Finance Blog number 1

(Corrects number of electoral votes in next to last paragraph. For more campaign news, see ELECT)

President Barack Obama called yesterday

U.S. stock futures are falling Thursday as the European debt crisis again becomes the key driver of market sentiment.

Stock markets in London, Germany and France have all declined. The euro has dropped to a 15-month low against the dollar.

The concern in the markets has centered on the state of Europe’s banks following UniCredit’s announcement Wednesday that it was selling new shares at a large 69 percent discount to Tuesday’s closing price.

Banks are an integral part of the debt crisis because they hold government bonds. A default or steep fall in the value of government bonds could inflict heavy losses on banks and choke off credit to the European economy. That’s why regulatory authorities want Europe’s banks to raise their buffers by euro115 billion (149 billion) over the next few months. The worry in the markets is that banks will have to offer sharp discounts to raise the funds.

U.S. economic reports have the potential to shift sentiment. Key releases later Thursday include the Institute for Supply Management’s monthly survey of the services sector as well as indicators on the pace of hiring in the private sector.

The latter may affect market expectations for Friday’s closely-watched nonfarm payrolls data for December. The figures often set the market’s tone for a week or two after their release. The expectation is that the U No teletrak payday loan.S. economy generated around 150,000 jobs during December.

Positive economic news propelled U.S. stocks to a big rally on Tuesday. Those gains held Wednesday as automakers reported strong sales in December.

Less than two hours before trading opens in New York, futures on the Dow Jones industrial average are down 55 points to 12,301. Futures for the broader S&P 500 index have fallen 7 points to 1,266.

European stocks fell, though most indexes remained higher for the year so far. Germany’s DAX was down 0.7 percent at 6,066 while the CAC-40 fell 1 percent to 3,163. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was 0.7 percent lower at 5,629.

Earlier in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.8 percent to close at 8,488.71. South Korea’s Kospi index lost 0.1 percent at 1,863.74, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.5 percent to 18,813.41. Benchmarks in Singapore and Taiwan were also higher.

Mainland China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 1 percent to 2,148.45, its lowest level in almost three years. The Shenzhen Composite Index lost 3.5 percent to 813.99. More than 100 companies plunged to the daily limit of 10 percent.

Source

LONDON

FRANKFURT

North Korea said solving food and power shortages are urgent goals in 2012, and called on its people to defend Kim Jong Un, who inherited control of a country struggling to feed itself after 60 years of totalitarian rule.

Germany

U.K. shopper numbers fell yesterday as discounting and mild weather failed to entice cost-conscious Britons to spend, according to market researcher Experian Footfall.

Visits to shops and malls fell 0.7 percent on Dec. 27, compared to the Tuesday after Christmas last year, Experian Footfall said by e-mail. Shopper numbers surged 21.5 percent on Boxing Day, Dec. 26, with extended hours helping boost business limited last year by Sunday trading restrictions. The four-day U.K. holiday weekend ended on a Tuesday in both 2010 and 2011.

Stores including Debenhams Plc (DEB), the U.K.

Labor unions on Wednesday ramped up the pressure on Republican lawmakers to approve a Senate plan that would extend jobless benefits for millions of unemployed Americans.

Congress is deadlocked over how to provide the relief after Republicans in the House of Representatives on Tuesday scuttled a short-term measure that had been approved in the Senate with overwhelming Republican and Democratic support.

Most House Republicans voted against the Senate bill, which would extend by two months long-term jobless benefits and a payroll tax cut for 160 million Americans.

“We’ll be hitting them in the media in their home districts,” said labor union umbrella group AFL-CIO spokeswoman Amaya Tune. “We’ll continue to look at what ways we can shame Republicans for this horrible vote,” she said.

Republicans refused to approve the Senate bill, saying they wanted to work on a full-year extension — a plan Democrats support but have failed to broker because the sides disagree on how to cover the costs.

If Congress fails to extend jobless benefits, nearly 700,000 people would lose them by the second week of January and nearly 2.2 million would be cut off by mid-February, according to the Labor Department. Some 13 million Americans are unemployed, of whom nearly 6 million have been without a job for more than a year cash advance loans.

The AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. labor group, and other advocacy groups such as Working America, the Philadelphia Unemployment Project and the National Employment Law Project are gearing up to push Republicans to vote on the two-month deal.

