SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Bernard Madoff, the man behind the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, has been moved to a medical facility at the federal prison complex where he's serving a 150-year sentence.

Madoff, 71, was in a medium-security facility of the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, North Carolina. However, on Dec. 18 he was moved to Butner Federal Medical Center, part of the prison complex that houses male inmates of all security levels, Traci Billingsley, a spokeswoman at Federal Bureau of Prisons, said in an email to MarketWatch.

It's not clear why Madoff was moved infra red heaters.

"The potential reasons for an inmate's transfer are numerous and we don't release those specific reasons," Billingsley said.

Ira Sorkin, Madoff's lawyer, didn't immediately respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment on Wednesday afternoon.

Madoff pleaded guilty earlier this year to running a Ponzi scheme that left investors with tens of billions of dollars in losses. He was sentenced to 150 years in prison in June.

Madoff moved to prison medical facility

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks finished flat to slightly higher on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve reiterated its intention to keep interest rates low for the foreseeable future to ensure a sustainable economic recovery.

Wall Street trimmed gains after the Fed voted unanimously to keep benchmark borrowing costs in a range of zero to 0.25 percent, which represents historic lows.

The central bank&&9;s policy-making committee also reminded markets it will let most of the special liquidity facilities, which have helped bolster the U.S. banking system after last year&&9;s credit crisis, expire by early next year.

"The liquidity pullback, people are looking at it and saying we&&9;re not going to get that free run that we&&9;ve had in the stock market, we&&9;re not going to have all that free capital that we had previously," said Dan Cook, senior market analyst at IG Markets in Chicago.

"That will have people concerned, heading into the new year."

Financial stocks, which had initially climbed after sources said global banking regulators will give institutions a grace period before enforcing more stringent capital rules, also slipped after the Fed&&9;s statement.

The S&P Financial Index (.GSPF) rose 0.7 percent, retreating from earlier gains of more than 1 percent. JP Morgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), a Dow component and the second-largest U.S. bank, added 1.2 percent to &&6;41.36.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) slipped 10.88 points, or 0.10 percent, to end at 10,441.12. But the Standard & Poor&&9;s 500 Index (.SPX) gained 1.25 points, or 0.11 percent, to 1,109.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) added 5.86 points, or 0.27 percent, to 2,206.91.

After the closing bell, Citigroup Inc (C.N) shares slid 3.5 percent to &&6;3.33 after CNBC reported the bank&&9;s equity offering had been priced at &&6;3.15 per share.

MILD CPI, HEALTHIER HOUSING DATA

Earlier in the session, data from the Labor Department showed the overall U.S. Consumer Price Index rose 0.4 percent in November, in line with expectations, which eased inflation worries and lifted stocks.

Home builders&&9; stocks climbed after Commerce Department data showed new U pay day advance.S. housing starts increased 8.9 percent in November, the largest monthly percentage gain since May, indicating the housing sector remains on a steady recovery path.

The Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction index (.DJUSHB) jumped 4.4 percent, led by KB Home (KBH.N), up 6 percent at &&6;13.59 on the New York Stock Exchange.

But after the closing bell, shares of Hovnanian Enterprises Inc (HOV.N) tumbled 13.2 percent to &&6;3.67 in extended trade after the No. 5 U.S. home builder posted a quarterly loss that was much bigger than Wall Street&&9;s expectations.

During the regular session, chipmaker Intel (INTC.O) slid 2.1 percent to &&6;19.38 on Nasdaq after the U.S. government accused the chipmaker of illegally using its market dominance to stifle competition.

Honeywell International Inc (HON.N), the largest maker of cockpit electronics, dropped 2.1 percent to &&6;40.37 after it forecast a drop of 13 percent to 21 percent in net profit next year. It was the biggest drag on the S&P Industrial index (.GSPI), which slipped 0.3 percent.

