General mortgage bond (GMB)

General mortgage bond – A bond that is secured by a blanket mortgage on the company's property but maybe outranked by one or more other mortgages.

Investment company

Investment company – A company or trust that uses itscapital to invest in other companies. There are two principal types: the closed-end and the open-end, or mutual fund. Shares in closed-end investment companies, some of which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, are readily transferable in the open market and are bought and sold like other shares. Capitalization of these companies remains the same unless action is taken to change, which is seldom. Open-end funds sell their own shares to investors, stand ready to buy back their old shares, and are not listed. Open-end funds are so called because their capitalization is not fixed; they issue more shares as people want them

US jobless claims fall by 9,000 to 363,000

U.S. Department of Labor Office of Public Affairs Washington, D.C. EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION USDL12-2167-NAT Program Contacts: TRANSMISSION OF MATERIAL IN THIS Scott Gibbons (202) 693-3008 RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL Tony Sznoluch (202) 693-3176 8:30 A.M. (Eastern), THURSDAY Media Contact: (202) 693-4676 November 1, 2012 UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA In the week ending October27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 363,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 372,000. The 4-week moving average was 367,250, a decrease of 1,500 from the previous week's revised average of 368,750. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.5 percent for the week endingOctober 20, unchanged fromthe prior week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending October 20 was 3,263,000, an increase of 4,000 from thepreceding week's revised level of 3,259,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,266,500, a decrease of 6,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,272,750. UNADJUSTED DATA The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 339,750 in the week ending October 27, a decrease of 5,476 from the previous week. There were 369,647 initial claims in the comparable week in 2011. The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.2 percent during the week ending October 20, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate. The advance unadjusted numberfor persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,839,018, an increase of 23,295 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.5 percent and the volume was 3,199,527. The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending October 13 was 5,035,367, an increase of 112,147 from the previous week. There were 6,783,614 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2011. Extended Benefits were onlyavailable in New York duringthe week ending October 13. Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,586 in the week ending October 20, a decrease of 405 from the prior week. There were 2,817 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 7 from the preceding week. There were 18,144 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending October 13, an increase of 575 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claimingbenefits totaled 39,718, an increase of 1,603 from the prior week. States reported 2,098,646 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending October 13, an increase of 45,689 from the prior week. There were 2,945,642 persons claiming EUC in the comparable week in 2011. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity. The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending October 13 were in Alaska (4.0), Puerto Rico (3.7), Virgin Islands (3.4), New Jersey (3.2), California (3.1), Pennsylvania (3.1), Connecticut (3.0), Oregon (2.8), Nevada (2.7), Arkansas (2.6), Illinois (2.6), New York (2.6), and North Carolina (2.6). The largest increases in initialclaims for the week ending October 20 were in North Carolina (+2,400), Pennsylvania (+1,679), New Jersey (+1,575), Georgia (+1,477), and Tennessee (+888), while the largest decreases were in California (-16,586), Florida (-2,414), Texas (-1,572), Michigan (-1,308), and Ohio (-1,214)

JPMorgan sues London Whale's boss

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The harpoons are out at JPMorgan. The bank is pursuing legal action against Javier Martin-Artajo, the former boss of the trader who lost the bank billions of dollars earlier this year and came tobe known as the "London Whale." Greg Campbell, a lawyer forMartin-Artajo, said Wednesday that JPMorgan had filed a lawsuit in the United Kingdom against his client, who supervised Iksil in the bank's chief investment office in London.Martin-Artajo has not yet been served with the complaint and does not know the specifics of the allegations, Campbell said.

LUSAKA, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Zambia's central bank increased its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 9.25 percent on Wednesday, saying its monetary policy committee had noted upward risks to inflation. "The committee weighed the risks and was of the opinion that inflationary pressures during the policy-relevant period may pose a threat to the end-year inflation target of 7.0 percent," it said in astatement.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its quarterly monetary policy review on Tuesday cut the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 25 basis points (bps).

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its quarterly monetary policy review on Tuesday cut the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 25 basis points (bps). This is the first cut effected since April this year. CRR - the amount of depositsthat banks must keep with the central bank - now stands at 4.25 per cent. The move is expected to inject Rs17,500 crore into the banking system. The central bank has, however, kept the repo rate unchanged at 8 per cent. Though inflation remains a near-time concern, RBI hinted at easing monetary policy further in the January-March quarter. "As inflation eases further, there will be an opportunity for monetary policy to act in conjunction with fiscal and other measures to mitigate the growth risks and take theeconomy to a sustained higher growth trajectory," RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said. Headline wholesale price index inflation rose to 7.8 per cent in September . The central bank said it expects inflation to rise before easingin the final quarter of the financial year, which ends in March.

