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Posted by BradyNet ( Friday, June 18, '04 )

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GLOBAL MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

Developing World Spending More on Defense: Report 06-18-04 (Yahoo) Defense spending across the world, including cash-strapped developing countries, has spiraled, touching over US $1000 billion in 2003 - a level last seen during the Cold War, says a new report.

Federal Reserve Economic Survey 06-18-04 (Yahoo) Excerpts from the Federal Reserve's survey of current economic conditions, according to its 12 regional bank districts.

Producer Prices Rise, Inflation a Concern 06-18-04 (Yahoo) Producer prices rose at their fastest pace in a year in May, exacerbating concerns about inflation, while initial jobless claims fell last week in fresh signs of an accelerating U.S. economy.

Leading Indicators Up More Than Expected 06-18-04 (Yahoo) A closely watched gauge of future economic activity rose a stronger-than-expected 0.5 percent in May, suggesting that the U.S. economy will continue sturdy expansion through the summer.

Drastic drops in gas prices not expected 06-17-04 (Yahoo) Oil and gasoline prices have likely peaked after recently hitting record highs, but they are unlikely to fall drastically, the head of the Energy Department's statistical arm said Tuesday.

Euro Area Inflation Rises to 2.5 Percent 06-17-04 (Yahoo) Inflation in the euro zone jumped to an annual rate of 2.5 percent in May from 2 percent in April, due mostly to rising costs of fuel and oil products across Europe,

Inflation a top threat to economy 06-17-04 (Yahoo) Consumer prices have risen at a 5.5 percent annual pace for the past three months, rippling from plywood to dairy section.

LATIN AMERICA

Brazils foreign policy 06-17-04 (Yahoo) Brazil is bidding for big-power status. What sort of power does it want to be?

EASTERN EUROPE

ASIA

Worlds most expensive cities led by Tokyo, London 06-17-04 (Yahoo) Those three cities ranked as the most expensive in the world, according to the latest annual cost-of-living survey released Monday by Mercer Human Resource Consulting.

OIL PRICES

Shell boss fears for the planet 06-18-04 (BBC) The head of one of the world's biggest oil giants has said unless carbon dioxide emissions are dealt with he sees "very little hope for the world".

Iraq May Resume Some Oil Exports Friday 06-18-04 (Yahoo) Iraq (news - web sites) could resume exporting limited amounts of oil as early as Friday, analysts said, with repair crews nearing the completion of work on the smaller of two pipelines crippled in a sabotage attack.

OPEC Pledges to Increase Oil Production 06-17-04 (Yahoo) OPEC (news - web sites) signaled it would boost oil production and said it would ask other major oil producers outside the group such as Mexico to do so as well to make up for lost crude exports from sabotaged pipelines in Iraq

Newest messages appear on top.

06-18-04 moneypenny: Not so fast...

<TONY BLAIR was last night locked in a battle with France and Germany that threatened to wreck the blueprint for an EU superstate.

French President Jacques Chirac turned on the PM over the new constitution � knifing Mr Blair as he was set to win safeguards against Brussels meddling in UK taxes.

Chirac appeared to torpedo any hope of a deal, blaming Mr Blair directly for putting the summit in peril.

...

Relations deteriorated further over the summit dinner as France and Germany blackballed ex-Tory chairman Chris Patten for the powerful role of new EU President.

Mr Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder stubbornly backed Belgian PM Guy Verhofstadt � to determined resistance from Mr Blair.

He made it clear he will not accept the federalist, an outspoken opponent of the Iraq war.>

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,...

06-17-04 moneypenny: <Chris Patten suddenly emerged today as a serious contender for president of the European Commission during a day of frantic wrangling at the EU summit.

His name was backed at the 11th hour by up to 10 countries, including Italy and its premier Silvio Berlusconi, to become the new head of the Brussels-based body.>

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/...

Soooo much better than a Poodle Of Brussels. I like Chris. Even though I made him cry at a press conference, once.

06-17-04 moneypenny: <Poll Suggests Bush Support Has Grown

WASHINGTON - President Bush got a boost from the public's recent focus on the funeral of Ronald Reagan and support for his Iraq policy spiked over the last month as the United States prepared to hand power over to Iraqis, according to a poll released Thursday.>

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiheral...

06-17-04 moneypenny: They love him.

<ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada, Thurs. June 17: America�s 40th President, Ronald Reagan, was honored posthumously by Grenada�s Parliament yesterday, for ordering the 1983 U.S. invasion that followed a bloody coup on the Caribbean island.

The honor comes less than a week after Reagan, 93, was laid to rest in California. Grenada�s embattled Prime Minister, Keith Mitchell, was among the legislators lauding Reagan.

"At the initiative of former Gov. General Sir Paul Scoon and several Caribbean leaders, a request was made to President Reagan for urgent military intervention in Grenada to restore peace and stability," Mitchell said. "President Reagan responded positively and decisively to the request and intervened militarily."

Lawmakers approved a motion saying Reagan played a significant role in restoring peace and democracy, Associated Press reports indicate.>

http://www.hardbeatnews.com/details...

06-17-04 carib: Arlequim: Gaucho is usually worth listening to. He teaches on "color" (inter alia) ...and no scholarship is usually needed.. :-)

06-17-04 arlequim: <Gaucho>, where do you teach, do you conced scholarships?

Its been a while I have not visiting the board & that post just show how worth this place can be.

concerning, PMC, this concept seems too hermetic e reducionist, as some like friedman & others pointed.

;~)

06-17-04 victorn: SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazilian scientists have discovered a species of fish, related to sharks, that has been swimming the seas since dinosaurs walked the Earth, a researcher involved in the project said on Thursday. The fish, which is a kind of chimaera, or ratfish, is about 12 inches to 16 inches long, has large, wing-like fins, a whip-like tail and exposed nerves along its body that help it navigate in the deep, dark waters where it lives.

The chimaera was initially found off the southern coast of Brazil in 2001 by commercial fishermen. Realizing it was a new species, Brazilian scientists dredged the ocean floor to find more examples of the fish, said Jules Soto, curator of the Oceanographic Museum of the University of the Vale do Itajai.

"The species that we found has fossil records that are 150, 180 million years old," Soto said in a telephone interview. "That's very rare."

"It's like if we had an animal as old as the Tyrannosaurus rex still alive," he said.

Dubbed Hydrolagus matallanasi after Spanish scientist Jesus Matallanas, the chimaera is a fish that has a skeleton largely made of cartilage, like sharks and rays.

06-17-04 arlequim: testing

06-17-04 rolfkoch: from jpmorgan:
Rolf,

The prospectus will only be available after the transaction is announced. A notice will be published in the Financial Times (UK version) and the Luxembourg Wort, announcing the Province's exchange offer.

Regards,

J.P. Morgan Securities Inc.
270 Park Avenue, 7th floor
New York, NY 10017
Tel: 1 212 834 7026
Fax: 1 212 834 6618
mendoza@jpmorgan.com

06-17-04 victorn: gaucho <I certainly agree with that income distribution is a problem in Brazil> i don't think it's possible for a developing nation to have a fair income distribution. a fair income distribution, like sweden, is a luxury that rich countries can afford, via the welfare state. but developing countries can not afford such luxury. poorer nations that have attempted to achieve this (like cheetah's Fidel-island) have a really bad income distribution between the haves and have nots.

06-17-04 victorn: ruspan <Anyway, I think Spain have lost such amount of control over it's own future that it would be unable to get in a civil war without an outside help and permission> actually this is a very good description of what actually happened during the civil war. nothing has changed. :-))

06-17-04 PILLZ: <<Pillz> they should send bondholders take a hike...how? weeell a tender offer at 105% shall be enough to buy me out :-) >

Pana, they have a call at 99, bondholders will accept to be 90% owners of the C�, all the rest is bla-bla, asset cover about 120% of debts :-)

06-17-04 ruspan: <abajo FIDEL CASTRO !!!> Yesssir, this is our Cheetah, no doubt and no fraud possible :-))) Hi!

06-17-04 Cheetah: who did i say would deliver the military blow to Pinky ???

yes !!! here it is:

Las fuerzas armadas de Venezuela, una de las columnas del gobierno de tono izquierdista del presidente Hugo Ch�vez, aceptar�n su derrota si es revocado en un referendo en agosto, dijo el jueves a Reuters el comandante general del Ej�rcito, Ra�l Isa�as Baduel.

bye bye HUGA CHAVEZ and all your little band of thiefs...Jose Vicente Rangel has NO place to hide...and the rest WILL NOT use the BILLIONS robbed from all veni's !!!

abajo FIDEL CASTRO !!! your oil is gone in three months...

