German minister ups rhetoric against takeovers ahead of China trip

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BERLIN, Oct 29 China is strategically buying up key technologies in Germany while protecting its own companies against foreign takeovers with "discriminatory requirements", German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel was quoted as saying on Saturday.

Gabriel, also vice chancellor and leader of Germany's Social Democrats, heads to China next week after having ratcheted up tensions with Beijing by putting the brakes on the latest Chinese takeovers of German technology companies.

In a guest column for Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Gabriel urged the European Union to ensure a level playing field and adopt a tougher approach with China.

"Nobody can expect Europe to accept such foul play of trade partners," Gabriel wrote, adding that Germany was one of the most open economies for foreign direct investments.

In China, on the contrary, foreign direct investments by European companies are being hampered and takeovers are only approved under discriminatory requirements, he said.

"But China itself is going on a shopping tour here with a long list of interesting companies - with the clear intention of acquiring strategically important key technologies."

Under German law, the government can block takeovers only if they jeopardise energy security, defence or financial stability.

Gabriel is pushing for a Europe-wide safeguard clause which could stop foreign takeovers of firms whose technology is deemed strategic for the future economic success of the region.

Despite her deputy's tough words, Chancellor Angela Merkel views China as a strategically important partner, not only to do business with but also in foreign policy.

It remains one of Germany's most important trading partners and 60 business executives will join Gabriel on his five-day trip. Germany automakers in particular have benefited from China's rapid economic expansion.

This year to date, Chinese investors have racked up 47 deals to buy German targets with a total volume of 10.3 billion euros ($11.3 billion), according to Thomson Reuters data, compared with 29 deals worth just 263 million euros in the whole of 2015.

Deputy Economy Minister Michael Machnig told the Financial Times that Berlin was worried about takeovers that seemed to be driven by the Chinese government or were about gaining access to German technology.

"We need to have the powers to really investigate deals when it is clear that they are driven by industrial policy or to enable technology transfers," he told the FT in an interview. "When necessary, in exceptional cases, maybe even to say we're not going to allow (them)."

Gabriel's visit comes a week after his ministry withdrew approval for Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund (FGC) to buy chip equipment maker Aixtron, citing security concerns.

The government is also scrutinising the sale of Osram's general lighting lamps business Ledvance to a consortium of Chinese buyers.

Gabriel has struck increasingly protectionist tones since Chinese home appliance maker Midea made overtures back in May for robot-maker Kuka - a national champion in Germany's push to hook up machinery to the internet that it went on to buy. ($1 = 0.9107 euros).

BRUSSELS, Oct 28 European privacy watchdogs warned WhatsApp on Friday over sharing user information with parent company Facebook, and cautioned Yahoo over a 2014 data breach and scanning of customer emails for U.S. intelligence purposes. Thanks.

India offers to buy 200 foreign combat jets - if they're Made-in-India

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NEW DELHI India is offering to buy hundreds of fighter planes from foreign manufacturers - as long as the jets are made in India and with a local partner, air force officials say.

A deal for 200 single-engine planes produced in India - which the air force says could rise to 300 as it fully phases out aging Soviet-era aircraft - could be worth anything from $13-$15 billion, experts say, potentially one of the country's biggest military aircraft deals.

After a deal to buy high-end Rafale planes from France's Dassault was scaled back to just 36 jets last month, the Indian Air Force is desperately trying to speed up other acquisitions and arrest a fall in operational strength, now a third less than required to face both China and Pakistan.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration wants any further military planes to be built in India with an Indian partner to kickstart a domestic aircraft industry, and end an expensive addiction to imports.

Lockheed Martin said it is interested in setting up a production line for its F-16 plane in India for not just the Indian military, but also for export.

And Sweden's Saab has offered a rival production line for its Gripen aircraft, setting up an early contest for one of the biggest military plane deals in play.

"The immediate shortfall is 200. That would be the minimum we would be looking at," said an air officer briefed on the Make-in-India plans under which a foreign manufacturer will partner local firms to build the aircraft with technology transfer.

India's defense ministry has written to several companies asking if they would be willing to set up an assembly line for single-engine fighter planes in India and the amount of technology transfer that would happen, another government source said.

"We are testing the waters, testing the foreign firms' willingness to move production here and to find out their expectations," the person said.

OPERATIONAL GAPS

India's air force originally planned for 126 Rafale twin-engine fighters from Dassault, but the two sides could not agree on the terms of local production with a state-run Indian firm and settled for 36 planes in a fly-away condition.

Adding to the military's problems is India's three-decade effort to build a single-engine fighter of its own which was meant to be the backbone of the air force. Only two of those Light Combat Aircraft, called Tejas, have been delivered to the air force which has ordered 140 of them.

The Indian Air Force is down to 32 operational squadrons compared with the 45 it has said are necessary, and in March the vice chief Air Marshal B.S. Dhanoa told parliament's defense committee that it didn't have the operational strength to fight a two front war against China and Pakistan.

JET MAKERS RESPOND

Saab said it was ready to not only produce its frontline Gripen fighter in India, but help build a local aviation industry base.

"We are very experienced in transfer of technology – our way of working involves extensive cooperation with our partners to establish a complete ecosystem, not just an assembly line," said Jan Widerström, Chairman and Managing Director, Saab India Technologies.

He confirmed Saab had received the letter from the Indian government seeking a fourth generation fighter. A source close to the company said that while there was no minimum order set in stone for it to lay down a production line, they would expect to build at least 100 planes at the facility.

Lockheed Martin said it had responded to the defense ministry's letter with an offer to transfer the entire production of its F-16 fighter to India.

"Exclusive F-16 production in India would make India home to the world's only F-16 production facility, a leading exporter of advanced fighter aircraft, and offer Indian industry the opportunity to become an integral part of the world's largest fighter aircraft supply chain," Abhay Paranjape, National Executive for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Business Development in India said in an email.

U.S. TOP SUPPLIER

Lockheed's offer comes on the back of expanding U.S.-India military ties in which Washington has emerged as India's top arms supplier in recent years, ousting old ally Russia.

