Stocks Gain Before Europe Summit as Metals Rise on China - Bloomberg Stocks Gain Before Europe Summit as Metals Rise on China - Bloomberg

Monday, May 21, 2012

Stocks Gain Before Europe Summit as Metals Rise on China - Bloomberg

Stocks Gain Before Europe Summit as Metals Rise on China - Bloomberg
Enlarge image Stocks Rise as Commodities Gain on China Comment

Stocks Rise as Commodities Gain on China Comment

Stocks Rise as Commodities Gain on China Comment

Scott Eells/Bloomberg

Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange.

Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg

May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Marc Faber, the publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report, talks about global stock markets and his investment strategy. Faber also discusses China's economy and Greece's potential exit from the euro area. He speaks with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television's "Asia Edge." (Source: Bloomberg)

May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Jeffrey Rosenberg, chief investment strategist for fixed income at BlackRock Inc., talks about the outlook for U.S. Treasuries, the dollar and investment strategy. Rosenberg speaks with Erik Schatzker and Sara Eisen on Bloomberg Television's "InsideTrack." (Source: Bloomberg)

May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Jonathan Slone, chief executive officer of CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, talks about the outlook for financial markets and the sovereign debt crisis in Greece. Slone also discusses Facebook Inc.'s initial public offering and JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s trading loss with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television's "First Up." (Source: Bloomberg)

May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Savanth Sebastian, an equities economist at Commonwealth Securities Ltd. in Sydney, talks about the implications of the European sovereign debt crisis for global financial markets, the U.S. economic outlook and investment strategy. Sebastian speaks with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television's "First Up." (Source: Bloomberg)

May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Sanjay Mathur, Singapore-based head of research and strategy for non-Japan Asia at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc., talks global markets and his investment strategy. Mathur speaks with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television's "First Up." (Source: Bloomberg)

May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Christopher Gothard, head of foreign exchange at Brown Brothers Harriman (Hong Kong) Ltd., talks about Europe's debt crisis, China's economic growth and the outlook for the global currency market. He speaks with Rishaad Salamat on Bloomberg Television's "On the Move Asia." (Source: Bloomberg)

May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Charles Kim, a New York-based director at Mirae Asset Securities Co., talks about the outlook for South Korean stocks, Samsung Electronics Co.'s financial performance and his investment strategy. Kim speaks with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television's "First Up." (Source: Bloomberg)

May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Stephen Davies, chief executive officer of Singapore-based Javelin Wealth Management Ltd., talks about the outlook for the crisis in the euro zone, its impact on global markets and his investment strategy. Davies speaks with Rishaad Salamat on Bloomberg Television's "On the Move Asia." (Source: Bloomberg)

Enlarge image Europe Stocks Swing Between Gain, Loss

Europe Stocks Swing Between Gain, Loss

Europe Stocks Swing Between Gain, Loss

Jason Alden/Bloomberg

Visitors pass through the main entrance of the London Stock Exchange Group Plc's headquarters in London.

Visitors pass through the main entrance of the London Stock Exchange Group Plc's headquarters in London. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg

Global stocks rebounded from the worst week since September and commodities snapped a three-day drop as China signaled it would support the economy and German and French officials said they would work to keep Greece in the euro. The yen and dollar weakened against most major peers.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 1.6 percent to 1,316 at 4 p.m., while Facebook (FB) Inc. tumbled below its $38 offering price. Ten-year Treasury yields increased two basis points at 1.74 percent, paring earlier gains. The yen weakened against 15 of 16 major peers, while the dollar declined against 14. The S&P GSCI Index of 24 raw materials rebounded from its 2012 low, with oil up 1.2 percent to $92.57 a barrel and copper climbing 1 percent.

Concern Greece will exit the euro has erased about $4 trillion from global stock markets this month. China should adopt a “proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy” to bolster the economy, Premier Wen Jiabao said over the weekend. Germany will consider ways to spur European economic growth and do “everything necessary” to keep Greece in Europe’s currency union, German finance chief Wolfgang Schaeuble said after meeting with France’s Pierre Moscovici.

