FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) &<51; A Florida yacht broker who admitted filing a false federal tax return and concealing millions of dollars in a secret account at the Swiss bank UBS was sentenced Friday to two months in prison.

Judge James I. Cohn of Federal District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., gave the broker, Robert Moran, credit for immediately confessing his crime and for assisting a broad federal investigation of tax evasion at UBS and other offshore banks. Judge Cohn also noted that Mr. Moran, a British-born United States citizen, had paid the $1.9 million in penalties and back taxes he owed.

But the judge said &S220;the public is weary&S221; of people trying to hide wealth from the Internal Revenue Service and rejected Mr. Moran&S217;s request for a sentence of probation only.

Mr. Moran is scheduled to report to prison Jan. 4. The United States Bureau of Prisons has not yet determined where he will serve his sentence, but Judge Cohn recommended that he be held in southern Florida.

In April, Mr. Moran became the first UBS client in the United States to plead guilty after the Swiss bank provided federal prosecutors with about 150 names of Americans suspected of tax evasion best payday advance. The bank later reached a second agreement that calls for disclosure of 4,450 additional United States taxpayers to the I.R.S.

Mr. Moran is the third former UBS client to be sentenced in the last two weeks in South Florida for filing false tax returns. One got house arrest and the other a short prison term. Seven former clients have been charged in the latest crackdown, and dozens more are under investigation.

Mr. Moran, president of Moran Yacht and Ship, which has offices in Fort Lauderdale and Moscow, will lose his yacht broker&S217;s license because of the felony conviction and faces an uncertain business future, Gary M. Bagliebter, his lawyer, said.

In remarks to the judge, Mr. Moran, 58, accepted full responsibility. He had about $3.5 million in his UBS accounts.

&S220;I&S217;m really sorry for opening this foreign bank account and not disclosing it,&S221; Mr. Moran said. &S220;I realize it was a mistake.&S221;

Yacht Broker Sentenced to 2 Months for Tax Evasion

Hot News: Chinas Premier Pledges $10 billion in Loans to Africa

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks jumped on Thursday, pushing the S&P 500 up for a fourth day, as economic data boosted confidence in the recovery and strong results from Cisco Systems (CSCO.O) suggested a rebound in technology spending.

The market&&9;s advance was broad-based, and the Dow ended above 10,000 for the first time in two weeks.

Shares of Cisco, which makes computer network equipment, rose 2.8 percent to &&6;23.93 and helped lead the session&&9;s gains, a day after it posted a stronger-than-expected profit and said business was recovering.

Data showed U.S. non-farm productivity rose more than expected in the third quarter as companies squeezed more output from a smaller pool of labor. A separate report showed fewer U.S. workers filed new jobless insurance claims than forecast last week -- hitting a 10-month low.

The claims report boosted investor sentiment, and created "some anticipation that maybe tomorrow&&9;s employment report may be better than expected," said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.

The U.S. government is scheduled to release its key monthly jobs report Friday morning, with economists polled by Reuters forecasting a loss of 175,000 jobs in October, sharply below the 263,000 jobs cut in the previous month. But the U.S. unemployment rate is forecast to rise to 9.9 percent in October from September&&9;s rate of 9.8 percent, which was a 26-year high.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) jumped 203.82 points, or 2.08 percent, to end at 10,005.96. The Standard & Poor&&9;s 500 Index (.SPX) gained 20.13 points, or 1.92 percent, to 1,066.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) rose 49.80 points, or 2.42 percent, to close at 2,105.32.

CAFFEINE SHOT AFTER THE BELL

After the bell, shares of coffee chain operator Starbucks Corp (SBUX business card.O) rose 1.5 percent to &&6;20 as it posted quarterly results.

During the regular session, tech stocks climbed across the board, with the NYSE Arca Network index (.NWX) up 2.1 percent, while the PHLX Semiconductor index (.SOXX) advanced 2.6 percent.

Shares of DuPont (DD.N) rose 3.7 percent to &&6;33.38 after its chief executive outlined plans for growth in 2010 and after.

In deal news, IMS Health Inc (RX.N) agreed to be bought by TPG and CPP Investment board and helped lift the S&P Healthcare index (.GSPA) 1.6 percent. The deal was valued at &&6;5.2 billion, including the assumption of debt. IMS Health shares surged 23.3 percent to &&6;20.73.

On the downside was CVS Caremark Corp (CVS.N) , which tumbled 20.1 percent to &&6;28.87 after comments from Chief Executive Tom Ryan on weakness in the pharmacy benefit management business.

U.S. retail chains reported October sales that rebounded from the lows in the previous year, but more than half missed Wall Street&&9;s increased expectations as consumers spend selectively headed into the holiday season.

The S&P retail index (.RLX) rose 1.8 percent.

Volume was below average on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1.30 billion shares changing hands, below last year&&9;s estimated daily average of 1.49 billion, while on the Nasdaq, about 2.25 billion shares traded, just below last year&&9;s daily average of 2.28 billion.

Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of 5 to 1, while on the Nasdaq, about seven stocks rose for every two that fell.

(Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Stocks rally on economic data, Cisco

The United States economy shed 190,000 jobs in October, and the unemployment rate reached a 26-year high of 10.2 percent, up from 9.8 percent in September, the Department of Labor said Friday in its monthly economic appraisal.

While the pace of job losses has slowed significantly since the peak of the recession last winter, the unemployment rate, which measures the number of people actively seeking work, continues to climb, and economists do not foresee relief until well into next year.

&S220;There&S217;s no doubt that the slashing and burning of jobs has abated quite a lot,&S221; said Allen L. Sinai, the founder of Decision Economics, a research firm. &S220;The economy is recovering, but it is a very soft recovery.&S221;

The biggest losses came in the construction, manufacturing and retailing sectors. Health care companies added 29,000 jobs to their payrolls, and the number of temporary workers increased by 34,000 &<51; a significant gain that could indicate employers are beginning to expand their businesses again.