Earlier this year Boeing also offered India its twin-engine F/A-18 Hornets, but the level of technology transfer was not clear.

India has never previously attempted to build a modern aircraft production line, whether military or civilian. State-run Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has assembled Russian combat jets including the Su-30, but these are under licensed production.

"We have never had control over technology. This represents the most serious attempt to build a domestic base. A full or a near-full tech transfer lays the ground for further development," said retired Indian air marshal M. Matheswaran, a former adviser at HAL.

He said the Indian government would be looking at producing at least 200 fighters, and then probably some more, to make up for the decades of delay in modernizing the air force.


BEIJING China's imports of North Korean coal run counter to global sanctions, a senior U.S. official said on Saturday, adding that a U.S. missile system deployed in South Korea should "motivate" Beijing to pressure Pyongyang over its nuclear program.


DOUE-LA-FONTAINE, France French President Francois Hollande said on Saturday he had spoken with British Prime Minister Theresa May to convey the message that Britain should take its share of responsibility for minors from the "Jungle" migrant camp of Calais.

 CAIRO An Egyptian court sentenced two Muslim Brotherhood supporters on Saturday to life in prison and 16 others to 15 years in jail for a violent assault on a Cairo neighborhood in 2013 after the ouster of former president Mohamed Mursi. Thanks.

UPDATE 1-Tesla's Musk adds solar roofs to his clean energy vision

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Tesla Motors Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk on Friday unveiled new energy products aimed at illustrating the benefits of combining his electric car and battery maker with solar installer SolarCity Corp.

The billionaire entrepreneur showed of solar-powered roof tiles that eliminate the need for traditional panels and a longer-lasting home battery, which Tesla calls the Powerwall, aimed at realizing his vision of selling a fossil fuel free lifestyle to consumers.

"This is sort of the integrated future. An electric car, a Powerwall and a solar roof. The key is it needs to be beautiful, affordable and seamlessly integrated," Musk said while showcasing the products on homes that once served as the set of the television show "Desperate Housewives."

Musk is the biggest shareholder in both Tesla and SolarCity, which is run by two of his first cousins. Analysts have been dubious of the deal's proposed synergies, with some suggesting the merger is a way for Tesla to rescue money-losing SolarCity. A vote on the acquisition is scheduled for Nov. 17.

The rollout of the product, expected as soon as next summer, would be "unwieldy" if the two companies are not combined, Musk told reporters.

Having two separate companies "slows things down, makes them more expensive. It's worse for shareholders," he said.

Musk refused to answer a reporter's question about how Tesla's balance sheet would accommodate the acquisition of SolarCity.

By incorporating solar modules into rooftops, Tesla is hoping to succeed with a solar technology that to date has had little success. Just this year, Dow Chemical said it would stop selling a solar shingle it launched five years ago.

Tesla's glass solar roof tiles would look far better than any similar product, Musk said. They can be manufactured in a range of styles, which were demonstrated on the rooftops on the set.

Tesla gave little detail on cost, except to say that the cost of the roof would be less than a conventional roof plus solar. The product will appeal to home builders and people looking to replace their roofs, Musk said, adding that the shingles would be more durable and have better insulation qualities than conventional roofs.

SolarCity co-founder Peter Rive, Musk's cousin, said the solar roofs could easily have a five percent share of the new roof market within a year or two.

The new generation of home and industrial batteries will be available this year.

Oracle Corp should raise its offer to buy NetSuite Inc to $133 per share from the $109-per-share it had proposed in July, NetSuite shareholder T. Rowe Price Group Inc said.

ROME Italy's antitrust watchdog said on Friday it had opened a probe into whether messaging service WhatsApp obliged users to agree to sharing personal data with its parent company Facebook and imposed "unfair" conditions on users.

 Amazon.com Inc may be a "buy" for the vast majority of analysts, but it was a "sell" for a lot of investors on Friday. Thanks.

UPDATE 3-EU data protection watchdogs warn WhatsApp, Yahoo on privacy

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BRUSSELS European privacy watchdogs warned WhatsApp on Friday over sharing user information with parent company Facebook, and cautioned Yahoo over a 2014 data breach and scanning of customer emails for U.S. intelligence purposes.

The popular messaging service's recent change in privacy policy to start sharing users' phone numbers with Facebook - the first policy change since WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in 2014 - has attracted regulatory scrutiny in Europe.

The Italian antitrust watchdog on Friday also announced a separate probe into whether WhatsApp obliged users to agree to sharing personal data with Facebook.

The European Union's 28 data protection authorities said in a statement they had requested WhatsApp stop sharing users' data with Facebook until the "appropriate legal protections could be assured" to avoid falling foul of EU data protection law.

WhatsApp's new privacy policy involves the sharing of information with Facebook for purposes that were not included in the terms of service when users signed up, raising questions about the validity of users' consent, the authorities, known as the Article 29 Working Party (WP29), said.

A spokeswoman for WhatsApp said the company was working with data protection authorities to address their questions.

"We’ve had constructive conversations, including before our update, and we remain committed to respecting applicable law,” she said.

Facebook has had run-ins with European privacy watchdogs in the past over its processing of users' data. However, the fines that regulators can levy are paltry in comparison to the revenues of the big U.S. tech companies concerned.

The EU data protection authorities also wrote to Yahoo over a massive data breach that exposed the email credentials of 500 million users, as well as its scanning of customers' incoming emails for specific information provided by U.S. intelligence officials.

They asked Yahoo to communicate all aspects of the data breach to the EU authorities, to notify the affected users of the "adverse effects" and to cooperate with all "upcoming national data protection authorities' enquiries and/or investigations.

"The reports (about email scanning) are concerning to WP29 and it will be important to understand the legal basis and justification for any such surveillance activity, including an explanation of how this is compatible with EU law and protection for EU citizens," the watchdogs said in their letter to Yahoo. Yahoo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The regulators will discuss the Yahoo and WhatsApp cases in November.

