Apple profits increase 50%, boosted by iPhone sales

The iPhone's roll-out in China and South Korea has increased sales Apple has Apple has a 50% increase in profits after seeing a bumper Christmas period, in which sales of iPhones doubled from a year ago. Net income rose to $3.38bn (£2.08bn) in the three months to 26 December, from the $2.26bn it made the previous year. Apple said it sold 8.7 million iPhones in the quarter. Sales of Macs also rose 33%, although iPod sales fell by 8%. On Wednesday, the firm will announce a new product, widely expected to be a touch-screen "tablet" computer. The company has previously used January launches to unveil products including the iPhone and the MacBook Air. Apple shares rose $5.33, or 2.7%, to close at $203.08 in New York before the results came out. In extended trading the shares rose a further $1.28 to $204.36. 'Phenomenal sales' Sales in the first quarter rose to $15.7bn from $11.9bn in the same period a year ago.  The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we're really excited about  Steve Jobs, Apple chief executive Sales of the iPhone were boosted by its roll-out in China, the world's biggest mobile phone market. Mac sales rose to 3.36 million during the quarter while sales of iPods fell to 21 million. Analysts were impressed with the results. "It was a very good quarter, as expected. It's a continued sign that Apple has great products that consumers want despite this recession," commented Daniel Ernst from Hudson Square Research. "Mac sales were phenomenal as well... Macs continue to gain share and what's interesting is that it only has 3.6% share globally so there's a lot of headroom." Apple forecast sales for the current quarter of between $11bn and $11.4bn. "The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we're really excited about," said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. Earlier this month, Microsoft and HP unveiled a touchscreen slate computer, ahead of Apple's much rumoured device launch.

FOREX: US Dollar, Japanese Yen finish week higher versus Majors on Risk Aversion

The U.S. dollar and Japanese yen surged higher in forex trading this week against the other major currencies while the U.S. stock markets had their worst week in 10 months. Risk aversion was the dominant theme of the week and was triggered by numerous factors including Greece’s continuing financial woes, Barack Obama’s plan for tighter regulation on banks, disappointing earnings and fears that China may slow bank lending.


The dollar surged higher versus the euro for the second straight week as the euro (EUR/USD pair) fell to its lowest exchange rate since July 30th on Thursday at the 1.4029 level. The dollar also increased for the week versus the Swiss franc, British pound, Canadian dollar and New Zealand dollar and Australian dollar while falling versus the Japanese yen.

The largest gain for the dollar this week was against the Canadian dollar with a 287 pip increase followed by a 282 pip advance versus the New Zealand dollar (see chart). The dollar also rose by over 200 pips against the euro and the Australian dollar.

The Japanese yen, meanwhile, gained ground for the second straight week versus these other major currencies with the exception of the U.S. dollar, which the yen has climbed against for three weeks in a row. The yen increased by over 300 pips this week versus the euro (+360 pips), the Canadian dollar (+329 pips) and the New Zealand dollar (+322 pips).

The yen also rose by 297 pips over the British pound, by 286 pips against the Australian dollar, by 230 pips versus the Swiss franc and by 95 pips against the U.S. dollar.

The U.S. stock markets ended the week with three straight negative sessions as the Dow fell by roughly 217 points on Friday and finished the week 537 points lower. The Dow’s 4.1 percent drop for the week marked the largest decline since March when stocks started 2009’s remarkable uptrend. The Nasdaq decreased by 60.41 points on Friday and declined by 3.6 percent for the week while the S&P 500 dropped by 24.72 points on Friday to a 3.9 percent weekly decline.



Next week will be another interesting and potentially volatile week in the forex markets with many major economic releases coming out. Interest rate decisions by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand are all due in the middle of the week while there will Gross Domestic Product reports from Canada, the U.K. and the U.S. There will also be new and existing homes sales data, durable goods and consumer confidence data out the U.S.

New Bank Rules Sink Stocks

Obama Proposal Would Restrict Risk-Taking by Biggest Firms as Battle Looms 

European Pressphoto Agency

From left, bank chiefs Lloyd Blankfein, James Dimon, John Mack and Brian Moynihan are sworn in on Capitol Hill earlier this month to testify before the Congressional Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which is investigating the causes of the financial crisis.

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama proposed new limits on the size and activities of the nation's largest banks, pushing a more muscular approach toward regulation that yanked down bank stocks and raised the stakes in his campaign to show he's tough on Wall Street.
With former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker at his side, Mr. Obama said he wanted to toughen existing limits on the size of financial firms and force them to choose between the protection of the government's safety net and the often-lucrative business of trading for their own accounts or owning hedge funds or private-equity funds. Mr. Volcker has been an outspoken advocate of such rules; until recently Mr. Obama's top economic advisers, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers, were less than enthusiastic.
"Never again will the American taxpayer be held hostage by a bank that is too big to fail," Mr. Obama said Thursday, two days after voters crimped his ability to pursue his agenda by sending a Republican to the Senate to fill a vacancy created by the death of Edward M. Kennedy. The election deprived Democrats of the 60 votes often needed to get major measures through the Senate.

Wall Street is reeling following the White House's financial reform proposals. The News Hub panelists argue the merits of the effort.

More Video

• News Hub: Obama's War on Big Banks
• News Hub: White House Outlines Bank Restrictions
• Video: Obama's News Conference

More

• Full Text: White House Statement
• Policy Pivot Followed Months of Wrangling
• Financial Firms Fear Revenue Loss
• Europe Divided Over U.S. Bank Initiative
• Opinion: Obama v. Wall Street
• Heard: Bonds' Benefit From Obama?
• Heard: Taking the Fight to Wall Street
• Analysis: Volcker Returns to Center Stage
• Financial News: Bankers Count Cost of Obama's Plan
• Economists React: 'Wrong Solution' or 'Good Idea'?
• Mean Street: 'Why Is America Self-Destructive?'
• Real Time Econ: Battle Just Heating Up
• Video: Obama News Conference

