NEW YORK – Books published by Macmillan are unavailable on Amazon.com, apparently the biggest rift yet in the ongoing dispute over e-book prices.

Macmillan CEO John Sargent says he was told Friday that its books would be removed from Amazon.com, as would e-books for Amazon's Kindle e-reader.

Sargent had met with Amazon officials Thursday to discuss the publisher's new pricing model for e-books. He writes in a letter to Macmillan authors and literary agents that the plan would allow Amazon to make more money selling Macmillan books and that Macmillan would make less.

Publishers have criticized Amazon for charging $9.99 for best-selling e-books. They say the price is too low and could hurt hardcover sales.

Amazon did not immediately return messages seeking comment Saturday.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

NEW YORK (AP) — New copies of Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall," Andrew Young's "The Politician" and other books published by Macmillan were unavailable Saturday on Amazon.com, apparently the biggest rift yet in the ongoing dispute over e-book prices.

An official with knowledge of the dispute said the two sides were in discussions, but would not say why Amazon.com Inc. took such a public step. The official asked not to be identified, citing the sensitivity of the talks.

Macmillan and other publishers have criticized Amazon for charging just $9.99 for best-selling e-books on its Kindle e-reader, a price publishers say is too low and could hurt hardcover sales.

For its part, Amazon wants to keep a lid on prices as competitors line up to challenge its dominant position in a rapidly expanding market payday loans guaranteed no fax. The company did not immediately return messages seeking comment Saturday.

Barnes & Noble's Nook and Sony Corp.'s e-book readers are already on sale. But the latest and most talked about challenger is Apple Inc., which just introduced the long-awaited iPad tablet computer and a new online book store modeled on iTunes. Apple CEO Steve Jobs, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, suggested publishers may offer some e-titles to Apple before they are allowed to go on sales at Amazon.com

The e-book market is an increasingly important one for Amazon. The company hasn't given specific sales figures on the Kindle, but CEO Jeff Bezos said Thursday that "millions" own the device. The company now sells six digital copies to every 10 physical ones of books available in either format.

Authors and publishers also see opportunity in e-books, particularly as a way to expand the market for older titles that are more difficult for readers to obtain otherwise.

But they worry that discounting by retailers will cannibalize sales of print editions. While Amazon typically sells new releases for just $9.99 in its Kindle store, hardcover editions generally carry a list price of more than $24.

To preserve the more lucrative hardcover business, publishers including Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins Hachette Book Group USA have said they will impose delays on the release of digital copies.

___

AP Business Writer Andrew Vanacore in New York contributed to this report.

Books pulled from Amazon.com in pricing dispute

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Genworth Financial shares climbed to a new 52- week high Friday after the insurer reported another quarter of results that exceeded analyst expectations as its troubled U.S. mortgage insurance business showed signs of improvement.

Genworth said late Thursday that fourth-quarter net income available to common shareholders came in at $40 million, or 8 cents a share. In the same period a year earlier, at the height of the financial crisis, the insurer reported a net loss of $321 million, or 74 cents a share.

Washington worries and China's economic moves undermine the best efforts of bulls, Barrons.com's Bob O'Brien reports.

Net operating income available to common shareholders, which excludes net realized investment gains and losses, was $94 million, or 19 cents a share, Genworth added.

The company was expected to make 10 cents a share, according to the average estimate of 16 analysts in a Thomson Reuters survey.

The "operating earnings-per-share beat was led by a better-than-expected U.S. mortgage insurance loss ratio," Andrew Kligerman, an insurance analyst at UBS, wrote in a note to investors Friday.

During the housing meltdown and ensuing financial crisis, Genworth was hit hard by big losses in its U.S. mortgage insurance business. Investment losses also hammered its big Retirement and Protection division, which sells life insurance and other products.

However, Genworth has been trying to limit losses in its U.S. mortgage insurance business, with some success. Meanwhile, the economic recovery has slowed growth in home loan delinquencies and the rebound in corporate bond and equity markets has eased pressure on the insurer's investment portfolios. Read about Genworth's recovery.

Genworth shares climbed 2% to $13.90 on Friday. The stock hit $14.38 earlier in the day, the highest level since September 2008, when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and American International Group almost collapsed.

Genworth's U.S. Mortgage Insurance business lost $74 million in the fourth quarter, but that was better than losses of $116 million in the third quarter and $114 million in the final three months of 2008, the insurer noted payday loan in advance.

