Obama and Senate Democrats agreed to break the president’s plan into pieces last week after Republicans blocked the overall bill with a procedural tactic.Democrats initially planned to wait until November to bring individual sections of the bill to the Senate for consideration but changed plans and decided to start the process this week, the aide said.Obama wants to build pressure on Republicans to back at least portions of the bill or explain to voters in advance of next year’s elections why they oppose it. On Monday Obama began a bus tour of North Carolina and Virginia to promote his jobs plan.A Wall Street-NBC poll last week showed that Americans support the president’s jobs bill by a 2-1 ratio.Obama’s proposal is designed to create jobs with a mixture of stimulus spending and tax cuts for the middle-class and small businesses. The plan would be financed by a 5.7 percent surtax on millionaires.Republicans opposed the bill, saying a tax increase would hurt rather than spur economic growth. Two Senate Democrats facing tough re-elections in largely conservative states also opposed the bill.Democrats have painted Republicans as obstructionists who care more about defeating Obama than boosting the economy. Republicans counter that the president would rather campaign on the issue of jobs than find a bipartisan solution.
Obama and Senate Democrats agreed to break the president’s plan into pieces last week after Republicans blocked the overall bill with a procedural tactic.Democrats initially planned to wait until November to bring individual sections of the bill to the Senate for consideration but changed plans and decided to start the process this week, the aide said.Obama wants to build pressure on Republicans to back at least portions of the bill or explain to voters in advance of next year’s elections why they oppose it. On Monday Obama began a bus tour of North Carolina and Virginia to promote his jobs plan.A Wall Street-NBC poll last week showed that Americans support the president’s jobs bill by a 2-1 ratio.Obama’s proposal is designed to create jobs with a mixture of stimulus spending and tax cuts for the middle-class and small businesses. The plan would be financed by a 5.7 percent surtax on millionaires.Republicans opposed the bill, saying a tax increase would hurt rather than spur economic growth. Two Senate Democrats facing tough re-elections in largely conservative states also opposed the bill.Democrats have painted Republicans as obstructionists who care more about defeating Obama than boosting the economy. Republicans counter that the president would rather campaign on the issue of jobs than find a bipartisan solution.
* Banks climb as ministers meet in Paris to discuss debt
woesBy David BrettLONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Britain’s top share index
rebounded on Friday as investors took positions ahead of a G20
finance ministers’ meeting in Paris to discuss Europe’s debt
problems and after data from China fanned demand hopes in the
region.Traders viewed the softening of inflation as a sign that the
Chinese government would be unlikely to tighten its monetary
policy further, thereby lifting some worries over the demand
outlook from the world’s most voracious consumer of raw
materials.”While the Chinese authorities have made it clear that
inflation remains the focal point of central bank policy, the
prevailing pressures (slowing growth, euro zone debt) suggest
the time is drawing near for policy easing either in the form of
a reduction in reserve requirement ratios or cuts in interest
rates or both,” said Mike Lenhoff, chief strategist at Brewin
Dolphin.Miners and integrated oil stocks
rose sharply along with base metals and crude oil .Xstrata was the top performer among miners, rising
3.5 percent.One of its major shareholders, Glencore International
, lost l 4. percent to become the top FTSE 100
faller, with traders citing talk that Goldman Sachs was
undertaking a secondary placing of a $175 million convertible
bond for the commodities trader.Banks rose, but their gains were
overshadowed by those of the mining sector, after several
factors combined to take some of the wind out of their sails.Fitch downgraded Swiss bank UBS and threatened to
cut seven other European and U.S. banks, while Standard and
Poor’s cut Spain by one notch to AA-minus, although that only
brought its rating into line with rival agency
Fitch. .The euro zone debt crisis will dominate a summit of G20
finance chiefs and central bank heads in Paris, with a downgrade
of Spain’s credit rating highlighting the risk of a much larger
economy than Greece coming under threat.French and German officials are trying to put flesh on the
bones of a crisis resolution plan in time for an EU summit on
Oct. 23.”If investors are expecting a ‘bazooka’-style resolution to
the crisis they will be in for a disappointment, and are likely
to react strongly if they don’t get one,” said Lothar Mentel,
chief investment officer at Octopus Investments, which manages
$3.9 billion.Britain’s benchmark index rose 38.92 points, or 0.7
percent to 5,442.30 by 1111 GMT in thin trade, rebounding from a
0.7 percent decline on Thursday.The FTSE continued to struggle to break and hold above the
5,450 level. The index has sold off sharply from this level over
the past few months.”In order to tackle the 5,600 level the FTSE will need to
close above 5,445 for at least three days,” Sandy Jadeja, chief
technical analyst at City Index, said.”The flipside is that the resistance level may push the
index lower again as it has done in the past. 5,340 would be the
level to keep an eye on.”Among individual stocks, Severn Trent fell 1.2
percent, underperforming a rising FTSE 100 , weighed by
an HSBC rating downgrade on the water company to “underweight”
from “neutral” on valuation grounds.On the macro economic front no British data is released on
Friday, so investors’ economic focus will be across the
Atlantic.U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open for
equities on Wall Street on Friday, ahead of the September U.S.
retail sales due at 1230 GMT, with a 0.7 percent monthly rise
forecast after being flat in August. U.S. September import and
export prices were due at the same time.