“We are going to challenge those representatives to get back to work and put these fixes in,” said Mark MacKenzie, president of the AFL-CIO’s New Hampshire office.

The National Employment Law Project is mobilizing thousands of its constituents from unemployed Americans to community advocates to call Republican lawmakers.

“This is pressure on leadership first and foremost but really it is on everybody. Get back here and pass the bill,” said Judy Conti, the federal advocacy coordinator for the project.

Other labor organizers are planning a protest outside Republican House Speaker John Boehner’s office in Ohio later this week.

It was unclear how lawmakers would resolve their differences before the December 31 deadline. Democrats have refused to start negotiating a full-year extension until Republicans pass the Senate’s short-term measure. Republicans have proposed cutting long term benefits from 99 weeks to 59.

Read more

+%3Cp%3E+Former+MF+Global+CEO+Jon+Corzine+returned+to+Capitol+Hill+Thursday%2C+where+he+rejected+allegations+aired+earlier+this+week+that+he+was+aware+of+fund+transfers+from+customer+accounts.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3ECorzine%27s+testimony+came+two+days+after+Terry+Duffy%2C+head+of+exchange+operator+CME+Group+%28%29%2C+suggested+in+a+separate+Congressional+hearing+that+Corzine+may+have+been+aware+of+unlawful+money+transfers+out+of+customer+accounts+in+the+days+before+MF+Global+filed+for+bankruptcy.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3E%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3E%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3ELawmakers+have+been+probing+the+brokerage%27s+collapse%2C+and+in+particular%2C+the+revelations+that+more+than+%241+billion+in+customer+funds%2C+mostly+from+commodities+accounts%2C+are+still+missing.%3Cbr%3E+%3Cbr%3E+Corzine+has+consistently+said+he+has+no+idea+how+the+money+went+missing%2C+never+ordered+that+customer+funds+be+misused+and+did+not+learn+of+the+massive+shortfall+until+less+than+24+hours+before+the+firm+filed+for+bankruptcy.+In+the+commodities+business%2C+customer+money+at+brokerages+like+MF+Global+%28%29+is+supposed+to+be+protected+at+all+times%2C+even+in+the+event+of+a+bankruptcy.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EBut+Duffy+claimed+Tuesday+that+Corzine+was+aware+that+the+firm+had+tapped+customer+accounts+for+its+own+use+in+its+final+days.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3ESuch+a+transaction+could+be+legal+under+some+circumstances%2C+and+Duffy+did+not+specifically+say+that+Corzine+himself+had+authorized+illegal+money+transfers.+He+did+say%2C+though%2C+that+the+firm+had+made+at+least+some+transfers+from+customer+accounts+illegally.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3ECorzine+denied+Duffy%27s+allegations+Thursday%2C+saying+he+%26quot%3Bdid+not+in+any+way+know+about+the+use+of+customer+funds+on+any+loan+or+transfer.%26quot%3B+In+the+firm%27s+last+hours%2C+he+added%2C+he+learned+of+the+massive+hole+in+customer+accounts+but+did+not+know+how+it+was+formed.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EInvestigators%2C+however%2C+have+been+developing+a+clearer+picture+of+just+what+went+wrong.+Rep.+Randy+Neugebauer+of+Texas+said+at+Thursday%27s+hearing+that+a+Congressional+investigation+had+shown+that+MF+Global+moved+at+least+%24700+million+out+of+customer+accounts+in+the+days+before+its+bankruptcy+%26quot%3Bto+meet+liquidity+needs+of+the+firm%26quot%3B.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EThis+was+apparently+done+without+putting+the+collateral+in+place+to+make+such+a+transaction+legal%2C+according+to+Neugebauer%27s+account.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EThe+allegations+follow+on+similar+claims+from+CME+Group%2C+which+says+MF+Global+broke+the+law+in+using+customer+funds+for+its+own+benefit+%3Ca+href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fpayday-loans-cheap.com%22%3Epayday+loans+guaranteed+no+fax%3C%2Fa%3E%3C%21–+.+–%3E.+Duffy+also+claimed+Thursday+that+the+firm+had+falsified+accounting+statements+to+conceal+the+shortfalls+in+customer+accounts.