06-17-04 panasonic: <Pillz> they should send bondholders take a hike...how? weeell a tender offer at 105% shall be enough to buy me out :-)

06-17-04 PILLZ: Yup, they will need more to get 50.1%, ablax blondholders are vely conservative :-)

<SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 17, 2004--Abraxas Petroleum Corporation (AMEX:ABP - News) today announced that it has amended and extended the consent solicitation ("Consent Solicitation") relating to certain proposed amendments (the "Proposed Amendments") to the indenture pursuant to which its 11 1/2% Secured Notes due May of 2007, Series A and Series B ("Notes"), were issued. As amended, the consent payment has been increased from $10 per $1,000 principal amount of notes to $15 per $1,000 principal amount of notes up to an aggregate amount of approximately $841,000. As extended, the consent solicitation will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on June 18, 2004, unless the Consent Solicitation is further extended.

The adoption of the Proposed Amendment is conditioned on delivery of consents from holders of at least a majority of the principal amount of the Notes. The adoption of the Proposed Amendment is also subject to certain other conditions, which are described in Abraxas' Consent Solicitation Statement dated June 3, 2004. This announcement is not an offer to purchase, a solicitation of an offer to purchase, or a solicitation of consent with respect to any securities. The Consent Solicitation is being made solely by means of a Consent Solicitation Statement dated June 3, 2004. Except as otherwise described above, all terms and conditions of the Consent Solicitation are unchanged. >

I think they will play it till 5M$ to have 50.1%, coool..

06-17-04 Gaucho1: Advice:

Point taken about the effects of income concentration on growth. However, surely that is not the only factor to determine growth-- or we should expect Sweden to be among the fastest grwoing economies in the world and China, to be among the slowest...

Notice also that Brazil, notwithstading one of the worst income distributions in the world, managed to be among the top growers in the last century...

You assume that when growth occurs, the rich appropriate themselves of a disproportionate share of the pie. That is not always a valid assumption... I would point out that the two moments in recent history when Brazil experienced rapid spurts of growth in income, the Cruzado Plan in 1987 amd the Real Plan in 1994, were accompanied by HUGE growth in consumption (to this day, sales of durables like cars and TVs have not returned to 1994-95 levels). Basically, because these plans improved the income of the poor, by sharply reducing inflation-- a very regressive tax...

By the way, there is a vast academic literature on the subject. Everyone seems to agree that sound economic policies, stable political institutions and rule of law are important ingredients for growth (but democracy, for example, has no measurable impact)... Jeff Sachs has a paper in which he runs cross-country regressions, seeking to determine which factors best explain growth. Among the most signficant were GDP per capita (negatively correlated; the poorer the country, the higher its tendency to grow. Economies run into diminishing returns, too...), distance to the Equator (the greater the distance, the better the growth prospects; he explains that in politically correct terms by pointing out that tropical diseases tend to be a big hinderance to economic development), education of the workforce, etc.

All that being said, I certainly agree with that income distribution is a problem in Brazil. But maybe a better distribution is a consequence, and not a cause, of economic development... I recall reading somewhere that the level of education explains something like 80% of an individual's income in Brazil. Maybe there is a causation there: improve the average level of education, reduce the difference in education between rich and poor, and income levels will increase and disparities of income will narrow...

06-17-04 PILLZ: <"The presidency has decided to break up the meeting for now, and resume at 11:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. EDT),">

Go to Laga BRX, not far flom Charlemagne :-), see you demain..

06-17-04 carib: Rogue: for the record, before offering RCN, I asked for an offer level, and I got an offer @61,5. (and a bid @59,5). I answered: I sell above 60, after of all commissions, and when the market moved up, I got hit. I had a target of 60 for those bonds, set six months ago. So I got what I wanted.
If the trend is still up...even better. Next target, 65.
Also, remember that trading small lots is different from trading big lots, at least from the point of view of the final customer.

06-17-04 carib: Rogue: I posted the bids of RCN when I got them. If you have a better bid, please post it right away... Basically, this confirms my point that we need a transparent market for bonds.

06-17-04 carib: BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders suspended discussion of appointing a new European Commission president Thursday but were due to resume before midnight, diplomats said.

"The presidency has decided to break up the meeting for now, and resume at 11:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. EDT)," one diplomat said after leaders held a lengthy discussion over dinner about a successor for Romano Prodi at the head of the EU executive.

The leaders appeared to be deeply divided, with France and Germany backing Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, while conservative leaders proposed British EU Commissioner Chris Patten.

