World financial news

Asian policy makers eager to sustain growth in 2012 may put their economies at risk with interest- rate cuts or fiscal stimulus that some can ill-afford.

The likelihood of

The holiday shopping season turned out to be two seasons: the Black Friday binge and a last-minute surge.

Together, they added up to decent sales gains for retailers. And the doldrums in between showed how shoppers have learned to wait for the discounts they know will come.

“The days that the American consumer gets excited about 25 percent off are over,” said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America’s Research Group. “Shoppers are keeping their eye on the ball for the big sales events.”

In November, spending rose 4.1 percent. And from Dec. 1 to Dec. 24, it rose 4.7 percent compared with the same period last year, according to research firm ShopperTrak. A 4 percent increase is considered a healthy season.

The higher sales are good news for the economy, because they show shoppers were willing to fund a holiday splurge despite high unemployment and other lingering economic woes. Consumer spending, including major items such as health care, accounts for 70 percent of the economy.

Still, plenty of people are pinched for cash in the slow economic recovery, and they were seeking the best deals, which could squeeze stores’ profits for the fourth quarter, says Hana Ben-Shabat, a partner in the retail practice of A.T. Kearney, a management consulting firm.

Stores have trained even shoppers who are primed to spend to look for a discount.

Heading into the season, stores were nervous that shoppers would be tight-fisted. Many officially opened the season with discounts on TVs and toys that started as early as Thanksgiving Day. Consumers came out in droves, resulting in record spending.

Then the frenzy tapered off. A mild winter and the fact that Christmas fell on a Sunday encouraged people to wait until the last minute and accentuated the peaks and valleys of spending.

Stores started to push more discounts to get shoppers to spend in the finale. In fact, retailers’ promotional e-mails from Sunday, Dec. 18, to Thursday, Dec. 22, spiked 34 percent, compared with the same period a year ago, according to Responsys, which tracks e-mail activity from more than 100 merchants.

According to Beemer’s consumer surveys, 60 percent of shoppers polled were looking for discounts of more than 50 percent to get them to buy. That’s up from last year’s 51 percent of shoppers polled.

Tracey Spears of Locust Grove, Ga., who was shopping Wednesday at Atlanta’s Lenox Square Mall, said she got 75 percent of her holiday shopping done on Black Friday or the day after Thanksgiving. She took advantage of deals, including a Keurig coffee pot from Target and clothes from Hollister on sale.

“I had more money because I got a better bonus this year, but sales are important. You always want to buy stuff cheaper,” she said.

Spears and others helped to create pronounced waves in spending.

“The downs and ups were much more accentuated,” said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers. “It just shows how cautious the consumer is. Consumers are bargain hunters more today than ever before.”

In the week before Christmas, last-minute shoppers gave retailers a 4.5 percent increase in revenue over the same week last year at stores open at least a year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index. The index estimates sales at 24 major chain stores including Macy’s Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp.

Revenue at stores open at least a year is an important measure of a retailer’s performance because it excludes stores that open or close during the year.

Total retail revenue for the week that ended Saturday reached $44 billion, 14.8 percent higher than a year earlier, ShopperTrak estimates.

For the week that ended Nov. 26, which included the traditional start of holiday shopping on the day after Thanksgiving, stores had the biggest sales surge from the week before since 1993, according to the ICSC-Goldman Sachs index.

The post-Black Friday lull was deeper than usual. The two weeks after Thanksgiving weekend showed the biggest percentage sales decline since 2000.

Then, during the final two weeks before Christmas, sales surged again, by the highest rate since 2005, Niemira said.

The season “was good but uneven,” he said.

Stores are expected to benefit when shoppers come back to spend gift cards, because people often spend more than the cards’ value. In addition, gift card sales are recorded only when shoppers redeem them.

People have more money on their cards to spend. According to an ICSC-Goldman Sachs survey of shoppers conducted Sunday, 18 percent of holiday spending went toward gift cards, up from 14.6 percent last year.

A total sales figure for the whole season won’t be available until after Dec. 31. And a fuller holiday spending picture will come Jan. 5, when stores including Target Corp. and Macy’s release December sales figures. Government retail sales data will be released in mid-January.

