Oil rises above $94 on China, US recovery hopes

BANGKOK (AP) — Oil prices rose above $94 on Monday, supported by signs of economic recovery in the U.S. and China.
Benchmark oil for February delivery was up 56 cents to $94.12 per barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped 26 cents to finish at $93.56 a barrel in New York on Friday.
Gordon Kwan, head of energy research at Mirae Asset Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong, said oil prices were rising on signs that the fragile economic recoveries in the world's two biggest economies appeared to be gaining traction. The U.S. housing market has shown steady improvement, while China's trade growth rebounded strongly in December.
"China and the U.S. appear to be on a very solid track of economic recovery. This supports oil prices at much higher levels." He said that prices were also moving up because of increased energy consumption in China, which is enduring its coldest winter in nearly three decades.
"There is the possibility that West Texas Intermediate could reach $95 per barrel in the coming days and Brent could go to $115," Kwan said.
Brent crude, used to price international varieties of oil, was up 39 cents to $110.23 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
In other energy futures trading on Nymex:
— Wholesale gasoline rose 0.3 cent to $2.758 a gallon.
— Heating oil rose 1.1 cents to $3.02 a gallon.
— Natural gas rose 3.3 cents to $3.36 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Read More..

U.S. economy to grow 2.5 percent this year: Fed's Evans

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is expected to grow by 2.5 percent in 2013, improving to 3.5 percent growth in 2014, top Fed official Charles Evans said on Monday.
Evans also forecast the U.S. unemployment rate would be 7.4 percent this year, easing to about 7 percent in 2014.
"One good indicator of labor market improvement would be if we saw payroll employment increase by 200,000 each month for a number of months. We've been averaging about 150,000, but it's been very uneven ... we need a higher pace of employment growth and less volatility in that pace," Chicago Fed President Evans said.
The creation of 1 million jobs over six months would be a "substantive" improvement, but bringing unemployment down to the key level of 6.5 percent was likely to take much longer, probably until mid-2015, he said, speaking at the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong.
The U.S. Federal Reserve's decision last year to tie monetary policy to specific economic conditions should help boost the recovery without letting inflation take hold, said Evans, a chief architect of the policy.
It also provides additional accommodation by assuring markets that rates will remain low even after the economy perks up, he said.
"Given more explicit conditionality, markets can be more confident that we will provide the monetary accommodation necessary to close the large resource gaps that currently exist," he said. "Additionally, the public can be more certain that we will not wait too long to tighten if inflation were to become a substantial concern."
Last month, the Fed ramped up asset purchases aimed at spurring growth, and pledged to keep rates near zero until the unemployment rate drops to 6.5 percent, as long as inflation expectations do not climb above 2.5 percent.
Evans, who rotates into a voting spot on the Fed's policy-setting panel this year, had been pushing for exactly such a threshold-based policy for more than a year, saying the Fed needed to take a much more activist role in trying to meet its mandate to boost employment.
His speech on Monday was his first since mid-2011 to omit an explicit call for further Fed easing, suggesting he is now comfortable that the current stance of monetary policy will help bring down unemployment, still high at 7.8 percent.
Kansas City Fed President Esther George and other critics of the Fed's bond-buying program and low-rate policy have warned the central bank's actions could overheat the economy, leading to unwanted inflation.
Evans, one of several policy "doves" set to speak early this week, sought to head off such criticism.
While the Fed's new 2.5-percent inflation threshold "allows for inflation at times to run modestly above" the Fed's 2-percent goal, it in fact acts as a safeguard against overheating, he said.
The U.S. economy grew at a 3.1 percent annual rate in the third quarter, but growth is expected to have slowed in the final months of the year. Last month, Fed policymakers said they expected GDP growth of between 2.3 to 3.0 percent this year, and 3.0 to 3.5 percent in 2014.
Meanwhile, most expect inflation to run a bit below the Fed's 2-percent target.
U.S. lawmakers on January 1 struck a partial deal that avoids the worst of planned tax rises known as the "fiscal cliff," but put off big decisions on spending cuts for two more months.
Evans said the effects of fiscal policy on U.S. growth are so far about what he had expected when making his growth forecasts late last year.
But he cautioned lawmakers on taking overly aggressive steps to cut back spending.
"The United States must consolidate its public sector finances; but it must do so gradually if we are to avoid further economic turmoil or another downturn," Evans said.

Read More..