Genworth has been trying to limit losses by checking the underwriting of defaulted home loans it insured. When the company finds problems, it declines to pay claims, something known as policy recission.

The insurer is also modifying delinquent mortgages and is heavily involved in the government's Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP.

Genworth saved $290 million from such loss mitigation efforts in the fourth quarter, bringing benefits for the whole of 2009 to $847 million. Policy recissions accounted for roughly two thirds of these savings, the insurer noted.

In 2010, Genworth said loss mitigation could generated the same level of savings, or more. Recessions will make up less of that, while mortgage modifications are set to pick up.

"The HAMP program is ramping up," Chief Executive Michael Fraizer said in an interview. "Now other modification programs are being talked about that would go on top of that."

Genworth saved about $35 million modifying delinquent home loans through HAMP during the fourth quarter. The insurer estimated that it has 22,200 delinquent mortgages waiting to be modified in HAMP -- almost double the number at the end of the third quarter.

In the past, some borrowers with mortgage modifications have ended up re-defaulting. However, Genworth's Fraizer said that the level of re-default depends on how much borrowers are saving on their new monthly payments.

"We have averaged a 29% reduction in monthly payments," Fraizer noted. "That's a big deal."

While it's too early to see how many modified loans re-default, Genworth looked at benchmarks showing "notable improvements" in re-default rates when monthly payments fell by 10% to 20%, Fraizer added.

Genworth climbs as results top analyst forecasts

WASHINGTON – Orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods posted a modest increase in December, but the gain was not enough to prevent orders from plunging by a record amount for the entire year.

The Commerce Department said Thursday that orders for durable goods edged up a slight 0.3 percent last month, a much weaker showing than the 2 percent advance economists had been expecting.

For all of 2009, durable goods orders plunged by 20.2 percent, the largest drop on records that go back to 1992. The decline highlighted the battering that U.S. manufacturers have suffered during the recession. Economists are hoping that improving outlooks in the U.S. and globally will make 2010 a better year for U.S. manufacturers.

The 20.2 percent orders decline last year followed a 5.8 percent drop in 2008, the first back-to-back annual declines since 2001 and 2002, a period when the country was also dealing with a recession.

However, the declines were much steeper this time around, reflecting the tough times in manufacturing as General Motors and Chrysler were forced into bankruptcy filings and the total manufacturing industry shed thousands of jobs, contributing to the 7.2 million jobs lost since the recession began in December 2007.

The hope is that both the U.S. and global economies are now mounting rebounds that will boost demand for manufactured goods and lead factories to rehire laid off workers. The expectation is that U.S. exports will also benefit from a decline last year in the value of the dollar. A weaker dollar makes U.S. goods more competitive on overseas markets.

For December, the 0.3 percent gain in orders followed a revised decline of 0.4 percent in November, a drop that was previously reported as a small gain of 0.2 percent. Orders fell by 0.1 percent in October after posting a sizable 2.5 percent rise in September.

The December increase was supported by a 3.6 percent jump in orders for motor vehicles and parts, the biggest one-month gain in this troubled sector since May 2007. Orders for aircraft, a volatile category, plunged by 38 quick pay day loan.2 percent in December after an even bigger 40 percent drop in November.

Total transportation orders fell by 2 percent. Excluding transportation, orders for durable goods would have been flat in December after a 2.1 percent November gain. This category has posted gains for three of the last four months.

Strength last month came in such areas as primary metals including steel, up 8.1 percent, and machinery, up 6 percent. Demand for computers and other electronic products fell by 3 percent.

If factories can begin to hire back laid off workers, the turnaround in employment will boost incomes and increase consumer spending, thus fueling the recovery.

Heavy-equipment manufacturer Caterpillar reported Wednesday that its fourth-quarter profit tumbled but that it expected sales to rebound in 2010, helped by rising demand in China and other developing nations.

Steelmakers United States Steel Corp. and Nucor Corp. on Tuesday indicated they believe the steel market will gradually improve this year as the economy rebounds, though they warned that demand in commercial construction remains weak. On Monday, AK Steel Holding Corp. credited increased demand, particularly from automotive customers, for a better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit and said it sees further improvement this year.

The overall economy grew at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the July-September quarter, the first quarterly gain after four consecutive declines as the country was hit by the worst recession since the 1930s. The government will release its first look at fourth-quarter gross domestic product on Friday.