ICSC said it expects holiday sales for November and December to rise in line with its forecast of 3.5 percent. The National Retail Federation expects total retail sales for November and December combined to increase by 3.8 percent, up from its earlier forecast of 2.8 percent issued back in October. That’s still below the 5.2 percent holiday sales increase in 2010 from the previous year.

As proof that consumers are timing their spending to seek the best bargains, Black Friday was the biggest sales day, as expected, generating sales of $11.4 billion, up 6.6 percent from a year ago, according to ShopperTrak.

But the day after Christmas ranked fourth, behind Black Friday, Friday, Dec. 23, and Saturday, Dec. 17, according to final figures from ShopperTrak founder Bill Martin. Christmas Eve was strong too.

ShopperTrak measures foot traffic in 25,000 stores in the U.S. and blends those figures with economic data and proprietary sales figures from merchants. The data exclude sales from auto dealers, gas stations, restaurants and grocery stores.

“Shoppers are willing to spend when they know the biggest discounts are available,” Martin said.

Brooks Brothers, the upscale men’s and women’s clothier that doesn’t discount before Christmas, learned that this year. The Monday after Christmas, when the company offered discounts up to 40 percent, was a record spending day at its stores and its website.

“The first three weeks leading up to holiday were soft,” Lou Amendola, chief merchandising officer, wrote in an email. “But customers really partook in the after-Christmas sales.”

Source

Best Buy has alerted some customers that it will not be able to fill their online orders, just days before Christmas.

The largest U.S. specialty electronics retailer said late Wednesday that “overwhelming demand for some products from Bestbuy.com has led to a problem redeeming online orders made in November and December.

The Minneapolis company declined Thursday to specify how many orders are affected or which products are out of stock.

The shortages are a black eye for Best Buy, which has beefed up its online campaign to fight off intense competition from online retailers and discount stores. And the holiday season is crucial for retailers like Best Buy because it can make up to 40 percent of annual sales.

Some glitches should not be a surprise with such a massive surge in online shopping this year, analysts said, but there is a risk of a backlash.

“It is a hiccup for the company,” said Morningstar analyst R.J. Hottovy. “They were kind of behind the curve building out their online channel. They’ve done a good job investing in it, but if you make a lot of rapid changes, inevitably there are going to be growing pains.”

The canceled orders probably won’t make a big difference for Best Buy’s holiday sales this year, but it may lead to more customers looking elsewhere in the future, he said.

“The risk is any consumers affected by canceled orders will be willing to explore other alternatives for online shopping in years to come,” Hottovy said.

Online sales are up 15 percent to $32 billion so far this holiday season, while total sales are up just 2.5 percent.

Even though online sales are a huge boon for retailer, the shift has already created some problems. Discount retailer Target Corp’s site crashed in September because of overwhelming demand for Missoni for Target, a limited designer line of clothing, home goods and accessories.

Best Buy benefitted when its now-defunct rival Circuit City went out of business more than a year ago, but its suffering as Americans hold off on big ticket items and search for deals online and at discounters.

In order to compete, Best Buy has expanded its online offerings, cut back on square footage in the U.S. by closing stores and sought to expand internationally. In its most recent third quarter ending Nov. 26, Best Buy said its net income fell 29 percent as it cut prices in popular categories such as tablets and TVs to drive sales and traffic during the holiday season.

Best Buy shares rose 8 cents to $22.96 in midday trading.