The Labor Department also revised September&S217;s losses to 219,000 from 263,000.

Dean Baker, a director for the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said he did not expect declining unemployment rates until next spring. &S220;We may be looking at very high levels,&S221; Mr. Baker said, &S220;barring a policy response, for several years into the future.&S221;

The dissonance of the economic recovery, with steep job losses coming even as production intensifies and companies show better-than-expected profits, has placed policy makers in a delicate position.

On Thursday, in anticipation of the unemployment report, Congress overwhelmingly voted to extend benefits for jobless workers for up to 20 weeks. That will soothe the short-term financial pain of many families, but demands for a new wave of government relief may intensify if companies continue to cut back.

So far, the federal stimulus package has injected billions into local economies, giving states money, for instance, to finance construction projects or retain teachers. The housing and auto sectors have been propped up with government credits meant to encourage spending. But weak consumer demand and hefty labor costs are still forcing many employers to cut positions and reduce hours to survive.

The recession has forced many Americans to settle for part-time work because companies are reluctant to add full-time employees. The underemployment rate, which includes part-time workers, the jobless and those who have given up on searching, was 17 bad credit pay day loans.5 percent in October &<51; the highest level since at least 1994.

Even as unemployment remains high, there are signs that critical industries are gaining steam.

The manufacturing sector, considered the engine of the economy, was given its most optimistic bill of health in three years by a private group on Monday. Manufacturers added jobs for the first time in 15 months in October, the group said, largely by bringing in temporary workers or recalling laid-off workers. Economists say that the first sign of recovery in jobs will be when more companies begin bringing in temporary workers.

The economy expanded at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the third quarter, ending a year of back-to-back contractions. But whether that economic expansion will translate into immediate job creation is still widely debated.

&S220;You can&S217;t force businesses to use their profits to hire,&S221; Mr. Sinai said.

Consumer confidence is still low, and many economists believe an economic turnaround will not come until consumers feel at ease again. With families taking home smaller paychecks each month, that could take time.

For the 15.7 million Americans who were without work in October, Friday&S217;s data did little to change the realities of their daily lives &<51; mornings spent combing online job sites, afternoons devoted to fighting off bill collectors. Their r&>33;sum&>33;s will still go out, their interviews will go on, and, more likely than not, their phones will not ring.

Melissa Grodhaus, 42, a laid-off cemetery worker from Winona, Ohio, said she had filled out 150 applications since she lost her job nearly two years ago. She struggles to keep up with mortgage payments and utility bills, and she must also take care of her three children.

&S220;There&S217;s nothing here,&S221; she said. &S220;I can&S217;t see anything worse than it is right now.&S221;

Ms. Grodhaus has started selling old clothes on eBay, and she has told her children she cannot afford to pay the fees for school sports this year. Every two weeks, when the local church brings out food baskets, she rushes to pick up her share. Within minutes, she said, they are gone.

U.S. Unemployment Rate Hits 10.2%, Highest in 26 Years

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks gained sharply on Thursday after an expansion in business productivity and a fall in jobless claims boosted investor confidence about the economy, while Cisco led gains in tech shares.

U.S. non-farm productivity rose more than expected in the third quarter as companies squeezed more output from a smaller pool of labor, while fewer U.S. workers filed new jobless insurance claims than forecast last week -- hitting a 10-month low.

Cisco (CSCO.O) shares gained 2.2 percent to &&6;23.79 after the company reported earnings late on Wednesday. The technology bellwether reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue, and its board authorized up to &&6;10 billion in stock buybacks.

"We opened on good news from Cisco and the market just moved up higher on better news on productivity and unemployment numbers ... The next news that will move the market will be the raft of earnings after the bell today, and the unemployment numbers tomorrow," said Stephen Massocca, managing director at Wedbush Morgan in San Francisco.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) gained 172.76 points, or 1.76 percent, to 9,974.90. The Standard & Poor&&9;s 500 Index (.SPX) advanced 15.95 points, or 1.52 percent, to 1,062.45. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) rose 44.18 points, or 2.15 percent, to 2,099.70.

On Friday, the Labor Department is expected to report that fewer jobs were cut in October than in the previous month companies making payday loans. But the jobless rate is expected to rise to 9.9 percent, exceeding a 26-year high of 9.8 percent in September. Economists polled by Reuters have forecast a loss of 175,000 jobs in October, sharply below the 263,000 jobs cut in the previous month.

In Thursday&&9;s session at midday, other technology stocks also advanced. Intel Corp (INTC.O) gained 2.2 percent to &&6;19.00 and Microsoft (MSFT.O) rose 2.2 percent to &&6;28.68.

Shares of IMS Health Inc (RX.N) soared 23.5 percent to &&6;20.76 after the company agreed to be bought by TPG and CPP Investment board. The deal was valued at &&6;5.2 billion, including the assumption of debt.

But CVS Caremark Corp (CVS.N) tumbled 19.7 percent to &&6;29.04 after comments from Chief Executive Tom Ryan on weakness in the pharmacy benefit management business.

U.S. retail chains reported October sales that rebounded from the lows of a year ago, but many failed to surpass Wall Street&&9;s increased expectations as consumers spend selectively headed into the holiday season.

The S&P retail index (.RLX) rose 1.2 percent.

(Reporting by Angela Moon, Editing by Jan Paschal)

Stocks rally on data; Cisco earnings lift techs

Following the lead of foreign regulators, New York&S217;s attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, filed a federal antitrust lawsuit Wednesday against Intel, the world&S217;s largest chip maker.