U.S. economy to grow 2.5 percent this year: Fed's Evans

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is expected to grow by 2.5 percent in 2013, improving to 3.5 percent growth in 2014, top Fed official Charles Evans said on Monday.
Evans also forecast the U.S. unemployment rate would be 7.4 percent this year, easing to about 7 percent in 2014.
"One good indicator of labor market improvement would be if we saw payroll employment increase by 200,000 each month for a number of months. We've been averaging about 150,000, but it's been very uneven ... we need a higher pace of employment growth and less volatility in that pace," Chicago Fed President Evans said.
The creation of 1 million jobs over six months would be a "substantive" improvement, but bringing unemployment down to the key level of 6.5 percent was likely to take much longer, probably until mid-2015, he said, speaking at the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong.
The U.S. Federal Reserve's decision last year to tie monetary policy to specific economic conditions should help boost the recovery without letting inflation take hold, said Evans, a chief architect of the policy.
It also provides additional accommodation by assuring markets that rates will remain low even after the economy perks up, he said.
"Given more explicit conditionality, markets can be more confident that we will provide the monetary accommodation necessary to close the large resource gaps that currently exist," he said. "Additionally, the public can be more certain that we will not wait too long to tighten if inflation were to become a substantial concern."
Last month, the Fed ramped up asset purchases aimed at spurring growth, and pledged to keep rates near zero until the unemployment rate drops to 6.5 percent, as long as inflation expectations do not climb above 2.5 percent.
Evans, who rotates into a voting spot on the Fed's policy-setting panel this year, had been pushing for exactly such a threshold-based policy for more than a year, saying the Fed needed to take a much more activist role in trying to meet its mandate to boost employment.
His speech on Monday was his first since mid-2011 to omit an explicit call for further Fed easing, suggesting he is now comfortable that the current stance of monetary policy will help bring down unemployment, still high at 7.8 percent.
Kansas City Fed President Esther George and other critics of the Fed's bond-buying program and low-rate policy have warned the central bank's actions could overheat the economy, leading to unwanted inflation.
Evans, one of several policy "doves" set to speak early this week, sought to head off such criticism.
While the Fed's new 2.5-percent inflation threshold "allows for inflation at times to run modestly above" the Fed's 2-percent goal, it in fact acts as a safeguard against overheating, he said.
The U.S. economy grew at a 3.1 percent annual rate in the third quarter, but growth is expected to have slowed in the final months of the year. Last month, Fed policymakers said they expected GDP growth of between 2.3 to 3.0 percent this year, and 3.0 to 3.5 percent in 2014.
Meanwhile, most expect inflation to run a bit below the Fed's 2-percent target.
U.S. lawmakers on January 1 struck a partial deal that avoids the worst of planned tax rises known as the "fiscal cliff," but put off big decisions on spending cuts for two more months.
Evans said the effects of fiscal policy on U.S. growth are so far about what he had expected when making his growth forecasts late last year.
But he cautioned lawmakers on taking overly aggressive steps to cut back spending.
"The United States must consolidate its public sector finances; but it must do so gradually if we are to avoid further economic turmoil or another downturn," Evans said.

Read More..

S.Africa's rand mostly flat as farming strike looms

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand held mostly steady on Monday as a strike that hit the farm belt last week looked set to intensify, posing a risk to agricultural production in Africa's largest economy.
The rand was positioned to trade within a narrow range against the dollar this week after being pushed down in the previous session following a sovereign ratings downgrade by Fitch, which warned of growing social instability and labour unrest.
Dealers expect short covering could benefit the rand at the start of the week, but that manufacturing data on Wednesday may give it a knock.
Unions have warned that farm workers' protests last week in the western grape-growing region were expected grow as workers seek to have their daily wages doubled to 150 rand from about 70 rand presently. Two people died in similar farm protests last year.
At 0634 GMT, the rand was at 8.7200, not too far from its 8.7255 New York close on Friday. It traded at a high of 8.7185 earlier.
"While the downgrade may be fully priced by now, the fact that the strike activity persists and the probability that this week's mining and manufacturing data could disappoint suggest that rand bulls should not become too enthusiastic about the chances of a swift recovery," Absa Capital said in a note.
Several major mining firms have yet to recover from crippling strikes that left more than 50 people dead last year and slowed production in the crucial sector.
The sovereign ratings downgrade may squeeze foreign exchange supply but some traders expect low returns in developed markets to underpin demand for South Africa's higher yielding paper.
The yield for the 13-year benchmark lost 3.5 basis points to 7.130 percent while the yield on the 2015 note was down 2.5 basis point to 5.325 percent.

Read More..