Economists are expecting that report will show GDP grew at a sizzling 4.5 percent annual rate in the closing three months of last year. However, they expect growth will slip again in future quarters unless consumers begin to grow more confident and start spending at a faster clip.

December durable goods rise by slight 0.3 percent

NEW YORK – When Apple introduced the iPhone, it shook up the cell phone business but it also changed the way people play video games. About a quarter of the 100,000 applications that you can download to the iPhone are games, ranging from the simple "Doodle Jump" to a version of "Grand Theft Auto."

Now, with the looming launch of a tablet-style computer — already nicknamed the "iPhone on steroids," with a bigger screen that might have a place in the living room — Apple could pose an even tougher challenge to established players in the video game business.

That assumes, however, that potential buyers aren't scared off by a price that might be more than the cost of a Wii, a PlayStation 3 and an Xbox 360 combined. Apple isn't commenting on its unveiling Wednesday.

Apple's iPhone and the similar iPod Touch brought a new look to games because they have an accelerometer inside that lets people control the action by turning or tilting the device. With a touch screen and the computing horsepower for high-quality graphics, the iPhone lends itself to pared-down versions of console games like "Assassin's Creed" and "The Sims 3." Its size, meanwhile, makes it easy to consume addictive puzzles in 5-minute increments while waiting for the dentist or riding the subway.

Now the iPhone, which costs $99, $199 or $299 plus a monthly service plan, rivals gadgets such as the Nintendo DS ($130-$170) or PlayStation Portable ($170-$250), known as the PSP, which were created solely for playing games on the go. It's unclear whether Apple has taken substantial market share away, but the iPhone likely introduced people to mobile games who wouldn't have played otherwise.

"We've seen the iPhone and iPod Touch as kind of a starter kit for video games," says John Koller, director of hardware marketing at Sony. "When those customers are ready to graduate into a deeper experience, the PSP is there for them."

Soon a tablet may be there for them, too. A touch-screen gadget that is bigger than an iPhone could provide a larger playing field for gamers and give game developers a new way to push the limits of their creativity.

"Any game where there are multiple moving objects on the screen, or a map to explore, will especially be a better experience," says Ian Lynch Smith, the president of Freeverse, a developer of iPhone and Mac games. "Also the more high end, cinematic games will benefit directly from the more immersive screen size used car loans."

Apple profits from games because it takes a cut of apps that are sold on the iPhone, where games generally cost between 99 cents and $9.99. Last year the company hired Graeme Devine, a developer with 25 years of experience and games such as "Halo Wars" and "Quake 3" under his belt, to work on "iPhone gaming technologies."

Of course, the tablet is likely to be about much more than gaming, but the same increasingly can be said about video game consoles. Makers of home video game systems are trying to sell their products as all-in-one entertainment devices.

Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 (starting at $200) and Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 (starting at $300) both offer streaming movies from Netflix, for example, and Nintendo Co.'s Wii ($200) is set to start in the spring. Sony markets the PS3 as the "most fully loaded console," one that "only does everything," including Blu-ray movies, Facebook updates or Web browsing.

Given that Apple will have to persuade people they need another gadget in their lives, the company is also likely to bill the tablet as a do-everything device, a way for people to manage music, video, games, communication and Web browsing. And while it will be portable in a way game consoles are not, "it makes sense that it would be connected to the TV eventually," says Peter Relan, chairman of Aurora Feint, the developer of a large social game network for the iPhone.

Smith thinks hard-core gamers will still own a console and use it as the primary gaming platform at home "for some years to come."

"But I can see the tablet taking almost all of the casual to moderate gamer market," he says.

The challenge for console makers will be to respond with innovation. One avenue could be in increasingly sophisticated motion controls, such as Microsoft's upcoming "Project Natal," which lets people manipulate on-screen avatars using their bodies. Natal is set to debut on the Xbox this holiday season.

"Games have become the killer pursuit on all new devices," says Mark Pincus, founder and CEO of Zynga, the company behind popular Facebook games such as "FarmVille" and "Mafia Wars." "They are the reason people buy major new hardware from the Xbox to the iPhone."

Apple tablet could stir up video game business

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil – Thousands of leftists massed Monday to kick off five days of railing against unfettered capitalism at the World Social Forum, a gathering that protests the bankers and other leaders who attend the World Economic Forum at a Swiss ski resort.