BERLIN China is strategically buying up key technologies in Germany while protecting its own companies against foreign takeovers with "discriminatory requirements", German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Saturday.

Oracle Corp should raise its offer to buy NetSuite Inc to $133 per share from the $109-per-share it had proposed in July, NetSuite shareholder T. Rowe Price Group Inc said.

 ROME Italy's antitrust watchdog said on Friday it had opened a probe into whether messaging service WhatsApp obliged users to agree to sharing personal data with its parent company Facebook and imposed "unfair" conditions on users. Thanks.

Woodside takes $US350 million stake in Senegal offshore oil deal

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SYDNEY (Reuters)- - Woodside Energy (WPN.AX) has secured a 35 percent stake in three oil and gas tenements off West Africa after buying ConocoPhillips Senegal BV for $350 million.

Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said in a statement on Saturday Woodside would be working with partners to commercialize the promising SNE and FAN deep-water oil discoveries off the coast of Senegal.

"We look forward to working with the Government of Senegal and joint venture participants Cairn Energy, FAR Limited, and Petrosen, the Senegal National Oil Company, to progress the commercial development of the SNE and FAN discoveries," Coleman said.

The deal comes after ConocoPhillips's (COP.N) partner in the SNE field, FAR Ltd (FAR.AX) in August attempted to thwart the arrangement between ConocoPhillips and Woodside, claiming ConocoPhillips had breached their joint operating agreement.

MOSCOW Rosneft has sent a draft mandatory offer to the central bank to buy the shares it does not already own in oil firm Bashneft, the Russian energy company said in a regulatory statement released late on Friday.

U.S. oil drillers cut rigs this week for the first time since June, ending a 17-week recovery in the rig count, even as crude prices mostly held over $50 a barrel this month, the key level analysts said should lead to more drilling.

 FRANKFURT A third firefighter has died of his injuries following last week's explosion at the headquarters of German chemicals group BASF, the company said on Saturday. Thanks.

UPDATE 3-Northrop posts 16.7 pct profit rise, raises full-year forecast

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U.S. weapons maker Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N) reported a 16.7 percent rise in quarterly profit on Wednesday, helped by higher sales in its aerospace systems business that makes the center fuselage of the F-35 fighter jets.

Northrop shares hit an all-time high of $229.45 and were still up 3.9 percent at $228.10 in afternoon trading.

Last October, Northrop won the contract to produce the "Raider," the U.S. Air Force's new B-21 long-range bomber. The estimated $80 billion program, expected to produce 100 aircraft, has been shrouded in secrecy since its inception. It is expected to have aircraft ready for combat no sooner than 2025.

The maker of Global Hawk surveillance planes raised its 2016 earnings forecast for the third time this year to a range of $11.55 to $11.75 per share from $10.75 to $11.00. In January, Northrop estimated that 2016 EPS could be between $9.90 and $10.39.

The company now expects full-year sales of $23.9 billion to $24.1 billion, up from $23.5 billion to $24.0 billion.

Analysts, on average, expect 2016 earnings of $11.05 per share, on revenue of $23.82 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Northrop's earnings came a day after Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) reported better-than-expected results and lifted 2016 forecasts, partly due to higher sales from the F-35 program.

The F-35 is the Pentagon's costliest arms program. The U.S. Defense Department expects to spend $391 billion to develop the plane and buy 2,443 of the supersonic, stealthy new warplanes in the coming decades.

Northrop makes the center fuselage for the F-35, which forms a significant portion of the aircraft's internal weapons bay and internal fuel capacity.

Third-quarter revenue at Northrop's aerospace systems business increased 9.4 percent to $2.78 billion.

Help came from increased sales in the F-35 business and increased buying in top-secret programs as well as sales of autonomous systems.

Northrop CFO Ken Bedingfield told analysts on a conference call that the F-35 program now represents about 7 percent of revenue. CEO Wes Bush added that once F-35 production achieves full capacity, the profitability of that program should grow.

Northrop's third-quarter net earnings rose to $602 million, or $3.35 per share, from $516 million, or $2.75 per share, a year earlier. (bit.ly/2eR8BSK)

The profit included a federal tax benefit of $42 million, or 23 cents per share.

Total sales rose 2.9 percent to $6.16 billion.

So far this year Northrop's shares have risen more than 20 percent.


NEW YORK Boeing Co will not cut production of the 777 jetliner by more than two planes a month and is taking more time to decide on whether a cut is even needed, Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg said on Wednesday.

MOSCOW/STOCKHOLM Russia is sharply upgrading the firepower of its Baltic Fleet by adding warships armed with long-range cruise missiles to counter NATO's build-up in the region, Russian media reported on Wednesday. Thanks.

UPDATE 1-Brazil sheds more jobs than expected in September

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BRASILIA Oct 26 Job cuts in Brazil increased unexpectedly in September, according to government data, in another sign that the country's two-year-long recession took a turn for the worse.

Brazil shed a net 39,282 payroll jobs in September, the Labor Ministry said on Wednesday, compared with 33,953 job cuts in August and 95,602 in September 2015.

Economists expected payroll jobs to decrease by 16,000 in September, according to the median forecast in a Reuters poll.

Brazil's economy is expected to shrink more than 3 percent for a second straight year in 2016. With 12 million workers officially considered unemployed, the economy shed 1.6 million jobs over the past 12 months.

In September, the Labor Ministry recorded a net 27,591 job cuts at construction companies and 15,144 job losses at services firms. Manufacturers and retailers reported job gains, but hired only 9,363 and 3,940 workers in the month, respectively.

MEXICO CITY, Oct 26 Mexican factory exports posted their biggest monthly rise in more than seven years in September, powered by increased demand for autos, data from the national statistics agency showed on Wednesday. Adjusted for seasonal swings, factory exports jumped by 7.4 percent in September from August after a decline of 3.5 percent the previous month. The increase was the biggest since August 2009. Exports in the auto industry were up by 7.8
 
SAO PAULO/BRASILIA, Oct 26 The share of loans delinquent for at least 90 days in Brazil was unchanged at a record high in September, a signal that efforts by commercial banks to refinance looming debt maturities are yet to help ease the country's worst credit crunch in two decades. Thanks.