“Equity prices have gotten oversold,” said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist for Philadelphia-based Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, which manages about $54 billion. “A more positive tone regarding efforts to put together some growth- related initiatives in Europe is enough to give investors a pause from the selling pressure. In addition, any kind of talk about recognizing China’s slowdown that could lead to stimulus would be good for global activity.”

Rebound From Four-Month Low

The MSCI All-Country World Index of stocks rebounded following last week’s 5.3 percent plunge, its worst since the week ending Sept. 23.

An 8.7 percent tumble in the S&P 500 from a four-year high on April 2 through last week left the benchmark index trading at 13.1 times its companies’ reported earnings, the lowest valuation since November, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The index’s dividend yield at the end of last week was 2.17 percent while the rate on the 10-year Treasury note slid to 1.72 percent, with the ratio between the two at the highest since Oct. 3, the day the S&P 500 finished a 19 percent plunge from its 2011 high in April.

The S&P 500 rebounded from the lowest level since Jan. 17 as commodity, technology and industrial companies helped lead gains. Boeing Co. (BA), Caterpillar Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. were among the biggest gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Cooper Industries

Cooper Industries Plc surged after Eaton Corp. agreed to buy the maker of electrical-distribution equipment for $11.8 billion. Radian Group Inc. led a rally in mortgage insurers after investor Clinton Group Inc. pushed for a sale of the company.

Facebook, the social networking site that raised $16 billion in its initial public offering, fell below its $38 offer price in its second trading day. Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. yesterday blamed “poor design” in the software it uses for driving auctions in initial public offerings after Facebook shares were plagued by delays and mishandled orders. Nasdaq OMX rebounded from a 4.4 percent tumble on May 18.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. slipped for the sixth time in seven sessions. The biggest U.S. bank by assets will suspend its daily stock repurchase program while maintaining the quarterly dividend, Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said while discussing trading losses during an investor conference. The firm may face bigger losses on faulty bets in credit markets if Europe’s debt crisis worsens, according to one of the hedge funds that took the other side of the trades.

JPMorgan Trades

“They’re not out of those positions,” Michael Platt, co- founder and chief executive officer of BlueCrest Capital Management LLP, said today in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Inside Track.” “If we end up with a catastrophe in Europe in the short run, they’re probably not positions that anyone would want to have.”

Nickel, Brent crude and gasoline jumped more than 1.8 percent to lead gains in commodities. New York-traded oil rose for the first time in seven sessions, rebounding from more than a six-month low, amid bets China will boost growth and as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said the balance between supply and demand is tightening.

Popolare Upgrades

Three shares gained for every one that fell in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. (SXXP) Fiat SpA and Renault SA led automakers higher, jumping at least 4.7 percent. Banco Popolare SC (BP) climbed 19 percent as analysts from Bank of America Corp. to Exane BNP Paribas upgraded the shares after Italy’s fourth-biggest bank said regulatory approval to use internal risk models boosted its Tier 1 capital. Barclays Plc rose 2.2 percent after saying it planned to sell its entire holding of asset manager BlackRock Inc.

Credit-default swaps insuring European sovereign debt rose for a seventh day, with the Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe Index of contracts on 15 governments climbing 6.9 basis points to 316.25, the highest since March. The euro was little changed at $1.2777, near a four-month low.

Germany will consider all ideas on bolstering euro area growth, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said as he and his French counterpart, Pierre Moscovici, sought to fashion a new strategy amid the Greek electoral impasse.

“We will engage all ideas constructively and find solutions in order to strengthen sustainable growth,” Schaeuble said after meeting Moscovici for the first time today in Berlin. Moscovici, who became finance minister last week, said President Francois Hollandewants “everything on the table,” including joint euro-area bonds, at a meeting of European leaders two days from now.

BOJ Meeting

The yen fell 0.4 percent against the dollar and lost 0.6 percent versus the euro. The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond rose three basis point to 0.86 percent. Volatility on Japanese debt was the highest among developed markets, according to measures of 10-year bonds, two-and 10-year yield spreads and credit default swaps. The change in the nation’s 10-year yield was 2.9 times the 90-day average.