To the sounds of thundering drumbeats and samba blaring from sound trucks, 5,000 exuberant activists marched through Porto Alegre waving communist flags and shouting socialist slogans. They assailed corporate greed as the main reason the world plunged into an economic slump.

Organizers hope to attract as many as 15,000 people to the 10th annual version of the event in this city near southern Brazil's border with Uruguay.

Participants said the forum is especially important this year now that governments from the United States to Europe are moving to play bigger roles in managing the global economy.

In contrast, the World Economic Forum that starts Wednesday in Davos is expected to see fewer leaders than in years past, and U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to clamp down on the size and activity of banks is sure to be on the minds of many of the rich and powerful heading to Switzerland.

"They have driven the capitalist system into chaos," said Sergio Bernardo, a Brazilian human rights activist sporting a bright red shirt emblazoned with the words "Bourgeoisie Stinks!" "We're letting them know we can create a world free of exploitation that will help the poor."

Lingering fallout from the financial crisis is proof that the world economy must be retooled to benefit people, not big companies, said Francisco Whitaker, a Roman Catholic activist and co-founder of the World Social Forum who was exiled from Brazil during its 1964-1985 dictatorship no fax pay day loans.

He said that last year's Davos conference was similar to a "wake" and that the lackluster turnout expected this year "gives the impression that capitalism is on the downfall and hitting its limits."

Leftists are increasingly energized by the prospect of persuading governments to tackle corporate excess and spread more wealth to the needy, he said.

"We're in the midst of true enthusiasm," Whitaker said. "We may not change the world completely and all at once, but the change now can come from the bottom and spread. It's surging and getting toward a critical mass."

The World Social Forum serves as a platform for leftists to exchange ideas, though no proposals are formed following days of debate. Instead, participants are expected to take strategies back to their home countries and push for change locally.

While the economic crisis provided a perfect platform for advancing leftist movements, many failed to grasp the opportunity when the slump was at its worst, said Nandita Shah, co-director of India's Akshara Centre, which supports women's rights.

"I think there's a crisis in the left and in our voice," she said. "I hope these five days will bring us out of this visionless tunnel."

Leftists slam capitalism at Social Forum in Brazil

BEIJING – Bank of China plans to sell up to 40 billion yuan ($5.8 billion) in bonds to replenish its capital and meet government standards following a record surge in lending last year amid Beijing's stimulus measures, a state-run news agency reported.

Regulators have warned some banks that they have fallen below minimum capital requirements after handing out some 9.5 trillion yuan in loans last year. Banks are expected to scale back lending to roughly 7.5 trillion yuan in 2010.

Bank of China's proposal still requires shareholder approval at a meeting in March, the Xinhua News Agency said in its report late Saturday. Approval is likely a formality because the government and state-linked institutions control a majority of the bank's shares.

China's banking industry is regarded as the healthiest of any major economy because institutions avoided the mortgage-related turmoil that battered Western lenders no fax cash loans.

Beijing hopes cooling the pace of lending will keep its economy growing without creating inflation and overheating. Other nations are counting on that growth and a healthy demand from China for their goods for their own recoveries.

Record bank lending in 2009 to support government spending on infrastructure and other projects under Beijing's stimulus package has led to fears of asset bubbles and huge bank losses if too many loans sour.

Bank of China to sell up to $5.8 billion in bonds

BEIJING – Beijing issued a stinging response Friday to U.S. criticism that it is jamming the free flow of words and ideas on the Internet, accusing the United States of damaging relations between the two countries by hoisting its "information imperialism" on China.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu defended China's policies regarding the Web, saying the nation's Internet regulations were in line with Chinese law and did not hamper the cyber activities of the world's largest online population. His remarks follow those made by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who in a speech Thursday criticized countries engaging in cyberspace censorship, and urged China to investigate computer attacks against Google.

"Regarding comments that contradict facts and harm China-U.S. relations, we are firmly opposed," Ma said in a statement posted Friday on the ministry's Web site. "We urge the U.S. side to respect facts and stop using the so-called freedom of the Internet to make unjustified accusations against China."

In her speech in Washington, Clinton cited China as among a number of countries where there has been "a spike in threats to the free flow of information" over the past year. She also named Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.

A state-run newspaper labeled the appeal from Washington as "information imperialism," and Ma insisted that China had "the most active development of the Internet" of any country.