Investors, particularly those with significant holdings in banking stocks, also noted the news from Washington that two bills were introduced on Wednesday to reinstate the 1930s-era Glass-Steagall Act to split commercial and investment banking. The proposed legislation is part of an effort in Congress to curb Wall Street&&9;s excesses after last year&&9;s financial crisis and the meltdown in the stock market.

Volume was light on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1.16 billion shares changing hands, below last year&&9;s estimated daily average of 1.49 billion, while on the Nasdaq, about 2.11 billion shares traded, below last year&&9;s daily average of 2.28 billion.

Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of about 2 to 1, while on the Nasdaq, about 15 stocks rose for every 11 that fell.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Additional reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Wall St ends flat to up a bit after Fed's statement

LONDON – European stock markets awaited direction from Wall Street on Friday despite the news that the recession in the 16-country eurozone was over.

The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was almost unchanged, down less than a point at 5,275.92 while Germany's DAX fell 12.94 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,651.02. The CAC-40 in France was 10.64 points, or 0.3 percent, lower at 3,797.43.

Meanwhile in the U.S., Dow futures were 14 points, or 0.1 percent, higher at 10,203 while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 futures rose 2.1 points, or 0.2 percent, at 1,089.40.

On Thursday, U.S. stocks fell by 1 percent as oil prices tumbled and the dollar continued to clamber off recent lows.

"As it stands right now, it would be of little surprise to see something of a sideways drift into the weekend break," said David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index.

Many analysts think stocks may claw out more gains if the S&P 500 can close about the 1,100 mark. Despite several attempts this week, it has not been able to sustain a break above that level through the end of the session.

"The question investors are asking now is whether we can eventually push higher...or whether recent congestion is a sign that the rally higher is over," said Geoffrey Yu, an analyst at UBS.

Stocks have rallied strongly since March's lows with many of the world's major indexes trading at, or near, their highest levels this year as investors reined in their economic doomsday expectations to factor in a swifter than anticipated global economic rebound.

News that the 16-country eurozone emerged from recession in the third quarter did little to excite investors as the 0.4 percent quarterly rise was less than many had been anticipating, and as growth in some major economies fell short of forecasts. With a rebound in exports partially offset by weak household spending, Germany's economy grew by 0 payday loans.7 percent and France's by 0.3 percent.

Still, the third quarter rise in eurozone output was the first in six quarters and brings to an end Europe's sharpest recession since World War II. Though the eurozone's banks were not at the epicenter of the financial crisis that triggered the global economic downturn, the region suffered as demand for its high-value products fell off a cliff.

Investors also didn't get too excited by the planned merger of British Airways PLC and Spain's Iberia. Both stocks were up only around 2 percent, though they had rallied strongly in the run-up to the announcement.

Earlier, Asian markets closed mixed amid investor uncertainty about the global outlook after Wall Street's losses on Thursday.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 34.18 points, or 0.4 percent, to 9,770.31 while Seoul's Kospi was off 0.1 percent at 1,571.99. Singapore's market traded flat, while Sydney shed 0.8 percent.

Among rising markets, China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index added 0.5 percent to 3,187.65, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng recouped its early losses to gain 0.7 percent to 22,553.63.

Oil prices continued to fall in the wake of Thursday's soft U.S. inventory data. Benchmark crude for December delivery was down 27 cents at $76.67 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract tumbled $2.34 to settle at $76.94 on Thursday.

The euro was 0.2 percent higher at $1.4871. Despite the modest advance, the euro is still a ways down from levels earlier this week, when it nearly broke above its 15-month high of $1.5061.

The dollar was 0.6 percent down at 89.76 yen.

__

Associated Press Writers Louise Watt in London and Joe McDonald in Beijing contributed to this report.

European stocks steady ahead of Wall Street open

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

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

BOSTON (Reuters) – Diversified U.S. manufacturer Honeywell International Inc (HON.N) posted a 15 percent profit drop that was far less severe than analysts had forecast, sending its shares higher in light premarket trading.