The Bank of Japan, which starts a two-day meeting tomorrow, expanded its asset-purchase program in February and April. Last week, two bond-buying operations failed to attract the central bank’s target for sell offers.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index (MXEF) advanced 0.8 percent, increasing for the first time in seven days. The Shanghai Composite Index added 0.2 percent and South Korea’s Kospi index jumped 0.9 percent. Russia’s Micex Index rose 2.1 percent and Poland’s WIG20 Index climbed 1.4 percent. The Serbian dinar depreciated as much as 0.9 percent to a record low against the euro after Tomislav Nikolic, who advocates closer economic ties with Russia, took the lead in yesterday’s presidential vote.

To contact the reporters on this story: Stephen Kirkland in London at skirkland@bloomberg.net; Rita Nazareth in New York at rnazareth@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Baker at nbaker7@bloomberg.net



Kraft’s new snack business name faces crucial vote - Chicago Sun-Times
Story Image

FILE - This Feb. 9, 2011, file photo, shows Kraft Macaroni & Cheese in Chandler, Ariz. When Kraft revealed that it planned to name its new global snack business “Mondelez,” it caused a minor stir. Kraft was careful to explain that the made-up word is an amalgamation of the Latin word for “world” and “a fanciful expression” of the word “delicious.” The linguistic concoction was the result of a four-month long process that reflects the extensive consumer research and vetting names are subject to in the corporate world. It also brings to light the powerful role language can play in shaping appetites and even dictating a brand’s fate. The right name might even persuade consumers to detect phantom homespun qualities in packaged snacks that rolled off a factory conveyor belt. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)

“MONDEWHAAAAT?”

The sarcasm was palpable in the one-word headline that appeared in The New York Post on the day after Kraft Foods revealed that it planned to name its new global snack business “Mondelez,” an interpretation of a mash-up of the Latin words for “world” and “delicious.” But that wasn’t the only dig.

One blogger teased that she would’ve been “stifling giggles” if she’d been in meetings to determine the name. A Forbes contributor suggested a trick for remembering how to say it: “Just think Bush Administration Secretary of State. You know, Mon-de-leza Rice.” Crain’s Business Chicago tittered that it bears close resemblance to a vulgar Russian term for a sexual act.

Michael Mitchell, a Kraft spokesman, said executives took all the joking in stride, and he’s quick to point out why the Crain’s observation didn’t alarm the company: “The name has to be mispronounced to get that unfortunate meaning.”

The made-up moniker, pronounced “mon-dah-LEEZ,” became a punch line after it was unveiled in March. On Wednesday, Kraft shareholders will decide whether to approve the name for the company’s business that sells global snack brands such as Oreos, Fig Newton and Cadbury.

The four-month odyssey of how “Mondelez” was picked — and how it was received — illustrates the great pains companies take to come up with powerful names for their businesses, products and services. For them, it’s akin to parents obsessing over a name for their newborn: it’s a moniker that sticks for better or worse, so it better be good.

“You have to generate thousands of ideas, even if it’s just for a cookie,” said Nik Contis, the global director of naming at branding company Siegel+Gale.

That’s just what Kraft did after it decided to split into two publicly-traded companies — one for its North American grocery business that makes products like Oscar Mayer and Miracle Whip and the other a bigger company to focus on selling snacks worldwide.

It was clear to executives at Kraft’s Northfield, Ill., headquarters that the name of the snack business would have to appeal to a global audience. So the world’s biggest maker of sweet snacks started the arduous process of picking a name in November by soliciting suggestions from its 126,000 employees.

On its internal website, Kraft proclaimed that it would host a naming contest. The announcement included a “mood video” set to music and showing images of life milestones, such as a wedding and a baby’s birth. Employees were encouraged to make suggestions through an “Idea Kitchen” page, where they could see and build off of the suggestions of their peers.

More than 1,000 employees submitted more than 1,700 entries.

Discarded name candidates ranged from the cultivated (“Panvoro,” Latin for eating) to the not-so-cultivated (“tfark,” which is Kraft spelled backward) to the outright cryptic (“Arrtx” — the employee who suggested it provided no explanation on what the letters signified).