Washington, meanwhile, carried its message on Internet freedom directly to Chinese bloggers. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing and consulates in Shanghai and Guangzhou hosted Internet-streamed discussions with members of the blogging community on Friday afternoon — the latest example of Washington's outreach to Chinese bloggers as a way of spreading its message.

The bloggers met with U.S. diplomats from the political, economic and public affairs sections, who held discussions and answered questions about Clinton's speech. The meetings were similar to a session organized during Obama's visit to China in November.

Zhou Shuguang, who blogs under the name "Zuola," attended the session in Guangzhou and said Clinton's speech resonated deeply with Chinese bloggers frustrated by the content controls.

"We welcome the U.S. bringing this topic to the table for discussion in a diplomatic way," Zhou said.

Internet control is considered a critical matter of state security in China, and Beijing is not expected to offer any concessions. Beijing promotes Internet use for commerce, but heavily censors content it deems pornographic, anti-social or politically subversive and blocks many foreign news and social media sites, including Twitter and Facebook and the popular video site YouTube.

Underscoring such sensitivities, Chinese media published only scant reports on Clinton's speech and Web sites carrying the Foreign Ministry response had disabled their comments pages no fax payday loan.

"For many senior leaders in the party, they're going to see this as just a further example of Western misunderstanding of China, Western domination of the agenda, and they're going to be more encouraged to push or defend China's own press policies," said David Bandurski, a Chinese media scholar at the University of Hong Kong.

Bandurski said that could give added impetus to multibillion-dollar plans to raise Chinese state media's overseas profile. China has been setting up new bureaus for state newspapers and funding the official Xinhua News Agency's move into television while establishing new foreign language channels for broadcaster China Central Television.

Phil Deans, a China expert at Temple University's Japan campus in Tokyo, said Beijing will likely view Clinton's comments as further confirmation that the current administration is no more amenable to its world view than the preceding one.

"After a year of sort of getting to know you and seeing how things are, the two sides realize they have a very, very different view of how the world does work and how the world should work," Deans said.

Clinton's speech came on the heels of a Jan. 12 threat from Google to pull out of China unless the government relented on censorship. The ultimatum came after Google said it had uncovered a computer attack that tried to plunder its software coding and the e-mail accounts of human rights activists protesting Chinese policies.

Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, said Thursday that the company hoped to find a way to maintain a presence in China but intended to stop censoring search results within "a reasonably short time."

Responses to the Google issue have ranged widely among Chinese Internet users, with some placing flowers at its Beijing headquarters and others penning screeds bidding good riddance.

U.S. State Department officials have said they intend to lodge a formal complaint with Chinese officials soon over the Google matter. Clinton not only urged China to investigate the cyber intrusions but openly publish its findings.

Clinton's speech was also denounced by an official newspaper Friday as part of a U.S. campaign to impose its values and denigrate other cultures while exploiting their societies' vulnerabilities.

"China's real stake in the 'free flow of information' is evident in its refusal to be victimized by information imperialism," said the English-language Global Times newspaper.

China slams US criticism of Internet controls

BOSTON – The number of home foreclosures initiated in Massachusetts last year jumped about 28 percent over 2008, but that figure was tempered by the fact that the number of completed foreclosures in 2009 was down more than 25 percent compared with the previous year.

The year-end numbers were released Thursday by The Warren Group, a Boston firm that tracks real estate data.

Chief Executive Timothy Warren Jr. called the figures a good news-bad news situation no faxing pay day loans. He says the bad news is that unemployment and other economic hardships put more people in danger of losing their homes.

The good news was that efforts to modify mortgages and a court decision that forced some lenders to hold back on recording foreclosure deeds slowed foreclosure activity in 2009.

Foreclosures fell in Massachusetts last year

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- German stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse warned late Tuesday that it would book a 420 million euro ($600 million) impairment charge for 2009 due to a slowdown at the International Securities Exchange, its U.S. equity options business.

The charge will be partially offset by a 180 million euro tax credit, leading to a 200 million euro reduction in net profit for the year, the exchange said.

Deutsche Boerse , which bought ISE in 2007, said the charge "reflects stagnation in the U.S. equity options market in 2009 and a revenue decline at ISE during the course of the year."

However, it also reassured investors that strong cash flows mean it will still be able to propose a dividend in line with the 2.10 euros it paid for 2008.

