British Columbia’s three biggest markets -- Vancouver , Fraser Valley and Victoria -- fell 9.2 percent in September, data from regional real estate boards show. They had increased 1 percent in September last year. Sales in Calgary and Edmonton fell 7.6 percent in September. Those two markets had recorded gains of 2.2 percent in September last year. Sales in Toronto, Canada’s biggest market, bucked the trend, recording a 1.5 percent increase in September. In a separate report today, Statistics Canada said the value of municipal building permits fell 10.4 percent in August, a drop that was larger than any of the 12 responses to a Bloomberg survey of economists. The Canadian Real Estate Association releases aggregated national data in the middle of every month. To contact the reporter on this story: Theophilos Argitis in Ottawa at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz at [email protected] ; David Scanlan at [email protected] .

ECB Financing to Greek Banks in August Fell to EU93.1 Billion.Greek bank reliance on European Central Bank liquidity declined to 93.1 billion euros in August from 96.3 billion euros in July, according to a statement posted on the Athens-based central bank’s website today. To contact the reporter on this story: Natalie Weeks in Athens at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Maria Petrakis at [email protected]

AFK Sistema May Change Its Dividend Policy, Vedomosti Reports.OAO AFK Sistema may change its dividend policy, Vedomosti reported today, citing Mikhail Shamolin, the company’s president. A management plan, which has yet to be approved by the board, envisages paying shareholders 10 percent of the company’s net income plus 10 percent of the profit from asset sales, the newspaper said. Under Sistema’s current policy, as much as 40 percent of net income may be paid to shareholders, but the actual figure is much lower, Vedomosti said. To contact the reporter on this story: Yuliya Fedorinova in Moscow at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Viljoen at [email protected]

DLA Piper Hires Troy Doyle as Distressed Opportunities Increase.DLA Piper, the world’s third-highest grossing law firm , hired Troy Doyle from Norton Rose to head its newly created restructuring and distressed investment team in Asia amid Europe ’s debt crisis. “Given the volatility, we’re seeing an increase in distressed investments across the region,” Doyle, who joined Chicago-based DLA Piper this month, said in a phone interview from Singapore today. The number of companies considered distressed by Standard & Poor’s in the U.S. increased “significantly” in September as uncertainty about the European sovereign debt crisis rose and disappointing economic data from the developed world weakened investor sentiment. “Having Troy on board to drive the team regionally allows us to ramp up our capabilities to counsel clients in this key area,” DLA Piper’s Asia managing partner, Lance Miller, said in an e-mailed statement. Lawyers from DLA Piper’s banking and corporate practices used to advise clients before the firm set up its Asia restructuring and debt investment group, Doyle, 37, said. DLA Piper is the third-biggest law firm by revenue, with $1.96 billion in its latest fiscal year, according to the American Lawyer, a trade publication. To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Tan in Singapore at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Douglas Wong at [email protected]

Asia Stocks Rise First Day in Five on European, U.S. Optimism.Asian stocks rose for the first time in five days as better-than-expected U.S. economic data and optimism European leaders will contain the region’s debt crisis boosted the earnings outlook for exporters. Sony Corp. (6758) , Japan’s No. 1 exporter of consumer electronics, advanced 4.7 percent in Tokyo. Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. (293) , Asia’s largest international carrier, jumped 6.9 percent in Hong Kong. James Hardie Industries SE (JHX) , a building-materials supplier that gets almost 70 percent of its sales from the U.S., climbed 8.2 percent in Sydney. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) , the No. 1 global mining company, gained 3.3 percent as commodity prices advanced. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 3.2 percent to 110.76 as of 6:38 p.m. in Tokyo. About eight stocks advanced for each decliner and all 10 industry groups climbed, led by commodity producers and banks. The gauge tumbled 16 percent in the third quarter, the biggest drop since 2008, amid concern that Europe ’s debt crisis and a U.S. economic slowdown will drag the world back into recession. “The market is a bit more optimistic about prospects for European policy makers to find a solution, particularly with the solvency of European banks,” said Tim Schroeders , who helps manage $1 billion in equities at Pengana Capital Ltd. in Melbourne. The latest U.S. data is “a good sign” that the economy is stabilizing, he said. Japan’s Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average gained 1.7 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index added 2.6 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 5.7 percent, its biggest gain in more than two years. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 3.7 percent, the biggest increase since December 2008. U.S. Reports Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.6 percent today, erasing losses of as much as 0.4 percent. The S&P 500 climbed 1.8 percent yesterday in New York , increasing for a second day, after a report showed U.S. companies added 91,000 jobs in September. Stocks also rose after the Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index fell less than forecast. Nasdaq-100 Index futures rebounded to rise 0.1 percent after falling when Apple Inc. said co-founder Steve Jobs died today. He was 56. “The market sentiment is too pessimistic about the U.S. economy , which hasn’t become that bad,” said Mitsushige Akino , who oversees about $600 million in Tokyo at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co. “We can expect a rebound of stocks.” The International Monetary Fund said European Union officials are working on plans to boost bank capital. France and Belgium said a “bad bank” will be set up to hold Dexia SA’s troubled assets. Last Resort German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Europe’s rescue fund will only be used as a last resort to save banks and that investors may have to take deeper losses as part of a Greek rescue. HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe’s biggest lender by market value, gained 4.7 percent to HK$59.30 in Hong Kong, while National Australia Bank Ltd. (NAB) , the nation’s largest lender to businesses, surged 5 percent to A$22.87 in Sydney. Sony advanced 4.7 percent to 1,470 yen in Tokyo. Li & Fung Ltd., a supplier of clothes and toys to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., increased 4.3 percent to HK$12.08 in Hong Kong. Cathay Pacific climbed 6.9 percent to HK$12.70, while in Sydney, James Hardie rose 8.2 percent to A$5.84. Samsung Electronics Co. increased 1.5 percent to 855,000 won in Seoul and LG Electronics Inc. (066570) surged 6.3 percent to 73,900 won on optimism South Korea’s two largest electronics makers will gain market share against Apple. Commodity Shares Asian commodity stocks also rallied. BHP Billiton gained 3.3 percent to A$36.30 in Sydney and rival Rio Tinto Group climbed 4.9 percent to A$63.28. Korea Zinc Co., which produces metals including zinc, lead and gold, jumped 6 percent to 246,000 won in Seoul. Cnooc Ltd. (883) , China ’s largest offshore energy explorer, surged 8.5 percent to HK$12.30. Crude oil for November delivery gained 5.3 percent on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday after the U.S. government reported an unexpected decline in stockpiles in the world’s biggest crude-consuming country. Oil gained as much as 1.8 percent today. The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of raw materials advanced 1.9 percent yesterday, while New York-traded copper futures climbed as much as 4.7 percent today. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 22 percent this year through yesterday, compared with a 9 percent drop by the S&P 500 and a 19 percent loss by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 10.9 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 11.5 times for the S&P 500 and 9.4 times for the Stoxx 600. To contact the reporters on this story: To contact the reporters on this story: Shani Raja in Sydney at [email protected] ; Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at [email protected]

