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.หัวข้อ:Stocks Surge on Relief over Jobs, Intel โดย:4202680379 September 06, 2002 04:44 PM ET By Elizabeth Lazarowitz NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks surged on Friday, ending a choppy week on a positive note, after upbeat jobs data and a revenue forecast by chip giant Intel Corp. INTC.O soothed investor jitters about the weak economy and corporate profits. The U.S. unemployment rate eased to a five-month low of 5.7 percent in August, while payrolls grew more than expected, the government said, suggesting the economy is crawling forward. The news calmed fears that the fragile U.S. economy could slip back into recession. But Wall Street pros viewed the stock market rally as mostly a sigh of relief that things were not looking worse amid persistent worries about the economy and corporate profits."Every time there's a little bit of positive economic news, the market pops, and every time you get a little bit of negative news, the market takes a hit," said Michael Vogelzang, president of Boston Advisors, Inc. "I guess that's what happens when there are no profits to speak of." Intel jumped 7.35 percent after the world's No. 1 chipmaker trimmed its quarterly revenue forecast, but not by as much as many investors had feared. "Today's numbers were a nice positive and combine that with a mid-quarter update from Intel that was not as bad as expected and you get a relief rally," said Joe Seminara, head of trading at Dreyfus Corp. Oil stocks like Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM.N also lifted the market as oil prices hit their highest level in a year on growing fears of a U.S. strike against Iraq. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC climbed 44.29 points, or 3.54 percent, to 1,295.29, according to the latest data. The tech-packed index virtually erased the loss it took on Thursday when it closed at its lowest level in a month. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrials .DJI rose 143.5 points, or 1.73 percent, to 8,427.20, while the broad Standard & Poor's 500 .SPX rallied 14.77 points, or 1.68 percent, to 893.92. Trading was moderate, with about 1.2 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange and about 1.3 billion shares changing hands on Nasdaq. Major market gauges, however, were lower for the four-day trading week that was shortened by the Labor Day holiday on Monday, and many Wall Street experts said the market still had hurdles to overcome. For the week, the S&P 500 was down 2.4 percent, the Dow was down 2.7 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.5 percent. Worries are mounting about the possibility of a U.S. military attack on Iraq, and the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks that devastated Wall Street looms next week. Questions still swirl around the health of the economy and corporate profits, and high oil prices, while good for oil companies, could raise costs for consumers and corporate America and could hinder the economy's comeback. "I still think the general tone of the market is to be cautious," said James Park, senior equity trader at Brean Murray & Co. Still, Wall Street wrapped up a week of wild swings on a bright note, led by gains in the technology sector. Treasury prices snapped a week-long rally as investors ventured back into the stock market. Intel rose $1.11 to $16.22, ranking as the largest percentage gainer on the Dow and the most active share on Nasdaq. Intel's better-than-expected outlook helped it claw back some of the 10 percent it lost this week on fears it would drop a bombshell during its financial update on Thursday. Lehman Brothers raised its investment rating on Intel to "equal-weight" from "underweight," saying newly lowered expectations for the chipmaker should be attainable. Intel helped spark a rally in other chip and chip equipment stocks. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange semiconductor index .SOXX rose nearly 5 percent. Applied Materials Inc. AMAT.O , the leading maker of chip production equipment, rose 87 cents to $12.94. Chip gear maker KLA-Tencor Corp. KLAC.O jumped $2.08 to $32.04. Other technology giants followed the upward trend. Computer and printer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ.N rose 65 cents to $13.50, while software leader Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O jumped $1.91 to $47.82. Computer hardware, software and services vendor CDW Computer Centers Inc. CDWC.O surged $5.17, or 12 percent, to $46.47. The company raised its revenue and earnings guidance for the third quarter, citing strong sales of Microsoft Corp. products. Another bright spot was DuPont Co. DD.N , which lifted the Dow with a gain of $1.92 to $39.17 after Bear Stearns raised its rating on the chemical company's shares, citing a belief that its earnings will "hold together." Exxon helped the Dow with a gain of 54 cents to $34.31. Oil prices peaked above $30 a barrel on Friday amid fears of a full-scale U.S. attack on Iraq. The American Stock Exchange's oil index .XOI was up nearly 2 percent. Retailers recovered from a beating on Thursday. Circuit City Group CC.N , the No. 2 U.S. consumer electronics chain, rose $1.48 to $15.73 after it reported that quarterly sales at stores open at least a year rose 10 percent. Rival and industry leader Best Buy Inc. BBY.N surged $2 to $24. Pfizer Inc. PFE.N , the world's largest drugmaker, fell $1.18 to $30.75 and topped the Big Board's most active list. The company said it would delay seeking regulatory approval for its new epilepsy and anxiety drug while it completes studies relating to the drug's safety. 9/7/2002 4:01:30 PM หัวข้อ:China to act as Asia's investment spur โดย:4202680353 HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- China's economy will grow at 7.5 percent this year, a rate that will continue to attract heavy foreign capital, the Economist Corporate Network heard here. Strong competition from China for investment will force other Asian nations to offer tax breaks to overseas companies, according to Lois Dougan Tretiak, the Economist Group's Beijing-based representative. World Trade Organization entry has left many Chinese companies looking for overseas capital, technology and management methods. Industries such as banking, insurance and agriculture face severe competition and are looking for overseas backing and advice as China opens its market. Tretiak said that effect means foreign direct investment (FDI) in China will hit $50.6 billion in 2002, an 8 percent rise over the year before. Pace to pick up The pace will pick up 11 percent in 2003 and 12 percent in 2004, Tretiak's forecasts show, reaching $62.9 billion that year. Other Asian economies may have to counter the "China effect" to make sure they aren't left behind. "It's going to make the countries of Southeast Asia pick up their socks, and make them offer more to the investor," she said after giving her strategic forecast for the region. "Those economies will have to find out where they fit," she said, by targeting specific industries in which they have a competitive advantage. The implications span to Japan and North Asia, tood. Hong Kong, for instance, should focus on its deep-water port and its "basics," she believes. But China's emergence as a regional force will ultimately be positive for most of Asia, according to Tretiak. Stealing Asian limelight China is increasingly stealing the Asian spotlight from Japan, thanks to that economy's sluggishness over the last decade. Tretiak's counterpart in Japan, David Satterwhite, told CNN that the chances are better than even Japan will sink back into recession this year. A yen that gets as strong as 110 to the U.S. dollar in the next six months will mean the end of an export-driven recovery, Satterwhite said. A stock selloff could induce a banking crisis, a Bank of America expert told CNN on Wednesday, if the Nikkei hits 8,100. But the conference speakers were quick to point out that China will not usurp Japan's mantle in Asia anytime soon. China's economy is now $1 trillion -- large, but a far cry from Japan's roughly $4 trillion output and the $10 trillion of the United States. "That is putting the economies in perspective," Tretiak said. "Japan is still the second largest economy in the world. A Japan in the doldrums isn't going to become the fifth-largest economy." 9/7/2002 9:47:14 PM หัวข้อ:Asia-Pacific economies struggle with faltering global recovery โดย:4202680874 LOS CABOS, Mexico (AFP) 2002 AFP Chinese Finance Minister Huaicheng Xiang at a press conference ending the Meeting of Finance Ministers of APEC Asia-Pacific finance ministers grappled here with heightened economic risks as they felt the impact of sliding world stock markets and faltering growth in the United States, Japan and Europe. Most economic indicators suggested the world economy was in recovery, said a joint statement released Friday after a two-day gathering of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. "The current recovery in APEC economies has been supported by robust consumer spending and intra-regional trade," it said. "Nevertheless, uncertainties regarding the strength and pace of the expansion remain." Just five days before the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, which temporarily stunned the global economy, most of the talks at this Mexican beach resort centered on how to halt money flows to terrorists. But after a plunge on Wall Street and other world markets, battered by a series of US corporate accounting scandals, many Asia-Pacific economies were preoccupied by the economic outlook. "Of course, our main concern is about global economic development because that will affect very much our economy," said Indonesia's delegation chief, senior economic advisor Jannes Hutagalung. "Sustainable growth in the US and Japan and European economies is really our main concern," he told AFP. APEC economies, rich and poor, were the driving force behind the global economic recovery in the first half of 2002, World Bank managing director Jeffrey Goldstein told APEC members. "Recent steep falls in global equity markets have, however, reawakened concerns about underlying vulnerabilities in leading economies and hence about the strength of the global recovery going forward." The US economy had slowed substantially after the first quarter of this year, he said. "There is now more concern that large recent losses in equity wealth combined with high levels of corporate and household debt could lead to a more protracted period of slow growth." Recovery in the 12-nation euro area had been weak in 2002 and prospects for Japan remained clouded by its unresolved problems in the financial sector and bulging fiscal shortfall, Goldstein said. East Asia's economic growth prospects for 2002 and 2003 also were deteriorating because of the faltering US and global recoveries, Asian Development Bank (ADB) president Tadao Chino told ministers. 9/7/2002 10:06:19 PM หัวข้อ: Japan down as Asia sells off againโดย:4202680858HONG KONG, China -- Asian stocks fell again on Friday, compounding a brutal week of selling. Japan's market fell just over 1 percent despite hints of government support. It was joined by virtually every exchange in Asia. Korea gave up 1.7 percent, again registering the heaviest selling. Taiwan was closed because of a typhoon. It lost a similar amount the day before. Losses in Australia and New Zealand were both approaching the 1 percent mark, relatively large moves for staid markets. Hong Kong held up better than most, and ended essentially flat on minimal losses. Singapore ended the morning up but reversed in the afternoon. The Straits Times is slightly lower just before the close. September 6, 2002 Posted: 5:01 PM HKT (0901 GMT) 9/7/2002 11:28:18 PM หัวข้อ:PTTEP to build plants, pipeline in Vietnam โดย:4202680114 THE Vietnamese subsidiaries of PTT Exploration & Production (PTTEP) will construct power plants and a gas transmission pipeline system in Vietnam, should the crude oil deposits found at the designated sites prove to be commercially viable. The investment in both projects by PTTEP was in line with the Vietnamese governmentีs obligation for awarding license to both of PTTEPีs Vietnamese subsidiaries ะ PTTEP Hoan Vu, and PTTEP Hoang Long ะ in February to explore and develop offshore petroleum sites at Block 9-2, and Block 16-1, southeast of Vietnam, said PTTEP president Chitraponse Kwangsuksathit. าThe Vietnamese government requires PTTEPีs Vietnamese subsidiaries to invest in a US$50 million joint exploration project, should the petroleum found at the designated sites prove commercially viable,ำ said Chitrapongse. Other participants in the exploration venture are PetroVietnam Exploration & Production (a wholly owned subsidiary of PetroVietnam), Soco Vietnam (an affiliate of Soco International), and Opeco Vietnam. PTTEPีs subsidiaries and its partners plan to spend a combined $50 million on petroleum exploration at the designated sites during 2002 and 2003, said Chitrapongse. 9/8/2002 1:03:00 AM หัวข้อ:Economy's still a C+ student โดย:4202680726 Economy's still a C+ student A slew of recent data have given a decidedly mixed assessment of the economy's health. September 6, 2002: 4:23 PM EDT By Mark Gongloff, CNN/Money Staff Writer NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The U.S. economy got a wide-ranging report card this week, and the results were, well... mixed. In June, CNN/Money determined that the economy was a C+ student -- not failing, but nowhere near the head of the class. Recent data have done nothing to dispel that notion. On one hand, some reports have raised fears that the economy could "double dip" back into recession, while others have justified the belief of most economists that a double dip is nothing more than an ice-cream cone -- the economy's not great right now, but it's not going to fall off the table, and strong growth will return by next year -- if not sooner. At this point, the fate of the economy seems to depend on the outcome of a tug-of-war between U.S. consumers and U.S. businesses. Consumers, whose spending makes up about two-thirds of total U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), have so far kept the economy going, shrugging off a weak labor market, falling stock prices and the threat of war in Iraq to keep buying cars and houses. Businesses, on the other hand, spend far less, but they're critical to the economy because they give the consumers jobs. Businesses have been working at cross purposes to consumers this year. They've been nervous about all the same things consumers are nervous about, but nobody's offering them zero-percent financing on factory equipment, office buildings or computers -- and many businesses have too much of that stuff anyway, so they have little desire to buy more. Businesses have also been slow to hire workers back, after cutting more than 1.5 million jobs during a recession that began in March 2001. Nevertheless, recent data have shown that, so far, consumers appear to be winning the battle and keeping the economy afloat. "People who are seeing things negatively are pointing to excesses" in business' production capacity, debt and other factors, said Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute. "But the excess won't force us into a recession; it just keeps us from going strong." The ECRI's weekly leading index, a compilation of seven economic indicators, rose this week, and Achuthan said it's been pointing to anemic growth that could last for between two and four quarters. But it will be growth nonetheless, and the economy should be stronger thereafter. So far, the majority of economists agree with that view -- but there are risks. Here's how the economy's performing right now, judging by recent data. Consumer confidence: Scandals at Enron, WorldCom and more led to a tumble in stock prices and finally got to the ever-cheerful consumer -- closely watched confidence indexes from the Conference Board the University of Michigan have fallen recently -- though they're still higher than they were after the 1990-91 recession. Consumer spending: Americans bought cars in August like they were going out of style, but they stayed out of Wal-Mart, Target and other chain retailers. It's still too early to tell if weak retail sales are a trend or an anomaly; but if consumers go into hibernation, the economy will, too. Business spending: Business spending on equipment and software rose in the second quarter for the first time since the third quarter of 2000. New orders for machinery -- including industrial machinery -- rose 13.4 percent in July, the biggest gain since the Commerce Department started keeping records. If this trend continues or accelerates, happy days will be here again. As Achuthan pointed out, however, that could take a while. Labor market: Wall Street was thrilled with the drop in August's unemployment rate. Many economists were not. "The economy and the job market are not out of the woods yet," said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo & Co. Though businesses have been expanding their payrolls in recent months, they haven't hired nearly enough people to keep unemployment falling. New claims for unemployment benefits have risen above the benchmark 400,000 level again, and layoff announcements rose 46 percent in August. Hopefully, consumers will not be too unhappy when unemployment rises again, as many economists think it will. A+ Housing market: It just doesn't quit. Mortgage rates fell to yet another new low this week. New and existing home sales continue to set records. If the economy's going under water, housing is on stilts ... or a bubble. For the economy's sake, it had better not be the latter. C+ Manufacturing: This week, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its key measure of manufacturing activity was still in positive territory, but just barely, in August. And reports that factory orders were strong in July, Chicago-area manufacturing is still healthy and mid-Atlantic region manufacturing is weak add to a picture of an industry still tentatively recovering from a prolonged downturn. C Stock market: Stocks ended their precipitous slide in late July and have been scratching and clawing back ever since. Of course, if you believe bear-market guru Bill Gross, the Dow Jones industrial average is going to fall to 5,000. But most observers don't believe him. "Nope. Not unless we get a Japan-style deflation; 5000 Dow just ain't gonna be," said David Kotok, chief investment officer at Cumberland Advisors in Vineland, N.J. C+ Dollar: The dollar is still as weak as it was in June, but the bottom hasn't dropped out. A weaker dollar is helping U.S. exporters such as Procter & Gamble Co. (PG: Research, Estimates), without being so weak that it discourages overseas investment. C+ Overall: Despite a miserable stock market, the economy still seems on track to turn in a better performance this year than 2001's pitiful 0.3-percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) -- maybe more than 3 percent. That's not the A+ performance of the late 1990s, but it's still a passing grade. 