Administration officials said they weren't trying to resurrect the Depression-era law—known as Glass-Steagall—that strictly divided commercial banks from the business of underwriting securities. Nor would their proposals force existing financial firms to downsize, officials said.
If accepted by Congress, the Obama proposals could force significant changes in how the nation's biggest banks do business. The specter of new profit-crimping regulation battered bank stocks Thursday, dragging down the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 213.27 points, or 2%, to 10389.88. Some financial stocks sank by more than 5%, though they recovered slightly after Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said the new rules would take effect over three to five years, not immediately. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s stock was the hardest hit, sinking 6.6%.
The fate of the Obama proposal is uncertain. The House already has passed a provision that would give regulators new authority to limit the scope and scale of banks. Congressional passage now depends primarily on Senate Republicans. Several Republican senators expressed skepticism about the Obama proposal Thursday. "Let's solve problems," said Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl. "Let's not be finding a bogeyman so that we can turn public attention away from what they're doing wrong in the administration."
But in a political environment decidedly hostile to big banks, Democrats might need only a few Republican votes to enact a variant of what Mr. Obama called "the Volcker rule." Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican, said the White House appears to be moving closer to a proposal he is co-sponsoring that would reinstate restrictions on banks that were repealed in the late 1990s. "It seems to me that a number of the proposals [Mr. Obama] has move in that direction," Sen. McCain said, "but I haven't had a chance to examine the details."
Big banks and their trade groups attacked the Obama proposals as unnecessary and unwise. "If people are focused on things that caused or were real contributors to the financial crisis, it wasn't trading," said David Viniar, chief financial officer at Goldman Sachs.
Over the past several years, banks have bulked up their profits in areas far beyond taking deposits, making loans and trading stocks and bonds on behalf of customers.
Some have bought or sponsored hedge funds. Others have moved to invest their own money in the markets.
After the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the rescue of American International Group in the fall of 2008, investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley formally became banks—giving them access to Fed loans and federal guarantees of their borrowing in financial markets.
When the crisis ebbed, Goldman and some other banks were able to borrow at low rates and turn profits trading for their own accounts. This gave Mr. Volcker and his allies, who include Vice President Joe Biden, new fuel for their argument that government-backed banks should be prevented from taking big trading risks.
"The key issue is that institutions that are getting a backstop from the taxpayer shouldn't be able to make a profit off their own investing," said Austan Goolsbee, a White House economist who staffs the presidential advisory board Mr. Volcker chairs.

Looking Back: Glass-Steagall

Read the Journal's coverage of the early days of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, which first walled off commercial banks from investment banks.

• Bill to Unify Deposit Banks; Glass Measure Will Provide Federal Insurance, Segregation of Different Types of Banking
  04/03/1933
• Morgan Spends 2nd Day on Stand; Disclosure List of Prominent Clients Features Evidence at Probe; Got Stock Under Market
  05/25/1933
• Bank 'Insurance'; Congress Leaning Toward Immediate Deposit Guarantees Without U.S. Supervision; Reserve Members Object
  05/27/1933
• Self Regulation Urged for Banks; Brooklyn Trust Head Lays Down Five Rules for Insuring Confidence
  06/28/193

Bank executives scrambled Thursday to interpret the proposals, particularly their effect on areas where bank capital is intermingled with client funds. The new rules would, for instance, likely force J.P. Morgan to shed its One Equity Partners private-equity business, which invests the firm's money. Disentangling Goldman's private-equity business, however, could be trickier because it invests its own money in the same funds that clients invest in.
Under the Obama proposal, banks that take federally insured deposits or have the right to borrow from the Fed would be prohibited from owning, investing in or sponsoring hedge funds or private-equity firms. "You can choose to engage in proprietary trading, or you can own a bank, but you can't do both," an administration official said.
The president also called for expanding the reach of a 1994 law that forbids banks from acquiring another bank if the deal would give it more than 10% of the nation's insured deposits. He would expand that limit to cover other types of funding—such as banks' short-term borrowing from financial markets—and perhaps put a cap on the share of assets any one firm could hold.
The Thursday announcement is the latest move by the White House to target Wall Street and banks. Earlier this month, the president proposed a new fee on large banks and insurance companies that would raise $90 billion over 10 years, ostensibly to offset the costs of the bailout of financial firms and auto giants.

—Michael R. Crittenden and Susanne Craig contributed to this article.

WORLD FOREX: Dollar Trumped By Yen As Risk Flees Markets

By Bradley Davis 
   Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The dollar dropped sharply against the yen Thursday as concerns over proposed U.S. banking regulations, worry over Greek sovereign debt and a possible slowing of Chinese growth led investors toward the safe-haven Japanese currency.
The dollar ended the day trapped near day-earlier levels against the euro after a day of extremely choppy trading. The greenback overnight sailed to its highest level against the euro since July before sinking against the common currency after the announcement of the bank regulations proposed by the Obama administration.
"Right now, a lot of people are probably viewing [the bank regulation plan] as potentially negative for the U.S.," denting the dollar, said Brian Kim, currency strategist at UBS in Stamford, Conn.
"But all the other things out there have not gone away," Kim said, referring to continued concerns over Greece's sovereign debt and worry that China could move to slow economic growth, which could affect the global economic turnaround.
Late Thursday in New York, the euro was at $1.4097 from $1.4102 late Wednesday, according to EBS via CQG. The dollar was at Y90.33 from Y91.23, while the euro was at Y127.27 from Y128.69. The U.K. pound was at $1.6195 from $1.6285. The dollar was at CHF1.0426 from CHF1.0443.
The ICE Dollar Index, which tracks the dollar against a trade-weighted basket of currencies, was at 78.395 from 78.369. It earlier hit 78.814, its highest level since Sept. 2.
As a result, Deutsche Bank's PowerShares US Dollar Index Bearish (UDN) exchange-traded fund was down 0.04% from late Wednesday, while its PowerShares US Dollar Index Bullish (UUP) was up 0.04%. The two exchange-traded funds are based on Deutsche Bank currency futures indexes, whose composition mirrors that of ICE's Dollar Index.
Pressuring the dollar against the euro could be investor worry over the proposed banking regulations, which could derail a nascent economic recovery, said Michael Mahoney, vice president of foreign-exchange trading at Union Bank in Los Angeles.
To see the euro's moves against the dollar, please see:
http://dowjoneswebservices.com/chart/view/3317
The bank regulation plan would force institutions to choose between commercial banking and proprietary trading for their own profit, while seeking to limit the size of megabanks.
Though the proposal appears to move the U.S. back toward Depression-era barriers between commercial and investment banking, White House officials denied they are pushing for a return of the Glass-Steagall Act, which was repealed in 1999.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank as reverberations of the proposed regulation hit the markets, losing more than 2% by late afternoon.
Despite the euro's afternoon rebound against the dollar, the common currency remained sharply lower against the yen, losing more than 1%.
"The overall net move on the day, you see things consistent with risk aversion," with the Greece situation and possibly sagging Chinese growth weighing on growth-sensitive currencies, said Daniel Katzive, foreign- exchange strategist at Credit Suisse in New York.
Growth-sensitive, commodity-backed currencies, such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars, declined over fears that China's putting a brake on economic growth could derail the global economic turnaround.
The dollar's had rallied overnight when China reported its gross domestic product had expanded at 10.7% in the fourth quarter, up from 9.1% in the third quarter. Beijing also disclosed that inflation had risen as high as 1.9%, instead of increasing to only 1.7% as expected.
The Chinese data signal that "tighter policy is just around the corner as Beijing seeks to prevent the economy from overheating," RBC Capital strategists wrote in a note to clients.
A slew of negavive news out of the euro zone, including festering concerns over Greek sovereign debt, sent the common currency during overnight trading to $1.4029, its lowest level since July 30.
A spokeswoman for the European Commission, the European Union's executive arm, said Thursday she isn't aware of any financial bailout packages being arranged for Greece, which struggles with deficit spending and concern over its credit-worthiness.