UPDATE 1-Boeing CEO says will not cut 777 output rate by more than 2 a month

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NEW YORK Boeing Co (BA.N) will not cut production of the 777 jetliner by more than two planes a month and is taking more time to decide on whether a cut is even needed, Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg said on Wednesday.

Boeing already plans to cut production of the wide-body plane to seven a month next year from 8.3 currently, and many experts expect a further cut to five a month due to slow sales and transition to a successor jet, the 777X.

The world's biggest planemaker also is studying whether to lift production of 787 Dreamliners to a planned 14 a month from 12, Muilenburg said. The company signaled that it wants to wait until several sales campaigns are finished in 2016 and 2017.

"We expect to have additional clarity on 777 production decisions in the next couple of months," Muilenburg said on a call with analysts.

"On the 787 program we have more time to further assess the implementation of the next production rate increase that is currently scheduled to ramp up to 14 per month at the end of the decade."

Boeing's production rates are bellwethers of market conditions, closely watched by investors for signs of the plane maker's future earnings and cash flow. Sales and profits at Boeing's many suppliers also are affected by changes in Boeing's factory rates.

While noting "hesitation" among airlines for buying wide-body planes such as the 777 and 787, Muilenburg said sales of narrow-body 737s are relatively strong.

He also said that even if Boeing decides to cut wide-body production "we continue to expect commercial aircraft deliveries to grow beyond 900 airplanes per year through the end of this decade," providing reassurance that overall deliveries will continue to rise from the 745 to 750 expected this year.

Earlier on Wednesday, the company beat profit expectations in the third quarter.

Oct 26 U.S. weapons maker Northrop Grumman Corp reported a 16.7 percent rise in quarterly profit on Wednesday, helped by higher sales in its aerospace systems business that makes the center fuselage of the F-35 fighter jets.

* Shares fall as much as 12 pct to $36.91 (Adds comment from conference call; updates shares)

 MOSCOW/STOCKHOLM Russia is sharply upgrading the firepower of its Baltic Fleet by adding warships armed with long-range cruise missiles to counter NATO's build-up in the region, Russian media reported on Wednesday. Thanks.

U.S. business borrowing for equipment up 12 pct in Sept. - ELFA

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Oct 25 Borrowings by U.S. companies for capital investment rose 12 percent in September from a year earlier, the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) said on Tuesday.

Companies signed up for $9.4 billion in new loans, leases and lines of credit last month, said the Washington-based trade group, which reports economic activity for the $1 trillion U.S. equipment finance industry.

The U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to keep interest rates low has spurred businesses to spend more on equipment, ELFA Chief Executive Ralph Petta said in a statement.

However, total new borrowings in the first nine months of the year fell 4 percent, ELFA said.

In September, credit approvals fell to 76.6 percent of all applications submitted from 76.9 percent in August, ELFA said.

There is pent up demand for capital investment, but given the unpredictable domestic environment and the economic headwinds globally, the unevenness may last for several months, said Stan Walker, managing director of JPMorgan Equipment Finance.

ELFA's leasing and finance index tracks the volume of commercial equipment financed in the United States. The index complements the U.S. Commerce Department's durable goods orders report, which it precedes by a few days.

The index is based on a survey of 25 lenders, including Bank of America Corp, BB&T Corp, CIT Group Inc and the financing affiliates or units of Caterpillar Inc , Deere & Co, Siemens AG and Volvo AB .

Separately, the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, ELFA's non-profit affiliate, said its confidence index rose to 56.0 for October from 53.8 for September.

The index is an indicator of the outlook for the equipment finance market, with a reading above 50 suggesting a positive outlook.

NEW YORK, Oct 25 The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday sold $26 billion of a two-year debt issue at a yield of 0.855 percent, its highest since a two-year note auction held in May, Treasury data showed.

* James Flynn reports 4.51 percent passive stake in Blueprint Medicines Corp as of October 20 - sec filing Source text : http://bit.ly/2eCWk3R Further company coverage:

 DUBAI, Oct 25 Billionaire Mohamed Alabbar, one of Dubai's most prominent businessmen, plans a phone messaging service for the Middle East that aims to compete with services such as WhatsApp. Thanks.

UPDATE 2-Lockheed Martin's quarterly profit handily beats estimates

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Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N), the world's largest defense contractor, reported a quarterly profit on Tuesday that handily beat analysts' expectations, as sales of its Sikorsky helicopters pushed total revenue up 14.8 percent.

Lockheed's shares were up about 7 percent in afternoon trading following the company's earnings conference call.

The company also raised its adjusted profit and sales outlook for the year.

Results from the Pentagon's No. 1 weapons supplier are often seen as a bellwether for the U.S. defense sector. Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N) and Raytheon Co (RTN.N) are due to report quarterly results later this week.

The company said third-quarter sales in its rotary and mission systems business unit jumped 55 percent to $3.35 billion, which included about $1.2 billion from sales of Sikorsky military and commercial helicopters. Lockheed completed the $9 billion acquisition of Sikorsky from United Technologies Corp (UTX.N) last year.

Lockheed said sales in its aeronautics business, the biggest division, increased 6.8 percent due to higher net sales of approximately $300 million for the F-35 jet program due to higher aircraft production and sustainment activities.

Only 10 F-35 aircraft were produced this quarter compared with 12 for the same period last year. On their quarterly results conference call, management said a problem with the insulation in the F-35's fuel lines and fuel tanks, and the subsequent fix for aircraft still on the production line, was the reason for "lighter" F-35 deliveries this quarter.

Lockheed is developing and building F-35s for the U.S. military and eight other countries. With estimated development and procurement costs of $391 billion for the United States alone, the F-35 is the world's most expensive weapons program.