9/8/2002 9:17:49 AM หัวข้อ:Japan Expects Slight Economic Rise โดย:4202612786 CERNOBBIO, Italy (AP) - Japan's Economy Minister Heizo Takenaka said Friday he expects his country's economy to grow by as much as 0.5 percent over the next two years and to pick up to 2 percent after that. Takenaka, speaking on the sidelines of an international seminar in the northeastern Italian lakeside resort of Cernobbio, also said the Japanese government is about to unveil two economic reforms to solve some of the country's structural problems. The government intends to first speed up the writing-off of banks' non-performing loans. It then plans to cut taxes in an attempt to revitalize the economy. Takenaka said corporate tax cuts would be applied to companies across Japan, but gave few details over what other taxes would be cut, and did not say by how much. "In Japan, taxes are 5 to 10 percent higher than in other Asian countries," he told reporters. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's government also wants to set up special deregulated zones to attract foreign investment, which has fallen in recent years as China has attracted investors away from Japan. For example, in the agriculture sector, deregulated zones would abolish the law requiring farms to be 50 percent owned by the farmers, Takenaka explained. He said the government is considering 300 to 400 projects for deregulated zones. Over the last year, Japan plunged into its worst slowdown in at least two decades. Several economic packages were passed this year, including two anti-deflation bills. But the economy remains stagnant, banks are still saddled with billions of dollars in bad loans and the unemployment rate hovers around a record 5.4 percent. Japan is undergoing an "intensive adjustment period," Takenaka said. The minister said the government also wants the Bank of Japan to take radical monetary policy measures, aside from interest rate cuts, but he didn't specify exactly what the bank should do. 9/8/2002 1:41:39 PM หัวข้อ:hr and it โดย:4202612422 HR and IT: Network Security Makes for Strange Bedfellows To stave off the finger-pointing and--even better--to greatly reduce the risk of a network-security meltdown, now is the time to talk and plan. By David Fiedler -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- very day, regardless of the size of your company or the kind of business you do, the information stored on your computer network is at risk of being compromised. It could be an incident in which proprietary company data is stolen. Or your employees personal information could be exposed to others who might not keep it to themselves. It could be a situation like the one that occurred at Indiana University last summer, when hackers rooted around in the universitys computer system, having free access for at least three or four days to the applicant data from 1,200 prospective students. Theres a long list of nasty possibilities, one of which is that someone might be attempting to break into your companys digital infrastructure right now. The threat exists for everyone by varying degrees, regardless of who they are, says Steve Fuller, president of NetWorks Group, a company in Brighton, Michigan, specializing in network security and data protection. Automated scans, worms, and pre-attack probes launched from the Internet go on constantly, testing for vulnerabilities in companies networks. Consider this, from a survey released in April on computer crime and security by the FBI and the San Francisco-based Computer Security Institute: Ninety percent of respondents (primarily large corporations and government agencies) had detected computer security breaches within the last 12 months. Eighty percent acknowledged financial losses due to computer breaches. Those reporting losses quantified them at nearly $456 million in 2001. Another thing that is almost certain: when these computer breaches occur and a company experiences significant negative impact, the vigorous finger-pointing that follows would cool a Tucson warehouse in the summertime. HR may say that the IT department should have had better technology in place to protect the system. IT may insist that the problem is with HRs network-security policy. So, to stave off the finger-pointing, and--even better--to greatly eliminate the risks of a network-security meltdown, now is the time to talk and plan. Working together to create sound policy A strong partnership between HR and the technical staff is crucial, says Fuller. Working together to formulate policy ensures not only that the guidelines being established are sensible, but also that they are practical to implement and enforce from a technical standpoint, he points out. "Network security works best when it is policy driven. The actual policy should come from the HR side, but the technical people should be involved in implementing the details." Having a clearly established network-security policy also serves as a guide to IT staff for decision-making when incidents arise, says Fuller. For several reasons, it is much easier for technical people to respond in situations when they have a clearly written policy as a guide. First, you get more consistency in your reactions. For instance, if you had to discuss how your company was going to handle things like lost passwords each time it happened, youd waste a lot of time and end up with haphazard responses in handling it on a case-by-case basis, as opposed to having to make the decision only once at the management level. Having the weight of an established policy behind a decision is important, too. With a clearly written, well-communicated policy, IT people dont have to make compromises they're not comfortable with, says Fuller. They know that they have the backing of management in their decision. Its not an individual making that determination--it comes from the organization through the policy. Some problems come from within Not only are people trying to break in from the outside, but a company's network can also be compromised when someone inside the company does something that can harm the network, accidentally or otherwise. Eliminating problems from within is more challenging. To put it logically: a) employees are people, b) people are human, and c) to err is human. So just assume that you're going to have incidents. "Something like 60 to 80 percent of network-security problems come from the inside," says Fuller. "It's not a small problem." To minimize the risk from within, there are two things you should do: provide training on proper use of the system, and perform thorough background checks on everyone who accesses the system, temps and contractors included. Also, periodic reminders of your appropriate-use policy and network-security guidelines are crucial. At the least, you should have employees annually sign the policy, indicating that they understand it and agree to act accordingly. Security works best when it is part of the culture, says Fuller. End users will know what to do in most circumstances, and providing employees a thorough orientation combined with frequent reviews of the policy can go a long way to preventing incidents. When there Is trouble So, what do we do if some sneak does get far enough into the system to poke around a little bit? Or if it turns out that everyone knows that Rita in Accounting uses SPRING_FEVER for her password? "Every company should have an incident-response policy in place," says George Jelatis, director of security architecture services for Secure Computing Corporation, in San Jose, California. "This can be as minimal as defining a reaction team and the roles they play, but usually goes further and addresses questions like whether or not the company will want to contact law enforcement in the event of information loss or theft, and when and if the company will publicly acknowledge a breach has occurred." Giving early thought to these questions--before the heat is on--is something that can really pay off in the event of a network-security problem. If you can make these decisions when things are calm, it will save you a lot of heartburn during an incident, says Fuller of NetWorks Group. These are very stressful, chaotic times, and youll be glad you considered these issues in advance. Keeping up with technology Your policy is now in place and the technology has been deployed. Your employees know the guidelines and have been trained in appropriate use of the network. Your job is done, right? The biggest thing that people--tech staff included--do not understand is that security is an ongoing process," says Fuller. "You need constant review of your policy and the technology used to safeguard the system. You should also regularly remind employees of the policy and the expectation it sets for them. Dan Jude is president of Sugar Grove, Illinois-based Security Software Systems, which offers Internet monitoring, filtering, and blocking software to employers. He agrees, saying that an outdated network-security plan is almost as bad as not having one at all. "Technology is changing so quickly, and in such big ways, that the network-security policy has to be a living document," says Jude. "It has to change as technology changes, and change as the organization changes. As those updates happen, they must be continually dispersed to employees as well." Though you can never eliminate risk completely, when you tie HR and IT together to formulate a sound network-security plan, when you train end-users on smart and safe computing, and when your IT people incorporate the latest technology to keep the bad guys out, you go a long way toward keeping your networks safe and your life happily free of finger-pointing. Steps to creating a network-security policy Perform a risk assessment "Figure out what your most important data is and what steps need to be taken to protect it," says Steve Fuller. This will help prioritize your efforts, determine what technology is needed, and decide how to most effectively apportion costs. Create a clear policy, keeping it as simple as possible. "Your network-security policy should be three to five pages long, 10 at the most," says George Jelatis. "The policy should be written at a fairly broad level, with references to specific procedures when more information is needed. Also, given the amount of information out on the Internet, you wont have to start from scratch. Sample policies are available free from the SANS (System Administration, Networking and Security) Institute on their Web site. Communicate the policy and train employees on it regularly. "Too often we give new employees a copy of the acceptable-use policy as part of a big stack of papers they have to fill out and sign on their first day. Then it gets thrown into a file and never looked at again," says Dan Jude. "It is really important that there are frequent reminders of the policy, so that employees do not lose sight of its importance." 9/8/2002 1:45:21 PM หัวข้อ:Economy's still a C+ student โดย:4202680551 Economy's still a C+ student A slew of recent data have given a decidedly mixed assessment of the economy's health. September 6, 2002: 4:23 PM EDT By Mark Gongloff, CNN/Money Staff Writer NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The U.S. economy got a wide-ranging report card this week, and the results were, well... mixed. In June, CNN/Money determined that the economy was a C+ student -- not failing, but nowhere near the head of the class. Recent data have done nothing to dispel that notion. On one hand, some reports have raised fears that the economy could "double dip" back into recession, while others have justified the belief of most economists that a double dip is nothing more than an ice-cream cone -- the economy's not great right now, but it's not going to fall off the table, and strong growth will return by next year -- if not sooner. At this point, the fate of the economy seems to depend on the outcome of a tug-of-war between U.S. consumers and U.S. businesses. Consumers, whose spending makes up about two-thirds of total U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), have so far kept the economy going, shrugging off a weak labor market, falling stock prices and the threat of war in Iraq to keep buying cars and houses. Businesses, on the other hand, spend far less, but they're critical to the economy because they give the consumers jobs. Businesses have been working at cross purposes to consumers this year. They've been nervous about all the same things consumers are nervous about, but nobody's offering them zero-percent financing on factory equipment, office buildings or computers -- and many businesses have too much of that stuff anyway, so they have little desire to buy more. Businesses have also been slow to hire workers back, after cutting more than 1.5 million jobs during a recession that began in March 2001. Nevertheless, recent data have shown that, so far, consumers appear to be winning the battle and keeping the economy afloat. "People who are seeing things negatively are pointing to excesses" in business' production capacity, debt and other factors, said Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute. "But the excess won't force us into a recession; it just keeps us from going strong." The ECRI's weekly leading index, a compilation of seven economic indicators, rose this week, and Achuthan said it's been pointing to anemic growth that could last for between two and four quarters. But it will be growth nonetheless, and the economy should be stronger thereafter. So far, the majority of economists agree with that view -- but there are risks. Here's how the economy's performing right now, judging by recent data. Consumer confidence: Scandals at Enron, WorldCom and more led to a tumble in stock prices and finally got to the ever-cheerful consumer -- closely watched confidence indexes from the Conference Board the University of Michigan have fallen recently -- though they're still higher than they were after the 1990-91 recession. Consumer spending: Americans bought cars in August like they were going out of style, but they stayed out of Wal-Mart, Target and other chain retailers. It's still too early to tell if weak retail sales are a trend or an anomaly; but if consumers go into hibernation, the economy will, too. Business spending: Business spending on equipment and software rose in the second quarter for the first time since the third quarter of 2000. New orders for machinery -- including industrial machinery -- rose 13.4 percent in July, the biggest gain since the Commerce Department started keeping records. If this trend continues or accelerates, happy days will be here again. As Achuthan pointed out, however, that could take a while. Labor market: Wall Street was thrilled with the drop in August's unemployment rate. Many economists were not. "The economy and the job market are not out of the woods yet," said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo & Co. Though businesses have been expanding their payrolls in recent months, they haven't hired nearly enough people to keep unemployment falling. New claims for unemployment benefits have risen above the benchmark 400,000 level again, and layoff announcements rose 46 percent in August. Hopefully, consumers will not be too unhappy when unemployment rises again, as many economists think it will. Housing market: It just doesn't quit. Mortgage rates fell to yet another new low this week. New and existing home sales continue to set records. If the economy's going under water, housing is on stilts ... or a bubble. For the economy's sake, it had better not be the latter. Manufacturing: This week, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its key measure of manufacturing activity was still in positive territory, but just barely, in August. And reports that factory orders were strong in July, Chicago-area manufacturing