The world&&9;s biggest maker of cockpit electronics on Friday reported third-quarter profit of &&6;608 million, or 80 cents per share, compared with &&6;719 million, or 97 cents per share, a year earlier.

Earnings were boosted 4 cents per share by a lower-than-expected tax rate, though the company expects that to be offset in the fourth quarter.

Revenue fell 17 percent to &&6;7.7 billion.

Analysts, on average, looked for profit of 72 cents per share on &&6;7.88 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Its shares rose 2.3 percent to &&6;39.40 in premarket trading.

Honeywell held its full-year profit target steady at &&6;2.85 per share.

For the year, Wall Street expects profit of &&6;2.78 per share.

The Morris Township, New Jersey-based company has faced declining demand for its thermostats and other control systems as commercial construction has slowed around the world payday loans no fax. Its aviation unit has also been hit by declining air travel.

Honeywell has twice this year cut its profit forecast, first in April and again in July. As of July it expected to earn &&6;2.85 per share for the year, well below its December forecast of &&6;3.20 to &&6;3.55 per share.

Much of corporate America revised its earnings targets in the first half of 2009, as it scrambled to keep up with a downturn that was faster and more severe than many executives had anticipated.

Its competitors include United Technologies Corp (UTX.N) in aerospace and building control systems, Goodrich Corp (GR.N) in aviation and DuPont Co (DD.N) in specialty materials.

So far this year, Honeywell shares are up about 13 percent, lagging the 14 percent rise of the Standard & Poor&&9;s capital goods industry index (.GSPIC).

(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Derek Caney)

Honeywell profit tops Street view, shares up

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Charles Schumer on Tuesday jumped in to the debate over anonymous trading venues known as dark pools, calling for tough new regulations a day before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission meets to consider new rules.

Schumer, among the most vocal of lawmakers pressing for market structure reform, urged in a letter to SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro that the regulator adopt some of the most robust measures now on the table, and called for a new market-wide monitor.

He said the growth of dark pools, which now number more than 40, risks undermining fair and transparent markets, and that regulation has not kept pace. The private venues are used primarily to trade large blocks of stock, and have proliferated this decade as the marketplace went electronic.

"We want to keep them in existence ... but we want a much more level playing field, which is what we don&&9;t have right now," Schumer said on a media conference call, adding the fragmented market "compromises the ability of regulators to monitor and enforce such abuses as front running and market manipulation..."

Dark pools, the largest of which are run by banks such as Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX), account for an estimated 10 to 15 percent of overall U.S. equity volume.

The SEC meets Wednesday to consider proposals for changes that are expected to shed more light on the venues, including requiring them to display more quotes and publicly reveal more data on volumes.

The industry also expects more clarity on whether actionable indications of interest, or IOIs, which dark pools and exchanges use to communicate, should be treated as quotes.

Schumer said all actionable IOIs should be treated as quotes, which would effectively kill them, and that the threshold beyond which dark pools must display quotes should be dropped from 5 percent to 1 percent.

He also called on the SEC to consider real-time reporting of dark pool trades to the consolidated tape -- a measure that many expect, but that some warn could hamper institutions&&9; ability to execute big, complicated orders free insurance quotes.

Schumer made a splash this summer when he called for the elimination of so-called flash orders, which some exchanges sent to specific market players before routing them to the wider market. The SEC last month proposed to ban flashes.

ANTICIPATING NEW RULES

NYSE Euronext (NYX.N), which runs the New York Stock Exchange and participated in Schumer&&9;s conference call, on Tuesday said it would begin next month offering a means by which dark pools and broker-dealers could report trading.

The service -- which effectively dusts off a so-called trade-reporting facility, or TRF, that has been mostly dormant for a year -- is backed by units of Goldman, Barclays PLC (BARC.L), UBS AG (UBSN.VX), Knight Capital (NITE.O), and by Getco, the big high-frequency market-maker.