The lawsuit charges that Intel violated state and federal laws by abusing its dominant position in the chip market to keep its main rival, Advanced Micro Devices, at bay. Intel has faced similar lawsuits in Asia and Europe, and in May the European Commission fined the company a record $1.45 billion for antitrust violations.

These cases have largely revolved around deals Intel has struck with computer makers and retailers that, regulators say, pressured them into picking the company&S217;s microprocessors &<51; which serve as the central chip inside personal computers and servers &<51; instead of competing products from A.M.D.

&S220;Rather than compete fairly, Intel used bribery and coercion to maintain a stranglehold on the market,&S221; Mr. Cuomo said in a statement. &S220;Intel&S217;s actions not only unfairly restricted potential competitors, but also hurt average consumers who were robbed of better products and lower prices.&S221;

To date, Intel has denied the charges against it and has filed an appeal against the European Commission&S217;s ruling.

The New York attorney general&S217;s suit is the first formal antitrust action against Intel by any government agency in the United States in more than a decade. The Federal Trade Commission has been investigating Intel since 2008 but has not begun formal proceedings against the company.

Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., also faces a four-year-old antitrust lawsuit filed by A.M.D. in Delaware. That suit is scheduled to go to trial early next year.

The New York move increases the chances that the F.T.C. will take action against Intel, according to a person who is familiar with the state&S217;s investigation but is not authorized to discuss it. Mr. Cuomo&S217;s staff, this person said, regularly communicates and cooperates with the commission&S217;s staff.

"These are separate investigations, but it would be very surprising for New York State to go off on its own without being fairly confident the F.T.C. would pursue Intel as well," the person said.

A spokeswoman for the F.T.C., Claudia Bourne Farrell, would not comment beyond saying that the commission&S217;s investigation was continuing.

Intel and Microsoft have long been the personal computer industry&S217;s two most dominant players. About 90 percent of all PCs rely on Microsoft&S217;s Windows software, while Intel&S217;s chips go into about 80 percent of the PCs and computer servers sold every year.

Both companies have caught the attention of antitrust regulators in the past, although Microsoft&S217;s legal battles have been far more confrontational and enduring.

In 1993, the F.T.C. dropped a two-year investigation into Intel&S217;s business practices, saying it lacked evidence to back a lawsuit, and it ended a second investigation in 2000. In 1995, Intel settled a number of cases with A.M.D., including one involving antitrust charges.

&S220;Intel has been more willing to negotiate with the government and less bellicose than Microsoft,&S221; said Harry First, a professor at the New York University School of Law and the former chief of the New York attorney general&S217;s antitrust bureau. &S220;Frankly, I think they&S217;ve been smarter litigants and have escaped more than Microsoft.&S221;

Over the past couple of years, however, regulators have dug in and secured victories against Intel. In 2005, Japanese regulators determined that Intel had violated antitrust laws in that country, and South Korean antitrust authorities followed suit in a similar case. But the verdict handed down in May by the European Commission was by far the biggest blow against the company.

In the 80-page lawsuit, Mr. Cuomo appears to be piggybacking, in part, on extensive e-mail evidence gathered during Europe&S217;s investigation into Intel&S217;s business practices payday advance lender.

In the statement, the attorney general pointed to e-mail messages that detail Intel&S217;s interactions with companies like Hewlett-Packard, Dell and I.B.M. that he said support the case against Intel.

For example, Intel is accused of paying I.B.M. $130 million to hold back on selling a server based on A.M.D.&S217;s Opteron chip, while also threatening to curtail joint projects if I.B.M. marketed A.M.D.&S217;s products.

&S220;The question is, can we afford to accept the wrath of Intel...?&S221; an unnamed I.B.M. executive wrote in a 2005 e-mail, according to Mr. Cuomo&S217;s office.

A similar e-mail from an unnamed H.P. executive talks about Intel planning to &S220;punish&S221; the company for selling products based on A.M.D.&S217;s chips.

Most of the past antitrust cases in Europe and Asia have centered on Intel&S217;s actions in the PC market. But Mr. Cuomo&S217;s case seems to place substantial emphasis on the company&S217;s server chip business as well.

In 2003, A.M.D. released a chip called Opteron that thrust it into the mainstream server market for the first time. For about four years, the product was hailed by analysts and hardware makers as superior to Intel&S217;s Xeon chip.

With Opteron on its side, A.M.D. for the first time managed to attract H.P., I.B.M., Dell and Sun Microsystems as server chip customers. A.M.D. executives, however, have long contended that Intel thwarted the adoption of Opteron through its abusive practices and blunted the company&S217;s ability to capitalize on the product.

They have also argued that Intel has blocked A.M.D.&S217;s attempts to place its chips in computers purchased by businesses. Both the server and business PC markets tend to generate higher profits than the consumer computer market.

I.B.M., which competes with Intel in the server chip market, and A.M.D. have invested billions of dollars in chip plants based in New York.

Along with e-mail from hardware makers, Mr. Cuomo has presented e-mail messages exchanged between Intel executives in which they express anti-trust concerns. &S220;Let&S217;s talk more on the phone as it&S217;s so difficult for me to write or explain without considering anti-trust issue,&S221; one Intel executive is said to have written in an April 2006 message.

In interviews, a number of antitrust experts found similar e-mail exchanges presented by the European Commission unconvincing, and said the regulators&S217; overall evidence was thin on details.

&S220;I look at it, and I don&S217;t have a lot of confidence in what the E.C. alleges,&S221; said John E. Lopatka, a professor and antitrust expert at Penn State&S217;s Dickinson School of Law. &S220;It does smack of a brief more than an objective and honest recitation of the results of investigation.&S221;

The issue of so-called loyalty discounts provided by a supplier to its customers remains a murky area in United States law.

