Viernes 18/02/11 Los bulls controlan el mercado!!

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SPANISHFEBRUARY 18, 2011, 12:02 A.M. ET
Una economía dividida ayuda a contener la inflación en EE.UU.
Por Jon Hilsenrath y Justin Lahart

Los precios al consumidor subieron 1,6% en Estados Unidos en enero respecto a igual lapso de 2010, una señal de que la inflación se empezaría a acelerar después de meses de letargo.

Debajo de la superficie, sin embargo, hay un tira y afloja que impediría que el alza de los precios alcance en EE.UU. la misma dimensión que ya ha adquirido en China, América Latina, Europa y numerosos mercados emergentes.

El aumento de todo tipo de precios, desde la gasolina hasta los alimentos y el café de Starbucks, generan temores de un regreso de la inflación en EE.UU. Pero en muchos otros negocios, como la peluquería y la jardinería, las empresas no han subido en absoluto sus precios y, en algunos casos, no les ha quedado más alternativa que bajarlos.

Hay dos fuerzas en conflicto. Por un lado, los crecientes costos de los commodities en todo el mundo hacen subir los precios de muchos bienes en EE.UU. Por el otro, la debilidad de la economía y el mercado inmobiliario y la alta tasa de desempleo mantienen a raya los precios de los servicios.

El índice de precios al consumidor, que divulgó el jueves el Departamento de Trabajo, ilustra esta dicotomía. El precio de los bienes aumentó 2,2% con respecto a un año atrás, marcado por los saltos de la energía y la comida. El precio de los servicios, no obstante, apenas trepó 1,2% en relación al año anterior, muy debajo de la tasa de 3,4% registrada entre 2000 y 2008.

Las direcciones opuestas en los precios de los bienes y los servicios podrían tener un gran impacto en la marcha de la inflación estadounidense. El presidente de la Reserva Federal (Fed), Ben Bernanke, apuesta a que el encarecimiento de bienes como la gasolina y los alimentos no se propagará al resto de la economía. Bernanke y muchos economistas privados no prevén que EE.UU. experimente el tipo de inflación acelerada que amenaza a China, India y otras economías emergentes.

La inflación en los bienes ha superado la de los servicios desde mediados de 2007, algo que no había ocurrido desde los años 70. Durante la mayor parte de los últimos 30 años, el precio de los bienes fue contenido, en parte, por las importaciones desde países de bajos salarios como China. En los últimos años, sin embargo, China y otros mercados en desarrollo se han transformado en enormes consumidores de materias primas, lo que presiona al alza los precios estadounidenses de muchos bienes transados en todo el mundo.

Los hogares estadounidenses gastaron US$7 billones (millones de millones) en servicios en 2010, lo que representó 67% del gasto de los consumidores. Debido a que el sector de servicios es tan inmenso, la economía estadounidense está menos expuesta a las presiones de costos impuestas por el comercio mundial.

La Fed espera que este factor la ayude a mantener bajo control la inflación en los próximos meses. "El grueso del aumento en los precios de los commodities es un fenómeno global", declaró Bernanke a los legisladores este mes. "La inflación originada aquí en Estados Unidos es muy, muy baja".

En su reunión del mes pasado, la Fed elevó levemente su proyección de inflación para este año, que se ubica entre 1,3% y 1,7%. La entidad proyectó un incremento de entre 1% y 1,3% para la inflación subyacente, que excluye los precios de los alimentos y de la energía, por debajo de la meta informal del banco central de algo menos de 2%.

Esto significa que lo más probable es que la Fed mantenga su actual política, en la que la tasa de interés de corto plazo está en casi cero, durante al menos varios meses más. El banco central subiría las tasas solamente si advierte que la inflación se extiende.

Una preocupación es que el alza en los precios de los alimentos y la energía golpee las billeteras y merme el gasto de los consumidores en otros bienes y servicios, lo que debilitaría la recuperación de la economía en un momento en que el desempleo sigue siendo alto.

Muchos factores, en todo caso, podrían desbaratar el plan de Bernanke. Los crecientes precios de los commodities podrían extenderse al resto de la economía, como ocurrió en la década de los 70. Las empresas ya han señalado que la presión se está intensificando y podrían comenzar a subir los precios.


EE.UU. ya enfrentó este dilema en 2008, cuando se dispararon los precios de las materias primas mientras la economía estaba en recesión. La Fed decidió no subir las tasas para aplacar la inflación de los commodities. Terminó siendo una decisión acertada debido a que la crisis financiera agravó la recesión.

