German Banking Sector not out of danger moodys says

The debt ratings agency Moody's Investors Service provided a reminder Friday that the vaunted German economy has a major weakness: its banking system.
In a report, Moody's warned that German banks suffer from meager profits, rising risk and insufficient reserves to absorb losses. The rating agency reaffirmed the negative outlook it has assigned to German banks since 2008.
The poor state of German banks seems surprising considering that the country's economy has heldup fairly well to the euro zone crisis. In addition, German banks benefit from the country's status as a haven from the turmoil and are able to borrow money atmuch lower rates than counterparts in other European countries. There isno real estate bubble and households are not over-indebted.
German banks did, however, invest heavily in countries like Spain and Italy before the crisis, because they could earn more profits there than at home. Four years after the financial crisis began, they remain exposed to problemsin those countries, Moody's said.
In addition, Moody's said, Germany still has too many banks in relation to the size of the country. The oversupply pushes down lending rates and profits.
"Intense competition and low interest rates are causing margin pressure that will likely further erodealready-weak bank revenues and profits," Moody's said in a statement early Friday.
The combination of low profits and high leverage"will make it difficult for many German banks to copewith major (unforeseen) losses," Moody's said.

EU leaders agree on bank oversight

Leaders of the European Union in Brussels have agreed Thursday to a dealfor a eurozone-wide banking supervisor in 2013 that is designed to help prevent future catastrophic bank failures that could threaten the monetary union.
The agreement sets the stage for development of a legal framework to allowthe European Central Bank to give emergency funds to ailing banks directly without going through national governments -- bailouts which, in turn, have required bailouts for the nations themselves, as was seen in Greece and Ireland.
The move is necessary to"break the vicious circle between banks and sovereigns," said European Council President Herman Van Rompuy in a press conference early Friday."Next hurdle to set up a single supervisory mechanism to prevent banking risks and cross-border contagion from emerging ... built with the integrity of the single market in mind."
The leaders set a goal of approving the legislative framework by January 1, with the new supervisory mechanism "operational inthe course of 2013," Van Rompuy said.
The group also released a statement on the progress of Greece toward meeting budget cuts required to qualify for the next roundof bailout payments, applauding "the determination of the Greek government to deliver on its commitments" and"remarkable efforts by theGreek people" while underlining the need for continued fiscal reform.
"This is necessary in order to bring about a more competitive private sector, private investment and an effective public sector," read a statement from the European leaders. "These conditions will allow Greece to achieve renewed growth and will ensure its future in the euro area."
Greece is one of 17 nations united under the single euro currency. Its debt woes sparked an existential crisis for the eurozone, underlining thegulf between monetary unity and fiscal unity among its members. The Brussels summit aims to help bridge that gap with banking sector reforms and more integrated budget policies.
"Without a stable monetary union there cannot be a stable European Union therefore the goal is to make the euro fully stable economically, financially and also politically," Van Rompuy said.
Athens must cut $17 billion from its budget in order to receive the next$41 billon tranche of bailout money it needs to keep from defaulting. Thetroika of the European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund and the European Commission overseeing the bailout left Athens for the Brussels summit without an agreement in place.
The summit started Thursday as tens of thousands of people rallied across Greece to protest further tough austerity measures, [and] as a general strike shut down much of the country's transportation network. Clashes broke out in Athens after protesters threw stones and bottles at police. Greece is in its fifth year ofrecession and has seen its unemployment rate soar to more than 25%.

Apple loses UK tablet design appeal versus Samsung

Apple has lost its appeal against a UK ruling that Samsung had not infringed its design rights.
A judge at the High Court inLondon had originally ruledin July that the look of Samsung's Galaxy Tab computers was not too similarto designs registered in connection with the iPad.
He said at the time that Samsung's devices were not as "cool" because they lacked Apple's "extreme simplicity".
Apple still needs to run ads saying Samsung had not infringed its rights.
The US firm had previously been ordered to place a notice to that effect - with a link to the original judgement - on its website and place other adverts in the Daily Mail, Financial Times, T3 Magazine and other publications to "correctthe damaging impression" that Samsung was a copycat.
The appeal judges decided not to overturn the decision on the basis that a related Apple design-rights battle inthe German courts risked causing confusion in consumers' minds.
"The acknowledgment must come from the horse's mouth," they said. "Nothing short of that will be sure to do the job completely."
However, they added that the move need not "clutter" Apple's homepage as it would only have to add a link entitled"Samsung/Apple judgement" for a one-monthperiod.
A spokeswoman for Samsungsaid it welcomed the latest ruling.
"We continue to believe that Apple was not the first to design a tablet with a rectangular shape and rounded corners and that the origins of Apple's registered design features can be found in numerous examples of prior art.
"Should Apple continue to make excessive legal claims in other countries based on such generic designs, innovation in the industry could be harmed and consumer choice unduly limited."
Apple declined to comment.It can still appeal to the UK Supreme Court, otherwise the ruling applies across the European Union.
Registered design
Three judges were involved in the Court of Appeal review of the case.
Apple had reasserted its claim saying that the front face and overall shape of thetablets was the most important factor - rather thanthe overall design - because users would spend most of their time looking at a tablet's screen and holding it

Citigroup's new chief executive Michael Corbat will be paid 10pc less than his predecessor Vikram Pandit