is still healthy and mid-Atlantic region manufacturing is weak add to a picture of an industry still tentatively recovering from a prolonged downturn. Stock market: Stocks ended their precipitous slide in late July and have been scratching and clawing back ever since. Of course, if you believe bear-market guru Bill Gross, the Dow Jones industrial average is going to fall to 5,000. But most observers don't believe him. "Nope. Not unless we get a Japan-style deflation; 5000 Dow just ain't gonna be," said David Kotok, chief investment officer at Cumberland Advisors in Vineland, N.J. Dollar: The dollar is still as weak as it was in June, but the bottom hasn't dropped out. A weaker dollar is helping U.S. exporters such as Procter & Gamble Co. (PG: Research, Estimates), without being so weak that it discourages overseas investment. Overall: Despite a miserable stock market, the economy still seems on track to turn in a better performance this year than 2001's pitiful 0.3-percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) -- maybe more than 3 percent. That's not the A+ performance of the late 1990s, but it's still a passing grade. ----------------------------------- 9/8/2002 4:18:28 PM หัวข้อ:Citigroup may settle with FTC โดย:4202680049 Citigroup may settle with FTC Financial services company close to $200M payment in predatory lending case. September 6, 2002: 2:11 PM EDT NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Citigroup is close to a reported $200 million settlement with federal regulators who charge that a subsidiary of the No. 1 financial services company engaged in abusive lending practices. Citigroup, the world's largest financial services firm, inherited a suit filed by the Federal Trade Commission against Associates First Capital Corp., which Citigroup acquired for $27 billion in November 2000. That suit, according to the Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press and Reuters, is near settlement with the FTC, which accused Associates First of "predatory lending." Predatory lending is generally regarded as taking advantage of consumers with poor credit histories through exorbitant interest rates, deceptive marketing tactics and abusive debt-collecting practices. The FTC lawsuit alleged Associates First used deceptive marketing practices to induce consumers to refinance existing debts into home loans with high interest rates, costs and fees. A statement from Citigroup lawyer Andrew Sandler said the FTC and Citigroup are in advanced negotiations to settle the case. "We view settlement of this matter as a mild positive as it would represent one outstanding legal/regulatory issue that (Citigroup) has the power to resolve fairly quickly," Judah S. Kraushaar, who covers the company for Merrill Lynch, told clients. Kraushaar has a "strong buy" rating on Citigroup stock, which is down nearly 40 percent this year. FTC spokesman Derrick Rill told Reuters that the agency was in settlement talks with Citigroup, but he declined to elaborate. Citigroup has claimed that the alleged predatory lending practices happened at Associates First before the acquisition and that the company has taken steps to change abusive tactics, but the FTC claimed the company had "effectively stalled" in producing evidence during the trial, according to the Journal. If it does agree to the settlement terms, Citigroup would neither admit or deny any wrongdoing, the Journal reported. The paper put the settlement costs at $200 million. Reuters reported that Citigroup chief executive Sandy Weill also confirmed on Friday that the company has been negotiating with the agency. "These problems are basically related to problems with a company before we acquired it," Weill said at a financial services conference hosted by Merrill Lynch in New York. News of the FTC settlement talks comes as the Manhattan District Attorney's Office is investigating the company's role in Enron's collapse and the New York State Attorney General's office is looking at potential conflicts of interest in Citigroup's securities operations and allocations of initial public offering shares to client accounts. Citigroup (C: Research, Estimates) rose $1.30 to $30.60 Friday afternoon, narrowing its year-to-date losses to 39 percent. ------------------------------------------- 9/8/2002 4:20:22 PM หัวข้อ:Stocks rake in a rally โดย:4202680676 Stocks rake in a rally Dow, Nasdaq tack on gains following a strong jobs report, relief after a tame update from Intel. September 6, 2002: 6:07 PM EDT By Parija Bhatnagar, CNN/Money Staff Writer NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. stocks came out swinging Friday as Intel-inspired technology stocks and a blue-chip bounce on strong jobs data gave investors some cheer at the close of a volatile trading week on Wall Street. The major indexes erased the previous session's losses but were challenged in the first week of the typically cruel month of September. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 143.50 to 8,427.20. The Nasdaq composite rallied 44.30, or 3.5 percent, to 1,295.30. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 14.77 to 893.92. Some analysts said that while the monthly jobs reports was encouraging, it did not dispel market concerns over a stalled economic recovery. "The jobs number was fuzzy, even though on balance it helped to perk up the market," said Alan Ackerman, market strategist with Fahnestock & Co. "Based on that number, the market is now factoring in that the economy is not weak enough for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in its Sept. 24 meeting." The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 5.7 percent in August from 5.9 percent in July, while job growth gained a little strength as the labor market struggles to recover from more than 1.5 million job cuts last year. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to remain steady for the month. Denting the upbeat report was a 68,000-job drop in factory payrolls, the biggest since a 115,000 decline in January, and a 55,000-job drop in retail payrolls. Technology stocks surged back to life after Intel's much-anticipated mid-quarter update offered no shocks. Blue-chip techs IBM (IBM: up $1.02 to $73.20, Research, Estimates), Microsoft (MSFT: up $1.91 to $47.82, Research, Estimates) and Intel (INTC: up $1.11 to $16.22, Research, Estimates) fueled a blue-chip rally, combined with bullish analysts' notes for chemical maker DuPont and automaker General Motors. For the week, the Dow was down 2.7 percent, while the Nasdaq fell 1.5 percent. The S&P 500 index dropped 2.4 percent. The major indexes charted wild gyrations, alternating gains with losses throughout the week on mixed economic reports, tech weakness and foggy back-to-school results from the nation's retailers. Market watchers forecast more volatility next week -- punctuated by a shortened trading session Wednesday in observance of Sept. 11, the one-year anniversary of the worst terrorist attack against the United States. "We'll continue to see volatility for two reasons. First, there's no straight line of good numbers continuously coming out of the economy," Alan Kral, portfolio manager with Trevor, Stewart, Burton & Jacobsen, told CNNfn's The Money Gang. "All this talk about a war with Iraq is adding a tremendous amount of volatility in all the markets. We see it in bonds, gold, oil. The uncertainty of what's going to happen is weighing on the markets," Kral added. President Bush said Wednesday he would ask Congress at an appropriate time to support any action on Iraq. The president also said he would make his case against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in an address to the U.N. General Assembly Sept. 12. "Next week will be very tense, full of sadness and recollections about Sept. 11 " said Ackerman. "Prudent investors may not want to commit money until after we cross that date." Stocks traded on moderate volume Friday, which marks Rosh Hashanah -- the start of the Jewish New Year -- typically reflected by sluggish trading late in the session. Chips get Intel-ligent Intel (INTC: up $1.11 to $16.22, Research, Estimates) helped to douse the fire that charred the chip sector this week. The No. 1 chipmaker Thursday delivered a mid-quarter update that proved almost anti-climactic after it lowered the top end of its revenue forecast but was still within its estimated range, citing weak demand for chips from customers and businesses. Wall Street had been bracing for the downbeat business forecast after a slew of analysts delivered cautious comments earlier in the week. Lehman Brothers upgraded Intel to "equal-weight" from "underweight." Badly bruised semiconductor issues tacked on gains. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped more than 5 percent to 292.63. Also supporting the Nasdaq were shares of software, networking and computer stocks. Blotting the upbeat tech scenario, UBS Warburg lowered its 2002 and 2003 estimates for telecom equipment maker Lucent Technologies (LU: down $0.14 to $1.77, Research, Estimates), citing weakness in the U.S. wireless market in the September quarter. The brokerage firm also said it anticipates more job cuts at the company by the end of the year. Merrill Lynch chimed in, saying it expects Lucent's fourth-quarter and 2003 sales to decline due to continued weak spending trends. Asia-Pacific stocks finished lower Friday, with Tokyo's Nikkei index down 1 percent. European markets roared to a solid close. Treasury prices fell on the back of the strong jobs report, sending the 10-year note yield up to 4.02 percent from 3.91 percent late Thursday. The dollar rose against the yen and euro. Light crude oil futures rose 63 cents to $29.61. Oil prices had earlier surged by more than $1 a barrel in U.S. trading -- the highest level since Aug. 20, whenprices jumped to $30.32, an 18-month high. Gold hit a 6-week high as investors became increasingly concerned about possible U.S. military action in Iraq. Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, advancers beat decliners 2-to-1 on volume of 1.1 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, winners beat losers 2-to-1 as 1.2 billion shares changed hands. Bullish backing for DuPont, GM Among blue-chip stocks that buoyed the Dow, chemical maker DuPont (DD: up $1.92 to $39.17, Research, Estimates) was upgraded by Bear Stearns to "buy" from "attractive," saying it expects the company to stay on track with its earnings. The brokerage house also raised its third- and fourth-quarter earnings estimates for U.S. automaker General Motors (GM: up $1.47 to $45.80, Research, Estimates), citing strength in its production schedules, low inventories and signs that the company will continue to push for more market share. GM Wednesday raised its third-quarter and 2002 earnings forecast following strong U.S. sales for August. Retail leader Wal-Mart Stores (WMT: up $1.84 to $52.78, Research, Estimates) reaffirmed its third-quarter and full-year estimates. Wal-Mart shares were pummeled in the previous session after the company reported a miss for its August same-store sales number. Home improvement retailer Home Depot (HD: up $1.15 to $33.25, Research, Estimates) benefited from bullish comments from Credit Suisse First Boston, which said in a research note that a surge in home financing will boost consumer spending. The brokerage firm upgraded the retail sector to "market weight" from "under weight." But tobacco marketer Philip Morris (MO: down $1.65 to $46.51, Research, Estimates) was a Dow laggard after sector mate R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings (RJR: down $5.67 to $52.58, Research, Estimates), the parent of the No. 2 U.S. cigarette company, slashed its third-quarter and full-year estimates, citing increased competitive pressures. Salomon Smith Barney downgraded R.J. Reynolds to "neutral" from "buy." Diversified manufacturer 3M (MMM: up $1.90 to $122.63, Research, Estimates) also boosted the blue-chip index. 9/8/2002 4:42:17 PM หัวข้อ:MONEY LAUNDERING โดย:4202620029 Gem sales front for drug cash Police to investigate connections with Wa Nauvarat Suksamran, Subin Kheunkaew and Anucha Charoenpo Wa drug producers use gemstone auctions in Rangoon every February and October by the Burmese government to launder their illicit money, sources in the Thai jewellery industry allege. Wa investors owned large jewellery businesses suspected to have been funded by drug money, they said. Many also won concessions from the Burmese government to mine gemstones in Shan state. At the auction they were rivals to Thai gem traders, mostly from Chanthaburi, and they won more often. Pittaya Jinawat, director of the Narcotics Control Board's northern branch, said the office was aware of the alleged practice and intended to raise the issue at a meeting on Sept 13-14. He had a list of names of Thai businessmen who regularly bought gemstones at the auctions. The office was looking into whether any of them had business connections with the Wa and went there to help the minority group launder its drug money. Mr Pittaya said it would be difficult for his office to take action without solid evidence to support money-laundering charges. The list of gem traders would be sent to the Anti-Money Laundering Office for further checks. Rewat Wannachote, a gem exporter, said the minerals became scarce after Burma closed border checkpoints with Thailand three months ago. Burma is among the best source of rubies and other gemstones in the world. Most traders were counting down to the next auction and trying to secure enough stones to meet orders. Mr Rewat admitted that police treated with suspicion Thai gem traders who did business in Burma. Police suspected that he and many of his colleagues were involved in trafficking. Their bank accounts were scrutinised and their houses searched. Traders often had big sums of money in hand because the business involved a large amount of revolving capital. However, this did not mean they were unusually wealthy, and police should check their intelligence. Sources, however, said some gem traders bought contraband gemstones from Burma and sent them to Chanthaburi, and on the way paid 2,000-10,000 baht to police to avoid searches. As gem and jewellery businesses owned by Wa minorities boomed in Burma, many Thai lapidaries were hired to teach cutting and polishing techniques to local workers in several towns near the Chinese border. Somkid Ratiwan, a Chanthaburi native, said he was offered that kind of job in Burma. The firm offered him a salary of tens of thousands of baht a month and was to be paid three months in advance. However, Mr Somkid said his friends told him not to go there as chances were he would be confined to the factory most of the time. ``The pay was good but I would not have freedom of movement,'' he said. Casinos were based in Burma near the Chinese border so many Thais working for Wa investors came home empty-handed, he said. Mr Somkid said friends had told him most of the factories were big and employed more than 100 staff. Most of the jewellery was sold to China. Araya Boontham, a lapidary, said he used to work at a gem factory in Pang Sang, a bustling border town with schools, hospitals, hotels, casinos and grocery stores. Travelling there from Thailand took two days, Mr Araya said. He had encountered strict drug searches by Burmese soldiers. ``The drug law there was harsh and penalties were heavy,'' he said. Mr Araya said he did not see any heroin factories during his 10-month stay in Pang Sang. The government, he said, should form business links with the Wa people as there was a huge demand for Thai consumer goods in Wa-controlled areas. It should also negotiate with Burma for gemstone mining concessions and rubber planting. Pang Sang, he said, grew almost one million rai of rubber. Mr Araya said the Wa minorities were no longer merely the drug pushers that many Thais assumed them to be. ``They used to sell drugs but now they do not do that any more,'' he said. 9/8/2002 5:16:55 PM หัวข้อ:FLOODING โดย:4202612778 Thousands flee inundation as rivers overflow Swathes of farmland, highways under water Flood crises prevailed yesterday as the banks of the Chi, Moon and Pa Sak rivers were breached, forcing tens of thousands of people out of their homes, inundating farmland and rendering roads impassable in Ubon Ratchathani, Yasothon and Lop Buri provinces. Authorities evacuated 1,000 people to a school in the Yasothon provincial capital after four villages were inundated by the Chi and Yang rivers, which reportedly surged 10 centimetres per hour amid heavy rain. District chief Krit Rangsisena na Ayutthaya said the province had experienced heavy flooding due to a 10km embankment in Roi Et's Phanom Phrai district that blocked the flow of the Chi river. Flooding also hit 30 villages in the province's Maha Chana Chai district, affecting 5,000 people and destroying 10,000 rai of rice paddies. In Chai Badan district of Lop Buri, residents were stranded on rooftops as the Pa Sak river burst its banks, with flood levels reported at two metres high in some areas. Some 300 families were affected and 6,000 rai of farmland submerged. The Vichian Buri-Lam Narai road was one metre under water. In Phetchabun, a woman was killed by flash flooding in Lom Sak district, taking the province's death toll to five. Four others, including a monk, were still missing. In Ubon Ratchathani, many families took to embankments of the Warin Chamrap-Ubon Ratchathani highway, while others were evacuated to designated higher ground, where they received relief supplies. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the government would use surveys of the affected areas to map out long-term flood-prevention strategies. Tough action would also be taken against illegal loggers, who have been blamed for causing flash floods and landslides that have hit several provinces over recent years. Any officials found to be involved would face severe punishment, he said. Mr Thaksin pledged to supply a budget to repair the flood damage, which was estimated at 227 million baht. The government's 24-hour flood hotline could be reached by telephone at 02-282-1731, or by fax at 02-281-4266. 9/8/2002 5:19:20 PM หัวข้อ:สหรัฐ-อียูคุมเข้มเอกสารนำเข้าสินค้าและวิธีการบรรจุผลิตภัณฑ์อาหาร โดย:4202611515 วันอาทิตย์ที่ 8 กันยายน พ.ศ. 2545 สหรัฐ-อียูคุมเข้มเอกสารนำเข้าสินค้าและวิธีการบรรจุผลิตภัณฑ์อาหาร โดย ผู้จัดการออนไลน์ สำนักงานส่งเสริมการค้าในต่างประเทศ ณ นครนิวยอร์กระบุหลังจากที่สหรัฐเกิดเหตุการณ์ก่อวินาศกรรม 11 กันยายนที่ผ่านมา ชี้ตลอด 1 ปี ศุลกากรสหรัฐเข้มงวดและปรับเปลี่ยนกฎระเบียบตรวจเอกสารการนำเข้าทุกชนิด เพื่อป้องกันอันตรายและสร้างความปลอดภัยให้ชาวอเมริกัน แถมอียูประกาศใช้ระเบียบคุมเข้มบรรจุภัณฑ์ประเภทพลาสติก และขีดจำกัดสำหรับปริมาณการเคลื่อนย้ายอีก นายดนัย ปรัชญนันทน์ ผู้อำนวยการสำนักงานส่งเสริมการค้าในต่างประเทศ ณ นครนิวยอร์ก เปิดเผยว่า หลังจากเกิดเหตุการณ์ก่อวินาศกรรมในสหรัฐเมื่อวันที่ 11 กันยายน 2545 ที่ผ่านมาจนถึงขณะนี้ ศุลกากรสหรัฐได้เข้มงวดและปรับเปลี่ยนกฎระเบียบการตรวจเอกสารการนำเข้าสินค้าต่างๆ เพื่อป้องกันอันตรายและสร้างความปลอดภัยให้ชาวอเมริกัน โดยบริษัทผู้ขนส่งสินค้าจะต้องยื่นเอกสารเกี่ยวกับการขนส่งสินค้านั้นๆ พร้อมข้อมูลของสินค้า เช่น ชื่อเรือและเลขที่เรือขนส่งสินค้า ชื่อประเทศที่เป็นจุดเริ่มขนส่งสินค้าหรือจุดที่ขนส่งสินค้าขึ้นเรือ เลขระบุผนึกตู้คอนเทนเนอร์ขนส่งสินค้า และเลขปิดผนึกตู้คอนเทนเนอร์ให้กับศุลกากรสหรัฐภายใน 24 ชั่วโมงก่อนที่จะนำตู้คอนเทนเนอร์สินค้านั้นขึ้นเรือออกจากต้นทาง ทั้งนี้ รัฐบาลสหรัฐแจ้งว่า การดำเนินการดังกล่าวก็เพื่อเป็นการตรวจสอบให้เกิดความปลอดภัย โดยเริ่มตั้งแต่ตู้คอนเทนเนอร์ โดยจะจัดให้มีการตั้งสำนักงานศุลากากรสหรัฐที่บริเวณท่าเรือของประเทศต่างๆ ซึ่งอยู่ในท่าที่มีความเสี่ยงสูง ระบบการตรวจตราจะประสบผลสำเร็จได้นั้น ศุลกากรสหรัฐจะต้องได้รับรายละเอียดและข้อมูลเกี่ยวกับการขนส่งสินค้านั้นๆ ตามระยะเวลาที่เหมาะสมและข้อมูลมีความถูกต้องก่อนที่จะนำตู้คอนเทนเนอร์ขึ้นเรือ นอกจากนี้ ก่อนเรือขนสินค้าเดินทางถึงท่าเรือในสหรัฐ ซึ่ง U.S.Coast Guard สั่งให้บริษัทขนส่งสินค้าทางเรือจัดส่งเอกสารเกี่ยวกับการขนส่งสินค้าทั้งหมดให้ U.S.Coast Guard ภายใน 96 ชั่วโมงก่อนเรือเดินทางถึงท่าเรือในสหรัฐ นางฉวีวรรณ จันทนภุมมะ อัครราชทูต(ฝ่ายการพาณิชย์) ประจำกรุงบรัสเซลส์ กล่าวว่า คณะกรรมาธิการยุโรป(อียู)ได้รวบรวมระเบียบว่าด้วยวัสดุหรือสารที่สัมผัสกับอาหารและกฎเกณฑ์ในการตรวจสอบปริมาณการเคลื่อนย้าย โดยกำหนดคำจำกัดความ ปริมาณสูงสุดของสารที่เคลื่อนย้ายเข้าสู่อาหาร รายชื่อสารที่นำมาใช้ในการผลิตบรรจุภัณฑ์ประเภทพลาสติก และขีดจำกัดสำหรับปริมาณการเคลื่อนย้าย โดยมีผลบังคับใช้ตั้งแต่วันที่ 3 กันยายนที่ผ่านมา ดังนั้น ผู้ส่งออกไทยจึงต้องใช้หรือผลิตบรรจุภัณฑ์ให้เป็นไปตามเงื่อนไข ซึ่งการที่ผู้ผลิตและผู้ส่งออกไทยสามารถปฏิบัติตามระเบียบได้จะแสดงถึงศักยภาพและความพร้อมในการแข่งขันในตลาดอียู ซึ่งจะทำให้ผู้นำเข้าและผู้บริโภคเชื่อมั่นในความปลอดภัยของสินค้าอาหารไทย 9/8/2002 9:42:45 PM หัวข้อ:แนะรัฐบาลปรับกลยุทธ์ส่งออกรับมือสหรัฐถล่มอิรัก โดย:4202681773 แนะรัฐบาลปรับกลยุทธ์ส่งออกรับมือสหรัฐถล่มอิรัก โดย ผู้จัดการออนไลน์ นายเกียรติ สิทธีอมร ประธานหอการค้านานาชาติแห่งประเทศไทย กล่าวว่าเหตุการณ์ตึงเครียดระหว่างสหรัฐและอิรักได้ทำให้การลงทุนทั่วโลก ทั่วภูมิภาคซบเซาอย่างมาก และเมื่อใดที่สหรัฐและพันธมิตรเปิดฉากถล่มอิรัก การลงทุนจะหยุดชะงักทันที เพราะนักลงทุนจะไม่ตัดสินใจลงทุนใหม่ จนกว่าสถานการณ์จะคลี่คลาย การใช้จ่ายของชาวอเมริกันในสหรัฐจะลดลงกระทบต่อการส่งออกของไทย ดังนั้นรัฐบาลควรจะปรับยุทธศาสตร์การส่งออก และเตรียมแผนรองรับผลกระทบที่จะเกิดขึ้น ด้านนายเกียรติพงษ์ น้อยใจบุญ เลขาธิการสภาอุตสาหกรรมแห่งประเทศไทย กล่าวว่า ขณะนี้หลายประเทศเริ่มกักตุนสินค้าเกษตร อาหาร เครื่องนุ่งห่ม รวมทั้งสินค้าจำเป็นอื่น ๆ แล้ว เพราะไม่มั่นใจว่าสถานการณ์จะรุนแรงและยืดเยื้อหรือไม่ ซึ่งจะส่งผลดีต่อไทยในฐานะที่เป็นผู้ผลิตสินค้าเกษตรรายใหญ่ แม้ว่าขณะนี้สินค้าเกษตรยังมีราคาต่ำอยู่ก็ตาม ส่วนการค้าระหว่างประเทศในระยะต่อไป เชื่อว่าประเทศในภูมิภาคเอเชียจะหันมาค้าขายร่วมกันมากขึ้น เนื่องจากตลาดสหรัฐและยุโรปหดตัวลง 9/8/2002 9:44:32 PM หัวข้อ:Struggling through 9/11 โดย:4202680130 Struggling through 9/11 The 9/11 anniversary and Bush's speech on Iraq dominate the week ahead. September 8, 2002: 8:37 AM EDT By Justin Lahart, CNN/Money Staff Writer NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - With the marking of the Sept. 11 anniversary on Wednesday, reading the Wall Street's Rorschach on the coming week is an impossible task. There's just no way of knowing how the market's psyche will be affected. We can speculate -- investors will fall into a funk, they'll pause for remembrance and then get back to work, they'll buy, they'll sell. Sept. 11 is going to matter, but we don't know how. (Click here to jump straight to a lineup of the week's key events.) "It's impossible to figure out what's going to happen," said Kirlin Securities strategist Tony Dwyer. "The only thing we can be sure of is that there's not going to be much trading going on." Indeed, trading volume should be thin through much of the week -- not just for Wednesday's shortened session. (The stock market doesn't open up until 11 a.m. ET; the bond market closes an hour early at 2 p.m. ET.) Unsure how the Sept. 11 anniversary will affect trading, many market participants will stay out of the game. And many wouldn't be at their desks in any case: It's a week of memorial services on Wall Street. The other event holding investors back will be uncertainty about how President Bush's address on Iraq before the U.N. will go Thursday. "The thing to look for is how specific is he in making the case against Iraq, and does he present any new evidence [that Iraq is developing weapons of mass destruction]," said Andy Laperriere, a political analyst for the International Strategy & Investment Group. Laperriere thinks that Bush will gain the support of the U.S. public for moving aggressively on Iraq -- coming on the heels of Sept. 11, people will have been reminded exactly how big the stakes are. Many investors would just like to see a road map: Conflicting ideas from the Bush camp on how to deal with Saddam Hussein has contributed to market uncertainty over the past several weeks. "It's probably a bigger burden on the market right now than the marking of the anniversary," said Aeltus Investment Management strategist Jim Griffin. On the economic front, investors will be keying off of an Alan Greenspan speech on the economy Thursday morning and, on Friday, the August retail sales report. Greenspan will likely reiterate what other Federal Reserve speakers have said in recent weeks: Though it has hit its rough patches, the recovery is on track and the dangers of slipping into recession are minimal. This past Friday's better-than-expected jobs report makes the chances of a rate cut at the Fed's policy meeting later this month seem doubtful. On the retail sales front, the picture has been mixed: Auto sales have been incredibly strong, while the back-to-school season has been weak. But altogether, thinks Lehman Brothers economist Joe Abate, the consumer's mood has been sour. He thinks that excluding autos, sales grew by just 0.2 percent in August, and that there's a chance they declined. "The Fed is out of the picture this month, but I still think they could ease in November and December," he said. Key events in the week ahead Monday morning the Commerce Department releases wholesale inventories for July. It's old news, so it probably won't elicit much reaction in the market, but economists use it to get a read on where GDP is. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect inventories ticked up by 0.2 percent. Tuesday before the open Heinz announces earnings. The ketchup king's share price has held up well over the past couple of years -- it's a boring business, but stable. Analysts expect it earned 54 cents a share in its latest quarter, according to Multex. In observation of Sept. 11, the stock market won't open until 11 a.m. ET Wednesday. The bond market will close an hour early, at 2 p.m. ET. The only release planned is the Fed's Beige Book, the anecdotal survey on the economy it puts out eight times a year. Thursday morning Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan speaks before the congressional budget committee. President Bush speaks at the United Nations Thursday. He's expected make his case for dealing firmly with Iraq and lay out the guidelines for doing that. Adobe posts results after the close Thursday. Investors are keen to know how its planned release of the next version of its popular Acrobat software, slated for next year, is shaping up. Analysts expect Adobe earned 19 cents a share in its latest quarter. Friday August retail sales get released. Auto sales for the month were strong, but chain stores had disappointing results. Economists think retail sales tacked on 0.4 percent growth for the quarter; 0.2 percent if you don't include auto sales. August producer prices, set for release Friday morning, probably didn't move much. Economists think that they grew by 0.2 percent while the core, which excludes food and energy, grew by 0.1 percent. The University of Michigan's preliminary read on its consumer sentiment index comes out Friday morning. Economists think the index ticked up slightly, to 88, from August's final read of 87.6. 9/8/2002 10:29:13 PM หัวข้อ:War with Iraq could spark recession โดย:4202680734 As the US and the UK discuss strikes on Iraq, BBC News Online looks at how the conflict could hit consumers in the pocket. Imagine the nightmare scenario. Enormous casualties in Iraq lead to major demonstrations in Arab capitals. Middle East governments react with heavy-handed oppression - and one state, perhaps, descends into anarchy. Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein attacks Israel with a Scud missile. Israel retaliates and the Palestinian conflict spills out into a regional confrontation. "That would be Middle East conflagration," says Ian Bremmer, president of the research firm, Eurasia Group, in New York. "That'll push oil prices up! "Conflagration could have a long-term effect on the oil markets and push us into economic recession." Analyse this We are, however, only speaking in scenarios - something analysts do a lot. Although most see war with Iraq as an almost-certainty, the various, possible consequences of such a conflict are still being mapped out. "The day we start attacking opens up so many risks," says Mr Bremmer. One of the biggest risks for all of us watching the war on television would be the impact on our wallets. The chain reaction starts with a spike in the cost of oil, which in turn raises business costs, leads to possible unemployment, or simply makes it more expensive to heat our homes and run our cars. But for all the political tub-thumping, economists are remarkably sanguine about our economic prospects. "There is considerable uncertainty about the amount of damage a conflict would do," says Nigel Pain of London's National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR). "But for a recession there would have to be a sustained spike in the oil price." The cost of war At the moment, the cost of Brent crude oil is hovering just below $30 a barrel. During the Gulf War of 1991, it shot up above $40. Analysts estimate that the current price includes a war premium of between $1 and $5, which means that anxiety about an attack on Iraq is already being priced in. In the event of war, with Iraqi oil off-tap, the oil price would probably jump, but the question is how high and for how long. "If it persists at high levels, perhaps for six to nine months, then that could lead to a recession," says Mr Pain. However, most analysts are expecting a brief military campaign and - in the optimal scenario from their point of view - a change of regime in Iraq. Industry is also much less dependent on oil than it was in the 1970s Manouchehr Takin Centre for Global Energy Studies With a "Hamid Karzai" installed in Baghdad, the oil infrastructure could be upgraded and online within a couple of months, says Manouchehr Takin from the Centre for Global Energy Studies in London. He believes that would up Iraq's current production capacity and, with the excess supply, even bring oil prices down. Knocked out Even so, many are haunted by the oil crisis of 1973-4, when an oil shortage and the subsequent price rise helped cause a world recession. But oil expert Mr Takin downplays any loss of supply from Iraq. The cranky state of the country's current oil facilities means its output - 1.5 to 1.7 million barrels a day - is insignificant compared with world production of 76 million barrels. "Industry is also much less dependent on oil than it was in the 1970s and we are much more efficient at using energy," he adds. In addition, since then, the US has been building its reserves to avoid a similar crisis - and even in the past few months President George W Bush has taken steps to boost an emergency oil supply. That said, some of the newly industrialized economies in Asia, including China, would be more susceptible to any oil shortages or price hikes. The oil-producing cartel Opec, however, is soothing nerves by suggesting it could cover any shortfall to keep prices below $30. Damaged But even under the most optimistic scenario, with oil prices high for only a short time, it could crimp corporate profits - as businesses try to absorb rising costs - and dent economic growth. Industries that are particularly reliant on fuel, such as the airlines and shipping, would suffer more than most. The big danger is that consumers - worried about their jobs or hit by higher fuel costs - would decide to keep a tight grip on their wallets And, in a perverse cycle of self-fulfilling prophecy, when they stopped spending, businesses would suffer even more. Nevertheless, ABN Amro economist Matthew Wickens is still betting on a "sub-par recovery" for the US, rather than a lurch into double-dip recession. But as the build-up for war gathers steam, the economic risks should loom large, alongside political considerations and the potential loss of human lives. (NEWS FOR 09-15/09/02 FROM BCC NEWS) 9/9/2002 7:17:09 AM หัวข้อ:Religious statue bought in Thailand `weeps' โดย:4202680437 Religious statue bought in Thailand `weeps' Perth, Australia _ A statue of the Virgin Mary bought in Thailand for about 3,500 baht is attracting pilgrims by the hundreds to a suburban household in Perth, amid claims it has started to weep fragrant tears. Patty Powell, 47, bought the fibreglass statue from a religious shop in Bangkok eight years ago, and recently discovered its eyes had started to drip a rose-scented oil-like substance. Powell said that when the statue first cried on March 19 this year, she was ``overwhelmed with grief''. She was not sure whether it was a personal revelation she had witnessed until the statue ``cried again'' over the Easter period. It has been weeping ever since _ in front of numerous witnesses including the local parish priest. Archbishop Barry Hickey, head of Perth's Catholic church, said no official proceedings were being made to have the statue's powers formally recognised by the church. _ AFP 9/9/2002 8:24:20 AM หัวข้อ:Oil and gold price gains continue on rising US-Iraq tensions โดย:4202680445 Oil and gold price gains continue on rising US-Iraq tensions from bangkok post Weak data push base metals down Oil prices rallied to their highest level in almost a year last week on the back of concerns that a US-led attack on Iraq is drawing closer. Gold prices also gained from anxiety over the potential impact of a war on the global economy and nervousness on stock markets, but base metal prices were hit by renewed economic concerns. Gold: Prices were fixed on Friday at $319.25 an ounce on the London Bullion Market, up from $312.80 the previous week. In addition to the Iraq factor, analysts said stock market volatility also played a role in the price increase. Silver: Prices failed to benefit markedly from gold's gains. Silver was fixed at $4.53 an ounce on Friday, against $4.5650 the previous week. ``Silver has been pulled up sometimes by gold but it's really been thought of this year as an industrial metal and demand is weak for industrial metals,'' said SG Securities analyst Stephen Briggs. Palladium and platinum: Palladium prices held on to strong gains built up the previous week because of strong fund buying, though platinum prices gave back some of their gains. An ounce of platinum stood at $545 in London, against $564 a week earlier. Palladium rose $1 to $331 per ounce. Base metals: Prices were under pressure following a weaker-than-expected manufacturing survey from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), at 50.5 points in August, unchanged from July. On the London Metal Exchange, three-month copper prices fell $29 to $1,486 per tonne. Three-month aluminium prices gained $7 to $1,322 per tonne. Three-month nickel prices shed $40 to $6,720, zinc dipped $11 to $770 per tonne, tin added $25 to $3,870, while lead prices eased $5 to $438 a tonne. Oil: Prices rallied to their highest level in almost a year in London after an air raid by US and British warplanes on an Iraqi air defence base. Brent crude for October delivery was quoted on Friday at $28.66 a barrel, up from $27.63 a week earlier. In New York, October light sweet crude futures gained to $29.72 from $28.90 a week earlier. Analysts said price rises were also underpinned by figures showing large falls in US crude oil stock levels. Rubber: Prices rose again owing to weaker supply even as industrial demand is picking up. ``In Thailand, there is still a problem with raw materials processors: There are not aggressive sellers, which is tending to keep the market up,'' said Symington broker Martin Hampson. ``If we see really good crops coming on, it will put the processors under pressure, but ... production is still tight. In Kuala Lumpur, the RSS index rose to 3.515 ringgit per kilogramme from 3.430 ringgit the previous week. Coffee: Prices bounced up to the highest levels for over a year in London, bolstered by speculative buying. ``Fundamentally, the coffee market is overburdened with supply, much of it coming from the current Brazil crop, which is variously estimated to exceed 52 million bags,'' said Ann Prendergast, an analyst at the Refco brokerage On the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE), Robusta for November delivery climbed to $606 a tonne from $533 the previous week. On the New York Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange (CSCE), Arabica for December rose to 56.70 cents a pound from 52.70 cents the previous week. Sugar: Prices rallied to the highest level in six weeks on speculative buying and technical support. On the LIFFE, a tonne of white sugar for October rose to $187.50 from $179.60. On the CSCE, unrefined sugar for October was 6.14 cents a pound, up from 5.86 cents. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9/9/2002 9:04:44 AM หัวข้อ:Eurozone 'relaxing' budget discipline โดย:4202680882 Finance ministers of the 12-member eurozone, meeting in the Danish capital, have admitted that stalling economic growth is likely to lead to a breach of the currency zone's strict rules on government finances. Despite much speculation that the eurozone's Stability and Growth Pact would have to be relaxed, at a meeting in Copenhagen the ministers insist its 3% budget deficit ceiling must be respected. That looks increasingly like wishful thinking - Portugal has already admitted it breached the limit last year. Many economists believe Germany, the weakest eurozone economy, will be next. Budgetary havoc The ministers now accept that this year their combined economies will grow by a miserly 1%. Germany was devastated by record floods That will play havoc with their budget forecasts, originally based on a much rosier outlook. Many economists believe Germany will follow Portugal and breach the limit. Even before this summer's devastating floods Germany was deep in the red. But the EU's Monetary Affairs Commissioner, Pedro Solbes, said the cost of clearing up after the floods would be a mitigating factor when Germany's finances are assessed. That will be welcome news in Berlin but may not save the country from a humiliating disciplinary procedure. 'Tough medicine' The finance ministers have already launched formal proceedings against Portugal - if it breaches the rules again this year it could face a hefty fine. Critics say the stability pact is severely restricting Europe's ability to boost growth and revive its economy. Ministers in France and Italy in particular have hinted at a more flexible interpretation of the rules. But to judge by the reaction from other ministers in Copenhagen, most appear to believe the pacts tough medicine will bring the best long term recovery. Swiss dispute The ministers also stepped up pressure on Switzerland to amend its banking secrecy laws over its reluctance to help prevent tax evasion by EU citizens. The European Commissioner, Frits Bolkestein, said that if Switzerland refused to make concessions the EU could impose restrictions on investment in the country. Mr Bolkestein said that what the EU was asking was entirely reasonable - mainly that Switzerland provide information upon request about savings held by EU citizens in Swiss bank accounts. He said the EU needed such information in order to ensure all its citizens paid normal income tax. Switzerland's banking secrecy laws have made it a favourite location for Europeans wishing to hide undeclared savings. At present the Alpine state only provides foreign authorities with bank account details where fraud or other criminal activity is suspected. The dispute has come to a head because of a hard fought internal EU deal under which member states have agreed in principle to exchange information about savings held by each other's citizens. Two countries - Austria and Luxembourg - only agreed to waive their banking secrecy laws if non-EU financial centres were included in a wider deal. The EU has given itself until the end of this year to agree on an equivalent exchange of information with Switzerland and the United States. 9/9/2002 10:11:27 AM หัวข้อ:Dr M: Repatriation to protect security of Malaysians and local workforce โดย:4202610574 PANGKOR, Sept 8: Malaysia is repatriating illegal workers, including Indonesians, because it has to protect the security of its own people and the local workforce, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today He said Malaysia was not anti-Indonesia in any way, even if its flag was burnt by Indonesians recently outside its embassy in Jakarta in protest of the repatriation exercise. "We can't respond to such things," he said in reply to a question at the Pangkor Retreat dialogue, on the mass deportation of Indonesia workers. He said the country needed the workers but wanted them to enter the country legally and with proper documents. He said this was because many illegals could not find jobs and turned to crime. "Many Malaysians have been robbed and killed. We have to protect our own people," he said. He added that it was not only the Indonesians who were deported but also the Bangladeshis, Filipinos and other nationalities, some of whom had been in Malaysia for decades. Dr Mahathir said the Government realised that the construction industry hired many illegal workers and ran into problems when they were sent home. However, the companies had to make the effort to hire only legal workers. He said this problem was the result of two neighbours being at different levels of development. Since the amnesty ended on July 31, and new immigration laws came into force, many illegals had been sentenced to jail and the rotan, before being deported. This had caused a public outcry in Indonesia and the Philippines who claim that their nationals were being mistreated. http://news.newmalaysia.com/news/external.cgi? 09-09-002 9/9/2002 2:24:50 PM หัวข้อ:Chainsaw Al settles with SEC โดย:4202680148 Chainsaw Al settles with SEC Former Sunbeam CEO to pay $500,000 to settle charges of improper accounting. NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Two former Sunbeam Corp. executives, including former CEO Al Dunlap, have agreed to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission a total of $700,000 to settle charges of improper accounting, the SEC said Wednesday. Without admitting or denying any wrongdoing, Dunlap agreed to pay $500,000, and former chief financial officer Russell Kersh agreed to pay $200,000 to settle an SEC civil lawsuit that accused them of filing false and misleading financial reports for Sunbeam between 1996 and 1998. Dunlap and Kersh, who both have previously denied any wrongdoing at Sunbeam, also agreed to be permanently barred from serving as officers or directors of any public company. "This agreement... will allow [Dunlap] to pursue his retirement and, therefore, is a welcome outcome," Dunlap's attorney, Frank Razzano, said in a statement. Kersh's attorney, Jeffrey Tew, said he was prohibited from commenting on the merits of the case, but he called attention to an SEC note that neither Kersh nor Dunlap had sold any Sunbeam stock nor accepted any performance bonuses during the period in question. "That significantly differentiates [Kersh] from the other executives we've been reading about in the news," Tew said. Sunbeam fired Dunlap, known as "Chainsaw Al" for his brutal cost-cutting there and at Scott Paper Co., in June 1998, accusing him of fraudulently inflating profits. He has been in retirement in Boca Raton, Fla., ever since. Sunbeam, whose products include Sunbeam appliances and Coleman camping equipment, restated its earnings five months later and filed for bankruptcy court protection in February 2001. The SEC sued Dunlap, Kersh and three other former Sunbeam executives in May 2001, charging them with inflating Sunbeam's reported earnings by more than $60 million. The SEC claimed that Dunlap and Kersh led a scheme in which several fraudulent techniques were used to falsely improve the appearance of Sunbeam's finances, in an attempt to sell the company at an inflated price. The other executives named in the SEC suit were former controller Robert Gluck and vice presidents Donald R. Uzzi and Lee B. Griffith. Former Arthur Andersen partner Phillip Harlow, who served as Sunbeam's outside accountant, was also named in the suit. Andersen was convicted in June of obstructing the federal government's investigation into the accounting of Enron Corp. The conviction and subsequent penalties effectively finished Andersen as an auditing firm. All the other defendants have previously denied any wrongdoing. The SEC said its suit against remaining defendants continues, with a trial scheduled for next January. In August, Dunlap paid $15 million and Kersh paid $250,000 to settle a related class-action suit. 9/9/2002 8:43:56 PM หัวข้อ:AOL issues gloomy forecast โดย:4202612380 Company says online sales slump will result in lower-than-expected unit results. September 9, 2002: 8:12 PM EDT NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Underscoring the troubles it has been having at its flagship America Online Internet service, AOL Time Warner Inc. on Monday lowered its profit and revenue targets for that unit, pinning the blame on a protracted slump in online advertising sales. But the media giant, which is the parent company of CNN/Money, reiterated its prior revenue estimate for the company as a whole, saying that strength in other areas of its business will offset the Internet unit's weakness. Chief Financial Officer Wayne Pace said the company's diversified revenue stream, specifically its subscriber-based revenue from businesses such as its Time Warner Cable service and Time Inc. magazine publishing outfit, are providing a "natural hedge" to the company. "I like the position we're in within the context of the overall industry," Pace said at a Morgan Stanley investor conference late Monday evening. Before the stock market opened Monday, the company said it still sees full-year revenue growth within the previously announced 5 to 8 percent range while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization are expected to grow at the low end of its earlier guidance of 5 to 9 percent. AOL also said it sees third-quarter revenue growth in the mid-single digits and EBITDA to be off by a low single digit percentage, compared with the same period in 2001. The company previously said it expected third-quarter EBITDA to be flat to slightly lower in the third quarter, so the new guidance is slightly below the guidance at the end of the second quarter. The third-quarter revenue outlook is identical to its guidance at the end of the second quarter. Part of the problem is a new outlook for Internet service provider America Online. That unit is expected to post full-year advertising and commerce revenue of $1.7 billion, down from $2.7 billion in 2001. The company also warned it sees an additional "5 percent downside risk" on revenue. EBITDA from the unit is expected to be within a range of $1.7 billion to $1.8 billion, down from $2.9 billion in 2001. Executives put forward the America Online unit, which is the nation's largest Internet service provider, as the driver of future growth when they pitched the merger of AOL and Time Warner to Wall Street in 2000. It has since become a drag on earnings and a source of concerns about future growth. A sharp decline in online advertising spending, a substantial slowdown in new subscriber growth and difficulty in shifting customers to more lucrative high-speed, or broadband, connections have made the America Online unit a liability to the merged company. The online unit also has undergone a series of management shifts in recent months. In July, Robert Pittman, the former AOL Time Warner chief operating officer who had been charged with turning the unit around, announced his resignation. Pittman's departure came as part of a broader management shift that gave more power to executives from the Time Warner side of the company, including Don Logan, who now sits as chairman of its media and communications group which included AOL, Time magazine, Time Warner cable and other properties. Pace said that Logan and the new America Online management team currently are in the process of developing their strategy, stressing that they are looking at it as "a business that has long-term growth prospects." "He wants it to be profitable growth, sustainable growth and responsible growth," Pace said. As for the advertising slump, Pace said television advertising is starting to rebound, while publishing appears to have "reached a trough." At the same time, he said the online advertising market appears to be less sensitive to the broader economy and would not be as quick to improve even in the face of more positive economic news. Moving forward, Pace said growth in America Online's dial-up, or narrowband, service is going to slow, while broadband is likely to develop at a pace that's "evolutionary, not revolutionary." "What's really going to turn broadband is a compelling product," he said. "Now it's up to us to build a compelling product that is must have." Separately, the New York Times reported Monday that AOL Time Warner is looking to sell its stake in two cable networks, Comedy Central and Court TV. The paper said it is looking to sell the networks to the companies which share ownership in them already; Comedy Central is owned jointly with Viacom Inc. (VIA: Research, Estimates), while Court TV is held jointly with Liberty Media (L: Research, Estimates). The Times quoted Kagan World Media, a media research firm, as estimating that the channels are each worth more than $1 billion, although they are worth less than they would have been a couple of years ago. Kaufman Brothers analyst Paul Kim told CNN/Money last month that AOL Time Warner's stake in the two networks would bring in between $3 billion and $4 billion. AOL Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons said last month that the company would consider sale of noncore assets. But Parsons and other executives spoke glowingly of the two channels when the company reached a deal with telecom AT&T to increase its ownership stake in the two networks. Before that agreement, the 50 percent stake in Court TV and Comedy Central had been held by Time Warner Entertainment, which itself was a joint venture with AT&T. AOL Time Warner will now hold all of the 50 percent stake in the two companies not held by Viacom and Liberty Media. 9/10/2002 11:53:46 AM หัวข้อ:US 'to push new steel deal' โดย:4202681013 The United States is reportedly drafting sweeping proposals to abolish all steel tariffs and subsidies ahead of international talks on the industry's problems. The US sparked a trade war when it slapped tariffs of up to 30% on imported steel in March, a move which European and Asian steel makers viewed as unjust. "We will put forward a very ambitious agenda, essentially a call for action from the United States to take the necessary actions to eliminate distortions in the steel sector worldwide," an official at the US Commerce Department told Reuters news agency. Officials from 39 nations are due to begin talks on the world steel industry in Paris on 11 September. 'Ban subsidies' The talks will take place under the auspices of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). US negotiators will reportedly put forward a four-point plan stressing the need to abolish tariffs, subsidies and other measures that distort free trade. The official did not say if the US would offer any change to its own tariffs. He said the US would call for OECD members to agree to "prohibit substantially all subsidies to the steel sector". State support would still be permitted to cover the cost of closing excess production facilities and to pay for the retraining of redundant workers, the official said. The US has argued that Asian and European steelmakers receive unfair subsidies - a charge prompted complaints to the World Trade Organisation from the European Union (EU), Japan and other Asian steel makers. 'Better enforcement needed' Secondly, the US will call for an agreement abolishing all tariffs and other market access barriers that "have a dampening effect on trade," the official said. To ensure that global steel markets "are allowed to operate fully", the official said the US will propose better enforcement of domestic competition laws by OECD members. Finally, it will call for the OECD to take a stance on practices that currently fall outside of the orbit of trade rules. These include access to preferential financing for steel firms. As the trade row has escalated, the US has agreed to exempt some products, with the result that nearly one quarter of steel imports now fall outside the net. The latest proposals may be an attempt to find a new route out of the problem by widening the debate, analysts said. To succeed, the US must persuade OECD members in Paris to take its ideas forward to a higher-level meeting of in December. The EU has until late September to decide whether to slap retaliatory sanctions on a list of US products. 