Algunas compañías ya anunciaron la intención de subir los precios. Pete Bensen, el director de finanzas de McDonald's, dijo en una conferencia con analistas que la cadena de comida rápida considera un aumento de entre 2% y 2,5% en sus precios este año.

El vestuario sería el próximo sector en acusar el golpe. La industria se ha visto afectada por el encarecimiento del algodón y de los costos laborales en China, entre otros factores.

Los precios en el sector de los servicios están bajo una presión mucho menos intensa. La debilidad de la economía estadounidense ayuda a las empresas a mantenerlos bajo control.

El costo de un corte de pelo, por ejemplo, subió 0,6% en enero con respecto a un año atrás, una importante caída con respecto al incremento anual de 2,9% registrado entre 2000 y 2008.

Dwayne Moore instaló en diciembre una peluquería en Cincinatti. Su estrategia es cobrar menos que sus competidores. "Con la economía en un estado tan deplorable queremos darle a todo el mundo un respiro", cuenta. Cobra US$10 por los adultos y US$8 por los niños.

[admin]

Apple, bajo la lupa de las autoridades antimonopolio

Por Thomas Catan y Nathan Koppel

Los reguladores antimonopolio de Estados Unidos están examinando detenidamente los términos que quiere fijar Apple para las empresas de medios que quieren que su contenido aparezca en su popular iPad y otros de sus dispositivos.

El interés de las agencias está en una etapa inicial y podría no desembocar en una investigación formal u otro tipo de medidas contra la compañía. Pero se produce en momentos en que Apple ha atraído un creciente escrutinio de las autoridades de la competencia en EE.UU. y Europa.

Una portavoz de la Comisión Europea, el brazo ejecutivo de la Unión Europea, dijo que estaban al tanto del nuevo servicio de suscripción de la empresa y que "seguían la situación con cuidado".

Bajo los términos de un nuevo servicio de suscripción que Apple dio a conocer esta semana, las empresas que venden contenido digital para los aparatos fabricados por Apple tendrán que hacerlo disponible a través de la tienda en línea de la compañía, iTunes.

El Departamento de Justicia y la Comisión de Comercio de EE.UU. quieren examinar si las condiciones van en contra de las leyes en defensa de la competencia, al imponer restricciones en la manera en la que las empresas de medios pueden interactuar con sus consumidores, y al quedarse con una participación de 30% sobre todas las ventas, según fuentes al tanto.

Aunque los términos no impiden que las compañías de medios vendan suscripciones digitales en otras partes, las restricciones impuestas por Apple podrían hacer que esa opción sea significativamente menos atractiva.

Tanto el Departamento de Justicia como la Comisión de Comercio de EE.UU. tienen la misión de velar que se cumplan las leyes antimonopolio en ese país, por lo tanto deben decidir cuál de las dos agencias asumirá el control de la investigación. Los portavoces del Departamento de Justicia, la Comisión de Comercio y Apple declinaron comentar al respecto.

Apple mantiene un férreo control sobre casi todos los aspectos de su iPad, iPod y iPhone. La empresa decide qué aplicaciones se pueden ejecutar en los dispositivos, prohibiendo la pornografía o cualquier aplicación que decida que es de calidad inferior. Los aparatos sólo funcionan con contenido vendido en su tienda iTunes y viceversa.

Ese control ha ocasionado quejas de las casas editoriales descontentas con los requisitos propuestos por la empresa para los servicios de suscripción.

La compra de revistas u otros servicios de suscripción a través de iTunes requeriría pocos clics y el uso de datos de facturación que ya están archivados por Apple. Pero la empresa le prohibiría a las editoriales enlazar su contenido a sitios externos a su tienda u ofrecer mejores términos en otra parte. Expertos legales dicen que algunas de estas reglas podrían generar problemas antimonopolio.

La prohibición de enlazar aplicaciones a sitios externos "suena como una posición bastante audaz", dijo Eric Goldman, el director del Instituto de Derecho de Alta Tecnología, de la Universidad de Santa Clara. "Parece que es puramente en interés de Apple intentar impedir que la gente haga transacciones de las que no recibirá una participación".

La condición de Apple de que sus propios clientes deberían recibir la mejor oferta disponible de las compañías de medios, también podría ser examinada. Estas cláusulas pueden considerarse anticompetitivas si distorsionan los precios.

Las compañías de música en línea expresaron que la comisión de 30% reduciría profundamente sus márgenes de ganancias. La tasa "es tan obviamente contraria a la competencia que nunca sobrevivirá en Europa", opinó Axel Dauchez, el presidente de Deezer, una empresa francesa que vende suscripciones a su biblioteca de música digital de 10 millones de canciones.