All U.S. off-exchange trading is now printed on Nasdaq OMX&&9;s (NDAQ.O) TRF, which accounts for some 35 percent of overall volume. NYSE&&9;s rival TRF would standardize volume reporting, print it daily on its website -- and represents a way for the exchange to facilitate any new SEC rules.

Schumer said dark pools should face more robust start-up regulations, and should share the costs of providing market-wide surveillance -- an argument long held by NYSE Euronext CEO Duncan Niederauer, who was also on the call.

Schumer did not identify which body should act as monitor.

U.S. market surveillance is now shared by in-house teams at the trading venues, as well as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The SEC is the umbrella regulator and police for stock and options markets.

(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Bernard Orr)

Schumer jumps into dark pool debate ahead of SEC meet

Filed at 12:24 a.m. ET

SHANGHAI (AP) -- Foreign direct investment in China rose by nearly a fifth in September, suggesting the country's economic recovery is attracting investment after a lull earlier in the year.

FDI was worth $7.9 billion for the month, up 19 percent from a year earlier, the Commerce Ministry said Thursday.

But actual foreign direct investment for the first nine months of the year totaled $63.8 billion, a 14 percent decline from the same period of 2008.

China is a top investment destination but double-digit growth rates plunged in late 2007 as foreign companies were hit by the global downturn and cut spending. Many are continuing to invest in China to take advantage of its stronger economic growth compared with other countries.

There was a nearly 11 percent increase in the number of newly approved foreign invested companies in September.

The September rise in foreign direct investment compared with a 7 percent year-on-year increase in August, and declines of 35.7 percent in July and 6.8 percent in June.

"The two months' rebound shows the confidence of foreign investors in the Chinese economy low cost payday loans. With the strong rebound in the domestic economy, I believe more foreign investors will participate in China's economic development," ministry spokesman Yao Jian told reporters in Beijing.

The foreign direct investment figure does not include stocks and other financial assets, which also appear to be attracting strong investment inflows: China's foreign reserves, already the world's largest, hit a record high $2.273 trillion by the end of September, the central bank reported Wednesday.

China's economic growth rose to 7.9 percent over a year earlier in the quarter ending June 30, up from 6.1 percent the previous quarter, and analysts say the recovery is gathering strength. Retail spending and industrial investment are rising.

------

On the Net:

Chinese Commerce Ministry: http://www.mofcom.gov.cn

------

Associated Press researcher Bonnie Cao contributed to this report from Beijing.

Foreign Investment in China Up 19 Pct in September

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A newspaper report that Gulf Arab states are in secret talks to replace the U.S. dollar in the trading of oil is wrong, Saudi Arabia&&9;s central bank chief said on Tuesday.

Asked by reporters about the story in Britain&&9;s The Independent, Muhammad al-Jasser said: "Absolutely incorrect."

Asked whether Saudi Arabia was in such talks, he replied: "Absolutely not."

Asked whether Saudi Arabia was committed to the dollar, he said: "You asked the question, I answered it bad credit pay day loans. You asked about the story."

The Independent quoted unidentified sources as saying Gulf Arab states were in secret talks with Russia, China, Japan and France to replace the U.S. dollar with a basket of currencies in the trading of oil.

(Reporting by Simon Rabinovitch; Editing by Andrew Torchia)

Saudi central bank: report on replacing dollar is wrong

SYDNEY &S212; The Chinese state-owned chemical firm Sinochem bid $2.5 billion on Monday for the Australian farm chemicals group Nufarm, looking to gain a global footprint in a deal that could again test investment ties between China and Australia.

The bid sent Nufarm shares up nearly 10 percent to 12.22 Australian dollars in morning trade, though still substantially below the offer price of 13 dollars, reflecting concerns that the deal still has many hurdles to clear, including due diligence and both shareholder and regulatory approvals.