Israel should stop forex buying, refrain from tax cuts, says OECD

The Bank of Israel should cease foreign currency intervention, while the government ought to be more cautious in slashing taxes and imposing high car purchase taxes, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report on Wednesday ahead of Israel's accession to the organization.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman shakes hands with Angel Gurria, Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) during their meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, Tuesday.
Photo: AP

"None of these set conditions for Israel's accession. The recommendations are not binding, but they are expected to be absorbed in the OECD's spirit of cooperation and collaboration, which is now at the disposal of Israel," said OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria at a seminar in Jerusalem on Wednesday. "We are in the home stretch." Israel started the accession process for entry into the OECD in 2007 and has a target of joining in May this year.
In light of the pick-up in economic activity in recent months, which the OECD says will likely prompt monetary tightening at some point, heavy intervention into foreign exchange rate would work against the policy-rate hikes and damage transparency in policy.
"The exchange rate needs to be given a boost every now and then but it cannot be weakened artificially for too long. The market does not buy that for too long and we are also telling other member countries not to do that," said Gurria.
In its economic survey of Israel, the OECD noted that although regular interventions were stopped in early 2009, the central bank announced a policy of discretionary intervention, and foreign currency purchases have continued.
"The build-up of international reserves proved useful, attenuating external vulnerabilities when concerns about a downturn were at their greatest," stated the report. "However, foreign exchange reserves are now more than adequate. The Bank of Israel should cease heavy exchange rate intervention to avoid damaging its credibility."

The OECD said it was surprised by the government's decision to go ahead with personal income and corporate tax cuts in 2010 under the prevailing macroeconomic circumstances and cautioned against further cuts, while criticizing the abolition of some VAT exemptions and bemoaning the continuation of high purchase taxes on cars.
According to the government's tax reduction plan the corporate rate will be cut to 18% by 2016 from 25%, while personal income tax will be lowered from a maximum rate of 45% to 39%.
"Although cuts in corporate and personal income tax rates have beneficial effects on business activity and competition, tax burdens are not the only concern of investors (who are also put off by red tape). They need to be put into context, and a degree of caution is required in pursuing them," stated the report.
In addition, the organization urged the government to leave last year's temporary step to raise value-added tax by 1 percentage point to 16.5%. This comes as the Finance Ministry decided to lower the VAT rate to 16% from January 1, earlier than planned in light of improved growth and revenues.
"Trade-offs in fiscal policy would be eased by making the recent temporary increase in the VAT rate to 16.5% permanent," said the report. "Also, the abolition of some VAT exemptions should be revisited, notably those on some tourist services (including those for the town of Eilat) and for fruit and vegetables."
At the same time, the OECD sees no strong justification for the imposition of the high purchase tax on cars.
"The schedule of rates has been recently adjusted to reflect environment considerations, but the attractive revenue-raising properties of such taxation probably remain the primary motivation," stated the report.
Furthermore, Gurria called upon Israel to transfer the Finance Ministry's supervisory bodies into a more independent body.
"Supervisory bodies in Israel should be kept at arm's length from political power and could be more independent," said Gurria. "Like in other OECD member countries, they should be put into an independent body."
In the report, the establishment of a "fiscal council" was suggested along the lines of those operating in Austria, Sweden, Canada and the Netherlands, in order to devolve power from theFinance Ministry.
Also speaking at the conference, Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Stanley Fischer was optimistic about the country's acceptance to the OECD, saying that the message received was that solutions to unresolved issues can be found.
"Full compliance with the findings of the two reports are not conditions for membership," said Fischer. "There are still still unresolved technical conditions of entry such as anti-corruption policy measures and compliance with intellectual property legislation common in OECD member countries, which still need to be resolved. But the message we got is that solutions can be found.

Public money _Pakistan

The public interest demands that the government overhaul its spending procedures. –Photo by Reuters

 
According to a report in this newspaper yesterday, hundreds of billions of rupees of public sector funds are lying unutilised with commercial banks and the government is seeking to claw back the money as per its commitments with the IMF.

The idea behind the change is straightforward: synchronise the allocation of money to development agencies with their spending requirements, i.e. give the agencies involved in development work money when they need to pay contractors, vendors, etc and not before. While there is Rs680bn of ‘public money’ lying with the commercial banks, the government is targeting a smaller amount of approximately Rs180bn of development/PSDP-related funding. (The larger amount includes everything from endowments of public universities to money for the armed forces and it would not make sense to apply the change to those funds.)
Why did Rs180bn of public funds end up lying unused in commercial banks? The answer seems to be a combination of history, bad management, corruption, incompetence and inefficiency — in short, 62 years of Pakistani governance. It also explains why the government has pushed forward by a year its original deadline of June 2009 to complete the change: the weight of history hangs heavy and revamping a decades-old system has not been easy. The new system envisages assignment accounts for the various entities involved in development work and requires tearing up the manual and coming up with a new set of rules that will encourage ‘just in time’ delivery of money to development projects.