Jon Irwin, el presidente de Rhapsody International Inc., que también vende suscripciones digitales de música en línea a través de aplicaciones en Apple y otros aparatos móviles, observó que su empresa quedaría en una posición muy difícil si tiene que pagar regalías a los propietarios de la música, además de 30% a Apple. "Los costos no dejan espacio para un modelo de negocio razonable", dijo.

[Maricielo]

El oro con perspectivas alcistas, según análisis técnico

(Kitco News) -- Gold has generated upward technical-chart momentum, analysts say. “Yesterday’s trade in gold saw confirmation of Wednesday’s marginal breakout above the 50-day (moving average), while (Comex March) silver broke out above the Jan 3rd high at $31.275,” says MF Global. “Markets typically follow through with such breakouts before falling back to retest them within 1-2 weeks.” Barclays looks for $1,400 gold in the not-too-distant future. “Above the latter would confirm our bullish view for gold and signal extension through the $1,432 all-time high,” Barclays says. “Our targets are in the $1,460/$1,485 area.” Barclays technicians look for spot silver to continue outperforming gold and are encouraged by the break above the $31.26 high, putting their next targets at $33 and $37. “The gold/silver mint ratio is on course to reach our initial target in the 41 area,” Barclays says.

http://www.kitco.com/reports/KitcoNewsM ... 10218.html

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La numero uno en la lista de Barron's es AAPL por sengudo anio consecutivo

AAPL tiene el respeto de los inversionistas.

Barron's Cover | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2011 ...And the Award Goes to Apple!
By VITO J. RACANELLI | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR

The tech titan tops our global ranking for the second straight year, followed by Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway.

A fall from grace is both difficult to watch and morbidly fascinating. Whether the subject is a person of high regard or a greatly respected company, often it is impossible to look the other way.

Such is the case with Johnson & Johnson in Barron's latest ranking, The World's Most Respected Companies. Few firms, with the possible exception of banks, have fallen harder in the eyes of our respondents since our survey of professional money managers was launched seven years ago. J&J (ticker: JNJ) has always ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in garnering respect from investors—until this year, that is. After struggling with quality-control issues, the New Brunswick, N.J.-based health-care giant has tumbled all the way to No. 25 among the world's 100 largest public companies, hanging on to the list's first quartile by its bloodied fingernails.

JNJ's nosedive contrasts sharply with Apple's (AAPL) staying power, as the fabled inventor of the iPod, iPhone and iPad tops our annual ranking for the second consecutive year. What's more, the bouquet of accolades thrown at Apple might make even Steve Jobs blush. America's money managers praise the company he built as "visionary," "courageous," "innovative" and possessed of a "strong corporate culture," which has fostered "consistent execution." No matter that some say Wall Street's near-religious devotion to Apple, coupled with the stock's 53% rally last year, could be setting the company and its shares up for a fall. For now, Apple reigns supreme in commanding investors' respect.


The 100 Most Respected Companies
.Just as some companies fall out of favor, others, like Amazon.com (AMZN) gain greater esteem from investors. The online retailer is No. 2 this year, up from No. 10 in 2010. Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA), a perennial at the pinnacle, is No. 3, up from No. 5, in a vote of confidence for founder Warren Buffett's leadership. IBM (IBM) maintains its fourth-place status, while McDonald's (MCD) cracks the top five for the first time ever, edging up from No. 7 in a vote of confidence for the company's management and strategy. Even burgers, well done, can be as sexy as iPads.

EACH YEAR Barron's surveys professional money managers about their views of the world's 100 largest companies, based on total stock-market capitalization at year end, as determined by Dow Jones Indexes. This year's survey, conducted with the help of Beta Research in Syosset, N.Y., elicited responses from 92 investors across the country, ranging from proprietors of small advisory firms to the chief investment officers of money-management giants overseeing billions of dollars.

Participants were asked to select one of four statements reflecting their view of each company: Highly Respect, Respect, Respect Somewhat or Don't Respect. A point value was assigned to each response, with the highest accorded to Highly Respect, and a mean score was tabulated for each company. In the case of ties, the higher ranking went to the company with the most Highly Respect votes. The managers also were asked to rank the factors they consider most important in determining respect for corporations, and were invited to contribute comments on individual companies.

BP (BP), the British oil producer, fell more places than J&J, but already had been held in only middling regard. No. 47 in 2010, it slid to No. 95, where it rubs elbows with governance-challenged Russian companies, not to mention Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC), ranked No. 96 and No. 97, respectively.