Lockheed's space systems division, the third largest unit at the Bethesda, Maryland-based company, delivered $185 million in additional operating profit for the quarter, a 70 percent increase over the same period last year.

According to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S calculations, the company's income from continuing operations was $3.27 per share, versus the average analyst estimate of $2.87.

Net income more than doubled to $2.40 billion, or $7.93 per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 25, from $865 million, or $2.77 per share, a year earlier.

"Most investors who take a look at the trading chart will conclude that this result is more than enough for a stock that has underperformed sharply of late," Barclays analyst Carter Copeland said in a research note.

Lockheed's net income included a one-time special cash payment of $1.8 billion from the company's $5 billion tax-free deal to merge its information systems and global solutions business with Leidos Holdings Inc (LDOS.N) earlier this year.

The company said it expected 2017 net sales to increase by 7 percent compared to 2016. The company also said it expected business segment operating margins to be between 10 and 10.5 percent.

Lockheed raised its adjusted outlook 2016 profit forecast of $11.15 to $11.45 per share to $12.10 and said its forecast for adjusted sales of $45 billion to $46.2 billion had been raised to $46.5 billion.

Net sales rose to $11.55 billion from $10.06 billion a year earlier.


MANCHESTER, N.H./ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton slammed rival Donald Trump on Monday for saying that the week-old effort to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from the control of Islamic State was going badly.


MOSCOW Two Moscow airport workers involved in a plane crash in which Christophe de Margerie, the CEO of Total, was killed had been drinking alcohol, Russia's aviation regulator said on Tuesday, saying the accident could have been avoided altogether.

 PARIS The sale of aerospace firm Thales's rail signaling business to transport company Alstom is no longer on the agenda, a government source told Reuters on Tuesday. Thanks.

UPDATE 1-EU executive asks Italy to explain rising 2017 budget deficit

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BRUSSELS Oct 25 The European Commission asked Italy on Tuesday to explain why its 2017 structural budget deficit is rising instead of falling as requested by EU finance ministers and why the headline budget gap is to be much higher than Rome promised in May.

The letter from the European Union's executive arm to Italy's Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan is part of the Commission's responsibilities to check if the main assumptions of euro zone governments' budgets are in line with EU law.

Italy, like all euro zone countries, is obliged to cut its structural deficit, which excludes one-off items and the effects of the business cycle, by at least 0.5 percent of GDP a year until it comes into balance or surplus.

But in Rome's draft plan for next year, the structural deficit rises 0.4 percentage points to 1.6 percent of GDP, rather than falling 0.6 points to 0.6 percent of GDP as requested by EU finance ministers in July.

In May, Italy wrote to the Commission promising its headline budget deficit in 2017 would be 1.8 percent of GDP, down from 2.4 percent expected in 2016. The 2017 assumptions most recently sent to the Commission, however, put the headline deficit at 2.3 percent.

"We would need explanations for the revision of the targets and the substantial gap emerging with respect to the commitments made last spring," the Commission letter said.

The Commission, which also sent letters with requests for clarifications to Spain, Portugal, Lithuania, Cyprus and Finland, said it understands the extraordinary nature of the costs that Italy was incurring for the recent earthquakes and migration inflows, but it needed more detail.

"We would also need clarifications on amounts included in the Draft Budgetary Plan for consideration as 'exceptional expenditures'," it said.

The letter is an embarrassment for Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who faces a referendum on Dec. 4 that may determine whether he stays in office.

In 2015 and 2016, thanks to various clauses in the Stability and Growth Pact -- the EU's budget rules -- Italy got a total of about 19 billion euros, or 1.1 percent of GDP of extra budget leeway from the Commission.

The Commission agreed Rome could spend the additional money rather than consolidate state books because it was to go on refugees, investment, security and propping up the economy in bad times.

"Part of this flexibility, namely under the investment and structural reform clauses, was granted subject to Italy ... progressing with the structural reform agenda (and) ... presenting credible plans to resume the adjustment as of 2017," the Commission said.

It gave Italy until Oct. 27 to reply. If the Commission is not satisfied with the explanations, it could reject the budget assumptions and ask for new ones, although this has never happened yet since the Commission got the powers in 2013.

The Commission's doubts about draft budgets of the other countries mainly focused on insufficient planned reductions in the structural deficit, or, in the case of Cyprus, a sharp deterioration of the structural deficit by 1.9 percent of GDP.

In the cases of Spain and Lithuania, which do not have fully operational governments at the moment, the Commission requested an update of the draft budgets as soon as a fully functional government is in place.


ROME, Oct 25 Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Tuesday he was optimistic Italy's economy would grow by 1 percent this year, just a few weeks after he cut the official forecast to 0.8 percent.

 BRUSSELS, Oct 25 The European Commission asked Italy on Tuesday to explain why its 2017 structural budget deficit is rising instead of falling as requested by EU finance ministers and why the headline budget gap is to be much higher than Rome promised in May.Thanks.

MILAN Oct 23 Italy's Economy Minister Said

Dear Viewers,

MILAN Oct 23 Italy's economy minister said on Sunday the European Union must choose between allowing Rome to raise its deficit to cope with a recent earthquake and the migrant crisis, or the "Hungarian way" of putting up barriers, which he said would spell doom for the bloc.

"Europe must choose which side to take. They can accept the fact that our deficit goes up from 2 percent to 2.3 percent (of gross domestic product) to tackle the earthquake and the migrant emergencies," Pier Carlo Padoan told la Repubblica daily in an interview.

"Or they can choose the Hungarian way, which puts up walls against the migrants and must be rejected. That would be the beginning of the end."

The Italian government has been stepping up an anti-Brussels rhetoric after unveiling an expansionary 2017 budget plan last week ahead of a referendum on constitutional reform that may decide Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's political future.

The budget hiked previously agreed targets for the budget deficit and the public debt, with Rome insisting it needs fiscal leeway to deal with the migrant crisis on its Mediterranean borders and reconstruction after a huge earthquake in August.

The European Commission has numerous concerns about the plan and is considering sending Rome a warning letter, officials have said.