9/10/2002 2:26:55 PM หัวข้อ:Oil prices lifted by Iraq fears โดย:4202612208 The threat of a war with Iraq has continued to push up oil prices, with analysts warning that further price rises are likely. The price of US light crude oil has risen 8.7% in the last four days alone, and on Monday stood at $30.20 per barrel. The $30 per barrel mark is considered crucial benchmark in oil prices - a breach of that level usually indicates a potentially serious threat to supply. Ministers from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are due to meet later this month to discuss market conditions and production levels. 'War premium' The US stepped up calls for an attack on Saddam Hussein over the weekend, quoting new evidence that the Iraqi leader was trying to make a nuclear bomb. The Middle East sits on about two thirds of the world's crude oil reserves, but military action in the region could hamper the flow of oil elsewhere. Traders have estimated that the threat of attacks has created a "war premium" of between $4 to $6 per barrel. And they say continued threats could push the price even higher. "There is a reluctance to be too long above $30 at this stage, although if the emotional build up around Iraq maintains the same price, the market could soon be seeing higher prices," said Simon Games Thomas at NM Rothschild & Sons in Sydney. Opec Opec ministers are meeting in Osaka, Japan, on 19 September, with possible increases in oil production on the agenda. Opec output is currently at its lowest level for 10 years and some analysts say production should be increased to avoid a shortage in the winter months. But Opec members are reportedly divided on the issue, with Algeria and Saudi Arabia keen to release more supplies while Kuwait, Iran and Venezuela support the current limits. 9/10/2002 2:31:05 PM หัวข้อ:สรุปข่าวเศรษฐกิจ โดย:4202680072 ราคาน้ำมันสำเร็จรูปพุ่งขึ้นอีกเกือบ ๑ เหรียญต่อบาร์เรล ราคาน้ำมันสำเร็จรูปที่สิงคโปร์เพิ่มขึ้นอีกเกือบ ๑ เหรียญต่อบาร์เรล ปตท.เตือนให้จับตาดูอย่างใกล้ชิด หากไม่ลดลงอีก ๒ วัน ต้องปรับเพิ่มขึ้นอีกแล้ว ระบุหากสหรัฐโจมตีอิรัก แล้วสงครามไม่แผ่ขยายวงกว้าง ราคาน้ำมันก็น่าจะปรับลดลง แต่หากขยายวงอาจจะเกิดปัญหาขาดแคลนน้ำมัน ด้านนายกรัฐมนตรียืนยัน ไทยจะไม่ประสบปัญหาขาดแคลนน้ำมัน แต่ราคาอาจจะต้องขึ้นไปตามกลไกตลาด ตลาดเงิน-หุ้นยังซึมหวั่นสงครามสหรัฐ-อิรัก ตลาดเงินและตลาดหุ้นไทยยังคงซึมต่อเนื่อง และเป็นไปในทิศทางเดียวกับตลาดหุ้นทั่วโลก เนื่องจากนักลงทุนยังคงกังวลว่า สหรัฐอาจเปิดการโจมตีอิรักในเร็ว ๆ นี้ รวมถึงหวั่นเกรงว่า อาจเกิดเหตุร้ายในวันครบรอบ ๑ ปี ของเหตุการณ์ ๑๑ กันยายน ส่วนปัจจัยสำคัญในประเทศ คือการรอคอยผลการประชุมคณะกรรมการนโยบายการเงิน ในบ่ายวันนี้ คนไทยมองสหรัฐเสี่ยงโดนถล่มซ้ำ ครบรอบ ๑ ปี ๑๑ ก.ย. ศูนย์วิจัยกสิกรไทยสำรวจความเห็นนักธุรกิจและประชาชนเกี่ยวกับผลประทบเศรษฐกิจไทยในช่วง ๑ ปี หลังวินาศกรรมสหรัฐ พบว่ากระทบโดยตรงต่อการค้า-การลงทุน-ท่องเที่ยว และคนไทยส่วนใหญ่เห็นว่าสหรัฐมีโอกาสโดนถล่มซ้ำ อีกทั้งพบว่าความตึงเครียดระหว่างสหรัฐกับอิรัก เป็นวิกฤตการณ์ที่คนไทยส่วนใหญ่วิตกกังวลมากที่สุด ปรับโครงสร้างหนี้สถาบันการเงินครึ่งปีแรกทิศทางถดถอย ศูนย์วิจัยกสิกรไทยระบุช่วงครึ่งแรกของปี ๒๕๔๖ คุณภาพการปรับโครงสร้างหนี้ของสถาบันการเงินไทยอยู่ในทิศทางถดถอย ยังไม่สามารถรักษาอัตราผลตอบแทนที่สม่ำเสมอได้อย่างต่อเนื่อง ทำให้สถาบันการเงินจำเป็นต้องกันสำรองแบบอนุรักษ์นิยมและรักษาความเข้มแข็งของฐานเงินทุนต่อไป แนะสถาบันการเงินสร้างเครื่องชี้หรือดัชนี โดยประเมินจากรายได้ดอกเบี้ยรับที่แท้จริงจากพอร์ตสินเชื่อหนี้ปรับโครงสร้างสุทธิ เพื่อใช้เป็นสัญญาณเตือนภัย และบ่งบอกถึงประสิทธิภาพของการปรับโครงสร้างหนี้ในอนาคต 9/10/2002 2:40:48 PM หัวข้อ:BARTER TRADE โดย:4202620029 BARTER TRADE Ratchaburi, Si Sa Ket in rice exchange deal Ratchaburi has entered into an agreement to exchange 3,000 water jars for 30 tons of jasmine rice from Si Sa Ket under a barter trade project expected to help prop up Ratchaburi's sluggish jar business. A caravan of trucks carrying the first batch of 1,000 jars was launched from Din Thong jar factory in Muang district by Ratchaburi governor Komet Daengthongdee and entrepreneurs yesterday. The remaining 2,000 jars will be sent to the northeastern province under both provinces' barter trade project. Sombat Singhapanjanathi, head of Ratchaburi's Ceramics Club and owner of Suriyasilp jar factory, said the province's famous jars were not selling well due to stiff competition from plastic water containers, and development of the tap water supply system nationwide. However, the barter trade scheme would help the jar business survive because the Northeast was a major market for Ratchaburi jars even though returns may be slow, he said. 9/10/2002 10:30:19 PM หัวข้อ:LABOUR CORRUPTION โดย:4202612778 Irawat expected to lose job over allegation Yuwadee Tunyasiri Irawat Chandraprasert is expected to lose his job as labour permanent secretary now a disciplinary inquiry has found substance in the allegation he took kickbacks from a job brokerage firm, a source said yesterday. For weeks, Mr Irawat's fate hung in the balance after the allegation surfaced. He has been transferred to the PM's Office to facilitate the disciplinary inquiry headed by Somsak Tansajja, director of the National Intelligence Agency. The source said the panel had now concluded that there was credible evidence to prove wrongdoing on Mr Irawat's part. Until now Mr Irawat has technically retained his permanent secretary position. But the conclusion of the Somsak inquiry is likely to cost him his job. A source said the findings were expected to be presented to cabinet today. Cabinet would then be asked for approval to remove Mr Irawat as permanent secretary and shift him to a reserve position at the PM's Office. A separate panel would also be appointed to investigate the case against Mr Irawat and consider disciplinary action against him. The inquiry into Mr Irawat's conduct started after complaints were made that he had received kickbacks from SSM Co, a job placement firm. The company was also in hot water for allegedly swindling overseas job seekers. Mr Irawat allegedly endorsed SSM. The Crime Suppression Division reportedly recommended arraignment of SSM executives on charges ranging from public fraud, illegal recruitment of workers, overcharging of brokerage fees, and reneging to deliver employment promises. Victims reportedly suffered a loss of about 13 million baht. 9/10/2002 10:34:09 PM หัวข้อ:Nokia outlook worsens further/BBC News โดย:4202620011 Nokia, the Finnish firm that dominates the huge but slowing mobile handset market, has cut its sales forecast for the fifth time this year. Nokia, which makes more than one in three mobile phones sold worldwide, now says it will post sales of 7.1bn-7.4bn euros (ฃ4.5bn-4.7bn; $7bn-7.2bn) in the July-to-September quarter, down from its previous 7.2bn-7.6bn-euro target. The revised number, however, is still in advance of the 7.05bn euros Nokia reaped in the same period of 2001, and should not affect overall group profits for this year as a whole. It would make Nokia one of the few large mobile firms to have weathered the current downturn in global sales, the first reverse in the brief history of the mobile phone market. The Finnish firm's relative success - which has seen it grab market share from rivals, especially Sweden's Ericsson - is attributed to swingeing cost-cuts, combined with the launch of a raft of new products in recent months. Screen dreams The stock market was less than impressed, marking down Nokia's shares by almost 2% in the minutes after the announcement. Nokia shares have lost about half their value this year, but have nonetheless outperformed industry peers. The key source of hope for investors is the latest rush of new products, which focus on the type of colour-screen phones used in picture messaging, the industry's next big thing. Nokia's new colour-screen phones, the 3650 and 3510i, were launched last week, and sales should filter through to the bottom line by Christmas, analysts reckon. 3G disappointment The imminent fad for picture messaging, currently being rolled out by most mobile operators around Europe and beyond, could prove a modest salvation for manufacturers. Previously, Nokia and its rivals had to point to the arrival of high-speed third-generation (3G)mobile services as the source of future growth - a prospect seen as increasingly slender. Also on Tuesday, Thorbjoern Nilsson, head of marketing and strategy at Ericsson, told the Financial Times that he thought 3G services could prove less of a bonanza than hoped. Even the biggest markets may be unable to support more than four 3G operators, Mr Nilsson said. But while picture messaging could provide a sales boost this year, it will not be on the scale of the revolution once predicted for 3G, which will allow users to download vastly greater quantities of data, including multimedia and internet content. 9/11/2002 1:08:53 AM หัวข้อ:US 'to push new steel deal'/BBC news โดย:4202612588 The United States is reportedly drafting sweeping proposals to abolish all steel tariffs and subsidies ahead of international talks on the industry's problems. The US sparked a trade war when it slapped tariffs of up to 30% on imported steel in March, a move which European and Asian steel makers viewed as unjust. "We will put forward a very ambitious agenda, essentially a call for action from the United States to take the necessary actions to eliminate distortions in the steel sector worldwide," an official at the US Commerce Department told Reuters news agency. Officials from 39 nations are due to begin talks on the world steel industry in Paris on 11 September. 'Ban subsidies' The talks will take place under the auspices of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). US negotiators will reportedly put forward a four-point plan stressing the need to abolish tariffs, subsidies and other measures that distort free trade. The official did not say if the US would offer any change to its own tariffs. He said the US would call for OECD members to agree to "prohibit substantially all subsidies to the steel sector". State support would still be permitted to cover the cost of closing excess production facilities and to pay for the retraining of redundant workers, the official said. The US has argued that Asian and European steelmakers receive unfair subsidies - a charge prompted complaints to the World Trade Organisation from the European Union (EU), Japan and other Asian steel makers. 'Better enforcement needed' Secondly, the US will call for an agreement abolishing all tariffs and other market access barriers that "have a dampening effect on trade," the official said. To ensure that global steel markets "are allowed to operate fully", the official said the US will propose better enforcement of domestic competition laws by OECD members. Finally, it will call for the OECD to take a stance on practices that currently fall outside of the orbit of trade rules. These include access to preferential financing for steel firms. As the trade row has escalated, the US has agreed to exempt some products, with the result that nearly one quarter of steel imports now fall outside the net. The latest proposals may be an attempt to find a new route out of the problem by widening the debate, analysts said. To succeed, the US must persuade OECD members in Paris to take its ideas forward to a higher-level meeting of in December. The EU has until late September to decide whether to slap retaliatory sanctions on a list of US products. 9/11/2002 1:11:58 AM หัวข้อ:ฮ่องกงขายความเป็นเมืองช้อปปิ้ง โดย:4202612653 การท่องเที่ยวฮ่องกงเร่งโปรโมทการท่องเที่ยว ผ่านการจัดกิจกรรมหลัก 5 กิจกรรม ภายใต้แคมเปญ ฮ่องกง นครแห่งชีวิต ซึ่งจะใช้ต่อเนื่องไปจนถึงปีหน้า โดยยังชูจุดเด่นเรื่องของการเป็นแหล่งช้อปปิ้ง และประมาณกลางปีเตรียมจัดเมกกะเซล์ ลดราคาสินค้าครั้งยิ่งใหญ่ นอกจากนี้ยังส่งเสริมการท่องเที่ยวเชิงอนุรักษ์และฟื้นฟูแหล่งท่องเที่ยวทางธรรมชาติ เพื่อสร้างความหลากหลายและหาจุดขายใหม่ให้กับประเทศ การส่งเสริมการท่องเที่ยวของฮ่องกงนั้น ได้ทำภายใต้แคมเปญ City Of Lift : Hong Kong is it! หรือ ฮ่องกงนครแห่งชีวิต ซึ่งจะใช้เป็นแนวทางหลักในการโฆษณาประชาสัมพันธ์และทำการตลาดเป็นระยะเวลา 2 ปี คือตั้งแต่ปลายปี 2001-2003 ส่วนกิจกรรมที่ใช้โปรโมทปีนี้มีกิจกรรมหลัก ๆ 5 กิจกรรม ได้แก่ เทศกาลคริสต์มาสและตรุษจีน (Hong Kong Ligths Up) ขบวนแห่การท่องเที่ยวนานาชาติ(International Chinese New Year Parade) เทศกาลดอกไม้บาน(Hong Kong Flower Extravaganza) เทศกาลลดราคาสินค้าชื่อดังประจำปี(Hong Kong Mega Sale) จัดประมาณกลางปีในเดือนกรกฎาคม-สิงหาคม และเทศกาลถนนสายเทศกาล(City of Lift Street Carnival) เป็นกิจกรรมสุดท้ายที่จะจัดขึ้นในเดือนธันวาคมเกี่ยวกับการจัดงานเทศกาลที่ยิ่งใหญ่ด้วยการแสดงและโชว์ต่างๆ นอกจากนี้ยังเน้นการทำโฆษณาประชาสัมพันธ์แหล่งท่องเที่ยวเชิงอนุรักษ์และทัวร์ธรรมชาติ ทั้งเส้นทางการเดินป่า ปีนเขา วนอุทยาน รวมทั้ง แหล่งดูนกพันธุ์หายากและปลาโลมาสีชมพูที่ใกล้สูญพันธุ์ โดยส่งเสริมให้ทำกิจกรรมทางธรรมชาติ อาทิ การล่องแก่ง เดินป่า พายเรือ ปีนเขา เป็นต้น เพื่อสร้างความหลากหลายของประเทศ และเพิ่มจำนวนนักท่องเที่ยวที่ชื่นชอบ ธรรมชาติ ที่ผ่านมานักท่องเที่ยวจะรู้จักฮ่องกงเป็นแหล่งช้อปปิ้ง และเมืองอาหารจริงๆ แล้ว 70% ของประเทศ ยังเป็นพื้นที่สีเขียว เหมาะสำหรับนักท่องเที่ยวที่ชื่นชอบการผจญภัยและรักธรรมชาติ มีวนอุทยานกว่า 23 แห่ง เส้นทางเดินป่า 12 เส้นทางทั้งบนเกาะฮ่องกง เกาลูน และเขตนิวเทอริทอรี่ส์ นายเดวิด เลิง ผู้อำนวยการประจำภูมิภาคเอเชียใต้และเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ การท่องเที่ยวฮ่องกงกล่าว สำหรับรายได้ด้านการท่องเที่ยวของฮ่องกงปีที่ผ่านมาได้ประมาณ 64 พันล้านเหรียญฮ่องกง นักท่องเที่ยวที่มามักมาจับจ่ายซื้อขาย โดยส่วนใหญ่จะเป็นชาวจีน รองลงมาเป็นไต้หวัน เอเชียเหนือ และเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ ซึ่งความสำเร็จ ดังกล่าวมาจากความร่วมมือกันทั้งภาครัฐและภาคเอกชน มีผู้นำหลักคือ สายการบินคาเธ่ย์แปซิฟิก ผู้เชี่ยวชาญในวงการธุรกิจท่องเที่ยวของไทยเคยบอกว่า การท่องเที่ยวของไทยควรเอาแบบอย่างฮ่องกงและสิงคโปร์ ถ้าหากต้องการมีการพัฒนาและสร้างมูลค่าของตลาดมากกว่านี้ ต้องอาศัยการวางแผนกำหนดทิศทางให้แน่ชัด อีกทั้งต้องได้รับความร่วมมือกันทุกฝ่าย ไม่ใช่เพียงแต่ทุ่มงบเพื่อโปรโมทเท่านั้น ทั้งนี้เพื่อจะได้เกิดการพัฒนาอย่างยั่งยืน ซึ่งก็เป็นข้อคิดที่ทางผู้เกี่ยวข้องควรนำไปศึกษามาก 9/11/2002 9:02:08 AM หัวข้อ:TOP 100 บริษัทมีเดียอเมริกา เคเบิล-ดาวเทียมดึงรายได้รวมเพิ่ม โดย:4202681294 โดย บิสิเนสไทย [8-9-2002] การใช้จ่ายด้านโฆษณาเริ่มกระเตื้องขึ้นหลังจากการตกต่ำของธุรกิจโฆษณาเมื่อปี 2001 โดยรายได้ที่เติบโตขึ้นมาจากธุรกิจเคเบิล และการแพร่ภาพผ่านดาวเทียม ซึ่งเป็นปัจจัยผลักดันให้รายได้ของบริษัทมีเดียโดยรวมในปีที่แล้วเป็นไปในทางบวก Advertising Age สรุป 100 อันดับบริษัทผู้นำด้านมีเดีย ครั้งที่ 23 พบรายได้รวมเพิ่มขึ้น 1.8% มาอยู่ที่ 183.69 พันล้านดอลลาร์ในปี 2001 ถึงแม้ว่ารายได้จากบริษัทในภาคหนังสือพิมพ์ นิตยสาร โทรทัศน์ และวิทยุ จะปรับตัวลดลงอย่างน้อย 6.5%ก็ตาม ปี 2001 เป็นปีที่รายได้ของบริษัทมีเดียของอเมริกามีอัตราการเติบโตต่ำสุดเท่าที่เคยเป็นมานับตั้งแต่เกิดภาวะถดถอยเมื่อปี 1991 ซึ่งทำให้รายได้ลดลงไป 0.27% ภาคธุรกิจเคเบิลมีรายได้เพิ่มขึ้น 12.6% มาเป็น 60.67 พันล้านดอลลาร์ จากบริษัทเคเบิล 33 แห่งใน 100 อันดับ ซึ่งส่วนใหญ่จะเป็นภาคที่ถูกตรวจสอบจากทางการมากที่สุดด้วย บริษัทที่อยู่อันดันแรกของ 100 บริษัท เอโอแอล ไทม์ วอร์เนอร์ รายได้เกือบ 50% ของสื่อในสังกัดมาจากธุรกิจเคเบิล กำลังถูกสอบสวนจากคณะกรรมการกำกับหลักทรัพย์และตลาดหลักทรัพย์ของสหรัฐฯในเรื่องการทำบัญชี ขณะที่อันดับที่ 18 บริษัท อเดลเฟีย คอมมูนิเคชั่นส์ ถูกคำสั่งศาลให้ล้มละลายเมื่อเดือนมิถุนายนที่ผ่านมา และรัฐบาลกลางก็กำลังเตรียมที่จะฟ้องร้องคดีแพ่งอีกด้วย โฆษณาในเคเบิลเน็ตเวิร์ค ซึ่งคิดเป็น 15% ของยอดรายได้รวม มีรายได้ลดลงไป 10.9% ตลอดเดือนพฤษภาคมของปีนี้ตามการรายงานของไทเลอร์ เนลสัน ซอฟเฟรส ซีเอ็มอาร์ ขณะที่รายได้ในปี 2001 เพิ่มขื้น 0.8% ตรงกันข้ามกับภาคอื่นๆ ที่รายได้ตกลงอย่างรุนแรงเมื่อปีที่แล้ว มาปีนี้เริ่มเป็นไปในทางบวกมากขึ้น อันดับเปลี่ยนหลังรวมบริษัท กระแสการรวมบริษัทยังคงเป็นปัจจัยทำให้เกิดการเปลี่ยนแปลงโฉมหน้าของการจัดอันดับ โดยภาคธุรกิจเคเบิลทีวีมีความเคลื่อนไหวมากที่สุด อันดับที่ 11 บริษัท คอมคาสต์ได้ทำความตกลงที่จะซื้อบริษัทอันดับที่ 3 เอที แอนด์ ที บรอดแบนด์ จากบริษัทแม่ เอที แอนด์ ที มีการคาดการณ์ว่าทั้งเอที แอนด์ ที บรอดแบนด์ และ คอมคาสต์ ร่วมกันสร้างบริษัทมีเดียภายใต้ชื่อ เอที แอนด์ ที คอมคาสต์ ที่ทำรายได้โดยประมาณถึง 15.46 พันล้านดอลลาร์ หากการตกลงครั้งนี้ประสบความสำเร็จตามแผนที่วางไว้ ในเวลาเดียวกันกับอันดับ 16 เอคโคสตาร์ คอมมิวนิเคชั่นส์ เจ้าของเครือข่าย DISH ก็กำลังรอคำตอบจากทางการในการผนวก Hughes Corp. ในเครือบริษัทเจเนอรัล มอเตอร์ ซึ่งเป็นเจ้าของไดเร็คทีวี บริษัทในลำดับที่ 10 รายได้ของ DISH เพิ่มขึ้นถึง 52.4% ขณะที่ไดเร็คทีวีทำรายได้เพิ่ม 18.2% การผนวกกิจการยังได้แพร่หลายไปทั่ว โดยเฉพาะ 100 อันดับบริษัทชั้นนำ เป็นต้นว่า บริษัทอันดับที่ 4 เอบีซี เคเบิล เน็ตเวิร์ค ในเครือวอลท์ ดิสนีย์ ซื้อกิจการฟ็อกซ์ แฟมิลี่ จากอันดับที่ 7 นิวส์ คอร์ป และ ซาบาน เอ็นเตอร์เทนเมนต์ ด้านอันดับ 23 Primedia ตัดสินใจควบรวมกับ Emap USA ส่วนอันดับ 28 วิวองดี้ ยูนิเวอร์แซล ก็เข้าซื้อสินทรัพย์ด้านธุรกิจบันเทิงจาก ยูเอสเอ เน็ตเวิร์ค สื่อวิทยุอาการหนัก สื่อวิทยุได้รับผลกระทบหนักที่สุดในบรรดาธุรกิจมีเดียภาคต่างๆ รายได้รวมตกลงไปถึง 7.3% มาอยู่ที่ 8.8 พันล้านดอลลาร์ สำหรับบริษัทที่ดำเนินการด้านวิทยุทั้งหมด 28 บริษัทใน Top 100 ส่วนสื่อโทรทัศน์ซึ่งมีทั้งหมด 40 บริษัทในกลุ่ม Top 100 รายได้รวมลดลง 6.5% เหลือเพียง 30.6 พันล้านดอลลาร์ แต่เมื่อแยกเป็นรายบริษัทปรากฏว่าอันดับที่ 2 กลุ่มเวียคอม ซึ่งเป็นบริษัทแม่ของ ซีบีเอส ทีวี ทำรายได้จากธุรกิจโทรทัศน์สูงที่สุดด้วยอัตราการเติบโต 2.1% ส่วนอันดับที่ 6 และอันดับที่ 4 ได้แก่ เอ็นบีซี ทีวี และ เอบีซี-ทีวี จากวอลท์ ดิสนีย์ มีรายได้ทั้งจากเครือข่ายและจากสถานีออกอากาศของตนเองลดลงไป 15.2% และ 9.1% ตามลำดับ รายได้จากค่าโฆษณาผ่านเครือข่ายโทรทัศน์นั้น ได้รับแรงสนับสนุนจากการแข่งขันโอลิมปิคฤดูหนาวเมื่อเดือนกุมภาพันธ์ จึงเพิ่มขึ้นมา 3.9% ตลอดถึงเดือนพฤษภาคม ส่วนสปอตโทรทัศน์ก็ได้รับปัจจัยบวกตลอดทั้งปี โดยรายได้เพิ่มขึ้น 7.6% ในช่วงเวลาเดียวกัน สื่อสิ่งพิมพ์ยังคงทรุด บริษัทหนังสือพิมพ์จำนวน 38 บริษัท มีรายได้ตกลง 6.8% มาอยู่ที่ 32.68 พันล้านดอลลาร์ โดยเฉพาะดาว โจนส์ บริษัทลำดับที่ 24 ผู้ผลิตหนังสือพิมพ์วอลล์ สตรีท เจอร์นัล และบริษัทลำดับที่ 26 อี. ดับลิว. สคริปป์ เจ้าของร็อคกี้ เมาน์เทน นิวส์ ได้รับผลกระทบอย่างรุนแรง รายได้ของทั้งสองบริษัทตกลงมามากกว่า 22% ด้านสองบริษัทผู้ผลิตนิตยสารชั้นนำ เอโอแอล ไทม์ วอร์เนอร์ บริษัทอันดับ 1 กับ เฮิร์สต์ คอร์ป อันดับ14 ซึ่งต่างมีรายได้จากนิตยสารที่เป็นไปในทางบวกเมื่อปีที่แล้ว ในขณะที่รายได้รวมของทั้งภาคตกต่ำลงถึง 6.7% คือ 20.89 พันล้านดอลลาร์ ประเภทนิตยสารเพื่อสินค้าและบริการมีความก้าวหน้าในด้านรายได้ขึ้นอย่างช้าๆ โดยอัตราการลดลงของรายได้กระเตื้องขึ้นเป็น 6.2% ในเดือนพฤษภาคม 2002 เทียบกับอัตราลดลง 7.2% ในปี 2001 ตลอดทั้งปี ขณะที่รายได้จากการโฆษณาของนิตยสารธุรกิจและเทคโนโลยียังคงไม่มีสัญญาณที่ดีขึ้น การจัดอันดับ 100 บริษัทมีเดียชั้นนำ ใช้ข้อมูลรายได้สุทธิซึ่งจัดทำโดย ยูเอส มีเดีย พร็อพเพอร์ตี้ส์ ส่วนโฆษณาในสมุดโทรศัพท์หน้าเหลืองนั้น ไม่ได้นำมาจัดรวมเข้าไว้ด้วย แต่จากการสำรวจแยกต่างหากโดย Ad Age พบว่า 10 อันดับแรกของบริษัทผู้ผลิตสมุดหน้าเหลืองชั้นนำทำรายได้เพิ่มขึ้น 4.2% ในปี 2001 9/11/2002 9:05:36 AM หัวข้อ:U.S. Raises Threat Level, Sees High Risk of Attack โดย:4202680148 U.S. Raises Threat Level, Sees High Risk of Attack WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Citing information received in the past 24 hours that American interests abroad were at high risk of terrorist attack, senior U.S. officials on Tuesday announced the first increase in the nationwide threat level and told citizens to be on alert for a new attack. On the eve of the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on America, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced a change in the color-coded threat level to "orange," the second highest level, reflecting a "high risk of terrorist attacks." He and other top officials said information from debriefings with a senior al Qaeda operative and from U.S. intelligence agencies pointed to possible attacks on American facilities in southeast Asia or possible suicide attacks on U.S. interests by individuals in the Middle East. Several embassies and consulates in south and southeast Asia were closed on Tuesday and would remain shut on Wednesday. Some embassies in Africa, where two U.S. embassies were bombed in 1998, would also be closed on Sept. 11, the State Department said. "The most recent intelligence that has prompted us to change our status has focused primarily overseas," Ashcroft said. "New information has fed into an analytic structure which has made us take very seriously both the new information and the analysis which leads us to this conclusion." "We are very concerned about a full range of terrorist activities," he told a news conference. One U.S. official said the al Qaeda operative who provided the information said "they (al Qaeda) were discussing plans to conduct multiple operations against U.S. interests in southeast Asia around now." Ashcroft said al Qaeda cells had been established in several Asian countries to conduct car bomb attacks, and they had been gathering explosives since January. In addition he warned of suicide bombings or actions by low-level al Qaeda operatives who wanted to act on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks to prove they were still around. Likely targets included symbols of American power like corporate interests in the energy and transport sectors. Also at risk, he said, were U.S. embassies and military facilities. Tom Ridge, White House homeland security adviser, said security would be heightened at the federal level and state and local governments would take similar action. The U.S. Customs Service increased border security at all ports of entry. U.S. military forces in Bahrain were put on the highest alert on Tuesday and American forces elsewhere in the Gulf were on increased but lower alert status in response to credible warnings of terror attacks, defense officials said. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also ordered anti-aircraft missiles to be deployed around Washington. An official said the move was not taken in response to a specific threat but to improve air defense of the capital region. TAKING THREATS SERIOUSLY President Bush said he was not aware of any specific threat to the United States, but said the threats appeared similar to the pattern before the Sept. 11 attacks. "The threats that we have heard recently remind us of the pattern of threats we heard prior to September the 11th," he said. "We have no specific threat to America. But we're taking everything seriously." A senior FBI official noted that last year around Sept. 11 intelligence officials believed U.S. interests abroad were at threat of an attack, but the attack took place instead inside the United States. The warning comes on the eve of the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon that killed around 3,000 people. Those attacks have been blamed on the militant Islamic al Qaeda network, headed by Osama bin Laden Bush and other top officials called on Americans to go about their business as normal, with Ashcroft urging citizens to be "alert but defiant." "We really hope that by being alert and by having elevated security, that we default the attempt of any terrorist activities," Ashcroft said. "The primary aspiration that we have is to prevent terrorist attacks." Vice President Dick Cheney canceled a speech he was due to give on Tuesday night and would spend the night at a secure location, officials said. The change in threat level comes as many Americans are already on edge, with opinion polls showing that many people expect fresh attacks against the United States. The threat level of orange is one step below the top "red" threat level, where the risk is seen as "severe." The level has stood at "yellow," the middle of the five-point scale, since the government created the system in March to offer people guidelines on how to prepare for any future attacks. The State Department has warned Americans to be especially vigilant around Sept. 11. In a worldwide caution issued late on Monday, it said: "There is a continuing threat of terrorist actions, which may target civilians and include suicide operations." 9/11/2002 9:28:05 AM หัวข้อ:Al-Qaeda 'planning attacks against US' โดย:4202680023 The United States says it has firm information that Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network is planning attacks on US interests in Asia and the Middle East. Intelligence showed al-Qaeda cells had been established in South Asia to carry out car bomb attacks, Attorney General John Ashcroft said. Speaking on the eve of the 11 September anniversary, he also warned of suicide attacks in the Middle East. These cells have been accumulating explosives US Attorney General John Ashcroft The military has now been told to deploy live missiles in air defence systems at the Pentagon and around Washington. The move came shortly after a heightened alert was declared in the US. The BBC's Jon Leyne in Washington said Tuesday's statement by Mr Ashcroft was one of the most specific and detailed warnings issued by the US Government in a year of high alerts. Precautions taken by the US authorities include: US forces in Bahrain put on highest state of alert US Vice-President Dick Cheney moved to secret location President George W Bush said he was taking indications of new threats against the US "seriously", and that their pattern was similar to what had been heard prior to 11 September. 'Alert but defiant' Flanked by Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge and FBI Director Robert Mueller, Mr Ashcroft told a Washington news conference there was specific and credible information about threats to American symbols. These included US military facilities, embassies and monuments. We are now at high risk of a terrorist attack Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge Four embassies in South East Asia had been ordered closed. "Information indicates that al-Qaeda cells have been established in several South Asian countries in order to conduct car bombs and other attacks on US facilities. "These cells have been accumulating explosives since approximately January of this year in preparation for these attacks," Mr Ashcroft said. The Pentagon was one of the 11 September targets "The US intelligence community has also received information that one or more individuals in the Middle East are preparing for a suicide attack or suicide attacks against US interests", he said. But BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says that if the threat does come from al-Qaeda it is out of character, because the organisation does not usually pay much attention to anniversaries. The notion of striking US interests on the 11 September anniversary would make the organisation a little more predictable and perhaps a little easier to catch, our correspondent says. There was no specific information at present about where the attacks might occur, Mr Ashcroft said. But he stressed that commemorative events in the US should go ahead as planned. "We call on US people to remain alert but defiant in the face of this new threat", Mr Ashcroft said. Tom Ridge, who heads the super-agency charged with overseeing domestic security in the wake of 11 September, added that the US was "at a high risk of a terrorist attack". 'We will win' US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has now authorised the deployment of live surface-to-air missiles around Washington. Hand of al-Qaeda? 14 June 2002 Suicide bomb attack in Karachi targeting US consulate kills 11 people 11 April 2002 Bomb blast against synagogue in Tunisia kills 18 Fighter aircraft armed with live weapons are already patrolling the skies. In a message to the world ahead of the 11 September anniversary, President Bush said victory would come against terrorism in time and that his country would never forget the sympathy it had been shown. Officials said the US Vice President moved to a secret location on Tuesday and cancelled his only public appearance of the day. Mr Cheney also spent Monday night at an undisclosed location outside Washington. Aides said there had been no specific threat against him, and that Monday's move was to protect the continuity of government in the event of an attack. 9/11/2002 9:28:47 AM หัวข้อ:Airlines face more woes โดย:4202612646 A U.S. attack on Iraq might further ground an already struggling travel business. GENEVA (AP) - The U.S. threat to invade Iraq has cast a new cloud over the financial forecast for international airlines still recovering from losses of more than $20 billion after the Sept. 11 attacks, a spokesman said Wednesday. "There's a bit of doom and gloom, especially on the U.S. side, and with the Latin Americans and in many ways in the Middle East,'' said William Gaillard, chief spokesman for the International Air Transport Association. "If something happens in Iraq, then everyone will be back to Square One,'' Gaillard said. IATA's advisory Financial Committee, consisting of 25 chief financial officers from leading airlines, opened its semiannual meeting in Geneva Wednesday. Last week IATA predicted that its 275 member airlines would need until 2004 to break even after the disastrous losses of the past year. "That's with all things remaining equal -- that is, no major crisis, for example, over Iraq,'' Gaillard said. "That could throw a monkey wrench into the whole machinery.'' He said major airlines were making preparations such as buying futures contracts for fuel to guarantee costs in the event that war-related shortages. IATA says the industry had lost $18 billion worldwide by the end of 2001, of which $12 billion was on scheduled international flights. Gaillard said the financial picture varies widely according to region. "People are quite upbeat in Asia-Pacific, with the exception of Japan,'' he said. "The continental European airlines are also seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but people relying on the U.S. traffic -- especially trans-Pacific, trans-Atlantic, even the Latin Americans, are not doing well.'' "We feel that for 2002 international scheduled traffic will still be down about 3 percent, but we should be back to the levels before Sept. 11 in 2003,'' Gaillard added. He said it took a year for air traffic to recover from increased fuel and insurance costs and a drop in traffic resulting from the August 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait that led to the Gulf War the following year. It took another three years to recover financially. The Gulf War cost airlines about $13.8 billion in losses over four years. After Sept. 11 "we lost that practically in one year just in international scheduled services," Gaillard. In the broader travel and tourism industry, there was a 7.4 percent drop in demand in 2001 and 2002 after years of growth, according to a business group. "The terrorist attacks did more damage than they could ever have imagined,'' Jean-Claude Baumgarten, president of the World Travel and Tourism Council, told a luncheon at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium. The industry should finally start to recover early next year, he said, but added it still needs government attention to restore traveler confidence. 9/12/2002 11:55:10 AM หัวข้อ:Pricey oil = economy's vinegar โดย:4202680676 Pricey oil = economy's vinegar Whenever energy prices have shot up over the past 30 years, the economy has suffered. NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Oil prices are marching higher to the war drum's beat and so, too, are worries that the U.S. economy faces a new peril. In the wake of a U.S. Navy warning Tuesday that al Qaeda may be planning attacks against tankers in the Middle East and a general heightened terror alert in the United States, oil prices lifted to their highest level since June, 2001, with crude for October delivery briefly rising above the $30-a-barrel mark -- nearly $10 above where it was at the start of the year -- on the New York Mercantile Exchange. With President Bush preparing to make his case before the United Nations Thursday for attacking Iraq, oil analysts expect that prices will go higher still. Although output from Iraq has only an incidental effect on prices, and other producers have said they will keep the oil flowing, energy traders remember how Saddam Hussein lit even his own oil fields ablaze at the end of the Gulf War. They worry that in response to U.S. action against him he will strike out against Kuwaiti and Saudi Arabian fields, disrupting the world's energy supply. "We're forecasting oil will grind higher up to $33," said Fimat USA's John Kilduff, "with an ultimate spike up to $40 a barrel on the outbreak of hostilities." For an already-sluggish economy, such a move would hardly be welcome. Higher energy prices are, effectively, a tax on consumers and businesses -- cash that might have otherwise gone toward buying, say, a new washing machine, ends up in the gas tank of the family car. Lehman Brothers estimates that a $10 per barrel rise in oil, if sustained, knocks somewhere between a quarter and half a percentage point off of GDP annual growth. More worrisome, over the last 30 years the U.S. economy has fared poorly whenever energy prices have moved significantly higher -- even when, as with the Gulf War and again in late 2000, the jump was relatively brief. "It may be just a coincidence," said Morgan Stanley economist Bill Sullivan, "but all recessions since the 1970s have been associated with higher energy costs." The base case on oil is that any spike is short-lived: It will be quickly proven that Saddam Hussein does not have the ability to strike out against other countries' oil production, that countries like Saudi Arabia -- which oppose action against Iraq -- nonetheless really will keep pumping oil, and that non-Arab producers like Russia will step up output as well. Tom Petrie, CEO of the energy investment bank and research firm Petrie Parkman, suspects there could be a similar price move to the one seen around the time of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the Gulf War in 1991. Oil had briefly surged to over $40 a barrel by October 1990, only to dive right back. On Jan. 17, 1991, the day allied forces first struck against Iraq, the price of oil fell from $30.20 a barrel to $19.70. "It was probably the biggest one-day move down in oil prices the world has ever seen," said Petrie. But by then it was too late for the economy -- it had shifted into recession in October. Most economists believe that this time around the economy could handle a brief jump in prices. Back in 1990, arguably, the country was already headed into recession, and with just about everybody overestimating Iraq and worrying about a protracted war, consumers and businesses threw a damper on spending. More recently, the run up in prices in the fall of 2000 heralded the recession, but given the excesses that developed during the stock market bubble it seems that a downturn was inevitable regardless of what oil was doing. More important, even though the spikes in energy prices in both those cases were brief, nobody had any way of knowing they wouldn't last a long time -- particularly leading into the Gulf War. Concern that higher prices would persist got built into consumer and business expectations, and as a result spending plans were curtailed. In the current environment, because of the previous experience with the Persian Gulf War, the expectation is that higher prices won't last long, so the effect on spending patterns will be muted. "If your period of turbulence is less than two or three months," said Deutsche Bank economist Cary Leahey, "then we can probably avoid a downturn." 