Source

+%3Cp%3E+Consumer+prices+were+flat+in+November+as+Americans+paid+less+for+cars+and+gasoline%2C+a+further+sign+of+a+cooldown+in+inflation+that+could+give+the+Federal+Reserve+more+room+to+help+a+still+weak+economy.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+Labor+Department+said+on+Friday+the+Consumer+Price+Index+was+unchanged+last+month.+Economists+had+expected+an+increase+of+0.1+percent.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EPrices+spiked+earlier+in+the+year%2C+but+the+report+showed+the+trend+has+shifted.+Over+the+past+12+months%2C+prices+have+risen+3.4+percent.+That+marked+a+second+monthly+decline+from+a+three-year+high+in+September.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+report+%22leaves+the+Fed+ample+cover+for+any+additional+monetary+policy+accommodation+they+may+see+warranted+in+the+New+Year%2C%22+said+Ian+Lyngen%2C+a+bond+strategist+at+CRT+Capital+Group+in+Stamford%2C+Connecticut.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EStill%2C+some+of+the+data+could+give+pause+to+policymakers+at+the+central+bank.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EOutside+food+and+energy%2C+prices+climbed+a+faster-than-expected+0.2+percent.+These+so-called+core+prices+rose+2.2+percent+in+the+12+months+through+November%2C+up+from+2.1+percent+in+October.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3E%22Core+inflation+…+is+a+bit+more+persistent+than+what+some+people+had+expected%2C%22+said+Jeremy+Lawson%2C+an+economist+at+BNP+Paribas+in+New+York.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EEconomists+polled+by+Reuters+this+week+saw+inflation+slowing+to+2.6+percent+during+the+first+quarter+of+next+year%2C+which+could+help+convince+the+Fed+to+do+more+to+bring+down+the+country%27s+8.6+percent+unemployment+rate.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EPrices+for+U.S.+government+debt+rose+slightly+on+Friday+as+investors+saw+the+data+opening+the+door+a+bit+wider+to+Fed+stimulus.+U.S.+stocks+rose+and+the+dollar+fell+against+the+euro+as+investors+remained+on+edge+over+the+euro+zone%27s+debt+crisis.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+U.S.+recovery+has+picked+up+momentum+over+the+past+few+months%2C+but+the+Fed+on+Tuesday+warned+about+turmoil+in+financial+markets+abroad+and+it+kept+the+option+of+further+monetary+action+on+the+table+%3Ca+href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fcash-advance-nofax.com%22%3Ecash+advance+to+savings+account%3C%2Fa%3E%3C%21–+.+–%3E.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EFED+EASE+STILL+IN+PLAY%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EIn+an+appearance+before+Congress+on+Friday%2C+New+York+Federal+Reserve+Bank+President+William+Dudley+warned+that+a+worsening+of+Europe%27s+sovereign+debt+crisis+could+hit+U.S.+banks%2C+potentially+tightening+credit+for+households+and+businesses.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3E%22Europe%27s+problems+are+a+serious+risk+for+the+U.S.+economic+outlook%2C%22+he+said.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EIn+recent+months%2C+cooling+gasoline+prices+have+left+more+money+for+consumers+to+spend+on+other+things%2C+helping+the+economy+gain+some+steam.+In+November+alone%2C+gasoline+prices+fell+2.4+percent.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+effects+of+Japan%27s+earthquake+disaster+in+March%2C+which+disrupted+global+supply+chains+and+pushed+auto+prices+higher+earlier+in+the+year%2C+are+also+subsiding.+Prices+for+new+vehicles+fell+0.3+percent+in+November.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EPrices+for+food+rose+0.1+percent.+Within+the+core+index%2C+prices+for+apparel+jumped+0.6+percent+%2C+but+the+increase+in+the+department%27s+main+gauge+of+homeownership+costs+cooled+to+0.1+percent+from+0.2+percent+in+October.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EMany+economists+have+said+the+Fed+might+try+to+give+the+economy+a+bit+of+help+at+a+meeting+on+January+24-25+by+laying+out+forecasts+for+interest+rates+that+could+underscore+its+willingness+to+keep+borrowing+costs+ultra-low+for+a+prolonged+period.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+U.S.+central+bank+has+held+overnight+interest+rates+near+zero+since+December+2008+and+has+bought+%242.3+trillion+in+government+and+mortgage-related+bonds+in+a+further+attempt+to+stimulate+a+robust+recovery.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EFed+watchers+also+think+the+U.S.+central+bank+could+step+up+bond+buying+later+in+2012.+A+Reuters+poll+on+Tuesday+found+most+Wall+Street+economists+think+the+central+bank+will+undertake+a+new+program+of+buying+mortgage-backed+securities.%3C%2Fp%3E++%3Cp%3E%3Ca+href%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Fassets%2Fprint%3Faid%3DUSTRE7BE12S20111216%27+rel%3D%27nofollow%27%3ERead+more%3C%2Fa%3E%3C%2Fp%3E+

Egypt’s military sought to isolate pro-democracy activists protesting against their rule, depicting them as conspirators and vandals, as troops and protesters clashed for a third straight day, pelting each other with stones near parliament in the heart of the capital.