There has been speculation that the commercial banks are resisting the change because it would deplete their deposit base and generally make doing business more difficult for them. But that argument ignores the basic point: the money belongs to the government and as a depositor it has the right to withdraw its money. Of course, given the vast sums involved, a sudden withdrawal would rock the entire banking system, but the government has only talked of a phased withdrawal.

In fact, the public interest demands that the government overhaul its spending procedures. We have said it before and we will say it again: in times of crisis, every little bit of help is welcome — and if the government can’t get serious about reform in the bad times, there is little hope that it will ever get it right. It is nothing short of a scandal that Rs180bn of development money is languishing in commercial banks, and now is the time to right that wrong.

Apple Sees New Money in Old Media

By YUKARI IWATANI KANE And ETHAN SMITH

With the new tablet device that is debuting next week, Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs is betting he can reshape businesses like textbooks, newspapers and television much the way his iPod revamped the music industry—and expand Apple's influence and revenue as a content middleman.
In developing the device, Apple focused on the role the gadget could play in homes and in classrooms, say people familiar with the situation. The company envisions that the tablet can be shared by multiple family members to read news and check email in homes, these people say.

 

Related Video

• News Hub: Apple Looks to Reshape Media
• Apple Tablet on Tap
• Apple's Tablet, as Imagined by Publishers

For classrooms, Apple has been exploring electronic-textbook technology, these people add. The people familiar with the matter say Apple has also been looking at how content from newspapers and magazines can be presented differently on the tablet. Other people briefed on the device say the tablet will come with a virtual keyboard.
Apple has recently been in discussions with book, magazine and newspaper publishers about how they can work together. The company has talked with New York Times Co., Condé Nast Publications Inc. and HarperCollins Publishers and its owner News Corp., which also owns The Wall Street Journal, over content for the tablet, say people familiar with the talks.
New York Times Chairman Arthur Sulzberger declined to comment in an interview Wednesday on its involvement in the new device except to say, "stay tuned."
Apple is also negotiating with television networks such as CBS Corp. and Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC, for a monthly TV subscription service, the Journal has reported. Apple is also working with videogame publisher Electronic Arts Inc. to show off the tablet's game capabilities, according to one person familiar with the matter.

Journal Community

• Vote: What price would you pay for Apple's new tablet device?
• Discuss: What features would you want to see it have?
• Vote: Touch, voice - How would you prefer to interact with technology?
• Vote: What do you most want to buy as your next computer?

Apple's strategy contrasts with how other technology companies are approaching media. Notably, Google Inc. offers content to consumers largely free on properties like its video-sharing site YouTube, making relatively little distinction between clips from users and that of professional media companies. Web sites like Twitter and Facebook also provide outlets for user-generated content.
Mr. Jobs has a longstanding strategy of devising new ways to access and pay for quality content, instead of reinventing the content. Apple's iTunes Store, for instance, became the world's largest music retailer partly by making it easy for people to buy music, most of it from major record labels, by the song instead of by the album. Its digital media receiver Apple TV was also designed so people can buy and rent movies and television shows.
Mr. Jobs is "supportive of the old guard and [he] looks to help them by giving them new forms of distribution," says a person who has worked with the CEO. "What drives all of these changes is technology, and Apple has an ability to influence that."

Apple's divide with Google over how it views media content also drives the wedge deeper between the two companies. Apple's iPhone, for example, currently closely integrates Google's mapping and search technology, but a person familiar with the matter said Apple was in serious discussions with Microsoft Corp. to incorporate its Bing search engine into the iPhone as the default search and map technologies. Microsoft declined to comment.
Details of how Apple charges for the content on its tablet couldn't be learned, but people familiar with the company's thinking say Apple could change conventional payment structures. One person familiar with the matter said the company was discussing with the New York Times how it could charge for news through iTunes. It's unclear how people will access content wirelessly off the tablet.
An Apple spokesman said the company "doesn't comment on rumors and speculation." Mr. Jobs didn't respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Jobs's effort to repackage and resell more media content is not without obstacles. He has already faced resistance from television companies and cable network providers over Apple's desire to license just their best content rather than all of it.
Many music executives complain that it has become a powerful gatekeeper between the labels and customers. What's more, the iTunes Store's music downloads haven't grown fast enough to offset the decline in CD sales for music companies.
On Monday, Apple sent out an invitation to a media event on Jan. 27 "to see our latest creation." The tablet, which Apple currently plans to ship in March, will have about a 10- to 11-inch touch screen, people familiar with the situation say.

 

Getty Images

Apple CEO Steve Jobs spoke during an event in September 2009.

Apple's tablet foray faces several obstacles. Analysts say demand will depend on its price, which some believe will be about $1,000. Apple must also convince consumers the product is worth buying in addition to an iPhone and a laptop computer. And Apple faces competition from cheaper netbooks and other devices such as Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle e-book reader.
The tablet's success will depend "on how this product can fit into the user's daily life... and whether you have enough content to make it important enough to use it," said Henry Lu, senior vice president of Taiwanese computer company Micro-Star International Co., which failed at selling a tablet computer a few years ago.
In the academic arena, Apple could face hurdles wooing universities if the tablet doesn't meet their needs or isn't compatible with other computing devices that students are using.
Amazon had been hoping to target the market with its 9.7-inch screen Kindle DX e-book reader, for example, but schools said the device wasn't sufficiently interactive and lacked basics such as page numbers and color graphics.
One person familiar with the matter said Apple has put significant resources into designing and programming the device so that it is intuitive to share. This person said Apple has experimented with the ability to leave virtual sticky notes on the device and for the gadget to automatically recognize individuals via a built-in camera. It's unclear whether these features will be included at launch.
Apple's content-related efforts heated up in the fall. In October, Apple sent representatives to the Frankfurt Book Fair, the industry's largest trade fair, according to one person familiar with the matter.
At the same time, Apple pitched media companies on a "best of TV" subscription service to television networks under which customers would pay a monthly fee for on-demand access to programs from a bundle of participating TV networks, giving consumers another way to readily access TV content.
At a meeting in New York with one network in October, an Apple executive said the company was specifically looking to access four to six shows per channel, said one person familiar with the meeting.
Apple has also been planning a revamp of its iTunes music service by creating a Web-based version of it that could launch as soon as June, say people familiar with the matter. Tentatively called iTunes.com, the service would allow customers to buy music without going through the specialized iTunes program on computers and iPhones.
People familiar with Apple's plans say a central part of the new strategy is to populate as many Web sites as possible with 'buy' buttons, integrating iTunes transactions into activities like listening to Internet radio and surfing review Web sites.
In November, Apple hired Tracy Augustine, a former executive at textbook publishers Cengage Learning Inc. and Pearson Education Inc., as the director of worldwide education. Ms. Augustine is responsible for "driving global strategy and revenue for the education online store for students," according to her LinkedIn description. Ms. Augustine didn't respond to a request for comment.
—Geoffrey A. Fowler
and Russell Adams contributed to this article

Clinton Urges China to Investigate Google Case

By SIOBHAN GORMAN And SKY CANAVES

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made unrestricted Internet access a top foreign-policy priority and urged China to investigate cyber intrusions that led Google Inc. to threaten to pull out of that country.

