| Asian stocks up on rate cut hopes; commodities hot
SINGAPORE: Stocks rallied on Thursday as solid earnings and expectations of further US interest rate cuts outweighed worries about inflation even as oil hit a record high above $101 a barrel. Gold also hit a record above $945 an ounce, and silver touched a 27-year high, as funds poured into a wide range of commodities, betting they will outperform in an environment where growth is slowing and prices are rising.
Data on Wednesday showed a faster-than-expected rise in US consumer prices last month and further weakness in the housing market there.
"The US is entirely focused on the economic data that is coming out and we're getting revised forecasts for their economic growth in the downward trend," said Savanth Sebastian, equities economist at CommSec in Sydney.
American Stock Exchange Lists GreenHaven Continuous Commodity Index ...
NEW YORK, Jan. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Stock Exchange(R) (Amex(R)) announced today that it has launched trading in the GreenHaven Continuous Commodity Index Fund (AMEX: GCC) , managed by GreenHaven Commodity Services, LLC. GCC aims to track the performance of the Continuous Commodity Total Return Index, an equal weighted basket of 17 commodities (corn, wheat, soybeans, live cattle, lean hogs, gold, platinum, silver, copper, cocoa, coffee, sugar, cotton, orange juice, crude oil, heating oil and natural gas). Reuters America, LLC owns and calculates the Index. "The American Stock Exchange is pleased to welcome and support GreenHaven as they enter the ETF marketplace," said Scott Ebner, Senior Vice President of the Amex's ETF marketplace. "GCC reflects a growing investor interest in commodity linked products." Ashmead Pringle, President of GreenHaven Commodity Services, LLC, stated, "Increasingly, many investors have concluded that commodities are an asset class that should be represented in a balanced portfolio.
Exhibit to kick off DUSP 75th-anniversary celebrations
A series of events to celebrate the 75th anniversary of MIT's landmark Department of Urban Studies and Planning will kick off with an exhibit in the Wolk Gallery, opening Tuesday, Feb. 12. The show, "Changing Cities: 75 Years of Planning Better Futures at MIT," uses archival, graphic and multimedia materials to portray the evolution and influence of the department in academic and practical spheres. It will continue through April 11. Over the past seven decades, the department has gained renown for pioneering new ways to analyze and enhance the physical form of cities; for embracing the social sciences in planning; and for expanding research to include studies of comparative planning and development practice around the world. "Changing Cities" chronicles changes within DUSP as it has engaged with the scale and pace of urbanization in the larger world.
Oil falls below $US90
OIL prices fell below $US90 per barrel overnight and accelerated losses after fresh disappointing data stoked concerns over energy demand from the United States, a key consumer, analysts said. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, fell $US1.53 to $US88.49 per barrel. Brent North Sea crude for March delivery shed $US1.54 to $US88.93. A weak survey released overnight of the US services sector showed a contraction for the first time in nearly five years in January. The Institute of Supply Management's index on non-manufacturing activity slumped to 41.9 per cent in January from 54.4 per cent in December. The report on services - services make up the lion's share of US economic activity - is another sign of a sharp slowdown in the US economy that some analysts say means a recession is at hand.
RP rejects bids for 4-year Treasury bond
The Philippines rejected all bids for its 4-year Treasury bonds at a government auction on Tuesday due to high rates.
The Bureau of Treasury was meant to auction P7.5 billion ($183 million) worth of bonds but the average rate of bids was 6.184 percent, compared to 5.876 percent at the previous auction in December.
Banks tendered P12.42 billion worth of bids.
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Fed predictions help send oil briefly over $101
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Scavenging for Superdelegates
As we went to bed last night, the juicy New York Times headline "Black Leader, a Clinton Ally, Tilts to Obama" tucked us in. The story explained the soon-to-be defection of Georgia Rep. John Lewis from Hillary Clinton's camp to Barack Obama's. Lewis is a superdelegate and a civil rights leader whose district voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama in Georgia's Super Tuesday primary. If he officially defected, his change of heart was thought to be a bellwhether for all of Clinton's superdelegates whose districts voted for Obama. The Times reported that Lewis "said Thursday night that he planned to cast his vote as a superdelegate for Senator Barack Obama in hopes of preventing a fight at the Democratic convention," but that Lewis was still weighing whether to officially endorse Obama. But after changing his mind on Clinton, he may be changing his mind on Obama.
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