&S220;European law is much harsher on loyalty discounts,&S221; Mr. First said. &S220;There is still a lot of debate here among commentators and the courts on this issue, and the Supreme Court has not spoken on how we should treat this sort of loyalty pricing.&S221;

Mr. Cuomo&S217;s office said it had examined millions of pages of e-mail and documents during its 23-month investigation into Intel and taken testimony from dozens of witnesses.

Mr. Cuomo contends that consumers would have benefited from lower prices and better products had there been an even playing field in the chip market. His lawsuit seeks to stop Intel from continuing its anticompetitive practices and to recover damages and penalties.

Steve Lohr contributed reporting.

Cuomo Files Federal Antitrust Lawsuit Against Intel

Hot News: GMAC posts third quarter loss, hurt by mortgage unit

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS &S212; June of next year will be a big month for Nabeel Siddiqui, a 29-year-old from India studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That is when Mr. Siddiqui, a former software-design project manager for Alcatel-Lucent, expects to receive two diplomas almost simultaneously.

One will be a master&S217;s of science in management studies from M.I.T.&S217;s Sloan School of Management, the other a master&S217;s of business administration from the &>01;cole des Hautes &>01;tudes Commerciales in Paris.

Mr. Siddiqi is one of 16 international students taking part in a new dual-degree program in which Sloan collaborates with foreign business schools. The students are piggybacking on their first year of M.B.A. studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing, Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul or HEC, as it is known, in Paris as a prelude to the master&S217;s program at Sloan. The credits the students earn there will fulfill their second-year M.B.A. requirements at the schools in China, South Korea and France.

With his credentials burnished, Mr. Siddiqui is now seeking an upward bound job with a major international corporation. He said, &S220;I don&S217;t have any inhibitions to go to any country and start working for a business. I don&S217;t have to think twice about it.&S221;

The introduction this year of the dual-degree program that brought Mr. Siddiqui to Sloan exemplifies a trend among business schools to bulk up their international offerings for students pursuing an M.B.A. full time. The schools have entered a &S220;period of experimentation&S221; to strengthen the international elements of their M.B.A. programs in light of the demand for graduates who can &S220;manage across national boundaries with a fluidity that just wasn&S217;t necessary a few years ago,&S221; said Garth Saloner, dean of Stanford University&S217;s Graduate School of Business.

By injecting more globalism into their subject matter and outlook, the schools are creating more opportunities for students to work for international companies, administrators say. For the schools, that has been a boon for recruiting &S220;more talented and diverse&S221; students, said J.J. Cutler, director of admissions and financial aid at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Revamping curriculums to add more international heft to courses has been one widespread strategy embraced by the schools. Last year, the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University began requiring every M.B.A. student to complete at least one of its international courses.

&S220;The students were ahead of us on this: 75 percent or 80 percent of students were doing this on their own,&S221; said Sunil Chopra, interim dean at Kellogg.

In 2007, Stanford introduced a new course, &S220;Global Context of Management,&S221; as a first-year M.B.A. requirement. Another innovation adopted that year required students to go on Stanford-sponsored two-week study trips to foreign countries or acquire equivalent international exposure to countries where they had neither lived nor worked.

&S220;Global immersion&S221; has become a catchphrase in business school vocabulary. Many schools employ that language to describe courses that combine international study with a week or two of travel to a foreign country or region for meetings with business leaders, government officials and the like.

The popularity of the global immersion courses, which cost students between $2,000 and $4,000 on top of typical tuition of more than $50,000 a year, is on the upswing. The global immersion program introduced last spring at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business drew 78 participants among the school&S217;s 1,400 M online payday loans.B.A. students in the first year. As the capstone to an elective course, students investigated matters like the carbon market in Brazil and the potential of investment partners in China.

This year, Columbia expects that 108 students will enroll in a global immersion course, according to Ethan Hanabury, the senior associate dean for business degree programs at Columbia. The purpose is to &S220;integrate&S221; a classroom experience and a study trip so as to make the academic material &S220;relevant to what&S217;s happening&S221; in the global business world, Mr. Hanabury said.

The desire to impart an international flavor to an M.B.A. is not new. Some schools began promoting an international perspective decades ago. At Harvard Business School, a course titled &S220;Business, Government and the International Economy,&S221; in which first-year students study the conditions in which global businesses operate, has been an M.B.A. requirement since 1978.

Still, if recognition of the value of a global component in business education is not new, it is increasingly widespread. Andrew Policano, dean of the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine, proudly summed up the extent of international cases in his M.B.A. program: &S220;Today, it&S217;s throughout our curriculum. We assess how it&S217;s going, but we don&S217;t have to worry anymore whether everyone is getting an international education.&S221;

Mr. Policano noted that, though Merage may not be as well-known abroad as larger and more prestigious schools, it nonetheless attracts about 70 of its 200 M.B.A. students from other countries.

A number of leading business schools in Europe have been ahead of U.S. schools in tilting toward an international orientation. Founded in 1958, the Escuela Superior de Administraci&>43;n y Direcci&>43;n de Empresas, or Esade, based in Barcelona, taught M.B.A. courses in Spanish for its first 42 years, and its students were predominantly from Spain.

But in 2000, the school&S217;s survey of the recruiting preferences of European companies pointed to a growing demand for internationally trained graduates. In response, Esade switched to English as the predominant language in its classes and sought students from many countries. Forty-seven nationalities are now represented among its 400 full-time M.B.A. students, 85 percent of them from countries other than Spain, said Gloria Batllori, the school&S217;s M.B.A. dean.

Rather than concentrate all its international students at its home campus in Fountainebleau, France, Insead, the international business school outside Paris, created a second campus in Singapore nine years ago. Though more of its M.B.A. candidates begin their studies at Fountainebleau than in Singapore, 80 percent of its 900 full-time M.B.A. students take courses at one time or another on both campuses, said Insead&S217;s dean, Frank Brown.