Barclays hit by fresh U.S. investigations

Following investigations in the UK over its dealings withQatari investors, Barclays saidthe Department of Justice and Securities and ExchangeCommission were probing whether its relationships withthird parties who help it win or retain business are compliant with U.S. laws. The bank is under investigation by Britain's financial regulator and fraudprosecutor into payments to Qatari investors after it raisedbillions of pounds from the Gulf state five years ago to save it from taking a taxpayerbailout. Barclays revealed the Financial Services Authority (FSA) investigation in July and confirmed the Serious Fraud Office had launched aprobe the following month. Barclays also said on Wednesday the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission could be close to fining it over an investigation into the manipulation of power pricesin the western United States from late 2006 until 2008. FERC could notify the bank of proposed penalties as early as Wednesday, and Barclays said it would"vigorously" defend this matter. The investigation was first announced in April, alleging the bank took substantial electricity market positions to move daily indexsettlements. In March, the agency fined Constellation Energy a record $245 million over power market manipulation activities as part of a fresh crackdown on power market rigging. New Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins, who took over at theend of July when his predecessor Bob Diamond quit after the bank admitted rigging Libor interest rates, isin the midst of a review to change culture and lift profitability, due to be unveiled in February. Investors have made it clear they want a return on equityabove the cost of equity, higher dividends and for pay to be cut, Jenkins said. That is expected to mean theinvestment bank arm will be significantly cut back. "While we have much to do to restore trust among stakeholders, our universal banking franchise remains strong and well positioned," he said. The bank has fired staff, clawed back pay and taken other disciplinary action aftera "very rigorous" internal investigation into the Libor manipulation, Jenkins said. He declined to provide more specific details on how many staff it had taken actionagainst. Barclays was fined $450 million by U.S. and UK regulators for the rate rigging. More than a dozen other banks are expected to be fined.

Disney to buy Lucasfilm for $4 billion

Disney Company agreed Tuesday to buy Lucasfilm in a stock-and-cash deal valued at $4 billion. The deal will make Lucasfilm owner George Lucas a significant shareholder in Disney, which will pay for the film company with $2 billion cash and around 40 million shares of its stock

European Crisís affects GM earnings

GM on Wednesday posted net income of $1.8 billion, down from $2.1 billion it earned a year earlier. But the result soundly beat forecasts of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. And the company said that its pretaxoperating earnings in the fourth quarter should be similar or slightly better than the final quarter of lastyearlosses in Europe soaredto $478 million from $292 million a year earlier. The company warned that its full-year losses in Europe will be between $1.5 billionand $1.8 billion, and said it won't be profitable there until the middle of the decade. But Europe wasn't the only drag on results. Operating profits in North America fell17% to $1.8 billion. That was partly balanced by improved results in its international unit, which includes operations in China. GM once again sold more cars and trucks in China than in the United States in the period. "While we still have a lot of work to do, especially in Europe, it is encouraging to see our results begin to reflect the discipline we arebringing to bear on the overall business," said Dan Ammann, the company's chief financial officer.

Forstall, a senior vice president in charge of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS, will act as an adviser to CEO Tim Cook until departing some time next year, according to a news release from the company. As the man behind the system that ran Apple's industry-changing iPhone and iPad, Forstall had beenconsidered a favorite to replace Jobs as CEO after Jobs' death last October. More recently, Apple observers pegged Forstall, 43, as the next in line behind Cook. Along with marketing chiefPhil Schiller and design guru Jonathan Ive, Forstallanchored the company's top tier of executives, frequently speaking at Apple's heralded product unveilings to showcase the ins and outs of operating-system upgrades. Many felt he was the most logical choice to continue Jobs' legacy of innovation at Apple, where 70% of revenue now comes from the mobile devices that iOSpowers. "He was as close to Steve asanybody at the company," Andy Miller, former head of Apple's iAd group, told Businessweek last year."When he says stuff, people listen." The Apple press release did not say what Forstall plans to do when he leavesthe company. Apple did not immediately respond to a message seeking further details