Procter & Gamble (PG) consistently has ranked among the top five in commanding respect, but not this year; it clocks in at No. 10, down from No. 3. Investors may be disappointed that its shares rose only 6% last year, and concerned that P&G's higher-priced products could be less competitive in a post-recession world.


What Inspires Respect?
A sound business strategy trumps management for our respondents. "Even the best CEO can't make a huge success out of a flawed business strategy," says Harbor Advisory's Jack DeGan.


..Toyota Motor (TM) also lost face, plummeting to No. 47 from last year's No. 6, as investors reacted to the company's recalls of various models for mechanical problems in 2009-10. And Goldman Sachs (GS), the global investment bank that appeared on the list for the first time last year, promptly fell this year to No. 66 from No. 30, a remarkable drop for a company considered uniquely successful by investors around the world just a few short years ago.

Moving up sharply on in our survey are companies such as No. 7-ranked 3M (MMM); No. 21-ranked Siemens (SI), and Daimler (DDAIFF), the German automotive leader, now No. 30. The French luxury-goods conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (MC.France) is ranked No. 32, up from No. 52, while Britain's Vodafone (VOD) is No. 36, a long way up from last year's No. 65.

Each of these companies won more respect for different reasons, but the collective advance of the four European outfits speaks to another of this year's themes: a 50% increase, to 15, in the number of foreign companies among the top 40 names on the list.

WITH THE EXCEPTION of BP, our cellar dwellers aren't new to their lowly position. Russian companies consistently have been dissed by U.S. investors, and rightly so, for poor governance, corruption and Russia's disregard of the rule of law. Gazprom (GAZP.Russia), the energy-exploration giant, is No. 100, a short but ignominious drop from last year's No. 99. Its replacement in the penultimate position is Sberbank (SBER03.Russia), down from No. 97, while Rosneft (ROSN.Russia), another energy producer, stays at No. 98.


What determines respect? "Sound business strategy" gets the most votes this year, from 32% of money managers, eclipsing "strong management," which was most important to 28% of respondents but last year ranked No. 1. That is a "healthy and important change," says Jack De Gan, chief investment officer at Harbor Advisory in Portsmouth, N.H. "Even the best CEO can't make a huge success out of a flawed business strategy."

De Gan thinks former Fidelity fund manager Peter Lynch said it best when criticizing the cult of star CEOs: Go for a business that any idiot can run, because sooner or later any idiot probably is going to be running it.

Interestingly, only 12% of money managers now consider "ethical business practices" the first determinant of respect, down from 20% last year. Could it be that memories of fraudulent behavior, financial shenanigans and other lapses in ethics are fading right along with memories of the credit crunch, bear market and Great Recession of 2008-09?

For Lloyd Khaner of New York's Khaner Capital, management still is tops. "Management is the single most important factor" in determining a company's direction and success, he says. "If I take a torpedo because of management [I've invested in], there's no one to blame but myself."

Jack Oliver, head of money manager RBO in St. Helena, Calif., agrees. "Strong management will drive all those other components. It will be ethical and innovative…. It's an intangible asset on the balance sheet."

SOME MONEY MANAGERS cite respect as the first cut in their investment process. But others say respect is the result of strong investment performance, which reflects a multitude of smart decisions made by management and employees. Respected companies treat their shareholders, customers and employees well, and companies whose shares go up seem to garner ever greater respect. "You'll get respect if your stock is up," says Paul Jackson of Paul Jackson & Associates in Auburndale, Mass. "It often comes down to stock price."

For Apple, it is hard to know where respect ends and blind adulation begins. In the past five years Apple has shown "an ability to execute and have the pulse of the world consumer," says Seth Shalov, a portfolio manager at MAI Wealth Advisors in Cleveland.

Apple has redefined the consumer-electronics market, inventing must-have telecommunications gear and pocketing additional revenue from the sale of iPhone and iPad applications, or apps. "Steve Jobs has revived a culture that emphasizes vision and is highly innovative," says Tom Weary of Pacific Income Advisers in Santa Monica, Calif.

How Apple fares with Jobs on a medical leave of indeterminate duration is another matter. Although the company has a deep bench, the law of large numbers may begin to work against it. With a huge market capitalization of $328 billion, the company might languish a while without Jobs, Shalov says.

AMAZON.COM IS ANOTHER COMPANY that has taken full advantage of the Internet, becoming the world's largest online retailer. Indeed, it is one of the few healthy survivors of the dot-com boom of a decade ago. Dismissed as a fad in that bubble era, even by this publication, Amazon has gone on to generate more than $34 billion in annual revenue and command a market value of nearly $84 billion.

"It is very profitable and always investing for a better consumer experience…adding [retail] categories all the time," says Jim O'Donnell at San Francisco-based Forward Management. Amazon has a "phenomenal" core business and is going global, he adds.

