Dan is obviously an upset and angry individual. But at least he is not continuing to mislead novice investors on his thread into thinking his trades are "conservative". While his goal is obviously to harrass and disrupt the board, at least he is doing less damage here than the other place. If it continues over time, we will see who, Joe the moderator, agrees with. I wonder if he is even aware the board is monitored.
Report Shows Chinese Manufacturing Contracted in August BEIJING â Chinese manufacturing contracted in August as new orders fell, but the slowdown shows signs of bottoming out, an industry group said Saturday. The report by the state-authorized China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing added to mixed signals about whether China was starting to recover from its deepest downturn since the 2008 global financial crisis. It is a delicate time for the Communist Party, which is preparing to hand power to younger leaders this year. The federation said its purchasing managers index fell to 49.2 in August, from 50.1 in July, on a 100-point scale on which numbers below 50 show a contraction. It was the groupâs weakest reading to date. âIt shows the economy is moving downward,â the report said, âbut is bottoming out considering changes in the major subindexes.â An analyst, Zhang Liqun, said government policies were taking effect, with domestic investment and consumption growing steadily since June. Chinaâs economic growth fell to a three-year low of 7.6 percent in the quarter that ended in June, and corporate profits and other indicators have fallen despite government stimulus measures. Analysts expect an economic recovery late this year or early in 2013 but say it will be too weak to drive global growth without improvement in the United States and Europe. A preliminary version of a separate purchasing managers index by the HSBC Corporation also showed August manufacturing weakening, falling to 47.8 points from 49.3 in July. The logistic federationâs survey showed all indexes â except for manufacturing â were either at or below 50. The new order index was 48.7, down 0.3 from July. The new export order index remained at 46.6, the same as in July. Beijing has cut interest rates twice since June 1 and is pumping money into the economy by encouraging investment by state companies. But the government is moving cautiously after Chinaâs stimulus in response to the 2008 crisis fueled inflation and a wasteful building boom.
Suits That Accused Sloan-Kettering Chief of Stealing Research Are Settled Two lawsuits that accused the president of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center of absconding with groundbreaking research from the University of Pennsylvania to start a biotechnology company have been settled. As part of the settlement, the biotechnology company, Agios Pharmaceuticals, entered into a licensing agreement covering certain intellectual property with the University of Pennsylvania, according to a news release issued late Friday by Agios and Penn. Both lawsuits will be dismissed in their entirety, according to a second news release from all the parties involved. Other terms of the agreement were confidential. Various people involved in the matter did not return calls or declined to comment on Friday. The lawsuits essentially accused Dr. Craig B. Thompson, who worked at the University of Pennsylvania before becoming president of Sloan-Kettering in 2010, of hiding his use of the research he conducted at Penn to help start Agios. The first lawsuit was filed in December in Federal District Court in New York by the Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, which is at Penn but is a separate legal entity. Penn itself then filed a lawsuit, with somewhat different specific accusations, in the same court in February. The plaintiffs said that Dr. Thompsonâs actions deprived them of their share of any returns from Agios. The Abramson institute said damages could exceed $1 billion while Penn said damages could exceed $100 million. Dr. Thompson, through a statement issued after the first lawsuit was filed, denied the accusations. His lawyer, Allan J. Arffa, did not respond to a phone message and e-mail seeking comment Friday afternoon. Sloan-Kettering has maintained that it is a private matter affecting Dr. Thompson, though the accusations have clearly been somewhat embarrassing for the prestigious Manhattan cancer center. Both lawsuits also named Agios and one of them named Celgene, a big biotechnology company that invested in Agios. Agios, a privately held company in Cambridge, Mass., was started in 2007 by Dr. Thompson and two other scientists, who did not come from Penn. The company is working on new ways to treat cancer by affecting the metabolism of tumor cells, how they use sugar and other nutrients to make energy and material. The news release on Friday said Agios and Penn had entered into a licensing agreement involving new intellectual property focused on the development of diagnostic products to detect the metabolism of certain cancers. âThe collaboration could result in significant benefits to cancer patients, as well as financial benefits to Agios, Penn and the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute,â the news release said. The language of the news release suggests that Penn and the Abramson research institute will not receive a big payment immediately, only if diagnostic tests are developed and sold. The lawsuits reflect the importance that universities place on capitalizing on the research conducted on their campuses.