Soccer-Lyon must sell and Gomis could go, says president

PARIS, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Olympique Lyon need to continue cutting their payroll and are in talks to sell top scorer Bafetimbi Gomis, president Jean-Michel Aulas said on Friday.
Lyon, who have not taken part in the Champions League this season for the first time since 2000, already sold top players Hugo Lloris, Aly Cissokho and Kim Kallstrom during the last transfer window in a bid to cut costs.
They have still managed to challenge Paris St Germain and lie second in the Ligue 1 standings, level on points with their rich rivals, but are the only French club listed on the stock exchange and have yet to comply with financial constraints.
Aulas confirmed that Argentine full back Fabian Monzon, who signed from Nice in the off-season, has joined Brazilian side Fluminense on loan for six months.
Other players will leave in January.
"There will definitely be other moves during the winter transfer window," the club's owner told reporters.
"The ideal solution would be a big transfer (...) Otherwise, a couple of players will leave on loan.
"Our strategy is to cut the payroll. The club has to be well run ... so we will stick to our strategy, whatever the (sporting) price will be."
Lyon have been in talks with several clubs who have shown interest in France striker Bafetimbi Gomis, who has scored 11 goals in 19 league appearances so far this term.
"It will speed up in the last 15 days of the window," Aulas said, suggesting Lisandro Lopez's departure could be an option if Gomis was to stay at the club.
The Argentine striker has asked to relinquish the captain's armband.
Aulas also confirmed that Turkish side Besiktas have made an offer for France forward Jimmy Briand.
Lyon, eliminated as French Cup holders in the last 64 round when they lost on penalties at third tier Epinal last weekend, visit 19th-placed Troyes on Saturday.

Read More..

Soccer-Bulgaria keeper Stoyanov returns home to Ludogorets

SOFIA, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Bulgaria goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov has headed home to join champions Ludogorets after three years with Moldova's most successful club Sheriff Tiraspol.
"I want to win everything with Ludogorets," Stoyanov told a news conference on Friday. "I return to the Bulgarian championship more mature and more experienced, with many matches in European competitions."
Stoyanov, 25, became Ludogorets's third new signing during the Bulgarian league's mid-season break after Serbian midfielder Nemanja Milisavljevic and Colombian midfielder Sebastian Hernadez.
Ludogorets, who won their maiden league title last year, top this term's standings with 38 points from 15 matches.

Read More..

Soccer-Boss Appleton joins Blackburn after 66 days at Blackpool

LONDON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Blackburn Rovers appointed Michael Appleton as manager on Friday with the 37-year-old leaving Blackpool after 66 days in charge.
Indian-owned Rovers, Premier League champions in 1995 but relegated from the top flight last season, confirmed the news on Twitter having sacked Henning Berg last month after 57 days.
Blackburn are 13th in the Championship (second tier), one place above north west rivals Blackpool who were in the Premier League two years ago.
Both clubs have seen long-running supporter unrest towards their respective owners while Blackpool fans on internet message boards slammed former Portsmouth boss Appleton for a perceived lack of loyalty after such a short stint in charge.

Read More..

Red Hat shares up on acquisition and 3Q results

Red Hat Inc.'s shares jumped Friday on the software company's solid third-quarter results and plans to acquire cloud-based software company ManageIQ.
THE SPARK: Red Hat said late Thursday that it would buy privately held ManageIQ for $104 million in cash.
The Raleigh, N.C., company also reported that it earned 29 cents per share for its fiscal third quarter on an adjusted basis, up a penny from the prior year and in line with analyst expectations. Its revenue for the period increased 18 percent to $343.6 million, which beats the $338 million that analysts polled by FactSet had forecast.
THE BIG PICTURE: ManageIQ's software helps businesses deploy and manage private clouds. Red Hat said the deal will expand the reach of its public-private cloud setups for its customers. The acquisition is expected to have no material impact to Red Hat's revenue for its fiscal year ending in February.
THE ANALYSIS: Stifel Nicolaus analyst Brad R. Reback said that the company has been able to maintain momentum even in a difficult environment and he thinks the latest deal offers an interesting longer-term angle for its business. He thinks the company is well positioned to generate at least 15 to 20 percent billings growth in the future. He reiterated a "Buy" rating and a $65 price target on its shares.
SHARE ACTION: Shares gained $2.25, or more than 4 percent, to $54.86 in afternoon trading. Shares have traded between $39.19 and $62.75 in the past 52 weeks.

Read More..