The remarks come in the wake of accusations last week that Chinese hackers penetrated Google's computer networks. Mrs. Clinton called on the Chinese government to make the results of any probe "transparent."
The growing role of the Internet in foreign policy became clear last year during protests in Iran after allegations of election fraud. The government tried to crack down on protesters' Internet communications, but they circumvented digital blockades to send out video and Twitter messages about violence against demonstrators.
"Countries that restrict free access to information or violate the basic rights of Internet users risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next century," Mrs. Clinton said in the speech Thursday on Internet freedom at the Newseum journalism museum in Washington. She said the U.S. and China "have different views on this issue, and we intend to address those differences candidly and consistently" as part of a cooperative relationship.
She cited China as among a number of countries where there has been "a spike in threats to the free flow of information" over the past year. She also named Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.
"Some countries have erected electronic barriers that prevent their people from accessing portions of the world's networks," she said.
"They have expunged words, names and phrases from search engine results," Mrs. Clinton said. "They have violated the privacy of citizens who engage in nonviolent political speech."
Google said on Jan. 12 that it will remain in China only if the government relents on rules requiring the censorship of content the ruling communist party considers subversive. The ultimatum came after Google said it uncovered a computer attack that tried to plunder its software coding and the email accounts of human-rights activists protesting Chinese policies.

A State Department official said Thursday that the department hasn't yet registered a formal complaint calling for an investigation. State officials had said they would send the complaint earlier this week but have so far only held additional conversations with Chinese officials on the matter.
Google's complaints about cyber attacks and censorship in China shouldn't be "overinterpreted" or linked to Beijing's bilateral relations with the U.S., Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said Thursday.
Mr. He's comments represent the highest-level response so far to Google's statement last week that it might have to leave the market. The official's statement came ahead of Mrs. Clinton's speech.

"The Google case should not be linked with relations between the two governments and countries; otherwise, it's an overinterpretation," Mr. He said at a news conference, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

Chinese authorities have reacted cautiously to statements from Google and from U.S.-government officials, wary of openly fueling tensions with Washington and with Chinese Internet users, many of whom bristle at government censorship. Some state-run media have taken a more combative approach, portraying Google's moves as the result of its failure to beat domestic rival Baidu.com. An editorial in the Global Times newspaper on Wednesday charged that Google had allowed itself to be used by the U.S. government for political purposes and warned that Google would pay a high price for doing so.

Public opinion in China has been divided, complicating the government's response. Google's estimated 80 million Chinese users include a number of vocal supporters, some of whom have traveled to the company's offices to leave flowers and cards over the last week, and any sudden action against Google could give rise to protests that could embarrass the government. But there is also a vocal constituency of anti-Google Web users who are calling for China to stand up to unreasonable foreign demands.

The Xinhua report didn't specify what prompted Google's Jan. 12 statement, saying only that the company cited "disagreements with government policies and unidentified attacks targeting its services in China" as a reason for its possible withdrawal.

Mr. He's remarks indicate that Beijing is sticking to its low-key approach in responding to the Google case. Previously, lower-level officials have portrayed the matter as a legal and business issue that doesn't merit government-to-government discussion.

In Mrs. Clinton's speech before she explicitly mentioned the Google matter, she spoke broadly about the connection between information freedom and international business, reported the Associated Press.

"Countries that censor news and information must recognize that, from an economic standpoint, there is no distinction between censoring political speech and commercial speech," she said. "If businesses in your nation are denied access to either type of information, it will inevitably reduce growth."

"Increasingly, U.S. companies are making the issue of information freedom a greater consideration in their business decisions," she added.

WORLD FOREX: Dollar Slips On Bank Regulation Proposal

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)-- The dollar swung to a loss in volatile trading Thursday, as an Obama administration proposal for new restrictions on banks led investors back to the euro, despite continuing concerns over Greek debt and worry over China putting the brakes on economic growth.
Analysts warned that in such erratic trading, the dollar could once again trump the euro by the end of the North American session.
"Right now, a lot of people are probably viewing [the bank regulation plan] as potentially negative for the U.S.," denting the dollar, said Brian Kim, currency strategist at UBS in Stamford, Conn.
"But all the other things out there have not gone away," Kim said, referring to festering concerns over Greece's sovereign debt and worry that China could move to slow economic growth, which could affect the global economic turnaround.
Thursday afternoon in New York, the euro was at $1.4136 from $1.4102 late Wednesday, according to EBS via CQG. The dollar was at Y90.36 from Y91.23, while the euro was at Y127.52 from Y128.69. The U.K. pound was at $1.6211 from $1.6285. The dollar was at CHF1.0424 from CHF1.0443.
The ICE Dollar Index, which tracks the dollar against a trade-weighted basket of currencies, was at 78.278 from 78.369. It earlier hit 78.814, its highest level since Sept. 2.
The bank regulation plan would force institutions to choose between commercial banking and proprietary trading for their own profit, while seeking to limit the size of megabanks.
Though the proposal appears to move the U.S. back toward Depression-era barriers between commercial and investment banking, White House officials denied they are pushing for a return of the Glass-Steagall Act, which was repealed in 1999.
The dollar earlier had moved sharply higher against most rivals on the back of a slump in U.S. stocks and the concerns over Greek debt and Chinese growth.
Despite the euro's afternoon rebound against the dollar, the common currency remained lower against the yen.
The dollar's earlier rally began overnight when China reported its gross domestic product had expanded at 10.7% in the fourth quarter of last year, up from 9.1% in the third quarter. Beijing also disclosed that inflation had risen as far as 1.9%, instead of increasing to only 1.7% as expected.
The Chinese data signals that "tighter policy is just around the corner as Beijing seeks to prevent the economy from overheating," RBC Capital strategists wrote in a note to clients.
The euro had dipped to $1.4029, the lowest level since July 30, during overnight trading on the back a slew of negative news out of euro zone, including concerns over sovereign debt and weaker economic data.
A spokeswoman for the European Commission, the European Union's executive arm, Thursday said she isn't aware of any financial bailout packages being arranged for Greece.
The IMF warned that if Portugal doesn't reduce public wages and boost revenues this year, its deficit/GDP ratio will rise to 8.6%. Under the Maastricht Treaty, euro-zone countries are supposed to limit that ratio to 3%.
In the meantime, the latest PMI surveys from the region were disappointing on the whole with the composite PMI--covering both manufacturing and services--coming in at 53.6 this month, down from 54.2 last month and lower than the 53.7 that had been forecast.
"The two dominant themes in the currency markets are the Greek financial difficulties and also what's happening in China in terms of possible tightening," Nick Bennenbroek, head of currency strategy at Wells Fargo in New York.
Before swinging to its latest loss, the dollar had given up earlier gains after the Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported that its business activity index slowed to 15.2 in January, from 22.5 in December and compared to economists' estimates of an 18.0 reading.
(Fabio Alves in New York and Henry J. Pulizzi in Washington contributed to this article.)