At least 10 protesters have been killed and 441 others wounded in the three days of violence, according to the Health Ministry. Activists say most of the 10 fatalities died of gunshot wounds.

The fighting, sparked when troops sought to break up a sit-in outside the Cabinet headquarters, has seen a particularly heavy hand by the military. Military police have been shown in video footage dragging women by the hair, even stripping the shirt off one veiled woman, and ferociously beating, kicking and stomping on protesters cowering on the ground.

Still, the protesters’ numbers have remained smaller than earlier rallies _ suggesting even anger over the disturbing images was not drawing the broader Egyptian public into a confrontation with the military, which activists behind the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak’s autocratic regime 10 months ago accuse of mismanaging the transition period and committing human rights abuses.

In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the ruling military council on Sunday called the clashes part of a “conspiracy” against Egypt. It said its forces had the right to defend the “property of the great people of Egypt.”

Seeking to depict the protesters as hooligans _ and apparently to counter the widely published images of protesters being beaten _ it also posted on the page footage of young men throwing rocks at a basement window of the parliament building and of at least one man trying to set the place ablaze.

The ruling generals have taken advantage of the growing frustration of many Egyptians over worsening economic hardships and tenuous security, blaming demonstrations, strikes and sit-ins for their predicament. The tactic, coupled with the military’s efforts to stain the reputation of the youth groups behind Mubarak’s ouster, appears to have worked.

The military has been using the state media and loyal private TV stations to project an image of itself as the protector of the nation and filling its public statements with patriotism and grave warnings of a dire future if political turmoil persisted.

Protest leaders increasingly complain that they feel isolated in a society that has grown more concerned with making ends meet than political rights. Many Egyptians see the ongoing, multistage parliamentary elections as a path to stability and an end to military rule.

“The military council uses every opportunity to show itself as the land’s strongest institution,” said Mohammed Abbas, an activist who defected from the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest and best organized political group, to side with youth groups more active in protests. “We are making it easier for the generals by our divisions and isolation.”

In Sunday’s clash, protesters and troops battled on two main streets off of central Tahrir Square, trading volleys of stones and firebombs around barriers that the military set up to block the avenues.

One of the streets is site of a research center set up during the three-year occupation of Egypt by France in the late 18th century. The building was almost completely gutted by a fire which broke out during the height of the clashes on Saturday, when troops on its roof and on other nearby rooftops hurled rocks down on protesters below.

Protesters, who blame the fire on the troops, have been trying to salvage valuable books and documents from the center, whose two-story building is now in danger of collapsing after its roof caved in.

The deepening hostility between the ruling military council and the protest leaders is in sharp contrast to the days of the popular uprising against Mubarak in January and February when army troops ordered out on the streets to take over from the hated police were given a warm welcome by hundreds of thousands of protesters in Cairo and elsewhere. The military at the time said it wouldn’t fire on protesters.

When the military stepped into power after Mubarak’s Feb. 11 resignation, it was largely embraced by the public.

Sunday’s renewed violence was also taking place as unofficial results from a second round of voting in parliamentary elections showed Islamist parties, led by the Muslim Brotherhood, continuing their dominance at the polls. Liberal and left leaning parties, many of which sympathetic to the revolutionaries, have been trounced at the ballots.

The third and final round of voting is slated for next month in nine of Egypt’s 27 provinces.

The Islamists have been staying clear of the recent violence, fearing that they could jeopardize their electoral gains by taking part in the protests. Their stance has prompted many activists to accuse them of political opportunism.

The clashes began early Friday when one of several hundred peaceful protesters staging a sit-in outside the Cabinet offices near parliament was detained and beaten by troops. The protesters began their sit-in three weeks ago to demand that the nation’s ruling military immediately step down and hand over power to a civilian administration.

Activists have been trying to drum up public sympathy for their cause by flooding social network sites with photos and video from the troops’ brutal assaults he past two days.

“Liars,” proclaimed a red headline on the front page of the independent Al-Tahrir newspaper, referring to repeated denials by the military council and military-appointed Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri that no force or live ammunition were used against the protesters. With the headline, the paper ran a photo of the woman protester who was half-stripped by attacking soldiers. Other widely circulating footage shows an army officer running toward protesters while firing a pistol at them, though it is not clear from the footage whether he was using live ammunition.