Dozens of Android Games, Apps Discounted for Google Holiday Sale

The Google Play store -- that's the name of the Android "app store," or the "Android Market" for those of you new to the change -- is featuring dozens of game and app sales for Android smartphones and tablets. Well, actually, it's not; you can see some of the discounted apps on the front page, but there's no special section of the website or on-device market that says where the ones on sale are, or even how to find them. And the "Holiday Surprise" feature is only a handful of deals picked by Google itself.
Here's a look at some of the major game publishers' Android sales, along with discounted creativity apps and where to find more details.
Gameloft's "Android Christmas" sale
It may be too late for Hanukkah this year, but top-tier Android publisher Gameloft has put a dozen of its titles up for sale for Christmas just $0.99 . These games are normally in the $5-7 range, making them among Android's priciest.
Besides its licensed games based on movies -- like superhero films "The Dark Knight Rises" and "The Amazing Spider-Man," and (inexplicably) "The Adventures of Tintin" -- Gameloft is best known for creating mobile versions of popular PC and console games. Not in the sense that they are official ports, so much as that they're remarkably similar, to the extent that they arguably could be official ports if the serial numbers were filed off. With that in mind, several of its Modern Combat (which are totally not Modern Warfare) and N.O.V.A. first-person shooters (which are totally not Halo) are included in the sale, although the most recent installment of the former -- Modern Combat 4 -- is not.
Superhero fans may also want to check out Marvel Games' Avengers Initiative, which isn't a Gameloft title but is also on sale for $0.99 .
Square-Enix's "Winter of Mobile" sale
Best known for having invented the jRPG genre, Square-Enix has brought several of its most popular titles to Android, and most of them are discounted (from their extremely high launch prices) for the holidays.
Crystal Defender, Chrono Trigger, and Final Fantasy have all received numerous 1-star reviews on Google Play for technical issues, and reviewers complain that the titles haven't been optimized for Android hardware. The Chaos Rings titles, however, fare much better with reviewers, and are much more steeply discounted as well, at $3.99 each compared to their usual price of $12.99. They're ports of the iOS originals, which were Square-Enix's first attempts at making "real" jRPGs for mobile devices.
SEGA's Holiday Sale
SEGA's games are on sale for the holidays across the board, on pretty much every platform. On Android, that mostly amounts to Sonic 4 (episodes 1 and 2) and Sonic CD, all of which are on sale for $0.99 . Strategy title Total War Battles and rollerblade platformer Jet Set Radio, meanwhile, are on sale for $1.99.
Creativity / productivity apps on sale
Android phones and tablets aren't just for gaming. If you didn't pick up Microsoft Office-compatible OfficeSuite Pro 6+ during Google's earlier $0.25 sale, it's discounted to $0.99 now from its regular price of $14.99. Autodesk's professional drawing apps, SketchBook Mobile and SketchBook Pro for Tablets, are $0.99 and $2.99 compared to $1.99 and $4.99 regularly, and the Jotter handwriting app -- which requires a Samsung Galaxy Note -- is half-off at $1.99.
Stay up to date
Many more Android games and apps are being discounted for the holidays. Apps such as (the aptly-named) AppSales can help keep you apprised of the latest additions. Meanwhile, the Android Police blog is maintaining an up-to-date "Enormous List" of all holiday sales.
Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

Read More..

El MIDI, la tecnología que le abrió la puerta a la música digital, cumple 30 años

Un pequeño teclado y un ordenador portátil: hasta que apareció la tecnología MIDI, hace 30 años, nadie imaginaba que sólo con ese equipo se podría dar un concierto. Dicen los entendidos que para apreciar realmente el tema Shine on you crazy diamond , de Pink Floyd, es mejor escucharlo en vinilo.
Las emisiones de los sintetizadores estallan a través del crepitar de la púa sobre el disco, mientras la guitarra y la batería marcan un ritmo ondulante. Es un sonido enorme que define toda una época, y uno puede sumergirse por completo en el espíritu de esos años con esa versión en vinilo.
Pero más allá de la impresionante creatividad de la música, el sonido evidencia una importante limitación en la forma en la que los instrumentos musicales electrónicos se controlaban en aquel momento.
"Una banda como Kraftwerk, por ejemplo, utilizaba 200 teclados analógicos distintos", explica el músico argentino Cineplexx.
Pero la tecnología de la Interfaz Digital de Instrumentos Musicales (MIDI, según sus siglas en inglés) permitió conectar los instrumentos a una computadora y entre sí, lo que supuso un cambio enorme.
"Yo cuando doy un concierto utilizo un teclado con 20 teclas y un ordenador portátil", cuenta Cineplexx .
Con estos elementos es posible componer, secuenciar, programar, modificar y reproducir el sonido de cualquier instrumento, como "un vibráfono o un sintetizador".
Un lenguaje común
El protocolo MIDI nació en California, de la mano de Dave Smith, un fabricante de sintetizadores, que convenció a sus competidores para que adoptaran un formato en común que permitiera controlar de forma externa a los sintetizadores, con otro teclado o incluso a través de una computadora.
MIDI pronto se convertiría en el estándar industrial para conectar diferentes instrumentos electrónicos, cajas de ritmo, samplers y ordenadores. Esta tecnología abrió una "nueva era de procesamiento musical".
"Lo que hizo MIDI es permitir el nacimiento de los primeros estudios de grabación caseros", cuenta Smith en conversación con Tom Bateman, de BBC Radio 4.
El Prophet-600 de Sequential Circuits en acción

Read More..