American Airlines and US Airways Enter Merger Talks American Airlines and US Airways said on Friday that they had started confidential merger talks, bringing them one step closer to a possible merger. âIt does not mean we are merging â it simply means we have agreed to work together to discuss and analyze a potential merger,â US Airwaysâ chief executive, W. Douglas Parker, said in a letter to employees Friday. Such a merger would put the combined airline on par with the worldâs largest, United Continental Holdings, and the slightly smaller Delta Air Lines. The merged entityâs position as the No. 1 or No. 2 airline in the world, based on how many miles its passengers fly, would depend on how many routes antitrust regulators forced the combined airline to abandon. Many industry experts say the only way American and US Airways can compete with larger rivals is by merging their strengths. US Airways would gain Americanâs lucrative international routes, while Americanâs larger hubs would be fed passengers from US Airwaysâ network in smaller cities across the nation. For passengers, a merger would have no immediate impact. But a year or two into the combination, changes would ramp up: Frequent-flier programs would merge, fares could rise, planes would take on American Airlinesâ colors and glitches could surface as the airlinesâ reservation systems integrated. Mr. Parker has been pushing for a merger since Americanâs parent company, the AMR Corporation, entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Nov. 29. American Airlinesâ chief executive, Thomas W. Horton, has said his airline is weighing several options, including remaining independent or merging with one of several airlines, including the US Airways Group. One wild card is British Airwaysâ parent company, the International Consolidated Airlines Group, which confirmed on Friday that it, too, had signed a nondisclosure agreement with American. Foreign investors are prohibited from owning more than 25 percent of a United States airline, but a cash infusion from British Airways could help American remain independent or give Mr. Horton enough leverage for his leadership team to call the shots in a merger with US Airways.
Oil companies returning workers to rigs and platforms abandoned ahead of Hurricane Isaac By Kevin Mcgill, Associated Press | Associated Press â 3 minutes 14 seconds ago....Email Share0Print..... NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Oil companies have begun returning workers to drilling rigs and production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Offshore sites in the gulf were abandoned as the storm that became Hurricane Isaac approached. As of Friday, more than 94 percent of the daily oil production in the Gulf had been shut in. But production is expected to ramp up soon. Companies began redeploying workers Friday and updated production figures are expected Saturday afternoon. BP said an initial aerial inspection showed no significant damage to offshore facilities. Crews Saturday are taking a closer look as those facilities are repopulated. The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management says that, when Isaac was approaching, 499 of 596 oil and gas production platforms were evacuated, as were 48 of 76 rigs that were drilling for oil or gas in the Gulf. A surge in gasoline prices accompanied Isaac, although the dramatic increases came to an end Friday as the storm moved farther inland. The national average price for gasoline inched up just 0.3 cents Friday to $3.83 per gallon. Pump prices for gasoline were on the rise even before Isaac arrived. The average gasoline price rose about 40 cents from July 1 to mid-August because of refinery problems in the Midwest and West Coast, and sharply higher crude oil prices. Crude has traded between $94 and $97 per barrel for two weeks, after rising from a low near $77 in late June. On Friday U.S benchmark crude rose $1.85 to end at $96.47 per barrel after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made clear in a speech that the central bank will do more to revive the U.S. economy. Brent Crude, which is used to price oil used by many U.S. refiners, rose $1.92 to $114.57 per barrel
Protests decry Spain cuts to immigrant health care MADRID (AP) -- Some 300 people blocked a ring road in the Spanish capital Saturday to protest spending cuts that will leave large numbers of illegal immigrants without access to free health care. Many undocumented immigrants who do not contribute taxes to social security are, as of Saturday, to lose the national health cards that had entitled them to free treatment The decision contradicts a pillar of Spain's welfare state â free health care for anyone in need â and it comes as the country struggles with 25 percent unemployment and massive financial problems. The government expects to save â¬1.5 billion ($1.9 billion) a year with the measure. It puts the number of people affected at 150,000, although media reports say the real figure could reach 900,000. Protests over the measure have taken place in towns and cities across Spain in recent days. Christoph Napene of Senegal was among those blocking the road in Madrid on Saturday. The 46-year-old said he's been unable to find a job in Spain and thus unable to apply for legal residency. "I've had strong stomach pains for over a week and have an appointment with a doctor on Monday," said Napene, whose work skills include teaching French. "We'll see what happens." The measure allows for some exceptions: care during pregnancy, childbirth and post-birth emergency, and serious illness or accident. "In any case, foreigners under the age of 18 will continue to receive health care under the same conditions as Spanish nationals," a ministry statement said. Manuel Cervera, health care spokesman for the ruling Popular party, said illegal immigrants could still have access to treatment, but they will have to pay for it, either now or later. If immigrants lack insurance or their countries don't have special deals with Spain, they will be billed for treatment once they get a job and start paying into the social security system, Cervera said. He also noted that each of Spain's 17 semi-autonomous regions retained responsibility on how to implement the payment requirements of the new measure. But many of the people protesting the plan did not seem reassured. "I know a lot of people who will suffer as a result of this action," said Abuy Nfubea, organizer of Spain's Pan-African Movement, which he said represented some 5,000 members. Spain is in a double-dip recession, spurred largely by a real estate crash in 2008. It has been trying to avoid following Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus in having to ask for an international financial bailout. ..
Except Dan set the standard of etiquite. He's the hypocrite. Everyone who commented in his thread was an uncouth troll, but it is okay for him to do it to other people.