Source

The worst drought in Texas’ history has led to the largest-ever one-year decline in the leading cattle-state’s cow herd, raising the likelihood of increased beef prices as the number of animals decline and demand remains strong.

Since Jan. 1, the number of cows in Texas has dropped by about 600,000, a 12 percent decline from the roughly 5 million cows the state had at the beginning of the year, said David Anderson, who monitors beef markets for the Texas AgriLife Extension Service. That’s likely the largest drop in the number of cows any state has ever seen, though Texas had a larger percentage decline from 1934 to 1935, when ranchers were reeling from the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, Anderson said.

Anderson said many cows were moved “somewhere there’s grass,” but lots of others were slaughtered. He said that in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana and Arkansas, about 200,000 more cattle were slaughtered this year, a 20 percent increase over last year.

That extra supply could help meet increased demand from China and other countries, but the loss of cows likely will mean fewer cattle in future years.

“Consumers are going to pay more because we’re going to have less beef,” Anderson said. “Fewer cows, calves, less beef production and increasing exports.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that beef prices will increase up to 5.5 in 2012, in part because the number of cattle has declined. That follows a 9 percent increase in beef prices in the past year.

Oklahoma, the nation’s second-largest cattle producer, also saw about a 12 percent drop in cows, Oklahoma State University agriculture economist Derrell Peel said.

Anderson said beef production nationally will be down 4 percent next year.

In Texas, the problem is primarily due to the worst single-year drought in the state’s history. From January through November the state got just 46 percent of its normal rainfall of about 26 inches.

The drought was the result of a La Nina weather pattern, which brings drier than normal conditions to the southwestern states paydayloans. Forecasters have said La Nina is back, meaning another dry year for Texas, Oklahoma and other nearby states.

The lack of rain coupled with blistering summer heat caused pastures to wither, leaving rancher with the choice of buying feed for the cattle or selling them.

Betsy Ross, a 75-year-old rancher from the small central Texas community of Granger, said she sold all but 80 of the 225 grass-fed animals she had in January. With feed costs up 40 percent and her pasture parched, Ross said she didn’t have any other option.

“It’s not a profitable year, heavens no,” she said. “If you can’t keep them on grass when they’re grass fed you’re not going to make any money.”

About 200 miles north in Sulphur Springs, Texas, part-time rancher Dwyatt Bell said producers in his part of the state sold off up to half their herds. Bell said high prices for cattle have helped offset increases expenses, but many ranchers still are struggling to stay afloat.

“It’s been a rough year,” he said.

Across Texas, the drought has caused an estimated $5.2 billion in losses to farmers and livestock producers, and that figure is expected to rise

Nationally, the number of cows has dropped by an estimated 617,000 this year, a 2 percent decline from the 30.9 million animals on Jan. 1. That number would be larger, but states in northern plains such as North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska, increased their cow herd.

Anderson said it’s unclear whether high beef prices would hurt U.S. sales or limit exports. The U.S. is the world third largest consumer of beef per capita at 85.5 pounds per year. Uruguay is first at 137 pounds per capita.

“Exports have been the strongest part of beef demand all year and they’re expected to remain so but higher prices should constrain their growth,” he said.

Source

Asian stocks fell Thursday as Japanese business confidence and Chinese manufacturing both slipped, but European shares rose as data showing the region’s economic output contracted less than anticipated.

Benchmark oil rose to near $96 per barrel after a big slide the day before while the dollar rose against the euro but fell against the yen.

Stock markets headed higher in early European trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.7 percent to 5,404.36. Germany’s DAX jumped 1.1 percent to 5,734.83 and France’s CAC-40 added 0.9 percent to 3,001.80.

Wall Street was headed for a higher opening, with Dow Jones industrial futures rising marginally to 11,770 and S&P 500 futures gaining slightly to 1,207.20.

The purchasing managers’ index published by financial data company Markit showed eurozone manufacturing and services output contracting for a fourth month in December, although at the slowest rate since September. The composite output index stood at 47.9 in December, up from 47.0 in November.

“The December Eurozone purchasing managers surveys are better than feared and show welcome, much-needed improvement. However, the likelihood remains that Eurozone GDP will contract in the fourth quarter, even if the decline may not be as has been feared,” said Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight in a report.