Citigroup analyst Daniel Garrod said the fact that ISE is being impaired probably shouldn't come as surprise, since other exchange deals -- including the merger that created NYSE Euronext and the London Stock Exchange's acquisition of Borsa Italiana -- have been written down free credit score online.

The impairment was likely triggered by a decline in margins and a loss of market share at ISE, Garrod said. He added that because it's a non-cash charge, the market likely won't attach too much significance to it, but that it could still indicate a poorer outlook for the ISE.

Shares in Deutsche Boerse slipped 0.3% on the German Xetra market.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank said the impairment may reduce short-term growth expectations for U.S. derivatives volumes.

The broker said it should all induce Deutsche Boerse management to take a firmer stance on price when looking at any new takeover opportunities that arise in the exchange market.

Deutsche Boerse warns of impairment on U.S. arm

FRANKFURT &<51; The European Central Bank and Swiss National Bank said Monday that they would end a program aimed at supplying Swiss currency to banks, in a further sign that the region&S217;s financial system is becoming more stable.

The European and Swiss banks, and the Polish and Hungarian central banks, will stop providing so-called swaps, which had allowed the banks to exchange euros for Swiss francs. The last swap will be Jan. 25, the Swiss central bank said.

The central banks began providing the swaps in October 2008 after the collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers, when interbank transactions broke down amid an atmosphere of mistrust, and banks began having trouble acquiring francs from one another.

The Monday announcement is in line with previous statements by the European Central Bank that it will gradually wind down emergency measures that had kept the banking system functioning during the financial crisis payday loans with no fax.

The European bank cited declining demand for the Swiss franc swaps and &S220;improved conditions in the funding markets.&S221;

&S220;We already have seen that they were progressively unwinding these liquidity provisions,&S221; said Silvio Peruzzo, a euro area economist at RBS in London. &S220;This is an additional step toward a policy of normalization.&S221;

In December, the European bank&S217;s governing council, which sets monetary policy for the 16 countries that use the euro, said it would begin scaling back its huge lending program to euro-zone banks, which has helped avert a collapse in lending to business. Still, the amount of cash available to banks is expected to remain well above normal levels for much of 2010.

European Banks Take a Step Toward More Normal Lending

SAN FRANCISCO_ (Reuters) – Stellar results from Intel Corp could signal brighter tech earnings results in coming weeks, but analysts warn stocks themselves may be stuck in a short-term correction.

Intel shares fell more than 3 percent even after analysts from Credit Suisse, Raymond James and JMP Securities, among others, raised their price targets on the stock. JMP Securities and Thinkequity raised their ratings to "outperform" and "buy" respectively.

The broader market was down on Friday as losses from JP Morgan Chase & Co helped drag the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite down 1.24 percent.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Patrick Wang expected a short-term correction for Intel and many other semiconductor stocks as Wall Street locks in profits after a solid fourth-quarter showing from the world&&9;s largest chipmaker.

"Buy on the rumor, sell on the news," he said, adding that semiconductor stocks have had a good run when put in the perspective of downgrades from both Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch before Intel reported stellar earnings.

"There&&9;s no rhyme or reason behind the weakness here except that expectations are up and people are taking profits," Wang said.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rallied almost more than 15 percent over the holiday quarter and the intervening days before Intel&&9;s earnings announcement; the Nasdaq Composite rallied almost 12 percent.

But, despite indicators of strong demand and low inventories heading into the Chinese New Year, semiconductor stocks fell uniformly across the board, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down 3 business card templates.44 percent to 344.67. The shares of Intel arch-foe Advanced Micro Devices Inc closed down 1.78 percent at &&6;8.84, graphics chipmaker Nvidia Corp was down 2.95 percent to &&6;17.11 and Xilinx Inc was down 2.45 percent to &&6;23.52.

TECH OUTLOOK TO IMPROVE

Longer term, Intel&&9;s better-than-expected outlook and results helped cement hopes of a strong tech sector recovery, as corporations join consumers in opening their coffers in a rebounding economy.

"Intel set the tone," said Robert W. Baird & Co. analyst Tristan Gerra.

He expected to see most semiconductor stocks beat fourth quarter earnings expectations, with guidance for the first quarter that will push consensus numbers to rise. But "I don&&9;t think it&&9;s going to be nearly with the same type of magnitude that Intel reported last night."