"It surprises you on innovation, too," says Pacific Income's Weary.

As for Berkshire Hathaway, there is little to add about its consistently high ranking in our survey and many others. The company garners respect for its lengthy history of operating and investment successes, and that leads straight to the boss—the plainspoken, octogenarian, Cherry-Coke sipping Wall Street legend, Warren Buffett.

In the throes of the financial crisis, his investments in Goldman Sachs and General Electric (GE) helped stabilize both companies and give the financial markets a much-needed shot of confidence, notes George Mussalli, a money manager at PanAgora Asset Management in Boston. Buffett, he says, "is like the market's Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval."

For that and other reasons, Buffett's 13EEE-size investment shoes will be difficult to fill when the master steps down. "Can Berkshire survive after Buffett's exit?" asks David Hartzell, CEO of Cornell Capital Management in upstate New York. "Yes, but it won't be the same company. This is even more of a question than at Apple. Is Berkshire's bench enough to hold an oddball conglomerate together?"

Good question.


Institutional investors' abiding fondness for IBM suggests the company finally is achieving some lasting recognition for a once-controversial switch made years ago—to emphasize software and services over mainframes and other computers. Respect, hard won and long in the cultivating, doesn't always come from meeting quarterly earnings estimates or achieving other short-term goals that Wall Street demands, survey-takers noted.

With the Street focused on IBM's transformation and the then-controversial disposal of its legacy hardware business, the company didn't receive the credit it deserved for steady earnings growth without major profit disappointments. "It is a great example of a company that has moved to services from hardware, adding value and longevity," says Peter Scholla, a partner at Global Investment Adviser in North Palm Beach, Fla.


AND THEN THERE ARE HAMBURGERS, lots and lots of them, made and sold by McDonald's, another belated recipient of much-deserved respect. The company's image on Main Street as the biggest fast-food chain in the world doesn't do it justice, according to our respondents. On Wall Street, McDonald's is viewed as a company that changed its spots for the better back in 2002-03, moving away from a single-minded focus on unit growth to a more mature approach that balances growth with the return of cash to shareholders. Much as investors like McDonald's appetizing 3.3% dividend yield, they also appreciate that it has responded effectively to changes in society's eating and drinking habits.

"What business is more up, down and risky than the restaurant business?" asks Cornell Capital's Hartzell, a big fan of the stock. "People think of McDonald's as a burger maker, but they've got specialty coffees, salads and sundaes now"— a testament to the company's ability to reinvent itself.

That brings us to companies such as J&J and Toyota, which must reinvent themselves quickly, or at least make some big changes to get back into investors' good graces.

The litany of Johnson & Johnson problems that have exploded into the news in the past 18 months is too lengthy to recount, but here are a few: Just last month, a Texas federal jury ordered the company to pay $482 million in patent-infringement damages. J&J's once-pristine respect score also has been hurt by a string of product recalls at various subsidiaries, especially some that sell children's medicines and the company's flagship over-the-counter painkiller, Tylenol. When it comes to respect from investors, the message should be clear: Don't mess with kids' drugs.


Johnson & Johnson has pulled almost 47 million units of over-the-counter products such as Tylenol, Benadryl, Sinutab and Sudafed, due to quality-control problems. In last year's fourth quarter, the company took a painful $922 million charge, representing the impact of litigation settlements, product-liability expenses and costs associated with the recall of certain hip implants at DePuy, another subsidiary.

J&J has had to suspend or alter activities at several plants, which could affect this year's sales. It has acknowledged that consumer trust of its products "has truly been tested." In its annual report three years ago, the company said it would focus on execution. "That's not what they've done," says Marc Heilweil at Spectrum Advisory Services in Atlanta.

Johnson & Johnson and McDonald's are a study in contrasts, says Fla Lewis, a principal at Weybosset Research & Management in Providence, R.I. The fast-food chain has kept its eye on the ball and protected its brand, while "at J&J it seems to be one thing after another. They don't seem to be able to wrestle it down."

In an e-mail Friday in response to a query from Barron's, CEO Bill Weldon noted that, until the recent setbacks, the company had built a strong reputation in the past 125 years. And he added: "We are working diligently to overcome our recent problems to ensure only the highest-quality products reach our customers—the first step to earning back their trust and confidence."

One consolation for investors is that Johnson & Johnson's earnings have grown, even through the company's troubles. Earnings rose to $4.78 a share last year from $4.40 in 2009, even though revenue was basically flat at $61.6 billion. J&J also pays a dividend of $2.16 a share, for a yield of 3.5%.