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3ERegulators+under+scrutiny%3A+Witnesses+also+appeared+in+the+latter+half+of+Thursday%27s+hearing+from+the+New+York+Federal+Reserve+Bank+and+from+regulators+including+the+Securities+and+Exchange+Commission+and+the+Commodity+Futures+Trading+Commission.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3ELawmakers+quizzed+them+on+how%2C+in+an+era+following+the+global+economic+meltdown%2C+regulators+could+allow+another+big+financial+institution+to+fail%2C+and+lose+more+than+%241+billion+of+its+customers+money+in+the+process.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EThomas+Baxter%2C+general+counsel+of+the+Federal+Reserve+Bank+of+New+York%2C+testified+on+Thursday+that+his+agency+had+scrutinized+MF+Global+for+more+than+two+years+before+giving+it+the+green+light+to+trade+U.S.+securities.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EBut+there+were+some+major+compliance+issues+along+the+way+which+the+brokerage+eventually+fixed%2C+he+said.+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EBaxter+said+the+U.S.+Commodity+Futures+Trading+Commission+found+that+the+company+failed+to+supervise+traders%2C+neglected+to+transmit+accurate+prices+of+its+natural+gas+options+and+didn%27t+maintain+written+records+of+at+least+one+of+its+clients.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3E+%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EFurthermore%2C+MF+Global%27s+parent+company+was+based+in+Bermuda%2C+he+said%2C+noting+that+the+Fed+requires+its+primary+dealers+to+be+domiciled+in+the+U.S.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EBut+MF+Global+fixed+all+of+these+issues%2C+said+Baxter%2C+and+that%27s+why+the+Fed+finally+approved+the+now-bankrupt+brokerage+to+trade+in+U.S.+securities.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3E%26quot%3BThe+New+York+Fed+designated+MF+Global+as+a+primary+dealer+to+meet+our+highly+specialized+needs%2C+and+we+followed+our+primary+dealer+policy+to+the+letter+without+fear+or+favor%2C%26quot%3B+said+Baxter%2C+in+prepared+testimony+to+a+Congressional+subcommittee.%3C%2Fp%3ELame+responses+from+CEOs%3Cp%3EThe+Fed+designated+MF+Global+as+a+primary+dealer+in+February+and+conducted+due+diligence+on+the+company+through+October%2C+%26quot%3Bwhen+its+financial+condition+deteriorated+abruptly+and+quickly%2C%26quot%3B+said+Baxter.%3C%2Fp%3E%3Cp%3EMoody%27s+downgraded+MF+Global+on+Oct.+24+and+the+following+day+the+brokerage+reported+its+%26quot%3Blargest+quarterly+earnings+loss+ever%2C%26quot%3B+said+Baxter.+At+that+point%2C+he+said+the+Fed+blocked+MF+Global+from+dealing+securities.%26nbsp%3B+%3C%2Fp%3E++%3Cp%3E%3Ca+href%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fmoney.cnn.com%2F2011%2F12%2F15%2Fnews%2Fcompanies%2Fmf_global_fed%2Findex.htm%27+rel%3D%27nofollow%27%3ESource%3C%2Fa%3E%3C%2Fp%3E+

+%3Cp%3ETORONTO%97The+Toronto+stock+market+opened+higher+as+oil+and+gold+prices+rose+and+traders+digested+positive+economic+news.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+S%26P%2FTSX+composite+index+was+up+25.01+points+at+11%2C660.39.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+Canadian+dollar+added+0.24+of+a+cent+to+96.67+cents+US%2C+with+gains+accelerating+after+the+release+of+statistics+showing+wholesale+trade+grew+more+than+expected+in+October.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EWall+Street+also+opened+higher%2C+with+the+Dow+Jones+up+46.7+points+11%2C913%2C+the+Nasdaq+ahead+12.4+points+at+2%2C567.73+and+the+broader+S%26P+500+up+4.7+points+at+1%2C224.34.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EAnd+commodities+were+mostly+higher%2C+with+the+January+oil+contract+up+85+cents+to+%2494.38.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+February+gold+contract+added+US%245.70+to+US%241%2C603.60+per+ounce%2C+while+copper+shed+a+penny+to+US%243.32+per+pound.%3C%2Fp%3E++%3Cp%3E%3Ca+href%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thestar.com%2Farticle%2F1104172%27+rel%3D%27nofollow%27%3ESource%3C%2Fa%3E%3C%2Fp%3E+