The major regulatory risk is Australian foreign-investment approval, which has been difficult to predict, especially when state-owned Chinese firms seek to take control of local assets.

&S220;There could be issues, but I think on balance it should be ok,&S221; said Paul Xiradis, chief executive of the fund manager Ausbil Dexia, arguing that Nufarm did not pose the same national interest concerns as China&S217;s recent mining investments.

Australia&S217;s Foreign Investment Review Board has stymied at least two major Chinese investments in Australia this year, both involving local companies that own large mineral deposits.

In contrast, Nufarm is in the manufacturing industry where the foreign investment regime has generally been more liberal.

&S220;It should be quite a do-able transaction from the FIRB&S217;s point of view,&S221; Mr. Xiradis said, referring to the review board.

The main attraction for Sinochem is Nufarm&S217;s global distribution network, which includes businesses in Asia, South America and Europe, analysts say.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch had speculated that an offer between 14 to 16 dollars a share would be accepted by the board.

&S220;Whether it succeeds at that price, it&S217;s hard to say, but I don&S217;t think there&S217;s going to be too many counteroffers payday loans. It has been known that Nufarm is potentially up for sale and no one else has come to the party at this point,&S221; Mr. Xiradis said. Ausbil owns Nufarm shares but declined to divulge the holding.

Nufarm reported a 2.6 percent drop in net profit on Monday and flagged a challenging operating environment in the current year. That cautious outlook could be part of the reason for the lower-than-expected bid, analysts said.

Resource-hungry China has been looking to buy Australian mining companies, including a $2.9 billion bid by state-owned Yanzhou Coal Mining Co for Felix Resource. So far this year, Chinese companies have invested about $5 billion in Australian companies.

Last month, China&S217;s biggest steelmaker, Baosteel, agreed to buy a 15 percent stake in iron ore explorer Aquila Resources for $240 million.

China is Australia&S217;s biggest export market, with two-way trade worth $53 billion last year.

Nufarm said there was still no certainty a deal would proceed, despite its support for the heads of agreement.

It is the second time Nufarm has received an approach from a Chinese firm in two years. In 2007, China National Chemical Corp., China&S217;s leading chemical producer, led a 3 billion dollar approach with the U.S. private equity firms Blackstone Group and Fox Paine Management, but they did not make a formal offer.

Nufarm is being advised by UBS, while the Royal Bank of Scotland is advising Sinochem.

Reuters

Sinochem Makes $2.5 Billion Bid for Australian Chemicals Group

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday, as investors bet that the U.S. Federal Reserve will stick to its accommodative policy to foster the economic recovery, boosting growth-sensitive sectors such as financials, technology and industrials.

Signs that the U.S. Treasury&&9;s &&6;43 billion auction of new two-year notes met strong demand added to the positive tone.

Investors have scrutinized auction results closely this year, especially after worries surfaced back in May about the longevity of the United States&&9; prized AAA credit rating.

"People are putting some credibility in the fact that maybe the recession is behind us and the worst is over," said Dan McMahon, senior managing director of equity trading at Raymond James Financial Inc in New York. "Things seems to be trending in the right direction as far as the underlying economic data."

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) rose 53.88 points, or 0.55 percent, to 9,832.74. The Standard & Poor&&9;s 500 Index (.SPX) climbed 7.28 points, or 0.68 percent, to 1,071.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) gained 8.98 points, or 0 faxless cash advance.42 percent, to 2,147.02.

The U.S. dollar&&9;s slide to a one-year low against the euro helped propel global commodity prices higher, with U.S. front-month crude up 2.6 percent, or &&6;1.84, to settle at &&6;71.55 a barrel, while spot gold rose toward an 18-month high approaching &&6;1,020 an ounce.

The Federal Reserve began a two-day policy-setting meeting on Tuesday. Its policy statement is due on Wednesday around 2:15 p.m. (1815 GMT).