IN MANY WAYS, our survey of investor respect is an accurate barometer of public perceptions about a number of big companies—and a warning to those in need of change. Take Toyota, another long-trusted maker of familiar products that also was rocked by a series of recalls beginning in late 2009. The Japanese company recalled about eight million vehicles amid allegations of defective floor mats and accelerator pedals.

Toyota was tarnished not only by the need for a recall but "the way they handled it," one money manager wrote. "They didn't address as quickly as they could have."

The timing was bad, a lost opportunity. "It was a perfect time to screw up, right when General Motors [GM] and Ford [F] were flat on their backs," quips Paul Jackson.

Yet the well of respect for Toyota hasn't run dry, as our respondents indicated the company would recover from its current woes. Just last Tuesday, for instance, an investigation by NASA engineers showed no link between electronic throttles and unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles, something that should help the auto maker recover its reputation.

After several years in the doghouse, General Electric (GE) is one company beginning to see some daylight. The company rose in our ranking to No. 48 from No. 74 last year. Once the standard-bearer for American capitalism, GE was hurt when its highly leveraged finance unit hit an air pocket amid the financial crisis. The company had to run to Buffett for a major cash infusion.

Since then, GE's core industrial businesses have been on the upswing, and the company has reduced its reliance on GE Capital, its finance unit. It also sold off its 51% stake in the NBC Universal entertainment business. Despite the improvements, some investors still are calling for GE to be broken up.

GE epitomizes bureaucratic thinking, says John Campbell of Cornerstone Investment Partners in Atlanta. "It is hard to understand where the value is being created…by largely unrelated businesses," he says.

PanAgora's Mussalli agrees, noting the company's collection of businesses "perpetually underperform." The various divisions could do much better alone, and "a break-up could unlock value," he says.

Both money managers indicated they "don't respect" GE, although plenty of others now do.


THE DOGHOUSE, reputational and otherwise, is like an airport hotel: Companies move in and out, doing their best not to linger long. For U.S. and Russian banks, however, it is like a roach motel: They get in, but can't seem to get out.

At the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev expressly conceded that the country's problems hinder investment and vowed to improve the investment climate. That is a big job and won't happen overnight.


Most Respected Companies
3:13
Barron's presents its annual ranking of the most respected companies. Apple comes in first for the second year in a row. Johnson & Johnson experienced a dramatic fall from previous year.
.American banks such as Citigroup and Bank of America also are likely to forgo investors' respect for a while longer, given their dismal performance at the depths of the global financial crisis. "They took TARP [Troubled Asset Relief Program] money and their reputations disintegrated," says David Corbin, CEO of Corbin & Co. in Fort Worth, Texas. "In some cases there also was highly questionable behavior. Some had great legacies that have suffered."

The anger still smolders over the role of big banks in helping to foment and deepen the crisis. "The amount of arrogance [on the part of banks] towards the U.S. taxpayer is extraordinary," says James Vanasek of VN Capital Management in New York. "Citi was a weekend away from bankruptcy but kept on insisting nothing was wrong. And no one was punished at the top."

Some banks have done better than others, however. JPMorgan Chase (JPM), for example, jumped to No. 14 this year from No. 21, mainly because of the respect accorded its popular CEO, Jamie Dimon. "The Bear Stearns merger was thrust upon him, but he made sure it wasn't going to hurt his company," says Thomas Goldsmith of Flagship Capital in Media, Pa., "He's stubbed his toe from time to time but learned from it."


BECAUSE OUR RANKING COVERS only the 100 largest public companies in the world, changes in share price and market capitalization determine which companies are on the list and which are excluded. This year 11 new names joined the ranking, replacing companies whose relative market value shrank in 2010.

The largest company in the world, No. 11-ranked Exxon Mobil (XOM), had a market cap of $368.2 billion as of Dec. 27, up 14% from a year earlier. The smallest on the list, Germany's E.ON (EONGY), had a market cap of $60.2 billion. Visa (V) didn't make the cut this year, but Colombia's state-run oil company Ecopetrol (EC) did. It ranked No. 93.

In 2010 the average mean score rose sharply, to 2.25 from a lowly 1.87. This year it fell slightly, to 2.12. Among the 89 companies included in both years' surveys, just 33 saw their mean scores rise in 2011, compared with 59 in 2010.

After the past few years of Ponzi schemes and other investment frauds, financial malfeasance and just plain bad execution, the concept of corporate respect arguably is more relevant than ever. That should be a wake-up call to all the companies whose reputations were dented by the financial crisis and other crises, both external and of their own making.