Some business school administrators caution, however, that investing in a foreign location can drain resources better spent on home campuses. Alan White, Sloan&S217;s senior associate dean, says his school has steered clear of large overseas investments, preferring instead collaborative arrangements like the one in which Mr. Siddiqui is participating.

For Mr. Siddiqui, however, the Sloan-HEC collaboration will mean an unusual expense. To collect the diplomas he expects from the two schools next spring, he plans to attend commencement ceremonies at campuses on two continents.

Special Report: International education: Giving Business Education a Global Twist

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. economy may have turned a corner after the deepest recession in some 70 years, but Federal Reserve policymakers appear to be in no rush to raise interest rates.

The Fed is widely expected to keep its benchmark interest rate where it has been since December -- near zero -- when it meets this week.

With underlying inflation pressures actually decreasing and most Fed officials expecting the recovery to be slow, there is little incentive for the Fed to change its easy money policy.

"Anybody who expects major changes to the Fed&&9;s statement is likely to be disappointed," said Stephen Stanley, U.S. economist at RBS.

Fed officials, who meet on Tuesday and Wednesday, could discuss how they will prepare markets for an eventual policy shift, but analysts say it is too soon for the Fed to even hint toward an exit by tweaking its pledge to keep rates extraordinarily low for an "extended period."

Even as the U.S. economy appears to be still in need of Fed support, the repercussions of emergency monetary policies are being felt around the world.

Brazil has acted to stem the flood of speculative capital to its economy by adopting a 2 percent tax on foreign investment. Other nations have begun to intervene to keep their currencies from rising too sharply against the falling dollar.

Among top Fed officials a debate has broken out about how soon the central bank will need to act to nip inflation in the bud, although none are advocating a move now.

Financial markets will comb through the central bank&&9;s policy statement, which will be released at around 2:15 p.m. EST (1915 GMT) on Wednesday, for any clues on when the easy money period will start drawing to a close.

Most analysts at top U.S. banks expect the Fed&&9;s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee to keep interest rates on hold until mid-2010 or later, though interest-rate futures markets are pricing in an increase earlier in 2010.

The most significant outcomes of the Fed&&9;s last two policy meetings concerned the central bank&&9;s purchases of U.S. government and mortgage-related debt. The Fed stopped buying longer-term Treasury debt last week, while the mortgage-related asset purchase program has been extended into early 2010 to provide for an orderly wind down no fax payday loans.

"Things are going to start to get interesting in 2010, but for the moment they&&9;ve got all their ducks in a row," Stanley said.

GROWTH HAS ARRIVED, BUT JOBS HAVE NOT

The Fed will note that the economy grew in the third quarter, snapping a deep four-quarter plunge and likely ending the U.S. recession. The officials are also likely to repeat there is still enough slack in the economy for inflation not to be an immediate worry.

Last week, data showed U.S. GDP rebounded at a solid 3.5 percent annual pace in the third quarter. A separate report showed inflation, outside of food and energy costs, bumping along at a eight-year low.

The outlook remains uncertain. Much of the third-quarter growth was pinned to government stimulus programs, such as the auto-buying incentives of the "cash for clunkers" program.

U.S. consumers, usually the main driver of activity, are wary. One report on Friday showed consumer spending fell in September for the first time in five months, while another showed consumer sentiment moved lower this month.

The job market also remains a worry. On Friday, the Labor Department&&9;s employment report is expected to show the unemployment rate hit a new 26-year high of 9.9 percent in October.

"What&&9;s transpired since the last meeting is a quarter of positive GDP growth, but I don&&9;t think the projections have changed much going forward and today&&9;s consumer confidence news was not particularly upbeat," Mark Gertler, an economics professor at New York University, said on Friday.

"So all in all, my guess is that the Fed is in a holding pattern right now."

If the Fed were to tweak its "extended period" statement next week, markets would aggressively price in a much swifter policy shift, analysts at Barclays said.

"We do not expect the Fed to want to bring that about until it is more certain it will need to tighten relatively soon," Barclays analysts wrote in a note to clients.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry and Maureen Bavdek)

Fed seen on hold as outlook uncertain

CHICAGO, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rallied to a 3-day high on Thursday as a dropping dollar refueled gold's demand of hedge. Silver and platinum both rose.

The most active gold contract for December delivery soared 16.60 U.S. dollars, or 1.6 percent, to finish at the highest level of 1,047.10 dollars an ounce in recent 3 sessions. After a 4 session rally, dollar saw its first drop in recent 5 sessions on Thursday, dragged by a higher-than-expected GDP report.

The commerce Department said the U.S. GDP grew unexpectedly by 3.5 percent on an annual basis in the third quarter, ending a streak of declines over four quarters. This made investors more interested in high risk currencies for more profits.

By the end of gold floor trading time, the dollar index, a gauge measuring the greenback's value against a basket of major currencies, dropped 0 overnight pay day loans.52 to 76.065, raising gold's demand of hedge and haven.

Surging energy prices also helped the precious metal end higher.Pushed by dollar's sharp declines, the benchmark crude contract for December delivery in New York rose 2.67 dollars and returned above 80 dollars a barrel when gold closed.

December silver was up 41.5 cents to 16.655 dollars per ounce. January platinum gained 31.30 dollars to 1338.20 dollars an ounce.

Gold bounces to 3-day high as dollar weakens on GDP report

HONG KONG &S212; When the Hong Kong government eliminated a 40 percent tax on wine last year, oenophiles, importers, retailers and entrepreneurs popped open the bubbly. Then they quickly got down to business.