By Lewis KrauskopfOct 13 (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc has formed a
partnership with health insurer Humana Inc to research
ways to improve healthcare for the elderly.The five-year partnership, announced on Thursday, will
focus initially on three chronic conditions: pain,
cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease.Humana is one of the largest providers of plans under
Medicare, the U.S. government health plan for the elderly.
Pfizer is the world’s largest drugmaker.The companies cited U.S. Census projections showing that
over the next 10 years the Medicare-eligible population is
expected to grow to 65 million — a 36 percent increase from
2010. The collaboration also could evolve beyond seniors in the
longer term, the companies said.The companies will seek “to develop an important body of
knowledge” to advance their work, said William Fleming, vice
president of Humana Pharmacy Solutions.The companies will seek to study prescription drug use and
how it affects areas such as cost and quality of care and
patient outcomes, Fleming said.One result, he said, could be that it affects how Humana
designs its benefit and coverage plans or develops programs to
influence how seniors take their medications.James Harnett, Pfizer’s senior director of U.S. health
economics and outcomes research, said the information generated
through the partnership could influence decisions about the
company’s development products.
* Slovakia EFSF vote could come Thursday, hopes high* Global stocks rally, investors seek riskier assetsBy Emily FlitterNEW YORK, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Treasury prices fell on
Wednesday as global stocks rallied on hopes that Europe’s
financial crisis could soon be contained, while traders sold
off Treasuries in preparation for a $21 billion auction of
10-year notes.The 30-year Treasury bond saw the heaviest selling, losing
nearly two points in price. Yields on 10-year notes hit highs
last seen Sept 1, while 30-year yields returned to highs last
seen Sept. 21.Strong optimism appeared among market participants that
European leaders would move to recapitalize struggling euro
zone banks and would also succeed in expanding the European
Financial Stability Fund. Slovakia is the only one of the 17
euro zone countries that must still approve the expansion of
the EFSF, in a vote that could come as early as Thursday.”The selloff is basically on the back of hopes and prayers
that Europe gets its act together,” said Scott Graham, head of
Treasury trading at BMO Capital Markets in Chicago.”I’m a little bit surprised that the market’s not reacting
more to the Obama jobs bill getting canned and some of the
tough talk on currency issues,” he added, referring to bills in
the U.S. Congress that saw voting this week.On Tuesday night, a bill introduced by President Barack
Obama that would put $447 billion toward job creation failed to
get enough votes for consideration in the Senate. Earlier this
week, the Senate passed a bill designed to penalize China for
pegging its currency to the dollar.”Both of those things should be bullish for Treasuries,”
Graham said.George Goncalves, head of U.S. rates strategy at Nomura
Securities in New York, said higher hopes for Europe and better
U.S. economic data have “led to an overall risk-positive theme
for US markets.”That atmosphere was fueling selling in the Treasury
market.”We look for consolidation in the near term,” Goncalves
wrote in a note to clients.William O’Donnell, head of U.S. rates strategy at RBS
Securities in Stamford, Connecticut, said in a note to clients
he saw several technical indicators for continued selling in
Treasuries, especially in longer-dated securities. He pointed
to bearish weekly momentum in 10s and 30s, and a break above
the bull rate trendline on Tuesday by the 30-year yield.”Long term Treasuries are at serious risk of surprising the
crowd (me too) with the magnitude of ongoing back-up,”
O’Donnell wrote.That sentiment could create some confusion around
Wednesday’s auction. The Treasury Department will sell $21
billion in reopened 10-year notes at 1 p.m. (1700 GMT).While selling ahead of an auction usually bodes well for
demand at the auction, a widespread belief that yields are
still too low could cause potential bidders to hang back.Last month’s 10-year auction drew the lowest yield ever, at
2 percent. Wednesday morning’s trading brought 10-year yields
to 2.21 percent, more the 20 basis points higher. Ten-year
notes were last off 17/32 in price.The 30-year bond was down 1-28/32 in price and
yielding 3.19 percent, up from 3.10 percent at Tuesday’s
close.