It is a cliché to say that respect is hard to earn but easy to lose. Yet that doesn't detract from its importance for these companies, and all companies. When will J&J, Toyota and even Citi be welcomed back into the market's good graces? Next year's Most Respected survey can't come fast enough.

[admin]

Oil up 86.72

+6

Au down 1,383.60

[admin]

RIO -1.98%, el cobre sigue bajando.

TTM -1.74%

DAG -1.17%

PAAS +1.55%

SLW +1.06%

AAPL +0.31%

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Bernanke defiende las politicas del Fed

Bernanke defendio al Fed de las acusaciones de que las acciones del Fed estas causando burbujas e inflacion en el resto del mundo.

Bernanke dijo que el resto del mundo tiene un interes muy claro de que la economia de US se recupere, el dijo que los demas paises tienen una serie de herramientas para ajustar el cambio de monedas y prevenir el sobrecalentamiento de sus economias. Ademas dijo Bernanke que las politicas para el crecimiento de los paises en desarrollo estaban causando problemas para US.

La demanda de las materias primas en el resto del mundo esta haciendo subir los precios.

Benanke dijo que las economias que estan creciendo mas rapido pueden hacer ajuste en el cambio de sus monedas, usar la politica monetaria y fiscal y ser prudentes en sus politicas de macroeconomia para enfriar sus economias.

Sin mencionar directamente a China, Bernanke dijo que los paises que no tenian equilibrio en sus balanza comercial deberian permitir que sus monedas reflejen de mejor manera los fundamentos del mercado y deberian incrementar sus esfuerzos para substituir las exportaciones por la demanda interna.

Respecto a US, dijo que necesitaba ordenar su politica fiscal hacia una que sea mas sostenible, refiriendose a la disminucion del deficit fiscal.

Para China parece haber una muy seria y ominosa amenaza. Bernanke recordo que US y Francia causaron la Gran Depresion en los 20s y 30s por mantener sus monedas bajas por mucho tiempo. El devaluado dolar y el devaluado franco hizo que grandes cantidades de capital entren a esos paises anticipando una valorizacion por parte de los inversionistas, y ultimadamente desestabilizar el sistema financiero mundial. Bernanke es un estudioso de la Depresion.
Mr. Bernanke dedicated much of his comments to a theme he has been exploring since 2005—the large buildup of savings in the developing world and among oil-producing nations, which in turn led to a flood of capital into the U.S. before the financial crisis.

La crisis financiera esta cediendo, pero los flujos de capital estan una vez mas causando enormes retos para la macroeconomia internacional y la estabilidad financiera, dijo Bernanke. El mantenimiento de las devaluadas monedas por algunos paises ha contribuido al modelo o patron del gasto global que no tiene equilibrio y es insostenible, agrego.

Bernanke Defends Fed Policies
By JON HILSENRATH And LUCA DI LEO
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke offered his most pointed rebuttal yet on Friday to foreign critics who say the U.S. central bank's easy-money policies are causing inflation and asset bubbles abroad.

The rest of the world has an interest in the U.S. recovery that his policies are spurring, Mr. Bernanke argued in prepared remarks he plans to deliver in Paris as finance leaders from the Group of 20 nations gather.

He said policy makers abroad have plenty of tools to fight inflation and asset bubbles themselves, including allowing their exchange rates to adjust higher to prevent overheating. Mr. Bernanke also said surging growth in developing economies, spurred in part by their own economic policies, were causing trouble for America.

"Spillovers can go both ways," he said. "Resurgent demand in the emerging markets has contributed significantly to the sharp recent run-up in global commodity prices."

G-20 leaders last gathered in Korea in early November, just a few days after the Fed announced its plan to purchase $600 billion in Treasury bonds. The bond-buying program is known as quantitative easing and is meant to hold down long-term interest rates, push investors into riskier assets and stimulate growth. Fed officials faced criticism at the Korea meeting, particularly from China and Germany, for stoking inflation and trying to push down the dollar, a reaction that caught Fed officials off guard and miffed Mr. Bernanke.

In comments since November, Mr. Bernanke has largely rejected these criticisms. One line of the critics' argument is that the Fed's policies are stoking capital flows into developing markets. Mr. Bernanke said money was flowing there because these economies are growing so fast and added, "recent data suggest that the aggregate flows to emerging markets are not out of line with longer term trends."

He said the fast-growing developing economies could use "exchange rate adjustment, monetary and fiscal policies, and macroprudential measures" to cool their own overheating.

The reference to exchange rates seemed directed at China, though Mr. Bernanke didn't refer to China by name in his comments. Instead, he said countries with large trade imbalances need to "allow their exchange rates to better reflect market fundamentals and increase their efforts to substitute domestic demand for exports."