Forex Trading Software :: Interactive Course

Forex market and its players

Forex Day Trading - 3 facts you needto know to Prevent lossess

If you are a forex day trader or considering it, then you need to know the above facts, if you do they will save you a lot of money. Forex day trading is more popular than ever but how do you make profits? Lets find out.
If you look online you will find more forex day trading courses than any other type of trading methodology and they will all lose you money here  why:
Lets start first of all with the vendors who sell courses
1. Why are they selling them?
To make money for themselves! They do not normally trade their day trading systems because they know they do not work.
If these systems could produce regular profits they would be to busy making money for themselves and not have the time to bother you for a few hundred dollars they would be to busy making money.
2. The Evidence that day trading does not work
If you ask for a track record of profits from any of these vendors you wont get one “What you will normally get is a hypothetical track record of huge gains but this is done in hindsight – KNOWING the closing prices.
If I knew tomorrows price today, I would be a multi millionaire but of course forex trading is a bit more difficult – you have to work out where prices are going without knowing them in advance!
These vendors use great advertising copy to dupe people but the logic of day trading simply does not work. Why? Because:
3. All short term volatility is random!
Day traders will claim that its not – but of course it is!
Volatility can and does, take prices anywhere in a day and daily support and resistance levels are meaningless. When day traders lose, they blame the system or the indicators they use, however if volatility is random, then it is of course the logic of day trading that is at fault – NOT the indicators.
If you think that you can make money day trading go ahead and try but you will learn a very expensive lesson and lose.
I would love a day trader to prove me wrong and produce a real time track record of gains over the longer term (3 years or more), but have the feeling I will be waiting for a long time.
The belief that you can make money day trading, is one of the biggest myths of forex trading and despite the evidence it does not work, traders still think they can win at it they can not.

2010 Outlook: Prep for a Glum New Year

Regardless of whether the stock and bond markets can sustain their momentum in 2010, the mutual-fund industry, and fund investors, appear destined for a year of bad news.
Here are the best guesses on the fund world's big stories for the new year. These aren't necessarily events on the scale of the economic crisis of 2008, but expect to see:

• Money funds close. If interest rates don't go up soon, a flood of fund firms will shut down money-market-fund businesses because there is no profit in it. Charles Schwab, for example, acknowledges that fee waivers, necessary to keep its money funds delivering any return at all, cost the company more than $100 million in revenue each quarter. The vast majority of money funds have fee waivers in place; corporate boards aren't willing to sacrifice revenue forever.

Already, several money funds have closed down or stopped accepting new money. Without higher rates near term, that will become a bigger trend. When rates do rise, the financial firms will reduce waivers and keep virtually all of the increase for themselves, at least initially.

Once rates eventually go up, institutional money funds, catering to corporate treasurers and other big power players, could end up hurting if customers leave for better-paying commercial paper. If a rate increase is big enough, an institutional fund will fail.

• Bond funds get hurt. Bond-fund yields are well below traditional norms, but that hasn't stopped investors from flocking to these funds for safety. Industry researcher Strategic Insight estimates that a record $400 billion moved into bond funds in 2009.

When rates rise, bond-fund prices fall, and bond-fund investors suffer.

• Hot funds cool. Historically, the fund industry always has followed the trend. When an area of the market gets frothy and looks good, fund firms pile in. Commodities, real-return and absolute-return funds are the latest trend beneficiaries. They inevitably will falter.

• Smaller target-date funds close. The biggest fund companies dominate the life-cycle and target-date market. Smaller players, those without a big business in corporate-retirement programs, will call it quits. When that happens, innovation and the evolution of these funds will stop, and consumers will be stuck with what is out there, which leads to mediocrity.

• Crossroad for exchange-traded funds. Some of the biggest investment firms, including Goldman Sachs Group and T. Rowe Price Group, want to make a splash in the ETF market in 2010. If they can gain traction, then competition and innovation will follow. If they find that the top providers have a stranglehold on ETF assets, that is bad news for the ETF field.

• The SEC whiffs on 12b-1 fees, again. The Securities and Exchange Commission has recognized that 12b-1 fees, sales and marketing charges that are added to a fund's base expense ratio, are confusing and problematic. Regulators have vowed changes, but have done nothing. They tabled the issue in the middle of the financial crisis, promising to get back to it when other matters weren't so pressing. Even if the economy and markets improve in 2010, the agency won't get this job done.

• Hungry investors get stupid once more. Amid the market's recovery, most observers still see something more like a return to normal, where stock gains will be in the 6%-to-10% range. For some investors, that is insufficient. Despite warnings from consumer and regulatory groups, they will dive into leveraged ETFs and other risky plays, confident they can make more. Ruin awaits.