In a post-earnings note to investors, FBR Capital Markets&&9; Craig Berger expected Intel&&9;s earnings to foreshadow good news for its rivals and peers.

"We upgraded shares of AMD from Market Perform to Outperform," he wrote, adding that Intel&&9;s blowout revenue and profit results gave him more confidence that Advanced Micro Devices was also benefiting from a robust PC market.

(Reporting by Ian Sherr; editing by Andre Grenon)

Intel earnings good for sector despite selloff

BISMARCK, N.D. – A spokeswoman for North Dakota Rep. Earl Pomeroy says he's not seeking the presidency of a Washington lobbying group for the life insurance industry.

The American Council of Life Insurers is looking for a successor to former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating.

Council spokesman Jack Dolan says Pomeroy is one of a "rather limited" group of people who know Washington and the industry. Dolan says Pomeroy was considered for the job before Keating was hired in 2003.

Pomeroy, a Democrat, has said he's running for re-election quick cash advance. A spokeswoman said Pomeroy is "not considering other public or private employment opportunities."

North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan's wife, Kim Dorgan, is a senior vice president at the council.

(This version CORRECTS Writethru sequence.)

Congressman mentioned to head life insurance group

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) - Earnings growth in South Korean companies is expected to spread from the technology and auto sectors to other areas of the economy as the October-December reporting season kicks off this week, analysts say.

"Unlike the [third quarter of 2009], when we expected quarter-on-quarter earnings growth for [technology companies] only, we see earnings recovery in a wider array of sectors for [the fourth quarter]," Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note released Friday.

And that growth from the last quarter should continue into this year, the analysts said, though possibly at a slower pace than in 2009, due to a higher comparison from the year-earlier period.

Goldman Sachs expects earnings for the companies under its coverage in South Korea to total 11.6 trillion won ($10.4 billion), a massive 524% increase over profits made in the fourth quarter of 2008 -- when corporate earnings across sectors got hammered in the wake of the financial crisis -- but drop more than 10% from the third quarter.

J.P. Morgan analysts were also bullish on Korean earnings, but tipped a sequential decline in profits.

"We believe a sequential drop is likely to be most notable in financials, consumer discretionary, materials and telecom," they said.

In Friday's trading in Seoul, the benchmark Kospi index gained 0.8% to 1,699.36, with exporters and shipbuilding stocks pacing the advance.

Elsewhere in the region, Japan's Nikkei 225 Average was flat at 10,909.85, China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.5%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gave up 0.2%, India's Sensex slipped 0.1%, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slid 0.5%.

Shares of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. climbed 13.2%, and Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. gained 6.1% on hopes of an improving outlook for 2010.

Exporters also jumped, led by a 3% rise in Hynix Semiconductor Inc. , a 1.7% rise in heavyweight Samsung Electronics Co. and a 2.4% advance by Hyundai Motor Co. .

But shares of Posco fell 0.7% after the steel giant kicked off the fourth-quarter earnings season Thursday with a 77% year-on-year jump in profit that fell short of expectations.

Posco also said its full-year profit declined 29% on lower capacity utilization and weaker prices, but added that it aims to raise production this year to 34 payday loans.4 million tons from less than 30 million tons last year.

Among other major companies, Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors, SK Energy and Hyundai Heavy are expected to report earnings on Jan. 28, with Hynix results due on Jan. 21, SK Telecom on Jan. 22, and Samsung Electronics on Jan. 29.

The J.P. Morgan analysts expect robust earnings growth from the automakers, with Hyundai Motor forecast to report a net profit of 782 billion won, more than three times its year-earlier profit of 244 billion won, but smaller than the 979 billion yen profit recorded in the previous quarter.

"We expect Korean automakers to report strong [fourth quarter results], primarily on the back of various governments' incentive programs, and the boost in sales from the launch of various flagship models," Goldman Sachs said.

However, "we remain wary of the relative deterioration in the operating environment" and "softer momentum" in 2010, due to a tougher base of comparison and "incremental competition, globally and at home, and ... a less favorable currency level," the brokerage said.

In the tech space, J.P. Morgan expects Samsung Electronics' profit to jump to 3.39 trillion won from 238 billion won a year-earlier, but lower than the 3.72 trillion won in the July-September period.

Hynix, on the other hand, should swing back to a profit of 595 billion won from a loss of 1.69 trillion won in the year-ago period and more than double the profit of 245 billion won in the previous quarter, on the back of strong prices for semiconductor memory-chip prices.