Mr. Bernanke's reference to macroprudential measures referred to efforts to strengthen global financial regulation.

The U.S., meantime, needs to put its own fiscal policy on a more sustainable path, he said, referring to the need to shrink the federal budget deficit

U.S. officials have argued for years that China needs to allow the yuan to appreciate more rapidly to reflect the country's strong economic growth, something Beijing has been reluctant to do for fear it could harm exporters and destabilize its own economy.

For China, there also appeared to be an indirect but ominous warning. The U.S. and France, he noted, helped to cause the Great Depression in the 1920s and 1930s by keeping their currencies undervalued for too long. The undervalued dollar and franc led to large capital inflows into these countries, in part from investors anticipating appreciation, and ultimately destabilized the world's financial system, noted Mr. Bernanke, a scholar of the Depression.

Mr. Bernanke dedicated much of his comments to a theme he has been exploring since 2005—the large buildup of savings in the developing world and among oil-producing nations, which in turn led to a flood of capital into the U.S. before the financial crisis.

"The global financial crisis is receding, but capital flows are once again posing some notable challenges for international macroeconomic and financial stability," he said, adding, "the maintenance of undervalued currencies by some countries has contributed to a pattern of global spending that is unbalanced and unsustainable."

[Victor VE]

Los analistas dicen que no esperan que Jobs regrese a AAPL.

Era cierto el artículo de ayer entonces?

[admin]

No, pero todos saben que su salud esta quebrantada, por eso es mejor que no tengan las expectativas de que va a regresar al trabajo.

Escucha a varios analistas decir que si en caso Jobs falta la accion podria bajar un 5% o 10% pero que AAPL estaba sentado en montanias de capital y podrian comprar acciones para estabilizar el precio.

Ayer Jobs asistio a la reunion de los lideres de tecnologia con Obama, salio una foto con el CEO de Facebook.

Hay un gran respeto por Jobs y nadie quiere especular sobre su salud.

[admin]

Oil up 86.77, Au up 1,385.60

+6

[Victor VE]

Salieron los resultados de Goldfields, algunos extractos del informe referente a Sudamérica:

At the South America region, production at Cerro Corona decreased
by 11 per cent from 105,800 equivalent ounces in the September
quarter to 93,700 equivalent ounces in the December quarter. This
decrease was due to planned lower plant throughput, lower gold head
grade and a reduction in metal recoveries.

At Cerro Corona in South America, operating costs including gold-in-
process movements amounted to US$37 million (R252 million), which
was US$2 million less than the September quarter. Total cash cost at
Cerro Corona increased from US$354 per ounce in the September
quarter to US$449 per ounce in the December quarter as a
consequence of the lower production.

Exploration
Exploration expenditure increased from R124 million (US$17 million)
in the September quarter to R223 million (US$32 million) in the
December quarter attributable primarily to:
i) increased expenditure at Chucapaca of R36 million (US$5
million). Expenditure for the quarter amounted to R48 million
(US$7 million);
ii) increased expenditure at Far South East (FSE) of R21 million
(US$3 million). Expenditure for the quarter amounted to R21
million (US$3 million); and
iii) increased expenditure at Yanfolila of R14 million (US$2 million).
Expenditure for the quarter amounted to R28 million (US$4
million).
The balance of the increase was due to increased exploration activity
across all projects.
Refer to the exploration and corporate
development section of this report for more detail of exploration
activities.

Feasibility and evaluation costs
Feasibility and evaluation costs of R66 million (US$9 million) were
incurred in the December quarter compared to Rnil (US$nil) in the
September quarter. R43 million (US$6 million) was incurred at the
Chucapaca project in Peru and R23 million (US$3 million) was
incurred at the Far South East (FSE) project in the Philippines.
No feasibility and evaluation costs were incurred at these two projects
in the September quarter due to work programmes only beginning in
the December quarter.

In South
America, at Cerro Corona, capital expenditure increased from US$11
million to US$20 million due to timing of project expenditure.

"Gold produced decreased from 45,900 ounces in the September
quarter to 34,600 ounces in the December quarter and copper
production decreased from 10,250 tonnes to 9,474 tonnes.
"

Informe completo en:
Fuente: http://www.goldfields.co.za/reports/f_2 ... f/full.pdf

[admin]

NR +10.92%

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+9

[admin]

Euro up 1.3639

Libor igual 0.31%

Europa mixta

Oil up 86.81

[admin]

El Dow Jones ha subido en 15 de las ultimas 20 sesiones.

+11