Off the Wires

Finland Turns to Venture Funds to Rescue Economy

April 5th, 2013 | Source: Bloomberg

Finland is turning to venture capital financing as it searches for ways to jolt the economy out of a recession without jeopardizing its AAA rating.

The northernmost euro member wants to attract investors for a new 1 billion-euro ($1.28 billion) program and help startup companies without adding to its budget deficit. Finland is promising that investors who buy into the venture will take the lion’s share of potential profits. The program will also target growth companies.

“The debt crisis caused investors to retrench from this riskier startup funding,” Petri Peltonen, head of the enterprise and innovation department at Finland’s Economy Ministry, said in a telephone interview. “We’re now trying to attract private investors to take more risk that will help boost economic growth and create jobs.”

While Finland has weathered the crisis better than southern Europe, its economy contracted for a second time in four years in 2012, stretching government finances as the nation faces a fifth consecutive year of budget deficits. Finnish bonds with maturities longer than one year have lost 0.2 percent this year, compared with a 0.7 percent gain for euro-area government bonds, according to Bloomberg/EFFAS indexes.

Full Story here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-05/finland-turns-to-venture-funds-to-rescue-economy-nordic-credit.html

Wal-Mart Customers Complain Bare Shelves Are Widespread

April 2nd, 2013 | Source: Bloomberg

More than 1,000 e-mailed complaints signal that Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s (WMT) restocking challenges are more widespread than the world’s largest retailer has said.

Wal-Mart customers from Hawaii to Florida and from Texas to Vermont wrote to express their frustration afterBloomberg News reported March 26 that there aren’t enough workers in the stores to keep shelves stocked, cash registers manned and shoppers’ questions answered. In response to the original article, Brooke Buchanan, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said in part: “The premise of this story, which is based on the comments of a handful of people, is inaccurate and not representative of what is happening in our stores across the country.”

High-Frequency Trading Prospers at Expense of Everyone

December 26th, 2012 | Source: Bloomberg

Finally, a bit of evidence, rather than anecdote, about the costs of high-frequency trading.

In a new study, Andrei Kirilenko, the chief economist at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, along with researchers at Princeton University and the University of Washington, examined high-frequency trading in a futures contract called the e-mini S&P 500, between August 2010 and August 2012.

The study looked at only the expiring contracts (which trade electronically on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange) that are used to bet on the direction of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. The researchers also did something they’d never been able to do before: Use actual trading data from individual firms, though none were identified.

Dick’s Suspends Rifle Sales Nationwide Post Shooting

December 18th, 2012 | Source: Bloomberg

Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (DKS), the largest U.S. sporting-goods chain, has suspended sales of modern sporting rifles nationwide in the wake of the shooting in Newtown,Connecticut, as the community mourns victims of the massacre.

Sales of all guns have been stopped at its store closest to the shooting, the Coraopolis, Pennsylvania-based company said today in an e-mailed statement.

Dick’s is pulling the products after 26 people -- mostly children -- were killed during a Dec. 14 shooting rampage at an elementary school in Newtown. The chain, which has more than 500 stores in the U.S., sells guns and ammunition in stores and not online, according to its website.

“We are extremely saddened by the unspeakable tragedy that occurred last week,” the company said in the statement. Dick’s is removing the guns “out of respect for the victims and their families.”

America’s gun industry is booming

December 3rd, 2012 | Source: Salon.com

A recent Gallup survey indicates 47 percent of American adults keep guns -- the most since 1993

When James Holmes carried out the latest in a series of grisly American mass murders by killing 12 people and injuring 59 others during a shooting rampage in a Denver movie theater last July, he used an AR-15 assault rifle and also carried two Glock pistols and a Remington shotgun — all American-made.

The United States produces the vast majority of firearms in this country. It’s also the world’s leading weapons exporter by far.

America exported $336.5 million worth of firearms in 2011, according to customs data compiled by the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers, NISAT. That’s $200 million more than Italy, the next leading exporter.

Marijuana-dispenser stock gets too high

November 19th, 2012 | Source: Market Watch

A company that creates medical-marijuana dispensing machines says its stock is getting way too high.

Medbox MDBX +150.00% shares surged 3,000% this week -- from roughly $4 Monday to $215 Thursday -- before falling to $100 after executives sought to dampen investor enthusiasm.

In a news release today, the company said that the stock’s rocket launch, which sent its market cap skyrocketing from $45 million at the start of the week to a staggering $2.3 billion, was ignited by a MarketWatch story Tuesday on how to invest in legalized marijuana (see How to invest in legalized marijuana .) (That’s about double the market capitalization of retailer Jos. A. Bank Clothiers.) The stock, which fell around 50% in early trading Friday, still hovers at $100. “We believe an appropriate trading range is between $5 and $10 but, alas, the market will do what it will do,” says Medbox founder Vincent Mehdizadeh.

Nelson Mandela banknotes issued in South Africa

November 9th, 2012 | Source: BBC

The first banknotes featuring the face of Nelson Mandela have gone into circulation in South Africa.

They are the first South African notes to bear the image of a black person - they replace notes with wild animals and rural and industrial scenes.

President Jacob Zuma says the banknotes were a "humble gesture" to express South Africa's "deep gratitude".

Mr Mandela, 94, is one of the world's best loved figures after spending 27 years in prison for fighting apartheid.

Norway Oil Fund Made $29 Billion Last Quarter as Stocks Rose

November 2nd, 2012 | Source: Bloomberg

Norway’s $660 billion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, returned 4.7 percent last quarter as global stock markets recovered after central banks from the U.S. to Japan stepped up efforts to stimulate growth.

The Government Pension Fund Global gained 167 billion kroner ($29.3 billion) in the period, Oslo-based Norges Bank Investment Management said in a statement published today. That compares with a decline of 2.2 percent in the second quarter. Equity holdings returned 6.5 percent in the third quarter, while bonds gained 2.2 percent. Real estate investments returned 2.7 percent.

“The result was largely driven by a rally in global stock markets,” Yngve Slyngstad, chief executive officer of NBIM, which manages the fund, said in a statement. “Stocks gained the most in Europe, where the fund has about half of its shareholdings.”

Hurricane Sandy Threatens $20 Billion in Economic Damage

October 30th, 2012 | Source: Bloomberg

Hurricane Sandy’s economic toll is poised to exceed $20 billion after the biggest Atlantic storm slammed into the Eastern U.S., damaging homes and offices and flooding subways in America’s most populated city.

The total would include insured losses of about $7 billion to $8 billion, said Charles Watson, research and development director at Kinetic Analysis Corp., a hazard-research company in Silver Spring, Maryland. Much of the remaining tab will be picked up by cities and states to repair infrastructure, such as New York City’s subways and tunnels, he said.
“It is really hard to tell at this stage since the system is still moving, but it will be among the 10 to 15 most damaging storms and probably the top three in the Northeast after Irene and Agnes from 1972,” Bill Keogh, president of Eqecat Inc., an Oakland, California-based provider of catastrophic risk models, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.

Report: Apple to launch iPad Mini at Oct. 23 event

October 13th, 2012 | Source: Giga Om

Apple is expected to hold an invitation-only event on Oct. 23 to launch a smaller iPad, according to AllThingsD. The publication quotes “people familiar with Apple’s plans” and suggests the event will take place at Apple’s Town Hall Auditorium. An iPad Mini, if Apple does dub a tablet with that name, is projected to see up to 8 million sales this holiday season by analysts at RBC Capital Markets.