Looking forward to 2010, Goldman Sachs said the constituents of the benchmark Kospi index could expect a 35% increase in their earnings-per-share, adding it was positive "on steel, display and bulk shipping [sectors] on strong China demand, engineering and construction on strong order flow from the Middle East, and banks and insurance on improvement in margins and premiums."

But Goldman Sachs also cautioned that the risk of a rising Korean won and unwinding of policy stimulus could temper this growth.

Asia Markets: South Korea's earnings momentum may spread

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday as investors bought financial and technology shares ahead of earnings from bellwethers Intel Corp (INTC.O) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) later this week.

A brokerage upgrade of drugmaker Merck & Co (MRK.N) and an upbeat outlook from Kraft Foods Inc (KFT.N) gave a boost to the healthcare and consumer sectors.

JPMorgan shares, up 1.8 percent to &&6;44.26, led gains in the KBW bank index (.BKX), while chip maker Advance Micro Devices (AMD.N) jumped 5.3 percent to &&6;9.11 after falling five straight sessions.

Intel shares rose 1.5 percent to &&6;20.92 and a semiconductor index (.SOXX) gained 1.2 percent.

"Heading into Intel and JPMorgan earnings, I think there was a sense things have sold off enough and buyers have felt more comfortable buying into semiconductors and financials," said Michael James, senior trader at Wedbush Morgan in Los Angeles.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) gained 53.74 points, or 0.51 percent, to 10,681.00. The Standard & Poor&&9;s 500 Index (.SPX) rose 9.05 points, or 0.80 percent, to 1,145.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) added 24.85 points, or 1.09 percent, to 2,307.16.

Wall Street, which had its worst session so far this year on Tuesday, opened lower, weighed down by resource shares.

Intel is scheduled to post quarterly results on Thursday and JPMorgan on Friday.

The biggest boost to the Dow came from Merck shares, up 4.4 percent to &&6;39.21 after Credit Suisse upgraded the stock.

Kraft raised its 2009 earnings outlook, sending shares up 0 bad credit personal loan lenders.4 percent to &&6;29.40.

Chocolate maker Hershey Co (HSY.N) was still mulling a potential bid for Cadbury (CBRY.L) but has not decided whether it will proceed with a formal offer, a source familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.

Hershey&&9;s shares fell 2.6 percent to &&6;36.75. Kraft is also attempting to buy Cadbury.

Google Inc&&9;s (GOOG.O) shares fell 0.9 percent to &&6;582.03 after the Internet search giant said it may shut its China operations over censorship and hacking. For details see

Shares of rival Chinese search engine Baidu Inc (BIDU.O) jumped 13 percent to &&6;436.62 and led percentage gains on the Nasdaq 100 (.NDX).

Crude oil prices slipped 0.4 percent to &&6;80.45 per barrel, and Chevron Corp (CVX.N) was the biggest drag on the Dow, falling 0.9 percent to &&6;79.71.

The heads of Wall Street&&9;s biggest banks defended the lucrative pay practices and size of their businesses before a commission investigating the 2008 financial crisis.

"I think the rally (in financial shares) is more a function of gaining back yesterday&&9;s losses than what was going on in Washington," Wedbush Morgan&&9;s James said.

The Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book that while economic activity was at a low level, "conditions have improved modestly further, and those improvements are broader geographically than in the last report.".

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Tech and financials lead Wall St higher

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Ford (F.N) remains opens to talks with potential bidders for its Volvo cars unit despite a commercial agreement on a sale with China&&9;s Zhejiang Geely, a Swedish business daily reported on Tuesday.

Ford and Geely said in December they had reached a commercial agreement on the deal, which they expected to sign during the first quarter and complete during the second.

But Dagens Industri quoted Volvo chief executive Stephen Odell as saying the door was open to further talks on a sale after a conversation on Monday with Ford leadership.

"I know that Ford is open to talking with others," he told the paper easy payday loans. "Those who say that the door is closed can go to Ford and talk with them whenever they want." In an interview on Monday at the Detroit auto show, Odell told Reuters talks between the U.S. carmaker and Geely were going forward as planned, adding 2010 would be tough for Volvo with projected sales of 350,000 units.

(Editing by Dan Lalor)

Ford still open to talks on Volvo Cars sale: report