And with no change expected in interest rates, investors probably will focus on the bank&&9;s assessment of the economic outlook, particularly after Chairman Ben Bernanke said last week that the recession was "technically" over.

Among standouts, Citigroup (C.N) shares jumped 5.2 percent to &&6;4.66 following news that Singapore wealth fund GIC has cut its stake in the U.S. banking company in half.

The S&P 500 financial index (.GSPF) was up 2.2 percent.

(Editing by Jan Paschal)

Wall Street rises on recovery bets; Fed in focus

SAN DIEGO &<51; The inside of computers has been Intel&S217;s territory, as the world&S217;s biggest maker of microprocessors reminds consumers with its &S220;Intel Inside&S221; campaign.

The cellphone&S217;s guts have been the domain of Qualcomm. As the cellphone becomes more like a computer and the computer more like a cellphone, it was inevitable that the two chip makers would clash.

Intel wants to get inside smartphones, and Qualcomm, one of the largest suppliers of chips for wireless phones, wants to get into small notebook computers.

&S220;Intel is trying to come down from the computer and bring their software ecosystem along,&S221; said Qualcomm&S217;s chief executive, Paul E. Jacobs. &S220;We&S217;re trying to go up from the phone and build the software ecosystem.&S221;

Qualcomm, which sells about 22 percent of all chips used in wireless devices including the iPhone, BlackBerry Storm and T-Mobile G1, believes it has never been better situated in its 24-year history to break into the market for computing devices.

PCs are evolving into tablet PCs and small laptops, essentially big smartphones that are always on, always connected to the Internet, with all-day battery life &<51; in short, very much like a large iPhone or BlackBerry. Qualcomm calls these devices smartbooks because the design resembles a large smartphone.

Mr. Jacobs sees his company at the center of an industry that is driving the most cutting-edge innovations, as seen in devices like the iPhone and BlackBerry Storm.

&S220;That energy is now coming out of the phone industry,&S221; Mr. Jacobs said. &S220;The PC became so standardized that the degree of innovation was not the same as what you see in the phone space.&S221;

Intel, whose revenue is approximately triple Qualcomm&S217;s, disagrees. &S220;As mobile devices become smarter with PC-like performance, computer and Internet capabilities, this is Intel&S217;s strength,&S221; an Intel spokeswoman, Suzy Ramirez, said.

Qualcomm is counting on its Snapdragon chip to power these devices. Developed by a team of former I.B.M. engineers who worked on the PowerPC microprocessor, it is the first chip of its kind to reach a speed of 1 gigahertz, a significant milestone for ARM, a processor design renowned for using so little power the device&S217;s battery can last all day.

Snapdragon is already being used by Toshiba in its ultra-thin TG01 smartphone that is being sold in Europe. More devices using Snapdragon are expected later this year, Mr free business cards. Jacobs says.

Hardware alone will not win the battle, however. Qualcomm has been working with Google, which developed the Android operating system for cellphones. The fruit of this partnership was T-Mobile&S217;s G1 phone, the first smartphone using Android and a Qualcomm chip.

&S220;There was a lot engineering back and forth,&S221; Mr. Jacobs said. &S220;The thing that we&S217;re doing now is helping them scale. Because they have a relatively small team focused on evolving the operating system.&S221;

What may prove more significant than Android is software that Google will bring out next year: the Chrome operating system, which is intended for larger, computerlike devices to challenge laptops running Windows.

Qualcomm is betting that Google becomes a major operating software company.

&S220;They&S217;re onto what the future of computing is,&S221; said Bill Davidson, Qualcomm&S217;s senior vice president for global marketing and investor relations. &S220;It&S217;s about taking advantage of the computational power that already exists within the Internet.&S221;

He went on: &S220;The whole push for Chrome is to have the much thinner, lighter, smaller client so that you don&S217;t need as much memory to run this big honking OS,&S221; he said, referring to Microsoft&S217;s Windows operating software.