Mr Corbat, who was named chief executive on Tuesday after Mr Pandit's shock exit , will be paid a basic salary of$1.5m (£920,000), Citi said.
That compares with the$1.67m in base salary that Mr Pandit received last year. Citi has yet to disclose the potential size of a possible bonus for Mr Corbat, who received total compensation of $9m in 2010.
Mr Pandit's total compensation last year was$15m, a sum which alongside a multi-million dollar retention bonus, provoked a revolt from the bank's shareholders in April .
Citi had already paid Mr Pandit $7m of the $15m in cash, with the rest due to be paid in shares. Mr Pandit is expected to receive the remaining sum as long as he does not work for a major competitor over the next three years

Man arrested in Federal Reserve terror plot

Federal authorities running a sting operation arrested a 21-year-old Bangladeshi man, who came to the U.S. on a student visa and was allegedly planning to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with what he believed was a 1,000-pound bomb, officials said. Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis was detained Wednesday after an alleged attempt to detonate the device, which was inert and partof an elaborate investigation by federal authorities and NYPD detectives. Prosecutors say Nafis wasapparently motivated byal Qaeda and traveled tothe United States in January under the pretext of attending college in Missouri in order carry out "a terrorist attack on U.S. soil" and to recruit members to form a terrorist cell. Accused 9/11 mastermind says U.S. tortured in name of national security It's not clear whether Nafis maintained al Qaeda ties, but authorities say he apparently claimed that the plot was his own, and that it was his sole motivation for the U.S. trip. One of the people Nafis apparently contacted was an FBI source to whom he proposed multiple targets, including a high-ranking U.S. officialas well as the New York Stock Exchange, authorities said. At one point, the suspectcontemplated President Barack Obama as a target, but that idea never progressed, a U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation said. While the details surrounding the suspected plot remain murky, prosecutors say Nafis indicated that he wanted to "destroy America" by going after the nation's financial institutions and ultimately settled on thelandmark bank. The undercover agent, authorities say, also provided 20 bags of 50 pounds each of purported explosives to Nafis, who then stored the material in a warehouse in preparation for the strike. They say Nafis further divulged a "Plan B" thatinvolved carrying out a suicide attack should police thwart his initial effort.

PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) says its net income dipped 5 percent in the third quarter,

PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) says its net income dipped 5 percent in the third quarter, as the food and beverage maker worked to turn aroundits business and bolsterits flagship brands. The company stood by its guidance for theyear, however, and profit came in above Wall Street expectations. PepsiCo says it earned$1.9 billion, or $1.21 per share, for the period. That's compared with $2 billion, or $1.25 per share, a year ago. Earnings from core operations were $1.20 per share, better than the $1.16 per share analysts expected. Revenue fell 5 percentto $16.65 billion, partly because of unfavorable currency exchange rates and the refranchising of itsbusiness in China and Mexico. That was shortof the $16.96 billion Wall Street expected.

Bank of America reported a slim quarterly profit

Bank of America reported a slim quarterly profit on Wednesday, a small success for the bank after doling out huge payments to settle claims it misled investors about its takeover of Merrill Lynch during the financial crisis. The bank reported$340 million in net income, a 95 percent drop from the $6.23 billion profit it posted in the period a year earlier. The results amounted to zero cents per diluted share,compared with 56 cents last year. The bank's revenue also dropped 28 percent, to $20.6 billion. The top and bottom line figures reinforced concerns that Bank of America, the nation's second-largest by assets after JPMorgan Chase, had struggled to shed the legacy of the 2008 crisis.

I.B.M. delivered a mixed and somewhat unsettling quarterly performance

I.B.M. delivered a mixed and somewhat unsettling quarterly performance on Tuesday. Profits barely exceeded Wall Street's expectations, while revenue fell well below. The results, analysts said, were unlikely to reassure investors concerned about the global outlook for technology spending. In a conference call with analysts, Mark Loughridge, I.B.M.'s chief financial officer, said the revenue shortfall came from a slowdown in business, especially in September, in certain markets including the United States, where revenue fell 5 percent. "It was surprisingly disappointing," said A. M. Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. "All the businesses were light." In after-hours trading, I.B.M. shares fell $7.10 a share, or 3.4 percent, to $203.90. In the regular session, the company's stock price rose 1 percent, or$2.07 a share, to close at $211.00 a share.I.B.M. Squeezes Out a Profit as Its Revenue Declines I.B.M. is the world's largest supplier of information technology - computer hardware, software and services -to corporations and governments. So the company's results are watched as a gauge oftechnology spending trends. But I.B.M., more than other computer companies in the corporate market, has steadily shifted its business in recent yearsto software and services. As a result, an estimated 40 percent of the company's revenue and 60 percent of its profits come from steady subscriptionlike businesses, mainly software license fees and services contracts. That means I.B.M. is more insulated from industry cycles than most other technologysuppliers. I.B.M. has also shed hardware businesses with low profit margins including personal computers and disk drives.

capital employed

The value of all resources available to the company, typically comprising share capital, retained profits and reserves, long-term loans and deferred taxation. Viewed from the other side of the balance sheet, capital employed comprises fixed assets, investments and the net investment in working capital (current assets less current liabilities). In other words: the total long-term funds invested in or lent to the business and used by it in carrying out its operations

dividend

A dividend is a payment made per share, to a company's shareholders by acompany, based on the profits of the year, but not necessarily all of the profits, arrived at by the directors and voted at the company's annual general meeting. A company can choose to pay adividend from reserves following a loss-making year,and conversely a company can choose to pay no dividend after a profit-making year, depending on what is believed to be in the best interests of the company. Keeping shareholders happy and committed to their investment is always an issue in deciding dividend payments. Along with the increase in value of a stock orshare, the annual dividend provides the shareholder with a return on the shareholding investment