But stocks faced strong headwinds earlier in Asia as business confidence fell in Japan and Chinese manufacturing data showed a contraction, although at a slower rate.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index shed 1.7 percent to close at 8,377.37, a three-week low. South Korea’s Kospi lost 2.1 percent to 1,819.11 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tumbled 1.8 percent to 18,026.84.

Mainland Chinese shares lost ground for a sixth straight trading day, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index falling 2.1 percent to 2,180.90, while the Shenzhen Composite Index lost 2.3 percent to 886.01.

In Japan, confidence at major manufacturers fell over the last quarter. The Bank of Japan’s “tankan” survey of business sentiment fell to minus 4.

The figure represents the percentage of companies saying business conditions are good minus those saying conditions are unfavorable, with 100 representing the best mood and minus 100 the worst.

Japan’s strong yen has hit multiple historic highs this year against the dollar, making business conditions difficult for Japan’s export-reliant economy.

Meanwhile, preliminary manufacturing figures showed that Chinese factory output contracted, but at a slower rate, in December. HSBC’s purchasing manager’s index for December stood at 49 us fast cash.0, up from 47.7 in November. Any number below 50 indicates a contraction in manufacturing activity.

But the figure didn’t raise hopes that China might ease its monetary policy anytime soon.

“I don’t think there will be an interest rate cut in the short-term,” said Dickie Wong, executive director of research at Kingston Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong. “Sentiment is really bad in China.”

On Wall Street, stocks plummeted Wednesday amid a growing sense that Europe’s leaders have failed to contain that region’s debt crisis.

Since European leaders reached an agreement to rein in future government budget deficits last week, investors and credit rating agencies have criticized the deal for failing to address current problems.

Italy had to pay higher borrowing rates in its last bond auction of the year Wednesday. The third-largest economy among the 17 nations the use the euro paid 6.47 percent interest to borrow 3 billion euros ($3.95 billion) for five years _ up 0.17 percentage point from last comparable auction _ and the highest rate since the euro came into existence in 1999.

The higher rates make it more expensive for Italy to borrow money and reflect rising doubts that the country will be able to repay its debts.

Oil prices, which plunged more than $5 on Wednesday, drove down energy-related shares. South Korea’s S-Oil Corp. fell 4.7 percent. Hong Kong-listed China National Offshore Oil Corp. dropped 4.6 percent.

Asian banking shares fell on the heels of a downgrade by Fitch Ratings of five major European commercial banks and cooperative banking groups. Hong Kong-listed Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the world’s largest bank by market value, fell 2.6 percent. Australia’s Westpac Banking Corp. fell 1.8 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.1 percent to close at 11,823.48 on Wednesday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 1.1 percent to 1,211.82. The Nasdaq fell 1.6 percent to 2,539.31.

Benchmark oil for January delivery was up 76 cents at $95.71 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract declined $5.19 to finish at $94.95 per barrel on the Nymex.

In currency trading, the euro slipped to $1.2975 from $1.2977 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar slipped to 77.92 yen from 78.07 yen.

Source

The federal government is moving ahead with the first auction of offshore petroleum leases in the Gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon disaster _ despite a lawsuit challenging the sale.

Interior Department spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz said bids will be opened as scheduled on Wednesday in New Orleans.

Four environmental groups are challenging a study used to clear the sale _ but aren’t seeking a federal court order to stop the auction. Instead, an attorney said a judge might decide later to throw out the results if he agrees with the suit.

The sale covers the western Gulf off the coast of Texas. Officials said the auction has attracted 241 bids from 20 companies on 191 tracts.

Source

An economic planning conference of China’s top leaders is expected to endorse fine-tuning of policies to support growth while seeking to keep inflation in check.

The powerful Politburo of the ruling Communist Party met last week and announced plans to keep a “prudent” monetary policy that would curb price hikes while adopting “pro-active” spending to promote growth. That has set the tone for the meeting in Beijing that begins Monday.

China has made headway in slowing price hikes but weak demand for exports from the European Union and U.S. has raised worries the economy may slow too quickly, worsening labor unrest just as the party prepares for a succession to a new generation of leaders next year.

Since leaders are stressing continuity, no major shifts in policy are expected from the closed door economic work conference, which reportedly will end on Wednesday.