The Qualcomm chip will be designed to work with Chrome to move some of the computing functions off the device to fast computers based in data centers, a model the industry calls cloud computing.

&S220;I think a hybrid model is the model that will work best, where there are certain applications that are downloaded on the device and they live there,&S221; Mr. Jacobs said. &S220;And other ones that are coming up and down through the cloud. We&S217;ll support both.&S221;

It is not going to be a cakewalk to displace the most potent partnership &<51; Microsoft and Intel &<51; in the history of the personal computer.

&S220;One of the key issues is brand,&S221; said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst for compute platforms research, at the market researcher iSuppli. &S220;Google Chrome OS, Android and ARM are not traditionally seen in PC retail stores. Therefore they will be competing against established and recognized brands: Intel, Microsoft and Windows.&S221;

Intel and Qualcomm Eye Each Other’s Terrain

Kristen Nagy, an 18-year-old from Sparta, N.J., sends and receives 500 text messages a day. But she never uses Twitter, even though it publishes similar snippets of conversations and observations.

&S220;I just think it&S217;s weird and I don&S217;t feel like everyone needs to know what I&S217;m doing every second of my life,&S221; she said.

Her reluctance to use Twitter, a feeling shared by others in her age group, has not doomed the microblogging service. Just 11 percent of its users are aged 12 to 17, according to comScore. Instead, Twitter&S217;s unparalleled explosion in popularity has been driven by a decidedly older group. That success has shattered a widely held belief that young people lead the way to popularizing innovations.

&S220;The traditional early-adopter model would say that teenagers or college students are really important to adoption,&S221; said Andrew Lipsman, director of industry analysis at comScore. Teenagers, after all, drove the early growth of the social networks Facebook, MySpace and Friendster.

Twitter, however, has proved that &S220;a site can take off in a different demographic than you expect and become very popular,&S221; he said. &S220;Twitter is defying the traditional model.&S221;

In fact, though teenagers fueled the early growth of social networks, today they account for 14 percent of MySpace&S217;s users and only 9 percent of Facebook&S217;s. As the Web grows up, so do its users, and for many analysts, Twitter&S217;s success represents a new model for Internet success. The notion that children are essential to a new technology&S217;s success has proved to be largely a myth.

Adults have driven the growth of many perennially popular Web services. YouTube attracted young adults and then senior citizens before teenagers piled on. Blogger&S217;s early user base was adults and LinkedIn has built a successful social network with professionals as its target.

The same goes for gadgets. Though video games were originally marketed for children, Nintendo Wiis quickly found their way into nursing homes. Kindle from Amazon caught on first with adults and many gadgets, like iPhones and GPS devices, are largely adult-only.

Similarly, Twitter did not attract the young trendsetters at the outset. Its growth has instead come from adults who might not have used other social sites before Twitter, said Jeremiah Owyang, an industry analyst studying social media. &S220;Adults are just catching up to what teens have been doing for years,&S221; he said.

Many young people, who have used Facebook since they began using the Internet and for whom text messaging is their primary method of communication, say they simply do not have a need for Twitter.

Almost everyone under 35 uses social networks, but the growth of these networks over the last year has come from older adults, according to a report from Forrester Research issued Tuesday. Use of social networking by people aged 35 to 54 grew 60 percent in the last year.

Another reason that teenagers do not use Twitter may be that their lives tend to revolve around their friends. Though Twitter&S217;s founders originally conceived of the site as a way to stay in touch with acquaintances, it turns out that it is better for broadcasting ideas or questions and answers to the outside world or for marketing a product. It is also useful for marketing the person doing the tweeting, a need few teenagers are attuned to.