In a further blow for the government, Fitch Ratings agency cut its outlook for Italy on Friday, saying weak growth, high debt and the uncertain outcome of the Dec. 4 referendum posed risks to the euro zone's third-largest economy. Fitch said Italy's track record of "repeated delay and back-loading of fiscal consolidation reduces credibility."

Padoan said Italy had spent more money than any other European state to deal with the inflow of migrants and refugees.

"So far no one has recognised our financial commitment ... It's a political problem, that concerns the future of the continent," he said.

Renzi was even more defiant on Friday, saying he will not be swayed by the EU and will not change the budget law. "We want to address the needs of Italian citizens, not Brussels technocracy," he said.

Opinion polls suggest Renzi may lose the referendum on his plan to reduce the role of the Senate and centralise decision making. But he has packed the budget with potentially vote-winning measures.


MILAN, Oct 23 Storage rooms crammed with loan documents have emerged as a hidden front line in Italy's battle to save its banks from the threat of financial crisis.

 LONDON, Oct 23 Britain could slash corporation tax to 10 percent if the European Union refuses to agree a post-Brexit free trade deal or blocks UK-based banks from accessing its market, the Sunday Times reported, citing an unidentified source. Thanks.

MILAN Storage Rooms Crammed With Loan

Dear Viewers,

MILAN Storage rooms crammed with loan documents have emerged as a hidden front line in Italy's battle to save its banks from the threat of financial crisis.

Dozens of analysts have been toiling in back offices of the nation's third-largest lender, Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS.MI), in the first stage of a campaign to sell or recover much of Italy's 360 billion euros ($395 billion) worth of problem loans.

The analysts, engineers from a loan data firm, have worked for almost a year with the bank's officials to comb through aging files, copies of which are kept in binders tied together with string and stacked in cupboards, in order to help prepare a 28 billion euro bad loan sale.

"Ours is a painstaking job," said Luca Mazzoni, chief executive of Protos, which has been hired by Monte dei Paschi.

"Documents associated with a single loan can take up an entire cupboard. In one case I remember half a room filled with papers related to just one loan."

Monte dei Paschi, Italy's weakest major lender, is under pressure from the European Central Bank to resolve its bad debt problem by the end of the year, but foreign investors have so far shown little enthusiasm in supporting its rescue plan.

The arduous work of Protos' engineers shows how the patchy state of loan records at Italian banks is likely to hamper sales of bad debts for some time, despite a regulatory push.

Experts say Italian banks may struggle to meet deadlines set by the Bank of Italy to periodically provide very detailed information about bad loans above 100,000 euros.

"Banks are getting hit from all sides: they don't have the time ... They may be stretched in terms of resources and they can't fix things like their IT system overnight," said Joe Giannamore, head of AnaCap Financial Partners which owns a gross 9 billion euros worth of Italian bad loans.

"If they don't have information captured centrally in one place, banks face a long, manual and very labor-intensive job."

Lenders failed to keep records up to date as Italian bad loans quadrupled following the onset of the financial crisis in 2007. When they came under pressure to sell, they realized their databases lacked much of the information that buyers demanded.

DATABASES

Protos analysts have what they call their "war rooms", where they take the information dug out from piles of documents and build easy-to-consult databases.

High-quality information can improve the selling price of a loan portfolio by up to 10 percent, according to Mazzoni.

"One important lesson learnt in the disposal is (that) if you have a good database, the price is higher," BPER CEO Alessandro Vandelli said after the bank sold 450 million euros in bad loans in July.

This is key as banks normally offload bad debts at a loss. Monte dei Paschi's ambitious recapitalization would be an even tougher challenge if a lower selling price for its loans had blown a bigger hole in its accounts.

To shed the bad debts, Monte dei Paschi is relying on a guarantee provided by the state and a major investment by Atlante, a state-sponsored bailout fund financed by leading Italian financial institutions.

Encouragingly, after delving into Monte dei Paschi's bad loans, Atlante last week said the loan quality matched its estimates. Atlante offered in July to pay 1.6 billion euros, or about 27 cents in every euro of face value, for a tranche of the bank's bad loans repackaged as securities.

Monte dei Paschi is now awaiting the outcome of a similar review by JPMorgan, which has pledged to provide a 5 billion euro bridge loan to buy time to arrange the state guarantee.

OUT-OF-COURT

Strong local ties can make Italian banks reluctant to aggressively call in debts, especially small personal loans taken out to buy a car or a washing machine.

"Banks tread lightly because they don't want to hurt their image or undermine traditionally close ties with the local community," said Carmine Evangelista, CEO of AZ Holding, which specializes in recovering unsecured loans.

"When we get a new portfolio we make a first round of calls to let people know their creditor is no longer the bank. This alone normally prompts some repayments," Evangelista added.

Banks have managed to sell unsecured loans despite poor data because they have standard market prices.

But roughly half of Italy's 200 billion euros in loans to insolvent borrowers is secured against real estate, according to accountancy firm PwC.

To sell or recover those loans, accurate data are essential. For example, the bank or the loan's new owners may find it necessary to relaunch an unfinished property development on land that was pledged as collateral.

That can be a big decision, given a 15 percent drop in Italian house prices over the past four years.

The least efficient way to recover bad loans in Italy is to take borrowers to court where, on average, bankruptcy proceedings drag on for 7.8 years.

"It's vital to seek out-of-court deals with borrowers ... Banks don't do that enough," Riccardo Serrini, CEO of bad loan manager Prelios Credit Servicing, said.

($1 = 0.9096 euros)


NEW YORK With S&P 500 earnings on track to rise after four consecutive quarters of contraction, U.S. stocks are clearing a major hurdle that puts the record high in sight for the benchmark U.S. stock index.


WASHINGTON An acquisition of Time Warner Inc by AT&T Inc. could raise significant antitrust issues that the U.S. Senate committee on antitrust would carefully examine, the chairman and ranking member of the committee said Sunday.