06-17-04 carib: <June 17 (Bloomberg) -- Argentina's biggest local bondholder group asked the International Monetary Fund to increase pressure on the government to boost its offer on about $100 billion in defaulted debt after rejecting a proposal of about 25 cents on the dollar.

``We asked them to take a more active role in the debt negotiations because Argentina hasn't fulfilled its commitment to negotiate in good faith,'' said Horacio Vazquez, treasurer of the Argentine Bondholders' Association in a telephone interview. ``There were no good faith negotiations because there were no negotiations at all.''>

Landronvagna yesterday said: Negotiations are over, now the floor is to the market. That IMHO is a fair point.

However: 1) the <market> prices Argy @30�...so expects a further improvement of the offer 2) the majority of bondholders appear poised to reject the Ladro-offer. Consequence of Ladro theory: if the <market> say no, THEN he really has to negotiate. Otherwise... it was just a time-wasting tactic, which it probably was.

06-17-04 roguetrader18: carib. we were 60.5-62.5 in rcnc 10.125. they took you for less

06-17-04 ruspan: Vic:< so you want another civil war? :-) > You know I don't like wars :-) Anyway, I think Spain have lost such amount of control over it's own future that it would be unable to get in a civil war without an outside help and permission.

06-17-04 carib: Advice: I agree, obviously on taxes. The point that bothers me is the fact that a lot of so-called "social expenditure" in Brasil actually benefits the upper middle class, rather than the poor. I fully agree, for example, that there should be scolarships to allow poor people to attend the best universities...if they are better qualified than the rich students. But the non-poor students should pay what it costs, if necessary with loans, but not with grants. Also, I find absurd that a judge in Brasil can earn up to 12.000 US$ a month, pay no taxes on that income, retire at 50 with full pension...in a country were the minimum salary is 85 US$ a month. If such salaries guaranteed <singaporean levels> of judicial corruption...one might accept. But high salaries do not appear to prevent corruption, in Sambaland.

06-17-04 ruspan: Fox:<why hurry?> I travel by car a lot, and apart from simply being used to it, I found that an attempt to travel at legal speed to, say, Germany makes Europe to feel as big as Russia, you need an extra day :-) Also, altough I never ever get sleepy when driving at apropiate speed for many hours, driving at legal speed have a surprising devastating effect on me: luck of stimulation or smth, but I start to feel sleepy and loose alertness quite fast. Not that I am a crasy driver, but going at a good car and good road at 120 simply doesnt look right.

06-17-04 ruspan: Pilzz:<Ruspan this GPS fixed radar detector is legal> Found no reference to such thing on the page you gave me, will look around.

06-17-04 H.Advice: <Advice: when the US had the equivalent of present day Brasil per capita GDP...public expenditure in the US was 7% of GDP (it was 1913). Today, Brasil public expenditure is 30% of GDP. My opinion is public expenditure =20% of GDP would be much better for Brasil growth. After all, they are competing with Asia...>

Fully agree carib, that was the point were we should debate more. How to distribute income in the case of Brazil? That is exactly the point caribinho.

It seems to me that the only way to distribute income in brazil is by REDUCING tax rates, doing a real fiscal reform that simplifies the tax system and reduces taxes. I think brazil already passed the point of maximum in the lapher curve, meaning any increase in taxes lead to a reduction in government cash. Business man in brazil spend more money and time thinking in how to reduce their tax burden than in how to improve their own business, this has to end. Once they reduce taxes, as we have already passed the maximum point of the lapher curve, primary surplus will go up and not down, business man we fire all the lawiers that are working only to descover how to pay less taxes, will also get free of the "fiscal" that comes to the companies every year looking for his "Christmas present" and will invest all that money and time in producing a better company a better product and so on....

06-17-04 amigo latino: <eletrico: <why hurry?> Just for the sheer pleasure of doing so�..>

Increasing the odds of Killing or maiming himself or others and terrorizing others in the process, !

06-17-04 victorn: ruspan <Next step would be the country falling apart and no speed limits again> so you want another civil war? :-)

06-17-04 carib: Advice: also: social security cost of employment = 40%....and so a lot of black economy. Ruduce social security to 25%, and reduce black economy at the same time. Cut drastically social security in the public sector etc. The medicine is well known. About the need of improving the distribution of income, I fully agree. But <est modus in rebus>, IMHO

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