&S220;Many people use it for professional purposes &<51; keeping connected with industry contacts and following news,&S221; said Evan Williams, Twitter&S217;s co-founder and chief executive. &S220;Because it&S217;s a one-to-many network and most of the content is public, it works for this better than a social network that&S217;s optimized for friend communication.&S221;

Wendy Grazier, a mother in Arkansas, said her two teenaged daughters thought Twitter was &S220;lame,&S221; yet they asked her to follow teenage pop stars like Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift on Twitter so she could report back on what the celebrities wrote. Why won&S217;t they deign to do it themselves? &S220;It seems more, like, professional, and not something that a teenager would do,&S221; said 16-year-old Miranda Grazier. &S220;I think I might join when I&S217;m older.&S221;

The public nature of Twitter is particularly sensitive for the under-18 set, whether because they want to hide what they are doing from their parents or, more often, because their parents restrict their interaction with strangers on the Web.

Georgia Marentis, a 14-year-old in Great Falls, Va., uses Facebook instead of Twitter because she can choose who sees her updates. &S220;My parents wouldn&S217;t want me to have everything going on in my life displayed for the entire world,&S221; she said. (Of course, because of the public nature of social networks and the ease of creating a fake identity on the Web, even sites with more privacy settings have proved dangerous for young people in some cases.)

Many young people use the Web not to keep up with the issues of the day but to form and express their identities, said Andrea Forte, who studied how high school students use social media for her dissertation. (She will be an assistant professor at Drexel University in the spring.)

&S220;Your identity on Twitter is more your ability to take an interesting conversational turn, throw an interesting bit of conversation out there. Your identity isn&S217;t so much identified by the music you listen to and the quizzes you take,&S221; as it is on Facebook, she said. She called Twitter &S220;a comparatively adult kind of interaction.&S221;

For Twitter&S217;s future, young people&S217;s ambivalence could be a good thing. Teenagers may be more comfortable using new technologies, but they are also notoriously fickle. Although they drove the growth of Friendster and MySpace, they then moved on from those sites to Facebook.

Perhaps Twitter&S217;s experience will encourage Web start-ups to take a more realistic view of who uses the Web and go after a broader audience, Ms. Forte said. &S220;Older populations are a smart thing to be thinking about, as opposed to eternally going after the 15- through 19-year-olds,&S221; she said.

Who’s Driving Twitter’s Popularity? Not Teens

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BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany is ready for further talks with General Motors on the sale of European carmaker Opel and wants to avoid confrontation with the U.S. firm on the matter, a government spokesman said on Monday.

"It is important not to resort to confrontation," government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said at a regular government news conference, adding the government aimed to invite a member of the GM board to Germany to discuss Opel this week.

On Friday, GM failed to recommend either of two bidders for Opel -- Canadian supplier Magna (MGa.TO), Germany&&9;s preferred buyer, or rival bidder RHJ International (RJHI.BR).

(Reporting by Paul Carrel and Noah Barkin)

Germany to invite GM this week on Opel

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President Barack Obama has spoken with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, about "issues of mutual interest and concern in the Americas."  Brazil's leader expressed concern about a plan to give the U.S. military greater access to seven bases in Colombia.In a statement, the White House said the two leaders spoke Friday morning.Pres. Barack Obama (front R) shares a word with Brazil's Pres. Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva at the G8 summit, L'Aquila, Italy, 09 Jul 2009It said President Obama reaffirmed his commitment to long-standing U.S. relationships in the region, and his desire to work with Brazil and others in the hemisphere to help advance democracy, security and prosperity for the people of the Americas.  The United States recently reached a provisional agreement with Colombia, giving U.S. forces access to Colombian bases to tackle regional drug-trafficking and terrorism.  South American nations such as Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela have criticized the plan, with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez saying the U.S. forces could threaten his country.The statement said Mr. Obama looks forward to seeing President da Silva next month at the Pittsburgh G-20 Summit, and continuing to strengthen the U.S. partnership with Brazil.

Some information for this report was provided by AP.

US, Brazilian Presidents Discuss Issues of Concern in Americas

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