 BEIJING General Motors Co plans to launch a new SUV production line at its joint venture factory in the Chinese central city of Wuhan during the first half of 2017, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday, citing company sources. Thanks.

MILAN Storage Rooms Crammed With Loan

Dear Viewers,

MILAN Storage rooms crammed with loan documents have emerged as a hidden front line in Italy's battle to save its banks from the threat of financial crisis.

Dozens of analysts have been toiling in back offices of the nation's third-largest lender, Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS.MI), in the first stage of a campaign to sell or recover much of Italy's 360 billion euros ($395 billion) worth of problem loans.

The analysts, engineers from a loan data firm, have worked for almost a year with the bank's officials to comb through aging files, copies of which are kept in binders tied together with string and stacked in cupboards, in order to help prepare a 28 billion euro bad loan sale.

"Ours is a painstaking job," said Luca Mazzoni, chief executive of Protos, which has been hired by Monte dei Paschi.

"Documents associated with a single loan can take up an entire cupboard. In one case I remember half a room filled with papers related to just one loan."

Monte dei Paschi, Italy's weakest major lender, is under pressure from the European Central Bank to resolve its bad debt problem by the end of the year, but foreign investors have so far shown little enthusiasm in supporting its rescue plan.

The arduous work of Protos' engineers shows how the patchy state of loan records at Italian banks is likely to hamper sales of bad debts for some time, despite a regulatory push.

Experts say Italian banks may struggle to meet deadlines set by the Bank of Italy to periodically provide very detailed information about bad loans above 100,000 euros.

"Banks are getting hit from all sides: they don't have the time ... They may be stretched in terms of resources and they can't fix things like their IT system overnight," said Joe Giannamore, head of AnaCap Financial Partners which owns a gross 9 billion euros worth of Italian bad loans.

"If they don't have information captured centrally in one place, banks face a long, manual and very labor-intensive job."

Lenders failed to keep records up to date as Italian bad loans quadrupled following the onset of the financial crisis in 2007. When they came under pressure to sell, they realized their databases lacked much of the information that buyers demanded.

DATABASES

Protos analysts have what they call their "war rooms", where they take the information dug out from piles of documents and build easy-to-consult databases.

High-quality information can improve the selling price of a loan portfolio by up to 10 percent, according to Mazzoni.

"One important lesson learnt in the disposal is (that) if you have a good database, the price is higher," BPER CEO Alessandro Vandelli said after the bank sold 450 million euros in bad loans in July.

This is key as banks normally offload bad debts at a loss. Monte dei Paschi's ambitious recapitalization would be an even tougher challenge if a lower selling price for its loans had blown a bigger hole in its accounts.

To shed the bad debts, Monte dei Paschi is relying on a guarantee provided by the state and a major investment by Atlante, a state-sponsored bailout fund financed by leading Italian financial institutions.

Encouragingly, after delving into Monte dei Paschi's bad loans, Atlante last week said the loan quality matched its estimates. Atlante offered in July to pay 1.6 billion euros, or about 27 cents in every euro of face value, for a tranche of the bank's bad loans repackaged as securities.

Monte dei Paschi is now awaiting the outcome of a similar review by JPMorgan, which has pledged to provide a 5 billion euro bridge loan to buy time to arrange the state guarantee.

OUT-OF-COURT

Strong local ties can make Italian banks reluctant to aggressively call in debts, especially small personal loans taken out to buy a car or a washing machine.

"Banks tread lightly because they don't want to hurt their image or undermine traditionally close ties with the local community," said Carmine Evangelista, CEO of AZ Holding, which specializes in recovering unsecured loans.

"When we get a new portfolio we make a first round of calls to let people know their creditor is no longer the bank. This alone normally prompts some repayments," Evangelista added.

Banks have managed to sell unsecured loans despite poor data because they have standard market prices.

But roughly half of Italy's 200 billion euros in loans to insolvent borrowers is secured against real estate, according to accountancy firm PwC.

To sell or recover those loans, accurate data are essential. For example, the bank or the loan's new owners may find it necessary to relaunch an unfinished property development on land that was pledged as collateral.

That can be a big decision, given a 15 percent drop in Italian house prices over the past four years.

The least efficient way to recover bad loans in Italy is to take borrowers to court where, on average, bankruptcy proceedings drag on for 7.8 years.

"It's vital to seek out-of-court deals with borrowers ... Banks don't do that enough," Riccardo Serrini, CEO of bad loan manager Prelios Credit Servicing, said.

($1 = 0.9096 euros)


NEW YORK With S&P 500 earnings on track to rise after four consecutive quarters of contraction, U.S. stocks are clearing a major hurdle that puts the record high in sight for the benchmark U.S. stock index.


WASHINGTON An acquisition of Time Warner Inc by AT&T Inc. could raise significant antitrust issues that the U.S. Senate committee on antitrust would carefully examine, the chairman and ranking member of the committee said Sunday.

 BEIJING General Motors Co plans to launch a new SUV production line at its joint venture factory in the Chinese central city of Wuhan during the first half of 2017, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday, citing company sources. Thanks.

Aircraft component maker Rockwell Collins Inc (COL.N) has struck a deal

Dear Viewers,
Aircraft component maker Rockwell Collins Inc (COL.N) has struck a deal to buy aircraft interior maker B/E Aerospace Inc (BEAV.O) for $62 per share in cash and stock, the companies said on Sunday.

The acquisition, valued at $6.4 billion plus the assumption of $1.9 billion in debt, expands the range of products Rockwell Collins supplies to major commercial and business aircraft and broadens its customer based internationally.

The combination is expected to produce cost savings of about $160 million and provide a double-digit boost to per-share earnings in the first full year, the companies said. They also anticipate it generating more than $6 billion in free cash flow over five years.

Rockwell agreed to pay $34.10 per share in cash and $27.90 in shares of Rockwell Collins stock, a 22.5 percent premium to B/E Aerospace's closing price on Friday.

The companies have little product overlap. Rockwell is best known for avionics, flight control systems and cabin connectivity, while B/E Aerospace is a major provider of aircraft seats, galleys, lighting and other systems.