Auction houses rushed to hold multimillion-dollar sales. Neighborhood wine shops, classes, tastings and workshops appeared where there had been none before. Jeannie Cho Lee, a Master of Wine, is releasing her first book, &S220;Asian Palate,&S221; here next month.

And two major wine expositions were organized, with two more on the way: The Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair in the coming week and Vinexpo Asia-Pacific next spring.

Give this city a 40 percent price cut, and it runs with it.

Wine imports soared 80 percent in the 12 months after the tax was dropped, in February 2008, to a total of 3.2 billion Hong Kong dollars, or about $400 million, according to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. As a comparison, mainland China, with a population of 1.3 billion, imported $184 million worth of wine in 2007, though that number is expected to grow.

Although some of these enterprises might find success elusive because of the hard economic times or the sudden saturation of the market, the heightened interest in wine is palpable.

Two new companies in particular are taking novel approaches to wine-related services here.

At the top end of the market is Sarment, which started a custom sommelier service in Hong Kong and London in May.

A quirkier enterprise is The 8th Estate Winery, which is not going to let a little inconvenience &S212; the fact that Hong Kong has little arable land and no vineyards &S212; get in its way. Using imported flash-frozen grapes, it presses, ferments, ages and bottles its own wines in a Hong Kong high-rise. It opened for business in December 2008, and most of its wines are becoming ready now.

Sarment offers round-the-clock, individual access to top sommeliers to a small number of clients. It offered 25 memberships this year, of which 18 have been reserved, and is planning to have no more than 450. There is a membership fee of &<63;50,000, or $83,000, plus a &<63;12,000 annual fee.

The service employs four sommeliers, all of whom have worked at restaurants with two- or three-star Michelin ratings.

&S220;It&S217;s very much one-on-one service,&S221; said Niels Sherry, the company&S217;s managing director, during a trip to Hong Kong from London, where he is based. &S220;Our sommelier will visit you in your home, look at your cellar and make suggestions. If someone was in a restaurant and couldn&S217;t decide between the &S217;95 and the &S217;96, he could text one of our experts.&S221;

&S220;Some people are going to enjoy pulling out their phone and saying, &S216;I&S217;m going to call my sommelier!&S217; Others will be more discreet,&S221; he said.

While limited in number, the clientele varies greatly.

&S220;Some clients have thousands of bottles. Another has just finished a new house and has no bottles. He wants us to help him start from scratch,&S221; Mr guaranteed fast personal loans. Sherry said. &S220;We have older, experienced collectors, as well as newer wine lovers, especially from China and Russia.&S221;

Philippe Messy, a sommelier based in London and one of Sarment&S217;s co-founders, said he wanted to push clients past &S220;just Lafite-Rothschild and P&>33;trus.&S221;

&S220;We learn about your tastes and requirements, and then we challenge you,&S221; said Mr. Messy, who was also visiting Hong Kong.

He also said the service could help oenophiles, particularly in burgeoning markets like Hong Kong, from getting carried away by the frenzy of buying and selling.

&S220;We see bottles going for auction here in Hong Kong, selling for three times the estimated price,&S221; Mr. Messy said. He added that Sarment was able to secure hard-to-find bottles directly from winemakers and collectors all over the world.

But the company does not allow its employees to sell wines or to charge a commission on any sale. &S220;We are not wine merchants,&S221; said Richard Green, managing director for Asia. &S220;We&S217;re unbiased.&S221;

Mr. Sherry said one client was recently offered a bottle of Louis XII Black Pearl cognac for &S364;60,000. A Sarment sommelier advised that it was worth far less, and the deal fell through.

The bottles at a recent tasting at The 8th Estate, named in part because eight is a lucky number in Chinese culture, were significantly less expensive, averaging about 250 Hong Kong dollars, or $30.

Its 2007 vintage, made of grapes from Washington State, yielded whites, reds and dessert wines. The 2008 grapes were mostly from Italy. The company is looking at Australian harvests for future vintages.

Dozens of visitors, mostly from Hong Kong and wielding digital cameras, milled around rooms filled with oak barrels and lit with chandeliers.

Lysanne Tusar, a director at the winery, said that most of its initial sales had been of the finished product. Customers liked the novelty of having a wine made in the urban center of Hong Kong.

But their goal is to sell custom wines to serious wine lovers by the barrel. The price of a barrel, which yields at least 280 bottles, starts at 66,000 Hong Kong dollars.

&S220;With the advice of our winemaker, you can create your own,&S221; Ms. Tusar said. &S220;You can mix varietals, you can customize your own label. It&S217;s very popular with corporations, weddings or as an anniversary gift.&S221;

Their grapes are shipped to a 1,100-square-meter, or 12,000-square-foot, warehouse in Hong Kong, where they are thawed, fermented, pressed, fermented again and aged in oak barrels from 6 to 30 months.

Representatives from The 8th Estate and Sarment said they had started planning their companies even before the wine tax was scrapped.

&S220;We already felt, several years ago, that Hong Kong would be a good opportunity,&S221; Mr. Sherry said.

Hong Kong Love of Wine Finds New Outlets

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. economy rose at a pace of 3.5 percent in the third quarter after four consecutive quarters of contraction, reported the Commerce Department on Thursday.

The increase is better than economists' expectation of 3.3 percent, indicating the strongest signal that the worst recession since the 1930s has ended.

The growth of real gross domestic product (GDP) -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property within U personal loan for poor credit.S. borders -- in the July to September quarter was mainly propelled by the government's economic stimulus package.
Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

U.S. economy rises 3.5% in third quarter

Stocks fell on Wednesday as investors digested gloomy numbers on new-home sales and were unmoved by a report that showed a rise in United States durable goods orders.