9/12/2002 2:01:04 PM หัวข้อ:Bush Tells U.N. to Act on Iraq or U.S. Will Have to Take Action โดย:4202680163 By TERENCE NEILAN : NewYorkTimes President Bush made it clear today that if Iraq continued to defy the United Nations over demands that it stop the production of weapons of mass destruction and its attempts to produce a nuclear weapon, then action against Baghdad "would be unavoidable." Mr. Bush did not spell out what form that action would take, but the Bush administration has openly spoken of its desire and intention to use military force to overthow Saddam Hussein, Iraq's president. "My nation will work with the U.N. Security Council to meet our common challenge," he told the General Assembly. "If Iraq's regime defies us again the world must move deliberately, decisively, to hold Iraq to account. "We will work with the U.N. Security Council for the necessary resolutions. But the purposes of the United States should not be doubted. "The Security Council resolutions will be enforced the just demands of peace and security will be met or action will be unavoidable. And a regime that has lost its legitimacy will also lose its power." Mr. Bush reserved much of his speech to referring to a long list of Security Council resolutions that he said Mr. Hussein had broken and ignored. To end the Persian Gulf war nearly 12 years ago, Mr. Hussein had agreed to terms that were clear "to him and all," Mr. Bush said. "He has proven instead only his contempt for the United Nations, and for all his pledges. By breaking every pledge by his deceptions, and by his cruelties Saddam Hussein has made the case again himself." The president said the broken promises included those on terrorism and improving human rights in Iraq, where last year the United Nations Commission on Human Rights cited "extremely grave violations." "In 1991, the U.N. Security Council, through Resolution 687, demanded the Iraq renounce all involvement with terrorism, and permit no terrorist organizations to operate in Iraq," Mr. Bush said. "Iraq's regime agreed. It broke its promise." He also said it had broken pledges not to produce long-range missiles, chemical and biological weapons. "And in 1995 after four years of deception Iraq finally admitted it had a crash nuclear weapons program prior to the gulf war. We know now, were it not for that war, the regime in Iraq would likely have possessed a nuclear weapon no later than 1993." He added: "Should Iraq acquire fissile material, it would be able to build a nuclear weapon within a year." After citing the many occasions since 1991 on which Iraq had defied Security Council calls to readmit weapons inspectors, he said: "As we meet today, it has been almost four years since the last U.N. inspectors set foot in Iraq four years for the Iraqi regime to plan and build and test behind a cloak of secrecy." He added: "If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately and unconditionally forswear, disclose and remove or destroy all weapons of mass destruction, long-range missiles and all related material. "If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately end all support for terrorism and act to suppress it, as all states are required to do by U.N. Security Council resolutions." Toward the opening of his speech today, Mr. Bush drew applause from delegates by announcing that the United States would rejoin Unesco, from which it withdrew in 1984. "This organization has been reformed and America will participate fully in its mission to advance human rights, tolerance, and learning," he said. In London today, the British government continued to voice its support for action to be taken against Baghdad. The world should send a "clear ultimatum" to Mr. Hussein, Defense Secretary Geoffrey Hoon said. Saying it was important for Iraq to realize the seriousness of the situation, he added: "Therefore, a U.N. process as well as a clear ultimatum with a sting in its tail, as far as prospective military operation is concerned, is part of making it clear to Iraq just how seriously we view this situation." His remarks followed an address by Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain on Tuesday in which he said that if the United Nations is ignored "action will follow." Mr. Bush's address came a speech by Secretary General Kofi Annan aimed at the United States, which he did not mention by name, to work through the United Nations to achieve its goals, not to act alone. But he recognized the responsibility of the United Nations to continue to press Iraq to allow weapons inspectors back into the country. "Any state, if attacked, retains the inherent right of self defense under Article 51 of the Charter," he said in his remarks, the text of which, in an unusual move, was issued on Wednesday. "But beyond that," he added, "when states decide to use force to deal with broader threats to international peace and security, there is no substitute for the unique legitimacy provided by the United Nations." 9/12/2002 11:29:26 PM หัวข้อ:France Telecom chief quits โดย:4202680734 0France Telecom's tie-up with Mobilcom has proved a drain on resources France Telecom boss Michel Bon has quit as head of the debt-ridden firm, as it unveiled losses of 12.2bn euros. Mr Bonn's resignation was accepted by the French government, France Telecom's largest shareholder, at a crisis meeting on Thursday evening, a statement said. the four-hour meeting heard that France Telecom, which has a 75bn-euro (47.1bn; $73.2bn) debt mountain, operated at a net loss of 12.2bn euros for the first half of the year. "The large size of these losses led me to offer my resignation," said Mr Bon, president since 1995. The French Government, which owns 55.5% of the firm, has said it would offer the firm capital support to prevent it falling into financial distress. Mobilcom withdrawal Thursday's meeting also backed plans to halt further funding to German mobile phone venture Mobilcom. "I suggested to the board of directors of France Telecom, which agreed, to put an end to our financial support to Mobilcom as well as our ambitions in mobile [phones] in Germany," Mr Bon said. The decision raises doubts over the future of Mobilcom, which is itself suffering a cash squeeze, and has said it would be forced to file for bankruptcy if France Telecom withdrew support. Union chiefs said 5,000 jobs were under threat, and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, facing elections on 22 September, is reported to be lobbying Paris to ensure the unit does not collapse. France Telecom's first half loss included provisions of 11.1bn euro, mainly relating to Mobilcom. France Telecom's underlying earnings rose by 13.2% to 6.9bn euros. Successor plans Mr Bon has been being blamed for France Telecom's disastrous recent underperformance, including a record loss in 2001. Eurooean telecoms bosses - the casualty list British Telecom: Sir Peter Bonfield, quit January 2002 KPN: Paul Smits, demoted November 2001 Sonera: Kaj-Erik Relander, quit June 2001 Deutsche Telekom: Ron Sommer, quit July 2002 The firm's shares have tumbled by 75% this year alone. But it had earlier seemed that he had nonetheless secured the support of French Finance Minister Francis Mer, and with it backing from a government which owns 55.5% of shares. The Finance Ministry said that a replacement head would be appointed at a board meeting scheduled for a date within "the next few weeks". Observers have seen Thierry Breton, chief executive of electronics firm Thomson Multimedia as a likely successor for the president's role. Money worries A key element in France Telecom's future strategy will be securing a new form of financing. Previously, most discussion has revolved around state support, and rumours swirled earlier in the year that the company would be renationalised. The change of government, from the previous socialists to a new free-market coalition, has made that option unlikely, and Mr Mer has been viewed as wary of providing money directly to the company. Instead, there is now talk of an issue of new shares, possibly as much as 15bn-euros-worth - a deal that would more than double France Telecom's market capitalisation. If, as seems likely, the stock market proves unwelcoming to such a large offer, bonds could also be used to raise money, reports said. WATCH/LISTEN ON THIS STORY The BBC's Gillian Ni Cheallaigh "The French Government has been reluctant to pump money into it" See also: 11 Sep 02 | Business Insolvency fears hit Mobilcom shares 11 Jul 02 | Business Mobilcom chief raises cash demand 05 Jul 02 | Business Why bad news lifted France Telecom's shares 21 Jun 02 | Business Mobilcom chief steps down 12 Jun 02 | Business France Telecom drops Mobilcom 26 Mar 02 | Business Mobilcom share row 'resolved' 25 Mar 02 | Business End in sight for mobile dispute 21 Mar 02 | Business France Telecom posts record loss Internet links: France Telecom Mobilcom The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Business stories now: Tyco ex-bosses hit by more charges France Telecom chief quits Greenspan warns Bush over spending Cash mercy hope for US phone firms Triple whammy hits share prices Gunmen grab top Russian businessman No change for Euro interest rates US bosses face further charges Links to more Business stories are at the foot of the page. NEWS FOR 29-04/08/02 9/13/2002 10:29:30 AM หัวข้อ:Exports keep Japan afloat โดย:4202680734 Japan's economy is still split down the middle with exports shooting up but shoppers at home refusing to spend, the latest figures show. Numbers released on Thursday morning show that the current account surplus - the measure of how much exports exceed imports - was up 58.1% in July over the previous year's reading. The data marked the tenth straight month of year-on-year gains, the Finance Ministry said. A day earlier, overall economic growth in the April-June quarter was confirmed at 0.6%, the first expansion since March 2001. Weak signals Still, the return to expansion cannot disguise the weakness at the heart of the Japanese economy. Strong demand from Asian neighbours is helping to offset the new weakness of the dollar - which risks making Japanese goods too expensive in the US - leaving exports 8.9% higher than a year earlier. But a profit warning from electronics giant Hitachi on Wednesday sparked renewed fears that the export boom which is keeping Japan Inc afloat could be tailing away. And domestic demand shows no signs of picking up. Consumers remain unwilling to spend while deflation means goods will probably keep getting cheaper and cheaper, and that means both domestic sales and imports are on a low flame, down 0.2%. ( NEWS FOR 19-25/08/02) 9/13/2002 10:36:50 AM หัวข้อ:แดนมังกรจะเริ่มลดภาษีศุลกากร สินค้านำเข้าอาเซียนปีหน้า โดย:4202680114 แดนมังกรจะเริ่มลดภาษีศุลกากร สินค้านำเข้าอาเซียนปีหน้า บันดาร์ เสรี เบกาวัน - แดนมังกรจะเริ่มลดภาษีสินค้านำเข้าบางชนิดจากอาเซียน ในปีหน้า ตามข้อตกลงการค้าเสรีอาเซียนกับจีน รัฐมนตรีเศรษฐกิจสมาคมประชาชาติเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ (อาเซียน) เผยวานนี้หลังหารือกับนายสือ กว่างเซิง รัฐมนตรีการค้าและความร่วมมือต่างประเทศของจีน ว่าอาเซียนยินดีกับการพัฒนาแผน "ลดภาษีล่วงหน้า" ซึ่งจะบังคับใช้ภายใน 1 มกราคม 2547 แผนการดังกล่าวเป็นส่วนหนึ่งของเขตการค้าเสรีอาเซียน-จีน และจะเป็นการให้แรงจูงใจเพื่อเร่งจัดตั้งเขตการค้าเสรีดังกล่าว รัฐมนตรีอาเซียนกล่าวว่าการเจรจาเพื่อจัดทำข้อตกลงเปิดเสรีสินค้า บริการ และการลงทุนจะเริ่มต้นในปีหน้า ทั้งนี้ ภายใต้แผนการลดภาษีล่วงหน้านั้น จีนจะลดภาษีศุลกากรสินค้าอาเซียนบางชนิด ก่อนข้อตกลงเขตการค้าเสรีจัดตั้งขึ้นเต็มรูปแบบภายใน 10 ปี แผนการลดภาษีล่วงหน้าจะใช้กับสมาชิกหลักอาเซียน ได้แก่ บรูไน อินโดนีเซีย มาเลเซีย ฟิลิปปินส์ สิงคโปร์ และไทย เป็นเวลา 3 ปี จากนั้นจึงนำไปใช้กับสมาชิกใหม่ ได้แก่ กัมพูชา ลาว พม่า และเวียดนาม ภายในระยะเวลาที่มากขึ้น รายงานข่าวระบุว่า จีนจัดเก็บภาษีศุลกากรในอัตราสูงกับสินค้านำเข้าบางชนิดจากเอเชียอาคเนย์ ดังนั้นข้อตกลงนี้จึงเป็นเหมือนการแสดงไมตรีจิตจากปักกิ่ง โดยฟิลิปปินส์ระบุว่าจีนเก็บภาษีซอสและเครื่องปรุงจากมะนิลา 30-54% เทียบกับ 7% ที่ฟิลิปปินส์เก็บจากสินค้านำเข้าประเภทเดียวกัน อย่างไรก็ตาม รัฐมนตรีเศรษฐกิจกล่าวว่ายังเหลือประเด็นอีก 2-3 อย่างที่ต้องเจรจา เพื่อให้บรรลุกรอบข้อตกลงขั้นท้ายสุดว่าด้วยความร่วมมือทางเศรษฐกิจแบบครอบคลุมกับจีน แม้จะไม่ได้อธิบาย แต่รัฐมนตรียอมรับว่ายังบรรลุข้อตกลงไม่ได้เรื่องสินค้าที่จะรวมอยู่ในข้อตกลงลดภาษีล่วงหน้า โดยจีนได้เสนอสินค้าเกษตรเป็นส่วนใหญ่ ขณะที่อาเซียนต้องการให้สินค้านอกภาคเกษตร อยู่ในข้อตกลง นอกจากนั้นยังมีเรื่องระยะเวลา 10 ปีในการผลักดันให้ข้อตกลงการค้าเสรีเป็นรูปเป็นร่าง ซึ่งรัฐมนตรีเศรษฐกิจกล่าวว่า น่าจะครอบคลุมการค้าสินค้า บริการ และการลงทุน ขณะที่ชาติยากจนของอาเซียนจะได้รับการผ่อนผันเป็นพิเศษ นายโรดอลโฟ เซเวอริโน เลขาธิการอาเซียน หวังว่าประเด็นปัญหาจะได้รับการแก้ไข ระหว่างการประชุมเจ้าหน้าที่ระดับสูงอาเซียนและจีน ในสิงคโปร์ เดือนหน้า 9/14/2002 11:14:25 PM หัวข้อ:China seen as rival and friend โดย:4202680874 China seen as rival and friend Though China will soon become a closer friend of Asean through a free-trade agreement, it is still a major rival as well, according to George Yeo, Singapore's trade and industry minister. Mr Yeo made the comment yesterday after a meeting between Asean economic ministers and Shi Guangsheng, China's minister of foreign trade and economic co-operation. An agreement was reached to reduce tariffs on selected Asean and Chinese goods under a three-year ``early harvest'' programme starting at the end of 2004. However, a decision had not been made on what products would be eligible for the initial phase, the ministers said. The free-trade pact _ formally known as Asean-China Comprehensive Economic Co-operation _ is to be endorsed by Asean and Chinese leaders when they meet in Cambodia in November. Mr Yeo said China's rapid growth was a challenge to Asean. For instance, China is now a huge exporter of labour-intensive industrial goods at low prices. Asean ministers also expressed concern over a decline of foreign direct investment, a key driver of economic growth, and the substantial shift of investment to China over the past few years. Mr Yeo said China would continue to win more foreign investment, but the country also represented a huge opportunity. As a result, he said, Asean wanted to ensure that both sides would progress toward the same goals. ``Our discussion in this morning's meeting spoke very frankly of our hopes and fears,'' Mr Yeo said. In order to meet the challenges ahead, he said Asean must increase its competitiveness after the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) reaches its ultimate goal of 0-5% tariffs at the start of next year. Commerce Minister Adisai Bodharamik said co-operation between Asean and China should be a win-win situation. A few issues remain unresolved, including the final year for full implementation of the Asean-China free-trade area. A source from the meeting said that Indonesia and the Philippines proposed full implementation by 2012, while Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand favoured 2010, as did Beijing. The more recent Asean members _ Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam _ will have an additional five years to comply no matter what date is chosen. Details of the products covered by the ``early harvest'' scheme are to be worked out at a meeting in October. The source said views varied on the nature and number of products that should be covered. ``These two outstanding issues will not affect progress toward the Asean-China FTA. They will be resolved before the summit meeting.'' 9/15/2002 10:59:36 AM หัวข้อ:toshiba โดย:4202612422 Reuters Market News NEC, Toshiba Tie Up on Chips-Nikkei Saturday September 14, 11:45 pm ET TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's NEC Corp and Toshiba Corp have agreed to jointly develop next-generation memory chips that reduce power consumption in a bid to hit back at overseas rivals, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said on Sunday. The deal between Japan's top two chipmakers will involve the development of Magnetic Random Access Memory (MRAM) chips that substantially increase the length of time notebook personal computers and mobile phones can operate on a single battery charge, the business newspaper said. Officials for NEC and Toshiba were not immediately available for comment. Annual demand for MRAMs as a replacement for current commodity memory chips is expected to reach 1.0 trillion yen ($8.33 billion) by 2007, Nihon Keizai said. NEC and Toshiba have already set up a joint task force with 20 engineers from each firm, the paper said, adding that the companies aim to establish a prototype production line at NEC's plant in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture near Tokyo, by year end. The two firms plan to invest more than 10 billion yen by spring 2005 in development, Nihon Keizai said. The deal marks the start of a counter-offensive by Japanese chipmakers against overseas rivals, industry observers said. A number of major overseas chipmakers are also working on MRAMs. U.S. semiconductor maker Motorola Inc has already developed a prototype lower-capacity MRAM, and International Business Machine Corp and Infineon Technologies AG of Germany have begun joint development, Nihon Keizai said. 9/15/2002 4:00:57 PM << End of file >>
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