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) Lone Anomaly to Ignite Gold
The face of all the world has changed, since first I heard the footsteps of your official rate cut. Sorry, borrowed a front line from a Robert Browning love poem, who wrote about ‘footsteps of your soul’ to Elizabeth Barrett. On September 18th, notes were taken on a host of prices immediately before the US Federal Reserve executed its cut of 50 basis points in both the Fed Funds target and the discount rate. The reaction in the entire price structures for the financial markets generally has been profound in only one week. Stocks are up. Foreign currencies are up. Oil and natural gas are flat but now down a little. Gold and silver up, along with their precious metals mining stocks. However, the anomaly sticks out like a sore bruised discolored thumb. The USTreasury Bond yield curve has steepened. More>> - (
) GE Money and Closet Tailors Help Consumers Get Organized with Finance Program
GE Money today announced it will offer a new private label credit card to U.S. customers of Closet Tailors, which specializes in designing and installing custom organization solutions. The Closet Tailors Credit Card, managed by GE Money's Sales Finance unit, will be available through more than 100 franchises across the U.S. and offers a quick and easy application, sales process with promotional financing and deferred interest terms.Home organization is a growing trend as homeowners look to de-clutter and simplify their lives. According to surveys conducted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) in 2005, garage storage alone is a $2.5 billion industry with anticipated growth of 20 percent per year through 2010.
�Closet Tailors helps our customers maximize their living spaces by creating customized, convenient storage solutions,�� said Chip Tighe, vice president of Closet Tailors. More>>
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) IMF Executive Board Concludes 2007 Article IV Consultation with the Central African Republic
On September 28, 2007, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation with the Central African Republic (C.A.R.).1Background
Over the past several decades political struggle and armed conflict have adversely affected domestic stability in the C.A.R., slowing growth and causing a deterioration of living standards. The economy has also been buffeted by exogenous shocks, such as droughts and regional instability, and a long-term decline in the terms of trade. A coup d'état in 2003, followed by elections in 2005, marked the end of generalized conflict and the beginning of economic and institutional recovery.
A recent improvement in the political and social situation and economic policies has provided a firm basis for economic recovery. More>>
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) Sims Group Shares Gain After Buying Metals Management (Update3)
Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Sims Group Ltd., the world's biggest recycler of scrap metal, rose in Sydney trading after agreeing to buy U.S.-based Metal Management Inc. for $1.49 billion in stock.Sims is paying about $57.75 a share, 18 percent more than Chicago-based Metal Management's Sept. 21 closing price, the companies said yesterday in a statement. Metal Management investors will receive 2.05 American depositary receipts of Sydney-based Sims for each share, the companies said.
Buying Metal Management will give Sims control of about 13 percent of the U.S. metal-recycling industry and more than 200 operations on four continents. Sims Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Sutcliffe, who has been buying rivals including New York-based Hugo Neu Group in 2005, said today the new company would consider further acquisitions. More>>
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) Financial stability is priority for RBI: Reddy
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said it will not hesitate to use direct instruments to attain its goal of financial stability, which it feels is more important than price stability.
Speaking at the Sveriges Riksbank, Stockholm, Sweden, RBI governor YV Reddy said that although the central bank preferred indirect instruments, there is no hesitation in taking recourse to direct instruments too, if circumstances so warrant. “In fact, complex situations do warrant dynamics of different combination of direct and indirect instruments, in multiple forms, to suit the conditions affecting the transmission mechanism," Mr Reddy said.
There are occasions when the medium-term goals, say reduction in cash reserve ratios for banks (asking banks to keep aside a portion of the deposits they raise), conflict with short-term compulsions of monetary management, requiring actions in both directions. More>> - (
) Australia's Symbion, Healthscope Announce Revised Proposal
Healthcare companies Healthscope Ltd (ASX:HSP) and Symbion Health Ltd (ASX:SYB) Monday announced a revised proposal that they say will have a similar outcome to a proposed A$2.86 billion (US$2.6 billion) merger proposal that was narrowly voted down by Symbion shareholders last month.Symbion also said that it had received a letter from Symbion's major shareholder, Primary Health Care Ltd (ASX:PRY), expressing interest in buying Symbion's medical centres business and parts of its pathology and radiology businesses. . More>>