The number of newly constructed homes with committed buyers was put at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 402,000, the Commerce Department said, falling short of the 440,000 projected by economists. That marked a decrease of 3.6 percent in projected sales from August to September &<51; the first drop in five months. Analysts had expected new-home sales to increase by 2.6 percent, encouraged in part by a economic recovery program that awards first-time home buyers an $8,000 tax credit.

New-home sales have implications for the construction job market as well as consumer spending on items like furniture and appliances.

Stocks were down all day, but selling accelerated in the final hours of trading. By the end of the day, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 119.48 points, or 1.21 percent, at 9,762.69. The Standard &&8; Poor&S217;s 500-stock index was off 1.95 percent to 1,042.63 and the Nasdaq was 2.67 percent lower at 2,059.61. Stocks in energy companies and those producing materials like metals and paper goods drove the decreases.

Josh Shapiro, chief United States economist for MNR, a financial advisory firm, said the housing data showed that recovery would be slow and that housing prices might fall again.

&S220;It&S217;s still a very dicey environment,&S221; he said. &S220;There&S217;s still a lot of looming supply out there, particularly in the upper and middle price range.&S221;

The government released a report showing a 1 percent rise in orders for durable goods in September &<51; the second increase in the last three months. The jump met expectations, but total orders were still down 24.1 percent compared with a year ago, a sign that economic renewal may be slow to materialize.

Durable goods, which include long-lasting items like refrigerators and planes, offer a window into the health of the manufacturing industry and provide a preview of how busy factories will be in the months ahead free credit report instantly. Increases in durable goods orders can lead to more jobs and are considered central to the growth of the economy.

Some analysts discounted the importance of the durable-goods numbers, saying the increase was largely anticipated and not market-shaking. But Cliff Waldman, an economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, an economic research group, said the data suggested manufacturing would be slow to take off again.

&S220;It paints a clear picture of a weak-kneed recovery,&S221; he said. &S220;There&S217;s no aggressive, entrepreneurial, animal-spirits kind of investment.&S221;

Financial stocks were down slightly as news that GMAC Financial Services was seeking a third round of bailout financing from the United States government spread through the market.

At the close of trading, the price of crude oil was at $77.26 a barrel, down from $79.55 on Tuesday.

Traders were looking ahead to Thursday, when the government will report gross domestic product figures, which provide a hint of how quickly the economy is growing by measuring the total value of all goods and services in the economy. Wall Street analysts are expecting an annual growth rate of 3.2 percent, although on Wednesday, Goldman Sachs slashed its projection to 2.7 percent from 3 percent.

Overseas, the Nikkei stock average in Japan closed 1.35 percent down at 1,0075.05. European markets also tumbled, with the FTSE 100 in London ending down 2.32 percent, the DAX in Germany index falling 2.46 percent, and the CAC-40 in France closing down 2.14 percent.

Stocks Decline on Economic News

European markets were pushed higher by oil stocks Tuesday after BP&S217;s third-quarter results beat analysts&S217; expectations. Asian indexes closed lower, following losses on Wall Street the previous day amid fears that equities have become overvalued.

On Wall Street, stock futures were little changed ahead of Tuesday&S217;s opening as investors prepared for new reports on home prices and consumer confidence.

In afternoon European trading, Britain&S217;s FTSE 100 rose 0.5 percent to 5,215.48, Germany&S217;s DAX added 0.2 percent to 5,655.26 and France&S217;s CAC 40 climbed 0.4 percent to 3,760.88.

Major Asian markets dropped by around 2 percent or more, with shares in resource companies hit after a steep fall in commodity prices.

In London, BP gained 4 percent after it reported a 34 percent fall in third-quarter profit to $5.3 billion, as oil and gas prices fell from record levels a year earlier.

The figure from Europe&S217;s second-largest oil company compared with an $8 billion profit in the third quarter of 2008, but was up from $4.4 billion in the second quarter and well ahead of analysts&S217; forecasts.

&S220;The fall in earnings was well trailed, but the numbers nonetheless have obliterated market forecasts, as evidenced by the spike in the share price in early trade,&S221; said Richard Hunter, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers.

Two other oil stocks, Total and Shell, added 2.1 percent and 1.4 percent respectively, partly offsetting weakness in financials.

In Asia, investors unloaded shares after American markets got pounded as the dollar strengthened and anxiety grew about the market overheating, given the troubles still facing major Western economies and a number of financial companies free instant credit reports.

Some analysts said the markets, up massively since March, could get more choppy even if they continued to advance.

&S220;The market has gotten high enough, so there&S217;s some profit-taking right now,&S221; said Francis Lun, general manager of Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong. &S220;The summer rally seems to be over, and I think we&S217;re facing a cold winter.&S221;

In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index lost 1.5 percent to 10,212.46 points. Hong Kong&S217;s market, which was closed Monday, dropped 1.9 percent to 22,169.59.

China&S217;s Shanghai market led Asia&S217;s declines, tumbling 2.8 percent to 3,021.46. Australia&S217;s market lost 1.6 percent and India&S217;s Sensex was 2 percent lower.

South Korea&S217;s Kospi shed 0.5 percent to 1,649.53 a day after new figures showed the country&S217;s economy, Asia&S217;s fourth largest, expanded at its quickest pace in seven years in the last quarter.

Oil prices lingered below $79 a barrel Tuesday in Europe after three days of losses as investors eyed a volatile dollar. Benchmark crude for December delivery rose 28 cents to $78.96; the contract fell $1.82 overnight.

Oil Stocks Push European Markets Higher

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Verizon Communications Inc&&9;s (VZ.N) third-quarter profit fell a less-than-expected 9 percent as it added more wireless customers than analysts had forecast.