• Summary-prospectus failure. This short-form document offers investors a few pages of some data before they buy a fund. More and more fund companies have started using it, saving them millions of dollars in paper, production and mailing costs. But investors aren't going to pay attention to a four-page prospectus any more than the 40 pages they get now. And don't expect fund firms to pass along those savings as a fee reduction either.

How to Start a Forex Day Trading Business From Home

While many traders in the foreign exchange (forex) trading markets work for larger trading companies, the majority of successful day traders operate independently. By working out of a home office, you can keep overhead low, be available at all times of the day and night to hit foreign market peaks and enjoy a flexible lifestyle. Training and continuing educational programs are readily available online for very little investment.

Instructions

1. 
   
   Step 1
   
   Start an online course that provides integrated online trading techniques with basic currency education. ForexTrading.com offers students a free demo of their forex training programs, covering topics that include how to analyze forex markets, the fundamentals of trading and how to control risk.
   
2. 
   
   Step 2
   
   Open an account through the same website where you trained, and begin making small trades, also known as mini trades. Other popular sites that offer forex training and trade portals geared toward newcomers to the industry include the Forex Club and FX Bootcamp.
   
3. 
   
   Step 3
   
   Register with an online broker, such as Forex Booker, to avoid having to download software platforms, deposit advances into trading accounts and keep a filing system of all your trades. Brokers provide these services for a commission or a straight account maintenance fee. Forex brokers can act as technical advisers and administrators for your business, leaving you free to study the markets and make trade decisions.
   
4. 
   
   Step 4
   
   Participate in forex blogs and forums, such as Babypips.com and Forex Blog.org, to keep up with news affecting foreign currency and political climates that affect trade. Subscribe to a variety of information feeds and newsletters to stay updated on movement in the international currency markets, Wall Street reactions to political activity and financial reports from banking and financial institutions.
   
5. 
   
   Step 5
   
   Continue with your online education to gain a solid understanding of foreign markets, international trends and financial accounting practices. An undergraduate degree in finance or Master of Business Administration (MBA) can increase your odds of success in forex trading.
   
   Tips & Warnings
   

   • 
     
     Check reviews and ratings about Internet forex brokers before signing up with a service. Look at blogs, forums and websites that collect reviews, such as Best Online Forex Brokers. Because markets are open 24 hours a day, it can be difficult to separate your work from your home life. Build in time when you shut down the computer and walk away from the shift in news cycles to maintain a balanced lifestyle.
     
     
     
   
   

Automated Forex Trading System: Does it Work?

If you're considering an automated forex trading system, this article reviews a popular system.

Automated forex trading has become a popular way to make a profit by dealing in currency trading. Participants use the foreign currency exchange in much the same way they play the stock market. There are a number of advantages to trading currency instead of trading stocks.

If you are serious about getting a huge return on your investment by working smarter, not harder, check out this proven automated forex trading system.

Automatic forex trading utilizes a software program to predict rises and falls in currency rates and make profitable trading decisions. The software also makes the trades for you. With a Forex trading system like this one, you simply start up the program and begin turning a profit with very little effort. Your auto Forex trading can continue working around the clock so trades happen when news breaks rather than when the market opens.

Many people have seen success with automated forex trading but not all packages are created equal. Some have undergone a more rigorous testing process than others. For example, the FAP Turbo software has been tested in both back tests and live trades to ensure the product works. Most software packages have only been back tested, so they may or may not do well in live trading. It is better to find a software package that has been tested in both environments to ensure results.

Most people who opt for a forex trading system have little knowledge about the foreign currency trade market. That is one of the biggest advantages to forex trading software. These programs do all of the work for you, so all you have to do is install the software and kick off the program. Installation usually takes a few minutes and results can be seen the same day. Even people who have never traded currency before can make a profit with Forex.

Forex trading systems take much of the guesswork out of the foreign currency exchange market. You can begin the process with as little as $50 and quickly see the profits begin to accumulate. According to the makers of FAP Turbo, serious profits can be seen in just a few weeks' time. The more you make, the more you can invest and the more you invest, the more you make. The cycle has been a profitable one for many who have used these forex systems.

If you want to make money in the foreign currency market, check out automated forex trading. The FAP Turbo program is a particularly good choice because it has been well tested and proven. With forex trading software like FAP Turbo, you can make money without any prior experience in foreign currency trading. It's an excellent investment.

Why Many People Fail While Doing Business Online , business trends

With the global economy reeling on the edge of a recession and many countries with double digit inflation and double digit unemployment, no doubt the mood is gloomy for many families. High gas prices and therefore food prices are leaving many without the ability to save or get out of debt. This, business trends, has led to a lot of economic hardship on regular day to day workers and their families, business trends, . To combat this, many people looking for ways to supplement their income and one of the best ways to do this is to start an online business.


There is much hype about and we are constantly bombarded with one offer after another. Many of these offers have, have failed and then have them labeled as fraud. While we can not for the obvious risk of fraud on the Internet to ignore, many people fail not because of their online ventures will be highlighted as such, but because of their lack of implementation of certain disciplines that deal with online business. Let's see what wrong.Failure to "Hang in there" One of the great misconceptions of online business is to think that a fortune overnight,, business trends, this is because of the hype-up can make sales letters in circulation on the Internet promising that you can become an overnight millionaire with,, business trends, business trends, very little effort.

The truth is that there are many things to learn at times and many mountains to stabbing. Before you can truly successful online, any time is primarily invested in learning the business and the second to build a viable team that will work with you to your success. Most people stop the first time they encounter a large Huddle. Most people who become successful, business trends, online quitters.Trying not do everything yourself This is a silent killer of many online entrepreneurs have been.

They are their own masters, sales and marketing team, IT team, article writers, graphic designers, etc.. Then they hit the forums and respond to messages, post threads,, business trends,, business trends, post on blogs,, business trends, etc. orders maintained. This allows the new operator, so burned that his or her moral rapidly disappears. Overtime, business trends, is also easy to total exhaustion. The key is to put together a successful team and spend 70% of all work.

Failure keep trend Many new entrepreneurs into their online ventures, because they are not in keeping with the "latest and greatest." They lag behind in technology, business trends, and trends and are therefore unable to anticipate their markets. This creates a vacuum where their customers are quickly, business trends, swallowed up by, business trends, their competition, which is more agile and more attuned to the latest market trends.