Export growth has fallen steadily since hitting a peak of nearly 36 percent in March, and data released over the weekend showed exports slowed further in November, as did imports, with the overall trade surplus plunging 35 percent.

Adding to those concerns is a cooling of the property sector _ a mainstay of growth but also politically sensitive due to prices having surged beyond what most ordinary families can afford.

China’s economic growth abated to 9.1 percent in the July-September quarter from 9.5 percent in the first half of the year, but many economists are forecasting it will fall below 9 percent in 2012 payday loan.

“We believe the risks are skewed to the downside,” Standard Chartered Bank said in a report released Monday. It said that for China to maintain a growth rate of 8.1 percent next year, it would need to keep relatively high rates of capital investment that may prove difficult giving funding shortages for banks, property developers, local governments and many small businesses.

The report also noted China’s struggle to “rebalance” its economy toward greater reliance on domestic consumer demand, rather than exports and investment in construction.

“Despite talk of ‘rebalancing,’ progress has been limited in recent years,” the report said. The share of investment in the overall economy exceeded 50 percent last year, up from 43 percent in 2008.

Instead of the massive stimulus spending ordered in late 2008 to counter the global crisis, analysts say authorities are more likely to rely on tax cuts and administrative measures to help encourage more consumer spending.

But while Beijing strives to encourage more domestic demand and reduce its reliance on construction investment and exports to drive growth, it is also vowing to focus more on boosting its trade with emerging economies that are more dynamic than those in the U.S. and crisis stricken Europe.

Source

Deep into overtime, negotiators from 194 nations worked straight through a second night, parsing drafts and seeking compromises to map out the future pathway to fight global warming.

Delegates, working on little sleep, huddled with allies to prepare for a decisive meeting later Saturday, when it will become clear whether the diverse and long-bickering parties can come together on a plan to extend and broaden the global campaign to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

“We think it’s important not to give up now. We have come a long way,” said a weary Connie Hedegaard, the European commissioner on climate issues, speaking more than 12 hours after the two-week conference had been scheduled to close Friday evening.

But she was concerned that the process was taking so long that ministers would leave before decisions could be adopted, costing hard-won momentum. “It would really really be a pity if we lose that now,” she told The Associated Press.

Small island countries and the world’s poorest nations lined up behind an EU plan to begin talks on a future agreement that would come into effect no later than 2020.

As negotiations progressed, the United States and India eased objections to compromise texts, but China remained a strong holdout, EU officials said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the continuing talks.

Under discussion was an extension of binding pledges by the EU and a few other industrial countries to cut carbon emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. Those commitments expire next year.

The EU, the primary bloc bound by commitments under the 1997 protocol, conditioned an extension on starting new talks on an accord to succeed Kyoto. The talks would conclude by 2015, allowing five years for it to be ratified by national legislatures. The plan insists the new agreement equally oblige all countries _ not just the few industrial powers _ to abide by emission targets.

Developing countries are adamant that the Kyoto commitments continue since it is the only agreement that compels any nation to reduce emissions. Industrial countries say the document is deeply flawed because it makes no demands on heavily polluting developing countries. It was for that reason that the U.S. never ratified it.

Host country South Africa organized the final stages of negotiations into “indabas,” a Zulu-language word meaning important meetings that carry the weight of a rich African culture.

At the indaba, the chief delegate from fewer than 30 countries, each with one aide, sat around an oblong table to thrash over text. Dozens of delegates were allowed to stand and observe from the periphery of the room but not to participate.

After the first meeting that ran overnight into Friday morning, conference president Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who is South Africa’s foreign minister, drafted an eight-point compromise on the key question of the legal form of a post-2020 regime. The wording would imply how tightly countries would be held accountable for their emissions.

But the text was too soft for the Europeans and for the most vulnerable countries threatened by rising oceans, more frequent droughts and fiercer storms.

With passion rarely heard in a negotiating room, countries like Barbados pleaded for language instructing all parties to dig deeper into their carbon emissions and to speed up the process, arguing that the survival of their countries and millions of climate-stressed people were at risk.

Nkoana-Mashabane drafted new text after midnight Saturday that largely answered those criticisms. The U.S. told the indaba it could live with the language, but the reactions of China and India were not clear.

Source