While Verizon Wireless lost some market share to AT&T Inc (T.N), the exclusive U.S. provider for Apple Inc&&9;s (AAPL.O) iPhone, said its 1.2 million net customer additions was ahead of the average estimate of 1 million customers from five analysts contacted by Reuters.

"(Verizon) certainly did see some pressure from iPhone in the quarter but it&&9;s tough to complain about 1.2 million net adds," said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Chris King.

In comparison, AT&T added 2 million customers in the third quarter. Verizon Communications owns 55 percent of Verizon Wireless, while Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L) owns the remaining stake.

Verizon&&9;s profit fell to &&6;2.89 billion, or 41 cents per share, from &&6;3.2 billion, or 59 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, earnings were 60 cents per share, compared with the average analyst estimate of 59 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S auto loans for bad credit.

Revenue rose 10.2 percent to &&6;27.27 billion from &&6;24.75 billion in the year-earlier quarter, helped by its purchase earlier this year of rural mobile operator Alltel.

Analysts had expected revenue of &&6;27.17 billion. On a pro forma basis, as if Verizon had owned Alltel last year, revenue would have risen 0.6 percent.

Verizon added 191,000 FiOS television customers in the quarter, bringing its customer base to 2.7 million. This was well below King&&9;s expectation for 250,000, suggesting increasing competition in the quarter.

"Certainly cable was a little more aggressive in the third quarter," King said.

Verizon&&9;s Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg said that the company would improve with the economy.

Shares were up 14 cents to &&6;28.99 in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Derek Caney)

Verizon profit falls, wireless subscribers beat

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn gave up his seat on the Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O) board of directors on Friday, closing a tumultuous chapter in the Internet company&&9;s 15-year history.

Icahn said in a letter to the board he did not believe Yahoo needed an activist investor as a director at this time, and that his attention was focused on other matters. The letter said his resignation was effective immediately.

Icahn won his seat on the board in July 2008, in the wake of Yahoo&&9;s protracted -- and ultimately fruitless -- talks with Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), which had offered &&6;47.5 billion to buy Yahoo.

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz in January replaced Jerry Yang, who had rebuffed the software giant&&9;s offer. Instead, Yahoo and Microsoft announced a 10-year search partnership in July, in which Yahoo will use Microsoft&&9;s back-end search technology on its Web portal.

In his letter, Icahn said he believed the Microsoft transaction would provide great long-term benefits to Yahoo and commended Bartz on a great job.

A Yahoo spokeswoman said on Friday there were no immediate plans to find a replacement for Icahn, and that the board would operate with 11 directors for the time being.

"Carl has been an important member of our board and has helped us through some significant transitions," Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock said in a statement. "We are all grateful for his active role shaping the future of Yahoo."

Shares of Yahoo were off 25 cents at &&6;16.97 in after hours trade.

Icahn is chairman of Icahn Associates and currently sits on the boards of several companies including Blockbuster Inc (BBI car loans for people with bad credit.N) and American Railcar Industries Inc (ARII.O).

ICAHN PROUD

He owned 62.8 million shares for a roughly 4.5 percent stake in Yahoo as of August 31, according to Reuters data. Icahn amassed the bulk of his Yahoo stake in May 2008, according to media reports at the time, when shares of the company were trading in the low- to mid-&&6;20 range.

After Yahoo rejected Microsoft&&9;s offer that spring, Icahn mounted a proxy contest to try and oust the Yahoo directors, eventually reaching a settlement that gave Icahn and two of his handpicked director nominees seats on the company&&9;s board.

"When I joined the board, the company was in a state of turmoil. In the period since then, we have all worked together to achieve much for the company, most notably bringing Carol on to be the CEO and then consummating the search deal with Microsoft," Icahn said in his letter.

"I am proud to have played a role in both these decisions."

Yahoo has said the search deal with Microsoft, which is awaiting regulatory approval, will allow it to save &&6;425 million in operating expenses and enable them to mount a more effective challenge to search leader Google Inc (GOOG.O).

Last week, Yahoo reported its third-quarter net income tripled thanks to cost-cutting and asset sales.

Icahn sold nearly 13 million Yahoo shares between August 27 and August 31 at prices ranging from &&6;14.75 to &&6;14.92, according to an SEC filing.

(Editing by Edwin Chan; editing by Carol Bishopric)

Carl Icahn quits Yahoo board, commends CEO

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Federal prosecutors in the Galleon Group case have sent a subpoena to a former employee of Steven A. Cohen&&9;s SAC Capital Advisors, a sign that the scope of the problem into the largest hedge fund insider trading case in history is expanding, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The subpoena seeks trading records from a former SAC hedge fund manager, Richard Grodin, who employed a cooperating witness in the insider trading case announced last week, the Journal said.

The Journal reported that the subpoena does not suggest wrongdoing. Nor does it suggest that Cohen -- one of the nation&&9;s most well known and successful hedge-fund managers -- has been implicated in the scandal.

Galleon and SAC Capital could not be immediately reached to comment.

Last week, federal investigators brought criminal charges against Galleon founder Raj Rajaratnam and five others in the largest hedge fund insider trading case in history pay day advance.

Galleon, which managed &&6;3.7 billion at the end of last week and boasted strong returns through September, has told investors it will wind down its funds.

The trading scandal has also entangled big names such as Intel Corp, consulting firm McKinsey & Co, IBM, and rating agency Moody&&9;s.

According to regulators&&9; complaints, an employee at investor relations firm Market Street Partners tipped off a Galleon informant in July 2007 that Google Inc&&9;s earnings would be below market expectations.

Galleon traded on that information, netting a profit of &&6;9 million, the biggest illegal trades identified in the complaints, which said a total of &&6;20 million had been made by trading on nonpublic information.

(Reporting by Lisa Shumaker, Editing by Sandra Maler)

Probe widens in Galleon case to SAC Capital: report