Once the suggestions started rolling in, Kraft’s global marketing team took the reins of the naming process. An outside branding firm from London was hired and a handful of top contenders were picked. (Kraft declined to reveal the finalists, noting that “there may be some value in those names” for other purposes down the road.)

The names went through two rounds of testing with native speakers in 28 different languages. Consumers in small focus groups were asked again and again if any of the names conjured up negative associations. “Mondelez,” a favorite among Kraft executives from the get-go, didn’t raise any big red flags.

Still, the company discovered that there might be a problem. Consumer testers flagged the possible misinterpretation of “Mondelez” for a Russian term meaning “oral sex.” But the issue was referred to Kraft’s Russian business unit, which in turn deemed it to be “low risk.” So the name was given the thumbs up.

It’s not unusual for companies to take a calculated risk with names. Even though they’re aware that the names they introduce could elicit negative reactions at first, experts say the snide remarks often subside as the brand strengthens.

After all, there were plenty of snickers when Apple Inc. unveiled the iPad, which critics said sounded like a high-tech feminine hygiene product. Now, the iPad is by far the No. 1 selling tablet worldwide. Then there’s the classic example in the 1970s of the Chevrolet car called Nova, which means “no go” in Spanish. Despite urban legend, a Chevy spokesman said the model sold well in Latin America because the term is pronounced differently there.

That’s what Conti, the branding expert, is guessing would happen if shareholders decide to vote in favor of naming Kraft’s global snacking business “Mondelez.”

“The sound and structure rolls off the tongue like a delicious treat,” he said. “The romance language is great because you want to eat the language itself because it’s so beautiful.”

If shareholders reject the name, the company will continue to be called “Kraft Foods Inc.” while the North American grocery business will be called “Kraft Foods Group Inc.”

But it appears that Kraft is confident that Mondelez will pass muster; the company already reserved the ticker symbol “MDLZ” and website www.mondelez.com.

———

Follow Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicechoi.



US STOCKS-Wall St edges up but Facebook's decline weighs - Reuters UK

Mon May 21, 2012 3:11pm BST

* Facebook shares down 13 pct, trades near $33/share

* World leaders back Greece, vow to combat crisis

* Stocks: Dow up 0.2 pct, S&P up 0.2 pct, Nasdaq flat (Updates to market open)

By Angela Moon

NEW YORK, May 21 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks edged up on Monday from their worst weekly decline for the year as world leaders expressed support for Greece to stay in the euro zone, but gains were limited as shares of Facebook dropped more than 13 percent shortly after the open.

Facebook Inc's shares fell below their $38 issue price as support from underwriters of the initial public offering dissipated after its Friday debut. The stock dropped over $5 to hit a session low of $33.00 in early trading.

"It was just a poorly done deal and it just so happens to be the biggest deal ever for Nasdaq and they pooched it, that's the bottom line here," said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey.

Facebook shares were expected to face tough trading this week if lead underwriter Morgan Stanley stops supporting the stock and managers lower down in the IPO book who were hoping for an early surge decide to get out before going underwater.

On Saturday, G8 leaders stressed that their "imperative is to promote growth and jobs" and gave verbal backing for Greece to stay in the euro. But gains were limited as the pledge was unlikely to herald quick new action from the region, meaning more uncertainly for nervous financial markets.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 19.53 points, or 0.16 percent, at 12,388.91. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 2.34 points, or 0.18 percent, at 1,297.56. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 1.42 points, or 0.05 percent, at 2,777.37.

Yahoo shares fell 1 percent to $15.28 after rising in premarket trade, on news that Chinese Internet entrepreneur Jack Ma is buying back up to half of a 40 percent stake in his Alibaba Group from Yahoo for $7.1 billion, in a deal that moves the Chinese e-commerce leader closer to a public listing.

The Nasdaq said it plans to implement procedure through which the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) will accommodate orders not executed in Facebook during the social media company's market debut on Friday. (Reporting By Angela Moon, editing by Dave Zimmerman)


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