Rockwell, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa has market value of about $11 billion, more than twice the size of Wellington, Florida-based B/E Aerospace, which has a market value of $5.1 billion.

B/E Aerospace brings more aftermarket and aircraft retrofit business to Rockwell, which is mainly focused on new equipment, and also adds exposure to twin-aisle aircraft, said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst at the Teal Group.

Pricing pressures from Boeing Co (BA.N) and Airbus (AIR.PA) are one driver of such a deal. "But it's also a pretty clear indicator that the market has peaked in terms of deliveries and orders," Aboulafia said of new aircraft sales. "In this environment, consolidation is inevitable as a cost-control move.

OTTAWA Canada's federal government on Friday repeated a pledge to give aid to plane and trainmaker Bombardier Inc, which announced earlier in the day shedding jobs for the second time this year.
LOGAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan NATO forces have begun a new program to train Afghan soldiers to pinpoint ground targets for aircraft flying overhead, hoping that it will help stem militant advances in recent months and reverse a sharp rise in civilian casualties.

 SANAA/ADEN, Yemen A 72-hour truce in Yemen came under pressure on Thursday when missiles fired from Yemen killed two civilians in Saudi Arabia, the United States said, while a Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes that Iran-allied Houthi fighters said killed three people. Thanks.

NEW YORK Oct 21 With S&P 500

Dear Viewers,

By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK Oct 21 With S&P 500 earnings on track to rise after four consecutive quarters of contraction, U.S. stocks are clearing a major hurdle that puts the record high in sight for the benchmark U.S. stock index.

The S&P 500 hit a record high in mid August even after the long profit slump. The index has trended lower since then, and even closed below its 50-day average for most of the last six weeks. Some analysts have blamed the recent weakness on expectations that earnings would again fail to grow, as estimates showed until early this week.

But stronger-than-expected profit reports from companies such as Microsoft and Bank of America have turned the tide and the blended earnings growth estimate for the third quarter sits now at 1.1 percent. This would effectively end the earnings recession.

"The magnitude of the beats we've had is really important," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in New York.

"There's a much larger chance that we break out of range to the upside than the downside and I think it happens before the end of the year," he said.

The end-of-year seasonality is also on the side of stock bulls.

Data from broker-dealer LPL Financial show that since 1980 the median S&P 500 gain in the last 50 trading days of the year is 3.6 percent, an advance that would see the index end the year near 2,200 and above its current record close of 2,190.15. It closed Friday at 2,141.16.

"With the earnings recession showing signs of ending this quarter, the economy is on firmer footing, which could lead to your typical end of year strength," said LPL's senior market strategist Ryan Detrick.

The energy sector, which had been a large weight on S&P earnings, is leading the index in terms of the magnitude of upbeat surprises.

Early in the reporting season, profits for the sector are coming in 18 percent above expectations, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S data, ahead of the 11 percent surprise factor in financials and an average of 7 percent for the S&P 500.

The strong beats bode well ahead of a week heavy in energy sector reports including its two largest companies, Exxon Mobil and Chevron, on Friday.

Some energy companies have been able to profit even amid a steep slump in oil prices, noted Roberto Friedlander, head of energy trading at Seaport Global Securities in New York.

He said in a Friday email that the magnitude of strong earnings surprises in the energy space was partly because investors had failed "to truly gauge how efficient and quickly the sector has been able to come down the cost curve and lower break-evens."

S&P 500 energy is the leading sector in terms of year-to-date gains, up 15.3 percent in 2016. The only two other sectors up double digits are utilities, up 10.8 percent, and technology, up 11.2 percent.

The change in leadership to energy is "an important transition" and an indication that the economy is in stronger footing, said Wunderlich's Hogan.

OTTAWA, Oct 23 Canada is in a very good fiscal situation and should not be worried about running up deficits at this point, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said in a television interview aired on Sunday. Thanks

Can you start your own online business?

Hello Dear Viewers,

Can you start your own online business? 

To make money on the currency market, a beginner trader should learn to analyze the Forex market and work out their own strategies on the basis of this analysis. Trading on Forex suggests that market participants should follow certain rules of the market. Among these rules is a trading strategy which turns an ordinary play into activity that brings money.

You can view latest news for international currencies and analyze Forex market and you make your own strategies for Forex trading and get much more profit. 

Traders can develop their own strategies being the most suitable for them. Some market participants use only technical analysis, others prefer to go by fundamental factors. There are those who combine both types of analysis determining entry and exit points.

There is a whole myriad of analytical tools helping traders understand all fluctuations and make complete market analysis. To become skillful and understand the tools, beginner traders are recommended to examine every analytical tool.

Support and resistance levels are considered to be the basis of most trading strategies. Traders use these levels to determine a moment to enter or exit the market. Support is the lowest level touching which a price is likely to switch to an upward movement. The resistance level indicates the highest price at which traders prefer to close positions to avoid the risk of a significant decline. At support and resistance levels, trends are tested and confirmed. Breaches of these levels point to a stable price movement. Support and resistance levels can be determined through analysis of price charts of previous unbroken support and resistance levels for any period of time.

You can download soon Forex professional and working robots in our blog and apply in your MT4 software for Forex trading. 

The moving average is another instrument of trading strategy development. The simple moving average shows a price within a certain period of time. This tool is used to eliminate the short-term price fluctuations. It allows traders to see the overall market situation. Also, the moving average is used to indicate future price movements, whether ascendant or descendant.

If price is above the moving average, the market is bullish and it’s time to buy an asset. The market is bearish if price is below the moving average; it’s time for selling.

Traders can make a deep analysis of the Forex market using several trading tools. When indicators signal the beginning of a market movement, it is the time to start trading relying on one indicator. The main principles of the fundamental analysis are the same.

Developing a trading strategy, traders should remember that any strategy includes clear principles and rules of entering and exiting the market as well as a good analysis of the market movement in the nearest future. Thanks to view our post.