Euro Stays Lower Against Dollar After ECB Keeps Rate Unchanged.The euro stayed lower against the dollar after the European Central Bank kept its main interest rate unchanged, an outcome predicted in a survey of economists by Bloomberg. The 17-nation currency fell 0.5 percent to $1.3284 as of 12:48 p.m. in London. To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Tilles in London at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at [email protected]

Ethanol Rises on Higher Gasoline Prices, Lower New York Supplies.Ethanol futures gained in Chicago as gasoline prices jumped for the second straight day and supplies of the biofuel in New York Harbor were tight. Futures have gained 1.4 percent since an Energy Department report yesterday showed production of conventional gasoline blended with ethanol rose 2 percent in the week ending Sept. 30, the most since June 10, to 5.16 million barrels a day, while gasoline stockpiles declined. “It’s definitely a fundamental rally here,” Justin Dirico, senior ethanol trader at SCB & Associates LLC in Chicago, said by telephone. “We’re still a little short in New York Harbor area for material and product, which has caused the spread from New York to Chicago to widen and continue to be well-bid.” Denatured ethanol for November delivery rose 0.22 cent, or 0.9 percent, to settle at $2.492 a gallon on the Chicago Board of Trade, the contract’s fourth straight gain. In cash-market trading, ethanol in New York gained 1.5 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $2.775 a gallon, and on the West Coast the biofuel added 2.5 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $2.705, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Ethanol in the U.S. Gulf jumped 9.5 cents, or 3.7 percent, to $2.66 a gallon, and in Chicago the additive climbed 7.5 cents, or 3 percent, to $2.575, Bloomberg data show. Gasoline for November delivery soared 11.68 cents, or 4.5 percent, to settle at $2.686 a gallon in New York. The contract covers reformulated gasoline, which is made to be blended with ethanol before delivery to filling stations. To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Doom in New York at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at [email protected]

DuPont Boosts Kevlar Output as Non-Ballistic Applications Grow.DuPont Co., the inventor of Kevlar used in body armor, said the opening of a $500 million U.S. plant today will allow for growth in other uses for the material, such as tires, auto parts and fiber-optic cables. The Cooper River Kevlar plant near Charleston, South Carolina , will initially increase global Kevlar production by 25 percent and eventually boost output 40 percent above its current level, Wilmington, Delaware-based DuPont said today in a statement. While Kevlar is best known as a critical element in bulletproof vests and helmets, ballistics account for less than a third of demand as U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq winds down, Thomas G. Powell, president of DuPont Protection Technologies, said in a telephone interview. The expansion of production is mostly to serve other markets, such as the strengthening of fiber-optic cables, Powell said. Demand for Kevlar in that application is growing 10 percent a year in the U.S. and 15 percent in Asia , he said. Ballistics demand is growing 10 percent annually, he said. Kevlar is used in tires to reduce weight and energy use, and in turbo-charged engines that require hoses and belts with improved strength and heat resistance, DuPont said. DuPont is one of the two largest producers of para-aramid fibers, such as Kevlar, along with Japan ’s Teijin Ltd. (3401) , Powell said. DuPont invented Kevlar in 1965. To contact the reporter on this story: Jack Kaskey in Houston at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Simon Casey at [email protected]

Turkish Central Bank Says Core Inflation May Peak at 8 Percent.Turkey ’s central bank said core inflation may peak at about 8 percent in the last quarter of this year before subsiding in 2012. The bank made the forecast for the “H” measure of inflation in a presentation to analysts in Ankara that was posted on its website today. To contact the reporter on this story: Ali Berat Meric in Ankara at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Bryant at [email protected]