No marketingIt is easy to start a new business, but you have a plan for which the customers will come from ? Do you have a strategy to attract a steady stream of new business? And, business trends, how will you ensure that your company is 'out there'? This includes marketing expert and is essential for

Looking for information on how to start an online business with less than $100? Check out the complete guide to being your own boss and kissing your current day job goodbye.

Forex Secrets: How To Fail at Forex Trading Guaranteed

Forex Secrets:


Before starting on your Forex trading trek, there are some essentials you need to look out for, otherwise you may just succeed at trading, and we certainly wouldn't want that to happen, now would we? These Forex secrets will help you spot the most devastating blunders Forex traders commit.
First of all, make sure you don't have a trading structure. Having a trading system may raise the odds of your success. If you have a routine, you will have an objective approach to get in and out the market. When traders build their trading systems they think neutrally since there is no stance to be taken at the moment. If there is no side to be taken, there is also no cash at risk, if there is no cash at risk, we do think neutrally and are open to every likelihood, thus we are able to find low risk trading opportunities. So if you want to fail, make sure you don't have a system and trade based on a random approach.

More Forex Secrets

If you have already formed your system, then don't adhere to it, be disorderly. If you keep to your system, there is a likelihood that you can profit from the Forex market based on the trading opportunities you have discovered. If you want to fail on your trading, be sure to be sloppy.

Don't get educated. Most successful traders are very well schooled in the market they trade (stocks, Forex, futures, etc.) If you get the appropriate instruction, you might achieve the expertise and experience you need to dominate the Forex market. Don't study the Forex market, don't enroll into Forex training programs and don't even consider historical charts.
Still More Forex Secrets

Don't use any money management method. The purpose of money management is to duck the chance of ruin, but at the same time it helps you enhance your profits, allowing them to grow geometrically. For instance, by using no money management system, there is a chance that in losing 10 trades in a row you could drain your trading account. On the other hand, by using simple money management systems you can dodge that. So make certain, if you want to fail, don't even think about money management.

Forget about psychological concerns. You have got to win every trade. Profitable traders know that they don't have to win every trade in order to profit from the market. This is one factor that is hard to fathom and really apply. Why? Because we are instructed, since childhood, that any score below 70% is a bad number. In the Forex trading environment, this is not true.

Don't even think about using a Risk-reward (RR) ratio greater than 1-1. If you apply a RR ratio of 1-2 (willing to render twice the amount risked in one trade) then you only need a technique that is right around 50% to make money. If you use a RR ratio of 1-3 (willing to produce three times the amount risked in one trade) then you will require a system that is accurate around 40% of the time to make money. So make sure to use a RR ratio below 1-1.

By utilizing every point outlined in these Forex secrets, you will almost guarantee your failure in your Forex trading journey. Do the reverse, and you will have the likelihood to pull off what every trader is searching for: Constant profitable results.

Labor Market Shows Signs of Progress

WASHINGTON -- The number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits in the U.S. fell in the latest week to its lowest level in nearly 18 months, a sign the labor market may be turning a corner.


Initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 432,000 in the week ended Dec. 26, the lowest level since July 19, 2008. The four-week average of new claims, which aims to smooth volatility in the data, dropped by 5,500 to 460,250. That marked the 17th consecutive drop in the figure and the lowest level since Sept. 20, 2008.

The Labor Department said in its weekly report, released Thursday, that 4.98 million people had been collecting jobless benefits for more than a week in the week ended Dec. 19, a decline of 57,000.


The trend in jobless claims is sometimes hard to read during the holidays. "While an underlying downtrend is clearly in place, it is being exaggerated now by seasonal adjustment difficulties, which will continue over the very near term," economist Joshua Shapiro of MFR Inc., New York, said in a note to clients.

Recent data signal that the U.S. recovery from the worst recession in decades is taking hold. Robust retail sales and improving consumer confidence have raised expectations for strong economic growth in the fourth quarter. That has prompted some optimism that employers may soon resume hiring after two years of cutting payrolls.

The Labor Department is to release its snapshot of December's labor market on Friday. Economists at Wrightson ICAP predicted in a note Wednesday that the jobless rate, last reported at 10% for November, may have inched lower to 9.9% in December.

Pakistan forex market finds some stability

The Pakistani rupee PKR has stabilized, depreciating by around 6% in 2009 versus 22% in 2008, reports Forex news website of Dollars Magazine today.


According to report external account corrections, combined with record-high remittances from overseas Pakistanis has kept the Pakistan rupee broadly stable.

However, the report warns that Pakistan rupee can come under pressure during 2010 because of the rising trend in the commodity prices and exchange rate reforms including shifting crude oil payments to the interbank market.

On the brighter side there is a lot of potential in the already fruitful remittances area according to the Governor SBP Saleem Raza still over 50% of the country’s remittances come in through non formal channels.

Some of Pakistani experts do not completely agree with the governor’s statistics but consensus exist that there is a lot of room for growth in workers’ remittances.

PAKISTAN’S FOREX MARKET

Pakistan forex market sees a trade of over $ 8 billion every month the bulk of which is carried out in the interbank market. There are a total of 31 exchange companies authorized by the central bank five of which are subsidiaries of country’s major banking institutions.

Three exchanges are currently on the suspension namely Al Sahara Exchange, Khanani and Kalia and Zarco Exchange due to non compliance and other issues. There are another 30 companies in the B category of exchange companies whose operations are restricted only to the sale and purchase of foreign currencies

All of these companies come under the exchange policy department of the State Bank of Pakistan and are regulated by the Foreign exchange regulations act 1947 (FERA 1947). There is a foreign exchange manual published by the central bank which out lines all the dos and don’ts for the authorized dealers, exchange companies, investors and general public.

Forex reserves fall by $144 mn to $283.4 bn

India's forex reserves declined by $144 million to $283.499 billion in the week ended December 25 as compared to $283.643 billion in the previous week, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its weekly report.

During the period, foreign currency assets dipped to $258.719 billion, down by $132 million, as compared to $258.851 billion in the previous week, the RBI said.


Foreign currency assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as Euro, Sterling, Yen held in reserves.

The gold reserves of the country stood unchanged at $18.182 billion in the week while the special drawing rights was down by $9 million to $5.172 billion from $5.181 billion in the previous week, the central bank said.

The country's reserve position in the international monetary fund declined by $3 million to $1.426 billion as compared to $1.429 billion in the last week, the RBI said.